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detritus of years of abandonment. He nimbly skits across the wreckage — bricks, scaffolding, jagged wood once arranged as pews — and seeks out a vantage point for his next shot. This is what he does.
"I just kinda stumbled across this place about a year or so ago," he says, echoes of his voice ebbing against the masonry. He's zooming in on a surprisingly intact piano, framed by wilting walls and sacred art from a bygone era. The grooves of time and activity are worn like merit badges up and down the ivory keys. "It's like you can almost hear it."
More than likely, we're not even supposed to be here. Lawless, 35, explains that this church is usually one of the easier abandoned spots in town to enter. But a problem arose when we arrived to find the place boarded up with flimsy plywood and half-hearted warnings against trespassing. And despite his moniker, Lawless says he really tries to avoid crossing legal lines and barricades set up by the city. These boards, however, seem to have been jury-rigged by some concerned neighbor, not the police.
Also, we had come here to go inside.
Urban exploration has been a steadily growing phenomenon across the world for a while now. The idea is to go deep into the heart of man-made terra incognita: abandoned ruins, derelict neighborhoods, etc. Photography is a great medium for bringing those forgotten landscapes to the public. Lawless has been in the game for more than a decade. "Back then, there wasn't a name for it," he says. "Except for being crazy."
Locally, he's spent time roaming around the concrete labyrinth along East Cleveland's weary Shaw Avenue. "I go into abandoned homes just for the hell of it," he says, remarking on a typical day's work. Prior to Michael Madison being charged with the murders of three women in July, Lawless was actually photographing the very house that would eventually be used to hide Angela Deskins' body. It's now boarded up by the city, leaving stories sealed within.
"You always wonder if something bad is happening in these places. Now there's all this talk that, yes, something bad is happening in some of these places," he says. He pauses a moment and adds: "I wanted to get into Ariel Castro's house more than anything."
Over the past three months, Lawless has continued to prowl across Seymour Avenue, plotting out possible entry points. "You can't even get on the roof of the one abandoned house next to it and jump over to get in. They put up a wall," he says, rattling off some of the aspects of the venture he was considering. He feared breaking into the home would impact the court proceedings, but when Castro accepted a guilty plea in late July, he thought there may be a slim chance to get behind the fences and explore the horrors.
"I couldn't believe it. They're still sitting out there," he says of the FBI and police. The house was set for demolition on Aug. 7. About an hour before we met at the church, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty released photos of the home during Castro's formal sentencing. "Are you serious?! I had no idea..."
Often, Lawless drifts into and out of these locations with little concern. He's chanced upon homeless men and women living in abandoned structures, but an unspoken agreement typically keeps them from interacting along the way. During those times, anxiety runs high as Lawless realizes he's in someone's living quarters. In a room jutting off from the sanctuary where we're standing, water bottles are lined up along a makeshift mattress. Someone has been living here too.
As the sun pours in through ancient windows and freshly installed plywood, the church glows. Lawless absently says he feels more comfortable — safer, even — in places like this than outside in society. The farther he goes off the map, the more vivid the worlds he encounters tend to be.
"With houses, especially, I think they kinda tell a story. People can see the plight of America — that crushing of the economy," he says. "People are shocked when they see my stuff on Instagram from other countries. Like, 'This isn't America!'" His social media accounts spread his work across the globe. Along the way, he's inadvertently stoked the flames of anti-American sentiment at home and abroad. Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was known to comment now and then on photos Lawless had posted. Days following the April 15 attack, Lawless' Facebook page was forcibly taken down, and thousands of Russia-based users had been removed from his network of fans.
He's stayed off Facebook since then, preferring the ephemera of Instagram (@SephLawless). Later this month, his first published collection of photos and written work will be released on Amazon. It's titled Autopsy of America.
Biloxi, Miss.; Appleton, Wis.; Las Cruces, N.M.: The datelines of Lawless' photography crisscross the map. When he's not sifting through ruins, he lives on the road. Hitting the freeways of America in a Toyota Prius, Lawless has gotten in touch with the spirit of this nation. After we walked through the cavernous church here in Cleveland, he was planning on heading up the road to Detroit.
While this is all a creative lifelong hobby for him, urban exploration has also served as a diagnostic for some of the country's true ills. It's informed him and his followers of some of the darker corners of society.
"When you go to areas like East Cleveland or Detroit, you can't make a right or a left without seeing some sort of urban decay," he says, ambling back toward the entryway of the church. "It's a real problem, and it's growing. You just wouldn't believe the devastation, the urban decay. It's profound. It really is."
He quickly references Gary, Ind. "That place is horrifying. It's literally a ghost town."
The plywood barricade slams against the church's stone walls as a chilled gust tears across the driveway. There's the sound — a stark reminder of the silence inside this room — and the sensation that we are distinctly not a part of the outside world here.
A entry from his journal dated Jan. 7, 2013, reads: "When I was a child, I was afraid of the dark...and ghosts. I'm now an adult who is afraid of the light...and people." It's a thought that lends a touch of explanation to why he's doing this. And each place he visits is itself an important footnote on what was once here and what it's become now.Rate compares with fifth of white young without job but it is society's unfairness, not racial bias, which is being blamed
The recession has left almost one in two young black people without a job, appearing to contradict claims by the government that it would shield the most vulnerable from the effects of the downturn.
The left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research said 48% of black people aged 16 to 24 reported that they were out of work, compared with 20% of white people of the same age.
Not only had the absolute level of unemployment risen for young black people, but as a group they suffered the sharpest leap in joblessness: black unemployment has jumped 13% since March 2008, compared with 8% among white people and 6% among Asians.
The thinktank looked at data from the Labour Force Survey, a quarterly sample of about 60,000 households. Within that, the institute said it looked at the responses of 16- to 24-year-olds, a total of 7,200 people, in November 2009.
The figures appear to fly in the face of assurances by ministers that class rather than race is a greater factor in holding people back and come at a time when there are concerns about rising poverty levels in a time of penury. However in an number of interviews with young black unemployed people many refused to accept that race discrimination was solely behind the joblessness – saying instead simply that "society was unfair".
Godfrey Kingsley, a 17-year-old who has been unemployed since September, and is now on a programme run by Tomorrow's People, a charity helping the unemployed back into work, said: "I am not saying there is no racism but you cannot hold a grudge against the system. How many black people are selling cars in Jaguar showrooms or clothes in D&G? Not that many.
"But the point is that you need to be the best and that means not accepting that mindset of 'it's because I am black'. My problem was that my college was closed down by Ofsted and the teachers were sacked. That left a hole in my cv. No fault of my own."
The government defended measures it had taken to protect the most vulnerable of the population during the recession. Jim Knight, the employment minister, said the problem was partly that there were more young people in the ethnic minority population and the recession had "hit young people harder than most".
Academics said the reasons for the rise in youth unemployment among black youths were manifold: underachievement in the classroom, a disadvantage when it came to friends and family connections helping them find jobs, and the disappearance of the traditional blue-collar jobs.
"One in two young black people being unemployed is quite a shocking figure," said Steve Strand, associate professor at Warwick University's institute of education.
"If you think that education is a gatekeeper to a future there are gaps between black and white performance. But that is not big enough to account for the differences in employment."
Others point out that even in good times a third of young black people are out of a job, a "scarring effect" that meant there was a persistent loss of skills, and a longer and harder road back into the workforce.
"What's of concern is that you have especially young Afro Caribbean people who are out of work for long periods of time," said Prof Richard Berthoud, of Essex University.
"That means you have a group who are not so embedded in the workforce. So when the economy recovers and they try and find a job they continually have to answer employers who say 'what's wrong with you?'"
The possibility that the recession could permanently damage prospects for young black people echoes the experience of African-Americans in the US, who have fared much worse than those in the white population during the recession. Data last month showed that among young black American men without a high-school diploma, nearly half did not have a job.
Feature films such as Precious, which is released later this month in Britain and explores the grim but ultimately triumphant life in inner city New York of a young Afro American woman, have been criticised by some for sending out a negative message.
However, Femi Oyeniran, the 23-year-old actor who made his name in the 2006 film Kidulthood and in its 2008 sequel, Adulthood, said that his movies had been criticised at the time for "casting black people in a negative light". He said: "But it was fiction not reality. The recession means that we have to look at a lot of factors and some of them are down to black people themselves."You can’t say the feds didn’t give advance warning. Last month, the Justice Department threatened to sue Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio if he kept up with his refusals to cooperate with an ongoing civil rights investigation into whether he discriminates against Hispanics. Now, a suit has been filed against both the sheriff and his office.
Arpaio, famous for his controversial tactics, including sweeps through immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, told The Arizona Republic that he and his office have been cooperating with the feds and had not been targeting Hispanics.
"These actions make it abundantly clear that Arizona, including this Sheriff, is Washington's new whipping boy. Now it's time to take the gloves off," Arpaio said in a statement released Thursday afternoon (PDF). "The Obama administration intended to sue us all along, no matter what we did to try to avert it."
The latest lawsuit (PDF) is the third the Department of Justice has filed against entities within Arizona for what it claims are discriminatory practices relating to immigration.
Earlier this week, the agency sued a network of community colleges in the Phoenix-area. It claimed that Maricopa Community Colleges required newly hired non-citizens "to present additional work authorization documents beyond those required by law," without imposing the same requirements on U.S. citizens. Here’s the DOJ:
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires employers to treat authorized workers in the same manner during the hiring process, regardless of their citizenship status. Yet, Maricopa Community Colleges imposed different and greater documentary requirements on at least 247 non-U.S. citizens, and did not end this practice until January 2010, well after the Justice Department initiated its investigation.
A Maricopa Community Colleges spokesman declined to comment on this matter to The Washington Post and other news outlets.
In early July, the Justice Department filed suit against Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer, challenging the constitutionality of the state's immigration law. A recent State Department report (PDF) to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights — intended as a "partial snapshot of the current human rights situation in the United States, including some of the areas where problems persist in our society" — also made mention of the law:
A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world. The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined.
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brewer protested the mention of Arizona in the report and called for its removal (PDF). In it, she defended her administration and said it was “unconstitutional” for the federal government to submit state laws to the United Nations for “review,” which she called “internationalism run amok.”$\begingroup$
Google brought up a similar question with an answer that I think is very good. I've quoted it below.
There's another distinction lurking here that is explained in the Cook essay I linked. Objects are not the only way to implement abstraction. Not everything is an object. Objects implement something which some people call procedural data abstraction. Abstract data types implement a different form of abstraction. A key difference appears when you consider binary methods/functions. With procedural data abstraction (objects), you might write something like this for an Int set interface: interface IntSet { void unionWith(IntSet s);... } Now consider two implementations of IntSet, say one that's backed by lists and one that's backed by a more efficient binary tree structure: class ListIntSet implements IntSet { void unionWith(IntSet s){... } } class BSTIntSet implements IntSet { void unionWith(IntSet s){... } } Notice that unionWith must take an IntSet argument. Not the more specific type like ListIntSet or BSTIntSet. This means that the BSTIntSet implementation cannot assume that its input is a BSTIntSet and use that fact to give an efficient implementation. (It could use some run time type information to check it and use a more efficient algorithm if it is, but it still could be passed a ListIntSet and have to fall back to a less efficient algorithm). Compare this to ADTs, where you may write something more like the following in a signature or header file: typedef struct IntSetStruct *IntSetType; void union(IntSetType s1, IntSetType s2); We program against this interface. Notably, the type is left abstract. You don't get to know what it is. Then we have a BST implementation then provides a concrete type and operations: struct IntSetStruct { int value; struct IntSetStruct* left; struct IntSetStruct* right; } void union(IntSetType s1, IntSetType s2){... } Now union actually knows the concrete representations of both s1 and s2, so it can exploit this for an efficient implementation. We can also write a list backed implementation and choose to link with that instead. I've written C(ish) syntax, but you should look at e.g. Standard ML for abstract data types done properly (where you can e.g. actually use more than one implementation of an ADT in the same program roughly by qualifying the types: BSTImpl.IntSetStruct and ListImpl.IntSetStruct, say) The converse of this is that procedural data abstraction (objects) allow you to easily introduce new implementations that work with your old ones. e.g. you can write your own custom LoggingIntSet implementation, and union it with a BSTIntSet. But this is a trade-off: you lose informative types for binary methods! Often you end up having to expose more functionality and implementation details in your interface than you would with an ADT implementation. Now I feel like I'm just retyping the Cook essay, so really, read it!
I would like to add an example to this.
Cook suggests that an example of an abstract data type is a module in C. Indeed, modules in C involve information hiding, since there are public functions that are exported through a header file, and static (private) functions that don't. Additionally, often there are constructors (e.g. list_new()) and observers (e.g. list_getListHead()).
A key point of what makes, say, a list module called LIST_MODULE_SINGLY_LINKED an ADT is that the functions of the module (e.g. list_getListHead()) assume that the data being input has been created by the constructor of LIST_MODULE_SINGLY_LINKED, as opposed to any "equivalent" implementation of a list (e.g LIST_MODULE_DYNAMIC_ARRAY). This means that the functions of LIST_MODULE_SINGLY_LINKED can assume, in their implementation, a particular representation (e.g. a singly linked list).
LIST_MODULE_SINGLY_LINKED cannot inter-operate with LIST_MODULE_DYNAMIC_ARRAY because we can't feed data created, say with the constructor of LIST_MODULE_DYNAMIC_ARRAY, to the observer of LIST_MODULE_SINGLY_LINKED because LIST_MODULE_SINGLY_LINKED assumes a representation for a list (as opposed to an object, which only assumes a behaviour).
This is analogous to a way that two different groups from abstract algebra cannot interoperate (that is, you can't take the product of an element of one group with an element of another group). This is because groups assume the closure property of group (the product of elements in a group must be in the group). However, if we can prove that two different groups are in fact subgroups of another group G, then we can use the product of G to add two elements, one from each of the two groups.
Comparing the ADTs and objects
Cook ties the difference between ADTs and objects partially to the expression problem. Roughly speaking, ADTs are coupled with generic functions that are often implemented in functional programming languages, while objects are coupled with Java "objects" accessed through interfaces. For the purposes of this text, a generic function is a function that takes in some arguments ARGS and a type TYPE (pre-condition); based on TYPE it selects the appropriate function, and evaluates it with ARGS (post-condition). Both generic functions and objects implement polymorphism, but with generic functions, the programmer KNOWS which function will be executed by the generic function without looking at the code of the generic function. With objects on the other hand, the programmer does not know how the object will handle the arguments, unless the programmers looks at the code of the object.
Usually the expression problem is thought of in terms of "do I have lots of representations?" vs. "do I have lots of functions with few representation". In the first case one should organize code by representation (as is most common, especially in Java). In the second case one should organize code by functions (i.e. having a single generic function handle multiple representations).
If you organize your code by representation, then, if you want to add extra functionality, you are forced to add the functionality to every representation of the object; in this sense adding functionality is not "additive". If you organize your code by functionality, then, if you want to add an extra representation - you are forced to add the representation to every object; in this sense adding representations in not "additive".
Advantage of ADTs over objects
Adding functionality is additive
Possible to leverage knowledge of the representation of an ADT for performance, or to prove that the ADT will guarantee some postcondition given a precondition. This means that programming with ADTs is about doing the right things in the right order (chaining together pre-conditions and post-conditions towards a "goal" post condition).
Advantages of objects over ADTs
Adding representations in additive
Objects can inter-operate
It's possible to specify pre/post conditions for an object, and chain these together as is the case with ADTs. In this case, the advantages of objects are that (1) it's easy to change representations without changing the interface and (2) objects can inter-operate. However, this defeats the purpose of OOP in the sense of smalltalk. (see section "Alan Kay's version of OOP)
Dynamic dispatch is key to OOP
It should be apparent now that dynamic dispatch (i.e. late binding) is essential for object oriented programming. This is so that it's possible to define procedures in a generic way, that doesn't assume a particular representation. To be concrete - object oriented programming is easy in python, because it's possible to program methods of an object in a way that doesn't assume a particular representation. This is why python doesn't need interfaces like Java.
In Java, classes are ADTs. however, a class accessed through the interface it implements is an object.
Addendum: Alan Kay's version of OOP
Alan Kay explicitly referred to objects as "families of algebras", and Cook suggests that an ADT is an algebra. Hence Kay likely meant that an object is a family of ADTs. That is, an object is the collection of all classes that satisfy a Java interface.
However, the picture of objects painted by Cook is far more restrictive than Alan Kay's vision. He wanted objects to behave as computers in a network, or as biological cells. The idea was to apply the principle of least commitment to programming - so that it's easy to change low level layers of an ADT once the high level layers have been built using them. With this picture in mind, Java interfaces are too restrictive because they don't allow an object to interpret the meaning of a message, or even ignore it completely.
In summary, the key idea of objects, for Kay - is not that they are a family of algebras (as is emphasized by Cook). Rather, the key idea of Kay was to apply a model that worked in the large (computers in a network) to the small (objects in a program).
edit: Another clarification on Kay's version of OOP: The purpose of objects is to move closer to a declarative ideal. We should tell the object what to do - not tell it how by micromanaging is state, as is customary with procedural programming and ADTs. More info can be found here, here, here, and here.
edit: I found a very, very good exposition of Alan Kay's definition of OOP here.I acquired the Imperial Herco at an antique mall for $8 in the summer of 2011. Long a fan of old things and already a photographer, I thought of it as a nice piece of brick-a-brack to display on my wall someplace. It’s like a cheap brownie knockoff, but it’s actually a very attractive little camera.
As my interest in film photography (beyond the take-it-to-MotoPhoto variety I knew when I was younger) I decided to test it with a roll of film.
The photo above are mostly just test shots, some from a walk with the dog in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, and some from a drive to Conifer, Colorado, and over Guanella Pass in search of colorful Aspen trees as the turned for fall.
The first things I noticed after developing the film were that the emulsion was deeply scratched throughout the roll, and that the images are more and more distorted as they reach the edge of the frame. That the edges would be out of focus at the edge didn’t surprise me, and with a camera that originally sold for less than $3 (not very expensive even in 1954) even the distortion wasn’t a surprise. The degree of distortion, though, was. The scratches on the negatives are clearly from the cheaply-cast bakelite film path. I noticed several burrs when I first inspected it and was able to smooth them some with my thumbnail.
These shots were taken with Kodak T-Max 100, rerolled from 120 onto spare 620 spools, and developed in Ilford Ilfotec DD-X developer at 1+4.
Photoshopping included: Adjusting exposure with levels to compensate for over-exposed and under-developed film; minor use of Spot Healing Brush to eliminate the worst dust from the scanner bed. I did not attempt to repair the scratches in the negatives.PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- While sound can disrupt sleep, scents cannot. People cannot rely on their sense of smell to awaken them to the danger of fire, according to a new Brown University study.
Study participants easily detected odors when awake and in the early transition into sleep (Stage One sleep) but, once asleep, did not. The findings indicate a significant alteration of perceptual processing as a function of sleep.
"Human olfaction appears insufficiently sensitive and reliable to act as a sentinel system," said Rachel S. Herz, visiting assistant professor of psychology and an author of a study titled "Minimal Olfactory Perception During Sleep: Why Odor Alarms Will Not Work for Humans," published in a recent issue of the journal Sleep.
Researchers studied the effects of two scents – the pleasurable peppermint and offensive pyridine – on six participants in their early 20s.
Over two nights, participants wore an elastic chinstrap to encourage nose breathing. Researchers presented odors through a tube attached to an air-dilution device. The odors were tested during moderately deep Stage Two sleep, deep Stage Four sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
No one responded to peppermint during sleep. Responses to the intense and noxious pyridine were infrequent and did not wake any participants in the deepest stage of sleep. Pyridine is a component of coal tar and used as a herbicide for firewood, and thus a likely byproduct of many real fires, according to the authors.
However, sound woke the participants regardless of the sleep stage. A moderately loud auditory tone produced arousal from sleep virtually every time the scents did not.
Most odors stimulate people's trigeminal nerve to some degree, which is relevant to detection of the scent. Both odors used in the study were of comparable trigeminal strength even though one was pleasant and the other aversive at high concentrations.
"As the saying goes," said the paper's co-author Mary A. Carskadon, "we 'wake up and smell the coffee,' not the other way around." Carksadon is a professor of psychiatry and human behavior in the Brown Medical School and director of chronobiology at E.P. Bradley Hospital.
The research was supported by a Grass Foundation Trustee Grant and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the E.P. Bradley Hospital.The tiny town of Deer Trail, Colo. — barely more than a wide spot on Interstate 70 about 55 miles east of Denver, population 546 — is considering an ordinance that would authorize licensed bounty hunters to shoot down unmanned aircraft violating its “sovereign airspace.”
A six-page petition circulated by a resident says that the threat of surveillance from drones — regardless of who is piloting them — is a threat to “traditional American ideas of Liberty and Freedom” enjoyed by Deer Trail’s “ranchers, farmers, cowboys and Indians, as well as contemporary citizens.”
Therefore, drone incursions are to be seen as acts of war.
According to the proposed ordinance, which will be considered by the town council at its next meeting on Aug. 6, prospective bounty hunters can get a one-year drone-hunting license for $25.
Proposed bounties will be $25 for those turning in the wings or fuselage of downed aircraft and $100 for mostly intact vehicles. To collect the bounty, the wreckage must have “markings, and configuration … consistent with those used by the United States federal government.”
Such “trophies” then become the property of Deer Trail.
The ordinance spells out the rules of engagement. Shooters must use shotguns, 12-gauge or smaller, firing lead, steel or depleted uranium ammunition and they can’t fire on aircraft flying higher than 1,000 (a determination made using a range finder or a best guess). No weapons with rifled barrels allowed, and no tracer rounds.
An “engagement” is limited to three shots at an aircraft every two hours. Being unable to bring down the drone within those guidelines, the petition notes, “demonstrates a lack of proficiency with the weapon.”
Drones can become targets if the bounty hunter feels the aircraft is stalking them, if they maneuver as if they’re following someone, or if they display any weaponry.
But if anyone accidentally shoots down a remote-controlled toy airplane, the proposed ordinance warns, “the owner of the toy remote control aerial vehicle shall be reimbursed for its full cost by the shooter.”
Unless, that is, the toy aircraft was flying over the shooter’s property.
“Throughout its history, the Town of Deer Trail has maintained its independence from all other political entities,” the ordinance reads. “Therefore, the Town of Deer Trail declares its supremacy over its territorial boundaries and, with respect to this ordinance, the supremacy and sovereignty of its airspace and its citizen’s right to defend the airspace of the town, their homes, businesses and related properties from unwanted incursions by unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Phillip Steel, the citizen who circulated the petition, did not return an email from The Daily Caller News Foundation seeking comment, but in an article in the local I-70 Scout newspaper (posted on a town history Facebook page), he says he was motivated by recent revelations about domestic spying by the National Security Agency.
“State and local governments throughout the country are talking about the fantastic possibilities using unmanned aerial vehicles,” he’s quoted as telling the town board when he introduced the idea July 2. “It’s time to take a stand against becoming a surveillance society.”
Town Clerk Kim Oldfield wrote in an email to The Daily Caller News Foundation that Steel collected “way more” than the signatures needed to bring the idea to a vote in a special election, but said that the town board was considering adopting it outright “from an economic standpoint.”
Because the ordinance doesn’t limit the licenses to only Deer Creek residents, the town could raise money from people in other states who want the novelty of having an official drone-hunting license.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson, whose jurisdiction covers Deer Trail and whose agency would be “prohibited from enforcing any law, edict or regulatory determination that is in conflict with this ordinance,” under the wording of the measure being considered, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
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Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.Well, this is a long time in coming. I wrote this dissertation back in 2007 for my Masters in Music - and it earned me a Distinction, which was nice! I’d planned to pubish it, in a book that one of my supervisors was putting together, but that never came off and besides, I was a bit cagey about releasing this to the world at the time. For context, I wrote this in the white heat of my mid-20s musicology phase and it’s full of pompous verbiage and labyrinthine grammar - not to mention all the self-righteous fervour of a chipmusic fanatic and tracker historian.
It was cited by Anders Carlsson (goto80) in his own Masters dissertation and, since that was widely spread, lots of people have asked me over the years for a copy while doing their own research. And the embarrassing truth is…I lost it! I couldn’t find a digital or paper copy of my dissertation for years, but spurred by a request from a Japanese chipmusic enthusiast last month, I’ve managed to track down the final version of the document and after a few minor fixes that slipped through the net before submission, I’ve turned it into a PDF which I’m sharing here.
So after almost 8 years, I’m a self-employed musician, husband, homeowner and father of two with (I think it’s safe to say) no further ambitions in the field of academia. This is very much an artefact of my younger self and while I’m always happy to chat with people about how I felt then about this stuff, or how I feel now, I’m no longer an active part of that discourse and I just hope that it might be able to help others with their research, or just exist as a curio; a little glimpse of one man’s little glimpse of demoscene history. Albeit a rather dense one. But hey, at least it’s got a couple of pictures to look at…
I’ve never released my academic writing before, but consider it Creative Commons licensed - it can be freely shared, but not modified or distributed for money or via any system that requires payment/subscription. Oh, and it should always be attributed to me. Feel free to cite it, but I’d appreciate it if you could let me know - not least because it’d be nice to read your work! Best way to reach me is @echolevel on Twitter, or by email via my main site.
Here’s the doc:
http://echolevel.co.uk/clientfiles/Brendan_Ratliff-Why_did_freely_shared_tracked_music_in_the_1990s_computer_demoscene_survive_the_arrival_of_the_MP3_age.pdf
Enjoy! Or, y'know, whatever.(CBS 8) - A woman accused of marrying military men and taking off with their money is speaking out in an exclusive interview with CBS affiliate WAKA.
Bobbi Ann Finley has arrest warrants in several states, including one in San Diego county.
Last week, Finley walked into the Montgomery, Alabama TV station and started talking about her criminal past.
Finley has a 17-year history of marring military men, giving birth to their children, and then cleaning out their bank accounts. As a result, she's been nicknamed the "military mistress".
"I wouldn't say it was a coincidence because I am attracted to the clean cut, all- American hero," Finley told WAKA. "I wrote bad checks. A lot of these guys would go and get credit cards in their name and then say, ‘Here honey'."
During the interview, Finley defended her past actions with servicemen.
"They're using me at the same time that I was using them," Finley said. Asked what Finley was using the servicemen for, Finley responded, "I thought somebody would love me."
Court records show the 34-year-old has at least four San Diego county victims and dozens more across the country.
Family members say Finley has at least nine children. All of them abandoned and some living with relatives.
"I loved every one of (the children) but I loved them enough to give them a better thing than I could give them," Finley said.
One of Finley's cousins told News 8 in an earlier interview that Finley neglected her children and lost them to child protective services. The cousin, Billie Smith of Northern California, adopted three of the children out of foster homes.
A San Diego arrest warrant and associated felony complaint details hundreds of dollars in bad checks Finley wrote in 1996.
In April of 2005, a Marine Corps brigadier general finally signed an order prohibiting Finley from setting foot on local military bases. The order was issued under one of Finley's numerous aliases, Bobbi A. Wynne.
After hiding out in Alabama for the past several weeks, Finley says she's tired of running and plans on surrendering to authorities in Washington state.
"First think when I get off the bus, somebody will be waiting for me and I will go in and turn myself in," Finley said. "That's the only right thing to do."
The day after WAKA aired Finley's interview, two additional Alabama victims came forward. The Montgomery sheriff's department issued a new arrest warrant for Finley based on those allegations, WAKA reported. Finley remains at large.
If you have any information, contact:
Kai Barters, Special Agent Economic Crimes Coordinator
Fort Hood CID Office
Office: 254-287-7906 / 2722
DSN: 737-7906 / 2722
Fax: 254-288-3307
Email: kaioliver.barters@us.army.mil
Mailing Address:
Fort Hood CID Office
P.O. Box V 2200
Support Ave
Fort Hood, TX 76544Bitcoin Price Climbs Towards the $2K Range
The price of bitcoin has hit a new all-time high once again as the digital currency has reached an average of $1950 across global exchanges. If bitcoin breaks the $2K range the price will have doubled since the beginning of the new year. Moreover, 2017 has shown digital assets, in general, have seen significant gains which has created a remarkably large cryptocurrency market capitalization of over $66 billion.
Also read: Is It Too Late for Barry Silbert’s Scaling Compromise Proposal?
All Aboard the Bitcoin Train to $2K
Cryptocurrency trading volumes and digital asset values have been on a tear since the beginning of 2017. Right now all 700+ cryptocurrencies command a $66 billion market capitalization with bitcoin capturing 48 percent of that share. During the first week of January bitcoin crossed the 4-digit price territory at $1,000 per BTC, and now four months later one bitcoin is worth $1950. Bitcoin trade volumes across global exchanges have been trading at close to $1B worth of BTC trades per day. 24-hour volume statistics for all cryptocurrencies have been roughly $2.1 billion traded on a daily basis.
Weekly View Sees New Traders and Massive Volumes
Trade volumes on all exchanges have been growing exponentially as trading platforms like Coinbase, Kraken, Shapeshift, and Poloniex are reporting a heavier influx of daily transactions. For instance, Coinbase has reached 7 million users adding over 100,000 new registrants every week. Bitcoin charts and technical indicators suggest the rise should continue into the $2,000 range, but at the moment there are significant sell walls in that price |
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Last Friday‚ we reported on the closed-door meeting held at the Dana Point Ritz Carlton on Tuesday September 5th, where all WCT athletes—as well as their handlers, managers, life coaches, etc.—were gathered for a full come-to-Jesus talk. Along with a proposal for an entirely reconceived Championship Tour, the WSL’s longtime sugar daddy, Dirk Ziff, had come to deliver a message: the business model wasn’t working. For years now, the WSL has enjoyed Ziff’s generosity—but, according to those in attendance, operating at a $30-million-a-year loss wasn’t going to cut it any longer.
A few days after we published the leak, I chatted with Dave Prodan, who has handled WSL communications for as long as I’ve been in the game. Dave is a good and decent man. Handsome and quotably intelligent, I’ve enjoyed Dave’s professionalism over the years, and can testify to his smooth rail game on the inside bowl at Sunset. Dave had been kind enough to go on record for my feature, which he pointed out, was more than the “anonymous warriors” who had opened up to us. After the fallout from the piece, he wanted to enlighten me a touch, and I certainly owed him as much. Some of my reporting, he felt, was misleading, or at the very least mischaracterized the majority opinion of the surfers in attendance.
My piece’s claim that the proposals were “met with resistance from a respectable portion of the tour,” was an exaggeration, he assured me. Much of the feedback they’d received had been positive. The surfers had had the chance to voice their opinions and they had listened to everything they had to say.
Prodan and I have always had good relations, non-combative at the very least, and I respect the man’s talents for doing what is a very hard job keeping a lid on things. He’s great at implementing the WSL’s Trumpian media approach, but he’ll level with you, at the very least. He understands that, in digging in on this, publishing the leak and stirring up chaos within the organization, I was honestly doing my job. Dave congratulated me on the scoops, and offered the same sentiment from his boss, Mr. Ziff. My piece had caused quite a stir; in hotel rooms and residences all over San Clemente, angry men yelled into iPhones. Fingers were pointed this way and that.
With suspicions running wild, the collective conclusions most arrived at spoke volumes, knowing the information we knew and who we knew it from. That night, we were informed that Jordy Smith had been copping heat following the piece’s publication. Everyone knew he was the leak. Apparently Kelly had lit him up in a late night Instagram DM, saying as much. And though Jordy wasn’t the leak, pinky promise, the suspicion that he was, and Kelly’s frustration directed towards him—it was telling. The current World #1 has ideological disagreements with proposals that ensure not just his livelihood, but his career’s legitimacy.
Reinvigorated by news of the witch hunt, we prodded the hive for more. What were Jordy’s concerns? Was he the only one to speak up? What the actual fuck was going on?
Here’s what we can gather: after the proposal was laid out, both Jordy Smith and Josh Kerr voiced dissenting opinions. For the most part, the other surfers twiddled their thumbs. After the meeting closed, the seeds of discontent began to be sown. While Smith and Kerr might have been the only ones to speak out during the session, a healthy portion of the meeting left feeling less than inspired with the new vision, and said as much outside the closed-door session. In reports coming in from the Lowers Pro, chatter around the proposed changes and their implications littered the beach like so many slippery cobblestones.
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s the true fragility of our institutions. While the WSL’s enjoyed a patronized period of growth, with competitive surfing enjoying its most elevated coverage and broadest accessibility in history, even the deepest pockets sometimes come up empty. The WSL’s commercial reinvention, and its benefactor’s insistence on its operating on a cash-positive model, will be a very serious stress-test on the mainstream viability of professional surfing. And I have no doubt the changes proposed reflect that vulnerability.
Hearing of Jordy’s flack-catching, I reached out through his handlers to see if he would sit down with Kelly to discuss the proposals. I’d been assured by Prodan that the WSL had never silenced anyone—that none of their athletes had been intimidated or reprimanded for speaking their minds.
We heard from Jordy's people: if Kelly was down, Jordy was, too.
Yesterday, I reached out to all parties, Prodan and Kelly included. I didn’t need much, just fifteen, twenty minutes. Surely details were hazy, certainly things needed to be worked out. But could they just shine a little light? On the eve of what by all means will be one of the historic moments in competitive surfing history, and as the schedule for the 2018 World Tour begins to solidify, there’s like 1,800 athletes and countless tangentially employed individuals who deserve to know what their lives are going to look like next year.
“I can appreciate the enthusiasm with which STAB wants to cover the continued evolution of the sport, but as we discussed on the phone, the WSL is a ways away from confirming anything publicly,” Dave responded to my request. “As far as Kelly and Jordy and the reported changes are concerned, I can reiterate that the two of them are (no offense boys) just two of 51 CT surfers who are regularly engaged when evolutions to the sport are discussed. And both, not that they owe me anything, have candidly expressed enthusiasm for the direction of where the sport is headed - Kelly in Fiji and Jordy in the Lowers lineup. As with any change, the opinions of all surfers carry considerable and equal weight, but you're correct in implying that the opinions of the WSL No. 1 and GOAT matter significantly.”
Kelly, Jordy and the WSL will have plenty on their hands the next two days, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed for the conversation to happen in due time. Until then, I keep having to remind myself just how incredible it is to be alive to witness, in whatever way I’m lucky to, the first event at Kelly’s Wave. And I’ve told Kelly and the rest as much. Luddites be damned, the Lemoore invitational is the shit of absolute childhood fantasy, an NBA All-Star game on the moon. Like so many we know, we’ve considered blasting north, see if we can’t charm our way in.
It’s 199 miles from Los Angeles to Lemoore, we’ve got a full tank of gas…
Sincerely,
Ashton GBoggans
Editor in ChiefBy Bill Parry
The sign above the entrance to the offices of Urban Upbound says “Need a job?” It’s a question the non-profit organization has been asking residents of the Astoria Houses for more than a decade as it provides residents of public housing with the tools and resources needed to achieve economic mobility and self sufficiency, and to break the cycle of poverty.
It was at the Astoria Houses, where 47 percent of the residents are unemployed or underemployed, that officials from the New York City Housing Authority and Citi Community Development announced the launch of “Doorways to Opportunity” July 16. It is a $1.4-million multi-partner initiative that will provide NYCHA residents with access to employment training, jobs, financial counseling, tax preparation services and business development support.
Bishop Mitchell Taylor, the co-founder of Urban Upbound, used the event to launch its own game-changing “worker cooperatives,” where employees will have to option to buy shares and become owners of the companies they work for. The first of these worker-owned businesses is On Point Security.
“We’re operating a new paradigm for breaking the cycle of poverty,” Taylor said. “We’re going to break the cycle of poverty from the inside, from the ground up, and if it works here in New York City, it will work around the country.”
On Point Security has hired and begun training nearly 40 residents of Astoria Houses. Urban Upbound will own the business for one year and then hand over control of the firm to the employees.
“At that point they’ll (each) have a share, a percentage of the company,” On Point Security General Manager Fritz Vincent said. “Now they’ll own something and they’ll have a say in how the business is going to be run and have a say in how their wages are going to look. A lot of the time workers never get to see what goes on behind the curtain. This allows them to see and know how a business is run, and make some really educated decisions on how to run it.”
On Point Security will train guards to provide security for buildings, nightclubs and special events with an eye on the future of Hallets peninsula, where the massive Hallets Point residential complex, with its 2,000 units, is set to begin contruction this fall. Construction on Astoria Cove will follow, with another 1,700 apartments.
Each complex will include supermarkets, retail and banks. On Point Security will be ready to provide services for each business.
Astoria resident Kyle Jerry, 26, was one of the first hired by On Point Security.
“It’s an opportunity, a great opportunity and I appreciate it,” he said. “Now we have to do the hard work and train to become the owners.”
Claudia Coger, the president of the Astoria Houses, believes the launch of On Point Security is the best thing to happen at the Astoria Houses after “three decades of neglect.
“This was deserted ground, closed off for many years until Urban Upbound opened here 10 1/2 years ago,” she said. “Now we’re going to heal from the inside out. We’ll keep our money in our community. There’s a divine movement here at Astoria Houses and we know that tomorrow is going to be greater than today.”American investment firm
This article is about the investment firm. For the management consulting company, see Bain and Company
Bain Capital is a private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry sectors and geographic regions. As of 2018, the firm managed more than $105 billion of investor capital.[2]
The firm was founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company.[4] Since inception it has invested in or acquired hundreds of companies including AMC Theatres, Artisan Entertainment, Aspen Education Group, Brookstone, Burger King, Burlington Coat Factory, Canada Goose, DIC Entertainment, Domino's Pizza, DoubleClick, Dunkin' Donuts, D&M Holdings, Guitar Center, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), iHeartMedia, KB Toys, Sealy, Sports Authority, Staples, Toys "R" Us, Warner Music Group, Fingerhut, The Weather Channel, and Apple Leisure Group, which includes AMResorts and Apple Vacations.[5]
As of 2018, Bain Capital employed more than 1,000 people.[2] Bain Capital is headquartered at 200 Clarendon Street in Boston, Massachusetts with additional offices in New York City, Chicago, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Dublin, London, Munich, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, Tokyo, Melbourne and Sydney.[6]
The company, and its actions during its first 15 years, became the subject of political and media scrutiny as a result of co-founder Mitt Romney's later political career, especially his 2012 presidential campaign.[7][8]
Brillio, a global digital technology consulting and solutions company, said on Tuesday Bain Capital Private Equity has agreed to acquire a majority stake in the company to further scale its digital transformation offerings.
Further financial details of the transaction were not disclosed but Brillio said in a statement it will continue to be led by its current management team headed by chief executive officer Raj Mamodia.[citation needed]
History [ edit ]
1984 founding and early history [ edit ]
Bain Capital was founded in 1984 by Bain & Company partners Mitt Romney, T. Coleman Andrews III, and Eric Kriss, after Bill Bain had offered Romney the chance to head a new venture that would invest in companies and apply Bain's consulting techniques to improve operations.[9] In addition to the three founding partners, the early team included Fraser Bullock, Robert F. White, Joshua Bekenstein, Adam Kirsch, and Geoffrey S. Rehnert.[10] Romney initially had the titles of president[11] and managing general partner[12][13] or managing partner.[14] He later became referred to as managing director[15] or CEO[16] as well. He was also the sole shareholder of the firm.[17] At the beginning, the firm had fewer than ten employees.[18]
In the face of skepticism from potential investors, Romney and his partners spent a year raising the $37 million in funds needed to start the new operation.[18][19][20][21] Bain partners put in $12 million of their own money and sourced the rest from wealthy individuals.[22] Early investors included Boston real estate mogul Mortimer Zuckerman and Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots football team.[20] They also included members of elite Salvadoran families who fled the country's civil war.[23] They and other wealthy Latin Americans invested $9 million primarily through offshore companies registered in Panama.[22]
While Bain Capital was founded by Bain executives, the firm was not an affiliate or a division of Bain & Company but rather a completely separate company. Initially, the two firms shared the same offices—in an office tower at Copley Place in Boston[24]—and a similar approach to improving business operations. However, the two firms had put in place certain protections to avoid sharing information between the two companies and the Bain & Company executives had the ability to veto investments that posed potential conflicts of interest.[25] Bain Capital also provided an investment opportunity for partners of Bain & Company. The firm initially gave a cut of its profits to Bain & Company, but Romney later persuaded Bill Bain to give that up.[26]
The Bain Capital team was initially reluctant to invest its capital. By 1985, things were going poorly enough that Romney considered closing the operation, returning investors' money to them, and having the partners go back to their old positions.[27] The partners saw weak spots in so many potential deals that by 1986, very few had been done.[28] At first, Bain Capital focused on venture capital opportunities.[28] One of Bain's earliest and most notable venture investments was in Staples, Inc., the office supply retailer. In 1986, Bain provided $4.5 million to two supermarket executives, Leo Kahn and Thomas G. Stemberg, to open an office supply supermarket in Brighton, Massachusetts.[29] The fast-growing retail chain went public in 1989;[30] by 1996, the company had grown to over 1,100 stores,[31] and as of fiscal year end January 2012, Staples reached over $20 billion in sales, nearly $1.0B in net income, 87,000 employees, and 2,295 stores.[32] Bain Capital eventually reaped a nearly sevenfold return on its investment, and Romney sat on the Staples board of directors for over a decade.[18][21][28] Another very successful investment occurred in 1986 when $1 million was invested in medical equipment maker Calumet Coach, which eventually returned $34 million.[33] A few years later, Bain Capital made an investment in the technology research outfit the Gartner Group, which ended up returning a 16-fold gain.[33]
Bain invested the $37 million of capital in its first fund in twenty companies and by 1989 was generating an annualized return in excess of 50 percent. By the end of the decade, Bain's second fund, raised in 1987 had deployed $106 million into 13 investments.[34] As the firm began organizing around funds, each such fund was run by a specific general partnership—that included all Bain Capital executives as well as others—which in turn was controlled by Bain Capital Inc., the management company that Romney had full ownership control of.[35] As CEO, Romney had a final say in every deal made.[36]
1990s [ edit ]
Beginning in 1989, the firm, which began as a venture capital source investing in start-up companies, adjusted its strategy to focus on leveraged buyouts and growth capital investments in more mature companies.[37] Their model was to buy existing firms with money mostly borrowed against their assets, partner with existing management to apply Bain methodology to their operations (rather than the hostile takeovers practiced in other leverage buyout scenarios), and sell them off in a few years.[20][28] Existing CEOs were offered large equity stakes in the process, owing to Bain Capital's belief in the emerging agency theory that CEOs should be bound to maximizing shareholder value rather than other goals.[21] By the end of 1990, Bain had raised $175 million of capital and financed 35 companies with combined revenues of $3.5 billion.[38]
In July 1992, Bain acquired Ampad (originally American Pad & Paper) from Mead Corporation, which had acquired the company in 1986. Mead, which had been experiencing difficulties integrating Ampad's products into its existing product lines, generated a cash gain of $56 million on the sale.[39] Under Bain's ownership, the company enjoyed a significant growth in sales from $106.7 million in 1992 to $583.9 million in 1996, when the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Under Bain's ownership, the company also made a number of acquisitions, including writing products company SCM in July 1994, brand names from the American Trading and Production Corporation in August 1995, WR Acquisition and the Williamhouse-Regency Division of Delaware, Inc. in October 1995, Niagara Envelope Company, Inc. in 1996, and Shade/Allied, Inc. in February 1997.[40] Ampad's revenue began to decline in 1997 and the company laid off employees and closed production facilities to maintain profitability. Employment declined from 4,105 in 1996 to 3,800 in 2000.[41] The company ceased trading on the New York stock exchange on December 22, 2000[42] and filed for bankruptcy in 2001. At the time of the bankruptcy, Bain Capital held a 34.9% equity ownership interest in the company.[43] The assets were acquired in 2003 by Crescent Investments. Bain's eight years' of involvement in Ampad is estimated to have generated over $100 million in profits ($60 million in dividends, $45–50 million from the proceeds from stock issued after the company went public, and $1.5-2 million in annual management fees).[44]
In 1994, Bain acquired Totes, a producer of umbrellas and overshoes.[45] Three years later, Totes, under Bain’s ownership, acquired Isotoner, a producer of leather gloves.[46]
Bain, together with Thomas H. Lee Partners, acquired Experian, the consumer credit reporting business of TRW Inc., in 1996 for more than $1 billion. Formerly known as TRW's Information Systems and Services unit, Experian is one of the leading providers of credit reports on consumers and businesses in the US.[47] The company was sold to Great Universal Stores for $1.7 billion just months after being acquired.[48] Other notable Bain investments of the late 1990s included Sealy Corporation, the manufacturer of mattresses;[49] Alliance Laundry Systems;[50] Domino's Pizza[51] and Artisan Entertainment.[52]
Much of the firm's profits was earned from a relatively small number of deals, with Bain Capital's overall success and failure rate being about even. One study of 68 deals that Bain Capital made up through the 1990s found that the firm lost money or broke even on 33 of them.[53] Another study that looked at the eight-year period following 77 deals during the same time found that in 17 cases the company went bankrupt or out of business, and in 6 cases Bain Capital lost all its investment. But 10 deals were very successful and represented 70 percent of the total profits.[54]
Romney had two diversions from Bain Capital during the first half of the decade. From January 1991 to December 1992,[28][55] Romney served as the CEO of Bain & Company where he led the successful turnaround of the consulting firm (he remained managing general partner of Bain Capital during this time).[12][13] In November 1993, he took a leave of absence for his unsuccessful 1994 run for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts; he returned the day after the election in November 1994.[28][56][57] During that time, Ampad workers went on strike, and asked Romney to intervene; Bain Capital lawyers asked him not to get involved, although he did meet with the workers to tell them he had no position of active authority in the matter.[58][59]
In 1994, Bain invested in Steel Dynamics, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a prosperous steel company that has grown to the fifth largest in the U.S.A, employs about 6,100 people, and produces carbon steel products with 2010 revenues of $6.3 billion on steel shipments of 5.3 million tons.[60] In 1993, Bain acquired the Armco Worldwide Grinding System steel plant in Kansas City, Missouri and merged it with its steel plant in Georgetown, South Carolina to form GST Steel. The Kansas City plant had a strike in 1997 and Bain closed the plant in 2001 laying off 750 workers when it went into bankruptcy. The South Carolina plant closed in 2003 but subsequently reopened under a different owner. At the time of its bankruptcy it reported $553.9 million in debts against $395.2 in assets. Bain reported $58.4 million in profits, the employee pension fund had a liability of $44 million.[61][62][63][64]
Bain's investment in Dade Behring represented a significant investment in the medical diagnostics industry. In 1994, Bain, together with Goldman Sachs Capital Partners completed a carveout acquisition of Dade International,[65] the medical diagnostics division of Baxter International in a $440 million acquisition. Dade's private equity owners merged the company with DuPont's in vitro diagnostics business in May 1996 and subsequently with the Behring Diagnostics division of Hoechst AG in 1997.[66] Aventis, the successor of Hoechst, acquired 52% of the combined company.[67] In 1999, the company reported $1.3 billion of revenue and completed a $1.25 billion leveraged recapitalization that resulted in a payout to shareholders.[66] The dividend, taken together with other previous shareholder dividends resulted in an eightfold return on investment to Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs.[33][54] Revenues declined from 1999 through 2002 and despite attempts to cut costs through layoffs the company entered into bankruptcy in 2002. Following its restructuring, Dade Behring emerged from Bankruptcy in 2003 and continued to operate independently until 2007 when the business was acquired by Siemens Medical Solutions. Bain and Goldman lost their remaining stock in the company as part of the bankruptcy.[68]
By the end of the decade, Bain Capital was on its way to being one of the top private equity firms in the nation,[26] having increased its number of partners from 5 to 18, having 115 employees overall, and having $4 billion under its management.[18][20] The firm's average annual return on investments was 113 percent.[19][69] It had made between 100 and 150 deals where it acquired and then sold a company.[33][53][54]
1999–2002: Romney departure and political legacy [ edit ]
Romney took a paid leave of absence from Bain Capital in February 1999 when he became the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics.[70][71] The decision caused turmoil at Bain Capital, with a power struggle ensuing.[72] Some partners left and founded the Audax Group and Golden Gate Capital.[36] Other partners threatened to leave, and there was a prospect of eight-figure lawsuits being filed.[72] Romney was worried that the firm might be destroyed, but the crisis ebbed.[72]
Romney was not involved in day-to-day operations of the firm after starting the Olympics position.[73][74] Those were handled by a management committee, consisting of five of the fourteen remaining active partners with the firm.[36] However, according to some interviews and press releases during 1999, Romney said he was keeping a part-time function at Bain.[36][75]
During his leave of absence, Romney continued to be listed in filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission[76] as "sole shareholder, sole director, Chief Executive Officer and President".[77][78] The SEC filings reflected the legal reality[79] and the ownership interest in the Bain Capital management company.[35][80] In practice, former Bain partners have stated that Romney's attention was mostly occupied by his Olympics position.[79][81] He did stay in regular contact with his partners, and traveled to meet with them several times, signing corporate and legal documents and paying attention to his own interests within the firm and to his departure negotiations.[80] Bain Capital Fund VI in 1998 was the last one Romney was involved in; investors were worried that with Romney gone, the firm would have trouble raising money for Bain Capital Fund VII in 2000, but in practice the $2.5 billion was raised without much trouble.[36] His former partners have said that Romney had no role in assessing other new investments after February 1999,[36] nor was he involved in directing the company’s investment funds.[35] Discussions over the final terms of Romney's departure dragged on during this time, with Romney negotiating for the best deal he could get and his continuing position as CEO and sole shareholder giving him the leverage to do so.[36][79]
Although he had left open the possibility of returning to Bain after the Olympics, Romney made his crossover to politics in 1999.[70] His separation from the firm was finalized in early 2002.[36][82] Romney negotiated a ten-year retirement agreement with Bain Capital[36] that allowed him to receive a passive profit share and interest as a retired partner in some Bain Capital entities, including buyout and Bain Capital investment funds, in exchange for his ownership in the management company.[83][84] Because the private equity business continued to thrive, this deal would bring him millions of dollars in annual income.[84] Romney was the first and last CEO of Bain Capital; since his departure became final, it has continued to be run by management committee.[36]
Bain Capital itself, and especially its actions and investments during its first 15 years, came under press scrutiny as the result of Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.[33][85][86] Romney's leave of absence and the level of activity he had within the firm during the 1999-2002 period also garnered attention.[87][88][89][90][91][92]
Early 2000s [ edit ]
In 2000, DIC Entertainment chairman and CEO Andy Heyward partnered with Bain Capital Inc in a management buyout of DIC from The Walt Disney Co. Heyward continued as chairman and CEO of the animation studio, which has more than 2,500 half-hours of programming in its library. He purchased Bain Capital's interest in 2004 and took the company public the following year.
Bain Capital began the new decade by closing on its seventh fund, Bain Capital Fund VII, with over $3.1 billion of investor commitments. The firm's most notable investments in 2000 included the $700 million acquisition of Datek, the online stock brokerage firm,[93] as well as the $305 million acquisition of KB Toys from Consolidated Stores.[94] Datek was ultimately merged with Ameritrade in 2002. KB Toys, which had been financially troubled since the 1990s as a result of increased pressure from national discount chains such as Walmart and Target, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2004. Bain had been able to recover value on its investment through a dividend recapitalization in 2003.[95] In early 2001, Bain agreed to purchase a 30 percent stake, worth $600 million, in Huntsman Corporation, a leading chemical company owned by Jon Huntsman, Sr., but the deal was never completed.[96][97]
With a significant amount of committed capital in its new fund available for investment, Bain was one of a handful of private equity investors capable of completing large transactions in the adverse conditions of the early 2000s recession. In July 2002, Bain together with TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, announced the high-profile $2.3 billion leveraged buyout of Burger King from Diageo.[98] However, in November the original transaction collapsed, when Burger King failed to meet certain performance targets. In December 2002, Bain and its co-investors agreed on a reduced $1.5 billion purchase price for the investment.[99] The Bain consortium had support from Burger King's franchisees, who controlled approximately 92% of Burger King restaurants at the time of the transaction. Under its new owners, Burger King underwent a major brand overhaul including the use of The Burger King character in advertising. In February 2006, Burger King announced plans for an initial public offering.[100]
In late 2002, Bain remained active acquiring Houghton Mifflin for $1.28 billion, together with Thomas H. Lee Partners and Blackstone Group. Houghton Mifflin and Burger King represented two of the first large club deals, completed since the collapse of the Dot-com bubble.[101]
In November 2003, Bain completed an investment in Warner Music Group. In 2004 Bain acquired the Dollarama chain of dollar stores, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and operating stores in the provinces of Eastern Canada for $1.05 billion CAD. In March 2004, Bain acquired Brenntag Group from Deutsche Bahn AG (Exited in 2006; sold to BC Partners for $4B). In August 2003, Bain acquired a 50% interest in Bombardier Inc.'s recreational products division, along with the Bombardier family and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and created Bombardier Recreational Products or BRP.
Bain and the 2000s buy-out boom [ edit ]
In 2004 a consortium comprising KKR, Bain Capital and real estate development company Vornado Realty Trust announced the $6.6 billion acquisition of Toys "R" Us, the toy retailer. A month earlier, Cerberus Capital Management, made a $5.5 billion offer for both the toy and baby supplies businesses.[102] The Toys 'R' Us buyout was one of the largest in several years.[103] Following this transaction, by the end of 2004 and in 2005, major buyouts were once again becoming common and market observers were stunned by the leverage levels and financing terms obtained by financial sponsors in their buyouts.[104]
The following year, in 2005, Bain was one of seven private equity firms involved in the buyout of SunGard in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. Bain's partners in the acquisition were Silver Lake Partners, TPG Capital, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Providence Equity Partners, and Blackstone Group. This represented the largest leveraged buyout completed since the takeover of RJR Nabisco at the end of the 1980s leveraged buyout boom. Also, at the time of its announcement, SunGard would be the largest buyout of a technology company in history, a distinction it would cede to the buyout of Freescale Semiconductor. The SunGard transaction is also notable in the number of firms involved in the transaction, the largest club deal completed to that point. The involvement of seven firms in the consortium was criticized by investors in private equity who considered cross-holdings among firms to be generally unattractive.[105][106]
Bain led the buyout of Dunkin' Brands for $2.4 billion in 2005
Bain led a consortium, together with The Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners to acquire Dunkin' Brands. The private equity firms paid $2.425 billion in cash for the parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins in December 2005.[107]
In 2006, Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, together with Merrill Lynch and the Frist family (which had founded the company) completed a $31.6 billion acquisition of Hospital Corporation of America, 17 years after it was taken private for the first time in a management buyout. At the time of its announcement, the HCA buyout was the first of several to set new records for the largest buyout, eclipsing the 1989 buyout of RJR Nabisco. It was later surpassed by the buyouts of EQ Office and TXU.[108] In August 2006, Bain was part of the consortium, together with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners, that acquired a controlling 80.1% share of semiconductors unit of Philips for €6.4 billion. The new company, based in the Netherlands, was renamed NXP Semiconductors.[109][110]
During the buyout boom, Bain was active in the acquisition of various retail businesses.[111] In January 2006, Bain announced the acquisition of Burlington Coat Factory, a discount retailer operating 367 department stores in 42 states, in a $2 billion buyout transaction.[112] Six months later, in October 2006, Bain and The Blackstone Group acquired Michaels Stores, the largest arts and crafts retailer in North America in a $6.0 billion leveraged buyout. Bain and Blackstone narrowly beat out Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and TPG Capital in an auction for the company.[113] In June 2007, Bain agreed to acquire HD Supply, the wholesale construction supply business of Home Depot for $10.3 billion.[114] Bain, along with partners Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, would later negotiate a lower price ($8.5 billion) when the initial stages of the subprime mortgage crisis caused lenders to seek to renegotiate the terms of the acquisition financing.[115] Just days after the announcement of the HD Supply deal, on June 27, Bain announced the acquisition of Guitar Center, the leading musical equipment retailer in the U.S. Bain paid $1.9 billion, plus $200 million in assumed debt, representing a 26% premium to the stock's closing price prior to the announcement.[116] Bain also acquired Edcon Limited, which operates Edgars Department Stores in South Africa and Zimbabwe for 25 billion-rand ($3.5 billion) in February 2007.[117]
Other investments during the buyout boom included: Bavaria Yachtbau, acquired for €1.3 billion in July 2007[118] as well as Sensata Technologies, acquired from Texas Instruments in 2006 for approximately $3 billion.[119]
Since 2008 [ edit ]
In the wake of the closure of the credit markets in 2007 and 2008, Bain managed to close only a small number of sizable transactions. In July 2008, Bain, together with NBC Universal and Blackstone Group agreed to purchase The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications.[120][121]
Subsequent investments include, but are not limited to:
January 2019 - Bain purchased majority stake in Brillio.[141]
Businesses [ edit ]
Bain Capital's businesses include private equity, venture capital, public equity, and credit.[142] The firm also has specialized businesses focused on impact investing, life sciences and real estate.[143][144][145]
Bain Capital Private Equity [ edit ]
Bain Capital Private Equity has raised ten funds and invested in more than 250 companies. The private equity activity includes leveraged buyouts and growth capital in a wide variety of industries.[146] Bain began investing in Europe in 1989 through its London-based affiliate Bain Capital Europe.[147] Bain also operates international affiliates Bain Capital Asia and Bain Capital India.
Bain Capital Private Equity is made up of more than 250 investment professionals, including 38 managing directors operating from offices in Boston, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Munich, New York, Shanghai, and Tokyo, as of the beginning of 2011.
Historically, Bain Capital has primarily relied on private equity funds, pools of committed capital from pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, fund of funds, high-net-worth individuals, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors. Bain Capital's own investment professionals are the largest single investor in each of its funds. From 1993, when Bain raised its first institutional fund through the beginning of 2012, Bain had completed fundraising for 11 funds with total investor commitments of over $38 billion, including its global private equity funds and separate funds focusing specifically on investments in Europe and Asia. Since 1998, each of Bain's global funds has invested alongside a coinvestment fund that invests only in certain larger transactions. The following is a summary of Bain Capital's private equity funds raised from its inception through the beginning of 2012:[148]
Fund Vintage
Year Committed
Capital ($m) Bain Capital Fund IV 1993 $300 Bain Capital Fund V 1995 $500 Bain Capital Fund VI 1998 $1,400[149] Bain Capital Fund VII 2000 $3,117[149] Bain Capital Fund VIII 2004 $4,250[149] Bain Capital Fund VIII-E (Europe) 2004 $1,015 Bain Capital Fund IX 2006 $10,000[149] Bain Capital Europe III 2008 €3,500 Bain Capital Asia 2008 $1,000 Bain Capital Fund X 2008 $11,800[149] Bain Capital Asia II 2011 $2,000
Bain Capital Ventures [ edit ]
Bain Capital Ventures is the venture capital arm of Bain Capital, focused on seed through late-stage growth equity, investing in business services, consumer, healthcare, internet & mobile, and software companies. Bain Capital Ventures has raised approximately $1.53 billion of investor capital since 2001 across four investment funds.[2]
The following is a summary of Bain Capital's venture funds raised from its inception through the beginning of 2012:[148]
Fund Vintage
Year Committed
Capital ($ |
auga's playoff hopes as they are also missing 2016 draft eligable Michael McLeod for a few weeks.The former King of Romania won a standing ovation as he addressed the country's parliament for the first time since 1947, to mark his 90th birthday. But the past few months have not been easy, with accusations flying that he betrayed Romania to the Soviet Union and allowed the deportation of the Jews.
Asked to react to recent criticism of him in his own country, King Michael of Romania laughs gruffly.
He is ninety years old and much admired in Romania, and the occasional barbs which come his way bounce off a skin hardened by both the battles of history, and the bitterness of exile.
I spoke to him at his home in Aubonne, a peaceful Swiss hamlet perched above Lake Geneva, just before he travelled to Bucharest for his birthday celebrations.
In a television chat show this summer, President Traian Basescu blamed the king for "betraying the national interest" by delivering Romania into the hands of the Soviets, when he was forced to abdicate in December 1947.
A life less ordinary Attended three royal weddings in London, most recently Prince William's
Is a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria on both sides of his family
One of the last surviving monarchs from WWII
Shared company with Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Churchill
Has five daughters and lives on Lake Geneva but spends a lot of time in Bucharest
"It's not even worth reacting to a thing like that, because it's so small, you know. And that's the type. The small insults from him, the bigger he thinks he is. I couldn't care less!" the former monarch says.
President Basescu, the prime minister, and several ministers stayed away from the king's address to both houses of parliament in Bucharest on 25 October.
The aged king, his back as straight as a ramrod, sits forward in his chair to recall his abdication.
"It was the end of the year [30 December]. My secretary called up from Bucharest and said, Groza would like to see you as quick as possible... because they wanted to talk about a 'family problem'. We had just come back from Switzerland, and my future wife and I had just got engaged, so I thought they wanted to talk about that," he says.
Petru Groza was the communist prime minister, known as the "red bourgeois" because of his own, upper middle-class background.
"Well the family question was, to put it to me that I have to abdicate. That the times have changed, monarchies don't count any more, and all sorts of nonsense of that sort."
A glance out of the window confirmed that troops had taken up positions around the royal palace. Groza then threatened him, that if he did not sign the paper of abdication lying on the desk, then he would order the execution of about 1,000 pro-monarchy supporters, most of them students, who had been arrested at earlier rallies.
"What are you supposed to do in a situation like that?" he asks, rhetorically. To back up his threat, Groza even grabbed the king's hand, and forced him to touch a pistol in his jacket pocket.
Moment of glory
He bowed to the inevitable, and signed the paper. There was an impromptu meeting of parliament the same day, and the republic was proclaimed by a handful of deputies, in a session which only lasted 45 minutes. It was the end of a Romanian monarchy which had begun just 66 years earlier, after Romania's emergence as an independent country, and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War.
Image caption King Michael was 18 at the outbreak of World War II
Another criticism of the king which occasionally surfaces, as it did in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung this summer, is that he did not do enough to stop the deportation of the Jews.
Again, the former king says there is no case to answer.
Marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania's wartime leader, excluded the young monarch (Michael was just 18 at the outbreak of World War II) from all key decisions. Antonescu's rule was marked by anti-Semitic atrocities, including racially discriminatory laws, deportations and pogroms.
The chief rabbi of Romania, Alexandru Shafran, kept the king and above all his mother Queen Helen informed about the next actions planned against the Jews. The queen then sought urgent meetings with Antonescu, and managed to have many anti-Jewish measures and orders rescinded. Her role in saving many thousand Jewish lives was later recognised by the Yad Vashem organisation in Israel.
"It was extraordinary, how much Antonescu respected my mother," King Michael recalls now. "Even though he didn't like what she was telling him, he listened to her."
The king's moment of glory came in August 1944, when he requested a meeting with Marshal Antonescu, and demanded his resignation.
"What - and leave the country in the hands of a child?" Antonescu retorted.
The king uttered a coded phrase, and three soldiers and a captain, listening in the next room, entered and arrested the furious marshal. A provisional government was formed, and an armistice announced - an end to hostilities with Soviet troops who were already pressing towards Romania's borders.
Within hours, German planes bombed the royal palace. Romania joined the Allied side, became a victor in the war, and the country was spared the devastation and loss of life of a Soviet military conquest.
Antonescu was executed by the Communist authorities after the war, and Romanian nationalists today still accuse the king of responsibility for the death of their hero.
'Bad habits'
King Michael is one of the few men alive who can claim to have had lunch with Hitler - once with his father in Bavaria in 1937, and with his mother in Berlin in 1941.
A king's opinions: On Churchill: "There was no question that he was a great man. But there was also no question in my mind that he was not very interested in Romania."
"There was no question that he was a great man. But there was also no question in my mind that he was not very interested in Romania." On Hitler: "I knew from the moment I met him that I was facing someone mad but calculating."
"I knew from the moment I met him that I was facing someone mad but calculating." On Yalta (which brought Romania under Soviet control): "What was really abandoned was any pretence of morality and principle." Source: The Times
He cannot remember what they had to eat, but does remember Hitler praising the performance of Romanian troops on the eastern front - at that time, still fighting the Soviet army.
But what was Hitler actually like? He says he doesn't remember much of what was said - on one of the occasions, there was no translator to help him understand the German conversation.
"He would sometimes screw up his face..." says the king, grimacing for my benefit.
The festivities to honour his birthday in Bucharest include a royal gala performance at the opera, a dinner at the National Bank, and a presentation of awards.
In his first speech to parliament for 64 years, he offered a little criticism of his own.
"The time has come... to finally break with the bad habits of the past," Michael told a packed house.
There should be an end, he said, to "demagogy, selfishness and attempts to cling to power".6 killed, 2 injured after Kalamazoo-area shooting spree Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Police at the Seelye Kia dealership in Kalamazoo where Rich and Tyler Smith were shot and killed on Feb. 20, 2016. [ + - ] Video
TEXAS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Six people are dead and two seriously wounded after a shooter opened fire at three different locations in the Kalamazoo area over the course of nearly five hours Saturday night.
Michigan State Police on Sunday identified the four victims killed at one of the crime scenes, a Cracker Barrel restaurant, as:
Mary Lou Nye, 62, of Baroda, Mich.
Mary Jo Nye, 60, of Battle Creek
Dorothy "Judy" Brown, 74, of Battle Creek
Barbara Hawthorne, 68, of Battle Creek
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety identified the two victims killed at another scene, a car dealership, as Richard Smith, 53, and his 17-year-old son, Tyler, both of Kalamazoo.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Top, left to right: Dorothy Brown, Barbara Hawthorne and Mary Jo Nye. Bottom, left to right: Mary Lou Nye, Rich Smith and Tyler Smith.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Top, left to right: Dorothy Brown, Barbara Hawthorne and Mary Jo Nye. Bottom, left to right: Mary Lou Nye, Rich Smith and Tyler Smith.
Sunday morning, police identified suspect they have in custody as 45-year-old Jason Dalton.
Dalton is suspected of shooting eight people at random at locations in Richland Township, Kalamazoo and finally Texas Township between about 5:45 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
"There is no connection between any of them (the victims). This all appears to be random," Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas said early Sunday. "This is your worst-case scenario that any community can have."
>>PHOTOS: Kalamazoo County shooting rampage
"This tragedy is absolutely ridiculous," MSP 1st Lt. Dale Hinz said early Sunday, who added that he had never seen anything like this situation.
When asked if Dalton had indicated a possible motive, he replied, "I don't think there is a why."
Dalton, who MSP said is believed to have acted alone, was arrested more than two hours after the final shooting. He was an Uber driver, and police are investigating reports that he took fares in between the shootings.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved
THREE SCENES, FIVE HOURS, EIGHT VICTIMS
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The scene at the Meadows Townhomes the day after the shooting.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The scene at the Meadows Townhomes the day after the shooting.
The investigation began around 5:45 p.m. Saturday at the Meadows Townhomes parking lot in Richland Township, where police said a woman was shot several times.
Matyas said she was outside with her three children when she was wounded. She was severely injured but is expected to survive, authorities said Sunday.
At least 10 shots were fired at that scene, evidence markers showed. Four of bullets went into a nearby apartment, though no one in that apartment was shot.
A witness at the scene told 24 Hour News 8 that he believed that the shooter "came to kill."
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Police at the Seelye Ford dealership in Kalamazoo where multiple people were shot on Saturday. (Feb. 20, 2016)
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Police at the Seelye Ford dealership in Kalamazoo where multiple people were shot on Saturday. (Feb. 20, 2016)
Around 10:08 p.m., police were called to Seelye Ford KIA dealership located at 3820 Stadium Dr. in Kalamazoo. That's where Tyler Smith and his father, Richard Smith, were shot and killed.
Witnesses told 24 Hour News 8 they drove by the dealership after police responded and saw two bodies on the ground. They initially though police were making an arrest.
Mattawan Consolidated Schools Superintendent Dr. Robin Buchler said on Sunday that Tyler Smith "always had a smile on his face." She said everyone liked Tyler, whom she described as a "good kid" who was very involved. She said Tyler spent half the school day at the tech center studying marketing and the other half at the high school.
Around 10:24 p.m., officers were called to the parking lot of the Cracker Barrel in the area of I-94 and S. 9th Street in Texas Township.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Police on scene of a shooting at the Cracker Barrel in Texas Township where multiple people were killed on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Police on scene of a shooting at the Cracker Barrel in Texas Township where multiple people were killed on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016.
MSP says Dalton approached an Oldsmobile Silhoutte minivan and Chevrolet Cruze sedan before firing into both vehicles.
Police said the four women were killed and a 14-year-old girl was gravely injured.
Mary Lou Nye was driving the minivan. Mary Jo Nye was driving the Cruze. Dorothy Brown, Barbara Hawthorne and the teen were passengers in the Cruze. The teen's name was not released Sunday.
At one point in the early hours of Sunday, authorities were saying all five victims shot at the Cracker Barrel had died before changing the number of fatalities there back to four. MSP Lt. Hinz confirmed to 24 Hour News 8 later that the 14-year-old had been pronounced dead but then squeezed her mother's hand.
Sunday morning, the prosecutor said that at his last check, the teen was headed into surgery. He was considering that good news.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved
In the afternoon, Gov. Rick Snyder met with the 14-year-old's family. He told 24 Hour News 8 the girl was fighting for her life.
"She’s working hard to stay alive. She’s got all our thoughts and prayers to have a chance to come back from this so it’s going to be quite a recovery period assuming that happens, "Snyder said.
"These folk from all three incidents, these folks were out to a show to go see a play for a great evening and someone comes up and shoots them," he added. "That’s senseless violence at its worst."
>>TIMELINE: Kalamazoo County shooting rampage
The red sedan towed from the scene had two rear windows shot out and a bullet hole through the windshield on the driver's side. A white minivan also taken from the scene had the driver's side window and middle window on the passenger's side shot out.
SUSPECT ARRESTED
Around 12:40 a.m. Sunday, officers spotted the suspect vehicle -- a black Chevrolet HHR -- pulling out of Rugger's Up & Under Bar on W. Michigan Avenue in Kalamazoo. Authorities said Dalton didn't put up a fight when he was pulled over about a mile away from the bar in the area of Ransom and Porter streets and was then arrested.
Lt. Hinz, who is the commander of MSP's Paw Paw Post, said Dalton and his vehicle matched the description of the suspect and getaway vehicle, a black Chevrolet HHR, in the shootings.
Matyas said there was a weapon inside the HHR. Getting later said it was unclear if that weapon was registered to Dalton.
2 Photos Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved Police cruisers were parked outside the Douglas Avenue home of shooting suspect Jason Dalton Feb. 21, 2016.
6 killed, 2 injured after Kalamazoo-area shooting spree Gallery 1 Police cruisers were parked outside the Douglas Avenue home of shooting suspect Jason Dalton Feb. 21, 2016. Officers pulled over a black Chevrolet HHR matching the description of the gunman's vehicle aroun 12:40 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016.
Getting said authorities were not aware of Dalton having any history of mental illness. They said he was not believed to have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Shortly before a 7 a.m. news conference, KDPS Chief Jeff Hadley said it was "extremely baffling" why Dalton allegedly committed the attacks.
"We have no idea why this happened. We have not gotten any indication initially from our interview with Mr. Dalton as to the reasons behind his behavior," he said. "That's the million-dollar question right now."
He said investigators intended to go through phone and computer records and talk to people Dalton knew in an attempt to determine what led up to the shootings.
Hadley fought back tears as he thought of the victim's families.
"Our deepest and profound sympathies go out to the families. … My heart truly goes out to them," he said. "For the community, [I] just ask for prayers and that we put our arms around these families, we help them."
Dalton was expected to be in court Monday, the prosecutor said, and will face multiple murder charges.
Getting said Dalton was in contact with someone at times during the spree, but would not disclose who. He said Dalton is likely the only person who will face charges.
Sunday, a sign on the door of the Cracker Barrel said it would remain closed until Monday.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The Cracker Barrel was closed Sunday. (Feb. 21, 2016)
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved The Cracker Barrel was closed Sunday. (Feb. 21, 2016)
RESPONSE FROM LAWMAKERS, COMMUNITY LEADERS
Gov. Snyder has ordered flags lowered to half-staff for six days starting Monday to honor the six victims killed in Kalamazoo.
"Our hearts are broken for the victims' families and friends, and I join in mourning their loss," he said in a release.
Snyder released this statement on the shooting Sunday morning:
"The victims and their families -- and the entire Kalamazoo area -- should be in everyone's thoughts today. Members of the community and law enforcement officers from the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department, Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Michigan State Police who quickly came together are to be commended for their cooperation and swift response. Their actions resulted in the suspect being caught before he was able to harm anyone else through these senseless and apparently random acts of violence."
Today I met with agencies investigating the Kalamazoo shootings. Thanks to all who helped in the suspect's arrest. pic.twitter.com/0uRVlQPIDh - Governor Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) February 21, 2016
The Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo said a special mass will be held at St. Augustine Cathedral at 12:10 p.m. Monday for the victims.
Bishop Paul Bradley released this statement Sunday:
"We are shocked and saddened by the horrific acts of violence in our beloved Kalamazoo last evening. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the six innocent people whose lives in this world were so mercilessly ended. May they live forever with God in the life of the world to come. We also pray for the perpetrator; may God show him mercy and change his heart. We commend the courage and dedication of our first responders for their commitment to keeping our community safe. Finally we pray for an end to all forms of violence. May this Lenten season be a time for all of us to turn away from sin and be freed from the strong hold of evil’s influence so that we can live together in security and peace. "We invite all people to join together tomorrow at 12:10 p.m. for a Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral to pray for the victims, the injured and traumatized, and for an end to violence. May all those impacted by this senseless tragedy be comforted by the love of our united prayers."
My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the #KalamazooShooting. Yet another outrageous and horrible act of violence. - Sen. Debbie Stabenow (@SenStabenow) February 21, 2016
Today our hearts are heavy in the wake of Kalamazoo shooting. Cannot imagine the sadness & pain of victims' loved ones & entire community. - Senator Gary Peters (@SenGaryPeters) February 21, 2016
State Rep. Brandt Iden, R-Oshtemo, released this statement Sunday:
"Our community has been rocked by the apparently random shootings that were perpetrated last night, stealing the lives of six people, critically injuring two others, and devastating countless family members and friends of these victims."I encourage people to keep the victims, their families and friends in their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. A prayer service will be held tonight at Centerpoint Church, 2345 N. 10th St., in Kalamazoo beginning at 7 p.m. Area residents are encouraged to attend this special service in support of the victims of this tragedy."In addition, we should thank our first responders and law enforcement officials who worked diligently to find and detain the suspect, and who will continue to work countless hours to ensure justice is served for these heinous acts."
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, released this statement Sunday:
"I am shocked and deeply saddened by the shootings in Kalamazoo. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. This is clearly a senseless act by a disturbed individual."[C]onventional wisdom about Type 2 diabetes would suggest that once obesity, lack of physical activity and other lifestyle risk factors were taken into account, diabetes incidence rates would even out between lower- and higher-income groups….
[A recent study found that] for men, being in the lowest-income category (earning less than $15,000 per year), doubles the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes compared to being in one of the highest-income brackets (earning more than $80,000 per year). The risk remains the same when other risk factors are taken into account, such as education, body mass index and physical activity levels.
The findings are even more striking for women in the lowest-income category. For them, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is more than triple the risk of women in the highest-income category. When education, body mass index and physical activity levels are taken into account, the risk is still well more than double. — CTVImage copyright AFP Image caption More than five weeks after Storm Maria, most Puerto Ricans are still in the dark
Puerto Rico's governor has called for the cancellation of a contract given to a tiny Montana firm to help rebuild the island's power grid.
The head of the US-controlled island's power authority said he accepted Ricardo Rossello's recommendation and intended to cancel the deal.
The contract was given to Whitefish Energy, which has little experience of work on such a scale, without a public bid process.
Several inquiries are under way.
More than 70% of people on Puerto Rico were without power as of Sunday morning - more than five weeks after the powerful hurricane devastated the power grid.
The governor said he had asked the board of governors of the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority (Prepa) to cancel the Whitefish contract.
"There can be no distraction to alter the commitment to restore the power system as quickly as possible," he said.
In response, the Prepa Executive Director Ricardo Ramos said he was seeking the contract's cancellation.
The governor also said he had instructed Prepa to "immediately coordinate with the states of Florida and New York to reinforce brigades" that are currently rebuilding the grid on the island.
Concerns had also been raised about why Puerto Rican authorities had not requested "mutual aid" from other public power authorities, as is typical during disasters in the US.
In a statement reacting to the news, Whitefish Energy said it was "very disappointed in the decision" and that the decision would "only delay what the people of Puerto Rico want and deserve - to have the power restored quickly in the same manner their fellow citizens on the mainland experience after a natural disaster".
Image copyright Reuters Image caption The island's power grid will have to be completely rebuilt
The White House and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) distanced themselves from the deal late last week.
The company has its headquarters in the town of Whitefish, the hometown of US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Mr Zinke has denied any involvement or wrongdoing.
Whitefish has said that it secured the $300m (£228m) deal in a legitimate manner.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico faces long road to recovery
Earlier this week, Fema denied allegations by Prepa, the US territory's main utility, that it had reviewed the deal.
The contract states that "Prepa hereby represents and warrants that Fema has reviewed and approved of this Contract".
In a statement on Thursday, Fema said: "Any language in any contract between Prepa and Whitefish that states Fema approved that contract is inaccurate."
Fema also said it had "significant concerns" with how Prepa had procured the contract and had "not confirmed whether the contract prices [were] reasonable".
Image copyright Reuters Image caption More than five weeks after Storm Maria most light on the island is generator-driven
It is unclear what will happen to any outstanding costs.
Walt Green, a former director of the US National Center for Disaster Fraud, told BBC News earlier this week that it was "impossible" to say at this stage who was responsible for costs.
"Any dispute may result in appeals, administrative hearings and lawsuits," he added.
Puerto Rican authorities initially said Fema would pay for the deal.
They later said there was "nothing illegal" about the contract.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Whitefish Energy is based in the hometown of US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke
Prepa and the Puerto Rican government are saddled with massive debts. The power authority declared bankruptcy in July.
The US House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Caribbean island, is also scrutinising the contract.
On Friday, top Democrats from that panel and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee sent a letter asking the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general to launch an investigation.
The correspondence follows similar requests from other members of Congress to the interior department's inspector general.Math Problems for English Majors
If Elizabeth Bennet’s house is ten miles away from Mr. Darcy’s house, how far will her mother go to arrange a suitable marriage?
- - -
An English major explains his career options to three mechanical engineers for fifteen minutes. How many beers will the English major drink in explaining that, really, he has it figured out as he’s applying to eighteen grad schools, and after the PhD, maybe become a professor, or go for a post-doc, maybe? What if he’s trying to impress someone? What if that someone’s also a mechanical engineer?
- - -
A Victorian gentleman had no parents and then gained one mysterious mentor. What are the odds that he is related to this mentor in fact?
- - -
Similarly, an American expatriate talks about the war and can’t seem to hold onto a relationship. What are the odds that he has a hidden injury? What are the odds that he will consume more alcohol than physically possible?
- - -
The night before an essay is due, Student A writes her essay on id and ego in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse at 600 words/minute, while Student B writes his essay on the fallacy of division in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road at 500 words/minute. At what hour, the next day, will their grader step away from their essays and shriek like a wild banshee into his four-dollar-a-piece throw pillows?
- - -
If, on Monday, two Bronte sisters fancy the same Byronic hero, then by Sunday, how many Bronte sisters will be happy? Will it be the same number of Bronte sisters who were happy before Monday?
- - -
Ellen has five times the dowry as her sister Charlotte, but Charlotte is twice as attractive as Ellen, and three times as funny. How many times will each sister reject her initial suitor until each finally marries her initial suitor? What if this is a Jane Austen novel?
- - -
The area of a post-doc’s field is “marine life as fallibilism in Shakespeare’s first three comedies.” The field’s relevant texts range two works wider than that of the field “atomism and horses in Shakespearean tragicomedies.” What is the length and the width of the post-doc’s job search?
- - -
The course reading of an advanced-level Renaissance course reads as follows:
The Shepherd’s Calendar
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The New Atlantis
Paradise Lost
The Lady of May
Sovereignty
(A) How many hours might the average student save by reading the Spark Notes instead of the full text?
(B) How many students will skip the reading altogether and listen to the people who did the reading in hopes of piecing together enough of the plot to briefly participate and receive discussion credit?
- - -
Joan opens a savings account and deposits $300 to avoid monthly fees. The account earns 5% interest, compounded continuously. If, in three years, she wants to spend the money on an inflatable wall for her four-roommate apartment in Queens so she can pursue an English PhD in the city, will she have regretted spending the $300 on opening the bank account?
- - -
How many liters of a 20% alcohol solution must be added to 30 liters of a 50% alcohol solution to make Jay Gatsby satisfied?
- - -
A sixth-year-PhD student leans against a building. If the student makes a 70-degree angle with the ground, how long will she lean like that as she ponders her decision to pursue a career in English scholarship? How far from her dreams must she stray to attain the most basic of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? Will the leaning hurt her back before the dread of not preparing for the next day’s lecture surfaces?Street price: $32; MSRP: $33; Deal price: $20
This recently expired deal is back and once again matches the low price we saw set in October. It tends to be stubborn about staying right near the MSRP with brief drops to the $20 range every few months.
The Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader is our pick for the best card reader. The Wirecutter staff wrote, "The folks at Camera Memory Speed got read/write speeds above 250 MBps, a feat no other card reader could match in their tests. By comparison, the cheapest USB 3.0 model they tested, the SD-only Transcend RDF5, managed an average of just 93 MBps. The Lexar can copy from both card slots simultaneously and supports UHS-II and UDMA 7 card protocols. It comes with a 42-inch USB 3.0 cable and a five-year warranty—most of its rivals have coverage for only one or two years."
Street price: $80; MSRP: $80; Deal price: $63 with code MAY20
Make sure to use the code MAY20. There's a small "Promo code" option inside your shopping cart page. It drops this tote down to $63 and you get 2-day shipping for free as well. The code only works on a single item, so you won't be able to get discounts on the rest of your order.
The Patagonia Lightweight Tote is our packable daypack pick in our travel gear guide. We said, "This Patagonia Tote works great as a tote but makes no compromises in backpack performance. It has all the padding and straps you'd expect on a normal daypack."
Street price: $100; MSRP: $100; Deal price: $79
We just published our smart hub guide and already we're seeing a solid deal. This Samsung hub has dropped to $79 once in the past, prior to us tracking it, but has consistently been in the $100 range otherwise.
The Samsung SmartThings Hub is our pick for the best smart hub. Jon Chase said it's "a polished, powerful option for tech-savvy DIYers who have a desire for an integrated smart home but lack the budget for or interest in a professionally installed system. It's easy to set up on your home network, and pairing it with other smart devices is largely seamless."
Street price: $500; MSRP: $500; Deal price: $500 with $50 gift card
This is the first time we've seen a good deal on this pick, though you'll still be paying $500 initially. You'll receive a $50 gift card with one-day or free Prime shipping afterwards. This is part of a sale on multiple Sonos items, and while we've seen a better price on the Sonos Play:1 before, this is also the first time we're seeing a sale on the Sonos Playbar, which also includes a $50 giftcard.
The SONOS PLAY:5 is our "bigger sound for larger rooms" pick in our best multiroom wireless speaker system guide. Chris Heinonen said, "The Sonos PLAY:5 uses six drivers and amps to easily fill large spaces with full-range, detailed sound. They also sound great paired."
Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.There has been an influx of games coming to Windows Phone lately, and today we have another big one. Rovio, of Angry Birds fame, has launched Amazing Alex for Windows Phone 8. This is Rovio’s first game that has nothing to do with birds, pigs, or being angry.
Amazing Alex started life as Casey’s Contraptions by indie developers Snappy Touch & Mystery Coconut. In May of 2012 Rovio purchased the rights to the game, slightly modified it to Amazing Alex, and then released it the following month on Android and iOS. The game is a physics puzzler that requires players to build rube goldberg machines to help Alex get things done. Players can use anything in Alex’s room to build the contraptions and finish chores, battle robots, and much more.
Amazing Alex has more than 100 levels, 35 objects to choose from, and four locations to build on. One of the coolest features of the game is the ability to design and share your own levels with friends. This also allows you to download other fan-made levels and try to beat them. Amazing Alex is a great addition to the ever growing Windows Phone game library. It is available now for $0.99 (and free trial) as an Xbox game for Windows Phone 8 devices. Enjoy!SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Should injured pro athletes be allowed to earn worker compensation benefits until they are 67 years old, like other workers, even if their athletic careers normally would have ended more than 30 years earlier? That issue is being debated between the Chicago Bears and the NFL Players Association in the Illinois Legislature as one unlikely element of a compromise proposal to end a nearly two-year-long fight over the state's budget.
The Bears are leading other Chicago sports franchises in backing a measure that would reduce a former player's ability to tap into workers compensation after a career-ending injury. They want to cap certain payments to athletes at no older than 35 or five years after their injury. Currently they can claim benefits up to age 67, like other workers.
Neither the teams nor players' advocates will say how much money is at stake. They agree it is not a relatively big pot — while theoretically some could claim millions, most if not all athletes settle their claims for reduced sums up front, the players association says.
Only a handful of pro players filed for the benefit here in the past four years, although the association would not identify them or describe their individual cases.
But one example in the public record of an athlete who claimed this compensation is former Bears offensive lineman Ted Albrecht, a first-round draft choice whose career ended with a back injury in 1982. An arbitrator tried to deny his claim, but an appeals court ruled he was entitled to receive an award based on the difference between his $130,000 Bears salary and what he later earned as a travel agent and sportscaster, which ranged from $87,000 to $36,000 between 1983 and 1986.
The Bears say Illinois' law regulating compensation is overly generous. They also argue the existing rules attract players from other states to file claims in Illinois.
"Will there be savings? Yes, there will be savings," said Bears attorney Cliff Stein. But the Bears say the measure is really about being fair to other Illinois workers with longer careers in other fields.
NFL Players Association spokesman George Atallah said the benefits provide a lifeline to players whose athletic careers end suddenly — especially lower paid athletes performing just on practice teams or in minor leagues, who may lack sufficient savings and education to fall back on.
"The savings to these (team) owners are negligible whereas the benefits to these players are everything," Richard Gordon, an attorney who represents NFL players, told The Associated Press.
Napoleon Harris, a former NFL linebacker and now a Democrat in the Illinois Senate, opposes the provision. He said it would unfairly "carve out" professional athletes from laws meant to protect employees.
"It almost feels like players are being used," Harris said. "The owner's not limping after the game, but the owner's collecting billions of dollars in profits."
It's not the first time NFL teams have urged lawmakers to rein in compensation claims. California passed a measure in 2013 pushed by the NFL that restricted out-of-state players from filing there.
States differ in how much they require employers to compensate injured workers for decreased earning potential. Bears officials argue that no state offers payment for as long or as much as Illinois does, but the players association contends that some state compensation laws are comparable.
The Illinois legislation is backed by Chicago's other major sports teams — the National Basketball Association Bulls, the National Hockey League's Blackhawks and the Cubs and White Sox of Major League Baseball. All of them joined the Bears in signing a letter last month to Senate leadership urging them to OK the provision.
The change was tucked into a proposed "grand bargain" compromise the Senate is negotiating to break the state's budget standoff. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has pressed for overall worker compensation reform as part of a deal. Though sponsored by Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno, the provision's prospects are uncertain as the impasse grinds on between Rauner and Democratic leaders who control the legislature.
Under current law, all Illinois residents can claim benefits for two-thirds of the difference between what they were making when they were injured and what they're able to make thereafter. Maximum damages are capped at the state's average weekly wage of $1,070, meaning no athlete could receive more than $56,000 per year in insurance pay-outs.
The change would not limit athletes whose injuries prevent them from holding any job from claiming benefits.
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The bill is SB12.
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Follow Kiannah Sepeda-Miller at https://twitter.com/kiannahsepedaThe force was definitely with this one. A couple hundred people gathered at CityPlace in West Palm Beach Saturday night to witness 7-year-old Brady defeat Darth Vader.
To become a Jedi Knight — to save everyone from evil — that’s been Brady’s wish for years. And who can blame him? He’s spent much of his life fighting tumors that have attacked his body.
The battle was intense, but the crowd |
its potential stats are meant for a Cleric or Mage.
Infusion level details how many times this fragment has been leveled up, starting at 0 and ending at 15. As a fragment’s infusion level grows, so does it’s primary stat. It will gain additional secondary stats at levels 3, 6, 9, and 12, if it does not already have them. Since this item has 1 secondary stat already, it will not receive a new one at infusion level 3. Instead, the current secondary stat will receive a small boost.
It is possible for a fragment to gain the same secondary stat twice, increasing the secondary stat each time.
Each Fragment has a specific element associated with it. The element serves 2 purposes. First, it determines what slot it can be equipped in. Second, it determines what primary stats will be the best for this fragment. It is important to know that all fragments share the same pool of secondary stat values. The fragment’s element determines what primary stat provided will be the strongest. During development, the devs posted a full tier list.
A fragment’s Tier rating goes from 1 to 6, with 1 being the best possible for that element, and 6 being the worst. In short, you want to seek out Tier 1 fragments, since the primary stat for that fragment will be the highest compared to all other fragments of the same infusion level. Tier 6 fragments have the worst primary stats, and are better off being recycled.
Here are the stats in order of best to worst for each planar type:
Fire: AP/SP, DEX, CP, INT, Crit Chance, STR, Dodge, Base HP, Block, WIS, Guard, END
Water: Crit Chance, END, AP/SP, Base HP, CP, INT, Block, STR, Guard, DEX, Dodge, WIS
Death: CP, STR, Crit Chance, DEX, AP/SP, Base HP, Guard, WIS, Dodge, END, Block, INT
Life: Block, Base HP, Dodge, WIS, Guard, END, AP/SP, INT, Crit Chance, STR, CP, DEX
Earth: Guard, WIS, Block, STR, Dodge, DEX, Crit Chance, END, CP, INT, AP/SP, Base HP
Air: Dodge, INT, Guard, END, Block, WIS, CP, DEX, AP/SP, Base HP, Crit Chance, STR
Planar Fragment Infusion
This is the Infusion window. Here you can upgrade the primary stat of your Planar Fragments, and cause it to gain additional secondary stats. It can take multiple infusion attempts to level up a fragment, but there is a hard limit on how many times you must do this. There is also a chance of a “Critical Infusion”, which will level up your fragment immediately, regardless of the infusion progress.
To infuse a fragment, click the “Up Arrow” next to the fragment once it has been equipped. This will add open up the infusion window.
Each infusion costs some resources. Plat is a constant requirement for all levels, but in addition to plat, infusion require planarite from levels 0-6, and special “Cosmic Core” items from levels 6 through 15. Cosmic cores can be obtained by recycling fragments, which will be discussed later.
Starting an infusion is as simple as pressing the infuse button. This will immediately take the currency and required materials from your inventory, and give you one of two results.
1) The first possible result is a “Critical Infusion”. This means that any remaining progress to the next infusion level is automatically completed.
2) Alternatively, you will gain progress towards the next infusion level. Note in this example, the fragment has moved to level 9 and acquired a new secondary stat.
As we can see, infusion is rather simple. The costs can be high, especially for cosmic cores, which brings us to the next idea for fragments: Recycling.
Recycling
If you obtain a fragment that you don’t want, or has undesirable stats, you have the option of Recycling that fragment. This is done by clicking on the Recycle button in any of the planar fragment lists you find in your inventory. Recycling a planar fragment awards you with “Cosmic Core” items related to that fragment’s element.
Recycling can also be done using the new Recycling Skill in you skills window.
This skill can be put on your hotbar, and used as macro. It is required to recycle fragments in your bag inventory.
Using the skill is easy, like all the current break down crafting skills in the game. Use the Recycle skill, then click on a fragment in your bags or in the Fragment Inventory panel of your character page.
Fragment Sets
You can have up to 5 fragment sets, and swap between them outside of combat. The first set is given to you for free, but the 2nd set costs 150p, 3rd 300p, 4th 450p, and 5th 600p.
You can assign images to a set by right clicking it.
You can drag the icon to your hotbar for easy set swapping.
Recommendation for what to equip and what to recycle
Fragments come in all rarity levels, but always at infusion level 0. The rarity of a fragment determines how many secondary stats it starts with. This means that higher rarity fragments have less RNG than lower rarity ones.
You should avoid playing the RNG game with fragments. A quick overview of what levels to infuse to for each rarity is below. After the listed levels, RNG starts kicking in very hard and you might end up with unwanted secondary stats.
White (Common) – No secondary stats – Safe to upgrade to infusion level 2
Green (Uncommon) – 1 secondary stat – Safe to upgrade to infusion level 5
Blue (Rare) – 2 secondary stats – Safe to upgrade to infusion level 8
Purple (Epic) – 3 secondary stats – Safe to upgrade to infusion level 11
Gold (Relic) – 4 secondary stats – Safe to upgrade to infusion level 15
On top of this, you want to avoid high-tier rated fragments. Tier 1, 2, and 3 fragments will give you the best potential primary stat for that fragment’s element, but a 4, 5, and 6 Tier will be sub-par. It is generally best to recycle Tier 4, 5, and 6 fragments. Do the same for a Tier 3 unless you really need to stack the stat provided by that fragment.
Only use these lower tier fragments when starting out, and try to replace them quickly. Questing will give you these lower tier fragments, while more challenging content like experts and eventually raids will provide higher tiers.
In summary:
Use Tier 4, 5, and 6 fragments only if you have no other options for the stat you want.
Replace and Recycle Tier 4, 5, and 6 Fragments as soon as you possibly can.
You can use the Recycle skill from your Skill window to recycle equipped fragments.
A Fragment will gain additional secondary stats at levels 3, 6, 9, and 12 if it has not received a secondary stat already due to its quality.
Do not upgrade a fragment beyond the recommended levels above! Doing so invites gambling on additional secondary stats and honestly is not worth the cost in the long run. Though you may occasionally get lucky though.
It can take multiple infusion attempts to level up a fragment, but there is a hard limit on how many times you must do this. Infusion levels 0, 1, and 2 always require 1 attempt to succeed.
At the first 4 Milestone infusion levels (3, 6, 9, and 12), one random secondary stat will be boosted IF the fragment does not gain a new seconary stat.
Leveling a fragment from 14 to 15 is expensive, but gives a huge Primary and Secondary stat boost.
Content is balanced around having Infusion level 6 fragments.
AdvertisementsThe Equalizer has obtained the list of protected and unprotected players for the 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft, and there are plenty of players from which the Houston Dash can choose to build their inaugural roster.
Houston can only add up to 10 total players, and they can’t select more than two players from any of the other eight teams. If the Dash choose a U.S. allocated player from a team, they may not select another player from that team. Houston cannot take more than two U.S. allocated players, one Canada player and one Mexico player on the draft. They already have American Whitney Engen, Mexico midfielder Teresa Noyola and Canada goalkeeper Erin McLeod after Wednesday’s trade.
If Houston selects a player from a team, that team can protect one additional player.
There are nine U.S. allocated players available for selection for the Dash, including Rachel Buehler and Kelley O’Hara.
What is unclear is the listing of “discovery players” by many teams. It seems the Dash will know who the discovery players are during the process, but the public will not know (unless Houston chooses and signs the player). It’s also unclear if German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer is one of these players, but she recently said she had not yet officially signed with her mystery NWSL club – perhaps by design.
The lists:
Boston Breakers
Protected Unprotected Courtney Jones Jazmyne Avant Julie King Michelle Betos Kaylyn Kyle (CAN) Bianca D’Agostino Joanna Lohman Maddy Evans Kia McNeill Dinora Garza (MEX) Kristie Mewis (USA) Meghan Klingenberg (USA) Alyssa Naeher Jessica Luscinski (2013 rights) Heather O’Reilly (USA) Melissa Ortiz Lianne Sanderson Kathryn Schoepfer Catherine Whitehill Chelsea Stewart (CAN)
Chicago Red Stars
Protected Unprotected Zakiya Bywaters Shannon Boxx (USA) Lori Chalupny Amy LePeilbet (USA) Taryn Hemmings Ella Masar Jennifer Hoy Alyssa Mautz Adriana Leon (CAN) Jacqueline Santacaterina Leslie Osborne Julianne Sitch Christen Press (USA) Melissa Tancredi (CAN) Rachel Quon (CAN) Lindsay Tarpley (2013 rights) Casey Short (2013 rights) Lydia Vandenbergh Taylor Vancil Michelle Wenino
FC Kansas City
Protected Unprotected Jen Buczkowski Nicole Barnhart (USA) Melissa Henderson Elizabeth Bogus Lauren Holiday (USA) Sinead Farrelly Nikki Krzysik Jamie French Merritt Mathias Bianca Henninger Leigh Ann Robinson Katie Kelly Amy Rodriguez (USA) Casey Loyd Becky Sauerbrunn (USA) Cecilia Santiago (MEX) Erika Tymrak Desiree Scott (CAN) Lauren Sesselmann (CAN) Nia Williams Discovery Player #1 Discovery Player #2 Discovery Player #3 Discovery Player #4 Discovery Player #5 Discovery Player #6
Portland Thorns FC
Protected Unprotected Jackie Acevedo (MEX) Rachel Buehler (USA) Amber Brooks Becky Edwards Tobin Heath (USA) Tina Ellertson Allie Long Angie Kerr Nikki Marshall Karina LeBlanc (CAN) Alex Morgan (USA) Jessica McDonald Rebecca Moros Emilee O’Neil Christine Sinclair (CAN) Casey Ramirez Kat Williamson Meleana Shim Nikki Washington Tiffany Weimer Michele Weissenhofer (2013 rights) Courtney Wetzel Discovery Player #1 Discovery Player #2 Discovery Player #3 Discovery Player #4
Seattle Reign FC
Protected Unprotected Lauren Barnes Stephanie Cox (USA) Jessica Fishlock Kiersten Dallstream Danielle Foxhoven Kate Deines Beverly Goebel-Yanez Kaley Fountain (2013 rights) Sydney Leroux (USA) Alina Garciamendez (2013 rights) Kim Little Carmelina Moscato (CAN) Megan Rapinoe (USA) Mariah Nogueira Elli Reed Arianna Romero (MEX) Hope Solo (USA) Discovery Player #1 Keelin Winters Discovery Player #2 Discovery Player #3 Discovery Player #4 Discovery Player #5 Discovery Player #6
Sky Blue FC
Protected Unprotected Lisa De Vanna Danesha Adams Caitlin Foord Brittany Bock Katy Freels Brittany Cameron Courtney Goodson Alison Falk (2013 rights) Lindsi Cutshall Jonelle Filigno (CAN) Monica Ocampo (MEX) Kendall Johnson Christie Rampone (USA) Meghan Lenczyk (2013 rights) Sophie Schmidt (CAN) Jillian Loyden (USA) Discovery Player #1 Taylor Lytle Ashley Nick Kelley O’Hara (USA) Madeleine Thompson Kandace Wilson (2013 rights) Discovery Player #1
Washington Spirit
Protected Unprotected Yael Averbuch (USA) Marisa Abegg Renae Cuellar (MEX) Jordan Angeli (2013 rights) Robyn Gayle (CAN) Candace Chapman Victoria Huster Ashlyn Harris (USA) Ali Krieger (USA) Chantel Jones Diana Matheson (CAN) Natasha Kai (2013 rights) Christine Nairn Lori Lindsey Stephanie Ochs Tiffany McCarty Toni Pressley Caroline Miller Jodie Taylor Julia Roberts Jasmyne Spencer Kika Toulouse Colleen Williams Discovery Player #1 Discovery Player #2
Western New York FlashRIGONCI, Slovenia (Reuters) - Refugees from Asian wars crossed into Slovenia from Croatia on Wednesday as border closures elsewhere forced them to find new routes to rich European countries and concern grew over the plight of those stranded in wet, freezing weather.
On the Croatian-Serbian border, thousands of migrants spent the night camped out at the Berkasovo-Bapska crossing after Croatia closed the gates.
And in an indication that refugees and migrants were still desperate to reach Europe before winter weather made sea crossings too perilous, two boatloads landed at a British military base on Cyprus - the first such arrivals on the island.
With many now trapped in deteriorating conditions in the Balkans, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called an extraordinary meeting of several European leaders to take place on Sunday.
Juncker invited the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
“In view of the unfolding emergency in the countries along the Western Balkans migratory route, there is a need for much greater cooperation, more extensive consultation and immediate operational action,” the commission said in a statement.
Europe’s biggest refugee and migrant crisis since World War II has seen hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa this year, with hundreds losing their lives in risky voyages across the Mediterranean.
Hungary sealed its border with Croatia last week, blocking entry with a steel fence and razor wire. Croatia began directing migrants west to Slovenia, which has tried to stem the flow as people looked for new routes and bottlenecks built up through the Balkans.
Both Slovenia and Hungary are part of Europe’s passport-free Schengen Area while Croatia is not. Most want to continue their journey on to Austria and Germany, the most popular destination.
Related Coverage EU's Juncker summons leaders over Balkan refugee crisis
Hazem Al Mousa, a 30-year-old Syrian from Aleppo, crossed into Slovenia on Wednesday near the town of Rigonci with his three sisters, brother and 84-year-old grandmother in a wheelchair.
“It is most important that my grandmother gets medical assistance and my sisters go to school and I’ll try to find some work,” he said. “I am so afraid that Germany will close its borders. I hope we will make it. We keep fighting and let’s hope for a miracle.”
Traveling with him was Homayoon Hoseini, 16, from Afghanistan, whose parents were killed by the Taliban.
“Some friends in Iran helped me pay for this trip. I want to go Amsterdam and find a school there.” he said.
He had spent the night under open skies at the Croatian-Slovenian border.
“It was so cold. We were trying to keep ourselves warm and lit fires but that didn’t help. Thank God for the sun today,” he said.
SLOVENIA SEEKS HELP
Slovenia’s parliament passed legislation on Wednesday to give the army more power to help police guarding the border, and Prime Minister Miro Cerar said he would ask the European Union for police reinforcements and financial help
More than 20,000 migrants have arrived in Slovenia since Saturday morning in order to pass through to Austria.
Policemen watch migrants as they wait after crossing the border from Croatia in Rigonce, Slovenia, October 21, 2015. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
On the Croatian-Serbian border, about 3,500 migrants spent the night in freezing cold at the Berkasovo-Bapska crossing, huddling in tents or under tarpaulins provided by aid groups and burning bonfires to keep warm.
At first light, groups of them bypassed the official border gate and walked through orchards into Croatia.
Aid agencies are concerned about backlogs of migrants building in the Balkans, battered by autumn winds and rain as temperatures drop before winter.
“The keyword is - cold. It’s been freezing, this was our busiest night this week,” said Astrid Coyne-Jensen of the Danish People’s Aid medical team.
Mustafa, wrapped in a blanket, said his group of three families spent the night at the crossing under a piece of discarded tarpaulin as there were not enough tents for everyone.
“I am from Hama in Syria, I have family in Turkey, I will tell them not to come as this is not for people, this is for animals,” Mustafa said.
Hungary meanwhile said it had no intention of opening any corridor for migrants.
“Hungary has made it abundantly clear...that it does not support any proposal to open corridors on the border sections closed in the south or to provide means of transport for migrants within the Schengen zone,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said after a meeting of Croatian, Slovenian, Austrian and Hungarian police chiefs in Vienna.
A police spokesman in the Austrian province of Styria said about 1,500 migrants had been found walking on a road near the Slovenian border and had been transported back to migrant centers.
Almost 6,000 migrants arrived at the port of Pireaus on the Greek mainland on Wednesday on three ferry boats from the islands of Lesbos and Chios, the first point of landfall for many refugees from Syria.
Slideshow (6 Images)
Two boatloads carrying about 140 men, women and children came ashore at RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus, the first time since the crisis began that refugees have landed directly on what is considered British sovereign soil.
(This story has been corrected to say into, not from, Slovenia in first paragraph)Tucked away in today's LG Q1 2014 financial results is confirmation of the branding for its upcoming flagship phone, the G3, along with hints of a launch before the end of June. From today's press release —
Higher revenues are expected in the second quarter with the release of the flagship LG G3 smartphone and wider roll-out of the mass-tier L Series III.
While the G3 name isn't exactly top-secret after a recent spate of online leaks, the Q2 launch window indicates that the company's next high-end smartphone could drop before the end of June. So what are we expecting from the G3? How about redesigned back buttons, a new, flatter UI, a crazy new 1440p display and maybe even a homegrown LG processor.
Interestingly, a late-Q2 arrival would pit the G3 against Samsung's rival 2K-resolution monster, "Project KQ," better known to tech followers as the "Galaxy S5 Prime." That device was recently tipped for a June launch in the Korean press.
Source: LGPeople I like can be divided into two groups: a) those who enjoy and get Charles M. Schulz’s wonderful Peanuts comic strip; b) those fools who don’t. All of human life is in the artist and writer’s 17,897 comic strips.
In 1968 Schulz noticed the Civil Rights movement, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and read a letter from Los Angeles schoolteacher Harriet Glickman. She had a question for Schulz: would he include a black child in the Peanuts gang?
Mrs. Glickman wrote:
Dear Mr. Schulz, Since the death of Martin Luther King, I’ve been asking myself what I can do to help change those conditions in our society which led to the assassination and which contribute to the vast sea of misunderstanding, fear, hate and violence. As a suburban housewife; the mother of three children and a deeply concerned and active citizen, I am well aware of the very long and tortuous road ahead. I believe that it will be another generation before the kind of open friendship, trust and mobility will be an accepted part of our lives. In thinking over the areas of the mass media which are of tremendous importance in shaping the unconscious attitudes of our kids, I felt that something could be done through our comic strips, and even in that violent jungle of horrors known as Children’s Television. You need no reassurances from me that Peanuts is one of the most adored, well-read and quoted parts of our literate society. In our family, teen-age Kathy has posters and sweat shirts … pencil holders and autograph books. Paul, who’s ten and our Charlie Brown Little Leaguer … has memorized every paper back book … has stationery, calendars, wall hangings and a Snoopy pillow. Three and a half year old Simon has his own Snoopy which lives, loves, eats, paints, digs, bathes and sleeps with him. My husband and I keep pertinent Peanuts cartoons on desks and bulletin boards as guards against pomposity. You see … we are a totally Peanuts-oriented family. It occurred to me today that the introduction of Negro children into the group of Schulz characters could happen with a minimum of impact. The gentleness of the kids … even Lucy, is a perfect setting. The baseball games, kite-flying … yea, even the Psychiatric Service cum Lemonade Stand would accommodate the idea smoothly. Sitting alone in California suburbia makes it all seem so easy and logical. I’m sure one doesn’t make radical changes in so important an institution without a lot of shock waves from syndicates, clients, etc. You have, however, a stature and reputation which can withstand a great deal. Lastly; should you consider this suggestion, I hope that the result will be more than one black child… Let them be as adorable as the others … but please … allow them a Lucy! Sincerely, Harriet Glickman
Schulz replied, expressing a fear that the sudden appearance of a black child would make him seem clumsy and patronising.
Mrs. Glickman responded:
Dear Mr. Schulz, I appreciate your taking the time to answer my letter about Negro children in Peanuts. You present an interesting dilemma. I would like your permission to use your letter to show some Negro friends. Their responses as parents may prove useful to you in your thinking on this subject. Sincerely, Harriet Glickman
True to her word, Mrs Glickman showed the letter to others. Kenneth C. Kelly, one of Mrs. Glickman’s ‘Negro friends’, saw the missive and wrote to the artist:
Dear Mr. Schulz: With regards to your correspondence with Mrs. Glickman on the subject of including Negro kids in the fabric of Peanuts, I’d like to express an opinion as a Negro father of two young boys. You mention a fear of being patronizing. Though I doubt that any Negro would view your efforts that way, I’d like to suggest that an accusation of being patronizing would be a small price to pay for the positive results that would accrue! We have a situation in America in which racial enmity is constantly portrayed. The inclusion of a Negro supernumerary in some of the group scenes in Peanuts would do two important things. Firstly, it would ease my problem of having my kids seeing themselves pictured in the overall American scene. Secondly, it would suggest racial amity in a casual day-to-day sense. I deliberately suggest a supernumerary role for a Negro character. The inclusion of a Negro in your occasional group scenes would quietly and unobtrusively set the stage for a principal character at a later date, should the basis for such a principal develop. We have too long used Negro supernumeraries in such unhappy situations as a movie prison scene, while excluding Negro supernumeraries in quiet and normal scenes of people just living, loving, worrying, entering a hotel, the lobby of an office building, a downtown New York City street scene. There are insidious negative effects in these practices of the movie industry, TV industry, magazine publishing, and syndicated cartoons. Sincerely, KCK
Schulz sent Mrs. Glickman a personal note:
Franklin was in the gang.
But would his publishers go for it? Would the readers?
In the 1980s, Schulz recalled the fight to feature Franklin:Welcome to the birthplace of PBR and the former Beer Capital of the World. Of the iconic brews that “made Milwaukee famous” (as Schlitz’s tagline once read), Miller is the only one left in town. But the taverns—including many former “tied houses” originally affiliated with a particular brewery—have remained miraculously intact, a testament to the city’s esteemed drinking culture. The bars are time machines back to the days when the beer was cheap, cocktails meant a special night out, and the bartender was an old friend. Go on, pull up a stool: We’ve got stories to tell from a crawl of the finest—and occasionally strangest—places to drink in Milwaukee.
Matt Haas
Foundation Tiki Bar
The outside looks like just another average neighborhood bar. But inside it’s as though frozen Lake Michigan has transformed into the balmy Pacific. Is that dried puffer fish floating from the ceiling glowing? Or is it the Pirate’s Grog served in a ceramic mug you can take home with you? Yes and yes.
Serving Since: 1995; it opened as a punk bar before slowly morphing into a tiki temple around 2004
House Drink: Mai tai
Don’t Miss: The intricate tiki totems carved by local artist Dave Hansen
Website: foundationbar.com
Matt Haas
Koz’s Mini Bowl
“Three Miller High Lifes, please.”
“You folks must be from the east side,” a fellow patron murmurs, her tone signaling disdain for these highbrow intruders. The bar contains an apartment’s worth of clutter, the centerpiece of which is a taxidermied lion sprawled on an icebox. “The owner shot it when it escaped from a circus,” the bartender explains, not quite believing his own story.
Serving Since: 1978
House Drink: Miller Lite
Don’t Miss: Four lanes of duckpin bowling
Website: kozsminibowl.com
Matt Haas
Holler House
Todd, the gregarious manager, leads us down the stairwell to the oldest bowling alley in the country, where a neighborhood teen manually resets the pins for each frame. Upstairs the decor is unkempt living room slash boudoir: Todd’s mother-in-law, the cheeky 89-year-old owner, Marcy Skowronski, has been encouraging first-time female patrons to hang their bras on the ceiling for decades.
Serving Since: 1908
House Drink: Miller Lite
Don’t Miss: The chance to bowl a frame; call ahead to reserve
Website: none
Matt Haas
At Random
From a vinyl booth bathed in orange light, it seems as though we’re in a soda fountain that hosted an outrageous Christmas party in 1965…then pressed the pause button for 50 years. A father and son duo carefully pour spirits into punch bowls, mixing the same Singapore Slings that they’ve been concocting for decades.
Serving Since: 1965
House Drink: Tiki Love Bowl
Don’t Miss: The retro electric fireplaces
Website: none
Matt Haas
Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge
Illuminated (barely) by string lights and the blue-green glow of a pristine aquarium, Bryant’s feels like a movie set from Hollywood’s golden age. There’s no menu. Instead, we tell the server what we’re in the mood for, and the bartenders pull from a bank of 450-plus drinks, from boozy Depression-era libations to dangerously drinkable “ice-cream cocktails.”
Serving Since: 1938
House Drink: Pink Squirrel
Don’t Miss: The vintage audio system playing Rat Pack–era albums
Website: bryantscocktaillounge.com
Matt Haas
Wolski’s Tavern
What’s the difference between closing down a bar in any city and closing down one in Milwaukee? Well, when you end the night at Wolski’s, you get a prize for your efforts: an “I Closed Wolski’s” bumper sticker. The 107-year-old bar does everything right: The popcorn is salty and fresh, the bartenders are easygoing, the darts are steel-tipped (not electronic), and there’s still Schlitz on tap—as it should be.
Serving Since: 1908
House Drink: Lakefront Brewery’s Riverwest Stein
Don’t Miss: Closing time: 2 a.m. Sun.–Thurs. and 2:30 a.m. Fri. and Sat.
Website: wolskis.com
The Wisconsin State Cocktail
Matt Haas
Order an old-fashioned in Milwaukee, and you may be surprised. Here the drink is made with brandy (typically Korbel) instead of whiskey and topped with some type of soda (Squirt, Sprite, club soda), an orange slice, and maraschino cherries. In the right hands, such as those of the skilled bartenders at Boone and Crockett, it’s terrific.
Eat a Butter Burger
Yes, Milwaukee has a signature burger style, showcased in all its belly-busting splendor at Mazos. Here's the butter burger breakdown:
Matt Haas
The wide, squishy bun is toasted; then the top is spread with a pat of butter —giving the burger its nickname.
2. No special sauce here. The power move is to add fried onions (sautéed in a pan—with some more butter, of course).
3. Both American and Swiss are offered, though the latter cheese is considered a rogue order.
4. The beef is hand-ground daily and formed into generous flat patties that fit the bun perfectly. Griddled, greasy, and glorious.
Sleep Here
The Old World grandeur of the historic Pfister Hotel is just the right counterpoint to a tour of the city’s holes-in-the-wall. Rooms from $159.
Know Your Milwaukee Bar Games
When you spend this much time in bars, you start to think of new things to do in them.
Joe Wilson
Bar Dice
What it is: Players bang a dice-filled cup on the bar to get the most of a kind in the highest denomination. Losing is called having “a horse”; it means you’re buying the next round.
Play it at: Wolski’s Tavern
Joe Wilson
Hammerschlagen
What it is: Participants attempt to drive nails into a stump with a hammer. The last to achieve this feat buys a round. No, we aren’t kidding. Not at all dangerous!
Play it at: Victoria’s on Potter
Joe Wilson
Duckpin Bowling
What it is: The balls are the size of grapefruits, the pins are scaled down to match, and in some circles, players get three balls per frame (rather than two).
Play it at: Koz’s Mini Bowl
The Morning-After Bacon and Cheddar Croissant
Matt Haas
Rocket Baby Bakery in nearby Wauwatosa is worth the short drive if only for this über-flaky recombination of those beloved food groups: pork, cheese, flour, and butter.
Learn While Drinking
Matt Haas
A visit to Brew City wouldn’t be complete without a look at how the suds get made. Miller is king, the old Pabst castle is worth visiting for the vintage glassware in the gift shop alone, and the Lakefront Brewery tour is essentially an hour of unexpectedly lewd stand-up disguised as a lesson in how beer is made. (We recommend it.)Have you noticed more men are walking around with beards? A lot of men are ditching razors these days and marveling at the follicle growth process. But some need a little help. Shiba Russell explains. (Published Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014)
New York men unable to grow thick, bushy facial hair are increasingly turning to costly beard transplants to rock the popular look.
Dr. Yael Halaas, a plastic surgeon who specializes in beard transplants, said that there are a "variety of men who come for the procedure, but definitely we're seeing a trend of young, stylish men."
"Hipsters, metrosexuals — people who are clued into having a cool look," Halaas told NBC 4 New York.
New York doctors are seeing an uptick in the number of beard transplants for men who are forking over as much as $7,000 for the procedure, where hair is harvested from the head or chest and implanted into bald spots on the face.
The result can eventually grow to become a full beard, like those often seen on men in trendy New York City neighborhoods where thick facial hair has come into vogue. The beard hair takes root and grows gradually. After a patient is fully healed, the hair can be shaved and groomed like original facial hair.
Dr. Glenn Charles, a Florida-based surgeon, told DNAInfo.com that 30 percent of his clients come from New York City and some show up with a celebrity photo in hand.
George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and Tom Selleck are popular models for clients opting for the procedure, he said.Things are about to get very complicated on Supergirl.
The CW has released new photos of Teri Hatcher and Kevin Sorbo from the upcoming March 20 episode. The actors play new villains who come to National City, putting Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) on high alert. They also have a connection to Mon-El (Chris Wood), as revealed in the promo.
Robert Falconer/The CW
Robert Falconer/The CW
Robert Falconer/The CW
Robert Falconer/The CW
Robert Falconer/The CW
Robert Falconer/The CW
Robert Falconer/The CW
The hour also features the debut of Darren Criss as the Music Meister. Check out our full gallery of The Flash-Supergirl musical crossover photos here, and get the scoop here.
The musical crossover will kick off at the end of Supergirl‘s March 20 hour, with the majority of the action taking place during The Flash‘s March 21 episode; the crossover airs at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.Kylie On Stage: Pop princess costume exhibition tours regional Victoria
Posted
Parts of regional Victoria are being given a rare opportunity to host an exhibition that would usually only be seen in a capital city.
'Kylie On Stage' is on show at the Mildura Arts Centre but is also bound for Ararat and Geelong.
It celebrates the pivotal moments from Kylie Minogue's highly successful concert tours.
Mildura's Carolyn Dufty said it was exciting for the exhibition to visit regional Victoria.
"When I first heard the Kylie exhibition was coming to Mildura I got ridiculously excited, I was like quick we have to go, we have to try and get to the opening night," she said.
"Kylie's an icon. We are similar ages so I've kind of grown up with her, I was a big Neighbours fan.
Back in 1990, Ms Dufty met the pop princess at the ARIA Awards when she won an outstanding performance award.
"I was lucky enough to be one of the girls that brought the awards onto the stage at the ARIAs, so I got to have contact with Kylie, that was pretty exciting."
"It was back in the days when she was with Michael Hutchence."
"We took them backstage so they could do their interview with the press and Kylie didn't want to do that, she just wanted to get back to Michael", she said.
Exhibition will appeal to everyone
Ms Dufty said you don't need to be a Kylie Minogue fan to enjoy the free exhibition.
"It was amazing to see her Showgirl costumes up close because I went to that concert and you don't realise the work that goes into it all," she said.
Exhibition curator Margot Anderson said all the pieces in the exhibition of were donated to Arts Centre Melbourne by Kylie Minogue over several years.
Ms Anderson said Kylie had been generous and had donated about 800 pieces.
''It's an extraordinary collection and this is just the tip of the iceberg."
Costumes on display span four decades
The costumes featured in the exhibition are taken from concerts from 1989 through to 2015.
Ms Anderson admits Kylie's famous gold hotpants are still in safe keeping at the Arts Centre Melbourne, but there are many other stunning outfits on display.
"The Showgirl costumes are a real knockout, they're from her more recent tours and it's an image that a lot of Kylie fans associate with her," she said.
Ms Anderson said Kylie was known to make her own alterations to some of the outfits.
"She has quite a good knowledge of dressmaking herself, so there's quite a lot of Kylie in those costumes as well as big names like John Galliano, Dolce and Gabbana, also Australian designers like Peter Morrissey in the early days of her career, so it's a good spread."
Almost 200,000 people visited the exhibition in Melbourne.
"We've tried to create the feeling you get when you go to a Kylie concert, with a lot of joy, a lot of high energy, lots of projections and footage of Kylie so you get a nice sense of a Kylie concert when you are in there."
Mildura welcomes opportunity to host exhibition
Mildura Rural City Councillor Jason Modica opened the exhibition and is expecting it to be very popular.
"She's been such a part of our pop culture for so long and to be able to access all the amazing costumes she's had over the years will be fantastic for neighbouring communities like Broken Hill, Renmark and Balranald too," he said.
The exhibition runs in Mildura until October 29, before opening in Geelong in December and Ararat in July 2018.
"I think it's good that places like Arts Centre Melbourne look to Mildura to extend their tours, so they can give regional centres the chance to tap into what's happening in the city and we can develop deeper relationships with those arts entities," Cr Modica said.
Topics: bands-and-artists, contemporary-art, mildura-3500, ararat-3377, geelong-3220I went to college in the early 90s, and I was exposed to all |
to a national competition after the team took first place in the �Olympic Winning Alliance� category of a regional robotics competition in Tacoma last weekend.
To quality for the regional tournament, the team also took first place Feb. 26 in the �Winning Alliance� category at a state robotics competition.
In addition, the team received the Control Award for the use of sensors and software to increase robot functionality.
The team will head to Houston on April 19 to compete in the national FIRST Tech Challenge. It is the first time the team has made it to the national competition.
At the March 11 regional tournament, the six-member team was among 73 teams from across the Pacific Northwest that competed in the First Tech Challenge West Super-Regional Championship.
�They did amazing,� said Rick Faber, a team mentor and parent of one of its members.
In February, the Pleasant Hill group was one of 48 teams from across Oregon that competed in the First Tech Challenge Championship Tournament held at Polytechnic High School in Portland.
Faber said it�s rare that a school from outside the Portland metro area wins the state competition.
�Oregon has a lot of stiff competition, especially in the Portland area,� Faber said.
Pleasant Hill�s robotics team members are Hannah Gibson, 18, Tristan Barrett, 14, Nathan Faber, 16, Dylan Hammond, 15, Ana Borg, 14, and Gabe Placko, 16.
They began building their robot in September after rules and details of the competition were released.
�Each year, the students are trying to score as many points as possible, but each year the rules and goals of the game are different,� Faber said.
During the competition, one team is paired with another to compete against two other paired-up teams. Essentially, two robots are on one team, two are on the other, and they�re battling for points. The team to rack up the most points wins.
As a part of this year�s rules, each team could receive points for having its robot complete certain tasks on its own, such as pushing buttons, placing a yoga ball through a hoop and throwing whiffle balls into a goal.
The students program the robots to complete these tasks before the competition.
�If one wire is faulty or one screw is loose, it can ruin the whole thing,� Faber said.
Members of Gromit�s Grommets were the captains of the Winning Alliance, which means they earned first place in the competition portion of the tournament. During the judgment part of the tournament, team members talked through the intricacies of their robots before a panel of judges.
Follow Alisha on Twitter @alisharoemeling. Email alisha.roemeling@registerguard.com.Felony Child Endangerment
Felony child endangerment is a child endangerment charge enhanced by aggravating circumstances. Child endangerment occurs when a person engages in conduct that places a child in immininet danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment. This can be through an act or omission. Read on to learn more about felony child endangerment, the possible defensive strategies, and some of the consequences of a felony child endangerment charge.
What is Felony Child Endangerment?
For child endangerment to be elevated to a felony level offense, states will look to two different aggravating factors. The first aggravating factor is intent. Child endangerment charges factor in that people can make mistakes. If the conduct by a defendant was merely negligent or reckless, he would only face a misdemeanor level of punishment. If his conduct was willful or intentional, then the defendant could face felony endangerment charges.
The second aggravating factor is the degree of risk: the higher the risk, the higher the charge. California and Ohio for example, will increase the charge when the risk is likely to produce great bodily harm or death. Some states also increase a child endangerment charge when the child endures mental suffering. A risk of physical injury is not required. Some risks are presumed by statute. For example, if a defendant consumes controlled substances while in the presence of a child or drives with a child while intoxicated, some states will presume that the child was in some immediate danger of serious injury or death. Understanding the level of proof required for these elements is critical to developing an effective defensive theory.
Defenses to a Felony Child Endangerment Charge
Most states will make some exceptions for reasonable discipline. What is reasonable will turn on all of the facts surrounding the risk. The reasonable discipline defense tends to be more difficult to utilize when a child is placed in a higher degree of risk. As such, the better defensive theory usually involves negating the intent or degree of risk elements. For example, if a defendant can show that his conduct was merely negligent or reckless, he could obtain a reduction in charges from a felony child endangerment charge to a misdemeanor endangerment charge.
A defendant can mitigate the risk element by presenting testimony or an expert witness to show that the risk would not have resulted in great bodily injury or death. Evidence that will support this theory includes steps taken by the defendant to protect the child through the use of safety devices and established parenting rules that the child may not have followed.
Possible Punishment and Consequences
Defendants charged with felony child endangerment face a higher range of punishment than a regular child endangerment allegation. The punishment range in most states is from two to twenty years. If a defendant has a relatively minimal criminal history, then probation is usually an option. Before accepting a probated sentence, a defendant should understand exactly what is involved in the felony child endangerment probation. Some states impose minimum periods of jail time as a condition of probation. This often comes as a surprise to defendants that accepted a probated plea to avoid jail time.
A second requirement of most child endangerment probations is the completion of an extensive parenting class. Failure to complete the course can result in a revocation of a defendant’s probation and possibly affect parental rights if the victim involved was his child.
In addition to the felony child endangerment charge, defendants could also face additional criminal charges. Some states codify felony child endangerment is different ways. In Ohio, intoxication while driving is part of the felony child endangerment statute. Texas, however, creates a separate felony offense for driving while intoxicated when there is a child passenger. Instead of facing one felony charge, a defendant could be forced to defend multiple felony allegations.
Even though not a punishment listed in the penal code, felony child endangerment defendants usually face additional consequences on the civil side by an attack on their parental rights. A defendant charged or convicted of child endangerment can have the rights to his children restricted or terminated depending on the severity of the endangerment.If arena investor Chris Hansen’s deal to buy the Sacramento Kings is approved by the NBA, and the league also OKs the team’s relocation to Seattle, the new SuperSonics will be playing for two to three years at KeyArena while a new venue is constructed.
But first, KeyArena needs to be updated so it can handle NBA games again.
What needs to be done? According to Hansen, KeyArena needs refurbished locker rooms, better high-priced suites, an upgraded electronic “backbone” for broadcast media, more TV camera positions, a refinished lower seating bowl and a number of other improvements.
“If the NBA approves it,” Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said Monday of the Kings deal, “I’m sure we will be able to figure out a way to make KeyArena ready for them.”
Any renovation work on KeyArena won’t begin until the NBA approves the Kings sale, which would happen at the league’s Board of Governors meeting in April. So the work at Seattle Center would need to be completed over about six months, before the start of the NBA preseason in October, City Councilman Tim Burgess said Monday.
Hansen, who must apply for relocation by the NBA’s March 1 deadline if Seattle is to have a team next season, has said his group would pay $12 million to $15 million for most of the improvements to KeyArena. The city of Seattle owns the old venue, and continues to be responsible for general upkeep.
“We don’t have very long,” Burgess said. “There’s a lot of work to do here, but the city is engaged now with Mr. Hansen on that and we’ll make progress over the next several months.”
In the meantime, the city is conducting a state-mandated environmental impact study on the proposed new arena. The new venue would likely be built on land owned by Hansen’s group two blocks south of Safeco Field in Sodo, though the environmental study requires at least one alternate location to be examined.
Arena proponents are also dealing with two lawsuits: one that portends the environmental study and its alternate-location requirement is toothless, and one that claims Seattle’s agreement with Hansen is not compliant with a relatively new law which requires the city to make a profit on any investments in pro-sports teams.
That law, which voters passed in 2006 as Initiative 91, has some specific language that Hansen’s arena deal could circumvent. But McGinn said that his office worked hard with Hansen to make sure the arena proposal was in compliance with I-91 as it is.
“I wouldn’t have put forward a deal if I didn’t think it was compliant with I-91,” McGinn said.
Hansen’s purchase of an NBA team was one of the final big steps before construction can start on the proposed new arena. But the pieces aren’t in motion yet: The NBA must still approve the acquisition and relocation, and the city of Seattle and King County must make their final arena decision after getting the results of the environmental study.
Under the arena-financing agreement among Hansen, Seattle and King County, the local governments would provide around $200 million in loans for construction. Hansen’s group would pay the money back mainly through taxes on arena operations, such as ticket sales, meaning that only people who use the new venue would help pay for it.
Seattle’s cemented plan gives it a big leg up on Sacramento, which is scrambling to come up with a counteroffer for the Kings before the NBA approves Hansen’s acquisition. Sacramento would need to incorporate funding for a new arena — an element that Seattle has already completed.
If everything goes to plan, the Kings should be relocated to Seattle in time for the start of the 2013-14 NBA season. Of course, the whole thing is not popular among NBA fans in Sacramento.
“If anybody understands how it feels to lose a team, it’s Seattle and Sonics fans,” McGinn said. “If it were up to the mayors, the NBA would be expanding.”
“It’s exciting to have the potential to have the Sonics back,” he added. “There were a lot of Sonics fans whose hearts were broken and really wanted to Sonics back.”
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Photo: Tony Dejak / ASSOCIATED PRESS Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Image 2 of 18 DeMarcus Cousins, center, University of Kentucky. Cousins is leading the team in points and rebounds per game this season, averaging 17.2 and 10.2, respectively. DeMarcus Cousins, center, University of Kentucky. Cousins is leading the team in points and rebounds per game this season, averaging 17.2 and 10.2, respectively. Photo: Frank Franklin II / ASSOCIATED PRESS Image 3 of 18 John Salmons, forward-guard, Miami University. Salmons is averaging 9.9 points and a team-leading 3.3 assists per game this season. John Salmons, forward-guard, Miami University. Salmons is averaging 9.9 points and a team-leading 3.3 assists per game this season. Photo: Frank Franklin II / ASSOCIATED PRESS Image 4 of 18 Tyreke Evans, guard, Memphis. Evans is averaging 14.6 points per game this season. Tyreke Evans, guard, Memphis. Evans is averaging 14.6 points per game this season. Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images Image 5 of 18 Image 6 of 18 Marcus Thornton, guard, Louisiana State University. Thornton is averaging 13.3 points per game this season. Marcus Thornton, guard, Louisiana State University. Thornton is averaging 13.3 points per game this season. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / ASSOCIATED PRESS Image 7 of 18 Jason Thompson, forward, Rider University. Averaging 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season. Jason Thompson, forward, Rider University. Averaging 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season. Photo: Tony Dejak / AP Image 8 of 18 Thomas Robinson, forward, University of Kansas. Robinson was the fifth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. He's averaging 4.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game this season. Thomas Robinson, forward, University of Kansas. Robinson was the fifth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. He's averaging 4.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game this season. Photo: Randall Benton / AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee Image 9 of 18 Travis Outlaw, forward, Starkville (Miss.) High School. Travis Outlaw, forward, Starkville (Miss.) High School. Photo: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images Image 10 of 18 Image 11 of 18 Chuck Hayes, forward-center, University of Kentucky. Chuck Hayes, forward-center, University of Kentucky. Photo: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images Image 12 of 18 Jimmer Fredette, guard, Brigham Young. Jimmer Fredette, guard, Brigham Young. Photo: Steve Yeater / ASSOCIATED PRESS Image 13 of 18 Tyler Honeycutt, forward, UCLA. Tyler Honeycutt, forward, UCLA. Photo: AP Image 14 of 18 Francisco Garcia, forward-guard, University of Louisville Francisco Garcia, forward-guard, University of Louisville Photo: Tony Dejak / AP Image 15 of 18 Image 16 of 18 James Johnson, forward, Wake Forest University. James Johnson, forward, Wake Forest University. Photo: Tony Dejak / AP Image 17 of 18 Isaiah Thomas, guard, University of Washington. Named after the former all-star, Thomas left UW after three years and was the final pick of the 2011 NBA draft. He is averaging 10.6 points per game this season. Isaiah Thomas, guard, University of Washington. Named after the former all-star, Thomas left UW after three years and was the final pick of the 2011 NBA draft. He is averaging 10.6 points per game this season. Photo: Tony Dejak / ASSOCIATED PRESS Image 18 of 18 Seattle mayor says city will be ready for the Sonics to return 1 / 18 Back to Gallery
Visit seattlepi.com for more Seattle news. Contact sports editor Nick Eaton at nickeaton@seattlepi.com or @njeaton.The security outfit Avast has written up a breathless advertorial claiming that selling an old Android phone exposes all your personal data—even after a factory reset. The company bought 20 used phones off eBay that the sellers thought had been wiped out, but by using forensics techniques, Avast was able to recover the previous owner's data. The melodramatic descriptions of the leftover data includes "family photos of children," "photos of women in various stages of undress," and "selfies of what appear to be the previous owner’s manhood," along with the usual texts and e-mails. Like all Anti-virus company bulletins, the recommended solution is to install the company's product, in this case the freemium "Avast! Anti-Theft" app.
While the tone is definitely over-the-top, the issue raised is legitimate. It's something that affects most computers: there is a big difference between "deletion" and "secure erase." Deleting something—either a single file or a whole partition—usually involves changing an index that points to the thing, rather than deleting the thing itself. Since only the pointer to the bits is changed, and not the actual bits, recovery software can reconstruct the contents of the "deleted" information. While you could make every deletion or partition wipe physically erase the bits, this is usually a waste of time, and, on flash memory, it would reduce the life of the device.
"Secure erase," on the other hand, means using at least one (and sometimes more than one) method of actually removing or obfuscating data past the point of practical recovery. Sometimes this means overwriting the data on the storage medium multiple times; it could also mean encrypting the data and then deleting the encryption key. One way or another, "secure erase" denotes a more permanent form of erasure than just deleting the index or reference to a file.
Avast is pointing out that Android's "factory reset" doesn't do any kind of secure erase operation, making data recovery fairly easy for someone with the right tools. The app being advertised has a “thorough wipe” feature, which presumably writes over the existing data the way a normal secure erase would. Android has a built-in way to fix this problem, though—users can just encrypt the phone before erasing it. Android has a built-in disk encryption feature that can be turned on by going to settings, security, and "encrypt phone." Since it's encrypting the entire phone (other than the SD card, which you can just keep), it will take a while to finish. After the encryption is done, then you can hit the factory reset button, and your device will be more secure than the standard factory reset. This is because even though the files are all still present, the factory reset tosses out the encryption key, and the device then has no way to decrypt and read them.
Even on a much more capable, full-sized computer, though, no software method is really trusted. The US Department of Defense used to have a standard "data sanitation" method, sometimes referred to as "DOD 5220.22-M," which advocated writing junk data to an entire drive anywhere from three to seven times. Times have changed, though, and the newest guidelines from the National Industrial Security Program say that no software method is good enough to prevent some kind of recovery. Someone, somewhere, can always get your data. The real end game for data protection now is to physically destroy the thing that used to hold your data. In the enterprise, that's done via a (totally awesome) drive crusher.
So if you want to sell your Android phone and be relatively secure, encrypting it before you wipe it would be a good idea. There is always a risk of someone getting your data once they have your old phone, though, so if you want to be really secure, don't sell it. Do something like this instead.
Update: After this report went up, a Google spokesperson got in touch with us with a statement, saying "This research looks to be based on older devices and versions and does not reflect the security protections in Android versions that are used by 85% of users. If you sell or dispose of your device, we recommend you enable encryption on your device and apply a factory reset beforehand; this has been available on Android for over three years."Indonesian authorities have captured and are indefinitely detaining a former Austin police officer who police say is linked to a conspiracy to kill a pregnant crime victims counselor, the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV have learned.
VonTrey Clark is being held on a visa-related issue in that country, and a joint effort between Indonesia and U.S. is underway to orchestrate his return to Austin, said four law enforcement officials with knowledge of the operation.
Clark is wanted in the death of 29-year-old Samantha Dean, who worked for the Kyle Police Department and with whom he had a romantic relationship.
The officials asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the effort to ensure Clark’s return.
Clark, who was fired by the Austin Police Department in July, hasn’t been charged with a crime. His attorney has said that his client traveled to Indonesia for an undisclosed medical issue and that he wasn’t involved in Dean’s death.
"Officer Clark booked an international round trip flight in his own name, used his own passport, and was easily located. These are not the hallmarks of a fugitive," his attorney, Bristol C. Myers said in a statement. "Had officer Clark been arrested locally, prosecutors would have 90 days to secure a grand jury indictment, or else they would have to release him on bond. If investigators are still worried about whether they have enough evidence to secure an indictment, having officer Clark detained overseas would be the perfect tactic to buy more time."
In the statement, Myers also said: "Bastrop secretly issued an arrest warrant for officer Clark after he left for Indonesia, and this is the likely cause of what officials are calling a visa problem."
Court documents say Clark fathered Dean’s unborn child and wanted her to have an abortion in the weeks before her death.
Clark was found and detained by the Indonesian government over the weekend. Details of his capture weren’t immediately available, nor were details about the nature of his visa issue.
Although that country has no extradition agreement with the United States, officials from the FBI and Justice Department have been working closely since investigators recently traced Clark to Indonesia. The sources described that country’s government as cooperative in helping locate Clark.
The sources said the effort to get Clark back to the Austin area could take several weeks but added that Indonesian officials have pledged full cooperation and expressed a desire to expel Clark from their country.
Authorities continue to investigate Dean’s death in February. Six months later, no one has been charged with killing Dean, although three people with connections to the case have been publicly named or face related charges.
The killing is believed to have happened in Bastrop County, and the case is squarely in the purview of officials there.
Dean’s body was found Feb. 4. She was shot three times in the head, and deputies found her body behind a vacant building near Texas 71.
Watch: Kyle residents pay respects to Samantha Dean
The investigation has involved about a half-dozen law enforcement agencies that have played various roles in trying to identify Dean’s killer or killers. Bastrop County District Attorney Bryan Goertz is leading the investigation, and Texas Rangers have handled the majority of evidence gathering, including telephone records being used to build the case.
Austin police have been involved mostly from the sidelines, offering investigative aid requested by Goertz.
The Austin Police Department, where Clark worked for three years, immediately placed him on leave because of his relationship with Dean.
In June, court documents from Houston and Bastrop County linked three people to the case through the use of disposable cellphones, saying that they played various roles that included disposing of evidence.
A subsequently unsealed search warrant for Clark’s property and DNA also linked him to the crime, saying that Dean had told colleagues that if she turned up dead, Clark would be responsible.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo fired Clark for a number of policy violations, including associating with known criminals and not providing information, including cellphone records, as part of an internal affairs investigation.
Watch: Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo announces the indefinite suspension of VonTrey Clark
Kevin Watson, 31, of Houston, a close associate of Clark, has been publicly identified in records as a suspect, and he remains in the Harris County Jail on drug charges.
Watson’s girlfriend, Kyla Fisk, 50, is in the Harris County Jail on suspicion that she hid a sweatshirt that officials say Watson might have worn during the killing. Both have been linked to prepaid cellphones believed to have been used to coordinate Dean’s killing.
A third person, Aaron Lamont Williams, was charged with retaliation after investigators said he sent a threatening text message — "I (expletive) got her. I am going to get him, then I’m coming for you. I will show you what a crisis is." — to an Austin Police Department crisis counselor five days after Dean’s death. Williams, 32, posted bail in June.From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
Meowth (Japanese: ニャース Nyarth) is a Normal-type Pokémon introduced in Generation I.
It evolves into Persian starting at level 28.
In Alola, Meowth has a regional variant that is Dark-type. It evolves into Alolan Persian when leveled up with high friendship.
Biology
Meowth is a small, feline Pokémon with cream-colored fur that turns brown at the tips of its hind paws and tail. Its ovoid head features four prominent whiskers, wide eyes with slit pupils, two pointed teeth in the upper jaw, and a gold oval coin embedded in its forehead. Its ears are black with brown interiors, and are flanked with an additional pair of long whiskers. Meowth is a quadruped with the ability to walk on its hind legs; while the games always depict Meowth on two legs, the anime states that Meowth normally walks on all fours. It can freely manipulate its claws, retracting them when it wants to move silently. The tip of its tail curls tightly.
Meowth is attracted to round and shiny objects, and has the unique ability to produce coins using Pay Day. Being nocturnal, it is known to wander about city streets at night and pick up anything that sparkles, including loose change. Upon finding a sparkling object, its eyes will glitter and the coin on its forehead will shine brightly. It shares this intrigue with Murkrow, with whom it often fights with for objects and prey. Meowth is a playful but fickle Pokémon with the capacity for human-like intelligence, with at least one member of the species teaching itself how to speak. Meowth tends to live in urban areas.
Meowth was introduced to Alola as a gift to royalty. The luxurious royal lifestyle soon led to Meowth diverging from its origins and becoming the selfish, prideful, and cunning Alolan Meowth. Alolan Meowth will turn hysterical if its coin or pride are besmirched. When the monarchy fell, the rare Alolan Meowth went feral and eventually grew as common in Alola as anywhere else.[1] Alolan Meowth's fur is a light blue-gray color. Instead of brown markings, the tip of its tail, whiskers, digits, and the insides of its ears a whitish-gray shade. Alolan Meowth's whiskers maintain a slight curve compared to regular Meowth's straighter whiskers, and it has silvery eyes.
In the anime
Alolan Meowth in the anime
Major appearances
Meowth is one of the two main Pokémon in the series (the other being Pikachu). Meowth is a member of Team Rocket, and he is unlike ordinary Meowth in that he can speak human language. His first appearance was in Pokémon Emergency!, which also marked the species' debut.
His background story, including another female Meowth named Meowzie, was told in Go West Young Meowth.
Meowth was cloned in Mewtwo Strikes Back, but his clone couldn't talk or walk on two legs, just like an ordinary Meowth, likely due to the fact that its progenitor needed to learn how to do this. The Meowth clone is encountered again in Mewtwo Returns.
Meowzie is the main reason behind Meowth's ability to talk and walk on two legs. He fell in love with her when he was still a stray Pokémon on the streets of Hollywood.
Tyson's Meowth debuted in Like a Meowth to a Flame and made further appearances throughout the Ever Grande Conference arc. This Meowth was dressed up like Puss in Boots, giving it the nickname "Meowth in Boots".
Other
A Meowth appeared in The Purr-fect Hero, where it was revealed to have saved Timmy from a Beedrill in a flashback. For most of the episode, Timmy believed Meowth was the same Meowth that had saved him. However, this was proven wrong when the real Meowth appeared to save Timmy again.
A gang of Meowth living on the streets of Hollywood appeared in Go West Young Meowth. Team Rocket's Meowth was revealed to be a former member, while his love interest Meowzie currently is one.
Over 100 years ago, The Black Arachnid had a Meowth as seen in Spinarak Attack.
An Alolan Meowth appeared in Acting True to Form!. After working with Team Rocket, it later arrived at the Team Rocket HQ after stealing the trio's money to buy an airline ticket to Kanto. At the Team Rocket HQ, it became an assistant to Matori. It reappeared beside her in Filling the Light with Darkness!. It reappeared in SM102, when Team Rocket attempted to contact Headquarters and ignored them.
Multiple Alolan Meowth appeared inside Nanu's house in Why Not Give Me a Z-Ring Sometime?, where they robbed Team Rocket of their food. They appeared again in Tough Guy Trials!, where Nanu made Ash play with them while he went off somewhere else; and Guiding an Awakening!.
Minor appearances
Ash used a Meowth during the Pokémon League entrance exam in The Ultimate Test. The Meowth was defeated by the instructor's Vaporeon.
A Meowth appeared in Lights, Camerupt, Action! as an actor in one of Elijah's movies, where it was sized up to appear larger.
A Meowth appeared in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew as a transformation of Mew.
A giant Meowth appeared in The Island of Illusions! as one of Zoroark's illusions.
A Mirror World Meowth briefly appeared at the end of The Cave of Mirrors!, as part of Mirror Team Rocket.
Pokédex entries
Episode Pokémon Source Entry AG109 Meowth Ash's Pokédex Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokémon. Meowth loves to roam at night to gather coins and other objects that sparkle, but it spends most of the daylight hours sleeping. This concludes the entries from the Advanced Generation series.
Episode Pokémon Source Entry DP002 Meowth Dawn's Pokédex Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokémon. It sleeps a lot during the daytime and during the nighttime becomes active, moving around its territory. DP014 Meowth Dawn's Pokédex Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokémon. When it sees round objects, it plays and loses track of time. This concludes the entries from the Diamond & Pearl series.
Episode Pokémon Source Entry SM062 Meowth Rotom Pokédex Meowth, Alola Form. The Scratch Cat Pokémon. A Dark type. Meowth are not native to the Alola region, but people brought them here. Eventually, their appearance changed to what we now see. They are prideful and cunning. This concludes the entries from the Sun & Moon series.
In the manga
In the Ash & Pikachu manga
Meowth appeared in the Ash & Pikachu manga.
In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
Meowth appears in the The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga series along with his teammates Jessie and James. He first appears in the chapter Pikachu's Excellent Adventure.
In Days of Gloom and Glory, an unnamed Meowth based on Meowzie appears. Like in the anime, Meowzie finds Meowth's ability to speak human language "creepy". In the manga, she has at least one kitten, which she captures into a stolen Poké Ball to protect it from an impending flood.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Main article: Cent
Meowth debuted in a cameo in Bulbasaur, Come Home! as one of the Pokémon that escapes from Professor Oak's Laboratory.
In The Coming of Slowpoke (Eventually), when the Pokémon Fan Club President explains about the move Pay Day, he also states that it is normally an attack specific for Meowth.
Meowth appeared as one of Sham's Pokémon, which attacked Green and Silver while they were escaping from Masked Man's compound, as seen in a flashback from The Escape. Sham's Meowth later presumably evolved into one of her three Persian.
A Meowth appeared in The Last Battle XIII as one of the Pokémon sent to participate in the fight in Ilex Forest.
Multiple Meowth were used by Team Galactic Grunts in Cleaning Up Grimer.
In The Grand Entrance and Delivery Boy Sun, during a flashback, three Alolan Meowth are shown in under the care of Sun's great-grandfather. In the present day, Sun is shown to have his own Alolan Meowth, nicknamed Cent, using him to defeat two Team Skull Grunts with Pay Day. A Meowth also appears with a Persian in the book Sun had when he was younger.
An Alolan Meowth appeared in The Decision and the Tournament of Six.
An Alolan Meowth belonging to the Aether Foundation appeared in a flashback in the Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon chapter.
In the Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All manga
In Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All, Shu's rival Masatoshi has a Meowth. Masatoshi's Meowth is talented at playing the shamisen, a Japanese stringed instrument.
In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga
Red borrowed a Meowth from Blaine. It is not known if Red kept it or returned it to him.
Green owns a Meowth which first appeared in The No. 1 Pokémon!!. It later evolved into a Persian and devolved back into Meowth.
Giovanni owns a Meowth too, often assisting his Hitmons.
In the TCG
In the TFG
One Meowth figure has been released.
Other appearances
Multiple Meowth can be found during the Beach level. These Meowth are prone to accident and injury, as Pidgey is easily provoked to use Gust on them. Snap can also knock Meowth off a rock, making it fall to the ground.
Meowth appears as a Poké Ball summon. It attacks opponents with Pay Day.
Meowth appears as a random trophy. Meowth's trophy in this game is based on the anime ending theme Meowth's Party.
Meowth using Pay Day in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Trophy information
"This... is Meowth's dream. Meowth strides all over the globe, scattering invitations to other Pokémon insisting they come to "Meowth's Party." At this wonderful party, guests are packed in like sardines as Meowth climbs up the stage with its faithful guitar. It strikes a chord, pauses, and then rocks their world!''
Meowth returns as a Poké Ball summon, attacking opponents with Pay Day. However, it instead faces one direction rather than attacking from all sides.
Trophy Information
"A Scratch Cat Pokémon. It's one of the most famous Pokémon and very fond of things that glitter--the gold medallion on its head could be seen as an indicator of this infatuation. There are many Pokémon that resemble cats, but Meowth is the only one that can use Pay Day to receive coins at the end of battle. It evolves into Persian."
Meowth in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS
Meowth returns as a Poké Ball summon, with its abilities unchanged from Brawl.
Trophy information
NA: "Meowth is a Normal-type, Scratch Cat Pokémon who absolutely loves anything shiny. It's a creature of the night, and it's not unusual to discover a Meowth and a Murkrow fighting over their finds. Meowth's attack Pay Day can deal a ton of damage if an opponent gets caught in it. How purrfect!"
PAL: "Meowth, a Normal-type Pokémon, loves round, shiny things. It runs around at night, hunting for little treasures and trinkets, but often ends up getting into fights with Murkrow about who'll get to keep them. Watch out for Meowth's Pay Day attack. If it catches you from behind, it can be purralysingly pawerful!"
Meowth returns as a Poké Ball summon, retaining the same behavior as before.
Game data
NPC appearances
Pokémon Pinball: A Meowth appears in a bonus stage that is accessible from the Blue Table. The player must hit the Meowth and get it to drop gold coins which must be collected.
Pokédex entries
Meowth
Generation I Red Adores circular objects. Wanders the streets on a nightly basis to look for dropped loose change. Blue Yellow Appears to be more active at night. It loves round and shiny things. It can't stop from picking them up. Stadium Sleeps in the daytime. At night, its eyes glow as it happily collects coins, its favorite things. Generation II Gold It is fascinated by round objects. It can't stop playing with them until it tires and falls asleep. Silver It loves anything that shines. It especially adores coins that it picks up and secretly hoards. Crystal It loves things that sparkle. When it sees a shiny object, the gold coin on its head shines too. Stadium 2 It is fascinated with round objects. It can't stop playing with them until it tires and falls asleep. Generation III Ruby Meowth withdraws its sharp claws into its paws to slinkily sneak about without making any incriminating footsteps. For some reason, this Pokémon loves shiny coins that glitter with light. Sapphire Emerald Meowth withdraw their sharp claws into their paws to silently sneak about. For some reason, this Pokémon loves shiny coins that glitter with light. FireRed All it does is sleep during the daytime. At night, it patrols its territory with its eyes aglow. LeafGreen Adores round objects. It wanders the streets on a nightly basis to look for dropped loose change. Generation IV Diamond It is nocturnal in nature. If it spots something shiny, its eyes glitter brightly. Pearl Platinum HeartGold It is fascinated by round objects. It can't stop playing with them until it tires and falls asleep. SoulSilver It loves anything that shines. It especially adores coins that it picks up and secretly hoards. Generation V Black It is nocturnal in nature. If it spots something shiny, its eyes glitter brightly. White Black 2 It is nocturnal in nature. If it spots something shiny, its eyes glitter brightly. White 2 Generation VI X It is nocturnal in nature. If it spots something shiny, its eyes glitter brightly. Y Adores round objects. It |
enter and all he did in Stronghold 1 was go back and forth between trees and his shack. In Stronghold 2, he had a chance of going bad and becoming an anti-carpenter.
He'd steal food from the castle and whinge about getting splinters. Then you had to construct a chain of a buildings to capture him, imprison him, torture him, try him, tar and feather him, and eventually reform him; all to make it so that you could get some wood. Rather than the tried and tested old-fashioned system of lopping his head off and recruiting a new carpenter.
Thankfully, they've realised the error of their ways and moved back to the old Stronghold model of simple castle-building fun. They've also moved to the Trinigy Vision engine of their competitors, The Settlers, bringing to it freeform castle design. You can drag castle walls into all sorts of shapes, drop in buttresses, towers, gateways and the like, then watch the walls morph like granite blancmange to accommodate them. Similarly, houses dynamically shift their appearance the further from the citadel they get, changing from singleperson shacks a mile outside the walls to whopping great burgher mansions nestled against the inner fort itself.
Aside from building them, Firefly are proud of how their castles and people fall apart when big rocks hit them, thanks to a new physics engine. We were shown a demo of what trebuchets do to castles (hint: they don't wine them and dine them). The Havok physics were deliberately overblown: soldiers tumbled off the walls, individual stones were blasted away, and entire chunks of the structure were rendered indefensible – yet still impassable.
The newly-revealed combat system was much as you'd expect: peasants died quickly, foot knights hacked at each other, archers picked them off from afar. Yet other elements had that inspirational (and very British) sadism of Rome: Total War's flaming pigs. Whether it was the burning logs rolled from a castle's walls, cages of rabid hounds waiting to be unleashed on the enemy, or giant palisades of wooden spikes filtering knights into killing fields, Firefly really showed a nicely grim sense of humour. Similarly, in-game events that can affect your castle's economy range, from mad cow disease to your woodcutters refusing to work because they're scared of fairies.
For cow-catapult fans, we have more details on their ammo: they can actually fling a variety of infected animals into castles. You can choose a single cow (“...and your father smells of elderberries!”), two pigs, three sheep, or a bag of disgruntled badgers. These catapults spread disease rather than causing physical damage, and the animal type determines how many and how large the miasma clouds are that are left. Disease kills troops but leaves the buildings standing, and requires a new specialist, the apothecary, to remove it.
This new engine also introduces fog-of- war in the form of night battles. While it never made sense in daytime (“we're in a giant castle on top of a hill, don't you think we know what you're doing down there behind that hedge?”) it does with the new day-night cycle. At night, only areas lit up by such new, special constructions as watchfires and beacons are visible to your troops, and your troops need to maintain them. This makes a surprise night assault – like that carried out by The Wolf in the first story mission – not only plausible and strategically sound, but pretty awesome to watch when lit by several hundred individual torches.
Yes, The Wolf has returned. In the first game, four lords usurped the kingdom and your goal was to restore the rightful king; it seems the singleplayer plot this time will focus on the revenge of The Wolf, the nastiest of the four, who has somehow recovered from being chopped up and thrown from the walls. He'll return in the bloodier of the two singleplayer campaigns, while the other focuses on building castles and economies for the SimCity fan in all of us. This will be told through a dark comicbook style in between missions.
On top of that there's a huge variety of multiplayer modes, administered through Steam, and players can also use the map editor to create and share castles – though lead designer Simon Bradbury is aware that they need “some kind of filtering system to avoid hundreds of castles looking like penises.” The team are even talking of letting you place your castles on an integrated Google map, and see how you've done in the campaign /multiplayer in your local area. At the moment, the only style of castle available is the classic Edward I – other architectural styles might be DLC later on, if there's a demand. I think there will be.Chaos. Hectic, seemingly unpredictable, complex dynamics. In a word: fun. I usually stick to the warm and fuzzy world of stochasticity and probability distributions, but this post will be (almost) entirely devoid of randomness. While chaotic dynamics are entirely deterministic, their sensitivity to initial conditions can trick the observer into seeing iid.
In ecology, chaotic dynamics can emerge from a very simple model of population.
Where the population in time-step t+1 is dependent on the population at time step t, and some intrinsic rate of growth, r. This is known as the logistic (or quadratic) map. For any starting value of x at t 0, the entire evolution of the system can be computed exactly. However, there some values of r for which the system will diverge substantially with even a very slight change in the initial position.
We can see the behaviour of this model by simply plotting the time series of population sizes. Another, and particularly instructive way of visualizing the dynamics, is through the use of a cobweb plot. In this representation, we can see how the population x at time t maps to population x at time t+1 by reflecting through the 1:1 line. Each representation is plotted here:
You can plot realizations of the system using the following R script.
q_map<-function(r=1,x_o=runif(1,0,1),N=100,burn_in=0,...) { par(mfrow=c(2,1),mar=c(4,4,1,2),lwd=2) ############# Trace ############# x<-array(dim=N) x[1]<-x_o for(i in 2:N) x[i]<-r*x[i-1]*(1-x[i-1]) plot(x[(burn_in+1):N],type='l',xlab='t',ylab='x',...) ################################# ########## Quadradic Map ######## x<-seq(from=0,to=1,length.out=100) x_np1<-array(dim=100) for(i in 1:length(x)) x_np1[i]<-r*x[i]*(1-x[i]) plot(x,x_np1,type='l',xlab=expression(x[t]),ylab=expression(x[t+1])) abline(0,1) start=x_o vert=FALSE lines(x=c(start,start),y=c(0,r*start*(1-start)) ) for(i in 1:(2*N)) { if(vert) { lines(x=c(start,start),y=c(start,r*start*(1-start)) ) vert=FALSE } else { lines(x=c(start, r*start*(1-start)), y=c(r*start*(1-start), r*start*(1-start)) ) vert=TRUE start=r*start*(1-start) } } ################################# }
To use, simply call the function with any value of r, and a starting position between 0 an 1.
q_map(r=3.84,x_o=0.4)
Fun right?
Now that you’ve tried a few different values of r at a few starting positions, it’s time to look a little closer at what ranges of r values produce chaotic behaviour, which result in stable orbits, and which lead to dampening oscillations toward fixed points. There is a rigorous mathematics behind this kind of analysis of dynamic systems, but we’re just going to do some numerical experimentation using trusty R and a bit of cpu time.
To do this, we’ll need to iterate across a range of r values, and at each one start a dynamical system with a random starting point (told you there would be some randomness in this post). After some large number of time-steps, we’ll record where the system ended up. Plotting the results, we can see a series of period doubling (2,4,8, etc) bifurcations interspersed with regions of chaotic behaviour.
library(parallel) bifurcation<-function(from=3,to=4,res=500, x_o=runif(1,0,1),N=500,reps=500,cores=4) { r_s<-seq(from=from,to=to,length.out=res) r<-numeric(res*reps) for(i in 1:res) r[((i-1)*reps+1):(i*reps)]<-r_s[i] x<-array(dim=N) iterate<-mclapply(1:(res*reps), mc.cores=cores, function(k){ x[1]<-runif(1,0,1) for(i in 2:N) x[i]<-r[k]*x[i-1]*(1-x[i-1]) return(x[N]) }) plot(r,iterate,pch=15,cex=0.1) return(cbind(r,iterate)) } #warning: Even in parallel with 4 cores, this is by no means fast code! bi<-bifurcation() png('chaos.png',width=1000,height=850) par(bg='black',col='green',col.main='green',cex=1) plot(bi,col='green',xlab='R',ylab='n --> inf',main='',pch=15,cex=0.2) dev.off()
This plot is known as a bifurcation diagram and is likely a familiar sight.
Hopefully working through the R code and running it yourself will help you interpret cobweb plots, as well as bifurcation diagrams. It is really quite amazing how the simple looking logistic map equation can lead to such interesting behaviour.Marvel/ABC
Designer Glenn Hetrick, and producers Jed Whedon and Jeff Bell take you behind the scenes of Raina's creation.
How do you design a new species? That was the challenge facing the crew behind ABC's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." this season when they set out to reveal the Inhumans -- superpowered individuals, some of whom look like us; and some who most definitely don't. And it all started with one recurring character: Raina, played by Ruth Negga.
Actually, to be more accurate, it started with a phone call and a vague idea.
"It was more of a metaphorical concept of her expecting she’d become a flower, but instead becoming thorns," Glenn Hetrick of Optic Nerve Studios -- a.k.a., the guy in charge of creating Raina's look, told MTV News over the phone. "You start with a loose idea because of the efficacy required by the screen writing... Creatures or effects are relegated to just one or two lines."
On "S.H.I.E.L.D.," Raina has spent the past two seasons searching to become something more than human. Initially, she was just an enigmatic villain in a flower dress. But over time, as she became more integrated into the overall mystery of season two, it was revealed she was after something in particular.
That particular thing turned out to be Terrigen Crystals, a macguffin that releases a mist killing regular humans, and turning humans with dormant Inhuman genes into superhumans. For Skye (Chloe Bennet) that meant keeping her good looks and gaining out of control earthquake powers. For Raina, it meant something else entirely.
Marvel/ABC
"[Raina] was the woman who had gotten everything she ever wanted and was super smooth and manipulative," Jeff Bell Executive Producer said on a separate phone call with Jed Whedon, one of the show's head writers. "And what would happen if she got what she wanted but instead of becoming a beautiful flower, she became a monster?"
A lot of time was spent in the writer's room debating Raina's look -- "does she have a tail? does she have a nose?" posited Whedon -- before one simple suggestion was brought up.
"I believe it was [writer] Drew Greenberg who said, 'what if you gave her thorns?' and everybody kind of went, 'huh.' " Whedon continued.
Marvel/ABC
Other than the thorns, and Raina's emotional arc, there was one other idea the writing team went to Hetrick with: you had to be able to see Negga's eyes.
"Ruth Negga has amazingly expressive eyes and eyebrows," Bell said. "And she gets so much of who Raina is through the eyes. We wanted her to still be able to communicate, we still wanted you to feel her expressions through all of [the makeup]."
With that in mind, Hetrick and his team pulled on a few surprising sources of inspiration, including the cult-classic Cliver Barker film "Nightbreed." Specifically the character Shuna Sassi, played on screen by Christine McCorkindale.
"She's a creature covered in porcupine quills and that image is so strong -- it creates such a striking silhouette -- so it’s always stuck with me," Hetrick recalled. "I have to be honest, I’ve always kind of wanted to do my version of my makeup that looks like that."
Marvel/ABC
One point of reference Raina doesn't have? The comics. Unlike Skye, who is pulled off the page (in the comic "Secret Warriors," she's the superhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. agent called Quake), Raina is an entirely original creation.
"She’s very much her own thing, the way we designed her nose and the mandibular arch, the muscle," Hetrick said. "We tried to make her feel like the first real Inhuman -- but there’s not specific reference to the existing characters."
Hetrick then went to fellow designer Neville Page (a judge on the SyFy show "Face Off"), who created some Photoshop takes on a possible look for Raina's Inhuman evolution. Hetrick's main directive? To give Raina's face a level of symmetry to the design, hence the opposing swirls you see on either side of her nose.
Marvel/ABC
From there, Hetrick and his team (including Michael Obrian, Erin Draney, Ken Culver, Danielle Noe, Ozzy Alvarez and Rocky Faulkner) had less than two weeks -- normally a three to four month makeup process -- before Negga would be filmed in her Inhuman guise. To speed things along, Hetrick and company sculpted in clay, allowing the producers to instantly see what Raina might look like post-transformation.
Based on comments, Hetrick and company were able to break down the prosthetics to their component parts, while simultaneously prepping the makeup Negga would need to make everything look smooth.
And the entire time, they were fighting the clock. "I was painting the stuff the night before the test," Hetrick recalled, "and the test was two days before she shot. So it all happened so quickly."
Marvel/ABC
Once Whedon and fellow head-writer Maurissa Tancharoen saw the makeup though, Hetrick knew they had a winner. And when Negga wore the prosthetics on camera, it only confirmed it: this was the design they were hoping for all along.
And the whole time, one thing that didn't even remotely enter the conversation? What Raina's actual power would be. Which, when you think of the whole of superhero and supervillain-dom, is kind of surprising.
Spider-Man has a design like a spider web. Captain America looks like a flag. And Hulk is, well... You know. But with Raina, it always came back to her emotional arc.
"We knew we wanted her to talk about the concept that your power sometimes comes with a price," Whedon said, "and that it's buried inside you... You could present as something horrifying, but inside, you’re something beautiful. That’s sort of our goal with the Inhumans, just to show that people want to be accepted even though they’re different."
Marvel/ABC
In fact, the team knew potentially what her power was -- spoiler, it turns out to be clairvoyance, a bit of an in-joke if you know Raina's season one arc -- but left it open, just in case.
"We had the idea of what her power was going to be," Whedon continued. "Not that it couldn’t have changed, but we didn’t feel like it would be thorn related."
There was an extra added level of pressure to Hetrick's design, too: he wasn't just debuting a new look for the character Raina, she's the first of a new race of Inhumans -- characters that won't just be showing up on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," but also on-screen in 2019, in a big-screen "Inhumans" movie.
Unlike previous movie/TV tie-ins, such as the ones following "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" or "Avengers: Age of Ultron," where the movie plotlines dictated what happened on "S.H.I.E.L.D.," here the TV show is blazing a new path.
Marvel/ABC
And though the producers initially didn't tell Hetrick what Raina was supposed to be, he knew almost instantly they were asking him to design the first Inhuman... And he couldn't have been more excited.
"I went in there and we started talking, and I got it," Hetrick said. "It was, like, I can’t even explain the experience because I have seen everything [Marvel has] put out going back to, you know, old 'Punisher' movies and even the Dolph Lundgren version of the 'Punisher.' "
Hetrick added that when they finally said out loud that she would be an Inhuman, he was totally overwhelmed, because, "It’s something that I hoped to be a part of for a very long time."
For Whedon and Bell though, there was the pressure not just of introducing Inhumans to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but as importantly to the show itself.
"One of the risks with makeup," Whedon said, "unless you approach it right and you feel like you have a taste level for where you want it, it sometimes just plays as goofy."
Though "S.H.I.E.L.D." exists in the same universe as Asgard, rampaging green monsters, and alien Chitauri armies, the show has taken a ground-level view of that, focusing instead on character's emotional arcs.
"This was the visual representation of a human being that has transformed," Whedon continued, "and so we did feel a responsibility. Not to necessarily set the tone for all Inhumans, but more just not blow it in our first attempt!"
Bell agreed, citing the "X-Men" as a model, noting that while the comic book versions of those characters go wild, on screen they're decidedly more human looking.
Marvel/ABC
"Every now and then you’re gonna have a Mystique," Bell said, referencing Jennifer Lawrence's character from the movies, "or you’re gonna have someone who looks a little bit different -- and so we wanted a mix. We didn’t want it to be all just beautiful people running around, but also we're a network show, not a SyFy or other niche show... So we needed to exist in a world that was accessible to a grown audience."
Hetrick agreed, referencing other productions he's worked on like the "Hunger Games" movies, saying, "That was the goal –- to make her feel fantastical and beautiful, make her feel like an Inhuman... But not so ridiculous or wildly colored that you can’t believe it exists. And hopefully we succeeded. And that will be the goal with all of the designs that we do in the future."
Those future designs may come with challenges of their own. Even after all of the tests on and off set, and the approval of all around, there were still surprises once the cameras started rolling. At first, the idea was that we'd see Raina's evolved character in the shadows, slowly revealed over the course of a few episodes.
Marvel/ABC
To do this, they added a hood to her costume... Which had a kind of hilarious side effect.
"When she would pull it off it made this terrible sound!" Whedon said, laughing. "And so we leaned into that. Every time she pulls up her hair, you’ll notice the sound is really the sound of prickly things being... I don’t even know how to describe it. Some of it you just discover in the moment."
With that in mind, and the season finale hitting on May 12, "S.H.I.E.L.D." is using Raina as the test case for adding more Inhumans -- and superhumans -- in the future.
"As we get deeper in and people get used to it, we might be able to populate the world with more strange things," Whedon said. "But at this point we’re taking it slow."
Check out a few other pieces of concept art from Neville Page, and shots of Negga getting into makeup, below!
Marvel/ABC
Marvel/ABC
Marvel/ABC
Marvel/ABCGluten-free is one of the biggest nutritional crazes in the world right now. It’s become a greater enemy than fat and carbohydrates, with many people reporting they lose weight, gain energy and feel better without it. The fad has taken nutritional scientists like me by surprise, because most people don’t have any gluten problems that we can find. So far, we can’t find evidence of gluten sensitivity in people’s genes, aside from the one per cent of the population with celiac disease, which is a very serious intolerance to gluten. In fact, 70 per cent of people don’t even carry the gene required to develop celiac disease, and most of those with the gene never develop the condition.
Cutting back on carbs will make most people feel better but that doesn't mean you're sensitive to gluten. ( Dreamstime photo illustration )
Then why do so many people swear by swearing off gluten? That’s what we’re trying to find out in my laboratory. We’ve finally landed on a possible clue: eating a lot of gluten may cause small amounts of inflammation in some people without celiac disease. We found those who eat the most gluten experience a rise in blood levels of alpha-2 macroglobulin, which indicates inflammation and also is a sign that your immune system is working to clear something. For that marker to be visible, people had to be eating roughly five slices of bread, a day or two full plates of pasta. We're still not sure whether the gluten actually causes the inflammation. And for most people, this inflammation probably won’t lead to symptoms. But it gives us a hint into why some people might feel worse eating gluten, even though they don't have celiac disease.
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For now, the jury’s still out on the possibility that non-celiac sufferers could have their own gluten sensitivities. In the meantime, I’ve got some theories of my own. I suspect many people feel great when they cut out gluten simply because they reduced excess carbohydrates — something many of us probably should do. Bread and pasta weigh you down because each gram of starch from these foods is stored with 3 grams of water in your muscles and liver. Simply by shedding that water, you can look and feel leaner in less than a day. Carbs are also packed with calories. Cut those out and you’ll likely drop weight and feel better. I’m a gluten researcher and I don’t avoid gluten — although I do cut back on most carbs when I want to drop a few pounds. I’ve had myself tested genetically and I don’t carry the gene for celiac disease. But I’m also wary of the substitutes. Many of those gluten-free breads and pastas cost double, are of poor nutritional quality and don’t taste as good.
Most contain tapioca and white rice flour, which will send your blood sugar spiking. That's not good for your mood or your waistline. Quinoa is a good, protein-packed substitute that won’t raise your blood sugar as much. Also, new research shows that eating a lot of these gluten-free foods might lead to unfavourable changes in the bacteria lining our gut.
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If you’re worried about gluten sensitivity, ask your health provider for a celiac test. Most people with celiac disease are still undiagnosed, despite the gluten-free craze. Don’t give up gluten until after the blood test, otherwise the test may show inaccurate results. Even if you don’t have celiac disease, there’s no harm in trying to cut out gluten as an experiment, as part of an “elimination diet” to identify what food substances may be disagreeing with your personal physiology. If you do, it’s best to work with a dietitian who can make sure you’re still getting enough B vitamins, fibre, and other nutrients found in grains. A dietitian can also help you identify the strange spots where gluten lurks — soy sauce, veggie dogs, and even many brands of potato chips. Be patient: it might take a couple of weeks for gluten to leave your system. The best way to eat is often very personal to your own digestive system, tastes and energy needs. Paying close attention to how you feel after eating certain foods is one of the best ways to piece together your own nutritional puzzle. Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy is an associate professor of Nutritional Sciences at U of T. Doctors’ Notes is a weekly column by members of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine. If you have a question or comment for one of our experts, email doctorsnotes@thestar.ca.The final stage of debate on the bill to end the long-gun registry began Monday in the House of Commons.
Bill C-19 is at third and final reading in the Commons and is being debated by MPs for two more days before a vote will seal its fate Wednesday evening. Because of the Conservative majority, the bill is expected pass and move to the Senate.
It passed the report stage last week after the opposition tried unsuccessfully to amend it. Amendments were also proposed, and defeated, at the committee stage. Opposition parties want to maintain the registry and are particularly upset that the government intends to destroy the data in the registry.
Government House leader Peter Van Loan said last week that on Wednesday MPs will have "a momentous vote to end the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry once and for all."
As debate got underway Monday, Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz read testimony from witnesses that appeared at the committee stage who were in favour of the bill and he defended the government's position.
"I've always said that government moves slowly but I never dreamed it would take this long to get rid of something that has been absolutely a waste of time," said Breitkreuz.
Affects non-restricted weapons
The Conservatives have been intent on scrapping the requirement for gun owners to register non-restricted firearms. They argue the registry, maintained by the RCMP, targets law-abiding gun owners instead of criminals and is a waste of money and does little to improve public safety.
Prohibited and restricted guns would still have to be registered and a licence is needed for all guns.
The government used a time allocation motion to limit further days of debate on the bill so that it could move more quickly to a final vote.
Opposition parties and critics are opposed to ending the long-gun registry because they say it helps police forces and is important for public safety.
NDP MP Francoise Boivin talked during the debate Monday about why the registry was set up in the first place and mentioned the Montreal Massacre.
"We have not forgotten any of these young women," she said after reading out names of the victims of the 1989 shooting.
Boivin said the registry did cost a lot of money, but that there is a need for it.
"We need to know who has guns, how many firearms they have, if there are constraints on whether they should have one or not. We need to know how they are being kept," she said.THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy will lay the foundation stone for the proposed Rs 7,525-crore Vizhinjam port on Saturday.The Gautam Adani-led 'Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone' (APSEZ) had on August 17 this year signed an agreement with Kerala to build this port, which will be a trans-shipment terminal, and operate it for 60 years.The investment, materializing nearly a quarter century after the idea of such a port was first mooted in 1991, will be the biggest private investment in the state to date.This will be the second international trans-shipment terminal in the country. The first one in Kochi was inaugurated in 2010 but is running at low capacity.In the last three decades, neighbouring Sri Lanka has been able to establish a regional dominance in trans-shipment with the Colombo port, which even supports the Indian trade. Vizhinjam port is planned as an alternative for the same.Union shipping and ports minister Nitin Gadkari had threatened to take the project to Tamil Nadu at one point, saying political opposition should not hinder economic agenda.The company had committed to complete the work and make the port operational in a record time of less than 1,000 days. Originally the state and the promoters had planned to lay the foundation stone on Kerala's foundation day, November 1, but could not proceed due to the local body elections.Executive director of APSEZ Karan Adani, the son of group chairman Gautam Adani, on Friday said he hopes to stick to the 1,000-day completion schedule, and though the concession agreement allows him to start work in 270 days, he is kicking off the work in 110 days.Gadkari, APSEZ chairman Gautam Adani, state ministers, opposition leader in the Assembly V S Achuthanandan and state officials will also attend the event.Achuthadanan's presence is important as he had levelled allegations of corruption in the project and opposed it, and stayed away from the agreement-signing function. Later the senior Adani met him and secured his support for the project.Children are seen during a visit by Santa Claus to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)A general view is seen of the slum of Petare, during a visit by Santa Claus to residents in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus waves during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Children are seen before a visit by Santa Claus to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)A general view is seen of the slum of Petare, during a visit by Santa Claus to residents in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Children write letters during a visit by Santa Claus to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Children write letters during a visit by Santa Claus to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus greets a child during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus walks during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus gestures during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus greets a woman during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus waves during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus greets a children during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Children are seen during a visit by Santa Claus to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus walks during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus greets a child during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus walks during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)Santa Claus greets a child during a visit to residents of the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, December 11, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)This article is about the actor. For the boxer, see Johnathon Banks. For the American football player, see Johnthan Banks
Jonathan Ray Banks[1] (born January 31, 1947)[2] is an American actor. His first notable film roles were in the films Airplane!, 48 Hrs., and Beverly Hills Cop. He has received critical acclaim for his role as former police officer turned hitman Mike Ehrmantraut in the television series Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul. Earlier he was well-reviewed as Frank McPike in Wiseguy.[3] He has received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Early life and education [ edit ]
Banks was born in Washington, D.C. His mother was Elena (Adams) Banks (October 13, 1917 – September 16, 2012).[4] He graduated from Northwood High School in Silver Spring, MD in 1966,[5] and attended Indiana University Bloomington, where he was a classmate of actor Kevin Kline. During that time, they participated in a production of The Threepenny Opera together.[1] Banks dropped out of the university to join a touring company of Hair as a stage manager.[6] He toured Australia with the Hair company.
Career [ edit ]
In 1974, Banks moved to Los Angeles and performed on stage before picking up bit parts on television. He notably starred in the 1974 sex PSA Linda's Film on Menstruation, which was referenced by John Oliver in an episode of his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver focusing on sex education. The episode aired on August 9, 2015, and Banks appeared at the end of the segment, ridiculing the content of said PSA.[7][8][9] He co-starred in 48 Hrs. and Beverly Hills Cop, which are among his best known roles. Other film roles include appearances in Armed and Dangerous, Buckaroo Banzai, Freejack, Flipper, Airplane!, Gremlins, Murder Me, Murder You, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, and Identity Thief.
Banks' big break on television came in 1987 with the series Wiseguy, in which he played Frank McPike for four years, a role which led to a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.[10] Although his character was primarily the hero's mentor, stories occasionally featured McPike as hero. In 1981, he appeared as Dutch Schultz on the NBC series the Gangster Chronicles.[11] He also starred on the short-lived science fiction series Otherworld, as Kommander Nuveen Kroll, and in the sitcom Fired Up.
In the second season of Breaking Bad, Banks appeared as Mike Ehrmantraut. He became a series regular for the third, fourth, and fifth seasons. For the fifth season, he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He also made guest appearances on several TV shows. In 2014, he had a recurring role as Buzz Hickey in the fifth season of the NBC sitcom Community.[12] Banks reprised his role as Mike Ehrmantraut as a regular in the Breaking Bad spinoff series Better Call Saul, for which he earned his third Emmy nomination in season 1.[13] In April 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Indiana University.[14]
He played the voice of James Gordon in the 2015 video game Batman: Arkham Knight.[15] In 2015, Banks made a special guest appearance on the MythBusters episode "Supernatural Shooters".
He also plays Walt in the 2018 thriller film The Commuter.
Personal life [ edit ]
Banks married his first wife in 1968. Together, they had one daughter. After his divorce in 1970, Banks married his second wife in 1990. From this marriage, they had fraternal twins. Banks also has a stepdaughter from this marriage.[2][1]
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Television films [ edit ]
Television series [ edit ]
Video games [ edit ]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]I ran into a divorce and personal injury litigator at a party in Cambridge the other day (background on Massachusetts family law). Her most recent trial concerned the amount of alimony that a defendant who had reached full retirement age (67 currently) should pay. Under a 2011 law characterized by proponents as “alimony reform” (I personally reject that characterization since family law is pretty much a zero-sum game and what looks like a positive “reform” to a plaintiff will generally be a negative for a defendant, or vice versa), the defendant should have been able to stop paying the plaintiff. What did the judge decide?
First, a little background… about 30 years ago the plaintiff sued her husband. As is typical in |
I think people are directing their concerns over CBC's policy to me," he said.
"Obviously, if they were directing them towards private broadcasters, I'd direct them towards the presidents of those other outlets."
"In the emails and the phone conversations and the people I've run into, there's a strong level of concern being expressed by citizens who disagree with the decision."
He said he hasn't heard from "a single person" who agrees with the decision not to show the cartoons.
"Twelve people were executed by terrorists — a word that some media outlets, including CBC, sometimes refuses to use — because of these cartoons. I've heard from some media people here in British Columbia on Twitter that have they disagree with CBC as well."
That, he noted, "is what's great about our country — that we actually take these things seriously."
Albas said he's also heard from constituents who wonder why CBC will not show the same concerns to not offend people of other faiths.
"When you arbitrarily pick and choose what faiths are off limits for satire, that can be as divisive, and does not promote equality," he argued.
"Either all faiths are off limits, or all are fair game. I think that's the point that Canadians in my riding want CBC to hear."
'We should embrace the debate'
Albas hopes that, as a result of his report, "we can have this discussion" — and he wasn't surprised to hear his Conservative colleague, Peter Kent, defending CBC's policy.
"Our Conservative caucus has shown to be the most diverse in the House of Commons, so his comments don't really surprise me," he noted.
