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the most?
My dog and the wine. I think that being French might have had something to do with it, but also food. It is nice to have fresh food again. Morning noon and night we were eating freeze-dried foods. Because of the partial pressures of oxygen, cooking with open flame was not an option. The only way we could feed ourselves was through hot water or the microwave.
Could people grow fresh food under the sea?
Oh, certainly. Aquaponics for one. Growing vegetables in a no-earth atmosphere, where they grow just simply from having their roots suspended in a water solution. You can grow lettuce... you can grow all sorts of vegetables.
And ceviche?
Well, yeah, if done sustainably, there is a possibility to harvest local animals and sea life, absolutely.
Scientific testing and research. Photo by Kip Evans
What did you discover that you didn't know before? Did you add to our knowledge about the ocean?
Absolutely. There are going to be 12 new science papers based on climate-related issues. I can't divulge any information as the papers haven't come out yet. I wish I could, but my scientists would be very upset with me so I have to say stay tuned, unfortunately. But we can promise some exciting revelations to come: some things that no one has ever seen, thought of, or understood until now—whether it be from the dynamics of the cold water upwellings, to the depletion of predators, to pollution issues that have infiltrated certain animals in the coral reefs that we depend on for food. There are some very profound repercussions we've discovered that we've never known before. It's very exciting.
The underwater world represents over 99 percent of the planet's living space, where 93 percent of biodiversity lives. We have explored less than 5 percent of it. What else could there be out there?
Oh my gosh. New resources, new cures for diseases that we're facing including Ebola or cancer, new species... the list goes on and on. Just imagine what we dream of when we look into space exploration, the kinds of things that we are expecting to be discovered. I would that say that, in the short term anyway, the ocean will offer more than that. It's mind blowing. I think there are discoveries for the next several generations out there.
Follow Georgia Rose on TwitterMr Webb said he would give the £200 to charity A Sheffield man who lent a penniless Australian tourist £5 to pay for a ferry trip in 1969 has been repaid his debt nearly 40 years later. While Jim Webb was out, a card and £200 was hand delivered to his home by Gary Fenton, to repay the money he borrowed when they met in Ostend, Belgium. A note inside read: "To Jim Webb, a good man. From Gary Fenton, a tardy payer of debts." Mr Webb, 72, has appealed for Mr Fenton to get back in touch. Mr Webb and a friend were travelling around Europe in April 1969 when they met the Australian traveller, then in his early 20s, at a ferry port in Ostend. He said: "A young man came up to us and said he hadn't got enough money to get back to England and would we lend him £5 and he'd repay us as soon as he could afford it." The three men travelled back to England and when they parted Mr Fenton took Mr Webb's address, but he never heard from him. In this day and age promises are made and promises are broken and you lose your faith in human nature
Jim Webb Then on Sunday, he returned to his home in Bradway to find the surprise card. Mr Webb said: "I was quite emotional when I read it. In this day and age promises are made and promises are broken and you lose your faith in human nature. "This was a lovely gesture. Forty years is a long time - it must have been preying on his mind that he hadn't repaid his debt. "He said he was giving me £200 as that was £5 for every year that had gone by." Mr Webb said the card explained how Mr Fenton, who now lived in Sydney, had come across his address while looking through some old papers. His note said he had decided to pay him a visit and repay his debt while on a trip to London. Mr Webb, who is giving the £200 to charity, said: "He didn't leave an address or telephone number, just an email address which I have tried but so far I haven't heard back. "I am very sorry I was not in on Sunday... he would have been very welcome here. Hopefully we will be able to make contact, it would be wonderful to meet up again."
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionSitting between Republicans and tax reform is a brewing debate over a second push for welfare reform.
Congressional conservatives see an opportunity to push for more than $200 billion in cuts to welfare programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and food stamps (SNAP), that serve as a safety net for the nation’s most vulnerable population — on top of cuts already being pursued in the health care bill.
This group of conservatives, the House Freedom Caucus, recently emboldened by extracting key concessions from Trump in order to pass his health care bill through the House last month, is feeling the strength of its leverage over the party — it knows that without its members’ votes, the budget resolution is doomed, and with it, for the next year at least, any hope of passing tax reform through the Senate on a strictly party-line vote.
Looking for ways to pay for a budget that that will undoubtedly see dramatic increases in defense spending and would lead to tax cuts, they are proposing welfare reforms that could result in hundreds of billions in cuts to food stamps, Medicaid, and other safety net programs.
“There is a sizable population that would, based on this scenario, likely be destitute,” James Ziliak, University of Kentucky’s Center for Poverty Research director, said. “Arguably they already are.”
Republican leadership is open to giving in to at least some of the Freedom Caucus’s demands — just not to the extent they are calling for. But it may be the only way to get a budget resolution passed to move on to bigger legislative priorities. If the Freedom Caucus holds firm, GOP leaders might have no choice.
What the Freedom Caucus wants to do
The Freedom Caucus is adamant about framing these cuts as “savings,” drawn from pushing more people into the workforce.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has proposed reforms to TANF and SNAP that could cut upward of $214 billion, according to estimations by the conservative group Heritage Foundation, by harshening eligibility requirements to receive food aid and temporary assistance, adding additional layers of work requirements, and increasing the burden on impoverished families. The Heritage Foundation has also thrown its support behind Rep. Garret Graves’s (R-LA) bill, which would also expand work requirements.
Their demands would reduce government aid for the poorest Americans, in order to help fund tax cuts that are projected to primarily benefit the very rich. If this proposal goes through, fewer people would receive benefits, and not necessarily because they don’t need them.
Jordan’s office pushes back against the idea that these work requirements would cause hardship for the poor. "If an individual leaves the SNAP program without getting a job, then they must either have not needed the benefits in the first place or have found another way of obtaining the benefits they need,” said Darin Miller, Jordan’s spokesperson, explaining the Congress member’s position. “Either way, we are saving money without hurting anyone."
Experts refute this. Ask Peter Germanis, a Reagan-era White House adviser who has been involved with conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, has been extremely critical of the proposal.
“The bill would create a byzantine structure for TANF and SNAP work requirements that few states could actually implement,” Germanis wrote in a working paper. “Its provisions are so unreasonable and harsh that if actually enacted, it would likely destroy the safety net for needy families with children.”
Food stamp recipients are mostly children and elderly or disabled people. The number of able-bodied adults without dependents is slim, and not nearly enough to make up the numbers in savings that the projections for this proposal indicate. Waste and fraud in the program is also relatively inconsequential.
The Freedom Caucus knows the projected savings in Jordan’s bill are politically impossible for the budget resolution, but they have some leverage to get assurances on some of these reforms: By withholding their votes for the budget resolution, they effectively derail Republican plans to move on to tax reform — for which the budget is a prerequisite. So far, unable to reach a deal, the Budget Committee has already relinquished its wish to mark up a resolution before the July 4 recess. Republican leadership has begun to soften to their demands, but haven’t given in — instead, they say they will resume negotiations after the break.
The tight schedule only raises the stakes. Representatives will likely have to deal with the debt ceiling, possibly reconsider a Senate health care bill, and start talks on spending when the get back. Already Budget Committee Chair Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) has increased her “savings” level offer from $150 billion to $200 billion — which still wasn’t enough.
These safety net programs are the last resort for millions of Americans
Republicans have long demanded reforms to the American welfare system, decrying bloated federal handout programs that they claim disincentivize Americans from working. They argue that additional work requirements would encourage more people to get out of the cycle of poverty.
There is strong evidence that SNAP reduces food insecurity and improves health outcomes, especially among children, who make up the majority of SNAP beneficiaries. But the evidence from randomized studies of work requirements shows that they have little or no effect on poverty — and leave many people who aren't induced to work without a safety net.
“It’s a false narrative,” Ziliak said of the proposal. “The evidence shows that the program actually works. Not all programs work. But SNAP actually is one of those that does what it is supposed to be doing.”
As is, SNAP and TANF, which provide services like child care or income assistance, already have work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. They are often waived when the economy is doing poorly and reinstated when the job market is more stable. Jordan’s bill would make these eligibility requirements harsher, tightening the window individuals have to find a job from three months to one month, increasing the number of hours they have to work per month from 80 hours to 100, and extending the requirements to able-bodied adults with dependents.
Miller pointed to states like Alabama that have recently reinstated work requirements and seen dramatic declines in the number of people on the federal food stamp roll. That’s not an indication of much, other than that the federal government is spending less: Unemployment has gone down nationally, and being off the roll doesn’t necessarily mean people found work. The bill does offer volunteering and educational options that have been lauded as more effective ways to pull people out of poverty, and multiple reports have suggested it would redirect half a billion dollars to such programs, vastly underestimating how much those services typically cost (upward of $10 billion).
“If you want to reduce people from the roll, [Jordan’s bill] is a good way to do it,” Luke Shaefer, a poverty expert at the University of Michigan, said. “If you want to increase hardship, especially for people with kids, this is a good way to do it. But if you want to increase work, I’m not sure.”
This is a vision of welfare reform that’s drawing from an already underfunded program
Those in support of these kinds of conservative welfare reforms — layering on harsher work requirements — often paint a rosy picture of President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reforms to TANF. Those reforms added work requirements to TANF and fundamentally adjusted how the program’s funding worked, giving money to states in a lump sum and allowing the states to allocate their funding as they saw need. In the early years, Clinton’s TANF reforms were extremely popular.
“The purpose of welfare is to catch individuals when they need a safety net and then help those folks break out of their current situation to lead more self-sufficient lives. The 1996 welfare reform plan proved that work is a valuable tool to helping achieve that,” a conservative congressional aide said in defense of Jordan’s bill.
This is just an extension of Clinton’s entitlement reform, Jordan told me. He cited 2006 testimony from Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former welfare policy adviser to President George H.W. Bush. “If the 1996 reforms had their intended effect of reducing welfare dependency, a leading indicator of success would be a declining welfare caseload. Between 1994 and 2005, the caseload declined about 60 percent,” Haskins said then.
But over the past decade, poverty experts have reached consensus that TANF no longer works, because states stopped using the money for the safety net programs. “TANF is not an effective program,” Ziliak said — it’s served fewer and fewer families over the years.
Ask Haskins today, and he has changed his tune: “States did not uphold their end of the bargain. So why do something like this again?”
“It doesn’t make sense to talk about expanding the work requirement,” Haskins tells me. It would only complicate the eligibility standards, he said. “The best reform is to require block grants only be able to used for work support programs for low-income families... [and] coordinate the work requirements across process.”
The conservative vision doesn’t do either of those things.
This is to pay for tax reform and defense spending
There are two ways to look at the conservative pitch on welfare reform. One is as a longstanding concern about a bloated SNAP program, with a growing number of American families dependent on government aid. The other way to look at it is that Republicans really want tax cuts and defense spending, and cuts to social welfare programs are an offset.
Jordan insists it’s the former. “This is about helping people that have been stuck in some of our social welfare programs helping them get to a better life. This is something the vast majority of the American people think is good common sense. If people are getting help from the American taxpayers, there should be a work component.”
This is the “commonsense” case conservatives make to the American public. But House Republicans aren’t shy about the bigger role welfare reform plays in the Republican agenda: It’s paying for tax cuts and what are shaping up to be massive hikes in defense spending.
It’s hard to avoid this point, as the Freedom Caucus is literally proposing to tie welfare reform to tax reform. Jordan himself has hinted at it, calling it “reverse-engineering”: whatever you can “save” from cutting these programs can be reallocated to other party priorities. Ideally, he doesn’t want to stop at SNAP and TANF.
“There are tons of different means-tested welfare entitlement programs that we can work at achieving savings in. Obviously Medicaid work requirements — expanding what’s already in the health care bill. There’s real money there,” Jordan told Vox in mid-June, in a revealing moment about how conservatives are approaching poverty-related policy. And this is one of the only ways conservatives will sign on to the budget resolution.
“Maybe we as the Freedom Caucus can live with a higher budget number if in fact we do real welfare reform on the tax bill — work requirements, time limits on able-bodied adults [are] part of that package,” Jordan said.
But poverty experts cast doubts about this approach to welfare reform. “There is no policy improvement that gets you to those numbers [in savings],” said Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance policy with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “The trade-off is a very serious concern — targeting TANF and SNAP for budget-cutting exercises instead of having a serious discussion of tackling some of the issues.”
Some conservatives acknowledge these aren’t great optics. Trump made a campaign promise that Social Security and Medicare would be left untouched, and the result has been sweeping cuts to safety net programs that Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC) pointed out could perpetuate some suspicions about the Republican Party:
“The idea of saying that we are only going to address entitlement reform when it comes to poor people is not exactly what most economists think about when they think about entitlement reform,” Sanford, who is a member of the Freedom Caucus, told Vox. “It cannot be reduced to power politics and constituency politics of oh, you didn’t vote for me, now you are going to pay the price. The numbers aren’t big enough, and it probably perpetuates the suspicions that some have about the Republican Party of are you for or against poor people.”
As it stands, the House still has a long way to go to reach an agreement. So far, proposals from the Budget Committee don’t give assurances that SNAP and TANF would be reformed. It all comes down to how hard a line Freedom Caucus members will take on the numbers.
“It’s clearly something that matters to the caucus,” Sanford said. “The big question is are you going to jeopardize tax reform for it.”So ComicBookResources.com released this article today which covered the DC Comics Young Justice panel at San Diego Comic Con. Scott Lobdell, writer of Teen Titans and Superboy (among others) had a bit to say about what he’s planning on doing with said books. Unfortunately what he said made me so…I was just…I mean…I’m ready to…AHHHH!!!! After I finished reading it I couldn’t help but put my thoughts into words. I’ve taken the relevant pieces of the article and quoted them below along with my thoughts on the matter.
Lobdell talked about September’s “Teen Titans” #0, saying the issue was “Almost exclusively about Tim Drake, but we get some secret info about Skitter and Bunker…as near as I recall, as it is now Tim goes straight from being Tim Drake to being Red Robin in that there was no official period of time where he was Robin. We keep most of the origin in tact in that he was one of the few people who could get very close to learning who Bruce is…but it will be a much updated version of his origin.”
What exactly does he mean by “as near as I recall”? Shouldn’t the writer know key details of the history of one of his main characters? And why is it that all of a sudden Tim Drake was never Robin even though it’s been confirmed multiple times in Batman and Robin, oh and not to mention HIS OWN BOOK.
What exactly is going on here? Did Lobdell just receive a last minute editorial update right before San Diego Comic Con telling him that they just made changes to Tim’s history? Or does Lobdell just NOT know what the hell is going on outside of his books? Judging by the way he writes his stories I think the last time Lobdell ever actually read a comic was in the 90’s. Or is it possible that DC is actually retconning Tim Drakes New 52 reboot merely a year later? The fact that he did not give a definitive answer at the panel says to me that either he or DC is unsure about the status of Tim Drake. It’s also possible that he is taking crazy pills.
Lobdell turned to the return of Starfire’s sister Blackfire, noting as he did earlier in the weekend that he’s changing the nature of the villain to a woman with an extreme amount of guilt over her role in selling Starfire off of their planet. “She’s not the nihilistic, Machiavellian, evil role but a caring sister who betrayed Kory,” he said, joking soon after that he didn’t know why he was writing so many depressing stories these days.
It’s not that your stories are depressing so much as your writing is Lobdell. I really hate to be rude, but COME ON, MAN!
“The impression I get from Superboy is that he’s not a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy,” Lobdell said about whether the teen hero would ever go back to his more recent clothing choice. He said one thing he loves about the New 52 Superman is how it’s broken the mold on whether a hero can have multiple costuming options, and so Superboy’s look would evolve moving forward. He echoed those sentiments for an upcoming redesign for Red Hood’s standard costume.
What do you mean “he’s not a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy,” He wore t-shirt and jeans for YEARS and continues to do so in the animated version of Young Justice. He LITERALLY is a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy. JUST LOOK.
I think what he means to say is he doesn’t like that design of Superboy. I completely respect that as DC hired you to create and write a new version of Superboy for the New 52. The problem I have is that you are showing a complete disregard for any version of the character that existed before your run. By doing this you show a disregard for his fans as well. Superboy has been a very successful and popular character for years before you started writing him and you should find a way to honor that in some way.
The idea of Red Robin’s new origin and how it impacts Damian Wayne’s desire to kill all former Robins. Lobdell said, “He hates them all…Robin Williams…Robin Leach…”
That’s good, make a jokey-joke. That’s what we want to hear when we ask serious questions about characters that we clearly love and respect more than you do. The joke answer is very often a non-answer. This lends to my theory that either the status of Tim Drake as ever being Robin is in flux or Lobdell is simply clueless.
The issue of how the classic Nightwing/Starfire/Cyborg Titans could exist if Red Robin’s team is the first, Lobdell said that in his mind, those young teens hung out but never formally formed a Teen Titans team. He admitted this slightly contradicts what he said at the panel last year in San Diego, but plans for the series and how its mythology worked changed in the past year.
So wait, you’re saying that Cyborg hung out with Nightwing and Starfire when they were teens while he was in the Justice League? While it’s not an ideal explanation I actually would be okay with this. Cyborg, being the youngest of the JLAers, would naturally want to seek out younger heroes to interact with. Unfortunately (and I hope I’m wrong about this) this sounds like Lobdell is making stuff up on the spot just so he can have an answer instead of looking flummoxed on stage. Ask Geoff Johns the same question and I’m sure his response would be “Who told you that?” In fact, Lobdell’s response should have been something along the lines of Cyborg being in the hands of Geoff Johns since he currently has control of the character in Justice League.
When a fan asked after the possibility of a Tim Drake solo comic, Lobdell said he’d be up for it and gently chided Harras about green lighting such a project, but it didn’t seem like that discussion would be picking up in any meaningful way in the near future.
Please DC, I beg of you, just no. He’s done enough damage as it is.
Lobdell said he doesn’t watch the “Young Justice” TV show, not from any bias against the show but because he doesn’t watch animation often and felt like watching something so close to his work may muddy the waters for what he wants to do.
It really is a shame that you don’t watch the Young Justice TV show since they are doing an INFINITELY better job at incorporating different elements of DC’s young hero continuities all the while modernizing them for the 21’s century. It seems to me that this is exactly what DC was looking for. I understand if you don’t want to copy the show exactly but at least you could take a lesson or two of how the show handles their characters and their histories.
Come to think of it, I think I may prefer the Young Justice TV show continuity over that of the New 52. And now I’ve made myself sad.A “David and Goliath” campaign mounted by the tobacco industry to lobby against Europe-wide anti-smoking legislation highlights the ability of big corporations to influence EU law-making, a report claims today.
The report in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claims that the industry sought to “subvert the democratic process” by deploying a multimillion pound campaign to access and influence key figures.
The tactics ranged from sending eye-catching publicity materials such as chocolate Santas (part of an argument that tobacco-style graphic health warnings were the first step towards attaching the same labels on confectionery) to the alleged swamping of consultation processes with tens of thousands of identical submissions. The study also cites data released under freedom of information legislation which suggests that at least a dozen meetings held between representatives of the tobacco industry and senior EU bodies, including the cabinet of former EU president Manuel Barroso, went undeclared, contrary to agreed rules.
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The tobacco industry said it was exercising its right to put forward its views and was seeking to rectify “flaws” in the proposed legislation.
Shape Created with Sketch. Out of puff: Cigarette advertising Show all 5 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Out of puff: Cigarette advertising 1/5 Out of puff Churchman's No. 1 are advertised as 'the 15-minute cigarette' Getty Images 2/5 Out of puff Premier's design for its Navy Cut cigarettes 3/5 Out of puff 'The wisdom behind the Du Maurier filter', which claims to give the cigarette improved flavour and prevent bits of tobacco in the mouth Getty Images 4/5 Out of puff Kensitas non filter-tipped cigarettes feature a butler on the packet Getty Images 5/5 Out of puff A Gold Flake tobacco cigarette packet wrapper 1/5 Out of puff Churchman's No. 1 are advertised as 'the 15-minute cigarette' Getty Images 2/5 Out of puff Premier's design for its Navy Cut cigarettes 3/5 Out of puff 'The wisdom behind the Du Maurier filter', which claims to give the cigarette improved flavour and prevent bits of tobacco in the mouth Getty Images 4/5 Out of puff Kensitas non filter-tipped cigarettes feature a butler on the packet Getty Images 5/5 Out of puff A Gold Flake tobacco cigarette packet wrapper
But the authors of the BMJ report, published in the journal Tobacco Control, told The Independent their investigations suggested corporations were being allowed to muster massive influence over the EU legislative process.
The Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) was finalised in Brussels last year – some three years later than initially expected and missing originally proposed measures such as plain packaging.
Lead author Silvy Peeters, of the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, said: “The study documents a massive and underhand lobby to subvert the democratic process. The tobacco industry hijacked the public consultation and used numerous third parties to lobby on their behalf.
“More worryingly they successfully wielded influence via the highest officials in the European Commission leading to significant delays and weakening of the directive.”
According to leaked internal documents, one company, Philip Morris International (PMI), hired more than 160 lobbyists, who in turn claimed €1.25m (£920,000) for meetings with MEPs. PMI insists only a “fraction” of that number were involved in lobbying.
At least seven of those hired by the industry were themselves former MEPs or senior EU officials, it is claimed. By contrast, health campaigners were able to muster five full-time staff members in Brussels to lobby on the TPD.
One MEP said: “If you see who is fighting on the left-hand side and who is fighting on the right-hand side… then you get a shock. It is David and Goliath. It’s unbelievable.”
PMI, which described the TPD as “disappointing” and is challenging it in the European courts, denied it was seeking undue influence, adding it had voluntarily disclosed its activities in an EU register.
In a statement, the company said: “We believe that dialogue with decision makers is necessary for a well-considered and informed decision-making process.”
They successfully wielded influence via the highest officials in the European CommissionPlease enable Javascript to watch this video
AKRON, Ohio-- An Akron man was arrested Thursday morning after federal authorities say he posted messages supporting a terrorist organization on social media.
Terrence J. McNeil, 25, is charged with one count of solicitation of crime of violence. He appeared in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Ohio in Akron.
According to the affidavit, McNeil posted several images on Tumblr on Sept. 25 in support of the Islamic State of Iraq, or ISIL.
The.gif file reads:
"O Brothers in America, know that the jihad against the crusaders is not limited to the lands of the Khilafah, it is a world-wide jihad and their war is not just a war against the Islamic State, it is a war against Islam…Know that it is wajib (translated to 'necessary') for you to kill these kuffar! and now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for? Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe…”
The looping.gif also shows images of U.S. military members, a handgun and the words, "Kill them wherever you find them." The U.S. Department of Justice said McNeil called for the murder of service members.
"While we aggressively defend 1st amendment rights, the individual arrested today went far beyond free speech by reposting names and addresses of 100 U.S. service members, all with the intent to have them killed," FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony said. "We will remain vigilant in our efforts to stop those who wish to support these despicable acts."
McNeil was remanded into the custody of U.S. Marshals and has another hearing set for next week.The world’s most fascinating tunnel networks
Via Jason Kottke. My favorite? The subterranean realm of long-dead Smithsonian Institution moth expert Harrison Gray Dyar, who dug “almost a quarter mile of tunnels” beneath his home in Washington:
The text, from a 1932 issue of Modern Mechanics and Invention, reads:
ONE of the oddest hobbies in the world is that of Dr. H. G. Dyar, international authority on moths and butterflies of the Smithsonian Institution, who has found health and recreation in digging an amazing series of tunnels beneath his Washington home. Almost a quarter of a mile of tunnels has been completed, lined with concrete. The deepest passage, illustrated in the accompanying diagram, extends 32 feet down.
Every bit of earth was removed unaided by Dr. Dyar, being carried out in pails. He found the tunnel-digging an appealing form of exercise to relieve the intense strain of his work day, which involved much close work with high-power microscopes. The catacombs are constructed in three levels, with steps and iron pipe ladders leading between different tiers. The idea first came to Dr. Dyar when he sought to make an underground entrance to his furnace cellar.
Anyone know if the tunnels are still around? According to Pamela M. Henson, they got Dyar in a bit of trouble:
During the 1920s Dyar’s most peculiar hobby came to light. When a truck fell into a labyrinth of tunnels near Dyar’s old home in 1924, newspaper speculation attributed these to World War I spy nests, Civil War trysts, and mad scientists. Eventually Dyar accepted responsibility for the tunnels and similar works behind his new home, saying he found relaxation in digging underground. The brick-walled tunnels extended for hundreds of feet and measured six by six feet.
View the whole collection here.Another day, another fork.
As you well know there is fork coming on October 25th which will create Bitcoin Gold (BTG). As of now, the details from the developers of BTG are not very clear and they have provided virtually no information, so information may change as we get closer. But as of this writing on 10/20, this is what I understand regarding claiming and holding your BTG.
Exchanges
If you are holding your BTC on an exchange, you may not receive BTG after the fork. You will need to receive written verification either directly from the exchange or directly on their site saying they will support BTG and allow you to claim your BTG if you have BTC on their exchange. Do not count on rumors or internet posts, make sure you see it in writing on the exchanges official website or social media accounts.
Wallets
This one is a bit tricky. Depending on which wallet you use, it may take a different amount of time to be able to access your BTG on each one. Generally, hardware wallets are faster at supporting the new fork due to the fact that they are paid and for profit wallets. Other free and open source wallets like Electrum depend on others to update and set up servers for free. So this may take some time and there is no way to know how long. I suggest visiting the official website of the wallet you use and look for their support page to get more information.
But Bitcoin Cash, the previous fork, had a very good developer team behind it which put out plenty of information about the fork, so wallets were quick to update and accept it. BTG has been very silent and not offering much information, so there is no way to know how long the wallets will take to support BTG this time around.
Transactions
This is important. Do not make any transactions around the time of the fork. You could lose your BTC or BTG. Also, do not receive any BTC during this time either unless it is from a very trusted source or person. It is possible that before the wallets are updated, someone could send you BTG instead of BTC even though it would show in your wallet as BTC. So beware of scammers looking to send BTC when they only really send BTG. I would suggest waiting several days to do any BTC transactions unless you absolutely have to. There is also the threat of a replay attack, which the BTG founders have said they have protection against, but they have offered no proof of how it is implemented.
Finally, as always never enter your private keys on any site. There may be a rush of scammers when BTG hits, so be aware. Also, double check any site you are visiting such as a wallet’s site or exchange site to make sure you are not accessing a phishing site. Many of these phishing sites are buying ads on Google, so they may appear on top of the results and look “official” when you search, so be very careful.
I will be posting new articles as new information becomes available.
(If you enjoyed this content, please consider a tip of BTC.)
1PDzHDqW5FwpVZ29ZcyaG5m28ct21bkQEp
AdvertisementsWe're happy to announce that Clojure/west 2016 will be April 15-16th in Seattle, Washington. The event will take place at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront, close to Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, and other downtown Seattle attractions.
The Call for Presentations is open now and will close on Jan 29th. We would love to have your submissions and welcome any questions at events@cognitect.com. Speakers receive:
free admission to the conference
hotel
US travel reimbursement (or $550 stipend if international).
We are also now seeking sponsors for the 2016 event! Clojure/west is a great opportunity to reach 500 Clojure developers with hiring, products, or other developer-oriented outreach. If you're interested in being part of the event please contact us to see how we can collaborate on the best option for your team.
Early bird registration for Clojure/west will open later in January - stay tuned!The following is an open letter sent to Fight Gridlock from Andrew deGroot, a resident of Brampton — one who has been an incredible supporter and fact-finder for the LRT project, and it’s alignment on Main St. into downtown Brampton.
Attention: Mayor Linda Jeffrey & Members of council;
I know people believe they are protecting downtown by suggesting an alternate route around downtown Brampton but history tells us the exact opposite will happen. Prior to the 1940s, Jarvis Street was probably the most beautiful street in all of Toronto. The city’s first paved road was once the grandest tree-lined boulevard around, bracketed by the mansions of some of Toronto’s wealthiest movers and shakers.
In the 1940s the City of Toronto began working on a transit plan which included its first subway. Toronto debated whether to run the line up Jarvis or under the much narrower Yonge Street. Construction was approved in 1946 for the new Yonge Street line.
Meanwhile, the stately Jarvis boulevard was transformed to make way for the automobile. Jarvis Street was turned from a gorgeous historical thoroughfare into an urban highway, stretching from the waterfront up to Bloor. Cars on Jarvis, transit on Yonge.
Fast forward to the today. Yonge Street is the economic core of Toronto with cross streets King, Queen and Bloor all boasting their own rapid transit. Jarvis, on the other hand has fallen on hard times. Known for decades as the seediest street in Toronto, it is where you go to find drugs and prostitution. Only now, 70 years later is investment starting to turn this street around, though all of the homes are gone or being used for commercial purposes.
Meanwhile in Downtown Brampton, the comparisons are striking. Our quant southern entrance boasts similar large older homes as Jarvis, though almost all of the grand homes north of Wellington have been demolished or are rooming houses. Main Street is an urban highway shuttling people quickly from their jobs in Mississauga to their homes in northern Brampton or beyond our border. Downtown Brampton has the same drug and prostitution problem as Jarvis. Jarvis has Harvey’s and Brampton has the 7-Eleven.
The establishment of Toronto, trying to protect their streetscape and homesteads, voted against progress and transit along Jarvis with the obvious consequences to follow. Brampton’s establishment is voicing its strong opposition to the LRT through downtown Brampton.
We are at a crossroads in Brampton. We have the opportunity to build for our future or dwell on our past. Our tight grip on maintaining status quo will hinder process. Do we want Main Street to be the Jarvis of Brampton?
I encourage Brampton City Council to support |
doctors at diagnosing lung cancer.
Watson is not yet able to leverage all the information it has absorbed, so it still has a ways to go before it catches up with our best human diagnosticians, whose versatility and agility is difficult to match. But Watson's ability to learn, analyze, and apply knowledge suggests that it will get there — eventually.
"If and when Dr. Watson gets as good at diagnosis as Watson is at Jeopardy! I want it as my primary care physician," McAfee wrote, back in 2011.
That day may come sooner than we imagined.
h/t @ Alex Howard"Oculus' mission is to help people experience anything, anywhere," Max Cohen, Oculus' head of mobile, told a roomful of journalists this Tuesday. There's the high-end experience of the Rift, of course, but there's also the portable easy-to-use version of the Gear VR. "The secret [with VR] is it can't just be slightly better than other experiences that you've had," said Cohen. "It has to be even better."
Part of the reason why the million mark is so exciting, then, is because it'll hopefully push developers to create even more content for the platform. Cohen admits that it's sometimes daunting to get developers to spend time making VR content. "They tell us, 'Give us a call when you've a hit a million users.'" Well, now it has. Plus, Cohen says, the average time that users spend on the Gear VR is around 25 minutes a day. "They're highly engaged with the product," he says.
Aside from the number of users, Oculus is also working on increasing app discovery. There are over 250 apps for Gear VR right now, but finding new content can be a problem, especially for newcomers. That's why Oculus is rolling out a revamped Oculus Home design next month, which will hopefully make it that much easier to find recently downloaded content. You'll also see a "What's New" section starting this week plus an updated library that offers deep links directly into the apps. There'll also be a social element so you can see what your friends are watching or doing.
In conjunction with the announcement, Oculus wants to highlight several new VR experiences. They include 6x9 (available now), a Guardian-produced film that lets you feel what it's like to be in solitary confinement; Notes on Blindness: Into the Darkness (available late June), which puts you in the shoes of someone who's slowly going blind; Tactera (available late May), a real-time strategy game with holographic pieces; and last, Nomads (available today), which lets you explore what it's like to be in different nomadic tribes such as the Maasai in Kenya, the yak herders in Mongolia and the sea gypsies in Borneo. Nomads was produced by Felix & Paul Studios, which has done other Oculus content such as Jurassic World and Wild.
Additionally, Oculus has been working on a partnership with Discovery to develop a new Deadliest Catch VR experience that'll put you on the rough seas as a virtual crew member. It'll launch next week, on May 17th. There'll also be an experience called First Life, which is narrated by renowned naturalist David Attenborough. It promises to transport you 500 million years into the past and give you a firsthand look at prehistoric sea creatures.
If it seems like there's an unusual number of video experiences on this list, that's no coincidence. Seven of the top 10 most-used apps on Gear VR are video-related. Eugene Wei, the head of video at Oculus, says that over 2 million hours of video are consumed on the mobile headset. That includes the usual 2D movie experiences that you can watch in a virtual cinema (either via Oculus Video or a Netflix VR app) or live 180-degree streams of events like the Kentucky Derby. "But when most people talk about video and VR, they think 360-degree video," he says. "It's continuing to gain momentum."
But the problem with 360-degree content is that there's a high barrier to entry. Creating VR video is not the same as regular video; there's still a lot that filmmakers have to figure out. It's why Facebook released the blueprints for the Surround 360 camera: not because it wants to be in the 360-camera business but because it wants more people to create content. "Our goal is to get this camera into the hands of as many creators as possible," says Wei, adding that the team has also worked to integrate consumer-level cameras like the Gear 360 and the Ricoh Theta S with the ability to upload directly to the Facebook News Feed.
There's also the issue with how much bandwidth 360-degree video takes up. To get around that, Facebook developed a technology called Dynamic Streaming that increases the quality of the video you can see but degrades the video that's offscreen. The improved display resolution of the recent Samsung phones is also integral to the Gear VR experience. "[1440p OLED screens] might not matter on a traditional phone," says Wei. "But when it comes to VR, it really makes a difference in the quality of the experience."
Storytelling in VR is also pretty different from traditional mediums. For example, take the opening credits of Game of Thrones that was created in 360-degree video. If you watch it on your phone or on your computer, it retains that same camera-swooping motion you see on TV. But put that same experience on a headset and it starts to feel a little strange. That's why Oculus is now working on creating a special VR headset experience of the Game of Thrones title sequence that would put you in the middle of King's Landing so that you'll be able to see the buildings sprouting up around you. "It's an example of the visual grammar that people have to learn," Wei says. "We have to have creative collaboration with creators to help them understand [these new] design constraints."
Right now most VR video content is still on the short side: maybe a few minutes at most per clip. That's mostly because it's cost-prohibitive to create a two-hour 360-degree movie. But Cohen and Wei say there has been some legitimate interest from filmmakers on how to do exactly that. "I've heard of a few film directors who want to tackle that," says Wei. "I'm excited to see what happens."
Wei also wants to emphasize that 360-degree content isn't unique to video. He says that in the coming weeks, Facebook will announce support for 360-degree photos as well. You can either shoot and upload panoramic photo spheres with your phone or use one of the aforementioned specialized cameras.
"There's this underlying belief that a mobile platform is fundamentally unserious," says E McNeill, the creator of Tactera and Darknet, both of which are video games designed for the Gear VR. "I think that's a mistake... The Gear VR really punches above its weight. Once you have the headset on, you're not squinting at a small screen. It's VR." Plus, Cohen says, a lot more games are making the jump from Gear VR to the Rift and vice versa, thus adding legitimacy to the platform. Dragon Front, for example, is a game that will launch concurrently on both the Rift and the Gear VR.
"Think about the kids learning five, ten, fifteen years from now," says Cohen in regards to the Nomads VR experience. "They're not going to be using textbooks when they can experience firsthand what these people went through. It really creates this kind of emotional connection."
"We want to get mobile VR in the hands of as many people as possible," says Cohen. "We think we can actually change people's lives." It's an admittedly grandiose statement. But it seems that at least 1 million users are intrigued enough to give it a go.The UFC is heading back to Atlanta for the first time in more than four years, and it looks like the welterweight title will be on the line in the main event.
UFC 201 is set for July 30 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, the UFC announced tonight. The fight targeted for the headliner is between welterweight champion Robbie Lawler (27-10 MMA, 12-4 UFC) and Tyron Woodley (15-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC), per a report on FOX Sports 1’s “UFC Tonight.”
The main card of UFC 201 will air on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
In April, UFC President Dana White said that title fight is the one that was being targeted to headline either UFC 201 or UFC 202, and that’s what has come to fruition – though an official announcement of the booking has yet to arrive.
Lawler beat Johny Hendricks by split decision to win the 170-pound title in the UFC 181 main event. He has defended the title twice. At UFC 189, he went to war with Rory MacDonald and got a fifth-round TKO in a “Fight of the Year” candidate – a fight White called his “fight of the ever.” At UFC 195 in January, he took a split call from Carlos Condit.
Woodley has been on the sideline since a UFC 183 split-decision win over Kelvin Gastelum, a fight in which Gastelum badly missed the welterweight limit on the scale. He was supposed to return this past October against Hendricksin a title eliminator, but Hendricks’ weight cut was bad enough he needed to be hospitalized and the fight was off. In the meantime, Woodley hasn’t been rebooked, hoping to get a shot at the title.
The UFC’s most recent trip to Atlanta came with UFC 145 in April 2012. At that event, then-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones took a unanimous decision from heated rival and former training partner Rashad Evans.
UFC 201 will wrap up a crazily busy month for the UFC, which will put on three fight cards in three nights during “International Fight Week” July 7-8-9 in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night 90, the TUF 23 Finale and UFC 200. The promotion then heads to Sioux Falls, S.D., on July 13 for UFC Fight Night 91. On July 23, UFC on FOX 20 heads to Chicago. Then the month concludes with UFC 201 in Atlanta, giving the UFC six events in the month.
For more on UFC 201, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.There are a number of things that could be causing you problems. Please ensure that your computer meets the minimum configuration requirements.
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The Retron 3 plays original Nintendo NES, SNES, & Genesis games as well as PAL region coded NES games and Super Famicon games and is compatible with original NES, SNES, & Genesis controllers. This system is brand new in the box and includes two 2.4 GHz wireless 6 button controllers (batteries not included), S-video/AV cable, and AC adapter. This version's wireless controllers have been updated for a stronger connection, lower latency, and further range. This system and all it's accessories are backed by our 120 day return policy.
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Retron 3 system pak: Console, 2 wireless controllers, S-AV cables, AC adapter
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Additional InfoJustin Trudeau Makes The Case For Pot Legalization
Legalizing marijuana is not about creating a lucrative “boutique industry” or generating millions of dollars in tax revenue. It’s about protecting minors from using pot at an early age and disempowering organized crime by creating a legal, regulated pot industry.
This was Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau’s response to Alan Gertner, CEO of Tokyo Smoke—a Toronto-based cannabis-friendly cafe—who had said that “Canada could be to cannabis as France is to wine” at the Economist magazine’s Canada Summit in Toronto last week (June 8), where Trudeau was a keynote speaker.
Trudeau said he “absolutely disagreed” with Gertner, and delved into the reasons why.
“Look, our approach on legalizing marijuana is not about creating a boutique industry or bringing in tax revenue,” the prime minister said at the conference. This approach is based on two basic principles: “protecting kids and protecting our streets.”
“The fact is [marijuana] is bad for the developing brain and we need to make sure that it’s harder for underage Canadians to access marijuana,” said Trudeau. This could happen under a “controlled and regulated regime” because it’s already easy for kids to obtain marijuana. “Of 29 different countries studied by the UN, Canada was number one in terms of underage access to marijuana.”
The second principle is to disempower organized crime by taking away the “billions upon billions of dollars flowing” to drug traffickers, street gangs and the like, and to allow that money to flow through a legal, regulated industry. If the “criminal elements” are taken out of the equation, “we will reduce the amount of criminal activity that’s profiting from those, and that has offshoots into so many other criminal activities,” said Trudeau.
It seems Trudeau, who assumed office in November 2015, will be making good on his campaign promise to legalize and regulate marijuana. In April, Canada’s Health Minister Jane Philpott told the United Nations that the government is preparing federal legislation to legalize marijuana in Canada, which will be ready by spring 2017.
However, Canada’s New Democratic party says the administration hasn’t done enough to “fix marijuana laws in Canada” since Trudeau took office. On Monday, the political party put forward a motion in Parliament to demand the immediate decriminalization of marijuana, saying it is unfair to penalize people for pot when it will soon be legal.
Read Trudeau's full marijuana legalization argument at The Washington Post.Red light cameras such as this one in Chicago have come under intense scrutiny. REUTERS/Jim Young
Corruption and rear-end crashes complicate what should be a clear public health case.
The last we heard from Houston about its red light cameras, in 2011, the city had not only shut them off but outlawed them—a culmination of months of rage against the machines. Over at Streetsblog, Angie Schmitt reveals the safety legacy of that decision, and it isn’t pretty. Police numbers show an astonishing 116 percent increase in total crashes and an 84 percent rise in major crashes at former camera locations from 2010-2014, compared with the four prior years when the cameras were up and running. CityLab The Houston PD’s before-and-after comparison isn’t perfect, lacking context about broader traffic safety trends across the city. But the basic gist echoes loads of other evidence pointing to the safety benefits of red light cameras. Generally speaking, red light cameras do an excellent job of reducing “red-light related” crashes—the highly dangerous T-bone collisions that occur when a driver blows a red once other traffic has entered an intersection.
Drivers are also disturbingly quick to regress to the bad habit of running reds when the cameras go dark. The risk of running a red in Southeast Virginia, for instance, rose three times in the immediate aftermath of a camera program. And while cameras have a mixed record on total crashes, some jurisdictions do find sizable declines. That’s all great news for city safety. But two things perpetually keep the case for red light cameras something well short of airtight. Increase in rear-end collisions Drivers hoping to avoid getting nabbed by the camera will often speed up through a yellow, only to knock into a car that’s stopped in traffic on the other side. Recent academic studies in Charlotte and Los Angeles have found post-camera increases in rear-end collisions. The Chicago Tribune recently conducted its own study of the city’s camera program, and while it did find a 15 percent decline in right-angle crashes, it found a 22 percent rise in rear-end collisions, too. The Tribune’s results track with the most official study of red light camera programs to date: a 2005 investigation of 132 camera sites in the U.S. by the Federal Highway Administration. In keeping with the general balance of safety benefits, FHWA did find a 25 percent dip in right-angle crashes alongside a 15 percent rise in rear-end crashes. The agency concluded that camera programs had a “modest aggregate crash-cost benefit” after considering the economic impact of both types of crashes, but the rise in rear-end collisions makes the safety argument muddy.Introducing inDNA- the ground breaking innovation in job search from our world class engineering team that matches your DNA to the perfect job. No more searches and clicking around, just one lick and you’re done. Our proprietary algorithm matches your DNA’s genome sequence to jobs for which you are best suited.
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inDNA has revolutionized our hiring process. We no longer need to put candidates through a long interview process.....if inDNA says they're a perfect fit for the job, that's all the evidence we need. Bryant S.Question Hi! I was wondering something. In the TV show, is Hannibal ever wrong? Like, he's kind of wrong in thinking Will will run away with him at the end of season 2 but not entirely either, since Will doesn't really know himself. Is there another instance where he's really, really wrong about something? Can't seem to find anything. Penny for your thoughts!
Answer
Is Hannibal ever wrong? IS HANNIBAL EVER WRONG???? Well, there was that one time he thought Will had murdered Freddie Lounds until he smelled her shampoo on him. That was a doozy.
You’re right that Hannibal isn’t wrong often, and when he is, it’s often either debatable or utterly catastrophic. Or both. Like…I would say he was definitely wrong that eating Will’s brains was a good idea, but it would have accomplished what he wanted it to, which was to allow him to forgive Will in perpetuity. So…*shrug.*
Debatable or not, here’s a list of a few ways in which Hannibal has been wrong from at least one point of view:
That Abigail would behave herself and not go digging up Nick Boyle’s body.
That no one would know what Abigail did.
That Will would believe that he could have killed all those people in S1 (yes, he intended that: that’s the point of the therapy scene with the shadow figures in Hannibal’s office in “Savoureux”)
That Leda and the Swan is appropriate dining room art.
is appropriate dining room art. That Bedelia would just hang around her house waiting for him to kill her.
That Will changing his strategy mid-trial would work.
That his own testimony would be helpful.
That Bella wouldn’t smack the bejesus out of him if he leaned over her.
That he could kill Beverly without exacting retribution from Will.
That that dude swimming next to him was not a threat.
That a squab foot on a fig newton is a good hors d'oeuvre.
. That Will would be happy with him for getting him out of jail.
That complaining about your boyfriend’s aftershave is either flirting or going to get him to change it.
That there wasn’t a dude in that horse.
That Freddie would just hang around her hotel room waiting for him to kill her.
That Will sliced the ginger.
That Will could get over his betrayal more easily and wasn’t deceiving him in S2.
That cutting Will open and slicing Abigail’s neck was a good idea.
That he could just get over Will if he shacked up with his own psychiatrist.
That he would not be recognized as Not Roman Fell.
That he could keep Jack from kicking his whole ass that one time.
That Will might have thought it would be good to see him.
That Alana’s wife and child belong to him.
That he should stand that close to the edge of a cliff.
And his most egregious sin:
Serving fish jello.
Feel free to add more!Concept Illustration Transcript
System Advantages
Relatively Cheap
Environmentally Lovely
Stores Energy Indefinitely
Stores Large Amounts of Energy
Maximum Output Regardless of Charge Level
Available Instantly
Maintenance Free
100% Safe
Small Space & Landscape Footprint
Gravity-Powered Battery
Solar energy is free and plentiful everywhere on the planet, the only problem is that it's only available half of the day, and for that part of the day, most people are usually away from home, at work or at school, thus, at times where solar panels produce the most energy, there's nobody around to use it. In order to put solar energy to good use, we need an efficient way of storing it, however batteries are expensive, toxic, have limited life spans, they drain over time... they are pretty much useless when it comes to storing large amounts of surplus energy for medium to long periods of time.
Meet the gravity battery! Using the principle of exploiting the force of gravity, it is in theory possible to store vast amounts of surplus energy, relatively cheap, environmentally friendly, maintenance free, totally safe and without disrupting landscape or taking up horizontal space. The concept of exploiting the force of gravity has been around for centuries in the form of the pendulum clock, which stores the energy that a person puts into the system and then distributes it slowly over a long period of time. The gravity battery acts in a similar way, it stores the surplus energy obtained from solar panels during long periods of time, and then delivers it whenever it is needed. It is literally the best possible way of storing large amounts of energy for an indefinite period of time.
How It Works
There is a series of hollow vertical underground cylindrical tubes, each of them containing a heavy weight which hangs inside the tube attached to a high strength cable.
Above the ground, each wire is spooled up and attached to its own coil. The coils are mounted along a central support axis which carries all the weight. Inside the support axis, there are two transmission axis, one for the charger and one for the generator. Each coil can be switched individually between the two transmission axis, through a gear system.
When energy is in surplus, the distributor routes it to the charger (an electric engine). The charger uses the electric energy it receives to spin its transmission axis, thus spinning all coils attached to that axis, and lifting their weights up to maximum height.
When a weight is at maximum height, its coil will automatically switch from the charger axis to the generator axis.
When energy is needed, the allocator switches off the break on the generator axis, thus causing the coils to unwind and spin the axis, powering the generator and creating electricity.
Using a system of gears, the charger can operate even with low energy input. Using multiple tubes allows the system to both charge up and supply energy at the same time.
The Project
This project has been conceived to illustrate the concept of the gravity battery and how it would theoretically work. No actual measurements have been taken, and no tests have been done. This is pure theory and does not come with any guarantees of any kind. Although we'd love to hear from people or companies that have actually tried implementing or testing this idea, if you are planning on doing this yourself, proceed at your own risk.
Illustration LegendDeloitte Access Economics says the government must be honest with voters, not serve up another ‘pixies, elves and fairies’ election year budget
The Turnbull government will need to show supreme budget heroics next week to explain why the deficit has increased by billions of dollars in the past five months, Deloitte Access Economics says.
The economic consultancy firm has released its respected Budget Monitor, outlining the pressures on federal government finances before Malcolm Turnbull’s government brings down its first budget on 3 May.
It warned the electorate was at risk of “sleepwalking through another election campaign” in which no major party faces up to the fact that spending growth is far outpacing revenue growth, unless the government used the budget to be honest with voters.
No changes to negative gearing or capital gains tax in budget says Malcolm Turnbull Read more
Commonwealth deficits to 2018-19 were likely to be $21bn worse than official forecasts just five months ago, it said.
It called on the Treasury and the finance department to use the budget to promote believable forecasts about the rate of economic growth, and the price of key commodities such as iron ore and coal, so voters had a better understanding of the real costs of the services they wanted.
“Major miners, who account for a sixth of company tax in an average year, have taken huge profit hits,” the Budget Monitor said. “Overall profit taxes are forecast to fall $4.7bn shy of the latest official estimates for 2015-16.
“[And] special mention needs to go to resource rent taxes, which continue to head the way of the dodo. Low oil and gas prices seem to be lingering longer than a great aunt at Christmas, with commensurate carnage in collections.
“And spare a thought for superannuation taxes, which are suffering from further downward revisions after a horror run in recent times.”
The report said the budget boom of the past decade had turned into a budget bust, with the combination of China’s slowdown, low commodity prices and weak wage growth cutting overall revenue by $4.1bn in 2015-16, with a further shortfall of $3.5bn in 2016-17.
It projected a Commonwealth deficit of $41.7bn in 2015-16, saying this was “a substantial $4.3bn worse than projected” in the mid-year budget update in December.
“Back in 2013 we didn’t get a Pre-Election Fiscal Outlook. What got served up to the public was more of a Pixies, Elves and Fairies outlook,” the report’s authors said.
“2016 is an election year. That’s a big reason to hope the 2016 [budget] won’t be like the last Pre-Election and Fiscal Outlook. The 2013 PEFO essentially assured voters that within a decade, whoever they voted in would deliver over $80 billion a year in as yet unidentified savings on spending and that much of the revenue shortfall of earlier years was locked in.
Coalition refuses to rule out using taxpayer funds to sell budget Read more
“Err, that’d be ‘no’ and ‘no’ respectively.”
The Deloitte Access report made a dramatic downward revision to official GDP forecasts, saying GDP growth was likely to fall from 2.8% in 2015-16 to just 2% in 2016-17.
It forecast an increase to 2.8% and 2.7% in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.
Bureau of Statistics figures show annual economic growth is currently 3%.
Deloitte director Chris Richardson said Treasury and Finance could choose to “play safe” in this budget by failing to make its revenue and spending forecasts more realistic.
“But if they do, the Australian electorate will once again be surprised when the federal budget remains just as broken as today,” he said.This might not be a traditional stir fry but it’s delish! It’s my version of broccoli mushroom stir fry with tons and tons of green veggies and nuts. I was going to say it is vegetarian but I just realized it’s vegan. Even better.
I used all ingredients I usually have on hand – walnuts (I buy pieces because they are cheaper), frozen peas and broccoli. I don’t usually have portobello mushrooms on hand but this time I did. They are meaty and add a lot of flavour.
MY LATEST RECIPES MY LATEST RECIPES
Even 6 months ago both of my boys wouldn’t go near mushrooms. Now, we eat them no problem because I just kept offering and wouldn’t give up.
This stir fry was delish! Crunchy, with satisfying umami flavour and filling.8.17am BST
The biographies of those who have been killed in the siege are emerging in greater detail. One of the most important hubs in sub Saharan Africa, the Kenyan capital attracts tourists, merchants, aid workers and diplomatic missions from around the globe. Unsurprisingly, for an attack on a luxury retail complex, those killed have come from many different countries.
AP have compiled the latest details by country basis which we can not independently verify:
INDIA
Two Indians, 8-year-old Parmashu Jain and 40-year-old Sridhar Natarajan, were killed, and four others were wounded in the attack, an external affairs ministry spokesman said.
BRITAIN
At least three U.K. nationals were killed in the attack, according to the Foreign Office, which warned the number of such fatalities is "likely to rise as further information becomes available."
FRANCE
Two French women were killed, president Francois Hollande said.
SOUTH AFRICA
One South African citizen was killed, according to the country's international relations department.
CANADA
Two Canadians, including a diplomat, died in the attack, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He paid tribute to the victims and noted the loss of diplomat Annemarie Desloges, who served in Canada's High Commission to Kenya as a liaison officer with the Canada Border Services Agency. Her spouse Robert Munk was wounded in the attack, but has since been released from the hospital, the Canadian Press reported.
GHANA
Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor died after being injured in the attack, the West African country's presidential office said. In addition to his writings, Awoonor was a professor and served as an ambassador in Brazil, Cuba and at the U.N.
THE NETHERLANDS
A 33-year-old Dutch woman died in the attack and seven other Dutch citizens who were in the mall escaped unharmed, Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said. The victim's identity wasn't immediately released.
CHINA
A 38-year-old Chinese woman with the surname Zhou who worked in the real estate industry was killed in the attack, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. Her son was injured in the attack and was in stable condition in a hospital, according to the Chinese Embassy in Kenya.
U.S.
Ruhila Adatia-Sood, wife of Ketan Sood, a foreign service national working for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Nairobi was killed, USAID said in a press statement. She was a popular radio and TV personality in Kenya. Five American citizens were injured, U.S. officials said.
NEW ZEALAND
Andrew McLaren, 34, a New Zealander who manages a factory in Kenya for the avocado oil company Olivado, was wounded in the attack, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed. He was hospitalzed in stable condition.
AUSTRALIA
A dual Australian-British citizen was killed, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. It was not clear whether this victim was included among the Britons killed.Tweet
Între știrile zilei de ieri, una care a dat „turul Internetului” a fost cea despre incidentul feroviar de la Radomirești, unde un tren de călători „s-a rupt” cum se spune în limbaj feroviar. Mai precis sistemul de cuplare dintre locomotivă și primul vagon a cedat la momentul la care trenul IR 1696 se afla în mers spre București. Ceea ce mi-a atras atenția la comentariile despre această știre a fost prezentarea răutăcioasă a acestui incident feroviar în cheia că mecanicii nu au observat că au pierdut vagoanele și și-au continuat drumul, revenind după vagoane abia după o oră. Aserțiunea aceasta este atât de absurdă încât mă așteptam ca CFR Călători sau CFR Infrastructură să vină cu explicații tehnice prin care să arate că așa ceva este pur și simplu imposibil. Și că situația a fost cu totul alta. Din păcate cele două companii s-au mulțumit doar să dea asigurări că pe întreg parcursul incidentului călătorii au fost în siguranță. Prin urmare încerc să explic eu.
Întâi de toate, sistemele tehnice cedează. Și nu cedează doar dacă sunt vechi și prost întreținute, ci cedează și dacă sunt noi și extrem de bine întreținute. În caz că știrea v-a scăpat, tot ieri la București a aterizat de urgență un Airbus A330 al KLM, după ce la bordul avionului a fost semnalat un consum exagerat de ulei la unul dintre motoare, ceea ce sugera o scurgere. Avionul are doar trei ani de exploatare. Un avion excepțional, operat de o companie de excepție, care excelează în calitatea întreținerii într-o industrie în care conceptul de întreținere și continuă verificare este de execepție. Și totuși, ceva a cedat.
Sigur că proasta întreținere amplifică rata căderilor, adică frecvența defectelor. Și sigur că România este campioană la a neglija întreținerea infrstructurii și a rețelelor de transport. Dar nu există nicăieri în lume sistem tehnic cu rată de căderi zero, așa cum nu există perpetuum mobile. Ceea ce contează prin urmare este procedura de revenire la normal în urma defectării.
În cazul trenurilor, cuplările dintre vagoane sunt între cele mai solicitate sisteme. Deloc întâmplător, șuruburile și lanțurile de cuplare sunt din oțeluri înalt aliate, capabile să reziste la efortul extrem de mare la care sunt supuse continuu. Din nou evident, cea mai solicitată cuplă dintr-un un tren este cea dintre locomotivă și primul vagon, pentru că prin acea cuplă locomotiva trage de toate cele n vagoane ale trenului. Prin cupla dintre primul și al doilea vagon se trag doar n-1 vagoane, prin cea dintre al doilea și al treilea vagon se trag doar n-2 vagoane și tot așa până când efortul în cupla dintre ultimile două vagoane este tracțiunea unui singur vagon, a ultimului. Firesc deci că dacă este să cedeze o cuplă la un tren, atunci cel mai probabil – nu obligatoriu – cedează prima.
Ruperea trenului, deși neplăcută, este un incident spefic și relativ frecvent la calea ferată din întreaga lume. Trenuri se rup și în Germania, și în Elveția, și în Marea Britanie. Ceea ce este atipic este ca un astfel de incident să se întâmple la trenurile de călători. Nu pentru că acestea ar fi mai bune, ci pentru că sunt mai ușoare. Un vagon de călători are greutate proprie de 40t, la care se adaugă 6-10t de încărcătură (pasageri și bagaje). Deci maxim 50t per vagon, garniturile având 5-10 vagoane. Adică maxim 400t un tren de opt vagoane precum IR 1696 rupt la Radomirești. În schimb la trenurile de marfă un vagon pe 4 osii are uzual o greutate proprie de 10-20t, dar la care se adaugă până la 60t de încărcătură. Ceea ce înseamnă un total aproape dublu față de un vagon de călători, trenurile de marfă având în mod uzual peste 1000t și ajungând normal la 2-3000t în România. Iar toată această greutate este trasă de șurubul de numai 10cm diametru care leagă locomotiva de primul vagon.
Cauzele ruperii unui tren pot fi multe, de la |
jewels, rings and necklaces. Around her waist is a girdle belt with a long beaded chain which has a small pomander at the end, filled with perfume or herbs. Ready for the spectacle that would have been, the court of King Henry VIII.
Zarrina BullShimano has just unveiled Tiagra-level hydraulic disc brakes (called BR-RS405 brakes) for the first time, extending its hydro braking further down the lineup and making it more accessible than ever before.
You now get to choose between four Shimano road disc brake models: Ultegra-level and 105-level hydraulic disc brakes, these new Tiagra-level hydraulic disc brakes, plus the Sora-level mechanical disc brakes that were launched a few weeks ago.
Tiagra sits below Ultegra and 105 and above Sora in the Shimano road groupset hierarchy.
Read Everything You Need to Know About Disc Brakes.
The BR-RS405 has a flat-mount calliper and a mechanical hydraulic shifting lever (ST-RS405), meaning that the shifting is mechanical (as opposed to electronic which is only available for the road in the Dura-Ace and Ultegra groupsets so far) and the braking is hydraulic.
The lever shape looks very much like that of the existing 11-speed 105 hydraulic lever, although the BR-RS405 lever is 10-speed rather than 11-speed. Tiagra is currently Shimano's only 10-speed road system.
The SM-RT81-S/SS rotors are available in 140mm and 160mm diameters and feature Shimano’s existing Ice Technology that’s designed to dissipate heat and provide more braking power.
“Shifting through Tiagra’s 10 gears with the combined gear and brake unit is ergonomically pleasing for multiple hand sizes thanks to the smooth surface of the hood and the enclosed mechanism within,” says Shimano.
“VIVID Index Shifting on the 10-speed shifting system equates to a light shifting effort with a defined click engagement, so you always know you’re in the right gear. Furthermore, the reach of the lever can be adjusted by up to 10mm, providing added comfort.”
The BR-RS405 brakes use the same set up and maintenance procedures as Shimano’s other hydraulic brakes.
Shimano’s BR-RS405 hydraulic road disc brakes will be available from July. The price has yet to be set.
For reference, a pair of Shimano 105-level ST-RS505 STI levers with RS505 callipers has an RRP of £399.99 (although you can find them cheaper), so you can expect an RS405 setup to be cheaper than that.
This chart shows a comparison of Shimano’s road disc brake systems:
www.shimano.co.ukCoinMarketCap
I recently developed an interest for cryptocurrencies. It takes some time to get familiar with all the technologies involved but I’m enjoying the ride so far
To follow the market, there are plenty of services and websites available. One of the most popular platform is CoinMarketCap. In addition to provide a clean interface, they offer a nice api to interact with the data of each coins.
So I figure, why not make a small PowerShell module wrapped around the coinmarketcap API.
The source of the module are available on Github here: https://github.com/lazywinadmin/CoinMarketCap
Installation
You can retrieve and install the module from the PowerShell Gallery.
# Install the module from the PowerShell Gallery Install-Module -Name CoinMarketCap
Usage
Get a Cryptocurrency information
# Retrieve Bitcoin information Get-Coin -CoinId bitcoin
As you may know you don’t need to specify the verb Get- in powershell for most of the Cmdlets and functions declared in your sessions (Does not work with process as far as i know, probably because of the existing process {} block)
So you can simply use the following syntax
# Retrieve Bitcoin information Coin btc
Example of output:
id : bitcoin name : Bitcoin symbol : BTC rank : 1 price_usd : 5923.98 price_btc : 1.0 24h_volume_usd : 8592590000.0 market_cap_usd : 98789398264.0 available_supply : 16676187.0 total_supply : 16676187.0 max_supply : 21000000.0 percent_change_1h : -3.27 percent_change_24h : -7.17 percent_change_7d : -20.74 last_updated : 1510520351
Show the Cryptocurrency web page
Many things are not available using the API, so I added a switch -Online to open the page of the CryptoCurrency you specified. This is a bit similar to Get-Help Get-Process -Online.
# Retrieve Cardano coin information Get-Coin ada -Online
Retrieve all the existing coins
Get-CoinID
And you get the top 100
id name symbol rank -- ---- ------ ---- bitcoin Bitcoin BTC 1 ethereum Ethereum ETH 2 bitcoin-cash Bitcoin Cash BCH 3 ripple Ripple XRP 4 litecoin Litecoin LTC 5 bitcoin-gold Bitcoin Gold BTG 6 dash Dash DASH 7 iota IOTA MIOTA 8 cardano Cardano ADA 9 monero Monero XMR 10 ethereum-classic Ethereum Classic ETC 11 neo NEO NEO 12 nem NEM XEM 13 stellar Stellar Lumens XLM 14 eos EOS EOS 15 qtum Qtum QTUM 16 zcash Zcash ZEC 17 omisego OmiseGO OMG 18 lisk Lisk LSK 19 hshare Hshare HSR 20 tether Tether USDT 21 waves Waves WAVES 22 bitconnect BitConnect BCC 23 stratis Stratis STRAT 24 populous Populous PPT 25 bitshares BitShares BTS 26 decred Decred DCR 27 ardor Ardor ARDR 28 bytecoin-bcn Bytecoin BCN 29 ark Ark ARK 30 augur Augur REP 31 komodo Komodo KMD 32 monacoin MonaCoin MONA 33 steem Steem STEEM 34 tenx TenX PAY 35 golem-network-tokens Golem GNT 36 dogecoin Dogecoin DOGE 37 maidsafecoin MaidSafeCoin MAID 38 digixdao DigixDAO DGD 39 pivx PIVX PIVX 40 exchange-union Exchange Union XUC 41 veritaseum Veritaseum VERI 42 vertcoin Vertcoin VTC 43 factom Factom FCT 44 siacoin Siacoin SC 45 salt SALT SALT 46 power-ledger Power Ledger POWR 47 nxt Nxt NXT 48 raiden-network-token Raiden Network Token RDN 49 basic-attention-token Basic Attention Token BAT 50 binance-coin Binance Coin BNB 51 bitcoindark BitcoinDark BTCD 52 gas Gas GAS 53 byteball Byteball Bytes GBYTE 54 status Status SNT 55 tron TRON TRX 56 kyber-network Kyber Network KNC 57 syscoin Syscoin SYS 58 iconomi Iconomi ICN 59 zcoin ZCoin XZC 60 walton Walton WTC 61 metaverse Metaverse ETP ETP 62 gamecredits GameCredits GAME 63 aeternity Aeternity AE 64 gnosis-gno Gnosis GNO 65 gxshares GXShares GXS 66 bytom Bytom BTM 67 digibyte DigiByte DGB 68 ethos Ethos ETHOS 69 blocknet Blocknet BLOCK 70 civic Civic CVC 71 funfair FunFair FUN 72 bancor Bancor BNT 73 0x 0x ZRX 74 metal Metal MTL 75 pura Pura PURA 76 cryptonex Cryptonex CNX 77 einsteinium Einsteinium EMC2 78 verge Verge XVG 79 singulardtv SingularDTV SNGLS 80 lykke Lykke LKK 81 storj Storj STORJ 82 minexcoin MinexCoin MNX 83 zencash ZenCash ZEN 84 adx-net AdEx ADX 85 quantstamp Quantstamp QSP 86 vechain VeChain VEN 87 counterparty Counterparty XCP 88 ubiq Ubiq UBQ 89 streamr-datacoin Streamr DATAcoin DATA 90 substratum Substratum SUB 91 aragon Aragon ANT 92 nexus Nexus NXS 93 particl Particl PART 94 santiment Santiment Network Token SAN 95 bitbay BitBay BAY 96 nav-coin NAV Coin NAV 97 edgeless Edgeless EDG 98 monaco Monaco MCO 99 feathercoin Feathercoin FTC 100
Get global market data
Get-CoinGlobal
total_market_cap_usd : 194757913663.0 total_24h_volume_usd : 22536410182.0 bitcoin_percentage_of_market_cap : 50.96 active_currencies : 900 active_assets : 372 active_markets : 6513 last_updated : 1510520660
Get the Historical data of a currency
This one was a bit tricky. CoinMarketCap does not offer an API for that. However I noticed that when you search for set of data with a start and end date you get an url that look like this https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cardano/historical-data/?start=20171101&end=20171105
Finally I can easily parse the page to retrieve the table. I’m using the code from Lee Holmes.
Get-CoinHistory -Begin '20171101' -End '20171105' -CoinId ada
Date : Nov 11, 2017 Open : 298.59 High : 319.45 Low : 298.19 Close : 314.68 Volume : 842,301,000 Market Cap : 28,559,400,000 Date : Nov 10, 2017 Open : 320.67 High : 324.72 Low : 294.54 Close : 299.25 Volume : 885,986,000 Market Cap : 30,665,200,000 Date : Nov 09, 2017 Open : 308.64 High : 329.45 Low : 307.06 Close : 320.88 Volume : 893,250,000 Market Cap : 29,509,000,000 Date : Nov 08, 2017 Open : 294.27 High : 318.70 Low : 293.10 Close : 309.07 Volume : 967,956,000 Market Cap : 28,128,700,000 Date : Nov 07, 2017 Open : 298.57 High : 304.84 Low : 290.77 Close : 294.66 Volume : 540,766,000 Market Cap : 28,533,300,000 Date : Nov 06, 2017 Open : 296.43 High : 305.42 Low : 293.72 Close : 298.89 Volume : 579,359,000 Market Cap : 28,322,700,000 Date : Nov 05, 2017 Open : 300.04 High : 301.37 Low : 295.12 Close : 296.26 Volume : 337,658,000 Market Cap : 28,661,500,000 Date : Nov 04, 2017 Open : 305.48 High : 305.48 Low : 295.80 Close : 300.47 Volume : 416,479,000 Market Cap : 29,175,300,000 Date : Nov 03, 2017 Open : 288.50 High : 308.31 Low : 287.69 Close : 305.71 Volume : 646,340,000 Market Cap : 27,547,400,000 Date : Nov 02, 2017 Open : 290.73 High : 293.91 Low : 281.17 Close : 287.43 Volume : 904,901,000 Market Cap : 27,754,200,000 Date : Nov 01, 2017 Open : 305.76 High : 306.40 Low : 290.58 Close : 291.69 Volume : 553,864,000 Market Cap : 29,183,600,000
Let me know what you think and feel free to contribute to the module by using the issues and pull requests.Kentucky guard and former five-star prospect Hamidou Diallo announced Sunday that he is declaring for the NBA Draft without hiring an agent -- a development that could leave the Wildcats even more inexperienced than most have projected.
"I want to see where my game is and explore my options," Diallo said via Twitter. "I just want to keep all doors open."
Diallo is eligible for the 2017 NBA Draft -- even though he has never played a game in college -- because he graduated from high school in May 2016. The 6-foot-5 guard enrolled at Kentucky in January and practiced with the team but never played. He was a consensus top-10 prospect in the Class of 2017 before enrolling at UK.
"He'd be a first-round pick if he stays in [the draft]," an NBA scout told CBS Sports on Sunday.
Diallo is the sixth Kentucky player to declare for the NBA Draft. Malik Monk, De'Aaron Fox, Isaiah Briscoe and Isaac Humphries have already announced they are hiring an agent and eliminating the possibility of returning to school. Bam Adebayo and Diallo have not yet retained representation. Consequently they have until May 24 to withdraw from the NBA Draft and return to Kentucky.Video
Who said girls want to dress in pink and play with dolls, especially when they could be building Rube Goldberg machines instead?
That is the message of a video that has gone viral, viewed more than 6.4 million times since it was posted Monday on YouTube — an ad for GoldieBlox, a start-up toy company that sells games and books to encourage girls to become engineers.
In the ad, three girls are bored watching princesses in pink on TV. So they grab a tool kit, goggles and hard hats and set to work building a machine that sends pink teacups and baby dolls flying through the house, using umbrellas, ladders and, of course, GoldieBlox toys.
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The ad has become a hot topic of conversation on social media, generating discussion about a much broader issue: the dearth of women in the technology and engineering fields, where just a quarter of technical jobs are held by women.
“I’ve been so excited to watch this wave,” said Rachel Sklar, an advocate for women in technology and co-founder of TheLi.st, a digital media company for women. “It really does highlight that this gap is not that little girls aren’t interested in it, it really is a function of ‘you can’t be what you can’t see.’ ”
Cindy Gallop, who started the United States branch of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the advertising agency, said the ad also illustrated how advertising created by and for women and girls is powerful because women share so frequently on social media and control most purchases. Yet ad agencies are predominantly men, she said, and the men in ads are generally heroic and funny while women are sidekicks or homemakers.
“I tell marketers and the ad industry, ‘When you want a video to go viral, this is what you do, you talk to women and girls and you talk to them in the right kind of way,’ ” Ms. Gallop said. “This ad is the absolute paradigm.”
The ad is set to the tune of “Girls” by the Beastie Boys, a decidedly anti-feminist ballad with lyrics that the ad’s creators rewrote.
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The Beastie Boys sang, “Girls to do the dishes/Girls to clean up my room/Girls to do the laundry/Girls and in the bathroom/Girls, that’s all I really want is girls.”
One of the actresses in the ad sings: “Girls build a spaceship/Girls code the new app/Girls that grow up knowing/That they can engineer that/Girls, that’s all we really need is girls/To bring us up to speed it’s girls/Our opportunity is girls/Don’t underestimate girls.”
“I thought back to my childhood with the princesses and the ponies and wondered why construction toys and math and science kits are for boys,” Debbie Sterling, founder and chief executive of GoldieBlox, said in an interview. “We wanted to create a cultural shift and close the gender gap and fill some of these jobs that are growing at the speed of light.”
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In 2010, women earned just 18 percent of computer science degrees, down from 37 percent in 1985, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology. Analysts say the low numbers are partly because girls are not encouraged to pursue science as often or as enthusiastically as boys.
Ms. Sterling started the company two years ago, after graduating with a degree in product design from the mechanical engineering department at Stanford, where she was disappointed that there were not more women in her classes. She then worked in design and marketing.
GoldieBlox did not work with an ad agency on the video. GoldieBlox’s small team, based in Oakland, Calif., conceived the ad over Mexican food a few months ago and produced it and wrote the song. The ad was directed by the Academy, a group of filmmakers in Los Angeles. Brett Doar, an artist who specializes in making machines, created the Rube Goldberg machine.
The ad premiered on YouTube and is not scheduled to appear on TV. (GoldieBlox is a finalist, though, for an Intuit contest to pay for a Super Bowl commercial.) The company has relied on the Internet for other parts of its business, too, raising its initial capital on Kickstarter and benefiting from promotions on Upworthy, a site that posts content with a social mission.
GoldieBlox toys join others on the shelf aimed at encouraging girls to build things and consider engineering. Lego sells a pink set with a girl character, and Mattel introduced a computer engineer Barbie that wears high heels and carries a hot pink laptop.
Yet the pink-washing of those toys, including the toys from GoldieBlox, has been criticized for feeding into the same stereotypes about girls that the ad aims to knock down. One GoldieBlox kit is to build a belt drive — which is pink. Another is to build a parade float for princesses to ride. On Wednesday, they were the top-selling toys on Amazon.com.
Ms. Sterling said she did not believe pink was bad, but that girls should be encouraged to be confident and inventive. She added that new toys were in development.
“It’s O.K. to be a princess,” she said. “We just think girls can build their own castles too.”BEIRUT – Residents of Homs's Zahraa heckled the province's governor when he attempted to visit the Alawite-populated quarter following a devastating terror attack.
A video posted Sunday on popular pro-regime Facebook pages based in Homs showed the angry crowd turning against Governor Talal Barazi and Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar, who was off camera.
Zahraa residents lash out at Governor Talal Barazi. (YouTube/Orient News)
"We haven't got anyone left minister, our lives have been ruined," a member of the crowd could be heard shouting at Shaar, in the video shot hours after twin blasts killed over 50 people in Homs's Zahraa, the 20th such explosion to rock the mainly Alawite district.
Barazi tried to interject as angry residents swore and cursed, calling on the crowd to "just calm down for a moment."
"May God have mercy upon him… by God you are right," he could be heard saying before entering his car and leaving the site.
The crowd then began chanting "the people want the downfall of the governor," echoing the slogan "the people want the downfall of the regime" which was popularized by the Arab Spring protests of 2011.
Zahraa residents have held a series of protests and sit-ins since two ISIS-claimed bombs killed 26 people in the district on January 26. Demonstrators have vented their anger over regime security lapses amid the terror wave and called for the resignation of Barazi as well as local Baath Party chief Subhi Harb.
On January 28, Homs security council chief Louay Maala was removed from his post—as the demonstrators had demanded—however the move was not enough to assuage growing resentment over the perceived rampant corruption of local officials and impunity of well-connected criminals operating in the city.
Shortly after Sunday's terror attack in Zahraa, a Facebook page representing the views of regime supporters in the central province wrote: "Homs will not feel comfortable until the governor is replaced."
"From the day of the Akrameh bombing [on October 1, 2014] to today three security committee chiefs have been replaced and the bombings haven't stopped," the angry post on Homs al-Assad News Network said, adding that the security re-shuffles had been meaningless because "the head of corruption is still present," in a reference to the under-fire governor.
A subsequent post on the Facebook page also reiterated locals' anger at the governor for his involvement in the January 2016 Al-Waer truce that granted safe passage for rebels in the besieged Homs district.
"What does it have to do with the governor when he organizes a suspicious reconciliation with the killers of Al-Waer," the post read.
"What does it have to do with the governor when he jumps from screen to screen lying and misleading [people] with information that is devoid of truth!!!"
While pro-Assad Facebook pages reporting on events in Homs have expressed their backing for the protest movement, state media outlets have tended to steer clear of mentioning the specific demands made by the demonstrators.× Wildlife Warden Rescues Two Elderly Women and 11-Month-Old Girl Trapped by Valley Fire
A California Department of Fish and Wildlife warden who was working as part of a mutual aid patrol in support of the Valley Fire in Northern California was being called a hero Friday for risking his life to save two elderly women and an 11-month-old girl who were trapped by the flames.
Warden Timothy Little was patrolling in the small town of Cobb, when he heard an emergency radio call that an elderly woman was trapped with her baby granddaughter in her home and needed immediate rescue, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
After learning that other units were unable to respond because of fire and debris in the roadway, Little headed toward the home, a news release from the CDFW stated.
“Driving his four-wheel drive patrol vehicle through raging fire and burning road hazards, he found and entered the home, where he located an elderly woman trapped in the house with her 11-month-old granddaughter,” the release stated.
Little was able to get both out of harm’s way just minutes before fire destroyed the home, CDFW officials said.
Shortly afterward, Little responded to a call in the neighboring town of Anderson Springs where another elderly woman needed help.
He arrived to find the woman trapped on the second floor, unable to walk. Little carried her down a flight of stairs to a civilian vehicle and escorted them out of immediate danger, the release stated.
“The entire department is incredibly proud of every warden in the field who is supporting efforts to fight the raging wildfires in northern California,” said CDFW Chief of Patrol David Bess. “Tim Little’s bravery and courage are a credit to both CDFW and the State of California.”From the moment Barack Obama began contemplating a presidential run, conservatives saw one thing about him they didn't like a bit: his wife. She had a career of her own. The way she kidded her husband about his morning breath suggested that theirs might actually be a marriage of equals. And most of all, she was black. Way, way too black.
So it shouldn't have surprised anyone when a phony story started making the email and Internet rounds claiming that a videotape existed of Michelle Obama giving a speech in which she supposedly said something or other about "whitey." When asked about it, she told The New York Times, "I mean, 'whitey'? That's something that George Jefferson would say." And who else says "whitey"? Virtually no one under the age of 60 -- the term is a relic of the 1960s, that primordial ooze from which all cultural conflict continues to seep.
Let's remember why some conservatives were briefly so enamored of Barack Obama: in right-wing eminence grise William Bennett's words, "he never brings race into it." But in most of the conservative movement, race was never out of it. While the Jeremiah Wright controversy failed to convince sufficient numbers of Americans that Barack is an Angry Black Man, there was still an option open to stoke the fires of racial resentment. Michelle Obama could become the Angry Black Woman.
She's angry, angry, angry, they said. Christoper Hitchens pored over the thesis she wrote as a 21-year-old college student to ferret out a secret crush on Stokely Carmichael. The far-right "news" site World Net Daily ran a column titled, "Michelle Obama: Angry Black Harridan." Michelle Malkin wrote, "Barack Obama better hope his bitter half has a change of attitude if she expects to assume the title of first lady in November." A columnist at the conservative site Townhall.com called Michelle a "nasty, bitter, openly racist ingrate."
Does Michelle talk about how many people are having difficulty paying their bills? She must be angry at America. Does she mention on the stump that she and her husband finished paying off their student loans not long ago, plainly an attempt to convince voters that they are regular folks who know about economic challenges? Conservative writer Byron York says, "she appears to be still outraged -- at this late date -- by the fact that she had to take out loans to attend Princeton and Harvard Law School... She appears to have begun the presidential race in an angry mood, and, despite her husband's extraordinary success, it looks like she'll finish it angry, too."
York's employer, the National Review, put Michelle on the cover of its magazine, using the most angry-looking photo they could find, under the headline, "Mrs. Grievance." (A month later, a National Review cover story on Trinity United, the Obamas' former church, proclaimed it "arguably the most radical black church in the country." Given that there are around 70,000 black churches in the United States just in predominantly black denominations (see page 61 here), one wonders just how author Stanley Kurtz came to that assessment.)
And just whom do they want people to believe Michelle is angry at? You. Her "grievance" is all about making you feel guilty. Her gender and her race together form an arrow pointed at the heart of the white American man, that perennially put-upon character, always on the run from his oppressors. After surviving the 1990s, in which an actual career woman served as first lady, then seeing that same terrifying woman nearly become the Democratic nominee for president, he is now confronted with yet another spouse who is obviously more than a demure helpmate to her husband.
So Michelle is poised to become Hillary-plus, with all of her predecessor's imagined ability to literally destroy the manhood of those she encounters, and the fury of a prior generation's black nationalist movement hidden behind her smile. Before long, we'll no doubt see a Michelle Obama version of the Hillary Nutcracker, and images of her as a Black Panther, ready to incite riots and rampage through the "good" neighborhoods with murder on her mind. As one McCain supporter told Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, "If Michelle Obama really doesn't like it here in America, I'd be very pleased to raise the money to send her back to Africa."
Some will protest that it's only one of these villains they fear but not the other. MSNBC's Tucker Carlson not long ago proclaimed his disapproval of Michelle Obama, because "she's got a chip on her shoulder." But lest you think Carlson is feeling threatened, he went on: "I don't think it's a question of a strong personality. I know that I like strong personalities, particularly in women. I'm married to one. I like that. I just don't like the sense that she has a sense of aggrievement." His protestation that he likes strong personalities in women might be more believable were it not delivered by someone who has on more than one occasion said about Hillary Clinton, "When she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs."
Carlson is hardly the only one whose masculinity is so tenuous that the mere sight of a powerful woman on television demands that he double over in fear, lest she fire her laser beams of emasculation and reduce his testicles to dust. Indeed, there are millions who feel the same way. These are the men who form the foundation of the gender gap. For them, expanding gender equality is a source of continuous displeasure and unease, feelings the GOP has always sought to inflame, after which they offer themselves as the soothing balm. The Republicans work overtime to assure voters that their standard-bearers will uphold traditional gender roles, with the womenfolk knowing just what their place is. George W. Bush play-acted as a cowboy, drawing on that key American archetype in which men protect women with their bravery and quick-draw skills. Thankfully for her, Laura was never forced to do the laundry at the "ranch" with a bucket and washboard, but she might as well have.
For his part, John McCain never stops reminding us that he is a military man, and one from an era when the idea of women in uniform was laughable. His wife Cindy seems to have undergone the same Stepford reengineering that produced Laura Bush, complete with loving gazes and an immovable smile. You'd never know that she actually runs a company worth an estimated $250 million.
Which might suggest that if you're a woman married to a man who wants to be president, the best thing to do is pretend you neither have, nor ever harbored hopes of having, a career. But there's not much you can do about your skin color -- nobody is going to be calling Cindy her husband's "baby mama". What you want to be, above all, is gentle and timid. Not your own person, with your own ideas and ambitions. Not a threat to anyone.Jeff Passan has a piece at Yahoo! Sports in which he says the "vast majority" of the players who are being investigated in connection to Biogenesis, and who would be subject to punishment from MLB as a result, "plan on accepting suspensions of at least 50 games."
Passan specifically mentions Ranger outfielder Nelson Cruz as a player who has a power incentive to cut a deal. Cruz is a free agent after the season, and by cutting a deal, he can get his suspension served now and not jeopardize his potential free agency payday by having a suspension that would be served in 2014, and potentially be dealing with a longer suspension.
A Cruz suspension would be another significant blow to a Ranger team that is currently reeling. Suspensions are expected to be announced later this week, and Jon Daniels has indicated that he doesn't expect the Rangers to make a deal to add a position player before Wednesday's trade deadline.
That would leave the Rangers in a situation where they would be trying to catch the Indians and Orioles -- the two teams ahead of them in the race for the second Wild Card spot -- with an outfield consisting of a David Murphy/Jeff Baker platoon in left field, a Craig Gentry/Engel Beltre platoon in center field, Leonys Martin in right field, and Jurickson Profar as the DH.
That's a problematic lineup.
UPDATE -- Jim Bowden has a tweet on the subject:Call for papers: Ray Tracing Gems
Eric Haines dropped us a line to let us know that there is still time to submit proposals to Ray Tracing Gems, with the final deadline being final October 15th 2018.
Eric also commented "They don't have to be about DXR, they could be survey or reference articles, or general principles worth writing down in one spot. We hope people will contact us informally about ideas for proposals before the paper deadline."
POV-Ray 3.7.1 enters beta phase
POV-Ray 3.7.1 has officially entered public beta testing phase.
Source code and a Windows installer can be found on our GitHub repository. For more information and feedback please visit the povray.beta-test newsgroup (also accessible via our web interface).
An unofficial Mac version can once again be found on megapov.inetart.net.
Converting POV-Ray scenes into 3D-printable STL meshes
Former POV-Ray developer and team coordinator Chris Young has been working with 3D printing in recent times and wanted to be able to convert a POV-Ray scene into something that he could touch & feel. This isn't as easy as it sounds since POV-Ray works with solids but consumer 3D printers expect triangle meshes.
He has written a blog post explaining the issue and how he approached it, and another interesting and quite detailed post explaining the process he used to get from.POV to.STL.
Chris has made his pov2mesh code available on GitHub under the Creative Commons license.
POV-Ray turns 25 (or 30)
It was "back in 1986 or so" that David K. Buck started work on DKBTrace, and it was in July 1991 that the first version of its successor project saw the light of day. What was then called STAR-Light, and later renamed to PV-Ray and ultimately POV-Ray, has therefore been on this planet for a whopping 9,190 (or 11,000) revolutions by now (plus another guesstimated 150 above it). Of course we faithfully continue our effort to keep it that way, and although this website has been rather silent since the official release of POV-Ray 3.7.0 in November 2013, that's only because work has been proceeding elsewhere:
Ever since the 3.7.0 release, development has been revolving around or GitHub repository.
Pre-release builds are also published there, on a semi-irregular basis, in the releases section.
The most up-to-date documentation is being maintained on our Wiki.
Python modeller for POV-Ray
As an alternative to POV-Ray's inbuilt scene description language, Laurent Evian has developed the free "Pycao" tool to describe scenes using the Python language. For details, see Laurent's website.[August 31, 2016]
Routing problems for some users in Sweden and Finland
We've become aware that since late November 2015 some visitors in the Scandinavian region have been unable to access povray.org and its related sites via their broadband connection, but find that when using a mobile connection the site works fine.
This issue affects visitors whose ISP's rely on TeliaSonera for transit or routing information (while there may be other backbone providers affected, we have not received examples other than Telia). Basically Telia are not receiving (or not accepting, we are not sure which) routing information for the network that povray.org is hosted on (203.29.75.0/24, advertised on AS6062).
At this point the matter is out of our hands as it involves backbone providers and how they exchange BGP routing information. The issue has been brought to the attention of providers in both the USA (where our network is hosted) and Sweden, and we can only wait to see if or when they will resolve it.
Please also note that affected visitors will probably not be able to successfully email us regarding the issue if they use their ISP-provided email accounts as these will generally use the same routing tables as used for general web browsing. Using GMail or other non-ISP-specific services ought to work.
We will update this post as more information becomes available.
Update: As of July/August 2016 this issue seems to have cleared up.
POV-Ray 3.7 released
POV-Ray version 3.7 has now been officially released. Please see our download page for more information.[November 08, 2013]
Lathe and Prism Utility Available
Epspline (as in Edit-Povray-SPLINE) is a utility for POV-Ray users: a simple 2D graphical editor of lathe and prism objects. Visit the website for download links, and a few samples.
Viewshed Analysis with POV-Ray
A viewshed is an area that is visible from a specific location. Viewshed analyses are a common function of most GIS software. See this blog post for more information.
POV-Ray Helps Visualize Bee Keeper Data
See this blog post to read more about how POV-Ray was used to visualize bee keeper data for Norfolk County Massachusetts.
POV-Ray, Export & View, for Mathematica
For use with Mathematica. View or animate in front-end or otherwise. Has a partially supported POV-Ray exporter. See their website for more details.
Koppi's Bullet Physics Playground
Filling containers with objects has just gotten a whole lot easier! POV-Ray users can now easily fill containers, or place many objects, with collision checking, into their scenes. The application has a rudimentary POV-Ray export feature, so some post-processing is necessary. See the website to get started!
Parallella supercomputer kickstarter nearing end
The Parallela platform seems to have potential in the future for use with raytracing as Adapteva are coming out with a double-precision version early in 2013. Given their kickstarter is approaching its end date and they are still a little bit short of their target we thought we'd mention this in case any POV users are interested in it.
Once the appropriate hardware is available the POV team will take a close look at it to see if it's a suitable target for a port of our software.
Spectral Rendering with POV-Ray
Users can now do Spectral Rendering with POV-Ray. For more details, see the contributors website for a description of how the process works, and all the Scene Description Language files that you will need to get started!
ANIMUSIC 3 kickstarter campaign in its last week
While not directly related to POV-Ray, many POV-Ray users will nevertheless be familiar with the ANIMUSIC series of renderings synced to music. Many of us think it's rather neat :-). If you've never seen their work before, check out this demo video, or the below kickstarter page (where they give a little more info about their rendering pipeline).
They are in the last week of a kickstarter campaign to enable the completion of the third release in the series, and have 75% of the funding needed. For those not familiar with kickstarter, they will only receive the pledges if they meet their target by the end of the campaign (which is September 5).
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the rest of the world in the century ahead-especially if, as seems possible, its most fanatical elements get their hands on nuclear and chemical weapons and the means to deliver them against their enemies." --Ronald Reagan
“Our task—-ordeal if you will—-is that we must make war so god awfully terrible to our enemies, and the rewards of peace and reform so humanely sweet to our friends, that the vast middle in between will have no problem choosing sides.” -- Victor Davis Hanson
“ If your opponent is quick to anger, seek to irritate him.” -- Sun Tzu
"People who don't Think probably don't have Brains; rather, they have gray fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake." Winnie the PoohWASHINGTON — Under updated policy guidance (PDF, 97 KB), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is instructing its officers to apply the same level of scrutiny to both initial petitions and extension requests for certain nonimmigrant visa categories. The guidance applies to nearly all nonimmigrant classifications filed using Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker.
“USCIS officers are at the front lines of the administration’s efforts to enhance the integrity of the immigration system,” said USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna. “This updated guidance provides clear direction to help advance policies that protect the interests of U.S. workers.”
As before, adjudicators must thoroughly review the petition and supporting evidence to determine eligibility for the benefit sought. The updated guidance instructs officers to apply the same level of scrutiny when reviewing nonimmigrant visa extension requests even where the petitioner, beneficiary and underlying facts are unchanged from a previously approved petition. While adjudicators may ultimately reach the same conclusion as in a prior decision, they are not compelled to do so as a default starting point as the burden of proof to establish eligibility for an immigration benefit always lies with the petitioner.
The previous policy instructed officers to give deference to the findings of a previously approved petition, as long as the key elements were unchanged and there was no evidence of a material error or fraud related to the prior determination. The updated policy guidance rescinds the previous policy.
Under the law, the burden of proof in establishing eligibility for the visa petition extension is on the petitioner, regardless of whether USCIS previously approved a petition. The adjudicator’s determination is based on the merits of each case, and officers may request additional evidence if the petitioner has not submitted sufficient evidence to establish eligibility.
Interim and final policy memos are official USCIS policy documents and are effective the date the memos are issued.
Learn more about our Buy American and Hire American initiatives.
For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis), Facebook(/uscis), and Instagram (@USCISThe Liberal government is asking the public to weigh in online on what it sees as 10 key national security topics, ranging from threat reduction to terrorist financing, as it moves toward amending the Anti-terrorism Act.
"We want to hear from Canadians about what needs to be fixed about the previous government's Bill C-51," announced Ralph Goodale, minister of public safety and emergency preparedness at a news conference in Edmonton on Thursday.
"I think Canadians welcome actually being engaged."
The Liberals' discussion paper outlines the government's main issues and asks the public specific questions on each topic.
The subjects are:
Accountability.
Prevention.
Threat reduction.
Domestic national security information sharing.
Passenger protect program.
Criminal Code terrorism measures.
Terrorist entity listing procedures.
Terrorist financing.
Investigative capabilities in a digital world.
Intelligence and evidence.
The consultation form includes questions such as, "What should the role of the government be in efforts to counter radicalization to violence?" and "In what circumstances, if any, should investigators have the ability to compel individuals or companies to assist with decryption?"
Goodale's department said it's also open to general feedback and people can email in with other topics of concern.
Despite much protest, controversial anti-terror Bill C-51 is now law, after being granted royal assent in 2015. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)
The public safety minister, flanked by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, stressed that the government's policy has not been set and the consultations were meant as a conversation starter.
Canadians have from Sept. 8 until Dec. 1 to weigh in online.
Goodale said that because the consultation is online "it's a low-cost endeavour."
Security balanced with rights and freedoms
During the 2015 election campaign, the Liberals promised to repeal what they called the "problematic elements" of Bill C-51, brought in under the previous Conservative government. The Liberals, then with third-party status, did vote to support the controversial anti-terrorism legislation, arguing they could change it if they took power.
Bill C-51, now known as the Anti-terrorism Act, allows Canada's intelligence agencies to share Canadians' personal information more widely with meaningful parliamentary oversight. Authorities can detain someone for up to seven days if it's believed a terrorist event may occur.
In his mandate letter, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tasked Goodale to introduce new legislation that balances security with Canadians' rights and freedoms.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the government wants to hear from Canadians about changes that need to be made to the Anti-terrorism Act. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)
The Liberal campaign platform also promised to guarantee:
That all Canadian Security Intelligence Service warrants would respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Ensure that Canadians are not limited from lawful protests and advocacy.
Sharpen the definition of terms like "terrorist propaganda."
Require the Communications Security Establishment to obtain a warrant to engage in the surveillance of Canadians.
Require a statutory review of the full Anti-Terrorism Act after three years.
More legislation coming
The Liberals have checked off some of the promises that had been on that to-do list.
After ISIS sympathizer Aaron Driver was killed by police last month in Strathroy, Ont., Goodale said the government is in the final stages of hiring a senior adviser who will spearhead an anti-terror program to counter radicalization, with a new national office opening sometime in the fall.
Following news that a six-year-old boy had been flagged on Canada's no-fly list, the Liberals announced they've created an office to assist passengers mistakenly barred from flights.
And earlier this summer the minister helped announce new legislation to create a joint oversight committee with robust powers to scrutinize national security matters.
The nine-member committee would consist of seven MPs and two senators who would have the clearance required to explore "any and every dimension of national security that they want to look at," Goodale said at the time.
Micheal Vonn, policy director for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, praised the consultations.
"Right now, we don't even have a way to meaningfully assess the efficacy and legality of Canada's national security activities. We need serious evidence-based reform, not legislative tweaking," he said in a release.Quick tips for Clearing Energy
Quick tips for clearing energy. It is a great day to share energy clearing tips with your clients and fans, as the graveyards come alive with spirit.
Black Rock
Hold a jet black rock in your right hand. Visualize all your stress flowing
effortlessly into the rock. Repeat often as needed.
Carry an extra stone in car.
Take off your shoes
Go outside and stand barefoot on the earth. Close your eyes. Feel the pulse of the mother. Visualize roots growing deep into the earth reaching
towards the river that runs inside. Give all the energy that is not yours back to the earth. She will mulch it, in oreder to grow new energy seeds.
Morning Sun
As the sun peekes over the horizon, go outside. Stand barefoot, facing the rising sun. Gently close your eyes. Feel the sunlight stream into your third eye, imagine it as a cleansing spirit shower
Salt Bath
Fill bath tub with hot water. Add 1/2 cup of sea salt, and 1/2 cup of baking soda. Optional: add herbs. Soak. When you pull the plug, let all the negative energy go down the drain.
Invocation
Ask creator to help restore you to balance. Command that all energy that is not yours be returned as white light to the source!
This exercise can be done anywhere, anytime.
Sage
Light sage bundle with a match and use the smoke to cleanse yourself and your home or office. Make sure to have a window or door open.
Share +1 Pin 536 SharesMy name is Joe McGrory, and I am a Spiderman fan. I’ve loved everything from the 90’s Spiderman animated series, where first met the character, all the way through Ultimate Spiderman and beyond.
When I was a kid, there was nothing I wanted more than to be Spiderman. Even though I didn’t live near any radioactive plants, and I’ve rarely been bitten by spiders, I checked every day to see if I had Spider powers yet. It was so cool! Climbing on walls, swinging between buildings, and fighting off bad-guys… Spiderman was everything I wanted to be. I was afraid of heights, I always took caution in doing something I might not be able to, but I was stuck as Peter Parker. Geeky, pushed around, forgotten by people… that’s all I was. But if Peter could be Spiderman, then maybe I could be too!
I followed Spiderman through every-thing I could. TV shows, toys, movies… and through some friends, even into the comic shops. It took me a while to start reading Ultimate Spiderman, but it quickly became my favorite iteration of the character. Finally, here was a Peter Parker exactly like me. He was slim and geeky, made fun of, alone, he had a hard time dealing with anger, he had a sense of humor but no one else thought it was funny… This was me in a comic book! Hell, I even had my hair about the same! Ultimate Spiderman was my chance to see what things would be like if I were a hero… because I was Peter Parker.
It wasn’t until high school that I started seeing the comics in a different way though. I was still Peter, and I still wanted nothing more than to be him, but I had my first chance to really try to be him. I was walking home with my friends late one night, when a van pulled up to a corner behind us and tried to mug us. They weren’t very good at it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t frightening. My friend and I took charge of the situation and got them to leave, keeping the girls we were with close and safe the whole time. It was the first time I really felt like a hero in my own life, and I think that’s what pushed me to a different place. I may not have had powers, but I was still able to be a hero. I couldn’t keep living life just wishing I was Spiderman… there was someone better to be. Some one who I don’t need super powers to be: Peter Parker.
As years passed, I tried harder and harder to get myself out of the selfish, lonely high school state I was in, and really push myself to be a better person. I wanted to help people, I wanted to to my best, do everything I could to make things better. However, life-time of self-doubt and wishing you could be someone else didn’t make it the easiest of things to do. I was used to people putting me down… and putting myself down! Trying to believe I could be a good person who could help… it was working completely against my nature. Still, I made it my life’s goal be real-life Peter Parker. I wouldn’t settle for less.
For years I read as Peter fought against all odds for the things he believed in and the people he loved. I watched him restrain his anger in favor of what was right and used this as my model. This was what I needed to be. And even with the Peter Parker that really inspired me to be a hero gone, the lessons don’t change. I’m sure some people would be scared away, thinking the hero’s path would only lead to death and bad-times… I don’t care. Peter Parker didn’t care up till the very end. He fought to help and protect everyone and everything he loved and believed in. That’s all I care about.
There may be a new Spiderman in the comics, and that’s just fine, he can claim it. I don’t want to be Spiderman anymore.
I want to be Peter Parker.Well, I knew that the president had said 'acts of terror,' because this had come up before, and also, I heard him that day. What Mitt Romney was going for -- and I think where he tripped himself up -- was he picked that one wrong fact. The president did call it, or refer to it in some way, as an act of terror. And so I felt as though -- and the president kept looking at me going, 'you know' -- and I thought, well, I did know then. I said he did call it an act of terror. That's what caused the applause... on this side over here, which is clearly the Obama side."
And then I said, 'you are correct that they didn't know for a couple of weeks that it wasn't related to the tape and there was no riot outside the consulate.' And then that side of the room clapped. I wasn't getting them to clap. It was meant to bring some kind of clarity to the conversation.George Osborne and his Treasury officials are gearing up for a fight. They've promised to make life difficult for the other side for the next two weeks. The unlikely opponents are the team of economists visiting from the IMF for a regular policy review.
Why has this routine meeting, which would hardly be noticed outside professional circles, become a confrontation? Because the IMF has recently dropped its support for the chancellor's austerity policy and repeatedly urged him to rethink it. It even said he was "playing with fire" in refusing to change course.
This is an astonishing development. For in the past three decades the IMF has been the standard-bearer for austerity. Back in 1997 it even forced South Korea – with an existing budget surplus and one of the smallest public debts in the world (as a proportion of GDP) – to cut government spending. Only when the policy turned what was already the biggest recession in the country's history into a catastrophe, with more than 100 firms going bankrupt every day for five months, did it do an embarrassing U-turn and allow a budget deficit to develop.
Given this history, being told by the IMF to go easy on austerity is like being told by the Spanish Inquisition to be more tolerant of heretics. The chancellor and his team should be worried.
If even the IMF doesn't approve, why is the UK government persisting with a policy that is clearly not working? Or, for that matter, why is the same policy pushed through across Europe? A certain dead economist would have said it is because the government is "in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor". Dead right.
Current policies in the UK and other European countries are really about making poor people pay for the mistakes of the rich. Millions of poor people have lost their jobs and the support they received through welfare, but how many of those top bankers who caused the crisis have suffered – except for a cancelled knighthood here and a partially returned pension pot there? If anyone has suffered in the financial industry, it is its poorer members – junior analysts who lost their jobs and tellers who are working longer hours for shrinking real wages.
In case you were wondering, it wasn't Karl Marx who wrote the words that I quoted above. He would have never put it so crudely. His version, delivered with typical panache, was that the "executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie". No, those damning words came from Adam Smith, the supposed patron saint of free-market economics.
To Smith and Marx, the class bias of the state was plain to see. They lived at a time when only the rich had votes (if there were elections at all) and so there were few checks on the extent to which they could dictate government policy.
With the subsequent broadening of suffrage, ultimately to every adult, the class nature of the state has been significantly diluted. The welfare state, regulations on monopoly, consumer protection, and protection of worker rights are all things that have been established only because of this political change. Democracy, despite its limitations, is in the end the only way to ensure that policies do not simply benefit the privileged few.
This is, of course, exactly why free-market economists and others who are on the side of the rich have been so negative about democracy. In the old days, free-market economists strongly opposed universal suffrage on the grounds that it would destroy capitalism: poor people would elect politicians who would appropriate the means of the rich and give handouts to the poor, they argued, completely destroying incentives for wealth creation.
Once universal suffrage was introduced, they could not openly oppose democracy. So they started criticising "politics" in general. Politicians, it was argued, would adopt policies that maximised their chances of re-election but damaged the economy – printing money, handing out favours to powerful monopolies, and increasing social welfare spending for the poor. Politicians needed to be prevented from making important policy decisions, the argument went.
On this advice, since the 1980s, many countries have ring-fenced the most important policy areas to keep politicians out. Independent central banks (such as the European Central Bank), independent regulatory agencies (such as Ofcom and Ofgem) and strict rules on government spending and deficits (such as the "balanced budget" rule) have been introduced.
In particularly difficult economic times, it was even argued, we need to insulate economic policies from politics altogether. Latin American military dictatorships were justified in such terms. The recent imposition of "technocratic" governments, made up of economists and bankers who have not been "tainted" by politics, on Greece and Italy comes from the same intellectual stable.
What free-market economists are not telling us is that the politics they want to get rid of are none other than those of democracy itself. When they say we need to insulate economic policies from politics, they are in effect advocating the castration of democracy.
The conflict surrounding austerity policies in Europe is, then, not just about figures on budget, unemployment and growth rate. It is also about the meaning of democracy.
As José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, has recently recognised, the policy of austerity has "reached its limits" in terms of "political and social support". If European leaders, including the British chancellor, keep pushing these policies against those limits, people will inevitably start asking: what is the point of democracy, when policies serve only the interest of the tiny minority at the top? This is nothing less than crunch time for democracy in Europe.Vigil takes place on The Green in Dover.
A prayer vigil for the victims of the Orlando shootings will be held at noon in downtown Dover Wednesday, June 15, 2016.
The non-denominational ecumenical/Interfaith prayer vigil for the victims will take place on The Green, located on South State Street in front of the Kent County Courthouse and Old State House.
While the vigil is going on, various churches throughout the city, and the Old State House and courthouse will toll their bells 50 times in memory of the 50 victims who perished in the massacre.
The vigil was arranged by local members of the clergy, Ellen Witko, pastor of The People's UCC Church and Jon Rania, the Lay Ministry Associate at Christ Episcopal Church, both located in Dover.
Rania says everyone is welcome to the event; he says local pastors and ministers wanted to do everything they and other church members could to offer up prayers for the victims and their families and for the entire community as we grieve this tragic event. Rania says various clergy members from the downtown Dover Ecumenical Board will be offering prayers at the event.Pretend superhero powers boost helpfulness in real life
The group, made up of a graduate student, the founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and a psychologist who blogs about the psychology of superheroes here and here and here, tested 30 female and 30 male college students. The subjects all wore a head-mounted display that allowed them to explore a virtual city.
Earlier studies had showed that computer and console games that get players to act in a helpful manner translated to actual good deeds after play was over. For the current study, a team of researchers wanted to see if virtual reality -- wearing special gear and experiencing the immersion more fully -- would create the same effect.
Now the journal PLoS One has published a study to inspire hope in mothers like me: Scientists said Wednesday that experiencing a Superman-like power of flight, in a virtual reality simulation, made people more helpful. In real life!
I won't lie -- I usually find it cute when my sons and my husband geek out over Superman or Batman. But there are times when the antics wear thin. Like when my 3-year-old refuses to wear his glasses because "Wolverine doesn't wear glasses." Or when he chases our cat around the house, fists flying, screaming, "BATMAN!"
Some were assigned to ride along as a passenger in a virtual helicopter. Others had the ability to fly like a superhero: They raised their hands above their heads to rise from the ground and moved their hands and body in the direction they wished to travel. Bringing their hands closer together made them fly faster. Spreading them farther apart made them slow down. To land, they dropped their hands by their sides.
The first phase of the study was the virtual reality exercise. Then, after participants were done “flying,” they sat in a chair as an experimenter put away the head-mounted display. During that process, the experimenter knocked over a cup of 15 pens sitting on a table, “ostensibly by accident,” and then waited five seconds before beginning to pick them up, to give the test subjects a chance to help out.
Test subjects who flew themselves through the virtual city picked up pens more quickly than subjects who had been passengers in the helicopter. They also picked up a larger number of pens, the researchers found. Six participants didn’t help with the cleanup at all. All of them had been helicopter passengers. (Subjects had also received different tasks to perform in the virtual world, which didn't significantly impact their pen-picking-up proclivities.)
The researchers never mentioned the word “superhero” or the prefix “super-“ during the experiment. But, the coauthors said, it was possible that “embodying the ability to fly in virtual reality primes concepts and stereotypes related to superheroes in general or to Superman in particular, and thus facilitates subsequent helping behavior in the real world.” Another explanation for the effect, they wrote, could just be that the participants who could fly were active agents in the VR game, while helicopter passengers were passive, “merely observers in the virtual world.”
In the future, the team said, researchers might address questions such as whether experiencing super flight for longer periods of time results in more helpfulness and whether experiencing superpowers other than flight, or embodying a particular superhero, has the same effect.
Personally, I'd like to learn more about embodiments of, say, Wolverine or Batman, especially those facilitated through lower-tech tools -- outstretched tiny fingers imitating claws, a much-loved nylon costume with faux muscles. We have some toys at home that need tidying.With judges in San Antonio and Washington, D.C. poring like Columbus over maps of the new political world in Texas, we hear again a cry in the distance for a redistricting commission.
“Whatever its faults, an independent, bipartisan commission would be superior to letting legislators draw the state's districts,” a recent editorial by the Austin American-Statesman
concluded. “They've messed up their chance far too many times. It's time we put the process in someone else's hands and try a method that lets us elect our representatives again.”
As the editorial points out, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, proposed such a commission in 2005, 2007 and 2011. In each of those sessions, the Senate approved only to have the proposal die in the political sidewinder pit of the House.
Wentworth told
Texas Monthly
2007 was particularly bitter because his commission -- did we mention that it would be independent as well as bipartisan? -- seemed to be doing well until powerful House Speaker Tom Craddick twisted a wrist and turned his thumb down.
The process is, after all, political. Try keeping the politicians out of it, as Stateline points out today in an
of the 13 states that have redistricting commissions.
They are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Ohio, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington.
The story outlines political trickery in Colorado. Partisans have gone to court in Arizona and Idaho. And as a
uncovered, political trampling over independence and bipartisanship in California has bordered on epic.
Not unlike
campaign finance
, no one has quite figured out how to keep the carnivores away from the endless buffet of red meat. It is little remembered that the reform that came to be known as McCain-Feingold was originally called the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. Tell that to the folks who brought you
Citizens United.
“The lesson from these states,” Stateline writes, “seems to be that even when independent commissions take partisans out of redistricting, they can’t take out the partisanship.”Many people are already aware of what we do and how we do it, but there are many more that are not. Our friends at reddit may want to learn more about what we do, so we post here to greet them and welcome them to our effort.The HeliOS Project accepts broken or decommissioned computers, refurbishes them, then gives them to Central Texas kids that cannot afford them. Since 2005, The HeliOS Project has distributed 1329 computers to local area children.HeliOS is a non profit organization with three directors and a volunteer pool that well exceeds 100 folks. We have built learning labs and community computer centers in several locations around Austin and have done the same for some of the smaller towns in our area. We have three directors that lead our project.The HeliOS Project depends on the generosity of the Linux and tech community to help us do what we do. All donations of equipment and money are tax deductable and 100 percent of donations recieve go straight into the project. Directors are not compensated in any manner...well except for the satisfaction of doing the right thing.You can see the HeliOS Project website at http://www.heliosinitiative.orgGulf of Mexico oil production could peak in 2013 ENERGY
A new phase in the Gulf
Oil production in the Gulf of Mexico could peak at more than 1.8 million barrels per day by 2013 under the industry’s best-case scenario, but natural gas production will likely continue its decadelong decline, according to a government study released Monday at the Offshore Technology Conference.
About 1.1 million barrels of oil per day were produced in the Gulf in 2008, according to the Minerals Management Service, with about 829,000 coming from deep-water fields — those drilled in more than 1,000 feet of water. Natural gas production was about 6.43 billion cubic feet per day, with about 2.6 bcf coming from the deep water.
Oil production from projects the industry has currently or is committed to starting up could peak at 1.6 million barrels by 2011, according to the agency’s forecast, but if announced discoveries and undiscovered resource estimates are included, the peak could reach 1.8 million barrels by 2013.
“The deep-water frontier has entered a new phase,” said Mike Prendergast, chief of staff for the agency’s Gulf of Mexico region, with technology developments leading the charge to larger and deeper projects.
The Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 25 percent of domestic oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output, according to the agency.
Royal Dutch Shell’s Perdido platform, in 8,000 feet of water 200 miles south of Freeport, represents the trend’s cutting edge and will be the new oil and gas deep-water champion when it comes on next year with a 130,000-barrel-per day capacity. The Anadarko Petroleum-operated Independence Hub is also in 8,000 feet of water about 185 miles from New Orleans. It just pumps natural gas.
The number of production projects operating in depths greater than 1,000 feet grew 8 percent last year to 141, according to the report, while 57 percent of Gulf oil and gas leases in 2008 were in the deep water, up from 54 percent a year ago.
Gulf natural gas production peaked in 1997 at 14.1 bcf but has dropped since then due to both the decline in production in mature shallow-water fields and the fact that the deepest formations tend to have much more oil than natural gas. Of the deep-water finds under development, it’s predicted that 84 percent of the output will be oil and only 16 percent natural gas.
tom.fowler@chron.comAnother Monday edition of Sharpen Up after a Bills win? Let's party One Buffalo style. Here's what you need to know about the Sabres as you start your day.
After Friday night's disappointing preseason loss to the Maple Leafs, Buffalo was right back at practice Saturday morning. The practice groups were a little light numbers-wise because 17 players were sent down to the AHL for the start of the Rochester Americans' training camp.
This year, the Amerks are holding camp right at HarborCenter so there was no need for (deep breath) forwards Justin Bailey, William Carrier, Daniel Catenacci, Eric Cornel, Jean Dupuy, Matthew Lane, Vaclav Karabacek, Daniel Muzito-Bagenda, Justin Kea, Evan Rodrigues and Cole Schneider, defensemen Brady Austin, Mac Bennett, Paul Geiger and Brycen Martin, and (almost there) goaltenders Jason Kasdorf and John Muse to pack their suitcases just yet.
Catenacci and Schneider had to clear waivers. Lane, Muzito-Bagenda, Bennett, Geiger and Muse are on AHL deals.
There's a chance some of these players could rejoin the Sabres for the back-to-back set against Carolina this week (they play in Marquette Mich. tomorrow on NBCSN and in Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday). So while Derek Grant, Cal O'Reilly, Alexander Nylander and Hudson Fasching may still be practicing with the Sabres, don't count those other guys out just yet when it comes to earning a spot on the opening night roster.
In Saturday's Ice Level Practice Report, Jourdon LaBarber broke down what guys like Fasching and Grant have done so far to impress the Sabres brass.
Medical Report
Video: Sabres in :90
The other big news from Saturday's practice came on the injury front. Dmitry Kulikov, Nicholas Baptiste and Zach Bogosian were all absent from the team skate. Kulikov (with what coach Dan Bylsma called a bruise on his "butt bone") and Baptiste (lower-back) were injured during Friday's game. Zach Bogosian is dealing with a mild groin strain he sustained during Thursday's game. We should have more on that after today's practice.
Video Replay
As you hopefully just watched in Brian Duff's "Sabres in :90" recap from Saturday (Hint Hint. Watch it), Taylor Fedun practiced for the first time over the weekend. He's been mentioned by Dan Bylsma as one of the players fighting for a roster spot on the blue line.
Here are Fedun's full comments after practice:
Video: FEDUN: After Practice
And this is what Bylsma had to say:
Video: BYLSMA: After practice
On Tap Today
Buffalo was off Sunday and will return to the ice today. We'll have a full written practice report as well as a video feature from Duffer. Will Kulikov and Bogosian be ready to go? Will Ryan O'Reilly, fresh off his World Cup victory with Canada, be back? Who might be playing tomorrow? Which cap will Duffer wear for today's "Sabres in :90?" Or with the seasons changing, will he put on a toque? Stay tuned!
Oh yeah, and Kris Baker's Sabres Prospects Report returns this morning as well. What a day.Rosie O’Donnell’s best route to getting publicity is by bashing Trump. But late night talk shows can’t wait to hear her rant and rave.
So when she came on Late Night With Seth Meyers taped November 2 (and aired November 3) to promote her new show, she steered the conversation away from herself and onto talking about President Trump, skillfully. Rosie told Meyers, “You see, I’m a little edgy. I spend like pretty much 90% of my waking hours tweeting hatred towards this administration.” And of course, Seth Meyers played into it.
After she mentioned the Trump administration, he said, “I want to ask you about this because that is a two-way street, because Donald Trump has been mad at you for a very long time.” Thus began an angry, teeth-clenched narrative of how Rosie O’Donnell called Trump out on The View years ago: “So then I said, you know, some facts that I just went on Wiki, that were easily accessible, since this campaign began, that he is bankrupt four times, that he got all his money from his father, and that he notoriously cheats private contractors out of their money.”
O’Donnell really put her mental state on display when she described her phone call to her therapist the night of the election. She said she called her therapist and said, “ That night, I was like listen you wench, I am here and I have NO XANAX!” O’Donnell literally screamed the last two words on air.
But still, O’Donnell’s not the crazy one. Trump is. According to her, O’Donnell’s accusations on The View made Trump “batshit crazy.” Meyers replied, “And uh, he stayed that way.”
O’Donnell also shared her plans to get a “Bob Mueller tattoo….right over my heart.” She launched into a song of praise about Mueller and his indictment of Manafort, saying, Mueller “ looks to me like Superman. Like Captain America, like justice has finally arrived back on our shores and we are going to right ourselves again!” Meyers told Rosie she should serve Trump indictment papers, to which O’Donnell replied, “I have put in that request by tweet.”
O’Donnell’s twitter feed is full of the sort of insane material that can’t be taken seriously. She tweeted in May that “desperate times call for desperate measures,” and hinted that if Trump was impeached then somehow Merrick Garland would be put in the Supreme Court.by BRIAN NADIG
The Jefferson Park Chamber of Commerce is submitting its application to create a taxing body that would help beautify and market the commercial area but plans to explore ways that would leave the 501 residential properties which would be taxed out of the proposed Special Service Area.
Omitting the residential properties would leave about 220 commercial and mixed-use properties to fund the service area. In addition, the chamber would then have to reduce its proposed $220,000 budget for the service area in 2016 or increase the tax levy to make up for the loss revenue, estimated at about $60,000, from not taxing the residential properties.
“We’re going to continue to try to figure this out,” chamber president Lionel Rabb said at the chamber’s June 11 meeting. “We don’t want the residential in the SSA. We have to figure out a compromise.”
Rabb cited a 1992 ruling in which Illinois Supreme Court wrote that the City of Chicago could exclude residential properties from a service area, a development tool that typically is used to fund improvements for business districts. In the ruling, the court stated that the state’s definition of “contiguity” appears to allow “for the ‘swiss nature’ of the special service area that results from the exclusion of residential property.”
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit in which a commercial property owner claimed that the planned special service area where he owned property was unconstitutional. Despite the ruling, city policy states that boundaries for a service area must be contiguous and that all properties in the affected area be included.
“I’m with you guys. I’d rather have the residences out,” Alderman John Arena (45th) told the chamber. For now, the chamber’s application, which was due to the city by June 12, calls for the residential properties to be taxed.
Once the chamber receives “a final determination from the legal minds” on the issue, some changes to the application will be possible, Arena said. “It is a process,” he told the chamber. “Nothing is set in stone.”
Arena said that he supports the service area’s creation because both commercial and residential property owners would benefit from the improvements that the tax would fund. He said that the Six Corners SSA has been used to market that business districts to prospective developers and to pay for advertising that benefits local merchants.
Resident Ron Ernst said after the meeting that the city has been misinterpreting how state law defines contiguous boundaries for service areas and that there are other municipalities in the state which have excluded residential properties. He said that city and chamber officials have told residents that “their hands are tied because of the city policy” but the court ruling makes it clear that “their hands are not tied.”
Under the proposed budget, condominium owners would pay between about $40 and $170 a year for the service area tax, whose spending would be determined by a local commission of property owners appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The service area also would include about five single-family homes, whose tax would be around $300.
The average commercial property owner would pay about $1,100 a year. The boundaries would run primarily along Milwaukee Avenue between the Kennedy Expressway and Montrose Avenue and along Lawrence Avenue between Austin Avenue and the expressway.
At the chamber meeting, resident Paula Stecker submitted a petition against the service area with signatures from the owners of 15 of the 18 condominiums in her building in the 5800 block of West Lawrence Avenue. She said that the tax is not fair to those residents who are living on a fixed income, noting that some owners in her building would pay about $150 a year.
The Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association has called for residential owners to be able to opt out of the service area since it would be designed primarily to help businesses.
The chamber’s application includes a support petition with the signatures of 147 property owners who would pay the tax, and 37 percent of those signatures are from residential owners. The city requires SSA applications to |
until 2004, when it sold it off to Take-Two Interactive for $22.3 million. Earthworm Jim and MDK maker Shiny Entertainment became part of Atari Inc. through a buyout in 2002, before it was sold off again in 2006. Atari bought City of Heroes maker Cryptic studios in 2008, before selling it off in 2011.
Things got so convoluted that, at one point, the 2001 PS2 remake of Spy Hunter was developed by Atari Inc. subsidiary Paradigm Entertainment and published by Midway Games, which controlled the dying remnants of the original Atari's arcade division. Never mind that the original Spy Hunter had nothing whatsoever to do with Atari.
It's a bit hard to follow, but all of this is just a long-winded way of showing how little the current "Atari" has to do with the original company that made the name famous. The French company that currently sports the name didn't even exist when Atari was founded and only got the name through a complicated series of acquisitions of the less successful home-console half of the original company. None of the people involved with the original Atari are part of this new company's DNA in any way, shape, or form. Interestingly though, original Atari founder Nolan Bushnell joined the new Atari's board of directors in 2010, through investor Blubay holdings.
Today's bankruptcy filing reflects the weakness of this new, largely unrelated company more than the weakness of the legendary Atari brand. All those acquisitions and sales mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg as far as the French company's flailing lack of focus in the last decade or so—and a large part of why it hasn't shown a profit since 1999. In fact, the US branch of Atari is filing for bankruptcy today largely to escape the debt-ridden French parent company that is holding it back, according to a press release.
Though this is the fourth or fifth death for "Atari" since 1974, depending on how you count, the name will doubtlessly live on. The Atari brand and logo still hold real nostalgic power, and they are recognized by 90 percent of Americans, according to a recent survey. In fact, 17 percent of Atari's US revenues reportedly come from licensed products sporting the Atari logo or name, according to an LA Times report. The company has been milking the nostalgia extra hard recently, with mobile hits like Atari's Greatest Hits, Breakout: Boost, and Asteroids: Gunner.
Sure, Atari hasn't had a new, homegrown hit franchise since Roller Coaster Tycoon (developed and scooped into the Atari umbrella during the Hasbro Interactive days), but the company's name recognition and stable of legendary brands pretty much ensures it will exist in some form for years to come. But let's be clear: "Atari" as it currently exists is just a holding entity for a brand devoted almost entirely to nostalgia, with no core business legacy or history tracing it to the people behind the original company. This makes it decidedly different from classic gaming names like Nintendo or Sega, which have gone through changes but maintained their core structure and corporate memory over the decades.
In other words, don't mourn for Atari today... it's already dead. And yet, at the same time, it will live on, probably forever.Image copyright Silverstone Auctions Image caption A 1976 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 jump jet (left) and a 1988 Panavia Tornado F3 are being sold at auction
Two ex-RAF jets could find their way into private collectors' hands after being put up for sale with no reserve.
A 1976 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 jump-jet and a 1988 Panavia Tornado F3 are being sold at Silverstone Auctions in Northamptonshire this weekend.
The Harrier, which served during the Cold War and in the Falklands, is in almost flight-worthy condition and comes complete with ejector seat.
Auctioneers said it was a "unique opportunity" to acquire "RAF history".
Image copyright Silverstone Auctions Image caption The Tornado has carried out 3,000 hours of active service
Image copyright Silverstone Auctions Image caption The Harrier was in almost perfect condition, auctioneers said
The auction firm said the Harrier was preserved in "almost time-capsule conditions" and had "serious potential for a future return to flight".
It said this was likely to be the only time a Tornado F3 was offered for auction as the entire fleet had either been scrapped or was in museums.
No guide prices have been offered for the jets as their rarity makes cost "nearly impossible to gauge", it added.
Nick Whale, managing director, said: "We've never offered anything like this before and it's a privilege to be able to offer one of, if not the finest, Harrier in the world.
"We've sold an eclectic range of historic vehicles in the past but these really are some of the most exciting yet."AMBRIDGE, Pa. — As the inevitability of Donald J. Trump’s victory played out Tuesday night on a television above Fred’s Divot bar, the men who by day carry pipes, hang drywall and drive locomotives watched the returns with mounting satisfaction.
“He’s killing it — that’s our next president,” said John Gaguzis, 50, who had affixed an “I voted” sticker to the blue uniform shirt he wears in a bottling plant. “We need a change. We’ve got to get rid of the Democrats that support people that don’t want to work.”
Jerry Kormick, a disabled construction worker engaged in a serious darts competition, said he had voted for the first time in his life, at age 37. He never believed polls showing Hillary Clinton ahead, he said, not after visiting friends in rural North Carolina.Returning home on Saturday night after a dinner in Manhattan with some longtime friends, Gregory Locke boarded a No. 1 subway train and was confronted with an ugly sight.
The car’s windows and posters were covered in anti-Semitic graffiti, according to accounts from Mr. Locke and another passenger in the car, Jared Nied. Messages like “Jews belong in the oven” and “destroy Israel, Heil Hitler,” had been written over subway maps, as shown by photographs taken on the train. Swastikas were drawn in black marker on the doors and windows.
Mr. Locke, 27, a New York lawyer, said in a phone interview that his first reaction was shock, “especially once I realized how many instances of graffiti were on the train car.”
“But the shock quickly subsides and turns into a sort of a realistic horror,” he said. “You realize it’s appalling but it’s also not surprising at the same time.”Arnab Goswami is widely credited for taking Times Now to new highs, and his two shows, The News Hour Debate and Frankly Speaking with Arnab, were often seen as trendsetters. (IE)
Arnab Goswami, the former Times Now Editor-in-chief, and a journalist who was known for his 9 PM show ‘The News Hour’ appears have launched the Twitter handle and Facebook page of his latest venture ‘Republic’. While the handle (@republic) is not yet verified, two tweets were sent out from it, asking people to track the ‘revolution’. “The nation wants to know! We are now live on social. Until we hit your screens, track the revolution here! #RepublicOnSocial,” read the firs tweet along with a sketch of Arnab Goswami. “We are on the brink of shaking up the system all over again. Join the @Republic movement. #RepublicOnSocial,” read the second tweet. Another tweet prompted people to track the Facebook page of ‘Republic’.
Within an hour of the tweets, #RepublicOnSocial started trending on Twitter. Biocon’s Kiran Shaw tweeted, “Arnab is back folks!”. “Arnab is back! Achhe Din again! RT excitement is back!,” Mohandas Pai said.
The nation wants to know! We are now live on social. Until we hit your screens, track the revolution here! #RepublicOnSocial pic.twitter.com/tYo3YB6Szo — Republic (@republic) January 7, 2017
We are on the brink of shaking up the system all over again. Join the @Republic movement. #RepublicOnSocial pic.twitter.com/8lCL8EecbN — Republic (@republic) January 7, 2017
Soon after quitting Times Now, Arnab Goswami had announced the name of his next news venture the ‘Republic’. “The Indian news industry has changed in unimaginable ways. As we take footsteps into 2017, I believe the Indian news genre is on the brink of conquering its next wave of disruption,” he had said. “For too long, we have been a spectator to news creation which happens with a reporter standing outside the Parliament house. Now the time has come, I believe, to take the news capital out of the national capital and let it spread its wings and roots into every nook and cranny of the country. Because it is time Indian news media represents the entire 3,287,263 kilometres of India and every one of those 1.3 billion stories we encompass instead of just a clique residing in a part of the national capital,” he added.
Arnab Goswami is widely credited for taking Times Now to new highs, and his two shows, The News Hour Debate and Frankly Speaking with Arnab, were often seen as trendsetters. In his farewell speech, Arnab Goswami had said, ““The game has just begun. Thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I have enjoyed a lot here and I hope you too enjoyed having me here. But what I want to say is, that the game starts now. Don’t ever lose faith in the independent media. Nobody can teach us independent media. It has come and will happen. And, I have been able to do it only because of you. Whatever I have said to you in the past, please forgive me for it. I have only done it because I want this channel to go up. I am vert grateful that you people gave me a chance to lead you. I must have done something good, to receive so much love from you. I am not going anywhere. It’s a small world, guys. Thank you!”
Whether Arnab Goswami’s ‘Republic’ would be as popular as his earlier stints remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure, his ardent fans defintely have something to look forward to in 2017.Columnist
Why anyone in the United States would have expressed surprise that President Trump failed to have appropriate words to offer a Gold Star widow is beyond me. We have now heard him attempt to console the entire nation on camera several times. Why would anyone think that in private he might do better?
One of the unpleasant but honorable tasks of the presidency is to try to put words to tragedy, to bind up the nation’s wounds and tend to the widow and the orphan. (Those are also a president’s words; not Trump’s, though.) Trump so far seems capable of only two types of response: racially tinged name-calling and a sort of woolly pablum where he speaks about love and light and prayer and keeps thinking that the sentence on the teleprompter is over before it has in fact ended. (“Melania and I are praying for every American who has been hurt, wounded, or lost... the ones they love so dearly.”)
To see a president so clearly reconciled to mass murder as a routine occurrence that the speeches are barely differentiated feels like salt in the wound. It is bad enough to hear Congress (on one side of the aisle, at least) gathering to say that there is Nothing That Can Be Done About Evil in the World. But Trump’s usual lack of nuance strips away pretense from many things we Say for the Sake of Saying Them: He cannot even manage to say them right.
In the face of what appears to be Islamic State-inspired terrorism, Trump shows rage. He denounces the perpetrator as a “Degenerate Animal” and vows a legislative response. “We want to IMMEDIATELY work with Congress on the diversity lottery... and we want to get rid of chain migration!” to stop “this man that came in, or whatever you want to call him,” he bellows. “We have to get much tougher, we have to get much smarter, and we have to get much less politically correct. We’re so politically correct that we’re afraid to do anything.” No need for dog-whistles; he has a doghorn (that is like a foghorn, but for dogs).
But Trump’s speeches in the wake of domestic gun violence by white men could not be mistaken for the words of someone who intends to try to do anything whatsoever about the problem. After events such as Sunday’s shooting at First Baptist Church outside San Antonio, he offers only a sort of bafflement at the existence of evil in the world and a mouthing of platitudes about a day when violence will no longer exist.
“This act of evil occurred as the victims and their families were in their place of sacred worship. … Our hearts are broken, but in dark times, and these are dark times, such as these, Americans do what they do best. We pull together. We join hands, we lock arms, and through the tears and through the sadness, we stand strong. Oh so strong.”
This is meaningless.
Trump’s speeches always have the quality of someone misremembering the lyrics to a country song. But it is not just that they are bad (although they are bad). It is that they are empty.
Even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) was able to find a moment of heroism to latch onto when describing the tragedy to reporters. Trump barely even bothered with details. Not the name of the church. Not even the name of a Brave Individual. There was not even a real remembrance of the victims. Only, “We will never ever leave their side. Ever.” Whose side? Why would we expect him to recall anyone’s name? He could reuse this speech. He probably will.
After Las Vegas, Trump said, “Though we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today, and always will, forever. In times such as these, I know we are searching for some kind of meaning in the chaos, some kind of light in the darkness. The answers do not come easy. But we can take solace knowing that even the darkest space can be brightened by a single light, and even the most terrible despair can be illuminated by a single ray of hope. … We pray for the entire nation to find unity and peace. And we pray for the day when evil is banished and the innocent are safe from hatred and from fear.”
He would be better off saying nothing. That is all this amounts to, anyway.India’s much awaited supersonic fighter jet, LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Tejas was inducted into the IAF today. Tejas was handed over to the IAF by Defence minister, A K Antony after the Initial Operational Clearance.
“Tejas taking wings is actually a dream come true for all of us. We’ve been dreaming about this for the last 25-30 years,” exclaimed Air Chief Marshal PV Naik.
LCA Tejas is India’s first indigenously built light combat aircraft and its induction today has emphasized India’s defence aviation and self sufficiency capabilities.
The induction of LCA Tejas today has launched India into an exclusive club of nations that include the US, Russia, France and Britain that can produce combat aircrafts. IAF plans to induct two squadrons in IOC mode by the middle of 2011. The IAF has already placed the orders for 40 LCAs in March 2005. The first 40 LCAs are powered by the American General Electric GE-F404 engines. The value of these 40 aircraft is estimated around Rs. 7,000 crore.
The Tejas is a single-seat, single-engine, lightweight, supersonic fighter aircraft with speeds upto Mach 1.4. It is also capable of carrying assorted weapon load and can drop tanks up to four tons.It has some of the latest avionics and digital flight control systems. The Tejas, presently is powered by American General Electric Engine.
However it is said that LCA Tejas is not 100 per cent ready and many more tests need to be done by IAF before it can truly be a cutting edge machine.
IAF will base the first of its LCA squadrons at its Sulur air base near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.Mission Reports
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Falcon 9 undergoes pad rehearsal for October launch
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: August 31, 2012
In a critical prelaunch test before SpaceX's first operational cargo delivery to the International Space Station, engineers filled a Falcon 9 rocket with propellant Friday, rehearsing countdown procedures ahead of the mission's scheduled liftoff in October. A SpaceX spokesperson confirmed the successful completion of the test.
The Falcon 9 rocket on the pad for its WDR. Credit: NASA
SpaceX completed a successful wet dress rehearsal today, a launch readiness test which simulates the actual countdown of the Falcon 9 rocket, in preparation for its first official cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station," the company posted on its Facebook page. "This mission is targeted to launch in early October." Located in a control room south of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the SpaceX launch team oversaw a practice countdown that concluded with a simulated cutoff just before launch. During the test, the Falcon 9 booster was loaded with more than 75,000 gallons of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants. The Falcon 9 rocket was lifted atop the launch pad earlier Friday. The upcoming mission's Dragon cargo capsule was not attached to the launcher, but remained inside the hangar at pad 40, the Falcon 9's seaside launch complex. The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage was filled with nearly 39,000 gallons of cryogenic liquid oxygen and almost 25,000 gallons of kerosene fuel. About 7,300 gallons of liquid oxygen and 4,600 gallons of kerosene went into the second stage. High-pressure gases were also loaded into the rocket. Another countdown rehearsal is scheduled before launch, in which the control team will again load propellant into the rocket and ignite the booster's nine first stage Merlin engines for a few seconds, verifying their health.
The Falcon 9 being erected on the pad. Credit: NASA
The rocket is due to take off Oct. 8, and the unmanned Dragon spacecraft will reach the space station about two days later. Crew supplies, spare parts, and experiments will be carried inside Dragon's pressurized module. SpaceX completed a test flight to the space station May, demonstrating the ability to berth with the complex and return to Earth with cargo. The October mission is the first of a dozen flights under the auspices of SpaceX's Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The $1.6 billion contract was signed in December 2008 to provide commercial cargo delivery and return to and from the space station. Orbital Sciences Corp., a competitor to SpaceX, has a $1.9 billion deal for nine similar flights. Each Dragon flight will carry up to 7,300 pounds of internal and external cargo to the space station and return up to 5,500 pounds of equipment to Earth. The flight will also deploy a second-generation Orbcomm communications satellite. The first of 18 small 340-pound satellites built by Sierra Nevada Corp., the Falcon's secondary payload will relay data, transmit messages, and track ships for Orbcomm's corporate customers.Virtual Reality may be back in favour these days, but back in the mid-'90s the initial burst of interest in the technology was starting to wane, and for many players the straw that broke the camel's back was the much-hyped Nintendo Virtual Boy.
Released in 1995 to almost complete consumer apathy, the console lacked motion-tracking, could only display images in black and red and featured software which did little to push the boundaries of immersive tech. Within a year it was being discounted heavily by retailers and remains Nintendo's most notable hardware failure.
The fact that the Virtual Boy lacked head-tracking has recently led Oculus founder Palmer Luckey to comment that the machine "hurt" the public's perception of Virtual Reality. In an interview with EDGE magazine from March 1995, creator Gunpei Yokoi explains why Nintendo decided to make the unit this way:
We didn't think that a head-mounted display would be necessary for a virtual reality system that doesn't use any kind of motion tracking facility. We are worried about the possible dangers of HMD technology, but we also considered the fact that if a woman wearing make-up was to use the head-mounted design, the next person might be hesitant in wearing it! So, we changed the design so that you can just look into the viewing apparatus and still appreciate the 3D experience. The standard format was shown at the Shoshinkai show, but we have plans for a shoulder-mount adaptor so you won't need a table or desktop to use the system.
While he never stated it officially, it was reported in David Sheff's excellent book Game Over that Yokoi was dissatisfied with the Virtual Boy design that eventually made it to market. He was forced to personally demonstrate the system at trade shows even after it was clear it was going to be a commercial disaster - some assumed this was Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi's way of punishing the veteran designer for releasing such a failure.
Yokoi left Nintendo in 1996 to form his own company called Koto, and would work with Bandai to create the WonderSwan, a handheld rival to the successful Game Boy which he created during his time at Nintendo. Yokoi would sadly be killed in a road traffic incident in 1997.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption George W Bush decries bigotry and conspiracy theories
Nowhere in George W Bush's 2,000-word speech does he mention the name Donald Trump. It was crystal clear, however, that the 43rd US president took dead aim on the 45th president from a podium at the Lincoln Center in New York City on Thursday.
Ex-presidents traditionally shy away from the political stage. It was long considered in poor taste for a former occupant of the Oval Office to criticise one of his successors.
Then again, these are days when seemingly set-in-stone norms and standards of behaviour have fallen by the wayside.
Mr Trump's victory in the Republican presidential primaries was in some measure a repudiation of Mr Bush's presidency and his vision for the Republican Party - and not just because the New Yorker belittled and subsequently bested Mr Bush's brother, Jeb Bush.
Mr Trump frequently criticised Mr Bush's decision to invade Iraq. He bashed the Texan's efforts to broaden the Republican Party's appeal to Hispanic voters by pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. He denounced free trade deals, including Nafta - signed by Mr Bush's father, George HW Bush.
Now Mr Bush is offering his rebuke. When asked after his speech if his message would reach the White House, he smiled and replied, "I think it will".
Here are just a few of the choicest lines that might be flying toward 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - and what they could mean.
"Since World War II, America has encouraged and benefited from the global advance of free markets, from the strength of democratic alliances, and from the advance of free societies."
Mr Bush offers the classic defence of an internationalist foreign policy - that engagement and advancement of free markets and free societies is in the US's best long-term interests.
Compare that to Mr Trump's contention that the US has been taken advantage of by other nations - both through trade and in defence arrangements. He has expressed general distrust of multilateral engagement and views the global arena as a largely a zero-sum contest between competing national interests, where the US must put "America first".
"Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication."
Mr Trump rose to national prominence by becoming a high-profile advocate of a particularly insidious conspiracy theory - that Barack Obama was not born in the US and, consequently, was ineligible to be president.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption "Bigotry seems emboldened," Mr Bush says
Republican Senator Bob Corker, just last week, accused the president of lying on Twitter.
"I don't know why the president tweets out things that are not true," he said. "You know he does it, everyone knows he does it, but he does."
Mr Bush's line was another shot across Mr Trump's bow.
"We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism - forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America."
Mr Trump not only has pushed for a crackdown on undocumented immigration, he's proposed drastic cuts in refugee resettlement programmes and backed a bill in Congress that would cut in half the number of permanent residency "green cards" issued each year.
"This legislation demonstrates our compassion for struggling American families who deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first and that puts America first," Mr Trump said in August.
Mr Bush looks at the benefits of immigration; Mr Trump focuses on the costs.
"According to our intelligence services, the Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other."
Mr Trump, and his supporters, have consistently expressed scepticism about the conclusion by US government officials that Russian agents and hackers attempted to influence the US presidential election through social media, fake new reports and the release of purloined material from Democratic Party sources.
Mr Bush, here, casts his lot with those who have concluded that the Russian threat is real.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption George W Bush and his wife at the Trump inauguration
"Our identity as a nation - unlike many other nations - is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood... Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed."
"Blood and soil" was one of the phrases white supremacists chanted as they demonstrated in Charlottesville, Virginia, the night before violent clashes with counter-protesters in August. (Another was "Jews will not replace us").
It was this evening rally that Mr Trump called a "very quiet protest", while apportioning blame for violence to both the supremacists and those who gathered to denounce them.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption What Trump said versus what the BBC's Joel Gunter saw
Mr Trump was roundly criticised, by Democrats and many Republicans - including Mr Bush and his father - for not immediately condemning the Nazi sentiments expressed that weekend.
"Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children."
During the primary campaign, Mr Trump called Jeb Bush a hypocrite, weak, low-energy, a lightweight, a failure, a "sad sack" and a "pathetic figure" with "zero communications skills".
He tweeted that Jeb had to ask his "mommy to take a slap at me" but that "mom can't help you with ISIS, the Chinese or Putin".
He alleged that the former Florida governor had a "soft spot for people from Mexico" because his wife, Columba, is a Mexican immigrant.
It doesn't take a whole lot of reading between the lines on this one.Ukraine's national cybercrime unit seized servers belonging to a small company at the centre of a global outbreak of malicious software after "new activity" was detected there, the service said in a statement early on Wednesday (5 July).
The announcement raised the possibility that the hackers behind last week's wide-ranging cyberattack were still seeking to sow chaos.
Tax software firm M.E. Doc was raided to "immediately stop the uncontrolled proliferation" of malware. In a series of messages, Cyberpolice spokeswoman Yulia Kvitko suggested that M.E. Doc had sent or was preparing to send a new update and added that swift action had prevented any further damage.
"Our experts stopped [it] on time," she said.
It wasn't immediately clear how or why hackers might still have access to M.E. Doc's servers.
The company has been the focus of intense attention from authorities and cybersecurity researchers since it was identified as the patient zero of the outbreak, which crippled computers at several multinational firms and knocked out cash machines, petrol stations and bank branches in Ukraine.
The company has not returned messages from The Associated Press, but in several statements posted to Facebook it disputed allegations that its poor security helped seed the malware epidemic.
Adding to the intrigue, the bitcoin wallet linked to the hackers who masterminded the outbreak was emptied around the same time as the police announcement.
Kaspersky Lab researcher Aleks Gostev said on Twitter that some of the digital currency had been sent to text storage sites, hinting at the prospect of some kind of a forthcoming statement.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials were just beginning to count the costs of the outbreak.
Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan told AP his department had incurred "millions" in costs, with hundreds of workstations and two of its six servers knocked out.
Col. Serhiy Demydiuk, the head of Ukraine's national Cyberpolice unit, said that Kiev-based M.E. Doc's employees had blown off repeated warnings about the security of their information technology infrastructure.
"They knew about it," he told the AP at his office. "They were told many times by various anti-virus firms. [...] For this neglect, the people in this case will face criminal responsibility."
Demydiuk and other officials say last week's unusually disruptive cyberattack was mainly spread through a malicious update to M.E. Doc's eponymous tax software program, which is widely used by accountants and businesses across Ukraine.
The malicious update, likely planted on M.E. Doc's update server by a hacker, was then disseminated across the country before exploding into an epidemic of data-scrambling software that Ukrainian and several other multinational firms are still recovering from.
M.E. Doc has given various explanations for its role in the outbreak. It initially acknowledged having been hacked, but then deleted the statement. It then called allegations it had seeded the outbreak "clearly erroneous" but later said it was cooperating with authorities.
Meanwhile, several companies hit by last week's cyberattack say they are edging toward normalcy.
Law firm DLA Piper said late Sunday that it has restored its email service and was working to bring its other networks back online. Danish shipper A.P. Moller-Maersk said Monday it was "getting closer to full speed" and that all but one cargo terminal was back in action.
Russian companies were reportedly affected as well; Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft said Monday it had taken the company six days to fully repair its computer systems after they were badly hit in the cyberattack.
Ukrainian authorities have blamed Russia for masterminding the outbreak, although several independent experts say it's too early, based on what's publicly known, to come to any firm conclusions.
Ukraine has repeatedly come under fire from high-powered cyberattacks tied to Moscow.
The extent of the damage and disruption in Ukraine was still unclear Monday. Authorities have yet to release an account of the number of victims or guess at the cost inflicted by the malware. Demydiuk said his service was still collating figures and declined to even provide estimates.
It's clear, though, that the economic disruption has not been negligible. Some bank employees have not been to work in days. At Kiev's Boryspil Airport, senior official Yevhenii Dykhne told the AP that about a third of computers, mainly those devoted to back-office work such as procurement, were still offline.
Hanna Rybalka, who works at the state-owned Oschadbank's headquarters in Kiev, said that business had taken nearly a week to recover.
"Today is the first day of full-time work," she said in a Facebook message Monday.THE BUZZ: EA is heading to court over a lawsuit brought against them by some 6,000 retired NFL players, after a judge has allowed the suit to proceed.
The suit claims that EA used the likenesses of the players in NFL 09’s historic teams without seeking permission first. The developer knowingly used the exact player stats from the time that they were active in the game including height and weight, but simply removed their names and swapped shirt numbers to avoid paying licensing fees.
Those invovled can easily identify which historic player they are in the game, and are suing EA for damages covering profits related to the use of their likenesses as well as attorney fees.
EGM’s TAKE: These players might have a case, you can’t use someone’s likeness in a game without seeking permissions first. EA believed it could avoid paying licensing fees on the players by leaving out direct reference to them (names and numbers), a shrewd move that probably saved them a fair bit of money. But will a judge or jury see it that way? This is an important suit that could determine how classic players are treated in the future. Is it okay to put a vague mask on them and use them without permission, or will companies have to pay? With the number of players involved it seems that the ultimate loser might be gamers who won’t get any classic players, named or not, in the future should EA be held responsible. After all, who’s going to want to hand out that many more checks.The Left certainly was hammering this point home after President-elect Donald J. Trump’s upset win over Hillary Clinton on November 8 and now The New York Times has joined the “let’s abolish the Electoral College because our gal lost” bandwagon. Again, the op-ed by the publication’s editorial board has no sense of history. Yes, the reasons for changing it are crap. And yes, there is zero chance that the Electoral College will ever be abolished:
By overwhelming majorities, Americans would prefer to elect the president by direct popular vote, not filtered through the antiquated mechanism of the Electoral College. […] And so for the second time in 16 years, the candidate who lost the popular vote has won the presidency. Unlike 2000, it wasn’t even close. Hillary Clinton beat Mr. Trump by more than 2.8 million votes, or 2.1 percent of the electorate. […] The Electoral College, which is written into the Constitution, is more than just a vestige of the founding era; it is a living symbol of America’s original sin. When slavery was the law of the land, a direct popular vote would have disadvantaged the Southern states, with their large disenfranchised populations. Counting those men and women as three-fifths of a white person, as the Constitution originally did, gave the slave states more electoral votes. […] Today the college, which allocates electors based on each state’s representation in Congress, tips the scales in favor of smaller states; a Wyoming resident’s vote counts 3.6 times as much as a Californian’s. And because almost all states use a winner-take-all system, the election ends up being fought in just a dozen or so “battleground” states, leaving tens of millions of Americans on the sidelines. […] Conservative opponents of a direct vote say it would give an unfair edge to large, heavily Democratic cities and states. But why should the votes of Americans in California or New York count for less than those in Idaho or Texas? A direct popular vote would treat all Americans equally, no matter where they live — including, by the way, Republicans in San Francisco and Democrats in Corpus Christi, whose votes are currently worthless. The system as it now operates does a terrible job of representing the nation’s demographic and geographic diversity. Almost 138 million Americans went to the polls this year, but Mr. Trump secured his Electoral College victory thanks to fewer than 80,000 votes across three states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
First, let me kill this thing with a sledgehammer—the GOP domination at the state level would almost assure that an amendment to abolish the College would fail the three-fourths threshold. Moreover, with a Republican Congress, there’s no way two-thirds of both houses would ever vote in support of this measure. So, politically, it’s not going to happen.
Second, it’s a rare occurrence that the winner of a presidential election wins the Electoral College and not the popular vote. It’s happened five times in our 240-year history. That’s, uh, not very common. The elections of 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016 ended this way, so everyone chill out; the country has survived these moments. Also, Clinton will now be in the history books, so you’d think liberals would be happy. In all, expand the timeline—it’s really nothing to fuss about. Also, enough with the slavery talking point. You can talk about it all you want. It won’t change anything; slavery was also never law of the land. Second, Jefferson won 1800 because he won New York state and the cities. If Adams had won the state that has traditionally been the beacon of progressivism and anti-slave, despite New York City being engulfed in what became a race riot over the draft during the Civil War, then he would have won re-election. It wasn’t due to southern skewing.
Also, no one is saying that New York or California voters don’t count, but they’re in states where the concentrations of population and power would overwhelm the rest of the country if it were changed to a direct election. There is no way we can remain a united country if the snobs on the coasts dictate the agenda. The coasts are not the majority of America, though I’m sure they think they are. In the Electoral College, these two deep blue states still have an enormous amount of power. They’re the two largest bloc of guaranteed electoral votes for Democrats—84 in total. These states are powerless now because Clinton showed she was so terrible that she couldn’t win an election? Oh, and The Times cares about Republicans in San Francisco? Don’t make us laugh. In fact, that’s probably one of the most disingenuous claims in the entire op-ed—The Times wanting to give a voice to Republicans in deep blue areas.
And this passage shows why this whole notion of destroying America’s electoral process is stupid: “Almost 138 million Americans went to the polls this year, but Mr. Trump secured his Electoral College victory thanks to fewer than 80,000 votes across three states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
Breaking news: if Clinton has actually cared about white working class voters and, you know, showed up in these three states—she might be president right now |
met a prostitute for sex at a hotel. He had also been trying to persuade an underage, 17-year-old girl to send him a photo of her genitals. Harris was also charged for sending the girl sexually explicit text messages and photos.
Justin Ross Harris with his son, Cooper. (Photo: VPC, VPC)
Sixteen total jurors — eight men and eight women — were seated Monday morning to hear the case. Four of them will serve as alternate jurors, who will have a final say in the trial only if one more of the 12 main jurors are dismissed. The judge did not specify which jury members were alternates.
The trial is being held 275 miles from the Atlanta suburb of Cobb County, where Harris lived and worked after moving from Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 2012. The judge moved the case to the coastal city of Brunswick because of pretrial publicity.
Harris faces life in prison if he’s convicted of murder. Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty.
Boring said jurors will see that Harris showed little emotion when he was taken by police for questioning following the discovery of his son’s death.
“Is he screaming, ‘Can I see my son? What is going on here?’” Boring said. “No. He complains that it’s hot in the back of the patrol car.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
CLOSE Justin Ross Harris is accused of intentionally leaving his 22-month-old son inside a hot car to die.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2dWFe3HSamsung has just released details about its new Exynos 5 5250 SoC for mobile devices. This dual-core, 1.7GHz chip is the first one on the market to feature the new Cortex A15 CPU architecture from ARM, which will provide substantially improved performance over the Cortex A9-based chips used in most of today's smartphones and tablets.
The chip also includes ARM's new Mali-T604 GPU designed to power Retina-class displays and support high-performance connectivity options like SATA and USB 3.0. These improvements make it a substantial upgrade over current-generation products like NVIDIA's Tegra 3 or Samsung's own Exynos 4. We'll look at different aspects of the chip to see not just how the Exynos 5 and other Cortex A15 SoCs will benefit current tablets, but also how those improvements could lead to more viable laptop replacements.
The CPU: ARM's Cortex A15
Most ARM processors in today's devices, including the NVIDIA Tegra 3 in the Nexus 7 tablet and all variations of the Apple A5 used in newer iPads and iPhones, use Cortex A9-based designs. The A9 excels in power usage, but is more limited when it comes to performance.
The A15, on the other hand, is designed for devices that need higher performance, and is expected to outperform competing designs like those used in Qualcomm's Krait architecture (which powers, among other things, the US versions of the Samsung Galaxy S III). As we discussed when we first took a look at the A15 architecture, it isn't really intended to replace Cortex A9, which will still have a place in the middle and lower end of the markets where power draw and price are more important than high performance (and in those applications, the A9 will probably be replaced by the Cortex A7 later on). Rather, it's intended to compete with Intel and AMD in performance and features as those companies look to expand into the burgeoning smartphone and tablet markets. We've already seen Intel processors show up in phones like the Xolo X900 and the recently announced Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2; Cortex A15 is intended to stem that tide.
A downside to the A15 is that it does increase power usage over the Cortex A9, but Samsung's 32nm process should help to mitigate that issue somewhat. When Apple's A5 processor was moved from 45nm to 32nm using this same "high-dielectric metal gate" (HK+MG) process technology for the $399 iPad 2, it was enough to reduce its power usage and increase its battery life to the tune of 20 to 30 percent.
The GPU: ARM's Mali-T604
While the A15 will increase the Exynos 5's CPU power, its GPU might be more important as Android and Windows tablet manufacturers begin shipping Retina-esque displays to compete with the most recent iPad. The Mali-T604 is purpose-built for such devices: its maximum supported resolution is 2560x1600 (1280x800 doubled), and its 12.8GB/s theoretical memory bandwidth (the same as the A5X in the 2012 iPad) and 800MHz LPDDR3 RAM give it the memory bandwidth it needs to draw an image that large.
In addition to driving high-resolution panels, this graphics power can be used to encode and decode HD video at 60FPS and to push an image to displays wirelessly, though whether this latter feature takes advantage of the Miracast standard (as NVIDIA's Tegra 3 does) remains to be seen. It also supports stereoscopic 3D.
Just as impressive is the Mali-T604's list of supported APIs: DirectX 11, OpenCL 1.1, OpenVG 1.1, and Renderscript are all here, as well as OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0 support. OpenGL ES 3.0, which brings some features from the standard OpenGL 3.x and 4.x specifications to mobile devices, was just released earlier this week. Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA, at both 4x and 16x) is also supported.
Aside from the feature list, however, we don't know much GPU's actual performance level beyond its theoretical memory bandwidth. The only clue we have is a promise from Samsung that the Exynos 5 features twice the 3D performance of the old Exynos 4. Using average benchmarks from the GLBenchmark Web site for the Exynos 4 version of the Samsung Galaxy S III and the 2012 iPad, we can try to extrapolate performance from there.
So, going from these numbers, a GPU with double the performance of the Exynos 4 would be playing in the same field with the GPU in the A5X, and could possibly outperform it by a decent margin—our theoretical Exynos 5 would win big in the Egypt test, but break just about even in the Pro test. Again, this is all speculation, but this gives us at least a vague idea of how the Mali-T604 is going to perform.
Going beyond tablets
In addition to impressive-looking performance, the Exynos 5 also supports some interesting connectivity options—SATA, UART, USB 3.0, and eMMC 4.5 are all listed as bootable devices on Samsung's site.
This says a lot about the kind of devices we might see the processor crop up in. Tablets like Asus's Transformer Prime and Microsoft's forthcoming Surface RT are two ARM-equipped tablets that attempt to replicate the experience of using a laptop using some sort of keyboard and pointing device (a keyboard dock for the Transformer, and Microsoft's promising but as-yet-untested screen covers for the Surface). The addition of support for high-performance and high-capacity storage devices that use USB 3.0 and SATA could make tablets equipped with the Exynos 5 and chips like it even more plausible replacements for low- or mid-tier laptops.
SATA and USB 3.0 support are also features that would be useful in many low-end servers or network attached storage devices—NASes, in particular, have been accumulating more and more server features as they've evolved over the years, and some (like the Iomega px12-450r we looked at a few months back) even include full-fledged Intel processors to power these different services. The Exynos 5's GPU is certainly overkill for this kind of device (and Samsung's product page definitely focuses on the more lucrative phone and tablet use cases), but both the Cortex A15 and the Mali-T600 series are pretty scalable—both can be scaled up or down from one to four processor cores, so as the Exynos 5 lineup expands, seeing it or a processor like it in some sort of server doesn't seem completely out of the question. The presence of hardware virtualization support in the Cortex A15 architecture also paves the way toward potential server usage.
Conclusions
On paper, the CPU and GPU specifications of the Exynos 5 Dual certainly look to be greater than or equal to Apple's powerful A5X in the most important ways. The chip's A15 architecture and 1.7GHz clock speed (compared to the A5X's 1.0GHz) should definitely give it a CPU advantage, while the Mali-T604 looks more than capable of driving a Retina-class display (and, at least according to our educated guessing, should be a bit faster than the quad-core PowerVR SGX543MP4 found in the A5X). Added support for SATA and USB 3.0, on the other hand, give the chip the kind of connectivity it will need to worm its way into the sort of laptop-replacement tablets ARM and its licensees would love to see storm the market.
All we need now is a device that actually uses it.Former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski argued Wednesday that the overnight news about the campaign's leadership shake-up is a "clear indication" that Trump "wants to win" in November and will do so at "all costs" with less than three months until election day.
Lewandowski was reacting to the hiring of Stephen Bannon, the campaign's newly-minted chief executive and the head of Breitbart News, and the promotion of Kellyanne Conway, a GOP pollster who is now the campaign manager for the final 82 days of the campaign.
"You've got a candidate that wants to win. This is a clear indication of that. If you look at Stephen Bannon and what they've built at Breitbart, it's win at all cost, and I really think that makes people on the left very afraid because they are willing to say and do things that others in the mainstream media wouldn't do," Lewandowski said on CNN.
"They've attacked the mainstream media on multiple occasions, and so what they are willing to say and do, I think right now, is the type of minds that the campaign wants to prove to the Clinton people that they're going to take the fight directly to her and that's what he's going to bring to the campaign," he added.
Lewandowski stressed the importance of Conway for the campaign, who had previously worked for a super political action committee supporting Sen. Ted Cruz, and also worked as a pollster for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. He said she should be at Trump's side for the final stretch run "as often as possible," and said she brings "a sense of calmness" to the GOP nominee and the campaign.
"It is very important that Kellyanne is with him as often as possible," Lewandowski said. "No. 1, it's a woman and he needs a high-profile woman in a senior role there that he can listen to and understand what the gender gap is right now. She's going to help with that. She's an excellent person when it comes to message development. She's done this for a long time."
"She also brings a sense of calmness to Donald Trump. She understands that when things are fired up, she has this calming effect on him and it allows him to manage and message him in a way that he wants to do it that he's comfortable with," he continued. "Not trying to tell him what to say, but highlighting some of the message points that are going to resonate better with specific audiences he's going to talk to. So her being on the plane is something I think that has been lacking, which is that senior leadership on the plane, for the last two months."
"He wants people around him that will win at all costs," he added.
The moves also diminishes Paul Manafort's role as the campaign chairman and comes in the wake of a string of poor polls nationally and in key battleground states, some of which now have him down double digits.
Manafort reportedly had been trying to help Trump make the pivot from the primary campaign to the general election by moderating his pitch to voters, which has not worked overall, especially since the Republican National Convention. In that time, Trump openly feuded with Muslim-American Gold Star parents and high-ranking Republicans, including Speaker Paul Ryan, before ultimately backing him in his re-election campaign.It's hard to be a fan of The Simpsons in 2014. We already know that the show isn't even a shadow of the all-powerful cultural colossus it was back in the 1990s, but now – in the winter of its years – it hurts to see it lurch from attention-seeking gimmick to attention-seeking gimmick without a trace of shame. First it piggybacked on Game of Thrones by announcing a character's death as the Yellow Wedding. Then it piggybacked on the success of The Lego Movie by making an episode entirely from Lego.
But now? Now a brave new depth has been plumbed. There's going to be a Simpsons/Family Guy crossover episode.
The Simpsons has featured characters from other animations before. The 1995 episode A Star is Burns brought in Jay Sherman from The Critic, for example. And while that episode had its moments – notably "I was saying Boo-Urns" – it tore the production team apart, with Matt Groening and James L Brooks publicly airing their dirty laundry about whether or not it compromised the integrity of the Simpsons' universe.
But that was almost 20 years ago, and quality control has dipped enough to render these concerns null. The Griffins are coming to Springfield and there's nothing we can do about it.
What makes this especially hard to swallow is that Family Guy is, at heart, a crap Simpsons.
Watching an episode of Family Guy is like watching an episode of The Simpsons where all the heart and sincerity have been boiled away, leaving a twitching mess of arbitrary cultural references. Peter Griffin is Homer Simpson's id run amok. Lois is a terrifying Mommie Dearest caricature of Marge. Stewie is one joke stretched out to abysmal lengths; basically what Bart would have been if The Simpsons had allowed him to remain a catchphrase-spouting annoyance. The Simpsons has a vast fleet of supporting characters who, even to this day, are richly drawn enough to shoulder entire episodes. Family Guy has a man who says "giggity" 12 times an episode.
It's impossible to work out why The Simpsons would debase itself by allowing this to happen. It's like turning up at your favourite bar – the bar you've grown up in, which is full of interesting, sophisticated people – to discover it's been overrun by a stag party of bellowing dimwits who chest-bump each other and try to pour beer up each others' bottoms. Look, the creator of The Simpsons went on to create Futurama; a show full of brazenly intelligent maths jokes. The creator of Family Guy went on to create a million shows that are exactly like Family Guy and the world's worst tedious swing album vanity project.
According to the handful of vague plot details released so far, the crossover episode will show Bart teaching Stewie to skateboard, Homer and Peter getting drunk together and everyone who ever loved The Simpsons walking to their bathroom mirror during the commercials to stare hard at their own reflection while repeating positive affirmations about how it will all be over soon.
Fox's entertainment chairman has declared that "generations of fans will be talking about this one". It's too early to call, but there's a good bet that what they'll be saying is this: Worst. Episode. Ever.Manchester United's England under-20 international Josh Harrop has signed a new two-year contract with the club as Louis van Gaal tries to make good his promise of giving local academy players a chance.
Harrop, from Stockport, is now set to join Louis van Gaal's squad for their pre-season tour of America which leaves on Monday.
The 19-year-old midfielder is steeped in United tradition and both his parents used to follow the club as supporters home and away.
Manchester United's England under-20 international Josh Harrop (left) has signed a new two-year contract
Harrop was a regular member of United's U21s team last season where his performances caught the eye
United fans will hope he can join Mancunian defender Tyler Blackett and James Wilson, who comes from nearby Staffordshire, in maintaining United's tradition of having local players in the first-team.
The famous Class of 92 side boasted Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt who all grew up in or around Manchester while David Beckham also came through the Academy after moving from London.
Van Gaal has consistently said through the club's recent spending spree that he wanted a balance of big-money signings and homegrown players in his squad. Brazil under-20 midfielder Ander Perreira was also given a new deal at the end of last season.
Harrop has played for United in the Uefa Youth League and was a regular member of their Under 21s team last season where his box-to-box performances caught the eye.
Van Gaal may send Harrop on loan at some point next season to gain regular first-team football though that decision could depend if United make progress in The Capital One Cup to add to their fixture list.Marijuana plants growing indoors under grow lights at the Medicine Man legal marijuana grow facility in Denver as seen in January 2014. Ham radio enthusiasts say certain kinds of marijuana grow lights can throw off interference that disrupts their federally protected transmissions. A ham radio group has formally complained to the FCC over the interference. (Photo: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY)
BOULDER, Colo. — A few years ago, retired electrical engineer Tom Thompson noticed it was getting harder and harder to hear his friends across the country talking to him on their ham radio sets.
So Thompson built a portable antenna system so he could walk his neighborhood and track down whatever was interfering with his radio transmission. The culprit? Marijuana grow operations, whose powerful grow lights can emit interference blocking radio broadcasts on the ham and AM spectrums.
The first grower he encountered wasn't pleased to know Thompson, now 73, could tell exactly what was going on. "He said 'what are you going to do, call the cops?' " Thompson said. "And I said, well no, it's a federal matter."
STORY: Pot growers face charges -- in state where pot is legal
With 22 states and the District of Columbia allowing medical marijuana, and Colorado and Washington permitting recreational use, there's been an explosion in the number of people growing their own pot, much of it indoors. With that growth has come increasing interference from the grow lights, which suck down huge amounts of electricity to shine upon budding marijuana plants. Growing pot indoors is usually more secure and gives the grower more control over light, water and insects, which results in higher-quality plants commanding a premium price.
“We're not concerned about what people are using the grow lights for. But we're seeing numerous cases... and that's causing us a problem. ” Sean Kutzko, spokesman for ARRL
The interference problems from one type of system have gotten so bad that the amateur radio association, ARRL, filed a formal federal complaint on behalf of the country's 720,000 licensed ham operators. The problems are worst in Colorado and California, said Sean Kutzko, an ARRL spokesman.
The interference is caused by what are known as "ballasts," electronic systems controlling the grow lights. Unless they're properly shielded, the ballasts can throw off a wide range of interference. For ham radio operators in the area, it's like trying to have a conversation during an intense thunderstorm.
"We're not concerned about what people are using the grow lights for," Kutzko said. "But we're seeing numerous cases... and that's causing us a problem. We just want to make sure the manufacturers are in compliance with FCC laws."
The Federal Communications Commission has the power to regulate anything that interferes with licensed radio transmissions, such as ham sets, but also cell phones and AM radios. It often sends letters to people suspected of causing interference, and also can send agents out to knock on doors, Kutzko said.
In a statement, FCC spokeswoman Kim Hart said she couldn't address the specific complaint filed by AARL, but said the FCC is aware of the problems caused by certain grow lights.Thompson said he's also tracked down interference from traditional halogen lamps and even a neighbor's camcorder.
Thompson said he recognizes that federal regulators probably have better things to do than force marijuana growers to change their lights, so he found his own solution: He created a $20 cable shield he gives out to anyone whose operation is interfering with his radio.
"If I can track this down, anybody can track this down," he said. "If I listen long enough, I can tell when they turn the lights off... you can tell exactly when the harvest is."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1mU5aXZHANOVER, N.H. – With a mere seven seconds remaining in the first overtime period, junior Alexander Marsh scored his first goal of the season to lift the Dartmouth men's soccer team over Hartwick, 1-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on a rainy Thursday evening on Burnham Field.
The Big Green improved to 12-5-1 and advanced to the second round, while the Hawks ended their season with an 11-6-3 mark.
“It was a great NCAA game,” head coach Chad Riley said. “The first game is always tricky. Hats off to Hartwick. You can see why they have won two Sun Belt titles. We were able to watch them play a lot leading into this and I have a lot of respect for them. They are very efficient in the attack and really tested our defense at times. But I was very proud of how we handled the game as a team.”
Freshman Amadu Kunateh gave the home team a great opportunity at a goal with six minutes remaining in the first, but his shot hit the crossbar and deflected out of the net. Senior Eric Jayne picked up the ball in the box and sent another shot, which also hit off the bar.
In the first 10 minutes of the second half, Dartmouth continually won the ball in Hartwick's half and put a lot of pressure on the visiting team, but the Hawks' defense managed to prevent too many close calls.
It looked as if Hartwick was going to break the scoreless draw in the 65th minute when Jamie O'Grady went to shoot from inside the box, but senior Sten Stray-Gunderson played great defense to clear the ball before O'Grady had a chance to fire at senior goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland. With 6:50 remaining in regulation, senior Alberto Gorini had an easy boot that barely sailed over the bar and, with the score till tied at zero, the game went to overtime.
“I saw Emory get the cross and I saw Marsh shoot it, but I had no idea if it was going in or not,” Cleveland said at the end of the game. “Then, when I saw it did go in, I just had to try and catch up with the rest of the team as they went to celebrate.”
With the rain coming down harder, sophomore Wyatt Omsberg had a perfect header off a corner kick from Kunateh three minutes into the first overtime period, but Hartwick's David Styles' strategic placement in the net was all that stopped Dartmouth from getting its golden goal.
With the clock at 9:53, Marsh received a cross from senior Emory Orr, who had been headed the ball by Kunateh. Marsh fought his way around a couple of Hawk defenders and shot into the far left corner of the net before goalkeeper Lenny Wilson could get there in time, ending the game just before it could go to the second overtime period.
“I kept trying to fake the guy out,” Marsh said, talking about the Hartwick defender standing in his way, “and when he finally bit, I shot. I didn't even look at the time. I heard everyone yelling'shoot', but I didn't pay attention and, when I saw a chance, I shot."
Dartmouth outshot Hartwick, 18-13, and had a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks. A combined 33 fouls and three yellow cards were called throughout the aggressive contest. In net, Cleveland earned his ninth shutout of the season and made two saves, while Wilson had a pair of saves in the loss.
Dartmouth will head to New York to take on No. 6 seed Syracuse in a 2 p.m. game on Sunday.Show full PR text
GizmoSphere Launches an AMD APU-based Gizmo Board for Embedded Systems Inventors and Hobbyists
AMD is a Founding Member of GizmoSphere Embedded Developer Community
SUNNYVALE, Calif. -1/24/2013
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that the newly launched Gizmo board, a low-cost board geared toward x86-based embedded system development available from GizmoSphere, is powered by an AMD Embedded G-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). Gizmo is a 4-inch by 4-inch x86 development board that can run a variety of operating systems including Android, Linux®, RTOSes and Windows®. AMD is a founding member of GizmoSphere, a not-for-profit organization whose collective goal is to drive and enable technology projects of interest to independent developers, with a focus on stimulating and encouraging innovation around multicore heterogeneous computing using APUs.
The Gizmo board includes the G-T40E dual-core processor running at 1.0 GHz, combined on a single die with AMD Radeon™ HD 6250 discrete-class graphics. The board provides a performance capacity of 52 gigaFLOPS (GFLOPS) at less than 10 watts. Custom high- and low-speed edge connectors enable a full range of functions. This unprecedented level of integration between serial and parallel processing offers a power-efficient foundation for high-performance multimedia content delivery across a broad range of embedded designs such as digital signage, x86 set-top box (xSTB), IP-TV, thin client, information kiosk, point-of-sale, casino gaming, media servers and industrial control systems.
"Gizmo is an excellent board for the next generation of embedded systems development," said Kamal Khouri, director of Embedded Products, AMD. "The new board will serve the diverse and growing embedded development community and is especially useful for those wanting to incorporate the advanced capabilities possible by harnessing a heterogeneous architecture. Developers ready to take advantage of a high-performance, full I/O-featured x86 development board will find tremendous value in Gizmo."
Packaged as part of a development kit, the Gizmo board is available now through GizmoSphere.org for $199. GizmoSphere's founding members include AMD, Sage Electronic Engineering, Texas Multicore Technologies and Viosoft.Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz has carried his team to the top spot in the NFC East in just his second year in the league. (Bob Leverone/AP)
Each week, national NFL writer Mark Maske will provide his ranking of the league’s 32 teams. This week, the Eagles, winners of four straight and alone atop the NFC East at 5-1, make a richly deserved jump to the top of the class. Things grow slightly more uncertain after that, with the Patriots bouncing back on the heels of their second straight win and the Steelers regaining their footing after a victory over the Chiefs, who maintain a place in the top 5 even after their first loss of the season.
1. Philadelphia Eagles (5-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 3
Will the Eagles be the NFL’s best team at season’s end? Probably not. But they are making progress and they have earned the top spot after an impressive triumph Thursday night at Carolina. Second-year QB Carson Wentz is getting better all the time while utilizing the help he has around him on a bolstered offense. The defense is pretty solid. Another major test looms Monday night with the Redskins coming to Lincoln Financial Field.
[Eagles fans declare war on NFL referee Peter Morelli with online petition]
2. New England Patriots (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 6
There was every reason to believe that the Patriots would be back to being the Patriots and the Jets would be back to being the Jets on Sunday at the Meadowlands. And that happened … sort of. The Patriots won to move into first place in the AFC East. But it was a far-from-convincing victory, and it signals that there’s at least a chance this division will remain competitive all season.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 14
So QB Ben Roethlisberger isn’t done after all. The Steelers followed their dismal showing against the Jaguars by handing the Chiefs their first loss of the season. At their best, the Steelers remain among the NFL’s most productive offenses and best teams. But can Coach Mike Tomlin find a way to get his team to be at its best more consistently? Or are these Steelers convinced they’ll be able to flip that switch for the postseason?
[Ben Roethlisberger’s got ‘a little left’; Martavis Bryant is ‘happy to be a Steeler’]
4. Kansas City Chiefs (5-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 1
The Chiefs simply cannot beat the Steelers. Accept that and move on. They remain among the league’s very best teams. Kansas City simply must find a way to avoid Pittsburgh during the AFC playoffs. QB Alex Smith was not exactly bad against the Steelers. But he was not as sharp as he’s been virtually all season, either.
5. Seattle Seahawks (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 7
The Seahawks return from their bye week to play an interesting game against the Giants on Sunday at the Meadowlands. The Giants’ season suddenly doesn’t seem quite as done as it did before their victory at Denver, and the Seahawks must make a cross-country trip to play. If they take the game lightly, it could cost them.
6. Los Angeles Rams (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 10
The Rams are a first-place team after six games and still way ahead of any realistic rebuilding schedule under first-year coach Sean McVay after the triumph over the Jaguars. They probably aren’t the team to beat in the NFC West, not after losing to the Seahawks a couple weeks ago. But they show no signs at this point of disappearing from the race.
7. Minnesota Vikings (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 16
The hit by Anthony Barr that may have ended Aaron Rodgers’s season wasn’t dirty and it wasn’t illegal. But could it have been avoided? Perhaps. Did Barr drive Rodgers’s shoulder unnecessarily into the turf? Maybe. It’s likely that the Packers will remember that.
[Tom Brady on Aaron Rodgers’ injury: ‘There’s probably no place worse to land’]
8. Carolina Panthers (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 5
Well, Cam Newton had been playing like an MVP again before the clunker in Thursday night’s home loss to the Eagles. But that’s going to happen sometimes. The Panthers should stick to the plan of relying on Newton as a pocket passer and not putting his well-being in jeopardy with too many dashes from the pocket.
9. Denver Broncos (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 4
The Giants were going to win a game eventually. But if the Broncos aspire to be one of the league’s top teams, that loss simply cannot happen on their home field in a prime-time game. The defense could not stop the Giants’ running game and QB Trevor Siemian made a costly gaffe with a pick-six.
10. Washington Redskins (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 17
It was more interesting than it needed to be against the 49ers. But the Redskins now have beaten both of their former offensive coordinators turned head coaches, the Rams’ McVay and the Niners’ Kyle Shanahan, and there is every reason to believe that they will be the primary challenger to the Eagles in the NFC East.
[Redskins have struggled to hold leads this year, but Jay Gruden sees no cause for alarm]
11. Houston Texans (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 20
The once-superb defense has been decimated by injuries, so the offense will have to lead the way if the Texans are going to contend. That’s fine against the Browns, and rookie QB Deshaun Watson has been excellent. But there surely will be some down days for Watson during the developmental process, and there probably isn’t enough around him at this point to overcome that, against even reasonably good competition.
12. New Orleans Saints (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 23
The defense has found a way to contribute — by generating turnovers and scoring TDs — and the big win over the Lions means that the Saints can dream about being in the NFC playoff chase. Whether those dreams are realistic remains to be seen.
13. Cincinnati Bengals (2-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 13
No one needs to worry about Coach Marvin Lewis’s job security or QB Andy Dalton’s worthiness to be the starter, at least for now. The Bengals’ season has renewed possibilities as they return from their bye.
14. Buffalo Bills (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 15
The Bills had a week off to try to digest their pre-bye loss to the Bengals. They return to face the Buccaneers at an opportune time, with Jameis Winston plagued by a shoulder injury.
15. New York Jets (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 18
The NFL on Monday defended its replay reversal of Austin Seferian-Jenkins’s TD-turned-fumble, but its case remains unconvincing. It was baffling even to former NFL officiating czars Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino. That’s not saying the Jets would have beaten the Patriots if the TD call had stood, as it probably should have. But they would have had a chance.
[The NFL doesn’t know what a catch is and now seems confused about fumbles, too]
16. Green Bay Packers (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 2
While Tom Brady is the league’s biggest star and the league’s greatest-ever QB, Aaron Rodgers is probably the NFL’s most indispensable player. And now the Packers have lost him, quite possibly for the season. They don’t have a backup like Jimmy Garoppolo to step in, as the Patriots would have minus Brady. Coach Mike McCarthy is pledging to go with Brett Hundley as the starter, squelching talk that Colin Kaepernick or Tony Romo could get a call. But it’s difficult to imagine the Packers being a factor in the NFC’s Super Bowl chase with the untested Hundley at QB.
17. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 12
Are the Jaguars philosophically opposed to a two-game winning streak?
18. Miami Dolphins (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 22
Just when it seems like the appropriate time to give up on Jay Cutler and go with Matt Moore at QB, something happens like the improbable comeback in Atlanta. The Dolphins are on the heels of the Patriots in the tighter-than-expected AFC East, and any game within the division is going to be meaningful for the foreseeable future.
19. Atlanta Falcons (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 8
The Falcons melted down and turned a big lead into a deflating loss against the Dolphins, and now Atlanta has to travel to New England for a Super Bowl rematch against the Patriots on Sunday night. Think the Falcons might face a few questions this week about their inability to play from ahead?
20. Detroit Lions (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 9
The Lions are coming unglued and that mammoth contract handed out to QB Matthew Stafford suddenly doesn’t look quite as prudent after he handed turnovers and TDs to the Saints on Sunday. Stafford must regroup and carry the Lions out of this.
21. Arizona Cardinals (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 28
So Adrian Peterson does have something left, after all. That was evident right away in his first game for the Cardinals after never being on display in New Orleans before he was traded. Yes, Peterson was right and the skeptics (including this one) were wrong. Will it continue? Who knows. But the glimpses of the Adrian Peterson of old (rather than of an old Adrian Peterson) were unexpected and worth savoring.
[Adrian Peterson stars in Cardinals debut: ‘The opportunity I’ve been waiting for’]
22. Chicago Bears (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 29
The Bears got their first win with Mitchell Trubisky at QB in his second NFL start. They did it by not relying on him too heavily to be the focal point of the offense. That’s always a useful approach while a rookie QB learns on the job. But it won’t be possible every week for these Bears.
23. Baltimore Ravens (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 11
Maybe it’s time to accept that this is simply a mediocre team that isn’t likely to develop into anything more formidable. A third straight non-playoff season would raise more questions among outsiders about Coach John Harbaugh and QB Joe Flacco, but the Ravens are patient and seem fully committed to both.
24. Dallas Cowboys (2-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 24
The Cowboys return from their bye for a busy week in which RB Ezekiel Elliott’s immediate playing status must be clarified and players must find out whether owner Jerry Jones’s stand-or-else mandate for the national anthem will mesh with what the league figures out at the owners’ meetings Tuesday and Wednesday. Oh yeah, there also is a football game to be played Sunday at San Francisco.
[NFL owners hope NFLPA will endorse players standing for the anthem]
25. Tennessee Titans (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 26
The running game didn’t really get revved up Monday night until Derrick Henry’s 72-yard TD romp in the closing moments, and QB Marcus Mariota wasn’t moving around all that well. But Mariota had a productive night throwing the ball, especially in the second half, and the Titans finally found a way to beat the Colts after losing to them 11 straight times.
26. Los Angeles Chargers (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 27
Two straight wins have things looking better. What could be next? A few actual Chargers fans in L.A.? Nah, let’s not get carried away.
27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 19
The defense made both Adrian Peterson and Carson Palmer look rejuvenated for the Cardinals, and the shoulder injury to QB Jameis Winston put Ryan Fitz |
impossible. Sharell has developed a habit of sucking on her wet towel when no one is looking.
Williams, 48, is terrified of what might happen because the family bathes in the water. Inadequately treated water has coursed into Flint homes at least since April 2014, bringing toxins and poisonous lead that leached off the city’s ageing pipes. There are no safe levels of lead exposure: even low levels can cause lifelong developmental damage to young children.
“I know it’s wrong to do it. We shouldn’t be bathing in it, but what else can we do?” Williams said.
On Monday, all three children will head to hospital for blood tests for toxins. All of Flint’s 8,657 children under the age of six should be considered exposed, according to a recent citywide public health directive.
Since the city’s emergency managers decided to draw Flint’s water from the highly corrosive local river, this small city of 100,000 people – just 70 miles from Michigan’s great lakes, the world’s largest freshwater source – has suffered alone, let down by local, state and federal officials and almost entirely ignored by the rest of America.
Williams can see the river from her living room, in the city’s impoverished north-east. She used to fish for dinner on its banks, but now she can’t bear to look at it.
“It’s all just poison now,” she said.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Steve Deloney carries water which he was using for himself and delivering to his sister. Photograph: Bryan Mitchell for the Guardian
Life has changed immeasurably in the last two years. Residents live in a state of indignity, fear and paranoia. Some refuse to shower, others eat only from paper plates, and many suffer rashes and hair loss. Adding insult to injury, the city’s water bills are among the highest in the US.
Like 41% of Flint residents, Williams has endured this crisis in poverty; like 56% of residents, she is black. She has no income and hitches rides three days a week to spend precious food stamps on the 70 litres of bottled water that her family needs. Although things have got a little easier since national guard troops rolled into town two weeks ago, supply drops have yet to reach her home. Williams scratched her arms. She “ashes” everyday after showering. She wondered whom to blame.
“I feel the governor let us down,” she said. “We never really knew what was going on.”
Rick Snyder, a Republican who ascended to the governor’s office in 2010 without ever serving in public office, has fought off calls for his resignation and criticism about his delayed response to the crisis. It was Snyder’s administration that placed the city under emergency management in 2011, a decision that wrested control from the city council and imposed cost-cutting – which in turn led the city to the filthy river for water. For 18 months the administration ignored signs that water was contaminated, before finally rerouting supplies last October.
Melissa Mays first noticed something was wrong when yellow water spurted through her taps, two months after the switch. It stank. It made her hair fall out. But still, she, her husband and their three boys drank from the taps when the city assured them nothing was wrong.
In the winter of 2014, her son Christian, then 11 years old, fell from his bike and shattered his wrists, which had become brittle. Mays felt her bones ache too – a sure sign of lead poisoning. She noticed the city had quietly advised residents to boil the water before consuming it, and that a General Motors plant had redirected its water after engine parts started rusting.
All her family later tested positive for heavy metal poisoning. Perversely, Mays feels some of the guilt herself.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Elijah Waun-Baker, five, left, and Promise Ward, six, wash their faces using tap water. Photograph: Bryan Mitchell for the Guardian
“It comes when Christian wakes up every night and he’s crying, and there’s nothing I can do. I know that somebody else did this, but it was my job to protect him. I didn’t,” she said. “We’re just seeing the early signs of it. It takes up to five years to see the full effects of lead poisoning.”
Her days are dictated by the amount of bottled water she keeps in the house. She washes all the food with it, boils her kettle with it. She instructs her boys to shower sitting down, by pouring warm cups of water quickly over their bodies. The sight of steam from the bathroom makes her jump – she worries it could carry the poison into her body through pores.
•••
Mays was at the state capitol on Tuesday, when a humbled Snyder apologised to residents. He blamed state environment officials, later suspending two employees.
She was far from convinced. “If he was sorry, he’d have come and talked to the citizens,” Mays said. “And we’d have shovels in the ground digging those pipes up.”
A cache of files obtained by the Guardian through a public records request shows several red flags that should have tipped off officials about the water catastrophe.
In February 2015, just weeks after the University of Michigan-Flint reported elevated lead levels on campus, Flint resident Lee-Anne Walters brought the high lead levels in her household’s water to officials’ attention. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Michigan’s department of environmental quality (MDEQ) discussed Walters’ lead results in an email later that month.
With the subject line “HIGH LEAD: FLINT Water testing Results”, the EPA’s Jennifer Crooks wrote to local officials that she had been discussing Walters’ “water situation” for several weeks. Crooks was stunned by the results: 104 parts per billion of lead. The EPA’s regulatory limit is 15 parts per billion.
“WOW!!! Did he find the LEAD!” Crooks wrote, adding: “She has 2 children under the age of 3 … Big worries here.”
But state environmental officials felt it was an isolated case. They assuaged the fears of an EPA expert, Miguel Del Toral, by saying the city used corrosion controls to prevent the river from leaching contaminants off the water pipes. Del Toral later confirmed that wasn’t the case in a 25 April email, writing that the “whole town may have much higher lead levels” than state officials believed.
The lack of corrosion control in Flint, he later wrote, was a “major concern from a public health standpoint”.
It would not be until October 2015, when schools reported lead contamination levels as high as 101 parts per billion, that government officials conceded the situation in Flint was a “public safety issue”.
•••
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eric Davis, 53, shows his dry skin and rash that he believes the water has caused. Photograph: Bryan Mitchell for the Guardian
At a makeshift bottled water collection point, run by a county politician in the city’s north side, a line of cars stretched around the block on Friday. Like refugees from their city, volunteers stuffed cars full of crates. At the eight distribution points manned by the national guard, residents were required to bring identification and could, as of Saturday, collect only one crate per day. The Guardian witnessed several people turned away by troops.
Eric Davis, an unemployed labourer on the city’s north side, stopped drinking the tap water just two months ago. He continues to shower in it and has rashes on his eyelids. The 53-year-old sat in his living room clutching a Red Cross-delivered crate of water, and pointed to the dry skin and bloody scratches on his knees and arms.
“My skin ain’t never been like this,” he said. “My body feels contaminated. It feels like they trying to kill us out here.”
His flatmate, 58-year-old Jeffrey Moore, has refused to shower for two weeks. Instead, he boils water and wipes it over his body. “We’re alone out here,” he said.
A few blocks away, Randy Huyck, his wife and six children shared the feeling of isolation. Their two-storey house, with leaking pipes and rancid mould, was deemed uninhabitable by the city, and the family faces eviction. Abandoned or burned houses line their street, evidence of the city’s declining population and economic collapse.
Huyck continues to bathe and cook with the water.
“I can’t afford to buy water,” he said. “With six kids and no money coming in, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
Until a few weeks ago, with a Michigan primary looming in March, Flint’s water crisis was barely acknowledged on the US presidential campaign trail or in the national media. Earlier this month, Hillary Clinton called the delayed response by Michigan officials “unconscionable”, and Bernie Sanders has repeatedly called for Snyder to resign. On Sunday, Jeb Bush praised Synder “for stepping up right now”. His rivals in the chaotic Republican race have kept silent.
On Thursday, Barack Obama announced $80m in aid for the people of Flint. “Our children should not have to be worried about the water that they’re drinking in American cities,” he said. “That’s not something that we should accept.”
But residents here fear the money will never reach them, and are angered that Obama chose not to visit the city during a trip to Detroit this week.
•••
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Grant Porter, five, reacts as his mother Ardis Porter, 26, tries to comfort him while having his blood drawn to be tested for lead. Photograph: Bryan Mitchell for the Guardian
How Flint traded safe drinking water for cost-cutting plan that didn't work Read more
At the Masonic temple in downtown Flint on Saturday, hundreds of residents arrived to test their bodies for lead. The testing kits, paid for not by the government but by a local lawyer, ran out within an hour.
Ardis Porter, 26, and her five-year-old son, Grant, got here early enough to see a nurse. They stopped using tap water to brush their teeth only two weeks ago. Grant, whose hair started falling out in November, cried as the needle pierced his skin. Ardis worries her unborn child may also have been exposed.
“They should be testing everybody because they’ve exposed us all to this,” said Ardis Porter. “It wouldn’t be handled like this in other areas. People don’t care about the poor.”She comes from a family worth £100 million and is related to royalty, but Kitty Spencer admits that her level of privilege has left her struggling to find a purpose in life.
Opening up to The Times, the socialite who is an ambassador for Centrepoint revealed that she even envies some of the young homeless people the charity supports.
Explaining how they are usually very focused on the future, she said: 'They know exactly what they want to do and what their talents are.
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She comes from a family worth £100 million and is related to royalty, but Kitty Spencer, 25, has admitted that her level of privilege has left her struggling to find a purpose in life
When she's not focused on her charity work, Kitty undoubtedly leads a charmed existence
Lady Kitty celebrates the awarding of a £250,000 Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust grant to Centrepoint to develop a sports engagement programm
'So for that I envy them. I do battle with what it is that I really want to set my mind to.'
As well as volunteering for Centrepoint, Kitty works four days a week for the military charity Give Us Time.
The charity matches soldiers in need of a family holiday with timeshares and holiday homes owned by British families, and is the brainchild of former Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox.
She will also be spending a night on the streets next month for Centrepoint's annual sleep out with a group of friends.
The blonde beauty will be sleeping on the streets for a night next month in aid of the homeless charity Centrepoint
Kitty visits Captain Matt Harris, his wife Louise and their children Edward, Albert and Henry on a holiday at Center Parcs arranged by the charity she works for Give Us Time
Kitty was pictured sipping on a raspberry cocktail at the exclusive La Guérite seafood restaurant, wearing a Melissa Odabash kaftan, during a summer break in the South of France
And she will be joining her cousin Prince William at Kensington Palace next week for a fundraiser he's hosting in aid of the charity.
But she admitted that she's struggling to figure out 'what to do next' as she concedes she could easily just live to post glamorous photos on Instagram.
But she doesn't want to look back and feel as if she could have done more to help others.
When she's not focused on her charity work, Kitty undoubtedly leads a charmed existence.
Like her late aunt Princess Diana and cousin Prince William, Kitty is an ambassador for the homeless charity Centrepoint
Kitty with her boyfrienf of two year, property tycoon Niccolo Barattieri di San Pietro
Kitty dressed head to toe in Dior for the designer's show at Paris Fashion Week
Her Instagram is a diary of parties, fashion shows and luxury holidays.
She has one dainty foot in the party-hard London scene, via a close friendship with leggy Lady Violet Manners, 23, the Duke of Rutland’s daughter.
These two and Violet’s younger sister Alice can be found in bars like Loulous in Mayfair, and at high-end parties around Europe.
She's been a regular on the front row at Paris and London fashion weeks and has been soaking up the sun in Cannes, Pisa and Florence.
At the House of Lords: Kitty gives a speech about caring for military families on behalf on the charity Give Us Time
The glamorous blonde admits she struggles to find a sense of purpose in life, but wants to help others and not just live to post photos on Instagram
The socialite relaxes in an infinity pool as she oaks up the sun in Santorini
And of course she enjoys a special connection with Italy as she's been dating property tycoon Niccolo Barattieri di San Pietro for two years.
Barattieri is 20 years her senior and divorced father of three children.
Kitty grew up away from the media spotlight in South Africa with her mother, Victoria Lockwood, the former model who was Earl Spencer's first wife.
The Cape Town University graduate, studied psychology, politics and literature followed by a master’s degree in luxury brand management at Regent’s College.
She's also turned her hand to modelling and is represented by Paula Karaiskos, who also looks after Kate Moss at the Storm model agency.Lena Headey just became the latest actor to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. The Game of Thrones star took to Twitter Tuesday to share the story of two separate occasions when the longtime Hollywood producer allegedly made unwanted sexual advances toward her.
The first incident reportedly occurred when she attended the 2005 Venice Film Festival for the premiere of The Brothers Grimm.
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“At one point Harvey asked me to take a walk down to the water,” she wrote. I walked down with him and he stopped and made some suggestive comment, a gesture, I just laughed it off, I was genuinely shocked.”
Headey said there was a second incident that occurred when she met up with Weinstein for breakfast during a trip to Los Angeles and he asked her to go up to his hotel room with him. “We walked to the lift and the energy shifted, my whole body went into high alert, the lift was going up and I said to Harvey, I’m not interested in anything other than work,” she wrote. “I had such a strong sense of don’t come near me. He was silent after I spoke, furious.”
Weinstein is facing a number of accusations from various women ranging from sexual assault to rape. He has denied allegations of non-consensual sexual contact.
Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com.The first question comes from Diane Sower:
“Why do they [the LDS church] not keep members informed of the continuing doctrine of polygamy after death?”
First, for those who may not know what Diane is referring to, some background is in order. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) teaches that marriages by the proper authority in the temple are “sealed” for “time and all eternity.” Thus, the marriage covenant and relationship continue after death. These sealed marriage relationships include plural marriages, or polygamy–strictly speaking, polygyny, in that one man could marry more than one woman–and such marriages would continue beyond death (see Doctrine and Covenants 132 for the scriptures dealing with this subject). The LDS church practiced plural marriage publicly from 1852 to 1890, though church leaders, such as Joseph Smith, had entered into many such marriages (Joseph Smith had actually practiced polygyny and polyandry) beginning in the 1830s. In the face of severe sanctions from the US federal government, the church officially ended the practice of plural marriage in 1890 (see Official Declaration 1 in LDS scripture). Secretly, however, the church continued to sanction plural marriages for some time afterward (see Michael Quinn’s article for details).
Since that time, the church has sought to distance itself from the legacy of polygamy. Church president Gordon B. Hinckley said, “This Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members of this Church. … If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 92; or Ensign, Nov. 1998, 71).
Given, however, that there are presumably no “civil laws” in the next life, the church teaches by practice and implication that men and women may remain in polygynous marriages in the eternities. Here is the relevant section of the church’s Handbook of Instructions:
Women. A living woman may be sealed to only one husband. Men. If a husband and wife have been sealed, and the wife dies, the man may have another woman sealed to him if she is not already sealed to another man.
In other words, women can be sealed (married for eternity) to only one man, whereas men can be sealed to multiple women, as long as they are sealed only to him. An example of this practice (and its doctrinal basis) comes from Apostle Dallin Oaks, whose first wife, June, was sealed to him in 1952 and passed away in 1998. Elder Oaks subsequently married Kristen McMain in 2000, and their marriage was likewise sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. Elder Oaks acknowledges that, according to the church’s teachings, he will have both women as his wives in the hereafter:
There are a lot of people that live on this earth that have been married to more than one person. Sometimes those marriages have ended with death; sometimes they’ve ended with divorce. What does the next life mean to them in relation to a covenant they once made and so on? I don’t think those people have much of an answer for that question. It might not bother them because they don’t believe that people will live as married couples in the next life. And if they don’t make and live for the covenants to do that, [as for themselves] they’re right! But for people who live in the belief, as I do, that marriage relations can be for eternity, then you must say, “What will life be in the next life, when you’re married to more than one wife for eternity?” I have to say I don’t know. But I know that I’ve made those covenants, and I believe if I am true to the covenants that the blessing that’s anticipated here will be realized in the next life. (Elder Oaks Interview Transcript from PBS Documentary, 20 July 2007).
Why doesn’t the church “keep members informed” of this doctrine? It’s fair to say that the church does not spend a lot of time or ink discussing this doctrine. But the doctrine is clear (it’s still in the scriptures), and the implications and practice of that doctrine are acknowledged both in the church handbook and by its leaders.
I would guess church leaders may feel that dealing with the subject publicly and directly would highlight a doctrine and practice they have worked long and hard to remove from the collective consciousness of Mormonism. They probably don’t consider it a major enough doctrinal issue to deal with, except as it comes up in individual cases.
If you have a question about Mormonism, please send an email to runnertx@hotmail.com, with the subject line “Ask a Mormon Apostate.”
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He’s always been a trendsetter. But could David Bowie have caused the latest fad sweeping the nation – the credit crunch?
It may sound like a ridiculous question, but it’s not as mad as it seems.
Even when it comes to finances Bowie leads the way – and back in 1997 he did something called “securitisation”.
He thought, “I have a lot of money coming in over the next 10 years from my back catalogue, but I’d rather have the cash now and not have to wait”.
He produced some bits of paper – Bowie Bonds – and said “whoever buys these gets my royalties”.
It meant he no longer had the money coming in but instead had a lot up front. His investors were guaranteed a good income. It was a good deal all round.
And the banks were catching on to the idea. They thought, “We have billions out there in mortgages which are going to pay us back very slowly. Why don’t we sell those and get the money now?”
So the banks started doing what Bowie had done – in a big way.
It was a complete rebuilding of what a bank does. Normally a bank borrows from people like you and I, then lends it out.
But now the bank was lending the money – and selling the loan on elsewhere.
For example, a bank loans out £100,000 for a mortgage, and does the same for 10,000 people. They’ve now lent £1billion and will be getting the cash back over the next 25 years.
So the bank creates a piece of paper, a security, and says whoever owns it will have the income from the mortgages.
It then sells the security – effectively the bundle of mortgages – for £1billion to perhaps a pension fund, which then has the mortgage income – and the bank has £1billion to lend out again.
Everybody is happy: the banks are able to lend more and more as mortgages, and there’s a conveyor belt where they lend a billion, receive a billion and sell the mortgages on.
Northern Rock were the market leaders in the UK for this kind of thing.
But then it started to go wrong. As the banks were selling the loans, any bad risk became someone else’s problem. So the banks didn’t have to worry so much who they were lending to. Problem number two was it wasn’t just their standards that dropped – the banks just lent far too much.
And thirdly the banks looked at these securities and said, “these are so good we want to buy some ourselves”. Having got rid of a lot of loans and risks, they ended up buying them back in.
It all went pear-shaped for American securities because the banks had lent to people who couldn’t repay them.
No one wanted securities, their value plummeted and the banks, having bought a lot, lost a lot themselves.
Securitisation was a kind of magic bullet for banks. It looked a fantastic way of making them more profitable with less risk. But they fired this magic bullet at themselves.
They became too dependent on it and then the investors decided they didn’t like securities because they didn’t know what was in them and the loans were often bad.
No one wanted to buy securities even if the securities were pretty good – which Northern Rock’s were.
It was fashionable when David Bowie did it once. Ten years later it wasn’t.
Suddenly the banks didn’t have any money coming in, so they couldn’t lend any more – that’s the credit crunch.
Now the economy is in a vicious circle. The banks loan less, so the economy has money sucked out of it. With less money there’s less spending and job losses which cause less spending, and the vicious spiral continues downwards.
So how do we get through the credit crunch? The obvious thing to do is pump more money into the banking system, from the Bank of England or the Government.
Or the Government can guarantee loans to encourage lending because the banks are so fearful about doing so.
So far in return for shares in the bank, the Government has given them more capital but probably not quite enough.
The truth is the most sensible thing for people to do is be a bit cautious with money at the moment.
But it would be nice if we all tried not to be too cautious, because if everybody saves simultaneously, it causes a tidal wave which will drown the economy.
Evan Davis presents The City Uncovered, BBC2, Wednesday, 9pm.So, did somebody ship the Nashville Predators organization a crate of soul-stealing water? We’ve seen the parent club go from Presidents Trophy favourites to pretty good. Their AHL affiliate? Even worse; the Milwaukee Admirals have just one win in their past ten. Overtime losses have lessened the blow a bit, but it’s very possible that they’ll miss the playoffs.
This is all to the Toronto Marlies’ gain, though. They just need to keep winning, and had a pair of games against the also-struggling Rochester Americans to work with. A combined eight goals later, and the Marlies picked up a huge four points to move two ahead of Milwaukee with two games in hand.
The Rundowns
We kick things off on Friday night. This was a game that started off pretty close, with a fight between Ryan Rupert and Tim Schaller being the only highlight in the first period. In the second, however, Sam Carrick wasted no time, finally kicking off the game’s scoring just thirty five seconds in by rebounding a shot from TJ Brennan. This started off a period where the Marlies overwhelmed their opponents, outshooting Rochester 17-6, but to no further avail.
Interestingly enough, the third period began in a very similar way. Once again, Brennan picked up an assist, but this time Brendan Leipsic was the one to pick up a first period goal, converting on the powerplay to give his team some insurance. It’s a good thing that he did; Dan Catenacci scored with a minute and a half to go and the Rochester net empty, but the Amerks couldn’t get any closer. With twelve seconds left, Connor Brown added an empty netter.
Moving on to today, the two teams headed from Rochester to Ricoh to play Toronto’s regular season home finale. This game took an interesting and somewhat concerning start. There were no goals scored, but instead, sixty one penalty minutes were dished out.
Early in, Fraser McLaren took a bit of a sketchy hit from Colin Jacobs. Unimpressed, McLaren chased Jacobs, threw him to the ground, and punched him, earning himself two for roughing and a ten minute misconduct. The game calmed down for a while, but towards the end of the frame, Sam Carrick leveled Jake McCabe with a scary hit along the boards. Jarome Leduc immediate stepped in to go after Carrick, but he was taken care of within two punches.
Alas, the second period provided the hockey game that many were waiting for, and it weighed heavily into Toronto’s favour. Byron Froese set up Matt Frattin for a cross crease gimmie just four minutes, which set the tone for a Toronto controlled period. The fists reintegrated themselves at the midway point when Justin Kea challenged Carrick to a second round, but that did nothing to change the momentum – Leipsic added his team’s second of the game just a minute and a half later.
At first, it looked like the second was all but done, but with 1.7 seconds left, William Nylander finished off a play initiated by Froese and Brennan to put the icing on the cake on a fantastic period. Toronto kept pressing into the third period, but Rochester scored the first goal of the frame, breaking Antoine Bibeau’s shutout with a deflection. Froese then responded with a goal of his own, followed by an empty netter from Connor Brown to end the night off.
Blue Warriors
I’m going to give Friday’s to Christopher Gibson. His hot streak came to a bitter and extended end over his past few starts, and it would have been really easy for him to take it to heart. Instead, he stopped 21 of 22 shots, and was perfect for the first 59 minutes. That’s very good to see.
Today, there were a ton of players who were deserving, but I’m going to stay not he goalie train and say that Antoine Bibeau had a very strong night. He stopped 28 of 29, and not all of them were easy accomplishments. Needless to say, the coaching staff probably feels confident with their tandem moving into the final days.
Summing It Up
The schedule worked out just right for the Marlies. Matching up with a struggling team that you’re familiar with is always nice, but moreso when you clearly need the points. While there was a few moments of distraction, the team was able to keep their heads and check and deliver what was expected of them.
Now, the Marlies move onto their final road trip of the season. It’s not going to be an easy one, but if this team is truly deserving of a playoff spot, they’ll find a way to make it happen for themselves.
Photo courtesy of Christian Bonin / TSGPhoto.comProject Zero security vulnerabilities team reveals top-end curved Korean handset had 11 holes, of which three have yet to be fixed
Google has revealed that Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S6 Edge Android smartphone suffered 11 “high impact” security issues that were introduced by the company’s customisation of Android.
Of the 11 bugs that were found in a week-long focus on Samsung’s device by Google’s Project Zero security bug hunting team, some could allow hackers to take over the device and steal personal data.
Natalie Silvanovich from Project Zero said: “The majority of these issues were fixed on the device we tested via an over-the-air update within 90 days, though three lower-severity issues remain unfixed. It is promising that the highest severity issues were fixed and updated on-device in a reasonable timeframe.”
Samsung said that its new monthly security updates programme would address the bugs.
A Samsung spokesperson said: “In our first security update, we were able to provide solutions to eight of the more critical issues that were brought to our attention by Google as part of their 90-day reporting policy. The remaining three issues will be included as part of our November security update which will be rolling out over the next couple of weeks.”
Google’s focus on Android security bugs comes after a year of increased scrutiny of the mobile operating system that runs on over a billion devices worldwide.
Recent revelations of two versions of the Android “Stagefright” bug, as well as various bugs in Samsung’s devices, have dented confidence in the security of Android.
The company has made strides to clear malware and misbehaving apps from its Google Play Store, as well as pledging to issue security updates once a month for its own Nexus line of devices.
Now the company that distributes Android to third-party manufacturers, including Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC and Huawei, has turned its focus to devices made by others.
Silvanovich said: “[Manufacturers] are an important area for Android security research, as they introduce additional (and possibly vulnerable) code into Android devices at all privilege levels, and they decide the frequency of the security updates that they provide for their devices to carriers.”
As Google and Android device manufacturers, including Samsung, make increased efforts to target companies with schemes such as Android for Work and Samsung Knox, the security of Android smartphones and tablets has never been more important.Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high quality content. Please support us!
The time has pretty much never been better to get into the plant-based food business. The plant-based meat market is set to reach $5.2 billion by 2020 and could make up one-third of the market by 2050. U.S. household penetration of dairy-free beverages has doubled in five years to more than 30 percent, with almond milk now accounting for almost 70 percent of sales and new nut-based milks such as cashew gaining momentum.The almond milk market alone has grown by 250 percent and become a $894.6 million industry in the past five years. Dairy-free milk sales represent a $2 billion category and growth is expected to continue outpacing dairy milk sales at least through 2018.
This massive spike in demand for meat and dairy-free products is largely being driven by consumers who are waking up the impact that our current food system is having on the planet, animals, and perhaps most importantly, their own health. Over the past few decades, we’ve seen countless studies come out about the hormone and antibiotic content in dairy products and recoiled in horror watching undercover investigations in factory farms – and when you add the rising understanding that industrial animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the ENTIRE transportation sector … the fact that 30 percent of Americans are leaving meat off their plates more frequently really doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
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With consumer demand shifting towards more healthy, plant-based products many companies are seizing this opportunity and creating innovative plant-based proteins and dairy-free milks, cheeses, and ice cream that are effectively changing the face of the food sector as we know it.
Understandably, there are a lot of brand new companies jumping on the plant-based wagon, but T.K. Pillan, co-founder of Veggie Grill, the largest all vegan restaurant chain in the United States, saw this trend long before others did. Thanks to its overwhelming popularity on the West Coast, Veggie Grill secured $22 million in investment to expand across the country and will (hopefully) be making it’s way to the East Coast soon.
In a recent episode of #EatForThePlanet with Nil Zacharias, T.K. shares the inspiring back-story of how he co-founded Veggie Grill despite having never worked in the food space and provides key tips on what it takes to be a plant-centric food entrepreneur. In addition to helping start this paramount plant-centric fast, casual chain, T.K. is now also an investor and co-founded Powerplant Ventures, a venture fund that supports visionary entrepreneurs who are leveraging the power of plants to deliver better nutrition in more sustainable and ethical ways.
If you are an entrepreneur or aspiring to break into the sustainable, plant-based food industry, or just love an inspiring success story, this episode is a must-listen.
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You can listen to the full episode on the following platforms: iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher
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If you like this episode, be sure to subscribe to the #EatForThePlanet with Nil Zacharias podcast for new episodes with food industry leaders, health and sustainability experts, as well as entrepreneurs and creative minds who are redefining the future of food.
Image source: Veggie GrillReal Madrid Italian had previously sneaked into the 2012 Coppa Italia final
An Italian football supporter managed to sneak onto the pitch at the Stadio San Siro on Saturday evening to join Real Madrid's players in their Champions League celebrations.
Gaspare Galasso made a name for himself in 2012 when he managed to find a way onto the pitch moments after Lazio's Coppa Italia triumph.
When Cristiano Ronaldo converted the decisive penalty to hand Real Madrid another Champions League title, Galasso was on the pitch again and, as his photographs prove, the Italian was among the players for the medal ceremony.
"I arrived in Milan on Saturday dressed very elegantly and approached the San Siro," he explained.
"I decided to enter the area reserved for police and service personnel. The commissioners tried to control my pace but I was dressed elegantly and walked assertively and so I escaped."
Galasso uploaded the photographs to his Facebook page and showed not only himself during the lifting of the trophy but also selfies with Florentino Perez, Sergio Ramos, Lucas Vazquez and Andriy Shevchenko.Mozilla has added tracking protection to Firefox’s private browsing mode, so in addition to not saving your browsing history, Firefox will also block ads and other content on websites that are trying to track your every move.
Private browsing mode prevents your browsing history from being saved, but it doesn’t completely let you browse without a trace. Sites you visit even in private browsing mode can still try to collect data about you through ads, analytics trackers, social share buttons, and other web elements.
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Firefox’s tracking protection is automatic when you go into private browsing mode on Windows, Mac, Android, or Linux. If a site doesn’t seem to work without those tracking elements, you can unblock them by turning off tracking protection for that particular site. In essence, this works like an ad-blocker for your private browsing sessions.
On the desktop, Firefox also now has tab audio indicators, so you can find which sites are being noisy and mute them in one click, without leaving your current tab. And on Android, you can now open links from apps in the background.
Learn more about the new tracking protection in the Mozilla blog post below. Venture Beat also offers a rundown of the changes in Firefox 42.
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Firefox Now Offers a More Private Browsing Experience | The Mozilla BlogReturn to Nuke ‘Em High: Volume 2 is the explosive finale of Lloyd Kaufman’s inspired two-part indie event film. The movie is nearly complete, but we need your help to finish the greatest movie in Troma’s 40 year history.
Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Volume 2 is the continuation of the compelling adventure of Lauren and Chrissy, two lesbian lovers who must face and defeat the most corrupt and evil forces ever to descend upon Tromaville…and the world!
Stars Catie Corcoran (left) and Asta Paredes (right)
When a perverse conspiracy is launched by the demented CEO of a multi-national “organic food” company, our heroines become embroiled in a death defying fight to restore their own humanity, while at the same time saving the entire world from enslavement and the apocalypse.
The evil CEO Herzkauf, played by director Lloyd Kaufman, finds his body mutated by the very pollutants he sought to spread!
A former member of the Tromaville High Glee Club, transformed into a blood-thirsty Cretin!
Contribute and join the fight against insidious elements of our society: discrimination against the LGBTQ community, rampant bullying in the hallways of our educational institutions, and the never |
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Free: The Ultimate Collection of Book Marketing Examples Subscribe to the BookBub Partners Blog to get your free flipbook right away. You'll also get BookBub’s latest book marketing tips and insights delivered to your inbox each week. Choose your role... Indie Author Hybrid Author Traditionally Published Author Publisher Other Download Now Close
About Katie Donelan Katie Donelan is the Head of Partner Relations at BookBub, where she oversees BookBub's Partners Team. She and her team work with all of BookBub's author and publisher partners to help them use BookBub's products as effectively as possible. Katie previously worked at Random House Publishing Group and Conde Nast. Follow her on Twitter at Katie Donelan is the Head of Partner Relations at BookBub, where she oversees BookBub's Partners Team. She and her team work with all of BookBub's author and publisher partners to help them use BookBub's products as effectively as possible. Katie previously worked at Random House Publishing Group and Conde Nast. Follow her on Twitter at @katiedonelanAn astonishing new study claims that there may be a ticking time bomb right under our toes, as the soil could be responsible for significant carbon emissions.
A remarkable new study published in the journal Science indicates that carbon emissions from warming soils could be a lot higher than we previously thought, and it could result in a chain of events that would greatly intensify global warming. Researchers found that there was a major uptick in carbon production in microbes found within soil at the Harvard Forest in Massachusetts.
Scientists used underground cables to heat some of the soil plots in the forest, raising the temperature by about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while unheated plots were set aside as control for the experiment. After about 10 years, scientists measured again and found that carbon emissions from heated soil had greatly increased. After a seven year period where emissions declined again, the carbon emissions went on an upward trajectory once again for six more years.
In the final three years of the study, the carbon emissions from the soil went down again. Both times there was a decline in emissions, scientists think that the microbes were simply adjusting to the new temperatures, and as a result they think that it is just the calm before the storm, as it were. The 26-year study is the biggest of its kind and could result in breakthroughs in how we study and understand global warming and climate change.
“After 26 years, the world’s longest-running experiment to discover how warming temperatures affect forest soils has revealed a surprising, cyclical response: Soil warming stimulates periods of abundant carbon release from the soil to the atmosphere alternating with periods of no detectable loss in soil carbon stores,” reads the statement from the Marine Biological Laboratory. “Overall, the results indicate that in a warming world, a self-reinforcing and perhaps uncontrollable carbon feedback will occur between forest soils and the climate system, adding to the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels and accelerating global warming. The study, led by Jerry Melillo, Distinguished Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), appears in the October 6 issue of Science.”In recent weeks a fascinating new library has been getting attention in the React community - redux-saga. It's billed as an "alternative side-effect model" for Redux that uses ES'15 generators and competes with the fundamental redux-thunk middleware. As part of my in-progress quest for a new execution environment for React, I've been exploring ways to use Redux to manage state for a multi-process CLI application. I've settled on Sagas as the best way to get control of the rather complex workflow of spawning processes and coordinating events between them, and I think they're a really compelling example of the innovative new design patterns that generator functions are opening up to JavaScript developers today.
What are they?
The concept of "sagas" (or "process managers") is not new - it actually dates back to a 1987 paper by Hector Garcia-Molina and Kenneth Salem. There's a detailed article about sagas on MSDN, and they are widely used in the CQRS and ES community.
In the context of redux-saga, however, they allow you to use generators to set up long-running async routines that watch events dispatched to a Redux store. This allows you to establish watchers that react to events in ways that can be quite difficult with just store.subscribe().
I've found sagas to be very effective for managing complex workflows because of two big reasons - the ability to organize that workflow into composable watchers that respond to events, and the brilliant decision to abstract each operation into "Effects" so that they are easily testable without resorting to mocking and dependency injection.
The standard store.subscribe() provided by Redux works very well with React because of the ability to make the UI a pure function of the state - the HTML is a predictable reflection of the state at a given moment. When other parts of your application (or applications that use Redux without React) need to respond to events - such as kicking off a process or generating a thumbnail in the background - it becomes difficult because subscribe() doesn't provide any details about the event that triggered the update.
One way to work around this is by adding extra flags to your state. Need to fire off a background routine to validate new objects when they are added to a key in your Redux store? You could add a needsValidation array and push id's to it each time a new object is added. You could then add a callback using store.subscribe() that checks the needsValidation array after each event is dispatched and kicks off routines as needed. You could establish another array called validationsInProgress that you push the id's to so that you don't trigger duplicate validator routines if the same type of event fires again. It could then dispatch validation error events when the routines complete.
What if this workflow starts to get more complex, though? What if you need to keep track of failed calls to the validator and retry them? Now you have to add a failedValidations key. What if you need to cancel and re-start validation if the same object is updated while validation is in-progress? What if you need to flag the objects that failed validation and move them to a review queue? Your state and your subscribe callback begins to inflate with more and more logic branches and control flow flags, hiding the real meaning inside. You end up writing complex decision trees to check those myriad flags and determine what to do next.
The logical next step is to write middleware that watches events as they are dispatched, and that's exactly what redux-saga provides.
Why redux-saga?
The way redux-saga uses generators to manage async control flow is really inventive. Like the goroutines in js-csp, redux-saga uses generators to fork subroutines that act as async mini-processes - sagas. These sagas "wake up" when the desired event type is dispatched. Rather than executing operations directly sagas yield "effects", which are descriptors of the operation the saga wants to execute. That descriptor is passed to the redux-saga middleware via two-way generator communication, the operation is executed, and the result is passed back to the saga.
The advantage this gives is convenient and maintainable unit testing by taking over the role of the middleware in your tests. You call the generator directly, make sure the yielded effect - such as a function call or an action dispatch - is described correctly, and then you return a fake result. You're able to test your saga line-by-line without complicated mocks and dependency injection.
Why not redux-saga?
The biggest consideration when deciding whether to use redux-saga is generators. Browser support is getting better but it's not yet widespread. Babel polyfills generators using Facebook's regenerator, but if you're running in the browser you'll need to include the runtime which is 20kb+ minified and gzipped - nearly as big as React or jQuery. You'll want to make sure that doesn't break your front end bandwidth budget.
Generators also introduce a relatively steep learning curve, so you'll want to make sure it's worth it before you commit your team to the effort of learning them. It's not a paradigm that's familiar to JavaScript or Node developers, so it can take some time to get used to. The redux-thunk middleware is much simpler and potentially more obvious in many cases. You may end up using both - redux-thunk for simple operations and redux-saga for complex ones.
You also want to make sure you don't rely on sagas too much. You can run into the same pitfalls as a plain run-of-the-mill event emitter if you let side effects run amok and introduce unpredictable behavior. Carefully consider what needs to be a side effect and what should really be a pure state transformation.
Getting started
So you've decided that sagas are just the thing to cure your complex workflow pains? Great! Let's get started. First, you'll want to add the middleware to your store (using the Redux 3.1.0 api):
import {applyMiddleware, createStore} from'redux' import {myReducer, otherReducer} from './my/reducers' import * as sagas from './my/sagas' import sagaMiddleware from'redux-saga' const store = createStore( combineReducers({myReducer, otherReducer}), initialState, applyMiddleware(sagaMiddleware(...sagas)) )
In your sagas.js file (which will likely split into several files over time) you export generator functions that are executed as soon as the store is ready. In the ship-yard open source project I'm working on, a "foreman" process spawns multiple "workers" that watch for "goal" events. Here's an abbreviated example:
import {apply, call, fork, put, take} from'redux-saga' export default function* startForeman() { yield fork(startTranspiler) yield fork(startLinter) }
The "fork" effect allows me to make non-blocking calls which I can later "join" to read the result. Here I'm forking concurrent routines for starting the transpiler and linter.
What does the "fork" function actually return? A description of the function call that your saga wants the middleware to carry out without blocking. It looks like this:
{ FORK: { context: null, fn: [Function: startTranspiler], args: [] } }
This is used by the middleware to make the function call, and the middleware pushes an object back to the saga that includes a promise. This object can be used with the join effect later to wait for the return value of the saga.
To test this, I use generator.next() to move to the next yield statement and pass values back to the saga when needed:
describe('sagas/foreman', () => { describe('startForeman()', () => { const generator = startForeman() it('forks the transpiler process', () => { const result = generator.next() expect(result.value).to.deep.equal(fork(foreman.startTranspiler)) }) it('forks the linter process', () => { const result = generator.next() expect(result.value).to.deep.equal(fork(foreman.startLinter)) })
The generator.next() call returns a result object that includes metadata about the yield operation itself, including a value property that is set to the value that was yield -ed. This is standard ES'15 generator two-way communication.
Normally, I would use beforeEach and afterEach to sanitize my environment so that individual tests have no effect on each other. With sagas, however, I find it more convenient and maintainable to simply rely on the tests in a describe block being executed sequentially, which is the case if none of them are async tests. Each test carries the saga forward to the next yield statement.
Without redux-saga, I may have had to resort to dependency injection with proxyquire to replace startTranspiler and startLinter with sinon spies and verify that they were called correctly without actually executing the functions and breaking unit isolation. Because of the "Effect" descriptor pattern, though, I'm able to merely describe the calls I want to make with fork without actually making the calls. I use fork in the tests as well to make sure the desired functions to call and parameters are correct.
If I wanted to test joining the routine after forking it, I would use a simple fake generator function in my tests, passing it to the saga by including it as a parameter to generator.next() :
const fakeStartTranspiler = function* () {} const generator = startForeman() it('forks the transpiler process', () => { const result = generator.next() expect(result.value).to.deep.equal(fork(foreman.startTranspiler)) }) it('then joins the transpiler process', () => { const result = generator.next(fakeStartTranspiler) expect(result.value).to.deep.equal(join(fakeStartTranspiler)) })
Passing a value as the first argument of generator.next() means it becomes the return value of the yield statement
Waiting for events
In my startTranspiler saga, I wait for the sub-process workers to launch and send a ready event back to the foreman process. These events are dispatched as Redux actions, which I can watch for with my utility saga waitForReady :
import {launchWorker, waitForReady, waitForGoal} from 'utils/sagas' import {transpile} from'state/transpiler' export function* startTranspiler() { const transpiler = yield call(launchWorker, WORKER_TRANSPILER) yield call(waitForReady, WORKER_TRANSPILER)
Behind the scenes, the waitForReady and waitForGoal utility sagas from ship-yard yield the take effect from redux-saga, which tells the middleware to watch for the next Redux action of a given type and pass that action back to the saga. That action becomes the return value of the yield call, so you can then use the action as your saga proceeds. In this case, startTranspiler and startLinter don't care about the details of the actions, so they don't assign them to anything.
When the worker is ready, the saga moves on:
while (true) { yield call(waitForGoal, GOAL_TRANSPILE) yield apply(transpiler, transpiler.send, [transpile()]) }
This sets up a permanent watcher (by wrapping it in a while (true) ) that will use waitForGoal (another utility saga that uses take behind the scenes) to respond to all GOAL_TRANSPILE events.
While call simply takes a function and calls it with the given arguments, apply binds the function to a context before calling it. This allows you to operate on and test calls to object-oriented libraries that need to access the object instance they are associated with.
Digging into the source
Whenever you introduce a library to your codebase with a learning curve as high as redux-saga, I'd encourage you to spend some time getting to know the source. The main source is here, in the src directory. Here are some highlights:
The middleware kicks off sagas and sends actions to them from the Redux store.
The io.js module provides the tools that help you describe your effects.
Those effects are actually executed and the results returned by the proc.js module.
The tests are run with tape and are predictably housed in the test directory.
There are some illuminating examples in the examples that can help shed some light on more involved procedures.
Tell your own tale
I hope I've been able to shed some light on the need that redux-saga meets, and how to get started with the library. I'd love to hear your about experience with it as you dig in! Find me on Twitter as @bkonkle, on Github as bkonkle, or on Facebook as brandon.konkle. I also frequent great open communities like Reactiflux and Denver Devs.
Thanks for reading!INDEPENDENT TD Clare Daly is taking High Court action against the garda commissioner over claims that her arrest for drink driving was deliberately leaked to the media.
INDEPENDENT TD Clare Daly is taking High Court action against the garda commissioner over claims that her arrest for drink driving was deliberately leaked to the media.
Ms Daly filed the motion last Monday and says that details of her arrest were passed on to journalists to discredit her for raising “issues of malpractice within the Garda”.
“This information could only have come from within,” she said on her website.
In her action to the High Court, the left-wing TD is claiming negligence against garda commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan for the leak and the manner of her arrest.
“I was breathalysed but the equipment didn’t register a reading. I was arrested and handcuffed on the side of the road,” she said.
“I objected to being handcuffed… [but] was told by the arresting garda that this was ‘procedure’. I was then brought to the Kilmainham garda station to provide a urine sample.”
On her release, Ms Daly claims that a female garda told her to come back when she was are sober despite having been cleared.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission confirmed to Independent.ie that it was investigating a complaint from Ms Daly but said it could not comment on her case.
The Sunday Times is reporting that she is to be represented by Gareth Noble, who is currently representing Ms Daly and fellow TD Mick Walllace as they contest charges that they unlawfully entered a restricted zone at Shannon airport last July.
Online EditorsORLANDO, FL - MARCH 30: Killer whale "Tilikum" appears during its performance in its show "Believe" in Sea World on March 30, 2011 in Orlando, Florida. "Tilikum" back into the public performance today, for the first time since the 6-ton whale killed a trainer at the marine park more than one year ago. Sea World Parks & Entertainment president Jim Atchinson signed off on the decision this week. Tilikum has not appered since Feb. 24 2010, the day the animal battered and drowned 40-year-old trainer Dawn Brancheau. The death made headlines worldwide, forced sweeping safetely changes within Sea World. (Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images) Killer whale "Tilikum" appears during its performance in its show "Believe" in Sea World on March 30, 2011 in Orlando, Fla. (credit: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — An effort to free whales from SeaWorld by claiming they were enslaved made a splash in the news but flopped in court Wednesday.
A federal judge in San Diego dismissed an unprecedented lawsuit seeking to grant constitutional protection against slavery to a group of orcas that perform at SeaWorld parks, saying the 13th amendment applies only to humans.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller stopped the case from proceeding two days after he became the first judge in U.S. history to listen to arguments in court over the possibility of granting constitutional rights for members of an animal species.
“As ‘slavery’ and ‘involuntary servitude’ are uniquely human activities, as those terms have been historically and contemporaneously applied, there is simply no basis to construe the Thirteenth Amendment as applying to non-humans,” Miller wrote in his ruling.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed the lawsuit in October and named five whales as plaintiffs. PETA says the wild-captured orcas are enslaved by SeaWorld because they are held in concrete tanks against their will and forced to perform in shows at its parks in San Diego and Orlando, Fla.
SeaWorld called the lawsuit baseless and a waste of the court’s time and money.
“We cannot hope that this is PETA’s last publicity stunt but we can now refocus our energy in more positive and constructive ways: delivering high quality education experiences to our guests and providing the highest possible standard of care to our animals,” spokesman Dave Koontz wrote in a statement.
Legal experts say it opened an interesting debate about the expansion of animal rights.
PETA attorney Jeffrey Kerr says his organization does not plan to give up the fight to protect the orcas, but he did not specify the next action.
PETA is known for its provocative anti-fur and pro-vegan campaigns to engage the court of public opinion.
“Today’s decision does not change the fact that the orcas who once lived naturally wild and free, are today kept as slaves by SeaWorld,” Kerr said in a statement. “PETA will regroup and determine how to continue to work for the legal protection they deserve.”
SeaWorld denies any mistreatment of the animals and says its parks have raised awareness that has helped conservation efforts. It also says it has rescued orcas injured in the wild.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)Portsmouth remained in the play-off places after earning a point against Mansfield at Field Mill.
The hosts took the lead when Mani Dieseruvwe, who joined the Stags on loan from Chesterfield this week, sent Matt Green through to coolly finish.
Pompey levelled before the break when Ben Davies' corner deflected off Ryan Tafazolli's legs and into his own net.
Neither side could find a winner, but Portsmouth came close when Scott Shearer saved Michael Doyle's strike.
Portsmouth stay sixth, with a three-point cushion on eighth-placed Wycombe, while Mansfield are 13th, seven points off the play-off places.
Media playback is not supported on this device Cook on Mansfield v Portsmouth
Portsmouth manager Paul Cook told BBC Radio Solent: "I'm very disappointed with the game, very disappointed with how we played, very disappointed with us in general, but that's where that team's at.
"I think anyone who's watched us all season now could probably say it's a typical Portsmouth performance.
"My job is to make these players better, see us finish the season in whatever position we finish - which hopefully will be a position that there's still something to play for at the end of the season - and we build from there."What should you teach your kids about money? How should you raise them to handle it sensibly? How do you teach the right financial values and priorities?
These questions have long challenged parents. And parents nowadays face an even tougher battle.
Young people today don’t have access to the cheap college degrees, job stability, and retirement pensions of a bygone era. While life for them is much richer in terms of health care and career and lifestyle choice, it is also more economically dangerous and complex.
So what is the best way to teach kids about money? New York Times’ personal finance columnist (and parent) Ron Lieber offers answers in his new book “The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money.”
Lieber calls his book “a generational manifesto,” and much of it looks at how parents grapple with imparting the right financial values to their children. Here are 10 key takeaways from the reading:
1. Talk about money: Talk to your kids more — and more openly — about money matters. (Lieber, controversially, argues you should tell your kids how much you earn — at least at an appropriate age.) Don’t be embarrassed. You can’t teach them about money if you don’t talk about it. Silence about money, in a phrase Lieber quotes, is “institutionalized adultism.” And it hurts your kids.
2. Start an allowance: The earlier the better — and ideally no later than first grade. The sooner you start training your children to handle money, the more skilled they’ll become.
3. Don’t overindulge: You’re not helping kids in the long term if you lavish them with gifts and don’t give them responsibilities, rules or boundaries. Some even believe that overindulgence is a form of child neglect, hindering their normal development to face the real world with confidence.
4. Split their allowance: Put money into three “buckets”: spending, saving, and giving away to charity, Lieber advises. Train them early to handle each of these three financial responsibilities. Lieber, for example, puts his daughter’s allowance into three plastic containers marked “Spend,” “Save” and “Give.”
5. Let kids work. The key word is “let,” not “force.” Kids want to work and do things. Give them plenty of chores and responsibilities. Lieber contends that you probably shouldn’t pay your kids for regular household chores, such as taking out the trash, but do pay when they go above and beyond, such as (let’s say) repainting the garage.
6. Teach commitment: Tell children they must pay for at least one semester of college. Even if you cover the rest of the tuition, they will at least have a manageable and achievable savings goal.
7. Train them to analyze costs: Mary Matthieson, a scientist and mother, taught her children to estimate the amount of fun they’d get per dollar spent on any given toy, Lieber relates. She found they then started to think more about which toys were a better deal than others. Talk about a great way to introduce kids to the concept of return on investment. (By the way, according to the Matthieson family the ROI, or FPD (fun per dollar) of a simple deck of playing cards crushes every other toy.)
8. Train them to make choices:Lieber tells how Dana Treister, a grandmother in Chicago, takes each grandkid on their birthday to a dollar store and gives them dollars to spend —and sets no time limit while they choose. It’s a practical lesson in allocating scarce resources to meet conflicting wants — Economics 101.
9. Teach financial self-defense: Marketers and advertisers are the enemy. “They want your money!” psychology professor Tim Kasser taught his sons, and it became a family motto. Lieber illustrates how when the Kassers watch television, they mute the sound during the commercials and make up their own dialogue to replace the inane babble scripted by the advertising agency. It’s never too soon to teach your children to fend off the agents of marketing propaganda.
10. Involve the kids in giving:As Lieber tells it, Laura Sundquist, a mother and financial planner in Connecticut, gives her sons 12 checks in a modest amount each at the start of every year. Each month they have to send a check to a charity. This gets them researching different charities, choosing between them, and thinking more about giving, the needs of others, and the value of money. Terrific idea.
It’s a brave new world. Your kids need to be prepared.Apple Inc. is expected to report Tuesday that its stockpile of cash has topped a quarter of a trillion dollars, an unrivaled corporate hoard that is greater than the market value of both Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT, -0.43% and Procter & Gamble Co. PG, +0.26% and exceeds the combined foreign-currency reserves held by the U.K. and Canada combined.
The money, more than 90% which is stockpiled outside of the U.S., has drawn fresh attention as President Donald Trump has proposed slashing business taxes and a one-time tax holiday on corporate cash brought home. That could ratchet up pressure on the tech giant to make splashy acquisitions or dole out more money to shareholders.
Read: Apple earnings: As users spend more, service revenue grows
Also see: These are the 5 U.S. companies with the biggest overseas cash piles
Apple’s AAPL, +0.06% quarterly results will show the company has doubled its cash pile in just over 4½ years. In the last three months of 2016, it racked up new cash at a rate of about $3.6 million an hour.
As of December, the company had $246.09 billion total cash, cash equivalents, and securities. Apple, like many big American companies, parks most of that cash offshore rather than paying U.S. taxes on its overseas profits.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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Vermicelli as we all know is so versatile. Cooked both sweet & savory, can be made into quick bites for brunch, mixed with soup to pump up the volume or even made into pancakes!I personally have a soft corner for vermicelli and love the savory version in the form of thai rice vermicelli (if i use rice vermicelli ) or vermicelli upma (recipe to come soon) where i add loads of vegetables, herbs, some Indian spices and a dash of lemon. I would invariably make the savory version but this one day when i had a sugar craving, i could not think of any other recipe but shahi sweet seviyaan.Its normal! We all get those cravings … right? When it hits, one simply cannot process any other thought and there is just one goal – get that sugar in your system 🙂
For me, sweet seviyaan has always been reminiscent of trips to friends and family during various festivals and been served with warm, glorious bowls of this heavenly tasting dessert. My mom would make her version of these seviyaan with milk and it would sometimes even become our breakfast (i am serious!) and we would happily finish off bowls after bowls of this.
Many foods are common to many regions of India but the preparation will have a slight change and this brings out uniqueness in each region’s preparation of the dish. In many regions, this dish would be prepared with milk (sometimes saffron yellow milk) and will have loads of nuts added, in others it would be just cooked in sugary water and various flavouring and exotic ingredients will be added to make the dessert fancy.
Shahi sweet seviyaan is an uncomplicated, simple ingredient dessert. This dish uses very less butter, making it a guilt free, pleasurable dessert.
Adjust sugar as per your taste and you can further cut down on your calorie intake. I sometime do not even add sugar in it when i make this in milk and just add some raisins or chopped dates as natural sweetners 🙂
Shahi Sweet Seviyaan
Shahi Sweet Seviyaan Recipe 1 cup dried vermicelli
2 cups water
1 tablespoon ghee/ butter
1/2 cup sugar (can increase the quantity as per taste)
1-2 cardamom pods (optional)
4-5 almonds, chopped into slivers
About 20 raisins
4-5 saffron strands – soaked in 1 tsp lukewarm milk Method Take a bottom heavy pan and to it, add the ghee/butter and let it melt on medium high heat. To this, add the dried vermicelli and roast till light brown. Meanwhile take another pan and boil 2 cup of water. Once the vermicelli attains a light brown colour, add the boiled water to it and reduce the flame to low heat. Stir, cover with a lid and let it cook on simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add raisins at this time. Now uncover and add the sugar and crushed cardamom pods. Let it cook on low for another 2-3 minutes. Add the saffron strans with milk and combine. Shahi sweet seviyaan is ready. For serving, put the prepared seviyaan in a bowl and garnish it with almond slivers. You can also use edible silver foil for decoration. For the milk version – Follow the same as above till step 3. After step 3, instead of adding sugar right away, add about 1.5-2 cups of milk (for the quantity of vermicelli as above) and then add your sugar and proceed with the steps 4 and 5.
This dessert is amazing in taste! It is so simple, classic and truly speaks festivity to me in every sense. The nuts adds to an amazing crunch factor and the aromatic saffron makes it truly royal. If u wish, you can also add to it some rose water and some fresh grated coconut (roasted).
So, next time u have those sugar cravings or are just in the mood for some quick sweet bite, make this dessert and experience the magic 🙂Forza Horizon 3, the open-world racing game set in Australia, won't be here until September 27. But while we wait, the developers are keeping our attention by slowly revealing new cars you'll be able to drive each week. This week, though, we were able to get a sneak peak at which cars will be included before they're officially announced.
First, we have a 1948 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta.
Forza Horizon 3
If you've ever heard the song "Red Barchetta" by Rush, you're no doubt familiar with this car. But racing fans also know the 166MM for its racing success, including 1949's 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 1950 Mille Miglia.
Next, there's the 1953 Maserati A6GCS/53 Pininfarina Berlinetta.
Forza Horizon 3
The Pininfarina-bodied Maserati A6GCS is incredibly gorgeous, but it wasn't all about looks—the Berlinetta could drive, too. The 170 horsepower its inline six made doesn't sound like much today, but at the time, it was a successful race car.
You'll also be able to drive a 1969 Jaguar Mk II 3.8
Forza Horizon 3
Like the other cars here, the Jaguar MKII is a beautiful classic with a storied racing history. It's every bit a British luxury car, but its powerful 3.8-liter engine gave it enough power to win several Touring Car Championships. That speed also made it a popular get-away car for criminals.
And while we've only got renderings of these three classics, we can also reveal 11 additional cars that will be included in the game. They are:
1980 Abarth Fiat 131
2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe
1957 BMW Isetta 300 Export
1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
1985 Ford RS200 Evolution
1977 Ford Escort RS1800
1966 Ford Lotus Cortina
2015 Infiniti Q60 Concept
2015 Lexus RC F
1997 McLaren F1 GT
1958 Plymouth Fury
Also be sure to check out the trailer that was released earlier last month.I just got back from an amazing trip to New York City (first time) with my brother and took in as many of the sights my 3 days would allow. This of course included the one and only Fountain Pen Hospital. If you are planning a trip to check out their vast selection of pens, ink, and everything in-between, please keep in mind that they are not open on weekends! Thankfully I checked the hours before planning my trip and was able to make sure I was in the area on Monday. There is a bit of construction in front of the store, but there is a sign on the scaffolding that assures you that they are open and you are more than welcome to visit!
When I came in the front door, I was immediately overwhelmed by how many amazing pens there were on display. Many of them were well out of my price range such as these limited edition beauties:
As I made my way around the store, making sure I admired every pen in sight, I came across a wall of ink and notebooks. Now that is my kind of wall! This is where I knew I was going to find something to spend my money on, so I spent some time looking at everything from Private Reserve to Mont Blanc to Pilot Iroshizuku. I ended up only getting 2 bottles of ink, Mont Blanc Oyster Grey and Sailor Yama-Dori, both of which I have had a chance to use since getting home, and guess what.. I love them both!
As I wandered through even more limited editions worth almost as much as my car, I got to some more affordable options. This is good because a trip to NYC is not cheap, especially for a recent grad such as myself. Just incase you browsed their website for hours and hours before your trip, you may notice that they might have some options that are not shown online (I seen a few Noodler’s Konrads on display). I was considering just getting the ink so I could save my money for other tourist attractions, such as eating, but my brother convinced me get a pen as souvenir. I’ll admit it did not take very much convincing, but I ended up jumping on the Copper Orange Lamy Al-Star that I have been eyeing up lately. I chose a broad nib, which is a first for me, but I thought this would be the perfect time try something different.
Now there was one very small incident with my purchase that I’ll mention, even though it may be partially my fault in a way. I asked for a convertor to go with my Al-Star when I was finished browsing, and as the nice gentleman was writing this down on my receipt, I asked if they had any Copper Orange Lamy cartridges (they didn’t). I guess with this distraction, we both forgot about the convertor and I ended up walking out the front door without it, even though I paid for it. Now this is only a $5 convertor so it is not the end of the world, but I sent an email inquiring about this, so I will update you guys on how they respond to this small mishap. If they end up sending me one, that would be amazing customer service! If not, it’s only $5 and I definitely understand that shipping would probably cost more than the convertor itself. It wouldn’t be too hard to run over to my local store and pick one up.
Don’t take this a sign of bad customer service. They were very nice people who were willing to help me and my brother (who is not into pens by the way) even though we were dressed like poor college students. The lesson here is to just remember to make sure everything is there before you pay!
Visiting this fantastic store isn’t the only exciting thing for me to talk about. When I got home there were a few packages for me to open! Here is a quick look at my entire haul over my holiday, including the cool little cactus pen my girlfriend got for me:
There will be more reviews coming soon, right after we finish moving and get settled into our new place next week. Stay tuned and enjoy the extra pictures below!
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Like this: Like Loading...Cost of living in Berlin is skyrocketing.
But you’re entitled to pay less rent. It’s called Mietpreisbremse.
You hear it every day, “Berlin is getting more and more expensive.” And you know what, that might just be the case. According to property consultancy Knight Frank, rent prices rose overall a mega 20.2% last year – and continued to climb, hitting 75% in some areas…
Gone are the days where you could have a two-bedroom flat on |
else. Most of the NBA community had already made that shift with Nurkic until the past few weeks.
Then the Blazers won four straight, and the playoffs became realistic again. More importantly, playoffs or no playoffs, this is a team that needed a competent big man more than anyone in the league. An expensive off–season full of bad ideas had taken one of the NBA's greatest League Pass teams and turned them into a stressful mess. In the middle of December, I wrote a column lobbying them to trade for Nerlens Noel. They needed something to change the equation.
The Blazers didn't trade for Noel, but they might have a solution regardless. He is a giant Bosnian solution with power and defense and surprising passing, who's still only 22 years old. Every night the future looks a little more promising.The Museum of Broadcast History calls the "equal time" rule "the closest thing in broadcast content regulation to the 'golden rule'." This provision of the 1934 Communications Act (section 315) "requires radio and television stations and cable systems which originate their own programming to treat legally qualified political candidates equally when it comes to selling or giving away air time."
If any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any political office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station.
"Legally qualified" means, in part, that a person be a declared candidate. Timing of the announcement that someone is running for office is important because it triggers the equal time rule.
For example, in December 1967, President Lyndon Johnson (D-TX) conducted an hour-long interview with all three networks. However, when Democrat Eugene McCarthy demanded equal time, the networks rejected his appeal because Johnson had not declared he would run for reelection.
Four Exemptions
In 1959, Congress amended the Communications Act after the FCC ruled that Chicago broadcasters had to give "equal time" to mayoral candidate Lar Daly; the incumbent mayor was then Richard Daley. In response, Congress created four exemptions to the equal time rule:
regularly scheduled newscasts news interviews shows documentaries (unless the documentary is about a candidate) on-the-spot news events
How has the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) interpreted these exemptions?
First, Presidential news conferences are considered "on-the-spot news" even when the President is touting his reelection. Presidential debates are also considered on-the-spot news. Thus, candidates not included in the debates do not have the right of "equal time."
The precedent was set in 1960 when Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy launched the first series of television debates; Congress suspended Section 315 so that third party candidates could be barred from participating. In 1984, the DC District Court ruled that "radio and television stations may sponsor political debates without giving equal time to candidates they don't invite." The case was brought by the League of Women Voters, which criticized the decision: "It expands the all-too-powerful role of the broadcasters in elections, which is both dangerous and unwise."
Second, what's a news interview program or a regularly scheduled newscast? According to a 2000 election guide, the FCC "has expanded its category of broadcast programs exempted from political access requirements to include entertainment shows that provide news or current event coverage as regularly scheduled segments of the program." And the FCC concurs, providing examples that include The Phil Donahue Show, Good Morning America and, believe it or not, Howard Stern, Jerry Springer, and Politically Incorrect.
Third, broadcasters faced a quirk in when Ronald Reagan was running for president. Had they shown movies starring Reagan, they would have "been required to offer equal time to Mr. Reagan's opponents." This admonition was repeated when Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor of California. Had Fred Thompson achieved the Republican Presidential nomination, re-runs of Law & Order would have been on hiatus. [Note: The "news interview" exemption above meant that Stern could interview Schwarzenegger and not have to interview any of the other 134 candidates for governor.]
Political Ads
A television or radio station cannot censor a campaign ad. But the broadcaster is not required to give free air time to a candidate unless it has given free air time to a different candidate. Since 1971, television and radio stations have been required to make a "reasonable" amount of time available to candidates for federal office. And they must offer those ads at the rate offered the "most favored" advertiser.
This rule is the result of a challenge from then-President Jimmy Carter (D-GA in 1980. His campaign request to buy ads was rejected by the networks for being "too early." Both the FCC and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Carter. This rule is now known as the "reasonable access" rule.
Fairness DoctrineSix Things Of Which We’ve Lost Sight
ORE RECENTLY I’ve taken the opportunity to bring my children to Mass with me while I am working. Doing so affects my experience in prayer subtly and not so subtly. One such experience was having my daughter unexpectedly reach up to hold my hand just as I was intoning the Alleluia. Pleasantly startled, it was a sensation I have never felt in such a context–it left quite an impression on my soul.
She held my hand until I was done singing. She didn’t say anything. That was that–a child doing what comes naturally to them: being a beacon of light and truth.
HIS PROVIDES PERSPECTIVE on the many debates about liturgy and especially music. Every music director is quite used to fielding critiques, comments, opinions, etc., about what music would be better than what one is currently providing. Everyone would like more of this and less of that. And less of this and more of that.
Forget style. Here are things we’ve lost sight of and need to get back:
1. THE MASS IS A SUNG PRAYER.
Regardless of the style of music, are we singing the Mass? Are we singing the dialogues, the acclamations, both considered even by Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship (SttL) to be the most important things that we sing? (And hymns and songs the least important as indicated by SttL §115d and the GIRM §48.)
Are we helping our priests—especially those who are not inclined to sing—to chant the presidential texts, Preface, or dialogues?
If not, why not?
Singing the Mass is integral; music is not an “addition” to the Mass. Sacred song grew up side by side with the Roman Rite in the singing of the texts of the Mass and hence scripture. This is our core understanding. This is the core understanding of Vatican II. (SC§ 112)
2. OUR PREFERENCES DON’T MATTER
What happens at Mass is entirely the work of God and a gift from God. Our personal tastes don’t matter very much in light of this. Corporate prayer necessitates the subjection of our will to God’s will. This is difficult. It’s supposed to be difficult, yet joyous!
Like a family, we naturally put the greater good ahead of our own desires. God’s will is all. This understanding comes naturally when we align ourselves to trust God. It may also come as a blessed relief as God carries our burdens.
3. CHRIST IS THE CENTER OF OUR MUSIC—NOT US.
Losing sight of this is perhaps the most dangerous. We should see Christ in our neighbor. That is what we are called to do.
But liturgical music is often manipulated and abused as a god of personal gratification. Music of all styles can become an idol when used for this purpose.
Is Christ the center of our music both in the text and intent? If we are the center, we’ve missed the opportunity to be intimate with God and nurture our relationship with Him. Furthermore, God at the core creates the opportunity to strengthen our relationships with each other.
4. WE LIVE TO SERVE.
We live to serve God and His people. It’s that simple. Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Incidentally, this is where we find true fulfillment and happiness.
5. CHRIST IS ETERNAL. OUR MUSIC MIGHT NOT BE.
Consider that the fifty years since Vatican II are but a blink of an eye in the history of music, no less the world. Hundreds of years or even a millennium are nothing in the sight of God. But God also knows every hair on your head and knows all good things that you need.
Consider that the often-used terms “traditional” and “contemporary” are not styles. They describe aspects of time. Every note I’ve composed this year is “contemporary.” I’ll be fortunate if in a couple hundred years any of it becomes “traditional.” I won’t care by then I hope, because Christ is eternal.
6. GOD WANTS YOU CLOSE.
Pray unceasingly. God wants you close. He will find you, hunt you down and draw you near in an eternal loving embrace.
Y DAUGHTER REACHING FOR MY HAND while I was singing will probably teach me more than any books will. She communicated far more than my music ever will. It was love beyond words.
If God’s love is anything like my daughter’s for her parents, we have reason to rejoice. We have great reason to look forward to the Heavenly Banquet. We have the greatest reason to glorify God in divine worship.
Soli Deo gloriaPaul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
November 4, 2010
Image: geetarchurchy
One of the first tasks of the new Republican-controlled House of Congress will be to launch a full investigation into the man-made global warming fraud, as the climate change con that threatens to tax and regulate the American middle class out of existence is exposed to what could prove terminal scrutiny.
“The GOP plans to hold high profile hearings examining the alleged “scientific fraud” behind global warming, a sleeper issue in this election that motivated the base quite a bit,” writes the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder.
As Politico’s Darren Samuelsohn and Robin Bravender reported yesterday, Barack Obama can count of substantially less allies in his effort to push through his cap and tax agenda, because over two dozen of them were defeated in the mid-term elections, being replaced by Republicans who on the whole are increasingly skeptical towards man-made climate change.
“Come January, Obama will be working with a Congress that will have little appetite for the types of sweeping energy reform he sought over the last two years. With the House in Republican hands, some of the climate issue’s most vocal advocates have been dislodged from their powerful perches, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman,” states the article.
Any proper investigation into global warming is likely to turn up a plethora of evidence of fraud and scientific manipulation.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
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As the Climategate fiasco and the many other scandals that followed in its wake highlighted, the establishment scientific community has engineered an effort to silence any voices of doubt towards anthropogenic global warming, and in addition has exaggerated and outright faked data to support their conclusion that man-made CO2 emissions lead to catastrophic climate change.
In the attempt to indoctrinate the world to accept man-made global warming, its proponents have increasingly turned away from hard science and resorted to crude and self-defeating propaganda.
As we have repeatedly highlighted, eco-fascism is bearing its teeth and in doing so revealing the true agenda behind the global warming movement – micro management, authoritarian control, and eventually genocide of the human population.
An infomercial released by the 1010 Global climate group at the end of September depicted children being liquidated in an explosion of blood and guts for not reducing their carbon footprint. The organization was forced to remove the video from its website and issue and apology – but the damage had already been done.
The climate change agenda is already on the ropes and has been for over a year. A true investigation into its fraudulent foundation must be welcomed as another step towards ending its stranglehold over human development, prosperity, and progress for good.
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This will also free up resources, funding and time for the real environmental problems in the world to be tackled head on, not the ones invented by Al Gore, Maurice Strong and the rest of the global elite, who couldn’t care less about the environment but have sought to exploit genuine concerns about the planet to push through their dictatorial agenda.
—
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.I bet many of you never thought you would see that headline. With THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN only grossing $77 million domestically, it seemed like a forgone conclusion that Peter Jackson would not be making the second film in the proposed trilogy. Well, it seems that thanks to the wonderful international box office numbers (close to $400 million), THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN will continue.
Bleeding Cool reported that during press for THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, Peter Jackson divulged that he would be filming the motion capture for the movie next year which would aim for a release in 2015. Assuming recent reports that he still has more to film for THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN, the next year is going to be a crazy one for the director.
I enjoyed THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: SECRET OF THE UNICORN, but I didn't love it. The motin capture technology is still somewhat static to me, despite advances in the technology. However, a lot has changed even since 2011 when the first movie was released. Look at how much better Gollum looks in THE HOBBIT clips compared to RETURN OF THE KING?
I am hoping this comes true as Tintin is a really cool character. The sequel, whose screenplay will be by Anthony Horowitz, may follow the stories "Prisoners of the Sun" or "The Calculus Affair". I would assume Andy Serkis and Jamie Bell would be coming back. What remains to be seen is who else will join the adventure.
Are you excited for a new Tintin movie?TPP Hunger Games Simulator results a guest Feb 28th, 2015 622 Never a guest622Never
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Day 1 Solareon killed by Whismur V Qwiffle killed by Trumprava Zigzagoony killed by food poisoning Tigerzard killed by Moondoge aaabaaajss killed by dehydration Trumprava killed by dehydration KENYA killed by Moondoge Dru killed by muttation attack AIIIIIIRRR killed by Whismur V Zexy killed by KT False Prophet killed by KT Abby killed by dehydration Day 2 Moondoge killed by amoebic dysentery M4 killed by Whismur V Sunbrella killed by Whismur V Day 3 LazorGator killed by environmental disaster Whismur V killed by muttation attack KT killed by food poisoning Day 4 FlameSplash killed by Sniper Sudowoodo DJ Stalinking killed by MightyDoge Aipom J killed by Nonon Sniper Sudowoodo killed by Nonon Day 5 Nonon killed by MightyDoge The victor is: MightyDogeThe latest issue of V Jump has given us a new preview of Final Fantasy XV, and it confirmed a new character.
Featured above, towards the bottom left you can see a screenshot of a new female character that looks curiously familiar… Cid anyone? The only details revealed for her are that she’s a mechanic – but that hasn’t stopped the Japanese fans from going nuts and discussing it on various communities.
Further details for the game were confirmed, like the ability to drive Noctis’ car within the city areas (screen to the right of the female character) and not just the forests/highways. A battle with a titan was also shown (very bottom right) where its massive size can wipe out Noctis and crew very easily.
We’ll be learning more about the game during the latest Hajime Tabata’s Active Time Report.Joe Simonis was a standout, honored, multi-sport athlete at Mundelein High School.
Let's start with football, where Simonis spent two years on the Mustangs' varsity team, playing offensive guard and tight end. As a wrestler, Simonis was a three-year varsity athlete in four different weight classes. He even was a conference champion, sectional-qualifying wrestler who was recruited to continue on the mat at the Division III level. Simonis also was a member of the Mundelein track and field team for a year, competing in the shotput.
In addition, while growing up in the northwest suburbs, Simonis played baseball, mostly catcher and first base, and wore the Mustangs' baseball jersey as a freshman and sophomore.
"I wasn't really very out as … anything [in terms of sexual orientation or gender identity], until after [playing high school] sports," Simonis said. "At that point, [being labeled] gay probably was the closest thing, but I didn't do a lot of specific identity usage."
Others perceived Simonis to be gay at the time, and she admits now to being bullied as an athlete, particularly on the football and wrestling teams.
That's part of the reason Simonis stepped away from sports when he went to college.
"I liked [sports], but I was not feeling super safe and comfortable," Simonis said.
Simonis graduated from Mundelein in 2002 and then the University of Illinois in 2006 and Cornell University in 2013.
And Simonis wanted back into sports a couple years ago while living in Ithaca, N.Y.
Enter roller derby, the seemingly perfect, queer-friendly sport for Simonis, a transgender and genderqueer woman.
"With derby, it allowed me to be both queer and an athlete in the same spaceand not be queer in queer spaces and never talk about sports and be in the closet about my queerness in athletic spaces," Simonis said.
She moved to Chicago last January, and now calls the Uptown neighborhood home. She is 29 and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Simonis is a skater for the Windy City Rollers and the Chicago Red Hots.
"It's really empowering to be queer and an athlete," Simonis said. "Even though derby is really queer-friendly, I didn't really know a lot of other trans athletes. Sure, I knew other transgender people, but most of them were not athletes."
So Simonis stepped forward to aid and align those who fall under the small trans-athlete banner. Simonis is the founder of the Trans, Gender Non-Conforming and Intersex Athlete Networkdriven to build community, empower advocacy, and promote sports.
The group, which currently has about 60 members from around the world, brings trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex ( TGI ) athletes together to facilitate interactions, support each other, find opportunities and resources, and build partnerships while also working across divisions to promote the inclusion of all people into athletics. In addition, the group's Facebook page and website state: "The group is not driven by specific agendas or topics, but rather exists to facilitate interactions and build community. We hope that these interactions will empower advocacy, activism, and positive change."
"There are a lot of difficulties that trans people have to deal with in day to day life and athletics bring out lots of them," Simonis said. "For example, navigating gender-segregated bathrooms and locker rooms, having people use appropriate names and pronouns, and generally being accepted as how you identify. For me, it's nice to know other people who I can talk to who might have had to deal with similar experiences. It's great to have a real supportive team, league, but that only goes so far. Sympathy only goes so far; empathy needs to be there at some point.
"The big goal of the organization is to provide space for people to come together, and not completely have an agenda, but let it be this space, build community and foster advocacy and activism."
Simonis also is hoping the network provides a positive image of TGI athletes, and she said the network is now creating original content, such as profiles of out TGI athletes.
Simonis said she knows of at least 100 other "moderately competitive" athletes who are transgender, gender non-conforming or intersex. "These are people at various levels of athletics, from international Olympic-level to small-time recreational leagues," Simonis said. "One of the things about me was, never seeing anyone like me, or anyone like who I thought I was, in any kind of cultural narrative, at all."
Simonis added: "It's weird when the gender that you don't really feel that you belong to provides you to access to things that you want, [such as sports, in Simonis' case], yet the gender that you feel you belong in more closely would cut you off from access to that. That's the mindset I was in [playing sports in high school], trying to reconcile all of this stuff, and that's difficult." "The goal with this work is to hopefully make it less difficult for the next generation of TGI athletes."
For more information, go to: www.tgiathletenetwork.comOn Monday, Francisco Liriano was named NL Comeback Player of the Year by the Sporting News. The award is based on the vote of a panel of 186 Major League players, who are divided by league affiliation. Liriano received a solid majority of the votes cast by National League players (58 votes).
I have no problem with Liriano winning the award. He was much better in 2013 than he was in 2012, and he certainly exceeded all preseason expectations. Most importantly, Liriano’s bounceback season was a vital part of the Pirates’ improbable postseason run.
However, yesterday’s announcement did make me curious about whether it was possible to quantify this phenomenon of "Comeback Player." In other words, can we put a single number on the amount of Bounce Back/Comeback a player achieved? Using the statistic WAR/150, I think we can.
Before getting to the results, I briefly explain the logic behind the study and the WAR/150 metric. That is followed by rankings of players by greatest Comeback AND Drop-Off seasons. Finally, I dedicate the final two sections to looking just at Pirates' players.
The Question:
Which players had significantly better or worse seasons in 2013 than 2012?
What I Did:
First, I separated out players by their roles. Using Fangraphs, I collected all position players and pitchers that had over 300 plate appearances or 100 innings pitched in 2012 and 2013. Then, I simply calculated and subtracted each player's 2012 WAR/150 (Wins Above Replacement/ 150 games) from their 2013 WAR/150.
Why Playing Time Thresholds?
I require that players accumulate significant playing time in both 2012 and 2013 to qualify for the study. The reason for this is that I’m interested in performance changes from one year to the next. In other words, my definition of Comeback does not include bouncing back from injury. My approach ranks players based on how much they increased their total performance from one year to the next.
WAR Explained:
Wins Above Replacement is the number of wins that a player added above what a "replacement player" could provide. A replacement player is a so-called 4A guy - think Mario Mendoza. A team with only replacement players is expected to win 48 games in a season. (Link to WAR explanation at fangraphs.com).
For position players, WAR it takes into account offensive production, defense, baserunning, playing time and the importance of the position played. WAR for pitchers takes into account runs allowed above what a replacement pitcher would allow, with adjustments for relievers and starters. WAR is an excellent statistic for this analysis because it provides a total overview of a player's contributions.
WAR/150 Explained (and why I use it):
Standard WAR credits players for playing time. In this analysis, I wanted to put all players with over 300 plate appearances (or 100 innings pitched) in both 2012 and 2013 on an equal footing. In other words I did not want to punish players for their injuries or managerial decisions. Instead, I wanted to just look at the quality of their play in the games that they played.
To neutralize playing time, I scaled each position player's WAR to 150 games played, or 633.33 plate appearances. So, the WAR/150 numbers I report here are the WARs that players would have accumulated if they had played in 150 games. (For pitchers, the WAR/150 numbers represent roughly 150 innings pitched.)
So, in sum, WAR/150 tells us what a player’s aggregate WAR would have been if he had played in 150 games at the same level of performance he displayed in the actual number of games in which he participated.
My Definition of Comeback Player of the Year:
The Comeback Player of the Year is the player who showed the greatest increase in his performance from one year to the next. It may be more accurate to call him the "Most Improved Player." We discover this player by first excluding all players that did not log significant playing time in both 2012 and 2013. Figuring out the appropriate playing-time thresholds is, of course, somewhat subjective. However, I think the concept of thresholds is important. I want to narrow in on the players that showed consistent increased performance over a long period.
On the other hand, I don’t want players to be punished for unlucky injuries or managerial decisions that shortened their season to some limited degree. That is why I standardize WAR scores to WAR/150.
Now to the results:
Comeback and Drop-Off Among Position Players
200 position players qualified for this study (i.e. had over 300 plate appearances in 2012 and 2013). 75 players improved their performance in 2013, and 125 had worse seasons.
Below are the Top-10 Comeback position players according to the positive gains in WAR/150:
Position Players:
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Hanley Ramirez
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Colby Rasmus
Now, the position players who experienced the largest drop-off:
Of interest here for Pirates’ fan is Giancarlo Stanton, who the Bucs seemed show interest in acquiring late last season. He experienced the fifth-worst drop-off in performance in 2013.
Comeback and Drop-Off Among Pitchers
There are 102 pitchers players that qualified for this study (i.e. had over 100 innings pitched in 2012 and 2013). 51 players improved their performance in 2013, and 51 players had worse seasons.
Here are the 10 pitchers with the largest WAR/150 gains:
Pitchers:
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Henderson Alvarez
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Clay Buchholz
Below are the pitchers that experienced the largest drop-off:
Pirates Players Improvement and Drop-Off in 2013
Below is change in WAR/150 scores for all qualified Pirates.
Jose Tabata, Russell Martin and Gaby Sanchez had much improved seasons, while Garrett Jones experienced a significant drop off. Andrew McCutchen significantly improved on what was already an elite level of performance in 2012.
Both Francisco Liriano and A.J. Burnett had nice upticks in performance in 2013.
Recent History and Projections for Pirates' Position Players
I also calculated the past four years of WAR/150 scores for selected Pirates' position players. I think this information provides an interesting way to visualize the performance trajectory of each player. I also calculated and included the projected 2014 WAR/150 scores for each player based on the recently released Steamer projections at Fangraphs.
Andrew McCutchen’s performance has consistently improved since 2010. Steamer projects him to level off closer to his 2012 performance in 2014.
After two years of improving performance, Garrett Jones had a terrible 2013. Steamer sees him bouncing back to 2012 levels in 2014.
Jose Tabata had a very nice bounce-back season. Steamer projects a significant drop-off in 2014.
Neil Walker has been a model of consistency. He has slowly improved his performance, and is projected to experience a significant jump in 2014.
Of interest here is how closely Pedro Alvarez’s WAR/150 numbers resemble Walker’s.
Russell Martin had a huge jump in performance in 2013. Steamer projects only a slight drop-off for him in 2014.
Conclusion:
The WAR/150 statistic gives an interesting way to look at changing levels of performance from one year to the next. Perhaps its greatest strength is that it boils everything down to an easy-to-understand number. Moreover, it works well for our purpose here because, unlike standard WAR, players are not being credited/punished for playing time. As such, WAR/150 isolates performance change in all its dimensions – baserunning, hitting, fielding etc. – and, thus, provides one way to quantify the Comeback phenomenon.We just looooove Allegaeon! And so do you — stop fighting it! Their newest album Proponent for Sentience, comes out this Friday. But we’ve got it for you right now, today, right here. Check it out in full below.
Fans of Allegaeon know exactly what to expect, but in case you’re not familiar, these Denverites are the kings of high-energy, propulsive, groovy, melodic death metal. Don’t worry, no cheesy clean singing here! Just straight up pummeling, all the damn way through. Guitarist and chief songwriter Greg Burgess experimented a whole lot with orchestral compositions this time around, too, which adds a whole new dynamic. You can listen to him talk about that, about adding new vocalist Riley McShane and a whole host of other topics on the most recent episode of The MetalSucks Podcast.
Proponent for Sentience will be out September 23 on Metal Blade. You can pre-order it here. Catch Allegaeon on tour with Battlecross later this fall.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption About 100 Kurdish protesters broke into the European Parliament
Kurds across Turkey have vented their anger at the government's lack of military support for the defenders of the Syrian border town of Kobane being attacked by Islamic State militants.
Police used tear gas and water cannon as unrest spread to at least six cities. At least nine people died.
Turkish troops and tanks have lined the border but have not crossed into Syria.
Fresh US-led air strikes have tried to repel IS, but Turkey's president warned Kobane was "about to fall".
At least 400 people have died in three weeks of fighting for Kobane, monitors say, and 160,000 Syrians have fled.
If IS captures Kobane, its jihadists will control a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.
At the scene: BBC's Paul Adams on Syria-Turkey border
This was a day of air strikes. From the early hours of the morning until late afternoon, great columns of black smoke rose from positions around Kobane.
The strikes didn't end the gunfire, but did seem to bring the advance by Islamic State to a juddering halt. At times the town seemed eerily quiet, certainly by contrast with Monday's furious assault.
For the first time, the air strikes seem to be making a difference. But sources inside Kobane are calling for more. They say the don't want Turkish troops to intervene but are pleading with Turkey to allow armed Kurdish fighters to join them. Of that, in public at least, there is absolutely no sign.
Kobane: Too little too late?
Surviving on the Turkey-Syria border
'Ground operation'
Protests spread across Turkey on Tuesday.
The authorities in the southern province of Mardin declared a curfew in six districts and a group of Turkish nationalists surrounded a building in Istanbul which Kurds had occupied.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Ahmed" speaking from Kobane: "Islamic State is trying to reach downtown Kobane"
One 25-year-old protester was killed in the eastern province of Mus.
Most of the other deaths were in Diyarbakir, Turkey's largest Kurdish city.
Some protesters accused Turkey's government of collaborating with IS.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the biggest Kurdish party in Turkey, called for members and supporters to take to the streets to protest against the IS offensive.
The PKK is seen as a terrorist group in Turkey, where decades of armed struggle against the Turkish government for self-determination has left both sides deeply mistrustful of each other.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Civilians continue to flee Kobane across the Turkish border
Image copyright AFP Image caption Smoke rises in Kobane, but the town appeared quieter on Tuesday
The cities of Diyarbakir, Ankara, Mersin and Adana have also seen protests, and there have been others across Europe.
Dozens of demonstrators smashed a glass door and entered the European Parliament, where President Martin Schulz promised to discuss the situation with EU leaders.
Hundreds more protesters demonstrated in Berlin and other German cities.
Meanwhile, groups of Kurds reportedly intending to cross the Turkish border to head for Kobane were stopped by border police.
According to one witness, about 300 Kurds were stopped in the border town of Suruc.
Analysis: BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul
The crisis in Kobane is reawakening the ghosts of the civil war between Turkey and the Kurds.
While Islamic State tightens its grip on Kobane, Turkey is still holding fire on deploying troops. It remains reluctant to help the Kurdish militia in Syria, which has close links with Kurdish fighters here.
And the Turkish government has again called for the US-led coalition to target the Assad regime as well as IS - and for a no-fly zone to ease the refugee influx into Turkey. But neither goal seems within reach, the US state department reiterating that the air strikes remained focused on IS alone. The Kurds say Turkey's failure to act will lead to the fall of Kobane.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Protesters attacked police in the Kurdish populated Turkish town of Cizre on the Syrian border
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted on a visit to a refugee camp for Syrians that "right now, Kobane is about to fall".
He said: "We had warned the West. We wanted three things: no-fly zone, a secure zone parallel to that, and the training of moderate Syrian rebels."
Mr Erdogan said that "the terror will not be over... unless we co-operate for a ground operation", although he gave no further details.
Last week, Turkey pledged to prevent Kobane from falling to IS and its parliament authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria.
But Kurds have accused Turkey of simply standing by as IS advanced on the Syrian Kurds defending Kobane.KYIV -- Thousands of gay-rights activists marched in a pride rally in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on June 18 amid a massive police presence.
According to police, some 2,500 people gathered for the March of Equality in the center of Kyiv, which started near Taras Shevchenko Park and lasted for more than one hour. An estimated 5,500 officers ensured that the event proceeded without disturbance.
Police sealed off all roads near the park and also secured exits from the Tolstoy subway station nearby.
PHOTO GALLERY: Scenes From The March (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
Participants had initially planned to march down Volodymyrska Street, but the route was changed due to the presence of antigay protesters and nationalist activists.
Several antigay protesters set fire to a rainbow flag, the symbol of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex) community.
A counterdemonstration by a few hundred ultranationalists degenerated into scuffles with police in which two officers were injured and six people arrested, Kyiv police chief Andrey Kryschenko said.
Police performed security checks among the protesters and confiscated balaclavas, gas canisters, eggs, and green paint. Six antigay protesters were detained after they attempted to break through the police cordons.
Gay-rights activists from Switzerland and Israel also participated in the event.
"I am very satisfied with the work of law enforcement," Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Anastasiya Deyeva told RFE/RL.
"I am very satisfied with the atmosphere because the people here are really enjoying some kind of harmony, I would say. We have come here for human rights, we have come here for equality, and it really is great," Deyeva said.
The ambassadors of Britain and Canada, Judith Gough and Roman Waschuk, attended the march in a sign of support for Ukraine's LGBTI community. Waschuk told reporters that Canada stands for equal rights.
In a statement issued ahead of the march, rights watchdog Amnesty International said that Ukrainian authorities "must not only provide adequate security for the LGBTI marchers at this weekend’s pride event in Kyiv but also address structural causes of discrimination in the country, including addressing impunity for hate crimes, hate speech, and incitement to violence."
Kyiv held its first major pride march last year after a pro-Western government that came to power in 2014 sanctioned such events.
Last year's March of Equality, held on July 12, attracted some 1,000 participants and was guarded by some 5,500 police and 1,200 soldiers from the National Guard. Last year's parade passed off mostly without incident, despite threats from far-right groups who said they would disrupt proceedings.
In 2015, the march was called off when right |
CW's superhero drama. But as he crossed the border back into the U.S. for the final time after wrapping the series finale, a strange and exciting feeling washed over him.
"I just remember finally crossing the border and being like, 'I'm free!'" he tells The Hollywood Reporter with a big laugh. "I definitely remember that final moment crossing the border, thinking to myself, 'This is a new chapter.'"
That new, post-Smallville chapter ended up spanning six years as Welling took a break from working in TV. This fall marks the end of that chapter and the beginning of yet another as he returns to the small screen for his first TV role since Smallville ended in 2011 with Fox's devilish drama Lucifer.
"It wasn't so much returning to TV, what is was is being a part of this show itself," Welling says of what drew him back. His former Smallville colleague Greg Beeman, who now directs on the third-year drama, reached out to Welling and convinced him to accept the new role with simple advice: "'Don't overthink it. Just do the show.' And he was so right."
Welling's former boss, Smallville co-creator Al Gough, isn't surprised that Lucifer is what brought his former star back to TV, noting that both he and Welling watch the series.
"You do a show for 10 seasons, and it's an action-adventure series, that's a lot of work. It takes a lot out of you. He gave it his all so he wanted to recharge," Gough says. "By going into a show like Lucifer, which is an established hit on a big network, it's a great way to get your feet wet again but it's not all on your shoulders. It allows him to do something different and really distinguish himself from Clark." And to hear Welling tell it, the fact that Lucifer, like Smallville, is produced by Warner Bros. TV, "it's just icing on the cake."
Adds Gough, "It was the combination of the right show, the right time, the right network."
While Welling never intended to take an official break from TV, a full decade of filming in another country meant that when Smallville ended, he needed to reconnect with his life. To that end, the Los Angeles-based set of Lucifer also gives him a chance to Welling to have his cake and eat it too.
"Ten years being away from family and friends, it does take a toll on you," Welling says. "I had to go off and do some things that I couldn't do when I was on the show and that took a little while. I slowly started to get back into the idea and started getting passionate about getting back to work. I'm just lucky for this opportunity to come through because now I'm living in L.A., we shoot in L.A., and it's just a completely different experience for me where I don't feel so isolated. I feel like I'm a part of my own life and a part of the show."
Getting to sleep in his own bed after a long day on set is something that Welling has never experienced before, and he couldn't be happier about it. "I'm trying to just soak this up as much as I can because at this point, it's really only for this season," he says. "I'm trying to enjoy it because it may not ever be this good again."
Lucifer showrunner Joe Henderson, meanwhile, still can't believe the DC Comics-inspired series managed to bring Welling back to the small screen.
"Tom has been on the list for a lot of years as one of the names you want to get [for casting TV roles]," Henderson says. "When we were casting this part we were like, 'Sure, let's try for Tom Welling. We're not going to get Tom Welling but let's try!' To our delight, he was in."
Henderson notes that his initial call with Welling and executive producer Ildy Modrovich to discuss the Lucifer role was unlike any other. "I talked a lot about how I had seen every episode of Smallville and knew how good of an actor he was, and I really wanted to get him outside of his box," Henderson says. "As writers just getting started, you write spec scripts for shows to prove you can write, and the first spec I ever wrote was for Smallville. That was a script I got a lot of meetings off of, so when we first talked to Tom on the phone, I started by thanking him for keeping the show on the air for 10 years because it kept my script alive for that long."
Both Henderson and Modrovich credit Welling's Lucifer character, Marcus Pierce, as being the main reason the actor agreed to join the series. "What really grabbed him is that this wasn't going to be Superman, this wasn't going to be a wholesome Clark Kent character," Modrovich says. "This is going to go darker and he's a threat to our heroes in a lot of different ways. And he thought that was great. He's not this all-American, kind, Clark Kent that he was on Smallville. He comes across as, if I may, as kind of a dick. When you first meet him, you're like, 'Wow, that guy is kind of an asshole.' Tom is so completely charming and lovable, so he's having fun with it. It's saucy."
That onscreen shift also reflects an offscreen change in Welling since Smallville went off the air. "Now he has such a different energy and he's grown into himself," he says. "I think his fans will be really surprised by what they see now. I think he wanted to flex different muscles after Smallville, and that's why our show was so appealing. We're a little bit of everything — we're a comedy, we're a drama, we're a procedural. He liked that because he can play with all these different toys."
First appearing in the Lucifer season three premiere, the highly respected and lauded police lieutenant Pierce comes into the LAPD to shake things up professionally and personally, specifically for Lucifer (Tom Ellis) and Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German).
"My character is more of a straight man role," Welling says. "He's very earnest and has a bigger agenda. That was fun because I'm playing against what Tom [Ellis] is doing. There's comedy in that. Throughout the season, you'll learn more about my character and who he is and there will be an evolution, well, actually a couple [different evolutions]. But by playing against the comedy, to me that's hilarious."
Of course, there's more to Pierce than what he first seems — and that, too, is a stark contrast to Welling's time as Clark on Smallville.
"He knows more about what's going on. Clark never really knew what was going on, he always had to figure out what was going on, that's for sure," Welling says with a laugh. "Pierce is actually pulling more strings than you even know. He looks a little different than Clark, a bit older. He's not who he seems when he comes into town. The episode I'm working on now there is a reveal of who he is and what his intentions are. He's here to throw a wrench in the wheel."
While Welling acted in a few movies during his time away from TV, it took the actor — who also executive-produced The CW's Hellcats — a moment to re-acclimate.
"I was there, the very first take he had with Lauren," Henderson recalls. "He walks up to her and she starts blathering and he's supposed to interrupt her. We do our first take, he walks over, she starts blathering, and then she pauses and he's just looking at her."
"They call cut and Lauren is like, 'Huh, a little rusty there, Welling?'" the actor says with a laugh. "That was my first take, so it was nice to break the tension with that. After that, it broke the ice."
It was that attitude that surprised many on the Lucifer set. "He's very down-to-earth and hilarious," Modrovich says. Henderson agrees, calling Welling — who boasts an impressive Christopher Walken impression — a "goofball." And it's that sense of humor that Gough recalls the most about his time with Welling on the Smallville set. "That's not really a side you saw as much on Smallville because Clark was always very earnest, serious and saving the world, dealing with all of those villains. He was never going to be the acerbic guy who's delivering the zinger," he says. "But Tom is very funny, very sharp, so I'm hoping that's a side you'll get to see now that he's doing this new show."
Along with his sense of humor, the Lucifer showrunners were also surprised by the 6-foot-3-inch Welling's physical stature. "We had to get him a bigger motorcycle, because the motorcycle we had chosen for him looked too small on him." Adds Modrovich adds with a laugh: "Same thing as choosing a gun for him! It looked like a tiny little water gun in his hands so we had to get him a bigger gun so it wouldn't look silly."
Welling's towering height is actually what helped him get his career started almost two decades ago. Discovered at a party, Welling started out as a model for brands including Calvin Klein. That left him feeling unfulfilled, however, so when the chance to guest-star on the CBS legal drama Judging Amy came along in 2000, he jumped in with both feet. Welling played star Amy Brenneman's younger love interest Rob Meltzer for an extended stint in season two, and Brenneman recalls just how green Welling was when he stepped onto a TV set for the very first time.
"He just hadn't acted before," Brenneman says. "I thought, 'OK, he's such a beautiful young man, but we'll see.' And he just had this natural ease, which, for this show, the main thing we had to do was connect, and we did immediately. He was funny and I was amazed at his ability to stay relaxed when that big old eye of the camera is on you."
The actress recalls Welling being a "generous and complimentary" co-star.
"In the bathtub scenes, you're shot so it looks like you have nothing on from the shoulders down and I had on this battleship gray maternity bathing suit and we had to do an extra panel for my pregnancy," she recalls. "I felt really self-conscious so I grabbed these men's shorts and I looked so unsexy. And he was just like, 'Oh you look so beautiful.' He was the greatest guy of all time."
Looking back on his time with Brenneman on Judging Amy, Welling's first instinct is to laugh at his inexperience ("I really didn't know what I was doing!") but recalls the lessons he learned from his co-star with fondness. "Amy really took me under her wing," he says. "The way she treated and talked to people, when I moved onto a show where I was the lead, I knew I was going to treat people with respect and I'm going to be professional and on time. Those were all things that I saw her do."
Indeed, Gough recalls Welling's work ethic from his time on Smallville. "When you're No. 1 on the call sheet, you set the tone for the cast and on set," he recalls. "He really grew into that role. He was a young actor, his first big series, yes it's an ensemble show but he was playing Clark Kent so it all revolves around you. It ended up being a dream with that cast since it came from the top down."
As one of very few people who knew Welling before he became Clark Kent, Brenneman actually remembers the moment his life changed forever. "I'll always remember sitting on set and him talking about this audition and if he could play Clark Kent," she says. "And I told him, 'Don't get your hopes up. The business is hard.' Cut to me seeing posters [of Smallville with Welling] and I was like, 'Oh OK, or that could happen!'"
While Welling was still a relative newcomer in Hollywood, Brenneman knew early on that Welling was primed to break out. "He's a sane, hard-working, kind person, and coupled with his physical appeal, somebody was going to snap him up," she says. "We just happened to be the first one."
It wasn't long until another producer realized that, too. Smallville started its international search for a young Clark Kent, looking at actors all over the U.S., Canada, Australia, in the U.K. Gough remembers when the team was going through a stack of headshots and Welling's came up. But initially, he wouldn't come in to audition for Clark Kent because at that time, there wasn't even a pilot script written.
"In January of 2001, we finally had the script and we called him up to come into the room and read," Gough says. "At the time, this was all pre-Marvel, the last iteration of Superman was Lois & Clark, the last iteration of Batman was Batman & Robin. There were a lot of preconceived notions about what a young Superman should be, but Tom still came in and read the script. He really liked it, we talked about 'no flights, no tights,' and then he auditioned with Kristin Kreuk who we had already cast [as Clark's love interest Lana Lang]. They were really magic in the room."
Welling's inexperience at the time — along with his "ridiculously handsome" looks, according to Gough — helped bring "a real warmth and a real sincerity" to Clark.
"For Clark Kent in high school, that was exactly what we were looking for," Gough says. "When Tom came in and read, you knew it. We captured lightning in a bottle because not only was he great, but he looked like Clark Kent. With DC Comics, there was a 'likeness clause.' The actor we cast had to look like Clark Kent. We couldn't cast a long-haired blonde guy. The unicorn had to walk in. Tom for us was that unicorn."
When Welling finally accepted the role, which came down to him and Supernatural star Jensen Ackles, he felt as nervous as he had when he first stepped onto the Judging Amy set. But those nerves actually helped him get into character.
"The good thing about what I did on Smallville was I played a character who had no idea what he was doing at the beginning," he says. "In many ways, myself as an actor, I didn't have much experience. Over the course of 10 years, Clark got to know himself better, he got to know what he was capable of, understood his purpose, and I did too. I grew a lot. That was the perfect role for me."
In that time on Smallville Welling grew up personally and professionally. Gough helped guide him along that journey by creating an environment where all the young stars were allowed to do their best work.
"We created this combination of structure and freedom where they were all allowed to flourish," Gough says. "And we tried to cast in the older roles, the parents, John Schneider, Annette O'Toole, John Glover, we tried to really surround them with pros who they could also learn from. That's the best acting school you could have."
And then in season four, Gough pushed Welling to take on a new role: director. "He was nervous about it," Gough remembers, but Welling eventually moved behind the camera to direct in season five.
"When I stepped onto the set of Smallville for the first time, I was not thinking about directing or producing," Welling says with a laugh. "I was just trying to hit my mark and not screw up too bad. Over the years, I saw what directors were doing and how they could affect the set, and I thought it was like another language I could learn. The same way went with producing. I just wanted to learn everything I could while I was there."
Welling considers his years on Smallville as his college and grad school as far as the industry goes. "I got to learn on-the-job training for 10 years," he says. "As I go forward, I definitely want to develop shows with Warner Bros. and I want to direct and continue to produce. I love telling stories and creating opportunities that allow other people to follow their craft as well. Becoming an executive producer on Smallville and directing episodes, I saw more of my potential and where I could take the tools I'm learning and how to apply them."
It's a role that comes naturally to him. Gough remembers being on set in Vancouver when Smallville first introduced Supergirl (Laura Vandervoort) on the show.
"I remember watching the scenes, and every time I'd see something and I would want to go and give her a note, I'd literally hear Tom on the mic giving her that note in a very nice, warm, constructive way," Gough says. "I looked at James Marshall who was our producer/director and I go, 'You know who the best director on the set is right now? It’s Tom and we should just leave.'"
In the six years since Smallville wrapped, Gough made sure to keep in touch with Welling. Through emails and lunches to catch up, Gough kept reminding Welling that he belonged on TV.
"I have always encouraged him to come back and do television, preferably something we could do together again," he says with a laugh. "He's really one of the good guys in this business. I'm super excited he's back doing television. I've told him before, 'You have many hit shows in your future once you decide to make the return.' I think he's a total TV star."
But Gough understood why Welling had to take a step back for a while. "His first big role was an iconic role and went on for 10 years," he says. "As Christopher Reeve used to call it, 'You need to escape the cape.'"
Welling notes that there was never any doubt in his mind that he'd eventually return to television. What certainly helped pave the way was just how much the industry has changed since Smallville wrapped.
"There are so many cool things going on on TV right now, whether it's cable or broadcast. There is so much opportunity to be a part of really great shows," he says. "In the back of my mind maybe I always knew I'd be working again in this medium. I remember, during my 10 years on Smallville, noticing that there was more of sense of TV vs. film, whether you were a TV actor or a movie actor. Ten years later, that went away. Now with the way people access content on their phones, on their iPads and computers, people don't really care as long as they get to see you. Fans don't really compare TV vs. film as much as they used to."
And that's allowing Welling to have the most fun he's ever had in his career on Lucifer. He stops mid-thought to laugh as his co-star German passes by him on set.
"She just drove by listening to the X-Files on a Bluetooth speaker on a bike with a huge flag and bedazzled things all over it," he says. "Everybody on the cast, except for me, they all have these bicycles they ride around on set. It's hilarious."
So is he going to join in on the fun and get a bike of his own? "You know, I think it's a character choice," he says. "Everybody has them, so I'm not going to get one. Pierce wouldn't do that, he'd do his own thing. So I will too."
Lucifer season three premieres Monday, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. on Fox.The Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base has received the strategic S-300 air defense missile system, Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said on the sidelines of a visit to an exhibition of the achievements of the Iranian Army’s air defense base.
Highlighting the country’s major strides toward self-sufficiency in the area of air defense, he added that Iran has developed its domestically-built Bavar-373 air defense system and will launch its mass production line this year.
He said the Iranian system enjoys specifications and functions similar to those of S-300.
Dehqan further said that Bavar-373 can simultaneously engage multiple aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones.
Back in April, Iran displayed part of the Russian-made S-300 air defense missile system in a military parade in Tehran, held to mark the National Army Day.
The gear unveiled in the ceremony included 2 radar systems of S-300, its carrier and command vehicles as well as the crane for lifting its missiles.
Elsewhere, Dehqan said that Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems, including tracking, detection, interception and surveillance.
Iranian military experts and technicians have in recent years made great headways in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient in the arms sphere.
Iran has already made it clear that its military might poses no threat to the regional countries, saying that the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence.Happy April 1st, members of the Super Time Force! Today we’re happy to announce that we’ve bent space-time in a way that has allowed us to provide a FREE ULTRA UPDATE for all Xbox One players!
This update brings you the Helladeck, 50 new super fun challenge levels that will force (pun intended) you to use your time-rewinding brain in a different way.
The Ultra update also brings you the Ultra Force mode, an alternate style of time-forcing with extra-powerful, extra-asplosive versions of the Time Force team. But you gotta beat the game before you can wield this Ultra power.
Oh and we added some pretty challenging achievements as well, for all you hunters.
We’d like to thank everyone who has supported our crazy time-traveling platformer on Xbox One. Did we mention this big update is free? Cause it is.
Go forth and Ultra! KOOKABUNGA!
NOTE: This is not an April Fools joke. Trust us. Your Xbox One is probably updating it now!A man shot Thursday afternoon at an apartment complex that is popular with ECU students remains in the hospital Friday.
Vidant Medical Center says Devante Kittles is in serious condition as of noon.
Kittles was shot just before 5:00 p.m. Thursday at 33 East Apartments on East 10th Street.
Police said Kittles is not an ECU student, and he is not cooperating with their investigation.
A records check show the 20-year-old was released from prison June 30th after serving time for probation revocation. He's been convicted of felony breaking and entering, possession of stolen goods, and breaking and entering to vehicles.
A resident of the apartment complex says they heard five or six quick gunshots.
Police say at this point they believe the shooting likely stemmed from an earlier dispute. Officers did say they recovered a gun at the scene.
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Greenville police are investigating the shooting at an apartment complex that is popular with ECU students.
It happened shortly after 5:00 p.m. at 33 East Apartments on East 10th Street.
Police via their Twitter page say that the victim is 20-year-old Devante Kittles, a convicted felon. Kittles was taken to Vidant Medical Center.
Overnight, a nursing coordinator said Kittles was listed in serous condition.
We're told by police that Kittles is not an ECU student, and he is not cooperating with their investigation.
A resident of the apartment complex says they heard five or six quick gunshots.
Police say at this point they believe the shooting likely stemmed from an earlier dispute. Officers did say they recovered a gun at the scene.
The complex responded to the shooting with the following statement:
"The ownership and management of 33 East is aware of the shooting that occurred at our community on Thursday evening, November 20. We have been informed by police that the victim, a non-resident of the community, sustained an injury that is thankfully not life-threatening. 33 East considers the safety and security of our residents to be our highest priority. We complete a criminal background check of every applicant and have zero tolerance for criminal or violent behavior. We host two Greenville Police officers who live in the community and serve as courtesy officers during their off-duty hours. We also provide additional security patrols by other off-duty Greenville Police officers through a contract with the Greenville Police Department. Our professional management maintains a 24-hour on-site presence and will fully cooperate with law enforcement to help in any way possible, while maintaining existing security measures."Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
July 9, 2013, 6:09 PM GMT By Heesun Wee
In this Saturday, July 6, 2013 aerial photo, the wreckage of Asiana Flight 214 lies on the ground after it crashed at the San Francisco International Airport, in San Francisco. The pilot at the controls of airliner had 43 hours of flight time in the Boeing 777 and was landing one for the first time at San Francisco International. Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
Investigators combing through the debris and data recordings from the Asiana Airlines jet that crashed in San Francisco Saturday may learn more about what happened inside the cockpit of the Boeing 777 aircraft by studying an unlikely clue: Korean culture.
South Korea's aviation industry has faced skepticism about its safety and pilot habits since a few deadly crashes beginning in the 1980s. But despite changes, including an improved safety record, Korea's aviation sector remains rooted in a national character that's largely about preserving hierarchy—and asking few questions of those in authority.
"The Korean culture has two features—respect for seniority and age, and quite an authoritarian style," said Thomas Kochan, a professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "You put those two together, and you may get more one-way communication—and not a lot of it upward."
In the Korean language, you speak to superiors and elders in an honorific form that requires more words and can be more oblique than in English, for example. It's less, "Yo! You want water?"; and more, "It's a warm day for a nice refreshment, no?" This may sound trivial. But put this in the context of a cockpit, where seconds and decision-making are crucial, and communication and culture can matter.
The Asiana pilots on Flight 214 apparently did not discuss their predicament, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday, citing cockpit voice recordings.
It's still early in the the investigation of the flight from Seoul, South Korea. It will be months before the National Transportation Safety Board can say what happened inside the cockpit, and who communicated what to whom.
But as the details unravel, expect Korea's cockpit culture and training to be scrutinized further. With two Chinese teenagers dead and 180 injured out of more than 300 passengers, the crash offers an abrupt reflection on South Korea's tarnished aviation legacy, which officials there had hoped was behind them.
On Tuesday, Asiana Airlines Chief Executive Yoon Young-doo said the carrier has plans to improve training for its pilots. He said the pilot and co-pilot on the aircraft were qualified. "The two pilots on the plane have enough qualifications, having flown to San Francisco 33 times and 29 times respectively,'' he said.
It was pilot Lee Gang-guk's first time landing a Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport. Lee Jung-min, 49, the senior co-pilot in the cockpit with the younger Lee, had more experience flying 777s into San Francisco.
Investigators have started interviewing the Asiana crew, and hope to wrap up interviews Tuesday, Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, told CNBC Tuesday. The 46-year-old pilot will be interviewed later Tuesday, said Hersman.
A long-standing flying adage is: aviate, navigate, communicate. "You have to have great communication among people in a team, especially in high-risk environments," said Kochan, also co-director of the MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research.
(Read More: Captain of Crashed San Francisco Plane Was 'in Training')
The crash Saturday was Asiana's third accident involving fatalities since its founding in 1988. As data recordings were collected on those previous crashes, a trend emerged. "What came up was the military culture in which the South Korean pilots grew up in," said John S. Park, an expert on the Koreas and a Stanton Nuclear Security junior faculty fellow at MIT.
Young men in South Korea must serve mandatory military service, so some air force veterans transition to civilian aviation careers. (Some American veterans, who have served after Sept. 11, are also transitioning into aviation jobs.)
But sometimes that transition into the private sector comes with military baggage.
Korea's authoritarian structure, not surprisingly, is reflected in its industries including aviation, where co-pilots traditionally have not been encouraged to challenge senior pilots. Military training only adds to constant self-awareness about where you are in an organization's pecking order—and not speaking out of turn.
While workplace trends are modernizing, many Korean companies still promote and reward seniority—over merit and achievements. And it's this constant reminder of a pecking order that can grip a military unit, an aviation cockpit—even a national soccer system.
In 2002, South Korea became the only Asian nation to make the World Cup tournament's semifinal round of four after a foreigner—Guus Hiddink, a Dutch coach—squashed cronyism and rewarded players on talent. "They couldn't have made a successful team under the old Korean leadership," said Choe Yong Ho, a University of Hawaii emeritus history professor, at the time.
South Korea's aviation industry has brought in new blood, too. After the crashes during the '80s, Western pilots were hired to bring in fresh blood and ideas. But a culture shift did not come in time for a fatal 1997 Korean Air flight.
(Read More: Entrepreneur Retrains Veterans as Helicopter Pilots)
The most recent crash involving a South Korean carrier was in 1997, when a Korean Air 747 slammed into a hill while approaching the airport in Guam, killing 225 people and later prompting a downgrade of South Korea's aviation rating by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to category 2.
The rating was restored to Category 1 in December 2001, enabling Korean carriers to open new routes, which they were not allowed to do under the lower category.
In a chapter titled "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes," author Malcolm Gladwell in "Outliers" dissects the flight recorder transcript of the final minutes of KAL Flight 801 between the captain and first officer. As the weather worsened, Gladwell argues culture influenced the way in which the pilots communicated. The first officer politely referred to "weather radar"—instead of using a more direct, Western-style of communication, i.e., "there's trouble ahead."
In 2000, a Delta Air Lines executive was brought in to run KAL's flight operations. The Delta executive made aviation English a priority, Gladwell notes. He also brought in Alteon, a subsidiary of Boeing, to take over company training and instruction programs. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment on that KAL training given the ongoing nature of the current Asiana investigation.
As Korean pilots broadly have worked to improve operations, Korean flight attendants undergo rigorous training with constant evaluation. The Asiana crew on Flight 214 are being praised for their timely response in ushering passengers off the plane. Clad in high-heeled pumps and pencil skirts, the women coolly carried out rescue tasks, NBC News reported. "It's remarkable that on one plane you can have two different cultures," said Park, an MIT fellow.
The larger question for investigators is how on a good weather day, an experienced Asiana crew was flying too slow, and clipped the end of the runway before crashing. Early information from data recordings suggests no mechanical problems, NTSB's Hersman said.
"We really do need to understand, 'Who was the pilot in command?' 'Who was the pilot flying at the time?' 'What kind of conversations were they having?' " Hersman told CNBC Monday. "There is an expectation that anyone who's putting themselves out there to provide passenger service meets minimum safety standards," she said in an additional CNBC interview Tuesday.
The key pilot in question, Lee Gang-guk, had logged 43 hours flying the 777 over nine flights. It was his first landing of a 777 at SFO. It takes 60 hours and 10 flights to be considered fully qualified, the airline told NBC News. When a pilot learns a new type of aircraft, the status before full qualification is known as transition training.
Lee had a long, otherwise untarnished career, including nearly 9,700 hours clocked flying the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737 and 747, NBC News reported. The senior co-pilot, Lee Jung-min, had more than 3,000 hours on the 777.
—NBC News, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
—By CNBC's Heesun Wee; Follow her on Twitter @heesunwee.Texas Sen. Ted Cruz distanced himself from his past support for Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday, offering up an alternative history where Roberts -- whom he once called a friend -- was never appointed to the court.
"I want to focus on two moments in time that made a world of difference," the Texas senator told a gathering of conservatives at Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Council convention in St. Louis on Saturday.
Cruz first focused on George H.W. Bush's nomination of David Souter over Edith Jones to the Supreme Court before quickly turning his attention to Chief Justice John Roberts.
"Let's fast forward to 2005," stated Cruz. "In 2005, in one room was John Roberts and in another room was my former boss Mike Luttig, the rock conservative on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and George W. Bush picked John Roberts."
"Now in both instances, it wasn't that they were looking for someone who wasn't a conservative, it's that it was easier. Neither Souter nor Roberts had said much of anything. They didn't have a paper trail, they wouldn't have a fight. Whereas if you actually nominate a conservative, then you gotta spend some political capital. Then you gotta fight."
Cruz stated if Jones and Luttig had been on the court instead of Souter and Roberts, then the marriage laws in every state would still be on the books and Obamacare would not been law.
Cruz's claim, besides being counterfactual (Souter retired from the court in 2009, while Roberts dissented on the landmark same-sex marriage ruling this year), shows how the candidate has completely come full circle on Justice Roberts.
In a National Review op-ed in 2005, Cruz argued Roberts' limited record was not a problem at all, citing three reasons.
From the op-ed:
That complaint misses the mark for three reasons. First, his judicial record would have stretched 14 years, had Senate Democrats not delayed its consideration twice, in 1991 and again in 2001. When his nomination did finally make it to the Senate floor, in 2003, he was confirmed by unanimous consent.
Second, many distinguished jurists, such as Chief Justices William Rehnquist and Earl Warren and Justices O'Connor, Souter, and Thomas, similarly had very limited experience on the federal bench prior to ascending to the Court.
And third, although two years on the bench provides a limited number of opinions, he has a far longer record that is relevant: his professional career as a Supreme Court litigator.
Cruz also had praised Roberts' abilities as a litigator. In internal email conversations exclusively obtained by BuzzFeed News from Cruz's time as solicitor general, the Texan relayed to his staff in 2005 that Roberts was a role model for how to "carry out our craft."
Cruz wrote how his former boss Chief Justice William Rehnquist viewed Roberts as "the best Supreme Court litigator in the nation," which Cruz declared was a sentiment that enthusiastically" agreed with.
"I've worked with John and seen him argue numerous cases, and, to my mind, there's not another appellate advocate who's even close," wrote Cruz.
Cruz added that Roberts had an "unparalleled credibility before the Justices" because of his style.
"What made John so good at the podium was the way he could, eschewing rhetoric, calmly and coolly answer each and every difficult question that came his way. His balanced, reasonable tone commanded enormous respect at the Court and, over the years, he earned unparalleled credibility before the Justices."
Cruz conclude by saying that watching Roberts he learned "a little better how to try to carry out our craft with the highest level of skill and integrity."
In 2005, Cruz also said he had been one of those who helped recruit Roberts to help with the Bush v. Gore recount in Florida.
Earlier this year, Cruz suggested Roberts should resign from the court.
Cruz's 2005 email is below:(RNS) Salim Jaffer moved to the U.S. when he was 14 years old. His family, along with the rest of the Indian community, had been expelled from Uganda in 1972 under the violent dictator Idi Amin and sought a respite in America.
But he said he’s never felt in danger until this year.
“As a Muslim, I feel threatened,” said Jaffer, a gastroenterologist living in Lansing, Mich. “It’s as if someone is trying to take away my civil rights. Think about it. Donald Trump thinks we should stop immigration of Muslims coming into this country. Marco Rubio, he wants to close down mosques. Ted Cruz, he wants to see if ‘sand glows’ in Syria.”
That’s why Jaffer participated in his first-ever presidential primary Tuesday (March 8), casting his vote for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. And it’s the reason he, a doctor who only superficially followed politics for most of his life, has just submitted paperwork to register a new nonprofit organization aimed at getting Midwestern Muslims to vote in November.
“From a Muslim standpoint, we’ve got to make sure we get somebody who is sympathetic to our cause and understands the sociology, the theology, the anthropology and the history of Islam,” he said.
With Trump leading the Republican race, Muslim groups are launching voter registration drives in a push to ensure that the Islamophobic rhetoric of the election campaign is rejected at the polls.
RELATED STORY: Exit poll religion questions confuse and mislead, critics say
“Anti-Muslim rhetoric is motivating Muslim Americans across the country to engage in the political process like never before,” Minnesota Rep |
problem that cannot be dealt with within the capitalist framework, but it is a problem that must be recognized. There is a "trickle" effect in a capitalist economy, but unlike the claims of the Reagan Administration, wealth does not trickle down, it trickles up. As the graph below shows, in 2001 the top 1% possessed almost 33 % of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 50% owned less than 3%. The source data, which comes from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, is linked below.
http://www.ufenet.org/research/wealth_charts.html All of the little things that contribute to the economy are realized by property owners, and property ownership is concentrated in the hands of a relative few. This is something that we all ultimately understand I think, we just don't all step back to get the big picture. The more property you own, ultimately the better off you are, because the more property you own the more you are taking advantage of the fruits of society. The easier you have it, because society is doing more and more work for you. That's obviously why home ownership is seen as such an important part of preserving the American dream, but what people in America don't think about as much is ownership of productive property, i.e. capital. In addition, the thing about property is that it takes money to buy property, so the more money you have the more property you can buy. As Adam Smith says in The Wealth of Nations: "Money, says the proverb, makes money. When you have got a little, it is often easy to get more. The great difficulty is to get that little." It is essentially a system that requires money in order to make money and the more you have the more you are able to acquire, which is why property ownership is being increasingly consolidated, yet, in truth every person in the country is already contributing to property value. We are all contributing, but only those who own the property are truly reaping the reward. As I said, there is a "trickle" effect that does take place in an economy, and property is like the bucket that catches the water drops. Property ownership is essentially the right to all of the water in the bucket. So, in this case, we have a system in which people, plants, animals, and other environmental conditions are casting drops of "value" into these buckets. In some cases a person may be doing this through paid labor, for which they are compensated. You may make and agreement with the bucket owner to cast 50 drops of value into the bucket for a fee, however you also cast other drops of value into the bucket outside of that labor contract as well, and so does every person in the country, and ultimately the world. There are also a few cases of people who take value from the bucket too, but let's first focus on the value going into the bucket. So let's say then that 80% of the value being cast into the bucket is in the form of paid labor, value that is compensated for. The other 20% of the value cast into the bucket is never compensated for, that is just "free value" that the bucket owner keeps outright. Each little thing we do casts drops of value into the buckets of capital, and the combined effect of everyone in the community, ultimately the world, casting little drops of value into the buckets of capital results is a major acquisition of uncompensated value by property owners, "capitalists". This is one reason that concentrated ownership of capital is not only detrimental to society, but in fact quantifiably unjust. It is a form of theft of socially created value. Any value that property has that the owner of that property did not employ someone to create is value that was created by society without compensation. Okay, so, what to do about it? First let us reflect on a few more statements by Adam Smith in regard to conditions that may arise in an economy: In a country which had acquired that full complement of riches which the nature of its soil and climate, and its situation with respect to other countries allowed it to acquire; which could, therefore, advance no further, and which was not going backwards, both the wages of labor and the profits of stock would probably be very low. In a country fully peopled in proportion to what either its territory could maintain or its stock employ, the competition for employment would necessarily be so great as to reduce the wages of labor to what was barely sufficient to keep up the number of laborers, and, the country being already fully peopled, that number could never be augmented. In a country fully stocked in proportion to all the business it had to transact, as great a quantity of stock would be employed in every particular branch as the nature and extent of the trade would admit. The competition, therefore, would everywhere be as great, and consequently the ordinary profit as low as possible. But perhaps no country has ever yet arrived at this degree of opulence. China seems to have been long stationary, and had probably long ago acquired that full complement of riches which is consistent with the nature of its laws and institutions. But this complement may be much inferior to what, with other laws and institutions, the nature of its soil, climate, and situation might admit of. A country which neglects or despises foreign commerce, and which admits the vessels of foreign nations into one or two of its ports only, cannot transact the same quantity of business which it might do with different laws and institutions. In a country too, where, though the rich or the owners of large capitals enjoy a good deal of security, the poor or the owners of small capitals enjoy scarce any, but are liable, under the pretence of justice, to be pillaged and plundered at any time by the inferior mandarins (mandarins is a negative word for government officials), the quantity of stock employed in all the different branches of business transacted within it, can never be equal to what the nature and extent of that business might admit. In every different branch, the oppression of the poor must establish the monopoly of the rich, who, by engrossing the whole trade to themselves, will be able to make very large profits. Now, arguably, this is a condition which America may be starting to face today. This is a condition that has always been understood to be a condition of market systems. The situation, described here by Smith in 1776, is one where once a nation goes through its rapid growth phase and its economy becomes more "mature" a point is reached where the wealthy owners have to establish an oppressive class monopoly in order to maintain large profits. This is a fact of capitalism, and as Smith points out, limiting free trade does not help to resolve the problem either. The problem that we have in America today is that the wealthy elite have used the failures of some of the efforts to implement alternatives to "American capitalism" as justification for the worst aspects of capitalism. Instead of our culture promoting an understanding of capitalism, its qualities and its problems, the mantra has simply been pounded home that any alternative is "evil," and if there is ever any doubt that this is true, fingers are simply pointed to Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union or Fidel Castro in Cuba. Instead of promoting understanding and looking for alternatives that would truly benefit society and be fair to all people, the specter of failed "Socialist" efforts is used in the promotion of the idea that there are only two choices, either the way of the Soviet Union, or the way of the "USA" (which people always define according to their own platform). This all plays into the favor of those few elite property owners, the American capitalists. What is truly the ultimate tragedy in all of this is that capitalism itself, as it is being practiced today, is not even functioning in the manner intended by its own ideological developers. Adam Smith was not a man who intended to develop a system whereby a small number of people would own everything and control everyone's lives and receive undo benefits from the right of property ownership, as he demonstrated eloquently in The Wealth of Nations: It is in the age of shepherds, in the second period of society, that the inequality of fortune first begins to take place, and introduces among men a degree of authority and subordination which could not possibly exist before. It thereby introduces some degree of that civil government which is indispensably necessary for its own preservation: and it seems to do this naturally, and even independent of the consideration of that necessity. The consideration of that necessity comes no doubt afterwards to contribute very much to maintain and secure that authority and subordination. The rich, in particular, are necessarily interested to support that order of things which can alone secure them in the possession of their own advantages. Men of inferior wealth combine to defend those of superior wealth in the possession of their property, in order that men of superior wealth may combine to defend them in the possession of theirs. All the inferior shepherds and herdsmen feel that the security of their own herds and flocks depends upon the security of those of the great shepherd or herdsman; that the maintenance of their lesser authority depends upon that of his greater authority, and that upon their subordination to him depends his power of keeping their inferiors in subordination to them. They constitute a sort of little nobility, who feel themselves interested to defend the property and to support the authority of their own little sovereign in order that he may be able to defend their property and to support their authority. Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all. Adam Smith's desire was that his economic observations would lead to widespread ownership of property by all people who would fairly share in the fruits of socially created value. As a primary example of this we can see Smith's statements on the effects of wages and profits on the price of goods: In reality high profits tend much more to raise the price of work than high wages. If in the linen manufacture, for example, the wages of the different working people; the flax-dressers, the spinners, the weavers, etc. should, all of them, be advanced two pence a day: it would be necessary to heighten the price of a piece of linen only by a number of two pences equal to the number of people that had been employed about it, multiplied by the number of days during which they had been so employed. That part of the price of the commodity which resolved itself into wages would, through all the different stages of the manufacture, rise only in arithmetical proportion to this rise of wages. But if the profits of all the different employers of those working people should be raised five percent, that part of the price of the commodity which resolved itself into profit, would, through all the different stages of the manufacture, rise in geometrical proportion to this rise of profit. The employer of the flax-dressers would in selling his flax require an additional five percent upon the whole value of the materials and wages which he advanced to his workmen. The employer of the spinners would require an additional five percent both upon the advanced price of the flax and upon the wages of the spinners. And the employer of the weavers would require a like five percent both upon the advanced price of the linen yarn and upon the wages of the weavers. In raising the price of commodities the rise of wages operates in the same manner as simple interest does in the accumulation of debt. The rise of profit operates like compound interest. Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people. And, of course, we see the exact same excuses being used by capitalists today to justify the depressing of the minimum wage, which is currently lower than it was back in 1950. So, there should be no confusion about which side even the founders of capitalism were on. Smith, and men like him, were not out to promote the exploitation of populations for profit, they were out to document economic processes in order to better understand them so that economic principles could be better used to promote a fair and productive system, and that is exactly what we must continue to do today. So, based on the understanding of capitalism that I have outlined here, what can be done in order to improve our system, make it more equitable, more productive, and more resilient? Ensure that capital is more evenly distributed among all members of society. Reduce taxes on labor and increases taxes on capital. Increase the progressiveness of taxation. Promote true free trade, with trading partners who uphold equal standards of labor justice and environmental care Ensure that capital is more evenly distributed among all members of society Charles E. Merrill, the founder of Merrill Lynch, claimed that his goal was to "bring Wall Street to Main Street". Merrill spoke highly of the need to democratize American stock ownership. In 1945 only 16% of American households owned some stock and today over 50% do. The goal of popular investment is obviously a good one. The majority of American stock ownership today is through pension plans, and despite the rise in the number of people who own at least some stock, stock ownership is still extremely concentrated in the hands of the top 1% as the graph below illustrates.
http://www.ufenet.org/research/wealth_charts.html As of 1998 79% of capital funds were owned by the top 10% of households. Stock represents a share of ownership in "capital," i.e. the means of production. Investing is a means of sharing ownership of the means of production, but it is a way that respects private property rights and allows individuals to share ownership of capital directly, instead of through a State system. The problem with investing as a tool for economic justice, however, is that you have to have money to invest, back to the ol' "it takes money to make money" scenario; in addition, as we have recently seen, the system is still not free from corruption. Nevertheless, investment markets provide an excellent framework for establishing economic justice. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said: "We can have a democratic society or we can have great concentrated wealth in the hands of a few. We cannot have both." I firmly believe that we cannot have economic justice until every single American has an equitable share in investment markets. As it stands now ownership of capital is highly concentrated in the hands of the wealthy. There isn't any way to justify this or to claim that this is "a good thing". Its not a good thing, its unsafe for democracy, it leads to corruption, it creates economic instability, and its unfair given the fact that socially created wealth is realized by people who do not directly contribute to it simply because they hold a piece of paper that entitles them to it. The system though, the investment system of stocks, bonds, etc., can be a highly progressive tool if properly used by our society; not as just a means for a few people to get rich quick, but as a means to distribute socially created wealth equitably in a structured way that is respectful of property rights and which puts ownership of "the means of production" directly in the hands of the individual, not in the hands of the State. So, how would we go about doing this? My personal proposal would be to implement a Federal investment system. Though the Federal government would be involved, its role would be purely administrative in nature, similar to the way the Federal government administers the Social Security program, except the government would actually play an even smaller role and individuals would have direct control over their own assets, so they would be out of reach of politicians. A small flax tax could be implemented, which would be used to buy shares in a Federally held investment portfolio. The investment portfolio would contain only index funds. Every individual would have their own investment portfolio, and it would be just like an investment portfolio that people have now with private brokerage firms. In fact the actual holdings could be outsourced to private brokerages such as Vanguard. Shares in that portfolio would then be granted based on the number of hours that a person works. That means that everyone who works 40 hours a week would receive exactly the same number of shares. This would also greatly increase investing in American business as well, bringing more money into our investment system. What this would do is help people who would not ordinarily be able to invest get a real piece of the American pie. Poor and average Americans are never going to be able to "buy their way" into equality with the established giants of capital. There may a be a few examples of "average people" who make it big, but the system as a whole is never going to naturally move towards greater economic equality, it will always naturally move towards greater economic disparity. What has brought greater economic equality in America over the past 50 years has been FDR's New Deal program and government redistribution of wealth. The rise of the American middle class during the 1950s and 1960s was a product of government assistance, not of the free market. A system like what I am proposing would result in virtually all Americans being truly enfranchised, truly owning a piece of America. We know that ownership is one of the greatest things that motivates people to be better stewards of property. All you have to do is look at the difference between a neighborhood where people own homes compared to one where everyone is renting. Essentially everyone who does not own a share of capital in America is "renting" prosperity. If true ownership were more widely embraced by everyone then people would act more enfranchised because they would in fact be enfranchised and this would be reflected in society in the same manner that home ownership is reflected in society. Ultimately something of this nature will have to be implemented because of mechanization and automation. The ultimate goal for all of us is that we should all become true capitalists. We should all become people whose primary means of income comes through property ownership, not labor. That is ultimately what capitalism is about. Being able to live off of investments should not be a privilege that is exclusive only to the top 1% of Americans, and in global terms less that half a percent of global citizens. We must recognize that we should all be working towards a day when every person on earth is a "capitalist". This graph shows Gross Domestic Product produced per work hour in America over time. As you can see, by 1998 American workers were producing about 6 times as much "product" per hour as they were in 1910. That is to say that in 2 hours of work in 1998 the average "worker" produced as much "product" as was produced in 12 hours of work in 1910. You can see the link below the graph for more information about how this index is calculated.
http://pw1.netcom.com/~rdavis2/wagegap.html The graph below is an illustration of the concept of the increasing role of capital income in our economy. The graph shows a breakdown of the three major types of income in America, income from labor, capital, and transfer income (income from the government). The graph shows how we should expect of the role of each of these types of income to change over time under a system like I am proposing. Without an increase in capital ownership what you would expect to see is an increase in Transfer income, i.e. an increase in the Welfare State. The fact is that our system is continuing to develop in this direction, in the direction of a system where people are not needed for labor. There will come a day when we simply do not need human labor to produce the majority of goods. If people are required to work in order to be allowed to consume, yet we can produce the majority of goods with virtually no human labor, then how is anyone going to be able to buy the goods that we are capable of producing? Capitalism can solve this problem, but it can only be solved through true popular ownership. As we advance technologically, in order to truly make the system continue to work, the share of ownership in the means of production needs to be constantly increasing. Right now, the ability to buy into that system of ownership is the biggest hurdle that our society, and ultimately the world, faces. If we don't take action to ensure that capital ownership becomes increasingly democratic then the economic system will become limited, not by our ability to create, but instead by our lack of ability to consume, which will be limited purely by property rights. Demand will exist, means to supply it will exist, but legal ability to consume will not be able to keep pace with either production capacity or consumption demands. Reduce taxes on labor and increases taxes on capital Understanding that property is the ultimate means through which value is realized naturally leads to the conclusion that it is property that should ultimately bear the greatest burden of taxation, especially if we are to be working towards a system that will continually decrease the need for labor. This has been recognized by many people, and it was in fact not until World War II and ultimately the adoption of Keynesian economic ideology, that anything different was ever considered in America. Even Andrew Mellon, Republican Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 to 1932, stated that capital should be taxed more highly than labor. The fairness of taxing more lightly income from wages, salaries or from investments is beyond question. In the first case, the income is uncertain and limited in duration; sickness or death destroys it and old age diminishes it; in the other, the source of income continues; the income may be disposed of during a man's life and it descends to his heirs. Surely we can afford to make a distinction between the people whose only capital is their metal and physical energy and the people whose income is derived from investments. Such a distinction would mean much to millions of American workers and would be an added inspiration to the man who must provide a competence during his few productive years to care for himself and his family when his earnings capacity is at an end. Basically Mellon recognized that taxing labor more highly than profits from investments was highly unfair to those people who earned their money from day to day work, as others received money while they slept. It is certainly just to tax actual work less than or equal to profits on investments; in addition though, as our system evolves to become more efficient and more mechanized and the need for labor is reduced, what is happening is that workers are being replaced with machines, and every time that happens tax revenue is lost in terms of a share of GDP. In other words a smaller a smaller portion of GDP is being taxed because we are getting more GDP per worker through the replacement of workers with machines. As this happens, with a tax system that is based heavily on labor taxes, the tax burden is falling more and more on working class people, in addition to the changes in the tax brackets which themselves are also shifting the tax burden onto the middle class. Not only is taxing capital more highly than, or equal to, labor more fair at face value, but its all the more fair considering the facts presented: that labor is how value is created and property rights are the ultimate way in which value is realized. Without work, all capital is worthless. What this would mean is increasing corporate income taxes and capital gains taxes, while at the same time reducing payroll taxes overall. In fact Corporate income tax rates have been reduced dramatically over the past 20 years, representing one of the largest areas of tax cuts. In addition to those changes, the Social Security tax cap should be removed as well. The Social Security tax is currently capped at $87,000 which results in the highest burden in terms of the Social Security tax falling on those that earn under $87,000 in payroll income. How should these things be done? Through moderate transition. As capital income becomes a more significant portion of national income, taxation of capital should be slowly increased. It would have to be or else revenue would be lost. Increase the progressiveness of taxation The validity of the concept of "flat taxation" is dependant on the existence of a 100% fair and equitable economic system. Our federal tax system has become increasingly flat since the the 1960s. The degree to which a taxation system should be progressive is always a subjective matter to a degree, however "flat" taxation can only be supported based on the idea that our economic system is 100% fair and equitable in the first place, and that all individuals receive the true measure of all of the value that they contribute to the system. As I have laid out in the first part of this paper, this is not the case. Wealthy people in America, and essentially every country, have advantages that others do not have. As Theodore Roosevelt put it:...National Government should impose a graduated inheritance tax, and, if possible, a graduated income tax. The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government. Not only should he recognize this obligation in the way he leads his daily life and in the way he earns and spends his money, but it should also be recognized by the way in which he pays for the protection the State gives him. To presume that a man receiving $30,000 a year and a man receiving $30,000,000 a year are both taking equal advantage of the fruits of society and the State is absurd at face value, and likewise to assume that the individual who is receiving $30 million is contributing to society 1,000 times more than the individual receiving $30,000 is also absurd. This would be to say that one CEO is more valuable to America than 1,000 school teachers. The issue goes well beyond that though. As I have shown above, much of the wealth which is realized by the wealthiest members of society is a product of socially created value, and thus the wealthy are, for the most part, receiving an "unfair" portion of the national income in the first place. The idea of flat taxation only makes sense if you assume that everyone is getting exactly their "fair share" in the first place, which they are not. As ownership of capital becomes more evenly distributed, then yes taxation can become less progressive, however, right now our underlying economic system is highly unjust and progressive taxation is a means to ensure greater economic justice. Promote true free trade, with trading partners who uphold equal standards of labor justice and environmental care The "free trade" debate is currently gaining attention in America today, however the press is not covering this issue honestly. The debate is being framed as "free trade" versus "protectionism", when in fact those are not the real positions. The so-called "free traders," i.e. global corporations, are not really promoting free trade, they are promoting increased trade that is made cheaper for certain organizations with protections for those organizations to limit labor competition. The serious opponents to this so-called "free trade" are not "protectionists," they are people who would like to see "real" free trade, without all the special protections for big corporations. The problem with so called "free trade" is many fold. Free trade was originally viewed by its proponents as beneficial in its ability to exchange goods between regions in such a way as to share goods that people don't have access to locally. For example, in the 1600s, furs from North America were valued in Europe and China and Chinese silk was valued in North America and Europe so furs from North America would be traded for silks from China, etc. That is a case of exchanging goods that people don't have access to locally in order to supply demand. That's great. That is not what "free trade" is about today however. Today the goods being traded, by and large, are capable of being produced anywhere. In the 1600s the Chinese simply did not have beavers, and American colonists simply did not have silks. They had to trade in order for both people to get these things. Today we can build virtually anything in the world that can be built in America just as easily, if not more so, than it can be built anywhere else. We don't need to trade with China to get electronics, we can build electronics devices here. What is really being traded today is labor power. The biggest problem with so-called "free trade" is that what it ultimately does is make advancement of labor rights more difficult, and that is the real goal of this "free trade" movement as well, to hinder the advancement of labor rights. The way that this "free trade" hinders labor rights is that companies are seeking to make it easier to move their production from place to place so that if workers in any area begin to unionize or gain increases in the minimum wage, or if wages go up in an area due to normal market demands, the companies can then easily pickup shop and move to a new location. As they do this they can then constantly keep seeking the cheapest labor markets, which makes labor rights and advancements in quality of life more difficult because there is always the threat that the companies can simply move production to somewhere else. Another problem is that the US government and these companies have significantly more influence in many foreign countries than they have at home here in America. Money can be used in third world nations to influence policy and leadership. The US has a well documented history of supporting anti-labor leaders in many countries all over the world, places like Indonesia/East Timor, South Korea, Nicaragua, Chile, and Honduras just to name a few. This history goes back to the South America Banana Republics of the 1800s. So, when companies are moving jobs out of America and into some third world country, they are doing it because they have a greater degree of control over the labor markets there than they do in the United States. They hold more influence there, they can more easily bribe and persuade third world leaders and businessmen in these foreign countries than they can here in America. All of these major companies court government and business leaders in third would countries and build strong relationships with them so that those people are loyal to their interests, instead of them being loyal to the interests of their fellow citizens. Free trade is good, but free trade should be used to secure resources that we don't have access to. For example, if there is demand for pineapples and we can't grow them here, then yes we should import them from somewhere else. However, free trade should not be used as way to simply empower corrupt regimes to benefit themselves at the expense of their own people in order to provide higher profits to American companies. If that is what is going on, that is essentially American slavery all over again, and the fact is, that is what is going on. Therefore, trade between the United States and foreign countries should come with conditions. It should come with the conditions that workers must be fairly paid, they must have basic human labor rights, they must be allowed to independently unionize, they must have safe work environments, and some basic environmental regulations must be obeyed. In addition, American citizens need to be well informed on the nature of these conditions in any trade agreement. American citizens need to be well informed on how these companies really conduct themselves in foreign countries. The fact is that labor power exists in all countries and so labor power is not something that really "needs" to be traded. Labor power is only traded as a means to increase profits of a few at the expense of the many, not as a means to satisfy demands, which is the real purpose of free trade. Ultimately we should be moving towards the implementation of global minimum wages and basic global labor standards. Trade can become America's greatest weapon to truly spread democracy and freedom to the world. Look at how much money we spend on the military. We can use trade to improve the living conditions of people all over the world if we want to, however for the past 50 years the opposite has been going on. We have been using pressure to keep living conditions depressed in many countries in order to provide cheap labor. That is exactly where the tension in this world is coming from. If we use trade responsibly, and require American companies to be globally responsible, we can benefit not only ourselves, but all of humanity. Summary Capitalism is all about property rights and ownership. As individuals, we all need to be conscious of that and the real implications of what that means. In order for the capitalist system to be fair, equitable, and functioning well, it also requires that everyone understand the role of capital in the economy. The more widely distributed ownership of capital is the more fair the system is and the better the system functions, yet the tendency in capitalist systems is for ownership of capital to become consolidated. As progress is made so that mechanization and computerization account for a larger and larger portion of the manufacture of goods and services it becomes increasingly important for all citizens to share ownership of capital. We are all contributing to the value of capital, yet only owners of capital realize that value, therefore everyone who is not an owner of capital is losing out on value that they themselves are contributing to our economic system. Investing provides an excellent means to share ownership of capital, however, due to the fact that it requires money to buy into the investment system, and due to the fact that we are all contributing to the value of capital, it would be a great justice to find some other means to distribute capital to more people. In addition to the issue of "fairness", economic principles dictate that if ownership of capital is not more evenly distributed then our economy will become limited by the needs of laborers instead of by our social potential to produce. Therefore it is ultimately in everyone's best interest that ownership of capital be more evenly distributed. Understanding Capitalism Part II- Personal Property, Money and Finance Understanding Capitalism Part III- Wages and Labor Markets Understanding Capitalism Part IV- Capitalism and CultureHi Film Folk,
The Film Doctor team have a very special treat for you this week and we’re extremely proud to share it – another exclusive In Conversation interview!
This time with Oscar and CDGA-nominated costume designer Sharen Davis (Godzilla, Django Unchained, Looper, The Help).
Hi Sharen, very glad to have you here.
I’m very excited to be here.
Where did you grow up and what was your relationship to film when you were growing up?
That is not a simple question, my father was in the United States Air Force and I was born in Louisiana and then we moved to Germany. I lived in Wiesbaden from 2-5 and then I moved back to the United States and then I moved to Japan for five years through the first year of college. Then me and my father moved back stateside and he retired in California so here I am. Film entered my life in the late teens when my Father was finally stationed to California.
So you weren’t an avid obsessive film-watcher at that time – you just sort of landed in LA and it came about from there, did it?
I was a theatre, an acting major and then dance – so I was doing dance and acting for a while and then I moved to LA. I moved to Los Angeles and when I was in theatre, I was more into acting but someone actually hired me to help them on a film and I really was intrigued by film costumes and stuff, it’s a little different vehicle than it is in theatre. I was still trying to pursue my career in acting when I landed a job on film working “behind the scenes” and I was captivated! The Costume department became my main focus,I fell in love with marriage of character development and costume design.
What was the first film you Designed?
Equinox was the first film that I Costume Designed. I am a big fan of Alan Rudolph‘s films including “Choose Me”, “The Moderns”, and “Trouble in Mind”. Alan’s direction and vision for his films were rich with colour, stories with original twists which intrigued a mass amount of talented actors and up and coming Designers.
The film’s star was Matthew Modine, who plays twins separated at birth, one a shy auto mechanic, one who is a small time gangster. The concept was to delicately blend the two worlds. Alan worked closely with me and the Production Designer, giving us direction on themes and colour palettes for sets and costumes.
Alan really inspired me to flow creatively with the costumes, which in turn created trust with the actresses and actors in the film. It was like a Film “Boot Camp”, working 6 or 7 days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day – everyone on the same creative page. This experience gave me the confidence to take on the Film projects that followed.
Before that I did art department, I did art department before I did costumes. I did Roger Corman films – Battle Beyond the Stars and Galaxy of Terror.
How was that?
It was so fun, it was my first film experience. I just thought it was fantastic, working 24 hours, sleeping in my car – it was great!
You worked in the art department and then at what point did you decide ‘I’m going to be a costume designer’? Was that five, six, seven projects in or from the outset?
It was about ten projects and I was a costume supervisor and then an assistant designer for a while.
During this time were you looking for this work or being called up? How was the work coming about? Was it just through working on other things?
Yes, working on other things and the job with Alan came about after five people recommended me. So he agreed to meet me and it was a great meeting and he trusted me, I had never done it really before, I had supervised and assisted the design but not designed.
This was all based in LA, right?
Yes.
This is a question we’re always interested in asking, how much work were you doing outside of work to get work? Like events and talks and dinners, lunches and all of that stuff?
In the 1980’s and early 90’s, cell phones and internet were not mainstream. Looking for work was not an easy door to open. I had a partner with a loft downtown and we would have “theme parties” and invite crew members off our crew lists and tell them to pass it on! If you had a good “turn out”, you may end up chatting with a person who could give you a lead on a job, or with a Producer who have you in for an interview.
I feel engaging with fellow Film makers has made a great impact in my career.
So you were going through lots of crew lists and going to parties a lot and events and meeting people. So basically you were getting these offers over and over again?
Through word-of-mouth..
Presumably there came a point where things were steady enough for you to go ‘right, that’s it, I’m earning a living and I enjoy it so let’s just do this’?
Well, I was still struggling and then after Devil in a Blue Dress, the producer got me an amazing agent and she really started my career.
You’d done a fair bit by that point?
Yes, I was forging ahead, but when I did Devil in a Blue Dress, it put me in a new direction.
Like in the acting world or in the directing world, one can be placed in a certain box for the work you do, is there a similar methodology to placing you as a costumer from an agent’s standpoint?
I think so. Sandra Marsh Management, who picked me up – she saw a lot of potential so she pushed me towards period films – which I didn’t mind at all.
Now |
. Surely Germany would not chance invading Austria. France was friendly. Occupation of Austria would be inimical to the interests of Italy. Oh, but we were blind, in those days! Then we were caught up in a breathless rush of events. It was with hope that we read of [Austrian chancellor] Schuschnigg's trip to Berchtesgaden; his plebiscite; his inclusion of Seyss-Inquart in his cabinet. Possibly we would ride through this crisis untouched. But hope was doomed to death within a very few hours. As soon as Seyss-Inquart was taken into the cabinet, buttons sprouted in every lapel: "One People, One Realm, One Leader."
While Austria Died
On Friday, March 11, 1938, the Vienna radio was broadcasting a program of light music. It was 7:45 at night. Suddenly the announcer broke in. The chancellor would speak. Schuschnigg came on the air and said that to prevent bloodshed he was capitulating to the wishes of Hitler. The frontiers would be opened, he ended his address with the words: "Gott schütze Oesterreich" -- may God protect Austria. Hitler was coming home to Linz.
In the sleepless days that followed we clung to our radios. Troops were pouring over the border at Passau, Kufstein, Mittenwalde and elsewhere. Hitler himself was crossing the Inn River at Braunau, his birthplace. Breathlessly, the announcer told us the story of the march. The Fuehrer himself would pause in Linz. The town went mad with joy. The reader should have no doubts about the popularity of Anschluss with Germany. The people favored it. They greeted the onrushing tide of German troops with flowers, cheers and songs. Church bells rang. Austrian troops and police fraternized with the invaders and there was general rejoicing.
The public square in Linz, a block from my home, was a turmoil. All afternoon it rang with the Horst Wessel song and Deutschland über Alles. Planes droned overhead, and advance units of the German army were given deafening cheers. Finally the radio announced that Hitler was in Linz.
Advance instructions had been given to the townspeople. All windows along the procession route were to be closed. Each should be lighted. I stood at the window of my home facing Landstrasse. Hitler would pass before me.
The Hero Returns
Soon the procession arrived -- the great, black Mercedes car, a six-wheeled affair, flanked by motorcycles. The frail boy I had treated so often, and whom I had not seen for thirty years -- stood in the car. I had accorded him only kindness; what was he now to do to the people I loved? I peered over the heads of the crowd at Adolf Hitler.
It was a moment of tense excitement. For years Hitler had been denied the right to visit the country of his birth. Now that country belonged to him. The elation that he felt was written on his features. He smiled, waved, gave the Nazi salute to the people that crowded the street. Then, for a moment he glanced up at my window. I doubt that he saw me, but he must have had a moment of reflection. Here was the home of the Edeljude who had diagnosed his mother's fatal cancer; here was the consultation room of the man who had treated his sisters; here was the place he had gone as a boy to have his minor ailments attended.
It was a brief moment. Then the procession was gone. It moved slowly into the town square -- once Franz Josef Platz, soon to be renamed Adolf Hitler Platz. He spoke from the balcony of the town hall. I listened on the radio. Historic words: Germany and Austria were now one.
Hitler established himself in the Weinzinger Hotel, particularly requesting an apartment with a view of the Poestling Mountain. This scene had been visible from the windows of the modest apartment where he spent his boyhood.
The following day he called in a few old acquaintances: Oberhummer, a local party functionary; Kubitschek [Kubizek], the musician; Liedel, the watchmaker; Dr. Huemer, his former history teacher. It was understandable that he couldn't ask me, a Jew, to such a meeting; yet he did inquire after me. For a while I thought of asking for an audience, then decided this would be unwise.
Hitler arrived Saturday evening. Sunday he visited his mother's grave, and reviewed local Nazis as they marched before him. Not equipped with uniforms, they wore knickerbockers, ski pants or leather shorts. On Monday Hitler departed for Vienna.
Soon we were brought to a sharp realization of how different things were to be. There were 700 Jews in Linz. Shops, homes and offices of all these people were marked with the yellow-paper banners now visible throughout Germany, JUDE -- Jew.
The first suggestion that I was to receive special favors came one day when the local Gestapo telephoned. I was to remove the yellow signs from my office and home. Then a second thing happened: My landlord, an Aryan, went to Gestapo headquarters to ask if I were to be allowed to remain in my apartment. "We wouldn't dare touch that matter," he was told. "It will be handled by Berlin." Hitler, apparently, had remembered. Then something happened that made me doubt.
For no reason whatsoever my son-in-law, a young physician, was jailed. No one was allowed to see him, and we received no news of him. My daughter went to the Gestapo. "Would the Leader like to know that the son-in-law of his old physician had been sent to prison?" she asked. She was treated rudely and brusquely for her temerity. Hadn't the signs been removed from her father's house? Wasn't that enough? Yet her visit must have had some effect. Within three weeks her husband was released.
My practice, which I believe was one of the largest in Linz, had begun to dwindle as long as a year before the arrival of Hitler. In this I might have seen a portent of things to come. Faithful older patients were quite frank in their explanations. The hatred preached by the Nazis was taking hold with the younger people. They would no longer patronize a Jew.
By decree, my active practice was limited to Jewish patients. This was another way of saying that I was to cease work altogether. For plans were in the making for ridding the town of all Jews. On November 10, 1938, the ruling was issued that all Jews were to leave Linz within forty-eight hours. They were to go to Vienna. The shock that attended this edict may be imagined. People who had lived all their lives in Linz were to sell their property, pack and depart in the space of two days.
I called at the Gestapo. Was I to leave? I was informed that an exception had been made in my case. I could remain. My daughter and her husband? Since they had already signified their intention of emigrating to America, they also could stay. But they would have to vacate their house. If there was room in my apartment they would be permitted to move there.
No More Favors
After thirty-seven years of active work my practice was at an end. I was permitted to treat only Jews. After the evacuation order there were but seven members of this race left in Linz. All were over eighty years of age.
It is understandable that my daughter and her husband would wish to take their life savings with them when they departed for America. So would I when my turn came to depart. Getting any local ruling on such a matter was out of the question. I knew that I couldn't see Adolf Hitler. Yet I felt that if I could get a message to him he would perhaps give us some help.
If Hitler himself was inaccessible perhaps one of his sisters would aid us. Klara was the nearest; she lived in Vienna. Her husband had died and she lived alone in a modest apartment in a quiet residential district. Plans were made for my daughter, Gertrude, to make the trip to Vienna to see her. She went to the apartment, knocked, but got no answer. Yet she was sure that there was someone at home.
She sought the aid of a neighbor. Frau Wolf -- Klara Hitler -- received no one, the neighbor said, except a few intimate friends. But this kind woman agreed to carry a message and report Frau Wolf's reply. My daughter waited. Soon the answer came back. Frau Wolf sent greetings and would do whatever she could. By good fortune Hitler was in Vienna that night for one of his frequent but unheralded visits to the opera. Frau Wolf saw him and, I feel sure, gave him the message. But no exception was made in our case. When our turn came we were forced to go penniless, like so many thousands of others.
How has Hitler treated an old friend -- one who cared for his family with patience, consideration and charity? Let's sum up the favors:
I don't believe that another Jew in all Austria was allowed to keep his passport. No J was stamped on my ration card, once food became scarce. This was most helpful because Jews today are allowed to shop only during restricted hours which are often inconvenient. Without the J on my card I could buy at any time. I was even given a ration card for clothes -- something generally denied Jews.
If my relations with the Gestapo were not precisely cordial, I at least didn't suffer at their hands as did so many others. I was told on good authority, and I can well believe it, that the bureau in Linz had received special instructions from the chancellery in Berlin that I was to be accorded any reasonable favor.
It is possible, but unlikely, that my war record was particularly responsible for these small considerations. During the war I had charge of a 1,000-bed military hospital, and my wife supervised welfare work among the sick. I was twice decorated for this service.
Hitler Rebuilds His Home City
Hitler still regards Linz as his true home, and the changes he has wrought are astonishing. The once quiet, sleepy town had been transformed by its "godfather" -- an honorary title particularly dear to Hitler. Whole blocks of old houses have been pulled down to make way for modern apartment houses; thereby causing an acute but temporary housing shortage. A new theater has gone up and a new bridge has been built over the Danube. The bridge, according to local legend, was designed by Hitler himself and plans were already completed at the time of Anschluss. The vast Hermann Goering Iron Works, built in the past two years, is just starting operations. To carry on this program of reconstruction whole trainloads of laborers have been imported: Czechs, Poles, Belgians.
Hitler has visited the city twice since the Anschluss, once at the time of the election which was to approve union with Germany; a second time secretly to see how reconstruction of the town was progressing. Each time had has stayed at the Weinzinger Hotel.
On the second visit the proprietor of the hotel was informed that Hitler's presence in town was not to be announced; that he would make his inspection tour in the morning. Delighted at having such an important personage in his house, the proprietor could not resist boasting. He telephoned several friends to give them the news. For this breach of discipline he paid heavily. His hotel was confiscated.
Many times I have been approached by Hitler biographers for notes on his youth. In most instances I have refused to speak. But I did talk to one of these men. He was a pleasant middle-aged gentleman from Vienna, who came from the government department headed by Rudolf Hess, of the Nazi inner circle. He was writing an official biography. I gave him such details as I could recall, and my medical records which he subsequently sent to Nazi party headquarters in Munich. He stayed in Linz and Braunau for several weeks; then the project terminated abruptly. I was told he had been sent to the silence of the concentration camp. Why, I do not know.
When it finally became my turn to leave Linz for America I knew that it would be impossible for me to take my savings with me. But the Gestapo had one more favor for me. I was to be allowed to take sixteen marks from the country instead of the customary ten!
The Nazi organization of physicians gave me a letter, of what value I do not know, which states that I was "worthy of recommendation." It went on to say that, because of my "character, medical knowledge and readiness to help the sick," I had won "the appreciation and esteem of my fellow men."
A party official suggested that I was expected to show some gratitude for all these favors. Perhaps a letter to the Fuehrer? Before I left Linz on a cold, foggy November morning, I wrote it. I wonder if it was ever received. It read:
Your Excellency:
Before passing the border I want to express my thanks for the protection which I have received. In material poverty I am now leaving the town where I have lived for forty-one years; but I leave conscious of having lived in the most exact fulfillment of my duty. At sixty-nine I will start my life anew in a strange country where my daughter is working hard to support her family.
Yours faithfully,
Eduard Bloch
From The Journal of Historical Review, May/June 1994 (Vol. 14, No. 3), pages 27-35; originally published in two parts in Collier's magazine, March 15 and 22, 1941.
(IHR)As scientists, we are used to having our work questioned.
Anyone who has ever attended a scientific meeting knows that scientists are hardest on themselves. When we present a new research paper at a conference, colleagues often interrupt us with sharp, pointed questions. Those questions are asked in good faith, in an attempt to make our work better and advance scientific knowledge.
But scientists who work on climate change are increasingly finding our work questioned by politicians and ideologues who simply don’t like our findings. Too often, politicians start with their conclusion, then work backwards to find the evidence — any evidence, regardless of its quality — to back up their preferred policy positions. And the fossil fuel industry is happy to fund those who attack our work, because our research has pointed to the burning of their products — oil, coal, and natural gas — as the primary drivers of climate change.
For more than a decade, I’ve found myself targeted and attacked by political interests who feel threatened by some facts my colleagues and I uncovered
The findings that made us targets have only been further validated as the world continues to warm.
Our critics approached the ‘hockey stick’ like a politician approaches legislation he or she doesn’t like.
Courtesy of the author
Despite these attacks, reality is catching up to our national conversation about climate change.
Widespread, bad-faith assaults on science have no place in a functioning democracy.
MORE FROM YALE e360 The Ethical Dimension of Tackling Climate Change Stephen Gardiner writes, poses a perfect moral storm — by failing to take action to rein in carbon emissions, the current generation is spreading the costs of its behavior far into the future. Why should people in the future pay to clean up our mess? The global challenge of climate change,writes, poses a perfect moral storm — by failing to take action to rein in carbon emissions, the current generation is spreading the costs of its behavior far into the future. Why should people in the future pay to clean up our mess? READ MORE
about our changing climate. We have received menacing e-mails, including anonymous death threats. I’ve received a package containing an Anthrax-like white powder (the FBI determined that it was a hoax), and someone threw a dead rat on the doorstep of another colleague. As the political conversation around climate change has become more polarized, the attacks have intensified.Now, however, my colleagues and I are fighting back, a task that is made easier because the findings that have made us the targets of climate change deniers have only been further validated as CO2 levels continue to rise and the world continues to warm. This is also true when it comes to the research behind the so-called “hockey stick” graph, which is what first prompted attacks on me and my colleagues.That graph, unveiled in a 1998 paper, showed global temperatures level or decreasing for 1,000 years (the shaft of the stick) and then spiking upward in the past century (the upturned blade.) Those rapidly rising temperatures tracked increases in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, which coincided with the world’s growing use of fossil fuels.For better and worse, our graph became an icon of climate change because it was relatively easy to understand. That made it a threat to opponents of dealing with global warming, who invested significant time and resources attacking our research. At first, my colleagues and I responded as we would to any scientific question. We evaluated the claims about our data and methods and responded in the scientific literature. But instead of questioning our claims in good faith, our critics approached the hockey stick like a politician approaches a piece of legislation he or she doesn’t like. Their goal was to dismantle our findings, regardless of the facts. By 2005, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), one of the biggest recipients of fossil fuel funding in the House of Representatives, sent my colleagues and me letters demanding that we open our professional and personal lives to an investigation from his committee.These attacks obscure the bigger picture. Climate science is like a vast puzzle. Individual papers like ours are a single piece of that puzzle. Scientists are still filling in pieces the puzzle, but we can see a relatively complete picture of our climate that tells us the Earth is warming, human activity is the cause, andthat we are locking in substantial rises in sea level, increasingly intense heat waves and floods, and threats to global fresh water and food resources as we continue to burn fossil fuels.But politicians and ideologues try to make climate science out to be a house of cards. Remove one card and the whole thing falls down. The hockey stick papers, they decided, must be one of those cards and their response was to attack our research and challenge our integrity. I call it the “Serengeti strategy,” in which predators look for what they perceive as the most vulnerable animals in a herd.In 2005, U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-New York) had the courage to stand up to Joe Barton. Boehlert asked the National Academy of Sciences — an institution created by Abraham Lincoln to advise the government on scientific matters — to evaluate the “hockey stick” and related studies. The academy found our conclusions to be valid and appropriately understood them to be one piece of the puzzle. In fact, dozens of “hockey stick” studies using different data and methods have verified and extended our original findings in the past several years.Barton took a different tack. He commissioned a statistician from George Mason University to produce a report for his committee to misrepresent our research. When the National Academy of Sciences issued its report, which validated our findings, fossil fuel industry allies in Congress like Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) falsely claimed that the report disproved our research. Inhofe has named me and 16 others scientists as people he’d like to investigate if he again gains control of a committee in the Senate. Inhofe has just published a book detailing the “global warming conspiracy” he believes is behind climate science research. As a climate scientist, I can assure everyone that my colleagues and I simply aren’t that organized.Like Barton, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a subpoena in 2010 demanding personal correspondence from me and dozens of other scientists from my time at the University of Virginia. Thankfully, groups like the Union of Concerned Scientists, the American Association of University Professors, and several free speech organizations urged the university to fight Cuccinelli’s demands, and the university did. Cuccinelli lost his case before the Virginia Supreme Court last month. While we don’t know how much Cuccinelli’s office spent on this witchhunt, the university spent more than $600,000 in private funds defending scientists’ right to privacy.Inhofe and Cuccinelli both drew their inspiration from an incident in November 2009, when climate scientists had their emails stolen from the University of East Anglia and misrepresented through a coordinated public relations campaign orchestrated by a who’s who of climate denial front groups. Why attack the University of East Anglia? It is one of four major government and academic centers that track global temperatures. Again, the Serengeti strategy at work: no matter that all the data from these four institutions tell us the world is rapidly warming, and that numerous independent investigations later concluded that the scientists whose e-mails had been hacked, including mine, had not engaged in fraud or scientific misconduct.Despite these attacks, reality is catching up to our national conversation about climate change, and it is becoming harder to deny what the science has been telling us. Since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) reports in 2007, new scientific findings have indicated that global warming is generally worse than we thought. Carbon emissions are higher than the IPCC projected, Arctic sea ice is melting at a faster-than-expected clip, and observed and projected sea levels are increasing. At the same time, advances in climate science have more definitively linked climate change to an increasing likelihood of many types of extreme weather events.Many local and state governments are prudently preparing for a changing climate and have also adopted policies that can drive down greenhouse gas emissions. But for other vulnerable regions, climate change isn’t on the agenda or is considered verboten for ideological reasons.The price of politicizing science is high. In addition to the distraction it creates, it exacts a personal toll on scientists, taking time away from our work, our friends, and our families. If it’s any comfort, I’ve told colleagues who’ve faced similar attacks that they should wear it as a badge of honor. But my greatest fear is that it might discourage younger scientists from entering areas of research that vested interests have declared to be “off limits.”Luckily, scientists are increasingly standing up for themselves. Scott Mandia, a meteorology professor at the State University of New York, was disturbed by the legal battle being waged over scientists’ personal emails in Virginia. Hekicked off a fundraising effort that led to the creation of a Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, which aims to help scientists foot the significant legal bills that can add up when they are attacked by ideologues. Mandia, along with a John Abraham, a physics professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, also helped create a Climate Science Rapid Response Team, which connects journalists with scientists.The Union of Concerned Scientists has redoubled its efforts to defend climate scientists. It organized academics in Virginia to speak out against Cuccinelli’s investigation and has helped scores of scientists improve their ability to communicate with the media and policymakers — skills that simply aren’t part of many scientific educations. Scientific societies like the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union are also condemning attacks on their colleagues and helping scientists communicate their work in a difficult media and policy environment.Widespread, bad-faith assaults on science have no place in a functioning democracy. We should be able to have a national discussion about climate change that is informed by a shared understanding of the scientific facts that generations of researchers have uncovered.Scientists realize the stakes are high. People are hungry for information about what climate change means in their backyards, and scientists can help ensure that local decision-makers have the information they need to protect their constituents. Of course, more broadly, our “constituents” are our children. The decisions we make today about climate change will go a long way in determining the type of world they inherit from us.In the wake of the manufactured East Anglia scandal, I was on vacation with my family in the Florida Keys. My four-year-old daughter was entranced by the mangrove forests, the dolphins, and the coral reefs, with their exotic and colorful fish. I couldn’t bear to tell her that climate change and an increasingly acidic ocean are slowly killing the reefs, that increasingly destructive hurricanes would subject them to further insult, and that projected sea level rise over the next century and beyond could submerge vast regions of the Florida Keys.What to do about climate change necessarily involves questions about economics, fairness, and policy. But it also involves ethics. We are making decisions today that will impact the world our children and grandchildren inherit. What sort of legacy do we want to leave them?The first ever Dunkin’ Donuts to breach our city borders has solidified its official opening date for Tuesday, December 9 at 5:00AM.
According to Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman Emily Sutton, the beloved giant donut—the center of massive controversy when the donut chain said it would be taking down the iconic structure—will in fact be re-installed in its rightful place, however whether that’s in time for the grand opening has yet to be confirmed.
The first person to enter the lobby and drive-thru lines will receive free coffee for one year, while the first 100 guests will receive free Dunkin’ Donuts swag bags.
Brian Carmichael, the VP of Development for Dunkin’ Brands, and Xavier Turpin, the Director of Multicultural Marketing for Dunkin’ Brands, will be attending the Long Beach opening where a ceremonial ribbon cutting will take place to commemorate the event.
The store and drive-thru hours are from 5:00AM to 10:00PM. The Dunkin’ Donuts will be located at 5560 E. 7th St.
{FG_GEOMAP [33.775024,-118.12337000000002] FG_GEOMAP}
Asia Morris is a Long Beach native covering arts and culture for the Long Beach Post. You can reach her @hugelandmass on Twitter and Instagram and at [email protected].4.8k REACTII Share Tweet Whatsapp Linkedin Google
”- Băi, ați văzut ce se întâmplă la Cluj. Ați văzut ce tare e Clujul? Ce lucruri mișto se fac în țară? Bucureștiul rămâne în urmă, administrația de aici este praf.” „- Aici nu e nici un festival, capitala rămâne de căruță, nimeni nu vrea să investească.” „- Ba Clujul este umflat major, nu are nicio relevanță. Nu poți cu un singur cartier, Florești, să te lauzi că tu crești.”
Să nu-mi spuneți că n-ați auzit dialogurile astea. Este imposibil. De aproape un an, Clujul cel puțin este cel mai în vogă oraș al României. Acolo se întâmplă tot ce este interesant. Acolo este sportul, acolo sunt festivalurile. Dinspre Iași se aud iarăși cele mai tari vești bune. O grămadă de giganți IT au venit acolo și dau salarii mari și adună o grămadă de tineri. Brusc, nu ai chef să dai Iașiul pe București, la aceeași bani.
Un prieten mi-a povestit de curând experiența lui la Universitatea din Cluj. ”Dacă nu știam că sunt la Cluj, totul – de la oameni, la spații sau la cantină – mi s-ar fi părut măcar din Olanda.” Toate aceste impresii contează, terenul este pregătit, iar lumea începe să simt vibe-ul. Mai este Bucureștiul cel mai atractiv oraș al țării, mai este el cel mai important?? Au dreptate cei care spun că orașul Cluj este acum cheia și lăcata?
Banca Mondială a studiat tendințele migrației pe zece ani.
O să vă dau primul răspuns oficial și nu pe baza unor indicatori din ultimul an, ci pe baza unor date adunate de Banca Mondială în ultimul deceniu. Dap. Avem un studiu care ne spune cum stau aglomerările urbane în ultimul deceniu.
Dar mai multe de atât, ne spune unde sunt cele mai bune piețe de investiții și în ce domeniu și ce ar trebui să facă statul din acest punct de vedere.
Întâi de toate, trebuie să știm unde stăm. Bucureștiul este unul dintre cele mai importante orașe europene în termeni de produs intern brut pe cap de locuitor. Adică orașul depășește Varșovia, Praga, Varșovia, Roma, Madrid, Berlin, Ljubljana, Budapesta.
În fapt, Bucureștiul depășește și economiile unor state, printre ele Croația, Slovenia sau Luxemburg.
Păi, și atunci de ce nu prea trăim ca acolo?
Odată pentru că raportările includ și sediile unor companii naționale, care lucrează peste tot în țară, dar raportează la București. Și pentru că avem administrație proastă. Și, posibil, un pic de raportare diferită la numărul de locuitori. Adică să fim mai mulți decât numărul raportat la recensământ.
Și ar mai fi ceva. Esențial. Cheia dezvoltării unei țări, potrivit Băncii Mondiale, stă în orașele secundare. În majoritatea țărilor importante, localitățile secundare – adică cele cam de jumătatea orașului principal – sunt centrele care impulsionează economia și o duc mai departe. Sunt orașele inovative și creative. Luați exemplul Detroit, în trecut, sau cel al lui Sillicon Valley, astăzi.
Orașele secundare ale României au prins avânt
În România nu s-a simțit influența în economie a acestor orașe secundare, dar – ce să vezi? – ele tocmai s-au pus în mișcare și încep să devină mai atractive decât capitala. Și nu este o chestiune de un an, cum simțim noi, ci este o tendință consolidată.
Atât migrațiile, cât și navetismul, dar și datele economice arată că aceste orașe încep să apară drept poli importanți ai României. Și mă refer la Cluj, Timișoara, Iași sau Brașov. Aici lumea vrea să vină și nu neapărat pentru bani, ci pentru civilizație. O să vedeți că sunt centre urbane din care lumea vrea să plece musai. Iar asta ar trebui să le spună ceva primarilor de acolo.
Și încă ceva. Suntem într-un punct de inflexiune din România. 66% dintre cei care vor să plece de acasă vor să o facă tot în România. Tot în România! Atenție, românii nu mai vor în afară. Dar unde?
Să spunem întâi de toate că orașele din România sunt cele cu dezvoltarea cea mai mare din Europa. Vorbim de Timișoara, București, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Craiova, Brașov.
Bucureștiul rămâne liderul migrației în România.
Iar următoarele ținte din ultimul deceniu le vedeți mai jos. Timișoara, Cluj, Iași Constanța. Asta înseamnă că cei mai mulți români se mută aici. Și iată surpriza. Raportat la procentele din populație, Bucureștiul are o rată mai mică de atracție. Astfel, Clujul a primit 40% din migranții săi după 2011, Timișoara și Iași câte 35 și 36%, iar Bucureștiul 27%. Calculele sunt făcute din totalul imigranților de după 1970. Așadar, în dinamică, Clujul este orașul preferat de români.
Și asta se vede și din indicele de magnetism – cel mai mare îl exercită Clujul. Urmează Timișoara, Brașov, Iași, Constanța sau Arad. Nu confundați migrația cu magnetismul. Acesta din urmă ne arată, dacă vreți, popularitatea unor localități.
Astfel, motivele pentru care oamenii și-ar dori să trăiască într-un anumit oraș sunt date de o combinație de factori. Vorbim aici de un număr mare de locuri de muncă, de o mulțime de oportunități școlare și – atenție! – de o calitate a vieții cât mai bună.
Topul magnetismului a fost alcătuit astfel pe baza unor date de populație, număr de studenți, distanța față de București, salariul mediu din zonă, veniturile firmelor și investițiile care se fac în zona respectivă. Astfel, oamenii vor fi atrași aproape instinctiv către zonele enumerate.
Poate vreți să știți cine e la coada clasamentului. Miercurea Ciuc și Sfântu Gheorghe sunt la coadă din motive evidente, dar nu ultimele. Vasluiul, Alexandria și Giurgiu sunt orașele cele mai puțin dorite de români.
Studiul cuprinde și un sondaj al orașelor în care și-ar dori românii să trăiască. Cei mai mulți spun că în București, dar urmează apoi Cluj, Timișoara, Sibiu, Brașov, Iași. O mențiune specială pentru Craiova, acolo unde balanța este negativă. Adică mai mulți oameni din Craiova ar vrea să plece, decât cei care vor să vină acolo. Fac această mențiune pentru că Craiova este unul dintre orașele importante din România care ar trebui să fie unul din polii de mangnetism.
Cum îi ajută asta pe oamenii de afaceri?
Poate vă întrebați cui și de ce folosește povestea asta. În primul rând, oamenilor care vor să facă afaceri. Dacă te uiți pe datele generale, afli deodată unde trebuie să-ți îndrepți investițiile. De exemplu, Timișoara este cea mai potrivită pentru dezvoltare industrială. Acolo există deja o bază în domeniu, dar asta este și ceea ce face orașul mai puțin atractiv, pentru că perspectiva măririi salariilor nu este spectaculoasă.
Dacă vrei IT, consultanță sau farmaceutice, vei alege Iașiul sau Clujul. De altfel, cele două au cel mai mare potențial în următorii ani. Și tot acolo vom avea cele mai mari creșteri salariale. Dacă ești dezvoltator imobiliar, ai o imagine a locurilor unde chiar trebuie să investești și este aproape evident topul.
Există și o învățătură pentru stat?
Mai întâi o observație. Studiul arată că cele mai dinamice orașe din România au sub-cheltuit în administrație. Adică au avut banii și, din nepricepere, neputință sau rea-voință pur și simplu, nu au făcut nimic cu ei. Sau mai puțin decât ar fi putut să facă. Campionul este București, urmat de Constanța, Cluj sau Buzău.
O observație care îți sare în ochi este legată de nevoia unor autorități de a construi cât mai rapid linii CFR pentru navetiști. Urgențele sunt București, Timișoara, Ploiești și Constanța. De fapt, aceasta este și maxima prioritate: crearea unor zone urbane metropolitane care să pună la un loc transportul din orașe cu cel din suburbii și zonele apropiate. Apoi, urmează calitatea vieții urbane: fațade, spații verzi, alei pietonale, piste pentru bicicliș |
out for her, but these are Thea’s wild child days. There’s no stopping her.
Some of the best scenes of the night actually belonged to the Lances, both present and past. A drunken Detective Lance stumbles his way through his grief initial over Sara, which juxtaposed nicely with a sober Captain Lance dealing with it in the present. More than anything though, he grieves for the relationship he feels he’s lost with Laurel because of her lies.
Captain Lance: We had a trust, and we had a bond, and you broke it. And I don’t know how you could do that to us.
We also get a couple quick peeks at what Felicity and Diggle were up to during their pre-Oliver years, and both are supremely adorable. Simpler times…
This week’s flashbacks did a lot to satisfy the curiosity of the audience that has been lingering for the past three years. We get ample time to see what kind of mischief Oliver gets up to during his five “lost years,” but what about everyone else? Where was Felicity before Oliver? What did Tommy and Laurel do without their best friend? How did Thea grow up and deal with her grief? Even if it was a short peek into the world of the past, it was a satisfying one.
In the end though, this episode was really gearing everyone up for round two of Oliver vs. Ra’s. The Oliver we see in flashbacks is more than capable of mercilessly killing someone who threatens his family, but the Oliver in the present? Not so much.
Did you love the flashbacks as much as I did? Which character’s past was your favorite? Sound off in comments below!
Don’t forget to give “The Return” your own rating!
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Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
You might also like:Which “moderate” Arab president publicly hugged the genocidal leader of Sudan last week? Which Middle Eastern “reformer” just entered his 10th year of a four-year term? Which Western “ally” days ago ordered an investigation into a cartoonist for possibly drawing Mohammed?
The answer is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
These three stories barely made it into Western press. Why? Put simply, the bar has been set so low that they were not deemed newsworthy. An Arab leader who doesn’t allow elections? Yawn. A Middle Eastern president who embraces one of the worst mass murderers in recent history? Nothing to see here.
There is a tragic disconnect between Western rhetoric and Arab reality. Abbas, if one listens to leaders of the free world, is a moderate, reformer and ally. He is better than Hamas, after all, isn’t he?
Never mind that Abbas said in 2013, “There is no difference between our policies and those of Hamas.” The point is this: Being better than a genocidal terrorist organization does not a “moderate” make. Pretending it does demeans the word. It is condescending to Palestinians and insulting to true moderates.
Less than a month ago, Abbas marched in Paris in solidarity with the cartoonists who were murdered in the attack on the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Last week, he ordered an investigation into a Palestinian cartoonist who may have drawn Mohammed.
Under Abbas’s rule, the Palestinian Authority has arrested activists for Facebook posts and jailed atheists. Two weeks ago, a 22-year-old student was imprisoned for insulting the head of the Palestinian Football Federation. Torture is rampant and Abbas refuses to hold elections, even though his term expired six years ago.
Last September in Ramallah, I confronted Alam Musa, minister for telecommunications in the Palestinian Authority. I asked him about the arrest of activists for Facebook posts against Abbas. “We have nothing to do with that,” Musa replied. “This could be a long time ago. Not nowadays.”
The very next day, the Palestinian Authority arrested several Palestinians for critical posts on social media.
I asked Musa if the Palestinian Authority allows full Internet freedom. “Definitely,” he replied. “As minister of Telecommunications, we are in charge of websites and we have no restrictions. No restrictions whatsoever.”
False. The Palestinian Authority censors websites and has jailed activists for online posts critical of their leaders.
Next to issues like war and peace, civil society and Internet freedom can seem quaint and unimportant. This is a grave mistake. The free exchange of ideas is the bedrock of public reasoning and social progress. It is also a bulwark against extremism. But how can moderate voices succeed if they are always silenced?
A modest solution is to begin by using the West’s immense political and economic leverage to encourage real democratic reform in the Palestinian Authority. Right now, the United States supplies about 10 percent of the P.A.’s annual budget of over $4.2 billion, yet reform has been cosmetic at best.
Decades of propping up Palestinian dictators from Yasser Arafat to Mahmoud Abbas have not solved the problem of radicalism—they’ve actually strengthened it. An unelected strongman like Abbas will not defeat extremism by investigating cartoonists, jailing critics and censoring the Internet.
Despite the risks, the West should also demand that Palestinians hold elections. A leader must have a mandate from his people if he is be effective in anything. Dealing honestly with the results of elections is a better prescription for long-term change than allowing a dictator to rule unchecked forever.
But even before elections, strengthening civil society and expanding space for dissent is a critical condition to defeating the twin threats of dictatorship and extremism. Linking hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to respect for human rights would be a powerful incentive for change.
Tyrants that stifle dissent are not moderates. The free world should stop pretending that they are. Giving a pass to Palestinian dictatorship serves no one—least of all the Palestinians.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The scam operated out of a garage based in Pengam in Blackwood
Five people have been found guilty over the biggest car insurance fraud investigation in the UK.
They were convicted of making six insurance claims worth £144,000 between 2009 and 2011. Two were found not guilty.
It brings the total number of convictions in the scam - which involved the deliberate damaging of vehicles - to 81.
The case involved 28 separate claims and 57 cars, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
Image copyright Gwent Police Image caption Clockwise from top left: Byron Yendell, Peter Yendell, Gavin Yendell and Rachel Yendell
The fraud ring cost the insurance industry £763,068.
It operated out of a garage based in Pengam, Blackwood, which was known as both St David's Crash Repair and Easifix and owned by the Yandell family.
They were the masterminds of the scam, Gwent Police said, and they provided the insurance fraud service for scores of friends and relatives.
Caught by their CCTV
But they were eventually caught by their own CCTV, driving a Land Rover into a forklift truck to make it look like the car had been in an accident.
Byron Yandell, 32, his father Peter Yandell, 53 and wife Rachel Yandell, 31, along with Gavin Yandell, 31, and Michelle Yandell, 52, were all jailed for between six and two years.
Following the verdicts, Catrin Evans, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Wales complex casework unit, said the operation was "a highly-organised, calculated and extensive conspiracy to defraud".
Image copyright Gwent Police Image caption Some of the 57 cars crashed for cash
"It involved defendants participating in the arrangement of fake road traffic accidents and insurance fraud," she said.
"The vast majority of cars supposedly involved in these fake accidents were recovered to a single garage that was at the centre of the criminal operation."
Ben Fletcher, director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau, said "Crash for cash scams, such as Operation Dino, have a real impact on society, putting the lives of innocent people at risk and costing honest policy holders almost £350m each year.
"These investigations and convictions send a powerful message to the public that if you are committing insurance fraud then the risk of being caught and prosecuted is very real. The IFB works alongside insurers and police forces up and down the country to detect fraudsters and bring them to justice."
On Thursday:
Bethan Palmer, 26, from Newport, guilty of conspiracy to defraud and perverting the course of justice
Stephen Pegram, 49, from Blackwood, guilty of conspiracy to defraud
Nicola Cook, 41, from Hengoed, guilty of conspiracy to defraud
Nicola Rees, 48, from Bargoed, Caerphilly County, guilty of conspiracy to defraud
Stephen Brooks, 45, from Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, guilty of conspiracy to defraud
Adam Fear, 27, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff, not guilty of conspiracy to defraud
Matthew Davies, 33, from Pontypridd, not guilty of conspiracy to defraudOle Miss lands five-star Richmond
CLOSE Courtney Cronin and Riley Blevins break down Drew Richmond's commitment to Ole Miss and what it means for the Rebels O-Line in 2015. Richmond is the No. 1 prospect in Tennessee & No. 6 OT in the country. (Video by Courtney Cronin/Clarion-Ledger).
Drew Richmond (Photo: Scout.com)
Ole Miss landed one of the top offensive tackles in the country.
Five-star Drew Richmond, who was a priority for programs like Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio State and many more, chose the Rebels today during a press conference at his high school in Memphis.
The 6-foot-5, 320-pounder is Tennessee's top prospects and the No. 27 overall player in the country, according to Rivals.com.
Ohio State and Tennessee were thought to be Richmond's frontrunners for some time - Richmond even said he'll "always be a Buckeye at heart" - but location and relationships have always been the deciding factors for Richmond.
And the Rebels capitalized there.
During a live broadcast of his decision on ESPN's Recruiting Nation, Richmond said his parents played an important role in his recruitment and added they liked Ole Miss' proximity to home.
Laremy Tunsil also helped, as Ole Miss' All-American tackle played an active role in Richmond's recruitment.
Richmond referred to Tunsil as both a friend and mentor throughout the process, adding that he took comfort in knowing a veteran player was eager to take him under his wing.
"He's everything I want to be," Richmond said of Tunsil.
CLOSE The C-L recruiting team of Courtney Cronin and Riley Blevins break down the liklihood of Memphis OT Drew Richmond to Ole Miss, Malik Newman's five in-home visits this week, Darrell Henderson's chance at an SEC offer & more. (Courtney Cronin/TCL).
Richmond also listed early playing time as a major factor in his decision.
Again, Ole Miss gets a checkmark there.
Richmond, Ole Miss' 10th commitment in the 2015 class, fills a major positional need for the Rebels.
Ole Miss starts four junior offensive linemen, and sophomore left tackle Tunsil is considered a first-round draft pick when he becomes eligible after the 2015 season.
That five linemen leaving at once. And Richmond is the Rebels' only offensive linemen pledged in the 2015 class.
Some believe Richmond lacks the arm length to play tackle at the SEC level. But he said Ole Miss is recruiting him strictly at that position.
"Tackle is where I want to play," he said. "But anywhere I can see the field, I'm OK with that."
While Richmond flashed an ear-to-earn grin as he put on an Ole Miss visor, he said he still plans to take all five of his official visits this fall.
"I just want to make sure that Ole Miss is right for me," he said.
Read or Share this story: http://on.thec-l.com/1rUPKd4For those of us who worry about the security of our wireless devices, every now and then something comes along that scares even the already-paranoid. The latest is a device from [Samy] that is able to log the keystrokes from Microsoft keyboards by sniffing and decrypting the RF signals used in the keyboard’s wireless protocol. Oh, and the entire device is camouflaged as a USB wall wart-style power adapter.
The device is made possible by an Arduino or Teensy hooked up to an NRF24L01+ 2.4GHz RF chip that does the sniffing. Once the firmware for the Arduino is loaded, the two chips plus a USB charging circuit (for charging USB devices and maintaining the camouflage) are stuffed with a lithium battery into a plastic shell from a larger USB charger. The options for retrieving the sniffed data are either an SPI Serial Flash chip or a GSM module for sending the data automatically via SMS.
The scary thing here isn’t so much that this device exists, but that encryption for Microsoft keyboards was less than stellar and provides little more than a false sense of security. This also serves as a wake-up call that the things we don’t even give a passing glance at might be exactly where a less-honorable person might look to exploit whatever information they can get their hands on. Continue past the break for a video of this device in action, and be sure to check out the project in more detail, including source code and schematics, on [Samy]’s webpage.
Thanks to [Juddy] for the tip!Two heated rallies in less than a month outside London city hall — both clashes testing the limits of tolerance — is two too many, one city councillor says.
Mayor Matt Brown wasn’t talking Tuesday in the fallout of the latest standoff over the weekend between anti-Islamists and counter-demonstrators near city hall, but one council colleague says the city needs to clamp down on such protests before they get out of hand.
“Any time that we have groups that are promoting hate in the community, I think it’s incumbent on leaders in the community to stand up against that hate,” Ward 13 Coun. Tanya Park said Monday.
In one way, at least, council already has stood up.
Motivated by the first planned rally by Patriots of Canada Against the Islamization of the West (Pegida) held Aug. 26, councillors unanimously passed an emergency motion days earlier to disavow hate and bigotry and direct city staff to come up with a set rules for the use of public spaces.
Park said those staff recommendations, an update to ones already on the books, can’t come soon enough.
“Things like this should not be happening in city spaces — when it gets to the point of escalation, where the police need to be called,” she said.
London police had a strong presence at both rallies.
Two people were arrested after the Aug. 26 rally and fists flew during the latest showdown between Pegida and dozens of counter-protesters Saturday. Two people were arrested; one was released without incident and the other was charged with assault.
But while Park maintains a policy update on uses of public space is needed, another city councillor says the biggest error of all was drawing attention to Pegida in the first place.
“In retrospect, it probably would have been better to have not reacted to the initially planned rally,” said Ward 6 Coun. Phil Squire.
“I don’t think it’s worked out the way it was planned.”
Though he voted in support of the motion that took aim at hate and bigotry in the city, Squire said the situation escalated when some councillors started urging the public to go to the first rally or attended it themselves.
He said council’s move has emboldened the protesters, raised tensions and lost sight of the big picture.
“The vast majority of Londoners are very tolerant of other people, regardless or race, religion, sexuality, anything. I see that every day,” said Squire.
“I don’t really think we should give attention to people who want to promote negativity in that regard.”
Whether or not the motion emboldened protesters, Coun. Harold Usher said there’s no easy way out for the city now. He said he wants to see an end to the violence and a return to civility.
“We’re not, as a city, trying to stop people from expressing their feelings or beliefs,” he said.
“I’m not going to stop anybody from marching and having a peaceful rally, but they need to be responsible.”
When asked for a response to the latest city hall clashes, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said Matt Brown had nothing further to add at this time.
Despite the violence so far, the anti-Islamist group with 30 to 40 active members nationwide, plans another London rally in October, said a Pegida Canada organizer who goes by the name Jenny Hill.
“We have valid concerns. Whether people agree with our concerns or not, that doesn’t really matter. We should be able to have a voice,” said Hill, who did not want her real name used, citing fears for her safety.
Hill said Pegida Canada, which rejects hard-line Islamist culture, is fighting council’s motion and Brown mischaracterizing the organization as a white supremacist group in an Aug. 22 statement.
“It’s matter of honour to make the council realize what they did and the mistake that they made,” she said.
jbieman@postmedia.comECUANDUREO, Mexico — The latest in a series of clashes between Mexican authorities and a powerful, fast-growing drug cartel turned into the deadliest confrontation in recent memory, with 42 suspected gang gunmen and one Federal Police officer killed during a three-hour firefight at a remote western ranch.
The battle on Friday followed two other recent unprecedented attacks by the cartel, one that killed 15 state police officers and another that shot down an army helicopter with a rocket launcher for the first time in Mexico’s history. The death toll from all three is at least 76 people at a time when the Mexican government claims crime is falling dramatically and the interior minister recently insisted the country “is not in flames.”
Black smoke billowing upward from vehicles set on fire during Friday’s fighting in the municipality of Tanhauto on the border between Jalisco and Michoacan states could be seen for miles.
Photographs from the scene showed bodies, some with semi-automatic rifles and others without weapons, lying in fields, next to farm equipment and on a blood-stained patio strewn with clothes, mattresses and sleeping bags. Video obtained by The Associated Press showed federal police officers coming under fire and bodies strewn throughout the ranch.
The suspects were members of “a criminal organization whose main operating zone is Jalisco state,” National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said. He did not specifically the Jalisco New Generation cartel, but the drug gang dominates the area where the battle erupted and has grown rapidly in recent years to become one of Mexico’s biggest organized crime groups.
The gunbattle started when soldiers, federal police and investigators were checking out a report that armed men had suddenly appeared on a ranch, Rubido said. Federal forces on the way to the ranch met a truck full of armed men who opened fire, and when the government force chased the gunmen onto the ranch, they came under heavy fire from others, the security chief said.
“The rest of the presumed criminals on the property started to attack with intensity,” Rubido said.
A federal police officer died trying to help a colleague wounded in the shootout.
The federal force called for air and ground support, which included a Federal Police helicopter. The size of the ranch, 112 hectares (277 acres), complicated the battle, which lasted intermittently for three hours in three different locations, Rubido said.
The lop-sided casualty count was similar to a controversial case last June 30 in Mexico state, where the army said 22 alleged criminals died in a shootout with troops, while only one soldier was injured. An investigation by The Associated Press revealed that many of suspects had been killed after they surrendered.
Rubido emphasized that both state and national human rights teams were dispatched immediately to investigate Friday’s bloodshed at the ranch, which residents of the area said is called Rancho del Sol.
A police official in the nearby town of Ecuandureo said he didn’t know who owned the ranch, which aerial photos show includes a large house and a tennis court. The official did not want to give his name for security reasons. Two other area residents, who also didn’t want to give their names out of concern for their safety, said the ranch had operated for at least 15 years growing alfalfa and other grasses for cattle feed.
Rubido said the investigation continued but that so far authorities had detained three people and confiscated 36 semi-automatic weapons, two smaller arms, a grenade launcher that had been fired and a.50-caliber rifle. He said eight vehicles also were confiscated, six of them set ablaze by a fire inside a storehouse that created the black plume of smoke.
The border of Michoacan and Jalisco states is an area dominated by Jalisco New Generation and it has been the scene of numerous incidents of cartel violence in recent years. In the nearby town of La Barca, authorities in 2013 found more than five dozen bodies in mass graves linked to the Jalisco cartel. In 2014, gunmen killed the mayor of Tanhuato.
Jalisco New Generation has mounted several large-scale attacks on federal and state forces in recent weeks.
In April, gunmen believed linked to the cartel ambushed a police convoy in Jalisco, killing 15 state officers and wounding five. Earlier this month, New Generation gunmen shot down a military helicopter with a rocket launcher in Jalisco in a confrontation that killed 18.
In just a few years, New Generation has grown from a small faction of the powerful Sinaloa cartel to one of Mexico’s strongest criminal groups in its own right, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, whose Office of Foreign Assets Control maintains a “black list” of drug trafficking organizations.
New Generation’s quick rise reflects a rapidly changing organized-crime landscape in Mexico as the government targets top leaders of established cartels. More than any other criminal group, New Generation has taken advantage of the government strategy, strengthening and grabbing territory as its rivals are weakened.Third in a three-part series. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2.
ATLANTA - What do you do with Olympics venues when the Olympics are over? It’s a key planning question, and Atlanta’s experience with the 1996 Summer Games leaves some lessons for Boston.
Atlanta's Olympic Stadium, converted into a baseball stadium for the Atlanta Braves after the games, has proven to be a huge success for the city. But that success may have come with an asterisk: The Braves are planning to move to a new stadium at the end of the 2016 season.
Stadium's Future Is Up In The Air
Turner Field, the former Olympic Stadium, stands about two miles south of downtown Atlanta.
"I love this stadium. When I think of Atlanta, I think of Turner Field," Becca Nama says during a recent game. Nama lives in the suburb of Peachtree City and was born two years before the Olympics came to Atlanta. "I grew up here every summer, and I just think part of the experience is going downtown afterwards, like seeing the skyline and everything. I don’t know, that’s just how I think of baseball now because I grew up with it like that."
Following the 1996 Summer Games, the 80,000 seat Olympic Stadium was converted into a 50,000 seat baseball stadium. (David Goldman/AP)
Some high schools hold their proms here at the field. Further down in the same grandstand, Dalton Beal, from the suburb of McDonough, says he grew up here watching his team play.
"I love Turner Field. I do," Beal says. "Hold on, let me do the chop!" (This fan ritual is controversial, many American Indians find it offensive.)
But especially for older fans, such as Zaskry Lindsey, there’s an extra layer of cultural meaning here — because this was the Olympic Stadium back in 1996.
"That’s something else! Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia! Downtown, by downtown, by the state capitol? You’ll never see that in other cities, maybe," Lindsey says.
It was here in this stadium during the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Games that Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic flame.
Muhammad Ali ignites the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. (Michael Probst/AP)
Atlanta’s Olympic organizers built this stadium with $200 million of private money, from ticket sales and sponsorships. Right after the games, the 80,000 seat venue was converted into a 50,000 seat baseball stadium.
"Never forget for all the future years that we are able to enjoy this stadium," Braves President Stan Kasten said in April of 1997, at the home opener. "We are so proud to have done this in the city of Atlanta without one penny of taxpayer money."
"Beauty of this place, a public sports facility really funded by the Atlanta Olympic Games budget, and the Atlanta Braves," says Mike Plant, the head of business operations for the Braves. He’s also an Olympian — a speedskater in Lake Placid. "You know, if you look around the world, those stadiums and facilities are very challenged once the games leave."
Atlanta's Olympic Stadium under construction June 28, 1995. (John Bazemore/AP)
But Plant says Atlanta, like Los Angeles before it in 1984, bucked that trend. For instance, Atlanta sold its velodrome and moved it after the Olympics. The aquatics center became Georgia Tech’s campus recreation center. On the other hand, the Olympic tennis complex, where Andre Agassi won gold, now stands deserted.
Still, Atlanta largely avoided the fate of unused venues, of so-called "white elephants." A recent Norwegian and Danish study says no venue built for a major sporting event since has been more effective than Turner Field.
Plant says Atlanta built a basic, no-frills, sustainable stadium, instead of trying to wow the International Olympic Committee.
"There were a few IOC members that took a little umbrage to the fact that we turned it into a baseball stadium," Plant says. "Obviously, the alternative to that is, let it sit here and let’s talk about how many track and field events would we have with 80,000 seats?"
Not many, he says. Nowhere close to 80-plus baseball games a year.
Atlanta's Olympic Stadium during opening ceremonies in for the 1996 Summer Games. (Peter J. Thompson/Athletics Magazine/AP)
In the two decades since the Olympics, the Braves have invested more than $140 million in Turner Field.
"When you have to replace every seat in this place it’s $15 million. You have to replace all the lights? It’s $5 million. Paint the steel? $3 million. You can blow through $100 million real quick," Plant says.
But soon that Braves run of heavy use and maintenance will come to a close. After the 2016 season, the Braves plan to leave Turner Field for a new stadium. Plant says the new Cobb County site is closer to the heart of the Braves fan base.
"And, you know, we’ve played 18 great years here. We probably would be here a lot longer," Plant says. "We had another vision to create a mixed-use development, and over a period of years we just couldn’t reach an acceptable arrangement with the ownership entity, the rec authority, the city of Atlanta and the county. So we’re moving on, moving just 12 miles north of town."