"This is an area that some will disagree on, but we should embrace the debate," he added.
"The whole point of my report was to raise these concerns, but also to point out that our success as a country is predicated on being able to handle these issues in an open an d clear way without intimidation or fear of reprisal."
At the moment, however, it doesn't sound like he plans to post the images to his own website, or retweet through his Twitter account.
"I'm raising concerns as a representative of the people, specifically about CBC — It's not my role," he said.
"No, there's nothing stopping me, that's absolutely correct — that's the first suggestion that I've had. But my overall concern is to make sure that these concerns are raised in a way that we can have the discussion on it."New release of NVIDIA APEX framework is now available for public download.
Update: APEX SDK 1.2.1 is released
Update #2: APEX SDK 1.3 is available
This release includes several major features, like PhysX SDK 3 support and new modules – APEX Turbulence and APEX ForceField.
Please note that APEX 1.2 requires corresponding authoring tools – PhysXLab 1.2 and 2.8 DCC plug-ins.
While PhysX Registered Developer Program website is still getting back on track, NVIDIA APEX SDK 1.2 can be downloaded through Developer Support Center.
If you are experiencing troubles with registration, please refer to our updated guide.
Feature Highlights
Although APEX 1.2 is the first APEX release to feature PhysX 3 support (SDK 3.2 specifically), standalone variant, compatible with SDK 2.8.4, is also available for developers who haven’t upgraded their physics integration to a new engine, but still want to take advantage of the new capabilities of APEX 1.2.
Addition of SDK 3.2 support is distinctive feature of this release, which not only allows developers utilizing the PhysX 3 engine to implement APEX in their games, but also brings all the advancements present in 3.x branch of PhysX SDK.
However, currently there is feature parity for core APEX functionality between the 2.8.4 and 3.2 ports, for most part.
Updated APEX SDK 1.2.1, which will add several missing features, like GPU Rigid Bodies support for 3.x branch, will be available shortly.
APEX DESTRUCTION
Pleasant and unexpected feature awaits users of the APEX Destruction module – thanks to PhysX SDK 3.2, overall performance of rigid body simulation on CPU has been improved significantly – up to 200-300% (in comparison to APEX 1.1/1.2 using SDK 2.8.4).
The improvements are combination of various optimizations in SDK 3.2, including but not limited to multi-threading, extensive SIMD usage and algorithmic optimizations.
HallMark - benchmark built into the destruction sample, during which a number of actors (3.. 10 in our case) gets fractured one by one, throughout 1000 frames sequence.
System Specs: i7 2600K, GTX 580, 8 GB RAM, Win 7 64-bit | V-sync disabled.
Next – new Voronoi fracturing mode which allows artist to break objects into nice, convex, physics engine friendly chunks inside PhysXLab or via API interface.
Another important new feature is the ability to apply different fracturing options to individual chunks (or groups of chunks) inside single destructible asset, thus providing ability to create complex assets, consisting of materials with different properties (wood and concrete, for example).
If you want more details on other authoring improvements in APEX 1.2, please refer to our PhysXLab 1.2 overview.
APEX CLOTHING
The APEX Clothing module has undergone major change, as it now includes two cloth solvers – old one from PhysX SDK 2.8.4 and new specialized embedded solver for clothing simulation, introduced in PhysX SDK 3.
Note the word “embedded” – the new cloth solver (equal to the one used in PhysX SDK 3.3) is a standalone module and can be utilized by both APEX on SDK 3.2 and APEX on SDK 2.8.4. At the same time, 2.8.4 cloth solver is supported only in 2.8.4 version of APEX 1.2
In comparison to all-purpose cloth solver from SDK 2.8.4, new clothing simulation solution (more details here) includes several improved features in regards to cloth behavior (bending, stiffness, fast moving animations), greatly improved CPU performance and enhanced collision volumes. PhysX 3 solver also incorporates Long Range Attachments method to eliminate unwanted stretchiness of the cloth.
Graphs show simulation time (per frame in ms) for given number of clothing actors. Assets with roughly similar structure and number of particles were used - TrenchCoatMedium.apb and ctdm_trenchcoat_800.apb (~ 800 cloth vertices each).
PhysX 3 cloth solver is also optimized for GPU execution on CUDA-capable GPUs, resulting in a nice performance boost for heavy-load scenes.
Graphs show simulation time (per frame in ms) for given number of clothing actors. High-detalized "Summer Dress" (2400 simulated vertices, high solver iteration count) asset was used for testing.
Updated 2.8 DCC plug-ins already contain corresponding cloth authoring pipeline.
User can run old assets with the 2.8.4 solver or with the new embedded clothing solver (parameters will be automatically adjusted for the new solver). In addition, it is possible to load old assets (2.8.4) into the DCC plug-ins and save them out as APEX 1.2 assets. However, new assets, created with APEX 1.2 (embedded solver), will be not compatible with 2.8.4 APEX releases.
APEX TURBULENCE
For the first time, the APEX Turbulence module is provided within APEX distribution. In comparison to more common SPH-like simulation systems, Turbulence module is using grid-based eulerian fluid solver to simulate high-resolution smoke, dust and particle effects, affected by turbulent forces.
Turbulence module supports jet force effectors, thermodynamics (heat sources can be added to the simulation and the temperature will be advected through the grid, affecting particle behavior) and interaction with rigid bodies.
Level of Detail (LOD) is implemented with the use of the “simulation updates per frame” variable, while scalable parameter is exposed as the resolution of the simulation grid.
As interesting note, Turbulence does not have its own particle emitters of any kind, instead, it only simulates turbulence grid and velocity fields, while resulting forces are applied to particles from APEX Particles module.
In addition, turbulence simulation can be performed only on CUDA-capable GPUs, there is no CPU backend for this module.
APEX PARTICLES
APEX Particles module was also updated, now it includes all previously missing functionality.
(click on the picture to enlarge)
New features like particle.dll widget can help the developers to integrate Particles module in their game or game engine more easily.
APEX FORCEFIELD
New APEX ForceField module allows direct application of highly-customizable forces to objects such as particles, rigid bodies and cloth. ForceField module targets to create variety of force effects like explosions, zero-gravity zones, wind or tornados, but works only with PhysX SDK 3.2.
This new module is more flexible and robust solution than previous force fields mechanism, built into PhysX SDK 2.x.
Release Notes
APEX DESTRUCTION 1.2
New Features FractureTool – new command-line utility for fracturing and exporting meshes. It provides a subset of the fracturing features exposed by PhysXLab, and serves as a convenient way of batch processing meshes and testing new features. NxDestructibleActor: Serialization support for actor state provided via the actor’s NxParameterized interface. NxDestructibleActor: Deserialization support for actor state provided via NxParameterized constructor argument. Added setGlobalPose/getGlobalPose to NxDestructibleActor (sets the pose of static chunks only). Added impactDamageDefaultDepth to NxDestructibleParameters. Chunks up to this depth will take impact damage, unless an override flag is set (see below). TAKE_IMPACT_DAMAGE flag has been changed to OVERRIDE_IMPACT_DAMAGE or OVERRIDE_IMPACT_DAMAGE_VALUE. At the given depth, the OVERRIDE_IMPACT_DAMAGE flag tells APEX to use OVERRIDE_IMPACT_DAMAGE_VALUE (true or false) instead of the behavior it would get from impactDamageDefaultDepth (see above). New dust and crumble callbacks, using NxUserChunkParticleReport. Visibility event buffer for NxDestructibleActors using acquireChunkEventBuffer or releaseChunkEventBuffer. Option for second bone buffer for frame-delayed chunk transforms, using keepPreviousFrameBoneBuffer.
Improvements LOD performance improvements. Better instancing of cutout chunks, allows for UV offset instancing so that texture maps don’t need to tile with the chunk instance tiling. This requires a renderer which uses the new NxRenderInstanceSemantic::UV_OFFSET semantic for the ApexRenderMesh instance buffer.
Authoring Improvements Voronoi fracturing mode using NxDestructibleAssetAuthoring::createVoronoiSitesInsideMesh and ::createVoronoiSplitMesh. Voronoi cell visualization utility using NxDestructibleAssetAuthoring::visualizeVoronoiCells. Several performance optimizations. Ability to fracture a single chunk using NxDestructibleAssetAuthoring::hierarchicallySplitChunk. Ability to re-calculate a collision hull for a chunk using different settings, or a custom-made hull, and trim the hulls against neighbors to eliminate initial overlap: NxDestructibleAssetAuthoring ::rebuildCollisionGeometry and NxDestructibleAssetAuthoring ::trimCollisionGeometry. Ability to control interior UV mapping direction and offset in slice and cutout mode. See FractureTools::FractureMaterialDesc. Utility to deliver a render mesh which displays a typical noisy slice surface for the current settings, using NxDestructibleAssetAuthoring::buildSliceMesh.
Bug-fixes Better fracture behavior (fewer errors such as missing or extra polygons).
Known Issues Known crash in ApexHelloWorld sample destruction scene on PS3 with heavy destruction load.
APEX CLOTHING 1.2
New Features Support for embedded PhysX 3 cloth solver. Even builds with PhysX 2.8.x will be able to run the new solver if the ClothingPhysX3 module is present (will be autoloaded). Removed bitangent semantic for rendering. All rendered data now uses float4 for the tangent semantic, tangent.w being the sign of the cross product of normal and tangent. Local space simulation. The user can either chose a local space himself or specify a bone in the hierarchy to which the simulation will be done locally (embedded solver only). Tapered capsules as collision volumes (embedded solver only). Velocity shader can take positions and velocities now. Velocities can be modified by the shader. Added several exclusive clothing material parameters for PhysX 3 embedded solver: compression & streching stiffness for stretching, bending and shearing constraints, inertia scale & drag (for localspace sim), mass scale for better collision handling. Turned ‘parallelize fetch results’ on by default (in module descriptor) and added functionality to run the additional fetch results work delayed until the first actor gets rendered.
Known Issues Running multiple NxApexScenes simultaneously is only supported with the 3.x solver. The 2.8 solver can generate writelock NxScene access failures. The new 3.x cloth solver does not send debug visualization data to PhysX Visual Debugger. The “Generate Tangent Space” button in Clothing Tool can generate several warning dialogs for certain older clothing assets.
APEX PARTICLES 1.2
Improvements NxApexRenderVolume – this new class adds the ability to partition particle world space in many practical ways. See the IOFX programmers guide for details. Render resource optimizations. Only one writeBuffer() call is made per fluid simulation (IOS actor) per frame, no matter how many IOFX assets or volumes in use. Deferred IOFX actor creation keeps render resource churn and renderable counts to reasonable levels. IOFX CUDA and CPU performance should be roughly linear to the number of particles in simulation. The number of IOFX assets should have a limited effect. More robust CUDA interop with writeBuffer() fallbacks for frames where mapped buffers are not available. Interop can be restricted to double buffering if certain guarantees are met by the game rendering thread. Improved level of detail particle culling.
Removed Particles are only supported on Windows. maxObjectCount is no longer an IOFX property. Most NxFluidIOSActor methods have been removed, this class is not exposed at runtime. NxModuleIofx::createRenderableIterator() removed. IOFX Actors are now only reachable via NxApexRenderVolumes. NxModuleIofx::getIofxTypeName() removed. Use NX_IOFX_AUTHORING_TYPE_NAME from NxIofxAsset.h
APEX FRAMEWORK 1.2
General Visual Studio 2010 Support. Both the APEX SDK source and sample projects are distributed solely as Visual Studio 2010 solutions. Added an optional completionTask to NxApexScene::simulate that will be called when fetchResults is ready to be called. The ‘pxtask_cuda’ DLL, which contains the CUDA Context Manager and associated CUDA PxTask functionality, was renamed ‘PhysX3Gpu’. APEX no longer supports using apexuser.dll to override the file stream returned from NxApexSDK::createStream. APEX stats are reported in milliseconds instead of seconds. This was a change done very late in the 1.1 product cycle, so when upgrading from an early 1.1 this is still new in 1.2. NxApexScene::acquirePhysXLock() is now available so that both APEX and the application may access the PhysX 3.2 scene during simulation without performing concurrent write operations. PhysX 3.2 allows “multiple reader/single writer” access, but this has not yet been implemented within APEX. NxApexScene::simulate() has a new parameter called ‘scratchMemBlock’, which may be used by PhysX 3.2 for temporary data during simulation. The Wind and Explosion modules are deprecated and may be removed from a future APEX release. They do not support PhysX 3.2. PS3 gcc support is deprecated in APEX PS3 source distributions. All PS3 gcc support may be removed from a future APEX release in favor of SNC.
NxParameterized Added AndroidARM target. Better error checking in xml serializer. Unified behaviour of initParamRef() and setParamRef().
Known Issues Some key and button mappings in the APEX samples are incomplete on PS3 and Xbox360. There may be issues connecting to PVD from consoles with the PhysX 2.8.4 build of APEX.The Ombudsman can finally proceed with the prosecution of businessman Jaime Dichaves for plunder at the Sandiganbayan after the confessed owner of the “Jose Velarde” dummy account which led to the ouster of his friend and then President Joseph Estrada held off his day in court for nearly 15 years.
In a 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the high court denied Dichaves’ petition claiming the Ombudsman abused its discretion when it filed plunder charges against him. The court also lifted the temporary restraining order it issued against the Sandiganbayan which was supposed to start its trial on the case in July 2013.
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“The Sandiganbayan is directed to immediately proceed with the arraignment and trial of petitioner Jaime Dichaves,” said Leonen.
The ruling was concurred in by Associate Justice and acting Second Division Chair Arturo Brion and Associate Justices Mariano Del Castillo, Jose Catral Mendoza and Bienvenido Reyes.
The decision marks the end of Dichaves’ evasion from justice which started in 2000 when he fled the country to avoid the arrest warrant issued against him following the House impeachment of Estrada.
In the Dec. 7 decision, Leonen said the tribunal found nothing “whimsical, capricious or arbitrary” in finding probable cause to charge Dichaves with plunder.
Leonen said the Ombudsman “correctly” charged Dichaves with plunder in conspiracy with Estrada as it was Dichaves “who orchestrated the consummation of transactions and received from (Belle Corp. vice chair and director Willy) Ocier the check representing the commission; and that Dichaves deposited the check to the ‘Jose Velarde’ account which was shown to be that of the former President.”
Leonen said the court found no reason to interfere in the Ombudsman’s power to investigate Dichaves because it was “in a better position to assess the strengths or weaknesses of the evidence on hand to make a finding of probable cause.”
“[I]t must be emphasized that only opinion and reasonable belief are sufficient at this stage. Thus, petitioner’s other defense contesting the finding of probable cause that is highly factual in nature must be threshed out in a full-blown trial, and not in a special civil action for certiorari before this court (Supreme Court),” Leonen said.
Dichaves’ plunder case stemmed from two charges filed as early as 2001 shortly after Estrada’s ouster.
Dichaves, along with Estrada crony William Gatchalian, was charged with direct and indirect bribery and plunder in connection with the “Jose Velarde” account.
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He was also charged with violations of the antigraft law along with former Government Service Insurance System President Federico Pascual; Social Security System Carlos “Chuckie” Arellano; and Ocier in connection with the purchase of private company’s stocks by the SSS and GSIS upon Estrada’s instructions.
Pascual, Arellano and Ocier were granted immunity for their testimony and dropped from the case.
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MOST READThe Louisiana Science Education Act was a significant victory for the creationists, but with the advent of school vouchers, it now looks like small beer. The act allowed teachers to sneak Bible literalism into science class, to muddy the waters with "supplemental materials" but not to deny evolution flat-out. The U.S. Constitution would not allow public schools to be transformed into Christian missions. When the act was passed in 2008, it seemed that legislators had done all they could to keep Louisiana stupid.
O, ye of little faith! The great day is dawning when taxpayers pick up the tab for kids to learn that Darwin leads to eternal damnation. Vouchers have turned out to be the answer to a creationist's prayer.
Young Zack Kopplin, son of Mayor Mitch Landrieu's CAO Andy, has for the last couple of years been our voice of reason, spearheading a campaign for repeal of the Science Education Act. His efforts have won the support of 78 Nobel laureates, but it's no use getting smart with Louisiana legislators. This year's repeal bill got one vote in committee, and that was an improvement.
Now Zack Kopplin has been examining the list of private schools allocated slots under Louisiana's new voucher program. He reports that the state proposes to send 1,306 students, at an annual cost of more than $11 million, to 19 religious schools that repudiate evolution and go hook, line and sinker for Genesis. These are just the ones accepted for the voucher that advertise their agenda. Others, more discreet, are no doubt also out there.
Where religion ends and superstition takes over is not always easy to determine, but these 19 institutions are way over the line. Even the Vatican, which has no trouble authenticating miracles, defers to scientific principle on this issue.
To disregard the mountains of evidence that underpin the theory of natural selection may be regarded in some quarters as a service to faith, but the taxpayer's education dollar is not supposed to promote ignorance. We are paying good money to deny our kids the grounding they need to make sense of science.
Vouchers are supposed to rescue students from underperforming public schools and give them access to superior instruction. That will not always happen, it being the height of naivete to assume that private schools are necessarily better. But, thanks to Zack Kopplin, we know for certain that at least 19 of the schools receiving a public subsidy will deliver precisely the opposite of the advertised effect. Their graduates will be treated by employers and college administrators as pariahs.
That vouchers have led to this is hardly surprising. They are Gov. Bobby Jindal's educational panacea, and he has always supported creationism. For him the Science Education Act was evidently no more than a step in the right direction.
Since Jindal has an Ivy League biology degree, there has been a suspicion that his support for creationism was fake, a ploy to curry favor with our legion fundamentalist voters. But it is beginning to appear that he really means it.
It is impossible to prepare fully for such a massive reform as going voucher, and some undeserving private schools are bound to receive an OK from harried state officials. But a religious takeover on this scale cannot be accidental. Of the schools on Zack Kopplin's list, one believes that scientists are "sinful men," and declares its view "on the age of the earth and other issues is that any theory that goes against God's word is in error." Another avers that evolution is "extremely damaging to children individually and to society as a whole." A third tells students to write an essay explaining how "the complexity of a cell shows it must be purposefully designed." And so it goes.
It was difficult to gainsay Jindal when he declared Louisiana had a moral obligation to provide its children with a better education. Any reform, it appeared, would be an improvement, and vouchers had the added appeal of giving underprivileged parents an unprecedented opportunity to choose where to send their children. Perhaps vouchers will give some children a better chance. But others will just have to pray.
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James Gill is a columnist for The Times-Picayune.Operation Lal Dora was conceived in 1983, with the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi's approval and called for the secret landing of Indian troops in Mauritius.[1][2] These troops were to be launched from the 54th division and the purpose of doing this was to help the Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth fight off a challenge from his rival Paul Berenger which Government of India feared might take the form of an attempted coup.
In February 1983, Jugnauth travelled to New Delhi to meet with Mrs Indira Gandhi, where he asked for military assistance in the event of a coup by Berenger. Gandhi assured him of Indian support. The power struggle between Berenger and Jugnauth came to a head in March 1983. On Mauritian independence day, while Jugnauth was in New Delhi attending a Non Aligned Movement summit, Berenger arranged for the Mauritian National Anthem to be broadcast over Mauritian television in Creole, referring to Creole, instead of English, as the national language. On Jugnauth’s return to Mauritius, Berenger proposed constitutional changes that would strip power from the prime minister. The MMM government disintegrated with Berenger and most of the cabinet resigning from the government. Jugnauth was left with a small number of mostly Hindu followers.
Gandhi ordered the Indian Army and Navy to prepare for a military intervention against a possible coup against the Jugnauth government. But the military intervention was put off by Mrs. Gandhi, after a squabble between the Indian Navy and Army, on who would lead the operation. Instead, she chose to task the Research and Analysis Wing’s then chief, Nowsher F. Suntook, with supervising a largely intelligence-led operation to reunite the Indian community whose fracturing along ideological and communal lines had allowed Mr. Berenger to mount a political challenge.[3]
References [ edit ]Engineers around the globe aim to develop new propulsion systems that could open up the cosmos to exploration.
Despite the fevered reports rocketing around the Internet recently, NASA is not on the verge of developing a fuel-free, faster-than-light propulsion system, space agency officials stress.
A team based at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston reportedly tested a prototype engine system in a vacuum recently and determined that it produced a small amount of thrust. This news was disclosed on a NASASpaceflight.com forum earlier this year, and last week, it hit the broader Internet with a vengeance, as some pieces linked the technology to a long-sought "warp drive."
Why all the attention? The novel thruster system is based on the EmDrive, a British invention said to create thrust without propellant by bouncing microwaves around inside a chamber. If it works, the engine could revolutionize spaceflight — and it would apparently violate the laws of physics, as well. [Superfast Spacecraft Propulsion Concepts (Images)]
But NASA is downplaying the research and its potential to deliver a huge propulsion breakthrough in the near future.
"While conceptual research into novel propulsion methods by a team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston has created headlines, this is a small effort that has not yet shown any tangible results," NASA officials told Space.com in a statement. "NASA is not working on 'warp drive' technology."
Not much information
The novel space engine design would seem to produce more energy than is put into it, violating the law of conservation of energy, which (simply put) says that energy cannot be destroyed or created.
"The reason it's controversial is, it violates Newton's Third Law," Brian Koberlein, an astrophysicist who studies general relativity and computational astrophysics, told Space.com.
It's possible that electromagnetic leaks in the chamber or coupling with Earth's magnetic field are responsible for the supposedly impossible result, said Koberlein, who is based at the Rochester Institute of Technology. But the recent test in the vacuum chamber, if it is indeed valid, does rule out another prosaic explanation — that the engine was pushing against Earth's atmosphere in some way, he added.
Outside scientists are understandably eager to know just what the JSC Eagleworks team has managed to achieve, and how they did it. But observers can't perform such an evaluation at the moment, because the work hasn't been submitted for peer review, said Koberlein.
Indeed, all that outside researchers really have to go on is the NASASpaceflight.com forum, which includes a thread of posts stretching back several years, discussing the development of the EmDrive. (Paul March, an engineer on the Eagleworks team doing the work, contributed to the discussion on the forum. When contacted by Space.com, he referred queries to his boss, JSC engineer Harold "Sonny" White, who did not respond to requests for an interview.)
It's unclear from these forum posts if the prototype propulsion system actually generated any thrust during the recent tests, said Ethan Siegel, a physics and astronomy professor at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Siegel also wrote about the EmDrive in Forbes Magazine, to which he regularly contributes.
Siegel said he is seeing claims of thrust happening just a few times over many tests, with a frequency that is "not inconsistent with random chance." Further, the thrust that was produced in these rare instances was apparently just above the margin of error for measurement, he added. [Gallery: Visions of Interstellar Starship Travel]
"It's tens of micronewtons, less than the weight of a snowflake," Siegel told Space.com. Specifically, Siegel said he is seeing reports of anywhere between 50 and 70 micronewtons. The error bar of measurement, however, is reported as between 15 and 30 micronewtons.
"You want a signal that's way, way bigger than errors you can measure," he said.
Looking for breakthroughs
Siegel said he hopes the NASA Eagleworks team members continue their research into the drive's development.
"It's to make sure we give this the third-degree treatment and scrutinize it as much as we can," he said. "We do not want false hope for a miracle device that is never going to happen. Before we believe this, let's do all of the robust tests, look at all the criteria and make sure we're not fooling ourselves."
Koberlein emphasized that part of NASA's mandate is to fund research that follows interesting leads, but that may not necessarily end up producing a working prototype.
"Because NASA is a government research organization," he told Space.com, the agency is "like venture capitalists. They are developing tried and true technologies … but they will also put money into things that are extremely blue-sky."
Some NASA research does indeed attempt to make big, game-changing breakthroughs, agency officials wrote in their statement to Space.com.
"The agency does fund very fundamental research as part of our advanced concepts and innovative investments that push the frontiers of science and engineering," they wrote. "This is part of what NASA does in exploring the unknown, and the agency is committed to and focused on the priorities and investments identified by the NASA Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan.Through these investments, NASA will develop the capabilities necessary to send humans further into space than ever before."
Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Originally published on Space.com.I have noticed a major change in how we have been able to manage concussions at my school since this new legislation. When it initially came out the school personnel, athletes, and parents were reluctant and upset with the new requirements. I, on the other hand, was ecstatic because it put the athletic trainers in the forefront and helped bring to light the issue of concussions along with the issue of the lack of athletic trainers in secondary schools.
I am solely responsible for concussion management at the school that I am contracted with. In August, I spoke numerous times at parents’ meetings, with the athletes, and with the coaching staff. I spoke at length with the school nurse. All of them received information from the Illinois High School Association and CDC regarding concussions. The coaches, administrators, and school nurse were also provided with the return to play protocols.
It is important that we as athletic trainers take control of concussion management. Most others are not educated to do so nor do they have any interest in doing so. I know that at first it was a struggle for people to understand and go along with the management plan, but I’m happy to say that at our school concussions have become important and they are handled in the best way possible!
I was so happy after our first varsity game of the year. Not because we won (beat 42-6) but because the concussion education was paying off. I had a couple of players come to me to tell me that one of their teammates was displaying signs of a concussion. On the bus ride home, they noted them again and notified the coach. The kid was able to hide these signs from the coaching staff and myself, but his teammates pointed them out. They put safety first!
My procedure for a kid who I decide has a concussion automatically includes clearance from a physician. Last spring, I would get athletes back from concussions being cleared for immediate competition by their physicians. My hands were tied at that point unfortunately. This year most of the physicians have given the kids notes that said,”cleared to begin return to play protocol.” That puts it in my hands now and that’s right where I want it to be! Although there was some initial resistance, the coaching staff has taken that head-on and we are making progress!
Concussion management has to be a team effort. It requires each part of the team to work together in the proper recognition, treatment, and management of a concussed athlete. It starts with the coaches, parents, athletes, and teammates to look out for that athlete. It includes the medical professions including the certified athletic trainer, the school nurse, and physicians. It also includes school administrators and teachers.
Remember, Every Athlete Deserves an Athletic Trainer.The press conference for SBS’s new Wednesday-Thursday drama “Suspicious Partner” was held on May 10 and featured appearances by Ji Chang Wook, Nam Ji Hyun, Hello Venus’s Nara (Kwon Nara), and Choi Tae Joon.
During the event, Nara showed her affection for her fellow Hello Venus members as she said, “When I told them that I would be appearing in ‘Suspicious Partner,’ some of them starting tearing up. Yooyoung, who started her acting career earlier than I did, gave me a lot of advice. Our leader Alice is always willing to lend an ear when I have concerns and worries. The other members are fully supportive of me, and I’ll be watching the first episode of the drama with all of them at our dorm tonight.”
On how she feels about her first acting role, Nara said, “This is my first time acting in a drama, and I hope to show the viewers what kind of person I am through my character.”
She added, “I’ve been getting a lot of help from the director and the other actors. I’ve been preparing for my role by taking kickboxing classes and going to the courts to observe. The director does his best to make sure I feel comfortable, and I’m very grateful for that. I’m trying to learn as much as I can as a rookie actress.”
“Suspicious Partner” airs every Wednesday and Thursday. Watch the latest episode at Viki!
Source (1)A new batch of seasonal events are now available in Gran Turismo 6, featuring classic cars from the 1970’s and 80’s and racing cars. This week’s challenges are as follows, and remember to stop by our GT6 Seasonal Events forum for in-depth analysis and discussion, and tips and tricks.
All events will be available through July 8th, 2015 at 23:00 GMT/UTC.
1979 or Prior/Non-Race Car Super Lap
Circuito de Madrid
500PP Max, Sports/Hard compounds or less
Year: 1979 or earlier
Gold: 110,000cr; Silver: 66,000cr, Bronze: 33,000cr
Gift: Pearl Orange
1980 or Later/2WD Race Cars Super Lap
Apricot Hill Raceway
Racing cars, 700PP Max, Racing/Hard compounds or less
Year: 1980 or later
Gold: 180,000cr; Silver: 99,000cr, Bronze: 63,000cr
Gift: GT MILITARY 006-W
1979 or Prior/Non-Race Car Drift Trial
Circuit de la Sarthe 2005
Normal cars
Year: 1979 or earlier
Gold: 90,000cr; Silver: 54,000cr, Bronze: 27,000cr
Gift: Matte Dark Blue
Race Car Drift Trial
Special Stage Route 5 Clubman
Racing cars
Gold: 210,000cr; Silver: 116,000cr, Bronze: 63,000cr
Gift: GT METALLIC 009-W
GT6 Photomode image by G.T.Ace.
More Posts On...Written by: Amie Alexander, JD/MPS Candidate, William H. Bowen School of Law
Bader Farms, a large peach business in Dunklin County, Missouri, sued Monsanto Company in the Southeast Division of the Eastern District of Missouri. Bader Farms’ peach orchards were damaged by dicamba drift; Bader Farms argued that Monsanto was at fault for releasing two varieties of GE seeds before the corresponding herbicide was released, leading to the illegal use of dicamba by surrounding farmers. Monsanto moved to dismiss the lawsuit for failure to state a claim, and the Court decided on April 10, 2017 to treat the motion as a motion for summary judgment, granting the parties 21 days to prepare more material on the issue of whether warning labels provided by Monsanto on the GE seeds were adequate to protect it from liability for the use of dicamba.
Background of Suit
Two of Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) seeds, Roundup Ready 2 Extend soybeans and Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton seeds, were allowed to be sold after inspection by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. However, the seed sales began before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the corresponding herbicide for the seeds, XtendiMax, for release.
Bader Farms alleged that Monsanto violated industry practice and thus committed tortious acts by its release of the seeds without a corresponding approved herbicide, or “a complete crop system.” Bader Farms further argued that because of this act, it was foreseeable to Monsanto that farmers who purchased the seeds would instead spray a generic herbicide, dicamba, onto these seed crops as the corresponding herbicide was unavailable to them. According to Bader Farms, it was foreseeable to Monsanto that in spraying dicamba, these farmers would ignore product warnings labels for the GE seeds and prohibitions under federal and state law. Dicamba has been shown to be prone to drift to surrounding properties, and in this case, the spraying and drift of dicamba caused millions of dollars in damage to |
responsible for choking the planet to death, rather than attempting to ally with the most backward elements of society to achieve victories against the most structurally irrelevant practices. It is industrial slaughter in the capitalist system, not the distinct practices of Kosher and Halal slaughter, which is responsible for the billions of animal deaths every year. The proponents of this ban on Kosher and Halal slaughter are, by and large, still proponents of the continuation of damaging agricultural practices worldwide for the sake of imperial profit. Tying the struggle for animal liberation to fascists and imperialists only advances the interests of capital.
Rather, if the struggle for animal liberation is to go anywhere, we must align principally with those forces aimed at dismantling imperialism and uprooting bourgeois interests. Instead of celebrating the passage of a law which superficially references “animal rights” as a way of solidifying imperial interests, we should be struggling on the side of anti-imperialism and communism. In order to truly make the leap necessary toward genuine animal liberation and ecological sustainability, the structural roots of capitalist agriculture and industrial slaughter must be our chief enemy.
Notes:Call it the speeding ticket from hell: Authorities in Indian Hill, Ohio aren't giving up in their quest to make Keith Ledgerwood pay up on a $95 speeding ticket they gave Feb. 6, 2012. Three times he's fought the case and won in court; three times the authorities have won appeals to bring the case back. (Photo11: courtesy of Keith Ledgerwood) Story Highlights Case has been dismissed 3 times, reinstated each time
Prosecutor says driver is 'chronic speeder'
Driver says town's actions amount to harassment
CINCINNATI -- Keith Ledgerwood admits he has a lead foot.
Authorities say he also has a smooth tongue that has helped him talk police out of writing him speeding tickets and cite him instead for lesser violations that don't affect his driver's license or auto insurance.
Those two views collided 16 months ago when Ledgerwood was cited for speeding in one of the Cincinnati area's most affluent cities, touching off a legal fight that has has seen his case dismissed three times, reinstated each time, become the subject of an appeal and now possibly headed to the Ohio Supreme Court – all over a $95 speeding ticket.
On one side is Ledgerwood, 29, an information technology consultant then of Springfield Township, now of Maineville. He believes he's being harassed by a city that initially botched its case against him and now is doing all it can to stick it to him.
"This is a big miscarriage of process and justice," Ledgerwood said. "Something crazy has happened here."
On the other are Indian Hill prosecutors, administrators and police who say Ledgerwood shouldn't be allowed to game the system. He should just pay his fine and stop seeking special treatment.
"He is a chronic speeder who has the uncanny ability to get out of speeding tickets," Benjamin Yoder, the Indian Hill assistant law director, said. "Somebody is going to get hurt."
Indian Hill police pulled Ledgerwood over late on the evening of Feb. 6, 2012.
While driving a black 2004 Acura four-door, Ledgerwood was cited for going 54 in a 35 mph zone. Ledgerwood immediately asked if the officer could cite him for something other than speeding because he had a good driving record, police said.
When the police officer ran Ledgerwood's record, though, he saw that Ledgerwood has been cited for speeding seven times in Hamilton County since 2004 and that some of those charges had been reduced or dismissed. Ledgerwood was given the speeding ticket.
It was a $36 ticket, but when the $59 court costs were added, it rose to $95.
Ledgerwood went to Indian Hill Mayor's Court on Feb. 27. Because the officer who gave him the ticket wasn't in court, Indian Hill prosecutors asked for a continuance. If the witness isn't in court, prosecutors can't prove Ledgerwood was speeding. Ledgerwood knew the officer who gave him the ticket wasn't there, so he refused to continue the case.It was transferred to Hamilton County Municipal Court and Ledgerwood left.
But Indian Hill prosecutors realized, after Ledgerwood left court, that the case would have to be dropped – and Ledgerwood would face no punishment – unless the case was before a judge within 30 days.
That meant the transfer to Municipal Court likely would have delayed his case beyond that 30 days and the charge would have been dismissed. So, after Ledgerwood left, prosecutors recalled the case and dismissed it themselves.
Then police appeared at Ledgerwood's home and told him he could either waive the 30-day time limitation or show up in court the next day. When he refused to waive the limit, a special session of the Indian Hill Mayor's Court was called the next day. The officer who gave him the ticket was there. Ledgerwood was found guilty of speeding and ordered to pay $95.
He appealed that verdict to Hamilton County Municipal Court, where Judge Cheryl Grant agreed to Ledgerwood's request to dismiss the ticket because Indian Hill had already dismissed it. Indian Hill police, days later, showed up at Ledgerwood's job and re-issued the same speeding ticket.
Ledgerwood took it to Municipal Court and Judge Grant again threw it out, agreeing with Ledgerwood that Indian Hill took longer than 30 days to bring his case to trial.
Upset Indian Hill prosecutors Don Crain and Yoder appealed that decision to the Cincinnati-based 1st District Court of Appeals and won. That court ruled the stop-and-start of the ticket and dismissal meant Indian Hill hadn't violated the 30-day deadline.
Why would the affluent city fight so hard over a $95 ticket?
"We only have a very few of these appeals, and for purposes of public safety, we decided to appeal," said Crain, the city's law director. Indian Hill pays a private law firm $4,000 per month to serve as its prosecutors. Crain and Yoder work for that firm.
Crain said the appeal was made after consulting with Police Chief Chuck Schlie and City Manager Dina Minneci.
Ledgerwood insists the way Indian Hill has pursued the case is harassment. He suspects police aren't happy the ticket has been thrown out twice.
"We feel obliged to support the officers," Crain said, wondering why their decision to pursue the $95 ticket was being questioned. "What would your solution be? Just to let this guy off the hook again?"
Yes, another local Mayor's Court judge said.
"The aggressiveness that (Indian Hill) is showing, this is not what you would normally see on a speeding ticket. This is just a speeding ticket," said Massimino Ionna, who has served as the Arlington Heights Mayor's Court judge for the last nine years. Ionna also is a former prosecutor and former Hamilton County Juvenile Court Magistrate.
"This is odd to see it pursued as far as it has," Ionna added. "At some point in time, you're losing money if you're (Indian Hill). Over a $95 ticket. It just seems more than normal."
Yoder said "30 to 40" hours have been spent prosecuting Ledgerwood's case so far.
Ledgerwood admitted in his first Mayor's Court appearance that he was speeding, Crain said, but now it's far more important to Ledgerwood – and to Indian Hill, Ledgerwood said – than just a speeding ticket.
"They made it clear to me walking out of the courtroom that they were not going to let this go," Ledgerwood said. "I feel like there's something fundamentally wrong, trying to get around the rules. This is wrong....I'm not trying to get out of a speeding ticket at this point."
Ledgerwood has spent $2,600 defending himself in the case and expects to spend $4,000 more because he's asked the Ohio Supreme Court to take the case.
The reissued speeding ticket has been assigned to another Municipal Court judge and is set to be in court Tuesday.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1284eb4Sarasota is protected from hurricanes because the American Indians who once lived here knew it was a safe place, which is why they decided to live here.
SARASOTA COUNTY -- Marcus Joel heard it from a co-worker. Bonni Fox, from a neighbor. Lisa Parker draws a blank when asked where she heard it, but she knows she did.
The story goes something like this, with the emphasis on "something."
Sarasota is protected from hurricanes because the American Indians who once lived here knew it was a safe place, which is why they decided to live here.
Or, the American Indians who once lived here blessed this place and made it safe from hurricanes.
Or, the ancient American Indian burial grounds scattered throughout the county are keeping the storms at bay.
Sarasota has not been a bull's-eye for a major hurricane since reliable records began in 1871.
But it was damaged to varying degrees by hurricanes in 1926, 1944 and 1950, as well as Donna in 1960 and Charley in 2004.
A number of other explanations for the relative safety have surfaced, most of them questionable.
One gives credit to nature's fortunate placement of dunes off the coast.
Another, to the magic powers of Siesta Key's white sand beaches and underwater crystals.
The most prominent story has to do with American Indians. Evidence to support the tale does not exist, however, according to everyone who studies either county history or American Indian beliefs.
When asked about a myth spreading around town, county archaeologist Dan Hughes jumped in: "Let me guess. If it has anything to do with Indians and hurricanes, it's not true."
Hughes takes phone calls about the myth every year during hurricane season. "I've had Realtors call and ask if it's true so they can advertise it," he said. "It gets passed down from neighbor to neighbor."
In fact, historians have no idea which tribes even lived in Sarasota County. It is one of the few coastal places skipped over by Spanish explorers, the only people who wrote descriptions of early Florida.
The explorers visited the Calusa tribe just south in Charlotte Harbor, and the Tocobaga just north in Tampa Bay, but they passed over the stretch of relatively linear coast in between.
One of the nation's largest fully excavated native burial grounds, at Historic Spanish Point in Osprey, offers few additional clues, only that people lived in the area as early as 3,000 B.C.
The third strike against the myth: If the American Indians did believe Sarasota was protected, more of them might have lived here.
But the population was not unusually high. About 2,000 people lived in the county originally, historians estimate.
"Technically speaking, Native Americans lived everywhere around the state," said Anne McCudden, executive director of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. "We know they moved inland during certain seasons. It could have been because of storms or mosquito levels. We don't know."
The gap in knowledge is likely part of what keeps the myth in circulation, said Uzi Baram, associate professor of anthropology at New College in Sarasota.
"Folk tales give us comfort, so we use something we can't disprove," Baram said. "Native Americans to this particular region are a little past the shadow of history."
Baram first heard the story at a dinner party several years ago.
"It's like a lot of urban myths; there's no origin, but somehow everyone knows it," Baram said. "It really tells us two things. One, we are very worried about hurricanes. And two, we wonder why we're lucky."
Regardless of luck, hurricane mythology is popular in other places, too.
The grotto at St. Mary's Star of the Sea Church in Key West is probably Florida's most famous source of hurricane lore. Built in 1922, residents are known to line up there to pray. Many believe it protects them from hurricanes, even though Hurricane Wilma blew through town just two years ago.
"There's nothing wrong with having faith, but if people believe that, one day their luck will run out and there will be serious loss of life," said Stephen Leatherman, director of Florida International University's International Hurricane Center.
Whether Sarasota residents actually believe the American Indian myth depends on whom you ask.
Fox, of Nokomis, who has lived in the area since 1959, shakes her head. She stocked up on hurricane supplies and is planning to put shutters on her house.
"I don't think we're in a blessed or protected place," Fox said while shopping at Home Depot. "I was here for Donna. I don't buy it."
Parker, who has lived in Sarasota for 14 years, rolls her eyes.
"I've heard that one," she said. "Something about this being sacred ground or something? I have no idea. I just keep counting my blessings."
Joel, however, is less skeptical. "I think the Indians would have known because they were so in tune with God and nature," he said. "I think it's kind of cool."Tom Rose and Gary Bauer
Human Events
March 17, 2008
Just four days after eight Israeli high school students were massacred by a Palestinian terrorist in Jerusalem, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino used perhaps the most shocking example yet of moral equivalence in explaining Vice President Dick Cheney’s upcoming trip to the Middle East. The trip was necessary said Perino, because “Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis are moving fast enough on their respective obligations to end violence and curb expansion of settlements.”
That the office of the President of the United States now openly equates the deliberate and orchestrated murder of unarmed high school boys with the bureaucratic decision of a municipal Israeli housing authority to permit the construction of new apartments in an existing subdivision is another redundant proof of how far the Bush Administration has retreated from its signature demand that moral clarity was a necessary component to victory in the war on terror.
To get a sense of how detached our diplomats are world imagine a doctor refusing to re-examine the condition of a patient whose condition deteriorates after each treatment. But in the Middle East, no matter how chronic the patient’s condition, the only change to treatment is an ever increased dosage of the same bad medicine.
Read entire articleIssouf Sanogo, AFP | A mutinous soldier patrols in the streets of Bouake, Ivory Coast, on May 14, 2017.
Renegade soldiers in Ivory Coast on Monday rejected a proposed deal to end their mutiny over unpaid bonuses just minutes after the defence minister announced on state-owned television that an agreement had been reached.
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President Alassane Ouattara’s government has been trying to restore order for four days after 8,400 mutineers took control of the second-biggest city, Bouake, and are present in cities and towns across the country.
Heavy gunfire on Monday also paralysed much of Abidjan, the commercial capital, and the western port city of San Pedro.
Defence Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi said on state television late on Monday: “To end the stalemate and avoid any more bereavement of families, the army chief of staff held talks with the soldiers on Sunday and Monday... The talks have resulted in an arrangement to end the crisis.”
'Mutineers won't go back on their demands'
But two spokesmen for the mutineers confirmed that the government’s proposal had been rejected.
“They proposed 5 million CFA francs ($8,356.17) to be paid tomorrow (to each soldier). But we want 7 million to be paid in one payment and immediately,” Sergeant Seydou Kone, one of the spokesmen, told Reuters.
Ivory Coast - emerging from a decade of political crisis capped by a 2011 civil war as one of the world’s fastest growing economies - is the biggest producer of cocoa and London futures climbed to a five-week high on Monday.
And while Ouattara, 75, secured a second term in a landslide poll victory in 2015, he has struggled to heal deep divisions that have made the country’s own military, cobbled together from rival rebel and loyalist factions, its greatest security threat.
The government paid the mutineers - most of them former rebels who helped Ouattara to power - 5 million CFA francs ($8,400) each to end an earlier uprising in January.
But it has struggled to keep a promise of a further payment of 7 million CFA francs after a collapse in the price of cocoa caused a revenue crunch.
(REUTERS)This is going to be my default gift for my friends who have kids.
Go the Fuck To Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don't always send a toddler sailing off to dreamland. Honest, profane, and affectionate, Adam Mansbach's verses and Ricardo Cortés' illustrations perfectly capture the familiar--and unspoken--tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night, and open up a conversation about parenting in the process. Beautiful, subversive, and pants-wettingly funny, Go the Fuck to Sleep is a perfect gift for parents new, old, or expectant. Here is a sample verse:
The cats nestle close to their kittens now.
The lambs have laid down with the sheep.
You're cozy and warm in your bed, my dear
Please go the fuck to sleep.Dublin stockbroker Investec is predicting the Government will collapse in October after failing to get its first Budget across the line.
Launching yesterday’s Summer Economic Statement, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said he was proceeding on the basis the Government would last for at least three years.
However, Investec analyst Philip O’Sullivan said Fianna Fáil’s stated opposition to the Government’s plan to scrap the Universal Social Charge (USC) was likely to prompt a showdown come Budget time.
“The minority Government needs opposition to support to pass a Budget and the largest opposition party, Fianna Fáil, is on record as being opposed to the scrapping of the USC, which is the cornerstone of Government fiscal policy,” he said in a note on the statement.
“Our base case is that the Government will not get its Budget through in October, which would necessitate immediate elections,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
Investec said the Government’s assumptions about the macroeconomic outlook were likely to be revised again later in the year given the high level of uncertainty currently stalking the global economy.
However, it welcomed the plan to establish a rainy day fund from 2019 and the announcement of additional capital investment.
Rival broker Goodbody described the Government’s projections as “prudent overall”.
“With increasing pressure to spend the ‘fruits of the boom’, it remains to be seen whether the situation plays out like this,” Goodbody analyst Dermot O’Leary said.
Merrion’s Alan McQuaid said the statment struck a bullish tone, while noting the Government’s prudent fiscal management of recent years was paying dividend, with the budget deficit expected to be eliminated by 2018.Supernova sweeping
\SOO-per-NOH-vah SWEEP-eeng\ n.
A process in which exploding stars push gas out of a galaxy.
Supernovas might be the maid service of the universe. These explosions of stellar remnants work hand in hand with supermassive black holes to sweep out gas and shut down galaxies’ star-forming factories, new research suggests.
The black holes at the cores of galaxies launch fountains of charged particles, which can stir up gas throughout the galaxy and temporarily interrupt star formation. But unless something intervenes, the gas will eventually cool and start forming stars again.
One mega-outburst from the black hole, though, could heat the gas surrounding the galaxy enough to let supernovas take over and mop up the mess, researchers suggest March 10 at arXiv.org. A celestial cleaning partnership might help astronomers understand why some massive galaxies stopped forming stars billionsUS Releases Redacted Document Twice... With Different Redactions
from the [redacted]-if-we-[redacted] dept
Indeed, in the public version of Bogdan's declaration submitted to the appeals court last month, the following passage is unredacted: If the detainee would need to use the restroom in Camp 6, the meeting must end and the detainee would need to be moved by guard staff back to his cell. The same passage, however, appears this way in the version of Bogdan's declaration released on Friday: If the detainees would need to use the restroom in Camp 6 [redacted]. Another passage in Bogdan's declaration released on Friday says: The frisk search that is conducted is to ensure there is nothing concealed between the clothing and the body. However, the word "frisk" is redacted from the public version of Bogdan's declaration submitted to the appeals court last month. The earlier version also says: "At no time is the detainee's actual groin exposed to the staff," whereas that passage is redacted in its entirety in the version of Bogdan's declaration the government released on Friday. A passage in the earlier version of Bogdan's declaration says: Additionally, for security reasons, internal moves could not be conducted in proximity to the attorney visits. That sentence has been redacted in the version of Bogdan's declaration released on Friday. Another passage in the most recent version of Bogdan's statement says: During the brief movement to the camps, detainees are restrained in a manner consistent with standard procedures for military corrections. However, the last part of that sentence, "in a manner consistent with standard procedures for military corrections", was redacted in the public version of the declaration the government released last month.
We've talked repeatedly about just how arbitrary the feds can be when it comes to redacting documents that they release. Despite the fact that they're supposed to err on the side of transparency, they often go in the other direction. However, it can reach absolutely ridiculous levels, such as when they release the same document twice... with different redactions, revealing what they redacted. Even worse, they claim that the redactions were necessary to avoid having Al Qaeda be able to break prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay prison. The document was released both times as part of a case concerning detainees' access to lawyers and (more specifically) the fact that the prison was conducting "genital searches" on prisoners if they wanted to meet with their lawyers.Part of the case revolves around a declaration from June 3rd from Guantanamo prison warden Colonel John Bogdan explaining why the genital searches are necessary. However, the US government says that if that declaration is fully made public it "would better enable our enemies to attack the detention facilities at Guantanamo or undermine security at the facility." Got that? The reason Bogdan's declaration must be redacted is that not redacting key parts would allow Al Qaeda to attack the prison.Given that, the US government released a redacted version to a reporter... apparently forgetting (or unaware) that they had already released a different redacted version a month ago in a related proceeding on the same case. Jason Leopold at Al Jazeera explores some of the differences Leopold also notes that the government claims that revealing the full document would also reveal "details about the physical layout of the detention facilities," but points out this makes no sense at all, because you can view satellite images of the prison via Google maps, and tons of reporters have toured the prison and written about the layout.No matter what, it seems abundantly clear that, yet again, the US is giving bogus reasons for its arbitrary redactions.
Filed Under: classified, guantanamo, redactions, secrecyGabi Garcia defeated 49 year old Yumiko Hotta at last Saturday’s RIZIN FF year-end event. Many fans and fellow fighters were critical of the fight. They felt the fight was a complete mismatch and found it uncomfortable to watch, with some even claiming it should be “illegal” to put on such a display. Fighters to lash out included Bec Rawlings and Katya Kavaleva, as well as UFC commentator Joe Rogan. Now a week after the fight, she finally speaks.
The multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion is still in Japan almost a week after the fight after losing her passport, and can’t return to the United States or Brazil right now. That didn’t stop her from hearing critics from fans around the world, though.
I don’t care what people say about me,” the 31 year old Brazilian told MMAFighting. “Joe Rogan tweeting about it. His job is to talk and promote his organization. My job is to beat someone else. I’m fine dealing with critics because I’ve heard a lot during my jiu-jitsu career and it can’t get worse than that. And I wasn’t fighting for free, right?”
“Everybody knows the rules and get paid to fight,” she continued. “(Hotta) accepted the fight. It’s not bizarre, it’s their culture. I respect that. It was a big marketing move for the company. ‘Look at us! Bizarre or not, look at us!’ I think (Nobuyuki Sakakibara) is very smart. He’s the greatest promoter in the world. He made ‘Minotauro,’ Wanderlei, Anderson, ‘Shogun,’ ‘Cro Cop’ and other legends.”
Garcia admits that she was scared by her 49 year old opponent Yumiko Hotta’s strategy. She says it completely threw her off, and she admits she feared her career could be over.
“When she started jumping on the ropes and running, I looked at Cris (Cyborg) and thought ‘what do I do now?’ My mind was like ‘she’s gonna fly into me and land a punch and my career will be over,’” Garcia said.
“I was surprised and shocked. I didn’t expect any of that. I thought she would throw an overhand or something like that, not to run and jump on the ropes. That scared me. Cris told me after the fight ‘I wouldn’t know how to react to that, too.’”
After the fight, a German pro-wrestler named Jazzy Gabert, who has a 1-0-0 record in MMA entered the ring, calling out Gabi Garcia and telling her “I want to kick your a**”. The Brazilian was not impressed saying she found it “disrespectful”. She admits she had her suspicions as she spotted her before the fight in the hotel.
“I’m a nice woman, but when I can’t control myself when people talk trash to me. And the good thing about MMA is that I can unleash everything I have,” Garcia said. “I saw her before the fight in the hotel and I was suspicious because she’s tall, and Ray (Elbe) said that she had done her MMA debut a couple of months before. She entered the ring after the fight and challenged me, said she was gonna kick my ass and things like that. It was so disrespectful to the Japanese crowd.
“I fought four times in one year, lost 37 pounds in three months, my mind is tired, but I’m injury-free,” she continued. “It’s easy to talk, to challenge me. So I was like ‘ok, let’s do this. Go backstage, do your medical exams, put some gloves on and let’s fight now,’ and then she started saying she needs six or eight months to prepare for me. But she’s my next opponent, for sure. That was for real. I had no idea that would happen, but the fight will happen. They haven’t told me if I’m fighting her on this next card, but I think I will be on it.“
Do you agree with Garcia’s opinions on her critics? Are you excited to see her fight “The Alpha Female” Jazzy Gabert? Let us know in the comments below.Matt Rupert was a critical piece of the Indy Fuel’s 2016-17 squad, as a high-energy, all-situations player who was also one of the team’s three 20-goal scorers.
So, why not have one Rupert when you can have two?
Both Matt Rupert and his twin brother Ryan Rupert have signed to play with the Fuel in 2017-18.
Matt had an outstanding first year with the Fuel, playing both wings and tallying 21 goals and 16 assists. He was the only player to suit up in all 72 games, and he played a number of key roles and played in all situations with the team. He was second on the team in goals and third in points.
Ryan will be entering his fourth pro season. A sixth-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2012, he has split his career between the Toronto and Ottawa organizations. Last season, he split time between the Senators’ AHL affiliate in Binghamton and the ECHL affiliate in Wichita. He had nine goals and 12 assists in 29 ECHL games with the Thunder, and had six points in 33 AHL games. Over his career, Ryan Rupert has 17 goals and 23 assists in 53 ECHL games with Orlando and Wichita, and 31 goals and 27 assists in 149 AHL games with Toronto and Binghamton.
While the two are twins, Ryan turned pro a year earlier than Matt, who has played two ECHL seasons, with 32 goals and 24 assists in 125 games. Matt played the 2015-16 season in Orlando before signing with the Fuel.
Before turning pro, Matt and Ryan were teammates in midget and junior hockey, playing three and a half seasons together with the OHL’s London Knights, winning OHL titles in 2011 and 2013. Each served as an alternate captain in his last year with the Knights – Ryan in 2013-14 and Matt the following year. Not only were they teammates in London, they also were briefly teammates with Orlando in 2015-16 – during which Matt played 53 games and Ryan played seven while spending much of the year in the AHL. Both players stand 5-foot-8 and weigh in at approximately 175 pounds, and both are left-shot forwards.
Both players are natives of London, Ontario, each recently turned 23.
The two signings give the Fuel four forwards and one defenseman under contract for 2017-18. Ryan Rupert becomes the second newcomer to the roster, joining Andrew Schmit, who signed last week. Forward Nick Bligh and defenseman Chris Williams have also been signed for 2017-18.
Fuel 2017-18 roster
Forwards
Nick Bligh (6-0, 185, Milton, Mass.). Age: 24. Shoots: R. 2016-17 team: South Carolina Stingrays/Adirondack Thunder/Indy Fuel (ECHL)
(6-0, 185, Milton, Mass.). Age: 24. Shoots: R. 2016-17 team: South Carolina Stingrays/Adirondack Thunder/Indy Fuel (ECHL) Matt Rupert (5-8, 175, London, Ont.). Age: 23. Shoots: L. 2016-17 team: Indy Fuel (ECHL)
(5-8, 175, London, Ont.). Age: 23. Shoots: L. 2016-17 team: Indy Fuel (ECHL) Ryan Rupert (5-8, 173, London, Ont.). Age: 23 Shoots: L. 2016-17 team: Binghamton Senators (AHL)/Wichita Thunder (ECHL)
(5-8, 173, London, Ont.). Age: 23 Shoots: L. 2016-17 team: Binghamton Senators (AHL)/Wichita Thunder (ECHL) Andrew Schmit (6-5, 220, Grafton, Wis.). Age: 25. Shoots: R. 2016-17 team: Pensacola Ice Flyers (SPHL)
DefensemenAppeals Court Fully Upholds FCC's Net Neutrality Rules
from the pop-the-bubbly dept
"Because a broadband provider does not— and is not understood by users to—“speak” when providing neutral access to internet content as common carriage, the First Amendment poses no bar to the open internet rules."
"We also determined that the Commission had “adequately supported and explained its conclusion that, absent rules such as those set forth in the [2010 Open Internet Order], broadband providers represent[ed] a threat to Internet openness and could act in ways that would ultimately inhibit the speed and extent of future broadband deployment.” Id.at 645. For example, the Commission noted that “broadband providers like AT&T and Time Warner have acknowledged that online video aggregators such as Netflix and Hulu compete directly with their own core video subscription service,” id.,and that, even absent direct competition, “[b]roadband providers... have powerful incentives to accept fees from edge providers, either in return for excluding their competitors or for granting them prioritized access to end users,” id.at 645–46.
After months of anticipation the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has upheld the FCC's Open Internet Order, an indisputably-massive win for net neutrality advocates. The full court ruling (pdf) supports the FCC's arguments across the board, including the FCC's decision to classify internet providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. That's not only big for net neutrality, but it solidifies the FCC's authority as it looks to move forward on other pro-consumer initiatives such as the exploration of some relatively basic new privacy protections for broadband users.Historically the DC Appeals court has been a mixed bag for the FCC, but in this instance the court declared the FCC's neutrality protections rest on solid legal ground from beginning to end, dismantling arguments by the likes of US Telecom, AT&T, and advocacy groups like TechFreedom from stem to stern. That includes industry attempts to prevent the rules from being applied to wireless networks (a split decision whereby fixed-line services were covered by wireless was not was something that had worried many telecom sector consumer advocates).The court also repeatedly shot down ISP claims that the rules somehow violate their First Amendment rights:The court also fully supports the FCC's contention that thanks to limited competition, broadband providers have plenty of incentive to act anti-competitively against "edge" providers like Netflix, and that this threat required FCC action:Ironically, the internet has Verizon to thank for today's ruling. The telco sued to overturn the FCC's flimsy 2010 rules, which didn't cover wireless and quite by design included massive, tractor-trailer-sized loopholes. But in overturning the rules the previous court decisions gave the FCC a path forward -- in effect urging it to reclassify ISPs as common carriers under Title II. It may also be worth noting (again) that despite industry claims that this reclassification would result in telecom Armageddon, the internet and broadband investment (at least in marginally competitive areas) has rumbled along happily.While a huge win for net neutrality fans everywhere, it's important to understand that the open internet isn't out of the woods yet. The fight could still stumble its way to the Supreme Court. The Presidential election could similarly culminate in a total dismantling of the current FCC and a restocking of the agency with ISP-allies eager to roll back the protections -- as well as the myriad other efforts the FCC's currently engaged in (cable set top box reform).And as we've noted a few times zero rating and usage caps also play a huge role in determining what constitutes a level playing field for startups and other smaller companies, and the rules don't specifically address such concerns. In other words, we've noted that even while legally sound the FCC's rules have plenty of loopholes allowing ISPs to hinder net neutrality -- just as long as they're somewhat clever about it.The FCC has stated they'll be looking at the potential anti-competitive ramifications of zero rating and usage caps on a "case by case basis." With the court's full support, hopefully that inquiry will culminate in a harder policy decision sooner rather than later.
Filed Under: broadband, competition, dc circuit, fcc, net neutralityThe Couchbase developer community is growing, and as it grows our community continues to change we need to know what people are looking for. This makes it a good time to find out more about how people want our community to work.
I would love to know what you’re thinking! For example, maybe you’d like to see more workshops in cities near you or perhaps you’d prefer to see more sample apps that show how to tackle a particular use case? I would love to sit down with everyone but that’s not possible, unfortunately, so the next best thing is to ask you to take a few moments to fill in a short survey.
This will help me and the Developer Advocacy team make the Couchbase community a rewarding experience for everyone. And, if that’s not enough, all entries will be submitted for a draw to win a $500 Amazon voucher!This edition covers Rails 2.x.
For Rails 3.2, please see the Rails 3.2
For Rails 4.0, please go here Rails 4.0
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU’RE BUYING THE RIGHT EDITION.
Rails swept to world-wide attention in the Spring of 2005. Since then, it has become a serious and popular alternative to traditional web development environments such as Java and.NET. Why? Because Rails has the best of both worlds.
You want to write professional-grade applications: Rails is a full-stack, open-source web framework, with integrated support for unit, functional, and integration testing. It enforces good design principles, consistency of code across your team (and across your organization), and proper release management.
But Rails is more than a set of best practices. Rails also makes it both fun and easy to turn out very cool web applications. Need Ajax support, so your web applications are highly interactive? Rails has it built in. Want an application that sends and receives e-mail? produces and consumes web services? supports meaningful URLs? Want to write applications with a REST-based interface (so they can interact with other RESTful applications with almost no effort on your part)? All built-in.
With this book, you’ll learn how to use ActiveRecord to connect business objects and database tables. No more painful object-relational mapping. Just create your business objects and let Rails do the rest. Need to create and modify your schema? Migrations make it painless (and they’re versioned, so you can roll changes backward and forward). You’ll learn how to use the Action Pack framework to route incoming requests and render pages using easy-to-write templates and components. See how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, implement web services, and create dynamic, user-centric web-pages using built-in Javascript and Ajax support. There are extensive chapters on testing, deployment, and scaling.
As with the previous editions of the book, we start with an extended tutorial that builds parts of an online store. And, of course, the application has been rewritten to show the best of Rails 2.Denard Robinson's rookie season in the NFL was a bit of a whirlwind, to put it mildly. He was the fifth-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars, viewed as a wide receiver in the NFL by many |
toreinvent roads again. Google’s Vannevar is moving construction to the cloud, much of shipping logistics and the supply chain is going there as well, and robots can already build small buildings and operate autonomous mines. The net result is that both core infrastructure and many of the mechanisms for building and funding it are becoming computerized, and thus deployable in new locations.
>The'reverse diaspora' is a totally new phenomenon: one that starts out internationally distributed, finds each other online, and ends up physically concentrated.
And from the road we turn our eyes to the sky: next up will be a carbon-friendly computerized infrastructure for safer air traffic control, to guide the emerging fleets of drones doing everything from photography to surveying to delivery.
As for the physical items used in daily life – the present, let alone the future, is already a time where everything from food to shelter to clothing to transportation to your very wallet and keychain can be accessed on demand from your mobile phone, in more cities every day.
So when it comes to the constraints on mobility imposed by the physical world, the rule is simple: when goods themselves can't be digitized, our interface to them will be.
The benefits of such high mobility are much more than convenience to the people who supply these goods. For example, with online food ordering, an owner of a small restaurant is finally able to prepare meals in batch, order ingredients in bulk, and reach repeat customers without wasting valuable, limited resources in guesswork. With the advent of mobile microtasks, we are seeing the emergence of new digital assembly line jobs that offer greater flexibility, less risk of injury, and hourly wages comparable in some cases to those of new hires at GM. And with autonomous mines, workers can extract needed minerals without risking black lung disease.
This is why location is becoming so much less important: technology is enabling us to access everything we need from our mobile phone, to find our true communities in the cloud, and to easily travel to assemble these communities in person. Taken together, we are rapidly approaching a future characterized by a totally new phenomenon, the reverse diaspora: one that starts out internationally distributed, finds each other online, and ends up physically concentrated.
What might these reverse diasporas be like? As a people whose primary bond is through the internet, many of their properties would not fit our pre-existing mental models. Unlike rugged individualists, these emigrants would be moving within or between nation states to become part of a community, not to strike out on their own. Unlike would-be revolutionaries, those migrating in this fashion would be doing so out of humility in their ability to change existing political systems. And unlike so-called secessionists, the specific site of physical concentration would be a matter of convenience, not passion; the geography incidental and not worth fighting over.
>Silicon Valley is nothing special. The geography of physical concentration is incidental and not worth fighting over.
Today, one of the first and largest international reverse diasporas has assembled in Silicon Valley, drawn by the internet to the cloud capital of technology; in fact, an incredible 64% of the Valley’s scientists and engineers hail from outside the U.S., with 43.9% of its technology companies founded by emigrants.
But the geocenter of this cloud formation is only positioned over Silicon Valley for historical reasons, as the semiconductor manufacturing that was made easier by the temperate clime of the South Bay has long since moved away. Nothing today binds technologists to the soil besides other people. In this sense Silicon Valley is nothing special; it is best conceptualized as just the most common (x,y) coordinates of a set of highly mobile nodes in a social network whose true existence is in the cloud.
And this global technology cloud truly stretches over the whole earth, touching down at various locales both in the U.S. – at Sendgrid in Boulder, Tumblr in New York, Rackspace in Austin, Snapchat in L.A., Zipcar in Boston, Opscode in Seattle – and outside it – at Skype in Estonia, Tencent in Shenzhen, Soundcloud in Germany, Flipkart in India, Spotify in Sweden, Line in Tokyo, and Waze in Israel. Cultural connections forming between people in this cloud are becoming stronger than the connections between their geographic neighbors. Palo Alto's Accel invests in India's Flipkart, Estonia's Skype is folded into Seattle's Microsoft, Israel's Waze ismerged into Mountain View's Google, and the SoundCloud engineer on a laptop in Berlin builds a deeper relationship with the VC in New York than the nearby Bavarian bank.
>It took almost 170 years to go from Jamestown to America. At Internet time, things could happen more quickly than that.
Today, the geocenter of the global technology cloud is still hovering over Silicon Valley. But in a world where technology is making location increasingly less important, tomorrow the reverse diaspora may well assemble somewhere else.
Of course, it would take some time for a reverse diaspora assembled in a new location to advance from small communities in existing buildings to the infrastructure for towns and cities, let alone to starting new countries. If history is any guide, it took almost 170 years to go from 1607 (Jamestown) to 1776 (America), 90 years to go from 1857 (Sepoy Mutiny) to 1947 (India), and 52 years to go from 1896 (Herzl) to 1948 (Israel) – though at Internet time, things could happen more quickly than that.
>Will this ultimately end in a cloud country of our own, as Page, Thiel, and Musk propose in different ways?
And we can't know from today's vantage point where that first reverse diaspora might assemble outside the U.S., or what those cloud cities or countries will be like. They could be countries formed by internationally recognized processes similar to the ones that created26 new countries over the past 25 years, a patternnoted by Marc Andreessen. They could be regions of the world set aside by global agreement for experimentation, as discussed by Larry Page. They could befloating cities in international waters asput forth by Peter Thiel, or one of the more ambitious 80,000 person colonies on Mars desired by Elon Musk. The specific location is still unknown; in a real sense it matters far less than the people there.
What we can say for certain is this: from Occupy Wall Street and YCombinator to co-living in San Francisco and co-housing in the UK, something important is happening. People are meeting like minds in the cloud and traveling to meet each other offline, in the process building community – and tools for community – where none existed before. Those cloud networks where people poke each other, share photos, and find their missing communities are beginning to catalyze waves of physical migration, beginning to reorganize the world.
Will this ultimately end in a cloud country of our own, as Page, Thiel, and Musk propose in different ways? We can set this as a long-term goal, like the kind of dream that propelled so many millions to exit and come to America in the first place, but it’s unclear what the future holds. We do know this, however: as cloud formations take physical shape at steadily greater scales and durations, it shall become ever more feasible to create a new nation of emigrants.
Editor: Sonal Chokshi @smc90The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are getting ready for their fifth big-screen production, in a sort of reboot. Time will tell how it turns out, but chances are it won't live up in our minds to the TMNT heyday of the late 80s and 90s, when the franchise first broke out into mainstream popular culture. As a result of its wild popularity, we got plenty of games to go with it--both hits and misses, naturally.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES, 1989)
This game benefitted from the youth of the collective audience that would go for a game about anthropomorphic turtles. There is a fine line between a bad game and a hard game, and if a developer aims at a player base that is young enough they won't be able to discern the difference. Somewhere we have memories tucked away of playing this, and not getting very far, and probably assuming we just weren't good enough at it.
Stuck in an uncanny valley between Shinobi and Zelda 2, this game had you explore the map from a top-down perspective, and occasionally enter self-contained dungeons crawling with members of the Foot Clan, Mousers, and traps. In all honesty, though, the controls were stiff and unforgiving, hardly appropriate for a game about acrobatic ninjas. In hindsight, TMNT could have starred Splinter so that we could blame its problems on his Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game (Arcade, NES, 1989)
If any game should have clued us in to the relative mediocrity of the NES TMNT, it was the near-simultaneous release of the arcade game. This set a standard that several Turtles games (and arguably) several beat-em-ups, would follow after. The controls were more fluid and the stage design let the heroes positioning make a real difference in combat. The visuals were above-average for the time, giving a sharp cartoon aesthetic that was reminiscent of the popular cartoon show. It also made a point of invoking characters as they were represented on that show, including Baxter Stockman and fellow mutants Bebop and Rocksteady.
It was replicated with near-arcade accuracy on the NES, but had to be renamed "Turtles 2: The Arcade Game" to reduce confusion. Though it wasn't as graphically impressive, this was arguably the best version of the game since it included extra areas and bosses not included in the arcade version. Plus, it's just more fun to beat down the Foot Clan when you know your financial well-being isn't slipping away one quarter at a time.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (Gameboy, 1990)
Something of a midpoint between the first two games, Fall of the Foot Clan was a severely simplified beat-em-up. It took place on a flat plane, and Foot members were mere obstacles to be shredded through. It was only five stages long, but the Turtles themselves were large and expressive sprites that invoked the cartoon even better than the Arcade version.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Missions (PC, 1991)
A far cry from the trajectory of the other Turtles games, Manhattan Missions strayed from the kid-friendly cartoons and took its inspiration far more from the dark and brooding comics and the somewhat self-serious film. It has a ticking clock in which to find the Shredder, and the underground settings look more similar to the first NES game. The combat was more complex, with a block key and set number of shurikens to deploy. It never caught fire like its NES counterparts, though, most likely because they were modeled more after the cartoon where the bulk of its popularity rested.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project (NES, 1992)
Despite being named after our own atomic bomb testing, this is another happy-go-lucky turtles beat-em-up. It was modeled mostly after the second Turtles game, which had gained critical acclaim and wide sales. It added more combat options, along with the ability to borrow lives from the other Turtles. It made for an early example of co-op that was friendly to parents playing with young children, since a more experienced player could let their younger counterpart borrow lives if necessary.
The story, revolving around Shredder flooding New York while the Turtles were off on vacation for some reason, was a loose conceit to get them back to New York to shred some Foot goons. It also made way for a references to the second film, including "Super Shredder"--the menacing mutated version of the Turtles arch-nemesis.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade, 1991; SNES, 1992)
The arcade once again set the standard for highly-polished beat-em-ups, but it didn't quite carry the same revolutionary magic as the original TMNT Arcade. The premise was similar to the third Turtles movie, but it was definitely steeped more in the cartoon version. The lush, colorful visuals and expressive character work could have almost been pulled right off of Saturday mornings.
Though the premise was extremely similar to the third Turtles movie, the game used it to explore several different eras and settings instead of merely ancient Japan. Like the Arcade-to-NES port, the SNES version included a number "4" to mark it as part of the series, and added several new bosses not found in the original. Super Shredder once again made an appearance as the final boss.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis, 1992)
The wild popularity of TMNT couldn't ignore the Genesis forever. Released almost simultaneously with Turtles in Time for SNES, Hyperstone Heist was the Genesis' own arcade beat-em-up. It was comparable in most respects, though the premise differed greatly. Instead of sending the Turtles careening through time, Hyperstone Heist revolved around them banding together to stop the Shredder's latest plot, which kicked off with shrinking New York City using the power of the Hyperstone from Dimension X.
Though the visual fidelity suffered a bit from the Genesis' relatively limited range, the core design was almost identical. The fewer stages were longer, and the gameplay featured faster, smoother animations. Like most games from the era of Nintendo vs. Sega, stalwarts in both camps still swear by their own version of the Turtles.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES, Genesis, Super NES, 1993)
Just as the Turtles helped define beat-em-ups, they couldn't escape the creeping influence of other popular genres. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat had helped put fighting games on the map, and Konami responded with Tournament Fighters. Since it developed the game for three wildly different platforms, the differences between each are extremely noticeable. The four core Turtles were playable in all three versions, but the similarities essentially stop there.
The NES was bare-bones and simple, having your chosen hero run through his brothers and then a few end-bosses. The two 16-bit versions had more complex stories and far more playable characters from both the cartoon and comics series, but the rosters were different. The SNES version included Wingnut, Chrome Dome, Armageddon, War, Rat King, and Karai, alongside original character Aska. The Genesis sported April O'Neil herself, Casey Jones, Ray Fillet, and the original character Sisyphus. Though the 16-bit versions were competent fighting games themselves, they were mostly awash in a sea of Street Fighter clones.overtorque ninjette.org newbie
Name: Ben Location: CA Join Date: Mar 2015
Motorcycle(s): 2008 250r
Posts: 4
Did I destroy my bike with a torque wrench Hi -
New here and not for a good reason.
During an oil change, which I've done 2 previously on my own, I used a torque wrench that I had just bought trying to ensure that everything was done according to manual. I must have misunderstood the adjustments on the torque wrench - to the point I over-tightened the oil filter mounting bolt to where I not only crushed the filter but the metal bottom piece was shattered and the top part on the compartment housing the filter with the thread for the mounting bolt was stripped and destroyed. Apologies for not using specific part names I have been unable to find the details yet.
I don't know if I just totaled the entire engine, but that's my worry. Any and all help is appreciated, I've included some pictures of the damage as well.
Thanks Attached Images IMG_2695.jpg (84.2 KB, 72 views) IMG_2698.jpg (93.5 KB, 59 views) IMG_2702.jpg (72.9 KB, 41 views) IMG_2707.jpg (105.9 KB, 38 views) IMG_2703.jpg (123.7 KB, 39 views)“A Day of God’s Power” Museum Treasures Heidi Bennett 18 September 2015
For early members of the Church, the summer of 1839 was a season of both suffering and miracles. Forced from their homes in Missouri earlier that year, they found refuge among the residents of Illinois and Iowa, who helped to care for their immediate needs. Soon the Church purchased property in Commerce, Illinois, which the Prophet Joseph later renamed Nauvoo, based on the Hebrew word for “beautiful.” He encouraged all Church members to gather there.
But Nauvoo was not yet “the city beautiful.” A swampy portion of the land needed to be drained before it was habitable, and in the meantime mosquitoes thrived in the area. The mosquitoes carried malaria and infected hundreds of people.
Joseph and Emma Smith took many of the sick into their home to care for them—so many that Joseph and Emma moved into a tent in their yard to free up space. Wilford Woodruff recalled, “The large number of Saints who had been driven out of Missouri, were flocking into Commerce; but had no homes to go into, and were living in wagons, in tents, and on the ground. Many, therefore, were sick through the exposure they were subjected to. Brother Joseph had waited on the sick, until he was worn out and nearly sick himself.”
Joseph did become ill, but after several days he rose from his bed, feeling prompted to minister to those who were suffering. Brigham Young wrote:
July 22, 1839.—Joseph arose from his bed of sickness, and the power of God rested upon him. He commenced in his own house and door-yard, commanding the sick, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise and be made whole, and they were healed according to his word. He then continued to travel from house to house from tent to tent upon the bank of the river, healing the sick as he went until he arrived at the upper stonehouse, where he crossed the river in a boat, accompanied by several of the Quorum of the Twelve, and landed in Montrose.
Wilford Woodruff was with Joseph that day. While they were waiting to cross the river, a man asked Joseph for help. Wilford recalled:
A man came to [Joseph] and asked him if he would go about three miles and heal two of his small children, who were twins, about three months old, and were sick nigh unto death. He was a man of the world, he had never heard a sermon preached by a Latter-day Saint. Joseph said he could not go, but he would send a man. After hesitating a moment, he turned to me and said, “You go with this man and heal his children,” at the same time giving me a red silk handkerchief, and said, “After you lay hands upon them, wipe their faces with it, and they shall be healed; and as long as you will keep that handkerchief, it shall ever remain as a league between you and me.” I went and did as I was commanded, and the children were healed.
Wilford Woodruff kept this handkerchief as a reminder of this great experience and of Joseph’s compassion toward the sick, including those who were not of his faith. A corner of the handkerchief has been cut off, possibly by someone wanting a memento of the Prophet.
Although many were healed that day, sickness continued to afflict others in the area for months. Joseph continued to care for the sick, sacrificing his own needs to tend to the needs of others. John Lyman Smith recalled a visit from the Prophet in September 1839:
The Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum visited us and administered to us all, father being delirious from the effects of the fever. Their words comforted us greatly, as they said in the name of the Lord you all shall be well again. Upon leaving the hovel Joseph placed his slippers upon my mother’s feet and sprang upon his horse from the doorway and rode home barefoot. The next day Joseph removed father to his own house and nursed him until he recovered.
As the weather turned colder, the mosquitoes died off, and the people recovered from their illness. Men drained the swamps, and Nauvoo became a beautiful city. But that summer of sickness and healing will always stand as a witness of Joseph Smith’s compassion and the power of God given to him to heal and bless God’s children.As Michael Moore so aptly pointed out in Bowling for Columbine, the root of the American dilemma lies deep within the American psyche. We are a machismo-addled culture where bullies are rewarded and “wimps” get sand in the face. We live in an age of school shootings, rape, and ceaseless war. You can keep throwing the petty thieves in jail and try to impeach the big boys, but until you get to the source of what makes a guy a guy, you won’t stand a chance against the patriarchy.
This is what’s so wonderful about the war on boys. Teachers (who are roughly 75% female) have bolstered girls’ grades in England by including bad behavior in test scores. Where Sally may fail at math, Johnny gets an F in “sitting still,” and the bell curve evens out. When I was a kid, bad behavior was rewarded with a trip to the principal. Worse behavior got a suspension. Really, really bad behavior got a visit from the police, who scared the crap out of you. Today, we call the police for all infractions and everything is written down. This is effective because the government can keep tabs on who is a bad boy and ensure he is monitored for life. If we had this kind of system back when most school shooters were young, we never would have had school shootings.
“How many children have to die before we get tough on boys who sort of make gun gestures with their hands?”
The fight against bullying is a great way to eradicate masculinity, but that’s only the beginning. The evil males of tomorrow can be difficult to spot today. It may seem subtle to a layman laywoman, but boys commit their acts of patriarchal violence almost from birth. Last year, first grader D’Avonte Meadows was so sure he was sexy that he sexually harassed his teacher by saying, “I’m sexy and I know it.” Luckily, his (presumably) strong womyn teachers saw where this mindset was going and suspended him immediately. This all went down as Colorado was finally considering a zero-tolerance policy toward steel penises (guns) more than ten years after Columbine. In January of this year, another first-grader, Rodney Lynch, was suspended for making a gun gesture with his finger. Unfortunately, the school chickened out in the face of patriarchal outrage and removed the charge from his permanent record. Two months later, a seven-year-old worked tirelessly through lunch, biting and chomping his Pop-Tart until it resembled a gun. Josh Welch was suspended a good eleven years before he was able to buy an assault rifle and start killing his classmates. Now that’s what I call a preventive measure. Most recently, a violent little assassin was caught red-handed while seemingly pointing a pencil like it was a gun and pretending to be a Marine”ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Being a Marine is being a government murderer, but pretending to kill people with an imaginary gun is even worse, so the school suspended him.
Pay to Play - Put your money where your mouth is and subscribe for an ad-free experience and to join the world famous Takimag comment board.Yesterday, Twitter and the tech blogs were all of a flutter about a 128GB iPad. The problem, it seems, is that this thing is hugely expensive. That's OK--you're not going to buy one.
Their own way
First thing to consider about the iPad is that iOS is the only mobile operating system that does not provide a way to expand its storage. (Although some devices like the Nexus 7 don't have a slot, the OS provides a way to do it.) That means that if you happen to need a ton of onboard storage, Apple has to solder it onto the logic board when you buy it.
A Surface RT, for example, can come with 64GB of onboard storage, but you can buy a 64GB microSD card for it for some small amount of money. But this is not an option on the iPad. If Apple just allowed you to plug in a microSD card, this whole thing would be a non-issue.
Who's it for?
Typically, enterprises that buy a bunch of iPads as an application platform typically buy the latest version (always the big one, not the Mini), and in virtually every case buy the 32GB version in black. They also typically don't buy a cellular modem option.
Businesses tend to buy 32GB to give them some expansion room. If you're buying a couple of thousand iPads, because the memory is not upgradable and because you want them to last a few years, 32GB gives you a bit of wiggle room. So why the huge leap to 128GB?
It's simple--there are plenty of complex, specialised situations where you don't have very good connectivity and need a large local cache.
Say you're doing workshop-based training in a bank branch. The instructor asks you to watch a video and complete a short exercise. A 32GB iPad is fine for this because you have Wi-Fi connectivity, and a nice, fat pipe out of the cloud. Streaming the video in this arrangement is fine--you don't need much local storage.
But say you're responsible for commanding an operation to put out a fire in a remote chemical plant? You're going to need a ton of documentation to do that job, and maybe have absolutely no connectivity. Even if you do have connectivity, time is of the essence. A colleague who's suffering from chemical burns doesn't need to hear excuses about "2G being slow" whilst the paramedic is trying to download information on how to treat him.
And there are tons more of these examples where you have very specialised problem domains and either problematic connectivity or would rather not use what connectivity you have. For example:
High resolution medical imaging: You might be working in a hospital with amazing connectivity and pulling massive images off of a server is a doddle, or you might be working in one in the middle of a war zone where investing in IT infrastructure is not the primary concern
Electronic flight bags for pilots: A normal paper flight bag (containing the paperwork and charts needed for a safe flight) weighs 40lb (18kg). On every single flight, every day, worldwide--that is a staggering amount of carbon footprint to spend just moving paper about. Lee Armstong, technical director at the software company that makes the popular Plane Finder app reckons they track 35,000 commercial flights each day. Average weight of a European is 156lb (71kg)--so that's about the equivalent of about an additional 9,000 passengers per day, just wasted carting paperwork about
High-end video or music multimedia work: Not my area, but I presume there are cases where you have large chunks of data to slice and dice around locally and you're using a device like an iPad rather than a traditional workstation to do this.
To reiterate, this is always specialised work. Most people don't need this much local storage, especially not when connectivity is getting better, generic cloud storage is getting more mature, and content providers are getting more capable. For example, now if I buy MP3s from Amazon, it goes straight into Cloud Player and I never need a local copy at all. Categorically, though, this type of lightweight domestic use is not what a 128GB iPad is all about.
Evolution
There is another point to all of this, which is that this is just how the market works. Any number on a spec sheet gets pushed up over time, whether it's the amount of persistent local storage, main memory, screen resolution, whatever. Give it enough time without the appearance of a 128GB iPad and people would have been complaining that Apple didn't have a 128GB iPad.
Although maybe not--it could be that because of the maturity of cloud services and the drive toward "the cloud is your hard disk" both in the PC and post-PC worlds means that local storage becomes less relevant. My Chromebook only has 16GB of local storage, but because of that specific design of that device as being just a cloud terminal, I'm not sure it matters.
So, the 128GB iPad is not for you. Unless you like to buy the top-end model of every gadget on the market, in which case Apple is waiting for your call.The next financial crisis won’t come from the banking sector. That’s the message implicit in the latest report on the global financial sector from the Financial Stability Board, the group that monitors what’s happening with the world’s money flow. Instead, it’s very likely to come from the massive and growing “shadow banking” sector—an area mostly untouched by our government regulators.
New numbers show that the shadow banking industry—which includes everything from money market funds to real-estate trusts to hedge funds—grew by a whopping $5 trillion in 2013 to $75 trillion. If you look at the sector as a percentage of the global economy, that’s nearly what is was pre-crisis, back in 2007.
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That means many of the risks that used to be held on bank balance sheets have moved to the non-regulated areas of finance. This says a number of important things. First and perhaps most importantly, all the backslapping in Washington about how much “safer” our banking system is now than it was six years ago is meaningless. While banks are still plenty risky, increasingly, new financial risk isn’t being held in banks — it’s being held in places that regulators can’t see it. (see my debate with Treasury over that fact here.) That Dodd-Frank financial regulation wasn’t able to do more about this is a real pity.
One of the ways that you can already see how the shadow-banking sector is influencing the financial markets is in margin debt. That’s a measure of the amount of debt that investors are using to buy stocks – and right now, New York Stock Exchange margin debt is at record highs; some think that’s because hedge funds have become such huge market players, in some cases as large or larger than banks in terms of their influence. Margin debt at record highs is scary for many reasons, one of which is that when there’s a lot of margin debt and the market turns, it speeds up a fall, leading to the kind of snowball effect that can lead to a market crash.
While that won’t necessarily happen any time soon, it’s worth remembering that debt itself is always the best predictor of financial crisis. As plenty of research shows, over the last two hundred years or so, every single financial crisis has been preceded by a big increase in debt levels. The growth in the shadow banking sector means we now know less, not more, than we did about who’s holding debt than before the financial crisis of 2008. That’s something we should all be worried about.
Contact us at editors@time.com.It’s night in the big city
A man says a prayer, puts down a $20 and rolls the dice
The faucet won’t stop dripping
“Welcome to Season Three of Theme Time Radio Hour, and we’re glad to have ya. We’ve had a lot of fun the last couple of years, presenting the greats and near-greats, the fondly remembered and the almost forgotten, performing a wide variety of music on a veritable cornucopia of subjects. But as we start season 3 we’re gonna take our cue from a sign Harry S. Truman kept on his desk: The Buck Stops Here. And not just the buck, the yen, the sheckle, the nickel and dime, and if you still subscribe to the barter system, maybe a bushel of corn. So break open your piggy banks and cash in your bonds. This week’s episode of TTRH is most definitely cash and carry.”
Singers and Songs
Jerry McCain & His Upstarts: That’s What They Want
That’s What They Want Louis Prima: Pennies From Heaven
Pennies From Heaven Papa Charlie Jackson: You Put It In, I’ll Take It Out
“If ya listen, it’s a very unusual instrument he’s playing. It’s kinda half banjo, half guitar. It’s a six string instrument, tuned and fingered like a guitar but with a banjo body, so it has that trebly banjo sound, but there’s more notes available.”
Van Morrison: Blue Money
“I almost think we play too much Van Morrison. Then I listen to one of his records and I think, no we don’t!”
Ray Charles: Greenbacks
“There’s a great baritone sax solo on this record. It’s probably Howard Cooper, and you can almost hear him stepping back into the reed section to blend back in at the end of his solo. I always like to give you a little something to listen to in a song; I find it makes you listen to the whole thing more carefully.”
“One of the true honky-tonk heroes”
Buddy Guy (Amigo Hombre): 100 Dollar Bill
“Sounds a little bit like Barrett Strong’s ‘Money’ – not enough to get sued I guess.”
P Diddy (Featuring Lil’ Kim, The Lox, and the Notorious B.I.G.): It’s All About the Benjamins
It’s All About the Benjamins The Clovers: Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash
“It’s because of them we have the familiar sound of the saxophone solo on vocal group records. You see what happened was, back on February 22nd, 19 and 51, tenor saxophonist Frank ‘Floorshow’ Culley brought his band into the Atlantic studios to back the clovers. Well Ahmet Ertegun only wanted to use the rhythm section; Frank knew if he didn’t play he wasn’t gonna get paid. Ahmet said to him, ‘Now listen man, if I pay you, you’re gonna play!’ so play he did and it was the first saxophone solo on a vocal group record. It reached number one, and the bootin’ tenor solo was a mainstay on vocal group records ever since.”
Jessie Price: You Can’t Take It With You
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(Complete episode Notes available at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)
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Comments
commentsIn the face of Lenovo’s and subsidiary Motorola’s major cuts in workforce and a redoubling of the latter’s brand on the mobile division’s output, this development came without warning. Yet, we’ve come to start relying on leakers who have begun building their credibility with us. Then again, a leak is a leak, so we should all be taking the grain of salt we’ve been prescribed.
Malaysia’s @upleaks on Twitter posted then removed a press photo of a Lenovo-branded phone dubbed the “Lemon X” that retains much of the current Motorola design language. The signature arcs at top and bottom edges, the back panel curve to the palm, an anodized metal island with the camera on top, LED flash mid-plate and, in lieu of a batwing symbol (Lenovo’s takes place below the island), what looks to be a fingerprint scanner right below. The display at front leaves cramped margin for the speakers and little else.
No other information came with the cryptic picture that may have gone private. Or, it could be a scrapped model that laid as a consequence of Lenovo’s mobile move towards Motorola.
Source: @upleaks (Twitter)
Via: juggly.cn (Google Translate)Speaker Cables
Ultrasonically-Welded Connections on Terminated Speaker Cables
Blue Jeans Cable is now America's only vendor of ultrasonically-welded speaker cables; with our recent acquisition of a Sonobond ultrasonic welder (manufactured in West Chester, PA), we are able to weld (yes, that's "weld," not "solder") locking banana plugs, spades and pin connectors to any of our speaker cable products. Ultrasonic welding allows us to literally fuse the copper wire to the brass banana plug body without using the heat of conventional gas or arc welding, for a tremendously strong physical connection, low contact resistance, and low susceptibility to corrosion. To read more about this unique process, see our article: Ultrasonic Welding at BJC.
Speaker Cable:
Speaker cable is a bit different from a lot of the interconnect cables we handle, in several respects. Because speakers are driven at low impedance (typically 4 or 8 ohms) and high current, speaker cables are, for all practical purposes, immune from interference from EMI or RFI, so shielding isn't required. The low impedance of the circuit, meanwhile, makes capacitance, which can be an issue in high-impedance line or microphone-level connections practically irrelevant. The biggest issue in speaker cables, from the point of view of sound quality, is simply conductivity; the lower the resistance of the cable, the lower the contribution of the speaker cable's resistance to the damping factor, and the flatter the frequency response will be. While one can spend thousands of dollars on exotic speaker cable, in the end analysis, it's the sheer conductivity of the cable, and (barring a really odd design, which may introduce various undesirable effects) little else that matters. The answer to keeping conductivity high is simple: the larger the wire, the lower the resistance, and the higher the conductivity. We offer a few alternatives in large-gauge speaker cable, either raw or terminated, as follows:
Belden 5000 series Cable:
Our favorite speaker cable is the Belden 5000 series; we carry two offerings, the 10-gauge 5T00UP and the 12-gauge 5000UE (note: with wire gauges, the smaller the number, the larger the wire is). Belden's standard version of these cables is available only in a gray jacket, with white and black inner conductors; however, we've had Belden build us a slightly modified version of each, with a white outer jacket (less conspicuous in many installations) and red and black inner conductors, which we call "Ten White" and "Twelve White". Both the 10-gauge and 12-gauge versions consist of two separately insulated conductors, twisted together and wrapped in an outer PVC sleeve; the gray version of the 10-gauge 5T00UP is shown at right. Whether in white or gray, or 10 or 12 AWG, all of these cables are UL-listed and NEC-rated for in-wall use (the NEC rating for 5000UE and Twelve White is CL3R; for 5T00UP it's CL3, and for Ten White, it's CL2).
Canare |
involved champagne, further heightening the county’s concerns. “When they’re serving alcohol, that’s going to set off some alarm bells in terms of potential liabilities,” Siqveland said.
Rettman, who represents the neighborhood, said Wednesday she was not intimately involved in discussions over the lot, and said county staff had taken the lead.
CHURCH IS SKEPTICAL
Church advocates remain skeptical. “I don’t really think it has anything to do with the garden,” said Linda Ji, an attorney for the church. “I think it has to do with the lawsuit we’re involved in right now. I don’t think the county is happy that the community members went to the church for permission to do the garden.”
In 2015, Rock of Ages sued the city of St. Paul for nearly $900,000 in damages stemming from the church demolition. The case remains in U.S. District Court, with a motion hearing scheduled for late October. County officials say that other than the potential land sale, they’re not involved. “We’re not a party to the suit,” Siqveland said.
Among several issues raised in the suit, Rock of Ages was billed for demolition costs and special assessments such as street maintenance, and then stripped of its tax exempt status. Those debts have snowballed.
“Now the church owes over $80,000 in property taxes, assessments and demolition costs,” Ji said.
These people are now trespassing. To call the police or not to call the police? What would you do? pic.twitter.com/gPS1mHANIm — FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) September 12, 2016
The lawsuit alleges the city of St. Paul assembled land for wider sidewalks leading up to the Green Line’s Dale Street Station, and the church was in the way of the proposed “mobility enhancement zone,” an amenity spelled out in one of the city’s seven station area plans. The city has denied those claims.
“They really wanted the land for the light rail station,” Ji said. “We’re saying that land was wrongly taken from the church, and it belongs to the church, not the state. We’re also claiming it’s holy, too.”
Once the demolition was complete, the church planted its steeple cross in concrete at the lot corner nearest the intersection of Dale Street and Sherburne Avenue. Rock of Ages installed a building cornerstone marked 1950, from its previous life as the Church of the Nazarene. The lot still draws the faithful for Good Friday services.
Ji noted that the city demolished the church for alleged code violations and “nuisance” issues but never purchased it outright.
“The city didn’t buy it,” she said. “The lot is in limbo right now.”North Korean authorities are investigating recent fires at an arms factory and a train transporting military goods, sources said Monday.
They said a huge fire broke out early this month on a train carrying military uniforms in Ryanggang Province, which is home to the North's armaments industry, causing considerable losses.
In September, a fire broke out in an arms factory in North Pyongan Province. Both happened near the border with China.
One source said it remains unclear what caused the fires and whether they are related, but they could have been the result of minor resistance to the regime of Kim Jong-un.
The regime still has a firm grip on officials, soldiers and the public at large, making it extremely difficult to organize any major resistance. But sources say disgruntled citizens may be venting their frustration with arson targeting key facilities.
Since Kim came to power in 2012, new high rises, water park and other leisure facilities have mushroomed in the capital Pyongyang, but people in rural areas are growing increasingly disgruntled with their poor living conditions.After nearly two years of hacking, I am tagging this version of Tgres as beta. It is functional and stable enough for people to try out and not feel like they are wasting their time. There is still a lot that could and should be improved, but at this point the most important thing is to get more people to check it out.
What is Tgres?
Tgres is a Go program which can receive time series data via Graphite, Statsd protocols or an http pixel, store it in PostgreSQL, and provide Graphite-like access to the data in a way that is compatible with tools such as Grafana. You could think of it as a drop-in Graphite/Statsd replacement, though I’d rather avoid direct comparison, because the key feature of Tgres is that data is stored in PostgreSQL.
Why PostgreSQL?
The “grand vision” for Tgres begins with the database. Relational databases have the most man-decades of any storage type invested into them, and PostgreSQL is probably the most advanced implementation presently in existence.
If you search for “relational databases and time series” (or some variation thereupon), you will come across the whole gamut of opinions (if not convictions) varying so widely it is but discouraging. This is because time series storage, while simple at first glance, is actually fraught with subtleties and ambiguities that can drive even the most patient of us up the wall.
Avoid Solving the Storage Problem.
Someone once said that “anything is possible when you don’t know what you’re talking about”, and nowhere is it more evident than in data storage. File systems and relational databases trace their origin back to the late 1960s and over half a century later I doubt that any field experts would say “the storage problem is solved”. And so it seems almost foolish to suppose that by throwing together a key-value store and a concensus algorithm or some such it is possible to come up with something better? Instead of re-inventing storage, why not focus on how to structure the data in a way that is compatible with a storage implementation that we know works and scales reliably?
As part of the Tgres project, I thought it’d be interesting to get to the bottom of this. If not bottom, then at least deeper than most people dare to dive. I am not a mathematician or a statistician, nor am I a data scientist, whatever that means, but I think I understand enough about the various subjects involved, including programming, that I can come up with something more than just another off-the-cuff opinion.
And so now I think I can conclude definitively that time series data can be stored in a relational database very efficently, PostgreSQL in particular for its support for arrays. The general approach I described in a series of blogs starting with this one, Tgres uses the technique described in the last one. In my performance tests the Tgres/Postgres combination was so efficient it was possibly outperforming its time-series siblings.
The good news is that as a user you don’t need to think about the complexities of the data layout, Tgres takes care of it. Still I very much wish people would take more time to think about how to organize data in a tried and true solution like PostgreSQL before jumping ship into the murky waters of the “noSQL” ocean, lured by alternative storage sirens, big on promise but shy on delivery, only to drown where no one could come to the rescue.
How else is Tgres different?
Tgres is a single program, a single binary which does everything (one of my favorite things about Go). It supports all of Graphite and Statsd protocols without having to run separate processes, there are no dependencies of any kind other than a PostgreSQL database. No need for Python, Node or a JVM, just the binary, the config file and access to a database.
And since the data is stored in Postgres, virtually all of the features of Postgres are available: from being able to query the data using real SQL with all the latest features, to replication, security, performance, back-ups and whatever else Postgres offers.
Another benefit of data being in a database is that it can be accessible to any application frameworks in Python, Ruby or whatever other language as just another database table. For example in Rails it might be as trivial as class Tv < ActiveRecord::Base; end et voilà, you have the data points as a model.
It should also be mentioned that Tgres requires no PostgreSQL extensions. This is because optimizing by implementing a custom extension which circumvents the PostgreSQL natural way of handling data means we are solving the storage problem again. PostgreSQL storage is not broken to begin with, no customization is necessary to handle time series.
In addition to being a standalone program, Tgres packages aim to be useful on their own as part of any other Go program. For example it is very easy to equip a Go application with Graphite capabilities by providing it access to a database and using the provided http handler. This also means that you can use a separate Tgres instance dedicated to querying data (perhaps from a downstream Potgres slave).
Some Internals Overview
Internally, Tgres series identification is tag-based. The series are identified by a JSONB field which is a set of key/value pairs indexed using a GIN index. In Go, the JSONB field becomes a serde.Ident. Since the “outside” interface Tgres is presently mimicking is Graphite, which uses dot-separated series identifiers, all idents are made of just one tag “name”, but this will change as we expand the DSL.
Tgres stores data in evenly-spaced series. The conversion from the data as it comes in to its evenly-spaced form happens on-the-fly, using a weighted mean method, and the resulting stored rate is actually correct. This is similar to how RRDTool does it, but different from many other tools which simply discard all points except for last in the same series slot as I explained in this post.
Tgres maintains a (configurable) number of Round-Robin Archives (RRAs) of varying length and resolution for each series, this is an approach similar to RRDTool and Graphite Whisper as well. The conversion to evenly-spaced series happens in the rrd package.
Tgres does not store the original (unevenly spaced) data points. The rationale behind this is that for analytical value you always inevitably have to convert an uneven series to a regular one. The problem of storing the original data points is not a time-seires problem, the main challenge there is the ability to keep up with a massive influx of data, and this is what Hadoop, Cassandra, S3, BigQuery, etc are excellent at.
While Tgres code implements most of the Graphite functions, complete compatibility with the Graphite DSL is not a goal, and some functions will probably left uniplemented. In my opinion the Graphite DSL has a number of shortcomings by design. For example, the series names are not strings but are syntactically identifiers, i.e. there is no difference between scale(foo.bar, 10) and scale("foo.bar", 10), which is problematic in more than one way. The dot-names are ingrained into the DSL, and lots of functions take arguments denoting position within the dot-names, but they seem unnecessary. For example there is averageSeriesWithWildcards and sumSeriesWithWildcards, while it would be cleaner to have some kind of a wildcard() function which can be passed into average() or sum(). Another example is that Graphite does not support chaining (but Tgres already does), e.g. scale(average("foo.*"), 10) might be better as average("foo.*").scale(10). There are many more similar small grievances I have with the DSL, and in the end I think that the DSL ought to be revamped to be more like a real language (or perhaps just be a language, e.g. Go itself), exactly how hasn’t been crystalized just yet.
Tgres also aims to be a useful time-series processing Golang package (or a set of packages). This means that in Go the code also needs to be clean and readable, and that there ought to be a conceptual correspondence between the DSL and how one might to something at the lower level in Go. Again, the vision here is still blurry, and more thinking is required.
For Statsd functionality, the network protocol is supported by the tgres/statsd package while the aggregation is done by the tgres/aggregator. In addition, there is also support for “paced metrics” which let you aggregate data before it is passed on to the Tgres receiver and becomes a data point, which is useful in situations where you have some kind of an iteration that would otherwise generate millions of measurements per second.
The finest resolution for Tgres is a millisecond. Nanoseconds seems too small to be practical, though it shouldn’t be too hard to change it, as internally Tgres uses native Go types for time and duration - the milliseconds are the integers in the database.
When the Data points are received via the network, the job of parsing the network stuff is done by the code in the tgres/daemon package with some help from tgres/http and tgres/statsd, as well as potentially others (e.g. Python pickle decoding).
Once received and correctly parsed, they are passed on to the tgres/receiver. The receiver’s job is to check whether this series ident is known to us by checking the cache or that it needs to be loaded from the database or created. Once the appropriate series is found, the receiver updates the in-memory cache of the RRAs for the series (which causes the data points to be evenly spaced) as well as periodically flushes data points to the data base. The receiver also controls the aggregator of statsd metrics.
The database interface code is in the tgres/serde package which supports PostgreSQL or an in-memory database (useful in situations where persistence is not required or during testing).
When Tgres is queried for data, it loads it from the database into a variety of implementations of the Series interface in the tgres/series package as controlled by the tgres/dsl responsible for figuring out what is asked of it in the query.
In addition to all of the above, Tgres supports clustering, though this is highly experimental at this point. The idea is that a cluster of Tgres instances (all backed by the same database, at least for now) would split the series amongst themselves and forward data points to the node which is responsible for a particular series. The nodes are placed behind a load-balancer of some kind, and with this set up nodes can go in and out of the cluster without any overall downtime for maximum availability. The clustering logic lives in tgres/cluster.
This is an overly simplistic overview which hopefully conveys that there are a lot of pieces to Tgres.
Future
In addition to a new/better DSL, there are lots of interesting ideas, and if you have any please chime in on Github.
One thing that is missing in the telemetry world is encryption, authentication and access control so that tools like Tgres could be used to store health data securely.
A useful feature might be interoperability with big data tools to store the original data points and perhaps provide means for pulling them out of BigQuery or whatever and replay them into series - this way we could change the resolution to anything at will.
Or little details like a series alias - so that a series could be renamed. The way this would work is you rename a series while keeping its old ident as an alias, then take your time to make sure all the agents send data under the new name, at which point the alias can go away.
Lots can also be done on the scalability front with improved clustering, sharding, etc.
We Could Use Your Help
Last but not least, this is an Open Source project. It works best when people who share the vision also contribute to the project, and this is where you come in. If you’re interested in learning more about time series and databases, please check it out and feel free to contribute in any way you can!The Queensland Police Service can confirm the death of a male officer who was involved in a shooting incident whilst on duty in the Lockyer Valley today.
The incident occurred around 2.20pm as police were attempting to intercept a vehicle on Wellers Road at Seventeen Mile.
Police are continuing to search for the armed man who fled the vehicle into nearby bushland.
An emergency declaration was declared under the provisions of the Public Safety Preservation Act and an exclusion zone remains in place for the area of Fords Road, Forestry Road West, Sandy Creek Road, Gerard Lane, Seventeen Mile Road, Wellers Road and Forest Road.
Residents living in the exclusion zone are being advised to remain inside their homes until further notice.
If you have information for police, contact Policelink on 131 444 or provide information using the online form 24hrs per day.
You can report information about crime anonymously to Crime Stoppers, a registered charity and community volunteer organisation, by calling 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24hrs per day.Leaving the apartment, we head to get coffee at a bougie espresso parlor in the South Park district. On the way there, Staples interrupts his own discursive lecture on NBA playoff permutations to wave at small dogs and babies in strollers. They all love him. “See?” he says. “When you act regular, they treat you regular.” Spend time around Staples and you’ll repeatedly hear “regular” used as an aspirational ideal. For him, the word describes a life in between being an active gang member and being a super-famous rapper, maybe something closer to the type of person he might’ve been had he not been forced to abandon his erstwhile grad school plans.
His near-austere lifestyle is unusual for anyone his age, gangbanger or celebrity: he’s never drank or smoked. And despite his proud 2N affiliation, no tattoos cover his wiry frame. But he still gives rides to car-less friends, picks up calls from jails, and deposits money in commissary accounts. When Staples isn’t performing or recording, he’s playing NBA 2K on Playstation, following sports, reading, or watching episodic crime dramas. He just finished AMC’s Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul. If I want to understand why people join gangs, he recommends Sons of Anarchy. Staples says he always wanted to be “normal… a family dude.” As direct evidence of his desire for regularity, he offers: “Beethoven is my favorite movie. Beethoven 2, too.”
But if novelist Vladimir Nabokov was right, and genius is nonconformity, Vince Staples will never be normal. That won’t stop him from trying, though. During the time that we spent together, he loosely outlines a few basic goals: he wants enough money to invest in real estate, help out disadvantaged schoolchildren in Long Beach — he’s currently in talks with Levi’s about sponsoring a program — have kids of his own, and raise them in a middle-class L.A. suburb. Maybe somewhere like Torrance, the sleepy residential enclave that sits 20 miles south of L.A.’s downtown core. “I’ve never met anyone from Torrance who didn’t have their head on straight,” Staples says.
We make our way from the coffee spot to the Original Farmer’s Market on Fairfax Avenue, taking Wilshire to Beverly, cutting past the baronial mansions of Hancock Park to reach this Depression-era landmark on the Westside, with its old-time toffee emporiums, ethnic food stands, and souvenir shops. At the market, a tour guide in a 10-gallon hat points at Staples and says, “That guy is famous.” His Tommy Bahama audience snaps photos in response.
Perusing the hat racks in search of Yankees and North Carolina fitteds, Staples comments on the smell of weed smoke. Mid-interview, he’s interrupted by a beautiful 30-year-old woman in couture sweatpants, who fans out over him like she’d just run into Zayn Malik.
A few hours later, he’ll tweet: “I fell in love at the Farmer’s Market.”This policy is valid from 18 November 2009 This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact stonecipher98277@comcast.net. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements. The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest. To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.orgLiterary lovers everywhere, today is your day: You were right, the book is almost always better than the movie!
Vocativ analyzed Goodreads and IMDb ratings for 800 books and their movie adaptations ranging from “Harry Potter” to “Hannibal” and discovered that the book had a higher rating 74 percent of the time. In fact, books are considered “much better” on our scale than their movie adaptations in 51.8 percent of cases.
For example, moviegoers rated “The Martian” 8.2 out of 10 on IMDb, but readers gave the book by Andy Weir on which it was based 4.3 out of 5, which means the book rates 0.4 points higher when both are scored out of 10.
For the purpose of our analysis, Vocativ created a key which ranks the book as “much better” than the movie if the rating difference between Goodreads versus IMDb is greater than one point, or simply “better” if the difference is between 0.5 and 1 point. Books rated the same or up to 0.5 better than their screen adaptations are deemed to have a “very similar rating.” Vocativ inverted this comparison for movies that were deemed better than the book.
In 22.1 percent of cases Vocativ analyzed, ratings for the book and the movie were more or less on par with one another. Of the 866 books and movies Vocativ analyzed, in a meager 3.9 percent of instances did ratings for the movie surpass reviews the book it was based on. Just 1.2 percent of movies came in as “much better” than the paper version.
Walter Kirn’s 2002 novel “Up In The Air,” about a Career Transition Counselor—basically, someone who fires people—was one of those rare cases in which the book’s readers rated it lower than the movie’s audience. The book has an adjusted Goodreads rating of just 5.7 out of 10. Audiences reacted better to the 2009 film adaptation starring George Clooney, and give it a 7.5 out of 10 on IMDb.
Not everyone is better on paper.
Editor’s note: This article originally compared ratings for the 2015 movie “Stonewall” and the 1994 movie “Stonewall,” which are in fact unrelated. It has been corrected.For hard drive prices, the race to zero is over: nobody won. For the past 35+ years or so, hard drives prices have dropped, from around $500,000 per gigabyte in 1981 to less than $0.03 per gigabyte today. This includes the period of the Thailand drive crisis in 2012 that spiked hard drive prices. Matthew Komorowski has done an admirable job of documenting the hard drive price curve through March 2014 and we’d like to fill in the blanks with our own drive purchase data to complete the picture. As you’ll see, the hard drive pricing curve has flattened out.
75,000 New Hard Drives
We first looked at the cost per gigabyte of a hard drive in 2013 when we examined the effects of the Thailand Drive crisis on our business. When we wrote that post, the cost per gigabyte for a 4 TB hard drive was about $0.04 per gigabyte. Since then 5-, 6-, 8- and recently 10 TB hard drives have been introduced and during that period we have purchased nearly 75,000 drives. Below is a chart by drive size of the drives we purchased since that last report in 2013.
Observations
We purchase drives in bulk, thousands at a time. The price you might get at Costco or BestBuy, or on Amazon will most likely be higher. The effect of the Thailand Drive crisis is clearly seen from October 2011 through mid-2013.
The 4 TB Drive Enigma
Up through the 4 TB drive models, the cost per gigabyte of a larger sized drive always became less than the smaller sized drives. In other words, the cost per gigabyte of a 2 TB drive was less than that of a 1 TB drive resulting in higher density at a lower cost per gigabyte. This changed with the introduction of 6- and 8 TB drives, especially as it relates to the 4 TB drives. As you can see in the chart above, the cost per gigabyte of the 6 TB drives did not fall below that of the 4 TB drives. You can also observe that the 8 TB drives are just approaching the cost per gigabyte of the 4 TB drives. The 4 TB drives are the price king as seen in the chart below of the current cost of Seagate consumer drives by size.
Seagate Hard Drive Prices By Size
Drive Size Model Price Cost/GB 1 TB ST1000DM010 $49.99 $0.050 2 TB ST2000DM006 $66.99 $0.033 3 TB ST3000DM008 $83.72 $0.028 4 TB ST4000DM005 $99.99 $0.025 6 TB ST6000DM004 $240.00 $0.040 8 TB ST8000DM005 $307.34 $0.038
The data on this chart was sourced from the current price of these drives on Amazon. The drive models selected were “consumer” drives, like those we typically use in our data centers.
The manufacturing and marketing efficiencies that drive the pricing of hard drives seems to have changed over time. For example, the 6 TB drives have been in the market at least 3 years, but are not even close to the cost per gigabyte of the 4 TB drives. Meanwhile, back in 2011, the 3 TB drives models fell below the cost per gigabyte of the 2 TB drives they “replaced” within a few months. Have we as consumers decided that 4 TB drives are “big enough” for our needs and we are not demanding (by purchasing) larger sized drives in the quantities needed to push down the unit cost?
Approaching Zero: There’s a Limit
The important aspect is the trend of the cost over time. While it has continued to move downward, the rate of change has slowed dramatically as observed in the chart below which represents our average quarterly cost per gigabyte over time.
The change in the rate of the cost per gigabyte of a hard drive is declining. For example, from January 2009 to January 2011, our average cost for a hard drive decreased 45% from $0.11 to $0.06 – $0.05 per gigabyte. From January 2015 to January 2017, the average cost decreased 26% from $0.038 to $0.028 – just $0.01 per gigabyte. This means that the declining price of storage will become less relevant in driving the cost of providing storage.
Back in 2011, IDC predicted that the overall data will grow by 50 times by 2020, and in 2014, EMC estimated that by 2020, we will be creating 44 trillion gigabytes of data annually. That’s quite a challenge for the storage industry especially as the cost per gigabyte curve for hard drives is flattening out. Improvements in existing storage technologies (Helium, HAMR) along with future technologies (Quantum Storage, DNA), are on the way – we can’t wait. Of course we’d like these new storage devices to be 50% less expensive per gigabyte then today’s hard drives. That would be a good start.Capitalism and the global plutocracy
21 January 2015
The international charity Oxfam has issued a new report on social inequality showing that the gap between the super-rich and the majority of society is not only not shrinking—it is growing at an ever-faster pace.
In 2013, according to updated figures, the 92 richest multi-billionaires had as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of society. In 2014, this figure dropped to 80 billionaires. In other words, a group of people who can fit into a double-decker bus control more wealth than 3.5 billion people, equivalent to the combined populations of China, India, the United States and the European Union.
Inequality is growing at such a rapid pace that the richest 1 percent will control more wealth than the bottom 99 percent of society by next year. It is in fact quite possible that, on a global scale, society has never been so unequal through thousands of years of human history as it is today.
Oxfam timed the release of its report to coincide with the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which will be attended by some 2,500 billionaires, corporate executives, heads of state and their various hangers-on.
Oxfam Director Winnie Byanyima has been invited to co-chair the event, and the organization said in a statement that she will “use her position to call for urgent action to stem the rising tide of inequality.”
Byanyima will be directing her appeal, ironically enough, to the largest annual gathering of the global plutocracy whose enrichment the report decries. Many of the hundred or so billionaires—and countless hundreds of multi-millionaires—in attendance have seen their wealth double over the past five years. Meanwhile, as the report demonstrates, the wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population was lower in 2014 than it was in 2009.
Over the past year, a series of public figures, from US Treasury Secretary-turned multi-millionaire hedge fund manager Lawrence Summers, to International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, to US President Barack Obama and Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, have publicly voiced their concerns over the growth of inequality.
The enormous chasm between the super-rich and the vast majority of the population, the working class, is the undeniable defining feature of life throughout the world. There is concern among some of those responsible for this state of affairs that capitalism is, as Marx and Engels put it, producing its own gravediggers in the form of an increasingly restive and hostile working class.
Yet conspicuously absent from any of these statements is any consideration of the class and political dynamics that gave rise to the growing gap between the rich and the majority of society. These commentators all proceed as though the growth of social inequality were merely the product of impartial processes, outside of the actions of governments and social classes.
In fact, the unending accumulation of wealth by the super-rich is the product of the single-minded policy of the ruling class carried out over decades and escalated since the 2008 financial crisis, itself triggered by the criminal activities of the financial elite. The US government alone has funneled nearly $7 trillion into the financial system, which has been used to prop up over $30 trillion in financial assets. Central banks throughout the world have followed suit.
Global corporations have used the mass unemployment arising from the economic downturn to slash wages and impose speedup on their workers, while governments around the world have utilized the economic crisis as an opportunity to impose deep austerity measures.
Nearly seven years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the policies undertaken in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash are leading to a new stage in the global crisis. The Chinese stock market bubble, which minted dozens of new billionaires this year, appears to be collapsing, having suffered its biggest loss since 2008 on Monday. Europe is in deflation, and analysts predict the Russian economy will shrink five percent this year. On Monday, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its estimate for economic growth this year.
The only response the ruling class has to the crisis of its system is to funnel even more cash to the coffers of the rich. “Monetary policy must… stay accommodative,” the IMF declared, “including through other means if policy rates cannot be reduced further,” a veiled reference to money-printing ("quantitative easing") programs.
Parasitism is the social cloth from which the global plutocracy is cut. It makes its wealth not through production, but through cheating, speculation and plunder. It uses its immense resources to dominate political life and pursue policies aimed at its own enrichment at the expense of the great mass of mankind.
The global plutocracy is a cancer on the human race. In the relentless defense of its own wealth and the capitalist profit system upon which this wealth rests, the ruling classes of the world have brought humanity to the brink of ruin. The major imperialist powers are engaged in a re-division of the world. This past year, in the anti-Russian offensive of the US and NATO over Ukraine, the possibility of a nucelar world war, one hundred years after the First World War, emerged as a clear and present danger.
The response of the plutocracy to the growth of social tensions is not reform, but repression. Massive intelligence, police and military apparatuses have been erected, directed ever more openly at the population at home. The noxious political ideologies of the last century—fascism, chauvinism, authoritarianism—are being resurrected again, to be turned against any challenge from the working class to the rule of the plutocrats.
It is hopelessly naive to believe that any of the great problems confronting society can be resolved without breaking the stranglehold of the financial oligarchy. Its wealth must be expropriated; the corporations it controls must be nationalized under the democratic control of the working class, so they can be run in the interests of social need, rather than private gain.
For this, a political movement must be built, one that aims at unifying the international working class—the vast majority of the world’s population—on the basis of a revolutionary program to overturn the bankrupt capitalist system. This is the task of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Committee of the Fourth International. We call on workers and young people throughout the world to make the decision to join the SEP and take up the fight for socialism.
Andre Damon
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Like the early days of the internet or the smartphone, the possibilities of virtual reality appear limitless - what we know VR to be today is only a small fraction of what's possible in the future as technology continues to advance. VR will soon redefine long distance social interactions, offer immersive experiences that rival those in the real world, provide new depth and clarity in education, and make a fundamental shift in how we interact and engage with information. Why look at a 2D representation of a place when you can experience it with your sight, sound and touch?
Rift's hardware ecosystem consists of a headset, sensor, remote, xBox controller, and will offer tracked Touch controllers in late 2o16. Rift's custom, made for VR screens and lenses work together gives users a large field of view and true stereoscopic depth. When combined with a sensor that captures and translates your movements into VR, it makes you feel like you are really there.
Rift is more than a family of hardware products. It's a fully-integrated hardware/software system that fundamentally changes the way humans interact and communicate with the digital world. The sum of all design decisions across hardware and software are what makes Rift a cutting-edge VR experience that's comfortable, easy to use, and something people will want to use over and over again.
Following two successful developer kit releases over the course of Oculus' four year existence, the eyes of the world are now on a product is the first true consumer virtual reality system.The design and delivery of the consumer Rift ecosystem is a critical step toward bringing virtual reality out of the realm of science fiction and into your living room.
For decades the world has dreamt of virtual reality. Like flight or travel to the moon, it had been theoretically possible, but technically unattainable - essentially living in the realm of science fiction. Starting with a duct-taped prototype and a clear vision, Oculus recently proved that technical hurdles of the past were finally surmountable, igniting what would become a global race to consumer VR. Enabled by advances in smartphone components, optics and many other related industries, Rift combines cutting-edge technology to deliver experiences that are truly greater than the sum of its parts.
Oculus Rift is a first of its kind consumer virtual reality system, delivering high-quality, positionally tracked virtual reality (VR). Simply put, Rift is a portal that transports you to places you have never been and lets you do things you never thought possible. Whether you're stepping into your favorite game, jumping to an exotic destination, or hanging out with friends in VR, you'll feel like you're really there.
Products as amazing as the experiences they enable.
Virtual reality often conjures images of large cumbersome hardware so complex it could only exist in academia or classified military labs. Creating a consumer VR system is largely about dispelling these old ideas while reducing the barriers to entry for average consumers.
Oculus Rift is a consumer virtual reality system, delivering high-quality, positionally tracked VR to consumers for the first time. Simply put, Rift is exactly what you imagine: a portal that allows you go places you have never been, do things you never thought possible.
With two dev kits released and the eyes of the world on a product release that will likely be the first true consumer virtual reality system, the consumer Rift ecosystem is one of the most highly anticipated and watched consumer product launches in recent times.
One size fits you.
Everyone is different, and the Rift Headset is designed with enough adjustability to fit most people comfortably. The main strap system combines a compliant material in the rear section with structural support up front to distribute weight and take pressure off your face. Intuitive tabs on the top and sides allow for easy size adjustment and infinite customization. Once the headset is setup for you, it slips on and off in a single motion, allowing immediate access to the virtual world. The elegant and unique outcome is highlighted in a silhouette that is inherently iconic.
Truly wearable.
The Rift Headset is designed from the ground up to provide a balanced fit and long-term comfort. To achieve this, Rift features high-precision optical assemblies and functional mechanical systems that are wrapped in soft materials to t provide comfort, distribute weight, and conceal complexity.
A canopy of tensioned fabric stretches, enabling precise lens spacing adjustment without exposing telescoping or other visually obtrusive features allowed us to maintain a seamless appearance.
Microfiber-lined, TPU straps integrate electronics, reducing visible cable connections. External fabric conceals the functional components of the motion tracking system |
to the jurisdiction” of the United States. Congress’s INA does not grant them citizenship; federal law never has.
So why is a child born on American soil to foreign parents an American citizen by birth? Because the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause is a floor, not a ceiling. Under Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution, Congress has absolute power to make laws for immigration and for granting citizenship to foreigners. Congress’s current INA is far more generous than the Constitution requires. Congress could expand it to grant citizenship to every human being on earth, or narrow it to its constitutional minimum.
Media confusion on this issue is puzzling, because the greatest legal minds in this country have discussed the issue. (Just none of them were put on camera to explain it.) Scholars including Dr. John Eastman of Chapman University, and even Attorney General Edwin Meese—the godfather of constitutional conservatism in the law—reject the myth of birthright citizenship.
Nor is rejection of birthright citizenship limited to conservatives. Judge Richard Posner—a prolific scholar who, despite being appointed by Ronald Reagan, is a liberal judicial activist—wrote in 2003 in Ofoji v. Ashcroft:
We should not be encouraging foreigners to come to the United States solely to enable them to confer U.S. citizenship on their future children. But the way to stop that abuse of hospitality is to remove the incentive by changing the rule on citizenship…. A constitutional amendment may be required to change the rule whereby birth in this country automatically confers U.S. citizenship, but I doubt it…. The purpose of the rule was to grant citizenship to the recently freed slaves, and the exception for children of foreign diplomats and heads of state shows that Congress did not read the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment literally. Congress would not be flouting the Constitution if it amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to put an end to the nonsense.
It is another question as to whether Congress could strip citizenship from the children of illegals who already have it. If Congress could do that, then it could also strip citizenship from the many millions of foreigners who came to the United States legally and went through the lawful process to become Americans. There is no court precedent for that, and the congressional and ratification debates from the Fourteenth Amendment do not reveal a clear answer.
Trump could rescind President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty, but that executive order did not grant anyone citizenship, and it would be a steep uphill climb in court to try to take someone’s citizenship away. And if the children already here are American citizens, then they could never be deported.
Some other parts of Trump’s plan face even longer odds. The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Bill of Rights applies to all “persons,” not just citizens. And the courts have always held that due process requires any foreigner to be given a “meaningful hearing” in court before being deported. That would certainly impact the pace of deportation.
Donald Trump’s position on immigration has changed drastically from his previous positions, just like his past support for socialized healthcare and abortion. He has not yet explained why he changed his position on immigration, and some voters do not trust that he sincerely holds to his current campaign positions.
But none of that changes the legality of his immigration proposal. While parts of it may face legal challenges, denying citizenship to the children of illegal aliens is fully consistent with the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
Ken Klukowski is legal editor of Breitbart News and a practicing constitutional attorney, and explains birthright citizenship in Chapter 12 of Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.Michael Moore is slamming 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, calling the Republican front-runner a “wuss” and pushing him to participate in Thursday night’s Fox News presidential debate.
The liberal documentary filmmaker wrote on Twitter on Thursday:
Hey @realDonaldTrump she brought me on because she needed a real man on the show. Grow a pair &show up 2nite, u wuss https://t.co/mkVyXkagR1 — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 28, 2016
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Trump announced this week that he’s boycotting the debate in Iowa amid a feud with the network and moderator Megyn Kelly. Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Kelly since the first GOP debate, in August, when the “Kelly File” host pressed him about his derisive language toward women.
Trump’s campaign instead will hold a pro-veterans event Thursday at the same time as Fox News’s prime-time showdown, his campaign has said.
Moore, who won an Academy Award for 2002’s “Bowling for Columbine,” appeared as a guest on “The Kelly File” Tuesday and defended its host. “You’re being attacked,” Moore told Kelly, “I’m here for you.”
“What is he afraid of?” Moore asked of Trump. “I’m sitting here, right? Donald, come sit with me, and I’ll hold your hand. She’s fine.”Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is pledging to ban sanctuary cities in his state even as other governors and mayors promise to continue sheltering illegal immigrants.
"I'm going to sign a law that bans sanctuary cities," Abbott tweeted on Sunday.
"Also I've already issued an order cutting funding to sanctuary cities."
Yes. I'm going to sign a law that bans sanctuary cities. Also I've already issued an order cutting funding to sanctuary cities. #txlege https://t.co/uYXa2QFrvE — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 28, 2016
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Abbott was responding to a Twitter user who questioned whether the Texas governor could do anything to reverse Austin's pledge to remain a sanctuary city.
During his presidential campaign, President-elect 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 pledged to deport millions of immigrants.
He said during an interview shortly after his victory he would prioritize deporting or jailing any undocumented immigrants who were members of gangs or had criminal records.
He also vowed during the campaign to block federal dollars from cities that give sanctuary to undocumented immigrants.
Democratic governors and mayors signaled earlier this month that they will not go along with the Trump administration's plans.CLOSE After years of playing Lady Mary’s maid, Anna, the actress admits that some mornings, she'd be "quite grateful for a lady's maid." Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY
Michelle Dockery, left, and Joanne Froggatt share a moment together as the finale of PBS's 'Downton Abbey' approaches. (Photo: Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – A huge class divide hasn't stopped Downton Abbey's Lady Mary and her lady's maid, Anna Bates, from finding a way to connect.
“The most interesting part of this story is the relationship between the two worlds. Mary has her most sisterly relationship with Anna. She knows her better than anyone,” Michelle Dockery (Mary) says in a joint interview with Joanne Froggatt (Anna) before the sixth and final season of PBS Masterpiece's Downton (Sundays, 9 p.m. ET/PT, check local listings). “For me and Jo, that’s been a huge part of the experience, those scenes between the two of them.”
Anna has a strong marriage to her downstairs colleague, Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), but she speaks most freely to Mary.
“Mary’s been the one from the start that Anna’s always confided in,” Froggatt says. “They really genuinely care for each other. Anna won’t hear a bad word said about Lady Mary, even though she’s not always perfect."
That applies from the other direction, too, Dockery says. “A lot of the time, Mary doesn’t really care what other people think, especially the family. But it’s important that she gets approval from Anna.”
Mary’s relationship with her real sister, Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael), is fractious, leading to plenty of drama. “There’s some really great stuff between the sisters,” especially late in the season, Dockery says.
Michelle Dockery plays the elegant, sharp-tongued Lady Mary on PBS's 'Downton Abbey.' (Photo: Nick Briggs, Carnival Film & Television Limited)
While Anna has a husband, the widowed Lady Mary, who has a young child, is seeking a new partner.
"It's complicated. She's a widow now, so her choices are different, because it's about finding a father for George as well," Dockery says.
Dashing race-car driver Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode) is a candidate, although Mary may not agree. "That’s the sort of guy she would have liked at the beginning," Dockery says. " Mary was a rebel. Then her position gave her more responsibility, and she kind of became the person she didn’t want to be.”
There’s a playful give and take between the two actors as they discuss swapping their Downton roles.
“I definitely want the (upstairs) wardrobe,” Froggatt says.
Dockery cautions. “Sometimes, you’re like, ‘You can take it,’ " because of all the costume changes during filming.
Froggatt reconsiders: “I’m so glad all I have to do is one fitting" at the beginning of each season.
And Dockery decides she doesn't mind:. The outfit changes “are always worth it, because they are knockout.”
Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), left, and Anna (Joanne Froggatt) have faced many challenges on PBS's 'Downton Abbey.' (Photo: Nick Briggs, Carnival Film & Television Limited)
The period covered by Masterpiece's Downton – 1912 and through World War I to a technologically advanced 1925 – reflects massive change. “You definitely feel those social changes, more so for the women,” Froggatt says. “You feel there are starting to be more opportunities for women and for the working classes.”
New opportunities greet the actors, too. Dockery is set to play a thief and con artist in contemporary America in upcoming TNT drama Good Behavior, while Froggatt will go back to the 19th century to play poisoner Mary Ann Cotton in Masterpiece’s two-part Dark Angel.
They appreciate their Downton fame, with each ending heading toward the March 6 series finale serving as a reminder.
“The last day (shooting) at Highclere Castle was a big day,” Dockery says. “That’s when it really started to sink in.”
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1T3bdwWNo athlete in the history of sport has had a deeper impact on the world than Muhammad Ali, and in the wake of his death late Friday, the world is paying homage to the greatest of all time.
Several NHLers took to social media to honor Ali.
Sad to hear about the passing of Muhammad Ali. Greatest boxer of all time and always fighting to help others. — Daniel Winnik (@Danwinnik34) June 4, 2016
“It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am." - Muhammad Ali. RIP Champ — Blake Wheeler (@BiggieFunke) June 4, 2016
Sad day. This man was iconic changed so many people's lives @MuhammadAli. The legacy will never die. Rest in peace champ — Nazem Kadri (@43_Kadri) June 4, 2016
RIP to one of the greatest athletes of all time."He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life" Muhammad Ali — Kevin Hayes (@KevinPHayes12) June 4, 2016
The greatest will be missed #MuhammedAli — Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) June 4, 2016
I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.' - Muhammad Ali #RIP — Stanislav Galiev (@Galixon_97) June 4, 2016
RIP Muhammad Ali. You were my father's favorite athlete and in turn became one of my favs. A great fighter and humanitarian. #TheGreatest — John Mitchell (@mitchabov) June 4, 2016
RIP Muhammad Ali. What a legend! #RIPChamp — Eddie Lack (@eddielack) June 4, 2016
GREATEST A photo posted by Nate Thompson (@nthompson44) on Jun 3, 2016 at 10:25pm PDT
Rip the greatest! #muhammadali A photo posted by Jason Demers (@jason_demers) on Jun 4, 2016 at 6:38am PDTPolice: Burglars Ransacked Parkville Home, Killed Pet Turtle
Baltimore County Police have an arrest warrant and are looking for a man they say may have killed a pet turtle during a burglary in Parkville.
Police say that sometime in the overnight hours of Jan. 20 to 21, while the victim was out, two men entered a home in the unit block of Barnwell Court through an unsecured ground floor window. They took numerous electronics and accessories, two televisions, gift cards, checks and jewelry. Before leaving, one of the men took the turtle, Donatella, from her terrarium home and impaled her with a knife-sharpener.
Police arrested one suspect, 24-year-old Calvin Krasheen Fogg of the 4400 block of Marble Hall Road in Original Northwood. He's charged with first-degree burglary, theft and aggravated cruelty to kill an animal.
The second suspect, still at large, is Michael Kennard Jones, 23, whose last known address was in the 3200 block of McElderry Street in Elwood Park. He's wanted for first-degree burglary and aggravated cruelty to kill an animal. He's also wanted in connection with a previous armed robbery and home invasion.
Anyone with information on Jones' whereabouts is asked to call police at 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP. Police say residents shouldn't approach Jones, as they consider him dangerous.More stories of life on the frontline in Afghanistan. A daring mission deep into enemy territory is captured on camera by soldiers during the country's bloodiest summer on record.
A daring mission deep into enemy territory is captured on camera by soldiers during Afghanistan's bloodiest summer on record.
Troop surges in 2010 forced the Taliban to fight dirty, using more IEDs than ever. Against this backdrop a 100-strong company from 2nd Battalion, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment was deployed into one of the most dangerous areas of Helmand, tasked with protecting a vital road link.
During a heavy firefight, Kingsman Darren Deady was shot in the neck. He collapsed into the lap of Sergeant Mark Wilson who was filming on a helmet camera. The operation later claimed the life of Captain Andrew Griffiths - the first child of a serving officer to die in Afghanistan. A dust storm grounded all aircraft in Bastion, but two brave helicopter pilots rewrote the rulebook, flying in formation to navigate so they could evacuate him. Both men were treated side by side in the UK, but died of their injuries. Andrew's dad, Brigadier Mike Griffiths, the colonel of the regiment, now uses his personal experience to train 'visiting' officers who break the news of injuries and fatalities to servicemen's families.For the better part of two days, the city of Atlanta has been in the grips of chaos and catastrophe. School buses stranded for more than 12 hours and abandoned vehicles by the thousands on numerous roadsides throughout the city. It’s clear that the city was not equipped to handle the reality of Winter Storm Leon. The icy conditions and poor response have been analyzed and criticized by numerous personalities and media commentators. But in the wake of the mayhem, an interesting side story has developed.
There are many people beginning to speculate that the snow is fake.
No, not that the snow didn’t happen–but that the white, frosty stuff on the ground is, in fact, not snow.
Several YouTube videos have been posted documenting “proof” that the snow in Atlanta is some sort of synthetic substance; additionally, these conspiracy theorists claim that this fake snow and the devastating affects it has had on the city of Atlanta are all part of a government plot. The conspiracy theorists say that this non-snow is the latest evidence of “chemtrails,” a long-standing conspiracy theory that postulates that the government hides chemicals in airplanes and douses unknowing citizens and locations with said chemicals. Theorists claim that this is all intended to serve as “testing” for when the powers-that-be unleash the full force of several man-made “natural” disasters, in the hopes of instituting martial law amidst the ensuing disarray.
Here is the basic rundown: The YouTube conspiracy theorists state that if you go outside and grab a handful of snow, then attempt to melt it with a lighter, it does not melt like “real snow.” No, this conspiracy snow only turns black and emits a pungent odor. That bizarre occurrence is proof enough that there is something amiss about this so-called “snow” in Georgia.
Of course, there isn’t much to this theory, once you examine it a bit.
In all of the clips, snow is being held to a lighter of some kind. Most lighters use butane, which is “dirty,” meaning it doesn’t burn clean. That dirty fuel is why the snow turns a little black. That’s also why it smells funny. If you take the snow to a flame that isn’t produced by butane–i.e. a campfire or a natural gas-burning stove, etc.–the snow begins to melt. It actually even melts when exposed to a butane flame, albeit slowly.
However, it’s a fun conspiracy theory that will likely have tons of people making snowballs and burning them with Bics over the next couple of days. Enjoy yourselves but please be careful–and be mindful.Press contacts Virginie Battu Press officer +32 2 281 53 16 +32 470 18 24 05 Ester Arauzo-Azofra Press officer +32 2 281 53 61 +32 473 63 07 23
The EU has added 3 Russian nationals and 3 companies involved in the transfer of gas turbines to Crimea to the list of persons subject to restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
The EU has not recognised the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation. As part of its non-recognition policy, the Council has prohibited the supply of key equipment for infrastructure projects in Crimea and Sevastopol in important sectors, including gas turbines in the energy sector. Establishing an independent power supply for Crimea and Sevastopol supports their separation from Ukraine, and undermines the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Gas turbines are a substantial element in the development of new power plants.
The 3 persons have been added to the sanctions list for their responsibility in supplying Crimea with gas turbines from Russia. The turbines were originally sold by Siemens for use in the territory of the Russian Federation. The subsequent transfer of the turbines to Crimea was in breach of contractual provisions covering the original sale by Siemens. The companies placed under sanctions are the contracting party which purchased gas turbines and is responsible for the transfer, the current owner of the gas turbines, and a company specialising in control and communication systems for power plants, including in Sevastopol and Simferopol.
These sanctions consist of an asset freeze and a travel ban which will now apply to a total of 153 persons and 40 entities. The measures were introduced in March 2014 and were last extended in March 2017 until 15 September 2017.
The legal acts, including the names of the persons and the statements of reasons for listing them, are available in the EU Official Journal of 4 August 2017. The Council adopted these legal acts by written procedure.
Link to official journal
Other EU measures in place in response to the Ukraine crisis include:RAVENA, NY—Authorities confirmed a four-alarm blaze tore through the countryside Sunday, burning down a picturesque farm where thousands of sick and elderly dogs had been sent by parents who wanted their children's beloved pets to have lots of room to run around and play.
The farm, which for decades had provided a home to infirm canines and allowed them to live out their days romping happily in the fresh air, was decimated by the flames, and officials confirmed 3,000 animals either choked to death on the thick, acrid smoke or were burned alive.
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"There were no survivors—none," said county sheriff Patrick Calnan, who struggled to keep his emotions in check as he pointed to acres of melted squeak toys and pile after pile of charred golden retrievers and tiny Pomeranian corpses. "The saddest part is that all of these dogs, because they had been having so much fun outdoors in the bright sunshine with their doggy friends, had been getting healthier and healthier before the fire hit."
"They had so many happy years up at the farm, but it certainly wasn't worth the excruciating deaths they endured," continued Calnan, holding a scorched collar that read "Buster." "You can see by the tags here that this dog used to belong to someone named Cody Harrington of Brockton, MA. If only Cody hadn't been so allergic to ol' Buster, his faithful pup would still be alive today."
The sheriff also said he was awaiting forensic results on two sets of severely blackened remains found inside the gutted farmhouse and believed to be those of the old farmer and his wife, both of whom reportedly loved all the dogs very much and fed them whatever they wanted and gave every single one of them belly scratches each night.
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According to neighbors, in the moments before the fire struck, all of the dogs were wagging their tails in delight and playfully chasing one another around the barn.
"I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of terrified howling," said Greta Landry, 79, who lives down the road from the farm. "Those poor, trapped dogs were barking so desperately, almost as if they were calling out for the little boys and girls who used to care for them when they were younger, but no one ever came."
While the cause of the fire remains unknown, investigators said the dogs' favorite fetching sticks served as kindling for the initial flames, causing the blaze to spread rapidly, with no dog able to scamper away from the raging inferno in time.
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Authorities noted that scores of formerly beloved parakeets, goldfish, and adorable floppy-eared bunnies also burned to death.
At press time, officials at nearby Memorial Hospital confirmed that, in addition, a dozen adult males died in the fire, all of them loving fathers who had gone out to the store several years earlier and were just on their way back home with big presents for their children when they saw the fire and tried to save the trapped dogs.
"By the time we got there, the property was engulfed in towering 90-foot flames, but you could still hear the dogs whimpering and pawing futilely at the barn door," Ravena fire chief Adam Lesser said. "It's going to be tough calling all the previous owners and telling them how their old pets died."
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Added Lesser, "To be honest, we'll probably spare everyone the grisly details and just say we were forced to euthanize them."I think it is important for those of us in media studies, and not just with a game studies focus, to teach how to “read” and interpret videogames given their budding status as one of the dominant media forms of the near future. This is particularly important if you subscribe to McKenzie Wark’s central argument from Gamer Theory that games are not representing the world but the world is beginning to appeal to games as the ideal.
Game studies has done a good job of figuring out what exactly constitutes a game and creating methodologies to interpret games, but I don’t think we’ve done a good job of focusing on pedagogy. And let me be clear, by pedagogy I do not mean the educational potentialities of game technologies – those of course have been well documented by James Paul Gee, Constance Steinkuehler, Yasmin B. Kafai and many others. What I mean is how do we as game studies scholars teach students how to read and interpret the games themselves, along with the surrounding discourses and paratextual industries that accompany games? Ed Chang has written an excellent article offering one answer to this question theorizing textual analysis of gameplay or, to use the term he creates, how to “close play” in a similar vein as close reading. I would like to offer another possibility using an example of how I teach game analysis, more specifically the analysis of gamic race, using the famous Leeroy Jenkins World of Warcraft (WOW) machinima.
In my classes, I do not have the curricular freedom or the technical capability to have students play a game like World of Warcraft (my classes are standardized introductory composition). However, most students are aware of the game and a short in-class demonstration of gameplay and further explanation usually affords them a basic understanding of how it works. With that background I then explain how a lot can be gained interpretively from looking at how game texts are appropriated, discussed, and remixed by the players. This builds on another lesson I often teach that I have blogged about previously that makes the point games must be analyzed not just in terms of what they represent visually, but also acknowledging the game technologies that are implicated in that representation (this is connected to Ian Bogost and Nick Montfort’s platform studies series at MIT). Therefore, by looking at the Leeroy Jenkins video and the surrounding player and media discourses students then get a more complete picture of all the different levels of meaning at work and available for analysis in a game.
Drawing on much of my argument put forth in “Blackless Fantasy” published in Games and Culture earlier this year, I then give them an overview of character creation systems in MMORPGs and the seemingly progressive push towards more options for visualization in order to facilitate more diversity. Students usually respond favorably to these changes and view them as the right thing to do given their familiarity with the rhetoric of multiculturalism. Once that is established I point out that even with these options available MMORPGs are predominantly whitewashed environments where blackness is viewed as abnormal and when black or brown avatars are present in MMORPG space they are often lampooned as incongruent with fantasy or sci-fi convention. (But that does not mean blackness is not of central importance to the game itself since high fantasy is obsessed with racial others.) My goal in discussing character creation is to expose the inherent problems of liberal multiculturalism since it understands social equity to be achieved through visibility and not deeper structural changes.
This is a fitting transition into the Leeroy Jenkins video which is representative of how blackness is understood within the context of the world by the players. I show the video with only a short explanation of its narrative purpose in order to illicit a more natural reaction to the humor of the video thus making the exposure of its racial logics more impactful.
After the viewing, we discuss the semiotics at work in the video and how Leeroy, a rare black avatar in WOW, is coded as black. Students often take note of the voice used by the player of Leeroy (a stereotypical 70s blaxploitation voice), the signification of the name as, once again, fitting with blaxploitation, but they often do not take note of the role played by Leeroy within the dynamic of the group.
The bumbling fool that is trying to fit into the predominantly white MMO space but ultimately screws it up for everyone is an example of the Zip Coon minstrel archetype. Demonstrating this to the students shows how these representations have a historical lineage and have undergone many permutations.
In order to counter common reactions to this reading by viewers—reactions that may be circling the classroom—I then have the class look at a Wikipedia discussion that questions the potentially racist content of the video. Please note, this discussion has since been deleted from Wikipedia.
Original Comment: Am I mistaken, or is this whole character a giant racial stereotype? HELLO?! –yuletide First Reply: I’m confused. He’s a character in a game. He doesn’t have a race. I’m white and I love chicken. I would lord my possession of good chicken over anyone I met. I would especially use it to deflect or downplay blame. Maybe the person who is racist is you. Megan 02:24, 20 March 2006 Second Reply: Maybe it is, why would that be so remarkable? The video is nothing but a bit of comedy after all. 132.162.213.109 05:00, 13 March 2006 Third Reply: I think you’re mistaken. Why’s it a stereotype? Because of the chicken comment? Even if it is, so what? Surely in some countries people are still free to say what they want, whether or not some folks will be offended by it. Sukiari 22:03, 14 March 2006
The discussion is representative of the common responses to claims of racial insensitivity within and without videogame culture and therefore it educates students as to the contours of the surrounding discourses. It is also productive in that it shows the importance of these issues and usefulness of the critical methodology.
While the students never analyze the game itself, by analyzing a machinima that mediates the game, students are shown how the politics of representation in videogames extend far beyond the character selections available to players and whether they adhere to or subvert dominant stereotypes.
I also like to conclude by pointing out how Blizzard, the game company behind WOW, has dealt with the potentially offensive content of the video by nullifying race while embracing the marketing potential of Leeroy Jenkins.
Also published on Medium.Urine is once again on people’s minds, after Nitin Gadkari made public his penchant for recycling his urine to fertilise plants at his Delhi bungalow. It seems Gadkari collects his urine in containers that are tipped into 50-litre cans. This in turn is used to irrigate plants and spur the growth of larger vegetables.As people mocked Gadkari, Arghyam, an NGO run by Rohini Nilekani in Bengaluru came out in his support on Wednesday with a paper from the University of Agricultural Sciences on the benefits of urine.Urine is one of those perennially surfacing topics in Indian media and it is difficult for a year to go by without multiple references to urine, whether of humans, cows, rhinos, tigers or elephants, of the diseased or undiseased kind, medical therapies, recipes for consumption and more. As a nation, we are obsessed.So it wasn't surprising that this week's news also included an announcement that Rajasthan’s health minister Rajendra Rathore had inaugurated a cow urine refinery in Jalore. What exactly they will remove in the refining process is unclear. Extracts from this factory will be used to clean Jaipur’s SNS Hospital, reports said. Rajasthan is of course one of the states more dedicated to the cause of urine. It even has a cow minister, Otaram Devasi, who was not present at this inauguration.We also learned recently that Varthur lake in Bengaluru had been foaming suspiciously for months, leading people to wonder if it was polluted by detergents. The truth lay in its stench. Scientists announced last week that the lake’s foam is from untold litres of old urine that has been unable to find an outlet.In March, a guard at the Delhi zoo was arrested for smuggling out rhinoceros urine to take him to his ailing father. Chinese traditional medicine advocates tiger and rhino urine for medicinal use. The zoo had good reason to be suspicious. In 2001, a racket of rhino urine smuggling was exposed at Alipore Zoo in Kolkata, where rhinos were drugged to make them urinate more and that urine was sold for Rs 250 per litre.But the real roots of this lie in 1930, again in Calcutta, when the zoo was facing a financial crisis. A report claims that the zoo management allowed customers to queue up to watch their undiluted rhino urine be filled and sold – a practice that brought the zoo back from the brink. (The full report is excellent and deserves to be read here.)Gadkari joins a long line of politicians convinced that their urine or cow urine is a miraculous substance that can do anything from cure diseases to filling up dams.Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, for instance, regularly consumed his own urine and attributed his long life to it. Ajit Pawar in 2013 controversially asked at the height of the drought that year if he should fill the Ujjani dam in Solapur by urinating in it. He might have been sarcastic (or drunk, though he denied it), but that did not prevent a universal panning of his remark.Cow urine has had a more illustrious and widespread set of followers, including Mohandas Gandhi, who advocated drinking it regularly. Now championed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in modern times, cow urine is regularly hailed as everything from being a medical miracle that can cure cancer to India’s next popular drink in the form of soda. Hapless government workers in Delhi have been threatened with floors cleaned (or purified, reports were not clear) with cow urine.There seems to be a difference between how people view faeces and urine. Cow urine and dung is popular with caste Hindus because of their belief in the holiness of the cow. But while the excreta of bovines might be considered sacred, human excreta is still very much subject to the rigours of caste, as the continuing prevalence of manual scavenging shows.Human urine seems to have escaped the strictures of purity, perhaps because a Sanskrit text, Damar Tantra exalts the practice. That said, urine is still used as a weapon of humiliation. Cases abound.In Krishnagiri in north Tamil Nadu, a group of non-Dalits attacked and urinated in the mouth of a 20-year-old Dalit attending a temple festival in March. In 2012, Osmania University in Hyderabad saw a minor riot break out after students held a beef and pork festival there. At a smaller version of the festival a few months before that, protesters emptied bottles of urine into the food.A year after the Khairlanji massacre in 2006, a zilla parishad teacher in the village was booked for sprinkling cow urine to “purify” OBC and Scheduled Caste students. The teacher compared the ritual to celebrating Ambedkar Jayanti or doing Saraswati Pooja.The fixation is not limited to Hindus, or even India for that matter. An aspiring election candidate in New Zealand, Joe Glenn, was dropped by his party after he said on national television that drinking his own urine had helped him to cure his arthritis. Closer home, Sri Lanka’s former Minister of Public Relations and Public Affairs also admitted to drinking his own urine. Unlike others who drank it neat, Mervyn Silva said he diluted his with water.India, however, continues to lead the world in this matter. The world’s first conference on Urine Therapy was held in Goa in 1996 and attended by around 100 people. The largest delegation from a country outside India was Germany, which had 28 practitioners.One such foreign votary is Harald Tietze, a German author of books on papaya, the healing fruit and kombucha, the miracle fungus. Urine, he says, is holy water, used extensively by ancient cultures across the world. He draws from Damar Tantra to explain Shivambu, the ingestion of one’s own urine and how the appreciation of one’s own urine is akin to that of appreciating the tart scent of cheese for the first time.Appropriately, he calls his urine the "water of life" and others "holy water".There is one confirmed medical substance that can be extracted from urine, urokinase. This has spurred a low key but very prevalent business of human urine used in medicines.An obscure text called Chumbak Chikitsa Ka Saral Adhyayan while expounding on the benefits of urine therapy also claims that a Hyderabad-based marketing company has been collecting urine from economically underprivileged pregnant women there. They sell these capsules to buyers in Japan and Switzerland, which, the text seems to suggest, makes the practice better.An odd fact emerges from this. Between June 2013 and 2014, Bangalore Air Cargo received around 110 ml of human urine from the United Kingdom, amounting to around $4,200. Given the relatively small quantity, it is likely this was used for medical testing rather than consumption, but there is no explanation of how or why it was valued that high.InMoov is the world's first life-size, open source robot, and currently also the cheapest ever built. It's software back end is all open source and the parts are constructed from 3D printed plastic
The brainchild of Gael Langavin, InMoov is a concept that began in 2012, and has steadily progressed step-by-step, as you can see here. All the software and design for the parts used for the exoskeleton are freely available on the website and all you need to begin is a 12x12x12cm 3D printer. Slap in an Xbox Kinect for motion capture, and two more cameras for the facial tracking and you're good to go. And that brings you to a shockingly low grand total of US $1,500. Think you have the cash and the chops to take this on? It might just be the best thing you ever build. Check out the InMoov in action below. The InMoov is also on display at the IIT Bombay Tech Fest 2015 from Jan 2 - Jan 4.DEVOLUTION should be “turned upside down” to create a federal Britain, a group of senior cross-party politicians insists today as it publishes a draft Bill to create a new Act of Union.
The Constitution Reform Group (CRG) believes that its proposed legislation is now the last chance to save the 300-year-old union given the renewed threat of a second Scottish independence referendum in the wake of the Brexit vote.
READ MORE: World reacts to Boris Johnson's appointment as Foreign Secretary
The aim of the 48-page Act Of Union Bill 2016 is to “to affirm that the peoples of [our] nations and parts have chosen to continue to pool their sovereignty for specified purposes, and to provide universal citizenship with social and economic rights”.
The CRG, whose members include |
Weinbau der Region. Rund um das Rathaus werden 315 Weine ausgeschenkt, darunter fünf alkoholfreie. Rund 250 000 Besucher werden bis 18. September erwartet. Beim Auftakt spielt die Big Band der Polizei.LAWRENCEBURG — Wild Turkey, one of the most down-home of Kentucky bourbons, officially debuted a sophisticated new face Tuesday.
Owned by the Italian spirits company Gruppo Campari, Wild Turkey planned to christen its $4 million visitors center with an evening party honoring master distiller Jimmy Russell, who is celebrating 60 years with the distillery.
Gov. Steve Beshear was scheduled to attend the reception.
Russell, who will also be honored with a special Diamond Anniversary commemorative bourbon, said the new visitors center was designed to look like a Kentucky tobacco barn, albeit one with a spectacular view.
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From a distance, the sleek, modern building might pass for a black tobacco barn. But up close, it is a cathedral to bourbon, all spare lines and glass, wood and light.
The 9,140-square-foot space has exhibits on the history of the distillery and a gift shop. But the highlight is the Angel's Share tasting room, with a view to the Kentucky River, 275 feet below.
The new attraction began receiving some visitors late last year but was not fully open until this spring. Before, Wild Turkey had a 1,000-square-foot house from the 1800s converted into a gift shop and tasting room in another location.
But Campari realized that the growing popularity of bourbon — and bourbon tourism — called for something more.
In 2013, Wild Turkey had 62,000 visitors; in 2014, the distillery expects to welcome 80,000.
"With our gleaming new architectural masterpiece, we finally have a visitors center worthy of Wild Turkey's legacy, as well as an outstanding calling card for Kentucky's bourbon industry," Jean Jacques Dubau, president and CEO of Campari America, said in a news release on the opening.
This caps more than $100 million in investments in Kentucky by Campari since buying the distillery in 2009 for $575 million. The company has built a new distillery, a new bottling plant and new warehouses to house even more bourbon to satisfy what the industry hopes will be an even bigger bourbon boom overseas.
In a statement, Beshear called the visitors center the crowning achievement for Wild Turkey and Gruppo Campari, which is now the sixth-largest spirits company worldwide.
"As we continue to elevate awareness for our bourbon culture, we look forward to welcoming our fellow Kentuckians, Americans and visitors from abroad to the Wild Turkey distillery and the entire Kentucky Bourbon Trail," Beshear said.
In 2012, the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority approved the visitors center for as much as $1 million in rebates on sales tax over the next 10 years.
In a decade, the Bourbon Trail has grown into a major draw for the state, and the distilleries have become an economic engine for tourism and industry. Last year, there were almost 750,000 visits to at least one Kentucky distillery.
Russell, who travels the world promoting bourbon and Wild Turkey, spends many days at the distillery. He greets visitors as they pass through his plant, and he sees the powerful worldwide attraction of Americana, and how that leads to a taste for Kentucky bourbon.
"As far as I'm concerned, (the trail) is one of the best advertisements we can have," Russell said. "Our guest book has a lot of foreign names in it."This artist's conception illustrates a giant planet floating freely without a parent star. Astronomers recently uncovered evidence for such lone worlds, thought to have been booted from developing star systems. The sun may have captured such a planet, which new work shows may reside at the edge of the solar system.
A planet four times the size of Earth may be skirting the edges of the solar system beyond Pluto, according to new research. Too distant to be easily spotted by Earth-based telescopes, the unseen planet could be gravitationally tugging on small icy objects past Neptune, helping explain the mystery of those objects' peculiar orbits.
The claim comes from Rodney Gomes, a noted astronomer at the National Observatory of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Gomes presented his recently completed computer models suggesting the existence of the distant planet at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Timberline Lodge, Ore., earlier this month.
Astronomers who attended the talk find Gomes' arguments compelling, but they say much more evidence is needed before the hypothetical planet can be crowned as real.
For several years, astronomers have observed that a handful of the small icy bodies that lie in the so-called "scattered disc" beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune, including the dwarf planet Sedna, deviate from the paths around the sun that would be expected based on the gravitational pulls of all the known objects in the solar system.
Sedna, for example, swings around the sun in an extremely elongated orbit — tracing out a very long oval. "Sedna's orbit is truly peculiar," said Mike Brown, an astronomer at Caltech who led the team that discovered Sedna in 2003.
However, when Gomes ran the same calculations with the addition of the gravitational pull of a massive planet at the outskirts of the solar system, Sedna and the other anomalous objects' expected orbits fell in line with observations. The unseen planet would be too far away to perceptibly perturb the motions of Earth and the other inner planets, but close enough to the scattered disc objects to sway them. [The True Stories of 5 Mystery Planets]
Unknown entity
Several planet types could fit the disturbances seen in Gomes' calculations. For example, a Neptune-size planet, about four times bigger than Earth, orbiting 140 billion miles (225 billion kilometers) away from the sun would influence the anomalous objects in the observed manner. Or, a Mars-size planet with a highly elongated orbit — but one that always kept it well beyond the orbit of Pluto — could yield similar results. As for how it got there, the planet could have been born in and expelled from a distant star system and later captured by our sun's gravity, Gomes said, or it could have formed near our sun and gradually been thrust outward through gravitational interactions with the other planets.
Though Gomes' work has not yet been peer-reviewed, his colleagues are confident he got the math right. "[Gomes] is very good. It's hard to imagine he made a mistake in his calculations," said Hal Levison, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.
"Rodney Gomes is actively seeking further evidence and I await his findings with interest!" Douglas Hamilton, an astronomer at the University of Maryland, told Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to SPACE.com. "He has taken on a difficult task, but is taking the right approach. It is definitely a high risk, high reward, situation — a discovery of a new planet would be spectacular!"
New planet or old star?
This would not be the first time a planet was revealed by way of its gravitational effects on other celestial bodies. The existence of Neptune was hypothesized at the turn of the 19th century — long before the gas giant was actually seen through a telescope in 1846 — because of the way it was perturbing the orbit of Uranus.
On the other hand, many astronomers spent much of the 1900s searching for an extra planet, dubbed Planet X, beyond the orbit of Neptune, because they believed there were anomalies in the orbits of Neptune and the other gas giants. "But it turned out that anomaly in Neptune's orbit was the result of bad observation," Levison said. The search for Planet X was called off (though some conspiracy theorists believe this was a cover up of the planet Nibiru, which they say is on a collision course for Earth.)
"You can go back 100 years to claims of planets in the outer solar system and they've all eventually gone away," he continued. "That should give you pause for thought. Just because there's not a good explanation for [the orbits of the scattered disc objects] besides another planet, doesn't mean there won't be a good explanation in future."
Brown, who discovered Sedna, said another plausible explanation for that dwarf planet's strange behavior could be that a star swung near it early in the history of our solar system, throwing it for a loop. "Back at the time of the birth of the sun, the sun probably formed in a cluster of other stars. If true, they would have been close enough together to influence each other's outer planet systems, like where Sedna is," he said.
More work is needed to determine whether Sedna and the other scattered disc objects were sent on their circuitous trips round the sun by a star that passed by long ago, or by an unseen planet that exists in the solar system right now. Finding and observing the orbits of other distant objects similar to Sedna will add more data points to astronomers' computer models. "We, and a couple of other groups of astronomers, are working hard to see if we can track some down and figure out this mystery," Brown said.
As for the putative planet itself, Levison said, "The strength of the idea that there is a planet out there will be the inability to find another explanation for these objects. But seeing it is the only way to prove it."
Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.If your league is deep enough that you can justify carrying two quarterbacks on your roster, one of the “tricks” of the trade is to target the best pairing options for your starting quarterback’s bye week. Keep this handy on draft day so you know the best fit once your starting QB is in place. We will take a look at the worthwhile backup quarterbacks, pass defenses to target and which two line up during the weeks the top two tiers of quarterbacks are on byes.
Need more advice? Get access to our Draft Kit and Draft Wizard tools >>
I don’t consider anyone who will be drafted within the top 100 picks or on the hot seat as a backup worth considering for fantasy football rosters. The list below is of the 12 backup fantasy quarterbacks potentially worth rostering.
Now, let’s take a look at the defenses worth picking on. (in order)
We will use these two rankings to determine backup value for each week. If a QB is #3 on the list, he will get 3 points, and if his opposing defense is 5th, we will tack on another 5 points. The lower the score, the better, plus we will give out -1 for home games and +1 for away games. Backup quarterbacks are then sorted with the best score first.
Bye Week 5
Drew Brees (NO): ECR #3
Matt Ryan (ATL): ECR #6
Kirk Cousins (WAS): ECR #7
Suitable backup pairings:
Andy Dalton (CIN vs BUF): 5
Brian Hoyer (SF @ IND): 16
I typically do not carry two QBs on my roster, but this year, I am targeting the Cousins and Dalton pairing in virtually every league. That 5 score, as you will see, is the best backup value of the season and when you consider that you only have to roster Dalton for five weeks, it makes it significantly better. Hoyer probably isn’t worth rostering out of your drafts, but is worth a preemptive add in Week 4 before he costs you a bunch of FAAB in Week 5 with three top QBs on byes the following week.
Bye Week 6
Russell Wilson (SEA): ECR #4
Suitable backup pairings:
Blake Bortles (JAX vs LAR): 13
Carson Palmer (ARI vs TB): 14
Sam Bradford (MIN vs GB): 17
With there being three solid options all close to each other in quality and just one starting QB, I would advise against using a bye week pairing with Russell Wilson. Unless you play in a deeper league, one or several of these guys will surely be available, and you won’t need to waste a roster spot for 5 weeks. I’m aware that it may intimidate some to ever use Bortles, but the matter of the fact is that he was a top 8 QB again last season despite playing injured. He will continue to rack up points with his legs, and now, the presence of Fournette will keep defenses honest against him.
Bye Week 8
Aaron Rodgers (GB): ECR #1
Marcus Mariota (TEN): ECR #8
Suitable backup pairings:
Andy Dalton (CIN vs IND): 6
Carson Wentz (PHI vs SF): 7
Sam Bradford (MIN @ CLE): 16
Dalton is again a great option here, but spending draft capital on both him and Aaron Rodgers is a little too rich for my taste. If Dalton is still available come week 7, or perhaps even 6, scoop him up and quick, but otherwise, settling for Wentz at home against the 49ers is a killer option too. Pairing Mariota and Dalton makes plenty of sense for both the bye week and the minor risk that comes with a scrambling QB like Mariota, as Dalton is both reliable and possesses strong upside.
Bye Week 9
Tom Brady (NE): ECR #2
Suitable backup pairings:
Carson Palmer (ARI @ SF) 8
Tyrod Taylor (BUF @ NYJ) 8
Eli Manning (NYG vs LAR) 10
Matthew Stafford (DET @ GB) 10
Like we saw in Week 6, there is just a single starting QB and solid options galore to replace him with for his bye week. By this point in the season, one of them is likely to have broken out and been scooped up, while another is injured or struggling. So chances are, you’ve got two solid options to choose from on the waiver wire. Again, my advice is to make your pickup a week early so as to not waste FAAB or potentially get in a bind where you have to start someone like Jared Goff.
Bye Week 11
Andrew Luck (IND): ECR #5
Suitable backup pairings:
I would never stash a backup QB for 10 weeks, but it is worth noting that Luck has a bum shoulder and may miss the first six weeks. If he does, you should be looking for someone with both an easy early season schedule and a solid Week 11 matchup. Sam Bradford fits the description perfectly. He does not draw one top 12 pass defense and gets 5 of the 12 best matchups in the 7 weeks he would potentially start for your fantasy team. That is difficult to top.
Thanks for reading. If you haven’t already, please check out the FantasyPros Football Podcast (below) that I co-host with Mike Tagliere. Good luck this season.
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Bobby Sylvester is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Bobby, check out his archive and follow him @BobbyFantasyPro.(Interfax – KYIV, October 17, 2013) Some 53% of Ukrainians support entry into the European Union, 35% do not and 12% cannot make up their mind, according to the Rating sociological group, which held its poll on September 26 – October 6, 2013.
In the opinion of 47% of the respondents, Ukraine will gain more from a free trade zone agreement with the European Union than from its affiliation with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Thirty-four percent argue the opposite, and 19% were hesitant to respond.
A total of 38% support a single state of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, 50% do not and 12% are undecided.
“This is the smallest number of supporters of a single state with Russia and the highest number of its opponents recorded in the past three years. Interestingly, almost 40% of Ukrainians who favored a single state with Russia in 2011 also supported the Ukrainian entry into the European Union. Their number declined to 30% in 2012, 25% in early 2013 and 20% in October 2013,” the Rating website said.
The number of respondents maintaining that the agreement with the European Union would be more profitable than the Customs Union has reached its maximum of the past three years; the indicator has grown from 39% to 47%. Western and northern areas of Ukraine stand for the European Union, the south and Donbas advocate for the entry into the Customs Union, and people living in the center and the east are divided 50/50.
Some 49% expect Ukraine and the European Union to sign the association agreement in November 2013. A quarter of respondents does not believe that this will occur. In the opinion of 38% of the respondents the possible signing of the agreement will be the result of joint efforts of Ukraine and Europe. Thirteen percent say Ukraine will have to do more than Europe, and 26% suggest larger efforts being made on the part of the EU.
The group polled 2,000 respondents older than 18 in face-to-face interviews throughout Ukraine. The non-sampling error (with a 0.95 probability) is no more than 2.2% for digits close to 50% and no more than 1% for digits close to 5%.
Like this: Like Loading...Treasurer Scott Morrison has put the states on notice over booming house prices, flagging a major push by the Turnbull government to increase supply and help first home buyers own their own home.
And Mr Morrison will promise that the next meeting of state and federal treasurers, to be held in December, will focus on how state governments can do away with planning rules that stop, or delay, new houses being built.
He will also leave the door open to incentives for state governments to reform their laws and release more land, in a broadening of one of the key recommendations of the Harper review of competition policy.
In a lunch-time address to the Urban Development Institute of Australia in Sydney on Monday, Mr Morrison will also dismiss suggestions that cheap credit is causing an investor-driven housing bubble in Australia as "simplistic".Previous Next Previous Next Previous Next Previous Next Previous Next The gallery will back on to two towers separated by an alley that will connect it to Dunsmuir Previous Next Previous Next Previous Next Previous Next The view of the future Gallery from above the Dunsmuir St. Viaduct Previous Next Previous Next Looking from Yaletown towards the future gallery Previous Next Previous Next Previous Next
Absent federal or provincial support, the project faces a steep uphill climb
With splashy renderings and a new $23-million pledge, the Vancouver Art Gallery on Tuesday unveiled its conceptual design for a new museum building on West Georgia, to be completed in 2021, taking a big step forward in its move out of the space-constrained, heritage-designated courthouse downtown. Indeed, the VAG's is the largest arts-related private fundraising initiative in B.C. history, with the gallery and its supporters seeking to raise $350 million.
The proposal, first seriously floated in 2007, will relocate the VAG from its courthouse to a new seven-storey building on city-owned land at the foot of the viaducts. The new building will have nearly double the exhibition space of the current structure—increasing from 40,000 square feet to 85,000 square feat—and will house a permanent collection of work by B.C. artists, a 350-seat auditorium, free galleries on the ground floor and an Institute of Asian Art. In total, the building will be 310,000 square feet, occupying the Georgia Street-facing third of Larwill Park.
Spread out over seven floors, with two floors below grounds, the exhibition space will be split with 60 per cent of floors five, six and seven and 40 per cent on the bottom two floors. The 230-foot wood box structure will open onto a plaza, on grade with the plaza in front of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, with space for a future expansion. The plans also call for Cambie Street to be left open to traffic. The wood-panelled exterior also evokes a growing niche sector in B.C.: specialized wood panels and beams, which are increasingly being used in the building of taller wood towers around the world (it's also an initiative for which the province has pulled out its pocketbook in the past). The gallery hopes to begin construction on the building by 2017.
But the proposal still faces a steep hill before it breaks ground. The idea of moving the VAG to Larwill Park won council approval in late April 2013. The catch, however, was that it had to secure a $100-million contribution from the federal government and a further $50 million from the provincial government by the end of April 2015. (The provincial government, under Gordon Campbell, had already committed $50 million to the project.) That deadline came and went. "We've talked with the city and we're going to work through the deadlines with them," said Kathleen Bartels, director of the VAG, after the presentation. "We're in that process."
While the Gallery's board pledged $23 million on Tuesday, in addition to the $40 million raised over the last five years from private donors, the project has raised only $50 million of the estimated $200 million that it hopes to raise from the provincial and federal government. "This is an exciting time for the Vancouver Art Gallery as plans for the new building continue to progress," said Peter Fassbender, the provincial government's new minister for community, culture and sport. Fassbender, nor any representative of the province, was at the unveiling on Tuesday morning, and the province has made no new commitments since 2009. "This project is simply too expensive,” wrote a spokesperson for then Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover to BCBusiness earlier this year.
But at the presentation on Tuesday, Bruce Munro Wright, chair of the board of trustees at the VAG, said the campaign is only in its earliest phase and that his team will seek to win public support and pledges from private donors before asking the federal and provincial governments. In a nod to the Royal Ontario Museum and the Ontario Gallery of Art—which received a respective $30 million and $24 million from the feds—Bartels added, "We feel very confident. There's never been a civic project at this scale without support from the provincial and federal government."An event that has lasted over 20 years in Prince George, the 2017 Scotiabank AIDS Walk is the latest edition of a walk to raise money and awareness for an important cause.
Drawing in the likes of PG Mayor Lyn Hall and Prince George – Valemount MLA Shirley Bond, who both spoke prior to the walk, the AIDS Walk was a success.
Henry Morgan, 2017 AIDS Walk Champion, performed a song and speech during the opening ceremonies.
The AIDS Walk isn’t all about fundraising, as one coordinator explains.
“It’s really about raising awareness to reduce the stigma around HIV/AIDS,” says Angela Paul, one coordinator for this year’s event. “We really want to show the community coming together and supporting those who are living with HIV. It’s not necessarily raising money for today, but just getting awareness out there.”
Since it’s inception in 1996, the AIDS Walk has raised over $42 million; there is currently no confirmed total for dollars raised by this year’s PG AIDS Walk.
One woman, who requested to remain anonymous, talked about what the support of the city meant to her.
“The support of the city has been awesome…” She said. “We’re all the same, just support everyone!”
Statistics show as many as 71,300 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Canada, with over a quarter of them not knowing.
For more information on the AIDS Walk, how to donate, and more, click here.Social Development deputy CEO Murray Edridge says Relationships Aotearoa have been "uncooperative" in ensuring vulnerable clients are being catered for.
Claims counselling providers had walked away from negotiations are "mischievous nonsense" from now defunct Relationships Aotearoa, says the Government.
Relationships Aotearoa said thousands of its clients would be left without counselling support when it closes its doors on Tuesday because the Government had failed to line up other services to help.
But the Ministry of Social Development has confirmed three of the five new providers were taking leading roles in counselling services for some of New Zealand's most vulnerable people.
The other two had taken a step back into supporting roles.
Two weeks ago Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said she was "delighted that a number of well-respected providers have come forward" to ensure the continuation of services to the 7000 clients Relationships Aotearoa is thought to work with.
The agencies - Barnardos, Family Works, Lifeline, Stand Children's Services and Vitae - would manage the transition of the clients.
Relationships Aotearoa had been "uncooperative" and was spreading "mischievous nonsense", said ministry deputy chief executive of community investment Murray Edridge.
"We've agreed with Stand Children's Services - which used to be Children's Health Camps, so they are a long-standing organisation - to offer to take over Relationship Aotearoa's clinical staff.
"We also have at least two of the other agencies involved. So Lifeline maintain the helpline for when clients are anxious about things, and Vitae are available to oversee the clinical operations for RA contractors, as opposed to RA staff," he said.
Stand had taken on all of Relationships Aotearoa's clinical management staff, and half its total number of staff.
The ministry said it hoped all former Relationships Aotearoa staff would contact Stand, which was able to take over managerial responsibility for all of them - about 70 staff in total.
Relationships Aotearoa, which the Government refused to bail out, closes its doors at 5pm on Tuesday.
"We're hoping to go through and, by the end of tomorrow, have the vast majority of those clinical staff signed up under Stand," Edridge said.
But a "seeming reluctance" from Relationships Aotearoa to release client details was stalling work to get patients the support they needed as fast as possible.
"I'm not confident they will cooperate, [but] I am confident we will get over the line. We'll get there, because Stand are working really hard to make this happen.
"The release of the files and access to client details is really important. But we're not asking RA to give MSD their files, that would be unacceptable for both parties," Edridge said.
"What we are saying is that where you've got clinical capability that is able to continue, albeit under a different agency, then access to those files and that information should be [continued] without question."
Labour's social development spokeswoman Carmel Sepuloni said it raised privacy issues.
She also questioned how Stand could take on the services without an official contract.
"How can an organisation take on such a large number of staff without a legal contract that assures them of funding to deliver the service and honour their commitment to the staff they employ," she said.
Relationships Aotearoa strategic adviser Cary Hayward told Radio NZ the ministry's assurances that five providers were lined up was not the case.
"We met with all the providers last week and it's fair to say they were feeling on the back foot. They didn't have the capacity or capability to deliver the services that RA [Relationship Aotearoa] delivers."
"It's clear that they weren't in a position to be able to take on Relationship Aotearoa's work, but we are fortunate to be able to be working with Stand Children's Service to transition a proportion of our clients and our staff," he said.
It was the most vulnerable clients - victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence - that Hayward feared for most.
Hayward said they had provided a range of options to the ministry - all of which "offered better solutions to clients, staff and the taxpayer" than what the ministry has come up with.
Relationships Aotearoa received close to $8 million a year from the Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Justice and Corrections Department but has failed to deliver on up to 30 per cent of its contracts.
It had been on the brink of closure for some months and was in urgent talks with the ministries of social development, justice and corrections to thrash out a rescue package.
However, the Government refused to underwrite the forecasted $1.5 million deficit at the end of this financial year.
* People needing assistance can ring the Lifeline Helpline on 0800 543 354MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian general killed in Syria had been seconded to the Syrian government as a military commander, Russia’s military chief of staff said on Wednesday.
Mourners gather around the grave of Russian Lieutenant-General Valery Asapov who was killed by Islamic State shelling near Deir al-Zor, during his funeral ceremony at a military cemetery outside Moscow, Russia September 27, 2017. REUTERS/Maria Tsvetkova
Moscow has long been a staunch ally of Syria, but the role of the deceased general reveals the extent to which Russia has become an integral part of President Bashar al Assad’s ruling system.
Lieutenant-General Valery Asapov, 51, was killed on Saturday by shelling from Islamic State positions near Deir al-Zor. He was the chief of staff of Russian forces deployed to the country and later became the commander of Syria’s Fifth Corps of volunteers, chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov said.
It was known that the Syrian Fifth Attack Troop Corps of volunteers, formed in late 2016, was equipped and advised by the Russians, but Damascus and Moscow had not previously announced it was under Russian command.
Speaking at Asapov’s funeral, Gerasimov said: “High prestige combined with care were outstanding features of his work.
“Of course, those qualities were displayed during his working trip to the Syrian Arab Republic, where he had been deployed from February this year,” Gerasimov said, addressing Asapov’s family and colleagues.
“He worked as the chief of staff of the group of our forces and then was in command of the Fifth Corps of volunteers... A treacherous shell cut short his life.”
A security specialist, who worked in Syria alongside the Russian and Syrian military, said Asapov was de facto the commander of Syria’s Fifth Corps but he may have been listed as chief military adviser on paper.
“Syrian officers relied completely on our officers,” he said.
Hundreds of people, most of them from the Russian military, attended the funeral at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery for Asapov who became the highest ranking military officer to be killed in the Syrian war.
Inscriptions in Russian and Arabic on some of garlands said they were sent by President al-Assad, Syrian ministers and military commanders.The authenticity of imported organic produce has come into question, but if it’s nutrition you’re after, buy from local farms.
On Nutrition
What does it mean to buy organic if your organic food might not be organic after all?
Last month, a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed its failure to make sure that imported organic foods actually meet USDA organic standards. Part of this was a failure to check documents and do audits, but perhaps most horrifyingly, even when imported crops do actually meet organic standards, there’s a decent chance they’ll end up being fumigated upon arrival with pesticides not allowed under USDA organic regulations.
The import of sham organics has been a particular problem with “organic” corn and soy, which are much in demand as feed for organically raised livestock. In order for milk and meat to be sold as organic, the animals can eat only organic feed, and most feed corn and soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified, which doesn’t qualify as organic.
Sadly, the situation with organic imports hurts not just consumers, who are paying a premium price for what may be a conventional product, but also our own organic farmers. True organic food generally costs more because it costs more to produce. A glut of faux-organic food on the market could drive down prices, impacting U.S. farmers while eroding shopper confidence.
That’s a big deal, since we love our organic food. A recent Organic Trade Association report found that 82 percent of American homes stock organic food and that organic food sales hit the $40 billion mark in 2016. Recent research from Denmark found that buying organic quickly becomes a habit. Once you buy your first organic food — and organic milk is often that gateway food — you’re likely to continue, growing your organic shopping list over time.
Why do we buy organic? According to consumer research, we go for organic because we want to avoid a lot of things on or in our food, including pesticides, chemicals, genetic modification, antibiotics and hormones. We buy organic not just because we believe organic foods are safer for us, but also because we believe organic foods are more nutritious and healthful.
Can we say conclusively that organic produce is more nutritious? No. While there’s some evidence that organic fruits and vegetables contain more phytonutrients (compounds in plants that have antioxidant and other health benefits), many factors affect levels of vitamins and minerals, including variety, soil condition, weather, climate, when a produce was harvested, how far it traveled to the store, how long it sat in the store, how long it sits in your fridge and how you prepare it.
If nutrition is a driving factor, follow these three guidelines:
• Focus on eating enough fruits and vegetables, whether conventional or organic — many people don’t.
• Buy from local farms — whether organic, conventional or transitional — to shorten the distance from farm to fork. Farmers markets are a wonderful way to get to know your farmer.
• Eat what you buy promptly, to minimize both nutrient loss and food waste, or rely more on frozen vegetables if you tend to let the fresh stuff go limp in your fridge.
If avoidance of nonorganic pesticides is your priority — whether out of concern for yourself, your family, farmworkers or the environment — eating seasonally from produce grown in the U.S. and reducing reliance on imported produce may give you peace of mind. Do keep in mind that many organic farms do use approved, more natural pesticides, while some conventional farmers may use pesticides sparingly. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach.The fierce foursome of Maci, Amber, Catelynn and Farrah will return on November 27
They're Back: Get The First Look At Teen Mom OG's Upcoming Season
New strength, new independence and a new season -- but still OG.
Amber, Catelynn, Farrah and Maci are back for more Teen Mom OG, and the strong young women are once again documenting their issues with their trademark honesty and attitude. From new love to co-parenting dilemmas, the moms are writing their own stories and making some of the biggest decisions of their lives.
"I promise I'm stronger than I look," Amber declares. Damn right, girl.
And let's not forget the kids: Bentley, Jayde, Leah, Maverick, Nova and Sophia are ready for more up-close cuteness.
What are you most excited to see when the fierce foursome return? Check out the first look at the upcoming installment of Teen Mom OG above, and don't miss the premiere on Monday, November 27 at 9/8c!HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) — A 2.4-meter-diameter propellant tank made of composite materials arrived on Nov. 20, 2012 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where engineers are preparing it for testing.
Composite tanks have the potential to significantly reduce the cost and weight for heavy-lift launch vehicles and for other future in-space missions. The tank’s arrival marks a significant milestone that was made possible because of contributions made over the last year by multiple NASA centers and The Boeing Company, the prime contractor for the project.
This is the largest composite tank ever produced with new materials that do not require autoclave processing. Complex autoclaves for processing large composite structures are high-pressure furnaces. Boeing used a novel automated fiber placement technique to manufacture the tank in Tukwila, Washington.
Marshall is leading the Composite Cryotank Technologies and Demonstration project with support from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.; and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida through funding provided by the NASA Space Technology’s Game Changing Development program.
In the coming months, the tank will undergo a series of hydrogen pressure tests in Marshall’s test facility where engineers will measure its ability to contain liquid hydrogen at extremely cold, or cryogenic, temperatures. NASA and Boeing engineers will use the test results to refine the tank design and build a larger 5.5-meter composite tank scheduled for testing in early 2014.
The design features and manufacturing processes can be applied to propellant tanks similar in size to tanks needed for heavy-lift rockets. Large propellant tanks for the space shuttle and other vehicles have typically been made of aluminum.LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled Arkansas Senate voted on Tuesday to override a veto by the state’s Democratic governor of a bill that would ban most abortions in the state after 12 weeks of pregnancy, the most severe restriction in the nation.
Senators voted 20-14 to override Governor Mike Beebe’s veto. In Arkansas, lawmakers can override a veto by a simple majority vote. The measure would become law if the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives also votes to override the veto.
Even though the House had voted 68-20 to pass the measure, it was not clear on Tuesday if it would have sufficient votes to override the veto.
“My expectation is for the House to override it, and I truly hope they do so,” said State Senator Jason Rapert, the bill’s sponsor.
“I am very grateful and very happy that the Arkansas Senate stood up for life today,” Rapert said. “A vote for life yesterday should still be a vote for life today.”
The Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act would ban most abortions after about 12 weeks of pregnancy, once a fetal heartbeat can be detected by a standard ultrasound. It includes exemptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother and major fetal conditions. Doctors who violate the prohibition would have their licenses revoked by the state Medical Board.
Under a law that took effect on February 28, Arkansas bans most abortions after 20 weeks. State lawmakers overrode a Beebe veto to enact the 20-week ban. The 12-week ban, if enacted, would be the toughest in the United States.
“This is the most extreme anti-women’s health bill in the country,” said Planned Parenthood of the Heartland President and CEO Jill June. “We strongly encourage the House to do what is right this time, |
claims "absolutely outrageous and scandalous".