Legacy Of Atlanta's Olympic Facilities Still Being Written
For some Braves fans, like Beal, it’s too soon to leave Turner Field.
"I feel like it’s still got life, you know," Beal says. "And it’s my childhood. I grew up coming to Turner Field to watch the Braves play, and it’s tough to see it go."
His friend Preston Cullom agrees.
"I feel that heritage has more value than a new ballpark, if that makes sense," Cullom says.
That heritage includes the Olympic history, says Braves fan Sam Wisher.
A pedestrian passes under the Olympic rings up the street from Turner Field, which originally opened as the Olympic Stadium for the 1996 Summer Games. (David Goldman/AP)
"That part’s kind of sad, the fact that this used to be the Olympic Stadium, because I’m not quite sure what use they’ll have for it now," Wisher says.
Its future is now up in the air. This week, Georgia State University met with members of the surrounding community to discuss its hope to turn Turner Field into a smaller football stadium. The $300 million proposal would also transform the surrounding space into classrooms and athletics facilities.
That proposal would make Atlanta’s the third Summer Olympic stadium in the U.S. to be used for college football, along with St. Louis’ Francis Field and the Los Angeles Coliseum.
But Georgia State’s plan is just one of several proposed developments for Turner Field. Even Braves fan Becca Nama has her own idea.
"Yeah, I think it’s good to go, I don’t see anything wrong with this stadium," Nama says. "Honestly, I want to know what they’re doing with the Jumbotron. I got a good place for it."
Atlanta can look back proudly on its continued use of its signature Olympic venue. But nearly 20 years later, the legacy of Atlanta's Olympic sports facilities is still being written.Though it has received little coverage in American media, Canada has spent the past 10 months in an intense debate about its prostitution laws. Last December, the nation's Supreme Court struck down basically all anti-prostitution laws on the grounds that they violated Canada's Constitutional Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The elimination of prostitution laws will go into effect this December, and the Conservative Canadian government has been rushing to get a replacement in place that will satisfy the Supreme Court.
Both anti-trafficking groups and sex-worker rights proponents opposed Canada's prior status quo—also the status quo in America—under which individuals engaging in prostitution could be prosecuted. The new legislation, known as Bill C-36, is similar in many ways to what's called the Nordic model: it criminalizes johns, while decriminalizing those engaged in prostitution. A good explanation of the bill's exact provisions can be found here.
The bill is popular with anti-prostitution and anti-sex trafficking groups, which see prostitution as innately exploitative and those engaging in it to always be victims. Activist Trisha Baptie of the anti-trafficking group EVE Canada says that compared to Canada's previous prostitution laws, "C-36 is a huge step forward in terms of women's equality and women's safety."
However, Baptie doesn't think C-36 is perfect. The bill still criminalizes prostitution in areas around daycares and schools, and she worries that these laws will be used "against street prostituted women, who are the most vulnerable and marginalized."
James Barnes, director of the U.S.-based anti-trafficking organization Breaking Out, expressed further reservations. He worries that criminalizing johns will "push [prostitution] more underground" and create more abuse. "C-36 might be a step in the right direction, but is it going to fix it in one day? Of course not," Barnes says.
Sex workers and their supporters have even less faith in a C-36 model. And U.S.-based sex workers worry that the idea could catch on here. Audacia Ray, director of New York City sex-work advocacy group the Red Umbrella Project, points out that an "'End Demand' philosophy is already gaining ground in America. It has inspired stings aimed at johns in particular—though sex workers are always quietly arrested as well.
Even if sex worker prosecutions would end, Ray says that "criminalizing johns doesn't really help that much because it means clients are going to be much more nervous about providing information to workers, which makes work much more unsafe." And Ray thinks we should think of the johns, too: "I haven't seen a lot of good statistics on who gets arrested when johns get arrested. But my impulse is that any time there's an increase in criminalization or policing it's typically poor people and people of color who get arrested."
Mistress Matisse, a professional dominatrix and writer, told me that "the U.S. has some of the most draconian laws regarding consensual sex work of any nation, so it is tempting, as an American sex worker, to look at Canadian Bill C36 and think 'it's still a lot better than the U.S. system'."
"But historically, the U.S. has used any laws it can to control and punish people's sexual behavior," Matisse says. "So if laws similar to C-36 were proposed in the U.S., I'd be inclined to regard it as merely a semantic game, and to think that vulnerable populations would continue to be targeted and arrested."
Matisse also notes that Canada's bill criminalizes sex-work advertising. While it remains to be seen how the criminal penalties against this will be enforced, preventing communication with clients can still create serious problems and increase safety risks, she says.
It seems anti-trafficking groups think that C-36 might be an improvement on U.S. laws, albeit with numerous reservations. Sex worker rights advocates, on the other hand, see C-36 as a mostly misguided shuffling of the status quo. It has some advantages in theory, but in practice it won't be much of an improvement for sex workers.
Part of the disconnect seems to go to the competing rationale behind C-36. In striking down Canada's previous prostitution laws, the Supreme Court made it clear that the constitutional right of sex workers to "life, liberty, and security" should be the government's primary concern. Bill C-36 is supposedly in line with that.
But provisions of the bill make it difficult for sex workers to advertise or work together and criminalize them if they are in certain areas. This suggests that the government is still focused on protecting others from the (nebulous) threat of sex workers, rather than on protecting those engaged in prostitution from harassment or abuse. As long as that is the case, it seems unlikely that the legal climate in Canada, or the U.S., will see much change for the better.THE head of T in the Park has broken his silence over the row about £150,000 of Scottish Government funding for the iconic music festival.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Herald, Geoff Ellis, chief executive of DF Concerts, dismissed the attacks as politically motivated, accused critics of “cultural snobbery” and revealed that the company previously accepted public money from the former Labour-LibDem governing coalition for the festival in 2007.
The current SNP Government has been sharply criticised for signing off on £150,000 of support for the music festival’s promoters DF Concerts after former special advisor Jennifer Dempsie set up meetings between Geoff Ellis and Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop.
In his first interview since the row erupted, Ellis defended Dempsie and denied hiring the former aide to Alex Salmond as a lobbyist “to see if she could get any money from her pals”.
However, he admitted he was keen to secure funding from the Scottish Government and said Dempsie introduced him to several high-profile SNP politicians, including her partner, Westminster leader Angus Robertson and Environment Minister Richard Lochhead, at the party’s conference in Glasgow in March.
Speaking of Hyslop, who was quizzed by Holyrood's Education and Culture Committee and accused of “cronyism” by opposition MSPs, Ellis said: “When you want to meet with a politician people have aides and that’s who you go through and Jennifer knows who the people are in all the parties.
“We didn’t employ her to set up meetings but it is part of what she would do. She’s a proactive person. She’d be on the phone saying Geoff would like to update you on the progress of T in the Park. She knows the ropes. When you employ somebody you employ them for all of their strengths, a contact book being one of those.
“Did I get priority access to Fiona Hyslop? I don’t think so. Fiona knows who I am. If my PA was to phone up she might have had to make two phone calls before getting to the right person to make the phone call to.
“The fact that she (Dempsie) set up the meeting, so what?... Obviously if she hadn’t set up the meeting people couldn’t have made the accusation of cronyism – I get that – but it’s a bit of a cheap shot. But was the meeting only had because Jennifer set it up? No. That’s completely ridiculous and an insult to the intelligence of Fiona Hyslop.”
Ellis said his relationship with Dempsie began when she worked for a PR firm used by DF Concerts.
He hired her on a temporary contract during the planning process and insisted she was “more a strategist than a lobbyist”.
Describing the fraught period before Perth and Kinross Council rubber stamped T in the Park’s move from Balado to Strathallan, Ellis said: “When we knew we had to move T in the Park we were thinking about what help we could get because it was costing us a fortune. So we looked into that. We couldn’t get support from Scottish Enterprise because we didn’t have planning permission. We were right up against it.”
Dempsie suggested Ellis meet politicians from all parties and took him to the SNP’s ‘Campaign Conference’ at the SECC in March. Ellis described himself as a “Labour supporter until I got completely despondent with them at the last election”.
Ellis said: “I live in Glasgow. There are a hell of a lot of SNP politicians now. It was a good opportunity to briefly meet several of them. She (Dempsie) knows who they all are. I said hello to Angus Robertson (SNP Westminster leader and Dempsie’s partner). I didn’t meet Nicola (Sturgeon) but I’ve met Nicola on several occasions. The Environment Minister (Richard Lochhead) I saw briefly there, as well as Fiona.
“I just saw it as a good way of kind of saying to people I’d like to bring you up to speed on T in the Park. I was there wearing a T in the Park hat and basically anybody that would listen – you know, we were going through a hell of a time - I wanted to make sure we had support for T in the Park.”
The festival had been based at Balado, near Kinross, since 1997, but had to be moved after health and safety fears were raised over an oil pipeline running under the site. As part of the relocation, T in the Park had to ensure there was no risk to wildlife or heritage sites.
A briefing note about relocation costs sent from DF Concerts to the culture secretary’s office was released under Freedom of Information legislation but figures were redacted.
Ellis said DF Concerts spent “close to £3 million” to move the festival “plus all the money we’ve left behind in the ground in terms of facilities”.
He refused to discuss the details of the “commercially sensitive” information but revealed that a one-off |
), it was for the benefit of all mankind to be enjoyed equally (or at least, equally by followers of your particular religion); so those who use land or natural resources or radio spectrum should pay compensation to those excluded?Welcome to my Astro-Man archive
This site is meant to be a visual archive of every variation of every Man... or Astro-Man? 7" single ever released. Most of what you'll see here comes from my personal collection. As information pours in I will post it, so please comment if you think you have something to add. I have no intention of posting MP3s here. I'm sure you can find the music elsewhere. This is just an attempt to collect information about the band's prolific creation of singles into one spot. If you can get past the fact that I rarely clean my scanner, I think you'll enjoy what you find here.
Use the Table of Contents on the sidebar if you are looking for details on a specific 7".Larry Summers is out for Fed chair. That should mean Janet Yellen is in. But does it?
Janet Yellen should be the next Fed Chair. (Federal Reserve/Flickr)
There are two reasons Yellen might not be named to the Federal Reserve. One is that President Obama or his key advisers think she would do a bad job. The other is that the White House feels that nominating her would be a dangerous capitulation — it would show they could be pushed around by liberal Democrats.
But the line from the White House has never been that Yellen is bad choice. In fact, they've been at pains to say she's absolutely terrific — an incredible candidate who they'd be thrilled to name if there wasn't, remarkably, an even more incredible candidate in Summers.
As for the idea that it would be bad "optics" to shatter a glass ceiling and appoint the insanely qualified, widely respected, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve — that's the kind of Washington nuttiness this White House typically prides itself in being above. To deny Yellen the post out of spite or fear would be, or at least should be, beneath them.
The case against Summers has been overblown. He's both much more concerned with the poor and middle class, and much less interested in deregulation, than his critics gave him credit for. The White House favored him, in part, because they thought he'd be more effective at fighting unemployment and regulating Wall Street than Yellen. Their progressive critics, of course, disagreed,
But amid the heated back-and-forth over Summers, the strength of the case for Yellen has been obscured. At times, she's been made out to be an anybody-but-Summers candidate. She's not. Here are five reasons why.
1) She'd be the most qualified Federal Reserve chair in memory. Ben Bernanke had three years on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors when he was named chairman. Paul Volcker had four years leading the New York Federal Reserve before he got the call. Alan Greenspan had never worked at the Fed at all.
On sheer Fed experience, Yellen blows them out of the water. She led the San Francisco Federal Reserve from 2004 to 2010 and has been Vice Chair of the Fed since then. So she's served across multiple chairmen, in multiple positions, during good economic times and during the depths of the financial crisis. Experience isn't everything, of course, but it matters — particularly when the Fed is in such uncharted waters.
2) She got the big calls right. The Fed's job, put simply, is to predict the path of the economy and put in place the right policies to keep employment high and inflation low. In 2006 and 2007 — and frankly, in 2010 and 2011 — the Fed got that basic job of prediction wrong. It didn't see the financial crisis coming, and it didn't see the slow recovery.
Yellen was an exception. If you go back to the Fed's December 2007 transcripts — the most recent we have — you’ll find the Federal Reserve predicting that the economy would avoid recession. William Dudley, now the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said that “fear is diminishing, which implies less risk of a crisis developing from this source” — “this source” meaning the bad mortgages that would imperil Wall Street and the world a year later.
You’ll also find Yellen voicing a prescient note of pessimism. “The possibilities of a credit crunch developing and of the economy slipping into a recession seem all too real,” she warned. In ensuing years, Yellen pushed for the Federal Reserve to do more to combat an employment problem that she didn't see abating — advice that Bernanke and the rest of the FOMC eventually followed, when their optimistic forecasts proved terribly wrong.
3) We still need someone who cares — and cares a lot — about unemployment. According to the best data we have, the economy added 169,000 jobs in August — which if sustained would mean we'll close the jobs gap sometime in 2023. We also learned that we'd added 74,000 fewer jobs than we thought in June and July. The share of adults who are in the labor force is also at a scary low.
We desperately need a Fed chair who is serious about combating unemployment, rather than one itching to get the Fed back to its traditional role as a quiet, technocratic inflation fighter. In recent years, Yellen has been the Fed's strongest and most persistent voice in favor of doing more to fight unemployment. Appointing her would be a signal to the markets — and everyone else — that the Fed isn't simply going to accept the status quo as America's new normal.
4) She's a consensus pick — at least outside the White House. This Fed process has been a debacle. The Obama White House has let Summers and Yellen twist in the wind for months now. For various reasons, the race has rattled Wall Street, alienated key parts of the monetary policy community, and infuriated many congressional Democrats — along with other key White House allies, like labor.
Yellen, however, is a consensus pick. She's Wall Street's favorite. She the monetary policy world's favorite. She's favored by congressional Democrats and organized labor. So far as anybody knows, she has nearly no enemies — at least outside the White House. It's rare that in a race that's been so angrily contested, either candidate can actually be a consensus pick. But because this race more or less pitted the White House's preference for Summers against the rest of the world's preference for Yellen, the Obama administration can end this with a pick most everyone is happy with.
5) It's time to shatter the glass ceiling. As former-FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair wrote:
We've come a long way baby, with 98 women in Congress, including 20 female senators. Three women serve on the Supreme Court, and four serve in the President's cabinet. Yet, there is one segment of our federal government that has yet to break the glass ceiling. It is the segment most directly involved in overseeing the nation's financial markets and the big financial institutions that dominate them. The Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and the two big bank regulators — the New York Federal Reserve Bank and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — have never had females at their helms.
These things matter. One consequence that has been on sharp display during this process is that because everyone who has ever served in these positions has been male, people end up with a lot of stereotypically male qualities in their assumptions of what it takes to effectively run these organizations. The idea that anyone with Janet Yellen's resume would ever be accused of lacking "gravitas" is risible — and it would never happen if the person with Janet Yellen's resume looked like Paul Volcker.
The choice of Federal Reserve chair can't and shouldn't be based on gender. But as is often the case with these things, in order to even be considered for the post, Yellen has had to amass much more experience, and much broader support, than previous male nominees have required. So this is a moment where the candidate with the most experience and the most support would also be a historic, glass-ceiling shattering choice. That's quite an added benefit.Dr Gibson and Dr. Delacroix have both staked out their positions on the matter, and Dr. Delacroix has promised more, but I thought I’d add my own two cents to the matter.
I’ve already shared my thoughts here before, and nothing that I see in the Middle East or elsewhere changes my argument.
Among observers of all political stripes, there have been two broad categories into which they have gravitated. One of these has been the Islamic societies are still in the middle ages argument. This is a legitimate point, too. As Dr. Gibson points out:
Without knowing anything of Islamic theology, we can draw some conclusions about Islam from the status of the Muslim countries. Human rights are trampled, especially if you’re female, gay, a member of the wrong Islamic sect, or worse yet, a Christian or Jew. Virtually no scientific or technological advances have come out of Islamic countries in recent centuries. I am unaware of any significant recent Islamic artistic or literary accomplishments. A medieval view of interest is still in effect. Corrupt monarchies and corrupt theocracies rule many of the countries, notwithstanding the Arab Spring. Assad is butchering his own people in Syria. In summary, Islam sucks.
This is all true.
Dr Delacroix chimes in with another, somewhat connected blog:
As usual, our liberal elite demonstrates a deeply anchored ignorance of anything foreign. Secretary Clinton, soon echoed by Senator Feinstein […] wonders how the violent jihadists could do it to us, in the very country and the very city, Benghazi, we helped save from bloody destruction. Ms. Secretary, Ms Senator: That’s why they did it. First, the Salafists, extreme jihadists, played a minor part in the liberation of Libya from dictatorship. They were upstaged by the same infidels who recently dispatched their figurehead in Pakistan. Their collective credibility was at stake. Second, Ms Secretary, Ms Senator, there is no reason to believe that the violent jihadists respond to our own behavior in any way except the way I describe above. They don’t kill us because of what we do, they kill us because of who we are. They also kill Middle-Eastern Christians, Jews, and Shiite Muslims because of who they are. Their ideology comprises no reason to stop waging war until they have conquered the whole world for a reborn Islamic Caliphate. Some are willing to die in the service of this grand cinematographic endeavor. But, incidentally, if you think about it, the number really willing to die is quite small in relation to one billion Muslims (take or leave one hundred million).
There are two reasons I think that while both esteemed men have confused, as one reader points out, correlation with causation.
Let me get all of the common objections out of the way first: I understand that Islam, the religion, represents a backwards way of thinking about the world. I am not an apologist for the people who perpetrate crimes in the name of Islam. I am aware that many Muslims harbor a deep chauvinism, as well as deep homophobic, misogynistic, and even racist sentiments about the non-Muslim world. Christianity was like this as well, hundreds of years ago. You can still find remnants of it in the “Bible belts” of the small republics of northern Europe and the large republics of the United States, Canada, and Australia today.
But Islam the religion is no more responsible for the violence and poverty of Muslim parts of the world than Christianity was responsible for the violence and poverty of the Christian parts of the world hundreds of years ago. I know what you are thinking: “you just the ‘Muslim’ and ‘Christian’ parts of the world, Brandon, and you still think religion has nothing to do with it? What a moron!”
Hear me out, though.
The problems of the Muslim world can be pinpointed to its institutions in place rather than the prevalent religion. As I have pointed out before here on this blog, the states in the Middle East forged after the second World War were molded on the New Deal republic of Franklin Roosevelt (in Europe, this is commonly known as the “nation-state”). States earned legitimacy not through representation but through doling out rents that the populations perceived to be of vital interest. Rents such as free health care, free education, and guaranteed retirement accounts. In order to convince Muslim populations in the new states that representation was of no use to them, and that it would be better to sacrifice their liberties for security, the elites of these states rallied around certain ideologies. These ideologies were nationalistic to their core, and used Islam only when it was expedient to do so.
Just think: what kind of political institutions were in place in Christian Europe when all of the violence and poverty was then prevalent there? Was liberal democracy and its mother, the capitalist economic system, in place at the time? Or was Christian Europe dominated by feudal estates and monarchies whose luminaries held profit and individual liberty in contempt?
When the New Deal-esque welfare programs of these new states came to their bitter-but-predictable end in the late seventies and early eighties, elites began to turn to Islam more and more to make their case that it was not they who had mismanaged things, but rather that “neo-liberalism” – a stupid word with no meaning meant designed to be a catch-all phrase used by the ignorant enemies of freedom – was to blame for the cuts in government spending that began to be carried out.
When the Soviet Uni0n dissolved a decade after cuts began to be made to the welfare states of the autocrats, and US bombs and troops and economic sanctions began to become more and more common, the elites – corrupt, vicious, and predictable – naturally sought a scapegoat, and they found it in US imperialism and ninth-century Islamic doctrines.
When we see mobs of Muslims burning American and other Western embassies (and books and flags), and killing innocent people, we naturally think that the causes of this violence is because of their religion, but this is simply not the case. The lack of the following freedoms are to blame for the poverty and violence of the Muslim world: free speech, international connections to the rest of the world, protections for private property, protections for other individual rights such as the right to keep and bear arms, the right to travel freely, the right to worship as one pleases, and the right to earn a living.
If these institutions that protect individual rights were in place, and rigorously maintained, the violence and poverty would be replaced by factional politics and prosperity. The fact that Islam is used again and again as a way to halt or to bury progress does not mean that Islam itself is to blame for the lack of progress and prosperity in the Muslim world.
I make this argument for two reasons: 1) to help further understanding between the culturally and materially rich of the world (the West) and the culturally and materially poor of the world (Muslim societies, among others who are hostile to equality before the law), and 2) to ensure that religion does not get more attention that it deserves. The status of religion in societies should be lowered to a place where it better belongs: in the hearts and minds of fearful and superstitious men and women, and not public discourse or scientific analysis of how the world works.
This explanation, I believe, is much better for helping to understand the Muslim world and its current predicament than the old canard of “they kill us because of who we are.”
Ultimately, you have to make up your minds. Notes On Liberty is committed to putting forth arguments of all stripes for the furthering of knowledge and understanding of the world. This is the tradition of the West that is most precious to me.MATT Lodge is a step closer to returning to the NRL after the QRL agreed to register a contract for him to join Redcliffe late last week.
The Dolphins are the feeder club for Brisbane which has cleared a path for the 21-year-old to eventually return to first grade under Wayne Bennett.
Reports emerged mid-year that Lodge was on the Broncos’ radar and held talks with the forward.
The former Wests Tiger is attempting to get his life back on track after pleading guilty to a misdemeanour reckless assault charge resulting from a night out in New York last year which resulted in his sacking from the club.
Matt Lodge of NSW 20s leaves the field. Source: Getty Images
Dolphins’ operations manager Grant Cleal told the club website the club takes great pride in “giving young players a second chance after they had made mistakes”.
“We know that our players need stability off the field to perform at their best on the field,” Cleal said.
“That is why we take such a holistic approach to recruitment and player wellbeing.
“Taking on a young player that is trying to get his career back on track after early setbacks is a big responsibility and one we take very seriously.
“We have the processes and supports in place for all our players to be the best they can be at playing the game and outside of it also.”
Instagram image of former Wests Tigers NRL player Matthew Lodge Source: No Source
Lodge was facing 25 years in a US jail after he was arrested and charged but was allowed to return to Australia last Christmas Eve.
Lodge had played 12 NRL games over two seasons before he had his contract torn up.
A Junior Kangaroos representative, the Blacktown junior said he’s excited to get back in a team environment and ready for the 2017 Intrust Super Cup season.
“I am really excited about coming to the Dolphins, they are very professional,” Lodge said.
“I’ve already spent a bit of time with the coach and met some of the boys and I really like the mateship of the team.
“I know it is a hugely respected club and I am really keen to get into pre-season with the boys and pull on the Dolphins jersey in February.”Ice Cube's 1993 record "It Was a Good Day" is important for many reasons. One of them is the incredible narrative that Cube tells over DJ Pooh's smooth production. "Just waking up in the morning, gotta thank God/I don't know but today seems kinda odd," he starts before delivering three verses worth of a story that has become hip-hop folklore. Or so we thought it was.
A few years ago stand-up comedian and avid skateboarder Donovan Strain took it upon himself to research everything that was said in the song by Ice Cube. After breaking down the record line for line, Strain figured out January 20, 1992 was the exact day that Cube was talking about in the song. Strain shares that story with Complex TV today, the 22nd anniversary of when Cube's "Good Day" occurred. That date also happens to land on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year.
"At first I was kind of inspired to listen to the song that day, because I was having a good day myself," Strain says. "Space Jam was on TV that day right when I woke up, my favorite movie. And I'm like, this is the best day ever. I got to listen to the anthem."
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"I was having such a good day, I was curious what day his good day was," Strain continues. He says he got on his iPhone and proceeded to research each line that Cube raps in "It Was a Good Day." Strain spent about 15 minutes before getting down to two dates that could fit Cube's description in the song. One of those dates happened to land around when Ice Cube was filming Boyz n the Hood. That only left January 22, 1992.
Strain posted his analysis on his Tumblr account, and it immediately spread across the Internet like wild fire. The news eventually reached Ice Cube at some point. "It doesn't make any sense at all, but it's cool," he recently told Jimmy Fallon on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Even though Cube admits the day in "It Was a Good Day" is fictional, that doesn't take away from Strain's awesome discovery. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, whose Goodyear Blimp is referenced in the song ("Even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp/And it read 'Ice Cube's a Pimp'"), agrees. The company will be flying a blimp today to celebrate Cube's "Good Day." The move is inspired by the song as well as Jon Barco and Andy Dao, who started the "Good Day Blimp" Crowdtilt project to raise $25,000 for A Place Called Home, a non-profit organization that helps at-risk youth in South Los Angeles. Barco and Dao are closing in on their final mark, and both Goodyear and Ice Cube are supporting their project. Donations can be made here.
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After checking out Donovan Strain's story above, be sure to watch Ice Cube talking about the making of "It Was a Good Day" for Complex TV's Magnum Opus below.
RELATED: Magnum Opus: The Making of Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day"
RELATED: Interview: Ice Cube and Kevin Hart talk gaming, Cube's next album, "Ride Along," and "Friday"
RELATED: Ice Cube Talks About His Legacy, N.W.A. Movie, and Relationship With 2Pac With the Breakfast ClubNate Timmons and Adam Mares are in Las Vegas at NBA Summer League. The two discuss the experience of being in Vegas at the ever-growing event, and which rookies on various team have impressed.
The two also delve into the Nuggets Summer League squad and discuss Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris, Erick Green, Jamaal Franklin, Nikola Jokic, Ian Clark, and Joffrey Lauvergne. The guys also look at how they guys blend with what the Nuggets have done this off-season with the free agents the team has retained.
Enjoy the show, the audio is a little different as no microphones were used, and just the H4N showed its power. Thanks for listening.
This thread will also serve as today's game preview and thread. Nuggets start at 6:00 pm MST and will face the Miami Heat and Justise Winslow today.Tonality 9 Build 9 Matchability 9 Value For Money 9.5 9.1 Our Score
This UK Company has been working furiously around their Kickstarter program lately, aiming for the stars and attempting to shatter the conventional designs of headphones in general. Previously, they’d achieved a very Planar Magnetic type of sound signature in what I would consider a hybrid-dynamic driver design in their full size R1 model. Innovation is what these guys are all about and their new IEMs are no different.
I suspect Flare’s Kickstarter program may or may not have ended by the time you read this review, but they’ve offered their R2A at £79 for anyone interested while their Kickstarter is live. Those who have jumped on that deal are in for a real treat, probably the IEM deal of the year. At that price range, I’ve never come across anything that sounds even remotely that clean and spacious, so high five to anyone who was able to snag any of their IEMs at such a discount. Once their Kickstarter program ends, the prices will go up to what I consider uncomfortable levels on the Pro model.
R2PRO – Titanium, £200 at KS campaign price, £400 after
R2A – Aluminium, from £79 during KS campaign, £175 after campaign
R2S Stainless steel – £150 KS price, £300 after
Even at the normal MSRP of the R2A, the price to performance is still excellent. What Flare Audio has done here is attempt to create one of few IEMs that I’ve found to be hyper realistic in terms of a natural presentation shape, tone, impact and dynamics in this price tier. Almost no other IEM’s that I’ve ever heard, including my Jh16 that cost me $1100, were able to achieve this type of imaging. Both of these Flare IEMs have achieved a level of physical impact that I find to be extremely addictive as well. True, both IEM models are different so let’s jump right into build and materials first before detailing the sound qualities offered by these magnificent IEMs.
The Tech and Accessories
The most important factoid to note about these IEMs is that they are pressure balanced: an attempt to create as non-fatiguing of an experience as possible. I think they did very well with this jab at creating a natural appeal to the presentation, but there are certainly other normal dynamic IEMs out there that have also achieved a similar, effortless physicality, but not anything quite on this level that I am aware of. Both IEMs come with Comply memory foam tips, which allow for excellent fit and sealing properties. These do indeed offer a fair amount of noise isolation, but that is to be expected with a memory foam sealing tip from Comply. You are intended to gently squeeze these tips in attempt to flatten them out prior to insertion. After that, the foam will expand and seal the IEM into your ear canal. It is vital to know that proper seal is essential for these IEMs to really shine.
You’re going to have to squeeze those Comply tips a fair bit and burrow them in your inner ear canal, otherwise the seal will remain broken and lopsided. One side could sound nice and the other may not, this has happened to me often with these IEMs. Once a proper seal is achieved, the sound is magnificent. The experience is very comfortable due to the extremely small housing and light weight design. Also, these Comply tips simply vanish in your ear once a proper seal is achieved. Rummaging around downtown Cleveland with these in my ear equates to me feeling like I have a high tech implant in my ears that pipes music directly to my eardrums. All I can feel is the cable swaying on my neck and over my chest sometimes. I think most people will be rather shocked by just how small these IEMs really are: 12mm by 7mm. They are adorable to say the least, super cute and tiny. I’m not fond of larger IEM housings, so it is a refreshing experience to swap to these after using my custom monitors or some of the typical universals available. The R2Pro will come with a nice carrying case and 3 sets of Comply memory foam tips.
Durability
Build quality varies between the model you wish to use, in this case the R2A comes with an all-aluminum housing and the R2Pro is made of grade 5 Titanium. It feels very light but I am not exactly able to test durability with a crush test…also unwilling. But, I can say that the cut of metal feels rigid and solid enough. They remind me of the Fischer Audio Silver Bullets, so I can’t see the Pro version taking any serious damage while rolling around in your bag or pocket. Flare used a robotic lathe to craft each of their housings down to an accuracy of 10 microns. The strain relief is unneeded, as Flare’s CEO has told me.
“The sides of the cable entry in the body have 250 micron thin chambers that don’t damage the cable when pulled. This removes the need for a strain relief which we have extensively tested by repeated pulling and snagging (the cable itself breaks first nowhere near the R2 and usually at the point of being pulled very hard).” –Davies Roberts: Flare Audio’s CEO
I tend to agree for the most part, the R2A is plenty tough and doesn’t need the added bulk of an extra piece of material to bridge the end of the cable to the metal housing. If damage ever occurs to the cable, Flare allows you to remove the cable completely and replace it yourself for a fee of £35. The rear side of the housing unscrews and exposes the innards that may need replacement. My units were pre-production models, but once released officially the design and cable option selection will change. They will be offering a remote mic version and a braided version, over ear option for stage musicians and lastly both 45 and 90 degree cable adapters.
The Cable
I think the Pro IEM desperately needs a fabric braided cable, something that screams higher quality than a typical rubber casing. I do feel the stock cable to be overly thin; I can’t help but to have day dreams about the cable snapping off or shredding somehow. I prefer a stronger exterior sleeve. I can’t really justify that on the cheaper R2A, but I would expect it to exist on the Pro version which will sell for just over £400. As those who know me and my reviews, £300 is the magic price tag value that I feel to warrant nicer, fabric cables.
At that price point, I want to see higher quality exterior sleeves that protect the cable more. Cable noise is also not an issue on either model, although this is only in regards to my experience with the stock rubber single strand cable. I can’t comment about the potential braided cable noise factor since I don’t have it to test. I also think the Pro version should come with a very nice 3.5mm adapter. Maybe they will offer a very high quality and durable adapter in the future, again I’ve not seen any of the adapter options first hand to judge just yet.
Page 2: Sound Impressions – The R2ABy Nick Cooney
August 21, 2012
This week, a video blog post takes a data-based look at the impacts of farm animal welfare reforms. The powerpoint is excerpted from a plenary presentation given at the Animal Rights 2012 national conference.
Sources
Data Point 1: Welfare reforms reduce suffering and provide immediate good for animals
Note: the following white papers review the current research and cite dozens of peer-reviewed studies on the welfare of animals in different housing systems.
Shields, S., & Duncan, I. (n.d.). An HSUS report: A comparison of the welfare of hens in battery cages and alternative systems. Retrieved from http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/farm/hsus-a-comparison-of-the-welfare-of-hens-in-battery-cages-and-alternative-systems.pdf
The Humane Society of the United States. (2012, July). An HSUS report: Welfare issues with gestation crates for pregnant sows. Retrieved from http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/farm/HSUS-Report-on-Gestation-Crates-for-Pregnant-Sows.pdf
The Humane Society of the United States. (n.d.). An HSUS report: The welfare of intensively confined animals in battery cages, gestation crates, and veal crates. Retrieved from http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/farm/hsus-the-welfare-of-intensively-confined-animals.pdf
Data Point 2: The animal ag industry spends millions to oppose welfare reforms, because reforms are bad for the industry
Sethu, H. (2012, July 12). Look who is talking about animal welfare! [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://countinganimals.com/look-who-is-talking-animal-welfare/
Smith, R. (2011, December 28). Groups urge Congress to reject HSUS-UEP deal. Feedstuffs. Retrieved from http://fdsmagissues.feedstuffs.com/fds/PastIssues/FDS8401/fds04_8401.pdf
Data Point 3: Welfare reforms are followed by a reduction in consumption of the affected animal products
(2012, March 12). Egg prices set to rise after EU battery cage hen ban. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17336478
(2012, March 13). Food price hike threatens egg sandwich. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9140925/Food-price-hike-threatens-egg-sandwich.html
Cooney, N. (2012). European egg consumption and battery cage bans. Retrieved from http://ccc.farmsanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/European-Egg-Consumption-and-Battery-Cage-Bans.xls
Note: clicking the above link downloads the Microsoft Excel document to your computer; it does not open it in a new browser window.
Doward, J. (2012, August 11). Price of bacon set to soar as producers are hit by new EU animal welfare laws. The Observer. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/aug/12/price-of-bacon-to-soar
Sumner, D. A., et al. (2011, January). Economic and market issues on the sustainability of egg production in the United States: Analysis of alternative production systems. Poultry Science 90(1): 241-250. doi: 10.3382/ps.2010-00822. Retrieved from http://www.poultryscience.org/docs/PS_822.pdf
Note: while not mentioned in the video, the above study concludes that banning cages for egg-laying hens in the U.S. would reduce the number of hens raised (anywhere) for U.S. egg consumption by about 3%, meaning 8 million less hens would be raised and killed for egg consumption.
Data Point 4: Media coverage of animal welfare issues causes people to eat less meat
Tonsor, G., & N. Olynk. (2010, September). U.S. Meat Demand: The influence of animal welfare media coverage. Retrieved from http://www.agmanager.info/livestock/marketing/animalwelfare/MF2951.pdf
Tonsor, G., & Olynk, N. (2011). Impacts of Animal Well-Being and Welfare Media on Meat Demand. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 62: 59–72. doi: 10.1111/j.1477-9552.2010.00266.x.
Data Point 5: Welfare reforms go hand in hand with decreased meat consumption
Note: for the first graph in this section, a law that bans both gestation crates and veal crates is represented as two practices being banned.
Meyer, S., & Steiner, L. (2011, December 20). Daily Livestock Report. Volume 9, No. 243. Retrieved from http://www.dailylivestockreport.com/documents/dlr 12-20-2011.pdf
Pichler, R., & Blackwell, G. (2007, February). How Many Veggies…? Retrieved from http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/dk/info/howmany.php
Sethu, H. (2012, July 12). Look who is talking about animal welfare! [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://countinganimals.com/look-who-is-talking-animal-welfare/
The Humane Society of the United States. (2012, July 23). Timeline of Major Farm Animal Protection Advancements. Retrieved from http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/timelines/timeline_farm_animal_protection.html
Vegetarianism by country. (n.d.). Retrieved August 21, 2012 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country
Data Point 6: People who make a small change become more likely to make a large change
Burger, J. “The Foot-In-The-Door Compliance Procedure: A Multiple-Process Analysis and Review.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 3.4 (1999): 303–325.
Cooney, N. (2011). Foot In The Door. In Change Of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change (Chapter 5). Retrieved from http://changeofheartbook.com/e_foot.htm
Want to receive blog updates twice a month? Join the Compassionate Communities Campaign to get them delivered straight to your inbox.Posted by Kathleen Hoffman on Mar 25, 2017 in Blog |
What does it mean to have a calling? You’ve probably heard people say that they were “called” to become a pastor, social worker, nurse or doctor. What does that mean? Researchers have tried to define it and seem to have settled on three components to the definition. First, there is a caller: something external that could be defined by the person as a higher power, the needs of society, country or family. Second, a feeling of purpose: those who have a sense of calling believe that the calling gives purpose to life. Third, a greater good results: a calling is prosocial.
Studies find an association between work that fulfills a calling and increased job satisfaction, improved satisfaction with life, augmented commitment to work and stronger belief that life is meaningful.
What happens when people lose this sense of calling? Specific to healthcare, what happens when those who care for us lose their calling?
Burnout and a Sense of Calling
Burnout in physicians is not new, but it is increasing. Medscape’s annual lifestyle survey has seen burnout rates increase over the past four years from 40% in 2013 to 51% in 2017.
What is burnout syndrome?
Although burnout syndrome is not considered a distinct illness (it is not classified as a psychological disorder), it is seen as a set of symptoms that may be associated with depression. The components of burnout include “emotional exhaustion,” “depersonalization” and “low personal accomplishment.”
In a survey conducted from October 2014 to May 2015, of 2263 doctors that completed the survey, more than 25% (693) indicated that they experienced some level of burnout. Using a validated tool to measure the respondent’s “sense of calling,” researchers compared the sense of calling of those with burnout to those without burnout. Those with burnout were found to feel that “their work was less rewarding.” They also were less likely to see their work as “one of the most important things in their lives.” Moreover, they were less likely to think their work made “the world a better place.”
Burnout in healthcare providers, with or without a loss of calling, affects vulnerable patients. In a 2008 survey of almost 8000 surgeons, 8.9% stated that they had made a serious medical error in the last three months. Embedded in the survey were measures to determine levels of burnout in the respondents. The physicians who reported major medical errors had greater measures of burnout and symptoms of depression.
Burnout and Empathy
Not surprisingly, the depersonalization of burnout alters empathy. In a survey-based study published in 2016, oncology nurses described experiencing a moderate level of burnout. They felt that burnout negatively affected the care they provided. Moreover, they noted that they acted with poor empathy and consideration in interactions with patients’ family, friends and visitors.
For cancer and transplant survivor, Stephanie Zimmerman, RN, provider burnout matters. “Whether loss of calling or absence of calling to begin with, providers who lack calling, in my experience |
the city skyline from the south. Big parts of the south shore of the mosque rest on the foundations, the vaults of the old Grand Palace.[4]
Architecture [ edit ]
Plan and perspective view
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque has five main domes, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. The design is the culmination of two centuries of Ottoman mosque development. It incorporates some Byzantine Christian elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect, Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour. It has a forecourt and special area for ablution. In the middle it has a big fountain. On the upper side it has a big chain. The upper area is made up of 20000 ceramic tiles each having 60 tulip designs. In the lower area it has 200 stained glass windows. [5]
Interior [ edit ]
Interior view, featuring the prayer area and the main dome.
At its lower levels and at every pier, the interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade İznik style ceramic tiles, made at İznik (the ancient Nicaea) in more than fifty different tulip designs. The tiles at lower levels are traditional in design, while at gallery level their design becomes flamboyant with representations of flowers, fruit and cypresses. The tiles were made under the supervision of the Iznik master. The price to be paid for each tile was fixed by the sultan's decree, while tile prices in general increased over time. As a result, the quality of the tiles used in the building decreased gradually.[6]
The upper levels of the interior are dominated by blue paint. More than 200 stained glass windows with intricate designs admit natural light, today assisted by chandeliers. On the chandeliers, ostrich eggs are found that were meant to avoid cobwebs inside the mosque by repelling spiders.[7] The decorations include verses from the Qur'an, many of them made by Seyyid Kasim Gubari, regarded as the greatest calligrapher of his time. The floors are covered with carpets, which are donated by the faithful and are regularly replaced as they wear out. The many spacious windows confer a spacious impression. The casements at floor level are decorated with opus sectile. Each exedra has five windows, some of which are blind. Each semi-dome has 14 windows and the central dome 28 (four of which are blind). The coloured glass for the windows was a gift of the Signoria of Venice to the sultan.
The most important element in the interior of the mosque is the mihrab, which is made of finely carved and sculptured marble, with a stalactite niche and a double inscriptive panel above it. It is surrounded by many windows. The adjacent walls are sheathed in ceramic tiles. To the right of the mihrab is the richly decorated minber, or pulpit, where the imam stands when he is delivering his sermon at the time of noon prayer on Fridays or on holy days. The mosque has been designed so that even when it is at its most crowded, everyone in the mosque can see and hear the imam.[6]
The royal kiosk is situated at the south-east corner. It comprises a platform, a loggia and two small retiring rooms. It gives access to the royal loge in the south-east upper gallery of the mosque. These retiring rooms became the headquarters of the Grand Vizier during the suppression of the rebellious Janissary Corps in 1826. The royal loge (hünkâr mahfil) is supported by ten marble columns. It has its own mihrab, which used to be decorated with a jade rose and gilt[8] and with one hundred Qurans on an inlaid and gilded lecterns.
The many lamps inside the mosque were once covered with gold and gems.[10] Among the glass bowls one could find ostrich eggs and crystal balls.[11] All these decorations have been removed or pillaged for museums.
The great tablets on the walls are inscribed with the names of the caliphs and verses from the Quran. They were originally by the great 17th-century calligrapher Seyyid Kasim Gubari of Diyarbakır but have been repeatedly restored.[6]
It was first announced that the mosque would undertake a series of renovations back in 2016. Numerous renovation works had been completed throughout Istanbul and the restoration of the Blue Mosque was to be the final project. Renovations were expected to take place over three and a half years and be completed by 2020.
Interior view
Exterior [ edit ]
Ablution facilities
The façade of the spacious forecourt was built in the same manner as the façade of the Süleymaniye Mosque, except for the addition of the turrets on the corner domes. The court is about as large as the mosque itself and is surrounded by a continuous vaulted arcade (revak). It has ablution facilities on both sides. The central hexagonal fountain is small relative to the courtyard. The monumental but narrow gateway to the courtyard stands out architecturally from the arcade. Its semi-dome has a fine stalactite structure, crowned by a small ribbed dome on a tall tholobate. Its historical elementary school (Sıbyan Mektebi) is used as "Mosque Information Center" which is adjacent to its outer wall on the side of Hagia Sophia. This is where they provide visitors with a free orientational presentation on the Blue Mosque and Islam in general.[12]
Courtyard of the mosque, at dusk.
A heavy iron chain hangs in the upper part of the court entrance on the western side. Only the sultan was allowed to enter the court of the mosque on horseback. The chain was put there, so that the sultan had to lower his head every single time he entered the court to avoid being hit. This was a symbolic gesture, to ensure the humility of the ruler in the face of the divine.[12]
Minarets [ edit ]
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is one of the four mosques in Turkey that has six minarets (the other three being the modern Sabancı Mosque in Adana, the Hz. Mikdat Mosque in Mersin and the Green mosque in Arnavutköy). According to folklore, an architect misheard the Sultan's request for "altın minareler" (gold minarets) as "altı minare" (six minarets), at the time a unique feature of the mosque of the Ka'aba in Mecca. When criticized for his presumption, the Sultan then ordered a seventh minaret to be built at the Mecca mosque.[13]
Minarets of the mosque.
Four minarets stand at the corners of the Blue Mosque. Each of these fluted, pencil-shaped minarets has three balconies (Called şerefe) with stalactite corbels, while the two others at the end of the forecourt only have two balconies. Before the muezzin or prayer caller had to climb a narrow spiral staircase five times a day to announce the call to prayer.[13]
Pope Benedict XVI's visit and silent meditation [ edit ]
Pope Benedict XVI visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque on 30 November 2006 during his visit to Turkey. It was only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship. Having removed his shoes, the Pope paused for a full two minutes, eyes closed in silent meditation,[14] standing side by side with Mustafa Çağrıcı, the Mufti of Istanbul, and Emrullah Hatipoğlu, the Imam of the Blue Mosque.[15]
The pope “thanked divine Providence for this” and said, “May all believers identify themselves with the one God and bear witness to true brotherhood.” The pontiff noted that Turkey “will be a bridge of friendship and collaboration between East and West”, and he thanked the Turkish people “for the cordiality and sympathy” they showed him throughout his stay, saying, “he felt loved and understood.”[16]
Gallery [ edit ]
A short movie showing details of the Blue Mosque
The Blue Mosque at sunset
Seen from Sultanahmet Square, close to the Hagia Sophia
Arcaded forecourt with one of the entrance gates
Prayers inside
Blue tiles
Gateway to the courtyard
View of the inner courtyard
Prayer area
Main dome and its blue tiles
Arcades in the inner courtyard
The Blue Mosque
The Blue Mosque
One of the minarets of the Blue Mosque
Prayer
Sultan Ahmet or Blue Mosque detail of mihrab
Sultan Ahmet or Blue Mosque from ferry on Bosporus
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
Sources [ edit ]
The Inside Track, On the Go Tours.Quoting Mandela, Obama's Tweet After Charlottesville Is The Most-Liked Ever
The former president's message after the violence in Charlottesville, Va., was brief, but it hit the right note for many.
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion...," Barack Obama tweeted, accompanied by a photo of himself, jacket slung over his shoulder, smiling at four young children gathered at a windowsill.
Twitter has announced that Saturday's tweet is the most-liked tweet ever. It attracted more than 3.3 million likes and 1.3 million retweets as of Wednesday morning.
Obama tweets infrequently in his post-presidential life. But in a couple of tweets, he added a few more words from former South African President Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.
In the passage quoted by Obama, Mandela writes:
"I never lost hope that this great transformation would occur. Not only because of the great heroes I have already cited, but because of the courage of the ordinary men and women of my country. I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. Even in the grimmest times in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, I would see a glimmer of humanity in one of the guards, perhaps for just a second, but it was enough to reassure me and keep me going. Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished."
White House photographer Pete Souza took the photo in the tweet in June 2011.
The caption explains how the moment came to be: "The President had attended the fourth grade closing ceremony for his daughter Sasha at her school in Bethesda, Md. As he was departing, he noticed some pre-school children peering out of a window at a child care facility adjacent to Sasha's school so he walked over to say hello to them."
The previous most-liked tweet was posted by Ariana Grande in May, following a bombing at her concert in Manchester, England.
Two other tweets by Obama are in the top five most-liked: one in which he calls John McCain "an American hero" and one just hours after his presidency ended, in which he jokes, "Is this thing still on?"Billionaire developer Donald Trump has thrown yet another monkey wrench into the political status quo: Some major labor unions are now mulling endorsing the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.
It's a move that would have been unthinkable in previous election cycles, but Trump has fans among the union rank and file and deviates enough from the GOP platform that labor leaders are giving him a serious look.
On Tuesday, the 1.4 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced its executive council would put off a decision on a presidential endorsement due a lack of consensus. Fox News reported that the delay was caused partly by members' support for Trump and that the union was seeking a meeting with the candidate.
The following day, Chris Shelton, president of the 600,000-member Communication Workers of America, told Politico that his union was putting off a presidential endorsement for the same reason. "If our members come out with Donald Trump, then we're going to endorse Donald Trump," he said.
Getting either unions' support would be a major coup for Trump and a serious problem for the Democratic candidates. The eventual Democratic nominee will need strong support from organized labor in both fundraising and voter mobilization to prevail in the election.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Representatives for both unions were tight-lipped, but did not dispute the reports of flirtations with Trump, who ranks first in the Washington Examiner's most recent presidential power rankings. However, endorsements from either are by no means assured. Both unions also are considering Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Trump appears to have done little, if anything, to court labor leaders' support.
Teamsters spokesman Galen Munroe referred to a statement Tuesday by union President James P. Hoffa, which did not mention Trump but did say, "The Teamsters will work with and support any candidate who puts the needs of America's working families above the deep pockets of their corporate donors." Munroe said the union did not have any meetings scheduled with any presidential candidates.
Communication Workers of America spokeswoman Candice Johnson said the union was still polling its members on who to endorse and declined to say exactly how much support had been shown for Trump so far.
"The poll is underway now — it opened in September — and members are continuing to vote into early December, so the numbers are changing. I don't have any further breakdown at this time," she said.
The Teamsters' interest in a GOP candidate is not unprecedented. It has a reputation of being the most conservative among the major unions and endorsed Richard Nixon in 1972. But the communication workers' interest was surprising since it has a much more liberal reputation. The union's immediate past president, Larry Cohen, is a major Sanders supporter.
Roger Stone, a veteran Republican strategist and long-time Trump ally who left his campaign in August after a dispute over political strategy, said the potential support was not surprising. The New York-based developer has a long history of dealing with unions, particularly in the construction industry, and usually finding ways to work with them.
"He's generally union-friendly. He plays golf with and is friendly with, on a social basis, a number of union leaders in New York City," said Stone, the author of The Clintons' War on Women.
Trump was particularly close to Ed Malloy, former president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. Malloy died in 2012.
The union interest in Trump is based more on grassroots support, though, Stone said. The candidate's blue-collar popularism and image as a successful businessman is appealing to regular union members, particularly in the current economy.
"The reason rank-and-file union members are interested is because Trump means jobs. Trump means growth. Trump is a builder. To build that wall in Mexico, that means a lot of jobs," Stone said.
Shelton told Politico that the pressure for Trump was indeed from the grassroots — and he did not sound pleased about it. "Trump is not exactly as pro-union as he seems to be. He deals with unions when he has to. He doesn't when he doesn't."
While Trump has reversed himself on many issues, including immigration, he has a long history of backing unions, at least rhetorically. He told Newsweek in a July interview that he had "great relationships with unions." In his 2000 book The America We Deserve, he wrote, "Is Trump a union man? Let me tell you this: Unions still have a place in American society. In fact, with the globalization craze in full heat, unions are about the only force reminding us to remember the American family."
Trump is a card-carrying union member himself, having joined the Screen Actors Guild as a result of his numerous appearances in television and in movies.
Trade is one of the main areas of common ground between Trump and the labor movement. Like them, he is a major critic of President Obama's trade agenda, including the 12 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which is expected to go before Congress early next year. Trump has argued Obama is giving away too much in the negotiations.
Most union leaders favor pro-immigration reform efforts, but there is considerable internal dispute on the issue, with many opposing worker visa programs as costing jobs. It took the AFL-CIO labor federation several months of negotiations with the Chamber of Commerce in 2013 before they could unite behind even a vaguely worded common immigration reform plan. Trump's staunch opposition to immigration presumably appeals to many of those disaffected grassroot members.
It is not clear where Trump stands on several other issues related to unions such as "card check" election reforms to make workplace organizing easier, right-to-work laws that prevent workers from being forced to support unions as a condition of employment or the Obama administration's efforts to expand the definition of a "joint employer," making corporations legally responsible for labor law violations by subcontractors and franchisees.
Liberal critics point out that his support for unions do not necessarily extend to his own businesses. He has resisted efforts by the service workers union Unite Here to organize the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Getting more than token organized labor support would require Trump to address those issues in his campaign, something he has shown little interest in so far.“Human rights” propaganda campaign paves way for military escalation in Syria
19 August 2016
Photographs and video of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh have rapidly become ubiquitous in the media in the US and Western Europe after being distributed by a group aligned with the CIA-backed Islamist “rebels” in Syria.
The toddler is shown sitting somewhat dazed in the orange seat of a new and well-equipped ambulance, his face covered in dust and tinged with what appears to be dried blood from what was reportedly a cut to his scalp. Video shows him waiting unattended as a number of photographers and videographers record his image to be broadcast around the world. Clearly, those in charge sensed that the boy, with a mop of hair covering his brow and a cartoon t-shirt, provided a marketable image.
CNN proclaimed the child “the face of Syria’s civil war,” while the anchor-woman theatrically burst into tears recounting his story. The New York Times called him “a symbol of Aleppo’s suffering,” while USA Today published a short editor’s note reading, “This Syrian boy is Omran. Will you pay attention now?”
More direct in its approach was the British daily Telegraph, which headlined an article: “For the sake of Aleppo’s children, we must try again to impose a no-fly zone in Syria.”
Among the most obscene pieces was one penned, predictably, by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, who conflated the plight of Syria’s children with the death of his family dog. He went on to invoke a statement by Secretary of State John Kerry that ISIS is engaged in genocide as a rationale for the US to launch cruise missile attacks on the Syrian government, which is fighting ISIS. The effort to obliterate rational thought in the name of human rights is stunning.
What we are witnessing is a carefully orchestrated war propaganda campaign, designed to appeal to the humanitarian sentiments of the population in order to corral it behind a new escalation of imperialist violence in the Middle East. Whether the incident with Omran was itself staged by the “rebels” and their CIA handlers, or Washington and the corporate media are cynically exploiting the real suffering of an innocent child, is an open question.
What is indisputable is that the feigned concern over this one child is being foisted upon the public with very definite and undeclared political and geo-strategic motives that have nothing to do with protecting the lives of innocent children. They have died by the hundreds of thousands over the last quarter century of US-led invasions, bombings and proxy wars throughout the region.
The image of Omran was chosen because it comes from the eastern sector of Aleppo, where roughly one-sixth of the northern Syrian city’s population lives under the domination of US-backed Islamist militias. The most important of these is the Fateh al-Sham Front, which, until last month, called itself the al-Nusra Front and was Al Qaeda’s designated affiliate in Syria.
Syrian children killed by the Al Qaeda militia’s “hell cannons,” fired indiscriminately into the government-controlled neighborhoods of western Aleppo, do not have the same effect on the tear ducts of newspaper editorialists and media talking heads. Nor, for that matter, do the images coming out of Yemen of children slaughtered by Saudi airstrikes carried out with US-supplied bombs and the Pentagon’s indispensable logistical support. The horrific video of US-backed “moderate” Syrian “rebels” sawing off the head of a ten-year-old Palestinian boy likewise provoked no significant outrage.
The driving forces underlying the renewed propaganda campaign are two-fold. In the first and most immediate instance, the “rebel” offensive—armed and funded by the US and its regional allies—to break the government siege of eastern Aleppo and intensify the war against the civilian population in the west of the city has stalled, and the Syrian army, backed by Russian air power, is again making significant gains on the ground. Hence the renewed demands for an immediate ceasefire.
More far-reaching in its implications is the development of closer collaboration between Russia, Iran, China and Turkey in relation to the five-year-old war for regime-change in Syria. Iran has over the past week allowed Russia to use Iranian bases to attack Syrian targets, while Beijing has announced an increase in military aid to Damascus. Meanwhile, in the wake of last month’s abortive US-backed military coup, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sought a rapprochement with both Moscow and Tehran.
Washington views this potential alliance with increasing disquiet, seeing it as an impediment to its military drive to assert US hegemony over the Middle East and its vast energy reserves. It cannot accept such a challenge and will, inevitably, prepare a military response. It is to this end that the “humanitarian” propaganda campaign to “save the children” of Syria—and rescue Washington’s Al Qaeda-linked proxies in the bargain—has been mounted.
The methods employed in this campaign are well-worn to say the least. Twenty-five years ago, the first Gulf War against Iraq was prepared with a chilling tale, told to the US Congress, of invading Iraqi troops stealing incubators from Kuwaiti hospitals and leaving babies to die. The supposed eyewitness to this atrocity, a woman identified as a nurse, was subsequently exposed as the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and a member of the emirate’s royal family. The entire story was a propaganda hoax.
In the years that followed, the US imposed punishing sanctions on Iraq that claimed the lives of half a million Iraqi children, about which then-US ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright infamously declared, “The price was worth it.” Subsequent US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria have killed hundreds of thousands more.
In reviewing these 25 years of violence and bloodshed, the newly published book A Quarter Century of War: The US Drive for Global Hegemony, 1990-2016 by David North states:
“The scope of military operations continuously widened. New wars were started while the old ones continued. The cynical invocation of human rights was used to wage war against Libya and overthrow the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The same hypocritical pretext was employed to organize a proxy war in Syria. The consequences of these crimes, in terms of human lives and suffering, are incalculable.
“The last quarter century of US-instigated wars must be studied as a chain of interconnected events. The strategic logic of the US drive for global hegemony extends beyond the neocolonial operations in the Middle East and Africa. The ongoing regional wars are component elements of the rapidly escalating confrontation of the United States with Russia and China.”
The flood of war propaganda presaging an imminent escalation of the US intervention in Syria threatens to hasten such a confrontation, and with it, the real danger of a global nuclear war.
Bill Van Auken
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Taxing Polls!
People keep saying we need to get rid of all the dark money in political campaigns. That's true, but I think it's time we also think about getting rid of polling. It's no longer a dependable source of information when you consider all media is owned by seven (or fewer) men, and none of them are particularly progressive. (See today's Classic Crappola comic) In fact, I'll hazard the supposition that no one would currently give a rat's patoot about Trump, that braying jackass, if the network news wasn't constantly trumpeting the results of polls that are as questionable as the news itself. Never forget that several polls showed Romney winning the White House in run-up to the 2012 election.
As memory serves, Mittens lost by, oh, I dunno, a lot.
Think how much fun it'd be to watch candidates flail, being totally uncertain if their daily message was hitting the perfect demographic sweet spot. Think how quiet it would be around the dinner table come election time when the phones weren't ringing every fifteen minutes. Think about all the money you'd take out of unscrupulous pollster's pockets when they no longer have a 350 million strong fishpond to seine for free information.
Polls are not much better than gambling as they are just as easily rigged. And as we all know, the house always wins.
However, we do need one type of polling.... exit polling, as it provides an unassailably accurate picture of who the proles prefer... unless you're living in a Republican-owned state then all bets are off. But even this could be eliminated if we all switched to mail-in ballots.
Works for Oregon, Colorado, and Washington.
=Lefty=Note: This article is being republished on November 14, 2018, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary.
Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld (left) meets with Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India in January 1955. Source: United Nations PhotoThis article was originally published under the Cold War International History Project at the Wilson Center.
Introduction
The issue of India’s right to a seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a controversial one in India today, but it is not new. The historical controversy has centred on the culpability of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in not seizing several alleged opportunities for India to join the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member in the 1950s. Nehru’s critics, then and now, accuse him of sacrificing India’s national interest on dubious grounds of international morality. The question, however, goes beyond Nehru’s reputation, as it provides rare insights into India’s relations with the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the beginning of the Cold War.
A peculiar atmosphere of rumour surrounds India’s history as a possible permanent member of the Security Council. An online search will lead one to heated debates on the existence, or not, of an early offer to India of a permanent seat on that august body. In 2005, “This Day That Age,” a column in The Hindu, featured a reprint of a 1955 story on Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s denial in Parliament of the rumours of a recent offer of a UN Security Council seat by the Soviet Union, showing both the interest in the topic in 1955 and 2005. Despite Nehru’s denial then, and online debates now, the 1955 offer from the Soviets is in fact well-documented, although perhaps not widely known. The angst over these rumours merges history and contemporary politics, with those arguing that such offers existed, and were refused, keen to ram what they consider to be another nail into the coffin of Jawaharlal Nehru’s reputation, India’s sometime socialist and avowedly secular first Prime Minister, who it is argued, in his idealism, failed to secure India’s national interest.
That the 1955 incident was publicly discussed in 2002 in print by A.G. Noorani, a major scholar of modern Indian history and politics, has not ended the rumour-mongering. However, new evidence of an even earlier offer—by the US in August 1950—to assist India in assuming a permanent seat at the UN Security Council has recently emerged, adding substantially to what Noorani earlier wrote. Nehru’s rejection of the US offer underlined the consistency of his conviction that the PRC’s legitimate interests must be acknowledged in order to reduce international tensions. Integrating the PRC into the international community by conceding its right to the Chinese seat at the Security Council was in fact a central pillar of Nehru’s foreign policy. Nehru’s skepticism about accepting this offer, and thereby disrupting the dynamics of the UN, revealed the reverence he had for the international organisation, despite its flaws. Furthermore, his principled rejection of the US’s suggestion indicates Indian agency in its difficult relations with the US at this time. Finally, Nehru’s sense that India deserved recognition as a great country was made plain, although this was qualified by his refusal to compromise core principles to gain such recognition. That the US made such an approach to India also suggests that the traditional emphasis on the US’s early attempt to pursue an even-handed approach to the subcontinent’s major powers and defer to the UK’s greater experience in the region ought to be reconsidered. Furthermore, this episode enriches our understanding of the US government’s internal wrangling over how to bend the UN to its interests in this early stage of the Cold War.
Integrating the People’s Republic of China into the international community by conceding its right to the Chinese seat at the Security Council was in fact a central pillar of Nehru’s foreign policy.
The documents critical to answering these questions are stowed away in the Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit papers held at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), New Delhi, India. The importance of Pandit’s papers lies in her relationship to her brother, the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and her high-profile diplomatic posts in the 1940s and 1950s, which included the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Nations. Furthermore, while the published Nehru papers contained in his voluminous Selected Works and Letters to Chief Ministers are a rich and under-utilised resource for studying the Nehru period, unfortunately they are still only a partial record and they cannot be supplemented by reference to his papers at the NMML, which are restricted. The status of Nehru’s personal collections amplifies the significance of the Pandit papers for understanding Nehru’s thinking on foreign affairs in the 1940s and 1950s. The Pandit papers have of course been used before for general histories of independent India and broad examinations of Indian foreign policy, but they have not been deployed thus far in studies focused on India’s relationship with China.
The 1955 Soviet offer
In 2002, A.G. Noorani wrote a defence of Nehru’s decision to reject Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin’s offer of a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in 1955. He wrote Nehru was right to do so, as really the offer was just a “feeler to test India.” Noorani was reviewing the new, and then most recent, volume of the second series of the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru.
He was also taking aim at those political figures who had attacked Nehru’s decision to reject this offer based on a reference in the well-known Sarvepalli Gopal biography of Nehru (1979) in which Gopal wrote: “He [Jawaharlal Nehru] rejected the Soviet offer to propose India as the sixth permanent member of the Security Council and insisted that priority be given to China’s admission to the United Nations.” (p. 248) Utilising the new evidence available in the Selected Works, Noorani argued that Nehru was correct in making little of this offer, as the offer was in fact unlikely to materialise in reality; and even if the Soviets were sincere about facilitating India’s accession to the Security Council as a permanent member, this would have caused major problems for India’s overall foreign policy strategy by complicating its relations with China and the major powers. Noorani quoted the following exchange offered in the Selected Works to bolster his claims:
[Nikolai] Bulganin: Regarding your suggestion about the four power conference we would take appropriate action. While we are discussing the general international situation and reducing tension, we propose suggesting at a later stage India’s inclusion as the sixth member of the Security Council.
JN [Jawaharlal Nehru]: Perhaps Bulganin knows that some people in USA have suggested that India should replace China in the Security Council. This is to create trouble between us and China. We are, of course, wholly opposed to it. Further, we are opposed to pushing ourselves forward to occupy certain positions because that may itself create difficulties and India might itself become a subject to controversy. If India is to be admitted to the Security Council, it raises the question of the revision of the Charter of the UN. We feel that this should not be done till the question of China’s admission and possibly of others is first solved. I feel that we should first concentrate on getting China admitted. What is Bulganin’s opinion about the revision of the Charter? In our opinion this does not seem to be an appropriate time for it.
Bulganin: We proposed the question of India’s membership of the Security Council to get your views, but agree that this is not the time for it and it will have to wait for the right moment later on. We also agree that things should be taken one by one.
Noorani suggested that Bulganin’s response to Nehru’s reservations indicated that the “offer” was not a real one, but more a means of sounding out India’s views, as Bulganin agreed with Nehru that the time was not right for pushing a new permanent member into the Security Council.
Furthermore, the exchange shows that India had already rejected a similar suggestion made by the US. Nehru ascribed the American offer to its desire to disturb Sino-Indian relations. The status of the People’s Republic of China in the UN, Nehru argued, should take priority, before any consideration be given to the necessary revision of the UN Charter required for the admittance of any new permanent members. What exactly Nehru meant in terms of “others” whose admission possibly also should be settled prior to India is unclear, but he probably had in mind the newly independent nations not yet admitted as members of the UN.
The status of the People’s Republic of China in the UN, Nehru argued, should take priority, before any consideration be given to the necessary revision of the UN Charter required for the admittance of any new permanent members.
Noorani also referred to a note penned by Nehru while still touring the USSR in June 1955, which provided more detail on the earlier offer from the US:
Informally, suggestions have been made by the United States that China should be taken into the United Nations but not in the Security Council and that India should take her place in the Security Council. We cannot of course accept this as it means falling out with China and it would be very unfair for a great country like China not to be in the Security Council. We have, therefore, made it clear to those who suggested this that we cannot agree to this suggestion. We have even gone a little further and said that India is not anxious to enter the Security Council at this stage, even though as a great country she ought to be there. The first step to be taken is for China to take her rightful place and then the question of India might be considered separately.
Noorani drew attention to the fact that volume 29 of the Selected Works not only clarified the nature of the Soviet offer of 1955, but unearthed tantalising evidence of a previously little known earlier offer by the Americans to similarly assist India assume a permanent seat at the UNSC.
The 1950 American offer
What was the context of the US offer for India to join the UN Security Council? Nehru’s reference to the USA’s offer is frustratingly vague with no hint of the circumstances or timing in which it was made. However, research done in the correspondence of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Nehru’s sister, and holder of various major diplomatic positions in the late 1940s and early 1950s, illuminates the subject. In late August 1950, Pandit wrote to her brother from Washington, DC, where she was then posted as India’s Ambassador to the United States:
One matter that is being cooked up in the State Department should be known to you. This is the unseating of China as a Permanent Member in the Security Council and of India being put in her place. I have just seen Reuter’s report of your answer to the same question. Last week I had interviews with [John Foster] Dulles and [Philip] Jessup, reports of which I have sent to Bajpai. Both brought up this question and Dulles seemed particularly anxious that a move in this direction should be started. Last night I heard from Marquis Childs, an influential columnist of Washington, that Dulles has asked him on behalf of the State Department to build up public opinion along these lines. I told him our attitude and advised him to go slow in the matter as it would not be received with any warmth in India.
Nehru’s response within the week was unequivocal:
In your letter you mention that the State Department is trying to unseat China as a Permanent Member of the Security Council and to put India in her place. So far as we are concerned, we are not going to countenance it. That would be bad from every point of view. It would be a clear affront to China and it would mean some kind of a break between us and China. I suppose the state department would not like that, but we have no intention of following that course. We shall go on pressing for China’s admission in the UN and the Security Council. I suppose that a crisis will come during the next sessions of the General Assembly of the UN on this issue. The people’s government of China is sending a full delegation there. If they fail to get in there will be trouble which might even result in the USSR and some other countries finally quitting the UN. That may please the State Department, but it would mean the end of the UN as we have known it. That would also mean a further drift towards war.
India because of many factors, is certainly entitled to a permanent seat in the security council. But we are not going in at the cost of China.
The context for this discreet move by the US State Department towards India needs to be emphasised. The tensions of the Cold War were spreading to East Asia, while Europe appeared to be in deadlock. Specifically, the emergence of an apparently communist government in control of China had created a new fault-line. The other mega-state of Asia, democratic India, was burn |
aged it with my tongue, quivering in anticipation of the nicotine that was about to rush through my constricted blood vessels. I spotted a store lighter hanging loosely by a piece of string and grabbed it, staring down the Kamaran shaft as I prepared to suck in the flame.
At first it was anti-climactic. The sparks sputtered impotently from its mouth. I sighed with frustration. Suddenly, the man yelled out to a child in Arabic, and the lighter was grabbed from my hands by a nine or ten-year-old. He successfully held a steady flame by my cigarette, and though I paused for a moment, I took the opportunity to light my Kamaran and let a stream of smoke dance with my exhaling breath. I stared down at a child smiling with a few gaps in his teeth, and an unmistakable look of admiration in his eyes.
The cigarette made me nauseous. Once it was done, I had no desire to have another. I wonder if that was it.
I don’t think it ever occurred to me, while in the grip of being a cowboy loner on the frontier as the Marlboro man promised me, that I was accepting a standard of masculinity as much as I was revitalizing it.
Photograph courtesy of the authorATLANTA (AP/WAOK) – A Tennessee maintenance worker says he quit his job because his W-2 tax form was stamped with the number 666.
Walter Slonopas says that accepting the number would have condemned his soul to hell. That number is considered the “mark of the beast” in the Bible’s Book of Revelation describing the apocalypse.
The company that handles payroll for Contech Casting LLC says the number meant Slonopas’ form was the 666th one mailed out.
The 52-year-old Slonopas says he had trouble with the number before. He was supposed to be assigned No. 668 to use when he clocked in. Because of a mix-up, he was assigned 666. He complained and got a new number.
A company spokesman says Contech would send a new W-2 and wants to rehire Slonopas. But Slonopas says “God is worth more than money.”Game of Thrones ended a spectacular first season last night. Gods be good, it was awesome. Now we have to wait a year before we see another new episode. That’s torture. I don’t want to face a Sunday without Game of Thrones. You might as well chop off my head.
Warning: This post contains spoilers. Consider this your written warning.
For fans, there are currently four books available in the A Song of Ice and Fire series with another coming out next month and two more planned. Hopefully that means 6 more seasons of Game of Thrones. The final scene of the series? Everyone dies. There’s no other way to do it.
The first season of Game of Thrones was wonderfully done. Possibly the best part about the season (aside from the gratuitous violence and nudity) was the progression of the characters.The show (and books most likely) are about characters that must adapt and change the way they approach their lives or die. Or they change and adapt and still die. Either way, nobody gets out of Westeros life alive.
The worst part was the entire ending of last night’s episode. Dragons, White Walker hunting, War… EVERYTHING WAS JUST GETTING GOOD! I can’t wait a year! We have to though. In the meantime, let’s talk about some of our favorite – and least favorite characters – as we begin the long winter and wait for Season 2.
Khal Drogo you guys…
Drogo had a run as one of the most badass characters you’ll ever see on television. (Fun fact: The Dothraki have 37 words for “badass,” but none for “snow.”) The fact that a little wound, a loving wife and Snooki did him in saddens me greatly. He – and his motivational techniques – will be missed in future seasons.
I hate Joffrey
King Joffrey of House Baratheon might be the most loathsome character in the history of television. I don’t think that’s hyperbole either. What a smug little prick. Never before have I wanted so badly to see a teenager to die. Yet, you have to appreciate the way the character has gone from a sniveling, spoiled little twerp to a completely cruel and evil King. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, but he figured out really quickly that he’s going to rule to be feared. Still. I hate him.
Tyrion Lannister
Was there a single scene that Peter Dinklage was in that wasn’t awesome? Tyrion was the funniest and sharpest character and he was always drinking and whoring. I’m kind of worried about his new role as Hand of the King. The last guy left under shitty circumstances.
Tyrion and Bronn just go so well together
King Robb
I might have guessed that Robb were suited to become a future king in GoT, but to have men declare him the King of the North after just one great battle was a bit surprising. The different fates of each Stark child is so… different. Robb becomes a King and Arya becomes a boy.
Direwolves
Had to mention the direwolves. They were cute and deadly. They were like spirit animals for the Stark children. Spirit animals that will tear your throat out if you eff with their master.
Arya rules
Arya is great and quickly jumps to mind when thinking about favorite characters. From what I’ve heard, she’s even cooler in the books. Hopefully she is the one to finally put a sword through Joffrey. Until then, she has to go of with Needle and one of King Robert’s bastards and hike to the wall where her brother will hopefully be alive. Truly a sad cliffhanger for such a young girl.
Also, RIP Syrio
Goodbye Eddard Stark
One thing I must point out is that Ned Stark’s death was not some earth-shattering game-changing televised revelation. First of all, he died in the book. Second of all, GoT was hardly a vehicle specifically for Sean Bean. Third, if you want main characters dying or being written out of the show for long periods of time, check David Simon’s resume.
If I were ranking GoT characters, Ned Stark doesn’t make the Top 10. This show is an ensemble and boring, stubborn old Ned Stark just didn’t do it for me. His downfall was his own doing. There is no place for the purely righteous in Westeros. Ned never learned that and it sealed his fate. His death has already done more for the world than he ever did in his life.
Emo Jon Snow
From the eyeliner to the crazy emotional swings, it’s tough being a bastard. I keep wondering if Snow’s real mother will play a role in the story moving forward. I also wonder if his dedication to what’s right will ultimately screw him like it did his father.
Dany has dragons!
Holy crap. I did not see that coming. At no point did I think that this season ended with anything besides a Zombie Khal Drogo. I kept expecting him to come back Pet Cemetery-style and mount the world himself. Instead, we got the real Last Dragon(s). I’m sorry, but dragons are game-changers. These things are going to grow up and I don’t know if I even want to read the books to find out how much shit they wreck for their mother.
The maturation of Dany from an unwilling young bride to a bad-ass dragon mom was incredible to behold. Her brother’s death was one of the most satisfying on-screen deaths I’ve ever seen.Where the former Khaleesi goes from here? Only the Gods know.
Game of Thrones: Season 2 and beyond…
The first season now feels like nothing more than an appetizer for next year. I mean, it was an amazing appetizer and all, but it just looks like its going to get better. The expectations are extremely high for the cast and crew. That’s the problem with doing a really good job. While we impatiently await the return of GoT, it might be best to try to become less attached to the characters.
[Winter Is Coming, Bitch]The director of Human Rights Watch says refugees escaping violence in the Middle East are in danger of being “scapegoated” after 129 people were killed by attackers in Paris last week. Ken Roth, who was in Toronto on Monday for a fundraising dinner, told the Star that the bigger problem is the lack of “social inclusion” that many immigrant communities experience in European countries.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, in 2011. ( SCOTT AUDETTE / REUTERS )
“There’s a tendency right now to blame the refugees, because apparently one of the participants in the attacks had entered Europe with the migrant flow,” Roth said, pointing to reports that one of the Paris attackers entered Europe as a refugee in Greece. “Europe shouldn’t allow the fear of the refugee flow to overshadow the genuine problem that it has with social inclusion, and making sure that members of prior immigrant communities feel that they have a real place within European society.” Roth has been the executive director of Human Rights Watch, a New York-based non-governmental organization that’s active in more than 80 countries, since 1993. In a wide-ranging conversation with the Star, Roth also discussed ways the human-rights community can aim to dampen support for the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), which controls swaths of Iraq and Syria and has claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris and Beirut last week.
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“Many people are frustrated with ISIS because they seem to be beyond shaming. They publicize their atrocities. In a traditional sense, the traditional shaming methodology of the human-rights movement doesn’t work,” Roth said. “But we shouldn’t look at things in such a narrow way, because even ISIS depends on recruits and external support, and in those audiences shaming is possible.” Roth said the human rights movement can work to exposing and condemning practices within the area controlled by ISIS, such as the sexual enslavement of non-Muslim women. In that way, he argued, it may be possible to detract or discourage supporters of the ISIS movement. “The more people know, the less attractive it is,” he said. Commenting on reports that the Paris attacks originated amongst a group of people who were residents of Belgium and France, Roth also cautioned against any impulse to ramp up mass surveillance of citizens or hastily deport dual citizens without proper evidence of wrongdoing. “Whenever there’s a major terrorist attack in the West there’s a danger we could overreact,” he said, criticizing the suspension of some civil liberties that occurred in the United States after 9/11. “There’s a real danger of ignoring basic rights at home as a way of making us more secure.” Roth pointed to continuing wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen as areas facing significant human-rights issues. He added that Burundi, in central Africa, is facing instability reminiscent of the lead-up to the Rwandan genocide, and warned that peacekeepers may be needed as protesters continue to denounce the efforts of President Pierre Nkurunziza to stay in power by changing the constitution.
Read more about:The Norwegian public broadcasting network NRK has published a satirical cartoon that makes humorous and irreverent references to the Holocaust. This particular cartoon happens also to be the opener in the annual best-of collection from NRK's Satiriks.
The topic of the cartoon is the difficulty that university students face in finding decent and affordable housing.
Two white students and a third student with brown skin, obviously representing a member of Norway's Muslim immigrant population, are looking for a place to live. The brown-skinned student is the most aggressive of the three and does most of the talking.
It turns out that the place where they are seeking an apartment distinctly resembles the images of concentration camps shown in Anglo-American propaganda immediately after the Second World War.
A small, elderly man who appears ethnically Jewish shows them around. When they arrive at an open crematorium retort containing ashes and a human ribcage, the immigrant student asks excitedly if the oven is for making pizzas.
In the next scene the immigrant student jubilantly shakes hands with the elderly Jew while holding up a lease agreement in his hand. Meanwhile the two white students, clearly less enthusiastic about their choice, unload their belongings from a moving-van.
This is quite clever and funny, but of course NRK ultimately had to apologize for treating the Jews' favorite myth irreverently. A spokesman for NRK said:
“This cartoon should not have spoofed the Nazi genocide, and we’re sorry this reference obstructed what the sketch is really about.”
But to understand the meaning of this apology, one must take into account that NRK's Satiriks are very irreverent in general. These cartoons are very raw and do not stop at depicting, for example, sexual intercourse and other bodily functions. Offensiveness is par for the course with these cartoons. Despite whatever obligatory apology some spokesman for NRK may have issued, the demand that the Holocaust not be treated the same way as other taboo subjects is unlikely to have gotten much genuine sympathy from the people responsible for Satiriks, nor most of its audience, especially since the alleged event is now supposed to have happened more than 70 years ago. Most likely the prospect of having to issue pro forma apologies to appease unreasonable complaints from Jews was figured into the decision to publish the cartoon.
Significantly, NRK has not removed the offending cartoon from its own site nor from YouTube, where it can still be seen.After a few days of the niceties, the cracks began to show.
And speaking of cracks – get over the eggs. Seriously, they’re eggs. I get that the housemates will only receive a few dozen a week, or whatever, but I’m tired of it already.
It’s basically just Alicia from CBB15, isn’t it? Sally and Amy are grating on me because of this. Why couldn’t they be up for eviction?
But I digress. In the first of a new regular feature at Vada, we’ll bring you the lowdown on the nominees and try and predict who will be going.
Adjoa
In her first few days in the house, I absolutely loved Adjoa. I adored her blatant and blunt love of ‘pussy’ (seriously, she must have used this term a few dozen times on the first night alone) and the fact that she was just perving on all of the girls. I feel sorry for her, too. With Aaron, the only openly gay male housemate, everybody has just accepted that he likes guys. Big deal.
But they don’t seem to be getting it with Adjoa – particularly Kieron. The guys could not comprehend that Adjoa didn’t fancy them, and her sexuality has been brought up numerous times by the other housemates when it isn’t necessary to say. She likes girls. Big deal.
Adjoa has receded into herself since being nominated face-to-face by Nick, and since then she has faced hardship after hardship. She received scathing comments from the British public who voted her as untrustworthy and selfish in a recent trial.
In total Adjoa received 4 nominations, from Nick, Jack, Joel and Kieron.
Eileen
Eileen is cooky and eccentric, but she is also entirely segregated due to her age. This has been a big issue since Channel 5 took over Big Brother – they stock the house up with pretty young characters and only one or two older people, who are often evicted quickly. It happened last year with Pauline, and it looks set to happen again this year. If Eileen doesn’t go this week, she’ll most certainly be up for eviction again next week.
I do think she will get sympathy votes, especially after her heartfelt nominations and the fact that everyone who voted for her did so because of her age. And why shouldn’t she get the sympathy votes? Eileen deserves to be in there just as much as anyone.
I do think she wouldn’t mind going though – as much as I hate to say it, I do agree that the younger housemates will probably start to grate on her eventually. So, Channel 5, just a tip for next series perhaps – have a more diverse set of housemates. I want to see people from all age groups.
In total Eileen received 4 nominations, from Harriet, Jack, Jade and Kieron.
Sarah
I see Sarah as a lesser version of Helen from last year. She is like Marmite, except that she is much more endearing than Helen. I am still bitter that she won against Ashleigh.
But I digress, again. Sarah is blunt, brash, and opinionated, but that isn’t a bad thing at all. In face, it is probably a good thing in that house. And she hasn’t particularly pissed anyone off (yet) or been nasty to anyone (yet). Yes, there have been a few disagreements, but that’s all they are. Everything was quickly brushed under the carpet.
A love story seems to be blossoming between Sarah and Danny (as a side note, how adorable is Danny?) with the latter declaring he fancies the former. But so far Sarah has remained stoic and said that she doesn’t fancy him. I sincerely hope that she doesn’t try to use this to her advantage in order to gain votes. If she does my opinion of her will sour instantly. But for now I love Sarah.
Who goes? YOU decide…
It’s a tough one this week, because I genuinely think three strong housemates are up. I love them all, and there are others who should have been up in their place. That said, I think Adjoa will go, but I hope Eileen goes.
Adjoa will go because the public doesn’t seem to like her all that much. She seems to have accepted this, too. But I think Eileen should probably go because she will be nominated week after week until she does. And like the darling she is, she’ll take it on her chin and smile gratuitously, and it really isn’t fair on her. I think Sarah is pretty safe for now.Objectively benchmarking microphone arrays is not straightforward, as results will of course depend on the underlying acoustic models. For instance, we started our experiments using the default, thoroughly trained, “Snowboy” hotword from Kitt.ai. Results varied a lot across the microphones. Some performed well, others very poorly, even in a silent setting. In the meantime, we had built our own hotword detection engine, and trained it with a custom hotword, “Hey Snips”. We performed the experiments again, and to our surprise, all microphone arrays were now performing exceptionally well. So in fact, the first experiments were not representative of the quality of the microphones, but rather of some deficiencies inherent to Snowboy.
There are various factors which affect the quality of hotword detection and ASR. Some words are simply not suitable as hotwords, for instance if they are difficult to pronounce (“rural”) and hence difficult to detect, or if they are too close to words you would commonly use (“hey”), as they would constantly trigger the device when you are having a conversation nearby. Good acoustic models are trained so as to be robust to ambient noise, sound levels, variation in pronunciations and more. However, if the microphone can consistently provide a clean audio signal regardless of the situation, it will drastically improve the performance of hotword detection and ASR, and hence of the end user experience. That is why microphone arrays usually feature a dedicated chip, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), for performing things like noise reduction, echo cancellation and beamforming.
Similarly, the ASR processes the audio signal and translate it into the corresponding words. A spoken sentence is nothing more than a sequence of phonemes. Therefore a fair bit of the complexity lies in capturing a reasonably good audio signal so that the ASR can differentiate between phonemes and construct the most accurate text sentence. If noise levels are too high and the audio saturates, the ASR could misunderstand a word.
Hotword detection and ASR are two distinct problems, and they are usually treated independently. Good hotword detection software must have high recall and high precision: it should always detect a hotword when it is spoken, and it should absolutely not detect a hotword when it has not been spoken. Indeed, we don’t want to have to repeat ourselves when triggering an interaction, and we don’t want our device to start listening when we didn’t ask it to.
Many of today’s voice-enabled devices work in the following way: they remain passive until the user pronounces a special wake word, or hotword, such as “Alexa”, “OK Google”, “Hey Snips”, which tells the device to start listening carefully for what the user is saying. Once in active listening mode, it attempts to transcribe the audio signal into text — performing so called Automatic Speech Recognition, or ASR for short —, the goal being to subsequently understand what the user is asking for, and act accordingly. For instance:
Finding a good microphone matching these criteria was a bit of a challenge. We started off using cheap, generic USB microphones, but they quickly turned out to be unsuited for the task. They only capture sound coming from up close, and from a specific direction. In this article, we share with you our experience using various advanced audio capture devices in the form of microphone arrays. The microphone arrays themselves do not solve the problem of understanding what we are saying to our devices, but they certainly are an essential component!
Many of the devices that we target (e.g. home assistants, speakers, entertainment hubs, coffee machines, room control) typically sit somewhere in a room, at a certain distance away from us. And just like the remote control allows us to switch TV channel while staying in the couch, we want our voice controlled devices to understand what we are saying without having to walk up close to them and start shouting. Furthermore, we don’t want our devices to start triggering commands when we are not explicitly asking for them to do so, so we expect some tolerance to noise, music or conversations others might be having in the room. Summing up, a good microphone for our purposes would:
At Snips, we are building a voice platform allowing anyone to add privacy-preserving, AI-powered voice assistants to their connected devices. But in order to perform to its full potential, such device need appropriate hardware, and in particular, a microphone providing consistently high quality audio signal as input to our system.
Interacting with our everyday devices using spoken language is something we have been fantasising about for decades. Indeed, in many regards, voice is the epitome of human-machine symbiosis. No instruction manuals, no learning curve, no accidental tap. Just express your will, and the machine shall serve you. In our quest to make technology disappear, voice has a key role to play. But before projecting ourselves too quickly into Tony Stark-Jarvis relationships, there are a few technical hurdles that need to get out of the way.
**PLEASE NOTE: This article contains deprecated benchmarks due to the release of newer versions of these boards. Your results may differ from results below.**
As distance is increased, unsurprisingly the success rate drops slightly for all microphones (with exception of the generic USB mic), but performance remains very high even from five meters away. With background music, this pattern is blurred.
Globally, all the microphone arrays we benchmarked performed well, both for hotword detection and for ASR, at varying distances and tilts. The DSPs all feature excellent noise cancellation, and as a result, adding white noise did not have a significant effect on success rate. Performance took a small hit with background music, but with some common optimisations, as discussed below, we can still obtain excellent results.
Experiment 2: We measured the rate at which a hotword was successfully detected as the incidence angle (tilt) at which the sound reached the microphones was varied. The speaker was fixed, and the bench was gradually elevated in a radial movement, keeping the distance to the speaker fixed at 1.5 meters (5 ft).
Experiment 1: We measured the rate at which a hotword was successfully detected as distance increased between the microphone and the speaker. Distance ranged from 0.5 meters(1.6 ft) to 5 meters (16 ft), and for each distance, the hotword was repeated 25 times at 3 second intervals.
We dedicated a quiet room in the office to this. The room is about 20 square meters (210 sq ft) in size, and features some dampening materials such as a lounge chair, two bean bags, as well as a floor carpet. To make sure that every microphone array was recording at the same level, we manually fixed the gain of each array at around 80% using alsamixer. The real recording dB levels vary depending on the mic settings (the PS3 Eye can’t be changed for instance). To ensure identical conditions, voice queries were prerecorded, and subsequently played from a speaker, in the middle of the room, at a fixed volume corresponding to that of a human speaking normally.
We created a test bench with the seven microphone arrays, aligned in a row. Each microphone array was connected to a Raspberry Pi 3. All the Raspberries have a freshly installed Raspbian Jessie Light image. We used the Snips Voice Platform, which includes hotword detection and ASR, and proceeded with the documented configuration for each mic (see below for references).
As we see, tilt does not have a significant effect on performance. Microphone arrays deliver on their promise: good audio capture from all spacial directions.
Microphone Review
ReSpeaker
$79 on Seeed Studio
The ReSpeaker features an XMOS XVSM-2000 DSP chip, providing excellent performance for wake word detection: 98% success rate in both a silent room and a room with white noise, indicating excellent noise reduction capabilities.
It offers better performance than the MicroDSP despite the fact that they use the same chip. This is due to the latest firmware update. ReSpeaker support is better, they have an active Github repo providing regular upgrades and fixes. Their Getting Started Guide is particularly helpful.
The small form factor is a bonus, and so is the led ring, which is an important component in an home assistant, allowing to provide essential visual cues helping the interaction. Furthermore, unlike the Matrix Creator or the Conexant, both microphone and leds can be accessed with a single USB cable, rather than the more cumbersome GPIO ports. This allows for more versatile configurations, and reduces the amount of space required.
The ReSpeaker is surprisingly easy to setup. It is immediately detected by the Raspberry Pi, and the.asoundrc configuration is straightforward:
pcm.!default {
type asym
playback.pcm {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:0,0"
}
capture.pcm {
type dsnoop
ipc_key 5432
slave {
pcm "hw:1,0"
buffer_size 96000
}
}
}
It also works out-of-the-box on a Windows, macOS and Linux machine, which is neat!
Unfortunately we discovered that the firmware needs to be updated, some of the ReSpeaker we received had mics adding noise to the audio, resulting in poor performance.
MATRIX Creator
$99 on the MATRIX Store
The MATRIX Creator is much more than a microphone array. In fact, with its temperature, ultraviolet, humidity and pressure sensors, its gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer and NFC chip, it is more of a general-purpose IoT prototyping tool.
It comes with its own MATRIX OS for Raspberry Pi, which provides some easy to use APIs in JavaScript for interacting with all the various sensors on board. The documentation and tutorials are excellent, and so are their examples.
The MATRIX Creator features an 8-microphone MEMS array and an ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller. This is a very powerful setup. Not only does the board manage to capture audio in very high quality, it also allows you to control a bunch of microcontrollers, courtesy of the ARM Cortex chip. It is basically a dream come true for any maker wanting to build a robot.
It attaches to the Raspberry Pi via the GPIO port, and is quite big compared to the ReSpeaker.
The main issue we encountered is with the MATRIX driver installed on the Raspberry Pi. It requires a specific and complex.asoundrc configuration. It merges the audio stream outputs of each mic into a single logical ALSA output. Alas it doesn’t work with our platform. It also lacks support for PortAudio since it is not viewed as a single hardware audio device. We’ve been in contact with the MATRIX support team, they are super helpful and are working hard to provide a solution to this specific issue.
The main strength of the Creator is its configurability. For instance, you can specify each microphone’s polar angle, or you can implement your own noise cancellation algorithm and beamforming.
The MATRIX team has been working on a new microphone array, the MATRIX Voice, which is a cheaper version of the Creator dedicated to audio capture. We are looking forward to receiving it late Summer, and add it to this benchmark.
Conexant 4-mic Development Kit
$349 from Arrow
The Conexant features some impressive specs, it has the same chip as in the Amazon Echo devices, preloaded with Echo hotword.
For setting it up, we followed the Amazon AVS tutorial, and it worked well with Alexa skills. The “Hey Alexa” hotword works superbly, but this is because it is coded directly in the chip.
And this is where the issues start. Conexant have an exclusive deal with Amazon, and the device is commercialised entirely with the aim of getting developers to ship Amazon Alexa on their device.
If you want to use the Conexant for what it is, namely a microphone array, without the whole Amazon Alexa package, it gets tricky. First of all, it only works on a Raspberry Pi 2. Second, you need to patch the Raspbian OS, and rebuild the kernel on this Pi, which takes a long time (several hours).
It won’t easily let you work with the onboard LEDs. We ordered several models, and some of them had to be returned due to faulty leds and mics. The documentation is sparse, the two boards are quite bulky. Connections between the two boards are already made when it arrived, and there is no explanation of what it does.
Note: the chip used by the Conexant, the Conexant CX20924, is available standalone, which is an option if you want to create your own microphone array.
MiniDSP UMA-8
$95 from MiniDSP
The MiniDSP features the same XMOS XVSM-2000 chip as the ReSpeaker. However, it did not reach the level of performance in hotword detection as ReSpeaker, which is probably due to the firmware.
Performance is still very good, with 94% of hotwords being detected in a silent room. In a room with background music, performance significantly decreased with just about 68% of hotwords detected.
The MiniDSP also features a GUI for controlling various advanced parameters in real-time. It is only for Windows, but we wish other manufacturers went down the same road as it is a powerful way to enhance the performances of the MiniDSP.
If you want to integrate this board inside an inclosure, having the ability to fine tune these parameters is a big win!
Microsemi AcuEdge ZLK38AVS
$95 from Arrow
The Microsemi is a linear array with 3 mics designed to be easily integrated with Amazon Alexa.
The mics are located on the lower side of the board. It can be surprising, but it doesn’t affect performance, but you’ll have to keep this in mind if you want to put your Pi in an enclosure.
No specific setup required, plug it through the GPIO and it will be recognized as a recording device by the Pi.
Performance wise, it’s quite similar to the MiniDSP. Though it hasn’t as much settings that you can play with. It has been engineered specifically for Alexa and features the Sensory chip for the wake-word engine.
PlayStation 3 Eye
$7 on Amazon
The PlayStation 3 Eye was a pleasant surprise in terms of performance. It sports four microphones, and works out of the box, even on a Raspberry Pi, via a simple USB connection. It is ridiculously cheap compared to the alternatives, which makes it ideal for rough prototypes.
Performance is excellent, with hotword success rates similar to the rest of the lineup, staying solidly above 90% at all distances and tilt angles in a silent and white-noise environment, and dropping only a few percent when music is playing.
Unfortunately, this device is discontinued by Sony, and no information is available regarding internal specs. Documentation and code samples are non-existant, which limits the potential for it to become a serious candidate for a microphone array. It is nevertheless an excellent choice for hacky setups and prototypes where the final product does not need to be sleek, compact and polished.
Tonor Stereo Condenser Microphone
$14 on Amazon
For the sake of comparison with single microphones, we included the Tonor in the benchmark.
As a single microphone, it works well. It is plug-and-play, and audio capture is fine, but only when the user is speaking directly into it. The whole point of microphone arrays is to be able to reliably capture audio from a distance, and with the Tonor, we can observe this difference sharply. As soon as we are more than 0.5 meter away, performance deteriorates rapidly, becoming pretty much useless at 3 meters away and more.
We do have a few Tonors in the office as they are cheap, robust, and work perfectly while working on a desk with a Raspberry Pi.
Conclusion
Benchmarking microphone arrays has been an extremely useful experiment for us to perform, and our initial goal — to find an excellent far-field audio capture solution — has been achieved. Globally, all the microphone arrays we tested perform well, both in a silent setting, and with white noise. Performance is also acceptable when background music is playing, although there is room for improvements (this can be achieved in various ways: for instance, by cleverly placing the microphone array so that there is minimal signal captured from the music source — that’s why you see the speaker in the Amazon Echo or Google Home placed in a plane perpendicular to the microphone array; or, if the music source can be monitored, we can subtract the music signal from the recorded signal).
Despite similar performance, our choice of microphone array is the ReSpeaker. It is relatively cheap, has a great form factor and is easy to set up, with the caveat that the firmware needs to be updated on arrival.
The runner up of the ReSpeaker is the MiniDSP. Having enough parameter fine-tuning is a big plus, it also features the same XMOS chip as the ReSpeaker. Even if their performances are not similar, we do think that we can achieve similar results with the MiniDSP after having fine tuned its parameters. For this benchmark we wanted to have the easiest plug & play experience possible, and in that respect the MiniDSP falls short.
Unfortunately, we were not able to make the MATRIX Creator work with our setup, as it outputs audio as a file rather than an output device, and our hotword detector and ASR, which run in a Docker, cannot access the file. This is not an issue with the MATRIX per se, and we are figuring out ways to circumvent this. We’ve been able to test the MATRIX solely for audio capture, and it looks very promising. The MATRIX team is also preparing a new, dedicated microphone array, the MATRIX Voice. We are eagerly waiting to test it and include it in this benchmark.
We hope this guide is helpful to the community of makers trying to build voice-powered assistants. We’d love to have your feedback, and hear about your experiments using microphone arrays. If you have another microphone that you would like us to include in our benchmark, let us know! We also like to feature cool hacks, so don’t hesitate to reach out on Discord if you have something worth sharing.
If you are interested in building your own, privacy-enabled voice assistants, we have some tutorials that you might find interesting, for instance for building a voice-enabled speaker, or an assistant to control your home IoT.
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Steve Gohmann
Around the nation, big beer producers contribute to the campaigns of politicians who will support policies that discourage competition from local upstarts—for example, taxes on breweries and laws that prevent breweries from selling their kegs directly to consumers (instead of through a distributor). But what's unique about the South is that there's a voting bloc—the Baptists—whose moral stance against alcohol happens to align with large producers' desires to keep new competitors from getting started in the business. The support of Baptists provides Southern politicians with a reason to hinder brewers that politicians in other regions don't have. As a result, the states with the most Baptists tend to have the fewest breweries.
What Gohmann found is a correlation, of course, but it's a convincing one. There's no counter-argument that Southerners simply don't like beer: Louisiana happens to be the state with the 10th-highest beer consumption per capita, and South Carolina isn't far behind. And while there are other religious groups—Mormons and Muslims, to name two—that abstain from alcohol and live in high concentrations in areas with lots of breweries, those groups, unlike Baptists, take firmer stances on what they themselves can drink than on what others are allowed to.
In fact, there's even more of a religious pressure for temperance in the South than Gohmann has it. While Baptists take the strongest position against alcohol, Methodists have also publicly advocated for temperance. "Between the two of them, they account for a very large proportion of the population in the South," says Nancy Ammerman, a professor of sociology at Boston University.
(Ammerman notes that these stances are "ironic, since in the really long history of the region, both Baptist and Methodist preachers were often paid in whiskey." And in practice, plenty of modern-day Baptists and Methodists no longer hide their consumption of alcohol. "The old joke was that no two Baptists ever said hello to each other in the liquor store," she says.)
Even though the South doesn't have many breweries, it does have plenty of whiskey distilleries—Kentucky, Gohmann said, is the American capital of whiskey. What do Baptists, Methodists, and their votes have to say about that? "My results are less likely to apply right now because microdistilleries are not capturing that much of the market from the large producers," he says. Without bigger-scale whiskey makers pushing in the same direction, Baptists don't have as much sway over |
long hours, low pay and no job security for a one in a million chance at striking it big. There is a reason why that world is dominated by young people, and it is not because they are naturally better at it: it is because that equation only sounds appealing when you have nothing to lose.
But while millennials, also known as Generation Y, may be up for the startup game, they are not the ones winning it. The majority of European startups with a valuation above $1bn were founded by someone over 35, according to research from tech investment bank GP Bullhound. Less than a quarter were founded by people below 30, and almost as many were founded by over-40s.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Startup Alley at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference in San Francisco. Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images
But is it blinkered to focus on funding and founders, on profit and loss? Entrepreneurism could do more for this generation than help a few become rich, after all. Seizing control of the means of production is a time-honoured step to changing the world, so could not a few young entrepreneurs in the right place at the right time have a beneficial effect – for generational squabbles, if not class ones?
Who's winning? Find out how your income compares with every other generation Read more
Joe Mambwe, the founder of Terrestrial, which provides a toolkit for startups to expand internationally, argues that setting up a company very young allows a different set of problems to be tackled. “In the past, the barrier to starting a company would have been experience: you get a job, work that job for a long time, then start a new company, based on what you did in that job.
“Now, you have students coming out of university and building companies straightaway, and so in general you get companies that are solving the problems of that age.”
In theory, maybe. In practice, probably not. For every young entrepreneur tackling the problems of our age, be that anthropogenic climate change, geopolitical strife, or intergenerational conflict, there are plenty more focused on fluff.
There are young people working on solving the great problems of the generation, but they are not the ones getting funded. Instead, they get financed to produce Uber for barbers, Facebook for dogs and endless Bitcoin startups.
Modern tech entrepreneurship is less about restoring generational equilibrium and more about “solving all the problems of being 20 years old, with cash on hand” as George Parker put it in the New Yorker, or, as overheard by Aziz Shamin, an engineer at GitHub: “Tech culture is focused on solving one problem: What is my mother no longer doing for me?”Image copyright BAE Systems
HMS Queen Elizabeth's huge diesel generators have been powered up for the first time at the home of the UK's aircraft carrier programme in Rosyth.
The move brings the 65,000-tonne future flagship of the Royal Navy closer to becoming an operational warship.
The first of the ship's four generators was officially started by defence procurement minister Philip Dunne.
The warship is due to be handed over to the Ministry of Defence in 2016 ahead of being put into service in 2020.
Work is already under way on a second aircraft carrier, HMS Prince Of Wales.
Image copyright Crown copyright 2015 Image caption Graphic of main diesel generator installation
Both warships are being built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a partnership between BAE Systems, Thales UK, Babcock and the Ministry of Defence.
HMS Queen Elizabeth's diesel generator sets will provide sufficient electrical power to drive the ship at cruise speeds. However, when higher speed is required, two gas turbine alternators will also be used.
Together they will produce 109MW of power - enough to power a medium-sized town.
Mr Dunne said: "It is a real pleasure to be back in Scotland, home of the UK's shipbuilding industry, to witness the impressive progress that is being made on our new aircraft carriers.
"Powering up the diesel generator today marks an important milestone on the journey to bring these highly versatile ships into service with our Armed Forces."The pair, who met when the Marvel boss was supposed to take her friend on a date, were married for 69 years.
Joan Lee, the wife of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 95.
"I can confirm the sad news that Joan Lee passed away this morning quietly and surrounded by her family," a spokesperson for Stan Lee and his family said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "The family ask that you please give them time to grieve and respect their privacy during this difficult time."
Joan Lee suffered a stroke earlier in the week and was hospitalized, according to sources.
The British former hat model and Lee were married on Dec. 5, 1947, and were by all accounts hopelessly devoted to each other. They had two children: J.C. (Joan Celia), who was born in 1950, and Jan, who died three days after her birth in 1953.
Marvel paid tribute to her in a statement on Thursday: "We are so saddened to hear about the loss of Joan Lee. We lost a member of the Marvel family today and our thoughts and prayers go out to Stan and his daughter Joan in this difficult time."
Last year, Lee recounted how he met his wife in a story for THR that celebrated his 75th anniversary in comics. After a childhood sweetheart wed another woman, Joan Clayton impulsively married an American soldier during World War II and moved to New York, where she was extremely unhappy. Meanwhile, a cousin of Lee's wanted to set up the struggling writer with a hat model. Lee tells what happened next:
"When I was young, there was one girl I drew; one body and face and hair. It was my idea of what a girl should be. The perfect woman. And when I got out of the Army, somebody, a cousin of mine, knew a model, a hat model at a place called Laden Hats. He said, 'Stan, there's this really pretty girl named Betty. I think you'd like her. She might like you. Why don't you go over and ask her to lunch.' Blah, blah, blah.
"So I went up to this place. Betty didn't answer the door. But Joan answered, and she was the head model. I took one look at her — and she was the girl I had been drawing all my life. And then I heard the English accent. And I'm a nut for English accents! She said, 'May I help you?' And I took a look at her, and I think I said something crazy like, 'I love you.' I don't remember exactly. But anyway, I took her to lunch. I never met Betty, the other girl. I think I proposed to [Joan] at lunch."
In those days, the quickest way to get divorced was to move to Nevada and stay for six weeks to establish residency. Soon after Joan arrived in Reno, Stan received a letter from her addressed to "Jack," and that worried him.
"Now I'm not the smartest guy in world," recalled Lee. "I know my name isn't 'Jack.' And so why did she write 'Dear Jack'? Maybe I better go to Reno and see what's going on. I got there and she was waiting for me. And there's three guys with her. They all look like John Wayne. Big Western guys! Rugged! And I get off the plane fresh from New York with my little porkpie hat and a little scarf and my gloves. And she's with me. I thought, 'I don't have a chance.' Luckily, I had a chance."
A judge granted Joan her divorce and about an hour later that judge married her and Lee in a room next door.
The couple returned to New York, where Lee worked at Marvel Comics forerunner Timely/Atlas Comics, a job he initially landed because his cousin Martin Goodman owned the company. Comics were a middling enterprise until Lee and Jack Kirby co-created the Fantastic Four in 1961 (followed by the Hulk, Avengers, Iron Man, X-Men and other characters) and turned the company, renamed Marvel Comics, into a pop culture powerhouse.
In some versions of the origin of the Fantastic Four, Lee credits Joan with inspiring him. He was depressed about his career (Lee had dreams of becoming a serious novelist) and the state of comics (the industry in the 1950s was dominated by stories of war, science fiction and romance, genres he didn't like) and contemplated leaving the business.
"Before you quit," Joan told him, "why don't you write one comic you are proud of?" And thus was born the Fantastic Four.
In 1981, the Lees moved from New York City to California so Stan could work on developing Marvel TV and film projects. Joan did voice work on two 1990s animated Marvel shows, Fantastic Four (as Miss Forbes) and Spider-Man (as Madame Web). She also made a cameo in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse.
Joan Lee also wrote a 1987 novel, The Pleasure Palace, about a man striving to build the most luxurious ocean liner ever while romancing several women at once. According to her daughter, she had three more unpublished but finished novels at home.
On Friday, Stan's Twitter account shared a cartoon of the husband and wife together, swinging off into the sunset.
On behalf of Stan, thanks for the heartfelt condolences.He is well and truly appreciates the outpouring of love for Joan.-POW! Entertainment pic.twitter.com/AhtKjXWfvX — stan lee (@TheRealStanLee) July 7, 2017
Borys Kit contributed to this report.
July 7, 12:22 p.m. Updated with the cartoon tweeted from Stan Lee's account.Stephenson Banks Home Double OT Game-Winner to Clip Hawks
By Matt Gorry, hornets.com
The Result
Newly-acquired Lance Stephenson made his way into Hornets fans heart, while simultaneously breaking Atlanta’s, with one shot – sinking a game-winning dagger late in double overtime to send Charlotte to a wild 122-119 victory on Nov. 7 at Time Warner Cable Arena.
Turning Points
After Atlanta’s Kyle Korver was called for an offensive foul with 2.2 seconds left in double overtime, Lance Stephenson told Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford to give him the ball. Clifford obliged and drew up a play for the prized free agent acquisition of the offseason coming out of the break. Stephenson took the inbounds and launched up a 33-footer that banked off the glass and in for the game-winner, leading to a mob in front of the scorer’s table.
Inside the Box Score
Charlotte did most of its damage in the paint, outscoring the Hawks 58-38 in the lane, while edging Atlanta, 51-38, on the glass… The Hornets knocked down 49.5 percent (48-of-97) of their shots, limiting the Hawks to a 46.2 percent (43-of-93) shooting clip… Al Jefferson scored a season- and game-high 34 points on 15-of-24 shooting to go along with nine rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots… Kemba Walker just missed out on a triple-double, scoring 15 points, dishing out 10 assists and bringing down nine boards… Lance Stephenson tallied a double-double of 17 points, including his game-winner, with 13 rebounds and four assists… Michael Kidd-Gilchrist returned to the lineup after sitting out the last two games and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists… Marvin Williams added five points, two boards and a steal.
Hornets Player of the Game
In a thriller where Al Jefferson, Kemba Walker or Gary Neal could earn Player of the Game honors, Lance Stephenson trumped them all with his best performance in a Charlotte uniform. Stephenson scored a season-high 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting including his first career game-winning shot – a 3-point dagger as time expired in double overtime.
Bucks Player of the Game
Jeff Teague went right at Kemba Walker in a point guard showdown, finishing with a double-double of 22 points and 15 assists.
Game Notes
The Hornets trailed by eight (78-70) before out-scoring Atlanta 27-19 in the final frame to force overtime… Gary Neal was the catalyst for the late charge, finishing with 23 points, four rebounds and two assists off the bench… Cody Zeller added 10 points and five boards in 35 minutes of action in reserve duty… P.J. Hairston and Jason Maxiell tacked on four points each… Kemba Walker had a chance for his second buzzer-beater of the season but a long heave at the horn at the end of the first extra session hit iron.
Next Up
The Hornets kick off a four-game West Coast swing in Los Angeles to take on the Lakers on Nov. 9 at Staples Center. The game can be seen on FOX SportSouth or heard on WFNZ or on the Official Charlotte Hornets mobile app.Ryan Bates and Elizabeth Campbell stand on July 5, 2017, with their son, Jimmy, who was born 14 weeks prematurely. (Photo: Allie Gross)
Ryan Bates can normally be found behind the scenes as executive director of Michigan United, a statewide organization that fights injustice and indignities. But Bates decided to flip the script to speak out today against proposed efforts in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Bates and his wife, Elizabeth Campbell, came forward at an event hosted by Michigan United to share their story about Jimmy, their 18-month-old son who was born 14 weeks premature. The unexpected early delivery led to a host of medical complications — Jimmy contracted meningitis from his weakened immune system, and the antibiotics he took to fight the infection caused permanent hearing loss. The couple's sleepless nights are now accompanied by new fears about their son's future.
"I know that we're a generous country. I know that Americans (view) health care as a human right. I know that we take care of each other.
"The proposed bills in the House and the Senate don't reflect who we are as a country," Bates said.
Today's news conference, which included a speech by U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Dearborn, aimed to amplify the voices of some of the most vulnerable members of society — special-needs kids and premature babies — to highlight how the Republican health care proposal would adversely affect their lives and their families' livelihoods.
Related:
"During that whole set of trials of experiences, we were really worried. We were worried about what our son's future would be — would he be able to have a normal life? Would he be healthy? Some days, we worried: Would he survive?" Bates said, choking up as he looked at his son bouncing in Campbell's lap.
"One thing we didn't have to worry about was: Would the hospital bills bankrupt us and would our son be insurable? That's thanks to the Affordable Care Act."
Repealing the Affordable Care Act has been a goal of the GOP party for years now, with Republicans calling it a "job killer" for imposing what it sees as too many costs on businesses. They have also decried the plan, which requires all to have health insurance plans, for encroaching on the decision-making of private businesses and individuals. Insurance premiums and deductibles have also risen under Obamacare, drawing the ire of many working-class Americans.
Repealing the bill was one of President Donald Trump's key promises on the campaign trail. He called Obamacare a "complete and total disaster" and pledged to nix it within his first 100 days in office. But 165 days in, the Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land.
Efforts to repeal the law have been rocky in both the House and Senate. In June, Senate Republicans unveiled a new repeal-and-replace plan that has drawn heavy criticism. Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed that the current GOP bill would leave 22 million more people without insurance. Public backlash to the news forced GOP leaders to cancel a Senate floor vote on the bill. Two days later, the CBO released a second study that found that Medicaid funds would be slashed by 35% over the next 20 years under the plan.
Trump, however, has remained optimistic about the bill, saying last week that he thought the "Senate bill is going to be great." While he also noted that there was still work to do, he added, “I think we have a chance to do something very, very important.”
This sentiment was reiterated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who made the decision to pull the Senate bill from a floor vote last Tuesday — the same day the first CBO study came out — but remains optimistic.
“I think we have a very good chance of getting there,” McConnell told Fox News, noting that the CBO study had some positives, like cutting the federal deficits by $202 billion over the next decade.
The focus on dollar signs over people is a fear for some Americans like David and Meghan Sanchez, parents of Benicio, a bubbly 4-year-old with autism.
Buy Photo David and Meghan Sanchez sit on July 5, 2017 with their son Benicio, who has benefited from Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy. (Photo: Allie Gross/Detroit Free Press)
While the Sanchez family noticed Benicio had some quirky mannerisms, it wasn't until he was 3 and wasn't developing at the same pace as his peers — specifically with talking — that they decided to get help.
"I don't like labels, but in this situation, my feelings didn't matter. My wife's feelings didn't matter. We just had to get him the help he needs," said David Sanchez, describing the long process — nearly a year — to get a diagnosis of autism.
For the last three months, Benicio, who will be 5 in October, has gone to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy for 30-35 hours a week. The intense one-on-one therapy aims to help him speak and process his behaviors. It also costs roughly $120 an hour. "It's almost impossible to privately afford it," said Sanchez.
He said Benicio's improvement since starting the program has been incredible.
While the family has insurance through Meghan Sanchez's job at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, behavioral programs like Benicio's are not covered. For that reason, MIChild and federal funding helped pick up the costs. The family fears the loss of funding from subsidized programs like this.
"It wouldn't give kids like Benicio a chance to become self-sufficient," David Sanchez said, noting that his son has special talents to share with the world but needs therapy to do that. "I don't want other children, other families like mine not to have this in the future. I don't want Benicio to stop being able to go to programs like this in the future. This is definitely the best investment we can make."
At the Michigan United event, cuts to Medicaid weren't the only focus. Speakers also discussed what they see as the necessity of protecting patients with pre-existing conditions and preserving the ban on lifetime limits.
If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, children like Bates' son Jimmy could be denied coverage for being born too early — something that was considered a pre-existing condition prior to Obamacare, advocates said. His hearing loss, something that is expected to be with him for the rest of his life, would also be considered a pre-existing condition.
Lifetime limits on how much an insurance company will pay for one's health care are another fear. They do not exist with the Affordable Care Act but could be brought back.
With previous lifetime limits typically capping out at $1 million to $2 million, the re-introduction could be devastating for families. Bates pointed out, for example, that Jimmy has already "blasted through $1.5 million of coverage" from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Buy Photo U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell discusses issues with the GOP healthcare proposals on July 5, 2017. Sitting with her are Joyce Stein, a retired NICU nurse and Michigan Nurses Association member, David and Meghan Sanchez, and their son Benicio. (Photo: Allie Gross/Detroit Free Press)
While Bates acknowledges that having independent health care through his wife's job puts the family at an advantage, the proposed bills bring uncertainties.
Uncertainties, Dingell said, should never cross the minds of a parent.
"If you live in this country, you have a right to quality, affordable health care," Dingell said. "Every child should be able to go to the doctor... to receive the care that they need, the medicine that they need, the training that they need. They need to be taken care of."
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan medical bill Ryan Bates and Elizabeth Campbell received for their son James. The 18-month-year old's bill hovers close to $1.5 million.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2uqFWetTeaching Computer Science Better to get Better Results
October 15, 2014 at 8:32 am
This is my third blog post in a series inspired by a thread in the SIGCSE-Members list and by the Slate article which argued that “Practice doesn’t make perfect.” Macnamara et al did a meta-analysis of studies of expertise, and found that a relatively small percentage of variance in expertise can be explained through hours of practice. The Slate authors argue that this implies that genetics explains the rest of the variance.
In the first post (see here), I argued that the practice+genetics is too simple to explain expertise. First, practice can be deliberate, lazy, or teacher-led. Second, there is experience that leads to expertise which is between genetics and practice. The most significant flaw of both Macnamara et al. and Ericsson et al. is ignoring teaching.
In the second post (appearing yesterday in Blog@CACM), I addressed a claim in the SIGCSE-Members list that programmers are “wired” differently than others. Most CS teachers agree with the Slate authors, that students can NOT be more successful with more work. The evidence that better teaching leads to better learning is overwhelming. In fact, there is significant evidence that teaching can even overcome genetic/innate-ability differences.
Lots of CS teachers believe in the Geek Gene Hypothesis, and for good reason. It’s frustrating to have seemingly no impact on some, especially the lower-end, students. Even the award-winning Porter, Zingaro, and Lister paper points out that the earliest assessments in the class they studied correlate very highly with the final grade. Gas Station without Pumps voiced a similar sentiment in his blog post in response to the Slate article:
But the outcomes for individual students seem to depend more on the students coming in than on what I do. Those students who come in better prepared or “innately” smarter progress faster than those who come in behind, so the end result of the teaching is that differences among the students are amplified, not reduced. Whether the differences in the students coming in are due to prior practice, prior teaching, or genetics is not really knowable, but also not really relevant.
I agree. It’s not really knowable where the difference comes from and it’s not really relevant. The point of my Blog@CACM post is: we can do better. If we can teach spatial ability and subitizing, two skills that have a much stronger claim to being innate than programming, then we can certainly teach people to program better.
If we follow common practice and it’s unsuccessful, it’s not surprising that we think, “I tried. I explained carefully. I gave interesting assignments. I gave good feedback. It’s got to be an innate trait. Some students are just born wired to program.”
I watch my children taking CS classes, along with English, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology classes. In the CS classes, they code. In the other classes, they do on-line interactive exercises, they write papers, they use simulations, they solve problems by-hand. Back in CS, the only activity is coding with feedback. If we only have one technique for teaching, we shouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t always work
Here’s a reasonable hypothesis: We get poor results because we use ineffective teaching methods. If we want to teach CS more effectively, we need to learn and develop better methods. If we don’t strive for better methods, we’re not going to get better results.
A first step is to be more methodical with how we choose methods. In a 2011 paper by Davide Fossati and me (see here), we found that CS teachers generally don’t use empirical evidence when making changes in how we teach. We act from our intuition, but our students aren’t like us, and our intuition is not a good indicator of what our students need.
Next, we need to experiment with more methods. We want to get to a place where we identify known problems in our students’ understanding, and then used well-supported methods that help students develop more robust understandings. We probably don’t have a wide range of different techniques for teaching assignment, iteration, recursion, and similar concepts? We should try well-supported techniques like pair programming, peer instruction, or Media Computation (see CACM article on these). We should try to expand our techniques repertoire beyond simply grinding at code. We could try techniques like worked examples, Problets, CodingBat, games with learning outcomes like Wu’s Castle, multiple choice questions like in Gidget, the Parson’s Problems in the Runestone Interactive ebooks, or even computing without computers as in CS Unplugged.
We do not make it easy for CS teachers to pick up new, better, more proven methods. Sure, there are the SIGCSE Symposium proceedings, but that’s not a systematic presentation of what to use when. This is on the CS education research community to do better. But it’s also on the CS teaching community to demand better, to seek out better methods and studies of techniques.
If we taught better, there are a lot of problems in CS that we might impact. We might bring in a more diverse group of students. We might make our current students more successful. We might change attitudes about computing. Perhaps most importantly, maybe we as teachers will come to believe that we can teach anyone to program.
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Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: computing education, Geek Gene, teachers.Five years after Buddhist teachers Christie McNally and Michael Roach received publicity for their bizarrely close—literally, they never strayed more than 15 feet from one another—and celibate relationship, the couple is now divorced and back in the news with the recent death of McNally’s new husband Ian Thorson near Roach’s Buddhist retreat. A delirious McNally and a dead Thorson were found in a cave in the Arizona desert after being expelled from the retreat. Back in 2008, David Plotz and Hanna Rosin attempted McNally and Roach’s practice of staying within 15 feet of each other for 24 hours. The original piece is printed below.*
Geshe Michael Roach (L) and Christie McNally hold a yoga session at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 02 June 2007. Photograph byTED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images.
Introduction
Of all the relationship experiments ever tried—polygamy, wife-swapping, no-fault divorce, open marriage—the one described in the May 15 New York Timesmight be the most perverse. For 10 years, Michael Roach and Christie McNally have been together—for every single minute. The two never stray more than 15 feet from each other. When they eat, they share a plate. When they read, they share the book—the faster reader waiting for the slower to finish the page. When they do yoga, they inhale and exhale together. When “he is inspired by an idea in the middle of the night, she rises from their bed and follows him to their office 100 yards down the road, so he can work.” Oh, and did we mention that 1) they live in a yurt in the Arizona desert and 2) they’re celibate?
Roach and McNally, who are Buddhist teachers (though he also made a fortune in the jewelry business), consider their partnership a “high form of Buddhist practice.” Roach told the Times, “It forces you to deal with your own emotions so you can’t say, ‘I’ll take a break.’ “
Slate V Video: Watch David and Hanna’s day of closeness.
When we read about the couple—separately, because we would never read the newspaper together—it didn’t remind us of a high form of Buddhist practice. It reminded us of a particularly sadistic reality TV show or the “Love Toilet,” Saturday Night Live’s commode built for two. (“Why not share the most intimate moment of them all? … Because when you are in love, even five minutes apart can seem like an eternity.”)
But then we began to wonder if we could learn something from these Buddhist claustrophiles. * We’ve been married (extremely happily!) for almost 11 years, with two children to show for it. But the idea of enforced physical proximity seemed terrifying—not to mention logistically impossible. How could we stay 15 feet apart if one of us had to take child A to her school while the other walked child B to his? Or when David had a meeting in his office at the same moment Hanna had a meeting in hers across town? It also seemed masochistic: Given even the briefest reprieve from work or child care, we’re each of us out the door for a fortifying run, shopping expedition, or Starbucks jaunt. Which in turn led us to wonder if all the solo rushing around is its own kind of avoidance. Maybe we’re crippling our marriage by neglect. Maybe we’ve turned it into a tag-team business partnership in which we mechanically swap off work and kid obligations, each viewing the other as a shift laborer.
Inspired by Slate’s “Human Guinea Pig,” we decided to subject our marriage to the Roach-McNally discipline. We would follow their rules for 24 hours and see whether it would be an exercise in mutual mindfulness or protracted torture. We cut a 15-foot length of string. Then we warned the kids that Wednesday was going to be very weird. Here’s what happened:
Midnight
David: I’m flossed, brushed, reading in bed. Hanna, who’s putting laundry away, decides she needs to walk down the hall to deposit some clothes in our daughter’s room, which means I have to get out of bed and follow her. Two minutes later, she does this again, and again I must get up. I utter some very un-Buddhalike curses. I can see why Roach and McNally moved into a one-room yurt—no hallways to negotiate, no kid bedrooms, no kids.
Hanna: “This is annoying.” “This is annoying.” “This is annoying.”
This is the love song that opens our 24-hour experiment in marital harmony. Right before I get into bed, random, misplaced objects will sometimes catch my eye. In this case, it was my daughter’s clean underwear on the floor and a gong on David’s dresser. David wants to get into bed and read his book, and I want to put things in their proper places. I win. Thus, naked, muttering, glasses-free David trudging half-blind behind me into dark rooms trying not to wake up the kids.
Five minutes in, and I can already see the problem with this experiment: It’s one thing to stay within 15 feet of your soul mate when you live in a yurt and do yoga all day. Not so easy when you have kids, two jobs, and a house with stairs. So far, this feels more like Lucy and Ricky or warring Siamese twins. But that’s OK, right? It’s like the few times I’ve tried (unsuccessfully) to meditate. They say it takes a while before you stop fidgeting and running through your to-do list and just settle down and empty your mind. That’s why they call it a journey.
Early Morning
David: First thing in the morning, Hanna gets up and goes to the bathroom. As couples go, we’re not big on privacy, but there are limits. You’ll be relieved to hear there is no Love Toilet action at the Rosinplotzes. The rope is plenty long. I pace impatiently outside the door.
This is usually when I head downstairs to read the sports section and feed the kids breakfast, but not today. Instead I have to sit in our bedroom while Hanna gets ready. This turns out to be a revelation, but of the annoying sort. I learn that my wife has all kinds of creams and primping powders that I have never seen. She blow-dries her hair. She doesn’t get dressed just once—which is all I require—she gets dressed three or four times. One shirt tried and rejected. Pair of pants scorned. Five pairs of shoes examined. And then, even though she has already blow-dried her hair once, she goes and does it again! While our kids starve downstairs!
I usually don’t eat breakfast, but she does, so I glumly eat a few spoonfuls from her oatmeal. We briefly and futilely try to read the newspaper together, scanning the front page of the New York Times. I hate it.
Hanna: I never thought of myself as a “private” person or someone who keeps secrets from her husband. I do, however, want to put on makeup and fix my hair without David standing outside the bathroom tapping his foot and glaring. I have never much valued my two and a half minutes of morning mirror time. Now I feel like an angry grad student, defending sacred female space from the overbearing male gaze.
Breakfast brings a bit of unexpected peaceful togetherness. David can’t sneak off to read the sports section, and I can’t run around hanging up raincoats and sifting through mail. Instead we operate as a tranquil machine—one cooks the oatmeal while the other pours the milk. One brushes hair while the other puts lunchboxes in backpacks. We eat from the same small bowl, which is actually pleasant, and try to read the same section of newspaper together. Which is not.
Midmorning
David: Upon arrival at the Slate office, Hanna strikes up a conversation with one of my colleagues about the school our daughter and his sons attend. Since I had precisely the same conversation with him the day before, I am bored. I interrupt to tell her so. She ignores me and keeps talking. I try to leave, but Hanna won’t budge. I’m not allowed to break the 15-foot barrier. It’s the first moment when I actually understand the Roach-McNally project. Because I can’t leave, I have no choice but to listen to the conversation: I force myself to pay attention. I force myself to suppress my interior monologue about work I have to do and e-mails I must answer. Instead, I will myself to tune into her world. This discipline brings a reward, albeit a tiny one: a sense for those few moments that we’re deeply together.
Eventually, the conversation ends, and we settle into my office. She opens a laptop on the right side of my desk; I work on my computer on the left side. It’s incredibly lovely, for a while. We tip-tap away on our keyboards. She sits on my lap while we compose an Evite for a party we’re hosting. I need to photocopy a form, so we convoy down the hall to the photocopier and photocopy together. She has to go to the bathroom—not to complain, but she always has to go to the bathroom, like 10 times a day—and I wait, red-faced, outside the ladies’ room, trying not to look like a perv. As we photocopy and work, we chat about all the stuff we usually talk about only at night, the state of the children, our work anxieties, our morale.
Pretty cute, right? But am I unbothered by her invasion of my space? No! Reader: She talks to her computer. When she types e-mail addresses, she speaks them aloud: “Peter underscore Jones at gmail dot com.” And her phone voice! She spends a bunch of time on her cell phone interviewing sources for a story she is writing. Here are my notes from this dark period: “Hanna talking on the phone loudly. Loud loud loud loud loud. She talks too loud on the phone. Talk talk talk. Talk all the time. Talk talk talk. Always talking.”
Hanna: When McNally told the Times she followed Roach to his work yurt in the middle of the night, any modern working girl would have winced. It merely confirms our suspicions about their student/teacher, young-hot-girl/old-rich-guy relationship and makes us wonder about who is doing most of the humbling in this saintly duo. This is what I am thinking again as I follow David into his office this morning. I am an annoying appendage, like those wives who come in to show off new infants while everyone’s trying to work.
This karmic resentment I send out comes right back at me, leading to our first minor explosion of the day. Little did I know that the first thing my husband does upon arriving at work each morning is open the fridge and reach for a cold Fresca. It’s not even 10 a.m., and Mr. Farmers’-Market-Cruelty-Free-Meat-I’ll-Have-a-Decaf-Thanks is having his first soda of the day. Tragically, there is no cold Fresca because “who the hell forgot to put the Frescas in the fridge,” and “how hard is it to remember,” and I can actually feel him grow hot with anger because I am standing so close. Did I really need to know that the man I love is the office kitchen diva?
The petty toxins multiply. I engage in a conversation with one of his colleagues, a fellow dad at our school, about the latest principal flap. I keep this conversation going just a little too long. I know David is eager to get to his office, which is all the way down the hallway, and turn on his computer. But, to bring him down a notch, I make him stay and listen to this conversation. I know this is wrong. Submitting ourselves to the other’s will is not supposed to resemble a tug of war, but rather a soundless, tilting seesaw of recycled bamboo, slowly erasing our egos. (Him. Me. I. Her. We. Whee! or something like that.) Nonetheless, balance is restored. For the next couple of hours, David and I work peacefully together in his office. We do not share much psychic space but we do create a collegial work environment on a cramped desk, which is not nothing. (David, by the way, will write that I make |
perspective refugees are identified.
“They would – they would conduct the necessary examination of all the relevant information to make sure that – that Canada’s security is respected,” he said.Image caption Barbara Jackson of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign told the press conference at Barnsley NUM that "the gloves were off"
Campaigners have said they will consider seeking a judicial review into a decision not to hold a public inquiry into the so-called Battle of Orgreave.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd told MPs a review into clashes between police and pickets during the 1984 miners' strike was not in the public interest.
The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) told a press conference earlier "the gloves are off".
Secretary Barbara Jackson said it may start crowdfunding to pay for a review.
"This has been four years of hard work, it's taken over our lives," she said at the Barnsley branch of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
"The campaign has no intention of collapsing or folding. The gloves are now off on our side."
More on this and other South Yorkshire stories
A Home Office spokesman said at no point did Ms Rudd "ever commit" to establishing any form of inquiry.
Image caption Andy Burnham said there was "evidence of unlawful conduct by police"
Asking an urgent question in the House of Commons earlier, Andy Burnham said Prime Minister Theresa May "invited Orgreave campaigners to submit a bid for an inquiry".
The MP for Leigh said: "She entered Downing Street talking about fighting burning injustices. The House will understand why today so many people feel bitterly betrayed.
"Given there is evidence of unlawful conduct by police in relation to it, isn't it simply staggering that the home secretary has brushed away an inquiry as not necessary?"
'Bottled it'
Mr Burnham asked Home Office minister Brandon Lewis whether Ms Rudd reviewed police files, cabinet papers and new testimony from police officers.
"If she didn't do each and every one of these crucial things, won't many people conclude that her decision-making process was incomplete and therefore unsound?" he said.
What was the 'Battle of Orgreave'?
Orgreave: The battle that's not over
Mr Lewis said Ms Rudd, who was not present to face the questions, had taken "a wide range of factors" into account.
Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, told Mr Lewis: "I feel sorry for you because the home secretary bottled it yesterday and she's bottled it today."
Image copyright PA Image caption Campaigners from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign outside Parliament
In a letter to campaigners, Ms Rudd said policing had changed sufficiently in the years since Orgreave to mean an inquiry was not merited.
She added "ultimately there were no deaths or wrongful convictions" resulting from the conduct of South Yorkshire Police at the time.
Labour and Rotherham MP Sarah Champion, told the Commons: "[The government] now seems to be saying that the reason not to have the inquiry is because nobody died, is this the new bar that this government is levying on justice?"
Image caption Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign held a press conference at the National Union of Mineworkers' headquarters in Barnsley
Dennis Skinner, MP for Bolsover, added: "Why is it that 31 years is too long for an inquiry, yet 31 years is not too long for this government to hide the Cabinet papers on the [miners] strike and refuse to release them?
"We now know that the Thatcher government was to close 75 pits and not 20.
"The truth is, this nasty party has now become the nasty government - more concerned about preserving the Thatcher government than it is fighting for truth and justice."
Analysis, by Clive Coleman, BBC legal correspondent
There is no absolute list of criteria which, if met, mean that a public inquiry must be held. Multiple loss of life and serious current issues of public concern will always make ministers more likely to establish one.
However, there are five things an inquiry should achieve.
Albeit somewhat vague, they've been adopted by senior judges in case law and include establishing the facts, learning from events and preventing a recurrence, catharsis and improving understanding of what happened, rebuilding public confidence, and accountability.
Those campaigning for an Orgreave inquiry could argue that, despite the fact there were no deaths and there have been major changes to policing practice, all five valuable functions would be served, in particular establishing accountability and, eventually, rebuilding trust in the police.
But the many recent problems experienced by the child sex abuse inquiry have done nothing to dispel a fear in some politicians that inquiries can become unfocussed leviathans, consuming vast sums of public money, and plagued by doubts that they can ever deliver meaningful results.
Meanwhile, Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley was jeered and heckled as he backed the decision not to hold an inquiry.
"Unlike most of those people opposite bleating I lived in South Yorkshire in a mining community at the time of the Miners' Strike and I saw first hand the brutality and intimidation that went on," he said.
"These people were trying to bring down the democratically elected government of the time and they lost and they need to get over it. Anyone only has to look at the TV pictures to see the violence."
Lawyer Michael Mansfield, who represented miners caught up in the violence at Orgreave, said campaigners calling for an inquiry into police tactics at the coking plant near Rotherham had been "sloughed off".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Labour MP Chris Matheson accuses Amber Rudd of "leading families up the garden path" after she says there will be "no statutory inquiry or independent review"
He told the BBC's Today programme Ms Rudd had overlooked an orchestrated campaign by South Yorkshire Police of "uncontrolled, unlawful violence" against miners.
"There has been no disciplinary proceedings and no prosecution [of South Yorkshire Police] at all over the years," Mr Mansfield said.
"This does not reinforce public faith in the system and what is needed here is the restoration of confidence.
"It's not about what happened, it's really much more fundamental than that. How was this allowed to happen and why did it happen?"
Image caption Police held back striking miners who were attempting to stop lorries leaving Orgreave coking plant for steel works in 1984
The "Battle of Orgreave" was the most violent day of the year-long 1984-85 miners' strike.
Huge lines of police clashed with striking miners as they tried to stop lorries carrying coke to fuel the Scunthorpe steel furnaces.
Violence erupted on both sides and at one stage police horses were sent to charge the crowd up the field as officers followed to make arrests.
Miner Chris Skidmore was at Orgreave and told BBC Radio Sheffield it was a "frightening experience".
"It was chaos. The horses were chasing people, it was like a battle scene.
"There was no resemblance of any order or regimented formation. [The police] were everywhere, all over the field and road just hitting people."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Michael Mansfield QC: Judicial review of Orgreave decision being considered
Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, said he had fully supported a public inquiry and was "absolutely devastated" and "in shock".
"I think we've been led to believe there would be an inquiry, it was just a question of what form it would take," he said.
"I think the Home Office and government have led us up to the top of the hill and down again and I really can't understand that, they could have taken the decision two years ago."
He said a public inquiry would have meant South Yorkshire Police could demonstrate it had moved on from the force's "legacy issues", including the Hillsborough and Rotherham child sex abuse scandals.
"We don't fully know what happened at Orgreave, why it took this military-scale of activity, if it was somehow government-directed.
"It's the point, I think, where the police come closest to being the instrument of the state and that's a very dangerous place to be.
"We need to understand how that happened so we never get anywhere near that again."
Image caption Miners who were at Orgreave on the day said it was "chaos" and a "battle scene"
Chris Kitchen, national secretary of the NUM, accused Ms Rudd of trying to protect the Conservative Party in denying a public inquiry.
He said: "All [yesterday's decision] has done is reinforce a long-held belief we've all had - that they have something to hide, and now we know it for sure," he said.
Joe Rollin, chair of the OTJC, said: "That dismay and flabbergasted feeling is now turning into anger and we're not going anywhere."
A Home Office spokesman said: "The home secretary met the campaign and their supporters on 13 September to hear their concerns in person.
"She has told the OTJC that she considered a range of options in reaching her decision, but at no point did she ever commit to establishing any form of inquiry."Under-siege Matildas coach Hesterine de Reus has vowed she will be at the helm for Australia's Asian Cup campaign in May despite Football Federation Australia ordering a report into player complaints against her methods.
FFA chief executive David Gallop was in Brisbane on Sunday to watch the Australian women's side go down 1-0 to Brazil.
That result played second fiddle to revelations that Australian players have allegedly approached union body Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) to take action against 52-year-old Dutchwoman de Reus over her tough disciplinarian line.
Gallop said the governing body was working quickly to investigate the "concerning reports".
He confirmed that national technical director Han Berger, head of national performance Luke Casserly - who has been with the team this week - and former Matilda and current women's football co-ordinator Sarah Walsh would put together a report.The Guardian, an authoritative British source, reports that the UK Treasury considers the establishment of global Bitcoin trade center in Great Britain.
To this end, the Ministry officials have started a large-scale study of virtual currencies in order to decide whether it would be beneficial to the kingdom. The Treasury will examine all the risks, threats and advantages of working with the so-called crypto-currencies, and arrive at a corresponding decision.
George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. the Minister of Finance), officially confirmed this information. According to him, the UK authorities have set a goal to make Britain a centre of global finance, and are now engaged in the search for possible ways of achieving it.
The study is expected to be completed this autumn. The research results will help the Treasury experts draw the conclusion whether virtual currencies may have a decisive role in the modernization process of the country’s financial industry.
With its turnover estimated at approx. $8 billion, Bitcoin is currently the world’s most popular virtual currency.I finally have gotten done with my main puffball in Smash, Kirby! Since I first played Brawl, he's always been my fav, though in Melee (Since they had to ruin him, and make him so awful, that's he last place on the tier list) He's my third, after my normally second fav, and then the Ice Climbers at first.
But yeah, I have a lot of fun playing the little puffball in smash, and he'll always be one of my mains no matter what (even in melee)
Also sorry about the lighting with this one, I tried brightening up the color a bunch, but it still ended up dark, which I don't really mind that much, I just it still looks good in the end.
All that's left now of my top 3 mains, I'm gonna make from Smash Bros Melee are Nana (So I can her to Popo) and my second fav character.
Kirby (c) Nintendo/HalWhen Hitler gets his hand on Time Sukkah technology™ and begins rewriting Jewish History, Mordechai Jefferson Carver (The Hebrew Hammer) and Mohammed Ali Paula Abdul Rahim set out through time to stop him. Can the Hammer and Mo prevent Hitler from un-inscribing the Jewish people from the book of life?
The first film premiered at the Sundance Festival before being released in a limited number of independent theaters here and abroad. However, it made its biggest impact on audiences who mainly saw it for five years of airings on the Comedy Central network in the United States.
As its popularity grew it was chosen by Vanity Fair and The Boston Globe as one of the top holiday movies of all time. Additionally, Moment Magazine polled Jewish film critics around the country and The Hebrew Hammer was included on a list of the hundred most influential films in the history of Jewish Cinema.
When it was released it made a cultural dent, but more importantly it made people laugh, and continues to do so ten years later. As a filmmaker, that’s all I could ever hope for.
The sequel, in my not-so-humble-opinion, is an even better film than the first. Imagine ‘History Of The World Part 1’ crossed with ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,’ as written by me, and hopefully you’ll get a sense of what I want to accomplish. I have travelled all over the world with the first movie and people have asked me when the sequel is happening. Hollywood never helped the first time around — it’s a broken system, and they sure as hell aren’t gonna help now. The future of film financing has changed, and it’s now in all of our hands to make the movies we want to see.
The Hebrew Hammer was a big comedy with little money but a whole lot of ideas. The sequel is bigger, better, and baaader. If like me, you love smart yet silly satire that is an equal opportunity offender, please help me make this a reality. Before I die, I’d love to make this movie for you. And, you have my word that I will not quit until I’ve made one of the funniest movies of next year for you. And if you support the project, I’d love to let you in on the whole the process from top to bottom. We’ll have a lot of laughs making this movie together. With no further a-Jew, It’s Hammer time.
Shabbat Shalom Motherfuckers!
Jonathan KesselmanThe controversial amendment to the judicial authority law, which grants Egypt's president unprecedented powers over appointing the heads of the country's judicial bodies, was passed by the Egyptian Parliament on Wednesday to widespread rejection by most judges who described it as unconstitutional, Al Ahram reports.
The law is yet to be ratified by President El-Sisi before it goes into full effect. It was, however, approved by more than two-thirds of the parliament, which disregarded an earlier report by The State Council clarifying the unconstitutionality of the proposal, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.
The 2014 Egyptian constitution asserts the independence of judicial bodies and separation of state powers, which the law is widely seen as in violation of, for granting the head of executive authority the right to appoint the heads of judicial authorities.
[UPDATE] Late Thursday night President El-Sisi ratified the amendment.
Photo: ReutersA New Credit First Nation family’s decision to let their 11-year-old treat her cancer with Indigenous medicine rather than chemotherapy has prompted the intervention of Ontario children’s aid authorities.
“This chemo that I am on is killing my body and I cannot take it anymore,” said the girl, who cannot be named due to the involvement of provincial authorities, in a Tuesday video produced by Two Row Times, a free weekly distributed to Ontario First Nations reservations.
“I have asked my mom and dad to take me off the treatment, because I don’t want to go this way any more.“
Instead, the girl’s only treatment for the disease will be a regimen of Six Nations traditional medicines and treatments known as Ongwehowe Onongwatri:yo:.
McMaster Children’s Hospital, where the girl received chemotherapy, “didn’t seem to have protocol in place for indigenous children whose families choose traditional medicine instead of pharmaceuticals,” said Nahnda Garlow, a Two Row Times correspondent now acting as a spokesperson for the family, writing in a Wednesday email to the National Post.
“For the hospital to pump her full of pharmaceuticals and then degrade her spiritual experience is the exact opposite way of [her] culture.”
“All in all, it’s a very tragic situation,” said Andy Koster, executive director of the Children’s Aid Society of Brant. “We have to decide as an agency how we wish to handle this.”
‘I have asked my mom and dad to take me off the treatment, because I don’t want to go this way any more’
As a first step, the agency is currently arranging a meeting with members of the New Credit First Nation and said they will act in “a sensitive way, but also in a way that means that we’re doing our job as well.”
The girl is suffering from a unique form of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer. Under proper treatment, it has a survivability rate as high as 80% for children.
The girl underwent an initial 11 weeks of chemotherapy at McMaster, after which the disease went into remission. Due to severe side effects such as nausea, loss of appetite and weight loss, however, the girl asked that she be allowed out of future chemotherapy treatments.
Ms. Garlow said the decision prompted a tense confrontation with McMaster oncologists.
“The … family told me that [the hospital’s lead oncologist] repeatedly used derogatory language … regarding traditional medicines, calling them ‘100% ineffective’ and ‘anyone who says traditional medicine works should be thrown in jail,’” she said.
The girl also said she was personally healed in a visit by Jesus Christ, prompting hospital staff to respond that she was delusional.
“Jesus came into my room, and he told me not to be afraid, so if I live or if I die I am not afraid,” the girl said in Tuesday’s video.
The girl is the daughter of a well-known local pastor, and on May 5 related the encounter before a crowd of several hundred at a Sarnia, Ont. evangelical gathering hosted by U.S. televangelist Ted Shuttlesworth.
‘For the hospital to pump her full of pharmaceuticals and then degrade her spiritual experience is the exact opposite way of [her] culture’
“Her faith has been a constant source of strength throughout this great struggle,” wrote her father in a May 9 Facebook post. “She told of her spiritual encounter with Jesus when he entered her hospital room and how everything began to turn around from that point on.”
McMaster Children’s Hospital was unable to comment on the case due to patient confidentiality.
Nevertheless, in a Wednesday statement to the National Post, the hospital wrote that they are legally bound to alert authorities when they observe a child to be at risk.
“Health care professionals have a legal obligation to notify the Children’s Aid Society when any child requires medical treatment to cure, prevent or alleviate physical harm or suffering, and the child’s parent is unable, does not or refuses to consent to the treatment,” they wrote.
In previous Canadian cases where parents have refused to allow potentially lifesaving medical care to their children for religious reasons, medical authorities have been successful at having the children removed.
Most famously, in 2007 the B.C. Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Vancouver arranged the seizure od four premature babies from a Jehovah’s Witness couple who had refused to allow blood transfusions to be given to the newborns.
Mr. Koster, who says his agency has a good relationship with New Credit First Nation, said they are nowhere near that stage.
“Hopefully, we can come up with something collaborative that can take the best interests of this child into consideration but also the perspective of the First Nation.”
The executive director added that this is the first case he has encountered in which a First Nations family has eschewed hospital care for religious reasons.
The chief of the New Credit First Nation did not respond to National Post requests for comment, but earlier this month the girl’s case prompted a letter of support from Gordon Peters, Grand Chief of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians.
“Caring for our young ones is the responsibility of the parents and the community, and any infringement of that jurisdiction will not be tolerated,” he wrote. “Never again will our children be taken away from us.”
The case has also prompted the formation of a “Defense Force” of local First Nations who are prepared to “peacefully intervene” if authorities should attempt to take the girl from her family, said Ms. Garlow.
The exact details of Ongwehowe Onongwatri:yo: are considered “protected knowledge,” said Ms. Garlow, but she said it involves “herbs and other physical medicines but includes spiritual things such as faith, and love, and rest included in the treatments.”
North American cancer societies are generally supportive of Aboriginal medicine, but never as an outright replacement for scientifically tested treatments.
“Although First Nations traditional healing practices have been valued by their people for as long as oral tradition has been alive, there is virtually no research on the effectiveness of these methods,” reads a write-up on First Nations medicine prepared the Canadian Cancer Society.
On its website, the American Cancer Society similarly dismisses claims that “Native American healing can cure cancer or any other disease,” but praises its “physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits.”
National Post
• Email: thopper@nationalpost.com | Twitter: TristinHopperFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will visit Colombia on Wednesday to sign an agreement with President Juan Manuel Santos and telecom minister Diego Molano to include the country in the company's Internet.org social internet access initiative, which will kick off with mobile operator Tigo, telecom ministry Mintic said on its website.
Zuckerberg confirmed on his Facebook page on Friday that he would be visiting the country to discuss Internet.org and to hold a Q&A session to hear from Facebook users how to improve the social network.
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"I'll be in Colombia for Internet.org and I'm looking forward to doing our first ever international Q&A," Zuckerberg said.
INTERNET.ORG
The Internet.org initiative was created in 2013 and aims to boost Internet access to 60% of low-income, under connected people worldwide by offering a low-cost service at reasonable speeds and encouraging data use via free Facebook access.
First launched in Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya Colombia will be the fourth country in the world and the first in Latin America to formally adopt the initiative.
Colombia was chosen due to the progress it has made with the government's emblematic Vive Digital digital access program, which surpassed in 2014 its goal of increasing fourfold the number of broadband connections to 8.8mn from 2.22mn over the past four years.
THE PLAN
The plan for Colombia consists in providing access to 15 different websites, including Facebook, for free to prepaid mobile users to search for information. The program will start off with Millicom unit Tigo, but the idea is that other operators sign up.
The government will contribute three websites: education evaluation institute (ICFES), the department for victims of armed conflict and land restitution and agriculture information network Agronet.
Other websites include Accuweather, Wikipedia and information for pregnant women.
The basis for the program was laid during a cooperation agreement signed by President Santos and US President Barack Obama in December 2013, whereby the two statesmen agreed to create a work group to improve equality and promote economic development through the creation of applications.
At the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Facebook said the company was willing to spread the service across Latin America. So far, the initiative has reportedly brought 3mn people online in 14 countries. A pilot has already been carried out with Tigo in Paraguay. In December, Facebook Brasil head Leonardo Tristão said the company was in talks with telecom operators to bring the initiative to Brazil.
Mexico's América Móvil has already said it has no interest in joining the initiative, but will collaborate with the company.
In September, Zuckerberg met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto during Fundación Telmex's México Siglo XXI summit and said he wanted to take the initiative to Mexico as well.
Ericsson, Samsung, Qualcomm, Opera and Mediatek are global partners in the project.
In 3Q14, Facebook had 864mn active users.Dead at 49 because he couldn't afford insurance: Terrible fate of Ron Paul aide emerges hours after Republican said state shouldn't provide free health care
Kent Snyder died from complications caused by pneumonia because his premiums were too expensive
49-year-old was Ron Paul's campaign manager during failed 2008 bid to secure Republican presidential nomination
Mr Paul told Tea Party debate people who did not have insurance should be left to fend for themselves
Retired physician also said churches should step in to care for those without cover
Tragic death: Kent Snyder, former campaign manager for Ron Paul, died from pneumonia because he was unable to afford medical insurance
Ron Paul's former campaign manager died from complications caused by pneumonia because he couldn't afford health insurance, it has emerged.
The details surrounding the 2008 death of Kent Snyder were revealed by Gawker after the Tea Party candidate indicated he did not agree with free state health care for the poor.
Mr Snyder, 49, died on June 26, 2008, with hospital costs totalling $400,000 after he became ill with viral pneumonia.
The bill for his care was sent to his mother, who was unable to pay, and so a website was set up by friends to secure donations. Mr Paul's election campaign did not provide workers with medical insurance.
At the time, Mr Snyder's sister was quoted in the Kansas City Star as saying that a 'pre-existing condition made the premiums too expensive' for the campaign manager.
It comes after Mr Paul, a physician and opponent of federal healthcare, appeared to suggest people who fell ill should be left to fend for themselves, even if they don't have health care, during a Tea Party debate.
On Monday night, the candidates - who also included Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney - were asked whether the state should pay health care bills for an uninsured young man who suddenly found himself ill.
Mr Paul said: 'That's what freedom is all about - taking your own risks.
'This whole idea that you have to take care of everybody...'
He did not finish the answer as a the partisan crowd drowned him out with applause.
The value of a life? Mr Paul makes a point during the Tea Party debate in Tampa, Florida, on Monday Partisan: A boisterous crowd at the debate cheered when CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer suggested that a young man without insurance who fell ill should be left to die
HEALTH CARE IN THE U.S.
More money is spent on health care per person in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world. Most Americans get their health insurance through their employer, by paying premiums from wages.
The government also funds some public schemes, including Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The remainder are left without health insurance. Last year, the number of people without cover reached nearly 50 million. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama last year aims to expand eligibility for medical cover, subsidise premiums and provide incentives for companies to give health care benefits. Most Republicans, including the Tea Party, strongly oppose the act and it was only passed with major amendments.
But when CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked if meant that'society should just let him die', Mr Paul stopped short of agreeing.
He responded that it was up to churches to care for the dying young man, but the audience voiced their support of the idea.
After Mr Snyder's death, Ron Paul posted a message on his campaign website.
He said: 'Like so many in our movement, Kent sacrificed much for the cause of liberty.
'Kent poured every ounce of his being into our fight for freedom. He will always hold a place in my heart and in the hearts of my family.'
Mr Paul withdrew from the election race two weeks after Mr Snyder's death, but having raised millions for his campaign.
Many conservative Christian voters agree with Mr Paul's idea that individuals and churches should have authority over healthcare, as many are worried about federal funding directed to birth control.
During the debate, Mr Paul said: 'We've given up on this whole concept that we might take care of ourselves and assume responsibility for ourselves, our neighbours, our friends, our churches would do it.
'The cost is so high because we dump it on the government. It becomes a bureaucracy. It becomes special interests. It kowtows to the insurance companies, then the drug companies.'
None of the candidates disapproved of the idea of individuals funding their own healthcare or remarked on the audience reaction.
One critic, Eddie Vale of the Protect Your Care group, told the Los Angeles Times it was like a'spectacle one would have expected back in the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome'.
Census data released last week showed that the number of people without medical insurance in the U.S. went up to almost 50 million in 2010.
Mr Snyder is credited with turning his one-man operation into a phenomenon now calling itself 'The Freedom Movement'.
He persuaded Mr Paul to run for office and launched his campaign on his own computer in his apartment in Arlington, Virginia.
From there he built it into a $35million operation with 250 employees that secured more than a million votes for Mr Paul's nomination.
Jesse Benton, a spokesman for the Texas congressman, said: 'It was Kent more than anyone else who encouraged and pushed Ron to run for president.
'Ron would not have run for the presidency if it had not been for Kent.'
Although he was unsuccessful in securing the nomination, his campaign has attracted a strong group of support drawn to his libertarian strain of conservatism.
His opposition to the Iraq war set the 72-year-old apart from other Republican presidential candidates.
Mr Snyder began in politics as a volunteer on Ronald Reagan's failed 1976 bid to win the Republican presidential nomination.Abstract European guidelines recommend the routine offer of an HIV test in patients with a number of AIDS-defining and non-AIDS conditions believed to share an association with HIV; so called indicator conditions (IC). Adherence with this guidance across Europe is not known. We audited HIV testing behaviour in patients accessing care for a number of ICs. Participating centres reviewed the case notes of either 100 patients or of all consecutive patients in one year, presenting for each of the following ICs: tuberculosis, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, anal and cervical cancer, hepatitis B and C and oesophageal candidiasis. Observed HIV-positive rates were applied by region and IC to estimate the number of HIV diagnoses potentially missed. Outcomes examined were: HIV test rate (% of total patients with IC), HIV test accepted (% of tests performed/% of tests offered) and new HIV diagnosis rate (%). There were 49 audits from 23 centres, representing 7037 patients. The median test rate across audits was 72% (IQR 32–97), lowest in Northern Europe (median 44%, IQR 22–68%) and highest in Eastern Europe (median 99%, IQR 86–100). Uptake of testing was close to 100% in all regions. The median HIV+ rate was 0.9% (IQR 0.0–4.9), with 29 audits (60.4%) having an HIV+ rate >0.1%. After adjustment, there were no differences between regions of Europe in the proportion with >0.1% testing positive (global p = 0.14). A total of 113 patients tested HIV+. Applying the observed rates of testing HIV+ within individual ICs and regions to all persons presenting with an IC suggested that 105 diagnoses were potentially missed. Testing rates in well-established HIV ICs remained low across Europe, despite high prevalence rates, reflecting missed opportunities for earlier HIV diagnosis and care. Significant numbers may have had an opportunity for HIV diagnosis if all persons included in IC audits had been tested.
Citation: Raben D, Mocroft A, Rayment M, Mitsura VM, Hadziosmanovic V, Sthoeger ZM, et al. (2015) Auditing HIV Testing Rates across Europe: Results from the HIDES 2 Study. PLoS ONE 10(11): e0140845. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140845 Editor: Julian W. Tang, Alberta Provincial Laboratory for Public Health/ University of Alberta, CANADA Received: May 12, 2015; Accepted: October 1, 2015; Published: November 11, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Raben et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: The HIDES study was funded by the HIV in Europe initiative which has received funding from Gilead Sciences, Merck, Tibotec, Pfizer, Schering-Plough,Abbott, BoehringerIngelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, ViiVHealthcare. The operational procedures within the initiative include the following in order to maintain the autonomy of the initiative. The Steering Committee is the governing body and sponsors do not have representation on the Steering Committee. Furthermore, data, records, reports, Intellectual Property Rights and Know How generated as result of the initiative shall be deemed vested in and the property of the Steering Committee, represented by AIDS Fonds Netherlands and CHIP, Rigshospitalet. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Introduction Late-stage diagnosis of HIV and undiagnosed HIV continue to be features of many European HIV epidemics [1]. Despite extensive work and the widespread use of a consensus definition of late presentation, 50% of patients newly diagnosed with HIV have a CD4 count <350 cells/uL at diagnosis, negatively impacting both individual and public health [1–4]. Innovative approaches to better target testing for those most likely to be infected with HIV and who present late for care need to be developed. Studies suggest HIV testing will be cost-effective if the detected HIV prevalence in such testing programmes exceeds 0.1% [5–8]. As described elsewhere [9], the pilot phase of the HIDES Study (HIV Indicator Diseases across Europe Study) surveyed eight indicator conditions (ICs)–with 3588 individuals presenting with either sexually transmitted infections, malignant lymphoma, anal or cervical cancer, herpes zoster, hepatitis B and C, ongoing mononucleosis-like illness, unexplained leukocytopenia and thrombocytopenia and seborrheic dermatitis offered an HIV test. Out of the 3588 individuals, 66 were diagnosed with HIV. All eight ICs individually fulfilled the study’s criteria of demonstrating an HIV prevalence of >0.1%, however, for malignant lymphoma and anal and cervical cancer, 0.1 fell within the 95% confidence interval. [9]. In line with ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) guidance, the study demonstrated that individuals presenting to any healthcare setting with HIV indicator conditions (ICs) should be strongly recommended to have an HIV test [9–11]. Guidance for implementing HIV testing in adults in healthcare settings has been developed by HIV in Europe and widely disseminated. A number of countries have translated the document or included the recommendations in national testing guidelines/ recommendations [11]. The guidance divides HIV indicator conditions into three categories: 1) conditions which are AIDS defining among people living with HIV (PLHIV); 2) conditions associated with an undiagnosed HIV prevalence of >0.1% and 3) conditions where not identifying the presence of HIV infection may have significant adverse implications for the individual’s clinical management. The present follow-up study, HIDES II, is expanding this testing strategy by increasing the number of indicator conditions and centres involved to identify those ICs with an HIV prevalence of >0.1%, [8, 9], and to ascertain whether there is variation in prevalence across Europe. Adherence to testing guidelines across Europe in the context of IC-guided testing is currently unknown. Therefore, a second objective of HIDES II is to implement and evaluate an audit system across Europe of HIV testing of persons presenting with ICs where an HIV test should already be offered according to contemporary HIV testing guidelines [10,11]. As the pilot phase of HIDES identified a number of barriers to introducing IC-guided testing in “new” ICs, the audits aimed to investigate whether HIV testing is more routinely offered in already established ICs, and if regional differences exist.
Methods Six HIV indicator conditions were selected for auditing of HIV testing: tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis B and C (HEP), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), anal and cervical cancer (ACCAN) and oesophageal candidiasis (ECAN). These conditions fall into the category of AIDS defining conditions and/or conditions where the need for an HIV test is already widely accepted and should be part of clinical practice according to European and national HIV testing guidelines [10,11]. Each audit assessed the HIV test rate for one specific indicator condition for a specific segment of the population within a specific setting. It included all consecutive patients > 18 and <65 years of age, not known to be HIV positive, who had presented at the centre within the previous year or the last 100 consecutive patients or more seen at the centre. Participating centres reviewed retrospectively how many patients presenting with the IC were tested for HIV. Where data was available, information on the number of HIV tests offered and accepted (offer and uptake rates) was recorded. Each participating centre could complete one audit per IC. A call for collaboration was sent to healthcare centres/hospitals across the four regions of Europe: North, East, South and West [12]. Centres were eligible for participation if they routinely saw patients with one or more of the six ICs and were selected based on an aim of delivering a balanced number of audits per IC and regionally within the study. Data was collected retrospectively from May 2013. Centers reviewed medical reports and submitted data electronically to the coordinating centre via an online CRF system (REDCap) [13]. The offer rate was defined as number offered an HIV test divided by the number of patients seen with unknown HIV status. The uptake rate was defined as the number tested for HIV divided by the number offered a test. The test rate was defined as the number tested divided by the number of patients seen with unknown HIV status and the HIV+ rate was defined as the number testing HIV+ divided by the number of patients seen with unknown HIV status. A high test rate was defined as a test rate above the median of 72% and a high offer rate as a offer rate above the median of 86%. All rates were standardised for duration of the audit and number of patients seen within a calendar year. Data are reported as medians and |
2014, Saudi Arabia forced OPEC to keep the taps open despite plummeting prices, it hoped quickly to drive higher-cost producers in America and elsewhere out of business. Analysts expected a snappy rebound in prices. Though oil firms have since collectively suspended investment in $380 billion of new projects, as yet there is no sign of a bottom. Projections for a meaningful recovery in the oil price have been pushed back until at least 2017.
The economic impact of the oversupply is another enigma. Cheaper fuel should stimulate global economic growth. Industries that use oil as an input are more profitable. The benefits to consuming nations typically outweigh the costs to producing ones. But so far in 2016 a 28% lurch downwards in oil prices has coincided with turmoil in global stockmarkets. It is as if the markets are challenging long-held assumptions about the economic benefits of low energy prices, or asserting that global economic growth is so anaemic that an oil glut will do little to help.
Iran is the most immediate cause of the bearishness. It promises an immediate boost to production of 500,000 b/d, just when other members of OPEC such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq are pumping at record levels. Even if its target is over-optimistic, seething rivalry between the rulers in Tehran and Riyadh make it hard to imagine that the three producers could agree to the sort of production discipline that OPEC has used to attempt to rescue prices in the past.
Even if OPEC tried to reassert its influence, the producers’ cartel would probably fail because the oil industry has changed in several ways. Shale-oil producers, using technology that is both cheaper and quicker to deploy than conventional oil rigs, have made the industry more entrepreneurial. Big depreciations against the dollar have helped beleaguered economies such as Russia, Brazil and Venezuela to maintain output, by increasing local-currency revenues relative to costs. And growing fears about action on climate change, coupled with the emergence of alternative-energy technologies, suggests to some producers that it is best to pump as hard as they can, while they can.
This is not the first time OPEC has overestimated the effectiveness of what, during the era of John Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, used to be called “a good sweating”: attempting to flood the market with cut-price oil to drive competitors out of business. In the mid-1980s the cartel sought to use low prices to undercut producers in the North Sea, but failed. They enacted a policy to recoup market share from their non-OPEC rivals, but ended up trying to defeat each other, further weakening prices. It took several years for oil prices to recover.
It’s a time-worn miscalculation. In his book “The Prize”, Daniel Yergin quotes an American academic writing as far back as 1926 about the “spectacle” of massive overproduction. “Oil producers were committing ‘hara-kiri’ by producing so much oil,” the scholar wrote. “All saw the remedy but would not adopt it. The remedy was, of course, a reduction in the production.”
Yet there is also a reason for keeping the pumps working that is not as suicidal as it sounds. One of the remarkable features of last year’s oil market was the resilience of American shale producers in the face of falling prices. Since mid-2015 shale firms have cut more than 400,000 b/d from output in response to lower prices. Nevertheless, America still increased oil production more than any other country in the year as a whole, producing an additional 900,000 b/d, according to the IEA.
During the year the number of drilling rigs used in America fell by over 60%. Normally that would be considered a strong indicator of lower output. Yet it is one thing to drill wells, another to conduct the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) that gets the shale oil flowing out. Rystad Energy, a Norwegian consultancy, noted late last year that the “frack-count”, ie, the number of wells fracked, was still rising, explaining the resilience of oil production.
The roughnecks used other innovations to keep the oil gushing, such as injecting more sand into their wells to improve flow, using better data-gathering techniques and employing a skeleton staff to keep costs down. The money is no longer flowing in. America’s once-rowdy oil towns, where three years ago strippers could make hundreds of dollars a night from itinerant oilmen, are now full of abandoned trailer parks and boarded-up businesses. But the oil is still flowing out. Even some of the oldest shale fields, such as the Bakken in North Dakota, were still producing at the same level in November as more than a year before.
The shale industry also benefited from financial engineering. Last year at least half of the firms involved had hedged the oil price to protect revenues. Some went bankrupt, but most have managed to sweet-talk bankers into keeping the credit flowing—at least until the latest crisis.
It is not just the shale industry that managed to keep its head above water longer than expected. Those extracting in more expensive places, such as Canada’s oil sands and Brazilian pre-salt, have too. Canada, whose low-quality benchmark oil, West Canada Select, is trading below $15 a barrel, giving it the ignominious title of the world’s lowest-value crude, is one of the non-OPEC countries expected to add most to global supply this year. So is Brazil, despite debt and corruption at its state oil company, Petrobras.
Meanwhile, the oil majors have said they will slash tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment, but they too are reluctant to abandon projects that may add to future production. Shell, an Anglo-Dutch company, took the rare decision to abandon exploration in the Arctic and a heavy-oil project in Canada but its current output of 2.9m b/d in 2015 was only just shy of the previous year’s 3.1m b/d. In the industry at large, the incentive is to keep producing “as flat out as you can”, once investment costs have been sunk into the ground, says Simon Henry, Shell’s chief financial officer. He says it is sometimes more expensive to stop production than to keep pumping at low prices, because of the high cost of mothballing wells.
Simon Flowers of Wood Mackenzie, an industry consultancy, says that even at $30 a barrel, only 6% of global production fails to cover its operating costs. It may be uneconomic to drill new deepwater wells at prices under $60 a barrel, he says, but once they are built it may still make economic sense to keep them running at prices well below that (see chart 2). Such resilience is used by some to justify why they expect prices to remain “lower for longer”.
In theory a long period of low oil prices should benefit the global economy. The world is both a producer and a consumer: what producers lose and consumers gain from a drop in prices sums to zero. Conventionally, extra spending by oil importers exceeds cuts in spending by exporters, boosting global aggregate demand.
The economies that have enjoyed the strongest GDP growth in the past year have indeed been oil importers: India, Pakistan and countries in east Africa. It is hard to explain the consumer-led recovery in the euro area without assuming a positive impact from lower oil prices. In the IMF’s latest forecast, published on January 19th, the handful of big economies that were spared downgrades to GDP growth—China, India, Germany, Britain, Spain and Italy—were all net oil importers.
Where are the windfalls?
There are doubts that this holds true everywhere. America is both a large producer and consumer of oil. At the start of 2015, JPMorgan, a bank, reckoned that cheap oil would boost GDP by around 0.7%—a boost to consumers’ purchasing power equivalent to 1% of GDP, offset by a smaller drag from weaker oil-industry investment. It now reckons the outcome was between a contraction of 0.3% and a boost of a measly 0.1%. Consumers may have saved more of the windfall than had seemed likely and the share of oil-related capital spending in total business investment in America, which had steadily risen for years, has fallen by half (see chart 3).
Add in the indirect effects of the downturn in the oil industry and the net impact of cheap oil may even have been a bigger decline than JPMorgan’s most pessimistic estimate. That has been the experience of the MSC Industrial Supply Company, an American retailer of hinges, brackets, power tools and maintenance equipment to manufacturers. It does not rely directly on orders from oil companies, yet this month its boss, Erik David Gershwind, said that fallout from the oil shock had had a noticeable impact on sales. “The indirect exposure is, I think, what’s taken everybody by surprise, not only at MSC but in the broader economy, and it’s ugly.”
Unsurprisingly some of the biggest splashes of red ink in the IMF’s latest forecast revisions were reserved for countries where oil exploration and production has played a significant role in the economy: Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Russia (and some of its oil-producing neighbours) and Nigeria. Weaker demand in this group owes much to strains on their public finances.
Russia has said it will cut public spending by a further 10% in response to the latest drop in crude prices (see article). The oil industry accounts for 70% of tax revenue in Nigeria. When the oil price plunged in 2008-09, it was able to draw on savings it had salted away in an oil-stabilisation fund. But in June the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, said the treasury was “virtually empty”. Saudi Arabia has deeper pockets but, with a budget deficit that reached 15% of GDP last year, even it has been forced to cut public spending.
The old calculus that such countries were able to smooth spending through the oil-price cycle has become less reliable. To a larger degree than in the past, oil producers have spent windfall revenues, and now have been forced to cut back. This compounds the effect on aggregate demand of falling investment in the oil industry.
Perhaps more worrying is the way the oil-price drop is compounding the effect of financial fragility worldwide. Low interest rates in America and Europe after 2009 drew rich-world investors into emerging markets, creating a lending boom. Corporate debt in emerging markets rose from 50% of GDP in 2008 to 75% in 2014. The lesson of recent history is that a rapid build-up in debt leads to trouble. Along with construction, the oil and gas industry saw a big increase in corporate debt, according to the IMF’s latest Global Financial Stability Report. Lower oil revenues make it harder to service this burden.
When the oil price slumped in 2008-09 oil-producing countries were able to cut interest rates and borrow abroad to prop up demand. Now investors are charier of risk. The end of the Federal Reserve’s programme of bond buying (“quantitative easing”) in 2014 and the recent increase in interest rates has drawn money back to America, boosting the dollar and tightening global monetary conditions.
Oil producers, notably in Latin America, are having to tighten domestic monetary policy to tackle inflation, in part caused by big falls in their currencies. Brazil’s central bank has kept interest rates high, even though its economy is deep in recession. Central banks in Colombia and Mexico raised rates in December. The same strains are evident in oil-rich Nigeria and Angola, the largest and third-largest economies in sub-Saharan Africa. The easier financial conditions in the years after 2009 gave policymakers in Africa a false sense of their own resilience, says Stuart Culverhouse of Exotix, a broker.
Ready for a shock
Investors appear to be rethinking how risky assets should be priced in rich countries, too. This is as much a response to concerns about the strength of China’s economy as to the damage a sharp fall in oil prices might wreak. Worries about delinquent borrowers in the oil industry triggered a sharp rise in their yields in America’s junk-bond market at the end of last year. The yields on junk bonds issued by other sorts of borrowers rose in apparent sympathy. Even yields on investment-grade bonds are edging up.
Stockmarket bears are quick to point out that higher real interest rates on corporate bonds make it harder to justify elevated share prices. Central bankers in rich countries say they worry that a long period of near-zero inflation is entrenching beliefs that prices will remain endlessly flat. The real rate of interest rises when expectations of inflation fall and it is hard for policymakers to respond to this as rates are already close to zero.
Since the start of the year, the supply shock from Iran has also been accompanied by fears of a demand one from China. The bungled handling of China’s stockmarket and currency has raised fears about the economy, which has spilled over into the oil market. As global financial markets have descended into turmoil, there are mounting worries about the resilience of the global economy, too. That, in turn, raises anxiety about future oil demand.
Macroeconomic concerns are paramount, but there are also microeconomic ones. Lower fuel subsidies in some oil-producing countries, aimed at plugging budget deficits, are encouraging car owners to drive less miles. China has said that it will not allow petrol prices to fall in line with oil below $40 a barrel, which will have the same effect. Even in the United States, the link between cheap petrol and gas-guzzling is less strong than it was. Part of the reason, analysts say, is that vehicles are more fuel-efficient.
Green and black
After the Paris summit on climate change in December some pundits reckon that the latest oil crisis reflects a structural change in oil consumption because of environmental concerns—what some call “peak demand”. It is true that as climate consciousness grows, oil companies are developing more gas than oil, hoping to deploy it as an energy substitute for coal. But it may be too early to assume that the era of the petrol engine is coming to an end.
More likely, the oil price will eventually find a bottom and, if this cycle is like previous ones, shoot sharply higher because of the level of underinvestment in reserves and natural depletion of existing wells. Yet the consequences will be different. Antoine Halff of Columbia University’s Centre on Global Energy Policy told American senators on January 19th that the shale-oil industry, with its unique cost structure and short business cycle, may undermine longer-term investment in high-cost traditional oilfields. The shalemen, rather than the Saudis, could well become the world’s swing producers, adding to volatility, perhaps, but within a relatively narrow range.
Big oil firms would then face some existential questions. In the future, should they carry on as before, splurging on expensive vanity projects in hard-to-reach places, at the risk of having “unburnable” reserves as environmental concerns mount? Should they reinvest their profits in shale or in greener technologies? Or should they return profits to shareholders, as some tobacco companies have done, marking the beginning of the end of the fossil-fuel era? Whatever they do, the era of oil shocks is far from over.In 2K’s upcoming game, Evolve, I was a monster.
It was my job to stalk the surrounding map, eating smaller creatures in order to build up my armor and get evolution points, which would let me add and strengthen my special monstrous abilities.
I had to do this while being hunted by a team of four humans, each with their own specialty: the heavily armored, damage-dealing Assault class, the crafty Trapper with her energy-field dome to fence me in, the Support class, with a variety of ranged weapons, and the Medic, who kept healing those bastards as I hit them with my own smart bombs, electric attacks and sharp claws.
It was a heady, scary time, but I persevered. I flew up to the sky, hurling furious attacks upon their heads. I ran away, hiding behind huge rock columns to avoid their deadly assault. I ate and evolved.
Then, after about 20 minutes of furious action, I died, the victim of their unwarranted greed and violence.
I loved playing Evolve, and so will you. Check out the trailer below to see the Kraken, the second monster revealed for the upcoming console and PC game.
Evolve promises to be a fascinating unbalanced multiplayer team game where you and four other players can both work together and against each other in various natural arenas. Four of you will play one of the Hunters while one of you will get to be the Monster. It’s like a massive game of capture the flag and hide and seek all at once, except that when you play the Monster, you are the flag.
I had the chance to play this fascinating new game at last week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo along with several other journalists and other folks who stood in a long line for a chance at the game.
Evolve has been developed by Turtle Rock Studios, a team made up of many of the folks responsible for award-winning cooperative multiplayer zombie game, Left 4 Dead. The theme of playing together against an overpowered foe is heavily present in this new outing, and if the gameplay is the same upon release this coming October, Evolve will be the first next-generation console I’d consider a must-have.
Even as a super powerful monster, you’re strangely vulnerable as the Hunters can split up, surround you, and take you down with coordinated attack strategies. Yes, I had a ton of hit points, like the boss in many a video game, and various high-powered abilities to counter their own strengths, so it’s not as unbalanced as it might seem at first.
Bounding up rock walls to find prey, hiding and sneaking through dense foliage, and then waging an all out assault on the humans was a ton of fun, and I can’t wait to get back to it and try out the other roles.
Published by 2K Games, Evolve is scheduled to come out October 21, 2014 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.In a continuing discussion about climate change, there are opportunities and challenges in the year ahead. Today, HPR’s Noe Tanigawa speaks with Chip Fletcher, Associate Dean at UH Mānoa, and a professor of geology and geophysics. His research shows water creeping inland and seeping up into neighborhoods sooner than you might think.
Conversation with Chip Fletcher about the effects of climate change and sea level rise, especially on Oahu.
The complete interview with Dr. Fletcher who provides detail on the composition of Oahu coastlines, their movement, the likelihood of coastal areas becoming wetlands, specific problem areas, the likelihood of a temperature increase of 3 degrees centigrade on Earth and what that would be like, and more.
The maps and images in this post were found at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) website. Find more about sea level rise in Hawai‘i and American Samoa through the SOEST site.
Dr. Fletcher's interview for the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Charles "Chip" Fletcher is a coastal marine geologist, working on Hawai‘i issues since 1991. He says we have a statewide epidemic of beach erosion---seventy per cent of the beaches he’s measured are in a state of chronic erosion.
Fletcher: I agree with you you just have to laugh at it because once you understand the details of this, once you get your head into it, it’s petrifying.
Paralyzing
Fletcher: Panic inducing.
Dr. Fletcher: Yes there are real hot spots. Kualoa beach park, the highway is getting undermined right where it turns. The park itself is receding. You see old manhole covers located off shore. In some of the king tides we’ve had this year, the waves come up over the beach and they run halfway across that park.
Fletcher: We saw in April and August, the highest water levels ever measured at the Honolulu Tide Gauge. We may not see these high levels again for a couple of years, or we may, but they are a glimpse of the future and we definitely will see them in a decade or two or three as sea level rise keeps inexorably pushing its way onto the land.
Sea level rise manifests itself in several ways. One is beach erosion. Fletcher cites Waimānalo and Kailua as examples. Built on sand, Fletcher says that sand will erode away and the beach will move inland. Sea water, he says is also filling our storm drains, so when it rains, there’s nowhere for the water to go except flood the streets, for example in Waikīkī and Kaka‘ako.
Fletcher: Now for a couple of decades, Mapunapuna has been experiencing this flooding and it's gotten worse and worse.
What could we do about that? It’s as though it’s coming out of the ground.
Fletcher: You’ve identified and third way that sea level rise enters our lives and that is that the water table in the coastal plain area, Kaka‘ako, Waikīkī, Kailua, Waimānalo, the water table under the ground we know goes up and down with high tide. As the ocean rises from climate change, the water table rises and a water table that breaks through the land surface creates a very common environment, known as a wetland. That’s what a wetland is. So we will see first at the highest tides of the year, then in a few decades the highest tides of the month, then high tide every day, we’ll see these occasional wetlands that become more and more frequent and finally are permanent wetlands in places we hadn’t expected wetlands to be, like downtown Kaka‘ako or Kailua. This is already happening in Miami Beach.
Fletcher: They bought a couple of centuries of time in Kaka‘ako by raising it with this fill. Roughly two feet of fill. Our modeling shows that at high tide, the highest tide of the month, the water is about two feet below the land surface there.
Is that enough?
Fletcher: I’m not a structural engineer, but I don’t think this threatens the foundations of the buildings. I think the foundations go well below the water table and it doesn’t really matter where the water table is as far as supporting these buildings.
Fletcher: What is a concern though is this water table rises with sea level rise associated with global warming, and some estimates of sea level rise alter this century would have two feet of sea level rise occurring early in the second half of the century. So that in the space of 30-60 years we may see
pronounced groundwater inundation in that area producing temporary wetlands, then permanent wetlands. Before then we will see salt water coming up in the storm drain system causing this storm drain inundation. There are estimates for that to happen within the next two decades on a fairly regular basis. Of course, it would be tied with high tide. And last for an hour-ish, occurring a couple of times a month, every month, and we have to drive through this, we have to navigate around this. So we’re looking at the same situation that occurs in Mapunapuna slowly evolving in Waikīkī, in Kaka‘ako, portions of Kailua, Waimānalo, up on the North Shore, any coastal community in Hawai‘i has this in their future.
What could we do about this? Or should we try to do anything?
Fletcher: There’s the $60,000 question.
How, in an organized fashion, would we deal with the new investment in Kaka‘ako?
Fletcher: The Hawai‘i Community Development Authority is in charge of all that. I hope they’re aware of this widely known phenomenon that is in the media. I hope they are planning accordingly. I would think that one of those condo towers is planned for a lifetime of many decades, fifty years, more? In the course of that lifetime, there are going to be challenges getting to and from these condos because the roadways and sidewalks are going to be periodically flooded by high tide, then permanently flooded.
Fletcher: I don’t hear anything about the sea level rise adaptation plans from the developers of these condominiums, but I assume they are taking it into account. Because if they’re not, if they build these things and then they sell them to someone and they walk away, they are sticking the buyer with the problem.
I asked Professor Fletcher if there’s anything the state could do to keep this water from rising, yes, I know the history of questions like this, but Fletcher actually said, maybe. You could put gates on storm drains and time them to close at high tide, but if it rains, you’d have to open them and probably have a flooding problem. You could attempt to pump down the water table, but with a karst substrate like ours in many places, the limestone is like Swiss cheese, which could easily refill.
Fletcher: But it may work. What’s underneath our feet there is a whole mishmash of clays and sands that have come out of the watersheds over the eons, the limestone reef, the karstification of the reef, the fill we’ve put in by dredging offshore and there may be particular locations where pumping could work, but in general I don’t think its’ a panacea.
Fetcher says Miami has raised roads, sea walls, and foundations, and that’s probably our direction.
Fletcher: We would look to Miami for lessons learned there as they have raised their roads, raised their seawalls, raised foundations, that’s probably going to be a direction we will need to move.
Fletcher: Even then it’s a stop gap. You could engineer the raising of the communities now, and you monitor the science and humanity to measure and gauge your response. At some point though, if we get up to 5 feet of sea level rise, maybe the cost benefit ratio isn’t worth it any more.
Here's some really bad news.
Fletcher: In 2015, in Paris, the global community agreed to cut greenhouse gas emission to stop global
warming at 2 degrees Celsius and hopefully 1.5 degrees Celsius, above the natural temperature of the air prior to the industrial age, back in the 1700’s or so. That was a great moment, but it turns out the promised cuts only add up to about one third of what is needed to stop warming at 2 degrees C. One third.
Fletcher points out, after decades of increasing carbon dioxide in the air, the amount leveled out and stayed the same in 2014, 2015, and 2016. This year, 2017, global CO2 emissions have ticked up again 2%.
Fletcher: So we’re actually at a very interesting time in human history right now. Over the next 5 years or so if we can’t bend the curve so that our CO2 emissions start going down, it becomes too steep and too difficult to stop the warming at 2 degrees C. We commit ourselves to something warmer such as 3 degrees C. and a 3 degrees C world is not a place most of us want to live in.
Why, you ask?
Fletcher: The socio-economic fabric of many communities will deteriorate and there’s an example of that that is already happening.
Fletcher begins with the deepest drought in a thousand years of record keeping that hit Syrian and Middle East in the early 2000’s. That began a human migration that Fletcher traces to the Syrian civil war, through the rise of Al Qaeda, then Isis, and the exodus of six million Syrians attempting to reach Europe. Fletcher points to the reaction of European countries, the political swings that have emerged, and the rise of ultra conservative political parties.
Fletcher: That long story began with the deepest drought in a thousand years which climate models have shown, has a component, it’s not 100% due to global warming but it has its roots in anthropogenic global warming, human caused global warming. And here we have warmed only 1 degree C. At 2 degrees C, and we are on the pathway to 3 degrees C, the tropics will become largely unlivable. Large parts of the planet will become unlivable because they’re too hot. The heatwaves are super heatwaves. You’ll have temperatures of 130 to 140 degrees in the summer time. You can’t grow food, you can’t be outside.
Fletcher: So there’s going to be millions of people who are climate change refugees, moving around the world and depending on existing countries’ hospitality and humanity to take care of them. It’s a glimpse of the future.
So for everyday people, what do we do?
Fletcher: If you and I over the next ten years, can take stock of where we are responsible for releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, if we can reduce that by 50%. Then if we can convince our families, and businesses, and the island and the state and the nation and if everybody does this and if it all adds up to the global community reducing our carbon footprint by 50% every decade, decade after decade for the next 3 decades, this problem will be not out of control. And I believe we could adapt to it.
According to Fletcher, there are four things we can do:
Eat a more plant based diet.
Restrict air travel.
Have smaller families.
Drive your car less or go electric that charges through sustainable means.
Fletcher: Those add up to the most powerful steps we can take. It won’t keep the water from lapping at our ankles but it will keep the water from rising to horrendous levels of six feet, ten feet. Because it will otherwise.
A State of Hawai‘i Sea Level Rise Report from the DLNR and the Office of Planning is due in January 2018.Several reporters were piqued Thursday evening by a county-level Republican official's one-liner cited in the Tennessean (emphasis mine):
[Pearson is] more ashamed of the way Democrats, the media and opponents have attacked her president, and she is disappointed in congressional Republicans for not doing more to help Trump. She applauded Donald Trump Jr. for releasing his emails about a meeting with a Russian attorney in the midst of the campaign against Clinton. There’s very little that would change her mind about Trump. “I don’t know what he would have to do … I guess maybe kill someone. Just in cold blood,” Pearson said.
Lest we forget that Trump himself said during the campaign he "could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody" and not lose voters; the ugliness of the imagery notwithstanding, it all goes to underscore the inflexibility of the president's support from then to now.
But there's another line in the story's passage that received almost zero play among the same set of media. If we're casting aside the meaning of sample size and using this one individual as perhaps an epitome of Trump's support, it's worth noting that the person "applauded" Donald Trump Jr. for dumping his email exchange with Rob Goldstone just before the New York Times hit "publish" on its report about the message chain. Recall that his decision at least befuddled, if not not inspired mockery from observers close to the center of the action in Washington, D.C. Was it an act of incompetence? Desperation?
Whatever it was, it allowed the Trump-sympathetic press and many sympathizers to control their some positive version of the story. For Bill O'Reilly, it was to highlight that the Russian lawyer with whom Trump Jr. met was a fraud. For many more, it was that Trump Jr. was transparent: a comment made by the most important person who could've done it.
"My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency," said President Trump in a statement on Tuesday. He repeated the "transparent" remark early Wednesday morning, 11 hours before the Tennessean article posted.
The voter quoted in the piece "applauded" Trump Jr., too.Twitter/Tim Griffin
WATER WORRIES: Officials confer on ExxonMobil pipeline and threat to Lake Maumelle. Rep. Tim Griffin is shown talking to Mayor Mark Stodola.
Government officials and others came together today in Little Rock to discuss the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline, currently shut down on account of the Mayflower rupture, which runs through 13 miles of the Lake Maumelle watershed. It runs for 15.5 miles between shutoff valves through the land from which Central Arkansas gets virtually all its water supply.
Nobody from ExxonMobil attended, however.
A break like that which occurred in Mayflower, with spillage of some 5,000 barrels of oil, would produce exponential damage to the watershed. One of the two shutoff valves is manually operated, which means it would take longer to reach. The break in Mayflower was followed by a break this week in Missouri, though it caused only a negligible spill of Canadian tar sands crude (which sinks and is not as easily corraled by floating booms on bodies of water) because the pipeline isn't in operation.
You'll notice U.S. Rep. Tim "Pipeline" Griffin, who distributed the photo above, was on hand showing concern and assuring all that ExxonMobil, would be meeting with local officials on the watershed later this month. Griffin, one of the leading proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline to carry similar Canadian crude through the Great Plains to Koch family refineries in Texas, has endeavored to distance that project from the Exxon pipeline and assure all that everything will be done to fix things in Arkansas.
Now is the time to make ExxonMobil come to the table. Nobody really believes they'll move the pipeline out of the watershed as Central Arkansas Water and others have asked (though they could, with ample resources and eminent domain power) in part because moving from one watershed merely moves the line to another. But they darn sure could explain why they did an early pipeline inspection (mentioned again at today's meeting), what that internal inspection found, what's the safety factor of the entire length of the 60-year-old line and how quickly the company can install more cutoff valves and more protection of the water in Lake Maumelle. Permission to restart the line is the only chip the public has to get Exxon to do right, and that means more than buying back the nearly two dozen homes in a Mayflower neighborhood soaked deep with oil laced with other dangerous chemicals.
Leslie Peacock was at the meeting and will add a report:
Mayor Mark Stodola reported to the group that Exxon would be able to meet with officials sometime during the week of May 13. He said he'll draft a letter to be signed by him, Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines, Central Arkansas Water CEO Graham Rich and Griffin demanding to know what steps Exxon will take before the flow of oil in the Pegasus line is started up again and the company's plans to prevent such a leak from happening again.
Stodola was particularly unhappy to learn from Rich that CAW asked Exxon two years ago to install extra valves in the pipeline as it crosses the Maumelle watershed but nothing has happened, and Quorum Court JP Tyler Denton called the situation "a train wreck" waiting to happen. Rich responded that the work wasn't a priority for Exxon; "they don't have the sense of urgency in this 13-mile stretch" that the water utility and officials have. He said Exxon's original records on Maumelle did not even indicate that the lake was a drinking water supply.
Griffin actually raised the Keystone pipeline, saying CAW should look at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's 57 safety requirements for Keystone for ideas to protect the Maumelle crossing. Rich said the utility is likely to contract with Jacobs Engineering for technical advice.
Rich outlined short-term safety measures it would like Exxon to take — including burying exposed pipe in concrete and adding automatic valves. He also said there needs to be better access to the line, some of which is located in rugged terrain accessible by only "rudimentary" roads. Given how quickly 210,000 gallons spilled from the easily-reached break in the Mayflower neighborhood, an inaccessible spill of 13 miles of Wabasca heavy crude would be catastrophic.
CAW attorney Jim McHaney outlined what legal recourse exists should ExxonMobil decline to work with government officials, including citizens suits under the Pipeline Safety Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act or the National Environmental Policy Act, or asking the federal Environmental Protection Agency to seek an injunction that would halt Exxon from starting the oil flow.Five Bookshelves of Fury
"Oh no! Here comes action justice!"
For ten years until I had to sell all my books to pay an apartment deposit, I kept my books on twenty-dollar shelves that I "constructed" myself. I went down to Home Depot and tossed ten cinder-blocks in the back of a pick-up, cut down some boards to size, and stacked them up five levels in my bedroom.No matter how much I shivved and shimmied, the shelves always leaned a full hand away from the wall at the top, like the gaping mouth of a sad teenager.I always wondered: what would happen to me if this essentially unstable structure zigged one day instead of zagged and came crashing down just as I was trying to find a pitch-perfect Victor Hugo novel to start my day?But I always decided: to be cut in half by a falling bookshelf would be a fine death. My deadly bookcases made reading into bloodsport. Every time I took down a volume it was equal to leaping from the roof of a party bus in order to deliver a senses-shattering, action-powered elbow drop to the jaw of a Latin-American dictator -- a dictator clutching two primed hand grenades!!!The last time I moved, however, I had to get rid of my nice cinder block bookshelves, along with most of my books. Now, instead of lurching at me like a drunk dinosaur, my books all sit at the foot of my bed in a reading queue, just like a person in a nursing home would have.When I get a new book, I add it to the back of the reading queue. When the reading queue reaches its maximum limit, I give a book away to keep the queue from flooding over into the hallway.I am no longer a Blood Dragon Master reader. Now I am a Retired Tomato Garden reader. Children on the street shoot me with Silly String and then run away in order to mock me and put me in my place whenever I leave my apartment. They should really be in school, but alas, I deserve it.Yet, deep down, I still long for danger and outrage from my bookshelves.I am young and mighty. I am a hurricane of carnage and madness.I need..."BOOKSHELVES OF FURY"***1. The Invisible Book Shelf: A Ticking Clock of Suspended DoomInvisible book shelves are the brand new thing. You see them all the time in the living rooms of fancy couples who drink martinis and who casually invite you to have threesomes at the conclusions of evenings filled with suggestive bon mots and stories about backpacking through Southeast Asia.Invisible book shelves defy gravity and hang like goddamaned doom. Each day they are a slightly bigger threat than the day before.You have to construct an invisible book shelf yourself, which adds a second degree of danger to the enterprise. Your most powerful weapons |
, shelter, food and health cures are vital if you want to survive for more than a day in this island paradise. Attaining them is a struggle, but the satisfaction once achieved is immense and hugely rewarding. There’s a whole lot of game to unwrap in this tightly bound package.
If you ever wanted a game to faithfully recreate a Robinson Crusoe or Tom Hanks Castaway experience minus “Wilson” then I would heartily recommend Wayward. It’s a superbly crafted gem set in a sea of azure deep blue gameplay.PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 22: Singer Lady Gaga is seen leaving the ‘Park Hyatt Paris Vendome’ hotel on September 22, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/FilmMagic)
The next leg of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball tour will feature a pre-show “tailgating experience” aboard the BornBrave Bus, which will provide food, games, DJ sets from Lady Starlight, and therapists to help Little Monsters work through their issues. “BornBrave Bus Is a place where mental health + depression are taken seriously w/ no judgement, FREE real help available to all,” wrote Gaga on her Facebook page. “I feel like most kids don’t look for help because they feel embarrassed so mom + I wanted to break the stigmas around ‘help’ and make it fun.” We’re pretty sure that therapy isn’t supposed to be fun, but it’s a nice gesture, as well as a good opportunity to talk to a professional about your desire to live in a giant egg (and less jokey problems, too.)Colors of the
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Siberian Husky
Welcome to the Colors of the Siberian Husky site!
If you'd like to learn about the Siberian Husky breed and see 250+ different Sibes, this is a very good place to start:
| Siberian Husky Information | Siberian Husky Colors | Color Genetics | What's New |
Here you will find over 600 images of 250+ Siberians.
The site includes information on the genetics behind the many colors (all colors are acceptable)
as well as general breed & rescue information. The dogs are arranged by color with links to their
owners' web pages & email addresses.
Whether you are learning about the different colors for the first time, or just looking at the different color coat patterns,
I hope you will enjoy your time here. If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact me.
If you found our site useful, please consider promoting the breed
by helping to sponsor Northwapiti Siberian Husky Kennels
in their Iditarod participation. Sponsorships of any amount $5-$???
can be made via check or paypal with more information at www.NorthWapiti.com
Find purebred Siberian Husky rescues at Siberian Rescue or
Available dogs, searchable by breed & location
One can never READ too much about the Siberian Husky...Especially BEFORE you acquire one!
Add one or more of these books to your collection now! Be sure to visit our online "Required Reading" section
Words of Wit - A collection of pieces, mostly to amuse
Please Click to visit, if you think our site is worth recommending to others.
Search The Web This Site for Find a particular dog by name or Kennel
This site was once recognized as the number two resource on the internet for information on "Siberian Huskies by Links2Go" (Based on the number of times it has been listed as a resource by other sites.) The Search Engine was discontinued 1/10/2003 due to cost
Siberianrescue.org is #1, please consider giving a rescued Siberian Husky a home!!
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Created by Ann M. Hernandez
Revised: July 08, 2008.
© Copyright 1997-2008 & beyond!
Please do not "borrow" images or text from this site without asking permission. We have invested hundreds of hours on this site and ask that you respect our intellectual property.
© Colorized running husky done by me to look like our original Siberian Loki.
We often grant permission to requests from other Siberian Husky sites to include our "Loki" image above, however, we request that the image is NOT to be used as part of any other site banners as it has been part of one of our site banners since 1997. The original banner only referenced 100+ siberians. Below us an updated copy visitors may use to link to our site. Please, folks - don't plagiarize. If you want to make any of the material here available to your readers, just provide a link.
For additional sites related to Siberian Huskies, I suggest the links page of Barkarian Kennels and/or the Working Dog Web page.
We are happy to provide technical assistance to North Wapiti Kennels, Alberta Canada.
Click on the paws to take a run on over to their main page...
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To learn more about what many call "The Last Great Race" (The Iditarod Dog Sled Race), please visit:
http://www.geocities.com/sunhusky/
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A new chapter...we are now in association with
Weaver Arabians
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arabian Horse Research LinksThe Toronto Islands are a magical place, a world apart from the city. And yet getting there is a grim and disorienting experience. You walk past the two-lane maw of a parking garage, along a narrow plaza, and – after lining up to buy a ferry ticket – you are steered into an open-air holding pen. Visitors have no choice but to be pushed along by the mob. Locals, as in so many other parts of Toronto’s public realm, take the dysfunction for granted.
But that could change. This week, a design competition run by Waterfront Toronto brought forth five distinct visions for the site from five teams of top-flight designers. The proposals represent the rich state of landscape architecture today: bold in form, sometimes whimsical, attentive to ecology and hard-headed about the way people use public space. It’s a set of ideas as deep and nourishing as a Great Lake.
Some of the proposals, presented publicly at City Hall Monday night, dramatically reshuffle the site, which comprises Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and Harbour Square Park. Two effectively make the terminal disappear, merging it into large multi-purpose structures: KPMB Architects’ Bruce Kuwabara calls this “a fusion of terminal and park.” They assume that new ticketing technology would likely eliminate the need for a holding area, thereby freeing the whole park to serve as a waiting area full of lures and attractions.
One turns the park’s ground into a roof: the proposal by KPMB with landscape architects West 8 and local urban designer Ken Greenberg creates a lawn and then pulls up part of it, like an enchanted carpet, to form a green roof on top of a complex and beautiful skeleton of wood.
Another, “Civic Canopy,” by the New York architects Diller Scofidio+Renfro (with landscape architects and Hood Design and Toronto’s architectsAlliance), imagines a sculptural canopy that spans the site – a parametric trellis, that would provide shade for passengers and, at other times, for farmers’ markets or other community events. “There is an amazing opportunity to cap Bay Street with a new civic building that should be an icon,” DS+R’s Charles Renfro said in an interview. But that iconic quality “should grow out of a close read of the islands themselves. We tried to develop a building image which is distinctly architectural, but also tapping into the DNA of natural structures and systems.” Their canopy does that, evoking a whale skeleton while fitting into the architects’ oeuvre of digitally enabled formal explorations.
The five proposals
Cloud Park: Stoss Landscape Urbanism, nARCHITECTS and ZAS Architects
The opening move of this plan would be a literal cloud – mist, to provide a sense “that this is a fantastical place, a place like no other,” Chris Reed said. A series of treed mounds generate a rolling landscape that surrounds a splash pool/skating rink, and a play area. A new terminal building – relatively small in size – would serve as a park pavilion in the cold months. The designers imagine a swimming pool set within the water of the harbour, providing visitors the chance to feel immersed in the lake. The basin to the west would become a site for kayaking, active recreation in the water itself.
(summary and full proposal)
Clement Blanchet Architecture, RVTR and Batlle i Roig
The plan’s central element is a long pier-like platform that extends the line of Bay Street up a grand stair (“social carpet”) and reaches out south over the lake; this would meet a belvedere – an open, elevated platform, shaded by trees, that runs east-west across the site. To the east, a new glassed-in terminal building that Blanchet compared to a new Crystal Palace would be brightly illuminated and form “a lighthouse,” a beacon at night. To the west, a new swimming pool (which converts to a skating rink in winter) and playground would help keep the park busy year round. A formal garden that samples the landscapes of the region – orchard, forest, wetlands and sand dunes.
(summary and full proposal)
Civic Canopy: Diller Scofidio+Renfro, architectsAlliance and Hood Design
The site, Charles Renfro said, “has an obligation to become Toronto’s new civic icon.” The proposal eliminates the need for a terminal and holding area by wagering on new electronic ticketing technology. Its main element is a soaring wooden structure, “a lifted boardwalk” that will serve as a gateway to the islands and the harbour. Underneath the canopy, a smaller glassed-in “grow house” provides enclosed waiting area. Soft naturalized landscape along the water’s edge, designed by the landscape architect Walter Hood, would also include a large swimmable beach across about half of the site.
(summary and full proposal)
Harbour Landing: KPMB Architects, West 8 and Greenberg Consultants
In this proposal, a new terminal building becomes part of the landscape – its undulating wooden structure topped with a green roof that serves as space for play, recreation and a route for meandering across the site. Underneath this roof would be a glass-walled waiting area. As a quieter counterpoint, the adjacent green space would be planted with a mixture of lawn, glades of trees and flowerbeds, and the main pedestrian route would be a piazza paved in brick. To the west, an enclosed slip would be used for kayaking and, in the winter, converted to a skating rink. The promenade along the lakefront, which was designed by West 8, would be strongly defined here as a treed corridor across the site.
(summary and full proposal)
Quadrangle Architects, aLL Design, Janet Rosenberg & Studio
This proposal, led by the English architect Will Alsop, clads fairly straightforward buildings with some wild forms and hot colours. It would create a new terminal building, running east-west along the lake – open at the ground, with a “bar (juice or real)” upstairs, overlooking the harbour and connecting to a long, covered elevated walkway. The terminal building is hot pink, and both the paving of the pedestrian plaza and the roof would feature a bold waveform pattern. And the ground would be spotted with the designers “street creatures,” blobby, vaguely humanoid shapes that enclose waiting areas and ticket booths. The proposal also calls for a wading pool with an “urban beach” that borders a wading pool/skating rink; a swimming pool, at the level of the lake, would occupy the west end of the site.
(summary and full proposal)
Innovation to impress
DS+R are the closest thing to star designers in the competition – they are best known for their work on The High Line in New York, and will be in the spotlight for the new Broad Museum in Los Angeles later this year. (The office once contrived a “building” that consisted entirely of mist, a precedent that came up in its own proposal and another one, too.)
But the competition field includes a healthy mixture of well-known innovators, such as the English troublemaker Will Alsop, who led the design of OCADU’s Sharp Centre for Design, and West 8 and nARCHITECTS; skilled but under-the-radar practitioners, such as landscape architects STOSS; and seasoned locals, such as KPMB and ZAS. It’s pretty much the ideal blend to produce a mixture of careful analysis and new ideas.
Which is precisely the point. The site belongs to the city proper, but Waterfront Toronto – an arm’s-length agency that is charged with redeveloping much of downtown’s eastern waterfront – was brought in to run the design competition thanks to a push from local Councillor Pam McConnell. The waterfront agency has both the expertise to run a good competition and the backbone to make it happen. which is crucial since a competition such as this one doesn’t necessarily produce a finished and buildable design.
“We want it to be something exceptional,” says Waterfront Toronto vice-president Christopher Glaisek. “Our record is of using competitions to bring ideas that maybe haven’t been seen in Toronto before.” He cites Sugar Beach and Corktown Common – both the products of international competitions, both first-quality works of urbanism and landscape.
And they have been controversial: Sugar Beach was the topic of more than one attack from Rob Ford, as mayor, and councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, in each case claiming, falsely, that the parks were unreasonably expensive. Mr. Minnan-Wong now represents Mayor John Tory on the board of Waterfront Toronto. Given the political and economic realities of the city today, how likely are any of the schemes to be realized?
In the short term, they won’t. In the first place, the competition’s jury will recommend a winner or a combination of proposals. A first phase will use up a modest pot of money that the city’s parks department had allotted to improve the park, making sure that spending serves a long-range strategy. That larger strategy is unfunded, but Mr. Glaisek suggests that the strength of the ideas may drive the popular and political will to make it happen.
It’s a strong strategy, and I think when many Torontonians see the proposals – and vote on them this week – they will express enthusiasm, as Mr. Tory himself did in a warm speech at the presentation Monday night. From there, a jury will help develop a master plan for the area, which the city can then use to move ahead with rebuilding of the park.
If one proposal gets approved as is, it is likely to be Cloud Park, from the team of Stoss, nARCHITECTS and ZAS Architects, which appears to require the smallest budget and the fewest major moves. It is handsomely detailed, carefully considered and efficient – using a new terminal building to serve as the centre for the park’s new skating rink. Seeing even this built would be a victory.
But there are a range of other ideas – including hot tubs and swimming pools set into the lake, and the grand civic staircase suggested by Clemént Blanchet’s team – that deserve to be considered. Not to mention the grand ambitions of the DS+R and West 8/KPMB proposals. I hesitate to argue on their behalf, simply because they would require a very un-Fordian vision of what the city needs and deserves. But the mayor and the jury heard a good counterargument from Will Alsop, whose team offered a pragmatic and clearly considered design dressed up in hot pink accents and blobby “creatures.”
It’s difficult, Mr. Alsop suggested, to talk about fun when you talk about public space; no architect or politician, he implied, wants to be seen as frivolous. “But fun is very serious business,” Mr. Alsop continued. “Fun is how a space is judged, in the long term: Whether people enjoy being there.”
Call it fun, call it beauty, call it wonder – these qualities deserve a place in Toronto, and may yet find one.Former Israeli bomber has left the armed forces and is now speaking against war, and the military industrial complex that employed him for many years. It is people like this who are the true heroes, people who have the courage to stand up against a gang that they are a part of, and speak from a position of experience.
Shapira’s activism began in 2003, when he co-signed a letter with other pilots pledging his support for peace. In a recent interview with The Electronic Intifada, Shapira spoke boldly about his time with the military, saying that he belonged to a terror organization.
Speaking with journalist Ryan Rodrick Beiler, Shapira revealed details of the Israeli government’s assassination policy, which put the lives of many innocent people in danger. Shapira said that “I realized something was rotten when the Israeli government started what was called the “assassination policy” in 2001-2003. Palestinian resistance failed to bring liberation and more extreme attitudes took place, such as suicide bombings and other [forms of] armed struggle. The government thought to assassinate everyone that has to do with armed resistance. Pilots would be sent with missiles to shoot the car of this person. In the beginning, this car could be driving outside of town where just the car was hit. Later they would allow shooting suspects when they are closer to the city. Eventually the assassination would be even if he’s in the middle of the market, or in his house at night with all of the family around.
His story continued:
“In July 2002, Salah Shehadeh, head of the armed branch of Hamas in Gaza, was bombed in the middle of the night with an F-16 dropping a one-ton bomb on his house where he was sleeping with his children and his wife. The bomb killed fifteen people, most of them children, and about 150 were injured. If I needed some answer for my questions and doubts, that was clear: this is a terror attack. And I’m part of a terror organization. The commander of the air force said that everything was done perfectly, and the pilots should sleep well at night. That was an additional thing that helped us: when someone says you can sleep well at night, maybe it’s time to wake up and start to think. For me and several friends, that was the moment we decided to do something.”
Then, on September 24, 2003, Shapira and 28 other pilots published what came to be known as “The Pilots Letter.”
In their letter, the pilots stated that:
“We, veteran and active pilots alike, who served and still serve the state of Israel for long weeks every year, are opposed to carrying out attack orders that are illegal and immoral of the type the state of Israel has been conducting in the territories. We, who were raised to love the state of Israel and contribute to the Zionist enterprise, refuse to take part in Air Force attacks on civilian population centers. We, for whom the Israel Defense Forces and the Air Force are an inalienable part of ourselves, refuse to continue to harm innocent civilians. These actions are illegal and immoral, and are a direct result of the ongoing occupation which is corrupting all of Israeli society. Perpetuation of the occupation is fatally harming the security of the state of Israel and its moral strength.”
This type of resistance is occurring within regimes all over the planet. Just last month, we reported on the story of a US drone operator who also changed his ways and became and activist after he was forced to kill innocent people.
John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.Allison Williams in Get Out. Photo-Illustration: Vulture and Photo by Universal Pictures
Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Get Out.
Get Out is the directorial debut of comedian Jordan Peele, and it’s also the first film role for Girls’ Allison Williams. The 28-year-old actress plays Rose, the girlfriend of our hero Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), who’s about to go on a weekend trip to meet her parents. A child of privilege, Rose has never brought a black man home before, but she assures Chris that there’s nothing to worry about: Her parents are the good kind of white people, nice suburban liberals who would have voted for Obama a third time if they could.
As soon as he arrives at the bucolic family home, Chris senses that something is amiss, and his suspicions only grow as the weekend unfolds. Because this is a horror movie, we know that Rose’s family is up to no good, but as the tension builds, viewers are left parsing whether or not Rose herself is in on their scheme.
It’s easy to hope she’s not. In a movie that makes a psychological thriller out of the microaggressions of everyday racism, Rose is the touchstone of normalcy for white viewers. She’s the character we’re meant to relate to, the one who argues with a policeman about racial profiling, the one who rolls her eyes at all the other white squares. But as Chris’s circumstances become more desperate, Rose becomes the mirror through which we examine our own biases, a look at what happens when our best intentions become dangerous naïveté.
The casting is brilliant. Williams is nearly the platonic ideal of idealized white beauty: thin and fair, with a broad smile and eyes that flash like polished glass. Her hair falls in waves, which softens her stately jawline. She is tall enough to not be short, but short enough to not be alienating. She’s feminine and delicate, but she’s also brassy and has got jokes — as well as an Ivy League education. She is progressive, well-bred, well-mannered, and has an aesthetic straight out of a Pinterest board. She’s got a husband who physically complements her so perfectly, you’d confuse them for siblings if outlets like People and Vanity Fair hadn’t posted photos of their wedding online — a wedding that was officiated by Tom Hanks. And before you ask: Yes, her dog is a golden retriever mix, and it is perfect.
Williams understands that her aspirational packaging is exactly what makes her “part of the problem,” both in real life and in the movies. She also understands that, in a professional context, it’s what makes her so hard to buy as anyone other than Marnie from Girls. But instead of her role in Get Out feeling like more of the same, it’s so aggressively on-brand for her it becomes a meta-examination of her own star image. “We are using the thing that I was finding so sticky to flip the bird to the audience, basically, and say ‘Ha! You trusted me so much because I’m so WASP-y,’” the actress told Vulture recently. “But I just thought, how brilliant this is to use horror as a means of having a frank conversation about race. I wanted to be the person that the white viewers were relating to, until they realize that they’re actually in Chris’s shoes, and we’re with Chris on his journey to get the fuck out.”
A casting choice this obvious shouldn’t feel so inspired, and yet by putting Williams in the part of Rose — a character whose intentions constantly keep the audience guessing — Peele uses her image as a stand-in for the dangers of white complacency. In mainstream media, Williams’s type of whiteness represents safety, security, and comfort. But in the context of a horror movie, it’s exactly what makes us feel most safe that puts us in mortal danger.
For a white viewer, this is the most terrifying aspect of Get Out: Regardless of her motivations, Rose is on the wrong side. If she’s the well-intentioned ally she seems to be, her assurances that everything will be all right convince Chris to ignore his carefully honed instincts about dangerous white people. But if Rose is as malicious as the rest of her family, then she’s the most dangerous one of all: a seemingly innocent woman whose appearance gives her access to almost anything she wants. In either case, Rose enables the movie’s cavalcade of horrors. She’s a villain, and in the case of white viewers, she’s also us.
“It’s not a version of racism we see depicted frequently,” says Williams. “That is the much more subversive version of the story, and thus I think is much scarier, because it’s harder to run from. It’s harder to talk yourself out of. ‘Oh, this would never happen in my town.’ Well, would it? Because we never say where this happens. ‘Oh, this wouldn’t happen with the people I grow up with.’ Wouldn’t it? Because I don’t think these people were who you expected them to be. They weren’t wearing white hoods. It takes all of your excuses away, so hopefully people are just forced to deal, and sit in the discomfort with it.”
Most people are not evil racists who hunt black people for sport. But many well-meaning white people, especially physically nonthreatening white women, are the best-case version of her. They’re the “good guy” who doesn’t see the danger in a perilous environment, and inadvertently becomes a road block to true progress. As Roxane Gay puts it, “the problem with allyship is that good intentions are not enough. Allyship offers a safe haven from harsh realities and the dirty work of creating change. It offers a comfortable distance that can be terribly unproductive.”
The word “performative” comes up a lot in discussions of woke white people, but Peele takes the concept to its furthest possible conclusion: It turns out that Rose has been literally putting on a performance for Chris. In the film’s final stretch, her benign obliviousness is revealed to be a facade that masks her true role as the family’s “retriever”: She lures black people into the neighborhood so their bodies can be used by ageing white people in need a fresh vessel to keep on living.
Rose is fully aware of the benefit of the doubt afforded to beautiful white women, and she has weaponized them to lull black partners into a state of surrender. After the reveal, Williams snaps into her character’s true identity with military precision — she even wears a pair of jodhpurs that would put Taylor Swift to shame. It’s a fantastic metaphor: If the history of white America is a series of pleas of racial innocence despite all evidence to the contrary, then Rose makes the subtext text. In most “good white people,” the desire to hope for the best, to see things as rosier than they really are, is best understood as a subconscious mental block. Here, it’s an intentional act of psychological manipulation.
Thanks to an excellent script by Peele and a note-perfect performance from Williams, Rose will be in the conversation as the most destabilizing villain of 2017. Sure, it’s only February, but what could be more frightening than your best friend or your girlfriend — or worst of all, yourself — contributing to so many people suffering harm? Peele has said that the villain of his movie, the true monster, is the white liberal elite that have perpetuated a culture of permissiveness when it comes to systemic racism. That’s what makes the figure of Rose so uncomfortably timely, and also so tragically timeless.Adam Penenberg. If you call yourself an online journalist, and yet that name doesn’t immediately prompt a nod of recognition – a smile, even – then it’s time to close your laptop and bow your head in shame. Or at least head over to Netflix.
It was Adam Penenberg who, back in 1998, first forced traditional journalists to sit up and take online reporting seriously. And he did so with a double whammy: scooping them on a big story – a scandal that went to the heart of one of America’s journalistic institutions – while also exposing a rising star of print journalism as a hack and a liar.
The lying hack was New Republic wunderkind Stephen Glass and the story of how Penenberg – then a reporter for ‘Forbes Digital Tool’ (now sadly swallowed by the execrable Forbes.com) – exposed Glass’ fabricated reporting was subsequently made into a movie. (Penenberg was portrayed in the movie by Steve Zahn while Glass was played by Hayden Christensen. Weirdly, Jonathan Chait was played by Chloë Sevigny.)
Penenberg, then, is one of the founding fathers of digital journalism. His expose – ‘Lies, damn lies and fiction’ – sent a clear message to print journalists: “digital journalism is more than just an underpaid, under-skilled subset of real reporting. We web guys are breaking stories and – FEAR US – we’re fact checking your sorry asses.”
Twelve years later, of course, none of this is news. Digital journalism is a recognised branch of the 5th Estate, particularly when it comes to fact-checking the [sic] mainstream media, and planting the first seeds of reporting, ready to be picked up by print and television. Thanks to the Internet, the traditional news cycle has become a cyclone; a churning, chewing machine that sucks in every fact or rumour that flits past its peripheral vision, before spitting it out – often undigested – in the form of minute-by-minute, second-by-second BREAKING NEWS headlines. Compared to today’s digital news output, 24 hour cable news seems almost narcoleptically relaxed.
The idea, then, that a huge story could go unreported in today’s news environment – where everyone and his cellphone is a ‘citizen journalist’ and where one moment’s tweet is the next moment’s “BLOGGERS CLAIM THAT…” headline on CNN – is slightly ridiculous.
And yet, three days ago that’s exactly what happened.
On Thursday, a Mississippi jury awarded $131 million in compensatory damages to the family of ‘star New York Mets prospect’, Brian Cole, who was killed in 2001 when his Ford Explorer flipped as he drove home from spring training. Although the damages in the Cole case were the largest Ford has paid in relation to the Explorer (they were based on predictions of Cole’s future earnings), it is far from the only such incident: of the Explorers built between 1990 and 2001, a staggering one in 2700 has been involved in a rollover incident where at least one person in the vehicle has died.
Read that again. One in 2700 Explorers made between 1990 and 2001 flipped over and killed at least one person.
And yet, despite the size of the damages, and the inherent newsworthiness of the story – a sports star, a centimillion dollar verdict and one of America’s largest corporations – not one news outlet covered Thursday’s verdict. No wire service, no national newspaper, no cable channel, not even the local Mississippi press.
Fortunately, though, a lone reporter was paying attention: a contributing writer for Fast Company who, back in 2003, wrote a book called ‘Tragic Indifference’ about Ford’s negligence over the safety of their SUVs. The book (since optioned as a movie by Michael Douglas) told the true story of Arkansas Trial Attorney, Tab Turner, whose client Donna Bailey, who was almost killed in a similar accident to the one that killed Cole. In fact Turner is now representing Cole’s family and, moments after the verdict, a source close to his office called the Fast Company reporter to give him a heads up.
No longer involved in day-to-day breaking news, the reporter nevertheless wanted to flag up the verdict to his 2900 Twitter followers. So he went online, and began hitting refresh on all the major wire services, expecting the story to break any moment.
Hours of refreshing later; still nothing.
And that’s when he decided: if no one else was going to break the story, he’d have to do it himself. Firing up Twitter, the reporter started to do his job, in dozens of 140 character bursts – starting with the lede: the sports star and the $131 million damages – before moving on to the background, the implications for Ford and finally a play by play of the Donna Bailey accident and how – incredibly – Ford had apparently decided it was cheaper for them to settle the lawsuits brought against them than it was to retool the Explorer so it didn’t kill any more people.
Sure enough, as the tweets went on, other journalists started to take notice, starting with Felix Salmon at Reuters and then David Folkenflik at NPR and someone at the New York Daily News. Finally the story began to appear; first on the AP wire and then… and then…. By this afternoon Google News was listing 277 stories about the verdict.
The similarities between the Ford story and Adam Penenberg’s Stephen Glass expose are stark. In both cases, the mainstream media was caught napping. In both cases it took a lone reporter, using the oft-maligned tools of digital journalism, to break the story and shame his peers in print. In both cases the result was much wailing and gnashing and playing catch-up by traditional reports – and crowing by online hacks that finally – this time – new media has shown itself to be a legitimate platform for breaking news.
But the biggest similarity of all between the two stories? The $64,000 headfuck? That would be the identity of the latter-day Penenberg 2.0 who broke the Ford / Cole story on Twitter.
Step forward, Adam Penenberg.
WAIT, WHAT?
SERIOUSLY?
AGAIN?
Yep.
Much as it pains me to do independent reporting, I have to ask Penenberg (right) what gives.
“What gives?” I ask when he answers the phone at his home in New York. I mean, what’s wrong with traditional journalism that – twelve years later – he is still the one having to draw attention to its deficiencies?
I’m expecting him to shrug: this was just another example of how lazy the print media has got. How newsroom headcounts have been slashed how no one is searching for stories any more. How this one just slipped under the radar. But no. The story he tells is far more sinister.
“Ford is a scary company.”
He says that like a man who knows. And, turns out, he does know: “A few years back I got into a dustup with a magazine – I’d better not name it – over Tragic Indifference. I won a reader contest and they were going to write about the book. But then just before publication, they pulled the plug.” In fact, an editor called Penenberg to explain that Ford had bought a majority of the ad pages in that month’s issue, and running such an anti-Ford review would be commercial suicide. The review was pulled; the ads remained.
“Jesus,” I say.
“Yeah,” says Pennenberg. Then he pauses. “Ok, I’ll name the magazine – it was Fast Company.” His current some-time employer – although he takes pains to say that the censorship episode occurred under the previous regime. “It wouldn’t happen now.”
Judging by the initial lack of media reaction to the Cole judgment, though, the attitude seems to still prevail in the rest of the media. Once again, in scooping his print rivals, Penenberg has drawn attention to a malignant cancer at the heart of old media. Last time it was a lack of fact-checking, this time it’s the relationship between advertisers and editorial. Ford is one of the world’s biggest advertisers at a time when print advertising is declining and magazines and news publications are bleeding red ink.
But, says Penenberg (only slightly prompted by me) that’s not all that’s wrong with mainstream journalism today. “What’s discouraging,” he says, “is the he-said-she-said… this so-called objective journalism”. He points out that even when the rest of the media finally reported the Cole story, they still felt obliged to give equal prominence to a denial from Ford:
“Brian Cole had been driving over 80 mph when he drifted off road for unknown reasons, suddenly turned his steering wheel 295 degrees, lost control, and caused the vehicle to roll over more than three times… He was not wearing his safety belt and died after being ejected from the vehicle. His passenger, who was properly belted, walked away from the accident.”
Simply not true, says Penenberg. Yes, Cole was thrown from the vehicle “but he was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the accident…. the problem is, it didn’t lock.” Indeed, he adds: “in the Donna Bailey case, it was found that her seatbelt had eight inches of ‘give’”.
“No wonder you’re such a fan of online journalism,” I suggest. No-one would ever accuse bloggers – or Matt Drudge – of balance. Wisely, Penenberg ignores my fatuous point and instead continues his point. Another problem with the state of journalism today – both online and off – he says “is this obsession with being first – wanting to beat your rival to the story by two minutes. Is it really that important to be first?”
This is something that really bugs Penenberg. And it bugs me too. So much so, I forget to take notes for the next few minutes as we rail against how today’s news journalists are expected to churn out half a dozen stories a day, often with little-to-no fact checking, simply to make sure they’re first with every tiny development. Whether they’re right, or whether they’re missing a wider, bigger, more important, story becomes secondary. Fuck it, we can always go back and edit.
Except they never get the chance to go back and edit: not when that have five more stories to file that day. Look at the 277 stories about the Cole case. See how many reporters just rehashed the lede – the size of the damages – and Ford’s response, without asking a single new question, or presenting so much as half a new fact. But then again, how would they? That would have involved a single fucking phone call.
Which brings us to the question of mentorship. “When you started out in journalism, new reporters had editors as mentors,” I said. “Today, reporters are often their own editors. Who is teaching tomorrow’s Adam Penenbergs?”
“Well, we’re trying,” replies Penenberg, referring |
nor Handel received a majority, and despite the Democratic Ossoff's finishing nearly 30 points ahead in the first round, Republican Handel nonetheless prevailed in the runoff election.
The election attracted exceptional national interest, with both major parties perceiving it as an opportunity to shape the political narrative prior to the 2018 midterm elections.[4][5] The district has a history of favoring GOP House candidates by large margins, but Trump won it by just 1% in 2016, making Democrats hopeful to steal a normally strong GOP district. A total of $50 million was spent as of the close of early-voting period on June 17, making it the most expensive House election in history.[6] Of that, more than $40 million was spent on television and radio advertising alone, smashing past House election records.[7] A very high number of voters—140,000—cast ballots during the runoff-election early-voting period.[6]
Republican Party [ edit ]
Declared [ edit ]
Withdrew [ edit ]
Donnie Bolena, candidate for Mayor of Sandy Springs in 2009 [18] [ citation needed ]
S.M. Abu Zahed, aviation engineer[19]
Declined [ edit ]
Democratic Party [ edit ]
Declared [ edit ]
Ragin Edwards, sales senior manager [19]
Richard Keatley, college professor and former officer in the Navy [19]
Jon Ossoff, filmmaker and former congressional aide [26] [27]
Rebecca Quigg, physician
Ron Slotin, former state senator and candidate for GA-04 in 1996[23][28]
Withdrew [ edit ]
Sally Harrell, former state representative (endorsed Jon Ossoff) [29] [15]
Josh McLaurin, attorney (endorsed Jon Ossoff)[23]
Declined [ edit ]
Libertarian Party [ edit ]
Declined [ edit ]
Independent [ edit ]
Declared [ edit ]
Alexander Hernandez [33]
Andre Pollard, computer systems engineer[15]
Withdrew [ edit ]
Joseph Pond, plumber[30]
Special election [ edit ]
Endorsements [ edit ]
Dan Moody Federal politicians David Perdue, U.S. Senator (R-GA)
Polling [ edit ]
Poll
source Date(s)
administered Sample
size Margin of
error David
Abroms (R) Bob
Gray (R) Karen
Handel (R) Judson
Hill (R) Bruce
LeVell (R) Dan
Moody (R) Jon
Ossoff (D) Ron
Slotin (D) Other Undecided ZPolitics/Clout Research (R)[38] April 14–15, 2017 453 LV ± 4.6% 3% 17% 15% 10% 1% 9% 41% 1% 1% 2% Emerson College[39] April 13–15, 2017 324 LV ± 5.4% 2% 15% 17% 6% 0% 9% 43% 2% 3% 3% WSB/Landmark Communications[40] April 12–13, 2017 500 LV ± 4.2% – 9% 17% 8% – 8% 45% – 5% 7% FOX 5 Atlanta/Opinion Savvy[41] April 13, 2017 437 LV ± 4.6% 1% 11% 21% 11% 0% 9% 42% 0% 2% 3% Revily[42] April 10–12, 2017 485 LV ± 4.5% – 16% 17% 7% – 9% 45% 0% 1% 6% RRH Elections/Decision Desk HQ[43] April 5–10, 2017 321 LV ± 5% 3% 12% 15% 10% 0% 11% 39% 4% – 6% Meeting Street Research (R-Moody)[44] April 4, 2017 400 LV ± 4.9% – – 12% 10% – 12% 43% – 14% 9% WXIA-TV Atlanta/Survey USA[45] March 27 – April 2, 2017 503 LV ± 4.5% 2% 14% 15% 5% 1% 7% 43% 0% 7% 7% MoveOn/Lake Research Partners (D)[46] March 26–28, 2017 350 LV ± 5.2% – 7% 18% 8% 0% 7% 40% 1% 1% 19% FOX 5 Atlanta/Opinion Savvy[47] March 22–23, 2017 462 ± 4.5% 2% 10% 20% 10% 0.4% 8% 40% 1% 3% 6% ZPolitics/Clout Research (R)[48] March 15–16, 2017 625 LV ± 3.7% 2% 16% 16% 9% 1% 5% 41% 3% 2% 6% Trafalgar Group (R)[49] March 2–3, 2017 450+ LV ± 4.5% — 13% 18% 8% 0% 2% 18% 3% — 34% ZPolitics/Clout Research (R)[50] February 17–18, 2017 694 LV ± 3.7% — 11% 25% 9% 1% 2% 32% — 3% 18% Landmark/Rosetta Stone[51] December 1, 2016 500 LV ± 4.2% — — 22% 8% — — — — 14%[52] 56%
Results [ edit ]
Georgia's 6th congressional district special election (2017) Party Candidate Votes % Democratic Jon Ossoff 92,673 48.12% Republican Karen Handel 38,071 19.77% Total votes 192,569 100.00% Runoff election[53]
Runoff [ edit ]
On April 18, 2017, no candidate received 50% of the vote in the blanket primary ("jungle primary").[54] Ossoff led with about 48.1% of the vote, Republican candidate Karen Handel received 19.8%, and the remainder of votes were scattered for 16 other candidates.[55][56] Because no candidate secured an absolute majority, the top two-vote-getters, Ossoff and Handel, competed in a runoff election on June 20, 2017.[57][56] Ossoff won all but 1% of the Democratic vote, while the Republican vote was more heavily split. Republicans collectively won 51.2% of the overall vote.[58]
Ossoff broke national fundraising records for a U.S. House candidate.[59] In total, Ossoff's campaign raised more than $23 million, two-thirds of which was contributed by small-dollar donors nationwide.[60] Ossoff's opponent, Karen Handel, and national Republican groups attacked Ossoff for raising significant small-dollar contributions from outside of Georgia, although Handel's campaign received the bulk of its support from super PACs and other outside groups, including those funded anonymously by so-called "dark money".[61][62] Combined spending by the campaigns and outside groups on their behalf added up to over $55 million, which was the most expensive House Congressional election in U.S. history.[63] During the campaign, Republican strategy focused on connecting Ossoff to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, a polarizing and unpopular figure amongst Republicans; Ossoff declined to say whether he would, if elected, support Pelosi for Speaker of the House.[64]
Endorsements [ edit ]
Debates [ edit ]
Complete video of first debate, June 8, 2017.
Polling [ edit ]
Averages [ edit ]
Model Ossoff Handel Spread HuffPost Pollster[96] 49.3% 47.0% Ossoff +2.3 RealClearPolitics[97] 48.8% 49.0% Handel +0.2 270toWin[98] 49.4% 47.6% Ossoff +1.8 Daily Kos[ citation needed ] 48.1% 48.2% Handel +0.1 Plural Vote[99] 49.8% 50.2% Handel +0.4
Polls [ edit ]
Poll source Date(s)
administered Sample
size Margin of
error Jon
Ossoff (D) Karen
Handel (R) Undecided WSB/Landmark Communications[100] June 18, 2017 500 ± 4.4% 49% 49% 2% Trafalgar Group[101] June 17–18, 2017 1100 ± 2.9% 49% 51% 1% WSB/Landmark Communications[102] June 15, 2017 800 ± 3.5% 50% 48% 2% FOX 5 Atlanta/Opinion Savvy[103] June 14–15, 2017 537 ± 4.2% 50% 49% 1% Trafalgar Group[104] June 10–13, 2017 1100 ± 2.9% 50% 47% 2% SurveyUSA[105] June 7–11, 2017 700 ± 4.5% 47% 47% 6% AJC/Abt Associates[106] June 5–8, 2017 1000 ± 4% 51% 44% 5% WSB/Landmark Communications[107] June 6–7, 2017 420 ± 4.8% 50% 47% 3% WSB/Landmark Communications[108] May 30–31, 2017 500 ± 4.4% 49% 48% 3% SurveyUSA[109] May 16–20, 2017 549 ± 4.3% 51% 44% 6% Gravis Marketing[110] May 8–10, 2017 870 ± 3.3% 47% 45% 8% WSB/Landmark Communications[111] May 3–4, 2017 611 ± 4.0% 47% 49% 4% GBA Strategies/House Majority PAC (D)[112] April 29 – May 1, 2017 400 ± 4.9% 50% 48% 2% Anzalone Liszt Grove Research (D)[113] April 23–26, 2017 590 ± 4.0% 48% 47% 5% Emerson College[39] April 13–15, 2017 324 ± 5.4% 47% 49% 4% FOX 5 Atlanta/Opinion Savvy[41] April 13, 2017 407 ± 4.6% 44% 42% 14% Revily[42] April 10–12, 2017 485 ± 4.5% 47% 46% 7% Lake Research Partners[114] March 26–28, 2017 350 ± 5.2% 45% 45% 10% FOX 5 Atlanta/Opinion Savvy[47] March 22–23, 2017 449 ± 4.5% 42% 41% 17%
Results [ edit ]
On June 20, 2017, Ossoff was defeated by Handel, 51.87% to 48.13%. Following reports of the election results, The New York Times characterized the race as "demoralizing for Democrats".[115] This was as close as a Democrat had come to winning this district since it assumed its current configuration as a northern suburban district in 1992; previously, Democratic challengers had only won more than 40 percent of the vote twice.[116]
Georgia's 6th congressional district special election (2017)[117] Party Candidate Votes % ± Total votes 260,316 100.0% Majority 9,282 3.57% −19.8% Turnout 260,455 58.16% Republican hold
County results [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]The redevelopment of the former Westminster Mall has been billed as an opportunity to redefine suburban America. A piece of that renewal attacks a growing problem across the Denver metro area: the scarcity of affordable housing.
To that end, at least 118 apartments at the heart of the marquee site will be open to people making anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of the area median income.
They will be among more than 600 affordable housing units in Westminster that have been proposed, are planned or are under construction — other suburban communities are making similar efforts — as home values and rental prices continue to spike in Denver.
“Westminster is being very forward-thinking — advancing workforce and affordable housing has been a high priority for the City Council,” said Jenni Grafton, senior economic development officer for Westminster. “But while it’s important that every municipality takes action at the local level, we have to take a regional approach to the problem.”
While much of the focus of affordable housing conversation has been on Denver — the city established a 10-year, $150 million affordable housing fund — the issue is widespread. According to the Colorado Division of Housing, more than 272,000 low-income Coloradans are spending more than half their income on housing. And more than $102 million in state funding has gone into developing affordable housing since 2010.
Adams County has become a magnet for many young families priced out of Denver, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data. In October, Commerce City announced the groundbreaking of a 216-unit affordable housing project, dubbed North Range Crossings, which will be open to tenants making $33,660 a year — or 60 percent of the area median income. The City Council approved incentives to the developer in the form of waived fees and tax breaks.
In Lakewood, the 40 West Residences opened its 60 affordable units in October, with 25 of those homes reserved for homeless veterans.
Other suburban cities are taking different approaches to addressing the metro area’s housing crunch. Englewood has been studying the idea of allowing accessory dwelling units — mother-in-law-style apartments or backyard garden cottages — to serve as compact homes for people. Castle Rock leaders on Tuesday will vote on a first reading of an ordinance allowing ADUs to be built in the Douglas County town.
In Golden, city leaders recently approved a new set of “community housing policies” as part of its updated comprehensive plan that commits the city to using its resources to ensure that 30 percent of its total housing stock is affordable to households making up to 80 percent of area median income.
But achieving affordable housing goals like the ones Golden outlined last month can be a tall order, given the high costs of land and construction. Diana Elliott, a senior research associate for the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute, said cities and counties that own real estate have a distinct advantage in negotiating deals with the private sector and guiding projects so that affordable housing is encouraged and well planned.
“If the city owns land presently, hold on to that for the future,” said Elliott, who co-authored a May 2017 report on the state of affordable housing in Denver. “It’s the cost of land that is really the big expense.”
In the case of downtown Westminster, where the Westminster Mall sat before it was torn down in 2011, the city’s urban renewal authority owns the land. That has proven critical to pursuing the ambitious goal of making 20 percent of the 2,300 or so residential units that will eventually be located on the sprawling property fall in the affordable range, said Sarah Nurmela, the city’s real estate development manager for the project.
“Having land control allows us to better negotiate getting affordable housing in there,” she said. “This is our downtown, and it should represent who we are. We highly value equity and inclusivity and think it should be part of our vision for the next big urban center in the Front Range.”
Grafton, the city’s economic development officer, said holding that kind of leverage makes it easier for cities to approach developers with a carrot-over-stick approach. Instead of mandating that a certain number of units be affordable as part of any given project, the city can fold those goals into the land acquisition process so that the lower-priced units can be factored into the economics of the overall deal from the start.
The city passed a financial agreement last month that will have Westminster providing the developer, Eaton Housing LLC, more than $5 million in loans, land and forgiveness of building fees as part of an incentive package.
“We don’t want to make this punitive — we want to use incentives,” Grafton said.
Westminster also has the advantage of building affordable housing on a site where there are no homes at present. That lessens the “not in my backyard” sentiment that can so often doom these types of projects, said Craig Maraschky, executive director of the Aurora Housing Authority.
Even so, being honest and open with nearby residents is critical to getting buy-in from the community, he said.
“It’s important to meet with the neighbors early and often,” Maraschky said.
Hand in hand with open communication, he said, is making sure affordable housing is built to a standard where it’s hard to distinguish it from a new market-rate apartment complex.
“The buildings we build, I challenge you to say they are affordable housing,” Maraschky said.
The Aurora Housing Authority, which owns 800 units across 16 buildings in the city, just embarked on the third and final chapter of the Village at Westerly Creek affordable housing project in August. Phase three will add 74 units and expand access to the complex beyond senior households to include families with children.
The Village at Westerly Creek project is a revamp of what was once called the Buckingham Gardens public housing complex, which the authority first purchased nearly 40 years ago. Maraschky calls the redevelopment effort a reinvention of an aging property.
“Through good design and good management, we want to be good neighbors,” he said.
Heidi Aggeler, managing partner with Denver-based BBC Research & Consulting, worked with Westminster on its affordable housing strategy. In putting together its housing needs assessment, she said, the city found that people really wanted to stay in the city. As part of that assessment, Aggeler said Westminster made a concerted effort to pay attention to the possibility that gentrification in the southern part of the city could drive out longtime residents.
“Westminster taking that and turning it into a strategy is very unique,” she said.What Is It You Would Say That You Do Here?
Here is a dangerous question to start the new year: Does your company actually need a security department? If you are doing CYA instead of CIA, the answer is probably no
Don't take it personally: It's a fair question. Economic times are tough, companies run lean and mean, and there should be a value proposition to support any company expense.
Even in the face of some harsh budget cuts, for the most part spending on security keeps going up. But is this wise? Would it be better to cut the infosec budget? Say, to zero?
In terms of how many infosec departments operate, the answer is probably yes.
The reason why is about value to the enterprise. Unfortunately, many security departments do not provide much security at all and instead operate as giant policy-exception machines slowing down development and operations -- adding little security at all.
The oft-repeated relationship between many security teams and development groups is filled with tension. The development team is trying to ship features A, B, and C. The security team says no way. A stand-off ensues.
Then you get the three Es of infosec: The dev team escalates to its executive and plays the age-old game of "my development VP beats your security VP." Then the security team issues the exception to go ahead. What value was created here? The dev team was merely slowed down; that's not the famous CIA of Infosec: It's the three Es, and they equal negative value.
Security is supposed to be confidentiality, integrity, and availability, but the escalation to an executive for exceptions is not security -- it's a CYA exercise. Worse yet, it's a CYA exercise that impinges on other people's ability to deliver.
Security: "You really should not do that."
Dev: "We are doing it anyway."
... things go bad...
Security "I told you so."
Nice work if you can get it. (Well, as long as you don't care about building anything.)
Why Does This Happen?
Like many problems, it begins with policy. Most information security policies are north of 100 pages, and never read even by their "authors." Worse yet, for most security policies there is no possible way to achieve the goals; there are no mechanisms, processes, and tools to realize the goals in the policy. Whether the policy defines judicious goals or not is irrelevant if you cannot deliver on the goals in the first place.
The current infosec holy war is against BYOD. But to frame the issue as users versus security is to miss the point.
"You see, BYOD is actually a user-led rebellion against poor IT practices, inflexibility, and infosec autocracy -- @selil
As its relates to policy, the first and most important step is for infosec to hold itself accountable -- meaning writing an effective, pragmatic, and short policy -- before holding everyone else accountable to its policy. A simple rule of thumb: If you cannot deliver on the goals in the policy today with readily available tools, process, and personnel, then remove the policy statement. You are wasting people's time and the company's money.
Security people love to pull from math and physics. If we want to continue to exist, then we need to learn more from biology. Charles Darwin had an average IQ and became a world changing scientist not through any particular genius. He held himself to a rigorous standard, wearing an intellectual hairshirt, and he was always most suspicious of his own ideas.
This is the opposite of how most security teams operate.
What Is Better?
The policy should be fixed to start not because it's the end game, but because it sucks up resources and wastes time. Policies are mainly a hodgepodge of "best practices" and whatever the auditors over the past few decades said to write.
A better way is to start by finding diamonds in your own backyard. It's shocking, but right now somewhere in your company many things are working and even being done properly from a security perspective. So step 1, delete your old policy; step 2, find the things that are working right now in the real world; and step 3, codify these as the starting point for your policy and build on it from there. Hold to the simple rule that every policy item must be backed by an existing development and/or operational skill set, process, and/or tool set. It's not about auditor least-privilege theory -- it's about what's proved to work at your company.
Once the policy view is cleaned up, the infosec team can begin the hard but important work of building in security. To ensure the infosec teams increase the level of CIA in your company instead of just generating policy exceptions means engaging in the full life cycle -- architecture, design, development, deployment, and operations. Like most important issues, this is a simple concept but not easy to execute.
Identity and access management (IAM) projects and architecture are rarely cost-effective in the context of a single project. Heck, even the shining star of IAM, SSO, is only useful with more than one app -- otherwise, it's not Single Sign On, it's just login! One of the great values of infosec is that it has excellent visibility across multiple projects. Patterns can emerge, both good and bad. This visibility is an underutilized asset in infosec today; it's the diamond in infosec's own backyard if we choose to think and act more as builders and not only auditors.
The OWASP Top Ten has largely not changed over the past decade. We are still living with the problems of 2001 and before. Why? Six of the OWASP Top Ten are directly related to IAM weaknesses. Infosec teams are today in a position to identify solution patterns to address these weaknesses across projects, but doing so requires getting out of policy exception mode and into architecture, development, and deploy mode.
Otherwise, why have a security department at all?
Gunnar Peterson is a Managing Principal at Arctec Group Gunnar Peterson (@oneraindrop) works on AppSec - Cloud, Mobile and Identity. He maintains a blog at http://1raindrop.typepad.com. View Full BioSen. Jim Bunning continues to object to extending unemployment benefits. On Monday, the Kentucky Republican once again prevented a vote on a bill that would extend eligibility for enhanced unemployment benefits and subsidized health insurance for laid-off workers by 30 days.
If Congress fails to pass an extension, the National Employment Law Project estimates that 1.2 million people will lose their benefits in March. Bunning's action could cause thousands of people to miss their unemployment checks starting this week, though it's likely that Congress will pass an extension within the next two weeks that will retroactively cover their losses.
The bill under consideration would provide a stop-gap 30 day extension for several other expiring laws, including funding for highway projects that employed 2,000 people until Monday, improved Medicare reimbursement rates (known as "doc fix"), flood insurance, and licensing that allows satellite TV providers to carry local channels in rural areas where they are unavailable with an antenna.
Reid asked for unanimous consent to move forward with the bill on Monday.
"Six times last week, Democrats asked to extend their unemployment benefits for a short time while they work on a longer extension," Reid said. "Six times, Republicans said no. They didn't just say no to us, that is members of the Senate. They said no to their families in their own states and all our states count on us to act when we need action. They count on us to respond in the event of an emergency. This is an emergency. The Republicans in the Senate are standing between these families and the help they need while these benefits expire and expired."
After Reid spoke, Bunning raised his objection and blamed the Democrats for failing to extend benefits with an earlier bill that Reid scrapped. He repeated his insistence that the Senate not add an additional $10 billion to the deficit.
"Just a brief explanation of why we are where we're at with this extension bill, the brief extension of 30 days," said Bunning, who is not running for reelection and apparently not acting with the blessing of GOP leadership. "There was an agreement between the majority leader of the Finance Committee and the minority leader in the Finance Committee, Sens. Baucus and Grassley, on a three-month extension of these very same provisions. There were more provisions in the bill also. It cost a little more than the the $10 billion that is asked for because it was a three-month extension. Senator Reid pulled that bill from the floor of the U.S. Senate. He did it. The leader of the Democrats pulled that bill from the floor. I support extending unemployment benefits, COBRA benefits, flood insurance, highway bill fix, doc fix, small business loans, distant network television for satellite viewers. If we can't find $10 billion to pay for something that we all support, we will never pay for anything on the floor of this U.S. Senate."
HuffPost readers: Have you received a letter notifying you that you would lose your benefits? Have you missed a check? Please let us know -- email arthur@huffingtonpost.com.
Democrats are using the holdup to hammer Bunning and the Republican party. Congressional Democrats, along with Vice President Joe Biden, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and White House spokesman Robert Gibbshave all condemned the holdup.
Even if Senate Democrats get around Bunning and pass an extension this week, some recipients of unemployment benefits could miss a check. Before last week, workforce agencies in some states were already sending out letters notifying recipients that they would be ineligible for any of the federally-funded "tiers" of additional benefits provided by the stimulus bill. Eligibility for those benefits ended on Feb. 28; the bill under consideration would push the deadline back to April 5.
A Democratic aide said Reid would move forward this week with a larger measure that would extend unemployment and COBRA benefits for the rest of the year. Reid could file for cloture tomorrow, a process that will eat up time but won't allow a single senator to block progress of the widely-supported measure.
Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project, said that the legislation would retroactively pay UI recipients. But how long will it take? "If you're already unemployed for more than six months," she said, "odds are you're living at the margins already with no room for error."
In an off-camera exchange on Monday, ABC News reported, "when Senate producer Z. Byron Wolf spotted Bunning exiting his office, Bunning said, 'I'm not talking to anybody.' When Wolf asked him to stay and talk to our cameras, Bunning walked toward the elevator and shot the middle finger over his head."
Later, Bunning showed some anger when ABC News tried to ask him about his objection. "Excuse me, this is a Senate-only elevator," he said. "Excuse me!"
WATCH:Dr. Sebastian Gorka, White House deputy advisor on national security, was questioned Tuesday on MSNBC about his insistence on the use of the term “radical Islamic terrorism.”
“I don’t understand how calling it by its name helps stop the attacks in Paris or in Belgium or in London,” MSNBC’s Ali Velshi said to Gorka.
"So If you, God forbid, caught cancer, and the hospital was forbidden from calling it cancer and said, 'you have the flu, go home and hydrate and some take aspirins,' would you actually have the right treatment?" Gorka asked.
"No, but there's still no cure for cancer," MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle replied.
"Have you not heard of chemo?" Gorka asked.
"I have heard of chemo, and cancer can still kill you, so it doesn't matter what you call it," Ruhle rejoined.
"Doesn't matter what you call it, really?” Gorka replied. “So if I call it the flu, and say go home and take some aspirin, what's going to happen?"
“There must be a better response to that, right?” Velshi said. “I asked you a very straightforward question.”
"I gave you a very simple answer," Gorka responded. "If you misdiagnose anything, whether it's a serious disease or international geopolitical threat, you will never solve it.”
“For the last eight years we had an administration that said oh it’s economic, oh these people are disenfranchised,” he added. “Look it’s not about economics, it’s not about being disenfranchised, it’s about people who have an ideology that is evil and has to be destroyed."
Velshi then asked about stopping "lone-wolf" attacks perpetrated by individuals rather than by groups like ISIS.
"There's no such thing as a lone wolf. You do know that?" Gorka responded. "That was a phrase invented by the last administration to make Americans stupid. There has never been — never been — a serious attack... or a serious plot that was unconnected from ISIS or Al Qaeda, at least through the ideology and the TTPs — the tactics, the training, the techniques, and the procedures — that they supply through the internet. Never happened. It's bogus."A Toronto man who embarked on a cross-country search for a woman named Elizabeth Gallagher to take on a trip around the world has found his travel companion in a 23-year-old Dalhousie University student from Cole Harbour, N.S.
Elizabeth Quinn Gallagher, a 23-year-old Dalhousie University student, has claimed a trip around the world with Jordan Axani. When looking for a replacement to take on the trip he planned with an ex-girlfriend, Jordan Axani said his companion had to have a willingness to see the world and desire to "pay it forward." Jordan Axani's search for a woman named Elizabeth Gallagher to take on a trip around the world went viral, eliciting emails and social media posts from around the world.
This Elizabeth Gallagher — unlike the woman with the same name who was originally supposed to use the tickets — volunteers at a local homeless shelter and is a seasonal Canadian coast guard rescuer. She will join Jordan Axani, a 28-year-old real estate development manager who posted a Reddit ad in November looking to find a replacement to take on the trip he planned with an ex-girlfriend before they broke up. Unable to change the name on the pre-booked plane tickets, Axani required his companion to be named Elizabeth Gallagher, have a Canadian passport, a willingness to see the world and the courage to “pay it forward.” The Elizabeth he settled on meets all the requirements and says she is excited about her impending adventure, even if it means she will miss celebrating Christmas and New Year’s with her family.
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Gallagher, who goes by her middle name Quinn instead of her first name, first caught wind of Axani’s offer when friends and family bombarded her with links to his Reddit post. Gallagher’s sister Lydia even tweeted Axani a photo of her sister’s passport verifying her name and citizenship after his quest made headlines in the U.K., Asia and Australia. She scrawled “Take me!!!” on top of the image. “They were pushing me out the door. Some of my sweetest aunts in the world who would never say anything were saying, ‘If you don’t go on this, you are crazy,’” she says, giggling. “I thought this is a crazy opportunity. Even if I didn’t get picked, I felt like I had to say I tried.” Axani’s search elicited floods of emails and social media posts from adventure-seekers living in all corners of the globe, plenty of whom offered to change their name to be eligible for the trip. To be crowned the lucky lady, Gallagher impressed with a questionnaire about herself and a Skype meeting with Axani that ended in the pair chatting “for hours.”
Putting to rest rumours that Axani had romance in mind when he set off on his search, he says the pair will be sleeping in separate rooms as they globetrot. Gallagher also has a long-term boyfriend who, she admits, “is a little jealous that I am going on a trip with a guy and a trip that he would love to go on.”
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“He is really supportive,” she adds, noting that he came on her last trip to Thailand, where she spent six months teaching English. As for Axani, he declined to say whether he told his former girlfriend about his choice, but he’s happy that the Gallagher he picked has a love for travelling and a penchant for giving back. “She has a real thirst to see the world,” Axani told the Star Tuesday, while standing at a set of Los Angeles airport gates about to board a plane headed for New York. “She has that east coast wonderful personality. She’s a good-hearted person.” After weeks of Skyping, the pair will meet up in New York on Dec. 21 to depart on their “around-the-world voyage, making stops in Milan, Prague, Vienna, Paris, Bangkok, Thailand, New Delhi and Agra before returning to Toronto on Jan. 12.” Axani is just getting around to planning which hot spots he will visit in each country, but has his eyes set on the Taj Mahal and various monuments in New Delhi. “The Christmas market in Prague is a no-brainer,” he adds. On Gallagher’s trip checklist is a visit back to her old town in Thailand to see former coworkers and students. In addition to bringing the two together, the search generated entertainment offers for Axani including a Bachelor-esque show to help him choose an Elizabeth and a documentary-style travel program. He stayed mum on whether he has taken any deals. He vows that the trip will be documented in some capacity and he will be posting regularly on his blog, Twitter and Instagram. When he returns to his Cabbagetown home, he will work on his newly formed charity, A Ticket Forward, uniting “underprivileged and at-risk individuals” with travel opportunities. The idea for the initiative came from a plethora of “heartbreaking stories” Axani received from people sharing fears of not being able to see the world. “I was reading this story about a terminally ill mother of two at 26 saying her biggest fear of dying will be that her children will never be able to see the world because she didn’t do so herself,” said Axani. “When you are reading these stories en masse, you are thinking, ‘oh my goodness, what can we do about this (and) how can we help?’” Axani’s solution was to find a way to help these people see the world with the help of hotel chain Marriott International — which is providing him and Gallagher with accommodations on their trip — and crowdfunding platform CrowdRise. Among the first four beneficiaries of the charity are a Toronto-based young woman whose family fled Somalia during the civil war and a Mississauga crisis hotline volunteer and life coach who survived “a violent marriage, childhood sexual assault and multiple car accidents.”
Read more about:With just over a week before TIME names its person of the year, the Ferguson protesters have surged ahead to first place in the magazine’s symbolic annual reader’s poll.
Following a grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson over the fatal shooting of an unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown, the protest movement has brought race and police brutality to the forefront of US society.
For those seeking to enjoy what is arguably America’s most family-centric holiday, protesters interrupting the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade kept events in that low-income Saint Louis suburb on everyone’s mind. You might be hard pressed to find a table where the word ‘Ferguson’ wasn’t uttered at least once over carved turkey, and pumpkin pie.
Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, was similarly appropriated under the banner ‘Black Lives Matter Friday.’ Malls were shut |
next time they had a long drive. Casey's father had mysteriously lost the gas card, and Davis and Casey never saw it again.
***
Chris Davis is a softie when it comes to football
In another life, Davis might have been playing a different sport entirely. The righty pitched in high school, and his fastball regularly graced the lower 90s on the radar gun; his two-inning relief performance in a 19-inning win at Boston's Fenway Park was something of a turning point in the 2012 Orioles' season.
Thanks to that arm strength, Casey convinced Davis to join Longview (Texas) High's football team as the quarterback. In theory, the move seemed perfect: Davis was tall, athletic and had an accurate arm. In practice, though, the match was over before it really even started.
"I think he came out for four days, maybe a week," said Casey, who went on to play tight end at the University of Florida. "I think he knew where his future was."
Davis' enjoyment of the game as a spectator hasn't subsided. In the offseason, he and Orioles catcher Taylor Teagarden -- also a Texas native -- make the drive to Arlington for Cowboys games and to Austin to watch the Texas Longhorns.
"We love sports, and we have a big passion for football," Teagarden said. "We spend a lot of time off the field together, guys' kind of things. But we don't do anything crazy though -- we're both pretty chill."
Although Teagarden and Davis have been teammates in Baltimore for less than two seasons, their friendship began many years ago. The pair became close in the Texas Rangers organization when they played at Class A Bakersfield (Calif.) in 2007; they made their big league debuts less than a month apart in 2008. After being traded to the Orioles in separate transactions, the two are happy to remain part of the same organization.
"It's cool to have a guy you've been through so much with on the team," Davis said. "It's like having a brother here."
***
Chris Davis has learned how to chill out
Despite his soft-spoken nature, Davis is almost universally regarded as a leader by his peers. In the past, some of the high regard came from his serious and professional demeanor in the clubhouse and on the diamond. It's an attitude he has had since high school, and sometimes it got the best of him.
Now a first baseman, Davis manned third base at Bakersfield in 2007. Before a game, he and the rest of the infield were warming up by fielding ground balls, and Davis felt that manager Carlos Subero hadn't sent enough in his direction. Upset, he started to walk back to the dugout, but Subero confronted him and the two began to argue.
"It wasn't a selfish act," Subero, now a minor league manager in the Angels organization, recalls. "He gets so focused, and he was ready to get his bunch of ground balls."
After the spat, Davis apologized to Subero, and the two never had a similar issue again. And in the six years since the incident, the rising star has become more lighthearted in the clubhouse while maintaining his role as a leader.
"He doesn't take baseball too seriously, and I mean that in a good way," said Orioles teammate Nate McLouth. "He's a good dude."
***
Chris Davis doesn't like to crush Crush
Resting on a hanger in his clubhouse locker at Camden Yards hangs a bright orange shirt with the word "Crush" emblazoned on the front, in the font of the popular soda brand. Yet while Davis likes his nicknames, he's not one to wear the apparel.
"The only time I wear my shirt is during a game," he said, gesturing toward his Orioles uniform.
Plenty of fans do it for him. Baltimore sponsored a Davis T-shirt giveaway in May, and shortly after the 10,000 freebies were distributed, they went for as much as $115 each on eBay.
Weeks later, dozens of people walk Eutaw Street on game days with the silhouette of his follow-through printed on their backs. Others simply don tees with the traditional Crush logo. They anticipate the extraordinary every time Davis steps to the plate. It's a lot of pressure for the first baseman, but he has taken it all in stride.
"He hasn't changed a bit," said Orioles hitting coach Jim Presley. "He has matured as a player, and matured as a hitter."
Davis was never a soda drinker, and the beverage with which he shares a name is no exception to the rule. Instead, a carton of water sits on the floor by his locker, and a reusable bottle rests on a suitcase nearby. But advertising executives at Crush shouldn't be too worried: Davis' bat provides plenty of pop.Listen to Bob Weir’s New Solo Album _Blue Mountain_ in Full
After premiering a few tracks along the way, Bob Weir’s first album of new solo material in 30 years is available to stream in full. Weir’s Blue Mountain finds him teaming with Josh Kaufman, Josh Ritter and The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner for a series of cowboy songs, drawing from Weir’s pre-Dead days in Wyoming working on a ranch.
Weir will support the album with a brief run of solo dates, dubbed the Campfire Tour, that begins October 7 in San Rafael, CA at the Marin County Civic Center. On the run, Weir will be joined by The National’s Aaron Dessner, Scott and Bryan Devendorf as well as Kaufman, who also served as the album’s producer.
Listen to the album below via NPR.DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 22nd year with its 2019 weekly surveys and for the second-straight week LSU sits at No. 1, followed by Vanderbilt at No. 2 and Oregon State at No. 3. LSU remains at No. 1 after going 4-0 last week, including a sweep of Bryant. The preseason No. 1 selection of Vanderbilt stayed put at No. 2 after going 3-0 last week. Oregon State jumped into the top three from No. 5 last week after going 5-0 last week, including a 4-game sweep of Nebraska. Georgia jumped up three spots to No. 7 this week after a sweep of UMass Lowell and the newcomer to the top 10 is Stanford, who went 3-1 last week, including a series win over UNLV. Overall, the top 10 consists of four SEC schools, three Pac-12 programs, two ACC schools and one Big 12 program. The biggest risers this week were Tennessee and Arizona State, as they jumped from not receiving votes to No. 27 and 26, respectively. The 2019 poll voters come from among 35 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation. After a preseason Top 40 listing, the remainder of the polls feature a national Top 30. The current survey has had representation by 12 different conferences among the 299 baseball-playing schools in the 2019 NCAA Division I ranks. The rankings of 2018 had 15 different DI conferences rated at least one week. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to ncbwa.com. 2019 NCBWA DIVISION I POLL (FEB. 25) Rk. School Conference Record Pvs. 1. LSU SEC 7-0 1 2. Vanderbilt SEC 5-1 2 3. Oregon State Pac-12 8-0 5 4. UCLA Pac-12 6-1 3 5. North Carolina ACC 7-0 7 6. Texas Tech Big 12 5-1 6 7. Georgia SEC 6-0 10 8. Florida State ACC 7-0 9 9. Florida SEC 5-3 4 10. Stanford Pac-12 6-1 12 11. Mississippi State SEC 6-1 15 12. Baylor Big 12 7-0 13 13. Arkansas SEC 5-1 14 14. Louisville ACC 5-2 8 15. East Carolina American Athletic 5-2 11 16. Clemson ACC 6-1 17 17. Ole Miss SEC 4-2 16 18. Michigan Big Ten 6-0 21 19. Coastal Carolina Sun Belt 7-1 19 20. Texas Big 12 6-2 20 21. Oklahoma State Big 12 5-2 23 22. Auburn SEC 6-2 22 23. TCU Big 12 5-2 18 24. Cal State Fullerton Big West 4-2 24 25. Duke ACC 6-1 25 26. Arizona State Pac-12 7-0 - 27. Tennessee SEC 7-0 - 28. Illinois Big Ten 6-0 - 29. N.C. State ACC 7-0 - 30. UC Irvine Big West 5-2 29 Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Alabama State (5-1), Arizona (6-2), California Baptist (9-0), Connecticut (3-3), Coppin State (5-2), Creighton (5-1), Dallas Baptist (5-2), FIU (3-3), Fresno State (5-1), Indiana State (6-0), Louisiana Tech (5-2), Loyola Marymount (4-3), Miami (FL) (5-2), Mississippi Valley State (0-0), New Mexico State (7-1), North Carolina A&T (5-1), North Dakota State (1-6), Oklahoma (6-1), Oregon (4-2), Richmond (5-0), Sam Houston State (5-1), San Diego State (5-2), South Alabama (4-2), South Carolina (6-1), Southern Miss (4-2), Texas A&M (7-1), Troy (4-3), Tulane (6-2), UNCG (3-1), Virginia Tech (5-0), Wake Forest (3-4), Washington (3-2), William & Mary (4-1). Dropped out: Southern Miss (26), Wake Forest (27), UC Irvine (28), Arizona (30). By conference: SEC 9, ACC 6, Big 12 5, Pac-12 4, Big Ten 2, American Athletic 1, Big West 1, Southland 1, Sun Belt 1. Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters and publicists of the sport. Members receive a membership card, directory, newsletter updates and official votes in the Dick Howser Trophy, Regional Players of the Year and NCBWA All-America voting. The NCBWA also sponsors Division I Players of the Week, the Stopper of the Year, and publication and writing contests. 2019 NCBWA Polls (No. 1 Team): • Preseason (Vanderbilt)
• Feb. 18 (LSU)
• Feb. 25 (LSU)A worldwide debate has emerged over religion and freedom of speech. And who, by example, has become America’s best advocate for free speech? The surprising answer may be the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Over the years and around the globe, cartoons of the prophet Muhammad have sparked protests among Muslims who believe such depictions insult their religious beliefs. The most extreme reaction came with the massacre of cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, an attack that killed 12 people. More recently, in Garland, Texas, two men were shot and killed before they could attack an event featuring drawings of Muhammad.
In the United States, the most notable example of a work of free expression poking fun at another religion is the successful Broadway play The Book of Mormon, created by South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
The play features two fictional Mormon missionaries who go to Uganda and boisterously sing, “God loves Mormons and he wants some more!” While learning a new religion is far from the minds of people in a village combatting AIDS, poverty and a local warlord, they listen to stories, distorted by a loopy young missionary, about Brigham Young, Joseph Smith and the founding of the Mormon Church.
And what was the reaction of the hierarchy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to mining their religion for laughs? Did they condemn the play? Did they seek to pressure venues or cities not to allow it to be performed? Did Mormons threaten violence against anyone? No, Mormons did not do any of those things.
To see the full article on Forbes, click here.Introduction
I previously wrote about ShaderSet, which was my attempt at making a clean, efficient, and simple shader live-reloading interface for OpenGL 4.
Since ShaderSet was so fun to use, I wanted to have the same thing in my D3D12 coding. As a result, I came up with PipelineSet. This class makes it easy to live-reload shaders, while encapsulating the complexity of compiling pipeline state in a multi-threaded fashion, and also allowing advanced usage to fit your rendering engine’s needs.
Show Me The Code
In summary, the interface looks something like what follows. I tried to show how it fits into the design of a component-based renderer.
// Example component of the renderer class MyRenderComponent { ID3D12RootSignature** mppRS; ID3D12PipelineState** mppPSO; public: void Init(IPipelineState* pPipeSet) { // set up your PSO desc D3D12_GRAPHICS_PIPELINE_STATE_DESC desc = {... }; // associate the compiled shader file names to shader stages GraphicsPipelineFiles files; // note: scene.vs.cso also contains root signature files.RSFile = L"scene.vs.cso"; files.VSFile = L"scene.vs.cso"; files.PSFile = L"scene.ps.cso"; std::tie(mppRS, mppPSO) = pPipeSet->AddPipeline(desc, files); } void WriteCmds(ID3D12GraphicsCommandList* pCmdList) { if (!*mppRS ||!*mppPSO) { // not compiled yet, or failed to compile return; } pCmdList->SetGraphicsRootSignature(*mppRS); pCmdList->SetPipelineState(*mppPSO); // TODO: Set root parameters and etc pCmdList->DrawInstanced(...); } }; std::shared_ptr<IPipelineState> pPipeSet; void RendererInit() { pPipeSet = IPipelineSet::Create(pDevice, kMaximumFrameLatency); // let each component add its pipelines foreach (component in renderer) { component->Init(pPipeSet.get()); } // Kick-off building the pipelines. // Can no longer add pipelines after this point. HANDLE hBuild = pPipeSet->BuildAllAsync(); // wait for pipelines to finish building if (WaitForSingleObject(hBuild, INFINITE)!= WAIT_OBJECT_0) { fprintf(stderr, "BuildAllAsync fatal error
"); exit(1); } } void RendererUpdate() { // updates pipelines that have reloaded since last update // also garbage-collects unused pipelines after kMaximumFrameLatency updates pPipeSet->UpdatePipelines(); foreach (component in renderer) { component->WriteCmds(pCmdList); } SubmitCmds(); }
The big idea is to add pipeline descs to the PipelineSet, and those descs don’t need to specify bytecode for their shader stages. Instead, the names of the compiled shader objects for each shader stage are passed through the “GraphicsPipelineFiles” or “ComputePipelineFiles” struct.
Each added shader returns a double-pointer to the root signature and pipeline state. This indirection allows the root signature and pipeline state to be reloaded, and also allows code to deal with the PipelineSet in an abstract manner. (It’s “just a double pointer”, not a PipelineSet-specific class.)
From there, BuildAllAsync() will build all the pipelines in the PipelineSet in a multi-threaded fashion, using the Windows Threadpool. When the returned handle is signaled, that means the compilation has finished.
Finally, you must call UpdatePipelines() at each frame. This does two things: First, it’ll update any pipelines and root signature that have been reloaded since the last update. Second, it garbage-collects any root signature and pipelines that are no longer used (ie. because they have been replaced by their new reloaded versions.) This garbage collection is done by deleting the resources only after kMaximumFrameLatency updates have passed. This works because it’s guaranteed that no more frames are in flight on the GPU with this pipeline state, since it exceeds the depth of your CPU to GPU pipeline.
The Workflow
IPipelineSet is designed to work along with Visual Studio’s built-in HLSL compiler. The big idea is to rebuild your shaders from Visual Studio while your program is running. This works quite conveniently, since Visual Studio’s default behavior for.hlsl files is to compile them to.cso (“compiled shader object”) files that can be loaded directly as bytecode by D3D12.
Normally, Visual Studio will force you to stop debugging if you want to rebuild your solution. However, if you “Start Without Debugging” (or hit Ctrl+F5 instead of just F5), then you can still build while your program is running. From there, you can make changes to your HLSL shaders while your program is running, and hit Ctrl+Shift+B to rebuild them live. The IPipelineSet will then detect a change in your cso files, and live-reload any affected root signatures and pipeline state objects.
To maintain bindings between shaders and C++, I used a so-called “preamble file” in ShaderSet. This preamble is not necessary with HLSL, since we can use its native #include functionality. Using this feature, I create a hlsli file (the HLSL equivalent of a C header) for the shaders I use. For example, if I have two shaders “scene.vs.hlsl” and “scene.ps.hlsl”, I create a third file “scene.rs.hlsli”, which contains two things:
The Root signature, as #define SCENE_RS “RootFlags(0), etc” The root parameter locations, like #define SCENE_CAMERA_CBV_PARAM 0
I include this rs.hlsli file from my vertex/pixel shaders, then put [RootSignature(SCENE_RS)] before their main. From there, I pick registers for buffers/textures/etc using the conventions specified in the root signature.
I also include this rs.hlsli file from my C++ code, which lets me directly refer to the root parameter slots in my code that sets root signature parameters.
As an example, let’s suppose I want to render a 3D model in a typical 3D scene. The vertex shader transforms each vertex by the MVP matrix, and the pixel shader reads from a texture to color the model. I might have a scene.rs.hlsli as follows:
#ifndef SCENE_RS_HLSLI #define SCENE_RS_HLSLI #define SCENE_RS \ "RootFlags(ALLOW_INPUT_ASSEMBLER_INPUT_LAYOUT)," \ "CBV(b0, visibility=SHADER_VISIBILITY_VERTEX)," \ "DescriptorTable(SRV(t0), visibility=SHADER_VISIBILITY_PIXEL)," \ "StaticSampler(s0, visibility=SHADER_VISIBILITY_PIXEL)" #define SCENE_RS_MVP_CBV_PARAM 0 #define SCENE_RS_TEX0_DESCRIPTOR_TABLE_PARAM 1 #endif // SCENE_RS_HLSLI
This code defines the root signature for use in HLSL. (See: Specifying Root Signatures in HLSL) The defines at the bottom correspond to root parameter slots, and they match the order of root parameters specified in the root signature string.
The vertex shader scene.vs.hlsl would then be something like:
#include "scene.rs.hlsli" cbuffer MVPCBV : register(b0) { float4x4 MVP; }; struct VS_INPUT { float3 Position : POSITION; float2 TexCoord : TEXCOORD; }; struct VS_OUTPUT { float4 Position : SV_Position; float2 TexCoord : TEXCOORD; }; [RootSignature(SCENE_RS)] VS_OUTPUT VSmain(VS_INPUT input) { VS_OUTPUT output; output.Position = mul(float4(input.Position,1.0), MVP); output.TexCoord = input.TexCoord; return output; }
Notice that the register b0 is chosen so it matches what was specified in the root signature in scene.rs.hlsli. Also notice the [RootSignature(SCENE_RS)] attribute above the main.
From there, the pixel shader scene.ps.hlsl might look like this:
#include "scene.rs.hlsli" Texture2D Tex0 : register(t0); SamplerState Smp0 : register(s0); struct PS_INPUT { float4 Position : SV_Position; float2 TexCoord : TEXCOORD; }; struct PS_OUTPUT { float4 Color : SV_Target; }; [RootSignature(SCENE_RS)] PS_OUTPUT PSmain(PS_INPUT input) { PS_OUTPUT output; output.Color = Tex0.Sample(Smp0, input.TexCoord); return output; }
Again notice that the registers for the texture and sampler match those specified in the root signature, and notice the RootSignature attribute above the main.
Finally, I call this shader from my C++ code. I include the header from the source file of the corresponding renderer component, I set the root signature parameters, and make the call. It might be something similar to this:
#include "scene.rs.hlsli" class SceneRenderer { ID3D12RootSignature** mppRS; ID3D12PipelineState** mppPSO; public: void Init(IPipelineSet* pPipeSet) { D3D12_GRAPHICS_PIPELINE_STATE_DESC desc = {... }; GraphicsPipelineFiles files; files.RSFile = L"scene.vs.cso"; files.VSFile = L"scene.vs.cso"; files.PSFile = L"scene.ps.cso"; std::tie(mppRS, mppPSO) = pPipeSet->AddPipeline(desc, files); } void WriteCmds( BufferAllocator* pPerFrameAlloc, ID3D12GraphicsCommandList* pCmdList) { if (!*mppRS ||!*mppPSO) { // not compiled yet, or failed to compile return; } float4x4* pCPUMVP; D3D12_GPU_VIRTUAL_ADDRESS pGPUMVP; std::tie(pCPUMVP, pGPUMVP) = pPerFrameAlloc->allocate( sizeof(float4x4), D3D12_CONSTANT_BUFFER_DATA_PLACEMENT_ALIGNMENT); *pCPUMVP = MVP; pCmdList->SetGraphicsRootSignature(*mppRS); pCmdList->SetPipelineState(*mppPSO); pCmdList->SetGraphicsRootConstantBufferView( SCENE_RS_MVP_CBV_PARAM, pGPUMVP); pCmdList->SetGraphicsRootDescriptorTable( SCENE_RS_TEX0_DESCRIPTOR_TABLE_PARAM, Tex0SRV_GPU); /* TODO: Set other GPU state */ pCmdList->DrawIndexedInstanced(...); } };
There’s things going on here that aren’t strictly the topic of this article, but I’ll explain them anyways because I think it’s very useful for writing D3D12 code.
I use a big upload buffer each frame to write all my CBV allocations to, that’s the purpose of pPerFrameAlloc. Its allocate() function returns both a CPU (mapped) pointer and the corresponding GPU virtual address for the allocation, which allows me to write to the allocation from CPU, then pass the GPU VA while writing commands.
In this case, the per-frame allocation is an upload buffer, so I don’t need to explicitly copy from CPU to GPU (the shader will just read from host memory.) An alternate implementation could use an additional allocator for a default heap, and explicitly make a copy from the upload heap to the default heap.
The per-frame allocator is a simple lock-free linear allocator, so I can use it to make allocations from multiple threads, if I’m recording commands from multiple threads.
I could do something similar to the per-frame allocator for descriptors for the Tex0SRV_GPU, or I could create the descriptor once up-front in the Init(). It’s up to your choice, really.
When the time comes to finally specify the root parameters, I do it using the defines from the included scene.rs.hlsli, such as SCENE_RS_MVP_CBV_PARAM. This makes sure my C++ code stays synchronized to the HLSL code.
In Summary
IPipelineSet implements D3D12 shader live-reloading. It encapsulates the concurrent code used to reload shaders, and encapsulates the parallel code that accelerates PSO compilation through multi-threading. It integrates with code without that code needing to be aware of PipelineSet (it’s “just a double-pointer”), and garbage collection is handled efficiently and automatically. Finally, PipelineSet is designed for a workflow using Visual Studio that makes it easy to rebuild shaders while your program is running, and allows you to easily share resource bindings between HLSL and C++.
There are a bunch more advanced features. For example, it’s possible to supply an externally created root signature or shader bytecode, and it’s possible to “steal” signature/pipeline objects from the live-reloader by manipulating the reference count. See the comments in pipelineset.h for details.
You can download PipelineSet from GitHub: https://github.com/nlguillemot/PipelineSet
You can integrate it into your codebase by just adding pipelineset.h and pipelineset.cpp into your project. Should “just work”, assuming you have D3D12 and DXGI linked up already.
Comments, critique, pull requests, all welcome.
AdvertisementsCuteness overload! We’ve been really hoping the World’s Largest Rubber Duck would make an appearance and it looks like our collective wishful efforts worked!
The World’s Largest Rubber Duck will be a part of the ONTARIO 150 Tour presented by Redpath Sugar. The tour will have the duck travelling to six ports throughout Ontario this summer to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary.
The 61-foot tall rubber duck will be floating in our local Toronto waters on Canada Day weekend (July 1-3) during the Redpath Waterfront Festival. After that, it will move on to Owen Sound, Sault Ste. Marie, Midland, Amherstburg and Brockville.
Other Ontario 150 Tour events include local live music and entertainment in each of the ports. Rhythm of the Nation (Canada 150 Fund initiative) will also be high on our list to check out during the festival. The interactive dance and music performance centres around artist DJ Creeasian. Also announced is the West Coast Lumberjack Show as part of the tour programming. More details can be found on the website for the event here.
The World’s Largest Rubber Duck was created to inspire locals and tourists to explore and enjoy waterfront festivals around the world.
We hope you come down to snap some pics and share them with our readers.
DATES
Toronto – Redpath Waterfront Festival – July 1-3, 2017 – towaterfrontfest.com
Owen Sound – Maawanji’iding Festival Canadiana – July 7-9, 2017 – celebration2017.ca
Sault Ste. Marie – ROTARFEST, The Sault’s Summer Festival – July13-15, 2017 – rotaryfest.om
Midland – Harbour Days – July 21-23, 2017 – midland.ca
Amherstburg – Raiders, Rebels and Redcoats – August 5-6, 2017 – amherstburg.ca
Brockville – Rails to Trails – August 10-13 – railstotrailsbrockville.caPool/Getty Images
It's about to get ugly in the Obamacare insurance market, according to the man that runs Covered California, the second-largest individual insurance exchange in the country.
Peter Lee, Covered California's executive director, told Business Insider in an interview that the Trump administration has thrown a wrench into insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act that were on their way to stabilizing themselves in 2017. Lee even agreed with Trump's assessment that Obamacare is "gone" — but perhaps for a different reason than Trump intended.
"So I think there is a truth to it — Obamacare is gone," Lee said. "The reality is what is going to come home to roost for this president and this Congress is a collapsed individual market that was working well."
Lee said research from the Kaiser Family Foundation and Standard and Poor's pointed to increased insurer profitability and strong enrollment numbers. Now, that appears to be up in the air heading into the 2018 open-enrollment period.
"If you look at all of this research, 2017 was going to be the big turnaround year and now 2018 is going to be a s---storm," Lee said. "It is going to be a nightmare for much of country with some islands of calm, relatively speaking."
Already, a study by healthcare consulting firm Avalere Health projected that premiums for the lowest cost silver-level plans on the Obamacare exchanges would increase by 34% in 2018. Benchmark silver plans, which are the second most expensive, went up by only 26% in 2017.
Avalere said the increase was, in part, due to Trump's elimination of so-called cost-sharing reduction payments and "general volatility around the policies governing the exchanges."
Lee said that while consumers would be insulated from those increases for the most part, thanks to federal subsidies, it is an example of the ways White House interference has caused problems for the Obamacare exchanges.
Lee cited several examples of how the Department of Health and Human Services helped to undermine the market, including cutting off the critical cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments, slashing funding for open enrollment that encourages people to sign up for plans on the Obamacare exchanges, and shortening the open-enrollment period to six weeks from 12.
California is making up for this lack of spending with a huge outreach campaign of their own, but Lee said the rest of the country will not be so lucky and it could lead to serious consequences down the road.
"But I think in a lot of other parts of the country, you're looking at a federal government not spending money on marketing, you're looking at uncertainty around CSRs," Lee told Business Insider. "Without that certainty, I think there's the risk of having hundreds of bare counties in 2019 and mammoth rate increases."
Ultimately, Lee said all of these changes add up to one truth: Trump now owns any problems that crop up in 2018.
"This is now on President Trump, the healthcare market is not about President Obama anymore," Lee said. "They are the responsibility of this president, and they have to be owned by this president."We don’t have much time. Are you in Vancouver, in a room? Is the door closed? Okay. Now is there a door knob or a lever on that closed door? Don’t panic but if you’re in that room come March, you will have no way out if there’s a door knob on that door. Fine, not really, but the city has banned door knobs in favor of levers and push pads, so in the future a lever will be your only way out.
How in the what and the who in the huh — how can a city get rid of an entire design? Vancouver can and did. And since it’s the only city in Canada with its own building code, that sets it up as a sort of arbiter of taste for the rest of British Columbia. Now that legislators there have tweaked the code to get rid of the ubiquitous knob by March, it’s likely others across the country will as well, reports the Toronto Sun.
See, levers and push pads are easier to operate when your hands are busy carrying things (like poutine maybe, yum, good job with that one, Canada). All knobs will be on the outs, including the kind that turn water faucets on and off. That means no fancy porcelain or glass door dongles in your home, no polished metal or any other circular openers and closers.
There won’t be a door knob police squad busting into homes however, just all new housing construction will have to comply with the updated code and use lever handles and faucets. So if you’ve got a knob, you can keep it. Cherish it, call it your precious, whatever you want.
But anyone moving into a new place, don’t expect the knob to greet you with its circular little face. Some see that as going too far, including a Yankee with a certain affection for the things.
“I can understand if you have a public building where everybody wants to have free access and that is a problem,” the president of the Antique Door Knob Collectors of America tells the paper. “But to say that when I build my private home and nobody is disabled that I have to put levers on, strikes me as overreach.”
But a professor and director of the School of Social Work at the University of B.C. says it’s more about opening up the world to everyone and not keeping anyone out.
“Basically, the idea is that you try to make environments that are as universally usable by any part of the population,” he said. “The old model was adaptation, or adapted design. You took a space and you adapted for use of the person with a disability. What universal design says is let’s turn it around and let’s just build everything so it is as usable by the largest segments of the population as possible.”
Vancouver’s ban on the humble doorknob likely to be a trendsetter [Toronto Sun]MADISON, Wis. -- The Milwaukee Bucks spent more money lobbying the Wisconsin Legislature than any other organization during the first half of the year, as the NBA team was pushing for approval of a new basketball arena.
A report released Friday by the state elections board, which oversees lobbying, showed the Bucks spent just over $482,000 on lobbying through June. The next highest was the Wisconsin Hospital Association at nearly $379,000.
The Bucks' lobbying paid off. The Legislature, on bipartisan votes, ultimately approved spending $250 million in taxpayer money on a new stadium for the team. Gov. Scott Walker signed the measure into law this month.
The amount spent by the Bucks doesn't include lobbying on the arena bill in July, when it passed both houses. Those figures will be reported in January.I was walking around the shops one lunchtime and seen some lovely Easter decorations and in particular I saw this gorgeous burlap bunny, which I thought I could make myself. I went in our local fabric shop to see if they had any fabrics in and they actually had some lovely burlap hessian fabric, which I took as a sign and bought it straight away!
I didn’t have a pattern so looked online to get some inspiration and see if there were any nice bunnies or patterns I could use as a guide. I saw this tutorial online which I thought was very helpful and started off with using the pattern available there.
The tutorial was for a soft woolen bunny, miles away from my burlap bunny but I thought, what’s the difference..?? well, I was WRONG! There is a big difference and using the burlap was a nightmare.. I started off by cutting out the shapes and soon learnt my first lesson – burlap fabric FRAYS and a lot!
Thankfully, I made the bunny’s head and ears without any..well many problems.. I used a mixture of sewing machine and hand stitching for this and double, treble sew over so that it wouldn’t fray once it was stuffed.
I made the legs and the arms, one leg turned out different to the other so I made another one as I needed the bunny to look perfect..I started off taking photos step by step, but soon I was so fed up and annoyed that I just had to get on with the bunny and hope for the best leaving the camera sitting on the table..
Then it was time to make the body, the tutorial suggested to cut out 4 pieces, well it would have worked with any other fabric, however, not with the burlap, another lesson learnt.. The fabric not only frayed but I sew on the bloody wrong leg!!! The ‘good‘ leg was left on the table…. By this stage I was so annoyed at this bunny I was ready to cry and give up! I decided it was time to stop and think with a fresh head the next day.. so I stepped away from the bunny before it ended up in the bin..
The next day I had a look at the bunny and had a think about this.. I decided that the head was so nice I could not throw it away and decided not to give up.. I kept saying – this bunny will not defeat me! So I re-used the arms and the (correct) legs and just cut out the fabric and thought it’s time to improvise… So I did…
My fingers were sore from the rough fabric, plus I broke around 5 needles on the sewing machine, so decided to just hand stitch the rest and hope for the best.. I pricked myself so many times, I was ready to cry.. I decided at this stage that this bunny was a boy and his name was going to be Prick.. Obviously I picked this name because I had pricked myself so many times making it and it just felt appropriate at the time…. It seemed like this bunny was laughing in my face, but I kept saying to myself that I will not give up.. Sounds so silly but it was Me versus The Bunny and I am not a quitter!! 🙂
I finished the body, sew the nose on and attached the head to it and then stuffed it. Then it was done! I was so happy that all the body parts were attached I didn’t quite care what it looked like.. I took a photo and oh dear.. I didn’t think it looked that brilliant, I thought that my bunny looked like a bunny with a penguin’s body.. yet again I thought it was destined for the bin, but yet again I decided to think again the next day, breathe and count to 10……
So the next day I decided that Prick will have to be turned into a girl and dressed up nicely if I had any chance of saving this…
I started working on it and decided to use the dress that belonged to my little sister. The irony of my sister having the bunny on her head! 🙂
It is more that 18 years old but I just loved the colours and the pattern, so I decide to make the outfit for the bunny out of this fabric.
I didn’t have any patterns, I was just improvising, adding some little touches and ribbons. Once the bunny was dressed I actually thought she looked great! For the first time I was actually happy with what she looked like.. She was by no means perfect, but after the struggle I had with her, she was perfect to me |
funds, and also that AuM was disclosed in the doc. That’s true ($30m under management) - but I’d like to know the size of each fund, as well as whether all investors paid 2.5% management fee plus 25% of the gains. I will update this post accordingly when I hear.]
Furthermore, the rates of return indicated are gross, not net. So investors in the previous funds actually receive a significantly smaller return than what is indicated, once Blockchain’s fees are deducted. It’s disappointing to me that they only listed the gross returns, because the only thing that matters is the net returns.
2. They aren’t believers in tokens.
I’m not excited about their thesis - they wrote their terms to allow token sales but the document makes clear that it is not a focus.
Part of the reason for their relatively low returns is that they didn’t invest in tokens or crypto. I get it - it’s very hard to raise money to do that. But at the same time, it didn’t happen, so it’s hard for me to give them credit for seeing just how much they should’ve pushed to get into tokens.
If they didn’t see the last big trend in this space, how can I feel confident they’ll see the next one?
3. High fees.
The trend on fees has probably been downward, except for the top tier. These are relatively high fees for (so far) non-top tier returns.
In general, my take on the terms was that it seemed like terms that a fund would start LP negotiations, but eventually the terms would become more investor friendly. Perhaps Blockchain will prove me wrong by raising the rest of the fund with exactly these terms. I’m skeptical, however.
Plus, at the risk of being repetitive, they gave gross returns for previous returns, but still haven’t told us what the actual returns for investors have been.
Bull case:
1. Followon rights in Coinbase, String, and Parity/Ethcore, as well as a few others.
VC is a hits business. It’s the seed rounds that produce the absurd IRR, but since you get to put more money in later rounds, so the dollar-weighted rate of return can actually be bigger.
If you think that Brian Armstrong is a great recruiter of talent and is well positioned to make Coinbase magnitudes bigger (I think he might!), then you might buy just to get some exposure to Coinbase. Likewise for String/Parity – though presumably much of those returns will come from tokens, and you could just buy those tokens yourself in the next few months.
It’s worth noting that follow on rights are only useful if Coinbase, String, Parity, etc actually raise more rounds. You don’t get a piece of Blockchain’s existing investments by investing in this fund.
2. SEC regulation/lawsuits eliminate token sales for US, thus more US based companies use VC
You can imagine a future where the SEC cracks down on token sales at the behest of the rich and politically connected. Thus, some US projects might choose VC rounds over token sales. In practice, SEC action would probably lead to even more companies fleeing the US and would just serve to further disadvantage Americans.
Even so, if this happens, this would likely boost the returns to this fund.
3. Token market never takes off.
I put this one last, because in my view it is already taking off, though that momentum could end and the future is hard to predict.
Blockchain Capital is one of the preeminent VC firms in the space. Therefore if blockchains takes off but token sales don’t, then this token should do well. In general, I tend to believe that if blockchains take off then token sales will also take off, particularly because token sales are taking off already before blockchain apps.
However, you could also imagine scenarios (such as SEC action) where token sales fizzle out, but blockchains remain strong.
Concluding thought
This is only a token sale for non-US markets. As the sale is limited to under 100 US accredited investors, I don’t think I’d have any chance to buy their tokens even if I wanted to. So I have no skin in the game here. As always, caveat emptor.
Disclaimer: None of this is financial advice, I’m not recommending that you do anything. If you want investment advice you should do more than just read a blog. I know nothing of your portfolio needs, etc.
Thanks to Alex Felix from Coinfund for some critical comments on a draft on this post.Someone should ask General Petraeus today why he is working so hard to help Iran. This is not to suggest he is some sort of enemy of the state. I suppose he is following orders, but why doesn't he question his wildly counterproductive and conflicting orders?
I hear him bemoaning Iranian influence in Iraq all the time. Yet, no one has helped Iran more inside Iraq than he has. We have lent the full force of our military might to the political faction and Shiite militia most closely associated with Iran.
Granted there aren't a lot of good guys in the different Iraqi militias (on the other hand, they don't have much reason to think we're swell, either). But why have we decided to back the most pro-Iranian militia in the whole country?
All of these objectives seem to be diametrically opposed to what we want in Iraq. So why have we thrown all our military muscle behind them? This is not just a rhetorical question. I'm actually curious as to what the answer is. Why are we helping ISCI and Bard Corps split up Iraq and allowing Iran to gain even greater influence inside Iraq?
I hope Gen. Petraeus isn't going to pretend that the Sadr's Mahdi Army has closer ties to Iran. That is demonstrably false. If he does that, then you know he is just Dick Cheney's puppet trying to stoke hostilities with Iran based on false premises. But beyond that, if we want to fight Iran so badly, why are we helping their top allies in Iraq?Multiple nations have reported receiving letters from Saudi Arabia threatening diplomatic repercussions as well as cutbacks in trade from the entire GCC if they back the Netherlands-Canada resolution on Yemen at the UN Human Rights Council, scheduled for Friday.
This is the third straight year of the UN Human Rights Council approaching the war crimes in Yemen, and the past two years saw the Saudis having a fit before everyone decided to just let the Saudis investigate themselves. The Saudis are offering an alternate resolution this year to keep doing that.
A soaring civilian toll in the Yemen War has meant growing support for the Netherlands-Canada resolution. China backed the measure a couple of weeks ago. The US has come out against the resolution, backing the Saudi alternative.
That Saudi Arabia is bothering to threaten people ahead of the vote shows how concerned they are at where it’s going. In the past, they’ve relied on the historical reality that whenever they have a loud enough fit at the UN, everyone else backs down and gives them what they want. That apparently no longer applies.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzBy Steve Chapman - December 15, 2013
If you offer people something that is too good to be true, you will always find takers. Ask Bernie Madoff. Or ask Barack Obama. He recently proposed an increase in the minimum wage -- an idea that suits the natural predilections of many people enough to distract them from the unsentimental and unwelcome logic of economics.
One poll found that 63 percent of Americans favor raising the federal floor from the current $7.25 to $10.10, as the president recommends doing over two years. The reasons are obvious. Wages have stagnated, low-income Americans are getting a smaller share of national income and many working people are stuck in poverty despite their best efforts. A higher minimum wage is the obvious solution.
Obvious, but wrong. The proposal rests on the assumption that the government can decree the price of a commodity -- in this case, labor -- in defiance of the dictates of the market, without ill effects. But that view requires a heroic suspension of disbelief.
When stores want to move slow-selling merchandise, they cut prices. When customers clamor for more of an item than sellers can provide, they raise prices. Lower prices result in higher demand, and higher prices do the opposite.
This is not exotic free-market dogma but elementary economics. Any CEO who proposed to boost sales by jacking up prices would see the company's stock price plummet in response to this lunacy.
But supporters of a higher minimum wage would have us believe that low-wage workers are magically exempt from these phenomena. They claim companies will employ just as many employees at $10.10 an hour as they do at $7.25.
But they must doubt their own case. Otherwise, they would propose an even higher amount, confident it will be irrelevant to hiring decisions. If a minimum wage of $20 or $30 an hour would cause layoffs, though, why wouldn't $10.10? At what point on the wage scale does the law of supply and demand take effect?
Even liberal hero Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate in economics and columnist for The New York Times, has grudgingly acknowledged this reality. In his 1998 textbook, he wrote that "the centrist view is probably that minimum wages 'do,' in fact, reduce employment, but that the effects are small."
In the short run, McDonald's and KFC might have little choice but to keep staffing at current levels and cough up more on payday. But in the long run, employers would have a significant incentive to find ways to employ fewer workers -- by automating tasks, moving to more self-service, demanding more of each employee, cutting back store hours or closing marginal outlets.
Among liberals who have reservations about free trade, the usual complaint is that U.S. companies will migrate to Mexico or Colombia to obtain cheap foreign labor. But if one company will pack up its assembly lines and move them thousands of miles to alien lands to reduce wage costs, why wouldn't another company redesign its operations here to do the same? Why would it passively accept a hit to its bottom line?
It's been argued that restaurants are likely to absorb the increase because they can't move abroad. True enough. But shutting down is always an option. A lot of fast-food outlets are only modestly profitable anyway.
Burger King, Wendy's, KFC and Arby's closed more restaurants than they opened last year. Higher labor costs will mean even more vacant buildings -- and fewer jobs.
It's true that the smaller the legislated increase the less the effect on hiring and firing. But less effect is not the same as zero effect. A small minimum wage boost would not cause a big increase in unemployment, but only because it would not produce a big increase in the earnings of the affected workers.
The plausible argument for the change is that the benefit to these workers is large enough to outweigh the effects on the newly unemployed. But even that claim is tenuous. A study by economists Joseph Sabia of American University and Richard Burkhauser of Cornell found that "minimum wage increases between 2003 and 2007 had no effect on state poverty rates."
In the picture painted by Obama and congressional Democrats, raising the minimum wage is an unmixed blessing, helping some people while harming no one. If you believe that, the next Bernie Madoff is out there, and with any luck he'll find you.President Obama argues that his policies will result in cleaner air and will mitigate the effects of climate change, but unintended consequences of the administration’s environmental agenda seem all but certain — possibly even including higher mortality rates across the country, according to at least one scholar.
Key pieces of Mr. Obama’s environmental plan, including proposals to increase ozone standards, limit carbon emissions from power plants and continue mandating more ethanol in U.S. gasoline supplies, will bring with them serious side effects in the coming months and years, critics and some analysts say.
Those effects could include higher electricity rates and the loss of jobs in the manufacturing and energy sectors. And by continuing to push the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) — which began during former President George W. Bush’s administration and requires that ethanol be blended into gasoline — despite serious questions about its effectiveness and viability, some analysts contend the administration is putting Americans’ health at risk.
“The Renewable Fuel Standard, because it is currently dominated by corn grain ethanol, is responsible for reduced air quality over much of the U.S., which leads to increased mortality,” Jason Hill, associate professor of bioproducts and biosystems engineering at the University of Minnesota, told a House subcommittee last week, adding that the blended gasoline is cleaner when burned but the production process releases harmful pollution.
The Renewable Fuels Association, which promotes the use of ethanol and other renewable fuels in gasoline, argues the practice will reduce pollution and save consumers money at the gas pump. Ethanol proponents in Congress also soundly rejected Mr. Hill’s claim during last week’s hearing.
But potential unintended consequences of the administration’s climate agenda go beyond concerns with the RFS.
SEE ALSO: Democratic leader Hillary Clinton: ‘I’d defend’ Obama’s plan on power plant emissions
Data from the federal Energy Information Administration has shown that the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, the final version of which will be released Monday, will raise electricity rates for average Americans, at least in the short term. The proposal will limit carbon emissions from power plants, and the EPA has admitted that coal’s share of U.S. power generation will drop by about 25 percent if the plan is fully implemented.
The administration is expected to unveil stringent standards but may give states until 2022 to meet emissions targets rather than 2020, as originally planned, according to media reports.
There also are questions swirling around the EPA’s new ozone standards, due out in October. The proposal is expected to lower surface ozone standards from 75 parts per billion to 65 or 70 parts per billion, and critics fear the plan ultimately could be the most expensive regulation in U.S. history.
Costs for compliance with the rule could be as high as $10 billion a year, estimates show.
The Chamber of Commerce and other top business groups also warn that the ozone standards could delay key infrastructure projects, such as the D.C. metro system’s Purple Line expansion and lane widening on Interstate 270. Regions that fail to meet the EPA’s new ozone standards technically could lose out on federal highway and infrastructure funding, though the administration vehemently denies that will happen.
Denials aside, critics say the cumulative effect of Mr. Obama’s climate policies could be devastating.
Average Americans may only truly learn how severe the consequences will be once it is too late, according to Dan Kish, senior vice president for policy at the conservative Institute for Energy Research.
“In many cases, they won’t find out until they’re ramped up. The only law that ever seems to constantly get passed in Washington is the law of unintended consequences,” Mr. Kish said. “It isn’t until all of these things go into place that you can watch what’s going to happen. You can’t put layer on layer on layer. Eventually, the camel’s back breaks.”
In laying out his climate proposals, Mr. Obama has said the U.S. must be a global leader on the issue and argues serious crackdowns on greenhouse gas emissions are necessary both to improve public health and bolster national security.
The president has cast climate change as perhaps the greatest national security threat facing the U.S. today, and the Pentagon last week released a new report saying extreme weather and other effects of global warming threaten world stability.
“Global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for U.S. national security interests over the foreseeable future because it will aggravate existing problems — such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership, and weak political situations — that threaten domestic stability in a number of countries,” the Defense Department said.
But the pushback on Mr. Obama’s climate agenda is growing stronger by the day.
On ozone, the National Association of Manufacturers this week launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign opposing the new standards. The group argues that jobs will be lost and the economy hamstrung by the proposal.
“Unfortunately, the new proposed ozone standard is so over-the-top, even places with no industrial activity for miles around will be considered noncompliant,” the association’s president and CEO, Jay Timmons, said in a statement.
On electricity prices, recent federal data show that the Clean Power Plan will drive up costs in many parts of the country, though the research does say prices eventually will stabilize. One recent report from the Energy Information Administration said average electricity prices could rise by as much as 7 percent as a result of the plan. The regulations also are already being blamed for the closure or conversion of coal-fired power plants across the country.
For those reasons, critics have vowed to file new lawsuits challenging the Clean Power Plan. Some Republican governors, such as Indiana’s Mike Pence, have said they’ll ignore the regulations entirely.
Still, the EPA denies that the plan will harm the economy, cost jobs or drive up energy and electricity prices. On the ozone regulations, the agency last month blasted the Chamber of Commerce and its partners for perpetuating the notion the federal government would cut off highway funding.
“If an area acts in good faith by developing and implementing an initial plan to attain the [ozone] standard, but does not attain by its attainment date, highway and transit funds will not be withheld,” the agency said in a statement.
Furthermore, the agency also downplays the looming electricity price hikes. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in June said that while the Clean Power Plan could raise prices in the short term, prices ultimately will drop as a result.
Beyond that, she said, the public health benefits of less pollution far outweigh any costs.
“Not all carbon reduction strategies actually cost money,” she said.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.A food bank that serves Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood says it's in danger of closing due to "a major financial shortfall."
In a news release issued Friday, the Parkdale Community Food Bank said its donations are falling behind the needs of its clients.
The food bank said it must raise $100,000 to ensure it will stay open until well into next year and is appealing to the community for help.
"As it stands, the food bank could close its doors next month," said Executive Director Robert Thorpe. "This would be tragic for the hundreds of low-income families and seniors in the area who rely on the food we provide."
The food bank serves food to as many as 2,800 people each month.
Since the recession in 2009, the food bank said it has seen demand rise 50 per cent while donations have dropped over the same period.Mr. Turchinov was recently appointed by the new president, Viktor A. Yushchenko, who has vowed to revive the long-stalled investigation into Mr. Gongadze's death. Mr. Turchinov said in an interview on Ukraine's 1+1 television network that Mr. Kravchenko had been "one of the prime suspects."
His death has roiled Ukraine's politics, with some leading lawmakers criticizing the government's handling of the investigation and others calling for more arrests, including Mr. Kuchma's. Mr. Kuchma, who had been vacationing in the Czech Republic after stepping down in January, returned to Ukraine on Saturday after again denying that he had had anything to do with Mr. Gongadze's killing.
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Mr. Turchinov, who examined the cottage and the shed where Mr. Kravchenko died, declined to describe the contents of the note, but indicated that Mr. Kravchenko's death had not brought the investigation to a halt.
"It provides quite a lot of information for the investigation," he said of the note, according to Interfax. "The note concerns particular people who are also suspects in the case. It provides investigators with a chance to plan the further direction of the investigation."
After years of inaction under Mr. Kuchma, the investigation has gathered momentum, raising speculation that senior members of Mr. Kuchma's government could face arrest and trial for Mr. Gongadze's killing, one of the most prominent and symbolic crimes committed in Ukraine since the country regained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Earlier this week, Mr. Yushchenko and the prosecutor general, Svyatoslav M. Piskun, announced that they had arrested three suspects, a general and two colonels who worked under Mr. Kravchenko. They also said they knew who had orchestrated the crime, though they did not elaborate. Mr. Piskun also publicly identified Mr. Kravchenko as a witness, announcing in advance that Mr. Kravchenko would be questioned by investigators on the day he died.
Mr. Turchinov said Mr. Kravchenko's daughter was walking the family's dog in the yard of the house in Koncha-Zaspa, an elite enclave that includes the country cottages of many of the country's political leaders, when Mr. Kravchenko went into a shed and fired two shots with a pistol registered to him. The first shot went through his chin and out his mouth, Mr. Turchinov said. The second bullet entered his right temple.0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
After Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) had told CNN that he couldn’t vote for Donald Trump, the Republican nominee went on a rampage against Flake that tore the Republican Party wide open.
Video of Sen. Flake saying that he can’t support Trump on CNN’s State Of The Union:
Jeff Flake stands his ground: "I simply can't" support Donald Trump. https://t.co/4CGZCNq2UM — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 4, 2016
Here was the exchange between CNN’s Jake Tapper and Sen. Flake:
TAPPER: So, the last time we spoke, you said you did not know what you were going to do on Election Day. You must have a pretty good idea by now, though.
If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?
FLAKE: I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. And, as of now, I would still not vote for Donald Trump.
TAPPER: So, if you — if you don’t want to vote for either of them, would you vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian?
FLAKE: You can always write somebody in.
So, I just know that I would like to vote for Donald Trump. It’s not comfortable to not support your nominee. But, given the positions that he has taken and the tone and tenor of his campaign, I simply can’t.
At this point, a normal presidential nominee may have tried to unify and lead his party by attempting to bring Sen. Flake into the fold.
That is what a normal nominee might do.
This is what Donald Trump did:
The Republican Party needs strong and committed leaders, not weak people such as @JeffFlake, if it is going to stop illegal immigration. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2016
Donald Trump responded to Flake’s comments by attacking a high-ranking member of his own party.
Trump is intent on destroying the Republican Party from within. His natural instinct is to tear the GOP apart. Donald Trump doesn’t care that he is hurting his own chances of winning in November by dividing the Republican Party.
One of the main reasons why Trump is trailing in nearly every poll is that somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% of Republicans don’t support him. At a time when the Republican Party should be singularly focused on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump is picking fights with Sen. Jeff Flake.
Trump’s thin skin and unfit temperament are the gifts that may not stop giving until Hillary Clinton is elected president in November.
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I’ve long been a skeptic of the theory that Donald Trump won the presidency because of his appeal to white racial anxiety. He certainly tried to win on that basis, but exit polling is pretty clear that, nationwide, Trump won no more of the white vote than Mitt Romney did. It’s true that he won the majority of the white vote, but that’s because Republicans always win the majority of the white vote.
But that’s just the 100,000-foot view. What happens when you dig deeper? Thomas Edsall, who consistently writes some of the most thought-provoking analysis around, takes a look at some of the data that’s now starting to trickle out and presents us with this chart that compares the 2012 and 2016 elections:
In most places, even those that are heavily white, the red trendline is below zero, which means Trump won a smaller share of the vote than Romney did. The only places where he outperformed Romney were in the very whitest suburbs and small towns:
The very white municipalities that voted so strongly for Trump believe that they have reason to worry about the racial stability of their neighborhoods….It is in these locales, which are experiencing the earliest signs of minority growth, that anxiety over approaching diversity is strongest. Put another way, anger, fear and animosity toward immigrants and minorities was most politically potent in the communities most insulated from these supposed threats. ….Will Stancil, a research fellow at the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity who created the chart, explained….“To the extent Trump really resonated, it was in heavily-white areas — and that includes exurbs at the urban fringe, rural areas, and many heavily white second-ring suburbs,” Stancil wrote in his email. “It was his message resonating in those areas that gave him a fighting chance at all.”
This fits a lot of the evidence we have. As it turns out, racial anxiety among whites really isn’t widespread. But it is strong among whites in a very small number of ultra-white communities. That’s why Trump didn’t do unusually well in California, Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas, where the immigrant population is highest. People in those states have lived with Mexican immigrants for a long time and learned that the sky isn’t falling. But farther away, in the very white communities of the upper Midwest, this is still brand new stuff. Unlike Californians, who know better from experience, they buy the idea that immigrants are unusually crime prone and take away everyone’s jobs—and that makes them scared. They’re a receptive audience for Trump’s “Build a Wall” message.
All this said, we’re still left with a question: if the only place Trump did better than Romney was in the very whitest communities, was that enough to push him to victory? After all, he did worse than Romney everywhere else. Well, Edsall has a chart for that too, showing how Trump performed in the upper Midwest, but you’ll have to click the link to see it. (Spoiler alert: the answer is probably yes.)
Edsall finishes up with this:
In some respects, the data gathered by Orfield’s team is good news for Democrats. The core of Trump’s support lies in counties and municipalities like Dravosburg and Elk County, many of which are losing population. They are, in effect, the last gasp of white hegemony. Still, immense damage has been done….As the public discourse around issues of social welfare, immigration, national security, and a whole host of other issues becomes highly racialized and explicitly hostile, the potential for open racial conflict may rise. Furthermore, as these negative attitudes toward racial outgroups become increasingly tightly tied to parties, polarization increases and gridlock and a lack of legislative compromise ensue. When I look back at the 2016 election, what is really striking is how much influence over the course of events was exercised by the relatively small numbers of voters in super-white municipalities and counties and by the politician who ignited them — how the last gasp of a small fraction of the electorate set the nation on such a dangerous and destructive course.
Amen. And the faster the politicians who have set fire to this movement—or even merely tolerated it—are sent packing, the better off our country will be.by Lars Marius Garshol
It was a stroke of luck. I’d been a beer enthusiast for almost a decade, travelling all over the world to try different beers. I’d taught myself how to write proper beer reviews describing aroma, flavour and mouthfeel. I’d taken a beer judging exam, and learned the basics of the theory of brewing and tasting. But of late I had begun to grow a little bored. There didn’t seem to be much more to discover.
Little did I know.
For Christmas 2009, my wife gave me a Danish book on beer. One chapter in particular struck me: the author travelled to a Lithuanian village to brew with a local home brewer. This brewer, it turned out, grew his own barley, then malted it himself. The hops came from his own garden. He even had his own yeast, stored in a jar in the well, and reused since time immemorial. Now what was this? It sounded utterly unlike any beer I’d ever heard of.
Then, in February 2010, I found myself at a loose end one weekend, and thought of going somewhere to try new beers. With the book fresh in my mind, I figured maybe Vilnius might be interesting. I took a look on the web, and found that several bars in Vilnius were selling strange-sounding beers. The reviewers who had tasted them sounded equal parts puzzled and fascinated. Flight tickets and hotel turned out to be very inexpensive, which quickly settled the issue.
In Vilnius I sought out the nearest bar on my list: Bambalynė. It was a lovely cellar bar underneath the Old Town, with a vaulted brick ceiling, and elegant antique furniture. In a separate room stood a row of refrigerators with row upon row upon row of beers I had never heard of, all with confusing names. I turned to the girl behind the counter and asked her for a recommendation. “I usually recommend this one,” she said, striding over to one of the fridges, and picking out a bottle.
“Salaus alus,” says the label, which tells me precisely nothing. I buy it, sit down at one of the tables, and pour myself a glass. Big offwhite head, hazy deep yellow body. So far, so unremarkable. Then I lift the glass, swirl it around, and stick my nose into it, inhaling deeply. The aroma is unusually strong and complex: fruity, earthy, and floral, with notes of honey and perhaps flour. Usually I can tell what style a beer is (porter, IPA, kölsch, gose, whatever) after just a quick sniff. In this case, however, I draw a blank. I have no idea what this is.
So I taste it. The flavour is huge: dry, peppery, and with an intense flavour of straw, again with those herbal floral elements. A long, bitter straw finish. Perhaps the biggest surprise is how vivid the flavour is. It’s as if someone left a big bale of straw in the sun all day, then dropped me from a crane face first into it. And it’s like nothing I’ve ever tasted or heard of. Clearly, I need to learn more.
I try the girl behind the counter. “How do they get this flavour?” I ask. “Is it the yeast, or maybe the hops?” She looks at me for a moment, then says “what is hops?” With a sinking feeling I try a few more questions, but it’s clear that she has absolutely no idea how beer is made.
There are many, many more beers in the fridges, so I start trying them out. It turns out to be a mixed lot. Some are fairly ordinary pale lagers. Some appear to be lagers, but are very unusual. I like them, though. Then there is a whole range of beers which I have no idea about, some with very strange designs on the labels. Some of the labels describe very odd ingredients: red clover, peas, raspberry stems, toasted hemp seeds, etc. I’d never heard of anyone using these ingredients before.
I visit another bar called Šnekutis. It’s at the south end of the Old Town and seems like a fairly ordinary corner bar – except for the huge moustache the owner sports. And the beer, which again is out of this world. The house beer, Jovarų Alus, is even more unusual than the first beer. Extremely complex, with a clear flavour of walnut oil, fruit, and herbs. Again, I couldn’t even begin to place it in any taxonomy of beer. The moustachioed owner turns out to have no English.
And so it goes. Eventually, I fly home, convinced that I’ve discovered a major secret unknown to the rest of the beer world. Unfortunately, at this point I still don’t know what the secret is. Cracking the code turned out to take four years, involving several more trips to Vilnius, some tours of the countryside to visit breweries, and long conversations with local beer enthusiasts. Eventually, I managed to get hold of some Lithuanian books and articles, and had them translated to English so I could read them. The picture that emerged from all this was quite surprising.
Historically, in most of northern Europe, farmers would make their own beer. Farmers were largely outside the money economy until quite recently, because they made almost everything they needed themselves, and so had little need for money. They grew grain, which they malted themselves. The hops they grew themselves, or picked wild. Yeast was something everyone had, dried from the last batch of beer on a piece of cloth or a ring of straw. So for a very long time, farmers made their own beer, just like they would make their own bread, their own clothes, their own cheese, and so on.
This tradition of brewing beer gradually died out most places; either because farmers found it easier to simply buy the beer than to go through all the work of picking and drying hops, malting the grain (which takes over a week), brewing and so on, or because in many regions the aristocracy or the government used access to alcohol as a form of taxation. In Prussia, for example, the peasants were forbidden to brew beer, and were required to instead buy it from the local landowners.
In Lithuania, however, brewing never died out. Northern Lithuania is rich farmland, so there was no lack of brewing ingredients, and many farmers were fiercely proud of their brewing tradition. When the Soviet occupation began, all commercial breweries were taken over by the state, and brewed six fixed recipes, rotating between the breweries. Since this was the classic Soviet planned economy, quotas were set for the amount of beer each brewery should produce, but there was little concern for quality.
So the home brewers had every reason to keep brewing. As they did. This was not merely tolerated by the local communist authorities, but brewers were even allowed to make and sell beer for weddings and other major celebrations. Even gatherings of communist party chiefs might order local homebrew, since it was far superior to the industrial beer. And then, eventually, Lithuania restored its independence and the Soviet Union fell apart. Anyone could now legally start a business, and many of the home brewers who had already been running a sort of semi-legal business immediately set up commercial breweries. I have not been able to find precise figures, but by 1992, Lithuania had somewhere between 200 and 400 breweries. Most of these were tiny farmhouse breweries, still brewing with wooden equipment, using locally made ingredients.
Industrial brewers go to brewing school and learn brewing methods refined by centuries of scientific research into enzymes, yeast, sugar types, etc., etc. While there is some variation, the brewing methods used in modern industrial lager brewing are remarkably uniform. And the same goes for the new wave of craft brewers, or microbrewers. The iconic craft brewery Brewdog, for example, recently released the recipes to all of their 215 beers. Every single one of those was brewed using the same brewing process.
The Lithuanian farmhouse brewers, however, have never been to brewing school, nor ever read a brewing manual. They brew as they learned from their parents, who again learned from their parents, and so on. This chain runs back to the beginning of written history, and beyond, so the origin is by now lost and forgotten. The brewing processes that these brewers use have been developed basically by trial and error over the centuries, and then passed on through the generations.
So it’s not just that these brewers use very odd ingredients. They also brew in ways that would never even occur to any modern brewer. This is why I was so confused and fascinated in my first meeting with Lithuanian beer. It really was a whole unique and different brewing tradition, developed by the Lithuanians themselves in relative isolation from the rest of the world.
There are other countries in Europe that have also preserved some bits and pieces of their brewing traditions, such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia, but Lithuania is unique in that so many traditional beers are sold commercially. To try farmhouse ale in Norway you have to travel out to a region where it’s brewed, then somehow find a home brewer, and persuade him to give you some beer for free. In Vilnius, you can walk into the right bar and order it. If you know how to tell which beers are which, that is. (To solve this problem I wrote a guidebook to Lithuanian beer.)
To really understand the beer, however, you have to travel to Aukštaitija (the highlands) in northern Lithuania, and meet the brewers. My guide took me to the small village of Jovarai, just outside of Pasvalys, turning off the main road into what looked like any other residential area in the region. He drove into a courtyard between two houses, and parked. The left house was the brewery, formerly a barn. On the right was the home of the brewer.
The brewer is Aldona Udrienė, known as “the queen of Lithuanian beer,” for her regal bearing and the excellence of her beer. She comes out of the house, and we sit down in her little tasting pavilion in the garden. She serves glasses of her beer, even better here, fresh from the brewery, and starts telling her story. She learned to brew from her father, and he in turn learned to brew from her grandfather.
Her father and grandfather would make their own malts, from local barley. It would be soaked in water for a few days, then taken up and covered with sacks to stay wet. The grain would sprout and turn hot to the touch. A couple of times a day it had to be stirred to sprout evenly. The green malts |
this series will be set in the J.J. Abrams alternate universe. In a 2013 interview, Fuller said:
I think there’s something very exciting about the new J.J. Abrams-verse, and there’s also kind of an interesting reinvention. How would The Next Generation evolve from that? Where would that be? Where would that go? But there’s also… Star Trek is such a big universe, and there are so many places to go with it.
It sounds like he's pondering how to blend the sensibility of Next Generation with the Abrams universe, which is a tall order. Unless Fuller decides to set the series before the events of Abrams' Star Trek, that means this will be the first series where Vulcan civilization plays virtually no role in the Federation. We might get a chance to see the Vulcans trying to rebuild after the destruction of their home planet. Perhaps humans will even have a chance to offer help to the powerful, wise Vulcans who brought Earth into the Federation in the first place.
Alex Kurzman, who co-wrote the Abrams Star Trek films, will be a producer on the series. He said in a statement that Fuller would be getting back to the series' original vision: "[Fuller's] encyclopedic knowledge of Trek canon is surpassed only by his love for Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic future, a vision that continues to guide us as we explore strange new worlds." I really hope that "optimistic future" means we won't have to go back to the fake-gritty version of Star Trek from Enterprise.
The series will launch with a pilot on CBS in early 2017 and will then be available exclusively for streaming via CBS All Access. This is the only blot on today's otherwise good news. CBS' streaming service is currently a wasteland, and making it the only home for Star Trek could sink the series.
With Fuller in place, fans can now move on to fretting over fifteen zillion other things that could go wrong with the show.If you want to run an online business, you’ll quickly learn that if you want to make any progress, you have to focus on the things that get you the best results. This may seem obvious, but every day there seems to be new entrepreneurs focusing on every minute detail of things that don’t matter, and neglecting to focus on the things that bring them results. At the heart of a good growth hacker and marketer is the desire to test business and marketing tactics in an effort to identify which things work best, and which ones don’t.
Doing this allows you to focus all of your energy on the things that bring results, and stop worrying about unimportant tasks and techniques. This post shows how many good things can come to you, if you are constantly testing and looking for better ways to make your business grow.
Let’s get started!
In case you didn’t already know, Udemy is huge. It has millions of members that are all interested in taking courses to advance their knowledge in fields of their interest. If you create a course that is useful to your niche audience and publish it on Udemy, you are tapping into their community to get exposure for your brand. This screenshot is straight from their about page:
I accidentally stumbled upon a “marketing hack” using Udemy that has brought great results! I thought I was doing a different hack, but it turns out that that one wasn’t going to work anyway. Originally, my primary objective was to recruit promo partners to give my paid Udemy course away to their readers for free. But I quickly learned that larger brands don’t want to point their reader’s attention to you, unless they are getting something substantial in return. My “free course” offer was not good enough.
But that’s why if you’re always testing and learning, you never lose.
The importance here, is that I was able publish a course on Udemy, and get a decent amount of exposure to it. This in turn has allowed me to begin building an audience around my subject matter, and if you execute the same strategy you can grow your audience as well. Remember that no matter what niche you are in, you can create a course that your customers would be interested in taking. Which means that there are opportunities for your business to grow by doing this. I had a few motives behind creating my Udemy course, including:
Goals:
Using it as an incentive to give away to special promo partners
Expanding my audience/brand
Finally creating a course that walks you through all of the small details of starting online getting started (super underserved market)
Revenue (very low priority with this one)
Time (6 Hours Total):
4-5 Hours to Create the Course
1-2 Hours spent on Marketing
I’d estimate that it took me 4-5 hours to actually create the course. I’d say probably 30% of that time was me fiddling around with my mic, and stopping a re-recording sections because it was my first course and I still feel like I sound like a dork on the recordings. (Hey, I’m learning alright?)
Assumptions Tested:
Would larger bloggers be interested in giving my paid course away to their readers?
Would customers be interested in my little old course and what I have to teach?
Money Spent: $0
Nothing like putting in a little bit of time!
What I did:
If you haven’t taken the course already, it’s called “Simple, Customer Development – Get Your First 100 Customers.” Compiling some experience from past businesses that I’ve worked on, I recorded myself walking through the painstaking process of talking to my first customers, putting my ideas out there, getting feedback and tweaking my business based off of it. I wanted course takers to see EVERY single step of it, since customer development is so scary for… well everyone. But it’s still very important and should not be skipped. So I showed where I found my first potential customers, the messages I sent them, the actual feedback that I got, and how I moved forward from there.
How I did it:
Determined my USP
There are a ton of huge names out there that teach about customer development, so how could I compete with them at this stage? Eric Ries and Steve Blank are both people who both have a tad bit more experience, success and brand awareness than I do. And I was tasked with going into the marketplace and creating a product that would have to compete with theirs on Udemy. But then isn’t that the beauty of being a small growth hacker? Finding a way to compete with the big guys that have many more resources than you do. So I designed my course to have some distinct differentiators from theirs. Namely:
Mine would be short and to the point. It was originally named “Simple, Quick Customer Development.”
It would be cheaper
It would air on the extremely practical side. It would contain very little theory, just showing you how to get it done.
So this appeals to all of you cash strapped, impatient people who want to get to the point in building their business. This side of the market is on the total opposite side than most of the other courses. There was my “in” to the market. So I made a solid curriculum that would follow through on all of those points
Creating And Publishing The Course
I was able to create this course using free software, which is great because it kept the cost at zero.
Tools Used:
Screencast-o-Matic
Evernote
Microphone that exists on my headphones
To create the actual course, all it took was for me to create slides within Evernote, record my screen and present following my outline. If you took the course, you will see that it is pretty simple to do yet very effective at teaching and getting the point across.
Quick Tip: The key here was to make sure that I didn’t focus on making everything perfect. Sure, I had to keep everything to a certain quality level, but had I chosen to be a perfectionist at this point, it could have easily taken me double or triple the amount of time.
Getting Published On Udemy
This was not too hard, it took me probably a total of 30-45 minutes of getting everything together to go through the approval process. My course would have been approved on the first review it got, except a couple of “first time Udemy instructor” mistakes caused a couple of bumps in the road. Once I got those sorted out though, I was good to go.
Marketing
Now comes the fun part. Believe it or not, my target was to only get 50 users and 1 or 2 reviews. Remember, my top priority for this course was to get featured by other blogger’s newsletters because I’d be giving their readers a $37 course for free. So I wanted to build some credibility within the course first by filling it with a few students and reviews. I never expected to get this many students in the course so quickly.
Warrior Forum (Niche Forum)
This is a perfect example of a niche forum where lots of potential subscribers of mine hang out. I’ve been a member of warrior forum for a years now, considering I started out as just an independent internet marketer. I’m a member of their private forum, the war room, where other marketers constantly give their products away for free. If you are not in my niche, there are plenty of forums and niche communities where you could implement something similar. This is the first place that I posted my link. In total, it got me 70 sign ups over about 2 months, and about 30 within the first week.
Personal Emails to Contacts (and nagging)
This is something that I overlooked when I was a new marketer. In fact, most new marketers overlook it.
But even bloggers who already have a nice sized following following cite STILL doing it. Scott Britton, of Life Long Learner, wrote a post about marketing his Udemy course a while back, and getting the first push of reviews was one of the first steps that he took.
In my case, it meant emailing my personal contacts to get the first reviews for my course. Obviously if a course has 5 stars it will make more people want to take it.
So what are you supposed to do?
All I did was email my personal contacts access to the course. I told them that I hope that they like it, and if they do I would really appreciate it if they left me a review. Some of the people that I emailed that I’m closer to I had to nag until they went and took my course. They enjoyed it, and said that they learned a lot, so they left a review. That simple. I’m pretty sure that down the road this is what helped me generate sales as well.
Reddit
Now, for my most successful channel. I wrote a whole post about how I get traffic from Reddit on StartupBros, but I’ll summarize how I did it for my Udemy course here.
The key is to make sure that you know your community, that you’re adding value to it, and that you are strictly addressing and following the rules.
So keeping that in mind, I posted a text post in the entrepreneur subreddit, that explained my intentions with the course, and it’s USP’s. It went a little bit “Viral” from there. A few people decided to take the coupon code and post it on other sites across the web. From there it started taking off and getting posted on even more sites. It was starting to get a decent amount of exposure. Then I realized that I set my coupon limit too low, and coupons started to run out. (Yikes!)
Support Criminals (accidental hack)
Remember that it was a low priority to make money off of this course, and a high priority to get more exposure. So in my eyes, the more people that took it for free, the better. So I rushed over and quickly dug through my google analytics dashboard and looked at where lots of my traffic had been coming from. The top sites were some forums where some of the more sneaky Reddit users had “stolen” my coupon code that was supposed to be exclusive for Reddit users and posted it elsewhere.
Naturally I sent those people an angry email and told them to stop stealing my coupon codes just to increase their reputation.
NOT!
What I really did was I immediately went and made another coupon code that had a much higher limit, made a profile on the forums that they were posted on, and sent a private message to the people that had posted it my original coupon code. I just included the new coupon code, and told them that they could repost the new one with a much higher limit. They did, and the sign ups continued rolling in. This was a totally new growth hack for me. I will definitely test it more in the future.
Results
In case you didn’t know, Udemy allows you to make course announcements to students that have taken your course. You are allowed to link to educational content outside of Udemy, so it makes for a great blog promotion tool, especially since you can acquire students much easier on Udemy. Each course announcement gets sent directly to the student’s email address, so it is a good way to hit the inbox of people that aren’t currently on your own mailing list. From the one course announcement that I’ve made so far I’ve gotten a 2.3% CTR. Not half bad considering I didn’t have to fight tooth and nail to get their email addresses.
The $86 came from 2 months of Udemy organic and discounted promotions that Udemy runs. So this income is totally passive.
Would I do it again?
The short answer is yes.
Part of being a good growth hacker, and overall marketer, focusing on your top acquisition channels, and ditching underperformers.
You might think “2.3% CTR’s, with 1000 people! Isn’t that only 23 clicks? That’s not that good”
But in reality, as a brand new site building from the ground up, you have to take quality traffic wherever you can get it. Those 23 clicks are highly targeted. It’s people that took my beginners online entrepreneurship course, know who I am and are interested in what I have to say. The traffic source is repeatable as well; I can post new content as announcements in my Udemy course as much as 4 times a month.
I would take these 23 visitors over 200 visitors from advertisements. Besides all of that, the beauty of this method is that the course is continuing to grow passively, without me even having to look at it. At the time I’m writing this, it’s currently over 1200 students. The second time I test this out (by making more super awesome courses) I will have more of a process in place, and I will most likely be able to get better results, in less time.
How You Can Apply This
Wait, but you’re not in my niche, you don’t have the resources that I do, and you can’t do this!
Not true!
Here’s all you need to do!
Stop being scared (don’t make excuses either)
Download Screencast-o-matic
Determine your USP for your course
Create a relevant curriculum for something that you would have loved to learn when you were just starting out in your subject matter
Record yourself teaching lessons according to your curriculum, with a Slideshow (Evernote, PowerPoint, Google Slides etc.)
Make a Udemy account and upload your course
Create a Reddit account, and post it to relevant subreddits
Post your course to relevant forums in your niche
Find people giving out free Udemy course, and send free links to your course so they can distribute it for you
Conclusion
Courses are multi faceted tools that can be extremely beneficial to your business. They serve as marketing tools, customer relationship builders and revenue streams. No matter what your business is, there is a course that you can create that can help you grow. Whether you have a blog, app, ecommerce site, or physical product, there are always things that your customers want to learn! If you can help them learn it, you can build your business and brand.
Categorised in: LessonsInteresting photo from Facebook page – Saab 9-3 in Protective Bubble. This is a very interesting product – “bubble” for indoor car protection, produced by different manufacturers. The indoor car storage capsule is a clear vinyl bubble that completely seals and protects you an your car from the elements that we all fear.
The indoor vinyl car “bubble” most often is made of a 10 mil. anti-static, double-polished, radio frequency welded PVC, and at the heart of the “Car Bubble” is a 12-volt, high-pressure fan. It provides continuous airflow to keep your SAAB dry. Bubble Keeps the moisture out, any pests or rodents and dust so it protects the car and best of all keeps it clean too It’s primarily used for long term indoor storage.
Depending on the dimensions of the balloons, their price ranges from $200 to $800. These things aren’t cheap, but will literally put your cherished vehicle in a protective bubble – surrounded by dust-free air.
Perhaps less acceptable, but much cheaper :) – wrapped in plastic:WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered that a 500-page special report detailing federal prosecutors’ misconduct in the 2008 corruption trial of the late Senator Ted Stevens be released next month, despite objections by some of the subjects of the report.
A 2008 file photo shows then Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska sitting in a van outside the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Washington. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang
The report found “significant, widespread and at times intentional misconduct” by Justice Department prosecutors, according to a brief summary released in November by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan.
But the report did not recommend any criminal prosecution.
Sullivan said releasing the report, scheduled for March 15, would help the public understand what went wrong with the prosecution and why no criminal contempt proceedings were being pursued against the prosecutors.
Weeks before the 2008 congressional elections, Alaska Senator Stevens was convicted by a jury of lying on his Senate disclosure form to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil executive and other friends. He lost his re-election bid and died in a plane crash in 2010 in his home state.
Sullivan in 2009 overturned the conviction of Stevens, who was the longest-serving Republican senator in history, because prosecutors failed to turn over to the defense information helpful to Stevens.
The judge appointed a veteran lawyer, Henry Schuelke, to investigate and possibly prosecute the six Justice Department attorneys who handled the Stevens case. One of those lawyers, Nicholas Marsh, committed suicide in September 2010.
Some of the attorneys who were the target of the investigation urged Sullivan to keep the report under seal in part because it was much like a secret grand jury proceeding, an argument the judge rejected.
“Withholding the report from the public and leaving the public with only the information from the trial and immediate post-trial proceedings would be the equivalent of giving a reader only every other chapter of a complicated book, distorting the story and making it impossible for the reader to put in context the information provided,” Sullivan said in a 55-page opinion.
The judge offered the subjects of the report an opportunity to submit comments or objections which he said would be included when the report is released.[The] jobs are democratically owned by the people who work and live there.
On remote Deer Isle, Maine, the movement for a more just and democratic economy won a major victory this summer. More than 60 employees of three retail businesses—Burnt Cove Market, V&S Variety and Pharmacy, and The Galley—banded together to buy the stores and create the largest worker cooperative in Maine and the second largest in New England.
Now the workers own and run the businesses together under one banner, known as the Island Employee Cooperative(IEC). This is the first time that multiple businesses of this size and scope have been merged and converted into one worker cooperative—making this a particularly groundbreaking achievement in advancing economic democracy.
When the local couple that had owned the three businesses for 43 years began to think about selling their stores and retiring, the workers became concerned. The stores were one of the island's biggest employers and a potential buyer probably would not have come from within the community or maintained the same level of jobs and services. Only a worker buy-out could achieve stability.
Because these workers were trying to accomplish something historic, it took more than a year—and it wasn't always an easy road. But the workers' strength lay in their own determination, and in the ability to rely on a group of allies dedicated to growing the cooperative movement. The Independent Retailers Shared Services Cooperative (IRSSC) and the Cooperative Development Institute helped them develop their management, governance, legal, and financial structures. They were also able to secure financing from Maine-basedCoastal Enterprises and the Cooperative Fund of New England, both Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs). Without that dedicated technical assistance and available capital, it is doubtful the IEC would be here today.
While the creation of the IEC maintained dozens of decent paying jobs and a remote community's only nearby access to essentials such as groceries and prescription medications, it also points to a successful model that could be used across the country to expand ownership and wealth to regular working people. This experience shows that if only we had more resources to experiment with grounded, practical economic policies, we could create many more of the living-wage jobs and community-sustaining businesses we desperately need.
Worker cooperatives hold the promise of fundamentally addressing our longstanding economic woes.
The Great Recession has led many to consider better ways to organize our economy, as always happens during economic downturns. But the reality is that our economy, even during the "good times," has always been failing working people. So we need to think long term and change our strategies in order to build a durable, democratic, equitable and just economy.
The Great Recession in Maine
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, Maine has won back less than half of the jobs we lost (ranking us 46th among the states): We are second from the bottom for total job growth, and we have one of the highest numbers of part-time workers who want more employment but can't find it. Nearly one-third of unemployed Mainers have been looking for work for more than six months, which is more than twice the national average. And what little growth there has been has occurred almost exclusively in the Portland metro region, in far southern Maine.
But it's not as if our workers were prospering before the Great Recession.
Over the last 30 years, the incomes of the poorest Maine workers grew by only 27 percent, while incomes for the wealthiest Mainers jumped by 67 percent. Starting in the late '90s, Maine lost more manufacturing jobs per capita than any other state. Maine workers also have the lowest average incomes of all the New England states and, of Maine's 16 counties, 14 of them are among the poorest in the region. As a result, one in seven Mainers overall and more than one in five children live in poverty. Most shamefully, poverty characterizes more than one in four young children, and one in three in our poorest counties.
This is the first time that multiple businesses of this size and scope have been merged and converted into one worker cooperative.
In short, Maine's low wages, limited job prospects, deepening poverty and growing inequality are not just the result of the Great Recession; it is structural and long-standing. We've needed to change the way the economy works for quite a while. And that's exactly why strategies to create sustainable, democratic businesses like the Island Employee Cooperative are so critical.
A model for Maine and the nation
Worker cooperatives hold the promise of fundamentally addressing our longstanding economic woes. Because they give members an equal voice in the co-op's governance, a worker co-op will almost never pick up and leave its community. Those jobs are democratically owned by the people who work and live there.
In addition, in worker co-ops, employees have an incentive to work harder and smarter, because they benefit from an equitable share of the profits. And when a worker co-op is facing financial difficulty, the first response isn't to lay people off. That's because the worker-owners are sharing the risks and burdens of the business as well. Instead, members often come together to find democratic solutions to their problems, such as temporarily lowering wages or cutting hours for all workers, so that no one person has to lose their job. This is one of the major factors that also make worker co-ops more economically sustainable in low-income communities.
For the new worker-owners of the Island Employee Cooperative, the transformation into a co-op will, over time, create profound changes in their lives as they begin investing some of the business' profits into better wages and benefits—something that is extremely uncommon for those in the retail business. The co-op is also already collaborating with the Maine Community College System to deliver education programs on-site so that the workers can improve their knowledge and skills. While retail jobs are often depicted as low-wage and dead-end, these retail workers are now business owners who will learn to make many hard decisions together. And because IEC is one of the island's largest employers, the cooperative ownership model will make a tremendous impact on the community as many more families build wealth through democratic ownership.
That's a model we can and should scale up.
A new approach to economic development
Unfortunately, successful examples like the IEC are rare in the United States because worker cooperative development gets little to no support from city, state and federal governments. Instead, these institutions spend a fortune on economic development programs that create windfall profits for corporations, but very few sustainable, living-wage jobs.
We could create many more of the living-wage jobs and community-sustaining businesses we desperately need.
The way states have traditionally pursued economic development relies primarily on "chasing smokestacks" and dreaming up new tax giveaways for out-of-state corporations. That serves to benefit the 1% while leaving workers in the dust.
A less costly, more effective and more equitable strategy of focusing on worker co-op development would drive investments into grassroots initiatives for economic sustainability. Some support already exists: For example, New York City just passed its 2015 budget and is investing over $1 million in a comprehensive program to support the development of worker cooperatives, including directing existing business-development resources to be more supportive of worker co-ops. Ohio has provided small grants for feasibility studies and technical assistance to employees considering a cooperative buyout of their workplace, using federal funds that are available in every state (but utilized by only a half-dozen or so). Rural Cooperative Development Grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture support state and regional groups that provide cooperative development services in rural areas (though not just to worker co-ops).
There are more examples of supportive policies, but they all amount to a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what is spent on typical economic development approaches that do little for working people.
In order to begin scaling up worker co-op development, we need to provide technical assistance and small pre-development grants to people starting co-ops within their own communities, make available better education on how to operate a cooperative, provide loan guarantees for groups who would otherwise struggle to access credit, and offer targeted, accountable tax incentives.
Communities across the country would benefit from more initiatives that support development of new co-ops, as well as converting existing businesses into worker-owned ones like the Island Employee Cooperative.
This approach would allow many more communities to sustain themselves, cultivate jobs with dignity, improve wages and help more people build wealth through democratic ownership. And then we might see a transformation into an economy that truly and sustainably serves the needs of all.Where does a woman's value lie? In her brain? Her heart? Her spirit?
According to right-wing culture warriors, "between her legs". That's what underlies the emphasis on virginity as "purity", and the push for abstinence-only education. And it has very real consequences, most recently articulated by Elizabeth Smart.
Smart, who was kidnapped and held for months while her captor repeatedly raped her, recently discussed how her religious background made her feel worthless after the first rape – how she understands why others wouldn't even try to escape, if, like her, they were taught that a sexually "impure" woman had nothing to offer.
Smart's speech is largely being interpreted as a critique of abstinence-only education, but she's pointing to an entire culture that fetishizes purity. The more extreme versions of our collective obsession are seen in conservative Christian churches, which offer purity rings, purity balls and sermons that insist wives give their virginity as a "gift" to husbands. But purity culture is mainstream, even in a country where sexualized images of women are on every magazine rack and "Girls Gone Wild" series thrive.
Abstinence-only education is just one example of our bizarre relationship with sex, which can be seen most clearly in the way we treat women. Women and girls being sexy for someone else is more or less OK, as long as no actual sex occurs, and as long as the version of "sexy" has appropriate markers of being middle- or upper-class. Women who exhibit a degree of sexual agency by acting – rather than only appearing attractive – or women perceived as inappropriately powerful or aggressive inevitably face being branded sluts and whores.
The idea that sexual activity damages women and makes them lose their value was articulated by Smart:
"I think it goes even beyond fear, for so many children, especially in sex trafficking. It's feelings of self-worth. It's feeling like, 'Who would ever want me now? I'm worthless.' That is what it was for me the first time I was raped. I was raised in a very religious household, one that taught that sex was something special that only happened between a husband and a wife who loved each other. And that's how I'd been raised, that's what I'd always been determined to follow: that when I got married, then and only then would I engage in sex. After that first rape, I felt crushed. Who could want me now? I felt so dirty and so filthy. I understand so easily all too well why someone wouldn't run because of that alone."
Smart's case is an extreme example. But right-wing purity culture damages all women, not just survivors of sexual assault. Feminists have been making this point for decades, perhaps most comprehensively in Jessica Valenti's book The Purity Myth. Valenti notes that the cultural emphasis on virginity teaches young women that their moral center is in their crotch, not in their minds or hearts.
This culture tells women that their bodies aren't really theirs; bodies are only bargaining chips, which can be devalued like a new car driven off the lot. Women aren't inherently valuable, the thinking goes, except so long as we have untouched vaginas to give our husbands (because our partners are always husbands). Virginity trumps intelligence, humor and compassion. The notion that both partners might benefit from having dated around, experimented, and figured out what they enjoy and want from a healthy relationship? It doesn't even register.
It's a view so out of touch that calling it "retro" seems quaint. It's more medieval, harkening back to when women were sold into marriage by their fathers and virgins were the most valued goods. Yet it's on display in schools across contemporary America, at father-daughter "purity balls", on right-wing radio, and in church youth groups.
The dehumanization that purity culture inflicts was described by Smart in her speech when she talked about the sex education:
"I had a teacher who was talking about abstinence, she said, 'Imagine you're a stick of gum and when you engage in sex, that's like getting chewed, and if you do that lots of times, you're going to become an old piece of gum, and who's going to want you after that?"
Smart says those words rang in her memory. She felt ruined.
Of course, Smart wasn't ruined. There are a lot of words that come to mind when listening to her – resilient, intelligent, thoughtful, wonderful – and neither "ruined" nor "devalued" are among them. Her message is crucial: value isn't maintained, lost or compromised with sexual penetration. We are inherently valuable.
Smart emphasizes a crucial point: sexual assault is a crime, plain and simple, and survivors should be supported, not judged. A cultural emphasis on sexual purity leads to the kind of judgement that Smart internalized. Surely, purity advocates would say that they don't intend to hurt victims – that rape isn't a woman's fault, that she can still be pure of heart after the assault. But that, too, speaks to the fundamental misogyny of purity culture: a woman who has sex forced upon her may still be "good", even if her stock has decreased. Women who act on perfectly natural sexual desire, on the other hand, are tainted physically and morally.
It goes without saying, but it's too important not to repeat: men are not judged as women are for consensual sexual activity. Men who have sex aren't chewed up pieces of gum or moral failures – they're studs.
Men who are raped or sexually assaulted, however, find themselves similarly marginalized. While the feminist movement has done excellent work in creating space for survivors to report crimes and open up, American-style masculinity doesn't leave a lot of room for understanding male victimization. Abstinence education routinely teaches young women that they need to control the brakes of sexual responsibility, putting a halt to the men who only know how to accelerate. There's little recognition of male agency, much less encouragement of men and boys as anything but tough, aggressive and brutish. That has devastating consequences for men and boys who are sexually violated; there's not much language that doesn't feel emasculating.
The same churches that peddle purity don't tend to think very highly of homosexuality; that homophobia, coupled with sexual shame, silences many boys and men who are assaulted by other men. For those who are assaulted by women, the broader cultural assumption that men always want sex puts up even more barriers to reporting and dealing with that abuse.
Purity culture hurts all of us, and it adds an extra level of shame to sexual assault. Smart is just one example. Imagine if the young woman from the Steubenville case lived in a world where consensual sex and sexual assault were understood as two very different things, with no grey area. Imagine if there weren't anything shameful about consensual sex or being sexually assaulted, and that the latter were considered an awful violation – taking a good, healthy, mutually pleasurable activity and turning it into an act of violence. If Jane Doe from Steubenville lived in that world, the media would have told her story quite differently, if there even were a media narrative. No photos, no crude, jokey captions. Her own friends wouldn't have testified against her at trial; they would have stepped in to stop the assault as it was happening.
Imagine, too, if the young women who tragically committed suicide after similar photos circulated around their school, had lived in a world where "sexual purity" didn't exist as a concept, and where women's bodies were considered fundamentally their own. In that world, the shame would fall on the young men who allegedly assaulted them. There would be no bully's satisfaction for circulating photos of either any sexual activity, consensual or not, because neither scenario would be considered humiliating.
As Frank Bruni says in an excellent column about the sexual double-standard:
"Men get passes, women get reputations, and real, lasting humiliation travels only one way."
We all have have qualities and make choices that speak to our kindness, empathy, ethics and intelligence. Whether or not we're sexually "pure" simply has no bearing. But a culture that fetishizes virginity is a culture that's awfully bad for women and men, and that's particularly painful for the survivors of sexual violence.Diablo III might be doing a good job of quenching your thirst for action RPGs today, but let’s not forget its humble origins: Rogue. Ahem, sorry, the first Diablo. You may rarely feel the urge to play the 90s classic, however, if you do in the future, you might want to check out Freeablo — a cross-platform rewrite of the game’s engine that’s in the works.
A user by the handle “wheybags” announced the project on Reddit a few days ago and linked to an, uh, official website and the GitHub repository where the rewrite’s code resides. Yep, it’s open source under GPL.
Now, this isn’t the whole game — just the bits that put the data on the screen and allow you to play with it. You’ll need to original files to do anything with Freeablo and even then it’s barely playable.
The biggest issue I can see — other than the monumental task of reverse-engineering Diablo — is Blizzard itself. The company has a reputation for fiercely protection its brands, even chasing after things no sensible person would consider harmful.
I’m not sure if Blizzard would shut a project like this down, but I certainly wouldn’t discount the possibility.
AdvertisementAMAKUNI (Hobby Japan) is going to release the Doronjo ( ドロンジョ ) 1/7 PVC figure from the anime “Yatterman Night” ( 夜ノヤッターマン, Yoru no Yattaman). Will be released in January – February 2016. Around 190mm tall, 11,880 yen (taxed in) for the Standard Edition, 12,800 yen (taxed in) for the Limited Edition. Hobby Japan exclusive.
I really hate Hobby Japan. Their figures are always really good looking but they’re also always Hobby Japan exclusive. I think this Doronjo looks way better than the PLUM one. But too bad she is HJ exclusive and I don’t have $$$ to get her. ='(
For those of you who want to get this Doronjo figure (and Oda-sama!!), you can pre-order her at Hobby Japan Online Shop for the standard edition HERE and the Limited edition HERE before July 10, 2015 with your proxy service.
**Clear Poster for the Limited edition**
Yatterman Night OPWhich? says 82% of staff in stores it visited wrongly told customers that the number of minutes, texts, data and price would stay the same throughout a contract
The vast majority of mobile phone stores are misleading customers about the possibility of price increases on so-called "fixed contracts", according to a consumer watchdog.
A mystery shopping investigation by Which? in August found that 82% of staff in the stores it visited gave incorrect information about fixed deals, even when asked directly if the price would stay the same for the duration of the contract.
The group visited 39 branches of O2, Orange, Three, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse in the Midlands, the north-west, the south, the north-east and the south-east.
All shop assistants, when prompted, claimed the number of inclusive minutes, texts and data would stay the same throughout the contract.
However the consumer group said that in the past year, four of the five main phone operators – Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and Three – had taken advantage of a "hidden clause" allowing them to increase prices on contracts that appeared to be fixed.
Recent Which? research found that 70% of people on fixed contracts did not know mobile phone companies could increase prices during the length of their contract.
The watchdog, which |
/1999
Plays like: Kieren Jack
Champion Data says: Averaged 25 disposals in the TAC Cup last year for the Western Jets. He rated elite for contested possessions and his 7.8 tackles per match ranked No. 1 in the league.
foxfooty.com.au says: There’s not much of Fogarty, but he shouldn’t be underestimated as he not only wins his own footy but disposes opponents of the ball with his excellent tackling skills. With the ball, Fogarty is an excellent decision-maker and an even better executor. If he can improve his aerobic capacity this year, he has the potential to be a first-round pick.
Joel Garner
Club: Eastern Ranges/Vic Metro
Position: Midfielder
Size: 183cm, 81kg
DOB: 21/05/1999
Plays like: Callum Ah Chee
Champion Data says: It’s been more about quality than quantity for Garner. He averaged just 15 disposals for the Eastern Ranges, but he operated with a contested possession rate above 50 per cent and was able to impact the scoreboard.
foxfooty.com.au says: Has the same name as the great West Indian paceman — and is at the opposite end of the size spectrum. But what he might lack in size he makes up for in poise, footy smarts and clean ball use, while he’s also blessed with versatility. Garner is your classic natural footballer who’s just as good on the inside as he is on the outside. More midfield time this year will help him improve his consistency.
Joel Garner looms as one of the hottest AFL draft prospects this year and he has also been named as the first indigenous Prefect at Scotch College. Picture: Lawrence Pinder Source: News Corp Australia
Dominic Grant
Club: NT Thunder/Northern Territory
Position: Midfielder/General Forward
Size: 189cm, 77kg
DOB: 29/01/1999
Plays like: Robbie Gray
Champion Data says: Grant’s most impressive performance came in 2015 at the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships. For Northern Territory he averaged 18 disposals, 12 contested possessions and 11 tackles per match.
foxfooty.com.au says: Clearly the NT’s top prospect for 2017, Grant wins a lot of his ball in contested situations. He’s a little taller than your average midfielder, but that allows him to win hard ball and clearances. Grant will be hoping for a more consistent output in 2017 to ensure his draft chances remain strong.
Sam Hayes
Club: Eastern Ranges/Vic Metro
Position: Ruck/Tall Forward
Size: 203cm, 93kg
DOB: 09/06/1999
Plays like: Max Gawn
Champion Data says: Hayes was arguably the most impressive ruckman at the 2016 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships, averaging the most AFL player ratings points of any ruckman. He impacted the scoreboard with five goals and three assists from his three matches.
foxfooty.com.au says: Get excited. The best ruck-forward prospect of this year’s draft class, as he’s not only an excellent tap ruckman, but also a capable forward. Hayes was the only bottom-ager selected in last year’s Under 18 champs All-Australian side, impressing in a ruck-forward role. An athletic big man, Hayes has a high ceiling and could improve rapidly throughout the year. And, remarkably, he’s still growing, as he’s just hit 204cm, according to the Ranges.
Jack Higgins
Club: Oakleigh Chargers/Vic Metro
Position: Midfielder
Size: 178cm, 76kg
DOB: 19/03/1999
Plays like: Liam Picken
Champion Data says: Averaged an astonishing 145 ranking points from his 10 TAC Cup matches in 2016 for the Oakleigh Chargers. He averaged 27 disposals and two goals and led the entire competition for score involvements with 8.9 per match.
foxfooty.com.au says: This guy will be a fantasy footy favourite next year, as his ability to find the ball is outstanding. Higgins, who won the time trial at the AFL Academy’s Florida camp in January, is a footy fanatic who’s totally committed and determined to win a spot on an AFL club list. While he does win a lot of disposals, his kicking may need some work, while the Chargers have put it on Higgins to also step up from a leadership perspective.
Oakleigh Chargers on-baller Jack Higgins is a ball magnet. Source: Getty Images
Hayden McLean
Club: Sandringham Dragons/Vic Metro
Position: Tall Forward
Size: 197cm, 93kg
DOB: 20/01/1999
Plays like: Josh Jenkins
Champion Data says: McLean played almost every match for the premiership-winning Sandringham Dragons last year. His imposing size allowed him to clunk 33 contested marks for the season — ranked second in the competition.
foxfooty.com.au says: McLean, a crash-and-bash ruck-forward, is already a good size at the start of his 2017 campaign, which means he’ll be hard to stop inside forward 50 this year. Not only did he clunk plenty of marks last year, he also hit the scoreboard consistently, booting 27 goals from 19 games. A TAC Cup premiership player with the Dragons, McLean was a late inclusion into the Level 2 AFL academy.
Patrick Naish
Club: Northern Knights/Vic Metro
Position: General Defender
Size: 180cm, 69kg
DOB: 15/01/1999
Plays like: Shane Biggs
Champion Data says: An outside player, Naish averaged three contested possessions and 14 uncontested possessions for the Northern Knights. His kicking efficiency of 58 per cent needs to improve for such an outside player.
foxfooty.com.au says: Eligible to join Richmond under the father-son rule — as his dad Chris played 143 games for the Tigers — Naish looms as an exciting prospect for 2017. And the Tigers have already been working closely with Naish, who should feature in the club’s VFL team at some stage this season. With good pace and a penetrating kick, the Tigers will certainly watch him closely.
Aaron Naughton
Club: Peel Thunder/Western Australia
Position: Tall Defender
Size: 194cm, 84kg
DOB: 30/11/1999
Plays like: Jeremy McGovern
Champion Data says: Naughton’s contested marking stood out for Peel Thunder last year. His 20 contested marks from just 13 matches ranked second in the Colts competition.
foxfooty.com.au says: Like Eagle McGovern, Naughton is a sensational pack and intercept mark — qualities he prides his game on. But also like McGovern, Naughton is trying to work on his flexibility so he can play in multiple positions. That was on display recently when he played forward and kicked two goals from nine touches and seven marks for Peel’s Colts side. Naughton is excellent at winning the footy, but will be hoping to improve his efficiency by foot in 2017 to enhance his draft prospects.
Lochie O’Brien
Club: Bendigo Pioneers/Vic Metro
Position: Midfielder
Size: 184cm, 75kg
DOB: 18/09/1999
Plays like: Pearce Hanley
Champion Data says: We only saw five matches of O’Brien in the TAC Cup last year, but he averaged a whopping 111 ranking points per match. He averaged 24 disposals and did most of his work on the outside, with a contested possession rate of 31 per cent.
foxfooty.com.au says: A classy on-baller with a lovely left-foot kick that looked at home during last year’s Under 18 champs, O’Brien looms as a big game-breaker for any AFL club. While he could easily play in the guts, O’Brien does his best work on a wing, where he shows off his speed and acceleration. If he improves his inside game this year, don’t be surprised to see him among the top 10 or five picks this year.
Jake Patmore is WA’s top draft prospect for 2017. Picture: Mark Dadswell Source: News Corp Australia
Jake Patmore
Club: Claremont/Western Australia
Position: Small Defender
Size: 180cm, 72kg
DOB: 29/01/1999
Plays like: Jared Polec
Champion Data says: Patmore has never been a massive ball-winner, but he uses the ball effectively. In seven matches in the WAFL Colts he averaged 19 disposals, three inside 50s and more than one assist per match.
foxfooty.com.au says: It’s not a great year for WA draft prospects, but Patmore is undoubtedly a shining light. For a player of his height, Patmore is predominantly defensively-minded, but will be looking to improve his rebounding ability throughout the year. But what Patmore has going for him is that he’s a classy ball-user that makes most of his possessions count.
Jack Petruccelle
Club: Northern Knights/Vic Metro
Position: Small Forward
Size: 184cm, 73kg
DOB: 12/04/1999
Plays like: Nakia Cockatoo
Champion Data says: We have only covered three matches of Petruccelle. In his first ever TAC Cup match for the Northern Knights, he had 10 disposals and snagged three goals.
foxfooty.com.au says: The footy world hasn’t seen much of Petruccelle yet as he has been in the AIS Academy for basketball over recent years. But the small forward has his sights firmly set on footy in 2017, with the Knights likely to play him across half-forward where he can utilise both his pace and ability to find the goals. Could be a bolter if he works hard and he receives reward for effort.
Cameron Rayner
Club: Western Jets/Vic Metro
Position: General Forward/Midfielder
Size: 187cm, 88kg
DOB: 21/10/1999
Plays like: Jake Stringer
Champion Data says: Rayner played eight matches for the Western Jets in 2016, averaging 18 disposals, four clearances and five tackles. He had a massive impact on the scoreboard with 17 goals and 13 behinds as well.
foxfooty.com.au says: A competitive, explosive and strongly-built player who has been able to hit the scoreboard regularly in recent years. Rayner breaks lines with his powerful running and kicking, while his overhead marking shouldn’t be underestimated either. Burst onto the scene late in 2016 with hauls of seven and five goals against the Pioneers and Cannons respectively in two consecutive TAC Cup games. He’ll be hoping to continue that goalkicking form this year while also moving more permanently into the midfield.
Western Jets on-baller Cameron Rayner is an exciting, explosive prospect. Source: Getty Images
Thomas Schmusch
Club: Woodville-West Torrens/South Australia
Position: Tall Defender
Size: 194cm, 81kg
DOB: 05/03/1999
Plays like: Dylan Roberton
Champion Data says: As a key defender at the 2016 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships, Schmusch rated above average for kicks and metres gained and also rated elite for rebound 50s.
foxfooty.com.au says: For draft-watchers from last year, think Josh Rotham in terms of size and role. Schmush is another promising key-position player that opposition forwards find hard to score against. While his rebounding could still improve, he showed during last year’s national champs as a bottom-ager that he has lots of attacking potential from half-back.
Charlie Spargo
Club: GWS Academy/Albury/Murray Bushrangers/NSW-ACT
Position: Midfielder
Size: 175cm, 75kg
DOB: 25/11/1999
Plays like: Toby Greene
Champion Data says: A Champion Data favourite going off his form at the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships in 2015 where he averaged 29 disposals, 15 contested possessions, seven tackles and 2.5 goals per match. For the Bushrangers in the TAC Cup last year, he also averaged 19 disposals and one goal.
foxfooty.com.au says: The AFL’s recent decision to cut GWS’ access to the Albury/Murray region was a huge win for the 17 other clubs, as they all now have access to Spargo — the pocket rocket of the 2017 draft class. What makes him even more impressive is that he’s just as smart in the air as he is at ground level. Spargo, the son of former North/Bears player Paul, kicked off his 2017 campaign in fine style last weekend, starring for the GWS Academy (one goal from 24 disposals, six tackles, five inside 50s and a goal) against the Swans Academy. He won’t be hard to miss in Under 18 games he plays in this season.
Murray’s Charlie Spargo is a pocket rocket. Picture: Stuart Milligan Source: News Corp Australia
Jaidyn Stephenson
Club: Eastern Ranges/Vic Metro
Position: Forward
Size: General Forward
DOB: 189cm, 76kg
Plays like: Jack Riewoldt
Champion Data says: Stephenson rose to prominence after his three-goal haul in the 2015 TAC Cup final as a 16-year-old. He backed that up with 15 disposals and 23 goals from 11 matches in 2016.
foxfooty.com.au says: There’s something pretty special about Stephenson, who not only hits the scoreboard but wins his own ball. An exciting, dynamic forward with great hands, explosive pace and excellent footy smarts, Stephenson looms as a top 10 prospect at this stage of the year. He kicked off his 2017 campaign in fine style on the weekend, booting five goals — including four in the first term — in a match-winning effort for the Ranges in the TAC Cup.
James Worpel
Club: Geelong Falcons/Vic Country
Position: Midfielder
Size: 185cm, 84kg
DOB: 24/01/1999
Plays like: Jack Ziebell
Champion Data says: Worpel established himself as a clearance specialist at the 2016 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships. He averaged four clearances per game for Vic Country and in the TAC Cup he averaged five for the Geelong Falcons. His ball use leaves room for improvement, with a kicking efficiency of just 50 per cent.
foxfooty.com.au says: A kid who holds no fears on a footy field, Worpel is your quintessential physical inside midfielder. He excels at stoppages, while his defensive pressure is outstanding, highlighted by his high tackle numbers. And what Worpel has over the likes of Ziebell or Ben Cunnington is that he’s a little quicker by foot, which allows him to explode from stoppages to clear the ball. Improve that disposal efficiency this year and he could be going very early in November’s draft.
LIVE stream every game of every round of the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership Season on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week FOXTEL PLAY trial and start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >>By James Halpin
The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
PLAINS TWP., Pa. — A township woman charged with lying when she reported she had been raped by a Pennsylvania State Police trooper on Tuesday dropped a restraining order alleging a similar sexual assault by another trooper.
Christine A. Cromer, 37, of 237 Maffett St., is facing charges of filing false reports for reporting that Trooper Robert Covington, a Bureau of Gaming Enforcement officer, forced himself on her in November 2016, after she tried to break off a relationship with him.
Pictured is Christine A. Cromer. (Photo/Pennsylvania State Police)
Police say Cromer, who for months posted fliers and sought to publicize her cause, gave “multiple and inconsistent stories” about the alleged attack in an unmarked police car outside Mohegan Sun Pocono, where she worked at the time as a cocktail waitress.
Prior to being charged, Cromer obtained a temporary sexual-violence protection order against trooper Sgt. Daniel Jones, who interviewed her about the allegations against Covington. In her application, Cromer alleged Jones “forced himself” on her in a car behind the casino.
But in court Tuesday, with a group of investigators prepared to listen intently to her sworn testimony, Cromer announced that she had decided to drop the claim.
Jones’ attorney, William T. Jones of Scranton, said he would “vehemently object” to dismissal, arguing that dismissal would leave a filing that could tarnish the record of a trooper with a “stellar reputation.”
“This matter was filed with one intention: To intimidate a police officer who had nothing to do with the allegations,” William Jones said.
After hearing legal arguments, Senior Judge Linda K.M. Ludgate, visiting from Berks County, said dismissing the complaint with prejudice would allow for the record to be expunged and be in line with legal precedent. Cromer did not oppose that resolution.
According to the charges against Cromer, she told investigators she got into a relationship with Covington that began when the trooper approached her because of her husband’s involvement in the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Covington offered to take Cromer on a cruise and to protect her, she claimed.
While Cromer claimed Covington had been pursuing her, casino employees reported that she was in fact “infatuated” with Covington, according to police.
Cromer initially denied having a sexual relationship with Covington, but later said they did have consensual sex in the car sometime in August 2016, according to police.
Police further allege that Cromer had no evidence to back up her rape story and could not even provide investigators with Covington’s phone number. Cromer also described the car where the alleged assault took place in as having a front bench seat, when in fact the vehicle has a large center console containing a radio, according to police.
Covington, meanwhile, maintained he had never been in a relationship with her, nor had ever communicated with her outside the casino.
Cromer remains free after posting $30,000 bail following her arraignment last week. She is due back in court for a preliminary hearing today.
©2017 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) - France’s decision to trigger the EU’s mutual defense clause after the Paris attacks may persuade European partners to provide military aid in Iraq and peacekeepers in Africa, but is not likely to coax many to join Paris in an air war over Syria.
Paris invoked article 42.7 of the EU’s Lisbon treaty on Tuesday for the first time since it came into force in 2009, requiring all 28 countries to provide “aid and assistance” when a member state suffers an armed aggression on its territory.
It was seen more as a symbolic political gesture than a plea for operational help, since the NATO alliance is the normal vehicle for coordinating military support and the French have not triggered its mutual defense clause.
“The enemy is not just an enemy of France but an enemy of Europe,” President Francois Hollande said after Islamic State gunmen and bombers killed 129 people in attacks on restaurants, a music hall and a sports stadium in Paris last Friday.
Belgium, Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands as well as France have already been flying combat missions against Islamic State targets in Iraq for more than a year, as part of the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve which also includes Arab states.
Two months ago France became the first European country to extend its participation in those strikes from Iraq to Syria. While strikes in Iraq are carried out at the express request of the Baghdad government, in Syria the legal justification is more obscure, the U.S.-led coalition lacks strong allies on the ground and the end of a 4-year-old civil war is nowhere in sight, making Europeans more reluctant to join.
Since Friday’s attacks in Paris, Hollande has stepped up French air raids against the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria and vowed to wage a “merciless” war against the organization, urging others to follow suit. Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Paris would approach EU partners bilaterally for help.
Britain and Denmark have suggested they could follow Paris in extending their air strikes from Iraq to Syria.
TRAUMATIZED
British Prime Minister David Cameron made clear he would try to convince a hitherto reluctant parliament - still traumatized by British participation in the 2003 invasion of Iraq - to authorize an air campaign in Syria.
Cameron underlined his solidarity with Paris by personally attending an England-France soccer international in London on Tuesday, joining the crowd in singing the “Marseillaise” French national anthem.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told parliament in Copenhagen that Denmark backed France and was “in principle open for bombing Syria from the air” if a mandate was agreed.
But other EU partners have spoken mainly of non-combat military assistance in Iraq, and a willingness to send more peacekeepers to Mali, which would free up French forces who intervened against Islamist fighters there in 2013.
Germany and Italy are helping train Kurdish security forces in Iraq, but have not participated in bombing and are unlikely to join.
German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the Social Democratic junior coalition partners, said talk of war against Islamic State helped the militants by contributing to spreading anxiety in western societies.
German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen noted in Brussels on Tuesday that Berlin was also planning to increase its military presence in Mali, joining a U.N. peacekeeping mission after helping train Malian security forces.
Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said after EU defense ministers met on Tuesday in Brussels that she ruled out an intervention in Syria but did not exclude stepping up support operations in Iraq.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he understood Hollande’s use of the word “war” to describe the Paris attacks, but he would not use it himself. He warned against any replay of events in Libya, which has descended into chaos after the 2011 NATO air campaign helped overthrow dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
“Italy is not hiding. We need to maintain our typical position - more soft power than hard power,” Renzi said.
Spain, facing a general election next month, sent a strong message that it would not be prepared to bomb Syria. But Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Madrid was helping to keep peace in Mali, Afghanistan, Libya, Lebanon and Somalia.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven summed up the politically supportive but cautious line of many EU partners when he told TT news agency: “We are not in war, but we will stand with France and the EU.”
Neutral Ireland was one of several smaller EU countries that expressed a willingness to send more peacekeepers to Mali. Dublin has 850 soldiers earmarked for U.N. duty of whom only 500 are serving abroad at present.
Defence Minister Simon Coveney told broadcaster RTE that the EU’s mutual aid clause wasn’t “about a collective response from the European Union, which I think a lot of people might be uncomfortable with. This is about countries working with France on a bilateral basis to see what other countries can do that is consistent with their foreign policy and defense policy.”
“PRINCIPAL SECURITY POWER”
Diplomats in Brussels said the United States and Britain had discouraged France from invoking NATO’s mutual defense clause in the wake of the Paris attacks, to avoid derailing international diplomatic efforts in Syria that require Russia’s cooperation.
French sources said Paris had chosen the EU route rather than appealing to NATO to avoid both alienating Moscow and creating potential complications with NATO-member Turkey, which was slow to join the U.S.-led coalition and has reservations about its support for Syrian Kurds.
Appealing to the EU could also help Paris justify additional French security spending likely to breach EU budget deficit limits.
“France is positioning itself as the principal security power in Europe also to balance out Germany’s position as the leading economic power and the center of the refugee crisis,” said a French source familiar with government thinking, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The Germans have been pressing us to do more to support them with the refugees. Now we are pressing them in a friendly way to help us more on international security and to get off our backs on the deficit,” the source said.NEW DELHI: Imagine 42-year-old Parveen’s shock when the newborn grandson he was told was dead began squirming in his arms on the way to a burial site in West Delhi yesterday.Now, Parveen and several of his relatives sit outside Max Healthcare in Shalimar Bagh, demanding action against the hospital. The boy is currently admitted in another hospital in Pitampura, according to him.“Until there is investigation into this and action taken, we will continue our sit-down protest here,” said Parveen, who has given ET permission to use his name.Max’s alleged medical negligence comes at a time when a Gurugram-based private hospital is already under scrutiny for alleged overcharging and negligence in the case of a seven-year-old girl with severe dengue.“This is very unfortunate and we have directed the Delhi government to look into the matter and take necessary action,” union health minister JP Nadda said once the incident at Max came to light.On its part, the Delhi government has ordered an enquiry into the horrifying incident and has sought a report on it.“Strongest action would be taken if found guilty,” tweeted Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday evening.Parveen’s daughter gave birth to twins early on Thursday, but the daughter was stillborn, he said. At the same time, the doctor who delivered the twins had allegedly told him that the boy was alive and would have to be kept on ventilator in the hospital’s nursery for three months.This would allegedly cost the family Rs 40-50 lakh, he said.“They didn’t show us a rate card, but told us this…We asked the hospital to please give us the boy because we can’t afford so much,” Parveen told ET.The hospital made the family wait for around three hours before informing them that the boy had also passed away.“They parcelled the two babies and gave them to us. Luckily, I noticed that there was movement in the parcel I was carrying on the ride to the burial ground,” Parveen said. “When I opened the parcel, we realised the baby was breathing.”Max Healthcare has said it is looking into the issue.“It has been brought to our attention that a pre-mature (22 weeks), new born baby who is reported to be on life support at a nursing home was unfortunately handed over without any sign of life by Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh,” stated Max Healthcare authorities.“We are shaken and concerned at this rare incident. We have initiated a detailed enquiry, pending which, the concerned doctor has been asked to proceed on leave immediately. We are in constant touch with the parents and are providing all the needed support,” they stated.Private healthcare providers in India have increasingly come under the government’s scanner for overcharging and malpractice.Last week, the union health ministry ordered a probe into Gurugram-based Fortis Memorial Research Institute for allegedly overcharging the family of a seven-year-old girl who was admitted to its paediatric ICU for a fortnight in September.The Haryana government has reportedly set up a committee to probe this matter and is expected to submit a report of action taken to the union health ministry secretary Preeti Sudan by next week.It has come to our attention that after seven years of fighting against the Affordable Care Act and promising to repeal and replace it, many Republicans have absolutely no clue how any part of the law works. Even Sen. John Thune (R-SD), who is in Republican leadership admits it. "There is a lot of misinformation out there," he says, while conceding that the payments to insurers Donald Trump has ceased are not a bailout and do indeed save the federal government money.
Trump is particularly fond of calling these payments bailouts, and pretty much any Republican commenting on them will say the same thing. Here's the deal. They're not. A bail-out is when the government has to stop in to save a company or an industry from bankruptcy. These payments aren't that. They're reimbursement for insurance companies who are required by law to help out lower-income customers in their Obamacare plans with their deductibles and co-payments. That's part of the "affordable" in the Affordable Care Act. They're making health insurance cheaper so that more people—7 million people currently, about 58 percent of the Obamacare enrollment—can afford it.
Here's how it works. People who have incomes of 100 to 250 percent of the poverty level (just under $25,000 for individuals and $62,000 for a family of four) and who buy the standard silver plan can get the assistance. The subsidies are only available on the silver plans, the solid, middle-of-the road plans that the law sets as the benchmark. These plans pay 70 percent of covered medical costs for consumers, and the premium set for the second cheapest silver plan is the amount used by states to serve as the basis for premium subsidy calculations. These are the only plans in which enrollees can get both CSR subsides and premium subsidies. The CSRs, again, are paid by the insurance company.American voters have warmed to President-elect Donald Trump in significant numbers following his stunning electoral upset over Hillary Clinton, according to a new poll.
The Politico/Morning Consult survey found that 46% of voters now have a favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of Trump. That represents a nine-point jump in popularity since before the election, when only 37% viewed Trump favorably. While Trump’s unfavorable numbers have dropped 15 points, the poll still reveals a split among voters; 46% still view him unfavorably.
Presidents-elect typically enjoy a bump in popularity in the initial weeks following their victory. But after a historically bitter and divisive campaign, Trump is not enjoying the same rise Barack Obama did after his election in 2008.
“This honeymoon phase in common for new presidents. For example, Obama saw about a 20 point swing in his favor following the 2008 election,” said Morning Consult cofounder and Chief Research Officer Kyle Dropp.
Voters also believe the transition of power is going well, though many are uninformed about Trump’s first few major staff picks. Over half of those polled did not know or had no opinion about his chief of staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist Steve Bannon, or his pick for Attorney General, Sen. Jeff Sessions.
The poll of 1,885 registered voters had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
Contact us at editors@time.com.Researchers at RIKEN, Japan's flagship research organization, have developed a ground-breaking new aqueous reagent which literally turns biological tissue transparent. Experiments using fluorescence microscopy on samples treated with the reagent, published in Nature Neuroscience, have produced vivid 3-D images of neurons and blood vessels deep inside the mouse brain. Highly effective and cheap to produce, the reagent offers an ideal means for analyzing the complex organs and networks that sustain living systems.
Our understanding of biological organisms and how they function is intrinsically tied to the limits of what we can actually see. Even today's most promising techniques for visualizing biological tissue face this limitation: mechanical methods require that samples be sectioned into smaller pieces for visualization, while optical methods are prevented by the scattering property of light from probing deeper than 1mm into tissue. Either way, the full scope and detail of the biological sample is lost.
The new reagent, referred to as Scale and developed by Atsushi Miyawaki and his team at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI), gets around these problems by doing two things together that no earlier technique has managed to do. The first is to render biological tissue transparent. Scale does this significantly better than other clearing reagents and without altering the overall shape or proportions of the sample. The second is to avoid decreasing the intensity of signals emitted by genetically-encoded fluorescent proteins in the tissue, which are used as markers to label specific cell types.
This combination makes possible a revolution in optical imaging, enabling researchers to visualize fluorescently-labeled brain samples at a depth of several millimeters and reconstruct neural networks at sub-cellular resolution. Already, Miyawaki and his team have used Scale to study neurons in the mouse brain at an unprecedented depth and level of resolution, shedding light onto the intricate networks of the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and white matter. Initial experiments exploit Scale's unique properties to visualize the axons connecting left and right hemispheres and blood vessels in the postnatal hippocampus in greater detail than ever before.
But the potential of Scale goes much further. "Our current experiments are focused on the mouse brain, but applications are neither limited to mice, nor to the brain," Miyawaki explains. "We envision using Scale on other organs such as the heart, muscles and kidneys, and on tissues from primate and human biopsy samples."
Looking ahead, Miyawaki's team has set its sights on an ambitious goal. "We are currently investigating another, milder candidate reagent which would allow us to study live tissue in the same way, at somewhat lower levels of transparency. This would open the door to experiments that have simply never been possible before."On 8 November, Rush will release Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland, a 2-CD set with an accompanying video on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as Moving Pictures: Live 2011, on vinyl and digital formats. We've seen and heard them all, and can tell you they're amazing in every possible way.
With such kick-ass holiday packages looming, we decided it was the perfect time to speak with guitarist Alex Lifeson about Rush's first recorded work...some 38 years ago.
Back in 1973, way before they were full-time, totally awesome stadium and arena-fillers, Rush, then comprised of Lifeson, Geddy Lee and the band's original drummer, John Rutsey (Neil Peart joined in 1974), issued a single on their own Moon Records label. The A side was a cover of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away and the B side was a Lee/Rutsey original called You Can't Fight It.
As you might expect, the 45 was raw, loose, rocking and bursting with youthful charm. Alex Lifeson picks up the story:
Not Fade Away
"Man, we were very young when we did this! We were playing the clubs and didn't know better. Because we were having such a hard time getting a deal, our management thought that maybe something a little more accessible, possibly something already known, would be the way to go.
"Not Fade Away is something we'd been playing live, but we did it really heavy. We rocked it out, sort of the way Led Zeppelin might have. It was powerful and very full. We had a good time with it.
"By the time we recorded it, though, we lightened it up a little to make it more palatable for radio. This is the version that was to be our debut album, but we ended up dropping it and it rerecorded some of the other songs.
"Everything was done so quickly, and it didn't really come out the way we wanted it to. But you know, we were 18, 19 years old. In our minds, we'd arrived. We'd made a record, which meant...we were recording artists."
You Can't Fight It
"Geddy and John Rutsey wrote this one. I think it came about in 1971, something like that. It was also supposed to be on our first album, but we dropped it, too. I think we took off three or four songs that were going to be on the album.
"You Can't Fight It was a fun tune to play, though, especially in the bars late at night. We would never play it early in our show; we'd always do it in the second set or the last set when everybody was feeling pretty spirited, in both senses of the word. [laughs]
"As to why we picked this song over some of our other originals, I think the reason was because it was short. You had to be under three minutes to get on the radio in 1973, and You Can't Fight It fit. Like Not Fade Away, I thought this recording was a little tame. I thought so then, and I've always thought so. But it's what we did at the time."Will Arnett, John Mayer, Judd Apatow
James Corden doesn't officially take the reins as the new host of The Late, Late Show until March 9, but CBS is getting a little help from a few famous friends in the meantime.
Beginning Monday, Jan. 5 and running through Friday, March 6, The Late, Late Show will welcome a star-studded lineup of guest hosts including John Mayer, Judd Apatow, Jim Gaffigan, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes (the latter two whose sitcom The Millers was recently axed by the network — awkward!)
Holiday gift guide: The best devices to stream your shows
A number of CBS stars, like The Big Bang Theory's Kunal Nayyar, Mike & Molly's Billy Gardell, Let's Make a Deal host Wayne Brady and Thomas Lennon of the network's upcoming Odd Couple reboot, will also sit behind The Late, Late Show desk. The Price Is Right host Drew Carey will kick things off the week of Jan. 5, and Carey will also be the final guest host the week of March 2.
The ladies of The Talk will broadcast special after-dark editions of their hit daytime talk show from The Late, Late Show set the week of Jan. 12.
Craig Ferguson will step down as host on Friday, Dec. 19.
The Late, Late Show airs weeknights at 12:37/11:37c on CBS.
(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS.)
Criminal Minds: A mashup of Garcia and Morgan's craziest pet names!1 SHARES Share Tweet Pinterest
In honor of Hemp History Week (June 5 – 11), we thought we’d offer a brief primer on the long and illustrious history of industrial hemp.
First thing’s first – humans have been cultivating hemp for a long, long time. It may actually have been one of the first domesticated crops known to mankind. Archeologists discovered 10,000-year-old hemp cord at the site of an ancient village in modern day Taiwan, and hemp has been consistently grown and utilized since then |
the 830: Despite my initial excitement about this handset when I first saw it back in August, it simply isn't worth this price.
Part of the problem, of course, is that the Lumia 735—marketed with a silly "selfie phone" tagline—has risen above and beyond my expectations while the Lumia 830 has done the opposite. I had such high hopes for the Lumia 830, but the camera is less impressive than I'd hoped, and while the device is thinner and lighter than the brick-like Icon, it's also heavier and bulkier than the wonderful Lumia 735. These two devices are night and day in real-world use.
OK, I'll stop ruining my pending reviews. Let's just look at the Lumia 830 pricing and move on.
AT&T Wireless announced this morning that it will be the first carrier to bring the Lumia 830 to the United States. The pricing breaks down as follows:
No-contract pricing is $449.99.
Two-year contract pricing is $99.99. This is pretty much the way most people have purchased smart phones over the past few years, but AT&T is following T-Mobile's lead by offering alternatives...
Next 18 pricing is $0 down and $18.75 per month, or $337.50 spread out over the life of the 18-month contract.
Next 12 pricing is $0 down and $22.50 per month, or $270 spread out over the life of the 12-month contract.
In the good news department, AT&T is offering a limited-time bonus when you purchase a Lumia 830: You can get a free Fitbit Flex, a value of $99.99.
The obvious question here is: What is the "right" price of the Lumia 830?
And while there will be a lot of debate around this, with people pointing at both unusually inexpensive flagship phones (Nexus 5, starting at just $350 no contract) and other reasonable approximations (iPhone 5C, which is $450, the same price as the Lumia 830), I think there's a better way to handle this. Let's just look at the real-world pricing of other Lumias.
And no surprise here, I just wrote about this in Understanding Nokia's 2014 Lumia Lineup: Pricing.
Sitting just below the Lumia 735 and 830 in the pricing matrix is the Lumia 635. This little wonder can be had in no contract form for just $79.99 on AT&T or $99.99 on T-Mobile right now from Amazon.com, and the normal pricing is $129.99. So that's what the world looks like right below the 735/830 pricing level.
Right above the Lumia 830, we find the Lumia Icon, which can be had no-contract for $499.99 (normal Verizon Wireless version) or as the Lumia 930 in international unlocked version for $465.99 (normally $799.99; it is an import after all). So $499.99 it is. (Yes, it's a different carrier. I can't control how these things are sold, but the closest comparable high-end Lumia on AT&T is the Lumia 1520, which costs almost exactly the same as the Icon, even a bit less.) So $499.99 it is.
Splitting the difference between affordable ($129.99) and flagship ($499.99), we arrive at what the Lumia 830 (the affordable flagship) should cost, with no contract:
$315.
I could have lived with $350, and in that price range, I would have no problem at all recommending this handset. But $450 is simply too expensive, too much money for a device that is neither affordable nor a flagship.A CBC Marketplace investigation has found that some alternative health practitioners are offering unproven vaccine "alternatives" to parents, which is adding to many parents’ confusion about vaccines. These treatments are not approved by Health Canada as alternatives to immunization.
Marketplace visited homeopathic practitioners in Toronto and Vancouver to investigate what advice and other options parents were being given about vaccines.
Watch the complete Marketplace investigation, Shot of Confusion, Friday Nov. 28 at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NT) on CBC Television.
Many myths about vaccines are perpetuated by celebrities and websites that continue to promote discredited and inaccurate research.
Some of the homeopathic practitioners that Marketplace visited offered treatments, called "nosodes," as vaccine alternatives, telling parents that the treatment is as effective as vaccines against diseases such as measles, polio and pertussis (whooping cough), which is highly contagious and can be fatal for infants.
Nosodes are made when diseased tissue or excretions are diluted to the point where any trace of the original substance may not be present. Homeopathic practitioners argue that the memory of the original substance is enough to create immunity. Public health groups have been critical of this approach.
Some homeopathic practitioners also downplayed the severity of communicable diseases like measles, which are preventable by vaccination. Measles can result, in severe cases, in brain damage and death, and kill approximately one in 1,000 children worldwide who contract the disease.
Several said the likelihood of contracting these diseases was slim.
But while vaccine-preventable diseases like measles remain uncommon in Canada, a warning by the Public Health Agency of Canada from earlier this year warned of an unusually high number of cases, with outbreaks reported in five provinces.
"I think it’s frightening," Shannon MacDonald, a registered nurse and adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alberta who researches vaccine trends, told Marketplace co-host Erica Johnson.