"I'm a 65-year-old man and I've lived all my life being Aboriginal, and for the greatest part of my life, I've done activities that allowed me to be looking at family trees of lots and lots of people, so it astounds me that Jacqui Lambie would make this claim," Mr Mansell said.
"That's my family. And she's not part of it."
This morning Senator Lambie said her Indigenous grandfather had died, but "it comes from his side and that has been going many, many years".
"I'm very aware of my Indigenous heritage which is the Mannalargenna and I know who's throwing the sticks and stones down there and I'm not impressed," she said.
"I'll be very honest about that when it comes to Mansell's group.
"This has been going on, it's a tribal war I will say in Tasmania when it comes to Mansell's group and the rest of us and I would just say to Mansell, 'I suggest you watch your step with me'.
"When it comes to my side of the Indigenous heritage, we've certainly been around for hundreds of years and Mannalargenna has been in Tasmania for as long as any other Indigenous group down there and I'm very proud of that."
Archival records do not support Lambie's family tree
However, an investigation by Australian Story reveals Senator Lambie's claims are not supported by Tasmanian archival records.
A family tree released by Senator Lambie indicates a lineage from one of Mannalargenna's granddaughters, Margaret (also known as Mary), who was the offspring of Mannalargenna's daughter Worretermoeteyenner and a sealer, George Briggs, who had abducted her.
But that is where things become complicated.
This key ancestor in Senator Lambie's family tree, Margaret Briggs, is said to have married a Thomas Hite, with the rest of the family emanating from them.
But there is no trace of a Thomas Hite in records held by the Tasmanian Pioneer Index that show Margaret Briggs died in 1839, aged 22, with no mention of a spouse or offspring, all of which is consistent with a detailed Briggs family genealogy.
This is supported by research supplied to the ABC by the Library of Tasmania's information and research service this morning.
Senator Lambie's family tree, however, says Margaret Briggs married a Thomas Hite and had two children - one a daughter, Ann, who married William Aylett, and that this is the branch of the family from which the Lambies are descended.
The documents provided to Australian Story include the findings of a 2002 Administrative Appeals Tribunal dispute relating to rights to participate in an ATSIC election.
Claimants gave evidence that a pardoned convict, Samuel Hite, married another former convict, Mary Ann Pendrill, and that Samuel had a brother, Thomas Hite, who came to Tasmania as a sealer-sailor and took up with an Aboriginal woman.
This pairing is said to have resulted in a daughter, Ann, born in 1837, who was taken in by Samuel Hite and his wife Mary Ann and recorded as their own.
Ann went on to marry a William Aylett, and evidence was given that both are buried in the Jenner Cemetery at Wynyard, with Ann in the Aboriginal section and William in the white section.
On this basis, the tribunal found that the claimants were "the descendants of Thomas Hite and an Aboriginal woman".
However, there remains the question of Ann Hite's parentage and any evidence to link her to Margaret Briggs or her grandfather Mannalargenna.
Analysis by Library of Tasmania's information and research service concluded: "It is not possible for our office to provide any evidence for the Hite family claim to a link to the Briggs family."
Heather Sculthorpe, chief executive of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, said Senator Lambie's maiden speech was the first time she had heard any suggestion that the senator had an Indigenous heritage.
Elder stands by criticism
Mr Mansell has stood by his remarks and said people falsely making claims to Indigenous heritage had impacts on "our ownership of our identity".
"Look, Jacqui Lambie has stood up in the national parliament and made a claim to be Aboriginal. It strikes me that she says she is from the same family structures that I'm from, and I've never heard of her before," he said.
"In relation to people making these claims it impacts on our rights, our ownership of our identity.
"Over the last few years we've had a lot of people claiming to be Aboriginal and in fact not being Aboriginal.
"They're using the same sorts of family trees that I understand Jacqui Lambie is using, so at some stage she's got to be questioned.
"My family tree has no connections to the names that she's been putting up that gives her Aboriginality."
Who was Mannalargenna?
Mannalargenna was an elder of the Plangermaireener nation in the Ben Lomond area of north-eastern Tasmania, who led attacks against the British invasion of his lands.
In 1829, he rescued four Aboriginal women and a boy who had been captured by John Batman, notorious for enlisting "roving parties" of Aborigines from Sydney to help subdue the Aborigines in Mannalargenna's country.
A year later, Mannalargenna joined up with George Augustus Robinson's so-called friendly mission to try to quell hostilities between Aborigines and the white settlers.
His decision was made on a commitment from governor George Arthur that Aborigines would be protected and could continue to live in a traditional way on their own lands if hostilities ceased.
It appears he acted as something of a double agent by leading Robinson around in circles away from the Aboriginal people.
Robinson took him away from Tasmania to the Aboriginal settlement at Wybalenna on Flinders Island in 1835.
He died in captivity shortly after of pleural emphysema pneumonia.
Lambie backs welfare card for disadvantaged Indigenous people
Today Senator Lambie also urged the Federal Government to get behind a controversial plan put forward by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest to end Indigenous disadvantage.
Under the plan, a so-called "healthy welfare" card would be introduced to prevent anyone on welfare from using the money for gambling, cigarettes or alcohol.
Senator Lambie said she wanted to use her Indigenous background and life experience to get behind Mr Forrest's plan.
"It's got to a critical point now with the Indigenous people, and it's about time we stepped in and we gave them a helping hand," she said.
"And that's the only way to do it. Leaving this in the 'too hard' basket is no longer an option, and failure's no longer an option either."
Topics: aboriginal, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-culture, indigenous-policy, federal-parliament, government-and-politics, australia, tas
First postedThis design is Available for purchase in the store when I'm accepting orders
While I've made Aang Kimono Dresses in the past as commissions, I never combined the two. Now that I've seen them together, I've decided to offer it in the store full-time!
Introducing the Airbender Cosplay Kimono Dress (and Capelet). The
I think it's time to marathon AtLA again =3 I love me some Korra, but I'm in need of a healthy dose of Aang's smile
Visit this listing in the Geek and Kimono Dress sections of the store for a description and different angles: simple kimono dress is inspired by the traditional Airbender clothing and is made to be worn with the capelet. It can also be ordered with the Airbender swirls on the back if you'd like to wear it aloneI think it's time to marathon AtLA again =3 I love me some Korra, but I'm in need of a healthy dose of Aang's smile Visit this listing in the Geek and Kimono Dress sections of the store for a description and different angles: darling-army.goodsie.com/sky-n…
The skirt pictured is available for purchase in the Ready to Ship section of the store. Visit this listing in the Otaku and Kimono Dress sections of the store for a description and different angles: The skirt pictured is available for purchase in the Ready to Ship section of the store. Visit this listing in the Otaku and Kimono Dress sections of the store for a description and different angles: darling-army.goodsie.com/titan…
Want to know when I'll be accepting my next 20 pinafore order? Get updates on my Facebook! This is the best way to find out when I'll be taking orders, especially since my spots fill up the day I post them. -->Getting Sh-t Done
Personal organization without the hassle
#plannerlife, #weeklyspread, #showmeyourplanner
How it all started: Aching to scribble
The birth of Getting Sh-t Done
Why GSD works
The GSD method
Step 1: Create the Master List
Step 2: Create the Daily List
[/]
Step 3: Work the Daily List
And that's it!
Bonus Thoughts
When you're stuck
Calendaring
Carrying forward
Handwriting
Paper
Pen
Indexing
Other websites to consider
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People around the globe - from high school teachers and product designers to TV producers and astronauts - use GSD to get things done.Spend any time on Instagram or Twitter these days, and you'll be assaulted by endless stream of over-the-top planner spreads: immaculate handwriting, bespoke pastel color palettes, cute little bunny stickers, inspirational quotes, monthly habit tracker matrices, and - are you forking serious - giant swaths of calligraphy worthy of a royal wedding invitation:This is a multi-month arts and crafts project. It's analog procrastination, self-help exhibitionism, vainglorious doodling. This is spending your time choosing among a rainbow of Stabilo Boss markers, seven different widths of Rotring pens, or maybe just either the Strawberry- or Pineapple-Scented Limited Edition Pilot Juice 0.7mm (a real product, I'm sorry to say)... instead of making real, tangible progress towards something important at work, school, or home.For years I fought the good fight, shoehorning my life into a clusterfumble of digital devices, trying to flatten the complexities of an analog world into the rigid strictures of digital to-do lists, LifeHacker-approved "productivity" apps, and cloud-based services that promised the world on a silver platter.I was a model digital citizen, tapping my tasks on tiny keyboards, selecting tags and due dates with wild abandon, synchronizing across devices and time and space, staring bleary-eyed at time-stamped, prioritized, and algorithm-optimized lists of things that I had not, and would not, accomplish in the foreseeable future.It was all just so... involved.Instead, I ached to scribble in the margins, to draw fat circles around things that suddenly became important, to scrawl lines across the page to link thoughts together, to furiously scratch out mistakes and things I had given up on. I needed to scratch an itch that no digital device - not even one with a magical stylus carved from the horn of a glittery technicolor unicorn - would ever let me satisfy.But then a chance lunchtime stop one sunny April day at a random old-school stationery store happened to change my life forever. For real.Standing there in front of the giant plate glass window, I found nirvana in a notebook. No longer was I going to be trapped in a digital black hole, for I was going full-tilt analog, armed with a paper notebook and a shiny new pen.For the next few months, I slowly evolved a method for personal organization, using just paper and pen. It was brutally simple, didn't require much forethought or planning, and kept me focused on the tasks at hand rather than on the task of organizing. And it worked.But it took a chance encounter with Dave Gray and a few other folks several months later in a San Francisco restaurant to realize that I actually had a system here. So with a bit of goading from the crew, I wrote it up and gave it a name: "Getting Sh-t Done", or GSD. It's quick, it's dirty, and it doesn't require a lot of preparation, special materials, or rigorous thinking.GSD works because it focuses on three simple principles:- Reduces distractions and intentionally slows you down, helping you to think more clearly. Proven to improve recall significantly over digital notes.- Emphasizes breaking projects down into individual tasks which can be completed, not intangible ‘goals' that just sit on your to-do list mocking you.- Provides a single place for all of your tasks, and a simple way to do them, so things get done and don't slip through the cracks.It's quick, it's dirty, and it works. Let's get started!First, an important part of GSD is being able to quickly scan a page to see the status of everything on it. Here are the symbols that I use (but you may want to modify them):So, with no further ado, I present the GSD method, in three easy steps:The core of the whole system is dead simple. I start off by banging out a stream-of-consciousness list of everything that I can think of that I have to do, putting an empty box next to each of them - and not spending any time prioritizing or organizing. Some of these items should be short-term ("Pay bills"), and some should be the next step towards longer-term activities ("Set up monthly automatic transfer to savings").But the key is to make sure that each item is a task that I can actually do. Not "figure out dishwasher repair", but "make list of five dishwasher repair people and phone numbers." Otherwise, items just linger there on the list, mocking me, and never actually get done.Early each morning, I sit down with my notebook (laptop closed, phone off) and open it to the next blank page. I write the day and date at the top, and pull forward the Post-It™ tab that I use to mark the current page.Next, I dump a list of the things that are top of mind, in no particular order. That's important, because it lets me get everything out without worrying about structure. I put work items on the left and personal items on the right, although you may want to combine them.Then, I go back to previous days and look for unfinished items. For each one I find, I draw a slashthrough its box (indicating it's been moved forward), and rewrite it on today's page. The goal is to move all open items onto the current page, and eventually have every box on prior pages filled with a check (it's done), a diagonal line (it's moved), or an X (I'm punting and will never do it). Once I've moved everything forward from a prior page, I put a check mark in the upper-right hand corner of that page to show it's closed out.Finally, I review my Master list for items that need to be addressed. Usually, a lot of them have already come through in the brain dump, but it helps me remember and stay focused on longer-term goals.Next, I look at my entire Daily list, pick the top 3 or 4 most important items, and put little dots in their checkboxes. Then I get to work, cranking through the list and checking items off as they are completed. Once I've completed my priority items, I go back and put dots next to the next-most important items, and work on those... on so on.The key, however, is to make sure that you're only working on things that are on the list. If something new comes up, add it to the list, and then re-prioritize. And for good measure, take a moment or two during the day to go back to Step 1 and revisit your Master List and Daily List, making sure that you're still focused on the most important things.So that's it, GSD in a nutshell - one place for all your to-dos and notes, a quick and dirty way of managing them, and no need to buy special software or spend your Sunday evening fighting with a cumbersome prioritization scheme or a table full of stickers and colored pencils.(Help others learn about GSD by sending them this page or 'liking' the GSD page on Facebook?)You're done! Stop reading and get at it!But if you want more...From time to time, even the little dots don't work, especially when I'm up against some sort of deadline. In that case, I'll draw out a time ladder: start with the current time, map out the hours through the end of the day, and then map activities against it in rough 30- or 60-minute blocks. That usually works for about half a day, then the whole thing goes to hell and I just wing it. And that's ok.Several people have written to ask about how I do calendaring. My primary calendar with daily entries is through my work email. However, I've started putting a small calendar in the back of my notebook to keep track of major upcoming events. It's a nice way to think 'big picture' about the future (but prepare for lots of rewriting/mistakes/changes as life evolves!).One GSD user told me that she uses Post-It™ notes to capture various lists, such as things she hopes to complete in the coming week, urgent tasks, or other short lists of various types (to-do lists from meetings, sub-steps for larger tasks, etc.). Then she can easily move the Post-It™ from one page to the next in her notebook as she goes through her week. And as a bonus, she mentions, "if the list is shorter/longer I can use a smaller/bigger one (psychological benefits, hahaha)."I love to write by hand. I've spent years refining my script, and wasn't really happy with it until well into my 30s. But you don't need to have good handwriting to GSD, as long as you can read what you write. If you're not happy with your handwriting, try slowing down and forming the letters with a bit more care - you may find it helps you with planning and recall as well.When I first started GSD, I used the 6-inch x 8-inch 300-page Miquelrius notebook with a black cover and grid rule. However, as I purchased additional copies from them, it seemed like quality had started to suffer, both in terms of the paper and the binding. If you're using larger notebooks, Flexible Notebooks sent me a few of their Zequenz notebooks large and small to try out, and I was very impressed with the paper quality and overall design.Personally, I've ended up moving to a smaller format notebook that I can always have with me. My family gave me a subscription to Field Notes notebooks, and I find that their standard-size notebook fits perfectly in my front left pocket along with my phone. Each notebook has 48 pages - just enough for about a month of GSD. I love their dot grid design, because it's just enough guidance to keep my writing straight without the overbearing imprint of a grid.For projects where I need to have a bird's-eye view of the entire thing at one glance, I've started using a Studio Neat Panobook. I don't carry it all the time, but keep it in my work bag for when I need it. I'm careful, though, to make sure any actual tasks still go in my primary notebook.Honestly, any old pen will work as long as it's reliable. A pencil or the basic Bic works perfectly well. That said, I like pens. Over the years, I've used dozens of the black uni-ball Vision Elite Micro pens. They start instantly, lay down a consistent line (no drop-outs or ink globs), last forever, and do not bleed significantly to the back of the page. Recently, however, my wife bought me a Baron Fig Squire. Not something that I would have purchased for myself due to the price, but it's a really nice pen and the ink cartridges are even better than the uni-ball ones.If you use one of the thicker notebooks, you may want to create an index on the edges of the pages:: Inside the front cover of your notebook, make a small index, with one line per major project. Then, put a black mark on the edge of the page next to each project name. Here, I have five projects, and five black marks. Make sure your black marks go right to the edge, so you can see them when your notebook is closed.: Bring your project names onto the edge of your notebook, creating a 'key' so you can see them without flipping to the first page. A lot of the work I do is client-confidential, so I'm using abbreviations instead of the full project name.: Whenever you create a page that's related to the specific project, put a small black mark on the edge of the page (in alignment with your key). Then, when looking for pages related to that project, just slightly fan your book and you'll see them all at a glance!The interesting, but more complex Bullet Journal method by Ryder CarrollIf you're having a hard time focusing on your work, you might want to read up on ADD and ADHD and Executive Function, or look at The Focus Course which looks interestingAnother interesting method for tagging individual pages called the Gene of My Life Thanks for reading, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Good luck with your tasks.Microsoft had a pretty lousy year in 2012, putting out a string of big products – Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and the Surface tablet – that all turned out to be be disappointing.
But those pale in comparison to what may be the biggest disappointment in Microsoft’s history — its failure to convince antitrust regulators to take action against Google.
After a 19-month investigation and despite much prodding from Microsoft, the Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with Google that basically amounts to a slap on the wrist.
This is a crushing blow to Microsoft, which has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists and phony grassroots groups over the past several years hoping to land Google in hot water.
Indeed, Microsoft’s obsession with Google doesn’t just border on crazy. It is crazy, and not just a little tiny bit crazy but full-blown, bunny-boiling, Ahab-versus-the-whale nutso.
The Shadow War
For years Microsoft has devoted massive resources and energy to waging a sneaky shadow war against Google, fielding an army of lobbyists and front groups that exist almost completely to spread anti-Google propaganda, including ICOMP.org, the Association for Competitive Technology, FairSearch and SafeGov.
They call themselves “industry groups,” and they have lots of members, but they’re basically Microsoft fronts devoted to hating on Google. Take a glance through ICOMP’s “newsroom” and “Voices” section and white papers and “ICOMP in the News” section. It’s pretty much all Google, all the time — and all negative. It’s a whole website devoted to bashing Google, and frankly it’s kind of incredible, in a twisted way.
FairSearch does much the same. Its site is loaded with Google bashing. FairSearch’s spokesman is Ben Hammer, who works for the Glover Park Group, a lobbying and PR firm in Washington, D.C., that used to lobby for Microsoft. Before taking on his role at FairSearch, Hammer worked on the Microsoft account for Glover Park.
FairSearch also hired Patrick Lynch, the former attorney general in Rhode Island, as a consultant — and then Lynch began lobbying states to investigate Google and publishing op-ed pieces in newspapers bashing Google for “abusing its power,” among other things.
Microsoft even hired Randall Long, a former FTC attorney who had worked on investigations into Google during his time at the commission. A watchdog group protested and called the hire “suspicious.”
In 2009 Microsoft spent millions of dollars to kill a proposed deal between Google and Yahoo. Read this Wired story about what Microsoft did, and you’ll be flabbergasted.
That battle was fought by an internal SWAT team that is devoted to hobbling Google. The team is led by a lawyer, John Kelly. (See his LinkedIn bio here.) Also on the team is Kate O’Sullivan, a former exec at Burson-Marsteller, a top Microsoft PR agency that has a hand in running ICOMP.
The SafeGov ‘Grassroots’ Campaign
More recently, as Google started trying to sell Google Apps to government agencies – competing against Microsoft Office by offering much lower prices – Microsoft helped create a new group called SafeGov.org, another so-called “grassroots” organization whose mission supposedly is to discuss issues around government computing policies, but really ends up being just another front for bashing Google.
SafeGov’s “experts” include Doug Miller of Milltech Consulting, who used to work at Microsoft doing “competitive strategy,” and earlier this year disclosed a consulting relationship with Microsoft. There’s also Jeff Gould of Peerstone Research, another SafeGov expert who has disclosed his consulting connection to Microsoft in the Washington Post and on a site called The Open Enterprise, but not in his SafeGov bio. Finally there’s Bryan Cunningham of Cunningham Partners who co-founded a company called Polaris Consulting whose lobbying clients included Microsoft — though again this connection is not mentioned in his SafeGov bio.
SafeGov’s other experts include four people from the Chertoff Group — a lobbying organization run by former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. They’ve done their part to bash Google. Chertoff criticized Google in the Wall Street Journal in July 2012. Richard Falkenrath, a principal at Chertoff and a SafeGov expert, criticized Google in the Financial Times in February 2012. Yet another SafeGov expert, Andrew Weis of Civitas, warned about Google and privacy in the Chronicle of Higher Education in February 2012.
All For Nothing
And now all Microsoft’s plotting and scheming has come to nothing. Or almost nothing.
The FTC has settled with Google on the allegations of search engine manipulation. As FTC Chairman Jon Liebowitz has stated, the investigation is closed and the FTC is satisfied that Google was not acting in anti-competitive fashion. “On balance, we didn’t believe that the evidence supported an FTC challenge to this aspect of Google’s business under American law,” Leibowitz said in a press conference on Thursday. There won’t be any protracted (and distracting) legal battle. There won’t be any embarrassing depositions. Google will just make a few little changes that it has already agreed to and the Feds will back off.
Of course FairSearch is howling about the settlement and claiming the FTC “failed in its mission to protect American consumers.” Microsoft is still holding out hope that European regulators will do something to hobble Google. And that may happen.
But here in the States, the whole campaign is starting to look not just evil but also ridiculous and even pathetic, a failed crusade that smacks of revenge and failure and sad psychodrama.
Why Not Just Make Better Products?
Microsoft has spent the past 10 years missing out on every big new trend — search, social, mobile. Instead of looking inward and trying to fix its own problems, Microsoft has become ever more obsessed with Google.
The crusade extends to PR as well. Last year Microsoft hired Mark Penn, the pollster and PR guy who led Hillary Clinton’s 2008 train wreck of a campaign.
Penn’s mission is to create smear campaigns about Google. One of his big brainstorms was the “Scroogled” campaign which tried to persuade people that Google’s search results are tainted by advertising. Microsoft ran full-page ads in newspapers and spots on Monday Night Football. It even created a site, scroogled.com, and urged people to complain about Google on Facebook.
Then came the “Droid Rage” ploy, where Microsoft used its Windows Phone account on Twitter to ask Android users to send in Android malware stories to win a prize. The campaign backfired when Android fans used the hashtag to mock Microsoft.
Going negative might work in politics, but when you’re selling products it’s probably wiser to tout the virtues of your own product. The risk Microsoft is taking is that by howling about Google, Microsoft starts to look like a company that can no longer compete, a desperate dinosaur that has toppled into the tar pit.
Worse, Microsoft starts to seem a little unhinged. Nevertheless, don’t expect this freak show to end anytime soon. Supposedly Penn has been going around Washington trying to recruit consultants, telling them that Microsoft has armed him with a $50 million budget to go after Google.
Imagine the kind of cool product that a team of great engineers could dream up with $50 million. Instead, we’ll get more negative ads and ineffective lobbying, while the Surface continues to post disappointing sales figures, and Windows Phone languishes in the cellar of the smartphone market, and while Android continues to gain market share in smartphones and tablets and the FTC can’t find a way, despite all of Microsoft’s finagling and pleading, to make a case against Google.
Keep up the great work, Microsoft.
See also: Google Escapes Unscathed From From FTC Settlement and Microsoft’s Fight Against Google Continues With YouTube App Complaint.
Image by ReadWrite.Bethesda is going first at E3 this year with a showcase of games on Sunday night. What clues can we see in the press invite?
Skyrim publisher Bethesda has sent out confirmation of its E3 showcase, taking place Sunday June 14.
The invite includes a number of Bethesda game characters including Wolfenstein’s BJ Blazcowicz, a Cyberdemon from Doom, Sebastian from The Evil Within, some Elder Scrolls Online characters and a Tallboy from Dishonored.
That leaves a few obvious MIAs, including Vault Boy from the Fallout games. Unless he’s not old enough to attend.
We’d be foolish to assume this is any real representation of what will be shown in June. But everyone’s hoping for a Fallout 4 reveal, right?
We’ll be in the audience, and Bethesda is livestreaming the event, so we’ll be able to watch it all unfold together. Hold me close.You know the old saying.
If you can’t repeal ‘em, then sabotage ‘em.
That’s exactly what some people say the Trump administration is doing with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In fact, President Donald Trump said last month that his plan was to “let Obamacare fail” and then force Democrats to work with Republicans on proposals to repeal and replace the nation’s healthcare law.
Those were not idle words.
The White House can do plenty to help shove Obamacare over the cliff in the next few months.
Those actions range from failing to provide financial assistance to ignoring some of the ACA’s laws to scrapping advertising and publicity for the upcoming enrollment period.
Indeed, the Trump administration has already instituted some of these anti-ACA policies.
And this is all happening as health insurance companies nervously await some important upcoming deadlines.
“There’s a difference between letting Obamacare fail and making it fail,” said Kurt Mosley, vice president of strategic alliances at Merritt Hawkins healthcare consultants.
What’s already happening
At this point, most people in the United States apparently want Obamacare fixed — not repealed.
A poll released Friday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation stated that 60 percent of those surveyed said it was “a good thing” that the Senate failed late last month to approve a bill that would have repealed Obamacare.
Another 57 percent said they want Republicans and Democrats to work together to improve the ACA.
And 78 percent said they want the Trump administration to make the current healthcare law work. Only 17 percent said the White House should do what it can to make the ACA fail.
Despite the one-sided sentiment, the Trump administration has already begun efforts to undermine the ACA.
One of the chief strategies was revealed when President Trump threatened late last month to end the federal subsidies to insurance companies. These subsidies help pay for lower income customers’ premiums.
The federal government distributes about $600 million a month in these subsidies to insurance firms.
A decision on these payments needs to be made soon.
On August 21, the next round of monthly cost-sharing subsidies is scheduled to be sent out.
On September 5, insurers in 39 states that use the federal marketplace must submit any final adjustments they want to make in their proposed 2018 premium rate requests. The original deadline was going to be later this week, but last Friday the White House extended that deadline until the first week of September.
On September 27, insurance firms sign contracts to participate in the 2018 ACA marketplace.
Experts say if the president follows through on his threat to withhold subsidies, that could prompt insurers to seek even higher rates or drop out of the market altogether.
“It could create chaos,” Mosley told Healthline.
In fact, the president’s words have already produced uncertainty.
A report by the Kaiser Family Foundation released last week stated that the looming threat has triggered double-digit increases in the preliminary premium requests from insurance companies.
In 15 major U.S. cities, the report concluded, there are premium increases of more than 10 percent slated for consumers who buy insurance in the ACA marketplaces.
The report also stated that fewer insurers are expected to offer ACA plans than at any time since Obamacare began in 2014. On average, there will be 4.6 insurers per state, down from 5.7 insurers this year.
Experts say that even if the Trump administration decides on a month-by-month basis whether to pay the subsidies, it could be unsettling to the insurance market.
If the subsidies are ended, that will affect more than consumers.
Experts say hospitals would face an increase in uncompensated care from patients who don’t have insurance.
Enrollment is another arena where the Trump administration could hurt Obamacare.
Fewer people participating in the ACA markets would further weaken the system.
The White House has already taken steps in this direction.
Last month, administration officials ended contracts in 18 major cities for people known as facilitators.
These assistants worked in libraries, businesses, and urban neighborhoods, helping people sign up for ACA insurance coverage.
Without them, experts say enrollment will decline.
“They are absolutely essential,” Dr. Meghana Rao, an OB-GYN who is on the board of directors for Doctors for America, told Healthline.
“It’s critically important that consumers have some place to go,” added Jeananne Sciabarra, executive director of Consumer Health First.
In addition, in April, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shortened the enrollment period in states under the federal marketplace.
Enrollment was originally scheduled to last from November 1 to January 31. That has been reduced to November 1 through December 15.
State-run exchanges have been encouraged to follow the same schedule.
Healthline contacted HHS officials for comment. A representative asked that Healthline email questions on these and other issues.
The email questions were sent, but HHS officials didn’t respond with answers.
What could happen soon
In the next few months, there are other ways the Trump administration could help derail Obamacare.
For starters, the White House could reduce or eliminate advertising and publicity for the upcoming enrollment period.
The administration already did this in late January at the end of the 2017 enrollment period when it pulled $5 million of Obamacare advertising.
The administration could also decide not to enforce the individual mandate.
That’s the requirement that everyone have insurance coverage. Those who don’t face a tax penalty when their file their income tax returns.
In fact, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), under the direction of Trump administration officials, announced earlier this year it would process tax returns where the filer declined to state whether they had insurance.
The IRS could also decide not to enforce the tax penalty for those who do admit they went without insurance the previous year.
Experts say the individual mandate is crucial because it provides insurance companies with lower-cost, healthy individuals to balance out their more expensive, less healthy clients.
The administration could also decide not to enforce the ACA mandates on the minimum insurance requirement that employers must provide to their employees.
That could result in less healthcare coverage for people who get their insurance through their workplace.
The administration could also hurt Obamacare by what Sciabarra calls “sabotage through neglect.”
That includes not keeping the ACA website up to date or slowly processing government paperwork.
Whether the Trump administration will proceed with any of these measures is anybody’s guess.
“I think they figure if they let Obamacare fail, then they can blame the Democrats,” said Mosley. “But I don’t think that will work.”
“I wish I could predict what this administration will do,” added Rao. “I really hope they don’t go through with this.”CALGARY – Explosive train derailments, such as the one that killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Que., have forced the federal government to introduce new regulations for transporting oil on railways.
Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt said Friday the new regulations were created in response to the Lac-Mégantic disaster in 2013, and that railways moving large volumes of crude oil will now be required to carry insurance of up to $1 billion to cover the costs of a potential accident.
Oil companies shipping their product in railway cars, meanwhile, will now face a levy of $1.65 for every tonne of crude shipped roughly 23¢ per barrel.
“In today’s price environment, every little bit affects the economics,” said Greg Stringham, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers’ vice-president of oilsands and markets. Crude oil prices have plunged more than 50% since June, causing many producers to cut spending.
Mr. Stringham said about 200,000 barrels of oil were moving by rail in Canada every day at the end of 2014.
At that volume, oil levies would contribute roughly $16.8 million to Transport Canada’s emergency fund annually. The money collected from the levy will be put into a new $250-million fund that would provide compensation to accident victims.
Oil-by-rail shipments have skyrocketed in Canada and the United States in recent years as new oil production growth from North Dakota and the oilsands has outpaced the construction of new pipelines.
At the same time, fiery train derailments — such as the recent incident near Gogama, Ont. last Sunday — have also become more frequent.
The Railway Association of Canada said Friday that it supported Ms. Raitt’s move to “have more stakeholders share in the costs associated with rail accidents involving dangerous goods.”
However, RAC president and CEO Michael Bourque said in a press release that “the regime can be improved by including other dangerous goods — such as chlorine — in the compensation fund right away.”
Mr. Stringham said that oil and gas producers don’t know whether additional costs from the new insurance burden will cause oil-by-rail movements to become more expensive for producers.
“This new legislation will improve railway safety and strengthen oversight while protecting taxpayers and making industry more accountable to communities,” Ms. Raitt said in a press release.
Canada’s two largest railways — CN and Canadian Pacific — already meet or exceed the top $1-billion liability threshold, while smaller carriers will have two years to meet lower liability limits of $25 million, $100 million or $250 million, depending |
engage in collective bargaining.
Ohr disagreed. Per NCAA rules, he said, the players remain on the team for at most five years, but "given the substantial length of the players' employment it is clear that they cannot be found to be temporary employees under Board law."
Last month, Colter, the union's star witness, described the grueling football schedule that led him to drop his pre-med course load and switch to a less-demanding major.
Colter spoke of 50- to 60-hour workweeks and a coach who was "the bossman." He stressed that participating in football was a job, and as a result of it, he couldn't pursue his dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
On Wednesday, Colter, who is training in Florida preparing for his April pro day before May's NFL draft, was getting ready for practice when he saw a message from the union's attorney.In early August, iNews24, citing an inside source, reported a StarCraft: Brood War remaster in the works that would include high resolution graphics and an improved user interface, and would be initially announced in September with another announcement coming in during this year's BlizzCon, which occurred from November 4 – November 5.
This rumor didn't come as a surprise to some people, job positions listed under Classic Games began appearing as early as October 31, 2015, as shown by the Wayback Machine. The job positions were interpreted by some as evidence of a remaster in progress due to its wording, namely, "We’re restoring them to glory" and "Create conditions for experiences that look as good as they play", and therefore supported the rumor by iNews24.
Various debates quickly arose following the rumor, most of which focused on what Blizzard should or should not change. The validity of the rumor was less discussed as many fans hoped that the evidence presented was just good enough. September rolled by and no announcement from Blizzard, though that did not discourage fans from believing an announcement would be made at BlizzCon instead. BlizzCon slid right by with no announcement as well, though Diablo 1 fans will be able to get a taste of the original Diablo remake inside of Diablo 3 if they have a copy of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls.
Despite no announcement of a StarCraft: Brood War remaster, it's important to note that the possibility is not completely off the table (to the public's knowledge), unlike WarCraft and WarCraft 2 which Jack Pearce, Blizzard's co-founder, and Mike Morhaime, Blizzard's president, explained that they are choosing to not remaster the two WarCraft games and will instead focus on other efforts.
With the passing of BlizzCon, it seems as though we're back at square one again. Not quite however, the existence of the, albeit unpublished, 1.17.0 patch could provide us with some insight. There are two routes that Blizzard must choose between should they decide to remaster the game: 1) make a backwards compatible client so that those playing on the remastered version could play with those on the traditional version, and 2) make a non-backwards compatible client that will not be able to play with those on the traditional version.
The latter case would cause a significant split in the Brood War community regardless of the changes that will be made, unless this remastered client will be offered for free, which doesn't sound very likely for a remaster. Also, depending on the changes that could be made as well as its pricing, the Brood War community would most likely stick with the traditional client. Assuming, increased game resolution will be provided, the former would cause backlash from the Brood War community due to concerns about fairness of gameplay. In both cases, Blizzard would have to maintain both games as it appears that a remaster will not supersede the traditional client, due to the fact that a new patch for the traditional client exists. This does not seem like a good idea for Blizzard's Classic Games Team because having to maintain an additional game would consequently strain their resources more.
What are your thoughts on the possibility of a StarCraft: Brood War remaster?File - in this Friday, Sept. 28, 2007 file photo, workers from the Misr Spinning and Weaving Factory in the northern industrial town of Mahalla el-Kobra, Egypt, beat on makeshift drums as they protest on the final day of a week-long strike for unpaid bonuses. Former President Hosni Mubarak kept a tight lid on labor unrest during most of his 30 years in power, permitting only state-controlled unions in a tradition dating back to the days of socialist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. But the independent unions began holding protests in the twilight years of Mubarak's reign, and workers assumed a major role in the 2011 uprising that ended it. (AP Photo/Paul Schemm, File) The Associated Press
By BRIAN ROHAN, Associated Press
MAHALLA EL-KOBRA, Egypt (AP) — Labor activist Kamal al-Fayoumi has lost none of his swagger since being fired from the sprawling Egyptian textile plant where he worked for three decades and was known as an agitator.
Striding through a gritty industrial town in the Nile Delta, he proudly points to workers' clubs, cooperative grocery stores, cinemas, a pool and a hospital — all of which have seen better days — and brushes off threats from management and the police.
"Our forefathers built this place, it's in our blood," he said, looking on the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company, Egypt's largest factory. "We shouldn't be afraid, they should fear us!"
Hard times in Egypt have spurred an increase in labor unrest, even as President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's government has largely succeeded in quashing political demonstrations over the past two years. Rising prices, low wages and delays in salaries and bonuses have workers vowing more strikes and protests, even at the risk of a violent crackdown.
Since last month, workers have held sit-ins at Alexandria's port and even in Cairo, flouting a 2013 ban on protests decreed after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Thousands protested at a total of 493 actions in the first four months of 2016, a 25 percent increase from the same period a year ago, according to Democracy Meter, an Egyptian NGO that tracks and verifies protests using multiple sources.
"Labor tried to give el-Sissi a chance. But you can't take away peoples' rights and fail to fix poverty simultaneously," said Mohamed Adel, the director of the group. He said the actions range from work stoppages to peaceful marches and pickets.
Security forces have waged a relentless crackdown on dissent since Morsi's ouster, arresting thousands of his Islamist supporters as well as prominent liberal and secular activists.
But while authorities banned a march on International Workers Day last month organized by independent trade unions, they have not targeted labor activists with mass arrests, perhaps fearing a backlash.
Former President Hosni Mubarak kept a tight lid on labor unrest during most of his 30 years in power, permitting only state-controlled unions in a tradition dating back to the days of socialist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. But the independent unions began holding protests in the twilight years of Mubarak's reign, and workers assumed a major role in the 2011 uprising that ended it.
Since then, organized labor has been under intense scrutiny.
Earlier this year, an Italian doctoral student who had been writing his thesis about independent unions was found tortured to death. Giulio Regeni disappeared on the Jan. 25 anniversary of the revolt, when security forces were out in force in central Cairo. Police have denied any involvement, but Italy withdrew its ambassador, saying Egypt was not fully cooperating with the investigation.
A draft law is in the works that would further delegitimize independent organizing, and a lawsuit filed by the official state union, expected to be decided later this summer, seeks to criminalize non-official trade unions. The government has also renewed efforts to shut down NGOs that receive foreign funding, which could affect unions with links to international labor movements.
At the International Labor Organization's annual conference in Geneva this week, Egyptian Labor Minister Mohamed Saafan gave a speech that made no mention of independent unions, focusing instead on state sovereignty and the fight against poverty. The head of the state union, Mohamed Wahballah, who was also present, described terrorism as the main obstacle to development, according to Egypt's official news agency, MENA.
Independent unions filed a complaint to the body, rejecting Egypt's delegation at the conference as illegitimate and denouncing what they described as government attempts to "liquidate" them. The ILO said in a report that it was "concerned" about doubts over the official union's independence, and that Egypt's delegation was not in accordance with its obligations as a member.
Kamal Abbas, head of the independent Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services, said he expects more strikes, but not the kind of large-scale demonstrations seen during and after the 2011 uprising.
"The government is attacking the independent and professional unions, and the workers are standing up, especially in cases where they are dismissed unjustly or benefits are not paid out," he said.
Strikes at the Misr Spinning and Weaving factory in the town of Mahalla el-Kobra occur several times a year and have turned violent in the past. The grievances of its 20,000 workers sparked the first mass protests against Mubarak on April 6, 2008, spawning a youth movement called April 6 that played a key role in the 2011 uprising. The group has since been outlawed and its leaders imprisoned.
Around 10,000 of the factory's workers are associated with the independent unions, al-Fayoumi said, and have long used strikes as their principle means of securing higher wages and benefits. Activists say the workers are also organizing via social media.
For many workers, the pain of recent price increases — driven by double-digit inflation — could outweigh the dangers of taking to the streets.
"No one can predict the future, but if prices keep rising, and salaries stay the same, the workers will hold peaceful protests until the salaries match the prices," al-Fayoumi said.
Al-Fayoumi said he was fired last year because he had spoken out about corruption that cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars, pointing to a report by Egypt's top auditor released last year, which reportedly mentioned the factory. The auditor, Hesham Genena, is now on trial for spreading "false news."
On a recent trip outside his old workplace, al-Fayoumi was detained by guards for five hours and questioned at the behest of state security about his activism and possible links to foreign funding.
Late last month, security forces broke up a sit-in at a shipyard in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, arresting 13 workers and engineers, who could face military trials since the facility belongs to the navy. Adel, of Democracy Meter, says they are being held in a military prison on accusations of taking part in unauthorized protests.
"They want to show that no one can touch or oppose any kind of militarily installation or property," he said, adding that he worried for the future. "When you take bread from my child, I become a monster. I fear it could turn violent."
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Follow Brian Rohan on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brian_rohan
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Associated Press writer Sam Magdy contributed to this reportSept. 2, 2006
Dear Mrs. Rowling,
I have so much I'd like to say, but I know you are a very busy woman so I'll try to keep it short and not take up too much of your time. Primarily, I would like to say I absolutely LOVE your books and have at least one copy of each on my book shelf, in addition to Harry's school books for Comic Relief and several analytical and biographical ones related to Harry and you. With that, I'll just go right into it. I first heard of the Harry Potter series when I was in fourth grade, but at the time I was not much of a reader. In the beginning of my fifth grade year, I went out on a whim and began Sorcerer's Stone; I was hooked by page three and have not been seen without a book on hand since.
I have never enjoyed a series as much as I have every one of your Harry books. I noticed, as I read each of the six books the first time through, I was the same age as Harry, which was quite coincidental. I have cried at least once reading every one of the six so far (several times during a few) and out right bawled at the end of Half-Blood Prince. Losing Dumbledore, empathizing with Harry and his friends, seeing their heartache, and feeling as though I had lost a grandpa myself was utterly overwhelming. The relationship that evolved and grew between Harry and Dumbledore from the end of book five and throughout book six increased the intensity of this for me.
This emotional reaction, I speculate, may perhaps be a result of the strong connection I feel with Harry. Not only do I wear glasses and have green eyes, thus sharing a bit of his physical appearance (I realize I speak of Harry as if he is a real person, but to me he is very real indeed, as I'm sure he is to you), but I'm also an orphan, both parents having been murdered when I was younger. In addition, I was always picked on before I went to my new school, as Harry was by Dudley and his cronies before he went to Hogwarts. So, I also have a strong emotional understanding with Harry and feel the severity of Harry's loss of Sirius (I bawled here as well); for these reasons Harry holds a special place in my heart and he always will.
Being picked on most of my life, I never had many friends due to my own insecurities and fear of loss, but through the most difficult times in my life, Harry was my best friend when I needed him most and he lent me his world in which to escape my own grief and hurt, and for this I thank you from the deepest part of my heart. To me, it's like Harry and I grew up together. I have grown a lot emotionally over the years and am now sixteen (as is Harry). Thank you so very much for lending me your hero and his world. He is my hero, and you are my heroine.
I do not expect a reply, as I know you are a very busy woman, mother, and wife, but I do hope you have a chance to read this letter (I understand you have a plethora of fan mail and there's only so many hours in the day). I do not wish for you to read this or reply so I can brag about making contact with a celebrity or something ridiculous of that nature; in fact, my family will probably not even know that I wrote to you. Mostly I just really wanted to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to you and Harry. I needed for you to know how important he has been to me.
Thank you, for everything.
Most Sincerely, Sacia (Say-sha) Flowers
JKRowling
19th September 2006
Dear Sacia (beautiful name, I've never heard it before),
Thank you for your incredible letter; incredible, because you do indeed sound phenomenally like Harry Potter, in your physical resemblance and in your life experience. I cannot tell you how moved I was by what you wrote, nor how sorry I am to hear about your parents. What a terrible loss.
I know what it is like to be picked on, as it happened to me, too, throughout my adolescence. I can only wish that you have the same experience that I did, and become happier and more secure the older you get. Being a teenager can be completely horrible, and many of the most successful people I know felt the same way. I think the problem is that adolescence, though often misrepresented as a time of rebellion and unconventionality, actually requires everybody to conform if they aspire to popularity - or at least to'rebel' while wearing the 'right' clothes! You're now standing on the threshold of a very different phase in your life, one where you are much more likely to find kindred spirits, and much less likely to be subject to the pressures of your teenage years.
It is an honour to me to know that somebody like you loves Harry as much as you do. Thank you very much for writing to me, I will treasure your letter (which entitles you to boast about this response as much as you like!)
With lots of love
JKRowling
(Jo to you!)
x
In September of 2006, following a desperately sad childhood that saw both drug-addicted parents murdered and the care of her younger siblings left in her hands, 16-year-old Sacia Flowers decided to write to J. K. Rowling and thank her for creating Harry Potter, her "best friend" during the most difficult of times. Her letter can be read below, followed by Rowling's lovely, encouraging response.(updated below)
A controversy erupted late Tuesday night after CNN published an article announcing that it had uncovered the identity of the anonymous Reddit user who created the video of President Donald Trump punching a CNN logo. CNN and other outlets had previously reported that this user, who uses a pseudonym, had also posted anti-Semitic and racist content on Reddit, including an image identifying all of the Jewish employees of CNN, designated with a Jewish star next to their photos.
Though CNN decided — for now — not to reveal his name, the network made clear that this discretion was predicated on the user’s lengthy public apology, his promise not to repeat the behavior, and his status as a private citizen. But in its article, the network explicitly threatened that it could change its mind about withholding the user’s real name if his behavior changes in the future:
CNN is not publishing “HanA**holeSolo’s” name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same. CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.
Several of the objections made to CNN’s conduct here appear to be false. That includes the claim by the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. that the user threatened by CNN is 15 years old (the CNN reporter, Andrew Kaczynski, said the Reddit user is an adult). The claim that CNN “blackmailed” the user into apologizing — expressed by a Twitter hashtag, #CNNBlackmail, that still sits at the top of trending topics on the site — seems dubious at best, since there is no evidence the user spoke to CNN before posting his apology (though CNN itself says it contacted the user the day before he posted his apology, which presumably means he knew CNN had found out his name when he posted it).
But the invalidity of those particular accusations does not exonerate CNN. There is something self-evidently creepy, bullying, and heavy-handed about a large news organization publicly announcing that it will expose someone’s identity if he ever again publishes content on the internet that the network deems inappropriate or objectionable. Whether it was CNN’s intent or not, the article makes it appear as if CNN will be monitoring this citizen’s online writing, and will punish him with exposure if he writes something the network dislikes.
There is also something untoward about the fact that CNN — the subject of the original video — was the news outlet that uncovered his identity. That fact creates the appearance of vengeance: If you, even as a random and anonymous internet user, post content critical of CNN, then it will use its vast corporate resources to investigate you, uncover your identity, and threaten to expose you if you ever do so again.
The reality here is likely more complicated. The most offensive passage here — “CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change” — sounds like classic lawyer language that executives or corporate lawyers would demand be included. It does not sound like something a typical journalist would write on their own. (CNN did not respond to The Intercept’s inquiries about who inserted this language or what future behavior on the part of the user might trigger CNN’s threat to expose him; we will update this article if any response is received.)
And CNN’s role in discovering this user’s identity is likely more a byproduct of Kaczynski’s well-established internet-sleuthing skills than a corporate decision to target a critic. Indeed, the decision to withhold the person’s name — had it been made without the threat to expose it in the future — could arguably be heralded as a commendable case of journalistic restraint.
In response to the controversy last night, Kaczynski argued that “this line is being misinterpreted. It was intended only to mean we made no agreement [with] the man about his identity.” That may have been CNN’s intent, but that is not what the sentence says.
Whatever the intent, this is a case where one of the nation’s most powerful media corporations is explicitly threatening a critic with exposure should he publish material that the network deems — based on its own secret standards — to be worthy of punishment. And the threat comes in the wake of his groveling public apology, posted less than a day after he learned CNN had discovered his identity.
There is also a real question about whether a news organization — when deciding what information is newsworthy — should take into account factors such as whether someone is remorseful for what they said and whether they promise not to express similar views in the future. Those considerations seem to be the province of those vested with the power to punish bad behavior — a parent, a police officer, or a judge — rather than a news outlet. All of this has a strong whiff of CNN deciding who is a good boy and who is a bad boy based on the content of their views, and doling out journalistic punishments and rewards accordingly.
Moreover, if this person’s name is newsworthy — on the ground that racists or others who post inflammatory content should be publicly exposed and vilified — does it matter if he expressed what CNN executives regard as sufficient remorse? And if his name is not newsworthy, then why should CNN be threatening to reveal it in the event that he makes future utterances that the network dislikes?
If you’re someone who believes that media corporations should expose the identity even of random, anonymous internet users who express anti-Semitic or racist views, then you should be prepared to identify the full list of views that merit similar treatment. Should anyone who supports Trump have their identity exposed? Those who oppose marriage equality? Those with views deemed sexist? Those who advocate communism? Are you comfortable with having corporate media executives decide which views merit public exposure?
Whatever else is true, CNN is a massive media corporation that is owned by an even larger corporation. It has virtually unlimited resources. We should cheer when those resources are brought to bear to investigate those who exercise great political and economic power. But when they are used to threaten and punish a random, obscure citizen who has criticized the network — no matter how objectionable his views might be — it resembles corporate bullying and creepy censorship more than actual journalism.
UPDATE: CNN just issued a statement in response to the controversy its article provoked:
All of these claims are already included in this article, but note two key points: 1) While the Reddit user’s apology was posted before he spoke to any CNN reporter, he posted it after he was contacted by CNN, which means he knew when he publicly apologized that the network had unearthed his identity; and, more importantly, 2) CNN’s claim that it merely meant to convey “that there was no deal” is squarely at odds with what its article actually warned: “CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.”
That sentence — which can only be read as a threat to reveal his name should he post more offending material in the future — is what has triggered the anger at CNN, and the network’s statement does not address that at all. Finally, CNN apparently refuses to say whether this threatening language was included by its reporter (who has borne the brunt of the public anger) or by its lawyers and executives demanding that it be included.2016 is the year that blurred the line between perception and reality.
On the national level, many blame the prevalence of fake news as helping sway the election in Donald Trump’s favor. Hillary Clinton echoed similar sentiments, calling fake news an “epidemic” with real-world consequences. Recently, Facebook rolled out tools to combat fake news and enlisted several fact-checking organizations to dispute fake news posts. While some are taking steps to combat fake news nationwide, we’ve been relatively silent on fake news locally.
Earlier this month, I wrote about SLO County’s fake news problem: CalCoastNews. Claiming to be an “on-line independent news source producing in-depth investigative news in the public interest,” CalCoastNews has produced a lot of original articles — that were proven to be fake or severely misleading — while purloining original content from other local sources and claiming it as their own. Many of my readers know I’ve covered them for a couple of years now and they’re familiar with my refrain. This year, I published my personal experiences with them in detail.
They don’t like to be criticized. They retaliate. The local media is understandably hesitant to criticize for fear of retaliation. Naturally, I’ve been one of their more prominent targets.
This year, CalCoastNews did something that most reputable journalists don’t do: depose their critics. In September, I was subpoenaed to be deposed by the website for a defamation lawsuit that I’m not involved in. When I was deposed, it dawned on me that most of the questions had nothing to do with the case; it was more or less like an interrogation about my commentary and whether or not I was paid to criticize them. Based on their questioning, I learned they were pursuing a conspiracy theory that I was paid by their adversaries to write about them with a stated goal of shutting down the website.
I debunked their conspiracy theory, but that didn’t stop them from writing a mostly fictionalized account of my testimony.
The article was called “Public officials tied to cyber harassment of CCN.” Though the article has an ambiguous byline (CCN Staff), I received confirmation that it was written by co-founders Karen Velie and Dan Blackburn, both of whom were present at my deposition. In their article, they made a series of allegations based on what I allegedly said. Around the time the article was written, CalCoastNews did not have a copy of my transcript, so they never actually quoted me or could point to where I said what they claimed I said. Instead, they paraphrased. They made up my words.
For legal reasons, I provided detailed corrections to CalCoastNews editor Bill Loving, who was not present at the deposition.
Loving responded to my email, “Based on [my] conversation [with Velie] and [Velie’s] recollection of your deposition […] CalCoastNews will keep the story online.” Loving didn’t specifically address any of the corrections I made, opting instead to rely solely on recollections from a discredited writer with an outstanding personal bias against me.
I kid you not: Loving is the co-author of “False Impressions – How Digital Editing is Altering Public Discourse,” a report that detailed libel law as it applies to “digital manipulation of quotes and video.” The report, which was published GSTF International Journal of Law and Social Sciences in Dec. 2012, took aim at news that “create[d] deception through the use of manipulative editing,” and referred to inaccurate claims made by conservative media sources that misquoted Democrats. CalCoastNews is a predominantly conservative media source, having staked their reputation on attacking prominent Democrats throughout SLO County while featuring ads of conservative candidates and the SLO County Republican Party.
“Digital editing now allows persons to change the words and meanings of digital statements made by persons allowing the creation of damaging statements that appear to be coming out of the mouths of the person whose quote is being manipulated,” Loving wrote, explaining the book’s content on LinkedIn.
But that’s exactly what happened. Of all people, Loving should have been more concerned with what his site publishes. One would think an author of books and reports describing the legal ramifications of digitally manipulating quotes would be more concerned about an article paraphrasing court testimony.
Instead, he wrote this to me:
“You have no credibility,” Loving wrote. “Your continued falsehoods mean that there is no reason for me to believe anything you write, either on your website or in an email.”
To date, the website has refused to publish the fact that I issued corrections to them; that their “reporting” on my deposition was challenged. Though they updated their story about me with paraphrased quotes from people I mentioned in my testimony, CalCoastNews never acknowledged my contentions that my “quotes” were, in fact, digitally manipulated.
Aside from serving as editor and publishing discredited news, Loving is also a tenured journalism professor at Cal Poly. He’s been teaching at the university since 2008. He teaches “Media Law,” “Beginning Reporting and Writing,” and “Journalism Ethics,” ironically.
“I teach journalism because I believe in democracy,” writes Loving on his LinkedIn page. “If journalists do not do their jobs, democracy will fail because people will then have to decide based on the shrill voices of those who would manipulate the public for their own gain.”
Loving is no stranger to controversy, having been involved in a public personnel dispute with the former Liberal Arts dean and colleague Teresa Allen. At the time, CalCoastNews covered the spat extensively and insinuated the dean and Allen were in a romantic relationship. The dispute led to Loving being ousted from his role as chair of the journalism department. In 2014, Loving filed an open records lawsuit against the university after he and his students were unable to obtain information about the campus’ flu preparedness plans. Loving filed the suit as a way to ensure transparency.
“He is not willing to let government agencies and bureaucrats dictate what people can know,” wrote CalCoastNews of Loving.
To date, neither CalCoastNews nor Loving have made my deposition transcript public. Loving has allowed his website to dictate what readers can know and no one else.
In October, I filed a request to obtain a copy of my transcript with the court reporter. According to California law, the only way someone can obtain their deposition transcript is to receive permission from the plaintiff and defendant’s legal counsel. In late October, the plaintiff’s counsel immediately authorized the release, but CalCoastNews — a website that demands transparency from everyone else except themselves — did not.
All of this occurred while they’re awaiting their defamation trial. In 2012, CalCoastNews published an article, claiming that Arroyo Grande businessman Charles Tenborg illegally hauled hazardous waste and that he allegedly bragged about skirting the law at a meeting CalCoastNews failed to specify. When they set up a page to raise funds for their legal defense, CalCoastNews alleged that the lawsuit against them was actually a conspiracy hatched by their critics, particularly Supervisor Adam Hill, to shut them down. The money raised would go toward the discovery process.
By publishing content about the lawsuit that they know is in dispute and by refusing to release my transcript, Loving and CalCoastNews are poisoning the jury pool for their upcoming trial. Remember when Loving talked about those “shrill voices of those who would manipulate the public for their own gain”? I do.
But don’t take my word for it. Look at the evidence.
Since the defamation lawsuit was announced, CalCoastNews was the host of several anonymous, defamatory comments directed at Tenborg. They never removed those comments, despite being in litigation with him. One commenter uploaded a YouTube video from Tenborg’s former employee, who claimed Tenborg illegally disposed hazardous waste. The employee, Aaron Wynn, committed suicide after making that video. The commenter speculated that Wynn may have been murdered.
For the record, the same anonymous commenter predicted one year earlier that I would be deposed for the lawsuit. Suffice to say, I believe CalCoastNews writers authored those comments.
While news sites shouldn’t be held accountable for everything readers say on them, it’s worth noting cases when sites officially dignify anonymous comments.
On Oct. 25, CalCoastNews published this Facebook post:
CalCoastNews advertised this post throughout Facebook. This graphic shows a woman with her mouth covered. The whistleblower, in question, is Wynn. The post strongly implied that Wynn was killed as a result of blowing the whistle on Tenborg. It’s not clear if Bill Loving personally authorized this post — which remains online — but he’s ultimately responsible for it, given he’s the editor. The post was a link to an article announcing their upcoming trial. The article included a link to their GoFundMe page.
For a prolific Cal Poly journalism professor to knowingly obfuscate the facts and social-engineer public perception — under the flimsy guise of “investigative journalism” — is damning.
So what does the journalism department think of Loving?
Earlier this year, an alumnus once involved with the department claimed that Loving was not that popular among the faculty; that there was some sort of debate about Loving and his credibility, given his involvement with a website that routinely abandons basic journalism ethics. But according to multimedia journalism instructor Patrick Howe, no discussion or debate about Loving was taking place. When I reached out to journalism chair Mary Glick, she sidestepped the issue, stating that she won’t comment on her colleague’s extracurricular activities.
Here’s why the Cal Poly journalism department and the university should take issue with Loving’s involvement with CalCoastNews.
Bill Loving approved several of CalCoastNews’ discredited articles, including one that failed a judicial review by the second district appellate court. Loving also approved articles from a writer who accused a county supervisor of playing a role in her 2013 DUI arrest and the “kidnapping” of her grandchildren. The publishing of these articles created a public controversy that resulted in a sharp rebuke from the San Luis Obispo Police Department and SLO County Social Services. The same writer, Karen Velie, terrorized a grieving family of a young suicide victim by falsely claiming she was a victim of bullying. That article spurred an investigation by the County Sheriff’s Department and the local school district, which turned up nothing.
Without expressing any sort of introspection or remorse, CalCoastNews justifies their “reporting” by explaining these issues are a matter of public interest. That’s debatable, given the subject behind their most controversial and debunked work was them. While most reputable news sources come to terms with their mistakes, CalCoastNews publishes pasteurized, one-sided accounts to exclude any fault of their own. They created controversies that became a matter of public interest. Frankly, that’s not journalism.
I may not like what CalCoastNews does, but from an objective standpoint, the articles I mentioned would never be deemed fit to print by a reputable news source. Those articles most certainly would not survive a journalism professor’s red pen.
The Cal Poly Faculty Code of Ethics states, “As teachers, professors encourage the free pursuit of learning in their students, they hold before them the best scholarly and ethical standards of their discipline.” Loving and his website fall well below the ethical standards of that discipline, but don’t take my word for it.
The Cal Poly journalism department loses credibility by having Loving as a professor and an example of Cal Poly academic excellence. Journalism students lose out when their professor teaches ethics in the classroom, writes about journalism ethics, and sells fake news on the side, and they don’t know about it. For the sake of transparency, they should know, but then again that would be the ethical thing to do. At Cal Poly it’s too much to ask them to practice what they teach.WikiLeaks released nearly 9,000 documents and files on Tuesday, allegedly from an internal CIA knowledge base, which describe tools that can be used to hack into myriad devices and applications. One of those documents is a blog post on how to hack user accounts on Windows.
Users of the Reddit section called r/netsec, a subreddit about network security, quickly noticed that the blog post had been copied from a link that was posted to Reddit two years ago. The discovery came after a user searched for references to Reddit in the document dump, and posted a link to the WikiLeaks page in a comment on r/netsec, pointing out the connection.
“It means that CIA security personnel also read this sub[reddit],” one user said. “It’s a great sub.” That user included a link to the Reddit post that linked to the original article. The document on WikiLeaks references both.
“Imagine being Parvez (the author of that blog post) right now,” another user mused. “How often do you see ‘CIA utilized a technical write-up authored by me’ on a resume?”
The r/netsec subreddit is a popular hub for people interested in hacking and computer security, so it would make sense for CIA techies to keep tabs on it. Links to it show up on several documents in the WikiLeaks release, including a reading list described by its author as “a list of websites I like to check out to stay up to date and get new ideas.”
Here’s that reading list in full:
http://reddit.com/r/netsec along with all the other good subreddits (RE, forensics)
http://thehackernews.com
http://slashdot.org
Forensics
http://swiftforensics.com
Government officials have not confirmed that the documents are authentic.The chair is of extreme antiquity and simplicity, although for many centuries and indeed for thousands of years it was an article of state and dignity rather than an article of ordinary use. It was not, in fact, until the 16th century that it became common anywhere. The chest, the bench and the stool were until then the ordinary seats of everyday life, and the number of chairs which have survived from an earlier date is exceedingly limited
“The chair” is still extensively used as the emblem of authority in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom and Canada, and in many other settings. Committees, boards of directors, and academic departments all have a chairman. [1]
Well, enough with the history lesson, it’s time to see 20 really creative and modern chair designs that will make you feel bad about your own chair.
1. The Octopus Chair
The artist wanted to be faithful to the animal’s physique and the natural majesty of its movements, therefore Maximo attended to each physical detail of the octopus in order to make the animal the unique protagonist of the whole piece. (Designer: Maximo Riera)
2. The Cut Chair
The “Cut Chair” has only one unbroken leg, and creates an optical illusion that it’s about to fall. However, a plate concealed by a thick carpet allows a robust cantilevered seat. (Designer: Peter Bristol)
3. Pencil Chair
Chair made from hundreds of pencils. (Designer: Anon Pairot)
4. Fish Rocking Chair
Designer has taken soft perishable sardines and found a way to use them as the building material in |
said his son remembers being knocked to the ground and then kicked and punched.
"They got out of the car, about 10 of them, one of them came across in his face and said 'I've been a boxer for 16 years'", he said.
I can't work them out, to me they're disgusting, they're yellow - I mean to take on children. I've just contempt for these men Father of victim
"Then one of the guys standing to the side of him punched him clean into the neck which put him down.
"Then he said he can't remember how many, he just remembers people punching and kicking at him, that's all he can remember."
He said his son did not want to leave his home to go to hospital after the attack, but said he had injuries that needed to be treated.
He said he told him the attackers were aged in their mid-20s or early 30s.
"I can't work them out, to me they're disgusting, they're yellow - I mean to take on children. I've just contempt for these men," he said.
'Horrible to witness'
The attack was witnessed by a woman driving along the road with her son.
"There were three cars on the right-hand side of the road that had mounted the kerb. It was a child in a yellow hoodie with four fellas bashing the head off him, it was terrible," she said.
"I saw four men standing beating this child and they were punching him round the head, kicking him, everything.
"His wee chum jumped in and the next crowd came over.
"It was horrible to see, horrible to witness. Even if it had have been men on men it would have been horrible, but this was two wee kids."
She said she thinks it only stopped when she pulled over to intervene.
The police have confirmed that they are investigating the incident which happened close to the entrance to Moat Park.
They said three men are believed to have got out of each of the cars.
One was described as being in his mid-20s, about 5ft 9ins tall, with short cropped hair and black and red tattoos on both arms.
He was wearing light grey tracksuit bottoms and possibly a tank top.
Police want anyone with any information to contact Castlereagh PSNI Station on 0845 600 8000.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Greater Manchester’s Jewish community is suffering an anti-semitic backlash in the wake of Israel’s military action in Gaza.
The worst reported incident was on Leicester Road, Higher Broughton, Salford.
Four or five cars of men drove through the district with Palestinian banners, throwing eggs and drink cans at passersby and shouting anti-semitic remarks including ‘Heil Hitler’.
In other incidents, men in cars are said to have abused Jewish pedestrians.
A spokesman for the Community Security Trust, a charity that helps protect Jewish people across Britain, said: “Most of the incidents reported to us in Manchester are of this type, i.e. verbal abuse shouted from a passing car at random Jewish people in the street.
"There is never any excuse for anti-semitism or racist abuse of any kind.
"The current increase in incidents is worrying and we ask anyone who suffers antisemitism, or who has any information about incidents that have taken place, to contact CST and the police.”
A spokesman for GMP said the Leicester Road event had been recorded as a ‘hate incident’ but the culprits had left the area when police arrived.
The CST said that since the start of the month about 100 incidents across the UK had been reported to them.
This is double what they would normally expect to see.
Protests continue outside city centre cosmetics shop
Crowds also gathered for a ninth day outside a cosmetics shop on King Street in Manchester city centre yesterday.
Free Palestine supporters are trying to encourage a boycott of Kedem Cosmetics which sells products imported from Israel.
READ:
Members of the Jewish community and other supporters of Israel have been counterprotesting.
The shop owner, who asked not to be named, said: “Everyone out there can have their own agenda – this is a luxury cosmetic shop, we have no political agenda, we just want to sell soap and things.”
Detective Inspector Ian Field, Hate Crime Champion for the North Manchester Division said: "GMP's North Manchester Division has not seen a significant increase in hate crimes committed specifically against the Palestinian and Israeli communities in the city in the past few weeks.
"However, we are monitoring the protests on King Street and trying to balance people's right to protest with ensuring the safety of the wider communities that live and work in the city centre."
I'm scared for my mum... life is pretty horrific
A Manchester resident who was born in Gaza has told of his horror at seeing events unfold in his home region.
Mohammed Bahaa moved to the UK in 2004 but his mother still lives in Gaza.
The 34-year-old researcher supports the Free Palestine cause - and spoke to the M.E.N. about the conflict.
Mohammed, who researches the impact of war on environment, said: “Life has been pretty horrific in Gaza for the last three weeks with bombs going off everywhere.
“My mum has had to move because she said she doesn’t feel safe. The building next to where she lived was flattened.
“She’s a doctor and she rides in an ambulance all day helping the civilian casualties. When there has been conflict there in the past few years I was not as scared for her as I am now.
“I try to talk to her everyone day but she is a prolific Facebook user and she is always posting about bombs are going off everywhere.
“There are power cuts there and the mobile phone network is on its last legs so communication is poor.
“I don’t agree with bombings or using rockets at all. But it seems as though this most recent conflict, which started after the kidnapping of the three teenagers, is as though Israel is looking for a fight.”
He added: “It saddens me whenever I see anti-Semitism. Unfortunately there’s a lot of ignorance in the world and the difference between Israel and the wider Jewish people is lost on many unfortunately. Even if we oppose Israel it doesn’t mean I can go round attacking Israelis on the streets of Manchester.”
I have 90 seconds to get to the shelter... it's scary
A student from Manchester who now lives in Israel has spoken of the sadness felt by Israelis over civilian deaths in Gaza - and the necessity for Israel to take action against Palestinian militant group, Hamas.
Sophie Sacofsky, 23, moved to Israel from Manchester five years ago after studying at Manchester High School for Girls.
She is now studying computational biology at Bar Ilan University and lives in Givat Shmuel, 20 minutes from Tel Aviv.
The city, Israel’s second largest, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets fired by Hamas.
Sophie said: “For the past month, I’ve been on study leave for my exams. Every morning for the last two weeks there has been a siren in my area. I have 90 seconds to get to the shelter. We all run downstairs.
“On the ground floor there is a woman who has a two week old baby and who has to run with the baby to shelter.
“At least we have 90 seconds to reach the shelter. People farther south have only 15 seconds to get there.
“In this part of the country we have the Iron Dome, which intercepts the rockets fired from Gaza and explodes them in mid-air.
“The nearest rocket has landed 10 minutes away, but a lot of shrapnel from the Iron Dome fell into the next street to where we live.
“It is a serious threat and it is very scary. We sit waiting for a siren. You get very nervous. When it started, I was afraid to go into the shower in case the siren went off and and I slept in my clothes. My family in Manchester are very worried.”
Sophie added: “I think there is no-one here who says they are happy about the situation. Everyone I speak to is upset about the civilian casualties in Gaza.
“On the one hand, the war is a necessary evil. Hamas is a terrorist group and for a long time they have been sending rockets into Israel.
“Israel doesn’t want to attack. The people of Israel want to live in peace without rockets being fired at them. The Israel Defense Forces send out leaflets saying which area they are targeting, but Hamas is using their own people as human shields.
“Hamas has even admitted it. They are sending their people back to these areas.
“We are sorry for the civilian casualties. It’s sad when you hear that a mother or child has died.”TOP OF THE FOURTH: CUBS 4 (0) – 0 DODGERS
A scoreless game, a packed house at Dodger Stadium, a front row seat for one Larry King, slumped half-snoozing through the early goings. A 20-year-old dealing on the mound, a teamful of bats gone cold, a destined Cubs run teetering near premature collapse.
And a Ben Zobrist at the plate. A bunt on the first pitch of the inning.
Zobrist puts his elbows out, tucks the bat in up to his chest. And the ball’s knocked down the third-base line slow rolling to Justin Turner, palming it but can’t make the throw, his red hair flying behind him in the breeze.
The Cubs’ first hit of the night.
Larry King perks up, the rest of the ballpark behind him—as the Dodger mindset snaps back into worry. Sidelong glances exchanged beneath a giant lightbulb flicking on in the sky, three fat words painted on, illuminated in blue: Momentum shift—Cubs!
@CubsNoHitStreak That bunt changed everything, including my life!!!!! — WiskyCubs (@Iceman18723) October 23, 2016
In the third inning, you’d started to lose hope. No runs, for the third night in a row. You’d let the hope of the ever-believing Cub fan slip back into sin. Into doubt. Beyond doubt. Into I know what this is. It’s that thing again. That Cubs collapsing thing. So help me God, you say, it’s that thing again.
You’d watched the Cubs get shut out in Game 2, after the Montero winner in the first game. You’d watched them go out to L.A., get blown out in the third game.
“They go down,” you say, with each finger marking the annals of Cub fan agony—“they always go down like this. Always like this. It’s happening.”
“It’s that Cubs slump again,” you’d said aloud, in conclusion. “I don’t see how they even can come back.”
Your dad turns around with a no-words look of letdown, as if some great honor has just been broken. Like you’d just said Christmas is joyless. That James Brown has no Soul. That baseball itself, like everything else, is no fun at all.
We never leave a man behind, his look seems to demand, the face of Bluto smacking sense into the entire Delta Tau Chi fraternity: “What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh!?? This could be the greatest night of our lives… I’m not gonna take this! Wormer Urias, he’s a dead man! Marmalard Seager, dead! Niedermeyer Pederson…!”
You snap to. You clear your eyes. You make one move and don’t glance back, storming out of Delta believing only in win. You move your chair closer to the TV and forget each bit that came before. You raise a fist and squash all doubt with a thud—stuffed down in an unwelcome corner of thought, throwing the lock on, covering your eyes, fiddling in a new passcode.
And you jump back to baseball without looking back.
In inning four, you’re back, you’ve eaten your Snickers bar, you listen to good sense and you reform. You’re not you when you’re hungry your Cubs are losing. You repent. You slap yourself on the cheeks. You watch the replay of Zobrist’s bunt.
There’s just something about it. Something miraculous.
You see yourself in the Ghostbusters’ office, no calls coming in, a fledgling business going under. The secretary twiddling her thumbs. The gang sitting around idle upstairs, eating Chinese food. Nothing going. All things dead.
And then, a call.
A proud yell from downstairs: “We got one!!!”
And down the firemen pole they go. Into the seats of Ecto-1 they go. Onto a series-flipping rally these young Cubs go. Onto ghost-busting curse-breaking they go.
Ben Zobrist at the wheel.
Baez steps up against Urias and knocks a single off the end of the bat into left.
Contreras steps up and rips another base hit to left, smacked in the air over short. Toles throws lamely to home, Zobrist rounds third to score, Cubs lead 1-0.
Jason Heyward steps up and knocks an RBI groundout to second. Baez scores.
Cubs lead 2-0.
In the stands, “Let’s go Cub-bies!!” booms out in rounds in the air above Chavez Ravine—roars from traveling fan blocs, quiet nods from the newly converted.
And in steps Addison Russell, across the grass to the batter’s box, Larry King lurking behind—praying, if only he’d had the energy, for this flood of Cubs energy to halt. Close enough to sneak interview questions in each batter’s ear.
Leaning in, and saying to Russell: “Did you guys have to break out of this old slump? Did you have to?”
Urias digs into the mound dirt, looks ahead for the sign from Grandal, delivers on a 2-0 count.
Fastball on the outside corner. Russell hits it deep. Pederson tracks it. Tracks it. His hat flies off. He slams into the centerfield wall, empty-handed. The ball flies over the blue fence. Home run. Russell spreads his wings and pumps his fist, an emphatic point back to his dugout. The breakout game-winning end to a slump, the end to the chip on his shoulder. Or the elephant in the room. Or the monkey off his—and John Smoltz chimes in on cue:
“An elephant just came off his back.”
Mom, going Biblical at the sight of the Addy home run: Lazarus has returned from the dead!! — The Big Inning (@big_inning) October 20, 2016
You run around like you’ve just won some sort of war. 4-0 Cubs. Russell taps the plate to a hug from Baez. His hands come together, up to the sky in thanks. Urias comes out, skipping over the foul line and off into the dugout. Pedro Baez in from the bullpen and they head to commercial.
“Series like this can turn quickly,” Smoltz says on the broadcast, “if somebody does something.”
Looks like somebody did something.
A five-hit inning out of nothing before. And a jolt to the ignition of a team that never quite looked back.
A doubt shamed into re-belief. A born-again hymn that goes, I’m desperate I’m desperate I’m desperate desperate desperate. We need something need something need something something something.
We got something.
Previously:
Inning 92: The Great Montero Slam
Inning 91: The Rally-Miracle CubsSEVENTY five years ago, there was great excitement when Qantas launched its first Short Empire Flying Boat service between Rose Bay and Singapore.
In what's a bizarre sight to today's flyers, passengers climbed the wings of the plane and stood on top, as the aircraft sat in the water.
How things have changed...
The fascinating image is part of a collection of historic photographs Qantas has shared on social media sites to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its original Short Empire Flying Boat service.
They provide an insight into what flying was like in the early days of commercial air travel and leave us wondering, was flying more fun - and glamorous - back then?
Sure, it took three days to fly between Sydney's first international airport at Rose Bay, to Singapore's Kallang Airport. But what an adventure.
There were overnight stops in Townsville, Darwin and Surabaya, Indonesia.
The flight would have been made more bearable by the fact there were just 15 passengers on each flight, so there was plenty of room. Plus there were large windows and huge seats.
The Short Empire flying boat service was replaced in 1943 by the long-range Catalina flying boat. The airline began with joy flights in 1920.
More on the history of Qantas hereThe saga of giant viruses (i.e. visible by light microscopy) started in 2003 with the discovery of Mimivirus. Two additional types of giant viruses infecting Acanthamoeba have been discovered since: the Pandoraviruses (2013) and Pithovirus sibericum (2014), the latter one revived from 30,000-y-old Siberian permafrost. We now describe Mollivirus sibericum, a fourth type of giant virus isolated from the same permafrost sample. These four types of giant virus exhibit different virion structures, sizes (0.6–1.5 µm), genome length (0.6–2.8 Mb), and replication cycles. Their origin and mode of evolution are the subject of conflicting hypotheses. The fact that two different viruses could be easily revived from prehistoric permafrost should be of concern in a context of global warming.
Abstract
Acanthamoeba species are infected by the largest known DNA viruses. These include icosahedral Mimiviruses, amphora-shaped Pandoraviruses, and Pithovirus sibericum, the latter one isolated from 30,000-y-old permafrost. Mollivirus sibericum, a fourth type of giant virus, was isolated from the same permafrost sample. Its approximately spherical virion (0.6-µm diameter) encloses a 651-kb GC-rich genome encoding 523 proteins of which 64% are ORFans; 16% have their closest homolog in Pandoraviruses and 10% in Acanthamoeba castellanii probably through horizontal gene transfer. The Mollivirus nucleocytoplasmic replication cycle was analyzed using a combination of “omic” approaches that revealed how the virus highjacks its host machinery to actively replicate. Surprisingly, the host’s ribosomal proteins are packaged in the virion. Metagenomic analysis of the permafrost sample uncovered the presence of both viruses, yet in very low amount. The fact that two different viruses retain their infectivity in prehistorical permafrost layers should be of concern in a context of global warming. Giant viruses’ diversity remains to be fully explored.WASHINGTON — The computer phishing scam that Google says originated in China was directed at an unknown number of White House staff officials and set off the FBI inquiry that began this week, according to several administration officials.
It is unclear how many White House staff members — or those of other departments in the executive branch — might have been targeted, according to two officials with knowledge of the investigation. But the intended victims ranged across different functions in the White House, and were not limited to those working on national security, economic policy, or trade areas that would be of particular interest to the Chinese government.
Administration officials said they had no evidence any confidential information was breached, or even that many people fell for the attack by providing information that would allow a breach of their Gmail accounts. White House classified systems run on dedicated lines and information on those systems, the officials said, cannot be forwarded to Gmail accounts. But investigators are trying to determine if the attackers believed that some staff members or other officials used their personal e-mail accounts for sensitive government communications.
“Right now,’’ said one senior official, “that’s a theory, not a fact.’’
Google disclosed the attack this week and said it targeted not only US government officials, but also human right activists, journalists, and South Korea’s government. Google tracked the attack to Jinin, China, which is the home to a Chinese military school.
But that does not necessarily mean the attackers were Chinese or related to the government. The Chinese government denied any involvement.
The attack used e-mails that appeared to be tailored to their targets to better fool their victims. Recipients were asked to click on a link to a phony Gmail login page that gave the hackers access to their personal accounts.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.I purchased the Audio-Technica ATH-R70x from the SBAF For Sale board a little over a half a year ago.
Background
Audio-Technica is a well known brand in the headphone community, especially for the ubiquity of their studio line of headphones (M30/40/50X) which are probably one of the most commonly recommended and purchased headphones by people looking for an entry into the headphone hobby. The R70x marks the introduction of a new line of more reference tuned open back headphones from AT, taking design cues from the ATH AD line of open back headphones and is a departure from AT’s typical open back headphone house sound. In general the AD line of headphones from Audio-Technica tend to emphasize the upper midrange, with soft rolling off of bass and lower-to-mid treble with some peakiness from the mid-treble up. This characteristic tuning and the colorations of AT headphones have made them a cult favorite, with its own sort of subculture in the headphone community. The R70x tuning shares essentially no features of the typical AD-line tuning, and seems like AT’s attempt at disrupting the sales of headphones like rival Beyerdynamic’s DT880 or Sennheiser’s HD600/650. Another feature it shares with those headphones is at 470 Ohms, it has a reasonably high impedance which works well when paired with output transformerless headphone amplifiers and is the first headphone designed specifically as a high impedance headphone by AT. Another noteworthy characteristic of the design is that instead of normal mono TS jacks in each earcup, AT has opted for stereo TRS jacks for each earcup. The benefit of this design is that no matter which way you plug the cables into your R70x, the left channel will always go to the left earcup, and the right channel to the right earcup.
Fit and Comfort
Like other premium headphones in AT’s lineup, the R70x uses their unique “3D Wing” system, which replaces a normal headband with two spring-loaded paddles which are supposed to keep the headphone in place on your head and are self-adjusting. The twin wires that usually arch over the paddles to form the “headband” that connects the cups is replaced here with a solid piece of metal which can easily be bent to create more or less clamping force for the earpads. Despite being sold as a over-ear headphone, I find that the R70x earpads are too small for my ears to fit inside, and so rests on the side of my head more or less as an on-ear headphone. The construction and materials used seem quite sturdy, and despite the metal used in the construction, the R70x remains very light. While the lightness and ability to manually adjust the clamp by slightly bending the headband into the appropriate shape for your head, the shallow earpads with small openings that sit on the ear as opposed to over them keep this headphone from being as comfortable as it could have been. If you’re not bothered too much by on ear designs, this may be acceptable, however I did not enjoy having the pads sitting on top of the bottom of my ears.
Sound Impressions
The R70x tries to mimic the overall tuning of some rival headphones like the HD600/650, K712, or DT880, with a slightly warm tilted but overall even response. Even with this tuning, AT has tried to preserve the sort of dreamy/hazy characteristic of its house sound, especially in the upper mid and low treble regions, where there is some audible distortion around 3kHz to 4kHz that lends the unfocused, cloudy, and vaguely ethereal quality especially to female vocals. One of the other characteristics I find common throughout the spectrum on this headphone is a lack of depth and textural detail to the sound. I don’t seem to get the same airiness when a vocalist takes a breath, or the same physical feel for the skin of a drum as it’s struck and plays a note. To me there is a sort of disconnect with this headphone because the loudness of the sounds being played doesn’t correspond to a physical feeling the way more revealing headphones seem to be able to deliver.
There is certainly some physicality to the headphone, it punches well on bass notes, but doesn’t deliver the same sort of rolling, repeated punches of a sustained bass note, instead hitting with a thud that seems sort of ham-fisted. This seems to be due to an emphasis in the mid to low-mid bass region. The headphone extends well and delivers some rumble with sub-bass notes but doesn’t have a very detailed presentation. The basslines in EDM and even in alternative rock simply didn’t engage me the same way on this headphone. Drum hits seem to fall flat, not conveying the separation between the initial impact and the reverberation of the drum. Mid-bass is elevated and punchy, which helps drums retain some of their overall impact and gives the headphone a slightly warm sound.
The mids on this headphone leave me somewhat conflicted. On the one hand, the shallowness mentioned earlier is very much present and palpable here. I almost want to call it a veil, but it’s not quite a veil really. Somehow this headphone manages to convey all the volume of notes, but none of the feeling of them, as though it’s removing the tactility from the music that gives the sound physical presence, texture and additional detail. The flip side of this is that the headphone presents vocals with that sort of dreamy haziness that AT is known for, albeit less than the models from its AD-line of headphones. Overall I find the mids to be warm-tilted, with a pleasantly laid back presentation but lacking in the details that personally really engage me with a piece of music.
The treble seems to have a very narrow peak that accentuates cymbals and has the potential to make sibilance stand out in tracks where it’s present. Overall it suffers from the same flatness and lack of texture, and continues the warm tilted and laid back presentation of the rest of the headphone. No stand out features or issues in the treble that are particularly notable. The lower treble seems to have some noticeable distortion that I found muddied up strings slightly as well.
Soundstage is surprisingly large with the R70x, and could be due to the very open nature of the headphone. The shape of the stage is sort of incoherent, but seems a bit wider and less deep than the stage on something like an HD650. Overall tonality is quite pleasant on the R70x, a bit warm but overall quite even and pleasant sounding. The lack of texture is really hard to describe and quite confounding to me when listening to this headphone, doing so much right, sounding like it should have the texture to go along with the sound, but just being able to reproduce it. I am not sure why this is happening on a technical level, my theory is that it may have something to do with the driver and how much the diaphragm is able to travel.
Conclusion
The R70x is certainly a good effort by Audio-Technica for going in a different direction with their tuning and I look forward to them further exploring this tuning and refining it to bring back some of the qualities that make a headphone more engaging sounding to me. I think a revision to this headphone that is somehow able to balance that dream-like, hazy sort of sound that AT does so well but to bring more texture back to the music and to continue targeting this sort of tuning would make for an excellent general-purpose reference headphone. The other reservation I have with the R70x is comfort. The on ear design of the pads really detracts from my ability to listen to this headphone in long stretches, something I otherwise might do more when I want that hazy, laid back sort of sound. The wing system may be comfortable for some, and while I don’t find it uncomfortable, I don’t necessarily feel that the headphone is entirely secure on my head. The headband and the angle at which the cups normally sit causes the the bottom of the cup to clamp to your head more, making it feel like the cups are really holding the headphone in place more than the wings, and it feels like most of the clam is sort of coming to a point where the bottom of the cups and pads meet your head. I will certainly keep an eye on Audio-Technica to see if they continue to try going in this direction, I don’t know that the R70x is going to succeed in AT’s first try, but it’s a solid mid-grade headphone that deserves more refinement by them.Copyright by WBTW - All rights reserved
MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) - In a press conference held Friday by Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes, the city announced that it has an $80- $100 million commitment from a Chinese Cultural Theme Park, similar to Epcot, to begin building in the fall.
"It'll be like an Epcot Center except all if you really want to look at. There will be a lot of food and dining and shows and events taking place," Horry County Chairman mark Lazarus said.
Copyright by WBTW - All rights reserved Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes and Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus announce a $100 million theme park is planned for Myrtle Beach.
Copyright by WBTW - All rights reserved Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes and Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus announce a $100 million theme park is planned for Myrtle Beach.
The theme park is slated to open in the fall of 2017 or spring of 2018, Mayor Rhodes adds. The mayor also expressed interest in having Mandarin Chinese taught in Horry County Schools, specifically in third to fifth graders and using the theme park as an introduction to the new curriculum.
"We want to try to educate people on the culture of China and also have an opportunity to have classes where young kids can start to learn how to read Mandarin. Mandarin is almost like an art and I think it'll be very easy for them to pick up, we need to get our school system to start teaching Mandarin. They're already doing that in Rock Hill. They're doing it in Charlotte. They realize what's going to happen down the road and I think it's time for Horry County to look at doing the same thing in their school system," Mayor Rhodes said.
While Rhodes did not specify where exactly the theme park would be built, he did note that city leaders have locations in mind to show Chinese investors when they make the trip to Myrtle Beach in April. In addition, a local contractor has been contacted to help with the design of the park, adds Rhodes.
Also at the press conference was Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus, who accompanied Rhodes on a recent business trip to China. The 16 day trip, made in late January, was at the request of China investors, Rhodes reported to News13 before leaving for the trip.
The City's total expenses for the trip were $4,296.20. The city paid $3,396.20 for air fare. The mayor's per diem expenses totaled $900.00 for 18 days of travel. He was advanced $1,800.00 for the trip, but he returned the unused $900.00 to the city via personal check.
Lazarus says his only cost was the cost of his plane ticket and that was around $1700. Chinese investors incurred most of the expenses for both.
An agenda for the trip obtained by News13 had Rhodes and Lazarus scheduled to visit several different cities. The agenda also mentioned the Chinese government's interest in growing tourism and opportunities for investment in the Myrtle Beach area, as well as intentions to grow Chinese culture through the chamber of commerce.
Rhodes and Lazarus returned from the China trip February 5 and made the $100 million investment announcement Friday afternoon.
Rhodes says the city hope to finalize the deal for the theme park in April.Friday on the House floor during a debate on a emergency bill to address the border crisis, Rep José Serrano (D-NY) said “Just because a border separates us, that doesn’t stop them from being our children.”
The Democrat from New York said, “At the end of the day the question may not be who are the children at the border and why are they here, the question may be who are we as a nation and why we are here as a congress.”
“Our reputation has been never to turn people away,” he continued. “Our reputation should never be to turn children away to what could be a certain death or very difficult situation. This is not a crises. This is a situation that we have had before that we have known how to deal with. This is a moment for our country to show who we are. The world is looking. These are children. It’s not their fault that they are here. There are many conditions that brought them here. How we act will be our fault. If we don’t act properly, how we act will be our legacy. This is not who we are as a country. We are much better than that.”
He added, “I repeat. and we have to understand that these are children, these are our children. Just because a border separates us that doesn’t stop them from being our children. Let’s turn down and reject all of this nonsense that we are doing and let’s try to help them and help them in the proper way.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNENWhen I left the Marines in the mid-90s I got a job working the gun counter at a small sporting goods store. We only stocked one AR-15 rifle at a time. Back then, it would be hard to imagine how common this rifle would become. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (2013), AR-15 rifles account for nearly 20% of all U.S. firearms sales. The AR-15 is our generation’s M1 Garand or 1903 Springfield.
I’ve always wanted to machine an AR barrel from a blank. While it seems complicated to some, the techniques used to chamber an AR-15/M16 M4 barrel are very similar to those used to chamber a barrel for a bolt action rifle.
This project is going to start with a Shilen match barrel blank. The blank is straight, with no contour and has a rifled bore machined through the center. The blank is 29.5″ long and 1.200″ in diameter- it feels more like an axle then a barrel when you pick it up.
I’ll be building a rifle with a 16.5″ length, and a Special Purpose Rifle (SPR) type profile. If you spend a little bit of time on the net, you can find some excellent drawings of barrel dimensions. The best drawing I could find for the critical dimensions, such as gas port location, is found here. You’ll notice the profile is different from the one I am turning, however, the other critical dimensions are the same.
So, why fabricate your own AR-15 barrel? Well, I did it for the challenge; but, if you wanted to chamber your AR for a wildcat cartridge, or faced some sort of parts shortage, your own barrel is just a few hours away on the lathe.
The contents of Rifleshooter.com are produced for informational purposes only and should be performed by competent gunsmiths only. Rifleshooter.com and its authors, do not assume any responsibility, directly or indirectly for the safety of the readers attempting to follow any instructions or perform any of the tasks shown, or the use or misuse of any information contained herein, on this website.
I ordered the following items from Brownells:
.224 9 Twist stainless-steel unturned barrel blank (787-922-090)
Barrel extension pin (231-000-082)
Barrel extension AR15/M16 M4 barrel extension (080-000-574)
3/8″ High-speed steel turning kit (080-000-835)
High-speed steel 35 degree profile kit (080-000-836)
1/2″ threader (080-000-839)
Starrett Dial indicator (749-007-761)
The reason I cut off both ends of the blank is because Shilen (and most barrel makers) recommends it. As tooling enters and exits the barrel blank, the ends can open up. Cutting off the ends, removes these out-of-specification sections.
I turned the first 2.25″ in front of my barrel extension to a diameter of.980″, then reduced to.840″. The gas block will sit on a section of barrel.750″ in diameter. This gas block shoulder is located 8.750″ from the front edge of the barrel extension and is 2.000″ long. A detailed drawing of a Bergara mid-length barrel can be found here.
While the barrel was still between centers, I used some 220-grit abrasive cloth coated in oil to polish the finish.
With the correct headspace achieved, I cut a small feed ramp on the rear of the barrel. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it, however, a picture of this recess can be found in this article on the Brownells website.
The gas port is located.300″ from the rear edge of the gas block cut step.
Machining an AR-15 barrel from a blank was a rewarding endeavor. If you ever wanted to give it a try, go for it, you’ll be happy you did!
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PrintFor many parents who face a family history of devestating genetic diseases, the question of whether their child is at risk, and his or her chances of getting the disease, may not be far from mind. The rise in popularity of at-home genetic tests suggest some feel the answers to those questions may no longer be a secret.
But many experts say the anxiety that comes along with predictive test and no definitive results does more harm than good. That’s why a new policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Medical Genetics aims to put the brakes on testing children used to identify genetically inherited childhood diseases and diseases that can occur when they become adults.
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Physicians should discourage testing in children for adult onset genetic disease, especially if there is no treatment to give during childhood to prevent the disease, according to the new policy statement released Thursday.
“In that case, there’s nothing the person can do differently until they are an adult,’’ said Dr. Lainie Ross, the Carolyn and |
, who drive everywhere, whose power comes from coal and gas, often have much higher CO 2 emissions per capita.
Yes, New York's Dirty, But Check The Suburbs...
A recent study compared 12 large (and mostly rich) cities around the world with the average emissions of their respective countries and the cities did nicely. New York City's per capita emissions are about a third the U.S. average.
So we're dirty, but we're three times more efficient than typical Americans. The same goes for residents of Toronto and Barcelona, they're three times better than their countrymen. Tokyo, London and Seoul are about twice as efficient.
Cities, even rich ones, perform differently. In this list of 12, starting with the dirtiest, New York comes in fifth. These are greenhouse gas emissions per person (What's with Washington?)
Washington, D.C., U.S. — 19.7 tons of CO 2 equivalent Glasgow, UK — 8.4 tons Toronto, Canada — 8.2 tons Shanghai, China — 8.1 tons New York City, U.S. — 7.1 tons Beijing, China — 6.9 tons London, U.K. — 6.2 tons Tokyo, Japan — 4.8 tons Seoul, South Korea — 3.8 tons Barcelona, Spain — 3.4 tons Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — 2.3 tons Sao Paulo, Brazil — 1.5 tons
Cities differ because some have lots of factories, some don't. Some have more refrigerators, air conditioners, fancy appliances than others. Some have more modern, tighter buildings, more office towers, more public transit. (Washington is warmer, often stifling, is that why it's such an emitter? Can we blame air conditioning?) But whatever the differences, that pile of bubbles still gets to me.
YouTube
If whenever people gather — and that's what we do, we gather — we produce this much waste or worse, what am I to think? Mayor Bloomberg's video images feel like a dark prophecy, a prediction of doom.
"Grim," says Pushker Kharecha, but doom? Nah. He says there are two challenges here: we must eventually wean ourselves from coal, gas and carbon-rich fuels, but in the meantime, we can cut down on the bubble-making by redesigning cars, putting more people in buses, subways, creating tighter, ever-more-efficient buildings, adjusting our values; those are real, achievable goals."Combating climate change is one of the great challenges of our age," Mayor Bloomberg says in his forward. His video was meant to warn us, not to scare us.
Well, here it is. Take a look, and you decide. Are you scared or are you pumped?
YouTube
Me? I'm a little bit of both.Why can’t we talk about independence?
Hong Kong independence has once again become a topic of conversation after a student publication featured it in its latest issue.
Civic Party helped turn it into a political talking point by raising the importance of autonomy in the context of 2047, when Hong Kong fully reverts to Chinese sovereignty.
That is when the Basic Law and other agreements under the Sino-British Declaration, the basis of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China, expire.
That is also more than 31 years out, a generation away and a distant future for older Hongkongers.
But for younger people who have the most at stake in that future, there’s no time to lose to ensure the next phase of Hong Kong’s political development.
Which is why such issues as self-determination and autonomy will remain in our consciousness even if we don’t actually talk about them.
But why not? If we have been discussing autonomy, why can’t we talk about independence?
Hong Kong people were already excluded from the Sino-British talks on their own future.
They want to make sure that this time around, their views will be heard.
Hong Kong’s political class is not ready or willing to accept the fact that independence could be an option.
Realistically, that notion is a non-starter.
China will not allow it to flourish, let alone happen, and it will take a yeoman’s job to get the Hong Kong government, with the pro-Beijing camp behind it, to let it enter the political mainstream.
Leung Chun-ying famously excoriated Undergrad magazine, the University of Hong Kong student publication in question, in his 2015 policy address for an article about self-determination. He accused it of inciting separatism.
Yesterday, he responded to Undergrad’s latest issue as emphatically.
“It’s ‘common sense that Hong Kong will continue to be part of China after 2047 when the Basic Law guaranteeing the way of life in the Special Administrative Region is to expire,” he said, adding that Hong Kong’s capitalist system “should not and need not change” after 2047.
Leung’s remarks are straight out of Beijing’s playbook.
Chinese officials have repeatedly stressed that Hong Kong is part of China and that fact will not change, although they might allow certain rights and freedoms of its citizens beyond 2047.
And in case anyone is in doubt, they keep reminding us that independence is impossible.
Now comes Arthur Li, the HKU council chairman and not the biggest fan of Undergrad magazine, who is playing to our worst fears.
“Where will our fresh water come from? Where will our food come from?” he said.
Nonsense.
Li’s scaremongering shows his ignorance of how market economics work.
First of all, our water supply does not come free. We buy it from Guangdong under a commercial agreement.
Some of our food supply comes from the mainland but we also pay for it.
Second, the world is a marketplace of commodities and services.
If China does not want to sell food and water to us, someone else will come forward.
That’s not to mention that Hong Kong will soon have a desalination plant to turn sea water into fresh water.
When Singapore left the Malaysian Federation in the 1960s to go it alone, it didn’t go thirsty or hungry.
They have kept their border open to allow the flow of goods.
The two countries have maintained a long-term water supply contract.
Li’s argument is as implausible as the idea of Hong Kong independence.
And that is precisely the point.
We need to talk about these issues because we are being plied with ideas that don’t make sense.
And we are being warned about certain “unmentionables” lest we provoke Beijing.
Yet, we are told at the same time that there’s freedom of thought and free speech in Hong Kong.
– Contact us at [email protected]
SC/AC/RAApple iPhone’s 2011 game of the year is headed to Apple TV. The popular iOS game “Tiny Wings” now has its own Apple TV version which the tech giant launched on Thursday. The game has also been updated for the first time in years.
“Tiny Wings” was developed by German game developer Andreas Illiger and was launched on Feb. 18, 2011. The title was an App Store top grosser for a couple of weeks starting late February to early March 2011. “Tiny Wings” was voted as the best iPhone game of the year in 2011, selling a combined 12.3 million copies on both iPhone and iPad devices according to Apple's Game Center data.
The launch of “Tiny Wings” on Apple TV is somewhat surprising. The game has been updated for only the third time since its release and the first time since August 2014. The new update added resolution support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus’ larger displays. It also included new levels and an Apple TV controller feature that allows users to use their iOS devices as a controller for the “Tiny Wings” TV app.
READ: 'Super Mario Maker Nintendo 3DS' Australia launch: Price and details revealed
In “Tiny Wings,” the player controls a bird that isn’t able to fly wings due to its small wings. The objective is to use hills to increase momentum and flap where possible to make the bird fly. Timing is required to allow the bird to glide down hills and fly over them. “Tiny Wings” reception has been extremely positive, thanks to its simple gameplay and intricate details.
The Apple TV version of “Tiny Wings” is available for US$2.99 (AU$3.99). The TV game allows two-player gameplay via split screen where a Siri remote is utilised along with an iPhone or iPad as the secondary controller. All progress made on the iOS version can be synced with the Apple TV app as well, so no work or play is wasted.President-elect Donald Trump on Monday officially tapped retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a former opponent turned loyalist, to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in his new cabinet.
In a gushing statement released by the Trump transition team, the President-elect said Carson “has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.” But the sentiment of the future president differs a bit from the words of the former presidential candidate, who did not mince words when Carson was a rival for the Republican nomination.
Here’s a look back at some of Trump’s fiercest attacks on Carson.
Trump on Carson’s experience
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“I think Ben just doesn’t have the experience. It’s not his thing, you know you’re born with it. It’s not his thing. He doesn’t have the temperament for it.”
Trump on Carson’s energy
“Ben Carson is a very low energy person, actually, I think Ben Carson is even lower energy than Jeb [Bush], if you want to know the truth. We need strong energy.”
Trump on Carson’s temper
“I’m not saying it. He actually said ‘pathological temper,’ and then he defined it as disease. … If you’re pathological, there’s no cure for that, folks. If you’re a child molester, a sick puppy, there’s no cure for that. There’s only one cure. We don’t wanna talk about that cure.”
Before Trump nominated him, one of Carson’s closest advisers suggested he wasn’t up to the task of running a federal agency: “Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.”
Now, of course, all parties involved have only glowing things to say about one another. In a statement on Monday, Carson said he was “honored” to accept Trump’s nomination.
“I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly by serving communities that are most in need,” he said.
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“Real Housewives of New York” star Bethenny Frankel is suing her ex-husband for custody of their 7-year-old daughter after he was charged with stalking and harassing the Skinnygirl mogul.
Frankel reopened her 2013 divorce case against former hubby Jason Hoppy on Dec. 6, according to court records.
They’re due in court in January.
Lawyers for the parties did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
Hoppy was arrested in January for showing up at their daughter’s school and warning Frankel, “I will destroy you, you can get all the lawyers you want, you’ve been warned,” according to an NYPD spokesman.
He denied the claims.
They settled their bitter custody battle in 2014 by agreeing to co-parent their daughter, Bryn. They reached the deal after Frankel called Hoppy “white trash” from the witness stand.Two Muslim boys in Switzerland saw their application for citizenship suspended on Tuesday, following their refusal to shake hands with their female teachers on religious grounds.
The two brothers, ages 14 and 15, told authorities in the town of Therwil in the country’s North that their religion prohibited physical contact with members of the opposite sex that were not family, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Education officials originally exempted them from the Swiss tradition of students shaking hands with their teachers, but told them to also refrain from doing so with male teachers in order to avoid gender discrimination.
However, AFP says, several politicians objected to the exemption and the matter became a subject of national debate, with Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga saying that “shaking hands is part of [Swiss] culture.”
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Authorities in Basel-Country, within which Therwil is situated, confirmed the suspension but said it was a fairly common occurrence, as authorities often seek additional information about families applying for naturalization. The boys’ father was granted asylum from Syria in 2001 and works as an imam in Basel.
Just over 4% of Switzerland’s 8 million-strong population is Muslim.
[AFP]
Write to Rishi Iyengar at rishi.iyengar@timeasia.com.Transcript:
Rat: Gather round, kids... I have a story to tell. This one's about phones. Kid 1: Cell phones? Rat: Oh, no... phones that looked like this. Kid 2: What is that? Rat: It's a telephone. One that had to be attached to walls... With cords. Kid 1: Cords?? How did you drive around with them? Rat: You didn't if you were driving around, you couldn't talk to anyone. Kid 2: What? Kid 1: Could you call them when you got back home? Rat: Yes. But if you called when they were on the phone. You got something called a 'busy signal.' Kid 3: Why didn't you just leave a voicemail? Rat: Because there wasn't any. Someone had to write down your message with pen and paper. Kid 1: Paper?? Aahahahahahaha. Goat: Never have I felt so old. Rat: Now let me tell you about... The time lady! Kid 1: The who?!Survation will publish new polling on behalf of LabourList tomorrow at Labour conference. The research will take a detailed look at public perception of political parties and in particular their ratings on key issues relevant to voter behaviour.
We have repeated polling of the battery of issues which was done for LabourList in September 2016 – enabling us to assess the direction of travel of public attitudes over the last year.
Then the Conservatives – as is conventionally the case – scored their highest rating for “managing the economy overall”, “keeping taxes low” and “creating the conditions for stronger economic growth”.
At the time of last year’s poll, Survation’s voting intention was 39/29 for the Tories over Labour. The government was rated 14 points higher on “managing the economy overall” than their party voting intention percentage, meaning voters of other parties were rating the government as very good or good.
This year’s polling however indicates a notable deterioration public perception on these key issues.
In terms of “Managing the economy overall” the public rates the Conservative government at -10, from +13 a year ago, with only 35 per cent rating the government “very good” or “good”, a change of – 23 points on what is always a core Conservative brand strength.
The accompanying voting intention for this polling, from September 21 this year, has the Conservative party on 40 per cent nationally – much the same as the 2016 polling.
The Brexit elephant in the room?
As to what is behind this marked change in attitudes, it is always problematic to assign a particular cause to changes in public opinion. It would be remiss however to not mention Survation’s polling this weekend on public attitudes to Brexit negotiations after Theresa May’s speech in Florence on Friday.
Notwithstanding the government’s intentions about reaching a mutually beneficial deal with the EU, 56 per cent of those questioned told Survation they did not believe exit negotiations would be completed by March 2019 compared to only 25 per cent saying they believed they would.
Some 51 per cent of the public told us in polling conducted on Friday and Saturday that they “did not trust” the prime minister to deliver a “good Brexit deal for Britain” vs 34 per cent who said they did. And asked to consider the economy, only 38 per cent in our polling believe Brexit will be “good for Britain”.
Full results of our updated polling for LabourList will be made available and form part of the discussion at Survation and Labour List’s panel event on Monday at Labour conference – full details below.
Are Labour on course for an overall majority? Exclusive election briefing from Survation. Monday, 11am-12pm, GB1 Terrace, The Grand Hotel (secure zone).
Damian Lyons Lowe is chief executive of Survation. Joining him in this session will be Sam Tarry, national political officer of the TSSA and campaign director for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign, and Rhea Wolfson, NEC member, campaigner and Livingston candidate at the general election.
To secure a place at please email [email protected]A massive corruption scandal has enveloped Petrobras, Brazil’s flagship petroleum company
On January 1, 2011, Dilma Rousseff became the first female President of Brazil and hand-picked successor of out-going President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On handing over the presidency, Lula enumerated with pride the social and economic advances that occurred during his eight years in office — the creation of 15 million jobs, expansion of the Bolsa Familia, (an income support received by 13 million families), and a 67 percent increase in the minimum salary. These measures, along with robust economic growth, lifted 28 million people out of poverty.
In spite of the rhetoric of his left-leaning Workers Party, Lula’s administrations had continued the “conservative” macroeconomic policies of the previous Cardoso administration and Brazil had benefited from the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, which raised prices of its agricultural and mineral products on world markets. In his farewell address, Lula highlighted the enormous economic potential of the recently discovered Pre-Sal offshore oil field, and its promise of making Brazil one of the top ten oil producers in the world. Development of these fields would require more than US$200-billion in investment. Lula left office with an 80 percent approval rating, and would have undoubtedly been re-elected for a third term if the Brazilian constitution had not restricted him from running again. Many observers felt that Brazil had entered a period of sustained economic growth.
In January of this year as Dilma begins her second term in office, many Brazilians believe the dream of continuous economic and social advances has become a nightmare. A massive corruption scandal has enveloped Petrobras, Brazil’s flagship petroleum company that is 64 percent owned by the Brazilian government. Investigations by the Brazilian Justice Department revealed that the directors of Petrobras received kickbacks, totalling more than $100-million from 23 construction companies. More than 28 politicians have been linked to the bribery scandal, and many more names will likely be revealed in the coming months.
The scandal has immense implications for Brazil. Petrobras has been responsible for more than 10 percent of total Brazilian investment. The company’s auditor, PwC, has refused to sign new financial statements until the full extent and implications of the scandal are revealed. The failure to issue financial statements has raised the possibility of a technical default on Petrobras’ $53.6-billion foreign debt. Aurelius Capital Management, one of the so-called “vulture funds” that has held up the payment of Argentina’s debt to the majority of its foreign bond holders, has now started to circle around Petrobras’ debt. The pension fund of Providence Rode Island has launched a class action suit against the directors of Petrobras for compensation for the over-valuation of the bonds it bought. At the same time, the fall in international oil prices will reduce Petrobras’ cash flow, and if prices remain in the $50 to $60 range, the viability of the Pre-Sal projects will be in doubt.
Although Brazil has a history of government corruption, 2014 had seen the imprisonment of the key figures in the Mensalão “Big Monthly” payments scandal in 2003 that enveloped key figures in the Lulu administration. After more than 10 years, powerful politicians and party officials involved were finally serving prison sentences, and the impunity that Brazilian political figures have traditional enjoyed seems to be gone. But the Petrobras scandal is much more serious than the Mensalão, both because of its impact on key sectors of the economy and because it involves foreign bond and shareholders in Petrobras, as well as foreign companies that were allegedly involved in the kickbacks.
The Petrobras scandal is the entirely predictable result of the interventionist economic policies adopted by the Lula-Dilma governments. With regard to the Pre-Sal, these policies mandated Petrobras as the sole operator and imposed a 30 percent local content requirement on equipment and construction associated with the development. This limited competition for contracts to Brazilian suppliers inflated costs and allowed Brazilian companies to form a bidding cartel, enabling the Petrobras directors to demand bribes for awarding contracts.
Petrobras’ problems have come at a time when growth in the Brazilian economy has stalled because of the decline in resource prices. For example, the price of iron ore, a major export, has fallen by 47 percent this year and shares in Vale have declined by over 37 percent. Economic growth over the past decade has been driven by a boom in consumer spending, as lower and middle income classes received higher incomes and a decline in interest rates allowed them to purchase consumer durables. The resulting increase in consumer debt levels combined with a slowing economy has brought the consumer spending boom to an end.
Simultaneously, the government’s finances have moved from surpluses to a deficit as revenues have stagnated while government’s spending has increased rapidly, especially in the 2014 election year. For 2015, the government has announced measures to reduce spending and increase taxes that will further decelerate the economy. Much of the investment in the economy has been financed through subsidized loans through the Brazilian national development bank, BNDES, but this has contributed to the increase in public sector gross debt from 54.3 percent of GDP in 2011 to 63 percent in 2014.
Brazilians are awakening in 2015 from the Lula dream, to a political and economic nightmare.
Bev Dahlby is a Professor at The School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.The Rockets could look to trade Thomas Robinson to make room for Dwight Howard. (Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images) The Rockets could look to trade Thomas Robinson to make room for Dwight Howard. (Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images)
The Houston Rockets are planning an attempt to trade Thomas Robinson in a move to clear salary-cap space to sign free-agent center Dwight Howard, Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday.
Wojnarowski reported that the Rockets are willing to accept the best offer for Robinson, who was the fifth overall selection in the 2012 NBA Draft. If they are able to clear Robinson's salary, they would likely have room to offer Howard a maximum-salary contract.
According to Wojnarowski, the Rockets will be vying for Howard's services along with the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors.
The 22-year-old Robinson averaged 4.8 points and 4.5 rebounds last season with both the Rockets and Sacramento Kings.
The one advantage the Lakers have in upcoming negotiations with Howard is the ability to offer him more money to stay in Los Angeles. Under the collective bargaining agreement, Howard can sign a five-year, $118 million contract to stay with the Lakers, or a four-year, $87.6 million deal with another team. The Lakers, however, will be hamstrung in any attempt to improve their roster if they re-sign Howard.
After the Lakers were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, Howard didn’t give any indication of whether he was planning to re-sign with the team.
“For me, I’m going to do what’s best for myself, what’s going to make me happy,” Howard said. “At the end of the day, I can’t control who likes me and who dislikes me but I have the right to be happy. That’s what I’m going to do. That’s the biggest thing right there.”The terrible way women lawyers are treated in the legal profession has been described in these pages ad infinitum. Whether their necklines are too low, their hair is too long, they’re giggling too much, or their maternity leave is considered an inconvenience, women lawyers aren’t taken seriously, and they certainly aren’t treated with respect by their fellow lawyers in this profession.
But just how much sexism do women lawyers face on a day-to-day basis? It’s astonishing…
We decided to reach out to our readers to gauge their experience with sexism in the legal profession. Some of the feedback we received proved just how badly lawyers need to reassess the way they interact with each other, both in the office and in the courtroom. We heard from women via Facebook, Twitter, email, and then plucked some comments from Jezebel’s write-up of our story about a woman who was denied a continuance despite her being on maternity leave. Women lawyers do exist, and they’re here to stay — but unfortunately, it seems like some of the men in this profession aren’t too happy about it.
These are some of the worst experiences women lawyers have dealt with in terms of sexism on the job:
1. As a female litigator practicing for 18 years, I find that women attorneys who aggressively represent their clients are considered bitchy whereas the men who do the same are “excellent litigators.” Oh, and not surprisingly I still get confused for the court reporter or secretary on a regular basis. 2. I had a judge refuse to allow me to quash depositions based on location and my inability to travel due to my high risk multiples pregnancy. He had the gall to suggest that the case couldn’t be halted for my pregnancy when I was asking for a location change and a small date accommodation. My twins are almost two and half now. Still don’t have a trial date. 3. True story: when my mom was pregnant with my older sister she had a trial scheduled for her due date. When she asked the judge to move it he denied the request, saying, “Cross your legs, sweetheart.” 4. A lawyer came in my office and told my female partner, “No offense, but most women lawyers are hard to deal with.” #jerk 5. My opposing counsel asked me if I was married then said, “Married couples fight.” I was a domestic violence attorney. 6. I had opposing counsel (an old white man) put his arm around me and call me “honey” as we approached the bench during a trial! 7. After opposing counsel stated his appearance, the judge began speaking before letting me even say my first name! 8. I’m a law student and was seeking donations from a clothing boutique for a charity event. “But we don’t have clothes for lawyers,” they told me. The store only sold women’s clothing. 9. A friend of mine is an employment lawyer in NYC. She was fired from her large firm when she got pregnant — violating a ton of labor laws. The whole thing is nuts. 10. Him: “What do you do?”
Me: “I’m an attorney.”
Him: “You mean a paralegal right???”
While some of these were borderline sexist, others were much more egregious, and even disgusting. No wonder so many women feel like they aren’t respected as attorneys — it’s because they aren’t.
The next time a woman speaks to you, please don’t assume it’s alright to call her by a pet name. The next time you see a woman in court, please don’t assume she’s a court reporter, a secretary, or a paralegal. The next time a woman zealously advocates for her client, please don’t assume she’s a huge bitch.
Treat women in the legal profession as you would like to be treated. It’s really not that difficult, honey.
Judge Forces Lawyer to Bring Her Baby to Court, Calls Her a Bad Parent [Jezebel]
Earlier: Judge Refuses To Postpone Hearing Because Maternity Leave Isn’t A Good Enough Excuse
Women Lawyers Advised Not To Dress Like Lady Gaga, Among Other Absurdities
Law School Sends Memo About Inappropriate Student Cleavage, Hooker Heels
Biglaw Memo From Top Firm Advises That Women ‘Don’t Giggle,’ Don’t ‘Show Cleavage’NEW DELHI: Assuring Mongolia that India is sympathetic to the problems being faced by it, Delhi has said it will help the country utilise the $1 billion financial assistance offered in 2015 to tide over the economic sanctions imposed on Ulan Bator by China in retaliation for inviting Dalai Lama Answering questions, the MEA spokesperson said: “We are ready to work with Mongolian people in this time of their difficulty. During the visit of the PM to Mongolia in May 2015, he had conveyed to the Mongolian leadership that India will extend support in diverse fields. We had announced a credit line of US$ 1billion. We are closely working with the Mongolian government to implement the credit line in a manner that is deemed beneficial to the friendly people of Mongolia by its leadership”.However, India is careful to steer clear of the Mongolia-China spat, mentioning that Mongolia’s crisis owes as much to its debt-servicing problems as to other factors. “We have a long spiritual relationship with India,” Gonchig Ganbold, Mongolia’s ambassador, told TOI.“Its important India raises its voice against China’s unilateral measures which are hurting our people, specially when severe winter is upon us.” Silence, he said, could be construed as giving China a “pass” for its behaviour.The envoy held talks with Pradeep Rawat, MEA joint secretary (east Asia). But it is not yet clear what kind of support India can give Mongolia, whose two biggest neighbours are China and Russia. Government sources said India was committed to support Mongolia, without clarifying whether that would entail a public statement sure to anger the Chinese. After the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia for the ninth time in November, which Ulan Bator allowed in the teeth of official Chinese opposition — Mongolia suddenly found all official interactions with Chinese officials cancelled.Trucks crossing into China’s autonomous province of Inner Mongolia are now charged 10 yuan each, and 0.1% of the worth of the cargo if it is beyond 10,000 yuan. China’s actions hold unhappy portends for China’s One-Belt-One-Road policy, if countries on its periphery can be arbitrarily subjected to sanctions. Mongolia has a long history of defying the Chinese system, despite them being so dependent on Beijing for transit. But China is more able to enforce its views on Mongolia now, as a superpower. Russia is unlikely to be of much help because Moscow does not at present feel the need to disagree with Beijing.In a surprise announcement, Nintendo has this morning unveiled the New 2DS XL.
It's another handheld in the 3DS family, and the second 2DS variant - meaning it has no stereoscopic 3D option.
Two colour options will be available when it launches on 28th July - "Black + Turquoise" and "White + Orange".
There's no UK price as yet (Nintendo does not set hardware prices in the region), although as a guideline it will sell in the US for $149, which is about £115.
Here's a better look in a new trailer:
The original 2DS, launched in October 2013.
Nintendo recently dated three major 3DS games for release on 28th July - and now we know why. 2DS XL will launch on the same day as side-scrolling Pikmin spin-off Hey! Pikmin, Mii character RPG Miitopia and the long-awaited Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training: Can you stay focused?
The company has previously pledged to keep supporting 3DS through this year, despite the launch of Nintendo Switch. The 2DS XL certainly fills this function - and is a vast step-up in aesthetic from the simple "doorstep" design of the original 2DS.
As you'd expect, the New 2DS XL also includes New 3DS XL features such as the secondary C-pad nub, integrated amiibo support and faster processing power.Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, used parliamentary privilege to say she had seen a witness statement alleging an undercover officer called Bob Lambert - who went under the alias Bob Robinson - planted the device in Debenhams department store in Harrow as he tried to prove his worth to the Animal Liberation Front.
The device was one of three which had been left at the chain of stores in protest at its decision to sell fur products.
Two activists - Geoff Sheppard and Andrew Clarke - were both jailed for planting the devices in the Luton and Romford stores following the attacks.
Sheppard received a sentence of four years, four months behind bars, while Clarke was jailed for more than three years for the attacks in July 1987.
But the third activist involved in the attacks was never caught and it is now alleged by Sheppard that it was the undercover officer Bob Lambert, Ms Lucas said in a debate in Westminster Hall.
She said Sheppard had only discovered Lambert was undercover following the exposure of Mark Kennedy as a police officer who had infiltrated a group of environmental activists about to go on trial for attempting to take control of a power station.
As a result, the cover of nine other undercover officers, including Bob Lambert, who infiltrated the ALF between 1984 and 1988, was blown.
Ms Lucas, speaking under Parliamentary privilege which means that her comments cannot be legally challenged in the courts, said Lambert had already admitted he was involved in a covert operation which led to imprisonment of Sheppard and Clarke.
But she said Sheppard now alleges in a statement that it was Lambert who planted the third device.
Reading part of the statement by Sheppard out in Westminster Hall, Ms Lucas said: “Obviously I (Sheppard) was not there when he (Lambert) targeted that store because we all headed off in our separate directions but I was lying in bed that night, and the news came over on the World Service that three Debenhams stores had had arson attacks on them and that included the Harrow store as well.
“So obviously I straightaway knew that Bob had carried out his part of the plan. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Bob Lambert placed the incendiary device at the Debenhams store in Harrow.
“I specifically remember him giving an explanation to me about how he had been able to place one of the devices in that store, but how he had not been able to place the second device.”Welcome back to The Way of Kings reread on Tor.com. Previous articles can be found in the reread index, and opinion pieces and other news can be found in the Stormlight Archive index. This week we’re reading chapters 9 and 10, both of them Kaladin chapters. Our favorite bridgeman continues his deep slide into depression, and gets to a place so low even his resident spren-companion gets fed up and leaves. We learn some tantalizing tidbits about the relationship between Kaladin and Syl, see the horrible attrition rate of Bridge Four, and experience our first flashback to Kaladin’s youth. See just how cute li’l Kal can be below the cut.
Chapter 9: Damnation
Setting: Sadeas’ Warcamp, The Shattered Plains
Point of View: Kaladin
What Happens
Kaladin thinks about why he was assigned to Bridge Four: to make sure that he will die expediently. Bridge Four has the highest casualty rate of any bridge, even in an army where a third to a half of bridgemen die on any given run. As he waits listlessly in the light rain, too apathetic to take shelter in his barrack, Syl hovers above his shoulder. He’s not sure how long he’s been a bridgeman now, but it might have been two or three weeks. Or perhaps an eternity. In that time all but one of his fellows from his first run have died, as have many of their unfortunate replacements.
Kaladin hasn’t bothered learning other bridgemen’s names, hasn’t bothered figuring out why the Alethi armies fight on the plateaus (“Something about those large chrysalises…But what did that have to do with the vengeance pact?”), but he has wondered why the bridge runs have to be so terrible. In the past he asked to let a few bridgemen run in front with shields, but had been denied, on threat of death. As far as he can tell the lighteyes think this whole arrangement is just some game.
Syl tries to engage him, clearly worried that he hasn’t spoken in days. Eventually she gets a thought out of him:
“My father used to say that there are two kinds of people in the world,” Kaladin whispered, voice raspy. “He said there are those who take lives. And there are those who save lives.” […] “I used to think he was wrong. I thought there was a third group. People who killed in order to save.” He shook his head. “I was a fool. There is a third group, a big one, but it isn’t what I thought.” […] “The people who exist to be saved or to be killed…The victims. That’s all I am.”
Understandably disheartened by this, Syl continues to try to cheer Kaladin up while he works in a lumberyard. She thinks back to when he was “vibrant,” when his soldiers, fellow slaves, enemies, and even lighteyes looked up to him. She says she used to watch him fight, which strikes Kaladin as odd, since as far as he can recall she didn’t appear until he’d already been made a slave. He doesn’t say anything, though.
He thinks about the ways bridgemen can be punished. If you’re a lazy worker you’ll be whipped. If you lag behind on runs you’ll be executed, the only capital crime a bridgeman can commit. “The message was clear. Charging with your bridge might get you killed, but refusing to do so would get you killed.”
A soldier named Laresh approaches Gaz with a batch of replacement slaves, including an especially pathetic group for Bridge Four. One of them is a young teenage boy, “short, spindly, with a round face.” He immediately catches Kaladin’s attention, and he whisperes “Tien?” to himself.
But no, he failed Tien, and Cenn, and everyone else he’d tried to protect, so this couldn’t be Tien.
Syl says she’s going to leave, which finally gets Kaladin to care about something. She will try to come back, but she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to. She thinks that if she leaves Kaladin she might lose herself. |
the contentious issue of Beijing's behaviour in the South China Sea, Dion said.
High-seas geopolitical tensions in Asia and free trade aspirations hung over Wang's visit to Ottawa, which also included a talk with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet.
Dion said he had "mature and respectful discussions on our respective positions on regional issues including the South China Sea."
He said Wang was passionate, but so too are China's neighbours.
Several countries in the region oppose Chinese assertive posture, with Japan particularly taking umbrage over Beijing's claims in the East China Sea. The disputed waters also include important international shipping lanes.
China wants to negotiate a free trade deal with Canada, but neither Wang nor Dion had anything new to announce on that front on Wednesday.
Wang noted Canada's free trade deal with South Korea and said he realizes it is pursuing similar deals with India and Japan.
"But I want to tell you that the trade between Canada and those countries is not as big as that between Canada and China," Wang said.
"I would like to suggest Canada to negotiate FTA with the Chinese side, but here I must emphasize we will never impose our own will on our friends. It's up to you."
Wang also recalled the positive strides Trudeau made with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his first round of international travel last fall. The Chinese leader praised the vision of Trudeau's father, Pierre, for establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic in 1970 during a meeting at the G20 in Turkey.
He also credited gains in bilateral relations made by former liberal prime ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.
Wang made no mention of former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, whose near-decade in power started on a frosty note when he was accused of snubbing Beijing.
Visiting foreign ministers usually stick to talking to their counterparts, but Wang also inserted a meeting with Trudeau, which underscores the importance the government is placing on China at a pivotal time.
Wang came away impressed.
"We stand ready to work together closely with the Canadian side and take the opportunity of the new government in Canada to open up a new golden era of our bilateral relations."
Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian PressCanadians consumed nearly 700 tonnes of cannabis in 2015, with a total value ranging somewhere between $5 billion and $6.2 billion, according to rough estimates compiled by Statistics Canada.
The estimates were drafted to add cannabis data to the nation’s statistical system ahead of the federal government legalizing recreational consumption of marijuana.
It said this would make the cannabis market “roughly one-half to two-thirds of the size of the $9.2 billion beer market,” and between 70 to 90 per cent of Canada’s $7 billion wine market.
The agency suggests there were some 4.9 million legal (medical) and illicit cannabis users older than age 15 in Canada that year.
The study suggests Canadians consumed some 697 tonnes of cannabis, costing somewhere between $7 and $9 a gram.
The Liberal government plans on legalizing cannabis by July, 2018.
“In preparation for these changes, it is necessary to adjust Canada’s national statistical system to measure the economic and social impacts of legalized cannabis,” the report summary stated.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau has said that Canada could generate “up to $400 million a year for the first couple of years” off cannabis excise taxes alone.
But politicians have been cautious about throwing around numbers because the market volume is notoriously difficult to estimate. As MP Bill Blair put it recently, criminals “don’t share a lot of data on their market.” A number of government reports tasked with drafting up estimates of the size of the cannabis market in Canada have even relied on self-reporting websites, such as priceofweed.com.
StatsCan’s numbers aren’t totally solid, either. The “experimental” estimates relied on survey data taken from multiple sources.
“Estimating the volume of cannabis consumption is fraught with methodological difficulties, missing information, differing quality instrumental variables and assumptions,” the report said.
“Consequently, there is considerable uncertainty about the level of consumption.”A temporary bank branch built from shipping containers in Germany
Shipping container architecture is a form of architecture using steel intermodal containers (shipping containers) as structural element. It is also referred to as cargotecture, a portmanteau of cargo with architecture, or "arkitainer".
The use of containers as a building material has grown in popularity over the past several years due to their inherent strength, wide availability, and relatively low expense. Homes have also been built with containers because they are seen[by whom?] as more eco-friendly than traditional building materials such as brick and cement.[citation needed]
Advantages [ edit ]
Customized Due to their shape and material, shipping containers can be easily modified to fit many purposes.
Strength and durability Shipping containers are designed to be stacked in high columns, carrying heavy loads. They are also designed to resist harsh environments, such as on ocean-going vessels or sprayed with road salt while transported on roads. Due to their high strength, shipping containers are usually the last to fall in extreme weather, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis.
Modular All shipping containers are the same width and most have two standard height and length measurements and as such they provide modular elements that can be combined into larger structures. This simplifies design, planning and transport. As they are already designed to interlock for ease of mobility during transportation, structural construction is completed by simply emplacing them. Due to the containers' modular design, additional construction is as easy as stacking more containers. They can be stacked up to 12 units high when empty.
Labor The welding and cutting of steel is considered to be specialized labor and can increase construction expenses, yet overall it is still lower than conventional construction. Unlike wood frame construction, attachments must be welded or drilled to the outer skin, which is more time consuming and requires different job site equipment.
Transport Because they already conform to standard shipping sizes, pre-fabricated modules can be easily transported by ship, truck, or rail.
Availability Because of their wide-spread use, new and used shipping containers are available across the planet.
Expense Many used containers are available at an amount that is low compared to a finished structure built by other labor-intensive means such as bricks and mortar — which also require larger more expensive foundations.[ citation needed ]
Eco-friendly A 40 ft shipping container weights over 3,500 kg. When upcycling shipping containers, thousands of kilograms of steel are saved. In addition when building with containers, the amount of traditional building materials needed (i.e. bricks and cement) are reduced.
Disadvantages [ edit ]
Temperature Steel conducts heat very well; containers used for human occupancy in an environment with extreme temperature variations will normally have to be better insulated than most brick, block or wood structures.
Lack of flexibility Although shipping containers can be combined together to create bigger spaces, creating spaces different to their default size (either 20 or 40 foot) is expensive and time consuming. Containers any longer than 40 feet will be difficult to navigate in some residential areas.
Humidity As noted above, single wall steel conducts heat. In temperate climates, moist interior air condenses against the steel, becoming clammy. Rust will form unless the steel is well sealed and insulated.
Construction site The size and weight of the containers will, in most cases, require them to be placed by a crane or forklift. Traditional brick, block and lumber construction materials can often be moved by hand, even to upper stories.
Building permits The use of steel for construction, while prevalent in industrial construction, is not widely used for residential structures. Obtaining building permits may be troublesome in some regions due to municipalities not having seen this application before. However, in the US certain shipping container homes have been built in outside of the city's zoning code; this meant no building permits were required.
Treatment of timber floors To meet Australian government quarantine requirements, most container floors when manufactured are treated with insecticides containing copper (23–25%), chromium (38–45%) and arsenic (30–37%). Before human habitation, floors should be removed and safely disposed. Units with steel floors would be preferable, if available.
Cargo spillages A container can carry a wide variety of cargo during its working life. Spillages or contamination may have occurred on the inside surfaces and will have to be cleaned before habitation. Ideally all internal surfaces should be abrasive blasted to bare metal, and re-painted with a nontoxic paint system.
Solvents Solvents released from paint and sealants used in manufacture might be harmful.
Damage While in service, containers are damaged by friction, handling collisions, and force of heavy loads overhead during ship transits. The companies will inspect containers and condemn them if there are cracked welds, twisted frames or pin holes are found, among other faults.
Roof weaknesses Although the two ends of a container are extremely strong, the roof is not. A limit of 300 kg is recommended.[1]
Examples [ edit ]
Shipping containers stacked to form a semi-permanent wall at an iron ore mine in Western Australia
Many structures based on shipping containers have already been constructed, and their uses, sizes, locations and appearances vary widely.
When futurist Stewart Brand needed a place to assemble all the material he needed to write How Buildings Learn, he converted a shipping container into office space, and wrote up the conversion process in the same book.
In 2006, Southern California Architect Peter DeMaria, designed the first two-story shipping container home in the U.S. as an approved structural system under the strict guidelines of the nationally recognized Uniform Building Code (UBC). This home was the Redondo Beach House and it inspired the creation of Logical Homes, a cargo container based pre-fabricated home company. In 2007, Logical Homes created their flagship project - the Aegean, for the Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Several architects, such as Adam Kalkin have built original homes, using discarded shipping containers for their parts or using them in their original form, or doing a mix of both.[2]
Illustration of the structure of Container City showing how the containers are stacked.
In 2000, the firm Urban Space Management completed the project called Container City I in the Trinity Buoy Wharf area of London. The firm has gone on to complete additional container-based building projects, with more underway. In 2006, the Dutch company Tempohousing finished in Amsterdam the biggest container village in the world: 1,000 student homes from modified shipping containers from China.[3]
In 2002 standard ISO shipping containers began to be modified and used as stand-alone on-site wastewater treatment plants. The use of containers creates a cost-effective, modular, and customizable solution to on-site waste water treatment and eliminates the need for construction of a separate building to house the treatment system.
Brian McCarthy, an MBA student, saw many poor neighborhoods in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico during an MBA field trip in the 2000s. Since then he developed prototypes of shipping container housing for typical maquiladora workers in Mexico.[4]
Application for the Live Event & Entertainment Industry: in 2010 German Architect and Production Designer, Stefan Beese, utilized six 40’ long shipping containers to create a large viewing deck and a VIP lounge area for to substitute the typical grand stand scaffold structure at the Voodoo Music Experience, New Orleans. The containers also smartly do double duty as storage space for other festival components throughout the year. The two top containers are cantilevered nine feet on each side creating two balconies that are prime viewing locations. There are also two bars located on the balconies. Each container was perforated with cutouts spelling the word "VOODOO," which not only brands the structure but creates different vantage points and service area openings. And since the openings themselves act as signage for the event, no additional materials or energy were needed to create banners or posters.
Grand Stand and VIP Lounge made from Shipping Containers for the 2009 & 2010 Voodoo Music Experience, City Park, New Orleans, LA.USA.
In the United Kingdom, walls of containers filled with sand have been used as giant sandbags to protect against the risk of flying debris from exploding ceramic insulators in electricity substations.
In the October 2013, two barges owned by Google with superstructures made out of shipping containers received media attention speculating about their purpose.[5]
Markets [ edit ]
Empty shipping containers are commonly used as market stalls and warehouses in the countries of the former USSR.
The biggest shopping mall or organized market in Europe is made up of alleys formed by stacked containers, on 69 hectares (170 acres) of land, between the airport and the central part of Odessa, Ukraine. Informally named "Tolchok" and officially known as the Seventh-Kilometer Market it has 16,000 vendors and employs 1,200 security guards and maintenance workers.
In Central Asia, the Dordoy Bazaar in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, almost entirely composed of double-stacked containers, is of comparable size. It is popular with travelers coming from Kazakhstan and Russia to take advantage of the cheap prices and plethora of knock-off designers.
In 2011, the Cashel Mall in Christchurch, New Zealand reopened in a series of shipping containers months after it had been destroyed in the earthquake that devastated the city's central business district.[6] Starbucks Coffee has also built a store using shipping containers.[7]
Other uses [ edit ]
Shipping containers have also been used as:
For housing and other architecture [ edit ]
Shipping container cottage.
53 foot reefer container home
Containers are in many ways an ideal building material because they are strong, durable, stackable, cuttable, movable, modular, plentiful and relatively cheap. Architects as well as laypeople have used them to build many types of buildings such as homes,[19] offices, apartments, schools, dormitories, artists' studios and emergency shelters; they have also been used as swimming pools. They are also used to provide temporary secure spaces on construction sites and other venues on an "as is" basis instead of building shelters.
Phillip C. Clark filed for a United States patent on November 23, 1987 described as "Method for converting one or more steel shipping containers into a habitable building at a building site and the product thereof". This patent was granted August 8, 1989 as patent 4854094. The patent documentation shows what are possibly the earliest recorded plans for constructing shipping container housing and shelters by laying out some very basic architectural concepts. Regardless, the patent may not have represented novel invention at its time of filing. Paul Sawyers previously described extensive shipping container buildings used on the set of the 1985 film Space Rage Breakout on Prison Planet.
Other examples of earlier container architecture concepts also exist such as a 1977 report entitled 'Shipping Containers as Structural Systems' investigating the feasibility of using twenty foot shipping containers as structural elements by the US military.
During the 1991 Gulf War, containers saw considerable nonstandard uses not only as makeshift shelters but also for the transportation of Iraqi prisoners of war. Holes were cut in the containers to allow for ventilation. Containers continue to be used for military shelters, often additionally fortified by adding sandbags to the side walls to protect against weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades ("RPGs").
The abundance and relative cheapness of these containers during the last decade comes from the deficit in manufactured goods coming from North America in the last two decades. These manufactured goods come to North America from Asia and, to a lesser extent, Europe, in containers that often have to be shipped back empty, or "deadhead", at considerable expense. It is often cheaper to buy new containers in Asia than to ship old ones back. Therefore, new applications are sought for the used containers that have reached their North American destination.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Books
Kotnik, Jure (2008). Container Architecture. p. 240. ISBN 978-8496969223
ISBN 978-8496969223 Sawyers, Paul (2005, 2008). Intermodal Shipping Container Small Steel Buildings. p 116. ISBN 978-1438240329
ISBN 978-1438240329 Bergmann, Buchmeier, Slawik, Tinney (2010). Container Atlas: A Practical Guide to Container Architecture. p. 256. ISBN 978-3899552867
ISBN 978-3899552867 Minguet, Josep Maria (2013). Sustainable Architecture: Containers2. p. 111. ISBN 978-8415829317
ISBN 978-8415829317 Kramer, Sibylle (2014). The Box Architectural Solutions with Containers. p. 182. ISBN 978-3037681732
ISBN 978-3037681732 Broto, Carles (2015). Radical Container Architecture. p. 240. ISBN 978-8490540558The Michael Sams of the world need the gay community’s help. Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Everyone by now has heard of Michael Sam. We know Sam’s height, weight, wine of choice, and life story. With the NFL draft approaching, we also know that he is expected to make History: that moment when an athlete tears down the wall between gayness and professional sports. Juliet Macur gives Sam a little coaching in a New York Times column: “There is no better moment than now to plow ahead and topple that wall with a bulldozer.”
What’s on the other side of the wall? For some, it’s a macho culture that expels gayness to its perimeter. Others take comfort in this image, ignoring the closeted stars who have already snuck past the watchtowers. In any case, the wall is ubiquitous, if starting to crumble. Soon, we hope, gay athletes will gain access to honest camaraderie and the veneration of fans.
As a gay man, I’ll certainly be happy when the wall comes tumbling down, but I’ll be even happier when this idea of an intrinsic division between gays and sports disappears as well. Just as football players learn to embrace their gay teammates, so must we, the gays and our allies, do the same for athletes.
We can start by respecting their work. In her Times piece, Macur alleges that the NFL’s “identity has been built on machismo and violence. It is a league rich with alpha males bursting with muscles who unapologetically smash into one another, to the delight of millions of fans.” Now, if I played professional football (laughably doubtful, but humor me), I might feel offended if someone reduced my career to a gladiatorial contest at best, a brutish grunting at worst. Well-intentioned pundits everywhere similarly confuse an entire sport with an aspect of its culture.
Machismo and violence form part of football, but so do strategy, statistics, teamwork, and resilience. Plus, plenty of gay Americans are avid fans of the game. Michael Sam, after all, counts among those who “smash” the competition. It seems naïve to equate his variety of manliness—physical grit—with the sort responsible for homophobia. While there remains obvious room for improvement in the NFL, the joy of watching football is more nuanced than the savagery of a Road Runner cartoon.
Football is not the only sport that has suffered from the jeers of gays and our allies. In a recent push for tolerance at Sochi, the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion (CIDI) released a luge-focused YouTube video that has collected about 5 million views. The PSA features two luge athletes in Lycra. They grind against one another in slow motion, back and forth, before finally launching their sled on its course. Cue the tagline: “The games have always been a little gay.”
When I first saw this video, I wasn’t sure whether gays or lugers should be more offended. It smacked of middle-school locker room humor, the very same kind that alienates LGBTQ athletes. Of course, the CIDI’s video isn’t trying to be offensive, only to reclaim a negative label. In the process, though, they unwittingly put lugers in the same position as yesterday’s outsiders. Before, the sexuality of gay men was the butt of jokes; now lugers can enjoy this honor.
And when gays aren’t making fun of sports, we’re turning athletes into mere sex objects. As diver Tom Daley knows well, our support for LGBTQ athletes is often laced with catcalls and dating advice. When the British diver announced his sexuality publicly, countless gays fawned over his abs (actually important for his, you know, job) while criticizing him for dating an older man. The gossip assured Daley that he was not part of our community in any meaningful sense—really only as a pretty bauble to behold from afar. You couldn’t blame him if he felt disrespected both as a person and a professional in the end.
Indeed, I often wonder what athletes must think when we ask them to keep open minds about welcoming gay people into athletics. Is this really fair when our minds are so closed regarding them? I’m no engineer, but it seems like if your goal is to knock down a wall, it’s counterproductive to reinforce it at the same time.With only a few days to go before the presidential election, it may be too easy for voters and the press to ignore the single most salient aspect of Mitt Romney's candidacy: his unwillingness to reject or confront in any significant way the truly radical nature of today's Republican Party in Washington, including its record, tactics, and philosophy.
As a senior Romney advisor confided to me earlier this week, even some of the candidate's campaign aides seem unsure of his relationship to the ideological orthodoxy of the Tea Party forces that now dominate the GOP in Washington, especially in the House and among Republican lobbyists. No matter how moderate his underlying instincts or inclinations might be (a huge open question in itself), some in his campaign also wonder how, as president, he could restrain the radical forces driving his party.
"My own feeling about Romney is he's a very moderate guy forced to run to the crazy-right," said this advisor, a self-described moderate who served under two Republican presidents in significant jobs. "But even I'm not sure what will happen if he is elected."
Certainly those helping to drive the Tea Party agenda in Washington believe that in Romney--and his choice of Paul Ryan (philosophically one of their own) as his running mate--they have an ideal instrument to implement their agenda. "All we have to do is replace Obama.... We are not auditioning for fearless leader," declared Grover Norquist at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February. Norquist, who has promulgated a no-tax-increase pledge that has been signed by 238 Republicans in the House and 41 in the Senate, went on: "We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go.... We just need a president to sign this stuff....Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen.... His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared."
Romney might appear to be just the man for the job, especially with his fealty during the primaries to the Tea Party's fiscal and social-policy agenda. However, his Houdini-like attempts in the last two presidential debates to transform himself into a centrist (in tone, at least) have once again raised the question of what his real beliefs might be. Given the ideological intensity of the party he seeks to lead, the stakes in answering that question could not be higher.
Plainly put, today's Republican Party (and its Tea Party wing) represent the first bona fide radical political party to rise to dominance in Washington in nearly 100 years. With good reason, "radical" is a term to be used with great caution; more often than not it has been employed in American history by demagogues and ill-informed ideologues as a way of labeling opponents as "un-American." It conjures memories of old McCarthyite tactics and outrages, and the labeling of decent and patriotic citizens and movements as traitorous. Even in comparatively benign usage, the term radical is often thrown around recklessly to impugn beliefs for being out of touch or foreign to mainstream thinking.
Yet the fact remains that the Republican ideas now ascendant in Washington would dismantle and transform social and economic policies that have been the basis of prevailing political consensus since the days of Teddy Roosevelt's presidency, through his cousin Franklin's New Deal, through the Eisenhower and Kennedy eras, and even from the Great Society through the Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton decades. If that doesn't register as radicalism, I'm unsure what would.
Public policy in the twentieth century was about protecting and expanding the social compact, based on recognition that effective government at the federal level provides rules and services and safety measures that contribute to a better society. This is especially the case in realms where private enterprise and the states cannot or will not do what needs to be done for the common good: from insuring food and drug safety (begun in 1906) to progressive taxation (1913) to the creation of the National Park Service (1916) to regulation of banking and securities (1933) to compulsory Social Security retirement accounts (1935) to protecting the civil rights of all citizens (the 1960s) to environmental protection (1970) to guaranteed medical care for the elderly (1965).
Mitt Romney, meanwhile, has applauded Republican/Tea Party efforts to privatize social security, eliminate environmental protection programs, restructure Medicare through voucher-like options, overturn Roe v. Wade, "self-deport" immigrants, and push for tax relief for the wealthiest citizens.
Like the Tea Party, Mitt Romney has railed in this election season against "government intrusion," particularly in regulating business and imposing higher tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, arguing (as was so often heard during the era of racial segregation) that states are better at providing for the needs of citizens, especially those who cannot adequately care for themselves and their families financially. His oft-repeated hands-off philosophy extends even to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is so busy this week providing crucial support to the states devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Back in June 2011, Romney notoriously answered a question about funding for FEMA by denouncing the federal debt as "immoral" and explaining that any "occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better."
If there has been a single message in Romney's campaign--which has been purposely vague and strident, according to the campaign advisor quoted above--it has been that reliance on the private sector and the states will solve problems in essential matters that the federal government now regulates and maintains.
That position, like the campaign's bedrock opposition to abortion and gay rights, its unrelenting anti-immigration stance, regressive philosophy of taxation, and promotion of religious ideas as government policy, reflect the substantive part of the GOP's reigning radicalism. And then there are its tactical aspects: insinuating that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and thus illegitimately holds the office of president, changing voting rules to make it more difficult for poorer Americans to vote, flattering and encouraging (rather than shaming) those Americans who proudly reject the findings and methods of science, driving from office and purging such traditional conservatives and moderates as Bob Bennett of Utah, Bob Inglis of South Carolina, Richard Lugar of Indiana, and Olympia Snowe of Maine. In all of these ways, today's Republican Party declares its commitment to political radicalism.
There is no other word to describe the contemporary GOP's effort to break from our political culture's cumulative notion of normalcy and prevailing governmental philosophy. This extraordinary change in political direction is comparable in scale and intended effect to such transformational movements as the Radical Republicanism of the Reconstruction Era surrounding the Civil War and the Progressive movement of the early 20th century.
The previously quoted Romney campaign advisor (like a self-described "libertarian" former Republican governor with whom I discussed the same question recently) stresses the political necessity of courting and soothing the so-called "base" of today's Republican Party--actually, the ideological faction farthest right of the political spectrum on issues ranging from taxation to abortion--either to win the party's nomination for president or (as House Speaker John Boehner has discovered) to hold onto leadership positions in Congress.
"The Tea Party faction, or far right-faction, has been driving his candidacy, no question," said this life-long Republican, who insists on his belief that "Mitt Romney is not one of them." Rather, "the issue is how much can he move off that rhetoric [of Tea Party activists] and be moderate in governing, instead of responding to them. That's the basic question. And the answer to the question is unknown. My daughter said last night [two nights before the last debate], 'I can't vote for anybody who wants to get rid of Planned Parenthood. I can't trust someone who is willing to accept so much Tea Party bull.' That's the issue. How far right is he going to go if he is governing? And is he beholden to the Tea Party and extreme right? Or is he really a closet moderate who will govern from the center when elected? That's the issue about Mitt Romney."
As this adviser notes, the Boehner precedent serves as a powerful example of what happens when Republican leadership in today's Washington runs up against the Tea Party's agenda and policies promoted by its allies and enablers like the Koch Brothers (along with their political advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, which generously funds Tea Party causes), and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on many issues. Time and again in the past four years, the House Speaker has capitulated to his Tea-Party-backed deputy, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who covets the Speakership, and the ideologically rabid freshmen elected in 2010.
"In private, John Bohener and Romney are both smart, good, reasonably moderate guys; but if the troops behind you aren't following you," says the Romney advisor, "that's tough. I don't think this guy [Romney] is radical but you can't govern as a moderate if your entire team is essentially extreme conservatives or radicals. Yes, it means he'll say any f**king thing in this campaign, just like George W. Bush did: a Republican today has to act very conservative to get the nomination...."
Would Romney promote a moderate agenda as president? The evidence from the campaign is inconclusive but also far from encouraging. As I was told by this campaign insider, the candidate and his inner circle of advisors decided months ago, during the primaries, that in order to blur the problematic ideological issue, the campaign needed to avoid releasing position papers on important issues, or laying out in any detail in any forum how he would address specific policy matters as president, or putting any distance between the candidate and the Tea Party radicals.
Beginning in the primaries, Romney's promise to "repeal Obamacare on the first day I am president," was seen as key to a winning hand, though there has been recognition among his advisors that such a promise is probably impossible to deliver, given the reality of Senate rules and the increasing likelihood of continued Democratic control of the upper chamber of Congress. The more realistic scenario discussed by his aides would be for a President Romney to push for extended delay--perhaps of five or six years--of mandated insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act as part of an overall budget deal.
Even at the end of a presidential election campaign, we have no way to know what Mitt Romney really believes. The contradictory character of his pronouncements over the course of his political career is perhaps the most consistent aspect of his public record, and it is hardly predictive of the kind of leadership that would seriously challenge and override the extreme desires and policies of the Tea Party. Indeed, Romney has been at his eloquent best when embracing its positions and arguments. His surreptitiously recorded "47 percent" remarks were the perfect expression of radical Tea Party ideology. "One of his problems, if Romney is elected, is going be fending off the right wing from pushing this nutty stuff, like Clinton had to fend off nutty stuff from his far-left," says the campaign advisor. "Clinton was fundamentally a moderate [president]. I think Romney would be too."
Radicalism as such is hardly dishonorable or misguided in itself. Radical thought has inspired many of the great political and social reform movements in American history, from ending slavery to establishing the minimum wage. The American Revolution and Declaration of Independence, it has often been argued, were fueled by the most radical of all American political ideas.
Today's Republican Party, driven by the Tea Party movement, is equally radical. It represents as extreme a shift in political philosophy as any of the radical ideologies that have prevailed in our history. Even Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Jeb Bush, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush are all apostates from its ideological orthodoxy. In their place, the movement substitutes Eric Cantor, the Koch Brothers, Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachmann, Gr over Norquist, and Glenn Beck.
One thing seems certain in this final phase of the 2012 presidential campaign: whatever Mitt Romney might "really" believe, his election would bring this radical belief system much closer to--not farther from--the power it needs to achieve its ends. From there it would be well positioned to do nothing less than overturn the political order that has prevailed in America for the better part of the past century.UCLA football coach Jim L. Mora has noticed something a little different around the Westwood campus this week thanks to a certain high-profile NFL quarterback working out at the Bruins practice facility.
"There's a little Tebow-mania going on here on the UCLA campus," Mora said. "There's a few more girls hanging around the football office and the football field that there typically are."
Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is in town working out with UCLA offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Noel Mazzone and Mazzone's son, Taylor, and that has brought a tinge of Tim-sanity to UCLA this week. Tebow and Mazzone are working on mechanics and trying to get Tebow more efficient after he completed only 46.5 percent of his passes last season.
Also working out at UCLA on Thursday was San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder and former Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler are expected in over the next few days.
Mazzone wouldn't go into specifics about what he and Tebow were working on, saying only that they were trying to improve his mechanics.
"He's obviously a guy that wants to get better, like they all do," Mazzone said. "And wants to kind of become good at his craft and his craft is being an NFL quarterback. Like Philip Rivers. There is nothing I'm going to say that's going to make Philip Rivers any better than the quarterback he is, but they love to compete, they like to play and they like to get better at what they do."
Mora took over as coach in December, replacing Rick Neuheisel. He hired a staff of respected assistants, including Mazzone, who had been offensive coordinator at Arizona State the past two seasons. He said having players such as Tebow and Rivers seeking out Mazzone's assistance says a lot about the kind of coaches he has on his staff.
"I think it speaks for itself when Philip Rivers, who is a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback, seeks out UCLA's offensive coordinator/quarterback coach," Mora said. "Who wouldn't want to be coached by the guy Philip Rivers wants coaching him? Or Tim Tebow wants coaching him. Or Christian Ponder wants coaching him."Memo to my editors on Tuesday afternoon: “I’m waking up at 5:00 a.m., making coffee and banging out a retro diary of San Antonio–Oklahoma City, Game 2. However this plays out, it’s going to work. If the Spurs win, that’s 20 in a row. Twenty in a row!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING???? And if OKC wins, we suddenly have a monster series and that’s fun, too. It’s a no-lose. This can only get screwed up if my alarm doesn’t go off. Be ready.”
My alarm went off. Let’s start at the beginning of the second half, with the Spurs leading by 11 in one of those “even though they shot 58 percent, it still feels like they left something on the table and could go two levels higher” halves. That’s the thing about the Spurs — when you’re consistently getting layups, wide-open 3s and easy 10-footers, at some point your offensive ceiling has a retractable roof. Could they have a 75-point half in which they shoot 70 percent from the field? Could they score 30 points in a row? And why aren’t more people excited about this? Anyway
12:00 remaining (third quarter) — TNT shows a clip of Gregg Popovich yelling at his players in the first half, “Put a body on them! A little physicality! It’s a big-boy game!” He’s giving DJ Steve Porter enough material in this series for an Auto-Tune song that’s going to be longer than “Stairway to Heaven.”
12:00 — The obligatory “here’s Tony Parker (17 points, five assists) ripping apart the Zombies on the same high screen over and over again” montage. At this point, there are five people left in America who haven’t realized that this is the wrong series for Kendrick Perkins — Perkins, Scotty Brooks, Kevin Garnett, Vinny Del Negro, and the showrunner for The Killing (who loves sticking with plots that stopped working a long time ago). Let’s see how OKC adjusts in the second half.
11:03 — After a Thabo Sefolosha layup, Spurs rookie Kawhi Leonard answers by draining an open 3. Here’s what I wrote as Leonard was falling in the draft last June: “Leonard is officially our ‘how the hell did he slide to the middle of the draft’ guy, which doesn’t happen every year, but when it happens (Danny Granger, Ty Lawson, Roy Hibbert), you know as it’s happening. He should have been a lottery pick. That guy is a natural NBA small forward.”
Naturally, 14 teams passed on him, and naturally, the Spurs scooped him up (via trade), and naturally, they fixed the one questionable part of his game (3-point shooting) because they’re the Spurs and they can do anything short of fixing NBC’s prime-time lineup. Last year at San Diego State, Leonard made 29 percent of his 3s. In December/January for the Spurs, Leonard made 25 percent of them. In February/March, that jumped to 45 percent. In 10 playoff games, he’s taken 31 3s and made 14 of them (45 percent). Does any of this make sense? NO!!!!!!! Of course not. But that’s why they’re the Spurs.
10:07 — Following a Westbrook jumper, Parker uses a Duncan screen to sink an open 14-footer. Kendrick Perkins might as well be a stationary Kendrick Perkins hologram |
, "My friends, we've seen this movie before," and added, "It was called 'HillaryCare' back in 1993, and we're not going to do it again. We're not going to have the government take over the health care system in America."
From the July 23 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:Remembering The Great California Cycleway
All the excitement over a few lines painted on York Boulevard for bicycles last week, and Mark Vallianatos’ article on Eagle Rock Patch yesterday, reminded me of a time over a hundred years ago when bicycles ruled the day, and highways were being built just for them.
The Great California Cycleway opened in Pasadena around July of 1900. (Some sources say 1890, but its creator, Mr. Horace Dobbins didn’t start the Cycleway Company until 1897, and the only photos available of the cycleway date to 1900, likely when it was being shown.)
The California Cycleway was an elevated wooden bicycle highway that was designed to go from Hotel Green in Pasadena down the Arroyo, past Highland Park and into Downtown Los Angeles, ending at the Plaza on Olvera Street. Part of the design was to be a completely uninterrupted path by bridging over obstacles like creeks, roads, train tracks, and maintain only the slightest of grades (no more than 3%) over the 9 miles of smooth wooden track over an elevation of 600 feet. The entire project would have cost an estimated $187,500 at the time, and included a casino called, “Merlemount” to be placed midway in Arroyo Seco Park. (On top of where Debs Park is today??)
At the time of its opening there were an estimated 30,00o cyclists in the region. Which is quite impressive, considering the total population at that time was less than 500,000. The toll to use the bicycle super highway was 10¢ each way or 15¢ for a round trip. Part of the plan was to have bicycle rental available so that users could leave their bikes at either end of the cycleway. If Cycleway users wanted to forgo the climb back to Pasadena, they could take one of the 4 trains and trolleys adjacent to the cycleway.
While many portions of right-of-way were secured for the Cycleway along the Los Angeles Terminal Railroad and Arroyo Seco, the grand plan was never completed. The only section of the Great California Cycleway to be built was the 1.25 mile section that went to South Pasadena from the Hotel Green. “Progress” stepped in. (Or should I say drove in.)
By the late 19th century, the bicycle craze met the driving craze of the 20th century, and the cycleway was abandoned to become forgotten paths, alleyways, and roadways. (A popular belief is that the Cycleway became the Arroyo Seco Parkway / Pasadena Freeway. However, most of its path was east of the Arroyo Seco, whereas the parkway was built on the west bank and on area that was reclaimed by WPA flood control projects of the 1930s.)
The cycleway isn’t completely forgotten. In the years before his death, bicycle activist, Dennis Crowley, had tried to revive this dream of connecting Pasadena and Los Angeles with a New California Cycleway. Here in 90042, the sorely missed Cycleway Cafe honored the historical connection by naming their cafe after the utopian concept.
I’ve created a Google Map that shows part of path of the California Cycleway as best as I could guess it. (There must be a better map from 1900 out there somewhere.)
In the meantime, continue to enjoy the ever-increasing new bicycle lines in the pavement and please share the road.
34.117590 -118.188329Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new device that represents a significant advance for computer memory, making large-scale "server farms" more energy efficient and allowing computers to start more quickly.
Traditionally, there are two types of computer memory devices. Slow memory devices are used in persistent data storage technologies such as flash drives. They allow us to save information for extended periods of time, and are therefore called nonvolatile devices. Fast memory devices allow our computers to operate quickly, but aren't able to save data when the computers are turned off. The necessity for a constant source of power makes them volatile devices.
But now a research team from NC State has developed a single "unified" device that can perform both volatile and nonvolatile memory operation and may be used in the main memory.
"We've invented a new device that may revolutionize computer memory," says Dr. Paul Franzon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research. "Our device is called a double floating-gate field effect transistor (FET). Existing nonvolatile memory used in data storage devices utilizes a single floating gate, which stores charge in the floating gate to signify a 1 or 0 in the device -- or one 'bit' of information. By using two floating gates, the device can store a bit in a nonvolatile mode, and/or it can store a bit in a fast, volatile mode -- like the normal main memory on your computer."
The double floating-gate FET could have a significant impact on a number of computer problems. For example, it would allow computers to start immediately, because the computer wouldn't have to retrieve start-up data from its hard drive -- the data could be stored in its main memory.
The new device would also allow "power proportional computing." For example, Web server farms, such as those used by Google, consume an enormous amount of power -- even when there are low levels of user activity -- in part because the server farms can't turn off the power without affecting their main memory.
"The double floating-gate FET would help solve this problem," Franzon says, "because data could be stored quickly in nonvolatile memory -- and retrieved just as quickly. This would allow portions of the server memory to be turned off during periods of low use without affecting performance."
Franzon also notes that the research team has investigated questions about this technology's reliability, and that they think the device "can have a very long lifetime, when it comes to storing data in the volatile mode."
The paper, "Computing with Novel Floating-Gate Devices," will be published Feb. 10 in IEEE's Computer. The paper was authored by Franzon; former NC State Ph.D. student Daniel Schinke; former NC State master's student Mihir Shiveshwarkar; and Dr. Neil Di Spigna, a research assistant professor at NC State. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.
NC State's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is part of the university's College of Engineering.Carlin Racing has competed successfully in Indy Lights for the past three seasons, amassing 12 race wins, and guiding Ed Jones to the 2016 drivers’ championship. Team boss Carlin has also long admitted that eventually he planned to enter the Verizon IndyCar Series.
In the past month there have been exploratory talks between Carlin and McLaren regarding an IndyCar venture, and with Chip Ganassi Racing cutting Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball loose, there have also been assumptions that this pair would end up at Carlin. Chilton’s father Grahame, is a co-owner of Carlin and CEO of Max’s title sponsor, Gallagher & Co.
Although he wouldn’t go into such specifics, Trevor Carlin told IndyCar’s official website: “When we start something, we like to stay in it. There hasn’t been a right moment in the past, but I think the right moment is approaching.
“I’m not going to stand here now and say it’s a done deal, but I would say that the odds on us being on the grid next year are the highest they’ve ever been. It’s just a case of putting the package together now.”
Carlin went on to explain that although the introduction of universal aerokits had made for an easier expansion to IndyCar, he’d already tabbed 2018 as his first year at the top level of U.S. open-wheel racing.
“That’s a bonus for us, really,” Carlin said. “I think we would have been looking to do it next year anyway. The fact is, the new aero kit is perfect because, obviously the big teams have got massive resources where they can do testing and aero this and that, but I think that it does level the playing field for a team like us that could come in.”Note: This project is obsolete. The updates for 1.10.2 are available for the individual mods, but I may not continue to provide a single file download. You can find the individual downloads at the bottom as well as a link to the forum thread.
Reasonable Realism is a pack and a mod. That's right, it's both.
There's actually four sub-mods (not including the library parent mod three of them depend on). Each mod works just fine on its own, of course, but together they're even better, as each sub-mod addresses alterations to a single aspect of Minecraft:
Mining and Resources (Harder Ores*)
The Underground (Harder Underground*)
Wildlife, Animals, and Farming (Harder Wildlife*)
Automation (Expanded Industry)
*Requires HardLib
(View all files to pick just one or use the handy dandy download button to get them all.)
You will need Custom Ore Generation, at least v1.2.18 as well. COG is used by the submods for some world generation features.
Reasonable Realism is about making the game more challenging and applying a handful of real world ideas into the mix. It's supposed to be fun.
This jar contains:
See the forum thread for more detail and discussion.BEIJING—Predicting ideal conditions for the rare sight, Chinese astronomers announced to Beijing residents Monday that the sky would be visible for a brief two-minute window tomorrow morning. “From approximately 6:14 a.m. to 6:16 a.m., a small section of the Earth’s atmosphere should be perceptible to the naked eye when looking towards the southwest in Beijing,” a statement from the China National Space Administration read in part, advising interested citizens to plan on waking early and to consider using a small telescope for better views of the sky. “For anyone who hasn’t seen it before or isn’t sure what to look for, the sky will appear as a small, bluish area that should stand out clearly from its surroundings. We’ll also be streaming the phenomenon live on the official CNSA website for residents with obstructed views in their neighborhood.” The agency added that anyone who missed out on witnessing the occurrence tomorrow would have to wait a while, as the sky was not expected to be visible again until late 2024.
AdvertisementA person may wonder which group is more delusional: those that practice Satanism, or thosethat practice Atheism. In the modern world, Satanism goes back to Canaan, the fourth and youngest son of Ham, and also Nimrod, the youngest son of Cush, who was the eldest son of Ham. As you may know, Ham was the second of three sons born to Noah and his wife. It appears that Ham did not do a good job in teaching all his children about God, and abstaining from evil.
More of Canaan will be revealed in Part Two, however his offspring’s segment of Satanism was a certain perversion, and human blood sacrifice to appease imaginary gods. The flood of Noah ended in 2610 BC, and the families of Noah’s sons began to venture abroad, east and west.
Some of those that went west found the remains of the pre-flood culture of Egypt, among thosebeing the Pyramids. Nimrod was interested in self worship, and wanted to establish a lastingkingdom which would be devoted to himself. In order to keep the majority of the people in the eastern region, and to compete with the newly discovered ancient culture in the west, Nimrod sought to be worshipped, and began an ambitious project. He got the idea from what he had heard was in (pre-flood) Egypt. He began a building project, namely the Tower of Babel, with himself being the central deity.
The Babel Tower project was terminated in 2509 BC. God confused the languages of mankind, divided the continents, and scattered mankind and animals across the globe, and certain “religious” practices were carried with mankind, from Babel. What this all amounts to, is the progression of mankind’s estrangement from their Creator, and submission to the Entity of Evil (Satan).
Those that consciously worship Satan, the mass murderer of life forms on prehistoric Earth, atleast acknowledge that an entity exists that is greater than themselves. Such worship is motivated by the delusion that Satan is more powerful than God, thus is more capable of bringing about the results desired by his disciples. But Satan has less than 1,030 years before he is condemned to eternal death. He is “on death row,” and he knows it.
Those that subconsciously worship Satan are Atheists, who are under the delusion that there is no entity that exists that is greater than themselves. It is associated with the self-worship belief system begun by Nimrod. Atheism is a religion of denial. It’s a suicidal willful ignorance of mankind’s origins, and purpose in this universe.
Conscious Satanism is introverted. They have not been known to publically seek converts. They would rather remain a “secret society.” But what makes subconscious Satanism (Atheism) so dangerous, is that they are extroverted, and will either openly seek converts into their belief system, or try to impose their beliefs upon the rest of society, to prevent others from learningof (the only true) God. That is why they are such advocates of the “big bang” and evolution theories. They do not want any acknowledgement given to God. Their activities are high treason against America. They do not want to have any belief in God, and will do whatever to stop others from acknowledging Him.
They either blindly or deceitfully claim that they don’t want “religion” taught in public schools, but the religion of Atheism is taught in every public school in America, using public funds, and most of them know it. It is such a shame that school boards bow down to these idiots and appease them. Science teachers have a “license to lie” to students, and school boards willingly lead students down the road to death and spiritual suicide. Come Judgment Day, they are going to pay. I have written to many school boards across the United States, yet they refuse to examine what the truth is, let alone have it taught to their students. The education system in America has inherited lies.
People become Atheists for one of two reasons, which I know of. One, is that they are taught tobe such by their parents. The second reason is the stupidity (or evil) of the Clergy to continue to misrepresent the truth of Genesis. Teaching that the Bible says that the Earth and universe are only 10,000 years old, and that Adam was the first human created by God, is a lie. Genesis does not say that at all. So when students are introduced to the 600+ million year fossil record, young Earth Creationism has no legitimate answer. “Old Earth” Creationism is also a lie, but that is already addressed in a previous article.
So yes, Mr. Ken Ham, you are teaching a lie, and I’ve written to you (and other YEC organizations) many times, yet you say “no one will debate you”. If so, then why do you run from me? Are you afraid that people will find out what a hypocrite you are? I challenge you, and all other “prophets of Baal”, both “old Earth” and “young Earth”, to meet me on Mt. Carmel, and let us see who has “The Truth of Genesis”.
Genesis teaches that mankind has been on this Earth, in the image of God, for more than 60million years. Yet the world of science is hiding evidence that proves that the evolution theory is a hoax. The evolution theory is a “god”, worshipped by Atheists, and they will deny anythingthat proves it to be wrong. Because if it proven that there is a Creator, then they will have to accept the fact that there will be final judgment, and that is something they want to deny, so that they can continue to “worship self.” However, “it is appointed men once to die, but afterthis the judgment.” How will their “denial” benefit them then? Denial of reality is also called insanity.
Along with the continued indoctrination of Atheism in America, comes the rise of perversion,such as “same sex marriage”.
But that is exposed in Part Two.
Guest Author: Herman Cummings
Herman Cummings is a computer data analyst, who used his training to analyze the written text of Genesis. On EasterSunday, in 1990, a lady stood up in Sunday School and asked the pastor “How can I teach my children about Adam & Eve, when all they are taught is evolution in school?”. The pastor could only say “Just believe the Bible”. That was of no help to the lady.
So Herman Cummings began his research to resolve the issue, since the worlds of Creationism and Theology could not literally reconcile Genesis with scientific reality. After receiving the revelation of the first chapter from the Lord in December 1993, Herman Cummings became the world’s leading expert on the book of Genesis (Bereshit).NEW YORK -- New York Mets players considered violating a Major League Baseball edict prohibiting them from wearing hats of various New York City first responders during Sunday night's game against the Chicago Cubs, but ultimately opted to adhere to the order from the commissioner's office, player rep Josh Thole said.
MLB denied the Mets' request to wear the baseball caps despite the policy. Joe Torre, MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations, told The Associated Press in a phone interview the decision was made to keep policy consistent throughout baseball.
"Certainly it's not a lack of respect," Torre said. "We just felt all the major leagues are honoring the same way with the American flag on the uniform and the cap. This is a unanimity thing."
The Mets wanted to wear caps Sunday night honoring police, firefighters and other first responders like the ones they wore on Sept. 21, 2001 in the first sporting event in New York after the World Trade Center attacks collapse 10 days earlier.
MLB issued a league-wide memo, saying teams must wear their everyday caps with a small flag on the side.
"They certainly understood and respected," baseball's decision, Torre said. "I certainly understood what they wanted to do in regards to wearing the hats. I used my history with the fact that we were in the World Series 10 years ago."
Torre also said there was recent precedence for the policy. The Washington Nationals wanted to wear caps honoring the Navy SEALs that were killed in Afghanistan in early August and the team was allowed to wear them pregame.
Once play resumed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks a decade ago, Mets players had violated a similar MLB edict mandating the standard uniform be worn. Over MLB objections, Mets players wore hats of the FDNY, NYPD and other agencies in 2001.
Thole was not aware of his predecessors' actions until Sunday afternoon. When he learned about the '01 Mets standing up to MLB, he discussed with deputy player rep Tim Byrdak whether to also violate the league stipulation. Current players had mixed opinions. And Thole said Mets brass instructed them not to violate the MLB policy.
Mets shortstop Jose Reyes wore a New York Police Department cap during batting practice Sunday. AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek
"Evidently it's going to come down on the club," Thole said before the Mets lost to the Cubs 10-6 in 11 innings. "I guess they cracked down on it pretty hard. So it's just something we can't do. As a group, we think it's right, and it's the least we can do. We're going to wear them for a ceremony we're having, and then we're going to have to switch hats for the game."
The Mets wore the first-responder hats, which will be auctioned off for charity, during pregame. David Wright, though, was seen in the dugout early in the game wearing a first responder hat.
"If we got a vote in, I think we'd want to wear the hats," Wright said, "but at the end of the day Major League Baseball makes that call, and we're going to respect that."
Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey, in a statement posted on his Twitter page, said he and his teammates had planned to wear the hats anyway, until their plans were foiled.
"For all those upset that we didn't wear the hats, I understand your anger. However, they physically took them from us after the ceremony," read the entry on Dickey's page. "We had conspired to wear them but we got found out and MLB got involved."
The Mets issued a statement reading: "MLB set a league-wide policy as it related to caps and uniforms for September 11 and we followed the guidelines."
Todd Zeile, the Mets player rep in 2001, who was on hand at Citi Field for Sunday's remembrance ceremony, recalled the Mets ignoring MLB's order back then.
"I find it ironic 10 years later and they still can't get it passed for one day of tribute," Zeile said. "I guess they feel it's a slippery slope or something.... The hats meant more than what they said on the top. I was wearing one from a kid that had lost his dad. And some of the other hats that we were wearing were hats that we traded with some rescue workers while we were down at Ground Zero. It wasn't like they came out of a hat box. We felt that was the best way to align ourselves with those guys that were working 24/7 while we were still out trying to play baseball. I don't think anybody expected it would have the kind of reaction, but the fact that MLB wanted to stop us, and then we decided to do it anyway, I think made it even more significant to the members of the city."
The Mets held a 24-minute ceremony of remembrance under dimmed stadium lights before their game. Fans held electronic candles as bagpipers and drummers stood on the infield and first responders lined the basepaths. Each of the Mets and Cubs escorted a member of "Tuesday's Children," a charity for families impacted affected by the attacks, onto the field and they stood with the uniformed emergency-service workers.
A 100-by-300 foot flag was held by first responders and victims' family members.
Marc Anthony sang the national anthem, as he did on Sept. 21, 2001. Mike Piazza, who hit an uplifting homer in the eighth inning to help the Mets beat the Braves that night, caught a ceremonial first pitch from John Franco, a teammate on the 2001 squad.
Adam Rubin covers the Mets for ESPNNewYork.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.0 2 CMPD officers on leave following deadly officer-involved shooting
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers are on administrative leave after they shot and killed a man in north Charlotte on Wednesday night.
[IMAGES: Man killed in CMPD officer-involved shooting]
Police were called to the Hunters Pointe Apartments on Prospect Drive around 9:10 p.m. to investigate reports of a man with a gun after someone called the 911 language line.
Investigators said when officers arrived, they found a man, Rueben Galindo, standing outside with his hand inside his waistband. At some point, police said Galindo raised his hands and officers saw he was holding a gun.
Ruben Galindo
Police said Galindo, 29, called 911 and was transferred to a language line where he could speak in Spanish.
He said he had a gun, and when officers arrived, they found him with a gun in his hands.
Police said Galindo ignored officers' commands to drop the weapon and that's when the two officers fired shots, killing him.
“At some point, one of his hands is raised. They see a weapon, a gun, a handgun. They perceive a lethal threat that's imminent and at least two officers that we know of at this time fired their weapons,” said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney.
Police identified the two officers involved as Officer Courtney Suggs and Officer David Guerra. Suggs has been with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department since December 2015 and Guerra has been with the department since April 2013.
The Police Department tweeted that no officers were injured and "our thoughts are with all involved."
.@CMPD involved in a shooting on Prospect Dr. Gathering info; will release more asap. No officers injured. Our thoughts with all involved. — CMPD News (@CMPD) September 7, 2017
Overnight, Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts tweeted about the shooting, saying, in part, "I have spoken with the city manager and mayor pro tem Lyles, and we are working together with the chief to make sure there is a full and transparent investigation. My heart breaks for the family."
My statement on the officer involved shooting tonight: pic.twitter.com/njpHhCi6Ei — Mayor of Charlotte (@CLTMayor) September 7, 2017
Investigators said they recovered the weapon and tagged it into evidence.
Putney said investigators plan to review the initial call to get a sense of what led up to the shooting.
“We don't have all the specifics. That's why we've got to pull the tape to find out exactly what was said, and what transpired,” Putney told Channel 9.
The Internal Affairs Bureau will also conduct an investigation to determine if CMPD followed proper procedures.
Investigators are checking to see if there is body camera or dash cam video.
Investigators are still trying to determine why Galindo had a gun and called 911.
Channel 9 found court records showing that he had been arrested in April after he admitted that he'd pulled a handgun on a man.
Some are still questioning whether police acted too fast.
Hector Vaca, a local activist with Action NC, said some in the community are wondering if police didn't try hard enough to communicate with Galindo.
“Once again, the fact that he called the language line means that he's not an English speaker,” Vaca said. “There was a barrier, so the police's response was inappropriate, was aggressive because the man could not understand what they were saying.”
Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:
© 2019 Cox Media Group.City planners in Santa Monica are laying out a vision for how Downtown will look in the next 20 years, with rules for how tall buildings can be and how much housing will be built.
Six years in the making, the Downtown Community Plan was released this week. Some parts are pretty progressive—it prioritizes pedestrians and public transit and expands affordable housing requirements, for example. But the consensus is that it caters to slow-growthers, residents who aren’t totally opposed to development but who are fighting to keep the city from growing too much.
“We’re talking about a lower scale downtown. We’re not talking about Manhattan here. We’re talking about 4 or 5 stories,” the plan’s principal author, Peter James, told the Santa Monica Daily Press.
The plan is in the final stretch—but it’s not a done-deal. The City Council still needs to approve it, and before that happens, it will be vetted by the planning commission in six public meetings.
The document is robust. We picked out five of the most compelling elements and highlighted them below. To read the full plan, go here.
1. Density
The plan projects that less than 20 percent of Downtown’s property area will change. That’s because the area is already largely built-out. Sites that are likely to change, according to the plan, include small, “unassuming one-story” buildings and surface parking lots. The buildings that replace them will be required to mix residential and commercial and include, “affordable housing... new cultural and public open space amenities... (and) funding for parks and transportation improvements.”
2. Building heights
The maximum height for buildings would be 84 feet (and actually, in some areas, the maximum will be much shorter—32 feet). The plan breaks up Downtown into seven different districts, each with their own land use regulations. The tallest buildings would go up in the “Transit Adjacent” district, which hugs the Expo Line.
There are three exceptions: the proposed Frank Gehry-designed hotel and the planned expansion and makeover of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, both on Ocean Avenue, and city property at Fourth and Arizona, where it intends to build a multi-use complex designed by architect Rem Koolhaas. The trio of sites have been classified as “established large sites,” where buildings could reach heights of 130 feet—but only with a “supermajority of City Council or voter approval.”
That’s not very tall. For comparison, the iconic clock tower in Santa Monica is 172 feet.
But Santa Monica buildings have traditionally been more low-slung, and the beachside city is home to a vocal contingent of slow-growthers who are trying to preserve the town’s old character. In creating the community plan, city staffers compromised.
Indeed, one of the leaders of Measure LV—a failed effort to curb development across Santa Monica—told the Santa Monica Daily Press, he was “pleasantly surprised” by the plan.
“I thought that—for the first time in a long time—it appeared that there was resident input into the plan,” Armen Melkonians told the newspaper. “We want to play a role and make sure it doesn’t get upsized again at the Council.”
3. Housing
All this talk about building heights leads to arguably the most important component of the plan: housing. (In an area that’s almost totally built-out, it’s difficult to build enough housing to meet demand without building taller).
City officials say the plan paves the way for the construction of 2,500 housing units over the next two decades, according to the Santa Monica Lookout.
Jason Islas, who runs the blog Santa Monica Next, which advocates for more housing, called that projection “unambitious.”
“Given the severity of the housing crisis, we should be trying to incentivize significantly more,” he told Curbed LA. On his website, he wrote that city officials “are confident the standards in the Downtown Community Plan will allow the city to meet its housing goals. The question of whether or not those goals were adequate to address the growing housing shortage was not addressed.”
4. Affordability
“In Downtown, where rents average $2,700-$3,300 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, over half of households spend at least one-third of their income on housing costs, with many spending upwards of half their income on housing alone,” the plan says.
Santa Monica already requires developers to earmark a certain percentage of new units for low-income tenants. Under the plan, those requirements would expand to include middle-income families. So, for example, a family of three earning less than $104,976 would have their rent for a two-bedroom unit capped at $2,624.
It would also mandate developers accommodate families by building more two-bedroom and even some three-bedroom units.
The requirements would vary based on how big a building is. In buildings between 50- and 60-feet-tall, no more than 15 percent of units could be studios, and at least 20 percent would have be two-bedrooms. Plus, developers would have to set aside 20 percent of the units for a mix of low- and moderate-income residents:
5. Transportation
The plan touches on more than buildings. There are also transportation goals, and the priority is pedestrians, bicycles, and public transit.
For example, the plan says four major streets—Wilshire and Lincoln boulevards, Ocean Avenue, and Fourth Street—are ripe for pedestrian-friendly makeovers. Upgrades would include widening sidewalks, planting more trees, converting crosswalks to “scrambles,” installing outdoor furniture and public art, and adding buffered bike lanes.According to BigCommerce, 56% of Americans prefer to shop online rather than buying through a physical store. eCommerce is growing 23% year-by-year. Men and Women are spending 5 hours every week to shop online.
Still wondering why understanding the psychology of your consumer is not relevant to your business success? Not to worry, as you are about to discover industry essential factors that affect the buying decision of the modern-day consumers.
Flexible Payment Options
The market is teeming with a plethora of payment options these days. Consumer Payment Study conducted by TSYSin 2016, revealed that credit card is the most favorable payment option while doing online purchase, while PayPal ranks second when it comes to payment options in the most widely developed countries. On the other hand,cash-on-delivery is more the alternate mode of payment in Asia. We Chat and Ali pay are common in India and China.
The key takeaway here is that based on your target market user-base, you need to choose a payment method that is applicable and trustworthy for them. Offering easier payment options to your customers increases the chances of them buying from you.
Customer Reviews
In a survey organized by brightlocal.com, 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Including real Customer reviews, preferably with photos of their received products, is one of the most compelling factors which influences their buying decision. Companies have even resorted to rewarding customers to entice them into posting positive reviews. Constructive reviews naturally stem from solving real-life problems of customers and providing them with exceptional and unparalleled customer experience. Facebook and Yelp are no doubt the most trusted sites for customers who are willing to go for local services, while Google &BBB.org tag along in their wake.
Shopping Cart abandonment
“Abandonment is an ecommerce term used to describe a visitor on a web page who leaves that page before completing the desired action. Examples of abandonment include shopping cart abandonment, referring to visitors who add items to their online shopping cart, but exit without completing the purchase.” ~Webopedia
Normally eCommerce website development agencies do a pretty good job in taking all the right steps, be it taking care of finances, ensuring usability of E-commerce websites, coming up with brilliant products, but their revenue stream starts depleting at some point. What is the reason? It is because of shopping cart abandonment.
Just spare a moment and let the daunting reality sink in. For every 100 potential customers, you are losing almost 67 right before they get around to completing the purchase of the product. Now think, how much revenue you’re losing just because of errors in your shopping cart.
A survey done by Sale cycle global put the average cart abandonment rate at 75.6% across all sectors. And here is the division of reasons for shopping cart abandonment.
Choice Overload
Here’s another food for thought;you visit an e-commerce store to buy an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5. You select the brand Apple and start browsing the category. Here are a few possible search results you will find for your query:
iPhone 4S 16 GB Wifi White
iPhone 4S 16 GB Wifi Black
iPhone 4S 16GB Wifi +3G White
iPhone 4S 16GB Wifi+3G Black
iPhone 5 (with 10 more variants)
Now, which one will you buy?
Answer: None!
Why? Because now you are even more confused than before you landed on the site. Before you were bombarded with a deluge of choices, you only had two options in mind to choose from, iPhone 4S or iPhone 5. Now you have 14 different choices within these two options, and as a result, you get frustrated and close the store to buy from a physical shop instead, where you would inevitably see the products for yourself and reach a better decision.
In her TED talk “How to Make Choosing Easier,”Iyengar studied a grocery store in Palo Alto that boasted 348 varieties of jam.
Iyengar setup a tasting booth outside the store with only six varieties of jam, and people stopped at all the six booths which is 33% higher engagement than when 24 varieties were displayed.
If you’re willing to setup an appealing store, make sure that you focus more on the quality of the products rather than the options available to the customers. Keep fewer products in your store and your sales will escalate in no time.
Related Read: 7 TED Talks Every Social Media Marketer Must Watch
Where is the new product?
Most ecommerce stores make a huge mistake of launching a new product but burying it deep down in their categories, making it difficult for interested customers to know about its existence. A new trend suggests that if you’re launching a newfangled product, make the customers curious about it. Curiosity can add so much value when done the right way.
Although the charm of anew product influences the buying decision of only 10% of your customers, it is still a noticeable percentage for small business owners and Entrepreneurs to do something about it.
To wrap it all up
To open an eCommerce store is easy, but to keep your store running is the real art of business. What makes small brands big, and big brands grand is the way they understand and predict the psychology of their consumers.
If you want to lead in your niche, or at least survive in this digital age, you need to understand your consumers and give them what they want. Understanding the consumer psychology will help you achieve that goal faster.Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) continued his dominance in the Tour de Suisse, coming from behind to win the sprint of the sixth stage in Bischofszell. In the last few meters he caught and passed Ben Swift (Sky) who finished second, with Allan Davis of Orica-GreenEdge finishing third. Related Articles Opinion: Tour glory too early for Sagan?
It was Sagan's fourth win in the race, and his 12th on the season.
“The finishes in the Tour de Suisse are never straight so you need to invent something to find some space,” said Sagan. “I had to work harder today firstly to get a leading position in the finale, and secondly to launch the sprint. I went flat out into the last corner so I wouldn’t get boxed in and even brushed the barriers. I was blocked in that moment but as soon as Swift kicked, I knew I could come around and I did.”
Rui Costa (Movistar) remained in the leader's jersey and maintained his eight second lead over Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) and 15 second advantage on Roman Kreuziger (Astana).
It was another day with five ranked climbs, but all category three and four. Four of them came within the final 50km. In quite a change of weather, there was for once no rain on the day.
There were numerous attempts to break away, with Orica-GreenEdge's Michael Al |
During the water tests, the agency asked city officials which chemicals they were using for water treatment and sent emails to city officials with links to a report about why the chemical the city was using was insufficient to protect the water.
“There are a lot of issues,” says Anjali Waikar, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, “but we’re also hoping for clear affirmative action from the EPA with respect to the drinking water.”
Marc Edwards, one of the Virginia Tech scientists who researched the water system in Flint, Michigan, said the corrosion control chemical the city began using in 1992 was not effective for preventing lead leaching. He also said the chemical the city began using in 2015 could be worse than having no corrosion control at all. East Chicago Utilities Director Greg Crowley told the Times of Northwest Indiana that it would have been “helpful if [the EPA] had been more hands-on” in helping the city make the switch to different chemicals.
But federal oversight is not on the EPA’s new agenda. Pruitt criticized the Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan as “federal overreach” during his Senate confirmation hearing. In his many lawsuits filed against the EPA when he served as attorney general of Oklahoma, he alleged that the EPA “had acted in excess of the authority granted to it by Congress.”
One of the specific priorities in #Back2Basics is “clearing the backlog of new chemicals” waiting approval from the agency so companies can “innovate and create jobs.” After the White House solicited policy advice from industry leaders on which regulations were impeding their businesses and which should get the ax, nearly half of the 168 submitted comments targeted the EPA. A typical example is from a chemical manufacturing company in Newark, New Jersey, which claims it is being hamstrung by the EPA’s Superfund program. Forty-eight of those comments related to the Clean Air Act and 29 to the Clean Water Act. Before environmental laws, no legal avenue existed to stop companies from polluting the land and water.
Then there are concerns about administration plans to shrink the agency. According to Politico, budget director Mick Mulvaney wanted the EPA to identify two regional offices for closure on June 15. This week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that one of those could be EPA Region 5, which has been plagued with problems, but is the office responsible for flagging improper water treatment in East Chicago.
“[Pruitt] wants to take the EPA out of the mix and put power back into state and city regulators’ hands,” says Waikar. “But East Chicago is a clear example of how that’s not working.”Following claims of harassment from former GitHub employee Julie Horvath, president and former chief executive Tom Preston-Werner has resigned.
On GitHub’s company blog, current CEO Chris Wanstrath writes that although Preston-Werner is stepping down, GitHub’s “investigation found no evidence to support the claims against Tom and his wife of sexual or gender-based harassment or retaliation, or of a sexist or hostile work environment.”
Chris Wanstrath replaced Tom Preston-Werner as CEO back in January. At the time, it was announced that Preston-Werner would focus on R&D and “new growth opportunities.”
It appears GitHub is trying to move on from the incident — at least publicly. Wanstrath writes that the company is “implementing a number of new HR and employee-led initiatives as well as training opportunities to make sure employee concerns and conflicts are taken seriously and dealt with appropriately.”
“We know we still have work to do,” Wanstrath adds.
Here’s Wanstrath’s statement in full:DARRYL Sutton, the enigmatic and charismatic North Melbourne 1977 premiership forward, has passed away.
He was 64.
He played 91 games for the Kangaroos between 1973 and 1980 including the drawn 1977 Grand Final and the replay the following week.
At 183cm, he was a classic third forward with a huge leap who could turn it on in big games. He kicked five of North's 10 goals in a one-point win over Carlton in the 1976 preliminary final.
He crossed to Swan Districts in 1981 and played well enough to win state selection for Western Australia, before crossing back to the VFL and joining Richmond the following year.
After a year out of League football he joined Richmond in 1982, but played only played six games before a mid-season transfer to Sydney in 1983 where he kicked 25 goals from 14 games.
Sutton was a two-time All Australian and was also the Tasmanian league's leading goalkicker aged 20.Delta Air Lines announced this week a new aircraft cabin for international flights that is meant to bridge the gap between economy and business classes.
The introduction of premium economy is Delta’s latest attempt to attract higher-paying customers. It’s also an attempt to keep pace with its competitors already vying for this middle market. The new cabin, marketed as Delta Premium, will start appearing on some of its new Airbus A350s next fall and Boeing 777s in 2018.
This month, American Airlines began flying planes outfitted with this type of cabin — a class broadly called ‘premium economy’ within the industry — on select international flights. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline will start selling the fare category early next year.
Meanwhile, international carriers like Air France, British Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic, have offered premium economy seats for several years.
Delta Premium is a step below Delta One, the airline’s class that offers flatbed seating. But it comes with more space, customized service and better amenities than are found at the various economy levels. Premium seats have up to 8 inches of additional legroom over economy and about 75 percent greater recline. There are adjustable food and head rests, power ports, larger high-resolution monitors and noise-canceling headphones.
This new tier is similar to Delta’s existing first-class cabin — primarily flown on domestic routes and select international routes — but with more modern, branded perks. The Atlanta-based carrier is quick to tout its amenities for this new class, which include Westin blankets and a Tumi kit with Malin+Goetz body products.
Delta Premium was designed with our business and leisure customers in mind who are looking for additional space and amenities on Delta's longest flights. Delta Premium cabin will offer more legroom and an adjustable leg rest and headrest, Westin Heavenly In-Flight Blanket with pillow, a TUMI amenity kit, and so much more. - These images are protected by copyright. Delta has acquired permission from the copyright owner to use the images for specified purposes and in some cases for a limited time. If you have been authorized by Delta to do so, you may use these images to promote Delta, but only as part of Delta-approved marketing and advertising. Further distribution (including providing these images to third parties), reproduction, display, or other use is strictly prohibited. Please note the expiration date below each image; you must cease image usage by that date.
Apart from the physical differences, a seat in premium economy includes personalized service from a flight attendant, just as Delta One and First Class customers receive.
Delta declined to offer an estimate of the price increase, but premium economy tickets for trans-Atlantic flights on average cost 85 percent more than economy tickets when sold in advance, according to SeatGuru by Trip Advisor.
That average drops to 35 percent when booked close to departure.
By comparison, Lufthansa charges about 140 percent more for premium economy class than for economy on a round trip between MSP and Munich that is booked out a few weeks, and 70 percent more for a flight that is booked closer to the departure date.
Air France charges about 130 percent more for premium economy than economy on a round trip between MSP and Paris that is booked out a few weeks.
“Delta Premium is Delta’s latest example of paying careful attention to what customers tell us they want and responding with unique products designed to meet their individual needs,” Tim Mapes, Delta’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement.
The airline continues to make other changes to its cabin and fare structure, including in-the-back cheap seats, as it tries to attract a wide-range of passengers with varying priorities.President Donald Trump rang in Independence Day by promoting a new song based on his trademarked phrase, “Make America Great Again.”
The composition, which goes by the same name, premiered on Saturday at the Celebrate Freedom rally at D.C.’s Kennedy Center, ABC News reported. Trump continued his attacks against the media in remarks at the event, which was organized to honor military veterans.
Available via Christian Copyright Licensing International, “Make America Great Again” was composed by the former first minister of music at First Baptist Church of Dallas, Gary Moore. The church’s orchestra and choir also performed the work Saturday. Trump supporter and current First Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress spoke at the event.
The White House did not immediately respond to TPM’s questions about the trademarked phrase, including whether Trump had granted permission or entered into some other agreement with CCLI or the church.
Trump applied for a trademark for “Make America Great Again” in 2012, CNN reported, and received the trademark two years ago, in July 2015.
The phrase appears prominently on a variety of Trump merchandise, including on his signature $25 dollar red cap.
The musical work Trump tweeted out Tuesday has already faced criticism, the Christian Post noted, for its blending of devotion to God and country.
“The problem is that it has been adopted by a significant portion of the evangelical church. It’s their mantra, their creed, and their prayer, and they shout it out with nationalistic fervor,” Jonathan Aigner wrote of the piece in Patheos, as quoted by the Christian Post. “Pledging allegiance to God and to America in the same breath, melding together the kingdom of God and self, they pray a blasphemous prayer to a red, white, and blue Jesus.”
Read the lyrics to “Make America Great Again” below:The fascinating two-year "rumble" that has been threatening since the November 2010 mid-term United States elections will unfold after the new congress is seated this week. The feature bout on the card will pit: in the right corner, Ron Paul, the Texas Republican congressman, a graduate of Duke University Medical School, 1988 presidential candidate and author of the best-selling 2009 book End the Fed; and in the left corner, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the US Federal Reserve System, MIT PhD economist, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors and Fed governor.
This dream prize fight should take place because the Republicans have "mischievously" nominated Ron Paul as the chair of an important sub-committee of the House Financial Services Committee, namely the sub-committee on domestic monetary policy and technology, which scrutinizes US monetary policy.
The two combatants, Paul and Bernanke, have sharply opposite views in ideology and policy-making.
Paul, a well-known libertarian, belongs to a school of thought that rejects Keynesian economics, and abhors fiscal deficits and a government that polices the world. He supports the market mechanism, including for interest rate determination, supports bankruptcies, and dislikes bailouts and moral hazards, advocates the gold standard and a safe and stable dollar, and is critical of the law that banishes the use of gold in domestic circulation.
Bernanke’s approach to economic policy is well known and speaks for itself. As a key policy-maker under the George W Bush and Barack Obama administrations, he was the architect of extremely loose monetary policy that earned him the alias "Ben the helicopter" and has provided the foundation for recent financial developments in the United States, resulting in financial turmoil with a severe recession, unprecedented peacetime fiscal deficits and rising public debt. He is a strong supporter of Keynesian economics and quite relaxed about the dangers of inflation and inflationary expectations. His near-zero interest rate policy has reduced income from savings and distorted prices.
Since the nomination of Paul to chair the domestic monetary policy sub-committee, media and academic circles have become intrigued as to how the relationship between the congress and the Fed will evolve. In particular, to what extent will he be able to implement the ideas that he has advocated since the early 1970s, calling for sound money, a return to gold, and culminating with the elimination of the Fed?
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To say that Paul faces great challenges is an understatement. If his tenure as a head of the sub-committee ends with no change in US monetary policy and at the Fed, then all of his ideas could be seen as rhetoric, with his supporters becoming discouraged at discovering the gap between his ideas and political realities.
If, however, Paul succeeds in reforming US monetary policy and the Fed, he would set an important historical precedent, with his supporters gaining confidence in their ability to make hitherto difficult changes in the US financial system.
Even before round 1, Paul has started to dampen expectations. Although he has re-emphasized his belief that the Fed should be abolished, he has cautioned that turning ideas into reality takes time and effort. He has noted that his first action on the job will be to "think things through and not over-do things too soon." When asked if he intends to get rid of the Fed, the congressman replied: "Not right up front, but obviously that is the implication. Even in my book about ending the Fed, I talk about not turning the keys and locking the doors, I talk about a transition."
The congressman spoke about how he would go about reining in the Fed and the reasons he believes it is vital to do so. "I’ll have plans for hearings to find out how much information we can get. Obviously it is very popular with the American people to audit the Fed, to know what they are doing. They can spend trillions of dollars and we don’t know where it goes. They have a bigger budget, they spend more money than the congress does, and yet we have no oversight. It was never intended that a secret body like this could create money out of thin air and spend it, take care of some banks and big business and foreign banks while the American people struggle."
These statements indicate that Paul has quickly become more pragmatic and has toned down his plans for radical reforms, possibly handing the banner of radical reform to future generations after Americans have suffered even more from financial turmoil and chaos.
Relegating reforms to future generations could be a disappointing message to Paul’s supporters. However, it may not be, as it appears that Paul’s priority is to audit the Fed’s operations. This would be in line with legislation he introduced, incorporated into the Dodd-Frank Act of July 2010, enabling the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the accounts of the Fed.
For those who are familiar with Paul’s ideas, this priority falls short of their expectations. The urgency does not seem to lie in auditing the Fed’s operation as much as to prevent further erosion of the value of money and spreading economic malaise. The urgency for his supporters is to stop the hemorrhage before washing away the blood.
Although a physician by training, Paul has displayed detailed knowledge of monetary economics and documented the adverse effects of the Fed’s policies. He has pointed out that, contrary to its mandate to promote price stability, the Fed has promoted price instability.
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Looking at the pre-Fed era, the US consumer price index (CPI) declined at an annual average of 0.5% and real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual 4% during 18001912; this would have been labeled grave deflation by Bernanke and would have been considered as a danger to the economy.
During the Fed era, the CPI rose at 3.5% per year and real GDP at 3.25% per year during 19132009. Hence a dollar bought almost twice as much goods in 1912 as it did in 1800; and in 2009 it bought less than 5% of the goods it bought in 1913.
Paul pointed out that the Fed was a joint creation of the government and Wall Street to provide an "elastic" monetary system, with the real and hidden purpose being service to the interests of Wall Street.
In fact, there may not have been a more opportune time to think about radical monetary reforms than the present, with more Americans aware of the economic and financial policies, the impact of Fed policies on the US economy and in the face of a declining standard of living for the large majority of Americans.
The standard of living has been declining; impoverishment increasing, and the era of "opulence" as described by the late Professor John Kenneth Galbraith only a dim memory. A large number of Americans are still living out the financial nightmares of 20072009, with millions of foreclosures and general bankruptcies. It could be the best time for popular support for Paul’s ideas.
Paul has been an influential member of congress and has been member of the banking committee; yet despite his strong views and statements and sharp criticism of the Fed in the past few years, he was unable to initiate reforms that would rein the Fed’s expansionary monetary policies. Recently, some House Republican members wrote to Bernanke urging him to renounce the new quantitative easing program, which will inject $600 billion into the economy. Their letter was simply ignored by the Fed.
This state of affairs and the absolute power of the Fed to impose policies regardless of strong policy disagreements illustrate the urgency of hearings and reform. It is congress that created the Fed in 1913; it is congress that has imposed mandates on the Fed, including the reforms that set up the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee in 1933 or the mandate of full-employment in 1946. It is congress that could legislate reforms on the Fed.
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While Paul’s long-time career in congress has been rich in ideas and prophetic of the financial crisis, it has nonetheless been marked with very few substantive initiatives for monetary reform.
Paul has clearly stated that he does not intend to shut down the Fed, admitting that doing so would require far-reaching reform. However, it is his intention that the idea has to be nurtured over generations until new leaders are elected with this goal in mind or until the Fed has caused such economic and social damage that the electorate chooses leaders with the explicit mandate of shutting down the Fed.
Hence, by stepping backward from the cherished idea in his book, he may lead supporters and politicians to consider his views as a form of utopia rather than a position that can become operational in the near future. Prior to Paul, the well-known University of Chicago and London School of Economics professor Harry Johnson was critical of the existence of the Fed as a policy-making body and proposed transforming it to an agency within the US Treasury, but this idea was never pursued.
Short of shutting down the Fed, which would require considerable campaigning within the political establishment and proposing the details of the monetary system that would emerge after such a closure, there are many less revolutionary ideas proposed by reformists during the 1930s and later, most recently by Paul and other critics of the Fed.
Subjecting money supply to a fixed rule was emphasized much earlier by the Currency School and translated in the United Kingdom into Sir Robert Peel’s act in 1844 that separated the Bank of England into an issue department and a banking department, with the issue of currency tightly determined by the amount of gold in hand.
The advocates of the fixed-money rule, such as economists Irving Fisher, Henry Simons, and Milton Friedman, believed that the Fed should only control monetary aggregates according to fixed increment rates between 2% and 4%, ensure safety of the banking system, and renounce setting interest rates or controlling the unemployment rate.
Besides versions of the currency school theory, reformists during the 1930s proposed the establishment of 100% reserve banking, which would eliminate money creation and destruction by banks, thus making banking safe and eliminating financial crises.
A less radical reform advocated in the past as well as recently is to drop the Fed’s mandate to achieve full employment as this mandate may be inconsistent with the role of a central bank as a monetary agency responsible for managing liquidity and ensuring banking safety; this mandate may have led the Fed into printing money, resulting in banking crises and inflation.
Liberty Defined: 50 Es... Ron Paul Best Price: $0.95 Buy New $6.25 (as of 03:20 EST - Details)
Paul has considered gold as the pillar of the monetary system that he envisions and supports. Ever since the collapse of the gold standard in 1914, some authors have kept on advocating a return to gold. While the metal has its supporters, it has more adversaries among professional economists. Gold was the common currency that unified all other currencies in a fixed exchange arrangement under the gold standard. The president of the World Bank has also recently proposed a return to a gold standard. Such a move would be much more difficult than president Richard Nixon’s decision to abolish dollar convertibility in 1971, in turn destroying the fixed exchange arrangement adopted under the Bretton Woods system in 1944, which had afforded gold a continuing role in the monetary system.
However, if Paul manages to re-introduce a form of the gold standard or abolish laws that forbid the circulation of gold, he would have accomplished a great deal of the reform program that he has campaigned for since the early 1970s. The menu of reforms for Paul as head of the domestic monetary policy sub-committee is, therefore, not limited.
Paul doesn’t appear to think that Bernanke is better or worse than the previous Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan. It is, instead, the monetary system that needs a radical overhaul. He has predicted that under the present Fed-dominated system the economy will deteriorate, inflation will become very high, and that the American people will become poorer. He holds congress responsible for fiscal management, bailouts, re-inflation of housing prices, and authorizing Fed policies.
He has noted that foreign central banks have been buying gold and getting out of the US dollar and that the dollar may loose its status as a reserve currency. In such a scenario, he does not believe that the Special Drawing Rights (or SDRs) issued by the International Monetary Fund or any other currency could replace the dollar only gold could. As a representative of the American people, he believes that congress may have to consider substantive monetary reforms that would restrain excessive powers of the Fed.
As it turns out, a large majority of congressmen are supportive of the Fed, believe that printing money is the solution to end recessions and high unemployment, and are critical of Paul’s ideas, claiming that the overwhelming majority of Republican congressmen are not supportive of his approach to economic and financial policy.
The 2010 November elections may have already sent a clear message of what the electorate thinks. As Americans pay higher prices on a daily basis for gas and food, as more suffer the humiliation of unemployment and foreclosures and are deprived because of economic inequities, more of the electorate will support candidates with platforms calling for fiscal and financial reforms.
For Paul, the US is on the verge of a currency crisis that may undermine the very existence of the Fed: "What I really fear is that when the Fed comes to an end it will not be by my planning but it will end with a catastrophic financial dollar crisis. This crisis when it comes, and I think we’re approaching it, affects everybody because it’s such an important currency. I think we’re moving into very, very dangerous times."
Let the rumble begin!
Reprinted with permission from Asia Times.
January 5, 2011
Hossein Askari is Professor of International Business and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Noureddine Krichene is an economist with a PhD from UCLA.Yesterday, the venerable adblocking company Adblock Plus (ABP) announced that Google had blocked their enormously popular app on the Google Play store. While Google can slam the door through their app store, Android's open nature means that users can still "sideload" the app.
While Internet ads can be truly irritating, there's a security argument to be made as well. Preventing ads from loading can help defend against the growing "malvertising" trend, where an ad is used to load malicious code on to victim's computers. There's also privacy concerns, where ad networks can sometimes track your movements online. ABP might not defend against all these issues, but it's a free and popular tool that many users rely on.
The Fine Art of Sideloading
Sideloading simply means installing an app from your computer onto your Android device, circumventing the need for an app store. PC Mag reviewers do this all the time, and it's also popular within the Android community.
At SecurityWatch, we don't generally endorse sideloading as it requires Android users to change a default security setting and allow apps from any developer to be installed (more on this below). Malicious apps from third party app stores can be a serious problem (and even Google Play is not immune), so be sure you trust the app you're about to install. In this case, ABP is an established company and has a strong incentive to be trustworthy.
To install ABP's app, you'll need a computer connected to the Internet, a USB cable that will work with your phone, an Android device on which you wish to install ABP, and a file manager for your Android device. For a file manager, I recommend the ASTRO File Manager.
First, download the app from the developer. ABP has made this remarkably easy: simply click the large green button on their Android page.
Next, connect your Android device to your computer via its USB cable. Assuming you're running Windows on your computer, a window will appear on the screen asking what you want to do. Select "Open device to view files," and from here you'll be given a view of the storage options in your phone. If you have an SD card in the expansion slot it will show up here along with your phone's built-in storage.
Navigate to your computer's download folder and copy the ABP app. It should have an.apk extension, which is the standard format for Android apps. Now, right click on the ABP app and select "copy," then (still on your computer) navigate to your phone's download folder, right click again, and select paste. The.apk folder should now be in the folder.
Note that you can choose any folder to place the app, but make sure it's one you'll remember again. Also, if you'd like to skip all these steps, you can simply install an app management program like SnapPea, which can be used to manage apps on your phone over a WiFi network.
Next, activate your phone and tap your file manager. Navigate to the Downloads folder (or wherever you placed the.apk file. Depending on your device's settings, the.apk and it should begin installing.
If it doesn't, and you see a window which reads, "Install blocked: For security, your phone is set to block installation of applications not obtained in the Android Market," don't worry. You just have to make a few settings changes.
Just tap the settings button at the bottom of the window, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the menu that appears, check the bock next to "Unknown sources," and then tap "ok." Jump back to your file manager, tap the.apk again, and everything should be right as rain.
Since this is a security blog, I have to recommend that unless you plan on doing a lot of sideloading, go back and change your settings to keep unknown apps from installing on your device. To do so, open the Settings app, tap Security, scroll all the way down, and uncheck the box next to "Unknown sources."
Once ABP is installed, you may have to modify some settings on the app for it to function optimally. Recently, ABP claimed that Google had forced users to manually configure a proxy server in order to run their app. Fortunately, the company has provided explicit instructions on how to tweak your phone's settings so the adblocker can run.
Cause for Concern
According to ABP, Google claims the company violated section 4.4 of their Developer Distribution Agreement. A cursory Google search for adblocking apps reveal that ABP is not alone. AdAway and Android Adblock are also no longer accessible, the former was apparently active as late as four days ago.
In a press release, ABP's co-founder Till Faida acknowledged the important role of advertising in Google's business model but emphasized that Google denies Android users choice by removing adblocking apps. “Understand that Adblock Plus does not automatically block all ads; we simply allow users the choice whether to block ads or whitelist them. We even encourage advertising that is done appropriately and conforms to an Acceptable Ads policy, which is debated and decided in an open public forum,” said Faida.
“By unilaterally removing these apps, Google is stepping all over the checks and balances that make the Internet democratic," continued Faida in the release. "People should be really alarmed by this move.”
Image via Adblock PlusCONTROVERSIAL Sydney rapper Kerser has never been one to apologise for dissing anyone in his music but he is issuing a pre-emptive sorry to Tracy Grimshaw.
The A Current Affair host cops an offensive spray, alongside crass homophobic slurs against rival rappers, in Taken Over the Scene from his fifth album in five years, Next Step.
Kerser, known as Scott Barrow on his driver’s licence, has risen from a delinquent childhood on Campbelltown’s streets in Sydney and through the underground battle scene to become Australia’s answer to Eminem.
It’s a comparison that extends beyond transcending a troubled youth and drug issues to become a chart star. Like Eminem, Kerser provokes as many people as he entertains. And usually he doesn’t care.
But when asked what Grimshaw had done to him lately to justify being insulted in the song, Kerser admits “nothing really”.
As for local hip hop talent Allday, who also cops a sledge in the song, or his longtime target 360 who he faced in a legendary battle in 2011, Kerser isn’t backing down.
“Me, Jay UF, who features on the track, and my older brother Rates, when we were 17 and 18 and coming up in the whole battle rap scene, we would take the piss out of anything we could, including a lot of people on TV and Tracy Grimshaw just popped into my head,” he says.
“I will apologise for that one. But no, I will never apologise to Allday or 360.”
Disses aside, Kerser has struck a resounding chord with a generation of young hip hop fans because of his gritty Straight Outta Campbelltown tales of life on the troubled streets of Sydney’s west.
A giant billboard on the M5 near Campbelltown advertising the release of Next Step underscores just how far Kerser has come.
He has released five albums in five years — with a master plan to finish 10 records in a decade — with the third release S.C.O.T. and last year’s King landing in the ARIA top 10 despite little notice from the industry or critics.
His monthly YouTube videos have now accumulated more than 35 million views.
There is a brief snippet of the ABC news theme on one of the new record’s tracks as a bit of a middle finger in the direction of Triple J who haven’t given this indie hip hop star much airplay.
“That sample has been cut up so I can’t get into any trouble for that,” he says cheekily.
“I feel like I have been ignored by that station and the industry and they are meant to be playing music which appeals to youth. But they just won’t play it and I can’t put my finger on why.
“If they checked out my shows or social media, they would realise that a lot of youth are into Kerser.
“I personally don’t think I need them when I have got to where I am and they have ignored me for this long. I can put a clip on YouTube and get 300,000 views.”
His connection with youth has come at a price. He moved to the south coast to avoid the constant knocks on his door from fans who wanted to hang with him.
But he found it far more confronting when his stories about drug abuse and run-ins with authorities started to spill into the lives of his younger fans.
On Next Step, the 28-year-old emcee is still rapping about how drugs affected his life but now they are more cautionary tales.
“It really hit me when I was doing a signing in Blacktown and a few young kids, about 14 or 15, pulled out his bong for me to sign,” he says.
“In my tracks, I was explaining what we were doing when we were kids and why and I felt they were taking the message I was putting out the wrong way, that because I did it, it was cool.
“On this album I wanted to reassure them that is not the path they want to be on. I wanted to clear that up.”
While there is no doubting the veracity of his hardcore raps about a troubled youth, it is impossible for your ears not to prick up when he mentions his phone being tapped. Really?
“Yes, it was for a certain stage of my life. I have had close friends, who I consider brothers, go to jail and without saying too much, them being on the run got my phone tapped,” he explains.
“I would prefer to leave that story in the music.”
Kerser writes raps every day. His prolificacy is astonishing, considering he is also producing a video every month as well as an album a year.
Few artists can match that release rate on the album front, including ah, One Direction, while Drake has managed four albums in five years as well as mixtapes.
“I think it’s important to stay consistent in people’s minds, to stay relevant,” he says. “As long as it doesn’t sound the same.”
The release of Next Step marks a step up in his music career having launched his own ABK Records with the backing of major label Warner Music.
But listen to the album tracks and it sounds like Kerser may already have it made.
“I am making money. My last four albums have topped the hip hop charts and DVD charts,” he says.
“I’m living in a nice big house down the coast, I bought a Range Rover and I am constantly working to keep the ball rolling, staying positive and setting goals.”
HEAR: NEXT STEP IS RELEASED ON FRIDAYAt the end of an interview Friday on the Cavaliers future, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio was asked who Cleveland might be interested in this off-season. He mentioned Kevin Love, DeMarcus Cousins but said that's mostly speculation. Then he added another name to the discussion...
"What I have heard and what I think is going to happen --it would be a risky move-- but that Brook Lopez is very available. That could be an intriguing name for you."
But Baskin & Phelps of CBS Sports didn't push the issue, didn't ask what the Cavs might be willing to give up or even what he meant by "going to happen" --does that mean "expect rumors" or "expect a deal." It was NOT in the context of trading the Cavaliers first round pick. Of course, there has been discussion of Cleveland trading Kyrie Irving. Just saying.Experts say Tokyo’s newborn cub can earn the city more than £190 million in coming months as it becomes a tourism phenomenon. Astronomical numbers of visitors are expected to flock to Tokyo zoo to see the tiny black and white bear in the arms of its devoted mother Shin Shin, creating a financial windfall way above the earnings of the planet’s most successful entertainers.
The Forbes’ annual rich list this week had American rapper and entrepreneur Sean 'Diddy' Combs in top spot with earnings last year of £102.7 million, while Beyonce was placed second with £83 million. Britain’s JK Rowling is the third highest earner on £75 million and Real Madrid footballer Christiano Ronaldo also made it into the top five with a £74.5 million income.
GETTY Expert say Tokyo's newborn panda baby can earn he city more than £190 million in coming months
A new panda at Ueno Zoo would have an enormous impact. Baby pandas are incredibly cute Katsuhiro Miyamoto
Yet the mega-money sums pale compared to Japanese estimates of what the three-day old cub will pour into its capital’s coffers over the next financial year. As yet, the cub has only appeared in a few grainy photographs and has neither been sexed or given a name by its keepers at the Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo.
GETTY
GETTY Astronomical numbers of visitors are expected to flock to the zoo after mother Shin Shin gave birth
Shin Shin, 11, appears so devoted to the tiny youngster, which weighs as little as six ounces, that she has not stopped holding it in her arms and heeding its continual soft cries. This is the first panda birth in five years at the zoo and staff remain on tenterhooks after Shin Shin’s last cub died from pneumonia six days after delivery. Subsequent attempts to produce a cub with mate Ri Ri have been fruitless, but late last month she was removed from public viewing after displaying signs of pregnancy. News of the cub’s birth has already sent share prices of restaurants operating near the zoo soaring, with one company reporting a near 10-year high, and financial experts are expecting it have a knock-on effect for the city’s economy.
GETTY The cub has only appeared in a few grainy photographs and has neither been sexed or given a nameShedding new light on the great cognitive rift between humans and animals, a Harvard University scientist has synthesized four key differences in human and animal cognition into a hypothesis on what exactly differentiates human and animal thought.
In new work presented for the first time at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Marc Hauser, professor of psychology, biological anthropology, and organismic and evolutionary biology in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, presents his theory of “humaniqueness,” the factors that make human cognition special. He presents four evolved mechanisms of human thought that give us access to a wide range of information and the ability to find creative solutions to new problems based on access to this information.
“Animals share many of the building blocks that comprise human thought, but paradoxically, there is a great cognitive gap between humans and animals,” Hauser says. “By looking at key differences in cognitive abilities, we find the elements of human cognition that are uniquely human. The challenge is to identify which systems animals and human share, which are unique, and how these systems interact and interface with one another.”
Recently, scientists have found that some animals think in ways that were once considered unique to humans: For example, some animals have episodic memory, or non-linguistic |
for a number of Kurdish activists. Given its close and enduring relationship with the NSA, agency authorities wrote, they saw little risk in providing the technology. The only thing NSA experts didn’t feel comfortable entrusting to Turkey was the automatic keyword search function.
The partnership is managed through the NSA’s Special Liaison Activity Turkey (SUSLAT) office, which is based in Ankara. In addition to data, the Americans provide their Turkish partners with complete interception systems, decryption assistance, and training.
Using its internal “follow the money” reconnaissance unit, the NSA also tracks PKK’s cash flows in Europe. The Turks reciprocate by providing the U.S. agents with written transcripts of telephone calls made by PKK leaders, as well as intelligence insights about Russia and Ukraine.
Burhan Ozbilici/AP
But in true “Spy v. Spy” fashion, Turkey is itself is the target of intense surveillance even as it cooperates closely with the U.S.— one NSA document describes the country bluntly as both a “partner and target.” The very politicians, military officials, and intelligence agency officials with whom U.S. officials work closely when conducting actions against the PKK are also considered legitimate spying targets by the NSA. To that end, in addition to the official SUSLAT liaison office and the intelligence workers it has cleared with the Turkish authorities, the U.S. has two secret branch offices, operating Special Collection Service listening stations in both Istanbul and the capital city of Ankara.
The degree to which the NSA surveils its partner is made clear in the National Intelligence Priorities Framework (NIPF), a document establishing U.S. intelligence priorities. Updated and presented to the president every six months, the NIPF shows a country’s “standing” from the perspective of the U.S. In the April 2013 edition, Turkey is listed as one of the countries most frequently targeted by Washington for surveillance, with U.S. intelligence services tasked with collecting data in 19 different areas of interest.
The document places Turkey at the level of Venezuela—and even ahead of Cuba—in terms of U.S. interest in intelligence collection. Information about the “leadership intention” of the Turkish government is given the second-highest priority rating, and information about the military and its infrastructure, foreign policy goals, and energy security are given the third-highest priority rating. The same framework also lists the PKK as an intelligence target, but it is given a much lower priority ranking.
Beginning in 2006, the NSA began a broad surveillance operation–a joint effort by several NSA units—aimed at infiltrating the computers of Turkey’s top political leaders. Internally, officials called the effort the “Turkish Surge Project Plan.” It took six months for the team to achieve its goal. One document celebrates the discovery of the “winning combination” and reports that collection had begun: “They achieved their first-ever computer network exploitation success against Turkish leadership!”
It goes without saying that the U.S. intelligence services also had Turkish diplomats in their sights, particularly those stationed in the United States. A classified document from 2010 states that the NSA surveilled the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C., under a program codenamed “Powder.” A similar project for monitoring Turkey’s representation to the United Nations operated under the codename “Blackhawk.”
Analysts had access to the telephone system in the Turkish embassy and could tap content directly from computers. In addition, they infected computer systems used by the diplomats with spyware. The NSA also installed trojan software at Turkey’s U.N. representation in New York. According to the NSA document, it even has the capability of copying entire hard drives at the U.N. mission.
The NSA shared many of its spies’ insights with its “Five Eyes” partners—the British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand intelligence services. Within that group, the British had already developed their own access to Turkey, with its GCHQ spy agency monitoring political targets in Turkey as well as elements in the energy sector.
One classified British document states that in October 2008, GCHQ tasked agents with improving access to the Turkish Energy Ministry, as well as enterprises including the Petroleum Pipeline Corporation, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation, and the energy company Calik Enerji. The assignment also included a list of the names of 13 targets, including then-Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Güler.
In 2008, GCHQ analysts began reviewing satellite images of the rooftops of ministries and companies to assess what types of communications systems they were using and the possibilities for infiltrating them. The documents do not indicate whether those efforts bore fruit.
Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek is also explicitly named in documents as a GCHQ “target,” despite the fact that he is a dual Turkish-British citizen. Nevertheless, a surveillance order against him includes, among other things, two mobile phone numbers as well as his private Gmail address. When questioned by reporters for Der Spiegel, GCHQ officials said they do not comment on the details of operations.
When The Guardian newspaper ran a story last summer about a planned spying operation against the Turkish finance minister during his visit to London in the run-up to the G-20 summit in 2009, officials in Ankara were so angered that the Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador and criticized the “scandalous” and “unacceptable” operation. Contacted for a response to the surveillance operations conducted by the NSA and GCHQ, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said “such things” would only be discussed at the diplomatic level.
This story was reported and published in a collaboration between Der Spiegel and The Intercept. Additional research by Peter Maass.
Photo credits: Burak Kara/Getty Images; David Furst/AFP/Getty Images; Burhan Ozbilici/APLawyers for the family of slain teenager Michael Brown on Tuesday urged lawmakers around the country to pass legislation that would require police officers to wear video cameras at all times, calling it a “Michael Brown law.”
“We won’t have to play this game of witnesses’ memories and secret grand juries,” Brown family lawyer Benjamin Crump said in a Tuesday press conference in Ferguson, Mo. “It’ll just be transparent and we can see it for ourselves. We can hold people accountable when they have interactions with citizens. The system is so unfair to regular citizens.”
“Police who are supposed to serve us continue to kill members of our community.” http://t.co/R3zoQcoIEq #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/Il1JQLprCW — WATE 6 On Your Side (@6News) November 25, 2014
“We ask that all of America join us in demanding change,” Crump said.
The national push to put video cameras on police officers gained new traction following the death of Michael Brown in August, but that effort largely petered out in the following months. Now, with Brown’s legal team calling for a rebirth of the movement, advocates hope politicians will hear the signal loud and clear.
The Brown family push echoes a similar effort in August that included a White House petition.
Police departments in both California and Texas have tested body-camera systems, while larger departments are also in various stages of exploration. One year-long study conducted by the Police Foundation, a nonprofit research group, and jointly overseen by a California police chief and a Cambridge University researcher showed that the use of body cameras “was associated with dramatic reductions in use-of-force and complaints against officers.”
“When you put a camera on a police officer, they tend to behave a little better, follow the rules a little better,” Rialto, Calif., police chief William Farrar told the New York Times. “And if a citizen knows the officer is wearing a camera, chances are the citizen will behave a little better.”
In Rialto, a city 50 miles east of Los Angeles, citizens’ complaints against police dropped by 88 percent, while incidents of police using force against civilians fell by 60 percent.
“Citizens should know officers are being held accountable,” Denver Police Chief Robert White said earlier this year. “The only officers who would have a problem with body cameras are bad officers.”
Standing next to Reverend Al Sharpton and a crowd of lawyers and civil rights leaders on Tuesday, the Brown family’s legal advisers outlined their complaints about the way the prosecutor’s office handled the case.
“A first year law student would have done a better job cross-examining a killer of an unarmed person than the prosecutor’s office did,” Crump said, raising his voice to applause. “We object as publicly and loudly as we can on behalf of Michael Brown’s family that this process is broken.”
Sharpton called the prosecutor’s handling of the case “irresponsible” and “unnecessarily provocative,” criticizing Darren Wilson’s story as “full of gaps” and demanding that the federal government continue its own investigation, which has been ongoing for months.
“You have broken our hearts but you have no broken our backs,” Sharpton said. “We will continue to fight for a new level of accountability in policing in this country.”
Brown’s family on Monday urged protesters to remain peaceful, but violence soon broke out across the St. Louis area.
“Michael Brown, Sr. will say very little because he doesn’t want to misspeak because of the emotions going through him that will later be held against him,” Crump explained. Brown ended up saying nothing at all after the press conference was interrupted by an unspecified disruption.
Brown family attorney: Appoint special prosecutor who has no relationship with accused officers #Ferguson http://t.co/h6GrdptYTy — RT America (@RT_America) November 25, 2014
“Brown will not be remembered for the ashes of buildings burned in Ferguson,” Sharpton said. “He will be remembered for new legislation and the upholding of law that protects citizens in this country.”
Photo by Shawn CarriéThe day after a devastating fire gutted two floors of the Annapolis Yacht Club, leaders of the 130-year-old organization vowed to rebuild.
"It's pretty sad. But it's just physical. We'll fix it," said Debbie Gosselin, AYC's vice-commodore, as she emerged from the building after a brief tour.
Gov. Larry Hogan joined Mayor Mike Pantelides and County Executive Steve Schuh for a tour of the building Sunday. Before he stepped inside, Hogan pledged the state's help.
"I let the yacht club, the mayor and the county executive know that the state will provide every possible assistance that we can," the governor said.
The city and county promised to help the club rebuild, and city officials will meet with all parties Monday to coordinate the effort.
The cause of the blaze and the estimated damage in dollars remain under investigation. The bulk of the second and third floors of the building were gutted by the fire that took 90 firefighters about an hour and 45 minutes to get under control. The blaze was declared out by about 7 p.m..
State and local officials visit the scene of Annapolis Yacht Club the day after Saturdays fire tore through the building. (Joshua McKerrow) (Joshua McKerrow)
Over 600 guests were expected at the club Saturday for the annual Parade of Lights event, which was canceled because of the fire.
Club members were thankful the crowd had not arrived when the fire started.
"This is heartbreaking for everybody, we are all deeply saddened," Commodore Rod Jabin said. "But we are thankful for the quick response of the first responders and firefighters and the quick decision by staff to get everybody out of the building.
"We had reservations for over 600 people for the Parade of Lights and we are thankful the fire happened when it did."
As seen from Eastport, a fire burns through the Annapolis Yacht Club in Annapolis. As seen from Eastport, a fire burns through the Annapolis Yacht Club in Annapolis. SEE MORE VIDEOS
Pantelides said his staff was already in discussions about possibly letting the club use city space temporarily. Other than finding a temporary facility to continue club activities, he said the priority is finding work for club employees.
"There are a lot of people with good job skills here and we will try to connect with other businesses to help them out," Pantelides said.
Club leaders said they would find a way to provide for employees through the holidays.
"The staff is at the core of the community here at AYC," Jabin said. "We are committed to make sure they are taken care of."
Once a temporary facility is found the club hopes to keep as many employees as possible working.
Gosselin said the club hopes to keep 100 percent of the planned party and meeting commitments during the holidays.
Hogan said that could include help from the state Department of Labor to aid employees to assistance. The Department of Natural Resources and Maryland Department of the Environment will likely be involved in the waterfront rebuilding.
"We will expedite things within state government to get this rebuilt in as quick a fashion as we can," Hogan said.
Work was already underway Sunday morning. Workers and club staff were removing salvageable ship models and their glass cases. Others were moving food and beverages from storage into a refrigerated truck on loan from its food supplier.
But there did not seem to be much to be saved from the second and third floors, at least on the Spa Creek side of the building where the fire was concentrated.
Gosselin said luckily that many of the historic documents and other items had been removed to a secure facility as part of an archival effort started three years ago.
"I did not see much of anything that was salvageable on the second and third floor areas, " said Capt. Janet Wiseman, city Fire Department spokeswoman.
She said the cause and damaged investigation continued.
"We are going through the rubble right now. It is very meticulous," Wiseman said. "We work from the least burned areas back to the most burned area and try to find what might have started the fire."
She discounted rumors an artificial Christmas tree was the source of the blaze. "I have no word about any Christmas tree artificial or otherwise from my investigators," she said.
Wiseman said the building did not have a sprinkler system. It was built in the 1960s when there were no requirements for sprinklers.
"Sprinklers would have kept the fire in check until we arrived," she added.
Wiseman said the fire was stubborn because of several layers of rooftops, nooks and crannies in the upper area of the building.
"The fireboats played a huge role getting big water on a big fire," she said. "The Annapolis fireboat was first on the scene and was pumping 1,000 gallons a minute."
When Pantelides emerged from the building he was shocked at the damage.
"I am at a loss for words. I walked in there and there is a lot of damage, probably the worst I have ever seen," the mayor said. "It was very emotional. I was just in there the other day for a father and son luncheon."
"This is a building and a city made of more than bricks and mortar. It is a community," Jabin said. "We will rebuild and it will be better than it was before."Frankie Ford, the ever-colorful and often campy New Orleans rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll singer and pianist who sailed the 1959 smash "Sea Cruise" to national stardom, died Monday (Sept. 28) at his home in Gretna following a lengthy illness. He was 76.
Mr. Ford was born in New Orleans on Aug. 4, 1939. As an infant, he was adopted by Anna and Vincent Guzzo, who named him Frank Guzzo. An only child, the young Frank Guzzo delighted in entertaining from an early age. At 12, after winning local talent contests, his parents drove him to New York for an appearance on "The Ted Mack Amateur Hour." Soon after enrolling at Holy Name of Mary high school in Algiers, he joined a dance band called the Syncopators.
In the late 1950s, he came to the attention of New Orleans record producers and label owners who were keen to craft "teen idols" - white singers who might tap into a larger market than what was available to black rhythm & blues singers.
"Frankie came along at the right time," said Mike Shepherd, president and executive director of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, and a longtime friend of Mr. Ford's. "They were making teen idols. He had the look, and he absolutely had the best voice of all of them. He was capable of incredible runs. He could sing opera."
In a 2005 interview with writer Bunny Matthews in OffBeat magazine, Mr. Ford recalled being "discovered" by Joe Caronna, a representative of Ace Records and an aspiring artist manager, at the Alibi Lounge on Airline Highway. Mr. Ford soon found himself in one of legendary engineer Cosimo Matassa's recording studios. His first single, released in 1958, consisted of two original compositions, "Cheatin' Woman" and "The Last One to Cry."
"Sea Cruise" was written by New Orleans rhythm & blues pianist Huey "Piano" Smith, who originally recorded it with local musicians and Gerri Hall, a singer from his group the Clowns. But Caronna and business partner Johnny Vincent Imbragulio believed "Sea Cruise" would be more commercially viable if the teenage Mr. Ford was substituted for the other vocalists.
Released via Ace Records, the version of "Sea Cruise" bearing Mr. Ford's voice and name sold more than a million copies and hit No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. Smith also crafted that single's flip side, "Roberta" -- originally the name was "Loberta" -- and "Alimony," another popular single by Mr. Ford.
Between 1959 and 1961, Mr. Ford released a handful of modest hits, including a cover of fellow New Orleanian Joe Jones' "You Talk Too Much," released via Imperial Records. He appeared on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" and barnstormed the country with various rock 'n' roll caravans, traveling and performing alongside the likes of Chuck Berry and Frankie Avalon. After a stint in the U.S. Army in the early 1960s, he came home to discover that the British Invasion had dried up the market for piano-driven New Orleans R&B and rock 'n' roll.
After a lost year or two in California, he returned to New Orleans and went to work on Bourbon Street. From the mid-'60s until 1980, he held down regular gigs at the Ivanhoe, the Backstage 500 Club, the Gateway, his own club at Toulouse and Bourbon, and finally Lucky Pierre's, presiding over a lounge-style act peppered by risque one-liners.
"From '65 to '80, I built up quite a clientele," Mr Ford said in a 1999 interview with The Times-Picayune. "It used to be one of those must-see things. I became sort of an institution."
Fans who considered him a "must-see thing" included vocalist Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. In 1998, Plant recalled how he and Page went to see Mr. Ford's show while in New Orleans in the 1970s. "He was playing this schmaltz stuff in a bar," Plant said. "We requested 'Alimony,' which is one of his songs he hadn't played in years. He was overjoyed. He stopped playing and came and talked to us. And we were thrilled."
The collapse of the Louisiana oil industry and, consequently, the local market for entertainment, finally forced Mr. Ford to hit the road once again. By the 1990s, he had plugged into a grueling but lucrative circuit of casinos, nightclubs and private functions around the country, cashing in on nostalgia for 1950s music. In 1998 alone, he spent 203 days on the road. While in town, he and longtime manager Ken Keene tooled around in a black Lincoln Town Car sporting the vanity plate "Ooh-Wee," from the refrain of "Sea Cruise."
In the summer of 1999, Mr. Ford briefly returned to Bourbon Street to play four nights a week at the Chris Owens Club; the engagement only lasted a couple of weekends. He went back to playing oldies shows and regional festivals, including annual appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He served as the king of the satirical Krewe du Vieux parade in 2009.
The cover of Frankie Ford's 'Let's Take a Sea Cruise' album.
Back in 1958 at Pat O'Brien's, Mr. Ford met Barbara Bennett, a young woman who had just been hired as a pianist and singer in the club's piano bar. He asked to buy her a cup of coffee, initiating a decades-long friendship. "He was a little skinny kid then," Bennett said Tuesday. "He grew into a handsome man."
Bennett, who had previously served as a backing vocalist for Jerry Lee Lewis, appeared on the cover of Mr. Ford's "Let's Take a Sea Cruise" album - she was the brunette, paired with a blonde woman. After 47 years at Pat O'Brien's, Bennett retired in 2005, just before Hurricane Katrina. Several years ago, she moved into Mr. Ford's house, in part to help care for him as his health declined. She also joined him onstage as a singer. "We had a wonderful time," she said. "Frankie had a God-given talent."
His final performance was during the 2013 Gretna Heritage Festival.
This summer, Shepherd visited Mr. Ford and Bennett at home in Gretna to collect items for the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. The singer was confined to a bed downstairs. But he instructed Shepherd to go upstairs, where his stage attire was stored: "You find whatever you want. I'll never wear any of these things ever again," Shepherd recalled him saying.
Among other items, Shepherd selected a red sequined jacket with a cream and black piano keyboard running up the right side, over the shoulder, and down the back. When he showed it to Mr. Ford, the singer reached out to touch the garment and said, "My mama made this for me."
Funeral arrangements are pending.I stumbled into Asian film through two coincidences: first, I saw Princess Mononoke while watching TV, and then received a DVD with Oldboy as a Christmas gift. I was lucky to start off with good movies that made me want to see more. However, many people I know have never seen an Asian film. Even some people who actually live or have lived in Asia. This baffled me for awhile – why not? So I asked. The two most common answers I got were: they don’t know where to start, or they had watched some obscure Asian film and think that all of them are too artsy and or too hard to comprehend.
Therefore, our team at The Asian Cinema Blog decided to pick some of our favorite titles to give you good stepping stones into the rich world of Asian film.
Note: The list is not just for “beginners”, anyone can enjoy these movies. We just feel that the movies below have similar storytelling techniques and/or filmmaking aesthetics as those of the mainstream Western film.
South Korea
Oldboy (2003)
As mentioned in the intro, this film was one of the first Asian movies I got to see. And it blew my mind. This Park Chan-Wook’s cult film is a complicated and dark revenge story with breathtaking plot twists. It put the South Korean film on the maps for every cinephile out there. It even had its own yet less successful remake in Hollywood by Spike Lee. Even if you had seen the remake, the original is well worth watching. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
The Chaser (2008)
Though in South Korea itself there is a wide variety of films being made – including a lot of cute romantic comedies, and cheap horrors, the crime thrillers are what Koreans are known for best (clearly, as 4 out of 5 films in this list are in this genre). Chaser is another cult film with chilling intensity and visuals display of the crimes. It is up to a renegade ex-cop to figure out the case and find the girl before it’s too late. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
I Saw the Devil (2010)
Kim Jee Won’s ultimate masterwork of blood, the action movie for horror movie fans. Gruesome torture, taxi-cab knife attacks, and vigilante rage all reach a hysterical pitch in the frantic climax. Not for the faint hearted.
Suggested by: Harrison
Memories of Murder (2003)
A film painted and precisely lensed, with a beautiful and somber landscape intervened on by the extremely grotesque. What’s worse is that this breathtaking police drama, in the style of Zodiac and True Detective, is based on a true story, which is what makes the ending so chilling. By the director of Snowpiercer and The Host. Full review.
Suggested by: Harrison
The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008)
Not a crime thriller, The Good, The Bad, The Weird is still a very thrilling movie. This Korean Western film set in Manchuria is a different version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. It is fun and funny, with memorable characters and amazing sets, somewhat reminding of the steampunk Wild Wild West. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
India
3 Idiots (2009)
3 Idiots was the first film to get me really interested in Indian movies. It is a contemporary movie with issues people are currently facing. An absolute must-watch. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
The Lunchbox (2013)
It is a beautiful romantic story, that never crosses into the realm of cheesy and predictable. Warning – don’t watch it hungry. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Monsoon Wedding (2001)
Mira Nair is a well known American-Indian filmmaker and her Monsoon Wedding is one of the most celebrated films. It is an intimate family story, showing the complexity of traditions meeting modernity in a very humane way. It is colorful and exciting, just like an Indian wedding. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Lagaan (2001)
Lagaan is a period drama, a monument to the Indian struggle for independence, a great colonialism/post-colonialism film and probably the longest movie about cricket ever made. And it is an amazing film thoughout. A great watch even if you do not like cricket. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Sholay (1975)
An extensive ‘Bollywood’ celebration in the style of classic American (or Italian) westerns, this epic moves to a unique beat even still, and features an armless hero who seriously kicks ass!
Suggested by: Harrison
Japan
Spirited Away (2001)
One of Ghibli’s, the famous Japanese animation studio’s, major films that really “made it” in the West. It received numerous awards at film festival around the world. The multi-layered and captivating story has something for both adults and kids.
Suggested by: Agne
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Princess Mononoke is my personal favorite from Ghibli’s masterworks and it is one of the first Asian films I had seen. The film is darker than most of Ghibli’s features and tackles some serious topics that I think makes it the studio’s most adult-ready film. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Although rooted in Japanese history, and per the director’s interpretation – a deeply Japanese cultural exercise – this gentle-looking work of animation is one of the saddest, most emotionally devastating films out there. Depicting the journey of two young children during the firebombing of Kobe in WWII, Roger Ebert had this to say in a four-star review: Yes, it’s a cartoon, and the kids have eyes like saucers, but it belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made. Forget the popcorn, and spring this on family and friends for a guaranteed good return.
Suggested by: Harrison
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)
Written by the director of the global smash hit Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh tells the tale of an alternate history, where the Axis won the war and Germany’s despotic influence has seeped into Japan. With themes and images of immediate relevance today, brutally militarized police forces clash with increasingly violent citizens, and at the story’s heart lies a tragic love story, as well as a haunting treatise on the dehumanization of state violence.
Suggested by: Harrison
Berserk I: The Egg of the King (2012)
For those who love Game of Thrones, Berserk is the closest Japanese analog. In this terrifying medieval horror show, brooding swordsman Guts is forcibly recruited to a mercenary band with an angelic leader, who’ll prove instrumental in ending a 100-year war between two kingdoms. The first film of the trilogy begins the tale, providing just enough tantalizing detail to pull you through to the more engaging sequels – Part II is an action-packed ride ending on the suggestion of future darkness, and Part III steadfastly answers that by being the most violent, disturbing film I’ve ever seen, putting every tooth-pulling, tendon-cutting Korean revenge shocker to shame.
Suggested by: Harrison
Rashomon (1950)
A classic Kurosawa movie is one of the great examples of a cinema masterwork. Actually, any of Kurosawa’s movies could make it on this list. You can’t pick wrong with this cinema titan. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Nobody Knows (2004)
A heartbreaking true story of a group of siblings left alone while their mother begins a new life with her new partner. What little they have is slowly whittled away until they are forced to scavenge for food and wash in the park. A poignant urban tale that is highly relevant to the world we live in.
Suggested by: Craig
The Philippines
OTJ (2013)
OTJ (“One the Job”) style and pace remind me of Snatch. OTJ is exciting, absorbing, but also quite darker than the British film. If you have not seen either I recommend watching both. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Himala (1982)
This classic is one of the most renown and celebrated films of Filipino cinema legend Ishmael Bernal. More than 30 years after its release, the film still holds its relevance and is a captivating experience not to be missed. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Taiwan
Monga (2010)
Monga is a coming-of-age/gangster movie in set in 80s Taipei. It is not a very dark film and focuses more on relationships of characters than on the organized crime. An easy intro into Taiwan, even if retrofitted. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (2011)
Before people of China came to Taiwan, the island belonged to the local tribes. There is a long history of the struggle between these locals and all other people who came to inhabit the beautiful Formosa. Seediq Bale focuses on one period in history, the Japanese occupation, as shows it through the eyes of the tribesmen.
Suggested by: Agne
China
Hero (2002)
Hero is the first Chinese wuxia (martial arts) movie I saw and I loved it. If you put a master-director Zhang Yimou, master cameraman Christopher Doyle, and a brilliant cast of actors – you just can’t go wrong. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
The Boxer from Shantung (1972)
A martial arts film with the story structure of a Hollywood gangster film, not unlike Goodfellas: the titular Boxer rises in power, and finds life somewhat complicated at the top. A classic from one of the great Chinese directors, Chang Cheh, with a brutal, desperate final action scene.
Suggested by: Harrison
Coming Home (2014)
This is one of the recent Zhang Yimou’s films and is a stark contrast to his wuxia films. As a matter of fact, most of the director’s films have nothing to do with martial arts. If you like dramas, Coming Home is a good one to start. After that, you might want to check out Ju-Dou, Raise the Red Lantern and Story of Qiu Ju. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Thailand
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (2003)
Ong-Bak is like a Tekken video game (that I love) made into a movie (that is actually good, unlike most movies made under a game title). The director Prachya Pinkaew is a master of martial arts movies and if you like Ong-Bank, you will like other of his films. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Last Life in the Universe (2003)
A rich tapestry of well-developed characters set within an unexpected narrative. Sometimes touching, sometimes disturbing but always visually appealing with a strong command of composition and palette.
Suggested by: Craig
Indonesia
Raid: Redemption (2011)
Raid is a gem of action movies. One SWAT team, one target – take down the crime-infested building. And then everything goes wrong. A must-watch for action movie buffs.
Suggested by: Agne
Hong Kong
Chunking Express (1994)
Wong Kar-Wai is a giant of Hong Kong cinema and well known among cinephiles around the world. His movie In the Mood for Love is number 2 on the BBC Culture list of “The 21st Century’s 100 greatest films“. Chunking Express has a similar expressive use of color and camera angles, but it is also a more lighthearted tale of love in the Hong Kong – the populous city of neon lights. Full review.
Suggested by: Agne
Infernal Affairs (2002)
This is the spiritual and thematically dense police thriller which provided the basis for Academy Award-winning film The Departed. If you were confused by The Departed’s absent thesis, all will be made clear with the original.
Suggested by: Harrison
Hard Boiled (1992)
The ultimate John Woo’s film that sinks or swims in the opening ballet of bullets. Motorcycles will explode in mid-air, and shotguns will pack the concussive force to shatter every wall in a hospital hallway. If you’re a stickler for realism in action movies, you’ll have a conniption fit – for those who simply love carnage and mayhem, this is your Holy Grail.
Suggested by: HarrisonFirst let me relay Peter Klein’s take on the Fed’s non-taper announcement:
The above is a good summary of the Rothbardian view on our current situation.
Now, there have been some developments in just the last week or so that, in a just world, would cause severe angst in the psyches of those who have been blaming the Great Recession on inadequate demand.
First, there’s David Laidler’s surprising interview with Russ Roberts. Laidler is as old school monetarist as they come; he actually helped Friedman and Schwartz with their famous Monetary History that overturned the then-prevailing Keynesian explanation of the 1930s, and got economists thinking that the Fed committed a sin of omission. The omnipresent (on the Internet) von Pepe sent me the interview and drew my attention to the implications for poor Scott Sumner. Consider these excerpts:
Russ: And I would say especially if it originates in the financial sector. There’s some debate–you allude to it in your writing–about what I would call the ‘real side’ or the microeconomics side. And you point out that the Austrian view, the idea that both the 1929 collapse and the current mess did see a very rapid run-up on asset prices that suddenly collapsed; and that obviously caused some challenges for the financial sector. Guest [David Laidler]: Yeah. I mean, that’s right. People keep calling these things ‘financial crises’. They are really asset market crises. And they happen on the margin between markets for financial assets and markets for real assets. Like real estate and factories and physical investment. I don’t think the monetarist story of the onset of the Great Depression by the way, or the monetarist story about the onset of this Great Recession, is quite plausible enough. I can’t find anything in the data in the 1920s or the data in the run-up to this event, that shows a degree of sort of conventional tightening of money growth that can account for the speed of the subsequent downturn. That really looks like, in both cases, an economy where something was going badly wrong in real asset markets, and it just needed a little bit of tap from the financial markets to set a downward spiral going. And, you’re right–the Austrians were the pioneers of this kind of analysis, in the 1920s even; and of course there are still Austrians around. And if I may sort of put in a plug for Cambridge, England, where John Maynard Keynes was, Keynes’s colleague, Sir Dennis Robertson was developing a parallel analysis to this in the 1920s. And he wrote a little textbook; and its 1928 edition has got a couple of paragraphs expressing his fears about what was likely to happen in the United States if that asset market boom kept on going. And this was before the Great Depression and before the stock market crash. In contrast, the representative of monetarism in the United States in the 1920s was probably Irving Fisher; and Irving Fisher didn’t see anything coming. He was just concentrating on the behavior of the price level and saying all is well, right down to October 1929. And indeed afterwards. So, I think we’ve got to give the Austrians and Dennis Robertson some credit. And I’d like to see our profession start taking that analysis a little bit more seriously. I mean the mainstream of our profession; because of course the people who have been propounding it are certainly professionals themselves. But they are in a minority.
And the part that excited von Pepe:
Russ: So, you think it’s much more than just a monetary phenomenon. Guest: Yeah, I do. I never thought I would live to say this, but on this particular instance, I’m inclined to line up with the Austrians. I think they really have a point about this issue, about asset market distortions. After long periods of monetary stability. Russ: This again puts you in a small group of economists who have learned something from the crisis. Most economists–I find it remarkable how many people have managed to keep their theological views unchanged by this experience. Guest: Well you must remember that I’m retired, so I don’t have to worry about pleasing journal editors any more. Russ: Yeah. Well, no comment. What would be your view on, going forward, would be the ideal monetary policy? Should we be doing something |
Sadr City. Many people felt, Now we have a brother in the White House." (Sadr City estimated pop. 2 million is a bastion of anti-Americanism, where the radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia, the Mahdi Army, hold sway. Few Americans would dare visit the neighborhood without a massive military escort.)
The notion that Obama is a Shi'ite may be traced to Iran. In the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, state-run papers published articles claiming that the Democratic nominee's paternal ancestors had hailed from southwestern Iran. In reality, of course, Obama's father and his ancestors came from Kenya, where Shi'a Islam is rare. Most Kenyan Muslims are Sunnis and leaven their faith with pre-Islamic African traditions and beliefs. Obama himself has said he has no idea if his paternal grandfather (who converted from Christianity) was Sunni or Shi'ite.
Undeterred, some Shi'ite scholars trawled through ancient texts to find proof and came up with increasingly far-fetched theories linking the rise of Obama to important Shi'ite figures like the Imam Ali. Some pointed to a prophecy sometimes attributed to Ali that the arrival of the Mahdi a messiah-like figure who, Shi'ites believe, will ultimately defeat evil will be presaged by the appearance of a messenger, a tall black man who will rule the West. Others read meaning into Obama's name. In Persian, O-ba-ma means "He's with us," and Barack Hussein can loosely be translated as "blessings of Hussein," an allusion to Ali's son, another imam revered by the Shi'ites. Obama's strenuous denials made no difference to these theorists: they simply reasoned that he must be practicing al-Taqqiya, or dissimulation; Shi'ite jurists say believers may conceal their faith from infidels in order to protect themselves from harm.
By Election Day, these theories had become so commonplace that a prominent Shi'ite scholar based in Dubai felt compelled to issue a statement rejecting them. It made little difference.
Vali Nasr, a Tufts University professor and expert on Shi'ite history, understands why the theories are popular with some Shi'ites. Since they have historically been viewed as inferior to the dominant Sunnis, he says, Shi'ites are eager to claim ownership of "anything or anyone that can show them to be superior." Since Obama is widely popular among Muslims, "assuming that he is Shi'ite and also the most powerful man in the world gives the Shi'ites pride and confidence," Nasr adds.
Back in Sadr City, one community leader laughed off the Obama-as-Shi'ite theory but acknowledged it was popular. He suggested it might work in the U.S.'s favor. "The fools who believe this kind of thing, once their fellow Shi'ite is President, they will become less hostile to America," he said.
Me, I sense the birth of a whole new conspiracy theory!
See TIME's Pictures of the Week.Today, April 10, thousands of people will go barefoot around the world for the second annual “One Day Without Shoes.” It’s an event organized by Toms Shoes –the company that built a brand around the buy-one-give-one charity model–to raise awareness about the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life.
But the day will also shine a light on the Toms model, which is facing two existential flaws that threaten to undo the company’s social impact and business success.
The Toms buy-one-give-one model does not actually solve a social problem.
First, the Toms buy-one-give-one model does not actually solve a social problem. Rather, the charitable act of donating a free pair of shoes serves as little more than a short-term fix in a system in need of long-term, multi-faceted economic development, health, sanitation, and education solutions.
“What’s wrong with giving away shoes?” you might be thinking. “At least they’re doing something.” The problem, we’ve learned, is when that “something” can do more harm than good. As Time recently noted, an increasing number of foreign aid practitioners and agencies are recognizing that charitable gifts from abroad can distort developing markets and undermine local businesses by creating an entirely unsustainable aid-based economy. By undercutting local prices, Western donations often hurt the farmers, workers, traders, and sellers whose success is critical to lifting entire communities out of poverty. That means every free shoe donated actually works against the long-term development goals of the communities we are trying to help.
The fact is, Toms isn’t designed to build the economies of developing countries. It’s designed to make western consumers feel good. We can see that in the company’s origin story, as the Toms website proudly tells it, in which founder Blake Mycoskie saw the problems barefoot children in Argentina faced and decided to start Toms. Mr. Mycoskie didn’t ask villagers what they needed most or talk to experts about how to lift villages out of long-term poverty. Instead, he built a company that felt good and that was good enough for him and Toms’s nascent consumers.
Toms isn’t designed to build the economies of developing countries. It’s designed to make western consumers feel good.
And that brings me to the second flaw. From a business perspective, Toms is at risk. Our research with leading consumer-facing companies has shown that there is a finite and unpredictable market for the feel good value proposition–consumers are fickle when it comes to committing to brands based on nonfunctional attributes. Toms’s core value to its customers is being replicated by an increasing number of companies who can promise the exact same return: feeling good about your purchase. Without a stronger, more differentiated and less replicable product offering, Toms will likely fall out of fashion in the coming years.
And therein lies the real peril. Those “helped” by Toms are, in the long-term, no more able to afford shoes or address the real social, economic, and health issues that they face than they were before. Once their free shoes wear out in a couple years, the children Toms “helped” will be just as susceptible to the health and economic perils associated with bare feet as they were before.TORONTO — As right-wing populism has roiled elections and upended politics across the West, there is one country where populists have largely failed to break through: Canada.
The raw ingredients are present. A white ethnic majority that is losing its demographic dominance. A sharp rise in immigration that is changing culture and communities. News media and political personalities who bet big on white backlash.
Yet Canada’s politics remain stable. Its centrist liberal establishment is popular. Not only have the politics of white backlash failed, but immigration and racial diversity are sources of national pride. And when anti-establishment outsiders have run the populist playbook, they have found defeat.
Outsiders might assume this is because Canada is simply more liberal, but they would be wrong. Rather, Canada has resisted the populist wave through a set of strategic decisions, powerful institutional incentives, strong minority coalitions and idiosyncratic circumstances.Bitcoin mining hardware firm CoinTerra has announced the acquisition of enterprise software company Bits of Proof.
Under the terms of the deal, Bits of Proof CEO Tamás Blummer will join CoinTerra, assuming the position of Vice President of Enterprise Software, while CoinTerra will gain access to BOP assets, including its ‘enterprise-ready’ implementation of the bitcoin protocol.
Bits of Proof (BOP) is a Hungarian software firm that builds business-focused solutions based on block-chain technology. Last year the company launched the BOP Enterprise Bitcoin Server, which it dubbed the ‘Red Hat for Bitcoin‘.
The BOP protocol has already been used to develop BopShop, a merchant payment processor for online retailers and traditional brick-and-mortar shops. The protocol was also used to develop real-time auditable exchange Bullion Bitcoin and the TREZOR hardware bitcoin wallet.
Piece of the enterprise mining puzzle
CoinTerra says Bits of Proof’s modern and modular implementation of the bitcoin protocol will provide its TruePeta architecture with unparalleled reliability, performance and scalability for large-scale bitcoin mining operations.
“By acquiring Bits of Proof, CoinTerra gains enterprise software expertise and solutions that complement our expertise in hardware development and significantly strengthen our offering,” said Ravi Iyengar, CEO of CoinTerra.
“The software solutions developed by Bits of Proof and the expertise of Tamás Blummer represent an important piece of the enterprise mining puzzle that will allow us to grow our operations quickly and [securely] at peak efficiency.”
“With CoinTerra, the Bits of Proof software stack is sure to become the industry standard software stack for bitcoin in enterprises,” said Blummer.
What does this mean for existing BOP products?
The announcement does not shed light on how the news might affect BOP’s existing products and services. The company currently offers BopShop, myTREZOR server and Bullion Bitcoin products. The firm says it has other projects in the pipeline and believes the bitcoin network will cause fundamental changes in the way financial services operate.
Prior to the acquisition, Bits of Proof was an independent, self-funded company based in Budapest, headed by financial services veterans such as Blummer. It remains to be seen what CoinTerra plans to do with the BOP software stack and ongoing development projects.
Handshake image via ShutterstockWith women enlisting in increasingly greater numbers for IDF combat positions, a female Israel Air Force squadron commander is not far off, a senior IAF officer told The Jerusalem Post during an interview at the Sde Dov airport in Tel Aviv, between the city’s Port and Ramat Aviv neighborhood.
“We are living in an interesting time and the base is a microcosm of Israel,” the officer said over a cup of ice tea, explaining that the number of women requesting to serve in combat units – including in the air force – has steadily increased since 2000 and “we are now seeing the fruits of that.”
“I hope that the first female squadron commander will be from here. I’m not the one to decide, but I have a name I would recommend,” the source said, adding that perhaps the next base commander in Hatzor would be a woman.According to the senior officer, there are 10 female pilots at the base and with courses in the air force still male-oriented, female pilots need to be very strong mentally to finish their course and “overcome all obstacles that may be in front of you,” he said.In 2014, a woman was named deputy commander of an operational squadron, serving as second-in-command of the Nachshon Squadron at the Nevatim Base in the country’s south. While women have served as deputy commanders of support squadrons, the promotion of “Maj. Gal” (name not disclosed) made her the highest ranking woman in the IAF to date.According to the army, there has been a 5% increase in motivation –as measured by requests – of female recruits to serve in these units as compared to last year’s enlistment, and the army is expecting a spike in female combat recruits in 2017 which will see over 2,500 female combat soldiers enlisting, a senior IDF officer in the Manpower Directorate told the Post.But a recent Defense Ministry report by IDF Ombudsman, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Brick, found a significant decrease in the motivation of women to serve in combat positions. According to Brick, there is a discrepancy between the expectations of soldiers and the reality they face once placed in operational battalions which led to the decrease in the motivation of fighters.The percentage of female soldiers who leave the battalion at the beginning of their training makes the decrease in motivation “evident” as they feel that their skills and abilities are being constantly compared to those of male soldiers, he wrote.The senior Manpower Directorate officer disagreed with the findings of the report, telling the Post that the motivation in female combat soldiers continues to increase as well as the need for them to fill positions that have opened up due to the shortening of army service.“There is a significant jump in the recruitment of women into combat roles, and this is all due to their motivation to serve in those positions,” he said, adding that 15% of women volunteer to serve as long as their male counterparts.“That’s something we didn’t see in previous years. We should have put women in these roles even if we didn’t shorten the service period,” he said, stressing that the army “gives them the opportunity and they succeed.”But it’s not only the demand for women to fill combat positions that continues to increase, so does the demand for intelligence gathering in light of increased threats on Israel’s borders and the continuing wave of violence in the West Bank and across the country.The IAF’s first operational mission took off from the airbase in December 1947 to rescue an injured soldier south of Beersheba, it has since carried out thousands of missions and trained hundreds of thousands of soldiers.Israel Air Force’s intelligence gathering aircraft are increasing their number of complex reconnaissance missions in the air, with the “First” Squadron clocking at least 6,000 hours in 2016 alone.“We fly where and when we need to and are managing the risks around us while knowing where the enemy is,” the senior officer said.The “First” Squadron and the “Kings of the Air” Squadron from Sde Dov execute reconnaissance missions with the Beechcraft- 200 “Zofit”, Beechcraft King Air C-12 “Kukiya” and Beechcraft A-36 “Hofit” aircraft. The aircraft are versatile, gathering both visual intelligence as well as signal intelligence with advanced cameras and electro-optic sensors installed on their underbellies making them some of the most advanced manned surveillance planes in the world.The intelligence gathering planes of the “First” and “Kings of the Air” Squadron based out of Sde Dov take off several times a day and operate alongside other divisions of the IAF, such as the UAV and Helicopter Divisions. According to the senior officer, these planes alongside UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, are instrumental in Israel’s intelligence gathering capabilities, “making our part of the puzzle as clear as it can be.”While some weather conditions might negatively affect the cameras, intelligence gathering missions take place at all hours of the day, with several reconnaissance planes in the air at all times.“Israel is a UAV superpower, one of the best in the world,” he said, emphasizing that “the fusion of UAVs and piloted aircraft gives Israel the best possible intelligence coverage. We are able to get the best intelligence for leaders to make the best decisions in a region which is filled with upheaval.”According to the senior officer one of the main challenges for the next generation of pilots is to train for the next war which will be completely different than in the past.“We are living in a historical decade where everything in the Middle East is changing, the superpowers, the local powers, and religious powers are all changing,” the senior IAF officer said. “What happened in 2010 across the Middle East, you can call it ‘Arab Spring’ or now the ‘Arab Winter’ but I call it ‘50 Shades of Black,’” he said, referring to the various jihadist groups across the region.“We cannot ignore what is going on around us. Each side is learning and therefore we must not only stay one step of our enemy but 100 steps ahead of the threat we think the enemy might have,” he said. “We are very adaptive and rational in facing regional steps and revolutionary steps are being taken to keep our qualitative military edge.”But the base is set to close and be moved to Hatzor Airbase near Ashdod in January 2019.“I’m very enthusiastic about the move, operationally it’s better, there are longer runways and it’s not hybrid (referring to the civilian part of the airport). While there may be logistical issues at the beginning, in the end, the air force will have better operational capabilities.”
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>The Toronto Maple Leafs are losing a lot of hockey games right now. Not just losing, but putting up final scores that look like they forgot the game was happening that night. Jerseys are pouring onto the ice from angry fans, sometimes in the middle of play. People are calling for heads, or at least transactions. I get it; the realization that a single firing isn’t a magic cure-all to the standings is a harsh one. But if these last six games are any sort of indication; things will turn around.
Playing Keep-Away
Let’s start with the obvious. The Toronto Maple Leafs, at least in these first few games look like a much better defensive team using the Peter Horachek-approved bag of tricks. Even the “watch the games” crowd can attest to this – the five/five/five system that is being employed now seems to have the wingers significantly more involved in backchecking and has the defencemen following the play way sooner, leading to fewer rush turnovers.
But what do the numbers say? So far, the Leafs are giving up 56 shot attempts per sixty minutes at even strength – down from 63.6. The change is pretty much universal; out of the 17 players who have played at least four of the last six games, only Sam Carrick, Trevor Smith, and Cody Franson have seen their attempts allowed go up compared to their time with Carlyle.
Most notable is the difference that the first line is seeing. James van Riemsdyk is down 11.8 CA per 60, Tyler Bozak is down 14.9, and Phil Kessel is down a whopping 22.2. The sheer difference in these numbers, which are now in line with the rest of the team instead of being massive outliers, lead me to believe that there was strategical fault with the roles that the top line were assigned previously.
Pucks To The Net
On the whole, the Leafs are actually attempting more shots than they have previously. Now, there may be some reasoning behind this; most notably, the fact that they’ve been the trailing team, but I don’t think it’s playing a major factor (the games have been by and large close and the opponents haven’t really gone into “shell” tactics).
Over the six games, Toronto has taken an average of 54.8 attempted shots per 60 minutes. Leading up to Carlyle’s firing, they had averaged 51.2. It’s not a gigantic difference, but any time you can find a way to have a 7% greater opportunity to succeed, you’d be wise to go for it.
By and large, the players are having this increase reflected on their individual numbers. The exceptions to the rule are Mike Santorelli (down just 1.5), Morgan Rielly, Nazem Kadri, and Stephane Robidas. Kadri’s drop is a little concerning at about 9.5 attempts fewer, but I think that has a lot to do with not having his usual linemates – his individual attempt numbers are up, unlike the others. Also joining the individual decline are the two Davids, Booth and Clarkson.
To wrap things up, 14 of 17 players have seen improved possession numbers. Morgan Rielly, Nazem Kadri, and Cody Franson have seen slight dips, but they’re all under a percentage point (Kadri went from 49.6 to 49.5 – the horror!). These three were also ranked 1st, 3rd, and 5th in CF% on the roster, so I don’t know how stressed I am about them being the blips. Overall, the team is driving play better than before.
Quality over Quantity
Something often uttered by defenders of the previous system was that shot quality was an important factor to consider. Basically, they believed that the bulk of Toronto’s shots against weren’t realistic opportunities to score, and that the Leafs’ opportunistic ways meant they were drawing better chances to score.
Coincidentally, War-on-Ice brought out a nifty new Scoring Chances statistic – it uses location and gives particular preference to rebounds and rush shots. Surely, if there was something to the Leafs systems and shot quality, we’d be able to see it with the Scoring Chances stat, correct?
As it turns out, the Leafs were giving up far and away the most scoring chances in the NHL at the time of the firing – almost 6% more than 29th place Buffalo, where hockey goes to die. By comparison, the Detroit Red Wings, a good hockey team coached by a guy that everybody in Toronto wants to take over the bench, have given up 39% fewer scoring chances this year than the Leafs. Offensively, Toronto is around the middle of the pack.
But how do the new buds compare to the old ones? In the defensive zone, it’s even more lopsided than the shot attempt differential – there’s been a 22.6% decrease in scoring chances, down nearly eight per sixty minutes. Every single player on the team is giving up significantly fewer opportunities; seven players are giving up nine fewer per sixty, which is a ridiculous difference. Stephane Robidas and Jake Gardiner have slashed their allowance by half, which is probably too good to be true, but cool to see.
Scoring chances for, though? This is where the team has seen a slight drop, though it’s only by a single chance every three games. Most notably, the high-offensive minute players are the ones seeing the drops; the first line, Rielly, Kadri, and Gardiner. Robidas’s scoring chances are slashed too, but he seems to just be playing really low event hockey on the whole, spending most of his ice time in the neutral zone.
As well, Booth and Clarkson find themselves back on this list – I’d guess that Booth is having injury recovery struggles and that “try not to fall and stand in front of net” isn’t flying with Horachek, leading Clarkson to suffer for now. Individual scoring chance numbers are similar, with the exception that Kadri’s turn back up (probably for the reasons mentioned prior), and Santorelli’s dip a bit down.
The Goals Will Come
I think that the most important numbers to come out of this losing skid are 1.5 and 0.895; those are the Leafs’ shooting and save percentages since they last won a game. After years of being the little PDO machine that could, the team is riding a 910 at perhaps the worst possible time.
Here’s the thing about all of this; these changes should be a massive boost to goal differential. Take this into consideration.
Of all of the shots that the Leafs attempt that don’t count as scoring chances, 2.1% of them find their way into the net (best in the NHL). The ones that are? 7.8%, near the NHL’s mid tier. One of the reasons that the Leafs have sustained an above average shooting percentage over the years, using the “eyeball test”, is because their shooters have, well, a lot of shooting talent, and quite frankly, are better at turning low-percentage shots into goals. For a lot of these guys, it’s not about having quality opportunities, but rather their ability to turn lemons into lemonade.
Scoring chances are obviously preferable; Toronto is 374% more likely to score on a chance than a standard attempted shot. But that ratio is actually the lowest in the NHL. Ottawa is 1400% more likely to score on a scoring chance! Anaheim is 1044%! Typically, most teams are in the 6-700% range; Toronto seemingly requires them less.
With that considered, sacrificing a scoring chance every few games for a few more non-chance opportunites, in the long run, should lead to a very slight amount more goals scored. Nothing to phone home about (seriously, its about 3 or 4 goals a season), but it’s there.
The trade off? Goals against, where a huge difference occurs. Toronto is very lucky to have the goaltending duo they do; while they’re below the curve in stopping non-chance shots, they’re second best in the NHL in stopping shots that come off of scoring chances. Either way, they want to minimize both of these types of events – a goaltender allows 0% of the shots that he doesn’t face.
Assuming that Bernier and Reimer stop pucks as they have throughout the year, the decreases in scoring chances bring the Leafs from a projected even-strength GAA of 2.63 to 2.16. That’s nearly half a goal a game, or 38 goals a season. Even if you’re only gaining 3 or 4 in the goals for column, shaving off 30 goals against is a gigantic gap.
In fact, a 40 goal differential swing like that is probably enough to put the Leafs in or close to the playoffs in every season they’ve missed in the past decade.
Conclusion?
Obviously, it’s a pretty small sample, but it seems like the numbers are matching the eyeballs here. The aggressive zone coverage by the Leafs, on the whole, has lead to a slight uptick in opportunities to score and massive drop in opportunities to get scored on.
It’s a real downer to watch the Leafs lose hockey games, but they’ve lost this pocket to a bunch of very good teams (even Carolina is playing well of late) under historically bad puck luck. Even getting to the average should be enough to get the Leafs back in the swing of things, probably in a way that’s better than one has seen throughout the year.
Is it enough to get them back into playoff contention? I don’t know – probably not. But they’re playing better hockey, and in the long run, that’s a positive. They’re not going to lose 2-0 forever and the games have gone from “DO THEY EVEN KNOW HOW TO HOCKEY?” to “IS THERE A VOODOO HEX ON THEIR STICKS?”.
At the end of the day, the name of the game is scoring more goals than the other team. The Leafs have some steps to ensure that a scenario like that is more frequent, and it looks like they’ll keep those steps intact despite the recent results. Now it’s just time to work on the “scoring more goals” part.8/30/2011 Update: This car has been sold to Europe.
From 8/10/2010:
Of the 252 BMW 507’s ever built, this is the 12th one produced and it wears serial number 70.012. The car was one of three originally shipped to the USA in February 1957 and now shows 39,584 original miles. Records indicate that after spending several decades in the USA, the car was purchased in 1977 by a Japanese collector and shipped to Japan where it remains today. It has all matching numbers and comes with both Japanese and California titles and both original black plates. It is available in Osaka, Japan for $950k.
The 507 was intended to revive BMW’s sporting image but instead, because of extensive research and build costs, it took the company to the edge of bankruptcy. The Series 1, also known as the “Continental Version,” was designed to be a sports car for the USA, and only 34 were made. It was first introduced at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York in the summer of 1955. The body is almost entirely hand-formed aluminum and no two models are exactly the same. Finished in Feather White over bright red leather with a black soft top, this car has the right look and even looks impressive with the top raised.
The Albrecht Von Goertz body design has never looked better, and the color-matched wheels cover the big Alfin drum brakes at all four corners. Inside the interior is in lovely condition, and the striking color combination was clearly specified for the US market. The dash, upholstery, and factory steering wheel are all in top condition.
70.012 is equipped with its original 3168cc V8 engine #40020 and a 4-speed manual transmission.
This is an impressive example of one of the best looking open cars of all time. We are excited to feature it here as a BaT Exclusive and while it does look terrific standing still, we hope that the next owner can drive it as it was meant to be. Check out the Flickr album slide-show below for 50+ detail photos.A multi-million dollar budget hole has Frisco ISD scrambling to find new ways to bring in cash.
Voters rejected a tax increase that would've paid for expansion already underway, so the board voted Monday to make students pay to play sports.
Some call it “pay to play,” but the district calls it an "operations fee.” Come fall 2017, Frisco ISD middle school students will have to pay $100 to play school sports. High school students will have to pay $200.
The school board approved the fee Monday night when voting for the new budget. The district spends about $10 million a year on extra-curricular activities. This fee is intended to offset athletics costs for transportation, security, laundry and game officials.
“This is a one-time fee that we're asking for the district,” said Frisco ISD Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Pickens. “I can't speak for booster clubs or other outside costs. But as far as the district is concerned, this is a one-time fee."
Pickens says it's needed to keep the budget balanced through the next school year after suffering a $20 million budget shortfall. A vote to raise the tax rate in Frisco failed last fall. That money would have helped support the district. Instead, the school board made cuts like delaying the opening of four schools to save money on staffing. Teachers will still get a two percent raise next year.
Some parents worry the fees could sideline students from less affluent homes. District officials promised there would be discounts or scholarships for kids who want to play sports but can’t afford it. The athletics department is identifying students with financial needs and will work with those students.
There are several North Texas school districts that have similar fees like Highland Park and Coppell.A Uniqlo store in Beijing has become a selfie hotspot after five people were arrested over a sex tape filmed at the branch that went viral last week.
Among the five includes a young couple who shot themselves having sex inside the clothing store’s changing room, using only a cell phone. The local police released a statement saying the five individuals “were detained on suspicion of spreading obscene content,” reported The Guardian.
The video was posted online last Tuesday, and garnered millions of views and thousands of comments before most posts took it down, according to CNN.
Before the arrests, Chinese Internet users speculated that the footage was part of a marketing campaign by the Japanese clothing retailer, prompting the retailer to deny the rumor: “We would like to remind all customers to abide by society’s moral standard… and properly and appropriately use our fitting rooms,” the company said in a statement.
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The branch has also become a magnet for young Chinese looking to take selfies in front of the three-story flagship store, where the quickie took place. “I came here because of the clip,” a young Chinese man told CNN, who asked not to be named while taking a photo of himself in front of the store.
China’s criminal law stipulates whoever distributes obscene material can be sentenced to imprisonment for less than three years. Those that disseminate such material for profit can face life imprisonment.
Contact us at editors@time.com.Currently, a 4Mbps broadband connection — barely enough to stream a single HD movie and insufficient for accessing higher-definition content or for homes with multiple simultaneous data-heavy uses — is considered “broadband” in the eyes of the Federal Communications Commission, though that should change with the FCC’s plan to redefine broadband as the significantly faster 25Mbps, which would acknowledge both the recent improvements in broadband delivery and consumers’ increased use of web-connected devices. And yet the cable industry is fighting to retain the already outdated 4Mbps standard for broadband.
In a letter letter [PDF] sent late last week to the FCC by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association — a trade group headed by former FCC Chairman Michael “Yes I’m Colin’s Son But That’s Not How I Got The Job” Powell — the cable industry argues that the Commission is going too far in trying to use the 25Mbps benchmark for broadband.
First, the NCTA warns the FCC that if it’s going to redefine broadband, that new standard should only apply to the Commission’s reports on broadband deployment; that it shouldn’t be used to determine providers’ support levels for the Connect America Fund. Doing so “would present inevitable tensions given the divergent legal standards and regulatory objectives at play,” argues NCTA.
Beyond that, the cable industry contends that the proposed 25Mbps standard is not legally tenable as it believes the law mandating periodic FCC reports on the deployment of “advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans” is intended to be a look at whether or not consumers have access to services that can support current, regular uses of broadband.
According to NCTA, the average consumer’s current broadband needs are “well below the 25 Mbps/3 Mbps threshold currently under consideration.”
The industry brushes off statements made by supporters of the redefinition, who claim that the faster speeds are needed to support delivery of 4K video content.
“[O]nly a tiny fraction of consumers use their broadband connections in this manner,” writes the NCTA, not acknowledging that many of its members were recently at CES 2015 talking up plans to bring 4K video to their customers in the coming, or that the entire television industry — from content to manufacturing — believes that 4K is an inevitability.
NCTA also claims that there is no evidence to support claims that many American households have multiple users streaming data-heavy content simultaneously — again in spite of the fact that many of its member cable providers advertise this ability to their broadband customers.
The letter points to a recent FCC report that not many people with the ability to choose a 25Mbps broadband package choose that tier of service, instead opting for less-expensive, slower packages.
“In light of these findings, the adoption of a 25 Mbps/3 Mbps benchmark would improperly substitute the speculative judgment of the Commission for the actual, demonstrated preferences of consumers in the marketplace,” writes NCTA, once more glossing over the part where some of its member companies charge prices for 25Mbps service that make it unaffordable to consumers; meaning it may not be so much a matter of people choosing slower speeds as it may be a case of consumers paying for what is in their budgets.
So why is NCTA putting up such a fuss? It’s the faint mirage of “competition” in the broadband market all but evaporates when you raise the standard for what constitutes broadband.
At the outdated 4Mbps standard, 86% of Americans have access to broadband, which would then include numerous DSL products available through landline phone providers. But when you crank up the broadband standard to 25Mbps, the number of us with the choice between multiple broadband providers drops all the way down to 37%.
With the nation’s two largest cable-TV providers trying to merge — while both claiming they don’t compete and that there is plenty of competition in the marketplace — the NCTA doesn’t want the FCC to put out a report showing how little competition there is among broadband providers providing speeds that will still be relevant in a couple of years.
[via National Journal]Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
David Moyes' short-lived reign as Manchester United manager could have been helped by predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson, according to presenter Richard Keys.
Wednesday saw Keys confess on his personal blog that he was happy to give the Scot tips during his time at Old Trafford, while also slamming Ferguson for the reaction to Moyes' failure:
Fergie makes Moyes out to be an incompetent fool. What will prospective employers at clubs Moyes will see himself as a contender to manage going forward conclude? It's to be hoped the same as me. I too was full of advice for David during his time at Old Trafford. I thought sacking Mike Phelan was a mistake but having spoken to David it turns out there was a very good reason to do it. I'm certainly not going to share that information here. Rene Meulenstein's subsequent resignation was an unexpected blow.
Keys' criticism of Ferguson is made in reference to the ex-tactician washing his hands of Moyes' selection for the United helm in his autobiography.
The former Sky Sports broadcaster lambasts Ferguson for not offering Moyes more aid when it was required, going on to say: "Here's an idea - text him and find out what he wanted. Better still - call him."
Clint Hughes/Associated Press
Prior to his misogyny-related sacking from Sky Sports, per Metro, Keys was perhaps a figure the British public might have held in some esteem relating to their knowledge of the game.
However, his input has become less valuable in light of developments in recent years, with Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News and ESPN's Alex Shaw providing a more comical take on his "advice":
However, Keys is arguably correct in one area. He alleges that, boasting a far greater reputation and renown in the European game than Moyes ever has, Louis van Gaal is receiving more favourable treatment with the Manchester United board.
Peter Dejong/Associated Press
Whereas £27.5 million Marouane Fellaini stood as the jewel of Moyes' first transfer window at Old Trafford, Van Gaal was permitted to spend in excess of £150 million this past summer.
A great deal of good it seems to be doing, too, as WhoScored.com illustrates some worrying similarities between Van Gaal's Red Devils and the team under Moyes:
It supports the notion that the main issue at Old Trafford lies with the quality of the squad. After all, that stands as the one common denominator between the two, although Van Gaal is doing his best to correct that.
For all the advice Keys might have offered, it seems Moyes' position at the club may have been doomed from the start, the successor to Ferguson always likely to have a nigh impossible task in living up to their predecessor's standards.President Trump threatened to shut down the government over building his promised wall on the U.S.-Mexico border during a campaign rally in Phoenix on Aug. 22. (The Washington Post)
President Trump’s threat to shut down the federal government over his demand for $1.6 billion in border wall money could upend delicate negotiations on Capitol Hill to keep the government open and funded past Sept. 30, further entrenching Democrats against what they see as an unpopular president scrambling to appeal to his base of supporters.
During a campaign rally in Phoenix on Tuesday night, Trump leveled his latest threat about blocking new government funding if it doesn’t include the $1.6 billion he wants to partially construct a new wall along the Mexico border.
“Build that wall,” he said. “Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall.”
Government operations are only funded through |
treated zoo animals is Mosul, Iraq and describes himself as a ‘roving war zone veterinarian’. In war torn areas animals are often neglected and forgotten but remain trapped in captivity. Dr Khalil is truly a war hero for the animal kingdom.
A second rescue missions is planned for the coming week in order to bring the rest of the inhabitants at the abandoned amusement park, “Magic World” to Turkey to be given a second chance at life. Thankfully, the current tests that are being performed have been funded by a donation from Eric Margolis. However, donations towards allowing the rescued animals to have a ‘bright future’ are welcome and you can donate to this specific cause here.
Four Paws aren’t only committed to helping animals in war torn countries. They do a variety of work across the world which includes both rescuing animals and pressuring governments and large corporations to take a stand against animal cruelty.
One of their successes in recent years was convincing some of the biggest UK pet food retailers to take a stand against caged rabbit farming in mainland Europe and refuse to buy rabbit meat from them for use in pet food. The same campaign also saw Nestle Purina and Mars Petcare take the pledge to stay away from caged rabbit meat.
Four Paws improve the lives of stray animals by giving them the medical treatment they need and neutering them so that they don’t have to be put down. The charity were also instrumental in closing down Thailand’s ‘Tiger Temple’ last year which saw the rescue of nearly 140 captive tigers who had been poorly treated and used as tourist attractions. At one point nearly 150 tigers were being kept there by monks so that tourists could have pictures taken with them, cuddle them and even walk them around on leashes.
The work that Four Paws carry out is phenomenal and continued support will allow them to free many other animals kept in cruel conditions.
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[/et_pb_social_media_follow_network] [/et_pb_social_media_follow][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]Michigan Theatre
Generations of Detroiters used to park their seats under the jaw-dropping ornate plasterwork and opulence of a downtown movie palace. Today, they park their cars there.
The 4,038-seat Michigan Theatre was designed in the French Renaissance style in 1925 and was simply unrivaled in Detroit in elegance at the time. The Michigan was built at Bagley and Cass avenues at a cost of more than $3.5 million ($42.4 million today, when adjusted for inflation) and was the only Detroit theater designed by renowned architects Cornelius W. and George L. Rapp. The theater was the Rapp brothers’ third largest, and it, and the 13-story Michigan Building office tower that it is connected to, would open in 1926.
The majestic Michigan
The original plan was for the office tower to be called the Metropolitan Building, not to be confused with the Neo-Gothic gem on John R. Street. The theater was to be named the Chicago. These names were tossed out in March 1925, about the same time that wreckers were beginning demolition to make way for the Michigan. Razed were the St. Denis Hotel, a gas station, restaurant, blacksmith shop, employment bureau, Detroit Creamery Co. warehouse, the Mantle Tile & Grate Co. and other structures. The theater’s owners, the Detroit Properties Corp., decided to go with the more appropriately named Michigan Building and Michigan Theatre.
The Michigan complex was the first piece in an ambitious program planned for Bagley Avenue and sponsored by the Stormfeltz-Loveley real estate company. The other two key pieces were the United Artists Theatre and the 22-story Detroit-Leland Hotel. Before the Michigan Theatre rose in 1926, the eastern end of Bagley was “a wide, unkempt thoroughfare with nondescript buildings lining most of its length,” the Detroit Free Press wrote in January 1928. “The growth of business on that part of Bagley avenue that has been touched by the magic of enterprise - that has felt the guiding hands of this far-seeing group, these public-spirited citizens - is one of Detroit’s commercial marvels. … The average native Detroiter believes that it is quite natural for unusual things to be the usual in Detroit, but this great investment in such an undeveloped district made him wonder.”
The theater was run by the Balaban & Katz group of Chicago in affiliation with Detroit’s first theater tycoon, John H. Kunsky. It would be Kunsky’s flagship in his empire of theaters. The Michigan Theatre opened Aug. 23, 1926, with the film “You Never Know Women” with Florence Vidor and Lowell Sherman. The opening was the same day that one of the silent screen’s biggest stars, Rudolph Valentino, died at age 31 of peritonitis caused by a perforated ulcer. Kunsky was known as a risk-taker, and he bet that the Michigan’s opulence and grand opening would be a big enough draw to allow him to open his new theater with the lesser film while putting Valentino’s last film, “The Son of the Sheik,” at his much smaller Adams Theatre down the street. “That way, a lot of customers would come to Kunsky houses twice. To the Adams to see the screen’s greatest lover. To the Michigan, to see an eye-popping playhouse,” the Detroit News wrote in November 1970.
“It is not merely a theatre for Detroit,” Kunsky told The Detroiter in August 1926. “It is a theatre for the whole world. It is designed to be the great showplace of the middle west.”
The Free Press’ review of the theater’s opening showed Kunsky was a man of his word: “It is beyond the dreams of loveliness; entering, you pass into another world. Your spirit rises and soars along the climbing pillars and mirrored walls that ascend five stories to the dome of the great lobby. It becomes gay and light under the warm coloring that plays across the heavily carved and ornamental walls as myriads of unseen lights steal out from mysteriously hidden coves to illume the interior with romantic sundown colors.”
R.J. McLaughlin’s review in the Detroit Daily News described the theater as “a new jewel to Detroit … bound to have its historic value in the city, for another such theatre is not likely to be built while the memory of this is yet green.” Ella H. McCormick wrote in the Free Press that the Michigan is “heralded as the world’s finest. … No one will dispute these assertions after having seen this magnificent building, with its opulence in decorative art … its thousand and one features planned for the complete enjoyment of patrons.”
The theater was loaded in extravagant details, from its auditorium to its four-story, 1,000-square-foot, mirror-paneled, black-and-white checkered-floor Grande Lobby. The lobby was complete with columns and red velvet hangings, marble archways, lavish towering columns, baskets of flowers and large crystal chandeliers. A lovely wide staircase with carved balustrades and covered in lush red carpet stood at the other end. A grand piano entertained guests waiting for the movie to start. Between every pair of columns was an oil painting, works of art by the National Academy, such as Thomas Hovenden’s “The Story of the Hunt,” Douglas Volk’s “Puritan Girl” and Edwin Blashfield’s “A Modern Rebecca.” All of the sculptures, busts, intricately carved furnishings, paintings and onyx pedestals filling the Michigan’s lobby made it seem as much a museum as a movie theater.
The mezzanine level was initially reserved for black-tie invited guests and had gilded foyers and subdued lighting and also was decorated with paintings. There also were luxurious lounges and “cosmetic rooms” for women and “retiring rooms” for men. A large replica of a fifth-century Roman sculpture depicting a horse and chariot stood there. It was said that ushers often had to shoo the kids who climbed into the “driver’s seat.” This horse and chariot, a replica of a sculpture in the Sala Della Biga (the Hall of the Chariot) at the Vatican, is believed to have been the largest sculpture in any U.S. movie palace. Another large sculpture, “Cupid and Psyche,” was a replica of a work by 18th-century artist Antonio Canova.
The huge auditorium featured six aisles of seats on each level, side boxes, 10-foot crystal chandeliers dangling eight floors above the seats below, a stage with orchestra pit and a 5/28 Wurlitzer organ that could be raised to the stage. Because films were silent until 1928, conductor Eduard Werner’s Michigan Symphony Orchestra and the 2,500-pipe Wurlitzer would set the moods for movies. At the time it opened, the Free Press wrote that the Michigan’s stage was so large, it “could house a circus.” Indeed, it continued, the stage could “accommodate the most colossal stage production likely to ever be required.” While that was a little 1920s hyperbole, one opening night beholder still described the theater as “a castle of dreams and an ocean of seats,” the Detroit News Magazine wrote in September 1968.
The theater opened with five shows daily, starting at 10:30 every morning. The usual shows consisted of a concert by the orchestra, two 20-minute stage shows, singers and dancers and then a film. “And with a policy of any seat in the theatre for the same price, and prices ranging from 35 cents to 75 cents according to the time of day … it is expected that the theatre will be filled to capacity constantly,” The Detroiter wrote in August 1926.
Stars like the Marx Brothers, Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Louis Armstrong, Red Skelton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Doris Day, the Dorsey Brothers and Bette Davis all appeared on the Michigan’s stage. But by the late 1940s, changing times led the Michigan to focus mostly on movies.
Second fiddle to a chimp
One of the more memorable stories involving the Michigan and its stars involved Bob Hope. On one of Hope’s early visits to the theater, he said he thought he was headlining. He said he walked around to the front of the theater and found himself second-billed on the marquee to an actor named Joe Mendi.
That might not have been a huge shock at the time considering Mendi was one of the best-known entertainers in Detroit - only Mendi was a chimpanzee that performed at the Detroit Zoological Park. His death in September 1934 was big news, trumping even a deadly cruise ship fire that killed more than 130 people.
The curtain’s rise and fall
After Kunsky’s chains of theaters failed during the Depression, the Michigan became part of the United Detroit Theaters, where it spent most of its theater life. United Detroit had 25 theaters in the city in the days before government monopoly-busters forced the chain to divest itself of some of its theaters. While United Detroit hung onto its gem, it would not keep the gem completely intact.
With sound fully established in theaters, the orchestra was expendable - as was the Wurlitzer, one of only three five-manual organs the company built. In 1955, the mighty Wurlitzer was sold to Fred Hermes of Racine, Wis., who installed it at his home the following year. Today, the organ still resides there, where performances are given in Hermes’ Basement Bijou, a two-story addition done up like an old movie palace.
The Michigan’s large, vertical, blade marquee was condemned by the city and later removed in 1952, and was replaced with a less exciting standard marquee. To keep up with the times, a wide screen was installed in 1954, which damaged the proscenium arch. In 1953, the Michigan was one of only 12 theaters in the country showing 3D movies like “House of Wax” with Vincent Price.
With the rise of television and suburban theaters, attendance at Detroit’s movie houses dropped off dramatically by the 1960s. One by one the grand movie houses’ marquees went dark: the Annex in 1949, the Oriental the year after, the Majestic the year after that, the Hollywood in 1958. And that’s not taking into account the dozens upon dozens of small neighborhood theaters that closed up shop. Many of those who weren’t closed were relegated to subpar flicks, second-run status, or worse - porn.
The show’s over
By the mid-1960s, the Michigan was among those that had become unprofitable. United Detroit Theaters sold the theater and office tower on March 1, 1967, for $1.5 million (about $9.7 million today). But the new owners cared only about the Michigan Building and had little interest in running a movie house. The theater would close four days later, on March 5, 1967, after a double billing of “The Spy With a Cold Nose” with Laurence Harvey and “A Thousand Clowns” with Jason Robard.
“There was nothing spectacular about the final curtain call for the 40-year-old downtown theater,” the Free Press wrote the next morning. “The last scene flashed on the big screen … the house lights brightened … the audience shuffled across the rich red carpet … and that was that.”
Only 400 people took in the show, a far cry from the theater’s glory days, when its 4,000 seats often weren’t enough. “I remember when people used to wait in line four hours just to get in the show,” projectionist Charles Milles, then 73, told the Free Press that night. “In those days we even had performers in the lobby to entertain the customers before they sat down.”
The theater was set up for a date with the wrecking ball, but Nicholas George, a man who operated 11 theaters in metro Detroit, came to its rescue and stepped in to save it in 1967. George, an intuitive showman, bought the theater and did what no one else dared: attempted to revive it. George spruced up the Michigan, repairing, repainting, recarpeting, redraping and relamping the place. He told the News in 1968 that he had paid more for renting the film that he reopened the Michigan with - “Valley of the Dolls” - than he had for the theater itself.
“The first time I saw the Michigan Theater, it was as beautiful as any palace I had ever seen,” George told the Detroit News Magazine for a September 1968 story. Owning it was a dream come true, he said.
But the touch-ups couldn’t keep the majestic Michigan afloat, and it briefly closed three years later, at 12:13 a.m. on Dec. 3, 1970. She went out with bells on. “The last day was something special,” Bob Warsham wrote in a letter published in a Theatre Historical Society book on the Michigan. “All the lights and coves were lit. Several areas were lit that in 3 years of bi-weekly movie going I had never seen before. The original paint job is still in the upper areas of the auditorium and is in rose, creme and old gold and despite the fact that it is slightly soiled, it still looked impressive. The loge and mainfloor areas are repainted tastefully and the ‘diamond’ horseshoe of the loge was all lit in royal blue.”
The Michigan’s glory had passed, though it would reopen its doors the following month and stayed in business until June 1971. Then the screen went dark for good.
George donated the fixtures, furniture and art to the Detroit Institute of Arts, though much of it was dismissed as being unworthy of the collection and quietly disappeared from the museum’s holdings. The library of orchestra sheet music, intact from the silent days, suffered a much worse fate,” theater historian John Lauter told HistoricDetroit.org. “It was donated to Wayne State University’s music department. An instructor there labeled it ‘so much 19th Century thematic clap-trap,’ or words to that effect and most of it went to WSU’s dumpsters.”
Dinner and a movie - minus the movie
Sam Hadous took out a 16-year lease on the theater with the owners of the Michigan Building and set out on a $500,000 renovation to transform the movie palace into a giant super club. “I’m not a rich man,” Hadous told the Detroit News in January 1972. “I can’t afford to have any doubts at all about the location. The suburbs may now have all the (first-run) movie houses, but I’m going to have something that nobody else has in the state - a 1,500-seat club offering the biggest name talent available.”
On Jan. 19, 1972, workers started removing seats to make way for the table and chair setup. A kitchen was added, and the inclined floors were leveled into four flat sections, each elevated above the other. The mezzanine was restored, but the balcony remained closed. The supper club opened March 27 with a performance by Duke Ellington and with a new name, the Michigan Palace. Ellington, incidentally, had performed at the Michigan Theatre back in 1934.
The club floundered, lasting only a few months, and the Michigan fell into the hands of rock promoter Steven Glantz, who turned it into a concert venue in 1973 but kept the Michigan Palace name. Many of the top rock acts of the 1970s performed there, including David Bowie, The Stooges, The New York Dolls, Aerosmith, Bob Seger, Rush, Iron Butterfly, Blue Oyster Cult and Badfinger.
But its time as a rock venue would hint at the destruction that was to come. While rock and rolling all night (and partying every day) to Kiss or T.Rex, concert-goers left their mark on the Michigan. Marble met marker. Glamorous chairs and tables met gum. Polished brass and glass met grime. Mirrors met fists. The rock days were “the kiss of death” for the Michigan, Lauter said.
Bret Eddy described the devastation in a letter published in the Theatre Historical Society’s book on the Michigan: “For the first time I saw the Michigan Theatre as a dowdy old lady; some of the red velvet railings had been ripped out, and the floor was littered with much debris. … We mounted the grand stairway with its red carpet littered with mashed paper cups and some of their contents, to the once elegant mezzanine, where we found vodka bottles and beer cans piled in corners. … My mind, rebelling at the sordid scenes we had witnessed, thought of ancient Rome having reached new heights of architectural beauty, only to be invaded and ravaged by barbarian tribes.”
The Michigan Palace didn’t fair well as a nightclub either and closed in 1976 following a dispute between the building’s owners, Bagley Associates Ltd., and Glantz over $175,000 in damage to the interior.
Parking in a palace
Tenants in the adjoining office building, including the Charge Card Association, needed secure parking, and were threatening to leave for another office building if something was not done. The theater, now in tremendous disrepair and silent, was considered a waste of space, and its owners looked at razing the theater for parking.
“According to Palace employees, the rowdy rockers sounded the death knell for the Michigan,” the Free Press wrote in July 1976. “Vandalism and damage to the structure are so great that it is more feasible to demolish it than to attempt a reconstruction. Inside the theater, mirrors have been smashed, fixtures ripped from the walls, seats torn from the floor and graffiti scrawled on the walls and floors. Most surfaces are covered with mold and soot. Holes in the roof drip water onto the debris-covered floor.”
“When it’s all said and done, it just makes a hell of a lot more sense to tear it down than to try to fix it up again,” an unnamed worker told the Free Press in the same article. “What we’re actually looking at is the end of an era.”
But architectural studies showed that literally bringing the house down would jeopardize the soundness of the adjoining Michigan Building. The solution was one of the most unusual, albeit creative, fates to ever befall such a landmark: It would be carved into the state’s only Italian Renaissance-style parking garage. Cherubs that had once flanked stars of stage and screen would now flank cars.
In 1977, the building’s owners paid $525,000 to gut the theater and build a three-level, 160-space parking deck inside it. The mezzanine and balcony were brought down, as was the grand staircase and one wall of the grand lobby. While walls were knocked out and beauty ravaged, much of the theater remains today. Its ticket booth, four-story lobby, proscenium arch, part of the upper balcony, and even the red curtain, all partially remain.
“We wanted to leave some of the theater’s beauty intact,” Leo Cooney, president of the Charge Card Association, told the Free Press in September 1978 in explaining the unusual decision.
The Golden Movement Emporium, an architectural antique auction company out of California, bought the rights to take anything that wasn’t holding the building up. Chandeliers, light fixtures, sinks, hand railings and more were all ripped from the walls and taken to the auction block. For 30 years, it went around to ritzy homes, hotels and restaurants rescuing fancy furnishings an selling them to the highest bidder until closing up shop in 2000.
Today, the sight of cars parked under grimy though still gorgeous plaster details draws tourists, photographers and gawkers in disbelief.
In a twist that is as sad as it is ironic, the theater was built on the site of the small garage where Henry Ford built his first automobile, the quadricycle. (The garage was disassembled by Henry Ford and moved to his museum in Dearborn, Mich.)
The site of Ford Motor’s birthplace replaced by a movie theater, reclaimed by the automobile.
It truly is a story that could happen only in Detroit.1 / 1 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
For anyone who relies on protein bars as an afternoon or after workout snack, they should be warned about nonmilitary friendly ingredients in their all-natural selections.
"Strong & Kind" bars which include Hickory Smoked, Roasted Jalapeno, Honey Mustard, Thai Sweet Chili, and Honey Smoked BBQ, contain hemp seeds in their ingredients. These seeds may contain low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, a chemical found in marijuana, which the Army believes may be detectable in drug screening tests.
This ingredient is not included the Kind fruit and nut bars and a complete list can be found at www.kindsnacks.com.
The Army's position on the consumption of hemp seeds, or its derivatives, is similar to its sister services and follows laws and guidelines set forth by U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Army Regulation 600-85 para 4-2, (p) states that, "…Soldiers are prohibited from using Hemp or products containing Hemp oil." And the "…Violations of paragraph 4-2 (p) may subject offenders to punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and or administrative action."
DOD regulations are based on several considerations, some of which are U.S. laws. In this case, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency categorized hemp seeds, "if they contain THC..." as an illegal product. (www.dea.gov/pubs/pressrel/pr100901.html)
Additionally, the Department of Justice issued a ruling on what products that contained THC were exempt from being treated as an illegal drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
In part, the ruling reads: "Specifically, the interim rule exempted THC- containing industrial products, processed plant materials used to make such products, and animal feed mixtures, provided they are not used, or intended for use, for human consumption and therefore cannot cause THC to enter the human body. (http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/rules/2003/fr0321.htm)"
As such, the Army has written its policy to adhere to and to enforce these laws. The bottom line-Soldiers may not consume hemp seeds or hemp oil.
So how can a product designed for consumption legally contain hemp seeds?
In 2004 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous decision, which DEA did not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, protecting the sale of hemp-containing foods. Those foods generally contain naturally occurring THC at less than the USDA guideline of 1 percent. Industrial hemp remains legal for import and sale in the U.S., but U.S. farmers still are not permitted to grow it.
According to University of California at Berkeley, most of the THC found in hemp seeds are located in the seed hulls, which are removed during processing. Today's hemp seeds are processed to reduce levels of THC to negligible quantities but 15 years ago industrial hemp had higher THC levels and the seeds were prepared differently for processing.
The school's wellness site also said that companies producing hemp today do so under a voluntary TestPledge program, indicating they follow quality control practices to limit THC concentrations, so that consumers will not fail a drug test.
Dr. Christopher States, the associate dean for research in the department of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, said a person would have to consume a large amount of hemp seeds to test positive for noticeable amounts of THC.
He explained that the cannabis plant developed as marijuana is grown so the THC level is high but it has a low level of cannabidiol. However, cannabis grown as hemp is raised with lower THC but will have a higher level of cannabidiol.
"There is a lot of data out there that says the amounts of THC in hemp seeds is negligible unless someone eats over 300 grams, which would be about two-thirds pound of hemp seeds," he noted. "And hemp seeds are a healthy source of protein with negligible traces of THC (also) hemp has cannabidiol oil which is what researchers are now using for epilepsy."
However, Capt. (Dr.) Christopher DiPiro at Ireland Army Community Hospital, said while there are very low amounts of THC in hemp seeds and although most people will not test positive after consuming the seeds, studies have shown 20 percent of those tested might pop hot after eating them.
He added that consuming hemp seeds is not harmful beyond the possibility of a failing a drug test.
Businesses dealing with DOD must be aware of requirements like AR 600-85 para 4-2, (p). Because of this regulation, AAFES does not carry "Strong and Kind" bars, said Chris Ward, a public relations specialist for AAFES, but they do carry the basic "Kind Bars." And DeCA public affairs specialist Rick Brink added that while, commissaries carry Kind Bars, they have also chosen not to carry Kind & Strong bars because of the hemp seed content.
"We strive to ensure products do not conflict with published DOD guidance," Ward explained.
Kind snack bars were created out of a "Kind need," after the president and CEO, Daniel Lubetzky, was tired of working long days and not being able to eat healthy during those times. In his new book, Lubetzky said he wanted something that was, "a wholesome snack option that could travel well, fill me up, and that tasted good," and whose ingredients he understood.
He wrote that he wanted a business that was profitable and served a social goal, "our mission of spreading kindness," a concept that came from one experience during World War II.
"My father, who survived the Dachau concentration camp during the Holocaust, told me of a time when a Nazi guard took risks by throwing him a rotten potato that provided him the sustenance he needed to go on," Lubetzky wrote. "Although that soldier could have gotten in trouble for helping a Jewish prisoner, he acted with compassion in the darkest of moments. My dad always credited the guard's action with helping him to stay alive."
He explained as the company founders brainstormed their brand name and mission, they settled on a concept that could affirm their, "three anchors of health, taste, and social responsibility: being KIND to your body, KIND to your taste buds, and KIND to your world."
In keeping with the goal of including only ingredients that someone could understand and that were good for the body, when the company came out with its Strong & Kind bars, it added hemp seeds.
Joe Cohen, a spokesman for the Kind Company, said in correspondence with this office that the reasons the hemp seeds are included in the those particular bars is for nutritional benefits.
"Hemp seeds contribute protein, fiber and other important nutrients such as potassium and phosphorus to our Strong & KIND bars," he explained. "Hemp, when combined with the protein from almonds, peas and pumpkin seeds, provide all nine essential amino acids."
Even though the DEA and DOJ have published final rules on the consumption of THC-containing hemp, there is a small window provided by the USDA at less than one percent for THC component. (www.usda.gov)
"Our Strong & KIND bars adhere to USDA testing and have a THC level of.001 percent. As referenced by the Congressional Research Service, a level of about 1 percent THC is considered the threshold for cannabis to have a psychotropic effect or an intoxicating potential," Cohen said.
However, the bottom line is--military guidance says the consumption of hemp products is off limits, and as such military personnel and DOD civilians are prohibited from eating such foods.
KIND offers a variety of nutritious bars and snack food items that do not include hemp, and can found by visiting www.kindsnacks.com.ISLAMABAD: With the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ready to take up the Salmaan Taseer murder case on Jan 27, it seems that the federal government’s law officers are reluctant to appear in court against the convict, Mumtaz Qadri.
An IHC division bench consisting of Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui will hear the case from Tuesday, but so far, none of the prosecutors assigned to the case have agreed to appear in court.
Read| Footprints: Mumtaz Qadri mosque, memorials to our misdeeds
A senior law officer told Dawn that in addition to the sensitivity of the case, the law officers deputed in the IHC are not well-versed in criminal law, but rather have experience with general civil cases. This is also why many are trying to avoid becoming prosecutors in the Taseer murder case.
Law officers hesitant to go to court due to sensitivity of case, lack of criminal law expertise; say police refuse to provide them extra protection
A deputy attorney general (DAG) told Dawn on condition of anonymity that it was the responsibility of the additional attorney general (AAG) to appear in this case, because he was the senior-most law officer at the IHC.
“It is the AAG’s responsibility to appear in such high profile cases. DAGs and standing counsel have to deal with a number of other routine cases,” he added.
On the other hand, sources in the AAG office claimed that the federal government had appointed the advocate general of Islamabad to prosecute Qadri’s case.
When contacted, Islamabad Advocate General Mian Abdul Rauf said that he had not received any such instructions so far, adding that if the competent authority assigned him the case, he would appear in this matter.
Also read: Mumtaz Qadri, Prison King
Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon, the standing counsel who deals with cases assigned to Justice Qureshi’s court, told Dawn that Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tahir Alam Khan did not extend special protection to him when he was appearing against the alleged Mumbai attack mastermind, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
“Since police are reluctant to protect government lawyers, it will not be possible for them to appear in such high profile cases,” he said.
In the past, a special judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court who convicted Mumtaz Qadri in Oct 2011 had to flee the country due to threats to his life.
Despite repeated attempts, IGP Tahir Alam Khan was not available for comment.
Mumtaz Qadri was a bodyguard assigned to protect former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. Qadri gunned down Taseer outside a restaurant in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market on Jan 4, 2011.
Read: Blasphemy law claims another life
He was awarded the death sentence by a Rawalpindi ATC on Oct 1, 2011. But the execution of the sentence was stayed by an IHC division bench on Oct 11, 2011 when Qadri, through his counsel Khawaja Mohammad Sharif – a former chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) – had challenged the conviction.
Meanwhile, in November 2012, the IHC heard an application filed by Mr Sharif asking for a medical board to examine the health of the convict.
Also read: Qadri gets death sentence in Salman Taseer’s murder
At the last hearing of the Taseer murder case in October 2011, a large number of Qadri’s supporters gathered outside the IHC and began reciting verses from the Holy Quran and devotional naats.
The IHC administration had deployed a heavy security contingent to maintain law and order and even asked the Rawalpindi police to stop buses carrying Qadri’s supporters from entering Islamabad.
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2015
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With the thread about the ending ceremony every GSL final being their absolute favorite moment of the entire SC2 e-sports scene, I have decided to go back and grab every ending moment with the GSL champion taking his deserved make out session with his new trophy. I am sure many people have been awaiting this type of thread for a long time, and I am happy to give you these moments to save forever. The poster of the Soulkey kissing trophy thread said that Soulkey was the best kisser of the GSL trophy in history, but do you agree with him?Personal vote goes to jjakji. He had excellent form.Mirror:What is Labour for? If you could pay a visit back to 1899, a railway signalman from Doncaster called Thomas R Steels would certainly have been able to answer. Exasperated at the lack of a political voice for working people while the wealthy had the Tories and Liberals to stand their corner, he drafted a resolution for his local union branch. It called on the Trade Union Congress to assemble a conference with the support “of all the cooperative, socialistic, trade union and other working-class organisations” to look at how it could win “a better representation of the interests of labour in the House of Commons”.
It was a controversial idea. The first socialist MP, Keir Hardie, had only been elected a few years ago; as he entered Parliament for the first time, a policeman eyed his working-class clothes and asked him if he was working on the roof. “No, on the floor,” he answered. Many on the left felt the best bet for working-class people was to piggyback on the Liberals, forcing them to introduce social reforms. But the TUC approved Steels’ motion – and a few years later, the Labour Party was born.
As Labour delegates gather in Manchester, they might struggle to see the relevance of Steels. Britain has changed beyond recognition: peering out of their hotel windows, they can see that many of the industrial warehouses of Steels’ time are now luxury penthouses. But while the people Labour exists to represent today work in shops, call centres and offices rather than factories, mines and docks, they still need a voice. By the end of this government – the most naked government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich since Steels was alive – they are projected to be poorer than at the turn of the 21st-century. If Labour cannot champion their interests now, of all times, it may as well sing “ The Red Flag” for the last time, and go home.
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Ed Miliband is often derided for his wonky manner, but it's just one symptom of a problem with the whole political establishment
When the Tories gather next week, they can feel assured they have a clear vision: to drive back the state as far as possible. How many Labour delegates feel confident their party has an equally compelling vision? The never-ending economic crisis is often called the Great Recession, but the Great Reverse is a more accurate description: the stripping away of a welfare state that Labour built. But even as its legacy is dismantled, Labour’s leadership remains impotent or – even worse – complicit.
Austerity has sucked growth out of the economy, sending borrowing – Osborne’s key test – surging. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has compared the Government’s approach to “a medieval doctor bleeding his patient, observing that the patient is getting sicker, not better, and deciding that this calls for even more bleeding”. If there is a time for Labour to present a coherent alternative, it is now. Instead, Ed Balls has promised the next Labour government will “be ruthless” about public spending, after pledging earlier this year that it was “going to have to keep all these |
it comes from a movie, with a couple scouts mentioning that he’s a Paul Bunyan-type character. Renfroe went to a small school in Mississippi, graduating with about 40 kids in his class and he was predictably the best athlete, playing multiple sports but not really focusing much on baseball specifically. He went to Mississippi State and moved positions while he really struggled to make contact in limited at-bats.
Renfroe was a catcher at one point (with pop times in the 1.7s, or easily plus plus) and also was an arm strength reliever that sat 93-96 and hit 98 mph, but with little command. He broke out in the summer after his sophomore year in the largely unscouted Cal Ripken League, then demolished the SEC (.345/.416/.620, 16 homers in 66 games) as a junior en route to going in the middle of the first round.
Adding to the legend, there is a persistent story about Renfroe that I first heard when I saw him play in Starkville; every scout I’ve asked has heard it as well but Renfroe refuses to confirm it. The story is that on at least one occasion, Renfroe chased down a deer in a meadow on foot, then ate it that night. There’s also a story from Padres people that the Dominican players were marveling at how effectively Renfroe would chase and catch giant spiders at the Padres complex during Dominican instructs.
Whether those stories are true or not, his first name appears to be apt, with one scout calling his hitting approach “hunt and hammer.” He has easy plus raw power that has changed from pull-only as an amateur to more of an all-field approach as a pro, though he still gets pull happy at times. One Padres official compared his quick-twitch, late-blooming plus bat speed, plus power profile to Nelson Cruz. One big difference is that Renfroe will turn in plus run times to first base on close plays, to go with his plus arm in right field. He occasionally plays center field in the minors and can fill in there if needed in the majors.
Given his short track record of success at the plate and some issues with plate discipline, some scouts are skeptical, with one saying that we aren’t sure that Renfroe isn’t Jeff Francoeur. He’s made adjustments so far at each level, with a half season in Double-A late in 2014 his only pro failure, which was then followed by a scorching-hot Arizona Fall League. On short looks and particularly late last year in Double-A, Renfroe can look bad against advanced pitching, with higher effort swings causing his mechanics to break down at times. The Padres are confident that from seeing all of his at bats and knowing his athleticism and makeup that he will continue to make adjustments at the plate.
Summation: With some looseness to his approach and a short track record of success, this gives Renfroe some risk but also more upside, since we don’t really know his limits yet. The Padres are all-in on this kid and suggested that if he keeps hitting like he did in the Fall League that he could be an everyday option late in 2015. With Justin Upton leaving after 2015, Renfroe appears to be the preferred choice to take his spot in 2016.
Upside:.275/.345/.475, 25 homers, solid average base running and defense
FV/Risk: 55, Medium (3 on a 1-5 scale)
Projected Path: 2015: AA/AAA, 2016: AAA/MLB
Video Credit to Scott Lucas
2. Matt Wisler, RHP
Current Level/Age: AAA/22.3, 6’3/195, R/R
Drafted: 233rd overall (7th round) in 2011 out of Ohio HS by SD for $500,000 bonus, Agency: Sosnick Sports
Fastball: 55/60, Slider: 55/60, Curveball: 45/45+, Changeup: 45/50+, Command: 45/50
Scouting Report: While Wisler isn’t the tall tale type character that Renfroe is, he has plenty of it factor and makeup to his credit as well. To pitch at the Padres pre-draft workout in San Diego, Wisler flew to the west coast from Ohio and pitched the day after he threw in a playoff game, hitting 91 mph at PETCO Park. Teams were scared by his signability, but the Padres inked him for $500,000 just before the season ended. He threw a few innings, but then came to camp in 2013 looking like a completely different pitcher.
Wisler works 91-94, touching 95 mph with sink and commands the pitch to both sides of the plate. His two-plane slider is plus, his changeup is above average at times and he also works in a fringy curveball. Scouts rave about his makeup and strike throwing abilities, though his command isn’t quite big league ready, as he ran into trouble in the hitter-friendly PCL leaving the ball up the zone. Some scouts think his build is too slight and that he won’t be able to hold up for 200 innings, with a couple suggested he may end up as a late-inning reliever. The consensus is that he should be able to handle 180 innings as a third or fourth starter.
He hasn’t really hit the bumps in development yet that most young pitchers go through, but he did sulk for a few weeks after not breaking with the big league team in 2014, and carried a bad last spring training appearance with him to Triple-A for a few starts. The Padres think his mental maturity progressed after having to deal with the PCL for a season, and he has a chance to grab an MLB rotation spot to open 2015.
Summation: It was a toss-up between Renfroe and Wisler for the #1 spot, with a 50-50 split among scouts I talked to. The consensus is that Renfroe is higher upside and riskier, with one source saying he prefers Wisler by a good margin for that reason. The recently-traded Jesse Hahn was the team’s fourth starter, so now there are two open spots to claim between Despaigne, Erlin, Luebke, Wisler and Kelly, with Luebke and Kelly getting their first action after Tommy John surgery. This could give Wisler a real chance to break with the club, but he’s expected to head back to Triple-A at least initially.
FV/Role/Risk: 55, #3/4 starter, Low (2 on 1-5 scale)
Projected Path: 2015: AAA/MLB, 2016: MLB
Trea Turner, SS
Current Level/Age: Lo-A/21.5, 6’1/175, R/R
Drafted: 13th overall (1st round) in 2014 out of North Carolina State by SD for $2.9 million bonus, Agency: CAA
Hit: 20/50, Raw Power: 40/40, Game Power: 20/40, Run: 70/70, Field: 50/55, Throw: 55/55
Note: As I tweeted after Turner’s name came up in the rumors around the Myers deal, he became eligible to be traded on December 13th, which was exactly 6 months after he signed his draft contract on June 13th. A player-to-be-named-later can be in question for up to 6 months and a drafted player has to wait until one year after he signs his contract to be traded. Turner will play for the Padres organization until June 13th, 2015, then will be shipped to the Nationals. Since he’s technically Padres property, I’ll list him here, but I won’t rank him since he’s already been traded.
Scouting Report: Turner is polarizing but more because he hasn’t played much in pro ball and he had a bad draft year at North Carolina State. Scouts with history back to his underclass years with the Wolfpack (the above video is chronological and starts in his sophomore year and with Team USA later that summer) are more optimistic because they saw the good version of Turner and know that a mechanical adjustment can explain almost all of his offensive struggles.
Turner had a couple minor leg injuries and then spread his feet too far apart, probably to generate more power, which caused his base to be weak and collapse at contact, undermining his natural bat control. He made the adjustment weeks before the draft and everything seemed in order in pro ball. Turner taps into his raw power in games when he’s making hard contact and he could be an 8-12 homer guy at maturity, but that isn’t really a big part of his game, more of a perk when he’s making lots of contact.
With a full season in 2015 of solid performance, I would likely adjust Turner’s hit grade up at least one notch, as I’m already on the optimistic side right now versus scouts who only saw him struggle with Team USA and early in his draft spring.
Turner was a late bloomer that was largely unscouted in high school until very late in his senior spring and he played third base his freshman year in college. He slid over to shortstop as a sophomore and eventually settled in to where his hands, instincts and actions are enough to be average at the position and his 55 arm is enough to make the play in the hole. Due to some of those minor leg injuries, Turner’s 80 speed is now more of a 70 in game situations, but that difference is tough to notice unless you’re using a stopwatch.
Summation: The Padres were pleasantly surprised that Turner was on the board for them at 13th overall last summer and worked out an above slot deal to make sure he’d make it though those last couple picks ahead of them. He’ll start in A-Ball next year but could be a quick mover if he reverts to his 2013 form in 2015.
Upside:.280/.350/.420, 10-12 homers, plus plus base running, solid average defense
FV/Risk: 50, Medium (3 on a 1-5 scale)
Projected Path: 2015: Hi-A/AA, 2016: AA/AAA, 2017: AAA/MLB
3. Austin Hedges, C
Current Level/Age: AA/22.4, 6’1/200, R/R
Drafted: 82nd overall (2nd round) in 2011 out of California HS by SD for $3 million bonus, Agency: Boras Corp
Hit: 20/40, Raw Power: 50/50, Game Power: 20/40, Run: 40/40, Field: 60/65, Throw: 70/70
Scouting Report: Hedges is a polarizing prospect. Some of the comments on his bat from people outside the organization have not been kind. “It could be really light…I started to get nervous about the bat and wondered if he was even a big league backup” and “He’s more like Drew Butera than people want to admit” are not good places to start. But that’s the beautiful thing about about catcher offense. Last year, Welington Castillo hit.237/.296/.389 with 13 homers in 417 PA, good for a 91 wRC+ (meaning that, at the plate, he was 9% below league average, adjusted for park and league) and racked up 2.2 WAR, a solid average regular (2.0 to 2.5 WAR is the range for a 50 FV).
This happened because Castillo was +7.4 runs defensively with a +7.9 run positional adjustment because he’s a catcher (the adjustment goes higher the more games you catch). For those new to the WAR calculation, those two defensive numbers combine for 15.3 runs, which converts to about 1.5 wins in the WAR calculation, or about 75% of Castillo’s total value. In scouting terms, this means a 40 hitter with 45 game power and 60 defense/arm is a 50 FV, if he plays anything close to a full season behind the plate.
I point all of this out because the logic behind figuring out the FV for a catching prospect with a light bat isn’t easy. Scouts don’t think Hedges will hit much at all and point to his awkward and changing swing, with a leg kick and load that are sometimes slight and sometimes don’t exist. Hedges is one of the best defensive catchers to come through the minors in years, with easy plus defense and a plus plus arm, so scouts are pegging him as one of those +7.5 to +10 run defensive catchers and if he ends up being a framing dynamo as some expect, you will see him compared to Yadier Molina.
Scouts that believe in Hedges point to this comparison and say that Molina and Hedges both didn’t focus on hitting much in the minors and that’s because they were both rushed through the minors due to their precocious defense. Scouts have speculated and other sources have confirmed that Hedges wasn’t focusing much on his hitting this year, since he knows his glove is his meal ticket. If you look at Molina’s minor league stats, he never struggled at the plate, much less anything close to what Hedges just experienced, so the comp is ridiculous if taken completely literally.
Those in an out of the organization expect the offensive performance to pick up, but the bat speed isn’t great and he wore down in the Texas heat this year, looking even more sluggish later in the year. Hedges has 50 raw power and could choose to sell out for power, maybe hitting.220 with 15-20 homers and doing a version of what Mike Zunino did in 2014 (.199 AVG, 22 HR), but there are still adjustments that need to be made to do that and maybe he can’t even do that.
Summation: It’s hard to bet on a guy “learning” how to hit in the big leagues, but the ceiling is enormous if Hedges can get hit hit tool to creep into the 40-50 range. Even if he never comes close to that, Hedges is likely one of the top 30 catchers in the big leagues at some point in the next couple years without much improvement.
Upside:.260/.335/.410, 15 homers, plus plus defense
FV/Risk: 50, Low (2 on a 1-5 scale)
Projected Path: 2015: AA/AAA, 2016: AAA/MLB
45 FV Prospects
4. Rymer Liriano, RF Video: Liriano is 6’0 and around 230 lbs. with a linebacker build and above average to plus raw power, solid average speed and an above average arm, despite a 2013 Tommy John surgery. He got a big league cup of coffee in 2014 and fits best in right field, but can play all three outfield positions if he ends up as a 4th outfielder. That checks all of the boxes except for making contact and that’s where Liriano struggles.
The approach isn’t awful; he’s always walked a decent amount and is a late-count guy that strikes out a good bit, but not excessively. Liriano chases spin off the plate a bit too much, can get caught between a power and contact approach, can be passive at times and his indecision can lead to mechanical inconsistency. He’s had adjustment periods at his last few minor league stops, so he may need another year in Triple-A, but he should contribute to the big league team in some way next year.
5. Michael Gettys, CF Video: Gettys is one of the most electrifying prospects in the minors. He has plus plus bat speed, running speed and arm strength to go with above average raw power and defensive ability; he has also hit 95 mph with an above average curveball on the mound. Gettys was very easy to identify as a top prep prospect but he slipped to the 2nd round last summer because of his struggles with the bat. The bat speed gives him big margin for error, but Gettys has had trouble identifying spin at times, though it appears to be influenced by him pressing and guessing from draft year pressure, rather than a struggle with a true vision/identification issue.
The finish to his swing is abrupt, which the Padres think they can slowly fix and keep him in the zone longer; this stance is helped by their raves about his makeup. Gettys also appeared to struggle versus poor high school pitching and then things would snowball, all coming from the disrupted timing of his huge bat speed; that’s common for elite prep bats, with recent examples like Clint Frazier and Addison Russell. If Gettys just adopts a contact-only approach and is only a 30 bat, he still may have enough value to be a big league backup due to his speed and defense, but the ceiling is enormous and Gettys draws physical comparisons to Mike Trout. He impressed offensively and defensively after signing and has the tools to shoot up lists next year with a big full season debut.
6. Jose Rondon, SS Video: Rondon was acquired from the Angels in the Huston Street deal and hit better than league average in High-A as a 20-year-old shortstop last year. He’s very thin at 6’1/160, but scouts already see some strength in his wrists and enough width in his frame to add the weight for the necessary power. He’s a slick defender that’s an solid average runner with good range, plus defense and an above average arm. Projections from scouts rely on where they think the body and bat end up, ranging from Cesar Izturis to Edgar Renteria, but Rondon will be in Double-A next year, so we’re getting close to finding out the answer.
7. Casey Kelly, RHP Video: Kelly has been famous for awhile, as the Red Sox 1st rounder in 2008 out of powerhouse Sarasota high school that signed for a well over slot $3 million bonus. Kelly’s father is former big league infielder Pat Kelly and his brother Chris reached Double-A with the Reds before becoming an area scout in Florida for the Padres. Kelly was a top level athlete that was a quarterback commit for Tennessee and was a top round prospect as a shortstop, which he played a few years in the Red Sox system before they convinced him to head to the mound full-time.
Kelly was traded with Anthony Rizzo in a package for Adrian Gonzalez in December of 2010. Kelly looked ticketed to be in the middle of the Padres rotation before a 2013 Tommy John surgery erased that season and tightness during rehab stints in 2014 shut him shortly after he got back on the mound. His rehab has gone well this off-season and Kelly is expected to go into spring training battling for a rotation spot out of camp. At his best, Kelly had a plus sinker that hit 97 mph and a plus curveball to go with at least an average changeup and command from a sturdy 6’3/210 frame and an athletic delivery. A more physical Matt Wisler is the best case outcome here, but no one knows what to expect.
8. Cory Spangenberg, 2B Video: Spangenberg was a below-slot bonus guy at 10th overall in 2011 in the pick that was compensation for not signing Karsten Whitson the year before. He was a first round talent as a second baseman with an advanced lefty bat with plus bat speed and easy plus running speed. Spangenberg is still that guy, but he hasn’t made much defensive progress, so he’s only fringy at second base and he’s also had trouble integrating power into his all-fields game swings. Those two things combine to make him a likely utility fit in the big leagues, which is tough since he can’t play shortstop, but Spangenberg can play just about everywhere else on the field. He got his first taste of the big leagues late last year and should contribute in a bigger way this season.
40 FV Prospects
9. Taylor Lindsey, 2B Video: Lindsey was acquired from the Angels in a package with Rondon and Morris in the Street trade last summer. He’s similar to Spangenberg and has a good bit more game power, but is a below average runner with a swing that isn’t as smooth. Lindsey is an aggressive early count hitter than can hang with good pitching and is a little better defensively than Spangenberg, grading as average at second base. Lindsey is also in that same weird fit as Spangenberg as a backup second baseman since the bat is a little light, making him a utility fit that doesn’t play shortstop. He’ll head to Triple-A in 2015 and could be a big league option if he hits better in his second shot at the level; one scout said he’s at least former-Padres Eric Sogard, but there’s hope Lindsey can be more.
10. Franchy Cordero, 3B Video: Cordero played shortstop this year as a 6’3/175, lefty hitting 19-year-old in the short season Northwest League. He performed well and was young for the league, but still needs to tighten up his strike zone. As he fills out, Cordero is expected to shift over to third base, with some suggesting he may even still move to right field. Cordero projects for above average raw power, is an average runner and has an above average arm. If he can be more patient at the plate, there’s a chance for an above average regular at third base, but there’s still a long way to go.
11. Travis Jankowski, CF Video: Jankowski won the Cape Cop League batting title the summer before his draft year, throwing him right into the middle of the conversation for the top 50 picks. He ended up going 44th overall after concerns about his swing plane and mechanics continued and those concerns have been well-founded in pro ball. Jankowski can get uphill in his swing at times and his swing is somewhat awkward, but he offers big league value as a 70 runner that plays a nice center field and can steal bases. A unexpected issue he’s had in pro ball is tapping into his 10-12 homer raw power in games, hitting only 2 homers in his pro career so far due to an all field spray approach. Scouts are hoping for a 4th outfielder speed/defense fit as the expectation on the bat potential have lowered.
12. Justin Hancock, RHP Video: Hancock gives scouts two looks, so takes on him vary based on what version scouts saw of him. At his best, Hancock sits 92-94 mph with an above average to plus changeup and an average breaking ball with enough command to project as a back-end starter. On other days, the off-speed and command is more fringy than average and he looks like a Burch Smith-type swing man or middle reliever. He’ll go to Double-A or Triple-A next year and with some consistency could turn into a big league option by the end of the year.
13. Tayron Guerrero, RHP Video: Guerrero is an imposing figure to face late in games, as the 6’7 righty regularly hits 100 mph. As many young pitchers with long frames do, Guerrero has some trouble coordinating his limbs consistently to repeat his delivery and throw strikes, but he flashes a plus slider when it all comes together. He’ll likely get to Double-A at some point next year and if he can throw consistent strikes, he could be a late inning possibility for 2016.
14. Elliot Morris, RHP Video: Morris went in the 4th round in 2013 to the Angels out of a Washington junior college and he was traded to the Padres in the Huston Street last summer. The 6’4/210 righty has moved to High-A at age 22 in his full-season debut and has the stuff to be a big league contributor. Morris had Tommy John surgery in his past and his command limits him the bullpen for most scouts. That said, he has the stuff to start, with a plus fastball up to 96 mph, an above average slider and an average changeup. His ultimate role is likely as a 7th or 8th inning guy with enough stuff to go multiple innings if needed, but some are holding out hope he could be a back-end starter.
15. Fernando Perez, 3B Video: Perez was a 3rd rounder in 2012 out of an Arizona JC and has a broad set of solid tools, but some questions about his positional fit. He started at second base, where he’s fringy at best and Perez is slightly better at third base, but not a lock to stick there in pro ball, with first base possibly the eventual fit. Perez has solid average raw power from the left side with some feel to hit and he performed surprisingly well as a 20-year-old in Low-A last year. There’s a chance he’s an everyday player, with one scout saying there’s a little bit of Rio Ruiz to him (but with much less conviction about the bat), with a better chance he’s more of a corner utility type.
16. Zech Lemond, RHP Video: Lemond is another talented arm to come from Rice, but as expected comes with concerns about injuries. He was totally clean coming into 2014 as he had been a reliever until then, but then missed time with arm soreness in the middle of the spring. It came out later that Lemond had been telling his skipper about soreness for weeks until he was finally shelved when his stuff backed up. Every team I’ve talked to knew this story, which explains why a sandwich round talent slipped to the 3rd round. Lemond has been up to 98 mph late in games with a slider and changeup that both flash above average at times, but they’re both inconsistent and he’s more of a control over command guy right now. He’ll go out this year as a starter and if he puts up a full healthy season with his best stuff, he’ll rocket up this list.
17. Gabriel Quintana, 3B Video: Quintana strikes out a lot and doesn’t walk much, but has otherwise performed pretty well while being young for his league. He has an advanced feel for the barrel from the right side with average bat speed and power potential, but above average hitting ability. Quintana is a fringy runner with fringy defense at third base that could push him to a corner outfield spot, but the bat is the carrying tool here.
18. Ryan Butler, RHP Video: Butler is a 6’4/230 workhorse but was 22 all of last season and already has a Tommy John surgery behind him. There’s plenty to like, though, as he throws a lot of strikes, have a solid average changeup and regularly sat 93-97 as a starter, hitting 100 mph multiple times in short stints after signing. His slider is below average, so he’s likely a late inning reliever that could be fast-tracked due to his stuff, TJ history, control and age, but he wants to start and will be developed in the rotation for now.
19. Matt Shepherd, RHP: Shepherd was a near anonymous 31st rounder out of Tennessee Tech in 2012 that’s slowly improved his stuff and command since signing. He works in the mid-90’s with an above average to plus changeup and a solid average breaking ball, but fringy at best command and a true reliever’s approach to pitching. He’ll be 25 in 2015 so he could move through Double-A and Triple-A if he keeps pitching like he did in High-A in 2014.
20. Rafael De Paula, RHP Video: De Paula was a high profile July 2nd prospect that looked ticketed for seven figures before at age 16 before his age was adjusted up, he was suspended for a year, then had trouble getting a visa after signing for $500,000. De Paula is playing catchup as he didn’t get to the states until age 22, but unfortunately didn’t bring the signature curveball he had early in his career. It’s been a below average pitch for his two years in the U.S., but he has enough stuff in a 92-94 mph fastball, above average changeup and at least average command to contribute in a middle relief role.
21. Alex Dickerson, 1B Video: Dickerson was a 3rd rounder out of Indiana in 2011 that looked like he may go in the 1st rounder entering his draft spring. He had some trouble making contact against top pitching and that concern has been borne out in pro ball. Dickerson has above average to plus power and is a below average runner and defender, so he needs to make enough contact to get to his power in games. The hitting tools are a bit short, as it’s average bat speed and that limits Dickerson so that he can’t cover the entire plate against big league caliber pitching. This causes him to guess at pitches and locations to tap into his power, which will work less often at the highest levels, with most scouts calling him something from a bench bat to a platoon first baseman that you’re always looking to upgrade over.
Cistulli’s Guy
Kyle Lloyd, RHP
The numbers reveal that the right-handed Lloyd was dominant in the Midwest League last year — leading all qualified pitchers across Class-A, actually, by strikeout- and walk-rate differential. That he’s a former collegiate pitcher, however — one drafted in the 29th round, no less — and profiled as old for the level goes some way towards mitigating the enthusiasm produced by his stats. While his fastball does only sit in the low-90s, perhaps what sets Lloyd apart from other older pitchers who succeed largely on polish and command is that he possesses a legitimately excellent outpitch — in this case, his split-finger fastball. The quality of the offering is cited frequently across the vast expanse of the information superhighway.
Here’s an example of it from July of this past year:
And that same example, except slower for some reason:
Others of Note
The last cuts from the list are Sampson and Paroubeck, with the list of others opening up beyond that. From the upper levels, there’s four pitchers to keep an eye on: RHP Keyvius Sampson (Video is in DFA purgatory at the moment but the former 4th rounder could be claimed/traded as some teams see bullpen value in 55-60 fastball/changeup combo, though command and below average slider are still bugaboos that chased him from the rotation), RHP Adys Portillo (Video was the #2 pitcher bonus in the same July 2 class with Michael Ynoa, getting $2 million; velo spiked as expected but command/secondaries still inconsistent and injury history have moved him to arm strength reliever that flashes a 55-60 curveball but some scouts put a 20 on his command), RHP Aaron Northcraft (Video recently acquired with Upton from Atlanta and is inventory upper level starter, throwing 90-93, touching 94 mph with sink from a low slot with fringy to average stuff) and RHP Seth Streich (toss-in from Derek Norris deal also is pitchability guy with fringy to average stuff as starter, flashing solid average changeup and hitting 96 mph in short stints).
Three lower lever arms are worth keeping an eye on are LHP Thomas Dorminy (small school 10th rounder this summer surprised by flashing three above average pitches after signing, with his skinny build making him a relief fit that could move quickly), RHP Ronald Herrera (acquired this year from Oakland in Kyle Blanks deal; is only 5’11/185 with three average to solid average pitches, so he’ll need to keep commanding hist stuff with limited plane to stick as a #5 starter), RHP Walker Weickel (Video high profile amateur arm was high school teammates with 1st rounders Jesse Winker and Nick Gordon and went in the sandwich round himself; 55s across the board with projection backed up since signing, with his lanky frame creating command/delivery issues).
Two more arms from the Latin program have a high upside, with one of them a recent trade acquisition: LHP Jose Castillo (recently acquired from Tampa Bay in the Myers deal; Venezuelan got $1.55 million in 2012, hits 95 mph with projection and fringy slurve/changeup/command; his 2014 was also lost, due to arm tenderness, but he’s healthy now and threw about 20 solid innings recently in Venezuela’s parallel league) and RHP Mayky Perez (Video heavily scouted 2013 July 2nd arm got $634,800; he’s 6’5/235 and will sit low 90’s with at least average changeup and slider but is a little stiff athletically and velo has jumped as some expected, sitting high-80’s at times).
Four position players could impact full season ball next year and jump onto this list: LF Jeremy Baltz (Video 2012 2nd rounder out of St. John’s has plus raw power but amateur plate discipline/contact issues have remained and he looks more like a potential part-time player now), RF Yeison Asencio (he’s been promoted with Liriano but doesn’t have quite the same tools; Asencio has a similar frame, above average raw power and a better, plus arm but is corner only and has much more serious plate discipline issues), SS Josh VanMeter (2013 5th rounder was under-the-radar gamer type that fits in middle infield and has fringy tools with advanced feel to hit from the left side, likely a utility fit) and CF Auston Bousfield (2014 5th rounder from Ole Miss is above average runner with instincts to play center field and drew Chris Denorfia comps for his surprising raw power and feel for the bat head, as a potential 4th outfielder).
Two domestic position players at the lower levels may take a little longer to move the prospect needle, either due to a lower upside or some rawness to their game: RF Jordan Paroubeck (2013 2nd rounder out of NorCal high school that also produced Barry Bonds also gets hitting lessons from the HR king; he has above average run/power/throw tools with looseness and bat speed but is still raw in his approach at the plate), LF Nick Torres (2014 4th rounder from Cal Poly doesn’t have huge tools but they’re all around average and he looks like a potential platoon guy for now)
Three international position players fit into the same category: 3B Carlos Belen (he got $1 million in 2012 and has easy plus raw power and arm strength; he probably slides from third to first eventually and has contact issues, but should be a decent conversion candidate if the bat doesn’t play), C Ricardo Rodriguez (Video Venezuelan backstop got $800,000 last July 2nd and is stout at 5’10/180 with a chance for four average or better tools) and LF Franmil Reyes (huge 6’5/240 teenager has plus raw power but expected rawness and plate discipline issues to solve; his little brother Franklin should get over $2 million this July 2nd ).In an interview with reporters today, a senior Apple executive made the case that, should the company comply with United States government demands to help unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, other governments will soon follow suit.
Apple's slippery slope argument suggests that following the demand will have global repercussions — that by complying with the United States, they will be forced to hear similar demands made by countries like China. Reports have suggested that the company has already submitted to "security audits" in China, but the executive told reporters that no other country has made demands similar to what is being asked by the FBI in its investigation.
The comments echo what CEO Tim Cook said in an open letter published this week, in which he argued that the government's request would have ripple effects. "The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone," Cook wrote. "But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices."
Today, ahead of Apple's phone conference, the Justice Department filed a new motion in the case, suggesting that the company's defiance of the order was done as a marketing stunt.Richard Knights used to have a season ticket at Everton FC. But the club took it away. The circumstances of the case raise concerns about the silencing of dissent.
Knights is described by those who know him as a “middle-aged, quietly-spoken, primary school teacher”. He’s passionate about the club he has supported for over 50 years. And he’s also passionate about education. So when Everton announced it was to open one of the free schools the current government is championing, he found two of his passions in opposition. Because Knights takes the view that educating children is best left to the professionals.
Knights has been very involved in organising opposition to the free school, and in efforts to cast light on the qualifications of the people being put forward as suitable to educate the children of the city he lives in. And this, it seems, has led to the withdrawal of his season ticket.
He complained to the Independent Football Ombudsman about the sanction imposed on him, and about the allegations made against him; allegations he strongly refutes. The IFO’s full report is available online, under the heading "The withdrawal of a season ticket at Everton". It makes worrying reading, for the report seems to confirm that Knights is being punished not for what he has done in specific instances, but for what people thought he might do.
In the IFO report, witnesses are quoted as being made to “feel uncomfortable” by Knights’s “body language”. His “aggressive” behaviour is defined as “leaning over the desk trying to see the receptionist’s computer” and he is also described as being “aggressive, angry and abrupt”. On another occasion his behaviour is said to have made the sales staff in the club shop “be fearful of what he would do next”. He is also said to have made “a stream of telephone calls to both the school and the club” and said things on social media sites that “caused concern”.
You may, after reading that last paragraph, detect a certain lack of substance. There is much about what worried people, or what they thought might happen. It is entirely possible that people were genuinely concerned or uncomfortable about what Knights did, or to be more accurate, about what they thought he might do. But being made to feel uncomfortable may also be considered part and parcel of participating in discussion with people with whom you don’t agree. It is certainly not a crime.
Knights |
game at Baltimore in Week 1 on the strength of a circus catch by A.J. Green late in the game. In his defense, Dalton has thrown for 270 or more yards in three straight against the Ravens and could get to that number again provided that Green plays. But the touchdown totals might not be there. He's a risk this week.
Running backs
Justin Forsett (8.3): Bank on a good game as the Ravens appear committed to Forsett and the Bengals run defense has slumped, allowing a rushing touchdown in four straight games along with at least 240 total yards to running backs in two of three.
Bernard Pierce (5.7): We liked Pierce last week because of his potential to score. Same thing this week -- if the Ravens find themselves camped out at the goal line we could see Pierce do his thing. If you're needy for a back this week Pierce might deliver somewhere between six and nine points.
Giovani Bernard (7.1): A rarity last week: the Bengals got away from using Gio. He had 15 or more touches in every game this year until he had nine last week. It's a tough matchup, so count on Cincinnati leaning on him not just as a carrier but also as a receiver. They need him to help swing the time of possession in their favor.
Jeremy Hill (3.5): The only way Hill helps is if there's a goal-line situation and Bernard is pulled or if it's a blowout and he gets extra work. Leave Hill on the bench this week.
Wide receivers
Steve Smith (6.6): Anyone else feeling like Smith is slowing down? Maybe it's just that two of his last three games have come up small. Against the Falcons, Smith wasn't really needed as the run game helped move the offense down the field. He had an end zone target but didn't connect with it. Smith had his best game this season against the Bengals, but in their last four no receiver has had more than 10 Fantasy points against Cincy. I'd chance it with him to either get to 10 Fantasy points or just over because of Owen Daniels' injury adding more targets for the taking for the Ravens receivers.
Torrey Smith (4.45): Last week's score came on a fourth quarter, fourth-down chuck by Flacco where he threw deep into single coverage and Smith made a nice grab for a touchdown. It seemed like an improbable throw-away play call that ended up working out. It's hard to call Smith anything more than a boom-or-bust receiver when he doesn't get a reliable amount of targets from week to week. Over his last two games, he's caught seven of 10 targets for 132 yards and three touchdowns. That's tough to sustain, especially against a defense that's allowed just three touchdowns to receivers this year. Look for about 70 yards from him.
Mohamed Sanu (4.2): Sanu will continue to see a lot of tough coverage with Green not on the field, making him a low-end No. 3 receiver against a good Ravens secondary. He would be better if Green were active.
Defense/Special Teams
Ravens (8.3): The feeling is that this defense is starting to heat up, particularly after rediscovering its pass rush last week. Cincy allowed the Colts to finish as the top DST last week, a dubious honor for a team with so much offense.
Bengals (4.95): With their defense banged up it's not easy to see them holding the Ravens to just a handful of points, especially after seeing how hard the Ravens offense made things on the Falcons last week. Steer clear.
Texans at Titans, Sun., 1 p.m. ET
Tennessee's passing game has done the yo-yo this season -- great one week, miserable the next. Yardage has long been an issue as they've failed to throw for over 250 yards in a game since Week 1. That's going to be key for the Titans this week in order to have a chance against the Texans. On Monday, Houston had a hard time slowing down Ben Roethlisberger and while the Titans don't have a quarterback of his caliber, they should have a blueprint on how to attack the Houston defense. They'll need to follow it to have a chance.
Quarterbacks
Ryan Fitzpatrick (3.6): The matchup is good because the Titans can't put much pressure on the quarterback and their secondary has proven to be a problem (such as on the Pierre Garcon touchdown last week). It's also good because Fitzpatrick is familiar with many players on the Tennessee defense after spending last year there. He's not a bad bet in two-quarterback leagues.
Zach Mettenberger (4.8): Welcome to the NFL, kid -- here's J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney in your face! Mettenberger has a nice, solid arm and experience in a pro-style offense from his college days, but this is a tricky first game because of the Texans pass rush. What helps is that if his O-line can buy him some time then he can dial up some bombs to Justin Hunter. He'll be interesting to watch but not start.
Running backs
Arian Foster (9.6): The Titans haven't allowed a back to get to 10 Fantasy points against them in two weeks, but they've taken on the Jaguars and Redskins, both of whom haven't been very good on the ground (/sheds tear for Alfred Morris). Foster is consistently a big part of the Texans offense and should test the Titans quite a bit.
Bishop Sankey (5.1): Sounds like coach Ken Whisenhunt wasn't happy with Sankey's work last week. Welcome to the club, Ken! It's painfully obvious that he's not doing well in the limited roles the coaching staff is giving him. The Houston run defense isn't anything special but Sankey is tough to trust, even if he has 16 or 18 carries in his last two. I dislike his matchup even more with a rookie quarterback making his first start.
Wide receivers
DeAndre Hopkins (5.6): Hopkins has been sloppy over the last couple of weeks, but a fast outside receiver against the Titans defense should get a chance as at least a third receiver.
Andre Johnson (4.9): Johnson is averaging nine targets per game but has just one touchdown and two games with 90 or more yards (everything else is south of 80 yards). It doesn't help that Johnson hasn't scored on the Titans in his last five meetings. Cornerback Jason McCourty might be assigned Johnson, limiting his effectiveness.
Justin Hunter (5.8): If the Titans need a boost offensively they might look to Hunter, who has some very good deep speed. The Texans have not been able to handle fast receivers this season and the Titans will take some deep shots with Hunter from Mettenberger. Hunter is a high-risk, high-reward Fantasy choice perfect for those in one-week leagues.
Kendall Wright (4.7): Wright has scored and posted nice Fantasy totals in his last two games with eight or more targets. Most weeks he gets a lot of targets but doesn't always get a lot with it, but this matchup is great. Wright has some quicks and the Texans clearly have a problem with fast receivers. That could help Wright's teammate more than himself.
Tight ends
Delanie Walker (4.2): Tough matchup for Walker as the Texans have been great against opposing tight ends. Having Mettenberger start doesn't promise a big game for him.
Defense/Special Teams
Texans (7.5): The Texans should be able to come up with a handful of sacks and a takeaway against a rookie making his first start. That might be enough to make them a Top 12 DST.
Titans (4.9): Even if there's some familiarity with Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Titans could have a hard time slowing down the Houston offense. I'm not ready to trust them.
Rams at Chiefs, Sun., 1 p.m. ET
I wonder if Andy Reid will be tempted to give Alex Smith more license to throw downfield this week given the state of the Rams secondary. In their last two games the Niners and Seahawks blasted them for 656 passing yards and five touchdowns. By comparison, the Rams are much better against the run, holding those same two teams' running backs to a total of 117 rush yards, 58 receiving yards and no touchdowns. It especially feels like Smith is due for a good game.
Austin Davis (3.5): Even though they don't have a star defensive back, the Chiefs are playing fairly well against the pass with some good talent and a still solid pass rush. Sometimes that's all you need. No quarterback has hit more than 18 Fantasy points against them in four contests, and that includes Philip Rivers last week.
Alex Smith (6.6): Last year, Smith had six of his eight big games against terrible pass defenses. This year most of his matchups have been tough -- he's only done well in two games against respectable defenses in Miami and New England and stunk it up against the Titans. The story's the same with Smith as he's a boom or bust Fantasy quarterback, but with the matchup in his favor, you could definitely do worse.
Running backs
Tre Mason (5.9): Over the last two weeks, Mason has dazzled against banged-up versions of the 49ers and Seahawks defenses to the tune of 23 carries for 125 yards, a rushing score and a 12-yard catch. He has nearly as many rushing yards as Cunningham on 13 fewer carries and is averaging 1.5 more yards per carry than Zac Stacy with two more 20-plus-yard runs. The Chiefs haven't allowed a touchdown to a running back this year but have allowed 5.1 yards per carry to backs. I am comfortable with Mason as a No. 2 Fantasy running back, even if he loses passing downs work to Cunningham and some carries to Stacy.
Jamaal Charles (9.1): The Rams defensive line is starting to make strides, and as a result opposing rushers have not fared well against St. Louis the past couple of weeks. In fact, only DeMarco Murray and Bobby Rainey (!) have posted more than nine Fantasy points against the Rams all year. Yet, we'll all happily start Charles, who should be in line for a bunch of catches.
Wide receivers
Brian Quick (3.3): Quick can run all the routes and use his physical style as much as he wants to, but if he's only going to get a handful of targets then he's wasted space. Quick has four or fewer targets in three of his last four games with six combined in his last two games against division rivals. Based on how the Chiefs have done against opposing receivers (only two have had more than 10 Fantasy points against them this year), Quick isn't a safe choice.
Dwayne Bowe (5.4): How lucky are you feeling? The matchup is sensational for Bowe, but his track record this season isn't so good -- he has yet to score and doesn't have any more than eight Fantasy points in a game this year. I'll chance it with him as a borderline No. 2/No. 3 Fantasy receiver on the hunch that Smith will be given the chance to throw.
Tight ends
Travis Kelce (5.8): The Rams have been solid against opposing tight ends, or at least they were until Cooper Helfet caught them by surprise last week. Last week was the exception, not the rule, so don't look for a big week from Kelce. The problem is that there aren't a lot of good replacements for him, so if you're stuck then stick with the big fella and hope he can pull a Helfet.
Defense/Special Teams
Chiefs (6.1): Only one DST over the last three weeks has posted a Top 12 finish against the Rams, and it wasn't the Niners or the Seahawks. The only way I'd go with the Chiefs is if I was in a pinch.
Rams (5.9): The Rams defensive line has been picking up steam, which will help them stay competitive. But the Chiefs haven't allowed an opposing DST to finish in the Top 12 in five straight games. I like the Chiefs DST better, but it's a close call.
Dolphins at Jaguars, Sun., 1 p.m. ET
The stars aligned for the Jaguars last week -- their opponent struggled to make tackles and the time of possession went the Jags way. So despite being 5 of 16 on third downs and turning the ball over three times, the Jaguars came away with a win. Don't expect the same thing to happen against a Dolphins defense that played sharp last week at Chicago and will bring a heavy pass rush for the Jacksonville O-line to deal with.
Quarterbacks
Ryan Tannehill (7.8): If you take the average of the last three games for every quarterback, Tannehill ranks seventh. That's how hot he's been, posting at least 240 pass yards and 35 rush yards in every game to go with two passing touchdowns per contest. He's a tremendous one-week quarterback even though the Jaguars pass defense looks like world beaters in their last three games against the Steelers, Titans and Browns. Losing pass rusher Andre Branch will hurt the Jags and help Tannehill.
Blake Bortles (3.0): The Dolphins really should be able to contain Bortles and pick him off a time or two, thanks in large part to their pass rush. It's a favorable matchup for them, which makes it unfavorable for Bortles.
Running backs
Lamar Miller (8.5): The Jaguars run defense had been great, but losing leading tackler Paul Posluszny is a tough blow. Expect the Dolphins to keep giving Miller a lot of work and test the Jaguars run defense. Miller has averaged 17.0 touches per game over his last three.
Denard Robinson (5.6): I'm not ready to believe in 'Shoelace' just yet. Our Chris Towers did an extensive blog on Robinson's breakout Week 7 and he's not expecting big things moving forward. The Dolphins are allowing 3.7 yards per carry to running backs on the season with only two getting more than even 50 yards on the ground. I don't think the Jaguars will be in a position to give Robinson so much work.
Wide receivers
Mike Wallace (7.3): Wallace scored again last week but again showed he's a dangerous Fantasy option because he's so touchdown dependent. The Jaguars haven't allowed a receiving touchdown in three weeks and have given up just five on the season but enter this game with both starting cornerbacks iffy to play. Wallace is too hot to flat-out sit, plus if we like Tannehill to have a good game then Wallace should be able to come through.
Allen Robinson (3.7): Don't lean on Robinson for his penchant for touchdowns -- he scored his first one last week. But the bevy of targets and catches he tends to get in come-from-behind play make him appealing in PPR leagues. He has at least 14 Fantasy points (PPR scoring) in each of his last two.
Cecil Shorts (3.0): Before last week's game, the Dolphins allowed over 200 passing yards to consecutive opponents. The Jags won't get that many but the opportunities will be there. Shorts has 25 targets in his last two games but just nine Fantasy points to show for it.
Tight ends
Charles Clay (4.6): It feels like Clay's big game last week had to do with the defensive scheme the Dolphins went up against, not a philosophical change in how their offense will work (he had just as many targets the week before). Before last week, Clay had 35 yards or fewer in every game. The Jaguars should be able to solve Clay without losing too much to the Dolphins other receivers.
Clay Harbor (6.0): It's actually a decent matchup for Harbor as the Dolphins allowed a touchdown to tight ends in four straight games before they did a good job against an off-target Bears offense. If the Jaguars can get near the red zone then Harbor might be a factor. In a week with some so-so tight ends, Harbor could fill in as a high-risk, high-reward lineup choice.
Defense/Special Teams
Dolphins (8.7): The best DST on the board this week, if only because the Jaguars have allowed every single opponent finish as a Top 12 option, including the Browns last week.
Jaguars (4.5): Tannehill is playing too well and the Dolphins offense has been too overwhelming against bad defenses. No team has finished as a Top 12 DST against Miami since Week 2.
Bills at Jets, Sun., 1 p.m. ET
It's the battle of new-look offenses as the Bills debut the backfield of Anthony Dixon and Bryce Brown while the Jets show off newly acquired receiver Percy Harvin. I'm way more intrigued by the Jets' changes, especially coming off of a game where they were functional against a good Patriots defense. Harvin won't stretch the Bills secondary, but he will make the linebackers a step slower as they key in on him. That might be enough to give their run game a boost against the Bills -- or give their receivers and tight ends a split second more to get open.
Quarterbacks
Kyle Orton (6.4): Don't expect the Jets to come up with a solution for defending Sammy Watkins, or perhaps any other Bills receiver for that matter. Every single quarterback, from Derek Carr to Tom Brady, has thrown two-plus touchdowns on the Jets this season. Orton's been playing great but hasn't quite finished as a Top 12 quarterback yet. I wouldn't bet on it being this week, but he is a pretty good one-week replacement quarterback if you can't get your mitts on Ryan Tannehill.
Geno Smith (3.3): Adding Harvin to the mix will only help Smith's numbers, so long as he targets Harvin and the speedster finds ways to make plays after the catch. That never really materialized much in Seattle, so it's tough to buy into it happening in New York, but at the very least Harvin will make things a little bit easier for the Jets passing game. Buffalo has allowed one passing touchdown in three of its last four games.
Running backs
Bryce Brown (5.5): There might not be a bigger wild card this weekend than Brown. We can assume he'll log close to 15 touches like Spiller did, but there's no way of knowing for sure. We know the Jets run defense has been awful over the last three weeks, but it's come at the hands of dominant passing offenses that were basically dared to run against them. Here's the point that sticks with me: The Bills watched C.J. Spiller struggle for most of the season and didn't consider making a move to have Brown help out. Why not? And, who's to say Brown will fare better than Spiller? Risky, which is why I'd take him as a flex or No. 3 back if at all possible.
Anthony Dixon (5.3): It looks as if Dixon will shoulder the Fred Jackson load for the Bills, working in hustle-up situations and passing downs. He might also factor in on rushing downs if only because the coaching staff trusts him a little more than Brown. Dixon also caught three of four targets last week, the first four targets he's had this season. I wouldn't expect a monster game from Dixon.
Chris Ivory (6.1): The Jets will try to get Ivory going, and having Harvin keep linebackers frozen will help him out, but the Bills run defense remains really solid. Jerick McKinnon became just the second running back this season to have even 19 carries against Buffalo, and he needed every one to get 103 yards. Ivory rarely gets that many, though he did last Thursday. It's hard to trust Ivory if he's not getting a lot of work -- facing a defense that hasn't given up a touchdown to a running back this season also hurts his cause.
Chris Johnson (4.5): Against the Patriots Johnson had over 80 total yards for the first time since Week 1. Don't expect him to do it again as the Bills run defense is better than the Pats.
Wide receivers
Sammy Watkins (7.4): While the Jets have allowed a bunch of passing touchdowns (18 to be exact), only eight have gone to receivers. Of those eight, five have gone to non-No. 1 receivers. Maybe we're overreacting to call Watkins a no-brainer this week since it's easy for the Jets to cover him closely and take their chances with other receivers. Call Watkins a good No. 2 Fantasy receiver.
Robert Woods (4.1): If Watkins is going to draw coverage then Woods will have opportunities in single coverage against weak defensive backs. He does have 39 targets in his last five games but had negative Fantasy points last week on a four-catch, 10-yard day against the Vikings. Still, this matchup is easier for him and there is potential for him to help Fantasy owners out against a bad secondary. If you need a sleeper, consider Woods.
Eric Decker (6.7): The weakness of the Bills defense is in that secondary and Buffalo has allowed at least one touchdown to an opposing receiver in every game this season. He should finish as a Top 24 receiver with at least 10 Fantasy points, just as he's done in each game he's scored in so far this season.
Percy Harvin (2.4): I'm not ready to trust Harvin in my Fantasy lineup. He'll help his teammates before he helps owners, particularly since it's his first week in New York's run-dominated offense.
Tight ends
Scott Chandler (5.2): Since Kyle Orton has taken over, Chandler has caught 13 of 21 targets for 162 yards, which is better than how he did in four games with EJ Manuel. The Jets finally firmed up against opposing tight ends but gave up seven touchdowns to the position in the four games prior to Thursday night's game against the Patriots. Chandler has scored in two of his last three against the Jets and is a major sleeper for Week 8.
Jace Amaro (4.8): His playing time could shrink with Harvin expected to get a decent amount of work. Owners might consider breaking up with him if he doesn't do anything significant here. The Bills have done well against suspect tight ends.
Defense/Special Teams
Bills (7.1): Geno Smith played great last week against the Patriots, but can he keep it up? Inconsistency has always stuck to Smith like his shadow. We'd definitely give the Bills a shot against Smith.
Jets (4.1): With the woes in the secondary, the Jets can't be trusted to shut down the Bills, even if it's the Fred Jackson-less and C.J. Spiller-less Bills.
Seahawks at Panthers, Sun., 1 p.m. ET
Last year both of these defenses were outstanding. This year they're both disappointing -- the Panthers stink all around, but the Seahawks' pass defense really leaves a lot to be desired. It goes without saying that the team that better takes advantage of their matchup should come out ahead. Advantage Seahawks in that case, assuming they don't lose sight of Marshawn Lynch again.
Quarterbacks
Russell Wilson (8.6): The Seahawks might not be able to resist the target on the back of the Panthers secondary -- each of the last four opposing quarterbacks had at least 22 Fantasy points against them with three owning at least 25 Fantasy points. Wilson has scored 24, 38, 10 and 40 Fantasy points over his last four games, with the 10-point dip happening against a good Cowboys defense. Bank on him delivering a big stat line.
Cam Newton (6.8): The Seahawks have allowed multiple passing touchdowns in five straight games with one interception over that span. Don't believe me?! Look here. If Newton had a solid offensive line in front of him then I'd buy him as a 250-yard, two-touchdown candidate against the Seahawks. But Pete Carroll is going to see the Panthers with potentially two backup guards and a backup left tackle and attack. But then again, Newton's going to see a Seahawks run defense without Bobby Wagner and take off. I'd probably prefer to not start Newton if I could help it.
Running backs
Marshawn Lynch (8.8): What the fruity Skittles is going on with Lynch? Two weeks ago he didn't get much work, but at least had a good rushing average. Last week he got the work but couldn't find room against a Rams defense that played up to his standard. The matchup sure suggests Lynch will get back in the groove, so owners shouldn't panic.
Jonathan Stewart (4.7): Hey, if Tre Mason could rip through the Seahawks run defense then shouldn't Stewart be able to? Maybe in his younger days, but now Stewart is averaging 12.5 touches per game and will really be impacted by the Panthers banged up offensive line.
Wide receivers
Doug Baldwin (5.9): The Panthers secondary is a mess right now and Baldwin should be able to capitalize. Receivers have caught 11 touchdowns against Carolina in the Panthers last five games! Hopefully the target spree we saw last week will continue.
Kelvin Benjamin (6.4): I can't help but think the Seahawks will do everything they can to keep Benjamin contained. One way to do it would be to give him the Richard Sherman treatment with safety coverage tilted his way. DeSean Jackson and Randall Cobb -- short speedy burners -- account for two of the three receiver touchdowns against Seattle this year (Andre Roberts has the other). Benjamin is just as risky as Cam is this week -- if I could sit him down for better choices then I would.
Tight ends
Greg Olsen (8.8): This is probably the best bet of all Panthers players to have a big game. He has 10-plus Fantasy points in all but two games and has six-plus catches in all but two games this season. The Seahawks are uncharacteristically bad against tight ends in 2014.
Defense/Special Teams
Seahawks (6.9): It feels like the Panthers offensive line will be the Achilles heel for Cam & Co. If they can't operate behind it they'll struggle in every area of the game. That would mean some sacks for the Seahawks along with an interception. Don't give up on this DST yet!
Panthers (3.4): The prevailing thought is that the Seahawks will roll up a lot of yardage on them. Each of the last two DSTs to play the Seahawks have finished as Top 12 options, but one was the Rams last week with all of their special-teams chicanery.
Vikings at Buccaneers, Sun., 1 p.m. ET
For most of the season we've seen teams put up their very best offensive numbers against the Buccaneers. That's because their pass rush isn't strong and their secondary makes tons of mistakes. Coming out of the bye week you'd like to think Lovie Smith has some answers for their problems, but that doesn't mean he does -- or that the Vikings won't test the defense in every way possible.
Bonus fact: Former Vikings coach Leslie Frazier is coordinating the Buccaneers defense these days. He wasn't with the team when they scouted and ultimately selected Teddy Bridgewater or Jerick McKinnon, so the only edge the Buccaneers might have is in attacking Minnesota's defense, which isn't quite the same scheme as what Frazier ran in Minnesota.
Quarterbacks
Teddy Bridgewater (4.1): The matchup is gorgeous -- of the six quarterbacks the Buccaneers have faced, five have posted at least 20 Fantasy points, four have thrown for over 300 yards and three have thrown at least three touchdowns. Now a reality check: Bridgewater has one game with at least 20 Fantasy points (and two starts with 10 points combined), one game with at least 300 yards passing and one passing touchdown on the season. He's a risk worth taking as a bye-week replacement in deep leagues or two-quarterback formats.
Mike Glennon (6.5): We might see the Buccaneers offense play better coming out of the bye, as that unit has enough horses to make some sort of an impact. The Vikings have been mostly bad against opposing quarterbacks and Glennon has been good for 19 to 22 Fantasy points in three straight games. I wouldn't rule him out as a one-week sleeper.
Running backs
Jerick McKinnon (7.5): McKinnon is clearly the Vikings top back and is definitely in line for a big game against a bad Bucs run defense. Tampa Bay has allowed six backs to hit at least 10 Fantasy points in their last five games. McKinnon has massive potential to deliver a major breakout game. I like him in one-week leagues and seasonal leagues.
Doug Martin (6.3): By all accounts Martin will stay as the Buccaneers top running back, which is good since they're about to kick off a five-game stretch against bottom-feeder run defenses. Minnesota didn't allow a rushing score last week but did give up at least one to a running back in the five games prior. They're also giving up 4.7 yards per carry on the season to backs. If Martin can't get it going this week, it's time to think about parting ways.
Wide receivers
Cordarrelle Patterson (4.0): The dude scores last week and still can't get more than 20 receiving yards. He's failed to hit that low total in three straight games despite 16 targets in that span. And now here comes a magical matchup against cornerbacks who are just as inept as he is, especially against fast receivers. Patterson sure qualifies, but with three receptions for 20-plus yards on the year (and none in the last three weeks), he's just too risky to use. I projected him for a game similar to last week -- maybe a smidge better.
Jarius Wright (3.2): Maybe Wright is the big sleeper in this matchup. Over the last three weeks he has more targets, catches, yards and Fantasy points than Patterson (and that's with Patterson scoring in Week 7!). Jennings has slightly better numbers in the last three games but he doesn't have speed like Wright does. If you're desperate and can't find someone like Mike Evans, give Wright a shot.
Greg Jennings (2.9): Jennings isn't a bad option in deeper PPR leagues since he should come up with plenty of receptions against this secondary. It's been outside receivers who have done the most damage to the Buccaneers, though usually ones with plenty of speed. That makes Jennings third-best on his own team.
Vincent Jackson (8.4): What a great matchup for Jackson to come off a bye to face. In their last four games, the Vikes have allowed multiple touchdowns to receivers in three of them. V-Jack has a touchdown or 100-plus yards in three of his last four along with at least 10 targets in each of the three games Glennon has started. He should wreck the Vikings.
Mike Evans (5.5): Evans last three games: 12 catches on 22 targets for 172 yards and a touchdown in each of his last two. No one is talking about him. I promise you that Glennon will trust Evans on a 50-50 bomb if he's in coverage against 5-foot-8 cornerback Captain Munnerlyn. He's worth a look if you're really thin at receiver this week or if you're chasing a cheap receiver in one-week leagues.
Louis Murphy (2.7): Another wideout who has benefitted from Glennon's play. His last three (and only three) with the Bucs: 16 catches on 27 targets for 206 yards and a score in each of his last two. The only downside is that the Vikings have actually done well against slot receivers, so Murphy isn't promised another big game.
Defense/Special Teams
Vikings (3.9): Expect the Vikings to get rocked for at least 21 points and 300 yards of offense. The Bucs are averaging 25.0 points per game in Glennon's three starts.
Buccaneers (6.5): I never like trusting bad defenses in Fantasy, but I would take a chance on them picking up some turnovers and holding the Vikings to under 20 points, which they haven't registered in each of their last three. The Bucs are also worth a look in one-week leagues.
Eagles at Cardinals, Sun., 4:05 p.m. ET
Even with the Eagles offensive line not quite reloaded with their first-team offense, this has the look of a high-scoring game. The Cardinals pass rush still might be without Calais Campbell and therefore could be muted. Last week the Cardinals had one sack and one quarterback hit of Derek Carr. If they can't get to Nick Foles, the Eagles will be able to hold up their end of the bargain on the scoreboard. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have allowed Carson Palmer to get sacked once each in their last two games. Led by Connor Barwin, Vinny Curry and Trent Cole, the Eagles pass rush will scheme to try make things harder on Palmer. Palmer and Foles each threw three touchdowns in their meeting last season.
Quarterbacks
Nick Foles (7.4): The Cardinals did a nice job on rookie Derek Carr in Week 7, but before that they allowed at least 20 Fantasy points to three straight opposing passers and multiple touchdowns to three of their last four. Foles has played like a rookie in two road games, completing barely more than half of his passes in them. That shouldn't be the case here as Arizona's pass defense has plenty of exploitable spots, particularly to tight ends, where Foles attacked last year. I'm fine with Foles as a low-end starter in what should be a high-scoring game.
Carson Palmer (8.5): In their last game, Philadelphia put a ton of pressure on Eli Manning, forcing him into some bad passes and no touchdowns (but no turnovers). Before that game every quarterback had multiple passing touchdowns on the Eagles, all of whom had 20-plus Fantasy points. Palmer is once again a nice, safe pick. It wouldn't be surprising if he threw three touchdowns just as he did against the Eagles last year.
Running backs
LeSean McCoy (8.2): I might not look for a great game from McCoy but he should still score, just as three running backs have done in three of the Cardinals last four games. The big fear is that McCoy won't have as many open areas to exploit like he had in Week 6, as Arizona is holding opposing backs to 3.1 yards per carry this season. With a large workload expected McCoy should be a part of Fantasy lineups, but he might not do much better than the 115 total yards he had against the Cards last year.
Darren Sproles (4.9): Sproles practiced this week and looks like he'll play, but no one should trust him for Fantasy purposes unless special-teams play counts or unless you're desperate. He went into the bye with exactly seven carries in each of his last two games. He did OK with them but hasn't had double digits in Fantasy points since Week 2. That was also the last time he had even 10 touches in a game.
Andre Ellington (7.0): Ellington seems to be getting over the foot injury that might have cost him time earlier this season. He sure didn't seem too slow last week against the Raiders. Look for him to be used out of the backfield a bunch as the Eagles have allowed a moderate 4.1 yards per carry and a gluttonous 12.2 yards per catch to running backs in their last five games.
Wide receivers
Jeremy Maclin (8.7): Whether they're covered by Patrick Peterson or Antonio Cromartie, top receivers have found their way into the end zone against the Cardinals. Mac has one touchdown in his last three games after scoring in each of his first three, but in a game where the Eagles should end up throwing a bunch he'll probably end up with good receiving totals.
Jordan Matthews (3.1): Teams have tried picking on Cardinals slot cornerback Jerraud Powers, but he actually leads the Cardinals in interceptions and is second in passes defensed. If that's where Matthews will be stationed then he's not exactly a lock for a big game, which he hasn't had in his last three games anyway.
Michael Floyd (7.1): Floyd has at least 10 Fantasy points in each of three games with Carson Palmer as his quarterback. The Eagles sloppy secondary has given up eight touchdowns to receivers, including five to No. 1-type receivers. I expect another very good game.
Larry Fitzgerald (4.3): Take away the good home game against the Redskins -- the one where he tied his season-high in catches with six and scored his lone touchdown -- and Fitzgerald has had five or fewer Fantasy points in every other game. Scary downside with Fitzgerald, and we've seen him struggle even in favorable matchups (just 21 receiving yards last week at Oakland?!). Even though the game is expected to be high scoring, Fantasy owners just can't trust him.
Tight ends
Zach Ertz (6.9): Expect the Eagles to try hard to keep Ertz involved in the gameplan against the Cardinals, who still stink at covering tight ends. Ertz scored in his last game and raked in two touchdowns against the Cards last season. He's a great flier in one-week leagues.
Defense/Special Teams
Eagles (5.1): Don't expect the matchup to yield big numbers for the Eagles DST -- it'll have to come down to another fortunate touchdown off a kick or a turnover for them to continue their hot streak. The Cardinals haven't allowed a Top 12 DST finish with Palmer under center yet this year.
Cardinals (5.5): Maybe if Calais Campbell played and maybe if the Cardinals pass rush was stronger this would be a no-brainer. But because Campbell might be out and the pass rush wouldn't be great even if he were in, this is no better than a low-end starting option.
Colts at Steelers, Sun., 4:25 p.m. ET
The Steelers got momentum back on their side just before halftime of their game against the Texans and rode it all the way to a win. Don't expect this Steelers defense to create so many turnovers this week against a Colts offense that has been playing lights out. Moreover, the Colts defense has started to hit its stride and could really make things hard for the Steelers. This one might not be pretty.