"If the herd immunity level drops and these diseases are introduced into the community, those children are not protected," MacDonald says. "You have well-meaning parents who’ve been provided an option, which they’ve been told that it’s going to protect their children. And it’s a lie."
Vaccine alternatives unproven
The homeopathic practitioners in the Marketplace investigation were selling alternative vaccine treatments for between $16 for a single bottle and $200 for a complete course of treatment covering multiple diseases.
In consultations documented on hidden camera, some said the efficacy of nosodes was equivalent to vaccines, with several telling parents that the treatments were more than 90 per cent effective.
None of the homeopathic practitioners in the Marketplace investigation agreed to be interviewed for the story. Some said they are simply providing information, and it is up to parents to decide whether or not to vaccinate their children.
While no regulations prohibit homeopathic practitioners from offering health advice or alternative remedies, nosodes are not approved by Health Canada as vaccine alternatives, and medical experts say that there is no scientific proof that they are effective.
In a letter to the Toronto Star from 2013, Adam Gibson, Director General of Health Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate, wrote that nosodes are not authorized replacements for vaccines. "Both Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada continue to promote and actively support vaccination of Canadians to protect them from vaccine-preventable illness."
Health Canada now requires that manufactured homeopathic products contain a warning label that makes it clear that nosodes are not considered alternatives to vaccination.
But Marketplace discovered that Health Canada doesn’t require homeopaths to make a similar disclosure when the product is prepared specifically for a patient.
‘Terribly irresponsible’
While Canada does not have a tracking system that gives an accurate picture of vaccination rates across the country, local and provincial statistics suggest that in some parts of Canada the number of children who are not up to date on their shots is rising.
In some communities, more than 40 per cent of seven-year-old children do not have all their shots.
Part of the reason seems to be that common myths about vaccine safety persist, and many parents remain fearful.
"It’s very concerning. People are turning to these alternative health-care practitioners for advice, and if the practitioners are not actually trained to know the science behind vaccines, they shouldn’t be providing any advice to parents on it. It’s not their area of specialty," says MacDonald.
"It’s terribly irresponsible."
Part of the issue, she says, is that vaccines have been effective at preventing serious diseases such as polio, and many Canadians don’t have firsthand knowledge of the dangers the diseases pose.
"I have worked overseas and in intensive care with children so I have a very real image of what the outcomes of these diseases can be," says MacDonald.
"These diseases are the thing to be afraid of, and the vaccines are just by and far the safest option."There are several misconceptions related to Google Glass, since the wearable technology was announced. Many believe that it is all about augmented reality and would offer services that are commonly found in tools that are empowered by AR technology. However, once you get the chance to try on a pair you will realize that Glass is not at all that. For many, it can be a shortcoming for Glass. And this exactly where Meta is aiming at; in fact, the public sale of their first version has already started.
The Meta Glasses look exactly like a normal pair of glasses or a pair of safety goggles in its current stage. However, each eye piece includes a translucent and reflective surface that display images on top of your view field with the help of a tiny projector that is built in the arm of the frames. To function properly, Meta plugs into another device, a laptop at present, for data crunching. Later on, you can plug this headwear into your phone.
This headwear debuted itself on Kickstarter in May 2013 and after the completion of their campaign, the company gathered double of their original goal, which was $100,000. And those units will be shipped to the benefactors by the end of this month. And the company boasts to be on track to meet their deadline. Meta is now opening up their next iteration’s pre-sales to everyone.
However, on the downside of this headgear many believe that Meta is launching it quite early. Though these glasses have passed the level of ‘Developers Only’, it is generally meant for tinkerers and hardcore early-adopters. The model is called META.01 and it seems that many revision are about to come. Priced at $667, META.01 units will begin shipping in November.
Since its Kinect-taped-to-glasses days, Meta pulled in various hardware designers to allow their glass to become more slender than their Kickstarter variant. Despite that, Meta.01 is likely to be a little cumbersome than the potential final product.
Meta added various pairs of functional glasses coupled with several working tech demos. The moment you will put on this glass, a number will hover in front of your eyes telling you the distance between the object you are looking at and you. A floating rectangle will appear in space if you held up your hand and will follow your palm wherever it will go. And regarding the augmented reality part, Meta glasses allow users to watch video shots even on standard and blank printer paper that doesn’t even include any kind of QR code. Now this is indeed exciting; however, the image will be floating in the middle instead of not rendering edge to edge perfectly. Meta has actually addressed one of the hardest vision challenges of computer with their glass – the concept of tracking blank white objects.
The AR technology of Meta also supports hand gestures and the hope that with the help of this AR technology people will be able to do full-fledged 3D modeling.
The head of the AR research department of Columbia University and one of the leading augmented reality experts, Steve Feiner is the lead advisor of the company. And their Chief Scientist is Steve Mann who is popularly known as “father of wearable computing”.
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest writer and not necessarily by augmentedrealitytrends.comThere’s now a minor media buzz about John Kasich, the Ohio governor who is now in clear second in New Hampshire—and rising. If he manages to vault even more clearly over Bush, Christie, and Rubio there, he’ll garner lots of national attention. Having attended two of his events, I could see him thriving under a greater spotlight. He’s smart, optimistic, has a compelling personal story, was a very successful governor of a swing state, has an attractive family (wife and two teenage daughters, traveling with him this week in the campaign). A good sense of Kasich’s appeal as a retail politician can be gleaned from the first few minutes of the video here.
Most of his town halls are devoted to domestic issues: taxes, health care, job creation, tuition, the rise in opioid addiction. Kasich is pretty skilled at conveying a calm “we can do this” attitude towards such issues, and displays a nuanced understanding of them. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne remarked that the people at Kasich events aren’t angry (in contrast to you-know-who, though the people there aren’t all angry either, they are also hopeful and enthusiastic).
On foreign policy, Kasich seems understated but fairly hawkish: in two events I’ve heard him say Assad is a butcher who must be overthrown, and that he would arm the Ukrainians to resist Putin. I don’t know how fervently he believes this—he certainly isn’t making it a campaign feature. He’s domestically focused.
But in Lebanon last night, Kasich said something very interesting. Asked near the end of the event (and at the end of a very long day) whom from history he considers a good secretary of state, he answered Jim Baker. He added that he met Baker when he was first in Congress and told the secretary that when he made a threat, it looked like he would follow through.
Naturally I wondered whether Kasich was really up to date on the symbolic meaning of Jim Baker’s name in Republican foreign policy circles. Baker, who held up loans to Israel that were being used for West Bank settlement expansion, who doubted whether the Israelis were interested in a compromise peace. Baker, the demon figure of the neoconservative imagination, the figure who represented what was most wrong with the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Baker, who for the GOP’s remaining realists, was the symbol—along with Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft—of how a Republican president could be practical and tough-minded in defense of American interests without inflaming the world with futile military interventions. Baker, who was invited to speak at J Street, the Jewish activist group most interested in forging a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace. Baker, whose mere appearance on Jeb Bush’s foreign-policy advisory panel reportedly incited a Sheldon Adelson temper tantrum.
Or was he just a candidate at the end of a long day giving a shout out to a secretary of state he knew personally?
I tweeted about the incident, and a few of my tiny number of Twitter followers responded. Then came a retweet from John Weaver, a senior Kasich strategist. That doesn’t necessarily mean much—as the refrain goes, “retweets are not endorsements”—but it might somehow mean that the Baker remark was not entirely inadvertent. There is a lane to run in, there has to be, for a non-Sheldon Adelson-approved GOP candidate.
Scott McConnell, a founding editor of The American Conservative, reports on the 2016 campaign from New Hampshire.
Follow @ScottMcConnell9cryptogon.com news – analysis – conspiracies
July 20th, 2011
American and British Intelligence Agencies Have Offices in Auckland?
Via: Dominion Post:
Thomas also said American and British intelligence agencies the CIA and MI6 had offices based in Auckland and held high-level meetings with New Zealand spy bosses in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake.
The agencies wanted to know what had sparked a Secret Intelligence Service investigation into the group of Israeli backpackers. They also wanted details on what investigations were carried out and what passports the four had in their possession, Thomas said.
—
Update: And Now… * BOOM *
This story about these Israelis had to go away, and now it will:
Terrorist Attack on Government Buildings in Oslo, Norway
—End Update—
Update: Israelis Were Flown from Christchurch to Wellington Aboard RNZ Air Force 757
Via: Stuff:
Among the further mysteries that emerged yesterday was confirmation from Key’s office that Michal Fraidman, Guy Jordan and Liron Sade left Christchurch on one of the earliest flights out after the February 22 earthquake, on an air force 757.
—End Update—
Update: Almost Completely Censored
RB sends a Google search that reveals a sentence that is now removed from all mainstream media:
However, sources said the SAS had entered the zone to secure sensitive material belonging to the Israeli nationals now at the centre of the spying claims.
Here is a screenshot of what remains on Google:
—End Update—
I want to start by noting that it’s getting more difficult, by the hour, to find the full text of this story as it was first published by The Southland Times. Almost all references to this story have been polluted with the absurd denials and gibberish that John Key has added throughout the day.
In addition to providing the full, original text of the story, I want to highlight an incredible admission by Shemi Tzur, the Israeli Ambassador to New Zealand.
Within hours of the February 22, 2011 earthquake striking Christchurch, Tzur, who is based in Canberra, flew to Christchurch, met up with the surviving members of Mizrahi’s team, and drove them to the airport. It is being widely reported that Mizrahi’s associates left New Zealand within twelve hours after the earthquake struck, but there is hardly any mention of the fact that Tzur himself drove them them to the airport:
Israeli Ambassador Shemi Tzur has dismissed as “science fiction” suspicions that agents of Israel’s secret service, Mossad, had been caught up in the Christchurch earthquake in February. Mr Tzur, who is based in Canberra but flew into Christchurch hours after the earthquake, said he was “shocked and upset” that New Zealand’s intelligence agencies would have such suspicions. The three friends of Ofer Mizrahi, who was killed instantly when the van the four were in was crushed by falling concrete in the central city, had left New Zealand so hurriedly because they were shocked and crying and wanted to go home. “I drove his three friends to the airport so they could go home. They were shocked and crying, they were just talking about their friends. “To suggest anything else, someone has been feeding you science fiction. “These were youngsters holidaying in your beautiful country … we encourage our young people to visit New Zealand.” Mr Tzur said he was aware that Mr Mizrahi was found to be carrying more than one passport when identification checks were being made of the earthquake victims – “I was handed a parcel of his effects and it did contain more than one passport” – but dual citizenship was common in Israel because of difficulties over the use of Israeli passports in some other countries. He said he had not been told anything about Mr Mizrahi being found with five or six passports and to suggest that he and his friends were anything other than young tourists made him upset.
Now, why was it so critical for the ambassador himself to fly all the way from Canberra, into a disaster zone, to personally drive these Israelis to the airport? My guess is that Shemi Tzur is actually Mossad’s Chief of Station and that he planned to recover passports (or other materials) that Mizrahi was carrying and smuggle them out of the country using his diplomatic bag.
How many passports did he receive? He admits to receiving, “more than one passport,” but, maybe, in the scramble to get Fraidman, Jordan and Sade (assuming that those are their real names) out of New Zealand, something was missed. Something still needed to be recovered.
That’s when an Israeli “rescue team” was sent in, probably with the directive to recover passports (or other materials) related to whatever Mossad operation was underway when it was interrupted by the earthquake. The New Zealand Government denied this “rescue team” access to the red zone in central Christchurch. The “rescue team” entered the red zone anyway and was apprehended by armed New Zealand “officers.” Interestingly, the New Zealand military is now denying that the SAS presence in Christchurch after the earthquake had anything to do with the unauthorized entry of the Israeli “rescue team” into the red zone.
As messy as all of this is, it’s only the start. The article discusses the SIS investigation into whether or not Israeli medical personnel may have been doing double duty for Mossad by dropping backdoors on to computer systems used by the police.
Hours into the aftermath of The Southland Times piece, everywhere you look now, it’s: Move along, there’s DEFINITELY nothing to see here. They were just backpackers who wanted to get home to Israel in a real hurry—and hopped a ride to the airport with the Israeli Ambassador who had just flown in from Canberra… Mmm hmm.
John Key gives us the all clear. However, Fred Tulett, the author of The Southland Times piece, stands by the information he published and is convinced that the SIS investigation is ongoing. He was interviewed by Mary Wilson on Radio New Zealand’s Checkpoint program: Audio from Wednesday 20 July 2011:
Journalist who broke the story doesn’t buy Key’s explanation The journalist whose story sparked the speculation today about Israeli spy operations in Christchurch says he is not buying the Prime Minister’s claim that the investigations are all over. (3?59?) Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3
Ok, so, what do I think is happening here?
The Israeli state is an international terrorist organization that hijacks innocent people’s identities in order to carry out assassinations abroad.
There is a lot of speculation that identity theft was probably behind this situation in Christchurch. In case you don’t know, Mossad operations related to identity theft are an Israeli tradition in New Zealand. This Guardian piece is from 2004:
The prime minister of New Zealand angrily denounced Israel and imposed diplomatic sanctions on it after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for trying on false grounds to obtain a New Zealand passport. The plot, which involved obtaining a passport in the name of a tetraplegic man who had not spoken in years, provoked a furious reaction yesterday. “The breach of New Zealand laws and sovereignty by agents of the Israeli government has seriously strained our relationship with Israel,” said the prime minister, Helen Clark. “This type of behaviour is unacceptable internationally by any country. It is a sorry indictment of Israel that it has again taken such actions against a country with which it has friendly relations.” High-level visits between the two countries will be cancelled, visa restrictions imposed for Israeli officials, and an expected visit to New Zealand by Moshe Katsov, the Israeli president, later this year has been cancelled. Ms Clark said Israel had ignored requests made three months ago for an explanation and an apology. The action marks the most serious rupture in New Zealand’s international relations since Wellington suspended diplomatic relations with France in 1985 after French agents bombed Greenpeace’s anti-nuclear ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour.
Maybe that’s it. As I write, however, the countdown timer for the Rugby World Cup indicates 50 days 19 hours until the start of that major international sporting event in New Zealand.
If anything happens at the Rugby World Cup, let’s make sure that the media doesn’t experience amnesia with regard to this situation.
Here’s the full text of the original story as it was first published:
I’m not able to find this story on The Southland Times site now. If anyone can find a link to the original story, I’d appreciate it. Until then, I will reproduce the full text here:
SIS on Trail of Spies
by Fred Tulett
The Southland Times
July 20, 2011
Page 1
The police national computer has been under scrutiny in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake in February because of fears Israeli agents loaded software into the system that would allow backdoor access to highly sensitive intelligence files.
The Security Intelligence Service ordered the checks as part of an urgent investigation of what one SIS officer described as the suspicious activities of several groups of Israelis during and immediately after the earthquake.
Three Israelis were among the 181 people who died when the earthquake destroyed most of Christchurch’s central business district on February 22. One was found to be carrying at least five passports.
An unaccredited Israeli search and rescue squad was later confronted by armed New Zealand officers and removed from the sealed-off “red zone” of the central city.
The response of the Israeli government to the three deaths appears extraordinary. In the hours after the 6.3 quake struck:
* Prime Minister John Key fielded the first of four calls that day from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
* Israel’s Ambassador in the South Pacific, Shemi Tzur, who is based in Australia, booked flights to Christchurch, where he visited the morgue.
* Israel’s civil defence chief left Israel for Christchurch.
* A complete Israeli urban search and rescue squad was assembled and flown to Christchurch, arriving about the same time as …
* Three people who had smashed their way out of a van crushed by a concrete pillar in the central city, leaving a fourth person dead in the vehicle, arrived back in Israel.
Those four Israelis – Ofer Benyamin Mizrahi, 23, from Kibbutz Magal near Haifa, Michal Fraidman, Liron Sade and Guy Jordan – would later become a prime focus of the SIS investigation, along with the Israeli search and rescue squad and a group of forensic analysts from Israel that worked in the Christchurch morgue helping to identify earthquake victims.
The four, two men and two women, had been shopping in the central city on the morning of the earthquake and had returned to their van, parked in Gloucester St, when the quake hit. Mizrahi, the driver, was killed instantly, and Jordan, in the front passenger seat, smashed a window and climbed through the hole to escape. The two women, Fraidman and Sade, who were sitting in the back seat, also managed to crawl out.
They were unable to reach Mizrahi and, after taking photographs of the crushed van, made their way to Latimer Square, where Israeli officials had set up an emergency meeting point. Within 12 hours they had left New Zealand.
On Sunday, February 26, Mizrahi’s body was recovered from the van and taken to the morgue where, during routine identity checks, he was found to be carrying at least five passports.
Meanwhile, the search and rescue squad dispatched from Israel had arrived in Christchurch but the offer of help was rejected by New Zealand authorities because the squad did not have accreditation from the United Nations.
According to Israeli newspaper reports, the squad was being funded by the parents of two other Israelis killed in the earthquake, Ofer Levy and Gabi Ingel, both 22, who were said to be in New Zealand on a backpacking holiday. The parents made repeated public appeals for the Israeli team to join the rescue, appeals that were dismissed by the New Zealand authorities until squad members were discovered in the sealed off “red zone” of the central city.
It is understood the squad members were confronted by armed New Zealand officers and removed from the area. That confrontation is understood to have led to intense diplomatic exchanges between New Zealand and Israel, though police have refused to comment on the incident or even acknowledge that it occurred, and the Israeli ambassador says he had not been advised of any such incident.
Another Israeli group, a forensic analysis team sent by the Israeli government, was welcomed in Christchurch and worked on victim identification in the morgue.
However, the SIS also began to have suspicions about this group when it began investigating possible links between the cache of passports found with Mizrahi, the immediate flight of his three companions, the high-powered Israeli interest shown in the earthquake, the unexplained behaviour of the supposed “search and rescue squad” and a mysterious seventh Israeli, in New Zealand illegally, who was first reported missing in the quake and then, weeks later, was reported to have left the country. They were also interested in the Facebook tribute page set up for Mizrahi that has attracted only five “likes” in the more than four months it has been on the social media site.
When it was realised the forensic analysts could have accessed the national police computer database, an urgent security audit was ordered.
As the SIS officer explained, it would take only moments for a USB drive to be inserted in a police computer terminal and loaded with a program allowing remote backdoor access.
“We were concerned that could have happened,” the officer said.
“We carried out an urgent audit. If it had been done it would eventually have given the Israelis access to all of our intelligence.”
The national database holds all records of convictions, firearms licences, lost and stolen property, criminal behaviour and identifying marks and observations taken by police. It is capable of sophisticated searching and data matching. The officer said the audit had not identified any suspicious files so far, but a wider SIS investigation was continuing.
“It all looks suspicious, but a lot of what the Israelis do raises suspicion. So lots of smoke but we haven’t found any fires. The file remains open though.”
Intelligence agencies have become hypersensitive to sophisticated hacking after the malware “agent.btz” was infiltrated into the computer systems of United States Military Command three years ago.
The US believes Russian agents were responsible and Deputy Defence Secretary William Lynn has described it as “a digital beachhead” for a foreign intelligence agency to attempt to steal data. Attempts to remove the malware have so far been unsuccessful – new, more potent variations of agent.btz are still appearing.
The SIS officer said the agency was also aware of a comment posted on the website of the Russian newspaper Pravda that the Christchurch earthquake had disrupted an Israeli spy base in the city.
The Southland Times asked police national headquarters for comment on the actions and activities of various Israeli groups after the earthquake. After considering the request for nine days, the police issued a brief statement, attributed to Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess, confirming that three Israelis had died in the earthquake, that the van in which Mizrahi died had been recovered and examined, that police had not been involved in the decision to exclude the Israeli search squad, and that “police do not discuss or disclose details of personal effects found with any of the 181 victims”.
Mr Tzur, also approached for comment, said it was “science fiction” that any Mossad agents had been involved.
—
More: Police Database Like Gold to Spies, Says SIS Expert Hager
Via: Dominion Post:
Secret information contained on the police national computer would be like gold to foreign intelligence agencies, and highly valuable for espionage purposes, says investigative journalist and SIS expert Nicky Hager.
“You’ve got potential names you could steal and use, you’ve got all their backgrounds. You’ve got this fantastic resource on another country,” he said. “If you’re an intelligence agency that would be a very high-value thing to seize.”
It emerged yesterday that the Security Intelligence Service ordered a review of the national police computer system amid fears that Israeli agents had gained access to it after the Christchurch quake by loading sophisticated malware to obtain highly sensitive intelligence files.
Hager, who has written extensively about covert intelligence activities, believes any breach of the system by Israeli Mossad agents was likely to have been opportunistic in the aftermath of the earthquake, rather than premeditated.
“That wasn’t the purpose of the mission they were here for. If you were in an intelligence service, there’s many reasons you want to have a list like that, opportunistic or otherwise. It’s a gem for them.”
However, high-level intelligence shared between New Zealand and the United States gleaned through the Blenheim spy base would not have been accessible through the police computer, he said.
If Israeli spies were based in Christchurch, their original mission would probably have been passport-related. New Zealand passports were highly sought-after by foreign spies as they raised low levels of suspicion at immigration checks.
If the dead man had multiple passports, that suggested links to espionage, Hager said.
“When there are people with multiple passports they can be high-level criminals. But coming from Israel, it sounds suspiciously like intelligence services – the strongest suspicion, I would say.”
Both Hager and Labour leader Phil Goff called on the prime minister to come clean about the incident rather than hiding behind claims of national security.
“You can’t just say this is about security because whose security are you talking about?” Hager said. “Israeli security? If you’ve got foreign spies in your country, it isn’t a good enough reason.”
Police national headquarters issued a statement denying its computer system had been compromised.
Defence Force chief Lieutenant General Rhys Jones revealed yesterday that SAS personnel had been deployed in the red zone immediately after the quake for humanitarian aid purposes. But he denied reports that SAS soldiers had been issued with ammunition and deployed in relation to an unaccredited Israeli search and rescue squad.
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You must be logged in to post a comment.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A 5p levy on single-use carrier bags applies whether the bag is plastic, paper or made from plant-based material
A mandatory carrier bag charge has been introduced in Scotland for the first time.
Shoppers will now have to pay a minimum of 5p per bag, with many retailers donating proceeds to good causes.
In May, MSPs voted to bring in the new regulations in a bid to tackle Scotland's litter problem, but the fee does not just apply to plastic bags.
It has also been imposed on single-use carriers made from eco-friendly materials.
The minimum charge applies to all retailers, not just supermarkets.
Wales became the first part of the UK to introduce a minimum charge for single-use carrier bags in 2011, followed by Northern Ireland last year.
What does the new bag charge mean?
What are the reasons behind the charge, how will retailers will be affected, where will the money go and exactly which bags will customers be paying for?
Read our guide to the new plastic bag charge here.
The Scottish government has estimated that 800 million single-use bags are given out by supermarkets every year in Scotland alone.
More than 160 retailers including Marks and Spencer, McDonald's and The Co-operative Group have registered for Zero Waste Scotland's Carrier Bag Commitment, launched earlier this year.
This means organisations have agreed to donate the net proceeds from the charge to good causes, which may include environmental causes.
'Throwaway culture'
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "I'm extremely proud that this landmark legislation is now in force.
"Our carrier bag addiction is symptomatic of our throwaway culture and has serious implications for the environment.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption It is hoped that the new minimum charges for carrier bags will help tackle Scotland's litter problem
"Huge numbers of these bags end up as litter, blighting our communities and clogging up our seas and natural habitats, affecting many sorts of wildlife and marine species in particular.
"We want that to change and for people to stop and think about whether they really need to take another bag.
"Alternatives like bags-for-life are easy to get and are much more sustainable."
'Step forward'
The Marine Conservation Society said the Scottish move was "a major step forward in tackling a problem that causes so much harm to marine wildlife".
The society has argued that it will reduce harmful litter on beaches and in the sea, and prevent many wildlife entanglements and choking deaths.
Pollution programme manager Laura Foster said: "We look forward to seeing the results in Scotland following the great example that has been set in Wales and in Northern Ireland.
"A 5p charge on all single-use carrier bags, regardless of the material they are made from, is a really encouraging step forward and millions of bags will now not end up in Scottish waters thanks to this decision by Holyrood."
Environmental group WWF Scotland also welcomed the mandatory fees.
Director Lang Banks said: "We know that in other parts of the world, charges for plastic bags have led to dramatic reductions in their use, as well as positive changes in consumer behaviour.
"A great example is Denmark, which introduced a charge in 2003, and now has the lowest plastic bag use in Europe, using four plastic bags per person per year.
"At present Scots consume nearly 800 million carrier bags every year, with millions ending up in landfill, polluting our environment and threatening wildlife."Note: WNBA.com’s Power Rankings, released every Tuesday during the season, are the opinion of this writer and do not reflect the views of the WNBA or its clubs.
One point and 3.1 seconds. That is all that separated the Los Angeles Sparks and Minnesota Lynx in last year’s epic WNBA Finals.
It’s been nearly seven months since Nneka Ogwumike hit the game-winning and championship-clinching putback over the outstretched arm of Sylvia Fowles. Even after an offseason filled with player movement, coaching changes and one particular blockbuster trade, there is still very little that separates the two teams as the 2017 season approaches.
The preseason power rankings begin with the last two teams standing from last season, with the defending champion Sparks holding the ever-so-slight edge over the Lynx.
Click here to view this week’s AP Power Poll
1. Los Angeles Sparks
Last Season: 26-8; Won WNBA Finals
The defending champs return much of their roster from last season with the notable exception of point guard Kristi Toliver, who joined Washington as a free agent. To help fill the void left by Toliver, the Sparks acquired Odyssey Sims from Dallas and get Riquna Williams back from injury. L.A. still has defensive standout Alana Beard on the perimeter and the MVP duo of Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike on the frontline. After winning their first title in 14 years last October, the Sparks will look to be the first WNBA team to repeat since the Lisa Leslie era Sparks did back in 2002.
2. Minnesota Lynx
Last Season: 28-6; Lost WNBA Finals
Since the 2011 season, the Lynx have played in five of six WNBA Finals and won three championships. They have been the gold standard for the WNBA over that period of time – a championship threat every time they step on the court. A team like that doesn’t need any added motivation, but the heartbreaking fashion in which they fell short of title No. 4 last October should give the Lynx more fuel to add to their ever-burning fire. Minnesota brings back its entire core from last year – a team that finished with a league-best 28-6 record and featured the top offense (107.2 OffRtg) and top defense (96.4 DefRtg) in the WNBA. An added benefit for the Lynx is that most of their core group opted not to play overseas during the offseason, giving them added time to recover and prepare for the 2017 WNBA season. While many teams are still waiting for key players to return to the U.S., the Lynx have had nearly their full complement of players (Rebekkah Brunson and Natasha Howard still had commitments at the start of training camp) available.
3. Washington Mystics
Last Season: 13-21; Missed Playoffs
The biggest headline of the WNBA offseason was the January trade of Elena Delle Donne from the Chicago Sky to the Washington Mystics. In addition to adding the 2015 WNBA MVP in her prime, the Mystics also signed Kristi Toliver as a free agent, giving them a veteran guard with championship experience to lead Mike Thibault’s system. Those additions have turned a |
coal company well abandoned in the 1980s. Water is pumped up the mountainside to an old storage tank hidden amid tangled trees, then flows down to homes. It’s the subject of 19 water-testing violations since 1988, the most in the nation.
“We don’t know what’s in it,” said Mila Darnell, 62, who is raising two 17-year-old grandsons with her retired coal miner husband. “I’m very concerned about lead or whatever else could be in there.”
No doubt something is awry; the water stains the Darnells’ clothes, stops up their shower head and sometimes smells like fish. Although they won’t drink it, they do use it for cooking — boiling it first and hoping no one gets sick.
West Virginian officials say they can’t do much beyond sending out advisories and issuing notices about water-testing violations because Coal Mountain has no owner or operator. The state labels Coal Mountain and about 15 other utilities “orphan systems.”
“This happens, actually, across the country. We try to work with them, but the problem is finding someone who’s responsible,” said Walter Ivey, director of the West Virginia health department’s Office of Environmental Health Services.
Kailyn Brooke Taylor, 5, of Coal Mountain, W.Va., drinks bottled water because their tap water might be unsafe.
(Photo: Jasper Colt, USA TODAY)
One option is for states to test the water. But Jon Capacasa, director of EPA's Region 3 Water Protection Division, said that the law calls for utilities to monitor for lead and report results to states, and that the obligation lies with them.
When utilities can’t or won’t, however, they often face little if any real punishment.
Notices and orders were EPA’s weapons against Coal Mountain’s lead-testing violations for five years — after which nothing changed and West Virginia asked that no further federal action be taken.
Water-quality advocates say residents deserve better.
Government “owes it to these people to at least provide clean drinking water,” said Wyoming County Clerk Mike Goode, adding that the county is working on a proposal to help Coal Mountain. “It’s bad. These people live in America. They have a right to good water.”
But Mila Darnell laments that such rights don’t always extend to poor, rural Americans like her.
“We’re a forgotten people,” she said. “It hurts to feel … like you just don’t count.”
CLOSE Millions of people served by tiny utilities could be drinking tap water contaminated with lead or untested because of breakdowns in oversight by the federal and state governments. Rene Alston, Rex Curry and Laura Ungar
'No responsible party' Accountable officials minimizing danger
Roberts, the city manager, downplayed the danger from Ranger’s water. Roberts said small children and pregnant women probably shouldn’t drink it (as the city said in a letter to residents). He said overall, “I don’t see a problem with drinking (it.) I drink it.... I don’t think it’s a health alert serious enough for an emergency.”
Ranger, Texas, City Manager Chad Roberts says state environmental officials pushed hard for action on the city's water problems this fall after USA TODAY Network reporters visited the town and began asking questions.
(Photo: Laura Ungar, USA TODAY)
Roberts blamed much of the lead problem on homeowners’ pipes, although he acknowledged the city’s distribution system contains lead pipes as well.
Pilgrim, Ranger’s mayor, agreed the water isn’t unsafe, saying his city “has never put any of their people in danger. … It’s not an ongoing medical disaster to anyone in town for any reason.”
They are far from the only officials to minimize water problems.
Kentucky’s Peter Goodmann, who directs the division of water there, used a similar rationale to defend many years of inaction when a tiny water system without an owner refused to test for contaminants. “There’s not much we could do because there’s no responsible party,” Goodmann said of Kettle Island Water, which was recently downgraded from a public water system because it’s gotten so small. “Nobody’s dying there, and there doesn’t seem to be any public health effects.”
The EPA would not allow senior officials including Peter Grevatt, director of the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, to be interviewed. The agency would respond only in writing to questions, saying it’s revising lead regulations, working with states to strengthen protections and oversight, and remains committed to “vigorous civil and criminal enforcement to protect public health.” On Nov. 30, the EPA released a drinking water “action plan” that includes proposed steps to help tiny water utilities comply with the drinking water laws, such as guidance to help them find money for needed improvements and updated certification guidelines for people operating them.
For now, lead continues to taint tap water in places like Ranger. Katelyn Peters, who lives next door to the Waltons, doesn’t see anything changing soon.
“This is where I was raised. This is where I was planning on raising my kids,” she said, watching three of her four kids chase each other in the front yard, wondering if the water could be slowly poisoning the town’s kids. “Now, I’m terrified. I would live anywhere else.”
Contributing: Lex Talamo of The Shreveport (La.) Times and Caitlin McGlade. Talamo reported from Mooringsport, La. McGlade reported from Ranger, Tex. Nichols reported from Indianapolis. Ungar reported from Ranger, Coal Mountain, W.Va., and Louisville.Google Glass 2.0, which will be aimed at the enterprise and workplace, will reportedly fold up like a regular pair of glasses.
According to a 9to5Google report, Google Glass 2.0 will also be water-resistant and sport a more rugged design.
See also: Google FCC filing may point to next version of Google Glass
The report says the new rugged design is "built to withstand normal drops and bumps" and will also have fewer buttons and ports. The "Explorer Edition" of Google Glass only has two buttons: the on/off button and a camera button.
Unless Google plans to remove the touchpad on the side of Google Glass, which is used for navigation and can be tapped like a button, there aren't many buttons to remove in the first place.
Previous reports state Google Glass 2.0 will come with a larger viewing prism, a more powerful Intel Atom processor and improved battery life.
Google Glass launched as a beta product in 2013. The company invited a select group of "Explorers" to purchase Glass for $1,500. The invite system was later lifted and the augmented reality glasses made available for everyone to purchase, until they were discontinued earlier this year.
After acquiring Nest Labs, Inc., makers of the Nest smart thermostat and Protect smart smoke detector, Google tasked the company's CEO Tony Fadell with redesigning Google Glass.
Google Glass 2.0 for the enterprise is rumored to launch by the end of the year.Collection of Coders Games to Improve Your Skills
Ilya Pestov Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 1, 2016
Hey there! Sometimes we need to entertain and relax a little bit, but we can do it with a benefit of ourselves. Today we’re going to review a collection of sites which will train your brain and improve your coding skills.
Games
Codecombat — is an awesome multiplayer game which helps you learn to program, not a gamified lesson course.
Screeps — the world’s first MMO strategy open world game for programmers.
Git Game — is a terminal game designed to test your knowledge of git commands.
Elevator Saga — your task is to program the movement of elevators, by writing a program in JavaScript. The goal is to transport people in an efficient manner.
CodeChef — you can solve real problems and participate in different contests which are performed on the monthly basis.
Codingame turns solving into a game where you receive points for every group of test you’ve passed.
Hacker.org is a series of puzzles and tests which measure your knowledge. To pass the series you have to solve and analyze a lot.
Pex for fun — a game from Microsoft where you compete with other coders. Your weapon — code.
Rankk — you have to solve problems from easy to hard ones. It is a reincarnation of the old game called The Pyramid with logics and maths tasks.
TopCoder — here you can not only solve but also earn real money. Developers from all other the world are challenging each other in problems from popular IT companies in order to receive their prizes.
Google Code Jam — algorithms puzzles which were solved on Google contests. Try yourself.
Python Challenge — the player passes different levels by coding on Python.
Puzzles
Training
4Clojure — here you can learn Clojure by solving easy and hard problems.
Prolog Problems — this one offers you to practice in logical programming.
Ruby Quiz — weekly Ruby puzzles.
Codingbat — lots of problems for Java and Python (with different difficulty).
Cyber-dojo — here you can code under the control of the site moderators which will check your solution.
Sphere Online Judge — different coding problems of different kinds.
Code Wars — programming languages tutor in eight languages.
Rosalind — learn algorithms and bioinformatics by solving real problems.
Pre-interview Practice
LeetCode — this service was created to prepare coders for their interviews. Here you will find typical problems from different topics.
Career Cup — the most actual questions which will be asked for coders.
Originally published at ipestov.com on February 1, 2016.Pepsi and crisp breakfasts and a mistress sanctioned by his wife... Welcome to the strange life of the world's richest man
It was the simple, ordinary life of a megabillionaire.
As always, the high-flying investment guru Warren Buffett was accompanied at official functions by his wife Susie, their routine carefully orchestrated like everything in his day.
But when he left the office at 5.30pm, the ordinariness abruptly ended. The woman he returned to was not his wife but Astrid Menks, with whom he had lived since 1978.
He has described the unusual triangular arrangement like this: 'Susie put me together and Astrid keeps me together. They both need to give, and I'm a great receiver, so it works for them.'
A strange answer, but - stranger still - Susie and Astrid appeared to be friends. And it was Susie Buffett who set up the relationship.
Ball park figure: Warren Buffett playing baseball
Buffett was this year named the world's richest man, overtaking Bill Gates with a £35billion fortune, and in the midst of the American financial meltdown he has invested billions in two major companies: Goldman Sachs and General Electric.
But the man dubbed the Sage of Omaha is also famous for his frugality - and his eccentricity.
Even his attitude towards his biographer was unconventional: 'Whenever my version is different from somebody else's,' he told her, 'use the less flattering version.'
Buffett was born in 1930, ten months after the stock market crash of 1929.
Politics, money and philosophy were acceptable topics for the dinner table at home: his father had been a stockbroker in Nebraska and later a Congressman.
Feelings, however, were off-limits. Nobody in the Buffett household said 'I love you', or tucked the children into bed with a kiss.
When in a rage, his mother, Leila, would verbally lash the children, saying their lives were easy compared to her sacrifices, that they were worthless, ungrateful and selfish.
She never stopped until he and his sister Doris 'just folded' and wept helplessly.
Warren took to school immediately, loving anything involving numbers. By the time he was 15, he had amassed $2,000 (about £10,000 at today's money) from delivering newspapers, which he to invested in a shop and a farm in Nebraska.
At business school in Pennsylvania and then Columbia University in New York he was known for his tatty clothes and social ineptitude, but that didn't put off a round-cheeked brunette called Susie Thompson.
She soon detected the vulnerability beneath the surface. All that confident chatter about stock markets was wrapped around a fragile, needy core.
'I was a mess,' he said. 'It was incredible the way Susie saw through to some of that.'
They married while Buffett was working for his father's stockbroking firm, where by the end of 1951 he had made thousands from dealing.
But on his wedding night he ate fried chicken at a tiny diner in Nebraska.
Susie quickly assumed a motherly role. Buffett said: 'I needed her like crazy. I was happy in my work, but I wasn't happy with myself.
'She literally saved my life. She resurrected me. She put me together. It was the same kind of unconditional love you would get from a parent.'
Mainstay: Buffett's first wife, Susie
Although their model of wedded life was typical of the time - he made the money, she covered the domestic front - their arrangement was extreme.
Susie devoted herself to fulfilling her husband's few but specific requirements: Pepsi in the refrigerator, a light bulb in his reading lamp, some indifferently cooked version of meat and potatoes for dinner, popcorn in the cupboard.
He also needed help getting dressed, and in dealing with people and hugs.
Buffett had never been taught to look after himself and had no interest in his appearance. She even cut his hair because he was afraid to go to the barber.
Their first child, Susan, known as Little Susie, was born in 1953 and the following year Buffett took a job with a stockbroker in New York.
When Susie and Little Susie arrived, their apartment was not ready, so the family moved into a room so cramped they had to devise a makeshift crib from a dresser drawer.
On Wall Street, Buffett struck people as a hick, and within their apartment block he had earned a reputation for tightfistedness.
He made a deal with a local newsstand to buy week-old magazines at a discount as they were about to be thrown away. He had no car, and when he borrowed that of a neighbour, he never filled up the tank.
But he flourished, and left New York to start his own firm in Omaha, soon managing more than $1million of investors' money. Arriving home, he would disappear into his study to read and think.
Susie tried to get him involved with their growing family - Little Susie now had two brothers, Howard and Peter - telling him: 'Anyone can be a father, but you have to be a daddy, too.'
But she was talking to someone who'd never had that kind of daddy: when Buffett built himself a large model railway in his attic he forbade the children from playing with it.
Friends joked: 'Warren, those are your children - you recognise them, don't you?' One described Susie as'sort of a single mother'.
At the beginning of 1964, Buffett was worth nearly $2million, but when his father died that year, he showed no visible sign of grief and criticised Susie for spending too much on the coffin.
Weeks after the funeral, however, bald patches appeared on his head: his hair had fallen out from the shock.
By the time his hair had grown back, Buffett's firm - now worth $37million - had bought an ailing textile mill in Massachusetts called Berkshire Hathaway, later the vehicle for his future investments.
But success had not changed his child-like eccentricity.
He hated vegetables and despised everything green except money. He breakfasted on crisps and Pepsi, ate handfuls of chocolate and popcorn, and chose steaks, hamburgers and the odd sandwich as his main meals.
With such an unhealthy diet, he disciplined himself to keep his weight stable by making out unsigned cheques to his children for $10,000 and declaring that if he didn't weigh 173lb on a specific date, he would sign the cheques. He never signed one.
By 1969, when Susie was spending less time at home, going to jazz clubs and travelling, his fortune was big enough for him to buy a local newspaper, the Omaha Sun.
The paper made him crave entry into publishing's big league, and that opportunity came in 1971 when he met Katharine 'Kay' Graham, publisher of the Washington Post.
The third woman: Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, pictured with Princess Diana at the White House in 1996
Two years later, Buffett had accumulated a five per cent stake in the Post, and Kay began taking him seriously: it was the start of a mutually supportive relationship.
Kay tended to freeze in front of crowds, something he understood from his teenage years, so he coached her. He was genuinely fascinated by Kay and her social life.
Buffett joined the Washington Post board in 1974, and enjoyed giving Kay the sort of support Susie had offered him: 'I really wanted her to feel better about what she was doing. Basically, I enjoyed trying to build her up.'
As Buffett began to be seen out with Kay, she made it her job to give him some polish: 'Kay tried to upgrade me a little - it was very funny. She worked so hard to sort of remould me, but it didn't work.'
Some foibles were indeed beyond reform. Kay's chef found it a challenge cooking for a man whose idea of a feast was a half-gallon of chocolate-chip ice cream.
Buffett has said: 'I like eating the same thing over and over and over again. I could eat a ham sandwich every day for 50 days in a row for breakfast.'
By now he was spending so much time in Washington that he began keeping a spare set of clothes in Kay's guest room.
Meanwhile, Susie was depressed about her marriage and believed Kay was an interloper pursuing her husband.
In the hot rush of a midlife romance, she let herself be seen around Omaha with John McCabe, her tennis coach.
However, Kay, a flirtatious 59-year-old, was spotted tossing the 46-year-old Buffett her door key at charity events and the two were seen together ever more often in public. By early 1977, gossip columnists had taken note.
Friends, though, observed that the pair had 'zero chemistry'. Whatever romantic elements the relationship may have had initially, at heart it was a friendship.
At 47, Buffett was worth $72million and ran a company valued at $135million, while Susie was doing charity work and trying to establish herself as a singer.
She was also spending a lot of time in San Francisco, and installing her tennis coach in a separate apartment.
It was around this time that Susie struck up a friendship in Omaha with Astrid Menks, a restaurant maitre d' whose Latvian parents arrived in America when she was five.
Small-boned, fair-skinned with ice-blonde hair, she had a Nordic beauty with a subtle hard-knocks edge.
At times she looked even younger than her 31 years. Susie asked her friend to look in on Buffett and cook an occasional meal for him. It was then that, while insisting she was not seeking a divorce, Susie suggested to Buffett that with the children grown up, it was time for her to spread her wings; to have a place of her own in San Francisco. She simply wanted to surround herself with art, music and theatre.
Buffett was devastated. He wandered aimlessly around the house, barely able to feed and clothe himself. He called Susie daily, weeping.
'It was as if they couldn't live together and they couldn't live without each other,' one friend said.
Buffett later admitted: 'It was preventable. It shouldn't have happened. It was my biggest mistake.'
The helper: Astrid Menks, above, was picked by Buffett's wife Susie to look after him
As requested, meanwhile, Astrid phoned him and called round. Arriving at the door to cook a meal, she found a cave filled with books, newspapers and annual reports.
Buffett, incapable of functioning without female companionship, had been reduced emotionally to an 11-year-old boy. He needed feeding; his clothes were unkempt.
Astrid was the least pushy woman imaginable but when faced with this problem, she took control.
By early 1978, with encouragement from Susie, Astrid was cooking and caretaking. Gradually, however, the relationship became something more as Buffett began to accept that Susie wasn't coming back.
Susie herself was shocked. This wasn't what she had in mind when she told her husband they both had needs. In her mind, Warren's dependence on her was absolute; how could he need a relationship with anyone else?
It might have been predicted. Astrid did all that was required: doing the laundry, taking care of the house, buying the Pepsi, giving him head rubs, cooking the meals and providing companionship. She never told him what to do and asked for nothing in return.
As Susie adjusted to the shock, she came to accept the situation, which did make her life easier. Buffett was perfectly open about living with Astrid, merely saying: 'If you knew the people involved, you'd see that it suited all of us quite well.'
Astrid accepted that Buffett would never marry her, so she tolerated being called his housekeeper and mistress, while Susie accompanied him to social and business events.
Buffett said: 'Astrid knows where she fits with me. She knows she's needed. That's not a bad place to be.'
He appeared to be getting the best of both worlds, but he couldn't defend himself against the impression that he had driven his wife away through his relationship with Katharine Graham.
Kay, in turn, handled the situation by acting as if Astrid didn't exist, except for calling her once to ask how to work her video recorder.
Susie and Astrid were perfectly comfortable with each other: Astrid even went to San Francisco to visit Susie, who was by now grateful to the younger woman for making her life easier.
The year 1985 was extraordinary. In a single week Buffett made more than £180million from just one investment.
At 55, he was now a billionaire, yet he drove an eight-year-old Cadillac and lived in his original, modest house. He bought Coca-Cola shares although he drank Pepsi; he bought a jewellers although he had no interest in appearances.
His status as one of the super-rich meant he was now no longer so dependent on Kay for A-list invitations, and she no longer needed him as a regular escort, for their mutual obsession had cooled.
After her death in 2001, Buffett did not speak at her massive funeral, something he later regretted: a week later he was heard sobbing with grief.
In 2003 he suffered another blow when Susie was diagnosed with cancer. He always assumed she would be there for him at the end, to calm his terror and ease his suffering when death was approaching.
Susie got through surgery and radiotherapy and was declared clear in 2004.
All three returned to their 'normal' routine: Astrid accompanying Buffett only to the backstage social events while Susie attended the official social events in the role of 'wife'.
Devastated: Warren Buffett at Katharine Graham's funeral with Bill Gates, right
In a television interview, Susie was asked if Astrid took care of her man for her.
'She did, and she takes great care of him, and he appreciates it and I appreciate it... she's done me a great favour,' Susie said.
But Susie's recovery was short-lived. She died from a stroke later that year.
As the funeral approached, it became apparent to Buffett's daughter, Little Susie, that something else was bothering her father. It dawned on her what this must be.
'You don't have to go,' she told him. Buffett was overcome with relief. 'I can't,' he said. To sit there, overwhelmed with thoughts of Susie, in front of everyone, was too much. 'I can't go.'
But unlike him, hundreds of others did want to grieve for her at some sort of memorial service.
None was ever held. Only the family, a couple of Susie's closest friends, including the singer Bono and his wife, Ali, were invited to the funeral.
Little Susie had met Bono through one of her father's companies and the singer had invited her to join the board of his charitable operation DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa). He later became friends with her mother.
At the funeral, the grandchildren wept as Bono sang Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own.
Many people, including Susie herself, had questioned how well Buffett could survive without her. His 74th birthday was approaching with its metronomic tick of doom.
He could not escape from grief, even in sleep. All he had ever asked of her was not to leave him and she had promised that she never would.
But gradually, as he passed through the stages of mourning, he brought Astrid into his public life. And in 2006, he announced that he would give £20billion in investments to charities.
Astrid was now Buffett's official companion. Two years after Susie's death, on his 76th birthday, Buffett married her in an unfussy civil ceremony.
Astrid wore a turquoise blouse and white trousers, he wore a business suit. Tears welled from her eyes as he placed a huge diamond solitaire ring on her finger.
Buffett now had one wife, drove one car, occupied one house that hadn't been redecorated in years, ran one business, and spent more time with his family.
A complex man of simple tastes, he now had the life of the man that he had always believed himself to be. But nonetheless, the financial world is still turning for him.Photo of trichonodosis/single strand knot/fairy knot
Always detangle your hair before shampooing. When hair is not detangled, the water will cause your curls to tighten around any existing knots or build up in the hair. This makes combing the hair after the shampoo more difficult and frustrating. While shampooing, do not pile the hair on top of the head. Instead, massage the shampoo directly in to the scalp with the pads of your fingertips and gently finger comb the shampoo through the length of your hair in a downward motion to keep the hair free of tangles. When drying the hair it is always best to blot the hair dry and squeeze excess water from the hair. Do not use harsh movements with the towel. When preparing for bed, braid or twist the hair in sections to decrease the friction and matting that can be caused while the hair is loose. Incorporate reconstructing deep conditioners into your conditioning routine on a regular basis to keep the hair shaft strong. Keep your hair well lubricated with the use of natural and essential oils. The oils coat the hair strand, which helps to reduce friction, tangling and knotting. Have a professional trim your ends on a regular basis. On average for women who wear their hair natural, that’s once every 3-4 months, but it may be more frequently for those who have tighter coils and experience knots on a regular basis. So, monitor your hair growth cycle and how your hair feels a month or two after a trim. If you start to notice that your hair tangles more during and after a shampoo and/or you feel knots in your hair that is a sign you need a trim.
Do you experience single strand knots? How do you combat them?
Do you have single strand knots? They may feel like little beads along the hair shaft. They are annoying, and to remove them many women comb as much hair as they can towards the front of their head, grab a pair of scissors and begin clipping away any knots in view. First, let me state that I do not advocate trimming your own hair, especially with any pair of scissors. Dull scissors can fray the ends of the hair shaft, leaving them in the same condition they were in before the makeshift trim, if not worse.Most importantly, there are some irregularities of the hair shaft that cause consistent knotting. This is most commonly seen in curlier hair types. Unfortunately, some women will experience knots along their hair shaft on a regular basis. These knots are not always at the end of the hair shaft; instead, single or multiple knots can be seen and felt along the length of the hair shaft. This phenomenon has been nicknamed single strand knots or “fairy knots,” but the technical term is trichonodosis.Curly, coiled strands are produced by a flat, curved hair follicle. The curly hair strand that grows out of this follicle tends to weave and loop around other hair strands causing the strands of hair to easily become knotted together. Now this is common in curly hair types. The ultimate concern is when this becomes a chronic problem and a single, or sometimes double knot occurs in the hair shaft. Short, curly hair and tightly coiled hair types are particularly susceptible to this type of knotting.A considerable number of slack knots are often produced by friction from pillows or various hair manipulations, especially when shampooing. Combing the hair with combs that have fine teeth may tighten the knots and even pull out hairs from the scalp prematurely. As a result, wide tooth combs are always the best option when combing through the hair.Extreme care must be taken to reduce the amount of excessive knotting of the hair shaft. Here are 7 ways to prevent and/or decrease the occurrence of single strand knots (trichonodosis):If you have knots in your hair shaft that you cannot undo, the only and best way to get rid of them is to cut them with proper shears. Do not comb, yank, pull, tear or use your kitchen scissors to remove the knots. You are only further damaging your hair. Lastly, do not get frantic if you are experiencing this problem. It is a common occurrence for some curly girls and comes with the territory of having curly hair. As long as you have the proper tools and information to manage the problem and prevent it from getting worse, you and your hair will be happy.This article is about Tlacaelel the Elder (Huehue Tlacaeleltzin). For the ruler of Itztlacozauhcan, see Juan de Santo Domingo de Mendoza Tlacaeleltzin
Tlacaelel I (1397[2] – 1487) was the principal architect of the Aztec Triple Alliance and hence the Mexica (Aztec) empire.[3][4] He was the son of Emperor Huitzilihuitl and Queen Cacamacihuatl, nephew of Emperor Itzcoatl, and brother of Emperors Chimalpopoca and Moctezuma I.
During the reign of his uncle Itzcoatl, Tlacaelel was given the office of Tlacochcalcatl, but during the war against the Tepanecs in the late 1420s, he was promoted to first adviser to the ruler, a position called Cihuacoatl in Nahuatl, an office that Tlacaelel held during the reigns of four consecutive Tlatoque, until his death in 1487.
Tlacaelel recast or strengthened the concept of the Aztecs as a chosen people, elevated the tribal god/hero Huitzilopochtli to top of the pantheon of gods,[5] and increased militarism.[6] In tandem with this, Tlacaelel is said to have increased the level and prevalence of human sacrifice, particularly during a period of natural disasters that started in 1446 (according to Diego Durán). Durán also states that it was during the reign of Moctezuma I, as an invention of Tlacaelel that the flower wars, in which the Aztecs fought Tlaxcala and other Nahuan city-states, were instigated.
To strengthen the Aztec nobility, he helped create and enforce sumptuary laws, prohibiting commoners from wearing certain adornments such as lip plugs, gold armbands, and cotton cloaks. He also instigated a policy of burning the books of conquered peoples with the aim of erasing all memories of a pre-Aztec past.[7][8]
When he dedicated the seventh reconstruction of the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan, Tlacaelel had brought his nation to the height of its power. The dedication took place in 1484 and was celebrated with the sacrifice of many war captives. After Tlacaelel's death in 1487, the Mexica Empire continued to expand north into the Gran Chichimeca and south toward the Maya lands. [9]
References [ edit ]/pop/un-lurks.Hi there, Ive been lurking almost a year now, trying to get up the bottle to post my one and only story worth telling and I think Ive found just the QOTW to do it. I will apologise in advance for any excessive length and also for any slurring which may occur - this is due to Dutch courage in the form of Scottish Water. It is on topic, but youll have to stick with it.Well, where to begin? (not so easy this is it?)How about 1978? I was 17 and while not a geek - Ive never been a geek - I was a nerd. Kind of. I was into Punk but wasnt really a punk, I was tall and a bit spotty and I liked maths. My best friend Nick however, was cool. He was a ladies man and bass guitarist with a post-punk band. Wed known each other since junior school and had become best friends in about the 3rd year.I was more political than him, thanks to my elder brother. I went on marches a lot and in the holidays I got together with like minded friends from school and wed volunteer down at the Anti-Nazi League HQ, stuffing envelopes etc. We were keen and our hearts were in the right place. I also got to mix with girls, though I was yet to have a girlfriend, and one of the girls was Manisha. She was a year younger than me - still in the 5th form, but would soon be a lower-6th former. She was born in South Africa and was a Cape coloured, i.e. her parents families came originally from India. The whole family was heavily involved in the struggle against apartheid: her grandfather and uncle were lawyers and belonged to the same practise as Nelson Mandela (before his imprisonment, that is); her auntie had been imprisoned for a time in Robben Island. When Manisha and her brother Anand were 6 and 4, the family had fled to the UK where they claimed political asylum. Ten years on the family were still not UK citizens but stateless i.e. they had no passports.As well as being highly political aware, Manisha was a peach and I fancied her silently but fervently from afar. We got on very well and soon we were both part of a tight group of mates. This was great until the tragedy stuck; she and Nick fell in love. It was full-blown teenage love and I made the best of things, i.e. suffered silently and became a much bruised gooseberry.I got a Saturday job in a department store restaurant kitchen and when Manisha was looking for a job too, I put in a good word for her and she got a job as a waitress. This gave me more opportunity to eat my heart out, but it also gave us time to get to know each other better. As the middle-man, I could give sound relationship advice, listen to her moans and gripes etc. I found it easy to talk to her and we became very good friends.Then the two of them broke up. I had both of them crying on my shoulders - Ive always been a good listener, but this tried my patience somewhat. Anyway, it meant that we saw less of each other except at work. I didnt want to be disloyal to Nick.Ill skip forward here to 1980. Id got decent grades for Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Government & Politics A Levels and was now an accounting student at Southampton University. I managed to lose the V-plates at long last [thanks Trish!] and was a studious student as those things go. My musical taste was a bit left-of-centre, more punk and reggae than heavy metal and I was pathetically glad to be interesting as far as accountancy students go - and believe me, thats not far.Half way through the year I got a letter from Manisha! She was thinking of going to Southampton too and wanted to visit. Fine! She came down, but with some boyfriend in tow. I spent a day showing them round before they went back to London.The next time I saw her was a scene straight out of Its a Wonderful Life - the one where George Bailey meets Mary at the college party - except this time it was the freshers ball. Shed finished with the boyfriend by then and at 18 she looked sensational. I mean jaw-droppingly gorgeous. No, that doesnt even come close. Well, youve all been in love at 19 havent you? Is there anything better in the whole world? We spent that night in my room in the house I was sharing with two other guys from our school and a friend of ours. That year, she hardly spent a single night in her room in halls. Ill leave the details to your over-fertile imaginations, this isnt the place. She loved teasing me though, in more ways than one, and used to call me Beenie Man - the reggae lovin bean counter.Things went smoothly, I graduated with a first after a final year in which wed shared our own flat - just like an old married couple. Our musical tastes coincided exactly, and one of the happiest days I can remember was when Clint Eastwood and General Saint played at the Uni. We were both right down at the front, lightly stoned, grooving away as if sod it, cant think of a good analogy, but you get the picture. In contrast, although I cant remember where I was when I heard John Lennon was dead, I can picture exactly the scene as we sat up in bed listening to Radio 1 when it was announced that Bob Marley had died. We put Redemption Song on so loud I couldnt hear her crying. We loved that album, and Id tease her sometimes when she took an age to get ready or something: Bobs right you know - no woman, no cry. Get a bloody move on!I like a man who cries, shed say,OK, you can stay.The next year I moved back to London and rented a flat in Walthamstow. Manisha came up to stay weekends and holidays and had a room |
CFOs have access to a number of different service providers, including all of the “Big 4 Accounting Firms,” which have cyber practices. Those firms are always eager to share observations and best practices to help bolster an organization’s overall cyber posture.
• There also is online and print material that CFOs can tap into, such as Navigating the Digital Age and SecurityRoundtable.org. These materials provide best practices and state-of-the-art information that is highly valuable in terms of building out knowledge and strategy for CFOs and other executives and board members regarding cyber.
Thomson: As CFO of Palo Alto Networks, you oversee the finance, accounting, IT, and manufacturing functions. Is this unique to your company or your skill set? To what extent are CFOs going beyond the numbers and managing or influencing strategy, operations and technology?
Tomlinson: Over the years, the CFO role has evolved into being both more operational and strategic, so I count myself in good company with many other CFOs across all industries. In this day and age, the fact that CFOs are contributing to the strategy of a company is table stakes. In many cases CFOs manage IT, so by definition they are helping shape the technology footprint, business process optimization and automation efforts. These are just two examples, of many, which capture the increasing role CFOs are playing in helping run the business.
Ultimately, the expanded role of the CFO is a benefit to the business because they become better business partners. This positive dynamic shines through in the financial planning and operating portions of the business. Financial, operational and strategic planning are all intertwined and CFOs play a central role in each of these aspects.
Thomson: What trends are you anticipating in 2017 that relate to cyber security and associated risks? For example, do you see data breach management becoming a true business process integrating data security, technical protocols, business continuity and crisis management (in effect, an integration of business processes spanning strategy, IT, PR, etc.)? What new prevention technologies are on the horizon, i.e., will the sophisticated hackers ever get caught?
Tomlinson: I believe 2017 will be marked as a year where security IQ will grow exponentially. To begin, it’s my belief that executive teams, boards and senior leadership regardless of role will (and need to become) more in tune with security risk, the impact of such events, the need to play a part in understanding the overall security posture of the company and how each can contribute to breach prevention-oriented measures in three key areas: people, process, and technology.
In addition to progressing prevention-oriented measures, companies should already be thinking about synergizing security, IT, corporate communications and business continuity as part of their breach response planning. This needs to extend beyond the traditional borders of modern companies; it should be expanded to include the new fuzzy borders of modern companies, like partner organizations, manufacturing, SaaS (cloud providers) and other supply chain contributors. Enterprises that haven’t done the necessary due diligence to pull these together are behind the curve. A breach is a catalyst for many gears to start turning, and dealing with this in the moment of crisis leads to poor outcomes.
While highly automated threats continuing to plague the industry, the scarcity of security talent will drive the need for preventative security, automation and security orchestration in the midst of the cloud shift that continues to change the face of our technology environments. The appetite for preventative security will continue to expand, enabling security practitioners to stay focused on the critical signals in the noise. Because of these growing pain points, 2017 will introduce a massive rise in a platform approach to security, as it is becoming increasingly important for all the technologies that play a part in the security machine to work together to enable full visibility across the tech stack.I have been working on Open Source Software (in one way or another) since 2011 (just over 4 years since my first open source commit on a project). When I started writing open source software it was for fun. I was not a Computer Science/Engineering student. Programming was a hobby and open sourcing the code was fun and exciting. Eventually, I started maintaining Flake8, then Requests, then other things. Today, I'm a core developer of the following projects:
And probably other projects that I've forgotten about. I've created (and still develop) the following projects:
I'm was a core reviewer and driver for five projects in OpenStack (until recently when I removed myself from 4 of those projects). I am still a core reviewer for:
I also contribute (a fair amount) and am often pinged for reviews on urllib3.
Some of these projects are "owned" by one person and maintained by me (or me and other persons). In other words, the "owner" is absentee. Think of a landlord who does not collect the rent, or inspect the premises, or deal with tenants, or really any work.
Working on projects at work I've worked on a lot of projects. I continue to work on a lot of projects. Over the course of two jobs, only one has given me the ability to work on Open Source Software... sometimes. OpenStack's Compute service, Nova, needed to perform URI validation as part of their JSON Schema validation but could not use the existing library because of licensing. Only because this was something important to my team, I was allowed to create rfc3986. I continue to maintain that, but, in my free time. OpenStack uses, heavily: requests (and as a consequence chardet and urllib3)
Flake8 (and transitively, pep8, pyflakes, and mccabe)
Twine
flake8-docstrings I've had opportunities to work on requests and Flake8 as a result of a few show-stopping bugs, but otherwise I don't work on any of the above projects during work. This isn't a break from what I'm used to, so I'm not trying to complain or anything like that. Would it be nice to be able to improve the software that powers our company and our product? Certainly, is there a serious need to do that? Not at the moment.
Working on projects for companies that don't employ me Some of these projects are used by the US Federal Government, those and others are also used by some really large corporations (no I won't name names, I don't see a point). I sometimes get a thank you from individual developers at those companies, but those companies think nothing of just taking the software (which is fine because I licensed it permissively). That said, when there's a bug introduced in the package, those companies email me, ping me relentlessly in IRC, create duplicate issues, and do everything they can to (perhaps unintentionally) overload me. As soon as a bug affects them, they want it fixed immediately. If you don't fix it in 24 hours (because maybe you have a real life or a family or you're sick or any number of other very valid reasons) then the threats start. "Well if you're not going to take this seriously, we'll have to start using another project." Not once has a company said to me: "This bug is costing us $X per day. Can we pay you $Y to focus on it and get a fix out as soon as possible?" I've also never demanded this. It would be nice, but it never happens. So, what happens? Those bugs are fixed eventually. Sometimes those companies let their engineers submit a fix that is incredibly poor but it took them an hour and now they can whine at me for not merging it. Nevermind that it breaks the continuous integration checks that ran 30 seconds after they sent the PR. This is because the company wanted to invest as little time in the problem as possible so the person couldn't fix the tests, write new ones, or write a real fix. I don't blame the engineer, I blame their manager and their company. If the project is that important to them, they should have let the engineer spend a few hours, fix the bug the right way and follow the guidelines outlined in the contributor's documentation. Further, some of my projects ( github3.py in particular) tend to only ever actively benefit corporations - the corporation using it and GitHub. Neither ever tries to support me in its development. This is why I am also very conflicted about finding other maintainers for this project. I would love to find someone who could be paid by their employer to work on it, but I do the majority of the work on the project so it's hard to even know who to ask about that. In short, the joy and enthusiasm that I had when I started working on open source has been flattened. My attitude was naïve at best - this is fun and maybe I'm helping some other people do good and have fun too. This is also how a lot of my friends presently view their projects. Is it greedy of me to want them to continue to be able to have that perspective?
Other people's experiences Ashe Dryden has written an invaluable post about The Ethics of Unpaid Labor and the OSS Community. This is a must read and it really hits home a bunch of very important points about the way we treat Open Source Software and its developers (e.g., requiring that a developer have an active and colorful GitHub profile before considering them for a job). David MacIver recently decided they were Throwing in the towel for their project Hypothesis. Eric Holscher, who co-founded Read the Docs and Write the Docs, has recently been discussing the economics of companies using open source software and contributing absolutely nothing back to the projects they use. Dr. Russell Keith-Magee, the president of the Django Software Foundation, gave this talk at PyCon Australia. His key argument in this talk is that if open source projects had resources equivalent to closed source products, open source software would exceed any other project in quality. This talk is excellent and full of great examples. Cory Benfield, my very close friend and colleague on several of the projects I mentioned above, has also blogged on this topic. No one is asking companies to endure a significant financial burden in order to contribute back. But all of these items are, predictably, ignored by the companies who seriously need these projects to work and remain production quality.
When companies do "contribute" When companies do "contribute", it's often not in the best interest of the community, it isn't enough, or it's thoroughly misguided. Best interest of the community OpenStack started as a collaboration between Rackspace and NASA; it was originally very operator focused. The project was used by tiny cloud operators and larger operators alike. All had a chance to voice grievances and work with developers to make things better. Somewhere along the way, the community became developers (who never deployed or operated OpenStack other than with DevStack) employed by large corporations working solely to forward the goals of those corporations. OpenStack isn't really something that was ever meant to be consumed by developers. Sure, the APIs are technically something a developer would use, but those are exactly how operators interact with the projects too. The developers who work on OpenStack don't mean to be harming the actual intended consumers, but if you keep an eye on discussions with operators, we (yes, I'm one of those developers) cause more problems than not out of sheer ignorance of the real users and how they actually use OpenStack. (To be clear, the community are the people who operate and maintain OpenStack clouds.) Generally speaking, though, companies can have engineers become involved in a project to scratch their own itch while also benefiting the community. These are not mutually exclusive results; they're just exceedingly rare results. It isn't enough A lot of projects use sites like BountySource to get paid to work on a bug on an open source project. Sometimes, companies will add a bounty to a bug. The largest bounty I've seen for any project I work on that accepts bounties has been $135 (USD). These values often do not reflect the true value to the company nor to the person fixing the bug. That said, sometimes you find a bounty like this one where a company has added a significant amount to a bug. Those seem to be the exception rather than the rule, though. Other times, companies give a developer an hour to "make it go" which results in a situation like I described above. Allow me to expand: these will be companies that file a bug with as little detail as possible and then a fix that makes little sense and may appear to fix the bug but causes many others. After they have a fix, they stop responding to questions for more detail so it can be fixed appropriately. They often can't share a sample of how they're encountering the bug or anything like that. Thoroughly misguided Some companies don't even bother giving engineering time to a project, or money to the developers working on the project. Instead they run well intentioned campaigns to increase activity for those projects by offering rewards to anyone for doing just about anything, regardless of value or merit. These rewards can be anything. One very recent such event promised a t-shirt if you sent 4 pull requests (via GitHub of course, because obviously real open source software would never be developed anywhere else) to open source projects. That was it. The pull request didn't need be merged, or to stay open for very long. It didn't need to contain any value at all. The event organizers contacted some projects owners asking if they could feature the projects. Now harken back to the paragraph where I explained that the owners of some of the projects I maintain are absentee. One of those was featured. That wasn't the only project I work on that that received hightened and lackluster attention from t-shirt seekers, but it was easily the one that received the highest traffic. So what happened was: the company contacted the owner who agreed but didn't tell me. The company never considered the fact that others might actually be doing the work of the project (and didn't think to check that with the API they're going to use to decide who gets a t-shirt). The company never talked to me in advance to, at minimum, warn me. (To be clear, the owner isn't blameless in this either, but I'm also not the only person who was in this position and complained about it. Perhaps I'm just loudest or have the largest platform.) Of all of the pull requests (on all the projects) that I received as a result of this event, some of them were merely diffs that looked like this: diff --git a/ex.txt b/ex.txt.new index 5fe5360..e98e6b5 100644 --- a/ex.txt +++ b/ex.txt.new @@ -1 +1 @@ -foo bar bogus. Biz baz boo +foo bar bogus.. Biz baz boo No, really, I actually got a pull request that added a second period to the end of a sentence. I love encouraging and helping new contributors work on a project or otherwise aiding those new to open source in general, but how do you help someone who sends that pull request? Their commit message was "Update ex.txt". How do you help that person who clearly only has a goal of padding the number of PRs they sent for the month of October? Closing that pull request was a waste of my time, which is already stretched thin. I don't think that particular person was "trolling" (which is such an overused word as to be meaningless at this point), or otherwise behaving just in pursuit of their own amusement, but they were being inconsiderate. Further, let me reiterate that the company in question did contact someone. That in no way exonerates their borderline reckless behaviour. I actively mentor several people who are new to open source and their event consumed (in aggregate) a few days of my time which did not leave me enough time to work on real bugs in other projects or mentor those people as well as I could have. Exceptions to the rule(s) There are exceptions to the rules above sometimes. There's one particular team at HP (actually they're now in HPE) that is entirely composed of some of the best open source developers I know of working full time on their areas of expertise. But, this is the only team I'm aware of at HPE that behaves like this. Other teams (I'm thinking specifically of their teams working on OpenStack and their former Helion product) are split between product work and upstream work and most of the time don't have enough time to dedicate to being upstream developers and reviewers. I would argue that while these sponsorships are good for the larger community, they're still a bit misguided. I trust each of these people to act in the best interest of their respective communities on that team at HPE, but what happens to them as soon as HPE decides funding that work is no longer beneficial or valuable? I don't have an answer to this, but I hope the answer is not that those developers are shown the door with a generous severance package. On a similar note, what happens if that developer decides they wish to explore other communities outside the reason they were hired? Is there room for growth or are their responsibilities narrowly defined enough that they have to quit to grow professionally? I'm asking these questions in the context of this one team at HPE but there are some similar teams at other companies and the same questions are valid for those teams as well. If you want an example of what I'm afraid of, just look for the TwitterOSS team (hint: their funding as a department was cut).
When companies open source a project There's also a separate pattern in the larger community where a company that already has some reputation in the community decides to open source a project that was previously just something they had initially developed for internal use. If these companies dedicate resources to the upkeep of the project and development of a community there tend to be two possible outcomes: The company refuses to expand the core development team with non-employees The company abandons the project and allows non-employees to take over the entirety of the maintenance burden while continuing to reap the PR benefits and failing to credit those people or support them in any manner. There are also rarer cases where people who contribute heavily to those projects are offered jobs to continue their work as an employee, but those seem to be fairly rare.
Why do companies behave this way? I have heard a myriad of reasons companies behave this way. I don't have the complete answer, but one important point is that there is toxicity in the community, its leaders, and or its contributors, and the companies have learned their behavior from this toxicity. Open source software is full of toxic people This certainly shouldn't be a surprise at this point. I would guess that it is safe to say that pretty much every person (including myself, I'm certainly not exempt from this) has had bad days and reacted poorly when dealing with the community, contributors, colleagues, etc. These are not excuses and these events can (and often do) shape the behaviours of the community and those observing it. A close friend of mine, Paul Tagliamonte, was involved in the discussion about Debian's switch to systemd. He received at least 3 death threats due to his participation. In what world is this acceptable behaviour for a community? What about developers who have their addresses and the information of their loved ones posted on 4chan and other "forums"? Why don't we fight this more? Any company that has involved itself (or its employees) with Linux Kernel development has probably come away with a very intensely sour taste in their mouth and a jaded view of how to effectively contribute to an open source project. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that these companies witnessed significant churn in the engineering teams working with that community. They're also certainly not the only community struggling with this. Companies need to be involved, but just like other contributors, they need to be assured that they will be taken seriously and treated equally. Some projects work to actively alienate corporations trying to contribute because of ideology. This is not the path that will lead us to sustainable open source software development and companies that can contribute responsibly.
What needs to change Too much for me to clearly or effectively enumerate without missing things. So let me give a high level list of things that I see as being incredibly problematic and maybe I'll expound on them (or a subset) if I still have the emotional energy to do so. Companies need to do more for the projects they use (financially, by engineers who can contribute to the project appropriately during their normal working hours, donating services, or some other way) Companies that already contribute resources in one way or another need to check that what they're doing is not only in their best interest (or perhaps not in their best interest at all). No, really, the good of the project should be the focus of any contribution. If your goal is to improve something only for the company, then that isn't a contribution in good faith. Companies looking for publicity and events that they can tout as their support of open source software, need to actually employ open source developers who know the pain that those events will inflict. Not a single maintainer has ever said "I don't care about the quality, just give me a flood of new contributions that I need to code review, give feedback, and hope that person actually acts on the feedback." Not once. I was linked to this webcomic recently and it aptly describes this approach. If a company has an engineer test a fancy new feature for a project, that engineer needs to test more than just their own use cases to give effective or valuable review. (See also the following tweets from Jeff Forcier: https://twitter.com/bitprophet/status/660943465547599872, https://twitter.com/bitprophet/status/660943804250263552, https://twitter.com/bitprophet/status/660943975738556416, https://twitter.com/bitprophet/status/660944140641763328 in which he relays a story of an important PR that people claimed worked without really deeply testing it.) Companies that use open source software should strive to hire some, if not all (not all in one place either), of those people that maintain the software to work on the project. And no, I do not expect those people to work 100% of their time on that project. That's unreasonable. They should be treated like adults though and allowed to spend what they see as an appropriate amount of time working on the project versus other projects for the company. Trying to quanitfy/limit the amount of time leads to conflict and strife and unhappy management and employees. It doesn't work and it's not a long term, maintainable solution. Alternatively, instead of hiring those developers to hire the existing core developers, reviewers, and maintainers, those companies can buy training on how to effectively contribute and participate in upstream projects. That said, I doubt there's anyone who can train a person in empathy. Companies need to stop encouraging and allowing their engineers to be abrasive, abusive, or insulting when reporting bugs or contributing changes to projects. This was admittedly more of a problem before I added Codes of Conduct to projects, but I still see this on other people's projects. (This happened 2 years ago on a bug report where the company upgraded from an ancient version of our project to the latest and greatest and found some usecase that apparently only they had that broke. The vitriol in their replies and their behaviour should have resulted in them being reprimanded by their managers for behaving that way while at work.) Companies need to have realistic expectations of the work-life balance of open source maintainers. Open source software is unpaid labor for so many of us. It is work. Many of us working on successful projects take it very seriously. It is stressful. It is emotionally draining. Sometimes we don't have the energy to fix your problem as soon as you think it should be fixed. Sometimes we're on vacation. Sometimes we're sick or taking care of loved ones. Behaving as if we're your employee that you can just boss around is not acceptable. If you want that relationship with us, hire us to work on the project. (Hint: If you act like this, I will never work for you because it is very apparent your management does not understand what a real life is or how a work-life balance needs to be managed.) Companies need to realize that not all open source authors or maintainers view their projects the same way. For many of us, we scratched an itch, we are not developing a product. We often do not want our hobbies turned into work because then we no longer have an outlet or a place to just have fun. The project may be serious business for you, but that may not be how others view it. Money isn't everything. Whether you're a bootstrapped start-up or a company that is publicly traded with stock values in the hundreds of dollars, money isn't everything. Instead of placing $5000.00 on a bug, develop a relationship with the community. Sometimes a heartfelt gift is more meaningful than a large sum of money. I know some people who'd rather have games purchased for them off their Steam wishlist. Other people would love to get things from their Amazon wishlist. Know the people who develop the software that allow you to make the money you make and respect them. Acknowledge the projects somewhere on your website, product, wherever. This one is simple, just say "This is powered by...". This gives projects credibility and that gains users which means another company that can afford it might hire that person to work on that project. Companies that open source something need to adopt a Code of Conduct immediately and from the start. And preferably, if they can, companies should sponsor and contribute to other projects that have Codes of Conduct (preferably real ones, not the crap the Linux Kernel has adopted). Companies that open source a project and then abandon it need to publicly acclaim the people taking over the project and make a clear change in ownership. Creating a third-party organization that includes everyone actively involved in the project is the best plan and the one that will allow those non-employee maintainers to manage their time and commitments while being able to be recognized for their hard work, passion, and dedication. More communities need to adopt Codes of Conduct and be more mindful about how their actions affect current participation of corporate and non-corporate contributors while coloring the future reputation of the project. Developers move on but first impressions do not. As new developers cycle onto projects, they may be unaware of past events and may be metaphorically shooting themselves in the feet. Conversely, companies need to continuously strive to take the high ground and continuously re-evaluate projects and their involvement (or lack thereof) in the project. Tons of things I can't think of at this very moment. Go read other articles about this. There are tons.For Dante's description of the abode of God, see The Empyrean (Paradiso)
2009 studio album by John Frusciante solo
The Empyrean is the eighth solo album by John Frusciante, released worldwide on January 20, 2009 through Record Collection. Frusciante did not plan on a following tour, as he instead wanted to focus on writing and recording. The Empyrean peaked at number 151 on the US Billboard 200 as well as number seven on the Top Heatseekers.[9] On release it made number 105 on the UK Albums Chart.
Frusciante asserts that the record "was recorded on and off between December 2006 and March 2008," and is a concept album that tells "a single story both musically and lyrically."[10] The Empyrean contains a version of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren", from his 1970 album Starsailor. The record also features an array of collaborators and guest musicians, including Frusciante's former bandmate Flea, and friends Josh Klinghoffer and former The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Due to an error at the duplication plant, the United States CD release date was delayed until January 27.[11] On June 2, 2010, a new bonus track, Here, Air, was added to the album, freely available at John's website.
On December 11, 2012, Record Collection re-issued various John Frusciante albums released from 2004 to 2009, including The Empyrean. These re-issued albums are available on 180 gram limited edition vinyl. Each LP also comes with a download card for your choice of MP3 or WAV file.[12] The Empyrean was one of the most sought after John Frusciante LPs from the 2012 catalog reissue. According to John Frusciante's official website, the pre-order of the limited edition vinyl was sold out as of November 24, 2012; therefore, making it the first from the limited catalog reissue to do so. Additional stock of recording would be available in 2013.[13]
A ten year anniversary reissue, recut by John Frusciante and Bernie Grundman from the original analog tapes, will be released on March 29, 2019. The reissue is a double disc LP that includes a download card of the album plus bonus tracks in hi-resolution.[14]
A song which was written during The Empyrean sessions, "Scratch", was released as a free download on February 18, 2014 as an introductory track to the full-length record Enclosure released April 8, 2014.
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 8 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews."[15]
Album Artwork [ edit ]
Physically, the artwork is a photograph of prints arranged to form a collage. The upper left region of the image contains various references to the natural world, such as the multiple images of green leaved trees and several superimposed images of mountains. Considering John's philosophy on life, it is plausible to draw that this arrangement is a reference to the Tree of life.
“ We are all reaching up in our own way and so even when we choose concrete things as the object of our desire, I feel that they are only symbols and that the real object of our desire is the creative force inherent in everything. It is what created us and perpetuates our lives, and so our creations are its creations. Kind of like if you built a robot that could think and feel, and then it painted a picture, that picture would be the result of the precise structure of thought and feeling you endowed the robot with. We’re all grateful for what we’ve been given. Even when we are unhappy with everything, its “poor me”, showing that we still think of that “me” and its feelings, as having a lot of significance. It’s a pretty amazing thing to have this complex network of thought and feeling in these bodies. From where does it come? We’ve traced the cause of matter to something that required the preexistence of time, the principles of motion, space and many other things. The laws of motion, time and the space everything exists into, all have an untraced cause. And likewise we don’t have any idea where things like perception and thought came from. ” — John Frusciante, http://invisible-movement.net/press/imrael
In the lower left corner, the presence of tree roots and semi-transparent fallen leaves reinforces the idea of the Tree of life.
Josh Klinghoffer, John's personal friend (whom he has collaborated with previously, as well as on The Empyrean) is pictured laying next to a skull, and connected to the angelic figure of John. This is a reference to death and rebirth, which is confirmed through John's blog posts. The two figures are connected through means of a rope or string. Considering the religious themes of the album (song titles "God" and "Heaven" are present on the album), it is plausible to draw the conclusion that this is a reference to God and Jesus. However John's figure could be interpreted as being Dante's Satan due to the similarity between the multiple pairs of wings and heads.
“ [The figure] eventually realizes that the highest point in heaven is a potential inside him, and that no thing is any different than anything else. What is beyond him is inside him and inside everyone. And that the feelings within him are perfectly suited to the opportunities to be creative here on earth. The attempt to be one with that force is an ongoing challenge that is such a privilege, the fruits of which make all the confusion of the path part of the privilege. He realizes that the ways in which the imaginations source is hidden from him are guides and road signs to help him become one with that source by means of his own resourcefulness. He realizes that confusion and pain have been as much the cause of what’s made his life meaningful and pleasureful as things he mistook for being pure goodness. Everything here contains its contradiction and so up and down, left and right, forwards and backwards, happy and sad, pleasure and pain, are each two things, which are one. And all things we believe to be separate are one thing. ” — John Frusciante, http://invisible-movement.net/press/the-empyrean
The helical staircase leading from the dead figure's resting place signifies rebirth and improvement until it reaches the highest point in heaven. The palace above the clouds is the representation John chooses to take of this concept. The album artwork is representative of the musical content of the album. This is reinforced through John's content in his blog posts.
“ The main character goes through extreme loneliness (in song two and the first half of song five) and at times thinks he can only merge with this force upon dying. In the 8th song of the story, a kind of suicide takes place, which results in a rebirth. It could be actual death or a shedding of the unnecessary parts of the personality. In any case, a rebirth takes place (songs 9 and 10) in which he finds himself filled with wonderment in regards to life. The more someone’s actions are aligned with the creative force inherent in everything we know, the more that persons imagination will become one with that persons surroundings. ” — John Frusciante, http://invisible-movement.net/press/the-empyrean
Track listing [ edit ]
All tracks written by John Frusciante, unless otherwise noted.
Bonus tracks No. Title Length 11. "Today" (Japanese release only) 4:38 12. "Ah Yom" (US iTunes Store and Japanese release only) 3:17 13. "Here, Air" (free download) 3:47
Personnel [ edit ]
Production
Ryan Hewitt – recording engineer
Adam Samuels – recording engineer
Dave Lee – instrument tech
Sarah Sitkin – cover art
Anthony Zamora – production coordination
Charts [ edit ]Experts have likened loneliness to a disease that changes the brain. Sadly, these changes often affect people in ways that further isolates them – for example, lonely people are more sensitive to negative facial expressions. If we’re to break this cycle and provide friendship to the lonely, a starting point is to recognise that a person is feeling isolated. A new study in Journal of Research in Personality tests whether and how well we can do this.
Maike Luhmann and her colleagues asked 463 young adults in Germany (average age 18) to complete a short questionnaire about their feelings of loneliness – for example, one item was “How often do you feel left out?”. Each participant’s romantic partner (if they had one), one of their parents, and their best friend also filled out the same questionnaire about the participant. The researchers simply looked to see how well the different assessments correlated. For comparison, the same procedure was performed for self- and other-ratings of life satisfaction.
There was a strong correlation between the participants’ own self-rated loneliness scores and those given by their friends, partners and relatives (in statistical terms, the correlation between own ratings and best friend ratings was 0.37; for partners it was 0.66; and for parents it was 0.43). The researchers described this convergence as “substantial” and of similar size to that found for life satisfaction.
As the correlation scores show, the participants’ partners tended to be better at judging their loneliness than did their friends and parents. In fact, there was no significant difference in statistical terms between participants’ ratings of their own loneliness and the ratings given to them by their partners. In contrast, parents and friends tended to underestimate the participants’ loneliness.
Interestingly, parents’ and friends’ ratings of the participants’ loneliness were not correlated with each other, but both were correlated with the partner ratings. The researchers said this suggests: “parents utilise information that is also available to the partners but not to the friends. Similarly friends utilise information that is also available to the partners, but not to the parents. In sum, partners have access to more information than both parents and friends.”
This is one of the first ever studies to explore whether we can judge each other’s loneliness and there is still much that we still don’t know. Apart from the fact that these findings might not generalise to other cultures or older age groups, we also don’t have any detail on how the friends, parents and partners were making their judgments – for example, were they using circumstantial cues (such as the relevant participant being on their own a lot) or behavioural cues, such as the participant acting withdrawn or hostile?
While more research is clearly needed, Luhmann and her team said their findings already have practical implications – for example, they suggest that asking friends and family about a person’s loneliness is likely to be useful and reliable in cases in which someone is unable or unwilling to report their own feelings, such as might be true of young children or older people in care.
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Luhmann, M., Bohn, J., Holtmann, J., Koch, T., & Eid, M. (2016). I’m lonely, can’t you tell? Convergent validity of self- and informant ratings of loneliness Journal of Research in Personality, 61, 50-60 DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2016.02.002
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Our free weekly email will keep you up-to-date with all the psychology research we digest: Sign up!CONNECTICUT -- Zika virus may spread farther in the U.S. than first thought. The virus, which causes crippling birth defects, was known to be carried by a mosquito that is mostly limited to the South.
Authorities brace for Zika virus in U.S.
Now, Zika has been discovered in a second species that ranges as far north as Maine and Minnesota.
There have been no cases of mosquito borne Zika in the U.S., but health officials believe the time is coming.
It was cloudy and cool in Connecticut on Monday, but Phil Armstrong was thinking about warm weather and mosquitoes.
He heads up mosquito surveillance for the state of Connecticut.
The CDC says the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the main species that carries Zika, could extend into Connecticut this summer.
But Armstrong is more concerned about another species: Aedes albopictus, also known as the Asian tiger mosquito. About two weeks ago, for the first time during the current outbreak, the virus was found in albopictus mosquitoes in Mexico. That species is very common in Connecticut.
CDC
"In the last five years, the numbers of Aedes albopictus has increased substantially and the numbers |
ond-Knight (@elise_kk8) on May 23, 2015 at 8:33am PDT
The team is in Vancouver training and acclimating to Canada ahead of their first match in the tournament on June 9. The Matildas are inviting Vancouverites to attend the team’s open practices held at Trillium Park at the False Creek Flats.
The open training sessions are scheduled on the mornings of May 26 and June 1. Those who wish to meet the athletes and coach should attend the practice on May 26.
[am2_see_also]
However, none of the Matildas’ opening matches are scheduled to be played at Vancouver. Team Australia is in Group D and will compete in Winnipeg (June 8 vs. U.S.A.; June 12 vs. Nigeria) and Edmonton (June 16 vs. Sweden) for its first three matches.
Vancouver will host nine of the tournament’s matches beginning on June 8. This includes a quarter final match on June 27 and the championship final match on July 5.
Australia National Women’s Team Opening Training SessionsHolly Holm and Valentina Shevchenko are two of the best in the bantamweight division. Shevchenko's last fight was a fairly close loss to Amanda Nunes, the current champion. Holm's last fight was a last-second loss to Miesha Tate, from whom Nunes took the title. Matching these two together makes absolute sense from a rankings perspective.
I suspect, however, that UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby had other aspirations for the contest. Holm and Shevchenko are not only two of the best in the division, but two of the best strikers. In a five round contest, there are likely no two better. Pitting these women against one another, then, seems a surefire recipe for a fun fight. Fans like striking matches, and nothing would vault Holm, who gained serious recognition for dethroning superstar Ronda Rousey, into title contention faster than an action-packed kickboxing battle.
Whether Holm and Shevchenko will turn in such a contest is uncertain, however. In fact, the style matchup here seems to portend a slow, methodical, and quite possibly dull fight.
THE TRINITY
If you compare prospects in MMA and boxing, one thing will become readily apparent: nine times out of ten, the promising young boxer is undefeated, while his MMA counterpart is anything but. The reasons for this are many, but all of them involve matchmaking.
In boxing, promoters have long held to an age-old rule--some call it "the trinity"--and it goes like this: swarmer beats boxer, boxer beats slugger, slugger beats swarmer.
Boxing promoters, you see, have had a long time to analyze the tendencies of their fighters; people have been making money from fistfights for well over 200 years. And the promoters--as well as the trainers and managers, bettors and fans--have seen enough pugs come in and out of the prize ring to know that the vast majority of them adhere to one of three broad styles.
Some of them swarm. We call this pressure fighting, but it isn't always that pretty. Swarmers can be rugged and reckless, or they can be surgically precise--all that really matters is that they come forward, and keep coming.
Others box. These are the out-fighters, the clever technicians. Where swarmers close the distance, boxers maintain it, using jabs, feints, and evasive footwork to stay away.
Then there are sluggers. These fighters hit, hard. Oftentimes they get hit hard, too, and keep coming. Unconcerned with closing or opening the distance, controlling the ring or dancing around it, these bruisers focus only on doing damage with their fists, forcing the other man to fight them at all costs.
As the trinity ordains, these types match up with one another in certain, predictive ways. The swarmer beats the boxer. His constant pressure is anathema to the out-fighter's game. The boxer beats the slugger, whose lack of craft and forethought makes him a prime target for the boxer's lancing, long-range blows. And the slugger, who only wants to trade blows, beats the swarmer, whose aggression puts him right in the power-puncher's crosshairs.
Slugger vs Swarmer; Diego Corrales vs Jose Luis Castillo I
That is how boxing brass have been matching fights for centuries, and it works. Using this simple, reductive formula, promoters and managers alike are able to protect their fighters, not only giving them easy matchups, but carefully cultivating their skills, giving them more and more difficult tests as time goes on. When a boxer can beat a swarmer, a swarmer a slugger, a slugger a boxer--then the fighter in question is done growing, more or less. All that remains is to prune.
COMPLEXITY
There are other predictive formulas. Boxing promoters have long held to the belief that two southpaws make for an ugly, awkward fight, for example. When removed from the hierarchy of the trinity, fighters' styles can drastically alter the shape of the fight. Two boxers don't typically make for an action-packed fight, while two swarmers or two sluggers absolutely do. The trinity encourages rock-paper-scissors matchmaking, but there is equal value in seeing two rocks smashed together, and definite reasons to avoid a contest between two limp pieces of paper.
Matchups can be manipulated not only to push a certain fighter, but to increase the chances of an exciting fight.
As an analyst, I find the swarmer-boxer-slugger trio to be a little too reductive. There are certain fighters who don't fit neatly into one of these archetypes. A boxer-puncher, for example, tends to exhibit the skill of a boxer, with the fight-readiness of a slugger. A pressure fighter might swarm, but he might also box to recover his stamina, and his pressure might be slow and methodical. A brawler might slug it out, but he might also set up his attacks and fight from long range. And what of the ultra-specialized counter puncher, whose game works well wherever he can force his opponent to make mistakes?
Counter puncher vs Swarmer; Juan Manuel Marquez vs Juan Diaz I
The archetypes become even more complicated in MMA. Fighters whose personality might have made them boxers in the squared circle might be equally comfortable shooting for takedowns and working top control within the cage. Counter fighters who might use the pocket to their advantage when laced into a pair of eight ounce gloves might avoid grappling range at all cost when faced with an opponent who desires to take them down or stall them against the fence.
There are additional layers to consider within the context of MMA. And as a young sport, with no more than three decades of real prominence under its belt, MMA's promoters and managers have not yet determined the recipes for ideal matchups. Why else would Sage Northcutt, a promising young out-fighter, be given the swarming Bryan Barberena in his second UFC bout? Or Matt Lopez, an aggressive wrestle-boxer, be matched with the ultra-experienced submission specialist Rani Yahya in his promotional debut?
Why else would Sean Shelby match Holly Holm with Valentina Shevchenko, in what is almost certain to be a slow-paced battle of distance control and cautious counters?
PAPER VS PAPER
Holm and Shevchenko are not identical fighters. Holm, a former boxing champion, is a classic southpaw. She relies heavily on her long left hand and, with her options expanded in MMA, a dangerous left high kick to follow it. She throws in high volume, but lands relatively little. Even against relatively inexperienced strikers like Raquel Pennington, Holm managed to land only 48 of an astounding 214 strikes.
This disparity exists for two reasons. On the one hand, Holm is never keen to get too close to her opponent. She flashes punches with no intent of landing, aiming only to occupy her adversary's eye and maintain the distance. That reluctance to fight in close also leads her to miss a great deal, however. She has a habit of pulling her punches rather than committing herself to the pocket with every strike.
Shevchenko's game is very different. A pure counter striker, Valentina very rarely leads, choosing instead to let her opponents make the first move. Her numbers are not very different from Holm's. In her two three-round UFC fights, Shevchenko landed an average of 30 significant strikes. Her methods, however, are very different. Where Holm lands about 35 percent of a large volume of strikes, Shevchenko throws less, but lands at a 54 percent clip. In her UFC debut, Shevchenko landed a staggering 72 percent of attempted significant strikes on Sarah Kaufman. Holm approached these numbers in her title-winning battle with Ronda Rousey, scoring at a 71 percent clip, but in other bouts, against less recklessly aggressive opponents, her average is just 32 percent.
Shevchenko throws less, but lands at a higher rate. This is because she lets her opponent lead, and only pulls the trigger when she sees a clear opening, usually when the opponent has overextended herself on the attack.
Though the wider array of available techniques and strategies changes things, mixed martial artists do tend to fall into one of five basic styles. There are out-fighters (boxers), pressure fighters (swarmers), counter fighters, brawlers (sluggers), and boxer-punchers (a blend of out-fighting and brawling).
Holly Holm is an out-fighter, while Valentina Shevchenko is a counter fighter. Looking at both boxing and MMA, we can see how these two styles, and styles like them, tend to match up.
Guillermo Rigondeaux is one of the very best out-fighters in boxing today. He is also a masterful counter puncher. Either his opponent makes a mistake and Rigondeaux hurts him, or his opponent refuses to engage and Rigondeaux coasts to a pedestrian decision. In Joseph Agbeko, Rigondeaux found a tentative opponent who refused to pressure, and the fight was rather dull.
Terence Crawford was touted as the next big thing in 2013, and in the years since he has lent some serious weight to that assertion. In his HBO debut, however, Crawford met Andrey Klimov, an out-fighter who was none too eager to risk his undefeated record by rushing in. Though Crawford has some dog in him, the fight turned into a contest of two out-fighters, and the action was slow as a result.
Boxer vs Boxer; Bernard Hopkins vs Chad Dawson II /ul>
Floyd Mayweather came as close as ever to losing his undefeated record when he faced Marcos Maidana in 2014. The fact that Mayweather, the boxer, overcame the traditionally difficult swarmer matchup is a testament to his skill. And yet, when the two rematched, Maidana made an adjustment. Rather than swarmer or slugger, he fought as a boxer-puncher. The fight was more or less just as close as the first one, but far less dramatic.
And that is where things get tricky.
Style is tied to personality. Most young fighters will find the style that suits them best within the first year or two of training. But personalities change over time, especially in a profession as deeply emotional as prizefighting. Smart fighters make strategic adjustments from one fight to the next. A boxer-puncher can become a boxer, a pressure fighter a brawler, a brawler a boxer-puncher.
With Holly Holm and Valentina Shevchenko, there is always the possibility that either woman could make a drastic change ahead of their bout. What seems like an awkward chess match on paper could very well end up a thrilling war of attrition.
I strongly suspect that Sean Shelby was not counting on an unforeseen change of heart when he made this matchup, however. Instead, Shelby seems to have looked at Holly Holm, identified her as simply a striker, and matched her with another fighter of similar tendencies. On the surface, this might seem a recipe for an action fight, but the long history of matchmaking in boxing suggests otherwise.
Most likely, we can expect a low-intensity sparring match. Holm is never keen to engage, and Shevchenko is never eager to lead. Holm will feint and throw out feelers, and Shevchenko will wait on an opportunity to counter.
The importance of this fight is unquestionable. Holm and Shevchenko are two of the best in the division, and the UFC could easily give either woman a title shot with a win. Whether they will want to is entirely up to the fight itself. Whatever he was thinking when he made this match, Sean Shelby may find himself sorely uninspired when the final bell rings.1) Train the mind
2) Be aware of emotions
3) Take time to relax!
4) Distinguish the negative from the positive
5) Envisage the end goal
more information on the Anamaya application, visit
or download the app
via the iTunes store.
As the end of January approaches, the struggle to stick to your new year’s resolutions can become increasingly challenging. It’s more than likely you will find yourself wanting to give up – or at least caving in and have a ‘cheat’ day here or there! However, the reality is that you chose to make thesefor aand by sticking to them you are far more likely to have a more successful 2015. So how can you overcome temptation and avoid throwing in the towel? Here meditation expert, Graham Doke, narrator of the innovative new meditation app,, reveals his top five tips for staying focused this January:Making a resolution and working towards a goal not only requires physical actions, but dedication, determination and discipline; all of which are attributes of the mind. This means that success comes as much from the mind as it does from the body. Despite this clear partnership between mind and body, many fail to invest time into training their mind and are therefore missing a main component in achieving success. Like any type of training, mind training must be both specific and focused. The practice of meditation is one of concentration, and the immediate benefit is obvious - an increase in concentration will enable you to keep your eye unwaveringly on the main game – succeeding in keeping your resolutions!Meditation can lead to a state of calm and tranquility, and in this state it is possible to become acutely aware of emotions as they arise. A heightened awareness of emotions is extremely important when trying to achieve a goal. Anxiety, fear, doubt - these are all natural emotions, and they will arise in everyone. They are natural, and as long as they are managed they are not a problem - but if they begin to consume you, they will interfere with achieving your goal and will become another barrier to overcome. This is where the meditation comes in - you can train your brain to recognise doubt as it arises. That little germ of doubt - you will see it, recognise it and, with your training, rather than allow it to grow, you will allow it to subside, never to become an issue.When it comes to resolutions, especially those that involve ‘giving up’ certain things like chocolate, alcohol, coffee or smoking; it can be a huge challenge and can often result in heightened stress levels, and you becoming uptight or anxious. Relaxation is a vital element in achieving your goals and taking the time to relax and de-stress can often be the only way to keep yourself ‘sane’ at the end of the day. Most mediation exercises are just ten minutes long, meaning it’s just a short amount of time out of your busy day to relax and re-focus.Too often we dwell on negative thoughts which, in turn, stump our progress and result in us giving in too soon. However, the decision to focus on the positive and forget the negative is an ability controlled by the mind and is an active decision that we can all make. Meditation can help to facilitate this decision, enabling you to ditch the unhelpful thoughts, and stay focused on the positives!Often the only thing that can keep our eyes on the prize and keep us sticking to our New Year’s Resolutions is envisaging the end goal. Whether it’s that bikini body you’ve been dreaming of, the general need to feel happier and healthier, or simply the need to become more organised; meditation can help to quieten the mind. It is easy to become sidetracked when trying to focus on one goal, as our mind is constantly buzzing with different thoughts and one thought can easily lead on to the next, and before you know it you are you thinking about something completely unrelated to the topic you should be focused on. Meditating daily can cleanse the mind, and stop it from running away with itself without your permission. If you would likeFile photo of RK Pachauri, the chairman of the IPCC
Rajendra K Pachauri has quit as chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) days after the police began investigating charges that he sexually harassed a 29-year-old woman employee in Delhi.
"The IPCC needs strong leadership and dedication of time...which under the current circumstances I may be unable to provide...," Dr Pachauri has said in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Dr Pachauri, 74, is one of the world's top climate change officials. A researcher at his Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) claims the scientist began harassing her soon after she joined the non-profit think-tank in September 2013.
Dr Pachauri has denied the charges; today, he said in a letter to TERI that he was proceeding on leave to ensure the inquiry against him - which includes the questioning of those at his institute - is impartial.
The woman has submitted hundreds of text and WhatsApp messages that she says prove how she was sexually harassed; Mr Pachauri's lawyers have alleged that his computer and phone were hacked.
The case comes at a time when Dr Pachauri is playing a key role in the run-up to a crucial climate change summit in Paris in December where world leaders are expected to agree a new deal to curb global warming.
He skipped an IPCC event in Nairobi this week.In 2007, the IPCC was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore for their part in galvanising international action against climate change. The IPCC will elect a new chair at a session planned for October and Dr Pachauri, who was first elected as the panel's chair in 2002, will not stand for a third term.Sure, the Alaskan Way Viaduct is coming down — in 2019, after the new deep-bored tunnel route takes over. But don’t forget, there’s another large concrete structure now carrying state Highway 99 traffic through downtown Seattle, the Battery Street Tunnel. It’s not being dismantled.
The old tunnel would make a handy disposal site for the rubble of the viaduct, says the state of Washington, which built it. Not so fast, says the neighborhood of Belltown. Residents love the 60-year-old highway structure, and want it to have a new life — whether that be as a place for mushroom farming, recycling or wastewater.
A mini design competition, titled Recharge the Battery, brought a rich collection of ideas for reusing the tunnel presented in September at a neighborhood space called Block 41 in Belltown. Sponsors included the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Seattle) along with the Downtown Seattle Association. Over 40 display boards showed how the underground structure could be put to work. Some of them believe it could be a great place for a park, a thrill ride, or maybe a combination of the two.
A mock-up of what a Recharge The Battery submission for mushroom farming would look like in the Battery Street Tunnel. (Credit: Jon Kiehnau)
Coming up with bold ideas is the kind of thing Seattle citizens do well, and Recharge Battery is no exception. But getting them done takes political will as well as imagination.
So how about sustainable wastewater infrastructure in the Battery Street Tunnel? A series of neighborhood initiatives and workshops in Belltown have shown deep interest in being an eco-neighborhood, a place where sustainable systems are tested and lived.
It’s also the kind of huge subterranean space Belltown has been wanting for decades, according to one of its prominent citizens, public artist Buster Simpson. He and his neighbors have been looking for something like this ever since they discovered that the mains beneath the neighborhood were filling up in rainstorms and dumping raw sewage into Elliott Bay, right at the foot of Vine Street. They’d like to turn that around.
It so happens that with just a couple of jogs downhill, wastewater captured and filtered in the tunnel space could be naturally polished in special planters along Vine Street. Growing Vine Street is a kind of homegrown super-green-street project dating from the 1990s and spearheaded by architects, including Carolyn Geise and Don Carlson. It’s still far from completed but it has some real accomplishments. Along with hard-working street planters, a series of functional art works by Simpson includes special downspouts, a cistern and stately steps. Simpson is credited with coining the term utilidor: utility plus street corridor.
The Battery Street Tunnel could hold almost 13 million gallons of water. Some sewer pipes go right above the tunnel, and some go below. All of this could make it a key piece of infrastructure in an evolving eco-city, and not just a tank. Think of it as a laboratory for capturing and filtering sewage. It could be a high-tech swamp or a smart detention vault, building on local experiments like blackwater treatment tanks at the Bullitt Center. Even better, it could combine this kind of thing with other industrial uses.
But wait. There are some daunting obstacles to reuse. Put simply, the state owns the tunnel structure. Even if it could be an asset to the Belltown neighborhood and the City of Seattle, it’s little more than a liability to the state. Before construction funding is found for adaptive reuse, the city faces a thicket of legal issues involving the limits of city control.
And there is little time. The question of whether the tunnel will be filled with rubble may ultimately be up to the winner of the design-build contract to demolish the viaduct. That contractor will be selected next spring, based on proposals presented in February by firms already shortlisted.
This submission seeks to shift the Battery Street Tunnel's focus towards biodiversity. Credit: Miller Hull Partnership
Tunnel reuse advocates are organized. Backed by Growing Vine Street, the neighborhood is hosting a slate of ongoing events around efforts to save the tunnel, including a popup storefront sponsored by Bellwether Housing, and a panel at AIA Seattle. They are launching a signature campaign to “mothball” the Battery Street Tunnel underground structure until a productive use can be identified, according to Recharge the Battery advocate Jon Kiehnau. The group is accepting donations through Seattle Parks Foundation.
The viaduct itself was once the key piece of an infeasible initiative called Park My Viaduct that would have derailed existing designs for acres of waterfront and roadway. Is interest in the Battery Street Tunnel a similar end-run, reversing key decisions already made?
No. It’s better. It deserves a chance. Underground spaces have been productively reused around the world, for industry, infrastructure and fun. The tunnel’s potential value to Seattle is clear, and should be studied.
In the meantime, there is a very practical reason for keeping the tunnel space open: city utility pipes are accessed from it.
Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw is in favor of mothballing the structure while waterfront reconstruction goes on. “I have asked SDOT and the Mayor’s Office to give the community time to consider options rather than using the Battery Street Tunnel as a dump site,” she said.
Belltown’s hunger for more open space has been well documented. But there’s more at stake. There’s pride and identity. Planned landscaping of future infill around the portals to the old tunnel should help fulfill that wish, but it’s just leftover space. The real prize is underground. With a tunnel volume about the size of the top of the Smith Tower, Belltown could have it all.
Visions from Recharge the Battery show the tunnel as a cathedral-like void where anything could happen, including a linear park. One vision has a subterranean walkway with green walls, amphitheater-like openings with steps on the side and a linear light display through the ceiling — a park without the rain. It could be a destination in winter months, when the open air waterfront is too wet.At each stop in this hop you will find amazing prizes that are sure to make any Fathers excited this Fathers Day. Be sure to check out MamatheFox’s Grand Prize valued at over $300! Come back daily to increase your chances of winning! Good luck
I really love the small details in the watch face.
I am so sure that your Super Dad will love this watch, so good luck, and I am going to keep entries super simple this time around. Just be sure to come back and get your daily entries in to increase your chances of winning. Good Luck!
Men's Watch Giveaway ~ Super Dad Giveaway Hop!
Now, go forth and enter all of these other great giveaways! There is NO LIMIT to how many you can win, so GOOD LUCK!!
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MamatheFox and all participating blogs are not held responsible for sponsors who fail to fulfill their prize obligations.With the new Mickey Mouse shorts comes a whole host of new lessons to learn. The first short to air, No Service (currently exclusive here on Disney.com), is one giant lesson in how to solve a problem.
First, watch:
Now, let’s review:
First, identify the issue.
In this case, it’s a “no shirt, no shoes, no service” situation.
Second, think for a minute.
In this case, remember: two heads (and outfits) are better than one.
Third, decide on a course of action.
It’s okay to enlist a friend’s help when applicable. And by a friend, we really mean a friend’s shoes.
Fourth, enact the plan.
In this case, the plan involved Donald wearing Mickey’s shoes and shorts.
Fifth, reap the rewards of your genius.
Don’t worry about the challenging parts where your plan went slightly awry. It happens.
And scene. You can be reminded of these lessons when this short airs this Friday on Disney Channel.
Posted 6 years AgoVermont Senator Bernie Sanders said today he does not know whether new poll numbers putting him within 7 percentage points of Hillary Clinton in Iowa mean her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is in trouble, but his campaign is "doing great."
“You know, it’s not just in Iowa. It’s in New Hampshire. It’s all across this country,” he said on "This Week." "I think people are responding to our message."
Sanders admitted that Clinton was “way ahead" of him in terms of her support among Democratic Party and institutional leaders, but argued that many of them might still support him in the end.
“Democratic leaders are not dumb," said Sanders, the longest-serving independent member of Congress. "What they want and what I want is to make sure that we do not see a Republican gain control over the White House.
“And I think as these look around the country and see the kind of energy and see the kind of huge turnouts we're getting, seeing the kind of young people who, for the first time, are getting involved in the political process... I think what these leaders -- maybe not today but in a couple months -- will say, 'You know, we want to win.'"
5 Stories You'll Care About in Politics This Week
Poll: Hillary Clinton's Iowa Lead Over Bernie Sanders Shrinks to 7 Points
In the Des Moines Register poll released Saturday night, an overwhelming percentage of Sanders' supporters –- 96 percent -- said they support him and his ideas, while just 2 percent said they were supporting him out of opposition to Clinton.
"They want a candidate who is not dependent upon super PACs, a candidate who is prepared to take on and overturn this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision," Sanders said.
When ABC News' Martha Raddatz asked Sanders about the fact that his website does not include any information on foreign policy or a national security agenda, Sanders agreed those were important issues and said his campaign planned to spend more time on them in the future.
When asked specifically about his criteria for the use of force, Sanders, who voted against the first Gulf War, the war in Iraq and the use of force in Syria after the chemical weapons attack in that country, said the United States has too often gone to war unilaterally.
“I believe that the United States should have the strongest military in the world. We should be working with other countries in coalition. And when people threaten the United States or threaten our allies, or commit genocide, the United States, with other countries, should be prepared to act militarily," he said.
“Do we need to go to war in every instance or can we bring pressure of sanctions and international pressure to resolve these conflicts?" he said. "War is a last resort, not the first resort. So you are looking at a guy, yes, there are times when you have to use force. No question about it. But that should be a last resort."
On the question of the use of drones to strike suspected terrorist targets, Sanders said he believed drone attacks had, at times, been effective.
"There are times and places where drone attacks have been effective. There are times and places where they have been absolutely counter-effective and have caused more problems than they have solved. When you kill innocent people, what the end result is that people in the region become anti-American who otherwise would not have been," he said. "So I think we have to use drones very, very selectively and effectively. That has not always been the case."
In 2013, Sanders voted against the CIA Director John Brennan’s nomination in the Senate, citing, in part, the killing of innocent people through the country’s drone program.Mirror’s Edge is a game I really want to like, but realize its shortcomings. Unlike the Bastion video I think this one largely speaks for itself – Mirror’s Edge is a great experiment I’d love to see DICE return to once the Battlefield circlerjerky stuff is over and done with. The platforming stuff is great fun, and lends itself to some really awesome time trials. I’d also love to see if they could flesh out the game’s universe and make it live up to its potential as a true dystopia and not just a setting for silly chase sequences. We’ll see whether they can get back to it after Battlefield 3, though.
In other news, YouTube has decided to block my account from uploading videos longer than 15 minutes again (even though none of my existing videos have been flagged or removed) and as a result I won’t be posting anything but frivolities to that account for a while (assuming this gets cleared up at all). They really, really suck at providing means of contesting or protesting account flagging, and as this is the first time I’ve ever run into this problem I’m sort of at a loss (especially since they insist no specific videos are the cause of the IP infringement flagging). Ah, well.KOSTROMA, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party or candidates loyal to him have swept the board in local elections but in one region Reuters found signs of ballot stuffing, multiple voting and undue pressure on voters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during an opening ceremony of the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2015. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
Public opinion, the Kremlin’s control of the media and a dirty tricks campaign against an already enfeebled opposition ensured Putin’s United Russia party would have triumphed anyway in Sunday’s voting. Opinion polls show Putin is popular and there was no sign that ballot rigging was widespread.
But discrepancies witnessed in the Kostroma region northeast of Moscow highlight the obstacles faced by an opposition portrayed by Kremlin allies as fifth columnists in the pay of the United States or Ukraine.
Navigating an economic downturn compounded by a fall in oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, the Kremlin cast Sunday’s regional ballots as a dry-run for a nationwide parliamentary election next year.
Kostroma, a sprawling region of 670,000 people centred on a town of the same name almost 200 miles (320 km) from Moscow, was the only place where the opposition PARNAS party was allowed to run on Sunday.
PARNAS, co-founded by Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead near the Kremlin in February, had needed to win at least 5 percent of votes to gain a foothold in the local parliament.
In the end, United Russia won 50.96 percent of the vote in Kostroma and PARNAS won just 2.28 percent.
“There were two main methods of falsifying the results,” Leonid Volkov, a senior PARNAS activist, told Reuters.
“There was carousel voting, where people voted at several polling stations. And there was home voting when people were visited at home and guided how to vote.”
Reuters reporters monitored voting at two polling stations - in the town of Kostroma itself, which is peppered with onion-domed churches, and in the village of Nikolskoye.
The monitoring team was in place without any breaks before polling stations opened until after they closed. The number of voters entering and the number of ballots cast was counted with a clicker of the kind used by airlines to count passengers.
In both cases, when the ballot boxes were opened, election officials said the number of ballots cast was higher than the number calculated by Reuters.
At the polling station in central Kostroma, Reuters put the final tally at 409 ballots but election officials put it at 434, or 6 percent higher. At Nikolskoye, the Reuters count was 531 but the officials tally was 547, or 3 percent higher.
When presented with Reuters’ findings, the election commission in Kostroma said it had no immediate comment.
BALLOT TAMPERING
The discrepancies were not huge and it was a far cry from the scale of cheating alleged by the opposition in Russia’s 2011 parliamentary election, which prompted mass protests. But if repeated in the about 700 other polling stations in the Kostroma region, they might have had a significant impact.
Asked why there was a discrepancy, Natalya Oshurkova, head of election commission 220 in Kostroma, said she did not know.
Svetlana Zvereva, her counterpart at Nikolskoye, initially came up with a turnout that varied from that of Reuters by one. She later said her initial count was only approximate and denied there were any ballots in the urn that were unaccounted for.
Reuters reporters witnessed several incidents which could explain where the extra votes came from.
In Nikolskoye, a man in a tracksuit and a woman in a blue dress were observed voting twice with an interval of 20 minutes. A woman was also seen stuffing a thick wad of voting slips into the ballot box.
There were also signs of coerced voting. When a group of 10-15 men in their 20s lined up in front of the electoral commission on Sunday, one said: “We were told to arrive here all at the same time for organised voting.”
He declined to give his name but said the group had come direct from a military hostel.
Later, an election official brought in 23 ballot papers, already filled in, from a military hospital nearby. Such “home voting” is legal but the opposition says it is often used to force people to vote for Kremlin candidates.
Pressure appeared to extend to soldiers’ relatives too.
“That’s it. We’ve come and voted. No one will say anything to our dad in his unit now,” one woman said after voting.
OPPOSITION WOES
PARNAS said it was largely denied access to media and that paid thugs disrupted its meetings. Police arrested its campaign manager, Andrei Pivovarov, accusing him of attempting to steal personal data - charges described by PARNAS as absurd.
On Sunday police also cordoned off a building being used by election observers funded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Putin critic, saying they had to investigate a murder. Officials later said the report of a killing had proved groundless.
PARNAS was dogged by frequent allegations it was funded or advised by U.S. diplomats. When opposition leader Alexei Navalny visited Kostroma on Monday, unknown individuals plastered his car with stickers bearing the American flag.
Someone in Moscow hung a giant banner opposite the U.S. embassy portraying opposition leaders sitting on toilets with their trousers around their ankles and bore the words: “SORRY WE FAILED!”
The authorities say they followed the letter of electoral law in the registering of parties and that the elections were held in accordance with the constitution.
But Navalny likened the election to sitting down to a game of cards with swindlers when you know the rules of the game have been rigged in the swindlers’ favour.
“We did not win any prize,” he said. “But let’s not give the swindlers what would be an important prize for them - our despondency.”The Ku Klux Klan is planning a victory march in North Carolina to celebrate Donald Trump's presidential success.
The parade is being organised by the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and is set to take place on December 3 in Pelham - a city at the North Carolina and Virginia border.
Plans for the 'klavalkade Klan parade' were revealed on the infamous white nationalist group's website on Thursday alongside a photo of Trump.
The Ku Klux Klan have revealed plans on its website to stage a victory parade in North Carolina in December to celebrate Donald Trump's stunning presidential success
Part of the announcement read: 'Trump = Trump's race united my people'.
It is not yet known where exactly the rally will take place.
It comes after former KKK grand wizard David Duke claimed credit for Trump's presidential success, claiming his people played a 'huge role' in the shock victory.
Duke, who failed to win a Senate seat in Louisiana, tweeted support for the billionaire businessman as it emerged he was set to defeat Hillary Clinton.
Trump's campaign also received a strong endorsement from the KKK's newspaper The Crusader - but his staff described the publication as'repulsive'.
Plans for the 'klavalkade Klan parade' were revealed on the infamous white nationalist group's website on Thursday alongside a photo of Trump
Trump's campaign received strong endorsement of the KKK's newspaper The Crusader ahead of the election - but his staff described the publication as'repulsive'
Former KKK grand wizard David Duke claimed credit for Trump's presidential success, claiming his people played a 'huge |
Kristin Addis from Be My Travel Muse is our go to solo female travel expert and writes a guest column featuring tips and advice. It’s an important topic I can’t adequately cover, so I brought in an expert to share her advice. This month her column is on safety tips since it’s been a common question among women travelers.
One of the chief concerns for most would-be solo travelers is safety. Can I stay safe on my own? How can I convince my friends and family that I’ll be okay? The good news is: yes, you will be safe on the road. It’s easier than you think because you already have the skills you need — the same methods you use to stay safe at home are relevant abroad as well.
Most people are scared before taking off on their first solo adventure (or in my case, 30th solo adventure). It’s easy to be nervous before heading somewhere new. There are a lot of unknown factors (will you make friends? will you be safe?) that you’ll turn over and over in your brain.
But it’s all in your head. Your brain is creating worst-case scenarios that aren’t likely to happen. I’ve found that following a few simple rules is enough to keep me (and you) safe on the road.
Safety Tip #1: Trust your gut instincts
There’s much to be said about the power of intuition. If something or someone gives you an uneasy vibe, there’s no shame in walking away or saying no. If your gut is telling you that something doesn’t feel right, listen to it. This sense naturally becomes more heightened over time as a solo traveler.
Some people thought I was crazy and even stupid to hitchhike through China, but after years on the road, I trusted my intuition enough to sound the alarm bells if something didn’t feel right. There were times, such as late at night in Rome when I’ve been offered a ride and immediately said no because I knew something was off. It’s surprising how much listening to that little voice in the back of your mind can steer you in the right direction.
Safety Tip #2: Don’t be afraid to say no
Don’t be afraid that you will disappoint people by only saying yes when it feels right. Your solo journey is about you and nobody else.
Sometimes in bars and hostels, the group mentality to keep drinking and the pressure to partake in yet another round of shots is present on a daily basis.
Getting too intoxicated can lead to serious problems. Keep it to a few drinks at most if you’re alone without anyone to look out for you. I can’t tell you how long my list is of friends who have been robbed in alleyways in Spain or mugged in an otherwise safe Berlin because they became too intoxicated. It can happen easily, especially when in party areas or with party people. For this and other personal reasons, I have quit drinking alcohol completely, at home and on the road, and that not only has kept me safer but also led me to meeting people on my travels who are interested in things other than partying, and that’s led to more enriching experiences overall.
Safety Tip #3: Keep a dummy wallet and whistle
In order to keep your most important valuables safe, some travelers suggest using a dummy wallet, which is a fake wallet that contains some canceled credit cards and a little bit of cash. It’s enough to make a would-be thief think he’s getting something worthwhile while keeping your real valuables well hidden (like under the insole of your shoe).
Another important tool is something that makes noise. A whistle has come in handy more than once for me, especially when I remembered the tale of another solo female traveler who once used it to ward off rabid monkeys in Indonesia. I did the very same several months later when, in a split second, I remembered to use my whistle as an angry monkey was lunging toward me. It goes to show that you never know how useful something so small can be.
Safety Tip #4: Get advice from locals
Make full use of the platforms available online to understand what to look out for in the area you are traveling to, especially if it’s your very first time traveling solo in the area. There are many online communities such as TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet, and Facebook groups where updates are shared by locals, expats, and experts. I find asking safety questions on these platforms is sometimes more reliable than some travel information websites as they are much more current, though it wouldn’t hurt to research common scams and dangers in your destination on them. For Americans, that would be the Bureau of Consular Affairs.
Ask employees at your hotel or guesthouse which scams to look out for. Find out not only what you should see during your visit but also which areas to avoid. Nobody knows this better than the people who live there year-round. Finally, a reputable walking tour at the beginning of your trip in a new city is not only a great way to have a proper introduction to the area, but also an opportunity to ask questions get more safety tips from your local guide.
Safety Tip #5: Dress appropriately
Dress like a local in order to blend in. By standing out, you risk more than just annoying catcalls. It’s a sad reality, but in some countries, women can’t dress as they please and need to cover up.
In traditionally Muslim countries, for example, wearing shorts and tank tops is not advisable and can be perceived as offensive. It’s best to at least cover the shoulders and the knees. Do some research on what’s appropriate to wear before packing.
That seems obvious, but it’s still all too common to see topless girls on the beaches in Thailand, or super short shorts and crop tops in Malaysia and Indonesia. In order to be respected, it’s important to respect the locals’ customs and modesty levels.
Safety Tip #6: Don’t walk alone at night
In some countries, it’s perfectly safe to walk alone at night. In others, it could be dangerous. Going out at night in groups or asking to be accompanied by someone else at your guesthouse or hotel is always smart.
Unfortunately I learned this the hard way after someone grabbed me in the dark as I walked along a dirt path in Nepal. The local police and my guesthouse owner were both bewildered, saying that kind of thing never happens there. Well, it turns out that it does, and I made sure never to be alone at night thereafter in Nepal, and now I make sure to not walk alone late at night.
Safety Tip #7: Make copies of your important documents
Although we always hope nothing will happen, it’s important to be prepared for a worst case scenario. Make copies of your important documents, including your passport, identity card, and insurance cards, and keep them in all of the bags you carry. Keep electronic copies as well, should the worst occur and you lose the paper copy along with the physical document. Take photos of all of your important documents and store them on your phone and laptop, in addition to uploading them to a secure cloud server.
I also recommend taking photos of electronics you are traveling with and uploading them to a cloud server. This will help prove you owned the item in case you need to make a travel insurance claim.
Safety Tip #8: Know the local emergency numbers
Look up the local emergency number online before you depart or ask the staff at the front desk wherever you’re staying. There are also apps, like TripWhistle, that provide emergency numbers from all over the world. Of course, the best-case scenario is that you never have to use it, but it’s always smart to be prepared in case you do need it.
Safety Tip #9: Let friends know where you are
Make sure someone (a friend, family member, or fellow traveler) knows your itinerary and where you should be at any given time. Try not to go off the grid completely or for long periods of time, especially if you have worried parents back home. If you do change your plans — because it’s bound to happen sometime — don’t forget to let someone know. Internet cafes are generally easy to find, and many countries have inexpensive SIM cards ($20 or less) that will help you keep in touch if you have an unlocked phone. Besides, if you’re on the move, having Internet access for booking travel arrangements and finding directions is often a godsend.
***
In closing, traveling solo is marvelous. It allows you to make all of your own travel decisions, promotes personal growth and independence, and can even be a bit safer since you can take in more of your surroundings than if a friend were around distracting you. Solo traveling helps to sharpen intuition and, despite typical worries, is often no more dangerous than your hometown.
The same common sense you use at home is relevant abroad. It’s not rocket science, and as long as you’re smart about it and follow these simple tips, you’re in for a positive adventure.
Kristin Addis is a solo female travel expert who inspires women to travel the world in an authentic and adventurous way. A former investment banker who sold all of her belongings and left California in 2012, Kristin has solo traveled the world for over four years, covering every continent (except for Antarctica, but it’s on her list). There’s almost nothing she won’t try and almost nowhere she won’t explore. You can find more of her musings at Be My Travel Muse or on Instagram and Facebook.
Conquering Mountains: The Guide to Solo Female Travel
For a complete A-to-Z guide on solo female travel, check out Kristin’s new book, Conquering Mountains. Besides discussing many of the practical tips of preparing and planning your trip, the book addresses the fears, safety, and emotional concerns women have about traveling alone. It features over 20 interviews with other female travel writers and travelers. Click here to learn more about the book, how it can help you, and you can start reading it today!Israelis from the Ethiopian community in Jerusalem take part in a demonstration near a major junction in Jerusalem on April 30, 2015 (AFP Photo/Gali Tibbon)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Clashes broke out in Jerusalem on Thursday as more than 1,000 angry Ethiopian Israelis staged a protest, demanding an investigation into alleged police racism and violence.
The protest started outside the city's police headquarters with demonstrators blocking off one of the city's main traffic arteries and the light rail service, an AFP correspondent said.
Protesters waved banners reading: "Stop police brutality, stop racism" and "Today it's him, tomorrow it's you!"
They then marched towards the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where they also blocked the road before being stopped by a large number of police equipped with water cannon.
"Enough of racism!" they chanted, some of them waving Israeli flags, others holding up the Ethiopian flag.
"In Europe they kill Jews because they're Jews, here they kill Jews for being black," read one placard.
Police said the crowd hurled stones and bottles with police using anti-riot measures to keep them at bay, including tear gas and stun grenades, with 13 people injured in the confrontation.
Five demonstrators and two police officers were taken to hospital, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
Jerusalem police chief Chico Edri said the police were aware of the "stormy emotions" gripping the Ethiopian community but called for everyone to act "with restraint."
The protest was sparked by a series of incidents involving alleged racism and police brutality against members of the Ethiopian Jewish community.
Earlier this week, footage emerged of two police officers violently beating an Ethiopian soldier in uniform, sparking a wave of anger within the community.
- Wave of condemnation -
Netanyahu called for calm and pledged to take action against those shown in the footage.
"I strongly condemn the beating of the Ethiopian IDF (army) soldier and those responsible will be held accountable. However, no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands," he said in a statement.
Speaking to Channel 10 television, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said those shown in the video had "brought shame on the ranks of the police."
Earlier this week, Israel's national police chief Yohanan Danino pledged a crackdown following the emergence of the footage, saying that police "would not tolerate such unacceptable behaviour."
He also pledged to set up a team to investigate the community's grievances.
President Reuven Rivlin also backed calls for an investigation.
"We cannot sit back in the face of anger and shouting -- incidents such as these must serve as a warning sign, and an opportunity to conduct some genuine and thorough introspection," he said in a statement.
More than 120,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel, having immigrated to the Jewish state in two waves in 1984 and 1991.
But they have struggled to integrate into Israeli society, despite massive government aid.If you’re a cryptocurrency fan, you probably already encountered many Bitcoin faucets. Bitcoin faucets are websites that supply you with free BTC, usually in exchange for solving a captcha or visiting another site every few hours.
In the past, we’ve also reviewed a list of 70 faucets that still supply small amounts of free Bitcoins.
[tweet_box design=”box_02″]As Bitcoin becomes more and more popular, the number of faucets keeps growing.[/tweet_box]
As Bitcoin becomes more and more popular, the number of faucets keeps growing. In fact, many of the Bitcoin websites with the highest levels of traffic today are actually faucets (e.g. Bitcoin Aliens, Bitcoin Zebra, Moon Bitcoin).
Why should you build a Bitcoin faucet (i.e. how will this make you rich)?
There can be several reason why you’d want to operate a Bitcoin faucet.
First, you might be doing it just for fun. Second, you might want to educate people about Bitcoin and help spread the word. For example, the original Bitcoin faucet was operated by Gavin Andresen, Bitcoin Foundation’s chief scientist. It started out around late 2010 and it gave visitors five Bitcoins for free. Of course, back then each Bitcoin was worth something like $0.08. The whole idea was to spread the word about the world’s first cryptocurrency.
However, the most common reason why people build their own Bitcoin faucet is probably to try and get rich. The main monetization method for these websites is by selling ad space or putting up Google Adsense ads (meaning ads provided by Google which they get part of the revenues from).
But don’t go running off to build your faucet just yet. Let’s do the math first!
If you take a look at Bitcoin Aliens, for example, you’ll see they are selling ad space for 10 cents/CPM. CPM stands for Cost Per Mil and it means that for every 1,000 times the ad gets shown, the advertiser pays Bitcoin Aliens $0,10. This means that in order for the site to get $1,000/month, the ad needs to be shown 10,000,000 times!
Now, you may imagine it’s not easy to get 10 million views to an ad on your website. That’s why most Bitcoin faucets aren’t actually profitable (although I do believe Bitcoin Aliens is). Another method faucet owners use to increase their revenues is by getting you to come back to the site so you can view and click on more ads.
Also, sometimes you’ll be required to stay on the site for a certain amount of time. That’s why usually faucet sites will have a large amount of returning visitors and a long “time on site” parameter from their users.
Here’s an example for Bitcoin Zebra, taken from the web analytics tool Similar Web. Now this is an estimation and not based on accurate numbers, but it still gets the point across:
As you can see on the red box on the right, the platform indeed gets a lot of visitors which stay for a long time on the site (5:46 minutes is considered a very long time). So now that you know all you need to know about Bitcoin faucets, let’s get down to building one.
Coding your faucet for beginners
In this post, I will cover two ways to build your own faucet: custom coding and buying a website.
Let’s begin with the more interesting one, which is custom coding. If this sounds scary, I assure you that this guide will make it very simple. I have almost no coding experience myself, yet I’ve managed to set up a faucet. The whole process should take 20 minutes and no more than $4.
Step 1 – Download the faucet script
Go to FaucatInaBox.com and click on “Install Now” to download the faucet script.
Step 2 – Get a domain name and a hosting provider
In order for your faucet to be available online, you will need to register a domain name and place the faucet files on a server. I recommend using Bluehost, as they have very cheap plans ($4/month) and they will also give you a free domain name when you register. This way you kill two birds with one stone.
Step 3 – Create a MYSQL database
This step will be different for each hosting provider. For the sake of this example, I will use Bluehost in this post, but this can easily be done with any other provider.
Under “hosting” click on “databases”.
Follow the instructions for giving your DB (database) a name, a user and a password. Make sure to write all these three details down. Don’t forget to click “save” once you’re done.
Now open the folder you downloaded from FaucetInaBox and find the config.php file. Open that file with any text editor and edit the values of the database to the ones you just determined:
Once you’ve finished, upload the folder to your root directory (i.e. home directory) via ftp. If you are not sure how to do this then contact your hosting support: the process is fairly simple and should only take a few seconds.
Step 4 – Configure API and Captcha keys
Congratulations! The hard part is over.
Go to your website’s address and you will see a page asking you to click for the faucet’s password. Click on the link and write down the password. Enter the password in the next page and you will now arrive at your new faucet’s control panel.
The first thing you’ll need to do is input your faucet API key. You can obtain such a key for free at FaucetBox. After you get the key, enter it in your admin panel as shown here:
Once you’ve finished, move on to the Captcha tab and make sure to obtain Captcha keys, as well. This will make sure that your rewards are only given to actual people and not bots.
Step 5 – Rewards and additional settings
On the main tab of your faucet’s control panel set up the following things:
Your faucet’s name and tag line
How much time will the user needs to wait until he can get another reward
Referral percentage for users who bring in other users
The amount of rewards given to a user
Using the other tabs on the control panel you can change your faucet’s design on the “templates” tab. In this tab you will also be able to add and edit HTML code for ads you want to display on the site.
Step 6 – Funding your faucet
Before you can activate your faucet, you’ll need to fund it so you can send out the rewards to people. This is done through FaucetBox’s dashboard. Go to the “balance” tab and click on “Activate” on the Bitcoin currency row.
You will then receive a Bitcoin address. Send funds to that address and FaucetBox will now automatically pay your faucet users (minimum to fund it 0.001BTC). Keep in mind that FaucetBox charges a fee for this service (currently 2.5%).
That’s it! Your faucet is now fully operational.
How to get a pre-made Bitcoin faucet
If you don’t feel like going through all of the hassle of custom coding your own Bitcoin faucet, you can always buy a faucet nobody wants anymore. Why would someone sell a working faucet? Simple, it’s really hard to generate profit through Bitcoin faucets (like I explained before).
If you’d like to pursue this I suggest visiting Flippa, a website dedicated to the purchase and sale of other websites. Just type in “Bitcoin” under the “websites” category and you’ll see dozens of sites that are up for sale. Of course, not all of them are faucets, but you can find one or two faucets among the listings.
I suggest examining each listing carefully before placing your bid. Mainly seeing that everything “adds up” and that you understand exactly what you’re buying. For example, many websites on Flippa are only one or two months old, which means you’ll need to take their analytics with a grain of salt.
Here’s an example of a website that isn’t a faucet, but a Bitcoin game that is up for sale. If you examine the listing closely you’ll see that the analytics are indeed pretty impressive.
I have done some business on Flippa myself in the past and it’s a great resource, but you need to be really careful with what you buy and how much you pay. So if you don’t wish to go with the cheap custom coding option, you can just buy a pre-made website. Keep in mind that this option is usually much more expensive.
Last but not least, if you’re truly serious about running your own Bitcoin faucet I suggest you also read this great post about faucets. Also, I want to thank the original post on BitcoinTalk for helping me with the creation of this post and this excellent YouTube video.
As always, if you have any questions, comments or experience with different faucets you’d like to share, leave them in the comment section below.This year's 42nd issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine is revealing on Monday that Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba will publish two new chapters of their Bakuman. manga to commemorate the theatrical opening of the live-action Bakuman film. The film will open in Japan on October 3. Shueisha will publish the first of two Bakuman. age 13 chapters in the 43rd issue of Shonen Jump on September 21. The first 23-page chapter will include a center color page.
The manga will chronicle a time before "Saikō" (Moritaka Mashiro) and "Shūjin" (Akito Takagi) met.
Additionally, Shueisha will publish "Muto Ashirogi" and Sei Hatsuno (Haruchika) novel titled PCP -Kanzen Hanzaitō- (PCP -Perfect Crime Party-, pictured below) in the JUMP j BOOKS imprint on October 2. "PCP -Perfect Crime Party-" is the title of Muto Ashirogi's third fictional manga series inside Bakuman.
The two creators of Death Note serialized the Bakuman. manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 2008 to 2012, and Shueisha published over 15 million copies of the manga's 20 compiled volumes. The manga inspired three television anime series from 2010 to 2013. Viz Media published the manga in North America, and Media Blasters released part of the television anime on DVD in North America.There's a must-read interview with William Gibson over at the Paris Review, in which he explains what was wrong with cyberpunk: "A snappy label and a manifesto would have been two of the very last things on my own career want list. That label enabled mainstream science fiction to safely assimilate our dissident influence, such as it was. Cyberpunk could then be embraced and given prizes and patted on the head, and genre science fiction could continue unchanged." He goes on to explain that science fiction, in the twentieth century, was too triumphalist and focused on a white American future, and lacked real details to go with its shiny ideas. "I wanted to see dirt in the corners," says Gibson.
Top image: Burning Chrome cover art by Chris Moore.
The whole interview is terrific, including the part where he explains that the opening sentence is the thing that shapes his novels, and "I don't begin a novel with a shopping list." [Paris Review]Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples would affect every Australian, and it is not just gay people who should have a say on the matter.
Speaking on the ABC, Turnbull said changing the definition of marriage affects "every Australian", when questioned on whether the government's proposed national vote is an appropriate way to legislate marriage equality.
"It affects not just LGBTI Australians, it affects everybody... the way your proposition would go is you'd say the only people that should be entitled to have a say on this are gay Australians," he said.
"I agree that this is, if you like, a novel approach, but it is perfectly democratic. There is no question about that."
Turnbull said it is a "reasonable argument" to contend the plebiscite is inconsistent with Australian parliamentary tradition, but reiterated his government won a mandate for the proposal at the election.
"Why wouldn't the Labor party and others who support gays being able to get married, LGBTI couples being able to get married – and Lucy and I support that – why wouldn't we grab this opportunity and say, 'Look, it may not be the perfect way of resolving the matter from your point of view, but grab it, it will be carried, it will be done'?"
Turnbull also denied that the plebiscite legislation will fail in the Senate, where 40 senators have pledged to vote against it – two more than the 38 needed to block legislation in the upper house.
"I think that's terrific, if journalists know what the numbers are in the Senate," he said. "Experience tells me that you don't know what the numbers are until the votes are finally counted."Do your plans for the future involve the consumption of an infant's upchuck? Are you perhaps with child yourself, and enjoy the aroma of spewed mashed peas? Perhaps a candle made from the scent of dry-heaved Gerber Graduates riles you up more than any pumpkin spice 3-wick? If any of these questions connect with you on a spiritual level, boy do we have some news for you. Get your barf-loving buns down to the nearest Starbucks because they just made a drink that looks (and supposedly smells) like the stuff your sister's kid just puked all over your new velvet choker. The secret menu concoction is called "Baby Vomit" and it is just...so much. If we've gathered anything from the name of this drink, one can conclude that our world is approaching the end of days. If ordering a secret menu Butterbeer pisses off your barista, don't ask for this.Google Maps on the iPhone. Google Recently as I was driving out of Brooklyn, Google Maps alerted me that there was traffic on the highway and that it had found a faster route out of the city.
The robotic voice played over the speakers in my car, directing me to take surface roads rather than get on the highway, which is typically the fastest way.
But Google somehow knew that there was a traffic jam ahead on the highway.
As I drove on the frontage road, I looked up at the interstate. It was at a standstill. Frustrated drivers honked and looked exasperated.
A couple of miles later, Google directed me to get back on the highway, right where the construction vehicles that were holding up traffic were blocking the road. Right after that, traffic thinned out, and I was driving the normal speed.
I couldn't help but feel a little bit of glee and satisfaction, that I had some sort of insider information others didn't have that allowed me to cut in line.
Google Maps is able to do this thanks to all of us. Hundreds of millions of people around the world give Google real-time data that it uses to analyze traffic and road conditions.
Here's how it works: All iPhones that have Google Maps open and Android phones that have location services turned on send anonymous bits of data back to Google. This allows the company to analyze the total number of cars, and how fast they're going, on a road at any given time.
Other popular GPS mapping apps, like Apple Maps, Waze, Nokia's HERE maps, and Mapquest, all offer traffic information, but the advantage Google has is the sheer number of people who use it, and the amount of data it has.
Google has built up a history over the last few years of what traffic is usually like on specific roads at specific times. That means it can predict how traffic will change over your drive — just because there's traffic around 60 miles ahead of you right now doesn't mean there will be traffic there when you arrive in an hour.
Google Maps on Android. Google "It's not just what [traffic] is right now, but how do we expect it to change over the next hour or two hours," Amanda Leicht Moore, the lead product manager for Google Maps, said in an interview with Tech Insider.
Google Maps also incorporates traffic and incident data, like accident reports, from Waze, the popular navigation app that Google bought for more than $1 billion in 2013. Waze gets its information from users who report things like accidents on the road or traffic jams. Google also gets information from local departments of transportation.
Moore said that Google's database of historical traffic data allows the app to alert you if traffic is better or worse than it typically is, and how accidents and slowdowns will affect traffic on different roads in different parts of the world. Last weekend, Google told me that the fastest way home was through New Jersey, even though there was an accident and traffic causing delays. Screenshot / Tech Insider
"We can tell you if the traffic jam ahead — is that going to add five minutes to your trip? Or 10 minutes to your trip? Or 40 minutes to your trip?" she said. "There's a lot of modeling and a lot of smarts that go into trying to anticipate how traffic will change."
Google Maps can even tell when there's a marathon happening in a city because a large group of people is moving faster than people usually move, but there are no cars on the roads.
Moore said that one of the priorities at Google Maps right now is to give people confidence that Google Maps is taking them the best way. To that end, Google Maps recently added explanations as to why it's routing you a certain way.
"When we tell you to take the side route it's so important for us to tell you [it's] because there is an incident over here, because you need to trust" the app, she said.
And if there's no way around a slowdown, or you're on the fastest route even if there is heavy traffic, Google will still tell you that you're going the best way.
I noticed this last weekend when Google told me that the fastest way home last weekend was through New Jersey instead of through Westchester County, even though there was an accident and traffic causing delays.
This is about "giving people confidence that they're going to get there faster," Moore said. "That we're taking them on the smartest, fastest route."Linda Greenhouse, chief legal pundit at The New York Times, can't seem to understand why some folks on the right don't agree with the deferential stance adopted by Chief Justice John Roberts in his 2012 decision upholding Obamacare. Writing this week at the Times, Greenhouse points with dismay at recent articles by Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett and Cato Institute legal scholar Ilya Shapiro, both of which fault the chief justice for his judicial passivity in the health care case. "Not so long ago, 'judicial restraint' was a conservative goal against which judicial performance was measured. Now it's an epithet hurled at, of all people, Chief Justice Roberts," Greenhouse writes. "Are conservatives at all abashed at taking the vocabulary they grew up with and flipping it so openly?"
Greenhouse seems to be under the mistaken impression that every single member of the conservative legal movement—including self-identified libertarians like Barnett and Shapiro—is required to march in lockstep support of judicial restraint. The reality, of course, is quite different. As faithful readers of Reason magazine are well aware, libertarian and conservative legal thinkers have been debating the pros and cons of judicial restraint for some time now. Broadly speaking, conservative advocates of judicial deference, such as Chief Justice Roberts, maintain that unelected judges should be extremely wary about overturning the acts of the democratically accountable branches of government. That's why Roberts wrote the following while upholding Obamacare: "It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices."
Libertarian legal thinkers, by contrast, have been fighting tooth and nail against judicial deference for the better part of three decades. Under the libertarian view, Roberts failed to do his judicial duty because it most certainly is the job of the Supreme Court to act as a constitutional check on the other branches of government—even when such judicial activity means that unelected justices end up thwarting the will of a democratic majority.
As I said, this debate has been going on in conservative and libertarian legal circles for quite a while now (and has even reached the U.S. Supreme Court on more than once occasion). If Linda Greenhouse ever wants to get herself up to speed on this particular issue, there's a certain book I'd be happy to recommend.When the world chess champion Garry Kasparov was beaten in 1997 by Deep Blue, an I.B.M. supercomputer, it was considered to be a major milestone in the march toward artificial intelligence. It probably shouldn’t have been. As complex as chess is, it’s easy to see that its rules can be translated into algorithms so that computers, when they eventually got enough processing power, could crunch through billions of possible moves and past games. Deep Blue’s calculations were a fundamentally different process, most people would say, from the “real” thinking and intuition a human player would use.
Clive Thompson, a Brooklyn-based technology journalist, uses this tale to open “Smarter Than You Think,” his judicious and insightful book on human and machine intelligence. But he takes it to a more interesting level. The year after his defeat by Deep Blue, Kasparov set out to see what would happen if he paired a machine and a human chess player in a collaboration. Like a centaur, the hybrid would have the strength of each of its components: the processing power of a large logic circuit and the intuition of a human brain’s wetware. The result: human-machine teams, even when they didn’t include the best grandmasters or most powerful computers, consistently beat teams composed solely of human grandmasters or superfast machines.
Thompson’s point is that “artificial intelligence” — defined as machines that can think on their own just like or better than humans — is not yet (and may never be) as powerful as “intelligence amplification,” the symbiotic smarts that occur when human cognition is augmented by a close interaction with computers. When he played in collaboration with a computer, Kasparov said, it freed him to focus on the “creative texture” of the game. In the future, Thompson writes, we should not fear being beaten in chess by Deep Blue or in “Jeopardy!” by Watson. Instead, humans will find themselves working in partnership with the progeny of these supercomputers to diagnose diseases, solve crimes, write poetry and become (as the clever double meaning of the book’s title puts it) smarter than we think.
This is not a new idea. It is based on the vision expounded by Vannevar Bush in his 1945 essay “As We May Think,” which conjured up a “memex” machine that would remember and connect information for us mere mortals. The concept was refined in the early 1960s by the Internet pioneer J. C. R. Licklider, who wrote a paper titled “Man-Computer Symbiosis,” and the computer designer Douglas Engelbart, who wrote “Augmenting Human Intellect.” They often found themselves in opposition to their colleagues, like Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy, who stressed the goal of pursuing artificial intelligence machines that left humans out of the loop.IBM today announced the launch of the aptly-named IBM Power Systems S822LC for High Performance Computing. Its unwieldy name betrays the fact that this is a really interesting product. Together with Nvidia, IBM built this new system specifically for artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced analytics use cases.
The new server uses two of IBM’s POWER8 CPUs and four of Nvidia’s Tesla P100 GPU accelerators. What makes this new server so fast for running this kind of software, though, isn’t just the pure processor power from the CPUs and GPUs. IBM is also using Nvidia’s NVLink high-speed interconnect that allows the CPUs and GPUs to communicate significantly faster than over the standard PCIe bus you’ll find in a common desktop computer. IBM’s Power8 CPU features built-in support for the NVLink interface.
“This means database applications, high performance analytics applications, and high performance computing applications can operate on much larger data sets than possible in x86 systems with GPUs on the PCI-E interface,” IBM explains in today’s announcement.
How much performance can you expect from this system? IBM says you can expect 21 teraflops of half-precision floating point performance from the GPUs — about 14 percent more than you would get from a card that’s plugged into a modern PCI-E slot. Given how long it takes to train a machine learning model, those numbers can quickly make a difference in real-world applications. IBM also says it’s seeing speed-ups of 2x or more over using the older Tesla K80 GPUs and PCI-E as the interconnect.While the Chicago Fire first team were busy hosting the league’s defending champions in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Portland, the club's PDL side was down south upsetting a cup-holder of their own.
The Chicago Fire Premier Development League (PDL) team -- comprised of top regional talent at the U-23 level -- earned the claim of US Soccer National Amateur champions Saturday, defeating Chattanooga FC, 2-1 in extra time, to raise the 2016 Hank Steinbrecher Cup.
Current #CFA18 players @djordjemiha14 and Mauricio Pineda competing for PDL in the championship game of the Hank Steinbrecher Invite. #cf97 — Chicago Fire Academy (@ChiFireAcademy) May 29, 2016
The US National Amateur Championship annually brings together representatives from the country’s biggest amateur leagues and competitions to formally crown a national champion. Chattanooga FC, who represent the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) won the 2015 edition of the championship and hosted this year's tournament at UT-Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium. US Adult Soccer Open Cup champion West Chester United (Pennsylvania) and US Adult Soccer Amateur Cup champion Quinto Elemento (Kansas) also featured in this year’s contest.
The Fire put up a 6-1 victory over West Chester United on Friday night to advance to Saturday night’s final against Chattanooga, where Chicago’s Mark Segbers opened the scoring in the 22nd minute on an assist from Elliot Collier. Chattanooga would level in the 48th minute on a shot from Luke Winter, however, as the 1-1 scoreline held through 90 minutes.
See Also: Fire PDL Defe |
a value forever burned into my head) a number of times. Once without sleep jacked up on caffeine and sugar but that’s a different story. And you know that it’s just awful to contemplate especially if you look at the distance all at once; when you’re faced with 24 or 36 hours of total driving, each minute or even hour just doesn’t seem to be having an impact.
Invariably what people do in this situation, certainly what I did, is to break the drive up into more manageable “chunks”. So the first mental break you make is at the half-way point (or whatever distance you might cover in a day’s worth of driving). So it might be 12 hours. Ok, 12 hours is a lot easier to deal with than 36 hours even if you have to do it three times. Or maybe you break it up into an even smaller increment. Now you’re at 6 hours (how far you get between fuel ups if you have a really efficient car). Well everybody can drive for 6 hours, right? I think you see where this is going.
I vividly remember that, leaving Nashville en route to LA, there was a major city about every three hours. That synched up rather nicely with both my need to stop for gas and my need to go to the bathroom and refuel with caffeine. So mentally I wasn’t thinking in terms of having to drive 36 hours. I only had to make it the next three hours. And the next three. And the next three. By chunking it in this way, you’re never facing down the entire distance and your brain can sort of “reset” once you hit each intermediate time point. You hit three hours, reset, now you have three more hours to drive.
Of course, as anyone knows, this can be taken too far. Certainly it’s easy to think of “I only have to drive an hour” or even “Only a minute” but at that point you’ve reached the other extreme. Because 36 by 1 hour isn’t really much better than 1 by 36 hours (or whatever this works out to in minutes or half-hours). Somewhere in the middle is a happy medium where each chunk is a reasonable length and you can divide the entire distance into a reasonable number of chunks.
Here’s a graphic to break up the dense text and attempt to make this a bit clearer. The arrow is the full distance start to finish, the lines are then subdivided at different time points: 1/2, into thirds, into fourths, sixths, twelfths. You could keep going but, again, you reach a point of diminishing returns where you know have an immense number of small increments rather than one large increment. Somewhere in the middle where you get a reasonable number of reasonable length increments is invariably the mental (and physical) sweet spot.
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Let’s Apply This to Training
And, as you can imagine, I’m going to suggest applying the same concept to indoor aerobic training (I’d note only in passing that you could very easily apply this equally to high repetition weight training. So rather than think of a 20 rep squat session as 20 reps, break into into 4 sets of 5.) as a way to mentally break up the time into more manageable chunks. So a 60 minute workout becomes 4 blocks of 15 minutes, or 3 blocks of 20 minutes or even 6 blocks of 10 minutes. A 30 minute workout could be divided into two blocks of 15 minutes, three blocks of 10 minutes or even 6 blocks of 5 minutes.
I’d note that there’s no reason you have to make each block an equal time. For example, a 60 minute workout might have a 5 minute warm-up and cool-down leaving 50 minutes in-between to be divided up into varying lengths (you might divide that 50 minutes into 5 ten minute blocks or 10 five minute blocks). There are endless options.
I’d also mention that in every example, it’s not just a function of chunking but of changing something at the time break. This is where it differs from the driving example; every time you reach the end of a block, you’re going to do something different as that sort of signals the “end” of that block.
This tends to get you thinking only of the duration of the time block you’re actually in rather than focusing on the length of the entire session. Not only is this psychologically more manageable, by choosing what you do during the workout, you can impact on the physiological adaptations and training effect. So it’s a double win.
This should make more sense with some specific examples and I’ll be moving from shorter to longer in terms of what happens at each block.
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“Structured” Fartlek Training
Fartlek is an old Swedish (or is it Scandinavian?) training concept that translates roughly as speedplay. It was developed in the mid-20th century by Swedish/Scandinavian running coaches as a way to break up long runs (invariably done outdoors) along with introducing some unstructured speed work and speed changes into the workout (since this was more reflective of competition demands). It would typically be done during an easier part of training when the goal was on distance and volume but the coach wanted to keep a bit of speed work in the program (and to keep the athlete from going nuts).
The key here was that it was unstructured, an athlete might be running in the woods and come up on a short uphill. They would then pick up the pace up that hill. Or they’d introduce a short “sprint” to some tree they saw in the distance. This would be done before returning to the easy pace of the run.
I’d mention that cyclists on long road rides have often done a similar thing, folks may decide to sprint for the light pole, or for the signpost up ahead. Everybody throws down and then you go back to gradual riding before the next sprint. Years ago I recall some book or another suggesting a 15 second “Sprint” every 15 minutes during long-duration base training on the bike.
Indoors, mind you, it’s probably better to use something I call, somewhat contradictorily, Structured Fartlek. Since you don’t have the same types of natural targets that would occur outdoors (I suppose you could use a commercial break in a TV program or a particularly upbeat song on your MP3 player), it’s often better to structure out your speed bursts within the workout itself based on time. As above, what block length you pick depends on your own preference and the length of your workout.
As an example, a buddy of mine has been grinding 30 minutes on the Versaclimber and was getting bored with it. I suggested that he introduce a 15 second “pick-up” (an increase in intensity that isn’t all out but takes him out of his normal steady state zone) every 5 minutes before returning to his normal steady state pace. Now his workout has gone from “30 minutes of boring grinding” to 6X5 minutes with 15 seconds faster. Mentally he’s only having to do 5 minutes (ok, 4:45) before doing something else.
This approach really has no downsides, although hardheads have a tendency to turn the speed bits into all-out sprints which really isn’t the goal. It’s just a way to introduce some speed, work a little bit harder, and break things up but don’t go nuts on the hard part of the Fartlek.Moving on.
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Aerobic Interval Training
I’ve mentioned the concept of aerobic interval training previously, usually in the context of taking untrained beginners but it also has use for people who are already trained. I want to make it clear from the get go that this is absolutely NOT HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) and shouldn’t be confused with such. The goal is still working in the aerobic training zone but in a more interval way.
Personally I have found that what I’m about to describe is most useful for folks using cardio machines that have distinct “levels” (think the Elliptical, Stairmaster, Stepmill) on them. This is in contrast to something like a treadmill where you can increase the speed in tiny increments. On many of those machines you often find yourself in a place where the current level you’re at is too easy but the next level up is just too big of a jump (or moves you out of the training range you want to be in) for some reason or another.
So let’s say you’re on one of the aforementioned machines at level, whatever, say it’s level 13. You can comfortable grind away an hour without working too hard. But you find that moving it to Level 14 is just too big of a jump in intensity or workload for whatever reason (or moving it up won’t let you complete the hour). In this case you can use the same chunking concept to gradually increase the duration at the higher level while still completing the entire workout. Generally, 5-10 minutes at the higher level alternated with similar amounts (or longer) at the lower intensity seems to work well.
So at the first workout you might break up the 60 minutes into 4X15 minute blocks where the first 10 minutes is at level 13 and the final 5 minute is at level 14. After a few of those workouts, you could go to alternating blocks of 10 minutes at level 13 and 10 minutes of level 14. Just switching back and forth. The final step might be back to 4 blocks of 15 minutes divided into 5 minutes at level 13 and 10 minutes at level 14. Then finally an hour at level 14. Spend a couple of weeks there and when you’re ready, do the same between levels 14 and 15.
Alternately you could do 3 blocks of 20 minutes divided into 15 minutes at 13 and 5 minutes at 14. Then do 10′ at 13 and 10′ at 14. Then 5′ at 13 and 15′ at 14. Then the entire time at 14. You might stay there a week or two to stabilize and then, assuming you wanted or needed to, start building to the next level up by alternating between levels 14 and 15.
Again, there are lots of options and what you choose depends on your personal preference along with how big the jump is. I’ve presented these options in table form below (the number in parentheses after the workout is the total time spent at the higher workload), assuming three workouts per week. I’d mention that this works best when you’re well within the aerobic zone (i.e. roughly a heart rate in the 130-160 range) although it can work when you’re closer to threshold.
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Option 1
Workout 1 Workout 2 Workout 3 Week 1 4X10’@13/5’@14 (20′) 4X10’@13/5’@14 (20′) 4X10’@13/5’@14 (20′) Week 2 3X10’@13/10’@14 (30′) 3X10’@13/10’@14 (30′) 3X10’@13/10’@14 (30′) Week 3 4X5’@13/10’@14 (40′) 4X5’@13/10’@14 (40′) 4X5’@13/10’@14 (40′) Week4 60’@14 60’@14 60’@14 Option 2 Workout 1 Workout 2 Workout 3 Week 1 3X15’@13/5’@14 (15′) 3X15’@13/5’@14 (15′) 3X15’@13/5’@14 (15′) Week 2 3X10’@13/10’@14 (30′) 3X10’@13/10’@14 (30′) 3X10’@13/10’@14 (30′) Week 3 3X5’@13/15’@14 (45′) 3X5’@13/15’@14 (45′) 3X5’@13/15’@14 (45′) Week 4 60’@14 60’@14 60’@14
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I think you get the idea. And yes I realize that option 1 skips a workout with 50 total minutes at the higher workload. The second option is also clearly more aggressive since the time at the higher workload goes up more quickly.
This approach can also be used when you’re nearer to threshold/sweet spot (see this article for details) but you usually have to use smaller time jumps. As described, a typical workout might be warmups with 2 sets of 20 minutes with a 5-10′ break between sets. It’s damn near all-out and adding a full 5 minutes at the next level up might just not be possible since you’re already pretty close to maximal. It’s also a pretty mentally gruelling workout to begin with, 20 minutes of unremitting discomfort; here, breaking it up into smaller chunks has a huge psychological benefit.
In that case, I’d be more likely to break up the 20 minute work sets into 4X5 minute chunks and add 1 minute at the higher workload every 2-3 workouts. So let’s say you’re currently pushing 200watts on the bike but want to start working towards 210w for this workout. A progression over 12 workouts (which might take 4-6 weeks depending on your frequency of training) might be as follows (again, numbers in parentheses are the total time at the higher workload). After stabilizing at the new workload, you could start the next progression from 210w to 220w.
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4X4’@200w/1’@210w (4′) 4X4’@200w/1’@210w (4′) 4X3’@200w/2’@210w (8′) 4X3’@200w/2’@210w (8′) 4X2’@200w/3’@210w (12′) 4X2’@200w/3’@210w (12′) 4X1’@200w/4’@210w (16′) 4X1’@200w/4’@210w (16′) 20’@210w 20’@210w 20’@210w 20’@210w
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Keep in mind that this workout would typically be done after a 10-15 minute warmup (one block), with a 5-10 minute break in-between each set (another block) and a 5-10 minute cool-down (the final block). So the entire workout just ends up being a series of fairy short (5-15′) blocks all the way through.
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Progressives
This approach to a workout probably has a formal name but I have no idea what it is so I’m going to call it a progressive workout. Now in the three previous workout examples you bumped up from a lower intensity to a higher intensity before moving back down. In this workout you start easy and progressively increase the intensity all the way until the end.
So first you pick your training range, the low-end and high-end workloads (in terms of heart rate, pace or power output) that you want to use. Then break the workout into perhaps 3 even blocks. The first block is done at the low-end workload, the second block halfway in-between the low- and high-end workload and the third block is at the high-end workload.
So during a base aerobic phase, you might set a range of 130-150 heart rate and work at 130 for the first 20 minutes, 140 for the second 20 minutes and 150 for the third twenty minutes. Or if you’re doing 30 minute workouts, you’d go 10 minutes at each pace. If you’re doing 90 minute workouts, you’d go 30 minutes at each pace.
In a later aerobic phase (ideally before moving outdoors or starting racing), this could be taken closer to threshold work. So you might set a workload range of 130-170 beats per minute (or the accompanying pace/power output). The first 20 minutes would be at the low 130 (effectively a warm-up but still in the aerobic range). The second 20 minutes goes to a moderate 150 heart rate and then the final 20 minutes is right at threshold/race pace (170 beats per minute). This is apparently a popular approach to training with Kenyan runners where they start at an ambling pace to warm-up but may finish right at race pace by the end of the run.
You can even take this further and have the last block increase towards an all-out sprint at the very end (this is a workout to do occasionally, not all the time). So in the final 20 minute block you might spend the first 10 minutes right at race pace, the next 5 minutes above race pace, and then ramp up each minute of the final five minutes to a full sprint until you’re done (either make it to 20 minutes or run out of gas). This is about as close to mimicking a race situation as anything you can do indoors. Again, not to be done all the time by any stretch.
This type of workout has as number of benefits. Not only does it break up the total time period into manageable mental chunks but it also (especially with the second version) allows you to find that balance between volume and intensity. This is especially crucial for endurance athletes trying to build some form of base during the winter; doing long workouts indoors is a grind but just cranking out threshold sets of 20 minutes may not provide the long-duration endurance needed. In this type of workout you get a 60-90 minutes of endurance work along with the twenty to thirty minutes of threshold/race pace work all at once.
For competition athlete, this type of workout also has the benefit of teaching them how to push harder as the race goes on. The reality of racing is that even at the same fixed pace, as athletes fatigue they have to push harder just to maintain that pace. And most races get faster towards the end. this workout mimics that.
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Summing Up
So that’s that: a different way of approaching winter indoor aerobic training that may help make it more interesting, more manageable and more physiologically beneficial. The above isn’t meant to be comprehensive, I’m sure creative individuals can come up with any number of variations on the above themes of what I’ve presented (some of which are just workouts I’ve personally used to get through the long winters).
Of course, the concepts can be combined. If you want some real hell, try chunking structured Fartlek training with a threshold workout, so you’re working 20 minutes at race pace and every 5 minutes you have go above that (perhaps mimicking a breakaway or uphill) before returning to race pace (instead of a low-intensity).
Similar Posts:Chua Jian Yong (left) and Liu Shao Quan (right) successfully turned tofu whey into an alcoholic beverage (via National University of Singapore)
Let’s face it: Alcohol is never going to be one of your five-a-day. But sorcerers researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed the next best thing.
Led by associate professor Liu Shao Quan and PhD student Chua Jian Yong, the team successfully turned tofu whey into a “tasty” alcoholic beverage with “many health benefits.”
Dubbed Sachi, the drink is made from tofu whey—a liquid generated from the manufacturing of bean curd.
Often discarded as untreated waste, the byproduct breaks down into a pollutant, its protein and soluble sugars contributing to oxygen depletion in waterways.
So much for reducing environmental impact, huh vegetarians?
“Alcoholic fermentation can serve as an alternative method to convert tofu whey into food products that can be consumed directly,” Liu said.
Together with Chua, the pair created a unique recipe to generate wine from whey: Add sugar, acid, and yeast to the freshly squeezed serum, then leave to simmer. The whole process takes about three weeks.
“Very little research has been done to transform tofu whey into edible food and beverage products,” according to Chua, who worked on alcohol fermentation as an undergraduate.
“So I decided to take up the challenge of producing an alcoholic beverage using the whey,” he said in a statement. “The drink turned out to be tasty, which is a pleasant surprise.”
Don’t worry: It doesn’t taste like liquified bean curds. By employing biotransformation methods, researchers can convert tofu whey’s “strong beany odor” into something that is sweet, with fruity and floral notes.
With an alcohol content of about 7 to 8 percent, Sachi lasts up to four months.
The team has filed a patent for its novel fermentation process, which enriches the drink with antioxidants, giving it added “health benefits.” They are looking to collaborate with industry partners to introduce the drink to consumers.
Let us know what you like about Geek by taking our survey.Former Vice Mayor Jim Gray, who was out on the campaign trail yesterday, was forced to call Pop-A-Lock after misplacing the key to the city…again. The gaffe left Gray, who’s currently running for state Senate, stranded in Nicholasville for nearly three hours before Pop-A-Lock arrived and resolved the issue. Gray was wrapping up campaigning at Jessamine County’s newest “hot spot” Brannon Crossing, after spending the day hitting the long campaign trail from the Nicholasville Library to Big Boy (the one in Nicholasville) to The Boot Store (also in Nicholasville).
“After an entire day of campaigning across the great county of Jessamine,” tells Gray, “I met up with some of my friends at Movie Tavern to see The Conjuring 2. But right when things started conjuring, I noticed I didn’t have the key to the city in my pocket anymore and would be locked out of Lexington…again.”
Gray says he then started frantically searching for his precious key and retracing his steps. However, this proved to be futile since he’d spent the whole day traveling the vast lands of Nicholasville.
“I thought I had left an extra one under the mat at Cracker Barrel but it wasn’t there. I then tried calling former mayor Theresa Isaac. She still has a spare but I hate bugging her with stuff like this all the time. It was just last week that I had to call her for help remembering the code on the garage door keypad. How am I supposed to remember which Lexington zip code is my password when there’s like 30 different ones or however many there are?”
With former mayor Theresa Isaac on vacation and unable to bring him the spare, it was Pop-A-Lock guru Dale Burns who was the first responder on the scene to assist Gray.
“I got there as quickly as I could but didn’t make any special effort to speed or anything just because it was our mayor,” says Burns. “We here at Pop-A-Lock take a lot of pride in being a non-partisan locksmith. Plus, it was the third time this month he’s called us. Few weeks ago he got stuck in Versailles when he dropped his key to the city in the moat at The Castle. His assistant said he had it out again, twirling it around his finger like a bigshot.”
With Pop-A-Lock having a master copy, they had no problem Conjuring 2 new keys and helping Gray get back into Lexington. Jim noted, “The fine folks at Pop-A-Lock are a great example of how essential small businesses are to our community. They are quick and affordable. I’d love to see them be able to expand to other cities in our state such as Louisville. When I lost my keys there a few months ago, I had to call the Papa-Lock John Schnatter and while they did arrive in 30 minutes or less, their prices were very unreasonable and the keys were covered in garlic sauce.”Thomas Sowell’s latest book, published in 2015 and now revised a year later, is the usual tour-de-force. It’s not so much that there’s anything startlingly new (although there are some interesting new statistics and several new lines of thought), but that Sowell has a unique ability to clearly and concisely bring together an analysis. In this case, that analysis is of “why are outcomes different for different people?” Sowell writes in opposition to the current vogue for equating differential out
Thomas Sowell’s latest book, published in 2015 and now revised a year later, is the usual tour-de-force. It’s not so much that there’s anything startlingly new (although there are some interesting new statistics and several new lines of thought), but that Sowell has a unique ability to clearly and concisely bring together an analysis. In this case, that analysis is of “why are outcomes different for different people?” Sowell writes in opposition to the current vogue for equating differential outcomes with differential justice resulting from “malign actions by others,” with negative nods to Thomas Piketty, John Rawls and a wide range of similar social justice warriors.
This is the second edition of this book, with the original subtitle “An International Perspective” replaced by “Revised And Enlarged Edition.” I do not think the expansion is an improvement. Certainly the book is still excellent, but longer is not always better. The original was pithy; this edition is too often wordy without added benefit.
I have read both editions and compared them; while I have not done a line-by-line comparison, it appears the additions come in two areas. First, a substantial addition of statistics and data points in every area, in particular related to the United States (whence, presumably, comes the dropping of the “International Perspective,” although there is still plenty of that). Probably he does this because one of his re-emphasized points in this edition is the frequent failure of his opponents to address the empirical data (and, as he complains, frequently hide from view the raw data they claim support them). Second, he puts additional emphasis and discussion on the failures of genetic determinism. I conclude that the reader is better off reading the first edition than this second edition. Nonetheless, the reader can’t go wrong with either one.
Sowell is a truth seeker. His main objection is not to those who think it’s “unfair” that some people have more than others, although he thinks that’s demonstrably false, and demonstrates it. His main philosophical objection is to people who won’t think, because they’re afraid of the truth. And his main accomplishment in the book is ruthlessly reasoning to a conclusion, peeling back extraneous layers and illogical reasoning to bring out a clear, defensible, and essentially irrefutable conclusion. This is a skill all but lost in these days of fifth-rate arguments, especially on platforms like Facebook, or, worse yet, Twitter, where most people have no idea what a syllogism is, and believe that depth of feeling is highly relevant to the worth of one’s arguments.
Sowell’s book works on two levels. His basic arguments are fairly well-trodden ground (including being trodden by him), but pithy and exquisitely expressed, and therefore ideal for “beginners.” At the same time, he expands those arguments in ways that aren’t always obvious, and the clarity of his language and thought makes his arguments seem simple and inevitable. So, for example, Sowell discusses that some ethnic groups place heavy emphasis on education, and therefore their children have better educational outcomes. This is not controversial to anyone but true ideologues. But Sowell points out something fairly obvious that I had never considered, nor seen anyone else consider—that it’s not just the quantity, but the quality. The same groups that educate more quantitatively also educate qualitatively differently, with the goal of providing real value to the student (and therefore to society). They choose hard, real subjects—engineering rather than social work; medicine rather than Latino Studies; computer science rather than Gender & Sexuality. The result is they gain more, both absolutely and relatively (and they contribute more to society).
Sowell is, of course, an economist by profession, and this book’s basic point is an economic one—namely, as Sowell quotes Henry Hazlitt: “The real problem of poverty is not a problem of ‘distribution’ but of production. The poor are poor not because something is withheld from them but because, for whatever reason, they are not producing enough.” This seems entirely obvious—that if you produce inadequate amounts of output valuable to others, you may be happy, but you will be poor, and you will deserve to be poor. Yet this truth is everywhere denied or ignored. Sowell drags it back to center focus.
Ultimately, productivity is the only possible concrete measure of human achievement and progress, and it explains why there are “haves” and “have-nots.” This does not imply a perfect linear relationship—as Sowell frequently notes, sometimes people get more because they steal, not because they produce, and this can result in inequality. But that cannot explain more than a fraction of unequal outcomes, and cannot explain outcomes far removed in time from the theft (as Sowell notes, the Spanish stole an awful lot from people in South America, yet quickly reverted to being towards the bottom in prosperity). So the key question for Sowell is, why are some more people more productive than others?
Sowell begins with observing what we all know—that there is a huge range of human achievement, both for societies and for individuals. Sowell evaluates possible drivers for these differences in achievement, dividing them into geographical, cultural, social and political. As far as geography, the simplest analysis, Sowell points out that geography is not egalitarian, but it is not deterministic, either. His basic belief, for which he argues cogently, is that isolation from other human communities is the most deleterious effect of “bad” geography—it’s from interaction with others that people “gain the knowledge to turn natural resources into wealth.” Other problems, from poor soil to poor transport, to (less obviously) lack of seasons resulting in a lack of urgency about time, also contribute. None of this is startlingly new (see Fukuyama or Jared Diamond) but it’s valuable to reiterate the objective, largely unalterable character of this source of inequality. Sowell emphasizes, however, that geography is merely the starting point—many societies and individuals have managed to be highly productive even beginning from a bad geographic position.
Sowell then addresses culture. He points out the success of some frequently transplanted cultures (Germans, Chinese, Lebanese) and the ability of some cultures to successfully change to adapt new ideas (Japan), and the fact that some cultures have failed by rejecting change and regressing (Japan again, but earlier; China in the 1400s). He is unfailingly polite, though he points out that, for example, Arab culture today “lacks cultural receptivity,” as shown by that every year Spain translates more books into Spanish than the entire Arab world has translated into Arabic in the past thousand years. And since cultural receptivity and flexibility is, for Sowell, the touchstone of the ability to flourish in productivity (it is the opposite of cultural isolation), that spells bad things for the Arabs. Other cultures, such as the old American South, come in for similar criticism, and are knocked for laziness and lack of productivity.
Related to the benefit of cultural flexibility is one manifestation of the reverse: the frequent hostility of majorities to productive minorities, which Sowell points out is (rationally) encouraged by majority political leaders for their own benefit. This is where Sowell again addresses education, pointing out that while some cultures value education, and this can be valuable, not all education increases human capital—“some education develops little or no human capital when it produces few, if any, marketable skills—and some education even produces negative human capital, in the form of attitudes, expectations and aversions that negatively impact the economy.” Sowell hammers this point repeatedly: “People who have acquired academic degrees, without acquiring many economically meaningful skills, not only face personal disappointment and disaffection with society, but also have often become negative factors in the economy and even sources of danger, especially when they lash out at economically successful minorities and ethnically polarize the whole society they live in..... In many places and times, soft-subject students and intellectuals have inflamed hostility, and sometimes violence, against many other successful groups.”
Sowell’s next topic is social factors. By this he means characteristics of a group as a whole, as opposed to individual behaviors that create culture. Here is where social (and geographic) mobility becomes important, and Piketty comes into play. Sowell in this section particularly shows his knack for digging deeper than most writers. For example, crucially, he points out that even when mobility is possible, movement may or may not occur. Therefore, measuring mobility by actual movement is inadequate, since cultural or other barriers may result in people choosing not to move up the social scale. And here Sowell again drives home a point that he has hammered many times before—measuring income inequality by pretending there are two groups, “the rich” and “the poor,” by percentiles, is stupid, because the composition of those groups changes continuously, and many actual people who are “poor” at one point in their lives are “rich” later. Where actual movement occurs, this is even more true, and therefore a key indicator of social factor success is both theoretical mobility and actual movement, where a high percentage of the population spends part of its lifetime in the upper brackets of income. (Sowell also here rejects the idea that overpopulation causes poverty, reasoning along the same lines as Angus Deaton did, at greater length and with more moral outrage, in “The Great Escape.”)
This section is where Sowell addresses a topic about which he frequently speaks—the argument that black people’s modern collective (but not individual) inability to compete on standardized test scores and educational attainment shows lower IQ. He does not reject that possibility (as I say, he is all about thinking, not rejecting arguments for ideological reasons), but he points out that prior to the modern post-1960s deterioration of black culture, black students scored much higher test and IQ scores than today (and other students from deficient cultures, like whites from Appalachia, scored lower IQ scores than black students). One prime example is Stuyvesant High School in New York, where entry is purely meritocratic—in 1979, black students were 12.9%; now they are 1.2%. Sowell points out “None of the usual explanations of racial disparities—genetics, racism, poverty or a ‘legacy of slavery’—can explain this retrogression over time.” He attributes it to “ghetto culture, essentially an offshoot of the dysfunctional redneck culture of the South.” (He also explicitly rejects slavery and later discrimination as an explanation for black failures; it’d be interesting to see Sowell feed Ta-Nehisi Coates into his intellectual meat grinder.) This ghetto culture is not confined to black people, of course—there are white subcultures (e.g., Appalachia) with similar bad culture and bad scores, and not just here in the US—Sowell discusses the similar vices and failings of the modern British white lower classes as well. And, as I noted above, in this second edition he expands a variation on this argument to other cultures and peoples, noting, for example, how “backward” Chinese consistently rocket to the top as immigrants in many societies, when they are placed in new cultures.
As part of this, Sowell rejects the currently fashionable attempt to ascribe success to (poorly-defined) “privilege.” Sowell believes in personal responsibility, which may be made harder or easier by the culture one comes from, but that does not excuse failure or prevent achievement. “Slippery use of the word ‘privilege’ is part of a vogue of calling achievements ‘privileges’—a vogue which extends far beyond educational issues, spreading a toxic confusion in many other aspects of life.” So much for “white privilege,” surely one of the stupidest neologisms of the decade, the use of which merely serves to show the ignorance and mendacity of anyone who uses the phrase without laughing hysterically.
Sowell then addresses political factors. Here, he essentially distinguishes between good and bad political choices, though he repeats his point that political choices that are good for individual politicians are often bad for the societies they lead. (Missing from this edition appears to be one of my favorite lines from the first edition: “Few words have been repeated so often or so insistently as ‘diversity,” without a speck of evidence being offered or asked for to substantiate its claims of economic or social benefits. And the evidence to the contrary is huge.” Sowell then pointed out that if diversity is so great, India should be a paradise and Japan a hell, when the reverse is true.) But Sowell’s (related) main point is that political polarization is a huge barrier to national success, as he shows with examples ranging from the Ottoman Empire to modern Malaysia.
Sowell attacks the “welfare state vision,” the idea that people who lack success are merely victims of bad luck and will thrive if given handouts or legal changes in their favor such as increased minimum wages, as an example of unreasoned political polarization. He points out the stupidity of attributing lack of morality to those opposed to the welfare state vision, and that American poor are nearly all not poor by any historical standards (e.g., “Americans living below the official poverty level today have more housing space per person than the average European—not poor Europeans, but the average European.” Of course, “This is not to say that Americans living in official poverty have no problems. They have serious and often catastrophic social problems, but these are seldom the result of material deprivation—and are far more often the result of social degeneration, much of it representing social retrogressions during the era of the rising welfare state and the pervasive, non-judgmental social vision that led to the welfare state.” And Sowell repeatedly points out that identity group politics don’t correlate with improvements for that group, but rather for benefits for grievance leaders. So, in the US, Latinos agitate and stagnate; Vietnamese work and get ahead.
Sowell’s book is in part an analysis of the Great Divergence (why some human societies have reached escape velocity from the poverty that has universally characterized human society until the Industrial Revolution—and others haven’t). Unlike recent authors like Greg Clark and Nicholas Wade, who basically think that the humans in more successful societies have genetically evolved superior traits, Sowell is skeptical of the evolution explanation. It’s not that he rejects it out of hand—he’s open to the possibility that evidence could show, for example, that one group of humans consistently has a higher IQ, though as mentioned above he largely rejects it for black people in America. And, in fact, |
the implications were never properly examined in the Swedish press.
Indeed, details of the reported raid by the defence administration (Försvarets materielverk - FMV) are few and far between.
"In front of several witnesses and with the protection of the military, FMV security came to Malmö and let themselves into the lab to take sensitive technological equipment," reported Sveriges Television (SVT) on Friday.
An FMV spokesperson described the incident as "a routine transportation of defence material"
"Because of the fact that it was a transfer of defence material, belonging to FMV, all information regarding the transfer is classified as secret," the spokesperson said.
Hult, who specializes in military technology at the defence college, assumed that the military was looking for drawings or design details, potentially about the Stirling engine.
He explained that some parts of Kockums' design belong to the Swedish military. Those designs were then rented to contractors, but with the ownership structure up in the air the military might have felt compelled to confiscate certain items.
"The kind of things they install into the web platforms. Encrypted," he explained. "This is pretty classified stuff."
FMV confirmed that the A26 submarine model is owned in full by the Swedish state.
Hult added that the actions of the FMV, which is tasked with delivering defence logistics to Sweden's Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten), were legally murky.
"I suppose if they say it refers to state interests then they'll be able to get away with it," he said.
"And with a neighbour to the east that we've never really trusted, we've developed our own submarines rather than buying them," he explained.
That changed when the Soviet Union imploded.
"There was less interest in the sea and in submarines. They allowed the Germans to buy a Swedish company," he said.
Current affairs, however, may have changed the game, as Swedish distrust of Moscow risks flaring up again.
"With what's happening in Ukraine, there is a renewed interest in submarines," Hult said.
That could have set the stage for the raid, and what was to come next - Swedish military technology makers Saab announcing a memorandum of understanding with Thyssen Krupp to take over the Kockums shipyards that the Germans have owned for 15 years.
Saab fits neatly into the picture because the Swedish government has long underscored the importance of having domestic shipbuilding programmes.
An FMV spokesperson said the agency took "a positive view" of news that Saab had signed an MOU, with the viability study set to be completed in June. Kockums employs around 900 staff in Sweden, and as part of the agreement, the Swedes have agreed to stop poaching staff from the Germans, a Saab spokesman said.
Hult explained that Saab was the only choice to take over.
"There is no one else. Saab has naval experience. They haven't made submarines but they have made sonar systems and torpedoes... a lot of things that are part of submarines. They were the only choice to take over."
Hult added that he was "surprised" the Germans were willing to negotiate with Saab, as a sale would turn Saab into a significant competitor to Thyssen Krupp's Kiel-based submarine production.
"And I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of phone calls between the Swedish and German governments about this," Hult told The Local. "Especially as it's such an important strategic affair."A huge fire has ravaged a Serbian Orthodox Church in downtown Manhattan, on the day that Orthodox Christians are celebrating the Holy Easter. It took some 170 firemen several hours to bring the four-alarm blaze under control.
While initial reports suggested that there might have been people trapped inside the burning building, fire department confirmed there were no injuries or casualties.
The city’s fire commissioner, Daniel Nigro, told the New York Post that the cause of fire remains under investigation. One man is being checked out for “smoke inhalation,” Nigro added.
“It’s a very sad day today,” Nigro said, adding that the night before some 700 people had gathered in the Church for an evening service to celebrate Orthodox Easter.
MAN 4-ALARM 15 W 25 ST, HOUSE OF WORSHIP FIRE IN CHURCH, UNDER CONTROL — FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) May 2, 2016
“We're all alive, but the building is gone,” the parish priest, Fr. Djokan Majstorovic, told RT.
It took firefighters hours to contain the blaze that started at around 7:00pm local time.
Manhattan *3 Alarm Fire* West 25 St & Broadway, Watch FOOTAGE @FDNY Battling MASSIVE FIRE #NYC 140+ Firefighters o/s pic.twitter.com/9DKU9FmvdZ — NYS Hock (@911fb) May 1, 2016
Additionally, the NYPD has reportedly requested a Level 1 Mobilization at the scene of the fire for crowd control.
Social Media footage from the scene of the accident on West 25th Street in Manhattan shows an inferno swallowing the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava, a historic church located at 15 West 25th Street between Broadway and the Avenue of the Americas in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
Huge fire at Serbian Orthodox Church on w 25th street in Manhattan - ppl crying, horrible fire pic.twitter.com/S5qTp2Eg9O — Mike Gallagher (@radiotalkermike) May 1, 2016
The Gothic Revival-style cathedral is an 1850 creation of architect Richard M. Upjohn. The parish was part of the Episcopal Church for several decades until 1915.
The Serbian Orthodox Church purchased the building, designated a New York City landmark, from the Episcopal Diocese in New York in 1943.
Fire in DT Manhattan. Apparently in a church w people trapped inside. Via @pzf photo @GGuiupic.twitter.com/g1kNComI2A — Garcia de la Granja (@PilarGGranja) May 1, 2016
READ MORE: Fire rages at Russia’s revered Valaam monastery (VIDEO)
Prior to the devastating fire the church, according to its Facebook page, had been holding vibrant and joyful Easter liturgical celebrations.
“It’s heartbreaking. My parents were the first couple married there in 1944 after it was reconsecrated as an Orthodox church,” Melana Pejakovich, who now lives in Nevada, told RT. Her father was a soldier in the US Army at the time, and the wartime wedding was put together with the help of friends sharing their rations.
Sad news - One of historical New York City edifices, St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox church engulfed in massive fire pic.twitter.com/YxOPZMMihY — Sava Janjic (@SavaJanjic) May 2, 2016
As of Monday morning, firefighters were still spraying the building with water.
"We don't have access to it at the moment. Investigation is in progress," the church announced on its Facebook page.(CNN) Hillary Clinton is planning to launch her presidential candidacy on Sunday through a video message on social media, a person close to her campaign-in-waiting tells CNN, followed immediately by traveling to early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire to start making her case to voters.
The trip to Iowa, where a third-place finish in 2008 ultimately led to the collapse of her presidential aspirations, illustrates what aides say is a commitment to not take anything for granted in her second bid for the White House, even though she dominates the likely Democratic field in 2016.
Clinton has already filmed her campaign video, a person close to the campaign said, which outlines the central themes of her second bid for the White House. The message is intended to send a signal to Democrats that she intends to aggressively fight for the party's presidential nomination.
A new epilogue of her book, "Hard Choices," an excerpt of which was released Friday to the Huffington Post, offers a glimpse into why she is embarking on another presidential campaign. She writes about her new granddaughter, Charlotte, and calls for equal opportunity for her generation.
"Becoming a grandmother has made me think deeply about the responsibility we all share as stewards of the world we inherit and will one day pass on," Clinton, 67, writes in the epilogue. "Rather than make me want to slow down, it has spurred me to speed up."
The decision will sweep aside more than a year of speculation about her political aspirations and allow her to start making her case to voters. Advisers say she knows that Democratic activists are not interested in a coronation and she intends to campaign as though she has a tough primary challenge.
Central to Clinton's second presidential run will be reintroducing the former first lady -- on her own terms -- to the American people. Democrats close to Clinton have started to call her the most unknown famous person in the world. Their argument is that people know of Clinton -- she has near 100% name recognition in most polls -- but they don't know her story.
Republicans wasted no time Friday going on the offensive, with a paid online ad, called " Stop Hillary," in six presidential battleground states.
"From the East Wing to the State Department, Hillary Clinton has left a trail of secrecy, scandal and failed liberal policies that no image consultant can erase," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in an emailed statement. Voters want to elect someone they can trust and Hillary's record proves that she cannot be trusted. We must 'Stop Hillary.'"
Clinton is expected to trade big rallies for a series of smaller events with voters, as she seeks to reintroduce herself to voters. Her supporters have urged Clinton to take the time to meet voters one-on-one and build their trust.
"The views about women candidates and how they should conduct themselves has really changed since 2008," said Bonnie Campbell, the co-chair of Clinton's 2008 campaign in Iowa. "First and foremost people vote for candidates that they like, people who connect with them emotionally. I think that helps with everybody but certainly it helps with women and the men who love them. It just makes her a more complete person."
Clinton's presidential campaign has long been a foregone conclusion, and speculation that she would take another shot at the White House has followed the former first lady since she left the State Department in early 2013.
For much of the last two years, Clinton has crisscrossed the country delivering paid speeches, selling her new memoir and stumping for Democrats during the 2014 midterm elections.
In the coming weeks and months, the Clinton campaign will look to hone in on that story, using themes such as Clinton's Midwestern upbringing, her mother's perseverance in the face of neglectful parents and Clinton's own time raising a daughter to cast the presidential hopeful in a more favorable, softer light than she was seen during her 2008 presidential run.
Campbell said she saw voters in Iowa light up when they connected with Clinton in coffee shops and in their homes, but those events were few and far between compared to large rallies and speeches. She said Clinton's empathetic side was not seen nearly enough during her 2008 campaign.
"Somehow, that did not come through in Iowa," Campbell said.
But her efforts to introduce herself come as Clinton is fighting fresh questions about her trust and honesty. The controversy about using a private email server while Secretary of State has already caused some political damage, her aides concede, which is one of the reasons she is jumping into the race to start campaigning on her own terms.
March found Clinton at the center of her own controversy over her exclusive use of private -- rather than official -- email during her time running the State Department. The controversy, again seized on by Republican critics, escalated, and Clinton took to a quickly organized press conference at the United Nations to respond to controversy.MEPs and the European Commission have urged the Spanish and Catalan authorities to break their political deadlock and avoid further escalation in the crisis over the push for the region's independence - but ruled out any direct mediation.
In an emergency debate organised in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday (4 October), three days after an illegal referendum was marked by police violence, politicians from all sides insisted that dialogue was the only solution.
"It's time to talk," said Commission's first vice president Frans Timmermans.
"It is clear that an agreed way forward is needed in Spain," he said, appealing to "the power of dialogue, of sitting down and talking to each other even if, and especially when, we passionately disagree."
"All lines of communication must stay open," he added, insisting that Madrid and Barcelona must "find a way out of the impasse, working within the constitutional order of Spain."
Timmermans, who opened the debate, laid out the delicate balance that the EU has been trying to reach in recent days: defending a member state faced with a risk of break up while signaling that Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy must show some restraint.
Commission condemned for Sunday silence
"We've all seen saddening images," he said, in an effort to alleviate criticism after the EU executive failed to clearly condemn violence by the Guardia Civil on Sunday.
"Violence doesn't solve anything in politics," he said. "It is never an answer, never a solution and it can never be used a weapon or an instrument."
But he added that "it is a duty to any government to uphold the rule of law and this sometimes requires proportionate use of force."
Timmermans, who is the commissioner in charge of rule of law and fundamental rights, recalled that the EU is based on democracy, respect for the rule of law and human rights.
"The three need each other, you cannot use one against the others, he said.
"There is a general consensus that the government of Catalonia has chosen to ignore the law when organising the referendum held last Sunday," he noted.
"If the law doesn't give you what you want, you can oppose the law, you can work to change the law, but you cannot ignore the law," he said in his most direct condemnation of the Catalan separatists.
Referring to the Catalan separatists movements that demonstrate regularly, the Dutch commissioner added that while "freedom of expression is a fundamental right for European citizens … one opinion is not more valuable than another because it is expressed more loudly."
The argument was hammered home by Manfred Weber, the leader of the centre-right EPP group, Rajoy's political family.
"It's not protest on the street but the process of democracy that will decide the future" of Spain, he said.
Weber insisted that an "irresponsible government in Catalonia in splitting the country" and that "what is at stake is the integrity of a member state".
Independence - but without euro, Schengen, single market?
He called on Catalan separatists not to "take irreversible steps" and warned that an independent Catalonia would leave the EU, the single market, the Schengen area and the eurozone.
"Is it really the Catalans' best interest?" he asked.
Weber, like Timmermans urged for dialogue and implicitly called on his fellow EPP member Rajoy to change his strategy.
"We appeal to everybody: please sit together," he said, adding that "dialogue has to be frank".
Weber's call on Rajoy echoed concerns within his EPP group.
"Everyone knows that we are in system where, if no one makes the first step, nothing will be solved," one MEP told EUobserver.
He said that his Spanish colleagues were "worried about the capacity of some members of the Spanish government to re-establish dialogue".
But signals from Madrid were still of a tough line, one day after Rajoy's position was confirmed by the king.
In a stern address to the country on Tuesday evening, Felipe VI said the separatists' "irresponsible conduct … could put at risk the economic and social stability of Catalonia and all of Spain"
"It is the responsibility of the legitimate state powers to ensure constitutional order," he added.
In Strasbourg on Wednesday, Spanish sources said that the government was prepared to launch different plans, depending on the Catalan separatists next steps.
Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which allows for a direct rule of the autonomous region by the central government, could be applied progressively.
But dialogue seemed excluded with the Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont as long as he would not come back to the constitutional legality.
Some in the Spanish government are now thinking that only new elections in Catalonia and the arrival of new leaders in the region would allow a dialogue between Madrid and Barcelona, according to the sources.
In the European Parliament, MEPs also called on Puigdemont to refrain from declaring Catalonia's independence.
"A unilateral declaration of independence can only lead to further conflicts, to further disasters. It cannot be otherwise," warned Gianni Pittella, the leader of the centre-left S&D group.
Citing the late French president Francois Mitterrand, he said that in Europe, 'nationalism is war.'
Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the liberal Alde group also appelaed to history.
"The spirit there [in Catalonia] has to be the understanding that the future of more than 70 European nations, the future of Catalonia, the future of my own Flemish community lies not in brutal separation, but lies in cooperation, cooperation inside federal structures in a federal Europe, he said.
"Look to your own Basque countrymen. Look what they have achieved. How they have developed their country. Defeating terrorism, and reinventing themselves, proud and autonomous."
Ska Keller, the co-chair of the Green group, who has been one of the first to call for the debate, said that "Rajoy has escalated the situation" when on Sunday "the riot police met people with brutality".
She said that "the Spanish government and the Catalan government have to take responsibility and find a common solution" and called for an EU mediation.
Commission as common broker?
"It is [the commission's] duty, as the guardian of the treaties, to get involved and offer help in solving the conflict," she argued. "The commission can be a common broker here.
The call was not addressed by commissioner Timmermans, who repeated the Commission line that the whole issue is a domestic issue.
While Catalan leaders have called for a EU mediation, the Spanish government totally opposes it.
For Madrid, it would unacceptable to have a external player who would put on the same level Spain, and a part of Spain that is acting illegally, according to Spanish sources.Title: Resonance
Author: Salamander/GreenGecko (AKA Marie Williams)
Rating: PG-13 for occasional violence and very roundabout romantic references.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, this universe, or anything beyond the veil. JK Rowling, some publishers, and some film companies own it. I'm not making anything from this except a hobby.
Author's Notes:
When I came across the quote below in JKR's Book 4 about the low likelihood of Snape adopting Harry, I first considered addressing this topic comically, but that seemed too easy, and short, frankly. This is a serious attempt at making this realistic. Even though it is serious, it is supposed to be fun. Hopefully, even if the plot seems impossible, you'll find the resulting situations entertaining enough to make up for it. It has been way too fun to write.
No challenges being answered here except the unintended one from the mistress herself.
This story does not take Book 6: The Half-Blood Prince into account since it was written between Jan 2004 and June 2005, post-Book 5.
Two sequels have been written: Revolution and Resonance.
Chapter 1 - Year Six, Easter
"Professors McGonagall and Moody kept them working until the very
last second of their classes too, and Snape, of course, would no sooner
let them play games in class than adopt Harry."
—Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
"Here you go, Harry," Hermione said as she handed back his Potions essay. "Just two things that could be fixed. I don't think boar's teeth is correct in the second part, nor honeydew correct in the last part."
Harry scowled at the parchment. "Thanks," he said and pulled out his textbooks. He really wanted to be done with it. The temptation to decide it didn't matter enough warred with the notion of giving Snape the pleasure of marking him wrong more times than he would get to if Harry fixed his essay. He sighed and flipped to the relevant chapter. Sixth year Potions was more interesting than previous years, but much harder.
"More tea?" Ron asked him.
Without looking up Harry held out his cup. "Thanks."
"You shoulda done like I did and not taken anything hard this year," he pointed out, not for the first time.
"Second term exams will be over soon enough and it will get a little easier then, for a little while." Hermione said this as she packed her books away. She stretched, sat back in her chair and stared at the fire while Ron and Harry finished up assignments.
- 888 -
"Hand your essays forward," Snape said as he strode into the dungeon classroom the next morning. He glared at the students as they obeyed in silence. "Today and the rest of the term we are going to cover lichen-based potions. These are unique because the lichen will assist us in synthesizing key ingredients of the potion. It is also time-consuming as lichen are sensitive to eutrophication. So the process is very difficult to speed up."
He paced once in front of the classroom. "Who can tell me the three main species used in potion making?" Hermione raised her hand along with one of the Ravenclaws. "Mr. Potter?" the teacher asked airily even though Harry's hands were firmly clenched together on the tabletop.
Harry cleared his throat to stall, delved into his memories of the readings, and said, "Usnea, Lungwort, and Parmeliacia.. aceae."
"Hm, close Mr. Potter, but not correct," the teacher sneered.
Harry rubbed his neck as Dean leaned over and whispered, "It would have been good enough for a Slytherin answer."
"Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Thomas, for speaking out of turn," Snape commented and waved his wand at the blackboard, making the day's potion instructions appear. He glared at Harry and Dean a long moment, daring them to complain. Harry put his head down and copied the potion into his notes with a frown.
"Hmf," Snape murmured, as though he believed their giving in was pathetic.
"Four more terms," Harry chanted under his breath. "Or maybe Voldemort will discover he's a spy before then."
"Harry!" Hermione whispered sharply, chastising him.
- 888 -
"You are coming to our place for Easter holiday, right Harry?" Ron asked him as they walked to the Gryffindor tower at the end of the day. "I'm really looking forward to getting a break."
"I don't think Dumbledore is going to let me," Harry said disgustedly, watching his worn trainers at the edge of his robes as he walked. "I think my choices are here or the Dursleys. That isn't a difficult choice, believe me."
"Do you want me to stay?" Ron suggested as they reached the staircases.
"You should go visit your mum and dad. I'm sure they want to see you," Harry said, plodding up a bit tiredly.
"They want to see you too," Ron pointed out.
"Tell them to convince Dumbledore it's safe then," Harry said with little hope.
"What if I stayed for two extra days and then went home? There is another train from Hogsmeade on Sunday."
"I'd like that, Ron. We spend all day together everyday, but it is just working, it seems." Harry said.
"I'll owl my folks and tell 'em," Ron said excitedly.
"I'd love to stay with you guys," Hermione interjected, "but my parents are expecting me for dinner on Sunday with my grandparents; I wouldn't make it home in time."
"I appreciate the thought, Hermione," Harry said. "But we'll be all right. We are just going to sit around and do nothing... and enjoy every minute of it."
"Every minute, wizard chess," Ron said deviously. "We haven't played all term."
"One game, maybe, Ron. My ego can't take more than that."
"Oh, your ego, Mr. Hero, would be just fine after losing ten in a row," Ron grouched.
- 888 -
Easter break at the castle started essentially as expected. "Shall we go out on the pitch and toss a Quaffle around?" Ron asked.
Harry sat back in the empty common room with his feet up on one of the low tables. "I wouldn't qualify that as 'nothing'."
Ron tugged on his arm. "Come on, you. You need some sun—you are almost as pale as I am."
Brooms in hand, they stepped out onto the lawn. Cloud shadows moved over the green grass which danced in the cool breeze. Down at the pitch they took the Quidditch locker off of the shelf and removed the Quaffle before stowing it again. As they kicked off, the cold wind bit Harry's hands, and he wished he had worn gloves.
"Pass it!" Harry shouted, flying out ahead. Ron obliged and soon they were dodging in and out of each other's flight path, passing the Quaffle back and forth.
"Bad pass!" Ron complained as he was forced to scoop the Quaffle off the lawn and kick off again. He passed it behind his back more accurately than Harry had done.
"Show off!" Harry shouted. He did a sloth roll and tossed it back.
"Look who's talking!" Ron laughed. He made an extra effort to catch that pass, then tossed the Quaffle up and hit it with the tail of his broom over to Harry.
"Not reg!" Harry chided him, ducking low and wide to fetch the Quaffle before it could plummet to the ground. "Let me try that." With a look of deep concentration, Harry tossed the Quaffle straight up and turned the broom one way, then fast the other. His just grazed it on the back swing, sending it into the trees. "Ugh, I'll get it," he said.
Ron laughed as Harry zipped away and landed just at the edge of the forest. He dropped his broom and stepped into the darkness. Ron flew a few loops and barrel rolls before heading over there. "Need help finding it? It could be up in the branches, it isn't very heavy," he shouted. He flew low over the tree tops and looked around at them. "Harry?" he asked a minute later, having received no response.
Immediately, Ron dropped to the ground beside Harry's broom. "Harry!" he shouted loudly. He started to charge into the trees before he realized that because of the bright day, he couldn't see in past the brush at all. "Harry!" Ron yelled again. "So help me, if you are funning me, I'm going to kill you."
A breeze rustling the leaves was all that answered him. Ron took up his broom, kicked off hard, and flew around the side of the castle to Hagrid's cabin.
"Hagrid!" Ron pounded on the door.
"Whacha wan'?" Hagrid asked, stepping around from the pumpkin patch beside the cabin.
"Harry went into the forest after the Quaffle and he isn't answering me," Ron said worriedly and felt a little silly for it.
"Wha' the hell'd he do tha' fer?" Hagrid said and opened the door. "Fang!"
"It wasn't far in, really, just past the first trees or so," Ron insisted as he jogged to keep up with Hagrid. "I'm going to kill him if he is joking around."
As they approached the edge of the forest, Ron said, "There, where his broom is." Ron felt relieved that at least it was still there.
They stepped into the forest at that spot, Fang leading the way. As their eyes adapted they began circling. "Harry!" Hagrid called out with his deep bellow. The boar hound snuffled around a few trees then dug in one spot before he began mewling piteously.
"What is it?" Ron asked, stepping closer to Hagrid.
"Fang?" Hagrid asked. The hound dug more fiercely and sniffed again before releasing another howl. "Didjer see anyone, Ron?"
"No," Ron answered despairingly. "Harry landed and went in. I flew around a couple of loops and came over to ask if he needed help in case it was stuck in the tree. He didn't answer."
"Fang?" Hagrid repeated. The hound stepped over with the quaffle in his great teeth. "This wha' yeh looking fer?" he asked Ron as he took it from Fang.
"Yes," Ron said, his voice breaking.
"Best ge' up ter the castle. Come on."
"Where is he?"
"Jus' as well you took your time coming ov'r, I think."
"Hagrid?" Ron insisted, pained.
"What happened?" Dumbledore asked sharply when Hagrid told him Harry had gone missing. Ron recounted the tale again as accurately as he could, even his stalling.
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't think..." He frowned miserably.
"Hagrid, take Mr. Weasley up to the Gryffindor Tower and meet me back here." More thoughtfully, he said, "I will need to send you to negotiate with the Centaurs, I think."
"No! I want to help!" Ron cried.
"I am afraid not this time, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said with finality.
Face scrunched up, Ron stomped after Hagrid.President Barack Obama will deliver a farewell address next week in his adopted hometown of Chicago, just 10 days before he hands over the Oval Office to President-elect Donald Trump.
Formally announcing the event in an email to supporters Monday, Obama said that the speech, inspired by George Washington’s farewell address in 1796, will both express gratitude and lay out a path forward, as Democrats attempt to recover from their electoral losses and mount an effective response to Trump’s presidency.
“I’m just beginning to write my remarks,” Obama wrote. “But I’m thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you’ve changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here.”
The speech, likely his final public address as president, is scheduled for next Tuesday, Jan. 10, at McCormick Place, the city’s main convention center and the site of his 2012 re-election victory rally.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Obama waves to reporters at his end-of-year press conference in December. Next week, he will deliver what will likely be his final speech as president.
The tradition of a farewell address dates back to Washington, who “set the precedent for a peaceful, democratic transfer of power,” Obama wrote.
President George W. Bush gave his own farewell address five days before leaving office in 2009, celebrating “America’s character” and giving his “best wishes to President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls.”
On Sunday, Obama posted a series of tweets celebrating his administration’s achievements, much of which will be jeopardized under the incoming Trump administration.
As we look ahead to the future, I wanted to take a moment to look back on the remarkable progress that you made possible these past 8 years. — President Obama (@POTUS) January 1, 2017
Democrats are already preparing for a battle over the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans have repeatedly pledged to repeal. On Wednesday, Obama plans to meet with Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to discuss strategy.
But next week’s speech will likely strike an optimistic and cordial tone. Obama has been fiercely committed to ensuring a peaceful transition of power, even as Trump has violated norms and set alarming precedents during the transition period. When asked about his concerns about Trump, Obama has mostly demurred.Silicon Valley has long been home to the world’s largest technology companies responsible for many game-changing innovations like the microprocessor and the microcomputer. It has an impressive record when it comes to economic measurements like research and development investment, hiring, and revenue.
However, an Automation Alley report predicts that Southeast Michigan technology companies will outperform Silicon Valley in these key areas in 2016. For background, Automation Alley is a regional technology business association based in Troy, Michigan. It was founded in 1999 and has nearly 1,000 members in the businesses, education and government sectors inside eight counties that include and surround Detroit.
The report surveyed top senior technology executives in Southeast Michigan and Silicon Valley and revealed some very interesting – and promising – results.
Of the executives surveyed, 99 percent of those in Southeast Michigan predicted revenue growth in their companies. Furthermore, 83 percent of Michigan executives believe technology companies can have a greater return on investment doing business in Metro Detroit.
Only 69 percent of Silicon Valley execs believe the same about the Valley.
Not surprisingly, the cost of living factored into the report. Employees in Southeast Michigan enjoy a lower cost of living than those in Silicon Valley. The median housing price in San Jose is a whopping 412 percent higher than in Metro Detroit.
Other key findings of the 2016 report revealed that Southeast Michigan executives were more positive in their outlook on growth, career advancement, and overall business environment than those in Silicon Valley.
Eighty-three percent of Southeast Michigan execs expect an increase in their company’s R&D spending, and 82 percent plan to hire more talent in 2016.
As far as career advancement goes, Southeast Michigan is the place to be. Eighty-one percent of executives believe that the region offers more networking opportunities than other metro areas. Only 77 percent of Silicon Valley execs believed the same about their region.
Southeast Michigan executives also paid homage to the area’s colleges and universities. An impressive 85 percent think the region has leading academic institutions for self-advancement, compared to 68 percent in Silicon Valley.
With figures like those, it’s not surprising that Metro Detroit and the Southeast Michigan region has recently become a hub for startups and technology businesses. It doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.
2016 promises to be a year of growth for the tech companies that call Southeast Michigan home. While the Detroit region likely won’t unseat Silicon Valley in the hearts and minds of people as the place to be in the technology world just yet, it will likely give the Valley a good show.The bar chain Kung Fu Saloon has been under intense scrutiny for the past few years now—for racist business practices, for violent employees, and for the number of DWI arrests that involve people leaving their locations. And at least one of them has resulted in a settlement involving the U.S. Justice Department. As the Dallas Morning News reports:
According to a document filed today in Dallas federal court, the Uptown location — as well as the ones in Houston and Austin — “have engaged in policies and practices that deny African American and Asian individuals, on account of their race, color, or national origin, the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of Kung Fu Saloons.” The complaint, filed by U.S. attorneys in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, was filed today as part of a settlement with Kung Fu Saloon owners, who have agreed to “implement changes to policies and practices in order to prevent such discrimination,” according to a release out of D.C. The complaint says Kung Fu Saloon employees in Dallas, Austin and Houston have been discriminating against customers since 2011. Most infamously, DeAndré Upshaw said he was refused entry to the Routh Street location because he’s black; the bouncer insisted it was because of his Converse All-Stars. The Justice Department didn’t buy it. “Moments earlier, his white friend was permitted entry even though he wore the same brand of athletic shoes,” according to the complaint. “When the African American patron informed the Defendants’ employee that his white friend was permitted entry even though he was wearing the same brand of shoes, the employee replied that it was up to Kung Fu ‘who can come in and who can’t.’”
It’s not actually up to employees of a bar to determine if black customers are allowed in and white customers are not—indeed, that battle was well-fought through the sixties—and the Justice Department’s responsibilities include determining when businesses are engaging in such discrimination.
The pattern of discrimination at Kung Fu extends beyond the incident with Upshaw—an Austin man named Stephen Robinson reported an identical incident at the chain’s Austin location in 2013, and visitors in Houston have long made similar allegations. Which perhaps makes the DOJ’s findings unsurprising. And the impact at the bar can be found immediately: the dress code, which previously existed on a “we’ll know it when we see it” basis, has now been made explicit and clear, and changes to the policy—as well as employee training and policy enforcement—have to go through the Justice Department, going forward.
We’ll see if this is the end of the troubles for Kung Fu Saloon. But regardless, it’s a clear indication that complaints of racism hurled in the club’s direction were on-base.
(image via Flickr)Close-up of an LCD, showing a dead green subpixel as a black rectangle.
Defective pixels are pixels on a liquid crystal display (LCD) that are not performing as expected. The ISO standard ISO 13406-2 distinguishes between three different types of defective pixels,[1][2] while hardware companies tend to have further distinguishing types.[3]
A photograph taken with a damaged image sensor
Similar defects can also occur in a charge-coupled device (CCD) or CMOS image sensor in digital cameras. In these devices, defective pixels fail to sense light levels correctly, whereas defective pixels in LCDs fail to reproduce light levels correctly.
Variations [ edit ]
Dark dot defects [ edit ]
A dark dot defect is usually caused by a transistor in the transparent electrode layer that is stuck "on" for TN panels or "off" for MVA/PVA and IPS panels. In that state, the transistor places the liquid crystal material in such a way that no light ever passes through to the RGB layer of the display.
Bright dot defects [ edit ]
Hundreds of hot pixels appear in a 32-minute long exposure photograph taken in virtual darkness. Note: Must be viewed at full size.
A bright dot defect[3] is a group of three sub-pixels (one pixel) all of whose transistors are "off" for TN panels or stuck "on" for MVA/PVA panels. This allows all light to pass through to the RGB layer, creating a bright white pixel that is always on. This is commonly known as a "hot pixel".
Partial sub-pixel defects [ edit ]
A partial sub-pixel defect[3] is a manufacturing defect in which the RGB film layer was not cut properly |
launching you into a campaign that leads to Miskatonic University, the notorious Clover Club, and beyond.
The Search Begins
Five new investigators arrive to offer their services, and you can arm them with fifty-nine new player cards (including a complete playset of each). Pursue new deck-building strategies and new styles of play. You’ll need all the help you can get as you play the expansion’s two scenarios and encounter all manner of new terrors—from backroom thugs and bad luck to arcane hexes and wholly unnatural abominations.
Can you find the missing professors? What terrible truths will you uncover? The Dunwich Legacy is now available at retailers throughout the U.S. Availability in other regions may vary. Head to your local retailer to pick up your copy today!I have to share this video from You Tube I was sent by email as reason #756 for Summorum Pontificum.
This is:
Easter Vigil Liturgy of St Patrick Catholic Church, Seattle, [NB] 2010. The seven readings from the old testament are presented in Word, Sign, Music and Dance. Here, the third reading from from the book of Exodus is sung and danced.
She gets the tambourine at about 1:00 and then the view pulls back so that you can see the whole thing, the combo with the bongos on the right, the person doing sign language on the left, the girl in the middle jumping around.
No wonder men don’t go to church.
That said, I saw this story at Catholic World Report:
The Case for a Mass Conversion of Men
Research shows that almost 9 out of 10 Catholic men don’t participate in a Catholic activity outside of attending Mass; if men aren’t being reached in the Mass, they aren’t being reached. Despite the fact the New Evangelization has been an ongoing emphasis by the Catholic Church for over forty years, it has failed to stem the disastrous losses of the faithful in the U.S. Since 2000, 14 million Catholics have left the faith, parish religious education participation of children has dropped by 24%, Catholic school attendance has dropped by 19%, baptisms of infants has dropped by 28%, baptism of adults has dropped by 31% and sacramental Catholic marriages have dropped by 41%. Something is desperately wrong with the Church’s approach to the New Evangelization. Of Mass and Men One reason the New Evangelization is faltering is because it is missing men. The New Emangelization Project has documented the serious Catholic “man-crisis” in the United States. 1 in 3 baptized Catholic men have left the faith and of those who remain, 50-60% of them are “Casual Catholics”, men who don’t know and don’t practice the faith. Of those who practice the faith, many are lukewarm, not converted to the point of conviction, a conviction in which they are prepared to make disciples for Christ and His Catholic Church. The New Evangelization has largely ignored men, with no substantial or sustained efforts to directly confront the Catholic “man-crisis”. The Catholic “man-crisis” matters. The souls of men matter and many are being lost; for example, two thirds of Christian men are looking at porn at least monthly and the numbers are much higher for younger men. The faith of the children matter and huge numbers of young people are leaving the faith because they have followed their fathers out of the Church. Without a New Emangelization in which millions of Catholic men become newly committed to Christ and His Church, there can be no New Evangelization. While a complex set of forces have driven the Catholic “man-crisis”, including both massive cultural changes outside the Church and serious missteps within the Church, the lack of engagement of men in the Mass is a major contributing factor: men don’t understand the Mass and well-meaning, but misinformed priests in many parishes have de-sacralized the Mass causing many men to simply “drift away.” Why is the Mass a key driver of the Catholic “man-crisis”? Research shows that almost 9 out of 10 Catholic men don’t participate in a Catholic activity outside of attending Mass; if men aren’t being reached in the Mass, they aren’t being reached. Only about 1/3 of Catholic men are attending Mass on a weekly basis. Only 1 in 50 Catholic men have a monthly practice of Confession, underscoring the fact that many are attending Mass without a proper preparation to receive the Eucharist. 48% of Catholic men are “bored” in the Mass and 55% of Catholic men don’t feel they “get anything out of the Mass.” These statistics confirm what dozens of the New Emangelization Project interviews with top Catholic men’s evangelists know: men don’t understand the Mass. No man can truly understand the Mass and be bored. […]
Read the rest there.About 85,000 websites ended up on the Russian Internet blacklist over the past year, 98 percent of them blocked without a valid reason, a new study said.
MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) – About 85,000 websites ended up on the Russian Internet blacklist over the past year, 98 percent of them blocked without a valid reason, a new study said.
Since November 2012, Russian state agencies have been able to block without a court order websites they deem to be promoting suicide or illegal drugs, or disseminating child porn.
The blacklisting is often done by a website’s numerical IP address, which is routinely shared by dozens of sites, all of which end up on the blacklist if one of them is banned.
The government blocked 741 IP addresses over the past year, according to a study by Rublacklist.net independent online watchdog.
Another 1,392 were blacklisted by their unique domain names, said the study, released Tuesday. Such bans are more precise, but are technically harder to implement.
© Sputnik / Filtering & Blocking Internet Resources: A Global Perspective
More than 83,000 websites were collateral damage of bans by IP address, said Rublacklist.net, which tracks Internet blacklisting in Russia.
State telecom watchdog Roskomnadzor said last week that about 600 websites had been blacklisted by IP and another 3,400 by domain name.
The governmental agency did not comment on reports about innocent sites being blocked. Such sites are generally located outside Russia and do not target Russian audiences.Credit card fraud has gone down in the six months since Visa and Mastercard made retailers and banks liable for fraudulent transactions if they haven’t implemented chip credit cards, but chips alone aren’t enough to secure Americans’ transactions, White House and consumer group representatives said Tuesday.
“The chip alone is not enough for security,” Camille Fischer of the White House Economic Council said during a panel on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Panelists from numerous consumer groups agreed the industry is headed in the right direction with the widening adoption of credit and debit card chips, which generate a unique, single-use numeric code to send alongside an account number to the issuer for verification during a transaction.
But to achieve true credit card security in the U.S. market — home to half the world’s credit card fraud despite only accounting for about a quarter of all transactions — banks need to implement a PIN number system with each card in place of a simple signature, according to Debra Berlyn, president of Consumer Policy Solutions, a consumer interest firm.
Berlyn, who organized Tuesday’s panel, said signatures — which serve as a second form of authentications — are “widely ignored” by retailers and “easily forged” by fraudsters.
Instead, Berlyn and others said credit card issuers should enable a PIN system for credit cards similar to the one frequently used for debit transactions, establishing a truly digital form of the multi-factor authentication widely endorsed by the cybersecurity community.
In the wake of major retail credit card theft in recent years like those against Target and Home Depot, Mastercard and Visa gave retailers and banks until last October to upgrade their payment terminals before putting into effect the “liability shift,” which stipulates in the event of fraud the entity with the older payment technology — the retailer or the bank — will be liable for the fraudulent charge.
“So if a merchant is still using the old system, they can still run a transaction with a swipe and a signature. But they will be liable for any fraudulent transactions if the customer has a chip card,” Mastercard’s Carolyn Balfany told the Wall Street Journal about the new Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) credit card standards in 2014. “And the same goes the other way – if the merchant has a new terminal, but the bank hasn’t issued a chip and PIN card to the customer, the bank would be liable.”
EMV cards have already made a dent in fraudulent transactions, falling more than 18 percent across five U.S. retailers among the 25 most-inundated with fraud between fourth-quarter 2014 and 2015, according to Visa.
“We’re seeing EMV is having a positive impact on counterfeit fraud,’’ Stephanie Ericksen, vice president of risk products at Visa told USA Today in April. “Merchants who implement chip, their counterfeit fraud is going down, while those still finalizing plans, their counterfeit fraud is going up.’’
Counterfeit transactions could be reduced even further, Berlyn argued, if banks would implement PINs — something they have little incentive to do, having already met the liability requirement with chip cards.
“They incorrectly believe that requiring a PIN for credit card transactions could burden consumers who may have difficulty remembering another passcode – a baseless argument that does not give Americans enough credit,” Berlyn wrote in a Hill op-ed Monday. “The microchip coupled with the individual PIN make tampering and counterfeiting the cards, along with using stolen financial data, nearly impossible.”
The PIN could be even more useful for the growing percentage of transactions occurring online.
“The technology is out there,” Berlyn said. “It is just not widely used.”
Berlyn said the move to chip-and-PIN, adopted in most major markets outside the U.S., would not only render stolen credit card numbers unusable, but reduce the incentive for hacking retail networks in the first place, since the account information gleaned would be useless.
“Despite the overwhelming body of evidence that demonstrates its effectiveness, the financial services industry has thus far been unwilling to deploy these security measures in the U.S.,” Berlyn said.
Some are already making the switch. Last week Discover CEO David Nelms said the credit card company will begin transitioning to chip-and-PIN.
“I think we may be missing an opportunity to go to the higher level of security with EMV, which is how chip cards are handled in the rest of the world and what merchants in other countries expect when they see a U.S.-issued EMV card,” Nelms said.
Follow Giuseppe on TwitterAt least 25 people were killed, including two members of parliament, and 40 injured in an attack by al-Shabab fighters on a luxury hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police sources say.
The Central Hotel in the heart of Mogadishu was hit by two car bomb explosions, followed by heavy gunfire after attackers stormed into the building, police officers said.
Al Jazeera has learned that the deputy mayor of Mogadishu, as well as two members of parliament were killed.
A government spokesman told Al Jazeera that contrary to earlier reports, the deputy prime minister was unhurt.
Analysis: Al-Shabab's deadly attack in Mogadishu
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the raid in a phone call to Al Jazeera.
The group claimed it had killed more than 20 senior government officials in attack.
"We have killed more than 20 senior officials working for the apostate government. They gathered thinking they were safe from the mujahideen," Abdiaziz abu Musab, al-Shabab military operations spokesman, told Al Jazeera.
"We hear gunshots inside. I am afraid the attackers have also gone inside the hotel," police captain Farah Abdullahi told the Reuters news agency.
Another police officer also said attackers had entered the building and that government ministers and MPs were inside the hotel when it was attacked.
January hotel attack
Friday's assault was the second on a hotel in Mogadishu in less than a month. On January 22, three Somali nationals were killed when a suicide car bomber blew himself up at the gate of a hotel housing the advance party of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who visited the country days later.
A Somali intelligence official said that the Turkish delegation of around 70 members was staying at the hotel at the time of the attack but were unharmed.
This latest hotel assault by the rebel group comes a day before the Djiboutian president is expected to visit the Somali capital.
Despite major setbacks in 2014, al-Shabab continues to wage a deadly campaign against Somalia's government and remains a threat in Somalia and the East African region.
The group has carried out many attacks in Somalia and in neighbouring countries, including Kenya, whose armies are part of the African Union peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM.
Al-Shabab controlled much of Mogadishu during the years 2007 to 2011, but was pushed out of Somalia's capital and other major cities by the AU forces.Saudi warplanes attacked the al-Mazzrak refugee camp in Yemen’s Hajjah Province today, killing at least 45 civilians and wounding some 200 others, according to aid workers on the ground.
Saudi officials were quick to deny responsibility for the killings, and declared that the Houthis they are at war with inexplicably attacked the camp. This was in spite of Saudi officials bragging only yesterday they’d destroyed every warplane in Yemen.
Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups confirmed that the attack was indeed an airstrike, and there seems no serious doubt it was a Saudi strike, just the latest in an air campaign that is increasingly targeting civilians.
The Saudis began attacking Yemen last week, promising to reinstall Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi as ruler, after Hadi resigned in January and fled the country. Some 150,000 Saudi troops are massed at the border, though the timing of a ground invasion remains unclear.
Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz50 West is excited to welcome back Mormon Stories Podcast Live!
Each ticket includes admission to the event and our Signature Buffet Dinner.
This event is a 21+ Only Event with Full Bar service available.
Pork Tenderloin- smoked and sliced.
Smoked Turkey Breast – Slow smoked Sliced Turkey Breast.
Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes
House Salad
Warm Rolls
An Assortment of Mini Desserts
Schedule:
6:00PM: Mingle & Buffet Dinner
7:30PM: Mormon Stories Podcast Taping
The upcoming live audience event will feature WOCA.
About WOCA:
We are a Facebook secret group of women 40+ We have longer life experiences and unique challenges for women our age. We are Grandmothers, Mothers, Aunts, single, divorced, widowed or married. We are LGBT and transgender friendly and Feminists! Although we are older, many of us are just learning feminism having felt the pain of the patriarchy but not having a “language” to describe our experiences, by giving ourselves permission to flourish and grow with no limitations or constructs.John Fish spoke about the USOC selecting Boston as its applicant city to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
John Fish, head of the Boston 2024 Olympic campaign, said Friday he is recusing himself and his company, Suffolk Construction, from any Olympic-related building.
A number of sports venues and a temporary Olympic stadium would have to be built, if Boston is named Olympic host city. The US Olympic Committee on Thursday chose Boston as the US nominee in the worldwide competition for the 2024 Summer Games, picking Boston over competing bids from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
Fish’s company is one of the city’s most prominent building firms. Some critics have suggested that he may be pushing an Olympic bid to benefit his firm.
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“I think it’s extremely important now that I say publicly that I will recuse Suffolk Construction from getting involved in any Olympic construction,” Fish said, in a Globe interview. “I don’t want the appearance of a conflict.”
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Fish said he intended to continue working on the Olympic bid.
The International Olympic Committee will select the host of the 2024 Games in 2017.
Mark Arsenault can be reached at Mark.Arsenault@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @bostonglobemarkBasic Electricity
Adding electricity to your base is an advanced feature for late game and not something done easily and without plenty of resources. The basics of an electrical system are power, control and wiring. Power comes fromand/orunits. You can combine these in your base to increase the output and also have separate power supplies if you want to.Next, and most important after the power source, is the. This is the on/off switch for your power and regulates the power level. If you are using more power than you have available, this unit will shut down, or overload, which is simply letting you know to add more power, or remove the item you have placed. A gauge on the Control Panel gives you how much power you have on load when it is in operation. Also helpful is the green indicator lights on the wire points and units that are powered. If you find a wire or unit you think is connected to the system but it is showing red, while the control panel and other indicators are green, you have a break in your setup somewhere. Power control panels are able to be turned on or off by anyone and area not locked to your use only. So place them in a secure location.This is wherecomes into play. Connecting wires can be run on any size platform or floor as well as up/down walls. Connections on the ends of each of the 4 way (or 3 way in the case of triangle pieces) placements will join any wires on adjoining platforms or floors, and even go under walls and doors. Wire placement on walls will only appear on the ‘inside’ of a wall panel, and will connect any wire units placed above or below it, as well as joining other wall mounted wires.All electrical parts aside from wind turbines and vertical wall wiring, can be recovered if placed incorrectly by use of the pick or blowtorch. This means that they can also be damaged by raiders, and this includes wind turbines, which are generally located outside the base, in plain view and sight of any big guns or rocket launchers..Now you have your power supply, control panel and wiring ready, what can you add to your base that will use this power? Currently, there are 2 main uses, with more to be added in the future. Some turrets have power supply requirements that are optional and in the case of the Tier 1 turret, not yet implemented. Here are some quick guides to the parts of your base which do require electricity.are used to grow wheat from grain obtained from loot crates and also made from the collected wheat you grow, and once made into flour and combined with water (in the form or a water bottle) you have dough ready to be cooked and made into bread. If carefully managed, you have yourself, and your clan, an almost endless supply of bread, with enough to trade or hand out to new players (if you felt like being generous)are the next item that requires electricity to run. You only need to power the bottom level unit in an elevator shaft as all floor and spacer units above this base unit will draw power from it. You made need additional power if you wish to go higher, so keep an eye on your control panel to make sure you have enough power at hand. Elevators are an advanced, end game project that requires planning and plenty of resources. The 2 parts required, after supplying electricity, are the access levels and the spacer levels. Placement requires pillars on the front/opening side, and a platform or floor to place the base level on. Stacking the access and spacer levels on top of this base unit is fairly simple but requires no collisions with floors or walls around them on placement and pillars on the front side for support and of course a floor in order to walk out onto if you wish to use the elevator. Be aware, the elevator controls (which allow you to either go up or down one stop, or all the way up or down) are not locked to your access only. Anyone with access to the elevator can use it. Turning the power off at the control panel will lock the elevator down at the bottom level, with doors open, so put your control panel in a secure location, otherwise you will be getting many unwanted visitors to your penthouse.Pattern recognition and classification in medical image analysis has been of interest to scientists for many years. Machine learning techniques have enabled researchers to develop and utilize complicated models to classify or predict various abnormalities or diseases. Recently, the successful applications of state-of-the-art deep learning architectures have rapidly expanded in medical imaging. Cutting-edge deep learning tools such as NVIDIA DIGITS along with deep learning frameworks like Caffe, Torch or Theano help researchers concentrate on problem solving and model development rather than coding. We have had success using deep learning and NVIDIA DIGITS for Alzheimer’s Disease prediction.
Research groups around the world have put a lot of effort into classifying and predicting Alzheimer’s disease from brain imaging data. Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Symptoms usually develop slowly and worsen over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks. Statistics show that Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. The US spends almost $236 billion per year to care for around 5 million people suffering from this brain disorder.
A variety of imaging modalities are used in both clinics and research to produce AD data, including structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as well as functional imaging modalities such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and functional MRI monitoring the functionality of the brain.
In this practical experience, we designed and implemented an end-to-end deep learning pipeline that includes several steps from preprocessing to prediction. We used NVIDIA DIGITS to train a Convolutional Neural Network model for Alzheimer’s Disease prediction from resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data.
Deep Learning Pipeline for Alzheimer’s Disease Prediction
We designed the end-to-end pipeline shown in Figure 2 based on three major components. In the first layer, the rs-fMRI raw data (DICOM) is converted to a standard imaging format (NIfTI). The primary goal of NIfTI is to provide coordinated and targeted service, training, and research to speed the development and enhance the utility of informatics tools related to neuroimaging. The National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke are joint sponsors of the NIfTI initiative. The next step preprocesses the rs-fMRI data (explained later) and converts it into a format readable by our deep learning platform: NVIDIA Caffe DIGITS. Finally, we trained, validated and tested a 2-layer convolutional neural network model from the standard LeNet-5 architecture using DIGITS. For further analysis, we passed the test dataset through the “classify many” option provided by DIGITS to obtain a class score per sample.
Data Acquisition and Preprocessing
In this work, we selected 28 Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and 15 normal control (NC) subjects (24 female and 19 male) with a mean age of years from the ADNI1* dataset. The AD subjects’ Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were reported to be over 20 by ADNI, and normal participants were healthy, with no reported history of medical or neurological conditions. Scanning was performed on a Trio 3 Tesla, which included structural and functional scans. First, anatomical scans were performed with a 3D MP-RAGE sequence (TR=2s, TE=2.63 ms, FOV=25.6 cm, 256 x 256 matrix, 160 slices of 1mm thickness). Next, functional scans were obtained with an EPI sequence (150 volumes, TR=2 s, TE=30 ms, flip angle=70, FOV=20 cm, 64 x 64 matrix, 30 axial slices of 5mm thickness, no gap). We pre-processed the fMRI data using the standard modules from the FMRIB Software Library v5.0. Preprocessing steps for the anatomical data involved the removal of non-brain tissue from T1 structural images using the Brain Extraction Tool. Preprocessing steps for the functional data included motion correction, skull stripping, and spatial smoothing (Gaussian kernel of 5-mm FWHM). We removed low-level noise using high-pass temporal filtering (= 90.0 sec), aligned functional images to individual high-resolution T1-weighted scans, and subsequently registered the scans to the Montreal Neurological Institute standard space (MNI152) using affine linear registration and resampled them at 2mm cubic voxels. The end results of the preprocessing step were 45x54x45x300 images, from which we removed the first 10 slices of each image, as they contained no functional information.
Data Conversion and Augmentation
We decomposed the preprocessed 4D fMRI data in NIfTI format across the z and t axes and then converted them to a stack of 2D images in lossless PNG format using the neuroimaging packages Nibabel and Python OpenCV. Next, we labeled the images for binary classification of Alzheimer’s vs. normal data. This conversion approach resulted in a fair number of samples. We removed the last 10 brain slices of each scan during the data conversion as brain imaging researchers showed that no functional information is often encoded in those brain slices (Table 1).
Table 1: The number of subjects and samples created for training the CNN are shown in the table below. Subjects Slices Volumes Total 43 35* 300 451500
Training Testing Validation 60% 20% 20% 270900 90300 90300
Experience with NVIDIA Caffe DIGITS
After completing the data augmentation, we used the samples to create Lightning Memory-Mapped Database Manager (lmdb) storage databases for high-throughput to be fed into a deep learning framework. DIGITS provides two options to users to convert the samples: either store the samples in different folders corresponding to the class labels or create custom text files listing the label for each sample. For simplicity, we used the first option provided by DIGITS by storing the samples into two folders AD and NC, for Alzheimer’s and Normal, respectively. DIGITS automatically created the training and testing lmdb datasets. Next, we selected the standard LeNet-5 model and initiated the training process. We used an Amazon AWS server image with NVIDIA GPUs, Caffe, and DIGITS already installed.
Figure 5 shows the process of creating a new imaging dataset. In our case, we created Grayscale 32×32 images in lossless PNG format and divided the data into training, validation and testing samples (60%, 20% and 20%, respectively). DIGITS shows the distribution of labels in the datasets using histograms, as Figure 4 shows. Once the datasets were created, we selected the LeNet model and then clicked “Customize” to visualize the topology of the network (Figure 6). The visualization option helped us better understand the implementation of the CNN model at a high-level. In general, the visualization helps neural network architecture designers aiming to develop and test a new model.
Figure 6: This figure illustrates the process of selecting a dataset and the LeNet neural network model (Left image). At right, the topology of the network is visualized.The beauty of using DIGITS as a training platform is the real-time monitoring of the network performance, which allowed us to carefully control the entire training process, visually analyze each epoch’s performance, and spot issues in the data and the training process. DIGITS also shows the Estimated Time of Completion (ETS), which helps predict when long training runs will complete. Figure 7 shows the DIGITS visualization of the network’s performance with a plot of the loss for the training and validation datasets and the accuracy achieved on the validation dataset over training epochs. Also, the graph in Figure 8 shows how the learning rate decreases over time. Users who have a deeper background in machine learning might be interested to see the effect of learning rate on the training process for further network analysis.
In this work, we were interested in obtaining the class scores per testing sample for further analysis. There are multiple methods for this, such as using the Caffe command-line API or the PyCaffe API. DIGITS provides a GUI-based option called “Classify Many” where you can upload a text file list of testing sample paths (you can use the test.txt file generated by DIGITS) and obtain the class scores for every sample in the list. You can also limit the number of samples from your text file that are tested. Figure 9 shows how to select the text file and the number of testing samples (in this case, we selected 10 samples). We saved the output as an HTML file and then converted it into an Excel format readable by any programming language such as Python and MATLAB which allowed us to perform more data mining and to generate ROC curves to investigate the performance of binary classification.
We also used the DIGITS “Classify One Image” option (Figure 10). Although the class scores can be obtained for all samples using the ‘Classify Many’ option, the visualization of certain preliminary or intermediary results for a given simple can be interesting and informative, as Figure 11 shows. This option creates a variety of results and visualizations that can be used in reports and publications, including the scaled input image, filters and feature weights, and pooling and softmax layer outputs. Additionally, you can use the DIGITS interface to download and save the Caffe model and then write a script to extract the filters and other network parameters.
ROC Curve
To validate the performance of the binary classification performed with the pipeline, we drew the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. Basically, ROC curves are plots of the true positive rate (or sensitivity) against the false positive rate (1-specificity) for the different possible thresholds of a classification test. We extracted the class scores for each sample using “Classify Many” as discussed previously and then calculated the true and false positive rates for 10 thresholds from zero to one with a step of 0.1 (0:1:0.01) as shown in the following equations. Figure 9 shows the ROC curve for validating the performance of the binary classification.
Results
We repeated the entire dataset generation and classification process five times for 5-fold cross validation, achieving an average accuracy rate of 96.85%. The end-to-end pipeline shows high reproducibility and consistency. We presented this deep learning experiment using DIGITS as “Deep Learning-based Pipeline to Recognize Alzheimer′s Disease using fMRI Data” in the Co-sponsored IEEE Future Technology Conference FTC2016 in San Francisco December 6 and 7th 2016, and won the best paper award. You can access our paper on IEEE Xplore.
Future Work
The upcoming project called “DeepAD” has begun by looking at both structural MRI and functional MRI data utilizing many more samples and various CNN models for classification. In addition to slice-level classification similar to the previous work, the project has performed subject-level classification followed by decision making. In addition, the project has investigated the effect of imbalanced data on CNN classification results. Figure 10 shows some preliminary results. We successfully showed how big data samples that were preprocessed carefully could achieve around 100% accuracy. Additionally, we developed decision making as a post-classifier on top of DIGITS results to purify the subject-level classification results.
Get Started with DIGITS Today!
DIGITS makes it easy to manage the design and training of deep neural networks. It also helps you create and manage training and validation data sets. You can download DIGITS today for free.
Learn about the powerful image segmentation features in DIGITS 5 in this in-depth post by Greg Heinrich. Learn about object detection with DIGITS in this post on DetectNet and this one on SpaceNet.
Acknowledgment
I would to thank Drs. Danielle D. DeSouza, John Anderson and Ghassem Tofighi and also Ms. Kristin Uchiyama for extending their help and support to make these projects and this tutorial happen.
*Data used in preparation of this article were obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database (adni.loni.usc.edu). As such, the investigators within the ADNI contributed to the design and implementation of ADNI and/or provided data but did not participate in analysis or writing of this report. Here is a complete listing of ADNI investigators.Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Perry is in the middle of her Witness world tour, which hits the UK next year
Katy Perry and the Catholic Church have been awarded almost $10m (£7.5m) in damages after the star's plans to buy a former LA convent ended up in court.
Perry agreed to purchase the hilltop property for $14.5m (£10.8m) in 2015.
But two of the nuns who used to live there objected, and instead sold it to restaurateur Dana Hollister without the approval of the archdiocese.
Last month, a jury found Hollister intentionally interfered with Perry's planned purchase.
The businesswoman made her purchase of the eight acre property with the co-operation of Sisters Rita Callanan and Catherine Rose Holzman, who maintained they had the authority to sell.
In contrast to Perry's multi-million dollar purchase, Hollister paid just $44,000 (£32,000), with an agreement to pay a further $9.9 million (£7.4 million) after three years.
Image copyright Rex Features Image caption The property has a sweeping view of California's San Gabriel Mountains.
The sisters said they were uncomfortable about handing over the former convent to Perry who, despite coming from a church background, is known for provocative songs like I Kissed A Girl and California Gurls.
They refused to change their minds even after Perry visited to plea her case - showing the nuns "a Jesus tattoo on her wrist" and performing a rendition of the gospel hymn Oh, Happy Day.
"I found her videos," Sister Rita Callanan told the Los Angeles Times. "I wasn't happy with any of it."
However, the church and Perry's lawyers contended that the sisters did not have the right to sell the property, which they vacated in 2011.
They did not obtain the required legal blessings of Archbishop Jose Gomez and the Vatican - which must approve the sale of any property for more than $7.5 million (£5.6 million) - they argued in court.
A Superior Court judge ruled in the church's favour earlier this year, and a jury decided in November that Hollister should have been aware her purchase was invalid.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption James Cook reports: "Katy Perry thought she had bought the property for $15m"
The businesswoman acted with malice in persisting with her claim to the property, which she planned to turn into a boutique hotel, the court found.
She was ordered to pay the archdiocese $3.47 million (£2.59 million) and Perry's company, Bird Nest LLC, $1.57 million (£1.17 million) in legal fees.
On Monday, Hollister was also ordered to pay $10 million (£7.47 million) in punitive damages. Two-thirds of the sum will go to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles and one-third will go to Perry.
Hollister's lawyer, Michael Geibelson, said his client's assets were worth about $4 million, meaning she will not be able to pay either fee in full.
Perry now hopes to be able to complete her purchase of the convent, which includes an agreement to "provide an alternative property for a house of prayer" worth $4.5 million (£3.4 million), according to the archdiocese.
"Katy is extremely pleased with the jury's insight and understanding," Perry's lawyer told Billboard in a statement.
Hollister's lawyer has indicated she intends to appeal the ruling.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.How to War at the Highest Level
The Bases:
Never, ever use a base you found online. Between our 20-35 guys and the guys from our feeder, we've seen them all. We probably have 3'd them all too. If we can just search "The General" on the forums and see where all your traps are, you need to change your base. If you can't invent your own base and really want to use a forum base, be sure to change up the traps and walls a bit. You'll still get 3'd but there will be a little uncertainty. Make sure every single person has a unique base. Don't be like our current opponent and have 5 identical bases. If we can 3 star one, it makes it easy for everyone else to copy the attack on the others. Never use any variation of the Baconmaker or General bases. Just don't. You'll be giving us 3 easy stars. Don't be symmetrical. Symmetrical bases look nice, but usually break the rules in this list, and are just easier to attack IMO. Focus on defending the 3. 1 and 2 star attacks are no big deal. The 3 stars are what will win or lose the war. At the TH9 level there are two main attacks we use: hogs or lava loon. When building your custom base, think about what we do in those attacks and how to defend against them. Here are some basic custom building tips that apply for both TH8 and TH9:
-Make your clan castle difficult to lure. It shouldn't take 2-3 hogs to lure your cc.
-Centralize your AQ - we usually try to kill her after or during the lure, so the deeper she is, the harder time we will have.
-Have 4+ double giant bomb spots, and make them difficult to trip. Also, don't have them in the same place on opposite sides of your base. Make us guess a little. Also, make sure the kill squad can't trip them on the way to killing your queen.
-Single giant bombs = easy hog 3 star. Don't do it.
-Double up your black air mines on the two Air Defenses you think will be standing the longest, usually the opposite side of your AQ. These do massive damage to lava hounds if they're doubled.
-Scatter red air bombs around the base, keeping them away from your Air Defenses so lava hounds don't trip them. You want them to clean up the pups after the hound has popped.
-Use high HP storages as extra "walls" around your Air Defenses. These will slow down the kill squad we send in to take down 1-2 Air Def |
, Feb. 6, 2013, during a press conference in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett / jbennett@al.com)
HOOVER, Alabama -- Auburn's first three games of the season will kick off in primetime, the Southeastern Conference announced today.
The Tigers open the season Aug. 31 against Washington State on ESPNU. The kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn will face off against his former team, Arkansas State, on Sept. 7 in a game set to kick off at 6:30 p.m. on FSN. The SEC opener against Mississippi State will kick off a 6 p.m., but a network has not yet been announced. The game will broadcast on one of three ESPN networks: ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Auburn TV schedule
Aug. 31: Washington State at Auburn, 6 p.m., ESPNU
Sept. 7: Arkansas State at Auburn, 6:30 p.m., FSN
Sept. 14: Mississippi State at Auburn, ESPN or ESPN2 or ESPNU, 6 p.m.Eden Miller presented the Spring/Summer 2014 collection for her clothing line Cabiria last week. This small designer wouldn't necessarily be the subject of much talk, except that her line was the first to show at New York Fashion Week that featured clothing exclusively for plus-sized women.
When the news was announced, Miller wrote on her site, "This is such a huge milestone for legitimizing plus fashion, and incredibly exciting for me personally." But before she showed, some were skeptical the line would make much of a difference, like The Cut's Kurt Stoller, who told the Atlantic Wire that "Truthfully the fashion schedule is so busy...I think it's really hard for a small brand to break through at something like New York Fashion Week."
"It's better to get people's attention in the off-season. It's really hard for any brand to break through the noise that is New York Fashion Week," Stoller added. That's fair; Miller's name is nowhere on the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week website because her collection was part of a larger show by Fashion Law Institute fashion show that featured multiple designers. Professor and founder of the Institute Susan Scafidi told the New York Daily News that, "When I first met Eden, she was wearing one of her dresses. My first thought was not, 'nice plus line', but 'nice collection — I wish she made it in my size.'"
Miller might have an advantage over her fellow designers, in that she's gotten tons of press for the historical nature of her collection. And she's aware of the pressure. "I need to do this right,'' she told Al Jazeera. "I want to be one of the designers at Fashion Week so that I can open the door for other designers who are valid choices to be there.''
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Like previous seasons, Spring/Summer 2014 Cabiria was all dresses, with heavy patterns and bold colors and Miller featured women of color, which, you know, is always nice to see. If you dig it, past collections are available online.Millennials have named Canada the best country in the world in a new ranking that aims to reveal how countries are perceived by 18-35-year-olds around the world.
According to the report prepared jointly by U.S. News & World Report, BAV Consulting and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, millennials expressed the highest regard for Canada, which topped the category of best country overall, followed by Germany and the U.K.
Australia topped the category of best country for living, while Brazil was named the best country for dating and China the best country for starting a career.
"Millennials will play a significant role in shaping national economies worldwide for decades to come," said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News in a statement.
"Capturing their perceptions is valuable in helping to determine the current and future possibilities of economic, political and cultural success in nations."
For the report, analysts culled through a survey of 16,200 respondents, looking specifically at the responses of millennials. The rankings evaluate 60 countries across 24 rankings.
Here are the results:
Best Countries Overall
Canada Germany United Kingdom Japan United States
To Live
Australia Canada Italy New Zealand Sweden
For Dating
Brazil Italy Spain Australia New Zealand
To Start a CareerNatalie Portman won Best Actress for her role in “Black Swan” at the Golden Globe awards.
The veg actress accepted the honor in leather-free shoes designed by vegetarian Stella McCartney and a necklace and earrings by Tiffany & Co., a jewelry company interested in sourcing conflict-free diamonds.
Conflict diamonds, or blood diamonds, are usually obtained in Africa in places where the money from the stones are used to fund rebellious activities against government, such as financing weapons. The result is many innocent people are murdered and child labor violations as well, as children are often recruited to work in the rebellious armies.
In a 2007 survey of jewel retailers by Global Witness and Amnesty International, Tiffany & Co. was one of the 3 companies out of 37 that were credited for using some of the most comprehensive policies to combat the sourcing of blood diamonds, which include using both international and third-party auditing procedures.
More on the use of Tiffany’s efforts to keep conflict diamonds out of its supply can be found here.
Possibly Related Posts:Warner Bros. kicks off their big DC Comics cinematic universe this weekend, as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice soars into theaters amid great hype, great speculation, and a whole lot of secrecy. Featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and several other superheroes in varying degrees of cameos, the film turns out to be a Batman movie (rather than a 50-50 split, it turns out the screen time and point of view favor him probably more like 60-40, if not a bit more) with a plot revolving entirely around Superman and the implications of meta-humans being revealed on Earth. Sporting a budget (filming, post, P&A, and more) north of $400 million, the movie hopes to score billion-dollar business and get the DCU up and running in quick, successful fashion.
Let's get the box office out of the way, before I head into my full review. Most pundits and tracking points to a domestic opening of at least $150 million for Batman v Superman. I've said consistently that I believe it will open somewhere between $160-180 million. Having seen the movie and watched audience reactions, I think it's more likely to hit closer to the high end of those estimates. Worldwide, I anticipate $380-400 million in box office on the first weekend, as a general prediction. Specifically, I think it will come in around $400 million, and could go higher depending on how strong the first day is.
This film will have good weekday attendance and legs, as more schools go on spring break and with no significant competition for two weekends (and a total of 21 days). The Jungle Book will be the first new challenger for similar key demographics, and no doubt that film will be a blockbuster. But there's room for Disney's live-action film to do big box office while Batman v Superman still continues to enjoy good holds and strong business. Beyond The Jungle Book, however, Warner's superhero battle royale has pretty smooth sailing until May.
What this means, then, is a likely multiplier of at least 2.5x on the weak end, and 3+x on the higher end. If it opens to $380 million around the world and has a 2.5x multiplier, then we're talking about a low-end $950 million global cume, give or take. If it opens to $380 million and has a 3x multiplier, then the worldwide total would rise to $1.14 billion. If the opening is $400 million and it winds up with a low 2.5x multiplier, the film gets to $1 billion. But a $400 million opening and a 3x multiplier results in a global total of $1.2 billion. Of course, any opening north of $400+ million paired with a multiplier higher than 3x is the ideal result for Warner, as that ensures the film will climb closer toward the $1.5 billion magic number set by Avengers back in 2012.
There is inevitably going to be talk of anything under $1 billion being a disappointment, or anything short of $1.5 billion being a failure on some level. But that's unrealistic in the extreme, and reflects more of media and fan perceptions than operating business realities. That said, it's true that WB is hoping for a $1+ billion performance, and would love to see it outperform the Christopher Nolan Batman films. The value of a post-Nolan new Batman combined with post-Man of Steel reactions should be enough to get the film to the $1 billion range and beyond it.
Of course, much will depend on word of mouth, and this is crucially where Batman v Superman has an advantage. Audiences want Batman to be "dark," violent, and "mature" in themes. When The Dark Knight came out, there was a great deal of talk about the film being inappropriate for kids -- particularly the under-10 children. Yes, plenty of teenagers and 10-12 year olds love the film, but The Dark Knight was simply not a family movie and certainly not in the same thematic and tonal range of the other mainstream superhero fare at the time. Yet that film and its sequel -- the equally adult-themed, somber, violent The Dark Knight Rises -- both topped $1 billion. And they did it without 3D pricing and with smaller foreign screen counts.
I don't have any doubt at all that most mainstream audiences will perceive Batman v Superman as a Batman film first and foremost. Which is why the concerned comparisons to the seriousness and "darkness" of Man of Steel -- by way of suggesting the film will displease audiences who had mixed reactions to that film's tone -- are a mistake. Whatever complaints audiences might have had about Man of Steel's tone (and let's be clear, despite all the constant debate, the film had an "A" cinemascore, did good box office despite the baggage the franchise carried from the previous many years and false starts, and had great home entertainment sales and rentals, so overall the film was popular with mainstream audiences even if it wasn't as popular as certain other franchises), those complaints have to be understood in context.
What people want and expect in a Superman solo film is not the same as what they expect once Batman enters the picture. Yes, Superman's name is in the title, but it's not remotely that simple. Batman's name in the title, Batman's dominance of the marketing, people's awareness and interest in Batman shaping their perceptions and expectations, and Batman actually having such a dominant role in the film (which I'll get to shortly) will all factor into the overall mainstream public impression of the film. And that impression, I've no doubt, will be that this is a Batman movie in which Superman costars. Which means audiences will accept the somber, grimmer, more violent film in a different way than Man of Steel.
Meanwhile, compared to The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Man of Steel, there is more action in Batman v Superman -- big, blockbuster superhero action. The combined effect of a Batman movie that meets expectations for tone and violence, plus a superhero team-up film with major brands like Superman and Wonder Woman, is a recipe for mainstream success. A big opening plus strong word of mouth from audiences, and the lack of real competition for a few weeks, will carry Batman v Superman to box office results that ensure this new DCU is here to stay.
Now, the moment you've been waiting for -- read on for my full review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice!
If you've ever read my writing about Batman and/or about superhero films, then you know I love the character and I consider Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy the best Batman and best superhero films of all time. I've said for years that it's hard for me to imagine another Batman getting so close to my personal preferences about how to tell Batman stories, and that it would surely be a long time until any new Batman could possibly challenge my preference for Nolan's incarnation.
It's not at all an insult or disservice to the classic, fantastic Dark Knight trilogy, however, for me to say the unthinkable has now happened: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the best Batman yet. While I'm not prepared to say this latest movie has surpassed Batman Begins or The Dark Knight overall as a film, it is a remarkable achievement that firmly establishes the larger cinematic world of DC Comics with great performances, jaw-dropping action sequences on a massive scale, and a compelling narrative about heroes seeing their sense of purpose challenged and being forced to reassess their roles in the world.
We all know that The Dark Knight Rises was a huge success and a great film. That said, it's also true that a lot of critics and viewers felt it didn't quite match or top The Dark Knight, which of course isn't a fair standard for success but nevertheless is surely the reality of how a lot of people felt. Batman v Superman is, in many ways, the follow-up to The Dark Knight that many viewers and fans wanted or hoped for, so to speak. This new Batman is in fact very similar to the Batman from Nolan's movies, despite the obvious physical differences. In theory, if The Dark Knight Rises weren't made and Warner went straight from The Dark Knight in 2008 to Man of Steel in 2013, then Batman v Superman could easily be the sequel movie that ties those two franchises together.
I'm not arguing that Warner should've done that, mind you -- I don't think that at all. But I think that's how many mainstream viewers will perceive the situation, and I think that's one of many reasons audiences will love this film and make it an enormous box office smash.
The heart of the film is the parallel track of Superman's and Batman's narrative arcs. Each of them is facing a crisis of faith and conscience, which in turn clouds their perception of one another.
Superman sees people calling him a threat, a menace, and questioning his every intervention, while Batman's actions are almost applauded and his interventions are often welcomed by the police. He is frustrated by the contradiction between public reactions to him helping poor and underprivileged citizens in parts of the world that are often ignored, while Batman gets a free pass for vigilante actions mostly in poorer neighborhoods that are forgotten and ignored. Finally, Superman comes to realize even his best intentions have unexpected consequences, and how being a symbol of hope and goodness is difficult in a world used to being skeptical of hope and goodness.
So in Superman's eyes, Batman has become a symbol of all of the criticisms of Superman, his fear of what he himself could be, and his anger at a world so devoid of hope. He is starting to feel less connected to our world on Earth and perhaps more wistful about Krypton (where the "S" was truly a symbol of hope). And the more Superman thinks about his own role defending those who most need help and mercy, the more Batman's increasingly violent, cruel behavior seems like an exact counter-example to Superman's own symbolism -- and so the more Superman feels obliged to confront Batman.
Batman meanwhile has become disillusioned about his ability to truly affect change, as Gotham has continued to wither on the vine. Now he sees this superhuman who makes him feel even more ineffective, confirming his worst fears of powerlessness and misdirected energies. His vigilante actions become more violent and dangerous, he becomes driven by the anger not only over the damage and loss he blames on Superman directly, but also all of the damage and loss in his own life and his own world because he lacked the power Superman has. Batman is haunted by the memory of his parents' death precisely because it was the start of his feeling of helplessness and ineffectiveness, in a lifelong personal war that's seen too many friends and allies and "good people" die or turn away from good.
Superman represents to Batman all of his own personal failures, and is a literal manifestation of the ultimate threat to human life that Batman cannot stop. So stop it he must. The "it" part of that sentence is important, because Batman doesn't see Superman as a person at all. Superman is an alien, a symbol of failure, a thing. Batman never allows himself to think of Superman as a man with a family, with vulnerabilities, with a sense of purpose and motives and hopes.
Two heroes doubting their roles in the world, angry at feeling they cannot change things no matter how much good they try to do, and seeing the other as a dark mirror of themselves and as manifestations of their own fears. Their arcs slowly converge and are driven to collide by Lex Luthor's secret machinations. That they would clash becomes inevitable. That this clash could redefine their impressions of themselves and their roles in the world, is what makes it legendary.
They can only overcome their conflict if they can manage to see themselves as the other has seen them, and to understand a path away from that misunderstanding of the other and of themselves. It's wonderful complimentary and contrasting characterization building to high drama and a powerful emotional moment that will catch even most comic book fans completely off-guard. It brings us one of the finest, most heartbreaking insights into Batman and his motivations -- about any particular mission, battle, or his own life -- as I've seen in a Batman film. I will avoid spoilers, but the clarity of his emotional journey from personal doubt to misdirected anger to dehumanizing war to suddenly seeing himself and what he's doing clearly for the first time, and how this journey takes him (and us) toward the Justice League, is exceptional.
Superman likewise has two different but connected moments of self-evaluation that help him gain insight into why some in the world view the aftermath of his actions with such anger. He comes to terms with the fact part of being a hero is to understand there are indeed unintended consequences he must try to mitigate, but also that sometimes saving people and doing what you think is right requires accepting some unintended consequences and the anger that might rightly go with them. More to the point, he realizes the need to redirect the unintended consequences toward himself and allow humanity the room to protect itself and even to engage in contradictory feelings toward a godlike being they both depend on and also blame for not making everything perfect. So it is with religion, and so it is for Superman.
Ben Affleck is pitch perfect as Bruce Wayne and Batman. The costume is obviously amazing, but so too is the portrayal. Make no mistake, this is very much an adaptation of Frank Miller's iconic comic book The Dark Knight Returns, with a lot more from that story than the trailers make clear. Never have we seen Batman fight like this, or plan like this. Again, it actually pains me to speak about something supplanting the Dark Knight trilogy Batman as a definitive live-action take on the character, but that's how I think everyone will react once they've seen Batman v Superman.
Henry Cavill is even better as Superman this time around, and once again proves himself the definitive successor to Christopher Reeve's beloved portrayal. There is a terrific moment when tragedy strikes and he realizes it a split second too late, and the pain and self-blame apparent on his face as he grimaces in silent contemplation amid the horrific scene is spot-on. Likewise, his sorrow over not just society's continued distrust of him, but also over his own increasing loss of trust in humanity and his ability to be what everyone needs him to be, is heartbreaking to watch unfold. Cavill has the ability to bring deep humanity to Superman in one moment, and then lift him up to mythological status as posed iconography the next moment.
Wonder Woman is thrilling perfection. Gal Gadot delivers a performance that makes her instantly the best female superhero on the big screen so far. Her role is small in the first portions of the film, mostly as a sort of undercover spy (in disguise as Diana Prince ) whom Bruce Wayne/Batman underestimates, but she is vital to the climactic battle and what comes after. Wonder Woman has her own private mission, but winds up pulled into battle despite her attempts to keep her existence and superhero identity a secret. It's just a hint of what's in store when next year's Wonder Woman solo movie hits theaters, but should go a long way toward getting audiences hyped for that picture.
Lex Luthor is different from anything you've seen of the character before in live action. He is a mix of the wild mad scientist, the egomaniacal young businessman, and just one small player in a much larger scheme unfolding across the entire DC cinematic universe now. His manic behavior, his brain that sometimes works faster than his mouth or memory can keep up with, his smug and condescending nature, and his obsessive hatred of Superman infuse his every word and movement. "What good is a God who ignores my pain or who wasn't there for me, but who protects others?" he seems to think, only hinting at it when pushed hard enough on the matter. He also feels suddenly powerless and inadequate in the face of Superman, similar to what Bruce Wayne/Batman feels. There is also the simple reactionary distrust and hatred of an alien whom many blame for destruction and threats to human safety (and human sense of privilege and specialness in the universe). And of course, Luthor has some other actions and motives that only become clear much later, but that's a secret...
The rest of the supporting cast help ground the film and balance out the fantastical elements driving the story. So much of this works precisely because the ordinary world and human fears are so much clearer and given far more time to sit and develop. That the themes are all about the battle between gods and mortals, as mortals seek not only to bring the gods down to "our level," but -- and this is really the secret truth of it all -- to lift themselves up from mortal status and become godlike by striking down the gods. We spend so much more time with mortals, and considering their various perspectives about the gods, that it gives the fantastic and impossible moments all the more grandeur and sense of wonder.
I'm a huge fan of Zack Snyder's Watchmen, and long considered it his best film. Batman v Superman has now taken that crown, however. Instead of typical 1-2-3 predictable storytelling and shot-framing, Snyder time and again chooses more personal approaches, framing action sequences in terms of perspectives -- sometimes the experience of those on the ground as events unfold, other times the experience of the combatants. He plays a lot with depth of field, often subverting the typical approach of directing our eye's attention. This is also the film where Snyder gets the best performances from his cast, and connects the story's dots by juxtaposing the two dominant character arcs and allowing them to power toward one another while dragging along anyone else who gets too close.
Batman v Superman has big, bold, breathtaking action in a story propelled by character conflicts on a mythic scale. The result is visually stunning, with powerful emotional storytelling and awe-inspiring action spectacle.
Box office figures and tallies based on data via Box Office Mojo, Rentrak, and TheNumbers.
Follow me on Twitter, on Google+, and on Quora. Read my blog. Listen to my new Popular Opinion Podcast (POP) with Sean Gerber.The Houston Rockets have been one of the best teams in the NBA so far this season. However, their short rotation will catch up to them soon.
The Houston Rockets have been one of the hottest (and best) teams in the NBA. Having reeled off a 14-game winning streak before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night, Houston currently sits at 25-5 and atop the Western Conference.
However, despite the team’s great play, there are several underlying concerns — most notably, the heavy minutes load some of the team’s most important players are dealing with as a result of a short rotation and injuries.
Coming into the season, it was expected that the Rockets would use a nine-man rotation, with an ideal starting lineup of Chris Paul, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Ryan Anderson and Clint Capela supported by a bench unit of Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker, Luc Mbah a Moute and Nene (with Tarik Black filling Nene’s role when he was resting).
An early injury to Paul caused him to miss 14 games, which put a lot of pressure (and minutes) on the backs of Gordon and Harden, with Bobby Brown or Demetrius Jackson attempting (and mostly failing) to provide spot minutes in the backcourt.
In October, Gordon averaged 34 minutes per game, which is well above the 30.3 and 31 minutes per game he has averaged in November and December, respectively. Meanwhile, Harden averaged 36.3 minutes per game in the first month of the season, which has slowly been cut down to around 35 per game in the two months since.
In the past three games, Gordon has played 36, 36 and 30 minutes. For Harden, those numbers jump up to 43, 38 and 39 minutes.
It’s not only the guards that are suffering though. Trevor Ariza has played at least 41 minutes in the past four games, and is averaging 37.3 minutes per game in December. For a veteran in his 13th season, those minute totals are going to make their mark later in the season.
Now, to be fair to Mike D’Antoni, he is dealing with a top-heavy roster. Once the team loses 1-2 players due to injury, they’re simply short on quality NBA players. You can’t rely on players such as Zhou Qi and Bobby Brown to provide quality minutes. Troy Williams has flashed some “3-and-D” potential in the past, but even he’s been out with an injury in recent weeks.
With Luc Mbah a Moute out for at least another week or two and Chris Paul suffering a left leg injury in the loss to the Lakers, it looks like the Rockets will again turn to their key rotational players to pick up the minutes. Look for Harden, Gordon and Ariza to play significantly more than usual over the rest of the month, and then look for them to be extremely fatigued in March and April like in recent seasons.
The Rockets need to realize that they will only be judged by what happens in the playoffs. Games against sub-.500 teams in December don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Therefore, there is no reason why any of their key players should be playing over 40 minutes in multiple games during a given week, especially for a team that relies on several players age 29 and older.
The best-case scenario for Houston is that it gets healthy by the new year and picks up another bench piece to lessen the load down the stretch of the regular season. If the Rockets continue to struggle with injuries and can’t improve the end of the bench players, they are looking at another postseason run full of exhaustion and disappointment.Microsoft is working on an official SharePoint app for Windows 10 devices, including Windows 10 Mobile and PC. SharePoint is an intranet portal for businesses and organisations, it assists in the storage and distribution of files and documents, as well as a centralised place for communication and information flow throughout a business.
The new app currently in preview for Windows 10 devices has appeared in the Windows Store (via WalkingCat), however, it doesn’t appear to be installable just yet. It does provide insight into what to expect, though.
The app will arrive with several features that will include:
Multiple accounts
Multiple sites
Recent and popular files
View promoted links
Find colleagues
Enterprise searching
Windows 10 Mobile is definitely heading towards the enterprise market, with the release of the HP Elite x3, along with Microsoft pushing its enterprise apps on to the platform. Microsoft’s core market is enterprise and that’s where its efforts are focused.
There’s no information on when the app will be available for people to preview.
SharePoint Developer: Microsoft Corporation Price: Free
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Further reading: MicrosoftThe comparisons between the two wideouts were inevitable.
Both starred at Oklahoma State. Both were considered among the best receivers in college football. And both decided to forgo their final season in school to apply to enter the NFL draft.
Playoff and Super Bowl XLVI picks Seven NFL.com and NFL Network analysts share
their predictions for the postseason and who will hoist the Lombardi Trophy. More...
Seven NFL.com and NFL Network analysts sharetheir predictions for the postseason and who will hoist the
So is Justin Blackmon, whom NFL.com's Bucky Brooks has rated as the top wideout in college football, Dez Bryant 2.0? In an interview with KIRO-AM, Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon said he sees similarities between Blackmon, who announced his intention to apply for entry into the draft last month, and the Cowboys wideout.
"He's a beast, isn't he?" Moon said this week, via The Dallas Morning News. "He's like Dez Bryant with all of his brain cells. He's a guy that has all those skills that Dez Bryant has, but he's not the knucklehead that Dez Bryant has turned out to be with Dallas. And a much better route runner than Dez Bryant is, but a very tremendous talent."
Bryant has 15 touchdown receptions in two NFL seasons, but he battled injuries en route to just 45 catches for 561 yards with six scores this season. Bryant also has been involved in multiple lawsuits in which he was accused of not paying for jewelry he had ordered and for failing to repay the full amount of a loan.
"I think certainly Dez is everything that we had hoped he would be as a player, and he knew and we knew that he had some off-the-field challenges that were not of substance nature, which is big-time important, but was more maturity," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said, via The Morning News. "He hasn't disappointed in terms of how we evaluate him, but he has certainly made improvement in those areas."Julian Critchley argues all drugs should be made legal Britain's policy of being tough on drugs is "pointless", says a former civil servant who once ran the Cabinet's anti-drugs unit. Julian Critchley now believes the best way to reduce the harm to society from drugs would be to legalise them. Mr Critchley, who worked with ex-Labour drug tsar Keith Hellawell, said many he had worked alongside felt the same. They publicly backed government policy but privately believed it was not doing any good, he said. War on drugs He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme in a media-driven age it was difficult to present a case on what was a complex issue. He said: "It's much easier to come out with soundbites about being tough on drugs and continuing to crack down on drug dealers when in actual fact we know that doesn't work." FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
More from Today programme Ten years ago, the Cabinet Office's Anti-Drug Co-ordination Unit was at the heart of the war on drugs in the UK, co-ordinating policy across all government departments. Mr Hellawell, the controversial former police chief who went on to accuse Labour ministers of "closing their eyes" to the drugs problem, was appointed in 1998 as the public face of the government's war on drugs. Mr Critchley worked behind the scenes as the unit's director. In a response to an entry about drugs on BBC home editor Mark Easton's blog, the former senior civil servant wrote that when he started work in the field he did not favour decriminalisation, but as time went on he changed his mind. "I joined the unit more or less agnostic on drugs policy, being personally opposed to drug use, but open-minded about the best way to deal with the problem. I was certainly not inclined to decriminalise," he said. But he soon came to the view that enforcement of the law was "largely pointless" and had "no significant, lasting impact on the availability, affordability or use of drugs", he said. Market'saturated' Mr Critchley went on to argue that wishing drug use away was "folly" and that there was "no doubt" there would be a fall in crime as a result of legalisation.
The idea that many people are holding back solely because of a law which they know is already unenforceable is simply ridiculous
Julian Critchley
Former senior civil servant "The argument always put forward against this is that there would be a commensurate increase in drug use as a result of legalisation," he said. "This, it seems to me, is a bogus point: tobacco is a legal drug, whose use is declining, and precisely because it is legal, its users are far more amenable to government control, education programmes and taxation than they would be were it illegal." Studies showed the market was already almost saturated with drugs, he said, and anyone who wished to purchase the drug of their choice could already do so. "The idea that many people are holding back solely because of a law which they know is already unenforceable is simply ridiculous," he said. He also said the "overwhelming majority of professionals" he met, including those from the police, the health service, government and voluntary sectors, held the same view. "Yet publicly, all those intelligent, knowledgeable people were forced to repeat the nonsensical mantra that the government would be 'tough on drugs', even though they all knew that the government's policy was actually causing harm."
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May 8, 2017, 2:02 AM GMT / Updated May 8, 2017, 11:26 AM GMT By Tim Stelloh
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law on Sunday that bans so-called sanctuary cities and threatens non-compliant law enforcement officers with fines, jail time and removal from office.
"Citizens expect law enforcement officers to enforce the law," Abbott said in a statement posted on Facebook Live. "Citizen deserve law breakers to face legal consequences."
Related: Conservative Cities See 'Sanctuary City' Term as Scarlet Letter
The law, which takes effect Sept. 1, compels officers to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and requires sheriffs to honor agency detainers, or requests to hold someone to determine whether deportation proceedings should begin.
The law is the first to be signed during the administration of President Donald Trump, who in a Jan. 25 executive order threatened to withhold funding from cities, towns and counties that don't comply with the agency's requests.
Protesters rally outside the Texas Department of Insurance building against a ban on so-called sanctuary cities May 1 in in Austin. Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman via AP
Police chiefs have criticized the order, saying officers depend on the cooperation of immigrants — legal and otherwise — to solve crime, while the American Civil Liberties Union has pointed to the Department of Homeland Security's conclusion that federal judges have "increasingly" agreed that detainers violate the constitution.
Related: Texas Lawmaker on a Hunger Strike to Protest Anti-Sanctuary City Bill
In his statement, Abbott recalled the killing of Kate Steinle, saying there are "deadly consequences" to not enforcing the law, and he called out Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, who has said she would comply with ICE requests only for serious violent crimes.
"Elected officials and law enforcement agencies, they don't get to pick and choose which laws they will obey," Abbott said.
Related: Seattle Files Lawsuit Over 'Sanctuary Cities' Funding Threat
Abbott also assured viewers that the measure's key provisions had already been tested and approved by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a statement Sunday, Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, said the organization planned to challenge the law "in the courts, at the ballot box and in the streets if we have to."
"This is an assault on humanity," Burke said. "It will not stand."(CNN) President Donald Trump's eldest son says he met with an individual he had been told "might have information helpful to the campaign" in June 2016.
Donald Trump Jr.'s statements come in response to The New York Times' reporting that he "was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign." The New York Times cited three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it.
The revelations underscore the fundamental issue for federal investigators as they probe Russia's interference in last year's election: Did the Trump campaign collude with Russians in an effort to hurt Clinton and win the White House?
Donald Trump Jr. said in a statement to CNN that the meeting was set up by an acquaintance he knew from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which was held in a suburb of Moscow. His statement said he was not given the person's name beforehand. CNN has confirmed the Russian lawyer he met with is Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Trump Jr. also said he invited Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort to attend the meeting, "but told them nothing of the substance."
"After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton," Trump Jr. said in the statement. "Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information."
Trump Jr. added that the lawyer then changed subjects and began discussing a separate issue: the adoption of Russian children and a US law known as the Magnitsky Act, which allows the US to withhold visas and freeze the assets of Russians thought to have violated human rights.
Veselnitskaya founded a group purporting to seek the removal of Moscow's ban on the adoption of Russian children by US citizens, which it put in place in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act; she has also sought to repeal that law.
Trump Jr. said that when Veselnitskaya began discussing these other issues, "It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting. I interrupted and advised her that my father was not an elected official, but rather a private citizen, and that her comments and concerns were better addressed if and when he held public office."
The meeting lasted about 20 to 30 minutes, he said, adding, "As it ended, my acquaintance apologized for taking up our time. That was the end of it and there was no further contact or follow-up of any kind. My father knew nothing of the meeting or these events."
The New York Times, which first reported the previously undisclosed meeting, says it occurred at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016 -- two weeks after Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination. It is the first known meeting of several of the senior-most members of Trump's team and a Russian national during the campaign.
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don’t have nothing. So now I’m sitting here, drinking beer, no complications. You know me.”
Despite the homeless encampment’s proximity to downtown and Chinatown, most locals, city officials and even homeless service providers seem largely unaware of its existence. The men say that Chicago firefighters sometimes stop by and tell them to extinguish their blazes, fueled with scraps of cardboard, Chinese newspapers and wood from trees in an adjacent undeveloped swath of prairie. Staff at the nearby park district field house used to let them use the facilities, until beer cans left in the showers sparked a ban on homeless men, several explained.
The men say that at least one of the agency owners has advised them to stay “under the bridge” while they are waiting for their next assignment. When sleeping outside, they store their battered roller bags or suitcases at the hiring offices and retrieve them before heading to a job.
But on freezing nights or when the outdoor lifestyle becomes too much, the men might pay $10 a night to sleep on the floor in squalid conditions in the hiring agency offices, as described in the attorney general’s complaint. Or they might splurge a bit more to share a room at the nearby Chinatown Hotel or at the Karavan Motel, about six miles west. Reviews on Yelp describe both as seedy and filthy; “the worst hotel in the world” and “the worst motel I ever been to”.
The men might also sleep at a nearby homeless shelter called Pacific Garden Mission. But they unanimously say the mission is a last resort because of the fights, bed bugs, racial tensions, and harsh treatment by staff.
“If you pay $10 you can stay in the office. If you don’t have $10, they say go under the bridge,” Antonio said. “Here there are no bathrooms – you can have trouble, you can get sick.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘If you pay $10 you can stay in the office. If you don’t have $10, they say go under the bridge,’ Antonio said. Photograph: Lloyd DeGrane
The agencies advertise for workers in a widely circulated Chinese newspaper called World Journal, with one offering “a large number of Mexican workers” who are “sincere” and “honest”; while another offered “competent Mexicans” and called itself the “base camp of Mexican workers”.
The attorney general charges the defendants with violating federal civil rights and state human rights laws by hiring, recruiting, disciplining and treating workers differently based on race and national origin.
But Pengtian Ma, the attorney for the Xing Ying or Shun Ying Employment Agency, said the fact that his clients offered in newspaper ads to provide Latino workers does not constitute discrimination.
“I think because they have this language barrier they cannot express themselves to the outside world,” he said, adding that the attorney general is “too sensitive to the mention of race in a newspaper. They regard every mention of race as politically incorrect.”
Multiple men said the agencies sent them to restaurants in Illinois towns or suburbs including Pontiac, Kewanee, Waukegan and Harvard, to Indianapolis; St Louis; Lansing, Michigan; Detroit; Iowa City; Des Moines, Iowa; Columbus, Ohio; and Wisconsin cities including Milwaukee, Madison, Oshkosh and Appleton.
Men frequently said they did not know the name of the restaurant they were working in or exactly where it was located, since they are typically picked up at the Greyhound or Amtrak station and transported to the apartments or houses where they stay. Restaurant owners or staff also transport them to and from work.
“We go everywhere: Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin,” said Jesús, a man from Mexico City with a pock-marked face and a big smile, who said he often earns $1,600 a month as a dishwasher. “We live together in houses, the room and food is all free.”
Such arrangements garnered media and law enforcement attention after a 1 February fire at a house in Novi, Michigan, where five Mexican workers died – trapped in a basement with no alternative exit. The workers were employed at a Chinese restaurant owned by Roger Tam and his wife, who also owned the house where the men perished. The couple are now facing criminal charges. Those men reportedly were paid $2,000 a month for working six days a week, 12 hours a day.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Some of the men drink a lot of beer and throw their cans at the foot of the beds. Photograph: Lloyd DeGrane
While there is no evidence of a connection between the Novi restaurant and the Chicago hiring agencies, Hendrickson said it is included in her office’s investigation.
Some men also report physical abuse from agency or restaurant owners. The attorney general’s complaint notes that one of the agency owners, Jun Jin Cheung, is known for sometimes “beating” or “physically assaulting” workers.
Ma, Cheung’s attorney, countered that his client had never been abusive but rather had once been attacked by workers. “That gentleman is a person of short stature – he was the victim of physical abuse by one or two of the workers,” Ma said of his client. “Sometimes some of the workers got drunk and came to the premises to make a mess over there.”
Multiple workers reported not being paid even the low amounts they were promised for their work. Several men described threatening to call the police when the restaurant owners didn’t pay them, but the owners or managers didn’t seem alarmed and the workers didn’t contact police.
They’re not seeing it as slavery, as trafficking, as servitude. They see it as a favor José Oliva
The attorney general’s complaint alleges the hiring agencies benefit from high turnover at the restaurants.
“Indeed, they profit from these poor working conditions; when employees inevitably leave the restaurants, they often have nowhere else to go but back to the agencies, where they again are exploited and become indebted to the agencies for an additional agency fee in order to be placed in another restaurant job.”
Ma said his clients have nothing to do with how long workers stay at a given restaurant.
The men under the bridge frequently complain bitterly about the Chinese hiring agencies. But most of them keep going back. José Oliva, co-director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, said violations of labor laws are common in the restaurant industry, especially when employees are undocumented immigrants. Many workers take jobs willingly, violations and all.
“They’re not seeing it as slavery, as trafficking, as servitude,” he said. “They see it as a favor. People have to take whatever jobs they can get. The urgency is survival.”
Some of the agency owners responded by highlighting their own vulnerability. The lawyer for the China Employment Agency, which closed before the attorney general’s complaint was even filed, defended his client by citing language barriers.
“My client speaks Chinese and only Chinese,” said attorney Frank Valenti. Valenti said the business closed because city officials charged they were serving food without a license but denied other legal violations. “My understanding was there were advertisements placed in the Chinese newspaper and restaurants would call this agency and this agency would then put this restaurant in contact with the worker. They got a commission of $120 per worker if the worker was there for a month. And that was the end of it.”
Ma, Cheung’s attorney, highlighted the economic struggles of his clients, who he described as an immigrant couple with two adult children.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest José said he was beaten and robbed of about $400 he had earned working. Photograph: Lloyd DeGrane
“The family is struggling to make a livelihood, to survive with this small business,” Ma said. “The entire family relies on this meager income. By their work they are promoting opportunities for those unprivileged people, they have nowhere to go, they don’t have any job opportunities. I think my clients were providing a service to that community.”
Ma said that his clients did not know anything about alleged legal violations. He said since his clients don’t speak English or Spanish, they mostly communicate with the workers by “sign language” and would have no way to understand if the workers were being mistreated or underpaid at the restaurants.
The third agency named in the complaint, Jiao’s Employment Agency, simply denied any wrongdoing.
“I’m not afraid of nothing, I am not a criminal, I did not do something bad, I don’t do nothing wrong,” Ganglie Jiao said in broken English.
Jiao’s attorney, Marian Ming, said her client “is innocent” and declined to comment further.
José, 46, also lives under the bridge, but he no longer considers himself part of the restaurant labor pool. A hand injury from falling down made him unable to work for months, and a robbery on the street near Jiao’s agency left him with a battered face and black eye over Thanksgiving weekend.
A truck driver in Mexico, José made his way to Chicago and worked in roofing. When that slowed during a harsh winter, he found out about the Chinese restaurants from someone at Pacific Garden Mission.
José’s hand is now healed, but he doesn’t want to go back to the agencies. He said he typically made only $1,400 a month working 12-hour days six days a week, and in the other cities he would get lonely.
“The only ones who benefit are the offices,” he said. “If you leave the job they still get the commission and if you leave then you pay another commission. The Chinese give you lots of work and low pay.”
In the summer José plans to go back to Mexico, he says. He just needs to get the money together for a bus ticket.
“There are too many problems in the street, under the bridge,” he said. “The jobs are bad. It’s unhealthy. My life, my destiny isn’t here.”
In early March, police officers told men living under the bridge that they would need to move by the next day, the men reported. City workers returned and removed the tent and plethora of filthy mattresses, tarps, boards and other components of makeshift shacks. But the men quickly found a new location, under a nearby railroad bridge, adorned with graffiti advising “Love your life.”
A few days after being evicted from their previous encampment, the men had already accumulated a new stash of blankets and a weathered old couch. They planted tiny Mexican and American flags on a hump of earth outside the enclosure.
As snow swirled outside one day in early April, the men talked talked about their hopes that come summer, they might find better jobs in another industry.
“Look at my hands, they are strong, I’m ready to do any kind of work,” said a man from Monterrey, Mexico, in Spanish. “When you live like this, people just look down at you, they don’t see you as a person. But there is so much strength, there is so much talent here.”
This story was produced as part of the Social Justice News Nexus fellowship program at the Medill journalism school at Northwestern University.Before we look at some example business roadmaps, and roadmap templates, try this word-association exercise. As you read a word in the list below, think of the first word that pops into your head to form a two-word description of a standard business document. For example, when you read MISSION… you might think STATEMENT.
We’ll include our thoughts below each word, but no peeking.
Ready? Here we go.
PRODUCT…
(Our thoughts: ROADMAP, or BACKLOG)
EXECUTIVE…
(Our thoughts: SUMMARY, or BIOGRAPHY)
ORGANIZATIONAL…
(Our thought: CHART)
BUSINESS…
(Our thought: PLAN)
If you’re a product manager or other type of entrepreneurial professional who’s responsible for bringing successful products to the market, we’re guessing your first thought when you read PRODUCT was, like ours, ROADMAP. Product roadmaps are, after all, a thing.
We’ll also go out on a limb and assume that when you saw the word BUSINESS, you thought PLAN—and not some obscure type of document like, say, a “BUSINESS ROADMAP.”
When we think of a document that helps capture and communicate a business’s big-picture goals, its strategy for achieving those goals, and its high-level plan for executing on that strategy, we almost always think immediately of a business plan. Besides, business roadmaps aren’t really a thing, right?
The Strategic Value of a Business Roadmap
But wait a minute. When you think of the document that’s best equipped to help a product manager capture and communicate a product’s big-picture goals, its strategy for achieving those goals, and its high-level plan for executing on that strategy, you think of a product roadmap.
And, truthfully, a business plan doesn’t really offer a high-level, at-a-glance strategic view of anything. It’s typically a detailed document, often running dozens of pages, that explains down to a granular level what the business plans to do to achieve its goals.
If a product needs a truly strategic-level document to capture and quickly convey its big-picture plans and objectives—the product roadmap—then wouldn’t any business, and even any specific initiative within a business, also benefit from a business roadmap?
Our answer: Heck yeah!
Consider how strategically useful a properly built business roadmap could be for an entrepreneur organizing her initial thoughts for starting a new business. Rather than forcing her to jump straight into the details—as the typical template for a business plan does—a business roadmap would allow the entrepreneur to start with a high-level overview of the goals, priorities, milestones, resources needed, and other strategic elements of her planned venture.
Here’s an example business roadmap template built (in just a few minutes, in case you’re wondering) using ProductPlan’s roadmap software.
Armed with a business roadmap like this, the entrepreneur would have:
An easy-to-digest overview of her business’s strategic objectives and plans —which would help her more quickly and compellingly communicate her business idea to investors, partners, and new employees.
—which would help her more quickly and compellingly communicate her business idea to investors, partners, and new employees. A valuable guide to her business’s initial strategy that she can refer back to periodically during those inevitably chaotic early days, to make sure that all the tasks she and her team are focusing on are still supporting the business’s strategic plan.
during those inevitably chaotic early days, to make sure that all the tasks she and her team are focusing on are still supporting the business’s strategic plan. If she used the right tool to build the document—ideally a web-based, native business roadmap application—the entrepreneur would also have a strategic business roadmap that was easy to share with the relevant teams, easy to update, and easy to present no matter where she was.
More Useful Example Business Roadmaps
In fact, a business roadmap can offer these strategic benefits not only to the launching of a business itself but also to any large initiative within an existing business. With the right roadmap tool, you can build a business roadmap around your new HR plan, for example, or the launch of a new business unit.
And although we at ProductPlan typically see product managers using our purpose-built roadmap software to create, share, and maintain their product roadmaps, our application is flexible enough to provide the same strategic benefits for all sorts of other business initiatives.
Here are just a few example business roadmaps that show how different companies leverage our software to develop their high-level strategy:
An IT Architecture Roadmap, to help IT operations teams build and deploy the right technology infrastructure for a business.
A Content Calendar Roadmap, to help the company’s marketing and communications teams map out their strategy for rolling out new content.
A Marketing Strategy Roadmap, to help the marketing team capture and communicate its department’s high-level goals and plans.
If you’d like to see several additional example business roadmaps—for marketing, development, corporate IT, and product-related strategic initiatives—view our Roadmap Templates page.
And if you’d like to use any of these example business roadmaps as a template to begin developing your own strategic roadmap—which you can build in just minutes—we invite you to try our full-featured roadmap software for free.Trees have a tough life in cities. They face heavy stress from storms, insects, air pollution, road salt, low-quality soil and even reckless drivers. Yet the benefits of a healthy tree population are vast, from the numerous environmental qualities to the aesthetic value that comes with a green canopy in a city park or along a busy street.
There’s also the economic value of trees. Real estate experts say trees on residential and commercial properties can increase the value by as much as 23 percent. They can also cut the cost of cooling a home or building, and their ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide makes them a great investment. According to the U.S. Forest Service, that value can average $2,500 per tree in urban areas.
Despite the clear-cut evidence -- excuse the pun -- that more trees are better, our urban forests are in decline, according to a study released this year by Forest Service researchers. By analyzing aerial photographs of tree cover in 20 cities, they found cities suffer a net loss of 4 million trees annually. New Orleans had the worst loss of tree cover (Hurricane Katrina was a major factor), followed by Houston and Albuquerque. With 19 out of the 20 cities showing a reduction in tree cover and 17 showing losses over a time period ranging from three to six years, there is a clear downward trend in urban tree cover.
The reasons for such a broad decline vary, according to Eric J. Greenfield, a forester for the U.S. Forest Service and co-author of the study. He mentions wind storms, drought, pest infestation, old age and removal as some of the key contributors. But the last problem cited might be the biggest contributor as cities continue to cut down trees to make way for new development.
To counter the problem, a number of cities have started campaigns to plant more trees. New York City, which already has 21 percent of its land area covered by trees, launched a widely publicized campaign to plant one million. But last year, after reaching the halfway mark, the city was struggling to maintain the pace. It was confronting a rather high mortality rate among planted trees of between 7 and 11 percent, according to The New York Times. Boston (which has 29 percent of its land covered) began a similar though smaller-scale campaign five years ago to plant 100,000 trees. City officials say only 10 percent of the trees have been planted so far.
Given the sorry state of city budgets, it’s unlikely the public sector will reverse the decline in trees anytime soon. Chicago; Louisville, Ky.; and other urban communities that once proudly labeled themselves as “Tree City USA” are now derisively known as “stump city” in some planning circles, thanks to neglect and poor maintenance.
The good news is that our understanding of how trees benefit cities has been extensively documented, and more people are being trained in urban forestry. Software tools like i-Tree have been developed that can accurately assess and analyze an urban forest, and community groups continue to raise funds to pay for tree plantings. Hopefully, as cities emerge from the last vestiges of the Great Recession, we will see a revival of interest -- as well as investment -- in our urban canopy.Convenor’s Welcome
It is my great pleasure as Convenor of the twelfth national Towards Eliminating Restrictive Practices (TERP) Forum, to invite you to Hobart on the 7th and 8th of November 2018 for two days of engrossing discussion about how we can meet the challenge of eliminating restrictive practices in mental health care.
The forum provides an opportunity for clinicians, policy makers, researchers and people with lived experience of mental illness from across Australia to share innovative ideas and be informed about evidence based policy and service delivery directions.
The program will include a variety of keynote speakers organised around the theme How far can we go?
Since publication of the ‘National safety priorities in mental health: a national plan for reducing harm’ in 2005, there has been a sustained emphasis on identifying, avoiding and reducing harm across all environments in which care for people with mental illness is provided. Australia made a commitment to reduce the use of and eliminate restrictive practices as a priority for action.
National forums have been held every one to two years around Australia to contribute to this aim, providing an opportunity to share information about and learn from local and national initiatives that aim to eliminate restrictive practices.
The forum is hosted by a nominated jurisdiction in conjunction with the Safety and Quality Partnership Standing Committee (a subcommittee of the Mental Health Principal Committee). The host jurisdiction is funded through the Mental Health Principal Committee and supported by the National Mental Health Commission to deliver the forum.
Tasmania is proud to host the forum for the first time in 2018, to demonstrate its commitment to eliminating the use of restrictive practices and working together to create safer environments for everyone. Tasmania is hosting the forum through the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Directorate in the Department of Health and Human Services.
We look forward to welcoming you to the conference venue on the Hobart waterfront and the conference dinner at MONA. We will all have the opportunity to share thoughts, experiences and approaches on a topic of central importance in mental health care.
Aaron Groves
Chief Psychiatrist, TasmaniaWe’ve heard a lot about how the GOP Establishment is making elaborate plans to steal the nomination from Donald Trump (and Ted Cruz) at the Republican National Convention. (See, for example, Ned Ryun and Pat Caddell’s interviews with Breitbart News Daily last week.)
But what we never hear about is the Establishment making the slightest move to understand Trump’s voters or address their issues.
It’s another reason to lay blame for this chaotic primary season squarely at the feet of the Republican Party hierarchy, which was blindsided by a populist surge it should have seen coming long ago, and should have absorbed instead of rejecting it. Alas, the Party bosses and GOP donor class were too busy smashing the Tea Party movement to learn anything from it.
The many complaints that Trump is erratic on his core issues, or is too easily distracted from them, only highlight how thoroughly the rest of the Party has neglected those issues.
It was absurdly easy for Trump to breeze into the Republican Primary, pick up the immigration issue, and become the instant front-runner, while the Establishment’s open-borders evangelist Jeb Bush spent millions and went nowhere.
To cite another Breitbart News Daily interview from last week, Trump senior policy advisor Stephen Miller was pretty hot under the collar about Ted Cruz trying to steal Trump’s trade issue (insincerely, in Miller’s view), but Cruz at least deserves credit from the Trump faithful for trying. He understands them well enough to make the appeals Miller denounced. That’s far more respect than Republican base voters usually get from their own Party establishment, which prides itself on refusing to acknowledge voter anxiety about border security, visa abuse, or the damage done to the American workforce by sloppy trade deals.
The fact that only the other outsider-candidate in the race — Cruz — has made a serious effort to appeal to Trump supporters, even at a moment when a good number of them are having second thoughts, highlights just how wide the gulf between the Party base and the Establishment has become. Republican voters made it clear they were furious with the leadership on a number of issues; the leadership responded not by reaching out to them, but by hatching plans to pilfer the nomination at the convention, and if that doesn’t work, blow up the Party.
Thus we have the Wall Street Journal wondering why everyone is so peeved at House Speaker Paul Ryan, including #NeverTrump warriors who think Ryan isn’t hitting Trump hard enough. The WSJ thinks Ryan has already done enough on that score, and (wisely) advises him to worry about maintaining the GOP House majority:
Mr. Ryan has already spoken up three times about Mr. Trump’s rhetorical excesses, and this week he offered a broader defense of a better politics. He spoke of his hope for a more “confident America” where “we don’t shut people down. If someone has a bad idea, we tell them why our idea is better. We don’t insult them into agreeing with us. We try to persuade them.... We shouldn’t accept ugliness as the norm. We should demand better from ourselves and one another.”
The problem is that Ryan’s adversaries in the Democrat Party are all about ugliness, insults, thug tactics, dirty negative campaigning, and even trashing the First Amendment, taking their tone from eight years of Barack Obama’s smash-mouth style of de-legitimizing his opponents. We keep hearing calls for more high-minded politics from Republicans who have been kicked in the groin so often they can barely stand, as Ryan should well know, having been on the Romney ticket in 2012.
Later the Journal sings Ryan’s praises as (with a hat tip to Gilbert and Sullivan) the very model of a modern major-party leader:
Mr. Ryan has shown he can elevate the GOP’s vision and ambitions before. He once was a backbencher pushing reform budgets into the void of the late Tom-DeLay-George W. Bush era. He has gone on to do more than any other Republican during the Obama Presidency to promote constructive alternatives, especially on health care. Since 2012 Mitt Romney’s running mate has tried to build a bipartisan consensus to solve the failures of U.S. antipoverty programs. This year he’s convened an “agenda project” to detail what the GOP would try to achieve in 2017.
That sounds lovely… but where has it been getting us? Quick, someone in the audience name a constructive Ryan alternative on health care. The only person in Congress who really dug in and tried to stop ObamaCare was Ted Cruz, and the rest of the Republican Party hates him for it, even though predictions of party doom in the 2014 midterms turned out to be the exact opposite of what actually happened.
If there’s one thing Republican voters are fed up with, it’s ineffectual leaders who talk about all their great ideas, but never actually do anything. In Ryan’s case, what he’s actually done is deliver an omnibus bill so obscene Democrats were actually cackling with glee, with a side order of the job-killing open-borders insanity GOP voters hate.
The Wall Street Journal also took a shot at “reform conservatives” for going too hard on Ryan:
On the other side are a cast of conservative intellectuals who don’t like Mr. Ryan because he continues to believe in the Ronald Reagan-Jack Kemp vision of a tax-reforming, free-market GOP that focuses on economic growth. They think the GOP needs a policy mix to address income inequality and promote redistribution—albeit to the middle class—rather than aiming for faster growth.
This raised the ire of Ross Douthat at the New York Times, who thinks the Journal pushing Ryan into battle against both Trumpism and the reformicons is “some ripely delusional stuff”:
Ryan has to appear neutral because Trump is threatening riots? I’m old enough to remember when the Journal editorial page opposed appeasement! Ryan shouldn’t risk any kind of rupture because if Trump is the nominee a Republican civil war might cost the G.O.P. the House? Trump as the nominee is itself the thing that might cost the GOP the House! Ryan should stand ready to “steer” a President Trump away from “his worst instincts”? I mean, there isn’t going to be a President Trump … but if there were, what does it say about the Journal’s editorial page, allegedly a bastion of liberty and cosmopolitan conservatism, that it wants the heir of Kemp and Reagan to keep his options open and his hands undirtied with #neverTrumpism, just in case he might get the chance to help an illiberal race-baiting violence-abetting war crimes-endorsing demagogue pass, I dunno, the biggest supply-side tax cut in the history of the Laffer Curve?
Douthat sums up the Journal’s strategy as: “Do nothing, change nothing, and hope Trump simply does his destructive work and passes on. And if the party is reduced to actual rubble in the process, well, the important thing is that the purity of a policy vision from thirty-five years ago has been preserved in its pristine, handed-down-from-heaven form.”
Clearly Douthat doesn’t have much use for Trump, but Trump supporters would agree with his analysis of the Establishment’s folly. They’re sticking to a supply-side gospel that is difficult to sell to people nervous about the future of the American middle class after years of Obama’s policies, and lingering anxiety over the 2008 financial crisis. At this point, when a lot of people hear talk about pro-growth tax cuts, they recoil from either liberal caricatures of cigar-chomping robber barons lining their pockets while the Little Guy suffers… or they recoil from the memory of Obama’s cronies getting rich off their political connections while the rest of the U.S. economy was stuck in a quagmire.
Both “reform conservatism” and Trumpism aim to rewire parts of the Leviathan State to directly benefit middle-class constituencies, rather than cutting that bloated government down to size and kick-starting the engines of capitalism to grow us out of malaise and impending government fiscal crisis. Adherents of both philosophies can fairly complain that the Republican Establishment hasn’t been listening to their concerns, and has grown remote from both GOP base voters and the working class.
The Establishment seems to have contingency plans for everything except listening to its base voters and addressing their needs.
Not even a primary utterly dominated by outsider candidates, in which one blue-chip Party man after another got thrown off the debate stage, has been able to get their attention.Newspaper Page Text
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HOME EDITION
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LATEST NEWS BY ASSOCIATED PRESS.
BULGARIA
South Carolina Troops
Newspaper Reporter. Killed
and Four Wounded As
Ballots Are Counted.
MAYORALTY FIGHT
CAUSES BITTERNESS
Governor Orders Regiment
Of the State Guard Held
Ready For Action.
CHARLESTON, & C, Oct. IS.
South Carolina state troops are
assembled In their armories
rt.idj for immediate......
Chanston militia is under am. -,t
Pt.uline the ntniB. ki.
The troops were nailed ont bv cot
ernor Manning as a result of an ieXI
tio;i battle In D.iri.u. i....... Jr.
men were shot, and one Sitfnev J J
Cohen, a nrtni reiw-Tet W..' :
killed. '.
The battle occurred Just outside the!
room where the Democratic city execu
tive commUUe was assembled to can
vass the returns of the Democratic city
primary of last Tuesday.
Confusion In City.
Great confusion followed the shoot
ing and the excitement in the eitv
was 50g that -goveraoriJiaptrtng-
- mruis.- aao ate owi area the
Charleston light infantry assembled.
The state troops immediately began
petroling the streets.
W. A. Turner was shot Jn the right
lung and seriously injured; W. E. Win
gate received -a serious scalp wound;
H L 'P.ilensky was shot In an arm,
and Jeremiah O'Brien was shot In the
ankle.
Thi committee was Just about to be
calit-d to orler to canvass the returns
of last Tuesday's pr.mary. at which
the trouble was threatened. A fight
started m a room adjoining that in
which the committee was to meet.
Fusilade of Shots Heard.
The scuffling occasioned by the fight
haraly had started when a Insilade of
shots was heard from the committee
room. This continued for'several
minutes as the committeemen and
spectators made a frantic rush to get
out.
Policemen were stationed in the com-
nuttc; rwir adjoining, but no arrests
had been made two hours after the I
shooting, and as far as known at that!
hour no cne seemed io know who had j
fired the first shot or who kept it up. j
Hart Dramalle Aettlntr.
Tlie seil.ug for the affair was dra
matic. At the 'ntersection of King and
Gcorpe streets. Hhir.- is situated the
tuildin; in which the committee was to
m"e a large crowd had gathered. The
deni.-anor of those mere had led the
chit f of prlice to place a large number,
1 officers, there. TJi to the time of
the fuoot:ng. however, this crowd had
remained orderly.
The Democratic municipal primaries
developed into such a oitter fight be
twe ii the supporters of mayor John P.
Grace and Tristman T. Hyde, running
at the head of the tickets, that seri
ous (.K'iculties wer expected.
Trouble V. n Anticipated.
The state adjutant nreneral was hur
rieo tc. Charleston from Columbia
MoaCay afternoon to take charge of
the situation and to have the militia
t-'KC over the business of policing the
city should it be deemed necessay.
The sheriff had sworn in 56 extra depu
ties and had them ready for immediate
action. Charges that the governor
was interfering with the primary in
favor of one of the factions were
heard and promptly denied. Those
who made the charge pointed to the
fact that there w as no trouble Tuesday
or Tuesday night as substantiation.
The militia wss ordered to report to the
armories at s o'clock Monday ni ht and
was not dispersed until 7 o'clock
Wednesday morning.
The unofficial count showed that j
Hyde had von by 19 votes, but more
than 100 votes were contested. The j
committee met today to canvass the re- I
turns and settle the contests. j
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bows of the decision of the committee
which would settle whether Tristman
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discharged as
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Cohen was making his way
way to a win- i
dow
Ballot Boxes Thronn Out.
While the shooting was going on in
the committee room, two or three ballot
boxes were thrown into the street
Officers in the room took charge of the
20 boxes remaining.
"Within a short time after the shoot
ing governor Manning at Columbia or
dered out two companies of militia
and later placed the entire second regl
xnent under orders to be ready for any
emergency. Within a short time the
two militia companies were marching
to King and George streets.
Saloons Closed.
An extra force of deputy sheriffs
quickly made their 'appearance. The
guardsmen, sheriffs and nearly the
entire police force remained on duty in
that section of the city during the
afternoon.
Saloons were closed by order of gov
crnor Manning.
Six Men Arrested.
Later six men were placed under
arrest by tbe city police. They are
Continued on pare 2, CoL 6)
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S-1KOLB COPf
WARRING NATIONS
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'5
Secretaries Garrison and Daniels Confer With President
Wilson and Reach Agreement for Army and
Navy; To Be Spent in the Next"
Five Years.
WASHINGTON. D. C Oct 15.
The national defence plans of
the administration calling for
an expenditure in the next fiscal year
of more than "46,69.66 for army,
navy, and fortifications, were com
pleted today. Secretary Garrison has
forwarded his estimates, already ap
proved by president Wilson, to the sec
retary of the treasury and secretary
Daniels submitted his estimates today.
after going over the final details with
president Wilson.
Daniels Prepares Program.
Secretary, Daniels discussed the ques-
' tlon of how many battleships. Battle
cruisers and smaller warships to recom-
t mend each year during the live vears
' tOT wnlh program has been mapped '
! oat- I,e and the President arrived at
i an agreement, but the secretary said he
couW Dot iTe ihe figures until later.!
It was learned, however, that the ex-
pendltures would be distributed as
eTenIr as Possible over the five years.
Garrison Arranges For Report.
Reports from secretary Garrison and
secretary Daniels will be made public
within the next few days. The navy
estimates probably will be made public
tomorrow and those of the army on
Monday.
Details.-of the army plan have net
been announced, but the approval by
the president of the S7ZV6M.666 increase
for the military estimate turned atten
tion on the navy, where a final esti
mate of needs has not yet been com
pleted. They vary from a total of
;:35.o.ee to tsso.eoo.soe.
Secretary Daniels has before him
two separate plans which affect ma
terially the completion of his estimates
since congress appropriates each year
for only one-third of the cost of new
ships authorized.
President Wilson today aooroved see
retary Daniels's recommendation for a
five year construction program for the I
r "!. :
navy.
Increase Xavy Yard Capacity.
The plans of the navy, secretary
Daniels admitted, include a large build
ing program. He said he wanted to
increase the capacity of the various
government navy yards and do much of
the new warship construction in those
yards. It is nlanned alen tn have
some aeroplanes for the navy built by
t:be government.
The secretary
N"- J-. last night
conferred in Orange,
with Thamfl. A RH1-
son. chairman of the navy consulting
committee, regarding the committee's
recommendation for a larr. rp!Mnh
laboratory. The navy estimates will
include a recommendation for an ap
propriation for research work, but
secretary Daniels has not asked for
$5,000,000, the sum the committee
thought should be spent for a labora
tory, because such a large sum for |
arrested, you probably won't get the job, even if you weren't found guilty. If your credit history is spotty, it can cost you a job, even if the job has nothing to do with handling money. Other employers turn down people because of their driving record, even for jobs that don't involve driving. And even if your background is spotless, you can still lose the job because the information broker gets you mixed up with someone else with a similar name.
If you survive this gauntlet, the drug test is waiting for you. No sensible employer wants to hire a drug abuser, but drug tests can't tell if someone is an abuser, only that someone used drugs at some point in the past. If you've ever smoked marijuana at a party, you could be in for trouble. When your body metabolizes something you ingest, the chemicals it creates (called metabolites) stay in your body for days, or even weeks. Even if you've never touched drugs, you're not safe. Some employers use cheap tests that mistake Advil, Sudafed, NyQuil, and other over-the-counter medications for illegal drugs. Even if proper testing is used, labs often make mistakes. A study by the Centers for Disease Control found that 37 percent of drug test results were wrong; the samples labeled positive were actually clean. And don't count on having any privacy for the test; some employers have "urination monitors" watch everyone while they fill the cup to make sure nobody is cheating.
Finally there are the psychological tests. Some are designed to test your honesty. The only problem with those is that most of the people who fail are honest. Others ask about your sex life, religious beliefs, and other highly personal matters having nothing to do with your ability to do the job.
You may have already lost a job because of one of these pre-employment screenings without even knowing it. The law does not require employers to tell unsuccessful applicants why they weren't hired, and most employers don't. Some employers lie about why you weren't hired. The bottom line is, you'll never know why you were turned down.
As bad as things are, they are going to get worse. All new cell phones are now required by federal law to come equipped with the Global Positioning System (GPS). Some employers who issue company cell phones use this technology to track employees during their private lives, often in secret. Recently developed genetic tests allow employers to determine whether you carry the genes linked to breast cancer, Alzheimer's, and other serious illnesses. Employers are starting to use this knowledge to keep people out of the workforce to save money on corporate medical costs. Some biometric security systems, such as retina scans (which chart the blood vessels in your eye), reveal sensitive medical information such as whether you are diabetic, and facilitate identity theft.
Even in the few areas of employment where you do have legal rights, it can be nearly impossible to enforce them. Almost 20 percent of employers today require all employees to agree in advance not to go to court if the company violates their legal rights, and to take their dispute to a private arbitration system selected (and sometimes run) by the employer. If you don't agree, you don't get the job. Some of these programs are fair. But others are kangaroo courts in which employers may handpick the arbitrators and deny employees the right to have a lawyer, or whose rules don't require the arbitrator to follow the law.
Traditionally, employees who are being treated unfairly have been able to protect themselves by joining a union. Union contracts generally prohibit most of these abuses. But joining a union has become a dangerous undertaking. Over eight thousand employees are fired every year simply for trying to join one. Technically, this kind of firing is illegal, but the penalties are so trivial that employers just pay the fines and keep breaking the law.
There is something profoundly disturbing, almost schizophrenic, about our approach to human rights. We have fought wars, millions of us have served in the military, and several hundred thousand Americans have died, defending our country and protecting our freedom of speech and other rights. Yet we have created a legal system that leaves those rights in the wastebasket when we go to work.
We could have changed our laws to outlaw these abuses, but we haven't. A handful of states have enacted laws that prohibit employers from firing people because of their politics or putting video cameras in bathrooms. But in most states, all the abuses I've described are completely legal.
As of now, there isn't much you can do to protect yourself from these abuses, but there are some actions you can take, starting with learning more about the company before you accept a job. If you've already accepted the job, you may be able to learn more about the company's practices or even persuade your boss to modify the plan.
In the long run, however, the only answer is to change the law. There is no reason why we should have to give up our rights as American citizens to get a job. Employers that respect employee rights generally outperform competitors that abuse employees. This book will tell you more about how to protect yourself to the extent you can under existing law and how to help change the law to provide better protection for human rights.
Over two hundred years ago, Americans decided that they were no longer going to allow the government to violate their human rights. That decision was a milestone in human history. It is time to make another historic decision: our employers must respect our rights as well.
Excerpted from Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace by Lewis Maltby by arrangement with Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright Lewis Maltby, 2009.Media playback is unsupported on your device
Hate, anger and grief were all part of the reaction in Egypt to the news of mass beheadings of 21 Christian Egyptians in Libya last week. But one Christian Egyptian chose to share a different message, one of forgiveness and peace.
A video by a young Christian woman calling for mercy instead of hate has been watched over half a million times. And messages of support and solidarity poured in from Egypt's Christians and Muslims alike.
BBC Trending spoke to Anne Alfred, a young Egyptian singer, about her video and how life has changed for her as an Egyptian.
Reporter: Mai Noman
Video journalist: Greg Brosnan
Next story: How Birdman director's speech shocked Mexico
Or maybe you'd like to watch: Coming out as gay at Chinese New Year
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending. All our stories are at bbc.com/trendingThe immune system of ME/CFS patients has been the target of medical research for many years, and the abnormalities identified have included low natural killer cells, and increases in various types of ‘cytokines’, such as interleukins and interferons, which regulate the immune system (see a review). Some of these immune abnormalities are also shared with cancer patients (read more). Most recently, researchers at Columbia University have discovered “distinct immune signatures” in the blood in ME/CFS patients, as well as immune changes in the central nervous system, supporting the idea that the illness may reflect an infectious ‘hit-and-run’ event.
There is still much more to learn, of course, and one of the most pressing questions is how immunological measurements, which may change over time, relate to the severity of illness. Scientists at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia have been examining these aspects for several years, and their latest report compares groups of innate and adaptive immune cells in both moderately affected (mobile) and severely affected (housebound) ME/CFS patients. They used a number of outcome measures to gauge the severity of illness, including the classic Bell Disability Scale, and flow cytometry to measure a range of cell types and immune parameters at baseline and after 6 months.
The scientists found some changes in immune cells and their receptors over time, particularly in some natural killer cell receptors which were raised in all three groups over the 6 month period. However, a key finding was that, compared with the other two groups, people with severe ME/CFS had significant changes in four main immune categories: invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell phenotypes (see a model); markers on CD8+ T cells (white blood cells involved in the destruction of other cells); natural killer cell receptors; and gamma delta T cells (γδ T cells) types 1 and 2 which have a complex role in immunity (Table).
Findings in severely affected ME/CFS patients at the 6-month point iNKT cell phenotypes Increased versus controls CD8+ T cell markers Increased versus moderately ill patients Natural killer cell receptors Decreased versus moderately ill patients and controls γδ T2 cells Increased versus moderately ill patients and controls γδ T1 cells Decreased versus moderately ill patients and controls
Natural killer cell receptors have a particular importance in ME/CFS because one of the most consistent abnormalities reported in patients over the past 20 years has been that natural killer cells are lower and/or have a lower activity than in healthy people (see review). In fact, some people have suggested ‘low natural killer cell disease’ as an alternative name for this illness. Natural killer cells have a key role in the targeted killing of tumour cells and virus infected cells, so a reduction in their number implies a reduced ability to destroy other unwanted cells. The reduction in natural killer cell ‘expression’ in ME/CFS patients in this study may be due to the reduced natural killer cell activity, whereas the enhancement in iNKT cell phenotypes maybe a regulatory response to compensate for it.
One likely explanation for most of the differences in immune cells or receptors in severe ME/CFS is immune activation in response to a physiological challenge, whether within the body or from the external environment (i.e. an infection). This could explain the raised naïve CD8+ T cell numbers, and other findings, such as γδ T cells alterations; as the authors point out, “γδ T cells are sentinel cells with cytotoxic properties… this may suggest an activation as an immune response to bacterial infection, wound repair, antigen presentation or immunoregulation”.
This research highlights the importance of taking severity of illness (disablement & mobility, but also length of time ill, quality of life, etc.) and its changes over time into account, particularly in biochemical investigations. In mildly or moderately affected patients, this can be simply done by using various outcome measures which assess disability. However, the 10–25% of patients who have severe ME/CFS and are home-bound need to be included too, as their trial results may be very different from more mobile patients and contain unexpected and important findings. The scientific literature on ME and CFS contains around 6,800 publications, but vanishingly few have included data on severely affected patients, who are “ignored and invisible” by science as well as by society. This needs to change, particularly as valuable information may well be lost by their exclusion.
Further reading
Longitudinal analysis of immune abnormalities in varying severities of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis patients. Hardcastle SL, et al. J Transl Med, 2015 Sep 14; 13: 299. Read more (full text).
Evidence for the presence of immune dysfunction in chronic fatigue syndrome. Natelson BH, et al. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol, 2002 Jul; 9(4): 747–752. (read more).
Severely affected ME/CFS patients – a geographically defined study. An ME Research UK-funded study in Newcastle (read more).
Severe ME – what do we know? An ME Research UK overview (read more)forefront of driverless technology and many delivery services from Google to Amazon taking steps to use autonomous delivery vehicles to speed up and offer better services. Stepping away from the commercial world though, there’s the wider discussion of how driverless cars will help people in general and here we’re looking at how driverless cars may improve and benefit the lives of disabled people, improving independence and making access to a wider range of places easier.
First, we’re going to look at the current state of the driverless car technology industry and predictions for the future.
Driverless Car Technology 2015
In February 2015, as mentioned above, the Department for Transport have begun testing autonomous cars, with self-drive pods tested in both in Milton Keynes and Coventry and as this video shows, there is considerable excitement and positive forecasts for the future of driverless car industry in the UK.
Further to this there are a large number of companies and dedicated researchers focusing on driverless technology and have big plans for the future. Mercedes, for example, have plans to launch their Autobahn Pilot in 2016 which will allow for hands-free driving on motorways, with hands-free overtaking, as this video shows:
Nissan too are working on features which allow for autonomous manoeuvres on multilane roads by 2018 and Jaguar expect to release their first driverless vehicle in 2024 with Daimler and Ford following quickly behind in 2025.
It’s clear that driverless technology is very firmly coming to our roads and soon it may be something we can all benefit from, including people with disabilities. In the long term the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers believe that as many as 75% of all vehicles may be autonomous by 2040.
The Benefits of Driverless Cars for Disabled People
Improved Safety
Human error is a key factor in many road traffic accidents, with driverless vehicles there is no human error and failing to look or not seeing hazards is no longer an issue. Driverless vehicles use a range of sensors placed around the whole car, ensuring they can sense hazards. If safety is improved then there will be less risk of injuries, fatalities and disabilities caused by traffic accidents.
More Free Time
The average driver in England is said to spend around 235 hours driving a year on average, which is equal to six working weeks. With a driverless vehicle you have the choice of driving as well as letting the vehicle drive itself, allowing the driver to take time out to enjoy the ride.
Reducing Emissions
The long-term belief for driverless technology is that it will be able to communicate with pieces of road infrastructure, including traffic lights and therefore avoiding congestion, avoiding traffic jams and taking routes which are quicker and cause less of a risk to the environment.
Looking at driverless technology as a disabled person it could completely revolutionise the lives of many, with the opportunities for people who had been unable to drive especially interesting. Below are some of the key, specific benefits of driverless vehicles for disabled people:
Accessing the World
With access to a vehicle it is easier to travel, easier to get around and means simple things like shopping, attending hospital appointments and work can be reached more easily. The current situation can be very hard for individuals who don’t own or have access to a car as accessible taxis aren’t the norm and the difficulty of access to buses and trains has been well documented. There has even been recent news that some taxi drivers have intentionally overcharged wheelchair users, making navigating public transport not only difficult but expensive too.
Much like the point above, a driverless car can help disabled people get out more often, enjoy a social life and feel safe whilst doing so. Enjoying evenings and nights out safe in the knowledge that getting home will be a simple straightforward journey in your autonomous vehicle, makes it easier to enjoy the night out and not have to worry or feel anxious about getting back, or panic about the cost.
What else do we want from Driverless Cars?
Disruption. The end of the mobility scooter? Driverless Motability Cars for all disabled people?
The advent of driverless technology is extremely exciting but there are still questions. Will the mobility scooter become obsolete? Scooter users will be able to use the “mainstream” driverless cars for short journeys instead? The government’s Motability scheme would may need to be updated and edited. There would be many people who could suddenly use a car when previously it had been beyond their abilities. This could see a huge number of new people wanting to access the scheme.
Driverless Car Sharing for Community Groups
There is also the possibility that driverless vehicles could be bought and offered by community groups, allowing them to be shared by their members. They could be used as autonomous taxis, returning to a central depot in between drop offs and thereby used by several people during a day. When it’s your turn to use the vehicle it can drive to your door and pick you up!. This is step forward, especially in environments where people live in supported accommodation or care homes where trips out and excursions can be limited by the staff on the rota and whether or not they’re insured to drive the provided vehicle, if there even is one!
Also in places where regular accessible transport is hard to find like small rural villages for example. A car could be shared by a group of older people living near to each other.
Pre-programmed Wheelchair Journeys?
Where will technology go next? Is there scope that the same technology used for driverless cars can be used in electric wheelchairs? Could they too become autonomous and self-guided? People could have pre-programmed journeys around the house, school or to local shops.
Telecare and health monitoring
Other features which could be useful for disabled people, in the most modern vehicles include health monitoring and telecare possibilities, which could perhaps be built into the cars too. People with epilepsy or heart conditions for instance, could have sensors built into their modes of transport, perhaps even programmed to take them to a safe destination or alerting friends or relatives if difficulties occur?
The Future – Please comment with your ideas
It does seem that the possibilities are almost endless with driverless technology and though there is a lot of testing that still needs to be done, there is real scope for change which could make the world even more accessible and allow even more disabled people to enjoy an improved level of independence. Please comment with any ideas or suggestions you have. If you can think of ways driverless vehicles could help disabled people, please let us know in the comments.The holiday rush is over, which means most fans of video games have settled into a time of long, wintry hibernation when we catch up on everything we missed.
Eff that. There's a whole new year of video games to look forward to. Some stuff we haven't seen, and won't see for many months, but we know they'll be big. Looking at you, Call of Duty, Destiny and Madden. Others we've seen a lot of and have talked about at length (see also: Street Fighter V).
See also: The 10 best mobile games of 2015
That's not what we're about right now. Everything listed below is almost certain to be coming out in 2016, and the anticipation for each and every one has us perched on the edge of our seats. Even with a mountain of killer games to get through from the current year — 2015 kicked all sorts of ass — it's never too early to get hype for what's next.The recent surge in exchange rates of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin has at one hand drawn interests of the investors, whereas, on the other, has alerted the regulatory authorities to sound cautions against it, repeatedly.
In at least three instances, the Reserve Bank of India has warned the investors regarding the "potential economic, financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks” associated with the trade of cryptocurrencies.
In Pics: Bubble or not! Facts you might not know about bitcoin rally
The first such announcement had come in December 2013 when in a detailed press release the RBI had said that the legal status of cryptocurrencies as well as exchanges was “unclear”. The RBI had warned that virtual currencies (VC) are risky as “they are stored in digital/electronic media that are called electronic wallets” and investors are “prone to losses arising out of hacking, loss of password, compromise of access credentials, malware attack etc.”
The central bank had clearly stated that “creation, trading or usage of VCs including bitcoins, as a medium for payment are not authorised by any central bank or monetary authority. No regulatory approvals, registration or authorisation is stated to have been obtained by the entities concerned for carrying on such activities.”
Explainer: What is bitcoin and how does it work?
At that point of time, bitcoin had seen the first major surge in its prices. The price on December 4, 2013, had climbed to USD 1,151 from a low of USD 102 on October 2, same year.
The second warning sound was blazed in February this year when the bitcoin had started its never-seen-before climb (which is yet to stop). The monetary regulatory authority reiterated that “it has not given any licence/authorisation to any entity/company to operate such schemes or deal with bitcoin or any virtual currency.”
Cryptic world: Billdesk launches India's first crypto-currency exchange
“As such, any user, holder, investor, trader, etc. dealing with Virtual Currencies will be doing so at their own risk,” the Reserve Bank clarified.
The third cautionary advice came more recently on December 5 when "in the wake of [the] significant spurt in the valuation of many VCs and rapid growth in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs),” the apex bank reiterated the concerns conveyed in the earlier press releases.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley said last week that India does not recognise cryptocurrency as legal tender 'as of now'.
"Recommendations are being worked at. The government's position is clear, we don't recognise this as legal currency as of now," Jaitley said when asked whether the government has taken any decision on cryptocurrency.
Jaitley though confirmed that the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) had constituted a committee with representations from DEA, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), RBI, Niti Aayog and SBI, and it has submitted its report. The report is being examined, he said.
Earlier in August, during the monsoon session of parliament, the finance minister had informed that there are no regulations governing virtual currencies, including bitcoins, in India and the RBI has not given any licence to any entity/company to operate such currencies.(Title Image: BBC Wales)
Spending & Borrowing Plans
As you can see, the big losers are the Environment & Rural Affairs and Economy & Infrastructure departments, seeing cuts to both revenue (day-to-day) and capital (one-off/project) spending.
Amongst the big winners are the Communities department (housing etc.) which has seen a big boost to capital and revenue budget – likely to go on housebuilding – while Health spending has largely held up as well. Both departments are the only ones to have seen a “real terms” (costings after inflation has been taken into account) increase in their budgets.
The line-by-line budget proposals won’t be released until October 24th, so we won’t get a better idea of who the winners and losers are until then.
The Welsh Government intend to borrow just under £375million over the next three financial years to support capital spending, including commitments towards building 20,000 new homes and a new rail station at Llanwern.
The full budget narrative is available here (pdf).
Taxes
For the first time ever, a Welsh budget will include tax measures following the devolution of a certain number of them, some of which will start being collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority from April 2018 (income tax is due to be partially-devolved from 2019).
Firstly, Land Transaction Tax (formerly known as Stamp Duty). The threshold on which a homebuyer has to pay the tax has been raised from £125,000 to £150,000, while home sales with a value of over £400,000 will be liable to a higher rate of tax.
Secondly, Landfill Disposal Tax – which is broadly being kept in line with England, but with an additional punitive rate of £133.45 per tonne introduced for unauthorised disposals such as fly-tipping.
In total, the Welsh Government expects to raise £294million in 2018-19 from the two taxes.
Meanwhile, there were four proposals for new taxes including: a social care levy, a vacant land tax, a disposable plastics tax and a tourism tax. One of those four will go forward in order to receive a UK Government OK some time in 2018.
Labour & Plaid Cymru strike £210million two-year deal
A deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru was announced last Sunday, worth a total of £210million over two years – £50million of which will go towards continuing commitments from the previous budget deal. Some of the specifics include (pdf):
Health – £40million towards (general) mental health; re-establishment of mental health services in Wales for new mothers; £14million to improve undergraduate medical training in north Wales.
Economy & Infrastructure – £30million towards a new power station at Port Talbot steelworks; £15million towards improvements on the A487 and A470; £2million to scrap the Cleddau bridge tolls by 2020; £3million towards designing a third Menai crossing; £2million towards electric charging points.
Culture – £10million investment in the Welsh language; £2million towards school music programmes; £5million towards the creation of a National Art Museum as well as a football museum located in north Wales.
Social Justice – Reversal of planned £10million cuts to the Supporting People programme.
Although the budget still needs to be scrutinised by the Finance Committee and others, passing the final budget – usually tabled in December – is just a formality; though Plaid have hinted this may be the final deal between the two parties this term.This is the full transcript of our interview with Max Blumenthal. To listen to the audio, click here.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
GREENWALD: This is Glenn Greenwald with The Intercept, and my guest today is Max Blumenthal, who, among other things, is the author of a brand new book entitled The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza. Hey Max, thanks so much for taking the time to chat.
BLUMENTHAL: Great to be on with you, Glenn.
GREENWALD: Yeah, you too. So, the reason I wanted to talk to you isn’t just because you have this very powerful, but, to be perfectly honest, very kind of harrowing and depressing account of the Israeli attack on Gaza. It’s also because it is the one-year anniversary of that war.
And I wanted to begin by asking you this: My perception of the Israeli attack on Gaza, what the Israeli military calls “Operation Protective Edge,” is that the way that it was perceived and talked about and reported around the world was fundamentally different than prior Israeli attacks on Gaza, to the point where I think it actually changed perceptions of both Israel and Gaza in fairly fundamental ways.
And I wanted to begin by asking whether or not you agree with that, and whether you do or you don’t talk about how you think this latest war affected public opinion around the world about Israel, the occupation, and its relationship to Gazans.
BLUMENTHAL: I think that’s right, and there are two major factors in why that took place, and why we saw a real shift.
I think Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 promoted a real shift in opinion within the political left in the U.S. But during that war, we saw the Israeli government, the government press office which hands out credentials to journalists, bar all journalists from entering the Gaza Strip. And so journalists weren’t able, except for the Palestinian journalists who were living in the Gaza Strip, to actually witness the violence up close. And this is disproportionate violence targeting civilians in a way we had never seen before in the Gaza Strip.
This time, during Operation Protective Edge, unlike Cast Lead, we saw the Israeli government issue unprecedented amounts of credentials to journalists, including myself. And when the war began, as journalists were clustered around the Al Deira hotel in Gaza’s sea port, the Israeli navy, which has maintained this siege for six or seven years, about three kilometers out at sea, began lobbing a series of artillery shells at four boys who were affiliated with the main fishing family who are huge in the fishing industry in Gaza City, the Bakr boys. They were playing hide-and-go-seek on the beach in front of journalists who were hanging out at this hotel where most of the journalists stay whenever there’s a war, and their bodies were torn to shreds.
A friend of mine, Lazar Simeonov, was one of the journalists who rushed out of his apartment and caught these harrowing images on film of these really slender, small boys, with their bodies shredded apart, being carried to ambulances. And the intimacy of the violence shook these journalists who had always kind of reported on this as a conflict, and not as a disproportionate assault, or settler-colonial conquest. And I think they really saw what people on the Gaza Strip had been going through, and how the violence was affecting families, women, and children.
And this is the other factor: This war that Israel waged on the Gaza Strip this time was waged with unlimited violence. I mean, the full malevolent capacity of the Israeli military was brought down on the Gaza Strip. The AP found that over 850 people were killed at home, mostly at night, in their beds. And that nearly 90 percent of them were civilians. People being killed with 2,000-pound fragmentation bombs falling on apartment blocks containing over 30 or 40 people. Most of them were from single-family units. So, 89 families were wiped out of the civil registry during Operation Protective Edge.
And so journalists would come upon these scenes of entire families shredded to pieces the day after the attack. I spoke to one journalist when I was waiting for my credentials in Ramallah. He had just come out of Gaza. He had covered Iraq, he had covered Syria, and he said he had never seen anything like the carnage in the Gaza Strip when he arrived at the al-Batsh house. It’s a family called al-Batsh. The head of the household was the police chief in Gaza City. The Israeli military concluded he was a military target, targeted his family. I think 20 members of this family were killed, and this journalist said that he found fingers on the ground, arms dangling from trees, freshly charred flesh in the rubble.
So the journalist corps, the international media corps, was radicalized to a substantial degree by this attack. And Glenn, you did a really important job exposing NBC’s removal of Ayman Mohyeldin who was one of those journalists on the scene for the massacre of the Bakr boys and the killing of Salem Shammaly, this 19-year-old guy who was looking for his family in the rubble of Shuja’iyya and was executed on-camera by an Israeli sniper. Ayman was mysteriously removed – he was basically big-footed by Richard Engel.
So I think this was an important moment for online and independent media in pressuring the mainstream media to report more accurately on how disproportionate the Israeli violence on Gaza was. That this was, in fact, a massacre that took place over the course of 51 days.
GREENWALD: I mean, you cite a lot of evidence that actually comes from the IDF’s own estimate about the massive firepower they brought down on Gazans.
They fired tens of thousands of tank shells, artillery shells, mortars, missiles, bombs, I mean, massive firepower by any estimate. And I want to talk in a little bit about just the general steps that the Israelis took, if any, to avoid civilian casualties, because, of course, defenders of the Israeli government will say, “Look, in every conflict, civilians die, and it’s unfortunate, you know, the Israelis take more steps to protect civilians than other armies, including Hamas,” and I want to talk about those guidelines and those principles in a minute.
But the thing that struck me most about your book, and I think some people might be surprised by this, is it’s really free of any polemics. There’s no inflammatory tone. It seems to me that because you were on the ground in Gaza and you spent so much time talking to people who lived there, who were victims of the attack, that you felt like you wanted to get out of the way and let those stories speak for themselves. And you react as a reader in a much more visceral way than if you read a U.N. study or an AP report saying 900 women and children have been killed.
To really hear the stories in a straightforward, very factual way, really affects you as the reader. And I think that’s what makes your book more worth reading than anything else. But I wanted to ask you, personally, can you describe a little bit the odyssey of hearing and seeing the human suffering that was left by this Israeli attack?
BLUMENTHAL: Well, as you know, Glenn, I wrote a book, Goliath, about the Israel/Palestine crisis, tracing it back to its roots in 1947-1948, the Nakba, and bringing it to the present, outlining the sort of psychological character of Jewish-Israeli society and tracing the rise of the right wing government, so I’ve been covering this for a while. I mean, that book took me five years to write.
I had been unable to get into the Gaza Strip while working on that book. No matter how hard I tried. I waited for a month in Egypt to get in. And this war presented me with the first opportunity to get into the Gaza Strip. And for all I knew about the Israel-Palestine crisis, I was not prepared to come in to such intimate contact with so much human destruction. And to really come to grips with the fact that the Gaza Strip is an open-air prison, and it’s not hyperbolic to say so. We’re not just saying this for rhetorical effect.
In order to enter Gaza, you pass through the Erez terminal with your government press office credential, which means you’re one of very few people who can get in or get out. And you wander down a long corridor, which is a cage, and then you arrive at a metal door at a concrete wall. The metal door opens, it shuts behind you, and you’re inside what is effectively a walled-off ghetto.
You look down this endless wall, to your right, and you see a remote-controlled machine gun perched on the wall. That’s the spot and strike system, which is operated by an all-female unit of Israeli soldiers in the Negev Desert, tens of kilometers away, by remote. And what they do is, they watch the buffer zone — this 300-[meter] area that Palestinians are forbidden from entering inside the Gaza Strip. And anyone who enters who they determine to be a “terrorist,” they eliminate with the push of a joystick button from a remote-controlled machine gun. It’s just that dystopian.
Then after you arrive at the passport control area in the Gaza Strip, which has been blown up by the Israeli military, you see tank treads that have torn up the road. And beyond that is Beit Hanoun. Beit Hanoun has been completely wiped off the face of the earth. Almost every building has been destroyed. And it’s not until you reach Gaza City in the soft heart of the Gaza Strip that you see actual urban areas that are still intact and functional.
When I arrived it was August 13th or 14th and it was the beginning of the first extended cease-fire, when families were returning from these squalid U.N. schools where they had been sheltering. This segment of Gazan society which consists of about 100,000 homeless people that are now referred to in Gaza as the “rubble people.” They decided it was better to just set up tents in front of the ruins of their homes in all of the border regions of Gaza, than to be in these shelters, because Israel kept attacking the shelters while they slept in the courtyards of these schools. Dozens of people were being killed in U.N. shelters.
So I got to interview people. I got unfettered access to people as they were just hanging around in the ruins of their homes. I got to hear the stories of their flight from Israeli assaults as artillery shells and missiles were raining down on their neighborhoods. I got to hear them describe to me the killings of their family members. This was what took place over the course of five days of this extended cease-fire.
What shook me the most was how well I was treated in the rubble. How after interviewing families who would tell me about witnessing their neighbors being destroyed by a missile, that they would beseech me to have lunch with them. I didn’t even know where the lunch would come from. They would chase me down after denouncing my government and insisting that the Obama administration was no better than Netanyahu, and hand me sweets, and tell me that they see a clear difference between the American people and the American government. I mean, that kind of treatment showed me how impeccable the character of these people was, even as they were facing their own immiseration and ruin.
That was kind of deceptive, because I started to adjust, in a weird way, to being in the rubble with these people. Then the bombing started again, and then I had to deal with the terror of night after night of bombings, and naval shelling throughout the day, and drones swooping closely overhead, searching for targets. And I became shell-shocked. So I couldn’t have even imagined going through 51 days of that, especially as a child under the age of seven.
We have to recognize that the Gaza Strip is a ghetto of children. The majority of the people in the Gaza strip are under age 18, and a substantial percentage of those under 18 are under the age of seven, which means they have known nothing in their lives but these three atrocious wars, which have left almost 20 percent of the entire area of the Gaza Strip in ruins.
What’s on those children’s mind? What kind of lives can they have? Can they ever be normal as they go through life without therapy, without relief, without recourse and without justice, with continuous traumatic stress disorder? I can’t even imagine that as I sit here in Los Angeles, talking to you, what they’re going through.
GREENWALD: As you said, you were there for a small part of it, and yet were obviously very affected, if not traumatized, by it, as an adult, who has a life elsewhere that you get to go back to. There’s so many vignettes and stories and anecdotes that you convey, all of which are meaningful in their own right, and I want to encourage people to read the book and really get a sense for them.
But I want to ask you about one in particular that stayed with me, which is the story about the use of one family, essentially as human shields. Ironically, that’s always the claim made about Hamas, that that’s what they do. But this was a case where literally, in kind of a movie-type way, Israeli soldiers used a family as actual human shields. Talk about that story, and what you did to learn about it.
BLUMENTHAL: I documented several cases of people in the Gaza Strip being used as human shields during the war. And they were used by Israeli soldiers. In many cases, kidnapped. And the family you’re referring to |
the arid western state of Rajasthan, Rajendra Singh has helped villages restore their groundwater by promoting the building of small earthen dams called “johads” that collect rains and allow it to soak into the ground. Singh was awarded the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize for his successes in “improving water security in rural India.”
Some Indian researchers say parts of the country can benefit from incorporating traditional knowledge left behind in the johads and stone-lined open-pit wells built generations ago. For centuries, many communities were built around their underground water supplies, including wells with stairs leading down to water.
In the village of Ausa, near the hard-hit farming areas of Maharashtra, a centuries-old fortress built by the Mughal Empire stands above a dry moat. Inside the stone ramparts are open wells, some of which are dry and filled with trees and vines. In the middle of the fortress, one of the deepest wells still has a shallow pool at the bottom, apparently because in this low-lying area, some groundwater is still seeping in.
In other areas of Maharashtra, where water levels in wells are falling, some people have decided to work together to avert disaster. The village of Javulke, for example, has begun a three-year project with the support of ACWADAM to study its groundwater and come up with a management plan.
Minakshi Karale, a woman who runs a public day care center and feeding program, is helping to lead the effort. She said the worsening water situation has left farmers unable to grow as many crops, and some have started migrating elsewhere for part of the year to look for work.
She and a group of villagers walked together to a farmer’s stone-lined well, which was built in the 1930s. The stone stairs circle down to a level where there used to be water. Now the stairs are high and dry, about 20 feet above the pool of water that remains in the bottom of the well.
“The use of water has increased, and if we do not do something about it right now, the next generation will not have any water,” Karale said. “And whether the village will exist will itself become a question if we don’t do something.”
If India is to prevent more of its aquifers from running out, real changes may start with the sort of simple decision that Karale and her village have made: to act before it’s too late.
USA TODAY Investigative Reporter Steve Reilly contributed to this report.
This special report was produced with a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.FileCoin and IPFS – reinventing storage
Stefan Grasmann Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 17, 2017
Juan Benet — the founder of FileCoin — has big ambitions: He wants to create a decentralized storage network (DSN) and a vivid marketplace on top of it. Think of Amazon S3 or similar services. The difference is that you don’t have to trust a central cloud vendor like Amazon who could dictate the pricing of its service. Instead anybody with available storage can join in and become a FileCoin storage provider. In Blockchain terms these are the “miners” of FileCoin. They gain influence in the network with the amount of storage they provide to their users.
The big advantage for FileCoin’s end users is that their files might be stored at a FileCoin provider near-by instead of a central cloud storage, which might be far away — especially if users live in a developing country. FileCoin wants to offer options to replicate and encrypt your data according to your needs. The storage and retrieval of your files will happen transparent from the physical address.
FileCoin tokens are used to create a storage marketplace: Users will pay for the service with FileCoins. Storage providers will get paid with FileCoins. This video helps to understand the basics:
Introduction video to FileCoin, found on https://filecoin.io/
It is not yet clear where FileCoin see the limit of their service. They could stay focused on their technology and their marketplace. But they could also go one step further and offer higher-level applications and try to compete with services like DropBox or OneDrive.
Technology
FileCoin builds heavily upon IPFS — the Interplanetary File System, which itself wants to replace HTTP. Yes you read that right.
The creators of IPFS see many problems in the basic design of HTTP and want to create a superior protocol that doesn’t rely on central instances and URLs as basic components to retrieve data. The basic ideas are fascinating. I highly recommend to watch this TED talk of IPFS’s creator Juan Benet who is also deeply involved with FileCoin:
TED Talk about the motivation to create IPFS
IPFS can be seen as a compelling foundation for Blockchain technologies. It has some impressing characterics to replicate and address files based on their content instead of their location. It also can be used to circumvent address-based censorship — as you can read in this interesting article from The Observer. One idea is to mirror Wikipedia with IPFS. This was used during the recent crisis in Catalonia.
FileCoin builds heavily upon the achievements of IPFS. It adds its FileCoin Token (FIL) and Blockchain elements on top of IPFS in order to create a storage marketplace that keeps all participants motivated to store and retrieve files of end users.
An interesting part is FileCoin’s consensus algorithm. It differs heavily from existing Blockchain strategies: FileCoin uses Proof-of-Storage instead of Proof-of-Work as we know it from Bitcoin or Ethereum. FileCoin’s whitepaper talks a lot about how its Proof-of-Storage methods (there are two of them: Proof-of-Replication and Proof-of-Spacetime) work in order to serve its main use cases and make sure that storage providers really store what they claim to do. The authors also explain FileCoin’s motivation to find a consensus algorithm that is useful to its network and produces reusable results (chapter 6 of the whitepaper). This should help to avoid the huge energy consumption problems we know from Bitcoin.
The whitepaper is also quite honest and sees a lot of open research work to accomplish in order to make the ideas a reality and verify some of the new strategies (see chapter 8).
Funding
FileCoin is driven by Protocol Labs. They define themselves as a research, development, and deployment lab for network protocols. They want to create new markets with their protocols as you ran read here. Protocol Labs are very focused on open source software and backed by several well-known investors like Y-Combinator.
FileCoin was one of the biggest ICOs in 2017 and collected 257 million USD. Yet it is one of those extremely ambitious projects that will need some time to fulfil its promises. I would judge it as a long-term investment.
Impact on society
FileCoin might have a big positive impact on society — especially for users in developing countries with limited or slow access to cloud providers. These users should have cheaper and faster access to relevant data if FileCoin’s plan work out as intended.
It’s also very open by design. In theory everyone with free space on a harddrive could join in as a storage provider.
FileCoin might also help against fake news since files are identified via a hash of their content. Changes in files will create new instances of these files, so the original content won’t get lost.
FileCoin’s offering might also lead to the founding of small local storage providers who act as FileCoin miners — thus driving local economies instead of global players. Bit this hope might turn out wrong — as we can see in the Bitcoin ecosystem with its few but huge mining companies.
Will FileCoin create a new world-wide storage bazaar with smaller players? Photo by neosiam, found on Pexels
Conclusion
FileCoin and IPFS are courageous projects for sure. FileCoin is also a nice example how Blockchain technologies strive to not only create new decentralized use cases, but also new markets. It remains to be seen if these new markets can get established with the necessary balance between users and providers.
I will definitively keep an eye on these amazing projects.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to be an investment advice of any sort. Do your own research and search for professional support if you intend to invest in one of the projects mentioned in this article.
If you liked this story you might also like my new one about “The hidden power of Utility Tokens” or my “Blockchain vNext series” in general.Details are still rolling in, but check out this series of tweets that started going around in the last few minutes from Chris Daniels, a reporter for KING-TV in Seattle, which you can see below.
Jerramy Stevens, the former tight end for the Seahawks and Buccaneers, is engaged to Hope Solo, apparently. A person who answered the phone at the municipal court in Kirkland, Wash., confirmed that Stevens had been arraigned at 1 p.m. (PST) for an allegation of assault of the fourth degree. We'll leave the rest to Daniels, who is in the courtroom:
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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer just posted more info:
According to court documents, Stevens was arrested after police were called to an altercation in which Solo's younger brother, Marcus, had used a "stun gun." Hope Solo was found with blood on her elbow but was not, according to documents, very cooperative with police Monday morning. Marcus Solo was found with blood on his forehead and knees after he allegedly fought with some unwanted party guests. However, police found Stevens alseep on the floor of a bedroom, and Stevens said he had not heard the altercation between Marcus Solo and the unwanted male guests, according to the police report. The reporting officer asked why Stevens was hiding on the floor behind the bed, yet Stevens said he wasn't hiding but was sleeping. Police noticed, however, that Stevens had blood on his cheek and his shirt. Stevens told the reporting officer that the blood on his cheek may have gotten there when Hope Solo kissed him. Stevens did not have an answer as to why there was dried blood on his shirt, according to documents. Because police must make an arrest in domestic violence calls, and because Stevens had blood on him, officers arrested him on suspicion of fourth-degree assault. He was not charged.
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Update (5:07 p.m.): MyNorthwest.com has a photo of Stevens, Solo, and some jack-o-lanterns.
Update (5:15 p.m.): WTF, Hope Solo?
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[Twitter/Seattle Post-Intelligencer]Earlier today VIZ Media announced VIA a press release that the Freeza Arc of the Dragon Ball Full Color Comic will be releasing with Volume 1 on May 3, 2016. Back in July at AnimeExpo VIZ made the announcement that the Full Color Comics would in fact be continuing beginning in May 2016, but no specific date was provided until today.
The Full Color Freeza Arc can be pre-ordered today via Amazon. Full press release below:
VIZ MEDIA RELEASES DRAGON BALL FULL COLOR: FREEZA ARC IN BOLD PRINT AND DIGITAL EDITIONS Major Story Arc Of Akira Toriyama’s Bestselling Action Adventure Series Arrives In A Vivid Large-Size Color Manga Edition Next Month! San Francisco, CA, April 7, 2016 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, offers a vibrant dose of Akira Toriyama’s most famous manga (graphic novel) series – DRAGON BALL – with the release of DRAGON BALL FULL COLOR: FREEZA ARC, Volume 1 on May 3rd. The new edition of the classic action epic from the Shonen Jump imprint covers a fan-favorite story arc of the series and will be presented in a vivid, full-color volume at a larger 6 5/8″ x 10 ¼” trim size. The volume is rated ‘A’ for All Ages and will carry a print MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN. The DRAGON BALL FULL COLOR: FREEZA ARC, Volume 1 also launches digitally on May 3rd via VIZManga.com and the VIZ Manga App, as well as from the Nook, Kobo, Kindle, iBooks, comiXology, and GooglePlay stores. Future full color editions of the 5-volume FREEZA ARC will be published on a quarterly basis. After his epic battle with Vegeta, Son Goku and his friends must obtain the wish-granting Dragon Balls in order to resurrect their fallen allies! Their search will take them all the way to the planet Namek, where the evil Freeza and his minions are slaughtering the Namekians in order to fulfill Freeza’s wish for immortality. What will it take to defeat this great evil? Also available digitally and in print from VIZ Media are Volumes 1-3 of the DRAGON BALL FULL COLOR: SAIYAN ARC, the exciting preceding storyline of the classic series. Renowned worldwide for his playful, innovative storytelling and humorous, distinctive art style, Akira Toriyama burst onto the manga scene in 1980 with the wildly popular Dr. Slump. His hit series Dragon Ball (published in the U.S. as Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z) ran from 1984 to 1995 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. He is also known for his design work on video games such as Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, Tobal No. 1, and Blue Dragon. His manga works include JACO THE GALACTIC PATROLMAN, COWA! And SAND LAND (all published by VIZ Media), as well as Kajika, Neko Majin, and an illustrated children’s book, Toccio the Angel. For additional information on DRAGON BALL and other manga titles published by VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.
On February 4, 2014 Volume 1 of the Saiyan arc was released. Three volumes came out between the first release in February, and the release of Volume 3 on June 3, 2014. These three volumes brought us to the completion of the Saiyan Arc.
For those that do not own the previous 3 volumes, your can order them right here:Medarot 7’s currently out in Japan, and of course we’ve got some reviews, and sales figures to look over. On the review front famed Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the game a solid 8/8/7/7 score totaling to 30/40. This score actually happens to be the exact same as what Medarot DS received in 2010. 4gamer reader reviews give the game an 85 compared to DS’s 75. After 25 user reviews Amazon.jp has Medarot 7 at a great 4 stars out of 5. Comparatively, Medarot DS has a 3.5 from 19 ratings.
On the sales front … unfortunately things aren’t looking so pretty. According to video game sales tracker Media Create the game sold 49,519 units in its first week of release. This figure is slightly down from the number Medarot DS pushed in 2010 which was 50,164. The tracker said that Medarot 7 only sold 40-41% (depending on the version, with Kuwagata’s sell through being slightly higher) of its initial shipment which is estimated to be 120-125k.
As for why? Well, there’s a few reasons. Medarot 7 launched at an expensive ¥6,090 compared to DS’s ¥5,040. There’s also the simple fact of userbase differences. Medarot 7 is launching on a userbase of 7.3 million in Japan on 3DS. Medarot DS launched on a userbase of 30 million in 2010. 3DS also has competition from Level-5 with Little Battlers eXperience Boost still charting months after release.
On the bright side though, it needs to be stated that Medarot DS ended up shipping 150,000 units in Japan with a similar debut. If the game showcases some legs that first week shipment can be sold through. Rocket Company are still promoting the game as their recent TGS presence proved:
If you want to join in on the conversation about Medarot 7 check out our forum.Trump questions whether Mitt Romney is Mormon while speaking to supporters during a rally in Salt Lake City, Utah on Mar. 18. (Reuters)
SALT LAKE CITY — Donald Trump made an aggressive overture to the Mormon community here in Utah Friday evening, praising members of the church while also off-handedly mocking the authenticity of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s faith.
“I have many friends that live in Salt Lake. I have a lot of friends, I have a lot of friends. By the way, Mitt Romney is not one of them,” Trump told a crowd of supporters at the Infinity Events Center. “Did he choke? Did this guy choke? He’s a choke artist, I can’t believe. Are you sure he’s a Mormon? Are we sure?”
Romney’s Mormon faith is well-documented and has been the subject of lengthy discussion in the past. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has made a home in Utah and regularly speaks about his religion. The state is known for its outsize proportion of Mormons.
Trump lavished praise on Utah residents throughout his speech, in particular speaking about his ties to people in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons.
“I have a couple of friends, I have actually one who’s Jewish and he loves... the Mormons, he loves the Mormons,” Trump said. “... And I have so many friends, I’ve had many Mormons work for me and they give to the church and they constantly give. Sometimes I make the payment directly to the church. They say they don't want to be tempted by keeping the money.”
“They’re amazing people and it’s an honor to be with you tonight, those of you that are Mormons,” Trump added later."An honor. I love you."
As Trump spoke, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the venue to protest the real estate mogul’s controversial anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Last week the Trump campaign saw an escalating series of brawls at campaign events around the country, putting a spotlight on the uncomfortable racial tensions that have manifested at his rallies. Liberal protesters have flocked to protest at his events in recent weeks, as he has inched closer to the nomination.
Trump mentioned the protest outside during his speech but minimized its importance.
“By the way, outside looks absolutely fine. They said we have 2,500 of you and they have some of the agitators slash protesters. Some are protesters, about 2 percent. And then some are agitators,” Trump said.
“We’re not causing any problems, and if you look at some of the other places we’ve been it’s been very, very safe and you’ll have a protester or agitator but stand up and start screaming then the crowd screams them down,” he added. And in fact I wouldn’t mind going over that original noise.”The Ethereum protocol, described by some in the cryptocurrency community as a new rival or sibling for frontrunner technology Bitcoin, is supported by its 22 year old founder Vitalik Buterin, other co-founders including Toronto Stock Exchange chief digital officer Anthony Di Iorio, and a varied board of special advisors and technical experts who report directly to the Swiss-based Ethereum Foundation.
Ethereum also receives input from Roman Mandeleil, who coded the protocol's Java implementation and comes from a former career at IBM Labs. Mandeleil is the CEO and founder of ether.camp, the protocol's most popular block and contract explorer.
According to ethstats.net, Ethereum is now on block #2,048,841. Unlike Bitcoin's eventual 21 million coin supply ceiling, there is no hard cap to the amount of Ether that can be created over time, but only 5 Ether per mined block are generated - right now, a new block is mined approximately every 14.4 seconds.
Ether is traded on several regulated exchanges in the United States, including Gemini, Bitfinex, and Coinbase GDAX. (Coinbase also recently announced integration of Ether on coinbase.com, the company's primary consumer wallet platform.)
Increased visibility of Ether seems to have attracted the attention of market participants far outside of the usual San Francisco Bitcoin start-up scene, as earlier this evening I was able to confirm a rumor that global financial services company UBS is nearing a formal announcement regarding its acceptance of Ethereum.
The Swiss bank plans to work with Ethereum, both as an experimental emerging asset class and as a rail for ferrying various kinds of financial data around the world.
A piece published by CryptoCoinsNews reporter Elliot Maras last year detailed a "settlement coin" being built by UBS, and separately, a project within the bank to build a bonds platform atop the Ethereum protocol.
"The smart bond platform enables the issuance of bonds through distributed ledger technology. The bonds would be'smart contracts,' programmed to pay out coupons automatically," CCN reported at the time.
The forthcoming UBS announcement appears to be a more market-ready version of both concepts, reducing settlement times and improving redemption flow for a variety of financial products. Stephan Karpischek and Ian Cusden of UBS shared their "smart bonds" idea last year at DEVCON1.
I am aware of another major bank in the advanced stages of developing new tools atop Ethereum, but as I am unable to confirm with a source at the company, I will not be publishing the firm's name until it is reported elsewhere separately.
At time of publication, requests for comment sent to UBS AG's press office in New York were unreturned. UBS AG is a major global financial services company, incorporated in Zurich, Switzerland.Yesterday the D.C. City Council unanimously approved a measure that would gradually raise the $10.50 minimum wage to $15 by 2020, and then index future increases to changes in the Consumer Price Index. These new scheduled increases will come on the heels of an already significant 39 percent increase currently being phased in. With the passage of this bill, D.C follows California in passing substantial minimum wage hikes beyond the scope of past experience in the U.S. The related adverse disemployment effects will primarily impact younger workers and people with limited job skills or educational attainment, putting the important first rung of the job ladder out of reach for many of them.
While proponents of an increase tend to focus on families, roughly half of minimum wage workers are between 16 and 24, and a more than one-fifth are teenagers. People lacking a high school diploma are more likely to be in minimum wage jobs, and even with some recent incremental improvements, the 4-year adjusted cohort graduation rate for D.C. public schools is only 64.4 percent and for African-American students it is less than 62 percent.
While the aggregate unemployment rate for the District might not seem alarmingly high at 6.4 percent in April, there is a lot of variation between the eight wards, with the unemployment rate as high as 9.9 percent in Ward 7 and 12 percent in Ward 8. One survey found that almost half of responding businesses had already reduced staff or hours to cope with the first raft of minimum wage increases. Younger workers and people with limited educational attainment will find it increasingly difficult to find employment as labor costs continue to surge.
These minimum wage jobs often play an important role in helping people develop the skills they need to eventually move on to more lucrative and promising jobs, far from being a dead-end where these workers get stuck forever. The majority of minimum wage workers that stick with it get a raise within a year. An earlier study looking at data from 1979 to 2002 found that almost two-thirds of minimum wage employees who continue working earned higher than the minimum wage within a year. More recently, 72 percent of minimum wage earners got a raise between 2014 and 2015. About a fifth of these people saw their earnings rise due to mandated minimum wage increases, but 57.5 percent of people working continuously got a raise or moved into a higher-paying job outside of those effects, and this share could have been even higher in the absence of those legislated minimum wage increases. Far from stagnating in these entry-level jobs, most of the people in these positions use these opportunities as a springboard to better things.
Supporters of the new bill may say that they want to ensure that hard work is rewarded and that people can support their families, but D.C.’s substantial minimum wage increases will make it much harder for many people, especially younger workers and people with limited job skills, to find any work at all.
Cross-posted from Cato.org.Things are starting to move ahead for the Flash movie according to Heroic Hollywood. The film which stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen is slated to be released March 16th, 2018. But Miller has already appeared as the Flash in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in both in one of Bruce Wayne’s dream sequence and in Lex Luthor’s surveillance video footage.
Now the film is moving forward with casting of these five roles.
Iris West: described as a cross between Christiane Amanpour and Carry Bradshaw
Eobard Thawne: described as Central City’s Bill Gates with a degenerative disease.
Fred Chyre: described as a gruff cop and the closest thing Barry has to a friend.
Len Snart: described as ex-military and working for Thawne.
Jay Garrick: described as a former professor who was working on the speed force. Most likely a cameo.
The descriptions are very loose and not necessarily a good indication of what the film will be. But we can see that we’re likely to have Reverse-Flash and Captain Cold as our villains.
About Dan Wickline Has quietly been working at Bleeding Cool for over three years. He has written comics for Image, Top Cow, Shadowline, Avatar, IDW, Dynamite, Moonstone, Humanoids and Zenescope. He is the author of the Lucius Fogg series of novels and a published photographer.
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None foundGAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The confrontation between the Salafist jihadist movement and Hamas-led security services in the Gaza Strip has returned to the surface following a two-year truce between the two sides.
Strong tensions returned after security services arrested Salafist Sheikh Adnan Mayt, a prominent Salafist jihadist activist, April 6. This was followed by the arrest of other Salafists and raids of their homes, an April 29 statement by Ansar al-Dawla al-Islamiya (Arabic for “supporters of the Islamic State”) said.
The arrests increased following the two roadside bomb blasts that detonated in the Gaza Strip on April 18, which the Interior Ministry described as "primitive." One of the blasts exploded near the outer wall of the UNRWA headquarters, and the other went off near the UNRWA general prosecutor's office. A third explosion took place a day earlier near the Abu Mazen roundabout in western Gaza.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Abu al-Ayna al-Ansari, a Salafist movement official, said that his movement did not conduct these bombings, and condemned the arrests of 30 Salafists that began in mid-April across the Gaza Strip, especially in the central Gaza Strip and the south.
“These explosions usually precede the arrival of the consensus government’s delegation to Gaza, for reasons that act in the interest of parties Hamas knows very well,” he said. “Since the truce agreement between Hamas and us [Salafists], there has not been any violation on our part. Following the blasts, Hamas demanded that some of our fellow [Salafists] turn themselves in. Yet they refused, which caused the issue to escalate into prosecutions and the raid of more than five houses.”
On May 3, Ansar al-Dawla al-Islamiya posted on Twitter: “We are giving Hamas and its affiliated security services 72 hours starting from the publication date of this statement to release all the Salafist detainees; otherwise all [possible] options will be [made] available to respond.”
There are a number of Salafist jihadist groups in the Gaza Strip, including Jaysh al-Islam, Jaysh al-Ummah and the Mujahedeen Shura Council. Hamas has succeeded in controlling these groups through its security solution, detention, repression and murder.
The most notable clash between Hamas and the Salafists was when the Hamas government security services entered the Ibn Taymiyyah Mosque, killing Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa and 15 of his followers, after he had proclaimed a so-called Islamic emirate in the Palestinian territories in August 2009.
The tensions, however, have returned and reached their peak after an attack by Hamas-led security services on the Al-Moutahabbin Mosque in the east of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. The mosque was later demolished by Hamas on May 3.
Ansar al-Dawla al-Islamiya wrote on its official website, “The Hamas regime gangs have demolished the mosque in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.”
Ansari told Al-Monitor, “The mosque, which is in an agricultural area, served as a prayer room. It was attacked by Hamas after prayer Friday, as the people were leaving it. [Hamas] shot into the air, beat the worshipers and arrested seven Salafists, including Sheikh Yasser Abu Houli, the imam of the mosque. Then on [May 3], the mosque was swept away.”
It seems like the response to the mosque attack came soon after. On May 4, unidentified people detonated an explosive device near a police station in the vicinity of a general security office in northern Gaza City, as well as another explosive device near the Darul Arqam School in eastern Gaza.
About these blasts, Ansari said, “We do not deny that the security services’ escalation has caused the explosions, as a reaction by our fellow Salafists. However, there is an agreement to contain [the situation] at present. We are not perfectly sure that everyone will abide by the agreement, since it is a large movement. We are trying not to be dragged into the bloodshed. The war is still alive in people’s memory, and we do not want any fighting to take place in the internal arena, as long as they [Hamas] keep their hands off the Salafist youth.”
For its part, the Hamas-led Interior Ministry published a statement May 6 in which Gaza police Chief Tayseer al-Batsh said, “It is true that there is a lack of capabilities and resources; some incidents occurred and the consensus government has abandoned its responsibilities, but that does not mean there is a state of insecurity. Rather, there is a state of security in Gaza.”
Deputy Interior Minister Kamel Abu Madi told Al-Monitor that the ministry has dealt with the situation in the best way possible, and no one is allowed to violate the law. He stressed that the security services in the Gaza Strip are using all the capabilities they have to uphold the law and the citizens’ security.
“No one can be arrested with no reason," Abu Madi said. "The arrests came based on specific behaviors and wrongful acts.”
He noted that the ministry has good relationships with the Salafists and any religious persons or Palestinian citizens, as long as they are not linked to any foreign or Arab security parties.
Al-Monitor learned from a security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, that internal and external mediations are taking place and that representatives of Palestinian factions are mediating between Hamas and the Salafist groups to contain the crisis.
Ansari said that the ministry has already met with the factions' representatives, who delivered a message from Hamas confirming the latter’s insistence on the Salafists’ involvement in the bombings. “We have responded, making our position and innocence clear, and clarified that we have nothing to do with the bloodshed and that we are committed to [exercising] self-restraint,” he said.
Ansari told Al-Monitor that Salafist groups in the Gaza Strip are united amid this crisis, and agreed that they are against the bloodshed. He added, “Yet, in case the Hamas-led security services choose to escalate, we would like the people to know that we were in fact willing to stop the bloodshed.”
Ansari believed that Hamas’ strategy regarding the Salafists has changed after Quartet representative Tony Blair’s visit to the Gaza Strip on Feb. 15, and subsequent to the Hamas-Saudi Arabia rapprochement. “Hamas has changed [the way it deals with] us, after it moved closer to the US-led coalition against terrorism, and following the discussion about a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel,” he said.
The 72-hour deadline that Ansar al-Dawla al-Islamiya gave to Gaza’s security services is over. Nevertheless, nothing has happened yet.
A Salafist source told Al-Monitor that abductions of Salafists are continuing, including the kidnapping of Salafist Sheik Mouchir Arafa in the southern city of Khan Yunis. The source also said that Salafists arrested by Hamas security forces are being subjected to beatings, torture and humiliation.By Professor Vaidyanathan
Normally reticent and mild mannered Manmohan Singh in an interview to Science magazine during February mentioned that American NGO’s are funding the protests against Kudankulam nuclear plant. He also blamed protests against genetically modified crops on groups which were funded from the US and Scandinavian countries.
He said that “they are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces”. This is a major revelation coming from the PM and unfortunately our media which is frenzy or agenda driven has not fully comprehended the dimensions of the issues raised by our PM. Let us understand the nature of the threat posed by these NGOs or WMD’s –Weapons of Mass Destruction – to our republic and the need to stem the rot here and now.
Among the largest members of the Indian economy is the NGO sector or what is known as the Third Sector or Civil Society (other than government and private) in academic circles.
Two important criteria are that they should be independent from government and organizations not meant for making profit. But many get money from the government or from foreign governments. The type of activities they are involved is mind-boggling which can extent from “aging issues” to “corruption” to “human rights” to “waste management”. Many of them call themselves “Civil Society” and involve in socio-political activities even though they do not directly participate in the electoral process. Many are Church-related organization and others involve in human rights issues as a civil society organization. The funding for many of these civil society groups is substantially international.
Before we proceed let us look at some numbers.
The international flow of funds is regulated by the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act [FCRA Act] of the Central Government which the ministry of home affairs has re-formulated now. In the period from 2001 to 2010 [ 9 years] such organizations received more than Rs 70000 crore and in the year 2009-10 [of which data is available] it was Rs 10338 crore
Salient Features for the year 2009-2010 [ year for which latest data is available]
Its salient features are as below:
I. A total of 38436 Associations have been registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act up to 31.3.2010. During the year 2009-10, 2022 Associations were granted registration and 388 Associations were granted prior permission to receive foreign contribution.
II. 21508 Associations reported a total receipt of an amount of Rs.10, 337.59crore as foreign contribution.
III. Among the States and the Union Territories, the highest receipt of foreign contribution was reported by Delhi (Rs. 1815.91 crore), followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs. 1663.31 crore) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs. 1324.87 crore).
IV. Among the districts, the highest receipt of foreign contribution was reported byChennai (Rs. 871.60 crore), followed by Bengaluru (Rs. 702.43 crore) and Mumbai (Rs. 606.63 crore).
V. The list of donor countries is headed by the USA (Rs. 3105.73 crore) followed by Germany (Rs. 1046.30 crore) and UK (Rs. 1038.68 crore).
VI The list of foreign donors is topped by the Gospel For Asia Inc, USA (Rs. 232.71 crore) followed by the Fundacion Vicente Ferrer, Barcelona, Spain (Rs.228.60 crore) and the World Vision Global Centre, USA (Rs.197.62 crore).
VII. Among the Associations which reported receipt of foreign contribution, the highest amount of foreign contribution was received by the World Vision of India, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (Rs.208.94 crore), followed by the Rural Development Trust, Ananthapur, A.P. (Rs.151.31 crore) and Shri Sevasubramania Nadar Educational Charitable Trust, Chennai, T.N. (Rs. 94.28 crore).
VIII The highest amount of foreign contribution was received and utilized forEstablishment Expenses (Rs. 1482.58 crore), followed by Rural Development (Rs. 944.30 crore), Welfare of Children (Rs. 742.42 crore), Construction and Maintenance of school/college (Rs.630.78 crore) and Grant of Stipend/scholarship/assistance in cash and kind to poor/deserving children (Rs. 454.70 crore).
(We have provided some salient statistics from the Home ministry web site in Tables 1 to 5- See Appendix)
Some important observations.
Establishment expenses consist of buying land, buildings, jeeps, setting up offices, mobiles, laptops, cameras, salaries, consultancy fees, honorarium, and foreign travel etc., constituting nearly 50 % of the expenses and in some cases as high as 70%. This goes against the grain of service motto where the ultimate recipient is supposed to get the maximum. Now, such organizations even recruit “executives” from management institutions. Most of the top recipients are Church or Church related organizations. They use the funds for service as well as religious purposes.
However, they are not covered by Right to Information Act as they are not part of Government. For instance, this writer has tried unsuccessfully to get the annual accounts from the web site of the top 25 recipients, many of whom are often reported in newspapers and TV and stressing the importance of “transparency” in the functioning of the government. Many do not have any information on their web sites. Some of the web sites contain nothing on finances. These Civil society groups who day in day out harangue us on TV talk shows about transparency and disclosures for the government and corporate sector etc., should practice what they preach
There is a long list of illustrative programmes /activities to be carried out by these associations receiving foreign contributions. This is given in the Home Ministry web site.
More importantly the amended act suggests that acceptance of foreign contributions should be within the broad parameters as |
-edge digital strategy to enhance badminton’s fan-engagement experience. The aim is to create a mix of digital channels, tools and activities to provide exciting engagement with the sport’s fan base all-year round. It will focus on star players and tournaments and will be designed to support BWF’s commercial activities and increase the value of badminton not only to fans but to the sport’s commercial stakeholders as well.EVACUATION: Passengers have spilled out of the station on Line 6
There are reports eight people have been injured in the incident at the metro stop Place d'Italie – either in the blast or through smoke inhalation.
Three metro lines – 5, 6 and 7 – all run through the stop in the city's 13th arrondissement.
A police spokesman ruled out a terror attack, confirming the explosion and smoke was caused by “a technical fault”.
A spokesman for the metro operator RATP said: "There was a technical incident on line 6 and there was a release of smoke. Maintenance workers are on the spot. Traffic has been interrupted on part of the line."
It comes just days after Friday’s lone-wolf attack in the French capital on Louvre museum.
Machete-wielding Abdullah Reda al-Hamahmy, 29, was shot several times by French military as he screamed “Allah Akbar” during Friday’s terror attack on the Louvre in Paris.Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the best-loved companied in the United States, and with good reason. The firm offers an incredible service at low prices. It lets consumers get what they want when they want it, and if there’s any problem customer service takes care of it. Some people, however, see Jeff Bezos’ bookseller as a fundamental evil, and calls are coming from Washington D.C. to punish the firm.
Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, outlined such a complaint in The Hill on Tuesday morning. He reckons that the e-commerce giant needs to be stopped before it steam rolls over the entire US economy. The point of view may seem a little bit extreme, but ideas close to it have been espoused by all sorts of influential people among the elite.
Learning from the grand era of American corporate dominance, the gilded age which encompassed the closing decades of the nineteenth century, Amazon.com, Inc. only seems to have three choices. First, it can stop growing, something that seems anathema to its mission thus far. Second it can allow the government to shut off its growth, and possibly pull it apart. Thirdly, it can do what industrialists did after the Civil War and become a major influencer of the government itself.
Amazon is a labor destroyer
The big argument that Perrone made in this morning’s piece was about the effects on labor. Coming from a union leader that’s hardly a surprise. The key point is this:
To see a list of high yielding CDs go here
“If Amazon’s dominance continues to be left unaddressed, politicians will one day have to explain to millions of displaced workers that their jobs and their children’s jobs weren’t lost because of unfair trade, changing markets, or true competition, but because they were unwilling to challenge an obvious retail monopoly that believes every job can be done better without people.”
The idea here is that workers rights are something worth caring about when it comes to anti-trust. Whether or not you agree with the argument being made by Perrone is immaterial. There is a growing coalition of forces lining up against Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Amazon.com, Inc. is turning into a monopoly
The way things are going, it seems that Amazon may soon be classified as a monopoly. That’s not because the firm is becoming substantially more dominant in any single market, it’s because many people in power are pushing for rule changes that could affect the firm.
As an aside, be wary of the term monopoly. Though it can be technically argued all day long that Jeff Bezos’ firm isn’t really a monopoly, people using the term are doing as short hand for something else. Abusive market dominance is what the Federal Trade Commission would charge Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) with in a real case. The use of the words monopoly or “anti-trust enforcement” or anything else won’t sway the opinion of the court, though it might be a valid communications strategy if arguing against rule changes.
Fourteen Democratic lawmakers signed a letter to the FTC recently looking for the institution to deeply scrutinize the Amazon attempt to acquire Whole Foods. They’re looking for the trade regulator to look at the effect the merger will have on workers and suppliers. That would require a dramatic change in the way that the FTC has carried out anti-trust investigations for decades.
The paradigm in anti-trust regulation comes from the Chicago school of economics. It says that the consumer is king. Therefore if a merger isn’t likely to increase prices, then it should be allowed. Putting labor and suppliers into the mix makes the calculus more complicated, and likely works against Jeff Bezos’ favor.
What’s more, the Democratic Party has made anti-trust enforcement a central part of its “Better Deal” platform. The risk of enforcement against Amazon appears to be growing, and there’s only one force that’s likely to be able to stop it.
Government by Amazon
Despite what you’ve heard about the Trump administration, there has been a lot more corruption in American history than that displayed by the current residents of the White House. From James Buchanan to Calvin Coolidge, the White House has a history of intense corrupt influence.
The gilded age was likely the height of that sort of influence. It eventually ended with Theodore Roosevelt’s trust-busting. That broke both the market and political power of the United States. Though some economic historians may believe that the effects are overblown, there is a common view that this set up the country for a period of growth that lead to the US becoming the most powerful country in the world.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), in order to battle against the forces looking to paint it as abusive, is going to have to involve itself in the influence game. The firm spent more than $3 million in lobbying in the second quarter of 2017. That’s a record for the firm.
As it grows, that is the firm’s future. It may have to spend more and more to keep anti-trust regulators from its doors. At the same time, it may have increased legal costs as it tries to prevent any cases against it that might crop up.
Amazon stock holders should be careful of these risk
The firm’s shares are valued based on outlandish earnings in the future. If the state steps in to put an end to its strategies, that could very well result in a massive destruction of shareholder value.
There is a risk of action against Amazon, and it’s going to have to do its best to work against it. If the Democratic Party takes power on an anti-trust message that may get a lot more difficult for the firm.
Douglas Kass, a short seller and market commentator, reckons these problems may raise their head sooner rather than later. In an email to clients he wrote, “At the core of my concern is that the disruptive impact of Amazon’s growth (and plans) could lead to government restrictions affecting that growth.”
That’s precisely what Amazon stock holders should be afraid of. It’s also why the company is involving itself more and more in government in order to convince lawmakers not to take action against its growing hold on the e-commerce market.
(Visited 3,346 times, 1 visits today)Well we all saw this coming, didn't we. Today Apple has finally removed VLC for iOS from the AppStore after complaints from VLC developers and Free Software Foundation.
As many would know, VLC is an amazing media player which plays almost any video format that you throw at it. In September last year, it was ported to iOS and made available in the AppStore. It was very well received - who wouldn't want VLC on their iPad.
However, trouble started because of the licensing terms of the AppStore which was incompatible with GPL. The VLC developer and the FSF notified Apple of the licensing conflict and asked Apple to change the license or remove the app.
This is what Rémi Denis-Courmont, one of the main VLC developers wrote back then:
VLC media player is free software licensed solely under the terms of the... GNU General Public License (a.k.a. GPL). Those terms are contradicted by the products usage rules of the AppStore through which Apple delivers applications to users of its mobile devices.
VLC is not the first app in tha AppStore which has had conflicts with the GPL licensing - GNU Go and Battle of Wesnoth has also had the same problem. In both the cases, Apple decided to remove them instead of changing the license.
In the case of VLC too, Apple has decided that it is better to remove the app than to change the license - thus depriving iOS users of a fantastic media player.
Announcing the removal, Rémi Denis-Courmont wrote this on Planet VideoLAN:
At last, Apple has removed VLC media player from its application store. Thus the incompatibility between the GNU General Public License and the AppStore terms of use is resolved - the hard way. This end should not have come to a surprise to anyone, given the precedents.
However, those who have downloaded VLC on their iOS devices can continue to use it - it is just that it will not be available to new users and updates will not be available.
Read more about the VLC - iOS conflict here:
1. VLC May Be Removed From Apple's AppStore
2. VLC developer takes a stand against DRM enforcement in Apple's AppStoreOne may find it difficult to find a band or artist as prolific as the Melbourne, Australia-based King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard. With 11 albums already to their name, it’s most appropriate to describe King Gizzard as a collective of relentlessly hard-working mad men unhinged by their eclectic weirdness.
Sketches of Brunswick East
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Aug. 18
After customizing their instrumental setup for microtonal scales in the hypnotic Flying Microtonal Banana, then pulverizing listeners with aggressive psychedelic muddiness in their destructive three-chapter path through Murder of the Universe earlier this year, King Gizzard introduces another dimension to their creative sphere with the band’s third album of the year (yes, ridiculous, I know). Although the band’s prolific efforts have consistently rewarded listeners with bold jumps in style, Sketches of Brunswick East, a jazz-leaning project should not cause anyone to mistake them for experimental virtuosos. Needless to say, King Gizzard’s latest work will delight those who are willing to take a chance on their brave ventures through avant-garde jazz, which is in collaboration with Alex Brettin of Mild High Club.
Inspired by the titular Melbourne suburb in which they have devised their vast discography, Sketches of Brunswick East is an album perfectly pitched between Mild High Club’s hues of laid back lo-fi and King Gizzard’s zany spells of psychedelic sporadicism. While this record possesses many Gizzard-isms and trippy freak-outs from their back catalog, the overarching jazz is a refreshing sound for the Aussies. Sketches unwinds with a grooviness unlike anything the band has displayed thus far, as it takes a naturally languished approach, strolling by like a late summer afternoon while basking in the mellow sunshine with an unfettered sense of relaxation. This carefree atmosphere and meditational charisma are punctuated by tumbling drums, sticky bass work, whimsical woodwinds and overall melodies that are liberated as can be.
Sketches Of Brunswick East by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
King Gizzard had never been ones for concise arrangements, and on Sketches the band proves no different as its sound sprawls with mysticism, takes languid twists and turns and stretches to extremes without ever meandering through its attempts at free-flowing forms of sound. With lounge jazz influences domineering every nook and cranny, there are occasional trips of allusions to prior albums and psychedelia that give Sketches just enough variance to hold listeners’ breaths in apprehension. Tracks like “D-Day” and “The Book” are a pleasant surprise as they pay homage to Flying Microtonal Banana and its mesmeric microtones. The spooky “Tezeta” reacquaints familiar listeners with Han-Tyumi (main character of the third chapter from Murder of the Universe), who appears to be recovered from his episode of ceaseless vomiting and destructive mindset toward murdering the universe. “Journey to (S)hell” shifts from subliminal lounge jazz and turns its listeners on their heads with sudden psychedelic lunacy complete with squealing guitars and synthesizers. The rest of the tracks however, relinquish themselves to the overarching leisure and mysticism set forth by the jazzy wizardry of the Mild High Club.
Needless to say, there will be those who criticize this album for sounding too much like a Mild High Club project and will go as far to ding this record for crossing the threshold into elevator music territory. Even if such criticisms bear slight validity, the release of Sketches just goes to show that there are no limits to King Gizzard’s creative scope—it hits all the right spots while harkening to days of few worries and plenty of blissful haze. Yet, there’s just enough grit to Sketches to keep listeners on their toes, aware of the artistry beneath it all, making this wave of indulgent ambiance even sweeter. Expansive but subtle, this album flairs a special kind of warmth, one that seems fitting for the current late summer heat, yet will feel just as pleasant once fall’s first breeze nears.
Ever since their inception into the public stratosphere, King Gizzard has experimented with psychedelic rock/pop, surf, garage, folk and space rock, and now they can add jazz to their sonic resume. The conceptual path after Sketches of Brunswick East remains a mystery for King Gizzard. But with two more albums set to be released before they reach their lofty goal of five albums released in one year, don’t be surprised to see King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard expand their creative horizons once more as their boundless imaginations and unyielding work ethic continue to render their meteoric rise to popularity.
Follow writer Kyle Kohner at Twitter.com/kylejkohner.Australians can now fill in their census online, bureau says, but users continue to report problems
Bureau of Statistics says census debacle is over – but site still patchy
The head of the Bureau of Statistics has called an end to the 2016 census debacle, declaring Australians can now fill in their census online.
But as of early Thursday evening, the online census was still not fully operational for all users. On Thursday evening, some members of the public were still greeted with: “This site can’t be reached.”
David Kalisch, head of the ABS, apologised for the inconvenience at a press conference in Canberra on Thursday afternoon, claiming the census form was now back online, saying: “We are on track to conduct a high-quality online census.”
Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) The online census form is open? And yet right this minute I'm getting this pic.twitter.com/b2nLU24Zjy
He gave a short statement and then declined to take questions from the media.
Thursday was a day of recriminations. The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and senior ministers blamed the ABS and IBM for the failure which saw the system taken offline on census night.
At a press conference in Canberra earlier on Thursday, Turnbull said the government’s primary objective was to restore the online site before determining what punitive actions would be taken in the wake of the event spiralling into a managerial debacle.
“I know people have said to me will heads roll?” Turnbull told reporters. “Which heads roll where and when will be determined once the review is complete.”
“Right now, my objective, as prime minister, is to ensure that the site is back up, it should be restored today, that is the advice I have as of a little while ago and that when it is restored the protections that ought to have been in place are in place.
The Australian census: what you need to know about the national headcount Read more
“But there has clearly been a failure.”
Labor rounded on the government for blaming the ABS for the failures. At a press conference in Melbourne, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said: “The census happens every five years. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars. There are ministers responsible for the census.
“Now we wake up Thursday morning and Malcolm Turnbull and his whole Liberal-National ministry frontbench, none of them are apparently responsible for anything. How can it be?”One of Hillary Clinton's top advisers was aghast at her private email server problems, the newest Wikileaked emails show.
Talking to John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman whose emails were hacked, Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden used strong language in late July of 2015 to discuss the ongoing scandal.
Do we actually know who told Hillary she could use a private email?' she asks in a late night email on July 25. 'And has that person been drawn and quartered?'
'Like whole thing is f***ing insane,' she remarked.
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The Center for American Progress' Neera Tanden called Hillary Clinton's private email server 'f***ing insane' and wondered if the person who advised it was 'drawn and quartered'
The Wikileaks release of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails shows top advisers complaining about Clinton's 'terrible' instincts and decisions
She and Podesta were discussing the email scandal and also Sen. Bernie Sanders' rise in the poll as Clinton, who had once been considered an easy shoe-in for the nomination, became exposed.
Tanden told Podesta, who headed CAP before rejoining Clinton world and becoming part of the campaign, that she was supposed to go on CNN and talk to Jake Tapper about the newest set of polls.
'They wouldn't tell me results but if I had to guess it - discerning from our prep call -will show Bernie doing pretty well w Hillary and doing as well against Jeb or close to it,' Tanden thought.
Podesta responded with a burn for Sanders.
'PS can you imagine what the Republicans would do to him if he were the nominee?' Podesta wrote.
Answering that email about an hour and a half later, Tanden suggested Podesta not jump to conclusions right yet.
'Well, let's see what the poll actually says,' she said at 7:15 p.m. 'Let's hope the Democratic party is not suicidal.'
Then, a little after midnight, she wrote Podesta back, calling the whole email scandal 'f***ing insane.'
Two of Hillary Clinton's top advisers - John Podesta (left) and Neera Tanden (center) were caught griping about their Democratic candidate
Leaked conversations between Podesta and Tanden have already shed light on how irked even some of Clinton's closest allies were with the news of her secret server and the damage it created for her politically.
A similar back-and-forth, dated September 6, 2015, came at a point in the campaign when many in Democratic circles expected Vice President Joe Biden to jump into the race.
Podesta and Tanden both used the adjective 'terrible' to describe Clinton's instincts and decisions.
'How are you feeling about things?' Tanden asked Podesta.
The campaign chairman, who started the Center for American Progress after leaving the Clinton White House, replied, 'Biden will get in.'
'We are still way more likely than not to win nomination,' Podesta assured Tanden.
'We've taken on a lot of water that won't be easy to pump out of the boat,' he continued. 'Most of that has to do with terrible decisions made pre-campaign, but a lot has to do with her instincts.'
Podesta noted how Clinton was 'nervous' so she was 'prepping more and performing better.'
'Got to do something to pump up excitement but not certain how to do that,' he added.
Tanden wrote back saying how she was not a'sycophant' to Podesta 'by any means.'
'But the thing that makes me most confident she will prevail is that you are there,' she said, complimenting the longtime Clinton ally.
'Almost no one knows better me that her instincts can be terrible,' Tanden also acknowledged.
In a previous email exchange, the duo seemed miffed by Clinton's decision to use a private email server while at the State Department, a scandal that ended up plaguing the entirety of the former secretary of state's presidential campaign.
'Speaking of transparency, our friends Kendall, Cheryl and Philippe sure weren't forthcoming about the facts here,' Podests wrote in an email from March 15, the same day the news broke about Clinton's personal email use
Podesta was referring to David Kendall, Clinton's counsel, along with her top State Department aides Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines.
'Why didn't they get this stuff out like 18 months ago? So Crazy,' Tanden said.
She then answered what she had been pondering.
'I guess I know the answer: They wanted to get away with it,' she said.