Quarterbacks
Andrew Luck (9.4): While Luck's track record outdoors on grass isn't great, his track record in 2014 is flawless. Even if he plays without Reggie Wayne he should have a very good stat line. The Steelers have allowed only 10 passing touchdowns this season but haven't taken on anyone better than Cam Newton or Mike Glennon.
Ben Roethlisberger (6.9): Only Peyton Manning and... Blake Bortles?!?... have posted big games on this Colts defense. Roethlisberger will be their toughest challenge in a while, particularly since he's at home |
to one variable that means the following code is also perfectly valid:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 var aFunction = function (){ console. log ( 'Hello, world!' ); }; var bFunction = aFunction ; bFunction ();
Of course, all these functions are valid Javascript functions, so therefore we can also give a function arguments, like so:
1 2 3 4 5 6 var adder = function ( a, b ){ return a + b ; } console. log ( adder ( 1, 2 )); console. log ( adder ( 5, 6 ));
As you can see, we now have the ability to pass around functions as if they were simple variables (and in reality, they are simple variables!). The power of this truly shines in the fact that since they are variables, we can pass them to functions. Functional programming is based on the idea that with it we make many small functions, and combine them to make powerful code. There are many standard patterns in functional programming, but to begin with I will show you one which can be extremely practical in Javascript - passing functions as callbacks. Suppose you repeatedly find yourself testing things, and then either showing a success message or executing some failure code. We could make a function which would automate this for us, simplifying our life:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 var test ( testFunction, successFunction, failFunction ){ if ( testFunction ()){ successFunction (); } else { failFunction (); } } var testFunction = function (){ return 2 == 2 ; }, successFunction = function (){ console. log ( 'This machine is awesome!' ); }, failFunction = function (){ console. log ( 'Uh oh!' ); }; test ( testFunction, successFunction, failFunction );
I will now show you to rather popular functional programming standards, a forEach and a map. The forEach pattern gets passed an array and a function, and executes the function with each element of the array. The map function gets passed an array and a function, and returns an array of the result of the function for each element. Here are some basic examples:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 var forEach = function ( valueArray, eachFunction ){ for ( var i = 0, l = valueArray. length ; i < l ; i ++ ){ eachFunction ( valueArray [ i ]); } } var map = function ( valueArray, mapFunction ){ var returnArray = []; for ( var i = 0, l = valueArray. length ; i < l ; i ++ ){ returnArray. push ( mapFunction ( valueArray [ i ])); } return returnArray ; }
These two functions allow us to re-use these patterns (which occur more often than you'd think) and we can combine them easily. Suppose we want to have a method which uses forEach to print out each element of an array, and we have a map method which squares every element of an array, we can do something like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 var logger = function ( element ){ console. log ( 'Logger -'+ element ); } var square = function ( element ){ return element * element ; } var values = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ]; forEach ( values, logger ); // Will print each value. forEach ( map ( values, square ), logger ); // Will print out the square of each value. forEach ( map ( map ( values, square ), square ), logger ); // Will print out the 4th power.
So now that we know how a forEach and a map is implemented, I will gladly let you in on the following: the Array prototype already has a forEach and a map method! Using them is as simple as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 // Print out all elements of an array [ 1, 2, 3 ]. forEach ( function ( item ){ console. log ( item ); }); // Square each element of an array var squared = [ 1, 2, 3 ]. map ( function ( item ){ return item * item ; });
The last thing I will be showing you today will be using what you have learned so far to create function factories - functions which return functions. Suppose you want to create a general function which creates helper functions for binding a callback to a given element's event handler, and you want it to be compatible across different browsers. We can generalize this into a function which we will pass the element and event to, and it will return us a function allowing us to attach an event handler to that element.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 var getEventBinder = function ( element, event ){ var func ; // We are checking for IE event binding style, and then // building a function which accepts a callback and // binds it to the appropriate event. if ( element. attachEvent ) { func = function ( callback ){ element. attachEvent ( 'on' + event, callback ); }; } else { func = function ( callback ){ element. addEventListener ( event, callback, true ); } } return func ; } // We can now use this to get a function allowing us to // bind a callback to the click handler of a div. var div = document. getElementById ('someSpecialDiv' ); var divClickAttacher = getEventBinder ( div, 'click' ); divClickAttacher ( function (){ alert ( "The div was clicked!" ); });
What are we doing here? We are creating a function which accepts an element and the name of an event, determines whether we are using IE event binding style (attachEvent) or not (addEventListener), and finally returns a function which accepts a callback and is crafted to bind this callback to the event and element we had passed. Admittedly this is using a little bit of closure magic, but hopefully the example is still clear. If not, I will find some good references for explaining closures, as I've seen this done many, many times and fear I could not compete.
I think for today we will leave it at that. This is only scratching the surface of the power of functional programming, but hopefully I have opened your mind to a different style of programming. If you have any questions or comments feel free to post!
Thanks for reading, Dominic.Whether you peel them off slowly or just rip them away, one thing is certain about bandages: they hurt like heck when they come off.
But beyond the hurt, sticky bandages are actually a pretty big medical problem. More than 1.5 million people suffer injuries every year when bandages are removed — primarily newborns and the elderly, whose skin is more sensitive and easily damaged. Injuries in these cases can vary from temporary skin irritation to permanent scarring.
"This is one of the biggest problems faced in the neonate units, where the patients are helpless and repeatedly wrapped in medical tapes designed for adult skin," said Dr. Bryan Laulicht from Brigham and Women's Hospital.
To help solve this problem, Laulicht and other researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set out to develop a new type of bandage that would not hurt newborns' skin when removed. They pulled their inspiration from three elements in nature: spider webs, which have different degrees of adhesiveness; the mineral mica, which forms easily peeled layers; and the feet of geckos, which contain patterns that allow the lizards to climb vertical surfaces but not stick permanently.
With these three examples in mind, the researchers developed a novel bandage that has three layers. The first layer is the adhesive, the top layer is a not-sticky backing, and the middle layer — and this is their real innovation — is an anti-adhesive coating that allows the backing to be removed quickly and easily without the application of much force. This layer was etched with a laser to create a pattern that had the strength to hold the bandage together but a low peel force to allow for each removal when tugged at the right angle. After the top layers are moved, the residual adhesive stays on the skin where it can easily be removed just by using a finger to roll it off the skin. Even that adhesive, the researchers say, is better than the one used in current medical tape bandages.
"By controlling those interactions, we were able to define a regime where the adhesive could secure devices very strongly to the skin, but was very easy to remove," co-author Jeffrey Karp told CNN.
A study detailing this new bandage was published Oct. 29 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Now, don't go rushing to your local store looking for spider-web-gecko-feet bandages. The researchers' concept hasn't been clinically tested, so it could be years before it hits the market. So far it has only been tested on stainless steel plates and the researchers' own arms — which shows how much they threw themselves into their work.
Related medical stories on MNN:
Spider webs and gecko feet inspire potential pain-free bandage
Experimental surgical tape could be peeled off of newborns without damaging their sensitive skin.Months before mobs of racist, half literate and very disobedient subjects of the Queen (may God save her) voted to leave the European Union, Barack Obama announced that while he loved the UK very dearly, a successful Brexit vote would be punished with spiteful, protracted trade negotiations.
But the plebes didn't listen.
Now that threats and democracy have failed, John Kerry is stating publicly that there are a number of ways in which last week's non-binding vote -- tantamount to Hitler's burning of the Reichstag -- could be "walked back". Euphemisms are nice little things, but certainly curb-stomping the will of ordinary Europeans is a job best left to Europe's - and not America's - ruling classes?
If you think this you are sadly mistaken. As the Telegraph reminded us in pre-Brexit Apocalypse April:
[D]eclassified documents from the State Department archives [show] that US intelligence funded the European movement secretly for decades, and worked aggressively behind the scenes to push Britain into the project. As this newspaper first reported when the treasure became available, one memorandum dated July 26, 1950, reveals a campaign to promote a full-fledged European parliament. It is signed by Gen William J Donovan, head of the American wartime Office of Strategic Services, precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency. The key CIA front was the American Committee for a United Europe (ACUE), chaired by Donovan. Another document shows that it provided 53.5 per cent of the European movement's funds in 1958. The board included Walter Bedell Smith and Allen Dulles, CIA directors in the Fifties, and a caste of ex-OSS officials who moved in and out of the CIA.
The report went on to state that "papers show that [the US] treated some of the EU's 'founding fathers' as hired hands, and actively prevented them finding alternative funding that would have broken reliance on Washington". One particularly unapologetic memo, dated June 11, 1965, "Instructs the vice-president of the European Community to pursue monetary union by stealth, suppressing debate until the 'adoption of such proposals would become virtually inescapable'". Sounds like a raw deal for Europeans who aren't fabulously wealthy international bankers -- until you remember that anyone who opposed the omnipotent, holy European Union is a shameless bigot.
The US has relied upon the EU as the political and economic arm of its permanent military presence in Europe (NATO), and this is why Washington cannot allow the idea of sovereignty to enter the warped little minds of neo-fascists in the UK (or any other European nation) who wish to have control over their own foreign policy.
It is simply not up for debate, and any attempt to reclaim statehood within Europe will simply be "walked back," to borrow John Kerry's purple prose.
It is absolutely beyond our realm of understanding as to why a democratic act -- a non-binding one, no less -- aimed at restoring seemingly basic aspects of statehood such as "who gets to cross our border" and "who we will trade with/sanction/etc." could be characterized as radical or xenophobic.
Washington is now in full panic mode. Cracks are beginning to show in the union it helped forge with not-so-honorable intentions.
Like all unnecessary institutions, the European Union has invested heavily in the creation and continuation of its own self-aggrandizing mythology. Reading the horror and outrage in every newspaper after the Brexit vote was tallied, one would think that the UK had just voted to invade Iraq or elect David Cameron as prime minister. Amazingly, both atrocities took place with the full approval of the press and without a popular vote. Coincidence or fate?
Like it or not, the Eurosceptic movement is gaining momentum. Accusations of racism and ignorance can't compete with simple questions such as "why can't we control our own immigration policy?" or "why do we have to mold our foreign policy to the dictates of faraway, unelected bureaucrats?" Sorry, these aren't radical or extreme questions -- which is why Washington simply cannot allow Brexit to succeed.
We will close with a statement made by UK's justice minister Dominic Raab after Obama issued a stern warning against Brexit in April:
You can't say on the one hand that the US-UK special relationship is as strong as ever and always will be, and in the next breath say 'take my advice or you go to the back of the queue'. I don't think the British people will be blackmailed by anyone
Don't be so sure. With Hillary Clinton queued up to be our next American president -- luckily for her, Donald Trump is quite literally the only human with a pulse who can't beat her in a general election -- Washington's zero tolerance policy for European self-determination is unlikely to change. In fact, 5 euros says it will get much, much worse.
If other European nations begin to mull their own Brexit, expect Obama's threats of protracted trade negotiations to be replaced by Nicaragua-style regime change, compliments of the one and only Hillary Clinton.Su'a Cravens proved to be a playmaker in college at USC, and when Redskins GM Scot McCloughan selected Cravens in the second round of the NFL Draft, it became clear the Redskins want to see the same on the next level.
Questions remain where Cravens will play - whether it's at strong safety or linebacker - but players and coaches have been impressed by the rookie.
"Sky is the limit for this kid," Redskins DL Ricky Jean François said after a June minicamp session. "The kid is doing everything that we need him to do."
For now, "doing everything that we need him to do" means learning the defensive playbook at not one but two positions. At 6 foot 1 and 226 lbs., Cravens may not have the bulk to be an every-down linebacker, but with 4.69 speed in the 40-yard-dash, he also might not be fast enough to keep up with receivers in the secondary.
The good news for Cravens is that the Redskins appear to be shifting roles on defense, and there should be plenty of opportunities for playing time. As the Redskins play more and more nickle and dime packages, Cravens ability to battle with tight ends will find him on the field, and his nose for the football could produce big plays. Last year at USC, Cravens showed his versatility, logging 5.5 sacks to go with two interceptions.
So far, François said, the rookie is working hard to learn, but the real test will come at training camp in Richmond.
"When camp comes that's when we get to see the real player that everybody wants to see when them pads come on," François said. "Out here [at minicamp] we can look like All-Americans and it’s great, but as long as he gets the fundamentals and understands the defense, when it comes camp, we're gonna look for the player that we want to have on Sunday."Research shows that bigger is only better if DNA databases grow in the right way Photo by Alexander Raths/iStockphoto/Thinkstock
In April 2009, police easily arrested Alonzo J. King, Jr. in Wicomico County, Md. After King pointed a shotgun at a group of people, one of them told the police who did it, and King readily admitted his guilt. He was originally charged with felony assault and ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor.
This seemingly insignificant criminal case is now before the Supreme Court, with arguments later this month. That’s because of what the authorities did next. When King was arrested, police took a cotton swab of skin cells from inside his cheek for DNA testing. They did not need his DNA to link him to the shotgun incident. Instead, the police entered King’s DNA profile into both the Maryland DNA database and the FBI’s national database, CODIS. King’s profile, like all those in the database, was then automatically compared every week to evidence from all unsolved crimes. And, in fact, King’s DNA matched DNA from an unsolved sexual assault case, for which he was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
If Maryland had required King to submit his DNA once he was convicted, then there would be no Supreme Court challenge. So far courts have all upheld DNA collection from felons, reasoning that convicts forfeit some of the rights of ordinary citizens. Maryland v. King is about something new: More than one-half of the 50 states (including Maryland) and the federal government authorize compulsory collection of DNA from people who have been arrested. But the Supreme Court has never held that if police have probable cause to arrest, they can also search a suspect for evidence of past or future crimes. Maryland‘s justification for this unprecedented expansion of police power? Bigger is better. Add arrestee profiles to the database, and more crimes will be solved.
Wrong. Research shows that bigger is only better if DNA databases grow in the right way: by entering more samples from crime scenes, not samples from arrestees. DNA databases already include 10 million-plus known offender profiles. But a database with every offender in the nation cannot solve a crime if no physical evidence was collected or tested. And police collect far too few such samples.
Police do routinely collect physical evidence in cases of homicide and in most cases of rape. But evidence is not collected from eight out of 10 crime scenes for other serious offenses, like burglary, robbery, and aggravated assault. Forget what you see on the proliferation of CSI spinoffs. Many jurisdictions do not even have dedicated and trained crime scene investigators.
States like California, which vastly expanded DNA databanks to include arrestees, do not generate dramatically more matches between offenders and crime scenes than do states with much smaller databases, like New York or Illinois. That is because New York and Illinois, despite the smaller numbers of offenders in their databases, enter crime scene samples at rates comparable to California. Indeed, from 2010 to 2012, California halved the average number of offender profiles uploaded per month, but kept the number of samples from crime scenes constant. The result was an increase in database hits. The same dynamic played out in the United Kingdom. The lesson is clear: The police solve more crimes not by taking DNA from suspects who have never been convicted, but by collecting more evidence at crime scenes.
Even worse, taking DNA from a lot of arrestees slows the testing in active criminal investigations. After all, 12 million or more people are arrested each year. (According to one study, by age 23, nearly one-third of Americans have been arrested for an offense, not including minor traffic violations.) Backlogs created by arrestee DNA sampling means that rape kits and samples from convicted offenders sit in storage or go untested. This hurts innocent suspects, like Cody Davis, who was convicted in Florida because of a delay in testing evidence that later cleared him. And although you likely have a right to have your DNA expunged if your arrest was mistaken, in some states it is up to you to petition the court, and needless to say there is no right to counsel or easy online way to carry out such a request.
Putting DNA from arrestees into databanks also exposes more innocent people to the risk of false accusation or conviction. Interpretation of DNA evidence from known offenders is straightforward, but crime scene samples often require subjective judgments that may lead to errors. What is more, cross-contamination and accidental sample switches have occurred in labs across the country. In one case in Nevada, a man spent four years in jail because an analyst accidentally switched his sample. In three more cases, erroneous DNA testing led to wrongful convictions that were overturned by subsequent DNA tests. A 2009 National Academy of Science report criticized the current lack of quality control in the forensic testing system. But improvement seems less likely if crime labs are inundated with DNA from arrestees. The FBI has also opposed confidential access for researchers who could independently assess government assertions about the accuracy of DNA databases.
In addition, arrestee testing exacerbates the racial disparities in DNA databases. Because African-Americans and Hispanics make up a disproportionate share of convicts, they are overrepresented in databases. Racial disparities in arrest rates, particularly for minor crimes like drug possession, can be even starker. Allowing states to bank DNA of arrestees will mean including disproportionate amounts of genetic information from African-Americans and Hispanics as compared to other groups.
King’s case may seem like a poster-child for DNA database expansion, because his sample closed a serious unsolved case. But there is more to the story. King had at least six prior convictions at the time of his sentencing for the shotgun offense. A state law limited to taking DNA from convicted offenders could have authorized his testing. The same is true of dozens of other arrestee DNA “success stories.”
That suggests that the line between arrest and conviction is the right place to locate the constitutional limit on the government’s unending appetite for collecting our DNA. If the Supreme Court approves Maryland’s law, then DNA samples will be routinely taken from people upon arrest just like fingerprints. Unlike fingerprints, however, the DNA samples will be used not to identify people, but to forever implicate them as one of the “usual suspects.” Also unlike fingerprints, DNA samples convey a lot of information, like your sex, what you look like, whether you are adopted, or how old you might be. Some states have even decided, without judicial approval or new laws, to use DNA databases to find not only people in the database, but also their family members. And as technology evolves, who knows what is next? What we know now is that no good evidence shows that taking from DNA from arrestees helps to solve crimes in any meaningful way. We also know the cost to liberty and privacy. That’s the tradeoff the Supreme Court should weigh.IN 1981 Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery. Yet although forced labour is now banned everywhere, a new report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Organisation for Migration and the Walk Free Foundation finds that the practice remains widespread. Last year 25m people around the world were in some type of involuntary servitude; between 2012 and 2016, 83m were subjected to at least a brief period of such work. A quarter of such exploitation happened outside of the victim’s country of origin.
The definition of forced labour was laid down in an ILO convention in 1930: work or service exacted from people against their will and “under the menace of any penalty”. Around a sixth of the people experiencing such mistreatment today are forced to work by the state, primarily in prisons or the army (including conscripts made to do non-military tasks). Another 4.8m, roughly a fifth of the total, were victims of sexual exploitation. Even after excluding prostitution, almost three-fifths of those in forced labour in private enterprises are women, mainly because domestic work makes up a plurality of such exploitation. In construction, manufacturing and agriculture, the next three most-exploitative sectors, most victims are men. The report retells horrific cases of people dragooned into work, including 600 men rescued from foreign fishing boats in Indonesian waters. Some of them had not set foot on land for years; one had been separated from his family for 22 years.
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Coercion can take multiple forms, from sexual violence to threats against family members, confinement and having passports taken away. The most common means is withholding the worker’s wages. Michaelle De Cock, one of the report’s co-authors, says she was shocked by the level of debt bondage that the study revealed. More than half of the respondents in the survey who were subjected to forced labour had to work to repay a debt with punitive interest rates. In agriculture, domestic work and manufacturing this share rose to over 70%.
Governments are beginning to beef up their efforts against this stubbornly persistent practice of forced labour. Brazil, for instance, has increased the number of inspectors who can turn up at farms and factories to ensure that workers haven’t been forced into jobs. In 2014, Britain established an independent anti-slavery commissioner to investigate cases of involuntary labour. Just this month nine people were jailed for offences under the country’s Modern Slavery Act, passed in 2015. This law also requires companies with revenues of at least £36m ($50m) to ensure that they do not exploit workers and that their supply chains also comply with British law. Over 80,000 organisations have signed up for an open-data register demonstrating that they and their suppliers make no use of forced labour. Over 200 years ago, Britain led the charge to abolish slavery. Today the country is taking a leading role against its modern manifestation.– Records show a man suspected of killing two young children and two teenagers at his home served 16 years in prison for second-degree murder.
Gregory V. Green was released from prison in 2008 after serving 16 years for second-degree murder. He had pleaded no contest in Wayne County court.
Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz says Green was charged with fatally stabbing his pregnant wife in 1991.
Wednesday morning a call came in to police from a man claiming to have killed his family.
Inside the home, investigators found a 4-year-old Kaliegh Green and 6-year-old Koi Green dead in their beds, a 17-year-old girl and 19-year-old boy dead in the basement, and the suspect’s wife suffering from gunshot and stab wounds.
The wife, identified as Faith Green, was rushed to a local hospital and last reported in fair condition.
Lt. Michael Krause said it appears the younger children — identified as Kaleigh and Koi — were asphyxiated in the suspect’s vehicle; a hose had been hooked to the exhaust and was routed into the car. After the girls succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning, the suspect allegedly moved their bodies back inside the home and tucked them into bed. As for the older children — identified as Kara Allen and Chadney Allen — officials say both were shot execution style.
The suspect is said to be the biological father of the two youngest children; Green is the biological mother of the two older children.
Green was arrested and is currently being held at the Dearborn Heights Police Department and is expected to be arraigned by Thursday.
An investigation is ongoing.
Stay with WWJ Newsradio 950 and CBSDetroit.com for the latest.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday defended his 2013 vote against an aid package in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, facing accusations of hypocrisy as he deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in his state.
“There’s time for political sniping later,” Cruz said in an interview on MSNBC, when asked about his vote against the relief package after the 2012 storm wreaked havoc on New Jersey and New York.
“The accurate thing to say is that I and a number of others enthusiastically and emphatically supported hurricane relief for Sandy. Hurricane relief and disaster relief has been a vital federal role for a long, long time and it should continue,” he said. “The problem with that particular bill is it became a $50 billion bill that was filled with unrelated pork.”
Cruz and Texas Sen. John Cornyn both voted against the $51 billion Sandy aid package, as did more than 20 House Republicans in Texas, the Associated Press reported. New York and New Jersey legislators have called out their colleagues for those votes this week, even as some promised to support disaster relief for Harvey.
“What I said then and still believe now is that it’s not right for politicians to exploit a disaster when people are hurting to pay for their own political wish list,” Cruz told MSNBC on Monday.FILE PHOTO: German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel presides the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, August 2, 2017. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany stands on the front line of a new Cold War, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, and Chancellor Angela Merkel was making a grave error by following U.S. President Donald Trump down the rearmament path.
Gabriel told newspaper Bild that, in dealing with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Germany faced neighbors to East and West who believed "not in the strength of right, but the right of the strong."
With a national election just a month away, Gabriel's Social Democrats (SPD) are struggling to differentiate themselves after four years of coalition with Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) after a campaign attacking social inequality failed to rouse voters.
Gabriel's comments lent support to remarks by Martin Schulz, his party's candidate for chancellor, who this week criticized Merkel's plans for expanded military spending and said he would have the United States remove its nuclear weapons from German soil.
"We are in a Cold War 2.0," he said. "Right in the middle. We face a new phase of nuclear armament in East and West," he told Bild in remarks published on Saturday. Putin and Trump believed that relationships between peoples and nations was "all about struggle," he said.
"They don't stress... the strength of right, but the right of the strong," he added.
Merkel believed she would win favors from Trump if she increased military spending up to 70 billion euros a year, he said. "I believe that is a major mistake."
Germany and other NATO members had already pledged to raise their defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product before Trump was elected. While most of them have increased spending on their militaries, only a few have reached the 2 percent goal - and Germany is not one of them.
He also rounded on Merkel's conservatives for their criticism of former SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has been attacked for taking jobs at Kremlin-linked Russian energy companies, most recently at Rosneft.
"When it comes to getting prisoners freed from the hands of Russian separatists in East Ukraine, then (they) are glad Schroeder has a line to Putin. But during a campaign against the SPD, it's the other way round," he said. "I find that cheap."
With Germany's economy booming and unemployment falling, polls show Merkel's conservatives with a lead of as much as 17 percentage points over the SPD.
(Reporting By Thomas Escritt; Editing by Richard Balmforth)Beautiful Celestial Sketches by a 19th-Century Amateur Astronomer
In 1881, artist and self-taught astronomer Etienne Leopold Trouvelot published these lovely drawings of celestial phenomena he had observed using his own telescope, the Harvard College Observatory telescope, and the U.S. Naval telescope:
This was essentially an early version of amateur astrophotography, although he didn't have access to cameras back then. A form of astronomical photography came into popularity during his lifetime, but he claimed that "the camera could not replace the human eye." The drawing of the Milky way below, in particular, almost looks like it could be a photograph:
Trouvelot had a wide variety of interests, including silkworms, which gives rise to an extremely random anecdote about the artist. During an amateur scientific experiment involving genetic cross-breeding, he accidentally released a slew of gypsy moth caterpillars into the environment, thereby becoming the first person to artificially introduce one of the most destructive forest pests to the United States.A Bright And Light Duplex In New York by StudioLab
StudioLAB designed University Place, a renovated duplex for a family in Greenwich Village, New York City.
From Studio LAB
The owners of this small duplex located in Greenwich Village wanted to live in an apartment with minimal obstacles and furniture. Working with a small budget, StudioLAB aimed for a fluid open-plan layout in an existing space that had been covered in darker wood floors with various walls sub-diving rooms and a steep narrow staircase.
The use of white and light blue throughout the apartment helps keep the space bright and creates a calming atmosphere, perfect for raising their newly born child. An open kitchen with integrated appliances and ample storage sits over the location of an existing bathroom.
When privacy is necessary the living room can be closed off from the rest of the upper floor through a set of custom pivot-sliding doors to create a separate space used for a guest room or for some quiet reading. The kitchen, dining room, living room and a full bathroom can be found on the upper floor.
Connecting the upper and lower floors is an open staircase with glass rails and stainless steel hand rails. An intimate area with a bed, changing room, walk-in closet, desk and bathroom is located on the lower floor. A light blue accent wall behind the bed adds a touch of calming warmth that contrasts with the white walls and floors.
Design: StudioLAB12 JUL 3301
The Birth of an Empire
Continuing GalNet’s series about the defining moments in human history, famed historian Sima Kalhana talks about how the Empire came to be.
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The Empire has become such a dominant presence in human culture that it is easy to forget that for almost a century the heart of what was to become the Empire was just a single system. The Achenar system was first colonised in the middle of the 23rd century. It was founded by an expedition led by Marlin Duval, a wealthy woman who had grown disillusioned by the ever increasing rigidity of the Earth governments and stifling social conformity.
Marlin Duval vowed to get as far from Earth as she could, and after a long and treacherous journey across what was then unexplored space, most of the convoy eventually reached the Achenar system.
The system of Achenar was chosen for the outdoor world orbiting one of its gas giants, already capable of supporting human life, now known as Capitol. There was already life on the planet and though Duval didn’t know it at the time, one of the few known sentient species watched their landings.
Back then, life was known to be plentiful throughout the galaxy, though it wasn’t appreciated how rare sentient life was. Before long the species was made extinct by the settlers, mainly through imported bateria. Much later, this extinction would later be used as a pretext for Federal intervention in the system.
Under Marlin Duval the population lived under idealistic democratic rule with elected Senators representing the people. This changed dramatically after she died in a speeder crash. Her brother, Henson Duval, then assumed control and established the now familiar line of imperial succession. Some claim that he killed his sister to claim power, but this was never proved.
For many years succession was restricted to the male line, and it was claimed various means were used to restrict royal births to only male children. This practice was later abandoned, and recent events at the heart of the Empire indicate that male succession may soon be broken.
In 2324 Federal forces attempted to invade Achenar, with the pretext of causing the alien extinction, but also because of Achenar’s refusal to join the Federation. It was the conclusion of this war which resulted in the birth of the second of humanity’s great power blocs, and cemented Henson’s position as a powerful leader of his people.Like any rivalry game Major Applewhite has been a part of in his career as a player or coach, one thing always seems to matter most.
"Bragging rights," the first-year University of Houston coach said Monday.
Once part of the Bayou Bucket as offensive coordinator at Rice, Applewhite gets his first taste as a head coach when the Cougars (1-0) play host to the Owls (1-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at TDECU Stadium.
Off the schedule the last three years, the two schools agreed to renew the crosstown rivalry as part of a four-game, home-and-home series that runs through 2021.
This year's meeting also carries importance as the first game at home for both schools since flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey.
"It's great to have it back for the city of Houston," Applewhite said.
UH has won 29 of the 40 meetings since the two teams began playing annually in 1971. Three years later, the Bayou Bucket was introduced.
UH-Rice joins UCLA-Southern California as the only games in the nation that feature two FBS schools from the same city.
"For the players who haven't really dove into the history of the rivalry, it's a game to them," Applewhite said. "It's Week 2 or Week 3 for Rice. For the schools, alumni and the city of Houston, it's a rivalry that everybody is glad has been renewed."
The only other time there has been interruption in the rivalry came after the breakup of the Southwest Conference in 1995. UH joined Conference USA, and Rice went to the Mountain West, putting a three-year halt (1996-98) on the game.
Conference realignment and few available dates to book non-conference games caused the latest interruption in the series after the 2013 game.
Applewhite has been part of rivalry games, first the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma as a player and later as a coach, and the Iron Bowl against Auburn when he was offensive coordinator at Alabama.
In 2006, Applewhite was offensive coordinator when the Owls lost to the Cougars 31-30 in the season opener. Rice held a 30-14 lead early in the third quarter.
"Bragging rights are always up the rivalries," he said. "This just happens to be, not so much statewide, as it is citywide. I remember being in rivalry games as a player, you run into a lot of those players. A lot of these |
one.
Let's look at some of the likely candidates. Alex Turner: lyricist of a generation, everyday commentator extraordinaire, brilliant on chip shops, less so on council spending cuts. Here's what he told me last time I interviewed him, at the time of the student protests and trade-union marches: "Even though [some of our songs] are about 'what's going on' in, like, one part of town, it's not about 'WHAT'S GOING ON', is it? It's not like I'm showing an opinion on what's going on. I just don't know what that would achieve." Or Eton-educated folkie and former Black Bloc anarchist Frank Turner: "I'm uncomfortable being called 'political'. I don't want to be divisive."
Meanwhile, Dizzee Rascal long ago discovered that it was far more commercially rewarding to write about his bonkers showbiz lifestyle than the east London estate he grew up on, and chronicled so extraordinarily on his early albums.
None of these artists are stupid. In fact, they're among the most intelligent we've got. And I don't really believe they haven't got opinions about the big, important things, as well. But I do think there is a stigma attached to caring about those things enough to be outspoken, challenging and – yes – occasionally wrong about them. Just listen to the guffaws the once-credible MIA now incites after one-too-many politically misguided Twitter controversies ("I'm going down to the riot," she tweeted last week, "to hand out tea and Mars bars"). So now no one says anything at all. And then we all wake up and wonder where the art of genuine protest has gone.
Of course, we didn't need last week's riots to tell us there is a huge gulf between what musicians today are writing about and the realities of the streets. But they did throw the problem into even sharper relief than ever. The Clash may have spoken for a highly politicised UK in 1976, but they don't have anything to say to the disenfranchised and desensitised youth of 2011. Unless someone is prepared to stand up in their place and start screaming soon, this generation is in danger of losing its voice altogether – or, worse still, ending up with Tyler the Creator and his blank nihilism as its legacy. And not even he wants that.
Krissi Murison is editor of NME“Mixed” would be an apposite description of Microsoft’s E3. After a strong conference that detailed a slew of exciting and varied games, Sony rained on the Xbox One’s parade by undercutting the price and declaring they would not be following suit on Microsoft’s online and pre-owned policies. This then forced Microsoft into a u-turn, announcing they would not be incorporating these restrictions after all, meaning no online check-in and you are able to share and sell your disc-based games freely. It’s a real shame these controversial policies and resulting fallout have taken the sheen off an otherwise stellar E3, and these are issues that will be discussed and deliberated until the Xbox One launches in November. But what of the console itself?
Design It’s big. Monolithic, even. Microsoft wouldn’t detail dimensions, and I forgot my tape measure, but the Xbox One’s physical form is a meaty piece of kit. It carries its heft well though, with a half-and-half design of swish ridges. Not everyone has taken to the design, but personally I rather like it. It’s almost retro, looking a bit like a VCR that’s being used in an 80s sci-fi movie as a futuristic gadget. I’m not entirely sure that was the look Microsoft was going for, but it has a certain appeal. The glowing white Xbox logo on a minimalist fascia lends some elegance too. A grower.
Controller Now this was a real winner. An almost unqualified improvement over the already excellent 360 controller. The d-pad is vastly improved and the analogue sticks are less rubbery, coming with a neat dip that your thumb can rest in comfortably. The sticks are a little smaller, which may cause issues for people with big hands. However, it’s the triggers that perhaps impress the most, with contoured edges that your forefingers can curl around. There’s also haptic feedback, with the triggers rumbling and resisting when appropriate. Great for driving games like Forza, and potentially interesting for use in action and horror games. One area of concern, though, is that the distance between the triggers and the shoulder buttons is quite large. Arguably it will just be a case of getting used to the difference, and a lot of games won’t find it an issue, but a game of FIFA in which you have to switch between trigger and shoulder buttons quickly and regularly could be a problem.
Kinect 2.0 Microsoft’s motion and voice sensing camera is the source of much consternation for many. Every Xbox One will be packed with one (contributing to the £429 price point) and it will always need to be connected for the console to function. Concern over privacy of an always-listening console is obvious, however, Microsoft insist that Kinect will only be listening for one phrase when the console is turned on, that being “Xbox On”.
Despite those concerns, Kinect 2.0 is an impressive piece of tech. Physically it’s much more discrete and attractive than the first Kinect, which looks like a distant cousin of Jonny 5 from Short Circuit. And functionally, it’s more responsive to voice and motion. Extra skeletal tracking and infra-red makes motion more accurate and able to function better in the dark. Work has also been done to make Kinect a more complementary device to traditional controller based gaming. One tech demo had the player lifting the controller up like a shield, and making simple gestures such as tapping the side of your head to turn on night vision. Giving developers a more diverse and accurate control palette could win over some skeptics. If used well, of course.
Cloud-computing
Microsoft talked up the cloud-computing abilities of the Xbox One at E3 in terms of how it could enhance many types of games. Forza, for example, has the ‘Drivertar’ feature, which uploads player behaviour to the cloud in order to teach the game’s AI to drive more like a human. So, for example, a friend could race against a virtual imprint of you, in order to practice facing you in proper competition. This could theoretically be applied to something like FIFA, say, allowing you to brush up on your opponent’s tactics. Respawn have talked up the ‘cloud’ in relation to improving Titanfall. It’s all a little wishy-washy when it comes to describing the benefits, but in practice this could be an incredibly important part of the next-generation. For a tangible, non-game example, we were shown some NASA data, rendering our galaxy. The Xbox One console can generate, locally, 40,000 asteroid positions. With the cloud enabled, the extra computing performed over the internet can generate 330,000 asteroids on your screen. Not the most thrilling example, I grant you, but the number crunching gives you an idea of the extra processing power.
It’s worth noting that while Microsoft were keen to talk up the benefits of the cloud, confirming they will have 300,000 servers at launch, the PlayStation 4 can theoretically take advantage of a similar system. Sony has put less stock in the idea as a selling point, how the two attitudes towards the cloud pan out will be an interesting part of the next-generation. The official line on Titanfall’s Xbox One exclusivity, for example, is down to Microsoft’s use of the cloud. There were also concerns that following Microsoft’s u-turn over always online, that their commitment to the idea would be compromised, though an official statement claims that will not be the case.
Games
Microsoft had a great E3 in terms of games. Their press conference was a ratta-tat volley of new titles, all of which impressed. They ticked a lot of boxes too. You had your blockbuster blasters in Titanfall and a tease of a new Halo. You had your fan-pleasers in Crimson Dragon and Killer Instinct. You had your creative standard-bearer in Project Spark (which looked even better up close). You had the experimental, high-concept Quantum Break and the bonkers looking D4 from Deadly Premonition creator Swery65.
There was a nod to indie in Superbrothers’ Below and Minecraft Xbox One Edition, but Microsoft’s continued insistence that independent developers need a publisher to put their wares on Xbox One is utterly baffling. This is one area where Sony has won hearts, encouraging the burgeoning indie scene onto the PlayStation 4 by allowing self-publishing. Microsoft, by contrast, finds itself in that daft position of rejecting a developer as well-known as Oddworld Inhabitants because they don’t have official publisher backing. The Xbox One’s blockbuster lineup is second to none, but this is an area that Microsoft should surely reconsider, as ever-more-important independent games can breathe life and variety into the Xbox Live Arcade. But not if they’re all on PlayStation.“Xena: Warrior Princess” actress Lucy Lawless was arrested in New Zealand Monday after occupying an oil-drilling ship for three days to protest plans to search for oil off Alaska, Greenpeace said.
Police climbed a 53-metre (175-foot) drilling derrick on the ship Noble Discoverer in the North Island port of Taranaki and arrested Lawless, along with five other Greenpeace activists, the environmental group said.
The actress boarded the vessel early Friday in a bid to prevent it sailing to the Arctic, where it has been contracted by Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell to conduct exploratory drilling.
“This chapter has ended, but the story of the battle to save the Arctic has just begun,” said Lawless in a statement.
The New Zealander, who starred as the title character in the fantasy television series “Xena: Warrior Princess” from 1995-2001, is a long-time environmental activist who was named as a Greenpeace ambassador in 2009.
Greenpeace said she and her fellow protesters were expected to be formally charged later Friday. Police were not immediately available for comment.
Lawless told AFP on Friday that she was not concerned at the prospect of being arrested over the demonstration.
“That’s the least of my concerns,” she said. “I’m a true believer. We need to start switching over to renewable energy now, we don’t have to go to the ends of the earth to suck out every last drop of oil.”
The US Interior Department granted Shell conditional provisional approval to begin drilling exploration wells in the Arctic Ocean last August, in a move slammed by conservationists as “inexcusable”.
US officials had pledged to closely monitor Shell’s plans for four shallow water exploration wells in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea to ensure operations are conducted in a “safe and environmentally responsible manner”.
But green groups say it puts wildlife and native communities in the remote region at risk, citing the vastly complicated task of drilling in the harsh Arctic environment and effectively cleaning up any spills in such conditions.
They also point to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 after Shell’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded as an example of the risks inherent in drilling for oil.
Photo by Gage Skidmore [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsEmail
Jobs
By Scott Hartley | April 19, 2017, 2:18 PM | Techonomy Exclusive
In 2013, Oxford University economists Carl Frey and Michael Osborne published a study called The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerization? The authors concluded that 47 percent of U.S. jobs were at a high risk of machine automation over the next two decades. It was a sobering and fear-inducing thought. And various versions of this apocalyptic prediction are heard more and more among not only professional prognosticators but also from tech leaders and workers impressed with their own software and hardware but fearful of the consequences for society.
Such fears are understandable, but they may be misleading. It isn’t that jobs are going away. Instead, jobs are inexorably changing as automation seeps ever deeper into society. We probably don’t need to worry about the existence of jobs per se, but rather about those who do not cultivate their ability to think broadly and continue refining the soft skills that are unique to being human.
The argument that masses of human workers will permanently lose jobs to machines —what’s called “technological unemployment”— has been made time and time again, notably at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and during the Great Depression in 1930s. Economist John Maynard Keynes contended that job losses during the Depression due to technological advances were leading to “means of economizing the use of labor outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labor.” In other words, many would be without anything at all to do.
Of course this didn’t happen in anything like such a stark way. In 1900, approximately 40 percent of all American workers were employed on farms; today that number is just 2 percent. What the Industrial Revolution did was move farmers into factories and offices. But could this time be different?
Certainly we are seeing tremendous advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and the routine automation of manual tasks. For example, many once flocked to high six-figure-salary jobs mining iron ore and gold in the Australian Outback, but today giant self-driving Volvo and Caterpillar trucks weighing close to a million pounds are instead scraping the earth there in open-pit mines. “An autonomous truck doesn’t need to stop for lunch breaks for shift changes,” Caterpillar’s marketing crows. Scania, another vehicle company, has pioneered trucks that use GPS and LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors to operate with optimal efficiency, minimizing fuel consumption. The trucks have improved efficiency by more than 15 percent. And of course we daily hear predictions that self-driving vehicles of all sorts are soon to replace human drivers of all sorts, especially the millions who drive for a living.
Machines often just seem to do things better. For example, vehicles like the CAT 797, a bright-yellow $5.5 million, four-thousand-horsepower truck that carries four hundred tons, breaks less often when computers are operating it. Careless human drivers burn through lots more rubber on the giant tires. That matters when each one costs more than $40,000.
Of course businesses cannot always just buy their way out of employing people. But in a highly controlled industry like mining, where worker safety and stamina is a major concern, and especially where work is highly routine, workers are moving from the pits into offices or unemployment. Machine automation saves mining companies money, so over time they will add more and more such equipment.
Routine work will be done in whatever way is safest and most efficient. And this applies not just to manual work but also increasingly to the cognitive work people do with their brains. But while routine tasks might go to machines, jobs are comprised of many elements. Only a small subset of what people do is likely routine enough to be scripted, programmed and performed by a machine or computer. Many tasks within all jobs are subject to enough variation that employers will prefer human labor to machines for a long time. Machine precision is laudable, but so too is human mutability. A machine might make a good burger, but is it also going to take out the trash?
The McKinsey Global Institute released a study in the summer of 2016 that analyzed the functions performed as part of 800 different occupations. Researchers looked at over 2,000 tasks performed across all these jobs and concluded that “while automation will eliminate very few occupations entirely in the next decade, it will affect portions of almost all jobs to a greater or lesser degree.” McKinsey found that five percent of jobs could be fully automated (in stark contrast to the terrifying 47 percent figure in the Oxford study).
But the study concluded that we are likely to see a wholesale transformation of jobs, rather than their full replacement by machines and artificial intelligence. It found that roughly 30 percent of tasks within 60 percent of jobs would change. Researchers noted pointedly that this suggests that machines will augment our work environment rather than become our robot overlords anytime soon.
Those many tasks within a solid majority of jobs that will be immune to machine automation are those that cannot be sufficiently defined and programmed. Such tasks require creativity and original thought, intuition, coordination, communication, empathy and persuasion. In other words, humans might not perform rote tasks like guiding giant trucks to pick up piles of ore, or even elementary data collection. But they will ask questions of the data, help frame parameters, test hypotheses, collaborate with teammates across departments, and communicate results with compassion to clients.
In the hospital, nursing assistants today spend two-thirds of their time manually collecting health information. Over time, this job will certainly consist less of collecting patient vitals, because of course sensors do that quite well. But it’s presumptuous to believe seriously-ill patients would prefer even an empathetic robot to a caring human. In other words, the job of the nursing assistant will become more, not less, human. In the office, data and analytics will inform assessments of employee performance, but a manager will still coach and mentor his or her rising stars with care and hands-on attention. Humans will more and more interface with machines, but non-routine tasks will remain the purview of humans.
Because of the tremendous power of machines to supplement our abilities, the touch points between man and machine will continue to multiply. So we will definitely still need technical literacy, and in many cases solid STEM training. It’s of the utmost importance that these skills be nourished and prioritized across our communities. But it’s wrong to assume that basic technical training alone is sufficient to maintain relevance in tomorrow’s economy. For example, rote computer programming has already become a cheap commodity, purchased quickly and easily on the global market. And it is itself increasingly becoming automated.
At Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, David Deming is an economist who has looked at the change in relative employment for cognitive occupations over the past three decades. What he’s found is that the winners possess not pure math skills, or pure soft ones, but rather a blending of the two; what he calls “high math, high social.” Since 1980, jobs with a high requirement for social skills have grown significantly, whereas jobs with high math but low social abilities have actually declined. This is in part because in more complex work environments, worker specialization requires the trading and sharing of tasks, and soft skills reduce the so-called “transaction costs” of collaboration. Says James Manyika of the McKinsey Global Institute, who played a big role in its 2016 study: “People will be OK when it comes to jobs to the extent that they continue to focus on integrated systems-thinking skills. What people will need are problem-solving skills, learning to learn, and learning to adapt.”
So the question becomes: How do we cultivate human skills of adaptation, empathy, consideration for another’s perspective, and the ability to work together and communicate across differences? How do we train for a highly dynamic world where, for a college graduate today, it’s impossible even to imagine the jobs of 2060? Success and continued successful employment will come to those with both the technical literacy to understand machines as well as the soft skills to help maintain the human-to-human interface atop our techie world.
The answer to this challenge might be our least intuitive yet: at the moment of technological inflection, we need to double down on the liberal arts. After all, this is where students are exposed to broad ideas and challenged to grapple with the humanities, arts, and social and natural sciences in settings designed to tug on our minds, question our assumptions, and refine our curiosity. The liberal arts are not at odds with technical literacy. They are what give us the context with which we apply the new tools and our very human comparative advantage, even in a world in which machines continue to get smarter and smarter.
Scott Hartley is a venture capitalist and startup advisor. His new book, The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World, comes out next week from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt..Among the many advocates for ending cannabis prohibition, the vast majority condemned ResponsibleOhio for including monopolistic language in Issue 3. The citizen’s initiative to legalize cannabis failed miserably at the ballot box last November, but new data analysis now casts a darker shadow over the result.
Following the defeat of Issue 3, the Columbus Free Press newspaper asked Ron Baiman—a statistics expert—to calculate the likelihood of the ultimate outcome. Baiman, an Assistant Professor of Graduate Business Administration at Benedictine University near Chicago, concluded, “The results are not only impossible but unfathomable.”
In numeric terms, what kind of odds are we talking? One in a 1,000? One in a million?
“One in a trillion,” the professor told the paper.
To analyze the results, Columbus Free Press provided Baiman with pre-election poll numbers by Zogby Analytics, and he ran the numbers for all possible outcomes. Prior to the November 3 vote, the Zogby poll found that Issue 3 had enough support to pass, or at the very least, the outcome would be close. In the end, the resolution failed by a 2-to-1 margin.
Going into a competitive election, undecided votes typically break 50-50, or in the extreme, 60-40 in either direction. If the vote unfolded in a traditional manner, the odds of such a massive defeat would be one in a trillion. Still, Baiman noted that the final election numbers would still be impossible even in the unlikely scenario that every single undecided voter turned against Issue 3. Likewise, the margin of error for the Zogby poll is 4.9 percent, and even if the pollsters overstated Issue 3 support by the full margin, the final tally is still statistically impossible… even with all the undecideds voting against it. Compared to polling numbers, Baiman said the official result might only happen once in every 105,000 elections.
In the year leading up to the election, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted made every effort to squash the ResponsibleOhio initiative. For example, he disqualified the majority of signatures submitted to get Issue 3 on the ballot and then threatened to go after ResponsibleOhio for fraud. He also made sure the ballot language for the initiative emphasized the establishment of a “monopoly” as opposed to ending cannabis prohibition. Even if the official vote tally was correct, the statistically troubling outcome adds fuel to the conspiracy fire that Husted and/or other prohibitionists somehow rigged the election.
Regardless, several organizations already started work on a new initiative, including ResponsibleOhio chief Ian James. A few weeks ago, James wrote “An Open Letter to Ohioans” in which he promised to present a new initiative that would exclude the controversial provision for a cannabis grow monopoly.
“Marijuana legalization is coming back to the ballot in 2016,” wrote James. “We'll be back with a strong free market plan, and it's only with your help and input that we can make it the best plan for all of Ohio." He later added, “Our next plan will include a free market for people to own and operate their own grow, manufacturing and retail facilities. The plan will ensure that the industry is treated like other businesses in regards to taxation. We will have a new approach to home grow without permitting and inclusion of growing hemp to provide opportunities for Ohio's farmers.”
In an interesting twist, Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenbeger—an Issue 3 opponent—also announced that his chamber will begin considering medical cannabis legislation.Confused101 said: At first I thought he was talking about Fluttershy's lullaby. I completely forgot about Flutterguy's song. Shame on me.
And I'm going to chime in on the RD vs AJ competition debate. I feel AJ was justified in her cheating accusations. To put it in simplest terms, RD has wings and AJ does not. How is this any kinds of equal? Does it make RD a better athlete? Questionable. Does it mean she has more versatility? Absolutely. AJ definitely had RD beat in a few of those events but RD's wings gave her a huge advantage. Also, they're both sore losers but at least AJ had a reason to be upset. Let me know if I'm totally off base. It's early. :lol Click to expand...
Myke Greywolf said: It's obvious, from the events used, that the whole "iron pony" competition was designed to compare pony fitness without bringing wings into the equation. Click to expand...
To put it in the simplest terms, Applejack has been preparing all her life for land-based athletics and Dash hasn't. How is that any kind of equal? How can it be fair to expect her to match Applejack's leg strength given her profession? Or her skill with a rope given her experience there? For shame! If AJ had any honor, she would have foregone the use of her tail when using the rope in the interests of fair competition!I don't think that's at all obvious, given the lack of an explicit rule about it and the presence of an equal number of events that play to AJ's strengths. Come on, RD has about the same chance of beating AJ at the leg strength or rope skill challenges as AJ has at beating her at the long jump with the use of wings.And that's why the analogy to wheelchair basketball falls flat: it's acknowledged that to the extent that the players do have functioning legs, they've agreed to forego their use for the competition, which was neither explicit nor anywhere near as implicitly clear as the other side is making it out to be. I think it should be immediately obvious why asking one contestant but not the other to forego their greatest strength would undermine the stated purpose of the competition, to find the better athlete.Uber Just Started A Petition To Take On The Maha Govt And 60,000 People Have Already Signed On!
Uber Just Started A Petition To Take On The Maha Govt And 60,000 People Have Already Signed On!
The city that never sleeps also needs a public transport system to get home after. It needs something dependable, safe and something not obscenely expensive - something that subsequent administrations of Mumbai had failed to deliver on, consistently. Ask anyone who's ever taken a cab and they'll have at least one horror story to tell whether it is about being overcharged, about safety or something more severe.
These problems had begun to get resolved with the arrival of app-based aggregator taxi services like Uber. But your relief might have been short-lived, if the Maharashtra Govt has its way. The Maha Govt is planning to implement a City Taxi Scheme, 2015 and Uber has started a petition to fight for commuter rights.
What is the City Taxi Scheme, 2015
Not satisfied with banning beef and a host of other attacks on individual freedom, the Maharashtra Govt has now come up with a City Draft Scheme targeted at app-based taxi aggregators. The scheme aims at curtailing the minimum size of fleets of a taxi operator to 1,000 cars and restricts them to 4,000 cars - a strange move for a country where the only way to decongest roads is reduce the number of private vehicles on the road! What does it mean? Simply, it means, you'll have to wait longer to get a cab - if you could hail one and get it in 5 mins, you'd spend 25 mins now.
Don't Miss 228 SHARES 94.6 K SHARES 49.6 K SHARES 65.1 K SHARES 20.5 K SHARES
You can read other details about the proposed act here.
Where does it leave the drivers?
The drivers who work for app-based taxi aggregators like Uber and Ola who'd be rendered not just employed but also saddled with loans for cars they have purchased.
Does it make things more expensive?
You bet. The petition seeks to also regulate fares for cabs which mean you may not be able to take benefits of schemes, other benefits that these app-based aggregators are known to offer to the customers. Moreover, the charges for app-based aggregators are cheaper than black-and-yellows. So, yes if you do take cabs a lot, your bill is probably going to increase.
In an attempt to fight this, Uber has been running a petition urging the Maharashtra Govt to repeal the City Taxi Scheme, 2015 - which has already received 60,000 e-signatures till date. You can sign up for it here.
Do let us know what you think about the issue in the comments section below.Image copyright Report authors Image caption A sample of how many places apps share data with
Apps on Apple and Android smartphones leak lots of users' information to third parties, research has suggested.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard, and Carnegie-Mellon universities studied 110 apps available on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
They found 73% of the Android apps shared users' email addresses, and 47% of the iOS apps shared location data.
Privacy International said it was more evidence of how devices "betray us".
The study, Who Know What About Me? A Survey of Behind the Scenes Personal Data Sharing to Third Parties by Mobile Apps, tested 55 of the most popular Android apps and the same number of iOS apps.
The researchers recorded the HTTP and HTTPS traffic that occurred while using the different apps and looked for transmissions that included personally identifiable information, behavioural data such as search terms and location data.
They found the Android apps sent sensitive data to 3.1 third-party domains, on average, while the iOS apps connected to 2.6.
The Android apps were more likely to share personal information such as name (49% of the apps) and address (25%) than the iOS apps, where 18% shared names and 16% shared email addresses.
Medical information
Three out of the 30 medical, health and fitness apps the researchers studied shared search terms and user inputs with third parties.
Android health app Drugs.com shared medical information - including words such as "herpes" - with five third-party domains, including doubleclick.net and googlesyndication.com.
The Android apps were most likely to leak data to Google and Facebook, with the most leaky being Text Free, which offers free calls and text over wi-fi and sent data to 11 third-party domains.
The most leaky iOS app was Localscope, a location browser, which sent data to 17 third-party domains.
The research also found that 93% of the Android apps tested connected to the domain safemovedm.com.
"The purpose of this domain connection is unclear at this time; however, its ubiquity is curious," wrote the researchers.
"When we used the phone without running any app, connections to this domain continued."
It said the connection was "likely due to a background process of the Android phone".
Google was asked by the BBC to explain more about safemovedm.com but did not provide information by the time of publication.
Privacy International said that the report "highlights the many ways that the devices we use can betray us".
"The analysis in the paper suggests that a large proportion of apps tested share sensitive information like location, names and email addresses with third parties with minimal consent," said Christopher Weatherhead, a technologist at PI.
It was concerned about how such information would sit with new UK draft legislation for data retention.
"With the recently announced draft Investigatory Powers Bill, many of these connections to third-party websites would be retained as internet connection records," Mr Weatherhead said.
"So, even if you have never visited these websites, they would be indistinguishable from your actual web-browsing activity.
"This would allow the security services to make assumptions about browsing habits which are not correct."
Website leaks
Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the amount of data shared by apps.
A survey of 2,000 Americans by the Pew Research Centre suggested 54% of users had decided not to install an app after learning how much personal information they would need to share to use it.
Some 30% said they had uninstalled an app after learning it had collected information they did not want to share, while 30% of smartphone owners turned off the location tracking feature of their phone.
The latest research follows a study last month by Timothy Libert, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, who said almost nine in 10 websites leaked user information to third parties that users were "usually unaware of".want to know how to strip a boat?
You want to paint your boat and the only real way to achieve a half decent finish is to put in the prep work and remove some of that old flakey topcoat. So what are the options?
Stripping a boat can be painstaking work. It can be hazardous, messy, expensive, depressing and can often make even the best of craftsmen cut corners.There is a lot to contend with but if you break the task down into a simple steps things will get a lot easier. Let me show you…
What are your paint durability requirements?
Before stripping a boat you will need to work out exactly how durable your paint needs to be once finished. There is no point in stripping a boat back to the original gel coat, priming and top coating if you only really need to key the surface and add a new topcoat. This will all depend on the finish that you require. Imagine you are only using your boat for occasional weekend fishing trips, the probability is that it won’t need to be coated with a paint that lasts for 30 years, neither will it need to facilitate a herd of drunken elephants. With that in mind here are some simple questions you must ask yourself, is it:
A working boat that has heavy foot fall and is in constant use? Use 2 pack.
. A liveaboard that only has the occasional person smoking a cigarette on the roof and a bi-yearly wash? Use 1 pack.
. A racing yacht that needs to stand out from the crowd, be constantly used and look good? Use 2 pack.
. An occasional weekend fishing boat? Use 1 pack.
So to summarise; if you want to paint, spray or roll your boat with a 2 pack high durable marine paint, you will need to remove all of the less adequate 1 part paint first. A 2 part paint will only be as strong as it’s underlying surface. However, If you want to add a few layers of topcoat to get it through the next few seasons then a 1 part paint will be more than adequate. Notably, you will always want to key the surface and use a compatible paint depending on the manufacturer’s requirements.
Getting Information From Old Owners
This isn’t always the best source of information, but if you’re still in contact with the owner or even better the owners before of a boat, it may be worth finding out what paint was used before you go blasting layers off your pride and joy. If you know exactly what has been used on your boat then you will find it a lot easier to remove especially if you plan on using a chemical stripper. Knowing what the existing paint is will determine which paints will bond. For example. some 2 part paints will eat 1 part paints, they won’t bond and you’re wasting your time. Epoxy will go over 1 part paint but will only ever be as strong as the underlying 1 part paint. Questions to ask the old owner, is it:
1 part or 2 part resin or paints?
Enamel, polyester, epoxy are just some other the many types of paints and resins used in the marine environment. All having different chemical compositions and requiring different chemical strippers depending on if you want to preserve the condition of the underlying surface.
What quality of finish do you want?
Yes that’s right, thinking about a finish might sound a little day dreamish but your prep work will be the deciding factor on how good your finish will look.
Factory finish – often sprayed, but can be achieved by hand painting depending on experience. A beautiful topcoat, buffed waxed and polished with a “like new ” look. This finish comes with practice and perfecting your skills in preparation as well as painting.
The good from a distance – often hand painted tipped and rolled and can be achieved with less experience but with a good amount of knowledge. Its often the case that a boat only really needs to look good from a distance.
The That’ll do – two litres of masonry paint applied with a brick for that perfect artex look. For some reason, these are the paint jobs you often stumble upon renovating project boats.
What is the condition of the paint?
Is there osmosis damage on the gel coat?
Is the paint flaking?
Is it just old and needs a topcoat or does it need fully sanding back?
Is there cracks in the gel coat due to structural problems, flexing surfaces etc.?
Methods You Could Use To Strip A Boat
Orbital sanders, sheet sanders.
Shot blasting.
Mechanical scrapers.
Heat guns.
Chemical strippers.
My Method For Removing Paint – Hand Scrapers And Chemicals
The boat yard I am working from currently has now power that’s immediately accessible. This meant that I needed a method for removing paint that doesn’t involve electricity. Sanding the entire boat down by hand would take forever so it was time to think about a chemical stripper. I would also need to remove all of the 1 part paint as I plan to use 2 part paints for durability. Before you even open your paint stripper get your safety goggles on! You’ll want a pair that
Before you even open your paint stripper, get your safety goggles on! You’ll want a pair that are fully enclosed. If you are in the UK Screwfix sell a pair of goggles for £1.39. There is really no excuse for not wearing them. Paint stripper can blind you fairly easy and unless you plan on being a blind boat builder it’s always a good idea to take your safety seriously. You should also use a mask for removing paint as it can often contain nasty chemicals.
That’s right, all of the flaky paint will need to be removed. For this job I used a scraper that I could put a bit of elbow grease behind. A standard paint scraper or wallpaper scraper won’t really work in this situation. You will need something with a sharp blade. Be aware that this method works on my boat as it doesn’t matter too much if I scratch the underlying gelcoat. Why? because I’m planning on priming and fairing the entire boat before painting, which will cover up all of the minor dinks and scratches.
I removed the top layer of flaky paint because I didn’t want to waste tons of the expensive marine paint stripper. It’s also pretty messy stuff and bad for the environment. The less you can use the better. It takes a while to get your method down but keep-at-it the less you scratch into the gelcoat the easier the priming and painting will be in the end.
Like I’ve previously stated in this article different paint’s require different strippers. For example: 1 part and 2 part paints will each be affected differently. It’s hard to know exactly what has been used however if you have a stripper that will only remove 1 part paint then it could be tested on an inconspicuous area. With my
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ithemius said that people can send messages without using letters he probably just meant they could use number codes instead.
Book three had seven tables, each containing roughly two dozen to 200 numbers. Dr. Reeds saw patterns in the numbers that led him to try arranging them in columns. He began to suspect that each letter of the alphabet was represented by a number. But to examine that hypothesis, Dr. Reeds had to know the Latin alphabet of the time. And the alphabet was ambiguous. Sometimes it had the letter "w," sometimes "k" and sometimes "y."
Dr. Reeds guessed that Trithemius might have assigned letters to numbers using alphabetical order. He was almost right -- he discovered that Trithemius used reverse alphabetical order. Dr. Reeds also discovered that Trithemius's alphabet did not have the letters "k" or "y," but it had "w." and "a couple of other letters stuck on the end that stood for'sch' and 'tz,' " he said.
Once he realized that Trithemius's book was, in fact, a code, Dr. Reeds was delighted. Trithemius, he said, had "kind of a cute idea" to encrypt his encryption method. "It's the kind of idea that a computer nerdy sort of person would have nowadays," he said.
But the messages that Trithemius encrypted in the tables in his book turned out to be banal. One was the Latin equivalent of "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" -- a sentence that used every letter of the alphabet. Another said: "The bearer of this letter is a rogue and a thief. Guard yourself against him. He wants to do something to you." A third was the start of the 21st Psalm.
Dr. Ernst said that when he cracked Trithemius's code he wondered about Heidel, the 17th-century man who said he had decoded Trithemius but who had encoded his book giving the solution to the Trithemius code. So, Dr. Ernst returned to Heidel's book and cracked Heidel's code. Sure enough, Dr. Ernst discovered, Heidel had figured out Trithemius's code. Why would Heidel encode his discovery? " It was cryptological vanity," Dr. Ernst said.
[Image omitted] Johannes Trithemius, German abbot.
[End]Read our related news story: Gene therapy promises one-shot treatment for HIV
Read our related editorial: Ridding the world of AIDS
WHAT if we could rid the world of AIDS? The notion might sound like fantasy: HIV infection has no cure and no vaccine, after all. Yet there is a way to completely wipe it out – at least in theory. What’s more, it would take only existing medical technology to do the job.
Here’s how it works. If someone who is HIV positive takes antiretroviral-drug therapy they can live a long life and almost never pass on the virus, even through unprotected sex. So if everyone with HIV were on therapy, there would be little or no transmission. Once all these people had died, of whatever cause, the virus would be gone for good.
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It’s a simple idea, but the obstacles to implementing it worldwide are enormous. Persuading everyone with HIV to start therapy purely for public health reasons could be ethically dubious. To identify everyone who is HIV positive would require such widespread testing that some may feel it breached their civil liberties. Then there is the question of who would fund such a massive undertaking.
Yet the idea of eliminating HIV is so appealing, and the benefit to humanity so huge, that scientists and policy-makers are seriously considering the concept, albeit on regional scales. In the next few months the World Health Organization (WHO) will meet to discuss how the idea could be tried in developing countries, and something approaching elimination might be attempted …Vol. 13, No. 2 January 21, 2013
Both in the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead and in the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel’s government focused its objective on enhancing deterrence – opting for hitting the terrorists hard enough to give them an interest in a ceasefire for as long as possible – rather than dismantling Gaza’s terror infrastructure or toppling the Hamas government.
Already in Cast Lead the IDF told the government that a Defensive Shield-type operation (as in the West Bank in 2002) to eliminate Gaza’s terror infrastructure, while possible, would require significant forces and could take many months. Then the problem would arise: what would be Israel’s exit strategy?
The 2012 operation was carried out against the background of dramatic changes in the region, with Israel facing a potential undermining of the fragile peace with a different, Islamist Egypt; uncertainties along Israel’s northern borders with Syria and Lebanon; and an ongoing critical situation regarding Iran. Given all these considerations, the government was right to determine more limited objectives, and successful in achieving them without resorting to a ground operation.
While fault-lines between Sunnis and Shiites are heating up across the region, Hamas still draws on both camps. Even though Hamas has replaced its Iranian political and economic umbrella with a Sunni one provided by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, it still receives weapons from Iran, which now publicly and proudly takes credit for it; Iran wants it known that it does more than the Sunni states to aid Hamas’ anti-Israel struggle.
If it has the requisite political will, Hamas is capable of enforcing the ceasefire on all factions in Gaza, including jihadi groups that were the main escalating engine leading to Operation Pillar of Defense. Hamas has been trying to maneuver between its responsibilities as a government and its wish to sustain its standing as a resistance movement. Operation Pillar of Defense compelled Hamas to make a choice.
Coupled with its Egyptian sponsor’s interest in stability, Hamas now feels compelled to observe the ceasefire. The result, for the time being, is unprecedented quiet along the Israel-Gaza border. To sustain that ceasefire, however, it is essential to get Egypt to effectively stop the smuggling of weapons through its territory into Gaza.
The objectives and implications of Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza during November 14-21, 2012, can only be assessed in the wider context of the new Middle East that has emerged from the earthquake known as the Arab Spring.
Israel’s Announced Objectives
The objectives defined by Israel’s top political leadership were rather modest. As articulated by Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the outset of the operation, they were to enhance Israel’s deterrence vis-à-vis Hamas and other factions in Gaza; to deny Hamas and these other factions certain strategic capabilities, especially longer-range rockets; and to restore normalcy to the life of Israeli citizens, hundreds of thousands of whom had been driven into shelters by the daily barrage of rockets. Some claim these objectives were too modest; in actuality, they were well calibrated.
An asymmetric war against an organization such as Hamas, that is at one and the same time a terror organization, a political party, and a paramilitary group both nesting in civilian-populated areas and targeting civilians, constitutes a difficult challenge. Two different kinds of objectives may be set for such an operation. On the one hand, one can focus the objective on enhancing deterrence, namely, hit the terrorists hard enough to give them an interest in a ceasefire for as long as possible, deny them certain capabilities, and weaken their motivation to employ violence against you. On the other hand, one can set a more ambitious, maximalist objective of dismantling their terror capabilities. In this case, that would have entailed a ground operation in Gaza comparable to Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank at the height of the Second Intifada, which would have required very large-scale forces operating in Gaza for a long period.
Both in the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead and in the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel’s government opted for the first objective, not the more ambitious one of dismantling Gaza’s terror infrastructure or even toppling the Hamas government. In 2008, the Israeli government debated the same issue. Although some officials pushed for a broader operation in Gaza, ultimately the government decided not to go too far, even though it did order a ground operation. The IDF had told the government that a Defensive Shield-type operation to eliminate Gaza’s terror infrastructure would take many months – some even said a year; and subsequently a difficult problem would arise: to whom would Gaza be handed over, and what would be Israel’s exit strategy?
The 2012 operation, carried out against the background of a dramatically transformed Middle East, posed even more complex challenges, including the possible undermining of the fragile peace with Egypt. Israel also faces uncertainties along its northern borders with Syria and Lebanon, and an ongoing critical situation regarding Iran’s nuclear program which may come to a head in a matter of months. Given all these considerations, the government was right to determine more limited objectives. It appears that the basic objective was achieved: Hamas was hit hard militarily, resulting for the time being in nearly absolute quiet along Israel’s border with Gaza.
Facing a Complex Aftermath
The realities, however, are still more nuanced and complex. What happened in Gaza is a microcosm of current developments in the Middle East, where new forces have arisen. The most prominent is political Islam, first and foremost the new Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt that must be taken into account when dealing with Gaza. When Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in 2008, the Hosni Mubarak-led Egyptian government quietly encouraged Israel to destroy Hamas, and expressed disappointment when this was not accomplished.
The situation now, of course, is different; Hamas is essentially the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and in a sense heralded the rise of political Islam by winning the 2006 Palestinian Authority parliamentary elections and then taking over Gaza in a bloody coup in June 2007. Whereas Mubarak’s government regarded Hamas as a threat to Egypt’s national security, the government of President Muhammad Morsi provides the Hamas regime with a political umbrella, and Israel was well aware that it had to maneuver in a different environment for Operation Pillar of Defense.
Moreover, an alignment of major Sunni powers in the region, including Qatar and Turkey, now joins Egypt and provides Hamas with an even wider umbrella. Already before Pillar of Defense, all these actors were helping Hamas break out of its political isolation and economic hardship. In October, the emir of Qatar made the first-ever state visit to Hamas in Gaza, pledging $450 million in financial support. Turkey, too, has given Hamas both political and financial support.
Major Sunni powers have been cooperating with the United States and the West on important issues and particularly against Iran and global jihadi elements; at the same time, these Sunni powers support Islamist actors in the region, including Islamist forces in Syria and Hamas in Gaza. In Egypt’s parliamentary elections, Qatar extended financial support to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Saudis funneled aid to the Salafists. Thus the West faces a serious challenge: major regional forces, that are considered allies in advancing and safeguarding important Western interests, support inherently anti-democracy and anti-West Islamists at the expense of more liberal national forces.
In the case of Hamas, there is a security advantage to this situation, alongside its very basic disadvantages. As evident during the recent crisis, Egypt would like to provide Hamas with political achievements. Yet, at the same time, as long as Cairo – sponsor to the ceasefire – wants to maintain a quiet border between Israel, Gaza, and Egypt and curb jihadi forces threatening the status quo there, and with Hamas having an affinity with the Morsi government contrary to its relations with Mubarak, the chances of Hamas upholding a ceasefire are greater, at least for the time being. In other words, a kind of trade-off emerges: Hamas offers quiet, and receives political and economic assistance from its supporters.
In the broader regional context, increased tensions along the Sunni-Shiite fault line constitute a major phenomenon in this new Middle East. It is evident almost everywhere – in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain, and even in Saudi Arabia where there is a significant Shiite minority in the oil-rich Eastern Province. It is all the more evident in the relations between the major Sunni powers and Iran. In this regard, however, Gaza is a very unique case. Hamas in Gaza, even though a Sunni movement, was part of the radical, mostly-Shiite axis led by Iran along with Syria and Hizbullah. But since the outbreak of the Arab Spring, with Hamas unable to support Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite regime in Syria, tensions have arisen between Hamas and Iran, with Hamas declining in favor and losing financial support. When it comes to fighting Israel, however, Iran continues to back Hamas.
Hence, even though Hamas has replaced its Iranian political and economic umbrella with a Sunni one provided by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, it still receives weapons from Iran. And even though the Sunni and Shiite camps are fighting each other, both, in different ways, provide assistance to Hamas in standing against Israel.
Interestingly, whereas in the past the Iranians would never admit supplying weapons to Hamas in Gaza, following the recent crisis they have publicly and proudly taken credit for it, and Hamas leaders have openly acknowledged it as well. The Iranians’ new candor can be explained by their concern about the Sunni umbrella. They want the credit for what is perceived across the Arab world as a successful show of resistance by Hamas during Israel’s operation in Gaza, including the targeting of Tel Aviv. They want it to be known that they give Hamas a more important kind of aid; whereas the Sunni states may have extended some financial support to Hamas, what Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah mockingly called “a penny and a half,” Iran provides the real thing – weapons, enabling Hamas to carry out the resistance against Israel. In other words, it is Iran that does more for Hamas’ anti-Israel struggle.
Extremist Islamists on the Rise
The events in Gaza highlight another aspect of the Arab Spring: the unleashing of the energies not only of so-called mainstream Islamic political movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, but also of more extreme Salafist and jihadi streams. Such groups are resurgent across the Middle East; in North Africa (including the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya), in Egypt (whose parliament now includes Salafists for the first time), in Jordan (which recently thwarted major jihadi terror attacks on its soil), in Iraq (experiencing a significant spike in the level of terrorism) and in Syria (where Jabhat Al-Nusra, an off-shoot of Iraqi al-Qaeda, is the most potent anti-Assad fighting force).
Over the past few years jihadi groups have also mushroomed in Gaza and Sinai, cooperating with each other in planning and perpetrating attacks against Israeli targets from both areas. Indeed, these jihadi groups’ provocations were the main cause of the escalation between Israel and Gaza. Hamas was drawn in so as to maintain its credentials as a resistance movement, until finally Israel was compelled to launch Operation Pillar of Defense.
At present the challenge, first and foremost for the Hamas government in Gaza, is to enforce a ceasefire on all these groups. That was one of the Israeli conditions when negotiating the ceasefire, and the Egyptian document announcing and sponsoring the ceasefire made it binding on all factions in Gaza, with Hamas bearing ultimate responsibility. If it has the requisite political will, Hamas is capable of guaranteeing the ceasefire. It is such political will that has been lacking so far, with Hamas trying to maneuver between its responsibilities as a government and its wish to sustain its standing as a resistance movement. Operation Pillar of Defense, however, compelled Hamas to make a choice, and so far the organization has been enforcing the ceasefire on all the other groups.
The Palestinian Authority in Decline?
Another aspect of the changes underway in the Middle East is the tension between Islamists and nationalists, and it is well evident in the Palestinian context. Although Hamas was decisively beaten militarily, in the political sphere it scored points, mainly because of the above-mentioned Sunni political and economic umbrella it receives. At the same time, the Palestinian Authority was totally marginalized during the Gaza crisis. While Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was in Cairo meeting with Morsi to work out the ceasefire terms, PA President Mahmoud Abbas tried to call Morsi – who would not take his call for five days. When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to Israel and Egypt to help craft the ceasefire, she visited Abbas in Ramallah for all of thirty minutes. It was also to extricate itself from this complete marginalization, exacerbated by the events in Gaza, that the Palestinian Authority went to the United Nations.
It remains to be seen how things will play out in the Palestinian context. Over the past few years, the West’s and Israel’s approach has been to highlight the differences between the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, on the one hand, and Gaza, on the other. It was to show that the nonviolent and potential partner for negotiations – the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank–could become a thriving entity under the stewardship of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad with his institution building, while violent Gaza under Hamas, openly calling for the destruction of Israel, was isolated and declining. The regional transformation, however, has produced almost a reverse picture. While the entity in Gaza is still far from economic prosperity, it now enjoys Sunni investments and has emerged from isolation, whereas the West Bank entity is on the verge of economic collapse. It is as yet unclear whether these two entities can reconcile with each other.
Iron Dome and Imminent Threats
From a military standpoint, Operation Pillar of Defense was different from Operation Cast Lead in several significant ways. Since 2008, Hamas and other Gaza factions have expanded their rocket arsenals to include longer-range rockets. In 2008, Israeli intelligence estimated that all factions in Gaza possessed around five thousand rockets; by the outbreak of Pillar of Defense they were estimated to have ten to twelve thousand, including, for the first time, rockets that could reach Tel Aviv. Indeed, those rockets were used during the recent conflict, albeit in a symbolic fashion.
Israel, however, did not sit idly by between these two operations, and the cardinal development of this conflict was the amazingly successful performance of the Israeli-manufactured Iron Dome rocket-defense system. The deterrence achieved by Operation Cast Lead afforded Israel some time, and Israel used this time to develop Iron Dome with its remarkable 85-percent success rate achieved during Operation Pillar of Defense, providing both security and a sense of security to the Israeli population. That, moreover, was one of the major reasons Israel did not ultimately feel it had to launch a ground operation into Gaza. In the absence of Iron Dome, the pressure in Israel – in response to casualties and damage – may well have pushed the government into such an operation, as occurred during Cast Lead.
Israel also applied lessons about conducting an asymmetric war against a terror organization and a paramilitary force firing at civilians from civilian areas. Israel selected its targets very carefully, using precision-guided munitions. The amount of civilian casualties and collateral damage on the Palestinian side was notably lower than in previous rounds. Israel also invested a good deal in preparing the nonmilitary elements of such asymmetric warfare, including legal, humanitarian, and media aspects. Such wars involve perceptions, not only military hostilities. In this latest round, Israel did better in that regard as well; for example, during the fighting itself, Israel allowed eighty truckloads of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
The Challenge from Iran’s Proxy: Hizbullah
What are the implications of this latest round of hostilities on the Iranian challenge? Assuming there is a strike on Iran, be it Israeli or American, and the Iranians respond with missiles and rockets, directly and through proxies such as Hizbullah, have lessons been learned that could be applied to such a confrontation? If there is a showdown with Iran and it entails confronting Hizbullah, the situation will be totally different because Hizbullah now possesses some seventy thousand rockets, including many more longer-range and heavier rockets than Hamas; as Nasrallah has bragged, hundreds of them could be launched at Tel Aviv. Iron Dome can only intercept rockets with a certain range, and Israel still lacks a system that can intercept longer-range rockets. Such a system, David’s Sling, is under development, but will only be operational in another two years at the earliest.
If, then, Israel comes to face such a challenge along its northern border, it will have to behave differently. It cannot allow itself to be dragged into a war of attrition where thousands of rockets target Israeli cities incessantly without an interception system to stop them. In that case, and also applying lessons from the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israel may well have to attack the national Lebanese infrastructure that supports Hizbullah, and may feel compelled to launch a ground operation at an early stage.
Maintaining the Ceasefire: Egypt’s Key Role
There is now a ceasefire in place, and the parties are talking continuously via Egypt about a supportive envelope of arrangements. This phase is critical. The most important element is to stop the smuggling of weapons through Egypt into Gaza. Those longer-range rockets did not fall from heaven; they came from somewhere and made their way through Egyptian soil. After Operation Cast Lead, Israel worked out understandings with the United States and Egypt about stopping the smuggling, but not much was done. The present government in Cairo must be persuaded that its own interest entails preventing this smuggling; the alternative is ongoing, intermittent warfare along its border. Such clashes also energize jihadi and other groups that Egypt does not want to be empowered. Thus, a key challenge is to get Egypt to do a better job in stopping the arms smuggling.
For example, the Fajr-5 rockets, some of which were launched at Tel Aviv, are each 6.5 meters long. Although these rockets are disassembled on their way to Gaza, then reassembled there, they are heavy rockets with heavy launchers; why, then, did no one observe them on their way to the border? The routes used for such smuggling (mostly coming from Libya and Sudan) are not that many and there must be a way to stop it.
Although Hamas, for its part, would like to see the lifting of what it calls the siege, it is not to be expected that the crossings between Israel and Gaza will turn from normally closed to normally open. After all, Gaza is a hostile entity. Even before Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel was allowing an average of over two hundred truckloads of goods and medical supplies to enter Gaza daily.
Moreover, the Rafah crossing is open to people, and goods can pass through the Israeli crossing at Kerem Shalom. Indeed, both parties have agreed to allow the entry of construction materials to Gaza through the Rafah crossing on an ad hoc basis. At the same time, huge quantities of merchandise regularly pass through the tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, providing Hamas with a massive source of income. Tunnel owners have to register with Hamas authorities and pay taxes on anything that goes through. The issue, then, is not really one of lifting a siege. It is about being able to claim that Hamas has been victorious in resisting Israel and has gained something from the conflict. What should concern Israel first and foremost, however, is the arms smuggling, and that entails getting Egypt to do more.
In sum, Operation Pillar of Defense exemplifies how Israel has to cope with old, new, and emerging challenges to its national security in a much more complex environment than in the past, one characterized by dramatic changes and rising new negative forces.
* * *
This Jerusalem Issue Brief is based on his presentation at the Institute for Contemporary Affairs of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on December 6, 2012.Manu Vatuvei is back training with his teammates after being on medical leave.
The six Warriors penalised for breaching team standards have been 'fully reintegrated' into the Warriors' NRL squad, the club says.
Warriors managing director Jim Doyle said Ben Matulino, Bodene Thompson, Konrad Hurrell, Sam Lisone and Albert Vete had trained last week while Manu Vatuvei, who was on medical leave, had rejoined his team-mates.
It's been reported five of them had admitted mixing prescription pills with energy drinks on a night out after the Warriors were thumped by the Melbourne Storm just over two weeks ago. Hurrell said he had not taken the pills.
The full squad is available for the match against Penrith in Christchurch on Saturday.
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Doyle said the six players "penalised for breaching team standards have been fully reintegrated" into the Warriors' NRL squad.
They had already apologised to their families, teammates and the club's football staff, he said.
On Monday they apologised to all Warriors staff, sponsors, members and fans.
"We're sorry for the embarrassment we've caused everyone who works for and supports the club," they said in a statement.
"We didn't meet club standards and know how much we have disappointed our families, teammates, staff, sponsors, members and fans. Most of all, we let ourselves down.
"We have a lot of work to do to regain respect from those around us but we are fully committed to showing them how much they mean to us and how much we care for our club.
"We'd like to thank everyone who has supported us over the last week, especially the people at the club. Now we just want to look ahead and do all we can to help our team and the club."
Doyle said discussions with the players were ongoing.
"We continue to work with them on welfare and education matters," he said.
"We've also readdressed team standards with the entire squad."
Warriors head coach Andrew McFadden said his sole focus was now on football.
"Today is very much about moving forward for us as a club with a huge game this weekend against Penrith in Christchurch," he said.
"While there is much we have learned from the past week, we are committed to ensuring we have a squad fully focused on the primary role of preparing for and playing against the Panthers this week."
Sign up to receive our new evening newsletter Two Minutes of Stuff - the news, but different.GOP strategist Rick Wilson -- (MSNBC screencapture)
Republican strategist Rick Wilson said the White House is chaotic and incompetent because institutions tend to resemble the men and women who lead them.
In a column posted on The Daily Beast, Wilson described the inner workings of the Trump White House as a “shambolic adhocracy” — which he said reflected the president’s “chaotic, disordered thought process and lack of mental discipline.”
“As long as Trump is president, there will never be a pivot,” Wilson wrote. “There is no better version of Trump, simply waiting for the right org chart or the right staffer.”
Top aides Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner are feuding through media leaks and jockeying for position behind the scenes, but Wilson said the president was left with few good options.
“Trump is faced with terrible options when it comes to rearranging the deck chairs on the SS White House, and those of us who warned you this was inevitable are ordering popcorn,” Wilson said. “The cancer in the presidency isn’t his staff — though they reflect his shoddy intellect, his shallow impulsiveness, his loose grasp of reality, and Chinese-menu ideology. The problem is Trump himself, and nothing and no one can change that.”
He faulted Bannon for leading Trump into “a series of unforced political debacles” — but the president can’t fire his chief strategist because he’ll turn his old website, Breitbart News, and its “troll army” against the White House.
“Another reason firing Bannon is fraught with risk: Bannon is running the Russia pushback operation from inside the White House,” Wilson said.
“Bannon doesn’t just want to protect Trump over the Russia allegations,” he added, “he wants to protect Russia, a nation he sees as an essential ally in his new alliance of white Christian nations against the Muslim horde. Does Trump really want Bannon, angry and in the wind, declaring his own jihad?”
Wilson said the chaotic early days of the Trump White House reminded him of a favorite literary quote.
“I’m always struck with how a simple phrase from Ralph Waldo Emerson captures politics over time, and how it captures the Trump administration perfectly,” Wilson said. “That phrase? ‘An institution is the lengthened shadow of a man.'”The Carolina hammerhead, a new species of shark
Which hammerhead? Biologist Joe Quattro led a team that uncovered a new species of hammerhead shark off the South Carolina coast. It's visually indistinguishable from the common scalloped hammerhead. (Photo: Barry Peters)
Discovering a new species is, among biologists, akin to hitting a grand slam, and University of South Carolina ichthyologist Joe Quattro led a team that recently cleared the bases. In the journal Zootaxa, they describe a rare shark, the Carolina hammerhead, that had long eluded discovery because it is outwardly indistinguishable from the common scalloped hammerhead. Through its rarity, the new species, Sphyrna gilberti, underscores the fragility of shark diversity in the face of relentless human predation.
Quattro, a biology professor in USC’s College of Arts and Sciences, didn’t set out to discover a new cryptic species, let alone one found exclusively in saltwater. When he started as an assistant professor at USC in 1995, he was largely focused on fish in the freshwater rivers that flow through the state before emptying into the western Atlantic Ocean.
He has wide interests that include conservation, genetic diversity and taxonomy. A driving force in his scientific curiosity is a desire to better understand evolution. As it turns out, South Carolina’s four major river basins — the Pee Dee, the Santee, the Edisto and the Savannah — are a source of particularly rich ore for mining insight into evolutionary history.
Glacial influence had limits
Quattro grew up in Maryland, earned a doctorate at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and completed a post-doc at Stanford University. “New Jersey and Maryland, in particular, had huge glacial influences,” said Quattro. “The areas where rivers now flow were covered with glaciers until 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, and as the glaciers receded the taxa followed them upstream.”
In contrast, rivers south of Virginia were not covered with glaciers. “In other words, these rivers have been around for quite some time,” Quattro said. “The Pee Dee and the Santee are two of the largest river systems on the East coast. And we just got curious — how distinct are these rivers from one another?”
Beginning with the pygmy sunfish, Quattro and colleagues examined the genetic makeup of fish species within the ancient freshwater drainage systems. They found the banded pygmy sunfish in all the South Carolina rivers — in fact, this widespread species is found in nearly all the river systems of the U.S. southeastern and Gulf coasts, starting from the plains of North Carolina, around Florida, and all the way to and up the Mississippi River.
But two species are much rarer. The bluebarred pygmy sunfish is found only in the Savannah and Edisto systems. The Carolina pygmy sunfish is found only in the Santee and Pee Dee systems. Both species coexist with the common banded pygmy sunfish in these river systems, but are found nowhere else in the world.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it’s a noteworthy finding. These rare species are related to the widespread species, yet the details of the inter-relationships — such as which predates the others and is thus an ancestral species — still defy ready description. The fact that a rare and a common species are located together in an ancient river system is important information in the ongoing struggle to clearly define evolutionary history. In the past, scientists drew taxonomic charts almost solely on the basis of physical structure (morphology) and available fossils. The genetic data revolution of recent decades is helping redefine biology in a much more precise manner, but the process is still in the early going.
From the river to the sea
Quattro has been doing his part by slowly moving down the river systems to the ocean, collecting genetic data the whole way down. In the freshwater rivers, he has examined pygmy sunfishes, other sunfishes and basses. Closer to the sea, he has looked at short-nosed sturgeon, which spend most of their time in the estuary (where the river meets the ocean), but do venture up the river to spawn. And further downriver still, he has looked at shark pups.
South Carolina is a well-known pupping ground for several species of sharks, including the hammerhead. The female hammerhead will birth her young at the ocean-side fringes of the estuary; the pups remain there for a year or so, growing, before moving out to the ocean to complete their life cycle.
In the process of looking at hammerheads, Quattro, his student William Driggers III and their colleagues quickly uncovered an anomaly. The scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini) that they were collecting had two different genetic signatures, in both the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. Searching the literature, they found that Carter Gilbert, the renowned curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History from 1961 to 1998, had described an anomalous scalloped hammerhead in 1967 that had 10 fewer vertebrae than S. lewini. It had been caught near Charleston and, because the sample was in the National Museum of Natural History, the team was able to examine it morphologically and suggest that it constituted a cryptic species — that is, one that is physically nearly indistinguishable from the more common species.
After publishing the preliminary genetic evidence for the new, cryptic species in the journal Marine Biology in 2006, Quattro and colleagues followed up by making thorough measurements (of 54 cryptic individuals and 24 S. lewini) to fully describe in Zootaxa the new species, S. gilberti, named in Gilbert’s honor. The difference in vertebrae, 10 fewer in the cryptic species, is the defining morphological difference.
Apart from the satisfaction of discovery, Quattro has established locations and genetic signatures for a number of closely related, yet distinct, species in South Carolina’s rivers, estuaries and coastal waters. The results will go a long way in furthering efforts to accurately define taxonomy and evolutionary history for aquatic life.
His team’s work also demonstrates the rarity of the new species. “Outside of South Carolina, we’ve only seen five tissue samples of the cryptic species,” Quattro said. “And that’s out of three or four hundred specimens.”
Shark populations have greatly diminished over the past few decades. “The biomass of scalloped hammerheads off the coast of the eastern U.S. is less than 10 percent of what it was historically,” Quattro said. “Here, we’re showing that the scalloped hammerheads are actually two things. Since the cryptic species is much rarer than the lewini, God only knows what its population levels have dropped to.”
Further reading
Time magazine ranked the Carolina hammerhead #6 in their Top 10 New Species list. Audubon magazine gave the same ranking in their 11 New Animal Discoveries. The original research article was published in the journal Zootaxa.
Share this Story! Let friends in your social network know what you are reading aboutThe United States visa system has faced technical issues recently, and that affected the UFC’s next card in the country.
The UFC Fight Night 70 card, scheduled for June 27, was moved from Sao Paulo to Hollywood, but several Brazilian fighters won’t be able to make it to Florida due to visa issues, including the four TUF Brazil 4 finalists.
The reality show finals will be moved to UFC 190, set for Aug. 1 in Rio de Janeiro. In the bantamweight division, Dileno Lopes faces the winner of Reginaldo Vieira vs. Bruno Rodrigues, while Glaico Franca meets the winner of Nazareno Malegarie vs. Fernando Bruno for the lightweight crown.
Sources close to the situation confirmed the change to MMAFighting.com following a report by Combate.
According to the report, Erick Silva vs. Rick Story was pulled from the UFC Fight Night 70, and Antonio Carlos Jr. now co-headlines the event against Eddie Gordon. Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Nikita Krylov could also be cancelled due to visa issues.
Update: UFC officially announced the changes on Friday, making Lorenz Larkin vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio the new co-main event, and adding Steve Montgomery vs. Tony Sims to the lineup. Rani Yahya vs. Masanori Kanehara, originally booked for June 27, was moved to the July 15 UFC card in San Diego.
The UFC has reportedly added a pair of bouts to the Hollywood card. Coming off a big win over K.J. Noons, Alex Oliveira takes on 6-0 newcomer Joe Merritt. In the lightweight division, Leandro Silva meets Lewis Gonzalez.
Check the complete UFC Fight Night 70 and UFC 190 fight cards below.
UFC Fight Night 70 in Hollywood, Fla., on June 27:
Lyoto Machida vs. Yoel Romero
Lorenz Larkin vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Antonio Carlos Jr. vs. Eddie Gordon
Alex Oliveira vs. Joe Merritt
Leandro Silva vs. Lewis Gonzalez
Thiago Santos vs. Steve Bosse
Hacran Dias vs. Levan Makashvili
Viscardi Andrade vs. Andreas Stahl
Steve Montgomery vs. Tony Sims
UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 1:
Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Stefan Struve
TUF Brazil 4 lightweight final
TUF Brazil 4 bantamweight final
Antonio Silva vs. Soa Palelei
Rafael Cavalcante vs. Patrick Cummins
Vitor Miranda vs. Clint Hester
Demian Maia vs. Neil Magny
Hugo Viana vs. Guido Cannetti
Claudia Gadelha vs. Jessica Aguilar
Iuri Alcantara vs. Leandro IssaCLOSE Medical marijuana card holders, some since 2011, await a state-sponsored dispensary promised in 2013.
Buy Photo Todd Kitchen smokes marijuana in the sunroom of his Pike Creek home. Kitchen first received his medical marijuana card in 2011, but is still waiting for the state to open it's dispensary. (Photo: DANIEL SATO/THE NEWS JOURNAL)Buy Photo Story Highlights Delaware is one of a dozen states being targeted for reform by the Marijuana Policy Project
The group predicts that full legalization %u2013 taxing and regulating sales of the drug %u2013 is possible by 2017.
More than 160 Delawareans now carry |
Water, Animals -- the ecological philosophy espoused by Manson and his followers, according to Wolf.
What's really criminal, they say, is the way the environment is being poisoned.
"Crime is anything that's done against your survival. Any sin against your life is crime. The problem is the atmosphere is dying, anything that sins against the air is a sin against your life, anybody that sins against the air should be considered a criminal and any sin against the air should be considered a crime," Manson said in a recorded phone conversation.
In a recent recorded conversation with Star, Manson discussed the flooding in Malaysia:
"They had some bad rains and floods and a lot of people in trouble over there, so we're sending them packages to help take care of them. They are half Muslim and half Christians so we have to hold a balance," he said in a recorded conversation. "The way we live is freedom of religion so we don't want [any] war against people. We want a war against pollution. A war against people isn't going to help anyone, a war against pollution will help everyone."
Star says she was drawn to the man she described as a "monk in a monastery" by his environmental views.
"There's a lot of people all around the world that would say they support Charles Manson and his vision of ATWA," she said.
"The goal, really, the main goal is to basically save life on the planet Earth from the humans," she said. "We have a key to make this goal accomplished, and that key is Charlie Manson."
But Bugliosi says there's a darker attraction to Manson that reaches beyond the green movement.
"There's a certain mystique that has developed around Manson," he said. "And one reason is that the very name Manson has come to be a metaphor for evil. He's come to represent the dark and malignant side of humanity, for whatever reason, people are fascinated by pure, unalloyed evil."
CNN's Emanuella Grinberg and Ann O'Neill contributed to this story.For the first time ever, the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band will use iPads to help students learn their drills, build their confidence as musicians and put on a halftime show that they hope will entertain and inspire Sooner spectators.
Starting this summer, each member of the Pride will be equipped with an iPad that compiles their drill charts, sheet music and recordings of the full band all in one place. Students can also use the devices and its video capability to assess their musical and marching performance at band practice and in their free time.
Brian Britt, director of Athletic Bands, considers this a turning point for the Pride, saying the technology will advance the way the band members learn.
“It’s a huge game-changer for us,” Britt said. “Given that you still have the same amount of time to invest, how can you make that more meaningful and productive? This blows the roof off of that.”
The technology will significantly shorten the time it takes to learn the drills, music and marching techniques. It would previously take the Pride 30 minutes to learn five new pages of drills. Britt estimates the Pride could learn double that amount in the same time frame — and learn them at a much higher level of confidence and execution — using iPads.
“My idea is that initially we learn how to utilize the technology with what we’re doing, and as we master that, then I think the sky is the limit in terms of creativity and intricacy,” he said.
OU President David L. Boren said the Pride’s iPad program will revolutionize the way OU students learn, practice and perform on and off the field.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for one of our most-revered spirit organizations,” Boren said. “We believe this technology will bolster the great talent they already have and propel them even further.”
What makes the Pride’s move to iPads unique is that the band members represent not just one major but more than 80. Because of that, Brian Wolfe, assistant director of Athletic Bands, expects to see positive effects across campus.
“Pride members represent almost every major on campus,” Wolfe said. “There are one to two students in every single department or college who will have this, and it will hopefully spark the interest of their professors to say, ‘Hey, why can’t we do this, too?’”
Not only will the devices benefit the Pride members, OU also will save money on printing costs. With 300 students requiring 25 pages of drills for each of the Pride’s six shows, and a pregame show at 45 pages, Britt figures the university will save 65,000 pages annually.
Britt believes the iPads also will alleviate a lot of the students’ stress when it comes to learning a new drill. That stress seems manageable as students enter the school year, but tends to build as they feel the pressure from exams and other academic commitments, he noted. The iPads, Britt said, could help the students stay organized, not only for their band events, but in other areas of their life. That could lead to retention of band members from year to year.
“If they see band as a part of them coping with college, you’re going to start seeing more juniors and seniors making the choice to invest their time to continue being in the band,” he said.
The students will also be encouraged to use the iPads outside the marching band to study other academic coursework, stay organized and collaborate with classmates online.DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR's biggest free agent is off the market.
Kyle Busch signed a multiyear deal with Joe Gibbs Racing in December, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday.
USA Today first reported the deal during Friday's testing at Daytona International Speedway.
Busch, involved in a 12-car wreck during Friday afternoon's session, side-stepped questions when asked about the deal by USA Today.
"Everybody will find out (at the team's) media day what's coming down," Busch told the newspaper.
The Sprint Cup media tour runs from Jan. 21-24.
JGR president J.D. Gibbs told ESPN.com late last season that he was optimistic Busch would re-sign with the team and made it clear he wanted a new deal "sooner rather than later."
Busch is coming off a disappointing season in which he had only one win, missed the Chase and finished 13th in the points standings. He has 24 career Cup victories and a series-record 51 wins in the Nationwide Series.
Busch's decision to re-sign leaves 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya and Stewart-Haas Racing's Ryan Newman as the biggest free agents on the market.
Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick reportedly already signed with SHR for 2014 at the end of last season.Ah, the corporate expense account. It’s one of those traditions, part necessity and part perk, that has hung on through the worst of the recession — and even serves as an informal gauge of economic recovery: As the U.S. economy keeps climbing out of the doldrums, Certify, a provider of electronic expense-account systems, reports that employee expenses overall rose about 3% in 2013, or slightly ahead of the official inflation rate for the year.
“At the same time, though, companies are still trying to keep expenses under control,” notes Robert Neveu, Certify’s CEO. “They’re urging employees to limit airline travel and use teleconferencing instead wherever possible, and look for bargains like the lowest car rental rate.”
That didn’t discourage some road warriors from asking to be reimbursed for expenses you might call, umm, creative. Certify asked about 60,000 accounting staffers at big companies what were some of the weirdest expenses people claimed this year. Here’s a partial list of the answers they received, and from whence they came:
• “Apartment rental in Hong Kong. All the hotel rooms were booked.” (vice president of business development, telecommunications, Richardson, Texas)
• “$500 worth of taffy apples for clients’ sweet tooth” (executive vice president, banking, South Holland, Ill.)
• “9 official basketballs to be signed by Magic Johnson” (creative director, creative services, St. Louis)
• “Table dance in Las Vegas for a client — but it was under ‘entertainment’” (accountant, technology company, Alpharetta, Ga.)
• “$91,237 for a Caribbean deep-sea fishing trip” (finance director, sales company, Chicago)
• “Human skull” for unstated purposes (secretary at an antique business, Cassopolis, Md.)
• “Mittens for a team of clients that was cold on a research trip” (vice president of research, digital design company, Brooklyn)
• “Pet boarding expenses” (auditor, software technology company, New York, N.Y.)
• “Purchase of 200 used hub caps for a trade show display around a celebrity chef with a huge ego” (treasurer, wholesale consumer goods company, Garden City, N.Y.)
• “Weight bench and weights to prepare for the season” (partner, landscaping company, Bethany, Okla.)
• “Golf tournament tickets to get close to a client — and I hate golf!” (sales director, hospitality company, Charlotte, N.C.)
• “Evening escort services” (corporate treasurer, consulting services company, New York, N.Y.)
Clearly, lots of people are going above and beyond for their clients. Moreover, says Neveu, “Not all of these expenses are as outrageous as they seem. For instance, the guy who expensed the $91,237 fishing trip may have been trying to sell a $2 million boat.”
Even so, Neveu is the first to point out that the Internal Revenue Service demands a “business reason” for each expense. “You can always submit an expense,” he notes. “But that doesn’t mean it will be approved.”
That’s usually no big deal but, every now and then, the consequences of overspending are severe. Last year, for example, Certify’s survey turned up a financial services manager who treated himself on the company dime to a bottle of Henri VI cognac that cost about $1,300. “Take that, recession!” he was heard toasting — right before he was fired.How did we ever let it come to this? Margaret Thatcher had barely drawn her last breath before the outpouring of extremism and vitriol began and it was deeply unpleasant to behold. Has Britain forgotten how to show decorum and respect when a towering public figure dies? Sickeningly, within minutes of the announcement of her demise, she was being hailed as The Woman Who Saved Britain. It was a cruel and barbaric distortion that must have embarrassed even the most devoted of her admirers. In the circumstances, and with her body still warm, it merely removed dignity from the occasion and appealed to the lowest common denominator of the right wing. Those who demurred at such a grotesque epithet were being howled down and denounced in the most beastly terms. As this momentous week wore on it was to get worse.
Before long, the BBC found itself under siege for refusing to reduce its reporting of Mrs Thatcher's death to bland hagiography. How dare it attempt to display an even-handed sense of proportion during all the ballyhoo and reactionary malarkey? Why, some of its reporters, in their intemperate rush to keep the nation appraised of global reaction to the Iron Lady's death, had forgotten to don black ties. Have they no respect? George Alagiah, unconscionably, chose to wear a silvery grey confection. "He looked like a spiv, not someone who was charged with delivering the saddest news some of us have ever received," was one of the more printable sentiments of the on-line trolls.
The Queen can usually be relied upon to step back from all the nonsense and restore some equanimity and balance in situations that threaten to get out of hand. Not this time, though. In 1997, she admirably refused to abandon her Highland holiday to pay homage to a people's princess before the mob dragged her unceremoniously to the gates of Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty has obviously learned her lesson. This time, her office couldn't signal her intent to attend the funeral of the people's prime minister quickly enough. It is an honour she has refused to bestow on any other postwar premier save Churchill.
There is even a campaign afoot to accord Mrs Thatcher a state funeral and thus give her parity with old Winston. The scent of blood is in the flaring nostrils of Britain's mad right and no one is safe. Don't they know that their behaviour is besmirching the memory of a woman who preached temperance and probity in everything? "Where there is hatred, let me sow love." Even as innocent young people were gathering in town squares to toast Mrs Thatcher's death, as is their democratic right, police riot squads began to swoop. It is being whispered that martial law may be imposed to ensure that our former prime minister gets the send-off she deserves.
In Glasgow's George Square, admittedly ribald and haphazardly dressed revellers drank champagne and chanted: "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie: dead, dead, dead." It was a charming and whimsical ditty harking back to the halcyon days of the mid-80s when we all used to chant: "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie: out, out, out." Yet such has been the outpouring of rightwing bile and hatred across the country following Mrs Thatcher's death that many of those who gathered in the centre of Glasgow will be waiting, in some trepidation, for a knock on the door late at night.
In Glasgow, we are all looking on bemused as England is losing its head. It's no secret that we didn't like Mrs Thatcher, but it was nothing personal. For more than 100 years, this city has been the cradle of what radicalism has ever existed in the UK. Clydeside has resisted hundreds of little Thatchers and it will resist 100 more. Soon it will be the centenary of the Glasgow rent strike when another Iron Lady, Mary Barbour, resisted the greed of slum owners – the Thatcherites of their day – during the First World War.
With their men away fighting a needless war in which most would die, the slum owners took the opportunity to rack up the rents as other workers flocked to the city for jobs in the munitions industry. "Mrs Barbour's Army" repelled the advances of the sheriff's officers to evict those who couldn't pay the rent. Eventually, they won their case and the Rent Restriction Act was passed.
The Glasgow rent strike was one of several examples of working-class actions in the face of unfettered greed and government brutality that culminated in Bloody Friday, 31 January 1919. This was when around 80,000 workers gathered in George Square to fight for a 40-hour week. Deploying tactics that Mrs Thatcher was to use against the miners 60-odd years later, the police launched a series of brutal attacks on demonstrators. Within days, more than 10,000 English troops, backed by tanks and heavy artillery, moved into Glasgow as the Westminster government feared a Bolshevist revolution. Scottish soldiers in nearby Maryhill barracks were locked down amid fears that they might be tempted to participate in all the sedition. In 1926 and in 1984, industrial Scotland came out for the miners against the interests of a rightwing government and its big-business backers.
Perhaps Margaret Thatcher did turn around the economy, but the good times lasted barely a single generation. Her actions opened a Pandora's box of unfettered and unregulated City greed that has brought Britain lower than it was in 1979. The 1970s were good for British workers until Mrs Thatcher's industrial reforms. They would never regain that standard of living as she ensured that only the "right sort" would benefit from her revolution.
Meanwhile, captains of the financial sector should build a golden calf to her. For it was her council house ownership crusade that made the brokers rich. Barely 20 years later, there is little in the way of social housing and our economy has been sacrificed on a bonfire of unaffordable mortgages. This is Mrs Thatcher's legacy.
As English society tears itself apart again, Scotland looks on bemused and, once again, each country seems a stranger to the other.
• This article will be opened for comments on Sunday morningIntel has unveiled a new platform called "Next Unit of Computing" (which reminds us of the Next Galaxy). The NUC as it is known was unveiled a couple of weeks ago and packs a Core i3/Core i5-based computer in a 100mm x 100mm motherboard, significantly smaller than the 17cm x 17cm of the mini ITX format.
It comes with two mini PCIe headers, Thunderbolt, HDMI and USB 3.0 ports and two SODIMM memory slots. The enclosure looks quite similar to what you'd expect from the Apple TV which hints at a potential market for the NuC, the home entertainment market where Intel's partnership with Google for the Google TV failed.
Some might argue that Intel might have put forward the NuC to compete with the rising tide of ARM-based base units that will launch on the market fairly soon with the Raspberry Pi being the poster child of this new product range.
But the Pi doesn't come with the same processing power and ecosystem compatibility. But the NUC will also be way more expensive possibly above $100 and is expected to ship by the end of the year.
The motherboard is expected to come with the CPU and the heat sink fan integrated and will compete with Intel's own Atom-based solutions.
Source : Sweclockers
Image Credit: ExtremetechEOS Raises $700M Despite Token Affording No "Rights, Uses, Purpose, or Features"
Block.one’s EOS ICO has raised approximately $700 million USD, despite EOS’ FAQ page clearly stating that token-holders will not be afforded any rights or functions. The token sale currently comprises the largest ICO to date, with the company anticipating a launch in June 2018.
Also Read: Centra ICO Faces Class Action Lawsuit, Accused of Violating US Securities Laws
EOS’ Year-Long ICO Raises Roughly $700 Million USD So Far
EOS is the brainchild of 31-year-old Hong Kong-based internet entrepreneur Brendan Blumer and programmer Dan Larimer. Mr. Larimer has garnered criticisms for working before abandoning both Bitshares and Steemit. A former colleague of Mr. Larimer, Charles Hoskinson, stated that Larimer “hasn’t finished a project yet.” The chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, Brock Pierce, serves as an adviser to EOS and is a minority partner in the company. Block.one is registered in the Cayman Islands, and comprises roughly 50 employees. Development for the project reportedly occurs through an open-source development platform, and as such, the company does not have a central office.
At the end of October, Brock Pierce stated that EOS’s 345 day ICO had “almost” raised $700 million USD during a discussion at Launch Scale 2017, adding that the company is currently selling 2 million tokens daily. According to the Wall Street Journal, the figure is larger than that raised by “all but 10 of the 195 U.S. initial public offerings this year.”
The funds generated make the EOS ICO the largest ever, and coupled with accelerating bullish momentum during December, EOS has come to comprise the tenth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization – boasting a total market cap of approximately $6.75 billion USD as of this writing. Mr. Pierce recently expressed his expectation that the ICO will raise “at least a couple” of billion USD before EOS’ development will occur.
Block.one Will Be Allocated 10% of the Total Token Supply
Despite the enormous sum raised, Block.one plans only to write the code for EOS before releasing such publicly. The company does not intend to develop the platform itself, which will be delegated to third parties “unrelated to Block.one.” As such, EOS tokens will not afford its possessor “any rights uses, purpose, attributes, functionalities or features, express or implied, including, without limitation, any uses, purpose, attributes, functionalities or features on the EOS platform.” Block.one also plans to use a portion of the capital raised to invest in companies seeking to operate using the EOS platform – although how investors will benefit from said investments is not presently clear.
According to The Wall Street Journal, many investors are choosing to disregard the lack of legal rights afforded by the EOS tokens, viewing such as likely to be no more than a benign necessity in order for the company to protect itself in the current climate of regulatory ambiguity surrounding the legal status of cryptocurrency startups. Matthew Roszak, an early investor in Block.one, has defended the EOS terms of service, stating: “I don’t think it’s fair reading into that language too tightly,” emphasizing his view that the “regulatory environment is as clear as mud.” Other Block.one investors have been more cautious in their assessments of the EOS ICO, with Agentic Group’s founder, Rik Willard, suggesting that the surging demand for EOS tokens is indicative of the current “frenzy” surrounding cryptocurrency technology.
What are your thoughts on EOS’ ICO? Share your views in the comments section below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock
Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.Another GOPe friendly politician resigns, my prediction? Add Bob Corker’s vote to the Democrats until then:
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement.
“After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018.
When I ran for the Senate in 2006, I told people that I couldn’t imagine serving for more than two terms. Understandably, as we have gained influence, that decision has become more difficult. But I have always been drawn to the citizen legislator model, and while I realize it is not for everyone, I believe with the kind of service I provide, it is the right one for me.
“I also believe the most important public service I have to offer our country could well occur over the next 15 months, and I want to be able to do that as thoughtfully and independently as I did the first 10 years and nine months of my Senate career.
“Serving the people of Tennessee in this capacity has been the greatest privilege of my life. And as I spent the month of August traveling across our great state, I was reminded that we live in a unique place full of people who care deeply about the direction of our country.
“I am grateful to the people of Tennessee for the opportunity to serve my state and country. I have been fortunate to do so with an extraordinary staff, and I want to thank them for their incredible dedication. I know that we will continue to have an impact for the remainder of our term, and I look forward to finding other ways to make a difference in the future.
“Finally, I want to thank my wife, Elizabeth, and our family, who have made many sacrifices in allowing me to serve. Nothing I have done would have been possible without their love and support?”“Amchya ghari ya Strawberry sah pustakanche anand ghyaa,” (please visit our home and enjoy reading books, along with our strawberry), said Pravin Bhilare who has offered his premises to stack books for public reading at the country’s first village of books that would be thrown open on May 4.
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Bhilare is not alone. Nearly 25 premises, which include three temples, two schools, seven houses and several lodges and homestays spread on a stretch of 2 km in Bhilar village, 7-8 kms from Panchgani, would open their gates for public reading.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is likely to attend the inauguration.
The Maharashtra government has got 75-odd artists to paint the walls of the 25 premises at Pustakanche Gaon (village of books). The state did crowd sourcing by inviting Swatva, an informal WhatsApp-based artist and art-lovers’ network to take up the task of decorating the village.
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Last week, the artists participated in a three-day wall painting camp at Bhilar near Mahabaleshwar and covered the 25 premises measuring 11,000 square feet with paintings and graphics to indicate which genre of books are kept at a particular house, school or a temple, just like demarcating types of books in a library.
For a place that has books on Shivcharitra (life of Shivaji Maharaj), paintings of fort and the warrior king have been created on the walls and for a building that has literature on saints, paintings of famous saints have been used to adorn it. The 25 premises in the village have 25 different paintings.
“These artists voluntarily accepted our invitation and boarded a bus to Mahabaleshwar to paint the walls in the village with their imagination. The outcome was amazing and for people to see,” said the Minister of Cultural Affairs and Marathi Language, Vinod Tawde.
With around 10,000 books to be made available for reading in a village with a population of 10,000, Bhilar will probably have the highest per capita availability of books for any village in the country.
The locality that earns a profit of Rs 40 to 50 crore every year through its strawberry produce, was prompt in offering the premises to the state government for the book village.
Praising the people and the administration of Bhilar, Tawde said: “The village administration has been very enthusiastic and working with us on the project. One of the factors which enabled us to complete the project. The best part is that the people of Bhilar have understood the concept of creating a book village very well, hence it became easy for us to implement it on the ground.”
Inspired by the Welsh town, Hay-on-Wye, that is famous for its book stores and literary festivals, the book village in the state was supposed to come up by November 2015 as announced by Tawde himself.
“Although an international concept, we are giving it a very Indian look. The project is aimed at promoting a book village or town of books and eventually make it a main tourist hub by itself like Hay-on-Wye. Not just this, the goal is also to promote Marathi language,” Tawde said.
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Currently, all 10,000 books provided by the state government are in Marathi. The state plans to add 15-20 per cent more to the collection and those books will be in Hindi and English. “We also plan to organise literary events, interactions with authors and poets, and book-reading sessions,” Tawde said.The Final Call | National News
No justice, no purchase!
By Charlene Muhammad and Bryan Crawford -The Final Call- | Last updated: Dec 6, 2016 - 1:18:47 PM
What's your opinion on this article?
Efforts to curb spending and inflict economic pain in battle to obtain justice grow in 2016
Nathaniel Dyer carries a sign during a Black Lives Matter protest near Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, Sept. 24, in response to the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. And Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C. The Black Lives Matter chapter of Atlanta is boycotting major retailers following the recent police shooting deaths Involving Black men. Photo: AP/Wide World photos
Carmen Perez of the Justice League of New York
A movement to use economic power to bring justice to Black and oppressed people in America is gaining momentum as more groups push for boycotts of the holiday spending season.
Various efforts to inflict economic pain to corporate America have caused many activists to promote the boycotting of Black Friday and Christmas spending to help raise awareness to and force an end to police violence. There has also been a rise in those protesting the election of Donald Trump by refusing to spend their money in stores that have associated themselves with the president-elect, all in response to his divisive views and incendiary language in his run to becoming the 45th president of the United States.
“When we’re talking about the economic shutdown, we’re talking about stopping corporations from getting our money, right? So, we’ve got to go to the stores that don’t care about us; don’t care about people of color,” said Carmen Perez, co-founder of the Justice League of New York.
In 2015, her group participated in the economic boycott called for after last October’s “Justice Or Else!” gathering, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. The event was convened by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, which included a national demand for justice and economic boycotts being used as one of the primary tools.
Benard Simelton, Alabama state NAACP president
In September, New York Daily News columnist Shaun King, called for the need to have a long-term, nationwide economic boycott to shine a light on both police brutality and racial injustice, forcing America to act in the same way it did during the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasted for 381 days.
“It is time, brothers and sisters, for us to make a unified national pivot. Our protests, of course, must continue, but we must add a critical new layer on top of them,” Mr. King wrote. “It is time that we organize a passionate, committed, economic boycott. It must be painful. It must be unified. And we must continue with it until we see change. This country is clearly willing to continue killing unarmed men, women and children without ever making any serious efforts at reforms. This economic boycott can change that.”
On the 61st anniversary of the historic bus boycott, this Dec. 5 King who is also a social justice activist has called for an economic withdrawal by Black people around the country to “show every city, state, institution and corporation in this country that meaningful, reasonable, achievable reforms on police brutality and injustice are not our long-term dreams. They are our immediate emergency priority.”
Various chapters of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as activists from traditional civil rights organizations, are also participating in various forms of economic boycotts.
Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Alabama state NAACP called for “people of good will and moral conscience to forego participating in Black Friday sales events in Alabama,” in response to the many police shootings of Blacks—which the group labeled as another form of genocide—and as justified retaliation for the police killings of Black motorists, such as Philando Castile in Minnesota and Walter Scott in South Carolina.
“We are asking those to come out and support the Alabama NAACP as we stand in solidarity with those fallen victim to the irresponsible actions of law enforcement,” said Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP. “Too often are we reading headlines of continuous police brutality and the lives of young men of color being taken senselessly for things like minor traffic incidents. All lives matter and everyone should make it home.”
The Justice League of New York launched their “Economic Shutdown 2.0” over this year’s Black Friday weekend, following similar action taken in 2014 after Eric Garner was killed by police in Staten Island for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. Many recalled seeing the shocking video depicting the way Mr. Garner was assaulted by police and placed in what activists called a chokehold, a restraining tactic outlawed by the New York Police Department in 1993.
This year, on Black Friday, Justice League NYC activists met at Columbus Circle in New York City and interrupted business at the Apple Store and Macy’s. The three-day action also included a visit to memorials honoring people who lost their lives to police brutality, as well as attending services at churches and mosques in the city.
“Whatever faith that you worship we’re going to support activists who go there to get healed, to hear the word of God, to hear the word of Allah, whoever you worship to,” Ms. Perez said. “We’re encouraging people to go and get their souls and their spirits fed. Of course, we support let’s give Christmas back to Jesus, and go back to our business. We support [the message] the Minister [Farrakhan] puts out,” she added.
This year, Minister Louis Farrakhan called for a second seasonal spending boycott, echoing the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who in his last speech spoke of the need to “redistribute the pain” as part of the effort to fight injustice.
In Chicago, activists and demonstrators took to the popular Michigan Avenue retail strip dubbed “The Magnificent Mile” the day after Thanksgiving to protest and disrupt shopping. Once again, “Up with Jesus! Down with Santa!” was the rallying cry.
“Don’t spend money from the day after Thanksgiving, called ‘Black Friday,’ through the first week of January,” Minister Farrakhan said in a recent address. “We just can’t keep burying our dead and suffering quietly while the rich and the powerful continue business as usual. Redistribute the pain, and tell them that fairness to God’s people should be high on [the politicians’] agenda,” the Minister added.
Protestors demand justice on Black Friday in Chicago
According to the Chicago Tribune, the Black Friday protests in Chicago had a significant impact, to the tune of a 25-50 percent drop in retail sales for various retailers.
“We were down a lot,” Sarah Midoun, a sales associate at Aldo shoe store, told the newspaper. “We were budgeted to make $37,000 but we only did $19,000—customers told us they were concerned.”
Other stores affected included Men’s Warehouse, which made less than $10,000 on Black Friday this year compared to $19,000 last year. High-end shoe retailer Stuart Weitzman projected to make as much as $50,000 this year, saw sales more than $20,000 short of the goal. Garmin, a manufacturer of GPS devices, said its in-store Black Friday sales were down by as much as 40 percent because of the Michigan Ave. protests.
Last year, Minister Farrakhan’s divine command for economic withdrawal was also a successful one and this past February, he detailed how the effort had hurt corporate bottom lines.
“We are the ones that are spending big money—billions. Six-hundred and two billion dollars is spent in America on the Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays through the first of the new year,” the Minister pointed out. “Here is what you did to redistribute the pain: Apple, they say, in the current quarter—which was from the last quarter of the year 2015—there was a decline in Apple’s sales for the first time in 13 years,” said Minister Farrakhan.
“Best Buy holiday sales declined as the retailer sold fewer smart phones than expected. Domestic sales over the nine weeks through January 2 fell 1.2 percent,” the Minister said. “Macy’s announced plans to lay off 4,350 employees due to disappointing holiday sales. Macy’s said about 80 percent of its sales declines can be attributed to shortfalls in cold weather goods like coats, sweaters, hats, gloves and scarves. Because the weather was so warm, the people weren’t buying, so it’s wonderful to know that we give commands and God helps us! God backs us up!”
Demonstrators in Chicago protest on Black Friday.
For the third consecutive year, the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter waged its “Black XMAS” campaign, organized by Dr. Melina Abdullah, chair of the Pan African Studies Department at California State University—Los Angeles.
“Last year we were doing it in solidarity and partnership with the Nation and we continue to share the view that when we think about the oppression and exploitation of our people, we have to recognize the role that rampant consumerism and spending with White corporations plays,” Dr. Abdullah told The Final Call.
“We have to remember that they whip us in into this frenzy, making us think that we have to buy things that we don’t need,” she added. “So we need to really think about whether or not our child needs another toy, or whether or not we need another pair of shoes.”
Dr. Abdullah also called for Black people to not just stop shopping with White companies in favor of Black ones, but to also spend and invest their dollars in Black-led community-based organizations as well.
“Rather than spending those dollars with White corporations that we know exploit us and are also tied to the police state that killed our people, we want to be deliberate in the usage of our money and spend those dollars or invest those dollars in building Black communities,” she said.
Faheem Muhammad of Mosque No. 27 in Los Angeles, helped organize “Black Out Black Friday.” The effort was supported by noted filmmakers such as Ryan Coogler, Ava Duvernay and others. The idea for the boycott stemmed from the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri.
“The decision of [the district attorney] to not prosecute Darren Wilson actually dropped a few days before, which caused a great energy around [the boycott],” Mr. Muhammad said. “The following year, you had the momentum from 10-10-15, and then the LaQuan McDonald case, so you had great energy created right around that time [too].”
“Every year, God has blessed it to grow,” Mr. Muhammad added. “For me personally, the direction that we’re going is great. I think the boycott has awakened a lot of people to the effect economics can have on social conditions—particularly for our community—and I think that where it’s headed now is really the shift in spending. The initial goal was to get people to just stop spending so they could recognize how economics plays a major role in the fight for justice.
“Many activists and protesters really weren’t talking about economics, but now that they’ve awakened to that level of consciousness, it’s time for people to shift their mentality to where they spend and bank year-round. I think any other event that happens will continue the momentum and continue to wake people up to the realities of what’s going on.”
So how effective has this year’s holiday shopping boycott been? At present, there is no agreed upon consensus, but some data shows that an impact has been made.
According to the National Retail Federation, consumers spent less money this year than they did in 2015. Also, while online shopping went up, brick-and-mortar operations saw a decrease of three million in-store shoppers this year, compared to last. Research firm ShopperTrak revealed that nationwide, overall in-store sales fell 10 percent, from $11.6 billion in 2015 to $10.4 billion in 2016.
Cassiopeia Sledge of TheBlackMall.com, a Chicago-based website that sells Black-owned goods and services, also sees change on the horizon.
“There’s been a surge of interest in people buying Black and [doing business with] pop-up shops ready to serve them,” she said.
“People’s language is changing to reflect what myself and others have been saying for years. It makes it like ‘Ah! Thank you! This work is not in vain! These efforts are not just tireless efforts!’ These five |
the ‘fight or flight’ response.
In contrast, laid-back people are not so quick off the mark when they sense a threat. Instead when they are confronted by danger initial brain signals travel to a region of the brain associated with sensory perception and the recognition of faces.
The researchers discovered the difference by monitoring the brain activity of 24 volunteers while they looked at pictures of people displaying various levels of threatening or placid behaviour.
The human brain is able to detect social threats in these regions in a fast, automatic fashion, within just 200 milliseconds.
“Such quick reactions could have served an adaptive purpose for survival,” said lead author Dr Marwa El Zein from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research.
“For example, we evolved alongside predators that can attack, bite or sting. A rapid reaction to someone experiencing fear can help us avoid danger.”
Photo: ALAMY
Nearly one fifth of all adult suffer from anxiety or depression in Britain and more than 53 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were handed out by the NHS last year, a figure that is growing.
Dr El Zein and her co-authors found that anxiety shifts the neural 'coding' of threat to motor circuits, which produce action, from sensory circuits, which help us to recognise faces.
“The enhanced sensitivity to threat-signalling emotions measured in the motor cortex is only found in high-anxious observers,” she added.
The researchers also wanted to find out what people find most threatening in a socially charged situation. They found that the direction a person is looking in is key to enhancing sensitivity to their emotions.
Anger paired with a direct gaze produces a response in the brain in only 200 milliseconds, faster than if the angry person is looking elsewhere.
"In a crowd, you will be most sensitive to an angry face looking towards you, and will be less alert to an angry person looking somewhere else,” added Dr El Zein.
“Facial expressions can communicate important social signals and understanding these signals can be essential for surviving threatening situations.
The research was published in the online journal eLife.
Earlier this month, scientists discovered that being unhappy or stressed does not increase the risk of ill-health and happy souls are no more likely to live longer.
The research on one million women, published in the Lancet, said the widespread belief that stress causes ill-health came from studies that had confused cause and effect.
Researchers in New South Wales said the study was important because people often blamed themselves for illness, thinking that a positive attitude could have saved themOn the 117th day of the Donald Trump presidency, a stunning report claims the president may have revealed highly classified information to Russia. The Washington Post broke the story.
Its sources allege the president revealed intelligence about ISIS developing bombs in laptop computers.
The details are reportedly so secret that even close American allies did not know about them.
The president reportedly revealed the classified information during last week's Oval Office meeting with Russia's foreign minister and its U.S. ambassador.
White House officials reject the Post story, but they do not specifically deny that sensitive information came up at the meeting.
Despite White House denials, sources tell CBS News "something inappropriate" was discussed. The incident was so serious that White House officials reportedly rushed to warn the CIA and NSA to contain the damage, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues.
The administration was quick to respond to what they say is a false report.
"The story that came out tonight as reported is false," General H.R. McMaster said in a briefing outside the West Wing on Monday evening.
In a carefully worded response, National Security Adviser McMaster defended his boss's conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the Oval Office meeting on May 10.
"At no time, at no time, were intelligence sources or methods discussed and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known," McMaster said.
However, McMaster's statement did not address allegations in the Washington Post that the president "went off script and began describing details about an Islamic State terrorist threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft."
That classified information reportedly came from a U.S. partner and was so sensitive that it had not been shared with U.S. allies and was even restricted within the U.S. government.
According to an intelligence official, the information concerns an aviation threat from ISIS, and the mixture of an explosive material to be used in a possible laptop bomb. The source says the Russians did not have this information.
"I was in the room, it didn't happen," McMaster said.
According to McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and senior White House official Dina Powell were also present during the meeting, but American reporters were barred, with the only pictures provided by Russian state media.
In paper statements, Tillerson doubled down on McMaster's denial and Powell said "this story is false."
"Their on the record accounts should outweigh those of anonymous sources," McMaster said.
The meeting at the White House took place just one day after the president fired FBI Director James Comey who was leading the investigation into whether Trump campaign associates were coordinating with the Russians during the election.
Russian Ambassador Kislyak remains a central figure in that investigation.
The standard for disclosing classified information is different for a president and what Mr. Trump is accused of doing is not illegal. For anyone else it would be.
Disclosing that type of information is dangerous because it could give the Russian government information about America's sources and methods, which could put lives at risk.
Tuesday morning, Russian officials said reports that Mr. Trump gave away secret information are "fake."The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 amounted to a “crime against humanity” and those who planned it need to be held accountable for killing thousands of people, says an analyst in Canada.
Antonious J. Hall, the editor in chief of the American Herald Tribune, made the comments on Sunday, after it was announced that some British soldiers face allegations of mistreating Iraqi people during the war.
The UK-based Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) has launched a probe into the ill-treatment of two Iraqi citizens at the hand of British soldiers in the southern Iraqi city of Basra 13 years ago, the Guardian reported Sunday.
Faisal al-Saadoon and Khalaf Mufdhi were detained in 2003, after two British bomb disposal experts were captured during a militant ambush on their convoy and were shot dead later on.
“Of course, many terrible things happened in invasion of Iraq; this trial of 13 British soldiers is a small example; it is simply a snapshot of the kind of terror that was taking place,” Hall told Press TV on Sunday.
“We have the crime of the invasion of Iraq led by this Anglo-American coalition of Blair and Bush committing unbelievably grotesque crimes against humanity,” he added.
The analyst said IHAT’s investigation provided “merely a snapshot pointing to an unbelievably elaborate crime.”
Hall said all ongoing conflicts in the Middle East were ignited after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and the extensive cover up of those crimes that took place need to be investigated.
In March 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in a blatant violation of international law, over Iraq's “weapons of mass destruction,” but no such weapons were ever discovered in the country.
The invasion plunged Iraq into chaos, resulting in years of deadly violence and the rise of terrorist groups like Daesh (ISIL), while leaving more than one million Iraqis dead.Well, since Without Their Permission doesn't drop until October 1st, the one book you need to read this summer in order to be a better entrepreneur is the book that inspired me and Steve to start reddit: Masters of Doom.
It's about the founding story of id software, the video game company that revolutionized the industry with titles like Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake – not to mention occupied countless hours of my childhood.
Not your typical business book
Steve lent me a copy of this book sometime during our sophomore year and I devoured it. It's a pretty quick read. It's probably not for everyone, because id fanboys will most appreciate all the stories from the earliest days of Carmack and Romero.
Who knew changing the world could be so much fun?
Nevertheless, this book convinced me to consider starting a company. It just seemed like so much damn fun. Granted, we didn't end up starting a gaming company (well, I guess we had 'gamification' before that was a buzzword: karma, leaderboards, awards, etc) but the idea a few friends could get together in a house and start building something the world had never seen before – having a lot of fun in the process -- got me hooked.
Read at least one book this summer, you'll be better for it
Hopefully it'll be as rewarding for you while you spend some time away from the hustle. Even if you don't read Masters of Doom, get away from your inbox and the office this summer. We tend to fetishize hard work more than we should. Yes, it makes a difference, but don't forget about diminishing returns.
For 50+ more summer favorites from Influencers, check out the full Influencer Summer Guide here.Donald Trump is headed to court next month. Wow the question I asked in the headline just hit me a hour after I wrote it. It will be historic if he wins the election. The Billionaire GOP presidential candidate will stand trial in a class action lawsuit filed by former students of his now defunct, Trump University. Can you imagine a president on trial for violation of federal RICO laws?
If that sounds crazy to you, keep in mind that in June USA Today published an article showing that over the years, Donald Trump has been involved in 3,500 lawsuits. In fact, the same article reports that at the time of publishing at least 70 new suits had been filed either by or against Trump since he announced his candidacy. “The Don” did his best to stop this case from advancing to trial. Trump attempted to smear the judges name, insinuating that because U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s parents were of Hispanic origin that he couldn’t possibly hand down a fair ruling. Once it was made clear that he could not get out of the trial, nor have the judge removed, he attempted to have the trial pushed back to 2017 to no avail. He did everything except pay the people he owed and now he will have his day in court.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall that day, I can only imagine the grandstanding he will do. Like the man or not, you can’t deny, his deflection skills are superior to most we’ve ever seen. I mean even in the case of written, audio and video proof the man will still deny, deflect, deny. You have to admit, the man has the huge cajones and ego of a silver spoon raised elitist. In his eyes, he can do no wrong, the peasants are wrong to differ in opinion with him.
In case you’re not familiar with the Trump University scandal, let me fill you in. From 2005 to 2010 Donald Trump was a priority stakeholder in Trump University. The for-profit school taught courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship and wealth creation. Turns out the “university” wasn’t accredited and gave no actual college credits. The “students” weren’t graded nor did they receive any type of grades, degree or diploma once they finished. Before closing its doors it had been ordered to drop the “university” form its name.
In 2011 the New York’s States Attorney’s office started investigating the university for illegal business practices which led to a 2013 $40 million civil lawsuit. That lawsuit has not yet been settled. There are two federal class action lawsuits against Trump and Trump University alleging that the school and its employees used misleading marketing practices and aggressive sales tactics to defraud students. Trump University is accused of defrauding 5,000 “students” out of up to $35,000 by promising to teach them his real estate techniques.
Makaeff v. Trump University, LLC, was filed in 2010 as part of a class action lawsuit with plaintiffs in three other states. Trump University, in Trump’s normal retaliatory manner, filed a defamation suit against the woman who was the lead plaintiff. After an extended court battle where Makaeff came out on top, the judge ordered Trump University to reimburse Makaeff $798,000 in legal fees.
The lawsuit that is forcing Trump into court just days after the 2016 presidential election, Low v. Trump University LLC, 10-cv-00940, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, is a serious one. Trump has been named the sole defendant and is being sued for not only restitution, but punitive and treble damages. The GOP candidate is being accused of racketeering and violating federal RICO laws behind “Live Events” sold through Trump University. The lawsuit alleges that these events were nothing more than a grand scheme to defraud students and turned out to be sales pitches for more expensive programs.
On November 8, we Americans will head to the polls and elect a new president. It’s literally mind boggling to think that should Trump win, the president of The United States will be in court, on record being sued for fraud. I guess his supporters will say it doesn’t matter because he isn’t president until sworn in come January. Man, what a backwards society we live in. I’ve lost respect for the two-party system, democracy, and so many other systems and individuals during this election process. The idea that we literally are down to two crooks as our only choices to lead us for the next four years, is preposterous.
The big question is, if Trump is found guilty in November of violating federal RICO laws will he be jailed? Will Mike Pence actually be our next president? What a circus this whole mess has turned out to be.
For full information on the court cases I outlined here click the following links http://zhlaw.com/cases/trump-university/ and http://www.trumpuniversitylitigation.comEarlier this week we had the great pleasure to announce our very first use of WINGS DAO which marks the beginning of a limited pre-beta production release of WINGS DAO functionality on the Ethereum mainnet for providing feedback and valuation of the Bancor crowdfunding which will occur on Monday, June 12, 2017.
As many of you are keenly aware, many crowdsales and ICOs on the Ethereum network have reached their caps in matters of seconds. In our opinion this means that the teams and their advisors simply don’t have an easy way to value their crowdfund. By not being able to price their ICO to the market sentiment, they are missing potential early adopters and selling their tokens for cheap, instead of using them for their project promotion and development. We believe that WINGS solves this weakness during the current bullish market; and if the market turns bearish, leveraging the WINGS community social graph could bring extra funding and liquidity.
Bancor Network Token (BNT) fundraiser price discovery reward
As stated in the joint press release there will be up to $250,000 in BNT and ETH tokens allocated to WINGS DAO members who accurately forecast the amount of the Bancor Network Token contribution fundraiser. The reward to the WINGS DAO will be based on the following logic:
1% at $10m funded = $100k (50/50 BNT ETH)
0.5% at $20m funded = $100k (50/50 BNT ETH)
0.4% at $30m = $120k tokens (50/50 BNT ETH)
0.4% at $50m = $200k tokens (50/50 BNT ETH)
Cap of $250,000 forecasting reward
Since this particular valuation opportunity is happening before the launch of the WINGS Beta, and Bancor is using their own smart contract with WINGS integration, the reward will not automatically flow from Bancor crowdfunding smart contracts into the WINGS rewards system, which is not online yet. After the conclusion of the Bancor fundraiser and once the WINGS rewards system is running on Ethereum mainnet, then we will inform the community how to collect the ETH, BNT and WINGS forecast ratings rewards.
Also do note that the terms of the Bancor fundraiser are such that there is at least 1 hour of availability to participate, and there is a hidden cap that kicks in at the 1 hour mark so do your valuation accordingly.
BANCOR AMA
The WINGS team will host an AMA with the Bancor founders on Wednesday June 7, 2017 at 8pm (Israel) / 7 PM (EU) / 1 PM (Miami) / 10 AM (Pacific).
We will be interviewing two of the Bancor founders:
Guy Benartzi, CEO
Eyal Hertzog, Product Architect
The AMA will start with a 45 minute Q&A using a video livecast:Twitter is working on a new feature that would allow users to edit tweets once they are published, three sources close to the project have confirmed to The Desk.
Those sources, who asked to be identified only as Twitter employees, say the feature has been a top priority at the company for months as Twitter pushes to expand partnerships among media organizations and original content producers.
According to sources and documents reviewed by The Desk, the new Twitter feature would look something like this:
Once a user publishes a tweet, an “edit” feature will be present for a limited amount of time (Twitter is still currently working out the length of time the feature would be available). The feature would allow a user to make “slight changes” to the contents of a tweet, such a removing a word, correcting a typo or adding one or two additional words.
An edit could only be performed once per tweet. Once the edit is made, it would be immediately visible on that user’s Twitter feed. The edit would also show up on the feed of anyone who re-published the tweet using Twitter’s built-in “re-tweet” feature.
Twitter wants to enable users to immediately debunk incorrect information, especially erroneous tweets that go viral. However, Twitter wants users to be able to edit a tweet without changing the overall purpose — in other words, Twitter doesn’t want a user to post a news story, accumulate a large amount of re-tweets, and then change the tweet to display a promotion or advertisement.
To solve this problem, Twitter is looking at a few things, including limitations on how many characters or words a user would be allowed to insert or delete. According to sources, Twitter is also developing an “editorial algorithm” that, if it works correctly, would be able to “detect” whether or not a user is attempting to change the overall intention of the tweet instead of fixing a minor mistake or retracting an erroneous report.
Sources say Twitter’s editorial algorithm, still being developed, is projected to be finished in a matter of “weeks, or months at the most.”
Once Twitter feels it has a solid “edit” feature, it will begin making it available to a select few — likely verified news organizations, celebrities and public officials — for testing. In the past, Twitter has reached out to select “partners” to help test secret features that have yet to be made public, such as expedited Twitter support and fast account switching from a single login.
Sources acknowledge that an “edit” feature would not be a perfect fix. As it is designed now, the feature wouldn’t benefit those who “manually re-tweet” a message. It also would not display whether or not a tweet has been “edited,” although that may be built in later. And even advanced algorithms — sources say its algorithm will be “one of the most-advanced in the industry” — are still prone to error.
But the feature, if it is ever rolled out, would almost certainly be a welcome addition by news organizations and power users. Conversations about how misinformation can spread on Twitter started in early 2011 when National Public Radio erroneously reported on Twitter that former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords had died from a gunshot wound to the head. The report, which NPR cited to law enforcement sources, was repeated by other news organizations, including television stations that had been reporting from the scene of the crime in Tucson, Arizona that day.
The incident, which was corrected and profusely apologized for, was something of a case study at the time at how quickly bad information can spread on social media platforms. Despite the conversation, there have been more instances of erroneous reports going viral — and a good amount of it can be attributed to Twitter’s users.
In April, Wired’s Mat Honan called the absence of an edit feature the “one function that Twitter desperately needs,” drawing upon his own experience of having contributed to the spread of misinformation during this year’s Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent manhunt for the suspects. Right after Honan published his article, the Syrian Electronic Army compromised the main Twitter account used by the Associated Press to publish a tweet that caused the Dow Jones index to drop by 100 points.
The company isn’t blind to the fact that its platform contributes to misinformation. Though the company has not publicly addressed any chance of rolling out a “correction” feature, sources at Twitter say its been a top priority internally — and even moreso since the company went public last month.
A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the feature when reached by The Desk early Monday morning.SCP-1999
Shower mat affected by SCP-1999 in ███████, NY
Item #: SCP-1999
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: Mobile Task Force Iota-9 ("Collected Curios") is to work with museums in designated areas of effect, identifying cases of vandalism concerning the name "Loewes". The MTF will also secure all items affected by SCP-1999. The Foundation will work to restore items with high monetary or cultural value.
All instances of the word "Loewes" written in anything other than ballpoint pen or felt-tip marker ink are not to be considered SCP-1999. Pertinent graffiti is to be investigated for links to dadaist collective "Are We Cool Yet?" See Addendum 1999-d.
Investigation into the origin of the name is ongoing. See Addenda.
Description: SCP-1999 is a phenomenon whereby the name "Loewes" (sometimes stylized "LOEWES" or less frequently, "loewes") inscribes itself on the surface of objects through unknown means. The name appears to be written in either ballpoint pen or felt-tip marker, and the handwriting is consistent throughout all instances. (See Addendum 1999-b.) Objects so far discovered with SCP-1999 written on them have had no similarities to one another other than having been located inside museums, a feature which has been instrumental in identifying fabricated instances. This has included exhibited artifacts, non-exhibit museum items and objects owned by employees and visitors. Objects have been found within a 15km radius of Manhattan, New York City. See Addenda.
An object marked with the name produces an effect whereby subjects consider it the property of another person, even if it was originally theirs. In such cases, subject's possessing of the item is considered temporary, as though it were borrowed. Reactions to affected objects will be typical of persons wishing to protect another's property. Subjects can be coerced into misusing or even damaging objects, but will often display extreme distress when asked to do so. Museum staff have on numerous occasions removed items from exhibits without prompting, later stating the object in question "is Elfie's". Seeing the name or knowing about its existence on the object is unnecessary for the effect to take place.
Analysis of affected objects suggests a frequency of occurrence between one and three months.
Addendum 1999-a: Contact with museums in Germany has identified the name "Löwes" occurring on objects prior to the 1940's, especially in the city of Stuttgart. These are also considered to be instances of SCP-1999.
Addendum 1999-b: Handwriting analysis has confirmed a match with a Mrs. Elfa S. Loewes, née S█████████ of Manhattan, New York City. Interviews with Mrs. Loewes' family reveal that she settled in Manhattan shortly after coming to the United States from Germany in 1941, and that, barring vacations, she did not leave the area for the remainder of her life. The date of her emigration coincides with the shift in spelling of SCP-1999 instances and the shift in location of instances from Stuttgart to Manhattan. The interviews also reveal nothing anomalous about Mrs. Loewes herself.
No direct mechanism connecting Mrs. Loewes to SCP-1999 has been found. As the █████ █████ Museum, where Mrs. Loewes worked as a clerk for 30 years, was not affected by SCP-1999 prior to 2009, it is theorized that Mrs. Loewes, despite being the focus of the phenomenon, had a small range about her person in which SCP-1999 did not occur.
Since her death on █/██/2009, instances of SCP-1999 have begun occurring less frequently (no more often than once every five months) but with increased range. SCP-1999 has now occurred in the Mid-Atlantic, Southern and Southwestern United States, coinciding with places Mrs. Loewes visited in life. No new instances have appeared in Germany. While the designation of any place as a museum opens it to SCP-1999, no museums dedicated after 2009 have been affected. Monitoring is ongoing. Frequency of occurrence appears to have no correlation to the location of Mrs. Loewes' body. Exhumation of the body revealed no anomalous properties.
Addendum 1999-c: The investigation is ongoing, but at this time there are no reports of Mrs. Loewes' maiden name appearing on any objects. The oldest object to date found affected by SCP-1999 was removed from the ████████ Stuttgart in 1938 after it had been discovered vandalized. The year coincides with Mrs. Loewes' marriage.
Addendum 1999-d: The link between SCP-1999 and "Are We Cool Yet?" was discovered during the containment of an art installation (now SCP-████) in 20██, where the word "LOEWES" was found spray-painted in three places inside and outside. Instances of the word, mostly written in spray-paint, have continued to appear since, alarmingly near sites being investigated by the Foundation for containment as SCPs. The investigation into possible information leaks has been labeled top priority by O5 Council.
Mrs. Loewes and her family are at this time considered to have no connection to "Are We Cool Yet?".It's been nearly a year since nuclear inspectors counted missiles in Russia as part of long-standing arms-control agreements. The Obama administration argues that they need to return ASAP, and so the Senate needs to ratify a new nuclear-arms treaty with Russia before the year ends. But the United States has ways to check out the Russian nuclear arsenal from space – that is, if you don't need to be exact.
"We have a wealth of advanced classified systems up there that can read license plates," says Stephen Schwartz, a nuclear-arms expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "But you can’t see inside buildings and they have trouble seeing through clouds."
Verification is the heart of arms control. Before the United States and Russia started signing arms-control deals in the 1970s, each launched spy planes and satellites up into the sky to get a sense of how many missiles the other guy had. And even with the advent of missile-counters, the United States continues to throw satellites into space to snoop below.
Tomorrow, Cape Canaveral will launch what the director of the National Reconnaissance Office – the intelligence agency that manages the spy satellites – calls the "largest satellite in the world" into geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the earth, where it'll use "sensitive radio receivers and an antenna generally believed to span up to 100 meters (328 feet) to gather electronic intelligence for the National Security Agency," as sat-watcher Ted Molczan told Space.com.
The National Reconnaissance Office's satellites are classified. But of the 438 U.S. military, government and commercial satellites hovering overhead, "you could characterize about 90 of them as collecting some form of intelligence, whether it is imagery, signals or detecting nuclear detonations," says Brian Weeden, a former officer with the U.S. Air Force Space Command. (Globalsecurity.org has a good rundown of some of their capabilities.)
When it comes to arms control, the satellites are good for "a rough sense of scale," says Danger Room alum and arms-control wonk at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies Jeffrey Lewis. That is, "you can count brigades and you can see bunkers," and can watch heavy equipment moving in and out of nuclear-production sites.
But anything more specific requires on-the-ground inspectors. "If a treaty calls for them having 500 delivery vehicles, you'd probably know the number was 1,000 and not 10,000," Lewis continues, "but you would not be able to tell 500 from 1000." You also wouldn't know how many nuclear warheads are placed on a single missile. And you definitely can't use them to see inside a nuclear bunker or silo.
And you probably would have a time lag before you knew anything at all. Spy satellites are typically in low-earth orbit, between 300 and 2,000 kilometers above the earth, and they fly overhead an area and might not return for several days. "They can't be everywhere at once," Weeden says, "and there is competition for these assets, with the wars in Iraq, Af-Pak and everywhere else."
At the same time, while the verification provisions in the so-called New START treaty with Russia are more stringent than what's in place now, they still leave a lot to be desired when it comes to stopping illicit proliferation like the "loose nuke" problem.
Under New START, inspectors wouldn't be able to count every warhead in the U.S. or Russian arsenals, they would just be able to "see if there's a missile in the tubes or in the silo and then count the number of warheads on it," Lewis says. But that's still a progression in transparency from the predecessor treaty, which expired last December.
"If the goal is to someday count every Russian warhead," Lewis says, "New START is step in that direction."
But Baker Spring, a New START opponent from the Heritage Foundation, says it's "blame shifting of the highest order, bordering on the astounding" for the Obama administration to use the lack of inspections as a cudgel on the Senate to pass the treaty. In 2009, the Obama team didn't conclude a post-expiration bridging agreement with the Russians keeping inspectors on the ground until a new treaty could be ratified. If Obama was so concerned about verification, Baker says, he should have pushed for a verification add-on to the George W. Bush-era Moscow Treaty, which could have attracted Republican support, and then the administration "wouldn't face the problems it faces in the Senate today."
Instead, it's looking like now or never for New START. And while its inspectors won't be able to totally stop the loose-nuke fear, unless they're back on the ground under a negotiated accord, it's hard to see a path toward more-stringent verification. "You can’t blow [New START] up and then expect the Russians to negotiate an even more robust treaty," Lewis says. "The arms-control process will stop for some substantial period of time."
Update, November 19: For more, see Danger Room pal Eli Lake's new piece in the Washington Times.
Photo: Wikimedia
See Also:Israel’s Supreme Court held a hearing on the government’s request to delay the razing of the Ulpana neighborhood in the West Bank settlement of Beit El.
The three-judge panel criticized the state’s request during Sunday’s hearing, calling it “unprecedented” to review a closed case.
The high court had ruled in September that the five apartment buildings found to be built on private Palestinian land be razed by May 1. The state had specifically told the court that it would obey the ruling on the Ulpana neighborhood. But on April 27, the State Attorney’s Office notified the court that the government would wait on the demolition pending a review of its policies regarding West Bank structures built on contested and privately owned land.
“You are in essence seeking to change your policy post-verdict. This is unheard of,” Justice Uzi Vogelman said during the hearing.
“When the State says it intends to do something and the prime minister commits to it, we do not consider a scenario in which it doesn’t get done. There is mutual respect between the authorities,” he added.
Justice Salim Joubran accused the government of making “a habit” out of asking for exemptions, something he called “unhealthy judicially,” Ynet reported.
This story "Judges Grill State Over Settlement Policy" was written by JTA.A Calgary family is worried about a woman who is camping out in southeast Calgary hoping to find her lost dog.
Beverly Campbell is visiting from the Edmonton area and was walking the dog in the Parkland/ Deer Run area when it was startled by a bike and ran away. She has been frantically searching for him since Monday.
The dog has special value for Campbell. “About six years ago, I was going through a very tough time, and I got him, and he’s always shown me to stop being so serious, take time to play, take time to sleep, and take time for hugs.” said Campbell. “And that’s why he means so much to me.”
Campbell has been putting out food and blankets in places where her dog has been spotted, and is sleeping nearby in case he comes back. Her family is concerned for her safety.
The dog is named Scooter. He is a white pug cross with some patches, and is wearing a tag with contact information.Gov. Rick Snyder (Photo: Carlos Osorio, AP)
LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday began releasing what officials said are an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 e-mails related to Flint drinking water and the Flint water crisis, sent and received by him or officials in his office, dating back to 2011, the year he took office.
According to a news release, all materials being revealed will be available at www.michigan.gov/snyder. Links to the first two batches of e-mails released Friday are here and here. Late Friday, afternoon, the governor released three more batches, which can be found here and here and here.
The Free Press published stories Friday based on the early release of 550 e-mails that Snyder officials had determined would likely be of interest to the news media and the public. But Jarrod Agen, Snyder's chief of staff, said the governor is planning to release all Flint e-mails from his office, with the exception of ones that are subject to attorney-client privilege.
“Michigan residents have a right to get answers to any questions they still have," Snyder said in a news release.
"With the release of these e-mails, anyone will have access to this information,” he said.
Snyder's office is not subject to Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, though there is building pressure on Snyder and the Legislature to amend the law to include both the governor's office and the Legislature. Michigan is one of only two states that exempts the governor and Legislature from the public disclosure law.
In January, Snyder released more than 270 pages of executive office e-mails. But those were only ones sent or received by him, and they only covered the years 2014 and 2015.
In February, he released all Flint water records that had already been the subject of FOIA requests processed by state agencies, notably the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Treasury Department.
Flint's drinking water became contaminated with lead in April 2014 after the city, while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched its drinking water supply from Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit water system, to Flint River water treated at the Flint water treatment plant.
The state Department of Environmental Quality has acknowledged it failed to require the addition of needed corrosion-control chemicals. As a result, officials believe the more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from pipes, joints and fixtures, sending lead-contaminated water into an unknown number of Flint households, schools and businesses. The city switched back to Detroit water in October, but a public health emergency continues because of danger to the water distribution system.
Snyder said in today news release the Flint crisis "is the result of failures at all levels of government — city, state and federal."
"We need to look at what happened at all levels, but as the one ultimately responsible for what happens in state government, I am taking steps to help correct what happened there. I will continue to take steps that will help make things right and support Flint along its road to recovery," he said.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1QKJtNuPALMDALE (CBSLA.com) — A body was found Tuesday inside a minivan buried under 6 feet of debris left from last week’s mudslide in Palmdale.
Maintenance workers were using a backhoe to clear out the mud and debris in the 41800 block of Karen Drive when they discovered the vehicle about 12:50 p.m.
It took crews about 11 hours to lift the minivan up from the ground.
Last Thursday’s downpour sent a cascade of mud down a mountain in the area. Stacey Horwood, who was also caught up in the storm, said she was behind the minivan that vanished. She said she reported seeing the Chevy Venture being swept away.
Horwood said: “After, it kind of cleared. We kept saying that there was another vehicle that went down that went inside the ground.”
But emergency crews could not find the vehicle. Firefighters said it was difficult for them to search for the vehicle on the day of the mudslide because the ground was unstable.
A homeowner who lives above the catch basin insisted someone was missing.
“She said an SUV had turned over and gone down behind her house; she was complaining about it for days. But the rescue workers told her the person had been saved,” neighbor Paul Mathews, said.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department, the man buried alive was in his late 40s. His identity has not been released. No missing persons report was filed, deputies said.'The time for rhetoric and ceremonial votes in Congress is over,' Palin said. Palin backs defunding Obamacare
Sarah Palin on Tuesday announced she has signed onto the effort to defund Obamacare, calling it a “beast” that must be stopped.
“Forced enrollment in Obama’s ‘Unaffordable Care Act’ is weeks away,” the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential nominee said in a statement. “This beast must be stopped — by not funding it. Today, Todd and I joined with many of our fellow citizens to urge those in the U.S. Senate to not fund Obamacare. We the people must continue to make our voices heard and hold those elected |
Netflix show Orange Is the New Black, which boasts a racially diverse and largely female cast. Netflix will already put one non-white superhero on the screen with Luke Cage; there doesn't seem to be any business reason why it couldn't give audiences a second non-white hero in Danny Rand.
Chow specifically wants Marvel to cast an Asian American actor in the role. "I think folks forget that being Asian and being Asian American are two different things," he said. "Danny can still be a fish out of water in K'un Lun, especially if he's Asian American. It's why the 'but you already have Shang Chi' excuse that doesn't fly with me. I don't want a foreign-born actor to play Danny Rand... I want an Asian American."
Casting an Asian American actor fixes the perception that Iron Fist is a "white savior," a white person who steps in to a non-white world to become its champion. "The white guy who goes to Asia and is better than the Asians is also a pretty tired cliché," said Chow. "Never mind Danny Rand, you have Snake Eyes, Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai, Daniel-san [in The Karate Kid ], Wolverine, every Steven Segal and Jean-Claude Van Damme movie ever, hell, even Batman for chrissakes!"
But is there a danger that casting an Asian American actor would play into the stereotype that all Asian heroes are martial artists?
"I don't think so. Look, the problem with the Asian martial artist stereotype is not the art itself. The problem has always been how Asian martial artists have been portrayed in Western media. As someone who has practiced martial arts and admires and respects it, I don't run away from that aspect of my heritage.
"As I said earlier, Danny Rand is a fighter, a lover, a hero, a friend, a son, etc. He is a multifaceted, three-dimensional person -- who's also a superhero with superpowers! Why can't an Asian American actor get the chance to play all of that? But silent ninjas who are canon fodder and get no speaking lines? Yeah, that's a problem. I'll take a three-dimensional martial artist over a one-dimensional anything any time."
As for who might play Danny Rand, Chow's suggestion is actor and dancer Harry Shum Jr., best known for his appearances on the TV show Glee. "Someone on twitter suggested Cole Horibe who's currently portraying Bruce Lee on Broadway," said Chow. You can see Shum in action in the short film Three Minutes alongside fellow dancer Stephen Boss -- "There's your Heroes for Hire, right there," noted Chow -- and you can watch Horibe in his audition for So You Think You Can Dance.
Whether Marvel takes notice of the petition or not, Chow hopes that this can helps start a conversation. "There is a real bias out there that prevents people of color from getting good roles. If nothing else, I wanted people to really investigate how these comic adaptations are opportunities to reflect the real world. Superheroes don't have to be the sole domain of white men."
If you want to support the campaign to have an Asian American actor cast in Marvel and Netflix's Iron Fist series, sign the 18 Million Rising petition here. You can read more about the petition at The Nerds of Color.BY MONDAY NIGHT, the 10th day of the Occupy Wall Street protest, the miniature colony at Liberty Park Plaza was rather sophisticated. The “media tent,” which on Saturday had consisted of a MacBook and an umbrella, now looked like an amateur version of the CNN newsroom. Protesters crushed around a central table, tweeting, emailing and editing video, surrounded by a barricade of tables holding more computers, with the cracks in between filled in by sleeping bags, blankets and backpacks. One revolutionary with a hard face sat straight-backed, a cigarette poking sideways out of his mouth while he typed away. The computers and lights were powered by a generator, which briefly died when someone misplaced the gas can. The media center, as the always-lit hub of information and electricity, is the cornerstone of the encampment. Entry is restricted.
Next door is the kitchen, two rows of marble benches laden with pizza, fruit, dry noodles, bean salad and hot vegetarian chili with bread. Saturday’s dinner was self-serve; this time, a gentleman in a New York Film Academy T-shirt handed over The Observer’s brownie in a napkin. Next to the kitchen lies a field of protest signs—former pizza boxes—within easy reach. The rest of the park is residential, filled with sleeping bags, tarps, air mattresses and ordinary mattresses; a bench stacked with folded blankets for common use; and a living room complete with carpeting, chairs and a futon frame, which we observed being occupied by a family with three small children, and later by a pair of men bedding down in opposite directions. The east end of the park usually hosts the drum circle. The bathroom is located around the corner at McDonald’s, whose employees have been surprisingly accommodating, allowing protesters to come, go, use the electrical outlets and linger unmolested. The Burger King on the western border of the park, however, has reportedly told protesters they’re banned from making purchases.
The Observer arrived at Occupy Wall Street after chasing Monday evening’s march through the narrow streets of the financial district, following the group on Twitter and scrambling to catch up. The New York Stock Exchange—dead, but lined with cops. Bowling Green—quiet, no police presence. At Bridge Street, we noticed a helicopter above the skyscrapers. Heading up Broadway, we caught up with the motley but spirited crew of protesters bobbing their signs to the beat, and fell in between a pair of middle-aged moms and a boy with green-tipped hair in a ripped white T-shirt. Some people beat pizza boxes with empty water bottles. We spotted a sign: “Unfuck the world!”
As we rolled our eyes, we saw another: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Comparing the collection of apparent Burning Man refugees who have been demonstrating in Liberty Park Plaza over the past 10 days to the anti-colonial effort led by Mahatma Gandhi would be charitable. Even so, the Occupy Wall Streeters probably fit somewhere between Gandhi’s steps two and three. In the first week, media coverage was negligible. Then over the weekend, The New York Times’s Ginia Bellafante weighed in with a piece that the demonstrators found condescending, in which she called the protest “a diffuse and leaderless convocation of activists against greed, corporate influence, gross social inequality and other nasty by-products of wayward capitalism not easily extinguishable by street theater” and gave the final word to a floor trader who dismissed the movement because some protesters were using MacBooks.
Then on Saturday, a senior officer of the N.Y.P.D. was captured on camera spritzing pepper spray into the faces of two women. The video, along with reports of more than 80 protester arrests, gave the protest some legitimacy in the eyes of the media. While not especially impressed by the protest itself, The Atlantic’s James Fallows posted the video under an unusually sharp headline: “An Important Video to Watch: Pepper Spray by a Cruel and Cowardly NYC Cop.” Mr. Fallows explained his extreme reaction to The Observer in an email: “I am sure one reason is because I’ve spent much of the past five years in China,” he wrote. “I looked at that video and thought, how would I feel if I saw the Chinese cops doing that? Also, I have been on a slow boil about the security-state excesses of the past 10 years.”
Mr. Fallows is in exalted company. “Anyone with eyes open knows that the gangsterism of Wall Street—financial institutions generally—has caused severe damage to the people of the United States (and the world),” Noam Chomsky wrote in a letter to organizers Sunday. “The courageous and honorable protests underway in Wall Street should serve to bring this calamity to public attention, and to lead to dedicated efforts to overcome it and set the society on a more healthy course.” The rapper and 9/11 Truther Lupe Fiasco attended, sent a poem and has been tweeting vigorously for the cause; Brooklyn City Councilman Charles Barron spoke at the protest Tuesday morning. Michael Moore, who paid a surprise visit to the park Monday night, took a harder line: “Tax them! They are thieves! They are gangsters! They are kleptomaniacs!”
It was too bad Mr. Moore was not present for the march earlier; he would have enjoyed the dozens of cameras as well as the spectacle of protesters dancing down cobblestone streets. “Banks! Got! Bailed out! We! Got! Sold out!”
Across the street, about ten tight-shirted men stared from behind the window of a clothing store, frozen, so that at first The Observer thought they were mannequins.
“Hey, do you guys want to help me do a chant?” Green Hair asked the marchers around him. “You just say, ‘Occupy Wall Street,’’ okay?” He cupped his hands around his mouth and hoarsely yelled, “ALL DAY! ALL WEEK!”
The Observer felt ridiculous, but we didn’t want to be a square. “Occ-u-py-Wall-Street!”ATHENS (Reuters) - Firefighters battled wildfires raging northeast of Athens for a third day on Tuesday as Greece asked for help from its European partners to prevent them from spreading.
The fire started in Kalamos, a coastal holiday spot some 45 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital, and has spread to three more towns, damaging dozens of homes and burning thousands of hectares of pine forest. A state of emergency has been declared in the area.
“The blaze is advancing with great speed. Because of the scale and intensity of the wildfires, the country submitted a request for aerial means,” fire brigade spokeswoman Stavroula Maliri told a press briefing.
Cyprus offered a group of 60 firefighters and a Greek air force plane was headed there to pick them up. But a request for two pairs of CL-415 firefighting aircraft was turned down by France as it had to deal with its own wildfires, she said.
Three firefighting planes and six water-throwing helicopters operated through the day, assisting 210 firefighters and about 100 military personnel battling the blaze on the ground near the town of Kapandriti.
Rugged terrain dotted with small communities made the fire-fighting difficult, with winds rekindling the blaze at many spots. Thick, billowing smoke rendered operations from the air difficult.
Across Greece, firefighters were battling more than 55 forest fires, an outbreak fed by dry winds and hot weather that fanned blazes in the Peloponnese and on the Ionian islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia.
ARSON?
On Zakynthos, an island popular with foreign tourists, a dozen fires burned for a fifth day. Authorities declared a state of emergency there on Monday. A government minister said there was no doubt the fires had been set deliberately.
“It’s arson according to an organised plan,” Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis, the member of parliament for Zakynthos, told state TV.
Late July and August often see outbreaks of forest and brush fires in Greece, where high temperatures help create tinder-box conditions.
In Kalamos, community president Dimitris Kormovitis told Reuters TV: “If we don’t manage to cut it off today, there will be terrible consequences. There has been devastation of a biblical scale in our area, which is one of the last lungs of the Attica region.”
Slideshow (18 Images)
Andreas Theodorou, a local councillor in Kalamos, said the blaze had damaged several dozen homes. “Help did not arrive fast enough, and if you don’t stop a forest fire so large as soon as it breaks out, it’s very hard to put it out,” he said.
In the Peloponnese region of Ilia, blazes that broke out in three areas on Monday and looked tamed early on Tuesday flared up again, fanned by winds. In 2007 the same area was the site of Greece’s worst fires, with more than 70 people killed.
“We asked for the evacuation of the village of Peristeri. The fire has gotten very close, it cannot be contained due to strong winds,” Ilia vice-prefect George Georgiopoulos told SKAI TV.Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida hardened his position against same-sex marriage in an interview that aired on Sunday, making clear he did not believe in constitutional protection for gay marriages — an issue now before the United States Supreme Court — and leaving out his past call for “respect” for gay couples.
Appearing on “The Brody File” on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Mr. Bush, a likely Republican candidate for president in 2016, was asked in a brief interview if he believed there should be a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
“I don’t, but I’m not a lawyer, and clearly this has been accelerated at a warp pace,” he said. “What’s interesting is four years ago, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had the same view that I just expressed to you.” He added: “Thousands of years of culture and history is just being changed at warp speed. It’s hard to fathom why it is this way.”
He also warned that the country’s future would be at risk without traditional marriages between a man and a woman who go on to raise children.
“To imagine how we are going to succeed in our country unless we have committed family life, committed child-centered family system, is hard to imagine,” Mr. Bush said. “We need to be stalwart supporters of traditional marriage.”
Mr. Bush was explicitly opposed to same-sex marriage for years, but in recent months, since he has been considering a run for the presidency, he has made a wider range of statements — saying same-sex marriage is an issue that should be decided by the states, for instance. This winter, as gay couples began to wed in Florida, Mr. Bush also struck a conciliatory tone about those marriages.
“We live in a democracy, and regardless of our disagreements, we have to respect the rule of law,” he said in a statement to The New York Times in January. “I hope that we can show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue — including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty.”
Mr. Bush reiterated in the “Brody File” interview on Sunday that his views about same-sex marriage are based on his Catholic faith. “I think traditional marriage is a sacrament,” he said. “It’s at the core of the Catholic faith.”[1] and perhaps forerunners of the Maya Hero Twins. Two lively were-jaguar babies on the left side of La Venta Altar 5. The two were-jaguars depicted on Altar 5 at La Venta as being carried out from a niche or cave, places often associated with the emergence of human beings, may be mythic hero twins essential to Olmec mythologyand perhaps forerunners of the Maya Hero Twins.
Hero Twins shooting a perched bird demon with a blowgun. Theshooting a perched bird demon with a blowgun. Izapa Stela 25.
The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial K'iche' document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque [ʃɓalaŋˈke] in the K’iche’ language, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the Classic Mayas (200–900 AD). The twins are often portrayed as complementary forces. The complementary pairings of life and death, sky and earth, day and night, sun and moon, among multiple others have been used to represent the twins. The duality that occurs between male and female is often seen in twin myths, as a male and female twin are conceptualized to be born to represent the two sides of a single entity (Miller and Taube 1993: 81).
The Twin motif recurs in many Native American mythologies; the Maya Twins, in particular, could be considered as mythical ancestors to the Maya ruling lineages.[citation needed]
The Hero Twins in word and image [ edit ]
The sources on the Hero Twins are both written (Popol Vuh, early Spanish historians), and iconographic. Classic Maya iconography clearly demonstrates that the earlier Twin narratives must have diverged considerably from the 16th-century Popol Vuh myth; to what extent is a matter of dispute.
Popol Vuh [ edit ]
Many versions of the Twin Myth must have circulated among the Mayas, but the only one that survives in a written form is the Classical K'iche' version in the Popol Vuh. According to this version, the Hero Twins were Xbalanque and Hunahpu (Modern K'iche': Xb‘alanke and Junajpu) who were ballplayers like their father and uncle, Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu.
Summoned to Xibalba by the Lords of the Underworld, the father and uncle were defeated and sacrificed. Two sons were conceived, however, by the seed of the dead father. The pregnant mother fled from Xibalba. The sons—or 'Twins'—grew up to avenge their father, and after many trials, finally defeated the lords of the Underworld in the ballgame. The Popol Vuh features other episodes involving the Twins as well (see below), including the destruction of a pretentious bird demon, Vucub Caquix, and of his two demonic sons. The Twins also turned their half-brothers into the howler monkey gods, who were the patrons of artists and scribes. The Twins were finally transformed into sun and moon, signaling the beginning of a new age.
Kekchi (Q'eqchi') traditions [ edit ]
It has been noted that in the upper world scenes of the Popol Vuh, Hunahpu has the dominant role, whereas, in the underworld, Xbalanque takes the initiative. Bartolomé de las Casas described Xbalanque as having entered the underworld as a war leader. His description refers to the Q'eqchi' town of Carchá. Xbalanque is also the name given to the male protagonist in earlier variants of the Q'eqchi' myth of Sun and Moon, where he is hunting for deer (a metaphor for making captives), and capturing the daughter of the Earth Deity. In these cases, Hunahpu has no role to play.[citation needed]
Iconography [ edit ]
Another main source for Hero Twin mythology is much earlier and consists of representations found on Maya ceramics until about 900 AD and in the Dresden Codex some centuries later.[3] Clearly recognizable are the figures of Hunahpu, Xbalanque, and the howler monkey scribes and sculptors. Hunahpu is distinguished by black spots on his skin, which are probably those of a corpse, thus marking him out as one who descended into the underworld. On the Preclassic murals from San Bartolo (Maya site), the king, marked with a black spot on the cheek, and drawing blood from his genitals in the four corners of the world, appears to personify the hero Hunahpu. Xbalanque—the 'War Twin'—is more animal-like, in that he is distinguished by jaguar patches on his skin and by whiskers or a beard.[citation needed]
Certain iconographic scenes are suggestive of episodes in the Popol Vuh. The Twins' shooting of a steeply descending bird (the 'Principal Bird Deity') with blowguns may represent the defeat of Vucub-Caquix, whereas the principal Maya maize god rising from the carapace of a turtle in the presence of the Hero Twins may visualize the resurrection of the Twins' father, Hun-Hunahpu. This second scene has also been explained differently, however.[4] In any case, the Twins are often depicted together with the main maize god, and these three semi-divinities were obviously felt to belong together. Therefore, it is probably no coincidence that in the Popol Vuh, the Twins are symbolically represented by two maize stalks.[citation needed]
Names and calendrical functions [ edit ]
The name "Xbalanque" (pronounced [ʃɓalaŋˈke]) has been variously translated as 'Jaguar Sun' (x-balam-que), 'Hidden Sun' (x-balan-que), and 'Jaguar Deer' (x-balam-quieh). The initial sound may stem from yax (precious), since in Classical Maya, a hieroglyphic element of this meaning precedes the pictogram of the hero (although it has also been suggested to be the female prefix ix-). For the combination of prefix and pictogram, a reading as Yax Balam has been proposed. The name "Hunahpu" (pronounced [hunaxˈpu]) is usually understood as Hun-ahpub 'One-Blowgunner', the blowgun characterizing the youthful hero as a hunter of birds.[citation needed]
The head of Hunahpu is used as a variant sign for the 20th day in the day count or tzolkin, which in these cases may actually have been read as '(Hun)ahpu', rather than 'Ahau' (Lord or King). The 20th day is also the concluding day of all vigesimal periods, including the katun and baktun. The head of Xbalanque is used as a variant for the number nine (balan being similar to bolon 'nine').[citation needed]
Twin myth summary [ edit ]
The following is a detailed summary of the Popol Vuh Twin Myth, on from the death of the heroes' father and uncle.[citation needed]
Early life of the heroes [ edit ]
Hunahpu and his brother were conceived when their mother Xquic, daughter of one of the lords of Xibalba, spoke with the severed head of their father Hun. The skull spat upon the maiden's hand, which caused the twins to be conceived in her womb. Xquic sought out Hun Hunahpu's mother, who begrudgingly took her as a ward after setting up a number of trials to prove her identity.[citation needed]
Even after birth, Hunahpu and Xbalanque were not well treated by their grandmother or their older half-brothers, One Howler Monkey and One Artisan. Immediately after their births, their grandmother demanded they be removed from the house for their crying, and their elder brothers obliged by placing them on an anthill and among the brambles. Their intent was to kill their younger half-brothers out of jealousy and spite, for the older pair had long been revered as fine artisans and thinkers and feared the newcomers would steal from the attention they received.[citation needed]
The attempts to kill the young twins after birth were a failure, and the boys grew up without any obvious spite for their ill-natured older siblings. During their younger years, the twins were made to labor, going to hunt birds which they brought back for meals. The elder brothers were given their food to eat first, in spite of the fact they spent the day singing and playing while the younger twins were working.[citation needed]
Hunahpu and Xbalanque demonstrated their wit at a young age in dealing with their older half brothers. One day, the pair returned from the field without any birds to eat and were questioned by their older siblings. The younger boys claimed that they had indeed shot several birds but that they had gotten caught high in a tree and were unable to retrieve them. The older brothers were brought to the tree and climbed up to get the birds when the tree suddenly began to grow even taller, and the older brothers were caught. This is also the first instance in which the twins demonstrate supernatural powers, or perhaps simply the blessings of the greater gods; the feats of power are often only indirectly attributed to the pair.[citation needed]
Hunahpu further humiliated his older brethren by instructing them to remove their loincloths and tie them about their waists in an attempt to climb down. The loincloths became tails, and the brothers were transformed into monkeys. When their grandmother was informed that the older boys had not been harmed, she demanded they be allowed to return. When they did come back to the home, their grandmother was unable to contain her laughter at their appearance, and the disfigured brothers ran away in shame.[5]
Defeat of Seven Macaw and his family [ edit ]
At a point in their lives not specified in the Popol Vuh, the twins were approached by the god Huracan regarding an arrogant god named Seven Macaw (Vucub Caquix). Seven Macaw had built up a following of worshipers among some of the inhabitants of the Earth, making false claims to be either the sun or the moon. Seven Macaw was also extremely vain, adorning himself with metal ornaments in his wings and a set of false teeth made of gemstones.[citation needed]
In a first attempt to dispatch the vain god, the twins attempted to sneak up on him as he was eating his meal in a tree, and shot at his jaw with a blowgun. Seven Macaw was knocked from his tree but only wounded, and as Hunahpu attempted to escape, his arm was grabbed by the god and torn off.[citation needed]
In spite of their initial failure, the twins again demonstrated their clever nature in formulating a plan for Seven Macaw's defeat. Invoking a pair of gods disguised as grandparents, the twins instructed the invoked gods to approach Seven Macaw and negotiate for the return of Hunahpu's arm. In doing so, the "grandparents" indicated they were but a poor family, making a living as doctors and dentists and attempting to care for their orphaned grandchildren. Upon hearing this, Seven Macaw requested that his teeth be fixed since they had been shot and knocked loose by the blowgun, and his eyes cured (it is not specifically said what ailed his eyes). In doing so, the grandparents replaced his jeweled teeth with white corn and plucked the ornaments he had about his eyes, leaving the god destitute of his former greatness. Having fallen, Seven Macaw died, presumably of shame.[citation needed]
Seven Macaw's sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan, inherited a large part of their father's arrogance, claiming to be the creators and destroyers of mountains, respectively. The elder son Zipacna was destroyed when the twins tricked him with the lure of a fake crab, burying him beneath a mountain in the process.
The Maya god Huracan again implored the young twins for help in dealing with Seven Macaw's younger son, Cabrakan, the Earthquake. Again, it was primarily through their cleverness that the pair were able to bring about the downfall of their enemy, having sought him out and then using his very arrogance against him; they told the story of a great mountain they had encountered that kept growing and growing. Cabrakan prided himself as the one to bring down the mountains, and upon hearing such a tale, he predictably demanded to be shown the mountain. Hunahpu and Xbalanque obliged, leading Cabrakan toward the non-existent mountain. Being skilled hunters, they shot down several birds along the way, roasting them over fires and playing upon Cabrakan's hunger. When he asked for some meat, he was given a bird that had been prepared with plaster and gypsum, a poison to the god. Upon eating it, he was weakened and the boys were able to bind him and cast him into a hole in the earth, burying him forever.[citation needed]
Discovery of One Hunahpu's gaming equipment [ edit ]
Sometime after the expulsion of their older siblings, the twins used their special powers or abilities to expedite their gardening chores for their grandmother—a single swing of the axe would do a full day's worth of clearing, for example. The pair covered themselves in dust and wood chippings when their grandmother approached to make it seem they had been hard at work, in spite of the fact they spent the whole day relaxing. However, the next day they returned to find their work undone by the animals of the forest. Upon completion of their work, they hid and lay in wait, and when the animals returned, they attempted to catch or scare them off.[citation needed]
Most animals eluded their capture. The rabbit and the deer they caught by the tail, but these tails broke off, thus giving all future generations of rabbits and deer short tails. The rat, however, they did capture, singeing his tail over the fire in revenge for the act. In exchange for mercy, the rat revealed an important piece of information: the gaming equipment of their father and uncle was hidden by their grandmother in her grief, for it was playing ball that was directly responsible for the deaths of her sons.[citation needed]
Again, a ruse was devised to get their equipment, the twins once more relying upon trickery to meet their goals. The pair snuck the rat into their home during dinner and had their grandmother cook a meal of hot chili sauce. They demanded water for their meal, which their grandmother went to retrieve. The jar of water, however, had been sabotaged with a hole, and she was unable to return with the water. When their mother left to find out why and the pair were alone in the home, they sent the rat up into the roof to gnaw apart the ropes that held the equipment hidden and were able to retrieve the equipment their father and uncle had used to play ball. It had long been a favorite past-time for their father, and soon would become a favored activity for them as well.[citation needed]
Xibalban ballgames [ edit ]
Hunahpu and Xbalanque played ball in the same court that their father and his brother had played in long before them. When One Hunahpu and his brother had played, the noise had disturbed the Lords of Xibalba, rulers of the Maya Underworld. The Xibalbans summoned them to play ball in their own court.[citation needed]
When the twins began to play ball in the court, once again the Lords of Xibalba were disturbed by the racket, and sent summons to the boys to come to Xibalba and play in their court. Fearing they would suffer the same fate, their grandmother relayed the message only indirectly, telling it to a louse which was hidden in a toad's mouth, which was in turn hidden in the belly of a snake in a falcon. Nevertheless, the boys did receive the message, and much to their grandmother's dismay, set off to Xibalba.[citation needed]
When their father had answered the summons, he and his brother were met with a number of challenges along the way which served to confuse and embarrass them before their arrival, but the younger twins would not fall victim to the same tricks. They sent a mosquito ahead of them to bite at the Lords and uncover which were real and which were simply mannequins, as well as uncovering their identities. When they arrived at Xibalba, they were easily able to identify which were the real Lords of Xibalba and address them by name. They also turned down the Lords' invitation to sit on a bench for visitors, correctly identifying the bench as a heated stone for cooking. Frustrated by the twins' ability to see through their traps, they sent the boys away to the Dark House, the first of several deadly tests devised by the Xibalbans.[citation needed]
Their father One Hunahpu and his brother had suffered embarrassing defeats in each of the tests, but again Hunahpu and Xbalanque demonstrated their prowess by outwitting the Xibalbans on the first of the tests, surviving the night in the pitch black house without using up their torch. Dismayed, the Xibalbans bypassed the remaining tests and invited the boys directly to the game. The twins knew that the Xibalbans used a special ball that had a blade with which to kill them, and instead of falling for the trick, Hunahpu stopped the ball with a racquet and spied the blades. Complaining that they had been summoned only to be killed, Hunahpu and Xbalanque threatened to leave the game.[citation needed]
As a compromise, the Lords of Xibalba allowed the boys to use their own rubber ball, and a long and proper game ensued. In the end, the twins allowed the Xibalbans to win the game, but this was again a part of their ruse. They were sent to Razor House, the second deadly test of Xibalba, filled with knives that moved of their own accord. The twins, however, spoke to the knives and convinced them to stop, thereby ruining the test. They also sent leafcutting ants to retrieve petals from the gardens of Xibalba, a reward to be offered to the Lords for their victory. The Lords had intentionally chosen a reward they thought impossible, for the flowers were well guarded, but the guards did not take notice of the ants and were killed for their inability to guard the flowers.[citation needed]
The twins played a rematch with the Xibalbans and lost by intent again and were sent to Cold House, the next test. This test they defeated, as well. In turn, Hunahpu and Xbalanque by purpose lost their ballgames so that they might be sent to the remaining tests, Jaguar House, Fire House, Bat House, and in turn defeat the tests of the Xibalbans. The Lords of Xibalba were dismayed at the twins success until the twins were placed in Bat House. Though they hid inside their blowguns from the deadly bats, Hunahpu peeked out to see if daylight had come, and was decapitated by the bat god Camazotz.[citation needed]
The Xibalbans were overjoyed that Hunahpu had been defeated. Xbalanque summoned the beasts of the field, however, and fashioned a replacement head for Hunahpu. Though his original head was used as the ball for the next day's game, the twins were able to surreptitiously substitute a squash or a gourd for the ball, retrieving Hunahpu's real head and resulting in an embarrassing defeat for the Xibalbans.[citation needed]
Downfall of Xibalba [ edit ]
Embarrassed by their defeat, the Xibalbans still sought to destroy the twins. They had a great oven constructed and once again summoned the boys, intending to trick them into the oven and to their deaths. The twins realized that the Lords had intended this ruse to be the end of them, but nevertheless, they allowed themselves to be burned in the oven, killed and ground into dust and bones. The Xibalbans were elated at the apparent demise of the twins and cast their remnants into a river. This was, however, a part of the plan devised by the boys, and when cast into the river their bodies regenerated, first as a pair of catfish, and then as a pair of young boys again.[citation needed]
Not recognizing them, the boys were allowed to remain among the Xibalbans. Tales of their transformation from catfish spread, as well as tales of their dances and the way they entertained the people of Xibalba. They performed a number of miracles, setting fire to homes and then bringing them back whole from the ashes, sacrificing one another and rising from the dead. When the Lords of Xibalba heard the tale, they summoned the pair to their court to entertain them, demanding to see such miracles in action.[citation needed]
The boys answered the summons and volunteered to entertain the Lords at no cost. Their identities remained secret for the moment, claiming to be orphans and vagabonds, and the Lords were none the wiser. They went through their gamut of miracles, slaying a dog and bringing it back from the dead, causing the Lords' house to burn around them while the inhabitants were unharmed, and then bringing the house back from the ashes. In a climactic performance, Xbalanque cut Hunahpu apart and offered him as a sacrifice, only to have the older brother rise once again from the dead.[citation needed]
Enthralled by the performance, One Death and Seven Death, the highest lords of Xibalba, demanded that the miracle be performed upon them. The twins obliged by killing and offering the lords as a sacrifice, but did not bring them back from the dead. The twins then shocked the Xibalbans by revealing their identities as Hunahpu and Xbalanque, sons of One Hunahpu whom they had slain years ago along with their uncle Seven Hunahpu. The Xibalbans despaired, confessed to the crimes of killing the brothers years ago, and begged for mercy. As a punishment for their crimes, the realm of Xibalba was no longer to be a place of greatness, and the Xibalbans would no longer receive offerings from the people who walked on the Earth above. All of Xibalba had effectively been defeated.[citation needed]
Death and ascension of Hunahpu and Xbalanque [ edit ]
With Xibalba defeated and the arrogant gods disposed of, Hunahpu and Xbalanque had one final act to accomplish. They returned to the Xibalban ballcourt and retrieved the buried remains of their father, Hun Hunahpu.[citation needed]
Then finished, the pair departed Xibalba and climbed back up to the surface of the Earth. They did not stop there, however, and continued climbing straight on up into the sky. One became the Sun, the other became the Moon.[citation needed]
Hero Twins in other Native American cultures [ edit ]
Mississippian Hero Twins emerging from a crack in the back of a raccoon-faced emerging from a crack in the back of a raccoon-faced Horned Serpent. Redrawn from an engraved whelk shell by artist Herb Roe.