Trump happily mentioned Podesta's comments last Wednesday at the final presidential debate in Las Vegas.
John Podesta, shown on Hillary Clinton's campaign plane, pushed back against Trump quoting him in Las Vegas, saying Clinton was the 'best leader for the United States'
'Now, John Podesta said you have terrible instincts. Bernie Sanders said you have bad judgment. I agree with both,' the Republican nominee said, addressing Clinton onstage in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Afterward Podesta argued to DailyMail.com that the frankness in his emails, don't undercut his argument for his chosen candidate.
'No, I think, you know, I love Hillary Clinton and I think if any fair reading of what I've said about her or what I think about her indicates that I think she is someone who's a tremendous leader who's gotten tremendous results for kids, for families, for people throughout her public service,' he said.
'So if Donald Trump wants to quote me, than he should fully quote me that she is the best leader for the United States, she's got a tremendous leadership skills,' Podesta said.U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a USA Thank You Tour event in Mobile, Alabama, U.S., December 17, 2016. Reuters/Lucas Jackson President-elect Donald Trump blasted a New York Times columnist on Saturday for suggesting Trump has an "incentive" to benefit from a terrorist attack similar to the circumstances surrounding those on September 11, 2001.
"They had a clown today in the failing New York Times saying I wanted to have another World Trade Center catastrophe because it was good for my base," Trump said at a rally in Mobile, Alabama.
"What kind of demented person would say that?" Trump added.
Although he didn't refer to the columnist by name, Trump appeared to have been directing his remarks at the columnist Paul Krugman, who was widely criticized for tweeting his speculation Friday.
"Thought: There was (rightly) a cloud of illegitimacy over Bush, dispelled (wrongly) by 9/11. Creates some interesting incentives for Trump," Krugman tweeted.
Trump said when he was first informed of the columnist's words, he believed them to be a typo.
"Thousands of people killed. They said I wanted to have another catastrophe like that because it is good for my base," Trump said.
"Anybody that says that — and this guy is demented. He is. He's a demented person. And this is why the Times is failing," he added.
Krugman expanded on his original tweet Saturday, noting that the events he alluded to "won't be a false-flag terrorist attack," as many observers had taken his comments to mean.
"It will either exploit a real terrorist attack … or involve a US version of Falklands War — picking a fight with foreign power to rally home base," Krugman tweeted.
He argued that Trump's invoking of patriotism after such an event could help "distract" Americans from questioning his legitimacy and criticizing the effects of his policies.
Read Krugman's tweets below:In the good old days spoofing meant a Mad magazine article on a television show.
No longer. In the world of secure (and insecure) networks, the act of spoofing entails faking data to take advantage of network insecurity. And as some University of Texas students led by professor Todd Humphreys have shown, it is now possible to spoof a GPS system.
That is, the students created a device that sent false GPS signals to a ship, overrode the existing GPS signals, and essentially gained control of the navigation of an $80 million yacht in the Mediterranean Sea. Here’s a video explaining how they did it:
The scientists who conducted the experiment — done with permission of the yacht’s owners — say their ability to broadcast counterfeit GPS signals that triggered no alarms within the ship’s navigation system highlights a serious flaw in transportation networks on land and sea. Some 90 percent of the world’s freight moves by sea.
Moreover other semi-autonomous vehicles, such as aircraft, are likely similarly vulnerable.
The problem is not intractable. As this technical paper published in 2011 shows, there are some possible fixes. Nevertheless, it doesn’t take too much imagination to figure out how, when most people carry a GPS enabled device in his or her pocket, that spoofing could pose a problem if not accounted for.by
About four months ago, Ed Felten blogged about a research paper in which Hari Prasad, Rop Gonggrijp, and I detailed serious security flaws in India’s electronic voting machines. Indian election authorities have repeatedly claimed that the machines are “tamperproof,” but we demonstrated important vulnerabilities by studying a machine provided by an anonymous source.
The story took a disturbing turn a little over 24 hours ago, when my coauthor Hari Prasad was arrested by Indian authorities demanding to know the identity of that source.
At 5:30 Saturday morning, about ten police officers arrived at Hari’s home in Hyderabad. They questioned him about where he got the machine we studied, and at around 8 a.m. they placed him under arrest and proceeded to drive him to Mumbai, a 14 hour journey.
The police did not state a specific charge at the time of the arrest, but it appears to be a politically motivated attempt to uncover our anonymous source. The arresting officers told Hari that they were under “pressure [from] the top,” and that he would be left alone if he would reveal the source’s identity.
Hari was allowed to use his cell phone for a time, and I spoke with him as he was being driven by the police to Mumbai: (Video on YouTube)
The Backstory
India uses paperless electronic voting machines nationwide, and the Election Commission of India, the country’s highest election authority, has often stated that the machines are “perfect” and “fully tamper-proof.” Despite widespread reports of election irregularities and suspicions of electronic fraud, the Election Commission has never permitted security researchers to complete an independent evaluation nor allowed the public to learn crucial technical details of the machines’ inner workings. Hari and others in India repeatedly offered to collaborate with the Election Commission to better understand the security of the machines, but they were not permitted to complete a serious review.
Then, in February of this year, an anonymous source approached Hari and offered a machine for him to study. This source requested anonymity, and we have honored this request. We have every reason to believe that the source had lawful access to the machine and made it available for scientific study as a matter of conscience, out of concern over potential security problems.
Later in February, Rop Gonggrijp and I joined Hari in Hyderabad and conducted a detailed security review of the machine. We discovered that, far from being tamperproof, it suffers from a number of weaknesses. There are many ways that dishonest election insiders or other criminals with physical access could tamper with the machines to change election results. We illustrated two ways that this could happen by constructing working demonstration attacks and detailed these findings in a research paper, Security Analysis of India’s Electronic Voting Machines. The paper recently completed peer review and will appear at the ACM Computer and Communications Security conference in October.
Our work has produced a hot debate in India. Many commentators have called for the machines to be scrapped, and 16 political parties representing almost half of the Indian parliament have expressed serious concerns about the use of electronic voting.
Earlier this month at EVT/WOTE, the leading international workshop for electronic voting research, two representatives from the Election Commission of India joined in a panel discussion with Narasimha Rao, a prominent Indian electronic voting critic, and me. (I will blog more about the panel in coming days.) After listening to the two sides argue over the security of India’s voting machines, 28 leading experts in attendance signed a letter to the Election Commission stating that “India’s [electronic voting machines] do not today provide security, verifiability, or transparency adequate for confidence in election results.”
Nevertheless, the Election Commission continues to deny that there is a security problem. Just a few days ago, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi told reporters that the machines “are practically totally tamper proof.”
Effects of the Arrest
This brings us to today’s arrest. Hari is spending Saturday night in a jail cell, and he told me he expects to be interrogated by the authorities in the morning. Hari has retained a lawyer, who will be flying to Mumbai in the next few hours and who hopes to be able to obtain bail within days. Hari seemed composed when I spoke to him, but he expressed great concern for his wife and children, as well as for the effect his arrest might have on other researchers who might consider studying electronic voting in India.
If any good has come from this, it’s that there has been an outpouring of support for Hari. He has received positive messages from people all over India.
Unfortunately, the entire issue distracts from the primary problem: India’s electronic voting machines have fundamental security flaws, and do not provide the transparency necessary for voters to have confidence in elections. To fix these problems, the Election Commission will need help from India’s technical community. Arresting and interrogating a key member of that community is enormously counterproductive.
—
Professor J. Alex Halderman is a computer scientist at the University of Michigan.Makoto Shinkai's new anime film your name. ( Kimi no Na wa. ) earned 1.16 billion yen (about US$11.19 million) and sold 867,000 tickets over the September 3-4 weekend to maintain its #1 ranking in its second weekend. The film has earned 24.8% more on its second weekend than its opening weekend, when it earned 930 million yen (US$9.1 million). (However, its second weekend's earnings did not beat its first three days, which included its Friday opening day.)
The film has earned 3.8 billion yen (about US$36.75 million), 10 days after its August 26 opening in Japan. TOHO predicts that the film will gross a total of 6 billion yen (US$58.8 million).
Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi's Shin Godzilla film rose from #3 back to #2 in its sixth week in theaters. The film earned 320 million yen (about US$3 million) and sold about 200,000 tickets during the weekend. Toho launched a limited-time screening run of the film at the Toho Cinema Nichigeki theater — a theater with deep roots in the Godzilla franchise — from September 2 until September 16.
The film has earned 6,017,239,800 yen (about US$58.18 million) in the 38 days since its July 29 opening in Japan. The film has sold 4,129,595 tickets, which now surpasses the tickets sold for Anno's previous film, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo. The film had recently surpassed the earnings of Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo.
The live-action film of Kazune Kawahara's Aozora Yell (Yell for the Blue Sky) manga maintained its #5 rank in its third weekend. The film opened on 281 screens in Japan on August 20, and sold 160,000 tickets to earn 197,000,000 yen (US$1.96 million) in its opening weekend.
One Piece Film Gold rose from #9 to #8 in its seventh weekend. As of August 28, the movie has earned 4,778,856,000 yen (about US$46.02 million) and sold 3,582,115 tickets since opening on July 23. The film is projected to earn 5 billion yen (about US$48.97 million) to surpass the 4.8 billion yen (about US$47 million) gross of 2009's One Piece Film Strong World, the previous film in the franchise.
Source: Eiga.comNETWORK FINALS: The rerun of the SALVATION pilot lost 0.1 in final numbers.
Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart
CABLE HIGHLIGHTS: A&E’s LIVE PD retook the Friday cable crown, up 0.02 from last week to 0.57. The two short episodes of Adult Swim’s pre-dawn WILLIAMS STREAM were at 0.34/0.31, compared to last week’s 0.36/0.33. MSNBC’s RACHEL MADDOW SHOW was the #4 show on cable at 0.29/2.5M, ahead of Fox News’s 10AM AMERICA’S NEWSROOM at 0.17/1.4M, and CNN’s ANDERSON COOPER 360 at 0.16/816K. Food Network’s DINERS, DRIVE-INS & DIVES rose 0.04 to 0.28. Early morning provided 2 of the Top 10, with Nickelodeon’s MUTT & STUFF at 0.28, and Disney Channel’s PUPPY DOG PALS down a tick to 0.27, with the preceding hour on Disney featuring MICKEY & THE ROADSTER at 0.25, and LION GUARD down to 0.23 from last week’s 0.26/0.25. On HGTV, BEACHFRONT BARGAIN HUNTERS was at 0.27/0.25, down from last week’s 0.34/0.32. ID’s DEADLY SINS gained 0.04 to 0.25. ESPN’s morning coverage of the WIMBLEDON MENS SEMI-FINALS was at 0.21. On History, ANCIENT ALIENS fell 0.11 to 0.21. Spike’s BELLATOR was at 0.17. On Syfy, KILLJOYS ticked up to 0.17, DARK MATTER climbed 0.02 to 0.15, and WYNNONA EARP was up 0.01 to 0.13. Both episodes of We’s KENDRA ON TOP were at 0.15, compared to last week’s 0.15/0.12. The season finale episodes of USA’s PLAYING HOUSE were at 0.13/0.09, compared to last week’s 0.16/0.12.
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Top 150 Original Cable Telecasts: Friday July 14, 2017 P18-49 P2+ Rank Program Net Start Mins Rating (000s) 1 LIVE PD: 51 LIVE PD A&E NETWORK 9:00 PM 180 0.57 1,663 2 WILLIAMS STREAM ADULT SWIM 4:00 AM 15 0.34 728 3 WILLIAMS STREAM ADULT SWIM 4:15 AM 15 0.31 658 4 RACHEL MADDOW SHOW MSNBC 9:00 PM 60 0.29 2,518 5 DINERS, DRIVE INS & DIVES FOOD NETWORK 9:00 PM 30 0.28 1,017 6 MUTT & STUFF NICKELODEON 9:30 AM 30 0.28 1,165 7 PUPPY DOG PALS DISNEY CHANNEL 9:00 AM 25 0.27 1,347 8 BEACHFRONT BARGAIN HUNT HOME AND GARDEN TV 9:30 PM 30 0.27 1,398 9 DEADLY SINS INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY 10:00 PM 60 0.25 851 10 BEACHFRONT BARGAIN HUNT HOME AND GARDEN TV 9:00 PM 30 0.25 1,325 11 MICKEY AND THE ROADSTER DISNEY CHANNEL 8:30 AM 25 0.25 1,091 12 LION GUARD DISNEY CHANNEL 8:00 AM 25 0.23 1,057 13 PARDON THE INTERRUPTION ESPN 5:30 PM 30 0.23 585 14 TENNIS: WIMBLEDON L: MENS SEMIFINAL ESPN 8:00 AM 360 0.21 987 15 ANCIENT ALIENS HISTORY 9:00 PM 63 0.21 1,146 16 K.C. UNDERCOVER DISNEY CHANNEL 8:30 PM 30 0.19 1,202 17 MIGHTY MAGISWORDS THE CARTOON NETWORK 4:00 PM 15 0.19 801 18 HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE ESPN 4:30 PM 30 0.19 383 19 BIZAARDVARK DISNEY CHANNEL 9:00 PM 25 0.18 1,159 20 K.C. UNDERCOVER DISNEY CHANNEL 8:00 PM 30 0.18 1,063 21 AROUND THE HORN ESPN 5:00 PM 30 0.18 409 22 BELLATOR MMA LIVE: 181 SPIKE TV 9:00 PM 130 0.17 514 23 AMERICAS NEWSROOM FOX NEWS CHANNEL 10:00 AM 60 0.17 1,441 24 FOX AND FRIENDS FOX NEWS CHANNEL 7:00 AM 60 0.17 1,441 25 KILLJOYS SYFY 8:00 PM 60 0.17 638 26 HAPPENING NOW FOX NEWS CHANNEL 11:00 AM 60 0.17 1,362 27 SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER FOX NEWS CHANNEL 6:00 PM 60 0.17 1,818 |
” (Luke 22:51). As such, the cross becomes the supreme symbol of nonviolence – the power of love that exceeds the love of power.
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IV. Mother and Son
“His mother stored up all these things in her heart.” (Luke 2:51)
Theme – Suffering, Solidarity and Community – In one of the favelas or urban slums of Latin America, Mary, overwhelmed with grief, meets her condemned son. The people lack such essentials for life as safe water, sanitation, nutritious food, transport and “wonted” work – work that is meaningful. In spite of this, they survive by self-help and solidarity that builds community. Mary’s suffering is that of all those who are unable to do enough to save their loved ones. It is our suffering, too, when beauty is crushed around us and we are unable to do enough to save our world.
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V. Helped by an Outsider
“They compelled a passer-by who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross.” (Mark 15:21)
Theme – Racial Prejudice – Simon of Cyrene is portrayed as one of the millions of black people living in Latin America – descendents of those who were brought there under slavery while the native Amerindians were being exterminated. This ethnic group have the lowest status in Latin America. They are often subject to “victim blaming” – a form of prejudice where the powerful scapegoat the powerless to justify their power. Because of this, Paulo Freire of Brazil said that the great work of the oppressed is to liberate both themselves, and their oppressors!
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VI. Community of the Oppressed
“If you did this to the least of my people, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40
Theme – Indigenous Peoples – Of the 22 million Aztecs alive in 1519 when Hernán Cortez entered Mexico, only a million remained by 1600. Here, Indian women represent Saint Veronica. They have wiped the face of Jesus. His features, now imprinted on the cloth, are their features. Could they be ours too? Once, we were all indigenous peoples. Perhaps today we must rediscover this quality if we are to re-make communities of place and care for the Earth whereon we tread. But we must shape identity inclusively – just as Jesus was challenged to be inclusive by the Canaanite woman (Mark 7:24-30).
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VII. The Land Question
“Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)
Theme – The Landless Poor – Jesus falls for the 2nd time under the weight of the cross. Each rope on the cross that can be seen amongst the land reform (Reforma Agraria) marchers represents a murdered Campesino – “Derecho a la tierra – Right to the land,” say their banners. Jesus taught people to pray for bread, and he rejected the temptation of landed power (Luke 4:5-8). Today, 2.25% of the people of Guatemala own 64% of the land. And rich landowners representing 0.08% of the population claim to control 80% of Scottish land. But we’re learning from the South with the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
VIII. The Outcry of the Women
“Many women cried and lamented for him.” (Luke 23:27)
Theme – Women’s Empowerment – Full of compassion the women bewail the fate of Jesus. He, however, refers them to their own fate: “Do not weep for me…” The Biblical scene is transferred to Ayacucho, Peru, where many fathers and sons are killed and the women are left alone to provide for their families. They say: “Yesterday in the Bible group we read how the people of Israel were oppressed in Egypt. Aren’t we in the same position? God wants to lead us to the promised land too. We should discuss this with the others!”
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IX. Cast Out and Abused
“Whoever welcomes such a child in my name welcomes me.” (Mark 9:37)
Theme – Children in Need – Jesus falls for the 3rd time, amid homeless children and unemployed youth. In Brazil hundreds of street children were murdered by death squads every year. In Scotland, youth at Govan’s GalGael Trust, who started on drugs as young as 12, say: “I took heroin because it took away the pain; but it also took away my soul.” Alice Miller’s work shows how a child not loved for itself – in its “primal integrity” – becomes destructive. Christ took children in his arms and blessed them. As a child, he himself was a refugee in Egypt, and Joseph’s love made him socially acceptable through fostership.
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X. Destruction of the Rainforests
“They divided his garments among them.” (Matthew 27:35)
Theme – The Death of Nature – Jesus is stripped of his clothes by soldiers who gamble for them. In the same way, the Earth is stripped of her clothes – her soils, waters and forests – to fuel our great casino economy where need is dwarfed by greed. As the “Roman” soldiers prepare to crucify Jesus, the Brazilian environmentalist and rubber-tappers’ union leader, Chico Mendes, lies assassinated in the foreground (22 Dec 1988). To Jesus, the Earth was God’s “footstool” – the sacred resting place of divine presence (Matthew 5:35).
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XI. Nailed to the Cross
“You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
Theme – The Debt Crisis – Jesus is nailed to the cross, just as the poor are nailed by the rich through monetarism and the sin of usury (making money out of money by lending only for interest). Investors may think they’re innocently seeking “the best rate of return,” but so doing drives an economic system where the poor supply unearned income to the relatively rich. In this picture, the poor carry resources up the scaffold, transferring wealth from South to North. Might Christians consider learning from attempts within Islamic banking to overcome usury, as well as by promoting “Fair Trade”? (Ezekiel 28 & Rev. 18:11-18).
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XII. Death on the Cross
“But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.” (Mark 15:37)
Theme – A World Ripped Apart – The whole world is crucified by the spirit of violence. The two halves – rich and poor, North and South, Heaven and Earth – have been pulled asunder, yet still the Cross unites them. It is love that hangs crucified; a love that transcends even tortured death. All who take risks and put their necks on the line for justice in this world stand here in solidarity. Amongst this “communion of the saints” are those powerless to do anything but testify with their powerful presences – “the spirituality of the foot of the Cross.” Such, often, is our Station.
XIII. The Seed of Hope
“If a grain of wheat dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)
Theme – Base Communities – Jesus is taken down from the cross. The people gather in anticipation of Easter. All around the world, small groups gather, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Jesus was a man who died, but “Christ” is an understanding of the deathless spirit of life as love made manifest, beyond gender (Galatians 3:28). We might see this as alive in all, also in other faiths. Where institutional churches flee, ego-inflated, from such mystical insight, “base communities” of grassroot seekers of truth can rise above “spiritual materialism” and so renew God’s “church”.
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XIV. Walking in the Shadow of Death
“Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid it in his own tomb.” (Matthew 27:59)
Theme – Return to the Earth – Jesus is laid to rest in a tomb, here beside a rubbish tip in a polluted industrial nation. We come from the clay of Mother Earth’s womb, are nourished from the fields, and in the end return to the soil – ashes to ashes, dust to dust – at one with rock-building geological processes set in time when place began. “I lift a stone; it is the meaning of life I clasp,” said the Scots bard, Hugh MacDiarmid, in On a Raised Beach: “We must reconcile ourselves to the stones…/ Though slow as the stones the powers develop/ To rise from the grave – to get a life worth having.”
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XV. Triumph of Life
“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen” (Luke 24:5).
With the ships of the Conquistadors and the factories of globalisation in the background, Christ out in nature with the sun symbolically overhead leads a march of landless Campesinos with martyrs of the struggle, including … Alice Dumont (Argentina), Santa Dias da Silva (Brazil), Oscar Romero (El Salvador), Chico Mendes (Brazil), Ita Ford (El Salvador), Zumbi (Brazil), Dana Tingo (Dominican Republic), Luisito Torres (El Salvador), Tupac Amaru (Peru), Enrique Angel Angelelli (Argentina), Luis Espinal (Bolivia) and Vicente Menchu (Guatemala). R.I.P. (See next slide for exegesis).
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The15th Station and Mystical Experience
(Picture of Adolfo Pérez Esquivel – the artist)
In preparing the commentaries shown to the right of each slide, I have drawn from text published in 1992 by Misereor of Germany and also from the 1992 CIDSE handbook (Way of the Cross from Latin America), that accompanied the original 35 mm photographic slides from which this presentation was digitised. Bible passages are also as given by CIDSE. Commenting upon the “Easter Picture,” “Lenten Veil” or “Hunger Cloth” that comprises the15th and final Station, the CIDSE booklet had this to say:
“Mystical experience is of central importance in Liberation Theology. Jesus can be experienced in and with those who suffer. For those who have faith, the act of turning to the oppressed, of serving the poor, of search for freedom from exploitative structures, is also an act of love for the suffering Christ. By the same token, the resurrection will be experienced whenever life is defended. Furthermore, all life which is oppressed and extinguished by power is included in the resurrection. This concept is expressed by Adolfo Perez Esquivel in his Easter picture.”
Background to this Material
As a Scottish Quaker of universalist disposition and Presbyterian background, it seems a little strange to be placing onto the web devotional material that was widely distributed by the Roman Catholic church in 1992, but has since vanished from view. I have searched the web, but in vain, to locate the material for use in my teaching and activism. I therefore resorted to having my own 35 mm transparency set scanned.
I first came across Esquivel’s “Way of the Cross” paintings through the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) – the official overseas relief agency of the Scottish Catholic bishops. Between the late-eighties and 1999, I was the only non-Catholic serving on their Management Committee, laterally as Chair of the Projects’ Committee, which then disbursed £2 million of grants annually in accordance with what radical Catholics call “Our best kept secret” – namely, their church’s rich and challenging social teaching.
At that time, liberation theology was being vibrantly supported and celebrated within Catholic agencies and especially SCIAF. This made it easy for me to participate, enthusiastically, in their work – something I had actually begun in 1977, when Voluntary Service Overseas had posted me, rather surprisingly, to work for two years with Archbishop Virgil Copas and the Missionaries of Charity sisters in Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea, as a vocational school deputy-headteacher and wiring up micro hydro-electric schemes.
Esquivel’s “Stations of the Cross” exemplified my admiration for radical Catholic theology which I saw as speaking to all who understand God as love. The images were distributed in Europe by CIDSE – the umbrella organisation of such Catholic relief agencies as Misereor, CAFOD, Trócaire and SCIAF.
I am puzzled as to why Esquivel’s iconic paintings seem now to have fallen into oblivion. I’d have thought that one of the big Catholic agencies might have put them on the web, the better to teach what liberation theology means. But this has not happened, so here they are – and I would welcome any opportunity that might arise to thank and ask the formal blessing of Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.
Christmas 2005 (23 Dec)
Alastair McIntosh, Scotland
( www.AlastairMcIntosh.com )Beta cells take up about two-thirds of the space in islets, and stimulating or replacing them has dominated approaches to treatment or potential cures for diabetes for almost 100 years. Alpha cells that populate most of the remaining third of human islets have received comparatively little attention. It wasn’t until 1923 that researchers identified the glucagon-enabling role of alphas. Since then, glucagon has languished from neglect, except as a last resort for hypoglycemic events. No more. According to Dr. John Kinzell, co-founder and Executive VP of a biopharma company, Xeris Pharmaceuticals. He and Xeris are moving glucagon from “rescue dog” status to serving as a constant companion for people with diabetes.
Xeris is developing a liquid glucagon that will last for two years at room temperature and promises to change the way people treat diabetes, whether they are Type 1 or Type 2. The company’s glucagon product farthest down the path to clearance is G-Pen™, a rescue treatment for severe hypoglycemic events (hypos), where a caregiver typically administers the injection. G-Pen™ is a user-friendly product with only two steps to injection. A second, broader use glucagon product in development, the G-Pen Mini™, uses the same glucagon formulation, but is intended for day-to-day use rather than emergencies. The Mini™ allows for quick and easy glucagon injections in small doses, offering a non-caloric way for diabetics to treat mild to moderate hypoglycemic events (hypos). Indeed, it may finally allow people with diabetes to control their glucose levels much like a normal pancreas would, by allowing insulin and glucagon to work together.
A quick and easy way to treat severe to life-threatening hypos has obvious benefits. But, controlling or averting mild to moderate hypoglycemia is equally important. A study published in 2011, reporting results among almost 1500 people who experienced mild to moderate hypos, showed that more than two-thirds of the reported events were at work, resulting in an average of almost 9 hours of missed time on the job. Multiply this by two to three events per month and the economic impact becomes clear. It’s not just emergency room costs we have to worry about, but lost productivity. G-Pen Mini™ is a potential solution.
Dance Of The Hormones
In a normal endocrine system, alpha and beta cells engage in an elaborate and continuous dance. The alpha cells produce glucagon hormones, raising blood glucose by causing the liver to release stored glycogen. Insulin converts glucose that enters the body through food into energy that powers all manner of tissues and organs, including the brain. The process keeps blood glucose levels stable, correcting both lows and highs repeatedly in response to food, exercise, stress, and illness.
It’s understandable that diabetes treatment initially focused on hyperglycemia. Diabetes, prior to externally dosed insulin, was almost a 100% guarantee of death due to uncontrollable levels of glucose in the patient. In contrast, hypoglycemia was almost unknown until the effects of injected insulin began to be studied. Indeed, modern delivery technology like insulin pumps and insulin pens may have accelerated the incidence of hypos by making it easier to treat yourself with insulin, which is a very potent drug. The emphasis on lowering and stabilizing blood glucose levels has made glucagon and its glucose-raising effects play second fiddle.
But glucagon’s time has come. If you feel as though you’ve read this story before, count yourself as a devotee of news about bi-hormonal diabetes treatments being developed by various artificial pancreas (AP) or bionic pancreas projects. Artificial pancreas efforts such as those undertaken by Drs. Ed Damiano and Steven Russell in Boston and Dr. Ken Ward in Oregon, aim to mirror the functions of a normal pancreas for insulin-using diabetics wearing pumps. Tandem Diabetes is working on producing a bi-hormonal pump that should be on the market in two to three years. Neither a bi-hormonal closed-loop AP nor a bi-hormonal pump will function without a ready source of room temperature stable, liquid glucagon, making Xeris’ product both timely and in line with the most advanced proposed new treatments for insulin-dependent diabetes.
Lonely Cells
People generally don’t dance by themselves, and the same goes for cells. When beta cells are destroyed by immune attack in Type 1s or slowly die from exhaustion because of insulin resistance in Type 2s, alpha cells don’t know how to respond. Often, they either produce too much glucose or fail to act in response to low blood sugar. While insulin injections deal effectively with the “too much glucose” problem, the opposite effect presents itself as hypoglycemia, and glucagon offers a solution.
Dr. Kinzell and his colleagues at Xeris see hypoglycemia as Diabetic Enemy Number One. Hypos, especially “severe” hypos that require assistance from a caregiver or medical professional, are every Type 1’s greatest fear. Studies of Type 1 patients show that 1 in 20 deaths among people with diabetes occur due to uncorrected low glucose, and 3 million “severe” hypo events occur each year among about 6 million insulin-using diabetics. Some estimates point to as many as 164 million hypo “events” every year, an “event” being defined as low blood glucose serious enough to need correction but not completely disabling the patient. Type 1 patients begin to see hypoglycemia as part of the treatment routine. Just like the sting of shots or the maddening regularity of required treatment, hypos are part of the landscape. They’re not much fun, but they have to be endured. Just ask anyone who has ever tried to win an argument with a person suffering from low blood sugar.
The Unholy Trinity
What causes hypoglycemia in insulin users? There are at least three primary factors.
In a non-diabetic, as much as 80% of insulin that reaches the liver never gets into the bloodstream. Injecting insulin into subcutaneous tissue, from which it eventually enters the bloodstream at almost full strength, is very different than the way a normal pancreas secretes insulin. In a non-diabetic, the body uses just enough of its natural insulin supply to correct a glucose spike, and not a smidgen more. So, the strength of the injected insulin dose itself is an issue. When mealtime bolus insulin joins basal insulin and over-corrects the food intake situation it was injected to address, the result can be lowering blood glucose too far and too fast.
A second cause of hypos is, ironically, the good intentions behind a desire for tight control. Zealous Type 1s, frequent testers using regular glucometers, may over-react to a reading that doesn’t need to be corrected because the glucose trend is already headed down. This is why all continuous glucose monitor makers emphasize that it is the trend that’s important, not the number itself. Unfortunately, CGM use badly trails the number of insulin users and the trending effect for a majority of Type 1s only shows up after the fact, in the form of a hypo. Given the relatively slow onset even of “rapid” insulin, either the glucometer or the CGM may be reporting information that often has to be second-guessed.
The third frequent cause is strenuous exercise that makes blood glucose drop quickly. Since a majority of Type 1s are otherwise healthy children, adolescents, or young adults, it’s not at all uncommon for hypos to occur in response to physical activity. Pumps might be a solution, but often the pump isn’t being worn when the activity occurs.
A Solution, Sort Of
Glucagon is currently available in powdered form in a small air-tight vial, that has to be dissolved in a syringe pre-loaded with liquid solution, mostly water, as part of rescue kits made by Eli Lilly (Glucagon Emergency Kit) and Novo Nordisk (GlucaGen® Hypokit®). While it’s difficult or almost impossible to overdose glucagon, the large dose of glucagon injected using these products can cause something resembling a glucose hangover. Neither of the kits is exactly user-friendly, particularly since they are intended for situations where the diabetic knows they are experiencing a potentially disabling hypo, or is already seizing or unconscious and unable to self-inject. For those who are instruction-challenged, the nine-step process required to use the Lilly Emergency Kit is daunting enough that many caregivers call 911. Although instructions for the patient suggest that you keep the kit close by in case of an emergency, the chances of someone carrying either product around are very small. Don’t try to pre-mix the powder to have it on hand for an emergency. The solution degrades quickly, usually in about 24 hours. Penetration and use of glucagon emergency kits is much lower than the number of Type 1s at risk of hypos, who are almost guaranteed to need them at least once or twice a year. This looks like a series of accidents waiting to happen. And, from Xeris’ perspective, it’s a golden business opportunity, besides a chance to apply a novel technology to an unmet need, and improve the quality of life for people with diabetes and their caregivers too.
Fortuitous Formulation
The Xeris G-Pen™ contains a single dose (I mg) of glucagon in a liquid pre-mixed in an auto-injector ready to use in two steps: remove the enclosure (cap), then inject just as you would with an insulin pen. The solution is stable, storable at room temperature for two years and portable, just like an insulin pen. The G-Pen Mini™ will come in a multi-dose pen format, as a non-caloric treatment for mild to moderate hypos. Finally, a G-Pump™ Glucagon product is also being tested and may clear the regulatory process at the same time that Tandem’s bi-hormonal pump is available.
The key to the stable and storable glucagon formulation in the G-Pen™ is the use of a non-aqueous solvent, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). DMSO is a naturally occurring product that has inspired more than 40,000 articles in scientific journals around the world, because of its ability to penetrate the skin quickly and harmlessly. As a result, it has hundreds of potential uses. One of its uses approved by the FDA is as a formulation component (excipient). Its discoverer, Dr. Stanley Jacob, likened the skepticism associated with DMSO to a multi-use drug such as aspirin had it been introduced today. “If someone gave you a little white pill,” Jacob said in an interview years ago, “and said ‘take this and your headache will go away, your body temperature will go down, it will help prevent strokes and major heart problems’–what would you think?” He surmised that most would consider it an overestimation of the benefits. Yet, all those results can be tied to a dose of the little white pills.
Despite some controversy in the 1970s when overseas drug makers flooded the U.S. market with impure versions of DMSO, the FDA has approved its use as an inactive ingredient in several pharmaceutical products. Those approved products have much higher concentrations than Xeris’ liquid glucagon formula when used according to label. Whether or not you take a drug made using DMSO as part of the formula, you’ve likely ingested about 50 mg of DMSO today, as it’s in rainwater and many foods.
The Path to Market
To date, Xeris liquid glucagon has been successfully tested in animal models. Barring unforeseen changes to the project plan, human trials should begin in the 3rd quarter of 2013 at the Texas Diabetes Institute in San Antonio. Most companies like Xeris are reluctant to predict an approval time frame, but 2015-2016 distribution of both the G-Pen™ and the G-Pen Mini™ are in the company’s plans and presentations.
The most important aspect of Xeris’ work is the idea that glucagon can be used as a counterbalance to insulin in regulating blood glucose every day, not just in emergencies. The idea of copying the natural order of things seems like the most compelling path, both for AP systems and for day-to-day glucose control outside of pump therapy. Acknowledging that any externally administered therapy will always finish second to a fully functioning endocrine system, the coming out party for alpha cells, and their by-product, marks a significant step forward in diabetes therapy. The G-Pen™ is only the first step, but regular use of liquid glucagon opens the door to many more innovations.(CNN) Pastor Larry Wright was talking to his small eastern North Carolina congregation about the senseless deaths in his community when a man with a rifle walked into his church.
Wright, who leads the Heal the Land Outreach Ministries in Fayetteville, told CNN the man had a gun in one hand and an ammo magazine with shiny rounds in the other.
The glint made the retired Army sergeant first class recognize the weapon was real. Still, he was worried the man had one round in the gun.
"I'm the first person to see him and when I saw him, I thought it was a dummy gun, but then I saw the bullet clip in his hand and the bullets were shining," he said.
As first reported in the Fayetteville Observer, Wright said he walked up to the man and said, "Can I help you?"
Wright told the newspaper that if the man was antagonistic, he was going to use his 6-foot-2, 230-pound body to tackle the newcomer.
Instead, the man asked Wright to pray for him, the pastor told CNN on Saturday.
Man hands over his weapon
Larry Wright preaches at Heal the Land Outreach Ministries.
Wright took the rifle and handed it to a deacon. One by one, the deacon and three others hugged the man to make him feel loved.
"And then I began to minister to him and pray to him and talk with him," Wright said.
It was 20 minutes before midnight, and Wright wanted to finish the New Year's Eve sermon and do an altar call. He told the man to sit in the front row and stay there.
"I finished the message, I did the altar call and he stood right up, came up to the altar, and gave his life to Christ," Wright said. "I came down and prayed with him and we embraced. It was like a father embracing a son."
Wright whispered in the man's ear that police were waiting in the vestibule because he had scared a lot of people.
Intended to do something terrible
Then the man asked to speak to the 60 or so churchgoers. He apologized to them, telling them when he set out that evening he intended to do something terrible that night. But the Lord spoke to him, he said.
Wright described the gunman as emotionally distraught even though his life seemed to be on the upswing.
He told the pastor he had just gotten out of prison, had a new job and a new bride. The man looked to be in his late 20s or early 30s, Wright said.
Sylvester Loving, a 67-year-old deacon, told the Fayetteville newspaper that the church was talking about gun violence when the man entered.
"I think that night the spirit of God was definitely in the place," Loving told the Observer.
Wright said he was talking about "senseless deaths" in the community.
'It was like it came off the page'
Allison Woods, a church member, told CNN she was at the back of the church when the gunman walked in.
"It didn't seem real because it was like the scripture that our pastor was reading, it was like it came off the page," she said. "It's the next day, when you think of all that could have happened, what could have gone wrong, it sinks in how terrible it could have gone wrong."
People had seen the man pacing in the parking lot before the Watch Night service, which started at 10 p.m.
"It's so hard to describe, to explain the excitement and love of God in the room. This man came in to do harm and he has given his life to Christ," Wright told CNN.
Wright has been a pastor at Heal the Land for 16 years and is a second-term city councilman. He has lived in Fayetteville since 1976.
Wright believes police took the unidentified man to a hospital for a mental evaluation.
The Fayetteville Observer said police spokesman Lt. David McLaurin indicated the man had gone to a medical center as a voluntary commitment.
McLaurin later told CNN that he didn't know where the man is currently, nor did he know whether he would be charged.
"He apparently did not threaten anyone or make a crime," he said.
Fayetteville is home to the Army's Fort Bragg.All id Software Co-Founders Refute Tim Willits' Quake Map Anecdote (UPDATED) Tim Willits claimed to invent deathmatch-only maps in FPS games, but Romero's detailed archives tell a different story.
Update #2: 8/31, 1:37p ET
Tom Hall has also chimed in via Twitter to agree with John Romero's assertion that designers were building FPS maps specifically for multiplayer long before id shipped Quake in 1996. "@romero sets the record straight about the first multiplayer only maps! Thanks John," Hall wrote.
Hall is a veteran designer and co-founder of id Software along with John Romero, John Carmack, and Adrian Carmack (no relation to John). Hall left id Software early in Doom's development and went to Apogee Software (dba 3D Realms) to direct Rise of the Triad, an FPS that blended gore with dark comedy elements. "ROTT" shipped on December 21, 1994, and featured multiplayer-only levels as well as multiplayer-specific modes of play. That same day, Bungie launched Marathon, an FPS exclusive to Mac computers, which also included multiplayer-only maps (called "network maps") at launch.
Update #1: 8/30, 9:22pm ET
Shacknews reached out to id Software co-founder John Carmack for comment. Carmack said that he does not recall the conversation between Tim Willits, John Romero, and himself, and he trusts Romero's recollection of events, in line with the account detailed on Romero's blog. (Note: This section has been lightly edited to more accurately reflect Carmack's response.)
Original Story
In an interview with PCGamesN during this year's annual QuakeCon, id Software veteran and Quake Champions director Tim Willits claimed to create the concept of building FPS maps explicitly for deathmatch. Fellow id vet John Romero disputed Willits' recollection of events in a detailed blog post.
According to Willits, who also claimed to design the first episode of Quake—which was distributed as shareware—he got the idea to piece together map fragments into multiplayer-only arenas. "I came into the office one day and talked to John Romero and John Carmack," Willits said. "I said 'I've got this idea. I can take these map fragments and I can turn them into multiplayer-only maps, maps you only play in multiplayer.' "They both said that was the stupidest idea they'd ever heard. Why would you make a map you only play multiplayer when you can play multiplayer in single-player maps? So I said 'No, no, no, let me see what I can do.' And that's how multiplayer maps were started. True story."
Romero caught wind of the story and consulted with other Quake designers including American McGee, Adrian Carmack, and Shawn Green. After comparing their memories of Quake's development, which ramped up in earnest in late 1995, Romero feels confident in disputing Willits' version of events.
"The story told about how he came into the office and talked to me and Carmack about his idea, and we responded with how it was the stupidest idea we'd ever heard," Romero wrote in a blog. "This never happened. In fact, we had been playing multiplayer-only maps in DOOM for years already. There had been hundreds of maps that the DOOM mapping community had made only for deathmatch by that time. DWANGO was a multiplayer-only service that had many multiplayer-only maps that are legendary today. American McGee even released a multiplayer-only map in November 1994 named IDMAP01. The incredible DOOM community invented the idea of designing maps only for multiplayer mode, and they deserve the credit. The game owes so much to them."
Romero went on to point out that the first commercial FPS to ship with multiplayer-only maps was Rise of the Triad, directed by Tom Hall—another id alumnus—and released in 1994.
"We did not have 'all these fragments of maps' that were used to make the multiplayer maps in Quake," Romero continued. "All multiplayer-only maps that shipped with Quake were original maps made specifically for deathmatch."
Additionally, Romero pointed out that he, American McGee, and Tim Willits all contributed to the maps that comprised Quake's shareware episode.
"Revising revisionist history re: #quake #deathmatch #maps @romero gives a serial credit thief the what-for," American McGee wrote in a tweet that linked to Romero's blog.
Shacknews has reached out to Tim Willits for comment.The story of the Boston Marathon Bombing is rife with contradictions, canards, misconceptions and blatant untruths. Boston Wronged is part of WhoWhatWhy’s attempt to set the record straight. This is an occasional series of articles debunking the faulty stories and “facts” which persist, despite evidence to the contrary.
***
Want to see the made-for-TV movie about the capture of Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? No problem. Want that movie to be factually correct? Good luck.
A TV company founded by a retired Boston police officer is producing the story of the SWAT team credited with “slapping the cuffs” on Tsarnaev. Wren Productions is working with the SWAT team commander, Revere, Mass., police chief Joseph Cafarelli, to produce the “only official true life story” of the Tsarnaev takedown.
That’s the second collaboration between former Boston officer Rick Rizzo, who founded Wren Productions, and Cafarelli. Their first project? “Taking Down Tsarnaev”, an article published in Police Magazine on April 3, 2014.
But there’s just one problem.
The piece contained several inaccuracies. One stands out in particular: the erroneous claim that Cafarelli and his North Metro SWAT team arrived at the boat moments after Tsarnaev began shooting at police on scene on April 20, 2013:
“Minutes later police were on the scene, and they were engaging Tsarnaev in a gunfight. More than 40 shots were fired,” the article says.
Wait a second: engaged in a firefight with Tsarnaev? He was unarmed when he was found hiding in a dry-docked boat in a Watertown backyard, severely wounded. That’s roughly 16 hours after he fled a shootout in which police shot and killed his elder brother, Tamerlan. 26.
Early reports suggesting Tsarnaev may have fired shots from the boat were refuted within days of his capture, but “Taking Down Tsarnaev” perpetuated the myth more than a year later.
The article also said the Tsarnaev brothers shot Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Officer Richard Donahue, who was in fact wounded by friendly fire during the Watertown shootout.
Wren Productions says Rick Rizzo’s law enforcement background ensures his programs contain “added punch, true reality and honesty.” Perhaps it will have the same kind of accuracy as the made-for-TV re-enactment of the bombing that prospective jurors in Tsarnaev’s trial have confused with being the real thing.
But given the veracity of Rizzo’s first story about the shootout, will the video sequel be more Hollywood fantasy than fact?
Where else do you see journalism of this quality and value? Please help us do more. Make a tax-deductible contribution now.
Our Comment Policy Keep it civilized, keep it relevant, keep it clear, keep it short. Please do not post links or promotional material. We reserve the right to edit and to delete comments where necessary. Related printSunday evening (Sept. 18) in Lubbock, a motorcyclist was killed after being rear-ended by a pickup truck.
According to Lubbock Police, 49-year-old James Albert Pritchard (pictured) was behind the wheel of a Ford F-150 involved in accident that killed 50-year-old Sammy Castaneda at 50th Street and Indiana Avenue.
Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office/Leah Edwards via Facebook
Pritchard was charged with Manslaughter in the immediate aftermath of the accident.
Last month, Pritchard was photographed by a KFYO listener in the Market Street parking lot at 50th Street and Indiana Avenue after allegedly harassing women and teenagers.
According to the woman who witnessed the incident, the man had cursed and threatened a woman who was attempting to help a teenage driver whose vehicle had broken down in the parking lot. He had also reportedly screamed obscenities at the teen driver and others helping move the vehicle.
Commenters on the below Facebook post from August were outraged at the alleged incident.
The person who made the post on Facebook in August about Pritchard followed it up with another post Sunday night in the hours after the deadly accident.
No word on if Pritchard has any prior offenses on record prior to his arrest on September 18.Last night I went to a class at church focusing on serving and being in relationships with the poor. This was facilitated by Eric the Intern. For anybody who doesn’t know him, he is a tall weirdo who has traveled the country and lived in a homeless shelter. He has been hit by |
Dollfuss branded this as the "self-elimination of the Parliament" and proceeded to rule on the basis of the Wartime Economy Authorization Act. This law had been passed in 1917 during World War I to enable the government to issue decrees ensuring the supply of necessities. The law had never been explicitly revoked and was now used by the Austrian government to inaugurate an authoritarian state.
On 7 March 1933, the Council of Ministers issued a ban on assembly and protests. Press regulations were also levied by the Wartime Economy Authority Law and touted as economic safeguards. The law allowed for the government to require approval of a newspaper which had already been printed up to two hours before its distribution under certain circumstances, for instance if "through damage to patriotic, religious or moral sensibility, a danger to public peace, order and security" would arise. This allowed for censorship of the press, but the government was eager to avoid the appearance of open censorship, which was forbidden by the constitution. The opposition made a final attempt to reverse the changes in parliament, which was met by police power on 15 March 1933. As Großdeutsche, who advocated a merger with Germany, and Social Democrats arrived at the Parliament building, the government sent 200 detectives to Parliament to prevent the representatives from taking their places in the assembly hall.
On 31 March, the government dissolved the Republikanischer Schutzbund. On 10 April 1933, the decree by former Social Democratic Education Minister Otto Glöckel, which had made Catholic religious lessons in schools non-mandatory, was abolished. On 10 May, all federal, state and local elections were cancelled. The Communist Party of Austria was dissolved on 26 May, the National Socialist Workers' Party (NSDAP) on 19 June, and the Free Thinkers Guild on 20 June.
The Hotel Schiff, an asylum of the Social Democrats in Linz, was raided by the police in February 1934. The Social Democrats resisted, leading to the Austrian Civil War, which was quelled with military and paramilitary force. Afterward, the Social Democratic Party was banned in Austria.
On 30 April 1934, the national parliament, in its last session, passed a law that enabled the government to assume all the powers previously held by parliament.
May Constitution [ edit ]
Further information on Austrian Civil War: July Putsch
Further information on the structure of the state: Federal State of Austria
On 1 May, Dollfuss' government proclaimed the May Constitution (Maiverfassung), which diminished the term Republic and instead used as the official name of the state "Federal State of Austria" (Bundesstaat Österreich), though the constitution actually reduced the individual states' autonomy. The Federal Council was retained, though only as a significantly limited check on the Federal government. Rather than establishing the composition of a fifty-nine member National Council through direct suffrage, this was accomplished by four "Councils" representing the professionals from Austrian Culture, State affairs, the States of Austria (Länder) and Economic affairs (the latter elected by seven corporations supposedly representing workers and employers). The National Council lost its power to initiate legislation but was still expected to approve decrees from the government. All essential power lay with the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler), who appointed his government single-handedly, and the Federal President (Bundespräsident), who named the Chancellor.
As with Antonio de Salazar's 1933 constitution (and the Estado Novo regime in whole), the Maiverfassung promoted a Catholic corporatism which bore a strong resemblance to the principles outlined in Quadragesimo anno, rejecting capitalism and socialism.
Chancellor Dollfuss was killed in July 1934, during an attempt by Austria's National Socialist Party to topple the regime and proclaim a Nazi government under Ambassador to Rome Anton Rintelen. The assassination of Dollfuss was accompanied by Nazi uprisings in many regions in Austria, resulting in further deaths. In Carinthia, a large contingent of northern German Nazis tried to grab power but were subdued by the loyalist Heimwehr units. The Nazi assassins holding the Federal Chancellery Vienna surrendered after threats to dynamite the building and were executed before the end of July. While Heimwehr leader Starhemberg briefly assumed power as Vice Chancellor, Kurt Schuschnigg was appointed Dollfuss' successor by President Miklas on 29 July, ousting Starhemberg from the government completely in 1936, before surrendering to Nazi pressure in March 1938.[1][2]
One of the reasons for the failure of the putsch was Italian intervention: Mussolini assembled an army corps of four divisions on the Austrian border and threatened Hitler with a war with Italy in the event of a German invasion of Austria as originally planned, should the coup have been more successful. Support for the Nazi movement in Austria was surpassed only by that in Germany, allegedly amounting to 75% in some areas.[3]
Elements of Austrofascism [ edit ]
Fatherland Front [ edit ]
The Fatherland Front (German: Vaterländische Front, VF) was the ruling political organisation of "Austrofascism". It claimed to be a nonpartisan movement, and aimed to unite all the people of Austria, overcoming political and social divisions. Established on 20 May 1933 by Christian Social Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss as a single party along the lines of Italian Fascism, it advocated Austrian nationalism and independence from Nazi Germany on the basis of protecting Austria's Catholic religious identity from what they considered a Protestant-dominated German state.
Ideology and ideals [ edit ]
Austrofascism's ideology of the "community of the people" (Volksgemeinschaft) was different from that of the herrenvolk & lebensraum. They were similar in that both served to attack the idea of a class struggle by accusing leftism of destroying individuality, and thus help usher in a totalitarian state. Dollfuss' corporatist propositions were focused on the benefit of all members of the working class, from farmhands to fashion designers.
Austrofascism focused on the history of Austria. The Catholic Church played a large role in the Austrofascist definition of Austrian history and identity, which served to alienate German culture. According to this ideology, Austrians were "better Germans"[4] (at this time, the majority of the German population was still Protestant) and Austria was a second but "better German state" which ought to remain independent from Germany. The monarchy was elevated to the ideal of a powerful and far-reaching state, a status which Austria lost after the Treaty of Saint-Germain.
Despite the Catholic emphasis that Dollfuss had created with the Federal State of Austria, he was opposed to forcing Catholicism on to religious minorities, and also let Jews escaping Nazi Germany take refuge in Austria.
Legal process [ edit ]
After the parliament was dissolved, the government also dissolved the Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof). The four Christian Social members of the Constitutional Court had resigned, and the government banned the nomination of new judges, effectively closing the court.
In September 1933, the government established internment camps for political opposition members. Social Democrats, Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists were all considered dissidents condemned to internment. After the July Putsch of 1934, National Socialists were also regularly interned. On 11 November 1933, the government reinstated the death penalty for the crimes of murder, arson, and "public violence through malicious damage to others' property". In February 1934, rioting (Aufruhr) was added to the list of capital offenses.
John Gunther wrote in 1940 that the state "assaulted the rights of citizens in a fantastic manner", noting that in 1934 the police raided 106,000 homes in Vienna and made 38,141 arrests of Nazis, social democrats, and communists. He added, however:[5]
But—and it was an important "but"—the terror never reached anything like the repressive force of the Nazi terror. Most of those arrested promptly got out of jail again. Even at its most extreme phase, it was difficult to take the Schuschnigg dictatorship completely seriously, although Schutzbunders tried in 1935 got mercilessly severe sentences. This was because of Austrian gentleness, Austrian genius for compromise, Austrian love for cloudy legal abstractions, and Austrian Schlamperei.
Education [ edit ]
By 1933, a series of laws had already been passed to bring the educational system in Austria into line with Austrofascism. The Catholic Church was, under the new government, able to exert significant influence on educational policy, which had previously been secularised. In order to pass the Matura (the test required for graduation), a student had to have taken religious education classes. Educational opportunities for women were significantly limited under the new regime.
Post-secondary education was also targeted by the new regime. The number of professors and assistants fell as the government produced legal grounds for deposing those who were critical of the new regime. Disciplinary actions, previously the responsibility of individual universities, were relegated to the government. Only members of the Fatherland Front were allowed to become university officials.
Economic policy [ edit ]
By 1930, foreign trade to and from Austria moved away from a free market system and became an extension of the autocratic government.[clarification needed] Chief among the changes was the closing of the Austrian market to foreign trade in response to the New York stock exchange crisis in 1929.
Unemployment grew drastically, between 1932 and 1933 by over 25 percent. In response, the government created the so-called "Cooperations" of workers and enterprises.
Culture [ edit ]
The official cultural policy of the Austrofascist government was the affirmation of the Baroque and other "pre-revolutionary" styles. The government encouraged a cultural mindset reminiscent of the times before the French Revolution. This recalled images of the "Threat from the East" – the invasion of Europe by the Ottoman Turks – which were then projected onto the Soviet Union. In this way, the government warned its people against what it called "cultural Bolshevism", a force which it claimed posed a great threat to Austria.
Minimal antisemitism [ edit ]
There was no official policy of antisemitism between 1933 and 1938. Public violence against Jews was rare. As the Austrofascist state saw itself under the growing pressure by Nazi Germany which penalized its citizens who travelled to Austria with a 1000 Mark fee, and even more so after the failed Nazi coup against the Austrian government in July 1934, many Jews supported the regime.
The history of the austrofascist movement was rooted partially in one of its predecessor parties, the Christian Social Party. One of the more notorious of that party's founders, Karl Lueger was a noted anti-Semite who is often considered to have had a formative influence on Adolf Hitler during his time in Vienna.
Still, austrofascist officials supported the Salzburg Festival which employed famous Jewish artists like Herbert Graf, Alexander Moissi, Max Reinhardt, Richard Tauber, Margarete Wallmann, and Bruno Walter. Walter was also a leading conductor for the Vienna State Opera until 1938 and conducted several concerts given by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Therefore, the festival was harshly criticised by German officials and boycotted by German artists like Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Clemens Krauss. The Festival also came under attack by Austrian antisemites and exponents of right-wing parties.
Many Jews fled Germany and found a temporary refuge in Austria. Artists like filmmaker Henry Koster and producer Joe Pasternak could not work in Germany any longer and continued to produce films in Austria. Vienna's Theater in der Josefstadt provided many Jewish actors, playwrights, and directors with the opportunity to continue their work, among them Reinhardt, Albert Bassermann, Egon Friedell, Hans Jaray, Otto Preminger (the theater's managing director until 1935), Ernst Lothar (managing director until 1938), and Franz Werfel. Jewish athletes made the SC Hakoah Wien one of the most successful athletic clubs in Austria before 1938. Its athletes excelled on many occasions throughout Europe.
Yet there was a purge of public offices, and many Jews were fired from their posts on the accusations that they were Communist or Social-Democratic sympathizers. There were occasional outbursts of antisemitism in right-wing newspapers. However, Jews continued to be an integral part of Austrian society until March 1938. But some of them lost their hopes for a fruitful future and left Austria before 1938, especially following the Juliabkommen 1936 between Austria and Germany which provided an amnesty for illegal Nazis. Among the most prominent Jews who left Austria before 1938 were Stefan Zweig and Otto Preminger.
Demise [ edit ]
The regime lasted as long as the favour of Fascist Italy under Mussolini protected it against the expansionist aims of Nazi Germany. However, when Mussolini sought to end Italy's own increasing international isolation by forming an alliance with Hitler in 1938, Austria was left alone to face increasing German pressure.
To protect Austria's independence, Schuschnigg reached an agreement with Hitler under which 17,000 Austrian Nazis received amnesty and were integrated into the fold of the Fatherland Front. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the leader of the Austrian Nazis, was appointed Minister of the Interior and Security. As Nazi pressure continued, now supported from within the government, Schuschnigg tried to rally popular support for Austria's independence by a referendum. Hitler reacted by alleging an attempt at a fraudulent vote and demanded that Schuschnigg should hand over the government to the Austrian Nazis or face invasion. Schuschnigg, unable to find support in France or the United Kingdom, resigned to avoid bloodshed. After an interlude, in which Nazis had gained control of Vienna, President Miklas, who had at first refused, appointed Seyss-Inquart Chancellor, who then requested military occupation by the German army. The next day, Hitler entered Austria and declared it a part of the German Reich, which was subsequently formalized on March 15.
References [ edit ]
Notes
Bibliography
Stephan Neuhäuser: “Wir werden ganze Arbeit leisten“- Der austrofaschistische Staatsstreich 1934, ISBN 3-8334-0873-1
, ISBN 3-8334-0873-1 Emmerich Tálos, Wolfgang Neugebauer: Austrofaschismus. Politik, Ökonomie, Kultur. 1933–1938. 5th Edition, Münster, Austria, 2005, ISBN 3-8258-7712-4
. 5th Edition, Münster, Austria, 2005, ISBN 3-8258-7712-4 Hans Schafranek: Sommerfest mit Preisschießen. Die unbekannte Geschichte des NS-Putsches im Juli 1934. Czernin Publishers, Vienna 2006.
. Die unbekannte Geschichte des NS-Putsches im Juli 1934. Czernin Publishers, Vienna 2006. Hans Schafranek: Hakenkreuz und rote Fahne. Die verdrängte Kooperation von Nationalsozialisten und Linken im illegalen Kampf gegen die Diktatur des 'Austrofaschismus'. In: Bochumer Archiv für die Geschichte des Widerstandes und der Arbeit, No.9 (1988), pp. 7 – 45.
. In:, No.9 (1988), pp. 7 – 45. Jill Lewis: Austria: Heimwehr, NSDAP and the Christian Social State (in Kalis, Aristotle A.: The Fascism Reader. London/New York)
(in Kalis, Aristotle A.: The Fascism Reader. London/New York) Lucian O. Meysels: Der Austrofaschismus – Das Ende der ersten Republik und ihr letzter Kanzler. Amalthea, Vienna and Munich, 1992
. Amalthea, Vienna and Munich, 1992 Erika Weinzierl: Der Februar 1934 und die Folgen für Österreich. Picus Publishers, Vienna 1994
. Picus Publishers, Vienna 1994 Manfred Scheuch: Der Weg zum Heldenplatz. Eine Geschichte der österreichischen Diktatur 1933–1938. Publishing House Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2005, ISBN 978-3-218-00734-4
LiteratureSince its inception, Sociable Cider Werks in Northeast Minneapolis has been infusing and playing with ciders and cider-making in new and interesting ways – some that take a little less time than others to come to fruition. On a weekly I-need-an-exciting-and-delicious-new-drink-to-try basis, they are instant-infusing their cider with salacious flavor combinations, like cucumber habañero and poblano pineapple for a $5 12-oz. pour.
With the complexity of a well-mixed cocktail and the sweet effervescence of a classic cider, the weekly change-up gives regulars something to experiment with and first-timers something stimulating to try. A new batch begins Thursday and runs through the weekend, and every couple of weeks the theme shifts when the base ingredient runs out and inspiration is gathered at the grocery store. First there was ginger, then a lot of mint, followed by habañero and a few other peppers, and now rhubarb. Jim Watkins, one of the owners, has future plans to explore pepper infusions more, with their zesty finish and spice that builds the more you drink.
The infusion setup is relatively simple. The crew can put pretty much anything inside the small tank in between the cider keg and tap, creating an immediate unique libation for weekend visitors. Functioning a lot like a French press, it has a net catch at the bottom to keep the ingredients out of the cider itself, while allowing time for it to ruminate with the week’s selection as it is pulled. Over time the flavor changes slightly; the first few glasses tend to be further from the ideal end result and the last few can be a little overwhelming, especially with a strong contender like mint.
Tasting notes: Sociable Cider Werks Rhubarb Berry-infused cider (Thursday, May 1, 2014)
Dry, with light fruity undertones, the pour is a clear, lightly carbonated straw color. The nose is soft with hints of lemon. On the palate it’s reminiscent of champagne-soaked strawberries. The subtle woody flavors of the base cider complement the fleeting earthy tones of the rhubarb to make a well-rounded cider that, while definitely the sweetest pour on tap, is pleasant and drinkable at 5.8% ABV.
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commentsPITTSFORD -- The future of Seantrel Henderson's football career has truly become a 24-hour struggle.
As he adjusts to living with Crohn's disease, it's not enough for Henderson to simply report each day for practice and film study. He has to work just as hard to maintain the weight needed to play offensive line in the NFL.
"I have a meal plan," Henderson said after a recent training camp practice at St. John Fisher College. "Meats and greens every day, protein shakes, a lot of fruit. As long as I keep gulping up a lot of everything, and getting my calories in, I'm good to go. I can keep my weight up."
At his lowest weight after being diagnosed, Henderson dropped to 280 pounds. He weighs 345 today -- a testament to how hard he's worked.
"I feel real good," he said. "I haven't had any complications, so I'm doing pretty well. It's all about eating foods that you can eat. The diet you have to be on, certain acidic foods you can't eat. Staying on a good diet, eating healthy, eating enough, and hydrating enough. It's a daily thing for me."
The work is paying off, too. Henderson has mixed in with the starters at left tackle as the team monitors Cordy Glenn's workload.
"He’s done a nice job," coach Sean McDermott said Tuesday before the Bills hit the practice field. "He’s one of the guys that has moved in to rotate with some 'ones' from time to time. It’s all part of the competition, as well. I like how he’s handled it – certainly a good athlete. The progression, the development with Seantrel continues. We know what he’s dealt with off the field at times and so that’s part of developing the overall player."
McDermott credited strength and conditioning coach Eric Ciano and trainer Shone Gipson for developing a plan that would to allow Henderson to resume his playing career -- which was no sure thing after he went through a pair of surgeries related to his disease.
"Just come out here and be the same guy every day," Henderson said of how he's approaching camp. "Do the right things. Be on time. Take care of my job -- get my lift in, keep my cardio up, keep my weight up -- do everything I'm supposed to do as a player."
Unfortunately for Henderson, the start to his 2017 season will be delayed as he still has to serve the remaining five games of a 10-game suspension he was hit with during the 2016 season. That suspension came because of his use of marijuana that he says was to treat his disease.
"It's something I have to deal with," Henderson said. "Miss the first five games, come back, see what's on the table for me to keep helping the team. That's just how it has to go for me right now.“At the beginning, I was doing the music out of necessity, because we had no money. At some point, I realized that the scores became another voice, another way I could further what I was doing as a filmmaker. It became an extension of directing. Composing was a lot of extra work, but I kept going as long as I could stand it. Kind of like directing.” —John Carpenter[1]
John Carpenter is best known for his horror and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, and at a time when he was severely constrained by budgets for his independent films, he resorted to composing his own scores. He turned to the one instrument that he could get the most out of with his limited funding: the synthesizer, which could provide a wide range of sounds and moods. His simple, straightforward scores became another character and an additional element to the visual experience of a Carpenter film. For those who have enjoyed Carpenter’s films, the release of his album Lost Themes was exciting news.
The album features a trio of musical talent: Carpenter, his son Cody Carpenter (of the progressive rock band Ludrium), and Daniel Davies, who scored the recent Aaron Eckhart film I, Frankenstein (2014, dir. Stuart Beattie). All three have been equally credited with composition, performance, and engineering duties for each of the nine tracks.
Having enjoyed several of Carpenter’s films over the years—especially his early horror films—and after listening to Lost Themes several times, it is obvious that he drew heavily from some of his early films such as Dark Star (1974), Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), and They Live (1988). As a fan of his compositions from those films, I was pleased that Carpenter revisited his musical roots and explored those “lost” themes with newer technology and the additional input from his son and Davies. Between the three of them, Carpenter’s music has become fuller and far more rich, but without losing the straightforward and clean compositions that I have come to expect.
Lost Themes commences with “Vortex,” which seems apropos given that the word is defined as a whirling mass that draws everything within reach into its center. Starting with a brief piano prelude, Carpenter’s familiar driven style of synthesizer develops into a hypnotic pounding beat and in the background, one can hear what sounds like wings fluttering. This song, and really the entire album, embodies the feel and tone of his early films; yet, with the layers of sounds and instruments incorporated, Carpenter’s music has taken on a degree of complexity that was missing before. Carpenter’s approach to music has aged and matured like vintage wine.
The second track, “Obsidian,” starts with light melodic notes that one might imagine refers to the shimmering golden specks in a piece of volcanic rock when the light hits it just right. There is a nod to science fiction with swirling synthesizer notes accompanied by a pounding beat. The tone slips into a darkness of piano notes only to explode into a cacophony of instruments—organ, electric guitar, bass, cymbals, and tambourines. It jars the listener from becoming complacent, which is not unlike watching a jump-cut in a film. I sensed Carpenter was making nods to Dark Star and The Fog here.
“Fallen” is similar to “Vortex,” however Carpenter experiments with a combination of hints of classical composition with classic horror and a touch of the demonic. It seems to unfold into a suburban dream state, lulling the listener into a perceived comfort only to jump-cut back into the horror, which was never far below the surface. The demonic synthesizer shifts into a higher pitch and a wavy instrumental voice. In the background, the tick-tock beat builds a rhythm with skips that begin to remind me of Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory painting in which time is distorted.
All four A-side tracks feel as though Carpenter explored and experimented with a specific core of notes. In “Domain,” the synthesizer falls into a repetitive cadence that is cyclical in nature. There is the feeling of moving upward as though toward some hopeful light. Here, Carpenter uses the synthesizer as a voice, calling out; thus the first side ends.
Carpenter leads the listener down a twisted, dark path as is evidenced by his selection of bold one-word titles: “Mystery,” “Abyss,” “Wraith,” “Purgatory,” and “Night.” While the synthesizer continues to loom large in all of the songs, in “Mystery,” he starts pulling in other instruments that deepen his explorations. On track five, he adds a percussive element in triangle and what sound like tubular bells that bellow big, round notes, resonating with the overwhelming heaviness that mystery brings.
“Abyss” and “Wraith” fall into an interesting harmony of harpsichord, echoed by an electric guitar and a liberal dose of synthesizer. The two songs crescendo into a primeval chaos, bringing together modern and classic horror. However, with “Purgatory,” Carpenter takes the meaning of the word to heart and starts the song at a slower pace. It provides a pause then brings the best of percussion, bass guitar, and synthesizer together again into a passage the reminds one of They Live.
Our lost journey concludes with “Night,” which harkens a haunting stillness in the last vestiges of the darkness. It feels like an ode to the last one standing—the one to come through alive and intact (hopefully for the most part, at least). As a slower paced song, it follows up “Purgatory” well with a lonely mood that both tracks successfully evoke. Clocking in at 3:39, it is the shortest track and ends abruptly, leaving me wishing the song and the album were longer.
I mentioned at the beginning of this review that I had listened to Lost Themes several times. Candidly, I was initially disappointed the first couple of times I listened through the album because I expected to hear a full symphonic sound as well as brand new and different themes. However, as I listened again (and again), the nuances of each song, the pacing, the instruments utilized, and encapsulating within the framework of each song title, I continued to find new appreciation. Each song is rich with an experience and maturity that Carpenter’s early scores would not have had during the 1970s and 1980s. As he admitted in the quote above, he was initially scoring music out of necessity, but in time found that his music provided another voice. That is how I interpreted Lost Themes: a character’s voice from an auditory film that we can visually compose in our own minds. With Lost Themes, John Carpenter has effectively created an incredible new world for his fans.
_____________________________________________________
Track List:
A1) Vortex
A2) Obsidian
A3) Fallen
A4) Domain
B1) Mystery
B2) Abyss
B3) Wraith
B4) Purgatory
B5) Night
Rating: 9.5/10
Written by: Michele Brittany
Label: Sacred Bones Records (United States) / SBR123 / 12″ LP, CD, Digital
Soundtrack / Atmospheric / Dark Ambient / Cinematic
Footnotes:
1. John Carpenter, Biography. IMDB. No date. Retrieved HerePhoto
Just a further thought about Reaganolatry: consider the track of unemployment under two presidents. One is lauded as the ultimate economic hero and savior; the other reviled as an economic failure, who killed jobs by being nice to poor people and insulting job creators. The chart compares their records.
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OK, you can come up with reasons why president#2’s record isn’t as good as it looks. But is there really enough contrast there to justify the difference in perception? How much of what we’re looking at is the psychological impact of a V-shaped recession — things got really bad, so there was a sense of relief when they got better? How much is simply the result of decades of propaganda?
Anyway, I’m surprised that this chart isn’t more widely discussed.Who needs money when you have a pretty face, right?. At Jeju Island, a Korean eatery in Zhengzhou city, China, people are allowed to dine at no charge if they happen to be among the five most beautiful patrons of the day. Hanging outside the establishment last Saturday was a bold sign that stated: “Free Meal for Goodlooking”.
If you think the practice is bizarre, wait till you hear who the judges are – a panel of local plastic surgeons! All those hoping to earn a free meal are taken to a ‘beauty identification area’, where they are photographed. The doctors then evaluate the potential diners on the quality of their faces, eyes, noses, and mouths.
Reports state that protruding foreheads are given special preference. The top five good-looking people who achieve the highest score in 30 minutes are offered a meal for free. The scoring standards are publicly displayed on the restaurant’s second floor.
As news of the scheme spread, Chinese social media websites were filled with jokes and debates on how people would fare at the restaurant’s beauty contest. “I reckon I can get a one percent discount with my face,” a Weibo user joked.
“Do the ugly have to pay twice?” another person wondered.
Zhengzhou authorities, on the other hand, weren’t amused by the restaurant’s tactics. They accused the initiative of damaging the city’s image and said that the garish sign did was not officially granted permission. The offending sign was finally taken down on Tuesday, after teams of security guards and demolition workers descended on the restaurant and demanded its removal.
Restaurant manager Xue Hexin, however, said that the removal of the sign did not imply that the ‘Pay by Face’ promotion would be stopped. “We will be more prudent with our advertising in future,” she said. “But the promotion will continue despite the demolition of our sign.”
via ShanghaiistMost would feel that a wedding is not a wedding without the wedding cake. Brides mostly spend a lot of time just to prepare and find the right cake for their special day. But, do you know that as we enjoy the variety of wedding cakes available to us now, these cakes also had a long deep history of how cake cutting and the existence of wedding cakes came to be.
How it All Started
Roman Times
Wedding cakes date back all the way to the Roman Empire. The custom was for the groom to break the cake over the bride’s head to symbolize the end of the bride’s virginal state, ensure fertility, and the beginning of her husband’s power over her. Cakes were not yet invented at that time, so they mostly used a loaf of freshly baked of barley bread to do the tradition. The guests who also attended the wedding would take part by taking a piece of the broken wedding cake in hopes that they would also get good luck and fortune.
The custom of breaking the cake was mostly necessary at that time since they believed it would benefit and provide good fortune to the couple’s future children. This ritual was mostly necessary for couples because this also affected the future of their children since only those children whose parents participated in the ritual were considered for a Roman high office. Brides mostly had to participate to ensure that her children would have good fortune.
Medieval Period
In Medieval England, cakes were made with flour-based breads without sweetening. The custom was to stack sweet buns in a pile end, and then the couple would try to kiss over the pile. If they succeeded, they would be blessed with many children. This ritual was also said to bring good fortune and prosperity to the couple. However, because of its impracticality, some countries still continued in doing the original Roman tradition.
Pies and Crumbs
During the middle 17th century and until the early 19th century, the bride’s pie was introduced. This wedding pie was either made of a minced pie, filled with sweet breads, or mutton. The ritual was that the bride would hide her ring inside the pie, then slice it and distribute them to her female guests. The woman who would get the sliced pie with the ring on it was believed to be the next to marry. This particular slice of pie was still important since they believed that whoever gets this slice would have to put it under her pillow so when she falls asleep, she would be able to see her future spouse in her dreams.
During the 18th century, brides also created an alternative tradition to the cake under the pillow ritual. What brides did was, they passed tiny crumbs that came from their wedding cakes and gave them to their female guests. Those crumbs were also placed under their pillow in hopes of seeing their future spouses. However, there is no evidence of the effects of these rituals, but they still did exist for years.
The Meaning of White
Wedding cakes started with the color of white because brides back in the early days, symbolized purity, gentleness, innocence, softness, and virginity. The cake and the color it had, represented the bride’s purity. One challenge for bakers during the Victorian period was that they were limited with their creation of the icing since icing requires fine sugar and they did not have the proper equipment to do much yet. So, back in those days, it was known that the whiter the icing on the cake was, the wealthier the family was.
Stacking of the Cake
Even before, cakes were stacked up in large to small layers. The tradition of stacking of the cake represented fertility. Couples would stack as many layers as they could as this symbolized the number of children that they would have. These days, the stacks just represent style. The higher the stacks are, the glamorous they become.
Modern Tradition
These days, the tradition of cutting the cake as a couple is ever more popular. The groom will place his hand over the bride and in a way help her in slicing the first piece. The couple will have to cut through the bottom layer to symbolize the continuity of their relationship. The meaning of the groom having his hand over his bride means his support over his bride while the bride allowing the groom’s hand on top of her means her ability to take care of her new husband and her family.
Once the cake has been cut, the groom will feed his bride, and then the bride will go second. This ritual symbolizes their commitment to provide for each other, and contains the meaning of good luck and fortune. Some also believed that the bigger the piece of cake that is fed to each other, the bigger their family would become.
Some couples are also replacing the ritual of feeding each other with a piece of cake with just smashing each other with a piece of it. However, most are still not at ease with this ritual since both the bride and groom took the time to make themselves prepare for their big day and ruining their make up with icing is not a great way to end a beautiful wedding.
In the past, it was the duty of the couple to send guests home with a piece of their wedding cake similar to a wedding favor. They also had to send pieces of cakes to those who were not able to attend their wedding. But, while the tradition is well meant, the popularity of it is slowly fading.
Wedding cakes are symbolic from the time they were created until now that they were made even more special. Brides and their grooms may even become emotional as they cut their cake. After all, this would also mark the ending of the wedding, and the beginning of a new life as husband and wife.Have governments got cyberwarfare all wrong? A new study argues that the United States and United Kingdom have never figured out a proper definition of cyberwar and that a “true cyber war” will never happen.
But it’s not all good news: In order to prevent a combination of cyberwarfare, conventional war and other disasters from causing future, the scholars behind the project argue that an internet equivalent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is needed to protect against worms, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and hackers.The study was written for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development by Peter Sommer of the London School of Economics and Ian Brown of Oxford University. In it, Brown and Sommer claim that governments — including the United States — have been too quick to label a wide assortment of criminal behaviors, espionage activities and economic skirmishes as “cyberwarfare.” But while genuine cyberwarfare does exist, the study finds that there is relatively little risk of Stuxnet-like worms being used due to the difficulty involved in crafting them.
But there is bad news. Sommer and Brown argue that embedded malware and DDoS attacks are likely to be used in future cyberwarfare by both governmental and non-governmental actors.
And this cyberwarfare threat also extends to third parties. According to Jillian York of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, which just published a report on DDoS attacks against human rights groups, “DDoS attacks — as well as other types of attacks and intrusions — on human rights sites and independent media are becoming increasingly common. As a result, such sites — which frequently lack skilled personnel and/or funding — are often effectively silenced as a result of these attacks, because they become a liability to their hosting providers.”
A recent New York Times article on Stux |
of singles, is something that I often use to learn to demonstrate strength without having the huge toll that a 1RM can take on my body and nervous system.
3 – Ramping Up to a 3RM using 60-90%
Ramping to a 3RM builds strength with much less negative impact on the nervous system.
When ramping to a 3RM, you'll normally reach a point that's approximately 90% of your max, so make jumps of about 7-10% per set. It might look something like this:
165 lbs x 3
185 lbs x 3
205 lbs x 3
225 lbs x 3
245 lbs x 3
275 lbs x 3
4 – 10 x 1 at 90%
Ten sets of singles will allow you to gain strength as well as the skill to be able to demonstrate that strength.
You can certainly build strength using weights around 80%, but it's the lifts at 90%+ that make you good at demonstrating maximum strength and actually straining to successfully complete a near-max lift.
You can build just as much strength using weights that are 90% 1RM as you can using weights that are 95-100% 1RM.
And while you may be able to get three or four sets in the 95-100% range (more than that and you risk neural fatigue and reduced progress), you can double that volume by simply going down to 90%!
5 – 5 x 2 using 90%
Five "hard doubles" is easier psychologically, even if you're using the same percentage and do the same total reps as the 10 singles. It can be difficult to maintain focus and intensity over 10 sets, even if each set is very short.
You also recruit more motor units doing hard doubles than singles at the same intensity level because you create some fatigue with the first rep and are forced to recruit more motor units to be able to perform the second rep.
Ten singles can be very effective for advanced lifters with lots of heavy lifting experience because they're generally able to recruit more motor-units in that one rep.
Intermediate lifters will get better results from the doubles because they can't recruit as many fibers in the first rep and need the second to get complete stimulation.
6 – 3 x 3 @ 90%
"Hard triples" are a good way to train for strength if you have little experience in maximal lifting.
The benefits are similar to the hard doubles in that you use fatigue from the first reps to increase motor unit recruitment as the set progresses.
Intermediates will make great gains too, but it might be a bit too demanding for advanced lifters because they're often more efficient at recruiting muscle fibers and because their max will be higher.
90% of 500 pounds is more demanding on the body than 90% of 200 pounds, even if, relatively speaking, the intensity is the same. Advanced lifters can still use it, but doing five doubles would work better in most situations.
The type of advanced lifter who would benefit the most from hard triples is someone who's strong but not explosive. Naturally-explosive lifters are the best at recruiting fast-twitch fibers and will quickly lose strength from rep to rep.
It's not rare to have an explosive lifter fail to get 3 reps at 90% while a strong but slower lifter can bang out 5 reps with that weight.
7 – 3/2/1 Waves using 88-97/102%
This is quite possibly the most powerful loading scheme you can use to build strength.
Some experts may have spoken out against it, but I've seen it work too many times to listen to "theory" and disregard reality. Heck, even Ilya Illyin, arguably the best Olympic lifter at the moment, uses this scheme in his training.
It has a profoundly-stimulating effect on the nervous system, but it can also be draining because of the high neural output.
You perform "waves" of three sets, increasing the weight and decreasing the reps in each set, and resting your normal length of time between sets (and between waves).
If you successfully complete all three sets of a wave without missing a rep, you proceed to another wave of three sets with more weight than the preceding wave. I recommend starting the next wave with the load you used for the second set of the preceding wave.
If you can complete all the reps in that second wave, you start a third wave. Stop the exercise when you can no longer complete a wave.
Note that the first wave is generally conservative while the second one is more challenging but a notch below your true maximum. The third wave, ideally, leads to a 1RM. Being able to complete four waves would lead to a PR.
If your 1RM on a lift is 355 pounds, your waves on a perfect day might look like this:
Wave 1:
315 lbs x 3
325 lbs x 2
335 lbs x 1
Wave 2:
325 lbs x 3
335 lbs x 2
345 lbs x 1
Wave 3:
335 lbs x 3
345 lbs x 2
355 lbs x 1
Wave 4:
345 lbs x 3
355 lbs x 2
365 lbs x 1
On any given day, you should be able to complete two waves. Completing three waves is a very good session. Completing four waves is an amazing workout. Completing five waves means that you underestimated the weights to use!
8 – 1/3 Ratchet Loading with 80-95%
Ratchet loading is a variation of wave loading, using "waves" of two sets. The difference is that the same weight is used for both sets in a wave, but the reps increase from one set to the next.
The first set is designed to potentiate the nervous system and get used to the new weight; the second set is a more demanding effort. Rest approximately 90 seconds after the first set and two minutes after the second set of each pair.
Normally we use three "waves"/ratchets for a total of 6 sets but, as with 3/2/1 waves, you may be able to do four "waves" on a particularly good day.
It's is a good way to build strength as you practice performing a lift with heavy loads while not being as hard on the nervous system as 3/2/1 waves.
A sample ratchet loading workout could be:
Ratchet 1:
80% x 1
80% x 3
Ratchet 2:
85% x 1
85% x 3
Ratchet 3:
90% x 1
90% x 3
Ratchet 4:
92-95% x 1
92-95% x 3
8 Plans for the Best of Both Worlds - Size and Strength
1 – 5 x 5 using 75-85%
The 5x5 method is probably responsible for building more muscle and strength than any other approach because it has been one of the longest-standing training methods.
Tons of respected strength coaches, weightlifters, and bodybuilders have been using it for over five decades and it still thrives today.
There are many variations of this approach.
All five sets with the same weight.
Gradually working up to 2-3 max sets of 5, with the first two sets being 10-20% lighter.
Doing all five sets with the same weight, but alternating heavier days with 80-85% and lighter days with 75%.
They all work as long as you keep the reps at 5 per set and the load between 75 and 85%.
2 – 5/4/3/2/1 with 80-95%
This is one of my favorite schemes because it's based on a psychological trick that gets you more mentally involved as the workout goes on. It's the scheme to use on days you're not feeling "into it."
You remove one rep while adding weight on every set. The decreasing rep pattern lets you believe that each set is "easier" than the one before, while the added weight makes it harder.
While you can sometimes end the 5/4/3/2/1 with a true 1RM, being a bit more conservative will stimulate gains just as much while having less of a negative impact on the nervous system.
A typical workout would be:
80% x 5
82% x 4
85% x 3
87-90% x 2
92-95% x 1
3 – 5/4/3/2/1/1+ using 80-105%
This is an advanced version of the 5/4/3/2/1. Perform the first five sets as described above, but after the first single, continue doing sets of 1 until you hit a max for the day.
Example:
80% x 5
82% x 4
85% x 3
90% x 2
95% x 1
100% x 1
102-105% x 1
(Attempt at a PR if you're feeling strong that day)
It's tempting to always go for that extra PR since the 5/4/3/2/1 countdown makes you feel super strong, but going for a new max too often will drain the nervous system and you'll quickly hit a wall and stop progressing.
Only push it when you're honestly sure you'll hit something big.
4 – 1/2/4/6 using 80-92%
This is the opposite of 5/4/3/2/1, but it can be just as effective. You start with the lowest reps and heavier weights, and work your way up in reps while decreasing the load.
The benefit is that you amp up the nervous system prior to doing the higher reps sets, which will allow you to recruit more fast-twitch fibers on the volume set, stimulating more growth.
Note that we skip the sets of 3 and 5 reps because we want to potentiate the nervous system early on and reach the last set without accumulating too much fatigue.
The progression might look like:
90-92% x 1
88-90% x 2
85% x 4
80% x 6+
(The objective is 6 reps, but if you can get 7 or 8, go for it, even if it means hitting failure.)
5 – Cluster 5s with 88-92%
Cluster 5s are an advanced method of training, where you perform 5 reps with a load you'd normally use for 3 reps (generally using 88-92%) by taking pauses between every rep.
Rack the bar after each rep as if you were doing singles, don't hold it in the locked out (or stretched) position, and pause as short as 5 seconds or as long as 20 seconds.
The goal is to get all 5 reps in, so you might start with shorter breaks early in the set and then extend the mini-rest as the set (and fatigue) progresses.
The short break is enough to replenish some ATP in the muscles, slightly recharge the nervous system, and get rid of some metabolite accumulation, but it's not long enough to get rid of all the fatigue from the previous reps.
This results in you being able to use a bit more weight than you normally would for 5 "normal" reps while still being forced to recruit more motor units from rep to rep due to some fatigue accumulation.
6 – 6/4/2 Waves with 75-90%
The 6/4/2 wave loading approach represents one of the best compromises between strength and size gains.
The 6/4/2 scheme uses more volume, so you hit your limit in three waves. With 6/4/2 waves, the first wave is conservative, the second wave would lead to your 2RM, and a third wave would lead to a personal record for 2 reps.
7 – 3/5 Ratchet Loading using 75-85%
This is the strength/hypertrophy variation of 1/3 ratchet loading.
You still use "waves" of two sets with same weight for both sets, and you rest 90 seconds after the first set and two minutes after the second, but you're working with different loads to accommodate the slightly higher rep ranges.
Ratchet 1:
75% x 3
75% x 5
Ratchet 2:
80% x 3
80% x 5
Ratchet 3:
85% x 3
85% x 5
Similar to the 6/4/2 waves, you only do three "ratchets" because of the higher overall volume.
8 – 1/6 Contrast Loading with 70-95%
This loading scheme uses contrasts between sets of 1 rep with 90-95% of your maximum and sets of 6 reps with 70-80% of your 1RM. Perform a total of 6 sets, or 3 contrast pairings.
Each pairing is gradually heavier, so it would look like this:
90% x 1
70% x 6
92.5% x 1
75% x 6
95% x 1
80% x 6+
On the very last set, keep going up to failure, however many reps it takes. There's a good chance you'll often get more than 6 because of the neural activation from the preceding sets.
This approach takes advantage of the fact that near-maximal heavy lifting increases neural activation and improves the capacity to recruit fast twitch fibers in lighter sets that are performed soon afterwards, technically known as " post-tetanic potentiation."
Doing the sets in the reverse order, with the lighter/higher rep set just before the heavy work, wouldn't have the same effect.
6 Routines for Maximum Size
1 – 4 x 8 with 70%
Boring, bland, but effective!
The straight-forward 4x8 is another training protocol that bodybuilders have relied on for over 40 years. If it's stuck around for that long, there's good reason. It's not flashy, but the basics never let you down.
Doing 4 sets of 8, with each set getting you close to failure, is a decent way to stimulate growth, especially for beginners.
2 – 10/8/6/15-20 using 50-75%
The first three sets are done with gradually heavier weights and progressively fewer reps, and you finish off with a high-rep pump set. This approach is very effective for pure muscle growth since it attacks all the zones that have the greatest impact on hypertrophy.
Example:
60% x 10
70% x 8
75% x 6
50% x 15-20 reps
This method, in particular, will be even more effective when used with Plazma™ because the main benefit of that last very-high rep set is to bring nutrient-rich blood into the muscle that was stimulated during the earlier, heavier sets.
3 – 6 x 6 using 70% with short rest
Vince Gironda called this loading scheme "a Mr. Olympia routine," most likely because it was one he relied on when training Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia.
It's based on a high training density, not on load. Perform 6 sets of 6 with a moderate weight that you could do for 10 reps, or roughly 70% 1RM instead of an actual 6-rep max, and you must complete all six sets in as little time as possible.
Gironda'srecommendations were normally to shoot for rest periods of 30 seconds at most, with more advanced clients being allowed no more than 15 seconds, if that long.
Remember, the key factor with this loading scheme is density, not load. If you can't do all 6 sets with a strict 30 seconds rest, reduce the load until you adapt to the short rest periods.
4 – 8 x 8 using 60% with short rest
Vince Gironda called this one "the honest workout" because of the simple, honest muscle it could build.
It's basically the same thing as 6 x 6, but with more sets and more reps. Because of the higher total volume, the weights are slightly less, around 60% 1RM or a weight you could handle for about 12 reps.
This is obviously more demanding and the goal is still to create the biggest pump possible in the shortest time possible. That means strictly-timed rest periods of no more than 30 seconds, and not being afraid to reduce the weight when needed.
5 – Rest Pause 6 + 4 using 75-80%
Rest pause is one of the most effective, high intensity techniques to stimulate growth.
It's somewhat similar to clusters because you end up doing more reps than you "should" be able to do with a given load by including a rest period within the set itself.
The version that works best for size is using 75-80%, generally a weight you can get 6 or 7 reps with. Do 6 reps with that weight, then rack the bar and rest for 15-20 seconds, and then try to complete 4 more reps with the same weight.
This is a very demanding technique, so don't do more than one or two sets of this technique per exercise. You could perform one or two "regular" sets of 6, then end with one or two of these rest pause sets.
6 – 5-4-3-2-1 Heavy Density Lifting @ 70%
HDL is an even more difficult form of rest pause training that works amazingly well, but is very draining on the body. You shouldn't perform it for more than 3 workouts in a row.
Using the same weight throughout the set (around 70% or a weight you could do for 10 good reps), you do 5 reps, rack the bar and rest 15 seconds, do 4 reps, rest 15 seconds, do 3 more reps, rest 15 seconds, get 2 more reps, rest 15 seconds, and then finish one final rep.
Perform no more than three of these monster sets per workout.
Each set ends up letting you complete 15 total reps with a load you could've done for only 8-10 "regular" reps, so it's clear why this is among the best size-builders.
Related: The Rule of 90%
Related: Wave Ladders for Maximum Strength
Related: More Info on using potentiation
Related: The 5/3/1 Rest Pause 6-Week ChallengeWARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
SNAPS of a mutant piglet born with a human face and appendage on its head have gone viral, with speculation rife about what could have caused the abnormality.
The runt of the litter was born alive and squealing on a Chinese farm, but died after being rejected by its mother and refusing to bottle feed.
There are reports the newborn pig may have suffered from cyclopia, an extremely rare birth defect which results in just one eye where the nose should be.
It occurs when genetic problems or toxins disrupt the embryonic forebrain-dividing process.
Humans and animals born with this condition die shortly after birth.
media_camera Piglet... a farmer says he was inundated with cash offers for a pig born with a human face. Picture: Australscope
Farmer Tao Lu said he couldn’t believe his eyes when the strange-looking piglet was born on his property in Yanan township in Nanning city in southern China.
After news spread of the mutant pig, neighbours rushed to the farmer’s home.
“I was one of a dozen people went there to see the piglet, and it really did human face and exactly like he said, a willie growing out of its forehead,” local Wu Kung, who posted his images, said.
media_camera Oink oink... the piglet was born with a ‘willie’ on its forehead and a human-like head. Picture: Australscope
Farmer Tao said he was amazed because he received phone calls from collectors prepared to pay a large sum of money for the animal.
“It was a large litter, and the mutant was one of the last of 19 piglets to be born,” he said.
“All the others were normal, just this one was really bizarre. It is a shame it died, I could have got more money for it them for the rest of the family put together based on what people were offering me on the phone.”
He said they had wanted to put the mutant pig on display to attract visitors.
The ugliest animals ever 4:20 Ten of the ugliest beasts the animal kingdom has ever produced ranging from the Goblin Shark to the bizarre Aye-Aye. The ugliest animals ever
Originally published as Did this cause mutant pig face?With the Master Chief Collection on the Xbox One, Grifball has gone next-gen. Here is how you can play Grifball — right now! — in both Halo 3 and Halo 4 on the Master Chief Collection.
The first step is to add GrifballHub’s official gamertag Grifball Maps to your Xbox Live friends list. Just click here and “Add Friend.”
Next, we need to hop on the Master Chief Collection to download the maps and gametypes. Unlike previous Halo titles, the Master Chief Collection has no web-based file browser. Because of this, the only way to download maps and gametypes is through the game itself.
Load the game and hit the menu (start) button to bring up the “Options & Career” menu. Select “Leaderboards.” Go to “Campaign Scoring” for Halo 4. Hit the right bumper until you see the results for Difficulty: Legendary for the level Dawn. Find Grifball Maps in the list on the right. You can scroll down the Global list to find it (with 92,004 points) or hit X to display only your friends, at which point it will be easy to find. Hit A on Grifball Maps and select “File Share.” Download any Grifball maps and gametypes you want!
Some recommendations for people who want to play Grifball include:
HALO 4 GAMETYPE: Ricochet / GGL Grifball – Five Rounds. This is the standard “Grifball” gametype you may remember from Halo 4 Grifball matchmaking.
. This is the standard “Grifball” gametype you may remember from Halo 4 Grifball matchmaking. HALO 3 GAMETYPE: Assault / Grifball. This is the standard “Grifball” gametype for Halo 3.
. This is the standard “Grifball” gametype for Halo 3. HALO 4 MAP: Forge Island / AGLA Grifball One. This is the basic Halo 4 Grifball court.
. This is the basic Halo 4 Grifball court. Halo 3 MAP: Foundry / GrifballHUB ONE. This is the basic Halo 3 Grifball court on Foundry.
The courts labeled “Grifball Blank” are templates to be used for forging your own maps. The spawns and bomb plants are already set for you.
If you’d like to find people to play Grifball with and perhaps join a league, check out our forums. Particularly the chatbox, the Welcome Wagon, and the Recruiting Forum.When it comes to being employed by the government, membership has its privileges. How far do these privileges extend? It’s a question that is central to political philosophy. It is most poignantly addressed by one of my favorite pieces of writing, Frédéric Bastiat’s The Law (1850).
The same question is being debated on the streets in every US city today. Videos of citizen abuse at the hands of the police are everywhere. It seems the cops have been empowered to do to us what we would never be allowed to do to each other. Some cases have made it to grand juries and trial juries. People are asking pointed questions regarding the relationship between the state and its citizens.
From the mainstream media to the courts, disagreement usually revolves around questions of the motivation, the character, and the behavior of police officers. Are they following the regulations? Abusing their authority? Motivated at some level by racism? Some would like to confront the related question: What level of citizen noncompliance justly prompts the police to use extreme force?
But there’s a question everyone wants to avoid here: Are the laws themselves just?
Many of the most famous beatings and killings at the hands of the police began with small infractions such a selling contraband cigarettes, evading criminal prosecution for the failure to pay child support, carrying knives, or small-time dealing of illegal substances. Then there are the many cases of asset forfeiturethat never make it to YouTube, ongoing acts of plunder that aren’t flashy enough to inspire mass protests.
If the debate stays centered on police actions alone, we will never reach the core issue.
What is the law — and what should it be?
These are the bigger questions that are not yet part of public consciousness. Every law and regulation, no matter how small, is ultimately enforced by the threat of violence on the part of public authority. Laws are not “nudges”; they are mandates enforced by the legal use of coercion against person and property.
Bastiat tried to get people to think hard about what was happening and how the law had become an instrument of plunder and violence, rather than a protector of property and peace. If the law itself is not just, the result is social division and widespread discontent. The relationship between the rulers and the ruled becomes distorted, and a sense of systemic injustice pervades the culture. Bastiat observed this in horror in his time, and it’s a good description of our own:
The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, and property of others. It has converted plunder into a right, in order to protect plunder. And it has converted lawful defense into a crime, in order to punish lawful defense.
Further, and most poignantly in our time: “Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons, and gendarmes at the service of the plunderers, and treats the victim — when he defends himself — as a criminal.”
Indeed.
Whether this happens at a traffic stop, at the arbitrary hands of an angry cop, or due to a tax or regulation passed by a legislature doesn’t change the nature of what is happening.
Bastiat’s essay asks fundamental questions that most people go through life never having thought about. The problem is that most people accept the law as a given, a fundamental fact of life.
As a member of society, you obey or face the consequences. It is not safe to question why. This is because the enforcement arm of the law is the state, that peculiar agency with a unique power to use legal force against life and property. The state says what the law is — however this decision was made — and that settles it.
Bastiat could not accept this. He wanted to know what the law is, apart from what the state says it is. He saw that the purpose of law is, most fundamentally, to protect private property and life against invasion, or at least to ensure that justice is done in cases in which such invasions do take place.
This is hardly a unique idea; it is a summary of what philosophers, jurists, and theologians have thought in most times and places. It’s what most of us think, intuitively, that the law should be about. What makes Bastiat different is that he takes that next step, the one that opens the reader’s eyes as nothing else does. He subjects the state itself to the test of whether it complies with that idea of law.
He takes notice, even from the first paragraph, of the corruption that ensues when the state turns out to be a lawbreaker in the name of law keeping: the state does the very thing that law is supposed to prevent. Instead of protecting private property, it invades it. Instead of protecting life, it destroys it. Instead of guarding liberty, it violates it. And as the state advances and grows, it does these things ever more, until it threatens the well-being of society.
Even more tellingly, Bastiat observes that when you subject the state to the same standards that the law uses to judge relations between individuals, the state fails. He concludes that when this is the case, the law has been perverted in the hands of the governing elites. It is employed to do the very thing that the law is designed to prevent. The enforcer turns out to be the main violator of its own standards.
The law, wrote Bastiat, is supposed to protect property and person from arbitrary attack. When the law becomes a tool for providing legal cover for such attacks, as it has from Bastiat’s time to our own, its whole purpose has been turned upside down and inside out.
What Bastiat was seeking, as the embodiment of justice, was a consistent ethic of public life. The law should be the same for everyone. We should all obey the same rules. Neither the state nor any of its functionaries can be exempt from the rules they purport to enforce.
We cannot permit the state to judge itself by a different standard. Indeed, when Marilyn Mosby, Maryland’s state attorney, announced that the she was prosecuting the cops who beat and killed Freddie Gray, she struck a chord that resonated far and wide. She might be a left-liberal Democrat, and she might not share libertarian values across the board, but when she said, “no one is above the law,” she was echoing Bastiat and the entire liberal tradition.
What are the social consequences of having a different sets of laws, one for state agents and one for everyone else? Bastiat believed that the result is lawlessness:
As long as it is admitted that the law may be diverted from its true purpose — that it may violate property instead of protecting it — then everyone will want to participate in making the law, either to protect himself against plunder or to use it for plunder.
In this case, the law becomes a perpetual source of hatred and discord. It even “tends to destroy society itself.” Whether this destruction takes place in the controlled environment of a legislature, the routine quietude of the bureaucracy, or on the streets through looting does not change the essentials of what is happening.
What does this say about abuse at the hands of the police? According to Bastiat’s standard, the law should regard such abuse as the violation of another’s rights. Period.
The passion, the fire, the relentless logic of Bastiat’s monograph have the power to shake up any reader. Nothing is the same after you read The Law. That is why this essay is rightly famous. It is capable of shaking up whole systems of government and whole societies — a beautiful illustration of the pen’s power.
It is a habit of every generation to underestimate the importance and power of ideas. Yet the whole world that we live in is built by them. Nothing outside pure nature exists in this world that did not begin as an idea held by human beings. That’s why an essay like Bastiat’s is so powerful and important. It helps you see the injustices that surround us, which we are otherwise inclined to ignore. And it helps provide the response to them.
Seeing and explaining are the first steps to changing.
___
This article originally appeared at FEE.orgDear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Hundreds of Jewish protesters sought on Sunday to prevent a group of Greek Orthodox Christians from entering the complex housing the sites where Jewish tradition says lies the tomb of King David and Christian tradition holds is the site of Jesus’s last supper.
The protesters gathered by the site in Jerusalem’s Old City and conducted a mass prayer service and study session in an effort to block access to the building.
A police spokeswoman for the Jerusalem region said that despite the efforts to prevent the Christian worshipers from entering, the police managed to ensure that they were able to gain access and conduct their religious ceremony.No one was arrested during the incident, the spokeswoman said.The tomb of King David is in a lower room of the complex while the site of the Last Supper is in a separate room above.Protests by Jewish radicals have intensified in recent years against Christian services in the complex. The status quo since the establishment of the state has been to allow Christian ceremonies at the site three times a year, including for the Pentecost holiday, which was celebrated by the Orthodox Church on Sunday.According to one of the organizers, Yehudah Puah, the protesters gathered “to prevent the desecration of King David’s tomb by an idolatrous ceremony of the Greek Church.”Although protesters came from a mix of Jewish sectors, there were many members of one branch of the Breslov hassidic community who had come en masse to the demonstration.One strong supporter of efforts to block Christian access to the site is Jerusalem Municipality council member Arieh King. He told the B’hadrei Haredim ultra-Orthodox news website that “we have gathered here to sanctify God’s name. The debasement of this holy place will not be allowed to take place.”King refused to speak to The Jerusalem Post on the matter and disconnected a telephone call when quizzed on the incident.Writing on his Facebook page, however, he said that “the Greek Church is seeking to offend the feelings of Jews and to hold an idolatrous ceremony on the grave of our king, King David. I canceled all my meetings and plans in order to take part in the mass prayer service and study session until this evil decree [of the Christian ceremony] is canceled.” sign up to our newsletter
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>A police officer seen on video allegedly threatening to sexually assault a tow-truck driver with two pink sex toys should be fired, the man said Wednesday.
Standing outside the detachment where he says the incident happened, Jagdis (Mike) Tirbany said he was distressed that criminal charges against the officer had been dropped.
Jagdis Tirbany, left, and his lawyer, Davin Charney, right, are seen speaking to members of the media outside a Toronto OPP station on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. (Aarti Pole/CBC)
"How many times is he going to get away with something like this?" Tirbany said.
"They think they have a badge and gun and they can do whatever they want to the public because nobody believes us, the regular citizens."
Tirbany, 46, of Toronto, said the incident occurred inside a north-end Ontario Provincial Police detachment where he had gone last March for fingerprinting in light of an assault charge he was facing.
He said he took the video using a "spy pen" because of a history of problems with the officers involved.
The video shows Tirbany having words with Const. Ludgero Cafe, who accuses Tirbany of having a big mouth and a disregard for the law.
Cafe is seen briefly with what appears to be a sex toy in either hand, and suggests they will be used on Tirbany.
"Which one do you want to use, this one or the other one?" Cafe asks him.
"If you ever end up going to jail, in a nice mostly dark place... that's exactly what Bubba's gonna do to you; I will personally send a nice text to take care of you in there."
The driver said Wednesday he initially couldn't make sense of what he was hearing because he was so surprised. But he said there was no doubt about what Cafe had in his hands or the nature of the threat.
Tirbany, a married father of three, alleged he was threatened with being sodomized.
"I was shocked. I didn't expect something like that to come out."
Charges against officer dropped
Following an investigation by the province's Special Investigations Unit, Cafe was charged with uttering a threat to cause bodily harm.
Crown prosecutor Ian Bulmer confirmed the charge was withdrawn in February.
"It was screened according to ministry Crown policy on charge screening and it was determined that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction," Bulmer said without elaborating.
Cafe could not immediately be reached for comment, but provincial police spokesman Sgt. Dave Woodford said the force has been waiting for the criminal charges to be resolved and the complaints watchdog to wrap up its investigation before delving into the incident.
"It hasn't gone through our professional standards branch yet," Woodford said, adding internal charges could still be pursued if warranted.
Tirbany's lawyer, Davin Charney, said the prosecution should have gone ahead given the video evidence.
"Who would believe that well paid, trained police officers would do such a thing?" Charney said at a news conference outside the detachment.
"It makes me wonder how many times these kinds of incidents are taking place inside police stations across Canada but either going unreported or, if they're reported, the person is not believed."
The case highlights the failure of the current system when it comes to police accountability, Charney said, adding Tirbany should be praised for coming forward.
"Not everybody speaks out against injustices committed by the police. People are afraid of the police."
While the video at one point shows him chuckling, he said he was simply playing along.
"I had to do that because I was in a room cornered by two of them and I was scared for my life there."
At times, the audio from the video is unintelligible and much of it does not show the officers. Parts of it, where little is happening, have been sped up.
Tirbany, who has an unrelated criminal-negligence conviction relating to a vehicle crash, said the incident has left him distraught. As a result, he gave up his towing business, he said.
"It's so personal. It disturbed me in such a way, that I can't function every day."
Tirbany said he expects to file a lawsuit against the police, alleging sexual assault, intimidation, and wrongful interference with his business.
He also said he has complained to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director about the conduct of three officers, including Cafe, and expects a written report in the next few weeks.
The complaint alleges the other officers witnessed Cafe's conduct but failed to report the incident.When it comes to copyright theft and piracy, many people assume there's just one side - the side of truth, justice and copyright owners. Beyond that there are parasitical thieves. When most governments come to legislate on the matter, their response is usually one of listening to what big corporations and lobby groups say and nodding in agreement. For the general public, years of being bombarded by cross platform marketing campaigns have ingrained people with various "Piracy bad. Copyright good" slogans.
We've been del |
to a committee for study before voting on them.The U.S. embassy is pictured in Berlin October 25, 2013. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday allegations that U.S. intelligence agencies tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others in France and Italy have “posed a moment of tension” with some allies and should not undermine cooperation on such issues as Syria and Iran.
“There is no question that the disclosure of classified information has posed a moment of tensions with some of our allies,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
“We are having discussions with those allies,” she said referring to a visit next week by German intelligence chiefs to Washington to seek answers.
She said Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the accusations, based on allegations by fugitive ex-U.S. intelligence operative Edward Snowden, with officials in France and Italy during a recent visit to Europe.
Psaki said the leaks about U.S. intelligence activities had “created significant challenges in our relationships” with allied nations and a “public distraction.”
“He (Kerry) certainly recognizes that as we look to pursue a range of diplomatic priorities, whether that is working on global issues like Syria, or Iran, or (trade negotiations), it will really be a mistake to let these disclosures get in the way of that,” Psaki said.
Merkel has demanded that President Barack Obama address the issue following the accusations that the U.S. National Security Agency accessed tens of thousands of French phone records as well as monitoring her private phone.
Berlin plans to send officials from its intelligence agency BND to Washington, while members of the European Parliament have said they will fly to the United States on Monday to explore “possible legal remedies for EU citizens.”
Washington is currently working closely with European allies on a host of pressing global issues, including negotiations to end a dispute with Iran over its nuclear program and bringing together warring parties for a peace conference in Syria.Based on the scene from the Simpsons, Season 08 episode 09. It started with me imagining Lapis saying the line in the comic and I thought to myself “Wow, yeah, this is definitely something Lapis would say.” And I worked backward from there!
Here are the drinks everyone is drinking:
Amethyst - SkittleBrau (Beer with Skittles mixed-in, invented by Homer Simpson)
SkittleBrau (Beer with Skittles mixed-in, invented by Homer Simpson) Steven - Shirley Temple (Not Pictured)
Shirley Temple Pearl - Mimosa (Not Pictured)
Mimosa Bismuth - Lava Flow (Hawaiian-inspired Cocktail)
Lava Flow (Hawaiian-inspired Cocktail) Greg - Beer Float (Like Root Beer Float, but with actual Beer!.)
Beer Float (Like Root Beer Float, but with actual Beer!.) Peridot - Grasshopper
Grasshopper Eyeball Ruby - Uhh…Ruby Cocktail (She takes things too literally…)
Uhh…Ruby Cocktail (She takes things too literally…) Jasper - B52 (Cuz she da Bomb!)
B52 (Cuz she da Bomb!) Lapis - Water (HAIL HYDRATE!)
Also, I’m gonna make it my headcanon that Ruby always calls Steven “Steve-o”.A Paracas skull left compared to an alien grey and an ancient man with elongated skull.
The skulls, found in Peru, created waves in 2014 after a geneticist undertook preliminary DNA tests, and reported unknown results.
He found they had mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far”.
A second round of DNA tests have now been carried out - which some saying the results are just as controversial – leading to further speculation the skull's former owners may not have been from this planet.
Elongated skulls were caused by ancient civilisations purposefully mutilating their skulls from a young age.
It was done by binding the head between two pieces of wood, or binding in cloth.
But, they have always interested alien conspiracy theorists due to the enlarged craniums produced, which appear similar to the mythological alien grey species.
The new tests on the skulls have, however, not aided the alien theory, but have raised new questions about how the Americas were populated.In coming years, San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood will look vastly different than it does today. Once made up of industrial warehouses and shipyards, the 303-acre waterfront area started redeveloping in the late 1990s — adding thousands of new housing units, public plazas, a state-of-the-art medical center, and 580,000 square feet of office space. And in 2019, the Chase Center, an 18,000-seat arena, will open along with a nearby new subway stop and 100,000 square feet of retail space. It's a long-term redevelopment project for the city, and is expected to last at least two more decades. Mission Bay is not the only megaproject set to transform San Francisco, however. Here is a look at some of the most substantial projects to come to California's tech hub. Slides View As: One Page
The 5M Development — $1 billion Comprised of three towers, the 5M development will cover four acres between 5th, Mission, and Howard streets in downtown San Francisco. Developers say 241 of its 688 housing units will be offered below-market-rates. It will also add 807,600 square feet of office space, 50,000 square feet of public space, and 35,000 square feet of retail like restaurants and shops. Construction was slated to begin in late 2016, but in January 2016, two months after San Francisco approved the project, local activists sued the city over it. According to Curbed, they claimed that the 5M Environmental Impact Report did not show how much the project could increase the city's traffic, generate shade on city parks, and lower the amount of open space. The lawsuit was denied in early 2017, and an appeal was recently filed. (Though, as the San Francisco Business Times notes, it's not clear if the suit will proceed.) Developers Forest City say that construction will start in 2018 (though no exact timeline has been announced). The Business Times pegs 5M's cost anywhere from $700 million to $1 billion.
The Mission Bay Redevelopment — At least $1 billion The 303-acre, redeveloped Mission Bay neighborhood will feature thousands of new housing units, office, parks, and retail shops in the coming decades. Located between the San Francisco Bay and Interstate 280, the site's redevelopment was approved in 1998. The masterplan includes 4.4 million square feet of office and lab space, a new UCSF research campus and medical center, 419,000 square feet of retail space, a 250-room hotel, 41 acres of public space, a 500-student public school, a public library, a fire and police station, a light rail stop, and 6,404 housing units (with about 30% of them designated as affordable). Some of these components have been built, and Mission Bay already looks much different than it did a decade ago. In 2019, an 18,000-seat arena, which will become the home of the San Francisco Warriors and cost approximately $1 billion, will open. In March 2017, Uber bought space there. There's no exact timeline for the multi-decade project, but construction on several residential buildings began in January 2017.
Parkmerced — $1.35 billion Over 5,679 new housing units will stretch across 152 acres when Parkmerced is complete around 2035. While the developers say the masterplan may evolve, it currently includes 230,000 square feet of retail, 80,000 square feet of office space, and 60,000 square feet of public space as well. Located in the southwestern San Francisco, Parkmerced's first phase — expected to wrap up by 2022 — includes five residential complexes that will add 1,000 housing units. Construction of the $1.35 billion development is expected to start soon, though developers still need a number of building permits.
Mission Rock — $1.6 billion Owned by the San Francisco Giants, the Mission Rock development is proposed to span 28 acres and prioritize outdoor public space. The site could include 1.4 million square feet of office and commercial space, 1,500 units of rental housing, a brewery, and 8 acres of new and redeveloped park space with shops and cafés. Construction of Mission Rock is set to start in 2019 and will reportedly cost $1.6 billion.
Transbay Redevelopment Area — At least $2.4 billion A new transportation hub will serve as the centerpiece for the Transbay Redevelopment Area, a project set to stretch across 40 acres of northeast of downtown San Francisco. The five-level transit center — which will include a 5.4-acre public park on its roof — broke ground in 2013. It's set to be complete by fall 2017. Plans for the site's $4.5 billion redevelopment began in 2005, when the city started raising several building height limits to make way for the project. Developers envision 2,500 new homes, 3 million square feet of office and commercial space, and 100,000 square feet of retail across at least three towers. Also included in the plan, the 1,070-foot-tall Salesforce office tower (set to open in 2018) is the tallest skyscraper in San Francisco. The entire project should be complete around 2030, according to the city. Though developers have declined to comment on the development's total price, the Transbay Transit Center is expected to cost $2.4 billion (which won't include the annual $20 million cost to run it).
Treasure Island Redevelopment — $6 billion Located over 45 acres on San Francisco Treasure Island’s western shoreline and the 80-acre Yerba Buena Island, this project will add around 8,000 housing units by 2030. The waterfront redevelopment will also feature a new ferry terminal, 140,000 square feet of retail, 300 acres of parks and other open spaces, and 100,000 square feet of office space. Critics of the new Treasure Island, however, have expressed concerns over the traffic the $6 billion development may bring over the already traffic-clogged Bay Bridge. Despite this, plans for the island are coming along, and it's set to be complete by 2028.Second Ave. Subway set to (mostly) open on Jan. 1, 2017, Cuomo says By Benjamin Kabak By· Published in 2016
After over 85 years of planning, proposing, building, halting and starting over again, the Second Ave. Subway will make its long-awaited public debut on January 1, 2017, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday. As New York’s chief executive has made opening the line by the December 2016 deadline the MTA imposed upon itself in 2009 a major goal, he will lead a ceremonial ride on New Year’s Eve with revenue service starting at noon on New Year’s Day. Yet, as this oft-cursed project can’t simply open without a hitch, the Second Ave. Subway — a northern four-stop extension of the Q — will run only from 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. until 24-7 service begins on Monday, January 9.
“New Yorkers have waited nearly a century to see the promise of the Second Avenue Subway realized, and after unrelenting dedication from thousands of hardworking men and women, the wait is over and the subway will open on December 31,” the governor said in a statement. “The on-time completion of this major, transformative project reaffirms confidence in government competence, increasing capacity on the nation’s busiest subway system, and delivering a new, vital transportation artery to millions of New Yorkers.”
Of course, “on-time completion” is relative. The subway was originally supposed to open in the mid-1930s, and the current project was originally projected to open in late 2012. Phase 1 is also only just a part of an aspirational subway line. Using older tunnels, the Q train will head north from its current terminus at 57th St./7th Ave. with a stop at 63rd St./Lexington (and a transfer to the F) before heading up Second Ave. with stops at 72nd St., 86th St. and 96th St. This isn’t quite yet the T train as that new line won’t arrive until Phase 3, a far-away plan to dig south of 63rd St. underneath 2nd Ave.
Yet, for everything this new extension isn’t, it deserves to be celebrated. It’s (hopefully) the start of an effort to right a mobility wrong that has plagued the East Side since the elevated closed in the 1940s and 1950s and brings much-needed relief to the Lexington Ave. line. MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast said, “The Second Avenue Subway is the most significant addition to our system in 50 years and will serve more riders on opening day than Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Boston transit systems combined,” MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast said.
I’m curious to see how this new line works out. It’s bound to be a success, and I see no reason to doubt the MTA’s ridership projections. Yet, a level of mystery surrounds the project. Many New Yorkers who are only casual observers of subway news will be surprised to hear that the T isn’t debuting and that the new extension is only three stops along the Upper East Side. Others will be dismayed to find six- or eight-minute peak-hour headways, by far the longest of any Manhattan trunk line, and stations far deeper underground than New Yorkers are accustomed to. Plus, it is likely to be another decade before Phase 2 — another three stops further north through East Harlem — sees the light of day as construction work isn’t expected to begin on this part until late 2019.
Already, the stations are earning praise for their art installation, and the Governor and his team have been pushing that element of the project as a way to draw attention to something new. After all, even though only only a fraction of the MTA’s construction budgets goes to Arts and Design, a fraction of $4.5 billion is still $4.5 million, a substantial sum for the blank canvas of three new stations and a fourth undergoing complete renovations. Photo recreations, massive mosaics and images of the old 2nd and 3rd Ave. elevated lines will dominate the lengthy mezzanine spaces at these new stations, and an early preview of the art is available here.
So after years and decades and stops and starts and New Yorkers who still won’t believe it until they ride the subway, the Second Ave. Subway will open in 11 days with the public invited for rides in 12. And after ten years of running this site, I won’t be in the city for the opening. I’m spending New Year’s Eve in Paris, and it seems only fitting somehow that the subway will open when I’m out of town. There’s always, if the stars align, Phase Two.A Jury of Her Peers: The Impact of the First Female Jurors on Criminal Convictions
NBER Working Paper No. 21960
Issued in February 2016
NBER Program(s):Law and Economics, Labor Studies, Political Economy
This paper uses an original data set of more than 3000 cases from 1918 to 1926 in the Central Criminal Courts of London to study the effect of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919. Implemented in 1921, this Act made females eligible to serve on English juries, providing a novel setting for studying the impact of female representation on jury verdicts. Results based on a pre-post research design imply that the inclusion of females had little effect on overall conviction rates but resulted in a large and significant increase in convictions for sex offenses and on the conviction rate differential between violent crime cases with female versus male victims. The inclusion of women also increased the likelihood of juries being discharged without reaching a verdict on all charges and the average time taken to reach a verdict. A complementary analysis of cases in which the jury was carried over from a previous trial also implies that the inclusion of female jurors on the seated jury sharply increased conviction rates for violent crimes against women versus men.
A non-technical summary of this paper is available in the April 2016 NBER Digest. You can sign up to receive the NBER Digest by email.
Acknowledgments
Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX
Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w21960
Published: Shamena Anwar & Patrick Bayer & Randi Hjalmarsson, 2019. "A Jury of Peers: The Impact of the First Female Jurors on Criminal Convictions," The Economic Journal, vol 129(618), pages 603-650.
Users who downloaded this paper also downloaded* these:With the battle over Americans for Prosperity’s misleading ad featuring a Michigan cancer victim still raging, the Dem group Senate Majority PAC is now up with a response ad backed by at least $400,000. It defends Dem Rep. Gary Peters — the Senate candidate there — and hits his GOP opponent, Terri Lynn Land, on a range of other fronts:
Dems are still getting badly outspent in Michigan. AFP has reportedly spent some $2 million in the state. The new Senate Majority PAC buy — in a state where Dems should be having a relatively easy time, at least compared to red state contexts — suggests Dems are taking AFP’s attacks very seriously.
The ad doesn’t directly engage any of the AFP ad’s claims about Obamacare, simply pointing to a series of fact checks knocking it down. Instead, it points out who is behind the ad, arguing that the Koch brothers are trying to “buy a Senate seat” for Land so she can cut taxes on the rich and “restrict women’s access to health care.” In an interview with Politico, Land said the “only exception” to abortion she favors is when the mother’s life is in danger, not mentioning rape or incest — which Dems believe is a key vulnerability.
The spot also hits Land for wanting to cut Medicare, concluding the AFP ad against her shows her devotion to “helping the powerful at our expense.”
In a broad sense, the ad is in keeping with the Dem belief — or perhaps hope — that Obamacare is not the only issue voters care about; that swing voters will perceive such attacks on the law as political and ideological; and that 2014 races will be fought out on a range of issues, despite apparent GOP certainty that Obamacare alone (AFP has repeatedly said its sole overriding goal is repeal) will be enough to deliver the Senate.
One thing that will be interesting to watch: If and when Dems seriously engage in Michigan, will it become apparent that the battle for this seat isn’t as competitive as it looks right now? If so, you’d probably see AFP stop engaging there. If the contest remains very close even after Dems engage, it will be a sign Republicans really are succeeding in broadening the map in a way that should worry Dems a good deal.Iran's conflicting views start with the nuclear accord itself.
There may be some wishful thinking and hope that, over the 10-15-year duration of a final agreement, the lifting of sanctions and reintegration into the global economy will alter Iran's behavior.
That may be true of the Iranian public, with 60 percent of 80 million citizens under age 30, but the regime has only modestly toned down its internal discipline and continues its activism in the region.
Removing sanctions and reintegrating Iran into the global economy would open the door to global finance and much-needed foreign investment in its oil and gas sector which would greatly boost the economy.
Then there are several different national security forces, beginning with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, created by Iran's first leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, tasked with protecting the 1979 revolution.
Regardless of any final nuclear deal, few expect Iran to become one or the other in the near term.
Whether and how the Iranian political system can attain enough of a consensus for the supreme leader to sign on to a nuclear accord the West is an uncertainty even for Iran's leaders.
...That last line is hilarious, such an understatement. Did this guy think he was playing GRAW In Space? Kinda makes you wonder how many other reviews of Mass Effect, and other games in general, are skewed because of the inability of the reviewer to properly play the game. It's because of stuff like this that you can't really blame Bioshock for the quest arrow and item shimmering. I mean this guy's supposed to be a professional critic.
And everything is explained in detail in the ME manual, anyway. Not every game needs to include a built-in, extended tutorial. Some in-depth menu tutorial would've hurt Mass Effect's atmosphere and taken you out of the game. RPGs don't need menu tutorials. Remember Barrett teaching you about materia in FF7? I know you could skip it, but good lord that was tedious.Eco-conscious cloud mining operation Genesis Mining has launched a tongue in cheek nationwide media campaign to promote Bitcoin, loosely titled: "15 Times Experts Were Dead Wrong About Technology".
Marco Streng, CEO and co-founder of Genesis Mining told IBTimes: "A big part of the campaign is focused on showing people that experts aren't always right about technology. They often have ridiculous predictions that turn out wrong.
Take this example from Western Union: "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication" - Western Union internal memo, 1876.
The campaign includes billboards, taxis ads and spinner signs across Southern Florida, San Francisco, LA, DC, Chicago and Boston.
Genesis offers any individual the chance to join a mining pool, with operations based in Iceland tapping into natural and sustainable geothermal and hydro-generated electricity.On June 14, 2016, industry professionals from across the world will travel to St. Louis to attend Distributed: Trade, the first blockchain conference to address both capital markets and supply chain applications.
This inaugural blockchain conference is being hosted by BTC Media, the world's largest Bitcoin- and blockchain-focused media company, in partnership with SixThirty, a leading fintech accelerator in the United States.
"We are extremely pleased to partner with SixThirty," David Bailey, CEO of BTC Media told Bitcoin Magazine. "By combining BTC Media's knowledge of the blockchain ecosystem with SixThirty's insight as a fintech innovator, business accelerator and leading driver of disruptive B2B technology, we have created a first-of-its-kind, collaborative event focusing on cutting-edge blockchain solutions."
Atul Kamra, Managing Partner for SixThirty, told Bitcoin Magazine, "We saw a real opportunity in partnering with BTC Media for the St. Louis blockchain conference. The partnership harnesses St.Louis's regional strength in financial services, the breadth and depth of our global corporate community here and the flourishing tech start-up scene--and it brings us together around a real timely and relevant opportunity."
The conference is a forum to bring the industry's leading blockchain technology companies together with major enterprises to brainstorm how the new technology will disrupt and optimize trade networks and financial services. The name pays homage to the classical meaning of "trade," as the agenda will center around blockchain developments related to supply chain management, global payments, real-time distribution analytics, triple-entry accounting, insurance services, merchant services and capital market operations.
According to Bailey, the event will also feature a 24-hour hackathon that starts on June 12th. Participants will compete for funding and have the opportunity to present their projects at the conference.
At the conference, BTC Media will formally launch its newest media property, Distributed, which is an expansion of its popular weekly blockchain technology report The Distributed Ledger into a 24-hour news portal covering enterprise-level blockchain applications. Distributed's coverage will include capital markets, payments and financial services applications as well as blockchain news in many nonfinancial industries, including supply chain management, healthcare, IoT, insurance and identity.
"We're thrilled to cover first-hand the traction blockchain technology is gaining toward solving very large and ingrained pain points in the financial services world," Bailey told Bitcoin Magazine. "We're even more excited however about the emerging field of nonfinancial blockchain applications. From eliminating counterfeit goods to a global system of electronic medical records, blockchain technology will impact industries of all kinds and create immense opportunities for forward-thinking companies. This is our chief focus for Distributed - how can we expand the discussion around blockchain technology and facilitate the thought leadership that inspires innovation."
More information about the conference agenda, speakers and sponsors will be posted on the event website over the coming weeks, he concluded.
Full Disclosure: BTC Media is the parent company of Bitcoin Magazine.Now, two images have come forth showing what is reportedly a Verizon-branded Nokia tablet with Windows 8.1 RT on board. The device appears to be labelled with “RT” suggesting that this is not a full Windows 8 Pro tablet, though there are too many caveats here to reach any firm conclusions. For instance, could Nokia have both RT and Pro devices both being tested as options for carriers and retail channels?
For well over a year now there have been murmurings and rumors that Nokia is working on a Windows 8 tablet with little to show for it. We have seen leaked images in the past and most recently, a late September date has been suggested as the announcement timeframe (Nokia is evidently planning an event in New York City ).
Other reported specifications of the device include a blue or red color option, 10.1-inch 1080P display, 5-point multi-touch, 2.15GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 32 GB of built-in storage, micro HDMI, USB 3.0.
The photos themselves reveal very little except a blurry red “device” of some sort and some labelling. The image quality though is too low to discern legitimacy or yield anything really interesting. Windows Phone Central has heard of sightings of a red Nokia tablet in the past and the specifications fall in line with what is expected by a company like Nokia.
Due to the inconclusiveness of these specific photos, we're rating them a "6" on our rumor meter but we would put the overall rumor of Nokia releasing a tablet soon at a "9".
Nokia is expected to reveal the tablet in September for a mid October release, along the same time as when Windows 8.1 RT is released. Later in November, Nokia's first "phablet" phone with a 1080P display of 5-inches or greater is expected to be announced in conjunction with Windows Phone 8 GDR3. Windows Phone Central has learned that Nokia plans to have at least one "major" release every quarter with smaller releases in between to keep attention on the struggling company.
Source: Digi-wo; via: New Phones, WPCentral Forums; Thanks, et and chfhyh, for the tips!Story highlights Jordan Lewis, 15, kills himself with a shotgun blast to the chest
He saw a school presentation about bullying the day before
"We view it as a potential stressor," doctor says about bullying
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline -- 800.273.TALK.
A day after his 15-year-old son, Jordan, committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest, Brad Lewis is looking for answers.
"The suicide note he left stated that he was tired of life... and that he was doing this because he was being bullied at school," Lewis said in a seven-minute video posted to his Facebook account on Thursday, hours after the death.
Lewis said he learned Thursday that Carterville High School in Carterville, Illinois, had shown the sophomore class a video on Wednesday about bullying. "And, at the end of the video, that the kid that was being bullied went home and committed suicide," he said.
Carterville Schools Superintendent Robert Prusator acknowledged that Jordan Lewis participated in a multimedia presentation about alcohol and drug abuse and bullying, but he said no reports had been made to the school's staff or administrators about Jordan being bullied.
"Our priority right now is counseling for our students and staff," he said in a telephone interview. "The kids are trying to get through his passing."
The elder Lewis, who works for the Illinois Department of Corrections, did not respond to interview requests. But he said in the video that he learned Thursday, as he was traveling to identify the body, that his son had told a schoolmate after the presentation on Wednesday about the bullying and about his plans to kill himself.
The girl, whom he did not identify, told her grandmother, who called police, he said. On Wednesday night, they "did a wellness check" and were supposed to have returned Thursday, he said he was told. "I never heard nothing about it until today," he said.
Williamson County Sheriff's Office Capt. Brian Thomas said police were not called to the house until Thursday, when they were contacted by the boy's mother, who had called her son earlier from her job to wake him up but got no response. She found him dead, with a shotgun wound to the chest.
The couple is separated. The boy's father lives in suburban St. Louis, about 100 miles northwest of Carterville.
Thomas said the department was investigating allegations of bullying made Thursday by the boy's relatives, but had received no such complaints beforehand.
"This bullying has to stop," the father said in his video. "People have to stop treating other people the way they do, because some people just don't have the strength to overcome the humiliation, the continuation of being picked on constantly, every day, to the point that they have no outs."
He pleaded with viewers to contact him with the names of the bulliers. "I want to find out who those kids were who bullied my son and forced him into taking his life," he said. "The only way for it to stop is to let people know what is going on so that the school can get more involved and that no other lives has to be taken."
He blamed the school video for having presented suicide as an easy out. "Just go home and take your life," he said, instead of offering counseling.
A suicide expert said that, while bullying is common, it rarely leads to suicide. "We view it as a real potential stressor for people who are already vulnerable," said Dr. Christine Moutier, medical director at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, in a telephone interview. "The reality is that there are other factors in there that create that level of distress and hopelessness and desperation."
Asked whether the video may have contributed to the boy's suicide, she said it was impossible to say without having seen it.
Suicide "contagion" may occur in the wake of a story that presents killing oneself as acceptable, she said.
But, she added, "We need to, as a society, not just the press, need to handle suicides in a way that's knowledgeable, that provides hope and real resources for people who are struggling, and not just a story that presents suicide as the one and only outcome."
If you are considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline -- 800.273.TALK (8255).Well, maybe if you want to be loose with your definition of the word “invent.”
The fact of the matter is that around 1869 Goodyear Jr, who wielded the finances of his famous father’s estate, purchased a patent from a New York shoe producer named James Hanan for a modified sewing machine that used a curved needle and awl to sew welts onto shoes without taking them off the last or penetrating the insole. This new machine offered considerable advantages over the previously popular McKay (Blake stitch machine) method, but was riddled with mechanical difficulties. Upon purchasing the patent, Goodyear hired its original inventor Auguste Destouy and another mechanic named Daniel Mills to work for him at the American Shoe Tip Company and sort out the new machine’s shortcomings. Under Goodyear’s direction and, more importantly, with his financial support the two got to work and filed no fewer than 7 different patents between 1869 and 1876. This effort resulted in the famous 1875 patent for the welting machine that would take on Goodyear’s name
Perhaps the fact that Goodyear’s name is on the patents is the reason why he is so often credited with actually inventing the machine but most of the evidence seems to indicate that his contribution came in the way of adapting and promoting his mechanics’ work rather than doing any of the actual inventing himself. This, of course, is not to discredit his contributions as none of this could have happened without Goodyear’s involvement.
AdvertisementsJudging by the relatively tame response the video received, the interest in this kind of thing is diminishing, which we should all be happy about. There isn't much reason for people to care about a person's private drug use these days, beyond the minor titillation of learning that some of the drugs being taken are illegal. But there are laws, and then there are drug laws. The spirit of illicit drug laws are essentially to save people from themselves, which at best is a dubious good intention and, at worst, a disgraceful idea that around the world incarcerates and ostracises minorities and the impoverished. Football's treatment of illicit drugs is a curious one, more in line with those good political intentions but one that still cannot escape how flawed the whole idea really is. The AFL's effort is, of course, primarily a corporate effort to appear both proper in the light of the law, and also understanding about the realities of its young players' lives. It tries hard to do this right but ultimately it's an effort that fails because a football league cannot do either thing well, since it has to straddle a fence that ought not to exist. Football and its constituents are hitched to many allegorical notions that reflect the marketability of sport, one of which pretends things would be better if only we lived a certain, pure way that would take us to a place without drugs, and without anything much but the sound of people congratulating themselves. To listen to Matt Finnis speak in the aftermath of the video makes you wonder about what that future sporting scene will be like. One of the unfortunate outcomes of the AFL's corporate vision is that its spokespeople have to stand up after these incidents and pay penance to a kind of invisible moral hand that sponsorship uses to squeeze everything closed.
For me, this apologetic aspect is the strangest, and now most interesting part of the AFL's response to non-performance-enhancing drugs. Firstly that Carlisle should have to come sulking forward in the aftermath, and secondly that smart people like Finnis should have to stand up and suggest in a serious voice that Carlisle can still "become the player and, perhaps more importantly, the person that we all want him to be". In Finnis' defense, his position in this is impossible. And it's complicated further by St Kilda's recent history of misconduct, but this is another way the AFL gets drugs wrong. One scandal is not the same as another. Private drug use should never be thrown into a basket of misbehaviours that also contains allegations of rape and abuse. No one would admit they are equating these things, but in terms of marketability they are, and this was inferred in some of St Kilda's other comments. Finnis also had to tell us, "Our football club has done a lot of work, as part of a rebuild of our organisation, to create a new St Kilda." What is interesting in the days following this episode is that most people I have heard from around town were generally more bemused that Carlisle filmed and broadcast his drug use, than they were scandalised by the fact of it. So it begs the question: Who is a better corporate role model, the sportsman who is adept at properly concealing the truth about his private life, or the sportsman who claims that all of his thoughts and actions are pure? Both positions are essentially disingenuous, and why it is hard work listening to the league inform people about self-improvement.
None of this is the result of any one person. It's part of the AFL's gig, and it's complicated. But it's possible we can help ourselves escape some of this political distraction by choosing to show less interest in these things, brought to us as they are in the hope of gaining a "like", and a "share". Ironically, the only depoliticised aspect in all of this was the video itself. One could argue that, until the corporate hand descended upon Carlisle and forced him into a hollow apology, his was the only genuine position.Delaware police were able to arrest a bank robbery suspect just minutes after receiving the call Friday morning.
The robbery happened at the Chase Bank on N. Sandusky Street around 11:18 a.m. Jose Cintron is now being held on one count of Robbery and one count of Kidnapping.
DELAWARE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
According to Delaware City Police Department, Cintron entered the bank, threatened a customer with a knife and demanded money. He fled the bank on foot with an undisclosed amount of money.
Delaware police said thanks to good witness statements and an alert City of Delaware parking control officer, the suspect was taken into custody without incident several blocks from the bank.
Police said the suspect was taken into custody within 10 minutes after the initial call.
Anyone that may have witnessed this incident or has additional information is asked to call the Delaware Police tip line at (740) 203–1112.When social justice minister Thaawarchand Gehlot tabled the transgender rights bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, it appeared to be the glorious culmination of a long struggle by one of India’s most marginalised communities.
But within hours, as copies of the draft bill was circulated, it became clear that the legislation diluted several key provisions of previous versions of the bill, while injecting harmful new language that could undermine protections extended for transpersons in India.
Activists and lawyers complained the bill encouraged corruption, was full of provisions open to abuse and directly opposed the spirit of a 2014 Supreme Court verdict that recognized the third gender and called for a raft of rights and measures for transpersons.
“It is difficult to be calm and hopeful reading the bill. It stinks of callousness and ignorance,” said activist Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli.
“By the looks of it, the transgender community and allies may have to gear up for a long struggle.”
Many now want the government to revert to what they call a better bill on the issue by DMK member Tiruchi Siva, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha last year.
Definitions Used
The first chapter of the bill seeks to define a transgender and lays down three main criteria — neither wholly female nor wholly male; a combination of female or male; neither female nor male.
This, activists say, insults transgender people and propagates the bias that trans identities aren’t “whole” by themselves.
“The LS bill is perpetuating the very violence/discrimination it seeks to address,” said Nadika N, a non-binary writer from Chennai.
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Sirte did not recognise the council’s authority, though the operation has been portrayed as carried out by accord supporters loyal to the council.
A major flaw of the strategy to create facts on the ground by recognising a unity government was that it was difficult to see how international goals – countering IS and stemming the refugee flow through Libya – could be sustainable without improved governance and a genuine broad agreement on state institutions and the military. Progress in fighting IS in Sirte has not addressed Libya’s political and institutional divides nor persuaded, as some deal backers hoped, factions and their regional supporters that national unity could come through an anti-IS coalition under the council’s aegis.
III. A Widening Divide
From early 2016, unresolved issues turned into institutional hurdles to the deal’s implementation. The gap between its supporters and foes increased and triggered military mobilisations, while international fractures reasserted themselves.
A. A Growing Regionalisation
1. Western Libya
An aerial view of Misrata, Libya, 18 October 2016. CRISIS GROUP/Claudia Gazzini
When signed, the accord’s most stalwart Libyan supporters were politicians, militiamen and businessmen from western Libya, especially Tripoli and Misrata. The Tripoli-based heads of the Central Bank and National Oil Corporation, key institutions for the viability of any unity government, were also on board. More generally, there was broad support among ordinary people in the west for any deal that produced a more effective government that would end division and violence. International supporters treated the west as more immediately important, because of the necessity of establishing a government in Tripoli, the capital.
Even so, there were some important opponents in the west other than the GNC leaders, including Mahmoud Jibril’s Tahaluf, the National Front Party and militias and politicians close to Abdelhakim Belhaj, head of the now-defunct Libya Islamic Fighting Group. Each had often opportunistic reasons to oppose either the agreement or council line-up. Jibril considered the power-sharing set-up unworkable. Armed groups from Zintan, important military stakeholders despite being kicked out of Tripoli in 2014, were divided, with some prepared to support the deal in exchange for sharing security responsibilities in the capital, others dead-set against and openly coordinating with Haftar’s forces in the east. Islamists of various stripes opposed the council initially as foreign-picked. Even some of the accord’s proponents and those backing the process found UN stewardship problematic.
Despite opposition from these groups and the GNC leadership, the UN and several foreign capitals felt there was enough militia and political leader support in the west to proceed. Last-minute support from Abderrahman Swehli, a Misratan with ties to his city’s armed groups, changed the force balance in the deal’s favour.
The president of the Presidency Council, Faiez al-Serraj, surprised many when, on 30 March, he and six other council members arrived in Tripoli from Tunisia aboard a Libyan navy frigate and set up operations inside the naval base. This called the GNC leadership’s bluff: there was no substantial military opposition, and several local armed groups rapidly declared support. Many western municipalities were also quick to recognise council authority, as did the main financial institutions in Tripoli. On 5 April, Khalifa Ghwell, prime minister of the pre-existing Tripoli-based “government of national salvation”, who had threatened to arrest Serraj if he came to Tripoli, was reported to have fled. (He later denied this, and continued to run a rump cabinet in the capital and in October again declared himself in power). That the arrival in Tripoli went smoother than expected was in part because it co-opted groups by allowing them to retain influence and financial leverage. This demonstrated the council, once marginal in Tunis, could gain control over key state institutions.
Momentum was short-lived, however. In early April, the decision by former GNC members (per the accord’s roadmap) to convene the High State Council prior to an HoR ratification revived tensions, particularly as a State Council majority voted to appoint the controversial Misratan politician Abderrahman Swehli as the body’s president. By late May, it was clear Serraj’s control of Tripoli was tenuous, and tensions were brewing among militias there and elsewhere. The risk of open confrontation was real on multiple fronts. Several armed groups in the capital’s outskirts continued to oppose the council but refrained from open confrontation fearing European navies or because they were waiting for the Supreme Court to declare the council and proposed unity government illegitimate. The boycott of two of the council’s nine members was another source of tension, as it gave their factions ammunition to argue the council was acting outside its legal framework, especially regarding security sector decisions, since according to the agreement these had to be taken unanimously by Serraj and all five deputies.
On the eve of a 16 May ministerial in Vienna, Serraj felt confident enough to announce that the unity government would begin functioning that week. Though the HoR had not approved his cabinet, he called on ministers-designate (a new group of thirteen ministers plus five ministers of state, in addition to the nine-member Presidency Council) to take office. A handful began to work as de facto ministers, but at least four refused without HoR endorsement. Only one full cabinet meeting has taken place since, in June.
The Presidency Council’s control of the capital and so of ministries was limited. Several ministries, particularly those outside the downtown and east-central Souq al-Jumaa area, remained controlled by the Ghwell government or anti-council militias. Initially, only the ministers-designate for foreign affairs, local governance and interior could work in their own buildings. The council itself continued to operate for some months from the naval base. Until July, the building housing the prime minister’s central Tripoli office was controlled by an armed group that said it would allow the council to enter if it remained in charge of security there; some council leaders claimed the unit had left, but it appears to have only rebranded and affiliated itself to the interior ministry. Serraj gave a press conference there in July but otherwise continues to hold meetings at the naval base (though his deputies work from the building housing the prime minister’s office).
For months, few Serraj-appointed ministers (including those who started to meet with foreigners in May) controlled their budgets. Though the council appears to be in charge of approving payments through the Central Bank, it is unclear whether any minister will have long-term access to state funds without HoR endorsement, as under the accord parliament must approve the budget. But at least through July, when the bank gave it 1.5 billion dinars ($1 billion) for emergency spending in the absence of a legal budget, the council appeared able to tap into former cycles’ unused funds.
Finances aside, since arriving in Tripoli the council has appeared incapable of strategising and, most importantly, to lack means to implement most of its decisions. Individuals close to it express complaints ranging from failure to liaise with the ministers-designate to monopolisation of decisions and refusal to delegate. Even some international backers are frustrated: “We had very low expectations to start with, but we see that the council is not undertaking even minimal actions”. With precarious financial arrangements, electricity shortages and a plummeting economy (banks have limited cash withdrawals and frozen foreign currency transfers, while the black-market dinar is less than a third of its official U.S. dollar value), public support has dwindled. All this has created rifts, even within the council’s original powerbase of politicians and businessmen in western Libya. Several early supporters fear the current arrangement may collapse.
More generally, the council, particularly without the support of military factions in the east and other armed groups from the west, especially the Zintanis, is overly reliant on a few militias and personalities, some of which may be obstacles to national reconciliation. The appointment in April of Swehli, a former pro-GNC hardliner despised by many HoR constituencies, especially in the east, to head the High State Council is such a case. So is the role of Islamist figures like Khaled Sherif, an ex-member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group who was deputy defence minister in several post-Qadhafi governments. Some army officers working for the council in Tripoli and instrumental in shaping security arrangements there said they felt “the Misratans are calling the shots”. That perception and the fact that their armed groups control Tripoli and its surroundings have fuelled anti-Misrata resentment. Clashes between local residents and members of a Misratan brigade left more than 40 dead in a town on Tripoli’s outskirts in June.
The precedent of weak governments in 2013-2014 that were hostage to militia demands, comes to mind. Not addressing Tripoli’s security landscape before relocating there was risky; over time it may become clear that long-term detriments offset the short-term benefits of a foothold in the capital. The presence there of armed groups operating without formal government oversight fuels the impression, particularly in the east where support of the accord was always minimal, that the Presidency Council and unity government are again hostages.
2. Eastern Libya
Clouds dot the skyline over Merj, in Eastern Libya, 16 July 2016. CRISIS GROUP/Claudia Gazzini
The accord has less traction in the east than west at the grassroots and among the political elite. Eastern tribes, some members of western ones who fled Tripoli in mid-2014 and most army officers who operated under HoR authority saw the UN and the talks’ Western backers as biased toward the GNC and consider them responsible for the post-2011 chaos and rise of radical Islamist groups. Eastern Libya (Cyrenaica), was ripe for this narrative because monarchists, federalists, secessionists, local businesspeople and elements of certain tribes advocated greater economic decentralisation. They feared the accord would produce another Tripoli-based government dominated by western militias and personalities. The Serraj team’s reliance on local militias in Tripoli added to the fears. Some eastern HoR members who demanded revisions to the accord warned that implementing it and recognising the government without an HoR vote would keep the HoR-appointed government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni in place. Most easterners consider that government legitimate, even if it is not operational.
Haftar initially paid lip-service to the accord, meeting Kobler the day before its signing and proposing a close associate, Ali Qatrani, for the Presidency Council. By January 2016, however, he turned against it, as he realised that literal implementation of its security arrangements (Article 8) would sideline him. He began to lead eastern opposition, which has enhanced his local appeal. A Haftar supporter called the accord “a plot by Islamists and their fans in the West to get rid of the one person who is really fighting the terrorists”.
The accusation was not altogether unfounded: Skhirat focused on getting around the “Haftar problem”. Several leading participants saw him as a chief obstacle. The main security sector provision, that the Presidency Council would become supreme armed forces commander, was requested by the general’s foes, who accused him of an indiscriminate war against Islamists of all stripes, not just jihadists, and of plotting a coup to bring back the former regime.
Western powers gave Haftar an ultimatum: get on board or be marginalised. Several EU governments and individuals close to the Presidency Council have made overtures, hinting that if he recognised council authority, all, including Article 8, could be discussed. However, many in his camp seem to believe the council’s dependence on Tripoli militias and repeated violations of agreed procedures (mainly for HoR endorsement of the accord) render it untrustworthy.
The perception that western militias and politicians who previously backed the GNC were the main “winners”, combined with Haftar-led opposition to the accord, pushed opinion in the east and some influential fence-sitters there to rally behind the general. A late backer said, “support for Haftar is mostly a matter of ego, the pride of people in the east, their way of being heard and seen”. Hope that eastern opponents might eventually come around depends not only on Haftar making concessions or being sidelined, but also on someone emerging to replace him. Most current accord backers in the east oppose Haftar, driven in part by fear of his violent tactics and calls for military rule. Some are army officers who blame him for unleashing endless war in Benghazi and believe an internationally-recognised government would curtail his authority and that of his HoR allies.
Prominent Haftar opponents in the east who support Serraj include al-Mahdi al-Barghathi and Faraj Baraasi, army commanders once aligned with him, and Jadran, the former Petroleum Facilities Guards commander. These men, who have official (contested in Jadran’s case) security sector positions, previously backed the HoR and enjoy support from their influential eastern tribes (Awaghir, Baraasa and Magharaba). When in May 2016 the Presidency Council appointed Barghathi the new government’s defence minister and confirmed Jadran in his Guards post, it and its international backers hoped to fragment Haftar’s eastern support and ensure immediate resumption of vital oil exports. A diplomat said, “Barghathi will be Serraj’s bridge to the east [and] Jadran his purse-holder”.
It has not worked out: Haftar’s forces continue to dominate, and, despite hefty council payments to Jadran to reopen the oil terminals, exports did not resume. Haftar’s capture of the main Gulf of Sirte facilities in September 2016, forcing Jadran and his allies to retreat, opened the possibility of a drawn-out battle for control of resources and further consolidated anti-accord forces’ leverage.
Some supporters of the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, an anti-Haftar coalition of ex-revolutionary fighters, political Islamists and jihadists, favour the accord, as bringing to power an amenable government backed by some of their western allies. Likewise, fighters driven from Benghazi formed a new anti-Haftar militia, the Benghazi Defence Brigade, in 2016. Some of its members received covert Presidency Council backing without pledging it allegiance.
Alignments are not clear-cut. Rivalries between tribes, business lobbies and military commanders have also influenced attitudes toward the accord. For example, some eastern tribal leaders (especially in Jalo, Awjela and Marada) support Haftar and oppose the accord because they want to sideline Jadran, their main local rival. Shared resentment against Misrata’s rise as the dominant military power in the west has led some eastern supporters of the 2011 uprising to reconcile with high-ranking ex-regime officials, some of whom began to return from exile in 2016 with the consent of eastern tribes and authorities.
B. Absence of a Security Track
The accord left key security questions unaddressed. That track never took off: militia representatives on both sides stalled; UNSMIL had insufficient resources; access to militia leaders who rarely left their territory was limited; and politics became increasingly fragmented. By the time it was signed, the accord was predicated on the logic that the parties should accept its framework first and work out details only as they began implementing it. Yet, major disagreements remained. What role for militias that sprang up in 2011 and were not officially army? What future for Haftar and other controversial commanders? Was it okay to reach out to the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council and other groups in which mainstream ex-rebels had forged alliances of convenience with more radical groups, such as Ansar Sharia or even IS followers? What about the Derna Revolutionaries Shura Council, which, unlike its Benghazi counterpart, had some success fighting IS but allegedly included several dozen al-Qaeda supporters?
The accord sought to sidestep all these. It empowered the TSC to take charge of security arrangements and its Article 8 short-circuited the question of who would head the armed forces by giving that power to the council and granting its president and deputies a veto over senior military and security appointments. Supporters of the dialogue process considered this formula, agreed after heated, lengthy debate and one of the accord’s cornerstones, as sufficient guarantee to Libya’s multiple political and military factions that no controversial personality would be put in charge of the security apparatus. It also had the advantage of allowing the council and its international backers to keep the door open for all armed groups.
Rather than taking a comprehensive approach to security sector fractures, the council and international backers prioritised Tripoli security. This transformed the TSC from a nationwide body for security arrangements, as the accord envisioned, to one mainly tasked with preparing the council’s arrival in the capital. Reflecting this, council members selected the TSC’s eighteen members on the basis of their personal ties to them, as well as their leverage with armed groups in the capital. The idea was that, once firmly established, the council would set up a new committee for nationwide arrangements.
The council has largely focused on establishing a Presidential Guard. When originally conceived, just after signing of the accord, that was intended primarily as a Tripoli-based force under council authority into which local militias could integrate. The plan has expanded and, according to council members and some internationals, it is now seen as in charge of securing strategic sites, borders and government institutions nationwide. Supporters view it as a key step to an army; foes, even among council friends, argue that the broad remit risks further institutional chaos. More importantly, council detractors see it as proof of lack of seriousness about a unified army and desire only to give legal cover to militias. This idea only gained more traction after mid-October, when some Presidential Guard units turned against the council and backed return of the GNC-aligned government.
The “Tripoli first” approach and plan to create such a Presidential Guard rested on three assumptions that did not hold: first, that by creating facts on the ground and allowing it to operate in Tripoli the council could control key institutions, thus address immediate financial needs and so achieve greater citizen buy-in; secondly, that opponents would join the bandwagon, because self-interested military factions would not want to be deprived of the cash that only recognition of the unity government would give them access to; and thirdly, that after coming to Tripoli, the council would resolve its legitimacy problem and overcome HoR refusal to endorse the accord, council and proposed government. But it took five months for 101 HoR members to convene, and when they voted on 22 August, 60 passed a no-confidence motion (whether legally is still debated).
For these calculations to play out constructively, ground events would have had to build self-sustaining momentum; armed groups opposed to (or ambivalent about) the Serraj government would have had to have no financial or ideological incentives to continue undermining its authority; and external actors would have needed to stay united behind accord implementation. This was not the case.
C. International Contradictions
The accord received strong backing from the P3+5 (the UN Security Council’s three permanent members most active on Libya – the U.S., UK and France – plus Germany, Italy, Spain, the EU and UN) and, at least officially, Libya’s neighbours. Resolution 2259, soon after the signing, and subsequent Security Council presidency statements welcomed the accord. By January 2016, most members recognised the Presidency Council as Libya’s executive, treated Serraj as de facto head of government and stopped engaging with Thinni. Western states in particular called Serraj interchangeably head of council and government, though legally there was no unity government. Others, like Russia and Egypt, while officially supportive, stopped short of granting Serraj the diplomatic privileges normally awarded a prime minister.
Ambiguities have continued since the May Libya ministerial in Vienna, when over twenty states, including Russia, Egypt and China, backed Serraj, though not all formally recognised his government. Those such as Algeria, the U.S. and UK have come to consider HoR endorsement irrelevant, though they pay lip-service to the requirement. These and other, mostly EU, countries have actively encouraged the council to roll out a government and move on with an implementation whose terms they do not want to change. Russia, Egypt and the UAE, with stricter legal views that an HoR vote is needed, are open to amendments.
Disagreement over the need for a HoR vote conceals divergent policy objectives. The first group of countries, which have shaped the international narrative on Libya and supported the UN-led process, wants to move forward with creating the architecture envisaged by the accord, consolidate security and state institutions in Tripoli and deal with accord opponents later, when they hope to have greater leverage. The latter group would like the political process to accommodate concerns of HoR members and eastern constituencies that remain disaffected with the process and to guarantee the influence of their Libyan clients (HoR President Saleh and General Haftar in particular).
In addition to supporting Libyan factions they are closest to, there is also an ideological dimension: Egypt and some other Arab states see, like many eastern Libyans, the Presidency Council as dependent on Islamist armed groups and politicians, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Libyan branch. Egyptian officials view their country as having a natural role in eastern Libya due to contiguity, historical links, the many Egyptian migrant workers and the security threat posed by radical groups there. But their chief concern now appears to be Serraj’s reliance on people they consider too close to Islamists. “A Libya where security decisions are taken by somebody close to the Brotherhood is anathema to Sisi”, said a Libyan activist close to Egyptian intelligence. Egyptians are perplexed by the council’s Misrata-dominated turn since its arrival in Tripoli. Ex-Qadhafi officials in Cairo and Abu Dhabi with close ties to their host governments appear to play a key role in channelling support to Haftar and depicting the Serraj-led council as controlled by Islamists.
The international divisions have resulted in divergences over using sanctions against spoilers. The EU and U.S. imposed travel and financial sanctions on HoR President Saleh and GNC officials, accusing them of creating obstacles to the political agreement. Russian and Egyptian diplomats criticise this as unhelpful. Moscow is also invested in the Haftar-commanded army. Like Egypt and the UAE, it has repeatedly called over the past two years for an easing of the arms embargo to allow Haftar to receive weapons and has given pro-HoR factions political support. Unlike the UAE and Egypt, however, Russia has apparently refrained thus far from giving Haftar military aid and has kept ties with politicians in Tripoli.
Some Western states have also urged a softer line on Haftar, ostensibly for counter-terrorism. In the first half of 2016, France gave his forces intelligence support in Benghazi, helping them regain near-complete control over the city. Covert and unacknowledged until late July 2016, when anti-Haftar forces downed an army helicopter carrying three French officers, France’s support for the general significantly weakened his Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council foes, thereby both strengthening his army’s claim in the east and his leadership credentials, even as he sought to undermine the Presidency Council. Other Western countries have also dispatched intelligence officers to eastern Libya, but they appear to have been less involved in ground operations.
France aside, most Western states firmly supported the council and argued it should receive military aid. Offers of assistance have come from the U.S., where Secretary of State John Kerry said he would support and consider any requests from Serraj for an arms embargo exemption. Throughout 2016, the U.S. has deployed special forces, mainly for intelligence gathering, and offered to train and equip Libyan forces. Since early August, at the council’s request, it has also supported the anti-IS offensive in Sirte with airstrikes. UK special forces based in Misrata have stepped up their presence and started to assist local armed groups involved in fighting IS in Sirte. In June, the EU extended the mandate of Operation Sophia and added two tasks: “training of the Libyan coastguards and navy; and contributing to the implementation of the UN arms embargo on the high seas off the coast of Libya”. In August, it also extended the mandate of its Integrated Border Management Assistance Mission to Libya (EUBAM Libya), a civilian mission mandated to plan for a possible future EU mission providing advice and capacity building in the area of criminal justice, migration, border security and counter-terrorism.
Italy took the lead in establishing the Libya International Assistance Mission (LIAM) in early 2016. Intended as a coordinating body for all international efforts to train Libyan forces, it has remained largely defunct given the council’s inability to control the military. Rome reduced earlier offers to train council-allied forces, when parliament agreed in September only to send 300 military (in rotation) to guard an Italian military field hospital in Misrata. At UK and U.S. instigation, NATO has offered to be more involved, but no concrete plans have materialised.
In short, far from showing unity on the way forward, international actors pursue diverging objectives, including by giving or pledging military support to various forces only superficially tied to any national army or political oversight. The risk increases of a growing divide over military support, with most Western countries backing the council and forces loyal to it, and Russia, Egypt and the UAE continuing to assist what they consider to be the legitimate army under Haftar.
IV. What Way out of the Impasse?
A. Avoiding Further Escalation
Buildings destroyed in recent bouts of fighting line a road in Benghazi, 19 July 2016. CRISIS GROUP/Claudia Gazzini
The conflict is becoming more entrenched, blocking prospects for revitalising state institutions and stabilising the economy. Entropy is growing: the rival governments’ ability to deliver concrete improvements in the lives of ordinary Libyans is decreasing, while the risk of further violence increases. Entire Benghazi neighbourhoods have been destroyed; hundreds of thousands of Libyans are displaced. Haftar’s September takeover of the Gulf of Sirte’s oil export facilities has allowed crude-oil exports to resume, offering the possibility of refilling state coffers, but also increased tensions between the two major armed coalitions and the institutions supporting them.
Both sides, with their international backers, are convinced they can ultimately triumph. In western Libya, factions supporting the Presidency Council and High State Council have gained the international recognition they desired and feel bolstered by their victory-in-progress against IS in Sirte. They are semi-covertly helping fighters defeated in Benghazi, some of whom have come together under a new banner, the Benghazi Defence Brigade, to spearhead an offensive in that city against Haftar’s forces. They are also preparing to retake the oil terminals. In turn, Haftar is using his victory to appoint officers to head municipalities, confirming his opponents’ fears that he aims for military rule. He and his allies, bolstered by their successes, appear to believe the “liberation” of Tripoli is within reach; they may also be planning to broaden their territorial control to the south, where they enjoy tribal support.
Both sides are making calculations based on dubious assumptions. Haftar forces now control most of the east, and their defeat is not likely, if only because their foes are unlikely to gather sufficient military strength. Some Tripoli politicians and military officials, as well as some Presidency Council members, would like to see the accord’s international backers impose a no-fly zone over the Gulf of Sirte and Benghazi to neutralise Haftar’s air force, his strategic advantage. Yet, the council may not ask for this while oil revenue is flowing, and the UN Security Council is unlikely to approve it given that Russia, a permanent member, and Egypt, currently a non-permanent member, are unlikely to back measures that would weaken Haftar. Similarly, Haftar’s promise to “liberate” Tripoli and destroy militias there is a mirage, because the armed groups across western Libya remain well-equipped and numerically superior. A renewed battle over the oil terminals could trigger a wider conflagration. Avoiding this and other military offensives is the immediate priority, followed by putting negotiations back on track.
B. Restarting a Political Process
If the central aim of what remains of the peace process is forming a unity government, an aim that major actors on either side still profess, the Presidency Council needs to bolster its legitimacy and reconcile with eastern Libyans and the HoR. The August 2016 HoR vote to reject the government of eighteen ministers offers a window of opportunity. The council should, in wide consultation with political leaders, make substantial changes to the government’s composition in order to bridge the gap with the east. It could reiterate its early 2016 proposal to assign key ministries such as finance, planning and justice to easterners, thus addressing the widespread view in the east of being marginalised. This may not satisfy HoR leaders, who have asked for the entire council to be changed (with only two deputy presidents, as the HoR proposed during the Skhirat negotiations), but it could be important in swaying wider public opinion.
The council should resist the push from politicians, including within its ranks, to ignore the August 2016 HoR vote. Such a line would deepen the divide and trigger more military confrontation. Even some HoR opponents see getting it on board as necessary to maintain coherence of the accord’s framework, as well as, more broadly, national unity. This more accommodating line would also return the ball to the HoR’s court, in effect calling its bluff; above all, the Presidency Council, whose legitimacy rests on having been created by the accord, should not derogate from its accord obligation to seek the HoR’s endorsement.
The accord’s external backers should help create momentum toward a political solution based on the accord’s broad outlines, but they cannot hold it sacrosanct. The most important aspect of resuming a peace process is accepting that the accord cannot be implemented as is, so should be renegotiated, starting with security arrangements. It is imperative to launch a security track parallel with the political process that would be a forum for negotiations on issues specific to the security sector, including temporary de-escalation initiatives to prevent new hostilities until a wider agreement is reached, for example on political issues such as the composition of a unity government and security arrangements.
C. Creating a Security Track
Part of the reason why attempts to implement the accord have failed in the absence of a wider agreement incorporating security issues is that the military balance has changed since December 2015. The political divide is between pro- and anti-accord rather than pro-HoR and pro-GNC; and whereas the agreement and much of the diplomatic conversation envisaged civilian control over armed groups, those have grown stronger: in the west because of the council’s dependence on them in Tripoli and their success against IS in Sirte, and in the east because Haftar has asserted control over Benghazi and the Gulf of Sirte’s “oil crescent”. Each sees the other as aiming for domination, making compromise elusive.
Two things need to happen: an end to military operations and a resumption of political negotiations under a new formula including a security track. Armed groups in the west should stop supporting the Benghazi Defence Brigade and negotiate a local ceasefire in Libya’s second-largest city rather than pursue a vain attempt to retake it from Haftar. Calling on people displaced from Benghazi to join against Haftar-aligned groups would fuel the fighting and postpone their negotiated return in a local settlement, for which some support exists among Haftar’s forces. Western militias should break ties, direct and indirect, with jihadist groups to create common ground with eastern commanders (as well as reassure Haftar backers such as Egypt) and space to start local contacts between military representatives from both sides.
In turn, Haftar’s forces should halt their offensive in Benghazi and refrain from moving west of the Gulf of Sirte, as they have threatened. They should engage with Benghazi residents who have relocated in the west and reassure them they can go home safely. They and their affiliated security forces (such as intelligence and internal security organs) should also cease abuses against residents accused of siding with the Presidency Council.
Haftar should likewise re-engage with UNSMIL, particularly its security team, to reach a broad understanding on a possible security dialogue. The priorities in any political solution should be an Article 8 compromise, especially on army and police command chains, and consensus on a unified security force. Disagreement, including over who should lead the military and which Islamist factions should be fought (only IS and al-Qaeda or also groups that have collaborated with them), can be overcome by ensuring that key military representatives from both sides are at the table. This means staking out a compromise whereby, as a French diplomat said, “Haftar has to be in the picture, even if he cannot be at the centre”.
Both the UN and council members have floated the idea of creating a forum for security actors to negotiate these issues and be directly involved in shaping a unified military command. Thus far, these efforts have been limited to one July meeting, hosted by UNSMIL in Tunis, bringing together military actors from both camps. Several proposals have been aired. In June, Kobler proposed a military council divided into regional commands – essentially acknowledging current reality – but under the Presidency Council’s authority. In September, boycotting council member Qatrani, a Haftar ally, proposed a five-person body, separate from the council and including Serraj, two of his deputies (possibly Maitig from Misrata and Koni from the south), Haftar and H0R President Saleh, that would assume the council’s supreme commander role.
These separate but similar proposals have drawbacks: Haftar and his associates rejected Kobler’s as an attempt to divide the army; Qatrani’s excludes western military leaders. But the underlying acknowledgment that military power has become localised is worth retaining. A third, perhaps better way forward, may be to separate the Presidency Council’s civilian and military roles. Some council members are considering a “Supreme Defence Committee” in which Haftar would sit with western officers such as Colonel Salem Joha from Misrata (nominated, though he did not accept, as a member of the military operations room for the Misrata-Sirte area), but it is unclear if Haftar and key Misrata armed groups would agree.
Whatever the format, a forum is needed for the Presidency Council and its military advisers to negotiate with military from both sides over the command chain, or at least find a placeholder formula until a solution to the Article 8 dispute can be found. The council must do more t0 create confidence that its security strategy will lead to a working army and police that stand above the political divide. What it has done thus far – announcing creation of a Presidential Guard and empowering eastern military actors such as Barghathi and Jadran to try to fragment Haftar’s forces – is far from a national security strategy and has backfired, particularly as internationals have worked to contrary ends. Instead of creating a Presidential Guard that would deepen the divide, the council and its TSC should draft a security plan that would put Tripoli under the army and police, including elements from the east and Zintan.
D. The Need for International Convergence
The international community has a key role. Polarisation of political and military support to Libyan factions entrenches the conflict and makes it more difficult to salvage the accord elements all can agree on. Outside actors – pro-Presidency Council (the U.S., UK, Italy, Algeria, Turkey and Qatar) and those who support the council while also providing support to Haftar (Russia, Egypt, the UAE and to an extent France) – must chart a way based on the common ground between them.
Many in the first camp have been too optimistic that an agreement imposed on recalcitrant factions would eventually be accepted. The focus on eliminating IS in Sirte, which they hoped would establish Misratan forces’ counter-jihadist credentials for states such as Egypt that have long argued Haftar was the only leader taking on jihadists overshadowed other factors. The gamble that the accord roadmap could be implemented even without HoR endorsement underestimated the extent to which opponents could exploit this to gain support in the east. It made it easy to paint the UN as biased, thus hindering its impartial mediator role. Conversely, those who have supported Haftar, undermining an agreement to which they pay lip-service, have derailed the process but not provided constructive alternatives. If they want to maintain a united Libya and stop the conflict spiralling toward worse confrontation, they will have to set limits on their client.
Perhaps unavoidably in a context of regional, even global, upheaval, some of these actors filter their Libya policy through the lens of geopolitics: the U.S.-Russia rivalry over Syria and Ukraine, the regional divide over political Islam and contests for influence over the Sahel and Maghreb. By this logic, compromise is undesirable if considered success for a rival. Yet, the status quo (a deteriorating situation) can only lead to protracted conflict that would plunge Libya into further chaos, with no certain victory for any camp, great damage to the economy and few of the opportunities many hope for in post-conflict reconstruction.
At a minimum, states with leverage over Haftar should press him and his allies to stop calling for further military operations toward southern and western Libya and withdraw their support if he continues to refuse a negotiated solution. Similarly, those backing Tripoli- and Misrata-based forces should dissuade them from a counteroffensive against Haftar in the Gulf of Sirte.
Generally, outside actors should refrain from taking sides, for instance through increasing military support to Haftar or supporting a Presidency Council call for a partial no-fly zone. They should instead focus on the lowest common denominators, which do exist, and not endorse measures that they undermine on the ground. At a minimum, these include the need to stabilise the economy by increasing oil and gas exports; creating a unified army chain of command as part of a reunified security structure; preserving Libya’s territorial integrity; and confronting IS and al-Qaeda. They should also persuade their Libyan friends that a military solution does not exist and agree on parameters for renewed negotiation.
V. Conclusion
Security officers walk in front of an intact crude oil storage tank in the Ras Lanuf tank farm, in Ras Lanuf, Libya, 16 October 2016. CRISIS GROUP/Claudia Gazzini
The absence of a security dialogue and agreement among competing internal and external actors has rendered the well-intentioned Skhirat accord impossible to fully implement at this time. It is critical to return to hammer out a security agreement that can be married to those elements of the accord that both sides support. On its current trajectory, the peace process is headed for a failure that would leave pressing international issues unresolved, such as combating people-smugglers and jihadist groups, and ensure dramatic worsening of living conditions for most Libyans. What has been achieved by the UN-led negotiations – broad agreement on the need for a transitional framework and some of its critical political elements – would be lost. The December 2015 agreement could have been imposed on recalcitrant actors had they been marginal and the international community united. That was not the case. Salvaging a political solution requires dealing with the fragmented and deeply frustrating Libya that exists, with its local leaders and armed groups, not the one we wish for.
Tripoli/Brussels, 4 November 2016
Members of the Presidency Council of the Council of Ministers
Members of the Presidency |
Medicare too. It does it by being willing to say no, which lets it extract lower prices and refuse some low-payoff medical procedures.
Ah, but you say, Medicaid patients have trouble finding doctors who’ll take them. Yes, sometimes, although it’s a greatly exaggerated issue. Also, middle-class patients would surely be unhappy if transferred from the open-handedness of Medicare to the penny-pinching of Medicaid.
But the problems of access, such as they are, would largely go away if most of the health insurance system were run like Medicaid, since doctors wouldn’t have so many patients able and willing to pay more. And as for complaints about reduced choice, let’s think about this for a moment. First you say that our health cost problems are so severe that we must abandon any notion that Americans are entitled to necessary care, and go over to a voucher system that would leave many Americans out in the cold. Then, informed that we can actually control costs pretty well, while maintaining a universal guarantee, by slightly reducing choice and convenience, you declare this an unconscionable horror.
So, I’m not proposing that we turn the whole system into Medicaid any time soon. But what I take from the data is that if and when we feel the need to make tough choices — really, really make tough choices, not use the rhetoric of tough choices to justify what conservatives wanted to do in any case, namely privatize everything in sight — health cost control won’t turn out to be that hard after all.Share. The names taking on a disaster of biblical proportions. The names taking on a disaster of biblical proportions.
Paul Feig's new troupe of Ghostbusters have official names.
Exit Theatre Mode
In response to a tweet from NYC Ghostbusters, Feig spilled the beans on the character names of the four leads.
Okay, here you go. Erin Gilbert, Jillian Holtzmann, Abby Yates and Patty Tolan. Now you know even more. https://t.co/MsQVo5iStI — Paul Feig (@paulfeig) July 18, 2015
There was no mention of which character names applied to which actors, but the IMDb page for the movie has the names (somewhat correctly) attributed to specific leads.
Melissa McCarthy is Abby Yates, Kristen Wiig is Erin Gilbert, Leslie Jones is Patty Tolan, and Kate McKinnon is Jillian Holtzmann.
Exit Theatre Mode
This news comes on the back of a reported cameo from Dan Aykryod, the first official cast photo, and a shot of the new Ghostbusters car.
Nathan Lawrence is a freelance writer from Sydney who ain't afraid of no ghost. Track him down on Twitter.By Sallie George
BBC News
Criminals risk death or serious injury to steal metal
Even churches do not escape attack.
In 2007, Ecclesiastical Insurance received more than 1,800 claims from Anglican churches, at a cost of nearly £5.8m, for the theft mainly of lead from roofs.
Metal theft is a global problem, driven by the rising price and high demand for metal across the world.
In addition to causing severe disruption to train services, gas or electricity supplies, it can have a serious impact on people's lives.
Risk of death
"It is not a victimless crime," Det Ch Insp Simon Jones, of the British Transport Police (BTP), said.
"Metal theft is a serious crime and has a negative impact on the public in a number of ways."
The force said recent examples included theft of cabling from a back-up generator at a hospital in Kent, which could have put the lives of patients at risk.
Hundreds of people were left without telephone services in villages in Lancashire and Cambridgeshire after large sections of underground cable were stolen.
You get small-time offenders at one end, maybe feeding a drug habit, all way to the organised groups at the other end of the spectrum
Det Ch Insp Simon Jones
And in Kent, more than 250 memorial plaques were stolen from a crematorium.
It is not just the victims of metal theft whose lives are affected. In the first nine months of 2007, one person died and eight were seriously injured while trying to steal metal from electricity sub-stations.
"If you are going to do this you are likely to kill or critically injure yourself," Mr Jones said.
The BTP is now leading a task force set up to tackle what has been described as an "explosion" in metal theft across the country.
The force compared a four-month period in 2007 with the corresponding dates a year earlier and found there had been a 150% rise in metal theft.
A national "day of action", held in January and co-ordinated by the BTP, saw arrests made by police forces across the country.
Mr Jones said: "Within the BTP we have taken the lead in recognising the problem and taking the opportunity to say that this isn't going to go away in the short term."
Officers are using the latest technology to disrupt criminals
'Drone' in action
Part of the force's work involves engaging with scrap metal dealers, ensuring they are aware of the law and urging them to report any suspicious offers of metal.
Mr Jones said industrial areas, such as the North East, the North West and the Midlands, were particular areas of concern.
He said: "In these areas there is a concentration of scrap metal dealers, so there is a marketplace.
"For us, scrap metal dealers over the last 10 years have dropped off the radar.
"Part of our campaign is to make them aware of the law.
"There are criminals who are either working alone or working in co-operation with scrap metal dealers.
"Like most crimes you get small-time offenders at one end, maybe feeding a drug habit, all the way to organised groups at the other end of the spectrum."
The BTP said forces across the country were employing a wide range of tactics to disrupt criminal activity.
The latest technology being used in the fight is a remote controlled helicopter which hovers above railway lines and beams video footage back to operators on the ground.Over the last few months as the nation debated the relevance of monuments from the past, one town’s new markers created a controversy all their own. Groton installed small stone markers along roadways over the summer that bear the words: “All Are Welcome.”
But some residents took issue with the message. They asked that the inscriptions be changed to “Welcome,” or perhaps “Welcome to Groton.” The issue, it seems, was with the word “all” and how the message might be interpreted.
Last December, Jack Petropoulos, a member of the town’s Board of Selectmen, interviewed locals to see what their town could do to show good will.
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To Petropoulos, the markers seemed like a harmless idea, and the issue passed 140 to 113 at the spring Town Meeting. But on Aug. 28, a group submitted a petition to reopen discussion on the stones at the fall Town Meeting. They wanted the wording changed, the word “all” removed.
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“That harmless little word is what we’re talking about,” Petropoulos said.
On Monday evening, residents voted at Town Meeting by an “overwhelming” margin to keep the markers as they are, he said. Petropoulos said he was gratified by the town’s decision.
One of the Groton residents who was uncomfortable with the markers, Jack Saball, 67, said he feels the markers’ message implies an immigration stance not everyone agrees with. He suggested changes that take a more neutral tone.
“It might include Groton as a sanctuary city," Saball said. “We do not want someone to read this and think this town has a political agenda.”
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Saball, a former Groton selectmen and retired police captain, said since the signs sit on public property they should not be political. He said the spring Town Meeting didn’t have enough discussion.
“My goal is to get this discussed,” Saball said, before the meeting.
Robert Gosselin, who served as town moderator of Groton from 1973 to 2012, wrote a letter to the editor in the Groton Herald in early September. He too was concerned about the approval process for the markers and felt that citizens weren’t given the right to speak in opposition.
“The right of a citizen to rise and speak freely whether it is to support or oppose is sacred and the cornerstone of our town meetings,” Gosselin wrote in his letter to the editor. “Let us fight to preserve, protect, and defend that right.”
On Facebook, the debate over the markers took a heated tone with posts that said the signs allow for a “criminal element” and open the door to “pedophiles” and “terrorists.”
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“This was not a sanctuary-city issue; it was not a political or religious sign,” Petropoulos said. “It was a way of telling people as they come in and out of our town that it’s a welcoming place.”
A symbolic commitment of $1 was put forth at the spring Town Meeting for the markers, and Groton provided the granite for free.
The town raised close to $4,000 in private donations for the cost of engraving the eight stones, and buried time capsules under the stones that included essays by local students.
Students wrote about what “all are welcome” means to them.
In a separate letter to future residents, town officials explained why they chose to place these markers around the town.
“The early 21st century is marked by a growing divisiveness in our country, or at least by an increasing exposure to, and influence of, divides that have always been present,” the letter reads. “There is little that a small town can do to influence this other than to express its hope that this trend will resolve for the good, and to add its voice in an effort to make that happen.”
On Oct. 5, the town held a ceremony to install the final stone. It was set near a busy road at the entrance of the New England Shirdi Sai Temple, a 40,000-square-foot Hindu house of worship in its final stages of construction off Route 119. It’s expected to open in November.
Members of the new temple sponsored the stone.
“Monuments are a testimony to what’s important in the day,” Petropoulos said of the message on the stones. “Someday they may be irrelevant and people will ask, ‘Why did they have to say that?’ ”
Aimee Ortiz of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Cristela Guerra can be reached at cristela.guerra@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristelaGuerraThe daughter and ex-wife of Boutique nightclub owner Darren Thornburgh have been caught up in a drive-by shooting at their Port Melbourne home, just a week after the nightclub was also shot up.
Police said the shots were fired at the house on Beacon Drive from a four-wheel-drive around 5am this morning.
It’s believed a man got out of the black sedan and fired five shots into the home, before getting back into his car and driving off.
Denise Thornburgh and her 13-year-old daughter were inside at the time, but were uninjured.
The home was targeted around 5am this morning, police said. (9NEWS) ()
Police are investigating whether the shooting was linked to a shooting at Boutique nightclub last Thursday morning – where the club was sprayed with bullets from a 12-gauge shotgun.
“It would appear certainly that someone is not happy with something that is going on, and is clearly trying to send a message,” Detective Inspector David Griffin said.
“The person who fired the gunshots into that house would have no idea who was behind those windows at the time.”
It’s understood investigators will probe whether Mr Thornburgh is being pursued over debts.
Victoria Police’s anti-bikie taskforce Echo has been notified.
Neighbours said they saw the car drive away with its headlights switched off.
“I heard the first gunshot and there was a few seconds, then three more shots,” neighbour Annie Landers said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019YouTube Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pretty much handled his company's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram all by himself, according to tick tock story from the WSJ.
He called Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom on a Thursday and signed the deal, in his living room, on Sunday.
The report does give credit to one other Facebook exec for finishing the deal so fast, however: director of corporate development Amin Zoufonoun, who hammered out the merger's details during a 12 hour meeting Sunday night.
Zoufonoun has only been at Facebook for just more than a year, having joined from Google in March 2011.
At Google, Zoufonoun did what he does for Facebook now: close deals. According to his LInkedIn profile, he played a big role in closing Google's acquisitions of On2, Grandcentral, Metaweb, Widevine, Feedburner, and Simplify Media.
Impressively for a non-engineer, Zoufonoun listed as the "inventor" for several of Google's patents. Maybe it helps that before Google, Zoufonoun was an IP lawyer for a firm called ArrayComm LLC. Unlike many Ivy League/Stanford Googlers, Zoufonoun went to Santa Clara University for undergrad and law school.
Zoufonoun's family is from Tehran, Iran. His family left the country when his brother, Omid, was two.
Both Omid and Amin are musicians following in the footsteps of their (relatively) famous father, Ostad Mahmoud Zoufonoun. Omid has made a profession out of it. Amin has obviously not. The whole gang is big on YouTube.
Here is a song Ostad wrote on the occasion of Amin's birth:
Here is Amin (far left) playing with his father and uncle:
And this is Amin on a panel, talking about the "the good, the bad, and the ugly of the acquisition process":Friday Pokemon Announcements – Ghost PokeCen Plush + Monthly Pair Pikachu + Chan Luu Collaboration + Banpresto
Tonight’s batch of announcements started off with new Pokemon Center exclusive plush!
In the theme of Halloween, these four ghost type plush (Banette, Chandelure, Drifloon, and Litwick), will go on sale at all Pokemon Centers and Stores across Japan September 17th.
Each plush will cost 1,296 yen, except for Chandelure, who will go for 2,160 yen due to his slightly larger size.
Next up: October’s Monthly Pair Pikachu plush!
These cuties are dressed up to go berry picking and will go on sale at all Pokemon Centers and Stores across Japan starting September 17th.
Each pair plush will cost 2,808 yen.
Another jewelry collaboration with Pokemon was announced, this time with the Los Angeles based hand-made jewelry company, Chan Luu. There will be four different types of bracelets with four different charms (Pikachu, Mew, Umbreon, and Espeon). Each bracelet will be available in single band and triple band designs.
Pre-orders for these gorgeous bracelets will start September 3rd. The pre-order period will last until October 30th, and bracelets will start to be shipped out around the middle of December.
Single band bracelets will cost 15,000 yen each.
Triple band bracelets will cost 25,000 yen each.
The Pikachu Keyboard plush was popular enough that Bandai is bringing out an Eevee version in November!
This Eevee plush is the perfect size for cuddling and comes with an adorable keyboard cushion you can use to rest your arms on while using the computer.
Hug the plush, use the keyboard cushion for comfort, or do both at the same time!
Each Eevee + keyboard cushion plush will cost 5,616 yen and will be released in November. Pre-orders for this plush can be made via the Premium Bandai site, or through Japan Stuffs if you don’t have a Japanese address.
Speaking of cushions, these four smaller sized cushions, made of microfiber, are currently on sale in Japan. Each cushion costs 1,620 yen.
Last and certainly not least, the Banpresto site updated recently with the prize lists for September and there are a couple Pokemon plush to look forward to.
The Pikachu Mania series continues with 5 Korotto Manmaru Pikachus coming out September 15th and two large size Pikachu face cushions coming out September 22nd.
The Kutsurogi (or Relax) Time line of Eeveelution plushies will conclude September 8th with Espeon, Umbreon, and Sylveon.
The Kororin Friends series will also continue with Halloween themed smaller plush (Absol, Chandelure, and Zorua) on September 15th and a larger size Gengar plush September 8th.
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Ghost Type PokeCen Plush
Monthly Pair Pikachu – October
Chan Luu Collaboration
Pokemon Cushions
Banpresto Pokemon PrizesOriginally Posted by Edward Lewis (Source) Originally Posted by
Putting on my story hat for a moment the sharp eyed amongst you have noticed a story in GalNet about ‘The Missing’. In brief The Missing is an encompassing term for everyone who has disappeared without trace in deep space. This includes colonists on the ancient generation ships, lost colonies, disappeared scientific expeditions and a host of others. Some will know from our timeline that many thousands of ‘generation ships’ left the safety of Earth beginning in the 24th century onwards, and headed out into what was then largely unknown – with just some data from probes to guide them. The process was completely unregulated, and many were not as well prepared as they should have been. In those days when faster-than-light communication didn’t exist, many of these potential settlers faced terrible risks alone, travelling thousands of light years into the black, not unlike the wagon trains that set out across continental US in the 18th and 19th centuries before them. Not all were successful at founding new worlds. Most were not. Some managed to return with tails of their adventures. Some were lost in deep space, the dead hulk of their ship carrying on an almost endless trajectory ever deeper into space. Others managed to land and survived for many decades before being overtaken by some local disaster. Some may still be alive, just restricted to low power light speed communications, or no comms at all, as their equipment has failed over the centuries in between. We say they have disappeared without trace, but just maybe some will find some traces of them that are still out there…The new Bonsai Book for 2019 by Harry Harrington
Bonsai Books· Bonsai Tools· Bonsai For Sale· Carving Tools· Bonsai Pots· Bonsai T-Shirts
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The European Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) as semi-styled raw material in early 2010.
The focus of this article is the refinement, over a growing-season, of a mature European Hornbeam bonsai (Carpinus betulus) owned by a client and friend of mine. However, I had known and worked on the tree since 2009, when its owner purchased it as raw material for bonsai.
The Hornbeam bonsai in my garden in the Autumn of 2010 for pruning and wiring.
Over a number of years, I worked on the Hornbeam a series of times, wiring and styling the tree with a multi-trunk naturalistic design and planting it into a rectangular bonsai pot by Victor Harris of Erin Pottery.
Before and after styling during the Winter of 2010/2011.
The European Hornbeam after re-styling in early Spring 2015.
In early Spring 2015, the bonsai's owner asked me to prune and re-style the Hornbeam and then to keep the tree throughout the growing season of 2015 to increase its ramification. As can be seen in the above image, the design of the Hornbeam had subtly changed over the previous years and its branch structure had matured well. Individual branches had reasonable ramification, but more importantly, had developed good branch taper, an effective indicator of age in a bonsai. (For more discussion of this topic, please see Developing Deciduous Bonsai Branch Structures )
Alternative front view of the bonsai in early Spring 2015.
The hornbeam after partial defoliation during the Summer 2015.
European Hornbeam are a vigorous species and throughout the Spring of 2015 I only gave the bonsai a weak slow-release fertilizer. Fertilizing too heavily would have encouraged coarse growth with long internodes that would not be suitable for the delicate growth that the tree now required. In the relatively weak Spring sun, the tree was also given full sun, again, to encourage more delicate refined shoots and leaves.
The tree was pruned regularly throughout the Spring and new shoots were only allowed to extend a short distance before being pruned back. Again, this discouraged coarse thick growth, particularly in the vigorous areas of the tree, as well as increasing ramification.
At midsummer I partially defoliated the tree. This is a technique that I have used effectively on Beech bonsai and is described here Advanced Pruning Techniques for Eurpean Beech. A single leaf is left at the tip of each shoot as a sap-drawer, but otherwise, each branch is completely defoliated and results in a huge number of new shoots emerging from where individual leaves previously grew. Larger/over-sized leaves are cut into half to help balance the vigour of the tree as a whole.
As soon as the tree was (partially) defoliated, I ensured it was placed in the sunniest part of the garden to encourage maximum light to fall on the branches to motivate inner buds to swell, and the tree was fed very heavily with slow-release fertilizers and a weekly liquid feed. As can be seen in this article, this regime encouraged an incredible increase in branch ramification.
Note that once the new leaves emerged after defoliation, I moved the Hornbeam to a shadier part of the garden. As a species, Hornbeam in leaf are susceptible to leaf-scorch during the hottest parts of the summer and require some shading.
Detail of the partially-defoliated Hornbeam bonsai.
The Hornbeam in November 2015, after pruning and wiring.
Once the leaves had fallen at the end of the growing season in November, the improved ramification of the branch structure was revealed and could be refined. The tree was pruned where necessary, and each and every one of the new shoots was detail-wired and positioned.
Height 22"/54cm, trunkbase 7"/17cm wide.
Refining A Hornbeam Bonsai Page>>> 1 2Teen Changes Wallpaper On Teacher's Computer; Gets Charged With A Felony By Sheriff's Office
from the CFAA:-Teen-Edition dept
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has charged Domanik Green, an eighth-grader at Paul R. Smith Middle School, with an offense against a computer system and unauthorized access, a felony. Sheriff Chris Nocco said Thursday that Green logged onto the school's network on March 31 using an administrative-level password without permission. He then changed the background image on a teacher's computer to one showing two men kissing.
Green had previously received a three-day suspension for accessing the system inappropriately. Other students also got in trouble at the time, he said. It was a well-known trick, Green said, because the password was easy to remember: a teacher's last name. He said he discovered it by watching the teacher type it in.
One of the computers Green, 14, accessed also had encrypted 2014 FCAT questions stored on it, though the sheriff and Pasco County School District officials said Green did not view or tamper with those files.
"So I logged out of that computer [because that computer didn't have a webcam] and logged into a different one and I logged into a teacher's computer who I didn't like and tried putting inappropriate pictures onto his computer to annoy him," Green said.
"Even though some might say this is just a teenage prank, who knows what this teenager might have done," Nocco said.
The sheriff said Green's case should be a warning to other students: "If information comes back to us and we get evidence (that other kids have done it), they're going to face the same consequences," Nocco said.
Seemingly everyone at every level of government wants to talk about cybersecurity. Most of what's discussed is delivered in the breathless cadence of a lifetime paranoiac. () This school is one level of government. So is the sheriff's office. Both felt the 14-year-old's actions were severe enough to warrant felony charges. Why? Because somebody hacked something. If you can even call it "hacking…"The teen changed a computer's wallpaper and was able to do so because the most basic of security precautions weren't taken. Multiple students took advantage of this lax security to access computers with webcams so they could chat "face-to-face" while utilizing the school's network.The school got all bent out of shape because some of the computers accessed containedtest questions. It turned the student over to law enforcement because it deemed his "breach" of its system too "serious" to be handled by just a 10-day suspension. It had him arrested because of things hedone, rather than the thing he actually did.And yet, Sheriff Chris Nocco is still looking to prosecute a 14-year-old for attempting to annoy one of his teachers. Here's the student's description of what he did.Here's Sheriff Nocco's statement:Well... youknow what "he might have done," Sheriff Nocco. And yet, your response to this situation is to hand out felony charges to a teen for something he? Is that the way law enforcement is really supposed to work? [The FBI has issued the following statement: "That's the way it works for Almost exclusively."]He told youwhat he did andhe did it. Your own investigative efforts confirmed he never accessed the oh-so-untouchable FCAT questions. Incredibly, Sheriff Nocco wants to not only punishstudent for something he, but any other teens whoSheriff Nocco: I will arrest and charge teens with felonies for annoying educators and/or exposing their inability to make even the most minimal effort to keep their computers secure. If I lived in this county, I'd be very concerned that law enforcement officials are keen on the idea of arresting and prosecuting teens for stuff they didn't do (access test questions) or things they might have done (TBD as needed for maximum damage to teens' futures).
Filed Under: arrest, chris nocco, computers, domanik green, hacking, pasco county, pasco county sheriff, students, teachersIf you want to make Jim I. Mead happy, give him a pile of dung.
The paleontologist and geosciences chairman here at East Tennessee State University owns what he says is probably the world's most diverse collection of animal droppings. He has some 13,000 amphibian, mammal, and reptile skeletons in his closet, but it is his 900-piece archive of scat from extinct and modern animals that has propelled Mr. Mead's reputation beyond academe. Or down the toilet, depending on how you look at it.
Popular Science singled him out this month as holding one of the 10 worst jobs in science, and Mr. Mead, whose expertise is in lizard skeletons, gamely played along. While he has no doubt about the scientific value of his work, he is acutely aware of the humor in, say, prompting a deer to give what your doctor euphemistically refers to as a stool sample. Usually when you scare them and get them running, Mr. Mead says, they'll defecate.
A moist sample like that is placed in a convection oven "to dry out the puddin'," as Mr. Mead puts it. Fossilized dung, or coprolite, has been dehydrated naturally in a dry cave or it would have disappeared long ago.
Strides in DNA extraction have raised the scientific value of organic collections like Mr. Mead's. When he shows a visitor a baseball-size lump produced 12,000 years ago by a now-extinct Shasta ground sloth, a sense of awe hangs in the air, along with the earthy aroma of the Pleistocene.
Like a well-aged wine, ice-age excrement gives off a smooth scent that is not unpleasant to the nose.
Lucky for Mr. Mead. When he kisses his partner after a long day spent digging dung from a cave, he says she smells his mustache and knows exactly where he's been. "Oh, working in pack-rat middens today," she might say.
But no one collects dung because it smells nice. Mr. Mead can provide samples to scientists who extract DNA to learn about fauna of the past. The ancient sloth sample, for one, still holds evidence that connects the six-foot-long creature to its nearest living relatives, the tree sloths of Central America, and a more distant cousin, the armadillo. Mr. Mead estimates that he has about 100 ice-age turds (his word) with potentially extractable DNA, including one that might be as much as 30,000 years old. But if you ask him to name a favorite specimen, he cannot. It is the total diversity of the archive that gives it value, he says.
The son of a zoologist at the University of Arizona, Mr. Mead was just 17 when his father encouraged him to join a group of scientists on a Grand Canyon rafting trip commemorating the centennial of John Wesley Powell's 1869 Colorado River expedition. Paul S. Martin, a geosciences professor at Arizona who was among the first to recognize the need to collect dung, led the trip. At the professor's urging, the young Mr. Mead and a friend arose early one day and explored a cave along the river, where they found what turned out to be an 11,000-year-old pack-rat midden, a hard-packed cake of excrement containing needles from ancient juniper trees. It was at the time the oldest midden ever found in the Grand Canyon, a spectacular thrill for a teenager interested in science.
"That's why I got into skeletons and dung," says Mr. Mead. "I was hooked."
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He enrolled at Arizona to study under Mr. Martin, earning a doctorate in paleontology and working with a close-knit team of graduate students. "Everyone had their little niche," says Mr. Mead. "I was the dung man." He went on to a 23-year career at Northern Arizona University, where he was a professor in geology and Quaternary science.
He also curated two collections at Northern Arizona's museum: a 17,000-piece archive of dung and skeleton specimens from 22 National Park units on the Colorado Plateau, and a smaller Quaternary-science archive of specimens that belonged to the museum, other collectors, and himself. The desert Southwest was conducive to his work, dotted as it is with dry, dusty caves bearing colorful names like Paul Bunyan's Potty and Bechan Cave (which translates from Navajo as "Big Poop Cave").
"Anything that went in there and died or was dropped was preserved," he says. "It's just desiccated, mummified."
For the better part of four decades, Mr. Mead has crawled through caves, traveled to zoos around the world, and hiked the hinterlands of the United States, Mexico, Australia, and Siberia in his search for contemporary and ancient skeletons and scat. Amid the scenery of Arches, Canyonlands, and Glen Canyon parks, he has collected specimens for the National Park Service. Until the early 1990s, when the Park Service began limiting flights into the Grand Canyon, he could often hike in, collect some ancient dung, then rendezvous with a helicopter and fly out in style.
Worst job in science? Oh, please. "We've got the best job there is," Mr. Mead says with a grin. (His partner, Sandy Swift, whom he met 11 years ago hunting bones in a cave in Colorado, today volunteers as Mr. Mead's collection manager and digital illustrator at East Tennessee State.)
International rules governing the transport of organic material have complicated the process of collecting, so Mr. Mead was grateful when his mentor, Mr. Martin, retired and passed along his own collection, which he had acquired largely in the 1960s and 70s.
Many years ago Mr. Martin flew into Miami International Airport after a particularly productive trip to Africa. Customs agents asked him to open his suitcase, which was filled with rhinoceros feces. "Nowadays you'd die a horrible customs death," Mr. Mead says. "But back then it was kind of like, 'Just go away.'"
Two years ago, he and Ms. Swift moved to Tennessee so that he could inaugurate a geosciences department as part of East Tennessee State's Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology. Blaine W. Schubert, a former student of Mr. Mead's, directs the center, which serves as the research umbrella for the nearby Gray Fossil Site, a Miocene sinkhole that state-highway contractors unearthed 10 years ago. A new museum and laboratory there provide a focal point for the university's paleontology ambitions.
Back at the campus, Mr. Mead speaks enthusiastically about the administration's willingness to invest in a new program during a time of budget constraints. Contractors are renovating a four-story dormitory that, starting next year, will serve as a central home for the geosciences department, the paleontology center, the offices of the university's vice president for research, and Mr. Mead's vast specimen collection.
Mr. Mead says he is striving to promote a collaborative atmosphere, though disputes are bound to occur. When they do, he'll try to defuse the tension with his sense of humor, as he did once when a colleague back in Arizona told him, "You don't know shit."
"Well actually, I do," Mr. Mead replied. "That's one thing I do know."In October 2008, in the early days of the last economic collapse, Sequoia Capital invited founders of technology companies to a frank meeting outlining the new global reality.
Silicon Valley had long since shaken off the doldrums of the dot-com bubble, but one of the industry’s most respected venture capital firms was now counseling entrepreneurs to again “batten down the hatches” — to cut costs, to focus on profit, to “spend every dollar as if it were your last” because “it is going to be a rough ride.”
The presentation was called “R.I.P. Good Times,” and it ended with a challenge meant to inspire founders as well as to scare them: “Get real or go home.”
As it happened, Sequoia’s dire warnings never quite came to pass; the tech industry’s good times merely paused for the recession.WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Republicans are heavily favored to take commanding control of Congress in tomorrow’s midterm election, the ultimate vindication of their no-compromise strategy.
Six years ago, the voters were hopeful. Four years ago, they were angry. Two years ago, they were cautious. But now the voters are just tired, fed up with the seeming inability of any institution — public or private — to make a positive difference in their lives.
Six years after the financial crisis devastated us, the economy is still the issue that resonates most with voters. Although in many ways the economy is doing much better than it was six years ago or even a year ago, for too many Americans it hasn’t improved at all in the most fundamental sense: Their incomes aren’t rising. Their standard of living is declining.
Understandably, very few people would say the economy is working for them. Shockingly, a plurality of voters trust the Republicans more than the Democrats on the economy, according to a Pew Research Center poll.
Anyone who trusts the Republicans hasn’t been paying attention to what their economic policies have been. Instead of focusing on full employment and higher wages, the Republicans have doubled down on the trickle-down policies that have failed so miserably over the past 30-plus years.
Instead of pushing for economic growth that would benefit everyone, Republicans insisted that our biggest problem wasn’t jobs but deficits. They’ve insisted that Washington cut back on its spending immediately, even though the economy was (and still is) operating far below its potential. Even though the budget crisis they were trying to avert was decades away.
MarketWatch Federal spending is a smaller share of GDP now than at any time during Ronald Reagan's time in the White House.
If you are skeptical that the federal government has actually cut spending, consider the facts: Federal spending totaled $3.504 trillion in fiscal 2014, 2.7% lower than the $3.603 trillion spent in 2011, and 0.4% lower than the $3.518 trillion spent in 2009. The last time federal spending declined over a five-year period was 1947 to 1951.
Excluding the fast-growing Social Security and Medicare programs, federal spending was 11% lower in 2014 than it was in 2009.
In real (inflation-adjusted) terms, total federal spending was 9% lower in 2014 than in 2009, even though the population was 4% larger and the over-65 population was 16% larger.
As a share of gross domestic product, federal spending was lower in 2014 than at any point in Ronald Reagan’s two terms in office.
The spending cuts are real. Let’s recall how they came to be.
In January 2009, the new Obama administration came in with big ambitions to increase federal spending. The immediate need was to pass a stimulus bill to prevent the economy from sinking into a depression. Republicans (with a few exceptions) wouldn’t cooperate, even after Democrats loaded up the stimulus bill with GOP-friendly tax cuts and infrastructure spending in every congressional district.
In the past, Republicans had generally supported temporary stimulus measures, but that changed with the election of Barack Obama. And when the Tea Party swept the Republicans into a majority in the House in the 2010 midterms, the party began to say “no” to federal spending in general.
The Republicans were still the minority party in government, but they put a lot of pressure on Obama and the congressional Democrats, using every procedural and political tool at their disposal. In the summer of 2011, the Republicans took the government to the brink of default on its debt, which led to an agreement with Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to cut spending, by automatically sequestering funds if necessary.
A year ago, the Republicans again forced the issue with a 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government, which led to another agreement with the Democrats on spending cuts.
From this history, it’s clear that Republicans |
private pilot reported a drone at 1,300 feet.
On Sunday in Atlanta, another drone was spotted at 8,000 feet, well above the FAA limit of 400 feet.
Drone pilots in Los Angeles say flying near places like runways is unacceptable behavior for responsible flyers
Taylor Chien, founder and CEO of Dronefly, is hoping software that uses drones' own GPS systems will be used to keep rogue pilots away from restricted areas.
"So say you fly near an airport like LAX and you are within a five-mile radius it will... stop, turn around and fly back to you," Chien said.
Congress has given the FAA until the end of the year to come up with rules on how drones will be flown in the United States.This volume discusses methodological issues in conducting elicitation on semantic topics in a fieldwork situation. In twelve chapters discussing 11 language families from four continents, authors draw on their own fieldwork experience, pairing explicit methodological proposals with concrete examples of their use in the field. Several chapters cover issues specific to semantic topics such as modality, comparison, tense and aspect, and definiteness, while others focus on elicitation techniques more generally, addressing methodological issues such as the creation of elicitation plans, the choice of language in which to conduct elicitation, and the status of translation tasks. Together, the chapters of this volume demonstrate that elicitation on semantic topics, when conducted following sound methodologies, can and does produce reliable results. Given the high number of languages currently classified as endangered, conducting one-on-one fieldwork with native speaker consultants is critical for gathering new empirical findings that bear on linguistic theory.“Our capacity for wholeheartedness can never be greater than our willingness to be broken-hearted.” —Brené Brown
It’s time for a bit of vulnerability.
I don’t know about you, but it’s been a challenging few weeks for me, emotionally. Many deeply rooted issues have surfaced, mostly surrounding feelings of guilt and shame. Brené Brown describes guilt as an emotion that comes from believing we’ve done something bad, whereas shame is an emotion that stems from believing we ARE bad. In my conditioned mind, I don’t often experience them as separate.
For example, if I make a comment that hurts my partner’s feelings, I immediately feel I’ve done something bad, which to me, naturally means I am bad. Guilt and shame shower over me simultaneously. As a result, I reject myself. This manifests outwardly in two possible ways:
1) I project my self-rejection onto him and feel inexplicable anger and coldness toward him
2) I close my heart down in an effort to force him to reject me. It’s a rather painful experience, and I tend to avoid it as much as possible.
It’s my wholehearted intention to change this pattern of guilt and shame, which, as Teal Scott says in this video, is essentially self-abuse.
I thought that I had done my share of shadow work (for more info, google “shadow work” + Carl Jung, Teal Scott, or Debbie Ford) in the past year and a half: facing all the things I don’t like about myself, diving into many negative feelings I have, bringing to consciousness experiences that have deeply hurt me.
But what I discovered the past week when I made the scary decision to travel once again into feelings of unworthiness and fear (my higher self, angels, and the Universe assisted greatly in this process) was that I had only touched the surface with my previous shadow work. Not that it hadn’t been beautiful, powerful work. It was. And it was exactly what I could handle at that time.
However, a few nights ago I was ready to go deeper. What I found was that though I had indeed seen my dark aspects and acknowledged them, that was as far as I dared to go. I had looked at my shadow for many months, felt the sadness, felt the guilt, and had even begun to understand the causes of my suffering…and then I ran like hell in the other direction.
What’s missing here? What was left out of this process?
Forgiveness.
(An A-HA moment for me.)
What I now understand about forgiveness is this:
Forgiveness does not signify that you’ve been bad or you are bad. There can be no such thing as forgiving yourself or another person for being bad, though many attempt this.
Because we are not bad.
That doesn’t mean we don’t make mistakes or sometimes cause harm (sometimes unspeakable harm) to ourselves or others. And this is where the difference between guilt and shame comes in again. Guilt involves feeling remorse for a particular action. It can be a helpful emotion when it is accompanied by the desire to not repeat that action (and of course, when the person doesn’t not transform the guilt into shame). Teal Scott explains that guilt basically indicates to us, through emotion, that we don’t desire to have this experience again.
The Oxford dictionary defines the verb “to forgive” as “to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake.” When we forgive actions we release resentment for the fact that the action took place.
However, my deep sense is that many people believe that when we forgive, we forgive THE PERSON. But to forgive the person would mean that we are letting go of our anger for the mistake that the person IS, or for the faultiness or “badness” of the person himself. How is that even possible? This twisted understanding of forgiveness is like saying, “You’re bad…but ok. I’ll grant you the favor of not being angry about it anymore.” That’s why forgiveness often feels like it’s being bestowed from one person unto another.
Can you feel how that affects our energetic field, particularly when this distorted message is repeated over and over again?
I believe that the deepest layer and vibrational core of forgiveness is the appreciation of the truth that we are good, whole, and a pure extension of Source energy. After all, we can only truly release anger for actions that have caused harm if we don’t identify those actions with the essence of the person.
Forgiveness requires recognition and appreciation of our true nature.
Forgiveness is not actually an action.
It requires no energy or effort. It is a release of blame, anger, and resentment. On a deeper level, it is an allowing and acceptance of what is, what happened — NOT an allowing and acceptance of “badness.”
My intuition feels that the majority of people in the world today, openly or secretly, believe they are sinners. I mean “sinner” in the institutionalized Christian understanding — an understanding which has been secularized and adopted (or forced) into mainstream consciousness for centuries already. But the original Hebrew word for “sin” never had anything to do with being bad. It had everything to do with forgetting who we really are (hey, it happens!), and as a result “missing the mark.” The root of the Hebrew word “sin” is forgetfulness.
To forgive is to remember.
Wave upon wave of these realizations hit me that night. I realized that I haven’t forgiven myself (released resentment, anger, and ultimately self-hatred) for experiences and actions in this lifetime, nor in previous lifetimes. It was so hard to forgive. How could I? My face literally writhed in pain. I have done so many things which have harmed others. How can I forgive myself?
The simple, gentle, loving message that came in response to this question was: Remember who you are.
Another message that helped me soften my self-judgement is that we are all co-creating together. We chose to be here. We chose to experience everything. So even when you conjure up your most guilt-provoking memory, particularly if it involves other beings (it always does, doesn’t it?), remember that, from the universal perspective, they chose to experience this too. Humans, in our interactions and relationships, foster each other’s growth and evolution. We provide each other with contrast. We generate incredible lessons. We help each other understand love.
I feel that the next leap in our evolution of consciousness, individually and as a species, is coming through learning to truly forgive ourselves and others. Through forgiveness we remember our divinity. It sets us free.
It’s no wonder that forgiveness was Jesus’ greatest teaching, as well as his most dramatically misunderstood, contorted, and misused.
Doesn’t this tell us something about the crushing power of the emotions of guilt and shame? And why so many have sought to manipulate them? And why Jesus was determined to teach us how to let them go?
Freedom. It’s where we are headed. Unity. It’s the nature of reality. Love. It’s in our DNA.
I see you for who you really are.
I love you.
I forgive you.
I give you permission to forgive me.
I forgive myself.CITY OF CALAPAN—The provincial government is taking the lead in a rally against a mining firm here today, issuing a memorandum on June 9 requiring all officials and employees of capitol to take part in the protest action.
The memo was issued by Gov. Alfonso Umali Jr.
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“To demonstrate our constant opposition and strong objection to the operation of Intex in the province…all will gather at the provincial government grounds at 2 p.m. and shall march together on JP Rizal Street and will gather near Citimart Island Mall for the program,” said Umali in his memo.
Attendance at the rally would be checked, the governor said. “Our collective stand will staunchly affirm our fight against large-scale mining and our passionate care for Mother Earth and the environment,” said the memo.
Among the environment organizations involved in the Independence Day rally is ABS-CBN’s Bantay Kalikasan.
Despite a 25-year mining moratorium, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last month reinstated the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) of the Mindoro nickel project of Intex Resources ASA to mine ore in Mindoro, on condition that the company could not proceed with its mining activities if local governments oppose.
The Oriental Mindoro provincial government imposed a 25-year large-scale mining ban through an ordinance in January 2002. The same ordinance was cited by the provincial government when, in 2009, it opposed the ECC granted to Intex.
Among the grounds for the protests against the project was the location of its 12,000-hectare site, which is within a watershed and an ancestral domain area.
The ECC was temporarily revoked six years ago as a result of the 10-day hunger strike staged by Mindoro protesters, including tribal people and priests, in front of the DENR office in Manila.
After learning of the reinstatement of the ECC, Umali, on May 12, issued a “cease and desist order” to Intex Resources Philippines Inc., stopping it from any exploration, mining and related activities in the province.
On June 4, local officials, led by Vice Gov. Humerlito Dolor, met with environmentalists and other stakeholders, pledging the provincial government’s commitment to stop the Mindoro nickel project.
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The Norway-based Intex on April 9 announced on its website the reinstatement of the ECC for its “world-class” Mindoro nickel project, which the company said was its “main asset.”
The project is expected to produce 100 to 120 million tons of ore over 15 to 20 years, the company said.Madonna T. Virola, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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Darnell lives deep in the basement of a life sciences building at the University of California-Berkeley, in a plastic tub on a row of stainless steel shelves. He is an African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, sometimes called the lab rat of amphibians. Like most of his species, he’s hardy and long-lived, an adept swimmer, a poor crawler, and a voracious eater. He’s a good breeder, too, having produced both children and grandchildren. There is, however, one unusual thing about Darnell.
He’s female.
Genetically, Darnell is male. But after being raised in water contaminated with the herbicide atrazine at a level of 2.5 parts per billion—slightly less than what’s allowed in our drinking water—he developed a female body, inside and out. He is also the mother of his children, having successfully mated with other males and spawned clutches of eggs. Recently he was moved to an atrazine-free tank and has turned lanky, losing the plump, pincushion look of a female frog. But last March, when UC-Berkeley integrative biology professor Tyrone B. Hayes opened him up to take a look, Darnell’s insides were still female. “He still has ovaries, but there’s no eggs in them,” Hayes told me the next day as we stood watching the frog, who swam over and inspected us soberly, then turned and flopped away.
Hayes is a 5-foot-3 fireplug of a man with a gentle voice and an easy grin who favors black suits when he’s on the lecture circuit and sweatshirts and running shorts the rest of the time. He is an unusual breed. You will find few other faculty members who keep their money and identification in a child’s Spider-Man sock rather than a wallet, or run their daily 12-mile commute, or compose raps about their research and perform them at scientific meetings. The pool of endocrinologists and herpetologists who might casually mention lunching on homemade raccoon curry is also minuscule. And most scientists, upon discovering that trace amounts of one of the nation’s top-selling herbicides cause gender-bending abnormalities in frogs, would have been content to publish their results and let the regulators and manufacturers fight it out.
But Hayes is not like other scientists. To be sure, he publishes in all the right journals and presents his work at the key scientific meetings, but he has also spearheaded a public outcry against atrazine, testifying at government hearings, appearing in all forms of media, and even launching AtrazineLovers.com, an anti-atrazine website.
“Atrazine isn’t killing the frogs,” Hayes explains. “But if they’re reproductively impaired, that’s killing the population.”
All of this has earned Hayes something approaching rock-star status. He has been the subject of a children’s book (The Frog Scientist), travels the world giving lectures, and by his estimate has appeared in a dozen documentaries. And while scores of researchers have described atrazine’s worrisome effects, it is Hayes’ knack for drama that has brought attention to the problem. Without him, atrazine might not be undergoing its third Environmental Protection Agency review in less than a decade, and Syngenta, the chemical’s Swiss manufacturer, might not be facing lawsuits in state and federal courts by plaintiffs from 40 Midwestern water districts who claim atrazine has contaminated their drinking water. “He’s a remarkable person,” says David Skelly, a Yale ecologist who has served on two of the advisory panels that help the EPA vet atrazine research. “And he’s become the personality associated with this issue because he’s a remarkable person.”
Yet over the years, Hayes has become engaged in a remarkably antagonistic sort of symbiosis with Syngenta. Company reps trail him from one speaking engagement to the next; Hayes, in turn, bombards Syngenta with a steady flow of emails laced with profane verses, academic taunts, and even accounts of his dreams. When a batch of these emails became public in 2010, Hayes’ supporters and critics alike were stunned. Here was one of the top scientists in his field, provoking one of the world’s largest agrichemical companies with crude sexual innuendos and LL Cool J-inspired raps:
tyrone b hayes is hard as hell
battle anybody, i don’t care who you tell
you object! you will fail!
mercy for the weak is not for sale
“It hasn’t been productive in the debate, and it hasn’t helped him,” Skelly says. “I mean, why do that?”
Born in a colored hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1967, Hayes grew up catching lizards, frogs, and turtles in the swamps near his grandmother’s house, which sat on land where his ancestors once toiled as slaves. He was, admittedly, “a weird kid” who raised tadpoles in wading pools and set up bird blinds based on the ones he’d seen on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, wearing pots on his head to fend off jay and dove attacks while he filmed their nests. He would memorize the Latin names of South Carolina beetles in his grandmother’s field guides and draw pictures of animals, people, and sci-fi characters.
Hayes’ father, Romeo, was a carpet installer who never finished high school, and Hayes, too, struggled in school, largely because he was bored. “I finished all the math books by third grade and most of the reading books,” he recalls. “So I was considered disruptive.” By middle school, his artistic talents had attracted the notice of his teachers, who placed him in classes for gifted students. But it was science that dominated his thoughts. He spent hours with chameleonlike lizards called anoles, trying to understand what made them change color. He warmed them with a blow-dryer to see if it was heat, sheltered them in a doghouse to see if it was light, and found at last that the creatures had to be awake to color-match, a discovery that won him a state science fair prize. Later, when it came time to think about college, Hayes applied only to Harvard, because he’d heard the name on Green Acres. He got in.
The Ivy League proved a tough transition. At an undergraduate mixer his first day at Harvard in 1985, Hayes recalls introducing himself to a white student who looked at his outstretched hand and said, “It was because of affirmative action that I was wait-listed here.” He felt isolated, drank too much, and thought about dropping out. But he gained his bearings with the help of amphibian expert Bruce Waldman, who mentored him, and his girlfriend Kathy Kim, who would become his wife and the mother of his two children. In the end, he graduated summa cum laude in biology. “It was the worst four years of my life,” he says now. “But if I could do it all over again, I’d do it exactly the same.”
After that rocky start, Hayes’ rise was meteoric. He earned his Ph.D. in integrative biology from UC-Berkeley in just three and a half years. Less than a year later the university hired him as an assistant professor—he would soon become the second-youngest tenured professor in his department’s history. Hayes might easily have spent his career as an obscure if well-regarded authority on the endocrine systems of frogs had not his work attracted the attention of a consulting firm called EcoRisk*, which sought him out to evaluate atrazine’s effects on amphibians.
Atrazine has long been a mainstay of American agriculture. Registered for use in 1959, it is now used on half the nation’s corn and 90 percent of our sugarcane, not to mention lawns, golf courses, and Christmas tree farms. All told, about 80 million pounds of it are applied each year, making it the most widely used herbicide after glyphosate, a.k.a. Roundup. While Syngenta, the largest producer, won’t disclose its profits from atrazine, the company earned $2.3 billion in 2010 from its line of selective herbicides (those that only kill specific plants), of which atrazine is the leading product. Sales keep rising as more weeds develop resistance to Roundup: Syngenta reported a 14 percent bump in the first half of 2011.
In 1997, EcoRisk approached Hayes on behalf of Syngenta’s corporate predecessor, Novartis. They wanted him to study atrazine, which at the time was going through a product reapproval process mandated by the EPA. Hayes took the gig, figuring Novartis wouldn’t ask him to look into the herbicide’s effects if it expected him to find anything. “My hypothesis was, nothing’s going to happen,” he recalls.
Yet something did. In his experiments, male Xenopus exposed to atrazine had shrunken voice boxes, which put them at a disadvantage for courting females. That was startling enough. But when Hayes examined the frogs’ gonads, he discovered something more disturbing: About a third of the exposed males had malformed reproductive organs. Many were hermaphrodites, with both ovaries and testes. Some had more than two of each organ—and some of the testes produced eggs instead of sperm.
Xenopus are not naturally hermaphroditic, and no intersex frogs were found in Hayes’ control tanks. But gender deformities were present among frogs exposed to as little as 0.1 part per billion (picture a thousandth of a grain of salt in a half gallon of water). That’s 30 times less than the 3 ppb the EPA allows in our drinking water.
Since 1980, scientists had been reporting shrinking amphibian populations—close to one-third of known species are now in danger of extinction. Hayes was intrigued to think he might have discovered a cause for the decline. “Everybody is out there looking for dead frogs and what killed the frogs,” he explains. “We’re asking, ‘How come there aren’t any new frogs?’ Atrazine isn’t killing the frogs. But if they’re reproductively impaired, that’s killing the population.”
To Hayes’ surprise, EcoRisk and Novartis didn’t seem as concerned about his findings as he was. He was asked to repeat the studies but wasn’t given the necessary funding, he says, and EcoRisk scientists suggested statistical manipulations that made the voice box effect appear to vanish. Hayes weighed simply handing over his data. After all, this was contract work. “It’s just like if I was an artist and you told me to paint you this color, and I paint you that color and you buy the painting and I’m done with it,” he says.
Despite Syngenta’s claims to the contrary, atrazine’s feminizing effects are documented in dozens of peer-reviewed, reputable studies.
In the end, he couldn’t do it. In 2000, he resigned from the panel of scientists working for EcoRisk. He then repeated the experiment, twice, and in April 2002 published his findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has since published a dozen atrazine papers in peer-reviewed journals and replicated his findings with two other frog species, both in the lab and in nature. One study, published in pnas in 2010, found that when 40 male Xenopus hatched in water contaminated with atrazine at a level of 2.5 ppb, three-quarters wound up chemically castrated or partially feminized; four, like Darnell, changed genders completely. He has also tracked a population of leopard frogs in a Wyoming pond for a decade, documenting how the ratio of males to females rises and falls in tandem with atrazine levels.
Hayes postulates that atrazine affects gender by activating a gene that produces an enzyme called aromatase, which converts androgens—male sex hormones—to estrogens. In his talks, he makes sure to point out that estrogen is the same in frogs and humans. Just like frogs, we begin our development steeped in an aqueous environment: amniotic fluid. The chemical that so powerfully alters the gonads of a frog may be having an effect on us, too.
As assiduously as Hayes researches links between atrazine and hermaphroditic frogs, Syngenta attempts to disprove them, funding a stream of research that has found, variously, that atrazine exposure did not produce intersex frogs, that intersex frogs can be found regardless of atrazine exposure, and that atrazine exposure produces intersex frogs only at very high concentrations. “No reliable, replicable studies have ever linked atrazine to effects on frog sexual development,” Syngenta spokeswoman Ann Bryan told me via email, noting that previous EPA reviews have determined that “atrazine does not adversely affect amphibian gonadal development.” (Syngenta officials declined to be interviewed but agreed to answer a few written questions.)
Actually, atrazine’s unintended effects are documented in dozens of peer-reviewed studies. Last year, Jason Rohr and Krista McCoy from the University of South Florida published a meta-analysis of research involving amphibians and fish and found consistent results indicating that the herbicide affects the reproductive and immune systems. This past year, Hayes gathered 21 coauthors for a paper in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology showing that atrazine disrupts normal hormonal function, with demasculinizing effects on male gonads in reptiles, fish, amphibians, and mammals. He and 40 coauthors from 13 countries will soon publish a literature review that reaches similar conclusions. “I’ll have every scientist, with a few exceptions, who has worked on atrazine saying, ‘We’re together,'” he promises.
Perhaps if Syngenta had simply questioned Hayes’ research in academic journals, things might have stayed focused on questions of sample sizes, lab conditions, and so on. But the company began sending staff to Hayes’ research talks in the United States and abroad, where he says they sometimes passed out materials disparaging his methods and accusing him of fabricating results or refusing to share data. “A Syngenta representative does try to attend events where Dr. Hayes is speaking,” Syngenta’s spokeswoman confirmed. “It’s in our best interest, and farmers’, that we have the opportunity to counter his outrageous accusations.”
After a Syngenta scientist argued that atrazine was a vital tool for US farmers, Hayes responded in an email, “I’ve got your vital tool right here.”
Over time, these tense interactions escalated into the kind of verbal jostling you’d expect in a high school hallway. Syngenta officials, according to Hayes, have made derogatory remarks about his appearance, his speaking style, and even his sexual proclivities, which sounds implausible until you consider that Syngenta’s PR firm, Jayne Thompson & Associates, once proposed a covert media campaign to discredit the court system in an Illinois county where judges are presiding over an atrazine lawsuit.
At one conference in 2005, he contends, Syngenta staff scientist Tim Pastoor accused him of “cherry-picking data” and asked if he cherry-picked his dates as well. Hayes responded in an email: “don’t worry…daddy has no intentions of picking your cherry.” At another meeting, Pastoor asserted that atrazine was a vital tool for US farmers. Hayes emailed him to ask, “How long have YOU been a ‘vital tool’?” adding, “I’ve got your vital tool right here.”
While there was a certain frat boy humor to this scientific smack talk, there was also an element of psychological warfare. After Hayes gave a lecture at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry confab in 2007, he received an email from Syngenta scientist Alan Hosmer, whom he knew from his EcoRisk days: “You lost and everyone at SETAC was calling you an entertaining fraud,” Hosmer wrote.
Hayes felt the message was designed to arouse a black academic’s worst anxieties: the fear of being seen as a buffoon or an affirmative-action mistake. This time, Syngenta reps received a six-page email response titled: “I OWN THIS: A MADMAN’S MANIFESTO.” In it, Hayes bragged of his fame (“I get paid $10,000 for talking for an hour”), ridiculed Syngenta’s research (“nothing you have done can touch the quality of my work”), and waxed poetic about how his kids attend the fancy “white private schools” that were unavailable to him. He also deployed his favorite phrase—”I don’t give a fuck”—shortened to an acronym: “IDGAF! Come on?????…do you think I care about propriety and professionalism?…I have used the ‘F-word’ in my talks, have quoted DMX, Busta Rhymes, Tyra Banks, Marvin Gaye…I pack the room, have em’ call out security…and have been invited back every year. That’s my house, Trick!”
Things came to a head in February 2010, when Syngenta’s Pastoor buttonholed Hayes in the Illinois Statehouse as Hayes prepared to testify before an Assembly committee. “Who’s taking care of your family and your lab when you’re traveling so much, Tea Bag?” Pastoor allegedly said. “Don’t you worry about that?” The episode ended, Hayes claims, with Pastoor saying: “Next time you give a talk, I’m going to bring some of my good old boys and let you tell them how atrazine is making them gay. That should be fun. How about that, Tea Bag?”
Hayes was mystified: Was Pastoor referring to his initials, T.B. Hayes, or to the sexual act known as “teabagging”? Either way, he saw it as an effort to unnerve him prior to his testimony. “He wants me to think that if I go out for a run tonight, some people in a pickup truck are going to come,” he says. Pastoor did not respond to my requests to get his side of the exchange; Syngenta’s spokeswoman replied that “Dr. Hayes’ unfounded allegations are not relevant to serious scientific or public policy discussions.”
Hayes dashed off a furious rhyming response to Pastoor, Hosmer, and Syngenta attorney Alan Nadel. The next day, a message from Nadel to Pastoor landed back in his mailbox, clearly cc’d by accident: “Tim: I think you did hit a nerve. Alan.” Hayes took it as proof that Syngenta officials were plotting to get under his skin. “They’re probably Googling: ‘Things that black people don’t like to hear,'” he says.
Now that Hayes has tenure, the facade is no longer necessary. He can rap. He can cuss. And if anyone wants to question his legitimacy, “I’m coming at you, and I don’t care who knows it.”
A cooler head might have filed the emails away and gone back to his frogs. But Hayes was infected by an acute case of esprit d’escalier. He continued bombarding his nemeses with hip-hop battle taunts until that July, when Syngenta filed an ethics complaint with UC-Berkeley charging that the emails were not only “aggressive, unprofessional and insulting, but also salacious and lewd.” It also went public with 102 pages of Hayes’ emails. Exhibit A:
ya outa’ luck…bouta show you how it is right now
see you’re ****ed…(i didn’t pull out) and ya fulla my j*z right now!
The messages went viral, lighting up the blogosphere with headlines like “Dr. Tyrone Hayes: Biologist, Cock-Fixated Megalomaniac Email Addict” (Gawker) and “Berkeley Scientist Gets Gully in Emails to Shady Pesticide Company ‘I Ain’t Scared O’ You Mofos‘” (Bossip). The New York Times and Science wrote about the scandal, as did the esteemed journal Nature—which has published Hayes’ work.
“I spent a week in bed with a stomachache,” Hayes recalls, mainly because he was worried how it would look to the foundations he relies on for research money—not that he would ever take the emails back. His critics were ecstatic. Googling “Dr. Tyrone Hayes” now returns paid results from groups like AgSense, an agribusiness coalition that leads its critique of Hayes by quoting his “propriety and professionalism” outburst. Alex Avery, who created an anti-Hayes video as part of his work with the Center for Global Food Issues, an anti-organics think tank, also quoted the emails, asking, “What does it take for a scientist to be discredited?”
More than this, apparently. The university’s chief counsel ruled that no ethics violation had occurred but admonished both sides to behave. “We told him that his communications have the potential to reflect poorly on him and diminish the impact of his research-based arguments,” says Mark Schlissel, Hayes’ former dean. “He said he understood that.” Sixteen scientists from a variety of disciplines wrote to the university in support of Hayes, casting Syngenta’s move as a diversionary tactic. Others tried to distinguish between the messages and the messenger. “Science with an attitude is still science. Its validity doesn’t depend on whether you like the behavior of an individual scientist,” wrote environmental economist Frank Ackerman in a widely circulated Grist article.
Privately, though, Hayes’ allies were aghast. His irreverence had always been an asset, attracting attention to atrazine just as Rachel Carson’s impassioned lyricism drew attention to DDT. But now irreverence had tipped toward irrationality. “Ultimately, as scientists, we have to sell our research and make sure that people are aware of it,” says Jason Rohr, the researcher who did the meta-analysis. “But we also have to be objective.”
When I ask Hayes what possessed him to engage with Syngenta in this particular way, he’s silent for a moment. “Wow, that’s probably a long conversation,” he says.
When I ask Hayes what possessed him to engage with Syngenta in this particular way, he’s silent for a moment. “Wow, that’s probably a long conversation,” he says. The answer is related to his motto: IDGAF. For him, not giving a fuck means refusing the Faustian bargain that in exchange for a shot at professional respect you have to leave your true self at home. In his youth, Hayes told me, he hadn’t even wanted to sign his full name to his paintings, because Tyrone was such a stereotypically black name. But that kind of cultural inauthenticity, he now believes, embodies the same sort of dishonesty that allows someone to fudge data on a contract job. “How can you be one person in your personal life and another in your professional life?” Hayes asks.
Now that he’s tenured, the facade is no longer necessary. He can rap. He can cuss. And if anyone wants to question his legitimacy, “I’m coming at you, and I don’t care who knows it.” That’s more or less what he means when he signs his Syngenta emails “my name is tyrone.”
It’s been about 18 months since the email uproar, and Hayes has concluded that it has helped him more than it hurt. “Thanks to their advertising,” he gloats, “I’m giving 129 talks in the next year.” It has also brought his work to new audiences via pop-culture blogs. “Now I’ve got minorities who would never have had access to this information,” he says. And that’s important because minorities are most at risk of exposure; half of America’s farmworkers are Hispanic, according to the USDA. “They have levels of atrazine in their urine that are 24,000 times what we use in our laboratory,” Hayes adds.
In 2009, a New York Times investigation found that 33 million Americans are exposed to atrazine through drinking water. EPA data from 2010 shows contamination exceeding the federal limit in 9 out of 10 states monitoring it—several Midwestern water districts reported between 9 and 18 times the limit. (Atrazine’s tendency to contaminate water supplies is one reason the European Union voted to ban it in 2003.)
The EPA has claimed these spikes are not a health hazard. Yet epidemiological studies have found links between prenatal atrazine exposure and birth defects, premature birth, and low birth weight—even at extremely low concentrations. As Hayes explains, “0.1 ppb is not a low dose at all. Estrogen is active at levels that are 100 to 1,000 times lower than that. So in terms of an endocrine disruptor, that’s a high dose.”
The EPA is weighing this argument as it reconsiders whether to ban or restrict atrazine. In July, its advisory panel, citing “strong” epidemiological evidence, criticized the agency for understating the chemical’s carcinogenic potential. But with the EPA’s review of the science now headed into its fourth year, Hayes doesn’t expect much in the way of decisive action. Back in 2005, the Natural Resources Defense Council obtained documents revealing that agency officials met privately with Syngenta more than 40 times while evaluating atrazine’s toxicity. The Huffington Post Investigative Fund reported that fewer than 20 percent of the papers the EPA relied upon in its past decision-making were peer-reviewed, while at least half were conducted by scientists with a financial stake in the product.
The other reason Hayes is skeptical involves the power of the corn lobby. Corn farmers like atrazine because it increases yields and lets them cut back on plowing, reducing erosion. “Frogs are doing quite fine in Kansas,” says Jere White, head of the Kansas Corn Growers and Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Associations. “Anecdotally, I’d say they must not have read Dr. Hayes’ studies.”
Hayes is working on several new papers, including one he contends will be his most disturbing yet. It will show that male frogs exposed to atrazine early in life have feminized brains and tend to assume the bottom position when copulating, even when placed in a tank with females. While these frogs lack female sex organs, Hayes explains, their hormonal profile looks female, and “they have an identity that says female.”
The last time we spoke, Hayes was getting ready to shoot Syngenta an email announcing his upcoming publications. “I think it’ll just be informative,” he told me. “Just to let them know. That’s why they call me Tyrone.”
*Correction: The original version of this article, which also appeared in our January/February 2012 print edition, misidentified the consulting company that hired Hayes as Pacific EcoRisk, and mistakenly linked to the homepage of that company. The company Hayes actually worked for, EcoRisk, no longer exists.“The likelihood that we will get a manufacturing recovery is close to nil,” Professor Stiglitz said. “We are more likely to have a smaller share of a shrinking pie.”
Look at it this way: Over the course of the 20th century, farm employment in the United States dropped to 2 percent of the work force from 41 percent, even as output soared. Since 1950, manufacturing’s share has shrunk to 8.5 percent of nonfarm jobs, from 24 percent. It still has a ways to go.
The shrinking of manufacturing employment is global. In other words, strategies to restore manufacturing jobs in one country will amount to destroying them in another, in a worldwide zero-sum game.
The loss of such jobs has created |
that we need to come to grips with...
I would seriously nominate this as the largest bullet ever bitten in the history of time. And that is a backhanded compliment to David Chalmers: A lesser mortal would simply fail to see the implications, or refuse to face them, or rationalize a reason it wasn't so.
Why would anyone bite a bullet that large? Why would anyone postulate unconscious zombies who write papers about consciousness for exactly the same reason that our own genuinely conscious philosophers do?
Not because of the first intuition I wrote about, the intuition of the quiet inner listener. That intuition may say that zombies can drive cars or do math or even fall in love, but it doesn't say that zombies write philosophy papers about their quiet inner listeners.
No, the drive to bite this bullet comes from an entirely different intuition—the intuition that no matter how many atoms you add up, no matter how many masses and electrical charges interact with each other, they will never necessarily produce a subjective sensation of the mysterious redness of red. It may be a fact about our physical universe (Chalmers says) that putting such-and-such atoms into such-and-such a position, evokes a sensation of redness; but if so, it is not a necessary fact, it is something to be explained above and beyond the motion of the atoms.
But if you consider the second intuition on its own, without the intuition of the quiet listener, it is hard to see why irreducibility implies zombie-ism. Maybe there's just a different kind of stuff, apart from and additional to atoms, that is not causally passive—a soul that actually does stuff. A soul that plays a real causal role in why we write about "the mysterious redness of red". Take out the soul, and... well, assuming you just don't fall over in a coma, you certainly won't write any more papers about consciousness!
This is the position taken by Descartes and most other ancient thinkers: The soul is of a different kind, but it interacts with the body. Descartes's position is technically known as substance dualism—there is a thought-stuff, a mind-stuff, and it is not like atoms; but it is causally potent, interactive, and leaves a visible mark on our universe.
Zombie-ists are property dualists—they don't believe in a separate soul; they believe that matter in our universe has additional properties beyond the physical.
"Beyond the physical"? What does that mean? It means the extra properties are there, but they don't influence the motion of the atoms, like the properties of electrical charge or mass. The extra properties are not experimentally detectable by third parties; you know you are conscious, from the inside of your extra properties, but no scientist can ever directly detect this from outside.
So the additional properties are there, but not causally active. The extra properties do not move atoms around, which is why they can't be detected by third parties.
And that's why we can (allegedly) imagine a universe just like this one, with all the atoms in the same places, but the extra properties missing, such that every atom moves the same as before, but no one is conscious.
The Zombie World might not be physically possible, say the zombie-ists—because it is a fact that all the matter in our universe has the extra properties, or obeys the bridging laws that evoke consciousness—but the Zombie World is logically possible: the bridging laws could have been different.
But why, oh why, say that the extra properties are epiphenomenal and undetectable?
We can put this dilemma very sharply: Chalmers believes that there is something called consciousness, and this consciousness embodies the true and indescribable substance of the mysterious redness of red. It may be a property beyond mass and charge, but it's there, and it is consciousness. Now, having said the above, Chalmers furthermore specifies that this true stuff of consciousness is epiphenomenal, without causal potency—but why say that?
Why say that you could subtract this true stuff of consciousness, and leave all the atoms in the same place doing the same things? If that's true, we need some separate physical explanation for why Chalmers talks about "the mysterious redness of red". That is, there exists both a mysterious redness of red, which is extra-physical, and an entirely separate reason, within physics, why Chalmers talks about the "mysterious redness of red".
Chalmers does confess that these two things seem like they ought to be related, but why do you need to assert two separate phenomena? Why not just assert one or the other?
Once you've postulated that there is a mysterious redness of red, why not just say that it interacts with your internal narrative and makes you talk about the "mysterious redness of red"?
Isn't Descartes taking the simpler approach, here? The strictly simpler approach?
Why postulate an extramaterial soul, and then postulate that the soul has no effect on the physical world, and then postulate a mysterious unknown material process that causes your internal narrative to talk about conscious experience?
Why not postulate the true stuff of consciousness which no amount of mere mechanical atoms can add up to, and then, having gone that far already, let this true stuff of consciousness have causal effects like making philosophers talk about consciousness?
I am not endorsing Descartes's view. But at least I can understand where Descartes is coming from. Consciousness seems mysterious, so you postulate a mysterious stuff of consciousness. Fine.
But now the zombie-ists postulate that this mysterious stuff doesn't do anything, so you need a whole new explanation for why you say you're conscious.
That isn't vitalism. That's something so bizarre that vitalists would spit out their coffee. "When fires burn, they release phlogiston. But phlogiston doesn't have any experimentally detectable impact on our universe, so you'll have to go looking for a separate explanation of why a fire can melt snow." What?
Are property dualists under the impression that if they postulate a new active force, something that has a causal impact on physics, they will be sticking their necks out too far?
Me, I'd say that if you postulate a mysterious, separate, additional, inherently mental property of consciousness, above and beyond positions and velocities, then, at that point, you have already stuck your neck out. To postulate this stuff of consciousness, and then further postulate that it doesn't do anything—for the love of cute kittens, why?
There isn't even an obvious career motive. "Hi, I'm a philosopher of consciousness. My subject matter is the most important thing in the universe and I should get lots of funding? Well, it's nice of you to say so, but actually the phenomenon I study doesn't do anything whatsoever."
Chalmers is one of the most frustrating philosophers I know. He does this really sharp analysis... and then turns left at the last minute. He lays out everything that's wrong with the Zombie World scenario, and then, having reduced the whole argument to smithereens, calmly accepts it.
Chalmers does the same thing when he lays out, in calm detail, the problem with saying that our own beliefs in consciousness are justified, when our zombie twins say exactly the same thing for exactly the same reasons and are wrong.
On Chalmers's theory, Chalmers saying that he believes in consciousness cannot be causally justified; the belief is not caused by the fact itself, like looking at an actual real sock being the cause of why you say there's a sock. In the absence of consciousness, Chalmers would write the same papers for the same reasons.
On epiphenomenalism, Chalmers saying that he believes in consciousness cannot be justified as the product of a process that systematically outputs true beliefs, because the zombie twin writes the same papers using the same systematic process and is wrong.
Chalmers admits this. Chalmers, in fact, explains the argument in great detail in his book. Okay, so Chalmers has solidly proven that he is not justified in believing in epiphenomenal consciousness, right? No. Chalmers writes:
Conscious experience lies at the center of our epistemic universe; we have access to it directly. This raises the question: what is it that justifies our beliefs about our experiences, if it is not a causal link to those experiences, and if it is not the mechanisms by which the beliefs are formed? I think the answer to this is clear: it is having the experiences that justifies the beliefs. For example, the very fact that I have a red experience now provides justification for my belief that I am having a red experience... Because my zombie twin lacks experiences, he is in a very different epistemic situation from me, and his judgments lack the corresponding justification. It may be tempting to object that if my belief lies in the physical realm, its justification must lie in the physical realm; but this is a non sequitur. From the fact that there is no justification in the physical realm, one might conclude that the physical portion of me (my brain, say) is not justified in its belief. But the question is whether I am justified in the belief, not whether my brain is justified in the belief, and if property dualism is correct than there is more to me than my brain.
So—if I've got this thesis right—there's a core you, above and beyond your brain, that believes it is not a zombie, and directly experiences not being a zombie; and so its beliefs are justified.
But Chalmers just wrote all that stuff down, in his very physical book, and so did the zombie-Chalmers.
The zombie Chalmers can't have written the book because of the zombie's core self above the brain; there must be some entirely different reason, within the laws of physics.
It follows that even if there is a part of Chalmers hidden away that is conscious and believes in consciousness, directly and without mediation, there is also a separable subspace of Chalmers—a causally closed cognitive subsystem that acts entirely within physics—and this "outer self" is what speaks Chalmers's internal narrative, and writes papers on consciousness.
I do not see any way to evade the charge that, on Chalmers's own theory, this separable outer Chalmers is deranged. This is the part of Chalmers that is the same in this world, or the Zombie World; and in either world it writes philosophy papers on consciousness for no valid reason. Chalmers's philosophy papers are not output by that inner core of awareness and belief-in-awareness, they are output by the mere physics of the internal narrative that makes Chalmers's fingers strike the keys of his computer.
And yet this deranged outer Chalmers is writing philosophy papers that just happen to be perfectly right, by a separate and additional miracle. Not a logically necessary miracle (then the Zombie World would not be logically possible). A physically contingent miracle, that happens to be true in what we think is our universe, even though science can never distinguish our universe from the Zombie World.
I think I speak for all reductionists when I say Huh?
That's not epicycles. That's, "Planetary motions follow these epicycles—but epicycles don't actually do anything—there's something else that makes the planets move the same way the epicycles say they should, which I haven't been able to explain—and by the way, I would say this even if there weren't any epicycles."
According to Chalmers, the causally closed system of Chalmers's internal narrative is (mysteriously) malfunctioning in a way that, not by necessity, but just in our universe, miraculously happens to be correct. Furthermore, the internal narrative asserts "the internal narrative is mysteriously malfunctioning, but miraculously happens to be correctly echoing the justified thoughts of the epiphenomenal inner core", and again, in our universe, miraculously happens to be correct.
Oh, come on!
Shouldn't there come a point where you just give up on an idea? Where, on some raw intuitive level, you just go: What on Earth was I thinking?
Humanity has accumulated some broad experience with what correct theories of the world look like. This is not what a correct theory looks like.
"Argument from incredulity," you say. Fine, you want it spelled out? The said Chalmersian theory postulates multiple unexplained complex miracles. This drives down its prior probability, by the conjunction rule of probability and Occam's Razor. It is therefore dominated by at least two theories which postulate fewer miracles, namely:
Substance dualism: There is a stuff of consciousness which is not yet understood, an extraordinary super-physical stuff that visibly affects our world; and this stuff is what makes us talk about consciousness.
Not-quite-faith-based reductionism: That-which-we-name "consciousness" happens within physics, in a way not yet understood, just like what happened the last three thousand times humanity ran into something mysterious. Your intuition that no material substance can possibly add up to consciousness is incorrect. If you actually knew exactly why you talk about consciousness, this would give you new insights, of a form you can't now anticipate; and afterward you would realize that your arguments about normal physics having no room for consciousness were flawed.
Compare to:
Epiphenomenal property dualism: Matter has additional consciousness-properties which are not yet understood. These properties are epiphenomenal with respect to ordinarily observable physics—they make no difference to the motion of particles. Separately, there exists a not-yet-understood reason within normal physics why philosophers talk about consciousness and invent theories of dual properties. Miraculously, when philosophers talk about consciousness, the bridging laws of our world are exactly right to make this talk about consciousness correct, even though it arises from a malfunction (drawing of logically unwarranted conclusions) in the causally closed cognitive system that types philosophy papers.
I know I'm speaking from limited experience, here. But based on my limited experience, the Zombie Argument may be a candidate for the most deranged idea in all of philosophy.
There are times when, as a rationalist, you have to believe things that seem weird to you. Relativity seems weird, quantum mechanics seems weird, natural selection seems weird.
But these weirdnesses are pinned down by massive evidence. There's a difference between believing something weird because science has confirmed it overwhelmingly—
—versus believing a proposition that seems downright deranged, because of a great big complicated philosophical argument centered around unspecified miracles and giant blank spots not even claimed to be understood—
—in a case where even if you accept everything that has been told to you so far, afterward the phenomenon will still seem like a mystery and still have the same quality of wondrous impenetrability that it had at the start.
The correct thing for a rationalist to say at this point, if all of David Chalmers's arguments seem individually plausible, is:
"Okay... I don't know how consciousness works... I admit that... and maybe I'm approaching the whole problem wrong, or asking the wrong questions... but this zombie business can't possibly be right. The arguments aren't nailed down enough to make me believe this—especially when accepting it won't make me feel any less confused. On a core gut level, this just doesn't look like the way reality could really really work."
But this is not what I say, for I don't think the arguments are plausible. "In general, all odd numbers are prime" looked "conceivable" when you had only thought about 3, 5, and 7. It stopped seeming reasonable when you thought about 9.
Zombies looked conceivable when you looked out at a beautiful sunset and thought about the quiet inner awareness inside you watching that sunset, which seemed like it could vanish without changing the way you walked or smiled; obedient to the plausible-sounding generalization, "the inner listener has no outer effects". That generalization should stop seeming possible when you say out loud, "But wait, I am thinking this thought right now inside my auditory cortex, and that thought can make my lips move, translating my awareness of my quiet inner listener into a motion of my lips, meaning that consciousness is part of the minimal closure of causality in this universe." I can't think of anything else to say about the conceivability argument. The zombies are dead.Introduction
A few months ago we wrote up a brief analysis of key programming languages, showing the demand for each language and the salaries being offered. We now have almost 3 million job advertisements in our analysis engine so we should take a fresh look at what it says.
The overall view
In July, we saw three main clusters, the established leaders, the followers, and the niche.
Leaders
The leaders of the group are still ahead in very much the same positions. Java, C++, and C all pay well and are in high demand. JavaScript and C# are ahead of the popularity race but are earning approx. $6,000 (USD) less than Java roles.
Followers
The followers group is much the same except that Perl has fallen slightly in demand with Ruby overtaking it. This round, we've included F#. Jobs mentioning F# skills are asking for $79,000 USD.
Niche
The biggest difference we noticed from July is a perceived rise in salary for niche languages like Clojure, Golang, Erlang, Haskell, Lisp, and Fortran. These appeared with lower salaries earlier in the year. The change is due to a number of reasons, both analytical, and market based:
Job numbers for these skills are very low, so getting a reasonable statistical measure of their salary is challenging. The increase in job numbers has helped to get a better fix on where the salary sits for these niche technologies.
There has been an increase in the number of roles mentioning these skills as a "bonus if you have it". So whilst Haskell, Clojure, and the like may not be increasing in and of themselves, they are becoming associated with other traditional development roles. This provides a good opportunity for those fluent in Java and the C family of languages to experiment more with these niche technologies whilst in a good paying role.
United States
America shows a very similar pattern to the overall view although the three clusters are much more defined. Salary ranges overall are very constrained. This appears to be a particular feature of the US market, where the potential for salary growth is limited. We've written about this before.
C# lags behind Java, C, and C++ in demand. As we'll soon see, the reverse is true in the UK.
F# is showing a good strong presence amongst Python and PHP although salaries are at the lower end ($74,000 USD). It will be interesting to watch if it overtakes this group in the next 12 months.
Clojure leads the niche languages with 0.13% of ads making a mention of this skill. Jobs mentioning Clojure and Golang are advertised at ~$90,000 USD. We need to be cautious however given the small number of jobs in that sample.
Great Britain
The English love C#! Demand for C# outstrips JavaScript in contrast to other regions we've analysed.
The UK seems to be more conservative about the languages they are willing to pay for. You can see this in the separation between the high demand skills and the large cluster of languages towards the left (low demand). The skills most in demand are the very well established, traditional languages.
One notable movement is Python. Its popularity has fallen by 4% since the start of this year. This is reflected in all regions with a 6% fall in the US, and a 5% fall in Australia. Ruby, and F# are almost into the niche demand cluster too.
Australia
Notable in Australia is the absence of Clojure, Erlang, and Lisp. These skills only had a handfull of jobs so we were unable to get any statistically reasonable salaries from the data. JavaScript again is the leader, but there is a strong group of Java, C, C++, C#, and PHP.
F# is starting to gain in popularity ever so slightly whilst VBA has (thankfully) fallen a touch.
What's different about this analysis
A few important points about the analysis...
When reading these charts, the lower the demand for a skill, the less reliable the salary indicators become. It only takes a handful of jobs to shift the average. To compensate for this, we've used a weighted average based on the number of jobs at various salary points, although even this isn't perfect.
Job data is extremely useful as it's plentiful and provides a lot of fascinating and interesting data to work with. It also has its challenges. You should read our full disclosure about the analysis for an insight into these challenges.
Key take-away pointsThis is a guest post by Alexander Heyne of Modern Health Monk.
Super-what you might be asking?
Superfoods? What on earth are those? Sounds like some scammy supplement you’re trying to sell me!
Actually, superfoods are food that are incredibly high in a couple compounds that have been shown to dramatically help you fight disease (like cancer), boost your immune system (bye bye colds!), and provide vitamins and minerals in much higher concentrations than normal.
But first, what are these foods actually giving you?
Well, as it turns out there are a couple of goodies typically in super foods:
Antioxidants (help fight free radicals which are disease and cancer causing)
Polyphenols
Phytochemicals (help fight inflammation and cancer)
Elevated levels of nutrients and vitamins
Superfoods will help you have more energy throughout the day, sleep better, and recovery from injury or illness quicker.
Again, these should all be part of a lifestyle that involves a proper diet, a little bit of physical activity, and a schedule full of things that make you happy. It’s the combination of many factors that promote optimal health, and not just adding a superfood or supplements to a poor diet.
The Top Ten
In regard to these superfoods, the cool thing about them is that you can generally eat as much as you want without worrying about adverse health effects.
The one exception to that rule would be red wine. 😉 Please don’t become an alcoholic and say to your friends “But it’s a superfood!!!” A glass or two a night with dinner is fine.
1. Berries (Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry)
Berries (in this example, blueberries), contain a whole host of micro-nutrients, vitamins and pigments that are currently under research for their role in reducing inflammation and the risk of cancer.
Some studies in rats showed that blueberry has helped with reducing brain damage after stroke, regulates blood pressure, and helps lower cholesterol and blood lipid levels.
When the season rolls around, make sure to stock your fridge with as many as you can get!
2. Hot Peppers (Chili Peppers)
Hot peppers are great sources of Vitamin C, beta carotene, folic acid, magnesium, and many other minerals.
A study published in the British Journal of Medicine found that regular chili consumption helps fight the progression of heart disease.
Capsaicin – the compound responsible for the incredible spice in Chilis – has been studied extensively for it’s anti-cancer properties, and in particular, prostate cancer.
So how do you pack the maximum punch for the minimum investment? The hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin there is in it.
What about stomach ulcers from eating hot chilis? Actually, it’s a common myth that eating extremely hot peppers will burn a hole in your stomach. The opposite is in fact true – the intense heat stimulates the release of mucus and alkaline enzymes in the stomach to protect it. Win!
Don’t forget to eat your spicy food, folks.
3. Red Wine
Most of the research done on red wine is in regard to a compound called Resveratrol which falls into that polyphenol/antioxidant category.
Resveratrol has been intensively studied and publicized in the news for a couple key benefits:
It helps prevent damage to blood vessels and reduces bad cholesterol
Protection from obesity and diabetes
Reduced inflammation and blood clotting (risk factors for heart disease)
Red wine contains more resveratrol than white, and even some other berries (like blueberries that I mentioned) contained the compound too.
4. Salmon
Salmon is a fantastic (although sometimes expensive) food and protein source.
Why?
Salmon is high in protein, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and many other vitamins.
Eating more fatty fish is a good addition to your diet because omega 3 fatty acids are notoriously absent from our modern diet. Also, many modern people are deficient in Vitamin D because we spend most of our time indoors. Salmon is a fantastic and delicious way to get these two crucial nutrients.
Higher omega 3 intake is linked to lower arthritis incidence, blood pressure, and inflammation.
There are some important things to remember though:
Wild caught salmon is better than farmed salmon. Farmed salmon contains high levels of a chemical called PCB which is 8-10x higher in farmed salmon than wild salmon.
Most of the salmon that comes from the Atlantic waters is farmed – while most of the salmon that comes from the pacific waters is still wild (80%+), so go with Pacific salmon if you can.
5. Dark Leafy Greens – Kale and Swiss Chard
Kale, swiss chard and other dark leafy vegetables are very high in beta carotene, vitamin C, calcium and other minerals.
Kale (and Broccoli) also contains a compound known as sulphorafane, which has potent anti-cancer properties.
Guess your mother was right – better eat your broccoli!
What’s interesting is that boiling results in a significant loss of many of the vitamins (including that anti-cancer chemical). So if you plan to cook your veggies, sautee them or steam them.
6. Green Tea
Green tea really became famous in the west during the whole green tea weight loss movement.
In one particular study, just drinking green tea boosted the metabolic rate of people by 4% and helped stimulate fat oxidation. Although that’s one “use” of green tea, it actually is packed with certain vitamins and minerals that are great for you, too.
For example, in a couple studies green tea has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer. This is because green tea is unusually high in flavonoids – and compared to other foods or drinks, including wine, fruits & vegetables, it is comparatively much higher in protective compounds.
7. Pomegranate
Pomegranates were originally one of the ancient medicines of the world, much like green tea.
Recently, with the explosion of the “POM” juice line in the USA it has become pretty popular, and has a whole host of health benefits to back it up.
Although there isn’t tons of conclusive evidence on pomegranates, some studies have shown some pretty amazing benefits by eating them:
Reduction of heart disease risk factors
Lowering of blood pressure
Inhibition of viral infections
Antibacterial properties
Improvement of mood, well-being and testosterone levels
Extra bonus? Pomegranates are delicious and are a fantastic, refreshing summer and fall snack.
8. Sweet Potato
One of the secrets of the Japanese that live particularly long is that they frequently consume sweet potato as one of their main carbohydrate sources.
So why sweet potato? Why not regular potatoes?
When you stack sweet potatoes against other vegetables and fruits, it blows them out of the water, particularly with two minerals: beta carotene and vitamin A.
In fact, a regular potato has about thirteen units of vitamin A, while a sweet potato has 14,000.
A regular potato has eight units of beta carotene, while a sweet potato has 8,000.
What’s interesting is that in 1992 a study was done to compare the nutritional value of sweet potatoes compared to other vegetables. Measuring for a number of different factors, guess who won? Sweet potatoes! By far.
9. Nuts
Not only are nuts a fantastic snack (they are high in protein and good fats, like we talked about in the six pack series here and here) they are loaded with nutrients.
Several studies have shown that people who eat nuts regularly are much less likely to suffer from heart disease.
Nuts are also low GI — so for people who are trying to lose weight they are a “safe” snack.
Not only are they loaded with antioxidants, but they are high in protein, E & B vitamins, and half a dozen other minerals.
The best part? They’re an easy food to pack with you and bring around so you don’t go eating a bad food due to lack of planning.
One other thing: make sure to eat them in their raw, unroasted, unprocessed form. Like any food, processing or cooking generally reduces the amount of nutrients.
10. Bell Peppers
I did an experiment several months ago, called “Why Your Orange Juice is Slowly Killing You” where I “busted” the vitamin C myth.
Most people think that orange juice is the best (or only) source of vitamin C, which is simply a myth, and in reality excess fruit juice consumption is probably leading you to gain weight.
What I did in the experiment was compared the vitamin C intake in a glass of orange juice (or even an orange) to that of several vegetables:
In my experiment, red bell peppers actually came out highest (compared to any other vegetable I could find) in terms of vitamin C.
One cup of bell peppers had about 2-3x the vitamin C of a glass of orange juice or an orange!
Sometimes veggies are a much better source of nutrients than fruits just because you’re getting vitamins without the added sugar.
In peppers, the main antioxidant here is lycopene (the same nutrient in tomatoes). And interestingly enough, red peppers have nine times (9x) the lycopene that green peppers do.
So if you decide to cook peppers, eat the red ones!
Q: Can I just take supplements of these nutrients?
Many people think that supplementation has the same effects on the body that eating food does.
Not so!
For example, sometimes supplements are given in way higher doses than is naturally occurring in the food, with the thinking being that “more is better.”
Well, more isn’t better. Studies have even found that excessive antioxidant supplementation has had adverse health effects.
And remember that antioxidant in red wine, resveratrol? In the United States this has been incredibly hyped over the past decade, but when the actual supplement of resveratrol was taken, it has been shown to have a very low bioavailability (how much of that actually gets into your body and blood stream).
So, just eat your super foods :).
One last thing…
Supplementation or eating superfoods is not an excuse to continue eating a bad diet. If you spend 90% of your time eating junk, and then supplement with a few super foods, your body and health is going to be like what you eat 90% of the time — junk!
Images: Blueberries, Chili peppers, Red wine, Salmon, Kale, Green tea, Pomegranate, Sweet Potato, Raw nuts, Bell Pepper
About the Author: Alexander runs Modern Health Monk, a site that shows people how to reverse health problems caused by 21st century life. Check out his free weight-loss crash course, or recent article on fixing neck and shoulder pain for office workers.Oculus SDK for Windows 1.5.0
The 1.5.0 release introduces new Touch features and support for static layer compressed formats.
New Features
The SDK can now detect whether the user's thumbs are on the thumb rests of the Touch controllers. For more information, see Button Touch State.
The following compressed formats are now supported for static layers: OVR_FORMAT_BC1_UNORM OVR_FORMAT_BC1_UNORM_SRGB OVR_FORMAT_BC2_UNORM OVR_FORMAT_BC2_UNORM_SRGB OVR_FORMAT_BC3_UNORM OVR_FORMAT_BC3_UNORM_SRGB OVR_FORMAT_BC6H_UF16 OVR_FORMAT_BC6H_SF16 OVR_FORMAT_BC7_UNORM OVR_FORMAT_BC7_UNORM_SRGB
To improve troubleshooting, game engines can now provide information to the SDK that includes the engine name, version, and other metadata using ovr_IdentifyClient.
API Changes
Known Issues
There are some USB chipsets that do not meet the USB 3.0 specification and are incompatible with the Oculus Rift sensor. If you receive a notification in Oculus Home or the Oculus App, plug the sensor into a different USB 3.0 port (blue). If none of the USB 3.0 ports work, plug the sensor into a USB 2.0 port (black).
Antivirus software, such a McAfee, can cause installation issues. To work around the issue, make sure you have the latest updates and disable real-time scanning.
If you encounter installation issues, delete the Oculus folder and install the software again.
If the Rift displays a message that instructs you to take off the headset, remove it and place it on a flat surface for 10-15 seconds.
The keyboard and mouse do not work in Oculus Home. To select an item, gaze at it and select it using the Oculus Remote or Xbox controller.
Bandwidth-intensive USB devices, such as web cams and high-end audio interfaces, might not work when using the Rift. To work around this issue, install the device on another USB host controller or a separate computer.
For dual-boot systems using DK2 or CB1 HMDs, the OS selection screen might appear on the HMD instead of the monitor. To work around this, try plugging the HMD into a different port or unplug the HMD while booting.
If you are running your application from the Unity Editor and you press the controller's home button to return to Oculus Home, you will be prompted to close the application. If you select OK, Unity might remain in a state where it is running, but will never get focus. To work around this, restart Unity.
There are no breaking changes to version 1.5.0. However, if your app compiles OVR_CAPIShim.c instead of linking to LibOVR.lib, make sure to include OVR_CAPI_Prototypes.h in your build.The following are known issues:A young bald eagle had the misfortune of getting her leg caught in a trap north of Toronto and the people trying to help her recover are worried about her long-term survival.
The Toronto Wildlife Centre got a call a few days ago, after someone saw the two-year-old eagle trapped near New Lowell, Ont., about 120 kilometres northwest of the city. The bird was caught in a leg-hold trap designed to catch coyotes.
The eagle was brought to the Toronto facility, where staff have been treating it for the past three days. But the bird has suffered an injury to its foot, as a result of the trapping.
Lisa Fosco, the wildlife rehabilitation manager at the Toronto Wildlife Centre, said there hasn't been much good news to report so far.
This two-year-old bald eagle is being treated at the Toronto Wildlife Centre after it was found caught in a trap north of the city. (CBC)
"She's on day three and we haven't seen too much progress yet," Fosco told CBC News in an interview.
Fosco said an eagle relies on using its talons to survive in the wild.
"The reason this is such a big issue for a bird like an eagle is because they use their talons not only to hunt, but as their fork and knife. That's what they eat with, that’s what they hunt with, that's what they tear their prey with," Fosco said. "So there's no way that she could possibly survive without being able to eat."
Nathalie Karvonen, the executive director, admits she and her fellow staff are worried about what will happen to the eagle currently in their care.
"We'll do everything we can to help her," she said. "We do have a great team of veterinarians including some specialists, but at the end of the day, it’s going to really come down to how much damage has actually been done in that leg and on that foot."
An eagle relies on its talons to hunt and to eat. (CBC)
Karvonen said that to her knowledge, the Toronto Wildlife Centre has dealt with bald eagles on only a handful of prior occasions.
"Bald eagles in Ontario tend to be in more remote areas where they don't have as much interaction with cars and windows and hydro lines... and they don't tend to get injured in nature so much," she said.
The eagle is one of about 140 animals currently being treated at the Toronto Wildlife Centre. Karvonen said this is about half the number of animals it will have at peak times of the year.
"In the summer, we can have between 300 and 400 animals at any one time in here, sometimes even more than that," she said.Tottenham Hotspur captain has insisted that his team's primary goal from now on should be to retain a spot in the top four of the Premier League after losing to Arsenal in the North London derby over the weekend.
Spurs succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday leaving them 11 points behind league leaders Manchester City. Mauricio Pochettino's team return to action in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters over the weekend, Lloris was asked about Tottenham's title aspirations to which he replied, "Before we think about City, it's important to stay in the top four. This is the main target of our team."
Lloris wants Spurs to forget title and focus on top four https://t.co/bBZ6NUlnNl pic.twitter.com/gD815VP45J — Daily Fantasy Soccer (@TheFantasyFooti) November 20, 2017
He continued, "We heard from outside that Tottenham play for the title, blah, blah, blah. The most important thing is to stay consistent in the league."
Stressing on consistency, Lloris further stated, "We have been in the top four the last two years and we need to carry on, to settle the club in this position and try to get more experience because the team is still young, then reduce the gap with the best."
The French goalkeeper believes the future is positive as he concluded, "Obviously the future for Tottenham will be bright if we keep the same mentality. It's our ambition, but step by step."
After their loss against Arsenal, Spurs are now fourth in the Premier League and cannot afford any more slip-ups as they are now just one point ahead of Liverpool, Arsenal and Burnley who are on equal points and occupy fifth, sixth and seventh spot respectively based on their goal difference.To one degree or another, we’re shaped by the places we come from. Mae Borowski, the twenty-year-old college dropout hero of Night in the Woods, doesn’t know how deeply her hometown of Possum Springs has shaped her, but she soon learns that this struggling old town has carved tunnels that run through her heart and mind. Almost immediately upon arriving back home, she feels something unexpected inside her resonating with the landscape of |
nominally head of the Cabinet as Minister of Finance. Gibson was later exiled to San Francisco.[7]
Over less than a week, the new constitution was drafted by a group of lawyers, including Thurston, Dole, William Ansel Kinney, William Owen Smith, George Norton Wilcox, and Edward Griffin Hitchcock. All were also associated with the Hawaiian League, which had explicitly wanted the end of the kingdom and its annexation by the United States since its inception.[1]
Kalākaua signed the document July 6, 1887, despite arguments over the scope of the changes.[citation needed]
It stripped the king of most of his personal authority, empowering the legislature and cabinet of the government. It has since become widely known as the "Bayonet Constitution" because of the threat of force used to gain Kalākaua's cooperation.[8] While Thurston and Dole denied this use of coercion and threats, Queen Liliuokalani asserted that Kalakaua’s life was threatened: "He signed that constitution under absolute compulsion."[citation needed]
The new constitution was never ratified in the Hawaiian Kingdom's legislature.[1][9]
Provisions [ edit ]
The 1887 constitution replaced the previous absolute veto, allowed to the king, to one that two-thirds of the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom could override.
It also took away the power of the king to act without the consent of his cabinet and gave the legislature, which was controlled by the white Americans by this time, the power to dismiss the cabinet instead of the king. It also removed language from the 1864 constitution implying that the king was above the law, replacing it with language that the king was required to obey his laws to the level of his subjects. The cabinet was now allowed to vote in the legislature, but to reduce the king's influence, he was not allowed to appoint legislators to any other government post. The legislature also gained the authority to imprison those that disrespected, published false reports or comments about or threatened or assaulted any of its members.[10]
The constitution also removed the monarch's power to appoint members of the House of Nobles (the upper house of the legislature), instead making it a body elected by the wealthy landowners to six-year terms and enlarging it to 40 members. Qualifications to serve as a noble or representative now came to include high property and income requirements as well, which stripped almost all of the native population of the ability to serve in the legislature.[10][11]
The 1887 constitution had also attempted to limit profligate spending, which had become a problem under Kalakaua's reign, namely with the costly construction and maintenance of Iolani Palace. The constitution stipulated that the King was required to appoint a Minister of Finance to oversee government spending and submit an annual budget proposal to the legislature.
The 1887 constitution made significant changes to voting requirements. It allowed foreign resident aliens to vote, not just naturalized citizens. Asians, including subjects who previously enjoyed the right to vote, were specifically denied suffrage. Hawaiian, American, and European males were granted full voting rights only if they met the economic and literacy thresholds.[12]
The 1864 constitution required that voters generate annual income of at least US$75 (equivalent to US$1201 in 2019) or own private property worth at least US$150 (equivalent to $2403 in 2019). The wealth requirements were removed during the short reign of Lunalilo in 1874.[2] That change extended voter eligibility to many more Hawaiians and was kept for the lower house.
However, the 1887 constitution required an income of $600 (equivalent to US$16731 in 2019) or taxable property of US$3000 (equivalent to $83656 in 2019) to vote for the upper house (or serve in it). That excluded an estimated two thirds of the Hawaiian population. Essentially, only white males, wealthy from the sugar industry, retained suffrage with the Bayonet Constitution.
Allocating the government’s power to the Cabinet and then promptly appointing their members to the Cabinet, and securing the disenfranchisement of their opposition, the Hawaiian League seized complete control over the Kingdom of Hawaii.
The Bayonet Constitution was the first great implement in the decline of the monarchy. Though it did not depose the King, it did place considerable limitations on his power.[13]
Native response [ edit ]
Immediately after the adoption of the Bayonet Constitution, the native population of the Kingdom of Hawaii sought to restore King Kalakaua’s power and authority. A committee of Hawaiians met with Kalakaua to discuss dismantling the constitution because the king signed it under duress. According to Thurston, Kalakaua even defended the constitution to protesting natives. Queen Liliuokalani affirmed that he was threatened with violence should he attempt to undo the new constitution. She also listed several petitions from natives that pleaded for a new constitution. Out of 9,500 registered voters, 6,500 signed the petitions. Since the majority of the population supported a new constitution, Queen Liliuokalani proposed one in January 1893. In response, the Hawaiian League overthrew her monarchy and took control of the country.[4][9]
References [ edit ]JACKSONVILLE -- The Jacksonville Jaguars took to the field again in full pads on Tuesday morning for training camp, just two days out from their first real live action for the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a nice day outside, hot but with a breeze intermittently throughout practice. There were a few veterans sitting out with off days and some minor injuries, as well as some rookies getting a precautionary day off.
Injuries
"He’s played extremely well. We really feel like we got two starting 4Bs, six technique type guys and we’re excited about both of them, but he’s definitely stepped up his performance in camp." -Todd Wash on Alualu
The Jaguars have been hit hard as of late with some injuries, namely at the wide receiver position. Cecil Shorts III remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, as does rookie receiver Allen Robinson. Tandon Doss is still out with his ankle injury and rookie Allen Hurns was given a day off with a minor hip flexor. Late in practice Nathan Slaughter went down with an injury, but was back in after a few snaps.
Some other players who were out today include Chris Clemons (day off), Austin Pasztor (day off), Toby Gerhart (hip flexor) and Dekoda Watson (hernia) and Johnathan Cyprien (hip flexor). Cyprien insists he will play on Friday against the Buccaneers, however.
The Good
The Jaguars defense has been stifling for most of training camp, which isn't a big surprise. The Jaguars offense has been bogged down with injuries. In particular on the defensive line, it was a good day for Ryan Davis, rookie Chris Smith, veteran Tyson Alualu and rookie linebacker Telvin Smith.
In pass rush drills Davis and Luke Joeckel had a nice one-on-one battle, splitting the reps. Chris Smith also made quick work out of one of the Jaguars backup offensive lineman with an outside move, ripping back inside after the lineman overcommitted to the outside.
"Ryan isn’t a big surprise, but a real good surprise," Jaguars defensive line coach Todd Wash told reporters prior to practice on Tuesday. "He shows he can rush inside, and he also has given our tackles some problems on the edge. He’s a technician, and he knows he has to be technician. We’re very, very pleased with Ryan right now."
Alualu showed a lot of push in drills and even got into a scuffle with newly signed veteran Zane Beadles in drills, with Alualu getting the better of him in both the drill and the scuffle.
"Tyson has definitely benefited [from Red Bryant]. There’s a good competition between the two. He can also look and see the transition from where he was a year ago to now," Wash told reporters Tuesday. "He’s played extremely well. We really feel like we got two starting 4Bs, six technique type guys and we’re excited about both of them, but he’s definitely stepped up his performance in camp."
Rookie linebacker Telvin Smith has also been consistently showing up and making some plays. He's forced his way into the first team defense in some nickel situations and has made the most of it. He broke up a few passes, would have lit up a few players who caught passes over the middle and nearly had an impressive interception of a Stephen Morris pass over the middle, which saw Smith leap high in the air fully stretched, only to drop the ball when he came back down.
On the offensive side of the football it was a good day for rookie Blake Bortles, who made the most of a poor day from Chad Henne. Bortles made quick work in some 11x11 drills, with three quick completions for three quick first downs and then was replaced by Morris. Later on in some more team work Bortles had some nice passes down the field dropped and hit a few more nice deep passes in individual receiver/corner drills. He seems to be progressing at a good rate so far and it will be very interesting to watch him on Friday in live action, where he's sure to get plenty of playing time.
The Bad
It was a rough day for the Jaguars offense overall and for veteran quarterback Chad Henne. It couldn't have been more hilariously timed with my "Will the Jaguars sit Blake Bortles the whole season" post. In the first play of team drills Henne was nearly picked off on the sideline by Winston Guy on a late throw. The next set of team drills saw the first team offense with Henne going against the second team defense and Henne hit two nice passes to move the offense, as he should against backups.
After a quick three play drive by Bortles, which included a nice touch pass to the sideline for a big gain, Henne came out and missed Mike Brown on the sideline, was nearly picked off for a touchdown on his next throw and then two throws later was late over the middle of the field and missed Brown again. He misfired again to a tight end on the next play and then was sacked on a roll out in his next set of team drills.
I always feel like I'm picking on Andre Branch, but after hearing about how good he looked in OTA practices and mini-camp, I've been completely underwhelmed in training camp. The only times I've seen him flash is in combo-rush drills against the offensive line where he twists inside over the pass rushing defensive tackle... which sounds familiar. In other rush situations he's been pushed wide by most of the offensive lineman he's faced and I joked with some on the sideline today that had it not been for his highlighter yellow shoes and socks, I wouldn't have noticed him on the field at all.
With that being said, Branch has still been taking second team reps at the LEO position and is very likely making the final roster since Jason Babin is released. You can tell he has physical assets for the position and the team is trying to bring it out, but I just don't quite see it coming together. Maybe it will.
The interior offensive line also seems to be a concern, notably with Michael Brewster. In a pass rushing drill today he was engulfed by Roy Miller and the coaches didn't even bother with a second rep on the matchup. Brewster will be someone to focus on in the preseason, as he seems to do better (albeit still not great) in full team drills with a full offensive line.
The Quarterbacks
I didn't chart the quarterbacks in team drills today, nor do I know if anyone else did, but as mentioned Bortles looked the better of the two on Tuesday. He was decisive throwing the football, didn't really make many bad decisions, and if not for a few drops would have had some nice competitions against the first team defense. Henne decided to go full Chad Henne today though and struggled moving the offense against the first team. He was nearly picked off a few times and outside of short stuff, didn't really do much of note.Students will ‘think big and build small’ as they explore how, when, and where environmental studies and arts education converge to shape communities
In September, a group of St. Mary’s College of Maryland students, along with high school students from the Forrest Career and Technology Center, began work on the construction of two tiny houses, dwelling structures from 80 to 400 square feet that are gaining traction as green, energy-efficient alternatives to average size and larger single-family houses.
The “SMCM Tiny House Project: Think Big, Build Small” is the focus of a Community Sustainable Design course, cross-listed between environmental studies and art, led by professors Barry Muchnick, of environmental studies and Carrie Patterson, of art and art history. Over the course of the year, students will spend time both in class and in the community discussing, planning, and executing the build. The class is structured in part as a seminar, with discussion around four central ideas: community, art education, sustainability, and design.
Muchnick, in his second year at the college, brings a robust interest in applied sustainability and interdisciplinary environmental studies, and Patterson, in her eleventh year at the college, brings an interest in architectural forms and expertise in art education.
An interdisciplinary approach to learning
The course is a prime example of St. Mary’s College’s dedication to experiential and interdisciplinary learning. “The partnership between environmental studies and art exemplifies the college’s investment in cross-disciplinary studies as well as its commitment to sustainability and community engagement,” Patterson explained. “This yearlong project will provide students with the unique opportunity to learn how design and sustainability fit into the context of everyday life from two professors with differing areas of expertise. We are excited to showcase an innovative and challenging opportunity to partner with our local community and create dialogue around sustainability.”
The goal of the course is to explore how environmental and arts education can reveal opportunities to identify creative connections between sustainability, design, and civil society. Students will not only develop the academic skills of critical thinking and engagement, but they will also learn to use a toolkit of practical skills, including tool safety, project management, and sustainable house construction through hands-on experience.
Project-based active learning to enhance creative citizenship
In collaboration with the Forrest Career and Technology Center, the Greenwell Foundation, Lexington Park Elementary School, and the Three Oaks Center, St. Mary’s College aims to explore the connections between sustainable design and community art education. One of the student-constructed homes, funded separately by the Greenwell Foundation, will be used to house a displaced veteran through the organization’s Camp Host Program.
“Our tiny house project is exciting, entrepreneurial, and demonstrates experiential liberal arts learning at its best,” said Muchnick. “The project will help spark community-wide conversations about a wide range of social and environmental concerns.”
Students are excited. Senior Dario Durastanti said, “Personally, I want to be able to hold conversations pertaining to the class topics of sustainable design and community arts as an educated individual with hands-on experience, instead of as someone from the outside looking in.”
Funding to support the SMCM Tiny House Project comes from a three-year grant received by the college in 2012 by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant funds initiatives expanding civic-engagement and service-learning opportunities in the college’s core curriculum. For more information about The Tiny House Project at St. Mary’s College, or to check out the progress, visit the project’s official website at www.smcm.edu/tinyhouse or contact tinyhouse@smcm.edu.Grant Gustin also shares what's on the CW hero's mind as the show returns: "He's thinking about Reverse Flash."
A big change is coming to The Flash.
Tuesday's episode will feature a massive brawl revealing to the world that The Flash is real. Barry (Grant Gustin) squares off against Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) in what executive producer Andrew Kreisberg describe as a fight worthy of Superman.
See more 'The Flash' Stars Tease Major Time-Travel Storyline
"The Flash does this knockdown, drag out Superman II fight in the streets with the rogues, and everyone sees The Flash," Kreisberg tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It's no longer an urban myth. He can't be dismissed. The world starts to change and is starting to have to accept that there are these crazy things out there. That will have repercussions going back into Starling City as the world starts to change."
The episode, which is the first time Prison Break alums Miller and Purcell have appeared together on screen since the show wrapped, also is the first supervillain team-up of the series.
Read more TV Pilots 2015: The Complete Guide
"It's the first time villains have said 'our goal this week is to kill The Flash,' " says Kreisberg.
That's not all Barry has to contend with this episode.
"He's thinking about Reverse Flash after the last episode," Gustin says.
See more 'The Flash': Every Major DC Character on The CW Series
And fresh off his admission to Iris (Candice Patton) that he has feelings for her.
"He's not as bummed as you would think," Gustin says. "Iris is actually the one who is being more awkward about it."
Stay tuned to The Live Feed following Tuesday's episode for Gustin's take on where The Flash is headed next.
Email: Aaron.Couch@THR.com
Twitter: @AaronCouchThe debate’s importance, though, may ultimately go well beyond the fate of the Arctic refuge. Analysts say Senator Murkowski’s stance symbolizes a fundamental challenge of climate politics: how to bridge the gap between moderate Republicans from states reliant on fossil fuels on one side and Democrats and environmental activists on the other.
“To move on the climate front in Washington, you’re going to need to bring a nontrivial number of Republicans into a coalition, which means there has to be compromises,’’ said Jerry Taylor, president of the Niskanen Center, a libertarian think tank. “We’re going to have to address conservative concerns and policy demands.”
“It’s not unfair for environmentalists to argue that if you take climate change seriously, it simply requires the rapid decarbonization of the economy. Full stop. Climate change is real and demands a policy response,” Mr. Taylor said. Of Senator Murkowski, he added: “Her skepticism is about that policy response. Anything that’s going to increase oil and gas prices is something she’s going to be very skeptical about.”
Senator Murkowski has walked a delicate line on climate change for much of her 15 years in Congress. She routinely acknowledges that the climate is changing and that warming poses a threat to Alaska. This year, she urged President Trump not to withdraw from the Paris agreement. But she also has championed natural gas exports, expanding offshore and onshore drilling and the 2016 lifting of a 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports. She has introduced legislation to open the Arctic wilderness every term she has served in the Senate.
The senator said she sees no inconsistencies in her views.
“I think for anybody who has spent any time in Alaska, there is an awareness that we all have that we are seeing the impacts of climate change perhaps more readily than in other parts of the country because of our Arctic environment,” Senator Murkowski said in an interview.K Ragupathi, 32, a software engineer who was visiting India from the United States, died tragically in Coimbatore. The bike he was riding first hit an illegal wooden structure put up by AIADMK, a political party from Tamil Nadu. Upon hitting the wooden structure, Mr. Raghupathi lost balance and fell off the motorcycle. A truck coming from the wrong way is said to run over him, killing him on the spot. The accident happened at 2:30 AM on 25th November. Mr. Raghupati was said to be wearing a helmet during the accident.
The software engineer, who was working in the United States, had returned to India to look for a bride. The accident happened near the Coimbatore Medical College on Avinashi Road. The wooden structure was put up by AIADMK to welcome the Tamil Nadu chief minister, Edapaddi K Palaniswami.
Graphic video content. Viewer discretion advised!
Coimbatore corporation commissioner K Vijayakarthikeyan has said that no permission was given to the political party for erecting the wooden structures. The structure has since been razed down by the city corporation.
Karthik, Raghupathi’s family friend, said this,
The accident took place on Saturday early morning, it happened due to the wooden cut-out that had been placed, first he hit that and fell, then a lorry ran over him. He was on his way to visit Murugan temple in Palani. He was just 31-years-old, this has happened because of the negligence of the government. The MGR celebration is on December 3, why have they put the cut-outs on November 25 itself? Action against the people who put these cut-outs.
Coimbatore city police commissioner K. Periaiah, in a press release, has stated that the CCTV footage recovered showed a truck coming from the wrong side of the road hitting the biker. The truck driver, Mohan, has been arrested. However, the press release does not mention anything about the illegal wooden structure.
Via TheNewsMinuteBOSTON -- Once seen as a luxury of the corporate world, private planes are becoming increasingly common at U.S. colleges and universities as schools try to attract athletes, raise money and reward coaches with jet-set vacations.
Some schools spend millions of dollars a year flying their coaches and executives on scores of trips around the country, and some pass the cost on to students and taxpayers.
The Associated Press requested documents from dozens of public universities and found that at least 20 own or share ownership of planes for school business, often employing a few full-time pilots to fly them. Many others charter private flights through outside companies.
Flight logs show that, at times, the aircraft are used for purposes unrelated to university business.
At Ohio State University, which leases one plane and partly owns another, football coach Urban Meyer and members of his family took 11 personal trips last school year, including a vacation in Florida, a weekend getaway to Cape Cod and a spring break in South Carolina. The university's cost: $120,000. Add Meyer's 15 recruiting trips in the same planes during that period, and the price tag jumps to more than $350,000.
Iowa State president Steven Leath caused damage to the university airplane he was piloting when it made a hard landing at the airport in July 2015. Bloomington Normal Airport Authority via AP, File
Meyer declined to comment.
Some private colleges, which aren't subject to open-records laws, also own planes.
Colleges defend the costs, saying coaches and top administrators need to travel more than ever, while commercial airlines are offering fewer flights. Some say it's economical for officials who often fly on short notice or to towns that are far from a major airport.
But some critics condemn such spending as a luxury at a time when tuition continues to rise.
"The students are paying for it or the taxpayers are paying for it, and it's usually the students," said Richard Vedder, an economist and director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, D.C.
Universities often use planes for athletic recruiting, mostly football and basketball, and to shuttle administrators on trips to woo donors or lobby lawmakers.
Some of the nation's largest schools, such as Penn State and the University of Texas, own planes, as do many smaller schools, including the University of Wyoming and the University of Central Missouri.
The price for a private plane usually reaches into the millions, climbing as high as the $8.4 million that the University of Florida's athletic association paid for an eight-passenger jet in 2011. Then there are operating expenses such as fuel and maintenance, which at Ohio State cost $1.6 million last school year.
Each flight often averages more than $1,000 an hour, far exceeding the cost of a commercial flight.
Purdue University, for example, sent a plane to Providence, Rhode Island, last year to bring alumnus and former NFL lineman Matt Light to Indianapolis for an athletics meeting and then flew him back, at a cost of $15,000. A commercial flight between those cities typically costs less than $400 round trip.
The University of Kansas chancellor and two staff members were flown to the NCAA basketball tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, for $10,000 last year. Officials at the University of Tennessee routinely fly between Knoxville and Nashville, a drive of less than three hours.
"With our executive administration, their time is valuable enough that certainly the plane use is warranted," said Ron Maples, interim treasurer for the University of Tennessee. He added that the school's yearly spending on flights, about $700,000, is "hardly a blip" in the overall budget.
Costs for chartered flights can add up fast, too. The University of Minnesota doesn't own a plane but spent $2.9 million chartering flights last year.
To some critics, big spending on airplanes is fine as long as taxpayers don't foot the bill. And some schools, including Ohio State, say private donations and athletic revenue pay for flights. But at many, such as Kansas and Tennessee, they are covered by budgets that include tuition and tax dollars.
"If they're being funded by taxpayers at all, it falls outside the lines of what's proper and ethical, in my opinion," said Lawrence McQuillan, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, a conservative think tank in Oakland, California. "Some of this is just personal vacations, which to me is completely improper for taxpayers to fund."
Private flights have also become a perk used to draw coveted coaches. At the University of Oklahoma and at Ohio State, among many others, top coaches and their families are given yearly shares of flight hours that can be used for vacations and other personal trips.
Three coaches at Ohio State topped $220,000 in personal trips last school year, records show, with destinations including Las Vegas and Marco Island, Florida.
"It's where the market is now from a compensation standpoint," said Martin Jarmond, the executive associate athletic director at Ohio State. "Coaches have families, too. They've got ballgames they need to get back for. They have important things they need to do outside of the job."
Colleges say they regularly audit their flight records to monitor for misuse, but some shield travel information from the public.
At the University of South Florida, spokeswoman Lara Wade said the flight logs for the school's plane do not have to be released because the aircraft is owned by an outside company.
Penn State said it owns two planes used by senior officials but would not provide records because the school is mostly exempt from the state's public disclosure laws.
"Many universities, including those within the Big Ten, have planes," Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said in a statement. "It is not uncommon for major research universities with a statewide, national and international profile."
As some colleges add planes, others are scaling back or reconsidering their flight programs.
Last year, the University of Minnesota found that men's basketball coach Richard Pitino had overspent his budget for chartered flights by more than $200,000 over three years. Since then, the school has hired a new athletic director whose job will partly be to rein in the budget.
Iowa State University president Steven Leath, a pilot, acknowledged last year that he used a school plane for trips that mixed personal and university business, a practice that came to light after he damaged the aircraft in a hard landing. Iowa State has decided to sell one plane and is reviewing whether to continue using another.
Other schools say they simply have little need for private planes. The University of California at Los Angeles sometimes charters flights for sports teams, but not for recruiting or for executive travel.
"Purchasing a private airplane does not best serve our student-athletes," spokesman Tod Tamberg said.But the Taschens saw dirty, disco-era, wall-to-wall carpet on much of its 2,200 square feet, an old aluminum door, smudged windows and seven layers of paint on what was originally a gently austere, exposed brick wall.
The sleek, octagonal design, arguably the boldest work by the singular architect John Lautner, is considered a masterpiece of California Modernism and is beloved by cultists of midcentury design.
When Benedikt Taschen, a globe-trotting publisher of stylish art books, and his then-wife first laid eyes on Chemosphere in 1997, the iconic Los Angeles house had seen better days.
Still, "it was love at first sight," says the laconic German, wearing a red Muhammad Ali bathrobe as he shows off the place on a hazy morning. The backlist of Taschen's company -- from homoerotic nudes to the original Lutheran Bible -- includes books on Modernist homes, the architectural photographs of Julius Shulman, the works of Richard Neutra and the Case Study houses. Some of the titles, along with dozens of art magazines, are scattered around the house and its unobtrusive furniture.
Today, the place is serene and airy, with a simple, light-wood openness that suggests midcentury Scandinavian crossed with a ski chalet, and views that are pure Southern California.
"I bought it right away -- as fast as possible," says Taschen.
Frank Escher, who was brought in as restoration architect, vividly remembers the place's condition.
"I have to give Benedikt credit for seeing past the disrepair and sad state the house had fallen into," he says. "It looked like a rundown motel. It had been rented out for 10 to 12 years; it was like the ultimate party house."
In fact, during much of that decade, the place had been on the market. "It was for sale for so long," says Taschen, "that it was even in a 'Simpsons' episode: a house with a for-sale sign."
"There was no market for that house," says Julie Jones, the Realtor in the sale, who had watched the place languish after she listed the house. "Everybody loved Spanish, and then shabby chic came in." Midcentury houses "would sit and sit and sit -- you couldn't give 'em away. People would want to see the view, and that was about it."
The fate seemed unjust for a structure the Encyclopedia Britannica had judged "the most modern home built in the world," and which had appeared in Brian De Palma's "Body Double." It's hard not to see the house, which sits on a 29-foot-high, 5-foot-wide concrete column over a long-considered-unbuildable Hollywood Hills site, as a hovering flying saucer or a prototype for the 23rd century architecture of "The Jetsons."
But the 1960 house is very much a work of its time and place.
Alan Hess, an architectural historian and author of "The Architecture of John Lautner," considers Chemosphere as perfect an expression of Southland culture as Greene & Greene's Gamble House, Charles and Ray Eames' Case Study house and the finest work of Neutra and R.M. Schindler.
Chemosphere was characteristically Los Angeles of that time because "it didn't have to look like a house," says Hess. "It was an architecture newly defined. It could take on its own brand-new shape. It displays the optimism of its time: that technology can be used to solve any problem, just as Century City and Googie's," the Lautner-designed Sunset Boulevard coffee shop, did. "The West would not be possible without technology: Water, electricity, everything that it took to overcome dryness and distance was dependent in some form on technology."
Hess finds the house fascinating partly because it was built for a couple and their four children. "And yet whenever that house is used in the movies, it's always a decadent bachelor pad," Hess says. "You have the reality of Southern California life, and the image of Southern California life, summed up in one house."
It's not the only contradiction the place contains.
"From the outside it looks like a spaceship which you cannot enter," Angelika Taschen says from Berlin, where she now lives. (The couple were finalizing a divorce at the time of this article's publication.) "But if you go inside, it feels very cozy... very Zen and calming. Maybe because you are floating above the city, above reality in the sky. You feel disconnected from the planet and completely free and happy."
The house is the product of a fortuitous union of architect, client, time and place. Leonard Malin was a young aerospace engineer in late-1950s L.A. whose father-in-law had just given him a plot north of Mulholland Drive, near Laurel Canyon. The land was leafy and overgrown, with extravagant views of the San Fernando Valley.
"My philosophy at the time was, most people work their whole lives to build their dream house," Malin says from Arizona, where he's constructing a new home. "Why not build it now, and pay for it for the rest of my life?" This was a time, during L.A.'s postwar expansion, when a middle-class client could build in the Hollywood Hills on a modest budget: Malin had $30,000 to spare.
The only catch: At roughly 45 degrees, the slope was all but unbuildable. The plot may have remained empty had Malin not approached Lautner, whose work he knew from a nearby house. Lautner, a brilliant but reputedly prickly man, sketched a bold vertical line, a cross, and a curve above it. "Draw it up," he told his assistant Guy Zebert.
Though Lautner could appear imperious, a quality he may have learned from his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright, he was also a deeply practical and hard-headed problem-solver. Lautner didn't see the house as a flying saucer but as a sensible solution.
However counterintuitive the scheme, it was also one of very few imaginable that allowed the plot to be utilized. And because of a concrete pedestal, almost 20 feet in diameter, buried under the earth and supporting the post, the house has survived earthquakes and heavy rains. (The house is reached by a funicular.)
"What was great about Lautner," Benedikt Taschen says, "is that he had this dualism about nature and the city." He says the home's northern edge, which contains the bedroom and his office, is very quiet. "It's pure nature, with all kinds of animals: skunks, bobcats, coyotes, deer. They are not shy; you almost have nose prints on the window.
"And here," Taschen says, walking toward the living room window that faces the Valley's homes and skyscrapers along the 101 Freeway, "it's all city."
Taschen admires the bold dichotomies the architect worked with. "That's the characteristic of great artists: They can make things simple."
Hess points out that Lautner's embrace of Modernist innovation and organic forms made him a more interesting architect but also contributed to his obscurity during much of his career. During the 1950s and '60s, the starker, cooler Modernism of the Bauhaus and of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe reigned in intellectual circles, especially in Europe and on the East Coast.
"Organic Modernism was just as modern in its use of materials," Hess says, "but it had a different sense of space, which was flowing. The way a building was put together was like a tree or a flower or a cave -- natural forms. Wright was one of the founders of that approach to Modernism, and Lautner brought it to Southern California."
Even out-of-state critics and scholars who could appreciate the sharply angular California Modernism of midcentury didn't know what to make of Lautner's merging of the modern with natural forms. "So they ignored him," says Hess, "or put him in the category of undisciplined, far-out, do-whatever-you-want California architecture."
Escher, the preservation architect, considers Lautner "the missing link between the classic Modernism of the Case Study Houses and the work we now associate with Los Angeles -- the more expressive, more sculptural forms. Frank Gehry has said that as a student, he considered Lautner to be a god."
Unlike a lot of the more didactic and theory-driven homes of Modernists from Le Corbusier to Philip Johnson, it's actually pleasant, most of the time, to live inside a Lautner. The homes don't force their inhabitants into an ant farm's existence the way some houses do. Le Corbusier called his homes "machines for living in," and sometimes they felt that way, with their narrow hallways and rigidly prescribed paths.
Chemosphere is bisected by a central, exposed brick wall with a fireplace, abutted by subdued seating, in the middle. One side of the house is public, with a small kitchen and blended living and dining rooms including built-in couches below glass windows. The house's private half includes a master bedroom with bathroom, small storage and laundry rooms, an office made of two children's bedrooms, and an additional bathroom. Despite being more compact than many new single-family houses, it has most of the essential elements.
Angelika Taschen, a PhD in art history, knew the house from Shulman's photos before she saw the real thing. She worried it might be difficult to live there.
She said that besides limiting her trips out of the house because of the funicular, living there didn't alter her behavior. "Day-to-day life is really easy," she says, often easier "than in a conventional home where the architect has not thought so much about every single detail."
Lautner, despite his reputation as having a strong personality, worked hard to suit his clients and their inner lives.
Angelika describes the place as having a spiritual impact, almost like a church. "With this house he found and expressed this almost religious spirit with a perfect architectural language in general, but also in detail."
Benedikt likens the house to an eagle's nest. "You feel safe. It's warm and human, not a cold place. You would not expect it from outside."
The only consistent problem with the house, Taschen says, is that its technology often fails in subtle but frustrating ways. "Every day there is something not working," he says. "The maintenance is 10 times higher than in any other building. Everything is much more complicated. To get cable or Internet, they have to come 10 times.
"It's like having a vintage car -- a '55 Mercedes. More difficult. But they have a personality to them, ya?"
In Escher's first meeting with Taschen, the restoration architect pointed out which pieces were original, which needed to be replaced, and which details deserved restoration. "He interrupted me in about half a minute and said in German, 'Herr |
of 320,000 south of Moscow, had planned to unveil the monument this week during the 450th anniversary of Ivan the Terrible’s decree that a fortress be built there. But the monument has been delayed after a protest in July by local people holding signs such as: “We don’t need a monument to a tyrant.”
Ivan the Terrible, who ruled from 1547 to 1584 and founded and expanded the Russian tsardom, is best known for his long campaign of terror against the nobility and populace, as well as for killing his son during an argument.
Patriarch Kirill supported the monument last week at a meeting with the Oryol governor, Vadim Potomsky, a statement on the Orlov region website said. Kirill spoke out against the canonisation of Ivan the Terrible “because of his methods of governing” but said “as the founder of the city of Oryol he deserves a monument here”, according to the statement.
In a survey asking local people whether the monument should be erected and where it should be put, the majority have supported the statue, the statement cites the governor as saying. “The monument will stand in the place that wins,” Potomsky said.
But many residents remain opposed, said an employee at the Free Space theatre, where the sculpture of Ivan on horseback was supposed to stand. “Those who know history look at him extremely negatively,” the employee said, declining to give his name. “Just read history.”
Potomsky previously attempted to erect a monument to Joseph Stalin in Oryol and has claimed that Stalin, Peter the Great and Ivan the Terrible’s reputations had been “slandered”.
At a press conference last month, Potomsky claimed that Ivan the Terrible said he was guilty of the death of his son because he did not get him medical treatment quickly enough after he fell ill while “they were travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg”. He later had to admit he had misspoken, since St Petersburg was not founded until more than a century after Ivan the Terrible’s death.
Independent television channel Dozhd has questioned the church’s support for the monument, since Ivan the Terrible’s right-hand man, Malyuta Skuratov, strangled Philipp II, Metropolitan of Moscow, in 1569 after the metropolitan clashed with the tsar.
Several Russian cities have erected monuments to Stalin in recent months as surveys have shown the Soviet leader’s popularity increasing. In May, the town of Ozrek in the Kabardino-Balkaria region put up a golden bust of him.In their ongoing struggle for relevance, printers have in recent years gained apps, and touchscreens, and all manner of features that range from useless to maddening. The Epson EcoTank, though, is notable mostly for what it’s gotten rid of: ink cartridges. Or more specifically, a lifetime of pricey ink cartridge refills.
The five new EcoTank models range from $350 to $1,200 in price, depending on capacity and feature set, but even the most affordable version promises enough ink in its reservoirs to cover 4,000 black and 6,500 color pages before requiring a refill. This is an absurd amount of ink, unless you are home-printing an outrageously popular zine, and even then you should be pretty well covered.
The way the EcoTanks work is so delightfully simple, it’s almost—almost—as if the prevailing cartridge system exists solely to disadvantage the average consumer for the benefit of the handful of companies that dominate the world of printing hardware. Instead of shipping with a few small cartridges, the EcoTank comes with the equivalent of 20 cartridges worth of ink already onboard, in small tanks.
It also takes a bit of clever engineering to get the ink from those tanks to the page; as the WSJ points out. Epson uses what it calls "MicroPiezo printhead technology," which is a fancy way of saying permanent mechanical printheads, as opposed to the disposable thermal printheads that dominate the industry. Epson's printheads use microscopic nozzles to fire the ink onto the page, and can be fed from any source, like, say, a big ol' goblet.
Yes, you pay more upfront, but you also end up paying far less in the long run, both in money and sanity. Refills cost $13 per bottle, or $52 per set of bottles, though again keep in mind that you won’t need to even think about those refills for literally years at a time. Relatedly, you’re far less likely to find yourself out of ink the one time you actually have an urgent printing need.
You’re also more likely, Epson says, to go ahead and splurge on color print-outs instead of a puritanical black and white canvas, because you’re less worried about hoarding those magentas, cyans, and yellows.
“The introduction of EcoTank marks a fundamental shift in the way we think about using color in business and in the home,” said Epson America executive Keith Kratzberg in a statement. “Epson EcoTank sets a new standard for color printing, convenience, and value.”
It’s marketing speak, sure, but it’s backed up by simple math: fewer refills plus less long-term cost equals more printer peace of mind than you may have had in quite some time.The Heat is On
BEIJING - Today I spent about an hour recharging the natural gas card, asking street cleaners, parking lot attendants and traffic wardens where the closest Bank of Beijing is. Most of my apartment-mates have gone home for the Chinese New Year and I took it upon myself to figure out how to get the stove, hot water and heat working again.
Yesterday I found the gas card, the first step, next I needed to figure out how to charge it, and then stick it in the meter in the kitchen that read 00:00. I also found the electricity card, and I went to go check the electricity meter in the outside hallway. With 100+ units I figured I should be able to keep the lights on for at least a week.
When I rented my own place last year I went through 2-3 units a day. In my old place electricity, cold water and hot water were all pre-paid through the card system. Cold and hot water could be bought in the basement and electricity had to be bought at the local ICBC Bank, now the world's largest bank. Often I had my neighbour charge the electricity, but in an effort to keep the lights on and shed my "little emperor" reputation I did it myself one weekend when my neighbour was out of town, using the help of a few blogs and a few words of Chinese.
One of my current flatmates said I might be able to go to ICBC for natural gas as well. I liked this as I now have an account with them. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and I was off to ask directions. I bought 30 cubic meters for about 60 Renminbi or 9 USD. Based on last week's usage with three people, that's about $1.50 a day to keep the stove on, hot water running and the radiator at minimum heat.
In the kitchen there is a box that heats the water and sends it through the pipes and the radiator, and sends exhaust (CO2?) out the window. In the US I was used to paying after the fact for utilities like electricity which was sometime s horribly over-estimated because the landlord didn't let the ConEd staffer in to read the meter.
In China, I got into a habit of writing down the meter reading every night before I went to bed. I also would think twice about watching the TV or using the microwave on full power. I was reminded of the movie Apollo 13 where they have to figure out the proper sequence of powering on devices to re-enter the Earth's orbit without running out of electricity.
Last fall I was living in a school provided dorm where I didn't have to worry about the hot water, heat or electricity. But I still found myself, at least initially, calculating electricity usage in my head whenever I plugged in a device. A Department of Energy study in a year- long survey found that consumers reduced their usage by 10% and 15% during peak times when they had greater knowledge about their consumption.
Not having heat when the temperature gets up to freezing and only goes down from there got my attention, and got me back into reading the meters. Yet, even though I have at least two layers on inside, there is now part of me that wants to limit heat to save money. Saving money was a factor for those in the Department of Energy study and clearly is a factor in the drop in plastic bags here in China after the 2008 policy that "banned" plastic bags, requiring grocery stores to charge for every bag. I have seen in my own life here in China the significance of knowing cost up front and it would be interesting to see smart grid projects in the United States scaled up.by Karin Heineman, Inside Science
While the food we buy may look safe, it’s the bacteria that we can’t see that make it unsafe to eat.
This year, one in six Americans will get sick from food poisoning.
It can cause serious health problems. Washing and cooking food properly helps to prevent the spread of food-borne illness, but bacteria can still lurk on and inside food.
“It has many routes to get into not only food animal products but also things like leafy greens, and even processed foods,” said Paul Ebner, a microbiologist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Now scientists have a new way to kill bad bacteria, using bacteriophages– also called phages – which are viruses that reproduce in bacteria, and can destroy bacteria in food.
“What we’re trying to do is harness the antibacterial properties of phages and use them to target specific pathogens, like E. coli or Salmonella,” Ebner explained.
In tests using ground beef infected with E. coli, researchers treated the meat with a liquid containing phages. The viruses dock onto E.coli cells, inject their own DNA, and then multiply and reproduce inside the bacterialcells, causing them to explode and die.
“We reduced the E. coli concentrations by sometimes 99.9 percent, which is a large reduction,” said Ebner.
The treatment is harmless to humans – it only targets the bacteria, but it could be the next best thing in wiping out food-borne illness outbreaks.
“It’s another tool that we can use to ensure the safety of our food,” Ebner said.
The next step is for researchers to identify the phages that work the best for other bacteria like salmonella.
Top Image: “Phage” by Dr Graham Beards - en:Image:Phage.jpg. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Inside Science is supported by the American Institute of Physics, a nonprofit publisher of scientific journals, and a group of underwriters that include multiple science, technology, engineering, and mathematics organizations.Sean Hannity views Comey’s firing as an opportunity to finally prosecute Hillary Clinton. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
For those watching Fox News on Tuesday night, the furor over FBI Director James Comey’s firing must have seemed inexplicable. Throughout the evening, on one show after another, the conservative network botched, misdirected, and obfuscated the story, to such a degree that one could have watched for a solid hour without learning why Trump’s critics found the move disturbing.
The falsehoods began flying from the get-go, when the network’s breaking news chyron informed viewers that Comey had “resigned.” “I think it was a good idea for him to resign,” opined Fox News guest Peter Schweizer, an editor at Breitbart. In fact, according to the Los Angeles Times, Comey was so blindsided that he learned of his firing only when he saw the news on TV, and even then he thought at first it was a prank. Fox News corrected the error about a minute into its coverage.
Fox gets it wrong pic.twitter.com/XMLprg3nYw — Jon Passantino (@passantino) May 9, 2017
No one familiar with the network’s popular prime-time opinion shows will be surprised to know that they responded to the news unanimously with full-throated Trump boosterism. But even a jaded Sean Hannity viewer might have been brought up short by just how hard he spun the Comey firing throughout the course of his 10 p.m. show. The FBI director had been blasted by Hillary Clinton supporters for publicizing the agency’s investigation into her emails at the height of the presidential campaign—a criticism echoed in the memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that Trump used to justify Comey’s dismissal. Yet Hannity suggested that Comey’s real failing was that he let Clinton off the hook. The host called him “a national embarrassment” who “has failed you, the American people, on a spectacular level” by not going after Trump’s election rival more aggressively. Hannity closed his show with what he called “the most important question of the night”: With Comey gone, will Clinton finally face the criminal prosecution she deserves? All three members of his expert panel proceeded to agree that she was a felon who should be indicted, though they differed on whether that would actually happen.
"The most important question of the night," according to Sean Hannity just now:
Will new FBI director have the guts to go after Hillary? — Will Oremus is not going to C E S (@WillOremus) May 10, 2017
Fanatical as that take might sound, Hannity wasn’t even the first Fox News talker to advance it. Andrew Napolitano suggested on Martha MacCallum’s 7 p.m. show that Comey may have been fired so that Clinton could be “indicted for espionage.” And Jesse Watters on The Five at 9 p.m. called Comey “corrupt” for, among other things, not pursuing the “Clinton Foundation scandals.”
Even the network’s newsier shows found ways to muddle the story beyond recognition Tuesday night. Bret Baier spent more than 20 minutes discussing the “controversial” firing without bothering to explain what made it controversial: the fact that Trump had publicly backed Comey until he reportedly grew angry over the director’s recent handling of the Russia investigation. Baier alluded to questions about the “timing” of Comey’s dismissal, but did not address what those questions were until guest Charles Krauthammer brought them up unbidden later in the show. And when a former FBI assistant director seemed to imply that he thought Trump was lying in Comey’s dismissal letter—specifically, that Comey didn’t really tell him three times that he wasn’t under investigation—Baier declined to follow up, ending the interview for a commercial break.
Fox News has always filtered the day’s events through a different lens than that of other major media outlets. But on this night, when the nation’s political press was frantically pursuing a story about Trump’s real motivations and drawing comparisons to Watergate, it was as though Fox News was covering an alternate reality—one in which Comey’s firing was obviously justified, long overdue, and a richly deserved comeuppance for his failure to supply the evidence needed to put Hillary Clinton behind bars, where she belongs.
The parallels to Watergate are indeed striking, right down to the part about conservatives blaming the “liberal media” for cooking up a scandal out of bitterness at a lost election. But here’s one difference that could prove important: Richard Nixon lacked the benefit of a Fox News–like entity determined to support him through thick and thin.
Fox News can’t fully control the narrative in this fragmented media age, of course, even as the country’s most-watched cable news network. But surveys have found that Trump supporters trust it over any other political news source by a 5-to-1 margin. Some of the GOP’s more moderate and principled members were quick to voice qualms about authoritarian overreach. But they’ll be under enormous pressure from their conservative colleagues not to stir up too much trouble, and Fox News clearly stands ready to provide cover to anyone who toes the party line.
Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that he expects “more shoes to drop” in the Russia investigation. But I wonder: If a shoe drops in Trump’s White House and you’re relying on Fox News to cover it—does it make a sound?German intelligence reports show that the PKK can freely recruit militants in the country even though it is recognized as a terrorist group, a senior Turkish lawmaker said Wednesday.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Mustafa Yeneroğlu, the head of Parliament's Human Rights Inquiry Committee, said they have obtained German domestic intelligence reports clearly demonstrating that the PKK is recruiting and racketeering in the country for terrorism, and bringing fighters to Turkey and Iraq.
"The PKK is on the list of [banned] terrorist organizations on paper in Germany and Europe, but that's not the truth," Yeneroğlu said, accusing Western countries of failing to properly fight terrorism despite their own intelligence services urging the governments to do so.
Yeneroğlu claimed that the PKK can spread terrorist propaganda at will, especially in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Austria through daily newspapers that they publish.
"If Germany is honest, [they ought to] read their own intelligence reports. [Then] they will see that PKK is not a banned organization, as it can continue its activities freely like an association that has the status of working for public interest," he said.
"While people are murdered every day in Turkey, while the terrorist organization continues its bloody actions in our country, the members of the same terrorist organization cannot operate with blessings in Germany," he added.
When contacted by Anadolu Agency, the German Embassy in Ankara would neither confirm nor deny the contents of the intelligence reports, but said they would contact the German Foreign Ministry.
Yeneroğlu stressed that Turkey's fight against terrorism is being painted abroad as an "ethnic conflict," adding that the PKK, YPG and PYD have opened stands in some European countries to spread disinformation that they defend Kurds' rights and issue the call, "Who wants to fight for PKK in Turkey?" to recruit militants.
Yeneroğlu also stated that the PKK and its supporters have been attacking places abroad where the Turkish community lives.
"In recent weeks, nine attacks were launched against the Turkish Democratic Union [branches in Germany]. Their rooms were burned with Molotov cocktails and people were targeted. Coffee shops and mosques were attacked."
"There has been a very serious rise in the complaints received from our citizens abroad regarding the terrorist organization," he said.Anti-Trump Republicans have put together an ad campaign calling on Donald Trump to keep his promise and quit the campaign. The promise they’re referring to? One from the primaries, in which Trump himself said that if he saw his poll numbers decline, he’d quit the race.
According to Politico, the ad buy is in key swing states – ones where Trump is already fighting for the life of his candidacy for president.
The 30-second spot is marked for a limited run on broadcast networks in suburban Florida, Virginia, Ohio and Michigan, according to Regina Thomson, a Colorado Republican activist and leader of Free the Delegates, the organization that failed to stop Trump’s nomination at last month’s national convention. All four states are central to Trump’s path to the White House, though he’s trailing in most polls of those states. The ad is backed by a five-figure buy, according to Thomson, but the group is hopeful to eventually expand its run to Fox News Channel. It’s initially set to air on broadcast news channels beginning on Tuesday. It’s marked for the four states’ suburban media markets, according to Free the Delegates, because they’re areas that typically lean Republican but appear to be tilting in Hillary Clinton’s favor this year.
The Free the Delegates movement, despite what both the RNC and the Trump campaign told us, seems to still be alive. There are no more delegates to free, but it looks like they have not given up the fight.
And with poll numbers like this, who can blame them?Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has given Republicans new ammunition in the fight over ObamaCare by endorsing the idea that Congress is certain to act if the court deals a blow to the law.
The conservative justice contended Wednesday that lawmakers would move quickly if the court, in the case of King v. Burwell, were to strike down subsidies that are helping millions of people purchase insurance through the federal exchange, HealthCare.gov.
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Congressional Republicans had been making that very same argument in the run-up to the case and say Scalia’s remarks should help draw attention to the multiple ObamaCare fixes that they have prepared.
“With all of the fearmongering by the administration that things are going to be disastrous if the Supreme Court rules one way, Justice Scalia said, ‘No, Congress will act,’ ” said Sen. John Barrasso John Anthony BarrassoOvernight Energy: Trump ends talks with California on car emissions | Dems face tough vote on Green New Deal | Climate PAC backing Inslee in possible 2020 run Dems face tough vote on Green New Deal Dems slam EPA plan for fighting drinking water contaminants MORE (R-Wyo.), who is working on a Republican ObamaCare plan.
“So I was encouraged by that, because we are committed to doing that.”
On the House side, three chairmen, Reps. Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanBrexit and exit: A transatlantic comparison Five takeaways from McCabe’s allegations against Trump The Hill's 12:30 Report: Sanders set to shake up 2020 race MORE (R-Wis.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and John Kline (R-Minn.), also pointed to their plans after the oral arguments were over.
“The law is clear — and the Supreme Court should order the IRS to enforce the law as it is written,” the three Republicans said in a statement. “If it does, we will be ready to act.”
Scalia waded into the politics surrounding the healthcare case when he asked Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who was defending the law for the administration, why Congress wouldn’t move to quickly pick up the pieces if the subsidies were struck down.
“Well, this Congress, your honor,” Verrilli replied before trailing off, to laughter in the courtroom.
Scalia said he has faith in lawmakers.
“I think this Congress would act,” he replied.
That was music to the ears of congressional Republicans, who have waged a weeks-long campaign aimed at reassuring the public that they will not leave Affordable Care Act beneficiaries in the lurch.
In the days before the oral arguments, Ryan, Upton and Kline released an ObamaCare backup plan, as did Barrasso, Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzTrump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 Inviting Kim Jong Un to Washington Trump endorses Cornyn for reelection as O'Rourke mulls challenge MORE (R-Texas) and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).
Democrats say Scalia’s faith in the Republican Congress is misplaced.
“He just is saying what the Republicans were saying in their op-ed, but there’s no there, there. It’s a signal,” said Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee.
“They’re trying to wink at the Supreme Court and say, ‘Go ahead, destroy the [Affordable Care Act], because we have an alternative,’ ” Levin said of Republicans.
Even if Republican leaders wanted to pass a plan, Democrats say, they would not be able to find the votes.
“We have majorities in both the House and Senate that, A, struggle mightily to do even the simplest, most politically popular things like funding the Department of Homeland Security, but, B, we also know that they have fought tooth and nail to try and undermine the Affordable Care Act from the beginning,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at the briefing on Wednesday.
The outcome of the court case is anyone’s guess, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy widely viewed as the swing votes that will decide whether ObamaCare subsidies are struck down in 37 states.
The ruling in the case is expected in June.
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Ryan, said Republicans view the court case as providing a new opportunity to push forward with alternatives to the healthcare law.
“I think there is broad consensus through the House,” Buck said. “I think people both understand the need for some type of response, but at the same time, also see it as a chance that hasn't been there before.”
The plan from Ryan, Upton and Kline calls for allowing states to opt out of the Affordable Care Act's mandates that require people to either buy insurance or pay a fine. To soften the blow from losing the law’s subsidies, their plan would create new tax credits to help people afford coverage.
Republicans have yet to provide details on how big the tax credits would be and how the legislation would be paid for. Buck said details are still being worked out, but by June, when a court decision is expected, “I would believe we would have something at least on paper, if not introduced by then.”
On the Senate side, Barrasso and two other chairmen have proposed a plan that would provide financial assistance for people to temporarily keep their health insurance plans while Congress develops a new coverage model that gives states “freedom and flexibility.”
Barrasso said the details of the plan might depend on the court’s ruling. The extent of the temporary assistance, for example, could depend on whether the court delays the effect of its ruling to give Congress time to act.
“We can't really say, ‘This is the definitive answer,’ when we don't know what the Supreme Court's going to do, and they're not going to do anything for another three and a half months, probably,” Barrasso said.
Realizing the long-held Republican goal of repealing and replacing the healthcare law will also have to wait, he said.
“The full replacement piece isn't going to be there, because Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaWith low birth rate, America needs future migrants 4 ways Hillary looms over the 2020 race Obama goes viral after sporting black bomber jacket with '44' on sleeve at basketball game MORE's not going to sign a full replacement of ObamaCare,” Barrasso said. “That can only be done after a presidential election in 2016.”Business Plan
Return on Investment
Purchase and Testing
Raised Capital
as of December 2011
Current Investors
$101.00 Alistair McGregor shares the same love for police as I do $100.00 David Townsend is a huge cat lover...wait...what? $51.00 Pete Mardell is sporting a snappy new T-shirt forex mail $50.00 Steve Robbins is happy to invest in cats rather than cats $50.00 Joseph Kwong has vision $50.00 Frank Mulcahy can sleep on my couch anytime $33.33 Sean Bond is an American backpacker who enjoys South Australian cat expeditions. $32.21 Daniel Crowley says his mate Wade would like people to say'meow' to him on twitter $31.00 Nexus Hut $30.00 David Lambert is going to be rolling in cats $30.00 Jari Lahdenpera $30.00 Andrew Sheerin wants the new street cat called cats. $27.66 Jon Witte $27.60 Simon J Barron deserves a gold star for his vision $26.00 Aernout Hoesintalib $25.00 Kathryn Reeves knows an opportunity when she sees it $25.00 Richard Hindle went out with my cousin from Adelaide $25.00 Marc Eberhart is expecting negative ROI on this investment $20.00 Adam Barker Is also from Adelaide and hates cyclists $20.00 Anthony Milazzo was in the series Charmed I think. $17.00 James Wilson hasn't entered any instructions. $16.66 Michael Doni can now lick his elbows. $15.00 Marc Sallent Aspa deserves a link for his choice. $15.00 Erik Zimmerman could have bought an Enya CD with that $15.00 Damien Donnelly loves cats and is keeping it real $15.00 Matthew Parkes $15.00 Captain Savvy thinks I am a hot bitch $14.01 Vernon Schleyer has a death metal band name $13.38 William Wilson $13.37 Joel Sia $13.37 Bluelinks Media LLC wants some leet cats. $12.38 Hartford Group Pty Ltd $12.34 Morgan Tocker $12.22 Aqua Vitae Day Spa gave me a full body wax $12.11 Hannu Alen $12.00 Cori Hertz it's true $11.54 Singularity Media knows a cheap way to get a link $11.03 Mirco Blaser wants me to write something about square cats. $10.00 Dolphin Promotions just got a cheap link as well. $10.00 Charles Fearnhead $10.00 Xarxa de les Valls Marquet S.L. $10.00 Joseph Provo wants his cats trained to eat policemen $10.00 Domenick Bartuccio $10.00 Shelagh McNally wants to buy Officer Harding some cats $10.00 Keith Davis knows a foolproof plan when he sees it $10.00 Nick Pospisil $10.00 Samone Cottenceau plans to use the profits for a boob job $10.00 Scott Effland wants Samone's before and after pics $10.00 Lois Dekker $10.00 Michael Mitchell is waiting patiently for his cat $10.00 Christopher Masto $10.00 Kirsten Yoder does not appreciate Star Wars jokes $10.00 Brendan Brankin $10.00 Dustin Smith knows where to get quality black market cats $10.00 Ben Roscouet $10.00 Jan Rezac is an eastern europe cat lover $9.99 Jarek Zukowski "So where can i pick up my giant cat?" $9.75 Gemma bowman's cat is old and fat $9.00 Danny Wu invested because he wants a link to this $8.00 Mark Bielik is from Dallas where the cats are bigger $8.00 Dougall Johnson hopes this covers the flight to Thailand $7.81 Nathan Loofbourrow saw a hole in the list around here $7.50 John Spier $7.50 Jon Firman has scotch. Don't panic. $7.13 Robert Holloway $6.88 Evan Kowalsk i joined track & tield to impress the love of his life $6.66 Sharon Moar listens to too much Iron Maiden $6.66 Mark Densley wants to smoke cat $6.06 Justin Wignall "is this the facebook login page?" $6.00 Jeremy Bowell would like to buy whatever SA is not selling $5.98 Elliott Doolittle is bitching about his link dissapearing $5.97 Roland Huddleston $5.12 Peter Balsillie $5.12 David Hill meant to donate $0.512 $5.03 Jeff Dawes $5.00 Daria Lockwood sent funds from a SA Police Credit Union savings account. LOL. $5.00 Pat McGroyn $5.00 Sarah Burns is in on her piece of cat $5.00 Martin Leach $5.00 Soujanya Naidu is a cat and waiting to be used apparently? $5.00 Nicolas Estrem $5.00 Tim Lucas adores cats and has thirty four of them $5.00 the Oxygen Kiosk $5.00 Marko Ristaniemi wanted to see his name in the internetz. $5.00 Stephanie Mason owns the worlds largest collection of tin $5.00 Gregoire Kauffmann "It's caturday :3!" $5.00 Katherine Scott is spokesperson for the ASPCA $5.00 Steve Barrett loves cats and is a bitchin design god $5.00 Melanie Franklin is a huge fan of cats $5.00 Colin Elves has heard every joke. And lives in a tree. $5.00 Crystal Fugate $5.00 Sal Urena All the bitches in the house say b'gawk! $5.00 Andrew Abrahamson $5.00 Wesley Knowles has always wanted a big cat $5.00 Paul Fortescue want's to know when he gets his cats $5.00 Paul Hunt still gets jokes about his name $5.00 Thomas Wills $5.00 Alexander Rakoczy wants to build a cat-pyramid $5.00 Kim Monaghan is doing it for the kids $5.00 John Cappello $5.00 Estee Lewis is a broke-ass attorney looking to invest $5.00 Joseph Lavender does not smell like an old lady $5.00 Michael Goodwin is waiting on funds from a Nigerian prince $5.00 Vanita Nair will apparently do anything for me $5.00 Danny Tomasi $5.00 Gregory Galstad refuses to participate in any trial $5.00 David Ogilvy is tripping on an Acid Tab(by Cat) $5.00 Shannon R. Morris understands David is pretty cheap $0.01 Ryan Green is a cheaparse bitch
Further information
If you have any questions regarding this exciting investment opportunity or have cats that you would like to sell, contact me by clicking here.
$5120.00 in raised capital is required. $5000.00 of which is to purchase. The extra $120.00 will go towards purchasing a metal briefcase to put thein. Like the ones you see in movies. I have not decided on what kind ofyet but whatever young people are doing these days. I will then sell theat a profit and investors will be offered the profits back.I once drove two hours to buyfor fifty dollars that turned out to be parsley which I could have purchased from my local supermarket for around two dollars. This indicates not only a ready and willing market, but a markup of 2400% on the initial investment.I also once paid twenty dollars forwhich had almost no effect. Many years later, I was told by the person who sold it to me that it was actually a dried up raisin they had found under the couch and had needed the money for cigarettes.Using the above formula of 2400% return, investors can expect a minimum $1200.00 return on a $50.00 initial investment.Once the capital has been raised, I will advertise that I am in the market for a large amount ofand have the funds to cover such. The small country village where I live, Adelaide, is rather barren at the moment and recent efforts to obtainhave proven futile. As such, I may have to travel to Singapore or Thailand to purchase them.I will test alloffered prior to purchase.I once purchased severalthat looked suspiciously like Pez. After testing one and feeling nothing despite waiting at least five minutes, I ate the remainder. A short time later, I found myself at an all night outdoor rave dancing to Paul Oakenfold and hugging what appeared to be animatronic Goodwill store manikins flagging down aircraft. At some point during the night I had my face painted with what I assume was meant to depict a dragon in full flight breathing fire but looked more like a child's drawing of a duck vomiting blood. Awakening somehow at home the next day, inside a fort I had constructed from seat cushions and a shower curtain, it took a four hour bath to remove the smell of damp arts-degree students and patchouli oil.Not to be confused with breadsticks
A baguette (; French: [baˈɡɛt]) is a long, thin loaf of French bread[2] that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.
A baguette has a diameter of about 5 or 6 cm (2-2⅓ in) and a usual length of about 65 cm (26 in), although a baguette can be up to 1 m (39 in) long.
History [ edit ]
Baguettes are a type of bread. No academic study has been written on the history of the baguette itself, as a type of bread.[3] Thus, much of its history is speculative; however, some facts can be established. Among these are the increased popularity of long, stick-like breads in France starting in the 18th century,[4] the shift among French bakers to using "gruau", a highly refined Hungarian high-milled flour in the early 19th century,[5] the introduction of Viennese steam oven baking to Paris in 1839 by August Zang,[6] and the subsequent introduction of the Austrian Adolf Ignaz Mautner von Markhof's compact yeast to Paris in 1867 at the Universal Exposition.[7] Finally, there is the first use of the word "baguette" in print, to define a particular type of bread, in a set of laws enacted by the Prefecture of the Seine Department in August 1920: "The baguette, having a minimum weight of 80 g and a maximum length of 40 cm, may not be sold for a price higher than 0.65 francs apiece"[8] While no one of these events is in itself definable as "the invention of the baguette", each of them, the shape, the flour, the fermentation, and the steam baking, contribute to what is today recognized as a "baguette".
To summarize this history, the historian and author Jim Chevallier states that "it seems most accurate to say that the bread which became known as the baguette first appeared in its most primitive form in the eighteenth century, then experienced a number of refinements and variations before being (officially) given that name in 1920."[9]
Although the word "baguette" was not used to refer to a type of bread until 1920,[10] the word itself simply means "wand", "baton" or "stick", as in baguette magique (magic wand), baguettes chinoises (chopsticks), or baguette de direction (conductor's baton).
Though the baguette today is often considered one of the symbols of French culture viewed from abroad, the association of France with long loaves predates any mention of it. Long, wide, loaves had been made since the time of King Louis XIV, long thin ones since the mid-18th century, and by the 19th century, some were far longer than what is today sold as a baguette: "... loaves of bread six feet long that look like crowbars!" (Boswell, 1862);[11] "Housemaids were hurrying homewards with their purchases for various Gallic breakfasts, and the long sticks of bread, a yard or two in length, carried under their arms, made an odd impression upon me." (Elson, 1898)[12]
A less direct link can be made, however, with deck ovens, or steam ovens. Deck/steam ovens are a combination of a gas-fired traditional oven and a brick oven, a thick "deck" of stone or firebrick heated by natural gas instead of wood. The first steam oven was brought (in the early 19th century) to Paris by the Austrian officer August Zang, who also introduced Vienna bread (pain vienno |
Old English, Sütterlin, Visigothic Script
[top]
Modern Latin alphabet
The modern Latin alphabet is used to write hundreds of different languages. Each language uses a slightly different set of letters, and they are pronounced in various ways. Some languages use the standard 26 letters, some use fewer, and others use more.
This is the modern Latin alphabet as used to write English.
Other versions of the Latin alphabet
Archaic Latin alphabet, Basque-style lettering, Carolingian Minuscule, Classical Latin alphabet, Fraktur, Gaelic script, Merovingian, Modern Latin alphabet, Roman Cursive, Rustic Captials, Old English, Sütterlin, Visigothic Script
Accented letters & special characters
Accented letters
Many languages supplement the basic Latin alphabet with a variety of accented letters:
These accented letters can have a number of different functions:
Modifying the pronunciation of a letter
Indicating where the stress should fall in a word
Indicating emphasis in a sentence
Indicating pitch or intonation of a word or syllable
Indicating vowel length
Visually distinguishing homophones
How to type accented letters in Windows, Mac and HTML
Some extra letters
Eth, Thorn, Yogh and Wynn were used in Old English; Eth and Thorn are also used in Icelandic; the long s was used in English and other languages to write non-final esses until about the late 18th / early 19th century; the dotted upper case i and dotless lowercase i are used in Turkish, and the schwa is used in Azeri. The other letters are used in various other languages, particularly those spoken in West Africa.
Ligatures (two or three letters joined together)
These are used in a number of languages including French, German, Icelandic, Croatian and Dutch:
Click here to find out how to type ligatures in Windows, Mac and HTML
Further information about diacritics and their usage
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/dia/diacritics-revised.htm,
Download charts for Latin alphabets (Excel)
Latin alphabet | Latin language | Phrases | Tower of Babel | Articles | Learning materials | Find Latin tutors
Some of the languages written with the Latin alphabet
Links
Information about the Latin alphabet
http://www.ancientscripts.com/latin.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_script
http://la.raycui.com/alphabet.html
http://cs-exhibitions.uni-klu.ac.at/index.php?id=471
http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/latalph.htm
http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/jmag0042/LATIN_PALEOGRAPHY.pdf
Other writing systems
ALPHABETUM - a Unicode font specifically designed for ancient scripts, including classical & medieval Latin, ancient Greek, Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic, Picene, Iberian, Celtiberian, Gothic, Runic, Old & Middle English, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Old Nordic, Ogham, Kharosthi, Glagolitic, Old Cyrillic, Phoenician, Avestan, Ugaritic, Linear B, Anatolian scripts, Coptic, Cypriot, Brahmi, Old Persian cuneiform: http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/~jmag0042/alphabet.html
If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. If enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.
If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.The news that Google is remotely removing 58 malicious applications from Android devices shows that opening up the supply of software to a variety of sources has its risks, including malware similar to what has been infecting Windows for years.
To many, it's good news that Google is able to remove this malware by remote control-although some Android users have told me that they don't like the fact that Google can "invade" their phones and pull things off without telling them first.
The fact that malware is appearing on Android devices shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Google has been fairly relaxed about screening its Android Market, and as a result some infected applications have found their way into the Market. But in the case of Android, there are other risks. Android devices also give you the ability to download apps from third party sources-places that aren't part of the Android Market. You have to make a selection from a menu on the device to allow this, but it's not exactly difficult.
I'm sure there are many out there who will suggest that this makes Android devices less useful in the enterprise than, say, Apple or BlackBerry devices. The fact is, the usefulness balances out. If you need to create an application for internal use, it's a lot easier to get one on to your Android devices than to do the same thing with BlackBerry and Apple devices. The freedom to load applications from anywhere gives Android devices significant flexibility that you don't get with other devices.
So on one hand you have greater flexibility, but on the other hand you have greater risk. But that doesn't mean that Android is the only mobile platform with risks from malware. There's already a variant of the Zeus Trojan, named Zitmo, attacking BlackBerry devices that apparently comes from visiting infected Websites or from infected e-mails.
Meanwhile, security researchers are finding evidence of iPhone malware prototypes, so it's only a matter of time before we start hearing of iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch infections as well. These won't be coming from Apple's App Store, just as the BlackBerry App World probably isn't sending out malware-infected software.
But the point is that you don't need to be sending out infected software to load malware on a mobile device. You just have to get someone to visit an infected Website or open an infected e-mail. This works just as effectively regardless of what brand of mobile device you're running.Mohamed Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian teenager who was kidnapped and murdered on Wednesday in a suspected revenge killing by Israeli extremists, was burned alive after suffering a head injury, the Palestinian attorney general has claimed
The allegation is said to be based on initial postmortem findings that discovered soot deposits in his lungs suggesting he was still breathing when he was set on fire. The shocking details, if confirmed, would seem likely to exacerbate already toxic tensions.
The reports emerged as Egypt tried to conclude a ceasefire deal between Hamas in Gaza and Israel. But it appeared not to have taken hold, with fresh reports of rocket fire into Israel from the coastal strip.
The murder of 17-year-old Khdeir, who was buried on Friday in a highly charged funeral after his abduction outside a mosque next to his home in the early hours of Wednesday morning, has prompted days of serious rioting in Palestinian neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem, which then spread to Israeli-Arab towns.
"The direct cause of death was burns as a result of fire and its complications," attorney general Mohammed al-A'wewy told the Palestinian official news agency, Wafa, late on Friday. Israeli officials have yet to release their findings from the postmortem on the body.
Tensions have risen after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped on 12 June and later found dead in the occupied West Bank. That has been followed by an outbreak of racist incitement on Israeli social media sites, street attacks and Khdeir's murder, a suspected revenge attack.
Saber al-Aloul, director of the Palestinian forensic institute, attended the postmortem carried out by Israeli doctors in Tel Aviv. A'wewy said Aloul had reported that fire-dust material had been found in Khdeir's respiratory canal, which meant "the boy had inhaled this material while he was burned alive". Burns covered 90% of his body.
The discovery of the youth's body in a forest on the outskirts of Jerusalem has prompted the worst riots in the holy city in recent memory. The violence spread to northern Arab towns on Saturday morning, an Israeli police spokeswoman, Luba Samri, said. Protesters there threw stones at passing cars, burned tyres and hurled fire bombs at police, who responded with teargas and stun grenades. More than 20 people were arrested.
At Khdeir's funeral, furious Palestinians chanted "Intifada! Intifada!", calling for a new uprising against Israel. They clashed with Israeli police in one of the most highly charged displays of enmity in Jerusalem in years.
Palestinian officials trying to calm tensions have said they would prevent any intifada, or uprising, and seek a solution to the crisis that began when the three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped.
The discovery of the young Israelis' bodies on Monday prompted an outpouring of national grief in Israel.
In a separate incident, it was claimed by relatives that Abu Khdeir's 15-year-old cousin, Tariq, a US citizen who goes to school in Florida, was beaten by police during clashes on Thursday ahead of the funeral. His parents, Suha and Salah, said Tariq was detained but had been treated at an Israeli hospital. The US State Department said it was "profoundly troubled" by the reports and demanded an urgent investigation.
Samri said Tariq had attacked police and resisted arrest. He was detained with a slingshot in his possession used to hurl stones at police, along with six other protesters, including some armed with knives, she said. Tariq's father said he witnessed his son's arrest and insisted that the boy was not involved in the violence, adding that several officers were hurt in that specific protest, one of many that dayUsing a combination of exome sequencing and linkage analysis, we investigated an English family with two affected siblings in their 40s with recessive Charcot-Marie Tooth disease type 2 (CMT2). Compound heterozygous mutations in the immunoglobulin-helicase-μ-binding protein 2 (IGHMBP2) gene were identified. Further sequencing revealed a total of 11 CMT2 families with recessively inherited IGHMBP2 gene mutations. IGHMBP2 mutations usually lead to spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1), where most infants die before 1 year of age. The individuals with CMT2 described here, have slowly progressive weakness, wasting and sensory loss, with an axonal neuropathy typical of CMT2, but no significant respiratory compromise. Segregating IGHMBP2 mutations in CMT2 were mainly loss-of-function nonsense in the 5′ region of the gene in combination with a truncating frameshift, missense, or homozygous frameshift mutations in the last exon. Mutations in CMT2 were predicted to be less aggressive as compared to those in SMARD1, and fibroblast and lymphoblast studies indicate that the IGHMBP2 protein levels are significantly higher in CMT2 than SMARD1, but lower than controls, suggesting that the clinical phenotype differences are related to the IGHMBP2 protein levels.
Main Text
1 Skre H. Genetic and clinical aspects of Charcot-Marie-Tooth’s disease. 2 Harel T.
Lupski J.R. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and pathways to molecular based therapies., 3 Reilly M.M.
Shy M.E. Diagnosis and new treatments in genetic neuropathies., 4 Saporta M.A.
Shy M.E. Inherited peripheral neuropathies., 5 Shy M.E. Inherited peripheral neuropathies., 6 Timmerman V.
Strickland A.V.
Züchner S. Genetics of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) Disease within the Frame of the Human Genome Project Success. 2 Harel T.
Lupski J.R. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and pathways to molecular based therapies., 3 Reilly M.M.
Shy M.E. Diagnosis and new treatments in genetic neuropathies., 4 Saporta M.A.
Shy M.E. Inherited peripheral neuropathies., 5 Shy M.E. Inherited peripheral neuropathies., 6 Timmerman V.
Strickland A.V.
Züchner S. Genetics of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) Disease within the Frame of the Human Genome Project Success., 7 Bombelli F.
Stojkovic T.
Dubourg O.
Echaniz-Laguna A.
Tardieu S.
Larcher K.
Amati-Bonneau P.
Latour P.
Vignal O.
Cazeneuve C.
et al. Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type 2A: From Typical to Rare Phenotypic and Genotypic Features., 8 Wee C.D.
Kong L.
Sumner C.J. The genetics of spinal muscular atrophies., 9 Shy M.E.
Patzkó A. Axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. 10 Timmerman V.
Clowes V.E.
Reid E. Overlapping molecular pathological themes link Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathies and hereditary spastic paraplegias., 11 Roberts R.C. The Charcot-Marie-Tooth diseases: how can we identify and develop novel therapeutic targets?. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder of the peripheral nervous system with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 2,500 individuals.Clinical manifestations of CMT include slowly progressive distal weakness, wasting, and sensory loss, which spreads proximally as the disease progresses. Clinically, CMT can be divided into two major phenotypic types: a demyelinating form (CMT type 1 [CMT1]) and an axonal form (CMT type 2 [CMT2]).Mutations in 15 unique genes have so far been identified as causing CMT2. Despite this significant progress, about 70% of people with CMT2 do not have a genetic diagnosis.The identification of the remaining CMT2 genes is expected to yield important insights into the disease pathways and pathophysiology associated with axonal degeneration. In addition, it is becoming evident that the phenotypic and genotypic intersection of CMT2 with related motor neuron disorders of axonal degeneration and other neuromuscular diseases is more extensive than previously thought, increasing the importance of gene identification and characterization in this area.
Table 2, Figure 1 Photographs of CMT2 Individuals with IGHMBP2 Mutations Show full caption (A) Legs and feet of family A, with individual II.1 also showing silicon ankle foot orthosis. (B) Hands of family A, individual II.1. (C) Left hand of family B, individual II.2. (D) Right foot of family B, individual II.1. (E) Trombone-shaped tongue of family A, individual II.1. (F) Left hand of family B, individual II.1. Figure 2 Morphological Appearances of the Sural Nerve Biopsy in the Individual with IGHMBP2 Mutation, Healthy Age-Matched Control and Individual with MFN2 Mutation Show full caption (A, D, and G) Sural nerve biopsy of a healthy age-matched control. (B, E, and H) Sural nerve biopsy of a patient with IGHMBP2 mutation. (C, F, and I) Sural nerve biopsy of an individual with known MFN2 mutation. Semithin resin sections stained with toluidine blue (A, healthy age-matched control; C, individual with known MFN2 mutation) and methylene blue azure–basic fuchsin (MBA-BF) (B, individual with IGHMBP2 mutation). When compared with the control (A), the biopsy of the individual with IGHMBP2 mutation (B) shows a moderate reduction in density of the large myelinated fibers, whereas the small myelinated fibers are well preserved and regeneration clusters is not a feature. In contrast, in the individual with MFN2 mutation (C), there is near complete loss of large fibers and severe widespread loss of small myelinated fibers. Ultrastructural assessment reveals occasional actively degenerating axonal profiles (E, red arrowhead) in the individual with IGHMBP2 mutation. In the individual with MFN2 mutation rare regeneration clusters are seen (F, brown arrowhead). The thickness and configuration of the myelin sheaths of remaining large (D and E, blue arrowheads) and small myelinated fibers (G, H, and I, green arrowheads) are similar to that seen in a healthy age-matched control. Scale bar represents 35 μm in (A)–(C) and 5 μm in (D)–(I). Table 1 List of IGHMBP2 Mutations Found in Individuals with Axonal Neuropathy Family Ethnicity Sex Diagnosis Age at Onset Current Age Protein Change Nucleotide Change A English Female CMT2 7 years 43 years p.Cys46∗ + p.Arg971Glufs∗4 c.138T>A + c.2911_2912delAG A English Female CMT2 6 years 40 years p.Cys46∗ + p.Arg971Glufs∗4 c.138T>A + c.2911_2912delAG B English Male CMT2 5 years 23 years p.Cys46∗ + p.Arg971Glufs∗4 c.138T>A + c.2911_2912delAG C Serbian Male CMT2 2 years 14 years p.Cys46∗ + p.Phe202Val c.138T>A + c.604T>G C Serbian Female CMT2 2 years 15 years p.Cys46∗ + p.Phe202Val c.138T>A + c.604T>G D Pakistani Female CMT2 + Down Syndrome 7 years 20 years p.Pro531Thr + p.Val580Ile c.1591C>A + c.1738G>A E Vietnamese Female CMT2 3 years 39 years p.Arg605∗ + p.His924YTyr c.1813C>T + c.2770C>T F English Male CMT2 4 years 15 years p.Ser80Gly + p.Cys496∗ c.238A>G + c.1488C>A G USA Female CMT2 6 years 10 years p.Trp386Arg + p.Arg971Glufs∗4 c.1156T>C + c.2911_2912delAG H Polish Female CMT2 4 years 28 years p.990_994del (Hom) c.2968_2980del (Hom) I Italian Female CMT2 1 years 12 years p.Val373Gly + p.Ala528Thr c.1118T>G + c.1582G>A I Italian Male CMT2 1 years 6 years p.Val373Gly + p.Ala528Thr c.1118T>G + c. 1582G>A J Korean Male CMT2 5 years 41 years p.Asn245Ser (Het) c.734A>G (Het) K English Male CMT2 7 years 20 years p.Arg605∗ (Het) + deletion c.1813C>T (Het) + deletion K English Female CMT2 10 years 18 years p.Arg605∗ (Het) + deletion c.1813C>T (Het) + deletion Hom, homozygous; Het, Heterozygous. Table 2 Electrophysiology Data for the Individuals with CMT2 Individual 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 11 14 15 Family no. A A B C C D E F G H I I J K K Sex/age (y) F/43 F/40 M/23 M/14 F/15 F/19 F/39 M/15 F/10 F/28 F/12 M/6 M/41 M/20 F/18 Ethnicity English English English Serbian Serbian Pakistani Vietnam English USA Polish Italian Italian Korean English English Age at first symptoms 7 years 6 years <5 years <2 years <2 years <10 years <3 years 4 years 6 years 4 years 1 years 1 years 5 years 7 years 10 years First symptoms Toe walking Toe walking Difficulty walking Delayed milestones Delayed walking hypotonia, foot drop Delayed milestones Foot drop Foot drop Hand weakness Limb weakness equino-varus Gait difficulty Foot drop Feet deformity Weakness a Weakness: N, normal; + > 4, distal muscles, ++ < 4, distal muscles, +++, proximal weakness (knee flexion and extension, elbow flexion and extension or above). UL +++ +++ ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ ++ N ++ +++ + + ++ + LL +++ +++ ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ ++ ++ +++ +++ ++ ++ ++ + Pinprick b Pinprick and vibration sensation: N, normal; +, reduced below wrist/ankle; ++, reduced below knee/elbow; +++, reduced at or above elbow/knee. UL N N + N N n/a N n/a N + + n/a + N N LL + N + N N n/a N n/a N n/a + n/a + N N Vibration c Reflexes: N, normal/present; ++, brisk; +++, brisk with extensor plantars; +/−, present with reinforcement; abs, absent; abs (AJ), absent ankle jerks only. UL N N N N N n/a N n/a N n/a n/a n/a ++ N N LL + N + N N n/a N n/a N n/a n/a n/a ++ N N Reflexes UL Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs n/a + +/− Abs abs abs N N LL Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs n/a Abs (AJ) Abs Abs abs abs AJ +/− Bulbar Rhomboid tongue Wasted tongue No No No Wasted tongue No n/a No No No No No No No Respiratory support No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Overall maximal function Independent ambulation Independent ambulation Independent ambulation n/a n/a Independent ambulation n/a n/a n/a n/a Independent ambulation Walking with stick Independent ambulation Independent ambulation Independent ambulation Walking aids AFO AFO (past) n/a WC WC WC WC since 16 AFO AFO WC WC since age 5 years Bilateral support AFO AFO+Crutches No AFO, ankle-foot orthosis; n/a, not available; LL, lower limbs; UL, upper limbs; WC, wheelchair. Table 3 Electrophysiology Data from the Individuals from Our CMT2 Cohort Individual 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 12 13 14 15 Family no. A A B C D D E I I J K K Age at examination (y) 17 25 16 20 13 7 32 7 1.5 40 12 10 Radial n. Sensory Amp 2 μV Abs Abs 13 μV NT NT n/a Abs n/a NT 16 μV n/a Sensory CV 50 m/s Abs Abs 69 m/s NT NT n/a Abs n/a NT 63 m/s n/a Median n. Motor DML NT Abs Abs 3.5 ms 5.1 ms 3.1 ms Abs Abs n/a 6 ms 2.8 ms 3.2 ms Motor Amp NT Abs Abs 5.7 mV 0.02 mV 2.8 mV Abs Abs n/a 0.7 mV 18.8 mV 21.8 mV Motor CV NT Abs Abs 46 m/s 30 m/s 42 m/s Abs Abs n/a 33.6 m/s 58 m/s 58 m/s Sensory Amp Abs Abs Abs 6 μV Abs 20 μV 2.2 uV Abs Abs Abs 32 μV 26 μV Sensory CV Abs Abs Abs 45 m/s Abs 49 m/s 59.8 m/s Abs Abs Abs 60 m/s 52 m/s Ulnar n. Motor DML 3.8 ms 3.3 ms 4.3 ms 3.5 ms NT NT Abs n/a n/a 3.1 2.8 ms 3.2 ms Motor Amp 0.8 mV 3.7 mV 5.7 mV 2.9 mV NT NT Abs n/a n/a 14.3 8.9 mV 12.8 mV Motor CV 51 m/s 51 m/s 45 m/s 46 m/s NT NT Abs n/a 55 m/s 41.1 58 m/s 62 m/s Sensory Amp NT Abs Abs Abs Abs 12 μV 2.0 uV n/a n/a Abs 16 μV 14 μV Sensory CV NT Abs Abs Abs Abs 48 m/s 50.3 m/s n/a n/a Abs 67 m/s 53 m/s Peroneal n. Motor DML NT Abs Abs NT NT Abs n/a Abs Abs Abs Abs 4.9 ms Motor Amp NT Abs Abs NT NT Abs n/a Abs Abs Abs Abs 4.6 mV Motor CV NT Abs Abs NT NT Abs n/a Abs Abs Abs Abs 51 m/s Tibial n. Motor DML 9.3 ms Abs Abs NT Abs Abs n/a n/a Abs Abs 6.3 ms 4.3 ms Motor Amp 0.08 mV Abs Abs NT Abs Abs n/a n/a Abs Abs 2 mV 8.2 mV Motor CV 34 m/s Abs Abs NT Abs Abs n/a n/a Abs Abs 46 m/s 50 m/s Sural n. Sensory Amp Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs n/a Abs Abs Abs 38 μV 35 μV Sensory CV Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs n/a Abs Abs Abs 59 m/s 49 m/s Abs, absent; NT, not tested. We initially studied a family where two siblings were affected with CMT2. The onset was in late childhood, with slowly progressive disease and parents that were clinically and electrically unaffected (family A). The proband is currently 43 (family A, individual 1) and her sister is 40 years of age (family A, individual 2), both work, are able to drive, and use a stick to walk with silicon ankle foot orthosis. Examination of the index case at 43 years of age revealed bilateral foot drop, distal weakness, and wasting in the upper and lower limbs, with mild proximal lower limb weakness ( Figure 1 ). Reflexes were absent and there was sensory loss in the feet and hands. Cranial nerves were normal apart from a trombone-shaped tongue ( Figure 1 ). There were no respiratory problems. Chest X-ray and sleep study was normal; nerve conduction studies and sural nerve biopsy indicated an axonal neuropathy ( Figure 2 ). Her sister had milder clinical features, and examination findings at the age of 40 years revealed bilateral foot drop, distal weakness, and wasting in the upper and lower limbs and areflexia. There were no respiratory problems and an axonal neuropathy was seen on nerve conduction studies ( Table 1 Table 3 ; see also Table S1 available online).
12 Sumner C.J.
d’Ydewalle C.
Wooley J.
Fawcett K.A.
Hernandez D.
Gardiner A.R.
Kalmar B.
Baloh R.H.
Gonzalez M.
Züchner S.
et al. A dominant mutation in FBXO38 causes distal spinal muscular atrophy with calf predominance. Known mutations in genes implicated in CMT2 were excluded by Sanger sequencing and whole-exome sequencing and linkage analysis were carried out, with informed consent and IRB ethics approval UCL/UCLH 99/N103. Exome sequencing was performed as previously describedusing the Agilent SureSelect kit and run on the Illumina HiSeq 2500. Sequences were aligned with the Burrows-Wheeler Aligner, duplicates were removed with Picard, indels aligned and base quality scores recalibrated with the Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK). The average sequencing depth was 55-fold with variants being filtered according to pathogenicity, inheritance pattern, and segregation in the family.
∗) and a 3′ frameshift mutation in the last exon of the gene (c.2911_2912delAG: p.Arg971Glufs∗4). The mother and father were heterozygous for the c.138T>A and c.2911_2912delAG mutations, respectively. These mutations were absent from the 1000 Genomes database (healthy controls) and our in-house exome database of 480 clinically and neuropathologically normal controls. Mutations in IGHMBP2 have previously been associated with a different phenotype, spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1 [MIM: 604320]), a devastating neuromuscular disorder with muscle weakness and atrophy severely affecting the diaphragm. 13 Bertini E.
Gadisseux J.L.
Palmieri G.
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Lyon G. Distal infantile spinal muscular atrophy associated with paralysis of the diaphragm: a variant of infantile spinal muscular atrophy., 14 Grohmann K.
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et al. Mutations in the gene encoding immunoglobulin mu-binding protein 2 cause spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1., 15 Grohmann K.
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et al. Infantile spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1)., 16 Kaindl A.M.
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et al. Mutations in the gene encoding immunoglobulin mu-binding protein 2 cause spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1., 17 Grohmann K.
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Sendtner M. Characterization of Ighmbp2 in motor neurons and implications for the pathomechanism in a mouse model of human spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1). 14 Grohmann K.
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Ouvrier R.
et al. Mutations in the gene encoding immunoglobulin mu-binding protein 2 cause spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1., 15 Grohmann K.
Varon R.
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Bushby K.
Muntoni F.
Ouvrier R.
Van Maldergem L.
et al. Infantile spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1)., 16 Kaindl A.M.
Guenther U.P.
Rudnik-Schöneborn S.
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von Au K.J. Spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1)., 17 Grohmann K.
Rossoll W.
Kobsar I.
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Jablonka S.
Wessig C.
Stoltenburg-Didinger G.
Fischer U.
Hübner C.
Martini R.
Sendtner M. Characterization of Ighmbp2 in motor neurons and implications for the pathomechanism in a mouse model of human spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1)., 18 Rudnik-Schöneborn S.
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Zerres K. Long-term observations of patients with infantile spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1)., 19 Jędrzejowska M.
Madej-Pilarczyk A.
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et al. Severe phenotypes of SMARD1 associated with novel mutations of the IGHMBP2 gene and nuclear degeneration of muscle and Schwann cells., 20 van der Heijde D.
Calin A.
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Bellamy N.J. Selection of instruments in the core set for DC-ART, SMARD, physical therapy, and clinical record keeping in ankylosing spondylitis. Progress report of the ASAS Working Group. Assessments in Ankylosing Spondylitis., 21 Guenther U.P.
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If she met someone she liked, Jenny says she would happily stop the meter running.
"I'd definitely be open to transitioning from being a rented friend to a regular friend, but I haven't met anyone I like enough to do that yet," she says.
"I guess some people who use the site are losers and maybe disconnected from a regular social life, but most people I've met seem normal. In a big city like New York it's not always easy to meet people," she says.
Rentafriend is the brainchild of Scott Rosenbaum. He got the idea after reading about similar websites in Asia, where people would hire someone to take to a work or family event.
Deeper feelings
In transplanting the idea to North America, he decided to make it more of a friendship-cum-social networking site, designed to take advantage of the fact that nowadays people often live far away from where they grew up and work long hours, leaving limited time to meet new people.
Regular friend-renter Chris Barton, 31, lives in Las Vegas and travels a lot for his job as an on-site trainer: "The friends I rent don't feel like real friends, more like acquaintances or workmates "I don't feel like I'm lacking in friends, but when I go to a new place I want someone who knows it to show me around. In Vegas a lot of my friends work in casinos, so they are just going to work when I'm coming home. "I'm a social guy. I don't want to go to dinner or the movies alone, so I get on the site and find someone new to hang with."
After starting in America and Canada, Rentafriend is now in countries as far afield as China, Chile, Israel, India and Italy. A UK site was launched earlier this year. Rosenbaum says there are an estimated 285,000 friends available for rent worldwide on his sites, and 2,600 paid members.
It is not, he insists, a form of escort or dating service, something which is explicitly stated on the site. But by getting people to pay for friendship, aren't you just exploiting their insecurities?
"No, we are helping people," says Mr Rosenbaum. "As the internet has replaced face-to-face time, there are a lot of people out there who want to get out and socialise with new people but it has got harder to meet people."
While it is free to become a friend and advertise your social services on the site, anyone wanting to rent a friend must pay $24.95 a month (about £17 in the UK) or $69.95 a year (£47) to become a member.
Some friends offer their services for free, while others charge anything from $10 to $50 an hour, plus all expenses incurred on the friend "date".
So what do the sites say about our changing attitudes to friendship?
"With new technology, we've expanded the definition of friendship," says Keith Campbell, a professor of psychology at the University of Georgia, who has conducted studies on the changing nature of human relationships.
'It's destroying friendship' 'Friend' has become a word we use unthinkingly and it's almost ruined as a result. It started before we had 'friends' on Facebook whom we've never met. But the abuse of this crucial part of human existence surely sinks even lower with the notion that you can rent a friend. Friendship must be based on gift. You'll do something for a friend happy to receive nothing in return - though, of course, you'll receive much. But if you call someone a friend, in that call-centre kind of way, even as you're doing the cost-benefit analysis, then you're undermining it, and undoing yourself. You can have everything in life, Aristotle thought, but if you have no true friend, it'll be no life at all. That's the risk we run: destroying friendship by making friends service providers. Mark Vernon, author of The Meaning of Friendship
"You just need to look at Facebook where people have hundreds, even thousands of friends. They are not true friendships as defined in the past."
Though they might offer the benefits of convenience and efficiency, some question the effects on your self esteem of paying people to spend time with you.
"A rent-a-friend is an oxymoron, friendship is something which by its very nature is nurtured and deepens over time," says psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert. "I can't imagine it feels good to know that you are paying by the hour.
"There are so many more natural ways to meet people - through a dance class, church, cookery or language classes. This is for someone who values time, convenience and efficiency perhaps at the expense of deeper, more genuine relationships."
In Manhattan, some "friends" rent themselves out like personal assistants to do tasks like collecting laundry or walking the dog. Others are a hired shoulder to cry on.
Jenny Tam has her own rules.
"If it feels like work to hang out with someone or like I'm their shrink then I'd definitely need to get well paid. But I haven't met anyone that boring yet."Year Date Event
1903 Aceh declared conquered.[64]
1904 Van Heutz becomes Governor General.[64] Kartini established a school for women in Rembang, just like Dewi Sartika, she was considered as the pioneer of women's rights in Indonesia.
16 January Dewi Sartika established the first school for women in Dutch East Indies in Bandung, she was considered as the pioneer of women's rights in Indonesia.
1906 The Dutch intervention in Bali (1906) destroyed the southern Bali kingdom of Badung and Tabanan.
1912 Islamic League (Sarekat Islam) becomes the first mass-based nationalist party.[64]
First scientific description ever of Komodo dragon by Peter Ouwens.
18 November The modernist Islamic organization Muhammadiyah was established by Ahmad Dahlan in Yogyakarta.
1914 World War I breaks out; the Netherlands is a neutral country in the war.[64]
1917 East Indies trade with Europe cut off by the war. Russian Revolution[64]
1918 Tirto Adhi Suryo dies.[64]
1919 May Mt Kelud in East Java erupts with a deathtoll of around 5,000 people.
1925 Birth of Pramoedya Ananta Toer. A sharp rise in world commodity prices brings prosperity to the Indies.[64]
1926 31 January Nahdlatul Ulama was established by Hasyim Asy'ari as the reaction to the modernist Muhammadiyah organization.
1929 Great Depression in America.[64] affected the economy of Dutch East Indies.
1930 Sukarno's famous nationalist speech, 'Indonesia Accuses', given as defence in his political trial.[66]
1941 8 December Netherlands declared war on Japan.[67]
1945 28 May First meeting of the Investigatory Commission for Indonesian Independence.[68]
1 June Sukarno's Pancasila speech[68]
16 July Draft of constitution for the Republic completed.[68]
August Republican government established in Jakarta and constitution adopted. Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) established.
August Euphoria of revolution spreads across the country, while local Japanese commanders and their troops often abandoned urban areas to avoid confrontation. Many discreetly allowed Indonesian youths to acquire arms. Republican youths take over infrastructure facilities in large Javan cities and mass pro-Republic rallies are held. (to September)
3 November Vice President Hatta proclaims right of the people to form political parties.
1946 Social revolutions, including the Three Regions (Tiga Daerah) Revolt.[66]
Federal states, including the State of East Indonesia are set up by Dutch in the outer islands.[66]
1947 25 March Linggadjati Agreement, first ceasefire.[66]
20 July Major Dutch military offensive to resolve differences by force.[66]
1948 Darul Islam rebellions begin in West Java, spread to other provinces but conclude with the execution of its leader Kartosoewiryo.[70] (to 1962)
19 January Renville Agreement establishes the Van Mook line between Republican and Dutch held territories.[66]
August Fall of Amir Syarifuddin government[66] largely from Renville Agreement fallout.
18 September Madiun Affair: Nationalist leaders launch a revolt in Central Java in an attempt to take over the Revolution but are suppressed by Communist troops.[66]
19 December Dutch undertake second military offensive capturing Republican capital at Yogyakarta and most of the Republican cabinet. Amir Syarifuddin executed by fleeing Republicans.[66]
1949 February Tan Malaka executed by Republican Army.[66]
1 August Official ceasefire.[66]
1950 Military articulation of doctrines Dwifungsi and Hankamrata: a military role in sociopolitical development as well as security; a requirement that the resources of the people be at the call of the armed forces.[71] (to 1960)
29 January General Sudirman, commander of Indonesia's armed forces, dies aged 34
25 April The Republic of South Moluccas (RMS) is proclaimed in Ambon
17 August Following RUSI endorsement of a new constitution, the federation is dissolved and Sukarno proclaims a unitary state, the 'Republic of Indonesia'.[66]
6 September The first cabinet of the unitary state is established. It is led by Prime Minister Mohammad Natsir.[72]
27 September Indonesia becomes the 60th member of the United Nations.[72]
1951 21 March The Natsir cabinet falls[73]
26 April The composition of the new cabinet is announced. The new Prime Minister is Dr. Sukiman Wirjosanjojo.[72]
1952 25 February Amid bitter disputes over the signing of a Mutual Security Agreement with the US, the Sukiman cabinet resigns.[73]
3 April The new cabinet, led by Prime Minister Wilopo is inaugurated.[72]
17 October Army-organized demonstrations take place in Jakarta to demand the dissolution of the legislature. Tank guns and machine guns are trained on the presidential palace.[73] This leads to the suspension of General Nasution as army chief of staff following army indiscipline over command and support that threatens the government.[70]
1953 2 June The Wilopo cabinet resigns.[73]
31 July After lengthy negotiations, the composition of the new cabinet is announced. Serving his first term as prime minister is Ali Sastroamidjojo.[73]
1955 March Regional rebellions in Sumatra and Sulawesi. (to August 1961)
24 March The second cabinet to be led by Muhammed Ali takes office.[72]
24 July After a dispute with the Army over appointments, the cabinet resigns.[73]
12 August Led by Prime Minister Burhanuddin Harahap, the new cabinet is sworn in.[72]
29 September Indonesia holds general parliamentary elections;[66] the last free national elections until 1999; support for the parties is widely distributed with four parties each gaining 16–22 per cent and the remaining votes split between 24 parties.[71]
15 December Elections are held for the Constitutional Assembly[73]
1956 3 March The cabinet falls as a result of its policy toward the Dutch.[73]
3 May Indonesia unilaterally abrogates the Round Table Agreement signed with the Dutch in 1949.[72]
1 December Hatta resigns as vice-president.[72]
1957 21 February President Sukarno announces his "Conception" (Konsepsi) of the nature of Indonesia. This will eventually lead to Guided Democracy[72][73]
March Regional rebellions in Sumatra and Sulawesi.[71] (to August 1961)
14 March Martial law is proclaimed. On the same day, the cabinet resigns.[73]
9 April Sukarno appoints a "Working Cabinet" with Djuanda as prime minister.[72]
30 November An attempt is made to assassinate President Sukarno. Grenades are thrown at him as he visits a school in Cikini, Jakarta.[72]
1959 5 July With armed forces support, Sukarno issues a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly and reintroducing the Constitution of 1945 with strong presidential powers, and assumes the additional role of Prime Minister, which completes the structure of 'Guided Democracy'.[71]
10 July President Sukarno appoints a "Working Cabinet" with himself as prime minister.[74]
1960 18 February President Sukarno reshuffles the cabinet and appoints the second "Working Cabinet".[74]
24 June The House of Representatives-Mutual cooperation (DPR-GR), composed of members chosen by President Sukarno is established.[72]
17 August Indonesia severs diplomatic links with the Netherlands in protest over its refusal to hand over Netherlands New Guinea.[72]
30 September President Sukarno addresses the United Nations General Assembly.[72]
1961 4 March An agreement is signed in Jakarta with the Soviet Union to buy arms with long term loans.[72]
17 August Building officially starts on the Monas National Monument in the center of Jakarta.[72]
1962 2 January The Mandala Command to "free" Western (Netherlands) New Guinea from the Dutch is established. Its commander is Brigadier General Suharto.[72]
15 January Deputy chief of staff of the Indonesian Navy Commodore Yos Sudarso is killed in a Dutch air attack on the motor torpedo boat (MTB) force he is commanding.[72]
8 March President Sukarno again reshuffles his cabinet.[74]
15 August The New York Agreement, transferring Western New Guinea to Indonesia, is signed at the United Nations.[72]
24 August Jakarta hosts the Fourth Asian Games.[72] (to 4 September)
1963 Sole years of American Peace Corps program in Indonesia.[71]
Sukarno leads the Konfrontasi campaign against the newly created Malaysia.[66][71] (to 1965)
18 May Parliament elects Sukarno 'President-for-life'.[71]
27 July Sukarno declares Indonesian policy to oppose the creation of Malaysia which incorporate North Borneo, marking the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation.
18 September Following demonstrations in Jakarta to protest at the creation of Malaysia, the British Embassy is burned by a mob.[72]
13 November President Sukarno conducts the final reshuffle of the "Working Cabinet".[72]
1964 17 August During his Independence Day speech, Sukarno for the first time publicly denounce the United States, and over the following months an anti-American campaign attacked American interests.
27 August President Sukarno appoints the Dwikora Cabinet
1965 7 January Indonesia withdraws from membership of the UN.[71][76]
14 January The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) calls for workers and peasants to be armed.[76]
11 April The Third Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly is held in Bandung.[76] (to 16 April)
26 May Foreign Minister Subandrio reports to President Sukarno the existence of the Gilchrist Document, a letter purporting to be from the British ambassador which discusses western military involvement in Indonesia.[76]
30 September An abortive coup in Jakarta results in the murder of six army generals, and disposal of bodies at Lubang Buaya.[71]
October A violent anti-communist purge leads to the killing of approximately 1/2 million Indonesians.[71] (to March 1966)
1 October A counter-coup led by General Suharto that leads to the Overthrow of Sukarno
14 October President Sukarno appoints Major General Suharto Minister/Commander of the Army.[76]
16 October The Jakarta Military Command temporarily suspends the activities of the PKI and its organizations in the Jakarta region.[76]
13 December The rupiah is devalued by a factor of 1,000 in an effort to control inflation.[76]
1966 10 January Anti-communist organizations grouped under the Pancasila Front issue the "Three Demands of the People" (Tritura), namely the dissolution of the PKI, the cleansing of the cabinet of elements involved in 30 September Movement, and lower prices and economic improvements.[76]
14 February The Extraordinary Military Court trials of people allegedly involved in 30 September Movement begin.[76]
24 February President Sukarno reshuffles his cabinet, creating what becomes known as the "cabinet of 100 ministers".[76]
11 March Sukarno delegates key presidential powers to Suharto by signing the Supersemar. The following day Suharto dissolves the Indonesian Communist Party.[71][77]
18 March A total of 14 cabinet ministers are taken into "protective custody".[76]
2 May Following large scale demonstrations, the leadership of the Mutual-Assistance House of Representatives (DPR-GR) is replaced.[76]
20 June The Fourth Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly is held in Jakarta. It raises the status of the Supersemar into a decree, meaning Sukarno cannot revoke it, bans the PKI and its teachings and rejects President Sukarno's accountability speech.[76] (to 5 July)
11 August Indonesia and Malaysia agree to normalize diplomatic relations.[76]
28 September Indonesia rejoins the United Nations.[76]
1967 10 January New investment laws designed to bring in foreign capital are passed; restrictions are introduced regarding status of Indonesian Chinese, their names and their religions.[71][76]
22 February In a ceremony at the presidential palace, Sukarno hands over authority to Suharto.[76]
7 March A Special Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly strips Sukarno of his powers and appoints Suharto acting president.[76] (to 12 March)
8 August ASEAN established in Bangkok by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.[78]
1 October Diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China are suspended.[76]
1968 Soedjatmoko is Indonesian ambassador to the United States; bilateral relations warm.[71] (to 1971)
March Parliament confers full presidential title on Suharto; Sukarno is under effective house arrest.[71]
1969 Papuan representatives agree to join Indonesia in the Act of Free Choice.[71]
1970 Nurcholish Madjid, a young Muslim modernist, begins to lay out religious developmental principles for Indonesia—'Islam, yes; Islamic party, no'.[71]
21 June Sukarno dies.[77] He is buried at Blitar, East Java.[71]
1971 Suharto's wife inspired by a visit to Disneyland, conceives a national cultural theme park.[79]
3 July Indonesia's second parliamentary election and the first under the New Order is held. Golkar wins an outright majority.[76]
1973 Government forces fusion of political parties; Nationalist and Christian parties are merged into the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Muslim parties into the United Development Party (PPP). The new three party system is dominated by Golkar.[79]
1974 The 'Malari' uprising in Jakarta against Japanese penetration of the economy, Chinese Indonesian influence, and official corruption.[79]
April Civil war breaks out in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.[79]
6 December U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger, returning from China, make a hastily rescheduled one-day visit to Jakarta.[79]
7 December Indonesia launches an invasion of East Timor.[77]
1976 March General Ibnu Sutowo is 'dismissed with honour' after a decade as head of Pertamina, the state oil corporation.[79]
8 July Palapa A1, Indonesia's first communication satellite launched from Cape Canaveral.[80]
17 July Suharto signs a bill integrating East Timor into Indonesia as its 27th province.[79]
19 November UN General Assembly rejects Indonesia's annexation of East Timor.[79]
1977 The United States surpasses Japan as Indonesia's biggest oil customer.[79]
October Sawito Kartowibowo's trial for'subversion' begins.[79]
1978 The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) elevates Pancasila to the status of compulsory moral education of youth and government officials.[79] Suharto appoints B.J. Habibie as state minister for research and technology.[79]
22 February Suharto inaugurated Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta, the Indonesian national mosque.[81]
1979 21 September Jakarta host the 10th SEA Games, it was the first time Indonesia host Southeast Asian Games. (to 30 September)
December Writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer is released after fourteen years imprisonment with hard labour on Buru Island.[79]
1980 May The Petition of Fifty—a statement of concern to parliament about the use of government power, propaganda, and presidential personality cult—is begun.[79]
1982 The height of Petrus ('mysterious shootings') of thousands of suspected criminals by government security forces.[77][79] (to 1983)
1983 Prabowo Subianto, then a major in ABRI marries Suharto's daughter Titiek at Taman Mini.[79]
1984 12 September Muslim concerned protesting over alleged insensitivities to Islam at Tanjung Priok; a riot ensues resulting in many deaths. Clamp down on Islamic political leaders.[77]
December Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) is elected chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama a position previously held by both his father and grandfather.[79]
1985 The Indonesian government require all organisations of any kind to adopt Pancasila as their sole basis.[79]
1987 Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri becomes a member of parliament; Suharto prohibits display of images of Sukarno although they appear frequently nonetheless.[82]
9 September Jakarta host the 14th SEA Games. (to 20 September)
1988 Suharto is elected to a fifth term as president.,[82] Lilies Handayani, Nurfitriyana Saiman and Kusuma Wardhani won Indonesia's first medal in Olympic Games, a silver medal for women's team archery in 1988 Summer Olympics Seoul.
1989 The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) reemerges following its 1976 founding; suppression of its guerilla activities leads to 2,000 deaths by 1991 in Aceh.[82]
1991 Indonesia wins presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement.[82]
12 November ABRI troops fire on demonstrative funeral procession in Dili, East Timor. TV images of the killings put East Timor high on the international human rights agenda.[82]
1992 Suharto successfully defies Dutch efforts to link human rights to aid administered since 1967 by the International Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI).[82] Susi Susanti won Indonesia's first Olympic gold medal in 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.[83]
East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmão is captured by Brigadier General Theo Syafei and is tried and sentenced.[82] (to 1993)
1993 Suharto seeks a sixth term and is easily re-elected.[82]
1994 June Suharto shuts down Tempo and two other publications for critical reporting of Habibie's purchase of the former East German navy.[82]
1996 The Free Papua Movement (OPM) kidnaps fourteen scientists and foresters in Iran Jaya garnering international attention. After four months, the abductees are rescued in a bloody operation led by Prabowo.[82]
April Ibu Tien Suharto, the president's wife of 48 years, dies of a heart attack.[82]
July Military-backed thugs burst into headquarters of PDI, Megawati's party, and evict her supporters in a violent climax to government efforts to vitiate her party's popularity.[82]
1997 Severe social unrest breaks out across Indonesian cities against Chinese Indonesians, Christians, symbols of wealth, the police and bureaucracy.[82] (to 1998)
February Alarmed at a dukun's prediction that 'the nail of Java has come loose', Suharto commands a massive Ruwat Dunia ceremony ('Cleansing of the world') near Borobudur.[82]
June Pacific Ocean trade winds shift heralding the onset of the El Niño; severe drought across much of Indonesia follows in the ensuing months accompanied by highly destructive forest fires.[82]
July The collapse of the Thai baht starts the East Asian financial crisis and over the ensuing months Indonesia is the country hardest hit.[82]
11 October Jakarta host the 19th SEA Games. (to 19 October)
1998 March Largely peaceful student demonstrations against the regime rise to national prominence.[84]
11 March Suharto unanimously elected by the MPR to his seventh presidential term.[84]
12 May Four student demonstrators at Trisakti University are shot dead by bullets unproven but thought likely to have been from army sources.[84]
13 May Memorial services for killed students leads to riots; vandalism, arson, looting and rape by roving mobs which continue unchecked by security forces for two days leaving 1,200 dead.[84]
20 May For National Awakening Day, Amien Rais pledges to bring a million protestors into the streets to demonstrate against at the National Monument in Jakarta. Faced with barbed wire and massed troops he calls off the rally fearing bloodshed.[84]
21 May After being deserted by his cabinet, Suharto resigns the presidency. Habibie assumes presidency.[84]
August General Wiranto announces the discharge of Lieutenant General Prabowo from active duty, with full pension benefits—and without court-martial for allegations of abduction and torture of student activist (some of whom remain missing as of 2003).[84]
10 November Megawati, Rais, and the sultan of Yogya, meet at Wahid's home in Ciganjur, and issue a series of statements including a demand for the military to end their role in politics within six years.[84]
13 November On the last day of the MPR sessions, soldiers open fire on demonstrating students killing at least fifteen and injuring hundreds.[84]
1999 19 January A petty argument between in the city of Ambon triggers Christian-Muslim clashes that last for three years across Maluku. As many as 10,000 are killed and 700,000 or one third of the region are displaced.[84]
7 June Indonesia's first free and fair national elections since 1955 take place with almost no disruption and wide participation. Votes however are distributed across forty-eight parties with no party achieving a majority.[84]
September East Timor votes to secede from Indonesia in a referendum conducted under UN auspices. Four-fifths of voters choose independence for East Timor over integration with Indonesia. Pro-integration militias trained and paid by ABRI immediately resort to a scorched earth policy that leaves 1,000 dead and most of the territory's infrastructure ruined.[84]
13 September President Habibie relents to international pressure and allows a UN peacekeeping force known as 'INTERFET' to enter East Timor and restore order.[84]
October The Indonesian parliament rejects President Habibie's accountability speech. Wahid whose party received one eighth of the popular vote is elected president by the MPR. Megawati whose party received one third of the vote (the highest) is elected vice president.[85]
2000 President Wahid's administration is marred by failures to stabilise the economy, patterns of political favouritism, economic corruption (although Wahid himself is not accused of corruption), inability to reform the military, personal eccentricity and pettiness, ineffectiveness in dealing with major religious violence in Maluku and Sulawesi, major ethnic violence (Dayaks vs. Madurese) in Kalimantan, and separatisms in Aceh and Irian Jaya.[85]This is absolutely devastating! Former ‘Survivor: Gabon’ contestant Dan Kay shockingly died on Dec. 31 and we couldn’t be more heartbroken over his unexpected death.
Survivor: Gabon‘s Dan Kay, 40, unexpectedly died on Dec. 31, leaving behind his two little ones, Reese Elizabeth and Jackson “Jax” Russell-Reid, his girlfriend, Jennifer DePietro, mother, Jean-Ann, and sister, Andrea. We feel absolutely horrible for his family who is suffering through the shock of this loss.
Dan was an attorney from Brookline, New Hampshire, who earned his bachelor’s degree from UMass-Amherst and his law degree from Syracuse University. He decided to go out for Survivor because of his, “desire to be challenged and his quest for adventure.” What an inspiring way to live your life!
During his time on Survivor: Gabon, Dan shared with viewers that he had been an “athletic kid growing up.” He was the eighth person voted off that season, which aired in fall 2008. Appearing on the reality survival show is no easy feat and it is so amazing that Dan was able to make it that far!
I just heard the very sad news about the sudden loss of Dan Kay of Survivor: Gabon. The Survivor family sends our love to Dan's family. — Jeff Probst (@JeffProbst) January 4, 2017
He also seemed to have made a real impression on the show’s production crew, as Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst took to Twitter on Jan. 3 to tweet out his feelings on Dan’s death after he heard the news of his passing. “I just heard the very sad news about the sudden loss of Dan Kay of Survivor: Gabon. The Survivor family sends our love to Dan’s family,” Jeff tweeted.
Dan’s hobbies were “running, skiing, listening to music, and attending Crossway Christian Church,” according to his obituary from the Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory. It seems that Dan truly had an active and fulfilling life in so many ways. Our thoughts and prayers are with Dan’s family and friends at this time.
HollywoodLifers, leave your condolences for Dan’s family and friends below.President Obama plans to legalize millions of illegal immigrants by granting refugee status to people coming to the U.S. unlawfully from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador even though they shouldn’t qualify, according to a prominent black conservative, who warns that the president’s strategy will have a devastating impact on workers in the black community.
“It’s been leaking out for quite a while and they’ve already announced their plans in terms of numbers of refugees they’re allowing in, even though they’re already over that number,” said Joe Hicks, co-founder of Community Advocates Inc., a Los Angeles-based think tank. He is also a former executive director of the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and is a member of the Project 21 black leadership network.
According to the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service within the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. law defines a refugee as someone “located outside the United States,” has “special humanitarian concern,” “demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear prosecution” and “is admissible to the United States.” Hicks said people from Latin America may be in dire straits but don’t meet that criteria, and Obama’s efforts to unilaterally change the criteria “turns the whole notion of refugee on its head.
“Prior to Obama, the notion of a refugee was someone who was fleeing war or some similar kind of circumstance in their home countries. No doubt, there are very bad conditions in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, as it is in Mexico and in much of central and South America,” he said.
“But as long as I can remember … those nations were experiencing poverty and violence, but not from wars,” Hicks noted. “These are endemic to those nations’ cultures. So to claim that this is some new rationale to allow these immigrants to stay in the country based on a refugee status makes no sense because those nations have always had conditions of poverty and gang activity.”
Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Joe Hicks:
If Obama were to go through with designating millions of illegal immigrants as refugees, they could well be on the path to citizenship. Hicks argued against blanket amnesty for an an entire nation or region of the world.
“There is no automatic right to come to this country as a refugee. We have to make the determination. The government and the proper authorities have to look at all of these cases and determine if, or if they do not, measure up to prior standards, which have normally been held almost as international standards of what a refugee is,” said Hicks, who argues the flood of young people illegally crossing the border came prepared to appeal for refugee status.
“These kids coming across the border (are) virtually reading from a script to border agents because they know the proper language to use. ‘We’re fleeing poverty and violence.’ Those were the two words they would routinely use,” he explained. “They’ve been put in detention and in some cases resettled all across the country. So it really does make a mockery out of the process.”
Hicks also studies the impact that the cheap labor provided by these illegal immigrants will have on the U.S. economy. He said young and low-skilled black workers are already hardest hit in this economy, and Obama’s plan would make things far worse.
“Black low-skilled workers and black workers in general continue to be affected by the recession. They suffered longer and deeper under this recession. Their unemployment numbers are still above the norm by a fairly disproportionate level,” said Hicks, arguing that illegals already have a leg up on American citizens on the job front.
“There are parts of this country where you can go into fast-food restaurants where there is a high percentage of Latino illegal labor available. You simply cannot find a black kid working in a fast-food restaurant,” he said. “Go on a construction site in many parts of this country. You can’t find black workers working at those sites because Latino workers have simply depressed the wages.”
Hicks said Obama granting refugee status to millions who shouldn’t qualify for it will only lead to more frustration among black workers.
“Yes, they will be harmed,” he said. “Project 21’s view is that will not be something that most black workers welcome if five to 15 million new illegal aliens are made legal by the stroke of the pen by this president.”
Only 31 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of the immigration issue. Some think he’s going much too far while others are frustrated he’s not moving faster or being aggressive enough. The number is not likely to get any better as Obama delays his executive action.
But Hicks said the president’s lack of action should not be interpreted as Obama being rudderless on the issue.
“I don’t think he’s confused,” he said. “I think he knows exactly what he’s trying to do, and he’s doing it for political reasoning. I think a lot of Americans will be outraged that he didn’t simply bring his argument before the people, in this case before Congress, and make his best case to try to get Congress to act. Presidents are not like a child. You don’t always get everything you want.”Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth…
This little stanza seems to fully encompass the whole of the Philosophy of Individual Will.
Some philosophers may look at me with bewilderment or skepticism in making a claim, but I proudly embrace the thought that Will is a single thought that stretches all of history, a road, and it diverges into two paths. Will of the individual has been touched upon by every ancient, most modernist, and quite a few post-modernist and is the staple of all philosophy.
The Will of the Individual is quite simple: Happiness.
The Greeks called this idea Eudaimonia, the good spirit that drives Man. What is it that dives Man to want; makes Man seek and strain; makes Him forsake comfort and familiarity; drives Him to abandon all the leisure and wealth of society and inheritance, to go after it? What is this thing? It is happiness, and it represents itself in Man, as a manifestation of what is Objective, what is True; and Man spends its whole life trying to find this. The dirt road, that is the Will of Man, is the pursuit of Happiness.
Many of the Ancient Philosophers touched on this subject in their works. For the Stoics this goal of achieving happiness was obtained by walking off the path and lying with a rock around one’s waste in the riverbed, and being content as the waters of change rushed over His body; for the Hedonist, this was best met by enjoying each pleasure, large or small, as they came to Him on a stone or crystal platter; Cynics saw rejection of the flesh as a means of achieving happiness, because flesh kept one from doing good and seeking truth. Plato speaks at great length to the fact of Happiness as the Will but doesn’t speak much to achieving it. It was Aristotle that took up the task of further explaining platonic thought on the Will as being an end-in-itself, and that by doing good and seeking truth, one is happy. So, for the most part the ancients, instead of walking down the path that leads to happiness, they made well with the starting line or by running in the opposite direction.
The early church and the medievalist felt that the best place to find happiness, was on our Knees, in service and study to God, and to allow His truth to overwhelm us with submission and good actions.
Montaigne saw Happiness as climbing the nearest tree and enjoying the view, while Schopenhauer thought it best to bury one’s head in the dirt. Kant asked us to set happiness aside if duty required it, and Bentham would have us cut down Montaigne’s perch for firewood. The Moderns didn’t have any more of a consensus than the Ancients on what it meant to be happy, or how one achieved it.
Even today there are speculations of what it means for one to be happy. Robert Nozick rejects the notion that pleasure is equivalent to happiness. Carol Ryff says it is six-tiered; to be autonomous, self-worthy, to have growth in one’s own eyes, positive relationships with others, the mastery of one’s environment, and to define purpose for one’s life. Jonathan Haidt suggests that happiness is subjectively met when one feels transcended beyond His own experience and condition (the God experience).