Many Native American cultures in the United States have traditions of two male hero twins. For instance, in the creation myth of the Navajo (called the Diné Bahaneʼ) the hero twins Monster Slayer and Born for Water (sons of Changing Woman) acquire lightning bolt arrows from their father, the Sun, in order to rid the world of monsters that prey upon the people.
Ho-Chunk and other Siouan-speaking peoples have a tradition of Red Horn's Sons. The mythology of Red Horn and his two sons have some interesting analogies with the Maya Hero Twins mythic cycle.[6]
Appearances in popular culture media [ edit ]
Xbalanque is a playable character in the free downloadable PC game Smite, where his title is "The Hidden Jaguar Sun".
The 2014 From Dusk Till Dawn Series hints at a prophecy about the Gecko Brothers being The "Hero Twins" of Maya legend.
Hunahpu was the name of one of the tribes in Survivor: San Juan del Sur.
The Hero Twins appear in the opening of The Road to El Dor |
and convincingly? Yes.
Is my life better for re-engaging with the Irish language? Definitely.
It has been the gift of gifts, a remarkable source of endlessly renewable energy in my life; and I cannot imagine how poor my life would have been without these past 20 wet craic-filled summers in the Donegal Gaeltacht.What’s more, even if Congress passes new sanctions, it’s quite likely that the overall economic pressure on Iran will go down, not up. Most major European and Asian countries have closer economic ties to Iran than does the United States, and thus more domestic pressure to resume them. These countries have abided by international sanctions against Iran, to varying degrees, because the Obama administration convinced their leaders that sanctions were a necessary prelude to a diplomatic deal. If U.S. officials reject a deal, Iran’s historic trading partners will not economically injure themselves indefinitely. Sanctions, declared Britain’s ambassador to the United States in May, have already reached “the high-water mark,” noting that “you would probably see more sanctions erosion” if nuclear talks fail. Germany’s ambassador added that, “If diplomacy fails, then the sanctions regime might unravel.”
The actual alternatives to a deal, in other words, are grim. Which is why critics discuss them as little as possible. The deal “falls apart, and then what happens?” CBS’s John Dickerson asked House Majority Leader John Boehner on Sunday. “No deal is better than a bad deal,” Boehner replied. “And from everything that’s leaked from these negotiations, the administration has backed away from almost all of the guidelines that they set out for themselves.”
In other words, Boehner evaded the question. The only way to determine if a “bad deal” is worse than “no deal” is to consider the latter’s consequences. Which is exactly what Boehner refused to do. Instead, he changed the subject: Rather than comparing the agreement to the actual alternatives, he compared it to the objectives that the Obama administration supposedly outlined at the start of the talks.
After a commercial break, Dickerson interviewed Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who did the same thing. “We have to remember the goal of these negotiations from the beginning,” Cotton said. “It was to stop Iran from enriching uranium and developing nuclear-weapons capability.”
Again, Dickerson tried to steer the conversation away from American desires and toward real-world alternatives. “You have taken the position that if the United States just … walked away from a bad deal, ratcheted up sanctions, that Iran would buckle and come to the table with more favorable terms,” Dickerson said. But “what about an alternative explanation, which a lot of experts believe, which is that they would say, ‘Forget negotiations, we’re going to race towards a breakout on a nuclear bomb?’”
Cotton’s answer: present a “credible threat of military force” and the Iranians will abandon “their nuclear-weapons capabilities.” The senator never explained why threatening war would make Iran capitulate now, given that the United States and Israel have been making such threats for over a decade. Nor did he address the consequences of a military strike, which former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said could “prove catastrophic, haunting us for generations.”Less than a week after North Korea’s record setting intercontinental ballistic missile test, the U.S. Air Force plans to conduct an ICBM test of its own early Wednesday morning.
A U.S. Air Force spokesman said the test was “long planned” and "routine." It will be the fourth test of a Minuteman-3 ICBM from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California this year. It is set to fly over 4,000 miles to a test-range in the Pacific.
While much of the focus lately has been on missile defense, it’s worth noting that the U.S. has a significant missile offense -- with 400 ICBMs in silos across Air Force bases in Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota. Some Navy submarines can fire ICBMS, too, and other nukes can be delivered from a fleet of B-52 and B-2 bombers.
Air Force spokesman Capt. Mark Graff said in a statement the launch "affords the Air Force the ability to assess the reliability of our ICBM force in order to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent capability."Advertisement
This year’s E3 felt almost like it was over before it began. Though the conference lasts for days, both Microsoft and Sony made their announcements before the doors opened, showing not just hardware but also their lineup of launch and near-launch titles.
In doing so, each company has ignited a new chapter in the console war. While an ideal gamer’s den will have both, most people don’t have the money or need to grab two consoles at launch, so a choice must be made; Xbox One or PS4? I’ve put my money down for the Xbox, and here’s why.
The Games – Duh!
As a Wii U owner 6 Things To Do With Your Wii U While Waiting For New Games 6 Things To Do With Your Wii U While Waiting For New Games I must admit that the Nintendo Wii U, though I love it, hasn’t done as well as I’d hoped. The problem is simple. Games – there are none! All of the major releases I (and... Read More I’ve learned the hard way that games matter. A console without new content doesn’t get much playtime, so the exclusive titles slated for each system in the year after launch is important. And Microsoft has the stronger roster.
Surprisingly, only three of the One’s console exclusives come from recently active franchises, but they’re among the strongest in the industry; Forza, Halo, and Dead Rising. Other strong titles include Sunset Overdrive, a stylized shooter from Insomniac Games (best known for Ratchet & Clank and Resistance) and Titanfall, which comes from the developers who worked on Modern Warfare before it became the Madden NFL of first-person shooters.
When I say this roster is strong, I mean so in an objective sense. Most of the exclusives revealed are either part of a popular, well-reviewed franchise, or come from a developer with an excellent record. Sony’s got some decent stuff too, but Killzone is not as promising as Halo, Drive Club is not as promising as Forza, Knack is not as promising as Sunset Overdrive, and so on.
Many critical games that seemed like PS4 exclusives during its conference actually aren’t; Final Fantasy XV, Destiny and Kingdom Hearts III, for example, are cross-platform. The PS4’s exclusive list is now down to just six games, and two of them (Deep Down and The Order: 1886) are new IPs with few details released so far.
Television Does Matter
When Microsoft held its first press conference, the focus was on features besides games. Gamers were outraged! How dare anyone acknowledge other forms of entertainment!
But here’s the fact; television is important. Most of us watch it, and it’s not going away. The problem is that while technology becomes more advanced, our access to television has fragmented, which makes for a confusing experience. Personally, I have a Roku for streaming 6 Reasons Why You Need A Roku [Opinion] 6 Reasons Why You Need A Roku [Opinion] Electronics can be evil. A short time ago I wrote an article about using the Xbox 360 as a media center. I concluded that it wasn’t the best choice. Sensing my betrayal, the 360 promptly... Read More, a PS3 for Blu-Ray Blu-Ray Technology History and The DVD [Technology Explained] Blu-Ray Technology History and The DVD [Technology Explained] Read More, and a computer for everything else. The result is five different remotes to shuffle around.
Xbox One aims to solve this inconvenience, and that’s actually a rather big deal, because none of the currently available solutions (like smart TVs) is adequate. There is a catch here; Microsoft has to deliver. If its interface is terrible, then it’s game over. But if the interface is good, the value Xbox One adds to the living room will be astounding.
A Better Kinect
The original Kinect 5 Microsoft Xbox Kinect Hacks That'll Blow Your Mind 5 Microsoft Xbox Kinect Hacks That'll Blow Your Mind Read More was a huge commercial success. About 30% of all 360 owners bought one, which is a crazy good attach rate for peripheral, never mind one that sells for over $100. But Kinect also had its problems, including a general lack of precision and an inability to handle small rooms.
Kinect solves these complaints in three ways. First, resolution has been increased from 640×480 to 1080p, which translates to an almost seven-fold increase in sensor data. Second, a wide angle lens has been added to make the Kinect usable by someone standing just a few feet in front of it. And finally, the Xbox One’s more complex hardware will allow for more complex movement algorithms and faster processing of input data.
In practical terms, Kinect will give Xbox One a lock on the party game business. If you want to play a game like Just Dance, you’re going to want to do it on the Xbox One, end of story. Core games, on the other hand, will benefit from the increase in sensitivity. Facial tracking will be far improved, and gesture input can consist of a small hand wave rather than large, exaggerated movements. And since Kinect is bundled with every Xbox One, developers won’t feel that adding control for it is a waste of time.
The Cloud Is Here To Help
One of Microsoft’s big selling points is the cloud. While Sony intends to use cloud technology to stream games to the PS4, the Xbox One goes much further by offering developers access to a huge number of Xbox Live Use Xbox Live Dashboard To Keep Track Of Your Friends From Google Chrome Use Xbox Live Dashboard To Keep Track Of Your Friends From Google Chrome Xbox Live is arguably the most popular online gaming platform, and for me personally, it is the one where I do almost all of my online gaming. Since Xbox Live is such a social gaming... Read More servers which can handle any sort of data imaginable.
Most people think of improved graphics as a potential benefit, but that’s actually one of the least suitable applications. The true benefit of the cloud is in features like persistent world-building, AI development and social sharing.
Forza 5 is the perfect example. The game will include a feature called “Drivatar” which builds a custom driving profile based on your movements that can be used to run races you don’t want to. More importantly, it’s uploaded to the cloud and used to build AI that drives like you and populates your fellow gamer’s single-player experience. Your Drivatar continues to race online when you’re not playing; when you log back in, you receive credit for races it won.
Now apply that thinking elsewhere. Developers could make multi-player team games more balanced by the insertion of AI bots that play according to a profile built from players who recently left the game. Or developers might let your AI profile manage your base in a strategy game while you fight a battle. Or there might be a persistent open-world combat game where players fight while also commanding an AI squad that uses profiles built from the play-styles of Xbox Live friends.
And this is just AI. The possibilities are almost limitless, and I’m sure developers will find many creative ways to use this feature.
Digital Is A Blessing, Not A Curse
I’ve been somewhat slow to embrace digital content, haven written in the past how I don’t like to buy games off Steam 8 Things You Didn't Know About Steam 8 Things You Didn't Know About Steam Steam started out as an annoying program that came with Half-Life 2, but it’s grown into the PC game store of choice for most PC gamers. Although some people aren’t fans and prefer alternative stores,... Read More (particularly if not on sale). My concern, more than anything, is that the games we play have no future; they’ll eventually go offline and then never be experienced again.
But with that said, there’s good reason why Steam is the most popular PC gaming platform and phones have embraced digital as the only form of distribution. Digital distribution is convenient, instant, and just works. Yes, you can still buy games on disc for Xbox One, but there’s no particular reason to do so.
The complaint that gamers can’t share games by toting a game disc to a friend’s house misses the point. With the Xbox One, there will be no reason for that to ever happen. You can either log in to your friend’s console with your account, thus giving you access to your games, or you can share your game library using the Xbox One’s built-in share feature. Your friend can then play your games as long as you keep them on your share list, and the only restriction is that you can’t both play the same game at the same time.
Going digital also offers more opportunity for promotion and unique business models. We could see more aggressive sales, as Microsoft will have the ability to coordinate with all developers, rather than just those who opt in for digital distribution. And Microsoft has hinted developers could sell short-term passes to a game or even monthly access to a developer’s library – so perhaps rental is not dead just yet.
Update: Microsoft has changed its policy in the face of criticism. The Xbox One no longer requires an Internet connection every 24 hours and disc games can be freely re-sold. Unfortunately, this also means the digital sharing features will not be implemented. All games for the console will be available to download on release day, however.
Conclusion
The Xbox One is an incredible bundle of new technology and forward-looking initiatives. There are numerous features, including Kinect, Xbox Live cloud connectivity and HDMI-in, that the PS4 simply does not have and, more importantly, can’t easily emulate. And I didn’t even get the chance to talk about the Xbox One’s operating system, which is based on a Windows kernel and supports multi-tasking.
But ultimately, the core reason why I’ve picked the Xbox One over the PS4 is the game library. The list of PS4 exclusives is down to six, while the Xbox One has fourteen. Why buy a console with less great games to play?
Think you should buy a PS4 like my colleague Dave Parrack? Read his 5 reasons to buy a PlayStation 4 over the Xbox One PS4 vs Xbox One: 5 Reasons To Buy The PS4 PS4 vs Xbox One: 5 Reasons To Buy The PS4 E3 2013 marked the moment when the next-generation truly began, with all three contenders -- the PlayStation 4 (PS4), Xbox One, and Wii U -- revealed in full. The Wii U is already on the... Read More.UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Support for a fledgling women’s soccer league and unique experiential opportunities for students were on the agenda last week as the commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) visited Penn State to meet with a variety of University students, faculty and administrators about creating collaborations between the league and the University.
Commissioner Jeff Plush spent two days on the University Park campus at the invitation of Penn State Law Professor Stephen F. Ross. After being introduced to each other by Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, Plush and Ross began discussing ways that Penn State students and faculty might be able to offer support to the NWSL in a mutually beneficial fashion.
“We had the idea that Penn State students and faculty could help the league in a variety of different ways,” said Ross, who directs the Institute for Sports Law, Policy, and Research at Penn State Law. “We have business students studying sports business, law students exploring sports law, statistics students who could help with business and sports analytics — it just made sense to connect Commissioner Plush with all the resources at Penn State. This new relationship has the potential to be very beneficial to Penn State students and the league.”
While on campus, Plush met with students and faculty from the Smeal College of Business, the College of Communications, the School of Labor and Employment Relations, and the Department of Kinesiology in the College of Health and Human Development. He also met with Sandy Barbour, director of athletics; Phil Esten, deputy director of athletics; and Erica Dambach, head coach of Penn State’s NCAA champion women’s soccer team.
At Penn State Law, Plush visited with students Brian Forgue, Allison Wells and Krista Dean. Forgue, who graduates from Penn State Law this month, was a defender on the Penn State men’s soccer team from 2009 to 2012. Wells, a member of the class of 2017, is president of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society and will be interning with USA Track & Field this summer. Dean, a first-year student, is an incoming officer in the student society.
Ross organized the visit in collaboration with the Penn State Roundtable on Sports and Society, a cross-campus collaboration bringing together faculty and administrators from a variety of disciplines at Penn State whose professional work involves sports. The group includes about 30 faculty members and also serves as a means of collaboration between the University’s sports-related research centers, the Institute for Sports Law, Policy and Research, the Center for Sports Business & Research, and the Curley Center for Sports Journalism.
Prior to being named commissioner of the NWSL in January 2015, Plush was managing partner of Helium Sports Group. His more than 20 years of operating experience in the sports and live entertainment industry includes service as the managing director of Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids and on the boards of Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing.One problem with global warming, in the eyes of many scientists, is the same problem faced by McDonald’s and Ford and a million other consumer products.
Mind share.
Is global warming something the average person thinks much about? Does anybody think it’s something they can do anything about, especially when there are bigger industrial contributors?
To be sure, this is only part of the problem. Scientists generally agree that the increasingly likely effects of global warming – everything from rising seas and extreme storms and droughts to the spread of diseases and starvation – are, in fact, bigger hurdles.
But mind share — getting people to feel personally connected — is the first step to stemming its effects.
And the reason has to do with the problem itself. Global warming is such a big concept – so potentially catastrophic and life-changing, so seemingly impossible to prevent – that it’s tough for people to see how they fit into the problem.
Enter virtual reality.
Click and drag on the vidoe screen to see different angles
The technology that’s re-shaping computer gaming and entertainment (and, soon, medicine, communication and retail) is the hot new tool for scientists who explain to non-scientists the consequences of human behavior on the atmosphere.
That’s why scientists from a variety of institutions and disciplines are turning to virtual reality to help turn a huge idea into something that regular people can think about.
“VR is bridging the gap,” said Nick Sadrpour, a science, research and policy specialist with the Sea Grant program at USC.
The technology, Sadrpour explained, is helping make the link “between climate change being a remote impact for folks, to being something a little more personal.”
Mind games
In November, the USC Sea Grant, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, set up a virtual reality headset on the Santa Monica Pier.
Dubbed the Owl, the lenses of the mounted binoculars showed four projections including what the beach looked like in the 1920s, what it could look like in a big storm under current conditions and then, with sea level rise, what a major storm could do to the beach in the future.
The most severe of these scenarios showed a beachfront restaurant with waves climbing up the windows and sea water out to Pacific Coast Highway. The last image in the series illustrated how the shoreline can be restore with sand dunes and native grasses to prevent flooding the way it was before human intervention.
“If you have someone on a beach or in a marsh or wetland and say ‘if you were standing here in the future you might have water up to your knees’ – it’s a powerful message to get across,” Sadrpour said.
It’s a way of hacking your brain. Virtual reality is capable of convincing a user they’re elsewhere, in a forest or even a field as a cow, in ways other mediums just don’t cut it.
“It doesn’t take much to trick your brain into feeling you’re somewhere else,” said Matt Bailey, director of communications and ecosystem development at UC Irvine’s Applied Innovation, which connects the school’s research projects with practical uses in the business and scientific communities.
“If you’re not in an immersive environment, it’s easy to disassociate a bit. When you put on a VR headset it fools your senses. … Your brain still feels like you’re somewhere other than where you’re standing.”
It’s a technique Jeremy Bailenson knows well. The Stanford University psychology professor has been researching how humans consume virtual reality since the late 1990s. In 2003, he created the Virtual Human Interaction Lab, which explores how virtual reality can change people’s behavior.
In one study the lab tapped into virtual reality to teach the effects of deforestation. As part of the research a group of people were told about the process of manufacturing toilet paper, and how that process can damage forests.
Participants were then separated into three groups. In one, people read a florid passage about trees being cut down. In another, they watched a first-person video from the perspective of a lumberjack cutting down a tree. In the third, participants wore virtual reality goggles and held a vibrating stick that simulated the force of holding a chainsaw while cutting down a tree.
The only people to alter their toilet paper consumption was the group of people who virtually cut down the tree, Stanford researchers discovered.
“Our work in encouraging environmental awareness and behavior is really quite special,” Bailenson said.
The lab also teaches people about ocean acidification – the killing of ocean life because of greenhouse gases absorbed into the ocean – by transporting people via virtual “field trips” to underwater ecosystems being destroyed.
Southern California’s future
With the kinds of immersive research done by oceanographer Juliette Finzi Hart people don’t need to leave their home or buy expensive equipment to experience climate change.
As part of her work with the U.S. Geological Survey, Finzi Hart visits parts of Southern California that are already flooding, from Huntington Beach to Malibu, capturing images of ocean water creeping into streets and waves crashing near buildings.
“Bringing that world to you, and letting you have that visceral experience within your own office or living room, is a really big… part of it,” Finzi Hart said.
“It’s about helping them understand there are actions you can take.”
Using a special device on loan from Google, a camera outfitted with 16 GoPro devices, she creates 360 degree videos that she uploads to YouTube. Anyone with a smart phone can scan one of the many neighborhoods she’s captured, including those in Long Beach, Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach. Using a $15 Google Cardboard device, the scenes becomes even more realistic.
Filming the ways in which local communities are already being changed is a way to illustrate that climate change is not a remote, distant possibility.
The work, Finzi Hart added, isn’t fiction.
“It’s real. The future is happening right now.”
Contact the writer: lawilliams@scng.comGay people are now more likely to be in an open relationship
Gay people are now more likely to be in open relationships than stay monogamous, according to a new survey.
Research looking into Victoria, Australia, found 32% of the 2886 questioned were in open relationships.
This is only slightly more than the respondents who said they were monogamous, which was 31%, and 23% said they were only having casual sex. The rest, 14%, were not having sex.
Almost half of respondents, 48%, said they used apps like Grindr and Scruff to meet other guys, up from 35% in 2012.
Other methods used for gay and bisexual men to meet other guys was gay bars, 29%, and saunas, 28%.
Men in Victoria also said they were more intent on maintaining their sexual health and getting tested.
The number of men who had three or more HIV tests in the last year rose to 22.8%, up from 11.9% in 2012.
The survey also found 5.1% of HIV negative men are on PrEP.
‘In these results we can see how testing behaviour is changing,’ Colin Batrouney, the Victorian Aids Council’s director health promotion, policy, and communications, said.
‘The proportion of gay men who have had at least three HIV tests in the previous 12 months has almost doubled over the past five years.
‘Testing every three months is particularly important if you’re having sex with a lot of different guys, and these look like the kind of men who are testing more frequently.’Facebook has made strides in 2012. A billion users and a smart new Timeline UI punctuate a banner year for the world's most important social network.
But 2012 also marks aggressive moves to expand and monetize — some might say at the expense of user experience and community. At best, Team Facebook is making tough choices in a delicate balancing act. At worst, they are tone deaf to conscientious users.
While we're a far cry from mass exodus, there are only so many missteps to take before someone eats Facebook's lunch.
Here's what went wrong in 2012.
1. Personal Promoted Posts
In October, Facebook rolled out a curious feature called Personal Promoted Posts. Users now have the ability to make their content more visible in friends' news feeds for the low, low price of $7.
Brands have had similar capabilities for a while, but personal promos bring a dubious business model into focus. Essentially, Facebook hides content from your friends and then asks you to pony up the cash to make it more visible.
Facebook claims its news feed algorithm (known as "EdgeRank") brings relevance to a noisy network. But promoted posts expose an obvious play on artificial scarcity. Facebook is rigged.
This is a misstep for two reasons:
It's detrimental to user experience and community.
Regular users aren't going to pay to share photos with friends.
The move is ultimately bad for business.
2. Slaughtering the Sacred Cow: Instagram
When Facebook announced plans to purchase Instagram in April for a cool $1 billion (later devalued at $730 million, thanks to Facebook's poor stock performance), the world drew two conclusions:
Instagram was a mobile/photo land grab Facebook couldn't afford to ignore.
Instagram is doomed.
Instagram is beloved, not for its cute filters, but because it's an intimate and valuable community. Mobile-only and re-post free, its architecture engenders a culture of original content — quite a feat on a social web rife with unsourceable dreck.
Compromising Instagram's purity was inevitable, whether Facebook bought it or not. The photo network had no business model. It was time for advertising.
But in a reckless maneuver, Instagram's recent terms of service update flipped the bird to the creative community that made it great. Not only did it break down the data wall among Instagram, Facebook and third-party "Affiliates," but it laid the groundwork for an exploitative business model.
To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.
A fierce outcry from the web already has Instagram backpedaling, with co-founder Kevin Systrom vowing to strip the language above from its ToS. But confidence has clearly been shaken.
It's a reminder that in a Facebook world, we can't have nice things.
3. Instagram vs. Twitter and the Rising Garden Walls
In a move that has gone largely unexplained, Instagram disabled support for Twitter cards in early December. Instagram links no longer propagate as photos in Twitter streams, and users who've married the two in their social media lives are frustrated.
It's clear Facebook still views Twitter as an existential threat, and perhaps rightfully so. The two networks keep adopting each other's features (Twitter incorporating media, Facebook becoming a real-time news feed). But killing Instagram's Twitter integration is a classic "walled garden" move by Facebook, and a sign that if you still want to use Instagram, you'll have to play by Facebook's rules.
Who loses in this battle of APIs? Users, according to Mashable's deputy editor Chris Taylor. I have to agree.
4. Facebook Messaging Gets Weird
We've had email since the '70s. It's not that hard to implement.
Yet baffling quirks in Facebook's messaging system came to light in 2012.
The first was a "hidden inbox" that stored messages Facebook deemed unimportant. Users in late 2011 and early 2012 were surprised to find outdated communications from friends and family buried there. While this "Other" inbox was not a new feature, it became black mark on Facebook's user experience in 2012. Remember kids: Users, not algorithms, should determine what is and isn't important.
Another bizarre feature that bubbled up this summer was "Message Seen" notifications — essentially, a read receipt that indicates when users see your messages, chats and group posts. You can no longer hide from unwanted Facebook communications. Your friend will know as soon as you've read (and ignored) that request to attend her poetry slam next Thursday.
Oh, and you can't turn it off (not without some fancy browser extensions, anyway).
If that's not enough, Facebook just rolled out a dandy new feature that lets strangers send you a message for $1. Get ready for spam, unsolicited pitches and long-lost stalkers.
5. EdgeRank Dings Publishers
The promise of brand pages was perhaps best realized by media organizations who drove buckets of traffic and engagement from Facebook. The News Feed matured as a destination for actual news, and publishers enjoyed a social symbiosis.
Then, suddenly, referral traffic from Facebook tanked.
Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm was "optimized" to equate engagement with relevance. Items that get more likes and comments get news feed preference. That's great for photos of your sister's puppy. Not so great for political analysis of the fiscal cliff. Publishers — who invested big resources into Facebook strategy — felt the burn.
Many decried the changes, noting the "coincidence" that paid promoted posts had rolled out mere months before organic page engagement started falling. Facebook's response: It's all about optimization, relevance and reducing spam. As long as brands aren't spamming, they should keep on keepin' on. Yet many found their pages increasingly "irrelevant" to users who had opted in to their updates.
Crafty brands resorted to image shares (which are more visible, and favored algorithmically) over links, resulting in a social news culture akin to TV: If it bleeds, it leads.
Congrats, Facebook. Our last chance at intelligent news feed discourse was snuffed out like a dollar store tea candle.
6. The Death of Social Readers
"Frictionless sharing," they said. "Stream your browsing history," they said. The social reader trend kicked off in 2010 when The Washington Post first entered the frictionless fray. The Guardian followed suit in 2011. Social readers sent boatloads of traffic to participating publications, despite the warnings of privacy advocates.
Trouble was, a lot of that traffic was coming by accident. The apps essentially trick users into sharing things they may not have intended. In order to see links streamed by your friends, you need to install the app, as well — an annoying roadblock to content.
After about two years, users wised up and disconnected the apps in droves. In late 2012, seeing little return and heavy backlash, both The Guardian and The Washington Post ditched their social reader apps. Proof once again that users want to stay in control of the content they share on Facebook.
7. F-Commerce Is a Flop
Big plans were laid for Facebook Commerce in 2011. After all, wouldn't everyone want to shop where they hang out online?
Not so much. Major retailers such as Gap, J.C. Penny, Nordstrom and GameStop shuttered their Facebook stores within months. Why?
Perhaps they were ahead of their time, as my colleague Lauren Indvik argues. I posit that Facebook shopping is superfluous. I can already sit at my desk and purchase just about anything with a few clicks and a credit card. Why should I go through another middle man (Facebook)?
And the notion of "social shopping" may never really come around. Of all the products you buy, how many do you really want to share or recommend to friends and family? Most are mundane, some are embarrassing, or imply things about income or social status. It's a nasty web of privacy and etiquette that most consumers have no interest in tangling with.
Who Will Pay for Facebook in 2013?
When was the last time Facebook introduced a new feature that made you exclaim, "Whoa, this is awesome!"? Maybe it was Timeline. Maybe it was something from long ago.
Paid promoted posts, paid messages, even a re-launched gift marketplace? Feels like Facebook's post-IPO revenue burden has shifted from advertisers to users. That's not inherently bad, but none of the big, modern social nets work this way. Facebook had better know what it's doing.
Essentially, Facebook is heading toward a "freemium" model. You can sign up and use it for free, but if you want the bonus features, you're going to have to pay.
Why the scramble for new revenue streams? Perhaps Facebook advertising, in its current form, doesn't pay the bills. Indeed, there are recent reports the network may be launching in-stream video ads — maybe even ones that auto-play. Shudder.
Whatever the complications, it's clear that post-IPO Facebook is a radically different place. If the network has any hope of acquiring its next billion users, it will need to spend some resources on wowing them, not just shareholders.
Images courtesy of aflutter, iStockphoto, andrearoad, Flickr, Ryan.BerryWith another windstorm bearing down on Northern California, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. warned Friday that it may take a step it has long resisted — switching off power lines to prevent wildfires.
The utility, California’s largest, reported that it may turn off some lines if winds grow extreme. It is a step PG&E would rather not take, because it may mean cutting off power to police and fire stations or hospitals.
And if a wildfire does erupt, homeowners without electricity would not learn about it from television. They might also have trouble opening their garage doors to flee. But following the devastating wildfires that hit Northern California in October and Southern California this month, PG&E decided the step may be necessary.
“Safety is our top priority, and we’re constantly evaluating the impacts shutting off power can have on customers and critical first responder services in an emergency,” said company spokesman Greg Snapper.
So far, he said, the forecast does not show an immediate need to switch off power lines. But the utility, which maintains its own meteorology department, will keep an eye on conditions throughout the weekend.
The company also has taken the precaution of reprogramming devices called reclosers that automatically try to restart power lines that switch off for an unknown reason.
While reclosers can prevent or shorten blackouts, they have been implicated in past wildfires. So this weekend, PG&E has reprogrammed its reclosers in some areas to make sure they don’t try to restart power lines that may be knocked down in the wind, or may come into contact with tree branches.
PG&E’s fire-safety practices have come under intense scrutiny since several wind-driven fires swept through the Wine Country in October, killing 44 people and reducing entire neighborhoods to ash. Although investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection have not announced a cause for any of the blazes, many homeowners have already filed suit against PG&E, accusing the utility of improperly maintaining and running its equipment. Many California wildfires in the past have been traced back to power lines falling or arcing during wind storms.
A Chronicle report in November highlighted the fire risk posed by reclosers, which send bursts of electricity through power lines that unexpectedly switch off. The night the Wine Country wildfires began, some of PG&E’s reclosers in the North Bay were programmed to try to restart their power lines, while others were programmed to let their electrical lines that switched off stay off.
While PG&E has in the past steered clear of preemptively turning off power lines during wind storms, San Diego’s electric utility has used the practice for years. And Southern California Edison, which serves most of the Los Angeles suburbs, turned off power to several small communities in the San Jacinto Mountains for one day this month, due to high winds.
David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSFWarn users when an email arrives from a sender with the same display name as someone in your organisation
With the rise of phishing emails, it’s a good idea to educate users on how to spot emails sent from non-genuine senders.
A common tactic scammers use is to send emails using the display name of someone within the company and an external email address. Some users won’t notice that the email didn’t come from the user with the display name and deal with the email as if it was genuine.
Some companies go to the length of warning their users about every email sent from outside the organisation – often by setting up an Exchange transport rule to add an HTML prepend on each email that looks something like this:
This method works well, however it can be viewed as excessive and cause complaints from users since the warning is added to each and every email sent from outside.
Another method is to create a transport rule which checks the display name of the sender, and compares it against the display name of a specified user in your organisation. See this link for an example of this.
This can also work, however it’s quite a manual process to configure and update.
How to use a PowerShell script to warn users when an external sender’s display name matches someone in your company
This guide will demonstrate how to use PowerShell to create a transport rule to warn users when a new email was sent from a sender with the same display name as another user in your organisation.
For each of our managed customers, we apply a transport rule using PowerShell and Office 365 delegated administration. If a matching display name is detected, a warning message is prepended to the email:
We’ve set this up as an Azure Function, and have included instructions below for you to do this yourself, as well as some standalone scripts that you can run when required.
Some things to keep in mind
These rules are best suited to smaller organisations due to size limits on Exchange Transport Rules (8KB per rule). Under 300 mailboxes should work OK, depending on the average length of their display names. If you’d like to run this rule on a larger organisation, you will need to specify a smaller string array for the $displayNames value. This could be achieved by filtering the Get-Mailbox cmdlet by a specific |
etary Society, Bill Nye Will be there, there's going to be an XCOR Lynx on display. Trust us, it'll be awesome. Not in Pasadena? Find out if there's another Planetfest Event being held near you.
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2. New York City
If you're anywhere near New York City, you can gather with thousands upon thousands of your closest friends in Times Square to watch the landing live on the city's ginormous LED TV screen. The broadcast will begin Sunday night at at 11:30 p.m. and run until 4:00 a.m. Monday bright and early. Touchdown is scheduled for 1:31 in the morning.
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3. Your Local Landing Party
Visit any one of hundreds of events being held around the country. Check with your local museum to see if they'll be hosting a landing party, or head over to NASA to see their complete listing of events. JPL Has another extensive list of events, organized by country and state.
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4. The Internets!
NASA will be broadcasting the entire Curiosity landing via webcast beginning August 5 at 8:30 p.m. PDT / 11:30 p.m. EDT. Watch it on NASA TV.
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Universe Today, Google, CosmoQuest and the SETI Institute are also sponsoring a Google+ Hangout featuring Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait, Fraser Cain and Pamela Gay, along with special guests. If you've never sat in on one of these G+ astronomy hangouts before, now's the perfect time check one out — you won't be disappointed. It's set to kick off on August 5th at 11:00 p.m. EDT and run through 3 a.m. EDT the morning of August 6th. You'll find more info on Universe Today.
Pre- and Post-landing Coverage
Starting tomorrow, NASA will be holding news briefings at JPL and broadcasting them live on NASA Television. The schedule of events is listed below, and is also available over at NASA. All times are PDT.
Thursday, Aug. 2
— 10 a.m. - Mission Science Overview News Briefing
— 11 a.m. - Mission Engineering Overview News Briefing Friday, Aug. 3
— 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. - NASA Social Saturday, Aug. 4
— 9:30 a.m. - Prelanding Update and Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Overview News Briefing Sunday, Aug. 5
— 9:30 a.m. - Final Prelanding Update News Briefing
— 3 p.m. - NASA Science News Briefing
— 8:30 p.m. to about 11 p.m. - Landing Commentary No. 1
— No earlier than 11:15 p.m. - Post-landing News Briefing Monday, Aug. 6
— 12:30 to 1:30 a.m. - Landing Commentary No. 2
— 9 a.m. - Landing Recap News Briefing
— 4 p.m. - Possible New Images News Briefing Tuesday, Aug. 7
— 10 a.m. - News Briefing Wednesday, Aug. 8
— 10 a.m. - News Briefing Thursday, Aug. 9
— 10 a.m. - News Briefing
Awesome photo of Bill Nye by Derek Heisler; Times Square via Wikimedia Commons; Top image and martian explorers via NASAOn November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his ambitious demonetisation policy initiative to attack the scourges of corruption, black money and fake currency. He also spoke eloquently in his December 31 address about the need for purifying the nation of these scourges. The desirability of this policy goal is well-understood and incontrovertible. How effective has demonetisation, as a policy, been in achieving its stated goals? How efficiently has it been implemented?
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In terms of effectiveness, the move undoubtedly prevents further circulation of existing counterfeit currency in the two demonetised denominations (Rs 500 and Rs 1,000). However, it doesn’t necessarily eradicate the problem since counterfeiters will be hard at work trying to replicate the new notes, which, by all existing reports, are no less prone to counterfeiting. More importantly, the size of this problem was small to start with (around 0.025 per cent of all notes in circulation, according to recent Indian Statistical Institute estimates).
The move also doesn’t do anything to punish the originators of fake money. How effective has demonetisation been in dealing with black money and corruption? As pointed out by many, both black money and corruption are flow concepts. The move does nothing directly to the flow creation of black money and corruption, other than through its signaling of possible future moves.
Black wealth is a stock that reflects all past creation of black money, cash being just one of several ways of holding it. If 90 per cent of the demonetised cash is returned to banks, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the demonetisation will likely net about two per cent of the black wealth stock or one per cent of GDP in government revenues. The revenue gain could be a bit higher if the
income tax department successfully performs the Herculean task of levying penalties on those who laundered their black wealth held in cash by depositing it in banks. The Central Board of Direct Taxes, with its chronic staff shortage, must now examine all cash deposits in excess of Rs 250,000 as well as examine cases with no returns filed. The reported depositing of large cash holdings in many separate small parcels through paid intermediaries and the use of tax-sheltered agricultural workers to launder undeclared cash makes matters more difficult.
On the cost side, anecdotal evidence suggests that the biggest negative output and employment effects have been on the heavily cash-dependent informal sector which accounts for 80 per cent of employment and 45 per cent of GDP. Studies have shown this sector’s strong linkages with the formal sector, which often outsources its tasks to the former to reduce costs. According to a recent Washington Post article, the demonetisation exercise has negatively impacted various small and medium-size industrial clusters, which, in total, employ 80 million workers. For example, the cellphone manufacturing hub of Noida has experienced a halving of output, with a quarter of employees sent back to their villages.
On balance, the costs (which the PM in his speech called “sacrifices” for a noble cause) are very high in terms of output, employment and the disruption caused in the lives of law-abiding citizens, especially when compared to the rather meagre gains. With the costs already being felt and benefits predicted for the future, there is much greater uncertainty about the latter than the former.
Probably the biggest negative of demonetisation has been its implementation, as manifested in the chronic shortages of new notes, their flawed composition with an under-supply of Rs 500 notes, the repeated changes in regulation on withdrawals and deposits, etc.
In our opinion, the best way to summarise the demonetisation move is through the insights from the path-breaking work of Jagdish Bhagwati. In a piece on trade distortions Bhagwati co-authored with V.K. Ramaswami (1963), he made the trenchant point that the optimal intervention instrument attacks the source of the distortion directly. In the case of black money, demonetisation attacks one of the many ways of storing it rather than attacking the problem directly. At the same time, it creates other distortions in the form of costs mentioned above. Consequently, it fails the Bhagwati test. Other policies, such as income tax audits based on computerised algorithms, slashing stamp duty rates on real estate transactions and raids based on information generated by suspicious transactions, are more direct policies (closer to the targeted distortion) which don’t create by-product distortions. These policies would rank much higher than demonetisation by the direct application of the Bhagwati criterion.
In the days since the demonetisation announcement, the narrative has subtly changed; the goal is now to turn India into a cashless economy. Even here, demonetisation fails the Bhagwati test of targeting the source of the problem directly. The low
usage of digital payment methods in India is largely because of widespread financial exclusion and the absence of reliable digital infrastructure. An optimal approach to encouraging digital payment methods would be to correct these issues directly.
The Nobel laureate Jan Tinbergen demonstrated that policy success requires that policy instruments are not outnumbered by targets. In trying to attack so many targets at once, demonetisation fails the Tinbergen principle, also emphasised in the work of Bhagwati and Ramaswami.
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Last, but not the least, the increase in invasive “babu” power (for example, bank officials interviewing depositors) will lead to serious inefficiencies, a prediction based on a straightforward application of Bhagwati’s seminal work on directly unproductive activities.Georgia Tech Creates First Online MS in Analytics Degree for Less Than $10,000
ATLANTA - January 07, 2017 - The Georgia Institute of Technology has announced a new online master of science degree that will be offered at a quarter of the cost of its on-campus program. The Institute’s top 10-ranked program in analytics will be delivered in collaboration with edX, the leading nonprofit MOOC provider.
Tuition for Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Analytics (OMS Analytics) degree will be available for less than $10,000 beginning in August. The residential program ranges from $36,000 for in-state students to $49,000 for out of state.
OMS Analytics will accept 250 students for the first semester and will grow over time as the program scales to meet demand and student needs. Full-time students can complete the program in one year, and most working professionals can earn the degree in two. Applications will be available Thursday, January 12th. The new degree program will follow the same model as Georgia Tech’s highly successful Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMS CS) program that demonstrated to the world that quality education could be accessible at a lower price. OMS CS launched in 2014 and currently enrolls nearly 4,000 students.
“The field of data analytics is growing very fast. It is applicable in practically all forms of business from retail to health,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs and K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. “We have far more qualified applicants than our residential program can admit. Building on our pioneering and very successful OMS CS program, Georgia Tech will continue to innovate by offering unique access to top-quality education at an affordable price, particularly for working professionals.”
The top 10-ranked analytics degree program is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering, College of Computing and Scheller College of Business.
“It is a national imperative for universities to offer high-quality degree programs at an affordable price and Georgia Tech has developed a model that delivers the rigor of the campus curriculum to online students world-wide,” said Gary S. May, dean of the College of Engineering. “OMS Analytics gives professionals access to world-class faculty and instruction at a competitive tuition rate. Learners will benefit from the intersection of technology, leadership, decision-making, and innovation, which are highly sought after traits for engineers and business leaders.”
The OMS Analytics program will launch with two focused tracks: big data and analytical tools. A third, business analytics, will eventually be available. Georgia Tech is ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News and World Report and QS World University Rankings in computer science, quantitative analysis in business, and statistics and operational research.
“The degree is among the first truly interdisciplinary graduate programs of its kind,” said Joel Sokol, OMS Analytics program director and associate professor in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. “Analytics has quickly become a key facet of business strategy because it ties together new opportunities through computing, advanced quantitative methods and the need for better business intelligence and decision support.”
All OMS Analytics courses will be designed and produced for online delivery by Georgia Tech Professional Education via edX.org.
Three of Georgia Tech’s OMS Analytics foundational courses will form the Analytics: Essential Tools and Methods MicroMasters program on edx.org. MicroMasters courses will be free to enroll and open to anyone. Learners who want to showcase their knowledge will be able to earn a MicroMasters certificate as a standalone credential for $1500.
“With the Analytics: Essential Tools and Methods MicroMasters program, learners around the world will have access to high-quality courses and expertise from Georgia Tech’s top-ranked program,” said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO and MIT professor. “Our collaboration with Georgia Tech to deliver the MicroMasters program and the OMS Analytics master’s degree will help learners gain in-demand skills to advance their careers in affordable, flexible and accessible ways. We are proud to work with Georgia Tech as we further our mission to increase access to education and improve learners’ lives.”
Applications for the Georgia Tech OMS Analytics degree program will be available Thursday, January 12th. Additional details on the Georgia Tech OMS Analytics program can be found at omsanalytics.gatech.edu.
Courses in the Analytics: Essential Tools and Methods MicroMasters program will be open for enrollment shortly. More information can be found at http://blog.edx.org/gt-top-analytics-program.
About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the world's premier research universities. Ranked seventh among U.S. News & World Report's top public universities, the Institute enrolls more than 25,000 students within its six colleges. Georgia Tech is the nation's leading producer of engineers as well as a leading producer of female and minority engineering Ph.D. graduates. Holding more than 848 patents and receiving approximately $689 million in research and development expenditures, Georgia Tech ranks among the nation's top ten universities (without a medical school) in research expenditures. Visit http://www.gatech.edu for more information.
Contact
Jason Maderer
Media Relations Representative, Georgia Institute of Technology
jason.maderer@comm.gatech.edu
404-385-2966
About edX
EdX is the world’s leading nonprofit, open-source learning destination offering online courses from more than 110 member institutions, composed of both leading global universities and colleges, and a diverse group of prominent organizations from around the world. Founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, edX is focused on transforming online and campus learning through groundbreaking methodologies, game-like educational experiences and cutting-edge research on an open-source platform.
Contact
Rachel Lapal
Director of Communications, edX
rlapal@edx.org
617-324-7055ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - Swiss and British regulators stepped up their scrutiny of alleged manipulation of foreign exchange markets on Monday, as watchdogs take a closer look at whether banks have a tight enough grip on the behavior of their traders.
File photo illustration of various Euro banknotes lying next to various Swiss Franc notes at a bank in Warsaw, July 18, 2011. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Files
Switzerland’s competition commission WEKO said it opened an investigation into several Swiss, British and U.S. banks over potential collusion to manipulate currency rates.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), meanwhile, said it will assess if banks have cut the risk of traders manipulating benchmark rates in the coming year, to see if lessons have been learned from the scandal over benchmark rate rigging.
WEKO said it is investigating UBS, Credit Suisse, Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB), Julius Baer, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland.
“Evidence exists that these banks colluded to manipulate exchange rates in foreign currency trades,” WEKO said, adding it assumed the most important exchange rates were affected.
Regulators around the world are looking closely at traders’ behavior on a number of key benchmarks, spanning interest rates, foreign exchange and commodities markets.
Eight financial firms have already been fined billions of dollars by U.S. and European regulators in the past two years for manipulating benchmark interest rates and several more are being investigated.
The probe into currency trading could be even more costly. Authorities in the United States, Britain, Switzerland, Germany and Singapore are looking into allegations of collusion and manipulation by traders at major banks of the largely unregulated $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.
“Even if there is no further alleged wrongdoing, the current concerns will take years to work out,” said Marshall Bailey, head of the ACI Financial Markets Association, the sector’s main international umbrella organization.
Credit Suisse said it was “astonished” to be drawn into such a probe after not being subject to a preliminary investigation last year. It said WEKO’s statement contained incorrect references to Credit Suisse which were “inappropriate and harmful” to its reputation.
SELF-REGULATION MODEL
Aside from the fines, banks fear that the response to the row from international regulators and politicians will put an end to the self-regulation model the sector has championed for decades and, in the process, raise the cost of foreign exchange dealing for banks, companies and individuals.
WEKO said it was in touch with some international authorities but had not been prompted by a foreign authority to open the investigation. “We have to conduct the investigation ourselves. There’s no legal basis at the moment to exchange data directly with foreign authorities,” WEKO Director Rafael Corazza told Reuters.
WEKO opened a preliminary investigation last October after learning about potential manipulation of foreign exchange markets.
Julius Baer said an internal investigation had found no evidence of foreign exchange market abuse. Zuercher Kantonalbank, Switzerland’s biggest regional bank, said it would cooperate with authorities.
RBS said it would co-operate with any investigation, but declined further comment. UBS, JP Morgan, Barclays and Citi all declined to comment.
WEKO Vice Director Olivier Schaller said the WEKO investigation would take months and could result in fines of up to 10 percent of the turnover generated in the relevant market in Switzerland over the last three years.
UBS last week suspended up to six FX traders, bringing the total number of traders suspended, placed on leave or fired to around 30.
Slideshow (6 Images)
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) last year estimated the daily turnover in foreign exchange markets of 25 sizeable banks in Switzerland amounted to $216 billion.
London dominates foreign exchange trading, accounting for 40.9 percent of global turnover last year, compared with 18.9 percent in the United States and 3.2 percent in Switzerland, according to Bank of International Settlements (BIS) data.
The FCA said it will also look at whether investment banks are handling potential conflicts of interest adequately and ensuring so-called “Chinese walls” are strong enough - to prevent confidential information received in one part of the business not being abused by a different part of the business.Many states allow people to buy license plates that say “In God We Trust” on them, but a Georgia bill would make those plates mandatory — but you can pay extra to cover it up. The Secular News Daily reports:
A new bill pre-filed in the Georgia General Assembly this month would not only allow drivers to obtain license plates reading “In God We Trust,” but would in fact require them on all vehicles – unless drivers pay to cover it up. Georgia SB 293 would amend current law to mandate that, starting next summer, all plates would be imprinted with the religious declaration. If someone does not wish to exhibit this statement of faith, they would be required to purchase a sticker from the state displaying the name of their county that could be used to cover “In God We Trust.”
Mandating that individuals pay money to the government in order to not flaunt religious views is absolutely ridiculous. As the website Georgia Politico aptly puts it, “In other words, if you feel the government should not be establishing a religion, you are going to have to pay to prove it.”Easily one of the most kick ass awesome C64 games ever made, and the last ‘big budget’ title to grace the machine. And it’s so cute and adorable! I MEAN JUST LOOK AT THIS:
But yeah I don’t recall any mention of how the ‘magic dust’ transformed everything into a happy colourful land where the main character ran around like a madman. HMM.
I remember following this game’s development like a hawk in the pages of Zzap! 64 and Commodore Format. It looked amazing an was even using more than 16 colours HOW DO THEY DO THAT MAGIC. I was gutted when they finished the game and then announced the only way you could get it was by mail order from England. For a kid stranded in Australia they may has well have said it would never be available ever. Thank goodness for piracy, eh.
Anyway you should play a Commodore 64 game every day they’re good for you.Umpqua college shooter, who was born in England according to media reports, had a varied online presence that indicated support for the IRA
The Umpqua shooter has been named as Chris Harper Mercer, a 26-year-old who lived with his mother at an apartment only a few miles from the college.
American media reports said he was born in England and moved to the US at a young age: his stepsister, Carmen Nesnick, told CBS Los Angeles that he travelled to the US as a young boy. Other accounts report that Nesnick specified that Harper-Mercer was born in England.
'Another mass shooting in America': Oregon killings a grim familiarity for US Read more
Harper-Mercer was the son of Ian Mercer and Laurel Margaret Harper. Mercer and Harper filed for divorce on 6 June 2006. He appears to have left an online footprint that hints at interest in mass shootings as well as apparent support for the IRA.
He also appears to have been a prolific user of the file-sharing system Bittorrent.
An email address, “ironcross45@gmail.com”, was found to be associated with a Chris Harper Mercer of Winchester, Oregon, via a public records search. That address is linked to an account on the torrent upload site kat-ph.proxy-x.com, which bears the username “Lithium_Love”.
The final video uploaded by Lithium_Love to the torrent site, just three days ago, was a BBC documentary called Surviving Sandy Hook about the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
Other uploads include PDFs of the occult magazine Phenomena, conspiracy-themed documentaries including Lost Secrets of the Illuminati, and assorted soft pornography.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The father of Chris Harper Mercer says he is ‘devastated’ by the campus shooting. Link to video
There is also a blog attached to the upload account. The first entry was posted on 6 July 2015 and is titled “The material world is a lie.” It says: “Most people will spend hours standing in front of stores just to buy a new iphone... I used to be like that, always concerned about what clothes I had, rather than whether or not I was happy. But not anymore.
“Since then I have learned the truth that such attachments are falsehoods and will only bring misery. This is my first blog post, there will be more to come.”
Other blogposts complain about the uploading habits of other users. Another bemoans the death of horror filmmaker Wes Craven.
A Myspace page bearing Mercer’s name is filled with pictures of masked gunmen and references to the IRA, including a picture of the front page of a the Irish republican newspaper An Phoblacht, bearing the headline “British Army Could Not Defeat IRA”. Another photo to the page carries the words “IRA undefeated army”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Screengrab taken from Chris Harper-Mercer’s myspace page. Photograph: myspace.com/PA
The page gives Mercer’s home location as Torrance, California. A Whitepages page – which tracks addresses and phone numbers – gives two addresses for Mercer: one in Torrance, California, and the other in Winchester, Oregon. The latter is also the address associated with the registration of the “ironcross45” email address.
Using that email address, Mercer also appears to have advertised for penpals on the website Morgue Pals, which describes itself as “the hippest place for pen pals who identify with any sort of alternative culture”.
In his advertisement, Mercer, then aged 20, said he was looking for email pals and described his hobbies as “music movies and news”.
In his profile, he described himself as: “I’m 20 years old, in college, I like to listen to music, mostly goth/punk/industrial/electronic, and I love to watch movies, Horror movies are the best, but i also like some action films, depending on the type, and I like crime dramas as well.“
He added: “I’m looking for penpals who are similar to me, but anyone is welcome to email me.”
A posting on the Spiritual Passions dating and social networking site uses a picture that appears to be Mercer under the user name IRONCROSS45, which Mercer also used as his email.
He described himself on the site as a 26-year-old, mixed-race “man looking for a woman”. He said he was “not religious, but spiritual”, and was a “teetotaler” living with his parents and a conservative Republican. Socially, he said, he was “shy at first” and “better in small groups”. He described himself as “always dieting” and looking for “the yin to my yang”.
The email address Ironcross45@gmail.com is also associated with a crowdfunding webpage to help the user pay for uploading and storing bittorrent files for downloading videos as well. According to the cached version of the webpage, the most recent video uploaded was Collection Of Hot Lesbians (Nudes) Vol. 8.
Two phone numbers associated with the name appeared to have been disconnected.
A profile on the site belonging to Mercer on the website Spiritual Singles, which advertises itself as “a free online dating & social networking site specifically for spiritual singles,” and bears a picture of the same person as Mercer’s Myspace page, the alleged killer describes himself politically as a “conservative, republican” whose hobbies are “internet, killing zombies, movies, music, reading” and who lives with parents.
In the profile, the personality type he is looking for is “intellectual, punk, introvert, loner, lover, geek, nerd” with an “individuality” of “piercings, psychic, tattoos, vampire”. His preferred religious views are “Pagan, Wiccan, Not Religious, but Spiritual” as well.
On the image-sharing message-board 4chan, rumours were flying on Thursday night that the killer may have been one of their own. In an anonymous post at 1:19am on Thursday morning on the /r9k board – all posts to 4chan are anonymous – someone said “Some of you guys are alright. Don’t go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest.”
There is no way of verifying that the post came from the shooter.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A conversation on the website 4Chan where an anonymous poster warns of violence to come in the northwest of Oregon, USA. Photograph: 4Chan
A spokesperson for the Douglas County sheriff’s department, which is handling the investigation, said it could “neither confirm nor deny” at this point that they were investigating the post, though federal officials reportedly told the New York Times that they were doing so.
It is not known if Mercer was affiliated with the college, but his name was listed as a production assistant for an upcoming production of the Noel Coward play Blithe Spirit at Umpqua.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A post on Facebook showing the name of Chris Harper Mercer, the alleged gunman in the Oregon shootings, 2 October 2015. Harper Mercer is named as a production assistant in the post. Photograph: Facebook
The gunman’s father, Ian Mercer, said he was “just as shocked as everybody” at his son’s actions. Speaking from his home in the US, he told reporters: “I’ve just been talking to the police and the FBI and all the details I have right now is what you guys [reporters] have already.
“I can’t answer any questions right now, I don’t want to answer any questions right now. It’s been a devastating day, devastating for me and my family. Shocked is all I can say.”Some of us are still really confused about what the big fuss over the ACA is about. With Pro’s and Con’s being debated by just about everyone on TV, radio and social media, and then of course there are the Tea Party members of Congress who are acting like teenage girls throwing a tantrum because they aren’t getting their way, which led to the current government shutdown (which is currently in Day 4). Needless to say, there is a lot of information out there that we as the American public need to be able to sort through.
I found this video (thanks to Fred Harde for sharing) on my Facebook feed last night, and I thought it broke down the ACA in an easy to understand fashion. Feel free to leave a comment.Inside Mueller’s PC purge of counter-terror training at the FBI
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s career is rife with examples of prioritizing politically correct sensitivities over the unfiltered, and sometimes difficult, truth of the matter. And this issue came to the forefront at the beginning of President Obama’s second term in office, when Mueller decided to purge hundreds of counter-terrorism training materials that arguably rendered America less safe in the face of a growing domestic Islamic extremist problem.
While serving as FBI director, Mueller (the current head of the special counsel investigation of the 2016 election) presided over an effort to silence counter-terrorism experts from discussing the threat posed by radical Islamic ideologies. His decision to choose this approach could call into question his judgement while presiding over an incredibly politically toxic debate surrounding the 2016 election.
Instead of providing the tools his agents needed to fight the ideological war against the continuing rise of radical Islam in America, Mueller handicapped his agents because he seemingly prioritized making sure that nobody was offended over keeping America safe.
Radical groups exposed Mueller’s weakness as an opportunity to deliver a critical blow to the United States’ counterterrorism apparatus following a series of leaks sent to far-left journalist Spencer Ackerman, who claimed that the FBI was teaching about radical Islamic terrorism in an “anti-Islam” manner.
In his “exposé” for Wired magazine, Ackerman argued that counter-terror trainers were promoting “Islamophobia.” One of Ackerman’s key sources for his reporting was Mohamed Elibiary, an Obama administration political appointee who is “known for his almost daily advocacy for the Muslim Brotherhood,” according to the Clarion Project.
Following Ackerman’s report, a coalition of Islamist groups wrote a letter to then-Director Mueller, demanding that he purge training materials that they deemed offensive to Muslims.
“The undersigned civil and human rights groups write to express our deep concern regarding recently-publicized FBI training materials that manifest anti-Muslim bias and factual inaccuracies,” read the letter co-signed by some groups that are tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood.
But “no fewer than six known Muslim Brotherhood-associated organizations” leveraged the far-Left campaign to empower their position with Mueller, according to terrorism expert Stephen Coughlin’s “Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of Jihad.”
At an October 2011 congressional hearing, Mueller appeared to push for a training regimen that would conform to politically correct norms.
Instead of defending his organization’s work, Mueller decided to meet privately with members of the radical groups that expressed offense. Some of these groups were identified as unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation trial, which was the biggest terror-financing case in American history.
Mueller attempted to keep the meeting secret, and details of his embrace of radical Islamic groups were only made possible after Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit for the records. In a sign of troubling times ahead, leaders of the fringe groups expressed gratitude to Director Mueller for taking their concerns seriously.
When SpecialCounsel #Mueller was FBI Director he worked w CAIR &other Islamic groups to purge FBI training material.https://t.co/3SMXhqZaJS — Judicial Watch?? (@JudicialWatch) June 11, 2017
In one such statement, Nihad Awad, the Hamas-supporting director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), thanked Mueller “for his pledge to perform a ‘top to bottom’ review of FBI counterterrorism training.”
#CAIR: FBI pulls training that branded Muslims as violent… http://t.co/Wz2gHGrm — CAIR National (@CAIRNational) September 16, 2011
The Mueller FBI released a statement on the matter in 2011, revealing that it was “conducting a comprehensive review of all training and reference materials that relate in any way to religion or culture.” Moreover, the FBI would “consult with outside experts on the development and use of training materials.”
Following the Mueller meeting with radical Islamic groups and the continuing pressure campaign from leftist groups like the ACLU, the “purge” began in February 2012. Then, the FBI decided to eliminate training materials according to four criteria: “factual errors”; “poor taste”; “stereotypes”; or anything that “lacked precision.”
The six-month review process eliminated almost 900 pages and 392 presentations of FBI training materials. In doing so, Mueller rendered his FBI helpless in properly training its agents about the threats posed by radical Islamic doctrines.
The FOIA lawsuit by Judicial Watch brought to light some information related to the purge of training materials.
The FBI said that one such article was purged because it “inaccurately argues that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization.” Another document was scrubbed to “remove references to mosques specifically as a radicalization incubator.” A third piece of material was censored because the shielded “outside expert” took issue with the author grouping “Islamic militancy” with “terrorism.”
Dr. Sebastian Gorka, who recently served in the White House as a national security expert to President Trump, was at the time contracted to train FBI agents. As soon as the purge was implemented, Gorka recalls that the Department of Justice “created a body of anonymous reviewers,” whose identities remained unknown to this day.
“If this faceless body deemed anything to be anti-Islamic, xenophobic, or inflammatory, the individual instructor was told, ‘You must remove that material. You must remove that slide, or you will never be allowed to lecture,’” he said.
Gorka tells CR that his training materials only “quoted primary jihadi texts,” and that he offered to debate the contested items with the anonymous body tasked with censoring his work. However, Gorka says he was told that there was no right of repeal and that he wasn’t allowed to know who the anonymous reviewers were.
“Not even the FBI unit that hired me was allowed to know who these faceless individuals were,” Gorka said.
The Mueller FBI not only shielded the identities of these “outside experts,” it decided to classify the purged documents, making it extremely difficult even for prominent members of Congress to grasp what had happened.
At the time, former Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., was a member of the House Intelligence Committee. She was only able to view the classified documents in person and was not allowed to speak publicly about what she saw.
“This is truly censorship by our government, the government purging itself of documents,” Bachmann said after reviewing the files in June 2012. “We are not only seeing documents purged. We are seeing trainers purged and we are seeing the FBI library purged.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, also reviewed the purged documents and said he was “shocked at the material that has been removed.” He chalked up the purge to “political correctness,” arguing that the PC mentality usurped the “interest of truth and properly educated justice officials.”
“We are blinding our law enforcement officers from the ability to see who the enemy actually is,” he added.
Mueller’s PC attitude and apparent blindness to the jihadi ideology showed not only in his purge of counter-terrorism materials, but also in the FBI’s law enforcement operations during his tenure as FBI director, which stretched from 2001 to 2013.
The Mueller FBI repeatedly ignored warnings about Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The deceased jihadi attended the Islamic Society of Boston, a known terrorist recruitment mosque.
Mueller said his agents had invested in “outreach” efforts there, but admitted he was entirely unaware that the mosque was started by a prominent terrorist financier. Mueller refused to allow his agents to receive an education on the possibility that radical mosques could serve as incubators to terrorism, something that Arab-Muslim allies such as the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, and other countries regularly discuss in deterring extremism.
Kyle Shideler is the director of the Threat Information Office at the Center for Security Policy. For years, he has researched the influence of fringe domestic Islamist groups. Shideler tells CR that the Mueller FBI “expressed a willingness to include Islamist groups – even those under active U.S. investigation – in discussions about how best to deal with Islamic terrorism.”
“This resulted in these groups having what amounted to an unacceptable veto over what could or could not be said by law enforcement, and what could or could not be trained,” he said. “The negative impact this has had on our homeland security, measured in both taxpayer dollars as well as American lives, has been almost incalculable.”
Instead of maximizing the FBI’s efficiency as the nation’s premier domestic law enforcement agency, time and time again, Mueller preferred to take the sensitive, inoffensive route in order to gain acceptance inside the mainstream media and Obama administration.
Given his botched tenure at the FBI, it seems only fair to speculate what political forces will impact Robert Mueller’s decisions this time around in his current duties to investigate the 2016 election.
Want to keep up with what’s going on in Washington without the liberal media slant, establishment spin, and politician-ese?
Sign up to get CRTV’s Capitol Hill Brief in your inbox every evening! It’s free!Business Fraud
Business credit is based on belief or faith. Faith that once you as a "lender" have analyzed and are satisfied with all the financial, character and ambient analysis of a customer, you will have a reasonable opportunity to be paid the full amount owed, on time. Credit is a word derived from credere (Latin) which means to believe or trust. Fraud is any business activity, which resorts to deceitful practices or devices with the intent to deprive another of property or other rights, or to cause economic injury.
Background
The essential characteristic of fraud is the intent to deceive. If the intent to deceive is lacking in any act or series of acts or representations, it is wrong to call such acts fraudulent, although they have caused you a loss as a creditor. A principal may be incompetent or negligent in managing the business or may be even willfully wasteful of the firmís assets, by gambling for instance; |
will decrease the number of assaults on drivers and passengers.Between 2010 and 2013, Metro says there were 191 assaults on drivers. Bus operators and Metro agree the new system of video monitors is the best tool to keep drivers and passengers safer.Each bus will have 11 cameras mounted on it.Currently all Metro buses have video cameras, but this new system will be able to monitor any problem as it's happening."It's actually a video-recording system. We do have the ability to download remotely," said Metro manager of vehicle technology John Drayton. "So we can pull up to a bus and get videos off it real-time if that's needed."Metro has ordered 275 new buses for $500,000 each. The price tag for the video monitoring system is $3,000 per bus.The first new buses are will hit the road in October.Metro is still figuring out how it will pay for installing the system on the buses already in service.Aaron Paul Sturtevant (born August 27, 1979) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Jesse Pinkman in the AMC series Breaking Bad, for which he won several awards, including the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2014), the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film (2013), and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. This made him one of only two actors to win the latter category three times (2010, 2012, 2014), since its separation into drama and comedy.[note 1] He has also won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television three times (2009, 2011, 2013), more than any other actor in that category.[2]
Paul began his career with roles in several music videos and guest roles in television, before taking minor roles in films such as Mission: Impossible III (2006) and The Last House on the Left (2009). In 2007, he had a recurring role as Scott Quittman on the HBO series Big Love. Following his breakthrough, he began starring in films such as Need for Speed (2014), A Long Way Down (2014), and Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014). Since 2014, he has been the voice of Todd Chavez on the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman, on which he is also an executive producer, and he portrayed Eddie Lane in the Hulu drama series The Path from 2016 to 2018.
Early life [ edit ]
Aaron Paul Sturtevant[3] was born in Emmett, Idaho,[4] on August 27, 1979,[5] the youngest of four children born to Darla (née Haynes) and Robert Sturtevant, a Baptist minister.[6] He was born a month premature in his parents' bathroom.[7] Paul attended Centennial High School in Boise, Idaho, graduating in 1998.[citation needed][8] After graduation, he drove to Los Angeles in his 1982 Toyota Corolla with his mother and $6,000 in savings.[9] Prior to gaining fame, he appeared on an episode of The Price Is Right, which aired on January 3, 2000.[10] Appearing under his real name, he played and lost Dice Game and overbid by $132 on the Showcase.[11] He also worked as a movie theater usher at Universal Studios in Hollywood.[12]
Career [ edit ]
In 1996, Paul went to Los Angeles for the International Modeling and Talent Association competition. He won runner-up in the competition and signed with a manager.[13] He starred in the music videos for the Korn song "Thoughtless" and the Everlast song "White Trash Beautiful".[14] He was also featured in television commercials for Juicy Fruit,[15] Corn Pops,[16] and Vanilla Coke.[17] He appeared in the films Whatever It Takes (2000), Help! I'm a Fish (2001), K-PAX (2001), National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), Bad Girls From Valley High (2005), Choking Man (2006), Mission: Impossible III (2006), and The Last House on the Left (2009). He starred as "Weird Al" Yankovic in the 2010 Funny or Die short Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,[18] and has guest starred on television shows such as The Guardian, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, ER, Sleeper Cell, Veronica Mars, The X-Files, Ghost Whisperer, Criminal Minds, Bones and 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Paul first became known for his role as Scott Quittman on HBO's Big Love; he appeared 14 times on the show. In 2008, he began playing Jesse Pinkman on the AMC series Breaking Bad. His character was originally meant to die during the first season, but after seeing the chemistry between Paul and lead actor Bryan Cranston, series creator Vince Gilligan changed his mind and modified the original plans to include Jesse as a main character in the series.[19] For his role in Breaking Bad, Paul was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014; he won the award in 2010,[20] 2012,[21] and 2014.[22]
Paul starred in the film Smashed, which was one of the official selections for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.[23] In October 2012, he was interviewed by ESPN; he spoke about his childhood experience as a Boise State Broncos fan and discussed the challenges of portraying a meth addict in Breaking Bad.[24] In 2012 and 2013, he made an appearance on the show Tron: Uprising, voicing a character named Cyrus.[citation needed]
In September 2013, he was featured on Zen Freeman's dance song, "Dance Bitch".[25] He made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live's 39th season opener as "meth nephew", a relative of Bobby Moynihan's popular "drunk uncle" character.[26] In 2014, Paul starred in Need for Speed, as a street racer recently released from prison who takes revenge on a wealthy business associate.[27] Paul stars alongside Juliette Lewis in the family drama Hellion, as the drunken father of two young vandals.[28] Also in 2014, he co-starred in the biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, portraying the Hebrew prophet Joshua.[29]
In December 2013, Netflix announced that Paul would be a cast member on the animated series BoJack Horseman.[30] On March 3, 2014, he appeared on WWE Raw to promote Need for Speed, entering the arena in a sports car with Dolph Ziggler. He provided commentary for Ziggler's match against Alberto Del Rio, helping Ziggler win by distracting Del Rio.[31] On September 23, 2014, it was announced that Paul will play the young Louis Drax's father who becomes the focus of a criminal investigation after his son suffers a near-fatal fall in an upcoming Miramax film titled The 9th Life of Louis Drax, a supernatural thriller based on a book of the same name.[32]
In 2015, he did voiceover narration in a Mazda commercial.[33] In 2016, Paul began playing Eddie Lane, a man who in a crisis of faith joins a cult, in the Hulu series The Path. The Path debuted on March 30, 2016.[34] Paul voiced the main protagonist, Nyx Ulric, in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV released in July 2016.
In June 2018, Paul joined the cast of the upcoming Apple crime-thriller drama series Are You Sleeping opposite Octavia Spencer and Lizzy Caplan.[35]
In September 2018, Paul joined the cast HBO science-fiction series Westworld for the third season of the series.[36]
Personal life [ edit ]
Aaron Paul became engaged to Lauren Parsekian in Paris on January 1, 2012.[37] The two met at Coachella in Indio, California.[38] They were married on May 26, 2013, in a 1920s Parisian carnival-themed wedding, in Malibu, California; music was provided by Foster the People and John Mayer.[39] Paul emailed the song "Beauty" by The Shivers to everyone on the guest list and asked them to learn the words so they could sing along during the ceremony.[9] In September 2017, Paul announced that he and Parsekian were expecting their first child.[40] Their daughter, Story Annabelle, was born in February 2018.[41]
To commemorate the final episode of Breaking Bad, Paul and castmate Bryan Cranston both got Breaking Bad tattoos on the last day of filming; Paul had 'no half measures' tattooed onto his bicep, while Cranston got the show's logo tattooed on one of his fingers.[42][43]
In 2013, Paul and his wife helped raise $1.8 million for the Kind Campaign, a non-profit anti-bullying organization. The winners of the contest won a trip to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery screening of the final episode of Breaking Bad.[44] During a ceremony at the Egyptian Theatre in Boise, Idaho, Idaho governor Butch Otter declared October 1 "Aaron Paul Sturtevant Day".[45]
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Television [ edit ]
Music videos [ edit ]
Year Song Artist Role 2002 Thoughtless Korn Floyd Louis Cifer 2002 Screaming Infidelities Dashboard Confessional Ex-boyfriend 2003 White Trash Beautiful Everlast Boyfriend
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^ Starting with the show's second season, Paul was nominated each year he was eligible, for a total of five times: 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014.Instagram star Lindsey Pelas explains in a video for Cosmopolitan that there's a lot of downsides to having big breasts that most people don't realise.
Bigger isn't always better when it comes to breasts.
This is the message being sent out by Instagram star and Playboy model Lindsey Pelas, 24, whose all natural bra size ranges from a 32DDD to a 30H.
The Louisiana native, although proud of her 'genetically gifted' figure, was happy to detail the downsides to having an extremely ample bosom in a video for Cosmopolitan.com.
INSTAGRAM Even in a T-shirt, Lindsey said she tends to accidentally look like a porn star.
"You always look vulgar in regular clothing. It can be a T-shirt, a floral dress, a wedding dress, a nightgown, whatever. When you're busty, you just kind of look like a porn star [by] accident."
A large chest also manages to get in the way of style. Besides the obvious issue — that some dresses and tops don't fit over large breasts — accessories can be problematic too.
READ MORE:
* Why reducing the size of my breasts was a great decision
* Katy Perry prayed for big boobs
* Do sexist men like big breasts?
* Are you wearing the wrong bra?
* Big bust is all the norm
INSTAGRAM The Louisiana-born model is often accused of having had plastic surgery.
"Don't ever try to wear a long necklace if you're busty. No matter what happens, it's gonna go deep into your cleavage and look like a keychain for your nipples."
INSTAGRAM Lindsey posts shots flaunting her breasts on Instagram regularly.
"Another big boob problem is trying to button a blouse. You'll nail the third button, and then you'll get the first button, but the second one leaves you wide open and a huge shot at your cleavage," she lamented.
According to Pelas, exercising was no walk in the park either.
"No matter what you do when you exercise, you're gonna bounce."
Not only could this be incredibly uncomfortable, but it also resulted in some unwanted attention when you were sweating up a storm.
"Boob sweat is a daily occurrence."
Pelas revealed she used deodorant in her cleavage to combat the problem, whereas some women used it under their breasts.
Some of these shortfalls guaranteed that Lindsey didn't choose for her breasts to be as quite big as they turned out to be.
Despite them being a natural occurance, her breasts were often the subject of suspicion by the public.
"People always assume your boobs are fake," she said. "Why would you get them done so big?' 'Who in their right mind would get DDDs?"
"Even something as simple as buckling a seat belt can be a real pain when you have large boobs. I don't know who's making those things, but imagine a seat belt so tight on your manhood that it impairs your driving."
Pelas does admit that there are upsides to having large boobs.
Women with big breasts can hide almost anything in their cleavage, from phones to money to makeup.
For that reason, she calls it 'Mother Nature's pocket'.The world of fitness is fast paced, ever changing, and quickly growing. We’re always seeking the newest, brightest, and most recent programs and techniques. But what if you went in the other direction? What if we looked to the past for inspiration?
The past is flooded with a bunch of ridiculous contraptions, methods, and exercises that have died off for the better. However, there is also a wealth of fantastic exercises just waiting to be rediscovered and implemented in more modern methods.
Sure, there are uses for this equipment, but is this what exercise is meant to look like?
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a minimalist in just about every sense. My workouts are no different. I keep them simple, bodyweight based, and effective. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like to keep things interesting and fun.
Today, I’m going to shine some light on four exercises that have roots deep in the past. But each one has stood the test of time and is in desperate need of having the dust blown off them. Each one of these exercises is dynamic - they’ll improve your strength, flexibility, and mobility through wider ranges of motion than in typical exercises. On top of that, each exercise will challenge your mind to adapt to new movement patterns and improve your overall athleticism.
The Half Moon Push Up
Half moon push ups are popular among grapplers and jiu jitsu players. They help with preventing strains and injuries to the ribs, as well as developing strength through a greater range of motion.
"Remember: just because something’s old, doesn’t mean it can’t feel new."
Start in a bear squat position with your arms fully outstretched, hands shoulder width apart, feet hip width apart, and your knees bent with your butt close to your heels.
Keeping your body low to the ground, pull yourself through your hands in a pull up motion. At the same time turn your knees and torso out toward the left. This should put more weight onto your right hand. Once your chest is in line with your shoulders and palms, begin to shift little more weight to the left hand and turn your knees and torso out to the right side.
Once you are fully facing the right side, begin to push yourself backward and turn your torso/knees back to the starting bear squat position. Alternate the side you turn toward while initiating the push up each time. For example, we turned to the left to start the rep described above, so we would perform the next rep by turning to the right.
This push up should be performed in one smooth and seamless motion as if your chest is tracing a semi circle across the floor. This is where this push up derives its name, “half moon.”
Hindu Squats
Hindu squats or bathaks, along with Hindu push ups, are a staple conditioning exercise used by Hindu wrestlers for centuries. In fact, the Great Gama, a legendary wrestler who was undefeated in over 5,000 matches, was said to have performed over 4,000 Hindu squats each day. Unlike regular squats, Hindu squats force the knee well over the toes. This technique is not recommended for anyone with knee injuries.
"The entire squat should be controlled and you should never drop down quickly."
Begin in a standing position with your feet hip width apart. Your stance should not be quite as wide as during a regular squat. Begin to squat down with your weight on the balls of your heels, allowing your knees to pass over your toes.
As you lower, keep your back straight and head up, and let your arms swing out behind you with your fingers extended. Continue to lower yourself all the way down until your butt almost touches your heels. At the bottom of the squat, your fingertips should brush the ground right beside your feet.
Keeping the weight on the balls of your feet, press through the ground, begin to extend from the knees and hips, use the momentum from your arms and swing them up and in front of you in coordination with the extension of your knees and hips. Stand up fully, and then repeat.
Remember to keep your torso, back, and chin up through the whole movement. The entire squat should be controlled and you should never drop down quickly. The swinging of your arms should be soft and natural. If at any time you feel pain in your knees or low back, stop performing the squat.
Dead Man’s Crawl
The dead man’s crawl is a unique vertical pulling exercise and core strengthening technique. Unlike most vertical pulls, it doesn’t require a pull up bar or rings. I first came across this movement during my childhood where it was used heavily during workouts in my martial arts classes.
Start laying face down on the floor with your arms stretched out fully overhead and shoulder width apart. Your legs should be straight, hip width apart, and toes pointed. Keep your spine flat and avoid pulling your head up and back.
Press your palms, forearms, and elbows deep into the floor. Flex from your abs, low back, glutes, and calves and keep your toes pointed hard. At the same time, keeping your fingers outstretched, pull yourself forward and keep your whole body on the ground.
Continue to pull yourself forward until your elbows are at the sides of your ribcage. Then, extend your arms over head, place the arms on the floor with your palms flat on the ground, and repeat for as many reps as prescribed.
The Archer Squat
This is a unique squat that improves your balance, coordination, and lower-body flexibility. It forces one leg to do the majority of the work in terms of lowering the body and maintaining balance, while at the same time the other leg is having its flexibility tested and improved dynamically.
"Start to bend the right knee, hinge at the hips, and lower yourself, keeping your weight resting right through the right heel and the left knee straight with your left foot pointing up into the air."
Start with your feet spaced outside of shoulder width. Raise your left foot off the ground so your weight is resting on the heel and your toes are pointed up into the air. The right foot should be firmly planted on the floor with the weight distributed primarily through the heel.
Start to bend the right knee, hinge at the hips, and lower yourself, keeping your weight resting right through the right heel and the left knee straight with your left foot pointing up into the air. Keep a natural curve in the spine, don’t allow your bent knee to pass too far over the toes, and sit into the heel. Extend your left arm out to the side, pointing your fingers away from the body.
Only lower yourself down as far as possible without discomfort in the extended hamstring, and don’t allow your extended knee to bend. Once you have reached this point, press through the right heel, extend the right knee, and stand back up to the starting position. Then perform your next rep on the opposite leg. Keep alternating sides with each repetition.
The Workout
First, warm up with basic joint mobility and 3-5 minutes of jump rope.
Then, the workout will consist of running through the exercise circuit shown below for a total of four rounds. You’ll perform all four of the rounds back-to-back without any rest. Each exercise will be performed in the order shown, also back-to-back without any rest.
Exercise Circuit:
Half Moon Push Ups Hindu Squats Dead Man’s Crawl Archer Squats
Round 1 - Each exercise will be performed for 1 min
Round 2 - Each exercise will be performed for 45 seconds
Round 3 - Each exercise will be performed for 30 seconds
Round 4 - Each exercise will be performed for 15 seconds
So, round one is one minute of non-stop half moon push ups, one minute of Hindu squats, one minute of dead man’s crawl, and one minute of archer squats. Then, without stopping, you move on to round two and do each exercise for 45 seconds.
Old Exercises for a New Challenge
There you have it, four of my favorite “ancient” exercises all rolled up into one little workout. Give these old exercises a try for a new challenge. Remember: just because something’s old, doesn’t mean it can’t feel new.
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Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.(CNN) A six-week-old girl died Thursday morning after falling with her mother down an elevator shaft in a Brooklyn, New York, apartment building, according to police.
According to NYPD detective Ahmed Nasser, 21-year-old Aber Al-Rabahi attempted to push her child's stroller into the elevator, which was out of service, on the 23rd floor. It is unknown if there was an out-of-service note on it.
But the elevator wasn't there, and instead Al-Rabahi and her daughter, Areej Ali, fell onto the roof of the elevator approximately 5 feet below, with the mother landing on top of the child and causing injuries, Nasser told CNN.
The elevator then dropped even further to the 17th floor, where they were taken out by an elevator mechanic.
A police statement says officers at the scene found the baby girl unconscious and unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital, where her mother was treated and released. The medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death and the investigation is ongoing.
In an interview with CNN affiliates WABC and NY1, Salah Ali, the baby's grandfather, said he is heartbroken and that his daughter is in "bad shape."
Elevator safety violations
The Brooklyn apartment complex has faced multiple complaints in the past, with more than 120 elevator violations since 2005 and hundreds of inspections, New York Department of Buildings records show.
"I'm not very surprised -- there have been a lot of problems with the elevators. People get stuck in them all the time," a building resident, who gave her name as Diana, told NY1. Another resident who was not identified by NY1 recalled he got stuck in an elevator during the first month of his move into the complex.
"It's heartbreaking, honestly," he told NY1 about the incident. "I don't know how to react to something like that."
According to the city's buildings department, there are 10 elevators in the multi-building complex, which was built in 1974.
The elevator involved in the incident was inspected in early August 2016, and one non-hazardous violation was issued regarding an inoperative phone in the elevator car. The building inspectors determined that the elevator could safely remain in operation.
The service company for the building's elevators is Centennial Elevator Industries, a member of the Elevator Industries Association, according to Michael Halpin of the International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC) Local One.
The IUEC is promoting the Elevator Safety Act -- state legislation that would set minimum training standards for elevator mechanics in New York -- a bill Halpin said Elevator Industries Association opposes.
"They don't want to provide the level of training and education the bill requires," Halpin said.
While not referring specifically to Thursday's incident in Brooklyn, Halpin said mandatory training for elevator mechanics could help prevent such incidents.
Centennial Elevator Industries declined to comment. The Elevator Industries Association did not respond to CNN's inquiries.
Jordan Isenstadt, a consultant for Starrett Corp., which owns the property, confirmed Centennial Elevator Industries is the building's service company.
Investigation opened
Starrett released a statement expressing sadness over the tragic incident, which, according to the statement, "involved an elevator under repair at the Bay Park Two Complex."
The company said the incident is "now under active investigation and we are cooperating fully with all authorities and agencies to determine the facts surrounding the event. We extend our deepest sympathies to the families involved and management is making arrangements to offer grief counseling upon request," the statement said.
The elevator unit involved is now under a cease-use order.
"Our inspectors will remain on scene to conduct a full investigation into this tragic accident," said Andrew Rudansky, a spokesperson for the buildings department. "We will be testing all of the elevators in the complex to ensure they are operating safely."A product of the Arsenal FC academy, Benik Afobe was part of the England side that won the UEFA European Under-17 Championship in 2010. Speaking to UEFA.com after his goalscoring heroics in the 2-1 Group B win against Serbia on Friday, the forward said his latest aim was to make history in Estonia with the U19s.
UEFA.com: You drew 1-1 with Croatia in your first game here and followed that with victory against Serbia. How difficult was that last match?
Benik Afobe: All credit to our opponents. For about 30 minutes of the second half they were very strong and had lots of shots and a lot of possession, but we were happy that we held on to the lead and to take the three points.
UEFA.com: You scored the first goal and had a big role in the second. Was that satisfying for you?
Benik Afobe: Yes, as a striker you always want to score for your team and to have scored in the sixth minute after our manager called for a sharper start to Friday's match was even better. The goal gave us a bit of breathing space.
UEFA.com: Your pace played a big role in the second goal, which came from a counterattack. Would you say speed is your biggest strength?
Benik Afobe: As a striker, I would say that getting away from defenders is my biggest strength. My movement is quite good and I was happy to have played a big part in the goal.
UEFA.com: Is one of your aims to be the tournament's top scorer?
Benik Afobe: I would rather win the competition and not score a goal. I play this sport because I love working with my team and with the staff and the whole squad. My main aim is to get into the final and get into the history books as the first England team to win the U17s and U19s with the same year group.
UEFA.com: Next up is France and you only need a draw to reach the semi-finals. Will you be playing for a point?
Benik Afobe: Of course not. Any footballer will tell you that when you play, you don't play to draw. You don't play to try and go through just with luck. We want to win that game and we want to finish first in the group – that is what we are going to try to do on Monday.
UEFA.com: How are you going to break down France, who have not conceded a goal?
Benik Afobe: We are just going to try and do what we have been doing all tournament – create chances. Hopefully we will be able to find the breakthrough.
UEFA.com: Your Arsenal FC club-mate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain earned a surprise call-up to the England squad for UEFA EURO 2012. Is he an inspiration to you?
Benik Afobe: Yes, he is one of my closer friends in football – he's a nice guy. Seeing him go from the U18s to the U21s to the seniors is a big inspiration. Even though he is the same age as me, he is still someone I look up to and he deserves everything he gets because he works so hard and he is such a humble guy.Chicago can’t handle Seth Fornea’s sexy butter churning skills—because he’s gay.
“One would think that in the Midwest the sight of a butter churn would bring back nostalgic feelings of nearby dairy farms, but alas if a gay man is churning that butter, not so much.”
Comcast Chicago banned a Boy Butter commercial that is currently airing on this season of Rupaul’s Drag Race on VH1 in NYC, LA, San Diego and nationwide on Canada’s OutTV according to Boy Butter. “One would think that in the Midwest the sight of a butter churn would bring back nostalgic feelings of nearby dairy farms,” Boy Butter CEO Eyal Feldman penned, “but alas if a gay man is churning that butter, not so much.”
Boy Butter is a personal lubricant for gay men. We reached out to Comcast for comment but they have yet to respond.
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Chicago banning the Boy Butter commercial highlights a double standard against gay men
Comcast Chicago’s ban showcases a larger problem of double standards toward gay men in society, which OutBuzz has frequently encountered. If you replace imagery featuring suggestive pretty woman with men, it immediately becomes NSFW. The only acceptable version of gay in society is still that of the sanitized gay. Gays in wigs and dresses? Couldn’t be funnier. Gays kissing and holding hands? Squirm uncomfortably in chair and look away.
Only a sanitized desexualized depiction of gay men is acceptable
Even many straight “allies” become uncomfortable at the sight of intimacy between two men—something that wouldn’t raise an eyebrow if it were between a man and a woman. Many of OutBuzz’s own campaigns have been rejected and banned on the basis of violating the community standards of various social media and advertising networks—while similar ads by Men’s Health that feature women in far more suggestive situations are deemed fine.
Take for example Carl Jr’s 2015 Super Bowl Commercial, which aired on national television. The spot is full of sexual innuendos and features Charlotte McKinney parading around naked to the merriment of the straight male passersby. It is essentially soft-core pornography, and it aired on the most watched event of the entire year. The Boy Butter ad, far more reserved than the Carl Jr spot, was only going to air on RuPaul’s Drag Race—hardly a conservative demographic.
We must keep pushing to normalize gay narratives and imagery
No matter how uncomfortable the thought may make straight people and advertising network censors, there is nothing shameful about being gay and having gay sex. Rejecting commercials like this while permitting far more sexualized versions depicting women only serve to push gays back into the sexual closet.
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“I think it’s Chicago’s loss and a clear representation of how shamed and stigmatized our sexuality is.” said Daniel Robinson, the director/producer of this banned Boy Butter commercial. “Even though this ad is meant to be aired on a drag queen contest reality show on VH1 at night, that distinction matters not when homophobia and sexism rear their ugly heads. It’s also possible the big budget ads of Burger King or Carl’s Junior helps them skirt the prudish censorship rules but it still does not feel fair. My hope is that by continuing to push the boundaries of what is acceptable and palatable on TV, Boy Butter can create a space where gay men can watch images of themselves, not only in the shows that we watch but also the advertising that sponsors them.
Watch the Boy Butter commercial featuring Seth Fornea that Comcast Chicago banned and decide for yourself.When you chastise your mother for being a meth addict you are bound to get punished. When you mention to your teacher that she has a strange bruise all over her neck on Monday morning you are going to get punished – and then you’ll post a Yahoo! Answers about it. That’s just how life works thankfully.
The famous Milgram experiment, where participants were told to shock each other and did not even stop when they heard screams in the other room, showed that obedience is well-entrenched in our modern world. Though I think a better experiment would be watching my mom give her credit card information to every person who calls our house.
“Why yes Mr. Deposed King of Nigeria, I would love to buy your shirtless daughter a beautiful dress, here is my credit card number…” People love to obey authority blindly, its as American as divorce.
These days at least.
But, in 336 BC, if you showed blatant disrespect to Alexander the Great, the most powerful man on Earth, all would be chill.
Diogenes and Alexander –
In the roaring 330’s BC Alexander kind of had the whole world on lock-down, like Ronald Reagan in the 80’s. So cool was Alexander that it was said the Temple of Artemis burned down on the day of his birth because the goddess Artemis was “attending the birth of Alexander.” Which is like saying that the White House was robbed because the entire government was attending the birth of Kanye and Kim’s child.
Alexander was so boss in the 330’s that when he encountered the unsolvable Gordian knot – because that’s what the ancients did for fun, untying knots – he did not even bother trying to untie it. He just cut it in half with his sword!
He was on top of the world, on top of yo’ girl (and guy), and “massacring all the men of military age and selling the women and children into slavery,” and proclaimed the “son of the deity Amun in the Libyan desert.” Alexander was more powerful than the NSA. Not the sort of man you want to make a snippy remark to.
Unless you are Diogenes the Cynic, one of the crankiest men since Kim Jong-Il – who interestingly enough got eleven hole in ones on his first time golfing!
Diogenes was the idiot savant of his age, the Mike Tyson of his age, at once revile and simultaneously intensely interesting. He gained his fame through odd stunts such as sleeping in a large ceramic jar in the center of the marketplace and
Carrying a lamp in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man
Which is silly because everyone knows that the foolproof way to find an honest man is to start playing “Call Me Maybe” and notice the ones who hum along without shame. Those are the honest men. But I digress.
He followed his philosophical idol Antisthenes around Athens so doggedly that his idol ‘eventually beat him off with his staff.’ Which happened to me with Elton John as well so I commiserate.
Furthermore he purposefully lived a life of extreme poverty and, upon seeing a boy drink with just his hand, was so shamed by his possession of one wooden bowl that he destroyed his only possession. Diogenes was also the funniest man of his age –
When Plato gave Socrates’ definition of man as “featherless bipeds” and was much praised for the definition, Diogenes plucked a chicken and brought it into Plato’s Academy, saying, “Behold! I’ve brought you a man.” After this incident, “with broad flat nails” was added to Plato’s definition.
Lastly, when Alexander’s father, Phillip II of Macedon visited the town of Corinth and all the townspeople were busy helping out their king, Diogenes was seen rolling his jar (home) up and down the walls, and said “I am rolling my tub to be like the rest.” Truly a renaissance man 1,900 years before the Renaissance.
It was this man who encountered Alexander the Great one day in Corinth. All of the wealthy and important people of the city had come to visit Alexander and grovel at his feet. But not Diogenes, he had just continued about his business as if the ruler of the free world was not present.
Therefore Alexander went to find him and saw Diogenes reclining in the sunlight and Alexander asked Diogenes if he required any favors – to which Diogenes replied,
Yes, stand out of my sunlight
Which, to this day stands as the ballsiest thing anyone has ever said.
Alexander was so taken aback by the remark that he said, “If i were not Alexander I should wish to be Diogenes.” And then Diogenes, like a bratty little child, retorted,
If I were not Diogenes, I should also wish to be Diogenes
Diogenes then added, as he was surveying a pile of human bones,
I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave
Somehow Alexander did not chop out Diogenes’ tongue and stuff his body in his jar and was instead captivated by Diogenes’ insolence and continued on his merry way.
Soon after Diogenes died from “eating raw octopus” and “asked to be thrown outside the city wall so wild animals could feast on his body.” Thus ending the career of one of the greatest ballers until the coming of the monkey tree god of Singapore.
The lesson children – be as rude and disrespectful to your elders as you want as long as you are funny.
AdvertisementsDuring Nintendo’s most recent shareholders meeting in July, Shigeru Miyamoto made a few comments about the games on display at E3.
“This year, the majority of what the other developers exhibited was bloody shooter software that was mainly set in violent surroundings or, in a different sense, realistic and cool worlds,” Miyamoto said at the time. “Because so many software developers are competing in that category, it seemed like most of the titles at the show were of that kind.”
In this month’s issue of EDGE, Miyamoto was asked to follow up on his comments. He stated, “I have not been fully satisfied with the inspirations that I have or that other people in the industry have in general.” Miyamoto also mentioned that industry trends are emphasized over “the creator’s individuality and uniqueness”, and that “the industry has a long way to go.”
Check out all of Miyamoto’s comments below – they’re quite interesting to say the least!
Oh, I’ve made quite the grand statement, haven’t I? My comment was based upon the fact that I have not been fully satisfied with the inspirations that I have or that other people in the industry have in general. I feel that industry tends, rather than the creator’s individuality and uniqueness, tend to be prioritized. When the people who manage the development budget take the lead in making a game, creators tend to make games that are already popular in the marketplace. Even when there is opportunity for young developers to make something freely, they tend to make similar proposals. I can’t help but feel that the industry has a long way to go. I hope Nintendo will always be a company that aggressively invests in something new – something born from each creator’s individual characteristics.
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, and you want a lot of it," said Alexandra Goodson, business development manager for energy storage modules at ABB. Many grid storage applications, on the other hand, involve slow, steady delivery of energy. "We're discharging for two hours instead of immediately accelerating," she said. "It's not nearly as demanding on the system." (See related photos: "Seven Ingredients for Better Electric Car Batteries")
The Road to Renewables
The partners previously demonstrated the technology in a lab environment. Now, said Pablo Valencia, senior manager of battery lifecycle management at GM, "It's become a reality," during a presentation Wednesday in Sausalito, California, where GM set up a demo unit about the size of a few refrigerators to power video, lights, and audio in an outdoor tent. "This is an industry first, to be able to use secondary automotive batteries in a grid-based application," Valencia said.
To test the repackaged Volt batteries in the real world, partner Duke Energy, the largest utility in the United States, plans to install this unit next year in the field alongside a transformer. "We'll test it as long as it takes to highlight all the value streams," said Dan Sowder, senior project manager for new technology at Duke.
Deployed on the grid, community energy storage devices could help utilities integrate highly variable, and sometimes unpredictable, renewables like solar and wind into the power supply, while absorbing spikes in demand from electric-car charging.
"Wind, it's a nightmare for grid operators to manage," said Britta Gross, director of global energy systems and infrastructure commercialization for GM. "It's up, down, it doesn't blow for three days. It's very labor-intensive to manage." Sowder, whose company serves 7.1 million customers in the U.S. Midwest and Southeast, explained, "Our grid, and most electricity grids, are not really designed to handle that kind of rapid swinging. Storage can help dampen that out." Smooth delivery of renewable energy has been a major research area for Zurich, Switzerland-based ABB, the world's largest supplier of electrical equipment to the wind power industry.
Meanwhile, on the demand side, utilities are staring down the possibility of huge spikes in energy demand from electric cars, which represent "probably the largest electrical load introduced to a residential setting in 50 years," said Scott Hinson, director of the Pike Powers Commercialization Lab in Austin, Texas.
"That is a little bit alarming for a grid that was not designed to handle that load," adds Sowder. Community energy storage devices can be charged at times when, say, wind is kicking up a storm at night but there is little demand for electricity, and make it available when needed. "The result can be less infrastructure upgrades needed to support electric-vehicle charging."
Seeking Grid Solutions
GM isn't the only automaker looking to help build a secondary market for its electric car batteries. In January, Nissan North America joined with ABB, 4R Energy, and Sumitomo Corporation of America to announce plans to build a prototype of a grid storage system using Nissan Leaf batteries. (See related photos: "Eleven Electric Cars Charge Ahead, Amid Obstacles")
After all, if the battery—the most expensive part of an electric car—remains an asset beyond its useful life in the vehicle, Valencia said, "It helps with residual values." That's the term used to describe how much a car is worth at the end of its lease or the end of its useful life—a key factor in determining lease rates and resale values. As a result, he said, "We're helping the first customer."
"If there is a market in stationary power for spent batteries, consumers could recognize this as an increased resale value at end of life, however small," said Kevin See, an analyst with the research firm Lux Research.
Of course, because electric cars like the Volt and the Leaf are new to the market, there will not be a large supply of spent electric-car batteries for some time to come. The batteries are supposed to last for up to ten years in the car. For the demonstration unit, GM scavenged its own laboratories to find batteries that had been degraded by simulations.
The batteries in the demo unit had been degraded down to about 85 or 90 percent of their original capacity, Valencia said. "We were calling everybody and saying, 'Give me your oldest batteries,' " he said. But GM envisions old batteries eventually will be tracked down and purchased for grid-storage use through the same system used today to auction off parts like water pumps and starters at the end of vehicle life for recycling or rebuilding. Before a vehicle is scrapped, its ID number is scanned to pull up a list of all the "core" components for which there is demand.
Adapting lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles adds complexity to the task of designing energy storage for the power grid, however. "You must take a battery that's designed to function in a very specific, mobile, volume- and weight-constrained application in cars," said See. And the necessary adaptations vary by type of car. "A fully electric vehicle battery is designed to hold maximum energy, while a hybrid is designed to have a higher ratio of power to energy." Ultimately, he said, this extra complexity "could add further cost in preparing those systems for an entirely different application than the one they were initially designed for." (See related story: "Battery Maker A123's Bankruptcy Underscores Hurdles for Clean Tech")
Spent car batteries face tough competition from new lithium-ion batteries designed specifically for a given grid application, said See, as well as alternative technologies like flow batteries and molten salt batteries, which have the potential to cost less. "There is and will be no shortage of Li-ion batteries given the explosion of manufacturing capacity in the face of limited demand," See said.
Yet it's possible that stationary power customers looking for batteries could purchase spent EV batteries at significant discounts, he said. "Those customers would be the real winners, provided those batteries hold up, rather than the automakers." Indeed, according to Sowder, Duke Energy is "hopeful," but not sure yet that adapted Volt batteries will save money.It does not matter what fantasy sport you are playing, year in and year out there are players who outperform expectations. Whether they are late-round fliers, or waiver wire acquisitions, these players become key components to championship teams. This season has followed suit as J.A. Happ and Jean Segura have been two of the hottest stories all season long. Jean Segura was a hot discussion during MLFS pre-season radio shows, and I don’t believe anyone saw the career-3.99 ERA Happ having a Cy Young-like season. Regardless, both players have had dynamite seasons and have been solid additions to fantasy owners that roster them. This week, I want to look deeper into the sabermetrics that tell the true stories of J.A. Happ and Jean Segura. There’s no questioning the basic stats of each player. If we looked at their stats without having their names next to them, I’d be shocked if anyone would guess that they belonged to Happ or Segura.
The American league Cy Young Award is getting a lot of attention. There are many arms deserving of the award, and J.A. Happ is a front-runner. The lefty may not have the natural talent of a Chris Sale, but he’s been remarkable for a Blue Jays team that needs pitching. When talking about the Blue Jays’ playoff hopes, pitching is the first topic. They lack a true number one starter, and Marcus Stroman has been anything but a top-of-the-rotation starter. Aaron Sanchez has been as dominant as Happ and should be in the voting for AL Cy Young as well. The only question with Sanchez was whether or not he stays in the rotation or moves to the bullpen to preserve his innings. Recent reports suggest Sanchez will stay in the rotation for the time being.
Happ currently stands with a 16-3 record to go along with a 2.96 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 16 quality starts (tied for 5th in MLB), and 124:43 K:BB. His 16 wins lead MLB, and all 16 of his wins have come from quality starts. While he’s never been known as a strikeout pitcher, Happ’s 2016 success is directly related to his 42.4 GB%. 42.4% is a career-best, and 3.2% better than his career average. Pitching home games at the Rogers Centre, ground balls become very important to a pitcher’s success. This has done wonders for Happ and he’s been able to minimize FB% and LD% to 35.1% and 22.5% respectively. Of his 15 home runs surrendered, seven have come at home and eight while on the road. The splits tell an interesting story as Happ has a 2.76 ERA in Toronto and 3.15 on the road. His numbers have been on par at home and away.
The Blue Jays lefty’s 31.9 Hard% sees him in the top-25% among qualified starters. As good as he’s been, batters have had a tough time squaring the ball up against Happ. The best Hard% goes to Tanner Roark’s 23.1%, just ahead of Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks’ 24.1%. Patrick Corbin has been hit the hardest in MLB with a 40.0%. Happ’s career-season doesn’t stop at batted ball percentages, as he’s also set a career-best in Contact% at 78.9% shaving 3.1% off since last season and 2.9% better than his career-average of 81.8%.
With an ADP of 260, Happ’s been as consistent as it gets from a starting pitcher. Of his 23 starts, only four have seen Happ give up four earned runs or more. He’s managed his pitch count and this efficiency has made him a top-15 fantasy starting pitcher. It remains to be seen if he gets the Cy Young Award votes he deserves, but there’s no reason the lefty doesn’t get a top-five finish.
“Change of scenery” has become a popular cliché when referring to a player’s lack of success. More goes into the saying than moving to a different ballpark. I’m a firm believer that a player’s success, or lack thereof, is directly related to the organization he is a part of. Think about that for a second. Would David Carr or Joey Harrington have fared differently if they played for better organizations than an expansion Houston team or struggling Detroit organizations? What about Tom Brady? What if Detroit had drafted him before New England? The same can be send for baseball, basketball, and hockey players. We’ve seen Jake Arrieta leave Baltimore, and turn into a Cy Young Award winner in Chicago. The same can be send for Jean Segura’s 2016 season with the Diamondbacks.
After a torrid 2013 season, Segura had forgettable 2014 and 2015 seasons for Milwaukee. Luckily, the Diamondbacks went all-in and acquired the shortstop for the likes of right-handed pitchers Tyler Wagner and Chase Anderson, infielder Aaron Hill, minor league shortstop Isan Diaz, and $6.5mil. For a team rebuilding, Milwaukee received a handful of talent, but the Diamondbacks acquired a hitter that is ranked fifth in hits throughout MLB. Segura has been a great acquisition. At only 26 years-old the Diamondbacks can rely on the middle infielder for the next 5+ seasons. With shortstop and second base eligibility, Segura becomes a solid options for fantasy owners as well.
The first-year Diamondback has slashed.308/.357/.458 with 10 HR, 44 RBI, 70 runs scored, and 22 stolen bases. Segura needs three more home runs, five more runs scored, and seven more RBI to set career-highs. Playing home games at Chase Field helps, but Segura has increased his LD% to 19.7% from 16.7% in 2015. 19.7% also sees him 1.8% higher than his career-average. His LD% has lead to his 2016 success just as his lowered GB% (59.0% to 53.8%) and increased FB% (24.2% to 26.5%) has helped the slugger rebound in only one season following two consecutive subpar seasons following a phenomenal 2013 season. Segura’s 19.7 LD% sees him with the top-100 LD% leaders and situated between the likes of Carlos Beltran and Ryan Braun.
If we concentrate on his increased LD% and FB% we can see a direct correlation in regards to Pull% (28.2%) and Hard% (28.2%). Segura’s 28.2 Pull% is the second-highest it’s been through a full season, and his 28.2 Hard% is a career-high and 4.2% higher than his career average. Jean Segura is locked in, and he’s making fantasy owners look like geniuses, while softening the blow as Dave Stewart’s other acquisitions of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller haven’t worked out as he has hoped. The only outlier to Segura’s season is the fact that his 84.6 Contact% is the lowest it’s been in his career and 0.5% lower than his career average. On a positive note, he’s increased his BB% from 2.2% in 2015 to 5.4% (career-high) in 2016 while lowering his K% from 15.9% in 2015 to 14.8% (0.3% higher than his career average) in 2016.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Click the RED link to listen)
Major League Fantasy Football Radio: Join Ej Garr, Corey D Roberts, and Coach Jeff Nelson live Sunday August 14th from 7-9pm EST for episode #66 of Major League Fantasy Football Radio. This is a live broadcast and we take callers at 323-870-4395 press 1 to speak with the hosts. This week we will break down the NFC West from an NFL and fantasy perspective.
You can find our shows on I-Tunes. Just search for Major League Fantasy Sports in the podcasts section. For Android users go to “Podcast Republic,” then download that app, and search for “Major League Fantasy Sports Show”
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WhatsAppFormer pop star becomes first person to be arrested in relation to police inquiry as Jimmy Savile's Scottish cottage is vandalised
Gary Glitter has become the first person to be arrested in relation to the police inquiry into sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile.
Scotland Yard detectives working on Operation Yewtree have received information from more than 300 alleged victims and further arrests are expected.
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was detained at 7.15am on Sunday at an address in central London and taken to a police station in the capital. He was filmed leaving his home wearing a hat and dark coat and gloves, and being driven away. He was released on police bail until mid-December and was seen leaving Charing Cross police station in central London shortly before 5pm.
Glitter was jailed for four months in the UK in 1999 after admitting possessing a collection of 4,000 hardcore photographs of children being abused. In 2006, he was sentenced to three years in jail by a Vietnamese court for sexually molesting two girls. Glitter had always maintained he was innocent of the charges.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Officers working on Operation Yewtree have today arrested a man in his 60s in connection with the investigation. The man, from London, was arrested at approximately 7.15am on suspicion of sexual offences, and has been taken into custody at a London police station.
"The individual falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed 'Savile and others'."
The publicist Max Clifford said on Saturday that up to 15 celebrities had approached him, fearful that their sexual exploits in the 1960s and 1970s might lead to them being caught up in the police inquiry.
Savile's cottage in Allt na Reigh, Glencoe, was vandalised overnight, Northern Constabulary said on Sunday.
A spokesman for the force said "abusive slogans" had been painted on to the walls of the property. Officers are appealing for anyone with information to contact them.
Last week, officers searched the cottage to look for "any evidence of any others being involved in any offending with him".
The chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, has said he is dedicated to finding out the truth about the scandal that has thrown the corporation into crisis, vowing there would be "no covering our backs".
The corporation is braced for legal ramifications arising from allegations that other BBC employees were involved and questions remain over what bosses knew, and when, about the Newsnight investigation into Savile that was pulled.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Patten questioned whether Savile could have committed the alleged crimes without anyone else knowing.
He said: "Can it really be the case that no one knew what he was doing? Did some turn a blind eye to criminality? Did some prefer not to follow up their suspicions because of this criminal's popularity and place in the schedules? Were reports of criminality put aside or buried? Even those of us who were not there at the time are inheritors of the shame."
The BBC chairman said the two independent inquiries that have been set up – one into the Newsnight report and the other into the BBC's culture and practices in the years Savile worked there – must get to the truth of what happened.
He wrote: "Now my immediate priority is to get to the bottom of the Savile scandal and to make any and every change necessary in the BBC to learn the lessons from our independent investigations."The judge ruled that choreographer Wade Robson had waited too long to file in court.
A judge has dismissed a choreographer's claim that Michael Jackson molested him as a child.
Los Angeles Superior Court judge Mitchell Beckloff dismissed Wade Robson's claim on Tuesday after determining he waited too long to file it in court.
Robson had previously denied the pop superstar molested him and testified in Jackson's defense in a criminal trial in 2005.
Robson then sued Jackson's estate in May 2013 and sought to file a late claim against the singer's estate.
Robson, who has worked with Britney Spears and appeared on the Fox series So You Think You Can Dance, claimed he didn't realize the damage Jackson's molestation had caused until he had a pair of nervous breakdowns.
Jackson's estate has denied Robson's allegations of abuse.
Robson's attorney, Maryann Marzano, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
This story first appeared on Billboard.com.pardonmewhileipanic:
New Rules:
1. FOOD: If you want to come at me about “how much I eat”, you need to provide an exact food diary of everything I ate in the past week, (not just what it was, but how much and when). Then you also need to provide at least 36 examples of thin people eating the same amounts/foods, and write a 10 page paper on why you don’t attack them, only me, and then provide 8 medically accurate and unbiased documents proving without a SHRED of doubt that these thin people eating the same amounts/things are as healthy/healthier than me.
2. HEALTH: if you want to come at me about my health/that I’m going to die, you need to provide me with full professional doctors papers, PhD and all, as well as MY individual health records, and at least 12 UNBIASED research papers done by reputable doctors (dr. phil does not count)
3. APPEARANCE: If you want to come at me about how I look to you, I am going to need a minimum of 245 photos of you, from all angles, with/without make up/beards/whatever, and you’re going to need to explain in a 12 page paper, single space, size 8 font, what it is about YOU and YOUR LOOKS that gives you the right to judge anyone else. Remember, I said looks only. I don’t give a flying fuck if you once helped someone move to a new apartment, this isn’t about nicest personality, this is about looks as you made it clear in attacking me for it.
Finally, and this is the most important rule of all,
4. WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THESE PAPERS, PHOTOS, AND FOOD DIARIES?
I need you to follow the below diagram, before ever coming to me with any of the above
Thank you. Have a nice day.Phallus impudicus, known colloquially as the common stinkhorn, is a widespread fungus recognizable for its foul odor and its phallic shape when mature, the latter feature giving rise to several names in 17th-century England. It is a common mushroom in Europe and North America, where it occurs in habitats rich in wood debris such as forests and mulched gardens. It appears from summer to late autumn. The fruiting structure is tall and white with a slimy, dark olive colored conical head. Known as the gleba, this material contains the spores, and is transported by insects which are attracted by the odor—described as resembling carrion. Despite its foul smell, it is not poisonous and immature mushrooms are consumed in parts of France and Germany.
Taxonomy [ edit ]
Botanist John Gerard called it the "pricke mushroom" or "fungus virilis penis effigie" in his General Historie of Plants of 1597, and John Parkinson referred to it as "Hollanders workingtoole" or "phallus hollandicus" in his Theatrum botanicum of 1640.[2] Linnaeus described it in his 1753 Species Plantarum,[3] and it still bears its original binomial name. Its specific epithet, impudicus, is derived from the Latin for "shameless" or "immodest".[4]
Description [ edit ]
Sometimes called the witch's egg,[5] the immature stinkhorn is whitish or pinkish, egg-shaped, and typically 4 to 6 cm (1.6 to 2.4 in) by 3 to 5 cm (1.2 to 2.0 in).[6]
An immature fruiting body ("egg") in longitudinal section
On the outside is a thick whitish volva, also known as the peridium, covering the olive-colored gelatinous gleba. It is the latter that contains the spores and later stinks and attracts the flies; within this layer is a green layer which will become the 'head' of the expanded fruit body; and inside this is a white structure called the receptaculum (the stalk when expanded), that is hard, but has an airy structure like a sponge.[7] The eggs become fully grown stinkhorns very rapidly, over a day or two.[5] The mature stinkhorn is 10 to 30 cm (3.9 to 11.8 in) tall and 4 to 5 cm (1.6 to 2.0 in) in diameter,[6] topped with a conical cap 2 to 4 cm (0.8 to 1.6 in) high that is covered with the greenish-brown slimy gleba. In older fungi the slime is eventually removed, exposing a bare yellowish pitted and ridged (reticulate) surface. This has a passing resemblance to the common morel (Morchella esculenta), with which it is sometimes mistaken.[8] The rate of growth of Phallus impudicus has been measured at 10–15 cm (4–6 in) per hour. The growing fruit body is able to exert up to 1.33 kPa of pressure — a force sufficient to push up through asphalt.[9] The spores have an elliptical to oblong shape, with dimensions of 3–5 to 1.5–2.5 µm.[8]
In North America, Phallus impudicus can be distinguished from the very similar P. hadriani by the latter's purplish-tinted volva.[10]
Spore dispersal [ edit ]
The dispersal of spores is different from most "typical" mushrooms that spread their spores through the air. Stinkhorns instead produce a sticky spore mass on their tip which has a sharp, sickly-sweet odor of carrion to attract flies and other insects. Odorous chemicals in the gleba include methanethiol, hydrogen sulfide,[11] linalool, trans-ocimene, phenylacetaldehyde, dimethyl sulfide, and dimethyl trisulfide.[12] The latter compound has been found to be emitted from fungating cancerous wounds.[13] The mature fruiting bodies can be smelled from a considerable distance in the woods, and at close quarters most people find the cloying stink extremely repulsive. The flies land in the gleba and in doing so collect the spore mass on their legs and carry it to other locations.[14] An Austrian study demonstrated that blow-flies (species Calliphora vicina, Lucilia caesar, Lucilia ampullacea and Dryomyza anilis) also feed on the slime, and soon after leaving the fruit body, they deposit liquid feces that contain a dense suspension of spores.[15] The study also showed that beetles (Oeceoptoma thoracica and Meligethes viridescens) are attracted to the fungus, but seem to have less of a role in spore dispersal as they tend to feed on the hyphal tissue of the fruiting body.
There is also a possible ecological association between the P. impudicus and badger (Meles meles) setts.[16] Fruiting bodies are commonly clustered in a zone 24 to 39 metres (79 to 128 ft) from the entrances;[17] the setts typically harbor a regularly-available supply of badger cadavers – the mortality rate of cubs is high, and death is more likely to occur within the sett.[18] The fruiting of large numbers of stinkhorns attracts a high population of blowflies (Calliphora and Lucilla breed on carrion);[19] this ensures the rapid elimination of badger carcasses, removing a potential source of disease to the badger colony. The laxative effect of the gleba reduces the distance from the fruiting body to where the spores are deposited, ensuring the continued production of high densities of stinkhorns.[17]
Distribution and habitat [ edit ]
The common stinkhorn can be found throughout much of Europe and North America, and it has also been collected in Asia (including China,[20] Taiwan,[21] and India[22]), Costa Rica,[23] Iceland,[24] Tanzania,[25] and southeast Australia.[26] In North America, it is most common west of the Mississippi River; Ravenel's stinkhorn (Phallus ravenelii) is more common to the east.[27] The fungus is associated with rotting wood, and as such it is most commonly encountered in deciduous woods where it fruits from summer to late autumn, though it may also be found in conifer woods or even grassy areas such as parks and gardens.[7] It may also form mycorrhizal associations with certain trees.[28]
Uses [ edit ]
Edibility [ edit ]
At the egg stage, pieces of the inner layer (the receptaculum) can be cut out with a knife and eaten raw.[29] They are crisp and crunchy with an attractive radishy taste.[30] The fungus is enjoyed and eaten in France and parts of Germany, where it may be sold fresh or pickled and used in sausages.[7] Similar species are consumed in China.
Medicinal properties [ edit ]
Venous thrombosis, the formation of a blood clot in a vein, is a common cause of death in breast cancer patients; patients with recurrent disease are typically maintained on anticoagulants for their lifetimes. A research study has suggested that extracts from P. impudicus can reduce the risk of this condition by reducing the incidence of platelet aggregation, and may have potential as a supportive preventive nutrition.[31] It was used in medieval times as a cure for gout and as a love potion.[7]
Folk uses [ edit ]
In Northern Montenegro, peasants rub Phallus impudicus on the necks of bulls before bull fighting contests in an attempt to make them stronger. They are also fed to young bulls as they are thought to be a potent aphrodisiac.[9]
In 1777, the reverend John Lightfoot wrote that the people of Thuringia called the unopened stinkhorns "ghost's or daemon's eggs" and dried and powdered them before mixing them in spirits as an aphrodisiac.
In culture [ edit ]
Writing about life in Victorian Cambridge, Gwen Raverat (granddaughter of Charles Darwin) describes the'sport' of Stinkhorn hunting:
In our native woods there grows a kind of toadstool, called in the vernacular The Stinkhorn, though in Latin it bears a grosser name. The name is justified, for the fungus can be hunted by the scent alone; and this was Aunt Etty's great invention. Armed with a basket and a pointed stick, and wearing special hunting cloak and gloves, she would sniff her way round the wood, pausing here and there, her nostrils twitching, when she caught a whiff of her prey; then at last, with a deadly pounce, she would fall upon her victim, and poke his putrid carcass into her basket. At the end of the day's sport, the catch was brought back and burnt in the deepest secrecy on the drawing-room fire, with the door locked; because of the morals of the maids.[33]
In Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain (Der Zauberberg), the psychologist Dr. Krokowski gives a lecture on the phallus impudicus:
And Dr. Krokowski had spoken about one fungus, famous since classical antiquity for its form and the powers ascribed to it -- a morel, its Latin name ending in the adjective impudicus, its form reminiscent of love, and its odor, of death. For the stench given off by the impudicus was strikingly like that of a decaying corpse, the odor coming from greenish, viscous slime that carried its spores and dripped from the bell-shaped cap. And even today, among the uneducated, this morel was thought to be an aphrodisiac.[34]
References [ edit ]Spotify released a statement saying they hope Congress will'see the errors of their ways.' | REUTERS House puts Spotify on mute
Spotify apparently hit a wrong note with the House's Internet overlords, who recently blocked the chamber's Web users from listening to the famed music-streaming service.
While Spotify isn't a peer-to-peer program along the lines of Napster, its inner workings appear subject to the longstanding ban on so-called P2P technology — a blockade lawmakers erected to thwart illegal file-sharing and prevent downloads from infecting computers with malware.
Story Continued Below
"To help protect House data, our IT policy generally prohibits the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies while operating within the secure network," a spokesman for the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer told POLITICO this week. "While Spotify is currently not authorized, the CAO has and will continue to work with outside vendors to enable the popular services that improve member communication capabilities."
For its part, Spotify isn't pleased. "It is a sad day when a few bureaucrats can block our nation's leadership from enjoying free, secure access to over 20 million songs," a spokesman told POLITICO. "Music is a common language that all political parties speak and should be used to bring the legislators of this great country together so they can solve the serious issues facing our nation."
While pointing out that both President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney used the service to connect with voters during the presidential campaign, the company added: "We truly hope the House of Representatives will see the error of their ways and stop blocking Spotify so that all of America can benefit from their collective joy of music."
The Senate, meanwhile, does not appear to have a similar ban on Spotify — or at least users on the opposite side of the Capitol reported to POLITICO that they had no trouble Thursday rocking out to their favorite playlists. A spokeswoman for the Senate Rules Committee, which provides support for the chamber and its office buildings, did not immediately return comment.
It's not the first time the Hill has erected walls to popular technologies to the chagrin of members and staffers.
Only in 2011 did House offices gain the ability to use video-chatting tools Skype and ooVoo. Chamber Republicans spent more than a year to reverse the ban, arguing it would better help members connect with constituents back home — and without significant expense. To overcome the Hill's strict peer-to-peer rules, Skype said at the time that it had to work with congressional network managers to address security concerns.
A representative from the CAO did not comment to POLITICO on whether the office is in talks with Spotify.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 1:52 p.m. on January 31, 2013.
This article tagged under: Internet
House
Politics
MusicObjective: In this study, we will demonstrate that the epicardium drug delivery system for bone marrow stem cells (EDDS & BMSCs) can treat heart failure. Methods: 24 rats were randomly allocated into four groups and six animals in each group as follows: Normal group, heart failure after myocardial infarction (HF after MI) group, EDDS and EDDS & BMSCs group. EDDS were implanted in SD rat with post-infarction dilated heart failure. The bone marrow stem cells, which were delivered by the device of subcutaneous tube at post operation seventh days, fifteenth days and twenty-fifth days. Electrocardiogram was measured and blood samples were collected at post operation seventh days, fifteenth days and twentyfifth days. Measurements of rat cardiovascular hemodynamics were obtained at 30th day. The concentrations of BNP were quantified by ELSIA. Myocardial fibrosis was determined by Masson’s trichrome staining quantitative assay. Results: EDDS and EDDS & BMSCs treatment increased ±dp/dt levels and decreased LVEDP level 30 days after MI. In HF after MI group the level of LVSP was 94.7 mmHg and increased to 109.5 mmHg (p<0.01) in EDDS & BMSCs group. Compared with the HF after MI group (70.5 μg/L), the level of BNP was significantly decreased in the EDDS & BMSCs group (48.0 μg/L, p<0.01) and EDDS group (51.9 μg/L, p<0.01). The area of fibrosis heart tissue was decreased in the EDDS & BMSCs group. The ECG was improved in the EDDS & BMSCs group. Conclusions: Using BMSCs delivery by EDDS treated heart failure has treatment effect.
Keywords
Heart failure after myocardial infarction; Bone marrow stem cells; Myocardial infarction; Epicardium drug delivery system
List of Abbreviations:
SD: Sprague Dawley; BMSCs: Bone Marrow Stem Cells; EDDS: Epicardium Drug Delivery System; EDDS & BMSCs: Epicardium Drug Delivery System for Bone Marrow Stem Cells; HF after MI: Heart Failure after Myocardial Infarction; BNP: Brain Natriuretic Peptide; ELSIA: Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; LVSP: Left Ventricle Systolic Pressure; HF: Heart Failure; CSD: Cardiac Support Device; QVR: Quantitative Ventricular Restraint; ECG: Electrocardiogram; LVEDP: Left Ventricle End-Diastolic Pressure; DMEM: Dulbecco Modified Eagle Medium; ANOVA: Analysis of Variance; LAD: Left Anterior Descending
Introduction
Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome that can result from any functional or structural cardiac disorder that impairs the ventricle’s ability to fill with or eject blood [1,2]. Heart failure not only reduces the patient's life expectancy, but also causes the patient to breathe difficult, fluid retention and fatigue, which significantly reduce the quality of life of patients [3]. Almost all of the cardiovascular disease will eventually lead to heart failure, and myocardial infarction is the main cause of heart failure [4]. Heart failure after myocardial infarction can lead to left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction [5]. In the end stage of heart failure, the effect of drugs treatment is very low [6]. Therefore, many studies have turned to use devices to therapy heart failure [7]. Ventricular restraint device was developed to treat severe heart failure, including CSD (CorCap; Acorn Cardiovascular Inc, St Paul, Minn), Heart net (Paracor Medical, Sunnyvale, Calif) and QVR (Polyzen) [8,9]. Ventricular restraint therapy can improve the adverse remodeling of the myocardium was shown in studies [10-12]. However, CSD and Heart Net take effect by passively physical shaping, and thus has great passivity in application [13]. Although quantitative ventricular restraint (QVR) was developed to measure and adjust the restraint level [14]. However, it cannot perform active and positive clinical intervention, especially direct medicine intervention, and cannot be combined with modern medicine treatment of various species and good effect. Therefore, those devices clinical treating effect and treating meaning are discounted and need to be improved.
At the same time, recent studies have found that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have myocardial plasticity that can complement the death of cardiac muscle cells, promote angiogenesis, thereby can repair damaged myocardium and improve cardiac function [15-17]. Autologous BMSCs can be obtained by bone marrow puncture, and there is no immune rejection in autologous transfusion [18]. At present, there are have two ways use stem cells to treat heart failure, one is systemic administration and the other is a local disposable. However, these two kinds of ways have drawbacks, the systemic administration have significant side effects and local disposable is lack of flexibility [19].
Therefore, we recently developed an epicardium drug delivery system (EDDS) on the surface of the heart. The device includes a net cover for surrounding a ventricle and is formed by hollow tubes. All the hollow tubes can completely communicate with each other. |
play. These included zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine, SUPERHOT VR, Space Pirate Trainer, Fantastic Contraption, Skyworld and many more. No official sales figures have been released just yet so Microsoft maybe hoping to bolster these numbers with Black Friday savings.
The Black Friday deals are available through the Microsoft Store, starting from 23rd and running through to 27th November, 2017.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Microsoft and Windows Mixed Reality headsets, reporting back with the latest updates and deals.Via ESPN
UCF won a share of the American Athletic Conference with Memphis and perhaps Cincinnati thanks to that 51-yard rainbow from Justin Holman to Breshad Perriman, winning at ECU, 32-30.
Listen to UCF's announcers go berserk and to what they believe to be ECU accidentally firing its victory cannon:
This involved three costly blunders by the Pirates.
First, ECU tried to goof around and kill clock on the preceding fourth down, with quarterback Shane Carden instead going down amid a pass rush and leaving 10 seconds within range of midfield. A punt would've pushed back UCF's final drive and taken a few more seconds off the clock, perhaps meaning only time for one play from UCF territory, not two.
Second, don't ever let the receiver behind you.
Third... oh no, what are you doing, No. 39? [Update: No. 39, DaShaun Amos, says he was trying to avoid pass interference.]
OH NO
oh noHow many of each item we’d need to buy at a $12 billion wall price tag. (Icons from the Noun Project: Xinh Studio, Chanut is Industries, Vectors Market, arejoenah, Gregor Cresnar)
President Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Thursday that the administration had an idea that would force Mexico to pay for the construction of a wall on the border between our two countries. The strategy? The White House could advocate for a 20 percent tax on Mexican goods being imported into the country. (Spicer later said that this was just a possibility.)
That would certainly work to generate a great deal of money. Mexico is our third-largest trading partner, with trade totaling more than a half-trillion dollars in 2015. The only trick is that this wouldn’t exactly be Mexico paying for the wall: It would be U.S. consumers paying additional costs for Mexican products to make up the total.
And we’re talking about a lot of Mexican products. Our fact-checkers estimate that constructing the wall would cost up to $25 billion, if it’s of the concrete slab type that Trump has discussed in the past. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) put the total at $12 to $15 billion this week, though, so we’ll go with that figure.
[GOP congressional leaders: The border wall will cost $12 billion to $15 billion]
What does the United States import from Mexico? Electronics, cars, fruits and vegetables, snacks. That sort of thing.
So let’s take the humble avocado. You can buy an avocado for a few dollars at your grocery store — say, $3. A 20 percent tax on that would increase the price to $3.60. A modest but not insignificant increase.
That 60 cents would go to pay down the price of the wall. If we were paying for the wall with only the purchase of avocados, that would necessitate that Americans buy between 20 and 25 billion avocados. In 2014, the United States consumed about 4 billion avocados, 85 percent of which were imported. That’s 3.4 billion avocados from overseas each year, meaning that it would take six or seven years’ worth of avocado consumption for “Mexico” to finish paying for the wall.
.@pbump if we have 25B avocados, would be able to run the length of the MX border 793.5 times yielding a 165.3ft or 50.38m high Avocado wall — Matt McDaniel (@GovMatt) January 26, 2017
All of that’s assuming that Americans want to pay more for Mexican avocados instead of avocados from other countries. If consumption of the fruits (fruits? vegetables?) decreased, it would take that much longer to pay off the wall. Mexico would bear the brunt of that reduced consumption, of course, hurting the country’s economy and, ironically, inspiring more Mexicans to seek work in the United States.
It’s not clear if all 20 percent of the tax would be absorbed by the consumer. Mexican producers could reduce costs to absorb some of the increase — meaning that Mexico would end up paying for part of the wall — but American consumers would pick up the rest of the cost. Those costs would likely trickle into other products that use components made in Mexico as well, since those components would similarly grow more expensive.
Of course, the tax wouldn’t apply only to avocados. Here’s how “Mexico” could pay off the wall by tricking Americans into paying taxes on enormous amounts of other products made south of the border.
Heavy crude oil
Cost: $43. Taxed price: $51.6. Money raised for the wall, per unit: $8.6
Units America would need to buy: 1.4 billion to 1.7 billion.
Tecate six-pack
Cost: $6. Taxed price: $7.20. Money raised for the wall, per unit: $1.20
Units America would need to buy: 10 billion to 12.5 billion.
LG refrigerator
Cost: $1,600. Taxed price: $1,920. Money raised for the wall, per unit: $320
Units America would need to buy: 37.5 million to 46.9 million.
Takis (sort of like Cheetos)
Cost: $6. Taxed price: $7.20. Money raised for the wall, per unit: $1.20
Units America would need to buy: 10 billion to 12.5 billion.
Tomato paste
Cost: $1.20. Taxed price: $1.44. Money raised for the wall, per unit: 24 cents
Units America would need to buy: 50 billion to 62.5 billion.
Lenovo ThinkStation
Cost: $575. Taxed price: $690. Money raised for the wall, per unit: $115
Units America would need to buy: 104 million to 130 million.
Troy-Bilt leaf blower
Cost: $150. Taxed price: $180. Money raised for the wall, per unit: $30
Units America would need to buy: 400 million to 500 million.
Papermate pen refills
Cost: $5.54. Taxed price: $6.65. Money raised for the wall, per unit: $1.11
Units America would need to buy: 10.8 billion to 13.5 billion.
Ford Fiesta
Cost: $21,435. Taxed price: $25,722. Money raised for the wall, per unit: $4,287
Units America would need to buy: 2.8 million to 3.5 million.
There’s a way this could be made really easy. You know who has about $13 billion available and wants to see President Trump succeed? His Cabinet. Get DeVos and McMahon and Mnuchin and Ross to buy a few million Ford Fiestas and a billion avocados or so, and — voilà! — “Mexico” has paid for the wall.
And people think this governing stuff is so hard.0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
It’s clear that Roger Ailes and Fox News had big plans for their Super Bowl interview with President Obama. They were going to use the biggest stage of the year to prove that the president is a failure. Instead, it was Obama who humiliated Fox News.
Video of the interview:
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
It was obvious from the first question that Fox News had a clear agenda for this interview with Obama. The interview got off to a horrible start when O’Reilly tried to zing Obama with the long since fixed ACA website.
This exchange set the tone:
OBAMA: — as I said, I don’t think anybody anticipated the degree of problems that you had on HealthCare.gov. The good news is that right away, we decided how are we going to fix it, it got fixed within a month and a half, it was up and running and now it’s working the way it’s supposed to and we’ve signed up three million people.
O’REILLY: I don’t know about that, because last week, there was an Associated Press call of people who actually went to the Web site and only 8 percent of them feel that it’s working well, working well.
It was typical. President Obama responded with a fact. The Republican ignored the fact, and talked about the way people feel. Right away President Obama put O’Reilly on his heels, and it was clear that the right wing host was full of hot air and had no ammo. Things would only get worse for Fox News from this point forward. The question about why the president didn’t fire HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was supposed to make it appear to viewers that Obama doesn’t hold people accountable, but the president’s answer made the right’s position look weak, and allowed Obama to continue to drive the message home that the ACA is working. It’s also at this point that O’Reilly lost control of the interview. President Obama was now driving the bus.
Obama destroyed O’Reilly’s whole line of Benghazi questions by pointing out that Fox News is keeping the conspiracy alive,
OBAMA: Bill, think about…
O’REILLY: That’s what they believe.
OBAMA: — and they believe it because folks like you are telling them that.
O’REILLY: No, I’m not telling them that.
(LAUGHTER)
It is always bad for Fox News when a host leaves the door open for a guest to talk about the misinformation that the network spreads. It is a disaster when it happens on national broadcast television during the Super Bowl pregame show.
The ultimate humiliation for Ailes and Fox News came when O’Reilly ventured into another favorite right wing conspiracy theory, the IRS scandal.
O’REILLY: OK, so you don’t — you don’t recall seeing Shulman, because what some people are saying is that the IRS was used…
OBAMA: Yes.
O’REILLY: — at a — at a local level in Cincinnati, and maybe other places to go after…
OBAMA: Absolutely wrong.
O’REILLY: — to go after.
OBAMA: Absolutely wrong.
O’REILLY: But how do you know that, because we — we still don’t know what happened there?
OBAMA: Bill, we do — that’s not what happened. They — folks have, again, had multiple hearings on this. I mean these kinds of things keep on surfacing, in part because you and your TV station will promote them.
O’Reilly closed with a viewer letter about transforming America, that the president easily knocked down. He also admitted that he hadn’t been fair to the president by saying, “I think — I — you know, I know you think maybe we haven’t been fair, but I think your heart is in the right place.”
If you have read the book The Loudest Voice In The Room, this interview had Ailes’ fingerprints all over it, but the Republican propaganda master appears to be losing his touch. He has left behind the aura of frustrated conservative everyman populism that Fox News was built on, and replaced it with far right conspiracy theories that mainstream America doesn’t believe in, or care about.
President Obama controlled this interview. The president put O’Reilly on the defensive, and used his conspiracy theory based questions to demonstrate that he and the Democratic Party represent the center of current American politics. An interview that was supposed to be ultimate Obama trap, ended up revealing why Fox News is a network that is only watched by about 2 million Americans.
Barack Obama blew up Roger Ailes’ plan, and humiliated Fox News. O’Reilly and Fox News will be puffing out their chests and claiming victory today, but this interview was a resounding humiliation for the interviewer, the network, and the old man in his bullet proof office who calling the shots.
Roger Ailes may run Rupert Murdoch’s conservative news channel, but it is President Obama who owns Fox News.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:Word just broke that Syfy has cancelled their post-alien invasion series Defiance after three seasons. The announcement does not come as a huge surprise because the show’s ratings have dropped notably over the past two seasons. In its first season, it averaged a 0.8 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic and then it dropped to a 0.5 average during its second season and a 0.3 score this past Summer. Also suggesting the demise of Defiance was the fact that Dominion was just cancelled this week after two seasons and its ratings were in the same range. When Defiance arrived on Syfy back in 2013, it was pegged as the network’s next flagship series and a online game tie-in was launched at the same time for a multi-platform experience. The game failed to find much success, though. and the audience for the television show had already started to drop off by the end of its first season. Syfy stuck with it for two more seasons but apparently decided not to go ahead with a fourth year. Defiance was likely an expensive entry for Syfy and it did not have much in the way of international partnerships or financing that I am aware of. That network’s Dark Matter and Killjoys, which aired in a three hour block with Defiance on Fridays this past Summer, pulled lower ratings and got renewed, but they are part of a partnership with the Canadian Space Channel. As more and more scripted shows are appearing across the many cable and broadcast channels and the audience is getting further fractured, these partnerships are becoming more important to the survival of television shows.
From what I understand, the Season 3 finale of Defiance wrapped up many of the show’s storylines and acted very much as a series finale. Still, I know that fans of the show were hoping for it to continue into a fourth year and I expect an attempt by them to try and convince one of the other networks and/or streaming services to pick it up, though we haven’t seen much success with that of late. Defiance joins several other Summer sci fi shows to get cancelled recently including Syfy’s Dominion, Extant (CBS), and Proof (TNT). And we are still waiting to hear word on The Whispers (ABC), Wayward Pines (FOX), Olympus (Syfy), and more. Keep an eye on this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for any breaking news because I expect to hear word on these shows over the next week or so.“What happens sometimes with a big cat nursing a single cub is that she doesn’t have enough stimulation for lactation and may not produce enough milk,” according to Steve Bircher, curator of mammals/carnivores at the Saint Louis Zoo. “In the future, we hope that Cabara will give birth to a larger litter and raise them successfully.” Several hours each day, keepers return her to a den next to her mother. The staff hopes to reintroduce the cub and mother sometime in the future.
A litter of two African lion cubs was born at the Saint Louis Zoo on July 17. While one of the two females was stillborn, the mother lion, Cabara, age 5, seemed to be interested in caring for her surviving cub. After about six days, however, the little cub appeared dehydrated and so was removed for hand-rearing at the Zoo’s veterinary hospital. As a result she appears to be quite healthy after three weeks of hand-feeding! Her name is Imani, which means “faith” in Swahili
The father of the cub is Ingozi (in-GOH-zee), age 3.
“Lions are social animals, and the cub needs to grow up in a family group if at all possible,” explains Bircher. “We hope to raise a well-adjusted lion.” The African lion is a social cat that lives in a pride, or family group, mainly comprised of up to 40 related adult females and their young. Male lions generally live with a pride for two to three years. A female lion normally gives birth to a litter of three to four cubs, after a gestation period of approximately 110 days. The lion pride usually hunts as a group and preys on medium to large-sized antelopes, zebra and buffalo.
In the past 25 years, the wild lion population has halved. Currently there are fewer than 25,000 lions surviving in Africa. Habitat loss, poaching and human-lion conflict have contributed to this significant decline. The lion has been listed as vulnerable by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which is one level below threatened with extinction.
In addition to increasing awareness of the lion’s plight in the wild, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has developed the Lion Species Survival Plan, a program that manages a genetically healthy captive population of lions in North American zoos. Currently there are 337 lions living in 100 AZA institutions, which may serve as a genetic reserve for this species in the future.Back in 2013 it was Syria where the world was gearing for imminent military action after a relentless series of false flag provocations by the United States (intent on securing a Qatar gas pipeline to Europe) which in the last minute was deftly diffused by Vladimir Putin. In 2014, it was the Ukraine's turn, and after a prolonged campaign orchestrated by Victoria Nuland and the US State Department (again) which succeeded in the now traditional violent coup (see Egypt and Libya), once again saw Putin victorious, after yesterday's annexation of the all important Crimean peninsula, achieved without the firing of one shot. So now that Putin has succeeded in trouncing the US twice in a row, it is time to poke some old, well-known geopolitical wounds, such as Iran. And who better to do it than Israel, where as Haaretz reports, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon have ordered the army to continue preparing for a possible military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities at a cost of at least 10 billion shekels ($2.89 billion) this year, despite the talks between Iran and the West, according to recent statements by senior military officers."
To be sure there is a tangible benefit for all those involved: moar war means more military spending means more "broken windows" means more "GDP."
Three Knesset members who were present at Knesset joint committee hearings on Israel Defense Forces plans that were held in January and February say they learned during the hearings that 10 billion shekels to 12 billion shekels of the defense budget would be allocated this year for preparations for a strike on Iran, approximately the same amount that was allocated in 2013.
Yet unlike the US where warmongering has become an art, if not a science, in Israel these things are taken far more seriously:
The IDF representatives said the army had received a clear directive from government officials from the political echelon – meaning Netanyahu and Ya’alon – to continue readying for a possible independent strike by Israel on the Iranian nuclear sites, regardless of the talks now happening between Iran and the West, the three MKs said.
As for the diplomatic cover for a potential attack, it is well-known, and the same one used for the past 3 years - attack Iran before it can nuke Israel and obliterate it from the face of the earth.
Ever since the interim accord between Iran and the six powers was reached, Netanyahu has stressed that Israel will not consider itself bound by it. In the last few weeks, as talks on a permanent accord have resumed, Netanyahu has upped his rhetoric on the Iranian issue, and is again making implied threats about a possible unilateral Israeli strike on the Iranian nuclear sites. “My friends, I believe that letting Iran enrich uranium would open up the floodgates,” Netanyahu said at the AIPAC conference earlier this month. “That must not happen. And we will make sure it does not happen.”
Ironically, this time Israel may see pushback from none other than the US itself, which mysteriously over the past 6 months has transformed itself from Iran's most hated enemy to a willing partner who sees Iran as nothing short of a frontier market (not to mention source of natural resources).
However, the US too realizes that it needs "military outs" with Ukraine seemingly diffused for the time being. Which is why yesterday, a few hours after Russia peacefully annexed Crimea, the US made its feeble response known, when it suspended operations of the Syrian Embassy in Washington and its consulates and told diplomats and staff who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents to leave the country. The justification of this oddly timed move came from the U.S. special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein who said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had refused to step down and was responsible for atrocities against Syrians.
And this was news to the US? More from Reuters:
"We have determined it is unacceptable for individuals appointed by that regime to conduct diplomatic or consular operations in the United States," said Rubinstein, whose appointment was announced by the State Department on Monday. "Consequently, the United States notified the Syrian government today that it must immediately suspend operations of its embassy in Washington, D.C., and its honorary consulates in Troy, Michigan, and Houston, Texas," he said in a statement.
In other words, the US tried to impose its "moral superiority" codex on yet another country, which for all intents and purposes was a proxy of Russian strength in the middle east, i.e., punish the Kremlin by kicking out Syria. Surely Putin was in tears.
The only problem is that it is now beyond obvious to virtually everyone in the world that the framework of Pax Americana is only applicable to the increasingly self-deluded United States, and of course the Group of 7 most insolvent nations, whose debt ponzi schemes are ever more reliant on a centrally planned regime of low interest rates and free money. For everyone else it is now just as obvious that when provoked, the best the US can do is simply impose some sanctions, and shut down embassies... while it prints trillions of dollars in "paper wealth" each year of course.The Trail Blazers chances for home court advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs took a major hit Thursday with Portland's loss to Golden State. But with less than a week remaining in the regular season there is still plenty left to be determined in the Western Conference.
The Golden State Warriors have secured the top seed and home court advantage. Dallas on Wednesday virtually guaranteed itself the 7th spot with a win over Phoenix, which eliminated the Suns from the playoffs. The Blazers look to be set in the fourth seed, but will almost certainly begin the postseason on the road.
As for the other five seeds in the West, it's going to be a fun final five days. Just a half game separates No. 2 and No. 6.
The San Antonio Spurs beat the Houston Rockets on Wednesday to pull within a half game of the Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies. The Spurs are tied record-wise with the Los Angeles Clippers at 53-26, but are stuck in sixth place because the Clippers hold the tiebreaker due to a better record against Western Conference teams.
Memphis (53-25) is currently in second despite having an identical record as third-seeded Houston. The Grizzlies and Rockets split the regular season series, but the Grizzlies have an edge thanks to the superior record against Southwest Division foes.
The Blazers (51-28) are the fourth seed, but are currently slated to open the playoffs on the road against the fifth-seeded Clippers (53-26). Winning the Northwest Division guaranteed the Blazers a top-four seed, but not home court advantage, which is determined first by overall record. If the Blazers and a non-division winner finish with the same record as the four and five seeds, Portland would get home court advantage thanks to the division crown.
The New Orleans Pelicans (42-36) hold the final playoff spot because of a 3-1 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder (42-36). The Pelicans have a brutal final week, so if they do end up with a postseason berth they will have earned it in April.
Friday's games should offer a little more clarity.
The Pelicans and Thunder both have home games on Friday against Phoenix and Sacramento respectively. The Spurs face the Rockets in Houston on Friday night. A win would give San Antonio the head-to-head tiebreaker and propel the reigning champs into the No. 3 spot. Houston would drop to sixth with the loss. The Rockets would have the same record as Los Angeles, but the Clippers hold the tiebreaker over the Rockets because of a better record against the West.
The Grizzlies are on the road to face the Jazz on Friday and then have a huge game against the Clippers in Los Angeles on Saturday. When the dust settles Sunday morning we'll likely have a good idea where everyone is headed. Enjoy the next 48 hours.
Standings
(X - Clinched Playoff Spot, Y - Clinched Division, Z - Clinched Conference)
Playoff tiebreakers:
Two Teams Tied
(1) Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division.
(2) Better winning percentage in games against each other.
(3) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if tied teams are in same division).
(4) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference.
(5) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position).
(6) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in opposite conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position).
(7) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents ("point differential").
More Than Two Teams Tied
(1) Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division.
(2) Better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams.
(3) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if all tied teams are in the same division).
(4) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference.
(5) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position).
(6) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents ("point differential").
Current playoff matchups:
Warriors (1) vs. Pelicans (8)
Blazers (4) vs. Clippers (5)*
Grizzlies (2) vs. Mavericks (7)
Rockets (3) vs. Spurs (6)
*Clippers have home court advantage
Relevant head-to-head tie breakers:
Portland over Houston, 2-1
Portland over San Antonio, 3-1
Memphis over Portland, 4-0
Los Angeles over Portland, 3-1
Memphis over Dallas, 3-1
Los Angeles over Dallas, 2-1
Dallas over Oklahoma City, 3-1
Dallas over New Orleans, 3-1
New Orleans over Oklahoma City, 3-1
Houston and Memphis tied 2-2
Houston and Los Angeles tied 2-2
San Antonio and Memphis tied 2-2
San Antonio and Los Angeles tied 2-2
San Antonio and Dallas tied 2-2
Remaining schedules:
No. 3 Memphis: 53-25 (4 games left: 1 home, 3 road)
Fri. 10 at Utah
Sat. 11 at Los Angeles Clippers
Mon. 13 at Golden State
Wed. 15 vs. Indiana
No. 2 Houston: 53-25 (4 games left: 3 home, 1 road)
Fri. 10 vs. San Antonio
Sun. 12 vs. New Orleans
Mon. 13 at Charlotte
Wed. 15 vs. Utah
No. 4 Portland: 51-28 (3 games left: 1 home, 2 road)
Sat. 11 vs. Utah
Mon. 13 at Oklahoma City
Wed. 15 at Dallas
No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers: 53-26 (3 games left: 2 home, 1 road)
Sat. 11 vs. Memphis
Mon. 13 vs. Denver
Tue. 14 at Phoenix
No. 6 San Antonio: 53-26 (3 games left: 1 home, 2 road)
Fri. 10 at Houston
Sun. 12 vs. Phoenix
Wed. 15 at New Orleans
No. 7 Dallas: 47-31 (4 games left: 1 home, 3 road)
Fri. 10 at Denver
Sun. 12 at Los Angeles Lakers
Mon. 13 at Utah
Wed. 15 vs. Portland
No. 8 New Orleans: 42-36 (4 games left: 2 home, 2 road)
Fri. 10 vs. Phoenix
Sun. 12 at Houston
Mon. 13 at Minnesota
Wed. 15 vs. San Antonio
No. 9 Oklahoma City: 42-36 (4 games: 2 home, 2 road)
Fri. 10 vs. Sacramento
Sun. 12 at Indiana
Mon. 13 vs. Portland
Wed. 15 at Minnesota
-- Mike Richman
mrichman@oregonian.com | 503-221-8162 | @mikegrichWASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Republicans who were angered to learn on Wednesday that the former I.R.S. official Lois Lerner had referred to them as “crazies” and “assholes” responded later in the day by voting to sue the President of the United States.
“Calling us crazy assholes is insulting, derogatory, and beneath contempt,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters. “And now if you’ll excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I have to go sue Obama.”
Determined to burnish their reputation as extremely sane people who are not assholes at all, House Republicans in their lawsuit accuse the President of “coldly and arrogantly seizing power granted to him by the United States Constitution.”
The lawsuit alleges that “having signed 181 executive orders to date, Barack Obama seems intent on chasing the records of such notorious renegades as Dwight Eisenhower (484) and Theodore Roosevelt (1,081).”How do Avatar's Na'vi do the nasty? By meshing the weird tendrils that let the giant blue hunters connect to trees, flying banshees and other flora and fauna on Pandora.
"If you sync to your banshee and you're syncing to a tree, why not sync into a person?" said actress Zoe Saldana, who plays huntress Neytiri in James Cameron's 3-D sci-fi epic. "I almost feel like you'll have the most amazing orgasm."
The brief love scene between Neytiri and Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) could be expanded when Avatar comes out on DVD, Cameron told a group of journalists during the press conference with Saldana, as reported in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
"We had it in [the PG-13 movie] and we cut it out," Cameron said. "So that will be something for the special-edition DVD, if you want to see how they have sex."
[via Vulture]
Follow us on Twitter: @lewiswallace and @theunderwire.
See Also:Bob Dylan, the singer-songwriter whose career stretches back more than six decades, has won 11 Grammy Awards, and sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, is designing a large iron gate that visitors to the MGM National Harbor hotel and casino will walk under when the resort opens later this year. The 26-foot-by-15-foot installation, titled “Portal,” will be on permanent display at the $1.3 billion venue, MGM says in a press release.
Metalworking is one of the 75-year-old Dylan’s less-well-known pursuits. Although he’s been making metal sculptures since at least the 1970s—he told a Minnesota newspaper in 1978 that “I like to blast sculpture out of metal”—his first public show was not until 2013, when he displayed several pieces at a London gallery.
Dylan’s commission for the MGM casino was first reported by Rolling Stone.
As with any visual-art installation, “Portal” comes with its own esoteric description from the artist. “Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow,” Dylan says in an MGM press release. “They can be closed, but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways, there is no difference.”
Dylan’s gate at National Harbor will lead people toward a 125,000-square-foot casino floor which—if it comports to industry standards—will be designed to keep visitors inside.
The MGM National Harbor will also feature sculptures from local artists on its property, including “Unity,” by DC-based sculptor John Safer, featuring three 60-foot tall stainless steel twists.
Join the conversation!Cleone Augur (pictured) is the great-granddaughter of Harry Selfridge and says his story is even stranger than the fiction shown on the hit ITV show
Fans of the ITV series Mr Selfridge probably think they know everything about the colourful American tycoon – from his trim, dark beard to his compulsive womanising and betrayal of his long-suffering wife.
But the truth about Harry Gordon Selfridge is very much stranger than that told in the hit show, according to one surviving member of his family.
Cleone Augur, the great-granddaughter of the man who revolutionised British shopping, says the real story of Mr Selfridge and his family includes Russian assassins, showgirls, drug scandals, a slide into poverty – and a bizarre tale of smuggled bull semen.
Mrs Augur has never spoken in public about the series and says she watches the show under sufferance.
But when she was tracked down by The Mail on Sunday she was keen to set the record straight on a couple of key points: Harry Gordon Selfridge was not unfaithful, she insists – and he didn’t even have a beard.
‘Mr Selfridge is a story which is entertaining for the masses, but it is not necessarily fact,’ she says with withering precision.
‘I was particularly annoyed by the portrayal of my great-grandfather.
'He did not have affairs when his wife was alive, though he went slightly bananas after she died in the flu pandemic in 1918.
‘He made some bad decisions. He had a good time with the ladies, particularly the Dolly sisters, identical twin dancers who helped him spend his money.
'Then he discovered that one of them was taking a lot of drugs and he severed the relationship.
‘And I was disappointed that Jeremy Piven has a beard – my great-grandfather never wore one.’
Last Sunday, Mrs Augur watched a portrayal of her own grandmother Rosalie – Selfridge’s daughter (played by Kara Tointon) – getting married in style to a Russian emigre, the rakish aviation pioneer Prince Serge de Bolotoff.
A shot from season three of Mr Selfridge, starring Jeremy Piven (pictured third from right) as Harry Selfridge
An undated photograph showing Harry Selfridge with his daughter Rosalie - Mrs Augur's grandmother
Mrs Augur says: ‘I thought Kara was very good as my grandmother, but they got the dates wrong.
'I do know they all broke glasses [during a toast] but the wedding was completely different.
'They married in a private ceremony at the chapel of the Russian Embassy in London.’
Mrs Augur was not convinced, either, by Zoë Wanamaker’s portrayal of the groom’s mother, Princess Marie, as a grasping woman.
‘My great-grandmother was a deeply religious woman and wasn’t on the make,’ she says.
‘Her family had estates all over Russia but lost everything. Her husband disappeared with the secret police at some stage and never came back.
Princess Marie Wiazemsky (pictured left) and Serge and Tatiana Wiazemsky with their baby Rosalie (right)
‘And I’m not convinced they are particularly accurate about grandpapa, who was quite a nervous chap. He was always worried that he was going to be assassinated by his political enemies in Russia.
‘When he came over here, he had a Cossack who used to sleep across the bedroom door, which my grandmother found quite trying, as you can imagine.
‘Grandpapa was quite witty and charming and had an eye for the ladies, but I never heard any stories that he was tempted to go off with anyone else.’
Now 70, Mrs Augur says Selfridge lavished money on his four children – Rosalie, Violette, Harry Jnr and Beatrice – and bankrolled their husbands.
Mrs Augur with the wedding dress that was handed down to her from grandmother Rosalie Wiazemsky
Rosalie’s husband Serge tried – and failed – to become the first man to fly across the English Channel after the Daily Mail offered a £1,000 prize in 1908.
After their marriage, the couple lived with Selfridge in London’s Portman Square while Serge started a short-lived aviation company that only ever made one machine – a two-seat utility biplane that was illustrated in the 1919 edition of Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft.
Despite his lack of success, the family enjoyed a wonderful sailing trip to Deauville in France on Selfridge’s steam yacht, Conqueror, as well as playing tennis on the roof of the department store and sitting in the front row at show premieres.
Selfridge even installed a soda fountain in the store for his eldest daughter.
Eventually, Selfridge’s spending spiralled out of control as the Great Depression hit his profits, and he was ousted from the board in 1941.
When he ran into money troubles he moved to a flat in Putney, South-West London, with Serge, Rosalie and Mrs Augur’s mother, Tatiana.
‘He didn’t have any money,’ Mrs Augur recalls.
‘My grandmother once turned the bailiffs away and she had to go and work in the finance department at Selfridges.
‘She didn’t want to be recognised, so she took the name Mrs Rose Lee.’
Selfridge died in penury in 1947, at the age of 90. Mrs Augur was just three years old.
Despite their troubles, Tatiana was a debutante and |
This assumption was actually made explicit by James Thomson. He recognized—alone, apparently, before Einstein—that the measurement of distance involves
the difficulty as to imperfection of our means of ascertaining or specifying, or clearly idealizing, simultaneity at distant places. For this we do commonly use signals by sound, by light, by electricity, by connecting wires or bars, and by various other means. The time required in the transmission of the signal involves an imperfection in human powers of ascertaining simultaneity of occurrences at distant places. It seems, however, probably not to involve any difficulty of idealizing or imagining the existence of simultaneity. Probably it may not be felt to involve any difficulty comparable to that of attempting to form a distinct notion of identity of place at successive times in unmarked space. (1884, p. 380).
In other words, Thomson assumed that it was not a difficulty in principle, like the difficulty of determining rest in absolute space. But Einstein showed that it was precisely the same kind of difficulty, and that determinations of simultaneity involve reference to an arbitrary choice of reference-frame, just as much as determinations of velocity. Einstein's conclusion is, of course, entirely contingent on the empirical facts of electrodynamics; it could have been avoided if there were in nature a useful signal of some kind whose transmission would provide a criterion of absolute simultaneity, so that the same events would be determined to be simultaneous in all inertial frames. Or, experiments might have been able to reveal the dependence of the velocity of light on the state of motion of the source. Then synchronization by light-signals could still have been regarded as a mere practical substitute for a notion of absolute simultaneity that stood on independent grounds, empirically as well as conceptually. But as Einstein saw, because of the apparent independence of the velocity of light of the motion of the source, even “idealizing or imagining the existence of simultaneity” involves light-signaling more essentially than anyone could have realized. Unless some other criterion of simultaneity is provided, therefore, the establishment of a spatial frame of reference involves light-signaling in an essential way. In the absence of such a criterion the speed of light cannot be, as Lorentz supposed, empirically measured against the background of an inertial frame; in that case the only empirically sound definition of an inertial frame is the one that appeals to the speed of light.
It may seem surprising that, after this insightful analysis of the concept of inertial frame and its role in electrodynamics, Einstein should have turned almost immediately to call that concept into question. But he had a compelling combination of physical and philosophical motives to do so. On the physical side, he realized (along with many others) that special relativity would require some fundamental revision of the Newtonian theory of gravity. On the philosophical side, he became convinced, largely by his reading of Mach (1883), that the central role of inertial frames was an “epistemological defect” that special relativity shared with Newtonian mechanics. (Einstein 1916, pp. 112–113.) Only relative motions are observable, yet both of these theories purport to identify a privileged state of motion and use it to explain observable effects (such as centrifugal forces). Coordinate systems are not observable, yet both of these theories assign a fundamental physical role to certain kinds of coordinate system, namely, the inertial systems. In either theory, inertial coordinates are distinguished from all others, and the laws of physics are said to hold only relative to inertial coordinate systems. In an epistemologically sophisticated theory, both of these problems would be solved at once: the new theory would only refer to what is observable, which is relative motion; it would admit arbitrary coordinate systems, instead of confining itself to a special class of system. Why, after all, should any genuine physical phenomenon depend on the choice of coordinate system?
Another way of putting the same point is to say that, in Newtonian mechanics and special relativity, rotation is “absolute” because the transformations between inertial frames (Galilean or Lorentzian) preserve rotational states. Thus the “absoluteness” of rotation arises precisely from singling out one type of frame, by one type of transformation, instead of allowing arbitrary transformations and arbitrary frames. Einstein held that this epistemological insight had a natural mathematical representation in the principle of general covariance, or the principle that the laws of nature are to be invariant under arbitrary coordinate transformations. More precisely, what this means is that coordinate transformations are no longer required (as in the affine spaces of Newtonian mechanics and special relativity) to take straight lines to straight lines, but only to preserve the smoothness of curves (i.e. their differentiability). The general theory of relativity was intended to be a generally covariant account of spacetime, and its general covariance was intended to express the general relativity of motion. And the theory came into being because Einstein perceived a deep connection between this project and that of finding a relativistic theory of gravitation.
The philosophical motivations and implications of Einstein's view are dealt with elsewhere. (See, for example, the entries on Einstein's philosophy of science; the hole argument; and early philosophical interpretations of general relativity.) We will consider here only the bearing of general relativity on the notion of an inertial frame. It is questionable whether Einstein succeeded in establishing the general relativity of motion, but it is clear that general relativity undermines the concept of inertial frame in important respects. This arises from the equivalence principle: that inertial mass—the quantity that enters into Newton's second law, and that is a measure of a body's resistance to acceleration—is equivalent to gravitational mass, the quantity that enters into Newton's law of universal gravitation. A more empirical way of expressing it is that all bodies fall with the same acceleration in the same gravitational field, or, the trajectory of a body in a given gravitational field will be independent of its mass and composition. This is the principle that Newton tested by constructing pendulums with wooden boxes as their bobs, which he would fill with different materials in order to see whether those differences made a difference to the speed of falling; they didn't. Eötvös made more precise tests in the late 19th century, and established the principle to much greater accuracy; these are the results on which Einstein would have relied. Newton also tested the principle for bodies whose masses differ greatly, by observing that Jupiter and its four moons all received precisely the same acceleration from the sun's gravitational field.
The equivalence principle suggests, however, that a freely-falling frame of reference is physically indistinguishable from an inertial frame. Newton had already noticed this, and indeed he stated it, more or less, in Corollary VI to the laws of motion:
If bodies are moving in any way whatsoever with respect to one another and are urged by equal accelerative forces along parallel lines, they will all continue to move with respect to one another in the same way as they would if they were not acted on by those forces. (1726, p. 423.)
For example, he was able to treat the system of Jupiter and its moons as if it were (nearly) at rest or moving uniformly in a straight line, because the attractive force of the sun acts (almost) equally on every part of the system. See Figure 9:
Figure 9: Newton's Corollary VI
What seem, within a given system, like equal and parallel accelerations may be, on a larger scale, unequal and converging on some distant massive object; e.g., the system of Jupiter and its moons is falling toward the sun, but “locally” the accelerations are very nearly equal and parallel, and may therefore be neglected.
He even applied this reasoning to the entire solar system, in order to justify treating it as an isolated system: if there were any outside force acting on it, it must have been acting more or less equally and in parallel directions on all parts of the system.
It may be alleged that the sun and planets are impelled by some other force equally and in the direction of parallel lines; but by such a force (by Cor. VI of the Laws of Motion) no change would happen in the situation of the planets to one another, nor any sensible effect follow; but our business is with the causes of sensible effects. Let us, therefore, neglect every such force as imaginary and precarious, and of no use in the phenomena of the heavens….(1729, volume 2 p. 558)
Now, it is a familiar fact that in an orbiting spacecraft, bodies behave as if no forces were acting on any of them (as if they were “weightless”), because the attraction of the earth acts equally on all of them. But these phenomena are not, by themselves, evidence that no phenomena are capable of distinguishing an inertial frame from a falling frame. Einstein was willing to generalize the equivalence principle, and to conclude that the classical idea of a distinguished class of frames of reference has no physical basis. Any frame that we might regard as inertial might be, for all we can tell by experiment, in free fall. By the same token, any frame that is uniformly accelerating is indistinguishable from one that is at rest in a uniform gravitational field. Suppose that you are in a box at rest on the earth; you and everything in the box, by the equivalence principle, will be accelerated downward with the acceleration g (= 9.8 meters/second/second). Now suppose that the box itself is in empty, gravity-free space, but accelerating upward (i.e. in the direction of its roof) with the acceleration -g. Obviously, because of their inertia, bodies in the box, including your own, will exert the same force—have the same “weight”—on the floor as if the box were at rest and sitting on the earth.
To get a clearer idea of the physical significance of the equivalence principle, and its connection with general covariance, consider the Newtonian procedure for analyzing motion in the solar system, here sketched very roughly:
Determine the accelerations of all the planets relative to the fixed stars. Using the laws of motion, their corollaries, and all the propositions proved from these in Book I of Principia, derive from the accelerations the forces needed to produce them; in particular, derive from the orbits the centers of those orbits, and the masses of the bodies needed to produce those forces. This crucially involves the law of action and reaction, for otherwise it would be impossible to break down the total acceleration of any planet into the components contributed by particular other planets; the earth's acceleration, for example, is the sum of its accelerations toward all the other planets, and each individual acceleration is part of an action-reaction pair involving some other planet. When we understand the mutual interactions among the planets, we are in a position to estimate their relative masses. In Newton's case, this was necessarily restricted to the planets with satellites, because only in those cases could he compare the accelerations they determine at given distances and so deduce the differences in mass. By this reasoning he estimated the ratios of the Sun's mass to those of Jupiter (1067 to 1), Saturn (3021 to 1), and the earth, and was able to calculate that the center of mass of the entire solar system would never be more than one solar diameter from the center of the Sun. Having found the center of mass, we have in principle determined an inertial frame: by Corollary IV to the laws of motion, the center of mass will be at rest or moving uniformly in a straight line. That is, the mutual actions of the bodies in the system will not change the state of motion of the center of mass. And having determined an inertial frame, we are in a position to say that the accelerations relative to the center of mass frame are the true accelerations.
One might think that the problem of relativity arises right from the start: the reliance on the fixed stars already seems to introduce an arbitrary assumption that threatens to vitiate Newton's procedure as an account of the true motions. But the framework of the fixed stars, initially just taken for granted, turns out to be justified in the course of the analysis. If it turns out that all the accelerations relative to the fixed stars can be analyzed into action-reaction pairs involving bodies within the system, leaving no “leftover” accelerations that need to be traced to some yet-unknown influence, then we can conclude that the stars are a suitable (sufficiently inertial) frame of reference after all. (By the later 19th century, observations became sufficiently precise to reveal that there is in fact a leftover acceleration, namely the famous extra precession of Mercury. But that could not affect Newton's analysis in 1687.) In contrast, had we chosen the earth as a frame of reference, we would find that there are accelerations relative to this frame—e.g. Coriolis and centrifugal accelerations—that don't satisfy the law of action and reaction.
The relativistic aspect of this situation arises from the equivalence principle. Newton's Corollary VI said that the inertial frame we construct by this procedure is effectively indistinguishable from one in which all the bodies are undergoing equal and parallel accelerations caused by some force that acts equally on all of them; the equivalence principle asserts that gravity is such a force. In following the Newtonian procedure for constructing an inertial frame, we have constructed a frame which might be, for all we can determine empirically, falling in the gravitational field of some other system. Here again, as in his use of Corollary V, we can see that Newton was being remarkably circumspect about his frame of reference: he needed to show that his analysis of the forces at work, and his conclusion about the nearly-heliocentric structure of the system, are not affected by any unknown forces acting on the system as a whole, and his appeal to Corollary VI precisely satisfies this need. By the same token, however, the accelerations relative to this frame cannot be known to be the “true accelerations”; they may be accelerations relative to a freely-falling trajectory just in case the center of mass is itself freely falling, in which case they have to be added to the gravitational acceleration of the center of mass before we can arrive at the true accelerations. But the acceleration of the center of mass may have to be added to some larger acceleration—and so on. This means that we can't know the true strength of the gravitational field by observing the motions in this frame. The only hope of doing so would be to include all the mass in the universe in one dynamical system; if we knew the center of mass of the entire universe, we could rule out the possibility that something else is exerting an accelerative force, since by hypothesis there would be nothing else.
We can see the significance of this more clearly by looking at the equations of motion (in a very simplified form). Newton's equation of motion for a particle subject to no force asserts that it moves uniformly, with zero acceleration. Obviously, in a gravitational field, the particle's acceleration will depend on the field. In effect, we are accounting for the trajectory of the falling particle by “decomposing” it into two parts, the part determined by its natural tendency to move uniformly in a straight line, and the part contributed by the gravitational field. But by the analysis of the equivalence principle, determining the inertial part—and therefore determining the gravitational part—depends on our assumption that the center of mass frame is inertial rather than freely falling. And this assumption is arbitrary; that is, it amounts to an arbitrary choice of the coordinate system in which we define the equation of inertial motion. This implies that the gravitational field depends on the coordinate system in precisely the same way.
The principle of general covariance, then, acquires its physical significance in conjunction with the equivalence principle. By itself, it says that the geometrical structures of spacetime don't depend on the coordinates in which we express them, or on the set of points that we may think comprises spacetime. This is an important principle, but it doesn't recommend general relativity over other theories, since special relativity and Newtonian mechanics also involve spacetime structures that can be defined in a generally-covariant way, through the same kinds of coordinate-independent mathematical objects that we use in general relativity. Combined with the equivalence principle, however, it implies that a central Newtonian idea—that gravity is a force causing deviations from uniform rectilinear motion—is based on an arbitrary choice of coordinates. For a trajectory that satisfies all empirical criteria for being inertial in a particular frame of reference—e.g. the trajectory of the center of mass in our example—may be freely falling relative to some other trajectory that satisfies the same criteria. By contrast, a freely-falling trajectory is a freely falling trajectory in any coordinate system; it is only the decomposition of it into its inertial and gravitational parts that will be different in different coordinate systems.
General covariance is thus not an argument against privileged states of motion, as Einstein had hoped it would be. It is an argument that the privileged states of motion should not be mere artifacts of our choice of coordinates, i.e. that they should be coordinate-independent. Precisely what this means depends, then, on what physical means we have at our disposal to identify states of motion other than by simply setting down coordinates. Combined with the equivalence principle, it is an argument for regarding gravitational free-fall as the privileged state of motion, rather than as a forced deviation from the privileged state of motion. And in this way it provides an argument for spacetime curvature. As we saw, in Newtonian and Minkowski spacetime the inertial trajectories are, by definition, the straight lines or geodesics of spacetime. And the flatness of spacetime consists in the fact that these geodesics behave like straight lines in a flat space or surface: parallel geodesics remain parallel, and non-parallel geodesics do not accelerate relative to one another. (In any inertial frame, the motion of any other inertial frame appears uniform.) By the equivalence principle, however, free-fall trajectories satisfy all empirical criteria for being inertial trajectories, and so the distinction between the two types of trajectory depends on the mere choice of coordinates. General covariance suggests, then, that the free-fall trajectories ought to be identified as the inertial trajectories—and therefore, as the geodesics of spacetime. But if free-fall trajectories are the geodesics of spacetime, then spacetime is curved. For the free-fall trajectories exhibit relative accelerations, and the relative acceleration of geodesics is a defining characteristic of curved geometry. The curvature of the earth's surface, for example, is revealed in the fact that geodesics that begin in parallel directions can begin to approach one another—for example, two lines of longitude can both be perpendicular to the equator, but converge on one another as they approach the poles. And since the relative accelerations of falling bodies depend on the distribution of mass, as we already knew from Newton's theory, we now conclude not only that spacetime is curved, but that its curvature is determined by the distribution of mass. (For further explanation see Geroch 1978.)
The curvature of spacetime, finally, determines the status of inertial frames in general relativity. The statement that all reference-frames, rather than just inertial frames, are equivalent is a misleading way of describing the situation; rather, the variable curvature of spacetime makes the imposition of a global inertial frame impossible. So the status of the latter is like the status of a plane rectangular coordinate system on the surface of the earth. Over a sufficiently small area, the coordinate plane may be a good approximation to the surface, but over increasingly large areas it diverges increasingly from the contours of the earth. And if two such coordinate systems, with their origins at different points on the earth, are extended until they meet, they will be seen to be “disoriented” relative to one another. In contrast, a flat plane can be so coordinatized, and coordinate systems originating at different points can be smoothly combined into one system. Similarly, in the affine spaces of Newtonian and special-relativistic physics, any inertial coordinate system can be extended over the whole of spacetime. And in any system so extended, the trajectory of every other inertial observer will be a uniform rectilinear motion. But if spacetime is variably curved, according to the distribution of mass and energy, local inertial systems will be “disoriented” relative to one another; indeed, the degree of this “disorientation” is one of the measures of curvature. And an inertially-moving—i.e. freely falling—particle will in that case be accelerating in the local inertial system of another freely-falling particle. Thus there are inertial trajectories, but no extended inertial systems. See Figures 10–13:
Figure 10:
This Cartesian coordinate system can evidently be simply “set down” over the plane below. Any coordinate system defined at any point of the plane can be smoothly extended over the entire plane.
Figure 11: “Magnified” View of Flat “Local” Coordinate Systems on a Curved Surface
This arbitrary curved surface won't allow for the global laying down of a coordinate system, but must be coordinatized in small overlapping pieces, which generally won't be parallel to one another.
Figure 12:
In a flat spacetime, the rest-frame of any inertial observer an be “extended” over all of spacetime in such a way that, in this global inertial frame, the trajectory of every other inertial observer will be an inertial trajectory.
Figure 13:
In a curved spacetime, inertial trajectories will be relatively accelerated; indeed the relative acceleration of geodesics is a measure of curvature. Therefore the local inertial frame of any freely-falling observer cannot be extended into a global frame in which all other inertial observers are moving uniformly. The inertial frames of different freely-falling observers will be, like local coordinate systems on a curved surface, “disoriented” relative to one another.
One could try to express this idea with Einstein's remark about the need to “free oneself from the idea that coordinates must have an immediate metrical meaning.” (Einstein 1949, p. 67.)But even this might be misleading. Einstein evidently was thinking that, in general relativity, coordinates, and coordinate transformations, no longer represent the possible displacements of rigid bodies or the transport of ideal clocks. The insight underlying this is that the notion of rigid displacement—therefore of rigid coordinate system, and inertial frame—imposes a priori a degree of uniformity, or symmetry, on spacetime; the displacement of bodies without change of dimension, and the transport of an ideal clock without distortion of time-intervals, requires a homogeneous space. And so rigid displacement cannot be a basic principle in a theory in which spacetime curvature varies according to the distribution of mass and energy. The possibility of a rigid displacement, and therefore the existence of an inertial frame, can only arise a posteriori, as the result of a peculiar distribution of mass-energy (for example, in a universe empty of mass and energy, or with a highly symmetrical distribution). The serious defect in the notion of inertial frame is not that it makes an arbitrary distinction among coordinate systems—for the distinction is quite as genuine as the distinction between flat and curved spacetime—but that it extends indefinitely over spacetime a structure that, in our universe, only corresponds approximately to very small regions.Appalachian Sunset is a truly unique, one of a kind, large-log cabin located in a gated mountain resort 10 minutes from Light #3 in Pigeon Forge.
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Enjoy hassle-free check in with directions and key codes available directly on your mobile device when you reserve with us and download our free mobile app!Before a man was about to board a ferry, the security called him over for a sniffer dog to perform a routine bag check. After he not only refused but also became belligerent with the officers, they decided to show him that his perceived entitlement doesn’t mean a thing when it comes to security.
Hesham El-Meligy isn’t merely your average sign-toting, politically correct liberal — he’s an Islamofascist. Siding with the progressive left, El-Meligy constantly spouts liberal rhetoric condemning anyone who quotes Islam’s countless violent commands to show that the ideology embodies terrorism. When he can’t defend his logic, as is the case with most liberals, he quickly resorts to accusations of racism and bigotry.
Just as El-Meligy was preparing to board the Staten Island Ferry, security called him over for their random bag check, just as they had done for countless others before him. Because of his religious supremacy, El-Meligy deduced that simply because he is a Muslim and Egyptian-native, he should be given special treatment. Immediately, he refused the officers’ request. However, it was when he began to disrupt the peace and insult the security officers that things took a drastic turn.
Egyptian-Muslim activist El-Megily was placed under arrest and hauled off by NYPD officers at 8 a.m. on Wednesday after he threw a terrifying tantrum at the terminal. SILive reports that the officers slapped handcuffs on El-Megily and proceeded to search his backpack when he became threatening at the officers’ request to search him.
Witnesses confirmed that El-Megily was acting belligerently toward officers, which caused them to grow suspicious of him. One Twitter user revealed that the Muslim activist began insulting the officers after they asked if he would allow their dogs to sniff his belongings. Disproving El-Megily’s claim that the search was caused by racial profiling, Bob Sacamano added that he was being searched by officers and sniffed by dogs at the very same time.
Article mentions nothing about him insulting cops nor that at first they were just asking for the dogs to sniff. https://t.co/Bn6PVrhiAv — Bob Sacamano (@TheWeissisRight) March 10, 2017
@jordan_frankel I was there when it happened whilst getting my gym bag smelt by the dogs. It's not racial it's protocol — Bob Sacamano (@TheWeissisRight) March 10, 2017
As expected, El-Megily immediately took to social media to slander the NYPD, accusing them of racial profiling and, ironically, infringing upon his constitutional rights.
“I have no doubt that many (people) are in fact stopped randomly, but the manner this was done in my particular case made it feel different,” said El-Meligy. “It is an infringement of my right to travel freely without molestation and due process of the law.”
Of course, El-Megily fails to mention that his “right to travel” doesn’t include those who are acting belligerently and suspiciously. Although his Facebook post garnered much support and sympathy, now that the truth has come out, many are expressing their outrage over his deceptive claims.
Thanks to the liberal media’s willingness to spread this Muslim activist’s allegations while purposefully ignoring eyewitness accounts, El-Megily is preparing a lawsuit against the NYPD that could change security customs forever, further endangering millions of Americans.
“There’s no science to it,” said NYPD spokesperson Det. Kellyann Ort. “It’s like flipping a coin. Many other people had their bags checked during that same time frame.”
El-Megily didn’t have to take the ferry if he didn’t agree with their customs. In fact, he’s lucky that the officers allowed him to still board after the way he acted. The fact of the matter is that El-Megily didn’t want to be treated equally like all the other non-Muslim Americans who were searched that day. He wanted special privilege because of his race and religion.
In fact, El-Megily admits that his accusations aren’t based on any evidence that he can provide. He falsely claims that Islam is peaceful and has no connection to terrorism. However, regardless of the Quran’s 109 violent commands and the prophet Muhammad’s brutal modeling of them, the proof is in the terrorism-prone Muslim community.
No other religion is flying planes into buildings or strapping bombs on themselves to kill unbelievers. No other religion has a global movement to overthrow all governments in order to establish worldwide Sharia law, and no other religion is using false accusations of racism and bigotry to accomplish it.[View the story “Game on: NHL players wake up to news of a deal” on Storify]
Game on: NHL players wake up to news of a deal
The NHL and the NHLPA have reached a tentative deal to end the 113-day NHL lockout. As details emerged of the agreement, players responded to the news:
Storified by Maclean’s Magazine· Sun, Jan 06 2013 18:14:17
Now let’s get back on the ice!! Enfin!!!! #nhlpa #NHLMathieu Darche
Go Jets GoBlake Wheeler
Game on. These guys waited a long time today for this scoop. http://pic.twitter.com/25wxPKGjAndrew Ference
Finally! Excited to get back to #beautifulbuffalo and start playing in the NHL again! Can’t wait!Jhonas Enroth
its a Good day for hockeyLappy
Hey Denver, I have a question for you… Can you say ‘Avs Hockey’??? #weareback #wornwithprideMatt Duchene
For every NHL pass, a tree will be planted. Every NHL goal, a solar panel will be installed. Wait… what? Those proposals didn’t get in?!?Andrew Ference
That’s some nice little news to be woken up to…. Tentative deal has been reached and lockout is over.daniel winnik
“@Matthewhugo: @mbacklund11 book your ticket to calgary #lockoutisover” already did! C u Calgary! #excitedMikael Backlund
Glad to have a deal done, thanks to all our fans out there who suffered through this with us… Looking forward to hitting the ice!!!George Parros
Finallydustin brown
Would personally like to thank all players on negotiating committee, staff and other players who were at the meetings, especially those fordaniel winnik
Nice to have work again! Thanks to Don and everyone in NY. #HereWeGoHal Gill
As players we can now do what we do best. Proudly pull on our jerseys and play with complete passion for our cities and fans.Andrew Ference
That was fast, one minute I’m bussing to our next game and the next I’m standing with my bags in hand at a random train station..Bobby Ryan
Scot Beckenbaugh, next time I’m in NYC, dinner is on me. Thanks for helping get us back on the ice. #NHLSam Gagner
Great news to wake up to. Huge thanks to Don and the executive committee, and everyone battling it out the last couple months.Nick Bonino
It’s time to order up some @WarriorHockey sticks! Go Sabres #letsplayhockeyThomas Vanek
20 hour day of negotiations and straight to airport for a coast to coast flight… At least I’m coming home happy!George Parros
Game On!!! #BuffaloSoldier TimeSteve Ott
It’s a beautiful day for Hockey. #GameOn #missthegameClaude Giroux
So I guess it’s time to jump on my bed again?John Carlson
Woke up to some great news…Big thank you to all who put in countless hours to get this thing done @NHLPAMatt Moulson
Best day of my life! #theendMike Green
Huge thank you to all the players who put in countless hours during these negotiations!Braden Holtby
Back to the fun stuff!!!!! #GameOnjody shelley
Excited to get back on the ice at the ACC soon. Thanks to all the who worked their asses off to get this deal done. #gameon @NHLPAJohn-Michael Liles
Thanks/sorry Fans media and everyone affected by this lockout. Never a fun situation. Now lets go play some hockey!Max Talbot
Best wake up I have had in a long time! Thanks to everyone involved who put in the countless hours. @NHLPARJ Umberger
A Big thanks to everyone who put in the time to get this deal done. Great news to wake up to. @NHLPA @NHL @washcaps #NHL #NHLLockoutWojtek Wolski
Do I speak for everyone when I say this is how we all feel about the lockout ending? http://pic.twitter.com/GCUNPwqZErik Johnson
Thanks to everyone who worked so hard and got this done..scramble is on now..can’t wait to get to NY #letsplayhockeyMichael Grabner
I miss you guys …. Come to papa “@tbrouwer20: @JohnCarlson74 that was my first thought.”John Carlson
Thanks to everyone at the #NHLPA who worked so tirelessly throughout the last 4 months to resolve this! #Kyle Okposo
Thanks to all who got this deal done.. Can’t wait for opening night! #HockeysBackMatt Martin
#GameOn can’t wait to get this goingJamie McGinn
Finally it’s time! Getting the sun block out for some hockey in paradise. Thank you to all the staff and players who worked so hard throughNathan Thompson
Congratulations to everyone involved and affected by this awful Lockout. Out of the boardroom and onto the ice. #theplayers #returningchampsKevin Westgarth
Back to work! http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=649086&cmpid=twt http://fb.me/2k1Cxzu1AMarc-Andre Bergeron
Here we go people,time to start the "we are playing beard"..feel so naked,it’s weird #nobeardproblems http://pic.twitter.com/BrIIsapMMichael Grabner
Let the games begin #heyooooooMike Fisher
Feel like I’m 6 years old again, can’t sleep to excited to get back out there! #boysareback #GameOnMatt Beleskey
Game On!Brian Elliott
So excited to get back to Edmonton. See you soon Oiler fans!!!!Taylor Hall
The past is the past… lets move forward and start enjoying the best game on the planet!! Hockey is back and I love it!!!Henrik Lundqvist
Let’s play hockey!!! #finally #Hockeyisbacktim bozon
Thank god the NHL is finally back just wasn’t right not watching coaches corner on a Saturday night!Morgan Ellis
I just want to sing from a mountaintop!!Patrick Dwyer
Great day and great start to the new year. Hoping for a great season now for our team #habsMax Pacioretty
Great news this morning, for everyone who counts on the NHL for a living, thanks @NHLPA for all the hard work #letsplaysomepuckDave Moss
So excited to finally to get this thing started! Thank you very much to the negotiating committee for their hard work #fireitupErik Gudbranson
Woohooojesse winchester
Best wake up I have had in a long time! Thanks to everyone involved who put in the countless hours. @NHLPARJ Umberger
Time for #hockey! Tentative agreement reached. Flights booked to Ottawa. Can’t wait to get back on the ice! #sens #firedupCraig Anderson
Seems like it’s finally time to pack the bags. Excited to get going #nhlpaCarl Gunnarsson
Awesome news to wake up to, #nhl is back!Derek Joslin
Not one player has ever grown up dreaming of being in the middle of a CBA negotiation…time to get back to living the dream #letsplayhockeyMatt Carle
Thank you to all the hockey fans who have stayed with us and have been patient though this process. See you real soon!! #BestFansEverTJ Oshie
So much nonsense during this whole mess but I must say all players are very thankful for Don Fehr and the entire NHLPA staff. #GameOnRyan Whitney
Lockouts over. Lets get to work!Nazem Kadri
We’re back! And I thought Team USA winning the gold was the best news. Can’t wait to go to Columbus and start the NHL season! #LockoutIsOverJack Johnson
To the fans that won’t come back, I can understand. To the ones that will, thank you for your patience. Welcome back NHL hockey.Paul Bissonnette
Thanks to all the fans who stayed patient and especially the coaches and boys of the OKC Barons. Had a blast and hope to see you guys soonJordan Eberle
LET"S PLAY HOCKEY!!!!!James Wisniewski
Hats off to Don Fehr, the @NHLPA staff and of course the players who worked tirelessly this past week.. Great leadership all around!Kevin Shattenkirk
Happiest for you fans. Sorry that it took so long Lets put the lock out behind us and look forward to some hockey. Because Serbian ChristmasMilan Lucic
I’ve kept my twitter account quiet about the lockout but now I would like to say thank you to all the fans who have waited patiently (cont)Zach Bogosian
People say it’s like Christmas morning waking up today? I’d say this is a lot better. Couldn’t be more excited!!Gabriel Landeskog
Holy sh! |
unpublished photos from the camp show squalid living conditions, with residents cooking and sleeping in unsafe conditions in a derelict coalminers’ barracks, with a collapsed roof and no heating.