Many others have and will speculate what exactly happiness consist of, and I wont hinder them from achieving a more coherent and realistic definitive, but it also doesn’t matter much for what I would like to point out in this blog. As I said the road is man’s will to achieve happiness, and while there may be overlapping thoughts on how to best reach happiness, even similar terrain and altitude, there are but two paths to take on this road:
The path of Liberty, and The path of Power.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The road less travelled is the path of Liberty; the path that takes more effort, and leaves the wanderer with bad joints and tore up ligaments. This path looks enticing at first, most wander down it without much inclination |
,128,486 in 2018)[30] to set up a fund to recognise the contribution of merchant mariners in World War I.[31]
Death [ edit ]
His health declined in the 1930s, following a diagnosis of diabetes, which worsened in early 1936, when the illness resulted in amputation of part of his right leg. He returned to Britain a few months later, settling in a small house on the Wirral across the River Mersey from Liverpool. J. Bruce Ismay died in Mayfair, London on 17 October 1937, of a stroke at the age of 74.[2] His funeral was held on 21 October 1937, and he is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery, London.[32] After his death, his wife, Florence Schieffelin, renounced her British subject status in order to restore her American citizenship on 14 November 1949. Julia Florence Ismay, née Schieffelin, died 31 December 1963, aged 96, in Kensington, London.
Portrayals [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Citations
Sources
Chirnside, Mark (2004). The Olympic-Class Ships. Stroud, England: Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-2868-0.
Piouffre, Gérard (2009). Le Titanic ne répond plus (in French). Larousse. ISBN 978-2-263-02799-4.
Further reading [ edit ]Foreign Affairs
Egypt’s Coptic Christians frequently accuse state security, police, and the military of overlooking Muslim attacks on Christians and their places of worship, especially monasteries and churches. The Western mainstream media often ignores these accusations, or mentions them in passing as “unsubstantiated reports.” Last weekend’s assault on the St. Mark Cathedral — unprecedented in significance — was no different, except for the fact that there are many pictures demonstrating governmental complicity.
To recap: After last Sunday’s St. Mark Cathedral funeral service for Egypt’s most recent Christian victims of jihad — including one man set aflame by Muslims chanting “Allahu Akbar!” — more Muslims attacked the Christian mourners, resulting in the deaths of two more Copts, including one shot through the heart.
In response, hundreds of Christians retreated back into their cathedral — both to get out of harm’s way, and to protect their holiest site. They were trapped there all night, enduring projectile and firebomb attacks from the mob. State security also opened fire on the cathedral, including through tear-gas.
Several Egyptian media outlets and newspapers, especially the popular Youm7, recently published a variety of pictures showing these mobs, if not terrorists, attacking the cathedral in front of absolutely indifferent, possibly approving, security forces. The mainstream media has not shown any of these pictures.
Click here to view them, along with my commentary.
Raymond Ibrahim is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians. He is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.Spain: First case filed against HPV vaccine manufacturers and health authorities
By Alicia Capilla (President of AAVP)
AAVP, together with law firm Almodóvar & Jara, filed the first of a long series of lawsuits for damages caused by HPV vaccines. The complaint is filed in the High Court against health authorities and vaccine manufacturers.
The process of trying to find justice now begins for one of the Valencian girls who suffered an adverse reaction after the second shot of Gardasil in 2009. Spanish families whose lives have been adversely impacted by HPV vaccines have organized as the Association of Affected People by HPV Vaccine (AAVP www.aavp.es) to assist others in similar circumstances.
The well documented lawsuit is based on violations of the fundamental right to informed consent prior to medical interventions which all citizens have.
Parents whose daughters are vaccinated with Gardasil are not informed beforehand of the possible risks their daughters may suffer, despite the fact there are numerous reports in Spanish, European and American databases. Furthermore, most of the adverse reactions these girls suffered are included in the brochure/leaflet of the product.
The introduction of HPV vaccines into the market without their real effectiveness being known is another issue. The effectiveness has not sufficiently been proven and will not be demonstrated for decades.
Much of the damage these vaccines are producing is being hidden, despite the fact that pharmacovigilance systems around the world are collecting numerous reports of similar reactions.
Moreover, the Spanish Health Ministry withheld information from affected families by denying that the damage the girls suffered was legitimate and previously known via similar cases being reported to health authorities in various countries.
The Spanish Ministry of Health, Sanofi Pasteur, and Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD), producers of Gardasil®, human papillomavirus vaccine, have a responsibility to report accurately and in a timely manner all data available at the time.
Health authorities around the world are trying to deny any causal relationship between HPV vaccines and adverse events occurring after vaccine use. In some cases, authorities say that the new medical conditions are psychological. This is a paradox because if people in different times and different places suffer a similar adverse reaction, it is undeniable that the cause is the vaccine.
The damage these girls have suffered and many continue to suffer were not all included in the leaflet at the time of injection. Some of them were included later. Others continue without being warned.
Based on data that the AAVP has examined, the number of suspected deaths and serious sequelae left behind after human papillomavirus vaccines is completely unacceptable.
As stated in the case filed, health authorities do not investigate the facts and their attitude is favoring manufacturers. They even accused the victims of suffering psychological disorders, which is not true.
This first case will be followed by another four within two months. The firm will continue to file additional cases, not only against Gardasil® but also Cervarix®, the other brand of the HPV vaccinemanufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.
www.aavp.es
Read this article in French here.
Leave This Blank: Leave This Blank Too: Do Not Change This: Your email:By Dave Tucker, with information from Jean Maier
May 6, 2011
Reader Jean Maier of Seattle reports on a trail-side granodiorite erratic in Seattle’s Ravenna Park. Granodiorite stones are very common in northwest Washington’s glacial deposits. They most likely all came to the Salish Lowland via the Cordilleran ice sheets that descended the Fraser River out of the interior of BC, along the eastern margin of the BC Coast Mountains and west edge of the Cascades. Probably all of these erratics are from the final advance, the Vashon, which sat over the Seattle area for only a couple thousand years, between 18,000 to 16,000 years ago. The maximum ice thickness was around 3000 feet at Seattle. Here is an animation by Ralph Haugerud of the USGS of advance and retreat of the Vashon ice.
Granodiorite is very common in the BC Coast Mountains. However, ice that came down the west side of that range into the Straits of Georgia appears to have mostly turned west and gone out the Straits of Juan de Fuca, rather than south into the Puget basin. There is plenty of g’dio in the northern Cascades. However, for any of that rock to get to Seattle, or anywhere in the lowlands, a glacier would have had to descend one of the major rivers, such as the Nooksack, Skagit, or Skykomish, joining up with the main glacier lobe in the lowlands. The conventional wisdom based on distribution of erratic pebbles in till is that the Vashon glacier’s Salish lowland lobe sent arms UP these valleys, rather than glaciers flowing down them. The northern part of the range was eventually overtopped by thickening ice flowing directly south over the border. Consequently, Cascade rocks are not usually documented in lowland tills. For more photos of the erratic, including closeups, visit Jean and Doug’s photo page.
Getting There:
I-5 Northbound:
Exit at NE 65th St.
Turn right on to Ravenna Blvd to 20th Avenue NE.
Turn left on 20th Avenue NE.
The parking lot is on the right hand side of the street on the corner of NE 58th St and 20th Avenue NE.
I-5 Southbound:
Take the N 85th St/NE 80th St exit.
Follow the sign to NE 80th St.
Go east on NE 80th St to 15th Avenue NE.
Turn right on to 15th Avenue NE to Ravenna Blvd.
Turn left on to Ravenna Blvd.
Take Ravenna Blvd to 20th Avenue NE.
Turn left on 20th Avenue NE.
The parking lot is on the right hand side of the street on the corner of NE 58th St and 20th Avenue NE.
Jean says: we usually park at the hidden lot at the end of 20th NE to the south of the (pedestrian / bike) bridge. Walk across the grassy play field, and take the left hand trail and plunge down into the ravine. Go left along the upper ravine trail (toward the NW), pass under the bridge, and then to the right are steps heading down to the boulder.
For a longer walk through the ravine, find your way to Cowan Park on Brooklyn Avenue- the main access to Cowan-Ravenna Park that winds through the park begins here, north of the intersection with NE Ravenna. Follow the main path which goes from Brooklyn Ave NE all the way to NE 55th through the bottom of the ravine. The boulder is just to the west of the 20th Ave NE
Bridge.
There are two overhead bridges as you go along the trail. If you follow the path from the Cowan Park / NW side you go under the 15th NE Bridge, and then there will be the boulder off to your right, just before the 20th NE Bridge.
If you come from the SE side (NE 55th), the first bridge is the 20th NE, then just to your left will be the boulder.
AdvertisementsEgyptian astrology is based on the ancient Babylonian system of astrology as it was given and explained to the Egyptians by the Greeks. While we don’t have much information about how they dealt with the astrological information they received, we do have a little of it and two pieces in particular, the Dendera zodiac and the Cairo calendar. The Dendera zodiac shows the correlation between the Egyptian zodiac and the Babylonian zodiac, while the Cairo calendar lists all the days of the Egyptian year. It shows that the days were split into three categories: favorable and unfavorable days, mythological event days (like our modern holidays), and a description of the ideal behavior for each day.
Egyptian Astrology – 36 Groups
The Egyptians looked at the night sky and identified 36 groups of stars called decans, that made up twelve constellations. Each decan or group of stars was predominant in the sky for ten days, covered 10 degrees of the zodiac, and had a ruling planet. These ten day groupings or decans were the foundation for the Egyptian calendar. Similarly to the zodiac set up by the Babylonians, they identified the zodiac signs with different gods and goddesses. Each covered three decans throughout the year, while also having a correlation to the monthly zodiac that we use today. So, for example, someone born in mid- August would fall under Anubis, but in that same span their decan could fall under Sekhmet, Horus, or Geb. You should be familiar with the core concepts of Astrology covered on our page here before reading on; otherwise, we’ve listed the Egyptian equivalent of the Zodiac signs below.
Name: Amon-Ra
Month: April 26th through May 25th
Western Equivalent: Taurus
Decan Sign: Anubis
Decan Dates: May 8th – 27th and June 29th – July 13th
Name: Hathor
Month: May 26th through June 24th
Western Equivalent: Gemini
Decan Sign: Seth
Decan Dates: May 28th – June 18th and September 28th – October 2nd
Name: Phoenix
Month: June 25th through July 24th
Western Equivalent: Cancer
Decan Sign: Bastet
Decan Dates: July 14th – 28th, September 23rd – 27th, and October 3rd-17th
Name: Anubis
Month: July 25th through August 28th
Western Equivalent: Leo
Decan Sign: Sekhmet
Decan Dates: July 29th – August 11 and October 30th – November 7th
Name: Thoth
Month: August 29th through September 27th
Western Equivalent: Virgo
Decan Sign: The Nile
Decan Dates: January 1st – 7th, June 19th – 28th, September 1st – 7th, and November 18th – 26th
Name: Horus
Month: September 29th through October 27th
Western Equivalent: Libra
Decan Sign: Amun-Ra
Decan Dates: January 8th – 21st and February 1st – 11th
Name: Wadjet
Month: October 28th through November 26th
Western Equivalent: Scorpio
Decan Sign: Mut
Decan Dates: January 22nd – 31st and September 8th – 22nd
Name: Sekhmet
Month: November 27th through December 26th
Western Equivalent: Sagittarius
Decan Sign: Geb
Decan Dates: February 12th – 29th and August 20th – 31st
Name: Sphinx
Month: December 27th through January 25th
Western Equivalent: Capricorn
Decan Sign: Osiris
Decan Dates: March 1st – 10th and November 27th – December 18th
Name: Shu
Month: January 26th through February 24th
Western Equivalent: Aquarius
Decan Sign: Isis
Decan Dates: March 11th – 31st, October 18th – 29th, and December 19th – 31st
Name: Isis
Month: February 25th through March 26th
Western Equivalent: Pisces
Decan Sign: Thoth
Decan Dates: April 1st – 19th and November 8th – 17th
Name: Osiris
Month: March 27th through April 25th
Western Equivalent: Aries
Decan Sign: Horus
Decan Dates: April 20th – May 7th and August 12th – 19thThis week's Batman comics mark a major change for the character, but unless you're a sharp-eyed reader who pays close attention to the credits pages, you might have missed it. As the Red Hood and Cassandra Cain threw down on the opening spread of Batman and Robin Eternal #3, Bill Finger finally received a credit as the co-creator of Batman after 76 years without proper recognition.
The credit isn't entirely surprising --- only a month ago, DC Entertainment announced that it had reached an agreement with Finger's family "that recognizes Mr. Finger’s significant contributions to the Batman family of characters," and that he would be credited on the Gotham TV show and the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie.
But even then, there was some question of whether that would extend to the long-running "Batman created by Bob Kane " credit that appears in the character's native medium. Now, we've got a revised version, although the actual wording is a little interesting.
If you missed it, here's the credit as it appears in Batman and Robin Eternal #3, down in the bottom right corner:
It's worth noting that this is a brand new development. Both last week's Batman And Robin Eternal #2 and this week's release of Paul Pope's Batman Year 100 And Other Tales --- something that's presumably been in production longer than the weekly comics --- include the familiar "created by Bob Kane" credit, while this week's Batman: Arkham Knight Genesis #3 also has the new credit:
The official acknowledgement of Finger's contributions to Batman is the culmination of a movement that began in 1965, when Jerry Bails published an article called " If The Truth Be Known, or, A Finger In Every Plot ", which revealed the real story of Batman's creation just before the Caped Crusader became a worldwide icon.
In the years that followed, creators like Mike W. Barr were vocal supporters of securing recognition for Finger, and more recently, Marc Tyler Nobleman and Ty Templeton's book Bill the Boy Wonder did a lot to get the word out that there was an unsung hero who provided almost everything that formed the core of that original character except the name.
This week's comics mark the first time that Finger has been credited as a creator rather than just a writer; a huge step towards giving him his proper place in comics history.On Wednesday, 61-year-old mailman Doug Hughes landed a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn to draw attention to campaign finance reform, and was subsequently taken into custody.
MORE: Police arrest Florida man who landed small helicopter on U.S. Capitol lawn http://t.co/9wYB28jTOo pic.twitter.com/lBBCyztUqJ — CBS News (@CBSNews) April 15, 2015
Gyrocopter man is a mailman, so of course the vertical stabilizer on his gyrocopter has the USPS logo on it pic.twitter.com/QYsftj2lic — Ethan Klapper (@ethanklapper) April 15, 2015
Before taking off, Hughes gave an extensive interview to the Tampa Bay Times, where he explained his plans. You can watch the Times's excellent video feature below:
And here are two looks at the gyrocopter in action, from the video:
"I’m going to violate the no-fly zone, nonviolently; I intend for nobody to get hurt. And I’m going to land on the Capitol lawn in front of the Capitol building," Hughes says in the interview with the Times. He said he'd have 535 letters with him, addressed to every member of Congress. "I'm trying to galvanize millions of people to do a relatively simple thing: change the government to build a wall of separation between the government and big money, so that the government will represent the people."
"No sane person would do what I'm doing," Hughes continues in the video. But he says he's "carefully planned it so nobody will get hurt," and would give authorities "plenty of warning" of his arrival. "I don't believe that the authorities are going to shoot down a 60-year-old mailman in a flying bicycle," he says.
He was correct about that — but upon landing he was taken into custody. A robot then inspected his copter to make sure it wasn't a bomb.
WATCH: 'How to get politicians to listen to citizens'If you immerse yourself in the virtual reality, when you want to search for something, how would you do? Now, you can use a optimized web browser specially designed for the Samsung Gear VR virtual reality 3D glasses.Samsung unveiled the Samsung Internet for Gear VR virtual reality 3D glasses according to what the technology blog named TechCrunch reported.
Chan-Woo Park, vice president of Samsung, said: ” Samsung is committed to provide a fully immersive mobile experience for our users in the world of virtual reality. With the increasingly growth in a significantly demand in 360-degree and immersive video content, Samsung Internet services has enriched our content ecosystem of virtual reality available to consumers, setting the industry standard on the virtual reality viewing experience. ”
Samsung Internet browser bookmarks
Gear VR virtual reality 3D glasses web browser beta version is now on-line at Oculus store, coming with the support for voice commands and the virtual keyboard. It also supports 360-degree 3D and streaming video and any HTML 5 video playback.
Samsung Internet browser also has a Gaze Mode, you can select a menu just by gazing at the screen, without having to click the touchpad or controller. Samsung said that users can also import and manage bookmarks.
Samsung Internet browser virtual keyboard
For virtual reality devices into the consumer field, a web browser launched is a very important step, because most people will be the first to use a web browser to get entertainment and information before opening any Netflix app store. The question most frequently asked by Gear VR users is whether they can browse the web.
The Voice Search provided by Google in Samsung Internet browser is very convenient. Bookmark of Samsung default Internet browser includes Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Youtube. When you start browsing, the browser will use a label to recommend sites. Gaze mode is also very convenient, if a user look at an entry time for more than one second, it will automatically “click” link. But if you read the article containing a lot of hyperlinks, you might encounter some trouble because it may automatically open the page user does not want to check out.
In addition, Samsung virtual reality 3D glasses Internet browser window is small, it provides a “zoom” function, it is unclear whether other users can resize, but the slightly big window seems to be better.A man from northwest suburban Roselle, in DuPage County, faces a charge of misdemeanor animal cruelty after police said he sexually abused his pet peacock.
David Beckman, 64, of the 600 block of East Devon Avenue, was charged with the crime after police learned the bird died while they were investigating Beckman about an alleged case of indecent solicitation of a child.
Details surrounding the case with the peacock, reportedly named Phyl, were unclear Friday, as investigators said it was part of the case involving the child, the Daily Herald reported.
Court records confirmed Beckman faces three charges of harassment by telephone, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, two counts of marijuana possession, attempted indecent solicitation of a child, cruelty to animals, and two counts of battery.
Weird News Photos: Man Shoves Snake in Pants
He remained in the DuPage County Jail on Friday on a $10,000 bond. An arraignment was scheduled for June 12.
More Local Stories from NBC Chicago:TNA recently lost their TV deal in the U.K. on Challenge due to declining ratings, and it appears they’re having trouble finding a new channel to air Impact Wrestling.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, TNA knew the deal was in trouble and started looking into other UK networks in the summer. TNA executives had one meeting with a pay channel in the U.K., Premier Sports, but the channel declined. Premier Sports reportedly did their research and didn’t like how TNA executives handled their departures from Spike TV and Destination America. With Premier Sports officially out of the running, it’s unknown if Impact Wrestling will get picked up in the U.K. at all.
TNA’s only major source of revenue now is their TV deal in India, which pays them approximately $5 million annually. According to the Observer, that deal may also be in jeopardy because there’s a clause that requires TNA to tour India annually. TNA canceled last year’s tour of India and hasn’t been there this year.
The Challenge TV deal was worth slightly over $1 million per year to TNA.Services, burial planned for Tuesday in Pickens
2nd Lt. Evan Callahan (Photo: Dillard Funeral Home)
Services are planned Tuesday for an Easley High School graduate killed May 15 while posted to Army duty in Georgia.
Evan Robert Callahan, a 2012 Easley graduate, was a second lieutenant assigned to Fort Benning. Details about his death were not immediately available, and attempts to reach Fort Benning and Department of Defense officials for further comments were not successful.
The son of Kevin Flanagan and Jacqueline Jones Callahan of Pickens was active in ROTC and cross country after transferring to Easley as a sophomore.
“He was a great kid and it was really hard to hear about this,” said Chief Petty Officer Mark Stauder, Callahan's ROTC adviser at Easley. “He was a very good student and very conscientious about his grades and everything else he did, but he liked to have fun too. He always had a smile on his face when you’d see him; I know that’s what people always say in times like this, but it was true with Evan.”
Callahan went first to the Citadel after high school, Stauder said, then switched to the University of South Carolina, where he received a Bachelors’ degree in English and philosophy in 2016.
“He was a very good student and very conscientious about his grades and everything else he did, but he liked to have fun too.” Mark Stauder, Evan Robert Callahan's ROTC adviser
Survivors include his parents, sisters Kate Elizabeth Callahan and Kelli Lauren Callahan, also of Pickens, and several grandparents.
The family will receive friends at Dillard Funeral Home in Pickens on Tuesday from 1 to 2:45 p.m., and funeral services will follow in the funeral home chapel at 3 p.m., with The Reverend Don McQueen officiating. Burial with full military honors will follow in the Veteran’s Garden of Hillcrest Memorial Park.
Read or Share this story: https://www.independentmail.com/story/news/local/2017/05/22/easley-grad-dies-army-base/337462001/Sammy Vasquez Jr. was hoping his last opponent would provide the toughest challenge of his fast-rising career. It didn’t work out that way, but “The Sergeant” may get his wish with his next foe.
Sammy Vasquez Jr. delivers a straight left hand at Aron Martinez in January. The unbeaten Vasquez battered Martinez for six rounds en route to his 10th stoppage victory in his last 12 fights. (Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions)
Sammy Vasquez Jr. (21-0, 15 KOs) will return to the ring for the first time in nearly six months when he puts his unbeaten record on the line against former world champion Luis Collazo (36-7, 19 KOs) on July 16 in a 147-pound clash of southpaws.
The contest, which is scheduled for 10 rounds, will precede heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s title defense against Chris Arreola from Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama (Fox, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
Following a trio of one-sided victories in 2015, Vasquez kicked off the new year on January 23 with a fight against Aron Martinez, who was coming off a stunning upset of former champion Devon Alexander. Given that result, Vasquez was expecting his most difficult fight of his career, but instead the 30-year-old native of Monessen, Pennsylvania, walked right through Martinez.
After absorbing a ton of abuse, Martinez quit after six rounds because of an arm injury. That gave Vasquez, who served two tours of duty in Iraq with the National Guard, his 10th stoppage in his last dozen bouts dating to August 2013.
“This is a great opportunity for me, and I’m looking forward to showcasing my talent and skills,” Vasquez said. “Luis Collazo is one of the toughest guys I’ve fought so far, and he’s definitely going to test me.
“My job is to go in there, handle my business and beat him worse than anyone else has. I think our styles will combine for a great battle, and I’m excited to give the people another great fight.”
Collazo became a 147-pound world champion in April 2005 when he won a split decision over Jose Antonio Rivera. He successfully defended his crown in his next fight—a seventh-round stoppage of Miguel Angel Gonzalez—but is just 10-6 since then, with five of those losses coming against current or former world champions.
That includes his most recent bout last July, when Collazo fell to 147-pound champ Keith Thurman. Collazo nearly dropped Thurman with a vicious body shot in Round 5, but Thurman stayed on his feet, went on the attack and opened a cut over Collazo's left eye, leading to a seventh-round stoppage.
It was just the second time in Collazo’s career that he’s been stopped, the other coming to Edwin Cassiani in April 2002 in his first defeat. Collazo, a 35-year-old New York native, has won five of his last seven contests, the only setbacks coming against Thurman and former 140-pound titleholder Amir Khan.
“I’m totally stoked about this fight against Sammy Vasquez,” Collazo said. “He is a talented fighter, and I’m excited to test his abilities and the will that he has to keep that zero. This will be a good one.”Former Dally M medalist Todd Carney has won a wrongful dismissal case against Cronulla within the NRL's appeals structure, according to reports.
News Limited newspapers report that appeals committee chairman Ian Callinan QC found that the Sharks failed to observe due process before dismissing Carney when a photograph of him attempting to urinate in his own mouth - known as 'bubbling' - appeared on Instagram last year.
Headline maker: Todd Carney. Credit:Getty Images
Cronulla were found to have erred by not allowing Carney, now with Super League club Catalans, to plead his case before the board before sacking the NRL star.
It is uncertain what the finding will mean for Cronulla and Carney. The 28-year-old is currently out with a rib injury suffered in his second Super League appearance and has said he would like to one day return to the NRL.Yesterday, PSG eSports announced the initiation of cooperation with Taiwan company which develops computer electronics and software, Asus.
The logo of Asus Republic of Gamers will be added to the equipment of the PSG eSports players this week.
Asus will present PSG eSports players with the best laptops for travels and powerful pc for playing house of PSG eSports which is located in Berlin.
The commentaries of the director of merchandising and PSG brand promotion, Fabien Allegre:
“We are very proud to welcome ASUS REPUBLIC OF GAMERS on board as a main partner and the first kit sponsor for our Paris Saint-Germain eSports team. This partnership evidences the growing interest among brands in our project and vindicates the strategy implemented by our Chairman, Nasser Al-Khelaifi.”
The commentaries of ASUS Republic of Gamers marketing director, Karim Ouahioune:
“Republic of Gamers and PSG eSports share the same ambition for success. We see the partnership between our two brands as a natural fit. As the no. 1 for PC gaming, we are proud to share our innovation and performance expertise with PSG eSports. We look forward to accompanying them on their rise to the top.”
Last week, PSG eSports announced signing a contract with PMU, a French bookmaker organization. We expect that PSG will sign more contracts, as Fabien Allegre told eSports Daily News that he wants to sign partnership agreements with 5 or 6 companies.
PSG created esports division in October last year, signing League of Legends roster and 2 FIFA players.UFC bantamweight Marlon Vera (7-3-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) is asking for public help to assist his daughter with a rare disorder that prevents her from smiling.
The 23-year-old Ecuadorian recently launched a GoFundMe page to help fund the surgery Vera’s daughter, Ana Paula, needs to treat the rare condition known as Moebius syndrome.
The current goal for the campaign is $50,000.
Vera previously spoke about his daughter’s condition following a UFC Fight Night 73 win over Roman Salazar, admitting the surgery provides him with daily motivation in his fighting career.
“She needs surgery, so I will work hard to pay (for it),” Vera said. “I’m training every single day of my life. I make a lot of sacrifices, but I’m here for that. I put on a show for the fans. The fans, they are paying for something. This is for me, for my family, and for all the Ecuadorians who believe in me.”
“Chito” Vera came to the UFC as part of “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America,” where he earned a knockout win over Enrique Briones to earn his way into the semifinals of the season’s bantamweight tournament. A skin infection then forced Vera out of the show, though he still received an invitation to compete in the octagon and has appeared three times since.
Moebius syndrome is a neurological disorder. With Vera’s daughter, the disorder has made it so that she cannot control her facial expressions or eye movement.
Vera hopes to get the surgery for his daughter as quickly as possible.
“That’s the dream,” Vera said. “We want to see our daughter smiling, so we will work hard for this.”
For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.Over the past week a news post of ours resulted in a lot of coverage on the web. Long story short -- while we where testing the RTS game Anno 2070 for PC (from Ubisoft) we ran into downright silly DRM copy protection issues. You may install Anno 2070 on three PCs as you get three activations. That's fair and OK we feel.
However we discovered that while swapping out NVIDIA graphics cards, each time after reinstalling a card the DRM kicked back in, rendering the game inactivated. Three strikes, an you are out.
Our news post on this went viral on the web and Ubisoft got a lot of heat due to this. After getting into contact with the game producer BlueByte our activation limitation was lifted.
By itself great, but then we ran into a judgment call we needed to make. Initially we had a hard time rethinking, should we even test Ubisoft titles anymore as the DRM protection is way too heavy. We've thought about it hard and long.
In our opinion not writing about something is the most bad thing you can do and as such we decided to continue with that article. By excluding Ubisoft from the benchmarks we'll never be able to address issues like this DRM story, and they'll continue what they are doing. In fact if we'd have excluded Ubisoft titles we never would have been able to report about this issue.
By posting an article and explaining/mentioning DRM time after time, there will be more awareness about it and in the end that message will get across to Ubisoft and the producer. In the hope that one day they'll see the light.
Secondly, BlueByte certainly do not deserve getting the heat that they do this way. This company together with the developer Ralated Designs makes such brilliant and very unique game titles. It would be such a shame if they'd get damaged in the process. I would not like to have that on our account.
That said and with the VGA performance review posted moments ago we received an email from BlueByte, the producer of the game with the following information:
Hi Hilbert, Just wanted to let you know, that we now remove the graphics hardware from the hash used to identify the PC.
That means everyone should now be able to switch the GFX as many times as he/she wants. Cheers,
We are very happy to see that the activation scheme has been changed for anybody and everybody who purchased and is purchasing the game, you may now swap out as many graphics cards as you want. It doesn't mean though that you can change hardware (significant hardware like motherboards) more then three times. As that protection will still will apply.
But this certainly is progress, a small success really and we are happy to see that the game industry does listen towards their user-base. Overall though BlueByte and Ubisoft should have realized earlier on that this is just not the way to go.
DRM has become an annoyance factor for end-users. And though we agree there should be a certain level of game-copy protection, DRM has evolved way too much up-to a point where the publisher slowly but steadily moves into the same level as what they are fundamentally fighting, piracy and software pirates. And you as a consumer, should be protected from a publisher sniffing and checking your PCs hardware components and demanding that you are on-line to play a game.
With this statement made I'd like to invite you to check out our Anno 2070 VGA Graphics performance review. We thank everybody that helped out and although it leaves everybody with a bitter taste in their mouth something did change on the positive side of things.. and that's progress.
What do you think about this step? Let's us know in this thread.One person was taken into custody after a police pursuit ended at the arrival terminal at Nashville International Airport.
The incident was reported before 4:30 a.m. Wednesday at 1 Terminal Drive.
Metro Nashville Police officers surrounded a white car at the airport after a driver allegedly wouldn't stop for officers on Donelson Pike.
Pursuit: the suspect is in the back of an officer's car. The suspect vehicle has two blown tires on the left side @NC5 pic.twitter.com/60B1rAFhAS — Alexandra Koehn (@NC5_AKoehn) January 18, 2017
Officials said an officer tried to stop the man for driving on a flat tire but he was slow to pull over and continued driving towards the airport.
Eventually, he got out of his vehicle and was put in the back of an undercover squad car. The driver reportedly matched the description of a robbery suspect.
The suspect’s vehicle was towed from the scene.
A Metro Police captain said he's being questioned at the Hermitage Police precinct.
This was not a high-speed pursuit. The car was only going about 10 mph because the suspect was driving on rims.On Sept. 11, 2008, a woman named Janet Tessier — tormented for 14 years by her mother’s deathbed confession — drafted an e-mail to the Illinois State Police. She had tried to alert authorities twice before, to no avail, and this would be her final attempt.
It read, in part:
“Sycamore, Illinois. December 1957. A 7-year-old child named Maria Ridulph vanished. Her remains were found in another county several miles away in early spring of 1958. I still believe that John Samuel Tessier from Sycamore, IL... was and is responsible for her death.”
John Tessier was Janet’s brother. She continued:
“I’ve given information to the person responsible for the cold case in Sycamore. I’ve done this a few times. Nothing is ever done. This is the last time I mention this to anyone... I’m not |
the captaincy from Bill Dolphin, Ricketts would have assumed coaching duties in some capacity during the season anyway but South Melbourne officials wanted to formalise the position.
Ricketts, a talented and superbly skilled rover, was later credited with engineering the side which would go on to claim South Melbourne’s first VFL flag that same season.
John Healy, aka ‘Markwell’, wrote in Melbourne’s The Australasian Newspaper in his usual poetic tone that Ricketts’ leadership helped transform his cohorts from “junior players into a company of artists” by the end of the breakthrough season.
Having stepped down from his position due to illness, Ricketts was reassumed the position in 1912.
Despite leading his side to a Grand Final, Ricketts was sensationally overlooked as captain by the playing group in favour of Vic Belcher the following season and subsequently departed the club to play for then VFA affiliate Richmond.
Ricketts, who finished with a 28-8 (win-loss) coaching record, is a member of the Sydney Swans/South Melbourne Hall of Fame.
Vic Belcher (1914-17)
Vic Belcher took charge of South Melbourne during a testing time for the club and Victorian Football League.
Unrest in Europe led to the breakout of World War 1 in 1914, with Belcher elected captain-coach only five months before the then Prime Minister Joseph Cook committed Australia’s involvement.
Originally from Tasmania, Belcher made his name as a talented district footballer around Melbourne before joining the red and white in 1907.
He would go on to play in the ’09 and ’18 premierships as a key position player, notching 226 games across a 13-year career to sit 18th on the club’s all-time games list.
In his first season at the helm, Belcher led his charges to the Grand Final against Carlton but lost by just six points in heartbreaking fashion. Trailing by 21 points at half-time, South fought back to keep the minor premiers to just one goal for the entire second half.
The Argus later wrote “although South Melbourne has not won the premiership, they had gained something more”.
Belcher’s leadership was invaluable throughout 1915 when, by the start of the season, a large contingent of his teammates answered the nation’s call. Due to the number of men signing up to join the fight South Melbourne pulled out of the 1916 season.
But what was happening on-field ultimately took a back seat to the atrocities on the battlefield. Over five years, 10 current or former members of South Melbourne would make the ultimate sacrifice.
Normality somewhat resumed in 1917 with South Melbourne re-joining the competition and Belcher entrusted with the role again.
He coached out the year only to step back at season’s end, opting for the vice-captaincy role under successor Herb Howson (coach) and Jim Caldwell (captain).
He played for three more seasons, captaining the club again in his final season (1920) before retiring from the game with a 29-19 coaching record and an everlasting legacy.
Belcher remains one of only four Swans (alongside Adam Goodes, Jude Bolton, Ryan O’Keefe and Lewis Robert-Thomson) to play in two premierships.
Johnny Leonard (1932)
Johnny Leonard is better known for his feats in the Western Australian Football League than for his time at South Melbourne.
But his impact was just as significant.
Struggling and in need of a spark at the time, South’s committee decided to look far and wide for talent that would help them climb back into finals contention.
In the wake of five consecutive best and fairest wins for WAFL club Subiaco, two league (Sandover Medal) best and fairests and 25 state guernseys, the then 30-year-old Leonard was a left-field choice as captain-coach but an inspired one.
Leonard knew who the picks of the crop were in Western Australia’s talent pool and succeeded in bringing some players with him, all of whom would go on to feature in the 1933 Premiership.
They included centre half-forward Brighton Diggins, flanker Bill Faul and on-baller Gilbert Beard.
Due to the number of interstate players, the ambitious recruiting drive ultimately led to South Melbourne being dubbed “The Foreign Legion”.
In his first and only season as coach, Leonard won the first 10 games of the 1932 season and looked destined for the double chance but injury took its toll.
Even though he wasn’t part of South’s third flag, Leonard would be forever credited with the club’s re-build.
Gordon Lane (1950-52)
South Melbourne’s poor run home in 1949 led to the demise of coach Jack Hale and saw the committee turn to former Essendon key Gordon Lane.
Lane was a centre half-forward and a big game player who had booted bags of six and seven goals in the 1942 and 1946 premiership deciders.
At 187cm and 94kg, Lane possessed a strong overhead mark and was once rated as the best forward in the game by Richmond’s Jack Dyer.
Injury hurt his form during the previous two seasons at Windy Hill but, nevertheless, South saw something in him and offered him the job.
Despite a miserable season in his first season as coach, Lane led a resurgence while rediscovering his own form at the same time.
After finishing eleventh in 1950 in his first season as coach, Lane led his charges well to only narrowly miss out on the finals in his last.
Bob Skilton (1965-66)
Was there anything Bob Skilton couldn’t do?
Between his decade-long tenure as captain, Skilton took over as coach for two of those seasons as a logical replacement for Noel McMahen in 1958.
The 26-year-old was in the prime of his career and had already won two Brownlow Medals when the top job fell on his capable shoulders.
If there wasn’t optimism before the season, there was plenty post-season after South Melbourne finished just out of the finals in ninth.
It was a huge improvement on the previous three seasons with Skilton instilling his renowned toughness on the group.
That quickly wore off however after South endured another tough season.
Skilton, disappointed with his side’s progress, declared that he would be stepping down as captain-coach at season’s end.
The full list
Charlie Ricketts (1909, 1912)
Bill Thomas (1910-11)
Vic Belcher (1914-17)
Roy Cazaly (1922)
Charlie Pannam (1926-28)
Johnny Leonard (1932)
Jack Bissett (1933-36)
Herbie Matthews (1939-40)
Gordon Lane (1950-52)
Ron Clegg (1958-59)
Bob Skilton (1965-66)Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Mark Lowen meets people turning to illegal logging to stay warm, and those trying to stop them
The home of the ancient Greek gods is snow-capped and steep and the road that winds its way up the slopes of Mount Olympus leads through lush, fertile forest. But the vegetation is dotted with bare patches - precious trees ripped away.
This is now the site of some of the worst illegal logging in Greece. The practice has risen here by more than 300% in the past year since a new tax pushed up the price of heating oil by a third.
Many people are now unable to afford heating oil, instead turning to wood to heat their homes.
I travel with the forest patrol that comes here every day to try to catch the woodcutters.
Pensioners and racketeers have been found, 250 lawsuits opened and 300 tonnes of illegally cut wood confiscated.
Before there were about 25 wood markets in this area - now there are 100 Triantafillos Zagris, Wood trader
We stop at a section of the mountainside where clumps of trees have been recently chopped down - 600 here alone. The rings on the stump of one oak are counted to check the age - 54 years. It had been felled in seconds.
Criminal charges
"I feel bad that old people are coming to cut wood," says Petros Papapetrou of the forestry department.
"It is awful that they have to do it in this day and age. But this forest is spectacular for us - it is a wonderful ecosystem and we must protect it for the next generation."
Back at the base of the mountain and away from the patrol, I meet an elderly woodcutter risking criminal charges.
He chooses an area of old olive trees, shorn swiftly by his electric saw.
"I know it is illegal but I have grandchildren who'll get sick from the cold," he says.
"My pension has been cut so I can't afford heating oil. What can I do?"
Wood that is cut legally ends up at the many outdoor markets in northern Greece. At one on the outskirts of Katerini, owner Triantafillos Zagris tells me he is doing a roaring trade - a rare Greek business bucking the trend.
"Sales are up by 30%," he says, as logs are fed into a noisy machine, sliced up for the fireplace.
"Before, there were about 25 wood markets in this area. Now there are 100."
Image caption Dimitris and Sofia Smirli have seen their salaries cut as a result of the government's austerity programme
Some of the chunks end up at the homes of families like the Smirlis.
Dimitris and Sofia are both teachers and their salaries have been cut in successive rounds of austerity.
With the new tax, they would have had to spend their entire earnings on heating oil, so now only use wood.
Sofia and her daughter sleep beside the fireplace in the living room as the bedroom is too cold. It's a throwback to the past that they have found hard to accept.
"At first we were shocked and disappointed that we had to do this," Sofia says, the flames licking the newly-arrived logs.
"We've gone back 30 or 40 years with this. It's not war - or rather it is, but an economic war. We hope it'll last only one or two years because we have children, we have a future. We can't live like this, for God's sake."
Air quality deteriorates
Above their modest house, smoke splutters from the chimney - and that is causing another problem.
A noticeable haze has appeared above Greece's major cities as the wood-burning trend increases.
Image caption Cities like Thessaloniki are noticing increasing levels of smog
In nearby Thessaloniki, the smog has thickened and it is beginning to worry the authorities.
At a mobile facility in the city, a team of chemists is carrying out a new project to test the air quality, assessing the impact of the change in heating habits.
Filters are replaced every day. When removed, the grit of the past 24 hours is clear. They are then sent off to a laboratory for analysis.
The final results are due in February, but the team has already measured an increase in pollution.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Watch how filter monitoring of pollution levels has shown a dramatic increase
"We have found a high concentration of fine particles that contain toxic and carcinogenic substances," says Professor Konstantini Samara, who runs the testing.
"They're so small that they can go deep into our lung system, causing harmful effects on public health. And they've increased from the wood burning."
A harsh late winter beckons across this region and the fireplaces will only crackle more as temperatures continue to plummet.
In 21st Century Europe, these are the extraordinary lengths to which Greeks are going just to keep warm.
Mighty Mount Olympus stands tall over northern Greece. The gods may once have kept watch here but today it offers little protection - to the forests and to this crisis-hit nation.tradesif:
☆*:.｡. Maki x Eli’s Return Giveaway.｡.:*☆
2 x 2 UR Accounts
The first is a Rank 2 Starter on EN with UR China Dress Kotori, UR Initial Umi, and SR Idolized Animal Maki
The second is a rank 32 Semistarter on JP with UR Wedding Eli, UR Initial Hanayo, SR Job V1 Honoka, and SR Seven Lucky God Kotori!
We will choose two winners! First place gets to have their pick of the two accounts. Second place gets to have the one leftover.
You must be following tradesif.tumblr.com to be eligible for the giveaway!
You can reblog as many times as you like, but only one counts as an entry. Likes do not count.
Thank you for following and being patient with us! The blog will return soon!
[This ends December 2nd, 2015, at 8 pm EST]
☆*:.｡. Love, Mod Maki + Mod Eli.｡.:*☆Adelaide United have been dumped from the Asian Champions League by China’s Shandong Luneng, who dominated last night’s playoff game in Adelaide.
The home side conceded two first-half goals and their star midfielder Marcelo Carrusca missed a penalty in the second period before Sergio Cirio offered a glimmer of hope with an 89th minute header.
But the impressive Chinese held on to advance to the group stage of the lucrative tournament after scoring twice in 22 minutes.
Read Next
Adelaide coach Guillermo Amor praised the fighting spirit of his side. “We had our opportunities... but the result is a difficult moment,” Amor said.
“The players were fantastic with how hard they worked.”
Shandong struck in the 17th minute when Yang Xu headed into an open goal — Adelaide goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic was still grounded after a superb diving save defied a Walter Montillo strike, only for the rebound to pop up kindly for an unmarked Xu.
And in the 39th minute, Brazilian-born attacker Diego Tardelli rewarded the visitors for their quality lead-up work with a second goal.
Shandong expertly carved up Adelaide’s defensive barrier and a pinpoint cross from Wang Yongpo found Tardelli, who sweetly angled his header past Galekovic.
United chased the game hard in the second half against Shandong, who were understandably tired — this was just their second competitive outing in what is their pre-season, and they’d come from -4C temperatures at home to play in 30C Adelaide heat.
The Reds, despite repeated chances, were frustrated until Cirio, facing away from goal, deflected a header over Shandong’s keeper Wang Dalei a minute before injury time.
Late drama followed: Adelaide’s Sergio van Dijk and Cirio could have pinched an equaliser in extra time — the former sprayed a header wide, then the latter headed straight into Wang’s gloves.
The frantic finale followed Carrusca slamming a penalty into the crossbar in the 83rd minute, coming after Shandong playmaker Yongpo was sent off for a second yellow. But the Reds ultimately couldn’t convert their advantages, much to the disappointment of their parochial 8487-strong home crowd.
Shandong coach Mano Menezes described the encounter as “difficult” given his side’s lack of game time.
“For me, Adelaide was a good team, they have style and their whole level is very high,” he said.
AAPFacility could generate $12.34M for city over 10 years
Smucker's announced Tuesday that the company has plans to build a manufacturing facility east of County Line Road on land that is in both Weld County and Longmont city limits. ( Lewis Geyer / Staff Photographer )
The Longmont City Council next week will consider whether to give J.M. Smucker an estimated $6.5 million in tax and fee rebates in exchange for building a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the city.
Smucker's announced Tuesday that the company has plans to build the manufacturing facility east of County Line Road on land that is in both Weld County and Longmont city limits.
The first phase of the facility is estimated to cost about $200 million, with the possibility for an additional $140 million, 200,000-square-foot expansion in the future.
If you go What: Longmont City Council meeting When: 7 p.m. Tuesday Where: Council Chambers, 350 Kimbark St. More info: Read full agenda and more at Bit.ly/LM-City-Council
The company anticipates that the facility will create at least 250 full-time jobs in the first phase. The second phase would create 250 more full-time jobs.
In order to receive the Longmont rebates, Smucker's would have to pay its employees an average of $48,977 annually, which is 105 percent of the annual average wage in Weld County, which is $46,644.
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The facility is supposed to generate about $12.34 million for the city before rebates after both phases are complete, according to a staff memo to council.
That $12.34 million comprises:
• $6 million from 10 years of real property tax
• $4.2 million from 10 years of business personal property tax
• $140,000 one-time payment for the Longmont transportation community investment fee
• $200,000 per year of electric franchise fee revenue to the city's general fund for a total of $2 million over 10 years
Jessica Erickson, president of the Longmont Economic Development Partnership, said in the memo to the City Council that the city estimates there will be indirect impacts to Longmont as well that include $3 million in construction-related materials and 650 construction jobs.
In return, Longmont would rebate Smucker's $6.5 million in incentives. An incentive package above $75,000 has to be approved by City Council rather than by City Manager Harold Dominguez.
The $6.5 million in incentives comprises:
• Rebate for building permit or plan review fees
• Rebate for Longmont sales and use tax on construction materials
• 100 percent rebate of Longmont business personal property tax for each of the first four years and 50 percent rebate for each of the second four years of each phase
• Waiving the escrow contribution from Smucker's for extending Fairview Road beyond the railroad tracks
• Rebate of the money from the company required for greenway improvements
• 75 percent rebate of the cost to install a traffic signal at Colo. 119 and Fairview Road if a traffic study shows that one is necessary
The Longmont City Council is scheduled to discuss and vote on the incentives package Tuesday night.
Mayor Dennis Coombs said he was in support of offering the incentive package to Smucker's because it would create high-paying manufacturing jobs that Coombs said would not require college degrees.
"As a businessperson, it helps the entire community in getting the diversity of jobs that we really need," said Coombs, who is a retired engineer and owns a restaurant. "We could land a high-tech company here with jobs that pay $130,000 a year, but those require a master's degree and all kinds of stuff, and here you can make almost $50,000 without a college education."
Erickson said that while Smucker's would be required to offer annual wages that average out to $48,977, a majority of positions at the facility will be in that income range.
Coombs said that he supports the economic incentives for Smucker's because it's a good deal for the city.
"If you look at it from one point of view, if they don't come here, we don't get the personal property tax anyway. So if we can entice them with a discount for four years, that's still a good deal," Coombs said. "I'd rather have 50 percent of something than 100 percent of nothing."
Rich Werner, president and CEO of Upstate Colorado Economic Development, said the organization also offered Smucker's incentives for locating in Weld County. Upstate Colorado Economic Development focuses on persuading businesses to locate in Weld County.
"We did our standard program here of giving a personal property tax rebate to companies," Werner said. "It's a 50 percent rebate over 10 years."
Werner estimated the value of the rebate to be between $2.4 million and $2.6 million and noted that it's calculated based off of both phases of the facility.
Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacciUser Info: sd_games sd_games 4 years ago #1
Squirrel side scrolling game
after years of development, its finally out.
here are some keys (please take only 1) http://i.imgur.com/vXj2TU2.jpg
enjoy and let me know how you like it! http://store.steampowered.com/app/334690/Squirrel side scrolling gameafter years of development, its finally out.here are some keys (please take only 1) http://i.imgur.com/vXj2TU2.jpgenjoy and let me know how you like it!
User Info: almightydun almightydun 4 years ago #2
I will give it a try! Good luck with the game!! DO NOT BE ASHAMED FOR PLAYING VIDEO GAMES.
Embrace the experience and share it with everyone you can. took za9mh-madxm-yt4n6I will give it a try! Good luck with the game!!
User Info: Sir_Haxor Sir_Haxor 4 years ago #3
If you used a code at least be cool enough to say so. Half naked teenage demon boy is as good as it gets- MetaLoki
The Official Anguished One and Chaos Hero of the SMTIV board I used #32 and it seems someone already used #38. Thanks TC.If you used a code at least be cool enough to say so.
User Info: CatToy CatToy 4 years ago #4 http://i.imgur.com/p7hy7Ss.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SW7CmU0.png I got #29, thank you very much!
User Info: JKatarn JKatarn 4 years ago #5 Asus P8Z68-V LE | Core i7 2600K | 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Windforce OC
PS3 | PS2 | PSP| Wii | 3DS | DS | X-Box 360 | X-Box | NES Took code #1 - thanks!
User Info: clarkladner clarkladner 4 years ago #6 http://steamsignature.com/profile/english/76561198115050267.png took number 2 thanks
User Info: EciDemon EciDemon 4 years ago #7 | Gigabyte GTX 780 Ti SLI | i7 5930k 4.6Ghz |
| Asus X99 Deluxe | 16GB DDR4 2800 | X-Fi Titanium champion | Ps3/360/Ps4 | http://youtu.be/6ht06dmd0-c Thanks, got code #31
User Info: Bazooka_Penguin Bazooka_Penguin 4 years ago #8 Deth Pen
http://i.imgur.com/eMXgU.gif I don't suppose you're the same person that posted the python squirrel game some years ago
User Info: Xanity Xanity 4 years ago #9. Took #23, thanks. Congrats on its release, btw.The Vikings are mixing mystery and sizzle in an attempt to sear Sunday’s debut at U.S. Bank Stadium into the memories of their fans.
“We’re hoping that when people leave they say, win or lose, ‘that was one heck of an experience’ and that they’re not going to forget it,” said Bryan Harper, Vikings vice president for content and production.
Some of the details are tightly held secrets at Winter Park and will remain so until late Sunday. What the team would reveal is that activities will be unlike anything ever at a regular season game. The Vikings got the NFL’s permission to go a minute beyond the usual 12-minute halftime break and they’ve got 215 volunteers who will hustle equipment on and off the field for an eight-minute production.
Featured before the game and during halftime will be DJ Skee, an Icelandic soccer captain, an actor from the “Game of Thrones” television show, the Minnesota Orchestra, 15,000 square feet of projection mapping on the stadium’s turf and an homage to Prince.
“It’s the first regular season game ever at U.S. Bank Stadium and we have a responsibility to provide a memorable event, not just the game, but the entertainment,” Harper said.
The hope is to celebrate the team’s history and the state while electrifying fans by starting new traditions. To help with the massive production for an expected sellout of 66,200 fans in the building, the team hired event and stage producer Michael Shann, whose experience includes closing ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“We’re hoping that when people leave they say, win or lose, ‘that was one heck of an experience’.” Bryan Harper, Vikings vice president for content and production
The eight-minute halftime show will feature the Minnesota Orchestra and conductor Osmo Vänskä. The orchestra last performed at a Vikings game in 1995, when they played the national anthem in the Metroome. The orchestra has never been part of a halftime show.
Orchestra president and CEO Kevin Smith said 70 musicians will be there. He wouldn’t reveal the evening’s repertoire, but said it would be a combination of classical and contemporary music. The bigger challenge for the musicians comes before and after they play, as they hustle on and off the field under the NFL deadline.
“We’re definitely breaking some new ground when it comes to performance etiquette,” Smith said, adding that the members are excited. So is Vänskä, a Finland native who is not a football follower but understands Vikings’ fan fervor. “It’s just going to be a total adventure.”
The celebration begins long before halftime. The Vikings are encouraging fans to arrive early for the 7:30 p.m. game and get in their seats.
After live music and parties on the plaza starting in the afternoon, the action starts moving indoors with St. Paul Central High graduate DJ Skee, a performance artist and television host, providing the music as the players warm up at 6:30 p.m.
Former Vikings wide receiver Ahmad Rashad will host a “Welcome Home” video featuring historical highlights.
The devoted Vikings fans who handed over money for “stadium builder licenses” for the right to purchase season tickets, will also see players enter the field with flash. The athletes will run through a new “interactive tunnel.”
To get fans warmed up, Vikings alumni will lead the new “Vikings Skol Chant.” This is a version of the “Vikings War Chant,” the thunderous crescendo of clapping that greeted the Icelandic soccer team in Reykjavik upon their return from extraordinary play in Europe. A video of thousands of Icelandic soccer fans participating in the chant went viral last summer.
Harper said the video prompted lots of Minnesota Vikings fans to contact the team about adopting the chant. To get it going Sunday, Iceland soccer team captain Aron Gunnarsson and Game of Thrones actor “Thor” Bjornsson, who plays “The Mountain,” will appear via video for a ceremonial handoff.
As to whether Minnesotans at U.S. Bank Stadium can recreate the Icelandic magic, Harper said, “We’ll see.”
What’s happening with Prince and the projection mapping will be a surprise. Projection mapping can turn irregularly shaped objects into video.
Prince, of course, won’t be there. Minnesota’s most beloved musician, a Vikings fan himself, died in April at his home. Neither Harper nor anybody else will give a hint about the plans to honor him.
Smith has been given a preview and insisted it’s much more than a sound and light show. “It’s not only exciting as entertainment,” he said. “There’s a great sense of community and history. They’ve really done something special.”
Twitter: @rochelleolsonDozens of people are feared dead after human traffickers abandoned them in Niger's northern desert without food or water, a senior local official said on Monday.
Fatoumi Boudou, the prefect of Niger's northern region of Bilma, told the AFP news agency that authorities on Sunday rescued 24 people who were part of a group of "70 people who had left in three vehicles from Agadez for Libya".
Agadez is a remote town in Niger on the edge of the Sahara desert that has become a major people-smuggling point.
The traffickers "abandoned them in the middle of the desert without food or water", Boudou said, adding that those rescued had spoken of several dead bodies without specifying a number.
But the Agadez-based Air Info website, citing a security source, said scores of bodies had been buried on Sunday by troops and locals.
A local radio station had said 52 dead bodies had been discovered by authorities on Sunday.
OPINION: Who is really responsible for deadly refugee journeys?
The 750-km trip from Agadez to the Libyan border takes between two and three days with only very short petrol and toilet stops on the way.
Boudou said searches across a 65-km radius had yielded one dead body "with the identity card of a Nigerian student".
In early June, at least 44 Libya-bound migrants, including women and babies, died of thirst in the Sahara desert after their vehicle broke down in scorching conditions.
In May 2015, the government in Niamey adopted a law banning the trafficking of migrants and refugees with those found guilty facing a prison sentence of between one and 30 years, and fines of up to 30 million CFA francs ($51,000).
Libya has long struggled to control its southern borders with Sudan, Chad and Niger, even before the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
In the chaos that followed, traffickers stepped up their business, with tens of thousands of people each year making the perilous crossing to Italy just some 300km away.
Germany and Italy last month called for a European Union mission to be installed on the border between Libya and Niger to reduce the flow of migrants and refugees.We sat down with Lonzo Ball on Tuesday at an event for Panini trading cards, which will be making “instant” cards during the Draft on Thursday night. But before they could print up cards with Ball’s likeness and new uniform -- whatever color that may be -- we had a few questions. And Ball had plenty of answers.
Me: So were you into trading cards when you were growing up?
Lonzo Ball: Yeah, I had some trading cards when I was younger, and it’s kind of cool now to have my own.
Me: You have two younger brothers. Were they into cards, too?
LB: Yeah. We kind of collected them and would compare and see who had the best ones.
Me: Who had the most?
LB: Definitely my little brother, Melo. He was really into them.
Me: Are you going to sell him some of your cards? Maybe charge him extra for some autographed cards?
LB: (laughs) I mean, I’ll give them to him for free. That’s my man.
Me: What was the moment when you first knew you had a real shot at playing in the NBA?
LB: I would say in seventh grade. That’s when my Dad, he kind of sat me down and was like, “You need to start thinking about what you want to do.” And I was like, “I want to play in the NBA.” And he was like, “Alright.” And that’s when we started taking it seriously.
Training and conditioning has been a staple of Lonzo Ball's preparation for the NBA.
Me: Were you already the best player in your class at school?
LB: Yeah, in my school and around town. I already knew God had gifted me with certain talents that other people don’t have, and I’ve just tried to use them to the best of my ability.
Me: So if I was an NBA team, what would you tell me to get me to draft you?
LB: That I’m a pure point guard who will come in, put winning first, put the team first, and do whatever I can to help the program. And we can just go from there.
Me: I know passing is one of your strengths. Do you consider yourself a pass-first guard?
LB: I think I can score. But personally, I like to pass first, because people love people who pass. And I’m a point guard, so my job is to kind of get people open.
Me: You grew up in the Los Angeles area. Were the Lakers your favorite team when you were growing up?
LB: Well, I was more of a player guy. Like, I watched my favorite players. So, definitely LeBron, Kobe, T-Mac, Iverson for sure, guys like that. But my favorite player is LeBron.
Me: Other than LeBron, that's not really a bunch of guys known as pass-first players.
LB: Nah, I just liked watching them play (laughs).Kayla Goodfield, CP24.com
Toronto police are searching for a man after multiple girls between the ages of 12 and 15 were sexually assaulted in the Davisville area.
Investigators said all of the alleged incidents took place in the area of Mount Pleasant Road and Davisville Avenue on Friday afternoon.
According to officers, a 15-year-old girl was walking in the area at around 12:30 p.m. when she was approached by a man who allegedly sexually assaulted her before fleeing the scene.
Additional encounters involving the sexual assaults of girls between the ages of 12 and 14 years old took place earlier that day from 12:20 p.m. to 1 p.m. Police said they believe the same man is involved in these alleged incidents.
A suspect wanted in connection with this investigation has been described by police as a man with a thin to medium build who is about 50 years old with short light brown hair that is greying, blue eyes and acne scars on his face. At the time of the alleged incidents the suspect was seen wearing a dark blue sweater and light blue jeans.
Anyone with further information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7474 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).The virtual reality (VR) calendar is packed with so many events all year round that it can be easy to forget some of the shows that the technology will be appearing at. The South By South West (SXSW) festival is one such event, despite having hosted a session with some of the key figureheads behind the Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD) for the past two years. Oculus VR is set to return to the event this year along with a huge number of other VR panels that will cover everything from VR videogames to movies and more from 13th – 22nd March 2015.
Oculus VR will return for its session that’s becoming something of a tradition for the festival. Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey, VP of Product Nate Mitchell and Hardware Engineer Ryan Brown will ‘Explore the Future of Virtual Reality with Oculus‘ at 17:30 CST on 13th March. While the trio will be giving a short talk on the state of Oculus VR and its future, it will once again open the floor to questions from attendees and Twitter. This will serve as a rare chance for many Oculus Rift and Gear VR fans to have their questions answered.
Elsewhere there’s no shortage of VR-related events, with the number of sessions beating out even the Game Developers Conference (GDC) which takes place earlier that month. Also hosted on 13th March at 14:30 is ‘The Casual VR Scene‘ with the likes of Ghost Machine and Owlchemy Labs attending. At 17:00 is ‘Suspension of Disbelief in Virtual Reality‘ with a host of big VR names such as Sixense CEO Amir Ruben, Virtuix CEO Jan Goetgeluk, NextGen Interactions’ Jason Jerald and Playful Corp. CEO Paul Bettner.
Oculus VR pops up again on 14th March with the ‘Trailblazers in VR Domain‘ session at 12:30. Head of Worldwide Studios Jason Rubin will be part of a panel looking at the future of the technology. Then at 15:30 ‘A Guide to Live Action 360 VR Filmmaking‘ takes place. There are also three panels starting at 17:00. One is ‘Cinema VFX & Immersive VR: Virtual Worlds Converge‘ another is labelled ‘The Future of Porn is 3D Virtual Reality‘ while the final one is named ‘A New Authenticity in a Holographic World‘.
Starting at 09:30 on 15th March is ‘Storytelling with the New Screens‘ 11:00 there’s also ‘Cinematic Virtual Reality: Immersive Storytelling‘, which features a number of the crew from New Deal Studios. Then at 12:30 there’s ‘Oculus Effect: How VR Will Change TV and Retail‘. Another VR-related session for the day is ‘HoloGramma: How Tech Can Bring Back Our Departed‘ at 15:30. DocLab will also have two sessions on the day including ‘DocLab Presents: New Frontiers for VR and Interactive NonFiction‘ at 14:00 and ‘DocLab Showcase: How to Play with VR, Physical Spaces and Ink‘ at 15:30.
Plenty more sessions can be found on 16th March, including ‘Crashing Oculus Rift and Hacking New VR Experiences‘ at 11:00. Following that there’s ‘Want to Lose Weight? Hang Out with Your Avatar‘ at 12:45. Both ‘Virtual Reality: Video Reinvented‘ and ‘Virtual Reality Journalism‘ take place at 15:30 while ‘Evolving 3D Production Into Immersive Technologies‘ starts at 17:00.
Finally, 17th March boasts two VR sessions, one being ‘Mixed Reality Habitats: The New Wired Frontier‘ at 11:00 and the other being ‘Virtual Reality: Building Healthier Social Brains‘ at 17:00.
That’s a staggering 21 panels, sessions and workshops that are VR-related. There’s more than enough for VR fans to follow along with at SXSW this year, then. VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest updates on the technology.Sojasun sprinter Jonathan Hivert claimed his second consecutive stage win of the Ruta del Sol, winning the 194.2km stage to Montilla ahead of Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and Francesco Lasca (Caja Rural).
It is Hivert's third win of the season - the 27-year-old also won the Etoile de Bessèges overall despite not taking out any stage wins there.
Prologue winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) remained in the overall lead of the race, with a seven-second advantage on Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) and four more on Bauke |
strongest mandate any Labour leader has had. The electoral system, for all its glaring faults, is more democratic than many of its predecessors.
Corbyn himself claims the whole dynamic of the Labour party will have changed if he is elected and the party outside Westminster will be entitled to wield more influence.
But if he is not the victor among the full members, he will be walking but wounded and a legal challenge is more likely. If a legal challenge is mounted due to maladministration of the election, and the courts will be reluctant to intervene, Corbyn will find the legitimacy of his mandate put under forensic scrutiny in a court room and that may not be a pretty sight.
Jeremy Corbyn: Labour membership will determine policy, not me Read more
The inability of the party to make the belated checks they promised on new recruits is self-evident, largely due to the cut-off date for applying to become a registered supporter was so close to the ballot itself. The party’s own procedure committee, a national executive sub-committee, rejected legal advice to make additional checks.
But if Corbyn has won with a healthy majority, he says he will try to appoint a shadow cabinet reflecting all ideological wings of the party. In this case, do figures such as Tristram Hunt, Chuka Umunna and even Yvette Cooper say they will not serve under Corbyn? If they refuse, they will invite the charge of being splitters, engineering a coup, taking themselves from the field of battle and being anti-democratic – charges already levelled in vitriolic language by Lord Prescott, a supporter of Andy Burnham, against Hunt.
Yet if they serve, they face the shackles of collective shadow cabinet responsibility and losing self respect. They will be asked if they want Corbyn to be prime minister and, for some, it will be difficult to answer truthfully.
As a result, there are plans afoot to try to enforce a restoration of shadow cabinet elections, something that is in the gift of the parliamentary party and difficult for Corbyn the democrat to oppose.
It is argued that a majority of the parliamentary Labour party (PLP) oppose Corbyn’s politics and an election would see success for candidates on a mainstream slate who are opposed to him. This would limit Corbyn’s freedom of manoeuvre and allow shadow cabinet members to say they work to a mandate provided by the PLP. By contrast, if Corbyn tries to block a return to shadow cabinet elections, the centre right may refuse to serve.
Corbyn’s own willingness to compromise with the rest of the party is as yet unknown. Although no one questions Corbyn’s personal decency, he does not have a track record of working with other Labour MPs, so much so that many openly admit they have rarely spoken to him in decades at Westminster. Even his relations with key union leaders are in their infancy.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Harris charts the rise of Jeremy Corbyn and his effect on politics. Link to video
At times, he has sounded belligerent, insisting his election will change the balance of power inside the party and mean the currently sidelined annual party conference – an institution effectively dominated by a small group of big mainly public sector-based trade unions – will have its powers restored. An early test will be whether he forces through a vote at conference to ditch support for replacement to the Trident nuclear submarine as many grassroots constituency parties are already proposing.
There are forces that have rallied round him that are spoiling for a fight. Take the Alliance for Workers Liberty, once known as Socialist Organiser, and its newspaper to which Corbyn recently gave an interview. Its leading theorist Sean Matgamna wrote last month: “If Jeremy Corbyn wins, it won’t be the end but the beginning of the fight. A leader of the French Revolution once observed that ‘those who make half a revolution, only dig their own graves’. A Corbyn victory will at best be only half a revolution. It will energise the PLP and its backers in the press for a serious fight back. If we don’t respond blow for blow, with determination to win, then the rightwing counter-revolution will win. There will be a severe repression of the left. The chance of a new beginning for working-class politics will be squandered.
“If Corbyn wins, then the left should immediately go on the offensive. Irreconcilable MPs should be de-selected. A real political life can be restored in a Labour party that has received an alluvial flood of new members. Labour party democracy needs to be restored. The Labour party conference must again become the democratic labour movement forum it once was.”
There is a strand of Corbyn’s support that seeks to delegitimise its opponents rather than engage with them. But that is not the tone adopted by some of those closest to Corbyn. Owen Jones, his chief media ally, has written an impressively honest piece setting out how hard the challenge facing Corbyn will become. He urges Corbynites to deploy “message discipline”, reach out to the middle income people, the moderates in the Labour party, those opposed to immigration and more broadly to avoid internal confrontations “so that if he is attacked by those determined to undermine his democratically decided leadership they are exposed as the aggressors”. Corbyn should pick his fights with his fellow MPs.
There are already signs that Corbyn is willing to compromise on two touchstone issues. Despite his campaign slogan of being straight talking, Corbyn’s views on the UK relations with two of the most important institutions of which it is a member, Nato and the European Union, are best described as fluid.
Jeremy Corbyn’s first move as leader? Remove the Labour whip | Julian Baggini Read more
At the Daily Mirror hustings last week, he subtly changed his position on pulling out of Nato. “It’s a cold war organisation that should have been wound up in 1990,” he said. But he now says he would “restrict” the role of the military alliance but there was not an appetite on the whole to leave.
Similarly on the EU, his position is a study in ambivalence, refusing to say if he would support continued UK membership if David Cameron fails to negotiate a more social Europe.
Corbyn knows that for some of the famously careerist Labour MPs, the UK’s membership of Nato and the EU define their western values and they will not tolerate a party that is neutral between east and west.
The right of the shadow cabinet are insistent they are not looking to create an SDP Mark 2. One despairing MP admits: “I am not sure we even have the capacity to do it. Who really is our Roy Jenkins figure? Who is our organiser? I fear instead we face a long rebuilding job”.
Another New Labour missionary admits: “We are the victims of our own mistakes and we lost the mainstream of the party over a decade ago, much of it due to Iraq. The Blairites have become the lost tribe. We let the discrediting of New Labour happen first under Gordon Brown and then it became Ed Miliband’s raison d’etre. Nothing constructive was put in its place, everything was hollowed out and it has caused this huge vacuum.
“As a result, the party has been taken over. It’s going to take two years of electoral defeats and a lot of hard thinking and organisation before this can start to be reversed.”
• This article was amended on 2 September 2015 to add some words missing from a quote from an article by Sean Matgamna. The following sentence was wrongly attributed to Matgamna in an earlier version: “There is a strand of Corbyn’s support that seeks to delegitimise its opponents rather than engage with them.”Love is blind, and so is online outrage.
That’s how a simple story about a dude at Blizzcon looking for a missed connection turned into a clusterf—k of gender-politics accusations.
as a way to make contact with a Tracer cosplayer he met at Blizzcon. They made a brief connection at an IHOP but Kyle forgot to ask her name or number, so he made a post online to see if she was out there and was interested in contacting him. It all began when Kyle Wright posted on Reddit’s Overwatch subreddit as a way to make contact with a Tracer cosplayer he met at Blizzcon. They made a brief connection at an IHOP but Kyle forgot to ask her name or number, so he made a post online to see if she was out there and was interested in contacting him.
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Totally not a big deal. These missed connections posts happen all the time on the internet with little fanfair.
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Kyle’s post, however, went viral and inspired the Kyle’s post, however, went viral and inspired the # helpkylefindtracer hashtag, with the Overwatch community uniting to make the connection happening.
This whole This whole #helpkylefindtracer is way better than the Sombra ARG. I really hope @BushidoViking finds the Tracer! — tacobellrestroom (@tacobelresroom) — tacobellrestroom (@tacobelresroom) November 7, 2016
It hit the fan when the gaming site Polygon picked up the story and ran it. The original story hammed up how Kyle felt about the mystery Tracer and implied that he was enlisting the Overwatch community to track her down. Polygon never contacted Kyle before writing the story.
“[The article] promotes this perverse twisted love story that doesn’t exist, ” Kyle said. “If I read it without reading the original post, I’d think it was creepy.”
Polygon’s hypersensitive audience then freaked out on social media because they felt the story was promoting stalking.
Yes, u include a line that acknowledges that maybe Tracer doesn't want the attention. But u share the hashtag. Ur dek encourages it @Polygon Yes, u include a line that acknowledges that maybe Tracer doesn't want the attention. But u share the hashtag. Ur dek encourages it — Michelle Ehrhardt (@ChelleEhrhardt) — Michelle Ehrhardt (@ChelleEhrhardt) November 8, 2016
this is not okay on many levels. Please remove this tweet and retract because YOU ARE PUTTING A GIRL IN DANGER. @Polygon this is not okay on many levels. Please remove this tweet and retract because YOU ARE PUTTING A GIRL IN DANGER. — Leah Rose (@leahroseFTW) — Leah Rose (@leahroseFTW) November 8, 2016
Polygon i love you most of the time but this is gross, creepy, and downright irresponsible of you to publish @Polygon Polygon i love you most of the time but this is gross, creepy, and downright irresponsible of you to publish — Local Idiot (@ChieShadownaka) — Local Idiot (@ChieShadownaka) November 8, 2016
Gross! The Facebook page was equally uncompromising.
The negative backlash led to Kyle being targeted personally on Reddit and Twitter with waves of harassment. People were calling him a creep along with traditional “kill yourself” style internet hate.
“All the negativity started with Polygon,” Kyle said. “That Polygon article promotes stalker behavior.
Polygon changed their story after the criticism. Polygonchanged their story after the criticism. The original story had phrases like “head over heels” and “can’t stop thinking about,” which Kyle said vastly overstated his feelings toward the Tracer cosplayer.
took out the romantic phrasing and the emphasis on using the power of the internet to find the girl. The updated story took out the romantic phrasing and the emphasis on using the power of the internet to find the girl.
Kyle updated his own post to say he does not want any internet sleuths searching out this girl.
“I appreciate what everyone’s doing, but I’m not about stalking or harassment,” “I appreciate what everyone’s doing, but I’m not about stalking or harassment,” he wrote. “If she wants to contact me that’s up to her #HelpKyleFindTracer”
Kyle said the harassment and death threats have kept him up at night, as well as dampened the memories of a great first time at Blizzcon.
“The people who take it as a simple thing, I’m glad that I could give that to them,” Kyle said. “But stalker behavior is not okay, and i hope they can hear what i’m saying and not someone’s twisting of the truth.”Nearly half of Latinos view the Republican Party negatively, according to a new poll.
A quarter of Latinos have a very negative view of Republicans, while 18 percent have a somewhat negative view of the GOP, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo survey.
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Only six 6 percent view Republicans very positively, while 18 percent of Latinos view the GOP somewhat positively.
The remaining 29 percent of Latinos are neutral towards the GOP.
Wednesday’s sampling found that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE is also deeply unpopular with Latinos following his rhetoric on illegal immigration, with 73 percent having a negative opinion of him.
That result includes 67 percent who see Trump very negatively, and 5 percent who see him somewhat negatively.
Democrats fare much better among Latinos in the poll, with only 19 percent holding a negative view of the party.
Ten percent are very negative, and 9 percent are somewhat negative.
Another 23 percent are very positive towards Democrats, while 25 percent are somewhat positive.
The remaining 29 percent of Latinos are neutral towards the party.
The poll also found that 51 percent would prefer that a Democrat win the White House in 2016 versus 24 percent who would pick a Republican.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll questioned 250 Latino adults from Sept. 20-24. It has a 6.20 percent margin of error.As predicted when the police asked to be a protected class, a passel of other groups are lining up in Olympia to also try to get a piece of the state’s powerful anti-discrimination law.
In my column a month ago about how the police want to be a protected class, critics of the idea said it could open a flood of other professions angling for a perch in the state’s powerful anti-discrimination laws.
Were they ever right.
Since the “blue lives matter” legislation was introduced in the Legislature in Olympia, more than a dozen bills have been filed seeking anti-bias protection for one group or another.
Immigrants, veterans, school sports coaches, firefighters and bikers are among those also asking the state for special help to level the playing field.
Wait … bikers?
Yes, House Bill 1553 would, believe it or not, put anyone “wearing motorcycle-related or motorcycle club-related paraphernalia” in the hallowed list of protected classes right along with race, creed, gender and sexual orientation. It would make the “right to be free from discrimination” due to wearing your Harley gear a civil right on a par with being black.
More on that one in a minute, but … firefighters? I can see at least an argument for adding police, as they’re frequent targets of abuse and even attack. But don’t firefighters mostly get hailed as heroes and have women swoon over them?
The sports coaches thing is a special carve-out that would allow public school coaches to lead prayers after a game, based on the case of that Bremerton football coach who was fired for too much praying in 2015.
It’s doubtful many, or any, of these proposals will pass. But the sheer number of them suggests something is reaching a tipping point, either in society or with the entire premise of government trying to protect people from unfair treatment.
Take the biker bill. Motorcyclists, especially when they ride in loud herds, probably are singled out unfairly at times, including by police. The theory is that benign motorcycle clubs get confused with criminal gangs. And also that the movie “Easy Rider” put an unshakable suspicion on bikers forever.
So motorcycling clubs have been asking for special protection for some time. A few years back in Arizona, a bill making them a protected class almost passed.
But then bikers had a rally for the bill at the Arizona Capitol, and some of them wore Nazi symbols. This meant one protected class was hate-speeching another! The senators got confused by it all, and balked.
“Once we start down this road …,” one said, “ … how about persons who wear military uniforms? Certainly they ought to be protected as a class. What about young people, or what about little old ladies with gray hair?”
Likewise, here, why stop at cops and firefighters? Sure, they’re both far more popular and courageous than, say, newspaper columnists. But my email in-tray often reads like one long torrent of hate speech. No less than the president, in a tweet, just called my kind “the enemy of the American people.” Shouldn’t we journalists at least get special protection from him?
Seriously (and this transition means that in the previous paragraph, I was joking): We’re now at risk of going so overboard on discrimination protection that it loses all meaning.
At the same time all these groups are lining up for legal protection, a handful of bills are aimed at rolling back the entire enterprise. One in particular that won’t pass here but might pass nationally seeks to make it easier for businesses to discriminate as long as they have religious reasons for doing so. (The bill, HB 1217, is nominally in defense of the Richland florist who wouldn’t arrange flowers for a gay couple’s wedding.)
Excusing discrimination in the name of a dominant religion is troubling. That’s what needs to be resisted.
In the meantime, surely at least you firefighters and biker clubs can take care of yourselves? It becomes hard to defend the whole point of anti-discrimination law if you need a cheat sheet to remember who it applies to.Archie is a tool for indexing FTP archives, allowing people to find specific files. It is considered to be the first Internet search engine.[1] The original implementation was written in 1990 by Alan Emtage, then a postgraduate student at McGill University in Montreal, and Bill Heelan, who studied at Concordia University in Montreal and worked at McGill University at the same time.[2]
History and name [ edit ]
The archie service began as a project for students and volunteer staff at the McGill University School of Computer Science in 1987,[3] when Peter Deutsch (systems manager for the School[3]), Emtage, and Heelan were asked to connect the School of Computer Science to the Internet.[4] The earliest versions of Archie, written by Alan Emtage, simply contacted a list of FTP archives on a regular basis (contacting each roughly once a month, so as not to waste too many resources of the remote servers) and requested a listing. These listings were stored in local files to be searched using the Unix grep command.
Bill Heelan and Peter Deutsch wrote a script allowing people to log in and search collected information using the Telnet protocol at the host "archie.mcgill.ca" [132.206.2.3].[3] Later, more efficient front- and back-ends were developed, and the system spread from a local tool, to a network-wide resource, and a popular service available from multiple sites around the Internet. The collected data would be exchanged between the neighbouring Archie servers. The servers could be accessed in multiple ways: using a local client (such as archie or xarchie); telnetting to a server directly; sending queries by electronic mail; and later via a World Wide Web interface. At the zenith of its fame the Archie search engine accounted for 50% of Montreal Internet traffic.[citation needed]
In 1992, Emtage along with Peter Deutsch and some financial help of McGill University formed Bunyip Information Systems the world's first company expressly founded for and dedicated to providing Internet information services with a licensed commercial version of the Archie search engine used by millions of people worldwide. Bill Heelan followed them into Bunyip soon after, where he together with Bibi Ali and Sandro Mazzucato was a part of so-called Archie Group. The group significantly updated the archie database and indexed web-pages. Work on the search engine was ceased in the late 1990s.
The name derives from the word "archive" without the v. Alan Emtage has said that contrary to popular belief, there was no association with the Archie Comics and that he despised them.[5] Despite this, other early Internet search technologies such as Jughead and Veronica were named after characters from the comics. Anarchie, one of the earliest graphical ftp clients was named for its ability to perform Archie searches.
A legacy Archie server is still maintained active for historic purposes in Poland at University of Warsaw's Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Another week, another update on Edge Rails. And man, you aren’t making this easy on me, are ya? This weekend, in case you hadn’t already heard, was the first Rails and RailsBridge BugMash. If my count is correct, there were roughly 300 commits to the Rails master over the past six days, with most of them pushing in over the weekend. Talk about a trial by fire! There’s a lot of really good stuff in here, so let’s get started:
All I ever wanted was a little Validation
ActiveRecord (or probably more accurately, ActiveModel) received a lot of validation love this weekend.
Thanks to James Hill you can now have your validations read from a custom method. This will allow you to more easily validate non-column - instance variable - data, for example.
Adam Keys added support for exclusive ranges in validates_length_of. So, validates_length_of :name, :within => (5...10) will actually restrict the valid length to between 5 and 9.
. So, will actually restrict the valid length to between 5 and 9. Thanks to Zac Williams, validates_length_of :name, :maximum => 10 will now allow nil values to validate, by default.
will now allow values to validate, by default. What good is validates_format_of if you can’t validates_format_of :without => /.../? Well, not much, let me tell you… Elliot Winkler provided a patch do to just that.
if you can’t? Well, not much, let me tell you… Elliot Winkler provided a patch do to just that. And last, but certainly not least Jeff Dean committed a great patch, which now brings to us: validates_with. This little beauty now allows you place validation code into an external class. And that, my friends, means better encapsulation of responsibility, I’ll bet on better readability, and even shared validation logic across your application or possibly even gems. Nice job, Jeff.
We’re so much more Resourceful
There were quite a number of updates to ActiveResource over the weekend. And, I’m sure many of you are going to be quite thankful for some of these:
ActiveResource now supports HTTP proxies thanks to Marshall Huss. This should be highly useful in large corporate and other firewalled or isolated environments.
ActiveResource gets SSL options from Roy Nicholson. This allows you to use X509 certificates, SSL timeouts, peer verification, and more.
ActiveResource.exists? got some polish from Jatinder Singh. And, by polish, I really mean that now it works. Instead of raising Net::HTTP errors.
got some polish from Jatinder Singh. And, by polish, I really mean that now it works. Instead of raising Net::HTTP errors. Fabien Jakimowicz added JSON error reporting support. So, now regardless of whether you’re using either XML or JSON, errors will be correctly reported back to you.
There’s strength in numbers
Thanks to Dan Cheail, we finally get a grouped_collection_select helper. I mean come on, there’s no way you can tell me that you can’t love this:
class Continent < ActiveRecord::Base class Country < ActiveRecord::Base class City < ActiveRecord::Base <%= grouped_collection_select(:city, :country_id, @continents, :countries, :name, :id, :name) %> <select name="city[country_id]"> <optgroup label="Africa"> <option value="1">South Africa</option> <option value="3">Somalia</option> </optgroup> <optgroup label="Europe"> <option value="7" selected="selected">Denmark</option> <option value="2">Ireland</option> </optgroup> </select>
I have massive Routes
This weekend brought a small, but incredibly useful patch to rake routes by Mike Breen. Now you can filter the listed results by passing in CONTROLLER=foo. That’s. just. awesome. Personally, it’s gotten to the point that my fingers just assume that they are to append the “ | grep foo ” portion whenever I type rake routes.. apparently I have nerd muscle memory. *sigh*
Short and sweet
I’ll end the BugMash portion here with just a few more commits worth mentioning. Certainly this wasn’t the extent of the BugMash and I could probably fill up another post just as long with even more mashed bugs and features, but it’s gotta end somewhere, right?
Rizwan Reza added support for you to define custom RedCloth options via the textilize helper. So, now, textilize("Testing <b>HTML</b>", :filter_html) will actually filter the HTML!
helper. So, now, will actually filter the HTML! You can now redirect_to(User) - note that User is a class not an instance here - as a synonym for redirect_to(users_url). Thanks to Niklas Holmgren for that.
- note that is a class not an instance here - as a synonym for. Thanks to Niklas Holmgren for that. Delivered mail items now have the ability to save to disk because of Eric Davis. When using the new :file delivery method, you can even define your own custom :location for directory storage.
delivery method, you can even define your own custom for directory storage. And finally, it’s not necessarily BugMash-related, but José Valim - among dozens of other commits - added model.destroyed?. This nifty method will return true only if the instance you’re currently looking at has been successfully destroyed.
Now that we’re clear of those, here are a couple of non-BugMash-related topics which were addressed:
A visit to the Oracle
There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. And this week saw some updates to Rails, mostly around testing, adding improved Oracle database support. A large amount of this effort appears to be coming from one man, Raimonds Simanovskis. I know when we talk about databases with Rails, it’s always the big four - SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and that other one which shall not be named - so it’s nice to get a little more focus the 800lb. gorilla in the room.
This update fixed failing test cases due to offset and limits, empty strings storing as null, numeric results from ActiveRecord.sum, Oracle not utilizing an ‘AS’ keyword on joins, and many more.
AbstractController::Responder
José Valim and Yehuda Katz (and many others, I’m sure) have put in some excellent work in refactoring the Rails renderer. In fact, the majority of the rendering code has come to find a home in a common object, the AbstractController::Responder. Certainly, this may not be its final resting place, but it’s interesting to note that once a lot of the render logic was brought together the core team was able to quickly identify and refactor the logic to see some dramatic speed increases. At one point, Yehuda even mentioned a tested benchmark showing, “10% faster partial rendering,” than Rails 2.3.
I know that in the RailsEnvy podcast I jabbed a few ribs about the amount of time it’s taken to see a Rails 3.0 release, but it’s important to note that these guys are doing some seriously awesome work. I’m seeing extensive testing and benchmarking and very intelligent refactorings. We’ve really got some great things yet to come.
I’m sure I’ve left out several important and/or interesting commits this week. So, I apologize if one of those was yours. I, and the rest of the community, certainly appreciate the effort you all put in this weekend and Rails is certainly better for it. So, thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you BugMashers out there. And, if you missed out on getting your commit in this round, we’re certainly ready to welcome you into the next.
If you prefer to have a shorter audio summary of this content, you should check out a new podcast just launched by Envy Labs, called Ruby5; a 5 minute, twice-weekly podcast covering Ruby and Ruby on Rails news.Democrats’ efforts to raise suspicions about alleged — and, thus far, imaginary — links between President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government may have backfired spectacularly.
The spotlight is now on President Barack Obama and his administration’s alleged surveillance of the Trump campaign, as well as his aides’ reported efforts to spread damaging information about Trump throughout government agencies to facilitate later investigations and, possibly, leaks to the media.
On Sunday morning, the White House released a statement indicating that the president would ask the congressional committees investigating Russian hacking theories to add the question of “whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.”
Media outlets continued to repeat that the story was based on “no evidence,” though the evidence was plain.
President Donald Trump originally tweeted about the alleged surveillance — which radio host Mark Levin called a “silent coup” by Obama staffers keen to undermine the new administration — on Saturday. Levin’s claims, reported at Breitbart News early Friday, were in turn based on information largely from mainstream outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. Heat Street was one non-mainstream source, but the BBC also reported similar information in January. So, too, did the UK Guardian, which is a mainstream source (albeit with a decidedly left-wing slant, hardly favorable to Trump).
All day Saturday, former Obama staffers tried to put out the fires. A spokesperson for President Obama responded — and Obama aide Valerie Jarrett tweeted:
A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.
As Breitbart News’ Matthew Boyle noted, however, it was a “non-denial denial.” It is worth examining the statement in detail.
“A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice.”
Note that this sentence does not dispute any of the key factual allegations at issue: that the DOJ approached the FISA court for permission to spy on Trump aides; that surveillance, once granted, continued after no evidence was found of wrongdoing; that the Obama administration relaxed National Security Agency rules to facilitate the dissemination of evidence through the government; and that Obama staffers allegedly did so, the better to leak damaging (and partial) information to the media.
In addition, there is reason to doubt the claim that the White House never “interfered”: the New York Times reported in January that “intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had been provided to the White House.”
Moreover, the first part of the sentence raises doubts about Lewis’s entire statement. Lewis could simply have said: “No White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the DOJ.” That would have been a clear denial. Instead, he referred to a “cardinal rule” that supposedly existed.
All that does is create deniability for the rest of the White House in the event that evidence turns up that someone was, in fact, involved with a Department of Justice probe. (No doubt Obama will be outraged to find out if someone broke the “cardinal rule,” and will claim to have found out through the media, rather than directly.) The Obama communications operation is notoriously careful with the way denials are worded.
“As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen.”
This is a meaningless denial, since the FISA court deals with communications with foreigners, with U.S. citizens potentially swept up in the investigation. It would have been possible for the DOJ to approach the FISA court with a request to monitor foreign entities allegedly communicating with the Trump campaign, using those intercepts as a way to monitor the Trump campaign itself. According to news reports cited by Andrew McCarthy, that could have been precisely what happened.
And, again, this sentence does not deny that someone in the Obama administration may have ordered such surveillance.
“Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
What we have here is a blanket denial crafted to protect President Barack Obama himself, but allowing him to admit later — once the facts emerge — that his administration was, in fact, up to something. In addition, the Democrats have been adept at constructing elaborate chains of communication to create plausible deniability for higher-ups. That is how the “bird-dogging” scheme — through which left-wing activists instigated violence at Donald Trump’s rallies — was arranged for the Clinton campaign. (The organizer behind that scheme visited Obama’s White House 340 times, meeting Obama himself 45 times.)
As the New York Times — supposedly the paper of record — recently reported, there is “no evidence” that the “Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.” But there is ample evidence that the outgoing Obama administration could have used intelligence agencies to carry out a political agenda against Trump. The media, as Mark Levin pointed out again on Sunday’s Fox and Friends, simply refuse to report their own earlier reports.
Even without Trump’s more sensational accusations of wiretapping, it is, so far, undisputed that there have been many leaks of classified information to damage Trump, and that the Obama administration took steps that could have made such leaks more likely. (Charles Krauthammer — who is skeptical of “deep state” theories — called this the “Revenge of the Losers” on Friday.) Those are serious allegations that the former administration is likely going to have to explain to Congress.
But if the Obama administration did order surveillance of the Trump campaign during the election; and if Obama or any other White House officials knew about it (or created a “plausible deniability” scheme to allow such surveillance while preventing themselves from knowing about it directly); then there is an even bigger problem.
It would then seem that the “Russia hacking” story was concocted not just to explain away an embarrassing election defeat, but to cover up the real scandal.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Formatting has been changed to improve clarity.The past couple of years have not been good for most motorcycle manufacturers. So it’s reassuring to see new brands appearing, however small. Zaeta is one of those new brands, and it’s inextricably linked to the resurgent sport of flat track racing. The Italian company’s single production model is definitely a case of function over form, but this glittering one-off painted by Kustom Garage reminded me that it’s about time we featured this new marque. Zaeta’s origins can be traced back to 2007, when founder Paolo Chiaia was transfixed by the short track races at Daytona. “There I fell in love with the discipline and aesthetics of those bikes, which are essential, small, and nothing more,” he says.
In December 2008 Chiaia met Graziano Rossi, the father of Valentino. The senior Rossi proposed a slightly different perspective: “He spoke of a small bike that could turn to the right or left; I was talking of a small, lightweight bike that could go on either the dirt or the road.” The result was the Zaeta 530, which is now in its second incarnation and ready for production. It’s powered by an Italian-built TM single—a dry-sumped, DOHC job with four titanium valves and a Keihin FCR 41mm carburetor. The Zaeta weighs just 115kg (254lbs), making it perfect for high-speed dashes across the city as well as open road twisties. In Italy, the price of the stock Zaeta is €13,500 ($18,900), which will probably limit sales—but there’s nothing else like it on the road.Last month TorrentFreak took a look at the information being held on users by the operators of private BitTorrent trackers. We questioned whether it was time to take another look at the way that data is being handled in order to better protect site members. In our second article on the issue we look not only at the data stored by individual trackers, but also claims that the information is being shared with dozens of other sites.
When it comes to keeping their privacy, many file-sharers like to think of themselves as a secretive bunch.
The ever popular VPN is showing no signs of decline and as time goes on the interest in joining private torrent communities grows.
Last month we took a look at the large amounts of data being stored by private torrent sites on their users, alongside the question of whether that information could be better handled in future.
That article prompted an individual, ‘X’, to contact us with information on what is perhaps the private tracker scene’s dirtiest and relatively open secret.
For those unaware, ‘X’ was talking about the phenomenon whereby losing an account or misbehaving on one torrent site can affect a user’s status on another. It’s been going on for some time now but it’s definitely worth mentioning in light of current concerns over data privacy.
X asked to keep him anonymous, and for good reason. He is the former sysop, admin and coder of at least two well known private torrent sites and the founder of another. He asked us simply – what do we know about how much information is being passed between torrent sites?
“I could take a username/email address/IP address and get information about any matching users on 30+ different sites. Some of it was automatic, some of it was request ticket based,” X explained.
So what kind of information is being shared? According to X, a staggering amount.
“Once a user was banned on one of the member private trackers, every IP they ever used for the site, RSS feed/API, and announces (even transversing HTTP proxies if they didn’t properly hide their origin IP), their email address, and their username was used to build a profile of them by combining shared data between the collective sites,” he revealed.
X told us that the databases are so rich in information that it’s possible to build detailed profiles of users, some of which are associated with more than a thousand IP addresses including access dates and times, plus a hundred usernames/email addresses and details of their supposed misbehavings.
“Everything from being a dick, being/acting suspicious, |
likely have 500-600 or even more on your roll. Many churches have an even worse record.
Discerning who among us is regenerate is not an exact science, but a closer look at these numbers will at least alert us to the fact that most Southern Baptists must certainly be dead spiritually. That is so, unless, of course, you claim that there is no difference between a believer and a non-believer.
In the average church you can cut the 38% Sunday morning attendance by about two-thirds or more when counting those interested in a Sunday evening service, or other gatherings held in addition to the principal meeting of the church. In 1996, the last time the SBC kept these statistics, the number of Sunday evening attenders was equal to only 12.3% of the membership (in churches that had an evening meeting). One might ask what makes us claim that the rest are Christians, if they involve themselves with God’s people only on such a minimal, surface level? How are they any different from the people who attend the liberal church down the street—the “church” where the gospel is not even preached?
And remember that the numbers of those attending include many non-member children and guests, often making up a third of the congregation’s main meeting attendance. When all factors are considered, these figures suggest that nearly 90% of Southern Baptist church members appear to be little different from the “cultural Christians” who populate other mainline denominations.
To make matters worse, we tell a lot more people that they are true Christians (because they prayed a prayer sincerely) than we can convince to be baptized. Our largest pizza supper may bring in a hundred new “converts,” but we will likely get only a few of those on the roll. After that, the percentages that I have been mentioning kick in. In other words, if you compare all who we say have become Christians through our evangelistic efforts, to those who actually show signs of being regenerate, we should be red-faced. In the Assembly of God’s 1990s “Decade of Harvest,” out of the 3.5 million supposedly converted, they showed a net gain of only 5 new attenders for every 100 recorded professions. When one considers all of our supposed converts, including those who refuse to follow Christ in baptism and who never join our churches, our numbers are much the same. Doesn’t anybody see that there is a serious problem here?
Let me illustrate in rounded figures by looking at some of the churches where I have preached as a guest speaker. Each could be any Baptist church in any city. In one church, with 7,000 on the active roll, there were only 2000 in attendance on Sunday morning, and a mere 600-700 on Sunday evening. When you account for those attenders who are not members of this flagship church (i.e. guests and non-member children), you have about 1500 actual members coming in the morning and 500 or so in the evening. Where are the 5,500 members who are missing on Sunday mornings? Where are the 6,500 who are missing in the evening?
Another church had 2,100 on the roll, with 725 coming on Sunday morning. Remove guests and non-member children and the figure drops to 600 or less. Only about a third of that number came out on Sunday evening, representing less than 10% of the membership. Yet another church had 310 on the roll with only 100 who attended on Sunday morning. Only 30-35, or approximately 10%, came to the evening worship service.
These are all considered fine churches. All have an extremely competent level of leadership and vision. Some shut-ins and those who are sick, out of town, or in the military, certainly affect the figures a little. But those who are justifiably absent are not enough to alter the bleakness of the picture, especially when we remember that these numbers represent people who have been baptized and have publicly declared their allegiance to God and the Body of Christ. Even if you generously grant that the 38% are all true believers (an estimation that most pastors would say is way off the mark), one still has a church membership that is more dead than alive. If we are honest, we might have to ask ourselves, “Do Southern Baptists believe in a regenerate membership?”
Missing Christians are No Christians
What do these facts and figures, as general as they are, suggest? First, they reveal that most of the people on our rolls give little evidence that they love the brethren—a clear sign of being unregenerate (1 Jn. 3:14). It is impossible to believe that anything like real familial affection exists in the hearts of people who do not come at all, or who only nominally check in on Sunday morning as a cultural exercise. Love is the greatest mark of a genuine believer (1 Jn.3:14-19). Attendance alone does not guarantee that anyone is an authentic believer, but “forsaking the assembling,” is a serious sign of the unregenerate heart. The phrase: “They went out from us, because they were never of us” (1 Jn. 2:19) may have doctrinal overtones, but it nonetheless represents many on our membership rolls.
Second, these numbers suggest that most of those who do not attend (or who only come when it is convenient), are more interested in themselves than God. To put it in Paul’s words, they are “fleshly-minded” and not “spiritually-minded” (Rom. 8: 5-9). The atmosphere that most pleases them is that of the world and not God. They can stand as much of God as makes them feel better about themselves, and they find a certain carnal security in “belonging” to a local church. But beyond that, they will politely resist getting involved. They use the church, but are not really a part of it. For some, the extent of what they can take is an Easter service now and then; for others it is an occasional sterile (and somewhat Pharisaical) trip to church on appropriate Sunday mornings as fits into their schedule. But their apathy towards regular and faithful church attendance betrays their true affections. The fact is, you do what you love to do.
Third, the numbers indicate that some people have joined other denominations and our churches have not kept up with their movements—a sign of inadequate pastoral oversight and the built-in deficiencies of the “inactive membership” concept. I’m quite certain Paul never dreamed of “inactive membership.” Embarrassingly, some left on the rolls are dead—physically! It goes without saying that a dead person is about as inactive as one could be! But others, though presumably alive physically, have disappeared without a trace. I believe it was our beloved Dr. Roy Fish of SWBTS who said, “Even the FBI could not find some of them.” Yet, if we want to claim them as members, we are responsible to keep up with them.
All of these people have “prayed the prayer” and “walked the aisle.” All have been told that they are Christians. But for most, old things have not really passed away, and new things have not come. Most are not new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). In too many cases, obvious signs of an unregenerate heart can be found, such as bitterness, long-term adultery, fornication, greed, divisiveness, covetousness, etc. These are “professing believers” that the Bible says are deceived. “Do not be deceived” the Bible warns us concerning such people (see 1 Cor.6:9-11; Gal. 5:19-21; 6: 7-8; Eph. 5:5-6; Titus 1:16; 1 Jn. 3:4-10; etc.).
Jesus indicated that there is a good soil that is receptive to the gospel seed so as to produce a fruit-bearing plant, but that the “rocky ground” believer only appears to be saved. The latter shows immediate joy, but soon withers away (Mt. 13:6, 21). This temporary kind of faith (which is not saving faith, see 1 Cor.15:1-2) is rampant among Southern Baptists. In The Baptist Faith and Message we say we believe that saving faith is persistent to the end. We say we believe in the preservation and perseverance of the saints (once saved, always persevering). In other words, if a person’s faith does not persevere, then what he possessed was something other than saving faith.
In John 2:23-25 Jesus was the center-piece for what turned out to be a mass evangelism experience in which a large number of people “believed” in Him. Yet He did not entrust Himself to even one of them because “he knew their hearts.” Is it possible that we have taken in millions of such “unrepenting believers” whose hearts have not been changed? I say that we have. Our denomination, as much as we may love it, is on the main, unregenerate. Even if you double, triple, or quadruple my assessment of how many are true believers, we still have a gigantic problem. It is naive to believe otherwise.
There are those who would say that such people are “carnal Christians” and don’t deserve to be thought of as unregenerate. It is true that the Corinthian believers (about whom this phrase was used; see 1 Cor. 3:1-3) acted “like mere men” in their party spirit. Christians can commit any sin short of that which is unpardonable.
Undoubtedly, however, Paul did suspect that some of the Corinthians were unbelievers, for he later warns them about such a possibility in 2 Cor.12:20-13:5. A long-term and unrepentant state of carnality, is, after all, the very description of the unregenerate (Rom. 8:5-14, 1 Jn. 3:4-10, etc.). In calling some people “carnal” Paul did not mean to imply that he was accepting as Christian a lifestyle that he clearly describes elsewhere as unbelieving. He wrote, in the same letter: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived” (1 Cor. 6:9-11, etc.). Apparently there were some, even then, who were deceived into thinking that an unrighteous man or woman who professes faith in Christ could really be a Christian!
Is Follow-up the Problem?
A great mistake is made by blaming the problem on poor follow-up. In many churches there is every intention and effort given to follow-up, yet still the poor numbers persist. One church followed up “by the book,” seeking to disciple people who had been told they were new converts during the crusade of an internationally-known evangelist. The report of the pastor in charge was that none of them wanted to talk about how to grow as a Christian. He said, “In fact, they ran from us!” I have known some churches to go to extreme efforts to disciple new believers. We must do this. Yet, like the others, they generally have marginal success. They have learned to accept the fact that people who profess to have become Christians often have to be talked into going further, and that many, if not most, simply will not bother. Authentic new believers can always be followed up, however, because they have the Spirit by which they cry, “Abba Father” (Rom. 8:15). They have been given love for the brethren, and essential love for the beauty and authority of the Word of God. But you cannot follow-up on a spiritually dead person. Being dead, he has no interest in growth.
It was the preaching of regeneration, with an explanation of its discernible marks, that was the heart of the Great Awakening. J. C. Ryle, in writing of the eighteenth century revival preachers, said that they never for a moment believed that there was any true conversion if it was not accompanied by increasing personal holiness. Such content was the staple of the greatest of awakening preaching throughout the history of revival. Only such a powerful cannon blast of truth could rock the bed of those asleep in Zion.
Facing the Dilemma
What must be done? I suggest five responses:
1. We must preach and teach on the subject of the unregenerate church member. Every author in the New Testament writes of the nature of deception. Some books give major consideration to the subject. Jesus Himself spoke profusely about true and false conversion, giving significant attention to the fruit found in true believers (Jn. 10:26-27; Mt. 7:21-23; Mt. 25:1-13, etc.). If this sort of teaching creates doubt in people, you should not be alarmed, nor should you back away from it. Given the unregenerate state of so many professing Christians, their doubts may be fully warranted. In any case, as one friend told me, “Doubts never sent anyone to hell, but deception always does.” Most will work through their doubts, if they are regenerate and if we continue to preach the whole truth. Contrary to popular opinion, all doubts are not of the devil. Speak truthfully the whole counsel of God. You cannot “unsave” true believers.
It is true that there may be some who are overly scrupulous and overwhelmed by such examination. But most who will be affected are those who are too self-confident, having based their assurance on such shaky platforms as their response to an invitation, praying a perfectly worded “sinner’s prayer,” or getting baptized. If they are unregenerate, they may take offense and leave. But if they are truly regenerate, patient teaching and care will help them to overcome their doubts and gain biblical assurance. Such preaching may even result in true conversion for some who are deceived. And don’t forget that the overconfident ones are not the only ones at risk. Quiet, sensitive, insecure people can be deceived also.
2. We must address the issue of persistent sin among our members, including their sinful failure to attend the stated meetings of the church. This must be done by reestablishing the forgotten practice of church discipline. Each church should adopt guidelines that state just what will happen when a member falls into sin, including the sin of non-attendance or very nominal attendance. Such discipline for non-attendance is clearly found in the history of Baptists—but more importantly, in the Bible.
Everyone in the church, including new members, should be made familiar with the biblical steps of church discipline. Jesus said that a person who was lovingly, but firmly, disciplined by the church, and yet failed to repent, should be thought of as “a heathen and a tax collector” (see Mt. 18:15-17). Though David committed atrocious sins, he was a repenter at heart (see 2 Sam.12:13; Psalm 51). Every Christian is a life-long repenter and church discipline brings this out. (See Restoring Those Who Fall: A Church Discipline Statement at www.CCWtoday.org)
Leaders must get into the homes of all our erring church members, seeking either to bring them to Christ, or to reluctantly release them to the world which they love more than Christ. Nowhere in the Bible are we taught to keep non-believers on the rolls. As a side benefit from church discipline for the SBC, remember that when we reduce our membership to what it actually is, we will be amazed at the statistical improvements in the ratio of members per baptism and members to attenders. Of course, statistics are not worth dying for, but obedience to God’s Word is.
We are never to aggressively pluck the supposed tares from the wheat as if we had absolute knowledge (Mt. 13:24-30; 36-43). We might be mistaken. However, loving church discipline is a careful process by which the obvious sinner in essence removes himself by his resistance to correction. The church is made up of repenting saints, not rebelling sinners (see 1 Cor. 5). The slight improvement in the disparity between membership and attendance in the last couple of years is likely due, in major part, to some churches beginning to practice church discipline—a matter of obedience that thankfully is regaining credence among us. Some have removed hundreds from their rolls in this process, and regained some also.
3. We should be more careful on the front end of church membership. In my estimation, the public altar call (a modern invention) often reaps people prematurely. Others will disagree or can perhaps make significant improvements on the traditional “invitation system.” We have used this method in our evangelism because of our genuine zeal to see the lost converted. But in our zeal, we have often overlooked the fact that many who do what our method calls for (i.e. respond to our invitation) may not be converted.
Though sacrosanct to Baptists, careful study should be done related to the historical use of the invitation system evangelistically. For eighteen hundred years the church did not use such a method. It was not until its principle originator, Charles Finney, a true pelagian in his theology, promoted his “new measures.” Earlier preachers were content to let true conviction play a greater part in conversion. They needed no props for the gospel—no persuasive techniques to prompt people to make a “decision.” Instead of relying on a method, their confidence was in the preached Word and the Holy Spirit. Baptist giant, C. H. Spurgeon, for instance, saw thousands converted without the use of an “altar call.” His message was his invitation. We should always offer a verbal invitation in our gospel preaching, meaning we must invite people to repent and believe. But there is no real benefit, while there is much potential harm, in our inviting them to the front of the church and then assuring them that their short walk or tearful response proves their conversion.
We don’t need better methods to get people down to the front. What we need is more biblical content and more unction in our preaching. You cannot beat sinners away from Christ when God is bringing them in (see Jn. 6:37, 44-45). When as many as 70-90% of “converts” are giving little, if any, evidence of being saved after their first weeks or months of emotional excitement, questions should be asked, both about our understanding of the gospel and about our methods. Forget the fact, if you must, that there is no clear biblical precedent for the altar call. Even considering the matter pragmatically ought to make us quit. Though prevalent in our churches for decades, it has not helped us. (See “Closing with Christ” at www.CCWtoday.org.)
The dangerous practice of receiving new members immediately after they walk the aisle must finally be abandoned. Also, more careful counsel should be taken with those entering in as members from other churches. And add to this a need for much deeper thinking concerning childhood conversion. An alarming percentage of childhood professions wash out later in the teen and college years. For unconverted yet baptized church kids, the more independence they are granted, the more they live out their true nature. (See “Childhood Conversion” at www.CCWtoday.org.)
4. We must stop giving immediate verbal assurance to people who make professions of faith or who respond to our invitations. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to give assurance. We are to give thebasis upon which assurance can be had, not the assurance itself. Study 1 John in this respect. What things were written so that they might know they have eternal life? (1 Jn. 5:13). Answer: The tests given in the book. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16).
5. We must restore sound doctrine. Revival, I am finding as I study its history, is largely about the recovery of the true gospel. The three great doctrines which have so often shown up in true revival are: 1) God’s sovereignty in salvation, 2) justification by grace through faith alone, and 3) regeneration with discernible fruit. Revival is God showing up, but the blessing of the presence of God is directly affected by our beliefs. God most often comes in the context of these and other great doctrines, preached penetratingly and faithfully, and with the unction of the Holy Spirit.
As an illustration of our doctrinal reductionism, repentance is often forgotten completely in gospel presentations, or else it is minimized to mean nothing more than “admitting that you are a sinner.” Also, “Inviting Christ into your heart,” a phrase never found in the Bible (study the context of Jn.1:12 and Rev. 3:20, the verses used for this), has taken the place of the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. The doctrine of God’s judgment is rarely preached with any carefulness. And comprehensive studies of the meaning of the cross are seldom heard. Merely looking over the titles of the sermons which awakening preachers preached in the past would surprise most modern pastors.
Be Healthy or Be Ashamed
Which army would you rather have? Gideon’s first army or his last? No church, and no denomination, should call itself healthy unless more people attend than are on the roll. This is a standard kept by most of the world, and was kept by our great-grandparents in Baptist churches as well. We would be closer to the revival we desire if we would admit our failure, humbly hang our heads, and seek to rectify this awful hindrance to God’s blessing. When we boast of how big we are, we are bragging about our shame.
In the Philadelphia Baptist Association Minutes, our first association, our initial American statistical record shows that five times as many people attended the association’s churches as were on their rolls. Greg Wills in Democratic Religion in the South (Oxford University Press, 1997, p.14) reports that three times the number on the rolls attended Baptist churches, then located mostly along the eastern seaboard when surveyed in 1791 by John Ashlund. In 1835, the Christian Index of Georgia recorded that “not less than twice the number” of members were in attendance.
Today, in rough numbers, it takes 300 people on our rolls to have 100 attenders. In the 1790s, it took only 33. Or, to put it in larger figures, it now takes nearly 3000 people, supposedly won to Christ and baptized, to result in a church attendance of 1000. Then, it took only 333. Our potency has diminished to such an extent that we must “win” and “baptize” over 2,000 more people to get to the same 1000 to attend.
Apparently, being orthodox in terms of inerrancy and infallibility is not enough, though without these doctrines we have no foundation for true evangelism. A lot has to be done, and a lot undone. And, sadly, we have been actively transporting this mainly American problem overseas for many years.
To conclude, I suggest two remedial steps for the convention as a whole, in addition to what was suggested for the churches:
1. We might reverse some of our proclivity to continue as normal if we introduced our preachers more accurately in our evangelism meetings and convention settings. Try using this introduction: “Here is Brother ______, pastor of a church of 10,000 members, 6400 of whom do not bother to come on a given Sunday morning, and 8600 of whom do not come on Sunday evening. He is here to tell us about how to have a healthy, evangelistic church.”
It might be better to ask a man to speak who shepherds 100 members, all of whom attend with regularity and all of whom show signs of regeneration—a man who, in the last year, has baptized 5 people who stick—rather than a pastor of 10,000 members, 7000 of whom do not come—a man who has baptized 1000 in the past year, 700 of whom cannot be found. The smaller, but more consistent numbers of the first pastor reveal a far more effective ministry and thus a far better example for other churches. (Please understand that I don’t like this talk about “numbers,” but this is the main way we evaluate people and churches as Baptists. I am sure God is not really impressed with any of our statistics.)
2. We should establish a study group to explore our presently deplorable situation and to track its history. This group should also seek to re-examine the biblical mandate to have a regenerate church. Then this study group should report back with a strategy to help us out of the dilemma. They should be painfully honest. I am hopeful that individual churches will act without this prompting, but this would be an added stimulus to getting us to our fighting weight as a denomination. Some church leaders will not act without this sort of backing since independent action would be a departure from the status quo.
Our only alternative is to carry on in the old way—the way that produces 70-90% fallout. By continuing on as we are, we will gradually blur, and eventually obscure altogether, any distinction between the professing and the authentic Christian. In the end, we will look like every other mainline, liberal denomination. We are only one-third to one-tenth alive now. If we want to avoid complete deadness, we must take dramatic measures immediately. Like cotton candy, our apparent size does not add up to much.
Our forebears, especially those who died for the biblical concept of a regenerate church, would hardly recognize our compromised condition. It will admittedly take us down a notch or two, in the estimation of the rest of professing Christianity, when millions are removed from our rolls. But humility and a new reality might be the starting place for God’s greatest blessings on us yet!
The next time someone asks how your church and your denomination are doing, tell the truth. Tell them that we have a new confidence in the inerrant Bible. Tell them that we have seminaries that promote orthodoxy, and new evangelistic fervor among the true believers. Tell them we have a lot to be excited about. But also tell them that when considered as a whole, most Southern Baptists need raising from the dead.
– Updated by Jim Elliff in 2009 –This could be another nightmare for Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge (USA). A hacker named Ulzr1z posted a paste on Pastebin yesterday to mark continuity of OpAaronDwartz, as started by Anonymous last year by hacking MIT Websites on occasion of First Death Anniversary of Aaron Swartz, a young hacktivist and programmer.
Hacker with a twitter id @ulzr1z, partially defaced 15 sub-domains of MIT website amid Swartz Death Anniversary.
The attack was conducted under the banner of #OpAaronSwartz where hacker left a message in support of Aaron Hillel Swartz on several sub-domains of the MIT's Lab.
The paste also included link of the inside view of the WordPress Admin Panel as shown below:
Pastebin Link:
http://pastebin.com/616A8bGw
Following are 15 MIT Sub-domains hacked:
http://excedrin.media.mit.edu/ http://dfe.media.mit.edu/ http://biomech.media.mit.edu/ http://mas834.media.mit.edu/ http://dkroy.media.mit.edu/ http://obm.media.mit.edu/ http://fabworkshop.media.mit.edu/ http://scifi2scifab.media.mit.edu/ http://labx.media.mit.edu/faq/ http://iml.media.mit.edu/ http://socialphysics.media.mit.edu/about/ http://design3d.media.mit.edu/ http://mitcityfarm.media.mit.edu/hacked/ http://listentree.media.mit.edu/ http://socialmachines.media.mit.edu/
Mirrors:
http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493309 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493310 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493311 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493312 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493313 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493314 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493315 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493316 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493317 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493318 http://zone-h.org/mirror/id/23493319
Screenshot:The world of behavioral economics has become hugely popular in recent years, with Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s book Nudge inspiring a whole range of initiatives to apply behavioral thinking to prod us to behave better.
As a cyclist that regularly braves city traffic, it was interesting to see the latest study in this area that suggests simple changes to road signage could have a significant impact on road safety.
Improving cycle safety
A common issue for cyclists is that of overtaking. Despite most motoring guides suggesting that cars should overtake bikes with as much space as they would if overtaking another vehicle (ie using the other lane in the road to do so), it’s all too common for drivers to squeeze past perilously close.
Such encounters lead to a pretty fractious relationship between motorists and cyclists, with the comments section of most articles on the subject online highlighting the disconnect between each group.
The researchers conducted an online survey of nearly 2,000 people to solicit feedback on three different traffic control methods. Each of the three was attempting to communicate the message that cyclists are fully entitled to be in the middle of the lane, and don’t have to squeeze to the left.
Cyclists may use the full lane
Interestingly, the most effective, in terms of accepting cyclists right to be on the road, was a sign that said “Bicycle May Use Full Lane”. This scored much better than “Share the Road” signs that are often used, and also higher than images of a bicycle on the road.
“‘Bicycles May Use Full Lane,'” is a pretty clear winner,” the authors say.
The study did highlight the perception gap that persists with motorists however. Whilst 92% of those who saw the sign understood that it was legal for cyclists to use the middle of the lane, just 70% believed it was safe for them to do so.
The authors hope that their research will encourage transport officials to modify their signage to something that encourages greater respect of cyclists on the roads, especially in notable hot spots.
They hope to put their theory to the test in live situations in future studies to see whether theory translates into actions on the road, but they are adamant that anything that encourages greater adoption of cycling has to be a good thing.
“Replacing a personal motor vehicle with a bicycle is the single most environmentally beneficial and personally profitable action most people can ever take,” they conclude.Tips
Yes, you can force close iOS apps by double pressing the home button and sliding the app window up, but you shouldn't make a habit out of regularly doing it. Here's why.
Constantly swiping up on all apps to force close them is a waste of time.For years, iOS has included the ability to force close an app by accessing the app switcher view. While the look and feel of multitasking has changed with different iOS updates, the basic functionality and intent have stayed the same— the app switcher is just an easy way for users to quickly jump between recently used apps.However, many users mistakenly believe that all apps shown in the app switcher are currently running in the background on their phone, draining performance and battery. That's incorrect.Apple's iOS platform does allow for intelligent multitasking, meaning some apps will operate or finish a task in the background, then automatically close.However, the iOS app switcher shows all apps that have been opened on an iPhone or iPad, regardless of whether or not they are actually running in the background.Misconceptions about the iOS app switcher have led many users to adopt the habit of double pressing the home button and swiping up on all apps, constantly, in a futile effort to improve their handset's battery life or performance.The truth is, that habit is a waste of time.For proof, restart your phone, then double-press the home button without launching anything. You'll see all of the same recent apps in the app switcher, despite the fact that iOS has been completely rebooted and nothing has been opened.The only time you should force an app to close is if it becomes unresponsive or erratic. For example, if you're using Facebook and the app has crashed, return to the home screen, then double press the home button, then swipe up on the Facebook window to force it to close. Reopening Facebook should return the app to its normal state.If you're truly worried about battery life and performance, actual effective ways of improving it include lowering your screen brightness, manually turning on the iOS 9 Low Power Mode, or digging into settings to disable Background App Refresh (under Settings, then General).There is an old saying in sports that sometimes the best moves you make are the ones you don’t make. That is certainly true in regard to the 2013 Eagles.
* Missing out on DL Ricky Jean-Francois turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Ced Thornton and Fletcher Cox are better DEs than him. They’re also younger and cheaper. RJF would have affected the development of some young DL, whether Thornton or Bennie Logan or some other part of the rotation.
Secondly, the money the Eagles put into RJF might have kept them from spending on some other player. It was disappointing to see him go to Indy back in March, but that actually turned out to be a great thing.
* Not trading Nick Foles is looking to be a huge move. We don’t know how close the Eagles ever got to actually dealing Foles. I tend to think they wanted to keep him, but I’m sure Andy Reid did inquire about him at some time. Chip Kelly could have pushed Foles out while going for a more athletic QB, but wisely kept Foles around. That could turn out to be a franchise-changing type of move.
* Passing on Geno Smith and EJ Manuel. The Eagles had the 4th overall pick. There were more than a few people who thought for sure that the Eagles would spend it on a QB, even though there wasn’t great value. Smith was the guy getting the early buzz. Then Manuel became the flavor of the month. The Eagles checked both guys out thoroughly. And passed. Both guys might pan out, but the Eagles have Foles playing at a Pro Bowl level right now so he looks like the more sure thing of the trio.
* Not dumping Riley Cooper. This was far from a no-brainer back in the summer. Cooper’s concert incident is one of the worst Eagles-related memories in a long time. The team could have taken the easy way out and cut him. Cooper wasn’t a star player. They didn’t have a high pick or much money invested in him. The whole world would have gotten behind the Eagles for dumping Cooper. They chose the tougher path and kept him around. To be fair, the Eagles were thin at WR. But again, Cooper was just a guy back then. He had 5 TD catches in 3 years.
A ton of credit goes to Jason Avant for being the guy who kept the peace. He and Riley are friends. Jason is incredibly respected in the locker room so him sticking by Cooper meant a lot. I think Chip Kelly also handled the situation wisely by not ignoring it, but also not going overboard with it. I think he gauged the pulse of the team and saw this was something the players could handle.
Cooper has turned out to be a key player, especially in the last 6 or so weeks.
* Not trading Vinny Curry. Eagles fans loved what they saw from Curry this summer. Coaches did not. They looked past the plays he made and focused on the fact he wasn’t playing within the framework of the defense. The coaches could have given up on Curry and told Howie to deal him to a 4-3 team. Instead, the coaches kept coaching Vinny. They worked on fundamentals over and over. Curry got on the field in Week 3 and showed ability right away. Since then, he’s actually started to play well in the base defense as a 2-gap DE. I don’t know if Curry will ever be a starter, but he could be a critical role player for the Eagles. Patience paid off.
* Passing on Eric Winston. Remember when the Eagles were linked to Winston at least once a month? The team decided against that and focused on finding a RT in the draft. They took Lane Johnson 4th overall and he looks like he could be a stud OL.
* Not cutting Nate Allen. The Eagles could have easily let Allen go in the offseason. He didn’t play well in 2012, actually getting benched late in the year. The fans hated him. But the Eagles decided to keep Allen around and see if the new staff and system would get Nate back to the form he showed as a rookie. That has worked and Nate is playing the best football of his career. Nate’s future is up in the air, but the fact he’s made Eagles fans discuss re-signing him is arguably the biggest miracle of 2013. Not just Eagles 2013, but all the events in the world. Crazy. Great job by the staff and Nate.
I might be forgetting a non-move or two. Let me know if I’ve overlooked something good.
_As a visual designer working on Google Chrome, Sebastien Gabriel is responsible for creating symbols that millions of users around the world see on a daily basis.
Many of Gabriel’s designs have become iconic in their own right, including the retro-styled ‘Lonely T-Rex‘ icon that appears to users when Chrome experiences network connectivity issues.
Today he agreed to give us a look into how those rich assets come to life.
Sebastien, who is also known as Kb, has been a Googler for just over two years. During his time at Google, Sebastien’s portfolio has grown to include icons that almost every Chrome user will recognize.
When Sebastien isn’t working on Chrome, he enjoys running, doing some old fashioned PC gaming, and releasing design freebies on his personal website. If you want to keep up with what Sebastien is working on (and let’s face it: you do) be sure to follow him over on Dribbble.
Could you tell us a little bit about what led you to become a Visual Designer for Chrome?
I was a visual designer for a French web agency and doing a bit [of] freelance. I was noticed by one of my current co-workers, contacted by Google right away and here I am.
It was a no brainer.
Some of the icons you are best known for are the “Lonely T-Rex” and the “Chrome Repair Bot”. What’s it like to design an icon which, ultimately, you hope most users will never actually see?
Designing an error icon is fun to do, it’s kind of like |
phone is to make and receive calls, and your livelihood depends on that functionality, I can't recommend this type of solution with today's technology. While I make or receive the occasional call, the audio is prone to cut out or sound garbled with these apps on my iPod via this hotspot, especially when using some form of transportation. I was hoping that iOS7 and FaceTime Audio would push the experience forward, but in the field it works about the same as Talkatone (somewhere between pretty good and pretty terrible, the determining factor being whether or not you are using some form of transportation).
The main driver of getting the hotspot was to help me navigate the maniacal roadways of Austin. The Maps app is a substandard experience on the iPod (it's always been that way). It works but you have to manually swipe through directions. Couple that with a hotspot connection that drops when moving, and what you get is something that is not particularly safe to use while driving. Even if you're just navigating as a passenger, it's frustrating. I know my way around Austin, so I don't use Maps on a daily basis. Just like making calls, if you rely on Maps to get you through the day, I can't recommend this solution.
It's important to note that a contributing factor of these experiences is the iPod. While it's a great device all around, VoIP calls and maps/location services suffer because it's not a phone. I'd be interested to try my experiment with a new iPhone, or a Moto X, or any other top-tier Android phone, and see if using that type of hardware improves the experience over the iPod.
These apps and devices will improve, the experience will too.
So what about people that don't rely on making calls? Like an increasing number of us, I find myself talking less and less on my mobile device, instead relying on text, image, or video-based communication methods. Making a phone call is my least preferred method of communication, so not having a bonafide "phone" isn't a big deal. If this sounds like you, I urge you to consider this experiment. It's fun to orchestrate and put into use. It feels like having a treasure map and a compass. And it's cheap.
When people ask me what phone I have, and I say, "I don't have a phone," they're like..."Huh?" Everyone is entranced in the smart phone market and their next upgrade. No one seems to consider these totally viable alternatives. For a lot of these people, those that find themselves using less "minutes" or making fewer calls, it's more than just an alternative, it can be an exciting lifestyle change.
If you have a question or comment, feel free to reach out or leave something in the comments section.By Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
The chair of Canada’s spy agency watchdog has registered in Alberta to lobby for a First Nations energy company jointly drilling for oil on its territory with a Chinese-controlled firm.
Chuck Strahl is chair of the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) which oversees the activities of the Canadian Intelligence Security Service (CSIS) and investigates complaints against the agency.
Strahl faced conflict of interest allegations this week from the NDP after the Vancouver Observer reported he registered on Dec. 6, 2013, to lobby the British Columbia government on behalf of Enbridge, which is behind the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline project to move Alberta tar sands oil to the B.C. coast.
CSIS has been monitoring opposition to the pipeline project which received the green light from the National Energy Board in late December. It is up to Stephen Harper’s cabinet to give the project its final approval.
The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner said in an email to APTN National News that it found no conflict with Strahl’s work as chair of SIRC and his lobbying for Enbridge.
“Based on the information he provided to the office and on any other information currently available to the office, Mr. Strahl was advised that the office had no grounds to believe that there had been a contravention,” said spokesperson Jocelyn Brisbois.
A spokesperson for SIRC said Strahl would be required to step away from any SIRC discussions around CSIS activities that include Enbridge.
“If there is something within that investigation in which that committee member has a conflict of interest they would withdraw from participation in committee proceedings,” said SIRC spokesperson Lindsay Jackson.
The Enbridge file, however, may not be the only one that could be problematic for Strahl in his role as chair of SIRC.
Strahl, who was Aboriginal Affairs minister from 2007 to 2010, registered with Alberta’s lobbyist registry on Dec. 3, 2013, to lobby for Frog Lake Energy Resources Corp. The energy firm has partnered with Chinese-financed Windtalker Energy Corp to drill for oil on Frog Lake’s territory.
Sichuan Rui Investment Management Ltd. says on its website that it owns 90 per cent of Windtalker. The company was born out of a $30 million deal with Frog Lake Energy in 2010. Under the deal, Frog Lake farmed out four blocks of land to Windtalker for oil development. The two firms drilled about 30 wells since then and produce, on average, about 700 to 800 barrels per day.
Frog Lake sits about 90 kilometres north of Lloydminster, Alta., and 80 km south of Cold Lake, Alta.
Strahl said in an email to APTN National News that he knows “nothing about Windtalker. Never discussed them with Frog Lake Energy.” Strahl said he knows “nothing about them from my work at SIRC.”
Strahl did not respond to follow up questions about his Enbridge lobbying.
CSIS has expressed concerns in the recent past over China’s resource push. The agency published a paper in September 2013 that explored China’s acquisitions of resources abroad, including in Canada. The report was based on a conference hosted by CSIS and National Defence.
CSIS has also investigated links between Chinese investment and First Nations. Vancouver lawyer Merle Alexander told APTN National News that he was approached by CSIS agents in 2010 and 2011 probing whether First Nations were being “manipulated” by the Chinese through their business deals.
Alexander, a partner with Gowlings, said in an interview that Stahl’s position as CSIS watchdog while lobbying for a First Nations firm with Chinese links raises a lot of questions.
“CSIS is looking at the relationship between First Nations and China for potential undo influences, (Strahl) works for a First Nations owned company that has relationships with China and he also has a role on an investigative body,” said Alexander. “Anyone can draw on those three things, you should be able to publicly answer to it.”
According to Sichuan Rui Investment Management’s website, the seeds for the Windtalker deal found fertile ground during a meeting with a U.S.-Canada business delegation organized by the Sichuan province’s department of commerce in 2010.
The meeting proved to be productive, Windtalker was born and Sichuan Rui Investment Chairman Doug Wang was named an honourary chief by Frog Lake.
While Windtalker and Frog Lake Energy are separate legal entities, they jointly operate oil wells on Frog Lake’s territory. Windtalker also pays lease rentals annually to Frog Lake for use of the blocks.
Windtalker’s only operations in Canada are in Frog Lake. Windtalker, however, is hoping to expand into other areas in Canada and the U.S., according to Sichuan Rui’s website.
Frog Lake Energy’s CEO Joe Dion could not be reached for comment.
jbarrera@aptn.ca
@JorgeBarreraThe Houston Texans have released their first “unofficial” depth chart for their first game of the 2014 season, this Sunday against the Washington Redskins, with newly acquired quarterback Ryan Mallett as the backup QB and rookie Alfred Blue as the first backup for Arian Foster.
Mallett was acquired by the Texans on Sunday in a trade with the New England Patriots for a ’16 seventh round draft choice. Mallett was originally a third round selection in the 2011 NFL Draft by the Patriots.
Having Mallett as the backup with less than a week with the Texans shows two things: he already knows and understands the offensive system pretty well, and third string rookie Tom Savage must still have a lot to learn in this same system.
I have no problem whatsoever with the Texans having Mallett as the No. 2 QB, heck, by the end of the first month (or earlier) he could be the starting QB for the team, depending on the performance of Fitzpatrick early in the season.
In just by looking at the no-nonsense type of attitude O’Brien has, and having this being his first season as an NFL head coach, I bet he wouldn’t have much of a problem at all making a change at QB very early in the season if need be.
Now as for the rookie in Blue, I figured he would be the third running back on the depth chart at this point of the season, but he’s proven he’ll be able to have some type of role within the league and with the Texans.
It looks as though if something were to happen to Foster (he missed eight games in ’13) that Blue would be the guy the Texans will look towards in carrying the load at running back.
For the complete depth chart, click here.France erupted with nationwide demonstrations and strikes on Tuesday, as union members and a burgeoning pro-democracy movement began a series of planned actions to protest President François Hollande's controversial set of employer-friendly labor reforms.
Truckers blocked motorways across France and massive marches took place in Paris, Lille, and Montpellier, among other cities. Government forces sought to quell the actions: protesters were met with tear gas in Paris and water cannons and tear gas in Nantes, and police vans circled a public square in Lille.
Hollande has galled the nation by forcing the new set of reforms through the National Assembly without the law being subject to a parliamentary vote, a move the Telegraph described as "the 'nuclear' option."
Hollande's severely unpopular proposals allow employers to more easily fire workers and create precarious, poorly paid positions in place of permanent contracts. Critics also charge that the reforms are designed to make it easier for corporations to move jobs offshore and increase workers' hours without overtime pay.
The reforms provoked the nation's Nuit Debout ("Up All Night") protest movement to form in March, and the country has seen widespread demonstrations and mass rallies since then.
The pro-labor movement has occupied public spaces and demonstrated in cities across the country to protest the labor reforms as well as bigger-picture issues such as austerity, globalization, increasing inequality, privatization, and the continent's severe anti-migrant policies, as Common Dreams reported.
Rabble.ca's Duncan Cameron explained the context surrounding Hollande's labor reforms and why they have so galvanized the nation:
Rather than forcing trade unions to win concessions from companies, the French state has legislated employment protection for labor. Resenting this, employer associations work continuously to reverse constraints on business. [...] French citizens expect legally protected job security. Employers' rights to dismiss employees are strictly curtailed by laws approved by Gaullist and Socialist governments. The workweek is limited to 35 hours. Overtime pay and workplace benefits are legislated, not subject to negotiation. Saying it wants to reduce unemployment, the French Socialist government drew up legislation to weaken employment protection. The governments wants to make reforms that would see hours worked go up, make job termination simpler, and facilitate creation of insecure jobs for young workers. About 70 per cent of the population is opposed to these reforms. SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts
[...] The French Socialist government argues that employers need to know they can fire workers in order to hire them.
"Making the world conform to supply and demand diagrams is at odds with the French Enlightenment tradition," Cameron wrote, echoing French workers' arguments. "People need to work to live and fluctuating prices for work are incompatible with meeting human needs in a sustainable fashion."
Continuing to hold Hollande's feet to the fire, union members' new wave of strikes are planned across a range of industries: "Transport including France's ports, trains, and airports will be affected by the general strikes, notably on Tuesday and Thursday," the Telegraph reports.
"Rail workers said last week that they plan to stage rolling strikes every Wednesday and Thursday from this week onward," the newspaper writes, "right up until the Euro 2016 championships in July."
Hollande has sworn not to back down, despite the rising unrest. "I will not give way because too many [previous] governments have backed down," the French president told the Europe 1 radio station.
Meanwhile, Nuit Debout demonstrations—which socialist magazine Jacobin recently characterized as "the most promising challenge to French elites in years"—are taking place all week around the country.
These latest series of actions were off to a powerful start on Tuesday, which organizers and supporters documented on Twitter:Via DaisyLuther.com,
Enough with “the Russians” already. This “Russian Disinformation” and “Russian Hacking” stuff is getting more ridiculous by the day.
First, don’t let the irony escape you that most, if not all, of the pundits breathlessly blaming the Russians for “fake news” and “election interference” are the very ones who were saying that Hillary Clinton was a shoe-in for president. They’re the ones who were providing her campaign with questions in advance, and allowing her people to approve/disapprove of articles.
Secondly, many of the entities blamed for spreading “Russian propaganda” were the ones with the audacity to tell the truth about the Clinton crime family and spread knowledge of the information released by Wikileaks. Obviously, I’m not including those Macedonian college kids in this, but keep in mind that they weren’t doing it for the Russians – they were doing it to make money.
This isn’t about the Russians at all, which anyone with half a brain realizes is absolutely ridiculous.
Here’s what this really is.
This is a war on the Trump presidency. It’s an attempted coup.
Maybe it’s even another effort to outright steal the presidency from Trump. Maybe there’s someone with a lot of money to throw into this “OMG THE RUSSIANS” rhetoric who really hates Russia and who really wanted Hillary Clinton to be the President. Maybe his name rhymes with “Doros.” I don’t know this for sure, but it’s at least a more likely story than “The Russians” hacking our election and deliberately spreading propaganda.
And it’s working. Ten of the Electoral College delegates have asked to be briefed on the Russian “interference” before they cast their votes on the 19th.
But that isn’t all. This is a two-for-one deal.
It’s important to note that the MSM lost every single bit of their remaining credibility during the last election and they’re desperate to get it back. It reminds me of a high school kid who gets caught doing something she shouldn’t, who then makes up stories about another group of kids to get people talking about them instead of her. The MSM can’t accept the fact that Hillary Clinton lost, despite their dishonest but enthusiastic efforts to steal the election for her. They’ll collude with whoever they have to in order to become relevant again.
Do you really have any doubt that they’ll collude with whoever they have to in order to become relevant again?
About “The Russians”
The whole plotline about “the Russians” really took off when the Washington Post published an article listing a couple hundred websites as Russian “fake news” sites. (I know the owners of quite a few of these sites personally -as in, we’ve shared meals and wine together – and I can tell you, they’re as American as apple pie.” The Washington Post later backtracked on the accusations but did not retract the article.
And today, the New York Times was at it with an article entitled, “C.I.A. Judgment on Russia Built on Swell of Evidence.”
Except that when you consider that evidence by definition is definitive and the NYT admits everything they have is circumstantial, then, doesn’t that completely negates the headline? The article is sheer speculation, just like the WaPo article that named the “fake news” sites.
What’s more, the FBI completely disagrees with the CIA, and they’ve been very public about it. They don’t believe that there is…well, evidence. I’ll quote from WaPo here.
The competing messages, according to officials in attendance, also reflect cultural differences between the FBI and the CIA. The bureau, true to its law enforcement roots, wants facts and tangible evidence to prove something beyond all reasonable doubt. The CIA is more comfortable drawing inferences from behavior. “The FBI briefers think in terms of criminal standards — can we prove this in court,” one of the officials said. “The CIA briefers weigh the preponderance of intelligence and then make judgment calls to help policymakers make informed decisions. High confidence for them means ‘we’re pretty damn sure.’ It doesn’t mean they can prove it in court.”
Give me a break. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why you should never, ever believe anything the Washington Post refers to as investigative journalism. They have no idea what proof or evidence even means.
There’s a psy-op, all right, but it isn’t “the Russians” perpetrating it.
It’s the CIA (keep in mind that psyops is part of their job) working hand in hand with the MSM.
You just have to laugh at some of these headlines and quotes.
For your entertainment, enjoy the following round-up of headlines promoting the “Blame Russia” sentiment.
Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House (source)
House passes intelligence bill enhancing efforts against Russia (source)
Where’s the outrage over Russia’s hack of the US election?” (CNN)
Fake News, Russians, and Election Reversal (Town Hall)
A Powerful Russian Weapon: The Spread of False Stories (NY Times)
DID RUSSIAN AGENTS INFLUENCE THE U.S. ELECTION WITH FAKE NEWS? (Vanity Fair)
Experts Say Russian Propaganda Helped Spread Fake News During Election (NPR)
Media Wakes Up To Russia’s ‘Fake News’ Only After It Is Applied Against Hillary (Forbes)
And then, have an eyeroll at some very silly quotes…
From an interview on NPR:
“But let’s remember, this was a very close vote where just, you know, a few tens of thousands of votes in a few states ended up making the difference. So I don’t know, if you believe that the kind of information that crashes through all of our social media accounts affects how we think and potentially how we vote, I think you would conclude that this kind of stuff does matter.” (source)
From the NY Times:
“RT [Russia Today] often seems obsessed with the United States, portraying life there as hellish. On the day President Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention, for example, it emphasized scattered demonstrations rather than the speeches. It defends the Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, as an underdog maligned by the established news media.” (source)
From a secret mystery source on CNN:
“There was no way that any one could have walked out of there with that the evidence and conclude that the Russian government was not behind this.” (source)
From CBS:
Responding to intelligence officials’ report that Russia tried to influence the U.S. presidential election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) on Sunday said he doesn’t know what to make of Mr. Trump’s dismissal of the issue. “I don’t know what to make of it because it’s clear the Russians interfered,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Whether they intended to interfere to the degree that they were trying to elect a certain candidate, I think that’s a subject of investigation. But facts are stubborn things. They did hack into this campaign.” (source)
Politico reported:
“Donald Trump’s insult-laced dismissal of reports that the CIA believes Russia hacked the 2016 election to help him is rattling a spy community already puzzled over how to gain the ear and trust of the incoming president.” (source)
While some of the efforts are laughable, the end result could be incredibly serious.
And by serious, I mean devastating. It could result in civil war. It could result in World War III.
Despite the inadvertent hilarity, this is a blatant effort to keep President-Elect Trump out of the White House and to silence the opposition.
When all dissenting voices are silenced, you’re only getting one part of the story. You’re only getting the part that those in power want you to hear. If we learned nothing else from Wikileaks, we learned that there are dark secrets about the evils of money, power, and manipulation. We learned how many conspiracy theories about the Clintons were actually facts, and we learned some things we can’t unlearn about the proclivities of some of the most powerful people in Washington.
We learned that some people will do anything to remain in power.
We’re watching them do anything right now.
Never has an election been so vehemently contested. Never has our country been so divided. If the election results are cast aside, what do you really think will happen? Do you think Trump supporters will just sigh and accept it?
And what about Russia?
Just a few months ago, we were on the verge of war with them. By scapegoating “The Russians,” if this psy-op is successful, and Trump is kept out of office, what do you think is going to happen with tensions between the two countries?
Enough with “the Russians” already. The real conspiracy is happening right here in America.B. Michael Payne would take McQueen over Hamilton any day.
You can’t say Clipping is only in it for the money. Despite a recent dump of remixes, a 24-hour-long “dream,” and some perfunctory acapellas, the group has shown commendable restraint in pursuing other projects. One member of the group’s production crew, William Hutson, got a PhD in “Theatre and Performance Studies.” Jonathan Snipes, the second producer, is scoring what looks to be Human Centipede-level gross out horror flicks. Oh yeah, and Daveed Diggs, the one who raps, is the most entertaining part of this little thing called Hamilton. Given the historically popular history musical’s clout, Clipping could have probably coasted a bit on the coattails of everyone’s favorite fighting Frenchman. Instead, they released Wriggle, a solid as hell EP.
If you enjoyed Clipping’s previous releases, you’ll love this one. If you came because of the Hamilton hype, well, you’re in for a real confusing treat. The release’s production is equal parts musique concrète and somewhat clubby IDM. The well-named “Intro” announces lyrical themes:
The bulb in the streetlight flickering a little bit
I hope the bitch don’t burn out
It’s the last beating heart in the city in the darkness
It’s something you don’t want to know about
Wriggle by clipping. Wriggle by clipping.
Of course, the EP’s remaining 4 million words (approx.) tell you all about the darkly beating heart of the city. It’s all urban angst, violence, and sex. The flickering illumination and skittering beat provide a schizo god’s eye view of crazed massed shooters, zero direction losers, and very specific debauchery. It’s like Frank Miller’s Sin City in art-rap form, but much better than that probably sounds.
It’s easy to over-describe Clipping’s music because it’s so thoroughly aestheticized. The group’s Sub Pop artist page reads like the little white card on a gallery wall:
Clipping experiment with rap as art-in-a-closed-field but vacate that art of its presumed subjective center, revealing instead a collage of recurrent rap themes, generated as if by an artificial intelligence.
Like all objects of academia, it lends itself to binary oppositions. Mind/body. High/low. Party/comedown. The band’s abrasive production, pretty common to avant-musicheads but definitely out there, contrasts to Daveed Diggs’ incessant verbal stream. In the words of our own Sam Yurick, “he raps faster than most civilians can jaw air period.” At the same time, he’s incredibly lucid, unleashing a descriptive-narrative force that’s generally unheard of outside of a Pynchon novel. While Wriggle features some quality guest appearances from Antwon, Cakes da Killa, and others, it gains its force—like 90% of all Clipping—from Diggs’ mic mastery.
Wriggle is an iterative release, tighter than their debut LP for Sub Pop, but limited in scope. It’s hard to imagine them making a huge leap forward with Diggs tied up with Hamilton for something like seven or eight performances a week. With Lin-Manuel Miranda and some others leaving the show next month, it’s possible Diggs will have more time to work on non-Revolutionary War-themed music. If so, the next step for Clipping should be exciting as hell. The constant practice and play involved with the show should have honed his vocal chops (there’s actually some of his singing on the EP closing “Our Time”) for anything Hutson and Snipes can throw at him.
CLPPNG by clipping. CLPPNG by clipping.
We rely on your support to keep POW alive. Please take a second to donate on Patreon!news A rapper called LLK recently released her first solo track, with lyrics that pull no punches in their criticism of the National Broadband Network’s multi-mix technology policy.
The track – titled NBN Co. (copper bullshit) – bemoans the use of copper to the premises instead of the optic fibre LLK had hoped for, describing the NBN as “copper bullshit” and saying the HFC tech is “gonna go slow”.
LLK, whose full name is Linda La Konic, further suggests that doing business as a musician will be hard with broadband over copper, and that the NBN is causing the future to be “hijacked”.
LLK said in a press release that she was inspired to write the lyrics after the rollout changed from fibre to the home (FTTH) to fibre to the node (FTTN).
“It’s bogus”, she said. “People have no idea how they’re being ripped off.”
“The so-called Ideas Boom will be dead in the water without any credible infrastructure to run our technology on,” LLK suggested. “The jobs of the future, which haven’t been invented yet, will all be conceived in countries that know the value of a strong foundation. The least I can do is try to get the word out there”.
LLK now hopes her track can reach a wide audience, influence people to “take a stand against the stupid suits holding us to ransom”.
See the full lyrics of the song below (or hear the track on SoundCloud):
NBN Co. (copper bullshit)
I was gonna get fibre
All the way to ma home
Settin’ up ma future
Had a real glow
But now I’m only gettin’
Fibre to the node
What does that mean?
It’s gonna go slow
NBN Co.
Let’s go
NBN Co.
Net slow-mo
(Repeat)
Copper copper copper copper
Copper copper copper copper
Copper copper copper copper
copper copper copper bullshit
Copper copper copper copper
Copper copper copper copper
Copper copper copper copper
copper copper copper fuckwit
Even in the lucky country
You get screwed over
If I don’t speak up
Then I’m the stoopid sucker
Can’t do business
Ridin’ on a turtles back
May as well pack up
Our futures hijacked
NBN Co.
Let’s go
NBN Co.
Net slow-mo
(Repeat)
Image credit: Office of Mitch FifieldThe HSBC headquarters is seen in the Canary Wharf financial district in London, Britain February 15, 2016. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC (HSBA.L), Europe’s largest bank, started laying off 840 information technology workers in Britain on Monday, the first big tranche of redundancies under a restructuring plan that will eliminate 8,000 British jobs by the end of next year.
Most of the staff affected were being informed about the cuts on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter.The majority of the roles are based in London, Sheffield and Tankersley and all the jobs will disappear by the end of this year, the source said.”As part of a global relocation exercise, around 840 non-customer-facing IT roles will transfer from the UK to other sites around the world,” John Hackett, chief operating officer of HSBC UK, said in a statement. The bank unveiled its three-year restructuring plan last year, designed to pare back its sprawling global network by shutting underperforming businesses to improve earnings hurt by high compliance costs, fines and low interest rates.
The restructuring will eventually eliminate one job in five around the world, and around a sixth of jobs in Britain.
When the restructuring plan was announced, Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver said most of the job losses in Britain would come from employees leaving on their own accord.The Unite union said many of the jobs will now be offshored to lower income countries such as India, China and Poland.
“HSBC’s decision to axe so many IT jobs is as ruthless as it is reckless,” said Dominic Hook, national officer at Unite. “As IT glitches across the banks continue to prove, it is ultimately the customers who will suffer the consequences.”Problems with HSBC’s computer system cut customers off from access to online accounts on two occasions this year.
HSBC has 47,000 UK workers at the end of December, according to its most recent annual report. More cuts are expected over the coming months as the bank continues to consolidate IT and back office operations, the sources said.
HSBC's shares remained flat on Monday, in line with the benchmark FTSE 100 index.FTSE. The lender's shares have fallen 20 percent this year as tough global market conditions have hammered trading revenues for banks worldwide.of a white woman who came to the group for Women of Color
only
her grief cut us into guilt while we clutched the straw
of this tiny square inch we have which we need
so desperately when we need so much more
We talked her into leaving
which took 10 minutes of our precious 60
Those legion white Lesbians whose feelings are hurt
because we have a Lesbians of Color Potluck
once a month for 2 hours
without them
Those tears of the straight woman
because we kicked out her boyfriend at the Lesbians only
poetry reading where no microphone was provided
& the room was much too small for all of us
shouting that we were imperialists
though I had spent 8 minutes trying to explain
to her that an oppressed people
cannot oppress their oppressor
She ignored me
charged into the room weeping & storming
taking up 9 minutes of our precious tiny square inch
Ah those tears
which could be jails, graves, rapists, thieves, thugs
those tears which are so puffed up with inappropriate grief
Those women who are used to having their tears work
rage at us
when they don’t
We are not real Feminists they say
We do not love women
I yell back with a wet face
_Where are our jobs? Our apartments?_
_Our voices in parliament or congress?_
_Where is our safety from beatings, from murder?_
_You cannot even respect us to allow us_
_60 uninterrupted minutes for ourselves_
Your tears are chains
Feminism is the right of each woman
to claim her own life her own time
her own interrupted 60 hours
60 days
60 years
No matter how sensitive you are
if you are white
you are
No matter how sensitive you are
if you are a man
you are
We who are not allowed to speak have the right
to define our terms our turf
These facts are not debatable
Give us our inch
& we’ll hand you a hanky
—Chrystos
AdvertisementsSome jobs are just obviously dangerous — construction workers fall from high places, farmers deal with dangerous machinery, and fishers drown. But what are the biggest risks for all the other workers sitting behind desks or ringing up groceries or waiting tables?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics actually answers these questions in its Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. We've used that data to create one big, simple, morbid chart that shows how American workers meet their ends on the job.
Below are the types of ways work has killed Americans for the last three years. Darker squares represent higher total deaths, and industries are listed from the most to least deaths:
Construction and manufacturing aside, the biggest risks to most workers are motor vehicles and homicides. Which makes sense when you think about it — vehicles are integral to many jobs, whether it's policing, delivering mail, or driving a semi. Meanwhile, it may not be immediately apparent why homicide plays such a large role in some of these sectors — retail and food service jobs, for example, might seem pretty safe from murder. But workers who take money from the public are also susceptible to robberies, as we wrote earlier this month.
Construction and manufacturing are outliers because of the unique risks those jobs pose. Slips and trips on construction sites, for example, are far more deadly than a fall at almost any other job. And manufacturing workers likewise die most often by "contact with objects," which includes being struck by an object or being hurt by a piece of machinery — the risks of which are of course pronounced in a factory.
Take a look at the chart and maybe feel grateful that you've managed to survive your job this long (or, conversely, check out the rates of death by hours worked, and relax a little — in most industries, on-the-job deaths are truly rare). For a deeper look at the numbers, check out the Labor Department's full 2013 dataset on fatal occupational injuries.WASHINGTON — IBM has agreed to buy Promontory Financial Group — a consultancy so influential it has been dubbed the industry's "shadow regulator" — in a move that could extend artificial intelligence into every aspect of banking.
Under the deal, which was announced Thursday, Promontory's stable of ex-regulators and former industry executives will be tasked with teaching IBM's Watson to address risk management and compliance issues at banks. The goal is to create an AI capable of sifting through reams of data collected by banks to find potential problems and suggest solutions.
"We can very quickly help financial institutions have a much more complete and continuously updated view of what the landscape is," Alistair Rennie, a general manager for industry solutions at IBM, said in an interview. "There are systems now that throw out alerts all the time. The work of going through which ones need follow-up and documentation is very manual and very inefficient. We believe we can absolutely solve that problem with a cognitive solution. We can make it far more effective, far more automated."
Gene Ludwig, the founder and chief executive of Promontory, said the deal will ultimately produce a system that can help banks of all sizes manage the massive compliance load facing them. While it's already clear big banks would be interested in such a system, he said the reach goes well beyond the larger institutions.
"For community and regional banks, this is a potential lifeline," Ludwig said in an interview. For many banks, it is an "enormous burden just to keep up. Watson offers the opportunity to have a world-class partner."
Rennie added that the system can be scalable.
"We will make this affordable," he said. "We expect this to be highly consumable for institutions of all different sizes."
IBM's Watson, an AI program that can "read" large volumes of documents to absorb knowledge, is already used in the health care industry and is present within the banking system. Citigroup began using the technology in 2012 to analyze customer needs and process client data. A few other banks have followed suit, using Watson to help in wealth management.
But that mostly focuses on the customer-facing side of the equation, while the Promontory deal would focus Watson on helping banks deal with the massive amounts of regulations they face. IBM said it would call the result Watson Financial Services.
Rennie estimated that banks spend roughly $270 billion a year on compliance. IBM wanted to acquire Promontory for its knowledge of the regulatory system, in order to bring Watson up to speed on issues like anti-money-laundering and stress tests.
"There is no better expertise in the world in this area, no more unique set of people than Promontory," Rennie said. "We want to be able to move quickly, we want to be able to move in an integrated way. We want to be able to offer a complete solution. This is a huge problem."
He said IBM plans to "scale the expertise of Promontory in a very unique way."
"We can have a system that can constantly ingest regulatory information and work through reasoning and learning how best to apply that as a compliance framework," he said.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; Promontory would operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and would continue to do its present work with banking clients around the globe. Ludwig would continue to be Promontory's CEO. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. A separate company that Ludwig co-founded, Promontory Interfinancial Network, is not involved in the transaction.
Ludwig said the deal was attractive because it will create a system that can go beyond what's available now. He noted that banks are grappling with massive amounts of unstructured data.
"In order for financial institutions to deal with the risk management and compliance problems, you need not just the main expertise, you need superior technological solutions," Ludwig said.
Asked whether Watson could one day put compliance experts like Promontory out of business, Ludwig, a former comptroller of the currency, said there will likely always be a need for people who understand the "nuance" of government regulations.
Rennie noted that the regulatory system is always changing.
"I can't imagine a world in which the regulatory environment is at rest," he said. "We will find places we mature very quickly. But we expect this will be an ongoing relationship."
The deal marks a convergence between two of the biggest challenges in banking: mounting regulation and technological transformation.
"If you look at the large issues that our financial clients face, regulatory compliance is at the top of the list," Rennie said. "It is a boardroom issue. It is an issue that is becoming more complex and more extensive. We think it is a fundamental problem that is worthy of a major investment to make a function change in how it gets solved."The San Francisco 49ers have focused their head coach search on Kyle Shanahan, and with the remaining HC candidates withdrawn from the search, the team is also now formalizing their GM search |
ed, and they don’t care about the petty squabbles of who insulted who and called the other person the wrong name,” said Antonopoulos.
Antonopoulos’s advice to the Bitcoin community was simply to keep innovating on the technology if they want to see it succeed over the long-term.This will be Obama’s “legacy” – “giving a song and dance… passing the buck.”
Via NY Post.
The daughter of police chokehold victim Eric Garner divulged details from her family’s meeting Wednesday with the Department of Justice — and panned former President Barack Obama for “passing the buck” in the investigation into her dad’s death.
In a series of tweets Thursday morning, Erica Snipes, 27, said prosecutors told her more progress has been made in the long-running case under President Trump’s administration than Obama’s….
Last year, DOJ officials from Washington took over the probe from feds in Brooklyn who’d been handling the civil rights probe into NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s chokehold that brought Garner, suspected of selling bootleg cigarettes on Staten Island, to the ground….
The DOJ met with Snipes, Garner’s family and the Rev. Al Sharpton to tell them they were still working hard on the case — but that a decision on the charges had not yet been reached.
“It was shocking when they told me #trump did more to investigate my dads case than #Obama did,” Snipes wrote. “I looked #obama in the eye, and he gave me some song and dance about not wanting to look like he was putting his thumb on the scale.”….
“Not only has it not slowed down (the case) THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION HAS TAKEN PLACE SINCE THIS TEAM WAS PUT IN PLACE,” she said the prosecutor told her. “Thats the quote. I dont understand it. I knew Obama didnt want to be president of Black America but damn dog… You passed the buck.”….
“Imma go on record here. If the #trump team brings this case in for justice. I’m not resisting sh–, f— what u heard. I’ll be with him.”….What is Cuphead?
Cuphead is a classic run and gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era, i.e. traditional hand drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings. Play as Cuphead or Mugman (in single player or local co-op) as you traverse strange worlds, acquire new weapons, learn powerful super moves, and discover hidden secrets while you try to pay your debt back to the devil!
What platforms will Cuphead be available on?
Cuphead will be available on Xbox One (console exclusive) and on PC at launch (Windows 10 and Steam).
When will Cuphead be released?
Cuphead will be released September 29th.
I love the style and visuals in Cuphead. Is it all hand-drawn?
We also love it! And it’s a good thing too, because it takes a whole pile of work to bring this 1930’s aesthetic to Cuphead in the truest form we possibly can. We are heavily inspired by vintage Fleischer Studios and Disney hand-drawn animation, but still delve into other classic studios for inspiration – ComiColor, Van Beuren, Columbia Pictures, Copley Pictures and more. We made a short video for TIME Magazine that shows the process of the what goes into a single frame of Cuphead here: http://ti.me/1Q4wDTA.
The art is beautiful, but what about the gameplay?
Even though the art is an important part of our game, we always put gameplay first! We have spent a crazy amount of time fine-tuning small details like hitboxes, screen movement, weapon balancing, and input response time to ensure Cuphead plays as good as it looks. Some of the games that influenced our design choices are: Gunstar Heroes, Contra III, Contra Hard Corps, Super Mario World, Street Fighter III, Mega Man, and the Thunderforce series.
Why has Cuphead been delayed multiple times? Has the scope changed?
No one likes delays, we get it. Honestly, we don’t like them either. But, sometimes they are a necessary evil.
We had an initial “dream scope” planned for Cuphead. This original plan even included platforming levels. However, since we had humble beginnings as a 3-person team it was obvious that we had to shoot for something a little more realistic. Our intention was to release a very small game, with only bosses, in the hope that we could build a fan base and look at expanding the game down the road.
To our surprise we received a ton of love from the gaming and art communities and decided it was time to up the ante. We quit our jobs, maxed out every loan possible, and partnered with Microsoft. This allowed us to expand the team and produce a larger game. As time passed, we decided to just GO FOR IT and bring back most of our original “dream scope”. Even with a larger team, the final scope of the game is a ton of work. The idea of rushing or cutting corners just to launch is not in our vocabulary – our goal is to release a game we are truly proud of.
I heard Cuphead was a boss rush game, so what is up with those platforming levels?
The first iteration was solely a boss rush game because we knew, at that point, we could not even attempt to create platforming levels that would be on-par with the quality of the bosses. The amount of extra background paintings, heaps of enemies and everything else would have been impossible. Our original “dream scope” had platforming levels to allow for a change of pace from the boss-intensive game. Since expanding the game, we had the opportunity to bring back most of our original plans – including the platforming levels. Cuphead is still focused on boss battles, in fact, if we break things down we are looking at a split of roughly 75% bosses and 25% platforming levels.
The platforming levels that were made public were demo levels – not what you will see in the final game. We simply did not have enough final assets completed to create the actual levels we have planned. We can’t wait to show these in their final forms.
Why is the game so difficult?
Our aim is “tough but fair”. Cuphead may be challenging, but that’s what makes victory feel that much more rewarding. We want to inspire players to master the variety of gameplay techniques available in Cuphead, so the challenge level becomes a means to an end. Cuphead has its roots in classic arcade-style games, games that really made you earn success. It’s the type of game we grew up loving and something we wanted to recreate.
What is so special about the Cuphead soundtrack?
For starters, the Cuphead soundtrack is made up completely of original jazz recordings, composed by the talented Kris Maddigan, and recorded live in studio.
There is over two and a half hours of fully composed music written specifically for Cuphead. We’ve used a 13-piece big band, 10-piece ragtime ensemble, a solo pianist, singers, and a couple of surprises thrown in for good measure!
We knew early on that in order to make Cuphead an authentic experience, the soundtrack would require the same attention to detail that the visuals are getting. An exceptional amount of research went not only into getting the musical stylings just right for the era, but also to ensure each tune was chock-full of enough excitement to compliment the gameplay perfectly.
Look for the Cuphead soundtrack to be available at game launch.
Are the sound effects I’ve heard so far unfinished?
Chances are you heard our placeholder sound effects. Fear not – the final game sound effects are being created by the industry award-winning people at Sweet Justice. We think fans will appreciate the attention to detail we’ve strived for in keeping everything as era-accurate as possible.
How can I stay up to date with what is happening with Cuphead?
A great place to start would be to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Another way to keep up with all things Cuphead would be to visit our dev. blog (you can also sign up for blog updates). Cuphead also has a website. We are a small team that have buckled down and have little time to come up for air, so while we do have updates planned, most of our focus will be finishing the game!
Do you have a press kit for Cuphead?
Why, yes we do! You can find everything you need on our website.
Am I allowed to stream or use footage of Cuphead on my YouTube or Twitch channel?
You bet! We do have some simple rules though – you can check them out here.
Where can I get myself some of that sweet, sweet, Cuphead merchandise?
There’s already some really cool stuff available at The Yetee. We’ve got some additional things in the works for a little closer to launch too! Stay tuned.
Is there a Cuphead Wiki?
Yes, you can visit the Official Cuphead Wiki at http://cuphead.gamepedia.com.
I’ve got a really cool idea for Cuphead that you should implement. What should I do?
Please refrain from sending your ideas to us. We’d rather avoid any issues that may arise with someone sending us a generic idea or one we’ve already implemented. Thanks!Donald Trump's first choice for National Security Adviser may have turned on the US leader to become an FBI informant, a former Department of Homeland Security official has suggested.
Juliette Kayyem said her sources indicate that Michael Flynn has drifted into the shadows because he may “have a deal” with the Bureau.
The retired US army lieutenant general stepped down in mid-February after it emerged he lied about his contact with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
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.
Ms Kayyem, currently an International Security lecturer at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, was speaking as part of a six-way CNN conversation on the members of Mr Trump’s inner circle due to testify on Russia links to the House Intelligence Committee.
FBI director James Comey, National Security Agency director Michael Rogers and former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort will give evidence, but there has been no mention of Mr Flynn.
“It’s not that interesting to me because I don’t think they’ll be under oath,” said Ms Kayyem.“What is interesting, is the one name not mentioned is a name I mention often on this show: Mike Flynn, the former national security adviser.
“It is starting to look like, from my sources and from open reporting, that Mike Flynn is the one who may have a deal with the FBI and that’s why we have not heard from him for some time.”
General Flynn has not commented on the possibility of a deal.
Ms Kayyem later backtracked slightly and said on Facebook: "To be clear, I did not say on this segment that I have any confirmation that he is actually cooperating or that I have talked to anyone who does. My informed analysis of this case is based on my years of experience in the national security arena."
But his spokesman has denied that he discussed the removal of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen from the US with an extradition process. The exiled cleric faces attempted coup charges in his homeland.
James Woolsey Jr, a former CIA director, said the General Flynn met with senior representatives of President Recep Erdogan’s government in the run-up to the US election on behalf of his Flynn Intel Group.
Mr Woolsey claimed he walked in on Mr Flynn and Turkish officials discussing the removal of Mr Gulen - a former ally and now rival of Turkey's President Recep Tayip Erdogan.
General Flynn's spokesman Price Floyd, however insisted: “No such discussion occurred."
When asked by The Independent for comment, Price Floyd said: "No".
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 nowWhen heavy or frequent drinkers suddenly decide to quit 'cold turkey' they will experience some physical withdrawal symptoms—which can range from the mildly annoying to severe and even life-threatening.
The severity of these withdrawal symptoms is usually dependent upon how "chemically dependent" the chronic drinker has become. Those who drink heavily on a daily basis, of course, have developed a high level of dependency, but even those who drink daily, but not heavily and those who drink heavily but not daily, can also be chemically dependent upon alcohol.
When someone who has become "alcohol dependent" decides to stop drinking, he will experience some level of physical discomfort. For this reason, it is extremely difficult for him to merely stop drinking "on their own" without assistance and support.
Why "Never Again" Doesn't Usually Mean Never for the Alcohol Dependent
The scenario has been played over and over many times. After a particularly damaging or embarrassing binge, the hungover person will make an oath to himself and others to drink "never again" and quite often is sincere about quitting.
But with the onset of withdrawal symptoms, also comes the "craving" for more alcohol. The body is telling the drinker that it "needs" alcohol. As the physical symptoms of withdrawal begin to increase, taking another drink simply becomes less painful than not taking one—or so it seems at the time.
For those who have committed themselves to not drinking again, or forced by circumstances to not have access to alcohol, the struggle to fight the withdrawal symptoms can become a dangerous battle, one that can actually become life-threatening.
Mild Symptoms of Withdrawl
For some, who are less chemically dependent, withdrawal symptoms might be as "mild" as merely getting the shakes, or the sweats—or perhaps nausea, headache, anxiety, a rapid heartbeat, and increased blood pressure.
Although these symptoms are uncomfortable and irritating, they are not necessarily dangerous. But they are often accompanied by the "craving" for more alcohol, making the decision to continue abstinence much more difficult to make.
Even the "morning after" hangover of someone who only occasionally drinks to excess is actually a mild form of alcohol withdrawal from the excesses of the night before, as the alcohol content of their blood begins to drop. The symptoms can appear within a few hours after not drinking.
Serious Symptoms of Withdrawal
However, within six to 48 hours after not drinking, hallucinations may develop. These usually are visual hallucinations but they can also involve sounds and smells. They can last for a few hours up to weeks at a time.
Also within this time frame after quitting, convulsions or seizures can occur, which is the point at which alcohol withdrawal can become dangerous if not medically treated. The symptoms may progress to delirium tremens (DTs) after three to five days without alcohol. The symptoms of DTs include profound confusion, disorientation, hallucinations, hyperactivity, and extreme cardiovascular disturbances.
Once DTs begin, they can cause cardiac disturbances, seizures and other medical complications that can be fatal.
Getting Treatment for Alcohol Withdrawal
The good news for those who are extremely alcohol dependent, and who wish to quit drinking, all of these symptoms can be alleviated and even eliminated with proper medical treatment.
Typically, for those who are mildly dependent doses of vitamins (including Thiamine), a proper diet and hydration will prevent most of the mild withdrawal symptoms from occurring. For the severely dependent, medication can be administered, but only by a physician. One approach is to substitute benzodiazepines such as Librium for alcohol and gradually reduce the dosage until the patient is drug-free.
If you are a heavy drinker and want to quit, consult a trained medical professional or a facility that specializes in alcohol and drug treatment, and be honest about your usual alcohol intake. The psychological withdrawal is enough to deal with, without also having to fight the physical symptoms.BBC presenter Kristian Digby was found dead in his apartment On Monday morning. Cause of death is still "inconclusive," however, a belt and bag were taken away by forensics, and police sources told the Daily Mail that they believe Digby died during "a solo sex game which went tragically wrong." Police say that there are no suggestions of suicide.
Auto-erotic asphyxiation, a dangerous sexual practice which involves depriving the body of oxygen to increase arousal and heighten climax, has claimed lives before. Last June, actor David Carradine was found dead with a rope tied to his neck, wrist and genitals.
Digby was an openly gay television presenter and director most famous for his work on British reality television series To Buy Or Not To Buy.
Tributes and mourning from friends and colleagues have poured out. From Allistair Appleton, a fellow BBC presenter:A senior Delhi Police officer added that a temporary structure had been constructed at Kejriwal’s Tilak Lane residence in Lutyens’ Delhi to accommodate the security personnel. Archive
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal has accepted ‘Z’ category security accorded to him on the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
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On three occasions earlier, Kejriwal had told the Delhi Police that he did not require any security. But this time the government has decided to give him ‘Z’ category VIP security. A full team of around 25 policemen has been deployed to provide mobile as well as static security around his house.
Sources said Kejriwal accepted the ‘Z’ category security around January 26, a few days before he resigned.
While his media advisor, Nagender Sharma, denied this, Special Commissioner of Police (Security), Delhi Police, J K Sharma, confirmed that Kejriwal had accepted the security.
A senior Delhi Police officer added that a temporary structure had been constructed at Kejriwal’s Tilak Lane residence in Lutyens’ Delhi to accommodate the security personnel.
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According to the MHA’s order, the Delhi Police will provide security in the city while the concerned state police will take over when Kejriwal is travelling outside Delhi.Ben Heneghan has scored once for Motherwell - against Rangers this season
Motherwell have received an approach from Blackburn Rovers for Ben Heneghan and the clubs are in negotiations about the central defender's future.
The 23-year-old Englishman, who joined the Scottish Premiership club from Chester last summer, has a year left of his current contract.
Heneghan made his 50th Well start in Saturday's 2-1 win over Hearts.
But he has been linked with clubs either side of the Border after rejecting a contract extension.
Should Blackburn reach an agreement with Well, manager Stephen Robinson would look to bring in another defender before the close of the transfer window on Thursday.
Last week, Motherwell extended centre-half Cedric Kipre's initial one-year contract at the end of the Frenchman's first month at Fir Park.
If Heneghan joins Tony Mowbray's League One side, he could form a partnership with former Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew.
Veteran Scotland colleague Gordon Greer, who had played alongside Mulgrew, was released by Rovers this summer and eventually signed for Kilmarnock.
Heneghan was with Stoke City and Everton as a youth player before spending two years with National League outfit Chester.
During his time with Chester, he played three times for England C, which represents his country at non-league level.Open Letter to the International Socialist Organization
Reverse ISO position supporting political censorship at NYU
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality
10 February 2017
In its decision barring the International Youth and Students for Social Equality from club status at New York University, the school’s Student Activities Board claimed the IYSSE was “too similar” to the International Socialist Organization to merit club status. The SAB cited the existence of the ISO’s club to justify its decision denying the IYSSE’s application.
Hundreds of students and professors have signed petitions supporting the IYSSE’s application, with many expressing their opposition to the SAB’s act of political censorship. The IYSSE submitted a new application for club status earlier this month.
The International Socialist Organization, however, has refused multiple IYSSE requests for support. By refusing to support the IYSSE’s democratic right to free speech, the ISO is solidarizing itself with the NYU administration and its allies on Wall Street and the military-intelligence apparatus.
On February 7, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality wrote the following letter to the leadership of the International Socialist Organization asking them to reverse their support for the administration’s anti-democratic political censorship of the IYSSE. The ISO has yet to respond.
* * *
To the International Socialist Organization:
Last semester, New York University’s Student Activities Board (SAB) rejected the International Youth and Students for Social Equality’s (IYSSE) application for club status. The SAB justified this anti-democratic decision by claiming that the International Socialist Organization already had established a club at NYU, and that the IYSSE was insufficiently dissimilar to accept its application to establish a second socialist-oriented club. In effect, the Student Activities Board is using the ISO’s club status to keep the IYSSE off campus.
Opposing this pretext, a leader of the IYSSE at NYU wrote to the SAB on November 19, 2016:
“The ISO and the Socialist Equality Party, the parent organization of the IYSSE, are completely different tendencies with different histories and opposed positions on fundamental political questions. One could say that the differences between the ISO and IYSSE are more significant than those that separate the Democratic and Republican parties.”
On December 6, 2016, I sent an email to the ISO, asking you to support our efforts to establish a club on campus. I wrote, “The IYSSE would appreciate your club’s support in our fight for free speech and to democratize the club application process.”
The ISO has not responded to this letter. Last week, on February 1, I personally asked ISO at NYU Vice President Paul Heideman to sign a petition supporting our application for club status. He refused.
Regardless of the ISO’s political differences with the IYSSE and its parent organization, the Socialist Equality Party, your refusal to oppose the SAB’s act of political censorship and to forthrightly endorse our application for club status is a clear violation of the elementary democratic principles of free speech. The ISO’s failure to uphold the IYSSE’s right to form a club is all the more unprincipled in light of the fact that the SAB is using your official status to keep us off campus. Your action can only be explained as a calculated decision to block the IYSSE so that NYU students will not be exposed to the politics of a socialist organization whose views are different from and critical of the ISO.
The SAB has stated that it will decide at any time within the next two weeks whether to accept the IYSSE’s new application for club status. As this deadline is rapidly approaching, we ask that you reverse your present anti-democratic position, and that you immediately issue a public statement supporting our application. Please inform us of your decision on this matter without unnecessary delay.
Isaac Finn
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.August 30th, 1995. Killer Instinct released this day 20 years ago on the SNES, and our lives have never been the same. (Yes, we know the original arcade version launched in 1994.)
While the game looks and acts a bit different now than it did when it originally launched, the way Killer Instinct makes us feel remains the same.
Of course, this day would land in the middle of PAX, but we’re going to make sure to celebrate our 20th anniversary all week long with plenty of giveaways. So make sure to stop by here, the forums, and our Twitter & Facebook pages to see what we have in store.
What have been some of your favorite moments with Killer Instinct in the last 20 years?
Let us know: http://forums.ultra-combo.com/t/happy-birthday-to-us-ki-turns-20/1308All terrorist threats must be dealt with, but should they all be dealt with in the same way? This dilemma gets to the heart of creating an effective Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) policy.
The Department of Homeland Security defines CVE as the “proactive actions to counter efforts by extremists to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize followers to violence.” Yet there was never complete clarity over its purpose.
Was CVE intended primarily as a soft-power complement to law enforcement, military and intelligence-gathering operations against violent Islamist groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda? Or is CVE’s main focus on challenging all forms of radical ideologies—from Islamists to black separatists, eco-terrorists, white supremacists and the Far Right?
Many of America’s allies across Europe take a more inclusive approach. There is a logic to this—you don’t have to look hard to see there is a problem beyond ISIS-inspired terrorism. In the UK, for example, a far-right terrorist murdered the Labour MP, Jo Cox, last year, and Muslims were targeted in the attack near Finsbury Park Mosque this June. In 2011, mass murderer Anders Breivik struck in Norway, and five years later, Germany saw Ali David Sonboly, seemingly inspired by Breivik, carry out a mass shooting of his own.
In the wake of these kinds of attacks, there is an obvious compulsion to treat the threat from the Far Right as analogous to that of Islamist terrorism. Indeed, the pressure Prime Minister Theresa May and the police were under on this front after the Finsbury Park Mosque attack was palpable. To not do so, the argument goes, is essentially to ignore certain forms of hatred and validate the views of those who regard programs such as CVE as Islamophobic witch hunts.
There is no doubt that law-enforcement officials regularly have to deal with the threat posed by white supremacists. Unlike Islamists, however, such actors are not part of a global movement with a coherent aim and end goal in mind. White supremacism is, by and large, a bankrupt, unpopular and discredited ideology in a way that Islamism, unfortunately, is not. Just look at the support that still exists for the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East; while even the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office contends that certain brands of Islamism subscribe to “democratic principles and liberal values.” You could not imagine it saying anything similar about any kind of white-supremacist movement.
Governments are currently so keen to make sure CVE is done in a manner as politically correct as possible they only seem to feel comfortable addressing a dangerous ideology that exists within ethnic-minority communities by also focusing on another that exists within the ethnic majority. That is hardly intellectually satisfactory, regardless of the politics around it.
Those interested in crafting effective CVE policy must also consider where the government’s role in such initiatives ends. Jamie Bartlett wrestles with these kinds of issues in his new book, Radicals Chasing Utopia.
Bartlett spent time among militant environmentalists, trans-humanists, psychedelic societies and anti-Islam groups. One chapter deals with Prevent (the UK’s equivalent to CVE). He argues that “radicalisation, in all sorts of unpredictable directions, is on the rise,” yet posits a scenario in which public servants are “told to watch out for the signs of psychedelic radicalisation” and in which children are “taught about the dangerous recruitment techniques of transhumanists.” Even if Bartlett’s scenario plays out, some will be relaxed with this. Others will believe that government will be going too far in attempting to control which ideas are and are not acceptable.
For those concerned about CVE overreach, thought needs to be given to crafting appropriate metrics in helping trying to assess what ideologies CVE should address. Furthermore, these programs should not all be part of generic, one-size-fits-all strategy. Wrapping up competing ideologies in one counter-radicalization strategy undermines their complexity and variety.
With the arrival of a new administration in the U.S. and a review underway of existing CVE policy, now is the time for the Trump administration to weigh such issues. The momentum seems to be behind government taking an even larger role. Yet it may be time to go back-to-basics and ask what the U.S. actually wishes to achieve from CVE—and what the most effective way of achieving it is.
Robin Simcox is the Margaret Thatcher Fellow in the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation.
Image: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to faith leaders in Finsbury Park Mosque, near rthe scene of an attack, in London, Britain June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Rousseau/PoolMention MacRitchie Reservoir and the Japanese Occupation (1942 to 1945), and one would probably think of the Syonan Jinja Shinto shrine.
Located near Sime Road at the western part of MacRitchie Reservoir, the shrine was constructed on a hill by the Japanese deep within the forests of MacRitchie with the labour of about 20,000 British and Australian prisoners-of-war (POWs).
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The shrine commemorated the Japanese soldiers who died in the the battles for Malaya and Sumatra.
It was destroyed by the Japanese shortly before their surrender because they feared that it would be desecrated by the British, after they returned.
More than just this shrine at MacRitchie
But it seems that Syonan Jinja was not the only thing that the Japanese built at MacRitchie.
According to an old Straits Times article on September 20, 1945 — eight days after the Japanese formally surrendered in Singapore — British troops found an “extensive” tunnelling project, that was also located in the western area of the reservoir.
It was part of a Japanese defensive position on a hill in the forest, and had “railway lines running into the hill”. Underground power and pumping stations were also found near the area.
Could the British have mistaken the ruins of Syonan Jinja as a defensive position?
Since the British were foolish enough to think that the Singapore did not need to be defended from an invasion by land early on in the war, you might be thinking that they were gullible enough to have mistaken the Syonan Jinja’s ruins for a defensive position.
This could perhaps be so, but yet it also seems unlikely. The identification of a place as a “defensive position” suggests that the area might have been militarised in some way, perhaps with gun positions with ammunition and supply stores.
The presence of “extensive tunnelling” with railway lines running into the hill also suggests that the position was more than just the ruins of a Shinto shrine.
It brings to mind the examples of the extensive tunnel networks the Japanese built to defend the islands of Okinawa and Iwo Jima during the Second World War.
Tunnels and bunkers were also used by the British for defence. There is a network of them at Labrador Park.
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Were these tunnels at the same location as the shrine?
Both the tunnels and Syonan Jinja are reportedly located at a hill in the western area of MacRitchie Reservoir, so they may be actually at the same location.
It seems plausible, but we can’t be certain.
Considering their reputed fanaticism, the Japanese might have perhaps destroyed Syonan Jinja when defeat was imminent in order to construct the position to defend what they had already designated as a sacred site for their war dead.
In Shinto, there is a belief that spirits interred at a shrine become kami, or venerated beings similar to saints, and they can’t be separated or removed from a shrine.
This is the same reason why war criminals interred at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine cannot be removed from it according to Shinto priests.
So, to defend a sacred site where their war dead’s spirits are believed to be around to help them, even if it meant dying in the process, might be a plausible reason that the tunnels and defensive position are indeed on the same site.
The underground power and pumping stations found by the British might have also served the shrine before it became a defensive position.
Intriguing mystery remains
So, are there any remnants of the MacRitchie tunnels that have survived to the present day?
We are not sure about the tunnels, but there are remnants of Syonan Jinja still lying in the MacRitchie forest.
The ruins of Syonan Jinja is out of bounds to the public in the present day.
If the MacRitchie tunnels have survived and are indeed in the vicinity of Syonan Jinja, it might be an added reason for the authorities to keep the area out of bounds to the public for safety reasons.
However, the tunnels might well be at another location.
The mystery remains, but it is intriguing to know that there might be much more lying in the forests of MacRitchie than we thought we knew.
Top image Wikipedia, NAS and NewspaperSG.
1819 is a labour of love by Mothership.sg where we tell stories from Singapore’s history, heritage & culture. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!These days, every Christian who is "against homosexuality" (whatever in the name of Monstro's blowhole that actually means) presents the same argument. That argument is... well, this, taken directly from an email sent me this morning:
Would you support a serial adulterer who loves his wife, but is just attracted to other women because that's who he is and how he was born? How about an alcoholic who just can't help himself? Would you support him as he leaves his wife for alcohol? A glutton? A man of extreme pride? Why does homosexuality get a pass, and not any other sin? A person with homosexual desires who resists temptation is exactly the same as a married man who resists temptation to carry on affairs with other women---which is to say, a human being battling the temptation to sin. The most compassionate thing that we could tell someone struggling with homosexuality (or any other sin for that matter) is to keep resisting temptation. Keep battling. Don't give in. This is your badge as a Christian, that you fight temptation
Um... for the record, I do not make this stuff up.
By "these days," I mean that the Christian argument against homosexuality has changed. It used to be, "Gays are really only messed-up straight people. They should let Jesus make them straight, so that they can stop acting all gay and not go to hell."
Nowadays, the Christian refrain isn't, "Stop being gay." Now it is, "Stop acting gay." They've given up trying to argue that the homosexual can change his or her sexual orientation: the complete failure of Christian Fix-a-Gay and Homo No' Mo! programs---not to mention a universe of anecdotal and empirical evidence---have left them little choice. So they've changed their approach. Now the argument is... well, just like my emailer said: A homosexual struggling against the temptation to act homosexual is no different from anyone else struggling to resist a sinful temptation.
Christians love this new argument. If I've heard it once, I've heard it ten thousand times. We all have. You whisper "gay" into the ear of a sleeping Christian, and there's an excellent chance they'll just start saying it in their sleep. "Just like any other sinful temptation. We're all sinners. Must resist."
And putting your brain to sleep before you say that is the very best way to say it, too. Because it could only make sense to a brain-dead person. It's just... too stupid for words.
But lemme try anyway.
Virtually all sins share a crucial, defining, common quality. Because that quality, which is present in every other imaginable sin, is utterly missing from being or acting gay, insisting on putting homosexuality into the same category as every other sin is like gluing wings on a pig, and insisting it belongs in the category of "bird." It doesn't. It can't. It won't. Ever.
Here is that Big Difference between homosexuality and other sins: There is no sin I can commit that, by virtue of committing it, renders me incapable of loving or being loved. I can commit murder. I can steal. I can rob. I can rape. I can drink myself to death. I can do any terrible thing at all---and no one would ever claim that intrinsic to the condition that gave rise to my doing that terrible thing is that I am, by nature, simply incapable of giving or receiving love.
No one tells the chronic drinker, or glutton, or adulterer, or any other kind of sinner, to stop experiencing love. Yet that's exactly what so many Christians are insisting gay people do.
When you tell a gay person to "resist" being gay, what you are really telling them---what you really mean---is for them to be celibate.
What you are truly and actually saying is that you want them to condemn themselves to a life devoid of love.
Be alone, you're demanding. Live alone. Don't hold anyone's hand. Don't snuggle on your couch with anyone. Don't cuddle up with anyone at night before you fall asleep. Don't have anyone to chat with over coffee in the morning.
Do not bind your life to that of another. Live your whole life without knowing that joy, that sharing, that peace.
Just say "no" to love.
Be alone. Live alone. Die alone.
The "sinful temptation" that Christians are forever urging LGBT people to resist is love.
Being, of course, the one thing Jesus was most clear about wanting his followers to extend to others.
Can we stop with this cruel idiocy already?
****Scrabble is a game that involves both skill and luck. There's skill in knowing the words you can play and — especially — the most advantageous ways to play them. But there's also luck in the tiles you draw randomly from the bag: get saddled with a rack containing four I's and there's usually not much you can do. That's why professional Scrabble tournaments are decided by playing multiple games between each pair of players. Tournaments do this to average out the variability in tile draws between players, to make the deciding factor skill rather than luck.
But how much does luck affect a typical Scrabble game? Andrew C Thomas, a professor in Statistics at Carnegie Mellon University, came up with an ingenious idea to test this. (Thomas's research will soon be published in a paper, a draft of which is now available on Arxiv.org.) What if we could observe a game between a couple of equally-matched players, where we "fix" the luck factor by determining the tiles each player gets in advance? Then, we can eliminate the "skill" factor by having those players re-play the fixed game many times: they'll get the same letters, but might make different strategic plays |
. It would be harder, but you could. I know because I’ve personally organised three international conferences, including a summit on privacy. I was selective in my sponsor choices for the first two – which makes it harder, but by no means impossible, to find sponsors. As for our privacy conference, we specifically didn’t want any sponsors for all the same concerns I raise here and elsewhere.
The other argument that pops up is that the sponsorship in no way affects the content of the conference.
Well, you can tell that to the ‘Data minimization vs. personalised computing experiences’ session chaired by a Microsoft employee and featuring a Facebook employee…
Or, the ‘E-Privacy Directive: superfluous or a solution to stop the pendulum that swings between privacy and safety’ panel chaired by a Microsoft employee…
Or, the ‘No more trade-offs: achieving innovative growth and user trust in the data-driven economy’ session chaired by a Facebook employee. The session summary for that last one is even more interesting as the content was directly commissioned by Facebook:
In this session, Ctrl-Shift will present insights from a project commissioned by Facebook to explore how the participants in the data driven economy can work together to achieve this goal.
Nope, no influence whatsoever!
Staking a claim
And maybe all of this is moot because, since hearing from Paul, I realise that I was mistaken: While CPDP bills itself as a privacy conference, it apparently does not in any way take sides in advocating for greater privacy or protection of human rights. You see, it is a ‘multistakeholder’ conference. Which, if you’re a connoisseur of such things, is a convenient euphemism for institutional corruption. The stakes, you see, are not all the same size… Some people’s stakes are so large, you can erect a tent around them, like Google did at the Internet Governance Forum the year I was there.
CPDP, we are to understand, is neutral ground for all parties to get together and chat. There’s just one problem with that argument:
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”—Desmond Tutu
I feel I’ve been repeating myself ever since sharing my article on RightsCon, my thoughts on Amsterdam Privacy Week, and the various talks I’ve given on this subject, so I’ll just let you read what I wrote in my follow-up email to the conference:
I just want to make it very clear that I am not opposed to corporate contributions / sponsorship. What I cannot accept is a privacy themed event (if this was SXSW or Web Summit, sure, no problem) accepting sponsorship from corporations whose business models depend on eroding privacy. That is a conflict of interests, plain and simple. And it legitimises those companies as positive actors on the topic in question. Or, to quote Lawrence Lessig, it constitutes “institutional corruption”. … Please invite Palantir and Google and Facebook to debate with us openly. But when you invite them to sponsor the event, that’s a whole different ball game. They’re no longer just at the table, they’ve paid for the table. And that changes things. It is one thing to talk about privacy where Palantir is at the table and another to talk about privacy where the table sits under a Palantir logo. … I have no doubt that everyone involved wants to maintain the integrity of CPDP [this was before I got the email from Paul, I no longer believe that this conference has any integrity to maintain]. Which is why I feel it is of critical importance that the influence that sponsorship bestows upon an entity is acknowledged. Even if we can believe that it has absolutely no impact on programming in anyway (which is rarely the case, as sponsors are given sessions), it alters how the event is framed. By allowing Palantir to sponsor a privacy event, you are legitimising them on the topic of privacy. How bad can they be if a privacy event is all right with them being sponsors? We would not even be having this conversation if this was a conference on lung cancer and Philip Morris asked to sponsor. Or if this was a conference on animal welfare and a factory farm wanted to sponsor. Well, these corporations (you mention Google, below, and Facebook also comes to mind, among many others) are the factory farms of technology when it comes to privacy. The only way a conference on privacy could accept them as sponsors is (a) if it doesn’t understand this or, (b) if it does but it is all right with it. I’m much happier with the former scenario as it provides room for growth and a path to making amends. … If you agree with me on Palantir, then we’ve already drawn a line. Let me make it easier: I’m pretty sure I could get Hacking Team to sponsor this conference. Would you accept? If not, there’s another line. [I’ve since come to understand that they’d accept anyone so I was being naïve, per usual — Hacking Team, sponsor away, ye lads.] So it’s plain to see that, of course, we have a line. The real question is “according to which criteria do we draw the line?” I’m very specific about where I draw the line: if the core business model of a corporation is to monetise people’s personal data or to benefit from the erosion of their privacy, that’s where I draw the line. (We’ve recently formalised this into a framework that you find useful: the Ethical Design Manifesto). … [I]f you do decide to go ahead with Palantir’s sponsorship, I hope in all sincerity that you remove those portions of the programme that honour Caspar. If you honour him in front of Palantir’s logo, you might as well also spit on his grave. … It was an immense honour for me to be invited to take part on this panel. I’m a relative newbie in this community and there’s nothing I’d love more than to meet you and to spend time picking your brains. But not at any cost. Not at the cost of contributing to what I see as one of the main reasons why we cannot tackle surveillance properly: because we do not understand the role of institutional corruption—whether in our governments, at the EU/EC, or in our own community—and the relative pass we are so quick to afford corporations that surveil people en masse compared to our relatively steadfast resolve against the same infraction on behalf of governments. (It becomes even worse when you realise that one wouldn’t be possible without the business model and activities of the other.) It might be a cultural thing: I see this as being far more prevalent on your side of the pond and it might have a lot to do with the cultural roots of the US and its conflation of capitalism with democracy. However, today, (at least in my view) corporations and governments have as much to answer for when it comes to mass surveillance and I will not legitimise a corporation that makes its money by contributing to it by appearing at an event at which they are a sponsor. By all means, invite them to the panel and let’s chat on equal terms. But not as a sponsor. Paul, I see you’re CCed, I would appreciate your thoughts on this. I do want to make it perfectly clear, however: it’s Palantir as sponsor or me as panelist. That bit is not open to discussion.
Well, we all know who they chose.
And then they added Google and Facebook on as sponsors for good measure.
Needless to say, this is bullshit. This is privacy-washing. And I will have nothing to do with this or any other conference on privacy or human rights that sees it fit to accept sponsorship from the very companies and institutions that are the greatest threats to our privacy and human rights.
I don’t take this decision lightly. While CPDP doesn’t pay its speakers (they cover travel and accommodation), other conferences do. Speaking fees are one of the things that help keep us afloat. Taking a stand on this may mean that we have even less revenue available to us in the future from paid speaking opportunities. And that’s fine. Better that than to unwillingly legitimise corporate surveillance or knowingly take part in an institutionally-corrupt system.
I want to end with an excerpt from the last email I sent to the conference organisers:June 11, 2012
Over the weekend, the Associated Press noted that there are increasing efforts across the country to reform our nation’s draconian laws outlawing marijuana. Colorado could be the focal point of this movement. Voters this year will decide on Amendment 64, which would legalize marijuana use and regulate and tax the drug in a similar fashion as the state controls alcohol.
Amendment 64 is similar to Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization ballot initiative that fared surprisingly well in California in 2010. Although Prop 19 garnered more voters than Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor that year, it did not pass. Republic Report published an exclusive investigation into the opponents of Prop 19, revealing that a senior police association lobbyist orchestrated much of the attacks on Prop 19 while earning a hefty salary funneling federal Drug War money to his law enforcement clients. If Prop 19 had passed, the lobbyist, John Lovell, might have lost opportunity to channel taxpayer cash to his clients.
With the Colorado initiative just picking up steam, it’s worth looking at the political forces organizing to lobby against its passage. Republic Report has reviewed campaign finance records and compiled this survey of the opposition to Amendment 64:
— Two-thirds of the entire the budget for the “No on Amendment 64” committee has been provided by a Florida-based nonprofit called “Save Our Society From Drugs.” The organization was founded by Betty Sembler, a veteran Drug Warrior whose husband is on the Mitt Romney for President finance team. According to one biography of Sembler, she has been awarded an “honorary agent status by the DEA” and was pivotal in founding drug rehabilitation clinics and the Drug Free America Foundation. From 1976 to 1993, the Sembler family operated a drug rehabilitation clinic known as STRAIGHT Inc., which closed down after a shocking series of scandals that revealed that clients faced rape, faced beatings, forced hunger, and other abuses at the clinics. — The “No on Amendment 64” committee was registered by Jonathan Anderson, a Republican lawyer with law/lobbying firm Holland & Anderson. Anderson, a former aide to Gov. Bill Ritter (R-CO), was deeply involved in setting up organizations to coordinate corporate cash into the 2010 election. — The day-to-day management of the “No on Amendment 64” committee is coordinated by CRL Associates, a lobbying firm registered in Denver. — The “No on Amendment 64” committee contracts with Keating Research Inc, which bills itself as a progressive consulting firm, for polling. — A coalition website that links to the “No on Amendment 64” effort lists other allies of the campaign with many groups that rely on marijuana prohibition for financial gain, including police associations like the Colorado Law Enforcement Officers Association (police associations often utilize federal grants which provide funds for law enforcement as long as officers prioritize drug enforcement, including marijuana). The list also includes several religious right organizations like Focus on the Family.
As voters begin to consider Amendment 64, the forces opposed to legalization will likely spend a great deal on campaigning. The campaign to keep marijuana illegal has not yet run any ads and has only spent money so far on its own poll, a campaign website, and other expenditures to political consultants, according to our review of Colorado campaign finance records.In 'Um' Or 'Uh,' A Few Clues To What We're Saying — And Who's Saying It
Linguist Mark Liberman, who works at the University of Pennsylvania, says the use of "um" or "uh" can provide signs about the speaker's gender, language skills and life experience.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
When we're searching for the right word to say, or we don't know what to say or how to say something, this happens.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Um - uh...
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
Among those uttering the ums and uhs there were President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Woody Allen and Meryl Streep.
SIEGEL: And it turns out that some people are more apt to say uh. Others lean more on um. Some years back, a linguist made an observation about that.
MARK LIBERMAN: Men use uh more than women do. Women use um more than men.
SIEGEL: That is Mark Liberman of the University of Pennsylvania. He discovered the um and uh correlation by analyzing thousands of transcribed telephone conversations. He adds that ums go by the wayside as we mature.
LIBERMAN: As everybody grows older, they use uh more and um less.
SIEGEL: And since Liberman made his original observations, others have dug into the data. And he wrote in his Language Log blog last week that they've confirmed and amplified what he found.
BLOCK: He points out that making sense of this gender divide on verbal fillers isn't easy.
LIBERMAN: One explanation would be that it's just a gender marker - a gender identity marker, like, you know, wearing makeup or something like that. It's also possible that there's something a little bit deeper going on. Maybe um and uh have slightly different functions.
SIEGEL: For instance, maybe those who are more likely to say uh are searching for what to say.
BLOCK: And the others, um, trying to figure out how to say it.
SIEGEL: And the findings also show a sort of verbal compromise.
BLOCK: When men and women talk to each other, males use uh less and females use uh more.
SIEGEL: So, uh, there you have it, Melissa.
BLOCK: Um, yeah.
Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Another flamboyant visual from the Bay Area-born brand.
L os Angeles based label, Pink+Dolphin join forces with PUMA® for a collaborative capsule featuring the sportswear giant's classic PUMA® Suede silhouette. The PUMA® Suede is a seasoned model that originally made it's debut in 1968 and has been a staple in multiple sub-genres and sports including Hip Hop and skateboarding – sharing the same roots as Cena Barhaghi and his Pink+Dolphin line.
PUMA® x Pink Dolphin Suede Classic Capsule Release Info
Thecapsule will release in two colorways, both aligning with Pink+Dolphins branding. The first colorway will feature a complete Navy suede upper with hints of Salmon landing on the PUMA branding. Pink+Dolphin wave motif can be seen on the heel while the model sits atop of a translucent Navy to Salmon gradient sole unit. The latter will be quite similar in aesthetic while featuring a Salmon suede upper with Navy accents. The sole is then reversed with a Salmon to Navy gradient.Alongsidecollection will be a selection of summer-ready co-branded pieces ranging from graphic T-shirts, light jersey tops, nylon shorts and socks. Check out the lookbook below featuring the rising ATL-emcee Lil Yachty.The PUMA® x Pink Dolphin Suede Classic Capsule will be available online May 21st at Midnight EST and will drop at San Francisco and Los Angeles flagships at 11am.Russian Engines Could Be Focus Of Antares Launch Failure Probe
Enlarge this image toggle caption Joel Kowsky/AP Joel Kowsky/AP
NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports that as investigators examine what went wrong with the launch of an unmanned Antares rocket on Tuesday, they'll likely take a hard look at powerful engines originally destined to send cosmonauts to the moon, a project that was scrapped by the USSR more than four decades ago.
Geoff says that although the investigation is just starting, the NK-33 rocket engine is already a focus. It was produced for the N1 moon rocket — the Soviet Union's answer to the U.S. Saturn V. But the N1 became mired in development problems, and the Soviet moon project, hopelessly behind the Americans, was quietly scuttled circa 1974.
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Fast-forward to 2010: The NK-33s were refurbished and re-designated by Aerojet Rocketdyne as the AJ26 and sold to Dulles-based Orbital Sciences for use in Antares. Although four previous flights of Antares have gone off without a hitch, one of the engines failed during testing earlier this year, Geoff says.
"They were in fact built in Russia about 40 years ago and stored in plastic bags after their moon program was canceled," Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, tells NPR.
As we reported on Tuesday, the Antares, which had been meant to rendezvous with the International Space Station ferrying 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments, failed catastrophically seconds after liftoff from the Wallops Island, Va., facility.
Shortly after the failed launch, Orbital Sciences Executive Vice President Frank Culbertson appeared to be trying to head off any criticism for choosing the powerful engines for Antares' critical first stage, which uses two of the modified NK-33s.
"When you look at it, there are not many other options around the world in terms of using power plants of this size," Culbertson was quoted by The Guardian as saying. "Certainly not in this country, unfortunately."
Russianspaceweb.com says of the NK-33: "After the ill-fated lunar effort was aborted in 1974, dozens of already manufactured NK-33s ended up in storage. For decades, engine developers searched for a new job for the capable power plant. Finally, at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, NK-33 had a real chance to fly, this time powering both American and Russian rockets. By 2010, the Russian government reportedly came close to making a decision to jump-start mass production of the NK-33 engine."
In a press release put out by Orbital Sciences four years ago, the private space-launch company said: "Since its original development, more than 200 NK-33 engines were built and 575 engine tests conducted, totaling more than 100,000 seconds of test time."
Coincidentally, the NK-33 was on a sanctions list put out by Russia earlier this year in retaliation for U.S. sanctions in the wake of Moscow's annexation of Crimea. However, Russia specifically exempted sale of the NK-33s (as well as another engine, the RD-180) for nonmilitary use.
During its second launch attempt in 1969, the N1 suffered a catastrophic failure seconds after liftoff, causing one of the largest-ever artificial nonnuclear explosions. Although widely known in Western intelligence circles, the N1 moon program was an official state secret until it was revealed in 1989.Nokia's Famously Indestructible Phone Rumored To Be Returning To Shelves
Enlarge this image toggle caption Science & Society Picture Library/SSPL via Getty Images Science & Society Picture Library/SSPL via Getty Images
On Sept. 1, 2000, the top movie in the country was Bring It On. The No. 1 song was Janet Jackson's "Doesn't Really Matter," from Nutty Professor II. And the newest cell phone on the market was the Nokia 3310 — a sturdy little brick of a phone.
A lot has changed since then. Lin-Manuel Miranda turned Bring It On into a musical. Everyone pretty much forgot about the Nutty Professor II. The iPhone transformed the cell phone market. But get ready for a blast from the past: Rumor has it the Nokia 3310 might be making a comeback.
For some people, the phone never really went away. Sure, it was technically "retired" in 2005, after selling some 126 million units (according to Nokia.)
XEETECHCARE YouTube
But a few die-hard fans refused to retire their devices, noting the convenience of a battery that lasts for days. And even those who moved on to shinier smartphones still fondly remembered the 3310 — and as touchscreen after touchscreen shattered, they thought back wistfully to the old phone's near-indestructibility.
The phone eventually gained a legendary reputation on the internet as the "Chuck Norris" of phones, with an everlasting battery and supernatural strength, destined to survive the apocalypse and capable of standing in for hammers when necessary.
Now there are rumors that the 3310 will be moving from nostalgic Internet meme back into stores — for real.
VentureBeat, citing an anonymous source, reports that HMD Global Oy — the company that now owns the right to the Nokia brand — will be releasing a "modern version" of the "classic workhorse" later this month. The new phone will cost just over $60, the site reports.
A HMD Global spokeswoman would not confirm the report, telling NPR, "We don't comment on rumours or speculation."
As we wait to see if the rumors are correct, why not play a little Snake?
Or you can watch valiant souls test the 3310's storied durability, with drones...
UnlockRiver.com YouTube
... hot axes...
HaerteTest YouTube
... katanas...
GizmoSlip YouTube
... hot coals...
YouTube
... a train...
HaerteTest YouTube
... an Anzio 20mm rifle...
FullMag YouTube
... or a hydraulic press.
Hydraulic Press Channel YouTube
Admittedly, the 3310 isn't literally indestructible. But hey, at least it starts up faster than an iPhone.Sky's first VR film will focus on the Williams F1 team Sky
Sky has launched a virtual reality film studio that will produce videos for Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear and online 360-degree video platforms.
Launching with the new Sky VR Studio are two VR films shot during Formula 1 testing with Williams. The two videos, launching on Facebook's 360-degree video platform, will show testing in Barcelona's pit lane, team garages and action from the track. Both videos will be available from 18 March.
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Sky said it would be making at least 20 VR films during 2016. The studio team currently has four VR camera operators and is using staff from across Sky. Early videos will typically run to around five minutes. Neil Graham, head of VR production at Sky, said that the time was now right for the company to ramp up its VR production.
"The technology to film is there, the technology to view it on is there, and the platforms are there. What we need to do now is populate them," Graham said. "Our content plan over the next 12 months is to pick key moments through the year," he added. As well as F1, VR films are also being made for other sports along with Sky Arts and Sky News.
Read next I tried to keep my unborn child secret from Facebook and Google I tried to keep my unborn child secret from Facebook and Google
"The technology to film is there, the technology to view it on is there, and the platforms are there. What we need to do now is populate them" Neil Graham, Sky
"We will be looking at how to cover news in traditional ways but most importantly how we can cover news in new ways," Graham said. Some news reports and short documentaries will be created specifically for VR.
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Filming in VR requires a camera that, using multiple inbuilt cameras, is able to capture everything that is happening around it simultaneously. Consumer grade 360 VR cameras, such as the Samsung Gear 360, are already in production.
A 360 degree VR camera being fitted to an F1 car during testing in Barcelona Sky
Sky said it was also experimenting with how VR is filmed. "There are no rules, we're very much learning as we're going on," Richard Nockles, who is involved in producing the videos for Sky, said. Cameras on drones, zip wires and gyroscopes were all being used during production, Nockles added.
Read next We won't know if screen time is a hazard until Facebook comes clean We won't know if screen time is a hazard until Facebook comes clean
Already planned for release during the coming months are VR videos covering boxer Anthony Joshua's bid to win a world title and a film following Team Sky cyclists as they attempt to retain the Tour de France title.
The first two videos will launch on Facebook and YouTube and show Barcelona's pit lane, team garages and action from on the track Sky
"It's not just about a view, it's about a feeling," said Steve Smith from Sky Sports. "We're looking at opportunities to put people into the action as well as seeing the action."
"You've seen shots of the garage before, you've seen shots of that car before, but you've never had the feeling of being in that car. You get the feeling of being behind the scenes and being part of that media scrum."
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The VR films, according to the company, will also be released on a new Sky VR app that is still being developed for launch later this year.
Sky produced its first 360-degree video in November when it, along with VR startup Jaunt, produced a VR report on the European migrant crisis.
The satellite broadcaster isn't the only company starting to turn its hand to VR films. The BBC's R&D unit produced a 360-degree video of the migrant camp in Calais in June 2015, and the corporation's technology show Click has created a 360-degree edition of the show.17 December 2012
Appeared in BioNews 686
Genetic mutations are not the only contributing factor in the growth of cancerous tumours, say scientists. Research showed tumour cells that were genetically indistinguishable had varying capacities for cell division and resistance to chemotherapy treatment.
'I thought we'd be able to look at the genetics that let some cells propagate, or not be susceptible to chemotherapy, but lo and behold there was no genetic difference', said Professor John Dick of the University of Toronto, Canada, who led the study. 'That goes against a main dogma of the cancer enterprise: that if a tumour comes back after treatment it's because some cells acquired mutations that made them resistant'.
Cells from ten human colorectal cancers were injected into mice, resulting in tumours. The cells were marked with a molecular tag, allowing the researchers to track them, as they were transplanted from one mouse to another. The behaviour of the cells was charted from mouse to mouse, for up to five transplantations.
Some cells were responsible for tumours in every mouse, while others were more variable, only appearing in tumours in the first mouse or laying dormant initially and becoming active in tumours in subsequent mice. The different behaviours of these cells were not reflected in their genomes, which showed'remarkable genetic stability', commented Professor Dick to The Scientist.
Researchers then investigated the behaviour of these tumour cells in response to the chemotherapy drug oxaliplatin. Cells that were persistently active in tumours from mouse to mouse were killed off. However cells considered dormant, survived the treatment with oxaliplatin and became active.
'The conclusion that we came to was that there must be non-genetic mechanisms that are governing drug resistance', said Professor Dick.
Professor Steven Libutti from the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters: 'In my mind, the findings are not unexpected. Other things besides genes matter: the environment in which a tumor is growing, for instance, plays an important role in whether therapy will be effective'.
The study has provoked debate around 'personalised medicine' for treating cancer: 'It's not as simple as just sequencing mutations to tailor therapies to each tumor', remarked Professor Libutti.
'What our paper is saying is that on top of [targeting] the genetic properties of these cells you have to target the biological properties to be more effective', said Professor Dick to the Toronto Star. 'Everything doesn't just rest on genetics'.
The study was published in the journal Science.Reds' Devin Mesoraco starts catching drills
Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco throws on the field before Wednesday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. (Photo: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
KANSAS CITY — Devin Mesoraco said the steps he took in his return from a hip impingement on Tuesday were just baby steps – but at least those steps were forward.
Before Tuesday's game with the Royals, Mesoraco squatted for the first time since the first week of the season. He squatted about 15 times and also made 15 simulated throws to second base.
"I felt fine," Mesoraco said after the short workout. "(There were) definitely no alarms or sirens going off or anything like that."
Mesoraco, who was the designated hitter for Tuesday's game, said he'll likely do similar drills on Wednesday and hopefully catch a bullpen later this week in Cleveland.
"It's going to be very slow, making sure everything is working correctly," Mesoraco said. "We'll try to go step-by-step. Blocking and all that will have to come at some point. It's going to be a slow process and working toward that."
Mesoraco hasn't caught since April 12. Since then he'd made two starts as a designated hitter this season and 13 pinch-hit appearances. The Reds have four more games in American League parks this week and then just two more games with a DH the rest of the season (June 15 and 16 in Detroit).
Reds manager Bryan Price said he hasn't decided whether Mesoraco will DH in all five AL games this week, but said he believes he could do it.
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"The day off between the two series is probably a good thing," Price said. "Realistically, if he's getting to the point where he can do some catching things, I would think playing on a regular basis – and I don't know if I'd start him all five games as a DH – I have to feel this is about as good as he can be in his rehab, if he's able to re-engage in catching activity. So hitting and running, to me, is something he should be able to do on a regular basis. I don't have any concerns about overloading him on game activity, especially coming off that White Sox series a week ago."
Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/1HfMXgdIn the farthest reaches of our solar system, nearly 3 billion miles away, lies the small, icy body that has inspired wonder for generations of astronomers since its discovery 85 years ago. Pluto, a dwarf planet, is so far away that it takes nearly 250 years to orbit the Sun. This summer, we will come to know Pluto in infinitely more detail than ever before.
NASA’s New Horizons mission launched into space in 2006 and has been en route to Pluto for nine years. In July 2015, it will reach its destination, billions of miles away, for the first-ever close view of the dwarf planet and its moons. New Horizons will use an array of instruments to take pictures and answer basic questions about the temperature and composition of Pluto’s atmosphere, its surface and geology, and how it interacts with the constant stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun.
Looking ahead to this exciting close encounter, the White House will host “We the Geeks: Journey to Pluto” tomorrow, April 9 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. We’ll talk to experts from NASA’s New Horizons team to learn about the mission and the exciting discoveries scientists hope to make about Pluto.
The panel of experts will include:
John Grunsfeld, astronaut, NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate
, astronaut, NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Hal Weaver, Project Scientist for New Horizons
, Project Scientist for New Horizons Jamey Szalay, David James, and Tiffany Finley, current and former members of the New Horizons Student Dust Counter instrument team
, current and former members of the New Horizons Student Dust Counter instrument team Gabe Rogers, New Horizons Guidance and Control Engineer
Hear from some of the scientists and engineers who are working to give us our first up-close glimpse of Pluto by watching the latest "We the Geeks" hangout live at WhiteHouse.gov/we-the-geeks and on the White House Google+ page tomorrow, April 9, at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Got questions? Ask them using the hashtag #WeTheGeeks on Twitter and on Google+ and we'll answer some of them during the live hangout.
President Barack Obama looks through a telescope during the Astronomy Night event on the South Lawn of the White House. October 7, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Tamara Dickinson is Principal Assistant Director for Environment and Energy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Meredith Drosback is Assistant Director for Education and Physical Sciences at OSTP.The City of San Francisco is suing a Castro duplex owner over multiple violations ranging from drug-related offenses to housing and building code violations.
According to Socketsite, the property, located at 517-519 Sanchez St., has been raided multiple times, resulting in the arrests of the property owner and tenants, as well as the confiscation of crystal meth, heroin, ketamine, and cocaine.
While violations of the California Drug Abatement Act could be as high as $25,000, an entirely different component of the suit involves ongoing housing violations. Issues like improper wiring, defective staircases, missing smoke detectors, lack of heat, and unpermitted construction could all result in daily penalties of up to $1,500.
The owner, who purchased the property in 1995 for $440,000 and then briefly listed the property in 2013 for $1.8M before taking it off the market, could also be forced to shutter the building for a year if the suit is successful.
We reached out to District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener for comment on the issue.
"Blatant disregard of public safety codes and regulations is not acceptable," he said. "These blighted properties significantly detract from the safety and quality of life in our neighborhoods. For this reason, I recently introduced legislation to significantly reform the City’s code enforcement efforts, including standardizing the methodology for referring cases to the City Attorney’s office for litigation and providing additional tools and accountability for city department enforcement efforts."
We'll keep readers updated on the status of the suit and any further information as we receive it.
Update, 11/24/15: A press release from the Office of the City Attorney names Joel Elliott as the defendant in the case, and provides more details of the ongoing issues at the property documented in the suit.
From City Attorney Dennis Herrera's statement in the case:
“This property has been a neighborhood nuisance for far too long. Not only has the owner failed to comply with numerous orders to fix code violations at the property, he has harbored illegal drug activity there for years. His conduct endangers the health, welfare and safety of neighbors, and drains the City of resources to adequately patrol other parts of the City. With today’s lawsuit, we intend to bring this defendant to justice, and also send a message to other would-be scofflaws that the City won’t tolerate this kind of lawlessness.”
Explore the full complaint, which makes for an interesting read, here.AssassinateVille contains 5 maps where you must eliminate one particular person.
Each map is set in very different environments and situations.
All require you to escape after the assassination, with some easier than others.
Basic Details
Title: AssassinatyeVille
AssassinatyeVille File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-mc-assassinateville.7z
hl2-ep2-sp-mc-assassinateville.7z Size : 22.70MB
22.70MB Author: Joseph Williams AKA Dysprogue, Tony DeBlasio AKa Starman, Dan Jordan, Pedro Marques AKA Dalannar and Richard Greenslade AKA Greenman
Joseph Williams AKA Dysprogue, Tony DeBlasio AKa Starman, Dan Jordan, Pedro Marques AKA Dalannar and Richard Greenslade AKA Greenman Date Released: 22 February 2014
Download Options
Download to your HDD [22.70MB]
Installation Instructions
Copy the assassinateville folder into your SourceMods folder.
Restart or start Steam.
AssassinateVille should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
Custom Grid View Icon
The fie above comes with 5 gridview icons. To use it, select “Gridview” in Steam (top right corner). Make sure you have saved the image to a location on your computer – you can’t use it from the compressed archive directly. Right click on “AssassinateVille” and select “Set Custom Image”. Then browse to the “SourceMods/assassinateville/steam-gridview-icons” folder and select the image of your choice. Then click “Set Image” and that’s it.
Of course, you can create your own custom image if you prefer.
Complex 471 by Joseph Williams AKA Dysprogue
Leaving your buggy outside the inner complex, you must acquire a special weapon and some keycards and then assassinate your target.
Use of the special weapon is required to return to the buggy, which can then carry you to freedom.
HarborMaster by Tony DeBlasio AKa Starman
It seems that the Harbor Master has defected and therefore must be assassinated.
Arriving on a supply train, you must gain access to the yard and then use your initiative to kill him.
Intelligence suggests that he will be well protected.
Terminus by Dan Jordan
Your target is in the tower and access will be hindered by a squad of highly trained Combine soldiers.
Use your guile and determination to achieve your goal.
Escape is via the same entry route is not recommended.
Undercover by Pedro Marques AKA Dalannar
Access to your victim is the least of your worries.
However, once you make your move, you will be immediately attacked. Plan carefully otherwise you may have to return to the scene of the crime!
Nix by Richard Greenslade AKA Greenman
The |
. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Gay, who wore number 22 with Memphis, personally donated $22,222.22 to the hospital.[39]
In 2013, Gay married his longtime girlfriend Ecko Wray.[40] The couple have a daughter named Mace Gay (born in 2014).[41]
References [ edit ]Please enable Javascript to watch this video
Replicas of Columbus’ ships the Pinta and the Nina are docked in Davenport.
The ships arrived on Thursday, August 1 and docked at Oneida Landing at noon.
The two ships are touring together and act as a sailing museum. The public is welcome to walk-aboard the ships on a self-guided tour beginning Friday, August 2. Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $6 for students ages 5-16. Children four and under are free.
The ships will be docked at the foot of Bridge Street next to the Boat House Restaurant until Monday, August 12. That morning, the ships will make an early departure to their next destination.
The ships will be open daily from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Teachers or organizations with a group of 15 or more wishing to schedule a 30 minute guided tour with a crew member should call 787-672-2152.A trio of boys tramps along the length of a wooden fence, back and forth, shouting like carnival barkers. “The Land! It opens in half an hour.” Down a path and across a grassy square, 5-year-old Dylan can hear them through the window of his nana’s front room. He tries to figure out what half an hour is and whether he can wait that long. When the heavy gate finally swings open, Dylan, the boys, and about a dozen other children race directly to their favorite spots, although it’s hard to see how they navigate so expertly amid the chaos. “Is this a junkyard?” asks my 5-year-old son, Gideon, who has come with me to visit. “Not exactly,” I tell him, although it’s inspired by one. The Land is a playground that takes up nearly an acre at the far end of a quiet housing development in North Wales. It’s only two years old but has no marks of newness and could just as well have been here for decades. The ground is muddy in spots and, at one end, slopes down steeply to a creek where a big, faded plastic boat that most people would have thrown away is wedged into the bank. The center of the playground is dominated by a high pile of tires that is growing ever smaller as a redheaded girl and her friend roll them down the hill and into the creek. “Why are you rolling tires into the water?” my son asks. “Because we are,” the girl replies. It’s still morning, but someone has already started a fire in the tin drum in the corner, perhaps because it’s late fall and wet-cold, or more likely because the kids here love to start fires. Three boys lounge in the only unbroken chairs around it; they are the oldest ones here, so no one complains. One of them turns on the radio—Shaggy is playing (Honey came in and she caught me red-handed, creeping with the girl next door)—as the others feel in their pockets to make sure the candy bars and soda cans are still there. Nearby, a couple of boys are doing mad flips on a stack of filthy mattresses, which makes a fine trampoline. At the other end of the playground, a dozen or so of the younger kids dart in and out of large structures made up of wooden pallets stacked on top of one another. Occasionally a group knocks down a few pallets—just for the fun of it, or to build some new kind of slide or fort or unnamed structure. Come tomorrow and the Land might have a whole new topography. Other than some walls lit up with graffiti, there are no bright colors, or anything else that belongs to the usual playground landscape: no shiny metal slide topped by a red steering wheel or a tic-tac-toe board; no yellow seesaw with a central ballast to make sure no one falls off; no rubber bucket swing for babies. There is, however, a frayed rope swing that carries you over the creek and deposits you on the other side, if you can make it that far (otherwise it deposits you in the creek). The actual children’s toys (a tiny stuffed elephant, a soiled Winnie the Pooh) are ignored, one facedown in the mud, the other sitting behind a green plastic chair. On this day, the kids seem excited by a walker that was donated by one of the elderly neighbors and is repurposed, at different moments, as a scooter, a jail cell, and a gymnastics bar. The Land is an “adventure playground,” although that term is maybe a little too reminiscent of theme parks to capture the vibe. In the U.K., such playgrounds arose and became popular in the 1940s, as a result of the efforts of Lady Marjory Allen of Hurtwood, a landscape architect and children’s advocate. Allen was disappointed by what she described in a documentary as “asphalt square” playgrounds with “a few pieces of mechanical equipment.” She wanted to design playgrounds with loose parts that kids could move around and manipulate, to create their own makeshift structures. But more important, she wanted to encourage a “free and permissive atmosphere” with as little adult supervision as possible. The idea was that kids should face what to them seem like “really dangerous risks” and then conquer them alone. That, she said, is what builds self-confidence and courage. related story How to Land Your Kid in Therapy “Back in graduate school, the clinical focus had always been on how the lack of parental attunement affects the child. It never occurred to any of us to ask, what if the parents are too attuned? What happens to those kids?” Read the full story by Lori Gottlieb in the July/August 2011 issue The playgrounds were novel, but they were in tune with the cultural expectations of London in the aftermath of World War II. Children who might grow up to fight wars were not shielded from danger; they were expected to meet it with assertiveness and even bravado. Today, these playgrounds are so out of sync with affluent and middle-class parenting norms that when I showed fellow parents back home a video of kids crouched in the dark lighting fires, the most common sentence I heard from them was “This is insane.” (Working-class parents hold at least some of the same ideals, but are generally less controlling—out of necessity, and maybe greater respect for toughness.) That might explain why there are so few adventure playgrounds left around the world, and why a newly established one, such as the Land, feels like an act of defiance. If a 10-year-old lit a fire at an American playground, someone would call the police and the kid would be taken for counseling. At the Land, spontaneous fires are a frequent occurrence. The park is staffed by professionally trained “playworkers,” who keep a close eye on the kids but don’t intervene all that much. Claire Griffiths, the manager of the Land, describes her job as “loitering with intent.” Although the playworkers almost never stop the kids from what they’re doing, before the playground had even opened they’d filled binders with “risk benefits assessments” for nearly every activity. (In the two years since it opened, no one has been injured outside of the occasional scraped knee.) Here’s the list of benefits for fire: “It can be a social experience to sit around with friends, make friends, to sing songs to dance around, to stare at, it can be a co-operative experience where everyone has jobs. It can be something to experiment with, to take risks, to test its properties, its heat, its power, to re-live our evolutionary past.” The risks? “Burns from fire or fire pit” and “children accidentally burning each other with flaming cardboard or wood.” In this case, the benefits win, because a playworker is always nearby, watching for impending accidents but otherwise letting the children figure out lessons about fire on their own. Kids once took special pride in “knowing how to get places” alone, and in finding shortcuts adults normally wouldn’t use. “I’m gonna put this cardboard box in the fire,” one of the boys says. “You know that will make a lot of smoke,” says Griffiths. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” he answers, and in goes the box. Smoke instantly fills the air and burns our eyes. The other boys sitting around the fire cough, duck their heads, and curse him out. In my playground set, we would call this “natural consequences,” although we rarely have the nerve to let even much tamer scenarios than this one play out. By contrast, the custom at the Land is for parents not to intervene. In fact, it’s for parents not to come at all. The dozens of kids who passed through the playground on the day I visited came and went on their own. In seven hours, aside from Griffiths and the other playworkers, I saw only two adults: Dylan’s nana, who walked him over because he’s only 5, and Steve Hughes, who runs a local fishing-tackle shop and came by to lend some tools. Griffiths started selling local families on the proposed playground in 2006. She talked about the health and developmental benefits of freer outdoor play, and explained that the playground would look messy but be fenced in. But mostly she made an appeal rooted in nostalgia. She explained some of the things kids might be able to do and then asked the parents to remember their own childhoods. “Ahh, did you never used to do that?” she would ask. This is how she would win them over. Hughes moved to the neighborhood after the Land was already open, but when he stopped by, I asked how he would have answered that question. “When I was a kid, we didn’t have all the rules about health and safety,” he said. “I used to go swimming in the Dee, which is one of the most dangerous rivers around. If my parents had found out, they would have grounded me for life. But back then we would get up to all sorts of mischief.”
Like most parents my age, I have memories of childhood so different from the way my children are growing up that sometimes I think I might be making them up, or at least exaggerating them. I grew up on a block of nearly identical six-story apartment buildings in Queens, New York. In my elementary-school years, my friends and I spent a lot of afternoons playing cops and robbers in two interconnected apartment garages, after we discovered a door between them that we could pry open. Once, when I was about 9, my friend Kim and I “locked” a bunch of younger kids in an imaginary jail behind a low gate. Then Kim and I got hungry and walked over to Alba’s pizzeria a few blocks away and forgot all about them. When we got back an hour later, they were still standing in the same spot. They never hopped over the gate, even though they easily could have; their parents never came looking for them, and no one expected them to. A couple of them were pretty upset, but back then, the code between kids ruled. We’d told them they were in jail, so they stayed in jail until we let them out. A parent’s opinion on their term of incarceration would have been irrelevant. I used to puzzle over a particular statistic that routinely comes up in articles about time use: even though women work vastly more hours now than they did in the 1970s, mothers—and fathers—of all income levels spend much more time with their children than they used to. This seemed impossible to me until recently, when I began to think about my own life. My mother didn’t work all that much when I was younger, but she didn’t spend vast amounts of time with me, either. She didn’t arrange my playdates or drive me to swimming lessons or introduce me to cool music she liked. On weekdays after school she just expected me to show up for dinner; on weekends I barely saw her at all. I, on the other hand, might easily spend every waking Saturday hour with one if not all three of my children, taking one to a soccer game, the second to a theater program, the third to a friend’s house, or just hanging out with them at home. When my daughter was about 10, my husband suddenly realized that in her whole life, she had probably not spent more than 10 minutes unsupervised by an adult. Not 10 minutes in 10 years. It’s hard to absorb how much childhood norms have shifted in just one generation. Actions that would have been considered paranoid in the ’70s—walking third-graders to school, forbidding your kid to play ball in the street, going down the slide with your child in your lap—are now routine. In fact, they are the markers of good, responsible parenting. One very thorough study of “children’s independent mobility,” conducted in urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods in the U.K., shows that in 1971, 80 percent of third-graders walked to school alone. By 1990, that measure had dropped to 9 percent, and now it’s even lower. When you ask parents why they are more protective than their parents were, they might answer that the world is more dangerous than it was when they were growing up. But this isn’t true, or at least not in the way that we think. For example, parents now routinely tell their children never to talk to strangers, even though all available evidence suggests that children have about the same (very slim) chance of being abducted by a stranger as they did a generation ago. Maybe the real question is, how did these fears come to have such a hold over us? And what have our children lost—and gained—as we’ve succumbed to them? related story Why Parents Need to Let Their Kids Fail “Year after year, my ‘best’ students—the ones who are happiest and successful in their lives—are the students who were allowed to fail, held responsible for missteps, and challenged to be the best people they could be in the face of their mistakes.” Read the full January 2013 story by Jessica Lahey In 1978, a toddler named Frank Nelson made his way to the top of a 12-foot slide in Hamlin Park in Chicago, with his mother, Debra, a few steps behind him. The structure, installed three years earlier, was known as a “tornado slide” because it twisted on the way down, but the boy never made it that far. He fell through the gap between the handrail and the steps and landed on his head on the asphalt. A year later, his parents sued the Chicago Park District and the two companies that had manufactured and installed the slide. Frank had fractured his skull in the fall and suffered permanent brain damage. He was paralyzed on his left side and had speech and vision problems. His attorneys noted that he was forced to wear a helmet all the time to protect his fragile skull. The Nelsons’ was one of a number of lawsuits of that era that fueled a backlash against potentially dangerous playground equipment. Theodora Briggs Sweeney, a consumer advocate and safety consultant from John Carroll University, near Cleveland, testified at dozens of trials and became a public crusader for playground reform. “The name of the playground game will continue to be Russian roulette, with the child as unsuspecting victim,” Sweeney wrote in a 1979 paper published in Pediatrics. She was concerned about many things—the heights of slides, the space between railings, the danger of loose S-shaped hooks holding parts together—but what she worried about most was asphalt and dirt. In her paper, Sweeney declared that lab simulations showed children could die from a fall of as little as a foot if their head hit asphalt, or three feet if their head hit dirt. A federal-government report published around that time found that tens of thousands of children were turning up in the emergency room each year because of playground accidents. As a result, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1981 published the first “Handbook for Public Playground Safety,” a short set of general guidelines—the word guidelines was in bold, to distinguish the contents from requirements—that should govern the equipment. For example, no component of any equipment should form angles or openings that could trap any part of a child’s body, especially the head.
To turn up the pressure, Sweeney and a fellow consultant on playground safety, Joe Frost, began cataloguing the horrors that befell children at playgrounds. Between them, they had testified in almost 200 cases and could detail gruesome specifics—several kids who had gotten their heads trapped or crushed by merry-go-rounds; one who was hanged by a jump rope attached to a deck railing; one who was killed by a motorcycle that crashed into an unfenced playground; one who fell while playing football on rocky ground. In a paper they wrote together, Sweeney and Frost called for “immediate inspection” of all equipment that had been installed before 1981, and the removal of anything faulty. They also called for playgrounds nationwide to incorporate rubber flooring in crucial areas. In January 1985, the Chicago Park District settled the suit with the Nelsons. Frank Nelson was guaranteed a minimum of $9.5 million. Maurice Thominet, the chief engineer for the Park District, told the Chicago Tribune that the city would have to “take a cold, hard look at all of our equipment” and likely remove all the tornado slides and some other structures. At the time, a reader wrote to the paper: Do accidents happen anymore? …
Can a mother take the risk of taking her young child up to the top of a tornado slide, with every good intention, and have an accident?
Who is responsible for a child in a park, the park district or the parent? … Swings hit 1-year-old children in the head, I’m sure with dire consequences in some instances. Do we eliminate swings? But these proved to be musings from a dying age. Around the time the Nelson settlement became public, park departments all over the country began removing equipment newly considered dangerous, partly because they could not afford to be sued, especially now that a government handbook could be used by litigants as proof of standards that parks were failing to meet. In anticipation of lawsuits, insurance premiums skyrocketed. As the Tribune reader had intuited, the cultural understanding of acceptable risk began to shift, such that any known risk became nearly synonymous with hazard. Over the years, the official consumer-product handbook has gone through several revisions; it is now supplemented by a set of technical guidelines for manufacturers. More and more, the standards are set by engineers and technical experts and lawyers, with little meaningful input from “people who know anything about children’s play,” says William Weisz, a design consultant who has sat on several committees overseeing changes to the guidelines. The handbook includes specific prescriptions for the exact heights, slopes, and other angles of nearly every piece of equipment. Rubber flooring or wood chips are virtually required; grass and dirt are “not considered protective surfacing because wear and environmental factors can reduce their shock absorbing effectiveness.” “Reasonable risks are essential for children’s healthy development,” says Joe Frost, an influential safety crusader. It is no longer easy to find a playground that has an element of surprise, no matter how far you travel. Kids can find the same slides at the same heights and angles as the ones in their own neighborhood, with many of the same accessories. I live in Washington, D.C., near a section of Rock Creek Park, and during my first year in the neighborhood, a remote corner of the park dead-ended into what our neighbors called the forgotten playground. The slide had wooden steps, and was at such a steep angle that kids had to practice controlling their speed so they wouldn’t land too hard on the dirt. More glorious, a freestanding tree house perched about 12 feet off the ground, where the neighborhood kids would gather and sort themselves into the pack hierarchies I remember from my childhood—little kids on the ground “cooking” while the bigger kids dominated the high shelter. But in 2003, nearly a year after I moved in, the park service tore down the tree house and replaced all the old equipment with a prefab playground set on rubber flooring. Now the playground can hold only a toddler’s attention, and not for very long. The kids seem to spend most of their time in the sandbox; maybe they like it because the neighbors have turned it into a mini adventure playground, dropping off an odd mixing spoon or colander or broken-down toy car. related story New Playgrounds Are Safe, and That's Why Nobody Uses Them “According to the study, the new, safer equipment often became boring because children mastered it so quickly. To make it more challenging, kids tended to improvise, walking up the slide the wrong way, or using supports as a climbing apparatus.” Read the full February 2012 story by Alice G. Walton In recent years, Joe Frost, Sweeney’s old partner in the safety crusade, has become concerned that maybe we have gone too far. In a 2006 paper, he gives the example of two parents who sued when their child fell over a stump in a small redwood forest that was part of a playground. They had a basis for the lawsuit. After all, the latest safety handbook advises designers to “look out for tripping hazards, like exposed concrete footings, tree stumps, and rocks.” But adults have come to the mistaken view “that children must somehow be sheltered from all risks of injury,” Frost writes. “In the real world, life is filled with risks—financial, physical, emotional, social—and reasonable risks are essential for children’s healthy development.” At the core of the safety obsession is a view of children that is the exact opposite of Lady Allen’s, “an idea that children are too fragile or unintelligent to assess the risk of any given situation,” argues Tim Gill, the author of No Fear, a critique of our risk-averse society. “Now our working assumption is that children cannot be trusted to find their way around tricky physical or social and emotional situations.” What’s lost amid all this protection? In the mid-1990s, Norway passed a law that required playgrounds to meet certain safety standards. Ellen Sandseter, a professor of early-childhood education at Queen Maud University College in Trondheim, had just had her first child, and she watched as one by one the playgrounds in her neighborhood were transformed into sterile, boring places. Sandseter had written her master’s dissertation on young teens and their need for sensation and risk; she’d noticed that if they couldn’t feed that desire in some socially acceptable way, some would turn to more-reckless behavior. She wondered whether a similar dynamic might take hold among younger kids as playgrounds started to become safer and less interesting.
Sandseter began observing and interviewing children on playgrounds in Norway. In 2011, she published her results in a paper called “Children’s Risky Play From an Evolutionary Perspective: The Anti-Phobic Effects of Thrilling Experiences.” Children, she concluded, have a sensory need to taste danger and excitement; this doesn’t mean that what they do has to actually be dangerous, only that they feel they are taking a great risk. That scares them, but then they overcome the fear. In the paper, Sandseter identifies six kinds of risky play: (1) Exploring heights, or getting the “bird’s perspective,” as she calls it—“high enough to evoke the sensation of fear.” (2) Handling dangerous tools—using sharp scissors or knives, or heavy hammers that at first seem unmanageable but that kids learn to master. (3) Being near dangerous elements—playing near vast bodies of water, or near a fire, so kids are aware that there is danger nearby. (4) Rough-and-tumble play—wrestling, play-fighting—so kids learn to negotiate aggression and cooperation. (5) Speed—cycling or skiing at a pace that feels too fast. (6) Exploring on one’s own. This last one Sandseter describes as “the most important for the children.” She told me, “When they are left alone and can take full responsibility for their actions, and the consequences of their decisions, it’s a thrilling experience.” To gauge the effects of losing these experiences, Sandseter turns to evolutionary psychology. Children are born with the instinct to take risks in play, because historically, learning to negotiate risk has been crucial to survival; in another era, they would have had to learn to run from some danger, defend themselves from others, be independent. Even today, growing up is a process of managing fears and learning to arrive at sound decisions. By engaging in risky play, children are effectively subjecting themselves to a form of exposure therapy, in which they force themselves to do the thing they’re afraid of in order to overcome their fear. But if they never go through that process, the fear can turn into a phobia. Paradoxically, Sandseter writes, “our fear of children being harmed,” mostly in minor ways, “may result in more fearful children and increased levels of psychopathology.” She cites a study showing that children who injured themselves falling from heights when they were between 5 and 9 years old are less likely to be afraid of heights at age 18. “Risky play with great heights will provide a desensitizing or habituating experience,” she writes. related story Let Kids Play With Fire “We see a child climbing a tree and the first thing we think of is how they might fall and be maimed for life, when we might as easily say, ‘Look at how well Sarah is climbing that tree!’” Read the full May 2011 story by Veronique Greenwood We might accept a few more phobias in our children in exchange for fewer injuries. But the final irony is that our close attention to safety has not in fact made a tremendous difference in the number of accidents children have. According to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, which monitors hospital visits, the frequency of emergency-room visits related to playground equipment, including home equipment, in 1980 was 156,000, or one visit per 1,452 Americans. In 2012, it was 271,475, or one per 1,156 Americans. The number of deaths hasn’t changed much either. From 2001 through 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 100 deaths associated with playground equipment—an average of 13 a year, or 10 fewer than were reported in 1980. Head injuries, runaway motorcycles, a fatal fall onto a rock—most of the horrors Sweeney and Frost described all those years ago turn out to be freakishly rare, unexpected tragedies that no amount of safety-proofing can prevent. Even rubber surfacing doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference in the real world. David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University, analyzed U.K. injury statistics and found that as in the U.S., there was no clear trend over time. “The advent of all these special surfaces for playgrounds has contributed very little, if anything at all, to the safety of children,” he told me. Ball has found some evidence that long-bone injuries, which are far more common than head injuries, are actually increasing. The best theory for that is “risk compensation”—kids don’t worry as much about falling on rubber, so they’re not as careful, and end up hurting themselves more often. The problem, says Ball, is that “we have come to think of accidents as preventable and not a natural part of life.” The category of risky play on Sandseter’s list that likely makes this current generation of parents most nervous is the one involving children getting lost, or straying from adult supervision. “Children love to walk off alone and go exploring away from the eyes of adults,” she writes. They “experience a feeling of risk and danger of getting lost” when “given the opportunity to ‘cruise’ on their own exploring unknown areas; still, they have an urge to do it.” Here again Sandseter cites evidence showing that the number of separation experiences before age 9 correlates negatively with separation-anxiety symptoms at age 18, “suggesting an ‘inoculation’ effect.” In all my years as a parent, I’ve mostly met children who take it for granted that they are always being watched. But parents these days have little tolerance for children’s wandering on their own, for reasons that, much like the growing fear of playground injuries, have their roots in the 1970s. In 1979, nine months after Frank Nelson fell off that slide in Chicago, 6-year-old Etan Patz left his parents’ downtown New York apartment to walk by himself to the school-bus stop. Etan had been begging his mother to let him walk by himself; many of his friends did, and that morning was the first time she let him. But, as just about anyone who grew up in New York in that era knows, he never came home. (In 2012, a New Jersey man was arrested for Etan’s murder.) I was nearly 10 at the time, and I remember watching the nightly news and seeing his school picture, with a smile almost as wide as Mick Jagger’s. I also remember that, sometime during those weeks of endless coverage of the search for Etan, the parents in my neighborhood for the first time organized a walk pool to take us to the bus stop. The Etan Patz case launched the era of the ubiquitous missing child, as Paula Fass chronicles in Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America. Children’s faces began to appear on milk cartons, and Ronald Reagan chose the date of Etan’s disappearance as National Missing Children’s Day. Although no one knew what had happened to Etan, a theory developed that he had been sexually abused; soon The New York Times quoted a psychologist who said that the Patz case heralded an “epidemic of sexual abuse of children.” In a short period, writes Fass, Americans came to think child molestations were very prevalent. Over time, the fear drove a new parenting absolute: children were never to talk to strangers.
But abduction cases like Etan Patz’s were incredibly uncommon a generation ago, and remain so today. David Finkelhor is the director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center and the most reliable authority on sexual-abuse and abduction statistics for children. In his research, Finkelhor singles out a category of crime called the “stereotypical abduction,” by which he means the kind of abduction that’s likely to make the news, during which the victim disappears overnight, or is taken more than 50 miles away, or is killed. Finkelhor says these cases remain exceedingly rare and do not appear to have increased since at least the mid‑’80s, and he guesses the ’70s, although he was not keeping track then. Overall, crimes against children have been declining, in keeping with the general crime drop since the ’90s. A child from a happy, intact family who walks to the bus stop and never comes home is still a singular tragedy, not a national epidemic. One kind of crime that has increased, says Finkelhor, is family abduction (which is lumped together with stereotypical abduction in FBI crime reports, accounting for the seemingly alarming numbers sometimes reported in the media). The explosion in divorce in the ’70s meant many more custody wars and many more children being smuggled away by one or the other of their parents. If a mother is afraid that her child might be abducted, her ironclad rule should not be Don’t talk to strangers. It should be Don’t talk to your father. The gap between what people fear (abduction by a stranger) and what’s actually happening (family turmoil and custody battles) is revealing. What has changed since the 1970s is the nature of the American family, and the broader sense of community. For a variety of reasons—divorce, more single-parent families, more mothers working—both families and neighborhoods have lost some of their cohesion. It is perhaps natural that trust in general has eroded, and that parents have sought to control more closely what they can—most of all, their children.
As we parents began to see public spaces—playgrounds, streets, public ball fields, the distance between school and home—as dangerous, other, smaller daily decisions fell into place. Ask any of my parenting peers to chronicle a typical week in their child’s life and they will likely mention school, homework, after-school classes, organized playdates, sports teams coached by a fellow parent, and very little free, unsupervised time. Failure to supervise has become, in fact, synonymous with failure to parent. The result is a “continuous and ultimately dramatic decline in children’s opportunities to play and explore in their own chosen ways,” writes Peter Gray, a psychologist at Boston College and the author of Free to Learn. No more pickup games, idle walks home from school, or cops and robbers in the garage all afternoon. The child culture from my Queens days, with its own traditions and codas, its particular pleasures and distresses, is virtually extinct. In 1972, the British-born geography student Roger Hart settled on an unusual project for his dissertation. He moved to a rural New England town and, for two years, tracked the movements of 86 children in the local elementary school, to create what he called a “geography of children,” including actual maps that would show where and how far the children typically roamed away from home. Usually research on children is conducted by interviewing parents, but Hart decided he would go straight to the source. The principal of the school lent him a room, which became known as “Roger’s room,” and he slowly got to know the children. Hart asked them questions about where they went each day and how they felt about those places, but mostly he just wandered around with them. Even now, as a father and a settled academic, Hart has a dreamy, puckish air. Children were comfortable with him and loved to share their moments of pride, their secrets. Often they took him to places adults had never seen before—playhouses or forts the kids had made just for themselves. Hart’s methodology was novel, but he didn’t think he was recording anything radical. Many of his observations must have seemed mundane at the time. For example: “I was struck by the large amount of time children spend modifying the landscape in order to make places for themselves and for their play.” But reading his dissertation today feels like coming upon a lost civilization, a child culture with its own ways of playing and thinking and feeling that seems utterly foreign now. The children spent immense amounts of time on their own, creating imaginary landscapes their parents sometimes knew nothing about. The parents played no role in their coming together—“it is through cycling around that the older boys chance to fall into games with each other,” Hart observed. The forts they built were not praised and cooed over by their parents, because their parents almost never saw them. “There’s a fear” among parents, Roger Hart told me, “an exaggeration of the dangers, a loss of trust” that isn’t clearly explainable. Through his maps, Hart discovered broad patterns: between second and third grade, for instance, the children’s “free range”—the distance they were allowed to travel away from home without checking in first—tended to expand significantly, because they were permitted to ride bikes alone to a friend’s house or to a ball field. By fifth grade, the boys especially gained a “dramatic new freedom” and could go pretty much wherever they wanted without checking in at all. (The girls were more restricted because they often helped their mothers with chores or errands, or stayed behind to look after younger siblings.) To the children, each little addition to their free range—being allowed to cross a paved road, or go to the center of town—was a sign of growing up. The kids took special pride, Hart noted, in “knowing how to get places,” and in finding shortcuts that adults wouldn’t normally use. Hart’s research became the basis for a BBC documentary, which he recently showed me in his office at the City University of New York. One long scene takes place across a river where the kids would go to build what they called “river houses,” structures made from branches and odds and ends they’d snuck out from home. In one scene, Joanne and her sister Sylvia show the filmmakers the “house” they made, mostly from orange and brown sheets slung over branches. The furniture has been built with love and wit—the TV, for example, is a crate on a rock with a magazine glamour shot taped onto the front. The phone is a stone with a curled piece of wire coming out from under it. The girls should be self-conscious because they are being filmed, but they are utterly at home, flipping their hair, sitting close to each other on crates, and drawing up plans for how to renovate. Nearby, their 4-year-old brother is cutting down a small tree with a hatchet for a new addition. The girls and their siblings have logged hundreds of hours here over the years; their mother has never been here, not once, they say, because she doesn’t like to get her toes wet. In another scene, Andrew and Jenny, a brother and sister who are 6 and 4, respectively, explore a patch of woods to find the best ferns to make a bed with. Jenny walks around in her knee-high white socks, her braids swinging, looking for the biggest fronds. Her big brother tries to arrange them just so. The sun is shining through the dense trees and the camera stays on the children for a long time. When they are satisfied with their bed, they lie down next to each other. “Don’t take any of my ferns,” Jenny scolds, and Andrew sticks his tongue out. At this point, I could hear in my head the parent intervening: “Come on, kids, share. There’s plenty to go around.” But no parents are there; the kids have been out of their sight for several hours now. I teared up while watching the film, and it was only a few days later that I understood why. In all my years as a parent, I have never come upon children who are so inwardly focused, so in tune with each other, so utterly absorbed by the world they’ve created, and I think that’s because in all my years as a parent, I’ve mostly met children who take it for granted that they are always being watched. In 2004, Hart returned to the same town to do a follow-up study. His aim was to reconnect with any kids he had written about who still lived within 100 miles of the town and see how they were raising their own children, and also to track some of the kids who now lived in the town. But from the first day he arrived, he knew he would never be able to do the research in the same way. Hart started at the house of a boy he’d known, now a father, and asked whether he could talk to his son outside. The mother said they could go in the backyard, |
和信仰自由並免予恐懼和匱乏的世界的盼望，已被宣佈為普通人民的最高願望，
鑑於為使人類不致迫不得已鋌而走險對暴政和壓迫進行反叛，有必要使人權受法治的保護。[citation needed]
Simplified Chinese [ edit ]
鉴于对人类家庭所有成员的与生俱来的尊严及其平等的和不移的权利的承认，乃是世界自由、正义与和平的基础，
鉴于对人权的无视和蔑视已导致野蛮暴行，这些暴行激怒了人类的良心，
鉴于对一个人人享有言论和信仰自由并免予恐惧和匮乏的世界的盼望，已被宣布为普通人民的最高愿望，
鉴于为使人类不致迫不得已铤而走险对暴政和压迫进行反叛，有必要使人权受法治的保护。[citation needed]
Hanyu Pinyin [ edit ]
Jiànyú duì rénlèi jiātíng suǒyǒu chéngyuán de yǔ shēng jù lái de zūnyán jí qí píngděng de hé bù yí de quánlì de chéngrèn, nǎi shì shìjiè zìyóu, zhèngyì yǔ hépíng de jīchǔ,
Jiànyú duì rénquán de wúshì hé mièshì yǐ dǎozhì yěmán bàoxíng, zhèxiē bàoxíng jīnùle rénlèi de liángxīn,
Jiànyú duì yīgè rén rén xiǎngyǒu yánlùn hé xìnyǎng zìyóu bìng miǎn yǔ kǒngjù hé kuìfá de shìjiè de pànwàng, yǐ bèi xuānbù wèi pǔtōng rénmín de zuìgāo yuànwàng,
Jiànyú wèi shǐ rénlèi bùzhì pòbùdéyǐ dìng'érzǒuxiǎn duì bàozhèng hé yāpò jìnxíng fǎnpàn, yǒu bìyào shǐ rénquán shòu fǎzhì de bǎohù.
English translation [ edit ]
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations...
See also [ edit ]I probably have the greatest Secret Pet Santa ever! Not for what he sent, but for his name! In the most strangest of coincidences, My Secret Santa is called Sven! Which happened to have been the name of my last dog, before I had the two I have now. The Toys are (touch wood) indestructible to my Dog Bella, I'll be testing that out later... and the treats, well, they are going away for Christmas, but I know, they'll go down, well, a treat! So thank you once again, Sven Happy Dog owners here, and if the toys last longer than 24hrs - then VERY happy owners are we!
Edit: 1hr later - Bella and Ty have been enjoying their new toys. The Tyre is still attached to the rope - just! bits of rubber has been torn off! Ty chews off the rubber, and Bella tugs on the rope! The ball has been played with, just not as much as the Tyre Rope - Maybe I should invest in a proper Tyre and an Army type rope! lol Still great toys though!Three years ago, I started this web site and asked you to share your experiences as atheists with me. Over that time, I’ve received thousands of your stories. With the option to request your story not be published in the story submission form, many of those stories never went public. But I read them. And my heart broke over and over and over again.
As you know, I’ve never been religious; never believed in a god. I asked for your stories of atheism because I wanted to hear how you became atheists as it’s a process I never experienced and I wanted to know what my fellow atheists had been through. I’ve learned a lot from all that you’ve told me and I thought I’d share some of those lessons with all of you. So, here are ten things I’ve learned about you amazing people from reading your stories:
1. You’ve lost people against your will over this whole atheism thing – relationships with friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, siblings, parents and significant others all seem to be casualties of not sharing their precise beliefs. What’s worse, is that losing these people has not been your choice. It’s been theirs. Your family and friends, overwhelmingly, can’t seem to find room in their hearts for a nonbeliever, no matter how gently you tell them you no longer believe in god. Some of you have offered to go to church, mosque, Bible study, etc, if it meant it would save your relationship but to no avail. Your loved one just couldn’t seem to bring themselves to associate with a heathen for anything. Others have been kicked out as teenagers, beaten, divorced and disowned by your own parents; the two people on earth who are supposed to be there for you no matter what. I’ve read some gut-wrenching stories from you, detailing how you’ve been discarded like a piece of trash. Some of you were teens when you were thrown out of your house to fend for yourself, all because you don’t share their perspective on one topic. I’ve had a few good sobs after reading some of these…
2. Many of you have been physically hurt by religion – The most recent story I read on this topic came from Tanja, who said:
When I was 11, I borrowed a Stephen King book from the library. I was caught and then endured an hour of beatings with said book, the book was burned and I had to do work to pay off the library fine.
Including anonymous stories and stories the author did not want published, I’ve read about people being beaten to hospitalization, female genital mutilation and countless threats of violence and threats against your lives. I could feel the terror in some of your words, refusing to use your real name… y’know, just in case I wasn’t trustworthy and I published your story anyway. Some of you are currently living in fear for your life should anyone find out you no longer believe in the same god as the people around you. These stories make me feel helpless. I can’t do anything to fix your situation, or even just slightly improve it and they haunt me for days and weeks after reading them. I hope that, at the very least, writing your story down acts as a sort of catharsis. I’m deeply sorry you’ve had to experience these things and if there was a way I could just pile the lot of you in my family room with some sleeping bags and some tea, I would.
3. Anti-atheist bigotry is alive and well in all of your countries – We’re all abundantly aware of the bigotry against atheists in much of the Middle East. We know it exists in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. We know it’s not easy for atheists in much of the developing world. What I never expected were the stories I got from Americans, Canadians, British, French, Aussie, New Zealanders, etc. Stories of jobs lost, of families disowning, shunning, kicking teenagers out of their homes. Stories of lost custody battles and violent reactions to atheist and humanist events. There was one mom whose child was made to feel too uncomfortable at Scouts to return. There was a college girl kicked out of her sorority. A new mom with a gorgeous new family disowned by her parents & siblings – legally – in a state that we would consider more liberal than most. I didn’t think it was this bad… but it’s bad out there. We don’t necessarily get vocal about it when these things happen, for fear of more repercussions and so these stories only get whispered about anonymously on silly little blogs like mine, making it feel as though it doesn’t happen much anymore. It does. Sadly, it does a lot.
4. You can’t fake it for long – I’ve received so many stories from people who are faking their belief in god. Muslims, Christians, Hindus, etc. The one common thread with all of you is that you all feel like you’re cracking; like you’re not going to be able to keep it up for much longer. I’ve had other stories sent to me from many of you who were faking their religious beliefs for a while but then hit a wall, and not being able to do it anymore. Despite your fears, you came out and admitted to everyone in your life that you don’t believe in their god anymore. Happily, most of you were met with a sort of “Yeah, we figured” sort of response proving all that time you faked it and worried was for naught. Through all these stories, I hear the same thing: it’s difficult to fake it; it’s demeaning to fake it; it’s not often possible to fake it for long.
5. You’ve seen some shit – Sometimes, when I come away from reading a new story in my inbox, my heart is so heavy I feel like crying for days. There was the girl whose sister was killed by her Muslim brother over a rumour that turned out not to be true. That still haunts me. There was the man whose wife had undergone female genital mutilation as a child. So many of you have been manhandled by perverted priests and pastors and other religious leaders. One of you witnessed a suicide brought on by guilt for not being precisely who god wanted them to be. I am so deeply saddened to hear these stories but so honoured you felt comfortable sending them to me.
6. You’re great writers – Holy shitballs! Half your stories have me reeling at the end, thinking to myself, “why are you sending me this story when you’ve clearly got the skill to start a successful blog yourself?”. You’re brilliant! I want to take creative writing lessons from 90% of you!
7. You’re strong – All the shit you’ve been through and yet you’re still here, talking about it, raising awareness for it and being brave as all hell about it. I like to post on my social spaces that I love you guys. I end my videos with it, too. I don’t think you really understand, though. I love and admire you guys so much. I’ve never been surrounded, albeit digitally, by so many fearless people just trying to make a difference. You literally inspire me every day.
8. You’re positive – Almost every single story sent to me has some bit in it about how freeing leaving religion has been for you. Almost all of them have some blurb about the positive impact being an atheist has had on your life. You take all these awful situations we’ve talked about above and you still see the positives in life. You’re all fucking amazing. All of you.
9. You’re smart as all get out – The thoughts you articulate in your personal stories often give me pause. Sometimes it’s because I’d never thought of the topic that way before. Other times it’s because you make such a profoundly good point that I have to remember it for the next time I’m discussing the topic. You shed light on things I’d never thought about before; you teach me new ideas; you show me new ways to think about things. I am constantly challenged by you and I love it.
10. You’re giving – So, so many of you have chosen to fill your time freed up by no longer attending church with amazing things. You’re blood donors, foster parents, volunteers and more. A huge portion of your stories talk about how you’ve given back. Your generosity astounds me.
I have enjoyed the last three years of collecting your stories. I hope to keep getting them for many years to come. If you haven’t binged on them yet, check out Your Stories of Atheism, and if you haven’t shared your story yet, click here to submit it.It takes an absolutely extraordinary amount of work to become a billionaire, some would say insane. If you couldn’t even get a 4.0 in high school because of laziness do you honestly think you’ll be able to accomplish the almost inhuman amount of work you’d have to do to to “climb the corporate ladder?”
Social skills and “who you know” matter, of course. But you quite simply can’t network your way to a C level position, especially in a company that would make you a billionaire. The highest level social skills will get you with no work ethic is. Unless you’re incredibly hard-working and efficient, you really can’t advance much farther than that.
Also, the concept of a “corporate ladder” is a myth. It’s not like there’s some system set up for entry level workers to be able to climb their way up and take the multimillion dollar salaries from the established guys. In a way it’s the opposite. People with money and power don’t like to give it up easily, and there are only so many open positions they can fill with people they like.
Finally, you don’t really become a young billionaire unless you’re an inventor or ground-up entrepreneur. The only conceivable way you could do that is by innovating in something pertaining to what is relevant or going to be that would be profitable enough to not be suppressed by the current standard innovations that we already have. Therefore if you did somehow manage to become a billionaire, odds are you’d be middle aged at the youngest. If you become a billionaire, it assumes you’ve done the work and made the sacrifices necessary to do so, which means you’ve given up all the treasures of youth so that you can be a 55 year old with a lot of money and stress.
I have been raised by good parents; folks who conditioned me to not want anything in life but constant basic success. They made me not want so much excessive wealth. When I was in high school, I signed up for many community volunteer works. I was happy doing them not because my parents are proud of it but because it felt good contributing to making everything an equal playing field for everyone. My desire not to want so much material things in life had driven me to help alleviate poverty. I wanted to have the less fortunate people to have as much opportunity with those in the middle class at least. If ever I make it big, I would give them to people who deserved more in life. I joined IAM Group Ltd Korea for the mean time to help with their cause. I have participated in their countless campaigns against poverty. I was sent to as far as Yokohama Japan to aid in charity work and the likes.
I wrote to IAM Group Ltd one time so I could donate to the organization funds my own excess money but they didn’t accept it. They are very strict when it comes to accepting donations such as money. IAm Group Ltd Seoul Korea is a self-funded company and they rather have members keep the money for personal expenses during trips to far places where the organization cannot easily reach.
AdvertisementsJoy Loboda in her mother's arms (All photos courtesy the Loboda family)
Drowned Toddler Is Making Miraculous Recovery
After falling into a pool, little Joy Loboda did not have a heartbeat for some 20-30 minutes. She should not be alive today, but she is.
Matt and Kristin Loboda, from Tampa, Florida, and their five young children were visiting family in Phoenix, Arizona. On Dec. 29, 2016, Matt suddenly noticed that his 19-month-old daughter, Joy, was missing. She had been with them just before that. “In my heart, I knew something was terribly wrong. So, I ran down to the Koi pond on the property. I ran around it four times looking between the shadows and fish for Joy. Momentarily I was relieved. But, [then] I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to run to the pool,” writes Matt on his Facebook page.
When Joy disappeared, Matt hadn’t considered the possibility that she was in the fence-encircled pool. He sprinted there, and the sight he saw was enough to make any parent’s blood run cold: there was Joy’s little, lifeless body floating on top of the water. Matt leaped over the five-foot fence and dove into the water, bringing Joy out of the pool, so he and his brother-in-law could perform CPR while they were waiting for the ambulance.
“As I breathed into Joy, I prayed that my breath would be the breath of God into her,” says Matt, a graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. “In between breaths I begged for the Ruha of God to enter her. Her lips were blue, and her beautiful blue eyes were wide open. I could see her pupils shrinking at an alarming rate. Then I started to pray in between breathes in the words of Jesus, ‘Talitha Koum,’ which means ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.' I knew we needed a miracle because I could actually feel her slipping away.”
First Responders
Sergeant Ronald Bryant, a policeman for the Phoenix Police Department, was just pulling out of the police station when he got the urgent call that a baby had fallen into a pool and was unresponsive. Racing to help Joy, he drove right up where Matt was trying to revive her. “I found Joy surrounded by frantic family and concerned workers. Dad, soaked from the cold pool, was doing a great job with CPR and mom, Kristin, was kneeling, holding Joy's head in hands and praying like no mother ever wants to pray for their child,” Officer Bryant writes on his Facebook page.
He continues, “I scooped Joy up and ran her out to the front gate, giving her compressions and a couple of breaths as we ran out to meet Fire Paramedics who were almost on the scene. Fire immediately took over and got to work on Joy's tiny, cold, blue, lifeless body. My heart was broken. I was convinced she had passed.”
With 19 years of service, this was not Sergeant Bryant's first experience with infant death. Joy's stiff body spoke volumes to him. “Everything in me said it was too late, and she was gone, but I had to try everything I could,” he said.
Although the paramedics were doing everything they could to save Joy, Matt could feel the cloud of doom that had settled over them.
As the detective drove Matt and Kristin to Phoenix Children's Hospital, Matt closed his eyes and prayed to God: “‘I know she is your daughter, but she is my daughter too. Now is not the right time.”
Heartbeat
At the emergency room, a doctor came in and informed the Lobodas that the prognosis didn’t look good, but that Joy now had a heartbeat. This news was enough to bolster Matt’s hope. Filled with supernatural confidence, he felt in his heart Joy would make a full recovery and said as much to the doctors.
Little Joy was put in a medical coma and placed on a ventilator, but by Jan. 7, 2016 she was responsive and breathing on her own. Kristin writes, “She's in my arms, reached for my face, and said, ‘Mamma.' Tears are flowing, and my heart is so full. Your prayers have been our strength and brought healing to our baby.”
On Jan. 9, Joy was able to latch on and breastfeed for the first time since the accident, and though she was still experiencing pain, she was doing well enough that doctors transferred her out of pediatric intensive care. On Jan. 10, she broke out into a smile and laughed—a miracle. She is making marked improvements every day.
When Sergeant Bryant learned that Joy was recovering, elated, he stopped by Fire Station 17—the paramedics who had worked to save joy—to tell them she was alive. “They were amazed,” he says.
The Efficacy of Prayers
Fr. Ignatius Mazanowski, F.H.S, Kristin’s brother, told the Register, “Her recovery, in my opinion, is a testament to her parent’s love and care and the thousands of people who have been praying for little Joy.”
It surely is also a testament to the most powerful prayer, the Mass. For the first seven days, Fr. Mazanowski offered Mass at the foot of Joy’s hospital bed, choosing the First Eucharistic Prayer because he wanted to call upon the intercession of the saints for Joy and her parents. “To be honest, at first it was simply something I could do, and it provided a way to pray and offer this whole situation to the Lord. Each day, as I said Mass, I saw Joy get stronger, and her parents become more encouraged. I began to realize, in a way I never did before, how much healing comes through the Mass.”
He continues, “One Mass in particular, on the Feast of the Holy Family, became the means through which my sister Kristin's heart found healing as I led her through self-forgiveness prayers. As any parents would, she was blaming and condemning herself for Joy's accident. They lost Joy for three minutes, and Joseph and Mary lost Jesus for three days. Self-forgiveness in such a situation is so important. I believe my sister's healing is tied to Joy's healing, and for sure, it helped Kristin to be in a better place to help Joy heal.”
Joy’s Miracle Offers Encouragement
When miracles happen, we know that God is near and watching over us, but it makes me wonder why some prayers go unanswered? “All I know is that, in my experience, miracles happen for two reasons,” replies Fr. Mazanowski. “First, God wants to reveal His love to that person, and second, He wants others to come to faith and to come to know Him as a result of the miracle. In Joy's case, I know God loves her, her parents, and our family very much, and I am grateful He has chosen to restore her to health. I also know from the many people who have contacted us that God is, in fact, bringing people back to the Church and back into relationship with Him as they receive encouragement through following the story of Joy's miraculous recovery and her parents' deep faith.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the Lobodas at https://www.gofundme.com/prayforjoyloboda.Amidst the onslaught of the Daesh (otherwise known as ISIS or ISIL) and the wide media coverage of refugees pouring into Europe, a major event remains tremendously underreported. This underreporting has occurred among both corporate media and Western Left outlets. This turn of events – which is underway in a region of Syria – is most often referred to as the Rojava Revolution. Within, and because of this silence, there is very little discourse on how the Left can offer mass-solidarity and support. Furthermore, the need for solidarity and support is only bolstered by the fact that the revolution has unevenly extended into Turkey. Also, with the ousting of the Daesh from parts of Northern Syria, many in Rojava have turned their eyes towards reconstruction. Yet, as Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine has shown, reconstruction and redevelopment efforts, in any part of the world, can easily take on a neoliberal character.
While the broader international Left is significantly fragmented, providing effective mass solidarity and support is – even in theory – difficult. Yet, there is an option. This option is what I will call “the Cooperative Option.” As such, this article constitutes a response to Kurdish anarchist Zaher Baher’s piece. Before discussing the Cooperative Option, it is important to briefly describe what exactly is taking place in Rojava (Western Kurdistan), especially given the aforementioned lack of coverage.
Brief Overview of the Rojava Revolution
As I’ve written about in past articles[i] [ii], the Rojava Revolution has given rise to a matrix of institutions operating according to participatory democracy and economic self-management. This polity is being constructed in a section of Northern Syria (often referred to as Western Kurdistan, or Rojava – the West.).
While imprisoned, Abdullah Öcalan and various Kurdish organizations have become increasingly influenced by late eco-anarchist Murray Bookchin as well as academics such as Immanuel Wallerstein and Michel Foucault. Turning away from its Marxist-Leninist roots, the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) has also turned more towards preexisting local communal practices. As a result, the Rojava Revolution – and the wider burgeoning struggle – has taken on an explicit feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-state character.
Many in the region see their model as an alternative to the nation-state system. With its ideological roots in Öcalan’s thought, this model is referred to as Democratic Confederalism and Democratic Autonomy. Specifically, Democratic Autonomy refers to localities and municipalities functioning according to direct participatory democracy. Democratic Confederalism refers to the liquid delegate structure that allows for coordination between localities and municipalities. In other words, the Rojava governance structure is largely based on institutions of assembly democracy and council democracy. Assemblies, councils and committees are found at the neighborhood, district and municipal level with a confederation of the three cantons of Rojava. In this way, Rojava’s system is also often referred to as “Democratic Self-Administration” (DSA).
Economically, the Rojava Revolution has ostensibly been just as equal to the task of democratization. This economic system consists of various types of cooperatives, ranging from workers’ self-management to different types of multi-stakeholder enterprises. A number of these cooperatives have been formed by women, many of which have never previously worked outside of the household.[iii]
Besides economically, women have struggled in other ways against patriarchy. This can be seen both politically and militarily. Militarily, women have formed their own armed units under the umbrella of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ). Beyond the YPJ, the broader military structure of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) has been democratized with military units electing their officers.[iv] Based on a visit to Rojava, David Graeber has even reported that a scheme of conflict workshops and trainings are in place, with the long-term aim being “to give everyone in the country six weeks of police training, so that ultimately, they could eliminate police.” In this way, the radical democratic – and even anarchistic – nature of the Rojava Revolution is best shown by the goal of perpetually decentralizing and democratizing the means of coercion to the point of preventing any potential monopoly of it.
Women have also been empowered through increased access to education and increased organizing around gender-focused issues. Most notably, though, gender parity has been codified into the governance structure of Rojava assemblies and councils. For instance, most councils and assemblies must meet a gender parity quota. On councils this translates into 40% of positions being filled by women, and in assemblies this translates into a requirement of 40% of attendees being women. Also, there are also women’s councils and assemblies, which have veto power over general councils and assemblies. It should also be noted that there is a major emphasis on cultural and ethnic pluralism in Rojava’s institutions and even in its constitution.[v]
With the Rojava social formation based on economic self-management and political self-governance by way of assemblies and liquid councils, it can be said that the revolution’s character dovetails with the wider libertarian socialist tradition.
The Revolution Spills Over into Turkey
This libertarian socialist orientation can even be found in the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which won over 13 percent of the overall vote on the June 7 Turkish general election. In a speech by HDP co-chair Selahattin Demitras, it was stated “We believe that the best government is the least government. We aim to make the state smaller and create a system where democracy and citizens' rights prevail.”[vi] Demitras followed this with a call for radical democracy, vowing that the HDP “will establish assemblies of women, youth, the disabled, belief groups, cultural and ethnic groups, farmers, workers and laborers.”
Tensions rose in Turkey with the HDP passing the minimum threshold of 10% for seating in Turkish parliament. Achieving 13% of the vote granted the HDP 80 out of 550 seats in the Turkish parliament. This victory effectively denied Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) of any chance of unilaterally altering the constitution into a presidentialist system, thereby placing more power in Erdogan himself.
Beyond an ethnic rupture in parliament, the HDP’s electoral victory also represented a rupture in representation of gender and sexuality. Thirty-one of the eighty HDP members of parliament (MP) were to be women with even one parliamentarian slated to be the first openly gay MP in Turkish history. The electoral of the HDP further ruptured the Turkish political landscape in that it “openly recognizes the Armenian genocide, fights for the rights of LGBT individuals, promotes the use of minority languages and has a political program stressing the need for decentralization, horizontal democracy and local autonomy.”[vii]
Tensions in Turkey stemming, in part, from a revolution right over its border and left wing electoral victories came to a boiling point in Suruç, which is a town in Turkey that borders Kobanî in Rojava. [viii] What occurred on July 20, 2015 has come to be called the Suruç Massacre. In the Suruç Massacre 33 persons were killed and 104 were injured. Most of the victims were part of a 300-person Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) contingent. This contingent was en route to assist in reconstruction efforts in Kobanî.
The result was retaliation by the PKK, which consisted of assassinating two Turkish police officers. Together with announcing a campaign against Daesh, the Turkish government immediately arrested hundreds of Kurdish activists and far-left militants, which continue to this day. Since then, instead of striking at Daesh, the Turkish government has largely bombed PKK sites in both Turkey and Iraq, and has even struck at Rojava.
All of this has been further compounded by the Ankara Massacre, which took place on October 10, 2015. In the bombings, over 100 people died and 400 injured in a large demonstration featuring an assortment of left-wing groups. Some have questioned the role of the Turkish government in the attack, whether in terms of lax security for demonstrators or direct involvement. Comments by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu have only heightened such suspicions with his statement that “we have a list of suicide bombers. But we aren’t allowed to arrest them before they take action.”[ix] Davutoğlu’s assertion appears absurd to many on Kurds and those on the Turkish Left who have seen their comrades arrested and imprisoned simply for their ethnic identity or ideological tendencies.
The grassroots response has been a wave of declarations of municipal self-government by various towns across Turkey. Much of this has been made possible by the role of women and youth. Still, the Turkish government has responded with violent repression.
Supporting and Rebuilding Rojava: The Cooperative Option
Like any war-ravaged region, Rojava needs support and investment. The question to which I will now turn to is how – in broad terms – this can be done without neoliberal insertion and co-optation. When speaking of (re)construction and development one often thinks of multi-national corporations sweeping in and inserting themselves — often state-support. This neoliberal mobilization proves conducive to implanting and strengthening the capitalist mode of production and its accompanying social hierarchies.
In a piece published on June 3[x], Zaher Baher, a Kurdish anarchist, also warns against such a turn of events. Baher identifies three possible paths — I have titled each of these paths — in reconstructing Kobanî:
(1) the Neoliberal Path: corporations and hegemonic capitalist financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund inserting themselves in redeveloping Kobanî so as to further insert themselves in the wider autonomous region of Rojava.
(2) the Solidarity Path: enlisting the "international support and solidarity of the leftists, communists, trade unionists, socialists, anarchists and libertarians." Baher sees this as "the only way that Kobanî can be rebuilt solidly and avoid the influence of the big corporations."
(3) the Hands-Off Humanitarian Path: provide resources to Rojava, but let those in Rojava have full power over how such are utilized.
Baher's endorsement of the second option is certainly one that many on the left would agree with. Yet, it is unfortunately vague. International brigades coming to the assistance of those in Rojava is and has been a means of assistance, however, such are likely not up to the task of reconstructing an entire region nor are they suitable for forming long term material transnational connections and partnerships. Self-directed development will require more than pooled donations from a loose collection of small left-wing groups.
There is a fourth option, one which can combine with or integrate the Solidarity Path: the International Cooperative Path, or the Cooperative Option. While some form of external investment is likely needed in the region, and with talk of an “open economy”[xi], opening up Rojava to the auspices and dictates of global capitalism would defeat the revolution. The alternative is engagement with and by the international cooperative movement. Potentially, cooperatives constitute a source of material power for left-wing movements. Rather than being a line of defense against capital, cooperatives can serve as a weapon against it.
I have touched upon the degree to which workers' self-management is taking root in Rojava. This includes everything from textile workshops to oil production. In A Small Key Can Open A Large Door there are even reports of Rojava orienting its economy away from private property and towards usufruct property rights. Baher also notes that up to 40 percent of enterprise is self-managed in key North Kurdistan regions, though this number has likely changed in recent months.
As an article in Pasewan illustrates, economic self-management is an essential element of the Rojava Revolution.[xii] These consist of agricultural cooperatives, greenhouse cooperatives, industrial cooperatives, livestock-owner cooperatives, and village communes. According to Pasewan, the small and medium sized cooperatives include: a “public market cooperative with 240 members, an electrical cables cooperative, a roasting seeds and pistachios cooperative, a generators cooperative, a mineral water bottles cooperative with 992 members, an oils cooperative with 1250 member, a fuel stations cooperative with 100 members, and a real estate construction co-operative with 124 members.”
The Pasewan article also details the organizational structure of the Rojava cooperatives. Various mechanisms are built into the design of the cooperatives to prevent potential concentration of power. This includes allowing for limited board and management representation from each family, as well as a mandated rotation in leadership through term limits.
The international cooperative movement may have much to offer to Rojava. According to a International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) April 2015 paper[xiii], the largest three-hundred cooperatives have a combined annual revenue of $2.2 trillion. The paper notes that this is equivalent to the GDP of Brazil. Thus, it would be off-base to assert the international cooperative movement has nil to offer to Rojava.
Why should Rojava be of interest and on the agenda for the international cooperative movement? For one, Rojava is increasingly being constituted by economic enterprises run on the basis of self-management. For the international cooperative movement, the Rojava Revolution is an opportunity to further root and mature a system of workers' self-management, let alone other forms of economic self-management.
If system-change is truly underway in Rojava, it would be a mistake for the international cooperative movement to simply ignore the possibility of creating a sustainable cooperative-based economy. After-all, the goal for many in the cooperative movement, such as myself, is to promulgate a shift in what constitutes the dominant mode of production. That is to say, many seek to promulgate a shift from an economy dominated by the capitalist mode of production to that of a self-managed socialist mode of production.
Fostering and opening up alternative supply chains (i.e., creating transnational economic networks between nominally post-capitalists institutions) could be vital to jump-starting system-change on a global level. With Rojava containing what may be a near-fully self-managed economy (or at least the very immediate potential for such), Rojava can serve as a pivotal node in the struggle to end global capitalism.
At minimum, for those in the cooperative movement not so vigilantly anti-capitalist, Rojava is a site in which the cooperative model is being scaled out and scaled up. With a self-managed economy Rojava is not merely a site to provide aid to, but one in which cooperatives around the world can enter into mutually enhancing economic relations with. This could engender precedence for creating global anti-capitalist and post-capitalist circuits of economic power through building cooperative power. Furthermore, the building of cooperative power can be tied into the sustenance and expansion of a genuine revolution, whether this occurs in gradual or more rapid forms.
Not only does Rojava contain a population ranging from two to three million people. Its cooperative economy is co-imbricated with a political system of self-governance at various scales. Participatory democratic institutions are seen everywhere from the level of the neighborhood to that of the entire region. Also, to reiterate, Rojava’s democratic character can be found in other quarters: this ranges from the democratic configuration of the Peoples' Protection Units to the all-women assemblies pervading the entire landscape, which are also present at various levels of governance. There is also frequent mention of horizontal pedagogical forms being used in the classroom, including at the university level.
Solidarity is being shown at the international level. One example of this is Rojava Solidarity NYC, a New York City-based anarchist organization. One of Rojava Solidarity NYC's initiatives has been to consistently send literature of all types to the Mesopotamian Social Sciences Academy, a university located in the Cizîrê cant |
stop pancreatic cancer cells from metabolizing glucose. This is important because cancer cells need this energy in order to survive -- and blocking off their glucose supply kills them.
"It's a very exciting finding," study researcher Rajesh Agarwal, Ph.D., who is the co-program leader of Cancer Prevention and Control at the university, said in a statement. "Many researchers are engineering new drugs to target cancer cells' ability to supply themselves with energy, and here we have a naturally-occurring compound that may do just that."
Researchers tested bitter melon juice's effects on pancreatic cancer cells in mice, and found that the mice that were given the juice had a 60 percent lower risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared with control mice.
The new findings are published in the journal Carcinogenesis.Britain’s famed air-sea search-and-rescue helicopter service, run by the Royal Air Force and boasting Prince William among its pilots, is to be privatized and sold to a U.S. company, ending 70 years of military involvement in the service, the United Kingdom government announced Tuesday.
The $2.4 billion deal with Houston-based Bristow Group Inc. “will see the UK benefit from improved flying times and better coverage of high-risk areas,” the Department for Transport said on its website.
“With 24 years of experience providing search and rescue helicopter services in the UK, the public can have great confidence in Bristow and their ability to deliver a first class service with state-of-the-art helicopters,” Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said in a statement.
The air-sea rescue service currently employs Royal Air Force and Royal Navy Sea King helicopters that are nearly 40 years old, Reuters reported.
The Ministry of Defense in London said that military aircrew currently assigned to the service will be redeployed elsewhere.
They include Prince William, Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson and the second in line to the throne, who has been a Sea King helicopter pilot since 2010 and currently is serving at a base in north Wales, according to Reuters.
His tour is up this year, the agency said.
Under the new contract, 22 new helicopters will operate from 10 24-hour bases around the country, the Department for Transport said. The new aircraft, including 10 Sikorsky S92s and 10 AgustaWestland AW189s will all be fully operational by 2017.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Image copyright Getty Images
The Bilderberg meeting, an annual gathering of some of the most powerful and influential figures in the world, starts on Thursday. But who's on this year's guest list?
Critics call it a sinister conspiracy, reinforcing without accountability the dominance of a transatlantic capitalist cabal. Those involved say it's merely an informal way to understand better the way the world works and to share their expertise to improve it.
Whatever one's view, an invitation to the four-day Bilderberg meeting is a sign that someone has arrived as a politician, business leader, administrator or opinion-influencer.
Of the 133 people due to arrive in the small town of Telfs-Buchen, Austria, this week, 21 will be politicians. Among them is a regular attendee in UK Chancellor George Osborne. Another notable figure is Ed Balls, his former Labour shadow, who lost his seat in Parliament in May's general election but is still deemed influential enough to come. The United Kingdom - including its economic performance - is on the agenda.
Laurence Boone, special adviser on financial and economic affairs to President Francois Hollande, will be there too, as will Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Austrian President Heinz Fischer.
A conspicuous absentee is the International Monetary Fund's managing director Christine Lagarde, who attended last year. Several of the political contingent at Bilderberg are retired from day-to-day involvement, such as former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and former European Commission President Jose Barroso.
Technology firms and organisations provide six representatives. Google boss Eric Schmidt will be there, as will two other of the company's senior executives. Artificial intelligence is one of Bilderberg's suggested topics for discussion. There is no detailed agenda, with no resolutions or votes.
"Thanks to the private nature of the conference, the participants are not bound by the conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions," Bilderberg says. "As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights."
Critics argue its aim is more sinister and there are countless different flavours of conspiracy theory.
Image copyright EPA Image caption The Bilderberg meeting is taking place amid high security
The event's organisers describe its participants as "diverse". Still, only 27 women are due to come, compared with 106 men. Among them are Santander chairman Ana Botin, BBC Trust chairman Rona Fairhead and Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist. The last two are among 18 people from the media.
Think tanks and lobbying groups are sending 14 people, the same as the number of academics on Bilderberg's list.
The only royal due to take part is Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, whose father Prince Bernhard co-founded the meetings, first held at the Hotel de Bilderberg in Oosterbeek, Netherlands, in 1954. Its stated aim was to "foster dialogue between Europe and North America".
There's an emphasis on security issues, including chemical weapons, the Middle East, Iran, terrorism, Nato and cybersecurity. David Petraeus, the retired US general and former CIA director who was given two years' probation and fined earlier this year for leaking classified materials to his mistress, will be in Telfs-Buchen. He now works in the private sector.
Former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe, who was once banned from politics for a year in 2004 his role in an illegal party-funding scandal, will be there too. He is often mentioned as a possible future president of the country.
The world of finance provides 31 attendees, with industry, mainly heavy, and transport accounting for another 18. Most are not household names, but one of the more colourful figures is Michael O'Leary, chairman of the budget airline Ryanair and known for his outspoken remarks. Unfortunately for him, he won't be able to discuss the goings on at Bilderberg, as proceedings are strictly guarded by the Chatham House Rule - meaning that the journalists and others are "free to use the information received", but neither the identity nor the affiliation of speakers nor of any other participant may be revealed.
Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State who first came to a Bilderberg meeting in the 1950s, returns. His country is top of the list of attendees with 33. It's followed by the UK on 12, France on 10 and Austria on nine. Altogether, people from 22 countries are coming.
One topic not on the outline list to be discussed this year is the environment. The Breitbart website calls this "stupid".
But the importance of the Bilderberg meeting is emphasised by the Guardian, which argues it's more influential than the G7 meeting of leading economies that took place at the weekend, finishing with a call for an end to the use of fossil fuels by the end of the century.
The sense of importance is echoed in the Irish Times, which says the invitation for Michael O'Leary means he can now take "his place among the chieftains of the world". Bilderberg might be secretive, but it's unlikely to be quiet this year.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Henry Kissinger first attended a Bilderberg event almost 60 years ago
Image copyright AP Image caption Where there's Bilderberg there are protesters - Sitges, Spain 2010
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Ordinary people can only guess at the goings-on at the meetings of the secretive Bilderberg Group, which is bringing together the world's financial and political elite this week. Conspiracy theories abound as to what is discussed and who is there. Why?
Bilderberg: Why do people believe in cabals? (June 2011)
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NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported that the Lions are signing the defensive tackle to a one-year deal worth $1.6 million, with a chance to make $2.25 million based on play-time incentives, per a source involved in the deal.
The Detroit Free Press first reported Walker was flying to Detroit in hopes of re-signing.
Walker missed 12 games in his first season with the Lions, suffering a broken leg and dislocated ankle. Walker tweeted out a video Wednesday of himself doing drills, indicating he's close to being fully recovered from October surgery.
Walker was set to become an unrestricted free agent.
The deal is a good one for the Lions, who had a huge need at defensive tackle with Caraun Reid as the top rotational player under contract. The low-risk signing shouldn't affect any plans the Lions have for retaining Haloti Ngata.
The one-year contract also allows Walker, who showed promise in New Orleans in 2014 and his four games last year, to hit the free-agent market again next offseason. With a big year, the 25-year-old lineman could then cash in on a long-term deal."Today I'm not going to talk about science or R&D policies; I'll get back to that in the next post. Today I'm going to talk about something happening in my house, something that surely reflects what's happening in many other homes, because the fact is that today I can't think about anything else.
Yesterday I said goodbye to my daughter. She emigrated in search of a future she couldn't find in her country and that society, or her parents, didn't know how to give her.
It is extraordinarily frustrating for a father to watch his children leave -- but keeping them close is no longer an option, because it would mean trapping them in a situation with no future.
Living abroad is not new to her, nor does it intimidate her. In the past five years, she lived and worked in Canada, France, and England, though all those times it was about developing her professional credentials. Now it's about rebelling against those who refer to her generation as the "lost generation." Leaving has cost her her partner, the hushed sobbing that I heard last night from my bedroom made the situation even more bitter.
Like many young people her age, my daughter was caught by surprise upon completion of her professional training. In the spring she returned to Spain with the intention of looking for a job here -- it didn't really matter what, as long as she could "do her thing." She got a few interviews, but the conditions that were offered to her always seemed to be abusive: a mere salary, 400 € a month, for a person with a bachelor's and a master's degree, who speaks four languages, and who has worked abroad. Such salaries aren't enough to eat or rent a room in the cities where they're offered. She would have needed help from her parents -- something we were willing to do. But our daughter didn't want to keep being dependent on us -- as this support would in fact subsidize the same employers that are taking advantage of our young people.
This summer, many of her friends stopped by the house to say goodbye. Their conversations always came down to the same thing: the depression of the crisis, layoffs or fear of layoffs, companies that take advantage of the crisis to impose unfair conditions, laying off a good part of the workers so that "supervisors" end up doing everyone's part of the job, intimidated by the threat of being let go. It seems to me that they feel guilty, and maybe they are somewhat responsible -- as we all are -- but not for the excessive burden we've unloaded onto them.
In Mallorca, where I live, it has been a spectacular year for tourism, with record numbers of travelers and profits. A friend of mine who has a restaurant told me that this summer his revenue was 15 percent higher. Nonetheless, many businesses in the sector have laid off large parts of their workforce, once again forcing everyone else to do the jobs of those let go, taking advantage of the fear they have of losing their job just to increase profit margins. Is this what our so-called labor reform has achieved?
A good number of her friends have also emigrated, some to Germany -- not speaking a word of German but full of illusions and grit; others to Uruguay, where they can get by in Spanish. Others have gone to Canada, Australia, England, Norway... I'm sure that many left under conditions much more difficult than those of my daughter and her friends, just as there are people who wanted to leave but couldn't, because they had dependents they couldn't abandon.
Emigration is not new in our country, but we thought we'd left it behind in the 20th century, trading it in for international mobility. We thought that our young people would grow up and be educated in a modern, advanced country, a standout member of the European Union -- and, with euros in their pockets, make a bid for the G8, much to the world's surprise. This was all an illusion, a facade made of paper-mâché.
As a father I feel frustrated and unsuccessful. Parents always want children to have a better life than their own.That's how it's been at least since the Civil War brought us to rock bottom. Eighty years later we're going into a tailspin because of a political and economic regression which, as I wrote a year ago, is threatening to drag us down a tunnel back in time into the Spain of my infancy in the 1960s. In many ways, we are already getting there.
I also feel frustrated as an educator of young scientists, although I feel certain that my students have a better future. The long education of researchers, which they finish in their late 30's, means that these young people, who are the same age as my daughter, and headed towards a master's and the Doctoral thesis, will continue to progress as scientists and complete their education when our country has dug itself out of the deep hole -- or so I hope -- it finds itself in. However, it won't be easy for them, and they will also have to be tough and resilient to keep moving forward.
But this isn't about sharing my feelings as a father or as a professor of young researchers. Rather, it's about my feelings as a Spanish citizen. What future awaits a society in which the youth only have two options: disappear, or adapt to work conditions that are more often than not abusive, and which require the support of their parents?
The media calls them -- and I find it repulsive -- the "lost generation." But isn't it rather us, my generation, born between 1950 and 1970 that have taken a beating here? We are an irresponsible generation: Some got gold fever, thinking they could get a dollar for a dime; others, and I include myself here, looked the other way. With a degraded political system based in clientelism feeding itself -- and everyone knows this -- on the real estate bubble and on superfluous, disastrous housing developments. Taxation became a way to generate enormous budgets, so they could install party members high up in municipality-run businesses and boards of directors and banks, while using public funds. They illegally financed parties and took kickbacks in the most brazen way (just look at the front pages of the newspapers). Many now say they're having a rough time -- poor dears! -- subsisting on their public-servant salaries... and that's because they're no longer receiving the "bonuses" that opportunism brought into politics. Just remember the words of a politician who, despite his commentary, managed to become president of an Autonomous Community and government minister : "I am in politics to make a killing." ("yo estoy en politica para forrarme" -- look it up in Google and you'll see who I'm talking about). I also remember another recording in which a businessman bribed a municipal employee by promising him something like (I don't remember the exact phrasing), "I can promise you the future -- you and ten generations after you." It's repugnant, but we all knew about it; we all heard those words reported in the media.
At the very least, justice is slowly but surely making these crimes surface -- even though what comes to light is just the tip of the iceberg. I also hope that soon it will also be the necessary accomplices' turn: those bankers who, instead of having to give performance reports, are probably roaring with laughter over the publication of the state's new budgets -- in which we pay the bank bailout at the cost of our health and education. With the help, of course, of politicians, who freed bankers from any effective regulation.
Nobody asks forgiveness to our younger generation. Well, I want to do it here, out of responsibility -- just the small (I hope) bit I owe.
Accustomed now to being sold a false gospel, we are no longer unsettled to hear that the unemployment rate among young people is above 50 percent (without counting, of course, the folks who've already left -- and there are many of them). As long as our national soccer team keeps scoring goals and Cristiano (Ronaldo) is happy, our senses will continue to be dulled, and we'll accept with resignation the sorrow heaped upon us, without anyone ever assuming responsibility or anyone asking forgiveness.
Some people congratulate themselves, stupidly, upon the fact that many of us remained silent for so long. But something is changing. We're no longer happy with more of the same; we're no longer soothed by calculated lies, clumsy sleights of hand, by euphemisms and the same old story: that what's happening to us is happening because we lived beyond our means, and so we deserve it.
We should all make a great effort to ensure a future for our children, because that future is ours, too. We are a society that's getting older every day, which will soon have such an enormous percentage of retirees that it can only be supported by a dynamic and productive workforce -- one including the same people we have forced abroad or discarded of the family home. I don't see any other solution to the problem of restarting job creation than for a new cooperative movement dedicated to innovation, which should prioritize our young people's initiatives (they have stupendous ideas), and support those ideas with public resources. Investing in our youth is investing in our future.
But those who are supposed to take advantage of our efforts (our taxes), to push through pro-youth employment policies are yet again distracted, trying to figure out where their political advantage lies. Our political institutions are the same as ever: as the English expression has it, it's the same circus with different clowns. Nothing has changed; but it is crucial that it does.
We have taken a beating. But let us stand up, brush the dust off, and get moving. First, though, for that to happen we must liberate ourselves from the enormous burden of the incompetent politicians who have largely brought us to where we are today.
I want my daughter and everyone else who left the country, to be happy, and, in some near future, to come home to their country to contribute, in their capacity, to our future.
I would like to close this post by reciting to my daughter, and the youth of her generation who left, a poem by José Agustín Goytisolo, "Words for Julia." But it's probably better if they just hear it as sung by Paco Ibáñez in his cover at the Olympia in Paris.
This post first appeared on HuffPost Spain and is translated from the original Spanish.Newly revealed photos from the Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast offer a first look at the tale as old as time.
Jack Morrissey, a co-producer on the film, posted the images on his Facebook page. If the new art is any indication, the remake hews closely to the animated original based on the classic French fairy tale.
Although there’s still no glimpse of Emma Watson as Belle, one image offers a peek at Dan Stevens as the prince who becomes the titular Beast. Another shows a moment from Gaston’s (Luke Evans) eponymous musical number, a boisterous ode to the tale’s egotistical antagonist. The still, which Morrissey writes is taken from B-roll footage, features Evans, Josh Gad as Gaston’s loyal but bumbling sidekick LeFou, and Alexis Loizon as a character named Stanley.
Morrissey also shared a piece of concept art: an intricate depiction of the enchanted pendulum clock Cogsworth (Ian McKellen) and candelabra Lumière (Ewan McGregor). “These designs are close but may not be final,” Morrissey wrote in the caption.
The images are part of a sneak peek bonus feature on next month’s 25th anniversary edition home video release of the 1991 animated classic. Check them out on Morrissey’s page.
The film, which also stars Emma Thompson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, and Stanley Tucci, among others, is directed by Bill Condon and slated for a March 17, 2017 release.Five years from now, the use of private federal prisons to incarcerate Americans will be a relic of the past.
The Department of Justice announced this month that the United States will no longer use privately managed facilities to jail individuals. The practice won’t end immediately — but when the last of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ contracts with private prisons lapses in 2021, officials promise that the official policy will be to either let those contracts expire or continue them only in a greatly reduced fashion.
One of those prisons is located on land that was once among the largest slave plantations in North Carolina. In 2000, Washington City Paper reported the Federal Bureau of Prisons contracted with Wackenhut Corrections Corp. — known today as the GEO Group — to build a new correctional facility on the site of the old Vann plantation, where 1,200 prisoners from Washington would be transferred to serve out their sentences. In their book “The Fox in the Henhouse: How Privatization Threatens Democracy,” authors Si Kahn and Elizabeth Minnich observed the cruel irony of sending more than 1,000 inmates — most of whom were African American — to prison on a former plantation:
“So a for-profit corporation is importing well over one thousand black men from the District of Columbia and imprisoning them on the same plantation where other African Americans, possibly including some of their own ancestors, were held as slaves 150 years ago.”
The possibility that African Americans are doing time on the same land where their ancestors were enslaved is a haunting echo of the past. But it’s not the only example of how private prisons are tangled up in the history of slavery.
From the 1820s to the 1850s, Washington was a point-of-transit for slave traffickers who operated private prisons to detain slaves.
The use of private prisons was a part of the domestic slave trade. President Thomas Jefferson, on March 3, 1807, signed a law making it illegal to import slaves into the United States. But buying, selling and trading slaves within the US was a huge business that continued until the Civil War brought about the end of slavery, almost 60 years later.
Read more: Is this really the end of private prisons? The Department of Homeland Security will likely continue to detain immigrants in contracted, for-profit facilities
In her book “Slavery in the District of Columbia: The Policy of Congress and the Struggle for Abolition,” Mary Tremain writes that opposition to the domestic slave trade in the District of Columbia can be traced to as early as 1802, when a grand jury in Alexandria County issued a statement decrying the presence of slave traffickers in the nation’s capitol. In fact, as historian Steven Deyle explains in his book “Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in America,” criticizing the commerce in slaves in places like Washington, DC, became a cornerstone of the abolitionist movement.
According to the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, "more extensive slave-dealers" had private prisons throughout the District of Columbia. In an 1841 volume about the domestic slave trade, they quoted the account of the editor of the Baltimore paper Niles Weekly Register, who reported that these "places of deposit are strongly built, and well supplied with thumb-screws and gags, and ornamented with cowskins and other whips, oftentimes bloody."
As opponents of slavery turned their attention to the domestic slave trade, they began to notice the private prisons in the nation’s capitol. Historian Robert H. Gudmestad writes in his book “A Troublesome Commerce: The Transformation of the Interstate Slave Trade” that the attempted suicide in 1816 of a woman named Anna, who jumped from the third floor of a well-known slave prison in Washington, George Miller’s Tavern, inspired Representative John Randolph of Virginia to make the first Congressional indictment of the domestic slave trade — and the private prisons that made it possible.
Randolph called for a committee to investigate the “inhuman and illegal traffic in slaves carried in and through the District.” In his explanation for why the committee ought to be established, he told Anna’s story: “A woman, confined among others, in the upper chamber of a three story private prison, used by the slave dealers in their traffic, was driven, by sorrow and despair at the idea of being separated from all that she held dear, to throw herself from the window upon the pavement.”
It wasn’t until the 1820s, however, that Congress began to mobilize around the issue. Charles Miner, a congressman from Pennsylvania, lambasted the domestic slave trade after a free African American man named Gilbert Horton was kidnapped in 1826 by a man who suspected him of being a runaway slave. He was imprisoned for nearly a month before he was released after personal references in Poughkeepsie corroborated his freedom.
He was kidnapped again and released later that year. The following year, five additional cases came to light in which African Americans were abducted without any proof that they were actually slaves. When Miner introduced a resolution describing the injustices occurring in the District’s slave trade, he highlighted that “Private and secret prisons exist in the district for carrying on the traffic in human beings.”
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 allowed slave owners to cross state lines in pursuit of escaped and runaway slaves. One side effect of the law was an increase in kidnappings of African Americans living in northern free states. Solmon Northrup, a free African American man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the District of Columbia in 1841, details his experience in the 1853 memoir "12 Years a Slave," adapted as a major motion picture in 2013. Credit: Solomon Northrup's "Twelve Years a Slave," courtesy of archive.org
The use of private prisons to detain slaves and free African Americans who were illegally apprehended became a recurring theme in calls to end the slave trade. On March 24, 1828, a group of residents who lived in Washington, DC, and neighboring Alexandria submitted a petition to Congress. They implored the country’s lawmakers to take action against the District’s role in the domestic slave trade.
In the next session of Congress, Representative Mark Alexander of Virginia, who was acting as the chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, raised the issue of private prisons once more. Public prisons, he noted, “are liable to public inspection.” Those inspections made it easier to identify free people who had been illegally taken into slavery, making it possible to notify legal authorities and affect their release. Private prisons were “used for the same purpose,” Alexander observed, “without the same reasons altogether in their favor.”
In other words, just as private prisons today have been proven to lack adequate oversight, abolitionists and members of Congres warned against the lack of public accountability in private prisons used in the domestic slave trade.
Despite attention to private prisons in DC, substantive reform was elusive. In a renewed push to end the slave trade in 1848, Representative John Crowell of Ohio doubled down on the lack of oversight and visibility of private prisons. Crowell knew of a private prison near the Smithsonian Institute on the National Mall. The Smithsonian, Crowell noted, “was founded here for the diffusion of knowledge among men, and in full view of this Capitol, and the stripes and stars that float so proudly over it.”
“But I fear, sir,” Crowell continued, “we shall not be favored with the information” about the injustices occuring occurring in that prison.
Two years later, in 1850, Congress passed a law that made the domestic slave trade illegal in Washington DC. And the 13th Amendment officially abolished slavery in 1865.
Yet private interests continued to play a major role in the prison industry. African Americans arrested in the Jim Crow South faced the prospect of convict leasing, a system of labor in which states leased out prisoners to private contractors who were more interested in boosting profit margins than ensuring safe working conditions and upholding the citizenship rights of African Americans.
Perhaps not for much longer.Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn is an American comedy television series developed by Michael Feldman and created by Matt Fleckenstein that aired on Nickelodeon from September 13, 2014 to August 4, 2018. The series stars Brian Stepanek, Allison Munn, Aidan Gallagher, Casey Simpson, Mace Coronel, Lizzy Greene, Gabrielle Elyse, and Kyla-Drew Simmons.
Premise [ edit ]
The series focuses on quadruplets Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn Harper, 10 years old at the start of the series,[1] who have nothing in common and often fight, but must work together to solve everyday situations.
Episodes [ edit ]
Season Episodes Originally aired First aired Last aired 1 20 September 13, 2014 ( ) March 24, 2015 ( 2015-03-24 ) 2 25 May 23, 2015 ( ) August 6, 2016 ( 2016-08-06 ) 3 23 January 7, 2017 ( ) August 5, 2017 ( 2017-08-05 ) 4 14 January 6, 2018 ( ) August 4, 2018 ( 2018-08-04 )
Cast and characters [ edit ]
Main [ edit ]
Brian Stepanek as Tom, the father of the Harper family quadruplets. It is a running gag in the series that he cares more about his possessions than his children, but he loves his family and is a kid at heart.
Allison Munn as Anne, the mother of the Harper family quadruplets who usually gets caught up in Tom's new obsessions.
Aidan Gallagher as Nicky, the youngest of the Harper quadruplets. He is shown to be quite comedic, quirky, and easily confused.
Casey Simpson as Ricky, is the second oldest of the Harper quadruplets. He is the smart one of the group, always seen carrying a book or doing his homework. He is also a neat freak and a bit of a goody two-shoes, though he occasionally tries to prove to Dawn and his brothers that he can bend rules as well.
Mace Coronel as Dicky, the third oldest and easy-going Harper quadruplet who cares a great deal about his appearance. He always takes the easy way out. He ships himself to Australia in "Quadcodile Dundee".
Lizzy Greene as Dawn, the oldest of the Harper quadruplets. Although she's always seen bothering her brothers, she does care about them deeply. There is a consistent rivalry for the leader spot of the quads between her and Ricky.
Gabrielle Elyse as Josie (season 1), a worker at Tom's sporting shop and babysitter for Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn.
Kyla-Drew Simmons as Mae (recurring, seasons 1–2; main, seasons 3–4), the quads' friend and Dawn's best friend. She often calls herself "the fifth quad".
Recurring [ edit ]
Lincoln Melcher as Mack (seasons 1–3)
Jason Sims-Prewitt as Principal Tarian (seasons 2–3)
Siena Agudong as Natlee (seasons 2–4)
Hayden Crawford as Dooley (seasons 3–4)
Theodore John Barnes as Miles (seasons 3–4)
Isabella Revel as Avery (seasons 3–4)
Ariana Molkara as Sadie (season 4)
Production [ edit ]
The series was originally picked up for 13 episodes on March 13, 2014, but was later increased to 20 episodes.[2] The series premiered on September 13, 2014. On November 18, 2014, the series was renewed for a second season.[3] The second season premiered on May 23, 2015. On February 9, 2016, Nickelodeon renewed Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn for a third season of 14 episodes. It was also confirmed that Matt Fleckenstein would step down as show runner.[4] Actress Lizzy Greene announced on her Twitter account that production for season three started on April 26, 2016.[5] The third season premiered on January 7, 2017. The series was renewed for a fourth season and had its episode order for the third season increased from 14 to 24 by Nickelodeon on March 20, 2017.[6] On October 4, 2017, it was announced that Mace Coronel would be leaving both Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn, about five episodes before the end of the fourth season, and Nickelodeon.[7] On November 15, 2017, Nickelodeon announced that the fourth season would be the last.[8]
Reception [ edit ]
Ratings [ edit ]
Season Episodes First aired Last aired Avg. viewers
(millions) Date Viewers
(millions) Date Viewers
(millions) 1 20 September 13, 2014 ( ) 1.60[9] March 24, 2015 ( 2015-03-24 ) 1.75[10] 1.75 2 25 May 23, 2015 ( ) 1.11[11] August 6, 2016 ( 2016-08-06 ) 1.31[12] 1.46 3 23 January 7, 2017 ( ) 1.58[13] August 5, 2017 ( 2017-08-05 ) 2.00[14] 1.47 4 14 January 6, 2018 ( ) 1.08[15] August 4, 2018 ( 2018-08-04 ) 0.84[16] 0.95
Awards and nominations [ edit ]Applications are being accepted for a special program that prepares active component soldiers in the ranks of promotable sergeant through master sergeant for service as enlisted aides to general officers.
The fiscal 2016 enlisted aide selection panel is slated to convene April 15 at the Human Resources Command, Fort Knox, Ky.
The application deadline is April 12.
Soldiers may apply for the program, regardless of their military occupational specialty. Candidates who were not selected by a previous panel may submit a new application.
Noncommissioned officers who are selected for the program and complete the training regimen will become part of the Enlisted Aide Personnel Management Ready Pool, a cohort of soldiers who is overseen by the Quartermaster Corps career management branch of HRC's enlisted directorate.
Once placed in the pool, soldiers can be selected for assignment as an enlisted aide to a general officer in the ranks of major general through four-star general at the tactical, operational or strategic level.
Photo Credit: David Vergun Staff Sgt. Marc Susa explains how the banquet table will be set.
Staff Sgt. Marc Susa explains how the banquet table will be set.
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Photo Credit: David Vergun/Army
Utilization tours are for two years, but can be extended by one year. Upon successful completion of the tour, soldiers will be returned to their basic branch for an operational assignment that will maintain their leadership and MOS proficiency.
Soldiers can return to the enlisted aide program upon successful completion of their basic branch assignment by submitting a new application packet.
While enlisted aide duties may vary from one general office to another, duties typically include:
• Maintaining the general's uniforms.
• Planning and executing official military social events.
• Daily meal preparation, to include menu development, shopping and storing of rations.
• Administrative requirements and record-keeping of finances.
• Household management, to include the upkeep of a general's assigned quarters.
• Perform other tasks that assist the general in the performance of his or her official duties.
Photo Credit: David Vergun Staff Sgt. Marc Susa prepares a meal.
Staff Sgt. Marc Susa, an enlisted aide, prepares a meal.
Photo Credit: David Vergun/Army
Soldiers who are selected by the April 15 panel, and who have not attended the Enlisted Aide Course or the Advanced Culinary Skills Training Course at the Joint Culinary Center, Fort Lee, Va., will be scheduled for training.
Soldiers who do not hold MOS 892 (culinary specialist) will be scheduled for the Basic Culinary Course at Fort Lee.
Upon completion of all training, soldiers will be assigned additional skill identifier Z5 (enlisted aide).Photo: Getty Images/Taschen
The fleet is in! And so is My Buddy: World War II Laid Bare (Taschen Books), an astounding collection assembled by the excellent smut historian Dian Hanson. We see, in this chunky Taschen volume, hundreds of nameless men photographed in groups, nude or nearly so, by fellow soldiers, sailors, corpsmen, and airmen.
Two obvious questions, neither of which has an obvious answer, leap to mind immediately. Were these photos (at least the unposed ones, of which there are many) surreptitiously made? And just how aware were the photographers and subjects that these pictures are extremely homoerotic?
Photo: Michael Stokes Collection/Taschen
Showing off muscles. Photo: Getty Images/Taschen
Bathing at a spring on Guadalcanal, 1943. Photo: Getty Images/Taschen
Well, chances are they weren’t creep shots. Some (like the pyramid pose below) were certainly set up for the picture. As for the candid nudity, there are too many of these pictures out there in the world for them to have been made on the sneak, and a World War II soldier who carried a camera (and quite a |
after a training pitch bust-up. At one point the Ecuadorean had his hand around the throat of Gallagher after a heated confrontation during a competitive drill. Towards the end of the session midfielder Zenon Caravella vented his frustration in an explosive outburst. Tempers had cooled and relationships mended by the conclusion of the workout. Jets assistant coach Clayton Zane said the tension-filled session was borne out of frustration and desire. ‘‘Results tell the tale,’’ he said. ‘‘We are not in a good place at the moment in terms of picking points up. ‘‘There is a lot more urgency and desire on the training pitch. ‘‘I think it is a good thing. ‘‘People want to be involved and they want to drag us out of the situation we are in. ‘‘That is exactly what we are after at training – high intensity and demanding more of each other. ‘‘The tempo needs to be lifted. We need to raise the bar at all levels, from the staff down through to the players. ‘‘It is our main training day. That is the day we want it to be the most competitive.’’ Zane said he felt for the fans but pleaded with them to stay strong. ‘‘There is a group of 23 players here who want to turn things around,’’ he said. ‘‘There is a staff that are fighting very hard to do it as well. ‘‘I know it is hard to stay patient but the message is maintain the support and the boys will do all they can to get out of this.’’
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/storypad-36mDshx2U2dAuMR3XyjpW6R/b58f21ec-2921-4e9f-938c-7723348136e3.jpg/r483_44_1871_828_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgImage copyright Getty Images
A section of the Berlin Wall on display in Seoul acts as a reminder of South Korea's fractured relationship with the North. But thoughts of reunification are never far away and there's a whole government department dedicated to the idea, although its staff don't seem very busy, writes Stephen Evans.
There is now a bit of the Berlin Wall in the middle of the South Korean capital. A concrete section of three slabs stands outside one of the museums as part of an exhibition comparing divided Korea with divided Germany.
Schoolchildren gaze attentively. They touch the rough concrete and take selfies in front of it. They are entranced by it - as they would be.
"If reunification could happen in Germany, why not in Korea?" is the question hanging over them and their country.
Under the South Korean constitution, the five provinces of North Korea remain part of the united Korea (which last existed 70 years ago) that South Korea continues to pretend to administer. I say pretend because in Seoul there is a whole building full of civil servants who technically oversee North Korea. There are departments for each of the provinces.
Except they can't administer them from Seoul because these provinces are in North Korea. There is the small matter of the inaptly named demilitarized zone in the way - Korea's version of the Berlin Wall.
I went to visit the ministry the other day and it has to be said that the Southern administrators of North Korea do not seem to be overburdened. There seemed to be a bit of online shopping occurring on some of the computer screens. And who can blame them? The imminent collapse of the North Korean regime has been predicted since 1990. And today it seems no nearer.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The demilitarized zone is an area of land about 250km (155 miles) long and 4km (2.5 miles) wide
The shadow government is in a gloomy building, with a staff of 44 people preparing for something not likely to happen soon and perhaps not ever. The corridors are long and empty and quiet.
Find out more Listen to From Our Own Correspondent for insight and analysis from BBC journalists, correspondents and writers from around the world Broadcast on Radio 4 Saturdays at 11:30 and on BBC World Service Listen to the programme Download the programme
I met one of North Korea's putative rulers who told me that one of their main roles is to keep North Korean culture alive until the great day of reunification comes. That means organising folk-dancing displays in the South.
On their way into work, these theoretical administrators of North Korea pass a light blue postbox by the main entrance. On it is written in English: "Homesickness Post Box". This is for people from the North living in the South to post letters home - except that the letters will never get there because there is no postal service between the two Koreas. The postbox is a gesture, the administrator told me.
So is the ministry, if you ask me. There was a time, back in the 1950s and 60s, when the department was seen as a real government-in-exile, ready to take over. Nowadays, it is not. The bureaucrats there do not imagine that they will soon be sitting in similar seats in Pyongyang running the place instead of Kim Jong-un.
The talk in the South these days is not so much about the imminence of the collapse of the North, but more about the consequences whenever - if ever - it happens.
The exhibition in Seoul with the chunk of the Berlin Wall makes clear how different the Korean and the German situations are. There are charts showing how, even during the last years of divided Germany six million people were reunited with their families from the other side of the wall.
In Korea, in the past 14 years, the number has been less than 2,000. People in North Korea have virtually no contact with outsiders. All of East Germany, apart from the most eastern part around Dresden, could watch West German TV every night - they saw the outside world. North Koreans do not.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption In October some families were reunited in North Korea
Incomes in South Korea are 10 to 20 times higher than they are in North Korea - a much bigger gap than that between East and West Germany. That means that if reunification happened, the economic jolt would be much, much greater.
Already, North Koreans who defect find that their skills aren't adequate for South Korea. Doctors who defect from the North often fail to pass standard South Korean medical exams.
This all indicates that the immense effort and money required for reunification would dwarf the scale of the task in Germany. But the bureaucrats in the shadow ministry in Seoul have some time yet to ponder the problem.
Kim Jong-un does not fear their imminent arrival to take his job in Pyongyang. In the meantime there is much to do - like a spot of online shopping and organising folk dances.
How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent:
BBC Radio 4: Saturdays at 11:30
Listen online or download the podcast.
BBC World Service: At weekends - see World Service programme schedule or listen online.
Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.Republicans in Congress recently voted to repeal the FCC’s broadband privacy rules. As a result, your Internet provider may be able to sell sensitive information like your browsing history or app usage to advertisers, insurance companies, and more, all without your consent. In response, Internet users have been asking what they can do to protect their own data from this creepy, non-consensual tracking by Internet providers—for example, directing their Internet traffic through a VPN or Tor. One idea to combat this that’s recently gotten a lot of traction among privacy-conscious users is data pollution tools: software that fills your browsing history with visits to random websites in order to add “noise” to the browsing data that your Internet provider is collecting.
One of the goals of this post is to dispel misconceptions about these tools regarding problems users may think they solve.
We’ve seen this idea suggested several times, and we’ve received multiple questions about how effective it would be and whether or not it protects your privacy, so we wanted to provide our thoughts. Before we begin, however, we want to note that several seasoned security professionals have already weighed in on the effectiveness and risks involved in using these tools.
While we want to be optimistic and encourage more user-friendly technology, it’s important to evaluate new tools with caution, especially when the stakes are high. Additionally, one of the goals of this post is to dispel misconceptions about these tools regarding problems users may think they solve.
Limitations of ISP Data Pollution Tools
After reviewing these sorts of tools, we’ve come to the conclusion that in their current form, these tools are not privacy-enhancing technologies, meaning that they don’t actually help protect users’ sensitive information.
To see why, let’s imagine two possible scenarios that could occur if your browsing history were somehow leaked.
First, imagine the tool visited a website you don’t want to be associated with. Many data pollution tools try to prevent this by blacklisting certain potentially inappropriate words or websites (or only searching on whitelisted websites) and relying on Google’s SafeSearch feature. However, even with these protections in place, the algorithm could still visit a website that might not be embarrassing for everyone, but could be embarrassing for you (say, a visit to an employment website when you haven’t told your employer you’re thinking of leaving). In this case, it might be difficult to prove it was the automated tool and not you who generated that traffic.
Second, sensitive data is still sensitive even when surrounded by noise. Imagine that your leaked browsing history showed a pattern of visits to websites about a certain health condition. It would be very hard to claim that it was the automated tool that generated that sort of traffic when it was in fact you.
It’s reasonable to assume that whoever is analyzing this data will put some effort into filtering out noise when looking for trends—after all, this is a standard industry-wide practice when doing data analysis on large data sets. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the data analysis will always beat the noise generation, but it’s still an important factor to consider. Likewise, layering noise onto a prominent pattern will not make that pattern any less prominent. Additionally, your Internet provider may already have years of data about your browsing habits from which it can extrapolate to help with its noise-filtering efforts.
Even if these specific problems were solved, we would still be reluctant to say that data pollution software could successfully protect your privacy. That’s because this kind of traffic analysis is an active area of research, and there aren’t any well-tested large scale models to show that these techniques work yet.
In other words, there are currently too many limitations and too many unknowns to be able to confirm that data pollution is an effective strategy at protecting one’s privacy. We’d love to eventually be proven wrong, but for now, we simply cannot recommend these tools as an effective method for protecting your privacy.
Changing Internet Provider Behavior is a Worthy Goal, but Your Energy is Better Spent Calling Congress
Data pollution tools aren’t likely to succeed at their other primary goal besides protecting privacy: convincing Internet providers to stop mining our data to sell targeted ads. The theory here is that if enough people used these tools, then the vast majority of browsing data Internet providers collected would be inaccurate. Inaccurate data is worthless for targeting ads, so there would no longer be any monetary incentive for Internet providers to try to sell targeted ads—and thus no incentive to keep collecting browsing data in the first place.
Unfortunately, a huge fraction of customers would have to be using data pollution tools for them to have an impact on major Internet providers’ bottom lines. And while it's wonderful to imagine the majority of Internet users up in arms and installing one of these projects, it'd be as useful (if not more so) for all these users to call their lawmakers directly and convince them to pass privacy-protecting legislation instead. In fact, it would probably take far fewer people to get Congress to change its mind than it would to affect a large Internet provider’s bottom line.
Culture Jamming for the Web
With all of that said, these tools could potentially be effective at one thing: confusing your Internet provider’s ad-targeting algorithms and making the ads they show you less relevant. If this sort of culture jamming appeals to you, then these tools could help you accomplish that. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to rely on other techniques to protect your privacy from your Internet provider, and that to really achieve the sort of change we need, we also need to take the time to talk to our lawmakers and make our voices heard directly. Only through a combination of activism, technology, and legislation will we truly be able to protect our privacy online.Looking for news you can trust?
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Near the top of an office building at a secret address on Broadway in Lower Manhattan there’s a door hung with a yellow placard, reading, “This is a good sign.” Open that door and you’ll meet a man sitting at a folding table behind a Toshiba netbook. He’s Occupy Wall Street’s doorman. If somebody is expecting you, or if you’re in his database of verified working-group members, he’ll let you inside. And then you’ll be in the closest thing the Occupy movement has to a new headquarters.
“It’s obviously kind of a hub where information flows though,” Nathan Stueve, a member of OWS’ press team, tells me. Like everyone else in the office, he wears a numbered tag that says, “The Occupied Office.” Stueve explains that there are 48 of these tags, corresponding to the space’s fire capacity—the tags are a way of making sure that the activist hive doesn’t run afoul of building management.
Details about the Occupied office are hard to come by, a reflection of the movement’s post-eviction shift from radical transparency into something more akin to stealth mode. Stueve, who has been with OWS for only three weeks, says he learned of the office’s existence a few days before last Tuesday’s Zuccotti Park eviction. He says he doesn’t know when it first opened or who’s paying the rent.
A member of the OWS Workspace Affinity Group, which oversees the space, declined to give me a tour or answer questions about it. Some organizers worry the place has already attracted too much attention. “This is a space in progress,” notes a handwritten sign just inside the door, adding that it is meant for projects that require power, internet, and telephone lines. “We are working as quickly as possible to open up the space to as many working groups as possible in a way that offers an open, productive, effective space for all.”
Among other things, the office houses OWS’ press and media teams, the Finance Working Group—which dispenses small amounts of cash to occupiers who show up with receipts—and other working groups such as Internet, Open Source, and Technology.
The doorman makes sure only authorized people get in, “and not thieves or provocateurs or whoever else might try to come up here.”
It’s hardly the movement’s only workspace. The Spokes Council, the movement’s quasi-governing body, held it’s latest meeting at a Times Square auditorium owned by a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union. Students at Manhattan’s New School have occupied a classroom that they are using for teach-ins. Two Manhattan churches have opened their doors to the camp’s homeless. And meetings continue at the park, in the nearby atrium of 60 Wall Street, and in other spaces owned by religious and labor groups. The Center for Constitutional Rights will soon roll out an online listing service to connect occupiers with other groups that can offer free space.
But for a movement that now lacks a single center of gravity, the Occupied Office is playing an increasingly important role. “This space definitely fills a need right now,” Stueve says. As we talk, a stream of occupiers goes in and out, passing a framed silk-screened print of an African American woman emblazoned with the “We are the 99%” slogan. On another wall is a cluttered dry-erase “Info” board asking, “Know someone with a truck?”
The office, unlike Zuccotti Park, is carefully guarded against people who might try to do the movement harm. The netbook guy, Stueve explained, checks to make sure that only authorized people get past the door, “and not thieves or provocateurs or whoever else might try to come up here.”
It’s certainly a much easier place to work than the park. Office rules require that all cellphones stay on vibrate mode, people talk in low voices, and any larger meetings take place in the hall outside.
Before I leave, a young girl in a nose ring signs in with the doorman. “Will you be staying for a while?” he asks.
“I’m going to be working all night long,” she says.The Garmin-Sharp team has announced that Ryder Hesjedal will not start stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia after his physical condition worsened during the rain-soaked twelfth stage. Related Articles Hesjedal hoping to fight on in the Giro d'Italia
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The 2012 Giro d'Italia winner will now head home to try to fully understand and resolve the problems that have hampered him ever since last Saturday's time trial stage. He had slipped to 38th overall in the general classification, 32:55 behind race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).
"It's heartbreaking," Hesjedal said in a statement from the team.
"I want to be here for my team and for all the people who have supported me to get me here to this point. I built my entire season around the Giro and I came here feeling great, but I have been suffering since the TT. We're working on it, but we're not sure what's wrong."
"There's a virus that's been going around, so it could be that, or severe allergies, or going too deep on the TT combined with both – whatever it is, I'm only getting worse. Yesterday's stage was just too much for me, I fought to get through it and I know everyone suffered but after seeing the medical staff last night, I also know that its time for me to go home, get some tests done and get healthy again."
"I have tried my best to honor the number one bib number, the race, my team and fans and it's devastating to leave this way. Going home now is heartbreaking. I'm very proud of the team – Ramunas' win proves that we all came here to race. These guys gave everything to help me. I couldn't ask for better teammates and I know that they'll continue to do great things here at the Giro for Garmin–Sharp. Now, I'll go home, focus on recovering and take things day by day, and I'll be cheering on the team from there."
Team physician, Shannon Sovndal explained: "The athlete's health is our priority. We've been trying to uncover what's going on with Ryder. He came into the race in stellar form, ready to defend his title, and clearly he's been suffering since the TT. His condition is not improving so we decided it's time for him to go home, get testing done, and focus on getting healthy again."
Directeur sportif Charly Wegelius, added: "Ryder is an incredible champion and a phenomenal athlete. It's difficult to see him struggle this way as he came here in outstanding form – he built his season around the Giro. He continued as long as he physically could because he wanted to honor the race and his team, but the health of our athletes is our priority and with that, we know its time for him to go home and focus on getting healthy again. The team here continues to be very motivated – we proved that on Stage 11 with Ramunas' win – and we will continue to fight for stage wins. There is plenty of racing still to be done and we know we will animate the rest of the race."
Friday's thirteenth stage is the longest in this year's Giro d'Italia at 254km and takes the riders across northern Italy from Busseto to Cherasco near Turin.A father in Chateauguay, Que., says he was pepper-sprayed by a police officer last week after picking up his two daughters for school, and he's demanding answers.
The aftermath of the incident was captured on a mobile phone recording by John Chilcott's wife, Rosemarie Edwards.
The video shows their two daughters, aged 7 and 10, telling their mother their throats hurt.
"It's in my throat," one says.
"It went in your throat?" Edwards asks her.
"Yeah," the daughter says.
Edwards is then heard telling the officer: "You sprayed my kids with pepper spray."
Video taken by Rosemarie Edwards captures the moment immediately after her children were hit by pepper-spray that a police officer had discharged at their father. 0:45
An officer is shown on his radio and talking to Chilcott, who is still sitting in the driver's seat of his truck and rubbing his eyes.
"Excuse me, I'm asking you a question, sir," Edwards says.
"You just pepper-sprayed my children. It's not right. They were present in the car."
Did nothing wrong, says Chilcott
In an interview Tuesday, an often emotional Chilcott told CBC News that he had just arrived home to pick up his daughters and drive them to school when the officer pulled up behind him in the parking lot of his residence.
He said he had noticed the officer do a U-turn and begin to follow him as he was heading home to get them.
Chilcott said his two daughters were already in his truck by the time the officer approached and asked Chilcott for identification.
"I asked [the officer] 'What's the problem? As you can see I'm taking my kids to school. They're running late. I didn't break any law,'" Chilcott said.
The Chateauguay man describes the impact being pepper-sprayed by police has had on his family. 0:54
The officer asked him once again for identification, but Chilcott did not comply, saying he wanted to know why.
Chilcott said the officer stepped away to speak on his radio, then returned and drew a canister of pepper spray from his holster.
'We all started screaming'
"I asked him what's the problem and he [sprayed me] in the face… it got in my daughter's face, in my other daughter's face and their throat. We all started screaming. I'm blinded," Chilcott said.
Chilcott was helped out of his car as other officers arrived on the scene and was taken to a police station nearby.
"I'm screaming because nobody's giving me any attention to get this stuff out of my eyes," Chilcott said.
At the station, Chilcott said police helped him rinse his eyes and then released him with no information on why he'd been pulled over.
Last Friday, he received three tickets in the mail totalling more than $1,000 – one for using his hazard lights unnecessarily, one for not immediately stopping his vehicle for police and one for "obstructing the action of a peace officer."
Chilcott wants answers
Chilcott maintains that he didn't do anything wrong and says he wants answers.
"I feel like I was treated like an animal," he says.
Chilcott says it's not the first time he's been pulled over by police. While he says he can't say for sure why he has been targeted, he speculates it may be "the way I dress, my complexion."
"I've just had enough of this," he says. " I just ask for something to be done, so me and my family can live in peaceful justice because this was not right what happened to us."
Rosemarie Edwards says she fears the effect the police pepper spray incident will have on her daughters. 0:25
Both Chilcott and his wife said the incident has had a profound effect on their children.
"My daughter can't sleep. She asks me every time, 'Daddy are you OK?' When I'm leaving for work, she asks, 'Daddy, are the police going to bother you again?'"
Edwards said it's affected how their children see the police.
"I fear for my kids," she said as she wiped away tears. "Officers are supposed to protect."
Police defend officers, say inquiry underway
Chateauguay police defended the actions of their officers on Tuesday, saying Chilcott was stopped after committing a number of traffic violations.
Its officer resorted to pepper spray because Chilcott did not identify himself and offered resistance, the police force said.
Chateauguay police said an internal inquiry is being conducted into the case....but don't ever go away.
So! Since I ship Spike with Princess Ember, I had to do a bit of recalibrating with my Next Gen. I wanted to include Garble, because Garble is great and wonderful and I love him, but I had no idea who to pair him with. I wanted it to be someone ironic, who might soften the big jerk a bit. Then it hit me: why not ship him with the dragon rights activist? I figure Mina doesn't put up with his shit, and tries to gently ease him into the idea of not hating ponies so completely. I can't imagine he'd ever LIKE them, but in the very least, he could learn to tolerate their existence.
They're a fiery pair, but they're undeniably happy together. Even if neither will outright admit that much.Challenge Dirty 30: Where is Jordan?
Allan Aguirre Blocked Unblock Follow Following Aug 2, 2017
Before the season began there was a good amount of hype for Jordan returning to the Challenge after his three season break from the show. During Jordan’s original three season run on the show he was able to finish in 3rd place on his first Challenge (Rivals 2), lost early in infamous fashion on Free Agents, and followed up those mistakes with a win on Exes 2. Along the way, Jordan won 4 eliminations, won quite a bit of daily missions, and hooked up with Sarah and Jonna, dated Laurel, and retired from the show before the age of 26. Jordan did more in 2 years on the show that most people do in a decade.
Jordan was a Challenge superstar who needed the cameras on him from day one. During his first Challenge, he seamlessly transitioned into the game. Being able to compete on the highest level immediately allowed him to stay out of the first three eliminations on Rivals 3, and only had to see it once the game became all strong veteran players. His first hookup was with 7 time Challenge competitor, Sarah Rice. After she was eliminated, he moved in on Jonna Mannion, going with the whole I’m the “Great Gatsby” pick up line.
On Free Agents, Jordan became ready to become the face of the Challenge. He went at Johnny Bananas. He challenged him and acted in peak asshole form until he got what he wanted — an elimination with Bananas. After an embarrassing loss, he came back for Exes 2 with winning on his mind. He helped Sarah and was assisted by the Exile twist en-route to his first Challenge win.
When Jordan showed up on Champs vs Pros, it was expected that he would come back on the series to be the regular, cocky, self indulgent Jordan that we have all come to both love and hate. During CvP they called him Johnny Bananas Jr. He’d often chirp in with little buzzwords and annoying jokes in order to be funny and get camera time. Jordan got a little flirty with Lolo Jones, questioned Wes’s career as a competitor, and also got sent home by Wes.
Entering Dirty 30 with his new 80’s porn-esque mustache, it was maybe expected that he bring some flare to the season. So far his confessionals have been few and unspectacular. Jordan has only had 4 confessionals this season in comparison to Cory, who had 4 the first episode, 6 the next, and 5 this past episode. For such an interesting character and competitor, the season has not focused on Jordan that much. In the preseason trailer he was highlighted in a dramatic scene:
So we know at one point that Jordan gets into a major fight or argument this season. And before he gets into it with Aneesa, he refers to someone else as “dum-dum”, a term he has used before. Jordan is famously pretentious, making me wonder if he was talking about a female competitor, as he usually speaks down to women. With guys he curses them out and yells — alpha male syndrome. With girls he speaks down to them, that’s just what Jordan does.
As the show moves on, it makes me curious of whether Jordan makes big moves later in the game, or whether he is actively playing a low-key game. From my point of view, it is the former rather than the latter. Low-key is not Jordan’s style, he loves to win with flare and flamboyancy. He’d rather lose and look good than win and look like a chump. Then again, his 1 win came with Sarah, and she forced him to basically stay out of the politics for their own good. The Bunim-Murray editing team has enjoyed not putting the spotlight on certain strong players till later in the season when they emerge as they figure that early on they’d rather develop people who are going to be gone soon.
On Exes 1, the CT/Diem relationship went from 0–100 as a focus of the show. Episode 1 it was a big deal, and from there it went dormant as they focused on Wes getting eliminated early, Emily Schromm’s elimination wins, and other random couples. Once CT and Diem began winning the daily missions late in the season, they became the absolute focus.
Rivals 3 was completely a season about Bananas and Sarah. Before they started dominating every challenge, the show played with us and tried to pretend that Vince, Cory, and Ashley were important characters (Ashley did show out). Wes and CT did not show up for most of Rivals 2. It was only during the final challenges that they dominated and ended up killing the final. CT and Evan were more important on Duel 1, then Wes took it. They like to hide the winners sometimes.
Jordan is getting a possible winner edit in the fashion that they are doing so much to hide him so far. Likewise, Bananas and Cory are being shown so much that they either lose early, or are going to lose devastatingly. It may be in a Jordan fashion where a dumb move kills them, or in the Wes/Kenny fashion of fighting atop a mountain.
Other interest tidbits when it comes to screen time so far: LeRoy and Dario are non-existent. In the preseason trailer you could see them occasionally, but their screen time has been useless and inconsequential to the main drama or focus of the show. They probably stick around for a bit, though neither are willing to make big moves to win.
Tony, Cory, and Nelson are being advertised as big drama starters this season. When that is the focus, you know that they are not going super far in the game. Game over everything.
It will be fascinating to see what Jordan does this season. He gets in that fight with Aneesa, another not shown person, and then we had shots like these:
Dario is a chill dude. He wildin’. Jordan must have been a real dick to get this reaction out of Dario. Can’t wait to see what goes down.Point guard. It is arguably the deepest position in the NBA, and certainly the one that has changed the most in the last 15 years — and that makes it a little difficult to rate.
MORE: 11 players ready to take over the NBA next season
Rule changes have altered the way point guards operate, as they are more likely now to be combo guards who can score and shoot from deep range, rather than traditional, pure playmakers. That’s why five of the MVP trophies since 2004 have gone to point guards, compared to the entire history of the NBA before that, in which only four MVP trophies went to point guards (three for Magic Johnson, one for Bob Cousy).
MORE: Explaining the battle for No. 1: Curry or Westbrook?
Warriors point man Stephen Curry took the last two MVP awards, but that could change this year with evolving dynamics of the Western Conference. Curry figures to be one of at least two point guards up for MVP consideration for 2016-17, but another might slip in ahead of him. Slide right to check out our rankings, and let the debates begin.We've now heard that the majority of the 80 lay groups, who were gathered in Rome last week to provide input for the 2015 Synod, spoke out in favour of retaining the traditional teaching of the Church on marriage. Although it would not have made any difference to the objective truth if only a minority had defended the Faith - the Church has received the truth from God and is not a democracy - this news nevertheless provides further colour to the responses of Cardinal Baldisseri, which we highlighted here on Monday. The Eponymous Flower has an interesting and thought-provoking caption entitled: ''Cardinals Kasper, Baldisseri and the agenda of Pope Francis: Listen to the laity, but silence them if they do not say what you want?'' How similar such a model would appear to the manipulations which emerged at the 2014 Synod.
It is splendid to hear about so many lay people standing up to affirm the true faith. Today we are also delighted to note the organized defence of the sacrament of marriage gradually emerging among the clergy.
Several days ago we read Msgr. Charles Pope's article, entitled 'A Lowly Pastor Comments on Troubling Developments in the Divorce Debate,' at the blog of the Archdiocese of Washington. Reflecting on the new theories being advanced by influential bishops and theologians, Msgr. Pope stated: ''Please remember to pray diligently for the Church in this hour. If any age is ill-equipped to teach on marriage, family and sexuality, it is ours. The Church cannot afford to take cues from a confused and darkened culture. Jesus must always be our light, He and none other, speaking through Scripture and Tradition. Pray!''
The good monsignor also drew attention to a necessity, which we would say is as urgent as it is practical: ''Frankly, I think it is going to be necessary to develop a mechanism through which ordinary priests like me can weigh in together with our strong belief that the Church's teaching and discipline in this matter must be upheld unchanged.''
Such a mechanism would certainly be a great encouragement to priests throughout the world who have been discouraged and disoriented by the strategy of the revolutionary Kasperites.
The urgent need to implement this idea is underscored by the fact that Cardinal Baldisseri has described this period between the two synods as ''the most important time.''
To speak plainly, it is clear to anyone not still slumbering into their cornflakes that we are being played by those manipulating the synod. These Modernists are highly organized and efficient. Having first seized the 'choke-points' of education, seminary formation, diocesan curia, and now even the highest seats of power in Rome, after many decades, they have finally arrived ''down the road,'' and are rapidly outflanking the remaining decent and honest Catholic cardinals, bishops, priests and laity with their doctrine-dissolving, end-game. The real problem is that the decent and honest ones are too frequently naive or afraid to rock the boat. More often, they have been bullied and broken into silence by those trying to subvert the Church's nature and mission from within. This has allowed evil to take over and thrive in many places over a prolonged period of time.
It is heartening therefore to read Fr. Tim Finigan's article yesterday.
Fr. Tim announced that the British Province of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy had published a statement called Marriage in the Teaching of the Catholic Church. Fr. Tim describes this statement as a good summary of Catholic doctrine concerning marriage. He adds: ''Ordinarily it might be considered simply a workmanlike pastoral document for sharing, to avoid different priests having to compose their own text. In the present circumstances, it has the character of a courageous statement of what we've always believed and continue to believe, despite the efforts of some to undermine Catholic teaching or compromise with the values of the world.''
Here is the actual text:
Marriage in the Teaching of the Catholic Church
Marriage was instituted by God, not invented by man (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n.1603). The Creator has built it into human nature, even into the human body, in its two complementary forms, male and female. 'Male and female He created them' (Gen 1:27): man for woman, and woman for man, united in marriage as 'one flesh' for the procreation of new life: 'Be fruitful and multiply'(Gen 1:28).
God has given marriage its essential characteristics and proper laws: unity (one man married to one woman); indissolubility (nothing but death can end a marriage); and openness to procreation (in every act of physical love). No president or religious leader, no senate or synod, nor any government has the authority to re-define marriage.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, raised marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament. The marriage of a Christian man and woman is a sacramental sign of His union with His Church (cf. Eph.5:32). Since the union of Christ with His bride, the Church, cannot be dissolved, no power on earth, not even the Pope himself, can dissolve the valid sacramental marriage, once consumated, of a Christian man and woman. 'Those whom God has joined together, let no man put asunder' (Matt 19:6).
The Church's discipline is built upon the doctrine of the Faith, and gives practical expression to it. To introduce a discipline at odds with a doctrine thus implicity undermines the doctrine. The discipline of not admitting to the Sacraments, divorcees who have entered into a subsequent civil'marriage' follows directly from the doctrine of Marriage and the Eucharist as the Church has received it from Christ and His apostles. Unless an anulment has recognized the invalidity of the original marriage, then the state of life of divorced and'remarried' Catholics objectively contradicts the union of love between Christ and the Church signified and effected by the Eucharist' (Pope St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, n.180). However sorrowful for their sins they may be, the divorced |
of Face the Nation. Guests included John Kerry, Sen. Tom Cotton, Sen. Joe Manchin, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Sherrilyn Ifill, Cornell William Brooks, Dana Milbank, Susan Page, John Heilemann, Peter Baker.
BOB SCHIEFFER, HOST: I'm Bob Schieffer.
Today on face the nation: the secretary of state, the rookie senator and nuclear negotiations with Iran.
As Secretary of State Kerry headed into the home stretch of negotiations to limit Iran's nuclear capabilities, freshman Senator Tom Cotton sent the Iranians a letter signed by 47 Republicans, warning them any agreement could prove worthless. Has that derailed the talks? Secretary of State Kerry tells our Margaret Brennan he's not sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS NEWS STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: So, how do you clear the air? Are you going to apologize for this letter?
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Not on your life. I'm not going to apologize for the -- for an unconstitutional and unthought- out action by somebody who has been United States Senate for 60-some days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIEFFER: We will hear more from Kerry and Cotton's explanation of why he did it.
Plus, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings on that and the week's other news.
Plus, a report on the state of race relations in America, because this is FACE THE NATION.
Good morning.
We begin with Margaret Brennan's interview with Secretary Kerry as he prepared to leave Egypt and fly to Switzerland for the talks. She asked him flatly, had the Cotton letter put the talks in jeopardy?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KERRY: Well, I don't know yet. When I negotiate for the first time on Sunday night Foreign Minister Zarif, I will have better sense of where we are.
But what I do know is that this letter was absolutely calculated directly to interfere with these negotiations. It specifically inserts itself directly to the leader of another country, saying, don't negotiate with these guys because we're going to change this, which, by the way, is not only contrary to the Constitution with respect to the executive's right to negotiate, but it is incorrect, because they cannot change an executive agreement. So, it's false information and directly calculated to interfere, and basically say, don't negotiate with them. You have got to negotiate with 535 members of Congress. That is unprecedented, unprecedented.
BRENNAN: And they have to negotiate with you. You're the one who has to sit at that table.
KERRY: Well, I understand.
But it's unprecedented. I have never seen anything like this. Now, in fairness, look, I don't know how many people really focus completely on it. But I do know that the effect and the intent of the author was to basically say, don't do this deal.
And, by the way, that is to say that before there even is a deal. I mean, it's like, you know, giving people a grade on a test before the test is even written, let alone given.
It's wrong. It's unprecedented. And I hope it hasn't made it very difficult here. And, by the way, we're not -- this is not just the United States of America negotiating. This is China, Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain.
BRENNAN: So, how do you clear the air? Are you going to apologize for this letter?
KERRY: Not on your life. I'm not going to apologize for the -- for an unconstitutional and unthought-out action by somebody who has been in the United States Senate for 60-some days.
That's just inappropriate. I will explain very clearly that Congress does not have the right to change an executive agreement. Another president may have a different view about it. But, if we do our job correctly, all of these nations, they all have an interest in making sure this is in fact a proven peaceful program.
And it would be derelict if we allow some gaping hole in this program that doesn't do so. But let's see what it is first. And I think this applies to everybody, incidentally, who has been trying to judge this before, in fact, the deal, if it can be sealed, is sealed.
BRENNAN: You have made the point this is international agreement; this isn't just the U.S. and Iran.
But Senator Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the decision to bypass Congress and instead go to the U.N. and allow them to vote on some of this deal is a "direct affront to the American people."
How do you respond to that?
KERRY: Well, with all due respect, look, I do really disagree with that judgment.
And I talked to him about it the other day and made it clear. We are negotiating under the auspices to some degree of the United Nations. So, just as Congress has to vote to lift sanctions -- so Congress does have a vote -- so does the United Nations have to lift some sanctions at some point in time.
BRENNAN: Well, that's on sanctions.
KERRY: No. Sanctions...
BRENNAN: But to authorize this deal, do you see Congress having a role?
KERRY: Congress has a role.
We have had over 205 briefings, phone calls, discussions with Congress; 119 of them have taken place since January of this year. We have been in full discussion with Congress on this. We have been in full discussion with allies in the region. We have had our team go to Israel or meet with Israelis in Washington or elsewhere to brief them regularly in this process.
This isn't a complete mystery. And the fact is that -- but we also have been operating under a rule that everybody understands. Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. And so we have to finish our negotiation. And we deserve the right to do so, frankly, knowing we have to submit it to the world to judge.
We ought to be able to find out unimpeded and uninterfered with in an unconstitutional way, in violation of 200-plus years of tradition.
BRENNAN: The president wants a deal by the end of March. If you can't meet that timetable, what happens?
KERRY: Margaret, we are trying to get a deal by the end of March.
BRENNAN: Would there be an extension?
(CROSSTALK)
KERRY: Well, the president's view -- and I share this view completely -- is that we have been at this for over two years now.
And Iran has said its program is peaceful. In the time that we have had, the fundamental framework of decisions necessary to prove your program is peaceful should be possible. So, we believe very much that there's not anything that's going to change in April or May or June that suggests that, at that time, a decision you can't make now will be made then.
If it's peaceful, let's get it done. And my hope is that, in the next days, that will be possible.
BRENNAN: But if these talks fail, do you think there is a risk that Iran will make the choice to build a bomb?
KERRY: Of course there's that risk, obviously.
BRENNAN: But is that really what is at stake?
KERRY: Well, look, if they moved along the road to decide suddenly to break out and rush to try to have enough fissile material to build a bomb, we have a number of options available to us.
President Obama has said they are all on the table. And he has also pledged very publicly and very clearly on a number of occasions Iran will not be allowed to get a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHIEFFER: Secretary Kerry also addressed the situation in Syria. We will have that in our next half-hour.
But now we are joined by Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who wrote that letter.
You heard what the secretary said, unprecedented, inappropriate, unthought-out, unconstitutionally wrong.
What were you trying to accomplish, Senator?
SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: Bob I and 46 other senators are focused on stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
And we wanted to be crystal clear that Iran's leaders got the message that, in our constitutional system, while the president negotiates deals, Congress has to approve them for them to be lasting and binding. And I have to say, I'm surprised by the secretary's comments this morning, because just a few days ago, he testified before the Senate to say that any deal would not be legally binding.
And now he says that future Congresses can't change a mere executive agreement if we disagree with them or if a future president disagrees with them? That's not the way our constitutional system works. And it's certainly not the way we should be negotiating with Iran.
SCHIEFFER: Did you talk to the secretary of state, did you talk to any Democrats in the Senate before you chose to go directly to the Iranians?
COTTON: I and many other senators, Republican and Democrat, have expressed our sincere and long-held intent that Congress must approve any nuclear deal with Iran for months.
In fact, going back almost two years ago, I was part of a 400- person majority in the House of Representatives that sought to impose more sanctions on Iran. We did reach out to some Democratic offices, but I can tell you that the viewpoint is widely shared. And I don't see how anyone can dispute that if a deal is reached with Iran that is not approved by Congress, then future Congresses and future presidents don't have to accept it in our constitutional system. SCHIEFFER: Well, Senator, it's not exactly news to say that the Congress can pass laws to change whatever laws or agreements are on the books.
But why did you decide to try to convince the Iranians that they needed to be wary of dealing with the United States? Why not take your argument to the American people? Why didn't you write an open letter in "The New York Times" or something?
COTTON: Iran's leaders needed to hear the message loud and clear.
I can tell you, they are not hearing that message from Geneva. In fact, if you look at the response of the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, it underscores the need for the letter in the first place, because he made it clear that he does not understand our constitutional system. He thinks that international law can override our Constitution.
SCHIEFFER: Well, Senator, are you planning to contact any other of our adversaries around the country? For example, do you plan to check with the North Koreans to make sure that they know that any deal has to be approved by the Congress?
COTTON: Bob, right now, I and most every other senator is focused on stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
And it's -- that's why it's so important that we communicated this message straight to Iran, because they're not hearing it from Geneva. And, remember, this is not parliamentary democracy. The Islamic Revolution of Iran has been killing Americans, hundreds of Americans, for 35 years in Iraq and Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. They also -- they killed Jews around the world from Israel, to...
(CROSSTALK)
COTTON:... to Argentina.
SCHIEFFER: How does it make America stronger to tell them that any agreement they make with this administration may not be worth the paper it's written on and may not last beyond this presidency? How does that make things better?
COTTON: It's -- well, as a simple fact that our Constitution that, if Congress doesn't approve that deal, then it may not last.
And the deal that is on the table right now is a very bad deal. It would allow Iran to have thousands and thousands of centrifuges to continue enriching uranium. It would do nothing to the military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program. It's excluded entirely the ballistic missile program that Iran has, which is designed solely to strike the United States right here at home. And it could have 10- year sunset.
Bob, since you brought up North Korea, I would point out that, in 1994, the United States entered into something called the agreed framework to stop North Korea from getting a bomb. They almost immediately started cheating on it. And a mere 12 years later, they detonated their first nuclear weapon.
Now the world has to live with the consequences of a nuclear North Korea. I don't want the world to live with the consequences of a nuclear Iran.
SCHIEFFER: Earlier today, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told our local affiliate here, WUSA, that what you did was akin to during the Cuban Missile Crisis if a senator had called Nikita Khrushchev and told him he couldn't be certain that President Kennedy could back up any deal he made with him.
Do you see a comparison there?
COTTON: No. I would disagree. And Secretary Albright was part of the Clinton administration that entered into the fundamentally flawed agreed framework with North Korea.
But, more fundamentally, what we did was to send a clear message to a dictatorial regime. We didn't coddle or conciliate with the dictators in Iran. We told them that the American people, 71 percent of the American people in a recent poll will not accept a deal that puts Iran on the path to a nuclear weapons. Seventy-one percent of the American people are right, and that is for whom we're speaking.
SCHIEFFER: What do you want to happen here? What is your alternative here? Let's say that the deal falls through. Then what?
COTTON: Well, as Prime Minister Netanyahu said, the alternative to a bad deal is a better deal.
The Iranians frequently bluff to walk away from the table. If they bluff this week, call their bluff. But Congress stands ready to impose much more severe sanctions. Moreover, we have to stand up to Iran's attempts to drive for regional dominance. They already control Tehran. Increasingly, they control Damascus and Beirut and Baghdad, and now Sanaa as well.
They do all that without a nuclear weapon. Imagine what they would do with a nuclear weapon.
SCHIEFFER: I just want to make sure. Do you feel that you have not weakened the president's hand here? And do you have any regrets about the way you went about this?
COTTON: No regrets at all.
And if the president and the secretary of state were intent on driving a hard bargain, they would be able to point to this letter and say, they're right. As Secretary Kerry said on Wednesday in his Senate testimony, any lasting deal needs to be approved by Congress.
When past senators like Joe Biden or Jesse Helms communicated directly with foreign leaders, past presidents, like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, did just that. The fact that President Obama doesn't see this letter as a way to get more leverage at the negotiating table just underscores that he is not negotiating for the hardest deal possible. He's negotiating a deal that is going to put Iran on the path to a bomb, if not today or tomorrow, then 10 years from now.
SCHIEFFER: All right. We will stop there, Senator. Thank you for coming by and explaining your point.
COTTON: Thank you.
SCHIEFFER: We are going to go now to Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who serves on the Armed Services Committee. He joins us from Charleston, West Virginia.
Senator, did you have any contact or discuss any of this with Senator Cotton before he took this action?
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I did not. And no one from my staff came and said that anyone had approached them.
And this was going to be a sense of the Senate, Bob, you would think it would try to be as bipartisan as possible to see if that is a direction we feel strongly about, and maybe we could have helped negate this from happening. I think it was wrong. I would not have signed it. But I was not approached.
SCHIEFFER: The White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, has written the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Corker, and asked him this morning to hold off on any legislation on Iran or this deal on the issue of whether or not a nuclear deal can be reached until at least June.
Does that sound right to you? Because I know Senator Tim Kaine says that probably you can't wait that long. And he's the Democrat. He wants Congress to vote on this.
MANCHIN: Well, let me just say this, that Democrats and Republicans alike are committed not to allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
It's just, I guess, the approach of how we go about it. You have got to speak with one voice. Now, we can speak within the process that we have and let the White House and the State Department know how strongly we feel about something, against it or for it.
A perfect example, Bob, was back when the State Department came over and tried to explain to us why they wanted to start bombing Syria, if you recall that not that long ago, a year or two ago. I, as a Democrat, spoke out loudly against it. I thought all it did was light the fuse for the third world war.
And, basically, all of us, Democrats and Republicans, who felt strongly that we shouldn't drop the bomb, we were able to succeed and the president was able to negotiate with Russia to remove the chemical weapons. That did not take an approval of Congress. But we were heard. This same process should be used now. And what we need to do, we sent a -- I signed a letter with Bob Menendez and other senators, basically saying, let's see how far you have progressed on the end of March, if we have a deal in the making. And then, at the end of June, if we don't have a deal at hand, we will double down on sanctions. But we're still allowing the White House and the State Department to do their job.
SCHIEFFER: Do you think this action by Senator Cotton and this letter has poisoned the well?
MANCHIN: It sure hasn't helped a thing. It hasn't helped one thing, except drive us further apart.
The country is divided enough. We need to start bringing us together. And for, like you said, over 200 years, we have operated under a process that basically we have had the executive branch, the State Department, the executive branch working and speaking as one, but speaking through and with us being able to have input from the legislative branch.
I believe that has worked very well. I believe it still can. But we could second-guess all day long and get nothing accomplished. There's five other countries, as Secretary Kerry had said. It's not just the United States of America. And if you want sanctions to work, it's got to be a bigger part of NATO, a bigger part of the world doubling down and saying, listen, you're not part of the civilized world. Either get your act together or we will make it more difficult for you.
SCHIEFFER: All right, well, Senator, we want to thank you for joining us this morning.
We will talk about some of the other news of the day when we come back in one minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHIEFFER: And we're back now with Congressman Elijah Cummings, who is not only the top Democrat on the Benghazi investigating committee, but the top Democrat on the oversight committee investigating the seemingly endless problems that the Secret Service is having.
Another week here, Congressman, where we just kind of had an overload on news, and mostly bad news. I am dismayed and perplexed about what the Secret Service is going through. It seems like ever since they took them out from under the Treasury Department and put them under the Homeland Security Agency, that it's just been one thing after another.
Are you satisfied with what you have found out about this latest incident so far? And what needs to be done here?
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: I am extremely upset about it. And it's extremely frustrating, Bob, to see an agency that is supposed to be the number one elite protective agency in the world, protecting the most important person in the world, the most powerful person in the world, to operate like this.
Director Clancy has come in and he has made many, many changes. As a matter of fact, he's now gotten rid of the half of the top folks in the agency. But, clearly, this latest incident shows that we have still got a lot of work to be done.
And, Bob, there is a culture of complacency and mediocrity taking place. And so we're going to have to do a deep dive. And one thing I am glad about is that Republicans and Democrats agree on this, that we have to put a high-powered microscope on this agency and address some of these issues.
SCHIEFFER: Do you now have confidence? Does Director Clancy still retain your confidence?
CUMMINGS: He does. He's only been there for a few months, Bob.
He's -- again, I'm very impressed with the things that he's done already. But now I think he's going to have to begin to get rid of even more people. There are certain people that should not be there. And you cannot have supervisors telling the rank and file that they can't do their job, such as when they wanted the other night perform a sobriety test.
(CROSSTALK)
CUMMINGS: Yes. Give me a break.
SCHIEFFER: Let's talk a little bit about the other -- the other other big story of the week, and that is the Hillary Clinton e-mails.
CUMMINGS: Yes.
SCHIEFFER: Clearly, if you cut to the chase, basically, what was going on here, it seems to me, is that Hillary Clinton did not want to leave a paper trail. And so she set up the various procedures and so forth.
Do you think she is the best judge of what ought to be made public and what ought to be part of the government record?
CUMMINGS: Well, Bob, every federal employee under federal regs has the responsibility to determine what is personal and what's official. She made that judgment.
I listened to her carefully. And I believe her. But, Bob, if we have issues with Hillary Clinton, we have to keep in mind, number one, she's been extremely cooperative with our committee. She agreed to come in as late -- as early as last December. And I would -- and so she is willing to come in under oath and testify as to the e-mails, how she selected the ones she did. And we ought to have her come in, not only to testify about the e-mails, but also to testify about Benghazi. By the way, just last Friday, her lawyers contacted Trey Gowdy, the chairman, and yours truly and urged us to release the 850 pages of e-mails that we now have. And, hopefully, Trey will agree to that and will make that happen.
SCHIEFFER: Well, are you satisfied that there's anything else to find out about Benghazi?
CUMMINGS: I don't know. We have been at this now, Bob, since May. And I still don't know the scope of what we're looking for. I think there have been eight investigations. They have been done extremely well.
And they -- I think they have resolved most of the questions.
SCHIEFFER: All right.
Mr. Cummings, we certainly thank you for coming to see us this morning.
CUMMINGS: Thank you.
SCHIEFFER: And I will be back in a minute with some personal thoughts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCHIEFFER: In a time when real leadership is such a rare commodity, I want to recognize the decisive action of Oklahoma University president David Boren.
I knew David Boren when he was a U.S. senator. He was a good one. And since joining the university, he has been a strong leader in higher education.
When that nauseating video of O.U. fraternity boys singing racist songs showed up on the Internet Boren had all kinds of options, open an investigation, confer with his trustees, maybe convene a focus group. But he moved with such speed, I doubt he did any of that. He simply expelled those involved and threw the fraternity off campus, no ifs, ands and buts. He said, you are out of here. And don't let the screen door hit you on the way out.
I'm not surprised, in our litigious society, that the fraternity has now hired a lawyer who may sue unless Boren reconsiders and joins in making this a teachable moment.
I think what is teachable is pretty obvious. Actions have consequences and hateful words are dangerous things, sometimes as harmful to those who deliver them as those they are aimed at. If the students didn't know that before, well, now they do.
Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHIEFFER: Well, some of our stations are leaving us now, but, for most of you, we will be right back with a lot more FACE THE NATION, including a discussion on race in America, more of Margaret Brennan's interview with Secretary Kerry, and our panel.
So, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHIEFFER: Welcome back to now to Face the Nation, we're going to pick up where we left off with a discussion of the racist videos that came out of a University of Oklahoma fraternity.
This week protests that continued in Madison, Wisconsin where an unarmed black teenager of shot and killed by police last weekend, and in Ferguson where two police officers were seriously wounded while managing protesters following the resignation of the police chief, which came after the Justice Department's damning report of racial bias there.
And joining us now, Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NCAACP legal defense and education fund, and the president of the NAACP Cornell William Brooks.
Thank you all so much for coming. You know, this is actually the anniversary, the actual date when President Johnson made the famous "We Shall Overcome" speech and it was five months after that of course that the Voting Rights Act was passed.
We had all these wonderful demonstrations last week down in Selma. President was down there, and yet all of these horrible things have happened this week.
Mr. Brooks, what -- how would you judge the state of race relations in America today, 50 years after that speech?
CORNELL WILLIAM BROOKS, PRESIDENT, NAACP: We as a nation seem to be uncomfortably poised between our past and present. It was my privilege to walk in Selma behind the president and between the president and Amelia Boynton who 50 years ago was beaten down. She is 105 years now.
The point being here is that much of the country, particularly some of our young people don't seem to understand or remember or be aware of the history and what so many people had to go through in order for them to enjoy the rights they have today, because if they understood, you would not be able to sing about lynching. 5,000 or so people were lynched in this country, so to have members of fraternity sing about lynching in a cavalier way and associate lynching with exclusive policies with respect to membership, absolutely shocking.
SCHIEFFER: Sherrilyn, what is your take? You know, some of the residents who were interviewed in Ferguson this week said they didn't understand why people were still protesting down there. After all they got rid of half the police force and the people there. Why do you think those demonstrations go on?
SHERRILYN IFILL, NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: Well, in many ways I think they have to go on because the work is not complete. In fact, we're at the moment where the work really has to push forward and that is that the Department of Justice now is entering into negotiations with the leaders of Ferguson about how they're going to change that police department.
And I think this is the time when the protests actually have to become more focused and more targeted in terms of thinking about what is the result that you want. Elections are next month in Ferguson. And you've got city council elections, and African-Americans running for city council seats at numbers they never did in the past.
So, there's a real opportunity for change. And I think the people who are out want to make sure that that change actually happens. It's a lot of work to be done. And I think this discomfort that we're all feeling actually, even though it feels like we're going backwards, that's actually when we go forward. It's just like in Selma. It's just like on that Edmund Pettus Bridge, it's these moments of confrontation when we actually get to see what is really happening in America, whether it's that video that shocks us all that so repugnant.
The most dangerous time for race in America is when we're papering over what the reality is.
SCHIEFFER: Well, you know, and things have been pretty quiet here in recent years, but then all of a sudden we have these police incidents in Ferguson, and in New York, now up in Wisconsin. Is this just coincidence, Mr. Brooks, or is there a connection here?
BROOKS: I don't believe it's coincidence. I believe we're in a particular moment, if you will, a third reconstruction. We are at a point in American history where we can move forward or we can move backward. We have made tremendous progress in terms of voting rights, but we've seen tremendous challenges in terms of criminal justice reform and a backward movement with respect to voting rights.
So, we are at a moment where we need to catalyze these disparate protests around the country into a real movement for reform.
In Ferguson, we have handful of bills in the state legislature that would make tremendous difference in systems in terms of civilian review boards. We have in congress, a voting rights act amendment that needs to be tweaked, needs to be improved, but we need to move forward on that, because we're at a point where this country has to move forward and you have a generation of young people who get it.
They think we can do better, and I believe we can do better. And in fact, we need a congress that is as engaged as committed to a highest democratic and constitutional values as these young people on the streets.
IFILL: Well, I actually don't think it's been quiet. I think actually in communities all over this country African-American communities, this is what people have been rolling against. And it's only that's it's come to national consciousness largely because of cell phone videos and other ways in which we have been able the see what people have been saying for years. So, that's what's created the moment, the fact that it has now risen to national consciousness, and that's a good thing.
There are things that can be done. We've got an End Racial Profiling Act that has been languishing in congress for years, that congress needs to act on. Cornell just talked about the various bills that are in the Ferguson legislature. And we're also seeing a crisis of democratic governance.
You know, the democratic structure of Ferguson is very much like the democratic structure of communities all over this country with the part-time mayor that gets $350 a month and the part time city council and the town manager who has really all the power. It's an opportunity for us to really look at representative government and to make real change. And that's the moment that Cornell is talking about.
So, rather than just sit with discomfort, we really have to begin to dig in and work on change.
BROOKS: And Bob, I'll note this, that the NAACP has launched what we call America's journey for justice, a series of demonstrations, direct actions from Selma, Alabama, across Alabama, across Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and into D.C.
Why? Because we're trying to take advantage of this democratic upsurge in this country based upon real problems. We think about the fact on the Voting Rights Act, 11 percent of electorate doesn't have an ID, 25 percent of African-Americans, and yet we see this frenzy of voter disenfranchise all across the country, people responding to real problems.
When it comes to the criminal justice front, we see massive racial profiling. And so the point being here is we have people in this country who sense what is wrong, and they also sense what can be made right. And they know that congress can act, but has failed to do so.
SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, I want to thank both of you for bringing this to our attention on this really what is an historic day.
Thank you so much.
We'll be right back with our panel to talk about all of this and other stuff, too. So, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHIEFFER: And we're back now with our panel. Joining us this week, Susan Page who is USA Today's Washington bureau chief, The New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker, plus Bloomberg politics managing editor John Heilemann and Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank.
Well, you heard the man of the hour here in Washington, Senator Tom Cotton, this 60 days in the United States Senate and now he's at the top of every story. What did you make of this, Susan?
SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY: Well, he certainly didn't back off in response to your questions, including about whether he was next going to try to send letter to the leaders of North Korea.
You know, what's surprising to me is not that Tom Cotton would choose to write a letter like this. What's surprising to me is the most senior Republicans in the Senate, including the Senate majority leader would sign such a letter, that is as with the Netanyahu speech to a joint session of Congress, really the kind of steps we have not seen taken before in modern times.
SCHIEFFER: Peter, what do you think Cotton -- Senator Cotton's motive -- what was his objective here?
BAKER: Well, I think, in some ways, yes. I do think he feels strongly -- and a lot of people in the Congress in both parties actually feel strongly that these talks are not leading to a deal that they feel they can support.
His North Korea example as a precedent is actually a reasonable one to look at.
Did that show that inspectors can do what we're asking inspectors to do this time around?
What's interesting about it, though, is it seems to jeopardize what had been a bipartisan skepticism. There also were a number of Democrats who had signed onto legislation intended to force President Obama to come to them. And now they are kind of upset about this.
They did not sign this letter and they're -- and it's -- actually -- the White House, actually, is kind of happy, frankly, that it played out this way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Now, clearly, Cotton has no regrets. But some of his fellow signatories are beginning to.
We had John McCain this week blaming the weather, saying there was a snowstorm and we were rushing out of town and I didn't read the fine print. And I think they're realizing, yes, Cotton is well- intentioned in doing this, but it's backfiring, you know. And if the ayatollah is going to give you this ayatollah's Medal of Honor this year, I think Cotton is going to be a finalist, because it gives them an excuse, if they pull away from the agreement now. And the rest of the world is going to say, oh, well, it's the Senate of the United States' fault, making it more likely that Iran gets (INAUDIBLE)...
SCHIEFFER: Well, you know, I was a little surprised. Here is a guy who is an Iraqi and Afghanistan veteran. He was in the military. He has an exemplary record. I just found the whole thing sort of surprising, John. JOHN HEILEMANN, BLOOMBERG NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you see some freshmen senators who arrive in town and want to get on the map pretty quickly. And that seems to have been part of -- I've seen so you get a sense that that's part of his motivation.
I think it's been fascinating this week listening to former foreign policy people from past Bush administrations, people like Richard Haas, this morning Michael Gerson, saying this is a huge mistake. And partly because of the thing that Dana is related to -- is referring to, which is that if these talks fall apart, you want to be in a position to blame Iran for the talks falling apart.
Now, there is a plausible counter-narrative. If the talks fall apart, that it's dissension on the U.S. side.
And, secondly, if they do fall apart, you're going to want to put back together and up -- and ratchet up the sanctions regime. And that requires huge international cooperation. And this makes it harder.
So the -- in the worst case scenario, that could be the biggest effect here, no -- we get no deal, but it's harder then to keep pressure on Iran going forward.
SCHIEFFER: One of the things that Secretary Kerry also talked about in addition to this, when he talked to our Margaret Brennan last night, was Syria and the whole situation there.
And I want to just play a portion of what he said on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We are working very hard with other interested parties to see if we can reignite a diplomatic outcome.
Why?
Because everybody agrees there is no military solution. There is only a political solution.
But to get the Assad regime to negotiate, we're going to have to make it clear to him that there is a determination by everybody to seek that political outcome and change his calculation about negotiating.
That's underway right now. And -- and I am convinced that with the efforts of our allies and others, there will be increased pressure on Assad.
MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And you'd be willing to negotiate with him?
KERRY: Well, we have to negotiate in the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIEFFER: So there you hear the secretary of State saying we may have to negotiate with Assad.
Is that a change in the administration's position?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it is, in a way, because the condition had always been, through all of these negotiations that have taken place in the past on Syria, with the Russians and others, was that Assad had to go and that he could not be a part of these conversations because, you know, except to negotiate his own withdrawal, in effect.
So there is an implication in what Senator -- Secretary Kerry just said that Assad might, in fact, have room to remain in power in |
while at the same time assuring us how proud you are to be Christians. You are not compassionate. In fact, you gathered together on a single day to unite under the banner of discrimination. Compassion, for you, is only a word; useful as a rug under which to sweep actions that are hostile to empathy in every way.
Each and every one of you is a bad person. And though you come from different backgrounds, there is a single, manifest commonality amongst you. Almost all of you subscribe to a faith you believe is the very mother of compassion. You are the living proof that Christianity doesn’t do shit to grow morality or kindness in anybody’s heart. You are the most compulsory evidence that Jesus does not stave off hatred – in fact, by your example, faith in Jesus seems to empower that which makes us less than human.
I have no reservation about loathing you as I loathe all things malicious to humanity. History will do the same.A top official in the George W. Bush administration has become the most prominent Republican to endorse Hillary Clinton for president.
Richard Armitage, who was Bush's deputy secretary of state during his first presidential term, told Politico in an article published Thursday that Trump "doesn't appear to be a Republican, he doesn't appear to want to learn about issues. So I'm going to vote for Mrs. Clinton."
Armitage, who also served under President Ronald Reagan, isn't the first Republican to throw his support behind Clinton.
Arne Carlson, the Republican former governor of Minnesota, told CityPages on Wednesday that "no human being in history has been more vetted" than Clinton while Trump "has taken campaigning to a new low."
Mike Treiser, a former Mitt Romney staffer, said that "in the face of bigotry, hatred, violence, and small-mindedness, this time, I’m with her."
As conservative writer Ben Howe put it, "I am a fiscal conservative and I am a social conservative. That will not change. But I will not vote for an egomaniacal authoritarian. Nope."
Other Republicans haven't gone as far as endorsing Clinton, but have said they can't support Trump either. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is one of them. He's planning to choose a write in candidate instead.
Rick Wilson, a veteran GOP consultant, has even become a de facto leader of the conservative branch of the anti-Trump effort.
9/ There is no better Trump. There is not Presidential Trump. He is a vile stain on the this Republic. — Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) June 16, 2016Winery direct shipping coming to Maryland and New Mexico
State legislatures are in session across the nation, and even as lawmakers grapple with budget deficits and redistricting, wine is on the agenda as well. Legislators in more than a half-dozen states have introduced new wine legislation this year. In several states, the fight to legalize winery direct shipping continued. Georgia politicians finally repealed the state's blue laws forbidding alcohol sales on Sundays. Tennessee legislators debated allowing wine sales in grocery stores, while North Dakota weighed a bill that would have allowed in-state wineries to sell directly to retail outlets.
Here's a roundup of some of the major legislative wine fights:
Maryland
Maryland wine lovers' long wait for winery direct shipping is almost over. After passing easily in Maryland's House and Senate, House Bill 1175 is now on the desk of Gov. Martin O’Malley. He is expected to sign the bill in a ceremony on May 10, which will be followed by a wine-and-cheese tasting with state legislators. The law will go into effect July 1.
The new law will allow residents of Maryland to have up to 18 cases of wine a year shipped to their homes. Maryland will join 37 other states which now permit direct shipping in some form.
Despite HB 1175's near-unanimous support when put to a vote, it went through multiple revisions to appease members of the legislature. The original text of the bill allowed for retailers to ship wine to residents as well, but the final version excluded retailer shipping rights.
While the national Specialty Wine Retailers Association and the Association of Maryland Wine Retailers supported inclusion of retailers in the legislation, another local organization, the Maryland State Licensed Beverage Association, along with wholesalers, opposed the idea, fearing competition from out-of-state retailers. "The fact that retailers can't ship into Maryland means that no foreign wines can be shipped to Marylanders, because it's only retailers that sell French, German, Austrian, Australian wines," said SWRA president Tom Wark. "It's problematic, and that's the case in every state where retailers can't ship. It's illegal to ship in non-domestic wines."
New Mexico
New Mexico's Gov. Susana Martinez signed Senate Bill 445 on April 6, granting residents all-access rights to winery direct shipping, effective July 1. New Mexico is currently the only state with a reciprocal direct-shipping law, meaning residents could receive wine shipments from any state which also allows New Mexico wineries to ship to its residents.
With the purchase of an annual $50 permit fee, now any winery in the United States can ship up to two cases of wine per month to New Mexico residents. New Mexico's reciprocal shipping policy regarding retailers remains in effect.
New Jersey
Winery direct shipping appeared to be a certainty for New Jersey residents earlier this year; now it's become a question mark.
Senate Bill 766, permitting winery direct shipment to New Jersey residents, passed on March 11. That bill has now been scrapped, however, and replaced by SB 2782, sponsored by the same lawmaker who submitted SB 766, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney.
The bill addresses the recent ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit declaring New Jersey wineries' satellite tasting rooms illegal and allows for direct shipment of wine to New Jersey residents as long as the winery doesn't make more than 250,000 gallons of wine a year. Known as a "cap-limit" shipping bill, SB 2782 would exclude the majority of wineries across the United States from shipping into the state. An identical companion bill sponsored by state Reps. John Burzichelli and Alison McHose, Assembly Bill 3897, is also under consideration. The state assembly resumes its session in May.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvanians may gain the right to receive direct shipments of wine, surprisingly, since Pennsylvania is what is known as a control state, in which alcohol sales are run by the state's liquor control board rather than by independent retailers. Control states such as Pennsylvania, Utah and Montana are among the last of the dozen holdouts still prohibiting winery direct shipping, though control state Maryland will now open its doors.
Four different direct shipping bills have been introduced in Pennsylvania this session. All four bills allow for the direct shipment of wine to consumers, although they are all likely to be revised before receiving committee attention, possibly in May. "We're thrilled," said Terri Cofer Beirne, Eastern counsel for the Wine Institute, a consumer and winery advocacy group. "I'm getting amazing feedback. I was talking to Joe Conti [executive officer of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board], who told me the board had had a change of heart, and they were supporting direct-to-consumer sales now."
Tennessee
A bill that would allow for wine sales in Tennessee grocery stores, introduced by state Rep. Jon Lundberg, was killed by the House State and Local Government Subcommittee on April 13, despite the support of the Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association, whose slogan has been "Why Not Wine?"
This is the fifth straight year that a bill supporting wine sales in grocery stores has died in committee. Opposition to the bill has come largely from the state's liquor store owners and the Wine and Spirit Wholesalers of Tennessee. Following the vote, wholesaler lobbyist Tom Hensley told the Tennessee Times Free Press, "No wine before its time."
North Dakota
North Dakota's eight wineries have been denied the right to sell wine directly to retailers. (They can sell directly to consumers.) North Dakota's state House passed a bill allowing it by a vote of 62 to 31 earlier this year, but the bill was rejected by the state Senate.
The bill would have allowed in-state wineries, which often struggle to find wholesalers, to sell directly to retailers. But out-of-state wineries would have been excluded, creating a potential conflict with the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause, which prohibits discrimination between in- and out-of-state commerce and opened the floodgates for winery direct shipping laws after the Supreme Court's landmark Granholm decision in 2005.
Georgia
Georgia state Senate Bill 10, which allows for liquor sales on Sundays, was passed by the state Senate March 16 and the House earlier this month. Gov. Nathan Deal signed the bill Thursday, and it takes effect July 1.
Georgia will join 47 other states in allowing liquor sales on Sundays, leaving just Connecticut and Indiana as the country's remaining blue-law holdouts.
Florida
Florida legislators have introduced two bills, Senate Bill 854 and House Bill 837, that would place a capacity cap on the production volume of wineries permitted to sell to Florida residents. This is the fifth consecutive year that such bills have been introduced in Florida, although the current session is so close to ending that it's unlikely they will see a vote this year.A December 1 bulletin from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) details the immediate opening of 1,000 permanent federal employee positions at a new operational facility that will open soon in Crystal City, Virginia. Newly hired employees will be tasked with approving applications submitted by illegal immigrants taking advantage of President Obama's recently announced executive amnesty program.
“USCIS is taking steps to open a new operational center in Crystal City, a neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, to accommodate about 1,000 full-time, permanent federal and contract employees in a variety of positions and grade levels. The initial workload will include cases filed as a result of the executive actions on immigration announced on Nov. 20, 2014. Many job opportunities at the operational center will be announced in the coming days and please continue to monitor USAJOBS if you are interested," the USCIS bulletin reads, urgently listing the availability of jobs in red.
According to Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, this facility will be used to immediately implement President Obama's executive amnesty before Congress has a chance to stop it.
“It has just been discovered today that the Obama Administration is now opening a new USCIS facility in Crystal City, Virginia for the purpose of immediately implementing the President’s imperial immigration decree. They are in the process of hiring 1,000 full-time staff to quickly approve applications for the President’s illegal amnesty, which will provide work permits, photo IDs, Social Security, and Medicare to illegal immigrants—all benefits rejected by Congress. This action will mean that American workers, their sons, their daughters, their parents, will now have to compete directly for jobs, wages, and benefits with millions of illegal immigrants," Sessions said in a statement. "This facility is a clear symbol of the President’s defiance of the American people, their laws, and their Constitution. He is hiring federal employees to carry out a directive that violates the laws Congress has passed in order to foist on the nation laws Congress has repeatedly refused to pass."
"Some have suggested that implementing this amnesty would not have a financial cost, but this action unmistakably demonstrates otherwise. Moreover, the USCIS employees themselves have made plain that taxpayers will be on the hook, warning through their union that the agency is an ‘approval machine’ that will ‘rubber stamp’ applications for amnesty," Sessions continued.
The 1000 new federal employees are classified as "General Schedule" or "GS." Here's an explanation of what that means:
The General Schedule (GS) classification and pay system covers the majority of civilian white-collar Federal employees (about 1.5 million worldwide) in professional, technical, administrative, and clerical positions. GS classification standards, qualifications, pay structure, and related human resources policies (e.g., general staffing and pay administration policies) are administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on a Governmentwide basis. Each agency classifies its GS positions and appoints and pays its GS employees filling those positions following statutory and OPM guidelines.
The General Schedule has 15 grades--GS-1 (lowest) to GS-15 (highest). Agencies establish (classify) the grade of each job based on the level of difficulty, responsibility, and qualifications required. Individuals with a high school diploma and no additional experience typically qualify for GS-2 positions; those with a Bachelor’s degree for GS-5 positions; and those with a Master’s degree for GS-9 positions.
These new government positions will no doubt come complete with generous benefits, i.e. retirement, healthcare, vacation, etc. courtesy of the American taxpayer. Further, based on the positions posted as available in the USCIS bulletin, many of them (the GS-13/14/15 positions shown above) are at the top of the government pay scale.
For weeks now Congress has been wrestling with how to deal with President Obama's executive action on illegal immigration. Texas Senator Ted Cruz has called for all nominations not vital to national security to be stalled while fellow Republicans in the House and Senate have been reviewing ways to pull funding from USCIS, a fee based agency.
This post has been updated with additional information.Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: This Time With Feeling
By Clark. January 27, 2015. 5:29pm
It’s a challenge to write a playtest about Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation without sounding redundant. I playtested Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth last year, and practically everything I had to say about the first game still applies to the second, except with an extra coat of polish this time.
Even the story threatens to tread the same ground. The game opens with Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert—the “CPUs” (read: moe anthropomorphizations of consoles) who had to overcome their differences and join together to battle the forces of the piracy promoting, faith-stealing Arfoire—being defeated and trapped in “the console graveyard’ alongside Neptune’s younger sister Nepgear. Nepgear is awakened years later by Neptune’s friends IF and Compa (who represent Idea Factory and Compile Heart, respectvely) and tasked with gaining enough power to free the CPUs from their imprisonment.
You see, Nepgear is a CPU candidate, granted the same superhuman abilities as her older sister and capable of transforming into a more serious, battle-ready version of herself. To battle the forces of the evil Arfoire, she needs to work with the other CPU candidates (the “sisters” of the title), all of whom have some arbitrary reason to distrust or dislike her.
Yep. It’s a lot like the first Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth, and at first, I was irritated by this. Given that the original game recycled a ton of content as you got further and further in, I didn’t exactly feel like giving Re;Birth 2’s story the benefit of the doubt, especially when the moefied PSP character UNI seemed almost exactly like her older sister Noire. Nepgear’s lack of self-confidence and incredibly soft-spoken personality didn’t exactly help things either. Her constant worry that she wasn’t good enough to get anything done (even though she was tearing through enemies like a hot knife through butter) made me a bit nostalgic for the energy and enthusiasm of her older sister.
That said, my mild annoyance with Nepgear as a character was quickly overshadowed by how impressed I was with this game’s localization versus the last’s. While Re;Birth’s localization was pretty rough, Re;Birth 2’s actually had me chuckling to myself at some points. The fact that this game’s localization was so much more fun to read than the original’s made the game feel much better-paced and distracted somewhat from the fact that environments and enemy character models were being recycled over and over again. It sounds like a little thing, but it made going through story beats that should have felt old and tired entertaining and made Re;Birth 2 a lot more enjoyable to play than its predecessor.
The Neptunia Re;Birth series is somewhat interesting in the fact that there aren’t really any towns. You’ve got a map and locations to click on in which story happens, but you’ll never actually explore the land of Gamindustri. Dungeons are revisited again and again, but they’re linear and static, with options to tweak the monsters and items in them if you’ve clicked on the right NPCs or viewed all of a town’s events. Quests are always of the “fetch” variety, which will have you wander out into these dungeons and kill a certain number of the pastel reference-heavy monsters or collect the things they drop. Outside of the silly story, the only thing to be found in Re;Birth 2 is combat. Fortunately, that’s still pretty good.
Combat once again takes on its hybridized SRPG/Final Fantasy X approach, using exactly the same UI, system, and even voice clips as the original Re;Birth. While the voice clips are limited, the combat is a lot of fun. You’ve got a turn roster at the top of the screen that can be changed somewhat by the cooldown on the action each combatant performs, and when it’s one of your characters’ turn to attack, you’re able to move them anywhere in a movement ring before making your move. If you attack, a box will appear in front of your character displaying your attack range. That box will change in size and shape depending on what weapon you have equipped, and whatever enemies you catch within that box are subject to your customizable combos.
(In the spirit of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation’s battle system, I’m going to lift this next paragraph straight from my writeup of Re;Birth 1.)
Combos are based on three types of attacks. Power Attacks (mapped to Square), Break Attacks (X), and Rapid Attacks (Triangle). Power attacks are pretty self explanatory, dealing as much raw HP damage as possible. Break attacks will eat away at the opponents guard gauge, which can be broken to deal bonus damage. Rapid attacks will build up the EXE Drive gauge, which, when raised high enough, will allow you to add highly-damaging finishing moves to your combo (for no cost, strangely) or can be spent to use an ungodly special attack.
Proper use of these combos is absolutely mandatory, as Nepgear and friends are distressingly fragile. (Don’t worry, we’re back to original content now). For the most part, enemies in a new dungeon can hack off about a third of your HP in a single turn, and if your characters are positioned closely to each other, a string of enemy attacks can wipe you out handily. However, if you get in a first Persona 3-style attack on an enemy wandering around in the dungeon, all of your characters will get a turn in advance of all of the enemies on the field, which allows you to take out entire enemy parties before they have a chance to attack if you can break their guards and dish out killing blows efficiently enough.
Bosses, while a little less back-breakingly hard than the first game, are still where the game’s combat shines the brightest. You need to have your characters’ spacing and movement down to a T to beat them. Get everyone close together for an AOE attack buff, break apart and surround the boss to keep casualties to a minimum, keep your healer at a safe range, but also close enough that she can get to everyone within two of her turns if possible… the spacing-based boss battles spoke to the SRPG fiend in me, and each fight felt like a tactical high point.
Keeping in mind that Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sisters Generation only really aspires to be cutesy, nostalgic fun wrapped in an interesting battle system, it hits that mark admirably. The localization managed to elevate the game above the initial dread I felt when I saw it falling into the same groove as the first game. Considering it basically is the first game with some new characters, that’s pretty impressive.
Food for Thought:
1. One of the big changes from Re;Birth 1 to 2 is the addition of “Stella’s Dungeon,” a mode that has you send Stella, the anthropomorphization of the games’ developer FeliStella, out on an adventure to one of the dungeons you cleared. You can’t actually watch her explore these dungeons, but in a number of minutes, she will return with whatever she found. The more items she finds that she can equip, the deeper into the dungeon you can send her. It’s just a bonus time-waster that runs in the background even if you have the Vita off, but it can be kind of fun.
2. Red, the tiny representative of Sakura Wars devs Red Entertainment is obsessed with finding “wifeys” for herself and giant mechs. Cave (based on shooter company CAVE, before they moved to mobile) is good at evading things. Characters exhibiting traits that matched their companies humored me far more than it should have.Note: this post applies to employers hiring Data Analysts, Data Scientists, Statisticians, Quantitative Analysts, or any one of the dozen more titles used for descriptions of the job of “turning raw data into understanding, insight, and knowledge” (Wickham & Grolemund, 2016), the only differences being the skills and disciplines emphasized.
We recently needed to backfill a data analyst position at the Wikimedia Foundation. If you’ve hired for this type of position in the past, you know that this is no easy task—both for the candidate and the organization doing the hiring.
Based on our successful hiring process, we’d like to share what we learned, and how we drew on existing resources to synthesize a better approach to interviewing and hiring a new member of our team.
Why interviewing a data scientist is hard
It’s really difficult to structure an interview for data scientist positions. In technical interviews, candidates are often asked to recite or invent algorithms on a whiteboard. In data science interviews specifically, candidates are often asked to solve probability puzzles that seem similar to homework sets in an advanced probability theory class. This shows that they can memorize formulas and can figure out the analytical solution to the birthday problem in 5 minutes, but it doesn’t necessary indicate whether they can take raw, messy data, tidy it up, visualize it, glean meaningful insights from it, and communicate an interesting, informative story.
These puzzles, while challenging, often have nothing to do with actual data or the kinds of problems that would be encountered in an actual working environment. It can be both a frustrating experience for candidates and organizations alike—which is why we wanted to think about a better way to hire a data scientist for our team.