The site, about 60 miles (100km) south-east of Calais, has been chosen by traffickers because of its proximity to a service station on the motorway where lorry drivers stop to rest, before travelling to the ferry port to cross to England. There is less security here than at the port, so it is easier to smuggle people into vehicles.
Although the site is understood to have existed for over a decade, hidden in plain sight at the edge of the town of Angres, there has been little concerted effort to close it by the French police and no effective work done by British authorities to address the smuggling of Vietnamese people through France.
A group of local residents, the Collectif Fraternité Migrants, pays for wood for the stove and has installed a generator in the camp, and food donations are delivered once or twice a week. The local government has supplied cold running water, and a French medical charity makes weekly visits to the site.
The issue of trafficking and exploitation of Vietnamese people in cannabis farms and nail bars in the UK is the subject of a report from the UK’s anti-slavery commissioner, Kevin Hyland, due to be published on Monday. However there is growing frustration from charities working to protect Vietnamese people trafficked into the UK that so little has been done to stop the trade in vulnerable people from impoverished rural parts of Vietnam.
In recent years police have repeatedly raided cannabis farms across the UK, staffed by Vietnamese young people. Earlier this year a former nuclear bunker in Wiltshire was found to have been converted into a cannabis farm on an industrial scale, with four Vietnamese workers locked inside. There have been no prosecutions of people-traffickers bringing Vietnamese labourers into the UK, although last month a British woman was found guilty of trying to smuggle 12 Vietnamese migrants into the UK from Calais, in a van loaded with tyres. Four men, five women and three children were found after a Border Force officer saw a pair of legs protruding from the tyres in the back of the van.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Food donations are delivered to the camp once or twice a week. Photograph: Pacific Links Foundation
Chloe Setter, head of advocacy, policy and campaigns at Ecpat UK, which works on child-trafficking to Britain, said: “Vietnam is almost consistently the top country for adults and children trafficked to the UK and it has been well documented that there has been a ‘Vietnam City’ in northern France where many Vietnamese migrants pass through en route to the UK. Yet there appears to have been little effort made by the UK or French authorities to prevent or disrupt the trafficking of Vietnamese people to the UK, despite the known threat.
“It quite beggars belief that vulnerable children and adults have been allowed for so many years to live in an isolated makeshift encampment in a forest and left open to such a huge risk of exploitation. Such inaction renders the UK government’s purported tough approach to modern slavery pretty hollow.”
Mimi Vu, of the Vietnam-based anti-trafficking charity Pacific Links Foundation, has visited the camp twice in the past year. She said there were 39 men and one woman at the site when she visited in May. A few of the group were minors.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A disused underground nuclear bunker at RGQ Chilmark in Wiltshire, where a cannabis factory was discovered by police. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
“Everyone in the camp planned on working in nail salons in the UK, even though none had prior experience or training as nail technicians,” she wrote in a report on the visit. They had been told that it was usual “for men to be nail technicians in the UK, and that western women were used to men doing their nails”. There was disbelief when “we tried (gently) to correct these assumptions,” she wrote. All the camp’s residents assumed that they would find work easily in the UK and none wanted to remain in France.
Some were aware of the issue of exploitation in cannabis farms in the UK, but did not believe it would happen to them, Vu said. She believes that the camp has continued to exist under the radar because the migrants are not looking to work in France and are not a strain on local resources. Everyone is housed there temporarily until they are able to get on a lorry to take them to the UK. Most are there between a week and two months.
A recent study published by the charity France Terre d’Asile suggests that most migrants in the camp are fleeing poverty in rural parts of Vietnam, where the average salary for people working in agricultural labour is £88 a month. Some have paid up to £33,000 to agencies to be taken to the UK to work. Others have been tricked into exploitation, and told that they will be given legal jobs in the UK.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Everyone is housed temporarily at the camp until they are able to get on a lorry to take them to the UK. Photograph: Pacific Links Foundation
Local volunteers understand that the Angres mayor’s office has plans to demolish the unsafe buildings later this month, prompting concern about where the camp’s residents will relocate.
A spokesman from the NSPCC’s child-trafficking unit described the camp as “unregulated and dangerous”.
“Children being trafficked to the UK from Vietnam continues to be a significant concern in the UK and we must try to protect those we know are at risk”, he said. “There need to be facilities in place that can stop young people from falling into the hands of traffickers, who often deceive them with promises of a better life.”AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Jennifer Couch first noticed some irregular behavior in her 11-year-old son, Ethan, two years ago. His hands trembled. His feet were sore. His balance was so poor that he struggled to put on his pants and tie his shoes.
She took him to see their pediatrician on a Friday. Her voice quivering, she explained her concerns. By the time she offered her own diagnosis, tears were rolling down her cheeks.
Truly indescribable day Thank u @couchie05 for allowing me to b your player.I'm honored and inspired to b ur friend 🙏 pic.twitter.com/LIxO7mTZGk — Kevin Streelman (@Streels54) April 8, 2015
Between sobs, Jennifer told the doctor, "I think he's going to need brain surgery."
Tests confirmed their deepest fears. Ethan had a tectal glioma. A brain tumor was blocking his body's ability to circulate spinal cord fluid, causing hydrocephalus and all of the other symptoms in his behavior.
Streelman wins Par 3 Contest Maybe it was karma. Maybe it was a message from the golf gods. Or maybe Kevin Streelman was the beneficiary of a good-luck charm. Alongside his caddie for the day, Ethan Couch, a 13-year-old Alberta native with an inoperable brain tumor with whom he was paired through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Streelman won the annual Masters Par-3 Contest on Wednesday. Following a 5-under 22, Streelman defeated Camilo Villegas in a playoff to claim the crystal. Of course, that's considered a curse by many players. Since the Par 3 Contest began in 1960, no winner has later won the Masters Tournament in the same week. -- Jason Sobel
Four days later, he underwent surgery. Doctors discovered that the tumor, though benign, was inoperable. There was nothing they could do but continue monitoring him on a regular basis.
When Ethan awoke from the surgery, a nurse entered his room. "I heard you were a champ," she told him. "So I want you to go home and think of a wish. Pick anything."
He didn't need to go home to think. This was a boy who'd been carried around the golf course by Jennifer as a newborn while his father, Jeff, a former golf professional near their home in Spruce Grove, Alberta, would play nine holes. He'd grown to love the game. And so when offered one wish by that nurse, Ethan didn't hesitate.
"I want to go to the Masters," he said.
Kevin Streelman says his daughter's struggles after her premature birth has given him a new perspective and inspired him to ask Ethan Couch to caddy for him in the Par 3 Contest. AP Photo/Matt Slocum
Kevin Streelman didn't know this story when he called Ethan on the morning of March 7, two days after his 13th birthday. The truth is, he knew absolutely nothing about Ethan, besides the fact that the boy had a wish to attend the year's biggest golf tournament and he wanted to make that wish come true.
This week marks Streelman's fourth Masters appearance. The first time he played, in 2011, he invited his father to caddie for him in the traditional Par 3 Contest. The next time, his mother got the call. Last year, it was his father-in-law.
Not long after qualifying again by winning the Travelers Championship, Streelman decided he wanted to offer the opportunity to someone who really deserved it. His daughter, Sophia, was born the previous December amidst pregnancy complications. She'd spent seven days in the NICU before coming home. Enduring that afforded him a matured perspective.
"That changed a lot of the ways I see children," he says. "I have an entirely new appreciation for what parents with children having tough times are going through."
Streelman contacted his local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He asked if there were any kids who had a wish to attend the Masters.
Soon enough, he was calling Ethan with an offer.
"Yeah, I know who you are," the boy replied when the pro golfer introduced himself.
He didn't know why he was calling, though.
Streelman explained that, as a Masters competitor, he was allowed to choose his caddie for Wednesday's event. He was choosing Ethan.
Ethan practices his victory trophy kiss. He'll look for another title with Streelman in Wednesday's Par-3 Contest. Courtesy of the Couch family
The boy fell silent. His parents, each listening over speaker phone, began crying. When Ethan finally spoke, his voice was shaking.
"I just wanted to go to the Masters," he'd later say. "I didn't expect this."
He's now in Augusta, along with his entire family, two years removed from making his Masters wish, preparing to wear the famous white jumpsuit given to all caddies.
The boy who owns a career-low score of 82 won't be bashful in the role, either.
"I'll definitely make sure he's hitting the right club," he says with a confident laugh.
As Ethan spends the afternoon with Streelman, he won't worry about the brain tumor. He won't worry about the MRI he'll undergo next week or the unknown long-term prognosis.
He'll be too focused on having his wish come true.
As for the man alongside him, he's just hoping to brighten the life of a kid who could use it.
"I just want to open the door to someone and hopefully give him a great day after going through some rough times," Streelman says. "This isn't about me. It's about giving back. It's about using the opportunity that I have to make someone's wish come true."coldest possible temperature
This article is about the minimum temperature possible. For other uses, see Absolute Zero (disambiguation)
Zero kelvin (−273.15 °C) is defined as absolute zero.
Absolute zero is the lowest limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale, a state at which the enthalpy and entropy of a cooled ideal gas reach their minimum value, taken as 0. The fundamental particles of nature have minimum vibrational motion, retaining only quantum mechanical, zero-point energy-induced particle motion. The theoretical temperature is determined by extrapolating the ideal gas law; by international agreement, absolute zero is taken as −273.15° on the Celsius scale (International System of Units),[1][2] which equals −459.67° on the Fahrenheit scale (United States customary units or Imperial units).[3] The corresponding Kelvin and Rankine temperature scales set their zero points at absolute zero by definition.
It is commonly thought of as the lowest temperature possible, but it is not the lowest enthalpy state possible, because all real substances begin to depart from the ideal gas when cooled as they approach the change of state to liquid, and then to solid; and the sum of the enthalpy of vaporization (gas to liquid) and enthalpy of fusion (liquid to solid) exceeds the ideal gas's change in enthalpy to absolute zero. In the quantum-mechanical description, matter (solid) at absolute zero is in its ground state, the point of lowest internal energy.
The laws of thermodynamics indicate that absolute zero cannot be reached using only thermodynamic means, because the temperature of the substance being cooled approaches the temperature of the cooling agent asymptotically,[4] and a system at absolute zero still possesses quantum mechanical zero-point energy, the energy of its ground state at absolute zero. The kinetic energy of the ground state cannot be removed.
Scientists and technologists routinely achieve temperatures close to absolute zero, where matter exhibits quantum effects such as superconductivity and superfluidity.
Thermodynamics near absolute zero [ edit ]
At temperatures near 0 K (−273.15 °C; −459.67 °F), nearly all molecular motion ceases and ΔS = 0 for any adiabatic process, where S is the entropy. In such a circumstance, pure substances can (ideally) form perfect crystals as T → 0. Max Planck's strong form of the third law of thermodynamics states the entropy of a perfect crystal vanishes at absolute zero. The original Nernst heat theorem makes the weaker and less controversial claim that the entropy change for any isothermal process approaches zero as T → 0:
lim T → 0 Δ S = 0 {\displaystyle \lim _{T\to 0}\Delta S=0}
The implication is that the entropy of a perfect crystal simply approaches a constant value.
The Nernst postulate identifies the isotherm T = 0 as coincident with the adiabat S = 0, although other isotherms and adiabats are distinct. As no two adiabats intersect, no other adiabat can intersect the T = 0 isotherm. Consequently no adiabatic process initiated at nonzero temperature can lead to zero temperature. (≈ Callen, pp. 189–190)
A perfect crystal is one in which the internal lattice structure extends uninterrupted in all directions. The perfect order can be represented by translational symmetry along three (not usually orthogonal) axes. Every lattice element of the structure is in its proper place, whether it is a single atom or a molecular grouping. For substances that exist in two (or more) stable crystalline forms, such as diamond and graphite for carbon, there is a kind of chemical degeneracy. The question remains whether both can have zero entropy at T = 0 even though each is perfectly ordered.
Perfect crystals never occur in practice; imperfections, and even entire amorphous material inclusions, can and do simply get "frozen in" at low temperatures, so transitions to more stable states do not occur.
Using the Debye model, the specific heat and entropy of a pure crystal are proportional to T 3, while the enthalpy and chemical potential are proportional to T 4. (Guggenheim, p. 111) These quantities drop toward their T = 0 limiting values and approach with zero slopes. For the specific heats at least, the limiting value itself is definitely zero, as borne out by experiments to below 10 K. Even the less detailed Einstein model shows this curious drop in specific heats. In fact, all specific heats vanish at absolute zero, not just those of crystals. Likewise for the coefficient of thermal expansion. Maxwell's relations show that various other quantities also vanish. These phenomena were unanticipated.
Since the relation between changes in Gibbs free energy (G), the enthalpy (H) and the entropy is
Δ G = Δ H − T Δ S {\displaystyle \Delta G=\Delta H-T\Delta S\,}
thus, as T decreases, ΔG and ΔH approach each other (so long as ΔS is bounded). Experimentally, it is found that all spontaneous processes (including chemical reactions) result in a decrease in G as they proceed toward equilibrium. If ΔS and/or T are small, the condition ΔG < 0 may imply that ΔH < 0, which would indicate an exothermic reaction. However, this is not required; endothermic reactions can proceed spontaneously if the TΔS term is large enough.
Moreover, the slopes of the derivatives of ΔG and ΔH converge and are equal to zero at T = 0. This ensures that ΔG and ΔH are nearly the same over a considerable range of temperatures and justifies the approximate empirical Principle of Thomsen and Berthelot, which states that the equilibrium state to which a system proceeds is the one that evolves the greatest amount of heat, i.e., an actual process is the most exothermic one. (Callen, pp. 186–187)
One model that estimates the properties of an electron gas at absolute zero in metals is the Fermi gas. The electrons, being Fermions, must be in different quantum states, which leads the electrons to get very high typical velocities, even at absolute zero. The maximum energy that electrons can have at absolute zero is called the Fermi energy. The Fermi temperature is defined as this maximum energy divided by Boltzmann's constant, and is of the order of 80,000 K for typical electron densities found in metals. For temperatures significantly below the Fermi temperature, the electrons behave in almost the same way as at absolute zero. This explains the failure of the classical equipartition theorem for metals that eluded classical physicists in the late 19th century.
Relation with Bose–Einstein condensate [ edit ]
Velocity-distribution data of a gas of rubidium atoms at a temperature within a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero. Left: just before the appearance of a Bose–Einstein condensate. Center: just after the appearance of the condensate. Right: after further evaporation, leaving a sample of nearly pure condensate.
A Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter of a dilute gas of weakly interacting bosons confined in an external potential and cooled to temperatures very near absolute zero. Under such conditions, a large fraction of the bosons occupy the lowest quantum state of the external potential, at which point quantum effects become apparent on a macroscopic scale.[5]
This state of matter was first predicted by Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein in 1924–25. Bose first sent a paper to Einstein on the quantum statistics of light quanta (now called photons). Einstein was impressed, translated the paper from English to German and submitted it for Bose to the Zeitschrift für Physik, which published it. Einstein then extended Bose's ideas to material particles (or matter) in two other papers.[6]
Seventy years later, in 1995, the first gaseous condensate was produced by Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman at the University of Colorado at Boulder NIST-JILA lab, using a gas of rubidium atoms cooled to 170 nanokelvins (nK)[7] (6993170000000000000♠1.7×10−7 K).[8]
A record cold temperature of 450 ±80 picokelvins (pK) (6990450000000000000♠4.5×10−10 K) in a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of sodium atoms was achieved in 2003 by researchers at MIT.[9] The associated black-body (peak emittance) wavelength of 6,400 kilometers is roughly the radius of Earth.
Absolute temperature scales [ edit ]
Absolute, or thermodynamic, temperature is conventionally measured in kelvins (Celsius-scaled increments) and in the Rankine scale (Fahrenheit-scaled increments) with increasing rarity. Absolute temperature measurement is uniquely determined by a multiplicative constant which specifies the size of the degree, so the ratios of two absolute temperatures, T 2 /T 1, are the same in all scales. The most transparent definition of this standard comes from the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. It can also be found in Fermi–Dirac statistics (for particles of half-integer spin) and Bose–Einstein statistics (for particles of integer spin). All of these define the relative numbers of particles in a system as decreasing exponential functions of energy (at the particle level) over kT, with k representing the Boltzmann constant and T representing the temperature observed at the macroscopic level.[1]
Negative temperatures [ edit ]
Temperatures that are expressed as negative numbers on the familiar Celsius or Fahrenheit scales are simply colder than the zero points of those scales. Certain systems can achieve truly negative temperatures; that is, their thermodynamic temperature (expressed in kelvins) can be of a negative quantity. A system with a truly negative temperature is not colder than absolute zero. Rather, a system with a negative temperature is hotter than any system with a positive temperature, in the sense that if a negative-temperature system and a positive-temperature system come in contact, heat flows from the negative to the positive-temperature system.[10]
Most familiar systems cannot achieve negative temperatures because adding energy always increases their entropy. However, some systems have a maximum amount of energy that they can hold, and as they approach that maximum energy their entropy actually begins to decrease. Because temperature is defined by the relationship between energy and entropy, such a system's temperature becomes negative, even though energy is being added.[10] As a result, the Boltzmann factor for states of systems at negative temperature increases rather than decreases with increasing state energy. Therefore, no complete system, i.e. including the electromagnetic modes, can have negative temperatures, since there is no highest energy state,[citation needed] so that the sum of the probabilities of the states would diverge for negative temperatures. However, for quasi-equilibrium systems (e.g. spins out of equilibrium with the electromagnetic field) this argument does not apply, and negative effective temperatures are attainable.
On 3 January 2013, physicists announced that they had created a quantum gas made up of potassium atoms with a negative temperature in motional degrees of freedom for the first time.[11]
History [ edit ]
One of the first to discuss the possibility of an absolute minimal temperature was Robert Boyle. His 1665 New Experiments and Observations touching Cold, articulated the dispute known as the primum frigidum.[12] The concept was well known among naturalists of the time. Some contended an absolute minimum temperature occurred within earth (as one of the four classical elements), others within water, others air, and some more recently within nitre. But all of them seemed to agree that, "There is some body or other that is of its own nature supremely cold and by participation of which all other bodies obtain that quality."[13]
Limit to the "degree of cold" [ edit ]
The question whether there is a limit to the degree of coldness possible, and, if so, where the zero must be placed, was first addressed by the French physicist Guillaume Amontons in 1702, in connection with his improvements in the air-thermometer. His instrument indicated temperatures by the height at which a certain mass of air sustained a column of mercury—the volume, or "spring" of the air varying with temperature. Amontons therefore argued that the zero of his thermometer would be that temperature at which the spring of the air was reduced to nothing. He used a scale that marked the boiling-point of water at +73 and the melting-point of ice at +51 1⁄ 2, so that the zero was equivalent to about −240 on the Celsius scale.[14] Amontons held that the absolute zero cannot be reached, so never attempted to compute it explicitly. [15] The value of −240 °C, or "431 divisions [in Fahrenheit's thermometer] below the cold of freezing water"[16] was published by George Martine in 1740.
This close approximation to the modern value of −273.15 °C[1] for the zero of the air-thermometer was further improved upon in 1779 by Johann Heinrich Lambert, who observed that −270 °C (−454.00 °F; 3.15 K) might be regarded as absolute cold.[17]
Values of this order for the absolute zero were not, however, universally accepted about this period. Pierre-Simon Laplace and Antoine Lavoisier, in their 1780 treatise on heat, arrived at values ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 below the freezing-point of water, and thought that in any case it must be at least 600 below. John Dalton in his Chemical Philosophy gave ten calculations of this value, and finally adopted −3000 °C as the natural zero of temperature.
Lord Kelvin's work [ edit ]
After James Prescott Joule had determined the mechanical equivalent of heat, Lord Kelvin approached the question from an entirely different point of view, and in 1848 devised a scale of absolute temperature that was independent of the properties of any particular substance and was based on Carnot's theory of the Motive Power of Heat and data published by Henri Victor Regnault.[18] It followed from the principles on which this scale was constructed that its zero was placed at −273 °C, at almost precisely the same point as the zero of the air-thermometer.[14] This value was not immediately accepted; values ranging from −271.1 °C (−455.98 °F) to −274.5 °C (−462.10 °F), derived from laboratory measurements and observations of astronomical refraction, remained in use in the early 20th century.[19]
The race to absolute zero [ edit ]
Commemorative plaque in Leiden
With a better theoretical understanding of absolute zero, scientists were eager to reach this temperature in the lab.[20] By 1845, Michael Faraday had managed to liquefy most gases then known to exist, and reached a new record for lowest temperatures by reaching −130 °C (−202 °F; 143 K). Faraday believed that certain gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, were permanent gases and could not be liquefied.[21] Decades later, in 1873 Dutch theoretical scientist Johannes Diderik van der Waals demonstrated that these gases could be liquefied, but only under conditions of very high pressure and very low temperatures. In 1877, Louis Paul Cailletet in France and Raoul Pictet in Switzerland succeeded in producing the first droplets of liquid air −195 °C (−319.0 °F; 78.1 K). This was followed in 1883 by the production of liquid oxygen −218 °C (−360.4 °F; 55.1 K) by the Polish professors Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski.
Scottish chemist and physicist James Dewar and the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes took on the challenge to liquefy the remaining gases hydrogen and helium. In 1898, after 20 years of effort, Dewar was first to liquefy hydrogen, reaching a new low temperature record of −252 °C (−421.6 °F; 21.1 K). However Onnes, his rival, was the first to liquefy helium, in 1908, using several precooling stages and the Hampson–Linde cycle. He lowered the temperature to the boiling point of helium −269 °C (−452.20 °F; 4.15 K). By reducing the pressure of the liquid helium he achieved an even lower temperature, near 1.5 K. These were the coldest temperatures achieved on earth at the time and his achievement earned him the Nobel Prize in 1913.[22] Onnes would continue to study the properties of materials at temperatures near absolute zero, describing superconductivity and superfluids for the first time.
Very low temperatures [ edit ]
The rapid expansion of gases leaving the Boomerang Nebula, a bi-polar, filamentary, likely proto-planetary nebula in Centaurus, causes the lowest observed temperature outside a laboratory: 1 K
The average temperature of the universe today is approximately 2.73 kelvins (−270.42 °C; −454.76 °F), based on measurements of cosmic microwave background radiation.[23][24]
Absolute zero cannot be achieved, although it is possible to reach temperatures close to it through the use of cryocoolers, dilution refrigerators, and nuclear adiabatic demagnetization. The use of laser cooling has produced temperatures less than a billionth of a kelvin.[25] At very low temperatures in the vicinity of absolute zero, matter exhibits many unusual properties, including superconductivity, superfluidity, and Bose–Einstein condensation. To study such phenomena, scientists have worked to obtain even lower temperatures.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]OG2 SATELLITE AND LAUNCH UPDATES
March 1, 2016
ORBCOMM Announces Commercial Service for Its Final 11 OG2 Satellites
Please note that we will now be targeting launch for tomorrow, Monday, December 21 at 8:33 pm ET
SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket and deployed all 11 ORBCOMM OG2 satellites in nominal orbits. SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 at its Cape Canaveral landing pad.A five-minute launch window opens at 8:29 pm ET this evening for ORBCOMM’s OG2 Mission 2 launch. SpaceX will start the webcast at 8:10 pm ET.Watch the launch live at www.spacex.com/webcast We have an update regarding tonight’s target launch for ORBCOMM’s OG2 Mission 2. Upon further review of the static fire data, SpaceX has determined that an additional day prior to launch will allow for more analysis and time to further chill the liquid oxygen in preparation for launch.ORBCOMM is continuing to target its OG2 Mission 2 launch for 8:29 pm ET today, Sunday, December 20th. SpaceX will host a live webcast of the launch starting at 8:05 pm ET.We are excited to report SpaceX completed their static fire test of Falcon 9 this evening. We are now targeting ORBCOMM’s OG2 Mission 2 launch for no earlier than Sunday, December 20 at 8:29 PM ET from launch pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.The Falcon 9 rocket remains vertical at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The teams will continue working towards a static fire today to verify the rocket's readiness and aim towards launching a few days after the static fire is completed.Yesterday, SpaceX had a good run through of pad operations and is looking to static fire Falcon 9 this afternoon (exact time TBD).The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rolled out of the hanger at the Cape earlier this afternoon in anticipation of static fire and is now vertical at SLC-40 launch pad.We’ve got an exciting week ahead as we get ready for ORBCOMM’s upcoming OG2 Mission 2 launch. All 11 OG2 satellites are fueled and stacked on the satellite dispenser, so they are ready to launch. SpaceX has integrated the two stages of the Falcon 9 rocket and encapsulated the fairing around the satellite stack. The encapsulated fairing is targeted to be mated to the Falcon 9 early tomorrow (Tuesday, December 15). SpaceX is currently aiming for a static fire of the Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, December 16. Once the static fire is completed to verify the readiness of the rocket, ORBCOMM’s second OG2 Mission is targeted to launch about three days later at around 8:30 PM ET.ORBCOMM has announced that SpaceX is planning to conduct the static fire of its Falcon 9 rocket on December 16, 2015, which will launch eleven next generation OG2 satellites as part of ORBCOMM’s second and final OG2 Mission at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Once the static fire is completed to verify the readiness of the Falcon 9 rocket, ORBCOMM’s second OG2 Mission is targeted to launch about three days later between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM ET.Doctors have warned for years that Americans are not getting enough sleep, with health consequences ranging from drowsy driving and irritability to an increased risk of dementia, heart disease and early death. Now, a recent study suggests that one particular type of sleep may be especially important when it comes to how the brain responds to stressful situations.
The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that people who spent more time in rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep — the phase when dreaming occurs — had lower fear-related brain activity when they were given mild electric shocks the next day. The findings suggest that getting sufficient REM sleep prior to fearful experiences may make a person less prone to developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the authors hypothesize.
The study isn’t the first to suggest that REM sleep delivers unique benefits. Some experts even believe that it’s actually a lack of REM sleep and a lack of dreaming — rather than just poor sleep in general — that’s responsible for many of the health problems Americans suffer from today. Here’s what scientists know so far — and what they suspect — about REM sleep, dreams and what happens when people are deprived of both.
What happens during REM sleep?
Sleep involves five distinct phases, which the brain and body cycle through several times during the night. The first four phases involve a transition from shallow to deep sleep, while the fifth phase, REM sleep, involves heightened brain activity and vivid dreams.
REM sleep stages tend to be relatively short during the first two-thirds of the night as the body prioritizes deeper, slow-wave sleep. And because longer periods of REM sleep only happen during the final hours of sleep (in the early morning, for most people), it can get cut off when you don’t spend a full seven or eight hours in bed, says psychologist Rubin Naiman, a sleep and dream specialist at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and the author of a recent review about dreaming published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
During REM sleep, there is more activity in the visual, motor, emotional and autobiographical memory regions of the brain, says Matthew Walker, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and author of the new book Why We Sleep. But there is also decreased activity in other regions, like the one involved in rational thought — hence the reason for extremely lucid, but often nonsensical, dreams. (The dreams you remember when you wake up are only part of REM sleep, says Walker; in reality, the brain is highly active throughout the entire phase.)
What happens when you dream?
Scientists are divided as to whether dreams are simply a product of random neurons firing during sleep, or if they’re something more — like a data dump that helps the brain separate important memories from non-important ones, or a way for people to prepare for challenges and play through different scenarios in their heads.
Naiman describes the brain during REM sleep as a sort of “second gut” that digests all of the information gathered that day. “Everything we see, every conversation we have, is chewed on and swallowed and filtered through while we dream, and either excreted or assimilated,” he says.
What are the health benefits of REM sleep?
Several studies in recent years have suggested that REM sleep can affect how accurately people can read emotions and process external stimuli. Walker’s research, for example, has demonstrated that people who achieved REM sleep during a nap were better able to judge facial expressions afterward than those who’d napped without reaching REM.
Walker and his colleagues have also found that people who view emotional images before getting a good night’s sleep are less likely to have strong reactions to the same images the next day, compared to those who didn’t sleep well. “I think of dreaming as overnight therapy,” Walker says. “It provides a nocturnal soothing balm that takes the short edges off of our emotional experiences so we feel better the next day.”
Adding to that research, the most recent study — from researchers at Rutgers University — suggests that the quality of a person’s sleep before a traumatic event can play a role in how the brain reacts to a scary situation. “The more REM, the weaker the fear-related effect,” the authors write in their paper.
Researchers aren’t certain why this happens. But the part of the brain that secretes norepinephrine during wakefulness and non-REM sleep takes a break during REM sleep. “Norepinephrine is associated with stress, and it affects the degree to which the amygdala — the fear center of the brain — is sensitive to stimuli,” says Itamar Lerner, co-author of the new paper and a postdoctoral sleep researcher at Rutgers University.
MORE: How Dream Therapy Can Change Your Life
One theory, known as the REM calibration hypothesis, holds that norepinephrine builds up during the day and can be reset to normal levels during REM sleep. “When that happens, we believe that the amygdala may become less sensitive to stimuli, and less likely to overreact to something that really shouldn’t be fearful,” says Lerner.
Other studies have suggested that REM sleep may be important for other reasons, but there’s less evidence of direct, REM-specific benefits in these areas. In his recent review, Naiman writes that dreaming has effects on memory and mood, and cites research linking poor-quality REM sleep to conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and depression. (It’s worth noting that these studies only prove associations — not whether one problem actually causes or contributes to the other.)
Walker, too, believes that dreams and REM sleep have benefits — but he says it’s not the only stage of sleep that matters. In fact, he says, extensive evidence suggests that slow-wave, non-REM sleep “still seems to carry the majority of health benefits,” including regulating blood flow and blood glucose levels, and clearing Alzheimer’s-related plaque from the brain. “REM sleep may have its own function, but most of the research still focuses on the restorative and very important benefits of the other phases,” he says.
How to get more REM sleep
If you wake up every morning with vivid memories of last night’s dreams, chances are you’re getting at least some decent quality REM sleep, says Walker. But besides that there’s no easy way to monitor your levels for REM sleep specifically. Most consumer sleep trackers aren’t an accurate judge, says |
as “armed struggle.”
As for black Anglophilia, Dr. Roodt thinks that by 1970, and especially after the Soweto riots, blacks were convinced that the larger English-speaking world backed them and opposed the apartheid government. The Carter administration probably played an important role in this, but the British influence was paramount in convincing blacks that English was the language of liberation. Even today:
[T]hose revolutionary blacks who fulminate against ‘colonialism and capitalist exploitation’ are the first to adopt the outward trappings of what they imagine a British gentleman to be. They play golf and drive expensive cars. They also drink whisky, of the expensive ‘single malt’ kind, in copious amounts. Julius Malema, the radical black nationalist, is himself something of an Englishman, being a connoisseur of whisky and expensive cars. He dresses like a British soccer player, with flashy watches and brightly coloured polo shirts.
Even Nelson Mandela explains in his autobiography that:
The educated Englishman was our model; what we aspired to be were ‘black Englishmen,’ as we were sometimes derisively called. We were taught–and believed–that the best ideas were English ideas, the best government was English government, and the best men were Englishmen.
Of course, whatever opposition others mounted against the regime, Afrikaners were ultimately betrayed by their own leaders, who foolishly adopted the Anglo-American view of blacks. Dr. Roodt believes that 1961 to 1983 were the “golden years” of white solidarity, after which Swedish funding for radical black groups and the international campaign of vilification began to break the Afrikaner will. In his capitulation to black rule, F. W. de Klerk and his circle completely repudiated what Afrikaners–both experts and ordinary people–had thought and written about the racial problem for over a hundred years.
The black rule that has followed has been a great victory of English-speakers over Afrikaners. Dr. Roodt even goes so far as to write that today, English-speaking leftists are:
the most powerful tribe in South Africa... bred in the claustrophobic confines of the anglophone universities, nourished on their petty hatred and chauvinism against Afrikaners, and [now] distributed throughout the system, in the universities, naturally, but also in the media, the state and even the banks and big business. They are ‘the white hand in the black glove.’ Behind every black figurehead there is always some white handler or speechwriter who lays down policy or manages communication to the outside world.
And yet, this English elite feels only a contingent attachment to South Africa:
According to De Kock, [Leon de Kock, an anglicised Afrikaner and self-styled “critic”] local English authors are nowadays seeing themselves as sovereign individuals who no longer belong to any country but might as well write stories set in Seattle or Manchester, to appeal to a wider audience. Being born and raised in South Africa is an accident of history that they might as well do without.
Dr. Roodt writes that this combination of rootless Anglophilia and the poverty of African tradition means that to a remarkable degree, South Africa’s identity is now based on imitation:
South Africa, especially these days, is trying to decide whether we should emulate Idi Amin’s Uganda or some cargo cult on the island of Vanuatu. You could call the system here a ‘cargo-cult democracy’ and as long as we spend about a billion dollars or so every five years on an election, in between elections it’s anything goes. Anarchy, or close to it. However, elections serve only to give the imprimatur of ‘democracy’ to a system in which power changes hands elsewhere: in the ruling party’s headquarters or in dark deals cut with whomever benefits from the system financially. Speaking of Vanuatu, I first became aware of the existence of this island in the early nineties when I noticed the remarkable resemblance between ‘our’ flag and that of Vanuatu. If there were such a thing as plagiarism in flags, South Africa would be guilty of it. Yet, South Africanness, at least after the decline of Afrikaner influence, is proudly imitatory. The closer one gets in passing oneself off as British, the more ‘South African’ one becomes. Plagiarism at university, at both under- and postgraduate level, is absolutely rife as students ‘copy and paste’ the words and thoughts of others in order to obtain one of our increasingly worthless degrees. In other societies a lack of authenticity, or ersatz, showing no originality, or being a copy of something else, a simulacrum, is frowned upon. Not so in South Africa. It is part of ‘our’ colonial heritage.
In this context, English speakers object to Afrikaner identity because it is authentic:
Afrikaners have roots in South Africa. Afrikaners have a national identity, which from both an imperial and Marxist point of view is undesirable, even ‘fascist.’ Afrikaans culture, both the earthy, rural culture of braaivleis [barbecued meat] and walking around in shorts and velskoene [leather shoes], and the high culture of literature, classical music and European-style intellectualism is authentic and not ersatz. To some extent Afrikaners are endogamous, preferring their own kind, which blasphemes against the Anglo-American ideal of multiculturalism.
Beneath all this, writes Dr. Roodt, is envy. The English-speakers have nothing like the Voortrekker Monument; their heritage contains nothing like the Battle of Blood River. Until recently, 90 percent of the monuments in South Africa had been erected by Afrikaners. The history of the land was the history of their people, and at some level, all non-Afrikaners know they have been mere spectators. Afrikaners have their own pop music, their own romance and detective novels set locally, their own movies, their own cuisine, their own folk dances and folk music; English-speakers have none of this.
Envy can be ugly. As Dr. Roodt notes, “Some years ago, would-be British movie critic and man-about-town, Barry Ronge, said that the Voortrekker Monument should be painted pink and turned into a gay disco.” Dr. Roodt writes that often it is only after they have fled the “new” South Africa they helped create that English-speakers look back with longing on the Boer culture they left behind.
For those committed to the “new” South Africa, the most obvious way to attack Afrikaners is to attack their language. When the Anglo-Litvak-Afro-Saxon elite took over South Africa in 1994, they gave South Africa eleven official languages, which amounts to no official language. In practice, English is exclusively promoted as the national language:
The ANC-SACP government, egged on by Anglo-Saxon imperialists within the system, has imposed English on all education in South Africa, especially the five Afrikaans universities, [which] were summarily merged with English-language institutions. All or most of the state’s resources are being used to promote English, in a bid to kill off Afrikaans completely.... The treatment of Afrikaans after 1994 flies in the face of all UN Covenants and treaties, as well as international norms, such as UNESCO’s Universal Declaration of Language Rights.
English is said to represent the future, progress, broad-mindedness, openness to the world and... money-making. “In post-revolutionary, anglicised South Africa,” writes Dr. Roodt, “we have been told ad nauseam that clinging to one’s own language or culture, one’s own cuisine or music or traditional dress, is utterly primitive and should be abandoned forthwith.”
Some English-speaking blacks even take this view of African tribal customs, and want blacks to become westernized, politically correct feminists. Zulus, who policed other blacks under apartheid and fought the ANC, are targets, but of course it is the Afrikaners who bear the brunt of this sort of hectoring. It is often said that Afrikaner devotion to a language unknown outside South Africa is not economically rational, and to those who think exclusively in economic terms, this is incomprehensible. But then, loyalty and sacrifice are incomprehensible to such people.
Some Afrikaners are at least outwardly turning their backs on their heritage. At universities and in the media, some change their names and pretend not to speak Afrikaans in order to keep their jobs. And at least a few have internalized their enemies’ views: Afrikaner novelist André Brink has gone so far as to proclaim that “my people do not deserve to exist and should disappear.”
Dr. Roodt is not hostile to the English language; he has an extensive knowledge of English literature which would put many native speakers to shame. What he opposes is English as a “killer language”–a term recently coined for “a language so dominant that it tends to wipe out all others.” Language is an important ingredient of identity for black and white South Africans alike, and Dr. Roodt believes that “killer English” is partly to blame for the:
lack of identity [which] drives the need for drugs, for drink, prostitution, gambling and the vast spectrum of vices consuming South Africa, at once the most decadent and the most criminal of countries in the world. The corollary of deracinated English is that there is a constant process of identity-seeking and whether one finds one’s identity in drugs, golf, adopting a ‘posh’ British accent, or radical politics, is a matter of choice or chance.
A weak sense of identity is usually destructive. Afrikaners, who often lived close to blacks and learned their languages, understood this, while “the Englishman has kept himself aloof, residing in all-white suburbs fulminating about ‘racism’.” Many years ago, Afrikaners were writing that “simply uprooting black Africans from their traditional culture and subjecting them to a superficial ‘Westernisation’ and anglicisation would lead to identity loss and ethnopsychological destabilisation [which] would in turn unleash intense violence and social decay.” Dr. Roodt quotes a warning written by Afrikaner anthropologist J. P. Bruwer in 1961:
No people, no community, no pattern of life, may maintain values unless they are supported by a system of conservative ideas, a positive attitude to life that is rooted in a lived culture. Precisely herein lies the danger of a destabilised people, a destabilised community and a destabilised cultural tradition. A people or peoples that have been deracinated and torn away from the substance of their civilisation must become bearers of ‘other value systems’ that will ultimately overwhelm the existing society in which they are essentially aliens.
The South Africans who are most deracinated, both in terms of race and language, are South Africa’s mixed-race population:
The population group in South Africa with the most social problems regarding crime, substance abuse, a high drop-out rate and lack of tertiary education, are the so-called Coloureds of the Western and Northern Cape. Forty percent of children among Northern Cape Coloureds suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome. In the Western Cape especially, Coloureds speak a shifting English-Afrikaans Creole, a tragicomic tongue expressing the travails of a hybrid people. Hybridity, which is so celebrated by left-liberals the world over, seems to lead to a tragic, dysfunctional society of violence, drug and alcohol abuse.
Needless to say, the new elite encourages the production of as many of these unfortunate people as possible:
Within the hurricane of platitudes and PC clichés spat out on a daily basis by the inane South African media, the notion of race-mixing is always held up as the ultimate ideal. Almost every billboard has some racially mixed couple or crowd [engaged in] a ritual of consumption.
As Nadine Gordimer declared, “White and Black must make Colored,” though she herself married fellow Litvak Jews–twice.
The Afrikaner people are clearly under attack from all sides: from blacks who resent them, from English-speakers who envy and despise them, and from the larger white world that will never forgive them for taking the measures they found necessary to build a European society in Africa. Their stark numerical disadvantage–they are perhaps 5 percent of South Africa’s population–means the stakes are higher and the crisis sharper for them than for other European peoples. But they are a heroic people, and if they rally to spokesmen like Dan Roodt, they will surely have a future.
Share ThisMandatory "made in" labelling would improve the traceability of goods and thus strengthen consumer protection, said MEPs, who backed the European Commission's proposal that mandatory "made-in "labelling in Europe for non-food products should replace the current voluntary system. Today, around 10% of goods picked up by the EU’s RAPEX alert system cannot be traced back to the manufacturer.
"This is a big step forward for transparency in the product supply chain, and that is good for consumers", said Parliament's rapporteur on product safety Christel Schaldemose (S&D, DK). She deeply regretted that EU member states have not agreed on a common position due to differences over this one issue and are thus blocking negotiations on the regulation as a whole, to the detriment of consumer safety in Europe.
Indicating country of origin
The “made in” labelling should apply to almost all goods sold on the internal market, with a few exceptions such as medicines, says Parliament. Under the proposal, EU manufacturers would be able to choose whether to put "made in EU" on the label or name their country.
For goods produced in more than one place, the “country of origin” would be that where it underwent "the last substantial, economically justified processing" resulting in a "new product" or representing "an important stage of manufacture" (as defined in the EU Customs Code).
Tougher penalties for dodgy firms
To ensure that crime does not pay, MEPs want penalties to be "proportionate and dissuasive" and also to take account of the seriousness, duration and intentional or recurring character of the infringement as well as the size of the company
MEPs also propose that the Commission should draw up a public EU-wide blacklist of firms which are "repeatedly found to intentionally infringe" EU product safety rules. They further suggest establishing a pan-European database on product related injuries suffered by consumers
"This legislation is a major step towards more powerful, coordinated and risk-based pan-European surveillance. Better surveillance means safer products for European citizens", said Parliament's rapporteur on the market surveillance regulation Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, FI).
Vote results
The Schaldemose report was approved by 485 votes to 130, with 27 abstentions.
The Pietikäinen report was approved by 573 votes to 18, with 52 abstentions.
Next steps
Parliament voted at the first reading to ensure that the work done during this mandate can be taken up by the new Parliament and used as a basis for further negotiations with EU member states.
Procedure: Co-decision, first readingIn Set List, we talk to musicians about some of their most famous songs, learning about their lives and careers, and maybe hearing a good backstage anecdote or two in the process.
BoJack Horseman is a difficult show to describe on many fronts, not the least of which is because it’s an animated comedy about a universe filled with anthropomorphic animals alongside humans that deals with tough subjects like substance abuse and depression. Despite those topics, the show somehow manages to be very, very funny as it follows the misadventures of its title character, a star on the popular ’90s TV show Horsin’ Around, who now tries to carve out fulfilling relationships in Hollywood (sorry, Hollywoo) after a lifetime of dysfunctional interactions and failed friendships.
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Adding to BoJack Horseman’s irrepressible mix is its score and compositions, like the Horsin’ Around theme song and the Britney Spears-inspired hit “Prickly Muffin.” Last season, a wordless, underwater episode had only its lovely cinematic score to propel it forward. This season’s second episode, a look back on BoJack’s roots, hinges on the lovely “I Will Always Think Of You,” sung by Jane Krakowski, Colman Domingo, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Composer Jesse Novak is responsible for all of BoJack’s songs and its score (except for the opening song, by Patrick and Ralph Carney, and the closing “Back In the ‘90s,” by Grouplove). He started out composing for TV on The Mindy Project (starring Mindy Kaling, the close friend of his brother B.J.) before moving on to BoJack, for which he often only has a day or so to compose something. And yet, as this current season shows, Novak’s contributions just seem to be getting stronger. Novak took a few minutes to go over some of BoJack’s greatest hits for us.
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The A.V. Club: Was The Mindy Project your first foray into writing scores for TV?
Jesse Novak: I had done tons of media before, but I hadn’t done a 20-minute show before. I had done some full-length, very, very small—like, nobody ever saw them—movies, and a lot of stuff on the internet, different styles of commercials and stuff like that. As far as scoring to picture, The Mindy Project was me on TV and right away on Fox, because that was the network at the time. So that was a big jump from everything else.
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AVC: How did you get tapped for BoJack Horseman?
JN: It probably had something to do with the fact that I went to college with the creator, Raphael [Bob-Waksberg]. We used to do sketch comedy together. We worked together before. When I heard that he had sold his show, I was super excited for him, and I never do this, but he’s an old friend—I reached out to him directly. I said, “If there’s any way I can be involved, please let me know.” And I did not hear anything back, and I was so sad, and then I eventually got a call from the music supervisor on the show. He said, “We’re looking at composers and your name came up. Would you want to demo?” I said, “Of course I do.” I came in, I met with them, I sent them music demos. I was also, you know, not only a fan of Raphael but also I’ve been a fan of Lisa Hanawalt for years. I love her books, I love her style. Just from the 10-minute pilot presentation, I felt like I connected to the show right away. A lot of the music I feel I continued in the show I started in that first week demoing for them because I felt that inspiration for a lot of the sound came from the visuals and feelings that I was already familiar with through Lisa and Rafael’s work.
Horsin’ Around theme song
AVC: You do a spot-on parody of the dumb sitcoms people grew up with with your theme songs—like the Horsin’ Around theme song.
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JN: Horsin’ Around, I think of as a collaboration—somebody, at a really great moment, took a voice recording of Raphael singing a really crude version of it. It sounded very spontaneous, and it doesn’t really sound like the final product, but he had most of the lyrics down, and he had a sense of the rhythm of it. And I had that to go on, and I had the script. That’s so much better than having nothing to go on. I work best when I have a very loose outline, straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were. And so I think because I knew something about the sentimentality of the Horsin’ Around show in contrast with the darkness of Hollywood and everything—that was something that I knew was going to be recurring. I set out to make it extra heartfelt and extra mushy, but also very, like, macho. I spent a lot of time on that vocal—I really wanted to do it myself. It wasn’t easy for me to get that tone, but I really wanted to, so I did so many takes and so much editing. I think I eventually found the right quality and made it funny.
“Kyle And The Kids”
AVC: “Kyle And The Kids” is another version of that, another perfect family that BoJack isn’t a part of.
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JN: That gag came in this really organic-seeming way in the writers room. I got notified that they were doing this scene, and I sort of knew the outline of the episode. All of a sudden, I heard, “We’re trying to pitch this joke: She says, ‘I can’t wait for you to meet Kyle and the kids’, and we’re thinking about going into a whole sequence.” And this was kind of late in the production—later than it normally would have been—so I said, “I’ll give it a try.” And they liked what I did, and then they did that sequence, which is great, because I think at first it was a maybe.
I think it’s terrific—I think it’s a great way to break down the storytelling mechanism and get a little bit surreal and take us into BoJack’s head a little. And it’s fun for me to get to do kind of a rival show to BoJack’s show. I got my friend Carrick [Moore Gerety] to do the singing; he’s got a really sweet, really upbeat voice, and he did a perfect job. There’s harmonies, and there’s all these—just trying to make it extra perfect and extra happy. I wrote those lyrics, too, but, again, I got a note from Raphael in the middle of it: “Kyle And The Kids—you know, Charlotte’s his wife, and they have a kid named Trip”—he basically just gave me these super loose—and then I thought, “Oh, the funny thing would be to keep the lyrics almost as loose as that.” I just tried to make it descriptive and really upbeat and to play to comedy.
AVC: You’re not directly thinking of Full House and Family Matters and those shows when you’re writing fake sitcom themes?
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JN: I think as much as anybody who likes pop culture, parody is influenced by the dominant examples in the genre. I would hesitate to call it any one specific thing as an influence.
“Prickly Muffin”
JN: This one came to me with some loose lyrics and some audio from Kristen Schaal. This song is pretty unique in the series because they did this recording session without really talking to me at first, and they didn’t really have a song written. I had to edit all of her takes together into something really cohesive and try to make a song out of it, which was a challenge, but was really fun because she’s so great. She was just kind of improvising, reading some lines off a script—some of them rhymed, some of them sort of didn’t. Meanwhile, musically, I’m thinking, “Okay, what year is it? What kind of song is it?”
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I’ll come out and say this: To me, this is like me trying to do early Britney mixed with early Neptunes, because I feel like those were the two dominant forces in the late ’90s musically, or early 2000s. They influenced me a lot. And her character was supposed to be that type of teen starlet from that era—how can you not think of Britney Spears? So I took a small amount of inspiration from that. But, at the same time, I often simply [tweak] the pop culture references a little bit, just to try to make it read as comedy, too. So I did a stripped-down thing with it in the end. Editing the vocals together was the most interesting part.
AVC: What’s that like to see the final product? Like, “Here’s this song I wrote,” and then you see it visualized. Are you ever totally surprised by what they came up with?
JN: In a way I am. But they’re consistently very inventive. There’s so much comedy always going on in the background and in the visuals. So I think, “Okay, something funny’s going on,” but at the same time, my attention tends to be on the music. You could play me back a scene and say, “Okay, what did you think about that thing that happened?” And then maybe I missed it because I was picking up on “Oh, maybe I should have changed that note” or “Maybe I should have put a different song right there.” I have to be so focused on the music—especially when it’s my music. I want it to be perfect. But I would say that, if anything, I just feel flattered that people would take something I made and then use that as a springboard for some other art form, which is drawing the visuals and putting something on top of it, letting them help each other. It’s great, because I tend to be writing those type of songs before the animation is even close to finished.
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Generic songs: ’80s, ’90s, and 2007
AVC: What about the generic songs over the three panels that stay the same? What did you draw from for those three?
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JN: Songs from the ’80s—I just start thinking about the instrumentation, and I have the lyrics in front of me. So maybe I’ll start making a beat while I’m saying the lyrics in my head. You can really draw from clichés, and I’m the type of producer that pays a lot of attention to musical trends and things that signify the era. The ’80s are extremely distinctive, obviously: the use of synthesizers and drum machines, and the fact that people were just having so much fun with that technology. So you go in and you want something that’s very dancey and sounds very obviously like synthesizers—you could put a guitar in, but I think the synthesizers will read very quickly as ’80s. And I try to make it fun.
Generic ’90s grunge song—I feel like it writes itself. I just tried to play some chords and I end up making it a little more poppy than mopey, just because you want the scene to have energy. It’s too complicated to try to write a subtle, mopey song and then try to get Will Arnett to sing it for a comedy sequence that’s not even about the song. The music is funny, but the visuals steal the show.
So I just picked up a guitar and played some chords and tried to capture a little bit of the guitar tone from that time. To me, it’s not real grunge—I was really into grunge. That’s the kind of music I would have felt was too pop in the ’90s, but now I feel like it’s good for that scene and it sells the joke.
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2007: I think my confession is that I really borrowed more from 2009 but nobody noticed. I think the Auto Tune was part of the lyrics. The lyrics are “generically 2007 pop song”—and then I added the rap on. That’s me rapping kind of like a bad will.i.am or something like that. [Laughs.] I guess I’m kind of trying to channel some—again, I’ve only named one name and I won’t name any more. But I really am trying to make it generic in the sense that I’m trying to borrow just enough from one source so that I can borrow from another source and another source, so that it doesn’t sound too much like any one song, but because I really do want to convey the sense of that entire year of pop styles.
Mr. Peanutbutter’s House theme song
AVC: Mr. Peanutbutter is my favorite character after season four. Maybe it’s because everyone else is so dark. He’s the only trying to help BoJack. I really appreciate that he has a theme song.
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JN: I appreciate it, too. I still try to play his song as a counterpart to BoJack’s song. He’s sort of introduced as a competitor from the beginning—BoJack being dismissive of his show. I wanted to try and give it a really different flavor. What would make BoJack feel threatened—what kind of show? I think the graphic designers who did the fake posters for the show were on the same wavelength as me. I think we both wanted it to be dorky, funky-fresh—trying a little hard to be hip. Influenced by hip-hop but in a slightly uninformed way. I have very, very, really specific ideas about the tone of that song and all the things that it was going to borrow from. And it was originally 10 seconds long—I didn’t know how I was going to make a full-length song, so I made a short clip.
And then in season three, they requested a full-length version, so I added some really fun parts, like a million vocalists, and a dog howling, and more and more puns. That was the most clever thing in the world. I don’t know who it was that came up with that scene. Somebody said, “We were writing the scene, and we want this song to play, and you need to extend it to 45 seconds or so,” and I was like, “Yes!”
AVC: How does that work?
JN: I basically have the whole L.A. Philharmonic! No. Mostly, I hire vocalists if I need them, because almost everything else I can fake on the computer, through synthesizers, through keyboards, through sample manipulation, through loops—I’m very techie in the way that I do things. And I’m a real perfectionist. I take great pains to try and make synthetic things sound realistic. Same on The Mindy Project, which is basically—it’s all an orchestral-style, an acoustic-style soundtrack, but, again, that’s on the computer.
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“I Will Always Think Of You”
AVC: This season you have “I Will Always Think of You” with Jane Krakowski, Colman Domingo, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. People online were wondering if it was a real song from the ’40s, but it’s a song you wrote that’s perfect for that time period.
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JN: I worked with Lin over the phone. I came into the studio, and he was doing a remote voice-over—the same thing with Jane Krakowski in the same episode. It’s a little challenging compared to being in a room with somebody, because you don’t get to meet them and make eye contact. And sometimes you can’t hear their singing as well as you want because it’s over a phone. But he was a total gentleman, and he was super nice. He was making jokes and stuff—he did a good performance and was very easy to direct. He’s obviously very musical.
There was a whole demo for the actors to learn that I recorded with the cowriter of the song, Rachel Kaplan, and she did the female part, and I did the male part. So we had demos going in—that’s what we usually do. The actors listen to a demo with me on it, and then they learn the part with my vocal demo, and then we record them like that. So really all I did with Lin was sort of directing, listening to the takes, saying, “Can you try this? Can you try that? Can you do it faster here, slower there?” It didn’t take a long time. And it’s a funny way of being starstruck, because it’s like, “Wow, I met this person today,” but you didn’t meet them in the flesh. And I’m a huge 30 Rock fan, too, so I was a little starstruck by Jane even though I didn’t meet her.
“Fish Out Of Water” score
AVC: That silent underwater episode probably took a lot of time, because all there is is your music.
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JN: Yes, it did take a long time. They allowed for more time in the production for me to write the score. I don’t think that I put any more attention to detail than I normally do. It’s just there’s so much more music. I felt like I somehow caught inspiration from day one and found a good direction that just flowed out of me—that thing that you always want to happen really did happen. It was a pretty easy writing process. I felt inspired.
There was really only one scene where they wanted a rewrite of the music to add more energy to it, which was before [BoJack] gets on the bus full of fish. He’s walking the streets, and there was a note about—because I made a score that was a little bit sleepy and dreamy and it didn’t quite match all the action. They wanted it to feel like a very bustling city and not just a dream sequence, so I made some music that had more of a driving beat, and that was it. Basically, I just went straight ahead with the score, and it took longer just because there’s more areas to cover and more mixing to do and more stuff to be aware of.
There was another rewrite, too. When he’s flying out of the factory and it’s kind of triumphant—my first draft of that music was not well-received. I don’t remember what they said, but it was a no. [Laughs.] I just redid it completely and then they liked it, and I liked it better, too.
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“Every Dog Has His Day”
AVC: Is there a BoJack song that you love that people don’t mention that often?
JN: “Every Dog Has His Day.” It’s not that loud, and I could see why people might not notice it. In season two, episode two, in the last scene, when Mr. Peanutbutter is saving Todd from the burning roller-coaster—again, this was based on a simple creation by the showrunner. He said, “We need a song called ‘Every Dog Has Its Day’ that has sort of an inspirational, heroic vibe.” I said, “Okay!” I had so much fun making that song—the singer was this guy from Craigslist named Mark Murray, who did a great job. It’s just a vibe that I love. It’s somewhere between “That’s What Friends Are For” and something by Boyz II Men, but with a little bit more of a power ballad feel. It makes me laugh my head off when I hear it.
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“Keep Driving”
JN: It was another late-night request—another late addition to the episode. Somebody said, “Can we get a song like this by tomorrow?” And I said something like, “Okay, I’ll give you a really rough demo, and then I’ll rewrite it.” And the demo is almost identical to the finished song. And of course I was thinking, “Whatever, this is just temporary.” Sometimes when you do that, you inadvertently end up with something that has the right feel. And the song really did have the right feel. I cleaned it up a little bit, and I ended up doubling the vocals with my friend Carrick, who also did “Kyle And The Kids,” so it’s actually two male singers on that song, mixed together. I guess, if anything, the story of that is the story of something happening where you didn’t intend for it to be the final product but ended up loving it and noticing that other people seemed to love it, too.
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I knew the tone of the episode, too. And their relationship [between BoJack and Princess Carolyn] has always touched me in a way as bittersweet and strange. So the background of the characters helped the song come out of me, and I put a lot of sincerity into the music when it’s instrumental. Maybe as far as the funny songs go, that one comes from a sincere place, too.
AVC: You have to be creative on such a tight time limit. Do you find it gets easier as you go? Like a blade that gets sharpened?
JN: I feel the same way, especially because you can see things actually take less time as you go on. For example, The Mindy Project music: Every year I’m writing it faster, and I think it sounds better. And so that’s just about sharpening yourself. But as far as having to write on a deadline, it’s good for me—I’m a real tinkerer, and I’m a real perfectionist. It’s really hard for me to know when something is finished without a deadline. But when I’ve got a job to do and people are counting on me, it’s, “Okay, there it is! Here’s your music.” Because it has to be finished, so you finish it. It’s really hard for me to know when something is finished without a deadline. I have a lot of unfinished music sitting around, waiting for someone to finish it.A homeless woman with a troubled history in Portland was sentenced to three years of probation Thursday for setting two fires in the middle of downtown intersections during the city's May Day demonstrations.
Sarah Pugh, 36, pleaded guilty to second-degree arson and riot — both felonies — for her role in the melee that left department store windows smashed, a cop car vandalized and police officers dodging rocks, Molotov cocktails and full cans of soda.
Her conviction comes just days after a different demonstrator at the same protest admitted to throwing burning flares into a police cruiser and the downtown Target store. That defendant, Damion Zachary Feller, 23, will be sentenced to five years in prison next month.
Man who threw flare into cop car during May 1 protests to get 5 years Damion Feller, a homeless man with bipolar disorder, was dressed all in black when he threw flares into a Portland police car and into the downtown Target store.
Pugh declined to speak during her appearance before Multnomah County Circuit Judge Kelly Skye.
Court and police records cast Pugh as a transient who has battled with addiction and substance abuse for several years.
Pugh left her two children with family in Indiana, where she was born and raised, to travel the country, racking up arrests for assault, disorderly conduct and drug-related charges in Arizona, Californian and Tennessee, records show.
She arrived in Portland last year and took up residence on the streets, occasionally earning money by cleaning the dumpster of a city restaurant, according to court documents.
Portland police have cited Pugh for public intoxication 10 times since September 2016. She's also been arrested on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct, interfering with a peace officer and criminal mischief, court records show.
Pugh told police that she decided to join the May 1 demonstrations after she saw the large group of people who |
could eventually be brought to Bitcoin. These changes are often done through a hard fork, a non-backward-compatible upgrade that separates a digital currency into two chains, one with the changes and one without. Miners and users decide which is more relevant, simply by using whichever chain they prefer. One chain thrives and the other dies due to lack of network support. Altcoins have also had relatively smaller market capitalization compared to Bitcoin, which means there are fewer consequences for big, risky changes or endeavors.
For traders or investors, this uneasy footing is certainly something to avoid on the short-term, but those with a healthy appetite for risk may look for these opportunities.
This week, Ethereum ( ETH ) hit an all-time high ( ATH ) in USD terms as well as in total market capitalization, ETH/BTC ratio and ETH/USD price. To understand how ETH got here, let's take a quick look back at the events that took place in 2016. I've added a 200-day estimated moving average (EMA) to the chart, which is the fool-proof gold standard for trend determination. Price above the 200 EMA suggests bullish sentiment, and price below suggests bearish sentiment.
02/29/16 - Second hard fork to allow for further protocol changes
03/13/16 - Technical three drives into ETH/BTC ATH completes
04/26/16 - 50 percent pullback
04/30/16 - Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) begins
06/12/16 - DAO hacked
07/20/16 - Third hard fork to reverse DAO hack
10/11/16 - Price falls below 200 EMA
11/22/16 - Fourth hard fork to prevent denial-of-service (DoS) attacks
03/01/17 - Price breaks 200 EMA
03/16/17 - ETH/BTC makes a new ATH
After ETH/USD broke the $2 mark in early February 2016, technicals drove price to an ATH with a three-drive pattern.
As Bitcoin was making a new ATH in March 2017, ETH followed suit as well after breaking the technical resistance of the 200 EMA. Between the creation of the DAO and several hard forks, it's likely that many investors stayed out of the coin based on the fear, uncertainty and doubt that multiple hard forks and ongoing DoS attacks bring to a digital currency in its nascent stages. Hard forks, from a trader's perspective, mean two things:
1. Events have occurred requiring drastic changes to the network;
2. Changes can be untested and messy after the hard fork occurs.
This doesn't mean catastrophe will strike, but the mere possibility opens the door for unintended consequences, which isn't exactly inviting when risking thousands of dollars trading an asset. I mention all of this because only after a period of stability was ETH able to continue its bull run to the current levels.
Based on the market memory principle, ETH/BTC was able to find horizontal support from the previous three drives in early 2016. With the addition of a fiat on-ramp through Coinbase on July 21, 2016, it was perhaps inevitable that, given the chance during a period of network stability and an influx of new users, the ETH/BTC ratio would again break the 200 EMA.
The obvious questions now are:
- Is ETH stable at these prices?
- Will ETH continue making ATHs?
- Will ETH pull back?
- Is this an ETH bubble?
Let's try to answer those questions by adding a pitchfork for diagonal support and resistance, which is drawn from extreme highs and lows of a trend, and pivots, which are mathematical support and resistance levels based on previous price.
Price is currently sitting at the first expected diagonal resistance of the pitchfork, and very near the yearly R2 pivot. This confluence of resistance is confirmed by the pullback currently in the price. This is a large, young pitchfork. Should it continue, the median line (red) becomes a high-probability target for price. A feasible trajectory (blue) with a pullback to the R1 pivot, or previous ATH, a touch of the pitchfork resistance diagonal and then a reach for the median line is certainly not out of the question.
The 1.272 and 1.618 Fibonacci extensions also give further support and resistance possibilities.
Zooming in to the four-hour time frame, it's possible that price has set up another three-drive pattern, albeit not perfect, similar to the pattern that led to a then-ATH on March 31, 2016, followed by a 50-percent pullback, yielding a target on ~0.303 ETH/BTC.
Summary
1. After establishing an ATH in 2016 following a three-drive pattern, ETH had a tumultuous year fraught with hard forks, an experiment gone wrong (The DAO) and DoS attacks on the network.
2. Following months of stability and a Bitcoin ATH, ETH was able to break the all-important 200 EMA, creating a technical opportunity for a bullish run.
3. There is a confluence of resistance around the current price level based on pitchfork diagonals, pivots and another possible three-drive pattern. Should this be the local top for the moment, expect a 50 percent pullback of the move to ~0.303 in the near future.Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
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Four years after bidding Salem adieu, the town’s most famous pair of lips is coming home.
Lisa Rinna will return to “Days of Our Lives” as the conniving (aren’t they all?) Billie Reed, EW.com reports. Her episodes, which she began taping this week, will air in 2018.
Since Rinna’s most recent departure from “Days” in 2013, she’s been a series regular on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” where she’s put her years of soap-trained pot stirring to good use. Her TV credits also include roles on “Melrose Place,” “Veronica Mars” and “Valerie.”
And this is just the latest in a series of major “Days” casting announcements. “General Hospital’s” Tyler Christopher is arriving soon in a mystery role, and Louise Sorel (aka Vivian Alamain) and Kassie DePaiva are returning after extended absences; the latter took time off to battle leukemia. But arguably the biggest surprise is that Chandler Massey is plotting his return to Salem as Will Horton.
New episodes of “Days of Our Lives” air Monday through Friday on NBC.Most of you are big fans of OneDrive. It integrates nicely into Windows Phone, Windows 8 and the Xbox One. That doesn’t mean you don’t use other cloud storage solutions from time to time. It might work related or a classmate sharing a file that you venture to places like Dropbox, Box, Mega and other cloud storage providers. Dropbox has official apps on Android, iOS, BlackBerry and the Kindle Fire, but not on Windows Phone. Does that matter now that Rudy Huyn has just released his third-party Dropbox client called CloudSix for Dropbox? Let’s find out with our hands on video and exclusive screenshots.
Ready for the good news? The app is a full featured and free Dropbox app on Windows Phone. It’s also just the beginning of a new wave of apps from Rudy that we’ll tell you about shortly. Here’s what you get with CloudSix for Dropbox on Windows Phone: Access all your photos, docs and videos from any device.
Automatically save photos and videos to Dropbox when your phone is charging
Share a link to even your biggest files — no more attachments!
Add files to your “Favorites” for fast, offline viewing.
Multi-accounts: access too many Dropbox accounts without sign in/sign out
We logged into our Dropbox account and are quite impressed with the app. All our files, photos and videos were viewable in the app. The app even has multi-account support, which is very cool and useful if you’re juggling a Dropbox account for personal storage and the other more business orientated. CloudSix for Dropbox also backs up photos or videos from your photo library if you want. Another bonus feature is that you can activate protection for the app and set a pin. This means you'll need to enter a pin when launching CloudSix for Dropbox. A nice feature to keep private photos private. You can long press a file or folder to bring up the action menu. If you do that you’ll see options for renaming the file, sharing it, creating/copying a link for it, adding it as a favorite or deleting it. You can open PDFs in your PDF Windows Phone app of choice, while word documents are viewable directly in CloudSix.
CloudSix for Dropbox is just the beginning. There’s also one last surprise feature in CloudSix. Other developers can use the app as a file picker or file saver (similar experience on Windows 8). Meaning a developer who has made an emulator on Windows Phone can make it so that their app can retrieve ROMs from CloudSix for Dropbox. They don’t need to add Dropbox support to their app, just install a NuGet package and create a CloudSixFilePicker with the parameters they want. It’s pretty cool that with 2 lines of a code other developers can enable cloud storage in their apps through CloudSix for Dropbox. As an example, Rudy has just updated his Snapchat client, 6Snap, to be the first app to take advantage of this functionality. Update 6Snap and you’ll be able to save your snaps to Dropbox through CloudSix for Dropbox. Very cool.Has man indeed made life? I think not. The replica is indistinguishable in form and function from the original. Were it not for marker tags introduced into the replica DNA, there would be no difference at all. It is as if one were to create a copy of Michelangelo's David, accurate down to the last crack and imperfection except for the signature, and call it new. Is the organism so created useful? No more so than the original, most famous for being small, with no known use outside the laboratory.
Will this work open a new era of modern biology? Again unlikely. That door was opened some time ago with the advent of genetic engineering that allows functioning genes of one organism to be inserted into another (think of the human gene for insulin inserted in bacterium to produce the replacement hormone for diabetics), and more recently by mixing and matching the genes from many different species to create new useful biochemical pathways. For example, nine different genes, some from bacteria and some from plants, were spliced into yeast DNA to direct the production of an anti-malarial drug previously only obtainable from a tropical plant. Similar methods have already been used to ferment diesel and jet fuel. These techniques are part of a rapidly growing field I call "constructive biology," but now goes by the unfortunate name "synthetic biology."
Does this experiment raise new moral and ethical issues? This genie has long been out of the laboratory flask. For decades we have had the ability to genetically alter life forms to suit our purpose. The vast majority of applications have been for good: to heal the sick and feed the hungry. If the technology has been seriously misused, the results are hidden, shrouded in secrecy, perhaps in military laboratories. Yes, we must be vigilant as always, but these new results do not change the game.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.By Heather Callaghan, Editor
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But don’t worry…….they don’t bite?
The biggest trend for mad scientists now is the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes – the same mosquitoes that are noted for carrying tropical diseases and for getting genetically engineered under the guise of fighting the Zika. Zika is one of the latest banners of scare porn that the mainstream media has foisted on the public in a seeming attempt to pave the way for biotech companies to operate unhindered.
CNN quietly blurbed the following last week:
Thousands of mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria were released in an area of the Florida Keys this week, in hopes of a new approach to control the disease-carrying female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits Zika virus, Dengue fever and Chikungunya.
According to the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, 20,000 male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were released on Stock Island Tuesday for a field trial that will last 12 weeks. The mosquitoes, which do not bite, have been manually infected with a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia.
The Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes are to be released twice a week at 20 different spots in the “designated area” for the trial for MosquitoMate. The public was apparently warned that there would be an (ironic) influx of mosquitoes during this time.
CNN adds:
As explained in a presentation by the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, when these infected male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes mate with female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the eggs she produces won’t hatch, thus they can’t reproduce. The result, they hope, will be a reduced or eliminated population of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and the viruses they spread, including Zika virus.
Similar to the GE mosquitoes that British company Oxitec are trying to release, the offspring die but in this case it is the mechanism of the bacteria doing it.
MosquitoMate claims that their mosquitoes are non-GMO and apparently they have already been released in Kentucky, California an New York. They work closely with University of Kentucky and say, “We rely on a natural approach rather than GMO to reduce the mosquito population in your backyard. We utilize a naturally-occurring bacterium called Wolbachia, which is present in insect cells, to infect our male mosquitoes.” Sounds pretty natural right? Injecting an unnaturally occurring bacterium into the mosquitoes before release…
Then the report goes on to say more scary things about Zika and pregnant women who could have babies born with microcephaly – a link that is questionable.
Andrea Leal, executive director for the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District said:
A successful trial with the Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes could mean the availability of a new tool in the fight against the Aedes aegypti mosquito for not only our District, but for Mosquito Control Districts around the country.
Floridians have been rejecting the release of British company Oxitec’s genetically modified mosquitoes for some time. Is this little “experiment” a way to finally release some type of modified pest?
Florida’s elected are still trying to push for Oxitec’s field trials on the public. It would include the release of thousands of GE mosquitoes. A similar push is happening in Houston, TX by – you guessed it – Oxitec! They just keep buzzing to other locations since they already received FDA approval.
Oxitec also conducted field trials in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands. The company boasts that it has reduced the Aedes mosquito populations by up to 90 percent each time. One has to wonder what the ecological impact is for other animals, like bats and frogs, who may actually be losing most of their food supply. Another thing to consider is that the newly mutated offspring can actually survive maturity if they are antidoted with the antibiotic tetracycline.
One wonders what will happen in a future of competing biotech companies – will their experiments overlap or will the government simply dole out territories with which they can test their patented creatures?
So – don’t you love how the media just tells you what you get to accept and then juxtapose the scary reason why an unacceptable action has to take place right now?
These people should be in prison.Image copyright PAcemaker Image caption Kevin McDaid died after being attacked outside his home in May 2009
Nine men have been jailed in connection with the death of a Catholic community worker in Coleraine, County Londonderry.
Kevin McDaid, 49, died after he was attacked outside his home in May 2009 in what a judge described as an ugly sectarian incident.
His friend Damien Fleming, who was also attacked, needs life-long care.
The jail sentences for the men ranged from six months to eight and a half years.
They were sent to trial for manslaughter and attempted murder in January, but in May they pleaded guilty to lesser offences.
The longest sentences were given to the six men who admitted the most serious charge of grievous bodily harm. All the sentences will run concurrently.
Frank Daly, of Oakland Walk, Coleraine, was jailed for eight years for grievous bodily harm and four years for actual bodily harm (ABH)
John Thompson, of Knocknougher Road, Macosquin, Coleraine, who also admitted GBH and ABH, received the same sentence
Aaron Beech, of John Street, Ballymena, was sentenced to seven years for GBH and three years for ABH
John McGrath, of Knock Road, Ballymoney, was sentenced to six years for GBH and three years for ABH
Paul Newman, of Nursery Avenue, Ballymoney, received a six-year sentence for GBH and three years for ABH
Ivan McDowell, of Taggart Mews, Ballymoney, was jailed for five years for GBH.
Three men who admitted lesser offences were also jailed on Tuesday:
James McAfee, of Cloneen Drive, Ballymoney, who admitted affray, was jailed for three years
Rodney Gardner, of Knocklynn Grange, Coleraine, who also admitted affray, received the same sentence
John Freeman, of Sunderland Road, Belfast, who admitted intimidation and common assault, was jailed for six months.
Another two men who admitted affray received suspended sentences:
Christopher McDowell, of Castle Walk Mews, Castlerock, was given a one-year sentence, suspended for two years
David Craig Cochrane, Windyhall Park, Coleraine, also received a one-year sentence, suspended for two years.
Jonathan Sterling, of Windyhall Park, Coleraine, who pleaded guilty to threats to harm, was released on probation.When comic Marcia Belsky sarcastically replied “men are scum” to a friend’s Facebook post back in October, she never anticipated being banned from the platform for 30 days.
That was exactly what happened.
Belsky was shocked at the severity of the punishment considering her relatively innocuous comment, and immediately spoke to her fellow female friends about the ordeal. They could relate.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, countless women have taken to Facebook to express their frustration and disappointment with men and have been promptly shut down or silenced, banned from the platform for periods ranging from one to seven days.
Women have posted things as bland as “men ain’t shit,” “all men are ugly,” and even “all men are allegedly ugly” and had their posts removed. They’ve been locked out of their accounts for suggesting that, since “all men are ugly,” country music star Blake Shelton “winning the sexiest man isn’t a triumph.”
“I personally posted men are scum in November and I received a seven-day ban. It’s still ongoing. Two days and 23 hours left,” said comedian Alison Klemp.
Kayla Avery, a comedian in Boston, said she’s been banned close to 10 times by Facebook and is serving out the end of her third 30-day ban.
One of the first times she got banned was when her page was flooded with male trolls calling her derogatory and sexist terms. Avery posted “men continue to be the worst” she said, because she said she “felt helpless to stop their hate.”
“There was one guy who was threatening to find my house and beat me up,” she said. “I got banned before I could even successfully report it.”
In late November, after the issue was raised in a private Facebook group of nearly 500 female comedians, women pledged to post some variation of “men are scum” to Facebook on Nov. 24 in order to stage a protest. Nearly every women who carried out the pledge was banned.
“It wasn’t the best protest because it clearly didn’t work,” said Klemp. Avery said she is still suffering the consequences after posting “men are trash” on that day.
On Nov. 28 a Twitter thread by comedian Rae Sanni documenting her experience of being banned by Facebook went viral and countless other women began to share their stories.
The problem has become so widespread that Avery even created a website to document these women’s tales. The site, FacebookJailed.com, shares women’s experiences of being punished by Facebook for making benign comments about men or standing up to trolls, sometimes juxtaposed with Facebook’s inaction against men who have hurled insults or racial slurs back.
“Comedian and writer Rae Sanni has been targeted by nazi trolls who hurled dozens of threatening and violent messages and comments at her for days,” a recent post reads. “Rae Sanni was banned by Facebook while her abusers are free to say sh*t like this without being in violation of community standards.”
The post features screenshots provided by Sanni where Facebook does not deem comments calling her the N-word hate speech.
When reached for comment a Facebook spokesperson said that the company is working hard to remedy any issues related to harassment on the platform and stipulated that all posts that violate community standards are removed.
When asked why a statement such as “men are scum” would violate community standards, a Facebook spokesperson said that the statement was an attack and hate speech toward a protected group and so it would rightfully be taken down.
As ProPublica revealed in an investigation in June, white men are listed as a protected group by the platform.
A Facebook spokesperson clarified that this is because all genders, races, and religions are all protected characteristics under Facebook’s current policy. However, it’s clear that even with 7,000 Facebook content moderators, things slip through the cracks.
Female comedians have speculated that it’s internalized misogyny on the behalf of Facebook’s content moderation team that leads to punishment such as banning to be doled out unequally. Several have tried posting “women are scum,” had their friends report the posts, and subsequently suffered zero consequences.
While this explanation is tidy, it’s almost certainly false. Facebook employees receive extensive training around specific issues and their work is regularly reviewed to account for any personal biases.
But the system is far from perfect.
One issue with the way Facebook moderators currently review posts is that many “problematic” posts are viewed individually, without context because of privacy concerns. Facebook moderators also aren’t able to view personal or demographic information about the original poster. This means that they sometimes don’t know whether a piece of content was posted by a black queer woman or a white straight male.
It also means the moderators don’t know whether the poster has a history of spreading messages related to white supremacy, or has participated in targeted harassment campaigns against specific groups before.
With hate speech in particular, the person writing the post is just as relevant as what is being said. The fact that Facebook’s moderators aren’t always given this information means that sometimes benign statements can be misinterpreted, and vice versa.
Context also matters. One reason female comics often seem to run afoul of Facebook’s guidelines is that the company’s content moderators fail to recognize the humor in their posts. Popular tropes such as “ban men” are interpreted literally under Facebook’s current set of community standards, and women suffer the consequences for attempting to express themselves.
In the past, ironic misandry has been a popular way for women to deal with living in a world where they’re exposed to frequent abuse at the hands of powerful men. Yet, if a woman takes to Facebook to vent about how she “wants to imprison men and milk them for their male tears,” she could quickly lose access to her account.
Trolls know this. “The ironic thing about Literal Nazis is that they have weaponized taking things literally,” BuzzFeed writer Katie Notopoulos wrote recently.
Feigning outrage at statements that were clearly not written to be interpreted that way has become a favored tactic of the alt-right, Gamergate, and movements known for their coordinated harassment efforts. When moderators can’t make this distinction they punish innocent parties and embolden trolls.
“ There was one guy who was threatening to find my house and beat me up. I got banned before I could even successfully report it. ” — Kayla Avery
Meanwhile, outright false and defamatory information—like Pizzagate communities accusing private citizens of pedophilia because of their political beliefs—still thrive on the service.
Facebook’s spokesperson stressed that it was working on a fix to this and the company plans to look at ways to eventually apply its policies in a more granular way. In the future it hopes to take into account the history of oppression with different genders and ethnicities, etc. when reviewing posts, but stressed that Facebook is a global platform.
In the meantime, two women who are both not in the comedy world but have had their content flagged or removed said the bans have made them feel much less comfortable posting on Facebook about sensitive topics like the #MeToo movement.
Avery said that posting on Facebook, no matter what issue, can feel like walking across a minefield.
“I get cold feet to post stuff, especially if I try to share something that’s going on that I want to bring attention to. because I feel like I’m going to get in trouble somehow,” she said. “Sharing anything is nerve racking. It’s like, ‘What’s ok? What’s not ok? What’s going to cross the line this time?’ It makes me feel crazy, like Facebook is gaslighting us.”
Heather Fink, also a female comedian, said the problem has also begun to spread to Instagram. She has had several posts there removed where she said she was simply talking about her Facebook ban and now no longer trusts the platform to ensure her voice is heard.
The #MeToo movement has been perpetuated via social media thanks to the open nature of most platforms and the ability for women to speak out publicly in their own words. If Facebook’s community guidelines are being enforced irregularly, whether intentional or not, women say it stifles their ability to speak truth to power and share their stories.
“ Facebook is absolutely silencing women. ” — Heather Fink
“Social media is how we communicate. Preventing women from expressing themselves like this is an intimidation tactic,” said Meredith, a social-media strategist who has had several of her friends banned.
“This feels like a deliberate and systematic act—and whether it was or it wasn’t, it needs to be addressed publicly by Facebook and Instagram, especially as we’ve seen plenty of examples of true, dangerous hate speech remaining on these platforms even after being reported.”
Avery said Facebook’s banning policy itself ties into the #MeToo movement.
“How else can we have a genuine reaction to what’s going on?” Avery said. “Facebook is absolutely silencing women.”With the introduction of app model, high trust apps are gaining popularity. Solutions nowadays are not restricted to only SharePoint, and different solutions have emerged to solve business problems. To get the best of many worlds, the provider hosted app has gained a lot of momentum.
Deployment of a high trust app in SharePoint requires a certificate creation, installation, and establishing trust between the web application and SharePoint.
This article examines the high level process of a high trust app deployment.
Basic prerequisites are:
On premise SharePoint 2013 environment
Visual studio for the development
IIS server to host the remote web application
Registering the High Trust App
High trust apps always need to be registered on the SharePoint firm in which the app will be installed.
Registration is done on the url : http:// <Sharepoint_website>/layouts/15/appregnew.aspx. Generate the App ID, App Secret using this form. Once you create this, keep the details for future use.
Obtaining the Certificate
For development or testing purposes, a self-signed certificate is enough. However this will result in a warning pop up, so when you’re in a proper testing environment or production environment, a certificate signed by a trusted third party is a must.
The certificate should be in two formats: Personal Information Exchange (pfx), and Security Certificate (cer). If it is not in either of these formats when originally obtained, it can be converted using a utility. Also, once a pfx format version has been obtained, the pfx file can be imported into IIS and then the.cer version exported.
If the certificate is originally obtained in a.cer format, it will contain both the private and public keys. As a general practice, the.cer file that is used by SharePoint should not contain the private key. Consider importing the original certificate to IIS and then exporting a new.cer version that does not include the private key.
Creating a certificate is enough with respect to high trusted apps, however if you intend to learn more about certificates and public key private keys, internet blogs and MSDN are good source.
Configuring the Remote Web Server and PFX Certificate
To configure the remote web server and pfx certificate, you need to import the certificate into IIS on the remote web server using PowerShell.
Use the Windows PowerShell command to create a certificate object:
$publicCertPath = "C:\Certs\HighTrustSampleCert.cer" $certificate = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2($publicCertPath)
Add the following line to ensure that SharePoint treats the certificate as a root authority.
New-SPTrustedRootAuthority -Name "HighTrustSampleCert" -Certificate $certificate
Add the following line to get the ID of the authorization realm.
$realm = Get-SPAuthenticationRealm
Your remote web application will use an access token to get access to SharePoint data. The access token must be issued by a token issuer that SharePoint trusts. In a high-trust app for SharePoint, the certificate is the token issuer. Add the following lines to construct an issuer ID in the format that SharePoint requires: specific_issuer_GUID@realm_GUID.
$specificIssuerId = "********-****-****-****-************" $fullIssuerIdentifier = $specificIssuerId + '@' + $realm
This defines the high-level steps needed for configuring a high trust app. However this is a complex process which often gets into issues and troubleshooting is time consuming. So it is highly recommended that one should try to create and deploy a very simple high trust app and then modify accordingly.Chris Carter. Photo: Jon Furniss/Getty Images
This time last year, The X-Files creator Chris Carter sat down with Vulture for an extended conversation timed to the 20th anniversary of his iconic series. His Amazon Prime pilot, The After, was still in the early stages of development, and Carter was formulating a plan of attack on a super-secret project for AMC. We thought we’d check back in with Carter at the TV Critics Association press tour held earlier this month, where he’d come to promote The After, which Amazon had given a series order for. (The apocalyptic drama is set to debut early next year.) Given that Carter had already talked at the event about The After, we decided to use our 20-minute window with him to discuss burning questions relating to the AMC project (now tentatively titled Area 51; “I’ll be handing [a script] in next week,” he told us), his early days in TV working with legendary NBC boss Brandon Tartikoff and other industry heavyweights, and whether we’re any closer to something new on The X-Files front (Hint: It sounds like we just might be).
Can you tell us anything more about what Area 51 will be?
I’m going to keep you in the dark on that. But [referring to a conversation before the interview began] I already sort of gave you a hint: I’m reading biographies [including Gabriel Sherman’s Roger Ailes bio, The Loudest Voice in the Room], and I’m interested in the media landscape. I’ve read An Atheist in the Foxhole. I’m reading a variety of things about the 24-hour news cycle.
The heads of 20th Century Fox TV, which produced The X-Files, are now also in charge of the Fox network. Does this make it more or less likely there’ll be some sort of reboot or sequel to the show? Things were tense between you and the suits at the studio for a while; you filed a big lawsuit against them.
A lot of the people that were involved in that [lawsuit] have moved on. It’s the business. I’m very friendly with Gary and Dana. Dana and I basically cut our teeth at the same time. She was a publicist. It’s nice to go through your career with someone you have respect for and were in the trenches with. Dana and I sat in the same room during the first market testing of The X-Files. She was like a junior publicist, and I was this unproven producer. She was there at the beginning. So I owe her a lot. And certainly she and I have talked a lot about this.
Is that a way of saying a reboot is happening?
That’s just a way of saying there certainly have been conversations.
So why hasn’t it happened?
I would assume nothing. Hold on a second. [Looks at phone.] This is funny — I just got a text message from David Duchovny. You can put that in! We are not only friends, but neighbors. There’s something to do with a remote control that I have. [Laughs.]
You worked on some interesting projects early in your career. One was a pilot with Sela Ward.
Cameo by Night. I learned a lot on that. I learned that I wanted to be a producer.
And early on you ended up with a writing deal at NBC. But you didn’t work on any of the big shows they had back then.
NBC came to me and said, “We can put you on a show immediately as a producer, a writer/producer. You can go on one of these three shows: You can go on Miami Vice, you can go on Crime Story, or you can go on a show we have called Rags to Riches.” What would a smart man have done? He’d have gone on Miami Vice. It was a great show with great writing. But I looked at that show and said, “That show is shot in Miami, and the writers/producers sit in Los Angeles. I don’t want to do that.” Crime Story? Producer sitting in Los Angeles, show shot in Las Vegas. Rags to Riches? Show is shot in Culver City, producers sit in Culver City. And that’s the show I wanted to take, because I’d learn the most from that show. And Len Hill, the producer, I learned a lot from him. Harry and Renee Longstreet, I learned a lot from them. Andy Schneider. Robin Schiff. Diana Frolov. That was a big education for me.
It was a musical!
Yes. The guy who did the music for The After is John Debney. And I met John on Rags to Riches.
You played softball with Brandon Tartikoff during your NBC days, right? What do you remember about that?
So baseball was my sport, and Brandon was a super-competitive guy. It didn’t hurt that I brought some skill to the game. But Hollywood is a meritocracy. I don’t care how good a baseball player you are, if you can’t put it on the page or screen, it doesn’t matter. [Laughs.] But there was a time when I really couldn’t pay my mortgage. And Brandon reached out to me and gave me a job. So I’ll be forever grateful to him for that. And also for teaching me some things about good television, and instinct, and competitiveness.
Is it different producing TV now versus 20, 30 years ago?
The process of making things large remains largely the same. You must get up every day, you must move your junk in trucks to a place and film it, whether it’s [shot] digitally or not. A lot of the nuts and bolts continue to be nuts and bolts, and not 3-D printing. Much has changed technologically, but when you talk about good storytelling, what hasn’t changed is, people are still emotionally the same as they were 3,000 years ago.
We’re in the era of the superstar showrunner, and the era of showrunners closely connecting with fans. Going into The After and maybe an AMC project, do you feel pressure to interact more with audiences?
I’m not on any social media, but I do have an Instagram account, which I plan to use for The After. [But] there just isn’t enough time to interact with everyone. I think your job is to do a great show. And if you’re not doing that and you’re interacting with people, in a weird way, you’re taking your eye off the ball. I think that I’ll continue to do my job the same way until I find it makes sense to do it differently.
You told us last year that you’d been devouring a lot of TV shows, including Breaking Bad and Scandal. Anything lately you’ve been wowed by on TV?
I loved True Detective. I thought it was brilliant in every respect. Those actors were fantastic. It was beautifully directed. They had beautiful scripts. For me, that is a high-water mark in television. I truly fell in love with it.
Do any shows on TV right now, in your mind, truly capture the ethos or spirit that you created with The X-Files? Have you seen Orphan Black?
No, but I hear great things about it. There’s no one show that I want to point to. But it’s a really amazing time for television. People are always saying they were inspired by The X-Files, and making these connections. I don’t see the connections quite as clearly as other people do. But I can tell you that The X-Files learned many hard lessons, and I’m thankful when people tell me they’ve capitalized on the lessons we learned.Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona lobbed harsh criticism at his own party on Sunday, arguing presidential candidates who use insulting rhetoric, or fail to correct it, will only wind up helping Democrats in 2016.
The former GOP presidential nominee was asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” about front-runner Donald Trump, who recently came under fire for staying silent at one of his rallies when a supporter incorrectly declared President Obama is a Muslim and “not even an American.”
The exchange was reminiscent of one McCain had with a woman at a 2008 rally in Minnesota, in which he corrected her for calling Obama “an Arab.”
“I think we are hurting ourselves and our chances to win the general election,” said McCain. “If we disparage each other and impugn character of each other, then after the primary is over obviously there’s a trust and support deficit among the American people.” While he didn’t name check any of the candidates, McCain said candidates have a responsibility to correct and condemn bigotry.
Related: Sen. McCain: This is a very sad day for America
Separately, McCain did take a hit at Trump, arguing the real estate mogul doesn’t understand the escalating situation in Syria. Russia recently launched strikes in the country, insisting it is targeting the terrorist groups known as ISIS. U.S. officials, however |
now participated in beheading two American journalists, who is right now standing arm-in-arm with virulent terrorists who have pledged to take jihad to America — would anyone of good conscience in either party want that person to be able to come back and land in LaGuardia airport with a U.S. passport and walk unmolested onto our streets?” he said.
“The obvious answer is no, and it saddens me that we could not see Republicans and Democrats come together,” he continued. “It saddens me that in an election year the Democratic senators up for election chose to block this common-sense legislation, rather than to work together to protect the American citizens. I hope in time we see less election-year politics and more service to the men and women who all of us are obliged to protect.”
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Hands On Few people would have placed ZTE as being in the flagship Android race this year in Europe, but its Axon 7 makes it a surprising and strong contender.
You'll know the script by now: buy a Chinese manufactured Android, get top-of-the-range features, and save £100-150 over a big brand HTC, Samsung or Sony flagship. Or even more in the case of the Axon 7, which will be £359 off Amazon. That's a considerable saving over the £449 that Huawei wants for its Leica-branded P9, although more than the £309 list price of the OnePlus Three.
I found the Axon offers a great all-metal design, a stunning QHD (quad high definition) display, and a surprisingly good camera. With almost no presence on the ground in the UK and a dim and dusty brand, the task now lies in persuading punters to take the gamble.
What follows is the result of a day with the Chinese variant of the Axon, so there's more depth than you get from the usual bloggy "hands on" (written after five minutes with the device) – but I'm not assessing performance or any software features beyond the camera and audio – two big attractions of the device.
The design sets itself apart with the top and bottom front-facing stereo speakers, reclaiming the distinctive design of the iconic HTC One models between 2013 and 2015. Here though, the speaker grilles have been compressed so the edge-to-edge display feels less like an island of glass within a portable music player, which was the effect of the Ones.
It's about a centimetre shorter than an iPhone 6 Plus, and half a centimetre narrower, but thanks to the thoughtful curved design, is vastly more comfortable to hold and use. I was surprised to find the 7 weighs in at 185g – it's tall but well balanced, and felt lighter.
The 5.5-inch display is superb: an AMOLED panel with 1440x2560 pixels, giving a pixel density of 538ppi, as high as anything on the market. On a typical 2016 London summer's day, with the sun reluctantly flashing for a minute or two, the display was legible and responded well to the ambient light conditions.
Inside the Axon 7 is the standard top line flagship for 2016: Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of flash. It's a dual SIM configuration, with the second slot being able to take a microSD card. The non-removable 3140mAh battery should get you through a day – we'll see when we have our hands on the Western close-to-stock version. The rear-mounted fingerprint sensor was accurate, easy to find and extremely quick.
I promised to refrain from describing the phone's performance, as the Chinese-focused "MiFavor 4.0" skin is much heaver than the close-to-stock variant ZTE will sell in Europe and the USA. But even with the heavier skin it delivered lightning fast performance, with the camera starting almost instantly. You can expect some useful features to carry over from fat MiFavor to skinny MiFavor, such as a very low power mode.
On to the two main draws: audio and the camera.
Audio
The ZTE Axon 7 packs in dual front-facing speakers and two dedicated audio chips from AKM, the DAC (digital to analog converter) and the AK4961 32bit DSP. HTC makes much of its 24bit sound, but ZTE responds by arguing that its custom audio silicon leaves the Snapdragon 820 alone. The sticker feature here is support for Dolby Atmos 7:1 sound.
It needs much more testing to see if the device lives up to its audiophile ambitions, but the audio quality was excellent on headphones. The speakers are inhibited by the depth (or lack of it) of the audio chamber. As a result, it didn't quite have the resonance of an HTC One M8 or M9.
Your media will need to support tricks like Atmos to enjoy decent separation, I noted, as the speakers here are still pretty close together. Still, it's great to see audio a consideration in a world of almost identical phones. HTC can claim support for Apple Airplay, something ZTE can't do.
Imaging
Default controls (click to enlarge)
Camera app splash screen
The Axon 7's camera did a fine job, particularly indoors in dim light, and consistently showed a good colour balance, resisting the temptation to oversaturate photos. But it also exhibited the usual smartphone struggle with exposure. This struggle is evident in the bike photos. (The second is a detail of a capture without HDR.) You can, in the apps's manual mode, set the exposure point.
Slow motion video and time lapse are all handled well. Panorama shots need some work, which I'll expect they'll get in an update.
Conclusion
Based on this Chinese-oriented sample, there's little to dislike about the ZTE Axon 7, and the huge potential money saving over big brand flagships (around £200) pushes ZTE into the leader pack. ®Black Men May Have Cause To Run From Police, Massachusetts High Court Says
A black man who runs from police shouldn't necessarily be considered suspicious — and merely might be trying to avoid "the recurring indignity of being racially profiled," the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court says.
The court made that observation as it overturned the conviction of a man who was charged with carrying a firearm without a permit after he ran from a Boston police officer who, the court says in its ruling, "lacked reasonable suspicion" to try to stop him in the first place.
As member station WBUR reports, the court cited "Boston police data and a 2014 report by the ACLU of Massachusetts that found blacks were disproportionately stopped by the city's police" as it threw out the 2011 gun conviction of Jimmy Warren.
The court also cited "a factual irony" in how flight from police is viewed and said that in this instance, a Boston police officer decided to approach Warren and a companion despite important factors: The officer was looking for three, not two, suspects, and he had been given only vague descriptions that the suspects were wearing dark clothing and a hoodie.
Some 30 minutes after the crime was reported, Officer Luis Anjos was driving in his police cruiser when he spotted Warren and another man, rolled down the passenger-side window, and yelled, "Hey guys, wait a minute."
Rather than talk to the officer, the court said, "the two men made eye contact with Anjos, turned around, and jogged down a path" into a park. They were apprehended after Anjos called for assistance.
The court wrote:
"Where a suspect is under no obligation to respond to a police officer's inquiry, we are of the view that flight to avoid that contact should be given little, if any, weight as a factor probative of reasonable suspicion. Otherwise, our long-standing jurisprudence establishing the boundary between consensual and obligatory police encounters will be seriously undermined."
Discussing how a person's race can also be a factor, the Massachusetts court said it's important to consider a recent Boston Police Department report "documenting a pattern of racial profiling of black males in the city of Boston."
Noting that black men were more likely to be targeted by Boston police for encounters such as stops, frisks, searches, observations and interrogations, the judges wrote, "We do not eliminate flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion analysis whenever a black male is the subject of an investigatory stop."
But the judges went on to say that flight alone does not prove "a suspect's state of mind or consciousness of guilt."
The targeting of black males by police for "field interrogation and observation" — FIO — changes the equation, the court said, and "suggests a reason for flight totally unrelated to consciousness of guilt."
The court wrote:
"Such an individual, when approached by the police, might just as easily be motivated by the desire to avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled as by the desire to hide criminal activity. Given this reality for black males in the city of Boston, a judge should, in appropriate cases, consider the report's findings in weighing flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion calculus."
According to WBUR, Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans was unhappy with the court's ruling, saying that the judges failed to consider the broader context and gave too much weight to the ACLU's analysis of the department.
The Boston police study says that since 2010, the force has made "significant changes" in the way it operates, including new training, documentation requirements, and meeting with community members and the ACLU to discuss best practices.
Some of the changes have been relatively simple, such as Evans urging officers to hand out business cards after encounters with the public. But others have been more complicated: Earlier this month, a judge sided with Evans in his dispute with the city's largest police union over the commissioner's plan to institute a police body camera program.
As The Associated Press reported, a compromise deal had called for 100 officers to volunteer to wear the cameras in a pilot program — but after no officers stepped forward, Evans issued an order requiring officers to wear them.A Pawngo employee checking a watch to ensure its authenticity.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Squeezed by tight credit and tempted by record high gold prices, small business owners are finding an alternative to the bank: the pawn shop.
More than half of the customers at online pawn shop, Pawngo, are small business owners, said Todd Hills, CEO of the Denver-based company.
"These guys can't wait. They have businesses. They have employees they need to pay," said Hills, who launched Pawngo in June. "This is a great way to solve a short-term need."
Pawning is a relatively no muss, no fuss process, especially when compared to getting a bank loan. A customer brings in an item of value -- such as gold, jewelry, or electronics -- to a pawn shop and gets a loan based on the value of the object. Like a bank loan, the customer is charged interest. Once the loan is repaid, the pawnbroker returns the item to the customer. If the customer can't repay the loan, the pawnbroker keeps the object, with the aim of selling it to recover the loan amount.
With pawning, there are no applications, credit checks or dings to the credit report if the customer defaults on the loan. "You can still bring your stack of papers into the bank, it doesn't guarantee you will get a loan," said Hills.
While individual consumers may walk into a pawn shop with a couple hundred dollars worth of jewelry looking for cash to fill up the gas tank or the refrigerator, small business owners tend to come in with more expensive items, said Ray Shaffman, a salesman at Gables Pawn and Jewelry in Miami.
Gables Pawn and Jewelry has seen customers come in with watches made by Rolex, Cartier and Patek Philippe. It pays between $5,000 and $10,000 each for them, said Shaffman.
"To make payroll is the number one reason" small business owners come to the shop, said Shaffman. "They don't have enough flow, enough cash, to pay their employees. And they got to pay their employees. Otherwise, they have much more complicated problems."
Shaffman noticed a surge in the number of customers pawning their gold about a year and a half to two years ago. He said that about 70% of clients pawn their gold because they need money; while the remaining 30% are lured by the high price of gold.
There are about 10,000 pawn shops across the country. The combination of tight credit, high gold prices and increased awareness about the industry has attracted more middle-class patrons, affluent customers and small business owners. "The pawn industry is really having a renaissance of sorts in the past two years," said Emmett Murphy, spokesperson for the National Pawnbrokers Association.
No other options: Some business owners turn to pawning their valuables because they have no other option.
"We have lost a trillion in credit card lines. We have lost a trillion in home equity lines. And those are -- or were -- the two primary sources of financing," said Bob Coleman, editor of the small business lending industry publication, "Coleman Report." "There are different things that are filling that void until banks ramp up."
Fabian Videla, the owner of Slim Protein in Jacksonville, Fla., went to Pawngo after he ran out of savings and when a bank would not lend to him.
"By the time that I contacted them, I was kind of running out of options and that was a good one," said Videla, whose company sells a weight-loss program.
Videla pawned two diamond rings -- his wife's engagement ring and a ring of his that was a gift from his wife -- for $7,000. The loan had a monthly interest rate of 6% for three months, or $420 per month. "The loans from Pawngo are not cheap, but the cost of doing nothing, and waiting for something to fall in your lap, it might cost you your business," said Videla. He intends to repay the loan and get the diamond rings back.
If a small business owner is in a bind, pawning valuables can be a legitimate option, said Coleman. "It is certainly not a recipe for long-term success," because the loans are too expensive.
It's also better than using credit cards to finance your business. That option can put an entrepreneur further into debt. With pawning, "the worst case scenario is you lose your assets," said Coleman.
The high price of gold: While some small business owners are turning to pawn shops to keep their business afloat, others are going to them to take advantage of surging gold prices.
David Scantling, president and CEO of the angel investing firm Scantling Technology Ventures, in Akron, Ohio, watched the price of gold climb to record highs and realized that his gold stash could be turned into a considerable sum of cash that he could invest into his business.
Scantling's first thought was to sell his gold. But decided against it, because he didn't want to lose it and pay a huge capital gains tax.
"I would rather just keep my items and take a loan against it," said Scantling. "It was an attractive way to get cash out of those assets without having to sell them at this particular time."
He shipped a combination of gold coins and jewelry to Pawngo on a Friday, and by Tuesday morning, he had a loan of slightly less than $20,000 in his bank account. He has to pay a monthly interest rate of 5%.
Scantling said he doesn't mind the hefty charge. The convenience of the transaction and the fact that he will not have to pay a capital gains tax makes it worthwhile.
"My sense is that my capital gains tax would be higher than the interest that I would pay for a 30-, 60-day loan," he said.At a rally in Detroit Aug. 8, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outlined what he would do as president to take the U.S. economy to "amazing new heights." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
At a rally in Detroit Aug. 8, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outlined what he would do as president to take the U.S. economy to "amazing new heights." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Seeking to put the most difficult stretch of his campaign behind him, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump used a major economic speech Monday to reach out to two voting blocs that remain critical to his faltering chances of winning in November: traditional fiscal conservatives and disaffected blue-collar workers.
But Trump faced a new round of resistance from within his party that threatened to stall his effort to move beyond the uproar he caused last week. In an opinion column published by The Washington Post late Monday, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) became the latest sitting Republican senator to declare that she will not support Trump. In addition, dozens of national security officials who served in GOP administrations signed a letter saying that he is “not qualified” to be president.
Reading from a teleprompter at the Detroit Economic Club and pausing calmly when protesters interrupted him, Trump assailed Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and cast himself as the only change candidate on economic issues. He did so in part with tax-cutting, regulation-curbing plans that are squarely mainstream in his party and in part with his now-familiar attacks on the forces of globalization that have unnerved many workers. He took swipes at free-trade deals championed by GOP leaders and attacked immigrants and refugees.
The Republican nominee shared few new policy details and continued to offer no specifics for how he would pay for tax cuts or spending increases large enough to balloon the federal budget deficit. He promised more clarity in coming weeks.
Trump proposed a new set of individual income tax rates higher than he previously suggested, but he also promised to bring rates lower than they were even during the George W. Bush administration. He was vague in other areas, including a promise for major federal infrastructure spending and another, the only new policy proposal in the speech, that would allow working families to deduct child care-costs from their federal income taxes.
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Throughout his address, Trump took sharp aim at Clinton. He held up Detroit, which has been devastated by manufacturing job losses, as “the living, breathing example” of her “failed economic agenda.”
“I want to jump-start America. It can be done. And it won’t even be that hard,” he said.
At a rally in St. Petersburg, Fla., Clinton assailed Trump’s plan as an outdated replica of previous Republican pitches, saying it would “give super-big tax breaks to large corporations and the really wealthy” and “basically just repackage trickle-down economics.”
She added: “You know that old saying, ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ ”
Clinton framed rejecting Trump as a national imperative.
“Just imagine Donald Trump in the Oval Office, facing a real crisis,” she said. “What happens when somebody gets under his skin? I don’t know if the United States can afford that kind of risk.”
On income taxes, the business mogul said he would work with House Republicans to implement the three brackets they have proposed: 12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent. The move puts Trump in line with Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), with whom Trump has had a tense alliance.
Previously, Trump proposed tax brackets of 0 percent, 10 percent, 20 percent and 25 percent. He continued to call for a 15 percent corporate income tax rate for all businesses, which is lower than Ryan’s proposed 20 percent corporate rate.
Trump also promised to end some “special interest” tax breaks but named only one, the “carried interest” provision that many investment fund managers use to reduce their tax liability. Experts cautioned, though, that Trump’s plan would still deliver a windfall to such investors, because it would reduce income and corporate rates.
Lacking more details from the campaign, it is difficult to say how much Trump’s revisions to his tax rates would alter the cost of his economic plan, which analysts had previously estimated could reduce federal revenue by $10 trillion over the next decade. Equally difficult to measure are the benefits the plan would deliver to taxpayers across income levels.
“It seems very likely that this version of the plan will lose less revenue than the last version” because it will contain relatively smaller tax cuts for individuals, Scott Greenberg, an analyst at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, said in an interview. A key question, he added, is the level at which various marginal tax rates begin to take effect: “A tax plan where the 33 percent [rate] kicks in at $250,000 and one where it kicks in at $750,000 are two very different tax plans.”
Trump’s economic focus followed a week in which he stoked tensions with party leaders by initially declining to endorse Ryan and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in their primaries this month. Trump also drew widespread ire for criticizing the Muslim parents of a U.S. Army captain who was killed in Iraq, and he fell dramatically behind Clinton in public polls.
The measured, pre-written remarks in Detroit on Monday were intended to steady a listing campaign, and conservatives received the calls for tax and regulation cuts positively. But most reaction to the speech, even among conservatives, was mixed. In the end, Monday served as a reminder that many Republicans remain highly skeptical of Trump.
Lanhee Chen, who was the policy director for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, called the speech a “mixed bag.” He praised the details on taxes as a nod to more orthodox Republican views, but he said Trump’s main challenge now is to prove to voters that he is as serious about policy-making as he is about picking fights with critics.
“One speech is not going to change a narrative,” Chen said.
Also Monday, a group of 50 former national security officials who served under Republican presidents signed a letter warning that Trump “would be the most reckless President in American history.”
The letter was signed by Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge, former secretaries of homeland security; Michael V. Hayden, a former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency; and John D. Negroponte, a former director of national intelligence and deputy secretary of state, among others.
[Former GOP national security officials: Trump would be ‘most reckless’ American president in history]
Separately, Wadi Gaitan, the chief spokesman for the Florida Republican Party, announced that, as a result of differences with Trump, he is leaving his job to join a conservative organization.
“I’m thankful for my almost two years with the Florida GOP, however, moving on gives me a great, new opportunity to continue promoting free market solutions while avoiding efforts that support Donald Trump,” Gaitan, who is Hispanic, said in a statement.
In Detroit, protesters sidetracked Trump’s speech repeatedly. Unlike in large rallies where Trump often calls for demonstrators to be removed, riling up the crowd, he waited patiently as they were escorted out Monday. At one point he remarked calmly, “This is all very well-planned out.”
His speech outlined a plan designed to accelerate economic growth, largely in classic conservative fashion: by reducing taxes and regulations on businesses and by opening vast new swaths of federal land and water to drilling. He said that as president, he would sign an executive order creating a temporary regulatory moratorium on new agency regulations.
“I am going to cut regulations massively,” he said. “Massively.”
Freezing all pending federal regulations would include many Wall Street regulations created by the Dodd-Frank legislation passed in the wake of the financial crisis. Trump’s energy agenda would open new sections of American coastal waters to offshore oil drilling and sweep away the Obama administration’s efforts to fight climate change. Both moves have frequently found widespread support among Republican lawmakers and in conservative policy circles.
In other areas, he skirted or defied Republican orthodoxy. Trump made no attempt to propose spending cuts or other measures to offset his proposed tax-rate cuts or begin to reduce the national debt, as he has promised to do in the past. His child-care expense plan could increase the debt even further, unless it were offset by spending cuts or a rapid increase in economic growth. So could an infrastructure spending plan that he has said could cost more than $500 billion.
[Ivanka Trump champions working moms — except the ones who design her clothes]
The plan also promises to increase growth by reducing the United States’ trade deficit with China and other trading partners, in part by levying tariffs on imported goods from those countries. Some economists, including Trump adviser Peter Navarro, say that reducing the trade deficit would boost growth. Others, including Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics, warn that a tariff war could push the United States and much of the world into recession.
Trump has adopted hard-line opposition to sweeping trade agreements, arguing that they have hurt American workers. He reiterated his commitment to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He singled out President Bill Clinton for signing NAFTA and accused the accord of moving U.S. jobs abroad. He said a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for TPP.
“The one common feature of every Hillary Clinton idea is that it punishes you for working and doing business in the United States,” Trump said.
As secretary of state, Clinton praised TPP. But in the Democratic primary, she abandoned her support for the agreement. Most congressional Republicans support the multi-nation pact.
Anne Gearan in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Carole Morello and Ed O’Keefe in Washington contributed to this report.Following the Manchester terror attack at an Ariana Grande concert last month, Noel Gallagher quietly donated the royalties from Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger” to help the victims’ families, NME reports. A representative for Gallagher confirmed the news to Pitchfork. Liam Gallagher chided his brother yesterday for not participating in “One Love Manchester”—the all-star concert Grande held on Sunday—and called him a “sad fuck.” In response to Liam’s tweets, Radio X host Gordon Smart defended Noel by revealing the news about his donation.
“It’s only right to point out, and I don’t think this is public knowledge because I’m sure he would never mentioned it, but I found out today that as soon as ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ started to appear spontaneously at the vigils, he made sure all the royalties went to the families,” said Smart. “That was before any gig was mentioned.” Coldplay covered the song at Grande’s benefit, leading the audience in a sing along. They thanked and defended Noel on Twitter earlier today.
Revisit “Dueling Potato Brothers: The Collected Oasis Fights and Insults.”Despite some fear midfielder John Goossens could have to wait at least another week for his visa issue to be sorted, Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said Tuesday the Dutch standout is headed back to the team and clear to play.
Whether Goossens takes the field for Friday's game against Orlando City is still unknown. Paunovic said the long flight could mean Goossens might not be ready to go on Friday. That would be a disappointment as the Dutch midfielder was a creative force during the preseason and generated chances at will. I for one would be interested to see how that form carries over to the regular season.
But Fire fans have seen long flights take their toll on players such as Shaun Maloney, so it's a possibility the airplane bug bites Goossens too.
If Goossens is ready to play Friday, Paunovic could have some interesting lineup decisions on Friday. Goossens addition could push Arturo Alvarez out wide and send Kennedy Igboananike to the bench or perhaps Igboananike moves up to striker and Gilberto is kept on the bench.
Paunovic did say Gilberto is still working through the calf strain he picked up early in Sunday's contest and his availability for Friday is questionable.
The other big topic out of Sunday's match was the future of the goalkeeping position. After Sunday's match, Paunovic said Lampson played well and he was happy with the performance. Paunovic doubled down on the sentiment Tuesday, saying the team in front of Lampson did not help the keeper too much and players made poor passes back to Lampson on multiple occasions.
Paunovic would not commit to Lampson as Friday's starter and said both Sean Johnson and Patrick McLain are needed on the team, but if I had to speculate, Lampson seems like the first choice.
Paunovic spent the rest of the media call discussing the defense and how time will be the greatest asset to improving. He said the team would likely continue to use both a three-man and four-man back line as well. He praised both Alvarez and Igboananike when asked about their performances and said the team would continue to play for the win and press, even on the road.
On going to Orlando specifically, Paunovic said it is preparation as usual but the team knows the match will be different on turf and in the Florida heat.
Do you think Goossens will play Friday? Who should be the starting goalkeeper? How much patience do you have for the defense?Toxicological studies show that oral doses of nickel and chromium can cause cutaneous adverse reactions such as dermatitis. Additional dietary sources, such as leaching from stainless steel cookware during food preparation, are not well characterized. This study examined stainless steel grades, cooking time, repetitive cooking cycles, and multiple types of tomato sauces for their effects on nickel and chromium leaching. Trials included three types of stainless steels and a stainless steel saucepan, cooking times of 2-20 h, 10 consecutive cooking cycles, and four commercial tomato sauces. After a simulated cooking process, samples were analyzed by ICP-MS for Ni and Cr. After 6 h of cooking, Ni and Cr concentrations in tomato sauce increased up to 26- and 7-fold, respectively, depending on the grade of stainless steel. Longer cooking durations resulted in additional increases in metal leaching, where Ni concentrations increased 34-fold and Cr increased approximately 35-fold from sauces cooked without stainless steel. Cooking with new stainless steel resulted in the largest increases. Metal leaching decreases with sequential cooking cycles and stabilized after the sixth cooking cycle, although significant metal contributions to foods were still observed. The tenth cooking cycle resulted in an average of 88 μg of Ni and 86 μg of Cr leached per 126 g serving of tomato sauce. Stainless steel cookware can be an overlooked source of nickel and chromium, where the contribution is dependent on stainless steel grade, cooking time, and cookware usage.PETA have released 'Pokemon Black and Blue:' another title in their line of parodies, which makes comparisons between the in-game fictional characters and real-world animal cruelty.
The game follows the same RPG structure as Game Freak's popular series; but with a rather dark undercurrent of animal mistreatment to put PETA's point of protest across. You play as Pikachu touring the Unova region, gathering a team of abused pokemon and fighting with human trainers in the classic turn-based battle structure. Each of these trainers represents a pet peeve of the protest group. Professor Juniper is now a scientist who performs harmful experiments and product tests on the pokemon, and your original trainer is a crazed maniac who enslaves Pikachu in a spiked chain.
The amount of time that Pokémon spend stuffed in pokéballs is akin to how elephants are chained up in train carts, waiting to be let out to "perform" in circuses. But the difference between real life and this fictional world full of organized animal fighting is that Pokémon games paint rosy pictures of things that are actually horrible.
This, of course, isn't the first time PETA have used video games to get their point across, creating Super Tanooki Skin 2D last year. Backfiring slightly, it forced the group to issue a statement asking enraged fans to "relax." We await Pokemon fans' reaction to this particular parody. Have a go below and tell us what you think in the comments.
Source: PETA
Jason EnglandMEMPHIS, Tenn. – On May 21, the Shelby County Commission, in a 9 to 1 vote, agreed to provide $450,000 to help fund programs and housing for people currently experiencing homelessness. This victory for the people of Memphis is due to the hard work of HOPE, Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality. Unlike other organizations that advocate for the homeless, HOPE is made up of and led by people who are experiencing homelessness or who have experienced homelessness in the past.
On May 24, HOPE held a potluck at Manna House, a sanctuary established by Catholic Workers, to celebrate their victory.
John was at the potluck with his young son, August (Auggie) in part because no shelter in the Memphis area will take a single father with a child. John and Auggie lived in his car until it was impounded weeks ago. Since then they’ve been forced to live in vacant houses, where John worries about Auggie’s safety. “You never know what he could step on in a place like that or who could come in,” John said.
Thankfully for John and Auggie, $200,000 of the funds HOPE won this week will go to provide permanent supportive housing for families with disabilities and low-income families.
Between dances, Marian Bacon, an Independent Living Specialist at Memphis Center for Independent Living who once experienced homelessness herself, found time to talk.
“No shelter is free, which is discrimination in itself,” Marian pointed out. Furthermore, there is “only one shelter for women in Memphis but four or five for men.”
Marian went on to discuss how the local shelters discriminate in ways beyond demands for payment. “80 percent are faith-based and if you don’t follow their rules, you’re out.” Equally distressing is the fact that at “Union Mission, if you have a visible physical disability they won’t admit you.”
If you have a cane, or a walker you are turned away, if you have a wheelchair you literally cannot even make it in the front door. Union Mission does not have a wheelchair ramp or any way for someone in a wheelchair to navigate their front steps. Sadly, many of these faith-based shelters require families to be broken up before they will offer assistance. According to Marian, “If you have a boy over 5-6 years old they’ll not admit you unless you put your son in foster care.”
Hopefully, some of the prejudice experienced by someone who is currently homeless and physically disabled will be alleviated by the allocation of $250,000 to provide 100 units of housing for “the most vulnerable people on the streets.”
There are those who oppose these additions to the county budget. Wyatt Buckner is reported to have said, “Its not the government’s job to give people a handout.”
Mar’Quella Scott pointed out that he said this “to veterans, to pregnant women, to his constituents.” In Mar’Quella’s opinion, “the government office is the place for these people to go.” As Steve Mullroy, Shelby County Commissioner, said, “It’s a question of priorities, do we think it is important to help out the homeless.”
Between putting out food, answering phone calls, and making sure people had places to stay, Brad Watkins, an Organizing Director at Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, spoke about HOPE’s four core values: “Dignity, Mutual Emotional Support, Solidarity, and Self-Determination.”
Since 2009, Brad, with the help of many other people, has been working to organize HOPE into what it is today – a highly effective advocacy and direct action organization made of and led by the community it represents.
As the evening’s celebration came to a close, Terrance, a retired Marine who lost two of the fingers on his left hand due to an injury he suffered when his caravan was bombed in Iraq during his third tour, his tenth year at war, put it clearly. “We’re good enough to fight for this country, but we’re not good enough to get the services we need when we get home.” Terrance says, “HOPE gives us hope for a better tomorrow, [it lets us] speak peace in a world of violence.”
Photo: John and Auggie. James Raines/PWFloods caused by heavy rainfall continued to wreak havoc across Assam on Monday claiming seven more lives and taking the total deaths to 34.
Three of the deaths were reported from Lakhimpur district, two from Jorhat and one each from Goalpara and Golaghat. Six of the victims died due to drowning and one due to landslide.
According to a state disaster management authority report, over 1.2 million people in 20 of the total 28 districts remained affected in both Brahmaputra and Barak valleys.
The flood affected districts are-Lakhimpur, Darrang, Jorhat, Sonitpur, Golaghat, Cachar, Dhemaji, Biswanath, Majuli, Barpeta, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, Chirang, Morigaon, Dibrugarh, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, North Salmara and Kokrajhar.
The Brahmaputra flowed above the danger level at Dibrugarh, Nimatighat, Tezpur, Goalpara and Dhubri. Several other rivers like Siang, Subansiri, Dikhow, Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Puthimari, Beki, Barak and Kushiyara also flowed above the danger mark at nine places.
Over 2,000 villages remained inundated on Monday and over 1 million hectares of crop area affected. More than 18,000 people displaced by floods are taking shelter in 148 relief camps.
Heavy rainfall has led to erosion of embankments at several places, blocked highways, caused landslides and damaged roads and bridges.
According to alert issued by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), heavy to very heavy rainfall would continue at several places in Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura for two more days.
Flood water is flowing over several roads in the state and also inundated vast areas of national parks and sanctuaries including Kaziranga forcing wild animals like rhino to flee to higher areas.
“There could be more water logging in the next few days. Our staff has been alerted and we request help from local residents to save the wild animals,” appealed forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma on Monday morning after taking stock of flood scene at Kaziranga national park.
First Published: Jul 10, 2017 10:08 ISTWaiter pouring wine for customers via Shutterstock
A group of customers refused to tip their 20-year-old server at a Carraba’s Italian restaurant in Overland Park, KS on the grounds that his homosexuality is “an affront to God.” According to KCTV Fox |
important.”
A spokeswoman for the OCE, Kelly Brewington, declined to comment for this article.
Watchdog groups said Hastings’s approach as chair will provide the first clue as to whether the OCE is changing.
“We are hopeful that he will be just as committed to an effective OCE as past members and chairs have been,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said. “We are watching very closely and will be very vocal if we see signs that is not happening.”
Members of both parties have criticized and sought to weaken the OCE since its creation.
On Jan. 2, House Republicans approved a measure from Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) making major changes to the office, including putting it under the oversight of the Ethics Committee, depriving it of a spokesperson and preventing it from investigating anonymous tips.
[House GOP votes to rein in independent ethics office]
The vote provoked a national backlash — a tweet from Trump helped prompt the GOP to reverse course — and Republicans abandoned Goodlatte’s plan the next day. This was celebrated as a victory for ethics enforcement, but accountability groups view the final result as a mixed blessing.
People familiar with previous drafts of the rules package said the change to the OCE board appointments process was included before Goodlatte’s broader plan to weaken the office.
“Thousands of Americans mobilized when they saw what was being done to the Office of Congressional Ethics, and while we were collectively able to reverse some of the key changes, this one was kind of under the radar,” said Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs for Common Cause.
The first head of the OCE, Leo Wise, said it is crucial to preserve the spirit of nonpartisanship that has defined the board since its inception.
“There has to be a sort of wait and see if that changes,” he said. “I don’t know how much the rule requiring the two leaders to agree on their appointments fostered that, or if it was the commitment of the board members to act in a bipartisan way. That, to me, was the most important thing.”
Read more at PowerPostAlmost one full year ago, carriers threw the gauntlet down on tethering applications in the Play Store. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile were among the first to lay down the banhammer, with Sprint following soon after.
Here we are, a year later and guess what? Version 3 of the infamous Wi-Fi Tether for Root Users app just hit the Play Store, sans carrier restrictions. Of course, this is only because carriers haven't yet found out about the app; when they do, however, you better believe its availability will quickly be laid to rest - so you better grab before it's gone. (If it does get pulled, however, you can always grab the apk from here.)
This probably goes without saying, but you must be rooted in order to use this app. This probably goes without saying, but you must be rooted in order to use this app.
The app offers all of the features that you've come expect from the Wi-Fi tether family, including:
Widget-support. One-click enabling/disabling from your home-screen.
Disable tethering after a configurable idle-time.
Access-control feature. Allow/deny clients to use your mobile-data connection.
Wifi-Encrytion. 128-bit WEP in general (adhoc). WPA/WPA2 on supported devices (infrastructure-mode).
Settings for wifi-ssid, wifi-channel, lan-network and more.
And more...
The app is free in the Store, so grab it before it's too late.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
Thanks, Devon!Dancing With the Stars better secure the rights to Haddaway's "What Is Love" for new contestant Chris Kattan. E! News has learned the Saturday Night Live veteran is in serious talks to compete in season 24 of the reality dance competition and you can be sure there will be some Night at the Roxbury, which used "What Is Love," homages. Perhaps Mr. Peepers will make an appearance?
Kattan appeared on SNL from 1996 to 2003 and starred in the A Night at the Roxbury flick, a spinoff from the sketch series, opposite Will Ferrell. His other credits include Corky Romano, Monkeybone, Nancy Drew and on TV, The Middle, How I Met Your Mother and voice work on Bunnicula and Jake and the Never Land Pirates. Kattan dipped his toe in reality TV with Rachel vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off in 2014 and Celebrity Name Game opposite Dancing With the Stars pro dancer Karina Smirnoff.This article shows you:
that you can apply SEO without too much SEO know-how
a set of actionable SEO steps that you can apply to your content
If you’re building a content strategy for your startup, you’ll have heard and read over and over how important and strategic SEO is. You could read the MOZ beginner’s SEO guide followed by the more advanced Quicksprout SEO guide. But if you don’t have the time and if all you want are some actionable SEO steps, then you’ve come to the right place.
Can I skip the SEO?
It would be great if creating awesome content was enough to attract quality visitors to your website. Useful and interesting advice, stellar imagery and quality links to vital resources – surely that’s enough? The thing is, loads of people have good advice to offer, or are great hustlers with their mediocre how-to guides. And a lot of people just plain write badly, despite having great insights to offer.
Competing with well established blogs and influential thought leaders is no easy task. They have built a loyal following, have on-hand readers to help promote their content and are able to churn more content per day that you do. That’s where SEO comes in. Search engines still have “free slots” – sweet spots where you can still get attention even though you’re only starting to build your blog. I want to share with you some very basic tips that we have used successfully even though we’re on an extremely competitive playing field. Most SEO experts would probably advise that these are not enough. Maybe it’s luck but they’ve worked for us. If you want more in-depth techniques check out Chapter 6 of the Quicksprout guide.
Your goals with this guide on actionable SEO steps:
1: Create a high-ranking article title in Google (steps 1 – 6)
2: Create an attractive article title to get clicks (step 7)
Step 1: Google Keyword Search – Finding the Golden Nugget
The name of the game is to rank highly for a word/phrase that people often search for but that few people are competing on. Think of it like a recipe – don’t compete with recipes for traditional spaghetti bolognese. Compete with a recipe for bolognese with some weird ingredient that people are searching for. Spaghetti bolognese with chicken? Nice!
Get a Google Adwords account – it won’t cost you a dime. Then, make a list of words and phrases relevant to the text you intend on publishing. Add all of these to the keyword search box (separated by commas) and hit enter. Switch from “ad group ideas” to “keyword ideas”.
What you are looking for are words with a high search volume per month. Your goal will be to grab those thousands of people. IMPORTANT: Forget the competition level at this point – this is irrelevant in Google Adwords as it is tailored for Adwords campaigns more than for organic search keyword competition.
After you have made a list of keywords with high search volume (we choose to go with about 1,000 + but it’s up to you), go to the Moz keyword difficulty tool. F6S often has offers for Moz but typically it’s gonna cost you $100 per month.
Collect the phrases with the lowest percentage of difficulty possible. This can be challenging if the topic you are writing about is not very unique.
Next, it’s back to Google. Try each phrase/keyword you have collected in the search engine using quote marks to search for that exact phrase. Choose the phrase with the least search results.
It is usually a long task, but the return on using the right keyword is thousands of organic visitors per month. Check out our full keyword research guide here if you want more!
Step 2: Check the Popularity of the Keyword
Whether your tactic is to jump on current news or create long-term useful content, it is always important to see how the expressions you choose are trending. Use Google Trends to see if the interest is generally high, and if it is trending down. If it is going down, the chances are that it won’t be a good long-term tactic to use this keyword. A high/stable or low/climbing keyword will be more reliable as a future traffic-diverting choice.
Another way of investigating popularity is to check if the keyword or expression is trending on Twitter. Hashtagify provides this service. You’ll be able to use this work later when tagging and posting your content around the web. Choose two/max. three tags per posting, and vary them the second time you share it so a larger audience is exposed to the post.
…or try Hashtags.org
If you want a thorough guide to how to use hashtags, check out this article on researching and applying tags and hashtags.
Step 3: Where to Include the Keyword
Use your keyword/EXACT phrase in the article title, in the first paragraph two or three times, and wherever else in the article you can use it without it sounding out-of-place. It takes some inventive phrasing and editing as the text still has to flow.
Next, use this keyword/EXACT phrase in all of the image titles and descriptions, and in the alt-title (don’t forget to use hyphens between words, and NO spaces).
Also place it exactly as it is in the meta descriptions and meta tags.
Here’s the basic checklist we use for every blog article for you to follow!
What is also fantastic when you are completing a blog post is to have the Yoast SEO plugin installed. If the article is not SEO-optimized, the light will appear red or yellow. A green light indicates good SEO. Under the blog post, fill in all the fields according to the instructions and you should do just fine.
Step 4: Read the page as the bots would
Check your page in www.seo-browser.com to see how it reads to the crawlers. Are you seeing you key expression in there? At the top? Multiple times? Ok good.
Step 5: Push Google indexing
Submit the URL to Google Webmaster tools
Step 6: Externally Improve your SEO
Social media shares improve the relevance of your text to the given search terms. Google’s plans are to base it’s results on democratization: what people rate as the “most relevant” through liking, referring and recommending will be top of the list. So nag your friends, get it out on your network, convince people to add to this part of the SEO to-do list.
Getting backlinks naturally (i.e. people voluntarily link back to your content or website) will help you rank higher. The more backlinks, the higher you will appear in Google search. Backlinks can be created by you on the places your competitors are, through blog commenting, forum discussions and guest blogging. However, this should be approached with caution. Any interpretation of black-hat techniques will lead to search engine penalties.
Step 7: The Article Title
Despite all the work you just did, there is a final step you have to wrestle with that is often the hardest step of all – the title of the article. When you have your golden nugget SEO keyword/phrase, you’re gonna have to bend it into a catchy title with some of the following tricks:Update: the game averaged 17.8 million viewers.
The Golden State Warriors win in overtime over the Cleveland Cavaliers in game 1 of the NBA Finals averaged a 12.9 overnight rating, a record for a game 1 of the NBA Finals and up a big 24% versus versus the 10.4 overnight for game 1 of last year’s Spurs-Heat finals.
Top local markets:
Market Rating Cleveland 41.4 San Francisco 28.9 Columbus 21.1 Memphis 19.9 Norfolk 16.5 Miami-Ft. Lauderdale 16.2 Sacramento 15.7 Atlanta 15.6 Richmond-Petersburg 15.2 Raleigh-Durham 15.0
More via ESPN
Overnight household rating = the live+same day DVR overnight metered-market household rating from the top 56 Nielsen television markets. The 56 markets (out of 210 total) account for about 70% of the US TV-viewing population. The overnight household rating is the percentage of the households that were tuned-in in those marketsSome 2,026 structures in the West Bank were built on privately owned Palestinian land, according to a study conducted by the right-wing organization Regavim and submitted to Knesset members ahead of deliberations on legislation aimed at expropriating land from Palestinian owners.
Regavim claims that its mission is to "preserve national lands." Until the recent election, it was run by Bezalel Smotrich, who has since joined Knesset on the Habayit Hayehudi roster. One of Smotrich's primary goals in the Knesset will be passing legislation to expropriate land from Palestinian owners in exchange for reparations.
Smotrich will seek to pass such legislation before December 2015, the date on which the Supreme Court has ordered the government to evacuate the Amona outpost, and demolish nine houses in the settlement Ofra. Smotrich has even stated that demolishing the Amona outpost could likely cause a governing coalition to collapse. When similar legislation was passed in 2012, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thwarted it out of fear that it would lead to prosecution in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Regavim supports the proposed legislation, claiming that demolishing a house or two would not solve the problem, which it says is much larger. The organization conducted a study, examining aerial photographs of private Palestinian land, which it then submitted to Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud). According to the report, the 2,026 structures located on private Palestinian land include 1,232 permanent homes and 794 mobile homes. Roughly 1,500 families live in these structures. The study was first reported by Arutz Sheva.
The settlements mentioned in the report include Ofra with 530 houses, Beit El with 289, Eli with 166, Mechmesh with 133, Elon Moreh with 128, Psagot with 98, Kochav Ya'akov with 83, Kedumim with 71, Kokhav Hashahar with 65, Neve Tzuf with 52, Otniel with 47, Shavei Shomron with 45, Mitzpeh Yeriho with 45, Yitzhar with 43, Maon with 34, Tapuah with 27, Adam with 25, Beit Hagai with 25, Susya with 23, Neve Daniel with 19, Tekoa with 17, Har Bracha with 15, Nokdim with 15, Pnei Haver with 13, Ma'ale Amos with five houses, and Kedar with seven.
In response to inquiries, Regavim issued a statement that read "it is irresponsible to publish data that appears in the report; any discussion on this sensitive issue should be conducted with appropriate discretion in the proper forum. Regavim has presented its stance on this issue to the officials relevant in finding a solution for the complex situation that has arisen in these places."Coolstar’s latest version of Electra finally managed to jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 this week. This news was music to my ears, so get ready to jailbreak our 64 bit iPhones, iPads, and iPods.
Electra Jailbreak iOS 3.3.1 Guide: Step by step process
Electra 1131 is the key of iOS 11 jail break. It took a few months of further development but the latest version was released on the first week of July and I will show you how to use it and jailbreak your iPhone at ease.
Before you jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 using Electra1131
Download Electra1131 with the latest IPA file.
There are two versions available, one for paid developer accounts and another for free Apple IDs. The only difference between them is that the first has increased success ratio, so no worries.
. There are two versions available, one for paid developer accounts and another for free Apple IDs. The only difference between them is that the first has increased success ratio, so no worries. A 64-bit iPhone iPhone 5s iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus iPhone 6s iPhone 6s Plus iPhone SE iPhone 7iPhone 7 Plus iPhone 8 iPhone 8 Plus iPhone X
iOS 11.3.1
In fact, you can use Electra to jailbreak all iOS versions from iOS 11.2 to iOS 11.3.1
In fact, you can use Electra to jailbreak all iOS versions from iOS 11.2 to iOS 11.3.1 A PC with Windows or a Mac with macOS
The iTunes latest version.
. Cydia Impactor latest version
An Apple Developer ID. Free or paid version.
11.3.1 iOS Jailbreak process
Backup your iPhone in iTunes. We don’t want to lose any precious data!
Connect your iOS 11.2-11.3.1 iPhone to your computer.
Enable Airplane Mode and disable Siri.
Reboot your iPhone. Launch Cydia Impactor and drag the Electra1331 into it.
Enter your Apple ID when requested and wait until Electra1131 is loaded. Go to your iPhone’s Settings > General > Profiles & Device Management.
Select your Apple ID and then tap Trust when prompted (2 times)
Go to the Home Screen and launch Electra (there is an Electra icon).
Make sure Tweaks option is ON
Press Jailbreak to initiate the Jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 process. After a while, your iPhone will respring automatically. When it’s turned on, start Electra and press Jailbreak again to finish the procedure.
you successfully jailbroke iOS 11.1.3 and Cydia icon is now appearing on your Home Screen. Well done!
If everything went smooth,. Well done! If you can’t see the Cydia icon then launch Electra again and press Jailbreak. It may take a few tries before you manage to jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 but it will happen, don’t worry. (It took me 4 attempts)
If you are more of a video type, check out this Jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 tutorial by iCrackUriDevice.
If you want to jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 in order to SIM Unlock your iPhone check out this iPhone Carrier Unlocking Guide 2018
How to fix Jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 errors
Some visitors reported that they experienced the issues below when they tried Electra to Jailbreak iOS 11.3.1:
rootfs remount
Error: exploit
Error:amfid patch
iPhone keeps rebooting without installing Cydia after multiple tries
Cydia keeps crashing
Here are a few Jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 tips that will help you solve these errors.
rootfs remount error fix
Delete iOS Software update and then launch Electra1131.
Go to General > iPhone Storage > iOS xx.x.xx and select Delete Update. (you will do that twice because there is a confirmation pop up).
Some visitors also suggested installing tvOS which prevent automatic firmware updates. Deactivate Find My iPhone and Passcode and relaunch Electra. To turn off your Passcode go to Settings > Face ID and Passcode (it may be Touch ID and Passcode) and disable it. To turn off FMI go to Settings > ”name” > iCloud > Find My iPhone and deactivate it.Don’t forget to activate both of them again when you complete the iOS 11.3.1 Jailbreak. Cydia Crashing Fix
If Cydia is not functional, jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 again (and again) until it stops doing that. It happened to my best friend and he was able to fix it with 2 more jailbreak tries. Black Screen after jailbreak stage 2/3
This is not really an issue. Just Hard Reset your iPhone and the Cydia icon will appear on your Home Screen.
Did you manage to jailbreak iOS 11.3.1 with Electra? Do you know another way to jailbreak iOS 11?
Leave a comment below and until next time, take care iPhone Unlockers!Against all odds, the Triads are rising again. After an attempt at performing some dark form of necromancy on Duke Nukem blew up in its face, mod-group-turned-developer Interceptor emerged mostly not-hideously-disfigured. And then, in a wondrous moment of happenstance, a resurrected Apogee offered the team the Rise of the Triad license, and the rest is history. During QuakeCon, I got the chance to play a very early version of the blindingly fast, unabashedly silly old-school FPS (hint: there is something called ‘Dog Mode’) and talk with Interceptor CEO Frederick Schreiber about what makes Rise of the Triad worth remaking, what sets it apart from other modern “old-school” shooters, why Interceptor thinks zany fun’s better than balance, mods, whether or not it’s bitten off more than it can chew with an incredibly short development cycle, and more. He also howled at me. It was kind of amazing.
RPS: For a lot of people, this remake came out of nowhere. I even saw a tweet that was like “A Rise of the Triad remake? So we’ve finally run out of things to remake, huh?” Do you think people are just knee-jerking?
Schreiber: This has been a thing we’ve wanted to do for a long time. It’s all about licenses. So even though we may want to remake something, we can’t because of license issues. The whole Duke Nukem thing was that we secured the rights to Duke Nukem. We wanted to do Duke Nukem, we wanted to do Rise of the Triad, we wanted to do Shadow Warrior. Those were our three big things. At that point, the only one we could get license to was Duke Nukem. And that’s a whole other story, but we had to cancel the game because it was such an unfair deal for Interceptor. Then we were offered Rise of the Triad, and it was like “Oh yes! Finally!”
RPS: So why did you single out Rise of the Triad initially? What makes the original so special that it’s worth reviving 17 years later?
Schreiber: Back then, a lot of competing games came out. Duke Nukem 3D came out the year after, Doom came out the year before. So Rise of the Triad was this small middle game. It pretty much had a year to itself. But it got a huge fan following, mostly because it’s so insane. The original developers just decided “OK, let’s make all the insane things we can think of – that we would never normally implement in a game.” It’s like “We could do this and that and this and that.” And they were like “Well, let’s just do all of those things!” That’s why it’s so beloved.
The multiplayer has a lot of fans, again, because it was so insane. Extremely fast-paced. Almost too fast-paced. The cool thing about it is that it’s just about having fun. In most multiplayer games, you pretty much can’t be unbalanced. And sure, there are weapons that are used way more than others. But, you know, everybody is just having fun. Rise of the Triad was all about having fun – not thinking so much about story and realism and stuff like that. Just having fun and making stuff blow up. But it was also a bit more skill-based. So that’s why we decided to remake it.
RPS: How much is the focus here on remaking Rise of the Triad in a very literal way – reproducing exact levels, etc – versus recapturing its spirit using modern technology?
Schreiber: It’s more recapturing the spirit of the original. We think of it as a reboot, because we’re basing all our levels on the original levels, but we definitely have to change up some things. Back then, they [did some pretty silly things]. Like, one of the original levels is a letter. Like, “Hi, I’m Ryan A.” That’s a level. So we took the best from the old and did some new stuff on top of it.
All the weapons are the same weapons, but we have re-envisioned them all. Same with all the characters.
RPS: But the main character in the demo I played was, well, you. Were you in the original game? Are you a time-traveler?
Schreiber: Well, the old developers were in the original game, so we’re doing that too. And it’s the same with the weapons and the bosses and the pickups and the power-ups.
RPS: Obviously, there’s quite a gulf between what you’re doing and the majority of modern shooters. But you’re not entirely alone. Games like Serious Sam, Hard Reset, and Painkiller have attempted to recapture old-school glory with varying degrees of success.
Schreiber: Well, a lot of developers are now trying to create back-facing games again. But no one’s taking the chance to just go nuts. They create a game that’s like “OK, we have multiplayer. We have a lot of weapons, and they all work like in Unreal Tournament or Quake – but they work a little bit differently and the name’s different.” So we wanted to take that idea, but just go crazy. Like, if we think too much about needing a railgun-type weapon, because someone needs to be able to snipe, fuck that. We need six rocket launchers that all do different crazy things! That’s what we need. That’s our state of mind.
RPS: And having just played it, it’s certainly unbalanced and very glitchy, but it’s also really fun. And I’m not sure if ridiculously over-the-top weapons (the Flame Wall is my favorite) and zany humor can make up for frustration that might arise due to unbalanced weapons, but I definitely like what you’re trying to do. Realistically, though, do you think you’ll have to fix that?
Schreiber: We will balance some things over time, but we’ll balance them to a level where it’ll still be the original weapon. Like, even though the original weapon was unbalanced, we’ll change a few things so that – to the naked eye – it doesn’t actually feel different. But it really is. I mean, with the original Flame Wall, the wall of fire went from one end of the map to the other. It just went through everything. So we want to capture that effect, but we slowed it down. So you can actually outrun it. You can also jump over it. So in that way, we’re trying to balance it out.
Or there’s the heat-seeker. When we started out with the heat-seeker, it was so accurate. We replicated the original, so it was so accurate that you couldn’t run away from it. Past walls, around cars, whatever – it would keep following you. It looked really funny. So we had to nerf that, make the missiles a bit less accurate, and make them a bit slower. So we have balance in the game, but we want the player to feel like “Whoa, this is nuts.”
RPS: What’s the absolute most batshit thing you have? Is it, er, the bat? With the eyeball and the torrent of flaming baseballs?
Schreiber: Yeah, it’s definitely the Excalibat. I don’t know what they were thinking when they came up with that. Someone must have taken mushrooms. It’s like, “Whoa guys, it’s a baseball bat that shoots baseballs in a World-War-II-style setting.” That’s just so awesome.
There’s also a missile launcher that rapid fires ten missiles – like ten, ten, ten, ten – and they just go all over the place and explode. In the original Rise of the Triad, that just killed everyone all the time. We’re gonna do the same thing, but we’re gonna create small, tiny missiles that don’t do as much damage.
RPS: So there’s a Dog Mode. Given that I consider myself something of a connoissuer of both dogs and modes, I naturally want to know more.
Schreiber: It’s a power-up. We have a bunch of power-ups, actually – like one where you can fly around. There are also power-downs, like shrooms mode. You get high and it messes you up.
Dog Mode is a mode where you turn into a dog. So you see a nose and tongue lolling out [from first-person]. And you can get into areas as a dog [that you couldn’t as a human]. Primary fire mode is biting people in the crotch, and they die instantly. Or you can hold down the mouse buttons to howl [makes frighteningly accurate howling sound], and everything just explodes around you. That’s Dog Mode. It’s super awesome.
RPS: You’re five months into development, and you plan to have the game out by early 2013. But obviously, there’s still a long, long way to go. I mean, single-player doesn’t even have AI yet. So how do you plan to pull this off? And how do you keep polish from being an issue? This is, after all, your first commercial product after spending your career as a modder. Are you worried that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?
Schreiber: We chose the right game to do this with. So we want the graphics to be triple-A. We want the gameplay to be extremely tight. But we’ve selected a game to remake that doesn’t require us to have a story writer or cinematic directing of cut-scenes or things like that.
Development’s going really great. We’re around 55 or 60 percent done right now. We have 80 percent of all our single-player levels done. We only need to create two more out of our 14 weapons. So we’re getting there. The AI is high-priority right now. I mean, ideally, we could spend two years creating a game, but having a game in development for so long without sharing what we’re doing is something we want to avoid. We want the game out there. That way, people can play it and help us out. Fans can be like “Hey, we want this,” and we can add it. Minecraft, for instance, came out and kept constantly adding to the game. We want to do the same thing.
RPS: But there’s a difference. Minecraft launched as an alpha. Notch didn’t even try to pretend it’d be polished or ready for primetime. Sure, he charged for it, but he was very upfront about it all. Meanwhile, your plan is to launch on Steam as an essentially “finished” product.
Schreiber: Right. We want to release the final game.
RPS: So where’s the line between that and having your customers act as glorified beta testers? What, in your opinion, are the absolute essentials here?
Schreiber: We’re definitely not going to use them as beta testers. What we’re hoping to do is, if the players say, “Wouldn’t it be cool to have a new shotgun,” we’ll add it. All of our DLC will be free. We’ll do map packs. For instance, people might want old levels completely one-to-one with the original Rise of the Triad. And, if so, then cool, we’ll do that.
So the game that gets released, we want that to be for the old-school hardcore gamers. And then we’ll have fun with it. Add new stuff, add new weapon types. You know, go crazy with it.
RPS: You seem pretty set on the early 2013 release window, but you’re also willing to add more post-release. So, if need absolutely be, would you delay it? Or would you cut a couple features and stitch them back on – for free, obviously – a bit later?
Schreiber: We won’t announce the release date before we’re ready to announce. So that might be one month before release or two months before release. But when we’re at the point where the game’s pretty much done and there’s only bug-fixing, then we’ll announce the date.
RPS: So it’s PC-exclusive and at a fairly attractive price point, but why opt for that over F2P?
Schreiber: Well, the whole idea behind F2P is that you don’t pay, and then – if you like certain stuff – you purchase new content. Our game is primarily single-player. We don’t to release a game and make you feel like you have to pay to get this weapon. We want to deliver an experience where people can sit down and just play through the entire game. Offline. LAN. Everything. They can play through it the way they want to. But if we did Rise of the Triad as a multiplayer-only game, we’d definitely do F2P.
RPS: You’re focusing on what you call “old-school level design.” And sure enough, I saw a big spinning death trap and a fair amount of openness in the level you showed me. There weren’t any hamfisted “choices” or anything like that – although you did make the “choice” to walk into the horrible deathtrap and get chopping into little pieces.
Schreiber: The old-school, original levels were pretty much open-ended. You had an exit, and how you got there was your call. Like, remember the first level in Duke Nukem 3D? You could go to a cinema, you could go out the back, you could go anywhere. Meanwhile, a new game – Call of Duty, for example – [restricts you].
RPS: I totally agree. But old-school level design wasn’t perfect. A lot of it was dead-end-ridden, confusing, and fairly nonsensical. How much are you “modernizing” it?
Schreiber: We do a bit of both. We don’t want this game to be one where you’re getting your hand held. It’s a hardcore game. So if you start the first level and expect that it’ll just lead you through it as an experience, you will be like “OK, where the fuck do I go now?” But if you’re an old-school level fan, you’ll have a pretty good time playing through.
I mean, there were some levels in the original Rise of the Triad that were insane – impossible to get through almost without having a strategy guide. We’ve cut those out and streamlined some things, but it’s still an old-school level design-based game. And that’s something we embrace. A lot of people think “Oh no, we can’t ship like this. Our player won’t see this scripted event here.” But the way we see it, if you play through our game again, you’ll just have a different experience.
RPS: You’re all about mod support, which is great – especially since you’re going with Steam Workshop integration out of the not-box.
Schreiber: Yep, the game will launch with Unreal Editor, so you can make your own levels. We supply all of our code, so you can go crazy and create a Flame Wall that goes everywhere or something.
[Note: Interceptor also later confirmed to me that there are plans to highlight really great mods on a regular basis even outside of Steam Workshop. They’re also hopeful about getting on mod services outside of Steam – ala Nexus, etc.]
RPS: How about a more accessible mapmaker than Unreal Editor, though? Is that something you’d consider?
Schreiber: No. Mostly because mapmaking in Unreal is actually pretty easy. The editor hasn’t changed that much since 1999, and neither have the tutorials and guides. If we were ever going to do something like that, it’d be for a console version.
RPS: Thank you for your time.Lim Rocket ver1.9
Game overview :
Game to advance by operating the rocket
while avoiding collision with the planet
Genre : Avoidance action game
Controls : Left click and right click
New : Bug fix: smartphone + scroll
[Controls] Rotate to left Left click, Left key, Left side touch Rotate to right Right click, Right key, Right side touch Acceleration Left & Right click, Left & Right key, Space key, Left right touch Title menu Up Down key, Space key Result menu Left Right key, Space key
OPERATION Switch the direction of rotation of left and right
[How To Play]
Rocket has been pulled to gravity always (Universal gravitation)
Avoid collision with planet in a skillful attitude control.
The game over is when you lost to off-screen or crashing into planet.
You admire a beautiful universe sometimes also it is a good idea!
Compete a number passed through of planet.
[Mode Description] ENJOY MODE Enjoy the world of universal gravitation! ECOLOGY MODE Posture control gas & acceleration fuel finite, Eco-era! CHARGE MODE It's mode resources finite but can be charged from planet Technique is tried! BLIND MODE There is no collision prediction radar, so you ride out with intuition! GREAT MODE Planets come out in large numbers, level is hard! Rocket has been pulled to gravity always (Universal gravitation)Avoid collision with planet in a skillful attitude control.The game over is when you lost to off-screen or crashing into planet.You admire a beautiful universe sometimes also it is a good idea!Compete a number passed through of planet.
If you want to join the rankingPlease complete Please complete the user registration first.
HTML5 JavaApplet Click the link to view the ranking.Our friends over at Lomography sent us a couple of cameras to give to away to you awesome Yodelers.
We have two Diana F + Instant Cameras that let you create dreamy images in a snap. We will even throw in a pack of instant film so you can start shooting right away! This package also includes a close-up lens, perfect for portraits. ($367 retail value.)
Alright, who wants them!?
To win, simply join the Lomo and Global Yodel mailing lists in the widget below. If you want, there are a few ways to get additional entries as well. Bonus points if you comment below and tell us |
view more clearly. This is especially beneficial to eyeglass wearers, and allows viewing for extended periods of time without added eye strain.
For more information, visit the Ricoh website.
*Limited to ZD-ED, ZD-WP and SP-WP models.Following the success of the Arena of Sompek training initiative, the Alliance has set up further exercises to prepare its captains for the oncoming challenges that await them. These new competitive PVE War Game scenarios will place teams of ten players into two teams of five, and challenge them in trials of speed, strength and ingenuity. They must race to complete objectives before the other team succeeds.
“Binary Circuit” is a ground-based 5v5 Gauntlet-class War Game Scenario. In a Gauntlet-class Scenario, Captains will not be engaging in direct battle with the opposite team, but racing against them to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. In “Binary Circuit,” two squads of captains will battle and puzzle their way through a converted Borg Cooperative Cube. Various Alliance enemies will be holo-represented within the scenario to provide challenges. The first team to reach the end of the training course wins!
The Alliance is concerned with puzzle solving and team building in this scenario, so Captains will not be finding themselves in a direct battle with the opposite team - although you can still trip them up from a distance!
This queue is designed for level 50-60 players of all factions, with normal, advanced, and elite versions. Both queues will also reward marks, dilithium, and R&D materials. Check out the “Binary Circuit” when it goes live with Season 13.
Good luck, captains, and make the Alliance proud!
Ryon “Melange” Levitt
Staff Content Designer
Cryptic StudiosWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton has distanced herself from President Barack Obama on a number of high-profile issues since starting her bid for the White House. Now, under pressure from left-leaning challenger Bernie Sanders, she is embracing him and his legacy with fervor.
Hillary Clinton speaks at the NBC News - YouTube Democratic presidential candidates debate in Charleston, South Carolina January 17, 2016. REUTERS/Randall Hill. SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.
That strategy could pose problems for Clinton in the long run as Republicans look for fodder to portray her as representing Obama’s third term should she win the Democratic nomination.
As she faces an unexpected challenge from Sanders in the early voting states, Clinton’s move to portray herself as an heir to Obama’s policies is aimed at courting young voters and progressives who are part of the president’s political base.
But she could be setting herself up for difficulties with a general electorate weary of the status quo.
Over and over again during a tense Democratic presidential debate on Sunday, Clinton, who served as Obama’s secretary of state for four years, played up her ties to the president and accused Sanders of undermining him.
Gone were her mentions of differences with the president over Syria, trade, and immigration.
Instead, Clinton praised the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature healthcare law. She highlighted her connection to the administration’s Iran nuclear deal and lauded the White House for sending staff to Silicon Valley to discuss cybersecurity.
Clinton, who ran against Obama for the 2008 Democratic nomination and then joined his administration, said she could accept Sanders’ criticism of her campaign donations - one of the Vermont senator’s favorite critiques - but wouldn’t tolerate similar criticism targeted at her former boss.
“The comments that Senator Sanders has made... don’t just affect me, I can take that, but he’s criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street. And President Obama has led our country out of the Great Recession,” she said.
“I’m going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry, and getting results.”
Clinton played up her service as his top diplomat, emphasized her hours advising him in the Situation Room, and accused Sanders of wanting to throw out Obamacare, all while debating in South Carolina, a state in which Obama is well liked.
Republicans welcomed the opening Clinton provided for them to cast her White House run as a bid for a third Obama term.
“When you have a president who is so unpopular as President Barack Obama... and his chief diplomat is embracing those policies and running as his third term, it’s going to be next to impossible,” said Ric Grenell, a former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations under Republican President George W. Bush.
Dissatisfaction with Obama and the agenda in Washington have helped propel two candidates outside the Republican establishment - businessman Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas - to the top of the party’s crowded presidential field.
Trump appeared to reference Clinton’s comments about the president’s policies in a speech at Liberty University on Monday, saying the country cannot afford another four years of the same thing.
“We can’t have another four years of Barack Obama,” he said. “We can’t have another four years of Hillary Clinton.”
REPUBLICANS POUNCE
Perhaps foreshadowing future ads, the Republican National Committee noted that Democrats at Sunday’s debate had backed the current occupant of the White House.
“Not content with Barack Obama’s legacy of a toxic Iran deal and the rise of ISIS in the Middle East, Democrats doubled down on the extreme and failed policies of the current administration,” the RNC said in a statement.
Democrats said Clinton was embracing Obama because he is popular with the party’s base, including in Iowa, which holds the first nominating contest, called a caucus, on Feb. 1.
“It just makes sense to highlight where you agree with a president who is popular among caucus goers, and Secretary Clinton found ways to get that done,” said Brent Colburn, a former Obama administration official who served as communications director for his 2012 campaign.
Democratic strategist Richard Socarides, a Clinton supporter, said Republicans were bound to portray her potential presidency as a third Obama term anyway.
Slideshow (4 Images)
“She deserves a lot of credit for putting the country first and going to work for him,” Socarides said. “After Iowa and New Hampshire especially, that will matter to a lot of Democratic primary voters. And she is right to point out that Bernie has not always been there. She has.”
(Additional reporting by Alana Wise and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Caren Bohan, Mary Milliken and Marguerita Choy)
SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.The Newcastle stopper was handed a starting berth in his side's 2-0 win over Turkey on Friday, and has revealed the opportunity did not come as a 'total surprise'
By Jesse Wieten Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul has expressed his delight with his starting berth in his side's victory over Turkey on Friday, revealing that donning the No.1 jersey was a 'dream come true.'Oranje claimed all three points with a hard-earned 2-0 victory against Abdullah Avci's men, marking their first win under Louis van Gaal, who fielded a host of youngsters in their opening World Cup Qualifying fixture, including the Newcastle shot-stopper.
Krul, however, has revealed he was not surprised with his place in the starting XI, despite admitting that the former Bayern Munich boss' plans were hard to gauge.
"It's hard to read Van Gaal's intentions, but I've had a lot of contact with [the Netherlands keeper trainer]. He came to visit me a few times in Newcastle," the 24-year old explained to Goal.com.
"You feel... No, you don't feel it coming, you can't. But you do hope it happens."
The Magpies' keeper's starting berth meant that both Maarten Stekelenburg and Michel Vorm were dropped, despite the pair being considered Bert van Marwijk's preferred choices at Euro 2012.
"The trainers took me aside on Tuesday, and told me I was currently Netherlands' No.1 keeper. It's dream come true, something I've always hoped for. Fantastic."
"At the Euros I was still third choice, but with a new trainer comes new chances, and everyone has to start from scratch. The trainer trust me," the Hague native continued.
Despite keeping a clean sheet, the young keeper did not put in the most solid of performances, but Krul believes the team is continuing to grow together.
"We got lucky a few times, but you need that in games like these. We played with a lot of young players. We have to get used to each other, but that will happen in time."
"I wasn't nervous ahead of the game. Now I have to perform every game [because we have a host of quality goalkeepers]," the Dutchman concluded.
Oranje will be looking to build on their opening win when they travel to Hungary on September 11.Canonical recently dropped official support for Ubuntu 15.10 “Wily Werewolf”, so I decided to upgrade. I also don’t like being stuck on Long-Term-Support releases, so I did 2 upgrades in sequence: 15.10 “Wily Werewolf” to 16.04 “Xenial Xerus” to 16.10 “Yakkety Yak”. In the past, I’ve just done a clean install, but the trouble with that is having to re-do all my various customizations. This time I figured I’d just try an in-place upgrade. Of course, this meant that my customizations conflicted with packages changes. I’m still not sure which method is better.
Conflict in /etc/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php
I had added this line:
$cfg['ForcsSSL'] = true;
When I added it back, I found that phpmyadmin no longer did the https redirect. According to this, the option has been removed, so I need to do it with.htaccess or something now.
Taking inspiration from here, I ended up commenting out the “Alias” line in /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf and added it in my https vhost ( in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/default-ssl.conf )
Additionally, phpmyadmin was complaining about “blowfish secret too short”, so I used this trick to generate more random characters to add to the secret:
base64 /dev/urandom | head -c 100 >> /var/lib/phpmyadmin/blowfish_secret.inc.php
Conflict in /etc/sudoers
The package maintainer added /snap/bin to the secure_path. It was trivial to add that to my customized /etc/sudoers.
MythTV and MySQL
MythTV was prompting me for the MySQL admin username & password…not sure why. Once I got MySQL running again, MythTV started up just fine…seems to be working OK.
Conflict in /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf
Need to comment out bind-address = 127.0.0.1 (This allows MySQL to be available to remote machines for MythTV).
Programs uninstalled during upgrade
digikam5 haven’t decided whether I want to re-install this
scribus-ng I can’t find anywhere that this exists anymore. Maybe the new version has finally been released to Ubuntu?
php5-mysqlnd need native driver for a custom PHP application non-issue – looks like mysqlnd is now distributed with the main mysql php plugin
wine non-issue – the meta-package is just called wine1.6 now
Unnecessary stuff that I can remove
When I originally brought up my system, I was having lots of stability problems. I installed kdump and related utilities to try to debug the kernel panics I was getting. However, ever since I updated the BIOS (i.e. the one that actually added support for my CPU), things have been pretty stable, so I removed the kdump stuff
cron errors
I got cron errors for a php5 session cleanup script. Just needed to “completely remove” all removed packages, and it solved the problem. (I did it in synaptic package manager…easy.)
Postfix not delivering mail
Lots of errors in syslog from postfix…can’t resolve smtp.gmail.com. Turns out /var/spool/postfix/etc/resolv.conf was empty, so it didn’t know how to look up hostnames. Originally, I found this forum post, so I “fixed” with this:
cp /etc/resolv.conf /var/spool/postfix/etc/resolv.conf
But I had no idea why it broke in the first place, and when I rebooted, it was empty again.
This seems to have been resolved at some point when I was messing with the systemd-networkd and systemd-resolved stuff (see below).
More errors from a cron script
These errors were from a custom cron script I was running, and it was failing because the file started with #!/usr/bin/php5. php5 was removed and replaced with php7.0, so it coudn’t find the interpreter to execute the script. I just changed it to #!/usr/bin/php, and it’s working OK.
gpg-agent warning
Whenever I opened a shell, I’d get a warning from gpg-agent about --write-env-file. This post lead me to this “what’s new” page.
I removed the following from my ~/.bashrc :
# to use the gpg-agent:
envfile="$HOME/.gnupg/gpg-agent.env"
if [[ -e "$envfile" ]] && kill -0 $(grep GPG_AGENT_INFO "$envfile" | cut -d: -f 2) 2>/dev/null; then
eval "$(cat "$envfile")"
else
eval "$(gpg-agent --daemon --enable-ssh-support --write-env-file "$envfile")"
fi
export GPG_AGENT_INFO # the env file does not contain the export statement
export SSH_AUTH_SOCK # enable gpg-agent for ssh
and replaced it with this:
export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=~/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh
sslh not working
For those who don’t know, sslh is a TCP port multiplexer that allows you to serve both ssh and https from the same TCP port. This is useful for circumventing workplace firewall rules that block the default ssh TCP port, 22, but allow https traffic on TCP port 443. Setting up sslh really isn’t that hard, but I’m trying to use the transparent proxy feature. If this isn’t used, then all traffic looks like it’s coming from localhost, not the appropriate remote IP. I have a separate post from when I initially set this up
Ok, this is where I spent most of my time, so I’ll break this into 2 sections, so folks can skip my debugging process.
Debugging
sslh is properly passing along ssh connections, but not https. (Note: this is actually wrong. At this time, I was just connecting via port 22, not port 443.) Connecting from localhost seems to work fine. When connecting from another host, it times out, and I see this in syslog:
Nov 19 22:45:17 bruce sslh[30040]: forward to ssl failed:connect: Connection timed out
Nov 19 22:45:17 bruce sslh[30040]: connect: Connection timed out
To me, this sounds like the sslh -to- apache connection isn’t happening for some reason.
I checked the output of ip rules list and iptables-save, and it looks OK.
Around this time, I realized that nmap reported the following when run from a different machine on the same network:
2222/tcp filtered EtherNetIP-1
8443/tcp filtered https-alt
So, I moved both apache and ssh to different ports, 9443 and 9022 respectively, and they both worked there. I updated the iptables rules to use those ports, and bam! nmap says filtered again! So, it has to have something to do with the iptables rules.
Back to the previous ports (8443 and 2222), and I get this from nmap :
2222/tcp open EtherNetIP-1
8443/tcp open https-alt
perfect!
Now, what’s wrong with the iptables rules?
Turns out that getcap /usr/sbin/sslh returned nothing…had to set the capabilities again.
Don’t think it’s fixed it, though.
ok, so once again it’s a DNS name resolution problem. I don’t know what it’s resolving bruce. to, but when I run this command line, it works as expected:
sudo /usr/sbin/sslh --user sslh --transparent --listen 0.0.0.0:443 --ssh 192.168.1.102:9022 --ssl 192.168.1.102:9443 --pidfile /var/run/sslh/sslh.pid --foreground -v
So, let’s figure out what’s up with name resolution since that seems to be a wider issue.
Looks like other people are having similar problems.
I ran sudo dpkg-reconfigure resolvconf …let’s reboot & see what happens.
No change.
Aha! This news looks intriguing. In 16.10, Ubuntu has changed how they handle DNS resolving.
I wonder if I’m still launching dnsmasq when I shouldn’t be? Would that cause problems?
It’s possible that I need to change /etc/nsswitch.conf, too.
Tried commenting out dnsmasq in NetworkManager …no change.
tried uninstalling resolvconf …no change.
After both of those, dig doesn’t even work anymore! Great!
Solution
Ok, so here’s what I’ve learned. Ubuntu uses systemd-resolved now for DNS stuff. However, if you want the DNS server from DHCP negotiation to be passed along to this service, you also need to use systemd-networkd to configure your interfaces. This means no NetworkManager, no resolvconf, no dnsmasq. Link Link Link
Ok, so let’s switch to systemd-networkd :
sudo systemctl enable systemd-networkd
sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager
sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager
sudo systemctl start systemd-networkd
I also need to create /etc/systemd/network/wired.network so that systemd-networkd knows what to do:
[Match]
Name=eth*
[Network]
DHCP=yes
Finally, we need to set up this softlink so that systemd-resolved controls which DNS servers are used:
sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf
sudo ln -s /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf
Ok, so. For whatever reason, systemd-resolved doesn’t properly resolve unqualified domains. I thought it might be because it was trying to do DNSSEC verification (which my router’s DNS server doesn’t support), but even when I allowed fallback, it still didn’t work. No idea what’s going on, but I have to assume it’s a bug in systemd-resolved.
Having said that, I can still use systemd-networkd and systemd-resolved to control /etc/resolv.conf (i.e. have it point to my router’s DNS server). I just want things to skip trying to use systemd-resolved, so that means removing resolve from /etc/nsswitch.conf, so everything always falls back to DNS, which properly resolves my unqualified domains names:
Before:
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] dns
After:
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns
When nsswitch falls back to DNS, it properly resolves bruce. to its IP on my router’s subnet, not 127.0.0.1, so that’s good enough to fix this problem.
Another alternative might be to have my router’s DNS server put all the names in a LAN domain, and configure systemd-resolved to try to append that domain…but I’m fed up.
ssh doesn’t resolve my local machine names
This was actually the same root cause as the sslh issue above, so once I got that solution in place, it worked.
Third-party repos
During the upgrade, third-party apt repositories are disabled. This was just an exercise in replacing “wily” with “yakkety” in the repo configs, then running sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
Most of the repos support yakkety, but a couple (handbrake, mediaelch, dropbox) only had xenial.
PHP short_open_tag
php7.0 is configured with this by default:
short_open_tag = Off
With php5, I had changed it to this (but php7.0 uses different config files, so there was no conflict at package install time):
short_open_tag = On
I modified both of these files to turn the option On :
/etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini
/etc/php/7.0/cli/php.ini
MySQL connection errors
Some of my php scripts give this:
Unable to connect to database [No such file or directory]
Looks like a MySQL problem…phpmyadmin won’t connect either.
I found this thread and realized that the solution was trivial (and so dumb that the setting wouldn’t carry over from before):
> sudo systemctl is-enabled mysql.service
disabled
> sudo systemctl enable mysql.service
Synchronizing state of mysql.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable mysql
> sudo systemctl is-enabled mysql.service
enabled
> sudo systemctl is-active mysql.service
inactive
> sudo systemctl start mysql.service
> sudo systemctl is-active mysql.service
active
PHP mysql module deprecated
Some of my other PHP sites were still broken…because they removed the mysql component in php7.0 in favor of mysqli. (Yes, I know I should have switched ages ago…) I found a converter script that seems to have done a good job converting my code automatically.
More PHP issues
Apparently, in a piece of code, I was using break to try to jump to the end of an if block. php7.0 gives an error for this. Since my code was just trying to handle an error case that I don’t think I’ve ever seen, I changed it to die.
More MySQL issues
MySQL now sets the ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY option, which broke some of my queries. Basically, I had a query where I knew that all of the values for a particular column would be the same within a group. Older versions of MySQL would let you put that column in the SELECT list, and it would just arbitrarily pick one of the values. This is no longer allowed. Again, since I know all the values are the same, I just substituted SELECT column_name with SELECT MAX(column_name) AS column_name, and it worked fine.Here’s the news release from Metrolink:
LOS ANGELES – As part of its annual service, Metrolink will operate late night trains back to L.A. Union Station on both Saturday and Sunday nights from the Los Angeles County Fair (LACF), the largest county fair in the country. The service will begin this weekend and continue on Saturdays and Sundays throughout September.
The Saturday train will depart the Fairplex Station at 12:20 am (Sunday morning), while the Sunday train will depart at 10 p.m. back to L.A. Union Station. The new late night Metrolink service is made possible by funding from Metro.
The additional service will enable fair-goers to stay until closing on Saturday and Sunday nights so they can enjoy the nighttime concerts and entertainment.
Metrolink has been providing special train service to the LACF since 1993.
In addition to the pair of late-night trains to L.A. Union Station, Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line trains will make special weekend stops at the Fairplex Station. All San Bernardino Line weekends trains will stop at the Fairplex Station except for trains 351, 352 and 353 on Saturday and train 351 on Sunday.
Regular weekday (Monday-Friday) San Bernardino Line trains will not stop at the Fairplex Station.
For more information please visit www.metrolinktrains.com.
ABOUT METROLINK (www.metrolinktrains.com)
Metrolink is Southern California’s regional commuter rail service in its 21st year of operation. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink operates over seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network. Metrolink is the third largest commuter rail agency in the United States based on directional route miles and the eighth largest based on annual ridership.For years, Republicans have marveled at President Obama's success in blaming former President George W. Bush for the nation's problems, particularly its economic problems. Now, as Obama begins his sixth year in office, that success may finally be coming to an end.
Of course Obama inherited an economic mess. He deserved time to fix it. The GOP clock started at one year; after 12 months in office, would Obama own the economy? The public's answer was no, the president should be given more time.
After two years, did Obama own the economy? The answer was still no. Americans still responded positively when Obama blamed his predecessor.
After three years, the story was the same. And in 2012, Obama ran for re-election by stressing the severity of the problems he inherited and arguing that a single four-year term just wasn't enough time to fix things. He won handily.
Now Obama is starting year six in the White House. Does he finally own the economy?
Some polls suggest things haven't changed. A Washington Post survey last month found that 50 percent of those questioned said Bush is more to blame than Obama for the state of today's economy, and 38 percent said Obama is more to blame. (Seven percent blamed both equally.) The figures are pretty much the same as they were two years ago.
But Republican pollster David Winston, who works closely with the House GOP leadership, has tried to get at the question another way. The names "Bush" and "Obama" are so politically loaded that people sometimes retreat to party corners at their very mention. So Winston has been asking this instead: "Which is causing more problems in the economy? The policies of the past? Or the policies of the present?"
When Winston asked the question in November 2012, 53 percent of those surveyed said the policies of the past were causing more problems, and 44 percent said the policies of the present.
When Winston asked the same question not too long ago, in November 2013, 41 percent said the policies of the past, and 49 percent said the policies of the present.
That's a pretty significant change. Take the hot-button names out of the question, and Americans see the government's actions today as a source of current economic woes. "When you talk about policies, they've done a flip," says Winston. "It's the transition from President Obama being a solution to the current situation to his being part of the reason why the current situation exists."
What accounts for the change? Perhaps Americans simply decided that a president in his second term ought to be held responsible for the economy. In addition, the dramatic failure of the Obamacare rollout appears to have hurt Obama's image as the man in charge -- not just of health care but of the entire federal government. "Suddenly people are looking at the current situation and saying, 'You know what? Maybe he is responsible for this,' " said Winston.
Obama's new weakness is an obvious opportunity for Republicans going into November's midterm elections. But it's also a chance to misinterpret what is happening.
In 2010, when the public still blamed Bush for the economy, Republicans won a smashing midterm victory, picking up 63 seats in the House and six in the Senate. Post-election research showed the GOP won primarily because voters believed Obama, obsessed with passing his national health care bill, wasn't paying attention to their main concern, the economy.
"People were saying, 'You're off on the wrong topic,' " says Winston. "But they weren't necessarily blaming Obama for the economy." Republicans, on the other hand, focused on the economy and had a semblance of a plan, the Pledge to America, which put job creation at the top of its priority list. The result was a big win.
In 2012, Mitt Romney tried to win a referendum against Obama on the economy. The result was a big loss.
Now the GOP is working to craft a 2014 midterm strategy. They can't count on Obama to repeat his mistakes of 2010, and they don't want to repeat Romney's mistakes of 2012.
They know the public's main concern is still jobs; in remarks this week, House Speaker John Boehner made clear jobs will be the GOP's 2014 theme. But Republicans know they can't just bash Obama (although there's room for plenty of that.)
Instead, they have to have real proposals to create jobs, as well as an alternative to the mess of Obamacare. Disappointed by Obama, voters want to hear what Republicans have to offer. The opportunity is there, if the GOP is smart enough to take advantage of it.At 71, former Vice President Dick Cheney was older than average for a heart transplant and had to wait longer than the typical patient as well -- 20 months compared with a year or less.
The fact that he was still able to receive a donor heart after surviving five heart attacks shows he must have been in excellent health, doctors said on Sunday.
They also pointed to advances in care that have made it possible for older patients to still be good transplant candidates. Cheney is recovering at a Washington-area hospital after undergoing the surgery on Saturday.
"He's obviously received superb care," said Dr. James Kirklin, director of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a recent past president of the International Society of Heart & Lung Transplantation.
"He's an elderly man who likely has taken very, very good care of himself to be in this good shape at age 71. It appears that he has been relatively lucky to have avoided major organ problems that would have precluded a transplant," said Kirklin, who is not treating Cheney.
Hospitals have traditionally set 65 as the upper limit for heart transplant. But older patients increasingly are getting them, and there is no absolute cut-off age.
"Dick Cheney's overall risk would probably be a bit higher than a 60-year-old, but the most important thing would be the function of his organs, which we analyze in great detail," Kirklin.
Dr. Valluvan Jeevanandam, chief of cardio-thoracic surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center, said his hospital has been doing transplants on increasingly older patients.
"They're not that different. The key is co-morbidities," he said, referring to other chronic conditions that affect the health of the transplant recipient.
Older patients undergo a rigorous evaluation and are screened for cancer, neurological abnormalities, kidney and liver dysfunction and other problems.
Jeevanandam said a 71-old-year-old man has a 10-year survival rate of 60 percent to 65 percent. "I can't predict how Cheney will do," he said.
EXTENDING LIFESPAN
Assuming that Cheney's kidneys and other organ systems were working properly at the time of the transplant and he suffers no issues with organ rejection, the latest procedure could extend the former vice president's life by a decade or so, said Dr. Randall Starling, a specialist in cardiac transplants at the Cleveland Clinic.
"They have to be an excellent candidate without significant risk factors because age itself is a risk factor," Starling said.
In order to qualify for a heart transplant, patients must have end-stage heart failure but be otherwise healthy enough to undergo heart transplant surgery. The procedure uses a donor heart is implanted into the patient to replace a heart that has become so diseased it is no longer able to pump enough blood to keep organs working properly.
Cheney has survived five heart attacks -- his first at age 37 -- and his care has run the gambit of interventions, ranging from coronary stents to prop open blocked heart arteries, heart bypass surgery to re-route blood flow around diseased arteries, an implantable heart defibrillator to safeguard against potentially dangerous rhythms.
In July 2010, Cheney underwent a procedure to have an artificial heart pump implanted called a ventricular assist device or VAD that takes over the pumping function of a diseased heart for patients in end-stage heart failure.
The device is often used as a bridge to a transplant, offering a way of keeping organ systems in good enough working order for the patient to accept a donor heart.
Doctors said Cheney could have stayed on the VAD, which has increasingly become a permanent solution for some patients.
Cheney had been on a waiting list for a heart transplant for 20 months, which was a bit longer than the average wait time of six months to a year, according to a study published last year in the journal Circulation.
About 5 million Americans have heart failure, and an estimated 400,000 to 700,000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed each year, according to the Heart Failure Society of America.
Some 3,000 Americans are on the waiting list for a heart transplant on any given day, and only about 2,000 donor hearts are available each year, according to the National Heart Lung & Blood Institute.
"He waited quite a long time -- nearly two years on a device. Even though the waiting lists are very long, that would be an extended wait for a heart transplant," Kirklin said.
Patients on VAD devices can experience blood clots and infections, and doctors said it was not clear whether a complication with his VAD device may have suddenly moved Cheney higher on the transplant list.
"Did he crash in terms of his condition? How did he get to the top of the (wait) list? There are a lot of things doctors and hospitals can do to get a patient to the top of the list," said Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines in California.
Source: ReutersAuthorities are searching for the hit-and-run driver that left a young man fighting for his life in Pacific Palisades Friday.
David Pregerson, 23, was found in bushes on the side of the road on the 600 block of Chautauqua Boulevard around 3:20 a.m.
Police say the victim was walking home when he was hit by a car, and thrown into the bushes. The driver fled the scene.
Investigators say Pregerson was transported to a hospital in critical condition.
Friends say the victim is a budding filmmaker and recent UCLA graduate.
"David Pregerson is one of my very best friends, he's very loved by everyone in the Palisades community," said Cristos Andrews of Pacific Palisades. "We went to high school together over at Pali high. It's a tragic mystery, and we want to get to the bottom."
Police do not have a description of the hit-and-run vehicle, but they say it has front end damage.
The victim's friends have been canvassing the area where Pregerson was hit, looking for answers.
"David is great, I work with David, and, you know, he is amazing, right now, I think it is just about finding out information, we don't have any information at all, and we just need to get to the bottom of this," said Gregori Martin of Pacific Palisades. "We need to find out who did this, who left him in the bushes."
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the incident was urged to contact L.A. County Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.Dear Mona,
I’m 24 and at the age where a lot of my friends are getting married. I’m wondering what’s the average marriage age for people in the United States vs. worldwide.
Ian (unmarried), 24, Lincoln, Nebraska
Dear Ian,
It’s not just your friends. From the time they’re in their early 20s, Americans start marrying at a faster rate, so lots of people your age will notice a similar trend. If being unmarried right now makes you uncomfortable, I’m afraid it only gets worse. See where the curve gets above 50 percent? It shows that unmarried 33-year-old men are in the minority — more men their age are married than not.
But I can offer you a few words of consolation if you’re stressing. First of all, things could change. All this data is based on the marital status of the U.S. population in 2013 (including same-sex marriages in the states that allowed it then) according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. It’s a snapshot, not a projection. The lines in the chart above could look different in the future. The Urban Institute reckons that late millennials (that’s you, Ian) are less likely than members of previous generations to be married by age 40.
It’s not just your generation, though; U.S. marriage habits have changed a lot over the past 70 years for all age groups. In 1940, the typical age window for marriage was pretty narrow — just 11 percent of 20-year-old men were married, but 58 percent of 26-year-old men were — that’s visible in how steep the curve is. By 2013, that window had widened, and the curve flattened out — American men got married at an older age and at a slower rate, and the percentage of men who were married was no longer above 80 percent for any age group.
The curve also gets flatter over time for women. But you’ll spot a big difference between the chart for American women and the one for American men. The share of U.S. women who are married drops off pretty steeply in later life (it used to do so when women were in their 50s; now it happens when they’re in their late 70s). In 2013, the age when the largest share of women were married was 48 (when 62.3 percent of women were wedded), but for men it was way, way later — 70 years old (when 74.5 percent of men were married). That’s likely due to a combination of divorce and death. The drop happens for men, too, but later in life. That’s because women tend to marry at a younger age, marry older men and live longer.
That hill means that if you don’t plan to ever get married, at some point you’ll be in the majority again (provided you live long enough). Some people never get married — as of 2013, 4.6 percent of women and 4.3 percent of men 70 and older had never been married.
Again, though, I reckon that by the time you’re 70, those numbers could look different. The chart below from the Census Bureau shows the median age at which people in the U.S. first get married, and how it’s changed over the past 120 years. In the early part of the 20th century, people were getting married younger and younger, but since at least 1970, there’s been a steady increase in the age at first marriage for both men and women.
Not all marriages last, and there’s also Census Bureau data from 2009 on the median age |
about doing.”
Mrs. Obama continued: “Early voting is important because it gives you that convenience, truly—especially students with busy schedules, families with busy lives.
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“You wake up on Election Day—you might have a cold, babysitter gets sick, it’s raining, car broke down, I mean I could go on—toilet overflowing,” she said, to a laughing audience. “There are so many ways to mess up a day when you don’t have a lot of time.”
“So, with early voting, which starts here on Monday—this coming Monday in Wisconsin—you have a lot of time to vote when it works for you,” Mrs. Obama added. “All right? So we encourage you to get out there.”
The first lady delivered her remarks at a campaign event that attracted about 980 people at the University of Wisconsin branch in Marathon County.
In 32 states, including Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, any qualified voter may cast a ballot in person during a designated period prior to Election Day. No excuse or justification is required.