We also wanted our process to attract diverse candidates. As Stacy-Marie Ishmael, a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University and former Managing Editor for Mobile at BuzzFeed News, put it: “job descriptions matter… and where they’re posted matter[s] even more.”
In this post we will walk you through the way we structured our job description and interview questions, and how we created a task for candidates to complete to assess their problem-solving skills.
How to write a job post that attracts good, diverse candidates
Defining “data scientist”
The most obvious (but sometimes overlooked) issue in hiring a data scientist is figuring out what kind of skillset you’re actually looking for. The term “data scientist” is not standard; different people have different opinions about what the job entails depending on their background.
Jake VanderPlas, a Senior Data Science Fellow at the University of Washington’s eScience institute, describes data science as “an interdisciplinary subject” that “comprises three distinct and overlapping areas: the skills of a statistician who knows how to model and summarize datasets (which are growing ever larger); the skills of a computer scientist who can design and use algorithms to efficiently store, process, and visualize this data; and the domain expertise—what we might think of as ‘classical’ training in a subject—necessary both to formulate the right questions and to put their answers in context.”
That’s more or less the description I personally subscribe to, and the description I’ll be using for the rest of this piece.
How to ensure you’re attracting a diverse group of candidates
Now that you’ve defined “data scientist,” it’s necessary to move onto the next section of your job description: what a person actually will do!
The exact phrasing of job descriptions is important because research in this area has shown that women feel less inclined to respond to “male-sounding” job ads and truly regard “required qualifications” as required qualifications. In a study of gendered wording in job posts by Gaucher et al. (2011), they found that “job advertisements for male-dominated areas employed greater masculine wording than advertisements within female-dominated areas,” and “when job advertisements were constructed to include more masculine than feminine wording, participants perceived more men within these occupations and women found these jobs less appealing.”
We had a job description (J.D.) that was previously used for hiring me, but it wasn’t perfect—it included lines like “Experience contributing to open source projects,” which could result in preference for people who enter and stay in open source movement because they don’t experience the same levels of harassment that others experience, or a preference for people who have the time to contribute to open source projects (which may skew towards a certain type of person.)
We consulted Geek Feminism wiki’s how-to on recruiting and retaining women in tech workplaces and the solutions to reducing male bias in hiring when rewriting the job description so as to not alienate any potential candidates. From that document, we decided to remove an explicit requirement for years of experience and called out specific skills that women are socialized to be comfortable with associating with themselves, adding time management to required skills and placing greater emphasis on collaboration.
Once we finished this draft, we asked for feedback from several colleagues who we knew to be proponents of diversity and intersectionality.
A super important component of this: we did not want to place the burden of diversifying our workforce on the women or people of color in our workplace. Ashe Dryden, an inclusivity activist and an expert on diversity in tech spaces, wrote, “Often the burden of fostering diversity and inclusion falls to marginalized people,” and, “all of this is often done without compensation. People internal to the organization are tasked with these things and expected to do them in addition to the work they’re already performing” We strongly believe that everyone is responsible for this, and much has been written about how the work of “[diversifying a workplace] becomes a second shift, something [members of an underrepresented group] have to do on top of their regular job.” To remedy this, we specified colleagues to give feedback during their office hours, when/if they had time for it (so it wouldn’t negatively affect their work), and only if they actually wanted to help out.
From the feedback, we rephrased some points and included an encouragement for diverse range of applicants (“Wikimedia Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. We also welcome remote and international applicants across all timezones.”). We then felt confident publishing the job description, which our recruiters advertised on services like LinkedIn. In addition, we wanted to advertise the position where DataSci women would congregate, so I reached out to a friend at R-Ladies (a network of women using R) who was happy to let the mailing list know about this job opening.
In short: be proactive, go where people already congregate, and ensure your language in a job post is as inclusive as possible, and you will likely attract a wider pool of potential candidates.
Sample Job Description
You might be asking yourself, “So what did this job description actually look like?” Here it is, with important bits bolded and two italicized notes interjected:
———
The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a pragmatic, detail-oriented Data Analyst to help drive informed product decisions that enable our communities to achieve our Vision: a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.
Data Analysts at the Wikimedia Foundation are key members of the Product team who are the experts within the organization on measuring what is going on and using data to inform the decision making process. Their analyses and insights provide a data-driven approach for product owners and managers to envision, scope, and refine features of products and services that hundreds of millions of people use around the world.
You will join the Discovery Department, where we build the anonymous path of discovery to a trusted and relevant source of knowledge. Wikimedia Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. We also welcome remote and international applicants across all timezones.
As a Data Analyst, you will:
Work closely with product managers to build out and maintain detailed on-going analysis of the department’s products, their usage patterns and performance.
Write database queries and code to analyze Wikipedia usage volume, user behaviour and performance data to identify opportunities and areas for improvement.
Collaborate with the other analysts in the department to maintain our department’s dashboards, ensuring they are up-to-date, accurate, fair and focussed representations of the efficacy of the products.
in the department to maintain our department’s dashboards, ensuring they are up-to-date, accurate, fair and focussed representations of the efficacy of the products. Support product managers through rapidly surfacing positive and adverse data trends, and complete ad hoc analysis support as needed.
Communicate clearly and responsively your findings to a range of departmental, organisational, volunteer and public stakeholders – to inform and educate them.
Notice the emphasis on collaboration and communication—the social aspect, rather than technical aspect of the job.
Requirements:
Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science or other scientific fields (or equivalent experience).
Experience in an analytical role extracting and surfacing value from quantitative data.
Strong eye for detail and a passion for quickly delivering results for rapid action.
Excellent written, verbal, scientific communication and time management skills.
. Comfortable working in a highly collaborative, consensus-oriented environment.
Proficiency with SQL and R or Python.
Pluses:
Familiarity with Bayesian inference, MCMC, and/or machine learning.
Experience editing Wikipedia or with online volunteers.
Familiarity with MediaWiki or other participatory production environments.
Experience with version control and peer code review systems.
Understanding of free culture / free software / open source principles.
Experience with JavaScript.
Notice how we differentiate between requirements and pluses. Other than SQL and R/Python, we don’t place a lot of emphasis on technologies and specific advanced topics in statistics. We hire knowing that the candidate is able to learn Hive and Hadoop and that they can learn about multilevel models and Bayesian structural time series models if a project requires it.
Benefits & Perks *
Fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and their eligible families (yes, fully paid premiums!)
The Wellness Program provides reimbursement for mind, body and soul activities such as fitness memberships, massages, cooking classes and much more
The 401(k) retirement plan offers matched contributions at 4% of annual salary
Flexible and generous time off – vacation, sick and volunteer days
Pre-tax savings plans for health care, child care, elder care, public transportation and parking expenses
For those emergency moments – long and short term disability, life insurance (2x salary) and an employee assistance program
Telecommuting and flexible work schedules available
Appropriate fuel for thinking and coding (aka, a pantry full of treats) and monthly massages to help staff relax
Great colleagues – international staff speaking dozens of languages from around the world, fantastic intellectual discourse, mission-driven and intensely passionate people
* for benefits eligible staff, benefits may vary by location
———
Take-home task
Many engineering and data science jobs require applicants to complete problems on a whiteboard. We decided not to do this. As Tanya Cashorali, the Founder of TCB Analytics, put it: “[Whiteboard testing] adds unnecessary stress to an environment that’s inherently high stress and not particularly relevant to real-world situations.” Instead, we prefer to give candidates a take-home task. This approach gives candidates the opportunity to perform the necessary background research, get acquainted with the data, thoroughly explore the data, and use the tools they are most familiar with to answer questions.
After our candidates passed an initial screening, they were given 48 hours to complete this task, inspired by this task that I had completed during my interview process. The tasks were designed so the candidate would have to:
Develop an understanding and intuition for the provided dataset through exploratory data analysis
Demonstrate critical thinking and creativity
Deal with real world data and answer actual, potentially-open-ended questions
Display knowledge of data visualization fundamentals
Write legible, commented code
Create a reproducible report (e.g. include all code, list all dependencies) with a summary of findings
We recommend designing a task that uses your own data and a question you’ve answered previously, to give candidates an example of their day-to-day work in the future. If your team or organization have worked on a small-scale, data-driven project to answer a particular business question, a good starting point would be to convert that into the take-home task.
Interview questions
Now that you have your candidates, you have to interview them. This, too, can be tricky—but we wanted to judge each candidate on their merits, so we created a matrix ahead of time that could measure their answers.
One of the things we wanted to emphasize was how our prospective applicants thought about privacy and ethics. From how we handle requests for user data, to our public policy on privacy, our guidelines for ethically researching Wikipedia, and our conditions for research efforts, it is clear that privacy and ethical considerations are really important to the Wikimedia Foundation, and we wanted to ensure that final candidates could both handle the data and the privacy concerns that come with this job.
When we thought about the sorts of questions we’ve been asked in previous interviews and the kinds of topics that were important for us, we devised the following goals:
Assess candidate’s critical thinking and research ethics
Require candidate to interpret, not calculate/generate results
Learn about candidate’s approach to analysis
Gauge candidate’s awareness/knowledge of important concepts in statistics and machine learning
To that end, I asked the candidates some or all of the following questions within the hour I had with them:
“What do you think are the most important qualities for a data scientist to have?” Data Analysis: “What are your first steps when working with a dataset?” (“Exploratory data analysis” is too vague! Inquire about tools they prefer and approaches that have worked for them in the past.) “Describe a data analysis you had the most fun doing. What was the part that you personally found the most exciting?” “Describe a data analysis you found the most frustrating. What were the issues you ran into and how did you deal with them?” I used this question to assess the candidate’s ability to identify ethics violation in a clear case of scientific misconduct because I wanted to work with someone who understood what was wrong with the case, knew why it was wrong, but also could devise a creative solution that would respect privacy.First, I asked if they’ve heard about the OKCupid fiasco. If they haven’t, I briefly caught them up on the situation, described how answers on OkCupid work (if they didn’t know), and specifically mentioned that the usernames were left in the dataset. “Please discuss the ethical problems with compiling this dataset in the first place and then publicly releasing it.” “You’re an independent, unaffiliated researcher. Maybe you’re a researcher here at the Foundation but you worked on this project in your personal capacity outside of work. Describe the steps you might take to make the individuals in the dataset less easily re-identifiable and the kinds of steps you might take before releasing the dataset.” Concepts in Statistics: Statistical power, p-value, and effect size is an important trio of concepts in classical statistics that relies on null hypothesis significance testing (NHST). As Andrew Gelman, a professor of Statistics at Columbia University, writes, “naive (or calculating) researchers really do make strong claims based on p-values, claims that can fall apart under theoretical and empirical scrutiny.”I presented outcome of a large sample size (e.g. 10K subjects) A/B test that yielded tiny (e.g. odds ratio of 1.0008) but statistically significant (e.g. p < 0.001) results, and then I asked if we should deploy the change to production. Why or why not? Bootstrapping is a popular and computationally-intensive tool for nontraditional estimation and prediction problems that can’t be solved using classical statistics. While there may be alternative non-parametric solutions to the posed problem, the bootstrap is the simplest and most obvious for the candidate to describe, and we consider it an essential tool in a data scientist’s kit.I asked the candidate how we might approach an A/B test where developed a new metric of success and a similarity measure that we can’t use any of the traditional null hypothesis significance tests for. In statistical models, not satisfying the assumptions can lead the scientist to wrong conclusions by making invalid inferences. It was important for us that the candidate was aware of the assumptions in the most common statistical model and that they understood if/how the hypothetical example violated those assumptions. Furthermore, we wanted to see whether the candidate could offer a more valid alternative from—for example—time series analysis, to account for temporal correlation.“One of the things we’re interested in doing is detecting trends in the usage of our APIs – interfaces we expose to the public so they can search Wikipedia. Say I’ve got this time series of daily API calls in the millions and I fit a simple linear regression model to it and I get a positive slope estimate of 3,000 from which I infer that use of our services is increasing by 3,000 API calls every day. Was this a correct solution to the problem? What did I do wrong? What would you do to answer the same question?” Concepts in Machine Learning: Model Tuning: Many statistical and machine learning models rely on parameters (and hyperparameters) which must be specified by the user. Sometimes software packages include default values and sometimes those values are calculated from the data using recommended formulas—for example, for a dataset with p features in the example below, m would be √p. A data scientist should not always use the default values and needs to know how parameter tuning (usually via cross-validation) is used to find a custom, optimal value that results in the smallest errors but also avoids overfitting.First, I asked if they knew how a random forest works in general and how its trees are grown. If not, it was not a big deal because I’m not interested in their knowledge of a particular algorithm. I reminded them that at every split the algorithm picks a random subset of m features to decide which predictor to split on, and then I asked what m they’d use. Model Evaluation: It’s not enough to be able to make a predictive model of the data. Whether forecasting or classifying, the analyst needs to be able to assess whether their model is good, how good it is, and what its weaknesses are. In the example below, the classification model might look good overall ( |
Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and the commencement of its inquiry into the conduct of the recent election. The committee will consist of five government members including the chair, four opposition members including the deputy chair, and one from the Greens. Andrew Crook of Crikey reports the chair and deputy are likely to be Alex Hawke and Alan Griffin, while Lee Rhiannon will take the Greens’ position.Last season, forwards Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars, Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks and Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers went from reliable fantasy producers to elite-level assets. On the defenseman and goalie fronts, fantasy owners witnessed Mark Giordano of the Calgary Flames and Semyon Varlamov of the Colorado Avalanche joining the likes of stardom at their respective positions.
These were players who made their mark on the fantasy landscape before, but never to the degree of statistical prowess that they put forth this past season. Sleepers are under-the-radar players who are drafted much later than they should be. Breakout players are known commodities who elevate their fantasy production to new heights.
FANTASY HOCKEY ANALYSIS The 2014-15 NHL season is drawing closer by the day, so NHL.com has you covered with all the fantasy hockey advice you'll need come draft day. Analysis of NHL.com fantasy hockey mock draft
Overall ranks: Top 275 | Top 50 breakdown
Targeting breakout candidates in your fantasy draft can go a long way in building a championship-caliber roster. Here are five players I believe will take the jump from household name to superstar in 2014-15. Matt Cubeta's five breakout candidates can be found here.
1. Nathan MacKinnon, C/RW, Colorado Avalanche
Thanks to a monster second half (39 points over final 42 regular-season games) as a rookie, MacKinnon won the Calder Trophy in 2013-14 and took it a step further in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (10 points in seven games). He's on everyone's radar, but not high enough in Yahoo leagues. His average draft position is 35.4 (late third/early fourth round) -- way too low for a player who's moving to his natural position with a chance to exceed 80 points as a sophomore. The 19-year-old reportedly added 12-13 pounds of muscle to his blazing speed this offseason, so don't underestimate his fantasy value and room for improvement. This dual-eligible forward will be playing alongside Gabriel Landeskog and either Alex Tanguay or Jarome Iginla and warrants top-20 consideration. If you're high on MacKinnon, draft him in the second round of standard formats and first round of keeper leagues. There's a great chance you'll be rewarded.
2. Cory Schneider, G, New Jersey Devils
Based on Schneider's stellar save percentage over the past four seasons (0.928), this 28-year-old is more than deserving of a starting role. He has weathered the storm in timeshare situations with Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur and will finally have the crease to himself for the Devils, who had the League's fewest shots on goal allowed per game and top penalty kill unit last season. There are questions surrounding his defense after the departure of Mark Fayne and Anton Volchenkov, but those vacancies mean the Devils can finally develop 'D' prospects Eric Gelinas and Adam Larsson at the NHL level. The team also added goal scorer Mike Cammalleri to fill a top-line need and is in position to contend. It's absolutely appropriate to consider Schneider a borderline top-10 goalie entering the season, because he has even greater potential if his numbers translate to a workload of 60-plus outings.
3. Brandon Saad, LW/RW, Chicago Blackhawks
Brandon Saad Left Wing - CHI GOALS: 19 | ASST: 28 | PTS: 47
SOG: 159 | +/-: 20
Early signs out of Blackhawks training camp are that the team's second line will benefit largely from the addition of veteran center Brad Richards -- and that's music to the ears of Saad and top-10 fantasy forward Patrick Kane. Saad, 21, is a dual-eligible asset who touched on five standard-league categories in 2013-14 and was a multipoint machine in the playoffs, peaking in the late stages of Chicago's series against the Los Angeles Kings. Fantasy owners tend to avoid spending first- and second-round fantasy picks on left wings, so Saad's Yahoo ADP (132.7) provides a perfect recipe for owners who want to fill other positional needs early and pick up their second left wing after the 10th round. The caliber of his linemates and his place on a proven contender cement Saad's value moving forward, and fantasy owners can expect 25-plus goals, 60-plus points and a plus-20 rating or better. There's room for Saad to grow on the power play and in terms of generating shots on goal, which would be icing on the cake for fantasy owners.
Dougie Hamilton Defense - BOS GOALS: 7 | ASST: 18 | PTS: 25
SOG: 114 | +/-: 22
Boston has proven talent and depth on the blue line, but Hamilton, 21, appears to be the team's puck-moving defenseman of the future. Zdeno Chara is 37 and Torey Krug is a power-play specialist who is currently unsigned (restricted free agent). Hamilton saw an increase in ice time last season and emerged as Boston's best possession defenseman, so it's only a matter of time before he sees an expanded role in the offense. If the Bruins start the regular season without Krug, Hamilton could really take off production-wise in a hurry. If/when Krug signs, Hamilton should still continue to see more than two minutes per game with the man advantage and carry top-20 potential in multicategory leagues. He's a lock to produce a strong rating and could make a push for 40-plus points in the final year of his entry-level contract if he avoids injury.
5. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, St. Louis Blues
Vladimir Tarasenko Right Wing - STL GOALS: 21 | ASST: 22 | PTS: 43
SOG: 136 | +/-: 20
Tarasenko has been limited to 102 of a possible 130 games in his first two NHL seasons, but will be in prime position to take his goal-scoring output to the next level in 2014-15. With David Backes (C/RW), offseason addition Paul Stastny and the arrival of Jori Lehtera, Tarasenko can benefit from the Blues' center depth, build continuity with more experience, and expand his role on the power play if he stays healthy for a full season. He has 30-plus goals written all over him, especially after scoring four in six games this past postseason. His Yahoo ADP (166.9) is evidence that he's under the radar, so consider him a borderline top-20 right wing who could see a spike in value this season. Have Tarasenko in your queue in the 13th round and target him as your second right wing or first bench forward.
---As we listen to President Obama, Occupy Wall Street, and much of the mainstream media working themselves into a lather over inequality in America, one thinks of Harrison Bergeron, the 1961 short story by Kurt Vonnegut that posited a society based on perfect equality, “not only equal before God and the law … equal every which way.” The government employed a “Handicapper General” to ensure that no one was smarter, more athletic, or more productive than anyone else. Beautiful people were forced to wear masks, athletic people had to carry weights, and intelligent people wore radios in their ears to interrupt their thoughts with loud noises.
Yet for all the sound and fury — and beating drums in Zuccotti Park — almost everything that people presume about inequality in America is wrong.
For example, nearly all reporting on income inequality in America has suggested that the incomes of the rich have been rising, while incomes for the rest of us have been stagnant or even declining. But that may represent a significant misreading of the data.
T]he gap between rich and poor may not be nearly as large as thought, and that inequality may not be growing at all.
Most studies of inequality, including the recent widely reported study by the Congressional Budget Office, rely on IRS-reported taxable income. But, as studies by the Cato Institute’s Alan Reynolds and others show, reports of skyrocketing incomes among the top 1 percent of earners may be distorted by changes in the tax code that have resulted in more wealth being reported as taxable income. These tax changes caused businesses to switch from filing under the corporate tax system to filing as individuals, and executives to switch from accepting stock options taxed as capital gains to nonqualified stock options taxed as salaries. Simultaneously, the reductions in income-tax rates in 1986 caused much previously unreported income to show up on tax returns.
At the same time, incomes among lower- and middle-income workers have been shifting from cash wages to non-cash benefits such as health insurance and pensions. These non-cash benefits frequently do not show up as taxable income even though they have value to the worker. In fact, a recent study by Mark Warshawsky of the Social Security Advisory Board suggests that nearly all of the recent increase in earnings inequality “can be explained by the rapid increase in the cost of health insurance employee benefits, and that therefore [there] has not been as significant increase, if any, in inequality of compensation.”
Similarly, many studies looking at low-income Americans fail to account for non-cash social-welfare benefits such as food stamps, housing subsidies, and Medicaid. Fully accounting for all of these factors suggests that the gap between rich and poor may not be nearly as large as thought, and that inequality may not be growing at all.
Studies also show that what inequality does exist is not the result of the Bush tax cuts or a failure to spend more on social-welfare programs, but on the transformation of the American economy from a focus on manufacturing to information and technology. This change puts a greater premium on education. As a result, the incomes of high-school dropouts or those with just high-school degrees have stagnated while incomes for many college graduates and those with graduate-level educations have increased significantly. The unfortunate fact is that despite massive increases in education spending, large segments of our society remain unprepared for a 21st-century economy. That is a tragedy, but it has nothing to do with tax cuts for the rich.
In the end, however, one has to ask a more basic question. Why do we care about inequality at all?
Poverty, of course, is a bad thing. But is inequality? After all, if we doubled everyone’s income tomorrow, we would eliminate an enormous amount of economic hardship. Yet, inequality would actually increase. As Margaret Thatcher said about those who obsess over inequality, “So long as the [income] gap is smaller, they would rather have the poor poorer.”
In what way does someone else’s success harm me? Such a viewpoint stems from the misguided notion that the economy is a pie of fixed size. If one person gets a bigger portion of the pie, others of necessity get smaller pieces, and the role of government is to divide up the slices of that pie. In reality, though, the size of the pie is infinite. But to make it grow, we need people who are ambitious, skilled risk-takers. We need people to be ever striving for more. That means that they must be rewarded for their efforts, their skills, their ambitions, and their risks. Such rewards inevitably lead to greater inequality. But as Nobel Prize–winning economist Gary Becker pointed out, “It would be hard to motivate most people if everyone had the same earnings, status, prestige, and other rewards.”
Another Nobel Prize winner, F. A. Hayek, concluded, “The rapid economic advance that we have come to expect seems to be in large measure a result of this inequality and to be impossible without it. Progress at such a fast rate cannot take place on a uniform front but must take place in an echelon fashion, with some far in front of the rest.”
We should all seek a prosperous, growing economy, with less poverty, and where everyone can rise as far as their talent and drive will take them. Equality? Who needs it?Angle & Curve Carboncans: The British company Angle & Curve was new to us stateside reviewers, so we were excited to check out the Carboncans, A&C’s “ultra durable” headphones. Sporting a chassis made of nylon-carbon composite material and available in a bunch of fun colors, these headphones definitely felt as if they could take a beating.
The fit, as with the Onkyo headphones, was somewhat over-ear, somewhat on-ear, and our panelists generally said that they found it uncomfortable. That discomfort also might have been attributable to how the earcups were affixed to the headband: The slot and screw-in-place design provided little in the way of side-to-side swivel and ended up feeling stiff.
The Carboncans have a lot of bass, or as Geoff put it, “BASS! BAAAAAAASSSSSSSS!” Unfortunately, for even the most devoted bass heads (like him), the intense low end doesn’t make up for the lifeless, muffled lower mids and somewhat sizzly highs. As John said, “guitars sound like they’ve been put through an odd filter,” and the highs are “just unpleasant.” For a first outing, the Carboncans offer some great ideas and have a lot of potential. However, until Angle & Curve improves the overall sound profile, we think you can pass on this import.
Audio-Technica ATH-M50x: Revamped to include a detachable cable, this cult favorite has ranked among the top reviewed headphones for a long time, and it was The Wirecutter’s top pick when our site first launched. Many people who own a pair of ATH-M50x headphones, including Tyll Hertsens of InnerFidelity, swear by their sound.
However, when we compared it directly with our other picks, the ATH-M50x turned out to be relatively lacking in sound as well as build quality. Brent found the high end “tizzy and buzzy” and a couple of decibels too hot for the mix. Geoff agreed that the high end was too hot and also found the bass “loose and boomy” next to our top winners, including the cheaper ATH-M30x. John liked the M50x’s clarity of sound but said that it didn’t have as even a frequency response as the Sony MDR-7506. I also found the high frequencies to be tinny and lacking in definition, and the bass painfully woofy when compared with the mids.
Audio-Technica ATH-M20x: Despite the fact that this model has an MSRP of about $70 and currently sells on Amazon for about $40, we recommend that you spend the extra money for the Sony MDR-7506 or for Audio-Technica’s next model up, the ATH-M30x. For starters, the M20x’s build quality feels remarkably cheaper than that of the rest of the ATH-M line. And the sound reflects that same lower-quality feel, as the M20x lacks the crispness and detail of the M30x and falls far behind the Sony MDR-7506. We recommend you pay double the price of the ATH-M30x—around $80—for something that sounds better and offers a more solid build (such as the Sony pair).
Audio-Technica ATH-PRO500 Mk2: These DJ headphones fit tight, and people with large ears (like Brent) might find their earlobes mashed by the PRO500 Mk2’s relatively small earcups. They sound really good, though, with much of that smooth, balanced character we like so much in our main pick, the Sony MDR-7506, but a little more bass, a little less treble, and a mellower sound that might make them more enjoyable to listen to at high levels and for long stretches (namely, the way DJs use headphones). We prefer the MDR-7506 overall, but if you want something more DJ-style the PRO500 Mk2 could be a good choice.
Audio-Technica ATH-PRO700 Mk2: This DJ headphone model is larger and more comfortable than the PRO500 Mk2. It may be a great choice for DJs who need a rolled-off high end, but in our opinion this set sounded too dull for general music listening.
Bell’O BDH851: Bell’O’s over-ear headphones have soft earpads and come with interchangeable colored plates that affix to the earcups, so you can have black, red, or blue headphones depending on your mood. However, in our tests the sound did not live up to the comfort or looks. The unfocused bass-to-low-mids range produced a muddy quality that made even acoustic guitar sound as though it were being played in a metal bucket. Kick drums had a dull thudding quality with no punch. And the highs were completely overwhelmed by the lower frequencies, so the detail was completely lost. It’s such a pity that after making a positive first impression, the BDH851 ended up disappointing our entire panel.
Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO, 250 Ohms: While Brent and Geoff liked the sound of this set, its lack of power in use with an iPhone put it out of recommendation range for them (this model is intended for home or studio use with an amplifier; you’d have to buy a second, 32-ohm pair for mobile use, and that’s too limiting). For me, the bass was painfully loud in use with an amplified receiver, and the earcups were so big on my small face that I found them uncomfortable to wear for any length of time.
Bose SoundTrue: Bose knows how to make comfortable, lightweight, sturdy headphones, and the SoundTrue is no exception to this rule. Every panelist appreciated the design of the SoundTrue's chassis, which when worn felt similar to our favorite active noise-cancelling headphones, the Bose QuietComfort 25.
However, none of our panelists were thrilled with the SoundTrue’s results. The intensity of the treble frequencies was fatiguing to every panelist. The highs sounded somewhat jagged and coarse, which made consonants on words feel overly pronounced, yet overall vocals felt flat and lacking in sparkle or life. Because of this, the mids also became recessed-sounding, so guitars, the center to the lower end of a piano, and deeper horns got hidden behind a wall of exaggerated consonant sounds and hi-hat hits.
Although the SoundTrue is by no means the worst of the headphones we’ve tested, we’ve come to expect more from Bose, because we’ve heard what the company is capable of creating, especially when it comes to active noise control. As such, we think in this range you should go with the Sony MDR-7506 instead, or if you need Bose, splurge on one of the company’s other options.
Brainwavz HM5: Readers requested that we review the HM5, and this model had fantastic Amazon reviews, so we were excited to try it out. Ultimately, the headphones sounded pretty good, but the fit was so terrible that none of us could imagine using this pair over the long term. John described the tight headband as “an instant headache,” and even I, with my really small noggin, couldn’t handle wearing the HM5 for more than a few minutes. Bizarrely, with the tight headband come massive oval-shaped earcups. On my diminutive cranium, the bottom of the earcups stuck out past my jaw, letting out a lot of the low frequencies. If I pressed them against my face to create a seal, I could experience the same sound the guys did. Brent and I both found the treble a bit blaring, but the mids and low end were very nice. Phil said that if the fit weren’t so tight, the HM5 would take his second-place spot. Overall, considering the mixed reviews and the $110 price tag, we advise passing on this pair.
Brainwavz HM9: This model also sparked a lot of reader curiosity, but we’re sad to say that it didn’t live up to our hopes. While the HM9 surpassed the HM5 in terms of fit, the words our panelists used when listening were “woofy,” “lifeless,” “bland,” “boomy,” and “not pleasant.” ’Nuff said.
Boom Rogue R4a: Advertised by surfers, skaters, and DJs, these headphones are described as being indestructible. To be fair, the chassis is innovative, and the set includes two cables (one coiled, one with an in-line mic). But Brent commented that these headphones were “the worst-sounding headphones [he'd] ever heard,” qualifying that by mentioning the messy, boomy bass and the sloppy highs. And he wasn’t alone: Everyone on the listening panel put this pair dead last. Like the V-Moda Crossfade LP, the Rogue had so much going for it on first impressions, only to disappoint us when we put it on. Truly a shame.
Creative Aurvana Live: This light and comfortable set just missed our top slots last time around. Brent really enjoyed these headphones, saying that while “the detail wasn’t as good as the Audio-Technica ATH-M40x, they are good around-$100 headphones too.” John was less impressed, finding this pair a tad too bottom-heavy soundwise. Phil and I had the exact same experience: We both started out liking this model on acoustic music, but found that on more dense rock the mids became a bit muddy. We thought that perhaps this effect was due to a slight bump in the lower midrange, where guitars and bass really shine. Even so, if you need something light and portable, you could do a lot worse for the price.
Creative Aurvana Live 2: Although this set is only one model number off from its predecessor, it couldn’t be more different from version 1.0. Not only are these headphones bigger and heavier, but in our tests they also had a bloated sound to match. John: “Too much mid bump. Messy.” Brent: “Bloated bass, coarse mids.” Phil: “They’re ‘fine’ at best.” Me: “The lower treble lacks the clarity that could rein in the mids and give them definition. They end up sounding blobby.” Survey says? Stick with the original.
Fischer Audio Con Amore: This wood-bodied rectangular headphone design is wonderfully light and comfortable, but the price is steep at over $280, its cables make a lot of noise when you move them, and it doesn’t sound as good as our top picks.
Fischer Audio Con Fuoco: Like the Con Amore, this wood-bodied headphone model is extremely light and plushly comfortable. It sounds pretty decent, but its extra bass can make male voices sound bloated and upright basses sound like they’re playing only one note.
Fischer Audio FA-005: This DJ-style headphone model is not broadly available in the US, and we don’t see much reason to try finding it. As is common with many DJ ’phones, the fit is very tight, but the thin, stiff earpads don’t seal well around the ears, and the design has so little padding that the baffles in front of the internal speaker drivers can mash against your earlobes. On top of that, this pair doesn't offer much treble; it sounds like a speaker under a pillow. Go ahead and give this set a pass.
Fischer Audio X-01: Billed as a headphone model with “insane bass,” the X-01 is impressively well-built and styled for $60, with huge, plush earpads that call to mind Princess Leia’s side buns. It’s basically a “thrill ride” model for hip-hop fans. On most music these headphones sound pretty good for their price—but put on hip-hop or EDM or anything with a lot of deep bass, and suddenly it’s like putting your head right next to a subwoofer. Fun on occasion, but not something most listeners want.
Fischer Audio X-02: Also billed as having “insane bass,” the X-02 is nearly as plush and comfy as the X-01. This set also has much more balanced sound, with big bass that makes it fun to listen to. However, on pop and rock recordings, high-frequency instruments such as acoustic guitar and cymbals can sound muffled.
Kicker Vapor: The Vapor set has a cool tire-like design with yellow stitching and brushed-metal accents, and we were happy to see a three-button remote on the cable. Having heard the well-done (if a bit intense) bass on the Tabor, Kicker’s Bluetooth headphones, we had high hopes. Sadly, this automotive-subwoofer company didn’t quite nail the sonic profile on the Vapor. The bass was unfocused, with a resonant, ringing quality on thumping basslines. The highs had no crispness either, so details were lost, and everything we listened to ended up sounding dull. Such a shame.
Koss Pro4S: Comfortable on the head, the Pro4S feels lightweight but sturdy. Unfortunately, the sound failed to blow away our panelists. John found the bass to be one-note, and both he and I thought the mids had a spiked, compressed sound. Geoff, John, and I all noted some intensity around the 10 kHz area that made snare and cymbals feel piercing. Overall, while the Pro4S wasn’t awful, it couldn’t measure up to the high quality of our top picks.
Koss PRODJ200: The PRODJ200 has a lot of nice features, including a detachable cord, swiveling earcups, and an in-line remote. The problem is that its sound in our tests was decidedly middle-of-the-road, even when we considered the set’s street price of $70 (down from an MSRP of about $130). This set sounded a little compressed next to our top choices; while it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t have enough clarity or depth of sonic field to be able to take down the Sony MDR-7506. We also saw some reports on Amazon of the build quality falling short, and we have to admit that the PRODJ200’s chassis does have a plastic, creaky-jointed, cheap feel. Unless you really need an in-line remote and a low price, we’d say you could choose something better.
Koss SP540: Offering a more powerful bass than the other Koss pair we tested in our third round, the SP540 produced an interesting series of peaks and valleys in the sound. The male vocal range was pronounced (with a peak somewhere around 500 Hz), and other peaks around 2 kHz and 5 kHz made everything sound bright but in an artificial way.
Geoff liked the bass enough to say that he might recommend this pair to someone who really wants more low-end in their cans, but John, Phil, and I thought that the bass made kick drums feel “flappy-sounding,” as John put it, or “boxy,” as Phil suggested. In the end, not enough of us enjoyed the sound for the SP540 to become one of our top options.
KRK KNS6400: The KNS6400 is an affordable studio-headphones set that we hoped would rival the Sony MDR-7506 as an under-$100 gem. Sadly, the plastic build quality didn’t win any fans on our panel, and neither did the sound. The entire sound profile leaned toward the mids and highs, with one-note bass. John and Phil described the sound as “artificial,” and Geoff and I disliked the sibilant highs. We all agreed that the KNS6400 wasn’t a match for our top choices.
KRK KNS8400: The big brother of the KNS6400, the KNS8400 has a thick cable that feels sturdy and ready to take a beating at a DJ gig or underneath a rolling office chair. The cable also includes an optional mid-line insert with a slide volume control that looks a little like an electric blanket controller but will come in handy if you need to cut the music in your ears quickly.
Our panel came close to liking the sound, but we all said that we would want to hear some tweaks in the voicing before we could fully recommend the KNS8400. Geoff, John, and I all thought that the bass was lacking and that the sound profile, as with the KNS6400, leaned toward the mids and highs. Because it didn’t produce much bass, we all thought the lower mids in bass guitar range sounded somewhat thin.
That in itself wasn’t enough for us to discount the KNS8400, but the way in which it emphasized the highs ended up being a dealbreaker. Geoff said the highs were too sibilant for his taste, and John and I detected a slight coarseness that made what should be the clear ringing high notes of a piano sound fuzzy or almost honky-tonk in quality. Overall, the panel concluded that the KNS8400 was a near miss.
Monoprice 12230: We were curious about this $70 model after it got a glowing writeup from Home Theater Review, so we gave it a listen. It is an excellent set of headphones for the price, and it sounds as if it were voiced to match our main pick, the Sony MDR-7506. The tonal balance, like the MDR-7506’s, is even, so voices, guitars, bass, drums, violin, flute, and the like can all be heard clearly. However, voices have a bit more sibilance than with the MDR-7506. Also, the earpieces don’t swivel vertically, only side to side, so listeners with heads that are larger or smaller than average may have problems with fit, especially when listening longer term. For example, this set fit me just fine, but John found that he started getting a headache after several minutes. With the MDR-7506 typically selling for just $10 to $20 more, we’ll stick with the Sony pair.
Monster NCredible NPulse: These weighty-feeling (read: heavy) headphones have soft earpads and a distinctive look. While our panel expected the NPulse to produce an intense bass (which it did indeed do), we didn’t anticipate its boosted treble range. Geoff described the vocals as sounding “shouty,” John called the high frequencies “overpowering,” and I found that the snare and cymbals sounded snappy and in-your-face. Although Phil stated that he could understand how someone who had no access to higher-quality headphones might find the NPulse listenable, the rest of us weren’t impressed enough to support paying over $100 more for the Monster than for the Sony MDR-7506.
Numark HF350: The HF350 is a set of DJ headphones introduced to replace the now discontinued Numark Electrowave. Unfortunately, for three out of four panelists, this Numark missed the mark. Phil noted that the highs made cymbals sound tinny, and John said the pronounced high frequencies left the mids sounding as though the guitar section had a sonic hole somewhere. As for me, I thought the bass seemed one-note and made kick drums sound as if someone were playing a plastic bucket in a street performance. Geoff had the most positive outlook: He admitted that he wanted more bass, but he wasn’t opposed to the sound of the mids or highs.
What we all agreed on concerning the HF350 was this: Although we loved the look and the solid build quality, the fit was a bit off. John and I both found that the earcups pinched, and Geoff mentioned that the shape and tightness of the headband meant that the HF350 wouldn’t work well for people with glasses. In addition, the cord had a ton of cable noise. Between the fit issues and the sound concerns, we think you’re better off with one of our top picks.
NVX Audio XPT100 Studio: We stumbled across this pair on Amazon, and although we found no professional reviews anywhere, we decided to bring this model in for a test. These headphones have a shape similar to that of the Brainwavz HM5, and that design affects the fit in a similar way. The panelists with larger heads found them comfortable, but I had a gap around my jawline; as with the Brainwavz HM5, I lost some of the lower-end frequencies unless I pressed the cups to my head. Brent, John, and Phil said the headphones had a great seal, but they all commented on the upper mids having some sort of coloration and unevenness, which was enough to remove this pair from our top four. Worth noting, however, is that NVX markets the XPT100 as being extremely durable (the company uses a promotional picture of the headband being twisted). So if you need headphones that can take a ton of torque, this model is a darn sight better-sounding than the Boom Rogue. And this set has, by far, the largest carrying case I’ve ever seen for headphones—it’s enormous. You may not be able to pop the XPT100 into your bag, but you definitely won’t lose track of it in your car’s trunk.
Sennheiser HD 380 Pro: Another pair of headphones developed for studio monitoring, the HD 380 Pro boasted a lot of good reviews at the time of our testing but also suffered from several huge flaws that prevented it from surpassing our pick. First, the fit. The HD 380 Pro is noted for being comfortable, but we couldn’t figure out how to make that comfort happen. Yes, the padding for the earcups is soft, but that’s where the comfort ends. The overall build is plasticky and creaky. The earcups are mounted at an inward angle on a headband that’s too tight for any size head. I have a small skull, and they pinched my jawbone. Put them on a larger head, and it’s torture after 15 minutes. If you shift the angle of the headband to get the earcups off your salivary glands, that creates a gap toward the back of your head, allowing for sound to bleed out and in. It’s a huge problem for headphones that are designed for long-term wear in audio editing.
Such an issue could be forgiven if the sound were great, but unfortunately, it isn’t. In our tests, although the sound wasn’t horrid, the highs were too hot and the lows were too loud and boomy for us to call the HD 380 Pro a pair of studio headphones. If you want to hear the mids properly, you need to crank the levels so much that the highs start to hurt. While we aren’t against a little peak in highs and lows (we love the way the Onkyo pair handles this effect), it needs to be in balance, and not in headphones labeled as monitors. If you want an introductory professional headphone set, get the Sony MDR-7506. It sounds better, fits better, and costs less.
Sennheiser HD 280: Readers requested a look at the Sennheiser HD 280, so we brought in this pair back in May 2013. Sadly, this set suffered from a lot of the same issues as the HD 380 Pro did. The headphones were uncomfortable, and the highs were way too hot to be called neutral. Overall, we still found the Sony MDR-7506 to be a better choice.
Shure SRH440: These headphones had a bit of treble sizzle that our panel found off-putting. Brent pinned it as being around 2 kHz, and John, Phil, and I heard it there as well. The rest of the sonic profile seemed rather nice, but that darn sibilant push, although it started off feeling like clarity, ended up being fatiguing. If you need a little extra high end, we’d say to go with the Audio-Technica ATH-M40x, which offers more features and a less harsh upper-frequency bump for the same price.
Sol Republic Master Tracks X3: An all-around design favorite, the Master Tracks X3 was originally out of our price range but dropped and stayed under $150 long enough for us to bring it in. Let me just say that these headphones have the lushest, most delightful memory-foam earpads in this price range. Seriously. We all adored them. And the design is so cool: The headband is removable, so you can swap out colors to suit your mood, and the replaceable cable includes an in-line remote. But honestly, the sound reminded me of Beats. All the panelists pointed to an undefined low end that muddied up the sound right into the lower mids where the guitars lay. The sound wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good enough for us to wholeheartedly recommend the Master Tracks X3, even with the great design.
Sony MDR-10R: Released at the end of 2013, the MDR-10R is labeled as “Hi-Res.” The high-resolution headphone concept was one of those ideas at the Consumer Electronics Show that a lot of reviewers weren’t sure was anything more than a marketing term. Sadly, the MDR-10R doesn’t do a whole lot to dispel that perception. Perhaps it’s the proprietary “Beat Response Control” that leaves these headphones deficient in sparkle and clarity. In our tests, the MDR-10R definitely had a low-mid (180 Hz to 226 Hz) peak that John and Phil heard as muddy, and that Brent and I perceived as leaving the sound feeling muted and mellow in an unexciting way. Add to that the light but cheap-feeling build quality, and we recommend sticking to the other picks in our top four.
Sony MDR-V6: Readers requested that we investigate the MDR-V6, as this model was “identical” to the Sony MDR-7506. Turns out, it wasn’t. Yes, the two models share a chassis, and the MDR-V6 is difficult to distinguish visually from the MDR-7506 (to identify the MDR-V6, look for a red sticker rather than a blue one on the earcups, and for a silver jack rather than a gold-plated one). However, we put the MDR-V6 into a mini face-off against the MDR-7506, and all of our reviewers found that the MDR-V6 had far more bass and notably peaked sonic response. Imagine a signal-response chart that looks like a roller coaster: bass up, low mids down, higher mids up, highs down. In other words, the MDR-V6 lacked the even sound of the MDR-7506, and it also didn’t have the depth of sonic field that the MDR-7506 offered. The MDR-7506 produced a sense of place, whereas the M |
to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (Reuters)
An email from top Jindal adviser Timmy Teepell this morning touted the fact that "Governor Jindal will do three radio interviews today to talk about the fight for religious liberty" and noted, "Governor Jindal was one of the first potential 2016 candidates to talk about the fight for religious liberty when he gave a speech at The Reagan Library in February of 2014. A copy of the speech can be found here." And on Wednesday in Iowa, Cruz had this to say: "We're seeing in the news right now a lot of noise because the state of Indiana bravely stood up and passed a law defending religious liberty. I’ll say this: I will commend the state of Indiana for doing the right thing."
The evolution of others, like Jeb Bush, who are keeping a close eye on the possibility of being the general election nominee -- Bush has famously/infamously said you have to be willing to "lose" the primary in order to win the general --has been telling. On Monday, Bush told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt that "once the facts are established, people aren't going to see this as discriminatory at all." On Wednesday, according to reporting by the New York Times, Bush was singing a different song to a group in Silicon Valley. "By the end of the week, I think Indiana will be in the right place, which is to say that we need in a big diverse country like America, we need to have space for people to act on their conscience, that it is a constitutional right that religious freedom is a core value of our country," Bush reportedly told the audience. "But we shouldn't discriminate based on sexual orientation. So what the State of Indiana is going to end up doing is probably get to that place."
Righto.
The reality of national politics today is that when Republicans are talking about social issues -- and this debate has, for most people, become one over rights for gays and lesbians -- they lose. Poll after poll shows that voters outside of the Republican base disagree with the party's accepted stances on abortion and gay marriage. The more that Republicans talk about social issues, the harder it will be for the eventual nominee to portray him or herself as a different kind of Republican to the undecided voter.
Anyone who has spent more than five minutes covering politics knows that the public writ large is never going to agree with one candidate or even one party on everything. Attempting to adjust every view you have to fit what you think the public wants is a recipe for disaster; it will almost certainly leave that public convinced you believe in nothing. (See Al Gore circa 2000.)
At the same time, the best politicians understand how to spend as much of their time as possible talking about areas of agreement with the public and as little time as possible talking about places where they know the public isn't with them. This religious freedom debate is a prime example of a place where the people who want to hear Republicans talk more about it are already with them and will be with the GOP nominee no matter what. The more the Jindals and Cruzes of the GOP political world spend defending Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and talking about the critical import of religious freedom, the less they are talking about Obama, the economy and foreign policy -- a trio of issues on which their views are shared by a much wider swath of the likely 2016 electorate.
Put simply: Every day the Indiana debate is front and center is a bad day for the eventual Republican nominee.About
The D-Day Scroll
Here is an uncut teletype roll from June 6 1944. This is a record of the pivotal battle of World War II written while it was happening. It hasn't been unrolled or read since 1944. We know how it came out but this is how it looked to reporters of the United Press on the beaches that June morning. This is raw news before it's edited and before it's published. A ground level view of the biggest story of WWII. There could be some things that never made it into the history books. I want to find out what's on it but it's old, fragile, and I don't want to damage it further. So I'm asking for your help to do the job right.With the stroke of a pen this week, Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s new education secretary, thrust the future of the government’s system for managing federal student loans into confusion.
It was a high-stakes move: Her department administers $1.3 trillion in loans on behalf of nearly 43 million student borrowers.
At issue is which companies will handle the bulk of those loans in the future, and how they will do it. Under the Obama administration, the Education Department was on the verge of selecting a single vendor to build a new system for servicing its student loans, in what was expected to be one of the largest federal contracts outside of the military.
But on Tuesday, Ms. DeVos signed an order rescinding key parts of that attempt to streamline the system — essentially hitting the reset button on the Obama-era plan.French police shot a man who they say injured an officer with a hammer outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: Reuters
IT’S supposed to be the place of liberte, egalite and fraternitie, but locals in one Paris suburb claim women have become an “endangered species” in the heart of the city.
Local activist group SOS La Chapelle, made up of residents in the La Chapelle-Pajol suburb, say the area has become a “no go zone” for women who area afraid to walk the streets of central Paris.
Together with members of another resident’s group, Demain La Chapelle, they’ve launched a petition calling for French President Emmanuel Macron, his Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, to increase police numbers and clean up the area they say is dominated by drug dealers and traffickers.
An online petition titled “Women an endangered species in the heart of Paris” has gained nearly 20,000 fans on Facebook in two weeks. It claims women in the area are subject to insults in “all languages such as “b****, dirty wh*re, I’ll kiss you.”
“There are pickpockets street drinking, spitting, rubbish everywhere, The heady smell of urine,” it states.
“There are the traffickers that take root: human beings, drugs, cigarettes, or false documents.
“The employees of these traffickers mean to us every day that we are undesirable, we and our children.”
D'accord avec vous. Alors pourquoi vous n'agissez pas Place de La Chapelle pour rendre cette place aux habitants #traficparis pic.twitter.com/fnEc9Gam9P — SOS La Chapelle (@SOSLaChapelle1) February 13, 2017
#paris10 @prefpolice nouveaux vendeurs sauvette installés devant le cyclone bld chapelle. Ces activités doivent cesser avant pérennisation pic.twitter.com/BaSD6vQqNC — SOSPajolPDGirard (@SosPajolGirard) June 16, 2017
News of the petition has made headlines in France and sparked protests in the area as it comes amid a wider debate about immigration and cultural attitudes in the society where the burka is banned and immigration was a galvanising issue in recent Presidential and parliamentary elections.
La Chapelle has become home to a number of migrants in recent months following the closure of the Jungle refugee camp in Calais due to its proximity to Gare du Nord station from which the Eurostar travels direct to Calais and London.
It has quickly become politicised with some blaming immigrants for “hunting” women and creating a “male den” in the city.
The organisers have strenuously denied they were targeting one group or another and say they simply want to make women safe.
“Our petition written by local women does not target any particular public, it makes an inventory of various problems that overlap each other and cause problems of different natures (security, cleanliness, alcoholism, traffic, occupation of the public space...).” the group posted in a follow-up statement online.
“We absolutely do not endorse articles and reports that make rapid amalgamations aimed at stigmatising a population.”
However those unhappy with the petition, that has led to street protests, claim it is xenophobia dressed up as feminism and has stoked anti-immigrant sentiment.
“It is a complete manipulation of the truth,” a woman known as Alice, told The Local. “The majority of the people in the area behave well”
“I have to come here everyday and if I didn’t feel safe I wouldn’t do it. This is a lie made up by the press and right-wing politicians,” another said.
Demain La Chappelle organiser Loic Guzman said the group is not “targeting migrants”, but their presence has attracted criminal gangs who sell fake immigration papers and drugs which has become the real problem.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has called for new accommodation centres “all over” the country to help address the issue of where to house the migrants moved out of Calais’ Jungle.When you write, there’s usually something you want to say. Answer the good old 5W+H at least.
Poetry is pretty exploratory though. When you start, you have barely a vague sense on what you’re trying to achieve. You’re conveying emotion rather than meaning. Form matters a lot as well.
A lot of creative writing looks like that.
For humans, this is very fun, for computers it’s a huge problem though. Just the definition of an algorithm says it needs to reach The Goal in a finite amount of steps. Whoops, now what?
The many attempts at making a computer write poetry can be put in four categories: word salad, template and grammar-based, form-aware generators, poetry generation systems.
1. Word Salad generators
judy gotta want upon someone.
wanna sadly will go about. sammy gotta want the thief him but the
every reason. real distance carry.
Most early attempts just strung together random words. Perhaps using a markov chain of some sort, but mostly the result doesn’t make sense and looks like an alien tried to write a poem in a random human language.
This is not poetry.
2. Template and grammar -based generators
All green in the leaves
I smell dark pools in the trees
Crash the moon has fled
A slightly better approach uses templates, that are then filled with random words. For example the above poem comes from Masterman’s computerized haikus, where the computer filled in a template:
All [1] in the [2] I [3] [4] [5] in the [6] [7] the [8] has [9]
A similar approach is to use a grammar:
IN THE MORNING + noun phrase with a noun as head + WILL + APPEAR / BE
/ BECOME / SEEM / TURN + adjective phrase
These generators do create text that looks like decent poetry, but with a suspicious amount of human intervention. Would you call a poet just filling in blanks, well, a poet? Probably not. But the texts do fulfill the grammaticality requirement, so it would seem we’re on to something.
Fun fact: the only two computer systems to have published poetry (RACTER and PROSE) were of this type.
3. Form-aware generators
Scattered sandals
a call back to myself,
so hollow I would echo. Crazy moon child
Hide from your coffin
To spite your doom. You broke my soul
the juice of eternity,
the spirit of my lips.
This type of system is designed specifically with grammaticality and poeticness in mind. Two thirds of the way to proper poetry!
In An Evolutionary Approach to Poetry Generation Manurung lists four prominent examples of this kind of system:
Gervas’ WASP system, which creates different types of classical Spanish poetry. Mainly aiming to fulfill the parameters of metre and rhyme. It uses verse patterns that are similar to previously mentioned templates, but are different in that they are more sophisticated since the algorithm gets to pick every word instead of just a few Ray Kurzweil’s Cybernetic Poet, or RKCP, this one is proprietary and so not much is known about how it works, (it produced the above poem, btw). The interesting aspect of RKCP is that it uses an existing poet’s corpus as a basis for its own creations, which is something I’m striving for in my own thesis. There is also ALAMO group’s Rimbaudelaires, which is apparently a template-filling system that creates its own templates by cutting out nouns/phrases/etc. from sentences and then filling them back in with random words, that follow strict rules for poeticness. Perhaps the coolest is POEVOLVE. It uses the reflection-engagement cycle to create an evolutionary approach where many different versions of the same poem are kept in a sort of tree and then pruned based on how promising they seem. Eventually the system would create proper poetry, however the only part implement so far is a poeticness generation system, so we cannot know for certain the proposed full implementation would even work. But it does look very familiar to how Manurung approaches the problem in the thesis.
This is still not poetry.
4. Poetry generation systems
no solo en plata o viola truncada
se vuelva mas tu y ello juntamente
en tierra en humo en polvo en sombra en nada
Finally we reach a class of systems that actively try to create text that is meaningful, poetic and grammatical. Poetry, according to our definition.
Good examples of these sort of systems are ASPERA and COLIBRI, which use case-based reasoning to produce good looking Spanish poetry.
A case-based reasoner attempts to solve a new problem by consulting an explicit database of existing problems and their solutions (Luger and Stubblefield, 1998). This process is described by Aamodt and Plaza (1994) as a cycle of four processes, namely retrieve, reuse, re- vise, and retain.
Essentially the system takes some poem fragments as input, looks them up in a database to get some word patterns to create a sort of template. This is then filled in with random-ish words that fit some particular metre patterns etc.
Through a few revision steps the software eventually produces a verse and stores it back in the database, to be used later on.
Fin
So there you go, the whole field of automatic poetry generation laid out before your eyes. The minimal overlap between different systems clearly shows that this field is virtually nonexistent since not much consensus has been reached on how this should be done … since the early 1970’s.
Then again, the paper I’m reading is by now almost ten years old, so maybe there’s a bunch more science out there than I can even begin to comprehend. Just two months ago I had no idea anyone had ever thought about doing automagic poetry “properly”.
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It's where I go to shoot the shit about programming.Wondering when you could get your hands on the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3? You know, the Android smartphone that can take calls upside down? Well, it shouldn't be too much longer. Pre-orders start April 21st with a $249 asking price for the 5.5-inch version (pictured above, left). As Android Central notes, that's a $30 break if you lay money down now as opposed to later on down the road. The official launch date is still rather ambiguous, but a press release over on 9to5Google says that the unlocked Lollipop devices start shipping sometime in May.
Update: Slight change of plan: Alcatel OneTouch is now doing a "limited time early pre-sale" ahead of the original April 21st pre-order launch. Better yet, the phone will cost just $199.99 during this period, which translates to a $50 discount.Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s wife Laureen dismissed an activist’s concerns about missing and murdered aboriginal women, telling the student “that’s a great cause, perhaps another night.” Harper was in the midst of a speech introducing the “Just for Cats” Internet video festival Thursday night in Toronto when she was interrupted.
Lauren Harper, wife of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, arrives at the "Just for Cats" video gala at the TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema in Toronto. ( CTV NATIONAL NEWS )
“Raising awareness about cat welfare is a good look for your husband’s upcoming campaign strategy,” yelled out Hailey King. “Don’t you think supporting government action on missing and murdered indigenous women in this country would be a better look?” Harper, wearing cat ears, paused to address the 21-year-old King.
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“We’re raising money for animals tonight. If you’d like to donate to animals, we’d love to take your money,” she said to lots of clapping, before suggesting dealing with the issue a different night: “tonight we’re here for homeless cats.” Harper fosters stray cats and volunteers for the Humane Society in Ottawa. King, whose previous activism includes work with shitharperdid.com, said she was then escorted out by security, despite paying for a ticket. TIFF Bell Lightbox cinema, where the event was held, did not return requests for comment. “We’re disappointed the individual chose to interrupt a charity event that had nothing to do with the cause she raised,” said a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Mrs. Harper’s response from last night (Thursday) stands for itself.” King told the Star Friday that she wasn’t expecting to have a full conversation with Harper, but found the response shocking.
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“It’s how she said it, ‘I’ll take your money, if you want to donate we’re here for cats,’ just completely dismissing something that feels ways more important,” King said. The disruption wasn’t planned, King said, nor did she want to stage a full protest. She said she felt compelled to draw attention to the issue specifically with Harper after the Star obtained documents from the federal Conservatives and their plan to “leverage” Harper’s popularity as the prime minister’s wife ahead of the 2015 election. “She was talking about the love of cats, which I felt was not so important,” said King, a cat lover and owner. “There’ve been a number of vigils for aboriginal and indigenous women over the past few months and there just seems to be no government support, no action, no one even talking about it.” King isn’t too concerned with those critiquing her interruption, saying she’s more focused on building momentum for government support of aboriginal issues. In a release, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, said the event is on par with the response families of missing and murdered Indigenous women have received. Last month the government rejected groups appealing for a national inquiry. A parliamentary report found that between 2004 and 2010 while aboriginal women make up only four per cent of Canada’s population, they make up at least eight per cent of its homicide victims.
Read more about:Bank of America earned billions of dollars in profits last quarter, even as banking officials expressed concern recently about the effects of new regulations on their bottom line.
The bank reported third quarter gains of $6.2 billion, compared to a $7.3 billion loss during the same quarter last year. The boost in profits came largely from an accounting gain and the pre-tax benefits from the sale of its stake in a Chinese bank.
(UPDATE: Reuters reports that Bank of America ceded its ranking as the largest bank by assets to JPMorgan Chase. Bank of America is now the second largest bank).
The increase in profits comes after Bank of America roiled customers by announcing that it will start charging customers $5 per month to use their debit cards for purchases in 2012. Shortly after the bank announced the fee, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan defended it, saying that the bank "has a right to make a profit."
Moynihan and other banking officials have said that they need to start charging fees on debit cards and checking accounts for once-free services to recoup the revenue they expect to lose as a result of financial reform regulations -- including a cap on the debit card swipe fee banks charge merchants -- passed as part of the Dodd-Frank act.
Bank of America isn't the only bank adding new fees. Wells Fargo announced in August that it would test a $3 debit card fee this fall, while Citibank said earlier this month that it would start charging certain customers a $20 fee for low account balances.
President Barack Obama criticized the banks for the slew of fees in an interview with ABC News earlier this month, saying that they don't "have some inherent right just to, you know, get a certain amount of profit" if their "customers are being mistreated."
"Banks can make money," he said in the interview. "They can succeed, the old-fashioned way, by earning it."Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week.
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President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Conservative strategists have been toying with how to use race against President Obama in this year’s election. Since Obama’s May 9 announcement supporting same-sex marriage, some Republicans have been salivating about the delicious possibility of dampening black voters’ enthusiasm for the president by casting him as out of touch with their religious sentiments. Then the leaked Joe Ricketts plan, “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama,” revealed GOP strategists’ idea of employing “an extremely literate conservative African-American” to discredit Obama among white voters by reminding them of his link with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Thus, the black church would be both a wedge to weaken black support and a tool to discourage white supporters. Ad Policy
I’m a little surprised to find conservatives offering such clumsy and stale campaign game plans. They seem intent on repeating the strategic mistake made by Illinois Republicans nearly a decade ago—a mistake largely responsible for making possible the swift ascendance of Barack Obama from state senator to president.
In 2004 Obama won the Democratic primary for Illinois’s open Senate seat in a crowded field of contenders. His strongest competitors were well financed and backed by the powerful Daley machine and by many prominent African-American elected officials and religious leaders from Chicago.
Although Obama was well liked by his constituents in Illinois’s 13th Congressional District, he had been beaten badly in 2000 when he challenged incumbent Bobby Rush in a primary for the state’s predominantly black 1st District. Against Rush, Obama faced serious racial credibility problems. His connections to the South Side were concentrated in Hyde Park, known for its relative whiteness compared with the rest of the neighborhood. He was not a particularly fiery public speaker and lacked access to the racialized cultural narrative of defiance that Rush used throughout his career.
These factors kept Obama from beating Rush inside the majority-minority 1st District, but they were unimportant in March 2004, when he handily won the Senate primary with 53 percent of the vote against six opponents. His victory was the result of aggressive campaigning and was assisted by an eleventh-hour personal scandal surrounding his top competitor, Blair Hull. It was solidified by an enthusiastic turnout and near unanimous support from black voters, many of whom had rejected Obama just four years earlier when he ran for Congress.
Still, Illinois Republicans thought it might be possible to use race against Obama in the general election. Obama was initially matched against Jack Ryan, a young, charismatic white candidate who had some important ties to Chicago’s black community; Ryan had voluntarily left a high-paying job in the private sector to become a schoolteacher in an all-black, all-male South Side high school. But his campaign was quickly derailed by damaging revelations from his 1999 divorce. When he withdrew, Illinois Republicans scrambled to find a replacement. In August they announced the surprising decision to import Maryland native and conservative black talk-show host Alan Keyes as their candidate.
In retrospect, the GOP’s choice may border on ridiculous, but at the time, Republicans were calculating that by tapping into the “morality vote,” Keyes could prove a troubling opponent for Obama, especially among black voters. After all, Keyes employs a rhetorical style far more consistent with black church traditions. Like most blacks in Illinois, Keyes is the descendant of African slaves, while Obama is the child of a white woman and an African foreign student. Keyes, like most blacks in Illinois, was raised within a traditional conservative religious tradition, while Obama became a churchgoer only after marrying his relatively more religious wife. While Obama often actively deracialized his political positions, pitching his policies as good for the state in general, Keyes actively discussed his views in the context of race. He publicly advocated reparations for American slavery and even explained his antiabortion stance as motivated by the idea that abortion is racial genocide (“so, the people who are supporting that position [pro-choice] are actually supporting the systematic extermination of black America”).
In many ways, it was Keyes who had access to important black racial tropes and political/cultural practices. But come November 2004, it was Obama who was embraced as the candidate of choice among black voters in Illinois, winning 92 percent of them. In 2008, of course, Obama went on to capture 95 percent of the black vote nationally and also garnered a larger percentage of the white vote than either Gore or Kerry had.
All of this suggests that racebaiting and race-divisive tactics won’t be successful in 2012. Black voters won’t be easily divided from the first black president running against a white opponent. President Obama’s stance on marriage equality may not be shared by a majority of black voters, but it is unlikely to negate their support for his re-election. In fact, a recent Pew poll showed that 16 percent of black respondents viewed the president more favorably after his announcement, compared with 13 percent who viewed him less favorably; 68 percent said it had no impact.
Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign can’t help us predict how racebaiting strategies will affect white voters. We do know that in 2008, Obama’s connection to Reverend Wright only momentarily disrupted his campaign. Invoking Wright as a scary black, radical mentor reinforces the opinions of those who see the president as extremist and foreign but has so far proven ineffective in moving the opinions of most ordinary undecided voters.
It kind of makes you feel sorry for Joe Ricketts. He’s got tens of millions to spend in his crusade to defeat the president, and he’s getting pitched ideas that even casual observers recognize as yesterday’s failed strategies."Sales are being priced for post-legalization, which might only happen in 2019 or 2020. These estimates are based on the production from places that don't even exist yet."
Those who want to hold a niche industry ETF like this one must know that anything can happen in the short term, said Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA Research. Thematic ETFs, especially ones that cover young industries, could see ups and downs as the sector works its way through its growing pains, he said.
"It can't just be an interesting concept," Rosenbluth said, though he could not provide commentary specific to the new marijuana ETF. "The narrower the investment theme, the more can go wrong if demand for the underlying securities doesn't materialize."
Hawkins said that investing in this industry is a high-risk, high-reward proposition. While companies are maturing, the sector is at the whim of governments and it's still unclear what rules and regulations will be placed around the sale of pot.
With a 0.75 percent expense ratio, Brochstein said this ETF may be better for investors who want to put smaller amounts of money into the sector. Put too much and the fee, plus any transaction fees, starts to add up. "It can be expensive if you have a lot of money in it," he said.
Horizons is marketing the ETF to do-it-yourself investors rather than investment advisors and says there's been more interest in this product than any other ETF the company has ever put out. Hawkins says it's for people who want to add a growth sector to an already diversified portfolio and for those who think long-term. "You don't have to be a marijuana user to be able to want to invest in this," he said. "It's for people who can see the growth prospects of the industry."
Despite his concerns, Brochstein is positive on the ETF. "The need for a stock vehicle is great. And the market has matured now to where it makes sense to have one," he said.
Hawkins compares companies in the marijuana industry to the early stage internet operations of the 1990s. "It's a young industry, and it's evolving daily," he said. "It has the growth that internet companies once did."
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
— By Bryan Borzykowski, special to CNBC.comNew cannabis consumers are often attracted to edibles but wonder how much is too much. To help both Colorado native newbies and the many tourists who visit Colorado and have questions about edible potency, industry officials and state regulators have worked to educate people on edible consumption limits.
Some cannabis companies have determined that the best way to handle any uncertainty is simply to create edible products with less THC. California companies Kiva and W!NK, for example, have begun developing product lines that will allow people to microdose.
Microdosing started as a concept to help patients take their medicine in small quantities so that they didn't overdo it. Now microdosing has moved into the recreational market, too, so people can enjoy the tasty treats edibles companies develop without getting too high.
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Both Kiva and W!NK have developed product lines that contain low doses of THC; consumers can eat a few edibles at a time, moderating the dose so that they can achieve a gradual buzz.
"You want to make sure you have the right experience with it," says Stacy Verbiest of W!NK. "After I vaped a few times, I had an experience with an edible and took too much of it, and it was not a good experience.... I didn't think I'd ever eat one again. It scared the life out of me."
Christie Strong, Kiva's marketing communications manager, sat down with us to outline the three things everyone should know about microdosing:
1. It's all about finding your "minimum effective dose"
Many people who try edibles for the first time become overwhelmed by the experience. Everyone has different tolerance levels; a 10 mg piece of chocolate will affect one person differently than another. Microdosing with 2.5 milligram products allows the consumer to ingest the initial THC, then gradually eat more until the consumer finds the right high.
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"The MED [minimum effective dose] is something people don't understand," Strong says. "Cannabis is biphasic, so in small amounts you have these wonderful anti-inflammatory relaxing properties and no side effects. In large amounts, you can get almost all side effects, and you're actually losing those great health benefits."
2. Timing and moderation are key
One problem with edibles is the time it takes for your body to feel the high after digesting the THC. When you smoke, the THC is inhaled and instantly absorbed into your lungs; when THC is digested through the stomach, it can take up to two hours for the full effect to kick in. Microdosing allows you to use edibles more like snacking — you can eat one or two at a time, wait a while, and eat more if the high doesn't kick in.
"By using a two-and-a-half-milligram product, you can slowly raise your dose over a series of hours or time, using it to find that perfect dose for yourself, which is going to vary at different occasions or different times," Strong says. "It's a great place to start when you just need to calm down, deal with some stress and anxiety, but you still need complete mental sharpness and acuity."
3. Avoid side effects
Most marijuana users have had at least one bad experience on weed, whether suffering through extreme paranoia, passing out or just feeling like they're losing control of their senses. With the high THC limits in today's weed, it's easy to overdo.
"We need to avoid those horror stories of over-ingestion," Strong says. "This is the perfect introductory edible. Two and a half milligrams ensures that no user is going to have an overwhelming experience that will turn them off of edibles or turn them off of cannabis. You can give this to your grandmother and be confident that it will be something she'll enjoy and it won't be too much for her."In this article Aura Colors Their Meanings Explained we look at the human aura and then an overview of the differing colors that make up an aura. We also examine the aura color meanings.
Aura Colors Their Meanings Explained.
So What Is The Auric Field?
All living things, vegetation, animal, human etc, are surrounded by an Aura. The Aura is merely the energetic field which is created by all living things.
The Human Aura is made up of different colored bands or blocks of energy (including light and sound vibrations). When viewed, the aura, resembles the shape of an egg and encompasses the entire body.
This is commonly referred to as the psychic energy field or, in some cases, the subtle body.
Each of the colors presenting within the human aura reflect various aspects of that persons current state of health and life including:
Current mood, mental state, emotional and/or physical health
The condition of their chakras – any blockages, imbalance or aspects requiring attention.
Personality and spirituality
Aura Base Colors
The Aura Base colors are closely associated with the chakra system.
The 7 Chakras Save Print Base Chakra – Red (Muladhara),
Sacral Chakra – Orange (Swadhisthana),
Solar Plexus – Yellow (Manipura),
Heart Chakra – Green (Anahata),
Throat Chakra – Blue (Vishuddha),
Third Eye – Indigo (Ajna)
Crown Chakra – Violet (Sahasrara).
Want to learn more? “What are the 7 Chakras?” gives further information about the chakra system and subtle bodies which make up the human aura and energy fields.
What Colors Can Be Seen In The Aura?
When we begin learning about the aura, and viewing the auric field, it is important to understand that not all 7 chakra colors will be reflected in the layers of the Aura. The colors in the aura relate specifically to the person and their current state.
As you learn more, and spend time viewing the aura, you will be able to see the energy hubs of the chakras. You will also be able to interpret, from the depth of color and vibration, the health and well-being (or balance) of the persons energy centers.
The colors (their density and combinations) seen in the outer layers of the aura reflect energy from chakras. This reflects our overall health and well-being, personality characteristics, spirituality and also any areas of concern. These patterns, combinations and colors will be different for each person. They are as unique as a fingerprint.
The Aura Is Fluid And Can Change
Remember the colors and patterns seen in our Aura are not fixed. They represent the person at the time of viewing, so will also be directly influenced by mood, health and general energy levels.
Each person tends to have a constant degree of base coloration throughout life. The base coloration is reflected throughout our aura and is the bodies main source of energy – this gives us our dominant personality type and characteristics.
Examples of Base Coloration
Nurses, Doctors, Healers will always reflect a majority of greens and turquoise
Analytical thinkers reflect as a yellow orange
Teachers will often have blue auras
Adventurers display red
It is the Aura’s Subtle colors that will change. The subtle colors are those we seen within the base as dots, smudges, swirls, bands etc. These subtle colors reflect the energy spikes or imbalance within the person at that moment in time and relate to emotion, health, hopes and fears.
As well as the various colors that can be seen we also need to take into account the amount of color in the aura, whether the color is intense or dull and if it is deeper or lighter in tone.
There can also be metallic colors within the aura, such as silver and gold as well as black, white and grey.
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Aura Colors Their Meanings For Health And Well Being
The aura and the colors seen hold a multitude of information about our past, our present and our possible or predicted future.
As well as providing an overview of a person’s current health we can also see any chakra blocks or imbalance, past situations requiring clearing, areas of work for spiritual growth and ongoing enlightenment and development as well as spiritual personality type and lessons to be learnt.
An aura is noticeable in many different |
indigenous footballers have made to the game.
Opponents have highlighted, however, that their dislike of the player is not just about recent behaviour.
They maintain it harks back to incidents in 2013 when, during the opening match of the AFL's annual Indigenous Round, Goodes challenged a 13-year-old girl who referred him to as “an ape”.
He was criticised for singling the girl out and embarrassing her.
Goodes subsequently explained that he didn’t realise her age, but went on to argue that racist taunts shouldn’t be ignored, regardless of who makes them.
The girl later spoke to Goodes and wrote him a letter of apology, saying she wasn’t aware that the word was racist.
He publicly called for people to rally and support her.
"It's not a witch-hunt, I don't want people to go after this young girl,” he said.
"We've just got to help educate society better so it doesn't happen again."
When Victoria Police asked if he wanted to press charges he declined.
"It's not her fault. She's 13, she's still so innocent, I don't put any blame on her," he said.
Despite Goodes’ apparent consideration of the girl’s welfare the incident became a catalyst for vilification and on Thursday her mother re-ignited the issue, telling Fairfax Media she believes Goodes owes her daughter an apology for the "unfair" treatment she received from security staff and police.
The other reason put forward for the incessant heckling directed towards Goodes is his highlighting of indigenous issues and speaking out about racism in his 2014 Australian of the Year acceptance speech.
“It’s his right as an Australian to have a point of view about issues that affect him,” Buttrose told Anadolu Agency.
“He was the 2014 Australian of the Year, and it was his role to use that platform to raise issues that he thinks are of concern to the rest of Australia.
“I suspect there are some people in the community who don’t like a thoughtful, educated indigenous Australian speaking about matters that concern him and other indigenous Australians.”
Soutphommasane is troubled by the slow response of Australia’s political leaders and AFL executives to speak out on the Goodes issue and the inability of some people to recognize that the booing had racial implications.
“There should be no ambiguity now,” he told Anadolu Agency.
“It’s doing harm; it’s done damage to Goodes, the AFL and our society because it’s sent the message that people have the license to degrade, humiliate and intimidate someone who has taken a stand against racism and isn’t afraid to speak up.
"The last thing we want is a society where calling out racism is considered a bigger moral crime than the perpetration of racism.”
On Saturday, the Australian Human Rights Commission issued a joint statement on behalf of 150 community organisations calling for renewed efforts to stamp out racism in sport and everyday life.
Soutphommasane also noted that Australia’s peak Turkish body, the Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance, has requested that their name be added to the statement.It was a calm Tuesday in Tuscaloosa. Students were finishing up some exams before Thanksgiving break, some were getting ready for their Tuesday night bar visits. Neither of those come as a surprise. What may come as a surprise to some, though, is a packed student section in Coleman Coliseum. Fans and students showed up to watch the Tide’s season opener, and for one reason in particular: Collin Sexton.
The Young Bull has arrived
Collin Sexton made his debut for the Crimson Tide on Tuesday night. The former 5-star served his one game suspension for violation of NCAA rules as Alabama took on Memphis Friday night. As the most highly anticipated player in recent Alabama basketball history, Sexton made a statement in his first appearance. Also known as Young Bull, Sexton dropped 22, including 3-5 from deep, and added 5 assists in the Tide’s 86-64 victory over Lipscomb. Sexton distributed the ball around to his teammates and made shots for other players like a veteran. The true freshman from Mableton, GA looked completely comfortable on the court. Although he is a threat to score from any spot across half court, the 6’3″ point guard seems to love dishing the rock as much as he loves scoring it.
ESPN named Collin Sexton to the Wooden Award Top 50 Watch List and was named as the #14 player in college basketball this year. Sexton plays with so much emotion on the court it’s contagious. You can really tell he is enjoying himself out there while he plays. He is an electric player who comes in as one of the most highly touted recruits in the 2017 class, and one Alabama has been recruiting since his sophomore year. I truly believe he takes pride in wearing “Alabama” on his chest. Sexton adds a lot of additional energy and excitement when he is in the game. The hype around Alabama’s basketball program is growing day by day, and Collin Sexton is a big part of that. Keep an eye out for this kid; he’s going to be special. As Sexton’s success keeps rolling, so will the Tide.
Soon enough, Collin Sexton will be a household name to all college basketball fans. Beware of the Young Bull.
#BuckleUpMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Digit with her adoptive father
The Thivillons have been caring for Digit the gorilla for more than a decade, but having a primate at home throws up some unlikely problems.
In a village near Lyon in south-east France, a couple have become local celebrities by virtue of their adopted "child".
Digit, as she is known, has been living in the same room as Pierre and Eliane Thivillon for nearly 13 years.
Their relationship began in 1999, when the young primate came into the care of the couple, who manage the zoo at Saint Martin la Plaine where she was born.
Within three days of her birth, it was clear that Digit's mother Pamela was refusing to feed her. The Thivillons took her into their care, bottle-feeding her during the day and returning her to her enclosure at night.
By 18 months old, the baby gorilla had begun to show a deep attachment to her foster parents. After an illness left her requiring 24-hour care, Pierre and Eliane took her into their bedroom at night, where she has slept ever since.
For the first 10 years, she snuggled up between the couple, but now at 130kg (287lbs) she has to have a bed of her own.
Although she has free reign of the couple's small apartment, during the day she rambles around her enclosure which is next door.
Image caption A younger Digit on the bed she then shared with Eliane and Pierre
"I don't go in there as it's Digit's home," says Eliane, acknowledging the young teenager's right to privacy. "Only Pierre is allowed in there."
Having a gorilla in the family is not without its problems.
"This morning I brought four raisin buns for our breakfast," says Pierre. "When I had my back turned she managed to finish four of them before I could save one. Then she turned her attention to Eliane's coffee."
"She loves chocolate," says Eliane, and sometimes she will drink an entire cup of coffee in search of the little sweet Eliane dunks in there.
The couple, who have no children, are often asked if they consider Digit as their daughter.
"I wouldn't say we see her as our child as such, but she is someone who is very dear to me," explains Eliane.
Image caption Digit plays with other animals at the Saint Martin la Plaine zoo
"She is part of our family and I do treat her as a mother would. Sometimes I will say: 'No, no more sweets Digit', and then she will give me three or four kisses and I give in."
The trio have learned to transcend the barriers of language to communicate with each other.
"We recognise the noises that she makes. This morning she made a little grunt to show me that she was happy," says Eliane. "She understands what we tell her too."
"The other day she was sitting on the sofa and I said, 'Come on Digit, give me some space,' and she moved over.
"In the morning, when she wants her toys or her Lego or her books, she just points to the cupboard where they are kept."
Encouraging a teenager to read is a challenge for any parent, but what kind of books is a 13-year-old gorilla interested in?
"She has animal books and catalogues," Eliane explains. "Sometimes she looks through them and she'll stop on a page and I'll explain to her, this is a cat or this is another animal."
If she is thirsty she will find my hand and give it a little tug Pierre Thivillon
When playing with her Lego she is limited to the big chunks as the little ones slip through her enormous fingers.
Every evening when Pierre has finished his rounds at the zoo, he and his wife have a quick meal before they retire to their bedroom.
"I stay and play with Digit until she makes signs that she wants to go to sleep," says Pierre. "Then we prepare a pillow for her, we cover her up and she makes happy little grunting sounds. Then we just watch her until she falls asleep."
Her brother Ginko joined them too for a while but when he grew too big he moved out into one of the enclosures. Digit remains, never more than a metre away from the couple.
"In the night, if she is thirsty she will find my hand and give it a little tug, sometimes she will tug at my feet," says Pierre.
"We try to be attentive to her needs - not that she is spoilt rotten or anything - but we just try to make sure that she has what she needs and she is happy."
Image caption Digit was taken into their care after her mother rejected her
But looking after a teenage gorilla means forsaking more than the average parent. Finding an appropriate babysitter is difficult and Pierre and Eliane have been with Digit every night since they took her into their care.
Once, when Pierre had to travel to a zoo in Kent in the UK, he arranged the trip so that he could go and return within the day. And the same applied when he had to go into hospital.
Both Pierre and Eliane are in their sixties and with no clear successor to take on the running of the zoo their biggest worry is who will take care of Digit.
"It is not good getting old," says Pierre. "I think that parents who have children have their worries but when these children get to a certain age they can take care of themselves. But when you have a gorilla like Digit you are completely responsible for her, it is not like having a dog that you can leave with a neighbour.
"She is a very special creature and that's why it has been such a joy to have her with us. But we know that her only chance will be not to live with other humans, but with other gorillas."
For the past few years, the Thivillions have been trying to reintegrate Digit with her gorilla family and she is showing some progress, getting along well with her brother.
In the meantime Pierre is busy helping his charge to get on the property ladder, building her a huge 3,000 cubic metre enclosure which she will share with her brother and two half-sisters.
"We are hoping that eventually she will have a baby of her own and she will still have this bond with us," he says. "We hope when she does she will still come to us for advice."
The Thivillions told their story to Vanessa Mock for Outlook on the BBC World Service. Listen to the programme here.“One of her [Mercedes Brighenti ] favorite research subjects is cheesecake. She likes to place a 2-millimeter slice of cream cheese in a machine that heats it to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. This so-called rheometric test gauges viscosity and serves as a mathematical and scientific substitute for taste-testing a cake. By evaluating various cream cheese formulations, Brighenti is able to determine which types create brittle, firm, grainy, or sticky cakes. It may not win her a Nobel Prize, but it could give the world a better-tasting cheesecake.” (Joshua Davis, “Smear Campaign,” Wired 14.6, 2006)
We have to appreciate the research Dr. Brighenti does: scientific enquiry that might lead to a better-tasting cheesecake. Although most cheesecakes taste delicious, the idea that we can improve upon what’s already nearly perfect is both intriguing and exciting. Toward that cause I unite with Dr. Brighenti. Well, ok. Truthfully Dr. Brighenti is using cheesecake as a means to an end, in her quest to find a more perfect cream cheese. She and I may have diverse goals, but our end result is the same: better cheesecake.
I recently had a cream cheese epiphany, actually. As many years as I’ve been cooking and baking, and as many changes as I’ve made in the products that I use (trending toward natural, unprocessed, and of necessity gluten-free), I never before thought to switch to a brand of cream cheese other than that made by Kraft. The reason is understandable, I suppose. I grew up knowing only Philadelphia brand cream cheese. Other than generic store brands (such as Hill Country Fair), I never saw any other brand during my formative years. Even these days, with people maturing and evolving out of loyalty to familiar, traditional name brands, Kraft Philadelphia brand remains the ubiquitous cream cheese in grocery stores. Joshua Davis, in his article “Smear Campaign,” reports that Kraft controls 70% of the $800 cream cheese market. What’s more, cream cheese with a stable shelf life is difficult to produce, and Kraft closely guards its secret cream cheese recipe to prevent other companies from reproducing it. With one company controlling the majority of the cream cheese market, other companies have a difficult time developing competing brands of cream cheese. No wonder we lack a ready variety of cream brands from which to choose! One day while passing by the dairy case in Whole Foods, I suddenly saw the cream cheese brands that I had somehow been blind to all these years: Horizon, Organic Valley, and Whole Food’s private label 365 cream cheeses, right there in the dairy case where they’ve been all along. They’ve been present for a while; I had been looking at them without really registering the significance of their existence.They offer an alternative to Philadelphia cream cheese!
My cream cheese epiphany led to my cheese cake epiphany: a better cream cheese would make a better cheese cake! I wasn’t sure these cream cheeses tasted better than Kraft cream cheese, though I suspected they might taste better. I had to try them out, to see if one of these cream cheeses could produce a more luscious cheesecake than the one brand of cream cheese I’d been using all my life. Before I committed to a new brand of cream cheese, I did extensive and diligent research. Yep, that’s right. As soon as I got home from the store that day, I went straight to chow.com on my computer and typed the search term “cream cheese” into the site’s search engine. The people on the discussion boards there either still use Philly or they use brands I can’t find in Austin or San Antonio (Nancy’s or Sierra Nevada). I did a little more research – but not much. I had an important birthday looming (our oldest son’s), for which I had to bake a gluten-free cheesecake. I found that the taster’s choice folk over at SF Gate voted Whole Foods 365 brand the winner in a taste test that included eight different brands of cream cheese. Since Organic Valley cream cheese costs nearly twice as much as 365 brand, I made an economic decision at the margin and tried the 365.
When I first opened the packages of cream cheese, I didn’t notice much difference between the 365 brand and the familiar Philadelphia brand. The color, the aroma, and the texture seemed similar. When I started creaming the cheese, however, a clear difference between the two emerged. The 365 brand cream cheese is much creamier than the Philly brand. It is smoother and silkier. I tasted a little of the 365 cheese. It tastes smoother, richer, and creamier than Philly brand. As I continued to beat the cheese with the remaining ingredients, no little, tiny lumps of cheese remained in the cheesecake batter as I poured it into the spring-form pan. When I used Philly brand, the cheesecake batter seems to have little tiny lumps of cream cheese: it doesn’t beat that smoothly. A definite difference between the two brands of cream cheese exists. I will use 365 from now on, when I need cheesecake for a recipe.
For the cheesecake I baked with 365, I modified a recipe for a deep dark chocolate cheesecake I found at Epicurious.com. I substituted gluten-free chocolate cookies for the crust, I used a ganache topping instead of a whipped cream topping, and I added Kahlua to the batter and the ganache. The cake turned out wonderfully. Our family members and friends who ate the cake pronounced it the best cheesecake they’ve ever eaten. I’m sure the quality of the cream cheese enhanced the quality of the cake.
Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake
Crust
1 pkg Pamela’s Gluten-Free Extreme Chocolate Mini Cookies
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
Filling
10 oz 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 (8-ounce) packages 365 cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup Kahlua
4 large eggs
Ganache Topping
4 oz 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp unsalted butter
1 tsp Kahlua
Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. For easy removal of the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan, wrap the bottom tightly with aluminum foil. Butter the foil.
Blend cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Blend in sugar. Add melted butter and process until well blended. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom (not sides) of prepared pan. Bake just until set, about 5 minutes. Cool while preparing filling. Keep the oven temperature at 350 degrees.
Filling:
Stir chopped chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth (or microwave it in 20 second increments, stirring after 20 seconds, making sure not to over microwave). Remove bowl from over water (or microwave). Cool the chocolate until it’s lukewarm but still pourable. Blend together the cream cheese, sugar, and cocoa powder in processor until smooth. Blend in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in the lukewarm chocolate. Mix in the Kahlua. Pour the filling over crust, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary. Bake until the center is just set and just appears dry, about 1 hour. Cool 5 minutes. Run knife around sides of cake to loosen. Chill for about two hours.
Ganache Topping:
Heat the cream and butter in a pan (or microwave in a bowl) until the butter is melted and the cream is hot, but not boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to sit in the hot liquid for a minute or two, then stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the Kahlua and mix well. Pour the ganache over the cooled cheesecake and refrigerate over-night, or for several hours.
To remove the cheesecake from the pan, loosen the sides of the cake by carefully running a rubber spatula around the edges, between the cake and the pan, immediately after removing the cake from the refrigerator before serving. Spring open the sides of the pan. Unwrap the foil from the bottom of the springform pan. Lift the cake from the foil and place it immediately on a serving platter. The bottom of the cake should easily lift off the buttered foil.
Slice the cake and serve the slices with dollops of whipped cream.
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Posted on October 31, 2013, Dominic Tarason HorrorScope Halloween: Doom At 20 – Guns, Gore & Good Times
This is Part one of our massive two-part retrospective on DOOM, to celebrate its 20 year anniversary this year. Check out part two for a look at some of the amazing mods the game has inspired over the years.
Happy Halloween one and all! It’s the season for all things evil and demonic, so what better time to take a long, nervous sideways glance at a game so dripping with satanic power that it has scarcely slowed its terrible, gore-drenched advance for two whole decades? Of course, we’re talking about that undying titan of the FPS genre; Doom. The one, the only, the original. A beast that’s still thrashing and kicking twenty years later, and still worth playing to this day.
Not Doom 3, with it’s pitch-black corridors and awkward flashlight fumbling. Not the frequently rebooted Doom 4, trapped in development hell. We’re talking about the original and all its cousins, derivatives and unholy spawns. This is the story of one of the most enduring games in the history of the medium, and the fans that have kept this monster going for all these years.
Original Sin – The Genesis Of Doom
First released in 1993, Doom changed the face of PC gaming. While they’d made some waves with the release of the Catacomb series and later Wolfenstein 3D, this was the release that put iD software on the map. The original free shareware episode (a concept now sadly forgotten) of the game was one of the first major digitally distributed titles, and the game was graphically unparalleled at the time. It was darker, grittier and gorier than the competition. It was unquestionably the future of the FPS.
The release of Doom 2: Hell On Earth the following year cemented iD Software’s place among the greats of the industry. While essentially little more than an extended expansion, the new enemies and additional weapon – the legendary Super Shotgun – filled in the blanks, and while there some debate as to whether the level design was an improvement over the original game, Doom 2 is the title that most think of when you invoke the name, even to this day.
Dissecting The Beast – Why Doom Works
What made Doom so special is hard to pin down, and everyone has their own fond memories, be it of the trap-laden level design, the imaginative monsters or the MIDI Metal soundtrack, lifting riffs wholesale from many of the genre anthems of the time. Even in its shareware incarnation, it was highly replayable, with the upper difficulty settings adding more enemies to the level, increasing the pace and skill required to survive.
One of the best analyses of the game came from JP LeBreton, one of the lead Bioshock level designers. After recreating one of Bioshock’s more iconic levels in Doom, he put forward the theory that, at its heart, Doom was closer to Robotron than any other game. A twin-stick arcade shooter as played from a first-person perspective. Of course, this assessment holds up better when applied to Doom 2 and its larger battles in more open environments, but even the original game feels quite unlike modern shooters, especially when played with the now-standard WSAD + Mouse layout.
Looking back, Doom is almost unrecognizable when compared to modern FPS gameplay. Nowadays, it’s rare to give the player even a fraction of the Doom Marine’s unchecked power. No longer can you run like a cheetah while lugging around eight guns and enough ammo to fight an army. The standard reaction to finding opposition in a modern shooter is to take stock and take cover, wheras at it’s peak, Doom encouraged you to charge headlong into danger with most enemies unable to harm you so long as you kept mobile.
Heresy And Strife – Doom’s Twilight Years
Doom went on to spawn a few official expansions made in collaboration with early community groups, as well as some direct clones, several of which were officially licensed and running on the same engine. Of all the Doom engine games, Heretic was the most superficially similar to its parent. Essentially Doom in a high-fantasy world, it had a few new features, but otherwise felt like more of the same. Hardly a bad thing, but not a great leap forward either.
Hexen later expanded on Heretic’s universe, but the complex hub-based levels often turned into an interminable switch-hunt, and the addition of some light RPG elements was somewhat undermined by each character only having four weapons, rather than the traditional 7-8 of the time. It sold well and even got a Quake-engine sequel later on, but it doesn’t hold up nearly as well as its predecessor.
The final Doom engine game was Strife, arguably an early precursor to Deus Ex, offering dialogue and multiple quest solutions in a post-apocalyptic world of intrigue and violence. Sadly, it came out alongside Quake, dooming it commercially. As if to spite its very existence, every company involved with it went bust, meaning that it can only be found in the depths of eBay or on dusty old Abandonware sites to this day. Still good fun if you can track it down, and host to a small mod collection of its own.
With the release of Quake, iD led the genre they had established down a new road. Higher system requirements led to smaller swarms of enemies, and increasing demands for faster, deadlier online combat led to quicker kills, smaller targets and more precise guns. Eventually, we would see the rise of ‘instagib’ servers, and the popularization of their more dour cousin, the modern tactical shooter.
With the genre itself so far distanced from its parent, Doom now is a niche unto itself, familiar yet strange, retro yet eternally reinventing itself. More through luck than judgement, Doom has become timeless – immortal, even – and that’s why there are still people playing it now. There’s an active community making levels and mods and whole spinoff games based on it, and it’s just not going to stop any time soon. So let’s take a look at the other, sometimes-strange forms that Doom has taken over the years…Please enable Javascript to watch this video
The family of an L.A. high school football star who was killed by an undocumented immigrant expressed support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's controversial views on Mexican immigrants, standing with Trump as he spoke about the issue in Beverly Hills Friday.
Relatives of Jamiel Shaw Jr. met with Trump at an undisclosed location Friday afternoon and later attended a news conference with him.
Shaw died at age 17 in a 2008 shooting near his Arlington Heights home when gang member Pedro Espinoza mistook him for a rival gang member because of the victim’s red Spider-Man backpack.
Espinoza, who was in the country illegally, was in 2012 sentenced to death for the murder. He had jumped out of a vehicle, shot Shaw in the stomach and then fired a second execution-style shot in his head.
Shaw was a running back at Los Angeles High School and had been named the Southern League's most valuable player. He reportedly drew interest from Stanford and Rutgers universities.
The victim’s parents have recently come out in support of Trump, who has been in the spotlight more than usual since he referred to Mexican immigrants as “rapists" when announcing his candidacy on June 16 for the Republican presidential nomination.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people,” Trump said. “They’re sending us not the right people.”
Since making those comments, Trump has seen his ties cut with NBC Universal, Univision, Macy’s and the PGA of America. Trump’s businesses’ alleged employment of undocumented Mexican workers has also come under scrutiny since he made the comments.
Meanwhile, he has vaulted to the top of a crowded field of Republican hopefuls, and many commentators have spoken up in support of the former reality television star.
Early Friday evening, speaking at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, Trump complained that his comments were being cut down and oversimplified by news media. He said he had "great relationships" with Mexicans, but he faulted the country's leaders.
"They're sending people into our country that we don't want, but we take, and that they don't want," Trump said of Mexico. "You know who they're sending."
Jamiel Shaw's father stood behind Trump as he spoke, as did several other people who said their relatives had been killed by immigrants in the country illegally.
Jamiel Shaw’s mother, Anita Shaw, had drawn attention Wednesday when the Daily Mail’s West Coast correspondent published a story in which Shaw endorsed Trump.
Jamiel Shaw Jr.’s father told FoxNews.com the same day that Trump’s comments about immigrants made him “happy for the first time.”
The family held an impromptu news conference in Arlington Heights Friday afternoon, before the event in Beverly Hills with Trump. Jamiel Shaw Sr.'s sister, Althea Shaw, said Trump’s office had reached out to the family though Fox News after Jamiel Shaw Sr. spoke to the network about his support for Trump.
“It’s a blessing,” she said.
"We love Mr. Trump. We're happy, because we know he spoke up and he said something," Althea Shaw said later at the Beverly Hills news conference.
Jamiel Shaw Sr. compared his son’s death to that of 32-year-old Kate Steinle, who was shot to death on a pier in San Francisco this month, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant who had been deported five times. The suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, admitted to a local TV news reporter that he shot Steinle.
“Put yourself in that same spot,” Jamiel Shaw Sr. said. “From grandfathers to babies have been victims of illegal aliens. So for people to act like it’s not happening because you didn’t say it the right way — that’s a cop out.”
Shaw Sr. said Trump's statements about immigration resonated with him.
"To me, he said it right. He was light on them. He just said 'rape.' Come on, I would have said'murder,'" Shaw Sr. said. "You don't have to know how to say everything, you just have to have action.... He's telling the truth."
“The only difference between me and Donald Trump is that he is rich, so he’s able to withstand the onslaught to get his point across. That’s why he don’t care what people think,” Shaw said. “Me, on the other hand, I don’t have nothing.”
Trump was in the Los Angeles area Friday, reportedly for a meeting with a “secret” conservative group of Hollywood industry actors and executives called Friends of Abe, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Local immigrant rights group CHIRLA, or Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, planned to protest Trump's visit outside the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel, where the group said he was set to meet with Friends of Abe.
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Please enable Javascript to watch this videoSgt. Donna R. Johnson AP When the first of October rolled in a couple of weeks ago it reminded many of us that summer was really over. Forget Labor Day and the first official day of fall September 21; October is changing leaves, pumpkins, and Halloween.
Unfortunately that routine awareness was lost to three members of the North Carolina National Guard who were killed by a suicide bomber October 1, as they made their way through an open air market.
The deaths passed largely unnoticed by Americans outside the military, but what caught global attention is Sgt. Donna R. Johnson's wife and the fact that the Army refuses to acknowledge her very much at all.
Gannett-owned Army Times took the brunt of the protest, but the Times only followed the AP's lead, when it mentioned the other two male soldiers killed were survived by wives, while failing to mention Johnson's wife Tracy Dice.
Readers who knew Sgt. Johnson expressed their outrage in the comments section of the Times story and asked why the woman, who was legally married just like the two men, couldn't have her surviving spouse mentioned as well.
Journalism pundit Jim Romenesko wondered the same thing, after being alerted to the lapse by one of his readers, and shot off an email to AP asking what was up. Then, on October 6 the AP wrote an entirely new story and The Army Times posted it to their site Sunday October 7.
Those details did little, however, to appease commenters on the Times original post who shed much light on what's left in the wake of Don't Ask, Don't Tell's (DADT) repeal.
It turns out that even though a servicemember can legally marry in a state of their choice and be recognized by law, the service denies same-sex spouses a long list of lucrative and fundamental privileges.
The Defense of Marriage Act enforces discrimination right where Don't Ask, Don't Tell left off — causing a whole different type of damage.
What that Defense of Marriage Act also means to Tracy Dice is:
She could never use the commissary to do the grocery shopping where food is marked just 5 percent above wholesale.
Tracy was never covered under Johnson's Tricare medical insurance.
She and Sgt. Johnson never received the Basic Allowance for Housing stipend essential to many male-female couples in securing housing.
She couldn't go to base-sponsored picnics and events.
She couldn't get any assistance relocating with her wife to a new duty station, including overseas.
Once at a new base Tracy would not have qualified for employment or education assistance.
She did not qualify for free legal service.
If she were ever a victim of spousal abuse and the'survivor' effects of PTSD, she could not go to family advocacy or spousal abuse centers.
She will not receive any of Johnson's survivor benefits.A report published by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Military Academy on Jan. 15 discusses the potential dangers of “violent far-right” organizations, which has angered some conservatives that believe the military should focus on international threats.
The executive summary of the paper, “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right,” claims that “since 2007, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of attacks and violent plots originating from individuals and groups who self- identify with the far-right of American politics.”
Written by Arie Perliger, Director of Terrorism Studies at the Combating Terrorism Center and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, the paper asserts that three distinct ideologies exist in the “American violent far right.” Those are “a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement and a fundamentalist movement,” the last of which “includes mainly Christian Identity groups such as the Aryan Nations.”
“Findings indicate that…it is not only feelings of deprivation that motivate those involved in far right violence, but also the sense of empowerment that emerges when the political system is perceived to be increasingly permissive to far right ideas,” it later reads.
The rise in attacks in the 21st century were significant, as “Although in the 1990s the average number of attacks per year was 70.1, the average number of attacks per year in the first 11 years of the twenty-first century was 307.5, a rise of more than 400%.”
The study also found that “presidential election years and the preceding year are characterized by an increase of far-right violence,” leading the author to conclude that “in general, far-right groups and individuals are more inclined to engage in violence in a contentious political climate.”
Furthermore, it found that the number of Republicans in the House was positively correlated with an increase in far-right violence, although the causes were not immediately clear. The study posits that it could mean those groups believed those legislators might be “more tolerant of their activities” or possibly that “the high expectations of far-right activists during a conservative legislature” were not “fulfilled.”
Some conservatives object to the report. The Washington Times, The National Review, and World Net Daily all report on critical reactions from the right, according to the Atlantic Wire, with blogger Pamela Geller calling it an “appalling attempt to demonize loyal Americans and whitewash the Islamic threat.”
[Image: Abortion Protesters At The Funeral Of Dr. George Tiller on Shutterstock]A new promotional video about a North Korean tablet called Achim went viral on YouTube on Tuesday, racking up a whopping 231 views by 8:00 p.m. The hottest gadget in Pyongyang weighs merely 300 grams and is receiving rave reviews from trendy youths. Achim features the Android OS and “many applications.” The slick promotional video was first noted by Northkoreatech.org, which is a strangely addictive site in a sad, geeky sort of way.
North Korea’s young dictator Kim Jong-Un may be as brutal as his father, but he shows some signs of trying to slap a fresh coat of paint on the Hermit Kingdom. Even as reports of widespread starvation in North Korea circulate, Kim has announced plans to create a “world-class ski resort,” while the number of mobile phone subscribers has been reported to top 2 million.
This new tablet program looks like another part of the ongoing, rather abnormal “normalization” process. The full promotional video follows below.Photo: Occupy Wall Street Facebook page
marginalized and discredited
real change is not possible
they have the facts wrong
can be easily co-opted
There is a vast total-information-awareness surveillance network made up of global corporations and subservient (captured) governments engaging in the systematic infiltration and suppression of social justice activist groups. Their main method of control is the implementation of divide-and-conquer strategies. When it comes to activists, their approach is to apply these strategies to what they have defined as four distinct groups:, who see the system as corrupt arewith character assassination techniques., who can be convinced that, who can be convinced (through propaganda) that. And, who are in it for themselves and therefore
These suppression strategies, revealed on Stratfor documents from the WikiLeaks “Global Intelligence Files" ("as a result of Jeremy Hammond’s December 2011 hack"), were reported in a MintPress News article written by Steve Horn: "How To Win The Media War Against Grassroots Activists: Stratfor’s Strategies"
This image is a screenshot from a leaked Stratfor PowerPoint presentation |
-18 per cent gap between men and women’s wages. The action highlighted that any woman remaining at work beyond that time was effectively working for free.
It is not the first protest of its kind in the Nordic country. On 24 October, 1975, 90 per cent of Icelandic women staged a day-long walkout from their jobs in companies and at home, to protest the disparity in pay and their representation of women in society and in parliament. Further walkouts were staged in 2005 and 2010 leading to an estimated three-minute decrease in the gap with every protest.
If the rate of progress remains the same, it will take Iceland 52 years for men and women to receive equal pay.
“It’s a very sad thing that society has managed to pay men better than women,” said Iceland’s former prime minister Vigdís Finnbogadóttir who was both Iceland and Europe’s first female president, and the world’s first female president to be democratically elected. “We know that it is done by labelling the work of men differently from the work of women, and that is what women are trying to correct by walking out again.”
Finnbogadóttir has long urged Icelandic women to speak out, to educate themselves and to rally with other women to better their community. “There is no doubt that Iceland can be a role model for equal rights in the world,” she said.
Images: Birgir Ísleifur/VRAthens, Greece - The roar of children's laughter erupts as they play tag and chase one another through the corridors, while several adults prepare the tables in the City Plaza hotel's dining hall in preparation to break the fast for Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims.
Tucked away down a side street in the Greek capital, the previously deserted hotel was occupied by left-wing Greek activists and turned into a squat for nearly 400 refugees and migrants - half of them children - in late April.
Sitting in the hotel's cafe, Lina Theodorou, a 27-year-old Athens-based lawyer and member of the Solidarity Initiative for Political and Economic Refugees, explains that the activist group was inspired to take action shortly after neighbouring Macedonia sealed its borders in late March.
The closure was in response to the agreement between the European Union and Turkey to halt the flow of refugees and migrants seeking to reach Western Europe by crossing through Greece, the Balkans and central Europe.
The hotel is now home to Syrian and Afghan refugees and, to a lesser extent, families who fled Iraq, the occupied Palestinian territories and several countries across Africa. The squat is administered by the refugees themselves, as well as between 30 and 40 solidarity activists who volunteer informally on a daily basis.
"We wanted to demand this public space because the mayor tried to throw all of the refugees out of [Victoria Square]," Theodorou tells Al Jazeera, referring to an area in central Athens that has become a meeting place for those hoping to continue their journey.
"It was a gesture to reclaim the right of the visibility of refugees because we feel that [the Greek government] is trying to hide them on the outskirts of the city."
Self-organised democracy
Fleeing war and economic devastation, more than 57,000 refugees and migrants have been bottlenecked in Greece since Macedonia's border closure. Stuck in refugee camps across the country's mainland and islands, most endure difficult humanitarian conditions in both formal and informal camps.
In City Plaza, families live in hotel rooms and have access to refugee-run and activist-administered healthcare, education and dining, among other services. Most residents play a role according to their own abilities.
Sculpted on principles of self-organising and democracy, decisions about the squat's operations and activities are taken when a general consensus is reached through discussion and debate between the residents and activists.
Wael Alfarawan, a 26-year-old father of two and Palestinian refugee who fled Syria's Deraa, volunteers as a barber in the hotel. A group of children gather around as a young man sits in the chair and asks Wael to trim his beard.
"We feel like one family here," he says as he turns on his clippers. "I contacted several NGOs and nobody helped me. They helped me a lot here [at City Plaza]. They help us and we help each other."
The City Plaza squat is one of several similar activist-led initiatives in Athens and elsewhere, most of which reject the assistance of the Greek government and humanitarian organisations.
READ MORE: Greek anarchists cook in solidarity with refugees
More than one million refugees and migrants reached Europe by boat in 2015, according to the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. More than 223,000 have made the trek across the Mediterranean Sea so far this year.
Theodorou argues that refugee response initiatives have to be politicised in order to make a tangible difference. "We are leftists and anarchists - and we want to change the system that creates inequalities and this kind of refugee crisis," she says.
In the capital and elsewhere, solidarity activists and refugees have also staged several demonstrations to raise awareness about the plight of displaced people who ended up in Greece.
"We are anti-capitalist; we are against imperialism and great stuff like that. We believe that if your action doesn't connect with real-life improvement … it's an empty gesture."
'Political and humanitarian goals'
Since the EU-Turkey deal, refugees and migrants have been left with the option of applying for asylum in Greece or returning to Turkey.
With the Greek government's efforts to register asylum applicants stalling, anger and tensions have grown in the camps. In the Greek islands, more than 8,400 refugees and migrants are barred from travelling to mainland Greece without police permission until their applications are processed.
Rabee Abo Tarah, a 26-year-old Syrian, works in City Plaza as a translator for residents who don't speak English or Greek. He worked in Istanbul for a period and sent money back to his family in Damascus, but decided to move on to Europe when his father died earlier this year.
After spending a month staying with people who opened their doors in Athens, activists informed him of the City Plaza squat. "This is a good project," he tells Al Jazeera. "It is the occupation of a building towards political and humanitarian goals. I support it."
READ MORE: Refugee life at Greece's Hara Hotel
Thirty-seven-year-old Abdoulaziz Sall, a chef in the squat, left Senegal for Greece back in 2010, long before the eruption of the present refugee crisis rattling Europe.
Although he lives in the nearby Exarcheia neighbourhood - a hotbed of leftist and anarchist activism and a key area for the Greek refugee solidarity movement - Sall comes to volunteer at the hotel five days a week. Sitting on a balcony, there is a steady chorus of pots and pans clanking behind him in the hotel's kitchen.
Explaining that he was inspired by a sense of solidarity with people making the same journey he made six years ago, he says: "I quit my job and now I do full-time solidarity work. For me, my project is to help as much as possible."
'Untenable business'
Seraphim Seferiades, a politics professor at the Panteion University in Athens, argues that initiatives like the City Plaza squat play a crucial role as government-run camps experience worsening living conditions and a growing number of illnesses among their residents.
"The whole refugee camp business is untenable," he says. "The general goal is to keep refugees where they are now and conceal the problem."
Seferiades concedes that managing the influx of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants is not an easy task. "But there are more than 11 million unoccupied buildings across the EU."
Back in the squat's kitchen, a group of women and men chat in Arabic and Dari as they prepare food for iftar, the meal with which Muslims break their fast. A man whistles softly while watching over a steel pot of coffee boiling on the stovetop.
Nasim Lomani, a 35-year-old member of the Solidarity Initiative who fled Afghanistan as a child 23 years ago, sits in the cafe and lights a cigarette. He says the squat's location is significant because the Greek government has tried to restrict the movement of asylum seekers, attempting to coerce them to relocate to official camps.
"The camps have two very clear-cut features: All of them are outside of the city, in the middle of nowhere, with no access to social services," Lomani says. "The other thing is that almost all of them have tents."
The activists often go to Victoria Square and other refugee transit points to inform those looking for accommodation of City Plaza and other squats.
"We wanted to set a good example of housing in order to say no to the way they are building the camps," he says. "There is an alternative - treating [refugees] like humans."
Follow Patrick Strickland on Twitter: @P_Strickland_Less than two weeks after Senator Rand Paul’s filibuster of CIA Chief John Brennan’s confirmation in the US Senate, it seems that the controversy over the legality and transparency of drone attacks has finally provoked a response from the Obama Administration. On March 19, 2013, reports published in the Daily Beast and the Wall Street Journal indicated that the controversial drone program may be shifted from the CIA to the Department of Defense.
The reports were based on statements by US officials and a yet unreleased draft document indicating that the Obama White House would like the program to be institutionalised and reformed, moving it into the command structure of the US military instead of within its spy agency.
It may be true that moving the drone program to the Department of Defense would address some of the critiques regarding transparency and legality. Drone strikes carried out by the military, as they have been in Afghanistan, would be subject to the rules of engagement that govern the use of military force. They would also have a clearer chain of command that would disclose, at least generally, the parameters used to select targets and order strikes, both contentious points on which the CIA-run drone program has been criticised.
Unlike the CIA, the Department of Defense would not be able to classify all drone operations as “covert” or “clandestine” and would be subject to oversight from other branches of the United States government. Furthermore, while the President did not have to sign off on every strike conducted by the CIA, under a military run program he would have, as Commander-in-chief, clear ultimate authority over the program.
Under the new formulation, operations would move gradually from the CIA to the Department of Defense, with a lengthy period of transition in which the two agencies would work together. The move would allow the CIA to move out of counter-terrorism and focus again on the collection of human intelligence, a facet of its operation that is said to have suffered. On March 20, the Washington Post reported that a panel of White House advisors had expressed grave concerns that the CIA was paying inadequate attention to collecting intelligence on China, the Middle East, and other national security flashpoints, because of its inordinate focus on military operations and drone strikes. A move away from drone strikes, then, would free up the Agency’s resources to do the sort of traditional intelligence gathering with which it is tasked.
On their own side, White House officials are keen to change the impression that the President Obama is a champion of secret assassinations using armed drones on shaky legal grounds. A major counter terrorism speech is expected soon in which the President will define a new direction in counter-terrorism policy and deflect criticism that his Administration has been operating an illegal killing program. While details of timing are unknown, such a speech can be seen as provoked by the questions raised in Senator Paul’s filibuster regarding the possibility of the President ordering drone strikes on US citizens based on unknown determinations. Although Attorney General Eric Holder denied such a possibility in his response to Senator Paul, questions have continued as to the legal authority of CIA targets and the fact that United States citizens cannot demand any sort of accountability for them.
Not really a change
Moving the drone program from the CIA to the Department of Defense is thus being painted as a victory, even a capitulation, to those critics who have criticised the lack of transparency, accountability, and legal basis of the drone program. However, the details of the move do not suggest a reversal or even a rethinking of the strategic imperatives that the Obama Administration and the CIA have used to justify the drone program.
First, the gradual process of the transition without any publicly disclosed details of how and when it will be completed are likely to create a situation in which, at least for a time, it would be difficult if not impossible to tell which agency, the Department of Defense or the CIA, would actually be responsible for a strike. Second, according to a government official who spoke to the Washington Post, the CIA program in Pakistan would be phased out even later “because of the complexities there” and because the program, unlike the ones in Yemen and Somalia, was actually begun by the CIA. Finally, even if the drone program is actually moved to the Department of Defense, it will be incorporated into its most secret portion, the Joint Special Operations Command, whose top-secret operations are also covert and never released to the public.
When these factors are considered, the effort to provide more transparency and an institutional framework for the drone program seem chimerical at best and deceptive at worst. All of them point to a continuation of a national security mindset, within the Obama Administration and the State Department, both believing that drones, cheaply bought and unmanned, are a perfect way to bombard other countries with minimal cost the United States. With the risk of dead American soldiers reduced to nothing, military officials are also gobbling up the idea of waging remote-control wars all over the world, wherever a possible or even supposed threat can be identified.
Are Drones effective?
Starkly absent from the debate are any meaningful critiques of the actual effectiveness of drone strikes. Figures obtained from the South Asia Terrorism Portal indicate, for example, that the drastic escalation in drone strikes in Pakistan during the Obama Administration has caused no decrease in the capacity of drone-targeted groups to carry out terrorist attacks in the region. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, President Obama ordered 53 drones strikes in Pakistan in 2009. These strikes were reported to have killed, among others, Tehreek-e-Taliban Commander Baitullah Mehsud and Maulvi Gul Nazeer. In turn, there were approximately 500 bomb blasts in Pakistan that year, most of which were concentrated in the northwestern tribal areas of Pakistan.
In 2010, President Obama ordered 128 drone strikes which were again reported to have killed various prominent Taliban figures and various Al-Qaeda commanders. The number of bomb blasts carried out by terrorist groups in Pakistan that year was 473, with most of them again concentrated in the tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In 2011, President Obama ordered 75 drone strikes which killed, among others, Al-Qaeda Chief financial officer Abu Zaid Al Iraqi and Taliban spokesperson Shakirullah Shakir. However, despite this being the third year of drone strikes, terror groups within Pakistan were still able to carry out 673 bomb blasts. They also expanded the geographic area of the blast operations to include not only the remote and sparsely populated tribal areas, but also the urban centers of Karachi in the south and Quetta in the southwest of Pakistan. Finally, in 2012, President Obama ordered 48 drone strikes which were alleged to have killed between 242 and 400 people. Among the dead was Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud, whose death was said to be a big blow to the operative capacities of the organization.
However, even despite this being the fourth year of drone strikes in Pakistan, with so many Al-Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban leaders allegedly killed in strikes in past years, terrorists were nevertheless able to still carry out 652 attacks killing 1,007 people and injuring 2,687. Not only were they able to kill more, they were also able to expand their ambit of operations into other parts of Pakistan, with terrorist attacks in Karachi and Quetta now almost equivalent in damage to the ones that occurred in the northwest, where the war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban had once been isolated.
The move of Tehreek-e-Taliban activity from the tribal areas of Pakistan, where drones operate more effectively, to urban areas like Karachi has also been documented in a recent report issued by the United States Institute for Peace, which stated that Karachi is now the “preferred hideout of the TTP, Afghan Taliban, other extremist, and sectarian outfits" and that Karachi’s urban density and sprawl offer “the best militant hideout,” since U.S drone strikes cannot be enacted in Karachi, which unlike Federally Administered Tribal Area is the country’s economic and financial capital. The report further goes on to say that militants “are relocating to Karachi and are able to plan local and international operations in the city.”
That those allegedly being targeted by drones do not seem at all weakened by them seems largely absent from the discussion on drones and the preoccupations of whether the program will be snuck from the secret corners of one US agency to another. The problem of an increase in terrorist attacks in Pakistan, even after their leaders have been hammered for years by drones, can be ignored by American officials whose interest is ostensibly limited only to protecting Americans. However, if it is concerns of transparency and legality that are provoking the responses from the Obama Administration and the purported move to reassign the drone program to the Department of Defense, perhaps the issue of actual effectiveness can also be added to the mix.
Rafia Zakaria is on the board of directors of Amnesty International. She is a lawyer and a Political Science PhD candidate at Indiana University.
You can follow Rafia on Twitter @rafiazakariaAhead of a town hall event in Iowa on Tuesday, presidential candidate and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) asked for questions on Twitter with the #AskBobby hashtag, and the move predictably backfired on the presidential candidate.
The Believe Again PAC indicated that Jindal would answer some of the questions at the town hall event, but it was not clear on Wednesday morning whether the governor addressed any of the questions asked on Twitter.
Have questions for Bobby Jindal? Tweet us with #AskBobby and he might answer it at our town hall event tonight. — Believe Again (@BelieveAgainGOP) June 30, 2015
Twitter users took the opportunity to ask Jindal ridiculous questions about dinosaurs and “Duck Dynasty” and mock his political positions.
How does it feel to sell your soul for political gain and yet not gain anything politically? #AskBobby — Brandon Bordelon (@BrandonBordelo2) June 30, 2015
If you’re not a scientist when it comes to global warming how are you a doctor when it comes to women’s reproductive systems? #AskBobby — PoliticalGroove (@PoliticalGroove) June 30, 2015
#AskBobby I’m have a hard time deciding which #SCOTUS rulings I should ignore/selectively be outraged by. Can you help? — Corner Goblin (@TheTaurenGhost) June 30, 2015
.@BobbyJindal if I sail too far will I fall off the edge of the Earth? #AskBobby — Zack Kopplin (@ZackKopplin) June 30, 2015
If you’re going to spend 5 days a week in Iowa can we put the gov mansion on AirBnB & make up some of the deficit you’ve created? #AskBobby — Larry (@LarryLarmeu) June 30, 2015
Which spice girl is your favorite and if you had a chance, what laws would you pass to oppress them for having a uterus? #AskBobby — Zora Neale Thirstin (@CarefreeBlkGirl) June 30, 2015
#askbobby if you get to disband #SCOTUS b/c you disagree w/ a decision, will the #Koch brothers buy you a new one? — Gary Reinhardt (@garyreinhardt) June 30, 2015
#AskBobby What’s your all-time favorite exorcism? Why? — Matthew Thomas Hall (@MatthewHallKDM) June 30, 2015
#AskBobby How many Robertsons will serve in your WH cabinet and will you start pardoning ducks instead of turkeys at Thanksgiving time? — tellthetruth (@truthtotweet) June 30, 2015
#AskBobby How long did it take Jesus to write the constitution? @BobbyJindal — Sean D. Illing (@sean_illing) July 1, 2015
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) also had a question and answer session backfire on him last week. He answered bizarre questions about living with bears and the meaning of life.We’ll all disagree on which of the titles in the Civilization series was our favourite. We will continue to do so. And we all started out at different points in the series. Civilization III was the first for me; it also had the honour of being my first 4X game, full-stop.
Despite now being a full two iterations beyond Civ IV, I keep going back to it. The scope of the mods developed for Civ IV was just incredible; in fact, they’re still being developed, some 12 years after its release and 10 years after the release of Beyond the Sword. Head on over to the Civ4 – Creation & Customization forum at CivFanatics and you’ll see plenty of activity.
As far as I know, no mod developed for Civ V ever came close to the ambition of some of the projects completed for Civ IV, although Super Power: Clash of Civilizations came closest, in my opinion. (Perhaps that will be the subject of a future post.) Whether Civ VI will live up to expectations here remains to be seen.
There are a couple of Civ IV mods I want to discuss on Odin Gaming. I’ve got to start somewhere, and in terms of sheer audacity, I need to start with Caveman 2 Cosmos.
This is a very long post, so for your convenience, these are the headings and content summaries:
More is More! – Caveman 2 Cosmos scope, features, and link to guide
World Domination – C2C game setup
Gameplay – Feature exploration with screenshots following the growth of the Apache Tribe
Future Development – What’s next in line for development
Reflection – What I think of C2C
Installation – How to install C2C
Closing Remarks
More is More!
C2C was a project started in November 2010 and built upon a precursor mod, Rise of Mankind, and its mod mod (yes, there is such a thing!) A New Dawn. There have been updates almost daily since then with contributions from in excess of 100 modders.
The “mod owner”, if one could assign such a title, uses the pseudonym StrategyOnly, who, in the beginning, worked alongside two others known as Hydromancerx and Dancing Houskuld. StrategyOnly assigned a long-standing modder as the acting team leader; this person goes by Thunderbrd online, and Ryan Moore when his head isn’t buried in Civ IV code. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Thunderbrd. I had a lot of questions, and he had a lot of answers (like, a lot – this guy likes to talk), some of which I’ve included below. It was really great to have some insight into this colossal project and to hear what some of the hard-working chaps and chapettes have managed to accomplish.
C2C is not shy about its scale. To begin with, it adds several new eras, arguably the most prominent being the Prehistoric era, which extends the start date from 4000 BC to 50,000 BC. In the other direction, it predicts a long history of technological development, with the Future era roughly corresponding to 5000 AD (and beyond). Thunderbrd gives some insight into the baby steps of C2C:
I believe StrategyOnly’s primary goal was to collect all the modmods of RoM/AND that had become largely obsoleted in Afforess’s last version of A New Dawn. He also wanted a mod which he could infuse the best artwork from the modding community into. As a part of that goal, he was also working in a prehistoric mod that had surfaced on the forums that had grown in popularity quickly.
With that in mind, C2C’s goal is simple: make Civ IV deeper and more complex in virtually every dimension. If you have a cool idea and there’s no obvious scale on which it expands, then introduce the scale and blow any expectations out of the water. Or, as the team like to say:
More is More!
There are more units, more buildings, more civilizations, more leaders, more leader traits, more religions, more wonders, more terrain types, more city improvements, more resources, more technologies, more promotions, and more civics. That’s just the stuff you would recognise as a Civ IV player. A selection of additional features:
alternate technological timelines (such as Dieselpunk, Steampunk, and Clockpunk, and the ability to train megafauna such as rhinos and mammoths);
prehistoric hunter-gatherer mechanics, such as significant growth and production sourced from hunted animals, and captured animals generating science and culture by way of myths and legends;
new city modifiers (such as education, crime, and air pollution);
new combat mechanics (such as a stealth scale, ranged attacks, and size factors);
a leader development system, so that you start as a generic leader and gain traits as your civilisation’s culture grows, allowing you to choose traits which benefit your starting hand;
negative leader traits, because nobody’s perfect;
detailed building requirements and upgrade pathways;
a supply chain: many new resources are only acquirable by producing them with buildings, and buildings only buildable by acquiring certain resources;
more complex economies with inflation;
more complex espionage;
more realistic culture, religion, and corporation spread;
technological diffusion (less advanced neighbours might acquire technology just by virtue of its being used around them);
group wonders: you may only construct one wonder from a mutually exclusive set;
more diplomatic options (such as embassies and Rights of Passage).
[StrategyOnly] has always been enthusiastic about including new and great, particularly aggressive design concepts and ideas.
This is just a smattering of what C2C has to offer. There’s a (now quite outdated) list on the MODDB site.
Wut?
With all of that, getting into C2C can be daunting, to say the least. It used to be a matter of trial and error to figure out how all of these things worked together. That is until Thunderbrd produced a player guide for (at the time of writing) the most recent version.
That guide is long. I ended up reading it start to finish one lunch time because I’ve been following this mod for some time and never has anything so comprehensive existed. It was a magical hour. But I don’t think that’s how it should necessarily be consumed.
I think the best way to learn C2C is to just get a game going. The second of Thunderbird’s posts on the player guide is a really good place to start. If you, like me, want to tinker from the get-go then skip to the third of his posts to learn a bit about what all of the game options mean and maybe cobble something together.
Read ahead to learn a bit about how I play the game.
Continue reading this article!One of the jumpers, snapped by reader Colby Swandale. He said he suspected they had hidden parachutes underneath their jackets. The men walked out onto the bar’s balcony, taking helmets with cameras attached out of their suitcases. They then pushed each other up and over the glass barrier surrounding the deck and BASE jumped - an extreme sport in which parachutists dive from the top of buildings, antennae, bridges and cliffs - from the 55th floor to the ground below. ‘‘(They) just went to the door shut it on the deck so no one could grab them and jumped,’’ Mr Bennett said. They landed safely and fled the scene in a car that was waiting for them on the street below.
Reader Jeraaz Bharucha took this picture of one of the Rialto BASE jumpers. The group did not have a reservation to dine at the restaurant, which would have required them to identify themselves with a credit card. ‘‘I was in the kitchen last night and I had my maitre’d come in white-faced and said there’s someone on the balcony and they’re about to jump,’’ Mr Bennett told radio station 3AW. Another of the jumpers, seen from a nearby balcony. Credit:Jeraaz Bharucha He said the jump had been carefully planned by experienced BASE jumpers well in advance. ‘‘Not any normal person can get up over that glass so they knew what they were doing, it was very well planned,’’ he said.
‘‘I suspect either they’ve been up before or they’ve had someone come up and scope our (security) procedures because they knew all the little intricacies that our procedures entail when you’re coming up the lifts and what you do with baggage.’’ No tall story... Vue de Monde chef Shannon Bennett. Credit:Eddie Jim Mr Bennett denied the jump was a publicity stunt. He said the group had worn helmets that had cameras attached to them when they jumped from the balcony of the 55th floor. ‘‘Who knows where we’ll see the footage come out somewhere along the line but really what I’m worried about is the safety of our guests that come upstairs and obviously the reputation of the building,’’ he said.
Vue de Monde was looking at ways to improve the restaurant’s security procedures, with particular focus on how to prevent people from climbing over the glass barrier on the balcony, Mr Bennett said. ‘‘We’ve got some really important safety measures that we’ve always had in place and I’m very confident that with a few upgrades this can’t be done again.’’ Mr Bennett said the restaurant had 16 security cameras installed which would allow them to investigate the identities of the jumpers. Deputy Police Commissioner Kieran Walshe called the jump was extremely dangerous and reckless. "It’s not something we would encourage anyone to undertake. It’s an extremely dangerous activity,’’ he said. ‘‘We don’t know who these people were and I’m sure they would say they’re experienced, but it’s just a stupid thing to do. To jump off a building in the CBD of Melbourne is just a silly thing to do."Media Already Botching Reports On Hacked Climate Emails November 22, 2011 4:57 PM EST ››› Blog ›››››› JOCELYN FONG
Earlier today I asked whether American news outlets would do their due diligence in evaluating the content of the newly-released batch of "Climategate" emails hacked from the University of East Anglia two years ago. It didn't take long for our esteemed print outlets to disappoint. Writing on the Washington Post's website, Juliet Eilperin quotes an email exchange that she said was about "whether the IPCC has accurately depicted the temperature rise in the lower atmosphere": In one round of e-mails, researchers discuss whether the IPCC has accurately depicted the temperature rise in the lower atmosphere. An official from the U.K. Met Office, a scientific organization which analyzes the climate, writes to the Climate Research Unit's former director Phil Jones at one point, "Observations do not show rising temperatures throughout the tropical troposphere unless you accept one single study and approach and discount a wealth of others. This is just downright dangerous. We need to communicate the uncertainty and be honest. Phil, hopefully we can find time to discuss these further if necessary [...]" Later, the official adds, "I also think the science is being manipulated to put a political spin on it which for all our sakes might not be too clever in the long run." Astoundingly, Eilperin does not tell readers that these email exchanges took place in February 2005 and were about the first draft of a chapter of the IPCC report released two years later. The emails depict the authors of the chapter hashing out what should be included -- exactly what you would expect this process to look like. After providing comments on the draft, then-Met Office official Peter Thorne wrote: "I'm pretty sure we can reconcile these things relatively simply. However, I certainly would be unhappy to be associated with it if the current text remains through final draft - I'm absolutely positive it won't." So were his concerns addressed in the final draft? If only we had reporters who asked these questions. For his part, The Hill's Ben Geman simply repeats what Eilperin reported, while admitting that he hasn't even "been able to view the newly released emails."
In the email exchange, Thorne provides comments "on the upper-air portion" of the chapter. He wrote: "There is little effective communication in the main text of the uncertainty that is inherent in these measures," later adding, "we need to communicate the uncertainty and be honest."
And this is from the final version of the chapter, which cites Thorne's own research at least 5 times:
Within the community that constructs and actively analyses satellite- and radiosonde-based temperature records there is agreement that the uncertainties about long-term change are substantial. Changes in instrumentation and protocols pervade both sonde and satellite records, obfuscating the modest long-term trends. Historically there is no reference network to anchor the record and establish the uncertainties arising from these changes - many of which are both barely documented and poorly understood. Therefore, investigators have to make seemingly reasonable choices of how to handle these sometimes known but often unknown influences. It is difficult to make quantitatively defensible judgments as to which, if any, of the multiple, independently derived estimates is closer to the true climate evolution. This reflects almost entirely upon the inadequacies of the historical observing network and points to the need for future network design that provides the reference sonde-based ground truth.
Raphael Satter of the Associated Press has also has a premature report, which has been published on the websites of countless news outlets, asserting that the emails "appeared to show climate scientists talking in conspiratorial tones about ways to promote their agenda." What agenda is that? The article doesn't say. Satter admits that the context of the emails "couldn't be determined" because the "Associated Press has not yet been able to secure a copy" of the documents.
UPDATE 11/23: The Washington Post has changed its blog to note that the email exchange was in 2005 and dealt with an "early draft" of an IPCC chapter. That change is also reflected in the Eilperin's page 2 story today.[Updated, 9:41 p.m.] All 24 people taken hostage by an armed student on Monday have been released - unharmed - from a northeast Wisconsin high school, Marinette Police Chief Jeffrey Skorik said.
FULL STORY
[Original post, 7:12 p.m.] A student with a gun is holding an unknown number of people hostage in a classroom at Marinette High School in northeast Wisconsin, according to the Marinette County Emergency Management agency.
No injuries have been reported, and police are at the scene, the agency said in a statement.
A school administrator called police at 3:48 p.m. CT, reporting that an armed student had gone into a classroom and taken those inside hostage.
Law enforcement personnel urged parents who didn't know their children's whereabouts to go to the Marinette County Courthouse. The street to the high school was blocked off, according to CNN affiliate WBAY.
Marinette has about 11,400 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Bordering Lake Michigan, the city is just more than 50 miles north of Green Bay.AN-32 courier service would operate from Srinagar to Kargil and back thrice a week. (File Photo)
The Air Courier service from Srinagar to Kargil would become operational from January 10 to facilitate movement of people during the winter months.Reviewing measures taken by the government for smooth transport facilities, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council Chairman, Haji Anayat Ali, made an announcement in his regard, an official spokesman said in Jammu on Wednesday.The Chairman said Srinagar-Kargil-Leh road remains closed during the winters due to heavy snowfall and the government has taken several steps to facilitate free movement of the people of the region from Srinagar and Jammu which also include the air sorties.He said Indian Air Force will commence AN-32 courier service to Kargil from January 10 and it will remain operational during the whole winter season after closure of the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway.The Chairman asked the departments concerned to maintain close coordination for smooth operation of the much-needed service to the border district during the harsh winter season.The meeting was informed that AN-32 courier service would operate from Srinagar to Kargil and back thrice a week, whereas it will be operated from Jammu to Kargil and back twice in a week.The meeting decided that in case of cancellation of any sortie due to bad weather or any other reason, necessary announcements should be made through electronic media so that the passengers don't face inconvenience.The meeting also decided that insurance cover should also be provided to the passengers on meager charges included in the air ticket. The meeting was further informed that facilities during stay in Srinagar and Jammu, including additional security personnel and transportation to airport, would be provided by the local administration."I imagine it's very difficult now. There are the benefits of being able to easily distribute your music, to get yourselves out there but with that comes the problem of standing out. Previously there were limited outlets of where to discover new music, now there are practically unlimited resources.
And then you have the problem of transience that comes with social media."
"No. I love being in Bloc Party."
"To me it's still Bloc Party. It's always been Kele and I since we met in the 90's. I can understand how it's different for people looking on but obviously my perspective is different. We're still playing the songs we wrote together and we're still writing songs together as we always have."
"Oh I don't know.... personally I've never been interested in the story behind a song (by another artist), I just enjoy the song for how I interpret it. I think delving too deep into things takes away the magic and the reason you enjoyed it in the first place."
"It has changed the way I feel, it's just changed the process in terms of time... it's more of an effect on touring."
"I don't know. I'd like people to hear them if they want to, i understand why people want to hear them... I felt the same about the bands I loved. I've been trying to compile a collection of "rarities" but ultimately there's a lot of other people involved in approving something like that."
"The same as I always have, everywhere. New music, film soundtracks, video games, in my head. Personally I've always been more interested in creating new sounds, it's a never ending quest."
"Milena lives in |
't want any juicing of search results. If you're the launch team, you're like, ‘I don't care about your philosophy. I want people to see the new product at the top, for at least the next couple of hours.’”
Ultimately, the Search team begrudgingly agreed to manually adjust any wonky search results. “But this is a discussion you have beforehand so you're not worried about it,” says Bashir. That is, to the extent possible, follow lesson #13: pre-decide as much as you can before launch.
“There's certain things that have to be decided in the moment because A) you haven't planned for them or they're unforeseen, or B) the data is different on the fly,” says Bashir. “But unless you're going to have some new need or data in the heat of the moment, you should make decisions when it's not a hot moment.”
There was no reason to bring the Search team into the war room. Instead, Bashir and launch leadership hashed out this philosophical difference ahead of time. And when they pre-decided how to handle it, they did so down to the logistical details. “We said, ‘In the event of odd search results, I'm going to page you. If you get this page, this is what you do." Then there was somebody on the Search team who would resolve the issue.
Lesson #14: Don’t Play the Blame Game.
Of course, launches and other major initiatives will almost inevitably surface issues you couldn’t have predicted, which no amount of pre-deciding could have solved. When they do, don’t waste time or energy pointing fingers.
Around the 30-minute mark, Bashir’s Kindle launch hit a snag no one had seen coming. Both the Kindle team and the Amazon Prime team had hacked the site’s main product detail page to add a navigation bar at the top. For users who had both Kindle and Prime accounts, though, those bars were now warring with each other. The Prime team was contacted, and agreed to give theirs up until a code fix could be deployed.
Blame is unproductive, but learning from hiccups is invaluable. “We kept a list of things we could learn from—the ‘How did this happen?’ list—so we added this to it,” says Bashir. That’s lesson #15: track your learnings. In the moment, the ticking clock demands that all non-essential issues be tabled. Logging those issues, though, like all war-room jobs, should be specifically assigned to a single person.
During the Kindle launch, the task fell to Bashir’s boss. “In the heat of the moment, I was registering certain things, not registering other things. Later, we would sit down and talk about the list. Then we held a group retrospective.”
Prioritizing learning is one way to minimize the temptation to point fingers; clearly communicating who’s responsible for what is another. Before launch, every night for two weeks, Bashir sent an email to the entire project team detailing who needed to be in the room for launch, what the reporting looked like, and why each person was there. “There was never any confusion about that. So while people may have been surprised by things, people may have grumbled or voiced their opinions, there was no blame.”
Lesson #16: Always Clean Up After Yourself.
In the end, the launch of Kindle with Special Offers beat expectations, going live in just 37 minutes. That was thanks in no small part to a policy of tabling non-essential issues that couldn’t be resolved quickly—issues that hadn’t gone anywhere once the device was live. “You don’t go home at minute 38,” says Bashir.
Yes, there was a moment to take a breath. Bashir took off his headset, and the team took a moment to appreciate what they’d accomplished. “As soon as it was done, I believe there were donuts or cupcakes,” he says.
Then, the PR crowd left the room to monitor various execs’ interviews. The sales team started checking up on sales volume. And the rest of the team set about cleaning up the messes that had been tabled for later. There was the Kindle page that didn’t play nice with the similarly modified Prime page design, of course. The mobile app didn’t look quite right, and some order confirmations were printing incorrectly.
“We had to finish everything you would do in a normal launch,” says Bashir. “All those things that weren’t your primary concern while the clock was counting down? You still have to fix them.” That brings you to the end of day one. But you’re not really done until every issue that arises out of launch has been resolved.
Bringing It All Together
Before you launch, build in a rapid or partial release option should you need it. Pre-decide everything you can — especially those who will be in the room on launch day. Populate the war room thoughtfully and sparingly; everyone involved should have clear roles and responsibilities. (Senior leaders can be reached, even if they aren’t present.) Leading up to launch, do real-time, full dry runs with the team. When a leak happens, don’t fight it. The launch should be segmented into phases with clear entry and exit criteria — but there should be a series of switches as new scenarios develop. If you’re running the war room, get equipment (headset, standing stool) to be easily heard and seen. Foster a culture of disagree and commit. Track your lessons and clean up after yourself — resolve the issues that had to wait.
“A hardware team declares victory when they have production-ready units. A software team declares victory when they have final bits that go to the factory. A launch team actually doesn't declare victory until after customers have devices in their hands,” says Bashir. “We sit with the customer service team and figure out every single issue that's coming up, and how to resolve it. Then we move on. There’s always another launch to prepare for coming round the bend.”Sierra Nakamura is beyond shocked to discover the dead body of one of her co-workers. She didn’t know the girl very well, so she’s even more shocked when threats are made against her own precious cats in connection with the murder. Someone thinks she knows more than she actually does.
Sierra’s devotion to her cats and animals, in general, is admirable. I’m a cat and animal lover myself, so I can identify with that. However, her lack of understanding or even trying to understand her boyfriend, Chad, was getting on my nerves. She kept accusing him of trying to control her, but she was the one trying to do the controlling, as far as I can tell. Apparently Sierra’s problems go back to her childhood and dealing with domineering parents who she was never able to please.
None of this prevented me from continuing and finishing the book, though. It is a good, solid mystery. I didn’t figure it out until the end. That’s a very good thing when reading mysteries. It’s a clean mystery – no violence, sex or foul language. It’s a quick read as well. Even with my problems with the main character, I still couldn’t put it down. I had to know what was going to happen next and how it all wrapped up.
Some of the characters, including Sierra, appeared in the author’s other mystery series the “Squeaky Clean Mystery Series”. I haven’t read this series yet. I didn’t even know they were connected when I started reading Pounced, which is the first in the Sierra mystery series. I’m interested in reading the other series and to learn more about the characters, but it’s not necessary to read before reading this one. I didn’t feel lost or that I was coming in during the middle of the story. It is a complete story in itself, I’m just curious about the other characters :)
Overall, a decent start to a new series. Sierra started to come around a bit more towards the end. I could see character growth beginning already. You do have to admire someone who stands up for their beliefs against all odds.
This series has some great possibilities. For an animal lover like me, I've already added the rest of the books to my wishlist.Jay Phillip Obernolte (born August 18, 1970) is an American politician and programmer currently serving in the California State Assembly in 2014. He is a Republican representing the 33rd State Assembly district. He was elected to the city council of Big Bear Lake, California in 2010, where he served as mayor. He is the owner, president, and technical director of FarSight Studios, an American video game developer established in 1990.
Education [ edit ]
Obernolte graduated from Edison/Computech High School in 1988. In 1992, he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and applied science from California Institute of Technology and in 1997, he received his Master of Science in artificial intelligence from the University of California, Los Angeles.[1]
Software development career [ edit ]
Obernolte launched FarSight Studios, an independent developer and publisher of family-friendly video games for the PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Apple iPhone and PC, in 1990. Notable games FarSight Studios has developed include Game Party, Hotel for Dogs and Pinball Hall of Fame.[1][2] FarSight Studios claims Sony, Microsoft, Google, and Apple among its clients and employs 25 workers.[3]
Early political career [ edit ]
In 2005, Obernolte was elected to the Big Bear City Airport Board where he served for five years. He then served as President of the board for three years and as Vice President for one year.[1][4][5]
In 2010, Obernolte was elected to Big Bear City Council, where he served as Mayor.[1] Obernolte also served on the Big Bear Lake Fire Protection Board, director of the Mojave Desert and Mountain Integrated Waste JPA Board, the Mountain Area Regional Transit Authority Board, and on the League of California Cities Desert-Mountain Division.[3][6]
California State Assembly [ edit ]
Obernolte has served as State Assemblyman for California's 33rd State Assembly district, which encompasses a wide expanse of the High Desert (areas of the Mojave Desert), from the eastern fringes of Los Angeles metropolitan area to the Nevada and Arizona borders, since 2014.
2014 California State Assembly election [ edit ]
On February 10, 2014, Obernolte announced his candidacy for the California State Assembly to succeed California Republican Party Tim Donnelly in the 33rd district.
Obernolte was endorsed by the California Republican Party,[7] San Bernardino County Republican party, the California Republican Assembly,[8][9] The Press-Enterprise,[10] the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association,[11] Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC),[12] San Bernardino County Safety Employee's Benefit Association (SEBA),[13] the California Conservative Christians,[14] and the Independent Voter Political Action Committee.[15]
In the June 2014 primary, Obernolte finished second with 18.89% of the vote with 7,887 votes and faced Democrat John Coffey in the November 2014 general election, winning with 65.9% of the vote.[16]
California's 33rd State Assembly district election, 2014 Primary election Party Candidate Votes % Total votes 45,690 100.0 General election Republican Jay Obernolte 46,144 65.9 Total votes 69,972 100.0 Republican hold
2016 California State Assembly election [ edit ]
On January 25, 2016, Obernolte announced he would seek a second term as the representative for California's 33rd Assembly District[17] to face Scott Marcovich, a contractor.[18]
In the June 2016 primary, Obernolte finished first with 60.7% of the vote with 43,526 votes and faced Democrat Scott Markovich in the November 2016 general election, winning with 60.6% of the vote.
California's 33rd State Assembly district election, 2016 Primary election Party Candidate Votes % Total votes 71,746 100.0 General election Republican Jay Obernolte (incumbent) 84,000 60.60 Total votes 140,086 100.0 Republican hold
Political actions [ edit ]
Caucuses and committees [ edit ]
In January 2016, Obernolte was elected to served on the California Legislative Technology and Innovation Caucus, which is co-chaired by Assemblymembers Ian Calderon and Evan Low.[19] Obernolte also sits on the following committees: Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media as Vice Chair; Budget as Vice Chair; Appropriations; Budget Subcommittee 6 on Budget Process, Oversight and Program Evaluation; Budget Subcommittee 6 on Budget Process, Oversight and Program Evaluation; Utilities and Commerce; Joint Committee on Arts; and Joint Legislative Budget.[20][21]
Fire tax and fire insurance [ edit ]
Obernolte authored Assembly Bill 1642, which would extend the deadlines to either pay the fire tax, which is a state fire prevention fee, or file a petition for redetermination from 30 days to 60 days.[22] In July 2017, the fire fee was suspended as part of Assembly Bill 398.[23]
Obernolte opposes raising fire insurance costs, which is calculated by factors in the risk of wildfire, fuels, slope and road access for emergency vehicles.[24]
Minimum wage [ edit ]
In an April 2016 op-ed published in the San Bernardino Sun, Obernolte wrote on the effects of increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He wrote that "income inequality is the defining challenge of our generation" and the recent push to increase the minimum wage "is an effort to address the very real problem that wages are less than we feel they should be. However, we need to remember that income inequality is the result of a multitude of factors — among them, globalization, technological change, the efficient employment of capital and changing institutions. In other words, low wages are a symptom of the problem of income inequality, not the root cause of income inequality."[25]
Frontier Communications [ edit ]
In April 2016, Frontier Communications took over Verizon's voice, video, data, and FiOS network. In May 2016, Obernolte voiced his concern over Frontier Communications' acquisition of Verizon services noting that it has "negatively affected my constituents... It is particularly disturbing to me that the public safety of our residents has been threatened by the faulty landline telephone service they have experienced since the (acquisition)."[26]
Legal affairs [ edit ]
In May 2016, Obernolte introduced Assembly Bill 2341, which would provide San Bernardino and other rural counties with additional judges to resolve backlogged court systems. "San Bernardino County currently faces an unacceptable shortage of judicial officers. My hope is that this bill will provide the necessary judicial resources to alleviate this critical problem" Obernolte said.[27] The bill would have shifted seats from Santa Clara and Alameda counties to the counties in San Bernardino but it died in the Senate Appropriations Committee without a hearing.[28][29]
In January 2017, Obernolte released a statement on his opposition to Xavier Becerra's nomination as California's Attorney General stating, "While Congressman Becerra possesses many of the qualifications necessary in an Attorney General, many of his positions on constitutional issues deeply concern me. His stances on both the First and Second Amendments clearly don't align with my values or those of my constituents. California's Attorney General should be committed to protecting these Constitutional rights."[30]
Veterans [ edit ]
Every year, California State Assemblymembers select a veteran in their district to be recognized as the Veteran of the Year and honored in Sacramento with a ceremony and luncheon. In 2015, Obernolte awarded Hesperia Chamber of Commerce President Brad Letner.[31][32] In 2017, Anthony "Tony" Cooker was recognized as the 2017 Veteran of the Year for the 33rd Assembly District.[33]
In 2016, Obernolte sponsored approved Assembly Concurrent Resolution 180, which dedicates a stretch of California State Route 247 (SR-247) to the late Sgt. Brian L. Walker.[34]
California budget [ edit ]
Obernolte stated that Governor Jerry Brown's $179.45 billion budget proposal, which focused on "long-term fiscal responsibility", was "responsible", although he expressed a preference for fixing existing programs over creating new ones. Obernolte also stated an interest in funding job skills training, improving the state's Denti-Cal program, repairing infrastructure, and working on the housing crisis. Obernolte pushed for lawmakers to limit long-term funding commitments and also noted that the budget proposal does nothing to address the "state's out-of-control pension debts and retiree health care liabilities."[35]
California Roll – AB 1103 [ edit ]
Obernolte co-authored Assembly Bill 1103, which would allow California bicyclists to roll through stop signs, if it was safe to do so. The bill is based on a law adopted by Idaho in 1982 and will be voted on in 2018. Under the proposed legislation, cyclists would be authorized to "[approach] a stop sign, after slowing to a reasonable speed and yielding the right-of-way, to cautiously make a turn or proceed through the intersection without stopping, unless safety considerations require otherwise."[36][37]
Personal life [ edit ]
Obernolte married his wife Heather in 1996 and together they have two sons: Hale and Troy.[38][39] The family has lived in Big Bear Lake since 1997.[1]
Obernolte holds an airline transport pilot's license. He is also a certified flight instructor and has flown light aircraft since 2005. He worked with Embraer as a member on its Pilot Advisory Board during the development of the Phenom 300.[40][41][42][43] Obernolte is a member of the Young Eagles, a program created by the US Experimental Aircraft Association designed to give children an opportunity to experience flight in a general aviation airplane while educating them about aviation.[1][44]
Obernolte holds a third-degree black belt in Pacific Unified Martial Arts and is co-owner and instructor at PUMA Karate in Big Bear Lake.[1][45]PayPal partnered with a Middle East payment company, Network International, to open an office in Dubai. The United Arab Emirates employs the penalty of death to those convicted of being gay or performing gay sex. So PayPal punishes North Carolina for keeping men out of the ladies' room while sucking up to a government that executes people just because they're gay. Because, justice.
A few days ago, I wrote about PayPal's hypocrisy in canceling plans to open an office in Charlotte, N.C. due to the LGBT legislation passed by the legislature. The fact is, PayPal has corporate offices in some of the most anti-gay countries in the world.
The company also has offices in Russia, where gay and transgender people are routinely beaten and a law is on the books prohibiting "gay propaganda."
But North Carolina is lectured and chastised for not alllowing men to use a women's room.
The Washington Times points out that corporate hypocrisy on this issue is not limited to PayPal:
Whether it’s Apple opening stores in Saudi Arabia or American Airlines looking to dominate the Cuban travel market, many of the companies that have threatened to cut business ties to North Carolina over its bathroom bill are eager to do business in countries with regimes far more repressive of gays (and everyone else). PayPal’s international headquarters are located in Singapore, where sexual contact between males is punishable by up to two years in prison, and even littering can be punished by flogging. The company has a software development center in Chennai, India, where same-sex marriage is prohibited. Matt Sharp, legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said PayPal’s actions internationally speak louder than its words at home. “They’ve got a political agenda that they’re trying to push in the U.S. But it definitely does not line up with what their actions are saying around the world in places like Malaysia and others,” Mr. Sharp said. Apple is among the other major corporations that have taken to the pulpit to lecture North Carolina for its sins despite doing business with anti-gay foreign regimes. CEO Tim Cook was one of several high-profile tech CEOs who signed a letter to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory calling on him to repeal the legislation. “We are disappointed in your decision to sign this discriminatory legislation into law,” the letter reads. “The business community, by and large, has constantly communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws are bad for our employees and bad for business.” But, as Mr. Sharp points out, that has not stopped Apple from opening stores in Saudi Arabia, where gay people are regularly executed in public and cross-dressing is also a criminal offense. Pro-gay and trans advocacy are illegal, as is every religion except Islam.
In my PJM piece, I ask, "What justification is there for punishing an American state for passing a law inconsistent with what PayPal sees as its values regarding LGBT issues, when the company opens an office in Dubai where gay people are executed?"
The only answer to that question is profits. Corporate America is only as tolerant as it can afford to be without losing money. All this talk about "corporate values" is blather. If those "values" interfere with the company making money, the company will drop them.
The pious denunciations by corporations of the commonsense law in North Carolina ring hollow when they are exposed as hypocrites and charlatans on LGBT issues.Hardwell and Hardstyle seem to be a perfect blend lately. Besides his own solo-track, which he played at Ultra Miami, he also released a remix of the track ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ from Chainsmokers. Even though he has been playing Hardstyle in his sets pretty often, it was still a big surprise when he released it. We felt it was about time to sit down with him and have a chat about it.
That’s why we made an appointment and asked the former #1 Dj of the world some questions about, oh yes, Hardstyle!
You recently sent a shockwave throughout the Hardstyle scene when it became clear that you made a remix together with Dirty Workz talent Sephyx. How did this collab happen and why did you chose Sephyx?
It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I wanted to work with someone I really admire and Sephyx was the perfect fit. I’m really happy with the final result. If you’ve been following my sets over the years, you’ll know I love to include hardstyle tracks in my sets from time to time. So for me it was a natural thing to work on an official Hardstyle track and a remix was the best way to introduce that idea. I’ve been making my own edits for years so why not release something officially, right?
How did the collaboration go? Did you notice a big difference between hardstyle and your ‘familiar’ studio work? People say Hardstyle is an extremely hard genre to produce.
They’re right! It’s funny because if you look at Hardstyle producers, when some move to making music in different genre, they pick it up really quickly and they absolute smash it! I believe I’ve got a good ear for the sound and I’m confident in the studio, but it’s still a tough genre to work with. My appreciation for the Hardstyle producers has always been high, because these guys really know how to get the best out of their ideas and sounds.
The remix has already been viewed more than 3,500,000 on YouTube alone! Do you believe that Hardstyle is ready for the world, or better yet, do you think the world is ready for Hardstyle?
I know it’s crazy!! I knew it would be popular, well I felt in my heart it would, I just had a really positive vibe about this record. So I’m happy to see it doing well. It’s a genre I have a lot of love for and I’m proud be able to join in the amazing Hardstyle community. For me it’s a bit of both really, it’s long overdue to see Hardstyle bigger in the mainstream than it is, but also the mainstream is long overdue fully understanding how big Hardstyle already is. But it’s started and that’s a good thing!
Earlier this year you did a performance at Ultra Miami, where you played your ‘first’ solo-Hardstyle track. That’s something else than a remix together with a hardstyle artist! How did the crowd respond to this new Hardwell sound?
They went nuts! Like seriously crazy. It was a fun part of my set and definitely something I am keen to include more of in future sets.
Will this track get an official release on Revealed Recordings somewhere in the near future? That would mean that you’re going to link Hardstyle to the Hardwell brand.
Who knows? Maybe? But only time will tell. I have some ideas and I’m hoping they will happen but it’s difficult. My schedule is really hectic right now and Revealed has a very busy schedule of releases, new artists, events and so on coming up. Never say never.
Revealed is a platform for a wide range of musical genres, and you have already released several Hardstyle remixes of your tracks. This means Revealed is open for innovation and experimenting. Was this also your original intention when you started the label?
Absolutely! The label is not fixed to anyone’s sound, idea or avenue. I always wanted it to be open and full of forward thinking innovation. For me, the label welcomes all artists and sounds. We have our trademark sound and vision but this is constantly evolving. You have to be open minded with your music and ideas in order to progress.
It’s also a great platform for Hardstyle. A quick peak on the YouTube channel shows that the remixes have over five million views. A lot of artists envy those numbers. Do you get a lot of remix requests from Hardstyle artists, or do you pick them yourself?
It’s a mix really. We have a lot of artists that reach out to us, and we’ll also pick them ourselves. It really varies from project to project as each release is different in how we like to put the remixes together for them.
The world of Hardstyle is no secret to you, because you have been playing several tracks in your sets for quite some time now. Can your interest in Hardstyle be called ‘love’? And where did this interest/love come from?
I’m definitely a big fan. I’ve got a lot of love for the scene, the fans and what the artists are doing. I love the unique aspect Hardstyle artists bring to their productions and respect how hard it is for many producers to try and find that level of studio perfection. Growing up in Holland it’s always been a genre I’ve known and it has had a big connection with me since my early years.
In an earlier interview you stated that you would have never gotten this far without your parents. In the Hardstyle scene we’re used to parents calling the music ‘uninspired noise’. How do they feel about that
Haha, I think every DJ / dance music fan has heard that from their parents at some time. Hardstyle, because of its heavy sound, will of course be a style most parents won’t love. It was certainly a sound I loved to play loud and hard when I was DJ’ing in my early years.
Is there a chance that we might see Hardwell on the line-up of a Hardstyle event, with a Hardstyle set, anytime soon?
No plans right now so it’s unlikely anytime soon, but never say never.
Besides Sephyx we also saw pictures of you together with Atmozfears in the studio. It appears that it doesn’t stop here. What else can we expect, Hardstyle-wise, from you?
For now I’m keeping my cards close to my chest. I have some surprises but exactly what and which genre those are is a secret for now. Guess you’ll have to wait.
Robbert, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. It’s really great to see someone as big as you showing love for our beloved scene.
Thanks for the interview and keep supporting the amazing Hardstyle scene. It’s great to see a team like yours with such fantastic passion!
Pictures by: Rudgr.comDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — OPEC member states and other major oil producers are planning to meet next month to discuss a freeze in oil output levels, Qatar’s top energy official said Wednesday.
The planned gathering, which builds on earlier talks that included major suppliers Russia and Saudi Arabia, reflects a growing sense of urgency among producers to try to shore up crude prices following a steep drop that is straining their domestic budgets.
Qatar hosts the rotating presidency of OPEC and will host the upcoming talks, which are scheduled to take place the capital Doha on April 17.
Some 15 oil-producing nations representing about 73 per cent of world oil output have agreed to take part, according to a statement from Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, Qatar’s energy and industry minister.
“The continuous efforts of the Qatari government have been instrumental in promoting dialogue among all oil producers to support the Doha initiative, helping the stabilization of oil market to the interest of all,” al-Sada said in the statement.
Energy ministers from Russia and OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela pledged to cap their output levels if others do the same in an effort to bolster oil prices during a meeting in Doha last month. Other major producers including OPEC members Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have since expressed support the initiative.
The countries are seeking co-ordinated action as they are reluctant to give up market share to other producers.
Oil prices plunged to below $30 a barrel — their lowest point in more than a decade — earlier this year, extending a slide from over $100 a barrel that began in 2014. Prices have edged higher in recent weeks, with U.S. benchmark crude trading above $36 a barrel in electronic trading early Wednesday.
The slump is causing growing alarm in countries heavily dependent on oil exports, leading them to slash public sector jobs and search for new sources of revenue. Kuwait, for example, this week proposed implementing a new corporate tax and the privatization of some publicly run services.Maxime Bernier is seen at the Conservative leadership candidates' bilingual debate in Moncton, N.B. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. Conservatives vote for a new party leader on May 27, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
Immigration has become a very contentious issue in politics. We've seen in recent years the rise of anti-immigration parties in Europe. It featured prominently in the U.S. presidential election. And it has become part of the debate in the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race.
Canada has always been a country largely open to immigration, because of its vastness and its relative youth. I believe that by and large, our immigration policy has been very successful. But we are not immune to the conflicts and social tensions happening elsewhere.
We can avoid these tensions if we stay away from ideological extremes and go back to a fundamental principle: The overarching objective of Canada's immigration policy should be to fulfill the economic needs of our country.
In particular, it should answer the needs of sectors where there is a scarcity of manpower with specialized skills; and in more general terms contribute to increasing the number of younger workers in a society that is fast aging.
Too little immigration means we will not get as much of these economic benefits as we could. But too much immigration also has its dangers.
Our immigration policy should not aim to forcibly change the cultural character and social fabric of Canada, as radical proponents of multiculturalism want. The vast majority of Canadians rightly expect immigrants to learn about our history and culture, master one of our official languages, and adopt widely shared Canadian values such as equality of men and woman, tolerance for diversity and respect for Canadian law.
At too high a level, immigration ceases to be a tool to economically benefit Canadians, and it turns instead into a burden.
Immigrants are expected to integrate in our society, not to live in isolation and try to replicate the way of life of their country of origin in Canada.
Of course, Canadian society is also transformed by immigration, as it has for centuries. But this has to be done organically and gradually. When it happens too fast, it creates social tensions and conflicts, and provokes a political backlash, as we can see today in several countries.
This is why I am opposed to increasing the annual intake of immigrants from 250,000 to 300,000, as the Liberal government has announced.
I am even more opposed to the proposal made by the government's advisory council a few months ago to increase it to 450,000, which Liberal Immigration Minister John McCallum said could be adopted at some point in the future.
Canada's Immigration Minister John McCallum speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, October 25, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
At too high a level, immigration ceases to be a tool to economically benefit Canadians, and it turns instead into a burden. It becomes essentially a policy of social engineering for ideological purposes.
On the basis of these principles, here are the general policies I intend to pursue if I become leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and then prime minister.
Given that the main objective of immigration is to fulfill the economic needs of Canada, I would bring back the number from 300,000 to 250,000 as it was on average under the Harper government.
I would streamline the process for hiring specialized workers abroad. I would also put slightly more emphasis on economic immigration and slightly reduce the categories of family reunification and refugees.
I am opposed to big government policies in all spheres of life.
It is important for new Canadians to be able to reunite with their families. This is already a large part of our immigration policy and will continue to be so. As well, Canada has to play its part in welcoming refugees from troubled areas of the world. But these two categories of immigrants bring less economic benefits to Canada than the category of economic immigrants. Welcoming refugees is actually very expensive.
To ensure our security, I would increase resources for CSIS, the RCMP and Canadian Immigration and Citizenship to do background checks on all classes of immigrants, including more face-to-face interviews if deemed necessary.
And finally, I would stop our reliance on the United Nations for refugee selection. Civil society groups that work on the ground have a much better grasp of who could successfully integrate into Canada than a big international bureaucracy. We should rely instead on private sponsorship, including by faith-based organizations. The Liberals are strangling this to make room for poorly delivered state sponsorship.
My campaign is based on free markets and small government principles. I am opposed to big government policies in all spheres of life.
Preventing our businesses from hiring the immigrant manpower they need with red tape is a big government policy. At the other extreme, mass immigration that would create social tensions and is not in the interest of Canadians is also a big government policy. A government under my leadership would find an appropriate middle ground so as to unleash Canada's economic potential.
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Also on HuffPost:A Twitter acquaintance shared this video with me last night: Buzzfeed’s Color Cabal Conspiracy – Harmful News. In it, the narrator critiques a Buzzfeed article where a naïve writer takes the words of trolls as truth, and Buzzfeed publishes it (with an added footnote later that it might not be true).
I’ve been studying members of the #GamerGate movement, and I’ve seen some awful stuff posted online: misogyny, rape threats, racism, and more. But at the same time, I also see that a subset of GamerGate supporters are reasonable people, and the movement has some valid points. One point is that journalism is in crisis.
The tag line for GamerGate is “It’s about ethics in game journalism.” I object to the use of the word “ethics.” Using that word implies that people are deliberately writing incorrect things. I think that’s giving the writers too much credit, assuming they know the truth and are deliberately subverting it. I’m sure there are cases where that is true, but I will argue that in the overwhelming majority of cases, Hanlon’s Razor comes into play: never attribute to malice to what can be explained by simple incompetence.
Changing business models have created problems for the current state of journalism—all the incentives are out of whack. If a freelance writer is paid a couple hundred dollars for a story, how much time can they afford to spend on it? I used to write short articles for Wired when I was a graduate student, and made enough for a bit of extra spending money—like going out to dinner or on a weekend trip. But for an adult with rent to pay, it can’t even scratch the surface. And payment has dropped dramatically over the last several years.
If you pay people pocket money, you get amateurs. Even worse, if you pay per click, you get writers pandering to prurient interests. Jack Murtha writes in the Columbia Journalism Review:
[Pay-per-click] was once the crown jewel of content-heavy startups like Gawker, where young writers typed dozens of articles each week, aggregating and snarking their way to a digital-media empire. Now it’s something of a financial loophole used by content mills that prey on desperate young journalists, who scrape together clickbait in exchange for pennies.
Contrast the situation of a pay-per-click writer to a salaried journalist. The person on salary is rewarded for careful work, and is assigned to cover topics based on their importance, rather than self selecting what they think will earn clicks. In his foundational work on the nature of peer production, Harvard law professor Yokai Benkler notes that a strength of peer production is that individuals self identify for tasks they are qualified for. That works pretty well for things like open-source software and Wikipedia. And it even works pretty well for unpaid writing—expert bloggers often self-identify to write pieces on topics they care about and are knowledgeable about. But where it doesn’t work is when in journalism the peer production economy overlaps with the micropayment economy, and we get, as Murtha notes, clickbait in exchange for pennies.
Instead of saying “It’s about ethics in game journalism,” I suggest that GamerGate folks say, “It’s about underpayment in game journalism.” And we might as well remove the word “game”: It’s about underpayment in journalism. I will argue that the gaming press is a bellwether for the rest of the industry. Because game journalism is arguably less important than political or business journalism, it is leading the way in de-professionalization.
Fortunately, the solution to all this is pretty easy: Be willing to pay for quality news. If you care about game journalism or journalism more generally, find a venue that pays a living wage to talented professionals, and be willing to pay for it.
Addendum: Since a few people were confused, I am not a journalist. I teach and do |
to look at a piece of Sass we can actually see how the scoping might work, because it looks almost programmatic:
/** * ‘Local’ scope, best illustrated with Sass. */.some-widget{.title{ } }
Looking at that it is really easy to see a nice, explicit scoping; a.title{} inside of.some-widget{}. Now any styles on this titling element will only apply if it exists in the scope of the widget! Perfect… or is it?
No nesting!
Unfortunately, for all this Sass gives us the scope we were after, it compiles out to the following, which is overly specific:
.some-widget{ }.some-widget.title{ }
Nesting in CSS is a bad idea.
I have written a few times about the importance paying attention to your CSS selectors, and nesting is one of the easiest ways to fly in the face of that.
The main, and most fundamental problem with nested selectors is that they unnecessarily increase specificity, and specificity is a bad thing.
So, even though nesting gives us rock solid scope (and about as close to actual scope in CSS as you’ll ever get), it’s not the right answer. So what is?
BEM
The best way to handle ‘scope’ in CSS is with a quasi, implied scope, and the best way to achieve this, in my opinion, is BEM.
/** * ‘Implied’ local scope, using BEM. */.some-widget{ }.some-widget__title{ }
BEM is a naming convention that I have written about previously, so you can familiarise yourself with it there. The way BEM helps us with scope is to imply it by namespacing your selectors with the scope in which they function. A class of.bar{} operating in the scope of.foo{} would now be.foo__bar{}.
This now means our loose.name{} example becomes a nicely scoped.profile__name{} or.form__name{}. We have a very detailed class which would be nigh on impossible to reuse or reassign!
Scope all the things?
Not everything in CSS needs a scope, some things do need to exist globally. Your.left{} helper class, for example, does not have a scope inside of something else.
However,.left{} is still a fairly loosely named class. Although it doesn’t necessarily require scope as such, it might be better named.float--left{}. This removes any ambiguity and decreases the chance of someone marking up, say, map directions using a class of.left{}. This is another similarity between CSS and programming; the need to name things. Naming things is very difficult, but we need to get better at it.
Write longer classes; instead of a class like.logo{}, opt for.site-logo{}. Make your classes a lot less loose by naming them a lot more specifically. It might not always be a case of scoping, it might just be a case of picking a better name for something with global scope.
In summary
Make sure any classes you write aren’t loose; make sure they’re always well named, and scoped if they need to be. Nesting selectors is a bad way of scoping, so use a naming convention like BEM to provide a quasi scoping.
Global scope and poorly named variables are absolute programming basics; there is no reason for our CSS to have the same unpredictable and loose traits that developers spend so much time avoiding.
Did you enjoy this? Hire me!Destruction
Fire Storm
Blizzard
Lightning Storm
Fierce Flames
Chilling Cry
Sky's Wrath
Alteration
Dragonhide
Advanced Telekinesis
Long Fall
Water Walking
Feather
Restoration
Grand Healing
Guardian Circle
Mending Ward
Unparagoned Ward
Never Surrender
Perk Changes
The Mage Armor perk now allows any use of armor, I found it odd that you could not use dragon priest masks without losing the benefit or any other armor for that matter.
Mage armor now works with Cloth, Light, or Heavy.
Impact
Intense Flames
Deep Freeze
Silence
Spell Locations
I felt that the master destruction spells were a little disappointing when you finally got them, especially if you play on legendary. This mod aims to make the spells give a little more damage, but not be overpowered. Update 2.0 adds 9 new spells and changes a few more Master spells.100 >75 >50 >Area remains the same at 100, 50, and 25 feet.20 >Duration remains the same at 10 seconds.75 >Changed to a one handed spell. Charge time is 1 second instead of 3 seconds.100 damage per second.100 damage per second, half to stamina.60 damage primer, lighting strike for 100 damage + stun.(primer is same as Thunderbolt, lightning strike can only be used outside)The spell is now one handed and acts like Ebonyflesh except it's base armor value has been increased. Dual cast bonuses apply, and the effects (light and sound) are the same as the original spell but will not use the master spell animation. Update 2.0 adds a 20% damage reduction from physical and elemental damage.80% Physical mitigation >Grab and throw creatures and NPCs.Allows you to withstand really long falls. Inspired by Slowfall from previous Elder Scrolls.Always thought this spell was missing.+100 points carry weight for 60 seconds.Added heal over time effect:200 +Undead up to level 35 flee the circle + heals 20 points per second +100 points + 20 points per second for 30 seconds + 10% Physical and Elemental mitigation.120 points armor + negates 120 of spell damage + 10% Physical and Elemental mitigation.If you fall bellow 25% health, instantly recover 50% health and the same amount in magicka.Some inspiration for the below changes come from the Minimalist Magic Overhaul for oldrim.Will only stagger half the time instead of all the time.No longer makes enemies flee when their health is low. Fire spells have a 20% chance to make the target more susceptible to fire for 5 seconds.Will freeze enemies 10% of the time for 3 seconds, not when their health is low.Replaces Disintegrate. It gives shock spells a 5% chance to silence magic users for 10 seconds.All new spell tomes can be found in the Hall of Countenance at the College of Winterhold on barrels. Destruction spells in Faralda's room. Restoration, Colette's room. Alteration in the storage room next to Colette's room.Other magic mods that I use and highly recommend: Enhanced Vanilla Magic by Emberwake, still a great mod, but with the newer master spells released here, the damage becomes... overkill.Republican nominee Donald Trump and his runningmate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence both continuously criticized Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday afternoon.
“She’s like an unbalanced person,” Trump told roughly 2,000 supporters at the event, going after his competitor. “She’s pretty close to unhinged.”
Trump, citing a recent book from a former secret service agent who worked for the Clintons, said, “He thinks she would be a disaster as president,” adding that she’s “totally unfit to lead.”
“She cannot handle pressure. I handle pressure,” the New Yorker declared.
Trump spent most of his speech in Des Moines criticizing Clinton’s immigration policy.
“She wants amnesty. She wants open borders,” Trump said of Clinton, adding that if that happens there won’t be a country left. “Her immigration plan is not only dangerous…the voters don’t want this to happen.”
“Her plan does nothing to protect those who are victimized…by our blind pursuit of open borders,” he added, saying illegal immigrants are “taking away Americans’ jobs” and that cartels and Islamic extremists could manipulate the open borders.
“If you don’t like me, that’s ok, vote for Pence because it’s the same thing,” he said in closing after asking for the voters to vote for him on Nov. 8.
Pence introduced Trump after he spoke, also spending most of his speech attacking Clinton.
He said Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention was the “same old, same old.”
“I had about as hard a time staying awake as her husband did,” he added, referencing a video of Bill Clinton that surfaced appearing to show him closing his eyes during her speech.
“We ae going to raise taxes on the middle class,” Pence stated, mocking Clinton who misspoke during a campaign event on Wednesday. “She accidentally spoke the truth,” he jabbed.
Pence also set the record straight that the campaign is united after reports surfaced earlier this week that it was in disarray.
“We are united. This movement is united,” Pence declared.Tim Esterdahl | Jan 27, 2014 | Comments 22
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One of the big items from the 2014 NAIAS auto show is the complete lack of information about the future of the Ford Raptor. Will the off-road beast survive the changes Ford is making to its trucks? That remains to be seen, here is what we currently know.
When the dust settled after the big Ford F-150 reveal, one important truck was missing – the SVT Raptor. Could Ford have really decided to kill one of its customer’s favorite trucks? Maybe so. The writing it seems is one the wall with the ending of the 6.2L engine and the many changes the aluminum-based F-150 is making. As we speculated last July, the future of the Ford Raptor is certainly cloudy.
The current rumor mill is saying that the Ford SVT Raptor isn’t currently in Ford’s 2015 production schedule. Ford truck marketing manager Doug Scott has so far declined to confirm the model was being axed but said the company didn’t have anything to say about the truck right now. Those signs seem to point to the Ford killing the Raptor. Also, remember that Ford has always said the Raptor was meant to be a limited-run vehicle.
News of the death of the Raptor is pretty crazy when you consider that on September 12, 2013, Ford said they were ramping up production to meet demand. The average time on lot for a Raptor had shrunk to just 15 days (the average is 60 days) and it had record sales in 8 of the last 10 months. For 2013, the Raptor was up 13 percent over the previous year. With such strong sales, it seems odd that the Raptor could go away.
If the Raptor really does go away, it would join Toyota’s Rock Warrior and the FJ Cruiser as off-road vehicles that didn’t make the cut. While there are many reasons for their demise, fuel economy standards are a big part of it.
The Raptor isn’t exactly fuel friendly – a standard 2014 EcoBoost F150 gets 15/21, while a 2014 Raptor gets 11/16. While part of this lack of efficiency can be explained by the 6.2L, it’s more than that. The Raptor has bigger tires that hurt fuel economy, is less aerodynamic (both in terms of drag coefficient and frontal area), and is geared a bit differently too. Even with the EcoBoost in place of the 6.2L, the Raptor wouldn’t get “good” mileage
For Ford, the reality is probably more that they want/NEED to sell more fuel efficient vehicles. A good place to start is to get customer’s to buy more fuel efficient models of its top selling model – the F-150. Need proof? Look no further than the small 2.7L Ecoboost.
What is the future of the Raptor?
Now that we know Ford isn’t exactly denying the death of the Raptor, what will happen to it? It will most likely re-emerge in a few more years as either a stand alone offering or a trim level upgrade.
The first thought is important and probably the most expensive. The truth is that the Raptor is a significant and substantial modification over the stock F-150. This means the truck will have to undergo extensive new design and engineering work to upgrade it. This is the most expensive and probably most likely option. It also means it will be quite a while until we hear anything.
Another thought would be for Ford to simply offer a Raptor styling and performance package upgrade. This trim level offering would be significantly cheaper than doing a complete do over of the engineering and would still keep the Raptor in its marketing. An offering like this would be more akin to the old Toyota Rock Warrior. While, it may not be the most sexy option, it would save a ton of money and bring a product out in the short term. The truth is that Ford’s “sales crown” is in being seriously contested and you have to wonder how long they would be willing to spend on redoing the Raptor.
In the near term, Ford will probably keep producing the Raptor for another year with their current supply. Then it may be adios unless Ford can build a dedicated off-road truck with much better fuel economy. That would be quite the engineering feat.
Related Posts:Ask a Kansas Citian where Midtown is, and you’ll hear a pretty wide swath of responses.
Oleha Verlander, who lives in South Waldo, submitted a curiousKC question asking us to narrow it down. “Where/what exactly is considered Midtown,” she asked.
So curiousKC spent an afternoon crisscrossing the city to ask others that same question. We heard everything from, “Around Union Station,” (nope, that’s downtown) to “the Crossroads Arts District,” (nope, still downtown).
So where, exactly, is Midtown?
While the term midtown is generally defined as the middle section of a city, the Kansas City government marks our Midtown’s official modern-day borders from 31st to 55th streets from north to south, and from State Line Road to The Paseo for its east-west outline. That contains around 7 square miles.
The boundaries of Midtown have moved over time and with the sprawl of Kansas City. In 1977 — the earliest we could find Midtown on a map — marked the southern line at 47th Street, which is eight blocks shorter than it is today.
If Midtown were a person, its heart would be Westport, or perhaps 39th Street would argue it’s a beating hub. The greenery of Jacob L. Loose Park would be the left foot, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art the cultured left foot. The right knee would be Midtown’s inside-out mall, better known as the Country Club Plaza. The left shoulder — Martini Corner, and so on.
The anatomy of Midtown aside, there are more than 45,000 people who live in one of Midtown’s 22 neighborhoods.
A famous Midtowner? Painter and muralist Thomas Hart Benton lived in Roanoke until his death in 1975. His home is now a historic landmark.
We gave you the official numbers, but watch the video above to hear where Kansas Citians mark the boundaries, and thanks, Oleha Verlander, for your question. Midtown, downtown or out of town, if there’s something you’d like us to investigate, ask us.
More curiousKC: A Reader Follows Up Not long after publishing this story, another curious Kansas Citian submitted a follow-up question. Candy Hargrove wrote in to curiousKC to ask, “What are the boundaries of Downtown? Some of my friends consider Westport and Plaza as downtown. My southern boundary is Crown Center.” Well, Candy, you can tell your friends they should listen to you more, because you’re right. According to Kansas City Planning and Development, the southern boundary line of Downtown begins at 31st Street and runs north of the river to include Harlem and the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. The eastern border is State Line Road and the western border is mainly Woodland Avenue. However, this map includes the West Bottoms as Downtown. The Downtown Neighborhood Association thinks differently. Residents are allowed to join it if they live inside the downtown loop and River Market. Visit KC, our economic and tourism development organization, has the smallest idea of Downtown. It draws the boundaries between 9th and 19th streets and Washington and Locust street. Thanks, Candy, for your question! — R. H.
Got a question about Kansas City, the region or the people who live here? Anything you’ve always wondered about, found peculiar or downright confusing? Share your questions with KCPT’s curiousKC
— Ryan Hennessy is a research assistant at Flatland. Reach him at rhennessy@kcpt.org.
This story has been updated to answer a follow-up curiousKC question and correct the spelling of Oleha Verlander’s first name.Researchers are using a drone to obtain samples from the blow sprays of humpback whales on the B.C. coast and analyzing the contents as a way to measure health.
Lance Barrett-Lennard, a whale scientist with the Vancouver Aquarium, said Saturday that a drone used last August off northern Vancouver Island flew three to four metres above humpbacks.
In an interview at a marine mammal symposium at the University of B.C., Barrett-Lennard said that the drone is flown off a small motorized research vessel, first conducting flights at an altitude of about 45 metres to obtain images of the overall health of the whales.
Related
Then new batteries are put in the drone for a separate flight in which it hovers low and flies right through the blow plume collecting “whale snot, basically,” he said.
“They have a V-shaped blow,” he noted. “Sometimes we’d be right in the middle. It takes a while to get used to. It’s flying through a cloud with droplets in it. The drone ends up all slimy and rusty.”
The drone is then swabbed off and samples sent to the provincial animal pathology lab in Abbotsford and to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
The information should provide information on fungal, bacterial, and viral organisms in the respiratory tract of a living whale, something that cannot be duplicated during a necropsy on a dead one. Ultimately, the research is meant to offer more detail into what a healthy whale looks like.
Barrett-Lennard said that drones are a cost-efficient alternative to helicopters and are quieter and less invasive. Humpbacks give no indication of being bothered by them flying low overhead.
“We haven’t been able to detect any reaction on their part … or reason to think they even recognize the drone as something interesting,” Barrett-Lennard said. When feeding, humpbacks often attract seabirds and are “presumably used to small objects” close by, he added.
Drones have been used on the B.C. coast since 2014 on resident orcas to assess body size and health, including pregnancies. Drones are currently being used only on humpback blow sprays due to the large size.
Reduced body size can reflect age as well as lack of food, which for resident orcas tends to be chinook salmon. The killer whales are known to share their salmon catches.
The research is in cooperation with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The symposium learned there are 12 distinct populations of orcas in regional waters: four are fish-eating residents; seven are mammal-eating transients or Bigg’s killer whales; and one is labelled as an off-shore group, known to eat sharks, among other species.
Southern residents have the lowest genetic diversity by one study measure, while eastern Aleutian transients and southern Alaska residents have the highest.
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Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.AUTISM may bring a lifetime of disability and difficulty to the most severely afflicted. As children, they often struggle to communicate, are anxious in situations unproblematic for anyone else and may behave in repetitive ways that disturb others. As adults, they may be shunned—or even ostracised.
Medical science has little to offer. Drugs have limited effects, and although there have been claims for many years that therapies aimed at training a child directly to behave in desirable ways (known as behavioural intervention) can work, the evidence they actually do so is poor. All this, observes Tony Charman, a clinical psychologist at King’s College, London, leaves parents of autistic children vulnerable to false promises. Only this month, for example, a four-year-old boy had to be taken to hospital in Britain after being subjected to a bizarre array of treatments described as “holistic medicine”.
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Incidences of such quackery should be reduced by a study published in this week’s Lancet by Dr Charman and his colleagues. The “Pre-school Autism Communication Trial” (PACT) attempted to answer, once and for all, the question of whether behavioural intervention in autism works—and, in particular, whether it does so in the most severe cases. It is the largest such trial yet attempted, and the one with the longest period of follow up. Its answer was: yes, it does. The PACT team found not only that, if carried out correctly, behavioural intervention has an immediate effect, but also that this effect persists. Even six years after therapy, autistic children could communicate better and had a lower level of repetitive behaviour than did a control group of their peers.
The crux of PACT was the nature of the intervention employed. This was designed to train not the children but their parents. The idea was to alter parental behaviour in ways that would then go on to encourage desirable changes in offspring. Specifically, PACT’s intervention trained parents how to communicate with an autistic child. This is rarely a problem with “neurotypical” children, who provide plenty of opportunities for engagement. But autistic children can be difficult to engage with, and their attempts at communication can be so subtle that parents need assistance in detecting them, and advice about how to respond appropriately.
The approach used by PACT involved parents being videoed while playing with their children. Those videos were then replayed to the parents under the tutelage of a speech therapist, who pointed out moments, which might not otherwise have been obvious, when children were attempting to communicate. Even just turning towards a parent may be such an attempt. Having seen when to respond, parents then learned how to do so in the way a therapist would, in order to draw the child out. Parents are thus taught to become therapists themselves.
Family values
This therapy, encouragingly, is neither invasive nor intensive nor costly. It involves sessions once a fortnight for six months, and then a further six sessions, once a month. The results, though not startling, are encouraging. In families who were coached, the percentage of children with severe symptoms (such as having difficulties speaking and learning things) fell from 55% to 46%. In those who formed the control group, and were not so coached, they actually rose—from 50% to 63%.
The study adds to evidence that therapy delivered by parents is helpful for a range of childhood mental-health conditions, including aggression and anxiety. Yet, in the case of autism, some crucial scientific questions remain to be answered. One is whether the age of intervention matters. A second is whether this approach might help less severely afflicted children than those chosen for the study. And a third is whether a similar approach, taught to teachers rather than parents, might permit the method to be extended to schools.
Perhaps the greatest unanswered question, though, is practical. It is how such a therapy might be adopted swiftly and widely. Those involved in the PACT study have already made a start on this. They are creating training materials to be posted on their website, so that therapists who work with autistic children can adapt their methods accordingly. With luck, those methods will spread, and the lives of such children will improve accordingly.Old used clothes. Image: Claudio Divizia / Shutterstock / Shutterstock
Here's the average life of a sequined romper from Forever 21. It's on the shelf for roughly a week, gradually reducing in price until it costs less than a lunch salad (but more than the daily wage of the Bangladeshi factory worker who stitched it). By then, a new sequined romper—similar, but with sleeves or cutouts—would have taken its place. The person who buys it makes decent use of it for a few months, maybe a year, then either re-sells, donates, or throws it away, but it will eventually end up in a landfill or incinerator. That's when the almost mythical longevity of the sequined romper really begins: when it takes hundreds of years for the plastic—and synthetic materials like nylon, acrylic, or polyester, which is most likely contains—to decompose.
The central irony of fast fashion—a system in which retailers, such as Zara or H&M, get trending styles in stores quickly and change styles—is that is it quick to make, sell, re-sell, and toss, but extremely slow to leave the earth. Even when made of natural fibers, clothing does not biodegrade without a fight, especially if they have been dyed, printed on, or liaised with harmful chemicals, as residual toxins seep into the earth or get released into the air if burnt.
The sheer volume at which new, largely poor-quality clothes are produced is causing problems for the developing world as well. A significant bulk of unwanted clothing in the US, at an annual export profit of $687 million, gets donated abroad, the BBC reports. Countries like Uganda, where about 80 percent of all clothes purchased are secondhand, depend on these imports, but in an effort to boost home manufacturing, the East Africa Community, an intergovernmental organization composed of six countries, is pushing to phase out imported secondhand clothing by 2019, also according to the BBC.
What's crazy is that this multi-million dollar industry regards only about 16 percent of the unwanted textile stream. According to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report from 2012, 84 percent of used clothes go straight to landfills or incinerators. A Newsweek investigation from September 2016 adds that the volume of clothing Americans toss each year has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons in the past 20 years. The rise of fast fashion, with older retailers like Macy's and JC Penny following Zara's "climate of scarcity" model of changing styles once or twice a week, has everything to do with this.
Since fast fashion doesn't seem to be going anytime soon, can technology help manage or eradicate the many tons of used clothes we toss?
It's not impossible, but it's also unlikely to happen anytime soon. Processes like plasma gasification, in which trash is converted into syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide), which can be used as fuel, may help. Unlike incineration, it does not release harmful dioxins into the air. A company called Integrated Environmental Technologies (InEnTec) has a plant in a landfill in Arlington, Oregon that helps process 35,000 tons of household trash weekly. But it requires more funding for research, a lot of energy, and is very expensive to operate. Moreover, many environmentalists believe it is a red herring from the bigger issue: that we need to change our lifestyles in a way that produces less waste—especially items like clothes, which can have second or third incarnations.
Emily Cohen, Director of Communications at RoadRunner Recycling, a share-asset waste and recycling solution for commercial businesses, says it is crucial to increase that 16 percent number of unwanted textiles. Even if impoverished countries curb their dependence on secondhand clothing, there is still plenty to be gained from "down-cycling," or repurposing fibers to make materials like dish rags, floor mats for cars, and insulation for buildings. "It's only the lowest grade of textile that is saved for this, so synthetic fibers like petroleum-based polyester can at least be used in some way." It produces significantly less waste than creating virgin materials for the same purpose.
"Part of the psychology behind the low number [of recycled clothes] may be access, as few residential recycling programs accept clothing," says Cohen. "As per usual, Austin is leading the pack and just about to launch a curbside textile residential recycling program, which could provide the basis for an interesting model."
Some brands are taking admirable strides in the right direction. Patagonia, for example, invests a lot of money into creating a closed-loop structure, in which customers can donate their used Patagonia items so the brand use those same fibers to make new clothes. Adidas is releasing a limited-edition shoe this month that's composed almost entirely of ocean waste, and Volcom is making a line of bikinis from discarded fishing nets. H&M does make an effort to recycle fibers, but the fact that so many of its items are, as The Telegraph describes, "cotton-poly-elastane-wool-acrylic-etc" blends stymies the process, and the sheer volume of clothes they produce renders their efforts laughable.
But let's not be complacent and fall for greenwashing, where eco-friendliness is more marketing strategy than mission. Cheap acid wash jeans and ironic 2Pac tees have limited staying power—in style and quality. Poor countries don't want them; landfills don't have room for them. Cohen's advice for conscientious shoppers is to understand the lifespan of their clothing, how to make it spend more time as a useful item of any kind before it can be called trash. Buying fewer clothes—and not from fast fashion retailers—is the first step. We may be able afford these clothes, but climate change cannot.Image caption The Royal Victoria Hospital's new emergency department is due to open to the public on Wednesday
A new state-of-the-art emergency department is ready to open at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
It forms part of a new regional 12-storey critical care building that has cost more than £150m to build.
It is bigger, brighter and eventually will boast having additional staff members on the emergency care team.
The doors of the new unit will open to the public on Wednesday, almost three years behind schedule.
Image caption The new emergency department is located inside a 12-storey critical care building at the RVH site
In March, the BBC reported that another deadline had been missed due to ongoing construction problems.
But the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust's medical director said the trust is confident the building is safe and fit for purpose.
Boasts
Dr Cathy Jack said they would not be opening the building to patients otherwise.
"It has been delayed for over two-and-a-half years, we did have an issue that's been rectified and we are really looking forward to the opening," she said.
Image caption The new unit has a larger seated reception area with round the clock security
"We would not be opening unless we were confident that it was safe and fit for purpose. "
As Northern Ireland's newest and largest emergency department, the glass-fronted building sits between the children's unit and the main hospital building in the grounds of the Royal Victoria.
It boasts a much bigger seated reception area where CCTV cameras and officers will provide round the clock security.
It does look impressive.
Unpredictable
It is bigger than the previous department and has additional staff.
Eventually there will be 26 new nurses and five middle grade doctors including consultants.
Ambulances will access the department from the Falls Road through a dedicated blue light route.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dr Cathy Jack said she could not guarantee a patient would wait longer than they need to
The new entrance and waiting area replaces the dull and cramped waiting room that a member of staff likened to the waiting area in a taxi depot.
Dr Jack said the building would provide the benchmark for a new way of working across Northern Ireland.
Analysis: Does new emergency department cure health service ills?
There is tremendous expectation around the Royal Victoria Hospital's new emergency department.
But is it the the cure the local health and social care system requires? Read more.
But she admitted that 12-hour waits could not be ruled out.
"I know many of our patients wait too long and I am deeply sorry for that.
"But health care is unpredictable. We are doing all we can to minimise the risk.
Waits
"I can't guarantee that no patient will have to wait, but I am confident what we are doing will reduce the likelihood of that happening," she added.
While the department is bigger - 968 sq m bigger - there are no extra cubicles for patients.
There is also no additional space for patients who will more than likely have to wait on trolleys.
Trolley waits have been a significant problem for the Belfast Health Trust.
Image caption The new emergency department is bigger, but there are no extra cubicles for patients
During a tour of the building there was no mention of an area designed for such a purpose.
When asked by the BBC why the new build had not catered specifically for trolley waits, a spokesperson for the trust said those patients will be transferred to the clinical assessment unit.
Suitable
The BBC understands that parts of the building remains incomplete.
When the Department of Health was asked if the building had passed inspections, a spokesperson confirmed the building is ready to open.
Image caption The new emergency department will open at 08:00 BST on Wednesday
"The trust intends to carry out some additional works to address changes in standards and guidance since the contract was let in 2008," the spokesperson said.
"None of these changes impact on the emergency department and therefore it is suitable for opening."
The public are advised to use the existing emergency department until 08:00 BST on Wednesday when the new building will open to patients.
The new department stands out as a beacon for 21st century health care.A demonstration nearing 75 people in the heart of San Francisco’s tourist epicenter – Union Square – was held Sunday, July 26th. Beautiful hand painted banners complemented speakers who read statements and messages of solidarity while others distributed around 1,000 leaflets. A march circled the square which boasted not just a contempt for ISIS and Erdoğan but of an expression for freedom born from only the most insufferable conditions.
Kurdistan is in armed conflict with the state, the self-declared caliphate of ISIS and the western capitalist forces of the world (NATO). It is a position landed upon after hard years of longing for an independence denied at every turn. The struggle exists in a complex web of political parties, geo-political positioning, historical revision, across several languages. Within and against the politics, the patriarchal drive for domination, authority, and rule the Rojava revolution of western Kurdistan has shown great commitment to autonomy, liberation and has set an example for a multi-ethnic, secular middle east.
Last week ISIS cowardly detonated a suicide bomb on a group of young revolutionaries delivering aid to Kobanê in the town of Suruç. This attack murdered thirty-two and injured over 100 more. The situation has led to many solidarity demonstrations across the world and an armed revolt in Turkey. Today was an opportunity to gravitate toward each other, to converse and correspond.
The solidarity demonstration in San Francisco today was in part a way to recognize ourselves in this complex web of events in order to conspire a way of escape and a response to the Anarchy Initiative call for worldwide solidarity demonstrations against the Turkish State. A demonstration is personal, it is both a reflective time and a social engagement. For Anarchists the lense we view the world has always been one which highlights both our own struggles and recognizes the intersections we have with others. The disasters of this world are ever present as is the challenge to recognize and be present for them.
The posh shops surrounding Union Square have been a target of liberationist forces here, last winter the spectacle was cracked by waves of demonstrators who acted upon the glossy façades. This impetus propelled a movement, but it could not carry it through the crashing waves of the returning normality. Normality is the war that is waged by the powerful upon our fragile and precarious lives and today the docile tourist carries on, dollar in hand.
Remembering our own battles against state and capital and casting a small act of solidarity with our comrade fighters in to the social media streams has produced many questions amongst comrades. Normality may have seeped back in to the streets of the bay but we hope that this message touches at least one person so acutely that they are compelled to act. To take to action in times of war is to meet the consequences of self-determination. Basically, you need it!
As those who recognize themselves as revolutionaries acting against the war at home and abroad it may be difficult to reflect but we must, and demonstrations are one way we know how. In this some Anarchists in the bay chose to act in solidarity with the liberatory aims of Kurdistan, Rojava and YPG/YPJ fighters. As YPG/YPJ fighters are closing in on ISIS’s capital of Al-Raqqah The Nation State of Turkey is taking aim on Kurdistan. Turkish tanks have begun shelling the libreationist YPG forces in Syria and PKK forces in Iraq. There is a civil war going on in Turkey. There is a civil war going on in the states.
Dedicated to the fallen comrades of Suruç. May the roses we rest upon our banners give strength to our combatants.
The revolution must be defended.
-Some AnarchistsPresident Donald Trump continued to battle with the media during a speech at a Celebrate Freedom Rally at the Kennedy Center on Saturday.
“The fake media is trying to silence us but we will not let them,” Trump said. “The people know the truth. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but I’m president and they’re not.”
Trump recalled his great election victory, vowing to continue fighting for his agenda, accusing the media of trying to stop him.
“The dishonest media will not stop us from accomplishing our objectives on behalf of the American people,” he said. “Their agenda is not your agenda.”
The president said that the press “destroyed themselves” by revealing their true intent to the American people.
“Instead of being subtle and smart, they used the hatchet and the people saw it right from the beginning,” he said.
Trump’s anti-media remarks are the latest of a series of attacks on the press. On Twitter, Trump vowed to continue fighting the media and battling on social media.
“The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media – but remember, I won the 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media,” Trump wrote on Saturday. “I had to beat Fake News, and did. We will continue to WIN!”TORONTO – There is no question in James van Riemsdyk’s mind.
If a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs were to publicly come out as gay it wouldn’t create any discomfort inside the dressing room.
“I know if we had someone that were to come out on this team, that we’d obviously be supportive,” van Riemsdyk said Tuesday. |
Roosevelt Road will be realigned just south of the existing roadway at a point east of the Kautz Road intersection. The new bridge structure will feature a T intersection with Kautz Road.
Money from the project is coming from the Illinois Jobs Now! capital project spearheaded by Gov. Pat Quinn, who came to West Chicago this week to formally announce the overpass.
State officials say the overpass is the 1,000 bridge-related project funded by the program. The local project is expected to create about 340 jobs, state officials said.
Pineda said he thinks the new crossing will spur economic development along Roosevelt Road. The traffic back ups have been a disincentive for potential new business, he said.
"Once it happens, it's really going to open up a lot of possibilities for us," Pineda said.
Burns is looking forward to the new perspective the bridge will provide.
"We'll be looking at the tops of the trains," he said.Overview
Development folks work tirelessly to make building programs as easy as possible. The JavaScript, Web and Mobile app developers communities increased drastically since Node and Cordova were introduced. Developers who had web design skills could, with less effort, roll out a server using JavaScript for their applications, through the help of Node.js.
Mobile lovers can with the help of Cordova now build rich hybrid apps using just JavaScript. Today, although it is old news, I am excited to share the ability of using JavaScript to build desktop standalone applications.
Node Webkit normally written "node-webkit" or "NW.js" is an app runtime based on Node.js and Chromium and enables us to develop OS native apps using just HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Simply put, Node Webkit just helps you utilize your skill as a web developer to build native application that runs comfortably on Mac, Windows and Linux with just a grunt/gulp (if preferred) build command.
This article concentrates a lot more on using Node Webkit, but in order to make things more interesting, we will be including other amazing solutions and they will include:
Socket.io A realtime library for Node.js
Angular Material: Angular’s implementation of Google’s Material Design
MEAN: MEAN is just a concept of combining the features of Mongo, Express, Angular and Node to build powerful apps
Furthermore, the application has three sections:
The server
The desktop (client)
The web (client)
The web section will not be covered here, but it will serve as a test platform but don't worry, the code will be provided.
Prerequisites
Level: Intermediate (Knowledge of MEAN is required)
Installation
We need to grab node-webkit and every other dependencies for our application. Fortunately, there are frameworks that make workflow easy and we will be using one of them to scaffold our application and concentrate more on the implementation.
Yo and Slush are popular generators and any of these will work. I am going to be using Slush, but feel free to use Yo if you prefer to. To install Slush make sure you have node and npm installed and run
$ npm install -g slush gulp bower slush-wean
The command will install the following globally on our system.
slush: a scaffolding tool
slush-wean : the generator for Node Webkit
: the generator for Node Webkit gulp: our task runner
bower: for frontend dependencies
Just like YO, make your directory and scaffold your app using:
$ mkdir scotch-chat $ cd scotch-chat $ slush wean
Running the below command will give us a glance of what we have been waiting for:
$ gulp run
The image shows our app loading. The author of the generator was generous enough to provide a nice template with simple loading animation. To look cooler, I replaced the loading text with Scotch's logo.
If you are not comfortable with Slush automating things you can head right to node webkit on GitHub or watch the beginners video series.
Now that we have setup our app, though empty, we will give it a break and prepare our server now.
The Server
The server basically consists of our model, routes and socket events. We will keep it as simple as possible and you can feel free to extend the app as instructed at the end of the article.
Directory Structure
Setup a folder in your PC at your favorite directory, but make sure the folder content looks like the below:
|- public |- index.html |- server.js |- package.json
Dependencies
In the package.json file located on your root directory, create a JSON file to describe your application and include the application's dependencies.
{ "name": "scotch-chat", "main": "server.js", "dependencies": { "mongoose": "latest", "morgan": "latest", "socket.io": "latest" } }
That will do. It is just a minimal setup and we are keeping things simple and short. Run npm install on the directory root to install the specified dependencies.
$ npm install
Starting Our Server Setup
Huuugh. It is time to get our hands dirty! The first thing is to setup global variables in server.js which will hold the applications dependencies that are already installed.
// server.js // Import all our dependencies var express = require('express'); var mongoose = require('mongoose'); var app = express(); var server = require('http').Server(app); var io = require('socket.io')(server);
Ok, I didn't keep to my word. The variables are not only holding the dependencies, but some are configuring it for use.
To serve static files, express exposes a method to help configure the static files folder. It is simple:
// server.js... // tell express where to serve static files from app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
Next up is to create a connection to our database. I am working with a local Mongo DB which obviously is optional as you can find it's hosted by Mongo databases. Mongoose is a node module that exposes amazing API which makes working with Mongo DB a lot much easier.
// server.js... mongoose.connect("mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/scotch-chat");
With Mongoose we can now create our database schema and model. We also need to allow CORS in the application as we will be accessing it from a different domain.
// server.js... // create a schema for chat var ChatSchema = mongoose.Schema({ created: Date, content: String, username: String, room: String }); // create a model from the chat schema var Chat = mongoose.model('Chat', ChatSchema); // allow CORS app.all('*', function(req, res, next) { res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*"); res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET,PUT,POST,DELETE,OPTIONS'); res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'Content-type,Accept,X-Access-Token,X-Key'); if (req.method == 'OPTIONS') { res.status(200).end(); } else { next(); } });
Our server will have three routes in it. A route to serve the index file, another to setup chat data and the last to serve chat messages filtered by room names:
// server.js /*||||||||||||||||||||||ROUTES|||||||||||||||||||||||||*/ // route for our index file app.get('/', function(req, res) { //send the index.html in our public directory res.sendfile('index.html'); }); //This route is simply run only on first launch just to generate some chat history app.post('/setup', function(req, res) { //Array of chat data. Each object properties must match the schema object properties var chatData = [{ created: new Date(), content: 'Hi', username: 'Chris', room: 'php' }, { created: new Date(), content: 'Hello', username: 'Obinna', room: 'laravel' }, { created: new Date(), content: 'Ait', username: 'Bill', room: 'angular' }, { created: new Date(), content: 'Amazing room', username: 'Patience', room:'socet.io' }]; //Loop through each of the chat data and insert into the database for (var c = 0; c < chatData.length; c++) { //Create an instance of the chat model var newChat = new Chat(chatData[c]); //Call save to insert the chat newChat.save(function(err, savedChat) { console.log(savedChat); }); } //Send a resoponse so the serve would not get stuck res.send('created'); }); //This route produces a list of chat as filterd by 'room' query app.get('/msg', function(req, res) { //Find Chat.find({ 'room': req.query.room.toLowerCase() }).exec(function(err, msgs) { //Send res.json(msgs); }); }); /*||||||||||||||||||END ROUTES|||||||||||||||||||||*/
The first route I believe is easy enough. It will just send our index.html file to our users.
The second /setup is meant to be hit just once and at the initial launch of the application. It is optional if you don't need some test data. It basically creates an array of chat messages (which matches the schema), loops through them and inserts them into the database.
The third route /msg is responsible for fetching chat history filtered with room names and returned as an array of JSON objects.
The most important part of our server is the realtime logic. Keeping in mind that we are working towards producing a simple application, our logic will be comprehensively minimal. Sequentially, we need to:
Know when our application is launched
Send all the available rooms on connection
Listen for a user to connect and assign him/her to a default room
Listen for when he/she switches room
And, finally, listen for a new message and only send the message to those in the room at which it was created
Therefore:
// server.js /*||||||||||||||||SOCKET|||||||||||||||||||||||*/ //Listen for connection io.on('connection', function(socket) { //Globals var defaultRoom = 'general'; var rooms = ["General", "angular", "socket.io", "express", "node", "mongo", "PHP", "laravel"]; //Emit the rooms array socket.emit('setup', { rooms: rooms }); //Listens for new user socket.on('new user', function(data) { data.room = defaultRoom; //New user joins the default room socket.join(defaultRoom); //Tell all those in the room that a new user joined io.in(defaultRoom).emit('user joined', data); }); //Listens for switch room socket.on('switch room', function(data) { //Handles joining and leaving rooms //console.log(data); socket.leave(data.oldRoom); socket.join(data.newRoom); io.in(data.oldRoom).emit('user left', data); io.in(data.newRoom).emit('user joined', data); }); //Listens for a new chat message socket.on('new message', function(data) { //Create message var newMsg = new Chat({ username: data.username, content: data.message, room: data.room.toLowerCase(), created: new Date() }); //Save it to database newMsg.save(function(err, msg){ //Send message to those connected in the room io.in(msg.room).emit('message created', msg); }); }); }); /*||||||||||||||||||||END SOCKETS||||||||||||||||||*/
Then the traditional server start:
// server.js server.listen(2015); console.log('It\'s going down in 2015');
Fill the index.html with any HTML that suites you and run node server.js. localhost:2015 will give you the content of your HTML.
The Node Webkit Client
Time to dig up what we left to create our server which is running currently. This section is quite easy as it just requires your everyday knowledge of HTML, CSS, JS and Angular.
Directory Structure
We don't need to create any! I guess that was the inspiration of generators. The first file you might want to inspect is the package.json.
Node Webkit requires, basically, two major files to run:
an entry point ( index.html ) a package.json to tell it where the entry point is located
package.json has the basic content we are used to, except that it's main is the location of the index.html, and it has a set of configuration under "window": from which we define all the properties of the app's window including icons, sizes, toolbar, frame, etc.
Dependencies
Unlike the server, we will be using bower to load our dependencies as it is a client application. Update your bower.json dependencies to:
"dependencies": { "angular": "^1.3.13", "angular-material" : "^0.10.0", "angular-socket-io" : "^0.7.0", "angular-material-icons":"^0.5.0", "animate.css":"^3.0.0" }
For a shortcut, just run the following command:
$ bower install --save angular angular-material angular-socket-io angular-material-icons animate.css
Now that we have our frontend dependencies, we can update our views/index.ejs to:
<!-- index.ejs --> <html><head> <title>scotch-chat</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/app.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/animate.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="libs/angular-material/angular-material.css"> <script src="libs/angular/angular.js"></script> <script src="http://localhost:2015/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="libs/angular-animate/angular-animate.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="libs/angular-aria/angular-aria.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="libs/angular-material/angular-material.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="libs/angular-socket-io/socket.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="libs/angular-material-icons/angular-material-icons.js"></script> <script src="js/app.js"></script> </head> <body ng-controller="MainCtrl" ng-init="usernameModal()"> <md-content> <section> <md-list> <md-subheader class="md-primary header">Room: {{room}} <span align="right">Userame: {{username}} </span> </md-subheader> <md-whiteframe ng-repeat="m in messages" class="md-whiteframe-z2 message" layout layout-align="center center"> <md-list-item class="md-3-line"> <img ng-src="img/user.png" class="md-avatar" alt="User" /> <div class="md-list-item-text"> <h3>{{ m.username }}</h3> <p>{{m.content}}</p> </div> </md-list-item> </md-whiteframe> </md-list> </section> <div class="footer"> <md-input-container> <label>Message</label> <textarea ng-model="message" columns="1" md-maxlength="100" ng-enter="send(message)"></textarea> </md-input-container> </div> </md-content> </body> </html>
We included all our dependencies and custom files (app.css and app.js). Things to note:
We are using angular material and it's directives are making our code look like "HTML 6".
We are looping through our messages scope using ng-repeat and rendering it's values to the browser
and rendering it's values to the browser A directive which we shall see later helps us to send the message when the enter key is pressed
On init, the user is asked for a preferred username
, the user is asked for a preferred username There is an Angular library that is included to help working with socket.io in Angular easier.
The Application
The main part of this section is the app.js file. It creates services to interact with the Node Webkit GUI, a directive to handle the enter keypress and the controllers (main and dialog).
// app.js //Load angular var app = angular.module('scotch-chat', ['ngMaterial', 'ngAnimate', 'ngMdIcons', 'btford.socket-io']); //Set our server url var serverBaseUrl = 'http://localhost:2015'; //Services to interact with nodewebkit GUI and Window app.factory('GUI', function () { //Return nw.gui return require('nw.gui'); }); app.factory('Window', function (GUI) { return GUI.Window.get(); }); //Service to interact with the socket library app.factory('socket', function (socketFactory) { var myIoSocket = io.connect(serverBaseUrl); var socket = socketFactory({ ioSocket: myIoSocket }); return socket; });
Next up, we create three angular services. The first service helps us get that Node Webkit GUI object, the second returns it's Window property and the third bootstraps Socket.io with the base url.
// app.js //ng-enter directive app.directive('ngEnter', function () { return function (scope, element, attrs) { element.bind("keydown keypress", function (event) { if (event.which === 13) { scope.$apply(function () { scope.$eval(attrs.ngEnter); }); event.preventDefault(); } }); }; });
The above snippet is one of my favorites ever since I have been using Angular. It binds an event to the enter key, which thereby an event can be triggered when the key is pressed.
Finally, with the app.js is the almighty controller. We need to break things down to ease understanding as we did in our server.js. The controller is expected to:
Create a list of window menus from using the rooms emitted from the server. The user on joining is expected to provided his/her username. Listen for a new message from the server. Notify the server of new messages when they are created by typing and hitting the enter key.
Create a List of Rooms
With our objectives defined let us code:
// app.js //Our Controller app.controller('MainCtrl', function ($scope, Window, GUI, $mdDialog, socket, $http){ //Menu setup //Modal setup //listen for new message //Notify server of the new message });
That is our controller's skeleton with all of it dependencies. As you can see, it has four internal comments which is serving as a placeholder for our codes as defined in the objectives. So let's pick on the menu.
// app.js //Global Scope $scope.messages = []; $scope.room = ""; //Build the window menu for our app using the GUI and Window service var windowMenu = new GUI.Menu({ type:'menubar' }); var roomsMenu = new GUI.Menu(); windowMenu.append(new GUI.MenuItem({ label: 'Rooms', submenu: roomsMenu })); windowMenu.append(new GUI.MenuItem({ label: 'Exit', click: function () { Window.close() } }));
We simply created instances of the menu and appended some menu (Rooms and Exit) to it. The rooms menu is expected to serve as a drop-down and so we have to ask the server for available rooms and append it to the rooms menu:
// app.js //Listen for the setup event and create rooms socket.on('setup', function (data) { var rooms = data.rooms; for (var r = 0; r < rooms.length; r++) { //Loop and append room to the window room menu handleRoomSubMenu(r); } //Handle creation of room function handleRoomSubMenu(r) { var clickedRoom = rooms[r]; //Append each room to the menu roomsMenu.append(new GUI.MenuItem({ label: clickedRoom.toUpperCase(), click: function () { //What happens on clicking the rooms? Swtich room. $scope.room = clickedRoom.toUpperCase(); //Notify the server that the user changed his room socket.emit('switch room', { newRoom: clickedRoom, username: $scope.username }); //Fetch the new rooms messages $http.get(serverBaseUrl + '/msg?room=' + clickedRoom).success(function (msgs) { $scope.messages = msgs; }); } })); } //Attach menu GUI.Window.get().menu = windowMenu; });
The above code with the help of a function, loops through an array of rooms when they are available from the server and then append them to the rooms menu. With that, Objective #1 is completed.
Asking for a Username
Our second objective is to ask the user for username using angular material modal.
// app.js $scope.usernameModal = function (ev) { //Launch Modal to get username $mdDialog.show({ controller: UsernameDialogController, templateUrl: 'partials/username.tmpl.html', parent: angular.element(document.body), targetEvent: ev, }).then(function (answer) { //Set username with the value returned from the modal $scope.username = answer; //Tell the server there is a new user socket.emit('new user', { username: answer }); //Set room to general; $scope.room = 'GENERAL'; //Fetch chat messages in GENERAL $http.get(serverBaseUrl + '/msg?room=' + $scope.room).success(function (msgs) { $scope.messages = msgs; }); }, function () { Window.close(); }); };
As specified in the html, on init, the usernameModal is called. It uses the mdDialog service to get username of a joining user and if that is successful it will assign the username entered to a binding scope, notify the server about that activity and then push the user to the default (GENERAL) room. If it is not successful we close the app. Objective #2 completed!
//Listen for new messages (Objective 3) socket.on('message created', function (data) { //Push to new message to our $scope.messages $scope.messages.push(data); //Empty the textarea $scope.message = ""; }); //Send a new message (Objective 4) $scope.send = function (msg) { //Notify the server that there is a new message with the message as packet socket.emit('new message', { room: $scope.room, message: msg, username: $scope.username }); };
Listening For Messages
The third, and the last, objective is simple. #3 just listens for messages and if any push it to the array of existing messages and #4 notifies the server of new messages when they are created. At the end of app.js, we create a function to serve as the controller for the Modal:
// app.js //Dialog controller function UsernameDialogController($scope, $mdDialog) { $scope.answer = function (answer) { $mdDialog.hide(answer); }; }
CSS and Animation
To fix some ugly looks, update the app.css.
body { background: #fafafa!important; }.footer { background: #fff; position: fixed; left: 0px; bottom: 0px; width: 100%; }.message.ng-enter { -webkit-animation: zoomIn 1s; -ms-animation: zoomIn 1s; animation: zoomIn 1s; }
Note the last style. We are using ngAnimate and animate.css to create a pretty animation for our messages.
I already wrote on how you can play with this concept here.
Closing Up
I can guess what you are worried about after looking at the image! The address bar, right? This is were the window configuration in the package.json comes in. Just change "toolbar": true to "toolbar": false.
I also set my icon to "icon": "app/public/img/scotch.png" to change the window icon to Scotch logo. We can also add notification once there is a new message:
var options = { body: data.content }; var notification = new Notification("Message from: "+data.username, options); notification.onshow = function () { // auto close after 1 second setTimeout(function () { notification.close(); }, 2000); }
And even more fun...
Testing
I suggest you test the application by downloading the web client from Git Hub. Run the server, then the web client and then the app. Start sending messages from both the app and the web client and watch them appear in realtime if you are sending in the same room.
The demo server is on here and the web client here.
Go Further
If you want to challenge yourself further, you can try to add the following to our app
Authentication with Facebook. Admin section to update rooms. Use a real user avatar. Deploy the app using gulp deploy --{{platform}} eg: gulp deploy --mac. * etc...
Conclusion
I am glad we made it to the end. Node Webkit is an amazing concept. Join the community and make building apps easier. Hope you had a lot of scotch today and that I made someone smile...TOUGH West Coast defender Beau Waters has suffered another injury setback and looks certain to miss the start of pre-season training after more surgery last week.
The Eagles’ vice-captain suffered complications in his recovery from a shoulder operation late into August and he has been set back for at least two more months in more recovery. If his latest operation is not a complete success once Waters resumes summer training, there are fears his injury-savaged AFL playing days could be over. He could be forced into early retirement if he suffers what is commonly referred to as a ``locked shoulder’’ and is unable to lift his arm above his head. Waters’ latest complications could severely hamper him prospects of becoming the next Eagles captain when champion defender Darren Glass most likely retires at the end of next season. Waters, 27, has been limited to 120 outings since making his debut almost a decade ago. The 2006 premiership backliner has suffered horribly from injury across his stop-start career with serious elbow problems in 2008 and again three seasons later as well as nagging groin and shoulder ailments. Waters appeared to have shrugged off his injury horrors last year to win his first All-Australian selection at half-back before he suffered a broken bone in his foot and missed the Eagles losing semi-final against Collingwood. Waters was an attractive first-round pick at number 11 in the 2003 draft and has managed to play 20 games or more in a season just four times since his debut just three weeks into the 2004 home-and-away campaign. He missed the entire 2005 season with severe osteitis pubis. Waters managed just seven games this year with spasmodic appearances restricting his outings with more groin problems and then his shoulder injury after the Eagles come-from-behind Round 15 win over Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in early July.THE high cost of child care means that most parents only work to avoid their kids, it has emerged.
With nursery schools now costing more than many people earn, parents of young children have admitted having jobs mainly so that they can spend their days with adults.
Father-of-three Tom Logan said: “I just give all my wages to something called Tiny Tots.
“I don’t actually know what ‘Tiny Tots’ does, it could be a pre-school version of the Hitler Youth to be honest.
“Anyway, if I didn’t do that I’d be at home covered in jam and faeces.”
Mother-of-two Emma Bradford said: “I’m working all the time so I rarely get to see my kids. Which is kind of the point.
“I don’t particularly like my office job, but it’s a damn sight more fun than trying to stop a pair of tiny, utterly ignorant humans from killing a cat.”
When asked what they actually did in return for their extortionate fees, nursery school teacher Mary Fisher said: “We deal with your kids.”Tributes to gifted Oxford University student Max Mian from Norwich after death at construction site
Former Norwich School student Max Mian, who died on a construction site in Oxford. Photo: Facebook Archant
Tributes are being paid to a gifted former Norwich School student who died at the construction site of a £440m shopping centre.
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The scene at Westgate shopping centre in Oxford where Norwich student Max Mian is believed to have died. Picture: Oxford Mail The scene at Westgate shopping centre in Oxford where Norwich student Max Mian is believed to have died. Picture: Oxford Mail
Max Mian had been entering his second year studying Classics at Oxford University after moving from Norwich. On Monday morning his body was found by workers at the site of the new Westgate Centre in Oxford.
It appeared he had fallen from the roof of one of the new shops.
The centre was due to open in three weeks, but work was halted at a section of the site while police investigated the circumstances that led to this death.
Brasenose College, where he was studying, said: “The family have been informed and the college has met with them and expressed its sympathy and support. College students and staff have also been informed and offered counselling and support.”
The scene at Westgate shopping centre in Oxford where Norwich student Max Mian is believed to have died. Picture: Oxford Mail The scene at Westgate shopping centre in Oxford where Norwich student Max Mian is believed to have died. Picture: Oxford Mail
John Bowers, principal of the college, said: “Max was a brilliant and popular student and we all miss him greatly. Our thoughts are especially with his family and friends and everyone at the college is doing all we can to help and support them and each other at such a difficult time.”
Miles Overton, the JCR President, said “Max was a popular, much-loved member of the Brasenose Junior Common Room. His tragic death has deeply shocked us all, but the supportive community in which we live has come together at this difficult time. Our thoughts are especially with Max’s family and friends, and we in the JCR will always feel his loss.”
Thames Valley Police said it was not treating the incident as suspicious, but it remained unexplained.
Stefan Griffiths, headmaster of Norwich School, said: “I am deeply saddened by the news of the tragic death of Max Mian, who was a much-loved member of Norwich School between 2006 and 2016.
“Max was a very gifted all-rounder, with a particular love of Classics. Our sympathies are with his family and many friends. They are in the thoughts and prayers of the Norwich School community.”
The Health and Safety Executive has been notified of the incident and it is assisting Thames Valley Police in its investigation.
The Oxford Mail has reported police officers were seen on the roof of the new John Lewis Building on the site after workers discovered Mr Mian’s body when they began their shift on Monday morning around 6.40am.
A spokesman for Westgate Oxford Alliance said: “We are aware of an incident at the Westgate Oxford site, and the site is partially closed.
“The emergency services are investigating and we are, therefore, unable to make any further comment at this stage.”The excellent theme support of GO Launcher EX has always received a lot of praise by its users, but there has never been a newbie-friendly way of creating your own themes for the launcher. All of that has changed now, with the release of GO Launcher Theme Maker. As the name of the app suggests, it lets users make a custom theme including including icons, docks, folders, icon size and more. The app also gives you control over colors, transparency, rotation etc. and you can add stickers via pictures or icon packs downloadable through the app, or simply draw an icon by yourself. The possibilities are quite endless and you can end up creating some stunningly original designs. More so, all themes created via this app can be uploaded to a Themes Hub, which means you have access to themes created by other GO Launcher Theme Maker users. Such crowdsourced theming was earlier seen in Buzz Launcher, though GO Launcher Theme Maker employs a rather basic and simple approach. Let’s take a closer look at how the app works, right after the jump!
You can start by either downloading user-uploaded themes from the Theme Hub and editing them, or create a new theme from scratch. Themes Hub does not have a variety of options, but basic ones such as sharing and voting have been included, along with the ability to sort themes according to various criteria.
From your home screen to the app drawer, you can design and draw all elements of GO Launcher EX. Upon first use, the app will tell you exactly what you can customize, and to what extent. To change an element, simply tap it once to bring up the relevant customization options, which will appear in a ribbon at the top.
The icon and background sets, or ‘kuramees’ according to the app, can be downloaded easily and become available once installed, just like the sets that are originally bundled with the app.
If you want to further customize the kuramee, simply place the kuramee where you want and then hit the ‘Edit’ button. Do note that some elements may not be editable in the free version.
A mix of color fills, sticker add-ons, color tweaks, text tweaks and the like can really yield some beautiful results, provided you have the patience for it. Functions like pinch-to-zoom are supported as well, and there’s a handy pin handle that can be used to rotate and resize the element you’re editing.
Once a theme is saved, you can choose to upload it to the Themes Hub in order to share it with the community. The app will prompt you to create an APK package for it. All installed themes can then be found in the GO Launcher themes menu under the ‘installed’ category, just like any other installed themes for the launcher.
Install GO Launcher Theme Maker from Play Store (Free)
Install GO Launcher Theme Maker – PRO from Play Store (Paid)
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERIn Fair Oaks, the chickens truly are free range SACRAMENTO COUNTY Though some may cry foul, fowl have the run of Fair Oaks
CHICKENS: The feral fowl of Fair Oaks, Calif., reputedly date back three decades and now number more than 200. "We adore them. They're an integral part of the village," said one resident. "They're pretty rogue," said another. Illustrates CHICKENS (category a) by Eric Bailey (c) 2008, Los Angeles Times. Moved Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. (MUST CREDIT: Los Angeles Times photo by Eric Bailey.) The feral fowl of Fair Oaks, Calif., reputedly date back three decades and now number more than 200. "We adore them. They're an integral part of the village," said one resident. "They're pretty rogue," said another. Illustrates CHICKENS (category a) by Eric Bailey (c) 2008, Los Angeles Times. Moved Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. (MUST CREDIT: Los Angeles Times photo by Eric Bailey.) less CHICKENS: The feral fowl of Fair Oaks, Calif., reputedly date back three decades and now number more than 200. "We adore them. They're an integral part of the village," said one resident. "They're pretty... more Photo: Eric Bailey, Los Angeles Times Photo: Eric Bailey, Los Angeles Times Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close In Fair Oaks, the chickens truly are free range 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
San Juan Capistrano has its swallows. Rome has its starlings. Fair Oaks has chickens.
Few places so prize and protect their feral fowl as this quiet outpost amid the bustling suburbia of eastern Sacramento County.
The town's wild poultry - reputedly dating back three decades to the original free-range rooster and three hens - now number more than 200, according to one unofficial census.
Chickens have the run of Plaza Park, the grassy downtown square. They squawk, beg for scraps and roost on playground equipment or century-old storefronts.
They jaywalk with abandon, halting rush-hour traffic. Cocks and pullets alike strut into nearby neighborhoods, rooting among knobby oaks to cluck and cock-a-doodle-doo.
This being America, locals hold a festival each fall to celebrate the chicken. It's one of the few times humans vastly outnumber the barnyard birds on the streets of Fair Oaks.
"We adore them," said Sandy Lidstone, a longtime resident. "They're an integral part of the village."
One dearly departed hen is remembered for nesting on the laps of customers lounging outside the Stockman bar. Another had the habit of laying an egg nearly every day in a planter box. A loyal patron would retrieve it and crack it into his beer, bartender Judy Jackson said.
Jackson bubbled with civic pride over a short article in People magazine about the Fair Oaks flock: "Our chickens are known nationally."
Not everybody feels such fondness. Some residents complain about predawn wake-up calls by roosters, chicken droppings on storefront sidewalks and tales of mean birds pestering toddlers at the playground. To them, the pecking order is out of whack.
"They're pretty rogue," said Christa Oberth, a lifelong Fair Oaks resident. "It's not particularly quaint and charming when they start crowing at 3 in the morning."
While attending a friend's wedding reception at Slocum House, the town's most celebrated eatery, Oberth watched with both mirth and dismay as a big rooster jumped onto a table, sending champagne glasses flying.
"Oh my God, they're everyplace," said Steve Abbott, a retired high school English teacher. "Some people think it's cute, that the chickens add to the semi-rural appeal. I think it's disgusting."
Over the years, Abbott repeatedly lobbied Sacramento County health and animal control officials to stem the poultry proliferation, mostly to no avail.
At times, he took matters into his own hands, capturing a few marauding birds with a fishing net. He once threatened to go to court over a boisterous banty rooster harbored by a neighbor.
Ultimately, his patience spent, Abbott sold his home of 40 years and moved one town over. He cites Fair Oaks' chicken proliferation as his No. 3 reason for the move (behind wanting a one-story house and fewer lawn-care responsibilities).
As folks tell it, the first birds arrived with Hugh Gorman, an artist who moved to Fair Oaks in 1977 with his four chickens.
At first, Gorman recalls, he fielded pleas to keep his flock cooped up. But ultimately, Gorman relented to his free-spirit sensibilities and released the foursome.
Each year, a new flotilla of fuzzy yellow chicks could be seen scurrying after their mothers. Other chickens joined the mix, Gorman said, among them post-Easter escapees from a local feed store and barnyard rejects dumped at the town limits.
Now, the chickens are a functional part of the Fair Oaks ethos and ecosystem, Gorman said. They eat bugs and provide entertainment, distracting residents from their worries about recession and slumping 401(k)s.
Even the community tragedy of the rare hen that falls victim to an errant motorist, he said, is a circle-of-life moment.
"They're self-replacing speed bumps," Gorman said. "You run them over and they grow new ones."One of Alex’s favourite book at the moment is “Robot Rumpus” by Sean Taylor. Its a funny story about mayhem caused by a group of robot. If there’s anything Alex love more than anything, it is mayhem.
In this activity we’re building robot figurines using Styrofoam. Initially it took a while until I could get Alex’s interest. After a few days, he helped himself to the basket of materials and started to build his own robots.
Recommended for children age |
2009 to 2013, the report released Tuesday by Inspector General Todd Zinser found.
The underworked paralegals did little as a backlog of appeals of patent examinations doubled from about 12,500 in fiscal 2009 to 25,300 in 2013. Soon after they were hired as legal support staff, the Patent and Trademark Office imposed a hiring freeze that halted hires of judges needed to handle the appeals.
It was easy for the paralegals to goof off with so little work — they worked from home. The patent office set an early example for other federal agencies years ago when it encouraged employees to telework, and the program has been a largely successful model. But the inspector general found that for paralegals in the appeals office, working from home was a green light to abuse the privilege by doing laundry, washing dishes, reading books and a host of other personal activities.
The bonuses included $120,000 for the paralegals’ supervisors, some of whom didn’t check in with their staffs to make sure they had enough work to do.
Employees were told by supervisors to record their hours on timecards under a code known as “Other Time,” the report said.
As soon as they became aware of the investigation, top managers devised other tasks for the paralegals, including assigning them to a project writing an article on the history of the appeals board. But the article was never published, the report found. And most of the other assignments amounted to “busy work” the report called “feeble, half-hearted and ineffective.”
“I almost don’t blame [the paralegal specialists] for watching TV,” one of the chief judges at the appeal board told investigators, “because, I mean, you’re sitting around for 800 hours.”
Zinser described the operation as “a complete breakdown of management.”
“It’s one thing to have idle workers,” Zinser said in an interview, “but in addition to being idle, they received outstanding performance ratings.” He said the Patent Office “displayed a lack of sensitivity” to fee payers who fund the Alexandria-based agency’s $3 billion annual budget.
Patent Office spokesman Todd Elmer said in a statement that the agency is reviewing the report. But he said it already has made “structural improvements” to make the paralegal program more efficient. A new management team is “eliminating underutilization” and revising the way paralegals’ performance is evaluated, Elmer said.
“With new and ongoing improvements, combined with this additional input from the [inspector general], the agency is confident that the [appeals board] will be even more strongly situated to achieve tremendous results for its stakeholders.”
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board reviews appeals of decisions made by patent examiners and decides whether challenges to existing patents are legitimate.
The role of the paralegals is to docket cases, create electronic files, make sure an appeal complies with relevant statutes, and edit judges’ decisions for grammar and style. On occasion, they do legal research for judges. But they rely on judges to give them work.
It is unclear whether there will be changes to telework, a program Zinser said needs more supervision and accountability.
“No need to notify me when work is done,” one supervisor told a paralegal in an e-mail Dec. 18, 2012, in response to a message from the paralegal that she had completed her assigned work at 9:25 a.m. that day.
“It used to get on the supervisors’ nerves, because they knew we didn’t have anything,” the employee told investigators.
Some managers were so fearful of angering the union that represents Patent and Trademark Office employees that they didn’t consider changing the paralegals’ work assignments or even starting the process of layoffs.
But Zinser said the appeals board had options it should have explored with the unions to give the paralegals new duties. Some managers did not know, for example, whether changing work schedules and assignments even needed to be negotiated.Well this keeps getting better and better. Just a couple hours ago it was announced that Kris Humphries‘ ex-girlfriend Myla Sinanaj is pregnant, now we’ve just obtained nude photos of Myla as well as exclusive information talking about how she’s slept with other celebrities and even claimed to be pregnant in the past when guys have dumped her. Here’s what Myla’s ex-boyfriend of 6 years tells us.
“Myla has been searching to become famous since I met her. Originally, she said she was a singer but I was with her for 6 years and never EVER heard a song. That was one way she met “industry” people. When she started working at the hotel she would tell me all of the guys she met that wanted to talk to her…Vin Diesel, Boris Khojo, George Clooney, Curtis Jackson etc. I know she slept with at least one of these guys. She’s a habitual liar and dates guys and when they want to leave she claims she’s pregnant or will kill herself. She is obsessive and will call literally ALL DAY to the point where no more messages can be left on your voicemail. I believe Myla met Kris and definitely constructed a larger connection in her own head. Thats just the person she is.”
Here are the photos for your viewing pleasure.
It sounds like Myla is upset that Kris is ignoring her so she’s trying to fake whole pregnancy thing to get his attention.
What do you guys think, is Myla really the mother of Kris Humphries’ baby?
UPDATE: Pics removed at the request of Myla and her legal team.The environment for foreign journalists working in China has worsened, with "negative trends" continuing in the past year, a press group said in an annual statement amid growing tension between Beijing and Washington over correspondents' visas.
"We have found that the Chinese authorities are increasingly using the denial of visas, or delays in their approval, in an apparent effort to influence journalists’ coverage," the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said in a statement issued on Sunday and reported by Bloomberg.
"No correspondents for the New York Times and Bloomberg have yet been able to renew their annual residence visas, which have been subject to unusual and unexplained delays this year," the FCCC statement said.
Both news organizations have published articles exposing the wealth of relatives of Chinese leaders in the past year.
Now, their correspondents could be forced to leave the country by the end of the year if their visas aren’t renewed, in what was once a fairly automatic annual process.
'Special treatment'
A Beijing-based foreign correspondent who asked to remain anonymous said there was little doubt among Beijing-based journalists over the reason behind the visa problems.
"The authorities are very angry with The New York Times and Bloomberg, so they are meting out this special treatment to them," the journalist told RFA's Cantonese Service.
"Any stories about the leadership are particularly sensitive right now," he added.
He said the climate for foreign journalists had changed noticeably around the time of a clampdown on dissent sparked by online calls for Chinese activists to emulate the Arab Spring in early 2011.
"It was around the time of the so-called Jasmine Revolution. There was a period when the police would contact us directly, which they had never done before," he said.
"In the past few years we have had to have a chat with foreign ministry officials when the time comes for us to apply for our press card," he added.
Off-limits
The FCCC said Beijing had also clamped down on foreign reporters' ability to interview members of the public during the past year, rolling back a policy of greater access for foreign journalists begun during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"Large swathes of Chinese territory remain effectively out of bounds to foreign correspondents," Bloomberg quoted the FCCC statement as saying.
"Although a handful of resident foreign correspondents and some journalists visiting from abroad have been allowed into Tibet this year, strict restrictions have been imposed on press coverage there," it added.
Visa renewals
During a visit to Beijing last week, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to expand press freedoms and stop punishing U.S. news organizations for critical coverage.
However, foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei gave a stock answer to a question about journalist visas on Sunday, saying only that China always "deals with issues concerning foreign journalists and media in accordance with laws and regulations."
Meanwhile, New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson told Bloomberg by e-mail that the paper felt it crucial to provide "unfettered" coverage of China at a compelling stage in the country's development.
"We have made a major commitment to covering China and are eager that our staff can continue to work there normally," Abramson said.
Nearly two dozen journalists for The New York Times and Bloomberg are based in China, and all of their visas must be renewed by the end of the month.
However, the public security bureau has declined to respond to their annual applications as usual.
FCC Hong Kong
The Foreign Correspondents' Club's branch in Hong Kong, a former British colony which enjoys a greater degree of press freedom than cities across the internal border with mainland China, said it was deeply concerned about the refusal of work visas for foreign journalists.
It cited the case of veteran Beijing-based journalist Paul Mooney, who has received a number of awards for his human rights reporting, who was recently denied a visa to work for Reuters, which wanted to hire him in Beijing.
"These delays and the lack of transparency in the visa process contribute to the impression that the process is used by authorities to intimidate journalists and their employers," the Dec. 3 statement said.
"It may be no coincidence that these delays come at a time when major news outlets have published work examining the business interests and personal wealth of members of China’s senior leadership, as well as the social pressures created by the country’s growing wealth gap."
It said any attempt to restrict journalists' access to a country is a form of censorship, and urged Beijing to process applications for journalists' visas in a "fair and timely manner."
Reported by Grace Kei Lai-see for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.Jim and Jamie Dutcher/National Geographic Creative
In 2008, Kristin Marshall was driving through Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Marshall, a graduate student at the time, had come to the park to study willow shrubs — specifically, how much they were being eaten by elk.
She pulled to the side of the road and was preparing to hike to one of her study plots when she ran into two sisters from the Midwest, who were touring the park. The women asked what Marshall was doing and she said, “I am a researcher. I am working in that willow patch down there.”
The tourists gushed: “We watched all about the willows on this nature documentary. We hear that all the willows are doing so much better now because the wolves are back in the ecosystem.” That stopped Marshall short. “I didn’t want to say, ‘No, you are wrong, they aren’t actually doing that well.’”
Instead, she said: “The story is a probably a little more complicated than what you saw on the nature documentary.” That was the end of the conversation; the tourists seemed uninterested in the more-complicated story of how beavers and changes in hydrology might be more important than wolves for willow recovery. “I can’t say I blame them,” says Marshall, now an ecologist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, Washington. “What you see on TV is captivating.”
On television and in scientific journals, the story of how carnivores influence ecosystems has seized imaginations. From wolves in North America to lions in Africa and dingoes in Australia, top predators are thought to exert tight control over the populations and behaviours of other animals, shaping the entire food web down to the vegetation through a ‘trophic cascade’. This story is popular in part because it supports calls to conserve large carnivores as ‘keystone species’ for whole ecosystems. It also offers the promise of a robust rule within ecology, a field in which researchers have yearned for more predictive power.
Listen Emma Marris describes how wolves reinstated in North America are forcing ecologists to rethink ecosystems You may need a more recent browser or to install the latest version of the Adobe Flash Plugin.
But several studies in recent years have raised questions about the top-predator rule in the high-profile cases of the wolf and the dingo. That has led some scientists to suggest that the field’s fascination with top predators stems not from their relative importance, but rather from society’s interest in the big, the dangerous and the vulnerable. “Predators can be important,” says Oswald Schmitz, an ecologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, “but they aren’t a panacea.”
Predators on top
In the early years of ecology, predators did not get so much respect. Instead, researchers thought that plants were the dominant forces in ecosystems. The theory was that photosynthesis from these primary producers determined how much energy was available in an area, and what could live there. Bottom-up control was all the rage.
Interest in top-down trophic cascades emerged in 1963, when ecologist Robert Paine of the University of Washington in Seattle started to exclude predators from study plots at his coastal research site. He pried predatory starfish off intertidal rocks and hurled them into deeper waters. Without the starfish to control their numbers, mussels eventually carpeted the plots and kept limpets and algae from taking hold in the region. A new ecosystem emerged (see Nature 493, 286–289; 2013).
After this and other aquatic studies, the conventional wisdom in the field was that top-down trophic cascades happened only in rivers, lakes and the sea. An influential 1992 paper1 by Donald Strong at the University of California, Davis, asked: “Are trophic cascades all wet?” As if in answer, ecologists began looking for similar carnivore stories on land.
SOURCE: 1 & 2: Ref. 5; 3: Ref. 7
They soon found them. In 2000, a review2 tallied 41 terrestrial studies on trophic cascades, most of which showed that predation had significant effects on the number of herbivores in an area, or on plant damage, biomass or reproductive output. These studies were all on small plots involving small predators: birds, lizards, spiders and lots of ants.
Research on terrestrial trophic cascades moved to much larger scales with the work of John Terborgh and William Ripple. In 2001, Terborgh, an ecologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, reported3 on dramatic ecosystem changes that came after a dam was built in Venezuela. Flooding from the dam created islands that were too small to support big predators such as jaguars and harpy eagles. The population densities of their prey — rodents, howler monkeys, iguanas and leaf-cutter ants — boomed to 10–100 times those on the mainland. Seedlings and saplings were devastated.
In the same year, Ripple, an ecologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, published a key paper4 on the most famous, and probably the best-studied, example of a terrestrial carnivore structuring an ecosystem: Yellowstone’s wolves. The ecosystem offered a natural experiment because the US National Park Service had the park’s exterminated wolves (Canis lupus) by 1926 and then reinstated them in the 1990s, after public sentiment and ecological theory had shifted. In 1995, 14 wolves from Alberta, Canada, were introduced into the park. Seventeen from British Columbia followed in 1996. By 2009, there were almost 100 wolves in 14 packs in the Yellowstone area. (That number is now down to 83 in 10 packs.)
During the years when there were no wolves, ecologists grew increasingly worried about the aspen trees (Populus tremuloides) in the park. It seemed that intensive browsing by Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) was preventing trees from reaching adult height, or ‘recruiting’. In the early twentieth century, aspen covered between 4% and 6% of the winter range of the northern Yellowstone herd of elk; by the end of the century, they accounted for only 1% (ref. 4).
“Predators can be important, but they aren’t a panacea.”
When Ripple and his co-authors checked aspen growth against the roaming behaviour of wolves in three packs, they found that aspen grew tallest in stream-side spots that saw high wolf traffic. That pattern hinted at an indirect behavioural cascade: rather than limiting browsing by reducing elk populations throughout the park, wolves apparently made elk more skittish and less likely to browse in the tightly confined stream valleys, where prey have limited escape routes (see ‘The tangled web’). A 2007 study5 by Ripple and Robert Beschta, also of Oregon State, seemed to strengthen the behavioural-cascade hypothesis. It found that the five tallest young aspen in stream-side stands where there were downed logs — a potential trip hazard for elk — were taller than the five tallest young aspen in stands away from streams or without downed logs.
Similar evidence of indirect wolf effects emerged from a study of willows. In 2004, Ripple and Beschta found6 that the shrubs were returning in narrow river valleys, where the researchers thought that the chances of wolves attacking elk were greatest.
More recently, Ripple has been documenting the regrowth of cottonwood trees. “When we look around western North America, we see a big decrease in tree recruitment after wolves were removed. And when wolves returned to Yellowstone, the trees started growing again. It is just wonderful to walk through that new cottonwood forest.”
Tales from trees
But some ecologists had their doubts. The first major study7 critical of the wolf effect appeared in 2010, led by Matthew Kauffman of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in Laramie. When researchers drilled boreholes into more than 200 trees in Yellowstone and analysed growth patterns, they found that the recruitment of aspen had not ended all at once. Some trees had reached adult size as late as 1960, long after the wolves had gone. And some stands had stopped growing new adults as early as 1892, well before the wolves left. The aspen petered out over decades, as elk populations slowly grew, suggesting that the major influence on the trees is the size of the elk population, rather than elk behaviour in response to wolves. And although wolves influence elk numbers, many other factors play a part, says Kauffman: grizzly bears are increasingly killing elk; droughts deplete elk populations; and humans hunt elk that migrate out of the park in winter.
When Kauffman and his colleagues studied7 aspen in areas where risk of attack by wolves was high or low, they obtained results different from Ripple’s. Rather than look at the five tallest aspen in each stand, as Ripple had done, they tallied the average tree height and used locations of elk kills to map the risk of wolf attacks. By these measures, they found no differences between trees in high- and low-risk areas.
Questions have also emerged about the well-publicized relationship between wolves and willows. Marshall and two colleagues investigated the controls on willow shrubs by examining ten years’ worth of data from open plots and plots surrounded by cages to keep the elk out. Her team found8 that the willows were not thriving in all the protected sites. The only plants that grew above 2 metres — beyond the reach of browsing elk — were those in areas where simulated beaver dams had raised the water table.
If beavers have a key role in helping willows to thrive, as Marshall’s study suggests, the shrubs face a tough future because the park’s beaver populations have dropped. Researchers speculate that the removal of wolves in the 1920s allowed elk to eat so much willow that there was none left for the beavers, causing an irreversible decline.
“The predator was gone for at least 70 years,” says Marshall. “Removing it has changed the ecosystem in fundamental ways.” This work suggests that wolves did meaningfully structure the Yellowstone ecosystem a century ago, but that reintroducing them cannot restore the old arrangement.
Arthur Middleton, a Yale ecologist who works on Yellowstone elk, says that such studies have disproved the simple version of the trophic cascade story. The wolves, elk and vegetation exist in an ecosystem with hundreds of other factors, many of which seem to be important, he says.
Dingo debate
Another classic example of a trophic cascade has come under attack in Australia. The standard story there is that the top predator, the dingo (Canis lupus dingo), controls smaller introduced predators such as cats and foxes, allowing native marsupials to thrive. But Ben Allen, an ecologist at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Toowoomba, has compared9 areas where dingoes are poisoned with areas where they are left alone, and found no difference in marsupial abundance. He is quite cynical, he says, about “this idea that top predators are wonderful for the environment and will put everything back to the Garden of Eden”.
Allen’s opponents counter that he has failed to show that the poisoning regimens actually reduce dingo population densities. Chris Johnson, an ecologist the University of Tasmania in Hobart, says he is “very critical” of Allen’s experimental design and methods. The dingo effect is real, says Johnson.
Ripple is not worried about these debates, which he views as quibbling over details that do not undermine the overall strength of the tropic-cascade hypothesis. In fact, when he published a major review10 this year of the effects that predators exert over ecosystems, he left out studies critical of the wolf and dingo trophic-cascade theories; he says that there was no room for them in the space he had to work with. Ripple is particularly concerned with documenting the impacts of Earth’s top carnivores because so many are endangered. “We are losing these carnivores at the same time that we are learning about their ecological effects,” he says. “It is alarming, and this information needs to be brought forth.”
The debate has been harsh at times, but in quieter moments the different factions all tend to talk in similar terms about the great complexity of ecosystems and the likelihood that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. James Estes, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and one of the fathers of the trophic-cascade idea, says that the evidence for cascades mediated by changes in animal behaviour rather than by changes in animal number is “thin”, at the moment — and that many of the effects that have been documented are spotty and badly need to be rigorously mapped out. Still, he adds, “When all is said and done, and everyone is dead 100 years from now, Bill [Ripple] will be closer to right”.
Although Ripple stresses the role of the top carnivores, he agrees they are not the end of the story. “I believe in the combination of top-down and bottom-up, working in unison,” he says. “They are both playing out on any given piece of ground and the challenge will be to discover what determines their interactions and relative effects.”
Schmitz has some thoughts on how to do that. His own smaller-scale work on invertebrates has convinced him that neither bottom-up nor top-down theories adequately capture the story of ecosystems. He is starting to look at the middle players, such as elk, beavers and grass-eating grasshoppers. These herbivores, he says, integrate influences from both the top (such as predation pressure) and the bottom (such as the nutritional quality of plants). “It is not really bottom-up or top-down but trophic cascades from the middle out,” he says. “That is where we will evolve. It is knowing what the middle guy is going to do that gives you the predictive ability.”
It remains to be seen whether theories such as this middle-out idea will grip researchers and the public as much as the theory of top-down cascades. Many researchers have doubts. They worry that tales of predators shaping their ecosystems are so attractive that they have unrivalled control over discourse. “Everyone likes to think of the big wolf or the big bear looking after the environment,” says Allen. “We do love a good story.”The Aquaris E4.5 and Aquaris E5 Ubuntu Editions to be sold through Indian online marketplace, Snapdeal
Marks the inaugural launch of Ubuntu phone in India following a successful rollout of the Aquaris E4.5 and Aquaris E5 Ubuntu Editions in Europe
Phones will come preloaded with a number of scopes developed specifically for the Indian market
The Aquaris E4.5 and Aquaris E5 Ubuntu Edition handsets are set to launch in India through Snapdeal, India’s largest online marketplace. This follows on from two successful Aquaris Ubuntu Edition handsets launched in Europe earlier this year; the Aquaris E4.5 in February, and the Aquaris E5 in June. The devices will be available for purchase from Snapdeal by end of August at a price of Rs 11,999 for the Aquaris E4.5 and Rs 13,499 for the Aquaris E5.
There’s been palpable demand for Ubuntu Phones in India since the Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition was launched earlier this year. India has long been, and continues to be, a priority market for Ubuntu, having had a successful and established PC business in the region for many years.
The sleek, 8GB Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition features a five megapixel front camera and eight megapixel rear camera with autofocus, dual flash and full HD (1080p) for super sharp video. It boasts a MediaTek Quad Core Cortex A7 processor and 1GB RAM for a faster experience.
The Aquaris E5 Ubuntu Edition comes with a host of impressive features including a 5’’ display with IPS HD technology, HD screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels and 380 cd/m2 maximum brightness. The device features a five megapixel front camera and thirteen megapixel rear camera, equipped with high quality Largan lenses and BSI sensors. Both devices will be sold in black and come fully unlocked with dual SIM functionality so that users can select their operator of choice and can use SIMs from two different operators at the same time.
Both handsets being sold through Snapdeal in India come with all the same great Scopes available on the European Editions along with a new ones created especially with Indian users in mind. Some of the new Scopes on offer include Zomato, Star Plus, Zee TV, Eros Now, NDTV and Times of India.
“The success we have seen with the Aquaris E4.5 and E5 Ubuntu Editions in Europe has precipitated this follow-on launch with Snapdeal in India”, remarks German Lopez, COO of Spanish handset manufacturer BQ. “Snapdeal has proven to be an ideal launch partner given its fervent commitment to introducing exclusive and novel products to the Indian market, to ensure customers get a broad and differentiated choice’’.
Cristian Parrino, VP Mobile at Canonical states: ‘”Launching Ubuntu phones in India is a fantastic milestone as we strive to make Ubuntu phones available to enthusiasts and developers in as many markets as possible, during this first phase of our launch. I am thrilled that our partners BQ and Snapdeal have the drive and foresight to make this happen.”
Tony Navin, Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, Snapdeal comments: “India is now globally one of the most attractive smartphone markets. Online, we are seeing an increasing demand for differentiated and versatile mobile devices that are feature rich at an affordable price and the Aquaris E4.5 and E5 with Ubuntu OS are great fits for the Indian market. We are very excited about our partnership with Ubuntu and look forward to successful relationship ahead”
The Aquaris E4.5 and Aquaris E5 Ubuntu Editions will be available for purchase by end of August from Snapdeal for Rs 11,999 for the Aquaris E4.5 and Rs 13,499 for the Aquaris E5.
About BQ
BQ is a leading European technology company. Its goal is to help people to understand technology, encourage them to use and inspire them to create it. It is committed to education in technology, DIY philosophy and the Open Source Initiative. BQ applies this philosophy to its products (smartphones, 3D printers, robotics and much more) and software solutions by working to make technology a tool for improving the world and the lives of its users.
About Snapdeal
Snapdeal’s vision is to create India’s most impactful digital commerce ecosystem that creates life-changing experiences for buyers and sellers. In February 2010, Kunal Bahl along with Rohit Bansal, started Snapdeal.com – India’s largest online marketplace, with the widest assortment of 15 million+ products across 500+ diverse categories from thousands of regional, national, and international brands and retailers. With millions of users and 150,000 sellers, Snapdeal is the shopping destination for internet users across the country, delivering to 5000+ cities and towns in India. In its journey till now, Snapdeal has partnered with several global marquee investors and individuals such as SoftBank, BlackRock, Temasek, eBay Inc., Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Mr. Ratan Tata, among others.
For further information, visit www.snapdeal.com
About Canonical
Canonical produces Ubuntu, the leading open-source platform for cloud, personal computing and next-generation devices. Ubuntu introduces a new mobile experience for phone users, a smarter ecosystem dynamic for developers, and unprecedented differentiation opportunities for carriers and device manufacturers. Ubuntu ships on millions of PCs annually, aimed at education, government and enterprise markets. Ubuntu also enables next-generation devices at the heart of the internet of things.Energy-backed currency concept
Source
Activist Post
Remember the good old days when gasoline only cost $1.50/gallon way back in the ancient times of 2000? Why does it cost more than double that today ($3.71)? A gallon of gas is still a gallon of gas, so it seems obvious that the dollar has lost value.
This rapid devaluation of the U.S. dollar makes it an unstable medium of exchange and certainly not a good store of value — two aspects considered to be the main functions of money. This has led many to examine the flaws of the current monetary system and search for possible alternatives.
Some have suggested that returning to the Gold Standard (pegging the dollar to gold) will help control the fraudulent expansion of the money supply and protect the value of the currency. Others say eliminating the interest attached to each dollar created will get rid of scarcity and provide abundance. Each of these ideas has merit since they correct some of what’s broken, yet they both also have flaws which make them difficult to fully support.
One interesting alternative that has been proposed is using an energy-backed currency. The idea is not new. Thomas Edison envisioned an “energy dollar” after seeing the value of electricity, and Henry Ford also conceptualized backing a currency by a “unit of energy” instead of gold. Motivated by the failed monetary system during the Great Depression, Ford even planned to support the idea with his own electric dams. Of course the central bankers scolded Ford’s idea because it threatened their schemes.
In more recent times the idea of using electricity as a currency has gained some traction. An online ebook Energy Backed Money was published in 2009 supporting the concept of backing the dollar with electricity. Kilowatt Cards were introduced as gift cards for electric power meant to be a transferable means of currency. And former NASA scientist, Michael Rivero, proposed the Lectro, a universal electricity based currency whose supply is controlled by production and use of electric power.
Currently, Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) are not backed by anything valuable and their value is determined primarily by how much supply is in circulation. The supply of money under our current system is lent into existence as fast or as slow as the bankers or the government determines, leaving a lot of room for manipulation.
Significantly, all money is lent into existence with interest owed to central bankers. But this interest is money yet to be created in the system so there are never enough dollars in the system to pay off the debt accrued from the creation of the dollars themselves. This creates a false scarcity and the perpetual need to expand the money supply, which then breeds inflation. This simultaneous scarcity and inflation have a tremendously negative impact on the economy, especially for the poor. Ultimately, it’s this interest on every dollar created that inherently enslaves us all to the central bankers who hadn’t produced anything of value to demand our servitude.
The only way to solve the inefficiencies of the current system is to use a currency that has real value, whose supply is tied to an accurate economic indicator, and doesn’t need interest attached just for the sake of creating it. Electricity has measurable value in our society and since everything in our modern world runs on power, it may be the most accurate gauge of economic activity we have.
An electricity-backed currency would not be nearly as complicated as our fractional reserve system. It could work something like this: electric producers could issue certificates (money) as kilowatts are produced and they would be removed from circulation once the electric bill is paid (redeeming their receipts), thus always maintaining a consistent and stable supply.
Here are 10 reasons for an electricity based currency:
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1. It Has Real Value: Electricity has recognizable value for every person on Earth, as opposed to gold or silver which are just pretty metals with some minor industrial uses.
2. Easily Measurable Units: A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is an absolute unit that can be measured easily and is impossible to counterfeit. The average cost of electricity in the United States has remained relatively stable (mainly due to regulations) over the last few years at around $0.13 per kilowatt hour. But we must stop thinking in terms of measuring things in dollars for this concept to become clear. This currency would represent a kWh, not a dollar amount.
3. Universal Flexibility: An electric-backed currency can work just as well as a local competing currency or as a global medium of exchange. Since a kWh of power has the same value all over the world, a kWh certificate issued in Hawaii could theoretically be redeemed anywhere.
4. Supply Can’t Be Manipulated: The electric money supply would naturally be tied to population growth and economic productivity because electricity is an indicator of those measures. Money (kWh notes) would be created when new electricity is produced and eliminated from the economy when electric bills are paid, maintaining a stable balance.
5. Cannot Be Monopolized: Central banking monopolies are at the heart of many economic problems around the world where entire nations are held hostage by these singular entities. Even though electricity has a universal global value, it would be impossible to monopolize the production of kilowatts.
6. Decentralized: Literally, anyone can produce electricity if they choose to do so. Although larger organizations may be necessary to handle the issuance or certification of kWh notes, independent energy producers would compete to produce electricity as efficiently as possible.
7. Spurs Innovation: The incentive to create electricity would spur incredible innovation in technology. Rivero, of the Lectro, suggests perhaps more valuable certificates could be issued for electricity derived from clean technology to incentivize its expansion. And if by some chance a source of “free energy” is discovered – fantastic – it could still be measured and used to control the supply of money.
8. Spurs Conservation: When electric power literally equals money, everyone will immediately become more conscious of their energy use. This alone would have a tremendous benefit on the environment.
9. Transportable: Pure gold and silver (commodity money) are not practical physical currencies because large quantities are not easily carried in our pockets. kWh notes would be a paper form of “receipt” or “representative” money where the note can be redeemed for something real and measurable. Fully-backed receipt money is historically viewed as the only form of honest paper money.
American Natural Superfood - Free Sample 10. Creates wealth instead of poverty during the transition from human labor to machine labor. As we move towards more automation, we become more reliant on electricity and less on human labor. Rivero postulates “At present, human labor precedes all capital, payable in a monetary system that pays primarily for human labor. In switching to a monetary system that pays for machine based power production, we evolve towards a society where machines become the primary creators of capital, and all humans shift towards the demand side of the economy. Instead of creating poverty, the push towards automation creates more wealth.” Does a currency backed by kWh’s of electricity seem viable enough to be used as a possible alternative to our broken monetary system? Tell us what you think in the comments. Sources:
https://www.activistpost.com/2011/08/electricity-as-universal-basis-for-new.html
http://kilowattcards.com/template/index.cfm
http://www.fredericklembeck.com/id31.html
http://www.energybackedmoney.com/chapter5.html
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— The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation filed suit Thursday to get the state to produce a specialty license plate that supports abortion rights.
State lawmakers in June passed a bill that authorized the issuance of a “Choose Life” license plate. Six amendments to the bill that would have allowed for another plate that stated “Trust Women. Respect Choice” or simply “Respect Choice” were defeated.
“This is a basic issue of freedom of speech and fairness. It is a fundamental tenet of the First Amendment that the state cannot use its authority to promote one side of a debate while denying the same opportunity to the other side," Katherine Lewis Parker, state legal director of the ACLU, said in a statement.
"Anyone who supports freedom of speech should agree with this stance, regardless of one’s position on abortion," Parker said. "Our position would be the same if the state had authorized a pro-choice license plate but not an anti-choice alternative."
The federal lawsuit is seeking a court order declaring that the lawmakers' actions regarding the license plates constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment and requiring the state to stop developing and issuing the “Choose Life” license plate without authorizing a countervailing pro-choice plate.
“If anti-choice drivers are permitted to express their views on their license plates, people like me should be able to express our view that women deserve full reproductive freedom,” Sue Holliday, a certified nurse midwife, said in a statement.
Holliday is one of four abortion rights supporters being represented by the ACLU in the |
that have trailed Comey since the election. Others, however, say the president could be trying to stand in the way of the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election, with some calling his dismissal of Comey “Nixonian.”NEW YORK -- Even though Saturday night's fight between unified junior welterweight world champion Danny Garcia and titleholder Lamont Peterson was a nontitle bout contracted at a catch weight of 143 pounds, the outcome still cost Peterson his belt.
Peterson lost a majority decision at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and thus was stripped of his 140-pound world title by the IBF. Peterson would have not been stripped had he won his second nontitle bout in his last four fights.
With the belt now vacant -- and Peterson saying after the fight that he might be headed for the welterweight division anyway -- the IBF said Sunday that it will order 34-year-old Argentine southpaw Cesar Rene Cuenca (47-0, 2 KOs) to face South Korea's Ik Yang (19-0, 14 KOs), 30, to fight for it. Cuenca and Yang are the top fighters in the organization's rankings.
Cuenca is coming off a unanimous decision over Albert Mensah in a title eliminator last May in Argentina. Yang, a regular on Top Rank's cards in Macau, China, knocked out Patomsuk Pathompothong in the sixth round of a title eliminator on March 7 in Macau.
The fight between Cuenca and Yang, should a deal be made, could take place on Top Rank's next card in Macau, which is scheduled for July 18.The Philadelphia Eagles held their second OTA practice open to the media on Monday and I was there to soak it all in. It was a fairly long practice (nearly two hours or so). Keep in mind that these are all non-contact drills at this point. Players aren't allowed to wear shells yet. There's only so much to be gleaned from players running around in shorts, but here's what I observed:
• Let's start with the thought on everyone's mind: Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. I already described the situation but I'll say it here again: Maclin went down near the end of practice due to some inadvertent contact with defensive back during an 11-on-11 drill and didn't get up right away. He did then get up and walk to the huddle to close practice. On the way back to the locker room, Maclin assured the media that he's fine. It was a scary moment but it seems like the Eagles dodged a bullet for now.
As for the rest of the practice..
• Beautiful day outside. Here's a picture I took at the beginning.
View from Eagles OTA practice today: pic.twitter.com/waFb6uxOF3 — Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) June 2, 2014
• The Eagles running backs are doing a new drill where they run under and through a device to simulate getting low.
Eagles RB drill https://t.co/NMF7ijABlY — Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) June 2, 2014
• The pace of the Eagles practice was really fast. As always.
• Inside linebacker Mychal Kendricks was back at practice after missing Thursday's session. Rookie wide receiver Jordan Matthews also returned to practice following some time at an NFL rookie premiere event in California. WR Jeff Maehl and OT Dennis Kelly did not practice today.
• Matthews, Darren Sproles, Jeremy Maclin, Riley Cooper and Damaris Johnson were all seen practicing fielding punts at one point.
• Jeremy Maclin was a favorite target for QB Nick Foles. Aside from the drop and the injury at the end of practice, I thought Maclin looked pretty good. No signs of injury. Good hands, good routes. WR Brad Smith, who took repetitions as the team's starting slot WR, was also a popular target for Foles. He looked good as well.
• Speaking of Foles, he made a couple nice throws. One of those came on a pass intended for Brent Celek over the middle. Perfect ball placement. LB Connor Barwin's outstretched arms came up just short. Foles, who usually excels in the red zone, had two consecutive RZ passes broken up. The first was to Maclin and Fletcher broke it up, but it may have been pass interference. Foles' pass to Riley Cooper was actually knocked down by Cooper because otherwise Cary Williams was in position to intercept it.
• Jimmy Kempski thought it would be funny to take a picture of me standing next to Sheil Kapadia from Birds 24/7 (PhillyMag.com). So here it is:
I'll take @brandongowton over @sheilkapadia as my power forward. (And Sheil isn't even what I would consider short). pic.twitter.com/KDRhGeph1p — Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) June 2, 2014
• Jordan Matthews also spent some time as the slot receiver, which is where Chip Kelly suggested the Eagles would use him shortly Matthews was drafted. Matthews is very fun to watch. When he catches a pass, he typically runs 10 yards or more down the field after the play is over just because he likes to finish the play hard. Then he sprints back to the huddle for the next rep. His hustle and work ethic is something that Eagles fans should appreciate.
• At one point the Eagles QBs were doing a drill where they tried to throw passes into elevated garbage cans 30 yards down the field.
• Mark Sanchez seemed to struggle again today. The biggest issue I've seen with him is overthrowing his receivers when aiming towards the sideline. To Sanchez's credit, he made a really good pump fake to the left before turning around and throwing right for a short screen pass to TE James Casey for a nice gain.
• Ifeanyi Momah, everyone's favorite 6-8 WR, had two catches that stood out to me today. The first one was in traffic down the field with Brandon Boykin all over him. The second came on a play-action roll-out where Sanchez found Momah open along the sideline. Momah is still a long-shot to make the Eagles roster, but at the least he looks improved from last year. Perhaps he could earn a practice squad spot this year.
• Rookie nose tackle Beau Allen absolutely blew up a backup center (David Molk?) and got right in Barkley's face on one play. That would have been a quick sack if contact was allowed.
• Rookie undrafted free agent kicker Carey Spear apparently missed an easy kick during a drill. I didn't see the miss but that's not good to hear.
• Curtis Marsh, who you may be surprised to find out is still on the Eagles roster, broke up a Matt Barkley pass intended for Quron Pratt. Pratt is wearing #10, which used to be the number of some guy the Eagles released earlier this offseason.
• Najee Goode is really loud. That's about the most noteworthy observation to take away from the Eagles "teach" period, which is slow and void of any real action.
• Eagles LB DeMeco Ryans and RB LeSean McCoy spoke after practice. More on them later. Stay tuned to BGN for more coverage.
• That's about it for now. Keep in mind there are nearly 90 players working out on multiple fields so I won't be able to keep an eye on everyone at all times.
Up next: The Eagles have two more OTA workouts this week but they're not open to the media. The next session open to the media takes place a week from today: Monday, June 9th.
Remaining Eagles offseason workout schedule:
OTAs: June 3, June 5, June 9-12.
Mandatory Minicamp: June 17-19.S.F. school’s bike fleet wiped out, but businesses come to rescue
A gap in a chain link fence police suspect was cut to allow the thieves to remove the bicycles from Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco, California, on Monday, Nov. 30, 2015. A gap in a chain link fence police suspect was cut to allow the thieves to remove the bicycles from Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco, California, on Monday, Nov. 30, 2015. Photo: Connor Radnovich, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Connor Radnovich, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close S.F. school’s bike fleet wiped out, but businesses come to rescue 1 / 13 Back to Gallery
San Francisco police are searching for a thief who broke into a middle school over the Thanksgiving weekend and stole 26 bikes used to teach students how to ride.
It was the second such theft from Visitacion Valley Middle School. In May 2014, someone stole 12 bikes from the school’s fleet.
Two San Francisco businesses, however, plan to make the 38-bike fleet whole again.
The owner of the Grocery Outlet location about a mile away from the school offered Monday to replace the 26 bikes stolen over the weekend at no charge.
“It’s been really tough,” said Barry O’Driscoll, the school’s physical education teacher. “It’s amazing that Grocery Outlet was able to step up today on such short notice and provide us with such assistance so that we’re able to continue the program we’ve established here.”
No arrests have been made in the weekend thefts or the May 2014 incident in which a dozen bikes were stolen. Marie France-Conceicao, the school’s resource officer, said the bikes stolen last year will be replaced by the landfill diversion company Recology and that the school expects to have them in about a month.
Officials learned of the latest break-in Monday morning but initially didn’t want to break the news to the students, Principal Joe Truss said.
“It’s devastating. It’s a hard time of the year,” he said. “They come to school for a little bit of solace, a little bit of fun, a little bit of adventure. They were definitely looking forward to riding these bikes and doing something fun.”
The school district bought the Marin mountain bikes four years ago. They are black with a mix of either fluorescent blue or fluorescent green.
“It’s just absolutely a shame someone would want to do this to our school,” O’Driscoll said. “I was very disappointed that this happened.”
Eric Liittschwager, owner of Grocery Outlet, said he is an avid cyclist and immediately reached out when he learned of the break-in. The bikes his business is replacing are worth about $9,000.
“It’s a tough neighborhood,” Liittschwager said. “When things like this happen, that’s just a call for us to step up, be a part of the community. That’s what we do.”
The school’s physical education program makes sure all students at the school learn how to ride a bike by the time they leave, O’Driscoll said. About 15 percent of students come into class not knowing how to ride.
“This is a tough neighborhood to grow up in, a tough neighborhood to be in, and kids come to school for escape from that,” Truss said. “They want something that’s positive, something that’s structured. Kids come to gym class, PE class for fun and movement and fitness.”
Truss said it appears the thief broke into a storage container through a sunroof, broke the lock from the inside, then pushed the bikes out. The fence next to the unit also had also been cut open.
The school does not have surveillance cameras. The theft happened sometime between when the campus was locked down for the long weekend the evening of Nov. 24 and 8 a.m. Monday.
Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJournoPresident Barack Obama speaks to members of the Business Roundtable at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16, 2015. (credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) President Barack Obama speaks to members of the Business Roundtable at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16, 2015. (credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
— A North Carolina Republican lawmaker’s Facebook post is beginning to garner national attention.
State Rep. Michael Speciale shared a photo on Facebook referring to President Barack Obama as an “Islamic son of a b****.”
The post, put up on Sept. 5, shows a picture of Obama and Israeli Prime Minister talking with the caption: “Look you Islamic son of a b****, unless you give all your land back to the native Indians, don’t pretend to lecture Israeli’s about our borders when you can’t control your own.
“Do you know why ISIS doesn’t f*** with Israel, Mr. President? It’s because they know we don’t have a problem calling them Islamic Terrorist’s and killing every one of them. Now, are you going to do something about them or should Israel show you how it’s done because you are too much of a coward and the most piss poor excuse for an American President in your Great Nations history.”
The shared photo is titled “1 MILLION People to DEFEAT Barack Obama.”
The Facebook post is currently still up on Speciale’s page and has been liked by more than two dozen people.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports that Speciale criticized Gov. Pat McCrory on Facebook in July by calling the governor’s criticism of the legislature “sophomoric and borne of ignorance and a lack of knowledge.”If Donald Trump were impeached, as some Democrats would like, Mike Pence “would be worse” for domestic policy than the current president, U.S. Sen. Al Franken told International Business Times. But the vice president would be less dangerous on foreign policy, said Franken.
Franken made the comments in an interview with IBT during a stop on his book tour in Denver. During the wide-ranging discussion, the Minnesota Democrat said his party could use the so-called “nuclear” option to try to block the Trump administration’s health care bill. On a contentious environmental issue, Franken parted ways with many progessive Democrats in saying that natural gas from fracking is helping “transition” America to cleaner energy. He also said the Democratic Party is less divided than Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives think. Podcast subscribers can listen to the entire interview here.
One of his party’s highest-profile lawmakers, Franken has pressed law enforcement officials to step up their scrutiny of Trump’s finances and has said “everything points to” collusion between Trump’s team and the Russian government. But he warned that the outcome of impeachment would not be the answer to Democratic dreams.
“Pence ran the transition and some of the very worst nominees, I felt — [EPA chief Scott] Pruitt, [Education Secretary Betsy] DeVos, [HHS Secretary Tom] Price, [Budget director Mick] Mulvaney — were Pence selections, clearly, I think,” Franken told IBT. “He's ideological, I consider him a zealot, and I think that in terms of a lot of domestic policy certainly would be worse than Trump.”
Franken added that he believes Pence would be better able to manage foreign policy matters.
“If you're talking about how we handle North Korea or something like that, I'd probably be more comfortable with Pence ultimately making those decisions than Trump, because of Trump’s personality and character,” he said. “I think that [Trump] is so outside the norm in his behavior that that actually does concern me, and it concerns me that I don't know what he will do if he looks like he's going to be impeached and he wants to deflect. I don't know what he's capable of, and that really does concern me.”
Trump’s health care bill may be the next test for Franken’s party. Senate Democrats in the minority have the power to withhold unanimous consent — which can grind the Senate to a halt. Vox reported last week that despite pressure from progressive groups, some Senate Democrats are resisting using this so-called “nuclear” option in their fight to stop GOP legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act. The Senate version of that legislation remains shrouded in secrecy. Franken said that if Republicans do ultimately bring a repeal bill out of committee and to the full Senate for a vote, he expects Democrats to use all of their power to try to stop legislation.
“I don't know if we're there yet,” he said of the nuclear option. “I want to see, first, if they come up with something. I'm not sure they're gonna get 50 votes for something, and then that would change what we're doing. I think then we...could do regular order, we'd have hearings, et cetera. But if they actually bring something out of this secret group and they get 50 votes, then I think we'll be fighting with every tool we have.”1 of 7 View Caption
Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune Real Salt Lake forward Olmes Garcia (13) rolls on the ground after catching a shoulder in the f Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune Real Salt Lake forward Olmes Garcia (13) celebrates scoring a goal against the Los Angeles Gala Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune (right) Real Salt Lake forward Olmes Garcia (13) dances in front of the Real Salt Lake sideline Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune (front) Real Salt Lake forward Olmes Garcia (13) celebrates scoring his second goal against the Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune Real Salt Lake forward Olmes Garcia (13) celebrates scoring a goal against the Los Angeles Gala Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Real Salt Lake's Olmes Garcia gets tripped up on Charleston goalkeeper Odisnel Cooper as Re Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune Player liaison Salvador Perez and Olmes Garcia pose for a portrait at Rio Tinto Stadium inSouth Koreans are typically taller and weigh more than North Koreans, with the average North Korean adult being as much as 5 inches (about 12.7 cm) shorter and about 14 to 27 pounds (about 6 to 12.5 kg) lighter than their South Korean counterparts. This is thought to be because South Koreans are more likely to have good nutrition as children. They also generally are less poor than North Koreans, which means that they often have better access to healthcare.
More facts about North and South Korean heights and weights:
The average new recruit in the North Korean army is about 4 feet, 6 inches (about 129 cm) tall. In 2010, the military lowered its height requirement of 4.5 feet (about 140 cm) by about 1 inch (2.54 cm), apparently because of the difficulty in finding enough recruits who meet the height requirement.
The average height of graduating high school seniors in North Korea is about 4.3 feet (about 134 cm), while the average height of a graduating senior boy in South Korea is about 5.6 feet (about 172 cm) and the average height of a graduating senior South Korean girl is about 5.25 feet (about 160 cm). The reason the height difference is more dramatic among teens than adults is that adults who were undernourished as children tend to hit their growth spurts later than those who had enough nutrition.
Being short of stature actually used to be considered a good thing in South Korea, because shortness was associated with determination. After Western culture became more popular in South Korea, being tall came to be associated with being successful.
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Discuss this Article Post your comments Post Anonymously Please enter the code: Login username password forgot password? Register username password confirm email'Men are stuck' in gender roles, data suggest
Even as society encourages women into typically male roles, research shows it holds rigid gender stereotypes for men — probably to everyone's detriment.
When it comes to gender progress, said Ronald F. Levant, editor of the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity, "men are stuck."
While women have broken into fields once dominated by men, such as business, medicine and law, men have been slower to pursue nursing, teach preschool, or take jobs as administrative assistants. Census data and surveys show that men remain rare in stereotypically feminine positions.
His fears are tied to a bigger phenomenon: The gender revolution has been lopsided. Even as American society has seen sweeping transformations — expanding roles for women, surging tolerance for homosexuality — popular ideas about masculinity seem to have stagnated.
"I don't want other men to look at me like less of a man," Kroeger said.
Brent Kroeger pores over nasty online comments about stay-at-home dads, wondering if his friends think those things about him. The Rowland Heights father remembers high school classmates laughing when he said he wanted to be a "house husband." He avoids mentioning it on Facebook.
The imbalance appears at work and at home: Working mothers have become ordinary, but stay-at-home fathers exist in only 1% of married couples with kids under age 15, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
In a recent survey, 51% of Americans told the Pew Research Center that children were better off if their mother was at home. Only 8% said the same about fathers. Even seeking time off can be troublesome for men: One University of South Florida study found that college students rated hypothetical employees wanting flexible schedules as less masculine.
Other research points to an enduring stigma for boys whose behavior is seen as feminine. "If girls call themselves tomboys, it's with a sense of pride," said University of Illinois at Chicago sociology professor Barbara Risman. "But boys make fun of other boys if they step just a little outside the rigid masculine stereotype."
Two years ago, for instance, a Global Toy Experts survey found that more than half of mothers wouldn't give a doll to someone else's son, while only 32% said the same about giving cars or trucks to a girl. Several studies have found that bending gender stereotypes in childhood is tied to worse anxiety for men than women in adulthood.
In the southern end of Orange County, former friends have stopped talking to Lori Duron and her husband. Slurs and threats arrive by email. Their son calls himself a boy, but has gravitated toward Barbies, Disney princesses and pink since he was a toddler. In a blog and a book she wrote, Duron chronicles worries that would seem trivial if her child were a girl: Whether he would be teased for his rainbowy backpack. Whether a Santa would look askance at him for wanting a doll.
"If a little girl is running around on the baseball team with her mitt, people think, 'That's a strong girl,'" said her husband, Matt Duron, who, like his wife, uses a pen name to shield the boy's identity. "When my 6-year-old is running around in a dress, people think there's something wrong with him."
Beyond childhood, the gender imbalance remains stark when students choose college majors: Between 1971 and 2011, a growing share of degrees in biology, business and other historically male majors went to women, an analysis by University of Maryland, College Park sociologist Philip N. Cohen shows. Yet fields like education and the arts remained heavily female, as few men moved the opposite way. Federal data show that last year less than 2% of preschool and kindergarten teachers were men.
In the last 40 years, "women have said, 'Wait a minute, we are competent and assertive and ambitious,'" claiming a wider range of roles, said Michael Kimmel, executive director of the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities at Stony Brook University. But "men have not said, 'We're kind, gentle, compassionate and nurturing.'"One of the best aspects of the PlayStation Network is PlayStation Plus – Sony’s subscription service in which members receive additional discounts, free games, and more every month, so long as they remain a member. Sure, sometimes PSN goes down due to heavy traffic or an unfortunate hacking, but Sony, like Microsoft, knows how to treat its fans, especially the ones that pay more than the average user.
That said, the amount of exclusive offers that PS Plus members enjoy is rather limited – save for the free monthly games. Even to non-paying members, Sony still offers a large amount of discounts and flash sales on a regular basis, thereby making sure that any and all PlayStation owners have something to play (or impulse purchase). It’s a good tactic to implement, since first-party games will be pretty scarce this year.
There are very few sales that only PS Plus members can take advantage of, unlike Xbox Live’s Deals with Gold, though that appears to be something Sony has been planning to address for a while now, as evidenced by today’s reveal of a brand new sales program. One that’s truly exclusive to the PS Plus service.
As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, the new program, known as PlayStation Plus Specials, was created with fans in mind, and will focus on the latest games and DLC.
Chieh Chen, Digital Distribution Manager for Sony Network Entertainment, explained the creation of the new program incorporated feedback from the PS Community, meaning that more than a few members wanted to get more out of their subscriptions. Understandable, considering PS Plus is almost a requirement to get the most out of the PS3 and PS4.
“We’ve been listening to your feedback, and today I’m thrilled to announce PlayStation Plus Specials, our brand-new deals program offering exclusive discounts for PS Plus members on the newest games and add-ons. That’s right, these deals will be available to PS Plus members only.”
PlayStation Plus Specials is already up and running, with the first batch of deals including Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, The Order: 1886, Helldivers, and even From Software’s latest, Bloodborne.
The deals last until Monday, June 1, but it’s unclear how frequently Sony will roll out new deals. Will it be monthly, like the ever-rotating selection of free games, or just something that will happen occasionally, and without a clear schedule?
Lets hope Sony addresses this soon, as it’s definitely better for potential buyers to know all the basics about a program before latching on to it.
Source: PlayStation BlogLas Vegas - San Francisco Libertarian Party activst Starchild, a Lee Wrights supporter, was not bothered by the nasty fight for national chairman, but he was worried about running out of time.
"If we ran out of time that could have shut down the convention and then the top-down group that controls the LNC would have had to vote," he said.
The way Starchild sees this fight is that it was originally the two factions bickering like usual, until accustions of voter improprities were thrown around. The integrity of the whole process was at stake, he said.
"The problem was it wasn't clear whether a.) People could change their vote; b.) whether people that didn't vote could vote, or whether people that voted only in previous rounds could vote; c.) Whether it was okay to lobby people to change their vote. People didn't know what the rules were. So it became a huge clusterfuck," he said.
With the defeat of what he calls the "top-down faction" (Alicia Mattson, Aaron Starr, Wayne Allyn Root, Bill Redpath, Mark Rutherford, and others) though, he found hope for the future of the party.
"It might be too early to say that the party has turned a corner but I think it's headed in the right direction," he said.
Starchild was elected to an at-large spot on the Libertarian National Committee. He joins Bill Redpath, Wayne Allyn Root, Michael Cloud and Arvin Vohra on the committee.
Watch his nomination video after the jump.President Donald Trump kicked off his Wednesday by tweeting his intention to ban transgender people from serving in the military - about 15 hours later, the late-night hosts had thoughts. They did not hold back.
Some of the hosts went beyond the traditional monologue - on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Trevor Noah also interviewed two transgender U.S. Army veterans about the ban's potential impact. NBC's Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon featured transgender comedian Patti Harrison.
On CBS' The Late Late Show, James Corden performed a parody of the Nat King Cole song L-O-V-E that instead spelled out L-G-B-T and included the lyric, "Trump's got hate for you and me." NBC's Late Night With Seth Meyers brought out his female writers to respond to Trump.
Otherwise, here were the common themes from Noah, Fallon, Corden and Stephen Colbert on CBS' Late Show. (Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O'Brien are off this week.)Last week the Census Bureau released their annual report on income and poverty in the United States. The main result: Median household income increased by 5.2 percent, which is the first annual increase since 2007. That’s great news. People found jobs, and people earned money to support their families.
The 5.2 is an estimate for all households though, and as you might expect, the numbers vary depending on what demographic group you look at. But again, the good news is that it was an increase for all groups.
Nerd Notes
Normally I’d use bars or dot-and-whisker to show range, but I felt like trying out these moving bars to show potential values for each estimate. The bar length varies across the estimate plus or minus the margin of error. I’m still deciding if it works.
I like that there’s more emphasis on uncertainty, as there’s no definite stopping point for each point, but it might be too much emphasis. Maybe it’d be more useful if the transition times and easing were based on the margin of error. Right now, transition time is random with linear easing.Trash cans broken by aging city trucks are the responsibility of residents, the San Diego City Council said Tuesday. NBC 7's Artie Ojeda reports. (Published Tuesday, June 27, 2017)
Residents who believe the city should replace trash bins damaged by one of the city's trash collection trucks are in for a disappointment.
The San Diego City Council decided Tuesday that residents will still have to pay to replace damaged trash bins, despite a county Grand Jury recommendation that the city replace the trash bins free of charge.
According to the March 22 Grand Jury report, complaints about damaged trash bins have increased 25 percent over the last two years. Replacement bins cost $70, not including a $25 delivery fee.
"The recommendation will not be implemented because it’s not warranted. The city has numerous priorities, such as public safety and limited financial capacity at this time,” stated a staff report by the Independent Budget Analyst.
The council voted unanimously to approve the staff recommendation. There was no public comment on the issue at the council hearing.
Councilmember David Alvarez suggested that the city look for ways to help residents pay for damaged bins.
“We are going to explore all options for trash cans that have reached the end of their life span to be replaced, including a low-income program,” said Alvarez.
It was one of three recommendations directed to the city council.
The others had to do with a grand jury allegation that the city gave preferential treatment to some residents to replace their cans for free using Community Project Programs and Services (CPPS) money.
The staff report partially disagreed saying the practice was only in use because there was not a formal citywide program to replace the damaged cans. The practice was stopped in 2016, according to the staff report.
The Grand Jury also forwarded four recommendations to Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office. Those recommendations focus on the aging fleet of collection trucks causing the problem, as well as adding mechanics and the selection of more durable trash collection bins.
The mayor was granted an extension to respond to the report. His response date is set for July 31.Millions of Canadians find ways to watch television without paying monthly bills from the country's largest distributors.
I just wanted to get that out of the way right off the top, because a lot of you are letting me know about it since I filmed a video with my colleague Simon Houpt in which I suggest that the vast majority of television subscribers are all talk when they say they are going to end their subscriptions once and for all. (Watch the video: Thinking of cutting your cable? Watch this first )
The main point of confusion was my wording when I said 1.3 per cent (it's actually 1.5 per cent, I misspoke) of Canadian viewers cut their cords last year, while 52,000 signed up for new subscriptions. Let me be clearer: Based on market trends, Convergence Consulting said the industry could have expected as many as 220,000 new subscribers in 2012. Instead, it only added 52,000.
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The consultants put those numbers through their algorithms to determine the rate of cord cutting. So while the rate of growth slowed considerably, the number of subscribers to paid television services still increased year-over-year in Canada.
The number of cord cutters has been negligible until recently according to Convergence's data, but the consultants certainly expect the trend to accelerate in the coming years as more people warm up to digital alternatives.
They attribute the smaller-than-expected increase in last year's television subscriptions to cord cutters. I could have made that more clear in the video (as I did in the story it was based on: Online TV gains on traditional providers ). Cord cutting is a growing phenomenon, but at this point it's still happening around the edges of television land. In other words, most of us still like to flip channels without worrying about download speeds, data caps and the police.
The fact is, in Canada and elsewhere, cord cutting is in its early days. The Guardian wrote about this trend today, in its story about Game of Thrones setting new piracy records. ""Cord cutters" – those who get their "TV" through devices other than TVs – are in fact still a small percentage of the television audience, even if the proportion seems way bigger in the echo chamber of the Internet. The newest numbers from Nielsen show that while cord-cutting has increased 150 per cent since 2007, the vast majority of Americans (95 per cent) still get their TV watching done the old-fashioned way."
Deloitte published a similar report about Canada earlier this year. As I wrote in January, "the report said that 99 per cent of those who subscribe to paid television service through traditional cable, satellite and IPTV providers will remain customers throughout 2013 because they don't want to miss out on live programming and the reality shows that everyone talks about incessantly after they air."
And that's the message I'm making in the video and here: Live sports, programming preferences, cost and convenience are all major factors in keeping people tied to their television subscriptions. If the data tell us anything, it's that the cable and satellite companies of the world have a little bit of time left to adjust their business models to try to keep subscribers around.
If they get it right, subscribers will keep paying. If not, early cord cutters will be so busy helping their friends install HD antennas that they won't even have time to poke around for the best Game of Thrones file the Internet has to offer.Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has confirmed an earlier comment by the country’s interior minister, who said that a portion of the Muslim community was “dancing” in the streets following the deadly Brussels attacks in March.
READ MORE: ‘Many danced after attacks’: Muslim integration failure caused ‘cancer’ – Belgian Interior Minister
"I confirm that there have been expressions of support for the attacks. The council of [national] security has also been informed [about the incident]," Michel said, as cited by Belga news agency.
He added, however, that the apparent support for the deadly attacks came from “minorities” in the Muslim community and that “it is not appropriate to generalize” about the community as a whole.
READ MORE: ‘ISIS, go away. Belgium isn’t yours ’: Thousands march against terror & hatred in Brussels (PHOTOS)
The controversial comments by Belgium's Interior Minister Jan Jambon made the headlines on Saturday. The minister said that Belgium’s integration policy had caused a “cancer” within Muslim communities, many of whom “danced” after the Brussels attacks in which 32 people were killed.
“A significant section of the Muslim community danced when [the] attacks took place,” Jambon told De Standaard newspaper.
Based on the minister’s assessment, the terrorists themselves are just a “boil” which is much easier to treat than the core of the problem, which is “too deeply rooted” in the immigrant-dominated parts of society after the government “for many years ignored the warning signs.”
READ MORE: Belgium providing most ISIS recruits per capita in Europe – UN
The fatal attacks rocked Brussels on March 22, when the Belgian capital was hit by twin suicide bombings at Brussels Airport and Maelbeek Metro station. The Metro station is not far from the building housing the EU Commission and the Council of the European Union, as well as NATO’s headquarters.
Belgium has a population of about 11 million people, 5.9 percent of whom are Muslim, Pew Research reports, based on 2010 estimates.
At the same time the country provides the highest number of Islamic State (IS formerly, ISIS/ISIL) recruits per capita in Europe, according to the United Nations Working Group.
More than 500 recruits from Belgium have gone abroad to fight with the jihadists since 2010. The UN says 207 Belgians have traveled to Syria, while 62 were denied entry, 128 have returned home, and 77 have died fighting abroad. The UN team also revealed that 46 foreign fighters, all associated with the group Sharia4Belgium, have been prosecuted.James Welling’s project Chicago, commissioned for the 2017 biennial, comprises photographs of Modernist architect Mies van der Rohe’s Illinois Institute of Technology campus (shown here) and Lake Shore Drive apartments in the city. Courtesy of James Welling and David Zwirner
Opening this fall, the second edition of North America’s biggest architecture event will focus on design history and the power of the image.
In 2015, Chicago launched the largest contemporary architecture event in North America—the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Staged at multiple sites around the city (including the lakefront) and drawing more than half a million visitors over three months, it was a wide shotgun blast in terms of content, with techno-psychedelic body-horror sketches, demonstrations of material fabrication, and social design proposals for bringing police and neighborhoods together. It all happened under the broadest of themes: “The State of the Art of Architecture.” This year’s edition, led by artistic directors Mark Lee and Sharon Johnston of the Los Angeles-based architecture firm Johnston Marklee, is narrowing the focus. At Chicago’s Graham Foundation on June 27, the directors unveiled conceptual sketches for some of the 120 or so participants as well as four subthemes that will organize the exhibition. It’s not quite honed to a laser focus, but the second biennial will open on September 16 with something closer to a telescopic view of architecture’s days ahead—which may |
is just 5 feet and 4 inches (163 cm) just. Since 1900 the candidates with large height won the elections 19 times whereas, small height candidates won only 8 times.
On the basis of above analysis, one can say that although tall height may play an important role in presidential elections but it is not a key to success. If you look on the results of last 4 elections, you will see that three out of four elections are won by the candidates with short height and tell that how tall is Donald trump.
AdvertisementsRough day for stocks: S&P 500, Nasdaq erase year's gains
The S&P 500 lost nearly 25 points, or 2%, Wednesday. That steep drop put the benchmark index down 0.1% for the year.
NEW YORK�(CNNMoney) -- A sell-off in U.S. stocks accelerated Wednesday, with all three major indexes ending at their lowest levels of 2011.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite erased their gains for the year, while the Dow is barely hanging on, up only 0.3% in 2011.
Trading was extremely choppy as investors tried to sort out disappointing U.S. housing data against the backdrop of developments in Japan.
It didn't help that European Union energy commissioner Günther Oettinger sounded a warning bell about increased risks related to Japan's crippled nuclear reactors at a meeting in Brussels.
Moreover, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo cautioned American citizens who live within 50 miles of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to evacuate or take shelter indoors.
"Today's not a good news day, and the market is reacting emotionally," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) tumbled 242 points, or 2%, with all 30 components of the blue chip index in the red. IBM (IBM, Fortune 500), General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) and American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) led the decline. The index was down almost 300 points at its low for the day.
The S&P 500 (SPX) slipped 25 points, or 2%, to end at 1,256.88. The broad index closed 2010 at 1,257.64.
The Nasdaq (COMP) lost 51 points, or 1.9%, to finish at 2,616.82. The tech-heavy index closed at 2,652.87 last year.
Global concerns also pushed the dollar below ¥80 briefly, hitting ¥79.75, matching the record low hit in April 1995 (More on currencies).
Wall Street's most widely cited measure of volatility, the VIX (VIX), surged more than 20% to 29.40. Earlier, it climbed above 30 for the first time since July.
Dickson is advising his clients to get to the sidelines until the picture of the nuclear threat in Japan becomes clearer.
Wednesday's declines came on the heels of a sharp sell-off in the previous session, which was dominated by worries about Japan.
Japan in crisis: In a televised speech Wednesday, Japan's emperor told citizens not to give up hope as the country grapples with an epic earthquake.
"It's quite rare of the emperor to appear on television, and that has made investors a little nervous," said David Jones, chief market strategist with IG Markets in London.
Prior to the speech, Tokyo's Nikkei index rose 5.7%, rebounding from two days of losses that had drained more than 16% from the index.
The increasingly desperate situation at Japan's nuclear plants is keeping investors on edge.
Stunned by the devastation in Japan, they have been reducing their exposure to risky assets and flocking to investments that are considered safe, including U.S. Treasuries. Investors continued to buy up U.S. government debt Wednesday, sending the 10-year yield down to 3.23% from 3.32% late Tuesday.
Aside from Japan, Moody's Investors Service cut Egypt's rating by one notch, further into non-investment grade quality.
And late Tuesday, Moody's downgraded Portugal's credit rating from A1 to A3 -- a lower investment grade status. And Fitch downgraded Bahrain's debt to below investment grade, following a government clash with protesters.
Asian markets ended higher, with the Shanghai Composite index rising 1.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edging up 0.1%.
European markets closed sharply lower. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.8%, and France's CAC 40 and DAX in Germany tumbled more than 1%. (World markets)
Economy: The government said new home construction fell 22.5% in February, more than economists were expecting, while the number of permits for future housing construction fell 8.2% to all all-time low.
Separately, the government's Producer Price Index showed that prices at the wholesale level jumped 1.6% in February, which was much more than expected.
Commodities: Oil prices -- which fell nearly 4% on Tuesday -- were higher Wednesday, as concerns about the ongoing turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East were revived. Oil for April delivery gained 80 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $97.98 a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery climbed $3.30 to settle at $1,396.10 an ounce.All eyes were on the expansion draft Wednesday night, but the NHL also used the opportunity to hand out its annual awards in between picks.
Often some of those decisions, as chosen by members of the media, can be contentious, but this year most were fine. Can’t disagree with Connor McDavid winning the Hart Trophy as the league MVP, Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky taking home the Vezina Trophy, Leafs rookie Auston Matthews winning the Calder Trophy or Patrice Bergeron winning the Selke Trophy for the fourth time. And with all due respect to Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson, San Jose’s Brent Burns winning the Norris Trophy isn’t as egregious as the 2016 Karlsson snub.
Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella winning the Jack Adams Award for best coach of the year is perhaps the most questionable choice, but even that one is fine considering Columbus reached heights they’ve never reached before.
The lack of controversy with these winners is a nice change of pace from the usual post-award show debate. Still, I was curious who average hockey fans felt deserved each award and whether it would line up with the actual winner. I thought it would be a good way of measuring which players got snubbed according to fans, and therefore, which players were more highly regarded by the voters.
On Tuesday, I tweeted out a survey asking people to fill out their own award ballot for each of the major awards. I got more than 500 responses, with 368 to 453 (depending on the award) being usable.
As it turns out, it is tough for some people to shake the recency bias of the playoffs out of their mind even when the instructions say “regular season only” and I think some results would have been different had I done this survey in April. This affected the results of a few players (which we’ll get to), but it still makes for an interesting comparison between the actual results and also a little lesson in how recency bias affects how we think about players.
So without further adieu, here are the results of the Twitter NHL Awards along with some analysis of who actually won.
No surprise at all as McDavid is the very deserved winner, while Sidney Crosby takes the second spot. In third, though, is Karlsson over Bobrovsky, a jump from where he was on the actual ballot (fifth). He had the biggest leap in vote percentage, which is probably the sole reason most players in the top 10 dropped.
I’d imagine some of the strong support for Karlsson as MVP is thanks to seeing him bring Ottawa to within one goal of the Stanley Cup final, but I think he’d still be third if I ran this survey in April as well, though maybe not to the same degree. In terms of overall value there’s debate about who was the league’s best player, but there is little doubt in my mind about which player was the most valuable to his team — and that’s Karlsson. Ottawa is nowhere near the playoffs without him.
Matthews gets the next biggest bump. I’m sure that’s due to some Leafs bias among my followers. Overall the results aren’t too far from what actually happened. Picking the league’s best players usually isn’t that hard.
Strangest actual votes: Alex Ovechkin and Ryan Suter (?!) both got lone second place votes.
Who I’d pick: 1. Connor McDavid, 2. Erik Karlsson, 3. Sidney Crosby, 4. Sergei Bobrovsky, 5. Nikita Kucherov
This was the closest vote of the night with less than 10 per cent separating Burns and Karlsson, though the survey-takers believed it should’ve been a more clear cut win for Karlsson. Again, I think the playoffs were a factor and this would be closer in April, but I still believe Karlsson would have the edge then, too. Victor Hedman rounds out the top three as expected.
After those top-three results, things get interesting. P.K. Subban didn’t receive a single Norris vote this year, but showed up on 35 per cent of survey responses and ended up fourth. He did have a better season than he was given credit for (he was top-10 defenceman by my stat Game Score), but he only played 66 games and voters usually shy away from players that miss time. He deserved some votes, but fourth is pushing it and is likely a product of his stellar post-season.
The other biggest difference is the players who finished fourth and fifth: Duncan Keith and Ryan Suter. It didn’t take me long to figure out why each player was ranked so high by the voters: plus-minus. Suter led all defencemen at +34 and Keith was a tidy +22. It’s 2017 – how are awards still decided by archaic stats? To their credit they had nice seasons, just not fourth and fifth best.
Strangest actual votes: Shea Weber getting a first-place vote, Torey Krug getting a second place vote and Dmitry Orlov getting any vote were all a little out there.
Who I’d pick: 1. Erik Karlsson, 2. Brent Burns, 3. Victor Hedman, 4. Dougie Hamilton, 5. Roman Josi
This is a fun one and it’s mostly because evaluating defence is the hardest thing to do in hockey. Even the announcer for this award had a hard time figuring it out as he cited faceoff percentage for all three nominees. Maybe next year we’ll get a Corsi reference, but I’m not holding my breath.
The actual results were shockingly close. This survey was not. This award belongs to Bergeron until he gives us a reason not to give it to him.
After that things get murky. Ryan Kesler and Mikko Koivu still end up in the runner-up positions in my survey, but they’re closer to the pack than they are to the leader.
There’s very little consensus on who the best defensive forwards are after Bergeron and a lot of that has to do with how many good ones there are and also how we view these players. Reputation goes a long way. Anze Kopitar gets the fifth spot in my survey despite a down season, while Jonathan Toews got the fifth spot for the actual award despite also having a down season. Overall, there were 100 different players who got votes, the most of any award here.
Strangest actual votes: Two people gave first-place votes to TJ Oshie. Two!
Who I’d pick: 1. Patrice Bergeron, 2. Mikael Backlund, 3. Ryan Kesler, 4. Mikko Koivu, 5. Mark Stone
This was the easiest decision. It was Matthews’ to lose and he won it in a landslide capturing 164 first-place votes out of 167. Not unanimous victory — but still pretty close.
For this award, the only major difference between the voters and my survey respondents was between William Nylander and Mitch Marner for the fifth spot. The survey leaned towards Nylander. Marner and Nylander had the same amount of points, but Nylander was the better play driver. It’s a thin margin and there’s a good argument to pick either, but I’d go with Nylander.
I personally think Zach Werenski was a bit more deserving than Patrik Laine considering he stepped in as a number one defenceman as a rookie, but it’s close. This really was a sensational rookie crop.
Strangest actual vote: None, though I’m a little surprised Zach Werenski didn’t manage a single first-place vote.
Who I’d pick: 1. Auston Matthews, 2. Zach Werenski, 3. Patrik Laine, 4. Matt Murray, 5. William Nylander
This was another award where fan perception aligned closely with the voters. The top five remains exactly the same in my survey with the only difference being there’s a little bit more love for Devan Dubnyk, who’s much closer to Carey Price and Cam Talbot than he was in actual voting. The third spot behind Bobrovsky and Braden Holtby is close and there’s a good argument for all three here.
Dubnyk faltered towards the end of the season and that’s likely one instance where recency bias affected voters rather than the survey results. He had nearly identical numbers to Price, but because his play dropped as the season came to a close he only got half as many votes.
Strangest actual vote: Just six goalies got votes and one of them was Martin Jones.
Who I’d pick: 1. Sergei Bobrovsky, 2. Braden Holtby, 3. Carey Price
This was easily the most contentious. I’d surmise that’s because teasing out a coach’s impact from team results isn’t easy. Tortorella won the award, but it’s hard not to look over at who won the Vezina and figure there were better options for this award. Not that he doesn’t deserve any credit for Columbus’s first 100-point season, but they got a lot of help from the PDO gods to get there. Todd McLellan came third, but again, take a look at who the league’s MVP was and you’ll get a better idea of why Edmonton finally made the playoffs.
In my opinion, there were three better choices.
Mike Babcock has, somehow, never won this award. This year was his best chance as he took a last-place team to the playoffs. Perhaps you can make the same argument that the Big Three rookies helped him there, but it’s not even close to the same degree that McDavid and Bobrovsky had on the other two coaches.
Mike Sullivan likely gets a boost here thanks to winning the Cup, but I do recall some snub whispers when the nominees were announced. Without Pittsburgh’s best defenceman for half the season and with injuries piling up every week, the Penguins finished second in the entire league. That’s impressive and we know from the big reversal last season after he was hired that a lot of that has to do with his system. It works, clearly.
The final option is Bruce Boudreau who took a mediocre hockey club and turned them into a Cup contender, again. Every team he joins is instantaneously successful and I have no idea how that hasn’t been rewarded yet. He finished ninth in voting. I don’t get it.
Strangest actual vote: It’s a little weird that a coach who got fired mid-season (Claude Julien) got a vote, but I guess the fact he got hired a week later by a rival team makes it a little less weird.
Who I’d pick: 1. Mike Babcock, 2. Mike Sullivan, 3. Bruce BoudreauUri Klein of Haaretz still cannot forgive Mel Gibson. Klein cannot understand why Hollywood has already forgotten about Gibson’s past so “quickly” because Gibson committed an unpardonable sin back in 2006.[1] What was his sin?
Gibson got drunk and said really bad things about Jews. It’s not that Klein and others have never said things that they have regretted; Klein obviously thinks that if Gibson gets caught in the act—and he did—then he ought to be politically stoned to death.
But there is more here than meets the eye and ear, and Klein doesn’t seem to be prepared to follow his ideology consistently. Even actor Gary Oldman conceded that Gibson is not the only sinner in town who needs to be politically expunged.
“I don’t know about Mel,” Oldman said. “But some Jewish guy in his office somewhere hasn’t turned and said, ‘That f***ing kraut’ or ‘F*** those Germans,’ whatever it is? We all hide and try to be so politically correct? It’s like, take a f***ing joke. Get over it. He got drunk and said a few things, but we’ve all said those things. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word ‘n*****’ or ‘that f***ing Jew?”[2]
Gibson, Oldman moved on to say, “is in a town that’s run by Jews and he said the wrong thing because he’s actually bitten the hand that fed him.”[3]
Oldman obviously ruffled some feathers by saying that people like Bill Maher “hide behind comedy and satire to say things we can’t ordinarily say, because it’s all too politically correct. If I called Nancy Pelosi a c***—and I’ll go one better, a f***ing useless c***—I can’t really say that. But Bill Maher and Jon Stewart can and nobody’s going to stop them from working because of it.”[4]
This is an important point that people like Klein fail to address. For example, Jewish producer Scott Rudin called Angelina Jolie a “minimally talented spoiled brat” with a “rampaging spoiled ego” from “Crazyland.” In fact, Hollywood has a long history of manipulating, humiliating and enslaving the Goyim. Listen to this:
“Rudin forced an employee to tape the definition of ‘anticipate’ above his desk. Another had to make 300 calls in a row, in one day. Rudin once pitched a fit when brought the wrong sushi. He is known for issuing the following declarations:
“Don’t ever f–king think — I hired you from the neck down.”
“This is a new level of stupid.”
“Why doesn’t everyone just do what I say?”
“My silence is high praise.”
“Do you think you’ll even vaguely perform your duties as my employee?”
“You have three things to do: answer the phone, listen to me and die.”
Similarly, Jewish screenwriter Aaron Sorkin literally humiliated X-Men actor Michael Fassbender, who prostituted himself in the pornographic movie Shame. Sorkin said of Fassbender, “He just makes you feel bad to have normal-sized genitalia.”
No, the media did not ask that Rudin and Sokin be removed from their posts. But anyone who criticizes the Powers That Be must be punished. And Gary Oldman himself had to recant precisely because his career was in jeopardy. “I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people,” he said.
“Upon reading my comments in print—I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter. I hope you will know that this apology is heartfelt, genuine, and that I have an enormous personal affinity for the Jewish people in general, and those specifically in my life.”[5]
The Anti-Defamation League was not impressed. They put out a statement saying, “We have just begun a conversation with his managing producer.”
You see, the prevailing vision doesn’t work at all. Gibson himself asked for forgiveness and made it very clear that what he said was completely wrong. But Klein and others keep bringing this issue up.[6]
Gibson is not and never will be the only person to behave badly. Let us not forget the wise words of the late Rabi Ovadia Yosef, who said explicitly that “Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that they have no place in the world… They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat. That is why gentiles were created.”[7]
Numerous rabbis agreed with Yosef. But the fact is that Yosef didn’t lose his post in Israel for saying perverse things like this.
When Yosef passed away in 2013, “Hundreds of thousands of his supporters took the streets of Jerusalem to mourn.” One of his supporters was none other than Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that “the Jewish People have lost one of the wisest men of his generation.”[8]
What did “one of the wisest men” say about Muslims? “It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable.”[9]
If 2013 seems to be “ancient history” for some, keep in mind that this perverse sentiment is still alive and well among Israeli officials. Israeli politician and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked has said:
“Who is the enemy? The Palestinian people. Why? Ask them, they started… “Behind every terrorist stand dozens of men and women, without whom he could not engage in terrorism. Actors in the war are those who incite in mosques, who write the murderous curricula for schools, who give shelter, who provide vehicles, and all those who honor and give them their moral support.
“They are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.”[10]
Shaked is still Israel’s Minister of Justice. As I have argued elsewhere, this ethnic cleansing has been the nuts and bolts of the Israeli regime since 1948.
So, why is Gibson still being crucified while the Israeli regime continues to liquidate Palestinian men, women, and children?
Obviously we have reached an intolerable situation. People like Uri Klein cannot forgive Gibson because Gibson released a movie back in 2004 entitled The Passion of Christ. All hell broke loose then. After the movie was released, Charles Patterson blamed all the horrors of Jewish suffering on the gospels’ accounts.
“The trouble with Mel Gibson’s film ‘The Passion’ is not the film itself,” he writes, “but the gospel story on which it’s based. The gospel story, which has generated more anti-Semitism than the sum of all the other anti-Semitic writings ever written, created the climate in Christian Europe that led to the Holocaust. Long before the rise of Adolf Hitler, the gospel story about the life and death of Jesus had poisoned the bloodstream of European civilization.”[11]
Heinrich Graetz drew the same conclusion more than a century earlier, charging that Christians’ “hatred against Jews” was “derived from the gospels and their theological literature.”[12]
For Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News, Gibson’s Passion was “the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II.”[13] Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, author of the fraudulent book Hitler’s Willing Executioner, wrote that
“Gibson’s film takes the fetishizing of horror and death that exists within Christianity to some sort of sickly logical conclusion. Visually, iconographically and symbolically, Gibson’s ‘Passion’ is a sadomasochistic, orgiastic display that demonizes Jews as it degrades those who revel in viewing the horror…
“Its orgy of unsurpassed and virtually unremitting sadism restores this part of the Jesus story—de-emphasized by the Catholic Church since the Vatican II reforms—to center stage, to haunt all those who would follow Jesus with indelible, iconic images of cruelty. Gibson has thus unwittingly exposed the misguidedness of this cult of death.”[14]
This is the prevailing way of looking at the gospels’ accounts or anything that portrays Jews as being accomplices in the crucifixion.
Jewish professor Paul Fredriksen declared when the movie came out, “When violence breaks out, Mel Gibson will have a much higher authority than professors and bishops to answer to.”[15] The Los Angeles Times added that the movie is “a gasoline-soaked rag tossed on the already roaring flames of anti-Semitism.”[16]
Rabbi Tovia Singer was more pessimistic. “By the time the first nail is hammered into the cross,” he said, “viewers in Germany will be passing around knife sharpeners in the theater. Israel may have to absorb a massive flight of European Jewry.”[17]
I honestly have no interest in Mel Gibson, but to portray the movie as anti-Semitic is a contradiction, which is inherent in the anti-Semitic tactic.
For example, Fredriksen implies that the movie is anti-Semitic, but Fredriksen writes it was the Jews who inspired Pilate to kill Jesus! After reading Fredricksen’s work, David Klinghoffer wrote, “Pilate Killed Jesus. But even Fredriksen allows that it was the priests who tipped him off to the threat posed by the Christian savior—or rather, by those who followed him.”[18]
Jewish novelist and television writer Howard Fast wrote in The Jews: Story of a People that “unless Christians finally come to understand the bitter and almost inadmissible truth, that the murder of six million Jews by the Germans was the final, hideous outcome of a Christian ideology that had spent two thousand years teaching mankind to hate the Jews—then the crucifixion of the Jews and the connected inhumanity of the Christian will continue, on and on, until finally mankind, in the name of that gentle Jew Jesus, who died without ever hearing the word Christian or knowing what agony his own people would suffer in his name, destroys itself.”[19]
Gibson even deleted scenes drawn from Matthew 27. Sharon Waxman of the New York Times wrote that Gibson,
“responding to focus groups as much as to protests by Jewish critics, has decided to delete a controversial scene about Jews from his film…A scene in the film, in which the Jewish high priest Caiaphas calls down a kind of curse on the Jewish people by declaring of the Crucifixion, ‘His blood be on us and on our children,’ will not be in the movie’s final version.”[20]
The fact is that the historical accounts show that the Pharisees were accomplices in the death of Christ. Even the Talmud does not shy away from declaring that Christ was condemned and executed by rabbinical court.[21] (However, according to the Talmud, Jesus was rightly executed for practicing sorcery and for leading Israel astray into idolatry.[22]) Rabbinic scholars and writers over the centuries have agreed on this.
Moses Maimonides was very clear on this issue. Rabbi Eliyahu Touger likewise noted,
“The Jews did not actually carry out the execution, for crucifixion is not one of the Torah’s methods of execution. Rather, after condemning him to death, the Sanhedrin handed him over to the Roman authorities who executed him as a rebel against Roman rule.”[23]
If people like Uri Klein want to attack Gibson for his “anti-Semitic” movie, why won’t they devote equal time and energy to condemning the Talmud for the same reason? Who are those people really fooling this time?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm1sIOGjTg8&feature=youtu.be
[1] Uri Klein, “Oscars 2017: Hollywood Forgave Mel Gibson Too Quickly,” Haaretz, February 26, 2017.
[2] “Actor Gary Oldman Defends Mel Gibson’s Anti-Semitic Remarks, Slams PC Hollywood Culture,” Jerusalem Post, June 24, 2014.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Eliana Dockterman, “Gary Oldman Is Sorry He Defended Mel Gibson’s Anti-Semitic Rant,” Time, June 26, 2014.
[6] “Mel Gibson: ‘It’s Annoying’ People Won’t Let anti-Semitic Rants Go,” Haaretz, November 1, 2016.
[7] “Tradition Today: Jews and Gentiles,” Jerusalem Post, November 12, 2010.
[8] Quoted in Dan Murphy, “Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in his own words,” Christian Science Monitor, October 7, 2013.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s new justice minister considers all Palestinians to be ‘the enemy,’” Washington Post, May 7, 2015.
[11] Quoted in Gentry, Navigating the Book of Revelation, 183.
[12] Graetz, History of the Jews, Vol. V, 44.
[13] Ben Child, “Jim Caviezel Claims the Passion of the Christ Made Him a Hollywood Outcast,” Guardian, May 3, 2011.
[14] Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, “Mel Gibson’s Cross of Vengeance,” Jewish Daily Forward, March 5, 2004.
[15] David Klinghoffer, Why the Jews Rejected Jesus (New York: Doubleday, 2005), 2.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid., 73.
[19] Howard Fast, The Jews: Story of a People (New York: Dial Press, 1968), 325.
[20] Gentry, Navigating Revelation, 184.
[21] See Peter Schaffer, Jesus in the Talmud (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), chapter six; Israel Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion (London: Pluto Press, 2002), 97-98; Travers R. Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash (London: Williams & Norgate, 1903), 78-89.
[22] Schaffer, Jesus in the Talmud, 66.
[23] Quoted in Michael Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Vol. I, 156.This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We begin today’s show with the political crisis in Spain. The Spanish government has taken control of Catalonia, stripping the northeastern region of its autonomy in efforts to crush Catalonia’s independence movement. On Friday evening, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced his Cabinet had fired Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and dissolved Catalonia’s Parliament.
PRIME MINISTER MARIANO RAJOY: [translated] Today, I have dissolved the Parliament of Catalonia and have called for elections next December 21st in that region. Yesterday, the Generalitat president had a chance to return to legality and call elections. That is what the great majority of the people in Catalonia were asking for. He did not want to do this. So the government of Spain will take the measures to recover legality.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Prime Minister Rajoy’s announcement came just after Catalonia’s regional Parliament voted for independence by a margin of 70 votes to 10. The Spanish Senate in Madrid swiftly responded by granting Rajoy unprecedented powers to impose direct rule on Catalonia under Article 155 of the Constitution, which has never before been invoked. Article 155 enabled Rajoy to fire Puigdemont and take control of Catalonia’s civil service, finances, police and media. Puigdemont denounced Rajoy’s actions, saying the Spanish leader was removing a democratically elected administration. He called for continued peaceful defiance.
CARLES PUIGDEMONT: [translated] The best way to defend the achievements reached to date is the democratic opposition to the application of Article 155. … We must do so by preserving ourselves from repression and threats, by doing so without ever abandoning, never, at any time, civic and peaceful conduct.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, on Sunday, tens of thousands of pro-unity demonstrators waved Spanish, Catalan and European Union flags on the streets of Barcelona. Then, this morning, Puigdemont posted a photo on Instagram of a courtyard at the seat of the regional presidency building, along with the words “good morning” in Catalan and a smiley face emoticon. Today, Spain’s central government is expected to accuse him of rebellion for pushing ahead with secession.
For more, we go to London, where we’re joined by John Carlin, a journalist who has contributed to the Spanish newspaper El País since 1998—that is, until two weeks ago, when he was fired for writing an article in The Times of London headlined “Catalan independence: arrogance of Madrid explains this chaos.”
John Carlin, welcome to Democracy Now!
JOHN CARLIN: Hi.
AMY GOODMAN: First, can you respond to what took place on Friday, and then how it was you ended up being fired by the newspaper you worked for for more than—for about 20 years?
JOHN CARLIN: Well, let me answer the second part first, because that happened two weeks ago. I don’t really want to go into many details, but, essentially, it’s because of articles I wrote on this Catalan question, political question, that we’re discussing now.
In terms of what happened on Friday, well, it was a momentous day, an action-packed day, in the history of Spain—well, of any country, really, would have been—because in the morning you have elected president of Catalonia declaring independence unilaterally, and a matter of hours later, the Spanish Senate, with the backing of the Spanish government, as you mentioned before, passing into law this—or enabling, rather, Article 155 of the Constitution, which allows the Spanish government to dissolve the Catalan Parliament, to fire the man who, only hours earlier, had declared independence, and to take over direct rule of all the institutions of government in Catalonia. That’s where we’re at now. And it’s a very ugly and depressing and potentially dangerous situation.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: John Carlin, also, to go back to your article and the articles you’ve written, in general, on this situation, what you’ve suggested is that it was Madrid’s disproportionate response that’s led to what’s happening in Catalonia today. Can you explain why you think that’s the case?
JOHN CARLIN: Well, it wasn’t just a disproportionate response, which viewers may recall from the 1st of October, when the police went in with clubs to stop people from voting in this sort of symbolic referendum that took place. It’s actually been the response of the Spanish government in Madrid over the last seven years, consistently, to the clamor for independence from around roughly half of the Catalan population, although it’s been growing and growing every year.
The fundamental problem is that what the Catalans wanted wasn’t—they weren’t clamoring for independence to be given just like that. They wanted a referendum on independence in the same way there was a referendum in Scotland on independence three years ago. They wanted the right to decide. And the Spanish government not only rejected that, they rejected all attempts at dialogue on the matter of giving Catalonia greater autonomous powers, maybe more control over the taxes, the judiciary. And generally, the attitude of Madrid toward the Catalan independence supporters has been one that has been dismissive, not to say rude and lacking in respect. And this attitude, together with the refusal to countenance dialogue, the refusal to countenance a referendum, has increased the pro-independence vote in the last seven years or so from probably around 10, 15 percent to something close to 50 percent.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn back the Spanish deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, who was speaking on Friday.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SORAYA SÁENZ DE SANTAMARÍA: [translated] The president of the Generalitat will no longer be the president when this article is agreed on. He will no longer have the title of president of the Generalitat. He will not be able to make valid or obligatory decisions for others, nor for his own government, as a consequence of this secession. He will not be able to carry out his functions. He will stop being paid as the president of the Generalitat.
AMY GOODMAN: John Carlin, can you respond to what she said?
JOHN CARLIN: Well, look, I mean, unfortunately, she has something of a point. I don’t like conceding that to the Spanish government, because I think they’ve acted so badly, mismanaged things so badly, to get us to the present ugly situation we’re in. But when Carles Puigdemont, the apparently now-deposed president of Catalonia, declared independence unilaterally on Friday morning, he knew what he was getting himself in for. It was a red rag to a bull. He knew that this Article 155, which would depose him, was going to be enabled very soon thereafter. So, you know, he made his choice, and he must take the consequences.
Now, there’s one very important point, which, actually, there’s some breaking news here, which I don’t know if you’re aware of. But in the last hour or so, the chief prosecutor in Madrid has charged Puigdemont, the president of Catalonia, now apparently deposed, with sedition and rebellion—huge charges, which, in theory, if he were to be proved guilty, could lead to a jail sentence of 30 years. The question now is whether the Spanish government, or, rather, the Spanish judiciary system, will go ahead and call for his arrest and indeed jail him. Should they do that, things could escalate rather dramatically and possibly violently in Catalonia.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, this is major news. I’m also wondering how the Spanish news is covering this call to independence, the vote for independence, all that you’re describing. I mean, John Carlin, you yourself were fired from the Spanish newspaper, the leading Spanish paper, El País, after you wrote an article on Catalonian independence. Can you talk about the kind of coverage it’s getting and what people understand in Spain?
JOHN CARLIN: Well, look, in Spain, outside Catalonia, which is about 85 percent of the national territory, there is a very, very strong sentiment against Catalan independence. There’s actually a pretty strong prejudice against Catalans generally, which I think |
to be ego stroking. In 10 years I think I would say conservatively I slept with 200 or so women, a combination of one night stands, fuck buddies, relationships and a fair few hookers!
Where Thai women really shine (as long as you choose the right one, see my disclaimer below) is relationships. They are sweethearts.
Now this may be an over generalisation but a lot of Thai men from the lower echelons of society are shitbags, a lot drink, domestic violence is ignored by the police as a matter between a couple, cheating is super common, some won't work and expect their wife to bring home the money to support the household. Also there's a not significant number who will knock up a chick and then abandon her and the kid - these women often then swear off Thai men for life. This is compounded by the fact that the ideal look Thai men go for is the white-skinned Thai-Chinese look, a look that maybe 5% of the women have. 70% of men are chasing 5% of the women, so if you like little brown skinned chicks.
A lot of Thai women don't care if you're old, fat, ugly and they sure as shit don't care if your dick is small. They want a guy who will love them, be faithful to them and will work hard. That's it. In exchange you get a lady who enjoys sex with you, often will wash you in the shower, cut your nails, cook you the best food you've ever eaten and feel like she's the lucky one.
I say, if you have the opportunity, give it a try.
** warning: there are women who are just out for money. Avoid girls who've worked in any kind of prostitution. If you find yourself uttering "she's different" then you're going down the wrong path - she's not! Avoid girls who have facebook jam packed full of foreigners and in the early stages of a relationship watch out for warning signs. I'm happy to put more detail on this in the comments if people want to hear.
Other even more conservative countries also might be a goer but I can't say for sure, Cambodian chicks are lovely and more conservative, maybe no sex before marriage there. Laotian girls again are similar, Burmese too. Vietnamese I'm not sure about but it's apparently a fun country to visit.
Finally chaps, if you don't agree or you think my suggestions are idiotic then I'm sorry, moving to another country or even travelling to meet a partner or to have sex seems like an extreme solution, but suicide is the most extreme solution and i've seen that mentioned numerous times even in the short time I've been perusing your sub.Kenneth Hoyt, a sex offender who's done time in three states, flashed women on the R train, police said. View Full Caption NYPD and the Division of Criminal Justice Services
MANHATTAN — A sex offender, who's been in and out of prison in three different states since the 1980s, turned himself in Monday to federal authorities for flashing women on the R train and groping others on the subway, NYPD officials said.
Kenneth Hoyt, 52, flashed three women on R trains in August and September, officials said Thursday.
Hoyt, reportedly a onetime porn actor, was brazenly riding the rails wearing only a long camouflage shirt, officials said.
Hoyt, who was out of federal prison on supervised release, turned himself at a probation hearing Monday about 5 p.m., an NYPD spokeswoman said.
Hoyt, whose address is listed as the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on the sex offender registry, is awaiting formal charges for flashing subway riders. He's also expected to be charged with groping other straphangers, but officials didn't have further details about that.
Hoyt's history is riddled with sex offenses stretching back four decades and over three states, records show.
Hoyt was adopted by an engineer and and a teacher, a charitable Christian couple, the year he was born, records show.
Hoyt, who grew up with a brother and sister, liked skateboarding, swimming and music, his mother, Betty Hoyt, wrote to a federal judge in 2013.
"Ken is a talker, loves to read self-improvement books (e.g. health, finance, nutrition), likes to work out every day, and keeps busy by staying active," his mother wrote.
"Kenneth has always been a peaceful person [who] tends to support 'the underdog' as a child he stood up to bullies," she added.
His mother, who was 86 at the time, wrote to Judge Robert Sweet to convince him to give Hoyt a lenient sentence for failing to register as a sex offender in New York when he moved there from California.
"In the brief time I have remaining, I would like an opportunity, as soon as possible, to once again share a household with Kenneth, for the opportunity to exert my influence in re-directing every portion of his life to bring an upright citizen in every regard, to reinforce the fine qualities he already has, and to re-assure him he has a future with hope," the elder Hoyt wrote.
"Ken has shared his regrets about actions that have gotten him into trouble," she added.
Hoyt was first arrested in 1984 when he was 19 for making harassing phone calls in Orange County, California, records show.
A year later, he was convicted for molesting a 13-year-old girl, records show.
Once out on parole, he then exposed his buttocks to two 16-year-old girls in Las Vegas in 1990, records show.
He was arrested again in December 1991 just after his release for making obscene phone calls to girls and exposing himself in Las Vegas, records show.
"The defendant had five female juveniles inside his apartment who were all partially undressed. Two of the girls told police that the defendant had offered them $75 each to strip for him, and $75 to another girl if she would have sexual intercourse with him," federal prosecutors said.
He served his time in Vegas before moving to New York in 2002 only to get arrested on prostitution charges a year later, records show.
While flashing a 25-year-old woman on a Manhattan R train in 2006 he wore a jacket emblazoned with his personal porn website, which she used to tip off police, the Daily News reported.
Hoyt was arrested again in 2007 for a slew of subway sex crimes — including masturbating in front of 16-year-old girls — only to have those charges dropped because an ADA filed required paperwork four days after its deadline, according to records and the New York Post.
Hoyt moved back to Los Angeles and was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender there in 2009, records show.
Hoyt pleaded guilty, but while waiting for his sentence, he was arrested again for exposing himself in March, records show. He had been masturbating in his car in a Chevron gas station and then followed a UCLA student who spotted him, the university reported.
Hoyt was released from prison in June 2012 and issued a GPS monitoring bracelet, which he cut off on Oct. 11, 2012, before fleeing to New York, prosecutors said.
That Halloween, he moved into an Upper West Side apartment of a family with a 6-year-old girl, records show. It wasn't immediately clear if the family knew about Hoyt's past.
Authorities tracked him down in January 2013 when he put an ad on Craigslist offering to share the room in the Upper West Side apartment he was subletting, records show. He dubbed himself "Kenny" in the listing and listed his phone number.
That phone number was also posted on massagem4m.com advertising the services of a masseur named "Mario," prosecutors said. Undercover agents booked a reservation with the masseur and arrested him in a Upper East Side hotel when they realized it was Hoyt, records show.
He was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender in New York and sentenced to 30 months in prison on Nov. 7, 2013, with a decade of supervised release thereafter, records show.Mitchell Marsh's 104 for the Warriors against Tasmania played a large part in winning his Champions Trophy place © Getty Images
Mitchell Marsh will return to Australian duty for the first time in more than a year after being named in the squad for the Champions Trophy ODI tournament that precedes the Ashes in England. Marsh was named in Australia's 15-man squad alongside the uncapped fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile, while the leader of the national Twenty20 side, George Bailey, was named vice-captain to Michael Clarke.
The inclusion of Marsh, 21, follows a year in which he was sent home from the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane and then disciplined further for his part in the Perth Scorchers' Champions Trophy misadventures, but a handful of storming domestic limited-overs displays for Western Australia earned him his place. Marsh played five Ryobi Cup games last summer for 278 runs at 69.50, including his maiden century.
The Warriors narrowly missed the final despite that innings, 104 from 96 balls against Tasmania at the WACA, which also followed a hamstring injury that cruelled a significant portion of Marsh's summer. Marsh, whose most recent international was a T20 in February 2012, played his lone ODI in South Africa in late 2011. He has largely flattered to deceive in first-class matches thus far, but it is in 50-over fixtures that he has been most consistent, averaging 39.90 with the bat and 24.85 with the ball across 27 matches.
"We all know what a talented batting allrounder he is," John Inverarity, the national selector, said of Marsh, "and we look to him to fulfil the faith we have in him because he's a very talented cricketer."
Marsh will be joined in the squad by his state team-mate Coulter-Nile, who made his T20 international debut during the summer but is yet to play an ODI. Coulter-Nile, 25, was second only to Kane Richardson on the Ryobi Cup wicket tally last season with 16 victims at 23.18, and Inverarity also described him as "one of the three or four best fieldsmen in Australia".
"Nathan Coulter-Nile is an emerging cricketer as a fast-medium bowler and explosive lower-order batsman," Inverarity said. "He is also one of the finest fieldsmen in Australian cricket and the energy he brings to his game is impressive. While Nathan has played a T20 International for Australia, we are looking forward to seeing him take his very good domestic limited overs form onto the world stage."
The remainder of the Champions Trophy squad was largely as expected. The experienced batsman Adam Voges was included following his maiden ODI century against West Indies at the MCG, while Bailey was preferred to Matthew Wade as vice-captain.
"That was discussed," Inverarity said of Wade as a potential vice-captain, "but we went with George last [summer] and he captained three of the ODIs and two victories there, and as T20 captain he's had captaincy experience and is very highly regarded by the players."
Mitchell Starc and Clint McKay, both of whom are recovering from injuries, were named and are expected to be fit for the tournament, but injury concerns ruled out the Queensland fast bowler Ben Cutting. The squad does not include numerous players taking part in the concurrent Australia A tour of the British Isles, including James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Ryan Harris and Brad Haddin.
"As discussed last week at the Ashes squad announcement, James Pattinson and Ryan Harris haven't been selected but will play for Australia A to prepare them for the Ashes," Inverarity said. "Some who were close to selection included Steve Smith, Aaron Finch and Moises Henriques. However Steve and Moises will play for Australia A while the ICC Champions Trophy is being played.
"The ICC Champions Trophy is another important step in our aim to get back to the number one ranking. As the two-time defending champion, the squad has been selected with the aim of winning the tournament, starting against England at Edgbaston on 8 June, while also keeping the 2015 ICC World Cup firmly in mind."
Champions Trophy squad Michael Clarke (capt), George Bailey (vice-capt), David Warner, Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, Adam Voges, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, James Faulkner, Xavier Doherty, Clint McKay, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has delivered a damning indictment of the European Union and Europe’s approach to tackling radical Islam, in a shock speech at the Catholic Institute of Paris.
The clergyman characterised the Brexit vote in Britain and Donald Trump’s election in America as “a cry of dispossession and alienation”, advising the Establishment not to double down on its commitment to a failing status quo in the face of popular discontent.
“For many the response to Trump has been more Europe, by which they mean more centralism, more imposed federation, less flexibility”, he said. “Such a response is wholly inadequate for the challenges that we face as a continent.”
Welby argued that, on the contrary, a 21st century vision for Europe “must go beyond the boundaries of the European Union”, which has treated the people in countries like Greece especially poorly.
The Greeks were “urged to enter the Eurozone on essentially a false prospectus”, he railed, “and because of previous mismanagement and even corruption by an elite, the poor of an entire nation have been put effectively into involuntary bankruptcy.”
Greece, he declared, was now “the biggest debtor’s prison in European history”.
The Archbishop, who controversially intervened in EU referendum, stopped short of recanting the “European ideal”, but conceded that the project’s image had been harmed by aspects of “centralisation, corruption and bureaucracy” in European Union practice.
Going beyond the political realm and on into the social sphere, Welby also criticised the popular argument that the Islamic State “has nothing to do with Islam”.
“ISIS have an ideology, indeed a theology”, he insisted, “they believe that the world is about to end, that the Prophet will return and defeat the Western powers.”
The Archbishop also chided the anti-extremism ‘Prevent’ programme in the UK, which he seemed to regard as overly reactive and not sufficient to counter the growth of Islamism domestically. “Rather than simply seeking to prevent ‘bad’ religion we have to offer an alternative vision”.
Preceding this with an appeal for European spiritual leaders to start “feeling confident to talk about the Judeo-Christian tradition of our continent”, Welby’s speech seemed close at times to a call to arms for a robust defence of Western heritage and values.
The Archbishop could hitherto be predictably relied on to endorse all the dogmas of the Left-liberal establishment: more European integration, more immigration and a more prominent role for Islam in Britain’s public life.
While he may well revert to type soon after this speech, it is possible that the increasingly pitiless assault on Christianity in states where Islamism is in ascendance may have given him pause for thought.
So far, this month has already seen Christian television channels wiped off the airwaves in Pakistan, a ban on the celebration of Christian holidays at international schools in Saudi Arabia, and threats to the existence of ancient Syriac monastic communities in Turkey.Motorola finally made the metal band versions of the Moto 360 available yesterday through their online shop for $299. We were under the impression that when that move happened, early adopters of the Moto 360 would also be able to buy individual watch bands in either metal or different leathers. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, even though Motorola once again mentioned the fact that they planned to sell individual bands at some point in the near future.
Well, guess what? AT&T has them available right now, at suggested retail prices of $80 (metal) and $30 (leather). That’s right, if you want a replacement watch band for your Moto 360, AT&T will sell you one or two or three today in a variety of colors today.
As of right now, you can buy the dark or light metal bands for $80, and leather bands in cognac (brown), grey, or black. The time has come!
AT&T Links: Dark Metal ($80) | Light Metal ($80) | Grey Leather ($30) | Black Leather ($30) | Brown Leather ($30)
Cheers Nunez!UK ranks above the world average for quality of research and remains a strong partner for international research collaboration and mobility
New report measures UK’s research performance (2010-2014) against nations including France, Germany, US, and China
New report measures UK’s research performance (2010-2014) against nations including France, Germany, US, and China
London, October 12, 2017
Data analysis commissioned by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and provided by information analytics business Elsevier, shows that the UK continues to excel as a research nation: despite representing only 0.9% of the global population, it produces 15.2% of the world’s most highly cited research.
While the UK produces research that ranks above the world average for quality, its leading position is being eroded by other countries: the UK’s field-weighted citation impact is 1.57, compared to a global average of 1.0, however its annual growth has dropped from 1.3% (2008-2012) to 0.6% (2010-2014) and in 2014 China overtook the UK in global share of highly cited articles. Worldwide the UK’s share of the share of articles has also dropped from 6.4% to 6.3%.
These are some of the key findings presented in the report International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base 2016.
This report examines the UK’s performance during the period 2010-2014, comparing it with seven other research-intensive countries (Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US), four other fast growing nations (Brazil, India, Russia, and South Korea), as well as looking at regional research strengths within the UK.
Data in the report suggests that emerging countries such as China, and developed countries such as Italy, could threaten the UK’s leadership position in the longer-term.
Measures of research performance analysed include: research quality, research investment and commercialisation, research mobility, and international collaboration.
Five key findings from the report are:
The UK remains a highly productive research nation, but competition from other countries is increasing
The UK’s engineering, physical science and mathematics research levels are below the global baseline – not because UK output has dropped, but because other nations have increased their own shares
Competition from emerging markets (especially China) is eroding the UK’s global share in key research indicators: China overtook the UK in global share of highly cited articles in 2014
The UK is a key partner for global research collaboration and researcher mobility
The UK attracts the very best researchers from across the globe. These researchers are highly productive and contribute heavily to the UK’s overly large share of highly cited publications
Nearly half the UK active researcher population is transitory. These transitory researchers (i.e. less than two years in the same country) are, on average, the most productive
To maintain the UK’s leadership position on the global research stage, continued investment in its national research base is needed
UK’s level of R&D spending has remained flat as a proportion of GDP
UK’s R&D intensity is lower than that of China, France, Germany, and the US
Commercialisation of UK research
UK’s income from intellectual property has grown since 2010, but the number of spin-off companies has reduced significantly
Although the UK accounts for a small proportion of global patenting activity (2% of global total) a high proportion of UK research is cited in patents (9.1% share)
UK’s regions have distinct research strengths
UK regions show diverse strengths in different fields, but Greater London and South East England had the highest shares of the total of all UK publications in most research fields
Dr Nick Fowler, Managing Director Research Networks at Elsevier said: “The UK will need to make strong policy decisions to maintain its attractive research climate. With our data and analytical capabilities, Elsevier aims to help UK academia and government track and measure key success factors such as collaboration and researcher mobility, which contribute to the country’s scientific excellence. As was the case with previous reports we have produced for BEIS, this level of data analysis provides a unique window into the UK’s research sector.”
This is the third consecutive report in this series by Elsevier: the first was published in October 2011 and the second in December 2013. The reports analyses data derived from sources including Elsevier’s Scopus database, the OECD, and WIPO.
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Note for editors
For a copy of the report, go to: www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/beis-pdf
For interviews please contact Sacha Boucherie s.boucherie@elsevier.comISpitOnYourGrave
Be terrible at the game (3rd strike, and now SF5)
Have a huge ego and desire for status
Lie that he plays offline - but actually just picked up 3S through GGPO online
A 10-year consistent history of raging, staying a "scrub" and getting banned on forums
Rage, complain and blame loses on lag and "gimmicks". Ironically, he does not acknowledge his own reliance on "lag gimmicks".
About Louiscipher
“I don't take online seriously”
“There's people who only play online and will never play offline... like Artayes”
History
Street Fighter V
Incidents
Cruise, a well-known Urien player on GGPO, regularly beat Louiscipher easily on both GGPO and 3SOE. Louiscipher would rage at Cruise, complain and make excuses as usual. Over time, he developed a deep hatred and bitterness towards Cruise. He often rage quit and “plug-pull” while playing Cruise on 3SOE, especially when he was just about to lose. One time, this was caught on video by Cruise and uploaded to YouTube:
Another known player on 3S Online Edition that Louicipher regularly raged against was Duralath. Although Duralath was known to be nice, he could not stand the scumbag behavior from Louis and decided to expose him by uploading stills of his raging hate mails (more than 10 at the time). Since then, Louis has tried to destroy the evidences and claim that he was "just trolling”. This incident was posted on the SRK forums. Since Duralath is well respected, Louiscipher now blatantly lies about what happened. The actual truth is here and here. (thread)
Caught watching transsexual pornography - In 2013, in another argument on GGPO, Louiscipher uploaded a screenshot of himself beating \FistOfTheNoob. Unwittingly, he did not crop out the tranny porn he had on his desktop and this screenshot has since been uploaded to the SRK forums. The raw screenshot was originally linked here but removed by request of administrators after Louiscipher requested the site to be deleted. Note that this wiki no longer contains any links to offensive inappropriate material.
Caught spamming fetish pornography on a Japanese player's Twitter - Louiscipher discovered the twitter account of Japanese Yang player, Roshihikari. He started spamming disturbing fetish pornography at Roshihikari's twitter. Louiscipher thought Roshihikari the Japanese player, and Roshihikari the troll on SRK were the same person.
When someone pointed this out, Louis played the "it was not me" card by posting under his alternate account and calling himself an asshole. This online rage behavior was typical of Louiscipher. He had developed a deep hatred for Roshihikari the forum troll.
Back when Louicipher did not know "who’s who", he looked up to Artayes (a Necro player on GGPO) as a "really top player". He posted this statement on the SRK forums. Later, when he saw everyone bashing Artayes and saying Artayes was bad at the game, Louis edited out his posts to remove embarrassment. He then started to "shit-talk" Artayes and attack him on SRK. To prevent Louis from getting the thread deleted, here is a capture of that thread.
Same with yuuki, a top player that Louiscipher always raged at on GGPO. Louis shit-talked him and labelled him the usual "online scrub/gimmick abuser". In 2013, yuuki began posting on SRK forums and became famous and respected. From that point on, Louiscipher stopped and tried to get rid of all evidences of his previous rage antics at yuuki.
Exposed as a "scrub" on GGPO and beaten numerous times only to rage and make excuses every time he loses. Rage chat at end of the 1st video below.
On 3S Online Edition, Louiscipher also raged often and sent rage hate mail about lag, gimmicks or "cheating" to many people. See 2nd video's YouTube description.
Attempt to delete this wiki page - Upon discovering the wiki page about himself, Louiscipher immediately contacted wiki admins to request it to be deleted. He made a complaint thread called "Reporting harassment, invasion of privacy and inappropriate material". As he tried over several months to delete the page, he became desperate and even claimed he would call a lawyer. In the end, Louiscipher was left frustrated and raged at the wiki admins. The admins refuted that he should call a lawyer instead of complaining anonymously.
Timeline
Quotes
Screenshots
Click button to see all screenshots.
Summary
Sources
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Louiscipher is wildly acknowledged as the most disliked and worst person in the online world of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, and now Street Fighter V. His many aliases include, but many now call him "Mini DSP". Inhis Fighter ID is. Many links and screenshots are included because as expected, he claims it is all lies.Louiscipher is widely known to:Louiscipher, but he blatantly lies and pretends that he does. When he loses he usuallyand blames lag tactics or online gimmicks, though he has never played offline himself. Since 3rd strike is a game designed specifically for arcade use, online play is not regarded seriously. Wanting recognition, he lies that he plays offline and says things like:But when asked where or who he has played with offline, he will typically change the topic, never providing answers other than empty excuses. An obvious flaw in his lie is he started learning the game on GGPO (predecessor to Fightcade) around 2008 - when the offline 3S scene in the USA was practically dead. Some joke that Alexisdabomb plays at home against the CPU when he says he plays offline.Perhaps the best evidence that "Louis" never plays offline is hisor " scrub-biness ". Hisand inability to admit he is a "scrub" means he has not been able to improve after almost 10 years. Instead, he rages and complains - often bullying new players and then berating them for losing. On GGPO he was so despised he had to use many aliases, such as StompThePainAway One year after Street Fighter 5 was released, he was already banned multiple times on multiple forums for being a raging scrub and scumbag. Repeatedly trying to return, but repeatedly getting banned within weeks, his usernames included ISpitOnYourGrave Mikafanboy696969 and Irondiksmasher. Hilariously, he does not realize he is a scrub in SF5 (using R. Mika) exactly like he was a scrub in 3S (using Alex). He is secretly also very active with numerous accounts on 'Kappa' and YouTube FGC discussion Louiscipher was confronted and publicly exposed over the years. A recurring tactic of Louis is toorthe people who expose him; hoping others do not believe their words. If he fails to get the support of others, he will try to change the topic or play the "troll" card, saying " I was just trolling " or " they are trolling me ". He will then go back to edit his old posts or privately ask admins to delete threads.On 3S Online Edition, Louiscipher used many names on both Xbox and PSN, hiding his scumbag antics and scrubby failures. One of his primary usernames on O.E. is (was) Alex3rdStrike. He is known to rage and send hate mail all the time. He also behaved exactly the same in the online KOF community, where he is known to be a rager and scrub Louiscipher is known to use racial insults towards people he gets mad at in game and on forums. Depending on the person's race, he hurls different racist insults, then blatantly denies it. Examples are " asian snob ", " eurotrash piece of shit ", " nigger " and insults about Japanese war crimes.People who know Louiscipher's history and are able to verify that he is a scumbag and scrub include yuuki, Harmonaz, Cruise metric, korcotxan, 2Nasty, aku, Womble, Val-Venis and many others.When he first started on GGPO, Louiscipher did not know how to play 3rd Strike. He looked up to 2Nasty as an “awesome” Alex player and sucked up to 2Nasty. He asked 2Nasty to teach him how to play Alex. After some time, when Louiscipher found out that 2Nasty was not respected, Louiscipher turned on his "teacher" and started shit-talking to him. Louiscipher has since tried to get rid of all traces linking himself to 2Nasty.Louicipher was confronted or “exposed” numerous times on GGPO, SRK forums, YouTube, Reddit, etc. Each time Louis would go to great lengths to destroy the evidences against him - editing his own posts, asking admins to delete posts, even deleting his own YouTube comments and deleting the YouTube videos of himself "owning" new players. (At one time there were over 50 such videos on his YouTube channel. They have all been deleted. Louis even went back to other YouTube videos and deleted each of his rage comments).On the SRK forums, Louiscipher has always been very "vocal". Initially, he raged at and shit-talked to many posters, unaware that some were respected, good players. In the process, he exposed himself as an ignorant scrub with a terrible attitude, and a. At some point, Louiscipher realized he wanted to be respected on the SRK forums, and started sucking up to the respected posters. Wanting to be a " somebody " in the 3s community, he started posting frequently and posed as a knowledgeable player on SRK. He also posted wrong information and inaccurate " character guides ".But inevitably, his true self eventually came out and he has since been exposed (again). He eventually went into the SRK General Discussion section, where he also became widely hated as a "scumbag scrub" and laughing-stock. As of early 2014, Louiscipher was banned on SRK. He then started posting under his alternate account,, and the same pattern was played out once again.Louiscipher had aon the SRK forums he simultaneously used called, which he used to praise himself, ask embarrassing scrub questions, post about SF4, and continue talking in threads after he got embarrassed/exposed. Under hisaccount in front of the 3s crowd he pretended to hate SF4. Threads that Alexander made include:Back in 2013 Mixah, an SRK forum member learned that Louis lives near him and invited him over to play fighting games. Louiscipher then used this excuse to continuously lie and make bold claims like " I do play 3s offline ", or " I've actually found people to play offline ". Some time later, Louiscipher unintentionally revealed that Mixah was the only person he has ever played 3S offline with. Mixah later disclosed that they only ever metAfter this wiki page about him became widespread, Louiscipher has since unsuccessfully attempted to get it deleted, while trying to stop it spreading and discredit it as lies. He also hid behind more than 10 names on GGPO/Fightcade.Before the release of Street Fighter V, Louiscipher posted frequently in the SF5 section of the SRK Forum under his Alexisdabomb account. He acted in typical scumbag manner, seeking attention and recognition. He quickly exposed himself as a "retarded" scrub, with embarrassing things like:Rage PM Sample 1: http://i.imgur.com/uSQqzud.jpg Rage PM Sample 2: http://i.imgur.com/T60oCdR.jpg : Got into 3rd Strike through GGPO around 2008. He did not know how to play and looked up to 2Nasty, an Alex player who eventually became his teacher.: Louiscipher’s scumbag nature quickly manifested itself. Coupled with his scrubby skills and constant raging, GGPO and forums started hating him.: There were truly hilarious moments on GGPO as Louiscipher raged every day.: Had been secretly posting on NeoGAF pretending to be Sanchez, a famous 3s Alex player. Eventually banned.: After discovering this wiki page, Louis tried over several months to get it erased.Claimed to be a "respectable 3s player" on SRK to build a reputation for SF5. Banned within 4 weeks when his true scumbag personality came out Played Street Fighter 5 under the nameand rage-quit his way to Diamond rank.Broke the SRK forum's record for most alternate accounts (30+) banned within 11 months.The most toxic scrub from online 3rd strike, known for being a joke and scumbag. The sheer number of people who acknowledge this proves it no matter how he tries to cover it up. Now a raging scrub in Street Fighter 5, his CFN was Frank Booth (now ISpitOnYourGrave). Perhaps this quote would best sum up Louiscipher:LONDON, July 11 — I am writing from London where I am attending the Ninth International Milton Symposium which also marks John Milton’s quatercentenary. (He was born December 9, 1608, and died in 1674.) In a sense it’s just a big birthday party for a big birthday, although none of us is likely be honored by a party at which some 200 people from all around the world give papers celebrating our achievements, either during our lifetimes or after we have been dead for centuries.
This is a gathering not of Milton fans (although the attendees are that, too), but of Milton professionals, that is, of people who read Milton for a living. Why do we do it? What sustains our interest over the length of a career?
I have been going around asking, and the answers have come quickly and spontaneously. Nigel Smith of Princeton, whose published work is more historical than literary, set the tone when he told me, “It’s the beauty of the thing; the poetry is just gorgeous; it makes me want to cry.” John Leonard of the University of Western Ontario seconded him: “It’s the way he works with words; what keeps me coming back is the sheer sound of the poetry, ‘simple, sensuous, and passionate.’” (Milton’s own characterization).
But it’s more than that, as both Leonard and Smith agreed. Leonard: “More than anyone else, Milton captures the disjunction between the way things are and the way they should be.” Smith: “It’s the combination of amazing poetry and an insistence on principle.” Rather than being employed for its own sake, the poetry is always in the service of ideas and moral commitments, and it is always demanding that its readers measure themselves against the judgments it repeatedly makes – judgments about the nature of virtue, about the proper mode of civil and domestic behavior, about the true shape of heroism, about the self-parodying bluster of military action, about the criteria of aesthetic excellence, about the uses of leisure, about one’s duties to man and God, about the scope and limitations of reason, about the primacy of faith, about everything.
Milton’s poetry never lets you relax. Even when one of the famous similes wanders down what appears to be a desultory path of mythical allusions and idealized landscapes, it always returns you in the end to the moral perspective that had only apparently been suspended. So after rehearsing the story of Mulciber’s leisurely fall from heaven “like a falling star,” Milton’s narrator says, “thus they relate, erring,” with the harsh judgment of “erring” now attached to any reader who had been entranced by the “fable” put forth by the devils. (“Paradise Lost, I”, 740-747).
Reading a poetry full of moments like this, moments when a poetic effect cannot be separated from the pressure of ideological choice, is at once exhausting and exhilarating. Rachel Trubowitz of the University of New Hampshire put it this way: “Milton’s poetry is good to think with. It’s a good workout. You feel really great and fit when you’ve finished. Maybe that’s what he meant by the ‘fit reader.’”
This may make the poetry sound unpleasantly medicinal, like an exercise regime you engage in dutifully, but do not enjoy. (Samuel Johnson famously remarked of “Paradise Lost” that no one ever wished it longer.) But in fact it is this quality of the poetry – its issuing of challenge after challenge -– that makes it so teachable to undergraduates. Any number of conference-goers reported the same experience -– students who were in a class only because it fulfilled a requirement or because it was given at a convenient time, students who assumed that they were going to be either bored or made to feel inadequate by an impossibly allusive verse written in an alien, Latinate language. And then, on about the third or fourth week, these same students were fully engaged, arguing with the poetry and with each other about everything under the sun and a few things above it. No matter what the students came in believing or disbelieving, no matter how hard they tried to remain detached, they were drawn in, and once drawn in they were absolutely hooked.
All of this was predicted in 1674 by Samuel Barrow who said to the future readers of the poem, “You who read “Paradise Lost”… what do you read but everything? This book contains all things and the origins |
you should probably consider using these instead now that the tools are public.integrity42
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Full MemberActivity: 238Merit: 100 A proposal: Forget about mBTC and switch directly to Satoshis November 03, 2013, 12:31:28 AM
Last edit: November 21, 2013, 02:46:39 AM by integrity42 #1
We should move straight to Satoshi's instead of bother with mBTC.
Problems with mBTC:
- It's not small enough (1mBTC is already $1.10 in china). This means that micropayments already need to deal with fractions of mBTC.
- The general public doesn't like to think in fractions. They would like to avoid them if possible.
- As the price rises, we'll have to switch to a lower unit all over again, introducing more confusion for the masses and newbies.
- It's psychologically confusing and ugly for new users. Nobody likes owning a fraction of anything. They'd rather own a multiple of something.
- We might all be mathematically inclined, but the masses are scared of fractions. mBTC does not solve the fraction and decimal problem.
Advantages of switching straight to Satoshi's:
- No fractions or decimals.
- The units are easier to deal with. 1000=1Ks, 1Million= 1Ms. I can now pay the blog a micropayment of 500 Satoshis instead of 0.005 mBTC.
- Names of satoshi amounts are well known to common people. i.e. 10 million satoshis are "10 Megas" is much nicer then 10 "millibits". Everyone is already used to calling $1000 a 'K'... 5000 satoshis could therefore be called '5 K'. (K for kilosatoshi)
- Makes micro-payments much easier to deal with. mBTC was supposed to get rid of the too-many-decimals problem of using BTC. Now that the price has risen so high, mBTC is sort of pointless. Blogs who want to offer articles to read for 1/10th of a penny have to charge.005mBTC. It would be better to charge 500 S
- Psychologically, the average person doesn't want to own a fraction of something. They'd rather have 500 S instead of.005 mBTC
- We can make the switch once and be done with it. Wallet software will have to replace mBTC with uBTC as the price rises. Switch to satoshi's directly and get is over with.
The price will soon be high enough that we can go straight to satoshi's. mBTC in my opinion is an exercise in futility and confusion.
EDIT: Please keep this thread ON-TOPIC. The topic is mBTC vs Satoshis. Arguments that Satoshi's are too big of a unit don't hold water here. Please make another topic for that. We're not debating what will happen in 50 years. mBTC will be useless in the next year or two. Satoshi is currently the smallest unit. The dev's won't be dividing satoshis for a long time (if ever). Thank you.
EDIT 2: It is a common misconception that BTC is the base unit. Infact, the base unit in the code are Satoshis. Satoshi himself admitted that 1BTC was arbitrarily chosen, and that he could change it later if he wanted to. Satoshis do not break the orders of magnitude. Choosing 1BTC = 100Ms breaks the orders of magnitude.
EDIT 3:
Update: Bitcoin magazine tends to agree that decimals aren't a good idea.
http://bitcoinmagazine.com/8274/the-psychology-of-decimals/
I'll get straight to the point.We should move straight to Satoshi's instead of bother with mBTC.Problems with mBTC:- It's not small enough (1mBTC is already $1.10 in china). This means that micropayments already need to deal with fractions of mBTC.- The general public doesn't like to think in fractions. They would like to avoid them if possible.- As the price rises, we'll have to switch to a lower unit all over again, introducing more confusion for the masses and newbies.- It's psychologically confusing and ugly for new users. Nobody likes owning a fraction of anything. They'd rather own a multiple of something.- We might all be mathematically inclined, but the masses are scared of fractions. mBTC does not solve the fraction and decimal problem.Advantages of switching straight to Satoshi's:- No fractions or decimals.- The units are easier to deal with. 1000=1Ks, 1Million= 1Ms. I can now pay the blog a micropayment of 500 Satoshis instead of 0.005 mBTC.- Names of satoshi amounts are well known to common people. i.e. 10 million satoshis are "10 Megas" is much nicer then 10 "millibits". Everyone is already used to calling $1000 a 'K'... 5000 satoshis could therefore be called '5 K'. (K for kilosatoshi)- Makes micro-payments much easier to deal with. mBTC was supposed to get rid of the too-many-decimals problem of using BTC. Now that the price has risen so high, mBTC is sort of pointless. Blogs who want to offer articles to read for 1/10th of a penny have to charge.005mBTC. It would be better to charge 500 S- Psychologically, the average person doesn't want to own a fraction of something. They'd rather have 500 S instead of.005 mBTC- We can make the switch once and be done with it. Wallet software will have to replace mBTC with uBTC as the price rises. Switch to satoshi's directly and get is over with.The price will soon be high enough that we can go straight to satoshi's. mBTC in my opinion is an exercise in futility and confusion.EDIT: Please keep this thread ON-TOPIC. The topic is mBTC vs Satoshis. Arguments that Satoshi's are too big of a unit don't hold water here. Please make another topic for that. We're not debating what will happen in 50 years. mBTC will be useless in the next year or two. Satoshi is currently the smallest unit. The dev's won't be dividing satoshis for a long time (if ever). Thank you.EDIT 2: It is a common misconception that BTC is the base unit. Infact, the base unit in the code are Satoshis. Satoshi himself admitted that 1BTC was arbitrarily chosen, and that he could change it later if he wanted to. Satoshis do not break the orders of magnitude. Choosing 1BTC = 100Ms breaks the orders of magnitude.EDIT 3:Update: Bitcoin magazine tends to agree that decimals aren't a good idea. SMART CONTRACT POWERED SOCIAL BETTING PLATFORM
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MoonShadow
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LegendaryActivity: 1708Merit: 1000 Re: A proposal: Forget about mBTC and switch directly to Satoshis November 03, 2013, 12:32:47 AM #2 Sounds good. What's stopping you now? "The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."
- Carroll Quigley, CFR member, mentor to Bill Clinton, from 'Tragedy And Hope'
dree12
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LegendaryActivity: 1246Merit: 1032 Re: A proposal: Forget about mBTC and switch directly to Satoshis November 03, 2013, 12:44:13 AM #6 A satoshi is an nonsensical unit. People throw around the argument that "a satoshi is the smallest possible division of a bitcoin" without considering how temporary such a designation is. The mill ($0.001) was once the smallest subdivision of many major currencies. Now, its use has become cumbersome and the smallest subdivision has adapted to the cent ($0.01) in many cultures.
A similar fate will happen to the satoshi because it simply isn't granular enough to sustain an economy consisting of 7 billion people. Ignoring potential impacts of fractional reserve, when considering lost bitcoins, there will only ever by 2 quadrillion satoshis to work with. Even with the most equal distribution, at 285714 satoshis per person, this isn't enough for day-to-day use. Most people in the United States, for example, have over $3000.00 of cash savings, which is already more than the 285714 smallest subdivisions. This ignores businesses, which are like people in their own right, and often have even greater cash reserves.
Fact is, Bitcoin was never designed with the satoshi as the smallest subdivision in mind. Initial versions of the client showed only 2 decimal digits, though all 8 were tracked. Satoshi believed that the subdivisions will be changed as time goes on to accommodate usage patterns. Thus, there is no reason to measure prices with 0.00000001 of a bitcoin, since that measurement has only temporal significance. In a decade or so, the last languages to use 58-bit integers (JavaScript primarily) will have gained 64-bit (and likely 128-bit) integers as well. There will then be no encumbrance in subdividing the bitcoin further.
If we believe m BTC to be too large a unit, perhaps we should use n BTC. This will do everything a satoshi does without using an awkward power of 10 not commonly seen in today's society.
This argument itself is weak anyways. Humans are not averse to changing units every few years or every few decades. Allow me to give a common example: computing. Today, disk capacity is measured in TB. Not long ago, this was measured solely in GB, and before that in MB. In the not-so-distant future we will be measuring it in PB. Such rapid unit-switching has failed to even faze the consumer base; indeed, if anything, it has taught the average person something about SI prefixes. Even using different units simultaneously fails to confuse people. My RAM is 16 GB whereas my disk drive is 5 TB. The HD video takes up 5 GB but the MP3 file only 5 MB. And my word document clocks in at merely 10 kB. Am I confused? No, and rightly not.
There is no reason to believe steadily changing units as the conditions recommend will cause confusion. Indeed, this steady replacement of units need not even be mandated by a "Units Commission". Businesses and consumers will simply change units themselves as convenience dictates, and the rest will follow eventually, some earlier and some later. Countries used to worthless base units, such as Iran, may switch to μ BTC quicker than Canada would. Fearful of large numbers thanks to historical inflation, Zimbabweans may choose to stick with the m BTC until the bitter end.
And the best part is that nobody will be confused.
MoonShadow
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LegendaryActivity: 1708Merit: 1000 Re: A proposal: Forget about mBTC and switch directly to Satoshis November 03, 2013, 12:51:28 AM #7 Quote from: dree12 on November 03, 2013, 12:44:13 AM A satoshi is an nonsensical unit. People throw around the argument that "a satoshi is the smallest possible division of a bitcoin" without considering how temporary such a designation is. The mill ($0.001) was once the smallest subdivision of many major currencies. Now, its use has become cumbersome and the smallest subdivision has adapted to the cent ($0.01) in many cultures.
A similar fate will happen to the satoshi because it simply isn't granular enough to sustain an economy consisting of 7 billion people. Ignoring potential impacts of fractional reserve, when considering lost bitcoins, there will only ever by 2 quadrillion satoshis to work with. Even with the most equal distribution, at 285714 satoshis per person, this isn't enough for day-to-day use. Most people in the United States, for example, have over $3000.00 of cash savings, which is already more than the 285714 smallest subdivisions. This ignores businesses, which are like people in their own right, and often have even greater cash reserves.
Fact is, Bitcoin was never designed with the satoshi as the smallest subdivision in mind. Initial versions of the client showed only 2 decimal digits, though all 8 were tracked. Satoshi believed that the subdivisions will be changed as time goes on to accommodate usage patterns. Thus, there is no reason to measure prices with 0.00000001 of a bitcoin, since that measurement has only temporal significance. In a decade or so, the last languages to use 58-bit integers (JavaScript primarily) will have gained 64-bit (and likely 128-bit) integers as well. There will then be no encumbrance in subdividing the bitcoin further.
If we believe m BTC to be too large a unit, perhaps we should use n BTC. This will do everything a satoshi does without using an awkward power of 10 not commonly seen in today's society.
Really? This is your argument? That the satoshi is too large of a unit to use in daily transactions for 7 billion people? Roughly 30K people use bitcoins sometimes, and less than 100 use them daily and exclusively. Do you really think that bitcoins will ever be the exclusive, or even primary, unit of exchange for all the people on this planet? I doubt it. Yes, there can be unit divisions less than a satoshi. So what? How many decades before we need to even name that unit? Really? This is your argument? That the satoshi is too large of a unit to use in daily transactions for 7 billion people? Roughly 30K people use bitcoins sometimes, and less than 100 use them daily and exclusively. Do you really think that bitcoins will ever be the exclusive, or even primary, unit of exchange for all the people on this planet? I doubt it. Yes, there can be unit divisions less than a satoshi. So what? How many decades before we need to even name that unit? "The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."
- Carroll Quigley, CFR member, mentor to Bill Clinton, from 'Tragedy And Hope'
dree12
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LegendaryActivity: 1246Merit: 1032 Re: A proposal: Forget about mBTC and switch directly to Satoshis November 03, 2013, 01:00:50 AM #9 Quote from: MoonShadow on November 03, 2013, 12:51:28 AM Quote from: dree12 on November 03, 2013, 12:44:13 AM A satoshi is an nonsensical unit. People throw around the argument that "a satoshi is the smallest possible division of a bitcoin" without considering how temporary such a designation is. The mill ($0.001) was once the smallest subdivision of many major currencies. Now, its use has become cumbersome and the smallest subdivision has adapted to the cent ($0.01) in many cultures.
A similar fate will happen to the satoshi because it simply isn't granular enough to sustain an economy consisting of 7 billion people. Ignoring potential impacts of fractional reserve, when considering lost bitcoins, there will only ever by 2 quadrillion satoshis to work with. Even with the most equal distribution, at 285714 satoshis per person, this isn't enough for day-to-day use. Most people in the United States, for example, have over $3000.00 of cash savings, which is already more than the 285714 smallest subdivisions. This ignores businesses, which are like people in their own right, and often have even greater cash reserves.
Fact is, Bitcoin was never designed with the satoshi as the smallest subdivision in mind. Initial versions of the client showed only 2 decimal digits, though all 8 were tracked. Satoshi believed that the subdivisions will be changed as time goes on to accommodate usage patterns. Thus, there is no reason to measure prices with 0.00000001 of a bitcoin, since that measurement has only temporal significance. In a decade or so, the last languages to use 58-bit integers (JavaScript primarily) will have gained 64-bit (and likely 128-bit) integers as well. There will then be no encumbrance in subdividing the bitcoin further.
If we believe m BTC to be too large a unit, perhaps we should use n BTC. This will do everything a satoshi does without using an awkward power of 10 not commonly seen in today's society.
Really? This is your argument? That the satoshi is too large of a unit to use in daily transactions for 7 billion people? Roughly 30K people use bitcoins sometimes, and less than 100 use them daily and exclusively. Do you really think that bitcoins will ever be the exclusive, or even primary, unit of exchange for all the people on this planet? I doubt it. Yes, there can be unit divisions less than a satoshi. So what? How many decades before we need to even name that unit?
Really? This is your argument? That the satoshi is too large of a unit to use in daily transactions for 7 billion people? Roughly 30K people use bitcoins sometimes, and less than 100 use them daily and exclusively. Do you really think that bitcoins will ever be the exclusive, or even primary, unit of exchange for all the people on this planet? I doubt it. Yes, there can be unit divisions less than a satoshi. So what? How many decades before we need to even name that unit?
The satoshi is around half of the Uzbek tiyin by value. This is the lowest denomination of any government currency (which admittedly is not often used). With only the 30000 people using Bitcoin now, the satoshi is already comparable with lower denominations of government currency. If even a billion people used Bitcoin, it would make transactions in numerous countries difficult.
Also consider the transaction fee. If I were to buy a bottle of water for 10 satoshis, I certainly do not want to pay a 1 satoshi fee (that would be 10%). But there is no option to pay less. Even off-chain transaction processors are likely to charge a 1-satoshi usage fee to avoid DDOS. Once a satoshi rises too much in value, that would become an obscene fee for a microtransaction. The satoshi is around half of the Uzbek tiyin by value. This is the lowest denomination of any government currency (which admittedly is not often used). With only the 30000 people using Bitcoin now, the satoshi is already comparable with lower denominations of government currency. If even a billion people used Bitcoin, it would make transactions in numerous countries difficult.Also consider the transaction fee. If I were to buy a bottle of water for 10 satoshis, I certainly do not want to pay a 1 satoshi fee (that would be 10%). But there is no option to pay less. Even off-chain transaction processors are likely to charge a 1-satoshi usage fee to avoid DDOS. Once a satoshi rises too much in value, that would become an obscene fee for a microtransaction.At most, it will be able to borrow back part of the interest on its existing debt. On the other hand, Greece can’t and won’t pay all of the interest coming due, let alone pay back its debt, because that would require a crippling new round of austerity that would inflict severe economic damage and would be politically impossible in any case.
So we know what the outcome of a successful negotiation would be: Greece would be obliged to run a positive but small “primary surplus,” that is, an excess of revenue over spending not including interest. Everything else should be about framing and packaging. What will be the mix between interest rate cuts, reductions in the face value of debt, and rescheduling of payments? To what extent will Greece lay out its spending plans now, as opposed to agreeing on overall targets and filling in the details later?
These aren’t trivial questions, but they’re second-order, and shouldn’t get in the way of the big stuff.
Meanwhile, the alternative — basically Greece running out of euros, and being forced to reintroduce its own currency amid a banking crisis — is something everyone should want to avoid. Yet negotiations are by all accounts going badly, and there’s a very real possibility that the worst will, in fact, happen.
Why can’t the players here reach a mutually beneficial deal? Part of the answer is mutual distrust. Greeks feel, with justification, that for years their nation has been treated like a conquered province, ruled by callous and incompetent proconsuls; if you want to see why, look both at the incredible severity of the austerity program the country has been forced to impose and the utter failure of that program to deliver the promised results. Meanwhile, the institutions on the other side consider the Greeks unreliable and irresponsible; some of this, I think, reflects the inexperience of the coalition of outsiders that took power thanks to austerity’s failure, but it’s also easy to see why, given Greece’s track record, it’s hard to trust promises of reform.I think it is fair to say, given the historical evidence noted above, that the firestorm against The Man Who Would Be Queen was initially motivated by a few powerful transsexual women’s strong public rejection of Blanchard’s theory of MTF transsexualism. But as we have also seen above, that firestorm quickly came to be fueled by allegations that J. Michael Bailey had behaved in all sorts of unethical, illegal, and immoral ways in the production of his book. This move on the part of Bailey’s detractors—from questioning the message to questioning the messenger—effectively directed public attention away from the book itself and Blanchard’s theory towards TMWWBQ’s author. What then of the merit of the charges that Bailey behaved unethically, illegally, and even immorally in producing TMWWBQ?
In providing this history, it would be convenient to be able to simply report the merit of the charges made against Bailey as determined by some reliable investigatory body. But I am unable to do so. Besides the rather odd and brief inquiry made by the SPLC and those “investigations” of Bailey made by Conway, James, and their cohort—“investigations” which, as noted above and below, appear factually and ethically flawed in key respects—apparently the only formal, institutional investigation made of Bailey was that conducted by the Provost’s office of Northwestern University. No other group—including the National Academies, various professional organizations like HBIGDA and IASR, and the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation—seems to have found reason to proceed with any deep inquiry into Bailey’s work, in spite of many calls to do so from Conway, James, Kieltyka, McCloskey, and others. And, as noted in the last section, neither Northwestern nor Bailey has publicly revealed the results of the university’s lengthy investigation, except insofar as: (1) Northwestern’s Vice President for Research has said that “the allegations of scientific misconduct made against Professor J. Michael Bailey do not fall under the federal definition of scientific misconduct”; and (2) Northwestern’s Provost has said that the university “has established a protocol to help ensure that Professor Bailey’s research activities involving human subjects are conducted in accordance with the expectations of the University, the regulations and guidelines established by the federal government and with generally accepted research standards” (C. Bradley Moore to Alice Dreger, p.e.c., August 1, 2006). It seems that if Bailey were completely happy with the outcome of the investigation, he would release the results, but the apparent lack of change in Bailey’s university status following the December 2004 conclusion of the investigation suggests the university found nothing too damning. Still, I think it unscholarly to rely on such ambiguous evidence to deduce anything meaningful about Bailey’s conduct. Consequently, I consider here the allegations of misconduct made against Bailey with regard to the production of his book, and examine what the sources tell us about the merit of those charges.
Of the myriad charges organized and broadcast against Bailey by Conway, James, and McCloskey, arguably the two most serious have been (1) that Bailey conducted human subjects research that required Northwestern University’s IRB approval and oversight without seeking or obtaining that approval and oversight, and (2) that he had sex with the woman called Juanita in the book at a time when she was his research subject. These two charges turn out to be interrelated, so I’ll deal with them first, one right after the other.
Did Bailey conduct IRB-qualified human subjects research without IRB oversight? According to reproductions posted on Lynn Conway’s “Bailey investigation” Website, in their 2003 complaints about Bailey made to Northwestern, Anjelica Kieltyka, Juanita, and two other transsexual women whose stories did not appear in TMWWBQ all claimed that they were “participant[s] in a research study without being informed of that status” (Kieltyka to C. Bradley Moore, July 3, 2003, available at Kieltyka, 2003b; see also Conway, 2003c, 2003d, 2003f). Kieltyka’s complaint of July 3, 2003, went further, stating that she expected Bailey to be “found […] in violation of University and federal policies” because, she implied, he had been conducting IRB-qualified human subjects research on her and her friends without IRB approval and oversight (Kieltyka to C. Bradley Moore, July 3, 2003, available at Kieltyka, 2003b). Indeed, by his own admission, Bailey did not seek or obtain approval from Northwestern’s IRB to talk with Kieltyka, Juanita, and other transsexual women about their lives for purposes of his writing about them (Bailey, 2005). But did Bailey need IRB approval and oversight in this case?
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is designated by Northwestern University (NU) to review, to approve the initiation of, and to conduct periodic review of research involving human subjects or materials obtained from human subjects. Federal law and/or NU policy mandates prior written and dated IRB approval of such research regardless of the funding source. (Office for the Protection of Research Subjects, n.d.) Answering this question requires both general consideration of the IRB regulations and specific consideration of Bailey’s relations with the people whose stories he recounted in his book. First the general: In the U.S., universities that receive federal funding are required to maintain oversight boards to ensure that qualified human subjects research is conducted in an ethical manner. To quote from Northwestern’s Office for the Protection of Research Subjects:
As Robin Wilson of the Chronicle of Higher Education noted in her July 25, 2003 news report of the first two charges made against Bailey, “According to federal regulations, a human subject is someone from whom a researcher obtains data through ‘interaction,’ which includes ‘communication or interpersonal contact between investigator and subject’” (Wilson, 2003b).
There’s no question Bailey obtained information about their lives from observing and talking with Kieltyka, Juanita, and the other transsexual women who did and did not appear in TMWWBQ. In that sense, they would seem to count as “human subjects,” presuming the information he gathered from them could be called “data.”
But, as Wilson and many other writers on the Bailey controversy have failed to note, the kind of research that is subject to IRB oversight is significantly more limited than the regulatory definition of “human subject” implies. What is critical to understand here is that, in the federal regulations regarding human subjects research, research is defined very specifically as “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge” (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2005, Sect. 46.102, def. “b”). In other words, only research that is truly scientific in nature—that which is systematic and generalizable—is meant to be overseen by IRBs. Thus, a person might fit the U.S. federal definition of “human subject” in being a person from whom a researcher gains knowledge through interpersonal interaction, but if the way that the researcher gains the knowledge is not systematic and the knowledge she or he intends to gain is unlikely to be generalizable in the scientific sense, the research does not fall under the purview of the researcher’s IRB.
It is worth noting here, for purposes of illustration of what does and doesn’t count as IRB-qualified work, that I consulted with the Northwestern IRB to confirm that the interviews I have conducted for this particular project do not fall under the purview of Northwestern’s IRB. Although I have intentionally obtained data through interpersonal interaction, the interview work I have conducted for this historical project has been neither scientifically systematic nor generalizable. That is, I have not asked each subject a list of standardized questions—indeed, I typically enjoyed highly interactive conversations during interviews; I have not interviewed all of my subjects in the same way; I have negotiated with some of them to what extent I would protect their identities. This is a scholarly study, but not a systematic one in the scientific sense. Nor will the knowledge produced from this scholarly history be generalizable in the scientific sense. No one will be able to use this work to reasonably make any broad claims about transsexual women, sex researchers, or any other group.
When I put my methodology to the Northwestern IRB, the IRB agreed with me that my work on this project is not IRB-qualified (Eileen Yates to Dreger, p.e.c., July 31, 2006), i.e., that, although I have obtained data from living persons via interactions with them, what I am doing here is neither systematic nor generalizable in the scientific sense. Had the IRB disagreed with me on this point—which, knowing the regulations, they did not—I would have pointed them specifically to the 2003 clarification by the U.S. Office for Human Research Protection (OHRP) that “oral history interviewing projects in general do not involve the type of research defined by [Department of Health and Human Services] regulations and are therefore excluded from IRB oversight” (Ritchie & Shopes, 2003). The Oral History Association sought this clarification in response to what many scholars have come to call “mission creep” on the part of IRBs, i.e., the move on the part of many IRBs to claim regulatory rights to work that was never intended by the federal government to count as human subjects research (Center for Advanced Study, 2005; see also American Association of University Professors, 2006). The Oral History Association and the American Historical Association have gotten fed up enough with IRB mission creep that they recommend historians like me not even consult with their IRBs when planning to take oral histories; they advise scholars instead to simply inform their Chairs and Deans of the 2003 clarification (Ritchie & Shopes, 2003). I went against their recommendation in this case and actively sought confirmation of exception from my own IRB partly out of project-relevant curiosity as to how the Northwestern IRB views these kinds of interviews, and partly out of fear of being charged with IRB violation in retaliation for producing this history.
In terms of how this all applies to the claim that Bailey was violating IRB regulations, one could argue that the 2003 clarification of the OHRP about oral histories came after he wrote TMWWBQ—that the clarification postdates his work. That is true, but the clarification about taking and relaying individual stories was not a new ruling. It was simply a clarification that oral histories were never meant to be overseen by IRBs. Moreover, I’m not sure we can even reasonably use the term “oral histories” to describe what Bailey did with Kieltyka, Juanita, and the other people whose stories were relayed in the book—that is, I’m not sure it counted as any kind of serious scholarship (which real oral-history taking is). The information about individuals that Bailey gathered for the book from Kieltyka, Juanita, Braverman, and others he obtained haphazardly—without any developed plan of research—from their occasional presentations to his classes, from their joint social outings, and from one-on-one discussions that occurred on an irregular basis. Bailey did conduct a few fill-in-the-blank discussions with Kieltyka, Juanita, and others (Bailey to Dreger, p.e.c., August 22, 2006)—discussions during which, as I show below, they knew he was writing about them in his book, and with which they cooperated. But these fill-in-the-blank discussions can again hardly be called systematic or productive of generalizable knowledge. When I pressed him to consult or perhaps even turn over to me the notes he took from these conversations, Bailey admitted he had no organized notes that he had bothered to keep. Obviously, he never really thought of these discussions as research—systematic work meant to be productive of generalizable knowledge—any more than he ever imagined that the women who seemed eager to tell their stories and have him write about them might later charge him with abuse. Otherwise, he surely would have protected himself and his work by being significantly more organized. By comparison, for the systematic and generalizable psychological and sociological studies of transsexual women and others to which he occasionally refers in the book (e.g., Barlow, 1996), Bailey and his lab did seek and obtain IRB approval from Northwestern.
Historically speaking, the confusion over whether Bailey violated human subjects research regulations is somewhat understandable, both because many people are unfamiliar with the regulations and because of TMWWBQ’s style. In the book, the way in which Bailey refers offhandedly and irregularly to his methodology could lead some to believe that all of the information he relays therein is the result of scientific study. The total lack of citation and documentation makes it very difficult to determine to what extent Bailey’s claims are based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence. It is true that TMWWBQ’s jacket boasts that it is “based on his original research” and “grounded firmly in the scientific method.” And indeed, in some places, Bailey does refer to some of his own actual scientific research. For example, at the opening of the chapter called “In Search of Womanhood and Men,” Bailey speaks of “my own recent research [that] has focused on the homosexual type” of transsexual (Bailey, 2003, p. 177). A couple of pages later, he similarly remarks that “In our study, we found that drag queens ranked between gay men and transsexuals on a number of traits related to femininity” (pp. 179–180). But, compared to the organized (and IRB-approved) studies to which he is referring in these two sentences, one would be hard-pressed to call what Bailey did to obtain and present the stories of Kieltyka, Juanita, and the other individuals about whom he wrote “science”—or even “research” in any scholarly sense. Indeed, both Conway and McCloskey have complained about just that—that what he was doing with these women’s stories wasn’t science—and I think they are absolutely right (McCloskey & Conway, 2003).
Clearly, what Bailey did in terms of learning and relaying the stories of Kieltyka, Juanita, and other transsexual women was neither systematic nor generalizable. Never did Bailey organize a series of specific questions to ask these women, questions that might have been used, for example, to scientifically test Blanchard’s taxonomy. Never did he seek a statistically representative sample of transsexual women in deciding whose stories to tell; again, his critics have complained about just this (see, e.g., Sauer, 2003). He simply picked people who came with good stories—people such as Kieltyka and Juanita—to put human faces on Blanchard’s theory. He had no interest in scientifically investigating Blanchard’s theory; at this point, he already believed it to be true because of what he had learned from the scientific literature, from colleagues, and from his prior experiences. Using stories in this way is not science—it doesn’t even rise to the level of bad science, because it doesn’t even pretend to test or develop a theory—and I think it is clear it does not rise to the level of IRB-qualified research by the U.S. federal definition.
Although TMWWBQ occasionally seems to brag about its scientific rigor—especially on its jacket—in the text Bailey frequently acts more like a |
000 had theirs reduced. Pensions received during the prior two years were ordered paid back to the state.[26] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan strongly denied allegations that the cut in pensions resulted in the deaths of many elderly Turkmens, accusing foreign media outlets of spreading "deliberately perverted" information on the issue.[27] On March 19, 2007 Turkmenistan's new president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow reversed Niyazov's decision by restoring pensions to more than 100,000 elderly citizens.[28]
In December 2008, the new president also made changes to the national anthem, the chorus of which referenced Niyazov.[29]
Presidential pardons [ edit ]
In keeping with the predominantly Islamic nature of Turkmen society, President Niyazov granted pardons each year on the Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny) in the month of Ramadan.
For example, in 2005, 8,145 convicts were pardoned including 229 foreign nationals.[30] In 2006 Turkmenistan set free 10,056 prisoners, including 253 foreign nationals from 11 countries. Niyazov said:
"Let this humane act on the part of the state serve strengthening truly moral values of the Turkmen society. Let the entire world know that there has never been a place for evil and violence on the blessed Turkmen soil."[31]
Decrees and laws [ edit ]
Niyazov banned the use of lip syncing at public concerts in 2005 as well as sound recordings at "musical performances on state holidays, in broadcasts by Turkmen television channels, at all cultural events organized by the state... in places of mass assembly and at weddings and celebrations organised by the public," citing a negative effect on the development of musical arts incurred by the use of recorded music. [32] [33]
Niyazov banished dogs from the capital Ashgabat because of their "unappealing odour." [33]
According to the Ashgabat correspondent of Turkmenistan.ru, right-hand-drive imported cars converted to left-hand-drive were banned due to a perceived increased risk in accidents. [34]
Niyazov requested that a "palace of ice", or indoor ice skating rink, be built near the capital, so that those living in the desert country could learn to skate. The rink was built in 2008 and is located near the new Turkmen State Medical University. [35]
After having to quit smoking in 1997 due to his resultant heart surgery, he banned smoking in all public places and ordered all government employees to follow suit. [36] Chewing tobacco on Turkmen soil was later banned as well. [37]
Chewing tobacco on Turkmen soil was later banned as well. He outlawed opera, ballet and circuses in 2001 for being "decidedly unturkmen-like". [38]
In February 2004, he decreed that men should no longer wear long hair or beards. [39]
He banned news reporters and presenters from wearing make-up on television. According to some reports he felt presenters should "appear natural" on-screen, [40] although others alleged the reason was more eccentric, claiming he said he found it difficult to distinguish male anchors from female anchors. [36]
although others alleged the reason was more eccentric, claiming he said he found it difficult to distinguish male anchors from female anchors. Gold teeth were discouraged in Turkmenistan after Niyazov suggested that the populace chew on bones to strengthen their teeth and lessen the rate at which they fall out. He said: I watched young dogs when I was young. They were given bones to gnaw to strengthen their teeth. Those of you whose teeth have fallen out did not chew on bones. This is my advice... [41]
He abolished the Turkmen word for bread, for it to be replaced with Gurbansoltan, his mother's name. Likewise he gave the month of April his mother's name.[42][43]
Foreign policy [ edit ]
Niyazov promoted a policy of strict neutrality in foreign affairs, refraining from seeking membership in NATO or GUAM and almost ignoring the CSTO. Turkmenistan has not participated in any United Nations peacekeeping missions. It has however become a member of Interpol.
The full independence of Turkmenistan was recognised by a UN General Assembly resolution "The permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan" of December 12, 1995. As a result, in 2005 Turkmenistan would downgrade its links with the Commonwealth of Independent States becoming only an associate member under article 8 of the CIS charter, as such it would not participate in any of the military structures of the CIS.
In 2006 the European Commission and the international trade committee of the European Parliament voted to grant Turkmenistan "most favoured nation" trading status with the European Union, widely seen as motivated by interest in natural gas, after Niyazov announced he would enter a "human rights dialogue" with the EU.[44]
Opposition [ edit ]
On November 25, 2002, Niyazov's motorcade was fired upon at about 7 a.m. in downtown Ashgabat as he was traveling to his office from his official residence in Arshabil. Niyazov claimed that it was an attempt at a coup, and as a result, the Turkmen government arrested thousands of suspected conspirators and members of their families. Critics claim the government staged the attempt in order to crack down on mounting domestic and foreign political opposition.[45][46]
The summer of 2004 saw a leaflet campaign in the capital, Aşgabat, calling for the overthrow and trial of Niyazov. The authorities were unable to stop the campaign and the President responded by firing his Interior Minister and director of the police academy on national television.[47] He accused the minister of incompetence and declared: "I cannot say that you had any great merits or did much to combat crime."
Niyazov later announced that surveillance cameras were to be placed at all major streets and sites in Turkmenistan, an apparent precaution against future attempts.
Death [ edit ]
On the afternoon of December 21, 2006, Turkmen state television announced that President Saparmurat Niyazov had died of a sudden heart attack in the early morning hours at around 0110 at his residence at age 66.[48][49] One month prior to his death, Niyazov had publicly announced that he was taking heart medication for the past few years for an unidentified cardiac condition. The Turkmen Embassy in Moscow later confirmed this report.
Because Niyazkov named no successor prior to his death, according to the law of the Constitution of Turkmenistan, Öwezgeldi Ataýew, the Chairman of the Assembly, would assume the presidency. Deputy Prime Minister Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow was named as head of the commission organizing the state funeral. However, Ataýew was arrested on December 21, 2006 and Berdimuhamedow was subsequently named acting president. Berdimuhamedow and the Halk Maslahaty announced on December 26, 2006 that the next presidential elections would be held on February 11, 2007 to elect Niyazov's successor.[50]
The circumstances of Niyazov's death have been surrounded by some media speculation. Some Turkmen opposition sources also claim that Niyazov died several days before the officially announced date of December 21.[51]
Foreign news reports also claimed that Niyazov also suffered from diabetes, ischemic heart disease and kidney failure due to being overweight and overindulgence alcoholism.[1]
Funeral and burial [ edit ]
Niyazov was buried in his ready prepared tomb in Kipchak Mosque on December 24 at his home village of Gypjak, approximately 7 kilometres west of Ashgabat. Prior to being moved to the village, Niyazov's body lay in state in an open coffin in the presidential palace from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.[52] Many mourners, including foreign delegations, passed by the coffin in a three-hour period. Many of the ordinary citizens wept dramatically as they walked, some even clinging to the coffin and fainting.[53] A prayer took place before the burial.[52]
Funeral attendees [ edit ]
[56]
References [ edit ]
Sabol, Steven. Turkmenistan: Permanent Transition or Elusive Stability?, in China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, 2010.Image caption The findings provide more understanding of MS
Scientists have identified why a once-promising class of drugs do not help people with multiple sclerosis.
An Oxford University team say a genetic variant linked to MS means the drugs which work for patients with other autoimmune diseases will not work for them.
The team, writing in Nature, say the drugs can actually make symptoms worse.
Experts say the work shows how a person's genetic make-up could affect how they responded to treatment.
The drugs, called anti-TNFs, work for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, but they have not done so for patients with MS and researchers were unsure why.
Mimicking
The Oxford University team looked at one particular genetic variant, found in a gene called TNFRSF1A, which has previously been associated with the risk of developing MS.
The normal, long version of the protein sits on the surface of cells and binds the TNF signalling molecule, which is important for a number of processes in the body.
But the team discovered the variant caused the production of an altered, shortened version which "mops up" TNF, preventing it from triggering signals - essentially the same thing that TNF blocking drugs do.
In the future, this could help ensure that people with MS are offered drug treatments that are most likely to work for them Nick Rijke,, MS Society
This explains why a study 10 years ago found the drugs make MS patients significantly worse and exacerbate the disease, the researchers suggest.
Professor Lars Fugger of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, who led the work, said: "The hope has been that analyses of the whole human genome would lead to findings that are clinically relevant.
"We show that this is possible. It's one of the first such examples, certainly in autoimmune disease."
He added: 'Whilst the TNFRSF1A gene variant is linked to a modest risk of developing MS, the drug that mimics the effect of the variant has a considerably greater impact.
"The effects of genetic variants influencing disease risk or resistance can be amplified by drugs. This has often been completely overlooked, but will be critical for using genetic findings in a medical context."
Nick Rijke, director of policy and research at the MS Society, said: "There are many genes associated with MS, but we know little about the role they play or the influence they have on the condition.
"This important study has shown that some of your genes can play a part in deciding whether or not you respond to a treatment.
"In the future this could help ensure that people with MS are offered the drug treatments that are most likely to work for them."Dear Conservatives,
Scalia’s dead, and no matter what you do, you won’t get to pick his replacement.
Now, I understand what you’re trying to do. Run out the clock, get your guy into the White House, and then BOOM! you have your conservative majority for a long time to come. Except, that’s not going to happen. Or rather, since I’m a comedian and it’s one of my “things” to not predict shit — it’s highly unlikely you will get your cream dream, and instead you’re going to be confirming President Hillary Clinton’s nominee. Or filibustering it…I guess.
But the point is that if you guys wanted a crack at replacing Scalia, you needed to do this little thing called “win a presidential election” in nearly the last decade. You didn’t remotely do that.
“But, Jambo, turnout has at times been larger for Republicans than Democrats in primary states so far, doesn’t that mean in the General, the Dems are like, totes, super-duper hosed,” you ask me, trying way too hard to sound like a Millennial, because maybe you’re on the cusp and you have no idea if you’re Gen Y, a Millennial or what the fuck, but then again, fuck labels and who cares. Anyway, the answer to the question is pretty easy to come up with.
No.
Firstly, as has been pointed out before, the states that have held primaries so far have been have largely been part of Hillary Clinton’s so-called “firewall” of the South, and other usually predictable red states. I’m not sure why this isn’t a media narrative, but I would certainly expect there to be more Republicans turning per capita turning out in say, Mississippi than there would be in a state like New York. The margins from what I’ve seen don’t really worry me about a Republican upset in any states the Dems need to start with their massive electoral college lead they had in both 2008 and 2012, and should still have this time around.
So you have the electoral college math to worry about still, and let’s just talk about how you haven’t learned fuck-all since 2012. Your “autopsy” that you paid all that money for pretty much told you something you didn’t want to hear — your ideas are pretty terrible and unpopular among the people you will depend on to avoid becoming a proto-white nationalist dinosaur, destined for the history’s recycling bin. You rather predictably but tragically chose to ignore that message, and the price you are paying is Donald Motherfucking Trump. I hope the shit sandwich you’re eating now is worth it.
Even if you guys weren’t in serious danger of nominating a reality-TV, B-grade douchebag who may or may not be trolling you all anyway, you guys are still talking about rape as if it has varieties, like a soda pop or something. You’re toxic to a lot of the country. Maybe people could be convinced to push for a lower tax agenda still, but when you mix it with white power bullshit, right-wing nutjob theories, and evangelical bigotry you get…well, Republicans these days.
Do you really think people are suddenly going to forget all the shit Trump has said in the primaries? How about Cruz when he was trying not to piss off Trump voters and maybe pick up a few for himself? I really don’t like to predict anything, but if I were and odds maker, I really don’t think I’d be giving your chances in November very much hope.
The kicker, and this is why people are going to run from you like a silent, but oh so deadly one, is that you guys are all being such massive hypocrites right now. You claim to worship the Constitution. You have this pseudo-sexual relationship with it. But now, when one of the dudes you worship for how much he worship the most literal and strictest interpretations of it, you go, “Constitution? That’s merely a suggestion,” and you silly people think won’t punish you in November.
The cool thing for you all is that you, like so many other times, are staring a chance to pull up from the crash right in the face. Just hold a hearing and a vote for Merrick Garland. Don’t confirm if you want to; that’s your Constitutional right and duty, just like it’s Obama’s to nominate someone to fill Scalia’s bigoted butt stains on the bench. Buck up, butterfucks, and tell your congressmen or women to do the right thing, or if you’re a Republican Senator, do your job.
You’d be amazed how much Americans respect people who aren’t sanctimonious, hypocritical, empty suits. Or you know, do your thing. That’s been working a lot lately.Yao Ming's Yao Capital Becomes Latest Formula E Investor
Formula E is receiving further investment after it was revealed that Yao Capital has become the latest shareholder in the electric racing circuit. Yao Capital, which was founded by former NBA player Yao Ming and a number of other Chinese investors last January, has acquired an undisclosed stake in the FIA-sanctioned racing series. The announcement comes only days after Miami-based Motorsport Network secured a stake in the series. Yao Capital said in a statement, "Yao Capital has officially become a shareholder of Formula E. FE is a young and fast growing international electric car racing championship." The company also stated that Formula E's characteristics of sustainable racing in the heart of cities attracts a young demographic. In addition, Formula E's biggest shareholder Liberty Global and Yao Capital are co-investors in kickboxing promoter Glory Sports. Formula E, which launched on the streets of Beijing in '14, currently has no event on the Chinese mainland. However, the series kicked off its current season with the inaugural Hong Kong ePrix. The championship currently features one Chinese team, Techeetah. Formula E did not respond to a request for comment from SBD Global.CERN, or, The European Organization for Nuclear Research, is a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. It has been a source of many conspiracy theories, myths, and modern day discoveries. The not-so-known-for news about CERN? The alleged mysterious deaths connected to the project.
According to All News Pipeline:
At around 1 a.m. on Sunday, April 26th, two doctoral students at the Louisiana State University (LSU) were mysteriously found dead at the bottom of a local swimming pool. 28-year-old Ishita Maity and 25-year-old Anton Joe were with the schools physics and astronomy department with Maity studying theoretical astrophysics while Anton was a 3rd-year graduate student studying theoretical gravity.
Maity was an author of one of the journal ‘New Astronomy’s’ most popular recent papers entitled “Black hole spin dependence of general relativistic multi-transonic accretion close to the (event) horizon”; Joes’ most recent paper was called “Kantowski-Sachs spacetime in loop quantum cosmology: bounds on expansion and shear scalars and the viability of quantization prescriptions.” Over a year ago, Joe uploaded a paper to Academia.edu called ‘Search For Three-Jet Resonances in pp Collisions at s+7TeV‘, the paper was written for the European Organization For Nuclear Research, also known as CERN.
Back on March 20, 2015, Susan Duclos wrote a story in which members of the scientific community talked about CERN and the possibility of it creating black holes and parallel universes, warnings not given by ‘conspiracy theorists’ but experts, members of the same fields of study as Ishita Maity and Anton Joe, warnings that we should all be concerned about as we do all live upon the same planet. Did Maity and/or Joe discover something that they were not supposed to know which led to their mysterious deaths? Both of them were considered stunningly intelligent with brilliant minds.
These two deaths were just the most recent deaths of people who were linked to CERN following the death of another CERN team member during a recent ski trip and happens during a strange week of people drowning in pairs; two Navy SEAL’s were recently found at the bottom of a swimming pool during what was supposed to be a training exercise. SO1 Seth Cody Lewis and SO1 Brett Allen Marihugh were from ATC (Advanced Training Command) in Little Creek, Virginia.
While friends of Maity have confirmed that she knew how to swim, should we find it odd that two individuals who were known as being ‘geniuses’ and ‘brilliant’ and who deeply studied the kind of science involved in CERN would both mysteriously drown in a swimming pool soon after another CERN member is killed? Stephen Quayle has two lists of scientists, astronomers, chemists and physisists who have mysteriously died, one from 2004 to 2015 and the other from 1994 to 2003. Are Maity and Joe just the latest brilliant minds to be killed for what they knew or was this just a sad accident of accidental drowning as claimed by authorities? From Maity’s most recent study:
We introduce a novel formalism to investigate the role of the spin angular momentum of astrophysical black holes in influencing the behavior of low angular momentum general relativistic accretion. We examine the properties of infalling material for both prograde and retrograde accretion as a function of the Kerr parameter at extremely close proximity to the event horizon. Our formalism can be used to identify a new spectral signature of black hole spin, and has the potential of performing the black hole shadow imaging corresponding to the low angular momentum accretion flow.
Below we’ve included screenshots of a paper uploaded by Anton Joe for CERN. The 2nd screenshot has a strange footnote related to CERN at the bottom. There are also several recent videos about the possible dangers of CERN including the 2nd one, a documentary from FBCFilms called “CERN: Opening The Abyss” while the 1st one is a compilation of this story by All News Pipeline. For those who are interested in what the CMS Collaboration mentioned in Anton’s paper below might be, we have your answer here.:
What is CMS?
The LHC smashes groups of protons together at close to the speed of light: 40 million times per second and with seven times the energy of the most powerful accelerators built up to now. Many of these will just be glancing blows but some will be head on collisions and very energetic. When this happens some of the energy of the collision is turned into mass and previously unobserved, short-lived particles – which could give clues about how Nature behaves at a fundamental level – fly out and into the detector.
CMS is a particle detector that is designed to see a wide range of particles and phenomena produced in high-energy collisions in the LHC. Like a cylindrical onion, different layers of detectors measure the different particles, and use this key data to build up a picture of events at the heart of the collision.
Scientists then use this data to search for new phenomena that will help to answer questions such as: What is the Universe really made of and what forces act within it? And what gives everything substance? CMS will also measure the properties of previously discovered particles with unprecedented precision, and be on the lookout for completely new, unpredicted phenomena.
(Click images to enlarge)5 bicyclists killed, 4 injured after hit by vehicle near Kzoo Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) [ + - ] Video
COOPER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Five bicyclists were killed and four more were hurt Tuesday evening when they were hit by a pickup truck north of Kalamazoo.
The crash happened around 6:35 p.m. in the 5500 block of N. Westnedge Avenue south of F Avenue in Cooper Township. That's near Markin Glen Park.
Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo said it was treating two of the victims; both were in serious condition Wednesday. Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo also said it was treating two patients. One was listed in critical condition and the other in fair condition Wednesday morning.
>>Inside woodtv.com: Complete coverage of Kalamazoo cycling tragedy Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016)
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016)
Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said at a press conference about four hours after the crash that all of the victims were adults and that the survivors all sustained serious injuries. Authorities would not release any further information about any of the victims Tuesday night pending the notification of their family members.
A witness said the bicyclists appeared to be a group that often rides together in the area, but Getting wouldn't comment on that.
The group of bicyclists was struck by a blue Chevrolet pickup truck as they rode along Westnedge. Witnesses said the truck was driving erratically.
Markus Eberhard said he was leaving Markin Glen Park after fishing when someone shouted at him to watch out. He said the pickup nearly ran over his foot. He said before he could "tell the bikers to move or watch out," the pickup hit them.
"I saw a bunch of bikes hit the front of his truck and a couple of them flew," Eberhard said.
"All I heard was a pop and a really big crash noise," another witness, Arika Kruger, said.
Prosecutor Getting said the first emergency responders arrived in about two minutes. Five of the bicyclists were pronounced dead at the scene.
Kruger said she saw four ambulances leave the scene; three had lights on, one had lights and sirens running.
"We didn't see anybody walk away," she said. "I pray for these families, I really do, because this is really tragic."
In 2014, 4,884 pedestrians and 726 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). — Brian Sterling (@BriSterling) June 8, 2016
The pickup was disabled in the crash, Getting said. Kruger said it sustained heavy front-end damage.
A driver ran after the crash, but was found a short distance away and taken into police custody, Getting said. He was described only as a 50-year-old man from West Michigan Tuesday night.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved A cross was placed on N. Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township where five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck. (June 8, 2016)
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved A cross was placed on N. Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township where five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck. (June 8, 2016)
Multiple police and fire agencies remained on the scene for hours after the crash. The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office is leading the investigation while Michigan State Police are handling crash reconstruction.
In the about 30 minutes before the crash, calls came in to the City of Kalamazoo police (at 6:08 p.m.), the sheriff's department (6:13 p.m.) and Kalamazoo Township police (6:21 p.m.) with concerns about the way a man was driving a blue pickup truck, Getting said. Officers were looking for that vehicle, but had not yet spotted it and were not pursuing it at the time of the crash.
The first 911 call about the crash came in at 6:36 p.m.
Getting said he didn't expect to review the investigation into the crash until Thursday at the earliest, after which he would determine what, if any, charges were appropriate.
Below, watch Getting's press conference from Tuesday night. App users can click here to watch.
Gov. Rick Snyder released a statement Wednesday morning regarding the crash.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Kalamazoo and particularly the cyclists and their families. The State Police were called to assist in the investigation and will continue to provide all the resources they can to help determine what exactly happened last night. What we already know for certain is that Michiganders as a family are in mourning today as Kalamazoo struggles to understand another senseless tragedy."
This is the second time in less than four months that the community of Kalamazoo has dealt with tragedy.
Six people were shot and killed and two others were seriously injured in the Kalamazoo area on Feb. 20. Jason Dalton is facing 16 criminal charges in the shooting rampage.
"It's sad. We haven't healed from the first mass tragedy that we've experienced and here our city has been hit with another one. But Kalamazoo is strong and we rally together, we take care of our own," said Rachel Kaiser with the Kalamazoo Strong Organization.
The Kalamazoo Strong Organization has set up a fund for the victims of the crash and their families. You can donate at the organization's website.
19 Photos Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016)
Bicyclists killed in crash in Cooper Township - June 7, 2016 The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck by a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) The scene after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township. (June 7, 2016) One of several bouquets placed at the scene of the deadly crash Wednesday. (June 8, 2016) A cross was placed on N. Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township where five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck. (June 8, 2016) A cross was placed on N. Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township where five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck. (June 8, 2016) Police tape around Markin Glen Park in Cooper Township after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue. (June 8, 2016) The scene near Markin Glen Park in Cooper Township after five bicyclists were killed after being struck b y a pickup truck along Westnedge Avenue. (June 7, 2016) A "ghost bike" sits at the scene of where five bicyclists were killed in Cooper Tonwship. (June 8, 2016) Ghost bikes sit at the scene of where five bicyclists were killed in Cooper Township. (June 8, 2016) Meg Zapalowski delivers a ghost bike to a makeshift memorial in Cooper Township near where five bicyclists were killed when they were hit by a pickup truck. (June 8, 2016) A ghost bike at a makeshift memorial in Cooper Township where five bicyclists were killed when they were hit by a pickup truck. (June 8, 2016) A ghost bike at a makeshift memorial in Cooper Township where five bicyclists were killed when they were hit by a pickup truck. (June 8, 2016) A ghost bike at a makeshift memorial in Cooper Township where five bicyclists were killed when they were hit by a pickup truck. (June 8, 2016)
--24 Hour News 8's Heather Walker and Sarah Hurwitz contributed to this report.
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Online:
Support the Survivors of Kalamazoo Bicycle Tragedy's Facebook page
Kalamazoo Strong OrganizationBetween foreign hackers and the National Security Agency (NSA), how is an innocent Internet user supposed to browse the web free of government surveillance?
Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, has an answer: Use incognito mode in Chrome.
Except that’s wrong—completely, absolutely wrong. The casual and ill-informed suggestion, delivered from the highest levels of the company responsible for Chrome, is dangerous to anyone looking for real security advice.
Incognito mode does not protect users from surveillance. Schmidt’s statement was so blatantly incorrect that a member of the Google Chrome security team—i.e., one of Schmidt’s own employees—could only respond with a very exasperated facepalm.
@csoghoian facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm facepalm sobbing — Adrienne Porter Felt (@__apf__) December 16, 2014
Schmidt’s comments came during an interview at the Cato Institute in Washington D.C. He was asked if Google received detailed information from Chrome users that other browsers do not receive and, if it did, whether there was a danger that federal authorities would track said data.
“If you’re concerned, for whatever reason, you do not wish to be tracked by federal and state authorities, my strong recommendation is to use incognito mode, and that’s what people do,” Schmidt explained.
So what’s the problem here? Incognito mode is designed for—and serves—a completely different kind of privacy protection than the one Schmidt implied.
Repeat after me: Your web browser’s incognito mode is for porn and paywalls, not to hide from government surveillance. — Christopher Soghoian (@csoghoian) December 16, 2014
Incognito mode deletes Chrome’s browsing history and other detritus that help track users around the Web. Chrome users who deploy incognito mode can, for example, prevent other people who access their computer from seeing their search history. Importantly, this deletion of local history logs does not at all affect external entities’ access to said history. ISPs can still see the traffic going back and forth between customers’ machines and their servers.
In other words, Schmidt’s comments suggest that he has never even opened incognito mode himself. If he had, he’d have seen this warning message.
Screengrab by author
Anyone who is concerned about snooping by federal authorities—the scenario in Schmidt’s example—will not find solace in incognito mode. Using incognito mode does not prevent IP address logging or online-behavior tracking, as the warning above makes clear.
Schmidt is, at least initially, referring specifically to incognito mode’s ability in regard to Google’s own data collection rather than in regard to government surveillance. However, he does go on to vastly overstate incognito modes overall abilities when he says it will help stop government tracking.
What Schmidt should have said was something like this: Use incognito mode if you don’t want your spouse to see the porn you look at and Tor if you don’t want the government looking over your virtual shoulder.
Editor’s note: This story was updated Dec. 18 for clarity.
Illustration via Fernando Alfonso IIIFEDDZ has just won a German Design Council award for its innovative electric moped line, which made us think that we should provide an overview of the bike.
The FEDDZ, which stands for ‘Fast Electric Drive DynamicZ’, is a line of bikes that are somewhat of a cross between an electric bicycle, an electric dirtbike, and an electric moped. The frame of the FEDDZ is somewhat similar to electric dirtbikes like the Stealth H52, with a moped-style seat, beefy battery box, and strong swingarm, but it appears to use a regular mountain bike front suspension fork, whereas the Stealth H52 has gone for a more moped-style or motorcycle-style front suspension fork. The frame has the added bonus of having a built-in storage area above the battery for storing your jacket or bag, which is a nice feature considering that most mopeds aren’t set up for mounting cargo racks and/or panniers.
The FEDDZ is quite a bit heavier than most electric bikes, weighing in at 72lbs (33kg), however, that makes it an absolute lightweight compared with traditional mopeds, which weigh 120-140lbs, or other electric mopeds like the Bolt M-1, which also weighs 140lbs.
How strong is the FEDDZ in the power department? Again, it’s somewhere in between an electric bike and an electric moped, offering 2,000W of nominal/sustained power and 4,000W of peak power, which is less than the 5.5kW that the Bolt M-1 puts out, but if more than 5X more powerful than the average electric bicycle.
Another place where the FEDDZ shines is range. Since the designers didn’t have to worry as much about keeping the weight down, they were able to fit some gigantic batteries on the bike, which range from 1.6kWh to 2.1kWh and provide 60-100 miles of range depending on which battery option you select. Also, you have the choice of either a 25kph model or a 45kph model, which is quite useful if you happen to live in a place that restricts your speed to 25kph, however, we imagine that most bikes that FEDDZ sells will be of the 45kph variety, as 25kph is simply too slow to get around most cities.
What I love most about the FEDDZ is its design. Its frame is aggressive and modern, and the bike has a full suspension to soak up road bumps as well as enough power to climb any hill. Realistically, this bike could probably exceed 30MPH if it weren’t electronically limited due to regulatory considerations, however, in many places 28MPH (45KPH) is quick enough to get where you need to go with time to spare.For families of the 1,200 victims whose remains have yet to be found, the agony lingers on in a town where the 1995 genocide is never discussed
Srebrenica 20 years on: 'Every year I think this is the year I will bury my son'
Srebrenica 20 years on: 'Every year I think this is the year I will bury my son'
The field was taped off while a mechanical digger clawed at the ground, making parallel trenches in the sandy earth. Forensics specialists in black sleeveless jackets peered into the soil looking for a flash of white bone. The police leant on their patrol car, sweating in the noon heat.
Revealed: the role of the west in the runup to Srebrenica’s fall Read more
The massacres in Srebrenica were committed 20 years ago next week. Commemorations around the world will include a memorial service in Westminster Abbey on Monday, and dignitaries will gather at the |
icit” in it. At least, that’s what Romney claimed. But that is 100 percent false: Obama said debt or deficit six times in his State of the Union.
Or how about Romney claiming Obamadoesn’t have a jobs plan. Obama presented his jobs plan to Congress last September.
There is no grey area here. These are out and out lies. No candidate has ever lied about policy the way Romney is lying now.
Mother Jones’s Kevin Drum posted a widely-read blog yesterday titled, ”Times Have Changed, It’s Okay to Lie.” As he argues,
Lots of politicians are probably still reluctant to lie too brazenly because they’re still working under the old rules, where the national media might call you on it and it might actually make a difference. The smart ones have figured out that this isn’t how it works anymore.
Romney is certainly putting this hypothesis to the test.The village locals "were amused" at the time that someone would dismantle part of the chateau and ship it to the United States, said Jean-François Michel, the historian of Les Thons and a history teacher in nearby Metz, reached there by phone recently.
The Long Island house, with its steep fairy-tale rooftops and a small allée opening on the parterre (a garden divided into sections by walkways), small statues and fountains, a walled courtyard in the rear and two ivy-covered turreted towers, does make a visitor feel as if Upper Brookville were suddenly France.
To read the real estate brochures, local newspaper accounts and a romance-filled version of the house's history in the "Mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast," by Monica Randall, the writing desk would be waiting for François-Marie Arouet, more familiar as Voltaire, the 18th-century writer and philosopher.
It was in the Château des Thons, the Long Island version of the story goes, that Voltaire and his mistress, Madame du Châtelet, carried on a 16-year-long affair. The relationship ended when Mme. du Châtelet, pregnant with yet a third man's child (her husband was often away on military campaigns), died giving birth in the chateau, some accounts say.
Alas, non. The story of the Château des Thons, according to Mr. Michel, is somewhat less operatic.
Voltaire, Mr. Michel said, was "never, never, never" in the Château des Thons. The story was started by a former owner of the Upper Brookville home, Mr. Michel believes, who visited Les Petits Thons and may have confused the details of its ownership.
It's no surprise that the tale, like a game of telephone across many years and an ocean, had lost some truth between two chateaus and two Mmes. du Châtelets.
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The Château des Thons, as it stands on Long Island, was built from the stones of the original right wing of a castle in Thons once owned by Voltaire's lover's cousin by marriage, Jean du Châtelet, Mr. Michel said. The owner's wife, also a Mme. du Châtelet, lived in that wing.
Voltaire, on the other hand, lived with his Mme. du Châtelet in her husband's chateau in Cirey-sur-Blaise, also near Dijon. With the husband's surprising permission, Voltaire renovated the crumbling Château de Cirey and designed and built an additional wing. Having made some keen financial investments, according to the book "Voltaire Almighty" by Roger Pearson, professor of French at Oxford University, Voltaire had become "wealthy enough to employ his own little army of masons and carpenters to build a love nest" at the Chateau de Cirey.
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As for Mr. Barney, who had the chateau transported, local versions of the story were also off a little. He has been described as the Barney of what is now Salomon Smith Barney. In fact, in his obituary in The New York Times in 1945, he was identified as "a member of an old New York family," in charge of the Barney Estate Company, his family's holding company.
No matter for Mr. Brown, the current owner. He considered the story of Voltaire living in his Château des Thons something of a bonus, but not the reason he bought the property. The house itself is distinctive, he said, and at the time that was what he and his former wife wanted. The property is for sale through Linda Brown of Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty. Over the years, advertisers have been drawn to the chateau's classic magnificence and have used it in magazine advertisements for various products. Photos have shown flowing-haired models draped over tall horses in the parterre with the faded beige stone exterior and red-tiled roof as the backdrop.
Robin Rougeau of Lake Charles, La., discovered the house in an insurance company ad in Smithsonian Magazine. She fell in love with the house immediately.
"I just had this burning desire to see it," she said. She called the company and learned that the chateau was in Upper Brookville (no address), then traveled to Long Island with her sister and brother-in-law for a three-day stay in 1991.
Riding bicycles, they found the chateau with the help of "a young police officer who really didn't know" that he should not give out private addresses to tourists, Ms. Rougeau said.
She snapped pictures of the exterior (the Browns were not at home) and took them to a Texas architect. Today, Ms. Rougeau and her husband, Malcolm Martin, live in a replica of the Upper Brookville chateau, near Lake Charles in Louisiana.
"We went with different landscaping; but the facade that was shown in the advertisement of the side that faces a little allée in the front and has an open courtyard, that's the facade that we have," she said by telephone from inside her Southern replica.
Enthralled with the chateau's history, Mr. Martin and Ms. Rougeau visited the village of Les Petits Thons in 1998 and took a tour of the area with Mr. Michel. The current residents of what remains of the chateau in Les Petits Thons invited the couple to dinner, Ms. Rougeau said. For Ms. Rougeau, the chateau's allure loses nothing for not having been Voltaire's home. "The picture I saw in the advertisement was just captivating," she said. "I still carry that picture in my wallet to this day."If the Cold War hadn’t ended, the latest update on the number of the intercontinental missiles and bombers that the United States and Russia keep deployed against each other would have surely meant that heads would roll in Moscow.
If the Cold War hadn’t ended, the latest update on the number of the intercontinental missiles and bombers that the United States and Russia keep deployed against each other would have surely meant that heads would roll in Moscow. As it transpired from the New START Treaty total numbers, the US has nearly twice as many missiles and bombers deployed as Russia.
© Photo : Simon Saradzhyan
The Kremlin doesn’t seem to be worried about this striking disparity, which, of course, is a clear sign that post-Communist Russia’s political leaders are no longer worried about being able to destroy America as many times over as America can Russia.
Nor are Russian generals overly troubled by the possibility of a nuclear confrontation with America and its allies. Otherwise, Russia’s strategic bombers would not be up there flying with GPS navigators, as the Russian media reports.
The US leadership is, of course, even less worried about an intentional nuclear exchange with Russia. After all, the days when the two countries were so deeply locked in global rivalry and ideological competition that Ronald Reagan would joke about bombing the Soviet Union and muse that “in the Russian language there isn't even a word for freedom” are long gone.
And, yet, both sides keep nearly 1,300 launchers on duty – with a total of over 3,000 nuclear warheads assigned to them – to guarantee mutual destruction in a nuclear war.
But why do the United States and Russia continue to deter each other with nuclear weapons more than 20 years after the end of the Cold War? Why can’t the Russia-US relationship be more like the France-US relationship?
Paris and Washington may disagree bitterly on major issues, as the war in Iraq demonstrated. But neither US nor French policy-makers would consider bringing nuclear weapons into the equation during such disagreements.
Of course, any analogy is flawed. Unlike France, Russia is not a member of NATO.
But even in absence of a formal US-Russian alliance, Moscow and Washington have demonstrated that they can achieve unprecedented results on issues of vital importance, such as denuclearization of the former Soviet republics.
Yet, while jointly ridding these republics of nuclear weapons, the two countries continue to use these weapons as a deterrent – sticking to the trusted old Cold War concept of mutually assured destruction (MAD).
There is no simple answer as to why a MAD-based relationship proves so resilient over two decades after the end of the Cold War.
The answer, to an extent, lies in institutional inertia. As long-time director of Russia’s Institute for the US and Canadian Studies (ISKRAN), Sergei Rogov recently observed: “We all know how MAD was built, but we don’t know how to dismantle it.”
Rogov made that observation during a recent presentation of a joint US-Russian report that purports to chart the course from mutually assured destruction to what senior diplomats on both sides described as the state of mutually assured stability.
The report, published by senior researchers from Harvard University’s Belfer Center and ISKRAN, laments the fact that a “relationship based on the constant threat of mutual nuclear annihilation persists” even though “Russia and the United States ceased being mortal enemies … and the interests of the two countries in natural resources are also largely noncompetitive.”
It also recommends particular measures in the realm of nuclear forces, including greater transparency of forces, adjustment of nuclear doctrines and training to end the targeting of each other and reduce further the already exceedingly small probability that their arsenals might be used against one another.
These bilateral steps should be then followed by “expansion of the circle of stability” through involving other countries in the process, according to the report, which is entitled “Transcending Mutual Deterrence in the US-Russian Relationship.”
Outside the military realm, the report recommends that the United States and Russia expand their efforts to understand each other’s political perspectives and deepen intelligence cooperation.
The report’s authors – that include ex-deputy chief of staff of the Russian Defense Council Pavel Zolotarev, former-deputy head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) William Tobey and Obama’s ex-advisor Gary Samore – also urge the two countries to dramatically boost their mutual trade and economic cooperation.
I cannot stress this last point enough (if only because I helped to make it).
Trade between world’s largest and sixth largest economies remains minuscule. Russia was No. 20 on the list of the United States’ trading partners last year while the United States was No. 8 on the list of Russia’s trading partners. (If I had any qualms about cancellations of the Putin-Obama summit in September, they would be about the economic cooperation agreement that the two leaders were to sign during that meeting.)
As the report notes: “economic integration does not preclude the possibility of conflict (as World War I clearly demonstrated), but it tends to balance the considerations, and put into perspective inevitable differences that arise.”
If Russia and the United States were to transcend mutual nuclear deterrence, most of the disagreements over issues such as slashing tactical nuclear weapons or America’s ballistic missile defense plans, would simply become irrelevant.
Removing these disagreements, which stem from an underlying perceived need to continue mutual nuclear deterrence – would pave the way for the deep, sustainable cooperation that Moscow and Washington need to foster if they want to advance their shared interests on issues such as non-proliferation, preventing nuclear conflict, counter-terrorism and regional stability, and preventing failure of states.
Of course, the United States and Russia would continue to have occasional disputes, even in (a perhaps utopian) post-MAD world. But this would be only natural, given the divergence of values and views on issues such as the future of the post-Soviet neighborhood.
As General Zolotarev put it while presenting the report to a packed hall at Brookings: “It is bad when spouses argue. But it is also bad when they don’t argue at all.”
These disputes would not undermine the relationship as a whole, but it would end the frequent fluctuations in the bilateral relationship that we have observed throughout the post-Cold War period.
Simon Saradzhyan is a researcher at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. His research interests include international security, arms control,
counter-terrorism as well as political affairs in post-Soviet states and their relations with major outside powers. Prior to joining the Belfer Center in 2008 Saradzhyan had worked as deputy editor of the Moscow Times and a consultant for the United Nations and World Bank. Saradzhyan holds a graduate degree from the Harvard University.
The views expressed in this column are the author’s alone.
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View From the Global Tank: Europe Ignores Collective Security System Flaws at Own PerilThe Commonwealth child support system, which is supposed to support more than 1.2 million Australian children, has fallen victim to the latest federal government tech wreck.
A $104 million project to replace the ageing technology which supports payments of more than $3.2 billion a year is late and in disarray, with about 3000 public servants at the Child Support Agency still trying to work with technology that was declared obsolete four years ago.
A Senate inquiry will probe the government's troubled multibillion dollar spend on IT projects. Credit:Phil Carrick
The giant Department of Human Services, which runs the agency, pledged to have a new system up and running by mid-2016, but despite being given $104 million to spend on the replacement, cannot say when the job will be done or how much of the money has been spent.
Human Services, which has been plagued by a string of failed IT projects, is the department responsible for the troubled myGov web portal and has been entrusted with $1 billion to replace the main welfare payment system in a giant undertaking called WPIT.William Benjamin Bensussen, who puts out music as the Gaslamp Killer, has been accused of drugging and raping two women in 2013. A widely-circulated Twitter post details the alleged sexual assault: “I’ve been suppressing my rape for 4 years and i’m finally ready to come forward to help myself heal and to prevent it from happening to other women in the future,” it begins. “The Gaslamp Killer drugged my best friend and myself at a party at the Standard Hotel, had non-consexual sex with both of us while we were completely incapacitated, and then dumped up back in front of the standard after it happened. I was only 20 years old at the time.”
The Gaslamp Killer has been associated with Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label. His debut, 2012’s Breakthrough, was released through Brainfeeder and though his most recent album, 2016’s Instrumentalepathy, was self-released through Bensussen’s own Cuss Records, he performed at a Brainfeeder event as recently as fall 2016. Bensussen also opened for Run The Jewels on their tour earlier this year.
Here’s the allegation in full:
i've been silently suffering over this for many years. the gaslamp killer drugged and raped my best friend and myself 4 years ago pic.twitter.com/yvJM5HEJay — chelsea (@chelseaelaynne) October 13, 2017
Bensussen has responded denying the allegations. “Chelsea’s version of this story is not true,” it reads in part. “I am thankful that I have been contacted by witnesses and my roommates at the time, in support.” Here’s his statement:
The woman decided to come forward after noticing that she was blocked by Bensussen on Twitter:
i would tag him, but today i noticed he has had me blocked, which pushed me over the edge and was the clearest admission of his guilt pic.twitter.com/blNRLbXjRw — chelsea (@chelseaelaynne) October 13, 2017
And evidence has emerged that Bensussen has attempted to reach out to friends of the accuser in an attempt to have a conversation:
He can desperately plea for back up, but still no comment. Trying to enjoy the last night of his career, I guess. pic.twitter.com/dWGPcHc0PG — Eve 🍃 (@youngbajablast) October 13, 2017
As BrooklynVegan points out, New Zealand-based festival North Bass, where the Gaslamp Killer is scheduled to perform, said they were investigating the allegations:
We have been made aware of allegations made on Twitter today regarding The Gaslamp Killer, an artist currently scheduled to perform at Northern Bass this year. We have contacted the artist’s agent to discuss the allegations. It is extremely important that everyone feels safe in the Northern Bass environment and at all Fuzen events. As a company we support anyone that finds the courage to speak up about harassment and assault in any form.
The Gaslamp Killer was scheduled to play a Low End Theory showcase at Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival tonight (10/13), but the showcase has been cancelled. “This is not the appropriate time to present these artists in light of the allegations that were made last night,” the festival said in a statement.
We’ve reached out to multiple representatives for additional comment.
UPDATE: Low End Theory — the Los Angeles-based club night and scene that the Gaslamp Killer was affiliated with — have parted ways with Bensussen because of the recent allegations. “Low End Theory is deeply saddened to learn of the allegations made against William Bensussen aka the Gaslamp Killer,” they wrote in a statement. “Given the nature of the allegations made, we have made the decision to part ways with William.”
Official statement pic.twitter.com/qybnX4bdem — Low End Theory (@LOWENDTHEORY) October 13, 2017
UPDATE 2: Brainfeeder has also released a statement about the allegations against the Gaslamp Killer. “We did not have any knowledge of the alleged incidents and condemn any such actions across the board,” they write. They also note that Brainfeeder has not released Gaslamp Killer music in over five years, though he did perform at a Brainfeeder event last year.The exit of Saudi's spy chief was the result of US pressure over his stance on Syria but does not signal a shift in Riyadh's goal of toppling the Damascus regime, experts say.
Riyadh, as is usual, did not elaborate on its statement this week that Prince Bandar bin Sultan was being replaced, saying only that the veteran diplomat had asked to step down.
But a Saudi expert said that Washington -- irritated for some time by Prince Bandar's handling of the Syria dossier -- had in December demanded his removal.
Prince Bandar was leading Saudi Arabia's efforts to finance, arm and unify the Syrian rebellion, which after three years of fighting is still far from its goal of overthrowing the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
The spy chief's efforts were especially stymied by US objections to plans to supply the rebels with advanced weapons that could tip the military balance against Assad's forces, which are increasingly gaining the upper hand on the ground.
Dubbed "Bandar Bush" for his strong links with former US president George Bush and his son George w. Bush -- forged during the time he served as ambassador to Washington -- the Saudi royal has openly criticised the current US administration headed by the Democrats.
He vented his anger in front of Western diplomats when Washington stepped back after threatening a military strike following deadly chemical attacks in August outside Damascus that the West blamed on Assad forces.
One diplomat revealed that Prince Bandar had on that occasion angrily said Riyadh no longer considered the United States to be its principal ally and that it would instead be seeking support from France and other powers.
The influential powerbroker was appointed intelligence chief in 2012.
His last public assignment was a failed attempt in December to press Russian President Vladimir Putin to abandon his support for Assad.
Experts underlined Prince Bandar's encouragement to radical Islamists in Syria, which they said increased security threats already posed to the kingdom by Saudi jihadists.
"Prince Bandar's aggressive Syria approach highlighted the gap between the expectations he set and Saudi Arabia's intelligence and operational capabilities," said Emile Hokayem, senior fellow for regional security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
"Running a vast and complex effort to help bring down a foreign regime supported by Iran and Russia was simply beyond Riyadh's ability," he said.
Saudi Arabia's goal is especially difficult due to the "reluctance of its main Western partner and the conflicting agendas of other important regional players such as Turkey and Qatar," he added.
Although the Arab heavyweight has supplied the rebels with "arms and rebels," Hokayem said, it had to deal with armed groups that are "dangerous and undisciplined".
The Damascus government, on the other hand, enjoys strong support from Iran, which "could count on organised and well-trained proxies and allies," such as Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, he added.
Diplomats indicated in February that the kingdom had sidelined Prince Bandar from the Syrian dossier, assigning it to Interior Minister Prince Mohamed bin Nayef, known as the kingdom's iron fist in the fight against Al-Qaeda.
Soon afterwards Riyadh announced tougher punishment for Saudi Islamists fighting abroad, warning that they could spend 20 years behind bars.
"The ballooning number of Saudi jihadists in Syria -- with probable negative consequences for the Saudi regime -- and the setbacks suffered there contributed to a rethinking and consequently a reshuffling in Riyadh," argues Hokayem.
Saudi analysts insist however that replacing Prince Bandar does not mean a shift in the Saudi position towards the Syrian conflict.
"There is no change. Saudi Arabia wants the fall of Bashar al-Assad," stressed columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
"There is no such thing as the politics of Bandar. There is government policy as well as directives given by King Abdullah that any intelligence chief would implement," he said.
For the time being Prince Bandar's deputy, Yusef al-Idrissi, has been appointed as a caretaker but Saudi sources have said that another member of the royal family is likely to be named to the post.GTR Profile Blog Joined September 2004 47912 Posts Last Edited: 2010-10-13 08:24:37 #1 http://fomos.kr/board/board.php?mode=read&keyno=111083&db=issue
Estro to disband
Translation by konadara
eSTRO, who was under IEG (International e-Sports Group), a e-Sports centered corporation, has dissolved.
KeSPA announced on the 12th that eSTRO will officially be dissolved. Thus, the team's players will be drafted into the remaining progaming teams.
IEG did not decide to extend eSTRO's operations in August, and from the middle of September, eSTRO's members have been living in an officetel (T/N: Korean term for an "Office Hotel", a type of hostel for working adults in cities, etc) and practiced in the Yongsan e-Sports Stadium (T/N: OGN's stadium), with the help of KeSPA.
As such, the former team's players will be given a chance to be drafted into the remaining teams. However, players who fail to be drafted will be waived, or realistically have to end their careers as progamers.
The method for drafting was not announced, but it is speculated that rankings and past performances in the 09-10 season will be involved in the drafting process. A method involving bidding is also in consideration.
Regarding this issue, KeSPA stated that "the dissolvement process has not be finalised", and that "all details will be officially announced through the press."
eSTRO's players are now: Really, Classic, hyvaa, Action, Flying, Grape, and another player for a total of 8 players for the Brood War side, while the Special Force team's draft details were not announced. Special Force players are said to be continuing their practice in a house provided by Dragonfly.
Estro players to be sent to other teams via a 'Posting System'
Source:
While the idea of a draft based on a team's finish last season had been floated, a system much like an auction has been selected to decide where the ex-Estro players will end up.
KeSPA will first set a minimum contract for the Estro players, where the bidding will begin. The minimum contract for a player is the average salary of all other players who performed similarly during the 2009~2010 season. The player will be contracted to the team with the highest offer.
eSTRO, who was under IEG (International e-Sports Group), a e-Sports centered corporation, has dissolved.KeSPA announced on the 12th that eSTRO will officially be dissolved. Thus, the team's players will be drafted into the remaining progaming teams.IEG did not decide to extend eSTRO's operations in August, and from the middle of September, eSTRO's members have been living in an officetel (T/N: Korean term for an "Office Hotel", a type of hostel for working adults in cities, etc) and practiced in the Yongsan e-Sports Stadium (T/N: OGN's stadium), with the help of KeSPA.As such, the former team's players will be given a chance to be drafted into the remaining teams. However, players who fail to be drafted will be waived, or realistically have to end their careers as progamers.The method for drafting was not announced, but it is speculated that rankings and past performances in the 09-10 season will be involved in the drafting process. A method involving bidding is also in consideration.Regarding this issue, KeSPA stated that "the dissolvement process has not be finalised", and that "all details will be officially announced through the press."eSTRO's players are now: Dear and another player for a total of 8 players for the Brood War side, while the Special Force team's draft details were not announced. Special Force players are said to be continuing their practice in a house provided by Dragonfly.Source: Daily E-Sports While the idea of a draft based on a team's finish last season had been floated, a system much like an auction has been selected to decide where the ex-Estro players will end up.KeSPA will first set a minimum contract for the Estro players, where the bidding will begin. The minimum contract for a player is the average salary of all other players who performed similarly during the 2009~2010 season. The player will be contracted to the team with the highest offer. Commentator Twitter: @GTR1H
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/GTR1H
Graham Profile Blog Joined January 2010 Canada 1259 Posts #2 Here's to hoping KT can pick up mafia zerg and strengthen their zerg lineup.
Arite Profile Joined April 2010 United States 202 Posts #3 Wait, are they going first to last or last to first? Because giving an already-strong team the choice to get the best player really doesn't seem fair.
maneatingshoe Profile Joined April 2009 Canada 472 Posts #4 I wonder where really is going to end up
cronican Profile Joined February 2009 Canada 424 Posts #5 Any speculation on how losing 2 teams will affect the length of the seasons?
koreasilver Profile Blog Joined June 2008 7893 Posts #6 On October 12 2010 14:22 Arite wrote:
Wait, are they going first to last or last to first? Because giving an already-strong team the choice to get the best player really doesn't seem fair.
He explains in the second sentence that drafting will be done starting from the lowest ranking player. He explains in the second sentence that drafting will be done starting from the lowest ranking player.
ToFu. Profile Blog Joined June 2010 330 Posts #7 On October 12 2010 14:22 Arite wrote:
Wait, are they going first to last or last to first? Because giving an already-strong team the choice to get the best player really doesn't seem fair.
well from what OP says, i'd say last to first. (see below) i'm very excited to see who goes where.
well from what OP says, i'd say last to first. (see below) i'm very excited to see who goes where. On October 12 2010 14:19 GTR wrote:
Draft is to be ordered based on rankings of last year, lowest to highest (no idea how CJ-hite will be handled).
Constipation Zerg Fighting!
Anomarad Profile Joined June 2010 Canada 550 Posts #8 I hope the players can strengthen the weaker teams rather than the already top tier teams. GL to those involved.
]343[ Profile Blog Joined May 2008 United States 10304 Posts #9 oh, snap. hopefully the estro players can have a better training environment than they had before, since a bunch of them are really talented... Writer
Shana Profile Blog Joined July 2009 Indonesia 1720 Posts #10 Hope the players can find new team to play instead of switching to sc2 Believing in what lies ahead. | That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.
Antoine Profile Blog Joined May 2010 United States 7344 Posts #11 if cj-hite gets the first pick and nabs action, they'll be really really good Moderator Flash Sea Action Snow Midas | TheStC Ret Tyler MC | RIP 우정호
pred470r Profile Blog Joined April 2010 Bulgaria 3139 Posts #12 I hope KT gets some good left overs, but I don't think that's gonna happen.
GTR Profile Blog Joined September 2004 47912 Posts #13 Well, if hite get to draft first, I guess it goes all to plan for the pro-teams.
hite - Action (need a Zerg)
KHAN - Really (need a Terran)
Hwaseung - Flying (need a Protoss)
Woongjin - Classic (need a Terran)
etc etc Commentator Twitter: @GTR1H
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/GTR1H
bokchoi Profile Blog Joined March 2010 Korea (South) 7381 Posts #14 Anybody else feel like the other players won't be drafted? Outside of Action, Really, Flying, Classic, and hyvaa the team was pretty weak.
Milkis Profile Blog Joined January 2010 4969 Posts #15 Draft for the teams is to be ordered based on rankings of last year, lowest to highest (no idea how CJ-hite will be handled, as hite was 11th, CJ 5th IIRC).
"선수들의 드래프트 일정과 방법은 아직 알려지지 않은 가운데 지난 프로리그 09-10 시즌 성적의 역순으로 지명권을 부여하거나, 경쟁 입찰을 통한 방법 등이 논의되고 있는 것으로 알려졌다."
They're actually still trying to decide how they're gonna do it. what you have down is just one method considered.
"선수들의 드래프트 일정과 방법은 아직 알려지지 않은 가운데 지난 프로리그 09-10 시즌 성적의 역순으로 지명권을 부여하거나, 경쟁 입찰을 통한 방법 등이 논의되고 있는 것으로 알려졌다."They're actually still trying to decide how they're gonna do it. what you have down is just one method considered.
BlackMagister Profile Joined October 2008 United States 4653 Posts #16 This is all pretty interesting. As much as I love PL a good thing is this will reduce the amount of matches I need to follow given there are less proteams now. Hope they're all happy wherever they go.
Kiante Profile Blog Joined December 2009 Australia 6612 Posts #17 I just really hope that the estro players stay in BW and dont exodus to SC2. And if khan get really i might go back to supporting khan. In form stork + really jangbi and great could be a pretty strong lineup. And if stork can fire maybe they can make it through the playoffs.
go khan! Writer
mustaju Profile Blog Joined May 2010 Estonia 4427 Posts #18 I like the ranking based method best. A well-rounded pro-league is the best counter to predictable matches (with the exception of poor ACE). Then again, I feel sorry for the eSTRO players for splitting up.Proteams are a close knit group, if the interviews can be trusted. Writer Brows somewhat high. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndFysO2JunE
JIJIyO Profile Blog Joined January 2009 Canada 1923 Posts #19 Kinda sucks that they have to break up a family T_T God I feel so bad for eStro. Keep your heads up boys and fighting! KT_Violet
JWD Profile Blog Joined October 2007 United States 12588 Posts #20
( If I was any eSTRO player I would strongly consider either retiring or moving on to SC2 (when the alternative is being chucked on to a new BW team all by myself...). Hope those of the eSTRO gamers who do want to continue playing BW can succeed on their new teams. Tweeted.) ✌
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next AllStory highlights One person confirmed dead in storm-related vehicle accident
More than 600,000 customers are without power in the area
Connecticut warns 4 to 5 inches of snow an hour may fall in the state
Parts of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts already have 1-plus feet of snow
A monster blizzard has left at least one person dead and hundreds of thousands of New Englanders in the dark and in the cold Friday night, thanks to a storm that's already delivered whipping winds and more than a foot of snow in some parts, with prospects of even double that by the time it's done.
The storm -- actually the convergence of two powerful systems -- began in earnest Friday morning in parts of New York and is expected to continue well into Saturday in Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts and Maine.
Snow was more or less continuous for much of the region all day, with some lulls as well as times when it picked up considerably. At one point Friday night, for instance, Connecticut's emergency management agency warned on Twitter that "a wide ban of extremely heavy snow" was moving through the central and eastern parts of the Nutmeg State, dropping snow at a staggering rate of 4 to 5 inches an hour.
Smithfield, Rhode Island, had 14 inches of snow by 9 p.m. Friday, one of several towns in that state, Connecticut and Massachusetts to be buried under more than a foot of snow -- with much more, potentially, on the way.
"I couldn't believe the amount of snow that had piled up, as well as the many fallen branches," said CNN iReporter Molly Schulson in Providence, Rhode Island.
She was among the tens of millions of people stranded in the blizzard's path.
Many were prohibited by authorities from driving as a preemptive measure while other roads were closed in the thick of the bad weather, as was the case late Friday for New York's Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
Others saw their travel plans squashed when more than 5,000 flights from some 60 airports were canceled. And Amtrak nixed several of its scheduled runs, citing the weather, while commuter rail service in and out of New York and other locales were also impacted.
That helped transform several New England communities into ghost towns, as streets that typically would be choked with traffic were quiet, except for whistling winds; and empty, except for a blanket of thick, sticky snow.
CNN iReporters sent in photos and video from Boston, for instance, that showed sheets of white on the ground -- except when whipping winds made for near whiteout conditions on camera -- and little movement on the streets.
"Boston is kind of eerie at the moment," said Chris Moran, a veteran snowplow driver doing his best to keep the roads clear. "People are off the streets, and it looks like it could be 3 o'clock in the morning."
Strong winds made this storm especially biting. By Friday night, the National Weather Service reported wind gusts around 70 mph along the Massachusetts coast and through greater Boston, including a 74-mph gust in Buzzards Bay on Cape Cod.
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"The wind is just pounding," CNN iReporter Jordana Fleischut said from Nantucket, off Massachusetts' southern coast. "It's currently |
of its bookings in the city.
The website has raised the ire of traditional hotel chains who see it as a rival that flouts tax laws.
The Paris town hall said the privatisation of the Catacombs would “boost capital by finding new sources of revenue [and allow for] the preservation of this heritage site”.In Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, the fall of the rouble has not gone unnoticed.
The Russian currency has conspicuously crashed, driven in part by falling oil prices that help drive the Russian economy and economic sanctions from the US and Europe.
Life in Russia has become more difficult, in particular for the most vulnerable, such as pensioners on fixed incomes. Ordinary Russians have flooded shops looking to buy durable goods with little deprecation in value as they try to find any way to preserve their hard-earned salaries and savings.
After waves of immigration in the 1970s and 1980s, along with smaller moves in the 1990s and later, the US – and in particular New York City – has a sizable Russian expatriate community. The different immigration waves had different identities: refugees from the Soviet Union; emigres after the fall of communism; more recently, children of oligarchs. The barrage of information on the Russian economy is top of mind for many, especially in traditional ex-pat enclaves such as New York City’s Brighton Beach.
Galina said she did “care about falling rouble and overall situation in Russia,” just as she cares about “the image of Russia in the international arena.”
She added: “And I think in general, Russians here [in the US] care about the situation there; that is why you saw protests outside the Russian consulate for fair voting in Russia, people still go and vote (those who have a right). Many of us have relatives and friends [there], and some own apartments that are pretty much falling in price as we see the rouble crumble.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where immigrants from Russia and the former Soviet republics discuss the fall of the rouble. Photograph: David Lefranc/Kipa/Corbis
Marina and Oleg are a married couple. Marina, in her 50s, came to the US two years ago and still has many ties to Russia. Her husband, who is in his 60s, immigrated to the US more than 25 years ago and long ago established a new life here.
Marina’s grown children are in Russia, along with family, friends and an apartment she left behind when she moved. Marina believes in Putin, calling him her “boss,” and noting that she is often left defending Russia’s president to all her friends here.
While Marina frets about the situation, Oleg takes a more stoic view. “I have no one and nothing left in Russia, so I have nothing to worry about”, he says, adding that he sees the situation “objectively, not like a resident of the country but like any outside observer, the same way I would look at a place like China”.
Oleg says he no longer discusses politics with his wife.
“It is a difficult situation”, Marina tells me. “But the price of food is still fine; in fact a loaf of Russian bread costs more here than it does in Russia. It is the luxury goods that no one can buy now – the European shoes – but you can still live, [and] buy food.”
Unfortunately, airline tickets fall into the luxury category. “My children were going to visit for Christmas, but airline tickets have to be bought in dollars or euros, so they can’t visit now”, Marina says.
Despite the potential hardships ahead for those that are near and dear, Marina is an optimist: “this is the fourth crisis in my lifetime,” she says with a half-laugh, half-sigh. “It will get better at some point.”
Runs on the banks have taken their toll. A relative of this reporter who years ago immigrated to Canada still owns an apartment in St Petersburg. As the rouble started its decline, this relative felt it was time to finally sell the place, which represented her last financial tie to the country.
But when she started to make inquiries, she was informed that even if she managed to sell it, the banks did not have the ability to exchange a large sum of roubles into dollars.
Too many people had gone straight to the bank with their savings to try to save what they had before the value of the rouble fell further. She can sell the apartment, but she would be left holding a lot of fast-falling roubles.
A friend of hers who moved to Bulgaria was already in that exact situation. Having sold her apartment in Russia recently, the newly minted Bulgarian now tries to exchange the roubles into euros each day. The amount she can exchange daily is capped, and each day she goes to the bank, the money in her hands grows ever smaller.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The more prosperous Russia of recent years is shifting with the fall of the rouble; Russian immigrants to the US have noticed the difference. Photograph: Yuri Kochetkov/EPA
Immigrants fear speaking out
I was also born in Russia, though I was raised in the US. When I set out for Brighton Beach to speak to regular people about their views, my mother offered to accompany me. Considering she has not chaperoned me since I was about 14, I was a little surprised by the offer. But she was concerned about potential anger and political vitriol that my questions might elicit, and with her fluent Russian and better cultural understanding, she felt she could better help me navigate. Much has been made of the cult of personality that exists around Vladimir Putin, and the incredible grip on power he holds. But I had not expected how far his – and the phantom Soviet reach – still held. Attempting to speak with people, what amazed me was the fear that remains in immigrants that some political retribution will befall their relatives in Russia if they speak about the turmoil in the economy with a newspaper. After reassuring one woman in her 50s who has lived in the US for 15 years that her last name would not be used – so there was no way to identify her – she still refused to speak on the grounds that her mother still lived in Russia and could be put in danger.
When I tried to get a few points of view at a local bookstore in Brighton Beach, the staff panicked and shut down completely when I said I was a reporter.
At first, one woman at the bookstore said she did not understand my question, so I translated it into Russian – at which point she admitted, in Russian, that she understood everything I had said, and her eyes wide, muttered that she needed to go and ran from me.
A third woman, who has lived in the US for more than 30 years and has never been back to Russia since leaving in the late 1970s, said she could not talk even if no name was used at all, because she believed the Russian government could somehow still find out she had spoken to a newspaper.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Russian soldiers wearing Second World War-era Red Army uniforms take part in a military parade general rehearsal in Moscow. Russia’s economy reaches deep into the US immigrant enclave of Brighton Beach. Photograph: Kirll KudryAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
That my question was about the recent fall of the rouble made little difference; this a part of New York has a deeply ingrained fear of denouncing the Russian government.
While the people living now in Russia had gotten used to occasionally hearing dissidents on non-state TV programs, to reading views against the government in some independent press, to seeing some demonstrations against the government on the streets, those living in the US for years still held fast to the Soviet views. They feared the retribution of past regimes, the secret police and most of all, the press, which for years was closely connected to the Russian government.
Clearly, the only people I was going to be able to speak to had to be young enough not to have lived through the worst of the Soviet Union or had to have left Russia at a time when the grip on free speech had been loosened a little.
Turning to online parenting groups for Russians with young children and connecting through friends of friends of friends, responses finally began to trickle in. They varied from concern and worry for those left behind to total disregard about the issue.
Veronica says she is “paying attention” but “disconnected from that region mentally and emotionally.” Oleg H summed it up best, saying that people who had moved to the US long ago were “disconnected” from Russia: “For those of us who left the communist state, Russia is no more important than France, or Germany or South Africa.”
Another Oleg put it succinctly when he said: “I care about falling Russian rouble no more than Japanese yen or Turkish lira”. Meanwhile, Inga joked that maybe it is “time for another Russian revolution”.
Felix, similarly, said he could not “give a shit about the currency or current financial situation”, adding that “Putin is a smug, arrogant SOB; Russia is no longer so powerful when oil is at $55 [a barrel]”.
Ksenia said: “Of course I care. The falling rouble affects the middle class and poor people the most. Those who were not able to afford a lot will be the most affected now. Frankly, my heart aches for all the Russian people who fell victims of the political games”.
Vladislav worried that “the brunt of the hardship will fall on regular people. I have no concerns about the fall of the currency; it actually benefits me, as my dollar can now buy more.
“I really feel bad for the people. The single mom, who is struggling to make ends meet. The families with many children, who were just getting by. The elderly, whose pensions just got tinier. Unfortunately, it will not change much. Just like in 1999, when Putin’s scapegoat was the Chechen people, he will find scapegoats again”.Cakes line a display case at a bakery in Paris. - Christopher Werth
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This Sunday marks Bastille Day, the symbolic start of the French Revolution in 1789. Think of it like France’s version of the 4th of July, complete with fireworks and parties.
The French Revolution -- and much of the France we know today -- was born at a time of economic crisis and famine. The French national anthem was penned just before the execution of the Queen, Marie Antoinette, who legend has it said of the hungry peasants, “Let them eat cake.”
Today, how much cake can the French afford as they weather the euro zone debt crisis and the country’s second recession in four years?
Helene Person knows something about cake. She sells it at a Parisian bakery filled with brightly lit trays of colorful tarts and éclaires.
“The French economy is not so good,” she says, but that doesn’t mean the French people are buying less flan and tarte tatin.
“Really, I don’t see the difference,” says Person with a laugh. “People like eating. Everything is okay.” Her laugh suggests that, despite its economic woes, you won’t find the same despair in France as many other euro zone countries.
“People are not panicking,” says Dominique Barbet, a senior economist with the French bank, BNP Paribas. “It’s definitely not like in Italy or Spain, [where] you have terrible recessions. People in France know that."
Instead, Barbet says, people worry that the old French model of generous social welfare spending is over. The French government spends more than any other developed country on things like healthcare, pensions and childcare -- programs that are very popular among the French people.
“The problem is that it has become too expensive,” says Barbet, “and we can’t finance it anymore.”
The bigger concern is that unemployment in France is at 11 percent.
“It’s so difficult to find a job,” says Medhi Moujane, an unemployed 29-year old outside an unemployment office in Paris that would have been right in the shadow of the Bastille prison walls that were stormed over two centuries ago. Moujane says the jobs that are available are short term and low pay, but he does have an upbeat message for those lucky enough to have work.
“Maybe you’re pay is not high, but you have a job, so be happy,” says Moujane.
Call it blind optimism or wishful thinking, but it all brings to mind another song from the French Revolution. Two hundred years ago revolutionary soldiers sang “Ça Ira”, which literally translates to, “It'll be fine.”
“Good times will come,” the lyrics go. “The French always shall win.”Continuation of: Grasping Slippery Things
Followup to: Possibility and Could-ness, Three Fallacies of Teleology
When I try to hit a reduction problem, what usually happens is that I "bounce" - that's what I call it. There's an almost tangible feel to the failure, once you abstract and generalize and recognize it. Looking back, it seems that I managed to say most of what I had in mind for today's post, in "Grasping Slippery Things". The "bounce" is when you try to analyze a word like could, or a notion like possibility, and end up saying, "The set of realizable worlds [A'] that follows from an initial starting world A operated on by a set of physical laws f." Where realizable contains the full mystery of "possible" - but you've made it into a basic symbol, and added some other symbols: the illusion of formality.
There are a number of reasons why I feel that modern philosophy, even analytic philosophy, has gone astray - so far astray that I simply can't make use of their years and years of dedicated work, even when they would seem to be asking questions closely akin to mine.
The proliferation of modal logics in philosophy is a good illustration of one major reason: Modern philosophy doesn't enforce reductionism, or even strive for it.
Most philosophers, as one would expect from Sturgeon's Law, are not very good. Which means that they're not even close to the level of competence it takes to analyze mentalistic black boxes into cognitive algorithms. Reductionism is, in modern times, an unusual talent. Insights on the order of Pearl et. al.'s reduction of causality or Julian Barbour's reduction of time are rare.
So what these philosophers do instead, is "bounce" off the problem into a new modal logic: A logic with symbols that embody the mysterious, opaque, unopened black box. A logic with primitives like "possible" or "necessary", to mark the places where the philosopher's brain makes an internal function call to cognitive algorithms as yet unknown.
And then they publish it and say, "Look at how precisely I have defined my language!"
In the Wittgensteinian era, philosophy has been about language - about trying to give precise meaning to terms.
The kind of work that I try to do is not about language. It is about reducing mentalistic models to purely causal models, about opening up black boxes to find complicated algorithms inside, about dissolving mysteries - in a word, about cognitive science.
That's what I think post-Wittgensteinian philosophy should be about - cognitive science.
But this kind of reductionism is hard work. Ideally, you're looking for insights on the order of Julian Barbour's Machianism, to reduce time to non-time; insights on the order of Judea Pearl's conditional independence, to give a mathematical structure to causality that isn't just finding a new way to say "because"; insights on the order of Bayesianism, to show that there is a unique structure to uncertainty expressed quantitatively.
Just to make it clear that I'm not claiming a magical and unique ability, I would name Gary Drescher's Good and Real as an example of a philosophical work that is commensurate with the kind of thinking I have to try to do. Gary Drescher is an AI researcher turned philosopher, which may explain why he understands the art of asking, not What does this term mean?, but What cognitive algorithm, as seen from the inside, would generate this apparent mystery?
(I paused while reading the first chapter of G&R. It was immediately apparent that Drescher was thinking along lines so close to myself, that I wanted to write up my own independent component before looking at his - I didn't want his way of phrasing things to take over my writing. Now that I'm done with zombies and metaethics, G&R is next up on my reading list.)
Consider the popular philosophical notion of "possible worlds". Have you ever seen a possible world? Is an electron either "possible" or "necessary"?Clearly, if you are talking about "possibility" and "necessity", you are talking about things that are not commensurate with electrons - which means that you're still dealing with a world as seen from the inner surface of a cognitive algorithm, a world of surface levers with all the underlying machinery hidden.
I have to make an AI out of electrons, in this one actual world. I can't make the AI out of possibility-stuff, because I can't order a possible transistor. If the AI ever thinks about possibility, it's not going to be because the AI noticed a possible world in its closet. It's going to be because the non-ontologically-fundamental construct of "possibility" turns out to play a useful role in modeling and manipulating the one real world, a world that does not contain any fundamentally possible things. Which is to say that algorithms which make use of a "possibility" label, applied at certain points, will turn out to capture an exploitable regularity of the one real world. This is the kind of knowledge that Judea Pearl writes about. This is the kind of knowledge that AI researchers need. It is not the kind of knowledge that modern philosophy holds itself to the standard of having generated, before a philosopher gets credit for having written a paper.
Philosophers keep telling me that I should look at philosophy. I have, every now and then. But the main reason I look at philosophy is when I find it desirable to explain things to philosophers. The work that has been done - the products of these decades of modern debate - is, by and large, just not commensurate with the kind of analysis AI needs. I feel a bit awful about saying this, because it feels like I'm telling philosophers that their life's work has been a waste of time - not that professional philosophers would be likely to regard me as an authority on whose life has been a waste of time. But if there's any centralized repository of reductionist-grade naturalistic cognitive philosophy, I've never heard mention of it.
And: Philosophy is just not oriented to the outlook of someone who needs to resolve the issue, implement the corresponding solution, and then find out - possibly fatally - whether they got it right or wrong. Philosophy doesn't resolve things, it compiles positions and arguments. And if the debate about zombies is still considered open, then I'm sorry, but as Jeffreyssai says: Too slow! It would be one matter if I could just look up the standard answer and find that, lo and behold, it is correct. But philosophy, which hasn't come to conclusions and moved on from cognitive reductions that I regard as relatively simple, doesn't seem very likely to build complex correct structures of conclusions.
Sorry - but philosophy, even the better grade of modern analytic philosophy, doesn't seem to end up commensurate with what I need, except by accident or by extraordinary competence. Parfit comes to mind; and I haven't read much Dennett, but Dennett does seem to be trying to do the same sort of thing that I try to do; and of course there's Gary Drescher. If there was a repository of philosophical work along those lines - not concerned with defending basic ideas like anti-zombieism, but with accepting those basic ideas and moving on to challenge more difficult quests of naturalism and cognitive reductionism - then that, I might well be interested in reading. But I don't know who, besides a few heroes, would be able to compile such a repository - who else would see a modal logic as an obvious bounce-off-the-mystery.The city of Pacifica is serious about your safety.
The recent Napa earthquake was a stark reminder of the need for Pacificans to remain prepared at all times. Acting Police Chief Joe Spanheimer of the Pacifica Police Department engages the citizens of Pacifica on a regular basis, and signs have emerged that perhaps people in this community may not be as prepared as they need to be. The city of Pacifica’s Emergency Preparedness and Safety Commission is spearheading a campaign to educate residents, and to keep the community safe.
“There is a need for a more proactive approach. People need to remember the basics. You need to educate yourself, know your neighborhood, and always be prepared for up to 72 hours. When dealing with disasters and emergencies, it can take up to 72 hours in order to receive assistance from one of the local agencies,” Spanheimer said.
Spanheimer is a city staff representative on the Emergency Preparedness and Safety Commission. When and if there is an emergency or disaster in Pacifica, he would assist in coordinating with local police, fire, and public works. The Parks, Beaches and Recreation Department would be cooperating with the Red Cross and San Mateo County Human Services should shelters need to be established.
“Pacifica has a wealth of programs related to disaster response; however, we need to improve the knowledge level of the community as well,” said Spanheimer.
Spanheimer is deeply involved with planning for major components of the response system currently in place. This would include resources such as CERT, SMC Alert, and “Map Your Neighborhood,” which are geared toward educating people about disaster preparedness and emergency response.
“These programs not only work toward preparing us for disasters. They are also the engine which drives our effort to keep the public informed, educated, and involved.”
Spanheimer highlights the CERT and the “Map Your Neighborhood” programs in particular. Each of these programs calls for everyday citizens to become directly involved with the city’s emergency response plan.
“These programs allow for us to train and certify people who possess special skills which would prove to be extremely helpful in the event of a disaster. The CERT program trains people in the areas of fire safety, medical operations, light search and rescue, disaster psychology, disaster preparedness, and terrorism response. The “Map Your Neighborhood” program takes this effort a step further by allowing citizens to create a foundation for working with one another effectively in order to combat a situation.”
The unique characteristic of the programs available in Pacifica is the way in which they call upon the citizenry to become an essential piece of the response plan.
“The neighbors get to know one another and learn to trust each other. They learn about what each person can offer during a situation and also who in the community might be in need of extra assistance. The fact is that the public can be our greatest resource.”
SMC Alert or San Mateo County Alert is an additional, valuable resource for Pacifica residents. Alerts can be sent to a smartphone, notifying individuals of hazards, road closures, and other important information for the area.
The City of Pacifica’s Emergency Preparedness and Safety Commission website provides links to information for all of these available programs and resources. The web address for this sight is www.cityofpacifica.org/government/committees/emergency_preparedness_n_safety_commission/default.asp. A visit to the Pacifica Police Department would also provide access to any and all information.
“If we learn to work together and to become better informed, we will be able to take on the potential challenges of a possible emergency.”
Thanks to the efforts of the city of Pacifica and its Emergency Preparedness and Safety Commission, Pacifica is clearly on the right path toward accomplishing this community goal.The Highlanders struggled to subdue a spirited NZ Barbarians side at Invercargill's Rugby Park tonight.
After leading 26-19 at halftime, the Highlanders were able to take the friendly game 40-19 in the end.
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph had talked pre-game about this match being a trial for those wanting starting spots for the final three weeks of the Super Rugby round-robin.
And what the 1500-strong crowd - pretty good considering the Southland Sharks were playing their final home game of the National Basketball League season across town - got was a typical trial game.
Joseph said his side struggled without some of the experienced combinations who have served the team well this season.
''I don't think we were clinical enough in that game, not as much as we wanted to. You get a bunch of red guys out there really ripping into us and they played very well.''
Joseph was pleased with Brayden Mitchell's performance, and the pressure which was put on his players in a game which he deemed really valuable to the Highlanders' buildup to their push for the Super Rugby playoffs.
Blindside flanker Lee Allan scored two first half tries for the Highlanders, and was held up over the line going for his hat-trick, but former All Black Rico Gear - nowadays living in Gisborne - replied with two of his own as the Barbarians enjoyed long periods of possession.
Playing for the Barbarians, Highlanders blindside Gareth Evans made the most of his chance to impress with some hard charging runs and equally hard defence.
John Hardie was a second half casualty, hobbling off holding the same right knee which had seem him miss a significant part of the Super Rugby season. It was a tough blow for Hardie, who was just about to be replaced when injured.
The Highlanders' hopes of putting a fluent performance together in the second half took a blow when Joe Wheeler was sinbinned for slowing the ball down.
In a game where it wasn't easy to stand out, Stags lock Michael Fatialofa was prominent with ball in hand, while Gear still looked a class act and Highlanders second rower Tom Franklin showed some nice athleticism.
The Barbarians finished the game with 14 players after Willis Halaholo was punished for David Hall's persistent infringing under the posts.
Scott Eade got a run early in the second half after Highlanders halfback Frae Wilson limped off and was tidy at the base of the scrum and ruck.
The Highlanders only made the game safe with six minutes to go when Jayden Spence crossed out wide and then Shaun Treeby picked up a loose pass and ran 40m for a more flattering final scoreline.
In the Highlanders' first XV game played as the curtain-raiser, Menzies College beat St Peters College 19-8 in an Eastern Southland derby.After the death of Jerry Garcia and the rise of Phish and Widespread Panic, the next generation of jambands emerged. Though firmly rooted in the Grateful Dead’s commitment to improvisation, many of these groups looked past American roots music to such sources as jazz, funk and even hard rock. While musically worlds apart from the early electronic movement that was simultaneously blossoming, the two scenes had a number of similarities. Both audiences liked to dabble in drugs like acid and ecstasy and dance for hours on end.
A few enterprising young jambands saw the crossover appeal and began to incorporate electronic sounds and beats into their live, improvisational-based jam-rock. Enter the Disco Biscuits from Philadelphia, Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) from Atlanta, Lake Trout from Baltimore and The New Deal from Toronto. And a scene and a genre were born.
Marc Brownstein (Disco Biscuits/Conspirator): We all rallied around the whole Grateful Dead and Phish scene when we got to college. But at the same time, we discovered Hallucinogen and ultimately Shpongle and the whole Twisted Record scene through a friend at Penn. We also discovered The Orb, and all that other stuff that was the first wave of rave that had come out in the early to mid-‘90s.
Mike Greenfield (Lotus): In 1998, I caught Jojo Mayer’s weekly residency in New York City. Although Jojo came from the jazz world as opposed to the jam scene, he was the first person I saw that combined improvisational music with electronica. The first band I saw specifically from the jam scene that merged the two idioms was the Disco Biscuits. I have found that instrumentalists like Jojo generally shy away from group rehearsals and composition. The New Deal also came from this instrumentalist school of thought and proudly proclaimed that they never rehearsed or wrote a song offstage. The Biscuits wrote multifaceted compositions that weren’t entirely electronic in nature but used the jam sections to explore electronic genres. They focused more on the summation of music produced by the band as a cohesive unit. The big three are the Disco Biscuits, STS9 and The New Deal. Most jamtronica bands today usually derive their musical concepts from one—or a combination—of these bands.
Jeffree Lerner (STS9): I was Leftover Salmon’s monitor engineer and stage tech for a while and played with Jeff Sipe every time I could. It’s part of our evolution. But we have always been interested in electronic music—DJ Logic and Brian Eno. As the technology became more familiar to us, we were able to incorporate that into our set.
Alex Botwin (Paper Diamond): My dad used to take me to Phish shows when I was super, super young, so I came from a background of seeing live instrumentation—whether it was jazz, jambands or punk bands. The first time I saw computers and bands integrated was Sound Tribe or the Disco Biscuits. After a while, I was going to a lot of their shows, though there weren’t too many of us going on tour with Sound Tribe at that time.
Jamie Shields (The New Deal): My background was a healthy combination of jazz and jambands. I saw about 35 Phish shows between 1991 and 1993, and played in a seven-piece jazz/funk band [One Step Beyond] that opened for a bunch of bands at Wetlands [in New York] as early as 1995.
Tom Hamilton (Brothers Past): The first time I became aware of electronic music coming into live rock ‘n’ roll was a song called “Parsec” by Stereolab—it was produced by John McEntire, the drummer for Tortoise. There were these great elements—very groovy elements. At the time I was into Phish and the Grateful Dead, but, as a kid, I always was into the idea of “the song.” Stereolab brought those two things together. [Brothers Past keyboardist] Tom McKee played me the Disco Biscuits’ Uncivilized Area for the first time.
Dominic Lalli (Big Gigantic): I was into the jam scene and living in New York before Colorado. My friends were in the Bomb Squad with Jen Durkin. But then I got into Bjork, which got me into electronic stuff. I was playing a lot of funk and listening to a lot of Radiohead. That was my first bit of everything coming together. I loved it all. I was like, “Aww, what is all this new shit?” When I first joined The Motet, we played Harmonic Convergence. One of those guys pointed out Sound Tribe. That was the first time I saw [electronic music] enter the whole jam world.
Marc Brownstein: We stumbled on jamtronica in 1997. We started to toy around with the beat in our jams. We were playing songs like “Shem Ra Boo” and “Run Like Hell” and the beat was the first thing that went over. In the mid ‘90s, we were listening to a lot of house music and trance music. Our drummer, Sam Altman spontaneously decided to take those DJ influences and bring them into our jams. My earliest memory of it was at Penn State University. We were playing a fraternity party. We were playing a “Run Like Hell” jam and I remember thinking to myself: “This is it. This is new!”
Steve Molitz (Particle): We were all listening to a lot of early house and breakbeat at the time, so those styles just naturally worked their way into our music. I was also playing a lot of vintage analog synths during our early songwriting period, so those electronic textures were a big part of our sound right from the start. I’ve always been a huge hip-hop/breakbeat lover, and I played in various live bands that had DJs. If I had to pinpoint a time when DJs and live bands really merged in the jam scene, I’d probably have to point to DJ Logic’s breakthrough work with MMW on their album Combustication and their subsequent tours together. I’d also have to tip my hat to Cut Chemist’s mind-blowing work during the early days of Ozomatli.
Aron Magner (Disco Biscuits/Conspirator): It probably wasn’t until 1998 that we started hearing these whispers of this band out of Atlanta called Sector 9 that were kind of doing something similar to us, and then maybe a year or two after that, we started hearing whispers of this band called The New Deal based out of Toronto that were really doing incredible house music.
Jamie Shields: We were just so tired of playing “regular” band music, as it were, that we just decided to play some stuff that we hoped would make people dance, and in order to keep us interested, we pretty much left the arena wide open for us to take it wherever we wanted it to go.
When Phish went on hiatus in 2000, there was a void in the live music scene and there wasn’t a single band who came along to carry the torch. Instead, the flame was spread out, with jambands ranging from The String Cheese Incident to moe. all seeing spikes in their concert attendance. During the next few years, jamband-based festivals solidified as a national movement consisting of the next wave of live jambands. But there was still little distinction among fans that strayed more toward the electronic, bluegrass, funk, jazz or rock corners of the jam scene. Steve Molitz: When Particle formed in 2000, there wasn’t really a huge LA jam scene. There were plenty of great bands and plenty of jam lovers, but they hadn’t all come together to form a unified scene like they did in places like New York or Colorado at that time.
Michael Travis (EOTO/The String Cheese Incident): Berkfest ‘00 was the first really big “aha” moment. I saw The New Deal, and I was just stunned. They were the ones who really opened my mind. At the same period, I began to see Sector 9 and then, it all came into focus. [STS9 drummer] Zach Velmer was very fundamental and a revelatory drummer for me.
Steve Molitz: As the livetronica scene really blossomed nationally, I first discovered bands like STS9, The New Deal and the Disco Biscuits. Keep in mind that this was before YouTube and Facebook, so unless you had a friend from another city who sent you a tape of a new band, you often only got exposed to the bands that were touring heavily in the region where you lived.
Jamie Shields: In the early days, we’d go out with DJ Spooky, DJ Logic, Mad Professor, Mocean Worker, Dimitri From Paris and countless others. As time went on, the festivals noticed that they could save themselves a hell of a lot of production costs if they just hired the bigger-name DJs, and it would sound better, to boot, if they eliminated having to mic a million instruments, set monitors, etc. At first, it was probably a 50-50 mix but as time went on, the number of live bands on the bill decreased—except for the headliners—and the number of DJs increased, if only for economic purposes.
Mike Greenfield: I had a couple of live drum ‘n’ bass groups that I played with in early ‘99 but the first band that took off was The Ally [which also featured future members of Yeasayer]. We played from 1999-2003. I have been a part of so many projects in my life, but there was something so incredible about being in that band. Philly was an electrifying place to be during those years. It was home to the Disco Biscuits, Brothers Past, Lotus and The Ally and we frequently would form impromptu groups using different members from these bands.
Tom Hamilton: The first thing I saw when I was “in the scene” was Lake Trout. I went to Wetlands to see Lake Trout and The New Deal to flier for our first show there. They blew my mind. Somebody recently gave me a Lake Trout CD, and it’s still fucking amazing. It has these unrelenting, punishing things—Mike Lowry, with those dreads and green eyes piercing out from behind them, looking all kinds of pissed off.
Mike Greenfield: I loved watching Mike Lowry drum. He was very phrase-oriented, and sometimes he would play the exact same pattern without deviation for several minutes. Then, when he finally added one different variation of that phrase, it became the most powerful fill imaginable.
Mike Lowry (Lake Trout): We never really felt [like] a part of that scene. We were kind of just taking gigs when we were offered them—we weren’t going after that scene aggressively. At the time, the scope of what was being offered to us was very limited, hence the jamband affiliation. I guess our name doesn’t really help either.
Steve Molitz: Our approach to jamming was really just a new take on the very old idea of using meditative music to lose your- self in the moment. For instance, we have a song called “Ed + Molly” that has a very tribal, driving, psychedelic feel to it, and it usually clocks in over 20 minutes live.
Tom Hamilton: One of the funnier things The New Deal did that’s still around is that [keyboardist] Jamie Shields had hand signals that he would give throughout the show. The New Deal’s shows were completely improvised.
Steve Molitz: When we played that epic six-hour set at the first Bonnaroo, there weren’t many “late night sets” officially booked at the festival. We just set up a generator and a PA on the grass in the middle of the fest, and jammed until the sun came up. The livetronica scene was still very young, and I think those late nights and after shows in the early 2000s were a major impetus that helped accelerate the growth of the scene as a whole.
Mike Lowry: It was a time of intense touring and I remember thinking that we weren’t going to get anything done if we were always out on the road. After that period, we were all like, “OK, we aren’t going to tour unless we put a record out.” That led us to write more, and we all went and got |
sued using the same patent. Over time, each ultimately settled, except Newegg. It went to court and it argued that its shopping cart did not infringe on the patent of Soverain — which has itself never made a sale. In the end, a jury determined that Newegg needed pay only $2.5 million in damages.
It might have left things well enough alone at that point. Instead, Newegg famously appealed that decision, and not only did it win — the award was vacated — but using prior art, which is evidence that an invention was already known to the public before a patent was awarded, Newegg convinced a three-judge panel to invalidate Soverain’s shopping cart patent claims, preventing Soverain from using them against potentially dozens of other e-tailers.
Rabbit at rest
Sitting in a Cloudflare conference room on a bright Friday afternoon recently, Prince seems to relish the battle that Blackbird has brought to Cloudflare. He admits readily that publicly taking on this “dangerous new breed of patent troll” — a fight that Cloudflare has blogged about extensively — is good for business. It’s also good for recruiting talent into the company, which has 250 employees at its headquarters and runs smaller offices in Boston and Champaign, Illinois, among other spots.
Prince also seems legitimately offended, horrified, even, by the small but growing number of Blackbirds in the world — meaning firms launched by attorneys who’ve been on the other side of the table, were presumably well paid by their prestigious firms, yet who left to pursue what can apparently be even more lucrative work, chasing after their old clients.
Soverain, for example, was also co-founded by an attorney, Katherine Wolanyk, formerly of Latham & Watkins. Several years ago, two other top patent-defense litigators, John Desmarais and Matt Powers, also left their respective law firms, Kirkland & Ellis and Weil Gotshal & Manges, to become what some critics have called patent trolls.
The trend represents a dangerous new twist in the patent wars. Because firms like Blackbird and their ilk can operate more cost-effectively than patent trolls that must pay for outside legal help — they need only invest their time in researching which patents to buy from brokers who deal in such things, then pay the roughly $1,000 it costs to file a lawsuit — they can do more damage.
It’s for this reason that Prince sees Cloudflare’s primary mission as figuring out how to increase Blackbird’s costs. Explains Prince, “We thought, if it’s asymmetric,” because it’s so much cheaper for Blackbird to sue than for a company to defend itself, “how can we make it more symmetric? And every minute that they spend having to defend themselves somewhere else is a minute they aren’t suing us or someone else.”
Toward that end, Cloudflare has launched a multi-pronged attack, the likes of which Silicon Valley has never quite seen before but that other companies may well use as a model going forward if it has the intended effect.
Part of its campaign involves highlighting the backgrounds of Blackbird co-founder Wendy Verlander, a litigator previously with Wilmer Hale, as well as her co-founder, Chris Freeman, formerly of Kirkland & Ellis, to “pro innovation” state legislators in both Massachusetts and Illinois, where Blackbird has offices.
Its argument to these individuals: that every lawyer must pass an ethics exam that states it’s a violation for an attorney to “acquire a cause of action,” then to go and sue someone over it. The same ethics exam precludes attorneys from splitting their fees with non-attorneys.
The argument has gained some traction. Representative Keith Wheeler of Illinois recently introduced a bill called the “Ethics in Patent Litigation Act” that would make it the public policy of the state that attorneys should not be able to buy patents themselves for the purpose of suing others if they aren’t in the business of any other productive activity. In Massachusetts, where Verlander is based, Cloudflare has also found a receptive audience with State Senator Eric Lesser, who has specifically targeted patent trolls in a bill he introduced earlier this year.
Cloudflare is further fighting to have the case moved from Delaware — where Cloudflare is incorporated — to California. Prince notes that most of the discovery process for the case would need to take place in and around its headquarters, and that Cloudflare’s witnesses mostly reside in the Bay Area. (That it would also increase Blackbird’s costs, as they aren’t licensed or practice in California, is no accident, though Prince acknowledges the manuever is “not a slam dunk,” even with a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in May that determined that companies can be sued for patent infringement only where they reside or where they have a regular and established place of business.)
Cloudflare is also, perhaps most interestingly, crowdsourcing prior art to invalidate not only the patent that Blackbird is using to sue Cloudflare and Fastly, but with an eye toward invalidating all of Blackbird’s patents.
It could become the most powerful tool in its arsenal. Already, Cloudflare has created a $50,000 prior art bounty — one matched by an anonymous donor who has pitched in an additional $50,000 — that it will begin paying out in several weeks, says Prince. He suggests that Cloudflare has so far amassed prior art for half of Blackbird’s patents. Its next move is to begin sending requests for ex parte reexaminations to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In other words, it will ask that Blackbird’s patents are reexamined. “Our goal is nothing short of invalidating every single one of them,” says Prince.
Rabbit, run
Neither Verlander nor Freeman responded to interview requests sent to Blackbird last week and yesterday, but Verlander told Fortune in May that Blackbird is not a law firm and that it doesn’t use contingency fee arrangements for the patents it buys, though it employs “a similar arrangement,” she said.
Talking with Crain’s Chicago Business more recently, she characterized Blackbird as a defender of small inventors, saying that the “mere fact that these folks don’t have a lot of money shouldn’t make their patents worthless.”
As part of the feature, Crain’s published a photo of Freeman, standing with a bridge behind him in the distance.
Whether or not it was a subtle dig at Blackbird, one final and powerful piece of Cloudflare’s strategy seems to involve talking with as many reporters as possible about the injustice it’s facing. It’s the kind of public opinion campaign that’s been used with great success in the past.
In one example well-known to those in the world of intellectual property, a Chicago-based law firm had collected about $6 million from legal settlements in copyright-infringement lawsuits it filed against people who allegedly downloaded pornographic movies online — films the firm’s founders had themselves purchased or copyrighted. The attorneys were charged late last year for running an extortion fraud scheme. Two of the them have since been disbarred.
It’s an extreme comparison, but according to Lee Cheng — who today advises companies on their patent woes and is a student of the case — that Chicago firm made “millions of dollars before someone who they pursued [for damages] said, ‘I’m coming after you and defending myself.’
“Whether what the firm was doing was illegal was hard to say, but the press caught wind of it, and it so shocked everyone” that it set in motion the chain of events leading to the firm’s demise.
“[Is Blackbird] doing anything that is illegal or unethical?” continues Cheng. “For the most part, it’s unethical. But it’s probably not illegal.”
Now, to see if that’s enough.New website to assist crime and corruption investigations
If there’s something strange in your neighborhood… if there’s something weird and it don’t look good…
Who you gonna call?
For journalists and civil society researchers seeking information to help expose organized crime and corruption across borders, there’s a new “Ghostbusters” to call on for assistance.
The Investigative Dashboard, a research tool for cross-border investigations from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), is launching a redesigned web site, expanded databases for public searching and a new feature for subscribers that will help crack cases across the globe. The innovation? Humans! A research desk, with librarians, researchers and fellow journalist experts, who will respond to requests for information on corporations and persons of interest related to companies worldwide.
Led by OCCRP’s lead investigator, ICIJ member Miranda Patrucic in Sarajevo, the information professionals include in-house experts and a growing group of volunteers from news organizations, academic libraries and elsewhere who have offered to help international journalists to follow the money trail to expose bribery and corruption. (Read about it here. Full disclosure: I am an advisor to the project and a volunteer expert as well.) ICIJ members Paul Radu and Drew Sullivan created and developed the Investigative Dashboard. Support for the transnational collaborative project comes from Google Ideas and the Open Society Foundations. How does it work?
On the new site, you can search across a full text database of national corporation registrations and official business gazettes from more than a dozen countries, including Panama, Switzerland and Luxembourg. For countries not yet included in full, you can browse or search a directory of links to more than 450 external databases in 120 local jurisdictions worldwide, where you may be able to locate information on company shareholders, directors and financial reports. Many of these sites are free or available with registration, although many others require a fee. The directory provides brief information on what’s available in each, as well as language and fee requirements. These sites have been recommended by individual members of the Global Investigative Journalism Network and investigative reporters around the world.
For Hungary, for example, there are links to the Budapest Stock Exchange business registry, the Court of company registrations (in Hungarian) and the Ministry of Justice business registry (for company reports, in Hungarian). Try Google or Bing translations to make your way through the sites when the language is unfamiliar.
If you can’t find what you are looking for in the do-it-yourself tools, the new feature, “Ask for Expert Help,” sends a request to the expert staff and volunteers who will try to help. To make a research request, first sign up online to request an account for the service; a Gmail address (free at mail.google.com) is required for the online form. Once your account is approved, you’ll be able to fill out a request form for personal help, which should be completed with details on the person or company you’re investigating. The more details you provide, the better opportunity for the researcher to search and find results in the myriad sources of information available to the experts.
The research service is not for deadline requests or lookups; it is intended to help journalists who are conducting in-depth investigations that take them across borders to unfamiliar and difficult-to-locate sources of public records on persons and companies. And the mission gives priority to investigative journalists in developing nations without access to research assistance, commercial databases or financial support. The Investigative Dashboard staff and volunteers will also help locate the public documents you will need to dig deeper and confirm the electronic records.
Are you an expert? The Investigative Dashboard is recruiting additional volunteers to join the expert crowd of research librarians and journalists assisting reporters internationally. Volunteers’ skills are used to support journalists in difficult circumstances investigating bribery and corruption across borders. This is a project that believes that an alliance between librarians and journalists is a “powerful strategy” for finding crucial information in cross-border investigations. You can sign up to be an expert sleuth at “Be a Volunteer” and join the crowd of CorruptionBusters.
Margot Williams is ICIJ’s research editor. She will be sharing new online search sites and research tips for investigative journalists here weekly.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dr Dave Hodgson: "They're not that fast - but they're fast enough to cover about 10m overnight"
Despite their lethargic reputations, snails can travel at a relatively speedy one metre per hour, say researchers.
By attaching multicoloured LED lights, the scientists were able to track their movements over a 24-hour period.
The gastropods were fast enough to explore the length of an average UK garden in a single night.
But scientists are worried that the fast-moving snails are spreading a parasite that is deadly for dogs.
Over the past few years the wet summers enjoyed across the UK have proved the ideal breeding grounds for snails.
They are not just lettuce munchers, they are carriers of parasites that can kill your dogs Dr Dave Hodgson, University of Exeter
According to the Royal Horticultural Society, their numbers increased by 50% last year.
As well as being a pest for gardeners, snails can also spread a parasite called Angiostrongylus vasorum.
This lungworm is a particular threat to dogs, which can become infected by accidentally eating slugs or snails which they come across in the garden or on dog toys.
Painted snails
Researchers at the University of Exeter were commissioned to look into the scale of the threat by the Be Lungworm Aware campaign, which was set up and funded by Bayer Animal Health.
The scientists attempted to track the movements of snails in garden situations.
To do this they attached tiny, multicoloured LED lights to the backs of about 450 snails and used UV paint to track their movements.
The researchers found that the snails could cover distances up to 25m in a 24-hour period.
Image caption The lungworm parasite can be fatal in dogs and researchers say it is spreading across the UK
"They are so slow that people don't even think about them moving, but it turns out they do, and they can go a long way in a night," said Dr Dave Hodgson, who led this study and was also involved in a BBC amateur science experiment in 2010 that sought to discover if snails had a homing instinct.
The researchers say their new work indicates that snails pose a growing threat to pets.
"They are not just lettuce munchers, they are carriers of parasites that can kill your dogs," said Dr Hodgson,
A recent survey of veterinary surgeons indicated that the lungworm parasite was now endemic across the UK, where once it was mainly found in the south.
"It is becoming a real problem not just in the south of England, it is moving north to Scotland," said Dr Hodgson.
"It is a national problem and we all have to pay attention to the interactions between dogs and snails," he said.
Happy trails
In the new work, the scientists were surprised to see so many snails followed the slimy trails laid by others. Dr Hodgson says it is all about conserving energy.
"We know that snails use about 40% of their energy budget producing slime.
"Given a chance, a snail will prefer to follow a trail that has been laid by another, it is a form of cheating like slipstreaming," he said.
As to what pet owners should do, the scientists suggested they should regularly check the nooks and crannies in their gardens for snails and try to reduce exposure to the species.
"I wouldn't be too happy suggesting that there should be a snail apocalypse and everyone should get rid of them," said Dr Hodgson.
"I think awareness is a better idea, people need to understand the wildlife in their gardens and that no organism is totally harmless."
Follow Matt on Twitter.Here is the latest brilliant post by Dr. Tim Morgan, ex Global Head of Research at Tullett Prebon and author of the best financial research reports ever published from inside the finance industry, especially his last report from 2013 “Perfect Storm: Energy, Finance, and the End of Growth“.
https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/85-perfect-storm-gets-nearer/
What is Surplus Energy Economics? Very briefly, SEE says that the economy is an energy system, not a monetary one. Prosperity is determined by surplus energy – that is, the energy available after the deduction of the energy which is always used up whenever we access energy. Our entire history can be seen in this way. As hunter-gatherers, all the energy that people obtained from food was consumed obtaining that food, so there was no surplus, no economy and no society. Agriculture was the “first great breakthrough” because it created the first energy surplus. Put simply, the greater efficiency of farming compared with hunter-gathering, plus the use of animal labour, enabled twenty people to be fed by the labour of nineteen, freeing the twentieth to do other things. This first energy surplus was small, and most people continued to undertake subsistence activities. But there was now an economy of sorts, and a society developed in parallel with it. People could now, for the first time, invest, sacrificing current consumption to create capital assets (such as barns, bridges, agricultural implements and rudimentary workshops) which would improve their lot in the future. A vastly bigger energy surplus was created when we learned to tap fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. This triggered two centuries of exponential growth, not just in economic output, but in population numbers and energy consumption as well. So sophisticated have economies become that, most notably in the West, very few people are engaged in producing food.
The end of growth? For decades, people have speculated about the relationship between exponential growth and a finite planet. This debate rages on, but the balance is tilting, in two very obvious ways. First, we are discovering the limitations of the earth as an ecosystem and, second, the surplus energy which has driven growth in economic output and population numbers is coming under mounting pressure. Where fossil fuels – still well over 80% of our energy consumption – are concerned, two factors are in play. Depletion is robbing us of the gigantic, ultra-low-cost sources of energy which hitherto powered economic growth. Technology is endeavouring to offset this, both increasing the efficiency with which we access conventional fuels, and enabling us to tap energy from renewable sources. Technology will doubtless continue to progress, but we are in danger of complacency over technological solutions. Renewables still account for barely 3% of global energy consumption, and no-one has yet worked out how to power a 747-size jet using renewables, or how to extract 1 tonne of ore from 500 tonnes of rock without using fossil fuels. We should be optimistic about renewables, but also realistic. Renewables can supply energy more cost-effectively than fossil fuel sources discovered and brought on stream today. But my interpretation of the thermodynamic balance is that renewables are not going to take us back to an age of vast, low-cost, high-surplus energy from giant fields.NY-style chicken wings coming to Rolla
R.D. Hohenfeldt
Published Friday July 12, 2013 at 1:15 pm
A St. Louis-area franchisee hopes to open a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Rolla on North Highway 63 at the former location of Denny’s next to Donut King.
PHOTO/ Eddie O’Neill Buffalo Wild Wings plans to build at this location in the 1800 block of U.S. Highway 63 North just south of Interstate 44 in Rolla.
A St. Louis-area franchisee hopes to open a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Rolla on North Highway 63 at the former location of Denny’s next to Donut King.
“They submitted the building plans Monday,” Community Development Director John Petersen told The Rolla Daily News Tuesday afternoon before the Rolla Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
That’s the first step toward the issuance of a building permit.
“It was a very extensive set of plans,” Petersen said.
Later near the end of the meeting, Petersen announced to the commission that Rolla has been selected for a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant.
“Some people are really ecstatic about that,” he noted.
Steve Flowers, city codes administrator, Wednesday was going over the building plans drawn by Integrity Engineering.
Flowers said he would go through the drawings and the numbers submitted with them to make sure the building and its accoutrements will meet the city building code.
After he goes over it, he said, the City of Rolla Fire and Rescue will look the plans over, too. Rolla Municipal Utilities and the Public Works Department will study the plans, too.
Each of those entities that study the plans look at their own areas of concern, such as stormwater runoff, where electric can be brought in and the safety precautions written into the plan. All reviewers will make notes, called “remarks.”
“Any remarks we have will be sent to the applicant, in this case the general contractor, and they’ll work with their architect and engineer to make changes,” Flowers said.
An addendum to the plans will be submitted to the city, and Flowers will check the changes. Once he’s assured the plans have been upgraded to meet the code and the city has received the proper fees, a building permit will be issued.
The plans show the owner of the restaurant will be David Jones, Creve Coeur, who owns several other Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants. The general contractor is Hunter Construction Co., Belleville, Ill.
Flowers noted the county records show ownership of the property to be Vessell Property Management LLC. The property owner of record and the property owner on the application must match, he said.
The property is “not quite two acres,” Flowers said. The plans indicate the building will have 251 allowable capacity, but the actual number of people allowed in the building will be 235, including customers and employees.
The restaurant will have a bar area, a dining area next to it, and another dining area behind a banquette wall to separate it from the larger dining area.
Flowers said that design appears to be a way to separate smoking from non-smoking, but that’s a moot point in Rolla where smoking is prohibited in public places were people work for a paycheck.
There will also be patio dining.
Buffalo Wild Wings has an extensive menu, but it is known for its chicken wings and variety of sauces and seasonings. In addition, the restaurants offer 20-30 domestic and imported beers, plus wines and liquor. Several television screens tuned to sports channels are visible throughout the dining and bar areas.
The Buffalo in the title refers to Buffalo, N.Y.
According to the official company history, the first restaurant opened in Columbus, Ohio, when two young men, Jim Disbrow and Scott Lowery, who had recently moved to that city, “found themselves craving the authentic Buffalo, N.Y.-style chicken wings.”
The pair created their own signature sauce, and they opened a restaurant near the campus of The Ohio State University.
The company has grown steadily over the years, and has received several honors, such as being named one of Forbes magazine’s 200 Best Small Companies.
The nearest Buffalo Wild Wings is located in St. Robert.If you were asked to describe the color of khakis, you'd probably be able to do it.
You might say something like, "cream-ish light tan camel color," or just beige, and you'd be right. Look on any golf course and you'll see it on the legs of putters and caddies. But what is that word -- "khaki" -- and why do we use it to refer to an entire subindustry of men's pants?
Silver Screen Collection via Getty Images
"You can thank Sir Henry Lawrence," menswear designer Mark McNairy explains in F--k Ivy And Everything Else. In the irreverent new book, out February 16 (it's a sendup of the iconic Japanese style book, Take Ivy) McNairy offers wisdom gained from working at labels including J. Press and Woolrich and lays out all the basics every man should own: Levi's jeans, a white t-shirt, khakis.
Which brings us back to the main question: WTF is a "khaki?" Writes McNairy:
Lawrence was a British military officer stationed in India in the 1840s and a guy who shared my strong belief in personal comfort. Because of the extreme heat, he took to wearing his lightweight pajama bottoms on duty, caking them with dirt (khaki means "soil color" in Urdu) to make them look like his uniform. His buddies followed his example, and eventually armies around the globe did too.
Other origin stories for the timeless pants vary slightly. The trivia book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader also reports that a British soldier dyed comfortable pants a tan color, but gives the nod to Lieutenant Harry Lumsden, who was Lawrence's assistant in 1846, saying he did it intentionally to blend in with the dusty surroundings.
Randy Brooke via Getty Images Kanye West poses alongside models wearing khaki hues during the finale of Yeezy Season 2 during New York Fashion Week at Skylight Modern on September 16, 2015 in New York City.
Levi's agrees with khakis originating in the British Indian Army around 1846, suggesting soldiers used teas and curry as well as mud to turn their pants brown. They report "khaki" comes from a Hindi word meaning ‘dusty’ or ‘dust’ (Hindi is basically identical to Urdu in basic vocabulary).
Either way, McNairy adds some bonus trivia in the book by explaining how chinos are different from -- yet derivative of -- khakis.
"Chinos... were modeled after British military uniforms," he writes, "but because there was a need to conserve fabric, chinos had flat fronts and few, if any, pockets."
There you go. Details vary, but we love to know that people may be walking around in khakis because one genius officer was great at slacking off.INTO THE BITCOIN MINES | On the flat lava plain of Reykjanesbaer, Iceland, near the Arctic Circle, you can find the Bitcoin mines, Nathaniel Popper reports in DealBook. There, more than 100 whirring silver computers, each in a locked cabinet and each cooled by blasts of Arctic air, are the laborers of the virtual mines where Bitcoins are unearthed. The custom-built machines, running an open-source Bitcoin program, perform complex algorithms 24 hours a day, seeking to win a block of 25 new Bitcoins from the virtual currency’s decentralized network. Emmanuel Abiodun, 31, founder of the company that built the Iceland installation, called the computers “money-printing machines.” He is one of a number of entrepreneurs who have rushed, gold-fever style, into large-scale Bitcoin mining operations in just the last few months, as a speculative mania has helped push the price of Bitcoins higher. These entrepreneurs are making enormous bets that Bitcoin will not collapse, as it has threatened to do several times. If the system did crash, the fancy computers would be essentially useless because they are custom-built for Bitcoin mining. Mr. Popper writes: “The computers that do the work eat up so much energy that electricity costs can be the deciding factor in profitability. There are Bitcoin mining installations in Hong Kong and Washington State, among other places, but Mr. Abiodun chose Iceland, where geothermal and hydroelectric energy are plentiful and cheap. And the arctic air is free and piped in to cool the machines, which often overheat when they are pushed to the outer limits of their computing capacity.” The virtual currency’s true believers “are taking the long view — the one in which Bitcoin, despite the ups and down, keeps appreciating in value and eventually becomes a serious currency,” Nick Bilton writes in the Disruptions column on the Bits blog. Paul Krugman, in his column in The New York Times, writes that the appeal of Bitcoin is similar to that of gold. “Bitcoin seems to derive its appeal from more or less the same sources, plus the added sense that it’s high-tech and algorithmic, so it must be the wave of the future,” Mr. Krugman writes. “But don’t let the fancy trappings fool you: What’s really happening is a determined march to the days when money meant stuff you could jingle in your purse. In tropics and tundra alike, we are for some reason digging our way back to the 17th century.”
FED TO CRACK DOWN ON RISK-SHIFTING DEALS | The Federal Reserve moved on Friday to curb a type of financial maneuver that banks can exploit to make themselves look stronger than they actually are, notifying big banks that it was taking aim at so-called risk transfer transactions, DealBook’s Peter Eavis reports. The Fed said in its guidance that it would “strongly scrutinize” risk-transfer deals that have a substantial impact on a bank’s balance sheet. Banks that have recently used such transactions include Citigroup, Credit Suisse and UBS. “Supporters of these complex deals say that they allow banks to protect themselves from future losses on loans or other assets. But regulators are concerned that banks may at times use them to evade the stiffer regulations that have been introduced since the 2008 financial crisis,” Mr. Eavis writes. “While risk-transfer deals have been around for years, the temptation to use them has risen as regulators have required banks to increase their capital.”
INVESTMENT STRATEGY RISES FROM OBSCURITY | The successful maneuvering by the billionaire Carl C. Icahn with CVR Energy illustrates the enormous growth of an obscure but increasingly popular securities structure — the master limited partnership, or M.L.P. — and its ability to create huge personal wealth, DealBook’s David Gelles reports. Since the financial crisis, the popularity of M.L.P.’s has soared. Mr. Icahn’s deal helps show why. The investor paid at least $2 billion last year for 82 percent of CVR, an oil refinery business, something he knew little about. He then tried to sell the company quickly and failed. Yet this year Mr. Icahn took advantage of an M.L.P. structure and used the company to inflate his already enormous wealth. Mr. Gelles writes: “In January, CVR, under Mr. Icahn’s direction, placed its refineries into a new company, CVR Refining. The new company is structured as an M.L.P., a publicly traded partnership that pays no corporate tax and distributes most profit to investors. Thanks to those generous distributions, stock market investors are valuing M.L.P.’s at a significant premium to traditional corporations, so there was a good chance CVR Refining would do well as a public company.”
ON THE AGENDA | The Federal Reserve turns 100 years old today. Data on personal income and outlays in November is out at 8:30 a.m. Please note that the newsletter will go dark for the holidays, to resume on Jan. 2. The DealBook site, however, will be updated regularly with news and analysis during this time. See you in the new year!Press Release
New York, NY—May 5, 2017 — With all of time hanging in the balance, there’s only one man with the skills to save it. Today, Marvel is pleased to present your first look inside CABLE #1, which starts off with a bang on May 31st! Eisner Award-winning writer James Robinson (Nick Fury) teams with blockbuster artist Carlos Pacheco (Occupy Avengers, Captain America) to bring readers an action-packed series that spans history! When Cable picks up the trail of a threat in the timestream, he sets off on a high-speed chase through time to save reality as we know it. From prehistory to modern day—whether it’s a six-gun duel at high noon or a high-tech sword fight in an ancient land—Cable is the only man who can keep history from unraveling! Be there on May 31st when CABLE #1 comes to comic shops and digital devices everywhere!
CABLE #1 (MAR170977)
Written by JAMES ROBINSON
Art by CARLOS PACHECO
Cover by DALE KEOWN
Hip-Hop Variant by Mike Choi (MAR170983)
Action Figure Variant by John Tyler Christopher (MAR170982)
Corner Box Variant by Leonard Kirk (MAR170981)
Variant cover by Andy Kubert (MAR170978)
Variant cover by Bill Martin (MAR170979)
Variant cover by Whilce Portacio (MAR170980)
FOC – 05/08/17, On-Sale – 05/31/17
Liked it? Take a second to support Zachary Jenkins on Patreon!Three Republican state senators Thursday introduced a bill requiring that at least 51 percent of state spending on public education go toward classroom teachers.
They called it a move to put North Carolina’s teachers at the top of the state’s priority list, in a year when teachers and their advocates have been protesting low pay and difficult working conditions.
“There’s no question that teachers have the greatest influence on student achievement, so we must ensure they are the top priority for education funding,” said Sen. Tom Apodaca of Henderson County, who sponsored the bill along with David Curtis of Lincoln County and Bill Rabon of Brunswick County.
Exactly how that might play out wasn’t immediately clear.
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“It is a brief bill. I have to talk to members about what it actually means,” said Jonathan Sink, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools attorney who serves as legislative liaison. “The bill obviously has powerful sponsors. If they want it to move, it will move.”
The $7.8 billion for public education this year is the largest portion of the state budget. That money covers not only teacher salaries but assistants, administrators, textbooks, transportation and other expenses.
Senate Republican leaders say about 47 percent of the total currently goes toward classroom teachers. Bumping up that percentage would require additional money for teachers, cuts to the other categories or both.
Gov. Pat McCrory’s 2014-15 budget, released Wednesday, includes $108 million for teacher raises. His plan, which won preliminary support from GOP legislative leaders, gives 7 percent raises to teachers in their first seven years and 2 percent to 4.3 percent pay increases for more experienced teachers.
The state provides about 60 percent of the budget for N.C. public schools, a higher portion than all but eight other states. Shifting state money into teacher pay could force counties, which cover an average of 29 percent of the education budget, to pay more for transportation and support staff or accept cuts in those areas.I've heard the case for the bailout, and while I thought Bush's address yesterday was one of his more coherent ones, I'm still not buying it. After all, he has a bit of a credibility problem. He needs to do more than play the "fear card" to persuade me that handing over $700 billion of taxpayer money to the wealthy elite is a good idea.I know that Bush and his supporters, which now seems to include the bulk of the Democratic Party, are trying to pitch this as a last-ditch effort to save the American economy to all our benefit. But it isn't to all our benefit. We're being asked to incur one hell of a debt (in addition to the bill for the unjust war in Iraq ) without any assurances that this gamble will work.The Bush administration's resume includes (1) leaving us unprotected on 9/11 despite the warnings; (2) invading Iraq under false pretenses and without provocation, planning, or exit strategy; (3) showcasing their inability to govern in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ; and (4) pushing the very sort of deregulation which led to the current economic "crisis." How can we now be expected to swallow their latest concoction?Are economic recessions not a natural part of market behavior? Is there to be absolutely no accountability for the financial sectors responsible for our current situation? I realize that this makes me sound like a raging conservative here, but I can't help thinking that we should allow the market to correct itself and then follow the correction with improved policies.Yes, this is scary for the average American who has little understanding of the economy. And I certainly don't envy those depending on their investments for retirement income. But that shouldn't mean that we act hastily and without adequate protections in place.Having gone “thermonuclear war” on Google after it discovered that it was following Apple into smartphones, Apple may be about to turn the tables on its Mountain View rivals — by entering the search engine business.
Apple is currently looking to hire an engineering project manager for something called Apple Search. The position would be based in San Francisco, and requires a program manager to oversee backend operations for a “search platform supporting hundreds of millions of users.”
The ad notes that the successful candidate will, “Play a part in revolutionizing how people use their computers and mobile devices.”
While Apple would certainly be a late-arrival on the search scene (even Microsoft beat it by five years), there’s evidence that Apple has been considering the move for quite some time. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has been claiming there is a “70 per cent chance” Apple would enter the mobile search engine space since 2010.
Yes, admittedly Munster is the same guy who’s been banging on about an Apple TV set for as far back as we can remember, but there are a few interesting tidbits which lead us to believe he may be onto something. In late 2012, Apple hired search guru William Stasior: a veteran of both Amazon and AltaVista. Then, last year, developer Jan Moesen discovered a web-crawling bot originating from Apple’s servers.
At the same time, Apple has debuted Siri, a type of next-generation search technology (internally it was referred to as a “do engine” instead of a “search engine” due to its ability to usefully implement search results rather than just presenting them), as well as bolstering the Spotlight Search feature in OS X Yosemite.
Although there’s a good chance Apple’s new advertised position is to augment the existing Spotlight Search rather than moving into full-blown Google territory, it’s worth pointing out that Apple’s long-running search agreement with Google for its Safari browser expires this year. If Apple was ever going to enter the search market, now would be seem to be the right time.
To use a Google-ism, are you feeling lucky?
Thanks: MikeThe Drudge Report headlined this Wall Street Journal article profiling Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei as: "Trump Drives China Crazy," highlighting the Chinese official's characterization of Trump as an "irrational type."
Via WSJ:
Asked about the tough talk on China in the presidential campaign, from both Democrats and Republicans, Mr. Lou said Americans needed to recognize the U.S. and China “are mutually dependent on each other” and both have a lot to lose in any economic confrontation. “Our economic cycles are intertwined,” he said. “We have more in common than sets us apart.”
Mr. Lou also said he understood that rhetoric in a presidential campaign gets heated and often doesn’t reflect the policies an incoming administration would adopt. With a new administration, he said, “U.S.-China ties should be more or less as they are now.”
DONALD TRUMP, STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK: Today [Sunday morning] on the top of Drudge [Report]. Matt Drudge is a phenomenal person and a good guy -- it is a big deal, top of Drudge.
[Drudge linked to a piece in the Wall Street Journal saying] China is upset with Donald Trump.
How dare them? So they go -- They're upset. This is |
he's changed that system and it seems to have really helped him."
While City have started the season in fine fettle, United have amassed seven points from their first four games and scored just three goals.
Skipper Wayne Rooney has yet to break his duck and Van Gaal was told by Rooney and Michael Carrick that the dressing room was feeling "flat."
The Dutchman is now in his second season at Old Trafford but, despite leading United back into the Champions League, he has been criticised for his tactical approach.
Ferdinand says supporters need to accept the change in approach from the days of Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby, and believes they would still be perfectly happy if trophies were won with Van Gaal's more possession-based football.
"The philosophy is completely different," the former England defender said.
"Manchester United supporters now have to go away and re-educate themselves on how to watch Manchester United. Don't go there expecting to see free-flowing, attacking, gung-ho football.
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"It's methodical, side to side, wait for an opportunity to come. It's a different type of football, very methodical, clear-cut pattern of the way he wants the team to play and it's totally different.
"I'm not saying that is the wrong way -- it is the way he chooses to play and it is not the way Manchester United are used to playing.
"If it brings success, Manchester United fans will be delighted, I will be delighted. It is just a different way of playing football.
"People who are old enough to remember those times [Busby, etc], they want fairytale and they're going to reminisce about old times and want to see what they're used to. The younger generation, they're not so attached to that and they can move on, but they're going to want to move on to a style that they like."
Ferdinand also revealed he and former defensive partner Nemanja Vidic had discussed the recent transfer business at United -- with Van Gaal having spent over a quarter of a billion pounds on new recruits -- and also questioned why a new centre-back was not signed over the summer.
"I just think, with Daley Blind playing centre-half every week, you think you've spent all that money, where is the centre-half?" he added.
"Because you didn't buy Blind as a centre-half. I was talking to Nemanja Vidic the other day on the phone and we were both saying the change is unreal in terms of the personnel and the transfer policy.
"We were saying, 'If they'd spent £50 million when we were there, we'd have won how much more?' If you'd got somebody at that time who was worth that. But the landscape changes. We were just reminiscing about old times and imagining if we'd had that amount of money to be spent on our squad.
"It is totally different and it doesn't look like anything that I knew when I was there. It's just all changed. Even the sponsor that's been there how many years, Nike, and now it's Adidas. Everything's changing, other than the groundsman and the chef."Photo: CSIRO Standing Tall: Dish antennas stand out against the sky at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, in Western Australia. They’re part of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope (ASKAP), which is equipped with special “phased array feeds”—sets of 188 individual receivers that pick up radio signals reflected off the dishes, giving the telescope a wide field of view.
Even in early winter, the sun is harsh in Western Australia’s Murchison shire. In this land of unpaved roads, kangaroo tracks, and low, scrubby vegetation, visitors can and sometimes do get lost. Nevertheless, here I am, a few hundred kilometers from the coast, standing on rusty red dirt, hiding under my sun hat. I am visiting a future site of one of the most ambitious telescopes ever conceived.
With just a hundred or so residents in an area bigger than the Netherlands, this piece of the Australian outback is something precious in a world swamped by wireless signals: an island of unusual calm, a clear window onto the cosmos. Back in the cool of our four-wheel-drive vehicle, one of my guides, Antony Schinckel, is emphatic about the location’s merits. “We really found this one of the best areas on the planet,” he says.
Schinckel, a telescope director with the Australian government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and his colleagues have already braved hostile conditions to turn a small portion of this vast territory into one of the world’s leading radio astronomy facilities. Heavy rains can cut deep ruts in roads to the site, making them all but impassible. At one point early on, Schinckel recalls, his car suffered four flat tires in the same day as it ran over one acacia tree stump after another.
But the hard work is now starting to pay off. Over the last eight years, astronomers and engineers have transformed land where cattle once grazed into a kind of astronomical garden: the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO). Dozens of gleaming-white 12-meter-wide radio dishes, tailor-made for cataloging galaxies, now dot the landscape. They’re joined by thousands of spiderlike antennas, which form a state-of-the-art array capable of picking up electromagnetic waves dating back almost to the start of the universe.
These different kinds of antennas have been used to create two telescopes at MRO that are stretching the capabilities of radio astronomy. The telescopes are also the prelude to a much more ambitious project: the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Already more than 25 years in the making, the SKA promises to be a radio telescope of immense sensitivity, by virtue of a collecting area equivalent to more than (you guessed it) a square kilometer. When the project is complete, sometime in the early 2030s, it could encompass more than two thousand dishes in Africa and half a million or so antennas in Western Australia, dwarfing the telescopes at the MRO and other such facilities. In the process, the SKA—a collaboration among 10 member countries involving more than 500 engineers—will test the limits not only of telescope design but also of data processing pipelines, international coordination, and the infrastructure of big-science projects.
“Nobody’s ever built anything on the scale we’re attempting,” acknowledges SKA director-general Philip Diamond. But he and many other astronomers think the effort will be well worth it. SKA’s sensitivity, resolution, and ability to scan large areas of the sky quickly will let it probe some of the universe’s most pressing mysteries. By cataloging vast numbers of galaxies through their hydrogen emissions, for example, the SKA is expected to help pin down the identity of dark energy, which is driving the universe to expand at an accelerating rate. The telescope will also be able to measure an unprecedented number of pulsars—spinning stellar remnants that beam electromagnetic radiation out along their magnetic poles. When these cosmic beacons wind up in tight orbits around black holes, they can be used to hunt for evidence of new physics that might finally allow physicists to develop a unified theory of quantum mechanics and gravity.
Given its staggering scale, the SKA is proceeding in stages—beginning with a smaller incarnation called SKA1. Although just a fraction of the size of the SKA, this first iteration will still be the largest radio telescope in the world, Diamond says. Part of it will be built in South Africa and the other portion here in Western Australia, and the two sites will operate—as the full SKA will—as two independent telescopes. The South African component of SKA1 (known as SKA1-mid) will encompass 197 radio dishes with diameters of 13.5 and 15 meters. Data from those dishes will be combined to study a range of targets, including pulsars and radio emissions from hydrogen that sits relatively close to our own Milky Way galaxy.
Australia’s part, known as SKA1-low, aims to pick up lower-frequency radio waves, including ones that originated from a time, billions of years ago, when astronomical objects like stars first lit up the universe. To receive these waves, the telescope won’t use dishes. Instead, it will use many simple, fixed antennas designed to pick up signals over a very wide range of frequencies, including ones in the TV and FM bands that happen to coincide with the frequencies of some of the universe’s oldest light. To yoke those antennas together into a single powerful telescope will require state-of-the-art amplification and signal processing (more on that later).
At the MRO, astronomers are already hard at work testing prototype SKA antennas. A patch of antennas was incomplete during my visit in June, but it already looked crowded. Dozens of the spindly 2-meter-tall structures, which resemble little fir trees, were packed together in a messy steel miniforest.
By 2024, the SKA team expects to install more than 131,000 of these treelike antennas, grouped in clusters and extending into the desert for tens of kilometers along three spiral arms. The result won’t be much more photogenic than the test patch was. But if all goes well, the array could produce truly stunning results: the first detailed images of a universe as it was transforming from a murky sea of neutral hydrogen into something we’d recognize today—a black ocean of space studded with shining stars and galaxies.
Low-Frequency Forest: Australia’s part of the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope, known as SKA1-low, will consist of many fixed triangular-shaped antennas. Prototypes of the antennas, seen here, are now being tested at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. Seeing Back in Time: Technicians connect the prototype fixed antennas being tested at the Murchison site. The system funnels signals from as many as 256 antennas into one optical fiber, for transmission to the next processing stage. Eventually, the site will have more than 100,000 of the low-frequency antennas, which will collectively peer back at a time when the universe was a mere billion years old. Photos: ICRAR/Curtin University
The icons of radio astronomy are its dishes. New Mexico’s Very Large Array, for example, with its orderly lines of 25-meter-diameter dishes, has shown up in several motion pictures, most notably 1997’s Contact.
The dishes of the Very Large Array work much like an optical telescope does, by focusing incoming radio waves onto receptors. But the radio band is wide, and a telescope design that works well in one swath of frequencies isn’t necessarily the best choice for another. Basic physics dictates that the longer the wavelength to be picked up, the bigger the dish needed to maintain the same resolution. The upshot is that beyond a certain wavelength, common sense suggests a move to antennas that can directly receive the radio waves.
The idea of doing radio astronomy with such antennas is not new. In the early 1930s, the technology enabled Karl Jansky to make the first detection of radio waves from beyond the solar system. Pulsars were discovered serendipitously in 1967, when their clockwork-like signals were detected using an array of dipole antennas outside Cambridge, in the United Kingdom.
But at some point, says astronomer Randall Wayth, the longer wavelengths—the sort that are ideal for such fixed antenna arrays—fell out of vogue in radio astronomy. More recently, renewed interest in that part of the radio band is being spurred by astronomers’ desire to peer far back into the universe’s past. And, conveniently, they can now lean on a range of advances in digital electronics, signal processing, and computing to create a new generation of arrays.
“It’s definitely a renaissance,” says Wayth, an associate professor at Curtin University, in Perth, and a senior research fellow at Western Australia’s International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. The general approach bears more than a passing resemblance to phased-array radar systems and to the antenna arrays being developed for 5G cellular networks.
Wayth directs one of the telescopes at the leading edge of this revival: the Murchison Widefield Array, or MWA. As one of the official “precursor” telescopes for SKA, the MWA is helping to work out the kinks in combining many passive antennas into a single state-of-the-art telescope.
As with SKA1-low, the Murchison Widefield Array’s antennas are designed to pick up radio waves at the lower end of frequencies used for radio astronomy. SKA1-low’s design calls for antennas that are sensitive from 50 to 350 megahertz. MWA’s antennas detect signals in a somewhat narrower range, from 80 to 300 MHz. In contrast with SKA1-low’s fir-tree antennas, those of the MWA call to mind sunbathing knee-high spiders. They’re on metal grids designed to reflect incoming radio waves back up to them.
Although their antennas look different, the Murchison Widefield Array and SKA1-low share the same basic approach as well as a big scientific ambition: gazing into a still-murky period in the early universe called the Epoch of Reionization. The name refers to a time, roughly 13 billion years ago and about a billion years after the big bang, when early stars and other objects heated neutral hydrogen atoms enough to knock their electrons off, transforming the cosmos from an opaque sea of neutral hydrogen into the transparent universe we see today. Remarkably, it’s still possible to detect radio waves emitted by those neutral hydrogen atoms. The waves were emitted with a wavelength of 21 centimeters, but by the time they reach Earth, billions of years of cosmic expansion will have stretched them to a couple of meters.
The Murchison Widefield Array is racing to be the first telescope to detect those elongated echoes of the far-distant past. Astronomers hope the study of this radiation will help reveal more about how reionization altered and shaped the early universe—for example, how structures like galaxies formed and changed in that pivotal epoch. “It’s one of the major phases during the evolution of the universe which is completely unknown,” says Benedetta Ciardi, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, and a staffer at one of MWA’s competitors, the LOFAR telescope, based in the Netherlands.
Photos: Top: Ben Scandrett/Department of Industry; Bottom: ICRAR/Curtin University Spider Town: Randall Wayth, an associate professor at Curtin University and director of the Murchison Widefield Array, crouches next to Tile 107 of the telescope [above]. An aerial photo of the MWA [bottom] shows more of the telescope’s tiles, each of which contains 16 of the spiderlike antennas.
To hunt for signals from this epoch—or to perform any of its observations, actually—the Murchison Widefield Array sops up radio waves from many directions at once. Incoming signals are boosted at the center of each spidery antenna by a pair of low-noise amplifiers and then sent to a nearby “beamformer.” There, waveguides of various lengths, printed on circuit boards, impart delays to the antenna signals. With the right selection of delays, the beamformers virtually “tilt” the array, so that radio waves arriving from a particular patch of the sky all seem to reach the antennas at the same time—as they would if they were being received by a single large antenna. SKA1-low will do this entire process digitally, without the waveguides. That approach will enable it to construct multiple beams—as if the array were pointing to multiple spots in the sky simultaneously.
The MWA antennas are divided into groups. Signals from each group are sent to a single receiver that distributes the signals among various frequency channels and then sends them on to the observatory’s central building over fiber. There, a set of field-programmable gate arrays and graphics processing units correlate the data, multiplying the signals from each receiver with those of every other one and integrating over time. This number crunching is the heart of interferometry [PDF], a process that combines the signals from multiple dishes or antennas to create a single strong signal, as though it came from one telescope.
Much like a single dish, the resolution of such a virtual telescope is inversely proportional to its physical size. Bigger is, of course, better. In particular, for a virtual telescope consisting of a set of dishes or fixed antennas, the telescope’s maximum resolution is set by its longest baseline, or distance between a pair of elements. The longer that distance is, the finer the resolution.
Astronomers have used this property to construct virtual telescopes that reach across continents, enabling resolutions so fine that they have been used to home in on the area around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. But size isn’t the only consideration. A single pair of antennas, however far apart, will give you only a small piece of information about the light emitted from an object. To construct pictures, astronomers must fill out the array. More fixed antennas or dishes yield a combinatorial explosion of different baselines, which can then be used to create a telescope-like image through a process called aperture synthesis. The imaging capabilities of such an array thus depend on several factors, including the total number of antennas, the span of the array, and the details of how the antennas are placed relative to one another.
At the Murchison Widefield Array, the output from the observatory’s servers is sent down hundreds of kilometers of fiber, first to the coastal city of Geraldton and then on for another 400 kilometers or so to a supercomputing center in Perth.
The MWA can ship more than 25 terabytes of data a day to the Perth facility. But in the coming years, that data rate will be dwarfed by the output of SKA1-low. The array’s 131,000 antennas will collectively produce upwards of a terabyte of data every second, says Keith Grainge, an astrophysicist at the University of Manchester, in England, who leads the SKA working group dedicated to signal and data movement. “It’s about an eighth of an Internet that we’ve got to transport,” Grainge says.
Once the data reaches Perth, it must be further processed in order to transform it into sky maps and other scientific products that astronomers can use. This is an exascale problem, says Andreas Wicenec, a professor at the University of Western Australia who is studying the computational needs of the project. Wicenec estimates that SKA1-low will need a supercomputer at least as fast as the current world-record holder, China’s Sunway TaihuLight. The only hitch is that this supercomputer must be significantly cheaper and consume just a fifth as much power as the Sunway TaihuLight, which can eat up 15 megawatts performing computations.
Wicenec isn’t fazed. “If we don’t get such a machine,” he says, “we will still be able to do amazing science, just not the most challenging projects initially. That’s the advantalge of radio astronomy,” he adds. “You can easily scale up and down and just do what’s currently affordable. A few years later we can then ramp up.”
Photos: CSIRO Gathering Sun: The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory isn’t on the grid. A new, 1.6-megawatt array of solar panels will help power the two telescopes on site as well as SKA-1 low.
The SKA’s success will depend in part on making sure Murchison’s radio window stays as clear as possible. Cellular signals, electric motors, TV transmitters, arc welding, and many other sources of RF can interfere with observations.
The site itself is protected as much as it can be from outside noise. A “radio-quiet zone” extends out to 260 km around the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. Mining companies and others that want a new license to operate any sort of transmitter within the zone must first consult with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. “The intention is to protect the site from 70 MHz to 25.25 gigahertz,” says Carol Wilson, spectrum manager for the MRO and a senior member of the IEEE. Recently, she says, a team using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope, or ASKAP, which sits not far from the Murchison Widefield Array, found a gas cloud by observing a slight dip in the signal from a galaxy that emitted its light roughly 5 billion years ago. The dip in the signal was over a range of frequencies completely covered by a cellphone band. “It would have been impossible to do that in a more populated area,” Wilson says.
The designers of the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory have gone to great lengths to make sure the telescopes and associated equipment themselves don’t add to the problem. The observatory’s central building—a one-story structure housing workshops, desks, racks of processors, and a maser used to distribute clock signals to the telescopes—is completely wrapped in a continuous steel sheet. Fiber, power lines, and air pass into this Faraday cage through openings that are too narrow and long for a range of radio waves to traverse. The main entrance boasts a double-doored vestibule that acts like an airlock for radio waves; anyone hoping to enter must lever one door closed before opening the other one.
Such precautions help make the site extraordinarily quiet. And the Murchison Widefield Array is taking advantage of that silence to hunt for the first indications of the Epoch of Reionization, which should show up in subtle changes in how neutral hydrogen is distributed over the sky. When SKA1-low arrives, it will be able to map this transition in greater detail, giving astronomers a glimpse of how ancient stars and galaxies brought the universe out of its dark ages and helped shape the cosmos we see today.
Important challenges still must be overcome before workers even begin building SKA1-low, which could start in 2019 and continue for five years. A team of engineers is validating the antenna design, using a combination of simulation and measurements, in preparation for a key review next year. Antennas can interfere with one another, notes MWA director Wayth, and in some cases they can cause signals to cancel out, creating blind spots. “Right now we’re making sure we fully understand the electromagnetics of how the stations work just to make sure nothing unexpected pops up,” says Wayth, who is also part of the design team for the Australian SKA array.
But Wayth says most of the technical challenges have already been worked out. At this point, the biggest issues are logistics and infrastructure, he says. “It’s in the middle of nowhere, [and] it needs to have power and communications and timing and everything distributed to it.”
In South Africa, some of the dishes will be able to tap into local grid power, but in Australia, all the energy must be produced on site. Both observatories aim to keep their carbon footprint to a minimum. Until this year, the MRO had run on diesel generators. It now has 1.6 MW worth of solar panels, and vast packs of lithium-ion batteries that can store 2.6 megawatt-hours—more than half of what SKA1-low will need when it is fully operational. Some of the more far-flung patches of the array will likely get their own solar panels.
Maintenance is another challenge. These days, the Murchison Widefield Array gets hit by lightning about once a year, which might knock out a few sets of antennas and a receiver. But MWA’s antennas are all within a few kilometers of one another. The sheer number of SKA1-low antennas—along with the fact that they will be 2 meters tall and extend tens of kilometers from the center—could tax those maintaining the array.
There is also the matter of money. At the moment, the budget for building SKA1 in South Africa and Australia is capped at about €675 million (about US $800 million, or about a billion Australian dollars), an amount set by the project’s 10 member countries: Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. But that funding won’t cover the entire cost of SKA1 with the specifications that astronomers are hoping for. “Even though we’re looking at spending effectively a billion dollars on SKA phase 1,” says director-general Diamond, “you can’t do everything within even a billion.” He’s trying to recruit more countries into the partnership, which could boost funding.
But if all goes well, Wayth says, SKA1-low should give radio astronomers a factor-of-10 boost in telescope sensitivity and other capabilities. “It will be a sensational telescope,” he says. “My old boss once said radio astronomers don’t usually get out of bed for anything less than an order of magnitude. And in this case, there’s lots to get out of bed for.”
This article appears in the December 2017 print issue as “Engineering the World’s Biggest Radio Telescope.”AutoGuide.com
GM is getting prepared to debut a crazy-looking fuel cell-powered military vehicle.
Developed in conjunction with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), the vehicle, which isn’t being called a concept, will be based on the Chevrolet Colorado and will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
The SUV will be used to test how the military can use alternative energy sources to power vehicles that are quieter, more fuel efficient, can generate power and water, and provide plenty of low-end torque for off-roading. GM is also hoping the R&D put into this vehicle will help the American automaker achieve its plans of producing a commercial fuel cell system by 2020.
ALSO SEE: Is This Oddball Hydrogen Car the Future of Driving?
From the teaser image, we can see the vehicle will look aggressive and rugged with a high ground clearance, huge knobby off-road tires, a low roofline and thin headlights. We can also make out a small truck bed.
The vehicle, which hasn’t been named yet, will debut in October, and the Army intends to test it out in 2017. No specs for the vehicle have been revealed yet.
Discuss this story on our GM Forum(Image: Laura Codorniu/Luis M. Chappe/and Fabricio D. Cid)
IF YOU’RE flying, it’s normally best to travel light, but one prehistoric flying reptile didn’t get the memo. It took to the skies with a cargo of gravel in its guts.
The gravel-muncher in question is Pterodaustro guinazui, and it lived towards the end of the dinosaur era. While examining a new fossil of the species, Luis Chiappe of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and colleagues discovered that its abdomen contained 29 stones (see photo), ranging from 1.5 to 8.4 millimetres across (Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, DOI: 10.1080/039.033.0508).
P. guinazui is known as the reptilian version of the flamingo because its unusually long skull gave it a beak-like snout. It is also thought to have used its hundreds of long, thin teeth to filter morsels out of shallow water.
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Chiappe says the pterosaurs may have used the stones to help grind up the tiny crustaceans it ate. Again, this strategy is commonly seen in filter-feeding birds like flamingos.
“This is a really special pterosaur,” says Lorna Steel of the Natural History Museum in London. Most species ate fish or insects, using sharp teeth to rip them apart, and would not have needed stomach stones. “This is probably unique to the filter-feeding pterosaurs.”
This article appeared in print under the headline “Prehistoric flier had gravelly guts”They say they don’t make them like they used to, and while that may be debatable, American drivers have voted up older vehicles as the most fuel efficient.
Does this mean your next car might not be found at a dealer, but maybe instead somewhere like Craigslist?
Not sure on that either, but these scores come from the EPA’s “My MPG” program which is open to current models and one is a present-generation car, but winners on the scoreboard (updated weekly) are mainly older models. Nor is this a fluke, as these cars have tended to reside high up even if they do shift places from time to time.
The federal agency’s scoring is on a bit of an honor system, but these are averaged numbers by drivers registered with the EPA who say they’ve calculated their mpg. The EPA provides guidance on the procedure.
Perhaps it’s not a surprise these cars are ranked as they are. There are fan clubs for some of them, so it very well could be people are hanging onto them, carefully keeping them going, and reporting efficiency as a point of pride.
Not included in this tally are plug-in hybrids and electric cars as those score even higher by EPA reckoning. The list is open to regular hybrids and internal combustion models, with fuel sipper varieties scoring highest.
Also not included is even one car newer than a 2014 model year, so go figure. Or rather, maybe the people who care have gone and figured for you.
Following are the cars, their reported mpg, and combined official EPA mpg, as well as number of drivers for each car which tallied these averaged mpg scores.
5. 1999 Chevrolet Metro – 48.8 mpg (50 EPA)
Based on the data of 10 drivers, the venerable econobox derived from Geo/Suzuki heritage back to the early 80s is an oldie but a goodie, and number five on the EPA’s current list.
Surely the 1.0-liter 3-cylinder naturally aspirated mill driving the car is a keeper, as it’s been the choice for Elio Motors development mules, though now that startup is developing its own engine based on it with updates.
4. 1990-91 Honda Civic CRX HF 48.8 mpg (37 EPA)
Long before the CR-Z hybrid was its spiritual progenitor, Honda’s CRX non-hybrid – a two-seater, sporty hatchback line from the 80s and 90s.
These came in various flavors of tune from the mid-level to the hot by the times standard, Si, and the HF for high fuel efficiency.
It’s this latter with 1.5-liter four cylinder paired with manual five speed that has fans telling the EPA about it to this day.
The average is based on 13 drivers, and this car is right there with a 2015 Prius hybrid’s official rating, says these drivers.
Its official number however is much less.
3. 1990-94 Geo Metro 50.4 (47 EPA)
We can almost hear a collective hybrid-schmybrid, as 20 drivers holding onto these 20-25-year-old naturally aspirated three-bangers with a motorcycle-like displacement of 1.0-liters and five speed say their mpg beats the Prius.
Even the EPA said the car got an adjusted 47 mpg (EPA rules used to be easier and back then and the car was rated higher).
2. 2012-14 Toyota Prius – 51.1 mpg (50 EPA)
OK, never mind the cracks about hybrids (here at HybridCars.com). The world’s best-selling hybrid does make the list, and 50 drivers averaging to 51.1 mpg can’t be wrong.
Actually, they could be wrong, but Toyota’s 1.8-liter full hybrid system is known to make its EPA numbers, and 51.1 is only 1.1 above the official figure.
Drivers have been known to get above this when careful, and not driving them hard. This is a current generation-three car. Its replacement is due later this year, and has been seen road testing.
1. 2004-2006 Honda Insight – 71.4 mpg (52 EPA)
Whoa – 71.4 mpg – and this is the average of 15 drivers reporting what they they get. Some reported higher, some lower, but this is a testament to the original hybrid’s first generation.
The first Honda Insight, a 2000 model, was launched late 1999 in the U.S. ahead of the 2000 Prius and these two-passenger cars with faired-in rear wheels and 3-cylinder, 1.0-liter hybrid powertrains with five-speed manual transmission were all business. A CVT was also introduced in 2001, but the record car here is a manual.
Curb weight was a paltry 1,847 pounds. The hybrid system was the origination of Honda’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) using a pancake motor on the crankshaft to help the engine along.
A 144-volt battery pack was comprised of commercial “D” sized NiMH cells and the ECU managed the car’s operation.
The Insight was manufactured alongside the Acura NSX and S2000 in Suzuka. It was a leap forward for Honda, and IMA has been nursed along to this year, but appears due for retirement even as the originals get a reported 21 mpg better than the 2015 Prius.Lions owner Martha Firestone Ford (Photo: Salwan Georges DFP)
The Detroit Lions have hired a search firm to help find their next general manager, NFL.com reported today.
The Lions declined comment on the report, but owner Martha Ford said Thursday that the franchise planned to conduct a "national search" for replacements for team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew.
Both Lewand and Mayhew were fired last week with the Lions an NFL-worst 1-7.
"I want to assure our fans that we intend to identify and hire the very best leadership in order to produce a consistently winning football team," Ford said in a prepared statement last week. "Our fans deserve a winning football team, and we will do everything possible to make it a reality."
The expectation had been that the Lions would use a consultant or search firm, plus seek help from the NFL's career development advisory panel, to identify candidates.
Two members of that panel, Hall-of-Fame general manager Ron Wolf and Ernie Accorsi, told The Free Press last week that the Lions had not yet contacted them about assisting in the search.
Wolf, who consulted along with Charlie Casserly on the New York Jets' GM search last winter, said consultants and search firms -- Korn Ferry, led by former Michigan assistant coach Jed Hughes, is the most prominent -- identify candidates according to the criteria set forth by ownership and help run interviews.
"It's their call," Wolf said. "They're going to do it. and it's how they feel about the individual. I mean, one thing you cannot do as a consultant is ram somebody down their throat. You can't do that, because that's not what you're there for. You're there to make sure that, essentially, basically, all the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed. Not everybody's perfect. Everybody's going to have shortcomings, but it's how you wade through that."
The Lions return to practice Monday for the first time since Lewand and Mayhew were fired.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our free Lions Xtra app on your Apple and Android devices.Piazza Fontana bombing Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura building, inside of which the terrorist bombing in Piazza Fontana was carried out on 12 December 1969. (Picture taken on 12 December 2007). Location Piazza Fontana, Milan, Italy Date 12 December 1969
16:37 (UTC+1) Target Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura Attack type Mass murder, bombing Weapons Bomb Deaths 17 Non-fatal injuries 88 Perpetrators Carlo Digilio (member of Ordine Nuovo),[1] other unknown ON members
The Piazza Fontana Bombing (Italian: Strage di Piazza Fontana) was a terrorist attack that occurred on 12 December 1969 when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (National Agrarian Bank) in Piazza Fontana (some 200 metres from the Duomo) in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs were detonated in Rome and Milan, and another was found unexploded.
Piazza Fontana [ edit ]
On 25 April 1969 a bomb exploded at the Fiat booth at a Milan trade fair, in which five people were injured. There was also a bomb discovered at the city's central station. The explosion at Piazza Fontana was not the first, but part of a well-coordinated series of attacks.[2]
Victims [ edit ]
Giovanni Arnoldi Giulio China Eugenio Corsini Pietro Dendena Carlo Gaiani Calogero Galatioto Carlo Garavaglia Paolo Gerli Luigi Meloni Vittorio Mocchi Gerolamo Papetti Mario Pasi Carlo Perego Oreste Sangalli Angelo Scaglia Carlo Silva Attilio Valè
Deaths of Pinelli and Calabresi [ edit ]
The Piazza Fontana bombing was initially attributed to anarchists. After over 80 arrests were made, suspect Giuseppe Pinelli, an anarchist railway worker, died after falling from the fourth floor window of the police station where he was being held.[3] Serious discrepancies existed in the police account, which initially maintained that Pinelli had committed suicide by leaping from the window during a routine interrogation session. Three police officers interrogating Pinelli, including Commissioner Luigi Calabresi, were put under investigation in 1971 for his death, but a later inquiry filed October 25, 1975 concluded that there were no wrongdoings regarding Pinelli's death: public prosecutor Gerardo D'Ambrosio established that his fall had been caused by fainting and losing balance.[2][4]
Despite being exonerated, the far-left organisation Lotta Continua held Calabresi of being responsible for the death of Pinelli, and in 1972 he was murdered by left-wing militants in revenge. Adriano Sofri and Giorgio Pietrostefani, former leaders of Lotta Continua, were convicted of plotting Calabresi's assassination, while members Ovidio Bompressi and Leonardo Marino were sentenced for carrying it out.[5]
Official investigations and trials [ edit ]
Plaque in memory of the 17 victims of the terrorist bombing in Piazza Fontana
Anarchist Pietro Valpreda was also arrested after a taxi driver, called Cornelio Rolandi,[6] identified him as the suspicious-looking client he had taken to the bank that day. After his alibi was judged insufficient, he was held for three years in preventive detention before being sentenced for the crime. In 1987 he was acquitted by the supreme Court of Cassation for lack of evidence.[7]
The far-right Neo-fascist organization Ordine Nuovo, founded by Pino R |
September 30, 1980 as "The Ethernet, A Local Area Network. Data Link Layer and Physical Layer Specifications". This so-called DIX standard (Digital Intel Xerox) specified 10 Mbit/s Ethernet, with 48-bit destination and source addresses and a global 16-bit Ethertype-type field.[16] Version 2 was published in November, 1982[17] and defines what has become known as Ethernet II. Formal standardization efforts proceeded at the same time and resulted in the publication of IEEE 802.3 on June 23, 1983.[18]
Ethernet initially competed with Token Ring and other proprietary protocols. Ethernet was able to adapt to market realities and shift to inexpensive thin coaxial cable and then ubiquitous twisted pair wiring. By the end of the 1980s, Ethernet was clearly the dominant network technology.[5] In the process, 3Com became a major company. 3Com shipped its first 10 Mbit/s Ethernet 3C100 NIC in March 1981, and that year started selling adapters for PDP-11s and VAXes, as well as Multibus-based Intel and Sun Microsystems computers.[19]:9 This was followed quickly by DEC's Unibus to Ethernet adapter, which DEC sold and used internally to build its own corporate network, which reached over 10,000 nodes by 1986, making it one of the largest computer networks in the world at that time.[20] An Ethernet adapter card for the IBM PC was released in 1982, and, by 1985, 3Com had sold 100,000.[14] Parallel port based Ethernet adapters were produced for a time, with drivers for DOS and Windows. By the early 1990s, Ethernet became so prevalent that it was a must-have feature for modern computers, and Ethernet ports began to appear on some PCs and most workstations. This process was greatly sped up with the introduction of 10BASE-T and its relatively small modular connector, at which point Ethernet ports appeared even on low-end motherboards.
Since then, Ethernet technology has evolved to meet new bandwidth and market requirements.[21] In addition to computers, Ethernet is now used to interconnect appliances and other personal devices.[5] As Industrial Ethernet it is used in industrial applications and is quickly replacing legacy data transmission systems in the world's telecommunications networks.[22] By 2010, the market for Ethernet equipment amounted to over $16 billion per year.[23]
Standardization [ edit ]
An Intel 82574L Gigabit Ethernet NIC, PCI Express ×1 card
In February 1980, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) started project 802 to standardize local area networks (LAN).[14][24] The "DIX-group" with Gary Robinson (DEC), Phil Arst (Intel), and Bob Printis (Xerox) submitted the so-called "Blue Book" CSMA/CD specification as a candidate for the LAN specification.[16] In addition to CSMA/CD, Token Ring (supported by IBM) and Token Bus (selected and henceforward supported by General Motors) were also considered as candidates for a LAN standard. Competing proposals and broad interest in the initiative led to strong disagreement over which technology to standardize. In December 1980, the group was split into three subgroups, and standardization proceeded separately for each proposal.[14]
Delays in the standards process put at risk the market introduction of the Xerox Star workstation and 3Com's Ethernet LAN products. With such business implications in mind, David Liddle (General Manager, Xerox Office Systems) and Metcalfe (3Com) strongly supported a proposal of Fritz Röscheisen (Siemens Private Networks) for an alliance in the emerging office communication market, including Siemens' support for the international standardization of Ethernet (April 10, 1981). Ingrid Fromm, Siemens' representative to IEEE 802, quickly achieved broader support for Ethernet beyond IEEE by the establishment of a competing Task Group "Local Networks" within the European standards body ECMA TC24. On March 1982, ECMA TC24 with its corporate members reached an agreement on a standard for CSMA/CD based on the IEEE 802 draft.[19]:8 Because the DIX proposal was most technically complete and because of the speedy action taken by ECMA which decisively contributed to the conciliation of opinions within IEEE, the IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD standard was approved in December 1982.[14] IEEE published the 802.3 standard as a draft in 1983 and as a standard in 1985.[25]
Approval of Ethernet on the international level was achieved by a similar, cross-partisan action with Fromm as the liaison officer working to integrate with International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 83 (TC83) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 97 Sub Committee 6 (TC97SC6). The ISO 8802-3 standard was published in 1989.[26]
Evolution [ edit ]
Ethernet has evolved to include higher bandwidth, improved medium access control methods, and different physical media. The coaxial cable was replaced with point-to-point links connected by Ethernet repeaters or switches.[27]
Ethernet stations communicate by sending each other data packets: blocks of data individually sent and delivered. As with other IEEE 802 LANs, each Ethernet station is given a 48-bit MAC address. The MAC addresses are used to specify both the destination and the source of each data packet. Ethernet establishes link-level connections, which can be defined using both the destination and source addresses. On reception of a transmission, the receiver uses the destination address to determine whether the transmission is relevant to the station or should be ignored. A network interface normally does not accept packets addressed to other Ethernet stations.[b] Adapters come programmed with a globally unique address.[c]
An EtherType field in each frame is used by the operating system on the receiving station to select the appropriate protocol module (e.g., an Internet Protocol version such as IPv4). Ethernet frames are said to be self-identifying, because of the EtherType field. Self-identifying frames make it possible to intermix multiple protocols on the same physical network and allow a single computer to use multiple protocols together.[28] Despite the evolution of Ethernet technology, all generations of Ethernet (excluding early experimental versions) use the same frame formats.[29] Mixed-speed networks can be built using Ethernet switches and repeaters supporting the desired Ethernet variants.[30]
Due to the ubiquity of Ethernet, the ever-decreasing cost of the hardware needed to support it, and the reduced panel space needed by twisted pair Ethernet, most manufacturers now build Ethernet interfaces directly into PC motherboards, eliminating the need for installation of a separate network card.[31]
Shared media [ edit ]
Older Ethernet equipment. Clockwise from top-left: An Ethernet transceiver with an in-line 10BASE2 adapter, a similar model transceiver with a 10BASE5 adapter, an AUI cable, a different style of transceiver with 10BASE2 BNC T-connector, two 10BASE5 end fittings ( N connectors ), an orange "vampire tap" installation tool (which includes a specialized drill bit at one end and a socket wrench at the other), and an early model 10BASE5 transceiver (h4000) manufactured by DEC. The short length of yellow 10BASE5 cable has one end fitted with a N connector and the other end prepared to have a N connector shell installed; the half-black, half-grey rectangular object through which the cable passes is an installed vampire tap.
Ethernet was originally based on the idea of computers communicating over a shared coaxial cable acting as a broadcast transmission medium. The method used was similar to those used in radio systems,[d] with the common cable providing the communication channel likened to the Luminiferous aether in 19th century physics, and it was from this reference that the name "Ethernet" was derived.[32]
Original Ethernet's shared coaxial cable (the shared medium) traversed a building or campus to every attached machine. A scheme known as carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) governed the way the computers shared the channel. This scheme was simpler than competing Token Ring or Token Bus technologies.[e] Computers are connected to an Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) transceiver, which is in turn connected to the cable (with thin Ethernet the transceiver is integrated into the network adapter). While a simple passive wire is highly reliable for small networks, it is not reliable for large extended networks, where damage to the wire in a single place, or a single bad connector, can make the whole Ethernet segment unusable.[f]
Through the first half of the 1980s, Ethernet's 10BASE5 implementation used a coaxial cable 0.375 inches (9.5 mm) in diameter, later called "thick Ethernet" or "thicknet". Its successor, 10BASE2, called "thin Ethernet" or "thinnet", used the RG-58 coaxial cable. The emphasis was on making installation of the cable easier and less costly.[33]:57
Since all communication happens on the same wire, any information sent by one computer is received by all, even if that information is intended for just one destination.[g] The network interface card interrupts the CPU only when applicable packets are received: the card ignores information not addressed to it.[h] Use of a single cable also means that the data bandwidth is shared, such that, for example, available data bandwidth to each device is halved when two stations are simultaneously active.[34]
A collision happens when two stations attempt to transmit at the same time. They corrupt transmitted data and require stations to re-transmit. The lost data and re-transmission reduces throughput. In the worst case, where multiple active hosts connected with maximum allowed cable length attempt to transmit many short frames, excessive collisions can reduce throughput dramatically. However, a Xerox report in 1980 studied performance of an existing Ethernet installation under both normal and artificially generated heavy load. The report claimed that 98% throughput on the LAN was observed.[35] This is in contrast with token passing LANs (Token Ring, Token Bus), all of which suffer throughput degradation as each new node comes into the LAN, due to token waits. This report was controversial, as modeling showed that collision-based networks theoretically became unstable under loads as low as 37% of nominal capacity. Many early researchers failed to understand these results. Performance on real networks is significantly better.[36]
In a modern Ethernet, the stations do not all share one channel through a shared cable or a simple repeater hub; instead, each station communicates with a switch, which in turn forwards that traffic to the destination station. In this topology, collisions are only possible if station and switch attempt to communicate with each other at the same time, and collisions are limited to this link. Furthermore, the 10BASE-T standard introduced a full duplex mode of operation which became common with Fast Ethernet and the de facto standard with Gigabit Ethernet. In full duplex, switch and station can send and receive simultaneously, and therefore modern Ethernets are completely collision-free.
Comparison between original Ethernet and modern Ethernet
The original Ethernet implementation: shared medium, collision-prone. All computers trying to communicate share the same cable, and so compete with each other.
Modern Ethernet implementation: switched connection, collision-free. Each computer communicates only with its own switch, without competition for the cable with others.
Repeaters and hubs [ edit ]
For signal degradation and timing reasons, coaxial Ethernet segments have a restricted size.[37] Somewhat larger networks can be built by using an Ethernet repeater. Early repeaters had only two ports, allowing, at most, a doubling of network size. Once repeaters with more than two ports became available, it was possible to wire the network in a star topology. Early experiments with star topologies (called "Fibernet") using optical fiber were published by 1978.[38]
Shared cable Ethernet is always hard to install in offices because its bus topology is in conflict with the star topology cable plans designed into buildings for telephony. Modifying Ethernet to conform to twisted pair telephone wiring already installed in commercial buildings provided another opportunity to lower costs, expand the installed base, and leverage building design, and, thus, twisted-pair Ethernet was the next logical development in the mid-1980s.
Ethernet on unshielded twisted-pair cables (UTP) began with StarLAN at 1 Mbit/s in the mid-1980s. In 1987 SynOptics introduced the first twisted-pair Ethernet at 10 Mbit/s in a star-wired cabling topology with a central hub, later called LattisNet.[14][39][40] These evolved into 10BASE-T, which was designed for point-to-point links only, and all termination was built into the device. This changed repeaters from a specialist device used at the center of large networks to a device that every twisted pair-based network with more than two machines had to use. The tree structure that resulted from this made Ethernet networks easier to maintain by preventing most faults with one peer or its associated cable from affecting other devices on the network.
Despite the physical star topology and the presence of separate transmit and receive channels in the twisted pair and fiber media, repeater-based Ethernet networks still use half-duplex and CSMA/CD, with only minimal activity by the repeater, primarily generation of the jam signal in dealing with packet collisions. Every packet is sent to every other port on the repeater, so bandwidth and security problems are not addressed. The total throughput of the repeater is limited to that of a single link, and all links must operate at the same speed.
Bridging and switching [ edit ]
While repeaters can isolate some aspects of Ethernet segments, such as cable breakages, they still forward all traffic to all Ethernet devices. The entire network is one collision domain, and all hosts have to be able to detect collisions anywhere on the network. This limits the number of repeaters between the farthest nodes and creates practical limits on how many machines can communicate on an Ethernet network. Segments joined by repeaters have to all operate at the same speed, making phased-in upgrades impossible.
To alleviate these problems, bridging was created to communicate at the data link layer while isolating the physical layer. With bridging, only well-formed Ethernet packets are forwarded from one Ethernet segment to another; collisions and packet errors are isolated. At initial startup, Ethernet bridges work somewhat like Ethernet repeaters, passing all traffic between segments. By observing the source addresses of incoming frames, the bridge then builds an address table associating addresses to segments. Once an address is learned, the bridge forwards network traffic destined for that address only to the associated segment, improving overall performance. Broadcast traffic is still forwarded to all network segments. Bridges also overcome the limits on total segments between two hosts and allow the mixing of speeds, both of which are critical to incremental deployment of faster Ethernet variants.
In 1989, the networking company Kalpana[i] introduced their EtherSwitch, the first Ethernet switch.[j] Early switches such as this used cut-through switching where only the header of the incoming packet is examined before it is either dropped or forwarded to another segment.[41] This reduces the forwarding latency. One drawback of this method is that it does not readily allow a mixture of different link speeds. Another is that packets that have been corrupted are still propagated through the network. The eventual remedy for this was a return to the original store and forward approach of bridging, where the packet is read into a buffer on the switch in its entirety, its frame check sequence verified and only then packet is forwarded. This process is typically done using application-specific integrated circuits allowing packets to be forwarded at wire speed.
When a twisted pair or fiber link segment is used and neither end is connected to a repeater, full-duplex Ethernet becomes possible over that segment. In full-duplex mode, both devices can transmit and receive to and from each other at the same time, and there is no collision domain. This doubles the aggregate bandwidth of the link and is sometimes advertised as double the link speed (for example, 200 Mbit/s for Fast Ethernet).[k] The elimination of the collision domain for these connections also means that all the link's bandwidth can be used by the two devices on that segment and that segment length is not limited by the need for correct collision detection.
Since packets are typically delivered only to the port they are intended for, traffic on a switched Ethernet is less public than on shared-medium Ethernet. Despite this, switched Ethernet should still be regarded as an insecure network technology, because it is easy to subvert switched Ethernet systems by means such as ARP spoofing and MAC flooding.
The bandwidth advantages, the improved isolation of devices from each other, the ability to easily mix different speeds of devices and the elimination of the chaining limits inherent in non-switched Ethernet have made switched Ethernet the dominant network technology.[42]
Advanced networking [ edit ]
A core Ethernet switch
Simple switched Ethernet networks, while a great improvement over repeater-based Ethernet, suffer from single points of failure, attacks that trick switches or hosts into sending data to a machine even if it is not intended for it, scalability and security issues with regard to switching loops, broadcast radiation and multicast traffic, and bandwidth choke points where a lot of traffic is forced down a single link.[citation needed]
Advanced networking features in switches use shortest path bridging (SPB) or the spanning-tree protocol (STP) to maintain a loop-free, meshed network, allowing physical loops for redundancy (STP) or load-balancing (SPB). Advanced networking features also ensure port security, provide protection features such as MAC lockdown and broadcast radiation filtering, use virtual LANs to keep different classes of users separate while using the same physical infrastructure, employ multilayer switching to route between different classes, and use link aggregation to add bandwidth to overloaded links and to provide some redundancy.
Shortest path bridging includes the use of the link-state routing protocol IS-IS to allow larger networks with shortest path routes between devices. In 2012, it was stated by David Allan and Nigel Bragg, in 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging Design and Evolution: The Architect's Perspective that shortest path bridging is one of the most significant enhancements in Ethernet's history.[43]
Ethernet has replaced InfiniBand as the most popular system interconnect of TOP500 supercomputers.[44]
Varieties [ edit ]
The Ethernet physical layer evolved over a considerable time span and encompasses coaxial, twisted pair and fiber-optic physical media interfaces, with speeds from 10 Mbit/s to 100 Gbit/s, with 400 Gbit/s expected by 2018.[45] The first introduction of twisted-pair CSMA/CD was StarLAN, standardized as 802.3 1BASE5.[46] While 1BASE5 had little market penetration, it defined the physical apparatus (wire, plug/jack, pin-out, and wiring plan) that would be carried over to 10BASE-T.
The most common forms used are 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 1000BASE-T. All three use twisted pair cables and 8P8C modular connectors. They run at 10 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, and 1 Gbit/s, respectively.
Fiber optic variants of Ethernet are also very common in larger networks, offering high performance, better electrical isolation and longer distance (tens of kilometers with some versions). In general, network protocol stack software will work similarly on all varieties.
Frame structure [ edit ]
A close-up of the SMSC LAN91C110 (SMSC 91x) chip, an embedded Ethernet chip.
In IEEE 802.3, a datagram is called a packet or frame. Packet is used to describe the overall transmission unit and includes the preamble, start frame delimiter (SFD) and carrier extension (if present).[l] The frame begins after the start frame delimiter with a frame header featuring source and destination MAC addresses and the EtherType field giving either the protocol type for the payload protocol or the length of the payload. The middle section of the frame consists of payload data including any headers for other protocols (for example, Internet Protocol) carried in the frame. The frame ends with a 32-bit cyclic redundancy check, which is used to detect corruption of data in transit.[47]:sections 3.1.1 and 3.2 Notably, Ethernet packets have no time-to-live field, leading to possible problems in the presence of a switching loop.
Autonegotiation [ edit ]
Autonegotiation is the procedure by which two connected devices choose common transmission parameters, e.g. speed and duplex mode. Autonegotiation is an optional feature, first introduced with 100BASE-TX, while it is also backward compatible with 10BASE-T. Autonegotiation is mandatory for 1000BASE-T and faster.
Error conditions [ edit ]
Switching loop [ edit ]
A switching loop or bridge loop occurs in computer networks when there is more than one Layer 2 (OSI model) path between two endpoints (e.g. multiple connections between two network switches or two ports on the same switch connected to each other). The loop creates broadcast storms as broadcasts and multicasts are forwarded by switches out every port, the switch or switches will repeatedly rebroadcast the broadcast messages flooding the network. Since the Layer 2 header does not support a time to live (TTL) value, if a frame is sent into a looped topology, it can loop forever.
A physical topology that contains switching or bridge loops is attractive for redundancy reasons, yet a switched network must not have loops. The solution is to allow physical loops, but create a loop-free logical topology using the shortest path bridging (SPB) protocol or the older spanning tree protocols (STP) on the network switches.
Jabber [ edit ]
A node that is sending longer than the maximum transmission window for an Ethernet packet is considered to be jabbering. Depending on the physical topology, jabber detection and remedy differ somewhat.
An MAU is required to detect and stop abnormally long transmission from the DTE (longer than 20–150 ms) in order to prevent permanent network disruption. [48]
On an electrically shared medium (10BASE5, 10BASE2, 1BASE5), jabber can only be detected by each end node, stopping reception. No further remedy is possible. [49]
A repeater/repeater hub uses a jabber timer that ends retransmission to the other ports when it expires. The timer runs for 25,000 to 50,000 bit times for 1 Mbit/s, [50] 40,000 to 75,000 bit times for 10 and 100 Mbit/s, [51] [52] and 80,000 to 150,000 bit times for 1 Gbit/s. [53] Jabbering ports are partitioned off the network until a carrier is no longer detected. [54]
40,000 to 75,000 bit times for 10 and 100 Mbit/s, and 80,000 to 150,000 bit times for 1 Gbit/s. Jabbering ports are partitioned off the network until a carrier is no longer detected. End nodes utilizing a MAC layer will usually detect an oversized Ethernet frame and cease receiving. A bridge/switch will not forward the frame. [55]
A non-uniform frame size configuration in the network using jumbo frames may be detected as jabber by end nodes.
A packet detected as jabber by an upstream repeater and subsequently cut off has an invalid frame check sequence and is dropped.
Runt frames [ edit ]
Runts are packets or frames smaller than the minimum allowed size. They are dropped and not propagated.
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^ [12] By software convention, the 16 bits after the destination and source address fields specify a "packet type", but, as the paper says, "different protocols use disjoint sets of packet types". Thus the original packet types could vary within each different protocol. This is in contrast to the The experimental Ethernet described in the 1976 paper ran at 2.94 Mbit/s and has eight-bit destination and source address fields, so the original Ethernet addresses are not the MAC addresses they are today.By software convention, the 16 bits after the destination and source address fields specify a "packet type", but, as the paper says, "different protocols use disjoint sets of packet types". Thus the original packet types could vary within each different protocol. This is in contrast to the EtherType in the IEEE Ethernet standard, which specifies the protocol being used. ^ Unless it is put into promiscuous mode ^ In some cases, the factory-assigned address can be overridden, either to avoid an address change when an adapter is replaced or to use locally administered addresses ^ There are fundamental differences between wireless and wired shared-medium communication, such as the fact that it is much easier to detect collisions in a wired system than a wireless system. ^ In a CSMA/CD system packets must be large enough to guarantee that the leading edge of the propagating wave of a message gets to all parts of the medium and back again before the transmitter stops transmitting, guaranteeing that collisions (two or more packets initiated within a window of time that forced them to overlap) are discovered. As a result, the minimum packet size and the physical medium's total length are closely linked. ^ Multipoint systems are also prone to strange failure modes when an electrical discontinuity reflects the signal in such a manner that some nodes would work properly, while others work slowly because of excessive retries or not at all. See standing wave for an explanation. These could be much more difficult to diagnose than a complete failure of the segment. ^ This "one speaks, all listen" property is a security weakness of shared-medium Ethernet, since a node on an Ethernet network can eavesdrop on all traffic on the wire if it so chooses. ^ Unless it is put into promiscuous mode ^ acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc. in 1994 ^ The term switch was invented by device manufacturers and does not appear in the IEEE 802.3 standard. ^ This is misleading, as performance will double only if traffic patterns are symmetrical. ^ The carrier extension is defined to assist collision detection on shared-media gigabit Ethernet.
References [ edit ]Santa Cruz Crossover Truck Concept (Photo: Hyundai)
Hyundai researchers have been quizzing buyers to figure out what's missing from today's vehicles. One potential answer: A small pickup like the striking Santa Cruz concept car that's making the rounds at auto shows.
As Hyundai's model line has grown, opportunities to increase sales have shrunk. The Korean automaker can no longer count on adding 100,000 US sales simply by moving into a popular market segment where it doesn't compete.
Having picked the low-hanging fruit, Hyundai changed its focus from new types of vehicles to ask buyers what's missing from current vehicles.
"We're looking to step outside the traditional vehicle segments," Hyundai product planning manager Brandon Ramirez told me. A number of customers said they don't like putting dirty cargo inside their shiny new SUVs. Hyundai responded with sketches that would become the Santa Cruz concept, a compact pickup with a small rear seat and short bed.
Santa Cruz Crossover Truck Concept (Photo: Hyundai)
The Santa Cruz debuted in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Hyundai's a
"The response has been good so far," Ramirez said. The Santa Cruz wouldn't try to compete with traditional pickups, but to poach customers from small SUVs like the Honda CR-V and Nissan Rogue.sking customers about it at other auto shows, including the just-ended Chicago show and April New York show.
The research will tell Hyundai if enough customers agree to put that plan into action.
In the meantime, Hyundai will soon add an entry-level SUV smaller than its Tucson to compete with models like the Chevrolet Trax, Fiat 500X Honda HR-V and Mazda CX-3.
Santa Cruz Crossover Truck Concept (Photo: Hyundai)
Hyundai doesn't sell a minivan, but the brand's executives show no interest in adding one, apparently satisfied to leave that niche to their corporate cousin Kia.
Contact Mark Phelan: mmphelan@freepress.com or 313-222-6731. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1Bs0uTrDexter Blackstock joined Nottingham Forest from QPR in 2009
Dexter Blackstock's late goal earned Nottingham Forest a point at Wolves, who have gone more than two months without a win at Molineux.
Ethan Ebanks-Landell powerfully nodded home Jordan Graham's superb free-kick to give Wolves an early lead.
Forest's Chris O'Grady had a goal ruled out for offside in the first half.
Clear-cut chances remained few and far between after the break before substitute Blackstock volleyed home Henri Lansbury's corner.
Kevin McDonald almost snatched victory for the hosts five minutes from time with a stinging volley from the edge of the box which was bravely headed clear by Daniel Pinillos.
It was an often tense and edgy atmosphere in front of a home crowd who have not seen Wolves win since 3 October.
However, local boy Ebanks-Landell gave Kenny Jackett's men the ideal start when he rose highest to head in the impressive Graham's pinpoint cross after 15 minutes.
Ethan Ebanks-Landell heads in to put Wolves in front
Forest, who struggled to show a sustained attacking threat, created their first chance when a jinking run from Nelson Oliveira set up O'Grady to tap home, but the striker was a couple of yards offside.
Wolves dominated the opening stages of the second half as Ebanks-Landell headed another fine Graham corner wide, but they were made to pay for not extending their advantage.
Blackstock, who had only come onto the pitch moments earlier, stole in at the far post to clinically finish past Carl Ikeme.
Wolves remain 14th in the Championship having drawn four of their past five games, while Forest stay in 15th.
Wolves manager Kenny Jackett:
Media playback is not supported on this device Jackett on Wolves v Nottingham Forest
"The performance was good and if you are looking at the last five games we haven't lost any - but we have only won one and drawn four.
"The effort of the players was very good and at times there was some quality football as well.
"But ultimately we are frustrated because we want wins and the gap between one point and three is costing us at the moment.
"We don't feel we are far away. We are not a poor side but we need to find that edge to put sides away and capitalise on when we do have the lead."
Nottingham Forest boss Dougie Freedman:
Media playback is not supported on this device Dougie Freedman on Wolves v Forest
"I was very proud of this performance tonight because it is something we have been developing, coming back from setbacks.
"We showed resilience when we had to because I thought Wolves gave it a right good go in the middle part of the game.
"The reason that we got a well-deserved point was because we started with a lot of confidence in the first 15 or 20 minutes, when I think they scored against the run of play.
"Then in the last 15 minutes we really showed that energy and aggressiveness which got us a fair result. So I come away from here very pleased with how we played."
It was Ebanks-Landell's first goal of the season
Kenny Jackett has not seen Wolves win at Molineux since a 3-0 victory against Huddersfield
Forest ended a run of four straight away defeatsTLDR - Lord You Talk Too Much Drew - Executive Summary
It looks like no, Steel cut oats don't necessarily need to be pre-cooked to use in a mash, but judging by the results I saw - it still helps.
For Those Who Like To Read
I am a huge fan of oats in beer as listeners of the podcast will discover shortly. I tend to use them in a lot of places, because why not. It's probably because I'm part Scottish or something. (honestly family lineages are so screwy who can tell)
Anywho.. digressions aside. The second episode of the Brew Files - The Crushable Cream Ale, led to me getting tagged on a Facebook homebrewing post about steel cut oats. (Homebrewers Roundtable is a closed group, so you'll need to ask to be a member of the group.)
Namely, can they just be mashed like normal or should you cook them first? I got tagged because listener Paul Galardy suggested - "maybe they should be cereal mashed and you can hear Drew drone on about it here" (Paul was nicer than my editorializing!)
The question comes - well, the tables that are out there say oats gelatinize at temps lower than mash temps (~125-144F) Basically for oats, that's the range in which the starches bust out of their cages and go racing free into the soaking liquid. Different cereal grains gelatinize at different temps. You can see from the photo I borrowed from Adam, oats, rye, wheat all happily gooify below saccharification temps. Corn and rice, on the other hand, do not. So that's why when we talk about Cream Ale (or American Light Lager), you have to talk about pre-cooking the grain.
But not all grain types are equal. I would bet good money that the majority of people think of oats as looking like this.
Those are flaked oats and they're versitile and wonderful to use. Big thing about flaked grains in general - they're already gelatinized - hit them with hot water and the starches are free to disperse. That's why so many brewers will use flaked corn or flaked rice. Less work!
But steel cut oats are a little different, they're little pieces, but they haven't been pre-cooked and when made for breakfast, they take a good long while to cook. Is a regular mash hot enough and long enough to hydrate the cereal and get the starch into solution to be enzymatically transformed to sugary good times? See what they look like? (For more information about oat forms - check out this kitchn article)
Steel Cut Oats - Plus Look 20+ years later and sexy knife scar still on the pinky!
The "Experiment"
To answer the question at hand, I set up a quick and dirty experiment - two mason jars, 1 sous vide circulator, 1 quart water per jar and ~0.8lbs of domestic 2-row and oats split 50/50. This would put us close to the traditional 1.25 quarts/lb mash ratio many homebrewers use.
Process
Seems so ridiculously tiny, but there you are one pound of Great Western 2-Row
Grind The Barley.
I ground a pound of barley through my lovely MM3 mill to produce a nice even crush.
Crush Your Barley!
Weigh In:
I weighed out 6.4 oz of two row and oats for each jar. This 50/50 ratio is well above what all but the most fool hardy brewers would use, but what the heck. Let's push this
Weighing in at 6.4oz - The Main Show - US 2-Row
And in this corner - 6.4 oz of Steel Cut Oats
Pre-Heating Jars
When the dumb idea occurred to me, I grabbed my half gallon mason jars, added one quart of water and threw them into a Cambro with my Anova circulator (newer model in link, my old one is discontinued). I set the circulator to 152F and walked away for an hour to let the jars and water heat through.
The Soak
With the water at temp, I mixed the grist into the water and let it soak in the warm bath. Now this is arguably the tactical error I made with the setup. The grains dropped the temps into the high 130's. To compensate, I let the jars run for 2 hours in the water bath. The first hour was all a slow ramp to 152F and the last hour was the "mash rest" for conversion. Turns out this is about as ideal a scenario as you could get for hydrating the steel cut oats. (Next time, I'll heat the strike water separately and then dose into the pre-heated jars.)
Time and Temperature Doing It's Thing
Play with the Hugo While Waiting for the Sciencing to Resume
The Lauter
Take one fine mesh strainer, one giant Rubbermaid pitcher and strain. Each set of grain was allowed to drain. I let the wort drain for about 10 minutes after which we'd collected at least a pint of wort. (In theory we should have collected about 1.2 pints per sample, but I wasn't being finicky here.)
High Tech!
The Settle
I decided it was best to let some of the massive protein charge in these worts settle first before taking a sample. Oats sure do throw some gunk don't they. Interestingly that even after an hour, the flaked oats were still messy as all get out. For the record, yes, the fine mesh strainer is a coarser separation mechanism than our usual gear.
After lautering both. The Steel Cut on the left has a 10 minute head start, but it's clarity was always leaps and bounds. See next pic
One Hour Later - Steel Cut on Left is still much, much clearer
The Tests
I decided to subject the samples to four tests.
Mash Taste Test: How did the mash taste? Sweet? Dry?
How did the mash taste? Sweet? Dry? Iodine Starch Conversion : Was there free floating starch in the wort. (The iodine test isn't exact, but it's a good rough measure)
: Was there free floating starch in the wort. (The iodine test isn't exact, but it's a good rough measure) Original Gravity: How much sugar did we get?
How much sugar did we get? Wort Taste Test: How did the wort taste?
The Results:
Steel Cut Oats:
Mash Taste: Oats themselves are soft, but still with a bit of tooth. Some noticable sweetness left in the mash. Remove the barley husk from this and I could totally see this being a Scotsman's breakfast. (I would seriously eat it)
Oats themselves are soft, but still with a bit of tooth. Some noticable sweetness left in the mash. Remove the barley husk from this and I could totally see this being a Scotsman's breakfast. (I would seriously eat it) Iodine: The test showed complete conversion and with the wort being clearer, there was no confusion to the readings - iodine went in iodine colored and stayed iodine color
The test showed complete conversion and with the wort being clearer, there was no confusion to the readings - iodine went in iodine colored and stayed iodine color OG : ~15.2B (aka 15.2P), compared to the theoretical max of 27.5P means we gathered to the wort ~55.3% of the sugar. This is less than the Flaked (see |
at military bases on foreign soil). Having a child by a member of a belligerent force, throughout history and across cultures, is often considered a grave betrayal of social values. Commonly, the native parent (usually a woman) is disowned by family, friends, and society at large. The term "war child" is most commonly used for children born during World War II and its aftermath, particularly in relation to children born to fathers in German occupying forces in northern Europe. In Norway, there were also Lebensborn children.
It is also applied to other situations, such as children born following the widespread rapes during the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities associated with the war of liberation. The discrimination suffered by the native parent and child in the postwar period did not take into account widespread rapes by occupying forces, or the relationships women had to form in order to survive the war years.
Discrimination [ edit ]
Children with a parent who was part of an occupying force, or whose parent(s) collaborated with enemy forces, are innocent of any war crimes committed by parents. Yet these children have often been condemned by descent from the enemy and discriminated against in their society. They also suffer from association with a parent whose war crimes are prosecuted in the postwar years. As such children grew to adolescence and adulthood, many harbored feelings of guilt and shame.
An example are the children born during and after World War II whose fathers were military personnel in regions occupied by Nazi-Germany. These children claim they lived with their identity in an inner exile until the 1980s, when some of them officially acknowledged their status. In 1987, Bente Blehr refused anonymity; an interview with her was published in Born Guilty, a collection of 12 interviews with persons whose parent(s) had been associated with German forces in occupied Norway. The first autobiography by the child of a German occupying soldier and Norwegian mother was The Boy from Gimle (1993) by Eystein Eggen; he dedicated his book to all such children. It was published in Norway.
During and in the aftermath of war, women who have voluntary relationships with military personnel of an occupying force have historically been censured by their own society. Women who became pregnant from such unions would often take measures to conceal the father's status.
They commonly chose among the following:
Arrange a marriage with a local man, who would take responsibility for the child
Claim the father was unknown, dead, or had left, and bring up the child as a single mother
Acknowledge the relationship; bring up the child as a single mother
Acknowledge the relationship; accept welfare from the occupying force (see the German Lebensborn)
Place the child in an orphanage or give the child up for adoption
Emigrate to the occupying country and claim that identity
Have an abortion
After the war, it was common for both mother and child to suffer repercussions from the local population. Such repercussions were widespread throughout Europe. While some women and children suffered torture and deportation, most acts against them fell into one or several of the following categories:
Name calling: German whore and German kid were common labels
and were common labels Isolation or harassment from the local community and at schools
Loss of work
Shaving the heads of the mothers (frequently done in the immediate aftermath of the war) in order to publicly identify and shame them
Temporary placement in confinement or internment camps
While repercussions were most widespread immediately after the war, sentiments against the women and their children lingered into the 1950s, 60s, and beyond.
War children of World War II [ edit ]
Estimates of the number of war children fathered by German soldiers during World War II are difficult to gauge. Mothers tended to hide such pregnancies for fear of revenge and reprisal by male family members. Lower estimates range in the hundreds of thousands, while upper estimates are much increased, into the millions.[1][2]
Lebensborn program [ edit ]
Lebensborn birth house birth house
Lebensborn was one of several programs initiated by the Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler to try to secure the racial heredity of the Third Reich. The program mainly served as a welfare institution for parents and children deemed racially valuable, initially, those of SS men. As German forces occupied nations in northern Europe, the organization expanded its program to provide care to suitable women and children, particularly in Norway, where the women were judged suitably Aryan.[citation needed]
In Norway a local Lebensborn office, Abteilung Lebensborn, was established in 1941 to support children of German soldiers and their Norwegian mothers, pursuant to German law (Hitlers Verordnung, 28 July 1942). The organization ran several homes where pregnant women could give birth. Facilities also served as permanent homes for eligible women until the end of the war. Additionally, the organization paid child support on behalf of the father, and covered other expenses, including medical bills, dental treatment and transportation.[citation needed]
In total, between 9 and 15 Lebensborn homes were established. Of the estimated 10,000–12,000 children born to Norwegian mothers and German fathers during the war, 8,000 were registered by Abteilung Lebensborn. In 4,000 of these cases, the father is known. The women were encouraged to give the children up for adoption, and many were transferred to Germany, where they were adopted or raised in orphanages.[citation needed]
During and after the war, the Norwegians commonly referred to these children as tyskerunger, translating as "German-kids" or "Kraut kids", a derogatory term. As a result of later recognition of their post-war mistreatment, the more diplomatic term krigsbarn (war-children) came into use and is now the generally accepted form.[citation needed]
Post-war years [ edit ]
As the war ended, the children and their mothers were made outcasts by many among the general populace in formerly occupied countries, as societies grieved and resented the losses of the war, and actively rejected everything associated with Germany. The children and their mothers were often isolated socially, and many children were bullied by other children, and sometimes by adults, due to their origin.[citation needed]
For instance, immediately after the peace, 14,000 women were arrested in Norway on suspicion of "collaboration" or association with the enemy; 5,000 were, without any judiciary process, placed in forced labor camps for a year and a half.[3] Their heads were shaved, and they were beaten and raped.[3][4] In an interview for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, war children claim that, while living at an orphanage in Bergen, they were forced as children to parade on the streets so the local population could whip them and spit at them.[3]
In a survey conducted by the Norwegian Ministry of Social Affairs in 1945, the local government in one third of the counties expressed an unfavorable view of the war children. The same year the Ministry of Social Affairs briefly explored the possibility of reuniting the children and their mothers with surviving fathers in post-war Germany, but decided against this.[citation needed]
Five hundred children who were still cared for in Lebensborn facilities at the end of the war had to leave as the homes were closed down. Some children were left to state custody, during a time when such care was marked by strict rules, insufficient education, and abuse. Approximately 20 children ended up in a mental institution in 1946, due to lack of space in other institutions and unsuccessful adoption attempts. Some remained there past their eighteenth birthdays.[citation needed]
Due to the political attitudes prevailing after the end of the war, the Norwegian government made proposals to forcibly deport 8000 children and their mothers to Germany, but there were concerns that the deportees would have no means of livelihood there. Another option was to send them to Sweden. Australia was also considered after the Swedish government declined to accept these people; the Norwegian government later shelved such proposals.[5]
Financial and legal issues [ edit ]
In 1950, diplomatic relations improved so that the Norwegian government was able to collect child support from identified fathers of war children who were living in West Germany and Austria. As of 1953 such payments were made. Child support from fathers living in East Germany was kept in locked accounts until diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1975.[citation needed]
Some of the war children have tried to obtain official recognition for past mistreatment. Supporters claim the discrimination against them equated to an attempt at genocide. In December 1999, 122 war children filed a claim in the Norwegian courts for the failure of the state to protect them as Norwegian citizens. The case was to test the boundaries of the law; seven persons signed the claim. The courts have ruled such suits as void due to the statute of limitations.[citation needed]
The law of Norway allows citizens who have experienced neglect or mistreatment by failure of the state to apply for "simple compensation" (an arrangement that is not subject to the statute of limitations). In July 2004 the government expanded this compensation program to include war children who had experienced lesser difficulties. The basic compensation rate is set to 20,000 NOK (€2,500 / $3,000) for what Norwegian government terms "mobbing" (bullying). Those who can document other abuse can receive up to 200,000 NOK (25,000 € / $30,000).
On 8 March 2007, 158 war children were to have their case heard at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. They demanded reparations of between 500,000 SEK (≈ 431,272 NOK) and 2,000,000 SEK (≈ 1,725,088 NOK) each for systematic abuse. The Norwegian government contested the claim that the children were abused with the consent of the government.[6] In 2008 their case before the European Court of Human Rights was dismissed, but they were each offered a £8,000 token from the Norwegian government.[7][8]
Medical experimentation [ edit ]
In conjunction with the 1999 claim by the war children, a motion was filed in September 2000 alleging that 10 war children were subject to experiments with LSD approved by the Norwegian government and financed by the CIA, the American intelligence agency.[9][10][11]
In the postwar years, medical staff in several European countries, and the United States, conducted clinical trials or experimental treatment involving LSD, most of them at some point between 1950 and 1970. In Norway, trials involved volunteer patients under a protocol after traditional medical treatments had proved unsuccessful.[11]
Acknowledgment and apology [ edit ]
Since the mid-80s, the fate of the war children has become well known in Norway. The government of Norway has acknowledged its neglect of them. The Prime Minister of Norway apologized publicly in his New Year's Eve speech in 2000. As adults, the 150 former Lebensborn Children are suing for reparations and damages from the Norwegian government for failing to protect them and discriminating against them.[12]
The most famous of Norway's war children is Anni-Frid Lyngstad, the former ABBA singer. By marriage she is Princess Anni-Frid Reuss of Plauen.
Norway [ edit ]
German forces invaded Norway in 1940 and occupied the country until 1945. At the end of the war, the German forces stood at 372,000. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 children were born to Norwegian mothers with German partners during the occupation.[13] As Nazi ideology considered Norwegians to be pure Aryans, German authorities did not prohibit soldiers from pursuing relationships with Norwegian women. Their Lebensborn organization encouraged it.
After the war these women especially, but also their children, were mistreated in Norway.
Denmark [ edit ]
German forces occupied Denmark between 1940 and 1945. German soldiers were encouraged to fraternize with Danish women, who were also considered pure Aryan. The government has estimated between 6,000 and 8,000 children were born to Danish mothers with German partners during or just after the occupation. The women were nicknamed "German Girls," used in a pejorative sense. The Danish government has documented 5,579 such children.[14]
In 1999 the Danish government allowed this group access to parenthood archives. They exempted these descendants from the country's normal secrecy period of 80 years for such records.
France [ edit ]
German soldiers were forbidden from having relationships with French women by the Nazi regime at the beginning of the Occupation. Due to difficulties of enforcement, the military later tolerated fraternization. This was an intermediate situation between the encouragement of similar relationships in Denmark and Norway, and strict prohibition in Eastern Europe. The different regulations were based on Nazi racial ideology as to which populations they considered racially pure enough as to be desirable for children born to their men.[15]
The number of war children born to French women in France by German soldier fathers in the years 1941–49, is estimated to be 75,000 to 200,000.[16][17] After the expulsion of German troops from France, those women who were known to have had relationships with German soldiers, were arrested, "judged," and exposed in the streets to public condemnation and attacks. Having their heads shaved in public to mark them was a common punishment.[18] Such descendants have formed a group to represent them, Amicale Nationale des Enfants de la Guerre. Another group of French, German and Austrian children of war exists under the name of Coeurs sans frontières - Herzen ohne Grenzen.'
Finland [ edit ]
Not to be confused with Finnish war children, children who were evacuated from Finland during World War II.
During the wartime and the post-war period, Finnish women gave birth to 468,269 children in Finland in the period 1940–1945. A small portion, about 1,100 of the children, were fathered by foreign troops. Some 700 children were born to German soldiers, 200–300 to Soviet POWs, and 100 to Swedish volunteers. Depending much on the foreign father's background, most of these children were left fatherless, and some of the mothers, along with their children, faced discrimination in the Finnish society.[19][20]
German soldiers [ edit ]
Following the revision of the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1941, there were no more than 200,000 German soldiers in Finland, the vast majority of them stationed in the Finnish Lapland in the period 1941–1944. According to the National Archives of Finland, as many as 3,000 Finnish women, some working for the voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organisation Lotta Svärd and some for the Wehrmacht, had relationships with German soldiers. An estimated 700 children were born to German soldiers in Finland, and were mostly unplanned.[21] Many German soldiers were aware of safe sex and the Wehrmacht kept them well-equipped with condoms, which has been estimated to effectively keep a relatively low impregnation rate for the Finnish women who had sexual intercourse with German soldiers. A booklet published by the OKW in 1943, Der deutsche Soldat und die Frau aus fremdem Volkstum, allowed German soldiers to marry those Finnish women who could be considered to represent the "Aryan race," hinting that there was some uncertainty among Nazi authorities about ethnic Finns' "genetic suitability."[19]
Finland was a co-belligerent (1941–44) of Germany until the beginning of the Lapland War (1944–45), a war fought between Germany and Finland. During the Lapland War, in the autumn of 1944 alone, some 1,000 Finnish women, two-thirds of them aging from 17 to 24, left the country and stood with German soldiers. The reasons for leaving the country with the enemy varied, but the most common reason was a relationship with a German soldier. Subsequently, most of these women returned to Finland, as their presence was commonly unwelcomed in Germany and some faced active mistreatment, such as forced labor.[22] After the war, most of the Finnish mothers that had children with German soldiers were left as single parents. Some of these children were adopted by the Finnish men who married the children's mothers.
Some Finnish women who were associated with German soldiers faced discrimination in the Finnish society. The discrimination was not generally as harsh as other European women experienced elsewhere for the same reason, mostly due to the concept of a "Finnish-German brotherhood-in-arms" during the co-belligerence and their shared mutual enmity with the Soviet Union. Some Soviet POWs captured by the Finns were also intimately involved with Finnish women, a situation considered far more socially unacceptable and deserving of censure (see the section below). However the children fathered by German soldiers still encountered discrimination in their youth.[20]
Soviet prisoners of war [ edit ]
During the wartime, there were about 69,700 Soviet POWs in Finland, of which 5,700 were taken in the Winter War (1939–40) and 64,000 in the Continuation War (1941–44). Some POWs' living conditions were relatively good, as, at best, some 15,000 of them were placed on farms, where they were used as forced labor, usually working rather freely together with Finnish civilians, some of them having relationships with Finnish women. An estimated 600 Finnish women had relationships with Soviet POWs, and 200–300 children were born to POWs and Finnish women.[23] These women's backgrounds varied: some were unmarried, while others were widowed by the war. Some relationships were adulterous, as some of the women were married to Finnish soldiers who were absent at the time. The usage of condoms was scarce, partially due to the lack of their availability to POWs, and partially due to the lack of rural Finnish women's awareness of condom usage. After the Moscow Armistice, Finland started to return the surviving POWs to the Soviet Union, and most of the Finnish mothers that had children with POWs were left as single parents. Some of the mothers married Finnish men afterwards.[19][20][24]
Relationships between native women and ethnic Russian POWs were especially disapproved of in Finnish society, much more so than similar relationships with German soldiers and with POWs from other ethnic groups, such as Finno-Ugric peoples. A strong factor behind this increased censure was the long-lasting anti-Russian sentiment in Finland (ryssäviha in Finnish). Some women's heads were shaved for allegedly having relationships with Russian POWs. Pejorative terms such as ryssän heila (ryssä's girlfriend, the word ryssä being a common Finnish slur for a Russian) and ryssän huora (ryssä's whore) were widely used. The children fathered by Soviet POWs also faced discrimination in their youth, such as bullying in school.[19][20]
Swedish volunteers [ edit ]
Overall there were about 11,000 Swedish volunteers who fought for Finland at some point during the wartime. During the Winter War, Swedish volunteers numbered 9,640 and during the Continuation war, there were over 1,600 Swedish volunteers, of which about a third had previously participated in the Winter War. About 100 children were born to Finnish women and Swedish volunteers. Often these women moved to Sweden with their children.
Greece [ edit ]
Little is known about the Greek Wehrmacht children, since it is still an issue surrounded by taboo in Greece, but Greek children of Wehrmacht soldiers are known to have been subjected to public humiliation. Frequently, they were called "Germanobastardos" (Greek for "German bastard"). The mothers were discriminated against as well, and the children suffered both due to having a stigmatized mother and frequently an unknown father. Quite often, the mothers blamed the children for their bad situation.[25] There is no official record of these children, but researchers estimate their number to be at least 200. The relatively low number, some authors argue, was because only a small proportion of pregnancies resulted in births, due to the mothers' fears of discrimination.[26] Abortions were easily accessible in Greece at that time, and the Orthodox Church encouraged silence on the matter and assisted women in obtaining abortions.[27]
Netherlands [ edit ]
The Nazis considered the women of the Netherlands to be Aryan and acceptable for fraternization by German soldiers. The Dutch Institute for War Documentation originally estimated that around 10,000 children by German fathers were born to Dutch mothers during the occupation. However, recent figures, based on newly available records at the archives of the German Wehrmacht (name of the German armed forces from 1935–45), indicate that the true number could be as high as 50,000.[28]
Post-war children [ edit ]
Fathered by Allied Forces in Germany [ edit ]
The Allied forces occupied Germany for several years after World War II. The book GIs and Fräuleins, by Maria Hohn, documents 66,000 German children born to fathers who were soldiers of Allied forces in the period 1945–55:
American parent: 36,334
French parent: 10,188
British parent: 8,397
Soviet parent: 3,105
Belgian parent: 1,767
Other/unknown: 6,829
American [ edit ]
According to Perry Biddiscombe,[29] more than 37,000 illegitimate children were sired by American fathers in the 10 years following the German surrender (in general agreement with Hohn's numbers cited above). Locals generally disapproved of any relations between the occupation forces and German and Austrian women. Not only were the Americans the recent enemy, but the residents feared the American fathers would abandon the mothers and children to be cared for by the local communities, which were severely impoverished after the war. A majority of the 37,000 illegitimate children ended up as wards of the social services for at least some time. Many of the children remained wards of the state for a long time, especially children of African-American fathers. The mixed-race children, called "brown children", were seldom adopted in what was then a very racially homogeneous country. Arrangements were made for some such children to be adopted by African-American couples or families in the United States.
The food situation in occupied Germany was initially very dire. By the spring of 1946, the official ration in the US zone was no more than 1275 calories per day (much less than the minimum required to maintain health), with some areas probably receiving as little as 700. Some US soldiers exploited this desperate situation to their advantage, using their ample supply of food and cigarettes (the currency of the black market) as what became known as "frau bait".[30] Each side continued to view the other as the enemy, even while exchanging food for sex.[29] The often destitute mothers of the resulting children usually received no alimony.
Between 1950 and 1955, the Allied High Commission for Germany prohibited "proceedings to establish paternity or liability for maintenance of children."[31] Even after the lifting of the ban, West German courts had little power to gain child support from American soldiers.
The children of black American soldiers, commonly called Negermischlinge ("Negro half-breeds"), were particularly disadvantaged. Even in the cases where the soldier wanted to marry the mother of his child, he was prevented by the US Army, which prohibited any interracial marriages until 1948, when the Army was integrated by Executive Order of President Harry Truman.[31]
In the earliest stages of the occupation, American soldiers were not allowed to pay maintenance for children they admitted having fathered, the military classifying any such assistance as "aiding the enemy". Marriages between white US soldiers and Austrian women were prohibited until January 1946, and with German women until December 1946.[29]
The official United States policy on war children was summed up in the Stars and Stripes on 8 April 1946, in the article "Pregnant Frauleins Are Warned!":
Girls who are expecting a child fathered by an American soldier will be provided with no assistance by the American Army... If the soldier denies paternity, no further action will be undertaken other than to merely inform the woman of this fact. She is to be advised to seek help from a German or Austrian welfare organization. If the soldier is already in the United States, his address is not to be communicated to the woman in question, the soldier may be honorably discharged from the army and his demobilization will in no way be delayed. Claims for child support from unmarried German and Austrian mothers will not be recognized. If the soldier voluntarily acknowledges paternity, he is to provide for the woman in an appropriate manner.[29]
British [ edit ]
British troops also occupied a portion of what later was organized as West Germany. Fraternisation between soldiers and local German women was discouraged by British authorities because of the status of Germans as the enemy during the war.
Notable children of British servicemen and German mothers include Lewis Holtby, Kevin Kerr, Maik Taylor and David McAllister.
Canadian [ edit ]
Canada declared war on Germany in 1939, following Britain's war declaration the week before. During the war Canadian forces participated in the Allied invasions of both Italy and Normandy. Before the invasion of continental Europe, a significant number of Canadian forces were stationed in Britain.
An estimated 22,000 children were born to British mothers and Canadian soldiers stationed in Britain. In continental Europe, it has been estimated that 6,000 were born to Canadian fathers in the Netherlands, with smaller numbers born in Belgium and other places where Canadian forces were stationed during and after the war.[32]
A famous example is Eric Clapton.
In the following countries [ edit ]
Netherlands [ edit ]
On liberation, many Dutch women welcomed the Allied troops and had relationships that resulted in babies; these were called 'Liberation babies'.[33] It is estimated that about 4,000 "liberation babies" were fathered by Canadian soldiers before they left the area in early 1946.
Austria [ edit ]
In Austria, war children ("Russenkind") by known Russian fathers of the occupation were discriminated against, as were their mothers.
The Austrians also resented women who had relations with American soldiers, calling them 'Yanks' chicks' (»Amischickse«) or 'Dollar sluts' (»Dollarflitscherl«) and, in the case of those who had relations with black soldiers, 'chocolate girl' (»Schokoladenmädchen«).[34] In April 1946, the Stars and Stripes newspaper warned "pregnant Fräuleins" that military authorities would provide no assistance to them or their children if the fathers were US soldiers. The paper said that a ""Strength Through Joy" girl who ate from the forbidden fruit should accept the consequences," referring to a Nazi slogan.[34]
In coordination with American groups, an Austrian welfare program was started after the war to send the mixed-race children of Austrian/African-American parents to the United States for adoption by African-American families. The children by then ranged in age from 4 to 7 years.[34]
Amerasians [ edit ]
Probably more than 100,000 children have been born to Asian mothers and US servicemen in Asia. This occurred chiefly during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Some of these children were born to mothers raped by men living on several US military bases in the region since World War II. Collectively these children are known as Amerasians, a term coined by the author Pearl S. Buck.
Lai Đại Hàn [ edit ]
The term Lai Dai Han (or sometimes Lai Daihan/Lai Tai Han) is a Vietnamese term for a mixed ancestry person born to a South Korean father and a Vietnamese mother, including the victims of sexual assault by Korean soldiers, during the Vietnam War. Lai Dai Han often live at the margins of Vietnamese society.
The exact number of Lai Daihan is unknown. According to Busan Ilbo, there are at least 5,000 and as many as 30,000.
Eurasians [ edit ]
Numerous Asian-European children were also born during the colonial years of the British, French, and Dutch administrations in India and various Southeast Asian countries. In many cases, the father was a colonial civil servant, settler or military officer based in the occupied Asian country while the mother was a local. The term "Eurasian" is used but has variants depending on country of origin and nationality of the parents. Examples include the Burghers (Portuguese or Dutch) in Sri Lanka, Kristang (usually Portuguese) in Malaysia and Goans (Portuguese) and Anglo-Indians (British) in India.
Cases of rape [ edit ]
Numerous war children were born as the result of their mothers being raped by enemy forces during World War II. Military rape of conquered women has been practiced in numerous conflicts throughout human history. Recent examples include during the longstanding wars in the Congo and Sudan.
Former Yugoslavia [ edit ]
In the 1990s organizations were formed to classify such violence against women as among the prosecutable war crimes in former Yugoslavia. Some Muslim women in Bosnia who were raped in Serbian camps were aided by humanitarian organizations.[35]
Situation of mothers, war children and fathers [ edit ]
Prevention [ edit ]
The recognition in 1989 that violence against women in the form of rape was a deliberate military strategy and human rights abuse led to the approval of an international Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since 2008, the United Nations Security Council bans such sexual violations, defining them as a war crime. The German weekly Die Zeit described this action as an historical milestone.[36]
Integration [ edit ]
One author suggested that adoption and assimilation of a child into a new family might be a solution to prevent war children from growing up as unwanted and mobbed by people in a hostile environment.[37] The sheer number of such children suggest this is impractical.[original research?]
War children's ignorance of origins [ edit ]
Often war children never understood the reason they were being isolated or mistreated. They did not learn their father's identities until late in life or by chance:
by comments of their classmates, relatives or neighbours
when they needed official documents e. g. family register, or
after their mothers died.[38]: 120,128,148,162,177
In most cases, when war children tried to learn identities of their biological fathers years later, the searches were usually difficult and often in vain.
Fathers unknown [ edit ]
Occupation forces after WWII strictly interdicted fraternization by military personnel with people of the occupied territories. Couples who became involved tried to hide their relationship because of these interdictions and the resentment and disapproval by the occupied population. Fathers of war children were generally excepted from civil actions by mothers to claim alimony or child support.
Communication with the mothers of war children often ceased when the soldiers suddenly were reassigned, often without time to say good bye. Some of the soldiers were killed in action. In the post-war period, soldier fathers were prevented by conditions from returning to former native women and war children even if they wanted to. Others had wives and families to return to at home, and denied having war children. In some cases, they never knew they had sired children when serving abroad.[39]
Mothers traumatized [ edit ]
At the end of war, mothers with war children were prosecuted as criminals and punished in humiliating ways for their relations with the enemy. They were isolated socially and economically. Many of them could only rehabilitate themselves and become respected by marrying a fellow countryman. Long-term persecution of a former girlfriend of a German soldier is documented in a book by ANEG; she says that she was traumatized for the rest of her life.[38]:35–52
Some of the mothers gave their war child to a home of public welfare. Others tried to integrate the child into the family formed with their new partner and children (step family). Some of the mothers died during the war.
Children in search for their fathers [ edit ]
A network of European war children, "Born of War — international network," was founded in October 2005. They meet every year in Berlin to assist each other, make decisions about searching for parents, and find out new positions.[40]
Searches by war children of World War II [ edit ]
Changing opinions [ edit ]
Since the late 20th century, as they reach retirement age, many war children from World War II have begun to search for their full identity and their roots. The legal children of a German father may also be interested in contacting the previously unknown war child of their father, if they know one or more exists. Public opinion has become more compassionate toward the past generation of war children. Few of the biological fathers are still alive. Subject to bullying and humiliation, many of the mothers never told their children about their foreign fathers.[41]
Norway [ edit ]
The government has advised that persons trying to do research should gather the complete birth documents, including the birth certificate (not only parts of it). The Norwegian archive at Victoria Terrasse in Oslo burned down in the 1950s, and many of these important documents were lost. The Norwegian Red Cross has some records. It is often easier to trace the Norwegian mother first by Church records.
Belgium [ edit ]
The government and researchers recommend that persons search for documentary evidence from Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt, Auslandsorganisation – Amt für Volkswohlfahrt und Winterhilfswerk (1941–1944) about alimony payments. Old photographs with greetings on the back or private letters may provide clues to a father's identity.[42]
France [ edit ]
Since 2005 the society, Amicale Nationale des Enfants de la Guerre (ANEG), has worked in both France and Germany to help descendants of parents of mixed nationalities, whether a German father in France or French father in occupied Germany.[43] Cœurs Sans Frontières/Herzen ohne Grenzen (Hearts without Frontiers) is another French / German organization supporting the search for family members of French children whose fathers were German soldiers during the occupation and German or Austrian children whose fathers were prisonners, forced laborers or French soldiers in the immediate post-war period.[44]
Germany [ edit ]
Mixed children of white German women and black WWI soldiers were called "Rhineland Bastards". This phrase, along with many other racial epithets, reinforced the current ideology that black men were beasts and did not care for their children. The "Brown Babies" became an international concern, with the Black American Press publicizing and advertising for adoptions. In these efforts there was a distinct emphasis in both countries on the skin color of the child (for example: advertised as "Brown Babies" rather than simply as "orphans"). This was important because a dark skin color both excluded children from German national identity, and allowed them more acceptance in America than was offered to light-skinned "German" babies. This distinction was further emphasized when "Brown Babies" who were adopted into the US were afterwards forbidden from speaking their native German. This served efforts to erase an entire generation of Afro-Germans. [45]
Since 2009 the German government has granted German citizenship upon application and documentation by war children who were born in France to French mothers and German soldier fathers in WWII.[46][47]
Search in German archives [ edit ]
Several central files are part of the German archives:
At Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt), military movements of German soldiers of World War II can be traced. Children in search of their German fathers (soldiers, prisoners of Second World War) may find some clues here.
German Federal Archives-Military Archives (in German: Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv) in Freiburg im Breisgau has some copies of personal documents. For each unit of the former Wehrmacht, it has the so-called "Kriegstagebücher" (reports of daily events) where movements, and losses per day and unit were recorded. [48]
Archives of former Berlin Document Center contained details on personal membership in Nazi party and organisations of the German Third Reich. These archives were transferred to German Federal Archives, branch Berlin-Lichterfelde. Search for people concerned are allowed 30 years after death. Details needed are surname, first name, date of birth, occupation and range of activities. [49]
The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge has a direct access file, with a searchable online database, of all known German war graves of World War I and II.[50]
Post-war children [ edit ]
Post-war war children often search in vain: their knowledge of their father's personal data may be vague, some archives are closed, and much data has been lost.[31]
Search for US fathers [ edit ]
War children by American soldiers may gain assistance in their search from the organization GITrace.[51][52] Since 2009 the German-based association, GI Babies Germany e.V., also assists in the search for the roots of children of German mothers and GIs in the occupation.[53]
Search for Canadian fathers [ edit ]
Organization Canadian Roots UK helps war children in Great Britain to trace a Canadian father. Conversely it also helps Canadian veteran fathers to trace a child born in the UK during or shortly after WWII.[54]
Psychological assistance [ edit ]
Psychological assistance and help to find lost family members by publishing on the Internet is granted by the German association, "kriegskind.de e. V."[55]
See also [ edit ]
Sources [ edit ]
Second World War [ edit ]
(de) Ebba D. Drolshagen de] Nicht ungeschoren davonkommen. Das Schicksal der Frauen in den besetzten Ländern, die Wehrmachtssoldaten liebten. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-455-11262-5.
. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-455-11262-5. (de) Ebba D. Drolshagen: Wehrmachtskinder. Auf der Suche nach dem nie gekannten Vater. Droemer Knaur, München 2005, ISBN 3-426-27357-8.
. Droemer Knaur, München 2005, ISBN 3-426-27357-8. (de) Alexandra Stiglmayer (Hrsg.): Massenvergewaltigung. Krieg gegen die Frauen. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-596-12175-2 ( Fischer 12175 Die Frau in der Gesellschaft ).
. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-596-12175-2 ( 12175 ). (de) Marc Widmann, Mary Wiltenburg: Kinder des Feindes. In: Der Spiegel, 22. Dezember 2006 (online-URL)
American war children [ edit ]
Hohn, Maria (2001), GIs and Fräuleins: The German-American Encounter in 195 |
with your impulses, which will help you respond to them differently. Maybe you’ll notice that you start thinking about the cigarette about halfway through your meal. You can practice shifting your attention to the sensation of chewing and swallowing your food, getting absorbed in the moment and giving yourself a greater chance of resisting the urge and avoiding the cigarette.
Break it down — An impulse is just a thought, an emotion, a physical sensation, or a combination of the three. When you can see an impulse for what it is, you’ve got a better chance of pausing to examine it and let it go instead of giving in to it. Meditation is one way to help you do this. Through the practice of meditation, you can observe your internal experience and recognize that thoughts, feelings, and sensations will pass if you do nothing to them. Like the waves of the ocean, they’ll roll up and then recede, all on their own. If you can experience the sinking feeling in your chest for exactly what it is—a tightening of certain muscles, rather than a command to send another text when she hasn’t respond to the first 16—you have a better chance of acting in a way that’s more consistent with a favorable outcome.
Find the sweet spot — Managing your impulses doesn’t mean suppressing or denying what you’re experiencing. It’s not about limiting your options. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Learning to manage your impulses is all about improving your ability to choose and expanding your options for what to do when the impulse arises. Instead of automatically giving in to the urge to pour a second glass of wine, you can acknowledge the urge, sit with it, and thoughtfully decide what you want to do about it. Sometimes you may consider your options and decide that, in fact, you do want to have the second glass. That wouldn’t be cause for beating yourself up; it would actually be a cause for celebration, because making a clear, well-reasoned decision is essentially the opposite of mindlessly acting on impulse. There’s a balance point—or sweet spot, if you will—between rigid self-control and recklessness. Finding it will help you make healthier choices without restricting yourself unrealistically.
Become a goal-setter — Create and come up with small, measurable steps to take along the way to achieving them. This will help you practice staying focused and delaying gratification. It will build your tolerance for discomfort and improve your ability to deal with challenges. The more practiced you are at working toward something when there’s no immediate reward for your efforts, the better you’ll be at managing your impulses. The beautiful thing about our brains is that they change according to how we use them. The more you practice delaying gratification—by setting goals and rewarding yourself only after you’ve accomplished them—the more your brain will adapt, making it easier for you to do it.
Like learning to play the piano, learning to manage your impulses takes practice. It requires patience, awareness, discipline, and effort. And just as it is with the piano, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Whether you want to get healthier, improve your, save money, or curb a bad habit, you’ll do well to start getting intentional about impulse control.Odds of cancer from TSA scanners about the same as terrorist blowing up your plane
Arizona State University physics professor Peter Rez calculated the amount of radiation exposure a human is likely to receive in one of those newfangled Rapiscan porno-scanners the TSA is so fond of, and determined that exposure to be roughly one-fiftieth to one-hundredth the amount of a standard chest X-ray.
From an MSNBC report:
He calculated the risk of getting cancer from a single scan at about 1 in 30 million, "which puts it somewhat less than being killed by being struck by lightning in any one year," he told me. While the risk of getting a fatal cancer from the screening is minuscule, it's about equal to the probability that an airplane will get blown up by a terrorist, he added. "So my view is there is not a case to be made for deploying them to prevent such a low probability event."
And in that same MSNBC item,
A group of scientists at the University of California at San Francisco laid out their concerns in a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, highlighting in particular the potential for the X-ray dose concentrated on the skin to pose a health concern for children and other vulnerable populations, such as people with HIV. "We are unanimous in believing that the potential health consequences need to be rigorously studied before these scanners are adopted. Modifications that reduce radiation exposure need to be explored as soon as possible," the letter said. Among the signers were David Agard, John Sedat (a professor emeritus) and Robert Stroud, all professors of biochemistry and biophysics; and Marc Shuman, professor of medicine.
A copy of that letter follows, below.
And the FDA's response is here.
Are airport X-ray scanners harmful? [MSNBC Cosmic Log, via BB Submitterator, thanks Shane]Making your own API is probably faster and easier than you thought. By using Laravel with WordPress I will guide you through how I was able to make an API in a few hours that has served 40+ websites and dished out more than 2 million events a month.
I will go over how to query the WordPress database using native WordPress queries from within Laravel. In part 2 I will show you how to improve performance with caching and some workflow improvements.
First a little background
I am responsible for a large automotive website, And about 40+ external dealership sites. Each site operates off of a number of different services like Leads, Images, Analytics, Data Collection, Vehicle Information to name a few. Each site is service driven and there for more or less static. Any Updates are done in HTML where needed otherwise I use a version of the API that I will be going over in order to make frequent edits to the site.
In total there are about 11,000 vehicles listed on Go Auto and anywhere from a couple of hundred to a few thousand vehicles per dealership. Each site consists of information that needs to be managed and updated. Store information, Slides, SEO details, Campaign Landing Pages, and what I call nodes – flexible blocks of information that we might need.
The company site is its own instance and every single dealership site runs off of one Laravel instance like a large multisite. The infrastructure for these sites includes AWS servers with Docker containers and no Database.
All of these sites are also pushing close to 2 million page views a month, Through caching the API served over 170,000 requests.
The API has allowed us to make updates that otherwise would require development time from my team. These updates can now be done by content creators or the design team.
Let’s get Started!
For this to happen I have two URLs. One is the main API endpoint and the other one being the private WordPress admin.
In my case, I use a subdomain like admin.example.com and api.example.com, but you can use separate domains like laravel-api.com and api-admin.com.
Why Laravel?
So why not just use the WordPress JSON API? Using the WordPress API is a valid solution and likely a good one if you need to update WordPress content.
The WordPress API isn’t without its own issues. In my experience and due to the nature of WordPress every API request will trigger a reaction to events and hooks within WordPress. Most of them unrelated to your actual API. It also requires you to register (endpoints)[https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/extending-the-rest-api/adding-custom-endpoints/] but it’s slow and who am I kidding? No one really likes to develop in WordPress.
Using Laravel gives us multiple advantages such as an easy interface for Caching, Routes, Authentication if we needed it, Debugging, Error reporting/logging and an easy way to handle Requests.
The Task At Hand
Build an API that can be updated easily
It has to be fast
It needs to handle a lot of requests
Needs to allow for the addition of new data
Start by Installing Laravel
Next, start off by grabbing a fresh copy of Laravel 5.4 by running composer create-project laravel/laravel blog "5.4.*" --prefer-dist.
If this command throws an error have a look at how you quickly set up a new Laravel project here.
Remember, This is a regular Laravel application so you can include other Composer packages if needed but that will be outside the scope of this article.
Now that we have that out of the way, Configure your API URL and set the document root to /public. Load your new API URL in the browser and you should see the Laravel Welcome Page.
Installing WordPress
WordPress will be installed within the root of the Laravel project folder.
If you have WP CLI installed then run wp core download --path=admin from within the Laravel project. If you don’t have WP CLI installed then download WordPress manually from wordpress.org and extract the contents into your project folder.
Do not place WordPress in the public folder!
Install and setup WordPress as normal.
Download and install this simple theme. This theme won’t have any templates or assets. It is a shell of a theme with only the minimum required to allow WordPress to register it.
I will touch on two other important features of this theme a little later on.
At this point, you should have a fully working and 100% stock WordPress install.
Make sure to configure your site to Visiting your site URL should be a blank page.
Setup your admin URL and make sure that your document root is /admin. You should now be able to visit the admin site and at this time it will be a regular WordPress install.
In order to let Laravel access WordPress functionality we need to make a few simple adjustments inside of WordPress.
Let’s start by opening the wp-config.php file.
WordPress uses a web-based cron, not like the standard Unix cron jobs to deal with scheduled content, and clearing transients data. Feel free to leave it turned on if you think that you might want to take advantage of scheduled content but you will see a performance if you use New Relic to keep an eye on your performance.
// Disable WP Cron. define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', 'true');
As a note. It is possible to setup a server side cron that would request http://example.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron and it can trigger all the standard events for you.
Configuring Laravel
Open index.php inside of Laravel’s /public folder, at the very top add the following:
/* |-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | WordPress |-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Integrate WordPress with Laravel core | */ define('WP_USE_THEMES', false); require __DIR__.'/../admin/wp-blog-header.php';
Read more on WP_USE_THEMES
Let’s get the API up and running now!
If you would like to keep your api.example.com/api/v1 then ignore this step but personally, I want my URL to be api.example.com/v1. So we need to make a small change to Laravel’s Route Service Provider.
Before we do this, there are two considerations to make:
Do we need API middleware?
And what do we want our URL to look like?
I don’t need the middleware and do not want to have /api so all of my routes will be placed in the web.php route file.
If you find that you want to keep the middleware then open app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php and look for Route::prefix('api') somewhere around line 66 and change that to Route::prefix('v1').
Otherwise rename
->group(base_path('routes/api.php'));
to
->group(base_path('routes/api-v1.php'));
Let’s add two simple routes to deal with store information and staff.
Add the following routes to your API routes file.
Route::get('/stores', function () { return ['stores']; }); Route::get('/staff', function () { return ['staff']; });
Checking api.example.com/v1/stores you should see a simple output of
[ "stores" ]
It works! But wait.
Our test is good, So let’s move this to a controller, create a new one called ApiController and update your routes to reflect this:
You might see fit to create a ‘StoreController’ as well as a ’StaffController’ which would be a good idea for your own API.
Create the index view:
public function index() { return ['store' => Request::url(). '/store','staff' => Request::url(). '/staff', ]; }
By accessing /v1 you should see:
{ "store": "http://api.example.com/v1/store", "staff": "http://api.example.com/v1/staff" }
We really don’t have to list the endpoints but personally, I think its good design creates an accessible API.
Now create the store ”view”, staff will be functionally the same.
Log into your WordPress admin and Install and activate Custom Post Type UI.
Add a new post type called store. Optionally you can remove support for the editor and featured image.
Now install ACF. ACF is a premium plugin at $25 per site or $100 for a developer license. As far as I am concerned it’s priceless and probably one of the most useful plugins ever made for WordPress. It puts structured and repeatable data at your fingertips.
Under Custom Fields, Create a new field group called Stores and add some fields to your store:
name – text
address – textarea
phone – text
email – email
image – image / image array / upload to post
Under location rules set the Post Type | Is Equal to | Store.
Adding a couple of stores. The title will be your API slug so add your title and change the slug if you need to, This will be independent of the store name and used for singular requests in your API.
We are about to pull it all together and really get into the meat and potatoes of the API.
So far we have installed Laravel and WordPress inside of your Laravel project. We changed a couple lines of code inside of the wp-config.php and have used two plugins to setup and add custom post types with inputs needed to populate data in the API. We also bootstrap WordPress in Laravel’s index.php file giving us access to everything WordPress has to offer.
I didn’t mention it previously but you could add custom functions to your WordPress functions.php like specifying custom media sizes.
Here is the complete store endpoint method if you want to jump right in, I will go into finer detail below.
public function store( $slug = null ) { if ( $slug === null ): $queryString = array( 'post_type' =>'store', 'posts_per_page' => - 1, 'orderby' => 'date', ); else: $queryString = array( 'post_type' =>'store', 'name' => $slug, 'posts_per_page' => 1, 'orderby' => 'date', ); endif; $query = new \WP_Query( $queryString ); $posts = $query->get_posts(); foreach ( $posts as $post ): $single_acf = get_fields( $post->ID ); if ( empty( $single_acf ) ) { $single_acf = null; } $object['results'][] = [ 'data' => $single_acf ]; endforeach; return $object; }
Accessing /store will setup the WordPress query for multiple items or posts requesting /store/store-name would result in a single lookup by the slug name.
Shocker! Did you notice that this is standard WordPress code?
From what I have found, anything you can do with WordPress queries can be done within these API endpoints.
Read more on WP_QWuery
if ( $slug === null ): $queryString = array( 'post_type' =>'store', 'posts_per_page' => - 1, 'orderby' => 'date', ); else: $queryString = array( 'post_type' =>'store', 'name' => $slug, 'posts_per_page' => 1, 'orderby' => 'date', ); endif;
Next, we will execute the query and assign it to $posts
$query = new \WP_Query( $queryString ); $posts = $query->get_posts();
Looping over the post object we can now get each stores post metadata using ACF.
foreach ( $posts as $post ): $single_acf = get_fields( $post->ID ); if ( empty( $single_acf ) ) { $single_acf = null; } $object['results'][] = [ 'data' => $single_acf ]; endforeach; return $object;
Finally, the object is returned.
You should be able to take what you have learned and build out the staff endpoint.
In Closing
As you can see if you have a basic to good understanding of WordPress and its relations you can accomplish a lot with a few lines of code and a handful of basic plugins.
This kind of API is very simple, it’s also fast and flexible. The ability to leverage WordPress as an admin while taking full advantage of great plugins like ACF and Custom Post Type UI gives you an incredibly powerful API that has a familiar Admin interface.
You could get a little more adventurous and consider wildcard routes possibly allowing you to never need to make updates to the code base.
While not necessary I would recommend using WP Offload Media as this will place your WordPress media content into Amazon S3 giving you a bit more separation from the API in your Media URLs.
In the next article, I will go over how you can set up caching, Authentication headers, The ability to clear cache for a result, as well as adding some useful information to your API response.
Enjoy Part 2!Antonio Banderas will star as a pirate in the "SpongeBob SquarePants 2" movie set to be filmed in Savannah and on Tybee Island in the coming weeks.
Officials involved in the movie told Tybee Island representatives Friday morning that Banderas would play a pirate in the movie, said Diane Schleicher, Tybee's city manager.
Banderas, who has been nominated three times for a Golden Globe, is best known for playing Zorro, according to IMDb.com. He has also played the voice of Puss in Boots in several of DreamWorks' "Shrek" films and El Mariachi in "Desperado" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico."
The SpongeBob sequel will begin filming on Tybee Sept. 30 and in downtown Savannah Oct. 9.
The film will be the second featuring the Nickelodeon cable network favorite. The first SpongeBob movie, released in 2004, grossed more than $140 million.On this Memorial Day, our nation honors the generations of patriots who were willing to give their lives to defend this country. While we may come from different places, cherish different traditions, and have different political beliefs, all Americans hold in reverence those who've given this country the full measure of their devotion. They are a shining example of what's best about America.
Today is also a reminder of our obligation as Americans to serve our fallen heroes as well as they served us; as well as the wounded warriors I've had the honor of meeting at Walter Reed have served us; as well as the troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world are serving us. That means giving the same priority to building a 21st century VA as to building a 21st century military. It means having zero tolerance for veterans sleeping on our streets. It means bringing home our POWs and MIAs. And it means treating the graves of veterans like the hallowed ground it is and banning protests near funerals.
So on this day, of all days, let's memorialize our fallen heroes by honoring all who wear our country's uniform; and by completing their work to make America more secure and our world more free.window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-5', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 5', target_type:'mix' });
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Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Image 2 of 15 Bacon-wrapped meatloaf Bacon-wrapped meatloaf Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 3 of 15 Boneless chickens Boneless chickens Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 4 of 15 Bunless BLT Bunless BLT Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 5 of 15 Image 6 of 15 Bunless kale burger with bacon Bunless kale burger with bacon Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 7 of 15 Chicken and veggies Chicken and veggies Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 8 of 15 Jim Foreman, Dan Patterson and Jack Foreman Jim Foreman, Dan Patterson and Jack Foreman Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 9 of 15 With Joel St. John of St. John's Fire Truck, who has provided some much-needed advice. With Joel St. John of St. John's Fire Truck, who has provided some much-needed advice. Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 10 of 15 Image 11 of 15 Testing out area food trucks Testing out area food trucks Image 12 of 15 Paleo pancakes Paleo pancakes Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 13 of 15 Food from Partners in Paleo, a restaurant in League City. Food from Partners in Paleo, a restaurant in League City. Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 14 of 15 Scrambled eggs and veggies Scrambled eggs and veggies Photo: Courtesy Caveman Chow Image 15 of 15 Friendswood trio wants to bring caveman diet to the streets 1 / 15 Back to Gallery
The scores of customers who line up every day at Houston food trucks love to rave about their favorite mobile eatery’s delicious creativity, but rarely do we hear someone say, “This food truck helped me lose 15 pounds!”
Three guys from Friendswood hope Kickstarter can help them change that by funding their new concept Caveman Chow, which is a food truck that follows the popular Paleo diet. Dan Patterson and his friends, brothers Jim and Jack Foreman, want to bring prehistoric eating practices to the masses. The Paleo diet avoids foods like grains, beans, milk and anything else that was presumably unavailable to cavemen in the Paleolithic era.
Patterson, who is studying kinesiology at the University of Houston, said the menu is a team effort and would include items such as burgers with kale and spinach mixed in, served on lettuce instead of bread. He said he wants to show people that food can taste good and still be healthy.
“I don’t want to put processed food in anything I’m making,” he said.
Jim Foreman, who owns a web developer business and calls himself a “food truck groupie,” said he and Patterson became interested in the diet through the Crossfit community. After Patterson and Foreman started losing weight, they and Jack Foreman, a neuroscientist, talked about opening up a restaurant based on the lifestyle, but decided “it would be pretty far out there for this rag-tag team,” Foreman said.
They did some research on food trucks, and with the help of others in the mobile food world, decided that this was a more attainable goal. But, they need help in the form of $30,000 from other modern cavemen and women.
The food truck would partner with a League City restaurant, Partners in Paleo, to purchase larger (and cheaper) orders of food, and Caveman Chow plans to start its meal preparation at the restaurant before hitting the road. All Houston food trucks must also visit one of Houston’s 18 commissaries every 24 hours, Foreman said. The closest one to Friendswood is in the Pasadena/South Houston area.
Since food trucks that operate with propane are not allowed in certain parts of the city, such as the Texas Medical Center, the Paleo truck will be all electric, Foreman said.
If the Kickstarter campaign fails to raise the start-up cash by May 31, Foreman said the trio will continue to search for other ways to get Caveman Chow off the ground. “We are so emotionally invested in it,” he said.
You can learn more about Caveman Chow and its Kickstarter campaign here.
Click through the slideshow for a look at what Foreman, Foreman and Patterson have to offer.Back in 1997, then Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt was required by Congress to "examine their holdings" — basically to rank public lands that the government could sell off to support an Everglades restoration project. The list, which is hosted here on Jason Chaffetz's (R-UT) Congressional Website, offers up a whopping 3.368 million acres in 10 states — specifically Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. While the exact land for sale is not identified, the counties where the land is held (190 in total) is. Connecting the dots isn't too hard to do to see which areas, and communities, will be affected. And it's clear that some of this so-called "disposal land" is far from worthless — especially for hunters, anglers, hikers, and bikers.
Why does this matter now? With public land sales back on the docket (H.R. 621, introduced by Chaffetz), this 1997 document is a sort of wish list of lands for sale (you can find another version on BLM's site). But even in 1997 this document was far from airtight: "Please note many lands identified appear to have conflicts which may preclude them from being considered for disposal or exchange," wrote then Assistant Secretary Bonnie Cohen. "Conflicts include high disposal costs, critical natural or cultural resources and habitat, mineral claims and leases, and hazardous conditions.” Many of the lands are home to endangered species, like the desert tortoise and Mexican gray wolf. Twenty years later, many of the potential conflicts have become more problematic, thanks to new National Monuments, newly identified species, and, let's not forget, outdoorsmen, who have always made use of the land — our land.
Below are some examples of land that could be on the auction block if Chaffetz's bill is passed. Get your checkbook ready!
State: Wyoming
County: Sheridan
The Potential Land: 35,200 acres of BLM-managed land in the Powder River Basin, which is just east of the Bighorn Mountains, popular with hikers, campers, horseback riders, and hunters.
State: Wyoming
County: Park
The Potential Land: 27,300 acres surrounding the Shoshone River, a popular fly-fishing stream in northern Wyoming. Most of the BLM-managed land in Park County is downstream of the town of Cody, which sits between the Big Horn, Owl Creek, Bridger, and Absaroka mountain ranges. Tourism is the town’s primary industry.
State: Oregon
County: Harney
The Potential Land: 44,000 acres in a county that’s home to Steens Mountain, a 9,733-foot peak that’s popular with campers and hunters, and Malheur National Forest.
State: New Mexico
County: Catron
The Potential Land: 25,000 acres that contain “cultural resources,” meaning it’s probably home to pueblo ruins. The land is most likely a giant tract southwest of the town of Quemado, and some of the land abuts the Gila National Forest, home to the endangered Mexican gray wolf, the Gila trout, and some of the best elk hunting in the U.S.
State: Colorado
County: Montrose
The Potential Land: 2,105 acres that is home to endangered species and “historic/cultural resources.” The surrounding area contains the Gunnison Gorge, famous for its rafting and fly-fishing trips, and Uncompahgre National Forest, which is home to elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, and mountain goat.
State: Nevada
County: Elko
The Potential Land: 208,900 acres that contains endangered species, historic resources, and is home to “wetlands/floodplain.” BLM-managed land makes up a giant percentage of land in Elko County, but exactly what land is up for consideration is unclear, or what the effects might be.
State: Arizona
County: Mohave
The Potential Land: 23,525 acres with mining claims and historic resources. A comment attached to the description notes that the land is “classified as habitat for the Desert Tortoise (a sensitive species).”
Total Acres That Could Be Up For Sale, By State:
Arizona: 453,950
Colorado: 93,741
Idaho: 110,022
Montana: 94,520
Nebraska: 6,615
Nevada: 898,460
New Mexico: 813,531
Oregon: 70,308
Utah: 132,931
Wyoming: 694,200Hacking Sony apparently didn't stop George Hotz from landing a job at Facebook.
Techunwrapped revealed that Hotz, the hacker known as Geohot who pioneered jailbreaking the iPhone and became embroiled in a lawsuit with Sony after publishing the PlayStation 3's root keys, has taken a position at Facebook.
Joshua Hill (P0sixninja), a member of the Chronic-Dev Team -- the group responsible for greenpois0n, the premiere iOS jailbreak software -- said in a video that Hotz declined an iOS jailbreak challenge (finding a boot ROM exploit in the iPad 2) to keep out of the media spotlight and also to focus on his new job at Facebook.
Then Gabe Rivera of Techmeme confirmed Techunwrapped's report in a tweet by sending readers to Hotz's Facebook page, where, on June 22, Hotz wrote: "Facebook is really an amazing place to work...first hackathon over." Speculation has it that Hotz is working on the long-awaited Facebook app for the iPad.
Facebook's hiring of Geohot signifies a shift in corporate temperament when it comes to hackers. The days of lawsuits and retaliation may be ending as more tech giants partner with rather than punish the anonymous hunters on the Web.
Consider the actions of Microsoft. After a multitude of awesome projects stemmed from people tinkering with the Kinect, Microsoft opened its arms to hackers and then released the Xbox peripheral's SDK beta kit to the public.
Hotz's new employer won't make every hacker's problems go away, but it does mean that talent hunters and the companies they represent are wising up to how the Internet now works.
This story, "Sony Hacker Said to Land Facebook Job" was originally published by PCWorld.I recently spoke with someone who told me she had gone on at least 10 interviews in the past three months, and she had not been called back for a single second interview. With her strong work history and many professional accomplishments, it clearly wasn’t her experience that was holding her back.
She felt she wasn’t interviewing well, and she asked if I could give her some ideas that would help her hone her interview skills.
Maybe you find yourself in a similar situation. Even if you don’t, everyone can benefit from some new or rediscovered interview techniques and some self-evaluation.
Making a post-interview checklist is a good way to evaluate an interview and find areas for improvement. Here are some things to consider:
The questions you were asked and what your responses were.
If you immediately addressed any interviewer concerns.
The quality of your answers. Were they results-oriented, and did you quantify and qualify those results?
How well you built rapport with the interviewer.
Did you ask open-ended questions?
Are you ready to follow up with a thank-you note? If you asked for a business card, you have the interviewer’s contact information.
Were the reporting relationships and expectations of the position clearly outlined? If they weren’t, did you ask about them?
You should know what the next steps in the hiring process are. It’s fine to ask what they will be before the close of the interview.
This process will help you see where you may be able to improve your interview strategy. Another really helpful technique involves practicing your responses to interview questions. You can practice with a friend, face-to-face, or you can make a video of this process, and review it with someone whose opinion you value.
One final suggestion: Use visualization to improve your interviewing skills. Before the interview, visualize yourself as relaxed and take deep breaths. Begin seeing yourself as answering all the questions with confidence and building a good rapport with your interviewer. Picture yourself smiling and asking for the job.In theory, this is a great item. Unfortunately, I am on my third one, and I still don't have the awesome stool that I was hoping for. The first was ordered from Amazon. Once assembled, it did not roll very far until the one side started to drag on the floor. Upon inspection I noted that that the base wasn't perfectly round, having been damaged in shipping. I called Cramer, and their customer service was very helpful, and they offered to send a replacement right away, as well as a larger box so that I could return the assembled one that I now have. The delivery came quickly, and the condition of the boxed stool was laughable. Totally crushed on one side, as was the stool base inside. I did not bother to assemble this one, and called Cramer again. Same person apologized and said that this sometimes happens, but that they ship these things all the time, and she'd be happy to ship another, and that maybe this one could be double boxed. That one came today - same single box as the first two, and while it is the best of the three, it is still out of balance, and one side definitely hangs lower than the rest of it, affecting it's ability to scoot in anything but a right hand curve.
So, this stool is a lovely idea. It appears to be made from quality materials, with sturdy springs and such. I have seen them in other places, and they are usually easy to use, and helpful to have around. The problem with receiving one through the mail is that they come in a simple cardboard box, which is not built to withstand the rigors of the delivery system of FedEx or UPS. I feel silly calling again to have yet ANOTHER one sent to me, but on the other hand, I spent fifty bucks on a stool so that it would be awesome. This is not awesome. This is just a wonky rolling stool. It's okay.When you are finished, we will give you a new link (URL) that you can use to share the new map. The old map will not be affected.
When you click OK below, we will bring you to step 2, where you can change or remove the existing markers or add new markers.
Here you can create your own custom map based on the map that you were just viewing.
Easily share your map with others. We'll give you a short link (URL) that you can share in a post, email, or blog.
We have detected that your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. JavaScript is required for us to bring you maps! Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your Browser
MapFling: easily share free maps with your own custom markers!
Free Maps
Mark Custom Points on Map with your own Annotation or Description
Share the Map with others by email, instant messaging, blog, websites
MapFling is a free Web 2.0 AJAX online service which lets you:Bring up a map of nearly any city or country in the world (a road map, aerial photogaphy, a satellite image, or a hybrid map),Add one or more markers (also called labels, push-pins, pegs, waypoints, landmarks, or annotations) to the annotated map, with your own custom descriptions.Easily share that marked-up map with anyone. Send a map via email or on facebook or Instagram. Share a map via Twitter or IM (Instant Messaging, Yahoo Instant Messenger, Google Chat, Microsoft MS Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, AIM). Include a map in your blog, vlog, or weblog.
Party Invitations, Wedding, Events, Evites
Throwing a party? Organizing a festival, birthday party, wedding, funeral, or conference? Add a MapFling link (URL) to your invite and everyone can see where it's at with a single click!
Corporate Hospitality and Hotel and Restaurant Travel: Welcome Business Customers and Interview Candidates to Office Visits
Customers flying in to visit your office? Impress them with a MapFling map that shows your office, their hotel, and maybe a few of your favorite restaurants too! Annotate each location with whatever description you want to include ("Excellent restaurant here!").
Meeting Maps for Appointments, Meeting your Friend, Online Date, Boyfriend, or Girlfriend
Meeting a friend at the local park? It's a big place: with a MapFling satellite image, you can pinpoint the exact park bench where you'll be waiting for her!
Real Estate, House Rentals, Apartments for Rent, Properties for Sale
Got a house or apartment for sale or rent? Include a MapFling link (URL) in your online ads to get an edge over the other listers. With one click, your renters will know where you are. If you're a real estate agent, blow away your customer with a custom MapFling map showing multiple properties with your customized comments.
Any time you would hunt around for a paper map to mark up and fax/scan/snail-mail to people, you can fling it instead! They will receive your map instantly, complete with your markers and comments. They will be able to zoom in and out on the map, explore the area, and print if they like.
Collaborate on Maps for Travel Plans, Scavenger Hunts, Real Estate
What's more, they can even create their own custom version of your map, adding more markers and adjusting existing ones, and send it back to you!on real estate searches, travel plans, party arrangement, or even scavenger hunts! The possibilities are endless!We found ourselves this week talking about two very different guys, both born in Canada, who skated to triumph thanks to their fans.
If you follow hockey, you have already guessed the name of one of them: John Scott, the 6’8,” 275 lbs., unlikely Most Valuable Player in last Sunday’s NHL All-Star Game. As Kelly McEvers put it on NPR’s All Things Considered, Scott is a “goon-made-good.” She was invoking hockey slang to describe an enforcer — the “goon” who is charged not to score goals but to knock heads. A professional brawler, if you will, who relies more on brute force than technical skill. He protects his teammates by starting a fight; defends the goaltender by starting a fight; and entertains the crowds by, yes, starting a fight. Scott was a “journeyman” to boot, meaning that he travels from team to team and isn’t considered an elite player. Essential, yes; elite, no. |
the boyfriend of the woman who pleaded guilty.
McKay argued with the younger of the two accused — who also cannot be named — over alcohol, court heard. The teen who pleaded guilty tried to calm down McKay in the bathroom, Msykiw said, "as she did not want a fight to break out."
"It is not disputed that the deceased was being aggressive throughout the evening," he said.
At some point that night, McKay was kicked out of the party. A fight did break out between McKay and the younger of the two accused, court heard.
Two videos filmed on the older accused's cellphone in different areas of the yard show McKay being beaten by the accused, court heard. McKay's face is the only one clearly visible.
In a 48-second video, the younger of the two accused is heard saying, "I don't want to f**king see her alive," before asking the older girl to take over, which she did, court heard.
In a nine-second video, the older accused's boot is seen stomping on McKay's face.
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Afterwards, the older of the two accused sent video footage of the attack to two people via Facebook Messenger, court heard. The videos were also posted to Facebook and shared widely within the community.
After the fight, the two teens went back inside the house, where they spent the night, along with the boyfriend of the older accused. Court heard the woman who pleaded guilty locked the door, "as she was afraid that McKay would come after them."
The older accused wanted to phone police, court heard, but her boyfriend took her phone away.
McKay didn't have her phone or belongings, court heard.
Accused 'downplayed' involvement to police
Court also heard about messages sent between the two accused the following day. Myskiw also read a message sent from the older accused to a friend, in which she asked him to delete the video and messages she'd sent him the previous night about the attack.
Later that day, she and her boyfriend went to see one of the other people who had been at the party, asking him to lie to police and say the pair had left at the same time as him.
The younger of the two accused lied to two people she ran into about the fight, telling one that she had fought McKay for being "disrespectful," but that she didn't know where McKay was at that time.
On April 24, the Monday after the party, the younger accused visited a high school guidance counsellor about the fight. The counsellor phoned RCMP.
The older accused went to the RCMP station the same day to give a witness statement. Before going, court heard she went to a friend's house and asked to borrow a pair of boots.
The friend later said in a police statement that the accused said she was worried about going to the police with the boots on, court heard, because of the video.
In her witness statement, the accused told police she left the party while the fight was happening. But after RCMP seized her boots from her vehicle, she gave another statement and admitted she'd been part of the attack.
However, court heard she "downplayed" her involvement and claimed the attack was in self-defence.
The younger accused turned herself in on April 24, court heard. She is due to appear in court in January.
One chair was left empty on the stage during the graduation from Sagkeeng Anicinabe High School in June in McKay's honour. She would have been graduating with the group, had she been alive. (Submitted by Claude Guimond)
Vigils, posthumous diploma in McKay's honour
In 2015, a CBC analysis found Sagkeeng had the highest number of outstanding cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
McKay's high school awarded her a posthumous diploma and left a chair empty for her on the stage during graduation. It was draped with a red graduation gown, signifying missing and murdered Indigenous women.You could gargle bitumen and bin-juice for half an hour, and it couldn't leave a nastier taste in your mouth than this macho action thriller about a secret fraternity of assassins. It is directed by Timur Bekmambetov, evidently brought over to Hollywood on the strength of his wildly successful Russian movies like Day Watch. The stars are Angelina Jolie, sporting her now familiar default smirk, and our own James McAvoy stepping up to his first A-list role. The spectacle of their strange gym-built bodies, variously starved and pumped, and the boring, risk-free digital "stunts", can't distract you from just how dreary and insidious the whole business is. It looks as if it has been written by a committee of 13-year-old boys for whom penetrative sex is still only a rumour, and the resulting movie plays like a party political broadcast on behalf of the misogynist party.
James McAvoy plays Wes, an ordinary nerdy guy who has an office job which totally sucks. He's pathetic, a loser, on medication for anxiety attacks, of all the spurious and ridiculous ailments. His best friend is a bullying jock who is boning Wes's whiney and nagging girlfriend on the sly, and incidentally adding insult to injury by mooching cash off Wes for the necessary contraceptive materials. But Wes's untermensch life is turned around when Angelina Jolie pops up out of nowhere in a drugstore, saves Wes from a mysterious, spectacular attempt on his life, and shoves the gibbering soon-to-be-ex-nerd into her flashy automobile for a crash-bang chase along the city freeway, exchanging fire with the gunman.
Wes is evidently hated by the forces of darkness because, quite without knowing it, he is a ninja of topping people; his own father, a master assassin whom he never knew, has just been killed by the shadowy opposition. It is his fate to be a master killer, and it is the job of Jolie - known simply as "Fox" -to force him to step up, to accept his destiny and enter the Fraternity, a secret society of bespoke killers dedicated to taking out important bad guys. The Fraternity hides out inside what looks like a castle modelled on Balmoral, disguised as a community of weavers.
Their super-sexy way of shooting people - apart, obviously, from the usual technique of doing it with outstretched arm, gun tilted 90 degrees, face insouciantly pointing away from the victim - is to use a special bullet with corkscrew grooving. This, and a slight whiplash with the shooting arm, will cause the bullet to curve round corners, a setpiece which perhaps shows the influence of David Beckham. Wes of course blossoms into an alpha-male, and even gets some liplock action with Angelina, which looks like he's snogging a singed sofa.
Weirdly, though, it is Wes's pre-heroic life which is given the most passion by Bekmambetov. None of the violence and the action have a fraction of the beady-eyed intensity with which the director invests the moment where Wes quits his job and tells his boss to shove it. Because his boss is a fat ugly woman. This horrible bitch is always snapping at him and she gets her comeuppance in a big way, her obesity being a clear sign that she's asking to be brought low and laughed at. Her existence is briefly reprised at the end of the film, when one of Wes's bullets whistles through the doughnut she's gobbling.
I have to say I don't think I've seen a film recently which expresses hatred of women quite so openly, and fervently, as this one. In a way, Wes's boss is the most vivid female character in the film, more powerfully and pointedly conceived than the others: more than Wes's horrible, duplicitous girlfriend, who gets to be humiliated by seeing Wes kissing Fox and more than Fox herself, who is basically an honorary male. This is a film where womankind is represented by irrelevant sleek babes and obese comic foils, an ugly whorehouse aesthetic which really does sock over its contempt for femaleness very, very powerfully indeed.
Perhaps it's absurd to worry in these terms about a silly, disposable movie like this. And yet I can't help thinking that if a film treated any ethnic group the way this treats women, it would find itself in pretty hot water. And it's sad to see Angelina Jolie, a performer with style - who moreover did the assassin role with considerably more wit and charm in Mr and Mrs Smith - trundled out for this piffle. It's also sad to see James McAvoy offer an IQ-discount in a similar way. In an ideal world, the title would have the word "Not" tacked on to the front.Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
The iPhone at the center of the ongoing encryption dispute between Apple and the FBI may contain a "dormant cyber pathogen", according to the San Bernardino county District Attorney.The curious claim appears in an amicus brief filed by Michael Ramos with a California court on Thursday. In the document, Ramos speculates that the iPhone used by terror suspect Syed Rizwan Farook "may contain evidence that can only be found on the seized phone that it was used as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernardino's infrastructure."The apparent threat is cited as a violation of California Penal Code Section §502, covering protections against tampering, interference, damage and unauthorized access to computer systems. The reference suggests Ramos believes that some sort of malware may be contained on the iPhone, but offers no justification for the claim, nor the odd nature of its wording."It sounds like he's making up these terms as he goes," said iPhone forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski, speaking to Ars Technica about the filing. "We've never used these terms in computer science." Zdziarski believes that the amicus is simply designed to mislead the courts and manipulate a decision in the FBI's favor. "It offers no evidence whatsoever that the device has, or even might have, malware on it. It offers no evidence that their network was ever compromised."The claim in the court filing is the first time that a law enforcement agency has alluded to what may be contained on the iPhone at the center of the federal investigation. It also runs counter to the FBI's main dispute with Apple that it requires assistance from the company precisely in order to ascertain its content.Separately, a number of amicus briefs were filed on Thursday in support of Apple's stance in the dispute. The full list of submitted documents have been catalogued on Apple's website. Additionally, five families of San Bernardino victims have filed in support of the FBIThe lawyer for one of Venezuela’s most prominent opposition leaders, who was dragged in his pajamas from his home on Tuesday in a police raid, says that the Maduro administration has refused to tell him where his client is or allow him to speak with him.
Antonio Ledezma, the former mayor of a Caracas district, was first arrested in 2015 when President Nicolas Maduro accused him of scheming – with the knowledge of the United States -- to overthrow his government. He later was placed under house arrest pending his trial.
Omar Estacio, Ledezma’s attorney, told Fox News in an interview from Caracas that the former mayor has been cut off from his family and his lawyers. His family and lawyer say the government’s arrest and detention of Ledezma with no information about his whereabouts amounts to nothing less than “a kidnapping.”
“We have not been able to speak with him,” Estacio said. “We’re not even really sure about where he is. This is a coerced disappearance.”
Ledezma is legendary in Venezuela for his vocal and persistent condemnation of the Maduro administration, calling it oppressive and corrupt. The arrest of Ledezma, and another opposition leader and former mayor, Leopoldo Lopez Jr., came shortly after an election on Sunday to choose members of a constituent assembly that will implement Maduro’s controversial mandate to rewrite the Constitution.
Estacio said authorities were conjuring up fabrications to justify the arrest of his client in 2015 and again earlier this week. He said they had characterized Ledezma as a flight risk, and accused him of violating terms for his arrest that called for him not to make public comments about the government.
“In no way was it a part of the process for his house arrest an agreement that he not exercise his constitutional right to make public statements,” Estacio said.
Ledezma, nonetheless, was less vocal -- for a while, at least, during his house arrest -- in his denunciations than he typically had been, Estacio said. He noted that it was due to “personal reasons, the advice of his lawyers that it might be more prudent.”
After the election, which occurred under widespread doubt among many Venezuelans and experts abroad about its legitimacy, many accused the Maduro government of manipulating the results and turnout estimates. The Constitution and new assembly basically dissolve the opportunity for political opponents to hold office and punishes disloyalty.
Both Lopez and Ledezma publicly denounced the election and what they said was the continuing deterioration of democracy in Venezuela. Sensing he would be detained and returned to jail, Lopez pre-recorded a video in anticipation of being arrested and urged Venezuelans to keep fighting for their country.
Ledezma also recorded a video, saying the country was in the grip of a “tyranny,” and taking his fellow Maduro opponents to task for not mounting a more vigorous fight.
In the video, which was posted online Monday, Ledezma denounced the election as “fraud, plain and simple."
"We know that our public institutions have become instruments of a totalitarian regime, of a tyranny, which decided to continue damaging and destroying our rights," Ledezma said.I’ve been playing an early, unfinished version of Positech Game’s government sim/political strategy game Democracy 3.
I really did want to make Britain a better, happier place for everyone. Trouble is, no-one else agreed. I compromised my own values and I punished people who were just like me, I scrimped and I saved and I took desperate actions. I tried to think long-term, but I also fought seemingly endless short-term fires. The middle-class hated me, the rich abused every tax loophole they could find, the poor took to alcohol abuse and crime. The socialists and greens cheered me, sure, but that didn’t matter a jot as the nation’s money haemorrhaged its last, and the public understandably voted for the other guy. I tried to help them all, and they all hated me for it.
Professor Brian Cox and his mates were dead wrong. Things can only get worse.
Perhaps the most immediately striking thing about Positech’s latest government sim is that it’s full of maths. I will presume it’s maths based on research rather than wild speculation, but in any case it’s game built upon a vast array of adjustable numbers, each of which has cause and effect on at least half a dozen other numbers. Raise luxury goods tax, for instance, and you’ll see the nation’s deficit reduce somewhat, the socialists and poor will cheer you on and, in theory, there’ll be more emphasis on domestic rather than international products. But the middle class will be furious that their iPads cost more, foreign investors might shy away and quite frankly it’ll all go to hell in a half-dozen ways you probably hadn’t expected.
Another example – hybrid cars and alternative energy sources are all jolly nice on paper, but what possible use are they if they can’t bandage up a nation’s bleeding budget right away? All these groups and sub-groups of people, all with their different needs, so many so contrary to what others desire. So much juggling. Can it ever possibly work, is there any balance, some perfect set of numbers? I don’t know, but I can’t very well just give up, can I?
That’s the maths, but the other and perhaps more affecting aspect of the game is the morality simulation. I went in with a pretty fixed idea of what I hoped to achieve and what I’d come to believe after years of reading liberal media and saying ‘if they’d only do this now then that’ll happen later’ from the comfort of my armchair/Twitter client. I was barely a year into my first term by the point I’d thrown most of my beliefs to the wind and was trying almost anything to appease the whinging middle and the greedy posh or worse, simply to pull more money into the implacable maw that was the national deficit. I even raised university tuition fees. In other words, I became…
Well, let me put it this way. Back before we rather ran out of retro tales, we talked often of our all-time gaming highs on RPS. Today, I suffered one of my all-time gaming lows. I became the ashen-faced, sad-eyed, word-breaking, forever compromising leader of the UK Coalition government’s junior partner. God help me, I became Nick Clegg.
I’d like to take this opportunity to put a few things straight.
Entirely understandably, the people voted me out at the end of my first turn, but while that spelled obscurity for that prime minister character, it grew my own determination. I would try again. Somewhere, in Democracy 3’s initially overwhelming but careful and slick matrix of numbers, sliders and modifiers, taxes and subsidies, policies and injustices, there was surely a way. A way to make things better, to get through the recession, to solve unemployment, to be popular enough to survive even though the rich had to forsake their fourth houses.
The power of Democracy 3 is that it’ll rip your soul right out of you, but without convincing you that your beliefs are actually wrong. What it will do is make you into a liar. Well, a politician, but same difference, right?
All snark aside, Democracy 3 is very much a game of its time. It evokes the panic and precariousness of the financial crisis in Britain (the US and other nations will be added later), the desperate sense that whoever winds up in Downing Street to try and fix it is very much inheriting a poison chalice. This isn’t politics as jolly hockey sticks, it’s politics as a fight against rapid entropy. It’s highly stressful, in all the right ways.
On a visual and interface front, I’m impressed by how it’s managed to prevent its numbers – for all it really is is numbers, and their meanings – from becoming overwhelming, and it doesn’t even need to do the one-note bobblehead gag of sometime, far shallower rival The Political Machine, in order to do this. It feels clean and shiny, a little bit Maxis in its interface. Things happen, in a pleasingly visual and sometimes almost tactile way, when I click on or hover over screen elements, rather than it being a matter of staggering through dry text boxes.
That said, I think perhaps the main screen, with its array of every socio-economic factor in the game, each presented as a clicky round button (only around a quarter of which are visible in the image above), does mean some visual overload, and perhaps would be better off split into one category (i.e. tax, economy, public services etc) per screen rather than trying to show absolutely everything at once, but then again I worked it all out after a time and it wasn’t long before I’d memorised what most icons meant. I also found my ministers to be distractingly inactive, essentially waiting for me to fire or hire them but offering no input on policy, but then again I should be grateful for a megalomania sim after all these years of being spoilt by Civ’s chatty advisors.
What I’m saying is that it hangs together very well: deep and detailed, researched and pitiless, but loaded with enough consequence and meaning to lift it into something much more than a numbers game. It’s very much a roleplaying game, as much about the curse of power as the strategic practicalities of running a vast business. I’m looking forwards to going back in and playing as The Nasty Party, seeing what happens if I privatise everything, ramp up the wealthiest’s wealth and destroy the welfare state. If it turns out I have an easy ride that way, I suspect I’ll reverse my opinions to date on the game, of course.
Democracy 3 will be out at some point soon-ish, probably. Keep up to date with its development on Cliffski’s blog.Story highlights Former politician tells CNN that 17 senior ISIS fighters were killed
Mosul University -- considered an ISIS base -- was hit, but no students were there
Irbil, Iraq (CNN) Airstrikes targeting ISIS fighters struck Mosul and surrounding areas over the weekend, sources tell CNN.
CNN could not immediately independently verify the specifics of the claims, as the strikes hit inside ISIS-held territory.
Seven airstrikes were conducted near Mosul over the weekend, according to news releases from the Combined Joint Task Force carrying out coalition airstrikes.
Reports surfaced that Mosul University -- considered a base for ISIS fighters -- was hit.
CNN confirmed the strikes with two sources: someone inside Mosul University and with Athil Al Nujayfi, the former governor of Nineveh province, where Mosul is located.
Read MoreFor nearly two years, a young political aide sought to cultivate a "farm system" for Republicans at the Justice Department, hiring scores of prosecutors and immigration judges who espoused conservative priorities and Christian lifestyle choices.
That aide, Monica M. Goodling, exercised what amounted to veto power over a wide range of critical jobs, asking candidates for their views on abortion and same-sex marriage and maneuvering around senior officials who outranked her, including the department's second-in-command.
An extensive report by the department's Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility concluded yesterday that Goodling and others had broken civil service laws, run afoul of department policy and engaged in "misconduct," a finding that could expose them to further scrutiny and sanctions. The report depicted Goodling as a central figure in politicizing employment decisions at Justice during the Bush administration.
Goodling declined to cooperate with investigators, who instead interviewed 85 witnesses and scoured documents and computer hard drives to prepare their report. Last year, she trembled as she told the House Judiciary Committee that she "crossed the line" by asking improper questions of job seekers to gauge their political leanings.
But the report and accounts from lawyers who worked alongside Goodling, 34, at Justice provide a far more extensive examination of her dominance during her time as the department's White House liaison and counselor to the attorney general. One source said staff members called her "she who must be obeyed."
Thirty-four candidates told investigators that Goodling or one of her deputies raised the topic of abortion in job interviews and 21 said they discussed same-sex marriage, the report said. Another job applicant said he admired Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, only to watch Goodling "frown" and respond, "But she's pro-choice."
She and her aides regularly gave candidates for career civil service jobs a form designed for political appointees that sought information on party affiliation and financial contributions. When job seekers sometimes raised objections, Goodling replied that the form was a mistake, showing that she was "aware that it was improper," the report said.
John M. Dowd, an attorney for Goodling, said yesterday that she deserved praise, not scorn, for her "exceptional candor" with Congress last year. "Each and every one of the core conclusions of the OIG/OPR report... is consistent with and indeed derived from Ms. Goodling's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee," he said.
The 140-page report appeared to confirm the suspicions of congressional Democrats and raised fresh questions about the reputation of the Justice Department, which has been roiled since the resignations of more than a dozen top officials last year, including Goodling, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Gonzales chief of staff D. Kyle Sampson. The report also found that Sampson had engaged in misconduct by systematically involving politics in the hiring of immigration judges.
Investigators cited discrepancies in information provided by Goodling, Sampson and former press aide John Nowacki, who, like Goodling, received his law degree from Regent University, founded by television evangelist Pat Robertson. But they stopped short of concluding that the conduct rose to the level of a criminal violation.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said yesterday he had directed his staff to consider whether there are grounds to refer allegedly inconsistent statements for possible criminal prosecution. Attorneys for the former Justice Department officials scoffed at the idea, and independent lawyers following the case said it is likely that officials who had left the department will face only ethics inquiries in connection with breaking civil service laws.
Current and former department lawyers said they were appalled by the deep reach of the political hiring, which affected hundreds of rejected job seekers and as many as 40 immigration judges who were recruited under the political criteria. Those judges may remain on the bench because their career civil service jobs carry significant employment protections.The Linux terminal comes to Android with the help of a simple, easy-to-use app called Termux. Here's how to install and use Termux to give your Android a taste of Linux.
Image: Jack Wallen
If you're like me, you always feel better being able to carry a Linux terminal around with you. With a Ubuntu phone, that's as simple as installing the official Terminal app and making use of the native Bash. However, with Android it's not always that simple.
Or is it?
Let me introduce you to a free, handy little app called Termux. This powerful Linux terminal emulator includes a lot of installable tools, including ack-grep, bzip2, cmake, dnsutils, emacs, gcc, git, gnupg, htop, less, nano, php, ssh, tar, and so much more. Once installed, these tools are fully functional and ready to be used...just as you would on a full-blown Linux machine. You can remote into your servers, write and compile code, and more.
Already excited? You should be. Let's install Termux.
SEE: Securing Your Mobile Enterprise (ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature)
Installing Termux
Open the Google Play Store on your Android device. Search for termux. Locate and tap the entry by Fredrik Fornwall. Tap Install. Read the permissions listing (if applicable). Tap Accept. Allow the installation to complete.
Once installed, you should see a Termux launcher on your home screen and/or in your App Drawer. Tap the icon to fire up the application.
Using Termux
When you run Termux, you'll see a very simple screen with a basic Bash prompt (Figure A).
Figure A
Image: Jack Wallen
Termux running on a Nextbit Robin.
The first thing you'll want to do is update the package listing. To do that, issue the command apt update. Running this command may produce a message that you have upgradeable apps (Figure B).
Figure B
Image: Jack Wallen
A Verizon-branded Nexus 6 showing two upgradable apps for Termux.
If you do have upgradable apps, run the command apt upgrade and then, when prompted, tap y and hit Enter. All upgrades will run to completion.
Installing an app
To see the full list of available apps to install, issue the command apt list. You can then scroll through the results (Figure C) to find out if the app you want is available.
Figure C
Image: Jack Wallen
A complete listing of available Termux apps.
Let's say you want to install the openssh package: To do this, issue the command apt install openssh. You'll be prompted to hit y to approve the installation—openssh will install. With that app installed, you can issue the ssh command exactly as you would if you were seated before a standard Linux desktop or server.
A caveat
You might install apps (such as the nano editor) that require usage of the Ctrl key; clearly, there is no such key on the Android keyboard, so what do you do? Fortunately, the developer took that into consideration. When you need to make use of the Ctrl key, simply press the Volume Down button. For example, if you have to save and close in nano, press and hold the Volume Down button and tap the x key.
Exiting the app
To exit Termux, you only have to type the exit command, hit Enter, and hit Enter a second time. The app will close, and you're back to Android.
What more could you want?
Termux is limited to command-line only tools, but when you need the power of the Linux terminal in the palm of your hands, you couldn't ask for a better solution than Termux. Give this app a try, and see if it doesn't make the Android platform feel a bit more complete.
Also seeHere is the information you need to know as a tank for all 14 encounters in Siege of Orgrimmar. I won’t cover the mechanics that don’t concern tanks for simplicity’s sake, so if you’re looking for a raid-wide strategy then sadly this is not the place. (Icy-Veins should cover your needs in that department.) For the most part, this guide should apply to LFR, Flex, and Normal difficulties, and tell you things like when you should taunt and where you should tank stuff.
Table of Contents
Taunt swap after Corrosive Blast (1 stack)
Corrosive Blast hits fairly hard.
Both tanks must stand in different quadrants to avoid getting hit with the same blast. The markings on the floor are a good indicator.
You will likely be out of range of most of your healers, so be prepared to be self-sufficient with your own heals or damage mitigation.
During the add phase, you can’t tank the adds but you can snare, stun, and kill / heal them. The dark adds should be easily killable by a tank. If you have heals (like Healing Sphere) you can also help to top off the healable adds. Avoidables: During the water spout ability, run to melee range to avoid the damage. Run away from little spouts on the ground. You will periodically drop void zones on the ground. Drop they all close together so you have lots of safe space.
Suggested Brewmaster talents: Xuen, Chi Wave, Charging Ox Wave or Leg Sweep
Rook Stonetoe (the brewmaster) and He Softfoot (the rogue) each require tanks. Sun Tenderheart (the priest) cannot be tanked.
(the brewmaster) and (the rogue) each require tanks. Sun Tenderheart (the priest) cannot be tanked. Rook Stonetoe attacks his tank with Vengeful Strikes, which stuns for 3 seconds and deals a large amount of damage. This is a cone attack, so he must be faced away from the raid.
attacks his tank with Vengeful Strikes, which stuns for 3 seconds and deals a large amount of damage. This is a cone attack, so he must be faced away from the raid. He Softfoot has an ability called Gouge. If you are tanking him, you must face away during the cast to avoid the incapacitate. If he incapacitates you, he will fixate on a random target, and the other tank should quickly taunt him to recover the situation.
has an ability called Gouge. If you are tanking him, you must face away during the cast to avoid the incapacitate. If he incapacitates you, he will fixate on a random target, and the other tank should quickly taunt him to recover the situation. When He Softfoot activates Instant Poison or Noxious Poison, use an avoidance ability if you have it. Instant Poison deals extra damage if it lands and Noxious Poison drops puddles on the ground that you need to avoid.
activates Instant Poison or Noxious Poison, use an avoidance ability if you have it. Instant Poison deals extra damage if it lands and Noxious Poison drops puddles on the ground that you need to avoid. Sun Tenderheart does not need to be tanked, but when she casts Calamity you should have more than 30% health.
does not need to be tanked, but when she casts Calamity you should have more than 30% health. Rook Stonetoe’s Desperate Measures: At 66% and 33% health, Rook will summon 3 adds. Misery should be tanked away from the raid because it drops void zones. Gloom and Sorrow can be tanked together. Gloom needs interrupts.
Desperate Measures: At 66% and 33% health, Rook will summon 3 adds. He Softfoot’s Desperate Measures: At 66% and 33% health, He will place a Mark of Anguish on a non-tank raider. Depending on your strategy, this may not concern you, but you should be prepared if your raid decides to throw the Mark to a tank. The Mark of Anguish will root you, though you can still attack. It will leave you with a significant 2 minute armor debuff.
Desperate Measures: At 66% and 33% health, He will place a Mark of Anguish on a non-tank raider. Depending on your strategy, this may not concern you, but you should be prepared if your raid decides to throw the Mark to a tank. The Mark of Anguish will root you, though you can still attack. It will leave you with a significant 2 minute armor debuff. Sun Tenderheart’s Desperate Measures: At 66% and 33% health, Sun will summon lots of adds and a bubble that reduces damage from her Dark Meditation. The adds outside the bubble cannot be tanked, but you can help AoE the adds in the middle. Tank Rook and He inside the bubble, but be aware that they still perform Vengeful Strikes and Gouge during this phase.
Taunt at 3 or more stacks of Self Doubt.
Pick up the big sha adds, Manifestation of Corruption, when they spawn.
When the big adds die they will leave behind a purple sphere. Someone needs to stand on top of this sphere to absorb the corruption. Hopefully the person who is assigned to purify their corruption next should pick it up, but if no one is there you should do it. Otherwise, it will deal periodic AoE damage to the raid. Picking up the corruption will reduce your dps, and you cannot pick up corruption if you’re Corruption meter is already at 100.
Should you be ported to the Purification chamber (either by clicking on the golden orb or being automatically ported in LFR), you will have to solo a single monster. You will stay in that room until you kill the monster or after 1 minute has passed. To survive, you need to, Run out of the frontal cone (Titanic Smash) Interrupt Hurl Curruption Use avoidance abilities (if you have them) for Piercing Corruption, which cannot be absorbed but can be avoided. Burst of Corruption does AoE damage to the raid. There’s nothing you can do about it except kill the add fast enough so he doesn’t cast it much. Once out of the purification chamber, use your dps cooldowns while you have no corruption.
Suggested Brewmaster talents: Xuen (while there are a lot of adds, it’s rare that they group up enough for Rushing Jade Wind to be effective)
Positioning: Tanks will likely be on the opposite side of the room as everyone else, and standing near (but not on) the prison areas.
Wounded Pride – Taunt immediately after this debuff is applied to other tank. Otherwise, the other tank will gain unnecessary Pride.
Corrupted Prison – Tanks cannot be imprisoned, which makes them perfect for unlocking those who are. Stand near (but not on) the switches before Corrupted Prison is cast.
Adds: The various adds that spawn don’t need to be tanked, but if you’re currently not tanking then you can run over to the raid and help them with killing everything.
Swelling Pride: Assuming quick taunt swaps, you shouldn’t get very high values of Pride. However, if you do then you’ll have to react much the same as the rest of the raid. 25-49 Pride: Run out of void zone(s) 50-74 Pride: Stand in your marked void zone 75-99 Pride: Stand away from raid. 100 Pride: Damage increase, mind control next time Swelling Pride is cast.
Suggested Brewmaster talents: Xuen, unless you’re regularly within range of the raid to AoE the adds down with Rushing Jade Wind
The first phase, which includes many waves of orc adds and scaling the towers, is an AoE fest, so bring all your AoE tools with you.
On the ground: Bonecrushers will occasionally target an NPC and cast Fracture, which deals a deadly amount of damage to them. The encounter will end if one of the important NPCs dies, so you must quickly stun and taunt the Bonecrushers. Be aware that sometimes they will target Varian, who is standing in the melee and it’s hard to notice when he’s being attacked. Clash is pretty good for this. Tidal Shaman need to be interrupted and will likely be the primary target, as are their Healing Tide Totems. Miniboss Korgra: Avoid Poison Cloud on the ground; she’ll place a stacking debuff on tank. Miniboss Thranok: Point away from the raid because he cleaves; run out of his circular AoE effect.
In the towers: Once the demolisher tanks are dead, you can take a group up the tower. Run all the way to the top of the tower without stopping, while trying to pick up the three or four mobs on the way. Each tower has a mini boss. Both have a cone effect that will knock you off the tower should you get caught. I recommend tanking each boss to the side of the tower so that when they run toward the center you know they’re about to cast their knock-back.
When both towers are destroyed and Galakras is shot down, Phase 2 will begin. One tank needs to pick up the dragon and position it so that its side is to the raid. The other tank needs to stand away from the front of the dragon and away from the raid, to avoid gaining stacks of Flames of Galakrond.
Tanks need to swap at around 3 stacks of Flames of Galakrond.
Suggested Brewmaster talents: Rushing Jade Wind, Chi Burst for AoE damage, Charging Ox Wave or Leg Sweep for interrupting Fracture.
Phase 1 – Assault Mode: The boss is tankable. Taunt swap after 2 or 3 stacks of Ignite Armor. Use active mitigation or cooldowns for Flame Vents/ Ignite Armor. Damage you take will increase with each stack. When not tanking, click on the Crawler Mines. You’ll be blasted high into the air |
efficient way,” Joyce told The Hill. “We have health experts in this country who actually know what they’re talking about.”
Asked if he planned to join a possible bipartisan healthcare working group, Joyce said: “I’ll be part of anything that brings about solutions that are in the best interest of the American people.”Scott Ian (born Scott Ian Rosenfeld; December 31, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist, backing and additional lead vocalist, and the only remaining founding member of the thrash metal band Anthrax. He also writes the lyrics on all their albums.[1] Ian is the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death. He has hosted The Rock Show on VH1 and has appeared on VH1's I Love the... series, Heavy: The Story of Metal, and Supergroup. Ian is also the rhythm guitarist for the metal band the Damned Things.
Biography [ edit ]
Early life [ edit ]
Born Scott Ian Rosenfeld [2] (name has since been legally changed) to a Jewish family[3] in the Bayside section of the New York City borough of Queens, he has a younger brother named Jason (who was involved briefly with Anthrax) and a half-brother named Sean. Scott attended Bayside High School, with classmates (and future Anthrax bandmates) Dan Lilker and Neil Turbin of the graduating class of 1981.
Witnessing Kiss live at Madison Square Garden in 1977 made a huge impact on Ian, who has been vocal about his love for the band, and appeared on an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels, in which he visited Simmons' home and spoke about the impact Kiss had on his life. Ian went on to be influenced by British heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Judas Priest, as well as the punk rock band, the Ramones as an influence. Ian then discovered at the age of 12 that he knew he could become a famous hard rock/heavy metal star. The musical style of his playing and songwriting including fast alternate picking was also largely influenced by the German metal band Accept.
Anthrax [ edit ]
As a founding member of Anthrax, Ian helped to create thrash metal in the mid-1980s alongside Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica. Ian came up with the idea to collaborate with the rap group Public Enemy in 1991 and record a foundation of the rap/rock genre by covering Public Enemy's song "Bring the Noise". In 2005, Ian was invited by Chuck D of Public Enemy to perform "Bring the Noise" with them as part of their induction into VH1's Hip Hop Honors Hall of Fame. Ian also joined Public Enemy on the Rock The Bells tour in 2007.
In 2009, Anthrax completed a run of European festivals including Metallica's Sonisphere festivals in Germany and Knebworth in the U.K. which was highlighted by the return of singer John Bush. Anthrax returned to Japan in October 2009 with Bush to play at the Loud Park festival in Tokyo. Anthrax's next shows were in Australia in February 2010 as a part of the Soundwave Festival. Anthrax was a part of the Sonisphere Festival in Europe in the summer of 2010, where for the first time Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth performed together on the same stage - 16 June 2010, Warsaw, Bemowo Airport, Poland.
Other ventures [ edit ]
Ian got into a television gig with VH1 in 2001 when they asked him to host "Rock Show". During his 48 episodes as host, Ian interviewed guests including Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Ted Nugent, Stone Temple Pilots, Megadeth, 3 Doors Down, Sevendust, Tenacious D and the Cult. Ian is a regular commentator on various VH1 shows including the "I Love The 70s, 80s, and 90s" series, "100 Most Metal Moments", "Awesomely Bad Number One Songs", "When Metallica Ruled The World", and episodes of VH1's "Behind The Music" featuring Metallica, Pantera and Anthrax. Ian was prominently featured in VH1's "History of Heavy Metal". In June 2006, Ian starred in the VH1 reality series "SuperGroup" with Ted Nugent, Sebastian Bach, Jason Bonham and Evan Seinfeld.
Ian plays guitar in the group Pearl, who just finished two tours with Velvet Revolver and Meat Loaf. The debut album from Pearl was released on January 19, 2010 through Megaforce Records. Ian performed with Pearl on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on January 20, 2010.
In 2008, DC Comics asked Ian to take the character Lobo and write a two-issue prestige format series for that character. Books one and two of Lobo: Highway to Hell were released in November and December 2009.
In 2008, Ian signed with Ultimate Bet, the third largest internet gaming site in the world as one of their online professional players. Ian joined professional poker players Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke as one of Ultimate Bets star pros. He won Ultimate Bet's premier Sunday 200K tournament and he cashed in 2010's WSOP main event by finishing 634th out of 6494 players. In 2010 Ian joined the metal supergroup the Damned Things, which released their first album on December 14, 2010. On June 21, 2011 Ian's wife Pearl Aday gave birth to their first child, thus forcing Ian to briefly depart from Anthrax's tour. Andreas Kisser from Sepultura filled in for Scott on guitar during Scott's absence.
Ian provided the voice of a human who snuck in Dethklok's trunk while they were hammered in the Season III: The Dead Man pilot episode of Metalocalypse, as well as providing guest voices in "Tributeklok" on Adult Swim.
Ian planned a spoken word tour entitled Speaking Words starting in May 2013, in the UK.[4]
In 2014, he joined former members of Mother Superior to form Motor Sister. They released their debut album "Ride" on 9 March 2015.
Personal life [ edit ]
He was married formerly to his high school girlfriend, Marge Ginsburg, in the 1980s;[2] the marriage ended in divorce.
Ian is married to singer Pearl Aday, adopted daughter of famed singer Meat Loaf. Their first child, Revel Young Ian, was born in 2011.[5] Ian is a New York Yankees fan. He enjoys snowboarding. He plays poker and is an online pro at UltimateBet. He finished 637th in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event taking home $21,365.[6] He is a Battlestar Galactica fan, posting numerous blogs about the show and also making an appearance for the red carpet series finale and playing guitar on "The Plan" made-for-DVD film soundtrack.
He is a fan of Doctor Who, the television series, as seen in "The Best of the Doctor" that aired August 13, 2011 on BBC America numbered episode 166. Ian is a fan of hip hop music, particularly Public Enemy. He was known to wear Public Enemy shirts while performing gigs in the late 1980s and also said Run-DMC came out with the same aggression that metal bands played with (that he was listening to). He fell in love with rap and said Run-DMC was the group that put rap on the map.
He co-owned a hard rock bar called Dead Man's Hand in Las Vegas with Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains.[7]
Discography [ edit ]
With Anthrax [ edit ]
With Stormtroopers of Death [ edit ]
Stormtroopers of Death videos [ edit ]
Date of release Title Label Chart positions US sales January 23, 2001 Kill Yourself: The Movie (DVD or VHS) Nuclear Blast Records September 25, 2001 Speak English or Live (DVD) Nuclear Blast Records July 26, 2005 20 Years of Dysfunction Nuclear Blast Records
Collaborations [ edit ]
Television [ edit ]
Equipment [ edit ]
Scott Ian uses his signature Jackson guitars and signature Randall MTS Series heads and cabinets. He is known to use Dimebag Darrell tribute Deans and previously endorsed Washburn.[9][10][11] During the mid 1980s, he used ESP guitars for a while, also getting Kirk Hammett his ESP endorsement. Scott uses a DigiTech signature Black 13 distortion pedal, and a DigiTech chorus pedal for his clean sounds.[12] Many of his guitars have been equipped with custom made Seymour Duncan "El Diablo" pickups,[13] but can also be seen using standard Seymour Duncan SH-4's and '59 pickups on several guitars, including his newest signature Jackson. He also recently began endorsing Evertune bridges.[14]
In late 2009, Ian ended his endorsement with Washburn and went back to Jackson guitars. He was seen using custom made Soloist and Randy Rhoads guitars during the 2009 Sonisphere Festival. On March 27, 2010, Ian announced the production of a new signature guitar by Jackson via Twitter and YouTube. He said it would be based on his Soloist from 1987. It has a silverburst finish, a single Seymour Duncan J.B. humbucker, lightning bolt inlays, and a string-thru/tune-o-matic bridge. A dual-humbucker version with a Floyd Rose tremolo will also be released. He stated, "I am so stoked to be back with Jackson." He was seen using this guitar while playing with Brian Posehn at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards and with The Damned Things at the 2011 Download Festival.
Guitars [ edit ]
Jackson Scott Ian Signature T-1000 Soloist [15]
Jackson custom T-1000 Randy Rhoads
Jackson custom "NOT" Soloist
Jackson Adrian Smith San Dimas Dinky
Gibson Flying V (1982, Used in the studio)
Gibson "Thunderhorse" Explorer (Used at Download Festival 2011 with The Damned Things)
Jackson JJ1 (USA-made, Seymour Duncan JB And Jazz pickups, Alder or Korina body with maple neck)
Jackson JJ2 (USA-Made, Seymour Duncan El-Diablo pickups and a killswitch, alder body with maple neck or mahogany body with mahogany neck)
Jackson JJ4 (Lower-end model, Asian-Made, with Duncan Designed pickups and a killswitch)
Jackson JJ5 (5-string Baritone)
Jackson Custom "NOT" Telecaster
Charvel Surfcaster (with Seymour Duncan Humbucker in the Bridge Position and the stock Chandler Lipstick pickup in the angled Neck position: Main guitar for the Sound of White Noise era)
Jackson Randy Rhoads (1982)
Washburn SI75TI (Used Washburn from 2004–2009)
Washburn WV540VASI
Washburn WV40VASI
Washburn SI60MW
Washburn SI61G
ESP M-100FM
ESP Custom M-II and Telecasters (1985–1989)
ESP TE-230SI (Signature model based on Scott Ian's red ESP Telecaster in the mid-to-late 1980s. Japan only)
Seymour Duncan J.B. pickups
Seymour Duncan El Diablo (Scott Ian custom shop pickups)
DR Strings.10-.52
DR Strings.18-.56 (for JJ-5)
Dunlop Tortex.88mm Picks
Effects [ edit ]
In Rack Case:
MXR EVH Eddie Van Halen Phase 90 [15]
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay [15]
MXR M-135 Smart Gate (x3) [15]
CAE MC402 Boost/Overdrive [15]
TC Electronic Corona Chorus[15]
On Floor:
CAE MC404 Wah [15]
DigiTech WH-2 Whammy [15]
Boss TU-3 Tuner[15]
Other:
BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer
DigiTech Black 13 distortion pedal
DigiTech XMC chorus pedal
TC Electronic Booster+ Line Driver & Distortion
Korg DTR-1 Tuner
Rocktron HUSH IIC
Samson UHF Synth 6 Wireless
Amplifiers [ edit ]
EVH 5150 IIIS EL34 heads (Current main amps)
Fender/EVH 5150III Heads (used for recording Worship Music and For All Kings, also used live occasionally)
and, also used live occasionally) Randall Ultimate Nullifier UN120 (second Randall signature amp, designed by Mike Fortin)
Randall MTS Series RM100SI signature head with signature modules [15] (first Randall signature amp)
(first Randall signature amp) Randall MTS series RM100 and RM100LB heads (With Ultra modules)
Randall V2 400 Watt Heads (Can be seen in advertisements)
Randall V-Max Heads (Used in 2003 before the V2 and MTS heads)
Randall Cyclone Heads (Used from 2001–2003)
Randall Warhead Heads (First amp used when Ian transitioned from Marshall to Randall)
Randall SI412 signature speaker Cabs
Randall NB412 Nuno Bettencourt Signature 4×12 Cabs
Randall XL 4×12 Cabs
Randall XL 2×12 and 1×15 Cabs
Marshall JCM 800 2203 (Early years of Anthrax, and used for leads on "We've Come For You All". Used by both Scott and Rob Caggiano for recording Worship Music, and by Scott for For All Kings )
, and by Scott for ) Peavey 6505+ 120 Watt head
Randall RT100 heads (Only used at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Awards while performing in Brian Posehn's backing band)
Randall RT-412RC Cabs (See above)Yesterday we ran the rumour that DC Comics were to kill off the Terry McGinnis character, the young man from the future known as Batman Beyond.
But is that the end of the superhero identity? Possibly not. I referred to the whiteboard images that were sent to me last year from the Futures End writers room. Which had this reveal.
I read that as Trm/BMB pulls the plug on Bro Eye – Trm being Terry McGinnis and BMB and Batman Beyond.
It’s not TRM though is it?
It’s Tim.
Tim Drake.
DC Comics will be taking the character of Tim Drake, currently Red Robin of the Teen Titans comic and previous sidekick of Batman, and giving him the Batman Beyond suit and identity,
Whether he will stay in the present or return to the future thirty-five years hence, I don’t know. Maybe we will do soon?
Of course, he already exists in that era…
I wonder if this has anything to do with the DC FCBD title?
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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None foundFracking ban extended in Victoria until 2015
Updated
A Victorian taskforce has recommended the lifting of the ban on the coal seam gas extraction method known as fracking.
The Gas Market Taskforce, headed by former Howard Government Minister, Peter Reith, has delivered a report saying there is a lot of exaggeration about fracking.
The report says there is compelling evidence that the practice should be allowed.
But the Premier, Denis Napthine, has extended the ban on fracking until at least June 2015.
He says he wants more information on the effects of fracking on the state's water supplies before making any decisions.
"We will never, ever allow onshore gas if it jeopardises our underground water," he said.
The extension of the ban has disappointed the managing director of Lakes Oil, Rob Annells, whose company had been using fracking techniques to extract gas from onshore wells in Gippsland.
Mr Annells says his company will have to revert to alternative extraction processes.
"Industry is already suffering by the high dollar and high wage costs and now we're going to add to it high energy costs so I think it's a disaster for Victoria," he said.
The report will be open for public consultation until March next year, before community consultation sessions are held across the state.
Topics: oil-and-gas, state-parliament, rural
First postedA.J. Price is still a member of the Indiana Pacers, thanks to the NBA granting Indiana's request for a second injury hardship relief exception to keep a 16th player on their roster. With several players still out with injuries, the Blue-and-Gold can keep Price on their roster for the time being.
Given how well he's played in his first six games with the team, it's hard to believe that Price was off an NBA roster and seemingly on his way to China just two weeks ago. Price had spent three years with the Pacers from 2009-12, but did anyone in the organization really believe that he would be this productive in his second stint with the team?
PHOTO GALLERY: A.J. Price's 2014-15 Season-to-Date »
The A.J. Price Reunion Tour has been a lot more than simply nostalgic. Price has been extremely productive. He's averaged 13 points per game in six contests with the team, reaching double figures in three of Indiana's four games last week. He scored 22 points against Utah to help the Blue-and-Gold snap a six-game losing streak last Monday, then poured in 21 to key a surprise road win in Chicago on Saturday.
Yes, six games is a small sample size, but Price's shooting percentages in his second stint with the Pacers far exceed his career averages. He had never shot better than.413 from the field or.350 from 3-point range in any of his first five NBA seasons, but he's shooting.492 and.409, respectively, so far this season.
With George Hill and C.J. Watson still sidelined, it was a no-brainer for the Pacers to bring Price back for another 10 days. Keeping him beyond that time, however, is awfully tricky. With 15 players already under contract, the only way Indiana can keep Price long-term would be for Indiana to either waive someone or make a trade, both options that seem unlikely. As good as Price and third-stringer-turned-starter Donald Sloan have both played this year, Hill and Watson are both proven commodities, and it would make little sense to keep four point guards on the 15-man roster once everyone is healthy.
But for now, Price is still a member of the Pacers. And as long as he's here, he's going to contribute.Streptomyces is the largest genus of Actinobacteria and the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae.[1] Over 500 species of Streptomyces bacteria have been described.[2] As with the other Actinobacteria, streptomycetes are gram-positive, and have genomes with high GC content.[3] Found predominantly in soil and decaying vegetation, most streptomycetes produce spores, and are noted for their distinct "earthy" odor that results from production of a volatile metabolite, geosmin.
Streptomycetes are characterised by a complex secondary metabolism.[3] They produce over two-thirds of the clinically useful antibiotics of natural origin (e.g., neomycin, cypemycin, grisemycin, bottromycins and chloramphenicol).[4][5] The now uncommonly used streptomycin takes its name directly from Streptomyces. Streptomycetes are infrequent pathogens, though infections in humans, such as mycetoma, can be caused by S. somaliensis and S. sudanensis, and in plants can be caused by S. caviscabies, S. acidiscabies, S. turgidiscabies and S. scabies.
Taxonomy [ edit ]
Streptomyces is the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae[6] and currently covers close to 576 species with the number increasing every year.[7] Acidophilic and acid-tolerant strains that were initially classified under this genus have later been moved to Kitasatospora (1997) [8] and Streptacidiphilus (2003).[9] Species nomenclature are usually based on their color of hyphae and spores.
Saccharopolyspora erythraea was formerly placed in this genus (as Streptomyces erythraeus).
Morphology [ edit ]
The genus Streptomyces includes aerobic, Gram-positive, filamentous bacteria that produce well-developed vegetative hyphae (between 0.5-2.0 µm in diameter) with branches. They form a complex substrate mycelium that aids in scavenging organic compounds from their substrates.[10] Although the mycelia and the aerial hyphae that arise from them are amotile, mobility is achieved by dispersion of spores.[10] Spore surfaces may be hairy, rugose, smooth, spiny or warty.[11] In some species, aerial hyphae consist of long, straight filaments, which bear 50 or more spores at more or less regular intervals, arranged in whorls (verticils). Each branch of a verticil produces, at its apex, an umbel, which carries from two to several chains of spherical to ellipsoidal, smooth or rugose spores.[10] Some strains form short chains of spores on substrate hyphae. Sclerotia-, pycnidia-, sporangia-, and synnemata-like structures are produced by some strains.
Genomics [ edit ]
The complete genome of "S. coelicolor strain A3(2)" was published in 2002.[12] At the time, the "S. coelicolor" genome was thought to contain the largest number of genes of any bacterium.[12] The chromosome is 8,667,507 bp long with a GC-content of 72.1%, and is predicted to contain 7,825 protein-encoding genes.[12] In terms of taxonomy, "S. coelicolor A3(2)" belongs to the species S. violaceoruber, and is not a validly described separate species; "S. coelicolor A3(2)" is not to be mistaken for the actual S. coelicolor (Müller), although it is often referred to as S. coelicolor for convenience.[13]
The first complete genome sequence of S. avermitilis was completed in 2003.[14] Each of these genomes forms a chromosome with a linear structure, unlike most bacterial genomes, which exist in the form of circular chromosomes.[15] The genome sequence of S. scabies, a member of the genus with the ability to cause potato scab disease, has been determined at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. At 10.1 Mbp long and encoding 9,107 provisional genes, it is the largest known Streptomyces genome sequenced, probably due to the large pathogenicity island.[15][16]
Biotechnology [ edit ]
In recent years, biotechnology researchers have begun using Streptomyces species for heterologous expression of proteins. Traditionally, Escherichia coli was the species of choice to express eukaryotic genes, since it was well understood and easy to work with.[17][18] Expression of eukaryotic proteins in E. coli may be problematic. Sometimes, proteins do not fold properly, which may lead to insolubility, deposition in inclusion bodies, and loss of bioactivity of the product.[19] Though E. coli strains have secretion mechanisms, these are of low efficiency and result in secretion into the periplasmic space, whereas secretion by a Gram-positive bacterium such as a Streptomyces species results in secretion directly into the extracellular medium. In addition, Streptomyces species have more efficient secretion mechanisms than E.coli. The properties of the secretion system is an advantage for industrial production of heterologously expressed protein because it simplifies subsequent purification steps and may increase yield. These properties among others make Streptomyces spp. an attractive alternative to other bacteria such as E. coli and Bacillus subtilis.[19]
Plant pathogenic bacteria [ edit ]
So far, ten species belonging to this genus have been found to be pathogenic to plants:[7]
Medicine [ edit ]
Streptomyces is the largest antibiotic-producing genus, producing antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic drugs, and also a wide range of other bioactive compounds, such as immunosuppressants.[20] Almost all of the bioactive compounds produced by Streptomyces are initiated during the time coinciding with the aerial hyphal formation from the substrate mycelium.[10]
Antifungals [ edit ]
Streptomycetes produce numerous antifungal compounds of medicinal importance, including nystatin (from S. noursei), amphotericin B (from S. nodosus), and natamycin (from S. natalensis).
Antibacterials [ edit ]
Members of the genus Streptomyces are the source for numerous antibacterial pharmaceutical agents; among the most important of these are:
Clavulanic acid (from S. clavuligerus) is a drug used in combination with some antibiotics (like amoxicillin) to block and/or weaken some bacterial-resistance mechanisms by irreversible beta-lactamase inhibition. Novel antiinfectives currently being developed include Guadinomine (from Streptomyces sp. K01-0509),[37] a compound that blocks the Type III secretion system of Gram-negative bacteria.
Antiparasitic drugs [ edit ]
S. avermitilis is responsible for the production of one of the most widely employed drugs against nematode and arthropod infestations, ivermectin.
Other [ edit ]
Less commonly, streptomycetes produce compounds used in other medical treatments: migrastatin (from S. platensis) and bleomycin (from S. verticillus) are antineoplastic (anticancer) drugs; boromycin (from S. antibioticus) exhibits antiviral activity against the HIV-1 strain of HIV, as well as antibacterial activity. Staurosporine (from S. staurosporeus) also has a range of activities from antifungal to antineoplastic (via the inhibition of protein kinases).
S. hygroscopicus and S. viridochromogenes produce the natural herbicide bialaphos.
See also [ edit ]
Antimycin A - compound produced by this bacterium used in piscicides
Streptomyces isolates
References [ edit ]Craig Wright is probably not Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.
The Australian entrepreneur recently summoned several media outlets, including the BBC and the Economist, as well as two key people from the Bitcoin community, to prove he is the elusive Nakamoto. After his proof got dissected by experts and turned out to be inconclusive at the very least, Wright publicly promised he'll follow up with better proof.
But in a new blog post, replacing his entire blog, Wright wrote he won't provide cryptographic proof he is Nakamoto after all.
"I believed that I could do this. I believed that I could put the years of anonymity and hiding behind me. But, as the events of this week unfolded and I prepared to publish the proof of access to the earliest keys, I broke. I do not have the courage. I cannot," Wright posted.
The "earliest keys" he mentions refer to the cryptographic keys tied to the earliest mined Bitcoins, which are known to be owned by Nakamoto, who created the cryptocurrency in late 2008. Many experts pointed out that simply moving a few coins from that earliest stash of bitcoins (which have never been used) would be very solid proof that a person is indeed Satoshi Nakamoto.
In the post, Wright has apologized to chief scientist at the Bitcoin foundation, Gavin Andresen, and former executive director of the Bitcoin foundation, Jon Matonis, both of whom met Wright and publicly acknowledged him as being Nakamoto. He still maintains, however, that they were not mislead.
"I can only hope that their honour and credibility is not irreparably tainted by my actions. They were not deceived, but I know that the world will never believe that now," he wrote.
Interestingly, Matonis posted a cryptic note on his Twitter account, minutes before Wright posted on his blog.
There won't be an on-chain signing from early bitcoin blocks, but there also won't be another Satoshi. — Jon Matonis (@jonmatonis) May 5, 2016
There are no accounts of anyone ever meeting Satoshi Nakamoto. He only communicated with early Bitcoin developers and adopters electronically, mostly through emails and message boards, prior to disappearing in 2010. His total stash of bitcoins is estimated to be roughly one million, or some $447 million in today's value.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.In his first press appearance on June 9, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden gave every appearance of being a man of principle, arguing that the public deserved a chance to learn how broad the agency’s domestic surveillance was, and that he had revealed himself because “the public is owed an explanation of the motivations behind the people who make these disclosures that are outside of the democratic model. When you are subverting the power of government that's a fundamentally dangerous thing to democracy.” This was the crux of his decision to go public—that people deserved to know who was revealing the information, as he was bypassing legitimate channels. He added that the government officials who leak secrets anonymously were also violating this principle, but that by leaking selectively and anonymously, they had isolated the surveillance programs from public discussion. Snowden, in his account, had given up his future and his pleasant station in life in defense of the principles those officials ignored. He argued his motivations were patriotic,
telling other prospective leakers that “this country is worth dying for.” While his actions were lawless and set an extremely dangerous precedent—as James Joyner aptly pointed out, they would “make every disgruntled Army private or low-level contractor a de facto national classification authority”—Snowden appeared at least to have honest intentions. ="#block-51bf38f9e4b04a1361c94e70">
Then something shifted. Snowden began leaking information about unquestionably legitimate NSA and joint operations, revealing information-gathering and hacking in China and against foreign heads of state. Snowden implied that the NSA should only gather information against “legitimate military targets,” saying that other operations abroad
were “nakedly, aggressively criminal.” He complained that the United States “hasn't declared war on the countries [it is collecting information on]—the majority of them are our allies...And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our own Police?” These were shockingly naive statements for someone with years of intelligence experience—journalist Jeffrey Goldberg quipped that Snowden was reminiscent of a “guy who joined Goldman Sachs and then was shocked to learn that it was in the business of making money.” Why on earth would Snowden make his living facilitating actions he regarded as evil if he is, indeed, the man of principle he purports to be? ="#block-51bf1112e4b0239b85d8c67f">
And now it has gotten worse. Snowden is holed up in the VIP lounge of Moscow’s airport. Rumored destinations have included beacons of democracy like Cuba and Venezuela. He’s dashed off an asylum application to Ecuador. Why Ecuador? It’s the same country that hosts WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in its London embassy. They granted him this protection on the grounds that his human rights were in danger of violation if he were handed over to the notoriously abusive government of Sweden—the noxious Scandinavian pariah-state whose prisons have been compared to “five-star hotels.” Snowden argued that his own rights would face similar danger if he were returned to America, and that accordingly he deserved Ecuadorian protection.
The latest episode immediately brought to mind a pair of photos from the early 1970s. Angela Davis, an American communist, academic and prison-reform activist, had been briefly imprisoned in California after a deadly courthouse shooting in which one of her bodyguards used a gun she had purchased two days prior. While detained, Davis became a cause célèbre in the Communist world, which alleged she was a political prisoner. After a jury found her not guilty, she was freed and began travelling to various Communist countries, where she was photographed shaking hands and making appearances with the crusty Soviet puppets running East Germany. Gulag survivor Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn would point out that her commitment to prison reform apparently did not extend to prisoners in these Communist states—not even to prisoners whose sawed-off shotguns had never been taped to a judge’s throat.
There’s a parallel to the Snowden case. Human Rights Watch has accused Ecuador of several of the offenses Snowden seems to oppose. Ecuador’s media watchdogs face a tightening noose of libel laws that serve to keep the political elite’s darker secrets under wraps, the executive branch has meddled in the judiciary, and Ecuadorian demonstrators have faced persecution under overly broad terror laws. And while Assange (and possibly soon Snowden) enjoys Ecuadorian asylum, Ecuador allegedly violates several international agreements on asylum-seeker’s rights.
Snowden might not have adopted Davis’ rank hypocrisy. Yet he shares her naivete, the naivete that many self-proclaimed freedom fighters and defenders of principle have had towards the geopolitical machinations of the nation-states around them. The Communist lands clearly did not give one whit about prison reform. They exploited Davis’ case to make America look bad—and, tacitly, to convince their own citizens that the tyranny they experienced at home was universal. Ecuador does not protect Assange because it has a deep and principled commitment to free speech. Russia and China aren’t eager to ensure that private citizens can live free from surveillance. They all merely want to give Washington a black eye. Edward Snowden contacted the press because he felt his job had turned him into a pawn of people who hold Americans’ liberties in low regard. Yet his flight has turned him into a pawn of self-interested foreign governments. And sometimes pawns are sacrificed—and captured.This is a story about political dysfunction in Washington.
Say hello to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
The F-35 joint strike jet fighter is one of the costliest weapons programs in human history, with each plane costing $90 million and the project taking more than a decade to complete.
The price tag of the entire program has nearly doubled since 2001, coming in at a staggering $396 billion dollars. And, thanks to a number of production delays and safety concerns, that price tag is still rising.
When you combine the price tag of the program with Government Accountability Office estimated operating and maintenance costs of the planes– the total cost of the program reaches over $1 trillion.
And here's the really tragic and absurd part of this story. Thanks to the decade of delays, the technology in the F-35, once thought to be the best of the best, is now outdated.
The F-35 program is one of several in the current Pentagon budget that is stuck in the last century, and has failed to adapt to changes in modern day warfare.
Yet, Pentagon officials, like current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, are still pressing for nearly 2,500 of these absurdly expensive and already-obsolete F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
At a press conference in Ottawa, Canada last Spring, Panetta told reporters that, “As part of the defense strategy that the United States went through and has put in place, we have made very clear that we are 100 percent committed to the development of the F-35. It’s a fifth-generation fighter, [and] we absolutely need it for the future.”
What Panetta didn't point out is that over the course of the F-35 program, the world has changed. The F-35 is supposed to be the future of U.S. tactical airpower, but the fact is the entire program is a relic of the Cold War. Rather than face the current threats of today, like cyber warfare, we continue to pour billions, and potentially trillions, into the bottomless pits of projects like the F-35.
On March 1st, if lawmakers fail to reach a new federal budget deal, the automatic sequester cuts will go into effect. Under these cuts, a variety of federal agencies and programs will lose funding, including the Pentagon. If those sequester cuts go into effect, the Pentagon will face more than $500 billion in spending cuts.
Cue Republican war hawks like Sen. Lindsey Graham. Appearing on Fox News Sunday over the weekend, Graham said that, in order to avoid the looming sequester budget cuts that would, he said, "destroy" the military, we should instead eliminate healthcare to the 30 million Americans who are covered under Obamacare.
Instead of taking healthcare away from millions of Americans, lawmakers in Washington should kill the zombie of the F-35.
The Pentagon is facingt $500 billion in budget cuts if the sequester goes into effect. And, amazingly, that's about the amount left in the Pentagon budget for the F-35.
The fact of the matter is eliminating the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program really won’t put a dent in America’s military power.
As Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan, one of the few Republicans in favor of defense cuts, put it, quote, “We are spending maybe 45% of the world's budget on defense. If we drop to 42% or 43%, would we be suddenly in danger of some kind of invasion?”
No. We wouldn’t be.
But it would put a dent in the wallets of America’s war profiteers, which really concerns Republicans who are heavily funded by them, people like Senator Lindsey Graham.
And they sure can afford to fund Graham and his congressional buddies. In the past ten years, the defense industry has seen record profits.
In 2011, the combined profits of the five largest U.S.-based contractors were a staggering $13.4 billion. And, despite going through a recession that devastated both families and business across the country, the defense industry is still making record profits.
FDR said during World War II that, "I don't want to see a single war millionaire created in the United States as a result of this world disaster.”
But, in this new age of never-ending war, war profiteers are cashing in like never before. Glance across the Potomac from our nation’s capital, and you'll see virtual castles – thirty and forty room mansions in secure, gated communities - all belonging to the |
_name (line 9) and when everything is ready run npm install (line 19)
when it finish finally it run command: npm start ( line 9 on docker-compose.yml)
If you want to experiment more and see how production works run these commands:
404: Not Found
and see how docker-compose.production.yml is done
The last couple of things that I want to point is that:
you can create a.dockerignore exactly like a.gitIgnore
you can setup a continuous integration with your bitbucket or github account (https://docs.docker.com/docker-cloud/builds/link-source/)
setup slack integration (https://docs.docker.com/docker-cloud/slack-integration/)
If you enjoyed this post follow me on twitter @Dzurico!
ResourcesI am looking for an intern. An awesome intern. THE ultimate intern.
Definition: A student or a recent graduate undergoing supervised practical training.
What I’m looking for:
– Help with writing posts
– Help with Twitter/Facebook marketing
– Help come up with ideas for contests
– Help come up with ideas for videos or buying video likes on youtube
– Help come up with ideas/designs for SAVAGE swag (hoodies, tees, hats, shorts, etc)
The ideal intern:
– Loves ultimate
– Loves to write
– Loves to talk to other people about ultimate
– Loves to be creative and come up with fun ways to spread the sport
– Has a general understanding of marketing for a small business, engagement methods, social media and proper online etiquette
What you’ll get:
– Unlimited coaching tips
– Ultimate Rob gear from my SAVAGE store
– My eternal gratitude (plus tons of virtual high fives)
How to apply:
Send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “I want to be THE Ultimate Intern” with the following:
– Your name, age & gender
– Your ultimate bio – teams you’ve played with, how long you’ve been playing for, what your favourite tournament is, what your favourite ultimate memory is so far and anything else you want to include – be creative!
– A paragraph telling me why you ARE the Ultimate Intern
– Your favourite pic or video of you playing ultimate
Depending on the applicants, I might accept a few of you to help me out. I’ve always been about growing ultimate and with your help, we can continue to do so!
The application process closes in 15 days, on September 27 at midnight.Did you miss me? Studying NFL draft prospects never stops, of course, but I'm back from my summer vacation armed with an updated Big Board for the 2018 draft.
My way-too-early top 25 for this draft class came out in May, and this edition brings a few prospects moving up and down the board, plus some making their debuts.
A few notes before we get started:
The write-ups here won't change much from my way-too-early Big Board. Only a few games have been played so far, so I'm still waiting to see who has taken a step forward since last season.
Keep in mind that several prospects here have started only one season, so my projections are based on size, athletic ability, statistics and what I hear from people around the league.
Speaking of sizes, what's listed here is what schools give out. These could vary greatly when players show up at the NFL combine. True height and weight really matters for almost every position.
All right, let's get to it. Oh, and check out Todd McShay's first top 32 here, and get ready for our weekly college football stories.
Note: One asterisk denotes player is a junior, and two asterisks denote player is a redshirt sophomore for the 2017 season.
1. **Sam Darnold, QB, Southern California
Darnold has everything that NFL teams want in a starter. He has a big frame (6-foot-4, 225 pounds), makes quick decisions and is an accurate and natural passer. He completed 67.2 percent of his passes last season and ranked second in the nation in Total QBR (86.8). Darnold has an unorthodox, long delivery, however, that will have to be retooled. And the third-year sophomore has started only 10 games. I'm excited to see him in his second season as a starter, and he has two tough games in the first month of the season -- at home against Stanford and Texas.
2. *Josh Allen, QB, Wyoming
The buzz around the 6-5, 233-pound Allen just keeps growing. Now everyone wants to see him play. He can really sling it. Allen's numbers weren't great last season -- 28 touchdown passes, 15 interceptions while completing 56 percent of his passes -- but NFL teams will take into account the talent around him. And Wyoming also lost a few offensive players to the NFL after last season. Allen is raw but talented, and he'll get a big test from Iowa in Week 1.1975 film by Sydney Pollack
Three Days of the Condor is a 1975 American political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow.[3] The screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel was based on the 1974 novel Six Days of the Condor by James Grady.[3]
Set mainly in New York City and Washington, D.C., the film is about a bookish CIA researcher who comes back from lunch, discovers all his co-workers murdered, and tries to outwit those responsible until he figures out whom he can really trust. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. Semple and Rayfiel received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.[3]
Plot [ edit ]
Joe Turner (Robert Redford) is a bookish CIA analyst, code named "Condor". He works at the American Literary Historical Society in New York City, which is actually a clandestine CIA office. The seven staff members read books, newspapers, and magazines from around the world, looking for hidden meanings and other useful information. Turner files a report to CIA headquarters on a thriller novel with some strange plot elements, noting the unusual assortment of languages it has been translated into.
On the day Turner is expecting a response to his report, he steps out, through a back basement door, to pick up staff lunches at a nearby deli. Meanwhile, armed men enter the office and murder the other six staffers. Turner returns to find his coworkers dead; frightened, he grabs a gun and exits the building. He contacts the CIA's New York headquarters in the World Trade Center from a phone booth and is given instructions to meet Wicks, his head of department, who will bring him to safety. But the rendezvous is a trap. Wicks shoots an accompanying CIA staffer and attempts to kill Turner, who wounds Wicks before escaping.
Turner encounters a woman, Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway), and forces her to take him to her apartment. He holds Hale hostage while he attempts to figure out what is happening. Hale slowly comes to trust Turner, and they become lovers. However, Joubert (Max von Sydow), a foreigner who led the massacre of Turner's co-workers, discovers Turner's hiding place. A hitman (Hank Garrett), disguised as a mailman, arrives at Hale's apartment, but Turner kills him.
No longer trusting anyone within "the Company", Turner plays a cat-and-mouse game with Higgins (Cliff Robertson), deputy director of the CIA's New York division. With Hale's help, Turner abducts Higgins, who identifies Joubert as a freelance assassin who has undertaken assignments for the CIA. Back at his office, Higgins discovers that the "mailman" who attacked Turner worked with Joubert on a previous operation. Their CIA case officer was Wicks.
Meanwhile, Turner discovers Joubert's location by utilizing his US Army Signals Corps training to trace a phone call. Turner also learns the name and address of Leonard Atwood (Addison Powell), CIA Deputy Director of Operations for the Middle East. Turner confronts Atwood in Atwood's Washington area mansion, interrogates him at gunpoint, and learns that the report he had filed provided links to a rogue operation to seize Middle Eastern oil fields. Fearful of its disclosure, Atwood privately ordered Turner's section be eliminated.
As Atwood confirms this, Joubert enters and unexpectedly kills the CIA deputy director. Atwood's superiors have hired Joubert to stage the suicide of someone who was about to become an embarrassment, overriding Atwood's original contract for Joubert to kill Turner. Joubert suggests that the resourceful Turner leave the country and even become an assassin himself. Turner rejects the suggestion but heeds Joubert's warning that the CIA will try to eliminate him as another embarrassment, possibly entrapping him through a trusted acquaintance.
Back in New York, Turner has a rendezvous with Higgins near Times Square. Higgins describes the oilfield plan as a contingency "game" that was planned within the CIA without approval from above. He defends the project, suggesting that when oil shortages cause a major economic crisis, Americans will demand that their comfortable lives be restored by any means necessary. Turner points to The New York Times building and says he has "told them a story". Higgins is dismayed but questions whether Turner's whistleblowing will be published. "They'll print it", Turner defiantly replies. However, as "Condor" turns away, Higgins calls out that he is about to become a very lonely man.
Cast [ edit ]
Production [ edit ]
Filming locations [ edit ]
Three Days of the Condor was filmed in various locations in New York City (including the World Trade Center, 55 East 77th Street, The Ansonia, and Central Park), New Jersey, and Washington D.C. (including the National Mall).[4][5]
Reception [ edit ]
Box office [ edit ]
The film earned $8,925,000 in theatrical showings in North America.[6]
Critical response [ edit ]
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 86% of 43 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review, and the average rating was 7.1/10; the site's consensus is: "This post-Watergate thriller captures the paranoid tenor of the times, thanks to Sydney Pollack's taut direction and excellent performances from Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway."[7]
When first released, the film was reviewed positively by critic Vincent Canby, who wrote that the film "is no match for stories in your local newspaper", but it benefits from good acting and directing.[8] Variety called it a B movie that was given a big budget despite its lack of substance.[9] Roger Ebert wrote, "Three Days of the Condor is a well-made thriller, tense and involving, and the scary thing, in these months after Watergate, is that it's all too believable."[10]
French philosopher Jean Baudrillard makes mention of the film as an example of a new genre of "retro cinema" in his essay on history in the now influential book, Simulacra and Simulation (1981):
In the'real' as in cinema, there was history but there isn't any anymore. Today, the history that is 'given back' to us (precisely because it was taken from us) has no more of a relation to a 'historical real' than neofiguration [sic] in painting does to the classical figuration of the real...All, but not only, those historical films whose very perfection is disquieting: Chinatown, Three Days of the Condor, Barry Lyndon, 1900, All the President's Men, etc. One has the impression of it being a question of perfect remakes, of extraordinary montages that emerge more from a combinatory [sic] culture (or McLuhanesque mosaic), of large photo-, kino-, historicosynthesis [sic] machines, etc., rather than one of veritable films."[11]
Some critics also described the film as a piece of political propaganda, as it was released soon after the "Family Jewels" scandal came to light in December 1974 which exposed a variety of CIA misconduct. However, in an interview with Jump Cut, Pollack explained that the film was written solely to be a spy thriller and that production on the film was nearly over by the time the Family Jewels revelations were made, so even if they had wanted to take advantage of them, it was far too late in the filmmaking process to do so. He said that despite both Pollack and Redford being well-known political liberals, they were only interested in making the film because an espionage thriller was a genre neither of them had previously explored.[12]
I didn't want this picture to be judged; it’s a movie. I intended it always as a movie. I never had any pretensions about the picture and it’s making me very angry that I'm getting pretensions stuck on me like tails on a donkey. If I wanted to be pretentious, I'd take the CIA seal and advertise this movie and really take advantage of the headlines. Central Intelligence Agency, United States of America, Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway. And don't think it wasn't suggested—obviously, that’s what advertising people do. We really put our foot down—Redford and I—to absolutely stop that.[12]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
Wins
Nominations
Panning and scanning [ edit ]
In 1997, The Association of Danish Film Directors, on behalf of Pollack, sued Danmarks Radio, claiming that their broadcasting the film in a panned and scanned version violated his copyright. The case was unsuccessful, as the rights were not owned by Pollack personally in the first place. The case is believed to have been the first legal challenge to the practice of panning and scanning for broadcast on the grounds that it compromises the artistic integrity of an original film.[14]
Soundtrack [ edit ]
All music by Dave Grusin, except where noted.
"Condor! (Theme from 3 Days of the Condor)" 3:35 "Yellow Panic" 2:15 "Flight of the Condor" 2:25 "We'll Bring You Home" 2:24 "Out to Lunch" 2:00 "Goodbye for Kathy (Love Theme from 3 Days of the Condor)" 2:16 "I've Got You Where I Want You" 3:12 (Grusin/Bahler; sung by Jim Gilstrap) "Flashback to Terror" 2:24 "Sing Along with the C.I.A." 1:34 "Spies of a Feather, Flocking Together (Love Theme from 3 Days of the Condor)" 1:55 "Silver Bells" 2:37 (Livingstone / Evans; Vocal: Marti McCall) "Medley: a) Condor! (Theme) / b) I've Got You Where I Want You" 1:57
Cultural impact [ edit ]
TV series [ edit ]
In March 2015, Skydance Media in partnership with MGM Television and Paramount Television announced that they would produce a TV series remake of the film.[15] In February 2017, Max Irons was cast as Joe Turner in the series entitled Condor for Audience.[16]
See also [ edit ]After almost 30 years in business, Juanita’s Café and Bar in the River Market will close for good on Sunday, Dec. 20. Juanita’s made the announcement on its Facebook page Friday evening.
“We’d like to thank you for your support and loyalty over the years,” reads the post. “This was not an easy decision to make, but the time has come to give up the fight. We know that we’ve made decisions many did not agree with, but we want you to know that above all we tried to deliver the best entertainment and best food we could. This has been a labor of love from the music we booked to the relationships we established with so many special customers, employees, and vendors.”
Juanita’s was founded in 1986 by two eventual titans of Little Rock’s food scene. Mark Abernathy (Red Door, Loca Luna) and Frank McGehee (father of Yellow Rocket Concepts chef Scott McGehee) opened the restaurant on South Main Street and quickly became one of the most important venues for food and music in the city. Hundreds of bands, both local and national, played at Juanita’s, and it’s not too hard to find people living here who still have fond memories of the place, as evidenced by the hundreds of comments on Juanita’s Facebook page.
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The restaurant switched owners several times and, in 2011, moved to President Clinton Ave. While the performance side of the business stayed strong, the restaurant undeniably suffered. A change in ownership earlier this year was the final effort to keep Juanita’s going, but it came up short.
As a tribute to its history, Juanita’s will serve up its original 1986 recipes beginning Tuesday until it Saturday, Dec. 19. All shows scheduled to play at Juanita’s in 2016 will be relocated to The Metroplex on Colonel Glenn Rd. All tickets purchased in advance will be honored at the new location."We are the trustees of two great political traditions," John Howard said as Prime Minister, referring to both his party's classical liberal and conservative strands of thought. "And if you look at the history of the Liberal Party, it is at its best when it balances and blends those two traditions." That can work for a time, but eventually it cannot hold. These are not simply counterbalancing flavours to be blended in some magical ratio. Illustration: Andrew Dyson We're dealing with a fundamental contradiction here between a liberal tradition that values freedom over consensus, cultural experimentation over tradition, and individualism over group solidarity; and a conservative one that is much the reverse. Even a master like Howard couldn't hold it together in the end, his premiership crashing on the radically liberal shores of WorkChoices that simply did away with conservative family-values ideas like, say, predictable working hours. It's also not like Turnbull didn't try. He gave in to his culture warriors on the Safe Schools program. He so clearly forwent his own judgment on climate change and same-sex marriage, committing himself to a plebiscite with little to commend it and that he clearly doesn't believe in. The trouble is that in the decade since Howard, this political fault line has become a chasm. That's why the most reactionary elements of the right are not merely culturally nationalist; they are economically protectionist as well. Here we find Pauline Hanson just as surely as we find Donald Trump and a certain strand of Brexiteer. And truth be told, members of this wing of the Liberal Party have more in common with Hanson than their partisan commitments will allow them to admit. They pursue a version of what we might once have called left-wing economics – hence George Christensen's self-declared war on globalisation. They aren't a million miles away from the pre-Whitlam Labor party that, partly for protectionist reasons, were such devoted fans of the White Australia policy. And arguably, they're appealing to very much that kind of constituency. White, working class, predominantly male.
I suppose, then, it's true to say the next phase is an enormous test of Turnbull's leadership skills. But that's not particularly illuminating because it might just be that no one has the leadership skills to circle this particular square. These contradictory forces aren't being reconciled anywhere at the moment. The Tories who were once the most staunch champions of a Britain inside Europe have lost control of their party's heart. The Republicans have completely lost their party to Trump's anti-free trade tirades. Illustration: Simon Letch Turnbull hasn't yet lost his party, but perhaps that's because he never really had it. The Coalition struggled in this election because it never really offered a clear agenda. Its centrepiece was an expensive business tax cut of tiny economic benefit and even less political appeal. But really, what other option was open to him? The ideological rift in the Coalition means your choices are either paralysis of the kind we saw this year, or some crazy-brave agenda of the kind Abbott delivered in the 2014 budget that made his government unelectable quicker than just about any other government in our history. Malcolm Turnbull: an enormous test of his leadership skills awaits. Credit:Christopher Pearce
The major parties are now in structural decline – as Turnbull himself acknowledged this week – because they now are now symbols for a politics that no longer exists. Left and right have almost never been meaningful terms, but today whatever residual meaning they might have had has fragmented into nothing coherent. If we were starting our political parties today, from scratch, we simply wouldn't have Labor and the Coalition. We'd have a reactionary neo-nationalist party straddling One Nation and the outer reaches of the Coalition. There would be a Greens-like party, suspicious of the free market, and built on concepts like equality and sustainability. And there would be a more centrist one, spanning parts of Labor and the Coalition: generally liberal, inclined towards free trade, and mostly culturally open. In the decade since John Howard, the political fault line has become a chasm. Credit:Andrew Sheargold This would be the natural party of government, but it would struggle to form a reliable majority. Most likely it would end up in a series of power-sharing arrangements with the party either side of it. It would be volatile, occasionally rancorous, but perhaps over time might find an uneasy equilibrium as we matured and got used to the fact that majorities don't really exist anymore. And really, that's what we have now, only without the labels that make the divisions in our politics intelligible. We proceed under the fiction that ideological divisions are failures of leadership. And so, we're left only with this spectacle of perpetual, exhausting crisis Waleed Aly is a Fairfax columnist, the winner of the 2015 Quill award for best columnist, and a lecturer in politics at Monash University.Are you waiting for Intel’s next-generation Core i7 enthusiast processors called Haswell-E? More information is floating around today about the upcoming High-End Desktop (HEDT) processor thanks to Coolaler. He believes that Intel will be replacing the Core i7-4820K, i7-4930K, and i7-4960X trifecta with the new Core i7-5820K, i7-5930K and the i7-5960X. The Haswell-E processors will need be run on platforms with the yet to be released Intel X99 chipset. The Intel X99 platform will usher in DDR4 memory support and a new LGA socket that just happens to have 2,011 pins, but is shapped differently than the current LGA2011 socket found on Intel X79 Expressbased motherboards.
The Intel Core i7-5960X will have 8 cores (16 threads thanks to HyperThreading) that have a base clock of 3GHz and 20MB L3 cache. The Intel Core i7-5930K is a 6 core 12 thread processor with a base clock of 3.5Ghz and 15MB of L3 cache. Lastely, the Intel Core i7-5820K is a 6-core 12 thread part with a base clock of 3.3Ghz and it also features 15MB of L3 cache. All three of these Intel Haswell-E CPUs will support DDR4-2133 MHz out of the box according to the site and all have a 140W TDP rating. The Core i7-5820K features just 28 PCI Express lanes versus the 40 found on the Core i7-5930K and the Core i7-5960K. Months ago there was speculation that the entry level Haswell-E processor, Intel Core i7 5820K, wouldn’t have HT. Maybe Intel gave it HT, but gave it PCIe limitations?
Of course all the data in this chart is unsubstantiated and could be very wrong. The X99 platform and Haswell-E processors are still a ways away from coming to market, so we are sure there will be more info leaking out closer to the actual release of the new platforms.
All I know is that an 8-core Haswell-E processor with DDR4 memory and a couple Gen3 PCIe M.2 SSDs is going to be the ticket for a fast PC!Editor's note: Guy-Uriel Charles is a law professor at Duke Law School where he is the founding director of the Center on Law, Race, and Politics. He is Haitian-American and blogs at http://www.coloreddemos.blogspot.com/.
Durham, North Carolina (CNN) -- To define someone as a looter is not simply to describe him, or her, through an act, it is to make a moral judgment. It is to characterize the person as lawless and criminal. It connotes someone who is without self-restraint; an animal; wanton and depraved.
It is a description that is void of empathy for someone who is consciously or subconsciously viewed as "the other." Tragically, it fits into the stereotype that many have about people of African descent, be they African-Americans or Haitian-Americans.
The news media have to stop describing starving Haitians who are simply trying to survive the earthquake and aftershocks that took their homes, their loved ones, and all their possessions by this highly derogatory term.
It's a lesson they should have learned covering the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. I remember the news accounts then that described black residents of New Orleans as "looters," but used benign words to describe white residents engaged in the same action: taking things.
Academics have found repeated instances of this in media content analyses after disasters. One example, widely disseminated on the web post-Katrina, juxtaposed an Associated Press photo that showed a young black man wading through chest-high water "after looting a grocery store" (said the caption), with an AFP/Getty photo of a white woman in the same position, although the caption this time described her "finding" food "from a local grocery store."
It is time to put this practice to rest.
Put yourself in the position of the average Haitian in Port-au-Prince. One minute you were going about your business, the next minute the earth shook and literally your world crumbled all around you. But you were one of the lucky ones, you survived the earthquake. Injured? Yes. But alive.
Your first thought is to cry out for your family, especially your kids. But most of your family is buried under a rubble pile somewhere. You had four children but only one survived the earthquake. You have spent the last few days, along with your fellow survivors, digging through the rubble trying to find them.
It is now a week after the earthquake, and you have eaten little or nothing. You are hungry and thirsty, and while you hear rumors of aid coming, you have not seen any evidence of it.
You have not heard from the president and indeed you've heard rumors that his wife is dead. Perhaps he left the country; you would too, if you could. There is no police presence at all. No governmental authority to provide support. There are no markets.
The only money you have are the few gourdes (Haitian dollars) that you have in your pockets. The rest of your money is in the safe place you always kept it -- but it is now buried with your food. The banks are not open. There is no one to borrow from; they are all in the same boat as you. There are no functioning institutions.
You have family in the United States and they are desperately trying to get you some help. They have contacted all of the big aid agencies, but those agencies have issues of their own. Some have lost staff members. They are doing the best they can, but they have no idea that you exist and you have no way of finding them. The roads are impassable, and they can't get clearance from whoever is in charge of the airport to land their planes, which bring much needed supplies.
They're afraid to go anywhere without security because they've heard that the people are becoming restless. Indeed, though you do not know this, the U.S. military is also worried that citizens will get violent and start stealing. The United Nations is waiting for more troops, and the doctors have stopped treating patients because of those same fears: violence, looting.
Under normal circumstances you would not think of taking food without paying for it. You are what other Haitians would call "bien eleve" not "mal eleve." By that they mean you were well-raised, with manners and dignity.
Haitians put a strong premium on dignity. To take something for which you have not paid does not only offend your sense of legality but also your sense of personhood. It is undignified. But not only are you starving, so is your only surviving child. You would prefer to pay, but whom? What would you pay with? You'd prefer to wait, but for whom? How long can you afford to wait?
You feel that your desperate state is evidence that you have been abandoned by your family, your country, the international community, and Bondié (God). (The Creole word for God literally means "good God.")
So you take. You take just enough for a couple of days and a couple of family members. You take and you run to feed those for whom the only measure of fortune is survival in Haiti, post-earthquake. You take and you run.
Are you a looter? Try as we might to prevent it, the answer to that question is inevitably racialized. We cannot separate the word looting from its racial implications or the supposed crime of looting from its racial origins. In the throes of the civil rights movement in the United States, many states made looting a crime. Almost all of these states were southern states that had a history of criminalizing behavior that they associated more with African-Americans than with whites.
Even so, the criminal law, for all of its shortcomings, is often more sophisticated than we are. It recognizes that context matters. It has been developed with concepts -- such as necessity and justification -- to identify the circumstances under which a person who would normally be held culpable can be held either less culpable or not at all culpable. Taking food is different than taking a television.
It is past time for our news media to develop similar sophistication. It is time to stop characterizing black people trying to survive in dire circumstances as looters. Are they takers? Yes. Are they looters? Let's wait for a criminal conviction first.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Guy-Uriel Charles.Some readers may have noticed a Dutch scandal in the academic psychology industry. See here (h/t Pielke Jr).
The previously undisclosed whistleblower is said to be Uri SImonsohn, co-author of the article: “False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant.” The authors set out the following sensible solution to the problem of false positive publications:
Table 2. Simple Solution to the Problem of False-Positive Publications
Requirements for authors
1. Authors must decide the rule for terminating data collection before data collection begins and report this rule in the article.
2. Authors must collect at least 20 observations per cell or else provide a compelling cost-of-data-collection justification.
3. Authors must list all variables collected in a study.
4. Authors must report all experimental conditions, including failed manipulations.
5. If observations are eliminated, authors must also report what the statistical results are if those observations are included.
6. If an analysis includes a covariate, authors must report the statistical results of the analysis without the covariate. Guidelines for reviewers
1. Reviewers should ensure that authors follow the requirements.
2. Reviewers should be more tolerant of imperfections in results.
3. Reviewers should require authors to demonstrate that their results do not hinge on arbitrary analytic decisions.
4. If justifications of data collection or analysis are not compelling, reviewers should require the authors to conduct an exact replication.
If these rules were applied by real_climate_scientists, most of the criticisms at Climate Audit would be eliminated.
However, there are no signs that real_climate_scientists have any intention of adopting these rules, as evidenced by Gavin Schmidt’s bilious outrage at the idea that Briffa should have reported the Yamal-Urals regional chronology considered and discarded in favor of the known HS of the small Yamal chronology.
The language of false positives was also used by the Texas sharpshooters, Wahl and Ammann, in connection with the failed verification statistics from MBH98.By Mark Ward
BBC News website
The varroa mite has devastated bee colonies all over the world
February and March are the crucial months for almond growers, as this is when trees blossom and need pollinating.
At this time of year, owners of commercial hives take their valuable cargos to California, where almost 80% of the world's almonds are grown, to service the blossom.
Annually the crop is worth more than $2.5bn and a lot of jobs depend on a good harvest, explains Dan Cummings, one of the directors of California's Almond Board and head of its bee task force.
Currently about 222,000 hectares are under production to grow almonds. Mr Cummings expects this to grow to 330,000 hectares over the next five years.
But, said Mr Cummings, that growth presented a real problem.
"Roughly two-thirds of the bees in the US need to come to California for almond pollination," said Mr Cummings. "Beekeeping in the US is very much migratory."
Hive mind
The danger is that as the demands of almond growers for healthy hives grow, America will simply not have enough commercial colonies available to travel. Bees travel from as far away as North Carolina to California just so they can be used at the key pollination season.
"Last year we were a little short," said Mr Cummings.
Already, he said, demand for colonies was driving up the price that beekeepers charged for renting out their colonies.
Mites stunt bee growth and make them vulnerable to disease
To make matters worse, American bees are suffering a resurgence of debilitating attacks from the varroa mite. These tiny parasites stunt the growth of bees, sap hive resources and slowly kill off the colony.
Unfortunately, said Mr Cummings, bee colonies badly affected by varroa typically collapsed at about the same time as almond trees came into flower.
While chemical treatments can help manage the problem, many pesticides have been so widely used that some mites have developed resistance.
Finding a better way to manage mites had become a pressing problem, said Mr Cummings, because of the tight relationship between the health of beehives and the size of the almond crop.
Chemical control
American beekeepers are now turning to a British development to help them tackle resistant varroa mites.
Developed by Vita Europe, the thymol-based treatment is derived from thyme, and vapours from oil extracted from the herb have proved useful in killing the varroa mites.
Dr Max Watkins, technical director of Vita Europe, said: "Thymol works in a very different way from traditional pesticides which target specific points on the nervous system."
By contrast, he said, thymol has a much wider effect on varroa physiology.
In tests, thymol had been able to knock out more than 90% of the mites in a colony, said Dr Watkins.
"It's a little more difficult in theory for something to become resistant to that," he added.
Dr Watkins explained that thymol tended to knock out both resistant and non-resistant varroa mites, so beekeepers could use it in rotation with established treatments to keep the numbers of parasites under control.
Vita's anti-varroa treatment is now undergoing certification in the US.
Although certification will come too late for the 2006 almond pollinating season, Dr Watkins expects it to be in wide use to prepare bees for the 2007 crop.You must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters
Message: * A friend wanted you to see this item from WRAL.com: http://wr.al/ncr0
Observing Jupiter is a great way to get into astronomy or just to impress friends and family by identifying the prominent bright dot in the eastern sky.
For the next several months, Jupiter will shine brightly in the evening sky. It rises in the east around sunset, remains visible all night and sets around sunrise.
Jupiter was particularly easy to find Wednesday night, positioned just above the full moon. The gap between the moon and this gas giant will continue to expand over the next few nights, but you can still find Jupiter by looking above the moon. The moon will catch up to Jupiter again on Christmas night.
Four of Jupiter's 67 moons can be seen with just about any telescope or even a decent pair of binoculars held steady.
Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are collectively known as the "Galilean Moons" for the astronomer who discovered them in 1610 with the telescope he helped advance. Look again a few hours later and the position will change.
That discovery helped changed our view of the solar system from an Earth-centered one to one that revolved around the sun.
A handy tool shared on the Chapel Hill astronomy club's website helps identify the position of the moons.
Tony Rice is a volunteer in the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador program and software engineer at Cisco Systems. You can follow him on twitter @rtphokie.After leaving Erwin, we hiked out another five miles to Curley Maple Shelter. Leaving town with small mileage age means carrying out luxury food for that first dinner. I gorged myself on fire-roasted brats and Cabot Seriously Sharp cheese, wrapped in tortillas. Glim-Glom passed around a three liter bag of wine. Honey Badger and Wet Wipes sipped on a 6 pack each. A good time was had at that shelter, despite a weird and unsettling ‘hiker’ (see Junky) who snored ridiculously loud all night. A new face, Sherlock, and I alternated punches every time his snoring got too much to handle. Throw in a massive rain storm that night, and no one really got a good nights sleep.
The following day started cold and wet. A small but powerful storm rolled in just as we left the shelter. Huge, heavy drops pelted us as we quickly threw on our rain gear. Those types of storms are so disheartening. Thankfully it only lasted an hour. We were all set to hike 15 miles, but at the first shelter the rain cleared, and we decided to add another 7 miles to the day. The terrain was gentle, and we made good progress. Cold and wet hikers are usually fast hikers. A definite highlight was Unaka Mountain. In AWOLs it’s specifically marked as a, “dense spruce forest.” In the mist |
. In the psychological science literature, there's a trait described as “conspiracist ideation” - the tendency to see some dark, secretive collusion as the most likely explanation for something which challenges your views.
Recent work in this field suggests that rejection of science is often linked to a willingness to accept conspiracy theories, such as NASA faking the moon landings or plots from within the British Royal family to kill Princess Diana.
One of Lord Monckton's tour sponsors is South Australian state MLC Ann Bressington, who gave a keynote speech in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago at the launch of the Lord Monckton Foundation where she told the audience about some secretive, insidious United Nations plot to encourage sustainable development. In conspiratorial dark tones, she told the audience: “The words Agenda 21, ladies and gentleman, were never meant to be spoken.”
So keen in fact was the United Nations to avoid the words “Agenda 21” from ever being spoken, they hid them away on the cover of the 1992 document of the same name which is still hidden on a publicly-available United Nations web page (you can look, but just don't read the text, or the UN will be annoyed and Bressington proven wrong).
When Ann Bressington isn't warning people about non-existant secretive plots at the United Nations, she's warning them about the “biggest health fraud of all time” - fluoride in drinking water.
The event where Bressington appeared was filmed by an organisation called Bushvision, which is led by Leon Ashby, a co-founder of the Climate Sceptics political party. A glance at Bushvision's other contributions on YouTube reveals a slew of videos promoting climate science denial, anti-fluoridation and lots and lots of footage of evangelical Christian “healers” curing people just by touch (spinal injuries, crippled knees, pancreatic cysts, gluten intolerance, diseased gall bladder, partial blindness, terminal cancer - all healed).
This isn't the first time that Andrew Bolt has been spooked by the beliefs held by some in his own ranks. In August last year, he chastised the climate denial group the Galileo Movement - Patron Sydney radio personality Alan Jones - for promoting anti-Semitic consipiracy theories about Jewish bankers ruling the world. For at least a year, Bolt had been on the organisation's panel of experts even though he claimed to know little about it.
A survey of 13950 scientific research papers on climate change published between 1991 and 2012 has found that 0.17 per cent (just 24 papers) argued global warming was either false or was caused by something other than human activities.
Despite what Andrew Bolt might tell you, the reason that climate science denialists are described as being on the fringe is because that is generally where they are. Perhaps the reason they shout so loud, is to so that their voices can be heard from the outer reaches of reality.Earlier today, we reported in breaking news that Sunye announced she would be retiring from the entertainment industry, and therefore Wonder Girls. Now, JYP Entertainment has revealed that they did not agree to what she has stated in her interview.
In a the interview Sunye revealed, “Return to the entertainment industry? That won’t ever happen!” The article, titled, “The emptiness of popularity, I wish to spend my life resolving myself through the gospel and in Jesus” goes into detail of the artist dedicating her life to missionary work.
Now, JYP Entertainment has released a statement in response stating, “Our contract with Sunye is still valid, Sunye’s statement has not been talked over with the company and the company has nothing to say at this point.”
The company then released another statement revealing, “We believe Sunye was referring to her plans in the far future, not the immediate future when she made her statement at a church event in the US. This does not mean that Wonder Girls will be disbanding or that Sunye is leaving. Nothing has changed.”
Stay tuned for more information on this developing story.
Source: Star NewsResearchers have found that U.S. Food and Drug Administration warnings about a potential danger for young people taking antidepressants may have backfired, causing an increase in suicide attempts by teens and young adults.
The 2003 warnings drew intense and possibly exaggerated media coverage that led to a sudden, steep decline in the number of prescriptions for antidepressants. In a study published in BMJ, researchers at Harvard Medical School's Department of Population Medicine and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute report that in the year following the warnings, when antidepressant prescriptions fell by more than a fifth among young people, there was a relative increase of 21.7 percent in suicide attempts by overdose with psychotropic drugs, and 33.7 percent among young adults.
"This study is a one of the first to directly measure a health outcome driven by the interaction of public policy and mass media," said Christine Lu, HMS instructor in population medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and lead author of the study. "The FDA, the media and physicians need to find better ways to work together to ensure that patients get the medication that they need, while still being protected from potential risks."
"This is an extraordinarily difficult public health problem, and if we don't get it right, it can backfire in serious ways," said co-author Stephen Soumerai, HMS professor of population medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.
In 2003, an analysis that combed through all the existing clinical trials noted that approximately 1 percent of adolescents and young adults taking antidepressants experienced an increase in thinking about suicide.
The original warning, which was heavily publicized in news reports, mentioned only this potential risk of antidepressants to patients without noting the potential risk of under-treatment of depression.
These well-intended safety warnings became frightening alarms to clinicians, parents and young people, the researchers note, with many prominent media outlets warning that these drugs raised the risk of suicide. However, the FDA-cited studies showed only an increase in the risk of suicidal thoughts, not in attempted or completed suicide. In fact, as more young people were prescribed antidepressants in the years before the warning was issued, suicide attempts by young people were stable, the researchers said.
The FDA later revised the warning to recommend that physicians consider both the risk of prescribing the medication and the risk of not prescribing the medication, monitoring patients for thoughts of suicide and treating them as needed.
"These drugs can save lives," Soumerai said. "The media concentrated more on the relatively small risk than on the significant upside."
The risks cited by the FDA were about 1 percent of those treated, but antidepressant use dropped suddenly by about a relative 20 percent, unintentionally leaving many depressed young people without appropriate treatment, which likely drove the accompanying hospital and emergency department admissions for suicide attempts, he said.
The researchers analyzed claims data for the years 2000 to 2010 from 11 health plans in the U.S. Mental Health Research Network, using a "virtual data warehouse" with anonymous patient data organized to facilitate sharing and data comparison between health systems. The study cohorts included 1.1 million adolescents, 1.4 million young adults and 5 million adults.
The researchers used overdose with psychotropic drugs as a conservative measure of suicide attempts. Completed suicides are very rare, so the researchers were not surprised to find no change in their 7.5 million patient sample.
The researchers noted that suicide attempts with drug overdose are very serious, resulting in long-term hospitalization and significant disruption to the lives of patients and their families.
"We need to do a better job of understanding and communicating the risks of taking - and not taking - medications," Lu said.In on the Kill Taker is like scrubbing your face with steel wool. It finds the band relying on rusty guitar shards that scrape, seethe, and hiss, further removing itself from the sound of 13 Songs and Repeater. Harsh and grating, Fugazi surprisingly produces sheer noise at times, best witnessed in the lengthy closing of "23 Beats Off" and the unintentional Gremlins homage that opens "Walken's Syndrome." Joe Lally's bass and Brendan Canty's drums are relegated to acting as a guide; they're pushed -- but not squashed -- down in the mix, allowing for Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto's guitars to take control, corrosively so. It's probably Fugazi's least digestible record from front to back, but each track has its own attractive qualities, even if not immediately perceptible. "Facet Squared" and "Public Witness Program" open the record furiously, but the majority of the following "Return the Screw" is hardly audible, aside from occasional vocal tantrums. A good amount of time is spent alternating between low-key guitar noodling and intrusive bursts of aggression. They're smart with their sequencing, placing the gentle instrumental "Sweet and Low" (the only track where Lally plays a prominent role) after the exhaustive cacophony of "23 Beats Off," and generally piecing together a set of rather diverse tracks that flows well. Picciotto's anti-Hollywood rant on the properly titled "Cassavetes" is a classic Fugazi moment, as is his similarly name-dropping "Walken's Syndrome." Buried at the end of the record are two excellent lurchers, MacKaye's "Instrument" and Picciotto's "Last Chance for a Slow Dance." Not Fugazi's finest hour, but one of its most daring and rewarding.When Hailey Baker tried to kill herself, she made national news.
The 20-year-old drove her car off a cliff on Signal Hill in April, in an attempt to take her own life. She survived, and wanted to tell her story.
But three weeks ago, her story came to an end.
Hailey Baker, 20, lost her battle with mental illness in her home in C.B.S. on Sept. 6. (Hailey Baker/Facebook)
According to her obituary, Baker "lost her battle with mental illness" at her home in St. John's on Sept. 6.
Her family said Baker tried to end her life eight times over the past year or so.
Sept. 6 was the ninth — and final — attempt.
Hailey Baker's car on the side of Signal Hill Apr. 3. Baker drove her car off the cliff that morning. (Katie Breen/CBC )
'There needs to be a change'
Less than two weeks after Baker drove her car off Signal Hill, she sent an email to CBC that broke my heart.
"Apr. 3 I drove off Signal Hill. I was put into ICU in serious condition after my accident that should [have] been fatal … I'm telling you this because there needs to be a change in the mental health system," she said in the email.
That was the first of multiple conversations between myself and Baker, over the next few months.
"She was an amazing person," says Hailey Baker's friend Dana Knight. (Hailey Baker/Facebook)
Baker talked about her struggle with borderline personality disorder, and said she felt she had to drive her car off Signal Hill to get help with her mental illness.
Yet less than two weeks later, they were releasing her against her will.
'I am not ready'
"One of the doctors said if I really wanted to kill myself, I would have done it in the hospital," Baker told me over the phone from the Health Sciences Centre psychiatric ward in St. John's that Thursday afternoon.
Baker said she was begging for treatment, telling doctors, "I am not ready, I cannot leave, I am not safe."
I don't want to be that girl. - Hailey Baker
But she said the doctors insisted she was ready to leave the hospital.
Baker and I planned to meet the next day so she could share her story, because she wanted to show people that the mental health care system in Newfoundland and Labrador was failing her.
Late Friday afternoon, she said she wasn't going to be released after all, and would be in touch when she was ready.
We spoke again a few days later, when Baker was in the Waterford Hospital, and said she was "doing OK."
'Worried about my name'
Baker said she still wanted to share her story, but was worried about her prospects if she spoke publicly.
"I'm just worried about my name and what that will do for my future career," she said.
Hailey Baker had wanted to tell her story to CBC News so others would know they weren't alone. (Hailey Baker/Facebook)
"I don't want to be that girl."
By June she said she was doing a lot better, in a program at Stella's Circle. In July, she said she had been invited to speak at an event about her mental illness, and was ready to talk publicly.
She was going to get back to me with the date of the event and to set up an interview.
I never heard from her again.
'She would have made a big change'
Baker's friends started posting on her Facebook page after she died.
Dana Knight, 19, said she wanted to help tell her friend's story, in the hopes it could help other people facing similar struggles — and shine a light on the problems with mental health care in the province.
Dana Knight, 19, says she still texts Hailey's phone every day because she can't believe her friend is gone. (Sherry Vivian/CBC)
The two became friends during the summer of 2015, when Knight was hospitalized for an eating disorder.
"It's not that they did everything they could, there's so much more they could have done. And they did not do it," said Knight.
"She would have made a big change, and she made a big impact already. It's just not fair."
In an email to CBC News Tuesday evening, Eastern Health offered condolences to Baker's family and friends.
Long-term hospitalization has not been shown to improve outcomes for patients with borderline personality disorder. - Eastern Health
While it would not comment on Baker specifically, the health authority said long-term hospitalization "has not been shown to improve outcomes for patients with borderline personality disorder."
It said treatment should be individualized, but individual and group therapy sessions focusing on coping skills, stress tolerance and tolerating negative emotions have yielded the best results.
Eastern Health said anyone in the St. John's area experiencing a mental health issue can go to the Waterford Hospital at any time, or contact the mental health crisis line.
'She should have been there'
Knight found out Baker was back in hospital after another "attempt" mid-August, and that was the last time they spoke before Baker's death early September.
"To me she was invincible, she wasn't going to die, she wasn't going to let anything take her life from her, especially not herself," she said.
Friends and family held a ceremony for Hailey in St. John's on Sept. 13, followed by a balloon release at Signal Hill.
Knight said it was the first time it hit her that Baker was gone.
"She should have been there in person with us, we shouldn't have been saying 'goodbye,' and 'we love you,' and releasing balloons for her, we should have been doing it with her," said Knight.
"She should have been there."Image caption Dr Robert Trossel had consulting rooms in London and Rotterdam
A doctor struck off by the General Medical Council for exploiting people with multiple sclerosis could be facing legal action by patients.
A firm of solicitors said hundreds of "vulnerable people" who travelled to the Netherlands for treatment may seek compensation.
Dr Robert Trossel treated them at his clinic in Rotterdam, following initial assessments in the UK.
He charged thousands of pounds for unproven stem cell treatments.
The 56-year-old, who trained in the Netherlands, conceded he had been "too enthusiastic" about the treatment.
The GMC found the doctor had breached good medical practice by "exploiting vulnerable patients" and his actions had caused lasting harm.
Jill Paterson, from solicitors Leigh Day & Co, said: "We support the GMC's findings that Dr Trossel is no longer fit to practise in the UK.
"We are actively investigating the pursuit of legal proceedings against him to right the wrongs caused to these vulnerable people."
'False hope'
At an earlier hearing, the GMC Fitness to Practise panel said Dr Trossel had exaggerated the benefits of treatment based on "anecdotal and aspirational information".
It makes me feel sick that somebody could exploit vulnerable people in this way Karen Galley, Patient of Dr Trossel
His patients, who had an aggressive and disabling type of multiple sclerosis, paid up to £10,000 or more for stem cell injections, with some raising the money through charity events.
However, the stem cells offered were not intended for human use, only for laboratory research.
Tom Kark QC, for the GMC, spoke of the patients' "anger and sense of being let down".
"They were all vulnerable patients who already found themselves failed by the medical profession in this country and as a result were searching, some with desperation, for a cure or relief elsewhere, which is why and how they ended up in Dr Trossel's hands," Mr Kark told the haering.
"They were given false hope by him and the experience not only cost them financially but for the most part it caused them personal and emotional loss when they realised that the treatment provided to them was not only expensive but pointless."
The treatment also contained bovine brain and spinal cord, and the GMC panel ruled he had abused his position as a doctor by failing to warn patients about potential risks of vCJD.
The doctor's own lawyer had told the hearing how patients were informed about the experimental nature of the injections, and that he had stopped using them when the nature of the stem cells became clear following a BBC Newsnight investigation.
He said that the doctor was "compassionate", and had not acted dishonestly.
Despite Dr Trossel's apparent "change of heart", panel chairman Professor Brian Gomes da Costa said he had shown "little insight" into the seriousness of what he had done, and how it might have affected his patients.
Patient fears
The GMC heard that the patients involved had yet to be refunded the thousands of pounds they paid for their treatment.
Karen Galley, 45, from Essex, visited Dr Trossel's clinic in August 2006, and was charged around £10,500 for the treatment, receiving one injection in the arm and six in the neck.
I would like to take the opportunity to say how sorry I am for any distress caused to my patients during this time Dr Trossel
Friends and colleagues of Ms Galley had helped her raise the money, with one running a mini-marathon and another undertaking a sponsored diet.
She said she was "angry and scared" after finding out that the injections contained bovine spinal tissue.
"His QC has described him as a compassionate doctor - but that is rubbish, no compassionate person treats people like that."
She said that she now lived in fear of diseases such as vCJD, for which there is no test or treatment.
She said: "It makes me feel sick that somebody could exploit vulnerable people in this way."
Another MS patient, accountant Malcolm Pear, from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, visited the Rotterdam clinic in January 2006.
After paying £8,000, the treatment was delivered in a "coffee lounge" rather than a private treatment room.
"I suppose alarm bells should have started ringing then," said his wife Lesley.
She said they were led to believe that the treatment was composed simply of umbilical cells, but found out later that bovine tissue was involved.
After a fleeting improvement, Mr Pear's condition has now deteriorated significantly.
Mrs Pear said: "When you are sitting in front of a neurologist who is saying 'look, there is nothing you can do', you clutch at straws."
"I am not saying we are the most intelligent people on God's Earth, but we certainly are not completely stupid."
After the verdict, Dr Trossel said he was "disappointed".
He added: "I would like to take the opportunity to say how sorry I am for any distress caused to my patients during this time.
"During my career as a doctor, I have always practised with the objective of achieving the very best for my patients."The American public's faith in government continues to decline.
President Barack Obama's job approval rating currently stands at 47 percent, Gallup reported. However, nearly as many respondents said they disapproved of the president's actions.
The reputation of Congress is practically in the gutter, treading water at 17 percent in April. That was a slight improvement from February, when approval of the lawmakers in D.C. reached a record low of 10 percent.
Now the people have weighed in on the justices of the high court, and the report isn't stellar. According to a new poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS News, just 44 percent of Americans approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing.
Three-quarters said the nine justices sometimes decided cases based on their personal or political views, rather than along constitutional lines. Only 1 in 8 Americans said the justices decided cases based solely on legal analysis, The New York Times reported.
Sixty percent of Americans also agreed with the statement that "appointing Supreme Court justices for life is a bad thing because it gives them too much power." Only one-third said that life tenure for justices was "a good thing because it helps keep them independent from political pressures."
Back in 1994, the court's approval rating hit an all-time high of 80 percent, The Associated Press reported. Such a drastic change in less than two decades could be attributed to the changing makeup of the court, particularly after the ideologically divided 5-to-4 decisions in Bush v. Gore, which determined the 2000 presidential election, and Citizens United, the 2010 decision that gave unlimited campaign spending rights to corporations and unions.Artesia (Rework)
+ Artesia has had a problem with overlap since her inception. Her global ultimate and a playstyle that only promoted constantly pumping out damage onto a target made her similar to heroes like Bombardier or Thunderbringer. The following rework will allow Artesia to choose to be a solid damage dealer or a strong healer at a moment's notice, giving her more depth and more appeal in a wider variety of lineups.
Arcane Missile
- Cooldown rescaled from 5/4/3/2 seconds to 4/3.5/3/2.5 seconds.
- Damage rescaled from 100/140/180/220 to 115/135/155/175.
- Homing strength of missiles has been increased from 0.07 to 0.12.
- Explosion radius increased from 150 to 200.
- Mana cost rescaled from 90/95/100/105 to 80/90/100/110.
- This ability now has a 2nd mode.
- While in Healing Mode, this ability targets allies instead of enemies, healing them for 30/40/50/60 Health. Cooldown and mana cost while in this mode are cut in half.
* More details on how to activate this mode below.
Dance of Death
- Reworked
- - While channeling, you gain unit-walking and can move and use items and abilities without interrupting the channel. You are disarmed during the channel.
- While channeling, you gain a charge of Arcane Bolts every 0.4/0.35/0.3/0.25 seconds and allows Arcane Missile to travel through creeps.
- The channel stops if you get Stunned, Silenced, or use the ability again.
- If you get stunned, silenced or use the ability again the channel stops.
* 100/110/120/130 mana cost, 10 second cooldown. Cooldown starts only after the channel stops.
Arcane Bolts
- This ability is now available at the start. Releases no bolts until leveled up.
- Can now be activated to switch into Healing Mode. Can be swapped back and forth between its primary mode (Damage Mode) and Healing Mode.
- While in Healing Mode, Arcane Bolts will be fired at allies instead of enemies, healing them.
* This changes the effects of Arcane Missile as well.
- Increased the amount of bolts granted for each spell cast from 2 to 4.
- Damage reduced from 25/40/55/70 to 8/12/16/20, heal is 5/7/9/11.
- Range increased from 700 to 800.
- Bolts release interval decreased from 0.8 seconds to 0.4 seconds.
Essence Projection
- After placement, the skill can now be activated again to move the Projection to a new location on an 8 second cooldown (25 mana cost).
* Goes on a 5 second cooldown if the Projection takes damage.
- No longer global, range reduced to 800.
- Mana cost reduced from 200/300/400 to 150.
- Aura Regeneration is now separate. You now only get the Mana Regeneration (20/30/40) in Damage Mode or only Health Regeneration in Healing Mode.
- Aura radius increased from 600 to 900.
- Cooldown reduced from 90/75/60 seconds to 60 seconds.
Added Staff of the Master
- Increases cast range to 5000 (both for the initial cast and the subsequent movement).So DC Comics have registered a trademark on an image. I haven’t got access to the image in question. But it is described as “NIGHTWING on a bat.”
Which sound like the current DC Comics logo for the comic.
Looks like it has been registered for
Clothing for men, women and children – namely, shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, jogging suits, trousers, pants, shorts, tank tops, rainwear, cloth baby bibs, skirts, blouses, dresses, suspenders, sweaters, jackets, coats, raincoats, snow suits, ties, robes, hats, caps, sunvisors, belts, scarves, sleepwear, pajamas, lingerie, underwear, boots, shoes, sneakers, sandals, booties, socks, slipper socks, swimwear and masquerade and Halloween costumes and masks sold in connection therewith.
and
Toys and sporting goods, including games and playthings–namely, action figures and accessories therefor; play sets for action figures; plush toys; balloons; bathtub toys; ride-on toys; equipment sold as a unit for playing card games; toy vehicles; dolls; flying discs; hand held units for playing electronic games other than those adapted for use with an external display screen or monitor; game equipment sold as a unit for playing a board game, a card game, a manipulative game, a parlor game and an action type target game; stand alone video output game machines; jigsaw and manipulative puzzles; paper face masks; skateboards; ice skates; water squirting toys; balls–namely, playground balls, soccer balls, baseballs, basketballs; baseball gloves; swimming floats for recreational use; kickboard flotation devices for recreational use; surfboards; swim boards for recreational use; swim fins; toy bakeware and toy cookware; toy banks; toy snow globes; paper party hats; and Christmas tree ornaments.
This kind of activity usually means that they are increasing the commercial exploitation of a property and are suring up trademarks associated with it. In this case, it seems linked to the rumours about Nightwing appearing in the Batman Vs Superman movie, and indeed increased comic book prominence off the back of it.
So start saving for your Nightwing toy bakeware and cookware right now..
It has been trademarked for
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
(Last Updated )
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None foundThe African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis, also known as the xenopus, African clawed toad, African claw-toed frog or the platanna) is a species of African aquatic frog of the family Pipidae. Its name is derived from the three short claws on each hind foot, which it uses to tear apart its food. The word Xenopus means "strange foot" and laevis means "smooth".
The species is found throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria and Sudan to South Africa),[2] and in isolated, introduced populations in North America, South America, and Europe.[1] All species of the family Pipidae are tongueless, toothless and completely aquatic. They use their hands to shove food in their mouths and down their throats and a hyobranchial pump to draw or suck things in their mouth. Pipidae have powerful legs for swimming and lunging after food. They also use the claws on their feet to tear pieces of large food. They lack true ears[citation needed], but have lateral lines running down the length of the body and underside, which is how they can sense movements and vibrations in the water. They use their sensitive fingers, sense of smell, and lateral line system to find food. Pipidae are scavengers and will eat almost anything living, dying, or dead and any type of organic waste.
Description [ edit ]
These frogs are plentiful in ponds and rivers within the south-eastern portion of Sub-Saharan Africa. They are aquatic and are often greenish-grey in color. Albino varieties are commonly sold as pets. "Wild type" African clawed frogs are also frequently sold as pets, and often incorrectly labeled as a Congo frog or African dwarf frog because of similar colorings. They are easily distinguished from African dwarf frogs because African clawed frogs have webbing only on their hind feet while African dwarf frogs have webbing on all four feet.
They reproduce by fertilizing eggs outside of the female's body (see frog reproduction). Of the seven amplexus modes (positions in which frogs mate), these frogs are found breeding in inguinal amplexus, where the male clasps the female in front of the female's back legs and squeezes until eggs come out. The eggs are then fertilized.
The clawed frogs are the only amphibians to have actual claws used to climb and shred foods like fish or tadpoles. They lay their eggs from winter until spring. During wet rainy seasons they will travel to other ponds or puddles of water to search for food.[3]
X. laevis have been known to survive 15 or more years in the wild and 25–30 years in captivity.[4] They shed their skin every season, and eat their own shed skin.
Although lacking a vocal sac, the males make a mating call of alternating long and short trills, by contracting the intrinsic laryngeal muscles. Females also answer vocally, signaling either acceptance (a rapping sound) or rejection (slow ticking) of the male.[5][6] This frog has smooth slippery skin which is multicolored on its back with blotches of olive gray or brown. The underside is creamy white with a yellow tinge.
Male and female frogs can be easily distinguished through the following differences. Male frogs are usually about 20% smaller than females, with slim bodies and legs. Males make mating calls to attract females, sounding very much like a cricket calling underwater. Females are larger than the males, appearing far more plump with hip-like bulges above their rear legs (where their eggs are internally located).
Both males and females have a cloaca, which is a chamber through which digestive and urinary wastes pass and through which the reproductive systems also empty. The cloaca empties by way of the vent which in reptiles and amphibians is a single opening for all three systems.[7]
In the wild [ edit ]
Protopolystoma xenopodis,[8] a parasite of the urinary bladder of Xenopus laevis The monogeneana parasite of the urinary bladder of
In the wild, Xenopus laevis are native to wetlands, ponds, and lakes across arid/semiarid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa.[2][9] Xenopus laevis and Xenopus muelleri occur along the western boundary of the Great African Rift. The people of the sub-Saharan are generally very familiar with this frog, and some cultures use it as a source of protein, an aphrodisiac, or as fertility medicine. Two historic outbreaks of priapism have been linked to consumption of frog legs from frogs that ate insects containing cantharidin.[10] Wild Xenopus are much larger than their captive bred counterparts.[citation needed]
Xenopus laevis in the wild are commonly infected by various parasites,[8] including monogeneans in the urinary bladder.
Use in research [ edit ]
Xenopus embryos and eggs are a popular model system for a wide variety of biological studies.[11][12] This animal is widely used because of its powerful combination of experimental tractability and close evolutionary relationship with humans, at least compared to many model organisms.[11][12] For a more comprehensive discussion of the use of these frogs in biomedical research, see Xenopus.
In the early 1930s, two South African researchers, Hillel Shapiro and Harry Zwarenstein,[13][14] who were students of Lancelot Hogben at Cape Town University, developed a test for human pregnancy by injecting the woman's urine into a Xenopus laevis frog. If the frog ovulated, the woman was pregnant.[14][15] This simple and reliable test was universally used throughout the 1930s to 1960s.[16]
Xenopus has long been an important tool for in vivo studies in molecular, cell, and developmental biology of vertebrate animals. However, the wide breadth of Xenopus research stems from the additional fact that cell-free extracts made from Xenopus are a premier in vitro system for studies of fundamental aspects of cell and molecular biology. Thus, Xenopus is the only vertebrate model system that allows for high-throughput in vivo analyses of gene function and high-throughput biochemistry. Finally, Xenopus oocytes are a leading system for studies of ion transport and channel physiology.[11]
Although X. laevis does not have the short generation time and genetic simplicity generally desired in genetic model organisms, it is an important model organism in developmental biology, cell biology, toxicology and neurobiology. X. laevis takes 1 to 2 years to reach sexual maturity and, like most of its genus, it is tetraploid. It does have a large and easily manipulated embryo, however. The ease of manipulation in amphibian embryos has given them an important place in historical and modern developmental biology. A related species, Xenopus tropicalis, is now being promoted as a more viable model for genetics.
Roger Wolcott Sperry used X. laevis for his famous experiments describing the development of the visual system. These experiments led to the formulation of the Chemoaffinity hypothesis.
Xenopus oocytes provide an important expression system for molecular biology. By injecting DNA or mRNA into the oocyte or developing embryo, scientists can study the protein products in a controlled system. This allows rapid functional expression of manipulated DNAs (or mRNA). This is particularly useful in electrophysiology, where the ease of recording from the oocyte makes expression of membrane channels attractive. One challenge of oocyte work is eliminating native proteins that might confound results, such as membrane channels native to the oocyte. Translation of proteins can be blocked or splicing of pre-mRNA can be modified by injection of Morpholino antisense oligos into the oocyte (for distribution throughout the embryo) or early embryo (for distribution only into daughter cells of the injected cell).[17]
Extracts from the eggs of X. laevis frogs are also commonly used for biochemical studies of DNA replication and repair, as these extracts fully support DNA replication and other related processes in a cell-free environment which allows easier manipulation.[18]
The first vertebrate ever to be cloned was an African clawed frog, an experiment for which Sir John Gurdon was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent".[19]
Additionally, several African clawed frogs were present on the Space Shuttle Endeavour (which was launched into space on September 12, 1992) so that scientists could test whether reproduction and development could occur normally in zero gravity.[20][21]
X. laevis is also notable for its use in the first widely used method of pregnancy testing, after Lancelot Hogben discovered that the urine from pregnant women induced X. laevis oocyte production. Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a hormone found in substantial quantities in the urine of pregnant women.[22] Today, commercially available HCG is injected into Xenopus males and females to induce mating behavior and to breed these frogs in captivity at any time of the year.[23]
Amphibian frog Xenopus laevis also serves as an ideal model system for the study of the mechanisms of apoptosis. In fact, iodine and thyroxine stimulate the spectacular apoptosis of the cells of the larval gills, tail and fins in amphibians metamorphosis, and stimulate the evolution of their nervous system transforming the aquatic, vegetarian tadpole into the terrestrial, carnivorous frog.[24][25][26][27]
Genome sequencing [ edit ]
Early work on sequencing of the X. laevis genome was started when the Wallingford and Marcotte labs obtained funding from the Texas Institute for Drug and Diagnostic Development (TI3D), in conjunction with projects funded by the National Institutes of Health. The work rapidly expanded to include de novo reconstruction of X. laevis transcripts, in collaboration with groups around the world donating Illumina Hi-Seq RNA sequencing datasets. Genome sequencing by the Rokhsar and Harland groups (UC Berkeley) and by Taira and collaborators (University of Tokyo, Japan) gave a major boost to the project, which, with additional contributions from investigators in the Netherlands, Korea, Canada and Australia, led to publication of the genome sequence and its characterization in 2016.[28]
Xenbase is the Model Organism Database (MOD) with the full details and release information regarding the current Xenopus laevis genome (9.1).
As pets [ edit ]
Xenopus laevis have been kept as pets and research subjects since as early as the 1950s. They are extremely hardy and long lived, having been known to live up to 20 or even 30 years in captivity.[29]
African clawed frogs are frequently mislabeled as African dwarf frogs in pet stores. The astute pet owner will recognize the difference, however, because of the following characteristics:
Dwarf frogs have four webbed feet. African clawed frogs have webbed hind feet while their front feet have autonomous digits.
African dwarf frogs have eyes positioned on the side of their head, while African clawed frogs have eyes on the top of their heads.
African clawed frogs have curved, flat snouts. The snout of an African dwarf frog is pointed.
As a pest [ edit ]
African clawed frogs are voracious predators and easily adapt to many habitats.[30] For this reason, they can easily become a harmful invasive species. They can travel |
I go on the treadmill, I try not to turn on the TV. When I’m on a plane, sometimes I try not to watch a movie or read a book, but just sit where I am. Every day there are small moments when we have a choice: will we take in more stuff, or just clear our minds out for a bit? I try to lean to the latter.
In your book, you mention that we are actually working fewer hours in the West, and yet we still seem to have fewer moments to give to ourselves. Is there something about the moment we are living in now that’s different, that’s changed?
PI: Even 20 years ago, I don’t think most of us worried about information overload or multi-tasking in the same way or with the same urgency. And remember, the world is not going to get slower, and devices are not going to uninvent themselves. Ten years from now, we’ll be dealing with things that make texting and Skype look really old-fashioned. And the machines aren’t going to teach us how to keep our sense of balance. That part is up to us. The information revolution came without a manual. The one thing technology can’t teach us is how to make the best use of technology, how to keep our sanity in the face of technology. For that, we can’t go online.
The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer is available now. Featured image courtesy of Matthieu Ricard.Lung cancer is most commonly associated with smoking, but there’s a lesser-known trigger that has experts concerned — radon. Radon is a naturally occurring colourless, odourless, tasteless gas. It’s also responsible for 16 per cent of lung cancers, making it the disease’s second leading cause, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Radon is a naturally occurring gas responsible for 16 per cent of lung cancers.
“Nobody knows about it, which is a problem,” says Sara McMillen, spokeswoman for the society. Radon is present in uranium and is released when rock and soil break down. Outdoors, says McMillen, it’s not a problem because it simply dissipates. However indoors when homes are poorly ventilated and there may be cracks or points of entry in the foundation then radon can accumulate to high concentrations, which is dangerous. “Our homes are generally built for winter, which means they’re very well sealed,” says McMillen.
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The Canadian Cancer Society is raising awareness about radon in the hopes that people will get their homes tested — an inexpensive and simple process. A homeowner need only buy a testing kit ($20-$30), and set it up in their basement for a six-month period. “We encourage people to do it during the fall and winter months, when windows tend to be closed,” says McMillen. Afterward, the kit gets sent away to a lab where radon levels are analyzed. Five per cent of buildings tested in a 2011 Health Canada study demonstrated radon levels four times the amount considered safe. Fixing homes that do test positive for high amounts of radon, says McMillen, might cost anywhere from $300-$1,500 depending on what’s necessary, she says. Fixes range from implementing a ventilation fan to sealing cracks in the foundation. The Canadian Cancer Society also wants the provincial government to update building codes to ensure that new buildings are properly ventilated.Save your mentor from the evil clutches of Dracula!
Count Dracula has resurrected once more, and he seeks his vengence on those who oppose him. As Nathan Graves, you must storm Dracula's castle to save your mentor, who will otherwise be used to restore Dracula to his full power. Battle the evil lord's minions with your trusty whip, and gain experience points as well as other useful items and weapons. Defeat bosses and gain special abilities that aid in exploring new areas of the castle. Use the Dual Set-Up System to combine action and attribute cards to create over 80 unique magic spells. Hours of monster-slaying action await you in five different game modes. Can you rid the world of Dracula's evil once and for all?
This classic game is part of the Virtual Console service, which brings you great games created for consoles such as NES™, Super NES™ and Game Boy™ Advance. We hope you'll enjoy the new features (including off-TV play) that have been added to this title. See more Virtual Console games for Wii U.Germany will need to deal with the threat of Lionel Messi, while Argentina have to overcome passing weakness in midfield
How do Germany stop Messi?
Germany kept Lionel Messi quiet in their 4-0 thrashing of Argentina in the 2010 quarter-final, but it will be a tougher task this time around. Messi is now more comfortable in that classic Argentinian No10 role, and has shown patience and guile when receiving the ball in deeper positions.
The man tasked with stopping Messi will be Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has played the deep-lying midfield role since Joachim Löw reformatted his side for the 1-0 quarter-final victory over France. The Bayern midfielder is an excellent passer, but can struggle defensively against tricky, top-class opponents, and the composition of Germany’s midfield triangle means Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira are likely to be pressing Argentina’s deep midfielders, rather than helping to stop Messi.
A further concern is the suspicion Messi will drift out to the right, as he did frequently in the semi-final against Holland. In that zone, he’ll be up against Germany’s weak link Benedikt Höwedes, although as a natural, right-footed centre-back, Höwedes might defend narrowly and show Messi down the outside, which is preferable to letting him inside on to his left foot.
Germany need three things to go right to prevent Messi dominating. First, they need a good individual performance from Schweinsteiger, handed the most difficult task of his career: stopping the most celebrated player of his generation performing on the world’s biggest stage.
More crucially, they need a good team effort. This means the second task must be to remain extremely compact, denying Messi space between the lines, and getting bodies around him if he manages to evade Schweinsteiger.
Third, they must attempt to prevent the service into him. Kroos and Khedira pressed Brazil’s deep midfielders excellently in the staggering 7-1 semi-final victory over the hosts, and they’ll look to shut down Javier Mascherano and Lucas Biglia similarly.
Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger will be key to stopping Lionel Messi. Photograph: /Michael Cox
How do Argentina cope in midfield?
Argentina will be determined not to suffer the same problems as Brazil, who were pressed into submission by the energy and tenacity of the German midfield. This will be extremely tough for Argentina, who aren’t blessed with great passers in the centre of the pitch, especially with one day less rest.
Alejandro Sabella is likely to continue with Enzo Pérez on one flank, probably the right, in place of the injured Ángel di María. The Benfica winger isn’t anything like a natural replacement, however, and more of a central midfielder – he’ll tuck inside and play alongside Javier Mascherano and Lucas Biglia, with Argentina hoping to win the midfield battle with quantity, rather than quality. Sabella will be happy for Pérez to concentrate his efforts in the centre of the pitch rather than out wide – the German left-back Höwedes can be allowed freedom, as he’s unlikely to cause attacking problems.
Argentina’s central midfielders must offload the ball quickly when pressed – they only need to watch a video of the Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho dallying in possession for Germany’s fourth goal to realise the outcome of such errors. While Mascherano has impressed with his tenacious tackling, his distribution has also been excellent at this World Cup, and since moving to Barcelona he has passed the ball much more swiftly.
Maybe the ultimate answer to the threat of Germany’s midfield, however, is simply defending deep. Germany don’t depend upon counter-attacking as much as in 2010, but their most dangerous attacks against Brazil were quick, direct and about breaking into space. When Argentina get numbers behind the ball, they’re extremely solid, and they’re yet to concede a goal in the knockout stage of this competition. Rather than trying to compete in midfield, Sabella might allow Germany the run of that zone, and keep it tight much deeper.What should you do if child-protective services comes to your house? You will hear a knock on the door, often late at night. You don’t have to open it, but if you don’t the caseworker outside may come back with the police. The caseworker will tell you you’re being investigated for abusing or neglecting your children. She will tell you to wake them up and tell them to take clothes off so she can check their bodies for bruises and marks. She will interview you and your kids separately, so you can’t hear what she’s asking them or what they’re saying. She opens your fridge and your cabinets, checking to see if you have food, and what kind of food. She looks around for unsafe conditions, for dirt, for mess, for bugs or rats. She takes notes. You must be as calm and deferential as possible. However disrespectful and invasive she is, whatever awful things she accuses you of, you must remember that child protection has the power to remove your kids at any time if it believes them to be in danger. You can tell her the charges are not true, but she’s required to investigate them anyway. If you get angry, your anger may be taken as a sign of mental instability, especially if the caseworker herself feels threatened. She has to consider the possibility that you may be hurting your kids, that you may even kill one of them. You may never find out who reported you. If your child has been hurt, his teacher or doctor may have called the state child-abuse hotline, not wanting to assume, as she might in a richer neighborhood, that it was an accident. But it could also have been a neighbor who heard yelling, or an ex-boyfriend who wants to get back at you, or someone who thinks you drink too much or simply doesn’t like you. People know that a call to the hotline is an easy way to blow up your life. If the caseworker believes your kids are in imminent danger, she may take them. You may not be allowed to say goodbye. It is terrifying for them to be taken from their home by a stranger, but this experience has repercussions far beyond the terror of that night. Your children may hear accusations against you—you’re using drugs, your apartment is filthy, you fail to get them to school, you hit them—and even if they don’t believe these things they will remember. And, after your children see that you are powerless to protect them, this will permanently change things between you. Whatever happens later—whether the kids come back the next week, or in six months, or don’t come back at all—that moment can never be undone. The caseworker has sixty days to investigate the charges against you. She will want you to admit to your faults as a parent, and you should, because this tells her you have insight into your problems and that you have a sincere desire to accept her help and change your life. But you should admit only so much, because she is not just there to help you: she is also there to evaluate and report on you, so anything you say may be used against you in court. The Administration for Children’s Services—A.C.S., as child-protective services is known in New York City—has to prove its allegations against you only by “preponderance of the evidence.” It can bring in virtually anything as evidence—an old drug habit, even if you’ve been clean for years; a D.U.I.; a diagnosis of depression. While the court case is proceeding, you may be asked to submit to drug testing or a mental-health evaluation, to attend parenting classes or anger-management classes or domestic-violence classes and some kind of therapy. These services are intended to help you, but, if you want to get your kids back, they are not really voluntary, even though they may be so time-consuming and inflexibly scheduled that you lose your job. The more obedient you are, the better things will go for you. Even if you are innocent and can prove it, it could be more than a year before you get a hearing, and during those crucial months your compliance and deference are the currency that buys you visits with your children.
When should you take a child from his parents? You must start your investigation within twenty-four hours of the hotline call. Go at night—people are more likely to be home. As you look around, you have to be very, very careful, because if you miss something it will be partly your fault if a child ends up hurt, or dead. You may be shocked by the living conditions you encounter, but you’re not allowed to remove children solely because of poverty—if, for instance, there’s no food in the kitchen because the parent’s food stamps have run out—only for “imminent risk” due to abuse or neglect. But it’s often difficult to draw a line between poverty and neglect. When a child has been left alone because his mother can’t afford childcare and has to go to work, is that poverty or neglect? What if the child has been injured because there wasn’t an adult there to prevent it? Unless you’ve become desensitized through repetition, emergency removals are awful. Parents may scream at you and call you terrible names. Sometimes a parent will get violent. When you suspect in advance that a situation is going to be dicey, you can bring a colleague or a police officer, but sometimes things turn very fast and you’re on your own. If you remove the children that night, you will take them to a processing center to be assigned to a temporary foster home. Once you get there, it could take a long time for a home to be found—many hours. The children sit and wait, along with other children in the same situation. They may be crying, but it’s unlikely you will be able to comfort them, because you may never have met them before, and you have just separated them from their parents. If the children ask you where they’re going next, or when they’ll go home, or if they’ll stay together with their brothers and sisters, you can’t answer them, because you don’t know. “This time, I’ll ask them to write ‘Not a Piñata’ on it in bigger letters.” After that first visit, you have sixty days to investigate the charges. You should interview the child’s teacher, his pediatrician, and anyone else you think relevant. You should seek out neighbors and relatives; they may be too wary to talk to you, or else so eager to talk that you suspect they’re trying to get the parent in trouble. You must also draw out the parent herself; this is tricky, because you must play two conflicting roles—helper and investigator. Even if you feel for the parent and believe her kids should not be taken away, that is not the end of the story, because the final decision to ask in court for the removal of children is not yours to make; your supervisor, or your supervisor’s manager, will make it. Even though this manager has likely never met the parent or her kids, she may override your recommendation and take what she believes to be the safer course of action. Many at A.C.S. believe that taking kids from their parents is the cautious thing to do. Nobody wants to end up on the front page of the Daily News. You are working to protect children, and you will remind yourself of that when your job gets really difficult. Maybe once or twice a parent will thank you, and tell you that the services you provided made a difference in her life, and you will feel that those thanks make up for all the other parents who cursed at you and called you a baby snatcher. But that’s unlikely. The turnover among A.C.S. caseworkers is very high.
This is how Mercedes describes what happened. She was running a bath for her children. It was 2009, so Leslie was eleven months old and Camron was two. (To protect her kids’ privacy, Mercedes provided pseudonyms.) She plugged in her curling iron, because she was planning to curl and wrap her hair while they were in the tub. The kids were playing with toys in the living room. She left the curling iron on the side of the sink and went to fetch towels. She heard crying and, running back to the bathroom, she saw that Leslie had pulled the hot curling iron off the sink by its dangling cord, and it had fallen on her legs and burned them. She looked at the burns and they weren’t blistering, so she figured they were O.K. The next day, at her cousin’s house, she saw that the burns had blistered, and announced that she was going to take Leslie to the E.R., but her aunt told her, Do not go to the E.R. If they see those burns, child services will take your kids. So she didn’t. The next day, she went to her mother’s house. She and her mother started fighting, as they usually did, and she left the apartment with Leslie and sat with her outside. It was a warm night. She saw two women she didn’t know walk past her and into the building. Her mother called her phone and told her to come upstairs. The two women were in her mother’s apartment; they told her they were from A.C.S., and had come to see what happened to the baby. She answered a few questions, growing increasingly outraged, and then, guessing her mother had called A.C.S. to get back at her, began cursing at her and screaming that she would never see her grandchildren again. She started putting on Leslie’s clothes to leave, but the A.C.S. women told her that first they had to take photographs of Leslie’s burns. Mercedes said no, she was going, and one of the women said, Miss, you are making me real nervous right now. The women left, but a few minutes later they came back, accompanied by a couple of policemen. Mercedes sat on the floor crying, holding Camron and Leslie and begging the women, Don’t take my kids, please don’t take my kids. But her mother, believing it was best to comply, picked up Camron and then Leslie and gave them to the women, both kids wailing, and the women took them away. Mercedes grew up in Brooklyn. Her father was a drunk, who beat her and her mother. One time he nearly killed them, trying to run their car off the road as they fled from him on the Belt Parkway. When Mercedes was old enough to understand what was going on, she started calling the cops on him. When she was older still, she started running away, at which point her mother called the authorities on her. When she was a teen-ager, her mother sat the kids down and they voted on whether they should kick their father out of the house. Mercedes’s younger brother, who was six, voted no, but Mercedes and her older brother and her mother voted yes, so her father left. Mercedes got pregnant when she was fourteen, but her boyfriend beat her up and she lost the baby. When she was eighteen she got pregnant again. Her father turned up and beat her, but she didn’t miscarry, and in 2007 she had her first baby, Camron. Camron’s father had told her to get an abortion, and was violent with her, too, so her mother came and brought her home. “She told me, ‘I’m going to help you with the baby, I got you,’ ” Mercedes says. But although Mercedes and her mother were best friends when they weren’t living together—they talked every day on the phone, spent every weekend together—when they were in the same house they fought constantly, and when Camron was eight months old Mercedes’s mother threw her out, so Mercedes and the baby moved into a shelter. When she got pregnant again, with Leslie, the same thing happened: she moved in with her mother and then ended up in a shelter again six months later. It was in this second shelter that the incident with the curling iron occurred. At the Bronx Family Court, A.C.S. argued that Mercedes had burned Leslie with the curling iron on purpose, but the judge was not persuaded. Rejecting the charges of abuse, she issued a lesser finding of neglect, because Mercedes had failed to supervise her children properly and had not taken Leslie to the hospital. The children were put into foster care with Mercedes’s cousin, and Mercedes set about doing what A.C.S. told her she had to do to get them back—going to parenting class, submitting to inspections by a caseworker. By this time, she was pregnant again. “The first thing that caseworker said to me when she met me was not ‘Hello’ but ‘Oh, you’re pregnant again? They ain’t going to do nothing but take that baby, too.’ That was the first thing that came out of her mouth.” But the caseworker was wrong: shortly before Mercedes gave birth to her third child, Tiana, the judge gave Camron and Leslie back to Mercedes, on the condition that she live with her mother. A.C.S. was still uneasy about Mercedes, however. Right after Tiana was born it requested that the court find “derivative neglect” of Tiana by Mercedes, on the ground that she had been found to neglect Camron and Leslie, and argued that all three children should be taken into foster care. It pointed out that Mercedes’s home had been observed to be unsanitary on at least two occasions, that she had refused to participate in drug treatment despite admitting that she smoked marijuana “whenever I get the urge,” and had missed two child-safety conferences, and therefore posed an imminent risk to Tiana’s life or health. But the children’s attorney argued that Mercedes should be allowed to keep the baby, and the judge agreed. Six months later, A.C.S. filed another petition to remove the children: Leslie had cellulitis and eczema, and Tiana was seriously underweight, and A.C.S. argued that the persistence of these problems suggested that Mercedes was failing to care for them properly. The judge pointed out that since Tiana had not gained weight even during a two-week stay in the hospital, it was not clear that Mercedes had anything to do with it. (Years later, Tiana was given a diagnosis of growth-hormone deficiency.) Moreover, she said, there was a strong bond between mother and infant, the disruption of which would only make things worse. Three months after that, A.C.S. tried to remove Tiana a third time, but again the judge said no. “I’m going to level with you, Tom. The rest of the marketing team wasn’t sent upstate to live on a farm.” Mercedes fought with her mother and moved with the kids to a shelter again, but there were bedbugs, so she left. The next day she took Leslie and Tiana to the doctor, and he told her they were so sick he wanted to admit them both to the hospital. For a couple of nights she and Camron slept in the girls’ hospital room, but the hospital kicked them out. Then, soon afterward, Mercedes’s mother and a woman friend of hers from church turned up at the hospital, along with a caseworker from A.C.S. The caseworker told Mercedes that since she didn’t have anywhere for Camron to go she had to give him to either her mother or the friend, or else A.C.S. would take all three kids. As Mercedes understood the arrangement, the caseworker promised her that, if she gave up Camron temporarily, then when the girls were released from the hospital A.C.S. would get the family on a priority list for proper housing and she would get Camron back. Mercedes desperately needed housing, and she didn’t have anywhere else for Camron to go, so she said O.K. Because she was still angry with her mother, she told the caseworker that Camron could go with the friend. That turned out to be the wrong decision. Leslie was released from the hospital a few days later, and she was given to the friend, too. Mercedes kept calling A.C.S., asking when she was getting her kids back. Tiana was still in the hospital—were they waiting for her to be released? Why did she not have Leslie? When was she going to get her housing? What was going on? But now a caseworker was telling her that she had given up all three children of her own free will.
The judge on Mercedes’s case was Carol Sherman, who had worked in family court in various capacities for nearly forty years. As a law student, she had studied reformatories in Massachusetts and was appalled by what she saw—children being held in prisonlike conditions, with only the most rudimentary attempts at education—so when she graduated she looked for an organization that defended children in court. She found only one, the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society in New York, and went to work there in the summer of 1971. The reason she could find only one such organization was that, until a few years before, juvenile defense had not been thought necessary. The Progressive Era creators of family court had imagined its judges as quasi-parents, helping rather than punishing, ruling benevolently in a child’s best interest. But, in 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that it was irrelevant whether a judge felt benevolent or not: family court had the power to deprive citizens of their liberty, and that kind of state power had to be restrained by the law, so a juvenile delinquent was entitled to an attorney. The mission to protect children, combined with the excitement of creating a whole new field of law, made the Juvenile Rights Division in the early seventies a thrilling place to be. Martin Guggenheim, now a professor of law at N.Y.U., arrived at the same time that Sherman did, and together they felt themselves to be part of a righteous crusade on behalf of their underage clients. “We defended murderers and muggers with zeal,” he says. “And if our client was found guilty and sent away, we’d say, That fucking judge. We were warriors!” When Sherman and Guggenheim started out, their caseload was almost all delinquencies. But then growing awareness of “battered-child syndrome”—an awareness that the abuse of children at home was not a rare pathology but a frequent occurrence that demanded attention—led, in 1974, to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. The Juvenile Rights Division saw more and more abuse and neglect cases, and as this happened a divide opened among the warriors. To Sherman, it seemed clear that these new cases were very different—that whereas in the delinquency cases children accused of crimes had to be protected from the state, in the neglect and abuse cases the state itself was protecting children, from their parents. But to Guggenheim the child-welfare cases and the delinquency cases looked all too similar: in both, the state possessed the fearsome power to remove children from their homes, and so in both that power had to be kept in check. By the time Sherman became a judge, in 2008, a great deal had changed in family court. In the eighties and nineties, putting children in foster care was very common: in 1991, there were nearly fifty thousand children in care in New York City. But study after study had shown how harmful foster care could be, and judges had become leery of it; by 2005, the number had dropped to eighteen thousand. (It is now under nine thousand.) But this didn’t mean that all the children who were no longer in foster care had stayed with their parents: many experts in the field had come to believe that the solution to the problem of children spending years in foster care was to speed up adoption. In 1997, Congress passed the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which required states to file for termination of parental rights in most cases when a child had been in foster care for fifteen of the previous twenty-two months. This gave parents far less time to satisfy child-protection agencies that they had adequately reformed, and made it far more likely that they would never get their children back. Sherman knew that foster care could be harmful, so she felt more comfortable removing children if there was a relative who could pass a background check and take them—she believed that children almost always did better with family. Sherman: Did the father sign the birth certificate at the hospital? A.C.S.: I believe so. Sherman: Does the mother have contact with the child? A.C.S.: The mother attended the child safety conference but she became upset and walked out and told the father it was his baby now. She worked tirelessly, aware that she now had more power than ever to affect children’s lives. She read every report in advance, she took detailed notes and reviewed them, she interrogated. Sherman: I’d like to see the police report, this makes no sense. Where is the child? A.C.S.: With the paternal grandmother. Sherman: And what are you asking for today? A.C.S.: The removal of the child to A.C.S. Sherman: Based on the mother leaving the child alone on one occasion for thirty minutes? A.C.S.: This is a very young child, less than seven months old, he cannot fend for himself. Mother’s Lawyer: The very age of the child suggests that he should stay with the mother. She is breast-feeding, she has been his mother since birth. Sherman: How do you know the child was left alone for thirty minutes? A.C.S.: The child was found alone by the father’s brother. Mother’s Lawyer: The child was left with the uncle. Sherman: Wait, the father’s brother was home with the child? A.C.S.: The brother stated that he came home and found the child. Sherman: But why do you believe the brother over the mother? What do we know about him? When it came to abuse, she tried to parse the different sorts of violence. Was the parent whipping with a belt, which was painful but not usually dangerous, or choking, which was? And why was the parent doing these things in the first place? “Is there mental illness?” she asks. “Is there so much anger that this person really can’t control it? It may be that this parent has every reason in the world to be angry, not at the child but at a whole host of experiences he’s had in his life—I’m not here to judge that. But how does that impact his ability to deal with his child? Young children can be really frustrating—the constant crying, not doing what you tell them to do.” Did the parent have an unrealistic idea of how well a young kid could be expected to behave? Or did he simply believe that hitting was the right way to raise a child? It was difficult to draw a line between corporal punishment and abuse, and judges drew that line in different places. Sherman: The court does find that A.C.S. has met its burden. J. testified that his father beat him, punched him, and stomped on him, that he had been beaten by his father since he was two years old, and that he has seen his father hit C. This court is aware of Mr. A’s issues with anger control. The court is also aware that Mr. A cares very much for both of his children. Some of the hardest cases were those in which a doctor did not believe a parent’s explanation of how a child had been hurt. It could be incredibly difficult to know what to do. “Often the injury can be horrific,” Sarah Cooper, another judge at the Bronx Family Court, says. “A skull fracture, a broken femur, retinal hemorrhaging, which is typical of a shaken baby. When there are these horrific injuries, everybody’s on edge. Who broke the baby? Somebody broke the baby. And often there are multiple caretakers—maybe two parents in a home, maybe a grandmother, an aunt, a babysitter. You have four people in front of you who are all held accountable, and the likelihood is one, maybe, did something, and two or three other people are just roped into it. But how do you say, O.K., take your baby home with their unexplained skull fracture? Nine months down the road we’re looking at a trial—medical experts come in and start lecturing about the ribs, genetic metabolic anomalies, brittle-bone disease, rickets—and that takes years. For a baby, that’s a lifetime—it’s all of the bonding, all of the early-life attachment. And ultimately perhaps we never know what happened.” But abuse, in fact, made up only a small percentage of the cases that came through Sherman’s courtroom. The vast majority of child-protective cases involved neglect, and these could be even trickier. In a neglect case, it was a matter less of stopping something obviously terrible from happening than of filling in the deficits in a child’s life, and the question of what constituted a deficit big enough to count as neglect was difficult to settle. It was also hard to tell when neglect suggested that something more worrying was going on. “The question is, what else is this parent doing that their living conditions look like this?” Sherman would ask. “That they’re so filthy dirty, the children are filthy dirty, the food is rotting—what else is going on here? Is the parent depressed? Does the parent have developmental disabilities? Is there drug use? Or is it none of those things and we just have to teach her how to keep a clean home?” Figuring out what was really going on was hard, because she had no firsthand knowledge of the situation and was forced to rely on the testimony of caseworkers, whose skill and diligence varied considerably. She scolded them when their work was sloppy, but in the end she usually sided with A.C.S. Sherman became known in family court for examining the tiniest of details. When inquiring how a child was doing, she wanted to know everything there was to know about him. “I want to see every report card, and if the child isn’t doing well in school I order tutoring in the home,” she says. “I will order P.S.A.T. and S.A.T. review courses. Information about scholarships. My experience is that unless I give a very detailed order the things that need to be done won’t necessarily get done.” She was notorious among caseworkers for her obsession with summer camp: if a child was not enrolled by the middle of spring, she would issue an order requiring it. She found out that one boy loved science but had never been to the natural-history museum, so she issued a court order requiring his foster mother to take him there. When he was adopted, she bought him a book about atoms and tickets to the planetarium to celebrate. Although she issued dozens of orders in every case, she kept track of all of them, and excoriated the caseworkers when they weren’t carried out. Some judges seemed to be concerned chiefly that their cases proceeded according to schedule; Sherman was not one of them. “Judge Sherman cares very deeply for children,” Mary Anne Mendenhall, Mercedes’s lawyer, says. “That is something you can never doubt.” Sherman would often say, “All the children before me are entitled to everything that my child’s entitled to.” To her, this was a matter of social justice: she believed that it was not right for poor children to be deprived of the after-school activities and therapy and evaluations and tutoring and domestic orderliness that middle-class children had, so when a child came into her purview she did her utmost to insure that the child’s life and prospects were substantially improved before she was done with him. The trouble was, what to her seemed like helpful services could feel to a parent like intrusion, and the high standards she set could become barriers to reunification. “It moved into social control very quickly, in her courtroom,” Emma Ketteringham, the managing director of the Family Defense Practice at the law firm the Bronx Defenders, says. “I will never forget one case where a case planner had put in her report that there was a lot of stuff in the crib. Judge Sherman issued an order that nothing be allowed in the crib except the baby.” Mother’s Lawyer: My client did not accept the cleaning service because she’s about to be evicted so she didn’t see the point. Sherman knew that services didn’t always work, and that parents often resented them, but her job was to protect children, so she did the best she could with the tools she had. What else could she do? “Mental-health services, drug treatment—sometimes they’re beneficial, sometimes not,” she says. “There are old studies on batterers’ programs which said they did not have much of an impact. People are trying to figure out what can we do—we have to change people’s behavior. I think just being brought to court and having a child removed has a very sobering effect. But some parents are willing to say, I’d like to learn a better way to do it, and others are not.” “Carol does not see intervention as a terrible cost,” Guggenheim says. “She sees it as a price to pay to avoid what is for many in this field the thing to avoid above all else: wrongfully failing to protect a child. She really has a Progressive mind-set, in that she sees herself as the instrument of power to improve children’s lives. But, on the privileged side of town in all parts of America, children are raised by drunks, by drug addicts, by violent people. We don’t care how privileged children are raised, because we’ve arranged our world around the fundamental principle that the state doesn’t intrude on the family. Equality requires that we give the same freedom to underprivileged children as we give to privileged children—to be raised by crappy parents.” “We don’t know what kind of meat it is. That’s why it’s on sale.”
For a long time after she lost her children, Mercedes was homeless. She couldn’t sleep at her mother’s anymore, and she didn’t have close friends, so she floated from place to place, staying in each as long as her host would let her, sometimes staying with someone she had met that day. She refused to go to a shelter for single women—she had heard there were fights in those places, and people stole things. She was used to this. Her life had been this way since she was sixteen—staying with her mother, getting thrown out, staying with a friend, getting in an argument, moving on. Besides, she didn’t have her kids, so she barely cared what happened to her. “When they take your kids, it’s like everything stops,” she says. “Your heart stops. Everything stops. Then you’re trying to figure out what the hell to do next. What do I do? Once they take them, you don’t have no reason to be here no more. Your kids give you purpose.” She was permitted to see her children each week in a room at the foster-care agency, but she came to dread these visits, because they |
0.7, 0.9, 1.1]) y1 = numpy.linspace(0.1, 1.1, 6) y2 = numpy.arange(0.1, 1.1, 0.2) y3 = numpy.arange(0.1, 1.11, 0.2)
print(x == y1) # [ True False True False True True]
print(y2) # [ 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9]
print(x == y3) # [ True False False False False False]
print(y1 == y3) # [ True True False True False False]
print(list(reversed(numpy.linspace(1.1, 0.1, 6))) == y1) # [ True True True True False True]
And finally Julia:
x = [0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1.1] y1 = linspace(0.1, 1.1, 6) y2 = [0.1:0.2:1.1] y3 = [0.1:0.2:nextfloat(1.1)] y4 = [0.1:0.2:prevfloat(1.1)]
println(x.== y1) # Bool[true,false,true,false,false,true]
println(x.== y2) # Bool[true,true,true,true,true,true]
println(y1.== y3) # Bool[true,true,true,true,false,true]
println(y2.== y3) # Bool[true,false,true,false,true,true]
println(y4) # [0.1,0.30000000000000004,0.5,0.7000000000000001,0.9]
println(linspace(0.1, 1.1, 6).== reverse(linspace(1.1, 0.1, 6))) # Bool[true,true,true,true,true,true] Below you can check the codes I used. Here are the results for R:Now comes Python:
Recently I was comparing implementation of sequence generation functions in R, Python (numpy) and Julia. Interestingly even such basic functions have slight differences in implementation. In my opinion Julia provides the best solution and Python the worst.The test case will be a 6 element sequence fromtonamely. In all languages we can generate it in three ways: by direct specification, by sequence giving its length and by sequence giving its step (there actually three flavors here: with exact and inexact right bound).The test codes follow but let me first give the conclusions:R:Last year in July, I did some preliminary research on the hardware startup ecosystem. The goal was to examine the growth of the sector by looking at funding events, on both the venture and crowdfunding front.
This year, for my keynote at O'Reilly’s Solid conference, I wanted to put together a much more in-depth narrative looking at the trends that are shaping hardware, and leading to that growth. I’m interested in the growth of a community that encourages founders; the new support ecosystem that facilitates building hardware businesses; the manufacturing trends that govern where and how things are made; and the types of businesses that flourish as a result.
This presentation and talk summarize that research.
Here’s an updated table of Kickstarter data* :
Year 2011 2012 2013 Hardware Projects 120 239 784 Product Design Projects 649 1373 2453 Total Projects 26,124 41,440 46,100 HW as percentage of total 0.46% 0.58% 1.70% PD as percentage of total 2.48% 3.31% 5.32% Hardware project dollars raised $2,543,850 $9,768,304 $46,645,309 All project dollars raised $104,625,478 $323,555,323 $469,452,086 Hardware $$ as percentage overall 2.43% 3.02% 9.94% Hardware project number of backers 19,019 91,996 370,189 All backers 1,409,190 4,365,213 6,369,255 HW backers as percentage of overall 1.35% 2.11% 5.81%
And an updated bubble chart showing funding events (Series A and earlier; this latest version includes medical devices):
Botsourcing stats…
My slides (though, really, view them on Presentate - speaker notes and all citations are right there next to the relevant slide, it’s a much better experience):
I’m inspired by numbers. I look forward to Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends every year (and it’s coming out this week!). One of the most challenging aspects of transitioning from Wall Street to seed-stage VC was the relative absence of quantitative data for decision-making. The fact is, while I’ve made a vested effort to source and cite each and every piece of information in this presentation, the underlying data is often dirty or scattered.
If you compare this data set with my post from last year, you’ll undoubtedly find things that are included in one but not the other - this is due to changes in the classification taxonomies of the source databases. Crunchbase 2.0 has made a lot of progress and is a valuable resource, but even it is dependent on users making edits as they discover errors or incomplete information (ie, Boston Dynamics being classified solely as a software company). If you discover any glaring errors, please point them out to me (ideally, kindly!).
If you’d like to chat about other interesting facets of analysis to add going forward, get in touch!
A million thanks to the teams at Crunchbase, Octopart, and my very talented husband, Justin Hileman, for going above and beyond in helping with this project.According to Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, on the morning of the 15th May 1536 Jane Seymour received a message from the King informing her that he would send her a further message at 3 o’clock regarding the “condemnation” of Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII was sure that Anne Boleyn was going to be found guilty and she really didn’t have a hope of acquittal after Norris, Smeaton, Brereton and Weston had been found guilty.
The Boleyn siblings were tried on 15th May 1536 in the King’s Hall of the Tower of London in front of an estimated 2,000 spectators. A great platform had been erected in the hall so that everybody could see the proceedings. Norris, Weston, Brereton and Smeaton had been tried by a commission of oyer and terminer, but Anne and George were given the privilege of being tried by a jury of their peers, presided over by their uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, as Lord High Steward.
The chronicler Charles Wriothesley, recorded that after her indictment was read out, Anne “made so wise and discreet aunsweres to all thinges layde against her, excusing herselfe with her wordes so clearlie, as thoughe she had never bene faultie to the same”. The Queen defended herself admirably, denying all of these preposterous charges and admitting only to giving money to Sir Francis Weston, just as she gave money to many young gentlemen at court. Notwithstanding, the jury were unanimous in their verdict: “guilty”. The Queen was then stripped of her crown and her titles, all except that of Queen. With tears running down his cheeks, Anne’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, pronounced the sentence:
“Because thou hast offended against our sovereign the King’s Grace in committing treason against his person, and here attainted of the same, the law of the realm is this, that thou hast deserved death, and thy judgment is tis: that thou shalt be burned here within the Tower of London on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the King’s pleasure shall be further known of the same.”
The Queen kept her composure. Although she did not argue against the sentence, she said that she “believed there was some other reason for which she was condemned than the cause alleged”. Anne Boleyn was then escorted out of the court by her gaoler, Sir William Kingston, with the axe turned against her to show that she had been sentenced to death.
While Anne Boleyn was taken back to her lodgings in the Tower of London, her brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, was taken to the King’s Hall to stand before the same jury. All witnesses agree that George put up a good fight in the court room that day. In his Chronicle, Charles Wriothesley recorded that after George pleaded not guilty, “he made answer so prudently and wisely to all articles laid against him, that marvel it was to hear, but never would confess anything, but made himself as clear as though he had never offended” and Lancelot de Carles commented on George’s good defence and his eloquence, which de Carles likened to that of Sir Thomas More.
George defended himself so well in court “that several of those present wagered 10 to 1 that he would be acquitted”, but he was also rather reckless. Perhaps he realised that there was no hope of justice and thought he had nothing to lose, for when he was handed a note regarding the King’s impotence, George recklessly read it aloud even though he had been commanded not to. George had allegedly joked or gossiped about the King’s sexual problems, his lack of sexual prowess, and he had also joked about Elizabeth not being the King’s daughter. This meant that he had unwittingly committed treason because this kind of talk impugned the King’s issue. What was worse was that George had disobeyed instructions and read out this note in court, embarrassing the King and not endearing himself to the jury. Unsurprisingly, George was found guilty and sentenced to a full traitor’s death. Like his sister before him, George Boleyn was then taken back to his prison in the Tower to prepare himself for death.
(Based on an excerpt from my book On this Day in Tudor History)
You can read more about their trials in the following articles:Celtic say their supporters won't be given tickets for the potential tie in Belfast
Celtic have confirmed they will not take supporters to Belfast - should they face Linfield in a Champions League qualifier.
Linfield face SP La Fiorita of San Marino in the second qualifying round, with the winners facing Celtic.
However, the first leg was due to be played on 12 July at the height of the marching season in Northern Ireland.
Citing safety concerns, Celtic said: "No tickets will be available for Celtic supporters for the match."
Uefa has confirmed that a potential Linfield v Celtic match would be on Friday, 14 July. The dates for the second qualifying round ties are 11/12 July and 18/19 July.
With Celtic away from home for the first leg, the potential Linfield clash sparked security concerns.
'Safety of Celtic supporters paramount'
In a statement on Friday, Celtic said: "Following security concerns raised by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Celtic has taken part in discussions with Linfield and the PSNI over recent days.
"While there can be an option to reverse the fixtures if both clubs agree, during discussions, Linfield made it clear that they did not wish to reverse the tie and they wanted play their home leg first.
"In addition, as is often the case in football, Celtic's football management team wished to play our away leg first so that we could benefit from the advantage of playing the second leg at home in front of our supporters at Celtic Park for this crucial European tie.
"Following the discussions, it was agreed among the clubs and PSNI and has now been confirmed with Uefa that, should Linfield progress to the second qualifying round, Celtic's Uefa Champions League match against Linfield will take place at Windsor Park on Friday, 14 July, with a 5pm kick-off.
"No tickets will be available for Celtic supporters for the match. The safety and security of all Celtic supporters travelling and attending matches is of paramount importance to the club." '
'Difficult situation'
Earlier, Linfield Chairman Roy McGivern said he was pleased that agreement had been reached to stage the match - should Linfield qualify - on 14 July.
"I would like to thank all of those involved for their efforts in resolving what was a difficult situation and we can now concentrate fully on our forthcoming games against FC Fiorita from San Marino," he said
PSNI Supt Norman Haslett said: "Police have been in close contact with representatives from both Linfield and Celtic football clubs due to the possibility of a Belfast fixture between the two clubs in July.
"Public safety concerns surrounding the fixture and the impact on the greater Belfast area over the Twelfth period have featured strongly in our considerations and discussions. I can confirm that all parties have now reached agreement on the arrangements for the match, should it proceed."Credit: Marvel Studios/Entertainment Weekly
In 2013’s Iron Man 3 we found out the Mandarin wasn’t who we’d expect, and in a new Marvel ‘One-shot’ short film coming in February we’re going to find out more about the idiosyncratic personality.
On February 25 Marvel will release Thor: The Dark World on home video, and in the Blu-ray edition there will be a new Marvel One-Shot entitled “All Hail The King.” This new short film sees Ben Kingsley reprise his role as Trevor Slattery, the man hired to play the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, living out his dreams of celebrity while imprisoned inside one of Marvel’s most famous prisons, Seagate.
“When we find Trevor at the beginning of this short, other than Tony, he’s the only one out of Iron Man 3 to get what he wanted,” says Iron Man 3 screenwriter Drew Pearce, who wrote and directed this short. “And even though he was arrested and beat up and had guns pointed at him, now he’s the celebrity that he always wanted to be and he loves it. He absolutely loves it. He is living a somewhat curtailed version of the celebrity life, but he’s also leading arguably a better life than he did when he was living with, like, four other actors at the age of 52 in some bedsit in the south of London. That’s the other fun thing about the starting point is that when we meet Trevor in the short, Trevor won. The Mandarin didn’t, but Trevor in his own way was victorious.”
Credit: Marvel Studios/Entertainment Weekly
According to Entertainment Weekly, “All Hail The King” sees the would-be Mandarin entertaining an interview with a documentary filmmaker (played by Scott McNary) about being the public face of a terrorist organization as seen in the events of Iron Man 3. The short film promises to delve further into the mystery of the Ten Rings organization and the truth behind the Mandarin, as well as delve into Flattery’s backstory as an actor – including scenes from an in-story 1980s television series done in the vein of Miami Vice and Magnum P.I.
“It was a Magnum P.I. rip-off pilot by CBS in 1985 and it was absolutely Trevor’s big break, a KGB agent private eye let loose on Los Angeles, partly there to clean up the Russian mafia in Los Angeles, partly there because of the dark secret in his past,” Pearce tells EW.
Pearce says that “All Hail The King” is the most ambitious and highest-funded out of all of the Marvel One-Shots so far; enough to enlist a surprise cameo from one of the stars of the recent The Hangover film trilogy: Crystal, the campuchin. Pearce says the campuchin will appear in the scenes from Caged Heat in a “Russian hat, drinking vodka.”
Hit Monkey, perhaps? Maybe, maybe not.
Getting back to the big reveal of Iron Man 3 that Kingsley’s Mandarin was merely as an actor portraying what was said to be a fictional character inside the film, Pearce says that there’s more to the story.
“What [“All Hail the King”] does is show that everything in Iron Man 1 [involving the terrorist group] was canon all along any way. We kind of knew The Ten Rings were a real terrorist cell,” Pearce explains. “Imagine a real terrorist organization whose beliefs were long held and religious for thousands of years, and imagine a drunk, British actor coming along and essentially telling the world that he’s the face of your organization. I think they would be right to be quite angry.”
So despite revealing that Kingsley’s Slattery was merely an actor portraying the Mandarin, Pearce does say squarely that the Ten Rings organization itself is very real and has a history going back “thousands of years.” So could there be more to the story of the Mandarin? Could the real Mandarin please stand up?
[For more from the interview and more images from the film, check out EW.com]This FFS has expired. 3.4 XMR was sent to the new Monero Moon FFS; the remainder (32.8) was sent to the general fund.
WHAT: Hi all, I am the author of Monero Observer, a Weekly Recap For All Things Monero (weekly newsletter). Monero Observer is a free weekly news publication released every Tuesday, created in an effort to keep the Monero community up to date on all the latest news and developments related to Monero. I aim to achieve this by aggregating all the relevant information into one convenient location in an easy-to-digest format. I sift through the noise so you don’t have to.
Monero Observer is currently fully operated, maintained, and funded by me. I have already published 4 issues in the last 4 weeks, with the 5th issue coming out in less than 24 hours. I currently have 200+ subscribers signed up, and the latest issue received over 1,000 downloads, which is growing more and more every issue.
The issue I am coming across is how much time is required to operate the weekly newsletter. I was hoping that that the donation system would provide enough of an incentive to keep me working hard for the community. While those who have donated have been extremely generous, I have so far received 8 donations total, totaling 2.5632 XMR. More importantly, I DO NOT want to start selling advertisements on the newsletter, as I want to keep the newsletter pure and focused on the content, so I am coming to the community with a proposal.
I want Monero Observer to be the official / unoffical weekly Monero newsletter funded by the Monero community.
WHO: In the spirit of privacy, I choose not to disclose who I am, but I am happy to share some background information about myself. Like many of you, I am a firm believer in Monero as it is the only cryptocurrency I personally own today. I have a Finance degree from a Business School and I am also a CFA Charterholder. I currently work in the financial services field. As someone with a finance background, what drew me to Monero is that not only is it secure and private, but it is the only cryptocurrency today that is truly fungible. And with the financial markets around the world being propped up by central banks for the last decade, I see the value in a currency such as Monero.
WHY: As Monero gains in popularity I believe it is extremely important for everyone (community members and outsiders looking in) to be able to closely follow along with all the latest news and developments surrounding Monero, whether its the latest community update from the Devs or if Monero was featured in a large media publication. And I believe Monero Observer will help bridge that gap. I believe having a Monero newsletter will be extremely beneficial to the growth and adoption of Monero as it should help spread awareness.
THE PROPOSAL AND MILESTONES: As Monero grows in popularity, it takes more and more time to put together a issue from start to finish. It currently takes me about 10-15 hours of work per issue.
My proposal is simple. I am proposing to publish the Monero Observer for 1 XMR per issue for the remainder of the year (48 issues remaining, 48 XMR total). At the current exchange rate of approximately $100 per XMR, that comes out to an hourly rate of $6.67 to $10 per hour which I believe is fair compensation.
The milestones are also simple, for every 12 issues I publish, 12 XMR is released. This comes out to 4 milestones total.
Milestone 1: Publish issues # 5 through 16 - 12 XMR
Milestone 2: Publish issues # 17 through 28 - 12 XMR
Milestone 3: Publish issues # 29 through 40 - 12 XMR
Milestone 4: Publish issues # 41 through 52 - 12 XMR
The proposal doesn't factor in other costs such as domain, web hosting, subscription services, etc, which I am happy to eat out of my own pocket.
I would also like to note that I will continue working hard on the Monero Observer regardless of whether I receive community funding or not. Thank you for your time. Cheers.
Update #1: Milestone 1 was achieved as issues #5 - #16 were published.Introduction
C-evo is a freeware empire building game for Windows.
With a time scope of several thousand years, it covers aspects of exploration and expansion, industry and agriculture, warfare and diplomacy, science and administration. C-evo follows the spirit of popular turn-based strategy games from the mid 90s, but with more emphasis on powerful AI and careful design of the rules, resulting in a true challenge.
The game is based on Microprose's famous Sid Meier's Civilization and has many basic ideas in common with it. Actually, this project has arised from the wish to correct annoying design mistakes and AI weaknesses of Civ II. The priorities of the C-evo project are considerably different from big commercial games. While those are focused on easy entertainment and mainly compete for the most realistic and exciting up-to-date multimedia, this one aims at ageless challenge. There are six design principles, see below.
The project does not have a team in the classic meaning. I'm doing the main programming alone and I put my work to the public domain, while the game graphics are supplied by the Civ community. Since a clever AI is essential for a strategy game, C-evo has an open AI interface implemented. So everyone who feels called to can code his personal AI engine and let it compete against others. Some alternative AIs are already available from the files section.
If you have questions or comments concerning the game or the project, put a posting to the forum or contact me. But before, please read the FAQ.
Screenshots
System Requirements
200 MHz PC
Windows 95 or newer
High color display
Design Principles
Principle 1: Low Risk. The basic idea is correction, not revolution. The playing experience with Civ II is used to overcome its design problems. New and overturning ideas will hardly be implemented, because this would only lead to another unbalanced game.
Principle 2: Fun by Challenge. Computer games get to bore after a while - that's a fact. The reason is that they remain the same - that's a common assumption, resulting in a stream of new games and massively extended sequels, each trying to temporarily suppress the boredom again. Call it fun by novelty. This project is based on a completely different assumption, induced by a few old games outside the computer world, which never change but are usually played for a lifetime. The problem of computer games might not be that they don't change but that they are bad - bad design, poor AI, false priorities set, constructs of perfect style and overwhelming size but not of intelligence. The challenge declines rapidly after a winning strategy is recognized. One wins every game with much to work and little to think. Doing this better should be possible.
Principle 3: AI Liberation. Empire building games are typically asymmetric. They are built around the human player as their center, with some pseudo-AI mainly having the job to keep him amused and to make the whole thing a realistic simulation. C-evo, in contrast, is a competition of equals. AI has no jobs, because that would reduce its strength. AI just has a goal, which is the same as the player's goal: to win. All are playing by the same symmetric rules, no matter if human or AI. Frequently made suggestions show that many players do not fully realize the consequences of this principle (which is forgivable because the games they're used to are far away from it.) Particularly, there is no way to direct the behavior of the AI - the AI is as free as the player is. Rules and AI are strictly separated. Some examples for ideas that are not compatible with this principle:
A wonder that improves other nations' attitude towards the owning nation. As hardly as a human player would ever change his opinion about another player because a rule tells him to do, as hardly would true AI.
Democratic and fundamentalistic states being more aggressive against each other than two states usually are. Same thing - AI is not under the game's command!
Use of certain methods or weapons (like nuclears) resulting in international contempt. Same thing again.
A diplomatic option for the human player to ask AI allies for support in his war campaign, expecting true effort. AI to subordinate to the player's plans is as ridiculous as the player to give up his strategy and instead help one AI fight the other.
Principle 4: Focus on Strategy. It's the nature of a Civ-style game to be a simulation and a strategy game at the same time. This double-ambition causes serious conflicts in game design and the need for compromise. While Civ I and Civ II chose a middle course, newer Civ sequels are clearly directed towards simulation. C-evo gives priority to strategy, which means:
The game is played by the players, not by itself. Everything happening is happening because one of the players does it or caused it, not because the game decides it's time for a surprise.
You can't win the game by hitting Enter a hundred times and accepting everything that some advisors are advising. C-evo is a game, not a movie.
a hundred times and accepting everything that some advisors are advising. C-evo is a game, not a movie. Elements that are irrelevant for the game's end are out of place.
Rules of the game that represent a mathematical effect are specified as a formula, not using nebulous phrases ("more", "less", "better").
Main goals are maximum challenge and minimum boring busywork. Realism is welcome but does not take precedence over these two aspects.
Poor players will not be helped in order to keep the balance of power. (Yes, this means most games are decided before they end formally, but that's natural and common to almost all good games.)
The fun you'll have playing the game without reading the manual is comparable to the fun it is to move pieces on a chessboard without knowing the rules of chess.
Principle 5: Compact Rule Set. A bigger game is not necessarily a better game. Additional elements can damage a game just as much as they can contribute to it. C-evo tries to keep its rule set small. Rules that would make the game more ornate but not bring new aspects of strategy will not be implemented, even if they'd add to realism.
Principle 6: Balance of Strategy and Micro Management. The game should remain small enough so that micro management can still be an important part of it. C-evo does not try to split into several levels where the lower ones are so boring that it takes automatics to keep the game bearable. The goal is to make the micro management interesting - or to remove it. To hide it away from the player with the help of macro management is the worst solution (though sometimes necessary).
Ways of Participation
You're invited to contribute to this non-commercial game. There are several ways do to that:
Testing : As a player, you're already doing that. Please report bugs.
: As a player, you're already doing that. Please report bugs. Localization : Translate the game to your native language or improve the existing translation. (Do not underestimate this job, it's really a lot of work. A complete localization contains at least the files "language.txt", "StdUnits.txt", the manual ("help.txt") and all tribe scripts. The manual is more than 10.000 words alone.) As for the manual, please note its special hypertext syntax.
: Translate the game to your native language or improve the existing translation. (Do not underestimate this job, it's really a lot of work. A complete localization contains at least the files "language.txt", "StdUnits.txt", the manual ("help.txt") and all tribe scripts. The manual is more than 10.000 words alone.) As for the manual, please note its special hypertext syntax. Graphics : If you have skills in making graphics, you might have a look at this current project: the Future Units Project
: If you have skills in making graphics, you might have a look at this current project: Add a nation : See this manual.
: See this manual. AI Development : Build your own AI. You can choose between the AI development kit for Delphi (contained in the game), the C++ develoment kit available from the files section and starting from the beginning with the DLL interface defintion only.
: Build your own AI. You can choose between the AI development kit for Delphi (contained in the game), the C++ develoment kit available from the files section and starting from the beginning with the DLL interface defintion only. Main module programming : Currently, there are no public projects in this area.
: Currently, there are no public projects in this area. Whatever you choose: All files of the game come in a standard format (txt, bmp, mp3). This allows you to easily exchange texts, graphics or sounds. Do whatever you like, and if you think your work could be interesting for other players too, you're invited to upload it to the files section.
Manuals and Interface Specifications
Other Information
Chart of Old Versions, with downloads and comments
Links
Other non-commercial Civilization-style games:
FreeCiv (Open Source, very closed to Civilization II )
) Under development: The Clash of Civilizations (focused on historical accuracy)
ContactSo is he finally coming good? Few players have elicited so much frustration among fans in recent years as Herrera, mainly because they know he has so much more to offer than what they have seen so far but also because they could see him visibly wilting, regressing even, under a manager who did not get him. Now 27, Herrera knows this is a defining season for him at Old Trafford but supporters are already seeing the green shoots of recovery and hope the player is about to fully bloom.
Anyone who watched Herrera’s success in a deeper lying midfield role in the 3-1 win at Bournemouth earlier this season will not have been surprised by the quality of his performance in a similar position in Saturday’s 4-1 trouncing of Leicester City. But his display against the reigning Premier League champions appears to have made plenty sit up and take notice.Starting over in a different part of the UK is the choice of an ever-growing number of younger people. Suzanne Bearne looks at why they moved
Anyone standing in a lengthy queue waiting for a sandwich at lunchtime in London would be forgiven for daydreaming about the prospect of a quieter life, running their own coffee shop by the sea, or opening an antique shop selling vintage classics. It is of little surprise, then, that Londoners are increasingly moving out of the city as they buy up cheaper homes and start families in areas like Bristol, Leeds and Margate. More surprising, however, is the number of people still in their 20s who are choosing to leave the capital.
Fed up with extortionate rents and hoping to improve their quality of life, many 20-somethings are bucking the tradition of enjoying big city life during their younger years and instead moving to cheaper areas where they can work remotely while enjoying lunchtime swims and midweek days off.
“For the same cost as taking a share in a three-bed in Camden you could rent a two- or a three-bed property in more affordable markets such as Bristol, Manchester and Leeds,” says Lawrence Bowles, a research analyst at Savills. “Obviously, the cost of renting isn’t the only factor. But with growing numbers of high-value job opportunities in regional cities, being able to rent more space for less money can only add to the appeal.”
There are staggering savings to be made by changing postcode: according to Rightmove the average asking rent for a property in Greater London is £1,920, compared to £789 nationally. One of the towns synonymous with this shift has been Margate in Kent.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sam Bristow: “London is a brilliant place, but no one I knew could afford to go out”
Sam Bristow, 25, moved there last September after a friend suggested they both test out the coastal town. “I’d been living in London for three years and become tired of it,” says the freelance graphic designer and illustrator. He swapped his room in a seven-person/five-bed houseshare in Camberwell, that set him back £850 plus bills every month, for a room in a large four-bed houseshare at £300 plus bills. “Obviously there are events in London and it’s a brilliant place, but no one I knew was going out as they couldn’t afford to,” he says.
But like many others who move to Margate, it is not just the affordable rents that attracted them, it’s the change in lifestyle. “I like the quietness, and the air is fresh,” says Bristow. “It also feels like you can do whatever you want here - such as open a shop. It’s given me more free time to do other things. I work less – I take Wednesdays off.”
Like many other 20-somethings exiting London, cost was the most influential factor in spurring Violet Myers, 27, to leave. The copywriter and her boyfriend had lived in the capital for seven years, but soon after returning from travelling around Asia they decided that the cost of moving into a one-bed flat together was just too extortionate.
“I felt like it was merely a playground for the rich and that I didn’t really belong there because I didn’t have the money to experience everything that makes it great,” says Myers. “In the end I was working and going home to stay in, with the odd night out with mates. I started thinking, ‘wait, maybe I can do that anywhere’.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Violet Myers: ‘I felt London was merely a playground for the rich … I didn’t have the money to experience what makes it great’
After hearing friends rave about Bristol, the couple upped sticks to the city in September. They now pay £750 for a two-bed flat, less than the £850 they paid for a room in a two-bed shared house in Kilburn. Not only has the move meant they can now save £1,000 a month, but it’s enabling Myers to follow some of her interests.
“One of the biggest annoyances was not being able to try new hobbies. Everything seems to be £15-£20 a session in London, say for yoga or pilates, so I felt even though I earned a pretty good wage, my life was forced to be a bit small. Here classes are cheaper - and less busy - so I can try some new things.”
Dan Wilson Craw, director of campaign group Generation Rent, says this trend highlights the difficulties of living in London. “It seems like there are more pressures on people in their 20s and 30s … it’s challenging … there’s so much struggle with housing costs.”
Wilson Craw also believes the wave of 20-somethings leaving London reflects changes in the economy. “Certainly, places like Manchester are seeing improvements in the job markets which means relocating is more viable,” he adds. “It also reflects wider patterns, such as people being able to work remotely and businesses moving to those areas as they realise it’s more cost effective to have an office up north.”
Digital product manager Emily Norval quit London 18 months ago for Leeds after living in the capital for more than four years. She insists she wasn’t unhappy but just craved a change.
“There are so many people in London looking for jobs that I think it’s harder to move across industries without having to virtually start your career all over again,” says the former journalist. “With so many big companies opening in places like Leeds and Manchester, they’re more open to searching for people with transferable skills.”
While she spent almost half of her wages on a double room in a flatshare in London, she now spends less than a third on a one-bed flat and has access to an on-site gym and concierge.
“I’m able to save money every month for the first time, which is a great feeling,” says the 28-year-old. “Saving for a mortgage wasn’t likely in London, but here I’m putting aside money for the future, as well as a holiday fund,” she adds, having just returned from Indonesia – her first two-week holiday in three years.
I’m able to save money every month for the first time, which is a great feeling Emily Norval
London has lost many of its high-profile nightclubs in recent years as property development takes over the city, but in Margate the nightlife is being revived, with ex-Londoners Amy Redmond – co-founder of Sink The Pink club nights – and her set designer husband Luke Vandenburg launching Margate Arts Club, which holds regular DJ sessions.
However, while cheap rents, more space and avoiding the tube are part of the allure of escaping the capital, there are noteworthy downsides to leaving. London remains a global multinational mega city with huge offices from major worldwide players such as UBS, Google, and Deutsche Bank. With many industries – such as publishing and finance – centred there, job opportunities in certain sectors may be less fruitful in the regions, and so may be the potential to thrive.
Also, as soon as you exit the M25 earnings start to fall. While median earnings for full-time employees in London reached £671 a week in 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics, across the whole of the UK it fell to £539.
This did not deter Sarah Richardson, 27, who moved to Manchester just over a year ago after spending only 18 months living in London. “I felt like a hamster on a wheel. Plus it took 40 minutes at least to get anywhere,” she says. “Now I can walk to work in 15 minutes, I earn the same salary as in London, and I was able to buy a place in Salford this year.
“ I thought I might be missing out, but I still visit London and when I do meet up with my friends there it’s often the first time they’ve got together because they’re all busy.”
‘The capital just wasn’t worth it’
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But its manufacturer, Taser, said there was no evidence linking Tasers to any deaths.
Conventional Tasers have been used in around 6,000 incidents in England and Wales since they were introduced in 2004.
A Home Office spokesman said: 'The Government and the police have no current plans to introduce XREP Tasers into service.
'The Home Office Scientific Development Branch is considering the XREP as part of its on-going remit to evaluate new technologies.'Looking for news you can trust?
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President Donald Trump has thrown his full weight behind the House Republicans’ plan to overturn Obamacare. But he might end up regretting that move in 2020. That’s because many of the bill’s most disruptive changes would take effect just as he’s launching his bid for reelection.
So far, the White House has been one of the chief proponents of the controversial legislation. “This will be a plan where you can choose your doctor, this will be a plan where you can choose your plan. And you know what the plan is, this is the plan,” he said this week. “And we’re going to have a tremendous, I think we’re going to have a tremendous success. It’s a complicated process, but actually it’s very simple: It’s called good health care.” At a meeting with members of Congress Tuesday, Trump stressed the urgency of passing the new bill, saying that the GOP would face an electoral “bloodbath” if they couldn’t enact an Obamacare repeal before the 2018 midterms.
If the early days of the Trump presidency are any guide, policy implementation doesn’t appear to be this administration’s strong suit.
Of course, there’s more than one way to spark a political bloodbath. When Trump gets ready to dive into his reelection campaign, he could face a crumbling health care system in the middle of turbulent changes. Many of the major provisions in the GOP bill won’t go into effect immediately. Instead, key Obamacare policies would sunset in early 2020—with major changes to Medicaid, tax credits, and the individual insurance marketplace all kicking in right around the time Democrats are battling it out in the Iowa caucuses.
If there’s one lesson to learn from Obama’s Affordable Care Act, it’s that major overhauls of the health care market inevitably won’t go as smoothly as predicted. And if the early days of the Trump presidency are any guide, policy implementation doesn’t appear to be this administration’s strong suit.
Republicans regularly complained that the Affordable Care Act was structured so that former President Barack Obama wouldn’t have to face the consequences of the bill until after his 2012 reelection campaign; the full rollout of the program didn’t take place until several years after Obama signed the 2010 bill into law. When the insurance marketplaces finally launched in the fall of 2013—with a disastrous rollout that created public outrage—Obama had long since secured his second term.
Republicans apparently aren’t going to provide Trump with that kind of cover. For example, the biggest changes to Medicaid in the GOP’s proposal will kick in at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020.
One of Obamacare’s most successful measures for boosting the insurance rolls has been Medicaid expansion, which allows states to enroll everyone earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level into the government insurance program. The federal government largely foots the bill for these new enrollees. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, in the 31 states that have participated in this program, more than 11 million people joined the Medicaid program thanks to the new, more generous eligibility requirements.
Under the Republican repeal bill, those states wouldn’t immediately lose funding for this larger universe of possible Medicaid recipients. Rather, they’ll receive the same level of federal funding until…January 1, 2020. At that point, states will no longer get funding to add new people to the program, and anyone who drops from the Medicaid rolls for more than a month will be excluded thereafter.
Health care costs can be pretty unpredictable, so Trump better hope none of those unexpected spikes hit swing states in 2020.
Also beginning in 2020, the overall structure of Medicaid funding will change. Currently, the feds promise to pay for a set percentage of state medical costs through the program. It’s an open-ended guarantee: If a state sees a huge spike in the cost of health care in any given year, the federal government will automatically step in to help cover those extra costs.
But under the GOP’s new plan, there would be a cap on how much the feds contribute to state Medicaid spending (an amount that will vary widely between states). According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal group, states would lose $116 billion in federal contributions over the next decade because of that change. Some states will undoubtedly see their Medicaid costs rise above the new cap, leaving state governments scrambling to either find more funding or to cut benefits. Health care costs can be pretty unpredictable, so Trump better hope none of those unexpected spikes hit swing states in 2020.
People who buy their insurance through the individual marketplaces will also experience a major shift starting in 2020. Before Obamacare, it could be incredibly difficult for someone trying to purchase insurance as an individual to figure out what plans actually covered. Frequently, consumers would realize only after getting sick that their plan could leave them with large out-of-pocket costs. But now, if you visit HealthCare.gov to pick out a health plan, options are grouped into tiers based on how generous the benefits are. Obamacare created a system of simple language to make those differences clear: Bronze plans generally have the lowest premiums and least generous benefits, silver and gold plans are in the middle, and platinum plans are expensive but have the best coverage. Not every silver plan is identical, but they should each cover a similar percentage of the costs for most patients.
The Republicans’ plan will erase those clear designations starting in 2020. Consumers will once again have to wade through the plans’ details and attempt to judge the relative merits of each option without clear-cut guidelines. “This could muddle what is already a difficult process for plan shoppers,” writes Timothy Jost, a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law, in the journal Health Affairs.
At the same time Obamacare’s tiers are wiped out, the GOP legislation would also roll out a new scheme for helping consumers pay for insurance. Currently, the government offers subsidies to anyone making up to 400 percent of the poverty line. That assistance varies based on income and region (with more aid given to people in places where insurance is more expensive).
Trump might have to explain to a lot of older and poorer voters why they’re suddenly getting less help when they purchase health insurance.
The Republican plan ditches the Obamacare subsidies and replaces them with refundable tax credits that are solely based on the recipient’s age for individuals earning less than $75,000 per year and families earning less than $150,000. (The tax credits decline for people earning more than that.) For middle-class families, the GOP plan will offer more assistance. But low-income people and those who live in regions where health care costs more—generally rural areas—will get less help from the government than under the current system.
The Kaiser Family Foundation put together a handy tool earlier this week that compares the current subsidies with those under the new GOP plan. For example, under Obamacare, a 60-year-old who lives in Iowa’s Poweshiek County and makes $30,000 a year would have received $11,270 in subsidies in 2020. Under the Republican bill, that same 60-year-old would get $4,000 in government help. Across the country, these reductions will hit the poor, older people, and rural communities the hardest. So Trump might have to explain to a lot of older and poorer voters why they’re suddenly getting less help when they purchase health insurance.
Maybe that’s why Trump has begun to subtly shift his position. During a White House meeting Wednesday night with members of various conservative groups who have objected to the slow pace of the Obamacare repeal in the GOP proposal, Trump reportedly hinted that he’d be fine with speeding up the process so that the changes to Medicaid expansion take place in 2018 instead of 2020. That would give the insurance market a bit more time to settle before Trump has to face the electorate.
On the other hand, it would give congressional Republicans one more reason to worry about a bloodbath in 2018.SUGARCREEK, Pa. (EYT) – An area man with cancer was sworn in as an honorary police officer in a heartwarming ceremony in Sugarcreek Borough on Tuesday morning.
Thirty-year-old Matthew (Matt) Minich, of Reynoldsville, Pa., was sworn in as an honorary member of the Sugarcreek Borough Police Department at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 24, 2017, with Magisterial Judge Patrick Lowrey presiding, as members of local police departments and Matt’s family and friends attended the ceremony.
To pursue a career in law enforcement, was one of Matt’s main goals; however, he was diagnosed with cancer, and those plans were put on the back burner.
“Being an officer is something that I always wanted to do. I want to serve the people and to help protect the people and do what I can to help,” explained Matt.
Over the past few weeks, Matt’s health began to rapidly fail.
Lieutenant Ryan Ashbaugh contacted Sugarcreek Borough Chief of Police, Matthew Carlson, and arraignments were quickly made with Mayor Jeff MacKenzie to bring one last wish to Matt and make him a police officer for a day.
The ceremony was held in the council room of the Sugarcreek Borough building. Matt was surrounded by his family and friends as well as members of the Pennsylvania State Police (Franklin Barracks, Corporal Lee Bunyak and Trooper Shawn Armagost); Venango County Sheriff’s Department (Sheriff Eric Foy); and the City of Franklin Police Department (Patrolmen A.J. Johnson and Bradley Barnhill).
Sugarcreek Borough Police Chief Matthew R. Carlson and Matt’s cousins, Sugarcreek Borough Lieutenant Ryan D. Ashbaugh and Kevin D. Ashbaugh, of Knox Ambulance Service, were also in attendance.
Matt’s mother Cheryl Minich and sister Natasha Thompson attended the ceremony with emotions of both sorrow and joy.
“Matt has always wanted to be a police officer. I am just happy that I can be here to share this moment with him,” commented Cheryl.
“He has been battling this for some time, and we thought things were going well, but he took a turn for the worst.”
Natasha expressed gratitude to the department for arranging this day for her brother.
“It is important to us that Matt had this opportunity. I just want to be here for him.”
After the swearing in ceremony, Matt had an opportunity to meet with the officers who attended the event as an expression of their support.
Chief Carlson spent some time with Matt to discuss his ordeal and offered him some words of encouragement, telling him that he was “glad to be able to make this day possible.”
“It was an honor to make this young man a police officer for the day and see one of his goals in life come true,” Chief Carlson commented.
Shortly after the ceremony, Matt went out patrolling the streets with his cousin, Lieutenant Ashbaugh.
Kevin Ashbaugh, an EMT for Knox Volunteer Ambulance Service as well as Clarion Hospital EMS, participated in the ride along as a precaution due to Matt’s condition.
“Right after the ceremony, we hit the streets, and Matt was serving the citizens of the borough. We only had one dispatch call for a disabled truck on Allegheny Blvd., but the rest of the time was spent stopping vehicles for violations and other standard patrol. The ride along ended at noon; however, Matt wanted to keep going, ignoring his own fatigue,” Lieutenant Ashbaugh told exploreVenango.com.
“It was great having Matt ride along with me. It was an honor to do, and it is something I will never forget.”
(Photos below: courtesy of Kevin Ashbaugh)
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Category: Community, Local News, NewsSpread the love
John Vibes
June 11, 2014
In the past year. police in New Mexico have become notorious for killing innocent people. The most recent wrongful death took place in Espanola, when a police officer shot an unarmed 16 year old Gymnast for no reason.
16 year old Victor Vialpando was a gymnast, dancer and a teacher at Moving Arts Espanola. According to his family he has no criminal record.
The police claim that he pointed a weapon at them, but the boy was unarmed and the police are refusing to release security camera footage that would corroborate their story.
Close friends of Victor believe that he may have had a stick that he was using to practice a dance routine, which he often does.
“I can’t fathom him even having a gun on his body, much less holding it and pointing it at somebody,” a friend said.
The case is being investigated by the same police department that the murdering police officers belong to.
In recent months Albuquerque, New Mexico has taken center stage in the fight against police brutality. The Albuquerque Police Department is traditionally known for their aggression and constant abuses of power, but recently the whole country started to take notice when a group of police killed a homeless man in cold blood, because he was camping in a public park. In the months following this attack there were several other police involved murders in the area, and protests have continued to grow in size and intensity. Instead of actually doing something to prevent police officers from using violence against innocent people, the police department created a new bureaucracy and selected an officer with a history of police brutality to run it. Additionally, a New Mexico Police Chief recently avoided losing his job after he was caught on video having sex in the back of an ambulance.
John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war. In addition to his writing and activist work he is also the owner of a successful music promotion company. In 2013, he became one of the organizers of the Free Your Mind Conference, which features top caliber speakers and whistle-blowers from all over the world. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can find his 65 chapter Book entitled “Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance” at bookpatch.com.If you are black and atheist, do you feel comfortable sharing your disbelief in God with friends and family?
Many black nonbelievers do not. The New York Times reports that, while most black Americans overwhelmingly believe in God to some degree, those who do not find it nearly impossible to discuss their beliefs with loved ones.
SEE ALSO: Michele Bachmann Disappointed With NBC Apology For Roots Song On Jimmy ‘Late Night’
RONNELLE ADAMS came out to his mother twice, first about his homosexuality, then about his atheism. “My mother is very devout,” said Mr. Adams, 30, a Washington resident who has published an atheist children’s book, “Aching and Praying,” but who in high school considered becoming a Baptist preacher. “She started telling me her issues with homosexuality, which were, of course, Biblical,” he said. “ ‘I just don’t care what the Bible says about that,’ I told her, and she asked why. ‘I don’t believe that stuff anymore.’ It got silent. She was distraught. She told me she was more bothered by that than the revelation I was gay.”
Another black atheist says to be black and not believe in God is something of an oxymoron.
Jamila Bey, a 35-year-old journalist, said, “To be black and atheist, in a lot of circles, is to not be black.” She said the story the nation tells of African-Americans’ struggle for civil rights is a Christian one, so African-Americans who reject religion are seen as turning their backs on their history.
What do you think? Is hard being black and not believing in God in America?
See the full story at The New York Times
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SEE ALSO: Beijing Eyes Tibetan Buddhist Resurgence
Also On News One:Bruce’s punishment is a particularly vivid example of what can result when fear of gang activity in schools collides with the contentious policy known as “zero tolerance”—a term describing school rules that favor suspensions and expulsions, even in the case of minor infractions.
Zero tolerance stems from the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994, which mandated that schools expel students found with firearms or face losing federal funding. The law was originally passed to respond to an increase in gun violence in schools. With the help of this policy, the number of high school students suspended or expelled during a school year has increased by around 40 percent in the past four decades. Ninety-five percent of suspensions are for nonviolent misbehavior, according to federal government figures.
Zero tolerance’s effectiveness has been hotly debated. Defenders say it’s the best way to ensure safety and maintain an environment free of distractions; critics deride it as “zero intelligence,” claiming that it’s counterproductive and breeds racial profiling. Some states, like Maryland, have been re-evaluating their disciplinary policies to address these criticisms. In January, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urged educators to rethink zero tolerance policies, advocating “locally-tailored approaches” instead of knee-jerk punishment. Exclusionary discipline is “applied disproportionately to children of color,” Duncan said. “Educationally, and morally, that status quo is simply unacceptable.”
Duncan has numbers to back up his claim. The federal government found that of 3 million children suspended or expelled during the 2010-11 school year, the overwhelming majority — 7 out of 10 — were black, Latino or kids with disabilities.
This echoes independent studies, like a 2013 report by the University of California at Los Angeles Civil Rights Project, which found that one in four African-American students in secondary schools was suspended at least once in the 2009-10 academic year, compared to one in 16 white students.
“When the evidence is there at every single [disciplinary] level, then clearly you have a problem,” said Meg Clifford, a researcher at the University of Texas’ William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law.
Perhaps nothing illustrates this apparent bias better than accusations of gang activity, which can be notoriously hard to prove, as they rest on evaluations of clothing colors, accessories and hand signals often outlined in school gang policies.
“They figured I was a gang member because of my color.”
Such evaluations can easily turn into controversy. In January, a mostly-white Wisconsin school district made headlines when officials suspended two black basketball players for using hand gestures that “looked like” gang signs (the suspension was eventually overturned following a media avalanche). This fall, a teen in a Houston suburb who was expelled for gang activity claimed a police officer “tricked” him into making hang signals.
Even Mississippi’s DeSoto County, which encompasses Olive Branch High School, has been embroiled in this kind of maelstrom before—in 2009, the ACLU sued the district after school authorities searched a middle-school honor student’s cell phone and expelled him after discovering photos of “gang-related activity,” or, according to the student, selfies he took while dancing in his bathroom. The DeSoto County superintendent’s office declined comment on the specifics of both this case and Bruce’s case, saying it could not discuss students. (The district did, however, deny that Bruce had been out of school since February 3. “When you say this person has been out for this long, that’s all rumor,” said a representative at the district office on February 21.)
Deborah Fowler, deputy director of Texas Appleseed, works to break down the "school-to-prison pipeline”—the idea that exclusionary punishment, sometimes for minor incidents, can often lead students down a spiral ending in jail. "It becomes a matter of the wrong clothes or the wrong shoes or even shoelaces,” she said. “The behavior is really subjectively interpreted.”
When the evidence is so subjective—when a supposed moment of pride in a football jersey can become grounds for expulsion—it has the potential to inflame an entire community. Within a week of Bruce’s indefinite suspension, a Facebook page cropped up calling for Bruce to return to school; it eventually got more than 2,300 “likes.” Bruce’s family contacted the ACLU and the DeSoto County branch of the NAACP. In solidarity, a racially diverse group of 21 other students, including Bruce’s older brother, posed with the same “3” hand gesture and subsequently got suspended, too. Hightower was “missing work, not sleeping, not eating,” being bounced between emails, phone calls, and meetings at the school, in order to get Bruce reinstated, she said.
If you ask Bruce’s stepfather, Marcus Guy, a white student would have been doled out little more than a warning. “I was born and raised here, graduated from Olive Branch, and I’m telling you: they would have done nothing,” he said.
Bruce is a noticeably shy, soft-spoken, polite teenager, mostly giving two-word answers to questions: “No, ma’am.” “Yes ma’am.” But when asked about race, he was very explicit: “They figured I was a gang member because of my color.”
When asked whether white students and non-white students are treated differently, associate superintendent Keith Williams, who is black, said in an interview that the administration “strive[s] to be consistent and equitable in enforcing our policies…whether that be based on gender or ethnicity.”JOE Ingles’ standout performances for the Boomers at the FIBA World Cup could result in a stunning NBA call-up.
ESPN is among the US media outlets reporting Ingles is on the verge of becoming the eighth Australia to play in the NBA this season.
Ingles could join a record Australian contingent in the world’s premier basketball competition, consisting of Andrew Bogut (Golden State Warriors), Patty Mills (San Antonio Spurs), Dante Exum (Utah Jazz), Cameron Bairstow (Chicago Bulls), Matthew Dellavedova (Cleveland Cavaliers), Brock Motum (Utah Jazz) and Aron Baynes (San Antonio Spurs, free agent).
Australia's guard Joe Ingles in action against Korea. Source: AFP
The Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies are among the franchises being linked to Ingles.
“According to NBA front-office sources, Ingles has emerged as a virtual lock to land in the league this coming season — likely on a guaranteed deal — on the strength of his strong play here at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup,” wrote Marc Stein of ESPN.
“Ingles impressed at the 2012 London Olympics as well but, at 26, is still waiting to make his NBA breakthrough. He played at Maccabi Tel Aviv last season for new Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt but is currently u nattached after an underwhelming season in Israel.
“But Ingles has been an impact player back on the world stage, leading the Aussies with 18 points Tuesday in an important 82-75 triumph over Lithuania.”
Australia's guard Joe Ingles jumps to score. Source: AFP
Jeremy Woo, writing for Sports Illustrated, rated Ingles among the six international players at the FIBA World Cup most likely to be pick up by an NBA team.
“After spending time with Golden State in the 2009 and 2010 NBA Summer Leagues, Ingles is back on NBA radars once again,” Woo wrote.
“Versatile at 6-foot-8 with ball-handling skills, the left-handed perimeter expert led the Boomers in PER through three games and is averaging 15.7 points, shooting 5-of-8 from deep. Ingles posted 18 points in a key victory over Lithuania and will continue to figure prominently for Australia (2-1) the rest of the way.
“He’s got experience with two of Europe’s top teams, Barcelona and Maccabi Tel-Aviv (where he played under Cleveland head coach David Blatt last year), and looks likely to find a contract in the U.S. sooner than later.”
Australia's guard Joe Ingles in action. Source: AFP
Dan Feldman, writing for NBC’s website, said 76ers head coach Brett Brown — who formerly headed up the Boomers — said Ingles could make a good fit in Philadephia.
“Brett Brown previously coached the Australian national team, so he’s familiar with Ingles,” Felman wrote.
“The 26-year-old wing is young enough to fit Philadelphia’s win-later timeline, but to get him on the team the 76ers must sign him. They can’t stash him like Dario Saric, whom they drafted.
“Ingles, 6-foot-8, has nice size and a quality shooting stroke, but I doubt he’s good enough to immediately disrupt Philadelphia’s tanking. With plenty of cap space to burn, luring Ingles might be a good use of it.”WASHINGTON/ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - The U.S. Republican Party on Sunday confronted its biggest crisis in more than 40 years when its presidential nominee, Donald Trump, faced a storm over sexually aggressive comments he made about women in a newly uncovered 2005 video.
Only a month before the Nov. 8 election and on a day when Trump was due to debate Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump took to social media to squelch any speculation that he would leave the race.
“Tremendous support (except for some Republican leadership”). Thank you,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Then in a last-minute surprise in St. Louis, host city for the town-hall debate, Trump called journalists into a hotel room to witness a meeting he held with four women who revived accusations of past sexual misdeeds by Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton.
The party turmoil recalled past party crises, including the Watergate scandal that led to Republican President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
A businessman-turned-politician previously best known to Americans as a reality TV show host, Trump, 70, faced his latest crisis when on Friday the 2005 video emerged in which he was heard talking on an open microphone about groping women and trying to seduce a married woman. The video was taped only months after Trump married his third wife, Melania.
The controversy pitched Trump, 70, into the biggest crisis of his 16-month-old campaign and deepened fissures between him and establishment Republicans. On Sunday, he struck a defiant tone in the face of calls for him to abandon the race.
A source close to the campaign of Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, dismissed talk among some political analysts the Indiana governor might bolt the ticket in the uproar over Trump’s comments.
“Absolutely not,” the source told Reuters.
At a Democratic campaign event in Chicago, President Barack Obama weighed in on the controversy, saying Trump had been degrading not only to women, but to minorities, immigrants, people of other faiths, and the disabled.
Obama said that “tells you he is insecure.”
“He pumps himself up by putting other people down,” Obama said.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump waves to supporters outside the front door of Trump Tower where he lives in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., October 8, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar
SUPPORT WOBBLING
With Republican Party leaders in crisis mode and doubts emerging over Trump’s ability to draw support from crucial undecided voters, there were nonetheless some early signs many of his core supporters would remain loyal.
A public opinion poll by POLITICO/Morning Consult, taken just after news broke of the video, found 39 percent of voters thought Trump should withdraw, and 45 percent said he should stay. Of those who said Trump should leave, only 12 percent identified themselves as Republicans.
As of Sunday afternoon, at least 160 of the United States’ 332 sitting Republican governors, senators and House of Representatives members had condemned Trump’s remarks, according to a Reuters review of official statements and local news coverage.
At least 30 had called for him to withdraw from the race and three other officeholders said he should consider doing so. Eight of those said they were withdrawing their endorsement as well.
Those facing a difficult re-election were more likely to speak out. All but six of the 40 Republican officeholders whose races are considered competitive had condemned Trump’s comments on the video, although only three members of that group called for him to drop out.
Any attempt to replace Trump on the ballot would face huge legal and logistical hurdles.
The Trump campaign was battling back, circulating “talking points” to a core of high-profile Republicans who promote Trump in the news media. The points sought to undermine establishment Republicans who have abandoned Trump.
“They are more concerned with their political future than they are about the future of the country,” said a copy of the talking points, described to Reuters by two sources close to the campaign.
A real estate developer making his first run at public office, Trump has made his battle against the establishment a central campaign theme.
“Phones have been blowing up for the past 24 hours,” said a prominent Republican political operative in Washington, referring to a heavy volume of calls among party officials and Republican members of Congress.
DOWN-BALLOT RACES
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The operative, who did not want to be identified, said Trump’s troubles could steer campaign donations away from him and to Republican candidates for Congress and other down-ballot offices.
The source said Trump could help himself most during the presidential debate - the second of three before the election - if he addressed the video and an Oct. 1 New York Times report that he took so substantial a tax deduction on a declared $916 million loss in 1995 that he could legally have avoided paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.
Despite having recovered from a string of setbacks, Trump had an uphill battle to win the White House. Before the video surfaced, a Reuters/Ipsos poll had Clinton leading by 5 points on Friday. The question now is whether Trump’s quest for the presidency has been dealt a lethal blow.U.S. stock benchmarks on Tuesday staged a recovery from heavy selling earlier in the session that came after a North Korean missile test over Japanese airspace rattled investors and sent Wall Street trawling for assets perceived as safe.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.28% rose 56.97 points, or 0.3%, to close at 21,865.37. Blue chips had been off by as much as 135 points, or 0.6%, at its session low. A rise by shares of Boeing Co. BA, +2.03% and United Technologies Corp. UTX, -0.23% helped power the rebound.
The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.05% ticked 2.06 points, or 0.1%, higher to 2,446.30. The broad-market gauge had been down by about 16 points, or 0.7%, at its low.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.07% advanced 18.87 points, or 0.3%, to close at 6,301.89.
U.S. equity futures sold off late Monday, after North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan, seen as another direct provocation that could destabilize the region, but staged a turnaround in late-afternoon trade.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the missile test an “unprecedented, grave and serious threat that seriously damages peace and security in the region.” President Donald Trump has previously said the U.S. would react with “fire and fury” if Pyongyang stepped up threats against the U.S. and its allies. On Tuesday morning, he said that “all options are on the table” following the North Korean missile launch.
Some traders told MarketWatch that the “measured” statement by Trump and the rest of the global community so far has provided a modicum of comfort to investors. “The response around the world, it was measured as of now, and I think it was probably helpful to the market,” said Mark Kepner, managing director of sales and trading at Themis Trading.
Kepner said the market wasn’t being dismissive of the latest military threat out of Pyongyang but said seasonally low volumes for the summer also make equity benchmarks more prone to swings.
“North Korea is drawing another line in the sand, a little further out than the last line. This has real psychological ramifications for the markets; this might not end in a pretty fashion,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group.
Kristina Hooper, global market strategist at Invesco, said: “There’s some level of optimism in the market.” Hooper said there is hope that the tragedy playing out in the Houston area in the fallout of Hurricane Harvey will be used to establish common ground amid the tense relationship between Trump and congressional leaders on budget negotiations and the debt ceiling.
A lot will depend on the “ability of Congress and the president to find some common ground borne of their concern for victims of Hurricane Harvey,” Hooper said.
The up-and-down trading action comes at a time when major U.S. stock-market indexes are solidly higher for the year, and trading near record levels. The S&P is up more than 9% in 2017, and is less than 2 percentage points off all-time highs. Beyond geopolitical concerns, investors have also been worried about Wall Street valuations.
Read: Overseas stocks are still where the bargains are for U.S. investors
“Valuation is rarely the only factor behind a market selloff, but it can exacerbate a market downturn when other factors are present,” Ghriskey said. “We’re not concerned about the market at these levels, but the Korea situation could get out of hand, which is the last thing anyone wants from a human or a market perspective.”
Gold futures US:GCZ7 rose $3.60, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,318.90 an ounce, marking its highest settlement value since Sept. 29, but the contract ended off its highest levels. In other haven trading, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes TMUBMUSD10Y, -0.41% fell 2.7 basis points to 2.13%, off its lows of the session.
See also: Gold’s 2016 peak now looks easy to reach after the metal’s big breakout
Stocks in Europe and Asia were also hit, with most benchmarks mired in red. Stocks in Europe suffered the biggest fall, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.28% closing down 1%.
Meanwhile, the ICE Dollar Index DXY, -0.02% was flat at 92.24, coming off its lowest level since January 2015. The greenback recovered after an early downturn against the Japanese yen, trading at ¥109.42, compared with ¥109.26 late Monday in New York.
Read: Will Japanese yen remain a haven amid North Korea tensions?
The dollar was trading flat amid uncertainty over Hurricane Harvey’s impact on the U.S. economy and future Federal Reserve rate decisions. The storm system is expected to make landfall again this week and add another 20 inches of rain, for an total of 50 inches in the Houston area.
Insurance companies were hurt by the storm, and the full extent of damage is still unknown. The SPDR S&P Insurance ETF KIE, +0.06% fell 0.5%, while the iShares U.S. Insurance ETF IAK, -0.15% ended off 0.4%. The PowerShares KBW Property & Casualty Insurance Portfolio KBWP, -0.19% finished 0.2% lower on the day. All three are down more than 1% thus far this week.
Read Caroline Baum: No, hurricanes aren’t good for the economy
And see: Hurricane Harvey highlights biggest impact of shale-oil revolution
Gasoline prices jumped for a second day on Tuesday, with the September contract US:RBU7 rising 7.1 cents, or 4.2%, to $1.783 a gallon, the highest close for a front-month contract since July 31, 2015.
Stock movers: Shares of oil refiners were among biggest movers Tuesday, with trade volatile following the fallout from Harvey. The storm is estimated to have reduced refining capacity along the Texas Gulf Coast by more than 2 million barrels a day, which could ultimately help to lift margins, analysts said.
Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corp. MPC, -1.84% were down 2.1%, and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. APC, -0.40% lost 1.4%. The overall energy sector XLE, +0.38% was 0.1% lower as one of the biggest decliners of the day.
Acorda Therapeutics Inc. ACOR, +1.79% plunged 46% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected the company’s application for a drug to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
J. Jill Inc. JILL, +1.87% tumbled about 16% after it reported its second-quarter results and gave an outlook, the midpoint of which was below analyst consensus expectations.
Shares of Finish Line Inc. US:FINL tumbled by 18.4% after the athletics-wear company late Monday issued a profit warning and approved a plan aimed at blocking any individual stockholder from owning more than 12.5% of the shares outstanding.
Best Buy Co Inc. BBY, +14.11% sank 12% despite reporting earnings that beat forecasts.
Economic news: The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index rose a seasonally adjusted 5.7% in the three-month period ending in June, compared with a year ago, the same rate of change as in May.
Consumer confidence strengthened in August, and remains just below a 16-year high. The modest recovery in stocks followed the release of the data.
—Sara Sjolin contributed to this article
Providing critical information for the U.S. trading day. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Need to Know newsletter. Sign up here.Sheila Bair isn’t one to hold her tongue. As chair of the FDIC, she warned Bush that the housing bubble was about the burst and Obama that his recovery efforts wouldn’t be enough to mop up the mess afterward. Now the former banking regulator believes that there’s another bubble on the horizon — one that the government itself is fueling.
(Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)
Bair argues the Fed’s low rates have fueled irrational exuberance in the bond market:
[Y]ield-hungry investors are taking on more and more risk. Pension managers are investing in hedge funds, and gullible investors are buying up junk bonds. Meanwhile, low-yielding assets pile up on the balance sheets of more risk-averse banks. If interest rates suddenly spike, bankers may find that the paltry returns on their loans are insufficient to cover interest |
ies and in fact it is my son Elton who has set up this sight for me on the Angelfire internet for his Christmas present to me. I daren't ask what it must have cost him! Elton is a postman at the moment and has done very well in the run-up to Christmas. He has not said anything himself but I think they might soon promote him to a captain in the post force for doing so well, which would be one in the eye for all those people at the schools he was sent to who were prejudiced because of nothing more than the colour of his skin and the way he spoke and behaved and what he'd done to hardly any people at all because they were disrespectful and called him a "black b------" when he is in fact mixed race and is only technically a b------. Elton only did what anybody would have done, well perhaps not everybody but at least some people, probably a lot of people if you count people back in history and in other countries only of course they wouldn't have done it with a mobile phone if that indeed is what Elton indeed did and not just something that the so-called Babylon police and so-called Babylon doctors and Babylon anaesthetists at the emergency room said that he'd indeed done! Anyway, to return to Nicky Matchbright and Mr. Sexy Eyes Frank Metterton, I have been a fan of theirs since I was a little girl and saw them on Trubshaw's Origami Frying Pan. Plus Elton is very fussy about hygiene so I should of thought that's the last thing he'd do! I know that its every girl's dream but when I was fifteen I actually met Nicky Matchbright and Frank Metterton. It was the summer of 1973 and I will always remember it, it was an important part of my growing up and I couldn't of believed that what was happening to me was really happening if you know what I mean? In actual fact I know you won't believe this but I had got a ticket to the show on that fateful Saturday night and if it wasn't for a stupid accident with my taxi I would of been in there with them! I stood in the car park and I saw all the fire it was terrible, I was in a right state and I remember there was this policeman there and he wasn't much older than me and he was as frightened as I was! In the lounge you could hear on the jukebox it was the Vince Shannon song, At Night When You're Asleep and it went horrible when it melted. But do you know when I went home that night and cried myself to sleep as you can imagine and Frank and Nick came to me in a wonderful dream, I think Nick was there too and Frank told me jokes that were so funny I woke myself up laughing and somehow I knew that it would all be alright. The jokes were only funny in the dream by the way and when I woke up they were just rubbish but if you had been there in my dream believe me you would of laughed too. The only one I can remember is how demons are long winded. It was something like "Why can you keep a demon in a triangle, because they can never get to the point!" which as I say isn't funny told like that but if you could have heard in my dream how Frank told it you would of screamed. I like to think it was Frank's way of telling me that I should carry on his memory and of course Nicky's although who could forget a face like that, and that I should keep giving the gift of comedy to people, not just by buying them Matchbright and Metterton things for Christmas as I do with Elton but in other ways as well and that is why I am doing this net sight. What else can I tell you about myself, well I am a successful lady's hairdresser with my own shop and am still what you would call good looking and I love Matchbright and Metterton it goes without saying! My favourite three sketches in order of comedy goodness are The Trick Cyclist, Robot Tramp and either "I Once Had a Talking Leg" or "Jesuit Moths" or "Edith Sitwell is Alec Douglas Home dressed up". Or the one where they were dressed as worms in a coffin or "Laurence of Arabia" obviously, there are so many it is impossible to decide! I hope that you share my love of the great M and M and that you'll join me because together we could change the world so that there was more Matchbright and Metterton for everybody to enjoy. I dare say I will write some more of this in a day or two I am so excited! You will have to watch out for me or else I'll start getting on your nerves with all my Matchbright and Metterton chatter (only joking – I hope!)! Wishing everybody a happy Matchbright Christmas and a Metterton new year, lots of love from your new friend Elizabeth (Betty) Carnaby Lady's HairdresserCould Jason Kreis be the man to lead New York City FC in the club's MLS debut?
That's their hope, according to a report posted on SI.com on Thursday afternoon.
Kreis, who has been at the helm of Real Salt Lake since 2007 is in the last year of his contract with the club and has yet to put pen to paper on a renewal.
According to the report, NYCFC extended an offer to Kreis earlier this week and received permission from RSL to speak to the coach, who flew to England earlier this month to speak to NYCFC and Manchester City leadership.
RSL, however, reportedly remain intent on keeping Kreis, who has overseen an extended run of success that includes an MLS Cup 2009 win and a run to the final of the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League.
"We are aware of inquiries made as to the future availability of head coach Jason Kreis," RSL spokesman Trey Fitz-Gerald told SI.com and confirmed to MLSsoccer.com. "He is obviously an attractive candidate. Our ongoing conversations with him regarding his long-term future continue to be positive and productive."
New York City FC, for their part, would not confirm if an offer had been made for Kreis. "No decision has been made about the head coach position," a team spokesperson told SI.com and confirmed to MLSsoccer.com.
NYCFC is a joint venture between Manchester CIty FC and Major League Baseball's New York Yankees, were announced earlier this year as the league's 20th team, and will begin play in 2015. They have started putting together a front office staff, making former US international Claudio Reyna their director of football and hiring former Rutgers athletics director Tim Pernetti as their chief business officer earlier this month.
Reyna did say in his introductory press conference in May that no coaching decision would be made in 2013, but Kreis' availability may push that timetable forward.All direct taxes were abolished in 1974; the DPRK thus became the first country in the world to abolish income taxes collected from its citizens. As a result, the population is dependent on the government for many services. The government collects a percentage (turnover tax) on all transactions between producers and state marketing agencies. Fees are charged to farmers for seeds, fertilizer, irrigation water, and equipment. Consumers pay a tax for the use of water and certain other household amenities. The tax on collective farms is 15% of the harvest, paid in kind. Refugees from North Korea report that a similar in-kind tax was being assessed on the private plots that proliferated during the 1990s, but there is no official confirmation of this assessment.
All foreign-invested enterprises are subject to income, property, turnover, and local taxes. In the four special economic zones established by the government, one in 1991 and three in 2002, the tax on profits for most enterprises is set at 14%; for enterprises involving high technology, infrastructure construction, or light industry, the tax rate is 10%. Resident aliens in the DPRK must pay personal income taxes; the rate varies from 4% to a top rate of 20%.Duquesne is a Catholic University in Pittsburgh with nearly 10,000 students. The school’s adjunct professors would like to unionize. Conveniently, Duquesne does not believe Jesus would be in favor of that.
Adjunct professors across America tend to be poorly paid with little job security. Unionizing is one of the few things they can do to try to improve their tenuous positions. As Colleen Flaherty details in an excellent Inside Higher Ed story today, Duquesne’s adjuncts have spent several years trying to gain recognition as a union, being opposed by the university the entire time. Currently, Duquesne is trying to convince the National Labor Relations Board that it should be allowed to block the union based on the school’s religious affiliation. As if that is not bad enough conceptually, the school also argues in a recent filing (first reported by In These Times) that it should be allowed to fire two adjuncts who have been actively trying to organize the union.
Inside Higher Ed explains the menace contained in a single footnote of Duquesne’s argument:
Then comes the alleged threat: “Regardless, today Duquesne reserves the right not to rehire both professors and replace them with professors willing and/or better able to incorporate Duquesne’s Catholic, Spiritan mission into their courses.” The note goes on to say that if [history of science professor Adam] Davis, for example, “improperly denigrated the sacrament of the Eucharist” because his textbook mentions transubstantiation (which it does), “Duquesne would have the right to take adverse action.”
To be clear: Duquesne is arguing that is poorly paid adjunct professors should not be allowed to form a union in part because such a union might impede the school’s ability to fire a history of science professor for teaching un-Catholic science.
Deuteronomy 24:14 says, “Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy.” Jesus added, in a footnote, “But please do anything to prevent poor and needy hired workers from organizing for their collective good, because the most important thing is maintaining a sufficient budget for the Duquesne men’s basketball team.”
[Photo of a guy who favored big powerful institutions over the poor: FB]The planned Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has over 50 members and has been designed to boost investment in areas such as transport and energy, similar to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
The decision comes after extensive discussions between the government, China and other key partners around the world, Hockey said.
The bank presented Australia “with great opportunities to work with our neighbours and largest trading partner to drive economic growth and jobs” he added.
“The AIIB will work closely with the private sector, paving the way for Australian businesses to take advantage of the growth in infrastructure in the region,” Hockey continued.
“The governance of the AIIB will be based on best practice, ensuring that all members will be directly involved in the direction and decision making of the bank in an open and transparent manner.
“We look forward to working with other members to lay the foundations for an effective new multilateral institution which is expected to be operational by the end of the year.”
The US and Japan have refused to join, however, warning that the AIIB could undermine existing multilateral institutions and governance standards.
In March, the UK announced that it was to become a founding member of the AIIB.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank, earlier this year, welcomed the creation of the Beijing-based infrastructure investment bank.The Federal Election Commission, which considered legal action against former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for joking about fundraising, won't punish Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid for admitting to violating an election law.
The reason: It's not worth the effort.
The agency voted 4-0 against pursuing action after FEC lawyers wrote a four-page memo that said Reid's fundraising committee admitted to failing to comply with an election law requirement, but that it wasn't worth the time or money to prosecute.
At issue was a fundraising memo Reid's team did for 2014 Nevada lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Lucy Flores. She lost in a landslide.
In the fundraising email, Reid did not include the required disclaimer that only federally compliant donations are allowed.
"The Reid Committee admits that the email, which was meant to facilitate low dollar contributions, did not inform recipients that Reid was soliciting only federally compliant funds," said the FEC memo.
Interestingly, the memo from the most powerful politician in the state delivered only 62 donations to Flores, now a House candidate. And that lack of effectiveness was also a reason given for no FEC action.
"It appears that the original solicitation, which did not inform recipients that Reid was only asking for contributions that complied with the Act, violated 52 U.S.C. § 30125(e)(1)(B). However, the contributions resulting from Reid's solicitation email appear to have been modest, and the Reid Committee attempted to remedy the violation by sending a follow-up email explaining that all contributions had to comply with the Act's limitations and source prohibitions. Thus, in furtherance of the Commission's priorities, relative to other matters pending on the Enforcement docket, and in light of the corrective actions taken by the Reid Committee and the modest amount in violation, the Office of General Counsel believes that the Commission should exercise its prosecutorial discretion and dismiss the violations as to Reid and his committee," said the FEC enforcement memo.
A critic of the agency noted that the case appears to show favoritism for Democrats. Some two months ago, Democrats on the FEC moved to punish Huckabee simply because of a joke in a speech urging donors to give him a million dollars. In that case the FEC lawyers said Huckabee was obviously joking, two of three Democrats on the commission voted to take legal action against the Republican.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.comArab mob smashes windshields of cars as frantic Jews make getaway. This is Jerusalem, 2013.
A video uploaded Wednesday shows a frenzied Arab mob targeting cars driven by Jews as they pass near Jerusalem's Damascus (Shechem) Gate.
The video was uploaded to the “Free Qudss” account on YouTube, and to a group by a similar name on Facebook.
The text at the start of the video reads: "Destroying the settlers cars and arrests", and claims to have been taken near Damascus Gate.
The account's operators and the videographers claim the events are from Tuesday evening, and that the identities of the attackers had been blurred out to protect them from being identified.
Scenes of mayhem like these are becoming increasingly frequent in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel.
Just this morning, Jewish residents of the Abu Tor neighbourhood woke up to find the tires of their cars slashed in an apparent attack by Arab extremists.
Some parts of Jerusalem have become virtually no-go areas for Jewish residents. The Mount of Olives for example, site of an ancient Jewish cemetery, has become a danger zone, with Jews afraid to approach their ancestors' graves.
This latest video comes less than a day after a Jewish man was stabbed in the same area of Jerusalem.
This widespread grassroots terror against Jews has gone mostly unreported elsewhere in the media, and is often reported exclusively on Arutz Sheva.An A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircrafts are seen in Hamat Air Base in Lebanon's mountains October 31, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim
HAMAT, Lebanon (Reuters) - The United States delivered two A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Lebanon’s army on Tuesday, a sign of continued U.S. support despite Israeli accusations that the Lebanese military is controlled by Hezbollah.
The planes will be used as armed observation aircraft, a security source in Lebanon said, and represent a big upgrade for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).
Earlier this month, U.S. ally Israel said Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim movement, had gained control over Lebanon’s conventional military, a charge the Lebanese army denies.
Hezbollah, which was designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department in 1997, last fought Israel in a war in 2006. Lebanon is formally in a state of war with Israel.
“The significant increase in LAF combat capability that this aircraft represents will ensure that the LAF will remain a national unifying force, a bulwark against extremism and terrorism,” said U.S. Ambassador Elizabeth Richard.
The Islamic State militant group held a pocket of land straddling Lebanon’s border with Syria until August.
Over the last decade, the U.S. government has invested over $1.5 billion in training and equipment, and has trained over 32,000 Lebanese troops, Richard said.
“We have recently announced another $120 million in foreign military financing, which brings the total investment in the LAF to over $160 million just this year,” she said. The United States will deliver another four Super Tucanos to Lebanon.
The two new aircraft - which have advanced combat and surveillance capabilities - will “make a qualitative leap in improving the aerial capabilities of the LAF,” said Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun.The official version of this content is in English. Some of the Citrix documentation content is machine translated for your convenience only. Citrix has no control over machine-translated content, which may contain errors, inaccuracies or unsuitable language. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, suitability, or correctness of any translations made from the English original into any other language, or that your Citrix product or service conforms to any machine translated content, and any warranty provided under the applicable end user license agreement or terms of service, or any other agreement with Citrix, that the product or service conforms with any documentation shall not apply to the extent that such documentation has been machine translated. Citrix will not be held responsible for any damage or issues that may arise from using machine-translated content.
THIS SERVICE MAY CONTAIN TRANSLATIONS POWERED BY GOOGLE. GOOGLE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATED TO THE TRANSLATIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.WAS THERE A C.I.A. CONSPIRACY TO DESTROY JONESTOWN? DISINFORMATION The rumors persist. For twenty years, rumors that no one can ever trace to the source, nor produce a single document, a single witness, a shred of evidence. "Jim Jones was C.I.A." "Jonestown was a C.I.A. mind control experiment." "Jonestown was MK Ultra." "The assassins from Jonestown were like Manchurian candidates." When rumors persist and persist and there is no basis, no evidence, no documents, no witnesses..... Does it get you wondering? Who planted the rumors out there? Have you ever been given even ONE source? As is detailed in "SNAKE DANCE: Unravelling the Mysteries of Jonestown," these stories were spread as part of an ongoing disinformation campaign. Why was such a campaign even needed? Both media and government had succeeded in claiming that "insane cult leader" covered this situation quite nicely. Why make anything up, when this story already served so well? There was just one serious loose end. Understand, the C.I.A. had a major problem regarding the assassination. Congressman Leo Ryan was so passionately anti-C.I.A., that his aides and family immediately thought that the C.I.A. had killed him. And as likely as not, they did. Yet the assassins were supposed to be from Jonestown, not the C.I.A. There was only one "solution." Turn Jim Jones into the C.I.A. No longer enough to methodically detach the monster from the real world, much less realpolitik, he must now be linked with the suspect intelligence agency. An agency Jim Jones would undoubtedly rather have had his eyes gouged out than join. Joseph Holsinger, a Ryan aide, was making noises to look into the C.I.A. So was Jackie Speier, the aide who accompanied the Congressman to Jonestown, who specifically suspected Richard Dwyer. Patricia Ryan, a Ryan daughter, became so enmeshed in the C.I.A. stories, that she turned into an anti-cult activist, sporting wild charges allegedly linking Jim Jones with the C.I.A. Disinformation hell was born, complete with Dracula Jones and demons of the deep. That the stories were devious, illogical, easily disproved, unimaginably "perfect," mattered not. People were vulnerable. They wanted answers. The disinformation stories hinged on two lies: 1) Jonestown was a violent place with a violent leader, who "ordered" the assassination as a logical extension of "hundreds of guns" and "hit squads"; 2) Whatever brave anti-C.I.A. crusader Leo Ryan had been against, Jim Jones was for. The tales about a violent place with a violent leader were based upon lies by defector Deborah Layton about "hundreds of guns" in Jonestown. In point of fact, both Guyanese and American authorities discovered all of thirty-nine small weapons at Jonestown, mostly.22 caliber – barely enough to defend 1,200 people against the natural hazards of the jungle. Peoples Temple had been historically non-violent for twenty-five years, including life at Jonestown. Its small smattering of weapons was only brought in after the community had already been attacked by mercenaries in September, 1977. The community was virtually defenseless. Yet the premise of violence was considered "already proven," in that both media and government went with the "Jim Jones ordered…" story straight down the line, evidence not even entering in. There was no need to "prove" what you have already persuaded the whole world to believe. The jungle was thousands of miles away. No one would touch disassembling the story with a ten-foot pole. Violent intent thus "proven," no one even NOTICED that NBC’s Bob Brown’s filming of the assassination on site at the airstrip, revealed a highly trained team of professional assassins, or questioned whether the attack was even within the capability of anyone living at Jonestown. The question now became merely, could this extremely violent, "brainwashed" group of people have been orchestrated by the C.I.A.? The shadowy disinformation mongerers concocted the perfect tale to personify "Yes." First, who was "the C.I.A. plant" within Jonestown? Well, that was charged to Philip Blakey, who "recruited mercenaries for the C.I.A. in the 1975 Angolan Civil War." Wow. It took me years to track down why, of all C.I.A. misdeeds, they chose that. It turns out that Leo Ryan’s original crusade against the C.I.A. was the expose, through newsman Daniel Schorr, of the C.I.A. recruiting mercenaries for the 1975 Angolan Civil War! As for Philip Blakey, he first came to Peoples Temple as a British teenager, to marry Deborah Layton. He was one of the first settlers at Jonestown, who ferried supplies up and down river. He was continually both visible and indispensable. This was a bizarre and preposterous choice of "C.I.A. plant," but his inaccessibility as a foreigner, his having been the former brother-in-law of Larry Layton (who went off as a lone vigilante with a gun), and his role as captain of the Temple boat (which was used to concoct completely baseless "rumors of the escape of Jim Jones") were undoubtedly factors that led to an otherwise arbitrary choice of Philip. It was also undoubtedly thought that if the Ryan family and aides were fed something as inflammatory as involvement in the 1975 Angolan Civil War, Leo Ryan’s first crusade, they would be so horrified, they would fall for it hook-line-and-sinker, and never look anywhere else. This proved true. The second "hook" into Ryan’s various anti-C.I.A. crusades, was the C.I.A.’s notorious MK Ultra project – a sinister mind control experiment. No one ever even noticed that the main source pushing this disinformation was the Cult Awareness Network, featuring Louis Jolyon West, long suspected to be in on the MK Ultra program!!! One only has to glance at the cover of SNAKE DANCE, a collage of smiling photos from Jonestown, to see how preposterous this disinformation was. There was never any evidence, much less proof for this charge, and had the newspapers only been willing to print the materials in RAVE REVIEWS, materials that all went through my own hands, the MK Ultra mess would never have taken hold. Yet the Ryan family wound up pressing a suit against the federal government with all those wild, false charges: Philip Blakey, MK Ultra, mind control experiment, "Manchurian candidates," and the like. Naturally, it was an impossible suit to press, its premises having been designed by dead-end specialists to go nowhere. THE REAL STORY Yet we are still left with a probing question: Was there a C.I.A. connection to Jonestown? Why, after all, would such false, convoluted stories be invented, were there not something at stake to protect? Within Peoples Temple, there was always suspicion of intelligence agency involvement in the high-powered campaign to destroy the church. Those suspicions may have indeed created "paranoia," but the bases for the suspicions were all too real: PLANTS, PROVOCATEURS, GOVERNMENT HANDLERS Up until the Spring of 1977, Peoples Temple was a church highly-acclaimed for humanitarian service. Then a fierce smear campaign burst on the scene, in the Murdoch and Hearst presses in San Francisco. It pursued the church relentlessly, with smears, innuendoes, insinuations, and unsubstantiated charges accusing the church of fraud, coercion, irregular notarizations, misuse of government funds, break-ins, intimidation, to implications of murder! All investigations that were whipped up were later dropped for lack of evidence. Every attempt to rebut the charges in the press was met with a refusal to print a word. These attacks were not launched by amateurs. No "disgruntled ex-member" had the resources, funding or connections to launch a relentless, one-sided campaign, which also included the foreign press, especially cities known to have large concentrations of Guyanese immigrants, like London and Toronto. Intensive lobbying campaigns in both Washington and Georgetown (the Guyanese capital) ensued. Who would have the power and clout to do this? The tiny but influential group had three components: disgruntled ex-members, without power, resources or funding; government plants in the group who later "defected"; non-member government-based "handlers." The smear campaign, first line of attack, was launched by a couple named Elmer and Deanna Mertle, who changed their names to Jeannie and Al Mills for publicity purposes. They were veterans of the far-right-wing John Birch Society, having claimed a political conversion to the left when they joined the church. It turned out that there was no "conversion" at all. It was discovered that they had been coordinating all along with a man named David Conn, who admitted to the Berkeley Barb in the Fall of 1977 that he had been "investigating Peoples Temple all the (six) years his friends the Mertles were members." David Conn also tried to bribe/blackmail Native American leader Dennis Banks into denouncing Jim Jones publicly, under threat of being extradited back to a South Dakota jail. Although Banks, a man with nineteen children, feared he could be killed in jail, he swore out an affidavit and went public with the tale. In his affidavit, he also swore that Conn had bragged of his ties with the Treasury Department. David Conn and his ex-wife Donna, had also bragged of "high priority Treasury Department numbers" in secretly taped conversations. Indeed, in just the second smear against Peoples Temple, the I.R.S. tax code was quote chapter and verse, as to what it would take to remove the federal tax exemption of a church. Their specific grievance was listed as political – that the church was secretly involved in politics. It is likely that the Mertle/Mills and Conn were F.B.I. agents, common enough for infiltrators of left-wing groups by J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO in the 60’s and early 70’s. Jim Jones was swiftly gaining a reputation as a political dissident, setting up Peoples Temple as a public forum for a whole host of leaders and causes on the left. But the Mills and Conn were only the kernel of a more menacing group of personnel. Joseph Mazor, whom the Temple discovered was an agent of Interpol, through a document authored by a known Interpol agent, Louis B. Sims, told the Berkeley Barb that it was he who hired the expensive P.R. firm of Russom, Lowry & Leeper, to launch the smear campaign against Peoples Temple, as confirmed with one of their account executives, Bob Kenney. Mazor refused to disclose his source of funding, but said that they were "not present not past members of Peoples Temple," i.e. an outside government source. Mazor had also been mysteriously granted a State investigator’s license (including bonding) in May, 1977, "just in time to investigate Peoples Temple," even though he sported a recent prison record for fraud and bogus checks. A letter from the State of California claimed that high-level recommendations had overridden their normal strictures against bonding a convicted forger. It was also Joseph Mazor who claimed to have led the mercenary raid into Jonestown in September, 1977, claiming that his original assignment had been to kidnap children and then "kill all the adults," i.e. mass extermination. Just days following the tragedy, Mazor was paraded across the t.v. screen, claiming that "It was considered that Jim Jones would become a major political force in the Caribbean within five years. " Was this his motive for involvement all along? And what of the known planned move to the then-Soviet Union? Would that have lessened the concerns? Undoubtedly not. But the key here is that these concerns were now international. Indeed, the concerns were very international, beyond the province of the F.B.I. and into the province of the C.I.A. In fact, this was turned into an international matter nearly as soon as it began. In the Fall of 1977, just a month or two after the original smear in Murdoch’s New West magazine, duplicate smears appeared in newspapers thousands of miles apart, in the Toronto Star, where there was known to be a large concentration of Guyanese immigrants, and in the New Times weekly in the Soviet Union, with the interest of discreditation in a camp we wanted as "friends." The headline of one was "Profits of a Prophet" and the other, "A Prophet Heads South With Profit," with the corresponding texts similar. This was an expression never used in any other press coverage. The articles appeared within two weeks of each other, and could not have originated from any standard U.S. news service. From there on in, scores of "dirty tricks" pursued Peoples Temple at every turn: anonymous threatening phone calls falsely blamed on the church, phony break-ins, even physical attacks on individuals. A reporter, Kathy Hunter, was lured to Guyana by a phony call claiming to be the Prime Minister, then when she arrived, she was taken in hand by one Pat Small, a woman thought to be C.I.A. by the Guyanese government. The rest was a series of bomb threats and fire alarms, disruptions of the Guyanese Parliament, and finally a government invitation to leave. All the press in the U.S. blamed Peoples Temple, although the church had nothing to do with it. The person coaching reporter Kathy Hunter through this entire fiasco was one Timothy O. Stoen. Stoen had been the church’s top attorney, strategist and close confidante and friend of Jim Jones. It was Stoen who appeared to be a classic agent provocateur, compliments of the U.S. government, during his years in Peoples Temple, pushing terrorist ideas as extreme as building bomb factories and poisoning the water supply of Washington, D.C. Thank God no one followed through. Stoen came to Peoples Temple claiming to be from the far left, but later information surfaced that he was really a far right wing ideologue who had run spying missions to East Berlin in the early sixties. Stoen was in a favored position in the church, had no personal grievance to force his departure, and no relatives left in the church. Yet upon leaving, he falsely claimed paternity of Jim Jones’ own son, John Victor, by his wife, Grace Stoen. Scores of people had known for years the truth of the child’s paternity, which had been repeatedly admitted and discussed by both Timothy and Grace Stoen. Stoen set up lobbying offices in Washington to push his false causes, and shuttled back and forth between Washington and Guyana. The source of his funding (being out of work, and having lived "communally" in Peoples Temple) has been undisclosed to this day, though Stoen was discovered to have secret accounts in countries where the church had never done any banking. Stoen’s false vendetta was pushed ferociously through the courts, and shortly after the Stoen’s attorney came to Guyana to file court papers, a mercenary raid on Jonestown ensued. Thereafter, Stoen lodged repeated mercenary threats, even being recorded in a Ukiah Daily Journal editorial, and the State Department log in Georgetown, Guyana. This documentation appears in "SNAKE DANCE." Just days before the tragedy at Jonestown, Stoen told a Temple member that he had "vowed to destroy Jonestown" and that he was "counting on Jim [Jones] to overreact." Stoen also used the false paternity claim to lure Congressman Leo Ryan to Jonestown, to his death. The Congressman’s aid had been secured as early as a whole year before the tragedy when, on November 18, 1977, Ryan unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. Justice Department to force the child’s return to the States. The Congressman arrived in Guyana long after the matter had already been decided in Jones’ favor in the Guyanese courts, yet he wrote the San Francisco Temple that he was indeed going to Jonestown to "retrieve Tim Stoen’s son." Stoen knew this was a "non-issue," cruelly pushed to destabilize Jim Jones personally, to justify military threats against a peaceful community, and to force the disbandment of Jonestown. Yet he augmented his campaign by soliciting false affidavits from two spiteful young women, Yulanda Crawford and Deborah Layton, to brand Jonestown as "a concentration camp" and provoke a Congressional investigation he knew he could not fairly win. This extreme, false, and dangerous vendetta went yet one step further. Why was it Leo Ryan who was targeted for the deadly mission overseas? Look at Ryan’s record. He was the most vocal anti-C.I.A. critic in the entire U.S. Congress at the time! Leo Ryan and the C.I.A. had an ongoing hatefest. There would have been no one more tempting for the C.I.A. to target for death than Congressman Ryan. AN UNSOLVED ASSASSINATION The killing of the Congressman at the airstrip had all the earmarks of a professional military hit. How do we know? The eyewitness journalists who wrote of the assassination described it as "silent, calm, brutal, carefully planned and mercilessly executed’" by well-trained killers. There were never any reliable eyewitness identifications of the assassins. The official government eyewitness, Jim Cobb, admitted to the press that he never even had the shooters in his line of vision! The final tape at Jonestown repeatedly denied any knowledge of the identity of the Congressman’s assassins, and probing further, it said of the people who brought the report from the airstrip, " They saw it happen, and ran into the bush…" In other words, the people from Jonestown were not the shooters, but witnesses. And given the layout of the airstrip, they would have been looking at the shooters’ backs, not their faces. To this day, the assassins have not been identified. Other complicating, unexplained factors involve that the shooters came from a second vehicle that had suddenly barrelled on in, and that dum-dum bullets were used in the assassination. The killers were so expert, that they easily disarmed Guyanese police on site, shot out the tires of the plane, and calmly walked through the wounded killing them. The film taken by an NBC newsman on site also survived. It shows a sophisticated military formation called a "diamond" perfectly and professionally executed. Jonestown was not a paramilitary camp in any way, shape or form. Contrary to the lies about "hundreds of guns," the authorities discovered only the thirty-nine small weapons in tragedy’s wake. There was no military training whatsoever in Jonestown. There was no capability to pull off this professional "hit. " So we must consider the most logical suspect for the killing of the Congressman: the C.I.A. MORE MURDERS Nor were these the only murders. In February, 1980, the notorious Mills announced publicly to a group of Marin College students, that they wanted OFF the anti-Temple circuit and were "anxious to build a normal life." A mere five days later, they were found dead in their Berkeley home. The police described the killings as "professional," using dum-dum bullets and leaving no traceable clues. There were no signs of forced entry or burglary, and the police surmised the killings were done by "someone they knew." These killings, and their highly suspicious timing, have remained unsolved to this day. Shortly later on, the Guyanese Ambassador to the United States, Laurence Mann, and his young wife Paula, a survivor from Jonestown, were found murdered, along with their infant child. Relatives who had seen him just the night before, said "nothing was wrong." Yet the murders were portrayed as a "murder/suicide" from distress over Jonestown. Ambassador Mann had never been a member of the Jonestown community at all. Why was this family really massacred? What did they know that could not come out? And who did these murders? This and other information surrounding the Jonestown Tragedy is so suspect and inflammatory, surely it is long overdue to investigate putting the blame for numerous deaths where it appears to belong: at the feet of the C.I.A. AFTERMATH AT JONESTOWN RAISES MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS The suicides at Jonestown were a psychologically complex and tragic episode, analyzed at length in another piece on this site, "Jonestown: The Human Story" (HUMAN STORY). There is no doubt that Jim Jones was destabilized, as well as gravely ill by the end, that he personally believed a military force would be closing in, and that most believed him when they took the plunge |
a series of columns that reveal a pattern. One inspector general after another faults the Obama administration for using suspect methodology to burnish its claims regarding job creation. At one point, Obama wanted to create a brand new $30-billion government program to grant loans to small business. The program was designed to be free of any oversight by inspectors general. This program had the potential to be a thirty-billion-dollar slush fund to channel taxpayer dollars to those people who are allies of the Obama administration.
This was not the first time the Obama team tried to elude oversight
Obama's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) threatened an inspector general for daring to tell Congress that the OMB was trying to slash his budget, crimping his ability to monitor spending and other actions by the OMB.
The administration fired Inspector General Gerald Walpin after he dared to report that Sacramento's mayor, a Democrat and personal friend of Barack Obama, had engaged in improper use of federal money.
From the Wall Street Journal :
A George W. Bush appointee, Mr. Walpin has since 2007 been the inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that oversees such subsidized volunteer programs as AmeriCorps. In April 2008 the Corporation asked Mr. Walpin to investigate reports of irregularities at St. HOPE, a California nonprofit run by former NBA star and Obama supporter Kevin Johnson. St. HOPE had received an $850,000 AmeriCorps grant, which was supposed to go for three purposes: tutoring for Sacramento-area students; the redevelopment of several buildings; and theater and art programs.
Mr. Walpin's investigators discovered that the money had been used instead to pad staff salaries, meddle politically in a school-board election, and have AmeriCorps members perform personal services for Mr. Johnson, including washing his car.
At the end of May, Mr. Walpin's office recommended that Mr. Johnson, an assistant and St. HOPE itself be "suspended" from receiving federal funds.
Recall Obama's taunt that if people brought a knife to a fight, he would bring a gun. In Walpin's case, he brought an axe -- since Walpin was fired from his job in the wake of his report on Johnson. But this was not enough punishment. Administration officials then went on the warpath as they heaped personal abuse on Walpin.
The war on the inspectors general continued. Maybe some inspectors generals did not get the memo that they were supposed to fall in line and ignore their professional obligations to taxpayers. Of course, the hypocrisy is palpable. Wasn't it Barack Obama who promised transparency in government?
Neil Barofsky, a Democrat, is the special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). He is another inspector general who found serious flaws behind administration claims. He thrashed the Treasury for relying on self-reporting by recipients of TARP money. He wrote that the bailout was falling short of many of its goals, like preserving home ownership and stimulating the economy. He also reported that the Treasury had switched accounting methods in order to promote the view that taxpayers would profit from the AIG bailout. One analyst depicted the Treasury's new accounting method as "Enron-style" accounting.
When companies switch accounting methods, a red flag is raised -- and short sellers of a public company's stock smell blood in the water. The funny business leads people to believe that officials are trying to present a false positive image regarding the business. Barofsky thought it was wrong and that the Treasury (Obama's Treasury) was failing.
What happened? I think we know the script by now. The administration heaped personal abuse on Barofsky.
Jen Psaki, who goes back to the Obama campaign, serves as the deputy communications director at the White House. And communicate she did.
On her blog, she attacked Barofsky :
Some people don't like movies with happy endings[.]... How else to explain this week's report by Sigtarp? Rather than focusing on the growing evidence we've seen in recent months that TARP will be far less costly than anyone expected, Sigtarp instead sought to generate a false controversy over AIG to try and grab a few, cheap headlines.
The name calling and vilification continue for seven more paragraphs.
Here, we have Obama's modus operandi regarding inspectors generals -- the taxpayers' best friends and the unsung heroes in government.
One after another, inspectors general have been reporting that Obama's stewardship of taxpayer money has failed and that the administration has been using funny numbers to bamboozle the public into believing that the programs are succeeding. When the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan, the administration retaliates. The strategy seems to be to stop the criticism -- and to prevent it from happening in the first place, since whistle-blowers will fear what may happen to them if they tell the truth. Welcome to Chicago politics writ large.
Darrell Issa, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has announced plans to investigate how the administration has spent our money. He has also expressed a desire to expand the powers of inspectors generals. Lord knows they will need the power to counter the machinations of Barack Obama and Company.BOSTON—With the genomes of Ötzi, the 5300-year-old iceman, and even Neandertals pouring out of DNA sequencing labs lately, you might think that it’s now a piece of cake to glean the entire genetic code of an ancient human. But it turns out that those studies used exceptionally pure samples of DNA taken from human bone, tooth, hair, or other tissue typically preserved in frozen soil, ice, or a chilly cave. More often, human remains found by scientists have been sitting in soil warm enough to harbor bacteria, which swamp out the human DNA with their genes and make it too costly to analyze. A clever new method for purifying ancient human DNA samples—reported here last week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics—could change that, however.
The average ancient DNA sample taken from, say, a human tooth or bone is often less than 1% short, degraded pieces of human DNA; the rest is bacterial DNA. Although scientists could sequence this gemisch, they would have to run the samples through their sequencing machines many times to zoom in on the human DNA portion, and it’s not worth the cost. Instead, researchers often prepare stretches of modern human DNA that roughly match the genes or sequences they’re interested in and use these so-called probes to filter the sample. (Modern and ancient human DNA are similar enough that the probes will stick to the ancient DNA.) But this is still expensive, and it reveals the sequence of only a subset of the genome.
A team at Stanford University has now come up with a better idea. Postdoctoral researcher Meredith Carpenter and others in the lab of Carlos Bustamante made their probes from RNA instead of DNA, which is “super cheap,” Bustamante says. They found a way to make enough RNA probes to cover the entire genome of an average modern human. The probe has a chemical group that sticks to special beads, so when the researchers mix the probes with an ancient DNA sample, they can wash away the nonhuman DNA. The final step is to use an RNA-chewing enzyme to get rid of the probes, leaving only pure ancient human DNA that can then be fed into a genome sequencing machine.
When the researchers tested this filtering method on a dozen ancient bone, teeth, and hair DNA samples from 500 to 3500 years old, they gleaned twofold to 13-fold more human genetic sequence from the samples than they could have by simply sequencing the mixture the same number of times. This higher resolution yielded new information about the samples. For instance, while previously they could only say that a more than 2500-year-old Bronze Age tooth from Bulgaria was European, they could now narrow its ethnic origin down to central or southern European. The team was also able to determine that a more than 500-year-old Peruvian mummy did not have European ancestry, as Spanish explorers claimed.
This new method will “substantially increase the number of samples amenable to whole genome sequencing,” said Bustamante in a talk at the conference. (The study also appeared online that day in The American Journal of Human Genetics. ) He and his colleagues are now trying it on ancient dog DNA to elucidate the domestication of dogs. They also think the approach might come in handy for modern-day forensic scientists dealing with bacteria-tainted human DNA samples, as well as for microbial genomics researchers who need to remove contaminant human DNA from a sample.
The method is “super exciting and very interesting,” said geneticist David Reich of Harvard University, who studies the Neandertal genome, at the meeting. He tells Science in an e-mail that there are Neandertal samples that have enough DNA to sequence, but it’s not worth it because they’re too contaminated by bacteria. “I think it remains to be seen whether the approach will become a practical method for whole genome sequencing of these difficult but important ancient DNA samples, but I think it is exciting that this is even conceivable.”Michael Smith is not used to stretching a paycheck. As recently as March 2015, the 42-year-old was earning nearly $100,000 a year as a district manager on oil fields for company based in Union City, Pa. Then oil prices dropped, and his company laid him off.
Smith, a father of four boys, now makes $12 an hour as an apprentice electrician. He is not a die-hard disciple, but voted for Donald Trump because he’s desperate for something new.
“Do I think Donald Trump is what this country needs and do I think he will make it great again? No,” Smith said. “Do I think he is a step in the right direction? Absolutely.”
It was not poor Americans who made the difference in this election; it was people like Smith. Trump soared among white voters who earn decent wages, but have seen their pay decline and jobs in their industries disappear over the past 15 years.
Some of those workers say they were responding in part to Trump’s repeated bashing of trade, and at the same time perceived Hillary Clinton as a poster child for the free-trade deals that her husband signed and President Obama tried to push through Congress.
“A lot of our members equated NAFTA to Hillary and Bill Clinton,” said Donnie Blatt, a coordinator with the United Steelworkers union in Ohio. “A lot of our members felt like they hated Hillary Clinton, they believed she caused the loss of all their jobs.”
But it will be almost impossible for Trump to fulfill his promise to bring back most of the assembly line gigs lost to globalization, economists say. The U.S. has moved toward advanced manufacturing, which employs highly educated people, and plants that once required manual labor are now manned by robots that work faster than people and cost less. U.S. factories are producing more than ever, with far fewer employees.
“The Democrats have no credibility with these people, and the trade issue brings it out more than anything,” said Dean Baker, the co-director of the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research. “Trump is making these promises, but they aren’t realistic. It isn’t like he has a plan to bring the jobs back, but he was out there saying it.”
It’s not surprising that trade issues resonated with some voters in vast swaths of the Midwest and Southeast.
Since 2000, American manufacturers wiped 5 million people off their payrolls, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Millions of those jobs went to China or Mexico, research suggests.
For context, it took more than three decades for 560,000 mining jobs to disappear, after reaching a peak of 1.2 million the early 1980s.
The shock of losing so many middle-class jobs so quickly hit hardest in the Rust Belt states, which were crucial to Trump’s victory. Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania had among the steepest cuts in assembly line jobs across the country since 2000.
Associated Press Workers install a grill on a truck at a General Motors plant in Flint, Mich. The company announced in August that it would cut 2,000 factory jobs in Michigan and Ohio in 2017. Workers install a grill on a truck at a General Motors plant in Flint, Mich. The company announced in August that it would cut 2,000 factory jobs in Michigan and Ohio in 2017. (Associated Press)
California cut the most manufacturing jobs of any state from 2000 to 2015, partly because its workforce is so huge. More than 576,000 Californians lost their jobs in factories over that period.
But the biggest losers after California were Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, which hemorrhaged a combined 1.2 million manufacturing jobs. That means that about a quarter of the total manufacturing job loss in the country since 2000 occurred in those four swing states.
Ohio and Pennsylvania voted for a Republican for the first time since at least 2004. Michigan hasn’t been called for Trump, but he is leading there.
The counties in those states where Clinton lost the largest number of voters compared with Obama in 2012 were also the counties that lost particularly large numbers of manufacturing jobs over the last 15 years, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
How much of the shift took place because of trade is hard to tell: The job losses mostly took place during the first decade of this century, but the states did not flip to vote for a Republican until this year. And many other issues were in play, including tensions over immigration, race and the presence of a woman on the Democratic ticket.
Still, trade and its impact on manufacturing jobs almost certainly played a role in boosting Trump’s prospects in the nation’s industrial belt.
“The real ones who are hurt [by trade] are centered, not coincidentally, in the swing states in this election,” said Peter Navarro, an economist from UC Irvine who has been a powerful voice on Trump’s economic advisory board.
“You go around the rim of the Midwest…those are the key states that have been ground zero of this problem,” Navarro said.
These workers were not necessarily scraping by — the average American with a factory gig made around $64,000 in 2015, BLS data show. But in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, pay for manufacturing employees has declined or remained relatively flat since 2000, after adjusting for inflation, even as it inched up in the country overall.
Ryan Germonto said that when he hears politicians talk dreamily about the economy today, he feels betrayed.
“Even if the progressives want to say we are progressing, we aren’t really progressing,” Germonto said.
The 32-year-old father of two used to make $55,000 inspecting gear boxes used in wind turbines for Eickhoff Wind Energy, in Pittsburgh. But the company stopped making the gear boxes in the U.S., and Germonto was laid off in November 2015.
Now he’s working at a job that barely pays his bills. He makes $40,000 per year as a site manager, overseeing the housekeeping staff at an upscale mall in Pittsburgh. He now has to pay $800 per month for healthcare coverage that cost him less than $250 at his old job.
“I’m sick of outsourcing jobs. I’m sick of the government taking the easy way out,” Germonto said. He voted for Trump because he believes the real estate mogul is “more for the people” than Clinton.Meet Umair. He took his shahadah in Brazil. He shares his transition from street life to Islam.
Umair says that everyone on the Street has faith, we just need to reach out to them to reform and accept Islam. He says his goal is to be steadfast in Islam and to invite others to Islam by doing dawah.
The Life of Streets
This Tattoo ‘Vida Gore’ is an old concept that we got from the streets… full of fight, blood, disease… so it means ‘life is government’.
Q: What type of life did you live before Islam?
A: I used to be a DJ and producer of BIOS, I was very addicted on drugs, I used to sell drugs and completely involved in crime.
You know, people who live in the streets always have faith. Because they’re living in danger day and night… You realize what’s happening around you.
Q: So now that you became Muslim, do you have peace in your life?
A: My lifestyle changed a lot. I don’t go more to clubs, I don’t drink beer, or use cocaine…
When you revert to Islam, you are reborn. This means enough. I feel free.
Q: What do you say about that feeling that you have? Don’t you wish that your friends could have it as well?
A: Yes. This is general principle of dawah. I want to show the same thing I feel with other people. I want to see more brothers and more sisters to know about Islam.
I noticed a lot of brothers and sisters come from the street life, you know, that ability to have that peace because in the streets you already haven’t that. You’re always worried, your mind is always clouded with different drugs and substances… but that feeling that you get when you know that you have your Lord who puts this peace inside your heart. Allah says in the Quran:
Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured. (13:28)
That you won’t find peace in any other way.Emails Donald Trump Jr. exchanged regarding a meeting with a Russian attorney offering the Trump campaign dirt on then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton may be leading investigators closer to President Donald Trump. According to a new report from ABC News, Congressional investigators reportedly want to question Rhona Graff, Trump's longtime personal secretary who has long been considered a gatekeeper to Trump.
As part of their probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign, investigators have zeroed in on a series of emails exchanged by Trump Jr. and music publicist Rob Goldstone in June last year. These emails have reportedly sparked investigators' interest in Graff, a woman many have called "Trump's right hand."
In the emails that Trump Jr. released July 11 on Twitter, Goldstone notes a Kremlin attorney has "offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary" and offers to set up a meeting between Trump Jr. and Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya.
"I can also send this info to your father via Rhona, but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first," Goldstone wrote in his first email to Trump Jr. He refers to the information as "obviously very high level and sensitive" and "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."
To be clear, it is not known whether Goldstone ever did reach out to Graff and she has not been accused of any wrongdoing. However, some congressional investigators have expressed a strong desire to speak with Graff to see if there is a possibility the president knew about Russia's efforts to aid his presidential campaign.
"The committee has cast and will continue to cast a wide net," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr told ABC News, refraining from confirming or denying reports about Graff. But Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee, Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, told ABC News they wanted to hear from everyone mentioned in Trump Jr.'s emails — including Graff.
According to ABC News, Graff has worked at Trump Tower for nearly 30 years. She is currently a senior vice president at the Trump Organization and, according to Politico, remains "a conduit for those who want to quietly offer advice, make personnel suggestions or get on the president's calendar when he's at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida" even though he's now working in (and through) the White House.Tokyo (CNN) The search was on for seven US sailors missing after an American warship and a merchant vessel collided off the coast of Japan, as US forces and Japanese authorities worked to figure out why the vessels struck each other.
The 10,000-ton guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald and the ACX Crystal, a 29,000-ton container ship flagged in the Philippines, collided early Saturday local time, officials said.
The destroyer suffered severe damage to its starboard side, while the container ship sustained light damage.
"This has been a difficult day," Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin, commander of the US 7th Fleet, said.
Forces overnight intensified their search for the missing sailors and tried to get a handle on the cause of a crash in a busy maritime zone crossed daily by 400 to 500 ships.
US and Japanese crafts scoured the spot where the collision happened, about 56 nautical miles southwest Yokosuka and 12 miles off the Izu Peninsula.
The missing sailors could be trapped in a damaged section of the destroyer, a statement from the 7th Fleet suggested.
"It remains uncertain how long it will take to gain access to the spaces once the ship is pier side... to methodically continue the search for the missing," the statement said.
President Donald Trump retweeted an update Saturday from the US 7th Fleet on the ship's status and the search-and-rescue mission, saying : "Thoughts and prayers with the sailors of USS Fitzgerald and their families. Thank you to our Japanese allies for their assistance."
A senior administration official told CNN that Trump "is closely monitoring the USS Fitzgerald and will continue getting updates on the situation there."
A 'difficult day' for the Navy
Naval commanders praised the sailors for containing flooding caused by the collision, stabilizing the ship and sailing it back to port at the US naval base in Yokosuka, where divers inspected its damage and developed a plan for repairs and inspection. The ship had left the base on Friday for routine operations.
"The collision affected Fitzgerald's forward starboard side above and below the water line, causing significant damage and associated flooding to two berthing spaces, a machinery space, and the radio room," the 7th Fleet's statement said.
The USS Fitzgerald heads to Yokosuka, home base of the 7th Fleet, beside a US tugboat, off Shimoda, Japan on Saturday.
A Navy official said the point of impact was where crucial communications equipment was located, knocking out ship-to-shore and other forms of communication on the ship and forcing the crew to revert to the use of satellite phones.
Fitzgerald's commander, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, was evacuated by a Japanese naval helicopter while US military copters evacuated two injured US sailors. All three were in stable condition at the US Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, said Cmdr. Ron Flanders, public affairs officer for US Naval Forces Japan.
It completed $21 million in upgrades and repairs in February and is forward-deployed to Yokosuka, supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, the service said.
No one hurt on merchant ship
The merchant vessel with which the Fitzgerald collided is the ACX Crystal, a container ship flagged in the Philippines, officials said.
It is chartered by Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and owned by Dainichi-Invest Corporation, NYK said.
A photo from shipping company NYK shows damage from the collision.
No one aboard the Crystal was hurt, and no oil spilled from the vessel, NYK said. It is back in port.
NYK and the ship's owner are cooperating a Japan Coast Guard investigation into the collision, the shipping firm said.
"Our thoughts and deep concerns go out to all those directly affected," NYK said.
The ship-tracking website marinetraffic.com shows the ship left the Japanese port of Nagoya on Friday evening. It was expected to dock at a Tokyo Bay port around 4:30 p.m. local time, officials said after the wreck.
Photos of the Crystal showed damage to its bow.
The ship, which handles general cargo, is manned by a captain and a crew of 20, NYK said. It was built in 2008 and is about 730 feet long.
Damage to the Philippine container ship ACX Crystal is seen after it collided with the USS Fitzgerald in the waters off Izu Peninsula, this photo released by Japan's coast guard shows.
Shipping zone can be precarious
The large size of the container ship -- it's almost three times as heavy as the Fitzgerald -- may have left the smaller US destroyer vulnerable in the collision, said Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center and a Hawaii Pacific University professor.
The last known fatal incident in the zone was in 2015, when a South Korean vessel and a Japanese container ship collided, Japan's coast guard reported. Six Japanese crew were declared dead.
In January, the USS Antietam ran aground while anchoring near Yokosuka.Image available under Creative Commons (c) Surreykraut
Blackburn. Wolves. Manchester City. Colwyn Bay. Frickley Athletic. Brackley Town.
It doesn’t take long for things to change in football — a few right decisions and you can be transformed from nowhere to become a star pupil, held up as an example to follow.
Swansea are the most obvious example, and in previous years Cardiff and Blackpool have enjoyed similar meteoric rises from bottom to top. Longer term, many of these clubs have ended up back where they started.
Carlisle and Swansea famously went from Fourth to First Division in the 1970s and came right back down again, whilst Plymouth, Portsmouth and Southend are now back in the basement division of the Football League following spells higher up.
None has fallen quite so far as my club, Stockport County, however. As we slipped out of the Conference National on Saturday, I was left to reflect on a fifth relegation in 11 years.
It occurred to me that every other club that has fallen multiple divisions in the last 20 years has done so at least in part because of points deductions. Whilst County did have points docked in 2008-9 because we went into administration, we already had enough in the bank that season to ensure we stayed up.
We are therefore the only club to have fallen so far just by being rubbish. On this basis, I can therefore claim to support the worst team in England.
Not a nice thought, especially when remembering the only other ex-Football League team to be relegated out of the Conference National was Scarborough, and they folded a year later.
Given where we are at, both on and off the field, maybe we could be heading the same way. Off the pitch, we have a board of directors whose idea of a ‘revolutionary’ offer is to raise prices despite the ever-decreasing quality on offer, a landlord whose rent takes up 40% of our annual revenue, and a disunited fan base, factionalised since our experiment with fan ownership ended with administration in 2009.
On the pitch we have witnessed the worst season in our history and now face the prospect of going part-time and it is getting to the stage where I could watch a comparable level of football down the local park. Some people have speculated over the possibility of merging with Woodley Sports, which, until recently, was where our reserves played.
I’d like, therefore, to say we have reached rock bottom, but this being Stockport County, I’m not sure that’s the case.
I don’t support County because I expect us to win trophies or win every game. I know that some seasons, it doesn’t go your way and you get relegated. That’s why, when the good times come, we savour them, because we know they will probably be short lived.
When things do go badly, though, I expect to see some leadership from the board and a signalling of how they intend to put it right. I also expect to see the players on the field trying their best — winning is in their interests too, after all.
This season I have seen neither, on or off the field. What I did not expect is to see us slip out of England’s professional leagues with a whimper, losing 0-4 in a game mainly distinguished for one of our fans running on to the pitch, arguing with our players and then punching the Kidderminster Harriers winger.
Like many other fans, I’ve become wearied by being let down by almost everyone, on and off the field – wearied, angry, punch-drunk and helpless. Like modern football more generally, I don’t like what I’m seeing but I’m powerless to change it — and that is what hurts most of all.
And yet, powerless and pained as I am…I am still proud. Proud of who we are and proud of where we’ve been. Proud of the friends I’ve made and the days we’ve shared. Proud of the people I’ve met and some of the players who I’ve seen pull on the blue and white.
Players like Alun Armstrong, who went on to score the winner for Ipswich away to Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup. Players like Ashley Williams, who has captained Wales. Anthony Pilkington, John Ruddy and Adam Le Fondre, who are in the Premier League now.
I’m even proud of the guy who ran on the pitch and punched their player on Saturday. He did completely the wrong thing and expressed himself in totally the wrong way — but at least he was actually doing something, instead of just standing idly by and watching our club die as it whirlpools in ever-decreasing circles.
With no supporters’ group in which to become involved, and the relationship between the board and fans at an all-time low, ‘depressed observer’ seems to be the lot of every County fan right now. Unless frustration can be turned into positive action — and not of the type displayed on Saturday — then we have no chance of making our club great again.
I have given the best years of my life to this club, and it has given me the best years of my life in return. Even now, when every home game feels like a funeral, and going feels like an expensive chore, I still can’t stop thinking about them every day.
I can’t stop caring, even though a large part of me really wants to — I would probably be happier and more productive without another Stockport County defeat ruining another Saturday or Tuesday evening. I’m too far in now, though.
When I’m stood at Oxford City next season, I’ll probably drift off and remember past games, past seasons. I’ll drift away to a time when we had a manager, players, a vision to believe in.
In these dark days, when all that seems to be left is the club name and a hardcore of disenfranchised, angry fans, these memories are a reminder of what was, and an inspiration for what could be again. It is still our club, our community.
What we are seeking is something we can believe in, something we can get behind, just like every other fan. If we can somehow find that, we might just be great again — in whatever division we find ourselves in.OAKLAND, Calif. -- Los Angeles Clippers players staged a silent protest against owner Donald Sterling before Sunday's playoff game, while coach Doc Rivers said he isn't sure what he would have to hear from Sterling to make him want to return next season.
"Don't know yet," Rivers said when asked if there were things he needed to hear from Sterling after an audio tape surfaced of Sterling allegedly making racist remarks to his girlfriend V. Stiviano. "I'm just going to leave it at that."
The Clippers gathered at center court before a 118-97 Game 4 loss in their first-round series against the Golden State Warriors and took off their Clippers warm-up shirts and left them there. They then warmed up wearing inside-out red shooting shirts that did not display the Clippers name or logo. During the game, players wore black arm or wrist bands and black socks.
River said he wasn't on-board with the black socks protest, but said he was aware of it and was fine with his players taking the stand.
"I knew about it. I didn't voice my opinion," Rivers said after the game. "I wasn't thrilled about it, to be honest. But if that's what they want to do, that's what they want to do."
During a 45-minute team meeting on Saturday, Clippers player voiced their anger about the tape and discussed various options of protest, including boycotting the game.
"[We] talked as a team about everything," Chris Paul told ESPN. "Tried to keep internal, everything we decided to do has been together as a team."
In the Clippers' locker room before the game, "We are one" was written on the dry-erase board, which was the message players and coaches talked about before taking the court.
"We're going to be one, everything we do, we do it together," Paul said. "Stay together, play ball, we worked hard to be where we are, can't imagine going through this with anyone leading us other than Doc."From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
Wobbuffet (Japanese: ソーナンス Sonans) is a Psychic-type Pokémon introduced in Generation II.
It evolves from Wynaut starting at level 15.
Biology
Wobbuffet is a tall, cyan Pokémon with a soft body. Its eyes usually appear scrunched, and it has a jagged upper lip. The female Wobbuffet has a red marking on its mouth that resembles lipstick, while the male does not. It has flat arms that are wider towards the tip and four stubby legs at the base of its body. There are two eyespots on its black tail. Wobbuffet is very protective of its tail, to the point where it will suddenly turn uncharacteristically aggressive if the tail is attacked.
Wobbuffet is usually a docile Pokémon that will never attack first. However, when it is attacked, it will inflate its body and initiate a counterstrike. When two or more of this Pokémon meet, they will attempt to outlast each other in a battle of endurance. However, since neither is able to attack, they may compete to see which can last without food. Because of its overprotective nature regarding its tail and hatred of light, Wobbuffet lives in dark caves.
In the anime
Major appearances
Jessie has a Wobbuffet that frequently emerges from his Poké Ball to shout his name or cause what Jessie considers to be trouble. He has appeared in almost every episode since she accidentally traded her Lickitung for him in Tricks of the Trade. She rarely uses Wobbuffet in battle, but when she does, the results are generally good. On the other hand, Jessie's few attempts at using Wobbuffet in Contests have all had negative results.
Wobbuffet was left at Team Rocket's headquarters prior to Jessie, James and Meowth's departure to the Unova region. He was later reunited with Jessie when the trio returned to Kanto, and he was the only one of Jessie's Pokémon to accompany her to the Kalos and Alola regions.
Female Wobbuffet in the anime
Other
Wobbu-Palooza! featured a town in which everyone owned a Wobbuffet, including the local Officer Jenny.
A female Wobbuffet appeared in A Fork in the Road! A Parting of the Ways!, under the ownership of Dr. White. She became the love interest of Jessie's Wobbuffet for the majority of the episode.
Minor appearances
A Mirror World Wobbuffet briefly appeared at the end in The Cave of Mirrors!, under the ownership of Mirror Jessie.
A Trainer's Wobbuffet appeared in A Festival Trade! A Festival Farewell?*.
Pokédex entries
Episode Pokémon Source Entry EP146 Wobbuffet Ash's Pokédex Wobbuffet, the Patient Pokémon. Wobbuffet like to live in dark areas so they can keep their pitch-black tails concealed. EP146 Wobbuffet James's book Wobbuffet, the Patient Pokémon. --- is unable to initiate attacks. This concludes the entries from the original series.
In the manga
In the Ash & Pikachu manga
Similar to the anime, Jessie owns a Wobbuffet.
In the movie adaptations
Jessie also owned a Wobbuffet in the movie adaptations.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Wobbuffet debuted in Absolutely Azumarill, under the ownership of Crystal's mother, Mirei.
A Wobbuffet appeared in The Last Battle XIII as one of the Pokémon sent to participate in the fight in Ilex Forest.
A Trainer's Wobbuffet appeared in The Final Dimensional Duel II.
In Out-Odding Oddish, a Wobbuffet appeared in the Pokéathlon.
In the Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All manga
A Monk was shown to have a Wobbuffet in GDZ67.
In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga
A Wobbuffet appeared in PMDP20.
In the TCG
In the TFG
One Wobbuffet figure has been released.
Other appearances
When released from a Poké Ball, Wobbuffet will stand on the stage in one place. Anyone attacking or running into it will be damaged by its Counter, apart from the player who threw the Poké Ball, who will only be knocked back.
Wobbuffet is also a Poké Float in Melee. It appears on its side and never fully reveals itself. When it first appears, it will quickly return off-screen but will then come back and remain to allow for fighting to take place on top of it.
Melee trophy information
A Patient Pokémon, Wobbuffet lives in darkness to hide its mismatched black tail. Even for a stoic Pokémon, this creature is a testament to self-control; it will not actively attack an opponent. Its Counter and Mirror Coat moves are solely used for reflecting attacks directly back at its antagonist.
Brawl trophy information
"A Patient Pokémon. A nocturnal, cave-dwelling creature, Wobbuffet is calm and collected, but it will fight back viciously if its black tail is attacked--this hints at something secretive about its tail. If Wobbuffet is put into battle, the opponent cannot run away or switch. Females have lipsticklike markings around their mouths."
Wobbuffet appears as a Spirit.
Game data
NPC appearances
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation II. Generation II Gold It hates light and shock. If attacked, it inflates its body to pump up its counterstrike. Silver To keep its pitch-black tail hidden, it lives quietly in the darkness. It is never first to attack. Crystal In order to conceal its black tail, it lives in a dark cave and only moves about at night. Stadium 2 It hates light and shock. If attacked, it inflates its body to pump up its counterstrike. Generation III Ruby If two or more Wobbuffet meet, they will turn competitive and try to outdo the other's endurance. However, they may try to see which one can endure the longest without food. Trainers need to beware of this habit. Sapphire Wobbuffet does nothing but endure attacks - it won't attack on its own. However, it won't endure an attack on its tail. When that happens, the Pokémon will |
wartime comfort women were not coerced into becoming sex slaves for the imperial army. In general, Abe’s government continues to play up nationalistic values and ideals. These comments and threats, besides expressing historical negationism, also threaten regional security. For the moment, however, Abe understands that economics trumps all other issues.
Abe’s decisive and ambitious agenda is popular on its own, and the LDP is benefiting from that in the polls. However, it also helps that the LDP faces an exceptionally weak opposition. The DPJ, which governed between 2009 and December 2012, was crushed at the polls and has yet to rebuild itself. The controversial Ichirō Ozawa, who had contributed to rebuilding the DPJ prior to 2009, left the DPJ in 2012 and his personality cult outfit found itself utterly decimated at the polls in December. Yet, the DPJ’s new leader – Banri Kaieda – is fairly close to Ozawa. In opposition, the DPJ has been unsure of what to do with Abenomics – it has criticized it, but offers no alternative. Its attempts to focus on the rejection of nuclear power, one of the only issues where there is a visible difference with the LDP, have proven unfruitful. Anti-nuclear sentiments aren’t strong enough to trump confidence in Abenomics.
The December 2012 election saw another party emerge, quite forcefully – the right-wing nationalist Japan Restoration Party (JRP). The JRP won 20.5% of the PR vote in 2012, coming ahead of the DPJ, and ended up with 54 seats overall (only three less than the DPJ). However, the JRP’s success was not built on any solid roots – a lot of it was a personal vote for the party’s co-leader, Osaka mayor Tōru Hashimoto, and a lot of it was a protest vote from unhappy ex-DPJ supporters. Furthermore, the JRP was a hastily assembled party made up of two ambitious politicians Hashimoto and former Tokyo governor Shintarō Ishihara; disagreements and rivalries between the two men had already come out during the 2012 campaign.
In June, Tōru Hashimoto created a massive firestorm when he said that Japan’s ‘comfort women’ (sex slaves) during World War II were a ‘necessary evil’ (and further trivialized it by saying other countries practiced ‘sex on the battlefield’) and then invited American soldiers on Okinawa to make use of Japanese prostitutes. When he had the chance to clarify or apologize, he only doubled down on his statements. Although such comments on comfort women are unfortunately widespread on the Japanese right, his comments were denounced by a wide majority of politicians and the public. It seems to have torpedoed his rising star in politics, and created another firestorm within the JRP. Shintarō Ishihara, who is no less misogynistic than Hashimoto, called on him to apologize because it threatened to hurt the JRP.
In a preview of the upper house elections, the LDP won a landslide in the Tokyo prefectural elections at the end of June (the 2009 Tokyo elections had previewed the DPJ’s landslide in the general elections later that year). The LDP increased its vote share by 10% (from 26% to 36%) while the DPJ’s vote collapsed by over 25% (from about 41% to 15%) and placed fourth in terms of seats (behind the New Komeito and the Communists). The JRP did poorly, winning only 8% (it had won 20% in Tokyo in 2012) and 2 seats.
Clearly, these elections were quite important. To begin with, although the LDP and its New Komeito allies have a two-thirds majority in the lower house, the House of Councillors – whose members were elected in 2007 (a major DPJ victory) and 2010 (a DPJ-LDP draw) – is almost split down the middle between the LDP-New Komeito government and the opposition. Prior to the election, the DPJ held 86 seats against 102 for the governing parties; 13 seats were held by the right-libertarian Your Party, 8 were held by Ichirō Ozawa’s personality appreciation cult, 6 by the Communist Party (JCP), 4 by the anti-nuclear/anti-TPP Green Wind (another DPJ splinter), 4 for the Social Democrats (SDPJ), 3 for the JRP, 2 by the New Renaissance Party and 9 by independent members (including one DPJ and one LDP presiding officer). Of the members up for reelection on July 21, 44 were from the DPJ and 44 were from the LDP-NKP.
The basic goal for the LDP-NKP was to win at least 63 seats, allowing them to win an absolute majority in the upper house. However, given the strength of the LDP and the despondency of the opposition (particularly the DPJ), Abe hoped to win at least 70 seats, which would allow the government to dominate legislative committees. Constitutional amendments, such as changing Article 9 as Abe’s LDP would like to do, requires a two-thirds majority in both houses and a national referendum. Winning a two-thirds majority in the upper house was probably the government’s wet dream, but one which it was quite unlikely to achieve.
Turnout was 51.6% (57.9% in 2010, 59% in 2012), the lowest turnout in an upper house election since 1995. The 59% turnout in the 2012 election had been the lowest turnout in a lower house election since the Second World War. The public’s trust in politicians has declined significantly in recent years, and Shinzō Abe – while more popular than his predecessors – has not been able to change that. Additionally, as in 2012, it is likely that a number of anti-LDP/non-LDP voters opted to stay home rather than vote for the despondent opposition.
The results (preliminary) are as follows (popular vote is the PR list vote, compared to 2010):
LDP 34.68% (+10.61%) winning 65 seats (47 districts, 18 PR) >> total 115 seats (+31)
New Komeito 14.22% (+1.15%) winning 11 seats (4 districts, 7 PR) >> total 20 seats (+1)
DPJ 13.40% (-18.16%) winning 17 seats (10 districts, 7 PR) >> total 59 seats (-27)
JRP 11.94% (+9.83%) winning 8 seats (2 districts, 6 PR) >> total 9 seats (+6)
JCP 9.68% (+3.58%) winning 8 seats (3 districts, 5 PR) >> total 11 seats (+5)
Your Party 8.93% (-4.66%) winning 8 seats (4 districts, 4 PR) >> total 18 seats (+5)
SDP 2.36% (-1.48%) winning 1 seats (1 PR) >> total 3 seats (-1)
PLP 1.77% (+1.77%) winning 0 seats >> total 2 seats (-6)
NPD 0.98% (+0.98%) winning 0 seats >> total 0 seats (-1)
Greens 0.86% (+0.86%) winning 0 seats >> total 0 seats (nc)
Green Wind 0.81% (+0.81%) winning 0 seats >> total 0 seats (-4)
Happiness Realization Party 0.36% (-0.03%) winning 0 seats (nc) >> total 0 seats (nc)
Okinawa Social Mass Party winning 1 seat (1 district) >> total 1 seat (nc)
Independents winning 2 seats (2 districts) >> total 3 seats (-3)
LDP/NKP Government 48.9% (+11.76%) winning 76 seats >> total 135 seats (+32)
As expected, the LDP-NKP handily gained an absolute majority in the House of Councillors. Together, both parties will hold 56% of the seats. However, as was also to be expected, the LDP-NKP fell far short of winning a two-thirds majority. The gains necessary for the governing coalition to obtain a two-thirds majority were far too important; the LDP did about as well as it could in the one-member districts, but it is harder to make major gains in multi-member districts under SNTV.
The main use of the two-thirds majority would have been amending the constitution with more ease. With these numbers, however, it will be rather difficult for Abe to be able to change Article 9 of the constitution. Even with the addition of the JRP, the government would still far short of a two-thirds majority. At any rate, changing the constitution would still be easier said than done, even with good numbers. The prospect of changing Article 9 displeases South Korea and China, and the United States would likely pressure Tokyo out of doing anything which would destabilize regional politics. Additionally, the religious conservative New Komeito tends to be pacifist and most believe that it likely opposes opening the constitution to change Article 9. Furthermore, the LDP remains a coalition of different powerful factions, some of which are less nationalistic than Abe and his cabinet are.
Despite the very low turnout (and the utter weakness/near-decrepitude of the opposition), this remains a decisive victory for the LDP-NKP, arguably the first of the kind since Koizumi’s landslide victory in 2005. While they won a similar landslide in the 2012 election, it was only in terms of seats – the popular vote share for the LDP-NKP was hardly better than in 2009 and a far cry from Koizumi’s 51% in 2005. The low turnout shows that political apathy and distrust remain widespread in Japan, and a lot of the ‘floating voters’ which have decided elections since the Koizumi era aren’t any less fickle today. However, the LDP(-NKP)’s ability to win a decisive victory of this kind with such a high popular vote result (the LDP only won 27.8% of the PR vote in 2012) does show that at least some voters are convinced by Abe’s government seven months in. His ‘Abenomics’ program appears, to many voters, as one of the first decisive, ambitious and forward-looking government agendas to come out of Japanese politics since Koizumi’s right-reformist era. That being said, the LDP slightly underperformed expectations and last polls. Until June/July, the LDP was at 40-45% in polls, and the last polls showed them at 35-40% – keeping in mind that Japanese pollsters do not redistribute undecided voters. As could be expected, undecided voters broke in favour of the opposition parties. However, the LDP’s slight decline in polls since the beginning of the year might be a sign that Abenomics is showing its first strains. As aforementioned, the ‘third arrow’ (structural reforms) disappointed some reformist ardours, and the stockmarket declined in May-June from previous heights. Therefore, if Abenomics turns out to be unsuccessful, voters will show no mercy in punishing the LDP-NKP for their failures.
For the time being, however, the LDP is on the upswing. To begin with, the near entirety of the opposition is in a pitiful state of decrepitude. The DPJ did horribly, placing third in the PR vote. DPJ and non-LDP incumbents in single-member districts were almost all thrown out. In fact, the LDP won all but two of the 31 seats from the single-member districts. The only exceptions were Iwate, Ozawa’s home turf, where incumbent councillor Tatsuo Hirano (ex-DPJ turned independent) won reelection with 39.7% against 26.4% for the LDP and 14.9% for Ozawa’s cult (PLP); and Okinawa, where the non-DPJ left is quite strong (probably because of tensions related to the US base on the islands). In Okinawa, incumbent councillor Keiko Itokazu (from the small leftist local Okinawa Social Mass Party) defeated the LDP 51.1% to 45.4%. The DPJ, with a popular incumbent, came close in Mie (37.6% to 44.2%); similarly, a popular Green Wind (ex-DPJ) incumbent in Yamagata almost won reelection (44.6% to 48.2%). Otherwise, it was a LDP landslide in single-member seats, which are always the easiest to run away with. The DPJ was also crushed in a lot of multi-member districts. In Tokyo, the DPJ’s only candidate took only 9.8% (sixth, for five seats); the LDP took 2 seats, the NKP and Communists took one each and an anti-nuclear independent also won a seat (more bad news for the DPJ if they can’t even get anti-nuclear activists/voters for themselves). In Osaka, Saitama and Kyoto, the DPJ also failed to win any multi-member district seats. With such a terrible result, winning less than 20 seats and in third in PR (as in 2012), there will be some serious pressure on the DPJ to either reinvent itself or just disband itself. The DPJ is a shaky, vaguely left-of-centre coalition of old LDP opponents, LDP dissidents and other factions with diverging ideologies. It is not designed to be a weak and small opposition force.
The JRP did rather poorly, although slightly better than expected after their disastrous showing in the Tokyo prefectural elections in June. In large part, though, this probably owes a lot to a strong performance in Hashimoto’s Osaka stronghold – the JRP candidate topped the poll with 28.8%. It also won 26.1% in Hyogo Prefecture, which borders Osaka. The JRP’s star has certainly faded since December 2012, but it nevertheless remains a strong player in Japanese politics – although it would do well to avoid becoming a local-based party whose strength is concentrated in Osaka.
Low turnout favoured parties like the New Komeito and the Communists, who have a small base of loyal and motivated supporters, likely to turn out even in low turnout circumstances. The NKP won 14% and the Communists won 9.7%, their best result since 2000. The Communists managed to win district seats in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto
Japanese politics remain, as always, unpredictable and subject to rapid change on the back of the electorate’s notorious fickleness. The LDP won a significant victory, and the opposition’s sad state is a major advantage for the party going forward. However, it does remain fairly clear that voters will show no remorse or mercy if Abe’s government became less popular. For now, the government has an ample majority in both houses, which would facilitate its governing agenda somewhat and could reinvigorate Abe’s reformist drive somewhat (if the LDP reads this as a mandate for Abenomics, which it probably should).
AdvertisementsIt’s hard to imagine that the plug-ugliness of the American climate-change denier could be made more loathsome, but it has been. The Masters of the Universe and their wholly-owned-and-operated politicians have plumbed new depths in their ability to make money while aiding and abetting the increasing misery of their fellow human beings.
Their latest refinement has been detected in Miami, which is fitting, because few places on earth rival Miami’s wretched excess in the heedless pursuit of megabucks. Fitting, too, because Miami may well be the first large American city to be submerged by seas rising in response to climate change. The prospect is of course hotly denied or coldly ignored by Miami’s politicians and uglygarchs, who insist there is nothing to see there, even while the rising waters — especially in South Miami, Coral Gables and Miami Beach — are quite literally, with increasing and dismaying frequency, lapping at their ankles.
Now it appears that Miami real estate developers are actively working to profit from the thing they deny is happening — the rising of the warming sea. Their schemes have been illuminated in, of all places, the website of the venerable science magazine Scientific American.
Ever since the 1920s, when they started transforming south Florida from a mosquito-infested swamp to a Mecca for rich old capitalists, the highest and best form of real estate has been “waterfront.” “Water (or beach) access” was a distant second, and landlocked land was for the little people. For many decades, custom — and, under Jim Crow, zoning laws — restricted the habitats of the poor and the persons of color of Miami to the city’s urban core. The same thing happened in many if not most other American cities.
Such urban cores can and do remain slums forever unless someone decides to build a freeway, or the rich and famous run out of living room and begin the process known as gentrification, which involves displacing the poor and racially disadvantaged to an even less visible and hospitable location. So the fact that gentrification is beginning to happen to urban MIami would not seem to be a surprise, or interest for a science magazine.
Here’s why it is. There is another attribute to the urban core of Miami that is drawing the attention of speculators and developers. It occupies the highest ground in South Florida. And studies are starting to show that land more than nine feet above sea level (in South Florida, 15 feet is described as “mountaintop”) is becoming the prime target for gentrification, and for developers accumulating parcels for high-density development.
On the one hand, it is hard to get your head around the venality of people who would, while denying the reality of sea-level rise in order to protect the value of their sea-level properties — which they are building as fast as they can as we speak — at the same time hedge their many bets by quietly buying up higher ground to have available for sale when the little people realize they’re drowning.
On the other hand it is impossible to measure the stupidity of people who believe that all the ocean is going to do is redraw a few maps. Whatever chalets they build on the 15-foot mountains, assuming they survive their first hurricane, will eventually be surrounded by a sea of garbage and sewage, and will not received from their drowned city any of the services they require, such as champagne and caviar deliveries.
One of the people who has been scrutinizing the behavior of the uglygarchs is Jesse Keenan, a lawyer and Florida native who teaches climate-change adaptation at Harvard. He has noticed that the lower classes of Miami are becoming similarly motivated:
“Everybody I know that is a small owner of real estate that isn’t within the billionaire class — average middle-class, upper-middle-class Miamians who have real estate on the beach — is in the process of selling their properties and moving to the mainland.”
Unable to invest in the future misery of their fellow property owners, these folks are simply getting out of Dodge. Their numbers. like the numbers of speculators investing in mountaintop Miami, are small, but growing fast. And the day they become visible to more than the curious scientists who write for Scientific American, and to websites more mainstream than The Daily Impact, is the day the crash starts for real.Now forget the nearly extinct pink river dolphin of the Amazon. Forget the panda that is endangered (partly because of a practically absent sex drive).
Forget Lonesome George the tortoise who was the symbol for conservation efforts all around the world. He died alone in 2012.
There is one species that so far has escaped the scrutiny of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) of categorizing all species and that is us.
Homo sapiens.
Now, you might say: there are approaching 7.5 billion people on earth and you could hardly call that a critically low number. And you are right the number is not critically low. It is critically high. It has been growing exponentially since the 18th century as can been seen in the picture below. And this is exactly where the problem lies...
Exponential growth in a biological system occurs when the number of organisms in a culture increases exponentially until an essential nutrient is exhausted.
You probably remember the experiments from biology class, where you would grow cultures of bacteria on a petri dish. If you don't remember, or haven't done the experiment, just watch the exponential growth of E.coli. The colony grows rapidly in the petri dish up until it has depleted all the food.
Then it dies.
Well, we humans are on a petri dish as well. It is called Earth. Resources on our petri dish are finite by definition and we are consuming them at high speed. On top we are polluting our petri dish and we have placed it in on a burner...
Now we all, to some extent, perceive that the heat is on. We know that we are under severe stress for survival. We know that we are caged like the E. coli.
For some reason the IUCN has placed the fate of Homo sapiens outside their systems of thinking, when defining the criteria for Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable Species. IUCN has failed to recognize the fact that populations both have an upper and a lower critical threshold for species survival.
But, I didn't know...
It is not like we have not been warned. We have been warned on different levels:
We have been made aware of the problems on our crowded petri dish by numerous leading scientists, such as the Australian scientist Professor Frank Fenner, who helped to wipe out smallpox. He predicts humans will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change.
We have been warned about the dangers of climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) over and over again.
Now, I must admit that these warnings are not my field of expertise. But I know that large parts of humanity tend to value religion over science, so I figured it makes sense to mention some of the religious warnings. (Honestly, I can't believe that I just looked this up, but hey... all for the good cause).
Jesus for instance, warned for doomsday on numerous occasions, such as written in the Bible Matthew 24: 4-14. The Quran states in 47:18: "Are they waiting until the Hour comes to them suddenly? All the signs thereof have already come. Once the Hour comes to them, how will they benefit from their message?"
Then there's cultural warnings. In popular culture many stories, movies or songs are available that address the'state of the world'. Some of these works have specifically made to communicate in an accessible, understandable way. We have:
Popular scientific books like the book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond;
An almost unlimited list of Apocalyptical movies
The brilliant trash metal CD by Megadeth, Countdown to Extinction, where Dave Mustaine has vocalized the quite formidable words:
All are gone, all but one.
No contest, nowhere to run.
No more left, only one
(Just think of being the only one left, like Lonesome George.)
But, I don't care...
Now, what I don't understand is our collective inertia. It seems that there are two dominant states of mind.
We have around 3 billion people who are in direct survival mode, because their living standards are below the poverty line or because they are living in a war struck region. I don't think you can blame those people for not looking further ahead than tomorrow.
But there is no excuse for the remaining 4.5 billion people, who seem to have collectively stuck their heads in the sand like ostriches. These 4.5 billion people is us.
We let our governments sign fancy treaties like the Paris Agreement negotiated at COP21 last December, with (semi) clear targets and goals. We have let them sign treaties many times, but we have done nothing when the governments failed to deliver. Maybe we have uttered some protests, but we went back to normal soon. Planning our holiday to a sunny destination.
We let our companies conduct fraudulent business like the Volkswagen Diesel-gate. Again we uttered some complains, we might even consider boycotting Volkswagen. But we will happily buy a new car by another producer.
What's next?
As far as I can tell, there are three scenarios:
Continue in the halfhearted way that we are doing now. Making promises for the better, but not keeping them. We could make ourselves believe that there is another petri dish out there called Mars, like Elon Musk seems to think. Acknowledge our problems and openly declare that we don't give a shit. Après nous, le déluge. In this case, we can throw all climate change and population growth curbing actions overboard. 'Enrich' our drinking water with Crystal Meth. Organize the Olympic Fossil Fuel Burning Games. After all, we only have 95 years to go till our extinction. We might as well spend those 95 years partying. We could just get our act together. Decide what actions to take and stick to them. We are entitled to change the system. It's not the governments' system, or the markets' system. The system is ours. Just like the planet is the house of our children.
Now, do we REALLY need to vote on this....?
Willemijn Heideman is a Quality and Improvement Manager, EcoLogical Thinker & Professional Questioner based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Author's note: I highly appreciate comments on my article. If you liked it, please SHARE this article with your network by clicking on the LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter buttons!
© Willemijn Heideman, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from this author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Willemijn Heideman with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This article was originally published via Linked-in.Colby Lewis #48 of the Texas Rangers delivers a pitch during the third inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on June 11, 2016 in Seattle, Washington. (credit: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
The Leadoff
MLB Network Radio’s Casey Stern joined me to discuss the Rangers possible involvement in the coming trade season and more.
Stats of the Week
*Continuing the theme of getting production from top-to-bottom in the Rangers’ lineup, Texas No. 8 hitters lead the A.L. in RBI (41), SLG (.494), and OPS (.831), they’re tied for the A.L. lead in hits (70) and HR (12), and are second in the A.L. in average (.283), OBP (.337).
*Ian Desmond leads MLB in Win Probability Added (WPA) with a 3.4 rating. WPA is an advanced metric used to measure how a player’s offensive contributions add or subtract from their team’s ability to win
*Ryan Rua is slashing.396/.476/.642/1.118 vs. LHP. His average and on-base percentage rank 2nd in the AL while his OPS ranks 3rd.
*The Rangers lead Major League Baseball with 22 comeback wins and 16 multi-run comeback wins.
*The Rangers have won a franchise-record 9 straight day games.
Quote of the Week
“Perhaps he was wrong, and perhaps I was also wrong.” Rougned Odor on his altercation with Jose Bautista as told to ESPN’s Marly Rivera.
“Whatever is cold and wet” -Colby Lewis on his beer of choice when he joined Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin Turner, and me a few minutes after his complete game and near no-hit effort vs. Oakland.
World Series Power Rankings
Chicago Cubs Texas Rangers Washington Nationals Boston Red Sox San Francisco Giants
The Rangers edge the Red Sox because of starting rotation, but that might change after Boston makes an expected upgrade in July. Like the Rangers, the Red Sox have the assets to make a big deadline splash. Don’t overlook the Giants in the National League, by the way. The Cubs and Nationals have gotten most of the attention but that’s still a versatile group that’s likely to upgrade their bullpen in July.
Covering the Bases
*Colby Lewis didn’t need his flirtation with history Thursday to prove All-Star worthiness, but the publicity probably wakes folks up to how good of a season he’s having. His ERA+, a weighted metric used to measure effectiveness, ranks 4th best in the American League at 160.
*Don’t be surprised if A.J. Griffin starts on Friday. It seems like he’d be ready.
*The outfield arms are something that is not talked about nearly as much as how valuable it is
*Rougned Odor is just 22 years old, which sometimes seems tough to remember because of how much the Rangers count on him. But, as a 22-year old, he isn’t perfect. I see plenty of fans frustrated with his tendency to expand the zone on twitter, which is a fair criticism. I don’t think Odor will ever be the most patient hitter and I think he’ll always have aggression which leads to a chase element. However, sometimes we need to just let hitters do their thing and take the good with the bad. Beltre’s approach is far from textbook. Like Beltre, Odor remains productive with his approach, and has he refines it, I expect his production to continue to rise.
*Shin-Soo Choo will only make this lineup more dangerous. Maz helped lighten the blow after Choo’s initially injury, but the suggestion that he’d allow the Rangers to “not miss Choo” was and is absurd to me. There are three outfielders. They both can play. Choo is a proven on-base machine who helps add ridiculous depth to this group. We’ve already seen it in a short time.
*A lot of people freak out when their team doesn’t put out its best lineup possible on a nightly basis. The reality is that playing 162 games, while admirable, typically isn’t smart, especially for a team that has its sights on the post-season. The Rangers have the luxury of possessing depth now that they have healthy bodies. I hope they continue to use that depth and give guys breaks because I’d much rather them refuel the tank when it is a quarter full rather than wait until the red light is on and they’re running on empty.
*Keone Kela is starting to throw pitches off of flat ground. That’s a good step as he continues to come back following surgery to remove a bone spur in his elbow. The next step is throwing pitches off a mound, which the Rangers hope he can accomplish next week.
*The Yankees signed 1B Ike Davis to a Major League contract very shortly after the Rangers allowed him out of their minor league agreement. Good for Ike. He’s a good dude.
The Walkoff
As many of you may know, I don’t knee-jerk nor do I get emotional about a single win. With that said, there is a unique and, dare I say, special, quality about this team with it’s resilient spirit. The toughest team to beat, especially in big games, is the team that just doesn’t know how to lay down and lose. Right now, this team is clueless as to how to lay down and lose.
Until tomorrow, Peace Be the Journey
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)The Ultimate ESPN 300 is RecruitingNation's ranking of the best prospects since we began evaluating high school athletes in 2006. Producing this list was a challenging, yet intriguing process. The evaluation of high school prospects is not an exact science, by any means. By revisiting our initial scouting reports, we saw just how those unknown variables, and circumstances in general, can affect a player's college production and success rate.
For the Ultimate ESPN 300 ranking, we incorporated both the prospect's grade and projection out of high school with his actual college impact and production. In the interest of objectivity, we also included prospects that were not included in our rankings. However, we did not include players we did not evaluate in high school, so there are notable names left off this list, like Michael Crabtree.
We certainly had our misses on prospects over the last eight years -- and they are reflected within this ranking -- but we did give the edge to prospects we projected highly out of high school who lived up to their predicted stock or expectations. So this ranking is not simply a list of the top college performers over the last eight years, as our talented college football writers could produce that version. Our version of the Ultimate ESPN 300 is essentially a hypothetical ranking that blends what we know now with what we projected back then.
It should be noted that we did not include the 2014 class in this edition, and for the 2013 class, we incorporated freshman prospects that we felt had significant roles and their placement was based on forecasting similar production over the next three years. All prospects are listed at the position they were projected to play at out of high school and the original school they signed with.
Join the conversation
Agree with our selections? Outraged by those who missed the cut? Let us know. Tweet to @RecruitingESPN using the hashtag #Ultimate300.Latest News
"Tomb Raider 20" Statue Collection - First Look
Do you remember last year's #TombRaider20 Statue Collection announcement for the 20th anniversary of the saga? You know, the 6 piece statue set which will be made in partnership with Gaming Heads, and each piece will be sculpted at 1:4 scale from hand-painted polystone resin? Well, we have some news for you...
The first sketches are here!
So, it looks like we'll be able to purchase/collect 3 classic Laras and 3 Crystal Laras.
The final list is:
Tomb Raider 1 statue - Lara in her classic outfit (with bun)
Tomb Raider 3 statue - Lara in her Area 51 outfit
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness statue - Lara in her camo shorts outfit
Tomb Raider: Legend statue - Lara in her default outfit
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris statue - Lara in her default outfit
Rise of the Tomb Raider statue - Lara in her red jacket (expedition outfit)
The Tomb Raider 1 statue will be released first. Most likely the pre-order will be available later this year.
Take a look at its sketch and 3D print:
http://raidingtheglobe.com/news/tomb-raider-20-statue-collection-first-look#sigProId1335710893 View the embedded image gallery online at:
After the Tomb Raider 1 statue's release, the Tomb Raider 3 one will go pre-order:
http://raidingtheglobe.com/news/tomb-raider-20-statue-collection-first-look#sigProId6938963e64 View the embedded image gallery online at:
On the other statues we don't have any further information, so... stay tuned!The debt to pleasure is deferred in exquisite style for this ravishingly beautiful movie set in Northern Italy in the early 80s: a coming-of-age love story between a precocious teenage boy and a slightly older man. Their summer romance is saturated with poetic languor and a deeply sophisticated sensuality.
The film is directed by Luca Guadagnino (who made I Am Love and A Bigger Splash) and adapted from the novel by André Aciman by James Ivory, who had originally been slated to co-direct and has a producer credit. Ivory’s presence inevitably calls to mind his film version of EM Forster’s Maurice, to which this is frankly superior. For me, it brought back Alan Hollinghurst novels such as The Folding Star and The Spell. Call Me By Your Name is an erotic pastoral that culminates in a quite amazing speech by Michael Stuhlbarg, playing the boy’s father. It’s a compelling dramatic gesture of wisdom, understanding and what I can only call moral goodness.
Stuhlbarg plays Perlman, a middle-aged American professor of classical antiquity living with his stylish wife Annella (Amira Casar), in a handsome Italian house with their son, Elio – a remarkable performance from Timothée Chalamet – who is a very talented musician, spending his time transcribing Schoenberg and composing piano variations on JS Bach. Theirs is a cultured household, in which everyone is proficient in English, French, Italian and, for Annella, German. The family is also Jewish. Elio calls them “Jews of discretion”, a sense of otherness that is to serve as a metaphor for concealed sexuality.
Elio slopes and mopes about the huge house as the long hot summer commences, grumpy and moody, not knowing what to do with himself or his directionless sexuality, shooing away flies, frowning over paperbacks, dressed mostly in nothing more than shorts, all shoulder blades and hairless calves. Every year, his dad invites a favoured grad student to spend the summer with the family to help him with research. This year it is the impossibly handsome and statuesque Oliver, played by Armie Hammer, who never wears a pair of long trousers in the entire film. He establishes his academic credentials early on by presuming to correct Perlman’s derivation of the word “apricot”. Both Elio and Oliver are to have romantic associations with local young women, but it is more than clear where this is heading. And when the main event arrives, Guadagnino’s camera wanders tactfully away from their bed, gazing thoughtfully out of the window at the hot summer night.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A life of leisure … from left, Michael Stuhlbarg, Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer. Photograph: AP
What is perhaps so incredible is the concept of leisure, a cousin to pleasure, pure gorgeous indolence and sexiness for six whole weeks. No one appears to have very much to do in the way of dreary work, despite the references to typing up pages and cataloguing slides. People sunbathe; they impetuously jump up and go swimming, have unhurried meals al fresco, cycle into town to drink in bars, or play volleyball. The main work-related activity is when Perlman and Oliver go to inspect a sensational discovery: parts of a classical statue recovered from a lake. Hellenic sensuality is resurrected in concert with the not-so-secret sexual tumult emerging all about.
Armie Hammer on gay romance Call Me By Your Name: ‘There were fetishes I didn’t understand’ Read |
nature has a potential weakness in that the defence know what is coming – a static look from the centre of the field after one centering pass. Whether or not the defence can use this to their advantage is another question for another article – we did see Japan clogging throwing lanes and downfield space at the start of points as they attempted to do so in this match, if you’re interested in how effective they were then check out the full game footage.
* another potentially useful stat would be the number of points each team scored from the pull without turning over, and in how many passesPresident Donald Trump said Sunday on Twitter that he "negotiated a ceasefire" with Russia's President Vladimir Putin last week that "will save lives." (MIKHAIL KLIMENTIEV/AFP/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump's self-congratulations on Twitter regarding an agreement with Russia for peace in Syria are premature and will likely amount to a mistake, experts and officials say.
The plan for at least a temporary halt to fighting southwest Syria beginning Sunday was announced by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly after the pair met for more than two hours at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, last week. It involves the Jordanian government, centering around a cease-fire covering an incredibly complicated battlefield, where the forces of the Syrian regime backed by Russia continue a war against rebel elements, while the U.S. advances on the Islamic State group strongholds in and around Raqqa. Unpredictable al-Qaida affiliates, Iranian militias and other countries in the region, like Israel, have also complicated the conflict zone in recent months through strikes or attacks.
Initial reports said the cease-fire was holding, even though those familiar with the complex nature of the six-year-old conflict in Syria say it will inevitably collapse. And when it does, Trump's Twitter pledge on Sunday that "many lives can be saved" as a result of making deals with Moscow is also likely come into question.
"Who's party to the cease-fire? Not the jihadists, not al-Qaida nor the Islamic State [group]," says Ryan Crocker, a career diplomat and former ambassador to Syria. "Even if – and it's a big if – those who are party to it want to keep it, it will be sabotaged. No doubt."
Crocker served in Lebanon during the country's 15-year civil war and says the Syrian conflict is far more complicated. This latest cease-fire appears to be wholly a Russian initiative, he adds, providing largely a "big bump" for Putin's attempts to seek international recognition for brokering peace.
"You don't get cease-fires in these kinds of wars that last unless you basically have an overarching political agreement, and we are miles away from that," Crocker says, adding of Trump, "It's going to be another chunk out of his credibility."
Moscow first intervened in Syria in 2015 under the auspices of supporting the government of Bashar Assad with which it has traditionally allied, though analysts believe Moscow's true ambitions centered on securing a place among the top international powers for deciding on Syria's future. Russia continues to maintain an air base and naval station there.
Following Trump's meeting with his Russian counterpart last week – their first face-to-face since he became president – he wrote on Twitter, "We negotiated a ceasefire in parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!"
The president, whose campaign and presidency is currently under investigation by the FBI, a special prosecutor and Congress for alleged ties to Russia, has repeatedly called for improving relations with Moscow.
Democrats on Capitol Hill, including Rep. Adam Schiff of California, said after the announcement that the cease-fire was a constructive outcome of Trump's meeting with Putin, even if some of the other agreements the leaders made caused alarm among critics and supporters alike.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member of the powerful Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, "This announcement will be a test of how effectively the Russians can influence both the Syrian and Iranian governments to stop the violence and begin to develop longer-term solutions."
The consequences of that test, however, will likely fall on the U.S. to fix.
"Normally you would say if you make that kind of statement and it fails, it's a pretty big blow to your prestige as a dealmaker. In the case of Trump, it doesn't seem to bother him," says Melvyn Levitsky, a former senior State Department officer for Soviet affairs, now at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
"If the cease-fire fails," he adds," the onus will probably fall on us. The Russians will claim, probably credibly, that they have held their clients to the terms of the cease-fire. … On our side, we have a tenuous hold on the various factions that oppose Assad and some of them, like Jabhat al Nusra, are not under our influence at all."
The latest cease-fire is different than prior agreements brokered under the Barack Obama administration, all of which crumbled within weeks, in that unlike his predecessor Trump has used military force against the Assad regime and its proxy forces.
"It's a huge challenge and not realistic or fair to Trump to expect him to solve immediately what Obama couldn't in six years," says Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Much more will be needed than one local cease-fire. But that is at least a beginning."
Others see the cease-fire as a guise, but one the U.S. can help maintain under the auspices of warring parties' not shooting at each other and rallying behind anti-terrorism operations.
"The U.S. has accepted an overarching policy to contain Iran, and that's real, unlike Obama," says James Jeffrey, former ambassador to Turkey and Iraq, now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He points, however, to an absence of a clear strategy for what will happen in Syria and the region after the Islamic State group has been defeated.
"This is a step forward, and he earned this, he earned this by taking the decision to approve the chemical raid," Jeffrey says of Trump, citing the Tomahawk missile strike he approved on a Syrian chemical weapons facility. "But the problem is, what this is going to do is back us into a confrontation with Iran, Syria and Russia. That's going to happen sooner or later."
Trump has also set high expectations with what some former officials consider overly optimistic social media posts.
"To say, 'I've negotiated a peace to end all peaces,' not a good policy. It reminds me a little of 'Mission Accomplished,'" Crocker says, citing President George W. Bush's infamous 2003 proclamation about combat operations in Iraq.
"This is going to go on for years," he says.Joannes Sambucus, 1564
So, we all knew Malcolm Roberts, former project leader of the climate denialist Galileo Movement turned One Nation politician, would make an ‘interesting’ first speech to the Senate. If you’ve been following Senator Roberts’ career, most of what he said was more or less predictable. The UN (“unelected swill” - take a bow, PJK), the IMF and the EU are monstrous socialist behemoths with a “frightening agenda,” climate change is a “scam,” the “tight-knit international banking sector” (a dangerous phrase given Roberts’ history of discussing international “banking families”) are “One of the greatest threats to our liberty and life as we know it.”
It may be startling to hear this in one concentrated burst, from a senator, last thing on a Tuesday afternoon, but if you’re familiar with the more conspiratorial corners of the internet this was all fairly pedestrian stuff.
What was more surprising, at least in passing, was Roberts comparing himself to Socrates:
Like Socrates, I love asking questions to get to the truth.
A Socratic questioner in the Senate! The gadfly of Athens, who cheerfully punctured the delusions of the comfortable and reduced them to frozen bewilderment with just a few cheerfully framed questions like some Attic Columbo, has apparently taken up residence in the red chamber. This should be a golden age for rational inquiry, right?
Right?
Epistemic revolt
The choice of Socrates, like that of Galileo, is no accident. Both fit neatly into a heroic “one brave man against the Establishment” narrative of scientific progress that climate denialists like to identify with. Both eventually changed the trajectory of human knowledge. But along the way, both suffered persecution. Galileo was made to recant his “heretical” heliocentrism under threat of torture and spent his last years under house arrest. Socrates, charged with impiety and corrupting the youth and denounced in court by one Meletus, was put to death. Of course that’s not nearly as rough as the brutal suppression of Malcolm Roberts, who has been cruelly oppressed with a three year Senate seat and a guest slot on Q&A. But you get the idea.
Most importantly, both Socrates and Galileo function here as emblems of a kind of epistemic individualism. They’re ciphers for a view of knowledge generation as a contest between self-sufficient individual thinkers and a faceless, mediocre ‘they,’ instead of a collective and social process governed by internal disciplinary norms and standards.
Roberts doesn’t simply like asking questions - anyone can do that. No, he wants to be like Socrates: someone who refuses to accept the answers he’s given, and dismantles them with clinical, exhaustive precision. Malcolm Roberts wants to work it all out for himself, scientific community be damned. If Socrates could, why can’t he? Why can’t each of us?
Distributed knowledge
But Socrates, living at the dawn of scholarly inquiry, had the luxury of being a polymath. “Philosopher” simply means “lover of wisdom,” and early philosophers were forced to be rather promiscuous with that love. Physicist, logician, meteorologist, astronomer, chemist, ethicist, political scientist, drama critic: the Greek philosopher was all of these and more by default. The intellectual division of labour had not yet taken place, because all fields of inquiry were in their infancy.
Raphael
Fast forward two and a half thousand years and the situation is radically different. The sciences have long since specialised past the point where non-specialists can credibly critique scientific claims. There is now simply too much knowledge, at too great a pitch of complexity, for anyone to encompass and evaluate it all. The price we pay for our expanding depth of knowledge is that what we know is increasingly distrubuted between the increasingly specialised nodes of increasingly complex informational networks.
That fact, in turn, emphasises our mutual epistemic dependence. I rely daily on the expert competence and good will of thousands of people I never see and will never meet, from doctors to builders to engineers and lawyers - and climate scientists, who wrangle with the unimaginably complex fluid dynamics of our planet.
So what do you if you find yourself up against a network of specialist knowledge that disagrees with your core beliefs? Do you simply accept that you’re not in a position to assess their claims and rely, as we all must, on others? Do you, acknowledging your limitations, defer to the experts?
If you’re Socrates today, then yes, you probably do. The true genius of Socrates as Plato presents him that he understands his limitations better than anyone around him:
And is not this the most reprehensible form of ignorance, that of thinking one knows what one does not know? Perhaps, gentlemen, in this matter also I differ from other men in this way, and if I were to say that I am wiser in anything, it would be in this, that not knowing very much about the other world, I do not think I know. (Apology 29b)
Dismissing expertise
But deferring to those who know better is not the sort of Socrates Malcolm Roberts wants to be. If you want to be a Roberts-style Socrates, instead of conceding your ignorance, you cling to some foundational bit of putative knowledge that allows you to dismiss anything else that’s said, like so:
It is basic. The sun warms the earth’s surface. The surface, by contact, warms the moving, circulating atmosphere. That means the atmosphere cools the surface. How then can the atmosphere warm it? It cannot. That is why their computer models are wrong.
This is a familiar move to anyone who’s ever watched a 9/11 truther at work. While “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams!” has become a punchline, in some ways it’s the perfect battle-cry for epistemic rebellion. It asserts that if you just cling to some basic fact or model, you can use it to reject more complicated scenarios or models that seem to contradict that fact.
Jim Benton/Knowyourmeme.com
That move levels the playing field and hands power back to the disputant. Your advanced study of engineering or climatology, be it ever so impressive, can’t override my high school physics or chemistry. My understanding of how physical reality works is simple, graspable, and therefore true; yours is complex, counterintuitive, esoteric, and thus utterly suspect. I’m Plato’s Socrates: earthy, self-sufficient and impervious to sophistry; you, by contrast, are Aristophanes’ Socrates, vain and unworldly, suspended in your balloon far above the healthy common sense of the demos, investing the clouds with your obsessions.
Auxiliary Accusations
This leaves our would-be Socrates with the awkward fact that all those experts still disagree with him. How do you respond in the face of such disconfirmatory data? You could abandon your hypothesis, or you could deploy what Imre Lakatos called an ‘auxiliary hypothesis’ to defend it.
In Roberts’ case, as with many conspiracy theorists, this auxiliary hypothesis takes the form of a scattergun accusation. Climate science isn’t just mistaken, or even just inept, but “fraudulent.” Roberts is quite prepared to accuse thousands of people whose lives he knows nothing about of conscious and systemic corruption rather than admit he might be wrong.
From within Roberts’ rather Manichean worldview, that might seem to make a certain kind of sense: the forces of freedom are fighting an apocalyptic battle against the forces of repression. The enemy is positively evil, with its cooked climate data and insidious agendas and overtaxed bread. There is no need to spare the feelings of a foe so wicked. Those greedy bastards knew exactly what they were doing when they signed up for Socialist Climate Data Manipulation Studies in O-Week.
For anyone who claims to care about the quest for knowledge like Socrates did, the moral recklessness of such an accusation, from someone in such a position of power, should be cause for alarm. And when you’re trying to destroy the reputation of researchers because their message doesn’t suit your free-market pieties, you might just be more Meletus than Socrates.If animal proteins are bad because they boost our blood levels of the cancer promoter IGF-1, what about the few plant proteins that just coincidently happen to have amino acid ratios similar to animal proteins—like soy?
One of soy’s selling points is that it has “high quality” protein. But now, we know that from a cancer perspective, higher quality may mean a higher quantity of cancer risk, thanks to IGF-1.
Let’s go back to this study. Those who ate a lot of animal protein had significantly higher levels of IGF-1. And those who ate a lot of non-soy plant protein had significantly lower levels, presumably because it substituted for some of the animal protein in their diets. The same thing might have happened a little with soy—hey, at least you’re not eating animal protein, but this was not a significant decrease.
Meaning if all we do is just swap out animal protein and swap in soy protein, we may not see that beautiful drop in IGF-1 enjoyed by those replacing animal protein instead with a variety of different plant proteins.
Indeed, the more soy milk, for example, that vegan women drank, the higher their IGF levels tended to be. But the trend was only of borderline statistical significance—meaning it could have just been due to chance. To test this once and for all would require the combined might of both the Ornish and Pritikin research teams—a study we’ll cover tomorrow.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Kerry Skinner.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.Gainesville Police Capt. Brian Helmerson has been temporarily reassigned to City Hall pending an inquiry into workplace allegations, the Gainesville Police Department reported.
Gainesville Police Capt. Brian Helmerson has been temporarily reassigned to City Hall pending an inquiry into workplace allegations, the Gainesville Police Department reported.
GPD spokesman officer Ben Tobias said no details about the allegations or the inquiry would be released.
“In response to internal concerns, there has been an inquiry into the Commander of the GPD Operations Bureau, Captain Brian Helmerson,” GPD said in a statement. “Effective immediately... Helmerson is being temporarily placed on special assignment to the Office of the City Manager. He will report to Assistant City Manager Fred Murry during this time. Gainesville Police Captain Jorge Campos will assume Command of the Operations Bureau in the interim.”
Reached by The Sun shortly after the reassignment was announced, Helmerson declined comment. Chief Tony Jones also declined comment but he highly praised Helmerson in a recent interview with The Sun concerning his reorganization of the operations bureau.
Helmerson is the commander of GPD’s bureau that oversees patrols and specialty units such as the mounted patrol and K-9 teams.
Helmerson plays a major role in special programs such as the Duval Initiative and often oversees police presence at events such as the recent demonstrations of a Confederate statue at the Alachua County Administration Building, the Occupy Gainesville movement downtown and at the Dignity Village homeless encampment.
Starting at GPD 1987, Helmerson spent 5 years in patrol. He worked for three years on a community-oriented policing team in the Gardenia, Duval and Lake Road neighborhoods, according to his biography on GPD’s website.
Other duties over his career include three years as a detective, three years in training and three years as a shift lieutenant. Helmerson also worked in the internal affairs department, which conducts investigations of GPD employees.Coming Soon
Cursed
In this fresh take on the Arthurian legend, teenager Nimue joins forces with mercenary Arthur on a quest to find Merlin and deliver an ancient sword.
Spectros
A teenage boy and his friends get caught in a clash between Brazilian witchcraft and Japanese Shinto spirits in their neighborhood.
Wizards: Tales of Arcadia
The trolls, aliens and wizards living in Arcadia face off in an apocalyptic battle for control of their magical world. Created by Guillermo del Toro.
Jacob and the Sea Beast
In his mission to stop a tyrannical captain and save a kidnapped infant, charming seafarer Jacob finds an unlikely ally in a sea monster.
Love Alarm
A software developer creates an app that alerts users if anyone nearby harbors romantic feelings for them. Adapted from the popular web cartoon.
Wine Country
When a group of longtime girlfriends goes to Napa for the weekend to celebrate their friend's 50th birthday, tensions from the past boil over.
Merry Happy Whatever
A strong-willed dad navigates the stress of the holiday season when his daughter brings her new boyfriend home for Christmas. Starring Dennis Quaid.
My First First Love
A college student reluctantly lets a group of his friends move into his house, where they experience love, friendship, and everything in between.By Jim Melwert
TREDYFFRIN Twp., Pa. (CBS) — District Attorney Tom Hogan calls this a simple case of ignorance, violence and what he calls a shocking lack of supervision.
It involves players of Conestoga High School’s varsity football team, and a hazing tradition, for lack of a better term, that was known as “no-gay Thursday.”
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“No gay Thursday,” according to Hogan, meant things that would normally be considered gay, were not gay when done by upperclassmen to underclassmen in the locker-room.
Examples include a senior walking up behind a underclassman and putting his genitals on the younger player’s head; a freshman being forced to undress an upperclassman, or underclassmen being forced to strip to their underwear and clean the locker-room.
It was that last one, that sparked this incident, according to investigators.
Conestoga Football Players Express Doubt Regarding Hazing Allegations
The DA says the very talented, but cocky freshman player decided he’d had enough and tried to leave the locker-room, two seniors held him down, while another grabbed a broomstick and began poking at his groin, eventually DA Hogan says, penetrating the boy’s rectum.
The 14-year-old boy told his father last month. The father went to the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District.
The school district immediately alerted police and the DA’s office.
READ: Medical Examiner Reveals Bobbi Kristina’s Cause Of Death
The three aggressors were all 17 at the time. Charges against them include conspiracy to commit assault, possession of an instrument of crime, unlawful restraint, and terroristic threats.
Hogan says the hazing statute under Pennsylvania law only applies to colleges and not to high schools, he’s urging lawmakers to change that.
Hogan says Treddyfrin-Easttown School District now has a big job in front of them as they will have to tackle a culture of hazing.
Hogan also says, so far it appears no gay students were ever targeted during “no-gay Thursday.”
A statement from Tredyffrin-Easttown school district says they will conduct a thorough investigation, and the head football coach is suspended of coaching duties pending the outcome.
Read full statement here.But prevention has proved more difficult than many imagined. It has been devilishly difficult to show conclusively that something simple like eating more fruits and vegetables or exercising regularly helps. And, as the response to the prostate drugs shows, people are not enthusiastic about taking anticancer pills, or are worried about side effects or not really convinced the drugs work. Others are just unaware of them.
And prostate cancer is not unique. Scientists have what they consider definitive evidence that two drugs can cut the risk of breast cancer in half. Women and doctors have pretty much ignored the findings.
Companies have taken note, saying that it makes little economic sense to spend decades developing drugs to prevent cancer. The better business plan seems to be looking for drugs to treat cancer. That is a sobering lesson, said Dr. Ian M. Thompson Jr., chairman of the urology department at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.
“A scientific discovery that is very clear cut and that is not implemented by the public is a tragedy,” he said.
Few Sure Things
A few ways are known for sure to prevent cancer; the biggest is to avoid cigarette smoking. That alone would drop the cancer death rate by a third. No other measure comes close.
Another huge success, for breast cancer, is to avoid taking estrogen and progestin at menopause. Sales of those drugs plummeted in 2002 after a federal study, the Women’s Health Initiative, concluded that they did not prevent heart disease and might increase breast cancer. The next year, the breast cancer rate dropped by 15 percent after having steadily increased since 1945.
The vaccine for human papilloma virus, protects against most strains of the virus, which causes cervical cancer.
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But other measures that are often assumed — and marketed — as ways to prevent cancer may not make much difference, researchers say.
For example, public health experts for years recommended eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day to prevent cancer, but the evidence is conflicting, at best suggestive, and far from definitive.
Low-fat diets were long thought to prevent breast cancer. But a large federal study randomizing women to a low-fat or normal diet and looking for an effect in breast cancer found nothing, said its director, Ross L. Prentice of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
Fiber, found in fruits, vegetables and grains, is often thought to prevent colon cancer, even though two large studies found no effect.
“We thought we would show relationships that were strong and true,” said Dr. Tim Byers, professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, “particularly for dietary choices and food and vegetable intake. Now we have settled into thinking they are important but it’s not like saying you can cut your risk in half or three-quarters.” Others wonder whether even such qualified support is misplaced.
There has to be a reason the research disappointed, said Colin B. Begg, chairman of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Perhaps the crucial time to intervene is early in life.
“That’s one possibility,” Dr. Begg said. “The other is that it’s all sort of nonsense to begin with.”
Many hold out hope for exercise or weight loss. Studies have associated strenuous exercise with less cancer. But that is the same sort of evidence that misled scientists about aspects of diet.
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“I think it’s wishful thinking,” said Dr. Susan Love, a breast surgeon and president of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. “We would like things to be more in our control. I think that’s part of it. And in the absence of anything else, what do we tell women about how to prevent breast cancer? We tell them to exercise and eat a good diet.”
As for obesity, researchers differ. Studies that observed large numbers of people often found that fatter people have more cancer. But many of the correlations are weak, and different studies have pointed to different cancers, raising questions about whether some of the effects are real.
Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said he was convinced. The strongest link, he and others say, is with obesity and breast cancer. But there, Dr. Brawley says, the crucial period may occur early in life — girls who gain weight when they are young, he said, tend to start menstruating earlier, which increases their breast cancer risk because it adds years of exposure to the body’s estrogen. It may be that weight loss in adulthood does not help.
“We have very little evidence that losing weight or changing diet reduces risk of cancer,” he said. “It is likely that it takes years to effect a change in risk. We do have data that the change in diet decreases cardiovascular disease risk, so it’s easier to advocate diet change.”
Others, like Donald A. Berry, head of the division of quantitative sciences at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, are dubious about blaming obesity for cancer rates. If there is a risk, Dr. Berry said, he suspects it is small. The studies are relying on correlations — they cannot assess cause and effect. And studies that come up with such associations are likely to be published, even though often the associations turn out to be spurious. That means, Dr. Berry said, that “the false-positive rate skyrockets.”
Still, Dr. Prentice said, disheartening as the findings have been, it would be a mistake to give up on lifestyle changes. Instead, he said, perhaps it is time to rethink the way studies are done.
“This should be a stimulus to our research community to say, How can we conduct observational studies in a way to reveal more reliable information?” Dr. Prentice said.
Diet and exercise, he added, “are likely quite important, but we just aren’t getting the answers.”
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Great Hopes Dashed
Dr. Peter Greenwald knows the dashed hopes of cancer prevention research firsthand. As far back as 1981, when he arrived at the National Cancer Institute to direct “cancer prevention and control,” Dr. Greenwald began thinking about testing whether simple measures, like vitamin supplements, could prevent common cancers.
He focused on what looked like it could be a sure thing — beta carotene, found in orange fruits and vegetables as well as in green leafy vegetables.
The body converts beta carotene to vitamin A, which can prevent cancer in rats. People eating the most fruits and vegetables had less cancer. And the more beta carotene in a person’s blood, the lower the cancer risk. Lung cancer seemed particularly vulnerable to beta carotene’s effects, particularly in smokers and former smokers.
What was needed was cause-and-effect evidence, studies showing that if people bolstered their beta carotene and vitamin A levels, they would be protected from cancer. The cancer institute decided to take it on with two large studies.
But not only did the supplements not work, but there was evidence that beta carotene might actually increase cancer risk in smokers.
Photo
Dr. Greenwald and his colleagues still held out hope for vitamins and minerals as cancer preventatives. So his group proposed the largest cancer prevention clinical trial ever tried, involving 35,000 men 50 and older. This time, the idea was that vitamin E and selenium might prevent prostate cancer.
Once again, there was presumptive evidence. But this time it was harder to persuade scientists to go ahead. After the beta carotene and vitamin A studies, several other studies had also failed to find evidence that food components or special diets could prevent cancer.
“By this time, a lot of people were very concerned,” said Dr. Scott M. Lippman, an oncologist at M. D. Anderson. He argued that the huge study had to be done. The supplements were being promoted for “prostate health,” and the evidence that they might actually work was tantalizing.
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The selenium and vitamin E study ended early. Once again, there was no protection from cancer, and there were hints the supplements might be causing cancer. Once again, the great hope turned into a stunning disappointment.
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Prevention researchers say they are left sadder but wiser.
“Over the years, I’ve grown more skeptical and more cautious,” said Dr. Meir J. Stampfer, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Findings get reported in the literature, and the more extreme findings tend to excite the imagination. Then, as evidence accumulates, those findings are not confirmed.”
Dr. Stampfer remains optimistic, though, pointing to the story of heart disease, where softer evidence eventually led to discoveries that measures like lowering blood pressure and cholesterol could prevent disease. An amazing decline in illness and death resulted. “Cancer is harder,” Dr. Stampfer said, but he added that it is too soon to give up. Dr. Greenwald, too, has not given up. He still hopes a diet with fruits and vegetables, along with exercise and weight control, might help prevent cancer. But he knows the evidence is not definitive and scientists have been fooled before. As for Dr. Lippman, he said the field had suffered from an excess of premature enthusiasm, especially before the beta carotene studies.
“We were pulled into this,” he said. “People said, We’ve got it! There were incredibly high expectations that were, in retrospect, unrealistic.”
Claims That Go Too Far
David G. Schardt, a senior nutritionist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group, likes to relax in front of his television set at night. But what he was seeing last winter made his blood boil.
“I would sit there watching network news and the ads would come on,” Mr. Schardt said. Bayer, advertising its One A Day vitamins, was saying the selenium in the pills might improve “prostate health.” And as he drove to his office in Washington, Mr. Schardt heard Bayer advertisements on the radio that actually mentioned prostate cancer.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. After all, the federal study had already shown that selenium was useless and might be harmful. Finally, on Oct. 1, Mr. Schardt and the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a lawsuit.
Tricia McKernan, a Bayer spokeswoman, says the advertisements relied on the Food and Drug Administration ’s “permitted qualified health claim that ‘selenium may reduce the risk of certain cancers,’ ” especially prostate cancer. The F.D.A. no longer permits that claim, Ms. McKernan noted. She said Bayer was revising its packaging and promotional materials for its One A Day Men’s and One A Day Men’s 50+ vitamins, removing references to selenium reducing prostate cancer risk.
But a subtle promotion of selenium and vitamin E by supplement makers goes on, with claims that the pills improve “prostate health” by increasing the body’s “antioxidant defenses.”
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Dr. Thompson said he sees the lure of supplements when he counsels patients. “I can’t tell you how many times I talked to somebody about prostate cancer prevention,” he said. He gives the high-risk men a prescription for one of the drugs that work. But the men do not fill it.
Instead, he said, they are taking “prostate health” vitamins.
In 1990, Dr. Victor G. Vogel was at M. D. Anderson and had high hopes of changing the world. It just may be possible, he thought, to prevent many cases of breast cancer in women at high risk, a group that includes every woman over age 60, the time when the risk takes a sharp turn upward.
Dr. Vogel was to be an investigator in a huge study of 13,000 women that seemed to have everything going for it. It would test a drug, tamoxifen, an estrogen-blocker widely used to treat women with breast cancer. The studies showing the drug’s effects in breast cancer patients, though, had an unexpected bonus. It looked as if tamoxifen was also preventing new cancers in the opposite breast.
“By the time we got to 1990, there was just a huge amount of data,” Dr. Vogel said. The drug’s risks were well established and seemed well worth taking if the benefit was cutting cancer in half among women at high risk. Most side effects, like hot flashes, were temporary. But there also was a risk of blood clots similar to that conferred by birth control pills or estrogen used to relieve symptoms of menopause. And there were about two additional cases of uterine cancer per 1,000 women per year.
By 1998, the results were in. Tamoxifen cut the breast cancer rate in half. Similar studies in Britain and Italy, also involving high-risk women who had not had breast cancer, came to similar conclusions. And women did not have to take the drug for a lifetime — they needed just five years of therapy.
Dr. Vogel was ecstatic.
“If I had told you in 1990 that in 10 years I would have a pill that would cut the risk of breast cancer in half, you wouldn’t have believed me,” he said.
But, he said, to his shock, “The world said, So what?”
“We were met with shoulder shrugs and harrumphs,” Dr. Vogel said. Sales of tamoxifen, worldwide, “didn’t budge.”
Maybe, Dr. Vogel thought, the problem was that internists and gynecologists were not comfortable prescribing a drug used to treat cancer patients. Then, in 1999, he had a chance to do another breast cancer prevention trial, this time of an osteoporosis drug, raloxifene, or Evista, which did not have the cancer drug taint. It was to be compared with tamoxifen.
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The $110 million study, involving 19,000 women, ended in 2006. The two drugs were found to be equally effective in preventing breast cancer, but with raloxifene there was no excess uterine cancer and the clotting risk was 30 percent less.
“It was a spectacular clinical trial,” Dr. Vogel said. But, he added, “Once again, the world met the result with a shrug and a harrumph.”
“Those were your tax dollars and mine,” he added. “You can’t do too many $110 million studies.”
He cannot understand why no one cares, but some doctors say they see a number of problems. It is usually not the cost; tamoxifen is about 30 cents a day and raloxifene $3.30 a day. It is doctors’ practices and women’s concerns.
Most doctors, said Dr. Therese B. Bevers, medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center at M. D. Anderson, do not take the first step — calculating a woman’s lifetime risk of getting breast cancer — in part because that can lead to the next step, spending an hour or so discussing cancer risk and drug risks and benefits.
Dr. Bevers suggests the drugs for women whose lifetime odds exceeds 20 percent. That could include, for example, a 55-year-old woman who began menstruating early (increasing the risk), had her first child late (again increasing the risk), and whose mother and sister got breast cancer. About half the time, though, women with that kind of risk turn down the drugs, Dr. Bevers said. “The No. 1 reason I hear is, ‘Oh, I just don’t like to take medications,’ ” she added.
Others, like Cecilia Anderson, who is 57 and lives in Houston, worry about side effects. “I felt like my quality of life was in question,” she said. “I am busy, I am out there. I totally love my life and don’t want it to be compromised.” Her lifetime risk of breast cancer is 20.5 percent, compared with an average risk of 9.8 percent for a woman her age. Ms. Anderson declined the drugs. “I live a different lifestyle,” she said. “I eat organic foods, I exercise. Through all of that comes a spiritual element as well. Mind, body, and spirit are all connected.”
Studies’ Complications
Then came the studies of finasteride and dutasteride for prostate cancer. The drugs block the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, a hormone that prostate cancers need to grow. They are on the market to shrink the prostate in older men, whose prostates often enlarge. (Finasteride is also sold to grow hair — but the dose is one-fifth the dose that shrinks prostates and that dose has not been tested for cancer prevention.) |
All file descriptors associated with an instance must be closed before the memory consumed by the watches and by inotify is freed.)
And that's it—powerful stuff given just three application program interface (API) calls and the simple, familiar "everything is a file" paradigm. Now, you're ready to move on to an example application.
Example application: Event monitoring
Listing 1 is a short C program for monitoring a directory for two events: file creation and file deletion.
Listing 1. A simple inotify application to monitor a directory for create, delete, and modify events
#include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <errno.h> #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/inotify.h> #define EVENT_SIZE ( sizeof (struct inotify_event) ) #define BUF_LEN ( 1024 * ( EVENT_SIZE + 16 ) ) int main( int argc, char **argv ) { int length, i = 0; int fd; int wd; char buffer[BUF_LEN]; fd = inotify_init(); if ( fd < 0 ) { perror( "inotify_init" ); } wd = inotify_add_watch( fd, "/home/strike", IN_MODIFY | IN_CREATE | IN_DELETE ); length = read( fd, buffer, BUF_LEN ); if ( length < 0 ) { perror( "read" ); } while ( i < length ) { struct inotify_event *event = ( struct inotify_event * ) &buffer[ i ]; if ( event->len ) { if ( event->mask & IN_CREATE ) { if ( event->mask & IN_ISDIR ) { printf( "The directory %s was created.
", event->name ); } else { printf( "The file %s was created.
", event->name ); } } else if ( event->mask & IN_DELETE ) { if ( event->mask & IN_ISDIR ) { printf( "The directory %s was deleted.
", event->name ); } else { printf( "The file %s was deleted.
", event->name ); } } else if ( event->mask & IN_MODIFY ) { if ( event->mask & IN_ISDIR ) { printf( "The directory %s was modified.
", event->name ); } else { printf( "The file %s was modified.
", event->name ); } } } i += EVENT_SIZE + event->len; } ( void ) inotify_rm_watch( fd, wd ); ( void ) close( fd ); exit( 0 ); }
The application creates an inotify instance with fd = inotify_init(); and adds one watch to monitor modifications, new files, and destroyed files in /home/strike, as specified by wd = inotify_add_watch(...). The read() method blocks until one or more alerts arrive. The specifics of the alert(s)—each file, each event—are sent as a stream of bytes; hence, the loop in the application casts the stream of bytes into a series of event structures.
You can find the definition of the event structure, a C struct, in the file /usr/include/sys/inotify.h., as shown in Listing 2.
Listing 2. Definition of an event structure
struct inotify_event { int wd; /* The watch descriptor */ uint32_t mask; /* Watch mask */ uint32_t cookie; /* A cookie to tie two events together */ uint32_t len; /* The length of the filename found in the name field */ char name __flexarr; /* The name of the file, padding to the end with NULs */ }
The wd field refers to the watch associated with the event. If you have more than one watch per inotify instance, you can use this field to determine how to proceed with further processing. The mask field is a set of bits that specifies what happened. Test each bit separately.
You use cookie to tie two events together, as when a file is moved from one directory to another. If and only if you are watching the source and destination directory, inotify generates two move events—one for the source and one for the destination—and ties the two together by setting cookie. To watch for a move, specify IN_MOVED_FROM or IN_MOVED_TO, or use the shorthand IN_MOVE, which watches for either. Use IN_MOVED_FROM and IN_MOVED_TO to test for event type.
Finally, name and len contain the file name (but not the path) and the length of the name of the file affected.
Build the sample application code
To build the code, change the directory /home/strike to your home directory, say, save the code to a file, and invoke the C compiler—typically, gcc on most Linux systems. Then, run the executable file, as shown in Listing 3.
Listing 3. Run the executable file
% cc -o watcher watcher.c %./watcher
With watcher running, open a second terminal window and use touch, cat, and rm to alter the contents of your home directory, as shown in Listing 4. After each experiment, restart your new application.
Listing 4. Use touch, cat, and rm
% cd $HOME % touch a b c The file a was created. The file b was created. The file c was created. %./watcher & % rm a b c The file a was deleted. The file b was deleted. The file c was deleted. %./watcher & % touch a b c The file a was created. The file b was created. The file c was created. %./watcher & % cat /etc/passwd >> a The file a was modified. %./watcher & % mkdir d The directory d was created.
Experiment with the other available watch flags. To catch changes to permissions, add IN_ATTRIB to the mask.
Tips for using inotify
You can also experiment with select(), pselect(), poll(), and epoll() to avoid blocking, which is useful if you want to monitor watches as part of a graphical application's main event processing loop or as part of a daemon that watches for other kinds of incoming connections. Simply add the inotify descriptor to the set of descriptors to monitor concurrently. Listing 5 shows a canonical form for select().
Listing 5. Canonical form for select()
int return_value; fd_set descriptors; struct timeval time_to_wait; FD_ZERO ( &descriptors ); FD_SET(..., &descriptors ); FD_SET ( fd, &descriptors );... time_to_wait.tv_sec = 3; time.to_waittv_usec = 0; return_value = select ( fd + 1, &descriptors, NULL, NULL, &time_to_wait); if ( return_value < 0 ) { /* Error */ } else if (! return_value ) { /* Timeout */ } else if ( FD_ISSET ( fd, &descriptors ) ) { /* Process the inotify events */... } else if...
The select() method pauses the program for time_to_wait seconds. However, if any activity occurs on any of the file descriptors in the set descriptors during that delay, execution resumes immediately. Otherwise, the call times out, allowing the application to do other processing, such as respond to mouse or keyboard events in a graphical user interface (GUI) tool.
Here are some other tips for inotify:
If a file or directory under observation is deleted, its watches are removed automatically (after a delete event is delivered, if appropriate).
If you're monitoring a file or directory on a file system that is unmounted, your watch receives an unmount event before all affected watches are deleted.
Add the IN_ONESHOT flag to the watch mask to set a one-time alert. After the alert is sent once, it is deleted.
flag to the watch mask to set a one-time alert. After the alert is sent once, it is deleted. To modify an event, provide the same pathname but a different mask. The new watch replaces the old one.
For all practical purposes, you're unlikely to run out of watches in any given inotify instance. However, you can run out of space in your event queue, depending on how often you process events. A queue overflow causes the IN_Q_OVERFLOW event.
event. The close() method destroys the inotify instance and all associated watches and empties all pending events in the queue.
The inotify programming interface is simple to use, but if you'd prefer not to write your own tool, open source provides a nice, flexible alternative. The Inotify-tools library (see Related topics below for a link) provides a pair of command-line utilities to monitor file system activity:
inotifywait simply blocks to wait for inotify events. You can monitor any set of files and directories and monitor an entire directory tree (a directory, its subdirectories, its sub-subdirectories, and so on). Use inotifywait in shell scripts.
simply blocks to wait for inotify events. You can monitor any set of files and directories and monitor an entire directory tree (a directory, its subdirectories, its sub-subdirectories, and so on). Use in shell scripts. inotifywatch collects statistics about the watched file system, including how many times each inotify event occurred.
As of this writing, the latest version of the inotify-tools library is version 3.13, released on 1 Jan 2008. There are two ways to install inotify-tools: You can download and build the software yourself, or you can install a collection of binaries using your Linux distribution's package manager, if a known repository contains inotify-tools. To do the latter on a Debian-based distribution, run apt-cache search inotify, and look for matching tools, as shown in Listing 6. On the example system I used to write this article, Ubuntu Desktop version 8.04, the tools are readily available.
Listing 6. Search for inotify-tools
% apt-cache search inotify incron - cron-like daemon which handles filesystem events inotail - tail replacement using inotify inoticoming - trigger actions when files hit an incoming directory inotify-tools - command-line programs providing a simple interface to inotify iwatch - realtime filesystem monitoring program using inotify libinotify-ruby - Ruby interface to Linux's inotify system libinotify-ruby1.8 - Ruby interface to Linux's inotify system libinotify-ruby1.9 - Ruby interface to Linux's inotify system libinotifytools0 - utility wrapper around inotify libinotifytools0-dev - Development library and header files for libinotifytools0 liblinux-inotify2-perl - scalable directory/file change notification muine-plugin-inotify - INotify Plugin for the Muine music player python-kaa-base - Base Kaa Framework for all Kaa Modules python-pyinotify - Simple Linux inotify Python bindings python-pyinotify-doc - Simple Linux inotify Python bindings % sudo apt-get install inotify-tools... Setting up inotify-tools.
Building the code is easy, though. Download the source; extract it; then configure, compile, and install it as shown in Listing 7. The entire process might take three minutes.
Listing 7. Building the code
% wget \ http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/inotify-tools/inotify-tools-3.13.tar.gz % tar zxvf inotify-tools-3.13.tar.gz inotify-tools-3.13/ inotify-tools-3.13/missing inotify-tools-3.13/src/ inotify-tools-3.13/src/Makefile.in... inotify-tools-3.13/ltmain.sh % cd inotify-tools.3.13 %./configure % make % make install
You're now ready to use the tools. For example, if you want to monitor your entire home directory for changes, run inotifywait. The simplest invocation is inotifywait -r -m, which recursively monitors its arguments ( -r ) and leaves the utility running after each event ( -m ):
% inotifywait -r -m $HOME Watches established.
Run another terminal window, and tinker with your home directory. Interestingly, even a simple directory listing with Is generates an event:
/home/strike OPEN,ISDIR
Read the inotifywait man page for options to restrict events to a specific list (use the -e event_name option repeatedly to create the list), and exclude matching files ( --exclude pattern ) from recursive watches.
Stay "inotified"
As apt-cache revealed above, there are other inotify-based utilities to consider adding to your bag of tricks. The incron utility is a corollary to cron but reacts to inotify events instead of a schedule. The inoticoming utility is specifically designed to monitor dropboxes. And if you're a Perl, Ruby, or Python developer, you can find modules and libraries to call inotify from the comfort of your favorite scripting language.
For instance, Perl coders can use Linux::Inotify2 (see Related topics for details) to embed inotify features in any Perl application. This code, taken from the Linux::Inotify2 README file, demonstrates a callback interface to monitor events, as shown in Listing 8.
Listing 8. A callback interface monitors events
use Linux::Inotify2; my $inotify = new Linux::Inotify2 or die "Unable to create new inotify object: $!"; # for Event: Event->io (fd =>$inotify->fileno, poll => 'r', cb => sub { $inotify->poll }); # for Glib: add_watch Glib::IO $inotify->fileno, in => sub { $inotify->poll }; # manually: 1 while $inotify->poll; # add watchers $inotify->watch ("/etc/passwd", IN_ACCESS, sub { my $e = shift; my $name = $e->fullname; print "$name was accessed
" if $e->IN_ACCESS; print "$name is no longer mounted
" if $e->IN_UNMOUNT; print "$name is gone
" if $e->IN_IGNORED; print "events for $name have been lost
" if $e->IN_Q_OVERFLOW; # cancel this watcher: remove no further events $e->w->cancel; });
Because everything in Linux is a file, you'll no doubt find countless uses for inotify watches.
So, the real question is, "Who watches the watches?"
Downloadable resources
Related topicsImage caption Tuition fees will rise in 2012
Universities in England are facing cuts of 12% - before funding changes linked to student fees come in, according to figures from their funding body.
Teaching and research funding is falling on average by 4%, while capital spending is more than halved.
Universities which focus on research do best, while newer ones which do more teaching fare worse.
Universities Minister David Willetts has said universities could have 10% more in cash terms by 2014.
England's 130 universities are learning learning how much they are being allocated in direct government funding, which is given through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce).
Overall, the grant for teaching has been cut by more than 8% and that for research by nearly 3% compared with last year. Capital spending is down by 58%.
Taking into account some special funding programmes which are ending, and the end of the one-year University Modernisation Fund, this brings the total to a 12.6% cut.
Almost all universities will experience a cut. Just one, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, will see a rise in its grant - 4.6% in cash terms, or 2.2% if an inflationary measure of 2.4% is taken into account.
'Challenging settlement'
On average, according to Hefce, universities will experience a cut in their "recurrent grant" (largely teaching and research) of about 4% (cash terms).
Hefce's chief executive Sir Alan Langlands said it was a "challenging settlement" for universities and that the grant had been distributed in a way designed to try to ensure a "smooth transition" to the new funding system being brought in in 2012.
That is when students in England, once they graduate, will have to pay tuition fees of between £6,000 and £9,000 a year.
Then, the government wants funds from the increased fees largely to replace direct government funding of courses.
It has pledged to protect research and science and maths-based subjects.
Exceptional universities that concentrate on teaching and widening participation have been told today that they are being left to scrap it out in an untried market place Sally Hunt, University and College Union
Sir Alan said: "Universities that don't lose out so much are those that benefit from the very modest nature of the cut in research funding, as opposed to the more significant cut in teaching funding."
He added that the university sector was on "fairly strong foundations", with good cash reserves and should be able to withstand the pressure. Universities had been preparing for the changes.
Amongst the biggest losers are Bishop Grossesteste University College, Lincoln, which will see its funding cut by 13.4% in cash terms, and 15.8% in real terms.
City University, London will see its funding reduced by 8.4% in cash terms (10.8% in real terms), while funding at the University for the Creative Arts is down 7.8% (10.2%).
Also seeing high real terms cuts are the Royal Academy of Music (7.9% in cash terms, 10.3% in real terms) and Sunderland University (6.4% in cash terms, 8.8% in real terms ).
Oxford's funding will be cut in real terms by 1%, while Cambridge University's will be cut by 3%.
Overall, only 30% of university income comes from Hefce, with universities raising other funds through research, student fees and their own business ventures.
Hefce also announced a further concentration of research funding on top-rated work.
'Uncertainty'
Professor Steve Smith, president of the vice-chancellors' umbrella group Universities UK, said: "The funding allocations announced today are the result of recent cuts of around £1 billion to universities' public funding, before the new tuition charges even begin to come into play.
"There remains a great a deal of uncertainty about funding over the coming years. The government must now provide more clarity on final plans for the 2012 system as soon as possible."
The University and College Union - which represents university lecturers - says the biggest losers are new city-based universities, with a strong focus on teaching and attracting students from groups which are under-represented in higher education.
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said it could be the "beginning of the end" for some departments and subjects.
"Exceptional universities that concentrate on teaching and widening participation have been told today that they are being left to scrap it out in an untried market place," she said.
"There's a real worry that some universities will not continue to offer excellent courses for the fear that they will not generate enough profit.
"We risk seeing arts and humanities courses and departments shut down and institutions that focus on widening participation being damaged."
Universities Minister David Willettts said: "Next year will be a year of transition to a new funding regime where more teaching funding will follow the choices of students.
"We recognise the vital role that higher education plays, which is why revenue funding for teaching and research in higher education could rise by nearly 10% in cash terms by 2014-15.
"These changes will support a more diverse sector, where the choices of informed students provide a drive towards high quality teaching and efficient use of resources."
Vice-Chancellor of City University, London, Professor Paul Curran said: "We would not welcome a cut, but City has a very low dependency on Hefce. That [overall Hefce funding] accounts for not more than 20% of our income because a third of our students are post graduates."
Professor Elaine Thomas, Vice-Chancellor of the University for the Creative Arts, said she was disappointed. The institution, which has several bases in the south of England, was experiencing "unprecedented high levels of applications", she said.
"As a specialist creative arts university we have been hit disproportionately by the impact of the cuts to university teaching grants. Demand is strong nationally for graduates in creative subjects, " she said.
"Even during the recession, the creative industries have continued to grow."There is an income buffer secret that really can make a huge difference when running a homestead. It is a very simple concept, but maybe hard for some people who are in the “live paycheck to paycheck” rut.
Income buffer secret
The secret is to arrange your budget so that you are only spending THIS month the income you brought in LAST month. What you have is a buffer that allows you to deal with fluctuations in your income stream – something that is typical of folks who rely on income from sales of homestead items and products.
Getting to this budget place may require forward planning. You may need to build your budget so each month over time you are putting aside some money until you have the month of income saved. Then you can start using that saved months worth of income to start the buffer process.
Another alternative is the use a tax return or some other payment to create your buffer.
If you are comfortable with spreadsheets this is something you can easily set up and follow using Excel or Numbers (Mac). I even cover how to do this in the Managing your homestead money eBook.
Some computer programs/websites exist that can help you in the process. They can cost you some money initially (like $60-$100), but can take out the heartache if you are not a “spreadsheet person”. You Need A Budget is just one, but there will be others.
Using the income buffer
Once you have a buffer, you will find that you can plan around drops in income that occur in the month you are spending.
For example, say last month your homestead and other activities brought in $2000. So this month you can adjust your budget to spend/save the $2000. Then during this month you only bring in $1500. Next month you can budget to spend/save the $1500…which means adjusting you budget down $500 from last months. That might seem tough – but you know EXACTLY how much money you have to spend/save…and not guessing….and so you can make sound decisions on where to save that $500.
This puts YOU in control ahead of time. The alternative is that you are guessing how much money you will bring in…and then when you don’t reach your target you are scrambling for ways to make up the shortfall…and the money is in charge of YOU!
Being in control is the key here – and an essential skill for a successful homestead.
For more advice, tips and tools to help you manage your homestead money, get our book “Manage your homestead money” (via Amazon)Bryan Fischer continues his one man crusade to prove that Todd Akin was right when he claimed that that women have a biological defense against pregnancy in the case of “legitimate rape” by pointing to an article in the Daily Mail that reports that “scientists [have] found that [women] with high levels of a stress hormone stop ovulating and are therefore unable to conceive.”
To Fischer, this is proof that Akin was right and so now he is calling out, by name, all those conservatives who have joined in the “mindless, freakish, frenzied forcible assault” on Akin by suggesting that he should drop out of his Senate race, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Sarah Palin for not standing with “Todd Akin and modern science” and instead siding with the “jackals” who are attacking him:The Marine Corps has announced an investigation into the identity of one of the men in the iconic Iwo Jima photograph, after amateur historians questioned the image and revealed a 70-year-old case of mistaken identity.
James Bradley, who wrote a book about the event and believed his father was one of the men, now says he thinks his father is not in the picture, Stars & Stripes reports.
Photographer Joe Rosenthal was awarded a Pulitzer Prize on May 7th 1945 for his picture of the Iwo Jima flag-raising pic.twitter.com/nw4YK6jGsB — Histi Pics (@HistiPics) May 3, 2016
The iconic photograph was taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal in February 1945, during the 36-day battle for the island in Japan. Rosenthal captured the second flag-raising of the day, after missing the first which took place earlier.
Five US Marines and one Navy sailor are seen raising the US flag on Mount Suribachi, on the island of Iwo Jima.
The men in the photo were identified as John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Harlon Block, Michael Strank, and Franklin Sousley.
The controversial photograph served as a propaganda tool for the US, sending the message that it was winning the war.
When the photograph was first published, the surviving men - John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes - were sent back to the States on a promotional tour to drum up war bonds. The image later became a symbol of victory and the Marines had it made into a statue at Arlington.
Iwo Jima Memorial located in Arlington, VA pic.twitter.com/F8pu9474vq — USA Bravery (@USABravery) March 5, 2016
Bradley’s book, Flags of our Fathers told the story of the battle and was made into a Clint Eastwood movie in 2006.
In 2010, the Marines released new photographs which showed his father was involved in the first flag raising. Bradley later edited the book to say his father was at both flag raisings, but amateur historians Stephen Foley from Ireland and Eric Krelle from Omaha discovered this was not the case.
Their findings were first published in the Omaha World Herald by Matthew Hansen in 2014, who described the find as “something that has apparently eluded military leaders, World War II experts, and historians for nearly seven decades.”
The man thought to be Bradley, who stands in the center of the image, is in fact Franklin Sousley, who was originally identified as being to Bradley’s left. The man who was thought to be Sousley is a previously unknown Marine named Harold Schultz, Hansen reports.
Foley first made the discovery in 2013 when he saw other photographs from that day and realized Bradley didn’t look like the man in the iconic image.
As he was recovering from surgery, he had time to study all of the available photographs online and discovered a number of differences in the uniform worn by the man in the flag-raising photograph as compared to other photographs of him.
Foley contacted Eric Krelle, who ran a website about the Marines. He was convinced by Foley’s research and began to search for the identity of the mystery man. His large collection of Marines memorabilia contained film footage of the raising, which he watched frame by frame. He was eventually able to identify the man as Schultz.
The two then reached out to historians, who weren’t interested in their discovery, but after Krelle contacted Hanson, the story was published in 2014.
When Hansen contacted Bradley’s son with the news, he was skeptical.
"So, you are telling me that there are all these witnesses, these survivors who come home, and nobody says anything, and then someone figures out it's different 70 years later, when they are all gone? I mean, come on," he said. Bradley refused to look at the research which was sent to him.
"Listen, I wrote a book based on facts told to me by guys who had actually been there. That's my research. That's what I trust," he told the reporter.
James Bradley, son of John Bradley & author of bestselling book "Flags of Our Fathers" now says his dad wasn't in famous flag raising photo. — Matthew Hansen (@redcloud_scribe) May 3, 2016
In an interview with the New York Times published on Tuesday, Bradley said he changed his mind last year after deciding to read the article Hansen had sent him in 2014.
However, Hansen reports Bradley told AP he was “shocked” the day before.
“This is unbelievable. I am interested in facts and truths, so that’s fine, but I don’t know what’s happening,” he said.
The Smithsonian has carried out months of research into the claims and is now working with the Marines as they review the information.
Marine Corps Statement on Iwo Jima Photo Review: pic.twitter.com/49ZO8jr9wV — U.S. Marines (@USMC) May 4, 2016
The jarheads released a statement Monday: “The Marine Corps is examining information provided by a private organization related to Joe Rosenthal’s Associated Press photograph of the second flag raising on Iwo Jima.”
The photograph was long dismissed as staged, as it depicts the raising of the second, larger flag that was taken from a ship and raised to replace the first flag later that day.
Marine photographer Louis Lowery had taken a number of images of the first flag raising, but they never received the same attention. Rosenthal captured the now-iconic photograph of the second flag when he reached the mountaintop.
@KySportsRadio@ryanlemond This is the 1st flag-raising photo on Mt. Suribachi, taken by SSgt Louis R. Lowery, USMC pic.twitter.com/8QZX5uI7DO — Steve Moody (@kyracer57) May 4, 2016
Hansen reflected on the discovery this week. “Only outsiders were willing to challenge that unchallengeable truth. Only they were willing to risk veering dangerously close to tinfoil hat territory,” Hanson wrote. “And because they did that, we have somehow gone from an Irishman on his couch, and an Omahan on his home computer late at night, to a Marine Corps investigation, a Smithsonian documentary, and the ‘Flags Of Our Fathers’ writer publicly doubting a foundational fact underlying his book.”
The Battle of Iwo Jima took place off the coast of Tokyo when 70,000 Marines and 18,000 soldiers fought in a bloody showdown which claimed the lives of more than 6,000 Americans and up to 18,000 Japanese.By Max Blumenthal, AlterNet
This piece originally ran on AlterNet.
MSNBC contributor Rula Jebreal’s on-air protest of the network’s slanted coverage of Israel’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip has brought media suppression of the Israel-Palestine debate into sharp focus. Punished for her act of dissent with the cancellation of all future appearances and the termination of her contract, Jebreal spoke to me about what prompted her to speak out and why MSNBC was presenting such a distorted view of the crisis.
“I couldn’t stay silent after seeing the amount of airtime given to Israeli politicians versus Palestinians,” Jebreal told me. “They say we are balanced but their idea of balance is 90 percent Israeli guests and 10 percent Palestinians. This kind of media is what leads to the failing policies that we see in Gaza.”
She continued, “We as journalists are there to afflict the comfortable and who is comfortable in this case? Who is really endangering both sides and harming American interests in the region? It’s those enforcing the status quo of the siege of Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank.”
Jebreal said that in her two years as an MSNBC contributor, she had protested the network’s slanted coverage repeatedly in private conversations with producers. “I told them we have a serious issue here,” she explained. “But everybody’s intimidated by this pressure and if it’s not direct then it becomes self-censorship.”
With her criticism of her employer’s editorial line, she has become the latest casualty of the pro-Israel pressure. “I have been told to my face that I wasn’t invited on to shows because I was Palestinian,” Jebreal remarked. “I didn’t believe it at the time. Now I believe it.”
An NBC producer speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed Jebreal’s account, describing to me a top-down intimidation campaign aimed at presenting an Israeli-centric view of the attack on the Gaza Strip. The NBC producer told me that MSNBC President Phil Griffin and NBC executives are micromanaging coverage of the crisis, closely monitoring contributors’ social media accounts and engaging in a “witch hunt” against anyone who strays from the official line.
“Loyalties are now being openly questioned,” the producer commented.
The suppression campaign culminated after Jebreal’s on-air protest during a July 21 segment on Ronan Farrow Daily.
“We are disgustingly biased on this issue. Look at how much airtime Netanyahu and his folks have on air on a daily basis, Andrea Mitchell and others,” Jebreal complained to Farrow. “I never see one Palestinian being interviewed on these same issues.”
When Farrow claimed that the network had featured other voices, Jebreal shot back, “Maybe for thirty seconds, and then you have twenty-five minutes for Bibi Netanyahu.”
Within hours, all of Jebreal’s future bookings were cancelled and the renewal of her contract was off the table. The following day, Jebreal tweeted: “My forthcoming TV appearances have been cancelled. Is there a connection to my expose and the cancellation?”
Jebreal is the author of Miral, a memoir about her coming of age in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Her former partner, Jewish-American filmmaker and artist Julian Schnabel, adapted the book into full length film. A widely published journalist and former news presenter in Italy, Jebreal was a vocal supporter of the now-extinct peace process and a harsh critic of Islamist groups including Hamas. Her termination leaves NBC without any Palestinian contributors.
According to the NBC producer, MSNBC show teams were livid that they had been forced by management to cancel Jebreal as punishment for her act of dissent.
At the same time, social media erupted in protest of Jebreal’s cancellation, forcing the network into damage control mode. The role of clean-up man fell to Chris Hayes, the only MSNBC host with a reputation for attempting a balanced discussion of Israel-Palestine. On the July 22 episode of his show, All In, he brought Jebreal on to discuss her on-air protest.
In introducing Jebreal, Hayes took on the role of the industry and network defender: “Let me take you behind the curtain of cable news business for a moment,” Hayes told his viewers. “If you appear on a cable news network, you trash that network and one of its hosts by name, on any issue — Gaza, infrastructure spending, sports coverage, funny internet cat videos — the folks at the network will not take kindly to it.”
In fact, MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough has publicly attacked fellow MSNBC hosts and slammed the network for its support for the Democratic Party.
“I did not think that i was stepping in a hornet’s nest,” Jebreal told me. “I saw Joe Scarborough criticizing the network. I thought we were liberal enough to stand self criticism.”
Yet when she appeared across from Hayes, Jebreal encountered a defensive host shielding his employers from her criticism. “We’re actually doing a pretty good job” of covering the Israel-Palestine crisis, Hayes claimed to her. “I think our network, and I think the New York Times and the media all around, have been doing a much better job on this conflict.”
Jebreal appeared on screen as a “Palestinian journalist” — her title as a MSNBC contributor had been removed. When she insisted that American broadcast media had not provided adequate context about the 8-year-long Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip or the roots of Palestinian violence, Hayes protested that he had wanted to host Hamas officials alongside the Israeli government spokespeople he routinely featured but that it was practically impossible.
“Not all Palestinians are Hamas,” Jebreal vehemently replied.
“Airtime always strikes me as a bad metric,” Hayes responded. “I mean there are interviews and then there are interviews. I had [Israeli government spokesman] Mark Regev on this program for 16 minutes, alright? That’s a very long interview but there was a lot to talk to him about.”
The NBC producer remarked to me that the network’s public relations strategy had backfired. Hayes’ performance was poorly received on social media while Jebreal appeared as another maverick journalist outcasted by corporate media for delivering uncomfortable truths.
For her part, Jebreal told me she was disturbed by Hayes’ comments. “I admire that Chris [Hayes] wanted to have me on but it seems like he was condoning what happened to me,” she said. “He was saying, ‘What do you expect? We rally around our stars.’ Well, I rally around reality, if that still matters in media.”
Jebreal continued: “I didn’t tell him this on air but I said, ‘I hope you don’t condone other things the network did, like what happened with Ayman.’”
Jebreal was referring to NBC correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin and his sudden removal by the network from the Gaza Strip. Mohyeldin, a rising star in the network and its only Arab-American reporter in the region, was an eyewitness to the Israeli killing of four young boys who had been playing soccer on a beach near Gaza City.
Moments after the killings, Mohyeldin relayed intimate accounts of the scene through Twitter, then released harrowing footage of the boys’ mother wailing as she learned of their deaths. Oddly, NBC correspondent Richard Engel was summoned to deliver Mohyeldin’s package that evening.
The NBC producer told me that the network was deluged with angry letters and phone calls from pro-Israel activists about Mohyeldin’s reporting.
Hours later, Mohyeldin’s summary of the US State Department’s statement defending Israel’s actions disappeared from his Facebook and Twitter accounts. He had apparently been forced to delete the postings. Next, NBC removed Mohyeldin from Gaza, sending him out of the area on the first plane available.
To replace Mohyeldin, NBC dispatched Engel, a veteran foreign correspondent well-liked by top brass and regarded as the network’s “star.” Engel was the keynote speaker at a 2013 event at the Newseum in Washington DC honoring journalists killed that year. Under Israel lobby pressure, the Newseum had removed the names of three Palestinian journalists killed in targeting Israeli strikes during the November 2012 assault on Gaza, accepting claims by anti-Palestinian groups like the Anti-Defamation League that their employment by Hamas-affiliated outlets rendered them enemy combatants. During his speech, Engel carefully avoided condemning the Newseum for its capitulation.
The removal of Mohyeldin sparked an international backlash, with tens of thousands from around the world protesting the decision through viral Twitter hashtags like, #LetAymanReport and #FreeAyman. Two days later, an apparently chastened NBC returned Mohyeldin to the Gaza Strip, but the damage had been done.
Unwilling to explain its unusual actions, NBC left it up to media critics to guess at its motives. CNN Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter chalked up the removal of Mohyeldin to “infighting and bureaucracy,” claiming that NBC was concerned primarily with ratings. Glenn Greenwald, the editor-in-chief of the The Intercept, wrote |
ff’s boasts are true, the longtime lawyer has come a long way since 1951. That’s when his parents, Ann and Victor, fled Communist China, where his grandfather owned a vodka distillery, with $50, two rugs and 2-year-old Sandy, according to Ann’s obituary. The Zaitzeff video was recorded on or around Oct. 25, 2016, according to court documents. Twoof the sexual assaults had allegedly occurred the night before. Another allegedly occurred two nights after. None of the victims can be named because of publication bans on their identities. Zaitzeff had been grieving his son’s death two years earlier, said a man who answered the door at another of Zaitzeff’s houses and who identified himself as “Guy.” The man said he was asked to look after the house for Zaitzeff. In June 2014, Sandy Zaitzeff Jr., then 33 years old, was on crutches, hobbled by a broken ankle, when he slipped and fell while getting a snack from the fridge, suffered a severe head injury and died instantly, the obituary said. Visibly distraught in the video, Zaitzeff shakes his head and breathes deeply as though to regain his composure, then says: “I have PT f-----g SD. Why? Because my son died.” He cries. “That’s a big f-----g event, in anybody’s f-----g life!” His lawyer, Hutchison, told the Star: “There is no doubt that Sandy has experienced tragedy in his life and like few other persons has suffered enormous pain. It would be profoundly unfair and cruel if that pain were now somehow used as an excuse to vilify him.” Zaitzeff has a drinking problem, says a lawsuit filed by his former law partner. The alleged sex assault victim interviewed by the Star said Zaitzeff prefers expensive vodka. At one point during the bizarre video, Zaitzeff takes off his black T-shirt and raises his arms to reveal what look like bruises around his midsection. “Watch the bruises on me,” he says. “That’s only half my f-----g body … They took me down. I’m not going to say who. I’m not going to press charges. I don’t want that. I just want the world to f-----g know they took me down, they kicked me around and now I have absolute f-----g proof that they tried to fraud (sic) me. They have a forged f-----g will, where, where, where, they claim, they allege, I left my fortune … to them.”
Heli Kijanen is the woman in the YouTube video facing Zaitzeff as he gets on his knees and asks her to marry him.
The YouTube video — it is not known who uploaded it — is titled “Sandy Zaitzeff in what seems like a rather shady production.” In the video, it appears to be nighttime, and Hobbs is shown sitting with others, including a woman introduced as one of Zaitzeff’s lawyers and a man named Gerald, who tends to his houses, lawns and cars. Hobbs is heard cracking a joke; he seems relaxed, but otherwise says little. Hobbs told the Star this week, “I am not (Zaitzeff’s) friend.” In March, as Zaitzeff sat in jail, Hobbs sued the lawyer, detailing how their relationship had soured. Based on Hobbs’ statement of claim, it seems that some time after the video was recorded, Hobbs may have been involved in building the sexual assault case against Zaitzeff. Hobbs’ $950,000 defamation claim suggests the video was posted as retaliation. Zaitzeff, the suit alleges, told the mayor he would “submarine and bury him as a result of Mayor Keith Hobbs indicating that he would be contacting the police with information concerning serious allegations of sexual impropriety.” The first charges were laid against Zaitzeff on Nov. 21. After a text from Zaitzeff saying the mayor “would regret the day that he was born,” the video was uploaded, the lawsuit alleges. The suit was filed against both Zaitzeff and Kijanen, as Hobbs said he believes one or the other posted the video. Though the lawsuit does not make it clear exactly how he has been defamed, Hobbs said he has been “held up to ridicule, contempt and hatred by the public,” his personal and professional reputation has been “severely damaged” and his prospects for another term “impaired.” Hobbs is not the only prominent Thunder Bay resident to claim Zaitzeff hurt his career. At the same time as the mayor’s lawsuit was filed, Chris Watkins, a former law partner of Zaitzeff, alleged breach of contract and “purposeful infliction of emotional harm” in a $28-million lawsuit. The suit claimed that over several years, Zaitzeff took Watkins’ clients and made a false report to the law society that Watkins forged signatures on legal documents. Watkins said that in 2011, he agreed to work with the “washed up” and “retired old lawyer” to jointly pursue class action cases. He claimed Zaitzeff took control of three cases that Watkins says his firm was instrumental in developing, including the RCMP suit, then froze out Watkins and left him, his firm and family “abused, broke and bereft,” the suit alleges. Watkins said Zaitzeff’s behaviour was possibly driven by “drinking and alcoholism” and “malice, greed, (and) mental health issues.” The lawsuit also alleges Zaitzeff threatened Watkins’ life, telling others he would “take him out.” “(Zaitzeff) had hired a highly trained CDN military person with war service and placed him on his payroll during the relevant period,” the lawsuit claims. Meanwhile, Zaitzeff has hired Marie Henein’s law firm, which represented former radio star Jian Ghomeshi, to deal with his considerable and lurid list of charges.
Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs sued Zaitzeff, detailing how their relationship had soured. Based on Hobbs’ statement of claim, it seems that some time after the video was recorded, Hobbs may have been involved in building the sex assault case against Zaitzeff. ( Randy Risling )
Those include four counts of assault; eight counts of sexual assault; and one count each of sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, mischief under $5,000 for allegedly damaging a door, breach of recognizance, unauthorized possession of a firearm and improper storage of a firearm, according to court documents. The gun charges stem from a police visit to one of Zaitzeff’s houses on Nov. 20, when an officer allegedly found two 12-gauge shotguns and a semi-automatic rifle, all allegedly unlicensed. His law offices have been cleared out, said a receptionist who works in the same building, and his licence to practise law has been suspended. Zaitzeff did not tell the Law Society of Upper Canada about his charges, the regulator said. As a condition of his bail, Zaitzeff had to give up his passport, cannot drink or buy liquor, and was ordered to attend the Bellwood addiction treatment centre in Toronto. He recently returned from Bellwood to Thunder Bay and is living with a friend who posted bail. Zaitzeff is allowed to visit his cottage on nearby Amethyst Harbour in the company of one of the two people who bailed him out of jail. It was at the cottage, on the night of Oct. 2, 2000, that Zaitzeff’s wife Marilyn, then 50, was last seen, reportedly leaving the cottage and getting on her Sea-Doo around 9 p.m. By 11 p.m., Sandy Zaitzeff had called 911 and the coast guard. He and Marilyn had been alone in the house that night, the OPP said. Marilyn Zaitzeff was a physical fitness enthusiast who often rode her Sea-Doo, sometimes at night and sometimes without a life-jacket or wetsuit. On that night, she was reportedly not wearing a wetsuit, and no life-jackets were missing from the cottage, according to the OPP, which investigated the case at the time. The waters, shoreline and neighbouring islands were searched, and the next morning the Sea-Doo was found a kilometre away, overturned in the water not far from shore. The Sea-Doo was “undamaged, inspected to be mechanically sound and had a third of a tank of gas,” according to the OPP. While Marilyn is presumed drowned, OPP Det. Supt. Dave Truax told the Star: “This is an open missing person investigation where the individual has not been located.” “At the time, the circumstances were deemed suspicious, yet there was no evidence of foul play,” added Truax, who is the head of OPP criminal investigations. Zaitzeff’s lawyer Hutchison said his client is “a respected lawyer, has battled the loss of his beloved son, addiction issues and health issues. He will answer these charges in court at the appropriate time and continue to work towards his own wellness.”If you want to start a business, the World Bank says you’d be better off in Canada than setting up shop here in the United States, where mind-numbing government regulations smother entrepreneurs.
That was true, anyway, before Donald Trump became president. In his address to Congress last week, Trump announced that a “historic effort to massively reduce job-crushing regulations” is under way. In a mere six weeks, Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have rolled back 90 regulations.
And they’re just getting started.
Business leaders are cheering. “Relief is finally on the way,” says Thomas J. Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce.
While the media obsess about Russian conspirators, people who actually make things for a living — whether burgers, bridges or buildings — see that the real story unfolding in Washington, DC, is the unprecedented pace of deregulation. It’s helping to fuel the stock market’s record-shattering optimism. And just in the nick of time.
By every measure, the United States has been sinking into economic mediocrity over the last decade because of excessive regulation.
When Barack Obama took office in 2009, the United States ranked third among all nations as a place to do business. Since then it has plummeted to eighth, according to the World Bank. Why? Eight years ago, it took 40 days to get a construction permit in the United States. Today, it’s double that.
Regulatory overkill started long before Obama. But Donohue calls the last eight years a “regulatory onslaught that loaded unprecedented burdens on business and the economy.”
The Heritage Foundation, which grades nations on economic freedom, now puts the US 17th in the world, our lowest-ever ranking. That’s below Chile, and former Soviet states like Estonia, Lithuania and Georgia.
Government bureaucrats here are choking us with compliance costs. Small businesses get hit hardest, because they lack legal departments and market clout to maneuver around the rules.
Unreasonable government regulations are second only to the cost of health insurance as the biggest challenge facing small businesses, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
And we have ObamaCare to thank for both. Restaurateurs nationwide face 622,000 hours of work to comply with new menu-labeling rules. Physicians have to report 18 different clinical measurements on the patients they see or get whacked with penalties.
ObamaCare imposes almost three times as much paperwork on businesses as the notoriously complex Dodd-Frank financial regulations did, and more than 10 times as much as the Sarbanes-Oxley financial reform. The impending repeal of ObamaCare’s employer mandate will liberate companies to start hiring again.
On the campaign trail, candidate Trump’s pledge to repeal ObamaCare and “cut regulations massively” resonated. People struggling to operate businesses were seething with anger at how government regulators compel them to spend hours filling out paperwork and constantly changing their hiring and compensation practices. It’s a colossal theft.
Now, as president, Trump is following through: He’s appointing watchdogs for every federal agency to identify and cut any job-killing rules. He has also ordered agencies to dump two regulations for every new one added. And he’s working with congressional Republicans to undo the reams of last-minute regulations Obama added in his final days in office.
Deregulation will be key to a timely rollout of Trump’s infrastructure plan. Otherwise, it will be delay after delay. Big highway and bridge projects often require up to a decade of regulatory and environmental review and permitting before construction begins. These delays would thwart Trump’s plan to use such spending to jump-start the economy.
Investors are banking on Trump meeting his target to get the nation’s economy growing at 3 percent again, a rate not seen for years. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hurtled across the 21,000 mark for the first time ever.
The soaring market reflects expectations that Trump will slash corporate taxes. But investors are also buoyed by the pace of deregulation. Call it the biggest tax cut of all.
Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.Loose lips sink more than ships. When Laurence Mok swore at Tanya Sweeting and told her that he was tired of looking at her ugly face, the last thing that he expected was a lawsuit, let alone having to pay hefty damages.
A plastic surgeon based in Peterborough, Ont., Dr. Mok ran a small but busy office in which Sweeting was the key nurse and office manager. She performed both jobs so well over a 22-year period that Mok viewed her as indispensable.
But the dual demands took a toll on Sweeting. Secretarial assistance was not consistent and she began to feel overworked. Her husband called Dr. Mok’s wife, threatening to pull her out. Although Mrs. Mok pitched in at the office, Sweeting was still staying late and working through lunch.
Nonetheless, Sweeting was prepared to continue with Dr. Mok until he retired, a vague possibility he alluded to on occasion. She enjoyed the job and earned income greater that what was available elsewhere.
In the interim, Dr. Mok directed Sweeting to look into electronic medical recording or EMR with a view to moving into a paperless, fully computerized office. Although he broached the subject three times with her, Sweeting took no action, angering him.
A brief meeting ensued, in which Dr. Mok upbraided Sweeting about the EMR delay. Sweeting asked him why he wanted to take it on so close to retirement, noting its expense. Dr. Mok erupted in a profanity-laced fury, waving his arms in the air and slamming books on the desk.
He accused her of being resistant to change. Sweeting protested that she simply didn’t have the time. Dr. Mok told her to get out and that he was sick and tired of coming into the office and looking at her ugly face.
Sweeting left the meeting in tears, never to return and sued for constructive dismissal.
Dr. Mok’s defence was that this one inappropriate incident in 22 years was insufficient for Sweeting to regard herself as constructively dismissed. Justice Myrna Lack of the Ontario Superior Court disagreed — as did the Ontario Court of Appeal. Dr. Mok had a duty to treat his long-term employee with dignity and civility. His behaviour and hostility was so egregious that Sweeting had a right to treat the employment agreement as repudiated and not await a formal termination. The trial judge’s award of 24 months of pay was similarly upheld.
The message from our courts is unequivocal — the days of the omnipotent boss terrorizing staff with impunity are over.
Employers can take the following steps to reduce the risks of managerial misconduct:
1. Mandate a policy on respect and dignity wherein management commits itself to respectful treatment of staff in the workplace. That message must permeate the organizational culture.
2. Deal with offenders: Employees who know that their management will take disciplinary action are likely to behave properly.
3. Empower staff: Employees who are being improperly berated should be aware of their ability to withdraw from the situation without penalty.
4. Require an apology: any manager who misconducts themselves should be compelled to apologize to the offended employee.
5. Follow up on any incident: Dr. Mok did not contact Sweeting after her departure. The court considered this a factor in reinforcing Sweetman’s view that she had been effectively terminated. Had he done so, the conclusion to that relationship may not have ended in court.
Howard Levitt is senior partner of Levitt LLP, employment and labour lawyers. He practises employment law in eight provinces. Employment Law Hour with Howard Levitt airs Sundays at 1 p.m. on Newstalk 1010 in Toronto.
hlevitt@levittllp.com
Twitter.com/HowardLevittLawby Speer-Williams – [email protected]
Donald Trump’s oft repeated campaign promise to build a wall is not only not advisable, it’s a bad idea.
The American Secret-Shadow Government is largely composed of foreign central bankers, their sixteen American intelligence agencies, and major media outlets in the United States and Europe.
Acting as a hostile “government,” this cult has been well united in opposing President Trump’s every political move. They excoriate Mr. Trump while always exempting themselves of any guilt for their countless crimes; nevertheless, their demonic acts are palpable in their evilness. Their idolatry of money, power, and supremacy has never known any bounds – never has enough been anywhere near enough for them. One does not expect the gospel from these bankers, but some common sense would be appreciated. They strive for a world filled with cruel pimps and hapless harlots and “to hell” with wholesome, healthy, and affluent American families.
Their blasphemies against God’s sacrament of holy matrimony are sufficient to define them as the heathens they are. And there is nothing that gives these anti-Americans more grist for their subversion mills than Trump’s campaign promise of building a 35 to 40 foot high wall along the 1,954 miles of our border with Mexico.
In this case the anti-Americans are right, but for the wrong reasons. The mass hysteria of their street seditionaries, however, is about to become alarming.
The meritorious of our world are demonized, silenced, fired, voted out of office, or often assassinated.
The bankers and their minions survive; and they do not want the best for either Mexico or America.
Their long-term goal, apparently, is universal chaos, and the very prospect of building a huge wall along our Mexican border is loaded with various opportunities for them to cause havoc inside and outside of government.
Currently, those in the shadows are biding their time, but they are ready to spring full length on Trump and his administration, once plans for the border wall develop toward implementation. And then they will have plenty of muck and sludge in which to cover Trump and further divide our nation.
Sadly President Trump’s idea of a border wall was poorly thought out. The concept seemed to serve him well as campaign rhetoric, but it is there that all of its usefulness ceased. From here forward, talk or action toward building the wall will only damage Donald Trump and the American people he has vowed to help.
On the campaign trail, candidate Trump said he would get the Mexican government to pay for the wall, which regrettably was another poorly regarded assertion.
I do not believe there is a single high-level Mexican leader who would agree to paying for the wall, as surely that would amount to political suicide for them.
Candidate Trump also said if the Mexican government did not readily agree to paying for the wall, he would levy a tax on the money Mexican immigrants sent home to their families.
What Trump, and his team, never calculated was Western Union is not the only way to transfer funds around the world. More and more, Bitcoin, and other digital forms of currency, are being used by those who wish to send money to their families in Mexico. Transferring money by digital means is not only faster than Western Union, bitcoins are difficult to block by any government.
I have also heard of a service some Mexican immigrants are using that allows them to send money home via ATM machines, with the funds arriving as pesos.
While campaigning, Trump also said if Mexico refused to pay for the wall, he would put a tax on the goods America imported from Mexico. And since US imports from Mexico exceed our exports to that country, it would make for a double win.
Again candidate Trump and his team failed to realize an important fact: as president, Mr. Trump could not raise border tariffs; he would have to convince Congress to do that for him, which would prove unlikely.
Few senators or congressmen would go on record as having voted to raise the price of food for American consumers, as voting to increase tariffs on imported goods and foodstuffs would cause.
Since former President Obama doubled our national debt, there are less Americans than ever who can afford an increase in food prices.
But how can President Trump walk away from a promise he made to the American people, hundreds of times, and not lose face and more importantly his hard-won credibility.
A far superior idea as to how to prevent illegal migration should do the trick.
What is that “far superior” idea? It’s coming, but first learn of some plausible reasons why the border wall concept should be put into our national rearview mirror.
We can ill afford to take on such a wall-building project while so much of our US infrastructure is falling into decay.
Former Democratic Senator from New York, Daniel Moynihan, said
Everyone is entitled to their own
opinions,
but everyone is not entitled to their
own facts.
The American people who ignore the following facts will do so at the peril of us all.
Please keep in mind no nation can prosper with an infrastructure that is failing.
As a corollary, no nation on Earth can prosper with the measure of irresponsible spending, in which the American government has long engaged.
One of the few ways a country can succeed economically, even with wild government spending, is to build and maintain enough useful infrastructure projects that bring a healthy return on investment.
You see, over-budget government spending creates inflation, but the production of goods and services (which worthwhile infrastructure projects help to create) reduces inflation. And hyperinflation is to those who have experienced it the most unfortunate of all possible economic worlds – just ask the people of Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia, or Nicaragua.
We should never raise our debt ceiling without first cutting our spending; that, however, would require responsible political leaders.
Our federal government has continually flirted with runaway inflation ever since allowing the European central bankers to issue our currency and credit in 1913.
A hundred US dollars in 1912 is today worth over $2,400. Will Americans have to suffer the fate of the German Weimar Republic in order to learn the lessons of responsible government?
Probably!
Our first and most obvious need for money is the unbelievable cost associated with the repairing of our 87,000 dams across America.
Those 87,000 dams have an average of fifty years of deferred maintenance, which must mean any one of them could fail at any time. *
*In 2009, the National Dam Safety Program and FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) declared that more than 1,800 US dams were “high hazard dams,” the failure of any could be catastrophic in terms of human and animal lives lost and infrastructure/agriculture destroyed.
The Association of State Dam Safety Officials has estimated the cost of repairing the most deficient dams to exceed $50 billion. The cost to repair our remaining 85,200 dams is of course in the billions of dollars.
Well-functioning dams are the positive additions to our national infrastructure, as they not only save lives, but produce electricity, feed agriculture, and provide life-giving water to our cities – vital benefits a border wall cannot yield.
The proposed border wall is much like all the bombs we have used to kill so many innocent people; they provide no return on investment – that is unless you believe the long spouted lie that those bombs are ensuring our national security.
But would we not be a fool of a nation to spend trillions of our dollars destroying other countries’ infrastructures, when we could use that money to restore our own crumbling infrastructure?
Today, America needs those trillions of dollars to repair our energy and transit systems, our ports and airports, our dams and levees, our schools, our inland waterways, our wastewater and solid waste disposal systems, our highways, railways, and bridges, our hazardous waste disposal, and our clean drinking water, so vital to life. *
*According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, nearly 56,000 of our bridges are now “structurally deficient.”
Our airports are on par with third-world countries. We do not have a single airport included in the top twenty-five in the world.
Our highways are so crowded we lose approximately 101 billion dollars a year in wasted time and fuel.
According to the US Department of Transportation over two-thirds of our roads are in alarming need of repairs or upgrades.
No national economy can improve without an adequate infrastructure. Bloomberg has stated that by 2025 our lack of infrastructure investment will cost us almost as much as four trillion dollars from our national gross domestic product.
Our American electrical-power grid is defenseless against an electromagnetic pulse attack, which is strange since hardening and protecting our power sources from an enemies’attack is relatively cheap.
No thanks goes to our last US president, Mr. Barack Obama, as his legacy is the almost ten trillion dollars he authorized in bombing and destroying infrastructures and the lives of millions of children, women, and men instead of giving even a casual thought concerning our dying American infrastructure.
A border wall could, at best, stop only about one-half of the illegal aliens pouring into our country. The other half come through legally as tourists, with passports, at airports and border crossings and then stay put when their visas expire.
Another wistful idea amongst the wishful thinkers is a border wall would eliminate the flow of drugs into our country. There is not even a slim chance of that as long as the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) continues with its current arsenal of traitors in office.
Google: The Mena (Arkansas) Airport Connection: Bush, Clinton, and the CIA.
The Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport in Arkansas long served as a major pick up and drop off location for illegal drug shipments, handled by Bush I, Bill Clinton, and the CIA.
Wall or no wall, the heavy flow of dangerous drugs will continue to flood the United States, unless John Kennedy’s foremost wish is realized.
Illegal immigrant and illegal drugs are clearly two different problems requiring two different solutions.
Our Peaceful Divide
The Rio Grande River separates Texas from Mexico. We cannot very well build that part of the wall in the river, so where should it be built? In Mexico? Would the Mexican government agree to that?
Should the wall be built north of the river? Would such a wall cause environmental damage that would send the US media into ravingly mad spats of outrage?
Would the wall block water from draining into the Rio Grande River, causing that waterway to dry up?
How would wildlife animals be able to survive?
Would we ignore our Endangered Species Act? And what about all of our Environmental Protection statutes?
Moreover, the wall probably could not be finished during President Trump’s four-year term … if he lasts in office for four years.
It took over thirty years for us to complete our first coast-to-coast Interstate Highway (I-80 from California to New Jersey), which was built over a much friendlier and populated terrain than the deserts and mountains between the US and Mexico. Building the wall would require work camps and new lengthy roads to be built, all expensive time consumers.
This great wall might not be built within eight years, assuming Mr. Trump serves two four-year terms.
So what then?
Would the new president push to complete the wall? Would he pressure Congress for the funds to maintain the wall and the large three-shifts of staffs needed to police it with airplanes and SUVs, while the media for four or eight years has been braying “It’s a Wall of Shame.”
Yes, the wall is a bad idea, but there is an excellent solution any one of my readers can pass up the line to President Trump, which he is free to take as his own idea.
Our Best Southern Border Solution!
All solutions should be win-win propositions.
A strong bi-lateral agricultural and economic agreement between America and Mexico could obviate the need for further diplomatic discussions concerning a border wall and put a final end to the border crossings of millions of illegal aliens, without putting up a wall.
First, our Border Police must again be given the authority to turn back illegal aliens, the very power the US border guards lost during Mr. Obama’s administration.
Secondly, a notice to all should be given that within six weeks all welfare benefits, schooling, and driver’s licenses to illegals aliens will be discontinued.
Then with less money than what millions of untrained, unskilled, uneducated, and poor immigrants (some diseased) would cost us to support in our country, we could turn the border towns of Cuidad Juarez, Nogales, Tijuana, Mexicali, and others into sparkling cities of great economic resurgence, with the bonus of an increase in jobs for Americans.
A wall along our southern border is a negative concept and blights the landscape. Let us reach out a helping hand to our neighbors to the south, rather than a slap in their face.
Instead of building a border wall (that could imprison Americans), we need to eliminate all welfare given to illegal immigrants. It is not job opportunities that drive so many illegals into America; it is our endless parade of financial aid packages given to those who have knowingly broken our laws.
For some time our great nation has faced a long-term budgetary deficit and crisis. Should we risk the significantly ever mounting, lifetime, social-welfare costs of the ever-increasing influx of illegal aliens?
Additionally, we should provide no legal processes for illegal aliens, no trials, nothing but deportation for illegals.
There is a far better way, a more humane way, to solve our illegal immigration problem, and that is to make the vast expanse of desert between the US and Mexico bloom with farm crops, for miles on both sides of the border.
The Great American-Mexican
Farm Lands
To the west of the American-Mexican border is the Pacific Ocean; to the east is the Gulf of Mexico. Along both of these mighty bodies of water could be erected freshwater desalination plants. It seems logical to think such works could pump almost unlimited amounts of fresh water to stations along the international border.
Perhaps more important are the estimated thirty-six underground freshwater aquifers that are thought to exist from one end of the border to the other – the most prominent being the Hueco Bolson, Mesilla Bolson, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz aquifers.
There certainly seems to be enough water beneath the desert sands on both sides of the US and Mexican border (and in the Pacific and Atlantic waters) to cultivate enough food crops to feed the world indefinitely.
The solution to poverty is the vast production of goods and services people need or want, not welfare handouts.
Fresh water desalination plants and water wells are infinitely more productive than a gigantic border wall.
Such a magnificent underground river has already been created in Libya …
The Great Man-Made River.
Libyans called it their Eighth Wonder of the World, which it was until the underground river drew the attention of the ruling International Bankers. These controllers of mankind had their puppets in the government of America (namely Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton) bomb the waterworks, making the incredible claim they were merely freeing the Libyans of their “terrible dictator,” Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
So the Great Libyan Man-Made River miracle was destroyed. And with it went the dream of making the Libyan deserts green, and for the first time in history providing clean drinking water for all Libyan citizens.
And perhaps such a project for the US and Mexico would be defeated, as the controlling autocrats of our world have a largely undisclosed plan to gain a monopoly on the world’s fresh water supply, as they control almost everything else.
Still, in theory, such a water supply between America and Mexico could provide both countries thousands of farming and agricultural related jobs, plus all the spin-off vocations, trades, and professions such an epic and Herculean enterprise as hundreds of thousands of fertile farming acres would attract.
The Mexican border towns of Tijuana, San Luis, Nogales, Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, and Acuña would prosper and grow, enticing many illegal aliens in America back into Mexico.
The sale of so much food to the world would give America and Mexico each a favorable balance of trade and make both countries amongst the most prosperous in the world.
Granted, it would be infinitely more difficult to bring about hundreds of thousands of acres of productive farmland along the US Mexican border than to build a wall along that border, but the rewards would be infinitely greater.
This project could get started during Trump’s presidency, as perhaps an overture, or an introduction to something far more substantial in the future. And if it did, it could secure Mr. Trump’s place in history as maybe our greatest president in modern times.
The rewards for mankind of developing such an expanse of fruitful agriculture would be hard to estimate. Moreover, such a project would serve as a model for the bilateral relationships between neighboring nations across the world.
Peace on earth, good will toward men, and prosperity for every human being, however, is the last thing the savage bankers of our world want; they want an earth of failed states that they can collapse into their globalistic* One World tyranny.
*America’s unconstitutional left turn from our traditional isolationism (nationalism) to our self-defeating interventionism around the world has cost mankind millions of deaths and immeasurable destruction, in just our two world wars.
The American government was taken over by the banking warmongers, even before Woodrow Wilson’s presidency. Today that control has expanded to incalculable bounds and is reflected in what President Trump calls the swamp.
No matter what sob story you hear from the major news media, the sub rosa itinerary of the cartel of bankers includes making the United States and the European countries the inclusive catch-alls for the diseased, the illiterates, the psychotics, and the criminals from sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Central/South America, and Mexico.
Have you noticed the media pathos for humanity, so prevalent during the refugee floods into Europe, which was absent when the US/NATO war machines were creating charred bodies with their white phosphorus-DU (Depleting Uranium*) bombs?
*Depleted uranium is a calculated misnomer, as DU is not depleted, and will not be for billions of years. DU bombs have long been classified by the United Nations as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
The innocent citizens of the Middle East have been forced to endure the increased dangers of cancer, birth defects, and other diseases because of the DU munitions expended by the US/NATO air forces and ground troops.
The half life of DU is four and a half billion years, with no known way of cleaning it up.
DU also affects our own ground troops and is thought to be the reason for our terrible Gulf War Syndrome.
Over 200,000 returning Gulf War veterans came down with a multi-symptom illness thought to be related to DU.
Where were the photos of children, who had been burnt alive? Where were the mainstream videos of screaming mothers clutching their charred and burning little ones to their breasts?
Where was the media’s sympathy for those who deserved it? Are we to assume the mainstream media’s owners and controllers are mad-dog warmongers? Yes!
We were not supposed to know of the horrors committed by Western bombs, as the repulsions of decent people could have ended the mass carnage of innocent, men, women, and children. We are to only heed the sick, maudlin media messages that end by telling us again and again …
Support the removal of all immigration barriers to Western nations or you are a racist, Islamophobic, Nazi, fascist, homophobic, xenophobic, nationalist, isolationist, hater, and a deplorable.
Does CNN send you into a state of high dudgeon? I hope so.
The Luciferian bankers and their thousands of demons in the media, government, education, and all walks of life will ignorantly, or from malice, continue to scream and dance with the devil while continuing their insane support of sanctuary cities and anything else that is counterproductive to our culture, our families, our society, our country, and our world.
But what these minions of the masters of discord, disunity, and division will productively be doing is pointing to themselves, while professing either their ignorance or their evil intentions.
Such misguided souls will bring up complications as to why the most basic implementation of the above win-win proposals will not work. That is to be expected, as their game has been and will remain to be obfuscation and obstruction, with no concern of how that damages our nation or our world.
Remember, our enemies are easy enough to recognize if we will but look and listen; and, knowing who our enemies are is necessary for victory.
When do societies fall?
When speech becomes violence, and violence becomes speech.
As Stefan Molyneux has quoted, “Hard times breed strong men. Strong men breed good times. Good times breed weak men. Weak men breed bad times.”
It is now time for strong men to act or we will have bad times for many generations – perhaps centuries – to come.
Be an American:
Speak Truth to Power!THE allied attacks on IS in Iraq and Syria will force the organisation to unite with al-Qaeda, resulting in a potentially nightmare scenario for the west, a terror expert has predicted.
The Fiscal Times quoted Iraqi writer Hisham al-Hashimi, who says the rhetoric between the two groups has softened markedly since they split apart in February.
“The attacks by the United States and her allies will unite the two groups,” al-Hashimi said.
“I have been monitoring al-Qaeda’s leaders’ rhetoric towards [IS leader] al-Baghdadi. They are getting softer and softer …. The Islamic State, regardless of how big or small it becomes, will come back to its mother: al-Qaeda,” he added.
Already there are signs of unification between the two groups.
Back in June, the UK Telegraph reported that al-Qaeda’s Syrian offshoot al-Nusra had pledged its loyalty to IS at a strategic point on the Iraqi/Syrian border.
RELATED: IS fighters capture headquarters
RELATED: The horror engulfing Kobane
And in another ominous move, the Pakistani Taliban has vowed to send fighters to help IS, even though its formal ally is al-Qaeda and not the Islamic State group.
“We will keep on sending Mujahideen to help IS militants. We completely support them, because we think that this organisation was made to serve Islam,” said Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The Pakistani Taliban “are less popular than Daesh (ISIS) is in Pakistan, |
as a dominant choice in large-seat regions, the math works poorly for Conservative incumbents. Increasingly we need to be watching the races in BC, Ontario and Quebec, as each has its own unique dynamic, and the potential to swing a lot of seats from one column to another.
Methodology
Our survey, commissioned by Abacus Data, was conducted online with 1,500 Canadians aged 18 and over from September 9 to 11, 2015. A random sample of panelists was invited to complete the survey from a large representative panel of over 500,000 Canadians, recruited and managed by Research Now, one of the world’s leading provider of online research samples.
The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association policy limits statements about margins of sampling error for most online surveys. The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.6%, 19 times out of 20. The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Abacus Data Inc.
We offer global research capacity with a strong focus on customer service, attention to detail and value added insight. Our team combines the experience of our Chairman Bruce Anderson, one of Canada’s leading research executives for two decades, with the energy, creativity and research expertise of CEO David Coletto, PhD.Nicholas M. Fuhst
Nicholas M. Fuhst, 18, waives his preliminary hearing in front of Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank on Thursday, June 2, 2016. Fuhst is charged with impersonating a peace officer to commit a crime in connection with a May 12 incident at the Hooters restaurant at 5538 Bay in Kochville Township.
(Jeff Schrier | MLive.com)
SAGINAW, MI -- An 18-year-old could serve prison time for impersonating a police officer in an attempt to become Facebook friends with Hooters workers.
Nicholas M. Fuhst appeared before Chief Circuit Judge Fred L. Borchard on Thursday, July 28, and pleaded no contest to a felony charge of impersonating a peace officer to commit a crime.
Fuhst pleaded to that charge, which carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison, for a May 12 incident at the Hooters restaurant at 5538 Bay in Kochville Township.
Teen impersonated police to be Facebook friends with Hooters girls, police say An Ostego County man impersonated a police officer in an attempt to become Facebook friends with Hooters workers, prosecutors say.
Fuhst's plea agreement calls for Borchard to sentence Fuhst within his state sentencing guidelines, which either will be scored at zero months to 13 months or zero months to 25 months.
Borchard then will set a maximum sentence. Fuhst's third-time habitual offender status will double the maximum possible penalty to eight years in prison.
Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd has said Fuhst, who last lived in Vanderbilt in Otsego County, represented himself as an undercover police officer and obtained a list of employees at the restaurant. After reviewing the list, Fuhst asked for more detailed information about some of the workers, Boyd said.
"He indicated that he went to Hooters because he wanted to talk to the girls to see if they would be friends on Facebook," Boyd said.
At Fuhst's May 19 arraignment on a probation violation charge, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Albosta said that when police arrested Fuhst, they found three knives, lighter fluid, zip ties and observed several names circled on the employee list.
"I think there were some dark thoughts going through his mind," Albosta said.
Bond denied for teen charged with impersonating police at Hooters Saginaw County Chief Circuit Judge Fred L. Borchard on Thursday, May 19, made that decision regarding Nicholas M. Fuhst, who faces a felony charge in a May 12 incident at the Hooters restaurant at 5538 Bay in Kochville Township.
In addition to the impersonation charge, Fuhst pleaded to a misdemeanor count of disturbing workers, which carries a 90-day maximum penalty.
At the time of the Hooters incident, Michigan Department of Corrections records listed Fuhst as an absconder from probation. He was serving two years of probation for unrelated crimes of arson of personal property worth more than $1,000 but less than $20,000 and malicious destruction of personal property worth more than $1,000 but less than $20,000.
Fuhst on Thursday also pleaded no contest to violating his probation by absconding and by committing the crimes at Hooters. He also could receive a prison sentence for the probation violation.
Fuhst's no contest pleas mean he does not contest that prosecutors' evidence would convict him. They are not an admission of guilt but are treated as such for sentencing purposes. The reason for the no contest pleas was potential civil liability.
Borchard is scheduled to sentence Fuhst, who remains jailed without bond, on Sept. 8.The Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section actively seeks out information that may assist the U.S. Government in identifying human rights violators who may have entered the United States.
If you know of anyone in the United States or of any U.S. citizen anywhere in the world who may have been involved in perpetrating human rights violations abroad, please contact HRSP either by phone, 1-800-813-5863, email at hrsptips@usdoj.gov or by postal mail at:
Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (Tips)
Criminal Division
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530-0001
You do not have to identify yourself when providing information. Please provide as much detail as possible, such as:
the suspect's name, place and date of birth,
physical description, and current location;
the suspect's alleged human rights violations including the locations and dates of those activities;
how you learned of the suspect’s alleged activities and when and where you saw the suspect.
We are unable to reply to every submission; however, your information will be reviewed promptly by HRSP.
Information on non-U.S. citizen suspects living in the United States may be provided to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security, at 1-866-347-2423 (a toll-free call).On May 14, 2015, streets were turned into rivers and homes flooded as heavy rain pounded the Wellington region, while commuters were stuck in the city as trains were cancelled and highways blocked
The Wellington region was battered on Thursday with torrential rain that caused slips, travel disruptions and left one person dead. Follow a recap of our coverage through the day below.
An elderly man was found dead in floodwaters after torrential rain brought chaos to the Wellington region.
Police discovered the body of the 80-year-old man near Sladden Park, in Bracken St, Petone.
More heavy rain and traffic disruptions are expected on Friday after the deluge that left homes flooded, roads turned to rivers, and trains cancelled. Thousands of commuters were stranded in Wellington, once again highlighting the fragility of the road network.
The region was hit by a deluge of rain overnight causing slips and flooding, with 117.4mm falling in Paraparaumu and 96mm in Lower Hutt in the last 24 hours. More heavy rain is forecast for Friday.
Residents are being advised by Civil Defence to stay out of floodwaters because of potential sewage contamination and electrical danger.
Follow the latest updates on the weather and closures in the live blog below.
State Highway 1 has re-opened but is restricted by flooding. SH2 has also partially re-opened.
All commuter train services across the Wellington region have been cancelled until Friday afternoon at the earliest.
Schools, businesses and homeowners have all been affected, with 18 homes evacuated.
NEED TO KNOW:
* 18 homes have been evacuated in Waikanae, Wharemauku Stream and Paekakariki.
* SH1 is open. SH2 is open with one lane between Ngauranga Gorge and Petone, but is still closed northbound from the Dowse interchange. Paekakariki Hill Rd closed due to flooding.
* All commuter train services across the Wellington region are cancelled until Friday afternoon. Wellington Railway Station is closed.
* Heavy rain warning in place for Kapiti, Tararua Ranges and Horowhenua, south of Foxton. Heavy rain watch also in place in Wellington, Hutt Valley, Taranaki, Waikato and eastern Bay of Plenty.
* Schools closed: Paraparaumu College, Kapiti College, Raumati Beach School, Wellington High School, Wellington Girls' College and Pukerua Bay School, Tawa College, Porirua East School.
*Kenepuru Hospital cannot be accessed.
READ MORE:
* Inside flood-hit homes
* Homes evacuated as region braces for deluge
* Flooding claims Kapiti resident's bed, clothing
* Wet and wild week continues
1 of 2 Angelique Monaghan of Raumati Beach said she awoke to "brown everywhere". 2 of 2 Jaime Hill was caught on the north side of the slip between Paekakariki and Pukerua Bay.Get the biggest rugby 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
Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac has confirmed flanker James Davies has been spoken to about the possibility of linking up with the Team GB sevens squad for the Olympics this summer.
Davies was previously a sevens specialist with Wales before starring with the Scarlets over the last couple of seasons in the 15-a-man game.
The uncapped openside flanker could still be selected by Warren Gatland for the summer tour of New Zealand, especially following the news Justin Tipuric will be ruled out of facing the All Blacks in June because of concussion.
Tipuric was another name touted for the sevens side but he has now been ruled out.
The Scarlets are Davies’ employers so they would have a huge say on his participation in Rio and Pivac is keeping an open mind.
“He he has been spoken to, I believe,” said Pivac.
“James and I have had a chat around it and it’s about the bigger picture with his career.
“He has to make a decision whether he wants to be a sevens player or a 15s.
“When you have made the 15s Wales side and you get a phone call it’s easier to make that call.
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Related: The five young and exciting candidates to replace Justin Tipuric in the Wales squad for New Zealand tour
“But when you are striving for the 15s, and once every four years there is an Olympics, James is in a different position than someone who is playing regular Test match rugby.
“All countries are going through the same process and back home in New Zealand, Sonny Bill Williams has committed to sevens.
“Those boys have been playing that game for a period of time. So I would have thought if you were going to be playing sevens for Team GB you would be up and running by now but that’s not the case.
“It won’t impact on us in terms of the clash of dates because the Olympics will be over before our season starts.
“It might affect the build-up to pre-season but we would have to manage him in terms of his workload.”
(Image: David Jones/Getty Images)
Related: George North and Luke Charteris to discover Gatland's Law fate as top stars face prospect of being left out by Wales
On his ability as a Sevens player, Pivac added: “He has played sevens and been successful before his boost up into the 15s.
“He is a player who would do very well at sevens. There is a lot more opportunity at the breakdowns in terms of less numbers.
“He is quick and can run the ball and makes line breaks and is a very good defender.
“So to me he is the ultimate sevens player.
“There is also though the potential of selection with the 15s and we need to be mindful of where he is physically.
“It’s nice to have possibilities on the horizon but we have to manage the players as well.
“All those facts have to be managed in and he also has to be selected in either side before he has a decision to make.”
(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)
Related: New twist in Lyn Jones saga as claims emerge Dragons boss was at Harlequins while off ill
Following Tipuric’s injury, Davies is also vying for a place on the summer tour of New Zealand with the likes of Cardiff Blues duo Ellis Jenkins and Josh Navidi and Wasps emerging sensation Thomas Young.
“James was disappointing last week against the Blues but up until that he had been very good,” added Pivac.
“He was disappointed with his performance and will be looking for a big game this week.
“He’s a good player as we know so we expect him to bounce back.
“He has played very well at this level but has not been tested at the upper level.
“That is a decision for the Wales selectors and they will be aware of his qualities.
“When you select a player you are looking at the strengths and weaknesses of individuals but also the combination as well.
“They will have a view of a mix of what they want and it will be an interesting decision to see what way they go.”
Related: Welsh rugby's Judgement Day to break attendance record, with 60,000 target set to be smashedMy admiration for Jackson Browne began with his first album in 1971. I was wowed by the fact that the singer-songwriter had worked with Nico of Velvet Underground fame — his girlfriend at the time — on her first album, Chelsea Girl. He wrote one of my favorite songs on that record, "These Days."
More than 40 years on, my appreciation continues to grow. Browne still writes songs with conviction and craftsmanship and careful attention to detail. At the same time, there's a perceptible loosening of attitude: His Tiny Desk Concert performance isn't perfect, his heart showing through every crack in his voice.
Browne can be seen out and about in other informal settings besides this one. At the Newport Folk Festival a few years ago, you could hear him play formally and informally with Tom Morello, Conor Oberst, Dawes and more. Back home on the West Coast, he might just sit in when Sara and Sean Watkins put on their Watkins Family Hour variety show at Largo.
This week, Jackson Browne turns 66 and releases his 14th album, Standing In The Breach. It's a record that fully captures his rare ability to mix activism with poetry: His stature allows him freedom — he's largely free of obligations — with the ability to play comfortably with musicians of his own choosing. Yet he continues to stretch, working alongside much younger players with different talents and interests, sharing his talents and finding inspiration. It's that passion for playing and exploring that brings Browne to things like the Tiny Desk Concert, an awkwardly intimate setting for such a popular performer.
Set List
"Call It A Loan"
"The Barricades Of Heaven"
"Long Way Around"
Credits
Producers: Bob Boilen, Denise DeBelius; Editor: Maggie Starbard; Audio Engineer: Suraya Mohamed; Videographers: Colin Marshall, Maggie Starbard, Susan Hale Thomas; Assistant Producer: Denise DeBelius; Photo by James Clark/NPRWith the offseason quickly coming to an end, Grizzlies.com checked in with a few Grizzlies players to get a status update on their rehab in advance of next week’s training camp in Memphis.
According to General Manager Chris Wallace, “All of these players will play a key role in the level of success we are able to achieve this upcoming season and we are thrilled that the majority have been fully cleared to participate in all basketball activities heading into training camp. Our goal as a franchise is obviously to start the season off strong and finish even stronger. Ownership, led by Robert Pera, has provided our players with a world-class medical and training staff, and our organization will continue to utilize a smart approach to the season to achieve our ultimate goal of winning an NBA Championship.”
Marc Gasol
Gasol has been cleared to resume full court activities heading into training camp and the preseason. He originally suffered a non-displaced Type II fracture of the navicular bone in his right foot on February 8, 2016. He underwent surgery to repair the injury on February 20, 2016. He went through his rehab protocol and directed court progressions in both Spain and Memphis throughout the offseason under the direction of his doctors. The navicular bone in his right foot is now fully healed and he has been in Memphis since the beginning of September increasing his court workload and participating in limited basketball activities.
Gasol was asked about his summer of rehab: “It was long. Long and boring. Obviously, we started the progression with the National Team and we didn’t quite make it on time so we had to – not step back – but step aside and continue the progression on our own and on a different level obviously. Everything has worked out for the best and everything is behind me. It was a really bad memory that actually has made me a better player.”
“I feel really good, lots of energy,” Gasol further explained. “Obviously I miss the game a lot. I want to play. I want to compete, and the one thing on my mind is to win, and try to lead this group of guys to the championship. That’s the only thing that I care about, knowing that my body is able to do that, and I’m confident. The doctors and everyone think my body’s going to hold up tremendously - even better than before the injury. That gives me a lot of confidence to do that.”
Gasol added some thoughts on new Head Coach David Fizdale. “Watching some tape from the system that he’s been on, by talking to him during the summer and seeing the things that he wants me to do obviously, it’s going to present different challenges, and I’m always looking forward to that. I’m looking forward to expanding my game, to be a better player. That’s probably the key to all this. It’s always to be prepared – to have your toolbox full so when coach asks you to do something different, you have it right there in your hand. You always want to work on all the little things that you can so you are prepared.”
Mike Conley
Conley has been cleared to resume full court activities heading into training camp and the preseason. He suffered from Achilles tendonitis in his left foot throughout the end of the 2015-16 regular season, last playing in a game on March 6 against Phoenix. He went through extensive rehab this summer in Columbus and Memphis. The Achilles is now fully healed.
“Rehab went well. It was very tedious and I had to take baby steps every month, but it got better and better,” Conley said. “Right now I’m at 100 percent. The Achilles is feeling great. I’m just trying to get the body back in shape, I haven’t played in a long time. I’m looking forward to getting back out there with the guys. I think we’re going to obviously monitor all of our guys who have had injuries in the past just to make sure that we’re doing the right things for our bodies going forward for the long season.”
Conley went on. “I’m very excited to play for Coach Fizdale and all of the new coaches. They have brought a new mentality to our team. We’re looking forward to getting things going.”
Chandler Parsons
Parsons has been going through his rehab in Dallas and Los Angeles this offseason and progressing as expected. He suffered a medial meniscus tear in his right knee on March 18, 2016 and underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair the tear on March 25, 2016. He is participating in limited court activity. He will be limited heading into training camp and the preseason and will be reevaluated weekly.
“It was a big summer for me. I really locked in on my diet this summer. I did the whole blood type diets where you really cut back with no dairy, no alcohol and no gluten for two straight months,” explained Parsons. “I really got lean and my knee has been responding really well to that. There’s no swelling, no pain. I have been progressing every week, doing more and more. Starting off with the bike, then the elliptical, then the pool workouts, and now I’m pretty much on the court, more lifting weights, box jumps, different kinds of agility stuff. I’m building up that strength and getting more comfortable with it.”
Parsons went on to stress how excited he is for the upcoming season. “It’s going to be fun. Obviously, with the roster that they have now, I think I’m a perfect fit for the style of play, the culture. Coach Fizdale’s system, he has groomed some really good wings in this league. Having someone that is young, fun, excited and new to the city just as I am, and someone like J.B. Bickerstaff that I had a close relationship with in Houston, is awesome.”
Brandan Wright
Wright has been cleared to resume full court activities heading into training camp and the preseason. He suffered a sprained right MCL on February 27, 2016. He has been rehabbing all summer in Nashville and is back at full strength.
“I did a lot of rehab getting my knee back in order and all of the muscles around it,” said Wright. “I’m feeling good and trending upward. I’m looking forward to (training) camp and getting ready to go. I’ll be on the court for training camp. Obviously with any injury, you don’t want to spike too early. We’ll work our way into it, but I’ll be a full go. I’m ready for it and looking forward to it.”
Jarell Martin
Martin has been cleared to resume full court activities heading into training camp and the preseason. He underwent a procedure to alleviate left foot soreness on April 22, 2016. He went through extensive rehab this summer in Memphis and his foot is now healed.
“My summer has been going really well. I’ve been going to the gym four days out of the week putting in a lot of work,” explained Martin. “Rehab has been going great and my foot feels 100 percent so everything is on track right now. I rehabbed right here in Memphis, staying close to the team and the organization. I’ll be good and ready to be out there come training camp.”
Deyonta Davis
Davis is improving having battled through plantar fasciitis in his left foot this offseason, originally announced on July 6, 2016. He will be limited heading into training camp and the preseason and will be reevaluated weekly.
“I’m feeling great,” Davis said. “I’m taking this process one step at a time, trying to rest my foot and I’m looking forward to a great season.”
Jordan Adams
Adams underwent cartilage transplant surgery in his right knee on June 15, 2016. He is in the midst of his rehab now in Memphis, after previously rehabbing in Birmingham earlier this offseason. He is progressing as expected. He has not been cleared for court activity and is not expected to participate in training camp or the preseason. Currently there is no timetable for his return. He will be reevaluated weekly.
“Summer was good,” Adams said. “I spent most of my rehab in Birmingham, Alabama at Champion Sports. They’re known for helping professional athletes get better – back faster, quicker, back to 100 percent. So that’s pretty much where I was at this whole summer just rehabbing, it was good.”
For the latest news and injury updates, visit grizzlies.com, ‘like’ Memphis Grizzlies on Facebook or follow on Twitter (@memgrizz).Detective Mode was an extreme invasion of privacy, a mustache-twirling moment of villainy in the history of commercial surveillance. But the excesses of Detective Mode are just particularly unsavory examples of an increasingly prevalent trend in credit transactions—remote control of devices by lenders, that infringes on the privacy and security of the debtors.
While few lenders will go as far as to take naked pictures of their debtors, wherever there is an expensive device that can be easily absconded with, it makes sense for lenders to add both a kill switch and GPS. A New York Times story in 2014 looked at the increasing prevalence of starter interrupt devices—kill switches—in cars financed by subprime loans, reporting that the mechanisms had “reduced late payments to roughly 7 percent from nearly 29 percent.”
Lenders aren’t installing these devices because they’re interested in tracking their debtors’ every move; starter interrupt mechanisms are just an economical way to protect their investments. But even when lenders aren’t stooping to the kinds of skin-crawling extremes that warrant a FTC lawsuit, there’s something about these controls that feels dangerous and invasive. In the same 2014 report, the Times described how a woman in Austin, Texas, had fled her abusive husband, only to be tracked down by the subprime lender that had financed her car. By driving to the shelter, she had violated the loan agreement, which restricted her from driving outside of a four county radius. She was tracked down via GPS and her car was repossessed.
We owe this proliferation of lender kill switches to the convergence of two trends. One is the uptick in subprime lending, a phenomenon that received a great deal of attention during the 2008 home mortgage crisis, but less so when it came to movable property like cars and computers. And while subprime lending in the housing market has fallen off since the 2008 crisis, it has rebounded in other types of loans—auto loans, credit cards, personal loans.
Alongside this rise in subprime consumer lending, there has been a steady increase in the use of access controls in devices. What began with digital rights management for intellectual property has expanded into ever-stranger forms, like access controls for Keurig pods and self-cleaning cat litterboxes.
Mechanisms that prevent Keurig machines from using off-label coffee pods are annoying but relatively harmless. But the history of digital rights management (DRM) has always had a dark side. In 2005, security researchers found that the DRM protection on Sony BMG music CDs would install a rootkit if the CD were inserted into a user’s computer. A rootkit is malicious software that enables unauthorized access to a computer, while masking its own existence from the authorized user. It’s a tool for hackers, thieves, and nation-state adversaries. In the quest for perfect protection of Sony’s intellectual property, the company threw the privacy and security of their customers under the bus.LAS VEGAS — When Caleb Swanigan was growing up, bouncing between Utah and Indiana, he wanted to model his game after players like Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook, and Dennis Rodman — players who had the mentality to win every possession and left everything on the floor.
But Portland’s Summer League coach Jim Moran has a different comp in mind for the versatile 6’9” big man with ranging skill sets on both ends: Draymond Green.
No, Swanigan is not the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year. He’s not the most versatile defender in the history of the NBA, nor is he a game-changing playmaker capable of running an NBA offense on his own.
Not yet.
But what he is is a relentless rebounder with a workhorse motor — “balls to the wall” is what he calls it. It’s how he made a name for himself, averaging more than 12 boards per game to win Big Ten Player of the Year at Purdue last season. And time after time during the Trail Blazers’ matchup against the Spurs on Tuesday, he showed he’s much more than an elite glass cleaner.
On one possession, he trailed the play full court before crashing in for an offensive rebound and putback. On another, he caught the ball in the high post before facing up and barreling through his defender for a bucket. On two other occasions, he drilled threes on pick-and-pops, giving Moran belief in the rookie’s potential to stretch the floor as a legitimate perimeter threat.
Business as usual for Biggie. pic.twitter.com/ZQo5P0RerS — Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) July 12, 2017
For Trail Blazers fans in attendance, Swanigan was the only thing to cheer for while their team trailed by 20.
More importantly, Swanigan busts out after defensive rebounds, pushing the ball himself after rebounds rather than finding the nearest guard. Doing so rushes the defense, often confuses opponents, and ultimately wreaks havoc after a missed shot.
“I think especially when I get to watch film with him, I’m gonna wanna show him how Draymond does it,” Moran said. “Because having another guy out there not just handle and bringing the ball up the court, but can make a pass and make the right play, I think that would be invaluable on the court for us.”
In only a few Summer League games, the adroit 20-year-old has Portland’s coaching staff excited about his potential as a legitimate two-way frontcourt threat. On one end, Swanigan is a bully who uses his size and brute strength to overpower his man on the way to the rack. It’s a reason why many compared him to Zach Randolph on draft night, and the home-state Indiana ties made the argument stronger.
But unlike Z-Bo, Swanigan utilizes his deft defensive footwork to switch on pick-and-rolls and keep smaller players in front of his body. When Trail Blazers rookie Zach Collins left Tuesday’s game with an injury, Moray moved Swanigan to the center position. He responded by anchoring Portland’s defense and staying in front of Bryn Forbes in screen-and-roll situations.
“It’s nothing,” Swanigan said. “I play center, play four, play three. Put me where you want me, I’m gonna figure it out.”
Swanigan doesn’t want to be called a point-forward just yet. At this point, he’d rather be known for outworking the other team. And even if he falls short of the premature Draymond Green comparison, Portland’s rookie is well on his way to achieving what he set out to do.
“My motor’s gonna be the best in the NBA,” he said. “That’s my goal. That’s what I wanna be. You come watch Swanigan play, he’s playing his hardest every night.”Ever since the Franklin Roosevelt administration, taking note of a president's accomplishments within his first 100 days in office has become a clichéd way for lazy journalists to write about how an administration is doing. It's not necessarily a good metric because quite often presidents become known more for things they did after their first few months in office. For instance, 9/11 happened long after the 100-day marker for George W. Bush, and Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act passed more than a year into his first term.
Nonetheless, April 29 will be the 100th day of Donald Trump's first presidential term and apparently it matters inside the White House.
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“One hundred days is the marker, and we’ve got essentially 2 1/2 weeks to turn everything around,” an anonymous White House official was quoted recently by Politico as saying. According to the recent report, the milestone of Trump's first 100 days “hangs over the West Wing like the sword of Damocles as the unofficial deadline to find its footing — or else.”
Despite initially saying that he was "done" with health care after disastrous failure of the American Health Care Act — brought down by the House's hard-right Freedom Caucus members — Trump's top aides have been scrambling to get the competing Republican factions together this week.
Trumpcare 2.0 appears as if it will not be that different from what came before -- assuming that it even happens at all.
While administration officials have been bullish in terms of when a floor vote on the GOP's health care bill might take place, the congressional Republican leadership is far less certain. “The question is whether it can get 216 votes in the House, and the answer isn't clear at this time,” a high-ranking aide told Politico. “There is no legislative text and therefore no agreement to do a whip count on.”
What does appear to exist is some sort of compromise that was announced by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the leader of the House Freedom Caucus and Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, the putative leader of the more centrist Tuesday Group. The deal involves the creation of a waiver system that would allow states to opt out of mandatory benefit requirements on health insurance companies and also let them create their own "high-risk pools" of government-backed insurance for people priced out of private insurance market.
The whole thing could blow up, however, because while Meadows is said to have worked closely with members of his group during negotiations, MacArthur reportedly has not.
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Simultaneously, the president and his congressional counterparts are also trying to come up with some sort of tax reform proposal.
"The president wants to get health care done and he wants to get tax done," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a Friday briefing. "Hopefully, we're going to get both done, but we're going to get tax done."
Uncharacteristically for this administration, there have not been any leaks about the exact nature of what Trump wants to do on taxes. Given the nature of the last health care bill, however, it's probably going to be rather similar to whatever congressional conservatives have been favoring.
Perhaps sensing that the GOP might be unable to pass anything major on taxes or health care, on Friday Trump blamed the media for setting the "ridiculous standard," as follows:Shares
, VARNA, Jun 21 – Flash floods in Bulgaria have killed at least 14 people, including two children, with others missing after torrential rains lashed the east of the country, authorities said Friday.
The worst hit was the Asparuhovo neighbourhood of the Black Sea port city of Varna, where at least 11 people including two children perished, local authorities said.
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A seven year old child, who said he was with his sister and grandmother when the disaster hit, was rescued and taken to hospital.
Three more victims drowned in the nearby northeastern town of Dobrich and 150 people were evacuated from the lowest part of the town where the water level remained waist-high on Friday evening, an AFP photographer said.
A total of 1,200 tourists, including Germans, Russians and Britons, were evacuated some via helicopters from the nearby resort of Albena, resort chief Krasimir Stanev said.
Many Ukrainian children meanwhile remained blocked in their hotel in the village of Kranevo.
Dozens of smashed and piled up cars and uprooted trees littered the narrow mud-splattered streets of the worst-hit Varna neighbourhood of Asparuhovo on Friday, leaving parts of the area still impassable.
The normally picturesque hillside quarter was submerged after torrential rain pounded the region on Thursday evening, clogging garbage filled drainage canals and turning the steep streets into raging torrents.
Many rickety houses were totally destroyed by the water and authorities were unable to say whether their owners had survived even if they found no new victims buried under the ruins.
Electricity was partially restored on Friday except in the worst-affected parts where authorities refrained from switching it on due to safety concerns. Also, bad tap water quality made it unsafe for drinking.
Navy divers continued to search a canal linking Lake Varna to the Black Sea, where all the floodwater drained away, dragging with it cars, furniture, garbage and uprooted trees. Two bodies were recovered from the waters.
Soldiers and 40 prisoners helped to evacuate people throughout the day and clean up the piles of mud and garbage from the streets of Asparuhovo.
Shocked residents of the neighbourhood, home to some 25,000 people, likened the disaster to the set of a horror movie.
“Thank God I managed to run away, otherwise I would have drowned,” said 38-year-old resident Branimir. “Everyone panicked and started to run.”
The man said his next-door neighbours were still missing after their house was swept away by the flood.
He said neither he nor his grandfather had ever “seen anything like this before. Everyone is shaking for fear that a new shock wave might come.”
“We had to climb on the garage roof to save ourselves,” a woman in her 50s said.
“My house is beyond repair, buried under half a metre of mud,” Stefan Hristov, 25, told AFP. He along with his small child and pregnant wife managed to save themselves by escaping through the roof.
People put the blame on nature, but also human negligence in the European Union’s poorest country.
Varna municipal council member Kostadin Kostadinov told public BNR radio that massive logging of the beech forests overlooking the neighbourhood, illegal construction and poor maintenance of drains contributed to the tragedy.
“All this was happening before our eyes. The Roma horse-drawn carriages loaded with cut timber from the woods passed right in front of the police station. Illegal houses sprung up like mushrooms. This is a small neighbourhood, nothing can go unnoticed,” Kostadinov said.
There was no immediate information on the estimated cost of the damage.
The government considered financial aid for relatives of the victims and the worst-hit families and volunteers organised a campaign to collect donations of bottled water, foodstuffs and clothes.
Almost 150,000 euros were also collected within just hours in a special donors message service campaign.
Bulgaria’s European Emergency Response Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva was expected to visit the area on Saturday.
Rescue efforts have been hindered as heavy rains and hail storms continued to lash Bulgaria throughout Friday and more floods, even if not as bad, were reported in eastern and central Bulgaria.
Along with Varna and Dobrich, the central city of Veliko Turnovo also declared a state of emergency on Friday.
Forecasters said the situation was set to improve in the coming days, even if they did not exclude more rain.
Varna declared a day of mourning on Friday and Bulgaria was to observe a nationwide day of mourning on Monday.Hart joined Manchester City in 2006 from League Two Shrewsbury Town after United passed up the opportunity to secure his services. Hart has gone on to become England's No 1.
"I could have bought Joe Hart for £100,000 so we all make mistakes," Ferguson said.
"If you look at the England goalkeeper situation for the last 20 years, I would think he's easily the best," added the Scot who signed the now-retired Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar in 2005.
United have struggled to find a replacement since Van der Sar retired last year while Hart has been a rock in goal for Premier League leaders City.
Ferguson, who turned 70 in December, has been in the hot seat at Old Trafford for 25 years during which he has won 12 top-flight titles, two European Cups and five FA Cups. He has spoken of |
run in the background. This eliminates the need to root the phone, which existed in previous OSVR/Android version. You can find this code here:
https://github.com/OSVR/OSVR-AndroidServerLauncher
The Unity Palace demo (https://github.com/OSVR/OSVR-Unity-Palace-Demo/releases/download/v0.1.1-android/OSVR-Palace-Android-0.1.1.zip) for Android can now work with the internal orientation sensors, as well as with external sensors
New Plugins and Interfaces
Gesture interface
The gesture interface brings new functionality that allows OSVR to support devices that detect body gestures including movements of hand, head and other parts of the body. This provides ways to integrate devices such as Leap Motion®[2], Nod Labs Ring, Microsoft® Kinect® [3], Thalmic Labs™ MYO™[4] armband and many others. Developers can combine gesture interface with others to provide meaningful information such as orientation, position, acceleration and/or velocity about user's body part(s) pose.
Locomotion interface
The locomotion interface adds an API to support a class of devices also known as Omni-Directional Treadmills (ODT) allow walking and running on a motion platform and then converts this movement into navigation input in a virtual environment. Some examples of devices that would be able to use locomotion interface are: Virtuix Omni™, Cyberith™ Virtualizer, Infinadeck™, and others. These devices are very useful for First Person Shooters (FPS) games and by combining locomotion interface with tracker additional features such as body orientation, jump/crouch sensing could be added.
EyeTracker interface
The EyeTracker interface provides an API to report detailed information about the movement of one or both eyes.
This includes support for reporting:
3D gaze direction - a unit directional vector in 3D
2D gaze direction - location within 2D region
Detection of blink events
SMI Eye Tracker plugin
In collaboration with SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH (SMI) we are releasing a new plugin for SMI trackers. For instance, the plugin supports the SMI Upgrade Package for Oculus Rift™ DK2. It uses the SMI SDK to provide real-time streaming of eye and gaze data and report it via EyeTracker interface.
The SMI plugin also provides an OSVR Imaging interface to stream the eye tracker images.
Simulation plugins
Along with the newly added interfaces (eyetracker, gesture, locomotion), we provide simulation plugins that serve as an example on how to use a certain interface. Their purpose is emulate a certain type of device (joystick, eyetracker, head tracker, etc.), connected to OSVR server, and feed simulation data to the client. These plugins were added as a tool for developing applications so that developers can easily run tests without the need to attach multiple devices to the computer. We would be expanding the available simulation plugins to have one for every type of interface. Simulation plugins are available in OSVR-Core and can be modified to a specific purpose.
Release Notes
OSVR 0.6 has many other changes, and improvements. See the complete list here
In Closing…
As always, the OSVR team with the support of the community is continuously adding smaller features and addressing known issues. You can see all of these on Github such as in this link for OSVR CoreSrinagar: Hinting that it is ready to do business with BJP, the PDP, which has emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly elections, today sought assurance from its prospective partners over contentious issues like safeguarding Article 370 and revocation of AFSPA.
"All options are still open. No decision has been taken yet on formation of government in the state with any other party," PDP spokesperson Naeem Akhter told PTI here.
He said the leadership of PDP, which has won 28 of the 87 seats in the Assembly, was discussing all its options for government formation, hinting at an alliance with the BJP.
"There are certain issues which form our core agenda and require an assurance that these will be accepted by our potential alliance partner, whichever party it might be," he said.
Akhter said his party's stand on safeguarding Article 370, which guarantees special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian union, was non-negotiable.
He also said that the party was committed to revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state, besides initiating a political process for resolution of Kashmir issue.
The PDP and the second largest party BJP, which has won 25 seats, all in Jammu, have been invited by Governor NN Vohra for separate discussions over government formation by 1 January.
Asked if his party would consider the demand for rotational chief ministership from any future alliance partner, the PDP spokesman said the negotiations have not reached that stage with any of the parties.
He said Congress has also given a proposal for government formation to the PDP which is under the consideration by the party.
On the National Conference's offer of unconditional support to PDP for government formation, Akhter said his party has received no such communication so far from its arch rival.
"As and when such an offer is received we will surely discuss it and decide the future course of action," he said. National Conference working president Omar Abdullah had yesterday said that his party had only conveyed a "verbal offer" to the PDP through an intermediary.
The PDP leadership is caught in a 'catch 22' situation with some influential leaders within the party strongly opposing an alliance with the BJP on the grounds that such a partnership can reverse the gains made by the party during recent times.
A senior PDP leader, on the condition of anonymity, said an alliance with the BJP would be "suicidal" for the regional party.
"While good governance and development is a universal yearning among the people, people in a sensitive place like Kashmir also keenly watch the friends you keep. One of the reasons for decline of National Conference was its hob-nobbing with whichever party was in power at the Centre," he said.
National Conference, which has 15 seats and can play a key role in government formation, withdrew from the race following open expression of dissent by some senior party leaders after reports suggested that the regional party had entered into parleys with BJP.
The results for the state assembly elections on 23 December threw up a hung verdict with no party getting clear majority.
Congress, with 12 MLAs, is neither in a position to form the government or help PDP or National Conference to cross the 44 seat mark in the 87-member state assembly.
Congress spokesman Salman Nizami HAD yesterday said the party was in touch with PDP and six other Independents to prevent BJP from coming to power in the state.
PTI
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.The ad wasn’t exactly subtle: “Genius Asian Egg Donor Needed — Above Average Compensation.” The author of the ad, which ran this past January in MIT’s student newspaper, left little to the imagination as to the ideal candidate. “21-year-old Chinese MIT student with ‘A’ grade point average, near-perfect SA T score, several awards in high school and university,” he wrote. “She wants to be an egg donor in order to help bring a child into the world with the same special gifts she has.”
In an age where infertile couples can option the ovaries of healthy young women for a fee, prospective parents can now choose the race, body type, IQ — even alma mater — of the egg donor who will contribute to their future offspring. The more specific or rare the desired trait, the more compensation donors can expect. And increasingly, it pays to be an Asian egg donor.
While the majority of egg donors are paid between $5,000 and $7,000 per donation, Asian or part-Asian donors can demand upward of $10,000. Part of the reason may be basic supply and demand: Infertility is equally common across races, but Asian American women may be more desperate to have children. A 2006 US military study found that, in an equal-access to fertility treatments setting, Asian American women had a rate of utilization that was four times higher than the general US population. This may be due to many Asian societies still placing a high social premium on childbearing.
On the supply side, Asian egg donors are harder to come by than other races and are therefore among the most sought after, according to many egg donor agencies, with Chinese, Japanese and Korean egg donors in highest demand.
But the procedure may come with a personal cost. Unlike nearly every other medical procedure offered in the US, egg donors take on their physical burden without knowing the risks involved — largely because the medical community has never studied them. Whereas the Food and Drug Administration requires a lengthy vetting for the vast majority of pharmaceuticals, fertility clinics are permitted to provide drugs whose long-term effects have never been studied on the target population — the young, healthy and usually poor women who donate eggs.
The reasons for this oversight are founded in the complex history and politics of assisted reproductive technology in the US. But it amounts to a medical sector devoid of government regulation, standardized protocols and risk information for a large percentage of its participants — including, increasingly, Asian women.
The Truth About Harvesting
Raquel Cool’s tan, oval face appears on a screen against a dark background. The high-powered studio lighting turns her rosy Vneck sweater a hot pink and illuminates her long, dark hair like a shampoo commercial. Facing the camera, she launches into an explanation of her hobbies — her love of yoga, travel and triathlons. At several points, she giggles and blushes. “Family is huge to me,” she said with a mix of humility and coquettishness.
The woman in the egg donor advertisement video bears only a little resemblance to the one standing in front of me in real life. On the day I meet her at her art studio, Cool’s hair is short and unstyled, her face devoid of makeup. She wears a simple black dress, sandals and no jewelry. She is also standing in front of a neon light installation shaped like a uterus. When I mention the differences between the video and her current appearance and personality, she smiles. “That’s egg donor Raquel,” she said. “It’s the version of me that recipient parents want to see.”
Cool, 27, is a former egg donor and performance artist living in Santa Cruz, CA. Her latest exhibit, “Live, Nude Eggs” chronicles her experience through mixed media art and a heavy sense of metaphor. Inside the studio, we walk past a series of portraits depicting various medical slides of Cool’s body. One picture focuses on her hormone-stimulated ovaries overflowing with developing oocytes. On top of each one is drawn a tiny arrow with a price tag.
“Based on this past donation, I calculated that each of my eggs is worth $233,” she said.
Biologically speaking, egg donation is simply the female version of sperm donation. In practice, however, the two are very different. “You can’t just give women a cup and tell them, please put your eggs here,” said Aimee Eyvazzadeh, a reproductive endocrinologist in the San Francisco Bay Area who works with both egg donors and recipients.
Women start life with all the egg cells they'll ever have, stored in their ovaries. Once a month, an adult woman will start maturing a few dozen of these cells, also known as “follicles,” as our body prepares for ovulation. Normally, only one of these will make it to full maturity. But egg donors use hormones (a month of daily injections) to trick their bodies into producing more eggs, which means more chances for the recipient to get pregnant. Once the eggs mature, they are retrieved through surgery.
When Catherine Jones, 29, first began researching egg donation, the surgery didn’t bother her so much as the hormones. It took a while for her to get used to the medications — first Lupron, then Gonol and finally Menopur — which she had to inject into herself, sometimes into the tops of her thighs, other times into the small, soft region of her belly.
She went through with it because she liked the idea of helping others have a family. Like the couple that would receive her eggs, Jones is of mixed race. The recipients, a gay couple, told her that they wanted to use her eggs to have two children — one biologically from each father. How perfect that she was half-Asian. She was exactly what they were looking for.
But Jones wanted to have children of her own someday and worried that donating might risk her fertility. She grilled the doctors at a Connecticut clinic not far from her home in New York, asking about the longterm risks associated with egg donation. They reassured her there was no evidence that egg donation was linked to infertility.
The truth is a little more complicated.
Donating a few dozen eggs, even several times, won't put a woman at risk for running out of them, but egg donation hasn't precisely been proven to be safe for donors. That would require at least one comprehensive long-term study following donors in the long run, tracking outcomes like cancer, infertility or onset of menopause. To date, no such study has taken place.
A few studies on infertile women (a different population than egg donors, who tend to be younger and poorer) have linked fertility hormones to an increased risk of ovarian cancer. Whether or not this translates to an increased risk for egg donors is unknown. However, the hormones used in in-vitro fertilization, a common treatment for infertile women, are the same used by egg donors.
“We are supposed to think carefully about the matter of ‘risk-benefit’ ratio when making decisions about whether to approve a research protocol,” said Judy Norsigian, pro-choice author of Our Bodies Ourselves. “That’s a fundamental rule in bioethics. Yet, how can we weigh the case of egg donation when no one knows what sort of risk we’re talking about for egg donors?”
Some fertility doctors are better than others at explaining the gap in research. Former egg donor Kate Chu, 31, remembers the careful phrasing her physician at the University of California at San Francisco used when describing the long-term risks of egg donation. “Like any medical institution, they said there’s always risk. That was the disclaimer,” Like Jones, Chu wanted to have children someday. The doctors reassured her that egg donation wouldn’t affect her own fertility.
She found out about egg donation through her college newspaper, which frequently ran ads recruiting potential Asian donors. Chu fit the bill: highly educated, healthy and Chinese American. She liked the idea of helping a couple start a family. She said she wasn’t tempted by the money and decided to donate through UCSF rather than a private egg donor agency, which would have paid more.
For Raquel Cool, 27, it was definitely about the money. She earned $7,000 from her first cycle, which she spent on a combination of travel, adventures and meals. The next time around, she raised her price.
“I read that, because I’m part Asian, I could ask for more money,” she said. “So I started contacting clinics asking for $10,000 instead of $7,000. At first, they were like, ‘You’re not supposed to be doing this for the money.’ ”
But Cool sees it this way: If the industry were honest about the fact that women are selling their eggs rather than donating them, then maybe “donors” would have a little more power in the process. This is, in part, the catalyst behind her exhibit.
As she was creating the layout of the installation, she tried to imagine a storefront for a freelance egg donor — not in the mushy altruistic terms that clinics use, but the reality of the financial and medical commitment that donors face.
As we walk through the showroom, Cool takes me to a red-curtained box that spans from floor to ceiling. On the front is a small black sign with white letters that read: “porno booth.” Inside, a small television set is playing her egg donor video on loop. The five-minute spot was produced by a Los Angeles-based egg donor agency to include in their donor catalog for prospective clients. As we watch, the video-Raquel smiles and giggles again and again.
“I was so uncomfortable while they were filming this,” she said. She explains it’s common practice for agencies to tell donors how to dress, which hobbies to highlight, what ‘look’ to go for.
“At one shoot, when I got there, they took one look at me and asked me if I had any more makeup,” she said. “I was already wearing a ton. But I offered to touch up the photos later with Photoshop. They said it was OK.”
When she laughs at the memory, it is a deep chortle. Not like a giggle at all.
Cool said the egg brokers eventually agreed to her new fee.
“I don’t see anything wrong wanting to get paid for this,” she said. “Yes, I want to help people, but come on, this isn’t like donating blood. There are risks to consider.”
Cool is only too aware of some of the health risks of egg donation. After her cycle, she developed a mild-to-moderate case of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, where the ovaries produce too much fluid, filling the abdominal cavity with liquid and putting the donor’s health at risk. Cool was confined to bed rest for over a week.
The worst of it was that I was experiencing labored breathing,” Cool said. “It was scary.”
Individual clinics often cite conflicting statistics as to how common ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is, but the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology estimates up to 30 percent of women taking fertility hormones will develop a “mild” case of the condition, meaning it will resolve itself. But up to two percent will develop severe hyperstimulation, characterized by “excessive weight gain, fluid accumulation in the abdomen and chest, electrolyte abnormalities, overconcentration of the blood and, in rare cases, the development of blood clots, kidney failure or death.”
Fertility procedure-associated death rates for the US are have never been published, but according to a British report looking at infertile women who underwent similar hormone regimen between 2003 and 2005 about the risk of death from ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome seems to be about one in 30,000. No information is available on the frequency of the syndrome among egg donors, but they are thought to be at higher risk compared to infertile women as, according to the Mayo Clinic, the risk factors for ovarian hyperstimulation include being young and thin.
It’s Complicated
During the injections leading up to her own egg retrieval surgery, Catherine Jones felt fine. Doctors monitoring her blood work and ultrasounds estimated that she would produce about 17 eggs, a good number for the couple using her eggs to have a shot at starting a family. On the day of the surgery, she was sedated but not unconscious. Using a long, hollow needle attached to an ultrasound wand, the surgeon removed the mature eggs in her ovaries. Rather than the expected 17, her surgery yielded 31.
Afterward, Jones felt the usual sores but became worried after it persisted for a few days. She noticed her abdomen was becoming more swollen. She was throwing up, and couldn't keep anything down. She was having trouble breathing. She went to the emergency room, where doctors tested her blood and told her she was pregnant, based on high levels of a hormone called HCG in her blood. She told them that the HCG was due to the trigger shot she had received from her egg donation. They didn't know much about that, they told her. That's when she called her fertility clinic.
Her fertility clinic doctor told her to come in. It was ovarian hyperstimulation. This happens every once in a while, they said. They needed to draw out fluid from her abdominal cavity, which was filling with liquid from her hyperstimulated ovaries.
Jones came in, and her doctor asked her to lie down. The doctor inserted a needle into Jones' cervix and began drawing out fluid. One liter. Two liters. It was painful, but the nurses were soothing and chatty. Three liters. Four liters. By the fifth ler, the chattiness was over. The doctor explained they had to stop because they were afraid she would black out. Two days later, Jones came back to the clinic and they drew out two more liters of fluid — seven in all, the volumetric equivalent of almost four party-size soda bottles.
For Jones, the physical pain wasn't the worst part. She felt mishandled, objectified. This was not the “uncomfortable swelling” she had been told happened to five percent of patients. “No one told me what happened to me could happen,” she said. “If they didn't know, they should have said so.”
They didn't know. Or, more precisely, they couldn't know, because there is no database that tracks the percentage of egg donors that develops some degree of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Because of the lack of follow-up studies on egg donors, any risk statistic associated with the procedure is, at best, an estimate and likely an underestimate. As in Jones' case, egg donors who go to traditional hospitals are often misdiagnosed because few doctors outside the fertility field are familiar with hyperstimulation. And for the vast majority, who are treated at the same clinics where they do their donation, their cases are not required to be reported to any national database.
While the lack of adequate health information is concerning for all prospective egg donors regardless of their race, there is something to be said for its particular impact on the Asian American female community. As the group Feminists@MIT wrote in an op-ed response to the “Genius Asian Egg Donor” classified post, clinics advertising for egg donors often neglect to mention the risk to the prospective donor, instead focusing on her reproductive potential.
“When this couple requests a ‘Genius Asian Egg Donor,’ they are perpetuating a colonialist and predatory lore with only the sheerest facade of false reverence,” Mitali Thakor and Linda Chen wrote on behalf of the group’s executive board. “It is a sad reminder of a long history of the sexualization, stereotyping and objectification of Asian women.”
Cool agreed. She felt the agencies were trying to play up her Asian heritage. Cool’s mother is ethnically Chinese, and her father is white, but her parents met in Panama, where Cool was born and raised. While egg brokers portray Cool as strongly Asian, Cool sees herself as a cultural and racial mix.
Jones and Chu, on the other hand, emphasize the significance of helping other Asian Americans.
A 2007 UCSF study found that Asian American women had almost one-third fewer pregnancies and live births after invitro fertilization compared to white women. The reasons why are still unknown, though it may relate to the fact that Asian Americans tend to wait longer before seeking treatment compared to other races. The delay is usually explained by stigma associated with not being able to have children, as well as a cultural emphasis on privacy in personal matters.
“I saw it as a disparity issue,” said Chu, who was 28 at the time of her donation. “It reiterated that this was something I wanted to do. Knowing that there was a couple out there, that felt more real than a lack of research.”
With recipients spending upwards of $30,000 for the entire process (with about $5,000 to $10,000 going towards egg donor compensation), it’s understandable that they would have some preferences. But, as the “Genius Asian Egg donor” MIT ad showed, it’s a thin line between having preferences and throwing money at a nameless, faceless vessel for reproduction.
On Behalf of Donors
Unlike Jones and Cool, Chu’s first donation was an uncomplicated success. She went on to donate two more times over the next three years through UCSF and looks back on her egg donation experience positively.
Jones, who is now two years out from her donation, said the pain of hyperstimulation was worth it as long as it didn't affect her fertility. Even now, she can't bring herself to think about that possibility. It's too heartbreaking.
Cool recently closed her “Live, Nude, Eggs” exhibit to positive reviews. She said she hasn't ruled out the possibility of donating her eggs a second time. Besides, she has a new project to work on now. In March, Cool co-founded an online organization called “We Are Egg Donors,” the self-described “world's first self-advocacy community for women who have (or are considering egg donation).” Her goal is to reach out to other former egg donors so they can share stories, advice and, when the time comes, health outcomes.
Teresa Chin is a science reporter whose work has appeared in several outlets including MATTER, KALW and The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Read more in Issue 27: The Sex Issue, available now. Subscribe to Hyphen or pick up a copy at a newsstand near you.Six Emotional Leadership Styles
In case you haven’t come across them before, or you simply wish to be reminded, here are Goleman’s Six Emotional Leadership Styles, along with a brief summary of the effects of each style:
COERCIVE
The leader who uses this style is intent on obtaining immediate compliance. If this style were summed up in one phrase, it would be “Do what I tell you.”
Conversation is purely one way, highly directive. The COERCIVE leader tightly controls situations and emphasises negative rather than positive feedback.
Most effective in times of crisis, such as in a company turnaround or a takeover attempt, or during an actual emergency like a tornado or a fire.
However, it should be avoided in almost every other case because it can alienate people and stifle flexibility and inventiveness.
AUTHORITATIVE
The goal of the AUTHORITATIVE leader is to provide focused leadership, mobilising the team toward a common purpose whilst leaving the means up to each individual person. If this style were summed up in one phrase, it would be “Come with me.”
Characterised by long term thinking and a clearly stated direction, decisions are made by the leader with some input from the team to test the decisions. This leadership style relies on influence to gain buy-in to decisions. A firm but fair approach.
The AUTHORITATIVE style works best when the team needs a new vision because circumstances have changed. Leaders adopting this style inspire entrepreneurial spirit and vibrant enthusiasm for the organisation’s purpose.
It may not be the best fit when working with an established team who know more than the leader.
AFFILIATIVE
A leader uses this style to promote harmony, cooperation, and good feelings among the team. If this style were summed up in one phrase, it would be “People come first.”
Affiliative actions include accommodating family needs that conflict with work goals, quickly smoothing tensions between employees, or promoting social activities within the team. The leader pursues being liked as a way to motivate people, often putting people first and tasks second.
This style works best in times of stress, or when teammates need to rebuild trust.
This style should not be used exclusively, as sole reliance on praise and nurturing can lead to mediocre performance.As the protests in Turkey continue, spare a thought for the man whose personal tragedy few have the grace to acknowledge – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Until three weeks ago Erdoğan was destined to go down as one of the greatest reformers in Turkish history alongside Ataturk and Suleiman the Magnificent, despite all the bullying and the backsliding of the past three years.
Here was a man who seemed to have the power to tackle Turkey's century of conflict with the Kurds, Armenians and Greeks, and to lead it to a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic future – a model not just for Muslim countries but for other rising economic powers shaking off less than perfect pasts.
But Erdoğan's greatest achievement – greater still than a decade-long boom that bucked global depression – was his breaking of the power of the military that had shackled Turkish democracy for so long. In pre-Erdoğan Turkey, we would have had a coup by now.
Yet the power he concentrated to defeat the generals – by foul means as well as fair – and the paranoia of that battle, has undone him. In a matter of days Erdoğan has become the personification of all the corrupt despotism and violence of the old Kemalist Turkey he was elected to sweep away.
The ironic thing is that he has done this to himself. Such was his grip on power that only Erdoğan could have destroyed Erdoğan. And that is what he has done by turning an insignificant protest in a scrubby little park into a national emergency.
I met Erdoğan twice while he was mayor of Istanbul – and there was much I liked about him. No other European leader has risen from humbler beginnings – nor had so much stacked against them.
He had the warmth and emotion of his Georgian roots, and then at least, an uncommon sincerity. He had a clear vision – to make Istanbul work and right historic wrongs he believed religious Anatolian conservatives had suffered at the hands of Turkey's secular elite. Behind this was a hazy notion of rolling back time to an Ottoman nirvana of what might have been if Ataturk and the Young Turks – neither much troubled with democracy – had not existed.
What struck me then was how Erdoğan's telling of his own story unconsciously mirrored Ataturk's – and the lingering suspicion that he too believed Turks needed to be told what was good for them.
With Erdoğan's power having become so personalised, and self-censorship so rife that a press baron openly consulted him last month as to who should edit one of his papers, it was clear Erdoğan had vanquished the generals only to adopt their methods. His response to the Gezi crisis came straight from the old Kemalist coup handbook: brutality, black propaganda, conspiracy theories and lots of bad faith. Few politicians get into people's heads the way Erdoğan does. His hectoring manner and his way of tying logic in knots may play well with his supporters but it drives many more Turks mad.
Just as Erdoğan became all-powerful he also became personally vulnerable, battling cancer and grieving the loss of his mother who had shielded him from his frustrated and over-religious father – whose worst traits his son is now displaying as he tours Turkey to chastise his ungrateful children at a series of monster rallies: "Look what I have done for them! And this is how they reward me?" The "pious generations" he had talked of raising have spoken back.
Islamist hubris alone has not undone Erdoğan; it's more the mile-wide authoritarian streak he inherited from Ataturk and which runs through Turkish life, filtering down to humblest officials currying favour by second guessing and zealously enforcing their superiors' orders.
What we are witnessing here is pure Shakespearean tragedy but one that threatens to turn into a national calamity. That Erdoğan called his "people" together on Sunday in Istanbul at the place where Mehmet the Conqueror gathered his troops for the assault on the old Byzantine capital, added another layer of foreboding.
Turkey is in a dark place but Gezi may yet prove to be a turning point on the twisted path to democracy. One thing is for sure, the broad coalition that brought the AK party to power has been broken, perhaps forever.
Over the weekend I talked to a textile magnate from Kayseri, one of the many "Anatolian tigers" whose money has bankrolled Erdoğan's party. He was sending his workers on free buses to the first of Erdoğan's monster rallies but his headscarfed daughter was no longer talking to him over his support for him. "There are arguments in the house every day."
When I asked if he still backed Erdoğan's campaign to change the constitution so he could become a French or Russian-style president, his tone changed: "We cannot make this man president. Not now. Tayyip may destroy us all yet."A recent op-ed by A Man Who Graduated Over Twenty Years Ago, Daniel Barton, took obvious glee in excoriating sophomore Viviana Arcia and her support of the University’s decision to lower the standard of proof from “beyond a reasonable doubt” to “preponderance of evidence” for sexual assault cases. I can just hear the derisive laughter that only someone with a law degree can produce as he was writing this, and it makes me sad, because the journey toward making a just society is a slow and messy process and goobers like Mr. Barton aren’t making it any easier.
His sentiment is understandable, entirely understandable. After all, “innocent until proven guilty” is one of the most treasured phrases in America, followed by “beyond a reasonable doubt.” “I’d rather let a thousand guilty men go free than let one innocent man be punished” and all that. All very inspiring stuff that nobody wants to speak out against. When it comes to the issue of sexual assault though, things get a little bit thornier.
In most sexual assault cases, there’s pretty much only one piece of evidence that proves guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt: bruises. Often times, rapists aren’t so courteous. So it’s her word against his, in a society that is none too afraid to call women lying bitches when they act in ways that are displeasing to powerful men, and in a society where stories about attempted rape are auto-tuned and gleefully offered up as the latest Internet meme. For sexual assault victims that aren’t blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and still had their hymen in tact, the system’s kind of set up against them. But none of that matters because “INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.” I’m pretty sure the people who developed that concept never had to worry about being the victim of sexual assault. Even less likely had they thought about the difficulties of trying to bring such a case to court. Most writings and theories about law were just a bunch of old rich white dudes arguing over property, in a time when women were still considered property. That’s right, get ready kids cuz I’m about to drop it, our entire modern Western conception of justice is a product of phallogocentrism.
I don’t say this to fundamentally reject the justice system, but to remind Mr. Barton and the angry commenters below Arcia’s op-ed of the problems with treating any doctrine made by humans as infallible. We all love the Constitution and think it’s the most just document on the planet, but for the majority of the 19th century, the Constitution was used as the top defense for preserving slavery. Most people knew slavery was bad and even more wanted to get rid of it, but it was protected by the Constitution. The nation’s hands were tied. It had to keep slavery legal. The Constitution can’t be wrong, it’s the Constitution. It took 4 years of civil war before our nation could finally recognize that the Constitution was in fact wrong and thus needed to be changed (I’m pretty sure there are some Tea Party artards out there who have no problem with how this chapter of American history played out).
It’s the same principle here with the Standard of Proof. Thankfully, academia is always open to self-analysis and changing broad structures, like the Office of Judicial Affairs, even if it’s unpopular to do so. I mean, yeah, it may sound like you’re a freedom-hating angry feminist to attack the idea of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but William Lloyd Garrison was branded a lunatic America-hating insurrectionist when he advocated for the abolition of slavery and for full racial equality. Ultimately, if the system’s broken, you got to change it.
The old Standard of Proof was not working, it needed to be changed. If the new Standard of Proof bothers you, there’s an easy solution: don’t sexually assault people. Then you won’t have to deal with it. And dudes, don’t act like I’m talking crazy here, 6% of college-aged men will admit to it. If you carry the world view that false sexual assault allegations are commonplace, then don’t do anything that would make a woman want to file one against you. They don’t just come out of the blue. Think about cutting down on sex with blackout strangers. Maybe reduce the number of sexist insults you use whenever you get in an argument with a romantic attachment. Call your friends out when they do the same. We all have the same goals here, and those kinds of conversations are a much more worthwhile use of the public discourse than endless squabbling about numbers and breathy J.D.-empowered condescension.Infamous Palestinian plane hijacker Leila Khaled will be visiting South Africa next month as a guest of the local chapter of the international Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions movement and Muslim organizations.
BDS South Africa is known for its high-profile, anti-Israel stunts. Last November, It was prevented by court order from protesting outside branches of the Woolworths department store chain. In one of the protests, activists from the Congress of South African Students placed a pig's head in the kosher section of a Cape Town branch.
Born in Haifa in 1944, Khaled joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at a young age and shot to global prominence with a series of hijackings in 1969 and 1970.
In the first, she was one of a group that hijacked a Trans World Airlines (TWA) flight from Rome to Athens in August 1969. The plane was redirected to Damascus, where it was blown up after the passengers were evacuated.
She struck again the following year – after undergoing plastic surgery – when she participated in the simultaneous hijacking of four El Al planes. That attempt was less successful than the first. Khaled was apprehended by an in-flight security officer and turned over to the British authorities.
She spent only 28 days in detention before then-prime minister Edward Heath released her in exchange for western hostages held by the PFLP.
Khaled was the first woman to hijack a plane. The worldwide distribution of a picture of her dressed in a keffiyah and clutching an AK-47 turned her into the poster girl of the Palestinian struggle.
The same picture is now being used by BDS in a poster publicizing Khaled visit.
Khaled, who now lives in Amman, will be in South Africa between February 6 and 14 and will be the guest of honor at a BDS dinner in Cape Town on February 12.
"For members of my generation, who were around and paying attention when Khaled was playing the poster girl of the hijacking game, it seems a bit odd for the BDS, which portrays itself as very squeaky-clean, righteous and peace-loving, to run a poster of this kind," said Jeremy Gordin, publisher of South Africa's largest circulation newspaper the Daily Sun.
"Obviously it's going to provoke the local Jewish community - in fact, I think they're going to make a big st |
sha Bhogle was our man in England. Shastri had responded to Graham Gooch's monumental 333 in the Lord's Test with a century of his own, but was shaded by Mohammad Azharuddin's electric 121 off just 111 balls. Then, in the third Test, Shastri batted for nine-plus hours, faced 436 balls, and scored 187.
There was more to his play than that single note, just as there was more to his batting than the utilitarian push off the hips, enshrined in lore as the chapati shot
It was a monument to true grit. So? Do you like grit in your eye?
"Watching Shastri bat is like admiring the Qutub Minar: tall, timeless, solid," Bhogle wrote then. "You admire it for the virtues, not for its style."
I clipped that piece and mailed it to Dad. I remember the response, in his laboured cursive: "Have you seen the Qutub Minar? You can look at it for all of two minutes. After that, it's just this thing that's there… "
In the mental gallery of cricketers I have followed, first as fan and then as reporter, that remark captions the image of Ravi Shastri - "just this thing that's there". Who in hell admires something simply because it exists?
And yet, even as I attempt to distil my atavistic dislike into words, a contrarian highlights reel plays out in the back of the mind. It starts with a 19-year-old landing in New Zealand on February 20, 1981 - one day before the first Test against Geoff Howarth's side. His debut series, which began with a maiden to the New Zealand captain, saw him shade the likes of Richard Hadlee, Lance Cairns and Kapil as the highest wicket-taker on either side.
In the space of the next 18 months his grit - that word again - saw him climb up the batting ladder from No. 10, through every single position, all the way up to No. 1. He joined forces with Mohinder Amarnath to save the first Test of the 1984-85 tour of Pakistan, and followed it up with a century, part of a 200-run partnership with Sandeep Patil, in the next. Back home, he scored what was only the second ODI century by an Indian, after Kapil's iconic 175 not out against Zimbabwe. And he followed up that century against Australia, in Indore, with another hundred two months later, against England in Cuttack.
His 142 in Bombay set up a Test win against England; his encore was another century in the third Test, in Calcutta, that anchored a record-setting 214-run partnership with Azharuddin. He batted on all the five days of that Test, his 111 taking him the better part of seven and a half hours.
Champion of Champions at the World Championship of Cricket in 1985. Really now? © Getty Images
Those highlights sum up the quintessential Shastri - a monochromatic player whose monumental presence at one end allowed the stars the freedom to shine at the other. But there was more to his play than that single note, just as there was more to his batting than the utilitarian push off the hips, enshrined in lore as the chapati shot. In a Ranji Trophy game in early 1985, he scored his first 100 off just 80 balls and then raced to his double-century in a further 43, including the storied over off left-arm spinner Tilak Raj that disappeared for six consecutive sixes. It was the fastest double-century in first-class cricket then; it remains the joint-fastest till date - who woulda thunk, huh? In the final of the 50th year of the Ranji Trophy, in 1985, he took a match-winning 4 for 91 and 8 for 91 to go with a fighting 76 in the second innings to earn Bombay their 30th title.
"I can get plenty of first violinists," ace conductor Leonard Bernstein once said. "But to find one who can play second violin with enthusiasm - that's the problem. Yet if there is no one to play second fiddle there is no harmony."
When he had to, Shastri could step up and lead the orchestra. But he was an equally committed second fiddle - to Srikkanth, Gavaskar, Viswanath, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin and Tendulkar among others with the bat; to the likes of Siva and Maninder Singh with the ball.
The highlights reel spins its way to Bridgetown 1989, where Shastri was at the receiving end of one of the greatest sledges ever. It was on a venomous Kensington Oval track, against an attack led by Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, abetted by Ian Bishop, the most recent addition to the overstocked arsenal of brutal pace. Facing a 56-run deficit in the first innings, Shastri came out to bat with India 0 for 1 (Sidhu). Marshall, in the midst of a masterclass in the lethal beauty that is true pace, produced a ripper that bored into Shastri's groin. The fielders crowded around Shastri as he writhed on the ground. Desmond Haynes bent low and, in a voice of infinite concern, said "Ravi, that girl you were to date tonight, can I have her number? You are no use to her now, maan!"
We habitually disagreed on everything cricket, but the family quorum was unanimous on one point - Ravi Shastri was a waste of good food
Shastri laughed as he writhed in agony. And then he got back on his feet and played one of the most defiant knocks by an Indian, ever - an epic that lasted close to seven and a half hours, in which his first 17 runs took nearly three hours, even as Arun Lal, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin, Manjrekar and Kapil were scythed down at the other end. He took everything the pace quartet could throw at him, and ended with a Man-of-the-Match century in a lost cause.
The reel winds down in a soft whirr of nostalgia, and the rational part of me recognises that enduring legends have been constructed of less compelling material. Perhaps if he had walked off into the sunset after that last Test, against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in December 1992… Perhaps if he had left me to savour the memories, to miss him a little on the innumerable occasions when the team could have done with a bit of his doggedness, his grit, his guts… Perhaps then, in the light of the rear-view mirror, admiration would have been unalloyed.
But no, he came right back, an over-loud presence in the commentary box spraying a limited set of stock phrases, like so many tracer bullets, all over the action. And he reminded me of what he used to do on the cricket field - make very little go a very long way. A rare and valuable quality, no doubt - and I admire hate the man for it.
Illogical, yes. Irrational, certainly. But that is how it is, and I cannot explain why. The closest I can get is to recall the English poet Tom Brown. Caught in some schoolboy mischief by John Fell, dean of Christ Church college in Oxford, and challenged to extemporaneously translate a famous Martial epigram to avoid expulsion, Brown produced this:
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell
The reason why, I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.
That's my problem - the reason why, I cannot tell. Maybe if this argument were to go right down to the wire…
Prem Panicker is a journalist and the editor of Peepli.org
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.Prosociality has been proposed as a hallmark of humanity1, and studies on prosociality in our closest living relatives have long corroborated the idea that such behavior is uniquely human (e.g.2,3 but see4). A major drawback is that experimental methods for studying prosociality differ dramatically, particularly between human and non-human studies, and that many experiments lack ecological relevance5. For example, in humans most of these tests are computerized cooperation tasks or public goods games performed in peer groups of college students who anonymously make decisions about an interaction partner they do not know and will never need to interact with in the future. However, that is not the social environment on which selection acted during the evolution of humans’ so-called “hyper-cooperation”6, and recent studies showed that when for example some sort of competition7 or hierarchy8 is added to the original cooperation or public goods games, human prosociality/cooperation breaks down easily. Moreover, these economic games are relatively artificial and their ecological relevance is rather unclear9. Therefore, here we tested human prosociality in our own everyday situation, which may reflect the competitive environment in which prosociality possibly evolved. As most of us are not hunting animals on the savanna anymore, we choose a contemporary competitive environment, namely academia.
Science is becoming one of the most competitive professional fields10. Whilst the percentage of young people that finish a Ph.D. has doubled over the last two decades, the amount of available jobs in science has not. Tenured positions are becoming increasingly scarce, and additionally, around the globe governmental funding for research projects has either plateaued or declined11. As a consequence, it has been suggested that researchers are not always willing to share their data, since they are scared of being ‘scooped’ by their competitors12; i.e. another scientist publishes first, and therefore, gets the credit for a theory/hypothesis or results instead of the one sharing it initially. Here, we investigated researchers’ willingness to share their research in detail. In particular, we tested the effect of the scientists’ career status, the costs and benefits of sharing, and the effect of the different sex-combinations of requester and responder.
We were interested in the effect of different sex combinations because men and women are known to differ in the specific social contexts that trigger prosocial acts. There are some reports that women are kinder than men (e.g.13), yet in general, men and women do not differ in their overall amount of cooperation or prosociality (meta-analyses on social dilemmas14; and on economic games15). However, differences start to emerge when a social or emotional context is provided or when they can take their time and freely think over a social decision15. Academia is far from a neutral environment and competition in science is much harsher for women than for men. For example, women are expected to be less brilliant across academic disciplines16, are less likely to be hired for faculty positions17,18,19 or to receive funding18, and hence, are significantly underrepresented at the professor level20.
Moreover, sex-combinations may influence cooperation in different ways. For example, male-male combinations are reported to be more cooperative than female-female combinations14,21. Such male-male alliances may have a cultural background in so called “Old Boy” networks22, and a more evolutionary history in which particularly male bonds were promoted to cope with inter-group conflicts; i.e. the Male Warrior Hypothesis23. Alternatively, males may be more prosocial towards females to impress them24, which may even lead to competitive altruism among those men25 and may increase mating success26. Similarly, high-ranking individuals (cf. leaders) may signal their status by providing benefits to their group members27. Alternatively, low status may enhance prosocial behavior28, and for example, in highly despotic primate species low-ranking individuals may use prosociality towards higher-ranking individuals to gain future tolerance and or support29. Furthermore, the status of scientists does influence how much competition they experience, since older/higher-ranking scientists may already have tenure, and their chances to receive grants are much higher11. Moreover, sex and status may interact since around the world males are culturally associated with power30. Finally, costs of acting prosocial may influence decisions to do so (e.g.31).
Specifically, in this study in a low-cost condition we sent an email to researchers who had recently published in the fields of comparative psychology and social cognition, requesting a PDF of one of their recent publications. We chose these two fields to ensure plausibility of the requests with regard to the field in which we (the authors) work. Emails were sent by two master students (LB: ♀ & BS: ♂) and two post doctoral researchers (MEK: ♀ & JJMM: ♂, similar in age, year of PhD, H-index and international network), all using a university email-address, and the different participants were assigned semi-randomly to those four researchers (each an equal share); i.e. randomly, yet trying to keep the sex ratio of participants equal among all four researchers and while making sure that the two post-docs did not know the participants they emailed personally (to avoid favors among friends: cf.32). Second, in the high-cost condition, we semi-randomly choose a subset of those former low-cost participants; i.e. randomly and independent from their previous response, yet making sure that they had published a data-paper of which the data would be suitable for a potential meta-analyses. These participants were then emailed by one of the other researchers (again semi-randomly assigned: as above) and were asked whether they in principle were willing to share data of one of their studies for a meta-analyses on a related topic. Note that we deliberately did not ask for the data yet, and that we also did not receive any data. Also note that we did not offer any co-authorships or anything else. Informed consent was acquired afterwards; i.e., all participants received an email explaining the purpose of the study and were allowed to retract their responses from the sample. For the full text of all three emails please see the supplementary information (SI). In total 288 out of 292 participants (142 females with average h-index of 9.2 (SD = 9.3) and 146 males with an average h-index of 16.2 (SD = 15.5); from 32 countries all over the world) allowed us to use their responses with regard to our request for a paper for analyses, and 106 out of 110 participants (49 females with average h-index of 22.6 (SD = 15.2) and 57 males with average h-index of 13.7 (SD = 13.4) allowed us to use their responses with regard to the data request for further analyses.Rugby Australia was brokering a deal to save the Melbourne Rebels two months before the decision to axe Western Force from Super Rugby was announced.
A confidential email from chief executive Bill Pulver shows he was discussing the deal to transfer the Rebels licence from businessman Andrew Cox to the Victorian Rugby Union in June this year.
Pulver denied any involvement in the subsequent transfer of the Rebels licence.
“I was not involved in any way with the transfer of licence back to VRU. I was taken by surprise when it happened. I am not sure what email you are referring to,” he said.
The email, leaked to Seven West Media, was sent from Pulver to Cox and other RA management. Among key terms was that (foundation Rebels directors) Lyndsey Cattermole and Bob Dalziel would repay creditors to ensure the club was “debt-free”.
That allowed the “put option”, used to transfer the licence from Cox’s Imperium Group to the VRU on August 4 when they bought 11,625,000 shares for $1.
RA claimed it was blindsided when news of the sale leaked and said it had to approve any transfer or sale of ownership.
Pulver stated in the June 28 email that another term of the deal was that: “Imperium exercises the put option to the VRU such that the VRU becomes the sole shareholder of the Rebels.”
He told the senate inquiry into the future of rugby in September: “In fact, at the 12th hour minor shareholders within the Melbourne Rebels came forward with incremental capital to prop up the enterprise, which removed it from the prospect of insolvency.
“Those two (Force and Rebels) were both live right up until the final decision.”
Camera Icon Western Force members and supporters were devastated by the decision. Picture: Nic Ellis
RA chairman Cameron Clyne told the inquiry last month: “I have said there was a very real option that both teams were being considered right through until August.”
The email relates to a finding from the inquiry: “Confidential evidence shows the ARU were directly involved in the execution of the transfer of the Melbourne Rebels’ licence from Imperium to VRU.
“The committee understands these negotiations were well under way by June 2017.”
The committee also said it had: “... been made aware that the ARU suggested Imperium exercise a put option and were involved in negotiations which cleared Melbourne Rebels debt thereby allowing the put option to the Victorian Rugby Union to be exercised.
“These events took place in June 2017 and effectively made it impossible to end their licence.”Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE (1922-2015)[1]was an English actor, who portrayed Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, The Hobbit film trilogy, and read the The Children of Húrin audiobook.
edit] Life
Lee had a long history with Tolkien's fiction; he read The Hobbit after leaving the Royal Air Force in 1945, and since The Fellowship of the Ring came out, he read all Tolkien's books once a year. Lee also had the experience of actually meeting Tolkien in person (making him the only individual involved in the film trilogies to do so) while visiting The Eagle and Child during the 1950s:
We were sitting there talking and drinking beer, and someone said, "Oh, look who walked in." It was Professor Tolkien, and I nearly fell off my chair. I didn't even know he was alive. He was a benign looking man, smoking a pipe, walking in, an English countryman with earth under his feet. And he was a genius, a man of incredible intellectual knowledge. He knew somebody in our group. He (the man in the group) said "Oh Professor, Professor..." And he came over. And each one of us, well I knelt of course, each one of us said "how do you do?" And I just said "Ho.. How.. How..."
—[2]
Lee always envisioned himself as being Gandalf, so when he read that Peter Jackson would be adapting his bedside book, he immediately called his agent.
edit] Jackson
Although he realized he was too old to play Gandalf, he read the part. He did not get it, but was called back as Saruman instead. He had never been in a movie with the actual Gandalf, Sir Ian McKellen, but the two quickly became friends, being the oldest actors on the set (though Lee was 17 years older). When McKellen was cast as Gandalf, Lee was 78 years old and McKellen was 61.
Lee shot most of his scenes in Wellington, in the main studio, but also shot one scene in Wellington's national park. He visited New Zealand four times, the longest time being ten weeks. He later did some post-synching in London.
While jet-lagged, Lee broke his hand smashing it against a wall. Several shots of him in the finished films show him carefully hiding this bandaged left hand.
edit] Other projects
Known for his booming voice, Christopher Lee has sung operas, and performed with the Tolkien Ensemble on their CDs At Dawn in Rivendell and Leaving Rivendell. He sang the role of Treebeard, as well as reciting numerous other poems.
Lee has recounted his life and his connections with Tolkien's work in the foreword to Chris Smith's The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, and in chapter 74, titled "Spellbinder", of his autobiography, Lord of Misrule.
Lee agreed to reprise his role as Saruman for The Hobbit film series on the condition that, due to his age, he did not have to fly out to New Zealand to be filmed.
edit] Roles
edit] Quotations
What Professor Tolkien achieved is unique in the literature of my lifetime. Indeed, in my opinion, he had reached the peak of literary invention of all time. Nothing like it has ever existed, and probably never will.
—Christopher Lee, foreword to The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare
It's just going to be...I'm trying to think of the right word - without making it sound like the usual fashionable superlative. I think it will create film history. I think it's going to have the biggest impact, on screen, of anything of the last 40 or 50 years
—Christopher Lee, SFX Magazine June #65
Saruman is number one. Saruman is, very definitely, the most brilliant, the most powerful, with the greatest intellect and the greatest knowledge. Gandalf...well he's number two. But Saruman's whole character becomes perverted and distorted and he lusts for power and gradually, as it very often does, the old famous quote 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'.
—Christopher Lee, Fox's Quest for the Ring
I did meet him [Tolkien], very briefly, in the Fifties. It was in a pub that he used to go to in Oxford, called the Eagle and Child. I was there having a beer and I was completely overcome when he walked in. I had already started reading the books and thought, "This man has created a unique form of literature - one of the great works of all time." While I was filming The Lord of the Rings, I thought about what he would have thought all the time, and hope he would have approved. I'm still an enormous fan - I read The Lord of the Rings every year.
—The Independent, 11 February 2009
edit] Awards
edit] Bibliography, selectedTaken individually, most of Hollywood’s recent offerings for kids have been reasonable quality entertainment. But taken as a group (I’ve been watching them alongside my kids), I’m struck by the lack of female characters in these films. For a while I was thinking “Well, I have only boys, so of course I haven’t been following the ‘princess movies’…” But after I thought about it a little, it hit me that I have kids, and all I’ve done is show them all the (generic) kids’ films that I’ve seen advertised. So why are none of these films about girls or women?
Let’s look at them one by one:
Ratatouille:
This is a cute film overall, and I recommend it. In terms of female characters, there’s a little old lady in the beginning who tries to kill the rats — and she’s kind of an amusing character — but she doesn’t have any lines. She just provides the reason why the rats end up moving to Paris. Then there’s Colette, who is the main human character’s love interest. She actually points out the fact that she’s the only woman in the kitchen of the high-class restaurant and explains that it’s because of sexism (and that she’s there herself because she’s competent and doesn’t take any crap). Yet that doesn’t precisely absolve the film of its failure to include women. For example, many of the main characters are rats, and they could have, say, had some of the rat characters be female. But they didn’t.
This film fails the “Mo Movie Measure.” (To pass, a film must include at least two female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.)
Shrek III:
This film actually has a whole group of princesses who end up rescuing themselves, which is a nice positive point. However the movie overall is so forgettable that I can barely remember what their exact situation was. (It’s a typical sequel: the first movie was excellent, the second also quite good, so the third one is sure to make money whether they bother to make an effort on it or not…). Also note that the sequence with the princesses was a minor sub-plot: the main story was the guys’ adventure to go find Prince Arthur and install him as king.
Another annoying thing about the film is its subtext that part of the problem with the evil Prince Charming is that he’s an effeminate theater-loving mama’s boy whereas Shrek is a butt-scratching, fashion-retarded real man. Actually, this subtext was already present in Shrek II, and the fact that they drew out and emphasized the importance of males meeting male gender expectations in Shrek III makes me feel like going back and re-evaluating Shrek II…
Mo Movie Measure: pass.
Happy Feet:
I liked this movie a lot, as I explained in my post morals for children in Cars and Happy Feet. And if this film were the only one, I would be happy to forgive the filmmakers for giving us the same old same old in terms of female characters. But really the story couldn’t be more cliche (or traditional) in terms of female roles.
There are a non trivial number of female characters: there a couple of female teachers in the very beginning and some nameless girls who are hit on or part of the guru’s harem, then there’s the hero’s mom and the hero’s love interest who are important characters. What’s striking is the variety of different personalities that the male characters are given and the range of different types of relationships/interactions they have with one another which the corresponding female characters don’t really have. True, the love interest is independent and successful and feisty, but her success is that she’s beautiful and popular: in short, she’s the prize to be won.
In the case of both the mom and the love interest, their one great act of courage and defiance is to stand up for the hero when others reject him. As far as I’m concerned, “stand by your man” is not wrong or bad or even unrealistic for a female character, but I’m tired of seeing it as the only adventure for a girl.
Mo Movie Measure: pass (there’s a scene near the beginning where a female music teacher talks to a female pupil about singing).
Cars:
I think Cars beats Happy Feet in terms of female characters. The main story still revolves around the male characters and their competition, friendship, and growth. However, in the town of Radiator Springs, Sally, Flo, and Lizzy are all business owners and fairly original characters. Sally in particular has accomplished some impressive goals and has chosen an unexpected path of making a life for herself in Radiator Springs because that’s what she wanted to do. And Lizzy is funny — she has some of the best lines in the film.
This film has an interesting side note for feminists discussing the male gaze: In the scene where Lightning McQueen first meets Sally and is hitting on her, at one point he says “So your job is pretty easy today — all you have to do is stand there and let me look at you.” It is very clear from the scene that his behavior is intolerably crass and obnoxious. Later there’s a “turnabout” line where Flo says “Mmm! Watching him work is make me thirsty — anybody else want a drink?” I’m not sure how much analysis this deserves since it’s not clear it was even intentional on the writers’ part, but I thought I’d at least mention it.
Mo Movie Measure: pass (Flo and Sally briefly talk about customers and business).
Shark’s Tale:
This film is the most questionable of the lot. On some level it seems like they’re shooting for diversity by portraying black culture, but to me it looks like a smorgasbord of negative stereotypes. Some characters are Italian, so they’re in the mafia. Then the main character is a black hip-hop wannabe who’s dream is to find an easy way to riches and who gets to learn that he’s happier accepting his fate at the bottom of the food chain. Naturally we’re treated to some lovely female stereotypes as well: the hero gets to choose between the glamorous gold-digger and the plain but pure-hearted girl who loved him all along. Ah, the suspense! Which will he choose??? (Please forgive the sarcasm…)
This one also makes Cars look good by contrast since you can tell from the accents of the cars that many of the characters represent different ethnicities (Mexican, Southern, Italian, black), yet none of them are given stereotypical roles or traits.
Mo Movie Measure: fail
Finding Nemo:
This one may be the best of the bunch because there’s actually a female character who follows one of the two (male) heros on the central adventure of the story. (Sad to say that’s enough to make a film stand out from the pack in feminist terms, but it is…) Plus she’s an original character, and she’s not even the hero’s love-interest. (I have absolutely nothing against love stories, indeed I think that’s a great facet of the human condition to write stories about. I just don’t like the fact that it seems that practically every story is about males, and a girl always has to be the hero’s girlfriend or dream girl to be allowed in the story at all.) Still the majority of the characters — major and minor — are male.
Mo Movie Measure: fail
Overall:
It looks like some non-trivial effort is being made on the part of the film industry to at least make the female love-interest somewhat independent and outspoken. Though it’s not clear how much improvement has been made, if any: they feisty love-interest has always been a stock character from the beginning of film-making since she’s more interesting than the wilting flower who can do nothing but exclaim “My hero!” as she’s being rescued.
It’s perfectly reasonable for parents to expect to see a range of interesting female characters in both major and minor roles in the films they show their kids. Moms and Dads (and uncles and aunts, etc.): let’s get out there and demand better.Gun supporters Wednesday urged Colorado lawmakers to approve a measure allowing school employees to carry concealed handguns on campus, but proponents of the bill expressed fears about the consequences.
“More guns equals more gun violence,” said the Rev. Wayne Laws, who spoke at a rally at the state Capitol prior to a hearing on the bill. “Why are Americans more likely to die by guns than are developing countries? This bill is a new twist on the same old bad idea. This is a pathway for opening up guns at schools.”
Despite a strong presence by opponents, several people spoke on behalf of the “Handgun Safety Training for School Employees” bill, including Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock, who is a sponsor. Neville said Senate Bill 005 is primarily about school safety and training.
The measure would require school employees to have a concealed permit to carry and complete an approved training by the local school board or state charter school institute offered by local county sheriffs in order to carry.
Dan Murphy, operations director and lobbyist for Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, said equipping more teachers with guns would help prevent and combat mass shootings at schools.
“We feel that somebody who acts out in a mass shooting doesn’t care about a ‘No Gun’ sign on the front door,” he said. “If a teacher is uncomfortable to carry, they don’t have to. But why don’t they give the teachers who do their proper training. The teachers are properly vetted to carry and I ask for a yes vote.”
Several family members whose loved ones were killed in mass shootings at places such as Sandy Hook, the Aurora theater and Columbine testified against the bill, all saying it was about more than just mass shootings.
Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was shot and killed at Columbine High School, thought the bill was not the right way to protect kids in schools. He said more counselors should be accessible for at-risk students who might be struggling with their mental health.
“Often, the presence of guns creates problems, and if we think adding more guns will solve this epidemic, we’re wrong,” he said. “This is not about mass shootings. This is about everyday shootings — domestic violence, the drunk ones and even mental health issues.
“I’ve wished for a lot of things, but having more guns in schools is not one of them.”Martin Reway is looking to resume his hockey career after missing all of last season with a heart problem.
The 22-year-old Czech is among 23 players invited to the Canadiens’ rookie camp, which begins Thursday with a 12:30 p.m. practice in Brossard. After that session, the Canadiens will take a bus to Toronto for a tournament against rookies from the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Reway averaged better than a point a game with Gatineau in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but he didn’t attract much attention in the draft because he’s only 5-foot-8. The Canadiens, who have never shied away from small players, drafted Reway in the fourth round in 2013 and general manager Marc Bergevin has described the right winger as a player with National Hockey League talent.
After playing two seasons in Gatineau, Reway returned to Europe and again put up point-a-game numbers in the Czech and Swiss leagues.
He was preparing for a North American return last fall before an inflammation of the heart was diagnosed and it appeared that his NHL dreams were over. But he resumed skating in March and has been active on social media talking about his hopes for the coming season.
Another intriguing storyline from the camp revolves around the goaltending situation. Michael McNiven, one of eight players signed by the Canadiens, will be in camp along with Baie-Comeau’s Antoine Samuel, who is in camp on a tryout.
McNiven was the top goaltender in junior hockey last season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Owen Sound Attack. He’s in a position to turn pro, but there’s a likelihood he’ll return to Owen Sound as an over-age player because that’s where he’ll get the most ice time. McNiven is listed as one of two goaltenders on the Attack roster for the coming season.
Charlie Lindgren has the No. 1 spot with the Laval Rocket and that means Rosemère native Zach Fucale might be headed back to Brampton of the East Coast Hockey League so that he can get lots of ice time.
This is a young group of rookies.
Of the eight players under contract to the Canadiens, only one, forward Daniel Audette, has played a full season of pro hockey in North America and defenceman Victor Mete is headed back to junior hockey with the London Knights.
Reway and defenceman Noah Juulsen are the only players in the signed group with even an outside chance of sticking with the Canadiens, but Jeremiah Addison, who helped Windsor win the Memorial Cup last season, heads a group of hopefuls headed to the Rocket. The other players under contract are forward Antoine Waked and defenceman Simon Bourque.
Three other players have signed Amarican Hockey League contracts. They are Thomas Ebbing, a centre from Michigan State, centre Niki Petti from Hamilton in the OHL and defenceman Stefan Leblanc from Mississauga in the OHL.
The rookies will return to Brossard for three days of practice beginning Monday. Most of the rookies are expected to be invited to the main camp which begins on Sept. 15 after physicals and testing on Sept. 14.
Most of the veterans will play in the annual charity golf tournament on Sept. 11 at Laval-sur-le-lac. The event benefits the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation.
phickey@postmedia.com
twitter.com/zababes1
Canadiens owner Geoff Molson pleased with GM’s offseason movesTHE HUMAN CONDITION / OVER-40 BACHELORS : Single Minded
For the Record Los Angeles Times Thursday September 26, 1991 Home Edition View Part E Page 4 Column 6 View Desk 2 inches; 64 words Type of Material: Correction Singles data--In a story published in Wednesday's View, an editing error reversed the ratio of unmarried men and women over age 50. Unmarried women over 50 outnumber unmarried men the same age by 20-1 in Southern California, according to Terry Hopwood of Marriage Minded Introductions. Also, census data used in the story does not differentiate between heterosexual and homosexual men who have never married. Such distinguishing data is unavailable.
In a small but revealing study of 30 white, heterosexual men over age 40 who have never married, Waehler found that half were happy, successful and satisfied with single status. The other half, while somewhat disturbed by their bachelor status, were too set in their ways to risk marriage, Waehler concluded.
Contrary to a stereotype that lifelong bachelors are unhappy, unhealthy or even deviant, a new study indicates that many middle-age men say they don't want or need marriage, says psychologist Charles A. Waehler of the University of Akron in Ohio.
"I have the freedom to make my own decisions without consultation. I just don't have to confer with anyone else, and I like that."
Almost 2.5 million American men over age 40 have never married. But before you pity the poor bachelor, listen to what one has to say about his lifestyle:
The study isn't large enough to suggest all never-married men fit a particular profile, says Waehler, who has focused much of his career studying bachelors and is writing a book about those studies. But the findings may disclose why more men choose not to marry--a sociological area that has received relatively little attention despite census data that shows a rapidly increasing group of never-married men.
Waehler's research and census data support what many single women have long suspected: It's not that lifelong bachelors over 40 don't have the chance to marry, they just don't want to.
"Once a person reaches age 40, there is only a 12% likelihood they will marry. At age 45, it's one in 20. This becomes a lifestyle," Waehler says, citing a 1988 census report.
According to a 1990 census survey, 10.5% of white men ages 40 to 44 have never married--up from 7.1% in 1980. Waehler has not studied racial and ethnic variations of this trend but notes that census data show never-married black men 40 and older are about twice as likely as white men to stay single. (In 1990, 6.75% of white women ages 40 to 44 had never married.)
But while the phenomenon of the single woman has been analyzed in detail by writers and sociologists throughout the '80s, permanent bachelorhood is not well understood, Waehler says, adding that: "I wanted to know how much truth there is to the myths and stereotypes of these men, because the myths tend to be negative."
Bachelors |
, who played the swashbuckling captain Mal Reynolds in “Firefly” and “Serenity.” “I had very little hope. And then I got that call and thought, ‘Oh my God, this guy did it.’ ”
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After “Buffy” and “Angel” ended, Mr. Whedon directed episodes of “The Office” and was a creator of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” a musical about a struggling supervillain (Neil Patrick Harris), his do-gooder nemesis (Mr. Fillion) and their shared love interest (Felicia Day), which he self-financed and released free on the Web.
Mr. Whedon’s return to Fox in 2009 with “Dollhouse,” about a woman (Eliza Dushku) whose personality and memories can be electronically rewritten, was much anticipated, but it turned into a prolonged struggle for him.
The network, Mr. Whedon said, resisted the sexual content he wanted in the show. “They want things to be sexy,” he said, “but for God’s sake, they don’t want them to be sexual.”
Believing the show had been “eviscerated,” Mr. Whedon felt himself withdrawing from “Dollhouse.” When its first — and, Mr. Whedon presumed, only — season ended, he worked with Mr. Goddard on “Cabin in the Woods,” a horror movie about a group of college students (including Kristen Connolly and the future “Thor” star Chris Hemsworth) who find that a seemingly rustic vacation spot is the setting for something much more sinister.
To Mr. Whedon’s surprise “Dollhouse” was renewed for a second season, then canceled weeks after it started. Meanwhile “Cabin in the Woods” went into limbo when MGM, the studio that produced it, filed for bankruptcy. (The movie was later sold to the independent studio Lionsgate.)
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Mr. Whedon said he has learned over time that he cannot control these situations, even when his name is on the screenplay. “You have to believe in your work to the point where you can get your heart broken,” he said, “or you wouldn’t have the energy to do these things.”
When Marvel came to Mr. Whedon about “The Avengers” in 2010, he saw the pitfalls of summer-movie syndrome, but also the potential for a “Dirty Dozen”-style adventure about the ultimate ensemble of mismatched teammates.
He said: “I was like: ‘Oh, this actually sounds fun.’ I can write about these people. They’re broken and tortured and strange.’ ”
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Mr. Whedon (who also did some uncredited revisions on the “Captain America” script) continued to fine-tune his “Avengers” script over more than 90 days of filming in Cleveland, New York and Albuquerque, N.M., while learning to work with the actors who have become the cornerstone of Marvel’s movie franchise.
Regarding Mr. Downey, Mr. Whedon said with a laugh: “We had to sniff each other out. Because I’m used to having people do everything I say, and so is he.”
Mr. Downey made it clear he expected a certain amount of creative participation. “As far as I’m concerned, I have everything approval,” he said, only half-joking.
But while Mr. Downey said he was willing to be hands-on with “The Avengers” and was “down for a good, hard time,” the film “was not that kind of party.” When he requested alternate lines of dialogue for a scene, he said Mr. Whedon preferred, “while he’s between setting up shots, to go off and literally write three pages of alts.”
Mr. Downey added: “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s easy. You do all the work, and I will pick from a menu.’ ”
Mr. Jackson affectionately compared “The Avengers” to a group of children pretending to play superheroes. “There’s always the lead kid who tells you what the story’s going to be and what you’re going to be fighting and what you need to do,” he said. “And that’s Joss.”
In characteristic Whedon-esque style he took about two weeks after finishing principal photography on “The Avengers” to shoot a film version of “Much Ado About Nothing” at his home in Santa Monica, Calif.
His next project, he said, would be another independently produced Web series, to be distributed free, created with the writer Warren Ellis and called “Wastelanders,” which Mr. Whedon jokingly described as “Glengarry Timecop.”
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Calling it “a drama about people who save the world and how unbelievably unhappy they are,” Mr. Whedon worried — up to a point — that its rougher edges could alienate even his dedicated fans.
“It’s very dark and very grown-up,” he said. “But it’s the next thing that I want to say, so I can’t worry about ‘Well, where’s the empowerment narrative that people love?’ ”
“That,” Mr. Whedon said, “will always be the story of my life.” He paused and corrected himself: “Not, sadly, of my life, but of my writing. If it had happened to me, I wouldn’t have to write about it so much.”Many leaders are competent, but few qualify as remarkable. If you want to join the ranks of the best of the best, make sure you embody all these qualities all the time. It isn't easy, but the rewards can be truly phenomenal.
1. Awareness There is a difference between management and employees, bosses and workers. Leaders understand the nature of this difference and accept it; it informs their image, their actions, and their communication. They conduct themselves in a way that sets them apart from their employees--not in a manner that suggests they are better than others, but in a way that permits them to retain an objective perspective on everything that's going on in their organization.
2. Decisiveness All leaders must make tough decisions. It goes with the job. They understand that in certain situations, difficult and timely decisions must be made in the best interests of the entire organization, decisions that require a firmness, authority, and finality that will not please everyone. Extraordinary leaders don't hesitate in such situations. They also know when not to act unilaterally but instead foster collaborative decision making.
3. Empathy Extraordinary leaders praise in public and address problems in private, with a genuine concern. The best leaders guide employees through challenges, always on the lookout for solutions to foster the long-term success of the organization. Rather than making things personal when they encounter problems, or assigning blame to individuals, leaders look for constructive solutions and focus on moving forward.
4. Accountability Extraordinary leaders take responsibility for everyone's performance, including their own. They follow up on all outstanding issues, check in on employees, and monitor the effectiveness of company policies and procedures. When things are going well, they praise. When problems arise, they identify them quickly, seek solutions, and get things back on track.
5. Confidence Not only are the best leaders confident, but their confidence is contagious. Employees are naturally drawn to them, seek their advice, and feel more confident as a result. When challenged, they don't give in too easily, because they know their ideas, opinions, and strategies are well-informed and the result of much hard work. But when proven wrong, they take responsibility and quickly act to improve the situations within their authority.
6. Optimism The very best leaders are a source of positive energy. They communicate easily. They are intrinsically helpful and genuinely concerned for other people's welfare. They always seem to have a solution, and always know what to say to inspire and reassure. They avoid personal criticism and pessimistic thinking, and look for ways to gain consensus and get people to work together efficiently and effectively as a team.
7. Honesty Strong leaders treat people the way they want to be treated. They are extremely ethical and believe that honesty, effort, and reliability form the foundation of success. They embody these values so overtly that no employee doubts their integrity for a minute. They share information openly, and avoid spin control.
8. Focus Extraordinary leaders plan ahead, and they are supremely organized. They think through multiple scenarios and the possible impacts of their decisions, while considering viable alternatives and making plans and strategies--all targeted toward success. Once prepared, they establish strategies, processes, and routines so that high performance is tangible, easily defined, and monitored. They communicate their plans to key players and have contingency plans in the event that last-minute changes require a new direction (which they often do).
9. Inspiration Put it all together, and what emerges is a picture of the truly inspiring leader: someone who communicates clearly, concisely, and often, and by doing so motivates everyone to give his or her best all the time. They challenge their people by setting high but attainable standards and expectations, and then giving them the support, tools, training, and latitude to pursue those goals and become the best employees they can possibly be.Have you ever been provoked by someone into fear, anger or pain, and then blamed, punished or humiliated for feeling and expressing these feelings? This is a form of psychological torture which has very serious consequences.
Here are three stories that demonstrate how commonly this form of torture occurs in human society.
Imagine that you are an Arab living in occupied Palestine. Everyday your work, study, family relationships and/or friendships require you to travel locally, but even distances that should take minutes may take hours because of the internationally illegal checkpoints guarded by Israeli
soldiers who deliberately hold up and humiliate the civilians passing (agonisingly) slowly through.
The soldiers find this work boring and take out their frustrations on the civilians in many ways. Your very existence in this land, where you and your ancestors were born, is already being treated as a threat by the soldiers: the ideological paranoia with which they have been brought up, and their mostly suppressed feelings of powerlessness, sadness and rage about relatively infrequent and small scale retaliatory violence by Palestinians, lead them to hate and fear the Christian and Muslim Arab population as a whole.
In this situation, any expression of anger (even in the form of nonviolent resistance) by you at the outrageous, unjust and irrational behaviour of the soldiers will be treated as a heightened threat: their response will likely be violent. Any expression of distress will be treated with a lack of empathy or outright disgust. Some soldiers will develop an addiction to controlling and humiliating people, feeling that this gives them ‘power’, although it is not power over anything that genuinely improves their lives.
In essence, the soldiers will not allow you to communicate with them sensibly, via your feelings of anger and distress, about the real and unjust consequences of their actions. They do not ‘care’.
Imagine you are a child as young as six years old being electro shocked by psychiatrists and psych nurses- You scream and cry and make it abundantly clear that they are harming you physically and causing you intense fear but they hold you down and proceed regardless.
They repeat the process over many days and weeks, damaging your brain and gradually eradicating parts of your memory, and demanding that you show signs of being ‘happy’. Any sensible emotional response to this physical torture is seen as a sign that there is something wrong with you that requires further electrocution. The psychiatrists and nurses will not allow you to sensibly communicate with them, via your feelings of terror and misery, about the real and destructive consequences of their actions. They do not ‘care’.
Imagine you are Christina Schumacher who was recently ‘involuntarily treated’ (i.e. incarcerated against her will and expected to take medications that would drug her into insensibility) when she was suffering extreme grief having just learned that her son had been strangled to death
by her estranged husband, who then killed himself. Her therapist and that person’s seniors had decided to lock her up prior to even interviewing her, they were so terrified of allowing her to feel her natural emotional reactions to the trauma. So she suffered without emotional support for
five and a half weeks, in the company of severely psychotic people who were also failing to receive treatment that helped them.
She eventually received legal support that helped her secure her release. Her fury about
how she had been treated was but will the psychiatrists and family members who abused her hear her anger as a reasonable communication about their violent and unnecessary behaviour? Or will they see this anger as ‘threatening’ because all anger scares them, regardless of whether or not it is justified? Will they have the capacity to ‘care’?
Is there any child who has not frequently had their feelings of fear, anger, pain and sadness ignored, trivialised, criminalised or pathologised by the adults around them? Is there any child who has not learned to be afraid of these feelings (and many others) as a result? If you are wondering why the soldiers and psychiatric personnel in my above examples lack empathy how is it that they can be so cruel and uncaring? The answer is clear. They have been frightened out of feeling their own emotions, and trusting and valuing these emotions, first as children, then
further as part of their ‘professional’ training. How can anyone empathise with another person’s feelings if they are terrified to feel their own? If they are too afraid to feel the fear that lets them know when they are genuinely under threat, and the anger that would help them stand up
against the people who have lied to and abused them (generally their parents, teachers, politicians and superiors), how could they value another person’s fear and anger as valid communication?
What can we do if abusers will not (or, more accurately, cannot) listen to us, because they are too afraid? They may have the physical power to make us suffer, but it is crucial that we do not internalise their abuse of us, and that we act to reverse any internalisation that has already taken
place.
Healing and a return to selfhood happen when a person listens to their own feelings, including the fear that they should not listen to and trust their own feelings. If you can find someone who is not afraid to allow you to feel who can sit with you, paying quiet attention while you feel this will help to reassure you and reverse the lesson of emotional suppression you have been taught. If there is no-one available to listen calmly and quietly, then find an undisturbed
space and listen to yourself. Your feelings care about you and are trying to communicate the truth about who and how you really are.
Feeling emotions is not always fun, and takes considerable physical energy, but your emotions are your power to be your real self, and allow you to be an active and resilient player in your own life, rather than a powerless victim of circumstance.
A person who does not trust or value their own feelings is no longer truly alive: they have a delusional, socially constructed identity that stands in for their real self and that steadfastly refuses (out of fear) to communicate with the real world. Such a person becomes obsessed with and addicted to controlling things that trigger their emotions: most often, these ‘things’ are other people’s emotions and behaviours.
To break the cycle of emotional suppression, and the insane destructive behaviours that are caused by this, we have to find the courage to care about and listen to our own feelings.
McKone is a nonviolent activist and independent psych researcher from Australia. She works with her life-partner and co-activist/researcher Robert J. Burrowes. Her articles on psychological, philosophical and political nonviolence can be found at: http://anitamckone.wordpress.com. Her email address is [email protected]Premier Rachel Notley has a lot of problems. One that’s coming on fast is a rise of doubt and criticism from the base of her New Democratic Party.
That’s likely one reason her Ottawa speech was a fighting rehash of a war already fought — the election of 2015, the last time these people had any fun.
Another sign of deepening gloom among New Democrats was Finance Minister Joe Ceci’s tense, irritable presentation of the worst economic news in decades. At a moment that required energy and optimism, he looked like somebody just ran over his cat.
With this mood spreading at the top, it’s not surprising that New Democrats outside the government circle are starting to speak up about what’s going wrong.
These people — and I don’t claim they represent all New Democrats — already sound like the PCs who started griping when the great conservative rebellion first stirred in 2009; still loyal, but sharply critical of how their government is dealing with big trouble.
One rural New Democrat, active at the heart of the party for decades, says the government’s headlong policy changes have caused big problems.
“The carbon tax issue — they moved too quickly on this,” says this veteran who, like all the others, won’t be named at this point.
“We could have done a lot more consultation.
“We did a great job with the major oil companies, getting them to support the tax,” he adds. “We should be engaging those people (the industry types) to sell the message to the average Albertans.”
Notley always says her measures, from the climate change policy to the tax, were part of the NDP platform and therefore have the public’s full support.
That’s simply not true. First, the carbon tax wasn’t mentioned during the campaign. Second, the whole environment policy comprises only 220 words of the NDP’s election platform. The word “climate” appears only once.
This is immensely complex policy that needed a full public airing long before it became law. Even New Democrats who fully support the policies now see the sense in that.
“A lot of the stuff done in the first year should have been done in the second year,” the veteran says. “They would have had more time to explain and sell the policies.”
The PCs in their waning days made exactly the same mistakes. First Nations once blasted them for failing to consult on a bill guaranteeing consultation. The New Democrats were always the first to jump on such absurdities.
Then their own opacity over Bill 6, the farm safety legislation, provoked monumental demonstrations and anger.
The government apologized then, but now Notley tells her Ottawa audience that the bill passed “despite a vicious, over-the-top incitement campaign run by Alberta’s right wing anger industry.”
She’s not entirely wrong, that’s for sure, but the anger wouldn’t have been as intense if the New Democrats had fully explained what they were doing, and why, even before writing the bill.
“You needed to talk about that legislation, you needed to bring out the human rights issue, the clear fact that the court had warned Alberta to amend its legislation,” says the worried New Democrat. “If you convince people, you’re going to have an informed and willing public.”
Even after alienating large parts of rural Alberta, the New Democrats have done little to win people back. They don’t connect well with community newspapers — “the rural Bibles,” the NDPer calls them — or local decision-makers.
The New Democrats have a very young caucus, many of whose members had casual connections with the party before. Now they’d rather invent their own wheel than hear from elders who kept the tires inflated in hard times.
To suddenly be shunned by your own, after being scorned for so long by nearly everyone else, can breed a deep resentment.
“They’ve moved way past me,” says another loyalist who once ran for the party. “I have no idea what they’re doing and I have no points of contact. I am frankly very worried.”
The NDs I spoke to still support the government and certainly want it to win again.
“But they’ll have to be very smart in the next three years, especially in their communications and outreach,” says one, with confidence no more convincing than Joe Ceci’s.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
dbraid@calgaryherald.comWilliam Stetson Kennedy (October 5, 1916 – August 27, 2011) was an American author, folklorist, and human rights activist. One of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century, he's remembered for having infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s, exposing its secrets to authorities and the outside world. His actions led to the 1947 revocation by the state of Georgia of the Klan's national corporate charter. [1] Kennedy wrote or co-wrote ten books.
At a young age, Kennedy began collecting Florida folklore material and wrote poetry about Florida nature. [2] His views on race relations in the South were largely influenced by his family's black maid, known only as "Flo", whom Kennedy considered "almost like a mother". [5] During his childhood in the 1920s, he witnessed local Klan members beating and raping Flo while she was tied to a tree for "sassing whitefolks" [4] after she questioned a white bus driver who had given her incorrect change. Recalling this incident later in life, Kennedy said, "At a very tender age, I became aware that grownups were lying about a whole lot more than Santa Claus", [4] in reference to the Klan's claims of being Christian patriots. [5]
In 1942, Kennedy began working for the CIO, a federation of labor unions for industrial workers. As an editorial director for the CIO's political action committee (PAC) in Atlanta, he wrote a series of monographs advocating against racist policies such as the poll tax, white primaries, and other restrictions that were routinely used throughout the South to disenfranchise minorities, primarily African Americans, and poor people from being able to exercise their right to vote. [2]
Kennedy's first book, Palmetto Country (1942), which was commissioned by Georgia writer Erskine Caldwell for his American Folkways Series, was based on unused material collected during Kennedy's time with the Federal Writers' Project. [2] When it was published, Alan Lomax of the Library of Congress said, "I very much doubt that a better book about Florida folklife will ever be written". [10]
Kennedy was unable to enlist in the military to serve in World War II because of a bad back, so he decided to channel his patriotism towards combatting racial injustices in the Jim Crow South. He is best known for infiltrating the Georgia Ku Klux Klan and exposing their secrets on the popular children's radio program The Adventures of Superman, trivializing their rituals.[11] He also targeted the Columbians, an Atlanta-based neo-Nazi organization.[2] Kennedy said, "There were an awful lot of evils abroad in the world at the time, as there still are, but I couldn't help but feel that racism was perhaps the most evil".[12]
Working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Kennedy joined the multiple Klan-affiliated organizations under the pseudonym John Perkins in order to gain evidence that could be used to prosecute its members.[12] He obtained information about the Klan's "Invisible Empire" through his own participation and also through a high-ranking informant. As soon as he became aware of new details, he shared the Klan's secrets with police, prosecutors, journalists, and human rights organizations.[1] In 1947, after a year of working undercover, he agreed to testify in a trial against the leaders of the Columbians, Homer Loomis and Emory Burke, who were found guilty.[2]
Kennedy claimed that in 1946, he provided information – including secret codewords and details of Klan rituals – to the writers of the Superman radio program, intending to strip away the Klan's mystique. There was a series of 16 episodes in which Superman took on the Klan. He claimed that the trivialization of the Klan's rituals and codewords likely had a negative impact on Klan recruiting and membership, leading Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt to dub Kennedy "the greatest single contributor to the weakening of the Ku Klux Klan" in their 2005 book Freakonomics. However, in 2006, Dubner and Levitt cast doubt on the statements of Kennedy, stating "the story of Stetson Kennedy was one long series of anecdotes -- which, no matter how many times they were cited over the decades, were nearly all generated by the same self-interested source".[13]
Critical assessments from his peers Edit
In 1999, freelance historian Ben Green alleged that Kennedy falsified or misrepresented portions of The Klan Unmasked. During the 1990s, Green had enlisted Kennedy's help while researching a book about the still unsolved murders of Florida couple Harry and Harriette Moore, black Civil Rights activists who died of injuries from the bombing of their home on Christmas Eve 1951.[citation needed] Green's book about the Moores, Before His Time, was published in 1999. Green, whose book is generally disparaging of Kennedy, claimed to have examined Kennedy's archives at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and Atlanta and he concluded that a number of interviews, portrayed in I Rode With The Ku Klux Klan as having been conducted undercover, had in fact been done openly, and that racist material amassed by Kennedy had also been openly obtained from mail subscriptions to the Klan and similar groups and not surreptitiously, as Kennedy implied.[citation needed] Most seriously, Green accused Kennedy of concealing the existence of a collaborator, referred to as "John Brown" (a pseudonym presumably chosen in honor of the 19th-century abolitionist John Brown). This pseudonymous collaborator, Green alleged, was in fact responsible for the most daring of Kennedy's undercover revelations.[citation needed]
Green also interviewed Georgia State Prosecutor Dan Duke, whom he reported as denying having worked with Kennedy as closely as the latter had claimed. "Duke agreed that Kennedy 'got inside of some [Klan] meetings' but openly disputed Kennedy's dramatized account of their relationship. "'None of that happened,' [Duke] told Green", according to Freakonomics authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt in their New York Times Magazine column of January 8, 2006.[13] On the other hand, Peggy Bulger—the then-head of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, who wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on Kennedy and interviewed him extensively—stated that when she interviewed Duke, "Duke laughed about the way The Klan Unmasked was written. But he added that Kennedy 'didn't do it all, but he did plenty.'"[citation needed] In the same column, Levitt and Dubner also quote Jim Clark, a professor at the University of Central Florida and co-author of a PBS television documentary based on Green's book, as saying that "[Kennedy] built a national reputation on many things that didn't happen".[13] Jim Clark and Ben Green collaborated on the script of Freedom Never Dies: The Story of Harry T. Moore,[14] based on Green's book and partially funded by the Freedom Forum.[15] In a letter to Kennedy dated July 27, 1946, Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall wrote: 'You have my permission to quote me as making the following observation: Documentary evidence uncovered by Stetson Kennedy has facilitated Georgia's prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan.'"[16]
Dubner and Levitt had included a favorable summary of Kennedy's anti-Klan activities with special emphasis on the events recounted in I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan in the 2005 edition of their bestselling book. In the revised 2006 edition, after being contacted by Green, they retracted their earlier admiration, claiming that they had been "hoodwinked".[13] The allegations in their retraction were swiftly repeated by the business journal Forbes in a review of the revised edition of Freakonomics: "It turns out that Kennedy doesn't quite live up to his own legend. In fact, he had exaggerated his story for decades and credited himself with actions taken by other people".
Green's insinuations are contested by scholars, who emphasize that Kennedy never concealed that he had protected his colleagues' identities and maintain that Green either misread or did not really read the material at the Schomburg Center. Bulger maintains that Kennedy was always candid with her and others about his combination of two narratives into one in I Rode With the Ku Klux Klan: "His purpose was to expose the Klan to a broad reading audience and use their folklore against them, which he did". In a letter to the editor of The New York Times Magazine (published on January 22, 2006) Bulger accused Dubner and Levitt of "holding Stetson Kennedy responsible for the inadequacies of their own research":
It's preposterous. I have worked with Stetson Kennedy for more than 30 years, conducting almost 100 in-depth interviews with both Kennedy and his contemporaries. Your writers use one footnote from my dissertation as "evidence", yet Dubner admitted to me that they never read the whole thing. This is "data"? What is the smoking gun here?[17]
In the same issue of the magazine, a letter of protest from famed oral historian Studs Terkel affirms that "With half a dozen Stetson Kennedys, we can transform our society into one of truth, grace and beauty.... The thing is, Stetson did what he set out to do.... He did get help. He should have been much more up-front. But he certainly doesn't deserve this treatment".[citation needed]
In his own response (published in the Jacksonville, Florida Folio Weekly, January 27, 2006) Kennedy pulled no punches:
The hidden story behind these hidden story guys is that it was a put-up, hatchet job. Freakonomics co-author, Stephen Dubner, admitted to me that it was Ben Green, author of the book about the Harry T. Moore assassinations, who made the call. And, why would he have it in for me? We once had a contract to collaborate on the Moore book and split the byline; but instead we split, because I was convinced that lawmen at every level were involved in every phase of the murders, while he was bent not just upon whitewash but on praising the G-men for a "stellar performance". I must say that I am not at all comfortable about being in Freakonomics, anyway. I took the authors into my home on the basis of their assertion that what they were after was the economics of the Klan. The next thing I knew, they sent me a pre-publication copy of their sketch of Klan history, and I was horrified to see that it was a rehash of the Klan's very own "Birth of A Nation" version. I did some detailed editing, but they chose to ignore it — just as they did all the documentation I gave them on my infiltration of Klans all over the South, all by my lonesome. I trust that readers took note of the book's attack upon [the low-income early education program] Head Start, which with all its faults, is a godsend to many. Still worse is the book's suggestion that the way to decrease the crime rate is to decrease the black birthrate via abortion. Without reference to what America does to its black and tan kids, that is sheer racism. There is too much evil going on in the world for me, going on 90, to take time out to haggle with anyone about which agent covered which Klan meeting 50 years ago.[18][not in citation given]
In 2006, The Florida Times-Union, after extensive research, published an article "KKK Book Stands Up to Claim of Falsehood" substantiating the general accuracy of Kennedy's account of infiltrating the Klan, while acknowledging that (as he himself never denied) he had made use of dramatic effects and multiple narratives in the book I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan.[16]
According to David Pilgrim, curator of the Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University:Originally published March 1, 2014 at 7:05 PM | Page modified March 6, 2014 at 2:36 PM
In an attempt to add depth to the curriculum in America’s most popular advanced high-school courses, some local teachers threw out most of their lectures and replaced them with a series of projects. Results so far are encouraging.
Education Lab is produced in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network. The project is funded by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
"The Education Lab," a yearlong Seattle Times project in partnership with The Solutions Journalism Network, spotlights promising responses to problems that have long bedeviled our public school system. Find out more.
Education Lab hosted a panel of experts on March 6 to answer readers' questions and discuss how schools can better serve advanced students. Replay the Google Hangout.
The most obvious reason for why smaller classes work — that teachers give students better, more-tailored instruction — probably isn’t the reason why achievement goes up, studies have found. Read the story →
In an idea borrowed from college athletics, the University of Washington boosts promising engineering students — many of them women and minorities — with an extra year of academic work. Read the story →
It stands to reason: Kick troubled students out of school and they often come back even worse. The Kent School District is trying to tackle this national problem by overhauling the way it handles discipline. But its answers spark even more questions. Read the story →
In a new type of advanced government class at Seattle’s Garfield High, the students rarely sit quietly taking notes while their teacher stands and lectures.
Instead, they debate each other. They write legislation. They run for president in mock elections and pretend they’re lawyers arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They sometimes even stand up and holler, as Sanai Anang did recently, playing a member of a Virginia-based group that lobbies for strict immigration controls.
In a simulated public hearing, Anang, who loves to ham it up, jumped to his feet without being recognized and declared, in a mangled Southern accent, “Ee-lee-gals come over and take our jobs. They don’t bee-long here.”
His classmates and teacher Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser cracked up.
They are all part of a teaching experiment that began six years ago in the Bellevue School District when a handful of frustrated government teachers teamed up with University of Washington researchers and turned the usual Advanced Placement curriculum inside out.
Instead of lectures sprinkled with discussions and occasional projects, they put role plays and simulations at the center of the curriculum — the entree, rather than a side dish or dessert.
Their goal was to solve two problems with the A.P. program, the largest set of college-level courses offered in high schools across the nation.
First, they wanted to address the criticism that A.P. classes cover so many topics so quickly that students spend too much time memorizing facts and too little time analyzing their meaning and significance.
The team also wanted to test whether a steady diet of hands-on exercises would help address the rising failure rate on A.P. tests among some minority groups.
The team members started with A.P. U.S. government and politics — one of the most popular A.P. offerings — dumping most of the lectures that usually are the core of the course, and replacing them with five in-depth projects.
They then tackled A.P. environmental science and are now working on A.P. physics.
The transition hasn’t been easy for students used to being told, at the start of each assignment, exactly what they’re supposed to learn.
Students and teachers alike complain the projects can be time-consuming to complete — and to plan.
And, done poorly, they can be a waste of time.
But the results so far are promising, showing that the project-based classes can provide depth and enough breadth for students to pass the spring A.P. exams.
Students in the experiment, now under way in about five dozen classrooms in Washington, Northern California and Iowa, have done as well and often better on the A.P. exams compared with classmates in the experiment’s control schools that use a lecture-heavy approach.
They’ve often scored higher on a separate test that researchers designed to probe how well students truly understand what they’ve learned — although those results have been mixed.
The researchers are not examining results by race because they believe achievement gaps are grounded in differences in class rather than ethnicity. They have found their approach can yield results for students from low-income homes as well as those from middle- and upper-class neighborhoods.
Last year, for example, 88 percent of students in two of the experiment’s high-poverty schools passed the A.P. U.S. government test in the spring — much higher than the 24 percent for comparable schools nationally.
Program booming
The A.P. program began in the 1950s as a way for elite high-school students to earn college credit.
In the past two decades, participation in the program has exploded, with more than 2 million students taking one or more A.P. exams last year.
But as A.P.’s popularity has grown, so have questions about its quality.
The spring A.P. exams are supposed to cover what students would learn in typical introductory college courses, but many teachers complain there’s so much material that their classes turn into extended cram sessions.
Critics also question whether the A.P. boom, driven by a push to open the program to all interested students, sets up those without strong preparation to fail.
The program is run by the nonprofit College Board, which is addressing those same concerns itself, steadily streamlining the exams to allow students more time for in-depth study.
The board is watching the teaching experiment carefully, interested in its promising results. In 2012 the board invited project leaders to its A.P. conference to present their ideas to A.P. teachers from across the nation.
It’s important that students gain an in-depth understanding of a subject, said Auditi Chakravarty, an A.P. program vice president. “And that requires more than the passive sit-and-get kind of learning.”
Enlisting an old idea
The A.P. experiment that started in Bellevue grew out of conversations between the U.W. researchers and a former Bellevue superintendent, Mike Riley, who’d led a big expansion in A.P. participation in his district.
They thought they could improve the classes by using an idea that dates back to the 1890s, when education reformer John Dewey promoted “learning by doing.”
At its best, project-based learning can help students grasp the importance of their lessons and retain more of what they learn. At its worst, it can be entertaining but little else.
The research into its effectiveness is mixed, in part because the project approach can mean so many different things.
The U.W.-Bellev |
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