But in other states, including the swing state of Virginia, an excuse is required to vote early, and voter convenience doesn't count as a valid excuse.Already 90 percent of Americans live in households with at least one cell phone, and within a few years we can expect all cell phones to have internet access. The knowledge of how to download and to manipulate basic files has already become a necessity for most working Americans. As for “screen reading,” not only does comfort with the practice depend heavily on age, but the quality of screens will continue to improve. Remember that the first commercial e-readers came out in the United States less than six years ago, and the devices’ technical quality, as represented by the newest Kindles, Nooks, and iPads, has already improved radically in that short space of time, while prices have fallen dramatically. It is not at all unreasonable to suppose that in another couple of decades cheap and ubiquitous reading devices will have screens that look, to all intents and purposes, identical to paper. Already this May a New York Times tech columnist, reviewing the new generation of devices, quipped that “in some ways, the only reason to stick with dead tree books these days is nostalgia”—today’s hyperbole, tomorrow’s conventional wisdom.
Specialized scholars will always have reasons to consult the original paper copies of books. Marginalia, watermarks, paper quality, binding, and many other features of the physical book that digitization cannot always capture offer valuable clues about how the books were produced, circulated, and read, how they created meaning. But this sort of research mostly takes place in a small handful of leading research libraries, and it involves a small number of readers. Far more readers, of course, appreciate physical books for their aesthetic qualities: the feel of the paper, the crisp look of print on the page, the elegant binding, the pleasant heft of the volume in the hand, the sense of history embedded in a venerable edition that has gone through many owners. But this sort of pleasure, real and meaningful as it is, is harder to justify financially, as resources grow increasingly scarce.
Some critics warn that digital media are more fragile than paper, and fear that as digital formats evolve, older files will become unreadable. These fears, too, are misplaced. Yes, digital media are fragile, but they are also far easier to duplicate than paper. The history of the Computer Age has been the history of exponentially more efficient digital storage capacity. In the mid-1950s, an early IBM hard drive stored 3.75 megabytes of data—roughly the amount now required to digitize a short book—in a cabinet that measured five feet by five feet eight inches by two feet, and weighed hundreds of pounds. Today the most advanced, commercially-available “secure digital” cards can store 500,000 times as much data in a package that measures 32 by 24 by 2.1 millimeters. Which is to say, a digital copy of the entire book collection of the Library of Congress—some thirty-three million volumes—can easily fit into a small shoebox, making it simple to produce thousands of backup digital copies of every book ever printed. As for format, the very existence of vast quantities of useful information encoded in particular formats makes backward compatibility a necessity, and guards against the danger of obsolescence. Internet browsers today can still read nearly every Web page ever created. Current versions of Microsoft Word can read Word files from the 1980s. Nearly all PDFs ever created remain readable in Adobe Acrobat and scores of competing programs.
Given these facts, it will inevitably become harder and harder for most libraries to justify keeping physical copies of digitized public domain books on their shelves. The books take up space. They must be kept at a proper temperature. The process of checking them out, checking them in, and re-shelving them involves human labor. All of these things incur significant expenses, at a time when most library budgets are shrinking. At present, a large constituency still prefers paper books to e-books. When this constituency vanishes, as it most likely will within two or three decades, the arguments for eliminating the physical objects will come to seem far more pressing, particularly for smaller libraries whose patrons make relatively little use of older books. Less than twenty years ago Nicholson Baker could lament, in an eloquent New Yorker article, the disappearance of physical card catalogues from libraries. (Among other things, he criticized electronic catalogues for their “neolithic screen displays and excruciatingly slow retrieval times,” as if the technology would never improve.) But how many readers are still troubled, in any serious way, by the disappearance of those old catalogues? (Recently the Yale University library unceremoniously junked its old card catalogue drawers, filling a large dumpster with them.) How many will be troubled, twenty years hence, by the disappearance of the physical books?
To be sure, the free public-domain books now accessible on Google (and on other sites such as the Internet Archive) make up only a minority of holdings at all but a relatively few specialized research libraries. What of the other, more recent, under-copyright titles? Here the future is less clear. Electronic copies of nearly all of them (at least the ones in English and several other major languages) already exist, thanks mostly to Google Books, which altogether has scanned roughly twenty million books in several of the world’s leading research libraries. In most cases, however, readers do not have free access to “library copies” of these e-books the way they have free access to physical library books. Yes, tens of thousands of public libraries in the United States now make some e-books (generally, a few thousand at most) available to borrowers. As with a physical book, once borrowed an e-book becomes unavailable to other patrons. At my own local public library, the copy remains on the borrower’s reading device for two weeks and then deletes itself. But not all major publishers allow libraries to “lend” their e-books. HarperCollins recently announced that it would only allow any individual e-book to “circulate” twenty-six times, after which the library will need to buy another copy.
Even more important, libraries only have access to under-copyright e-books that publishers have already made commercially available on platforms like Kindle—not to the millions of others that Google has scanned, but can be viewed only in “preview” or “snippet” form (or not at all) through Google Books. Google spent years negotiating a settlement with the Authors Guild and other organizations, with a view to making these other e-books commercially available as well. But in March 2011, Federal Judge Denny Chin rejected the settlement, and the status of these e-books has remained in limbo ever since. And the situation is even more confused, and fragmented, when it comes to foreign books. While some countries, such as France, have begun ambitious digitization efforts of their own, others lag far behind. Copyright law and the status of e-publishing vary from country to country, as does the comprehensiveness of Google’s digitization.
Since 2010, a consortium of libraries, foundations, and other organizations has begun to create a so-called Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), that will, in the words of its mission statement, “make the cultural and scientific heritage of humanity available, free of charge, to all.” The DPLA aims to bring together work already digitized by a range of electronic initiatives, including Google Books. But for the moment it has concentrated its efforts largely on the same public domain material that Google Books has already made very largely available.
The DPLA will certainly do a better job than Google in its actual handling of the material. As many critics have pointed out, Google often did a shockingly sloppy job of cataloguing and organizing its e-book files. Books frequently have the wrong publication date. (For instance, 325 books that mention Woody Allen apparently date from before his birth.) Duplicate copies abound, while finding particular editions of a book—or all volumes of a multi-volume set—can lead to endless frustration. Google’s book search functions remain rudimentary. The DPLA initiative, led by respected scholars and librarians, above all Harvard’s Robert Darnton, a pioneer in digital scholarship, will in due course address most of these shortcomings. But the DPLA has largely put off the question of how to incorporate under-copyright books into its collection.
For the time being, then, millions of under-copyright and foreign-language books still remain, for all intents and purposes, available only in paper form. Unless you own them, you will need to go to a physical library to read them. True, some organizations have started to provide digital access to copyrighted books through research libraries, on a subscription basis. The American Council of Learned Societies has compiled an online collection of more than three thousand major pieces of scholarship in the humanities. JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization originally funded by the Mellon Foundation, is adding university press books to the millions of journal articles it already provides to some seven thousand subscribing institutions. But these remain small-scale initiatives.
Even so, the way patrons use libraries is already undergoing serious change. On one end of the scale, scholars already make far less use of physical library collections than they did in the past. My own experience in this regard is not at all uncommon. I am fortunate to work at Princeton, a university that has one of the great research libraries in the United States. But I now find more sources online than I do in the stacks, and I visit the library far less often than I did when I was a graduate student at the university twenty-five years ago. At the other end of the scale, anyone who has visited a local public library recently knows that more and more of its patrons are coming to use its computers, or just to sit and read in peace, and fewer of them are borrowing books.
II.
FOR HOW LONG will providing access to physical books remain a central mission for libraries? Even as reading on screens becomes more and more common, the number of books easily available in electronic form seems likely to increase, and a consensus for allowing some form of free access to “library copies” of digital files seems likely to emerge. True, the legal wrangling over Google Books has shown worrisome signs of stretching out, Bleak House– fashion, toward the next century. But with the digital files of copyrighted books already in existence, and with money to be made from their distribution, it still seems probable that within twenty years or so, it will be possible to download virtually any book ever printed, anywhere, to any device. The chances will be better for readers with access to some sort of subscription service—most often through universities where they study, or have faculty positions. But even for those without this sort of privileged access, some form of free access may very well emerge. And then, what future for libraries?
One nightmare scenario is all too easy to imagine. The year is 2033, and the Third Great Recession has just struck. Although voters have finally turned the Tea Party out of office in Washington, the financial situation remains dire across the country. New York City in particular faces skyrocketing deficits as a result of the most recent Wall Street wipeout, and the bankruptcy of Goldman Chase. In City Hall, a newly elected mayor casts a covetous glance at the grand main branch of the New York Public Library. Think how much money the city could save by selling it, along with the thirty remaining branch libraries scattered throughout the five boroughs. After strenuous negotiations, the mayor announces a deal with Googlezon, under which the company will make fifty electronic copies of any book in its database available at any one time to city residents, for two-week free rentals on the reading device of their choice. Two years later, where the main branch library once stood, the mayor proudly cuts the ribbon at the opening of the Bryant Park Mall. As for the services once performed by actual librarians, these have now been replaced by a cloud software package, with customer service representatives standing by online in case of technical difficulties (most of them physically located in suburban Manila).
In truth, such a turn of events would hardly rank with the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria in the annals of cultural vandalism. If it came to pass, readers would still enjoy, between the new electronic “lending library” and the public domain titles accessible through the Digital Public Library of America, a larger and more complete library at their fingertips (literally!) than exists today in any single locality. It would not be the barbaric destruction of knowledge. It would be the democratization of knowledge on a scale unimaginable in the pre-Internet age. The benefits are not to be discounted.
YET THE SACRIFICES entailed—the loss of physical libraries, and of librarians—would still be massive, and culturally tragic. To start with, libraries are, obviously, not just places to read books. They are communities. The recent debates about the NYPL have highlighted the importance of its glorious main reading room to famous New York writers—for instance, Alfred Kazin, who composed his masterpiece On Native Grounds there. But as Kazin himself often remarked, just as important as the library’s books, and its inspiring grand spaces, were the other readers who gathered there to use it, such as his friend, the historian Richard Hofstadter, who frequently occupied the next seat over. As Zadie Smith put it recently, “Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay.” At the NYPL, readers clearly feel the need for such community more than ever today. According to Anthony Marx, while the number of books requested in the main reading room has dropped steadily for several years, the number of patrons sitting there has steadily risen.
Libraries are also sources of crucial expertise. Librarians do not just maintain physical collections of books. Among other things, they guide readers, maintain catalogues, develop access portals for electronic sources, organize special programs and exhibitions, oversee special collections, and make acquisition decisions. The fact that more and more acquisition decisions now involve a question of which databases to subscribe to, rather than which physical books and journals to buy, does not make these functions any less important. To the contrary: the digital landscape is wild and wooly, and it is crucial to have well-trained, well-informed librarians on hand to figure out which content to spend scarce subscription dollars on, and how to guide readers through it.
Special collections in foreign languages, where no digital counterpart yet exists to the physical books, demand even more expertise. As the critics of the NYPL have noted, the unveiling of the Central Library Plan came, with exquisitely bad timing, soon after the closure of the library’s specialized Slavic and Middle Eastern and Asian Reading Rooms, and the loss of specialized staff positions in these areas. Communications technology will increasingly allow a single expert in a subject such as Russian literature to advise several institutions at once—but it is one thing to share expertise and another to eliminate it entirely. And moves toward elimination are taking place at precisely the moment when the sheer glut of information available online has made the expertise more necessary than ever.
Finally, even when no foreign language or particular expertise is involved, special collections are still to be treasured. Anyone interested in reading seriously about American theater or American dance, about Judaism and the Jews, about people of African descent, about the poet Shelley, even about the history of tobacco, will find extraordinarily rich veins of material in the collections dedicated to these subjects at the NYPL. The experience of working in such concentrated storehouses of knowledge, which collectors and librarians brought together with intelligence, energy, and love, cannot be matched by online browsing, however complete the process of digitization, and however good the guides to online sources. These collections are indeed far more than the sum of their parts.
III.
IF LIBRARIES ARE to survive, and thereby preserve their expertise, their communal functions, their specialized collections, and the access they provide to physical books, they must find new roles to play. The critics of the NYPL Central Library Plan claim that it has put the library’s standing as a premier research institution in jeopardy, but they finally fail to acknowledge that the very nature of premier research institutions—and all other libraries—is changing in radical and inexorable ways. Clinging to an outdated vision of libraries is in fact the best recipe for making them look hopelessly obsolescent to the men and women who control their budgets, thereby ensuring that the nightmare scenario that I have laid out actually comes to pass.
In imagining new roles, it is important to think about the way that the digital revolution has already changed the world of learning as a whole—above all, in its democratizing effects. To be sure, the world of learning has always had its democratic institutions, with the NYPL itself among the greatest. Anyone can walk in off the street into the Schwarzman Building, get a reader’s card, and have immediate access to one of the greatest troves of learning ever assembled. And yet, in practice, most people have not had the resources, physical or intellectual, to make use of such a wonderful resource. Doing so required time that working adults could not easily spare. And in most cases it also required a high level of education. For every autodidact who found in its collections the keys to a new universe, many other wellintentioned readers, less motivated or less skilled, ended up turning away in confusion.
Today interested readers, or aspiring amateur scholars, have far more help available, most of it at their Internet-enabled fingertips. There are full undergraduate courses online, complete with lectures, free from the likes of Harvard and MIT. There are excellent and accessible lecture courses geared explicitly to the general public from sources such as The Teaching Company, for a low cost or for free from a public library. There are half a dozen allegedly “educational” television networks, even if ones such as The History Channel have increasingly shifted to routine entertainment programming. And of course there are an infinity of websites offering introductions to every subject under the sun. Caveat lector, yes—but what an embarrassment of riches.
And thanks to institutional websites and e-mail, it is easier than ever to contact certified specialists in an academic subject and ask them for advice. After an appearance in a popular History Channel documentary, I receive queries about my work several times a month during the school year, most often from high school students (and I work on the relatively arcane subject of early modern Europe, not a more popular subject like the Civil War). Meanwhile, major publishers increasingly issue strict orders to their authors to engage in multiple forms of electronic public outreach. Create a Web page. Start a blog. Get a Facebook page. Open a Twitter feed. Make yourself available to bloggers. It is no longer just a matter of the occasional book signing. All in all, it is easy to get the impression that the “great confinement” of serious scholarship in universities, which began with the professionalization of the academic disciplines in the nineteenth century, is coming to an end. The ivory tower is breaking down.
The new forms of communication stretching across these old barriers are of course mostly electronic. But their rise has done nothing to decrease the desire for personal interaction. Just as high fidelity failed to kill concerts, and movies failed to kill live theater, and highresolution photos failed to kill museums, so the ability to audit a college course in one’s bedroom will not kill the desire to rub shoulders with other students and a professor. Somewhat paradoxically, by drawing millions more people into serious reading and learning, the digital revolution has in fact created the need for more spaces of physical interaction.
AND WHAT INSTITUTIONS are better suited to serve this purpose than libraries? Universities tend to be located away from major population centers, and classroom space in them tends to be a tightly controlled and valuable commodity. By contrast, the great public libraries of America occupy some of the country’s choicest and most accessible real estate. From the days of Benjamin Franklin onward, moreover, public outreach and public instruction have been their principal purpose. Until recently, they could serve this purpose above all by providing access to books and periodicals. Now, even as books and periodicals are increasingly available elsewhere, there is more and more public demand for other forms of interaction: lectures and seminars, tied to online courses and readings; authors’ appearances; book groups; exhibitions of art works and films; study centers hosting fellows who contribute to public discussions. Public libraries already do a great many of these activities, but they need to do even more, in partnership with universities, publishers, and anyone else willing and able to help. And since the best initiatives of this sort rarely emerge from programming committees, libraries should have public spaces open to ordinary readers to organize appropriate activities on their own. While librarians were once known for telling readers to hush, now they need to invite them to speak.
Some critics will worry that such a transformation would indeed conflate libraries and Internet cafés. As much as possible, of course, the transformation should not come at the expense of dedicated, quiet, comfortable spaces for reading and writing, and for the storage of physical books not freely available online. Yet this is no reason for avoiding the transformation. And before we scornfully dismiss the Internet café as the opposite of a library, let us remember that cafés themselves have had a long and glorious history as places of serious public discussion, starting in seventeenth and eighteenth-century London, Paris, and Amsterdam. They were crucial institutions of what historians call the early modern “public sphere”—right along with reading rooms, and other early forms of the public library. Indeed, many of the great early cafés provided both newspapers and books to their patrons. And while more patrons of Internet cafés probably spend their time checking Facebook than debating great literature and philosophy—well, the readers in the NYPL’s main reading room were not always reading great literature and philosophy, either.
Like it or not, the great public libraries of the world simply will not remain what they were, not in an age of severe cost pressures in which a greater and greater proportion of citizens carry about the equivalent of a score of research libraries in their pockets and purses. The transformation is upon us. As Anthony Marx repeatedly remarks, “the world of libraries is changing, and we have to change with it.” Ultimately, to survive, libraries will need to become part of the new, partly digital public sphere, attentive to its needs and rhythms, as well as to those of traditional learning and scholarship. The balance will be hard to strike, things will be lost, and the lovers of traditional scholarship will continue to issue their laments. But if we do not try to strike the balance, and move libraries into the new age—well, I’ll meet you to discuss the question in a few years at the Bryant Park Mall.
This article appeared in the August 2, 2012 issue of the magazine.Columbus Crew SC’s Kevan George played a full 90 minutes in Trinidad and Tobago’s 2-0 Gold Cup victory over Cuba.
With the victory, Trinidad and Tobago booked a spot in the Gold Cup quarterfinals after improving to a 2-0-0 record in Group C. After defeating Guatemala 3-1 on Wednesday, Sunday’s victory marks the first time in 15 years that Trinidad & Tobago has won consecutive Gold Cup matches.
As for George, the Columbus Crew SC midfielder played in central midfield, helping T&T conjure six shots on target while maintaining the advantage in possession with 50.7 percent.
Trinidad and Tobago currently stand in first place in Group C with six points and a plus-four goal differential, while Mexico stands in second with four points.
T&T will finish group play against Mexico on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 2 and UniMas) at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. With a win or draw the Soca Warriors would clinch Group C.We saw the movie "Nebraska" a couple of weeks ago and I've been meaning to blog something about it. Let me try to seize this moment to put down a couple of thoughts.
My overwhelming sense is that this is a deeply Confucian film. It is all about a son trying to do the right thing by his elderly father. The son's respect, even reverence, for the father's misguided desires is what Confucius seems to have in mind when he said (Analects 4.18):
In serving your mother and father admonish them gently. If they understand, and yet choose not to follow your advice, deepen your reverence without losing faith. And however exhausting this may be, avoid resentment.
That comes pretty close to summing up the film. The father clearly does not understand but the son maintains a kind of reverence, though he might also just be ambivalent about his own life and searching for a momentary escape. In the end (no spoilers!), however, the son definitely avoids resentment. He's a good filial son.
But "Nebraska" connects not just with ancient Chinese philosophy, it also resonates with contemporary Chinese realities. It's hard to be filial, in America and in China today. As the action of the film moves through the economically depressed heartland, from Montana to South Dakota to Nebraska, we are confronted with social and familial decay. People don't have good jobs, they don't have much money or prospects, they remember the good old days, when the farm economy was booming, but they just don't have the kinds of lives they used to have. A sense of decline and loss pervades the scene. The old values and culture are collapsing, and something crasser and shallower is taking hold. In such circumstances, it is difficult for sons to maintan respect and support for their fathers.
And that, too, is a very Chinese story. As I walked out of the theater I thought of the title of an excellent piece by Ian Johnson: "In China, ‘Once the Villages Are Gone, the Culture Is Gone," which reminds us: "Rapid urbanization means village life, the bedrock of Chinese culture, is rapidly disappearing, and with it, traditions and history." I would argue, and have argued, that the modernizing forces that Johnson is discussing - urbanization, social mobility, economic transformation - create Chinese realities that make it difficult for many people to follow through on Confucian moral obligations. China is not a Confucian society, and neither is the US, though the old Confucian virtues, such as filiality, continue to have meaning in both places. We all know that we should care for our parents the way that the son in the movie does, but most of us are hemmed in by material and social demands that make it impossible.
A Chinese woman in Johnson's piece laments the decline of traditional cultural practices: “It would be a great pity if they are lost just as our country is on the road to prosperity.” She could be in Nebraska.Analysts continue to sort, sift and break down the latest round of quarterly filings from some of the market’s most prominent investors that were due last week.
On Thursday, Goldman Sachs weighed with a note looking at the 50 stocks that they say “matter most” to hedge funds.
These are the stocks that fundamentally driven hedge funds have big positions. Specifically, Goldman’s criteria are the stocks that appear most frequently among the top 10 holdings of those funds.
Also read: ‘Smart money’ cools on Alibaba, other themes from hedge-fund portfolios.
Why is it worth looking at? Goldman says its’s an efficient vehicle for investors who want to “follow the smart money” based on the 13F filings that investors with $100 million or more under management have to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Big investors must tell the SEC their long stock positions as of the end of each quarter, with filings due 45 days after the end of the period.
Of course, caveats apply when it comes to tracking the holdings of heavyweight investors.
Goldman says the most widely held stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 SPX, -0.08% on a quarterly basis two-thirds of the times since 2001. The basket, however, has lagged behind the benchmark index by 9 basis points year-to-date through May 15—returning 3.8% versus the S&P’s 3.9%—after outperforming the index 16.3% to 13.7% in 2014.
Pharmaceutical Actavis PLC ACT, -0.21%, which in March completed a buyout of Allergan, tops the list, followed by Apple Inc. AAPL, +0.06%, FacebookInc. FB, -0.30% Those names are followed by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc US:VRX the pharmaceutical whose high-profile bid—backed by hedge-fund manager William Ackman—for Allergan was trumped by Actavis.
Here’s the full breakdown:
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Corsair's Publishing Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 12, 2015
If you are a marketer, analyst, or risk officer — you really need to appreciate Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride. He is the perfect customer. In nearly every scene it seems he is announcing his name, his purpose, and exactly what he wants.
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
So unless you are The Six Fingered Man, you have to love his candor and directness.
How often are you confronted by situations in business where your customers are anonymous, their needs unknown, and their purpose a mystery?
Inigo continues to establish his pedigree throughout the movie. In one scene, brilliantly establishing his credibility. First, by admitting that he may not have any, but then offering a means by which he can be trusted. Imagine, a customer who recognizes their own risk and works to establish their credit-worthiness!
So I am sure many of you would argue that this is a story too good to be true. No customer could be like this character. Inigo is persistent and driven. He is constantly asking others for help in achieving his ends. He is an interesting movie character and not a typical customer…
But how often do you ask? Do your products and experiences allow the customer to tell you who they are? What they want? Why they want it? Or ask for assistance in meeting their personal needs?
We live in a world where we trust data and technology to establish identity, uncover risk, and deliver the product we think our customer wants. But it is also a world where technology has given everyone the ability to tell their own story. The question is — are you listening? Not every customer is willing to repeat themselves quite as often as Inigo.Policing Patient Privacy Patient Privacy and Medical Care
This story was co-published with the Washington Post.
Seven years ago, I sat across from Farrah Fawcett in the living room of her Los Angeles condo. In what would be her last media interview before she died in 2009, she described her suspicion that an employee at UCLA Medical Center had shared details of her cancer treatment — and the setbacks along the way — with the National Enquirer.
Whenever she sought treatment there, the tabloids were quick with a story, even if it wasn’t right.
“I actually kept saying for months and months and months, ‘This is coming from here,’ ” Fawcett told me in the summer of 2008. “I was never more sure of anything in my life.”
To prove her theory, Fawcett set up a sting: In May 2007, she withheld news of her cancer’s return from nearly all of her relatives and friends. Within days, the story was in the Enquirer. “I couldn’t believe how fast it came out,” Fawcett said.
A UCLA employee was caught and charged with selling information to the tabloid. She pleaded guilty, but died before she was sentenced.
In 2008, prompted by Fawcett’s experience and those of other celebrities, California passed a law authorizing fines against hospitals that fail to protect patient privacy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it; his then-wife, Maria Shriver, was one of those whose records had been accessed inappropriately at UCLA.
At the time, I thought that this was a problem largely confined to the People magazine world of celebrities and that this law would quash the prurient interest in their medical records.
I was wrong.
After spending the past year reporting on loopholes and lax enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the federal patient-privacy law known as HIPAA, I’ve come to realize that it’s not just celebrity patients who are at risk. We all are.
Over the course of my reporting, I’ve talked to hundreds of people who said their medical records were hacked, snooped in, shared or stolen. Some were worried about potential consequences for themselves and their families. For others, the impact has been real and devastating, requiring therapy and medication. It has destroyed their faith in the medical establishment.
I spoke to Jacqueline Stokes, a cybersecurity consultant whose story I wrote about in The Washington Post. When she went to what was supposed to be a secure website to check the results of a paternity test she’d purchased at a local pharmacy, she stumbled upon 6,000 other people’s test results. She complained to the federal regulator that enforces HIPAA, but she was told that the lab wasn’t covered by the law — when it was drafted in 1996, its authors probably hadn’t anticipated such things as over-the-counter paternity tests. Stokes gave up when she was told to contact a different agency.
What You Need to Know About HIPAA Q. Remind me again, what’s HIPAA? A. HIPAA is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a law passed by Congress in 1996 and signed by President Bill Clinton. Q. What does it do? A. HIPAA is a broad law that does many things, such as setting standards for electronic health care transactions and making it easier for workers to keep health insurance if they lose their jobs. But it is now best known for its privacy and security protections. The federal government has put in place detailed regulations governing who can use and release your health records and requiring safeguards to protect the privacy of this information. HIPAA also gives you the right to get a copy of your health records and have corrections added, to receive a notice that tells you how your health information may be used and shared, and to file a complaint if you believe your privacy was violated. Q. Does HIPAA apply to all health providers? A. No. It applies to health plans, health data clearinghouses and those health providers that conduct certain transactions electronically, such as electronically billing your health insurer. It also applies to outside contractors, subcontractors or other outsiders that work with entities covered by the law. But if your doctor or clinic doesn’t take insurance, HIPAA may not apply. HIPAA also doesn’t apply to life insurers, employers, workers’ compensation carriers, most schools and school districts, state agencies like child protective service agencies, most law enforcement agencies or media organizations. Q. Can my health information be shared without my permission? A. Health providers are allowed to share your information with those treating you, to pay doctors and hospitals for your health care, to help run their businesses and to oversee the quality of care delivered to you. They also may be required to report certain illnesses (like sexually transmitted diseases) to public health agencies and to alert the police to crimes. Q. Who enforces HIPAA? A. A small office within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services called the Office for Civil Rights. Q. What does it mean to “violate HIPAA”? A. Violations can take many forms, both inadvertent and deliberate. They may include failing to give patients copies of their records, mailing a patient’s confidential information to the wrong address, and sharing details with a patient’s family or friends without permission. They may also include cyberattacks that expose millions of records, failing to encrypt data on laptops that are subsequently stolen, and snooping in someone’s medical records out of spite, jealousy or even curiosity. Q. Are there penalties for breaking the law? A. Yes, the Office for Civil Rights can impose monetary penalties (up to $50,000 per violation, or $1.5 million per year) or even seek criminal charges for deliberate violations. These rarely happen. Nearly all violations are resolved with warnings, reminders, corrective actions and pledges to do better next time. Q. What should I do if I believe my privacy has been violated? A. You can try to resolve it directly with your health provider or file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights using its online portal. Complaining to the government doesn’t guarantee an investigation, though. Most complaints are resolved informally. Q. Can I sue if my privacy is violated? A. That’s a tricky question. HIPAA does not allow for a private right of action. What that means is that it doesn’t let people sue for damages for violations of the law. Some people have gotten around that by suing in state court, alleging medical malpractice, negligence or other claims. State courts vary widely in whether they allow such suits to go forward. Source: HHS Office for Civil Rights; ProPublica research
I met Kenneth Chanko, whose dad Mark was rushed to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in 2011 after being struck by a sanitation truck. Unbeknownst to his family, a real-life medical show, “NY Med,” was filming in the hospital at the time. The following year, Mark Chanko’s widow was watching the show on ABC and realized that the blurred-out man dying on the TV screen in her living room was her husband. No one had told the family — or asked for permission. The Chankos filed a lawsuit against the hospital and the TV network, as well as a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office for Civil Rights, which enforces HIPAA. The lawsuit was dismissed and is being appealed to New York’s top court. The complaint with the civil rights office, filed in January 2013, is pending. In the meantime, New York City’s hospitals voluntarily agreed this summer not to allow commercial filming of patients without their |
who had relied for years on sherpas like him to do exactly the same thing. And Babu's immense strength illustrated that when it came to climbing the very highest Himalayan peaks, admittedly by their easier routes, hardly any foreign climbers could come close to Babu and his people.
Nor was he some starry-eyed romantic who mythologised the mountain's appeal. "A lot of sherpas go to the mountain with fear," he once said, "but that's no way to climb. They have to go, because it's a job and they're being well paid for it. If they don't have any education, they don't have a choice." To that end, Babu was working to build a school at Traksindo, near his home village of Chhulemu in Solukhumbu district, in the shadow of the mountain that sherpas call Chomolungma.
Babu Chhiri was born the fourth of eight children. His father, Lhakpa Sherpa, was a farmer and trader who had carried a load to Everest's base camp for John Hunt's expedition in 1953. Babu grew up tending the family's yaks and had no formal schooling, something he deeply regretted. He learned English, like many sherpas, as he went along the mountain trails with the tourists he worked for.
At 16 he married his wife Puti, but Babu had secretly decided to follow two of his brothers to Kathmandu to find work in the rapidly growing trekking industry. On his first job he earned around 10 pence a day carrying a 30-kilo load up and down the steep trails of Nepal. He returned to his village broke and in tears after spending his earnings on food and bus fares.
Two years later he tried again, this time as a cook boy, and slowly he worked his way up to better and more lucrative jobs. His break came in 1989, still aged only 23, as a climbing sherpa on a Russian expedition to the world's third-highest peak, Kangchenjunga. He reached the summit without bottled oxygen and discovered he was supremely adapted for living at high altitude. "It was like an exam," he said, and one that he passed with flying colours.
The following year he climbed Everest for the first time with the Frenchman Marc Batard and his new career - as a personality in his own right - took shape. He would reach the summit a further nine times, including two ascents in two weeks in 1995, and be feted as a national hero by King Birendra.
A stocky man with a Buddha-like paunch - he would often praise his wife's cooking - Babu made friends easily, not just in Nepal but in America and Europe, where he understood the real money in climbing lay. But he saw a future for the sherpas, and for his children, outside climbing.
Babu was a safe mountaineer, as well as a strong one. His death, while reportedly taking photographs at Camp II, is a tragedy for his young family, who are in desperate need of help. Donations can be made to the Babu Chhiri Sherpa Trust account c/o Mountain Hardwear, 4911 Central Avenue, Richmond CA 94804, USA. For his community it is a cruel reminder of the dangers on the mountain that gave him so much.
Babu Chhiri Sherpa, mountaineer, born spring 1966; died April 29 2001Happy birthday, Google, but all this messing with your logo is just a little too precious, don't you think? And maybe the two ones in Goog11e should have been birthday candles?
I am all for, as one of my editors described it, "quirky and interesting." I liked the Morse code logo and the telescopes, but a series of flying saucers and crop circles? Sci-fi game references? I know what those referred to and couldn't care less. Waste of time and wonder.
And it took me--and the friend who called to ask me about it--a minute to realize the two "L"s in the logo today are really 1's, as in 11, as in a birthday. Again, happy birthday. (The actual birthday was Sunday and the Goog11e logo appears to have been removed).
There is nothing wrong with what Google is doing, mind you. However, when it isn't obvious enough that people have to start investigating and reading tweets to figure out what the fun logos--or doodles, as Google calls them--are supposed to be about, I think a line has probably been crossed somewhere.
If people look at the logo and wonder, "what's that about?" and have to go to a news story to find the answer, Google has wasted a bunch of people's time for no good reason. Which is odd since Google, and other search engines, are supposed to be about saving time.
I am all for having fun, but perhaps Google could create a clickable link or maybe add small print at the bottom of the page (where you'd have to scroll to see it) that explains what the fun doodles are about. (On the Goog11e logo you could mouse over it to find out what it represented).
Then they could do them all the time and it would be easy for everyone to play along at their homes or offices and then just click or scroll to the answer when its time to do more important--if less fun--things.
David Coursey tweets as @techinciter.But I don't want to be completely negative, because negative is poison, and there's always a silver lining. Even though we're at the end of great superhero movies, and even though we won't have a good Batman movie for a while, all is not lost, because we'll still always have...
I'm not saying Nolan's Batman is untouchable, I'm just saying whoever comes next is bound to disappoint. Objectively, based on all of the surrounding facts.
Don't get me wrong, there's a possibility that the next Batman reboot will be awesome. There's just an even greater possibility that it'll be just super shitty. That's not me being a pessimist, that's me trying to be realistic. Nolan didn't make a good Batman movie; he made amazing, near-perfect movies that happened to be about Batman. Nolan single-handedly popularized the idea of doing a gritty reboot, and he was the first filmmaker to treat superheroes seriously. Those shoes are so insanely huge to fill that I wouldn't, on my best day, want to be the guy who gets put in charge of the first post-Nolan Batman movie, especially knowing that this movie needs to come out within the next few years. Which it will. And, meanwhile, this next Batman movie is supposed to tie into a Justice League movie, because DC is trying to follow in the footsteps of The Avengers and make a bunch of superhero movies that combine to make one giant, epic superhero team-up movie (tentatively scheduled for 2015). So... this new Batman is supposed to appear in a Justice League movie with Zack Snyder's Superman and Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern? No way will that be good.
With these two facts in mind, we have to know that a Batman reboot is in our immediate future. But even if we didn't have these facts, we'd still know, because, as we've previously pointed out, the Batman reboot is already underway, and even though they haven't picked a release date, with the amount of money that superhero movies are making, I imagine that release will come sooner rather than later. A new Batman with a new director and a new Batman is coming. Accept it. Deal with it. Haaaaate it.
1 Nolan's Next Movie
According to Fandango, tickets for the The Dark Knight Rises made up over 91 percent of all ticket sales that took place yesterday (7/19/12), and it is already outpacing The Avengers in terms of advanced ticket sales. There's not a doubt in anyone's mind that this movie is going to make a lot of, if not all of, the money. And that's terrific news.
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I don't want to sound like too much of a fanboy (but I just wrote 1,200 words about Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, so I'm assuming that ship has sailed at this point), but Christopher Nolan is one of the most exciting and inventive directors working today. He may not be my favorite current director, but he certainly knows how to make huge and impressive blockbusters that are also clever and thought-provoking, like Inception, plus smaller, more intimate films that are equally clever and thought-provoking, like Memento. He's got great sensibilities.
Meanwhile, he's ALSO got lots of freedom, because in Hollywood, money = freedom. Once the Dark Knight trilogy makes more money than any other trilogy in the history of trilogies, Nolan will have all of the freedom in the world. He couldn't have made Inception if the studios didn't completely trust him to deliver, and now he'll have even more trust after The Dark Knight Rises succeeds, which it clearly will. How exciting is that? The guy who will have unlimited budgets and trust to make movies isn't Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich, but Christopher Nolan! The guy who made Memento and Following!
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Nolan's next movie isn't even announced yet and I'm already excited about it, because I can look at his IMDb credits and see that he hasn't made a bad film. The last non-Batman film he made was about dreams, and the creative process, and spinning tops, I think, and it was one of the most exciting action movies of the last 20 years. He's in a position where literally every studio will open up their wallets to fund any idea he has, and every single A-list actor will want to work with him.
At this point, Nolan represents the ideal director: someone who can make big-budget, crowd-pleasing action movies for the thinking man. Even though Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is ending, that doesn't mean that Nolan, as a symbol, is going away. He'll still be out there, making the movies we're too afraid (or dumb!) to make, and fighting the creative fights that need to be fought. He'll make the movies that other directors can't, because they're merely "people," and he is Nolan. He'll be the director we need, not the director we deserve.
And he'll make some really kickass films.
(The Prestige 2? A spinoff sequel starring David Bowie as Tesla and Joseph Gordon Levitt as Edison? I'm just spit-balling here.)
Daniel O'Brien is Cracked.com's senior writer (ladies), and he hasn't washed his underwear since The Dark Knight Rises was announced (people sitting around him in the movie theater). Follow him on Twitter to find out about spontaneous San Diego Cracked meet-ups.
For more from Dan, check out 4 Celebrities Who Just Might be Superhero Alter-Egos and The Christian Bale Flip Out According to the Other Guy.No case for the defence
It was another good weekend for those with a vested interest in the branding of the Premier League as the greatest in the world. With 35 goals in nine games, teams coming from behind to draw or win, late goals, and plenty of controversial incidents that will not result in a Football Association inquiry. The underlying cause of much of this drama was defending so bad that it would be an insult to the playground to call it schoolboy.
There were some decent individual performances and cohesive defensive displays – Nemanja Vidic impressed in Manchester United's 1-0 win at Goodison Park, Fulham were solid in victory at the DW Stadium while the pairing of Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger in Liverpool's defence gave Kenny Dalglish's side a mobile and solid look to the heart of their back four. But that's about it. Stamford Bridge was the main "look away now" arena for defensive purists. Andre the Giant would have contributed more to Arsenal's defensive unit than André Santos while André Villas-Boas may be committed to playing with a high-line at Chelsea, as he did at Porto, but on the evidence of Saturday he needs to sit down and explain it to his team a couple more times because they do not seem to have the hang of it. Not that anyone will dwell on that as the game gets filed away on the shelf labelled "Classics" alongside the two 4-3 matches between Liverpool and Newcastle and various other imperfect afternoons.
This season the four games between this season's Champions League sides have seen 29 goals scored. In the 12 matches last season between teams competing in the Champions League there was 32 goals. Does that suggest a new emphasis on attacking, expansive play or merely a new low in the gradual deterioration of the top sides in English football? Sadly it may be the latter. And nearly everyone involved in marketing the Premier League loves it. EF
Cech can't catch
Rightly or wrongly, Monday's headlines will probably focus on John Terry, with the defender kindly recreating his slip of 2008 to give a laugh to all those ABCs out there. Perhaps, though, those headlines should focus on the performance of Peter Cech who had one of his worst ever games in the Chelsea goal. Admittedly the Chelsea defence were poor and there was not much he could do about Arsenal's first and fourth goals but on three occasions the Czech keeper committed the cardinal sin of all goalkeepers: he got beaten at his near post. The final goal, and Robin van Persie's third, will be of particular irritation to his manager, André Villas-Boas. Despite José Bosingwa doing his job and covering the angles, Cech, for some reason, moved to his left when the only real place the Arsenal captain could aim for is the keeper's right. He duly conceded when he really should have saved.
He will also be angry to be beaten by Theo Walcott, a man whose goals come about as often as insightful analysis from Alan Shearer. Chelsea conceded five goals at home in the league for the first time since December 1989 when they lost 5-2 to Liverpool and have kept a clean sheet only once in the league this season.
Nevertheless Villas-Boas said after the match he would be sticking to his open style "because the philosophy is a personal value and a club value. You should never sell it cheap. We will stick to this philosophy." But if they are to have any success in the league, or indeed Europe, Chelsea will need to change something and they will need Cech, and the defence in front of him, to recover the form that once made them one of the most formidable back lines in England. IMc
Downing is failing to deliver
Plenty of criticism has been heaped on the Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, for spending £35m on Andy Carroll and in many respects that criticism has been justified. But it seems Dalglish has got off scot-free for what may be his worst purchase of the summer, Stewart Downing. Whereas Carroll, at 22, has enough time to develop into the player his transfer fee expects him to be, Downing, at 27, does not. Traditional wisdom states that the former Aston Villa and Middlesbrough winger should be coming into the prime of his career but he has been desperately below par since joining the Merseyside club. While his passing is, for the most part, accurate too much of it is in areas that do not hurt the opposition.
And even when he does get into good positions, he wastes his crosses. The match against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday was the perfect example of this. He had a 72% pass completion rate but the vast majority of his passes and crosses near the penalty box failed to find a Liverpool player or trouble the West Bromwich defence. He has also failed to assist or score a single goal for Liverpool in the league this season. For a winger, and one that cost £20m and is a regular start for Dalglish's side, these are damning statistics. Liverpool may have spent big on Carroll but Downing, in the long run, may end up costing them more. IMc
An assistant finally provides some assistance
Lee Mason was right to award Liverpool a penalty at The Hawthorns on Saturday evening. Jerome Thomas's collision with Luis Suárez would have been a foul anywhere else on the pitch, so why not in the box? Just because there was no appeal from Suárez does not render the claim any less valid. It is not an lbw decision. What was remarkable about the incident is that it was a rare occasion when a referee's assistant volunteered to make himself useful. Mason gave the penalty on the say-so of his assistant, Gary Beswick. Far too often the man with the flag will slink into the background when a big call is needed leaving a referee to make it on an incident he is not always in a position to judge. So credit where it is due to Beswick. The problem is that even though he got the decision right, the resulting 83 minutes of abuse he inevitably received as he ran the line may have led him to wonder if it was really worth it. EF
Dan O'Hagan may be Britain's oddest commentator
Watching Match of the Day remains an enthralling experience but thanks to Messrs Lineker, Hansen, Shearer and Motson, listening to it has become a pretty banal pursuit. However, if Saturday's edition of the show is anything to go by there may just be a fresh reason to take that finger off the mute button. Those who tuned in for the highlights of Norwich's 3-3 draw with Blackburn could not fail to have been engrossed by a match that contained two goal-of-the-month contenders, a dramatic comeback and referring controversy, but they may well also have been distracted by the ever-so-odd commentary of Dan O'Hagan.
The BBC's man at Carrow Road started well but then came Blackburn's second goal, scored by Yakubu Ayegbeni after 62 minutes. O'Hagan expressed a textbook grunt as the striker lashed a long-range shot at goal ("Yakubuuuu!!"), but then, as the ball hit the back of the net, nothing. No emotion, no wonder, no recognition that the visitors had just retaken the lead. A one-off, perhaps? Not so. A couple of minutes later Christopher Samba made it 3-1 to Blackburn and this time O'Hagan did not even grunt. His voice remained flat from the build-up to the goal through to the moment the men in blue and white were celebrating.
It was as if he was commentating on another incident entirely. In fairness to the man with the microphone, he reacted to Blackburn's opening goal, scored by Junior Hoilett, as well as Norwich's three, in an appropriate fashion but it was hard to escape the feeling that in O'Hagan – who is described as "one of the world's leading freelance television football commentators" on his official website – we may just have a maverick on our hands. SNOrlando City Soccer Club player's fiancee loses fight with lymphoma
Everett, 25, had battled non- Hodgkin's lymphoma. Luzunaris, who played at UCF, said Everett suffered a major heart attack the morning of Orlando City's match in Harrisburg, Pa., on Aug. 1.
Austen Everett, the fiancee of Orlando City Soccer Club forward Matt Luzunaris and a former college soccer player, died early Tuesday morning in Denver.
He flew to Denver to be with Everett, who was in hospice when she died.
"I'll always remember how Austen would approach things,'' said Luzunaris, who returned to Orlando on Sunday. "Not once did she ever complain. She just dealt with it. She always had a positive attitude, that she would beat this.''
Luzunaris said he plans to play in Orlando City's regular-season finale Friday night against the Dayton Dutch Lions at the Florida Citrus Bowl. He then expects to fly to Seattle, Everett's hometown, for the funeral next week.
"I really think she was an inspiration,'' Luzunaris said. "I just hope the people that knew her story don't go back to normal life and get caught up in the every day and with work and just enjoy life.''
Everett played soccer at the University of California-Santa Barbara before transferring to Miami in 2007. She was diagnosed with cancer before playing a match for the Hurricanes.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to the Austen Everett Foundation, which aims to comfort severely sick children through team sports.Kukla's Korner Hockey
from iNews 880,
Edmonton Oilers’ goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin is accepting his punishment. The veteran puck stopper, found guilty of extreme DUI and speeding in Arizona last August, abandoned his appeal of the convictions and 30-day jail term he was handed. According to a representative of Scottsdale City Court, he will spend 15 days in jail, with the other 15 days to be served at home with an electronic monitoring device. Khabibulin must also enter an alcohol treatment program.
continued
Update 6:01pm ET:
From Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic, (pieced together via Twitter)—
From Khabibulin’s attorney Mark DuBiel: fine was paid in full today by Khabibulin, who is currently in AZ. Khabibulin will start serving jail part of sentence in “next few days,” DuBiel said. Final 15 days is house arrest w/ ankle bracelet and random alcohol testing. He will be allowed to leave for 12 hours a day, which will be for hockey-related purposes, DuBiel said. This was entirely Khabibulin’s decision, DuBiel said. DuBiel and team felt they had a strong case, but Khabibulin wanted this behind him. A court date hadn’t even been set yet by appellate court. After court date, it would have taken a few weeks for decision (maybe end August). If court agreed and overturned ruling, a new trial would have been taken place. No more court dates after this, DuBiel said, and no word on whether Khabibulin will be in Tent City or other jail facility.
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Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.Three men have been arrested in connection with the unsolved rape and murder of a young woman in Belfast 30 years ago. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said on Wednesday it had detained the trio as part of a fresh investigation into the sexual assault and killing of Lorraine McCausland.
The 23-year-old, who had two young children, was found beaten to death in a stream in north Belfast. She had been last seen at a loyalist paramilitary drinking club.
No one has been convicted over the murder, carried out in March 1987, but sources said her attacker was a senior member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the group that controlled the drinking den.
The woman’s son, Craig McCausland, who was two when she was killed, was shot dead in 2005 by another loyalist terror group, the Ulster Volunteer Force.
A PSNI spokesman said on Wednesday that two men aged 49 and 56 were arrested in Scotland, while a 53-year-old man was detained in England. All three will be taken to Northern Ireland where they will be questioned by detectives over the 1987 McCausland murder.
Michelle Griffin, a detective inspector, appealed for anyone with information to contact the non-emergency phone number 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
One of the allegations surrounding Lorraine McCausland’s murder was that her killer was a police informer working inside the UDA who might have been protected by the state.
The historical enquiries team, which investigates unsolved murders and other crimes that took place during the Northern Ireland Troubles, concluded that the chief suspect was an informer for the RUC special branch. However, the team said they could not prove there was any collusion between the suspect and his police handlers.
The Northern Ireland police ombudsman’s office is also investigating claims about serious police failings in bringing the suspect to justice.
At the time of the rape and murder the UDA in the Tyndale and Upper Shankill area of Belfast imposed a code of omertà on those who were inside the club where McCausland was last seen. None of the 20 people there at the time said they had seen anything suspicious regarding McCausland or any of the men police later identified as suspects.
McCausland’s father took out an advertisement in the Belfast Telegraph offering £1,000 for information after her death. It read: “Someone knows – please help.”
The PSNI said the latest arrests were a result of a cold case review that had identified potential new lines of inquiry for the reopening of the rape and murder investigation. In the original investigation 14 arrests were made but no one was charged.
After the revelations in 2014 that the chief suspect was an informer, Lorraine’s sister Cathy McIlvenny said: “It’s hard knowing who was responsible and being able to do nothing about it. They didn’t just murder Lorraine, they destroyed a family, her two boys, her brothers and sisters. It changed life completely.”
Craig McCausland was shot dead by the UVF in front of his girlfriend at the height of a murderous feud between the group and the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force. His family and loved ones claimed he was the victim of mistaken identity who had been wrongly targeted as a member of the LVF.Thanks to a f*****g stupid error, the iTunes Music Store in the UK has accidentally censored thousands of songs, albums, and artists' names. Innocent songs—like Danny Kaye's "I Thought I Saw A P***y Cat"—and not-so-innocent ones—like Nirvana's "Smells Like T**n Spirit"—have been asterisked by what an Apple spokeswoman has described as a "database glitch". Why "teen", "hot" or "Johnny" can be considered offensive, I really don't have a flying f**k, but things look rather silly in there:
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Yeah, definitely looks fucked up to me. Oops. According to Apple UK, the problem happened when they tried to censor potentially offensive words, and here is precisely where I get lost, because they were looking for "teen", "hot" or "Johnny". Hello? I understand a database glitch leading to innocent songs to be censored, but that word selection? For sure, the dick and the dyke in "D**k Van D**e" can be considered offensive by some, but the Johnny in "J****y Cash" or the hot in Avril Lavigne's "H*t"? Seems to me like a level of idiotic politically correct censorship that not even the FCC will apply here in the United States. [BBC News] Oh, and talking about censorship and the FCC, I just can't have enough of this one:
Or this one, for that matter.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that "world powers and Iran are galloping toward an agreement that will allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons that will endanger the existence of the state of Israel," adding that he would do everything in his power to foil such an accord before the March 31 deadline.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said Sunday that Israel cannot hide atrocities against Palestinians and others using an excuse of a hypothetical Iranian threat.
Speaking in Munich, Zarif also said he doesn't believe another extension is in anybody's interest: "This is the opportunity to do it, and we need to seize this opportunity," he said. "It may not be repeated." Nevertheless, he added, it would not be the end of the world if an agreement was not reached.
Zarif also said that Iran is prepared to engage with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. Zarif met Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for the second time in days, as world powers and the Islamic Republic attempted to reach an accord on the latter's contentious nuclear program.
Benjamin Netanyahu, January 18, 2015. Marc Israel Sellem
Also Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that he would go along with any nuclear deal with the six major powers if it did not go against the interests of his nation.
"I would go along with the agreement in the making," Khamenei said in a speech to air force personnel, as quoted by the official news agency IRNA, alluding to ongoing negotiations to reach a pact that would curb Iran's disputed nuclear work in return for a phased lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran.
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"Our (nuclear) negotiators are trying to take the weapon of sanctions away from the enemy. If they can, so much the better. If they fail, everyone should know there are many ways at our disposal to dull this weapon," he said.Marti Oakley, Contributing Writer
Activist Post
When we think of human trafficking most of us immediately assume that this occurs only in the arena of sexual exploitation. At some point in time this may have been true. Today, human trafficking encompasses many forms and there is not one of us who can safely assume that we would somehow be exempt from any type of human trafficking.
While the sexual exploitation and trafficking for the purposes of sex is often highlighted in MSM, rarely do they ever report on the trafficking that occurs courtesy of our courts, unscrupulous politicians and yes, even those demi-gods….doctors, therapists and psychiatrists. There is money to be made exploiting the vulnerable, the sick, the weak, the aging (with assets) and even children who have been unfortunate enough to become wards of the state and forced into foster care. While sexual activity may not be the cause and concern in these instances, what happens to these individuals is no less a form of human trafficking for profit.
In each of the above stated groups, the trafficking of human beings for profit is facilitated by social service agencies, corrupt probate courts, and family courts. To be declared a “ward of the state”, is to be housed by, and to receive necessities and protection of the government. It also means to lose any and all rights of any kind, whatsoever. The “state” now owns what has become a chattel property and may do with that property whatever it desires to do. This oftentimes includes a form of leasing out the ward for pharmaceutical experimentation and profit, as was exposed in Florida and Alaska, just to name two, over the last several years resulting in the exposure of massive Medicaid fraud as foster children are routinely forced to take off-label high gear psychotropic drugs and vaccines. In a May, 2009 article, :author Evelyn Pringle notes:
It is hard to come up with an adjective that adequately conveys the horror this is inflicting on America’s children and youth. Suffice it to say that when the country wakes up to the carnage this has caused, it will be recognized as the largest iatrogenic (doctor caused) public health disaster in history.
These days, it seems more evident that the concern for children is not so much their safety and well-being, but rather; How much are they worth in the foster care system? As with our public school systems, big pharma is more than willing to pay for every child added to the forced drugging programs.
Trafficking of the elderly (with assets)
The human trafficking of the elderly (with assets) has become a national epidemic and disgrace. Probate courts routinely work with predatory professional guardians, payrolling attorneys, owners of notoriously abusive care facilities and social agencies to target and then obtain guardianship/conservatorship of the elderly whose only crime was to age with assets. These predatory professional guardians, strangers to the victim and their families, make their living robbing the estates of their victims.
Again, once this “guardianship” has been sanctioned by the cooperating probate judge, the victim loses all rights of any kind whatsoever and is for all intents and purposes “dead in the law”. The guardian/conservator now legally owns the victim and can avail themselves of all of the victim’s assets of any kind. These predators can and do instruct doctors to begin the administering of psychotropic medications not approved for use on the elderly, and many of the doctors who are also tapping the estate for inflated billing charges, comply with these requests.
Once legally kidnapped with the help of the cooperating probate judge and the local police department who conduct the kidnapping as a swat team raid, the victim is quickly housed in a participating facility and started on a drug regime that is seldom called for.
The drugs are especially useful when administered just prior to what is laughingly called a “competency hearing”.
The profits from human trafficking of the aging (with assets) was documented in the 2007 GAO report with estimates well over a billion in stolen assets obtained by professional predatory guardians/conservators and some family members across 48 states, although the GAO focused on only 20 cases:
The GAO focused on cases in which a family member, agency, or private business was appointed as a guardian. In 20 cases, guardians appointed and approved by courts stole $5.4 million in assets from 158 incapacitated adults. ”
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The recent Committee on Aging hearing very carefully orchestrated and scripted the public hearing to make it appear that the abuse is most always at the hands of family and friends. In truth, the largest percentage of cases of exploitation are committed by professional strangers who have a well established system in place with the same predators routinely involved in these deadly guardianships as is exemplified when examining the cases in a specific geographical area. The same judges, the same predatory professional guardians, the same payrolling attorneys and the same doctors and participating facilities, all involved in one predatory case after another. The staged committee hearing barely touched on this aspect of exploitation of the elderly, if at all.
What are you worth as a prisoner?
When John Ashcroft, the former Attorney General for the US under GW Bush, handed down sentencing guidelines to the states, not one state refused those guidelines even though Ashcroft was not lawfully empowered to make such demands. The result has been a explosion in the number of individuals held in federal and state prisons, many for what should have been short term sentences for minor crimes. This allowed Merrill Lynch to begin selling prisoner bonds, globally. And ML isn’t the only company engaged in the profitable human trafficking trade of selling human beings on the open market.
The sentencing guidelines were needed to confirm that prisoner X would be available for exploitation and forced labor for a guaranteed length of time. The whole system is run by
C.J.T.S. a corporation dedicated to the tracking and coding of prisoners and provides the software to do it. Using this system and one called CUSIP:
From Owners of the American Prison SystemVan Persie visited Juventus – report
By Football Italia staff
The Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie was in Turin last week to mull over a move to Juventus.
The Italian champions are looking for a big name striker to aid their Champions League assault and the Dutchman is one of the many players being linked.
Van Persie, according to the publication, visited the Italian city to be shown around the new stadium and also the club’s Vinovo training base.
It is being claimed that the Bianconeri have offered the international a contract worth €6m a campaign.
There are also suggestions that he’s been told that he can inherit Alessandro Del Piero’s No 10 shirt at the club if he wishes.
Reports earlier this month claimed that Van Persie’s agent had also been in Turin to discuss possible contract terms for his client.
Nevertheless, Juventus would still have to agree a fee with Arsenal and they are not the only outfit keen on the player. Manchester City are also very interested.
Van Persie’s future at his current club is in doubt given that he’s only contracted to the London club until June 2013.(AFP/Thomas Coex, File)
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Friday detained at least eight Palestinians and delivered demolition orders to the families of five Palestinian attackers in predawn raids across the occupied West Bank.
An Israeli army spokesperson said four Palestinians were detained in Nablus district and four in Ramallah. She said seven were "Hamas operatives," while the eighth, northwest of Ramallah, was detained for "illegal activities."
Palestinians sources identified four of the detainees as Hassan Urdnniyyeh in Nablus, Anas al-Barghouthi in the village of Kobar near Ramallah, and Tareq al-Sheikh and Jihad Hmeidan in the town of Biddu east of Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Palestinian sources said Israeli forces delivered demolition orders to the families of five Palestinians alleged to have carried out attacks on Israelis.
The orders were delivered to the families of Amjad Eleiwi and Zaid Amer from Nablus, both now in Israeli custody, as well as the families of Ihab Maswadeh from Hebron and Omar Assaf and Anan Abu Habseh from Qalandiya refugee camp, all of whom were shot dead.
Punitive home demolitions were expedited at the request of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in mid-October, and many have been carried out since.
The move came despite past recommendations by an Israeli military committee that the practice does not deter attacks.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem condemned the practice in October as "court sanctioned revenge," carried out on family members who have not committed crimes, amounting to collective punishment.
There are now nearly 7,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons.This article is over 3 years old
Rightwing columnist Andrew Bolt’s extraordinary claim in radio discussion reveals deep rift within company over how to react to Turnbull’s ascension as PM
Malcolm Turnbull’s coup against Tony Abbott has “set off a civil war within News Corp”, the media company’s popular columnist Andrew Bolt says.
The rightwing Herald Sun columnist and prolific blogger made the extraordinary comment during a discussion with 2GB presenter Steve Price about how angry he was with The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell.
Bolt: “It’s funny isn’t it Steve? We worried that Malcolm Turnbull – by deposing Tony Abbott – would set off a civil war within the Liberal party. Well what he’s done is set off |
aturally” fluoridated waters is calcium fluoride. Sodium fluoride, a common fluoridation agent, dissolves easily in water, but calcium fluoride does not.9
Animal studies performed by Kick and others in 1935 revealed that sodium fluoride was much more toxic than calcium fluoride.38 Even worse, toxicity was recorded for hydrofluorosilicic acid, the compound now used in over 90 percent of fluoridation programs, Hydrofluorosilicic acid is a direct byproduct of pollution scrubbers used in the phosphate fertilizer and aluminum industries. Our government adds it to water supplies even though it is also involved in getting rid of its own stockpile of fluoride compounds left over from years and years of stockpiling fluorides for use in the process of refining uranium for nuclear power and weapons.39
In the Kick study, less than 2 percent of calcium fluoride was absorbed and this was excreted quantitatively in the urine. But even calcium fluoride is not benign. As the animals given calcium fluoride also developed mottled teeth, it was clear that such compounds could produce changes on the teeth merely by passing through the body, and not by being “stored in a tooth” or anywhere else. No calcium fluoride was retained.
In 1946 Samuel Chase, one of the authors of the Kick study, became president of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR). This organization promoted the idea that only the fluoride ion in the various fluoridation compounds was of importance. Yet he well knew that sodium fluoride did not behave like calcium fluoride. Unlike calcium fluoride, sodium fluoride was retained in great amounts in the body and was very toxic. Rock phosphate and hydro-fluorosilicic acid experiments yielded the same information.
New areas with “natural” fluoride are appearing all over the world, as now all areas not “artificially” fluoridated are considered “natural.” The problem is that this “natural” fluoride is the result of direct water and soil contamination from petrochemical land treatment, uncontrolled fertilizer use, pesticide applications, ground water contamination from industrial waste sites, rocket fuel “burial grounds,” and so forth. Suddenly we have “natural” fluorides showing up in areas previously deemed “fluoride deficient”!
Total Intake
It is well established that it is TOTAL fluoride intake from ALL sources which must be considered for any adverse health effect evaluation.40,41,42 This includes intake by ingestion, inhalation and absorption through the skin. In 1971, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated: “In the assessment of the safety of a water supply with respect to the fluoride concentration, the total daily fluoride intake by the individual must be considered.”41 Exposure to airborne fluorides from many diverse manufacturing processes–pesticide applications, phosphate fertilizer production, aluminum smelting, uranium enrichment facilities, coal-burning and nuclear power plants, incinerators, glass etching, petroleum refining and vehicle emissions–can be considerable.
In addition, many people consume fluorine-based medications such as Prozac, which greatly adds to fluoride’s anti-thyroid effects. ALL fluoride compounds–organic and inorganic–have been shown to exert anti-thyroid effects, often potentiating fluoride effects many fold.43
Household exposures to fluorides can occur with the use of Teflon pans, fluorine-based products, insecticides sprays and even residual airborne fluorides from fluoridated drinking water. Decision-makers at 3M Corporation recently announced a phase-out of Scotchgard products after discovering that the product’s primary ingredient–a fluorinated compound called perfluorooctanyl sulfonate (PFOS)–was found in all tested blood bank examinations.44 3M’s research showed that the substance had strong tendencies to persist and bioaccumulate in animal and human tissue.
In 1991 the US Public Health Service issued a report stating that the range in total daily fluoride intake from water, dental products, beverages and food items exceeded 6.5 milligrams daily.42 Thus, the total intake from those sources alone already greatly exceeds the levels known to cause the third stage of skeletal fluorosis.
Besides fluoridated water and toothpaste, many foods contain high levels of flouride compounds due to pesticide applications. One of the worse offenders is grapes.45 Grape juice was found to contain more than 6.8 ppm fluoride. The EPA estimates total fluoride intake from pesticide residues on food and fluoridated drinking water alone to be 0.095 mg/kg/day, meaning a person weighing 70 kg takes in more than 6.65 mg per day.45b Soy infant formula is high in both fluoride and aluminum, far surpassing the “optimal” dose46,47 and has been shown to be a risk factor in dental fluorosis.48
Tea
In their drive to fluoridate the public water supplies, dental health officials continue to pretend that no other sources of fluoride exist. This notion becomes absurd when one looks at the fluoride content in tea. Tea is very high in fluoride because tea leaves accumulate more fluoride (from pollution of soil and air) than any other edible plant.49,50,51 It is well established that fluoride in tea gets absorbed by the body in a manner similar to the fluoride in drinking water.49,52
Fluoride content in tea has risen dramatically over the last 20 years due to industry contamination. Recent analyses have revealed a fluoride content of 17.25 mg per teabag or cup in black tea, and a whopping 22 mg of soluble fluoride ions per teabag or cup in green tea. Aluminum content was also high–over 8 mg. Normal steeping time is five minutes. The longer a tea bag steeped, the more fluoride and aluminum were released. After ten minutes, the measurable amounts of fluoride and aluminum almost doubled.53
A website by a pro-fluoridation infant medical group states that a cup of black tea contains 7.8 mgs of fluoride54 which is the equivalent amount of fluoride from 7.8 litres of water in an area fluoridated at 1ppm. Some British and African studies from the 1990s showed a daily fluoride intake of between 5.8 mgs and 9 mgs a day from tea alone.55, 56, 57 Tea has been found to be a primary cause of dental fluorosis in many international studies.58-70
In Britain, over three-quarters of the population over the age of ten years consumes three cups of tea per day.71Yet the UK government and the British Dental Association are currently contemplating fluoridation of public water supplies! In Ireland, average tea consumption is four cups per day and the drinking water is heavily fluoridated.
Next to water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. Tea can be found in almost 80 percent of all US households and on any given day, nearly 127 million people–half of all Americans–drink tea.71
The high content of both aluminum and fluoride in tea is cause for great concern as aluminum greatly potentiates fluoride’s effects on G protein activation,72 the on/off switches involved in cell communication and of absolute necessity in thyroid hormone function and regulation.
Fluoride and the Thyroid
The recent re-discovery of hundreds of papers dealing with the use of fluorides in effective anti-thyroid medication poses many questions demanding answers.73,74 The enamel defects observed in hypothyroidism are identical to “dental fluorosis.” Endemic fluorosis areas have been shown to be the same as those affected with iodine deficiency, considered to be the world’s single most important and preventable cause of mental retardation,75 affecting 740 million people a year. Iodine deficiency causes brain disorders, cretinism, miscarriages and goiter, among many other diseases. Synthroid, the drug most commonly prescribed for hypothyroidism, became the top selling drug in the US in 1999, according to Scott-Levin’s Source Prescription Audit, clearly indicating that hypothyroidism is a major health problem. Many more millions are thought to have undiagnosed thyroid problems.
Environment
Every year hundreds and thousands of tons of fluorides are emitted by industry. Industrial emissions of fluoride compounds produce elevated concentrations in the atmosphere. Hydrogen fluoride can exist as a particle, dissolving in clouds, fog, rain, dew, or snow. In clouds and moist air it will travel along the air currents until it is deposited as wet acid deposition (acid rain, acid fog, etc.) In waterways it readily mixes with water.
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), emitted by the electric power industry, is now among six greenhouse gases specifically targeted by the international community, through the Kyoto protocol, for emission reductions to control global warming. The others are carbon dioxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), methane and nitrous oxide (N2O).
SF6 is about 23,900 times more destructive, pound for pound, than carbon dioxide over the course of 100 years. EPA estimates that some seven-million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE) escaped from electric power systems in 1996 alone. The concentration of SF6 in the atmosphere has reportedly increased by two orders of magnitude since 1970. Atmospheric models have indicated that the lifetime of an SF6 molecule in the atmosphere may be over 3000 years.76
The ever-increasing fluoride levels in food, water and air pose a great threat to human health and to the environment as evidenced by the endemic of fluorosis worldwide. It is of utmost urgency that public health officials cease promoting fluoride as beneficial to our health and address instead the issue of its toxicity.
Sidebars
Symptoms of Fluoride Poisoning
Black tarry stools
Bloody vomit
Faintness
Nausea and vomiting
Shallow breathing
Stomach cramps or pain
Tremors
Unusual excitement
Unusual increase in saliva
Watery eyes
Weakness
Constipation
Loss of appetite
Pain and aching of bones
Skin rash
Sores in the mouth and on the lips
Stiffness
Weight loss
White, brown or black discoloration of teeth
Long Term Effects of Fluoride
Accelerated aging
Immune system dysfunction
Compromised collagen synthesis
Cartilage problems
Bony outgrowths in the spine
Joint “lock-up”
G Proteins
Signals or communications from one cell to another, and from the outside of the cell to the inside, are made possible by the action of special proteins called “G” proteins, which are found in all animal life, including yeasts. G proteins are so called because they bind to guanine nucleotides, a major component of DNA and RNA. G proteins mediate the actions of neurotransmitters, peptide hormones, odorants and light. In other words, G proteins make it possible for our nervous systems to function properly and, in particular, allow for night vision and the sense of smell. All thyroid function is mediated by G-protein activity. Both aluminum and fluoride interfere with the activation of G proteins. Thyrotropin, the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), is considered the natural G-protein activator. Its action is mimicked by fluoride and vastly potentiated by the presence of aluminum. Pharmacologists estimate that up to 60 percent of all medicines used today exert their effects through G-protein signaling pathways. Vitamin A from cod liver oil has been used successfully to bypass blocked G-protein pathways due to vaccination damage. (See Autism and Vaccinations.) Myristic acid, a saturated fatty acid having 14 carbons, plays an important roll in G-protein function as these signaling proteins require myristic acid added to one end of the protein. (See Saturated Fats and the Kidneys.) Thus, diets deficient in vitamin A and saturated fats can be expected to contribute to nervous disorders and vision problems.
REFERENCES
(All web addresses were visited before Fall, 2000)
1. CDC: “Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999 – Fluoridation of Drinking Water to Prevent Dental Caries” MMWR 48(41);933-940 (1999), http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4841a1.htm
2. Gerlach RF, de Souza AP, Cury JA, Line SR – “Fluoride effect on the activity of enamel matrix proteinases in vitro” Eur J Oral Sci 108(1):48-53 (2000)
3. Limeback H – “Enamel formation and the effects of fluoride” Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 22(3):144-7
4. Wright JT, Chen SC, Hall KI, Yamauchi M, Bawden JW – “Protein characterization of fluorosed human enamel.” Dent Res 75(12):1936-41 (1996)
5. Shulman JD, Lalumandier JA, Grabenstein JD -“The average daily dose of fluoride: a model based on fluid consumption” Pediatr Dent 17(1):13-8 (1995)
6. The Columbia Encyclopedia: Sixth Edition (2000), http://www.bartleby.com/65/fl/fluorine.html
7. Phosphoric Acid Waste Dialogue,Report on Phosphoric Wastes Dialogue Committee, Activities and Recommendations, September 1995; Southeast Negotiation Network, Prepared by Gregory Borne for EPA stakeholders review
8. Government of Australia, National Pollutant Inventory, http://www.environment.gov.au/epg/npi/contextual_info/context/fluoride.html
9. ATSDR/USPHS – “Toxicological Profile for Fluorides, Hydrogen Fluoride and Fluorine (F)” CAS# 16984-48-8, 7664-39-3, 7782-41-4 (1993), http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts11.html
10. Health Effects of Ingested Fluoride, Subcommittee on Health Effects of Ingested Fluoride, Committee on Toxicology, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council, August 1993, p.59
11. World Health Organization – Fluorides and Human Health, p. 239 (1970)
12. Carton RJ, Hirzy JW – “Applying the NAEP code of ethics to the Environmental Protection Agency and the fluoride in drinking water standard” Proceedings of the 23rd Ann. Conf. of the National Association of Environmental Professionals. 20-24 June, 1998. GEN 51-61, http://rvi.net/fluoride/naep.htm
13. American Dental Association, http://www.ada.org/consumer/fluoride/facts/benefits.html#2
14. J.Colquhoun, Chief Dental Officer, NZ, International Symposium on Fluoridation, Porte Alegre, Brazil, September 1988
15. Proceedings, City of Orville Vs. Public Utilities Commission of the State of Carlifornia, Orville, CA, October 20-21 (1955)
16. AMA Council Hearing, Chicago, August 7, 1957
17. NTEU – “Why EPA’s Headquarters Union of Scientists Opposes Fluoridation, ” Prepared on behalf of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 280 by Chapter Senior Vice-President J. William Hirzy, Ph.D., http://www.bruha.com/fluoride/html/nteu_paper.htm, http://www.cadvision.com/fluoride/epa2.htm
18. Yiamouyannis, J – “Water fluoridation and tooth decay: Results from the 1986-1987 national survey of U.S. school children” Fluoride 23:55-67 (1990). Data also analyzed by Gerard Judd, Ph.D., in:Judd G – “Good Teeth Birth To Death”, Research Publications, Glendale Arizona (1997), EPA Research #2 (1994)
19. Teotia SPS, Teotia M -“Dental Caries: A Disorder of High Fluoride And Low Dietary Calcium Interactions (30 years of Personal Research), Fluoride, 1994 27:59-66 (1994)
20. Imai Y – “Study of the relationship between fluorine ions in drinking water and dental caries in Japan”. Koku Eisei Gakkai Zasshi 22(2):144-96 (1972)
21. Steelink, Cornelius, PhD, U of AZ Chem Department, in: Chem and Eng News, Jan 27, 1992, p.2; Sci News March 5, 1994, p.159
22. Giambro NJ, Prostak K, Denbesten PK – “Characterization Of Fluorosed Human Enamel By Color Reflectance, Ultrastructure, And Elemental Composition” Fluoride 28:4, 216 (1995) also Caries Research 29 (4) 251-257 (1995)
23. Duncan WK, Silberman SL, Trubman A – “Labial hypoplasia of primary canines in black Head Start children” ASDC J Dent Child 55(6):423-6 (1988)
24. Silberman SL, Duncan WK, Trubman A, Meydrech EF – “Primary canine hypoplasia in Head Start children” J Public Health Dent 49(1):15-8 (1989)
25. Li Y, Navia JM, Bian JY -“”Caries experience in deciduous dentition of rural Chinese children 3-5 years old in relation to the presence or absence of enamel hypoplasia” Caries Res 30(1):8-15 (1996)
26. Ellwood RP, O’Mullane D – “The association between developmental enamel defects and caries in populations with and without fluoride in their drinking water” J Public Health Dent 56(2):76-80(1996)
27. Health Effects of Ingested Fluoride, Subcommittee on Health Effects of Ingested Fluoride, Committee on Toxicology, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Commission on LifeSciences, National Research Council, August 1993 p 47-48
28. “The Effect of Fluorine On Dental Caries” Journal American Dental Association 31:1360 (1944)
29. Examples: http://ificinfo.health.org/insight/septoct97/flouride.htm; http://www.wvda.org/nutrient/fluoride.html
30. Barrett S, Rovin S (Eds) -“The Tooth Robbers: a Pro-Fluoridation Handbook” George F Stickley Co, Philadelphia pp 44-65 (1980)
31. Federal Register, 3/16/79, page 16006
32. Federal Register: December 28, 1995 (Volume 60, Number 249)] Rules and Regulations, Page 67163-67175 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration, 21 CFR Part 101 Docket No. 90N-0134, RIN 0910-AA19
33. The Report of the Department of Health and Social Subjects, No. 41, Dietary Reference Values, Chapter 36 on fluoride (HMSO 1996). “No essential function for fluoride has been proven in humans.”
34. “Is Fluoride an Essential Element?” Fluorides, Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 66-68 (1971)
35. Richard Maurer and Harry Day, “The Non-Essentiality of Fluorine in Nutrition,” Journal of Nutrition, 62: 61-57(1957)
36. “Applied Chemistry”, Second Edition, by Prof. William R. Stine, Chapter 19 (see pp. 413 & 416) Allyn and Bacon, Inc, publishers. “Fluoride has not been shown to be required for normal growth or reproduction in animals or humans consuming an otherwise adequate diet, nor for any specific biological function or mechanism.”
37. National Center for Fluoridation Policy & Research (NCFPR) http://fluoride.oralhealth.org/
38. Kick CH, Bethke RM, Edgington BH, Wilder OHM, Record PR, Wilder W, Hill TJ, Chase SW – “Fluorine in Animal Nutrition” Bulletin 558, US Agricultural Experiment Station, Wooster, Ohio (1935)
39. US MINERALS/COMMODITIES DATABASE http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/fluorspar/280396.txt
40. “The problem of providing optimum fluoride intake for prevention of dental caries” – Food and Nutrition Board, Division of Biology and Agriculture, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Pub.#294, (1953) “.. a person drinking fluoridated water may be assumed to ingest only about 1 milligram per day from this source … the development of mottled enamel is, however, a potential hazard of adding fluorides to food. The total daily intake of fluoride is the critical quantity.”
41. World Health Organization, International Drinking Water Standards, 1971.”In the assessment of the safety of a water supply with respect to the fluoride concentration, the total daily fluoride intake by the individual must be considered. Apart from variations in climatic conditions, it is well known that in certain areas, fluoride containing foods form an important part of the diet. The facts should be borne in mind in deciding the concentration of fluoride to be permitted in drinking water.”
42. Review of Fluoride Benefits and Risks, Department of Health and Human Services, p.45 (1991)
43. 200 papers to be posted at: http://www.bruha.com/fluoride
44. Washington Post – “3M to pare Scotchgard products,” May 16, 2000 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15648-2000May16.html
45. (a) FLUORIDE IN FOOD http://www.bruha.com/fluoride/html/f-_in_food.htm; (b) Federal Register: August 7, 1997 (Volume 62, Number 152), Notices, Page 42546-42551
46. Silva M, Reynolds EC – “Fluoride content of infant formulae in Australia” Aust Dent J 41(1):37-42 (1996)
47. Dabeka RW, McKenzie AD -“Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada.” J Assoc Off Anal Chem 70(4):754-7 (1987)
48. Pendrys DG, Katz RV, Morse DE – “Risk factors for enamel fluorosis in a fluoridated population” Am J Epidemiol 140(5):461-71(1994)
49. Meiers, P. – “Zur Toxizität von Fluorverbindungen, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Onkogenese”, Verlag für Medizin Dr. Ewald Fischer, Heidelberg (1984)
50. Waldbott, GL; Burgstahler, AW; McKinney, HL – “Fluoridation:The Great Dilemma” Coronado Press (1978)
51. Srebnik-Friszman, S; Van der Miynsbrugge, F.-“Teneur en Fluor de quelques thØs prØlevØs sur le MarchØ et de leurs Infusions” Arch Belg Med Soc Hyg Med Trav Med Leg 33:551-556 (1976)
52. Rüh K – “Resorbierbarkeit und Retention von in Mineralwässern und Erfrischungsgetränken enthaltenem Fluorid bei Mensch und Laboratoriumsratte” Diss. Würzburg (1968)
53. Analyses conducted by Parents of Fluoride Poisoned Children (PFPC) at Gov’t -approved labs. Contact: pfpc@istar.ca
54. BabyCenter Editorial Team w/ Medical Advisory Board (http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/674.html#3)
55. Jenkins GN – “Fluoride intake and its safety among heavy tea drinkers in a British fluoridated city” Proc Finn Dent Soc 87(4):571-9 (1991) Department of Oral Biology, Dental School, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
56. Opinya GN, Bwibo N, Valderhaug J, Birkeland JM, Lokken P – “Intake of fluoride and excretion in mothers’ milk in a high fluoride (9ppm) area in Kenya” Eur J Clin Nutr 45(1):37-41 (1991) Department of Dental Surgery, University of Nairobi, Kenya
57. Diouf A, Sy FO, Niane B, Ba D, Ciss M – “Dietary intake of fluorine through of tea prepared by the traditional method in Senegal” Dakar Med 39(2):227-30 (1994)
58. Cao J, Zhao Y, Liu J – “Brick tea consumption as the cause of dental fluorosis among children from Mongol, Kazak and Yugu populations in China” Food Chem Toxicol 35(8):827-33 (1997)
59. Cao J, Bai X, Zhao Y, Liu J, Zhou D, Fang S, Jia M, Wu J – “The relationship of fluorosis and brick tea drinking in Chinese Tibetans” Environ Health Perspect 1996 Dec;104(12):1340-3 (1996)
60. Sergio Gomez S, Weber A, Torres C – “Fluoride content of tea and amount ingested by children” Odontol Chil 37(2):251-5 (1989)
61. Cao J, Zhao Y, Liu JW – “Safety evaluation and fluorine concentration of Pu’er brick tea and Bianxiao brick tea” Food Chem Toxicol 36(12):1061-3(1998)
62. Wang LF, Huang JZ- “Outline of control practice of endemic fluorosis in China.”Soc Sci Med 41(8):1191-5 (1995)
63. Olsson B -“Dental caries and fluorosis in Arussi province, Ethiopia” Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 6(6):338-43 (1978)
64. Diouf A, Sy FO, Niane B, Ba D, Ciss M – “Dietary intake of fluorine through use of tea prepared by the traditional method in Senegal” DakarMed 39(2):227-30 (1994)
65. Fraysse C, Bilbeissi MW, Mitre D, Kerebel B – “The role of tea consumption in dental fluorosis in Jordan” Bull Group Int Rech Sci Stomatol Odontol 32(1):39-46 (1989)
66. Fraysse C, Bilbeissi W, Benamghar L, Kerebel B- “Comparison of the dental health status of 8 to 14-year-old children in France and in Jordan, a country of endemic fluorosis.”Bull Group Int Rech Sci Stomatol Odontol 32(3):169-75 (1989)
67. Villa AE, Guerrero S – “Caries experience and fluorosis prevalence in Chilean children from different socio-economic status.”Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 24(3):225-7 (1996)
68. Chan J.T.; Yip, T.T.; Jeske, A.H. – “The role of caffeinated beverages in dental fluorosis” Med Hypotheses 33(1):21-2 (1990)
69. Mann J, Sgan-Cohen HD, Dakuar A, Gedalia I – “Tea drinking, caries prevalence, and fluorosis among northern Israeli Arab youth.”Clin Prev Dent
7(6):23-6 (1985)
70. Schmidt, C.W.; Leuschke, W. – “Fluoride content of deciduous teeth after regular intake of black tea” Dtsch Stomatol 40(10):441 (1990)
71. Press Releases/Market Figures – Tea Council http://www.stashtea.com/tt060595.htm
72. Struneckß, A; Patocka, J – “Aluminofluoride complexes: new phosphate analogues for laboratory investigations and potential danger for living organisms” Charles University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physiology and Developmental Physiology, Prague/Department of Toxicology, Purkynì Military Medical Academy, Hradec KrßlovØ, Czech Republic http://www.cadvision.com/fluoride/brain3.htm
73. History: Fluoride – Iodine Antagonism http://bruha.com/pfpc/html/thyroid_history.html
74. Fluorides – Anti-thyroid Medication http://bruha.com/pfpc/html/thyroid_page.html
75. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION PRESS RELEASE, May 25,1999 Iodine Deficiency
76. Miller AE, Miller TM, Viggiano AA, Morris RA, Vazn Doren JM – “Negative Ion Chemistry of SF sub 4” Journal of Chemical Physics 102(22):8865-8873 (1995)
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2000.Liverpool have improved dramatically since I last wrote, which can be seen here along with my first review here. With the teams around them still picking up points at a good ratio it will be hard for Liverpool to make the all important top 4, but not impossible. Credit must go to Brendan Rodgers for turning things around, his change in formation and introducing pace into the team has worked. The team have also tightened up at the back, remarkably Simon Mignolet has as many clean sheets as Chelsea stopper Thibaut Courtois from the same amount of games played.
The change in formation to 3-4-3 has allowed players like Coutinho, Lallana, Markovic and Sterling to interchange and disrupt opposition defences. These players along with Moreno, Henderson and the returning Sturridge have pace which was so clearly lacking in the first parts of the season. This has seen Liverpool get closer to matching their playing style from last season, the excitement is back, their play is energetic, inventive and explosive. With Sturridge now back and getting closer to match fitness their will now be someone with a killer instinct with the ability to stick the ball in the net in the big games. The disappointing semi final League Cup defeat to Chelsea, where Liverpool more than matched the Champions elect highlighted the goalscoring weakness. For all the good build up play I never sensed Liverpool had the firepower to win over the two legs. With big games coming up a top 4 finish could come down to how quickly Sturridge can get back into the goal scoring groove.
In defence which has now kept 4 clean sheets on the bounce Rodgers has seemingly found a selection which he is happy with. Skrtel, Sakho and Can have played in all those clean sheets. I have been particularly impressed with Emre Can since he came into the back three. Not only does he have the power, presence and physicality to play that position, he also has the ability on the ball which is critical to Rodgers possession based game. A player that often goes unnoticed but who is hugely important is Lucas. It is no coincidence that since he has returned the defence has improved greatly.
Another plus point for Rodgers is the form of signings Lallana, Markovic, Sakho, Can and Moreno. These players are now starting to show that he was right to bring them to the club. The emergence of Jordan Ibe in the recent Derby stalemate was also encouraging.
Can Liverpool make the Champions League?
Of course Liverpool can make the Champions League, I just feel that they will fall short. Liverpools next three Premier League fixtures are Tottenham, Southampton and Manchester City, and they are still to go to Chelsea and Arsenal. If they fail to pick up reasonable points in these then they may have too much ground to make up as Manchester United, Southampton, Arsenal and Tottenham do not look like they are going to let up in their pursuit of the top 4. Sturridge will need to come back firing and this does not happen all of the time. Even Sergio Aguero has struggled in his latest return. Ultimately i think they will just fall short but the future is certainly looking better than it did a couple of months ago!
Pilly
AdvertisementsAmazon Prime Video has one feature that Netflix doesn’t: the option to save content for offline viewing. Thanks to the abundance of Wi-Fi and LTE networks, this doesn’t matter to most people most of the time. But it starts to matter to those of us with long underground commutes, or to folks who fly frequently. Netflix still doesn’t allow you to save content for viewing when there isn’t a connection available. That may soon change, and Netflix is finally addressed the issue during its earnings call on Monday.
“We should keep an open mind on all this… as we expand around the world where we see an uneven set of networks, it’s something we should keep an open mind about,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said during the call, according to TechInsider.
We won’t get ahead of ourselves, this is a far cry from Hastings saying that the feature is coming or that it’s even in the works, but at least Netflix is starting to talk about providing offline content. There are probably plenty of roadblocks to address before it’s ever an option – like what sort of time period customers have to watch content, how much can be stored offline at once, and more. One way Netflix could start, however, is at least by making its own content available offline.
I’d totally binge Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on my next flight.A daily class that helps prepare high-school students for work and college could be one big reason why all 43 seniors at a small high school in Lewis County were accepted to college this year.
One day this winter at tiny Onalaska High School in southwest Washington, senior Reagan Priest sat at a big-screen Mac and put the finishing touches on an essay she hoped would earn her a college scholarship.
While state law requires that every Washington public-school student create a “high school and beyond” plan, a collection of paper or digital documents that helps students think through their future, many students and districts treat it as a checklist. Only about 40 schools offered it as a for-credit class in 2016, according to the state superintendent’s office, and most of those are advisory periods that meet for a short time at the beginning of the day.
But at Onalaska, teachers Kaylene Kenny and Tom Phimister offer a sixth-period “Senior Success” class that meets for 50 minutes a day, all year long.
All the school’s seniors must take that class, where they write college essays, apply for scholarships and fill out financial-aid forms — activities most students in the state do at home.
The fact that Priest and other Onalaska students can do all that at school could be one of the reasons why this former mill town in rural Lewis County is punching above its weight when it comes to sending students to college.
Statewide, less than a third of public high-school graduates finish a two- or four-year degree, a college certificate or apprenticeship within six years, according to the Seattle-based business group Washington Roundtable. (That number doesn’t include the 20 percent who drop out of high school even before graduating, nor the roughly 6 percent who graduate from a private high school.)
And while college-going is more robust in urban areas like Seattle and Bellevue, there’s a major falloff outside the cities. In Lewis County, only about 24 percent of the high-school graduating class of 2007 had finished a bachelor’s degree or community-college transfer degree six years after graduation.
But at Onalaska last year, all but four of the 42 seniors got an acceptance letter from a two- or four-year college. This year, all 43 seniors were accepted, and 38 plan to go.
This year’s class won nearly $1 million in scholarships, including the state’s College Bound Scholarship, academic and athletic awards, and the Onalaska Scholarship Committee awards.
Like nearby Chehalis, where the district is undergoing a top-to-bottom reboot to increase its college-going rate, Onalaska has worked hard to change what its students do after high school.
“The culture is shifting,” said high-school Principal Rich Rasanen.
Onalaska, eight miles east of Interstate 5 on Highway 508, is a hamlet so small that there’s not even a stoplight at its major intersection. An occasional logging truck rumbles through, coming down from the mountains with mossy payloads destined for local mills.
“Onalaska High School: It’s a great day to be a Logger!” reads the school sign out front.
But logging and mill work have been on their way out for years, and as those jobs disappeared, Onalaska students needed a different plan, said Rasanen, who grew up in Aberdeen, a town with a similar economy. The message, to kids whose parents worked up in the logging industry: “Your parents had other opportunities — your opportunities have to be earned differently,” he said.
Finding different work may also require leaving Lewis County, its educators agree. The local economy simply doesn’t have much in the way of high-paying jobs, which is why Lewis County’s average annual wage in 2015 was $38,361, well below the state’s average of $56,650, according to the Employment Security Department.
And as logging equipment becomes more technical, educators say, even the people who work in the industry will need more education to know how to run those machines.
Like teachers in Chehalis, Onalaska’s educators stress that college doesn’t mean a four-year university, and it emphasizes prep for the working world.
It’s the only high school in the state that runs a fish hatchery, raising 100,000 coho salmon, 35,000 steelhead and 9,000 rainbow trout every year. Hatchery work is also a skill that can lead to a job after high school.
And even when they are accepted, not all of Onalaska’s grads end up going to college. Last year, for example, some joined the military, others enrolled in a trade school or started work immediately. Still, they know what it’s like to fill out a college application or apply for a scholarship, and if they decide later in life to get a degree, they’ll understand the process.
“Once they start getting accepted, they say, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize it would be so easy,’ |
The criminalisation of LGBT people is a barrier that prevents the communityfrom getting the HIV services and healthcare they need. It will be impossible to end AIDS until all people regardless of their identity or sexuality are able to access to health services and treatment.
Most at Risk Population Initiative
“ We support MSM/Sexual Minorities’ program, Commercial Sex Workers program, Tertiary Institutions Program, Couple program and Community Program among others. As a civil society organisation we supplement government effort and our mission is to promote a coordinated response for HIV prevention among Key Population groups through our objectives,” disclosed Dr. Peter Kyambadde of the National Coordinator of MARPI in Uganda.
“We wanted to scale up the model of Facility and Community and we could not do it alone but Community Health Alliance Uganda came up to give us support with resources to scale up this model of Key Populations in these 3 referral hospitals of Gulu, Mbale and Mbarara, the Ministry of Health produced guidelines which included; Building capacity to reach identified KPs and other vulnerable populations to provide targeted education and HIV Prevention services.
DR. John Lule
Dr. John Lule who is an Epidemiologist under the Disease Control Program at MARPI and he says that key populations are important in the prevention of HIV because thier higher vulnerability to HIV than the general public. Sex workers have a 35 percent contracting the disease whilsts Truckers 25-32 per cent and Men who have Sex with Men 13.7 percent. This is because they engage in high risk sex, face stigma, discrimination and violence forcing many to live hidden lives and unable to freely access services that could help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
“Government needs to create enabling environment for Key Populations to access to health services and service providers to deliver friendly services, involving them in planning and delivery of services by building their capacity to deliver services including them in the service delivery team also to location the hidden and mobile Key populations”, Lule added.
Beneficiaries and Service users of the MARPI Services
Sam Oliech 32years is a Peer Educator for MSM/LGBTs in Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital at STI clinic and was born in Kasese District and lives in Mbarara District. “I studied Hotel Management, became a manager in one of the hotels in Kampala but my colleagues identified was a gay, stopped associating with them, they abused all sorts of words, my boss gave me a termination letter and joined MSM group which could not talk about me. The people at community neglect us we fear police arrests because they think we are promoting yet we are advocating for our colleagues to come up and access health services” he told me during at interview.
which is based on anti-homosexuality, institutionalises discrimination and violence in society by inciting harassment and brutal actions against LGBT people in the country. It neglects LGBT rights and freedom. If a person is caught or reported as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, the punishment is life imprisonment. A person refusing to report or to give information about someone suspected to be gay, or even trying to defend such a person, can be prosecuted. It aims to intimidate any political, personal solidarity, any liberal thought about sexual orientation this will increase HIV Prevalence due to fear, “he added.
“We have been involved in Dramma; it helps us sensitize the public and driving a point to the community who later join us for HIV testing. Dramma has helped a lot because it throws the messages directly to the community were we stage and also tend to know who we really are as KPs. We have changed lives; we never had jobs, CHAU came involved us in various activities which has made us busy and they have been paying us monthly, he continued.
Richard Lusimbo Mobiliser LGBTs
Richard Lusimbo 28 years born in Mbale district and lives in Kampala and works with Sexual Minorities Uganda as the mobiliser, “My family knows am Gay, I never had a chance to tell them but they read in the news papers and accepted my decision, i associate with them. From University i joined SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda), i never wanted to be discriminated from work that’s why I decided to join LGBT family, accessing health services is hard, we are scared that the doctors might report us and we are arrested but the annulment of the law gives gay rights advocates in Uganda legal leverage to fight a reported surge in discrimination including evictions, jobs lost and denial of medical treatment since it was passed. There is space for people who are victims of social pressure, victims of violence to feel that they can take their complaints somewhere and hopefully obtain some access to justice,” he revealed.
‘We were living like slaves, bitter slogans to us, we are beaten, denied jobs before the court ruling, though not so free, we have to go through the police if we have an activity, the main stream of where we access health services is very difficult, Ministry of Health together with MARPI helped us a lot of providing guidelines to protect our health need and access of health services in hospitals. Sexual Minorities Uganda runs adverts on Radio not for Key Population to shy away but access health services, Ministry of Health through MARPI are helping us with the issue of Discrimination in Hospitals, DANIDA has left a big gap in Uganda, in memories of Key Populations (as they call us), our colleagues in those districts have been releaved with expensences of Medicine, we are going to buy again expensive STI tabs’, he adds.
This brutality of LGBTs has been ongoing for many years, and reached a climax in 2014, after the new Anti-Homosexuality bill was passed. Parliamentarians have been working towards returning the “Kill the Gays Bill” however this has not been possible due to Uganda’s AIDS Commission which says HIV prevalence is higher in this group of people; instead of chasing them away from treatment we should be giving it toto ensure that the HIVprevalence reduces.Comment Elasticsearch Mapping
If you have worked with large Elasticsearch mappings you may also have encountered the problem, that there is no possibility to comment your mapping or indexing template. Unfortunately the Elasticsearch mappings as well as the indexing templates are defined in JSON, which does not allow to add comments.
I thought the same, until I stumbled over Elasticsearch issue 1394 and the linked commit from January 2013, where a single line was added to the the configuration of the JSON factory:
jsonFactory.configure(JsonParser.Feature.ALLOW_COMMENTS, true);
Could it really be true? Are there comments supported in Elasticsearch mappings?
Elasticsearch uses the JSON parser from FasterXML. The supported features of the FasterXML JSON parser are documented on a wiki page on GitHub. On this page, the feature ALLOW_COMMENTS is described as follows:
ALLOW_COMMENTS (default: false) (for textual formats with concept of comments)
For textual formats that do not have official comments, but for which “de facto” conventions exist (like JSON), determines whether use of such unofficial comments is allowed or not
Supported for: JSON
For JSON: enabling the feature allows recognition and handling of “C comments” (/* … */) and “C++ comments” (// ….)
YES! Exactly what we where looking for. The commenting of Elasticsearch mappings does work well with some exceptions. Until now I found the following limitations:
Comments at the head of the JSON document, before the first opening { -bracket are not working Single line comments with // only work at the end of the JSON document (after the closing } )
But these limitations are minor and easily worked a round.
To make it easier for others to find out about the possibility to comment Elasticsearch mappings, I filed an issue #20513 on Github.
Example with comments from Elasticsearch documentation:There's no denying the incredible cultural impact Mel Brooks has had on the world, with his major comedy flicks proving that when there are no boundaries when it comes to being funny, things can get very funny indeed.
Mel Brooks has some words to say about today's PC culture
At the helm of massive films such as 'Young Frankenstein' and 'The Producers', he's somebody who has without a doubt left his mark on the movie industry. One of his flicks that cut closest to the bone was Western comedy 'Blazing Saddles', starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder in the leading roles. Including a number of racial slurs, satire that would go far past anything we had seen in the past and a lot of moments that would make audiences wince one moment then burst into laughter the next, it still to this day is a much-talked about classic.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 about which of his films would still be able to be made in today's landscape, Brooks said: "Never 'Blazing Saddles', because we have become stupidly politically correct, which is the death of comedy. It’s okay not to hurt feelings of various tribes and groups. However, it’s not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks. Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering into the king’s ear, always telling the truth about human behaviour."
He did however say there were some lines that should never be crossed, adding: "I personally would never touch gas chambers or the death of children or Jews at the hands of the Nazis. Everything else is okay."
It's interesting to hear from Brooks just how much things have changed in the years since 'Blazing Saddles' was released. Whether or not movies like this should still be allowed to be made is in the eye of the beholder, but it looks as if the filmmaker now has his sights firmly set on the theatre.
With an adaptation of 'Young Frankenstein' coming to the West End a little later this year, following the success of 'The Producers' on Broadway in 2001, it's clear that no matter the "PC culture", Brooks' work will always find a home with modern-day audiences.
More: A Tribute To Some Of Mel Brooks' Greatest ComediesSEGA have set Feburary 2011 as the date for their ‘Dreamcast Collection’ retail disc.
Basically its a compilation of their digital titles they have already announced. Here is something new though, it is also coming to PC, although no word on a Playstation 3 version! The press release does not say if Sonic Adventure version will come with the DX downloadable content on disc.
Here is the official press release:
SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that a packaged compilation of classic titles from SEGA’s popular Dreamcast™ console will hit retail shelves on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and the PC. The Dreamcast Collection will be available on February 25th 2011 in Europe and February 22nd in North America, February 24th in Australia and February 25th in New Zealand.
The Dreamcast Collection includes the fan favourites Sonic Adventureâ„¢, Crazy Taxiâ„¢, SEGA Bass Fishingâ„¢ and Space Channel 5â„¢: Part 2. Players will get to enjoy four very different Dreamcast experiences, from hopping behind the steering wheel of Crazy Taxi, to taking things a little slower by luring in their fish before catching them hook, line and sinker with SEGA Bass Fishing. Alternatively, take over as intergalactic news reporter Ulala in Space Channel 5: Part 2 and dance your way past the evil Rhythm Rogues, or make it all about speed in Sonic’s first Dreamcast outing, Sonic Adventure!
SEGA’s Dreamcast Collection features enhanced graphics for both platforms versions, providing an even more engaging experience. In addition to this, achievements and online leader boards will be available for each game providing a competitive edge and allowing players to prove their skills!
“The Dreamcast console is still remembered as a pioneering console for online gaming,†commented Gary Knight, VP of Marketing at SEGA of America and SEGA Europe “We are delighted to be able to offer to our large community of dedicated fans a collection such as Dreamcast Collection for them to enjoy old favourites on this generation of consolesâ€.
Dreamcast Collection will be available in Europe in February 2011 for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PC and PC digital download.When the sun sets on a moonless night at rugged and remote Big Bend Ranch State Park, the night wraps around you like a black velvet cloak.
That darkness recently earned the coveted International Dark Sky Park status for the 315,000-acre park in Far West Texas.
As a result, Big Bend Ranch State Park and its neighbor, Big Bend National Park, now form one of the largest contiguous areas under dark skies protection in the United States. The parks cover a combined area larger than the state of Rhode Island.
That’s big — and much of that terrain is blow-out-a-candle-in-a-cave dark.
RELATED: Camping at Big Bend Ranch State Park? Bring two spare tires
"Big Bend Ranch State Park is known for its remote location and the feeling of being in the wilderness. Preserving the dark sky is key to that experience and something all visitors treasure," Mark Lockwood, Region 1 Director with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said in a news release.
But it’s not just about ambiance for campers and visitors. Artificial lights can turn night into day for animals, plants and insects, with deadly effects. Light at night can cause birds that hunt to fly into buildings, act as a "fatal attraction" for insects, disrupt mating behavior of frogs and toads, and confuse birds’ migration patterns.
Dark sky designations are based on strict outdoor lighting standards and community outreach.
RELATED: For a much-needed dose of solitude, head to Big Bend
Big Bend Ranch State Park is the fourth park in the Texas State Parks system to receive the coveted status from the International Dark-Sky Association. The others are Copper Breaks State Park, South Llano River State Park and Enchanted Rock State Park.
Embrace life
A couple of weeks ago, Carrie Barrett and I shut ourselves into a room at the Austin American-Statesman office, turned on some recording equipment, and started to chat.
We talked about my Year of Adventure, which so far has included a running in a naked 5K race, rappelling down a 38-story building dressed as Wonder Woman, and jumping off the 10-meter platform into a swimming pool at the University of Texas.
All those things scared me. I did them anyway.
RELATED: Fit City declares 2017 her Year of Adventure
So should you. And I don’t necessarily mean do the exact same things I’ve done, although it’s been pretty darn fun.
Do what scares you. Do what makes you feel alive. Don’t sit on the edge of the pool and worry about getting your hair wet or smudging your makeup. Embrace life. Scrape your shins and feel the cold water and crawl around in the dirt.
Barrett unveils our interview in her "I Could Never Do That" podcast, which launched about four months ago. (Listen to it at icouldneverdothat.libsyn.com. It’s also available on iTunes and Stitcher.)
So far, Barrett’s series has featured local athletes including paratriathlete Laurie Allen, English Channel swimmer Katy Dooley and Ironman triathlete Chuy Amaya.
RELATED: A New Normal: A year after spinal injury, triathlete works toward a new kind of racing
"(The podcast) speaks to people who are doing things that most of us would say ‘I could never do that.’ It dissects how they’re doing these things. We talk about the fears they have, the tactics they use to get over those fears and we talk about the courage it takes to do these things and that courage isn’t an absence of fear. It’s going on in spite of your fears," Barrett says.
She hopes that after hearing some of the stories, people will go from "I could never do that" to "Maybe I could."
And another podcast
That’s not the only podcast I’ve appeared on lately.
Jarod Carter, founder of Carter Physiotherapy on Bee Caves Road in Austin, dropped by recently with his recording kit, and got me to talk about everything from hammock camping to backpacking the John Muir Trail and some of my favorite stories over the years. (Man, just ask me a question and I can talk for days!)
RELATED: Oil field flares creeping closer to McDonald Observatory
Carter’s podcast, the "Active Austin Podcast," features Austin-based fitness and health care professionals talking about trends and sharing tips on improving health and fitness. Guests have included Stronghorn Fitness founder Jess Martin, Austin Fit Magazine co-owner Alex Earle, and sports psychologist and former University of Texas team psychologist Tim Zeddies.
To listen to my episode of Carter’s Active Austin Podcast, go to www.carterpt.com.
And more bikes
Rocket Electrics, which sells those zippy and trendy new electric bikes, recently opened a second location downtown.
Unlike the original Rocket Electrics store on East Riverside Drive, which sells e-bikes made by Pedego and Easy Motion (prices start at a little over $1,000 for the least expensive models, although most cost between $2,200 and $3,000), the new store specializes in high-end Riese & Müller bikes.
RELATED: Electric bicycle puts extra oomph in every pedal strokeTechnology doesn’t always make everything better. But when it comes to this latest virtual reality soccer game, well, you will have to be the judge and see for yourself.
A Norwegian television show decided to conduct an experiment to see what soccer would be like if players (even the referee) had to wear VR headsets that were live streaming a birds-eye view of the game. In a hilarious fashion, the players walked around arms extended like zombies, making the slowest goals in soccer history.
The video was originally posted on Reddit and it was pointed out that the VR headsets being used in the video are often used for first-person views of RC planes.
Last year a similar experiment was tested with a drone, video goggles, and a car navigating an airfield instead of the soccer field.Image caption A quarter of the ZeroAccess network of zombie computers has been disabled, says Symantec.
Symantec has disabled part of one of the world's largest networks of infected computers.
About 500,000 hijacked computers have been taken out of the 1.9 million strong ZeroAccess botnet, the security company said.
The zombie computers were used for advertising and online currency fraud and to infect other machines.
Security experts warned that any benefits from the takedown might be short-lived.
The cybercriminals behind the network had not yet been identified, said Symantec.
"We've taken almost a quarter of the botnet offline," Symantec security operations manager Orla Cox told the BBC. "That's taken away a quarter of [the criminals'] earnings."
The ZeroAccess network is used to generate illegal cash through a type of advertising deception known as "click fraud".
Communications poisoned
Zombie computers are commanded to download online adverts and generate artificial mouse clicks on the ads to mimic legitimate users and generate payouts from advertisers.
The computers are also used to create an online currency called Bitcoin which can be used to pay for goods and services.
The ZeroAccess botnet is not controlled by one or two servers, but relies on waves of communications between groups of infected computers to do the bidding of the criminals.
The decentralised nature of the botnet made it difficult to act against, said Symantec.
In July, the company started poisoning the communications between the infected computers, permanently cutting them off from the rest of the hijacked network, said Ms Cox.
The company had set the ball in motion after noticing that a new version of the ZeroAccess software was being distributed through the network.
The updated version of the ZeroAccess Trojan contained modifications that made it more difficult to disrupt communications between peers in the infected network.
Symantec built its own mini-ZeroAccess botnet to study effective ways of taking down the network, and tested different takedown methods for two weeks.
The company studied the botnet and disabled the computers as part of its research operations, which feed into product development, said Ms Cox.
"Hopefully this will help us in the future to build up better protection," she said.
Internet service providers have been informed which machines were taken out of the botnet in an effort to let the owners of the computers know that their machine was a zombie.
Resilient zombies
Although a quarter of the zombie network has been taken out of action, the upgraded version of the botnet will be more difficult to take down, said Ms Cox.
"These are professional cybercriminals," she said. "They will likely be looking for ways to get back up to strength."
In the long term, the zombie network could grow back to its previous size, security experts said.
"Every time a botnet is taken down, but the people who run it are not arrested, there is a chance they can rebuild the botnet," said Vincent Hanna, a researcher for non-profit anti-spam project Spamhaus.
The remaining resilient part of the network may continue to be used for fraud, and could start spreading the upgraded ZeroAccess Trojan, Mr Hanna warned.
Taking down infected networks is a "thankless task", according to Sophos, a rival to Symantec.
"It's a bit like trying to deal with the rabbit problem in Australia - you know you're unlikely ever to win, but you also know that you have to keep trying, or you will definitely lose," said Sophos head of technology Paul Ducklin.The idiot/ eejit's guide to distorted Irish national economic data By Michael Hennigan, Finfacts founder and editor Sep 5, 2014 - 6:16 AM
John Herlihy, Google Ireland chief (left), apparently instructing Richard Bruton, enterprise minister, on pressing green lights, Dublin, September 2012.
"What the experience of the last two years shows is that the standard EU harmonised national accounts are not a satisfactory framework for understanding what is happening in the Irish economy," Prof John Fitzgerald of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) wrote last April. Our idiot/ eejit's guide covers such technical issues but also the collateral damage in a system addicted to spin and an economic crash that followed a period when delusions of Irish policy makers were sustained by foolish international observers who lauded Ireland for its miracle economy.
Foreign-owned firms, mainly American, are responsible for about 90% of Ireland's headline tradeable exports while Ireland's national accounts for 2014 will incorporate the financials of mainly American brass-plate companies that have become "Irish" for tax purposes in a process known as a "tax inversion" - - their payrolls exceed 600,000, almost quadruple direct employment in exporting FDI (foreign direct investment) firms - - US-Ireland Tax Inversions 600,000+ staff: Kenny, Noonan met with top US corporate lawyers
The distortions caused by the foreign-owned exporting sector (FDI - foreign direct investment) including massive tax avoidance, are not only used for political effect when it suits at home but also data that are provided to international bodies such as the European Commission, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Monetary Fund, or misunderstood by them, are in turn used at home with the apparent international validation.
Update Nov 25, 2014: 43% of rise in H1 2014 GDP from contract manufacturing overseas - Irish Fiscal Council - - just another example of corporate tax avoidance distorting Ireland's data.
Update Oct 08, 2014: Irish Economy: ESRI notes GNP and trade data uncertainties / distortions in national accounts
This week a newspaper reader would have encountered reports that 1) Irish manufacturing is back to the period of surging growth in 1999; 2) services activity is back to February 2007, the month when Irish bank shares hit all-time record highs;
Update Oct 07, 2014: Irish industrial production + services fell in August; Recall the excitable PMIs? - - Finfacts was right to be sceptical.
3) Google Ireland was declared 'Exporter of the Year' by the Irish Exporters Association which said: "Google’s export turnover increased by 36.5%, from €12.5bn in 2013 to €17bn in 2014" (should be 2012 to 2013).
Google Ireland's revenues amounted to 39% of global revenues and payroll numbers in Ireland and UK were respectively at 2,368 up from 2,200 in 2012 and 1,835 in 2013 up from 1,613 in 2012 - - Google Inc. had a global payroll of 43,862 (ex-Motorola) at end 2013.
This is fairytale economics: Most of Google's Irish exports result from accounting transactions at its headquarters in Mountain View, California.
The following are some of the durable economic fairytales:
1) GDP per capita: The Irish are among the wealthiest in the EU 28 (European Union) with the fifth highest per capita gross domestic product - - the data are true but in the real world, we are among the poorest with the Italians and Spanish in the 18-member country Eurozone;
2) PMI surveys: The purchasing managers index (PMI) anecdotal surveys get media attention as they are available in advance of official data, which has been more muted compared with the PMI headlines. We cover the issue in more depth below but the surveys relate to one month's level of sentiment, orders and assumed employment changes, not on the actual level of activity over time.
Is manufacturing back to the 1999 level?
According to the CSO (Central Statistics Office) employment in industry was at 310,000 in late 1999; 320,000 in 2000, 285,000 in 2007 and 236,000 in Q2 2014 - - and down 2,000 in 12 months.
The orders of the biggest services companies e.g. Google, are booked in Ireland for tax purposes. So when they report a 36% rise in business in a year, it messes up the data.
This also distorts official data which show Information and Communication (+16.4%) in 12 months to July. CSO's services index is up 10.5% since 2009.
On Friday the CSO reported that 'Chemicals and pharmaceuticals' production jumped 38.4% in July following a dip of 35.6% in June - - this volatility in an industry employing 25,000 people looks ridiculous but work-in-progress is not being captured in monthly data while some products may involve little processing and are being routed through Ireland for tax purposes. Jobs in the chemical/pharmaceutical sector were at 27,000 in 2004 and 26,000 in 2013 while total jobs in the chemical/pharmaceutical sector/medical devices sectors rose from 48,000 to 52,000 in the 10 years. Chemical/pharmaceutical sector/medical devices exports rose from €37bn in 2004; €43bn in 2007; €55bn in 2012 and €50bn in 2013. The ratio of total merchandise exports for 2004, 2007, 2012 and 2013 was 44%, 49%, 60% and 57% - - nevertheless, changes in the chemical sector in particular are not material for the economy. A November 2012 Davy report 'Ireland and the Pharma Patent Cliff - Importance of pharma sector overstated' [pdf], produced by Conall Mac Coille, chief economist, and Jack O'Gorman, pharma industry analyst, said that only around one-third of pharmaceutical export revenues count towards GDP because of the high import intensity including royalty payments. "The value added of the pharmaceutical sector was €13.8bn in 2011 or just 8.7 % of GDP."
Links to 2 Irish Times articles and one in the Irish Independent on
Irish manufacturing hits 15-year high in boost to recovery - - "A surge in new orders in August offered further evidence the economy is recovering [ ] One of the key highlights of the Manufacturing PMI for some time has been the Employment index, which now shows that the Irish manufacturing sector has increased headcounts in each of the past 15 months."
Why Irish manufacturing is bucking euro zone trend? - - "While factory activity in Europe and Asia cooled in August, as new orders dwindled in the face of escalating tensions in Ukraine and a patchy recovery in China, Irish manufacturing expanded at the fastest rate since 1999. [ ] Mr McQuaid also pointed to recent data from the European Commission, which shows Ireland has had a competitiveness boost through a reduction in unit labour costs, with a 20% relative improvement forecast against the euro zone average."
Services sector now expanding at best rate since 2007 - - "Philip O'Sullivan, economist with specialist bank Investec, said the service sector had experienced 25 successive months of expansion in business activity [ ] The rate of growth in new export business picked up, however, with the US and UK highlighted as key sources of new work from abroad."
3) Productivity/Unit labour costs: In April 2013 in a speech in Amsterdam, Mario Draghi, ECB president, said on the reduction in unit labour costs: "Ireland has seen an 18 percentage point improvement relative to the euro area average."
The Department of Finance's claim here [pdf; page 11] that a "continued competitiveness boost through reduction in unit labour costs with a 21% relative improvement forecast against the Eurozone average," is hugely misleading - - the average hourly labour cost covering all sectors of the economy other than 'Agriculture, forestry and fishing' was €25.03 in the first quarter (Q1) of 2008 and €24.89 in Q2 2014 [pdf].
A decline in relatively high-paying construction coupled with tax-related fake output reduces unit labour costs and 700 workers at Microsoft can produce 25% of its global revenues while the other almost 100,000 workers produce 75%.
In 2010, Patrick Honohan, Central Bank governor and a former professor of economics, warned about the use of Irish unit labour costs by "superficial analysts":
There are knock-on effects of the distinctive globalized structure of the Irish economy on other accounting measures of performance. With the structural shift towards high-productivity sectors during the 1990s and again since 2007, unit labour costs tend to fall even if wage costs for any individual firm or industry are increasing. Because of this shifting composition effect, as has been well-known for decades, but is routinely forgotten by superficial analysts, unit labour costs are a false friend in judging competitiveness developments for Ireland."
Update Sept 12: The European Commission provided ministers with the latest opportunity to present propaganda as fact when falling unit labour costs in the US dominant drugs sector put Irish manufacturing among the best for competitiveness in 2007-2012. Ireland: Highest manufacturing productivity per person in EU thanks to US drugs firms - - the European Commission report includes a comparative table on services but as we outline below, the Irish data isn't reliable because of massive tax avoidance. Richard Bruton, enterprise minister, linked the news to his Action Plan for Jobs and Dara Murphy, minister for European affairs said: "this report serves to highlight that the strategies we have been implementing are achieving results" - - both claims are laughable but it's reported unfiltered in the media. What we repeatedly observe is that where there should be caveats to avoid misleading the public, there are none while the distorted data is used for political propaganda. The Journal: Ireland among Europe’s elite when it comes to competitiveness The Irish Times: Ireland ranked as one of the best for industrial competitiveness Irish Examiner: Ireland in top four most competitive countries in the EU
4) Exports: Ministers commonly conflate exports by foreign firms into global supply chains with indigenous exports to customers that have to be won, to gloss up the narrative but this posturing from Dublin makes the hard slog of developing export markets seem relatively easy.
We estimate that almost half the €92bn in 2013 services exports were tax-related or fake. However, the official position is that rising computer services exports reflect improved "competitiveness."
Irish Economy: Ireland's ephemeral services export boom (the CSO made some slight adjustments to the 2013 data in late June)
Forty American firms account for two-thirds of Irish exports
Last February the Government issued a report [pdf] on trade. However, it was more a work of fiction than real world facts:
The report says "Ireland is a strong performer in services exports, which grew by 11% in 2012 and account for 50% of total Irish exports. This reflects the growth in ICT and e-business sectors with a number of Irish services companies and large foreign-owned multinationals operating and exporting from Ireland. Ireland is also home to the service operations of many manufacturing firms as well as financial services, leasing and computer services firms. Some important services sectors within the Irish economy include:
Computer Services: accounting for 40% of total services exports in 2012, realising a 49% growth over a five year period."
Maybe some of the civil servants accept government propaganda as fact?
5) Innovation: The European Commission said in 2013: "Sweden, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg are the EU Member States getting the most out of innovation, according to a new indicator."
So Ireland is one of the leading innovation economies in Europe but with a low patenting record and less than 30% of FDI firms spending even minimal amounts on R&D.
Irish resident patenting not suggestive of 'world class knowledge economy'
The tax avoidance related computer services exports and the number of science and technology personnel were the key factors.
However Gartner, the US IT research firm has estimated that almost half the 80,000+ employees in the Irish ICT sector, work in administration and they are hired in Europe for their foreign language skills.
The European Commission said in 2013 in respect of its 2012 Industrial R&D Investment Scorecard: "Three companies based in Ireland contributed 68% of that country's R&D investment: Seagate Technology (15.0%), Covidien (23.9%) and Accenture (31.2%)."
Most of this R&D is not done in Ireland - 2 companies result from US tax inversions and Accenture was spun-out from Andersen, the US accounting firm, in 2001 and after a period as a Bermudan company, it became "Irish" in 2009.
Update Dec 04, 2014: EU Industrial R&D Scoreboard: Tax-inverted brass-plate companies dominate in Ireland
6) Employment: Jobs announcements usually related to foreign firms are a key part of the government's propaganda machine.
The public can easily get the impression that there are huge numbers involved as announcements are spaced out for maximum impact.
However, in 2013 FDI firm jobs remained below the level in 2000 despite a 22% rise in the workforce.
IDA Ireland: Jobs in Irish FDI exporting sector remain below 2000 level
Since March 2011 when the current coalition took power, 60,000 jobs have been added:
24,000 are in 1-person self employment (some are not real jobs); 15,000 are in public schemes and 21,000 are as employees (both full-time and part-time).
The Government’s July 2014 target for FDI jobs is a net 7,000 per year, with retail, distribution, tourism and construction providing the most of the rest.
Ibec, the business lobby group, which a decade ago believed that the free lunch had been invented, says:
One of the major positive indicators of a consumer recovery in the past year has been the spectacular rise in employment, with 65,000 more people employed than two years ago."
The 1-person operations employ themselves and the public scheme members are employed who are unemployed!
There remains a steep hill to climb; employment is down 245,000 since Q2 2008 and in Q2 2014, 130,000 people working part-time wanted full-time work.
The Government’s July 2014 target for FDI jobs is a net 7,000 per year, with retail, distribution, tourism and construction providing most of the rest.
There is no sector today that could realistically be called a jobs engine.
More on jobs data here.
7) Inward FDI: Reuters reported in 2013 that at a conference in Dublin the head of Ireland's largest bank gave small business leaders the "15-second elevator pitch" that he gave to US executives when he was in New York or Boston.
"I've mentioned to US investors that US companies have more capital invested in Ireland than they do in Brazil, Russia, India and China put together," said Richie Boucher, chief executive of Bank of Ireland.
This misleading data came from an American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland annual report, where rising retained earnings of Irish affiliates of US companies related to 'trapped overseas cash' arising from tax avoidance, are counted as an FDI inflow.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said last April [pdf; page 5]:
Beginning in late 2014, a new methodology for collecting and reporting FDI statistics will come into effect. This is the OECD’s revised Benchmark Definition for FDI (4th edition), also known as BMD4. This new methodology will provide better measures of where international investment comes from, where it is going, and, most importantly, where it is creating jobs and value-added. It does so by distinguishing between ‘real FDI’ as opposed to various financial flows that are currently counted as FDI but which don’t add to the ‘real economy.’"
The pattern of FDI investments can also impact the national accounts in particular in aviation leasing where less than one thousand people are employed but the investment in over 3,000 commercial aircraft is valued at about half of annual gross domestic product.
In 2013 China alone received more FDI inflows than all EU countries together
Irish Budget 2015: Ibec back in boomtime mode; McKinsey warns of FDI challenges
Ireland's confusing FDI data in age of spin
Update: William Fry, a law firm, on Irish merger & acquisition activity highlighting the March 2014 listing on the New York Stock Exchange of a brass-plate company that uses the law firm's Dublin office as its address:
Irish companies are finding that the capital markets are becoming more receptive to listings. Irish gaming company King Digital Entertainment, the company behind the successful mobile game app ‘Candy Crush Saga’, had a $500m listing in March."
King was founded in Sweden and mainly operates from London -- calling this firm an "Irish gaming company" is another example of make-believe.
More detail here on FDI sector and tax avoidance:
Update, Sept 17: OECD & Tax: Everything grand in Ireland's Republic of Spin? - - from taboo to lots of new "opportunities."
Irish corporate tax policy like property bubble driven by short-term interests
Submission to Department of Finance consultation on corporation tax reform- - 17 page pdf document including the challenge |
line, fails to gain support and advocacy from the very politicians who should defend it. It is simpler to plump for subways and ignore the expense.How much did viewers hate Jimmy Fallon’s interview with Donald Trump on “The Tonight Show” Thursday? About 2,324% more than they normally hate his work.
Social-media analytics company Canvs found that Fallon’s sit-down with the Republican presidential candidate drew a massive emotional reaction on Twitter. The company, which analyzes social-media data from Nielsen, detected 22,152 emotional responses generated by Thursday evening’s “Tonight Show” — a reaction volume 627% higher than the average for previous season-three episodes of the late-night talker. Of all “Tonight” tweets captured by Nielsen on Thursday, 43% expressed some emotional response.
Of those emotional responses, 20.2% expressed “love,” with the number of “love” responses up 240% from the season-three average. But although it accounted for only 12.3% of all emotional responses, “hate” conquered “love” in terms of growth, with the “hate” reaction volume up 2,324% from the rest of season three.
Other emotional responses measured by Canvs were “good” (17% of responses; 752% increase from the season-three average volume), “dislike” (16% of responses; 2,708% volume increase), and “crazy” (6.3% of responses; 284% increase in volume).
Fallon has been widely derided for his softball interview with Trump, in which he failed to challenge the candidate on any of his recent outlandish statements. During the appearance, Fallon thanked Trump for providing the show with so much good material to crack jokes about, and engaged in a gag in which he mussed the candidate’s hair.
“If Trump becomes president, that image of Fallon ruffling Trump’s hair will be the moment when the tide turned,” Variety critic Sonia Saraiya wrote Friday. “The gesture was so affectionate and grandfatherly that Fallon provided Trump with a seal of mainstream approval that he does not deserve.”
Fallon is scheduled to interview Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on Monday’s show.
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Jimmy Fallon Gets Trumped by Donald Trump
Jimmy Fallon Gets Modest Donald Trump Ratings Bump But Reaction is MixedSince its debut back in 2016, Stranger Things has taken the world by storm, with fans all over the planet doing various and crazy things to pay homage to the franchise. Back in August, a bar in Chicago named Emporium Arcade Bar has launched a pop-up bar called “The Upside Down,” selling Stranger Things memorabilia and themed drinks. Unsurprisingly, Netflix got aware of the bar and sent a cease and desist letter to the owners. It’s a very cool and mellow letter, though! Check it out below:
My walkie talkie is busted so I had to write this note instead. I heard you launched a Stranger Things pop-up bar at your Logan Square location. Look, I don’t want you to think I’m a total wastoid, and I love how much you guys love the show. (Just wait until you see Season 2!) But unless I’m living in the Upside Down, I don’t think we did a deal with you for this pop-up. You’re obviously creative types, so I’m sure you can appreciate that it’s important to us to have a say in how our fans encounter the worlds we build.
We’re not going to go full Dr. Brenner on you, but we ask that you please (1) not extend the pop-up beyond its 6 week run ending in September, and (2) reach out to us for permission if you plan to do something like this again. Let me know as soon as possible that you agree to these requests.
We love our fans more than anything, but you should know that the demogorgon is not always as forgiving. So please don’t make us call your mom.The province is offering more gas tax cash for public transit – even as Hamilton's share of the pie continues to shrink.
The provincial government announced Thursday it will hand out $332.9 million to 95 municipalities for public transit via the gas tax this year, with Hamilton's share pegged at $10.7 million.
That's about $400,000 more than the city received last year. On the downside, the city's overall share of the gas tax cash has been dropping for years compared to other cities thanks to a largely flat-lined ridership.
That's left Hamilton with a "smaller share of the pie" in each of the last five years, said transit director Dave Dixon.
The province allocates two cents from the 14.7 cent per litre gas tax to public transit funding each year based on an equation that takes into account ridership and population.
"It's not that our ridership is dropping now – it's actually growing, but at a slower rate than a lot of surrounding municipalities, " Dixon said.
That means cities like London and Brampton, where ridership is climbing quickly, are cashing in at Hamilton's expense.
Despite this year's gas tax funding boost from the province, Hamilton will still receive less than it did in 2011, when close to $10.9 million was available for bus operations.
Unlike federal gas tax cash, which is often used for capital purchases, provincial funding goes toward running HSR buses.
Dixon said he hopes to see Hamilton's share grow in upcoming years as the city embarks on a 10-year plan to improve and expand bus service – and therefore, ridership. But he warned the fare hikes needed to pay for those service improvements – starting with an extra 20 cents per cash fare this past Sept. 1 – will have a "dampening effect" on ridership, at least initially.I am the face of gun ownership in Canada.
I figured I would talk a little bit about gun ownership in Canada. I realized today that I truly am the face of gun ownership in Canada – as is the hunter, as is the trap shooter, as is the guy that likes to shoot guns in a gravel pit once a year, as is the competition shooter. We all come from different walks of life, have different occupations, and different interests – but the one thing that ties us all together is shooting guns.
I started shooting fairly later on in life, in my 30’s, going out with friends to the bush and shooting 22’s, SKS’s, some shotguns at clays, and generally having a good time. For me though, I didn’t find it very challenging, or very rewarding. I needed something more to make it something that had a purpose, for me. I ended up finding my way to shooting long range precision rifles, and then Service Rifle. I truly loved the challenge of shooting farther than I had, shooting more precisely than I had, shooting more accurately than I had; I truly loved challenging myself. I found all of that in those disciplines and still find it incredibly challenging today; there is always something to learn from a book, from the guy shooting next to you, from the guy you watch.
I am an amputee by birth, although that is a bit of misnomer – I am missing my right hand, but not from amputation but from a birth defect. Over the years, I have tried all sorts of sports and hobbies. I played hockey, baseball, tennis, and golf. I have ridden BMX, am a photographer and most recently, I have taken up writing as you can see from this blog. All of these things I enjoyed immensely – but I wasn’t *good* at them. I was never going to be in the NHL, or on the PGA tour, or on the cover of National Geographic.
But I *am* good at shooting.
I have learned quickly, and that thirst for knowledge has brought me places I never thought possible. I have competed in a number of competitions, including the Nationals in Ottawa. It has allowed me to be competitive in a sport, while being an amputee; I am not at a disadvantage because I am missing my hand. My disadvantages come from things like lack of practice and lack of experience and human error. The SAME things my competitors are experiencing. They experience the same mirage I see and the same wind I feel – me missing a limb, does not affect these things. I have been able to experience the same matches the Canadian military competes in. I have been able to shoot against the top military and civilian shooters in Canada.
I have met so many warm, welcoming people since I have been shooting – both at the range, and at competitions. Everyone is there for the same thing – to shoot the smallest groups, to sight in their rifle for hunting, to try out some new reloads, to beat the other guys on the line, to take home the accolades of coming in first, to compete or just to have fun. Everyone’s reason for being there is different but at the same time it’s not. Our love of shooting brings us all together. In speaking to these people, I have formed friendships, met people that are so willing to help new people out, to teach, to learn and even to talk just talk. I have not met anyone that has been rude. I am very fortunate.
And I never would have experienced any of that, without shooting.
Unfortunately, there are people out there in the firearms community that think that shooting an AR in a Service Rifle match shouldn’t be allowed, or that shooting pistols in an IPSC match shouldn’t be allowed; there are people that don’t care about firearms outside of the ones they use. This sort of segmentation does a disservice to the community as a whole – there can be no unified front to the cause if everyone is bickering amongst themselves.
The reason I advocate ownership in Canada – is because I don’t want to lose the opportunity to do something I am good at. I don’t want to lose that camaraderie. I don’t want to lose the ability to meet people. I don’t want to lose the ability to prove myself against better shooters than me. I don’t want to lose the ability to teach my son the things that I have learned. I don’t want to miss seeing him beat me in competition.
I am the face of gun ownership in Canada.
I promise, next post will be a range report about my new precision rifle. Until then – please come give a follow on Facebook or Instagram.
https://www.facebook.com/amputeeshooter
https://www.instagram.com/amputeeshooter/For those who have undergone the experience, completing an inpatient drug treatment program at an addiction treatment center is a wholly transformative event. While those in recovery embody the end result of their hard work, it is often the little things that are noticed after treatment that can remind people of not only the struggles encountered during treatment, but the small victories as well.
10 Signs That You’ve Been to a Treatment Center
1. Waking Up at the Crack of Dawn Thinking You Have Group
When a person first enters drug rehab, few things are as big of shock to the system as waking up with the sun to attend morning group or meditation. After treatment has concluded, many still find themselves wide awake at the crack of dawn and that is a good thing. Being awake, alert and ready to tackle the day is cornerstone in the mindset of those who are in recovery. Once you leave a substance abuse treatment program you may be tempted to sleep the day away, but your new found motivation from sobriety will help you productive so that won’t even be an issue.
2. Journaling Everywhere You Go
In many treatment programs, the use of journaling in order to chronicle one’s feelings and moods for the day is an essential tool for the recovering person to not only be in touch with the sometimes visceral emotions that may mark the period of early recovery, but it also shows progress and growth in the journey towards life-long recovery. Journaling is a great tool for everyone and can be used to show yourself your own progress in recovery. Just remember there is a time and place for everything, so make sure you don’t bring your journal in the shower with you!
3. Mediating Every Morning
Morning meditation is also a staple of a recovery program at an addiction treatment center and is needed to cultivate awareness of present and now. If you find yourself carving out time during your day to find quiet time and meditate you are doing so to find that center of awareness of what you are feeling right now. Many people in recovery make it a habit to meditate when they first wake up, it gives them a focused start to their day. Just make sure you are awake and meditating and not standing a sleeping!
4. Wait am I allowed to Have This?
It is amazing some of the things that one things after drug treatment has been completed. One example of this is looking at products like mouthwash, Sudafed, or general cleaning products and contemplating whether or not to throw them away or keep them. Those of us who live in sober living homes do have the worry of whether a certain substance, although taken with a good motive, will show up on a drug test or not. Having products such as those in rehab can provide enough of the spark of temptation to get us off the path of focusing on our well-being and recovery, so the best thing to do is to ask or keep away all together.
5. Is It Nap Time Yet (aka Free Time)?
Addiction treatment is all about structure and schedule. The day-to-day plan of events revolves around recovery-based things whether it is group, attending twelve-step meetings or attending counseling sessions. After treatment, day-to-day life may still revolve around things that perpetuate recovery. Many times the schedule of treatment includes “Free Time” which many patients use as “nap time”. Once you leave an addiction treatment facility getting use to being productive and having a full schedule may take some time, but once your body has all of the drugs out of your system and you are feeling better you won’t need to worry about nap time anymore.
6. Watching the Clock, All the Time
With that structure of treatment, certain times of the day may trigger moments of pause because it was during those times of the day where certain things occurred, such as lining up for meds or group dinners. It is common for those who have completed treatment to look at their watch and stop for a second thinking they have to wait for their medications or have group. It may cause a chuckle here and there but those times are reminders of the power of structure.
7. I Have to Find Out If I’m Allowed to..
It is common is recovery to have restrictions on where you can go and who you can go with—especially when you first enter treatment. As treatment progresses you may see restrictions lifted and may be able to do things like go to the grocery store or go to meetings on your own. There may be times after treatment has been completed where you may ask your boss if it OK to go to lunch or ask a family member or friend if it is OK to go to the store and again it points to the power of structure.
8. I Can’t I Have Curfew
After treatment it may be common that you will tell people that you have to be home by a certain time because you have curfew. While that may not be the case, that line of thinking is an artifact of the culture of treatment. Although there are times where this is valid if you live in a sober living home or halfway house as they are known. Getting home at a reasonable hour means you will get a good amount of sleep and be able to be productive for the following day without having to worry about that nasty hangover you once did.
9. Finding the Love of Your Life in Rehab
In the newness of recovery and the awakening of once dormant feelings many in recovery may start looking for companionship and possibly more. While we know that intimate relationships are not looked upon favorably while in rehab, we can definitely relate when a friend who is in treatment is telling you he or she has found the love of their life while in treatment. There is a general suggestion to not get into a relationship in the first year of recovery and for some people that doesn’t apply. The best suggestion is to work on yourself and the rest will follow.
10. There is No Cure… Just Recovery Keep Moving Forward
Most importantly, those who have gone through treatment realize that recovery is a lifelong journey and ultimately there is no magic bullet or cure for the disease of addiction.
If you or a loved one is struggling with a drug or alcohol problem, call Your First Step at 1-855-211-7837 and speak to an Addiction Specialist today. We work with the top Addiction Treatment Centers across the country and whether it is your first time seeking help or you are coming back from a relapse we are here for you day and night to help you find recovery.This is the British box art for the upcoming city builder / RTS Settlers 7:
This is the American box art:
Same game, two very different tones. The British box is light and happy and full of daylight. The American box is dark and grim and full of fear. The British box says “This is a fun game”, the American box says “Games are serious business.”
What does it say about Ubisoft’s opinion of strategy gamers that they think that dark is what sells in America? And doesn’t this art go explicitly against the idea that Settlers 7 is going after a different audience than traditional RTSes? Because a black box with a grizzled soldier guy (weird since the hero of the campaign is a heroine) targets the exact same audience that other strategy games are going after. In fact, the same audience that every PC game without the word “Sims” in the title is going after.
(Thanks to Nabeel Burney of Slowdown for pointing me to it. He found the links to the To The Game images on the twitter feed of Alex May, developer of Eufloria.)Written by Shaun Waterman
Israel’s cyber defense agency will join the U.S. cyber-threat information-sharing initiative run by the Department of Homeland Security under a deal inked between the two nations this week.
“What we have experienced in the cyber world is [that] to go it alone is a very precarious endeavor, but to work together makes us all stronger and creates an ecosystem that will best protect us,” said Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in remarks at an international cybersecurity conference Monday — a transcript of which was released Wednesday by DHS.
On Tuesday, according to a release from DHS, he signed a letter of intent with the Israeli National Cyber Bureau that will “enhance cyber security information sharing between DHS and Israel’s National Cyber Security Authority.”
A statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal would make Israel “among the first countries in the world to join the DHS Automated Indicator Sharing initiative,” an automated platform that distributes throughout the private sector in near real-time indicators of compromise submitted by U.S. agencies and companies
The deal “expresses the vital nature of an international integration of forces in order to more effectively deal with joint threats in the cyber sphere,” according to the statement.
“The letter builds upon the significant progress both countries have made over the last year to further cyber security collaboration,” according to the DHS statement. “DHS and the National Cyber Security Authority identified specific priorities for future cooperation related to information sharing, including Israel’s intent to join automated sharing of cyber threat indicators.
Contact the reporter on this story via email Shaun.Waterman@FedScoop.com, or follow him on Twitter @WatermanReports. Subscribe to the Daily Scoop to get all the federal IT news you need in your inbox every morning at fdscp.com/sign-me-on.Amar Kaleka is a candidate for Congress from Wisconsin running for the seat now occupied by Paul Ryan. He is the son of one of the persons killed by a Neo Nazi white extremist at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek Wisconsin on August 5, 2012. He has gun safety as a key issue in his platform. Of particular interest to this blog is the third point on the “American Peace Plan for Gun Responsibility.”
3. Mandatory accidental discharge insurance on all gun sales and ammo. When there is an accidental discharge and someone is harmed or victimized by an irresponsible gun owner, the burden of fiscal responsibility is left in limbo. Private insurance carriers have the ability to determine the gun buyer’s biography, health, and criminal record. Insurance companies and the market would decide reasonable premiums based on the type of gun purchased, carrying in public, or what type of training or the expertise of the gun owner. The Federal government does not have this ability.
The announcement was made on August 30, 2014 in Santa Monica, CA with Richard Martinez, father of 2014 Santa Barbara shooting victim Christopher Michaels-Martinez; and Patricia Maisch, survivor of the 2011 Tucson, Arizona shooting. It was picked up by Insurance News Net.
Limiting the mandate to accidental discharge makes the coverage much more narrow than the insurance advocated by this blog, but it is in line with many plans introduced in several states. The argument that any insurance will cause insurers to take an interest in gun owners level of responsibility is probably a reasonable start. The actual number of cases that insurers would have to pay would be small enough that it would end up being a very affordable coverage and is probably already covered by most homeowners insurance.
The fact that mandatory (but not so easily voluntary) insurance can cover intentional and criminal acts is not recognized; but in light of the widespread disinformation spread by insurers, it can be handled more effectively in full legislative hearing process than in an election campaign.
The point that insurers can do evaluations that the Federal government cannot is a good one. The “Top Down” system advocated by this blog is based on that idea with a method of guaranteeing insurance for all guns without general governmental gun registration.
Gun Insurance Blog salutes Amar Kaleka for his courage and foresight in placing gun insurance in his platform in a clear and open manner.Willie Brown has floated rumors in his Chronicle column before that have not had any legs remember when he claimed within a week that both Ed Lee and Dianne Feinstein might become ambassador to China? so perhaps take this with a hefty grain of salt: Now Willie says he's been hearing, from "sources," that "our Hollywood-like hunk, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, is in a lather over rumors that real Hollywood hunk George Clooney is thinking of running for governor in 2018."
To be clear, Willie has heard a rumor that Newsom is upset about a rumor.
Also: Clooney has been rumored to be running for office the last couple of years, so perhaps that part does have legs, though Clooney vehemently denied the rumors both in 2014, and in 2015, going so far last year as to tell reporters he had "zero interest" in running for California governor in 2018.
In 2014, despite news reports from the Washington Post and San Mercury News that cited Clooney friends (and foreign tabloids) as furthering the rumor of Clooney's political ambitions, Forbes dismissed it all as "more like a liberal pipe dream than reality, although California does have a history of electing actors as governor."
There would probably still be time, though, to build up a campaign war chest for November 2018 and it definitely would give Gavin a run for his money.
Clooney's been a longtime Clinton supporter and human rights activist, and this past April he and wife Amal hosted fundraisers for Hillary Clinton both in the Bay Area and in LA.
Previously: 1600 Sanders Supporters To Bang Pots Outside George Clooney's SF Fundraiser For Hillary ClintonOn March 4, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote a series of posts on his Twitter account that accused former President Barack Obama of wiretapping his phones at his Trump Tower office late in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump called for a congressional investigation into the matter, and the Trump administration cited news reports to defend these accusations.
Representative Devin Nunes, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, vowed to investigate the claim. At a House Intelligence Committee open hearing on March 20, 2017, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey stated that neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice (DOJ) possessed any information to support Donald Trump's wiretapping allegations. Nunes stated on March 23 that the Trump administration's communications might have been legally monitored during the transition period as part of an "incidental collection".[1]
The DOJ declared in a September 1, 2017 court filing that "both the FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets",[2][3] and confirmed this in another court filing of October 19, 2018.[4] On September 19, 2017 CNN reported that the FBI wiretapped Paul Manafort before and after the presidential election, extending into early 2017, although the report did not make clear whether Manafort was monitored during his tenure with the Trump campaign from March through August 2016. The CNN report also stated that the Manafort surveillance began after he became the subject of an FBI investigation in 2014. Some commentators cited this report as vindication for Trump's claims, while others noted that it did not confirm the accuracy of Trump's original tweets, and that it is still unknown whether any surveillance of Manafort took place at Trump Tower.[5][6][7] Manafort owned a condominium in Trump Tower from 2006 until its seizure by federal authorities following his 2018 convictions.[8][9]
Origin [ edit ]
On November 7, 2016, Louise Mensch reported[10] in the right-leaning[11] Heat Street, that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had twice sought Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants in connection with its investigation of the Trump campaign's links to Russia. According to Mensch, the first request for a warrant which "named Trump" was denied in June 2016 and, a second, more "narrowly drawn" request was granted in October 2016. Mensch wrote that this warrant gave "counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of 'U.S. persons' in Donald Trump's campaign with ties to Russia", and to "look at the full content of emails and other related documents that may concern US persons". Mensch further claimed that the October warrant was granted in "connection with the investigation of suspected activity between the server [in Trump Tower] and two banks, SVB Bank and Alfa Bank", and that "it is thought in the intelligence community that the warrant covers any 'US person' connected to this investigation, and thus covers Donald Trump and at least three further men". Mensch's article cited reports from two anonymous "sources with links to the counter-intelligence community".[10]
On January 19, 2017, The New York Times published an article[12] with the print headline "Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides".[12][a][13] The article was published online with the title "Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates".[14] The article stated that "American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort." The article also noted the uncertainty regarding the scope of the wiretapping, stating: "It is not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to do with Mr. Trump's campaign, or Mr. Trump himself."[12]
On March 3, Breitbart News ran an article by Joel Pollak headlined "Mark Levin to Congress: Investigate Obama's 'Silent Coup' vs. Trump." On the previous day, right-wing radio personality Mark Levin alleged that Obama and his allies were conducting a "silent coup" against Trump, and asked: "How many phone calls of Donald Trump, if any, have been intercepted by the administration and recorded by the Obama administration?"[15][16] The Breitbart article alleged that "the Obama administration is now monitoring an opposing presidential campaign using the high-tech surveillance powers of the federal intelligence services".[15] Citing Mensch's November article, Breitbart claimed the existence of a June FISA request "to monitor communications involving Donald Trump and several advisers", and of an October FISA warrant "focused on a computer server in Trump Tower". Breitbart cited a January 11 National Review article,[17] which speculated about alleged "wiretaps" of the Trump campaign and their legal ramifications. Like the Breitbart article,[18] the National Review article had also extensively relied on Mensch's piece.[11]
Both McClatchy and BBC reported on the existence of an October FISA warrant, as did Mensch. However, these accounts differed substantially from Mensch's story with respect to the scope and purpose of the warrant. They alleged that the October warrant authorized to monitor financial transactions related to Russia — not communications.[11] Unlike the derivative accounts in National Review and Breitbart,[18][11] Mensch's original article did not use the term "wiretap" (implying voice telephone calls), but only made claims about e-mail exchanged with SVB Bank and the Russian Alfa-Bank.[11] While Mensch did claim the e-mail server was located in Trump Tower, it was likely located in Lititz, Pennsylvania, as Trump outsourced e-mail to Listrak, which operates out of a data center there.[19] Furthermore, The New York Times reported on October 31 that the FBI had concluded that the server traffic could have been explained by marketing emails or spam. Contrary to The Times, Mensch claimed that the server's activity remained suspicious enough to lead the FBI to request the FISA warrant.[11][20]
The Breitbart article was subsequently circulated among White House staffers, and was reportedly given to Trump on the following day, together with his morning newspapers and printouts.[15][11][21][22]
Accusation [ edit ]
Initial claim [ edit ]
Donald J. Trump via Twitter @realDonaldTrump Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! 4 Mar 2017[b]
In a succession of tweets on March 4, 2017,[b] President Donald Trump stated he had "just found out" that former president Barack Obama had wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower during the last month of the 2016 election.[23] He did not say where he had obtained the information and offered no evidence to support it.[24] Trump compared the alleged intrusion to McCarthyism and Watergate. Anonymous White House officials told The Washington Post that Trump did not appear to coordinate his comments with other White House officials.[23]
Followup [ edit ]
The White House claimed that reports "from BBC, Heat Street, New York Times, Fox News, among others" established the president's wiretapping allegation, providing links of these to The Washington Post.[20]
In a statement issued through press secretary Sean Spicer on March 5, Trump asked congressional intelligence committees to "determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016" as part of their investigation into Russian interference in the election.[25] In response, Representative Devin Nunes, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, stated that the committee "will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party's campaign officials or surrogates".[26] Senator Lindsey Graham stated his willingness to use subpoena powers to find out whether Trump was investigated and what the cause for such an investigation was, if it did occur.[27] On March 15, Nunes reported that the House Intelligence Committee had not found any evidence supporting the wiretapping claim.[28]
White House officials gave discordant responses to initial media inquiries about Trump's accusations. Spicer banned cameras in the briefing room at a press conference the following day. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News's Fox & Friends that the president had "information and intelligence that the rest of us do not", although Spicer later said Conway was not qualified to make that claim.[29]
Extension of claim [ edit ]
During an interview on March 12, Conway told The Record's Mike Kelly that the surveillance could have potentially used hacked electronic devices: "You can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets — any number of ways." She also suggested that Trump could have been monitored with "microwaves that turn into cameras".[30] Conway later retracted the claim, stating that "I'm not Inspector Gadget, I don't believe that people are using the microwave to spy on the Trump campaign."[31]
At a March 13 press briefing, Spicer claimed that Trump was referring to general surveillance rather than direct wiretapping.[32] Spicer also said that the White House believed that the Obama administration was responsible for the surveillance, not Obama himself, said Trump's tweet which specifically named the former president.[33]
In a March 15 interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, Trump supported his claims of wiretapping by citing a March 3 interview with Paul Ryan on an episode of Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News and the January 19 New York Times article.[34] While The New York Times article[12] mentioned "wiretapping" and reported that the FBI was "examining intercepted communications and financial transactions", it stipulated neither the targeting of American citizens for surveillance, nor any involvement in such surveillance by the Obama administration. Trump's March 15 assertion that the Times' article supported his allegations about wiretapping was deemed "false" by PolitiFact.[11][34] On Special Report Brett Baier alleged that the FBI got a FISA warrant in October to "start a wiretap at Trump Tower with some computer and Russian banks and it doesn't show up anything [referring to the Trump campaign's alleged links to Russian election meddling], by reporting", and asked Ryan: "Have you heard that?" Ryan responded: "Well, again, like I said, none of us in Congress or anybody I know in Congress has been presented with anything to the contrary of what you just said." However, there may have been a misunderstanding between Baier and Ryan throughout the interview, with Baier asking about undue surveillance of the Trump campaign, and Ryan responding that intelligence gathering had produced no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump. Ryan stated, in response to a question about Trump's March 15 comments, that he had been unaware of any wiretapping allegations prior to his interview with Baier, and that "the intelligence committees... have determined... that no such wiretap existed."[35]
Allegation of British involvement [ edit ]
If the telephone rang in GCHQ from the White House, that in itself would be unheard of. The director [GCHQ's chief] would then ring his US counterpart, the director of the NSA—there's a hotline on his desk—to ask if it was a hoax. The next person he would ring would be the [UK] foreign secretary to say we've had this amazing request. Nothing would happen without a warrant from the top of government and that would just never be granted in these circumstances. -- David Omand (former GCHQ director), Financial Times[36]
During a March 14 Fox & Friends interview, Andrew Napolitano said that "Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command", using the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to implement surveillance to avoid leaving "American fingerprints".[37] Napolitano accused Robert Hannigan, who resigned from the GCHQ on January 23, of ordering the wiretap. Hannigan reportedly resigned for personal reasons.[38] Fox News anchor Bret Baier later stated that "the Fox News division was never able to back up [Napolitano's] claims".[39] Napolitano was reportedly temporarily taken off air by Fox due to the allegations.[40] One of Napolitano's sources was former intelligence officer Larry C. Johnson, who later told CNN that Napolitano had misrepresented the statements he made on an online discussion board. Johnson, citing two anonymous sources, claimed that the GCHQ was passing information on the Trump campaign to US intelligence through a "back-channel", but stressed that the GCHQ did not "wiretap" Trump or his associates and that alleged information sharing by the GCHQ was not done at the direction of the Obama administration.[41][42]
On March 16, Spicer repeated Napolitano's claim at a White House press briefing. The following day, GCHQ responded with a rare public statement: "Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wiretapping' against the then president-elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."[43] A British government source said the allegation was "totally untrue and quite frankly absurd".[44] Admiral Michael S. Rogers, director of the National Security Agency (NSA), said he has seen nothing to suggest that there was "any such activity" nor any request to do so.[45] Former GCHQ director David Omand told Financial Times that "The suggestion that [Barack Obama] asked GCHQ to spy on Trump is just completely barking — that would be evident to anyone who knew the system."[36]
The claim started a diplomatic dispute with Britain. Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader in Britain, said "Trump is compromising the vital UK-US security relationship to try to cover his own embarrassment. This harms our and US security."[44] The Telegraph said that two U.S. officials had personally apologized for the allegation.[44] The British government also said that the U.S. government promised not to repeat these claims.[46][36] The White House denied reports that it had apologized to the British government, saying Spicer was merely "pointing to public reports" without endorsing them.[47][44]
On April 12, 2017, The Guardian reported that GCHQ (and other European intelligence agencies) had intercepted communications between members of the Trump campaign team and Russian officials, and shared the intelligence with their US counterparts. The communications were obtained through "incidental collection" as part of routine surveillance of Russian intelligence assets, not from a targeted operation against Trump or his campaign.[48][49]
Shortly after FBI James Comey publicly announced the counterintelligence investigation into Russian collusion, Robert Hannigan flew to Washington, D.C., according to The New Yorker: "Robert Hannigan, then the head of the U.K.'s intelligence service the G.C.H.Q., had recently flown to Washington and briefed the C.I.A.'s director, John Brennan, on a stream of illicit communications between Trump's team and Moscow that had been intercepted. (The content of these intercepts has not become public.)" [50]
Surveillance of Trump associates [ edit ]
Reports [ edit ]
On January 11, 2017, The Guardian reported[51] that the FBI initially applied for a FISA warrant in June 2016, requesting to "monitor four members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials". This initial request was denied. A source told The Guardian that the FBI then submitted a more narrowly focused request in October, "but that has not been confirmed, and it is not clear |
oil spills
RELATED: Enbridge pipeline plan in northern Wisconsin prompts concerns
Enbridge, a gas and oil transportation company based in Canada with 11,000 employees throughout the U.S. and Canada, won the first legal dispute with some concessions, James Botsford said. But both sides appealed that decision and the North Dakota Supreme Court will take up the case later this month.
Supporters of Enbridge pipelines say they create jobs and transport oil more safely than railroads. The Sandpiper Pipeline is intended to transport North Dakota oil, according to court records.
"The pipeline will provide substantial and direct benefits to North Dakota residents," those records say. "North Dakota residents have a legally guaranteed right to conduct oil in the pipeline."
But the Botsfords are not alone in their opposition to new pipelines and expansions. Environmental advocates and Native American tribes throughout the Midwest have been rallying against the Sandpiper Pipeline and others proposed in the region.
During the statewide debate on a proposed iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin, the Botsfords hosted a meeting for anti-mine activists in their Wausau cabin. The couple live in a stretch of land in the town of Wausau with sheep, a creek, a lush garden and a log cabin beyond their house.
James Botsford is a retired Indian rights attorney. He serves as a Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska Supreme Court judge and is writing his fourth book. Krista Botsford was a physician assistant in the Marshfield Clinic system. She's retired and weaves and makes pottery. They're both 67.
The Botsfords hope others who share their green philosophy will jump into the fray. They are raising funds for their legal costs this weekend in Wausau, costs that could reach $125,000 by the time they're done in the state Supreme Court and would keep increasing if the case moved on to the U.S. Supreme Court.
'Good stewards of the land'
The legal battle revolves around about a square half mile of land near Grand Forks, N.D. It's been in the Botsford family since roughly 1980, and it's currently leased to a neighboring farmer. It's home to some wetlands too.
The Botsfords property in North Dakota is in the way of Enbridge Energy Co.'s proposed Sandpiper Pipeline. (Photo: Photo courtesy of James Botsford)
"We do feel a responsibility to be good stewards of this land," James Botsford said. He and Krista Botsford exclude oil companies from their stock portfolios and support a move to more sustainable energy sources.
"We're not zealots. We drive cars and tractors," James Botsford said. "We didn't want to contribute to the extreme extraction of the last drops of fossil fuel."
Most of the landowners in the North Dakota portion of the Sandpiper Pipeline agreed to let Enbridge through. The company has negotiated easements with 95 percent of the landowners on the Sandpiper route, said Lorraine Little, senior manager of U.S. public affairs, liquids operations and projects for Enbridge.
RELATED: Appleton not alone in being sued over cell towers
RELATED:Eminent domain can be 'undesirable thing'
RELATED: Pipeline shutdown leads to higher gas prices
"Enbridge has built relationships with thousands of landowners during our 65-year history," Little wrote in an email. "Our goal is to make every reasonable attempt to work with landowners."
The Botsfords don't want to work with Enbridge. They want the pipeline to circumvent their land. They're concerned about oil spills such as when an Enbridge line ruptured in Marshall, Mich., in 2010, spilling into the Kalamazoo River and connected wetlands.
The company has since spent $5 billion to make its lines more reliable and tripled its safety-related staffing, Little said.
"Since the Marshall incident, Enbridge has made foundational changes that make our operations safer and better," Little told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. "Our company undertook a massive effort to inspect all of our pipeline systems enterprise-wide, not just those in Michigan."
The Botsfords property in North Dakota is in the way of Enbridge Energy Co.'s proposed Sandpiper Pipeline. (Photo: Photo courtesy of James Botsford)
The legal battle
Spills and climate change will not come up in the Enbridge-Botsford legal dispute. The Botsfords' appeal will revolve around the limits of eminent domain — governments' right to take private land for public use.
A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled 5 to 4 that governments can extend the right of eminent domain to private redevelopment efforts.
"Occasionally, private property must be acquired for projects that benefit the community as a whole, such as the construction of roads or public utilities," states a 2015 fact sheet from the North Dakota attorney general. "When a landowner refuses to sell property needed to allow the project to proceed, the eminent domain process may be initiated."
Botsford believes the North Dakota officials exceeded the Supreme Court's intentions by granting use of eminent domain entirely to a private company. His North Dakota-based attorney has made that argument in legal briefs.
North Dakota Pipeline Co., on the other hand, argues that the Sandpiper project meets the requirements for eminent domain and wants the court to reconsider the amount the oil distributor has to pay the Botsfords for attorney fees.
The judge ruled Enbridge owed the Botsfords about $12,000 for use of their land and about $45,000 for attorney costs and fees.
On Thursday Enbridge announced it will delay Sandpiper Pipeline plans until 2019. Enbridge is also pursing the Bakken Pipeline System that includes the Dakota Access Pipeline, running from North Dakota to South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.
Environmentalists, farmers and state regulators in Minnesota have complicated Enbridge's establishment of the Sandpiper Pipeline in that state, Botsford said.
That type of opposition doesn't exist in North Dakota, which experienced an oil boom that has only recently begun to wane as global oil prices have fallen.
"It's really lonely fighting this in North Dakota," Botsford said. "The deck is really stacked against us over there. Everyone is really pro-oil."
The results of the case could ripple out to be referenced in similar turf wars in other states. It could return to a lower court in South Dakota or head to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Before this all began, the couple was looking forward to their retirements. He's been writing a book of "essays with attitude," and she has her art projects, Botsford said.
He would like to focus on his book. But the two will continue to fight until they've exhausted every legal option.
Nora G. Hertel: nora.hertel@gannettwisconsin.com or 715-845-0665; on Twitter @nghertel.
Raising funds
The Botsfords are holding their legal defense fundraiser at Basil restaurant at 2106 Schofield Ave. in Weston this weekend. Speakers will talk about pipelines in Wisconsin.
The event runs from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Sunday. It's open to the public.
In the last year the Botsfords have raised more than $8,000 toward their legal bills through Go Fund Me: https://www.gofundme.com/enbridge-sued-us.
Read or Share this story: http://wdhne.ws/2bVOdxBMitch McConnell's plan makes Congress the true death panel: Our view
Capitol Police remove a protester on June 22, 2017. (Photo11: Mark Wilson, Getty Images)
After weeks of secret negotiations, Senate Republicans on Thursday took the wraps off their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. It deserves the old surgeon general's warning about cigarettes: This product may be hazardous to your health.
Like its House counterpart, the Senate plan would end insurance coverage for millions of people, probably tens of millions. It's hard to know for sure, because the plan has yet to be evaluated by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
And like its House counterpart, the Senate measure was drafted without so much as a public hearing. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., intends to rush the plan to a vote in just one week.
The haste is purely political. With the House bill wildly unpopular (earning just 16% support in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday), McConnell doesn’t want his "discussion draft" to languish in the public eye like a dead fish in the midday sun.
He knows all too well what that would entail. When Obamacare was being debated at length in 2009, Republican attack ads made all manner of scurrilous claims, most famously that it would lead to “death panels” deciding when to end care for terminally ill patients.
OPPOSING VIEW
With the Senate bill, no scurrilous scare tactics are necessary. The facts are frightening enough. The plan would slash Medicaid, a program that covers 20% of Americans, nearly half of newborn deliveries and two-thirds of people in nursing homes.
By terminating a requirement that Americans have insurance coverage, the plan would unravel Obamacare's system of private exchanges to sell coverage to individuals. By permitting states to end coverage for such things as maternity care and emergency services, it is downright cruel.
In many ways, the GOP measure is a tax cut masquerading as a health care plan. Republicans are determined to end Obamacare’s taxes, most notably one on the investment income of families making more than $250,000. Over a decade, that takes hundreds of billions of dollars away from health care, leaving lower-income people with lousier coverage at higher prices.
In some ways, the Senate plan is marginally better than the one that squeaked through the House last month, as it would at least continue subsidies to help low-income Americans buy private insurance. But its treatment of Medicaid is as bad, if not worse.
It also appears to be drafted in a way that would allow swing-state Republicans, such as Rob Portman of Ohio, to offer amendments that would give them political cover. A flurry of last minutes changes will make it even harder to gauge the plan's true impact.
The Senate measure is mean in ways that are abundantly clear, and havoc-wreaking in ways that are not. Trying to ram it through, before those impacts become clear for all to see, is no way to deal with life-and-death issues and a big chunk of the American economy.
USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.
To read more editorials, go to the Opinion front page or sign up for the daily Opinion email newsletter. To respond to this editorial, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2tzu4qcSinger Juniel is a prolific user of social media, but all of her posts on Twitter and Instagram have now been deleted.
There has been no word from the artist herself about why her posts on her Instagram and Twitter have all disappeared. She has previously used both her social media accounts to not only make announcements about releases, but also to chat candidly with fans, share photos (such as with her idol Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation), and more. Fans have shared screenshots of a tweet on her account from September 5 that states that a cleaner app had wiped her account’s tweets.
It is possible that Juniel’s accounts have been hacked, or she may have decided to remove the posts herself.
Juniel most recently released the track “Pisces” in July of this year.
Thanks to Junghwa for the tip!A low pressure system that has lingered on the South Coast for several days unloaded a torrent of rain on all of Metro Vancouver this morning.
From midnight to noon, 30.7 millimetres of rain fell at Vancouver Harbour – making it the wettest day on record in 2016.
It’s also the most rain recorded for any day in May since 2001, when 44.6 millimetres were recorded on May 14.
“It is still May, it’s still spring. We’ve become accustomed to dry Mays, but May and June can still be very wet,” said Global BC meteorologist Michael Kuss.
“It’s not just wet, it’s cold too. We’ve just become accustomed to springs that are more like summers, and this is what spring is supposed to be like.”
Other areas of Metro Vancouver that experienced a record amount of precipitation from midnight to noon today include Richmond (32.4 mm), South Burnaby (42.6mm), and Coquitlam (29.6 mm).
There have also been reports of flooding on Barnet Highway, and a downed tree branch at Rumble St. and Boundary Road.
A snow advisory was also issued for the Coquihalla, and Environment Canada says as much as 20 centimetres of snow could fall in the Muncho Lake area of northeastern B.C., west of Fort Nelson.
The good news?
“This is pretty much the end of it,” says Kuss.
“Rest of today, and then it’ll start drying out tomorrow, and then back to the summer like weather for the start of June.”
– With files from The Canadian PressToday, fewer than one in 14 private sector workers belongs to a union, half the portion of 15 years ago. Where unions matter most — fighting for workers’ share of the spoils of economic growth — they lost the battle long ago. Despite soaring worker productivity, the typical American worker takes home today only 2 percent more than a quarter of a century ago, after adjusting for inflation.
Yet while union leaders have spent the last decade fretting, they have been unable to reverse the downward trend.
Partly, this has to do with the diagnosis of the problem. Many union leaders still like to believe that an ideological shift spun the labor movement into a death spiral. Elected in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan set out to destroy obstacles to unfettered markets — including organized labor — with ideological assistance from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain.
The ideological assault on unions changed workplace norms. In the United States, company executives who had tolerated unions as standard features of the workplace started spending billions to fight them off.
Losing control of the factory floor, unions lost touch with society, too. In the 1950s and ’60s, union contracts set a standard that was followed across the economy. Today, they are too weak to be standard-setters. And nonunion workers tend to resent rather than applaud the better pay and benefits of their unionized brethren.
Only about one in five Americans say they trust unions, according to polling by Gallup, the same share that trust banks or big business. And unions’ once impressive political clout has been overwhelmed by a wave of corporate money. Their biggest campaign this spring, trying to remove Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin from office after he rolled back collective bargaining rights for state employees, ended last month in ignominious defeat.
But this reading of history misses a fundamental part of the story. Notably, it underplays the impact of globalization, which intensified competition and spurred businesses to slash labor costs. And it ignores technology, which changed the nature of work.
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In the 1920s, unions were as unprepared for change as they are today. Dorian T. Warren, a professor of political science at Columbia University, notes that at the turn of the 20th century, guilds were organized around crafts, like carpentry or glass blowing.
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This structure gave organized labor enormous power in the economy. Running apprenticeship programs, guilds controlled the supply of labor at the time. But it left labor unions unprepared for the subsequent arrival of large corporations, which hired unskilled workers directly, without the imprimatur of a guild.
When organized labor bounced back in the late 1930s, Mr. Warren observed, it was in a different form, as big, inclusive industrial unions that organized workers at the company level, not by skill. Crucially, the unions understood that part of their job was to ensure that a labor contract would not put a company at a competitive disadvantage. They had to remove wages from competition. That was essential to their success. Otherwise, corporations would fight them to the death.
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But no model of labor relations can last forever. This one worked as long as the United States remained largely a closed economy. Unions roughly ensured that working standards improved uniformly across many industrial sectors. If they negotiated higher wages or better working conditions at one airline or car company, others quickly followed — even nonunion shops, which hoped to appease workers and prevent them from voting for a union.
Yet economic changes upended the pattern again. The new jobs created around the revolution in information technology of the late 20th century did not fit the mold of the corporations of old. New companies relied more on independent contractors and freelance work. The lifelong relationship established between industrial companies and their workers gave way to looser, shorter dalliances.
Perhaps most important, globalization exposed America’s industrial-era titans to more intense competition. The emergence of powerful rivals overseas, where labor was cheap and unions scarce, made it more difficult for companies to improve wages and working conditions without becoming less competitive. And corporations, especially new high-tech companies that arose in southern states where labor law made it tougher to organize, turned against unions as albatrosses around their necks.
Unsurprisingly, a majority of unionized workers today are employed by the government, the last sector of the economy that is largely protected from foreign competition. “We are forced to conclude that a resurgence of labor unions in the private sector in the foreseeable future is unlikely,” wrote the labor market scholars Henry S. Farber and Bruce Western of Princeton University a decade ago, echoing Mr. Barnett’s thoughts 70 years before. And things have only deteriorated for the unions since then.
But if the prospects look grim for the unions of America’s industrial era, the precedent of the 1930s — when workers organized in droves — offers perhaps a hint of a path for organized labor as the economy works its way forward from the Great Recession, a role that perhaps better fits the nation’s corporate makeup.
The future labor movement may have to give up organizing work site by work site. Its biggest political fight in the last few years — pushing a law to make it easier to organize a workplace — may be irrelevant. And fighting to create new barriers to foreign competition is probably a lost cause. Instead of negotiating for their members only, unions might do better pulling for better wages and conditions for all workers.
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Some scholars, like the economist Richard B. Freeman of the National Bureau of Economic Research, suggest the labor movement could take a page from the AARP’s playbook and become a lobbying group. German-like worker councils could discuss workplace issues with management, without negotiating over pay.
Maybe unions don’t have to entirely give up collective bargaining but broaden it. A model might be the alliance between the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Domestic Workers Alliance of New York City to push for a bill of rights for nonunionized nannies and maids.
In any event, 80 years from now, labor organizations will probably look as different as our current unions look when compared with the guilds of 80 years ago. Today’s strongest unions — of autoworkers and airline pilots — could easily be the weakest, decimated by international competition. Unions may well be strongest in hospitals, hotels and other businesses not exposed to international trade.
Union leaders understand this — to a point. They are slowly beginning to experiment with new models of organization. Time is not on their side, however. If they fail to embrace radical change, in 80 years unions may not be around at all.WASHINGTON — When Secretary of State John Kerry dangled for the first time on Monday actions that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria could take to avoid a military strike, it seemed an acknowledgment that Congress, America’s allies and the Russians were all looking for an off-ramp for what a week ago seemed like inevitable military action against Syria.
The concept has taken on many permutations in the past five days, but its essence is this: force Mr. Assad to turn his huge stockpile of chemical weapons over to some kind of international control and recognize the international ban on chemical weapons. The appeal of the idea is that, if successful, it could create a far more lasting solution than a brief strike on Syria’s chemical weapons infrastructure, especially a strike that Mr. Kerry characterized Monday morning as “unbelievably small.”
Yet, experts on chemical weapons and the Syrian government said that it would be next to impossible to know with certainty where all of Mr. Assad’s sprawling, constantly moving arsenal is residing, much less who is controlling it. And flying it out of the country is not as simple as picking up nuclear components — as the United States did in Libya in late 2003 — and moving them to a well-guarded site in Tennessee.
Though Mr. Kerry also expressed skepticism that the Syrians would take up the idea, his comments were notable because as recently as the middle of last week he was not talking about any diplomatic initiatives to secure the stockpile. A proposal by Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, both junior members of the Democratic caucus, to give Mr. Assad 45 days to sign on to the Chemical Weapons Convention and begin to turn over his weapons had yet to catch Mr. Kerry’s attention.The Detroit Red Wings have been fined an undisclosed amount by the NHL following comments made by senior vice president Jimmy Devellano regarding the lockout and collective bargaining agreement.
Here is the release from the NHL:
NEW YORK (September 22, 2012) -- The National Hockey League announced today that the Detroit Red Wings have been fined an undisclosed amount for comments made by Red Wings Senior Vice President and Alternate Governor Jim Devellano in an interview that was published earlier this week.
"The Detroit Red Wings’ organization and the League agree that the comments made by Mr. Devellano are neither appropriate, nor authorized, nor permissible under the League's By-Laws," said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. "Such comments are neither constructive nor helpful to the negotiations.”
The league has prohibited team executives from commenting about the lockout and CBA issues. TSN.ca said the fine is in the range of $250,000.
In an interview with Island Sports News, Devellano was quoted as saying, "Each owner/team has a decision as to how they want to pay their players, as long as they are under the cap. Now (NHLPA executive director) Donald Fehr would have you believe by getting rid of the cap, the owners would make more money and that the sky is the limit, but trust me... the owners would lose their (rears). We've tried that. It doesn't work. There is just too much cost involved in running and owning a team."
He also added, "It's very complicated and way too much for the average Joe to understand, but having said that, I will tell you this: The owners can basically be viewed as the Ranch, and the players, and me included, are the cattle. The owners own the Ranch and allow the players to eat there. That's the way it's always been and that the way it will be forever. And the owners simply aren't going to let a union push them around. It's not going to happen."
Follow Ansar Khan on Twitter at twitter.com/AnsarKhanMLive and like MLive.com's Red Wings page on Facebook.
Download MLive.com's smartphone app to get all the latest Red Wings news on your mobile device.Stanley Kubrick’s indelible take on both the horror genre and the popular fiction of Stephen King, The Shining is both a radical distillation of its source novel’s densely stuffed ghosts-and-gore imagery as well as a conflation of its hidden central theme of the true-life horrors of domestic abuse. The result is a film that, though it ignores almost every major spook-show episode in the novel (nope, no teeming wasp’s nest here), enhances everything that’s legitimately unnerving about King’s book: the sour grin of a desperate middle-aged man contemplating his overwhelming vocational failure, the inability for families to truly forgive even speculatively accidental physical violence, and the eerie juxtaposition of snowbound isolation within a vast architectural agora, a place where you can hide but you can’t run.
The Shining is nominally about ex-alcoholic Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), the aforementioned failure as a patriarch, who, as he reveals in a moment of anger late in the film, sees himself as a great novelist but has nothing published to his name as he makes ends meet shoveling show and washing cars, silently blaming his stalled dream career on his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and young, psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd). (In the book, he lost his job as a teacher when he beat up a student.) When he stumbles on a temp job as the winter caretaker for a Rocky Mountain resort hotel that, due to the impossibility of clearing the road during snowy season, has to shut down for half a year, he sees an opportunity to, with his wife’s help, keep the hotel’s gears grinding while he spends all his free time in front of the typewriter. Eventually, it becomes increasingly clear that the Overlook Hotel’s gears are apparently spinning out of control, while the cogs in the creative side of Jack’s brain have grinded to a halt.
But themes and plot, as with many Kubrick films, are in service of the filmic form, not vice versa. In other words, themes in The Shining arise due to Kubrick’s almost fastidious concentration on form. (Some sources say this is still the film which holds Kubrick’s record for most takes on a single shot, though the numbers and the shot in question vary; according to the DVD commentary track, it’s over 140 takes on a two-shot of the conversation over ice cream between Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers.) Owing a massive debt to the still-new Steadicam device, The Shining’s gliding, prowling cinematography gives off the impression of momentum even as the three main characters are stalling out, letting tedium and seclusion open up all their festering familial resentments. One early sequence places Wendy and Danny within the bowels of the Overlook’s overtly Jungian hedge maze. Jack, frustrated and spending all his writing time in the hotel lobby throwing a tennis ball against the wall, strolls over to a model of the maze. A POV shot of Jack’s overhead gaze tracks in slowly until you notice that the two tiny figures of Wendy and Danny are wandering at the center of the shot. It’s a memorable summary image for their situation—even given a foreshadowing moment of seeming omniscience, Jack can’t free himself from his family any more than his family can escape the sprawling maze—and it’s punctuated by the fact that it is one of the only trick shots in the entire film.
The carefully organized, seamlessly edited tracking shots and the complex musical textures of György Ligeti and Krzysztof Penderecki don’t even offer room to breathe, and the disorientation causes the mind to grasp for gravity. One of my favorite analyses of The Shining goes on at great length about how the entire film is an extended metaphor for the systematic slaughter of Native Americans. I don’t know what’s scarier: that the key to unlocking the misery of generations along the nation’s Trail of Tears is a highball glass filled with bourbon (accompanied by muttering about “white man’s burden,” as Jack muses to Lloyd, the ghost bartender), that Kubrick would expect audiences to pay attention to the logo on a can of cleanser as a crucial metaphor, or that the entire well-supported analysis actually makes a damned lot of sense.
It’s the experience more so than the actual content of The Shining that radiates cold, anti-humanly indifferent terror. But Kubrick does hedge his bets by building in ambiguities, winding up in the film’s final question mark of a shot (so wholly different from the sunny ending of King’s novel that you can sort of empathize with the author when he speaks out against Kubrick’s adaptation). Having conflated the sadistic struggle between a man and his family into a horrific epic tragedy, Kubrick ultimately slaps the film back into a reversal of 2001: A Space Odyssey’s coda, swapping accelerated evolution in favor of a regression so primordially violent it disrupts the fabric of time. In that sense, the film’s chronological Mobius warp places it outside of the context of something like The Haunting and more in line with Last Year in Marienbad (itself a pretty terrifying film, at least on the surface). Like Resnais’s gothic nightmare, Kubrick’s The Shining dwells at the outer limits of what can be thought of as a genre film, stretching the definition, filling it out, leaving it richer in its wake.
Image/Sound
The full frame enthusiasts had their day when Warner Home Video remastered their Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD set in 2001. In that set, The Shining was perhaps the most notably improved, with astonishingly crisp images and music cues. But it was still in full frame. Now that 16:9 television sets are beginning to establish themselves as the consumer norm (at least for the sort of A/V geeks that would be likely to purchase another updated Kubrick release), Warner has responded with a long-awaited set of transfers matted to match the films’ original theatrical aspect ratios. While some of those weaned on Kubrick’s films through the open matte video transfers up to this point seem bent on insisting that 1.85:1 just isn’t “Kubrickian,” that he framed his last three movies in deference to TV dimensions (that he paid attention to how his film would look when presented on the boob tube is apparent, but it’s hard to imagine him favoring the ancillary format), I don’t see these new transfers as any sort of desecration. To the contrary, the Overlook Hotel has never felt so claustrophobic. The good news is that the colors and contrast match that of the 2001 edition. Some of the shots of blood pouring out of the elevator seem even more vivid. The bad news is that there seems to be a perceptible drop in sharpness. While this image could still cut glass, I remember the 2001 editions looking like they could cut diamonds (but I’m willing to concede that might have just been the impression I got due to the radical jump in quality from The Shining’s lame first DVD release). Sound is basically identical to the previous edition, which is to say it’s fantastic.
Extras
Here’s where the new two-disc version really falls short of superceding the previous edition. There is a new commentary track shared by Steadicam operator Garrett Brown and film scholar John Baxter (recorded separately and presented at about a 2:1 ratio, respectively) and a trio of new retrospective featurettes that total less than one cumulative hour (that also seem to have been culled from outtakes of Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures). But the previous edition already had this set’s two best extras: daughter Vivian Kubrick’s short but brutal “making of” documentary and the way-freaky teaser trailer.
Overall
Come and play with us, Danny-in anamorphic widescreen-forever, and ever, and ever.
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers Director: Stanley Kubrick Screenwriter: Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson Distributor: Warner Home Video Running Time: 144 min Rating: R Year: 1980 Release Date: October 23, 2007 Buy: Video, Soundtrack, BookRelations between Pakistani and American spies reached a low point in the past year after a series of contentious episodes, including the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the shooting of two Pakistanis by a C.I.A. contractor, Raymond A. Davis, and continuing accusations that the ISI is shielding Islamist militants.
From Wednesday, Mr. Petraeus and General Islam will seek to rebuild a counterterrorism relationship that has severely frayed, Pakistani and American officials said.
“Petraeus will try to forge a relationship with him,” one senior Obama administration official said. “We’ve got business to do. Let’s get on with it.”
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Since his appointment to Pakistan’s pre-eminent intelligence post in March, General Islam has maintained a conspicuously low profile in Pakistan. After being featured in a handful of newspaper articles filled with starchy compliments typically reserved for powerful generals, he largely disappeared from view —by most accounts, a deliberate strategy.
Long feared as a blunt instrument of army power, the ISI has undergone unusual turmoil over the past 12 months. The Bin Laden raid, which took place under the ISI’s nose, dented its prestige among the public and, equally important, inside the army. The killing of an investigative journalist, Syed Saleem Shahzad, widely viewed as an ISI job, brought international condemnation.
In politics, General Islam’s predecessor, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, had became embroiled in a political crisis that at one point threatened to bring down President Asif Ali Zardari’s government.
And the Supreme Court, headed by a strong-willed judge, has raised difficult questions about the ISI role in numerous human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, and a multimillion-dollar election-rigging campaign that the agency ran in the early 1990s.
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“There’s been a lot of commotion,” said Kamran Bokhari, an analyst with the research group Stratfor. “So now it makes sense for General Islam to pull back, reassess, see where things are going.”
In contrast with General Pasha, who was known for his sharp-tongued, sometimes impassioned private outbursts, General Islam is described as a low-profile operator, happy to take a back seat in meetings. “He is cool as a cucumber,” said a serving ISI officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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But he has maintained General Pasha’s short rein on C.I.A. activities in Pakistan.
One senior American official says the ISI now treats its American counterparts with deep hostility. C.I.A. visas are frequently refused, and its officials are periodically stopped and searched. Meanwhile, Pakistani employees of the American Embassy and consulates have come under intense intimidation: subjected to strip searches, kept in prison for weeks, induced to “turn” against America, and sometimes threatened with weapons, the official said.
“It’s Moscow rules,” he said. “The ISI has become very K.G.B.-like — but without the restraint.”
A senior ISI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied such accusations, and blamed the C.I.A. for souring a once-close relationship through displays of arrogance. During the January 2011 controversy over Mr. Davis, General Pasha was furious that the former C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, had initially denied that Mr. Davis worked for the agency.
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Last summer the previous C.I.A. station chief, who had stormy relations with General Pasha, left his post after just five months, ostensibly for health reasons. He has since been replaced with an undercover officer who officials from both sides say is more open to strengthening the C.I.A.’s relationship with the ISI.
In his talks in Washington, the ISI official said, General Islam will press the C.I.A. to stop its drone strike campaign in the tribal belt. Instead, he will propose that the United States upgrade Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 warplanes so that it can do the same job — a proposal one Washington official called a “nonstarter.”
General Islam will also request American help in halting cross-border incursions by the Pakistani Taliban from their bases in Afghanistan — a growing Pakistani concern that last week caused testy exchanges between Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, Sherry Rehman, and a senior Obama administration official at a conference in Colorado.
General Islam has a strong military pedigree, and many analysts see him as a favorite to succeed the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, when he steps down in late 2013.
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He hails from a stout military clan in the army’s Punjabi heartland: his father and brothers were officers, while two uncles retired as three-star generals. Unusually for an ISI chief, he has experience in espionage: Between 2008 and 2010 he ran the ISI’s internal wing, which oversees security inside Pakistan.
For Americans, however, it is General Islam’s attitude toward the situation in Afghanistan that is the most pressing unknown.
With more than 100,000 NATO troops due to leave by the end of 2014, Pakistani help in blunting the insurgency is necessary. American officials worry particularly about ISI links to the Haqqani network, a militant group that straddles the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
ISI help is also considered important for any possible peace talks with the insurgents.
But until now, General Islam’s career has been focused to the east, on Pakistan’s archrival, India. Before his ISI postings, he fought in the mountains of Kashmir and commanded an army corps in Karachi.
“A lot hinges on this man,” one American official said. “And we just don’t know anything about him.”A year and a half ago, President Russell M. Nelson spoke of the need “to teach and help raise a sin-resistant generation.”1 That phrase—“a sin-resistant generation”—struck a deep spiritual chord within me.
We honor children who strive to live pure and obedient lives. I have witnessed the strength of many children throughout the world. They stand resilient, “steadfast and immovable”2 in a variety of challenging circumstances and environments. These children understand their divine identity, feel Heavenly Father’s love for them, and seek to obey His will.
However, there are children who struggle to stand “steadfast and immovable” and whose delicate minds are being wounded.3 They are being attacked on every side by “the fiery darts |
of my career, I feel I need to move on with my life," Sorensen said. "I realise the likelihood of me getting back into the set-up is unlikely, with my various injuries and fluctuating performances in the past year or so. It's time for me to move forward and hang up the international boots. Once again I want to thank all involved with Irish cricket for their help and support - it truly means a lot."
Sorensen was part of Ireland's three most recent World T20 campaigns and he opened the bowling when they beat West Indies in the 2015 World Cup. He is currently fifth on the list of bowlers with most T20 wickets for Ireland, taking 43 in 37 matches. Sorensen's peak performance came in 2013 when he was their leading wicket-taker during the 2013 World T20 Qualifier in the UAE, with 14 in 8 games, which helped Ireland win the tournament. However, his performances tapered off in the following years, leading to the 2016 World T20. In that tournament, against Oman in Dharamsala, Sorensen had to defend 14 runs off the last over, but ended up conceding 16 as Oman pulled off a two-wicket win.
Outgoing head coach John Bracewell marked him as a "tireless worker, never giving anything less than 100% effort".
"He always exhibited professionalism and passion, as well as obvious skill. He was a fine role model to the younger players in the squad, and was a very popular figure in the dressing room. I wish him all the best in his future."
Despite a shoulder injury limiting Sorensen's ability to bowl, he struck a match-winning 98 not out for Leinster against Munster Reds in the Inter-provincial T20 tournament in June.Get the biggest Newcastle United FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
When he is well managed, Hatem Ben Arfa is up there with the very best in the world on his day and Newcastle United simply did not get the most out of him because they messed him around.
Alan Pardew did not allow Ben Arfa to express himself and play his own game and that affected his performances and his attitudes. If he had been allowed a free role on the pitch, Ben Arfa would have thrived at St James’ Park.
I don’t just think he was poorly managed, I think he was wrongly managed. He’s back in the France squad now, because he’s that talented.
We saw in glimpses and flashes on Tyneside exactly what he is capable of but we never saw him at his very best, and that, to me, was down to bad management.
NEWCASTLE UNITED GAVE UP ON BEN ARFA TOO SOON
Newcastle gave up on him too soon.
Wherever he goes, Ben Arfa needs to be delicately managed – there is no doubt about that – but if you are able to do that then you will reap the rewards.
You’ve got to manage him properly.
It’s like when I was at Newcastle and Laurent Robert was there. You don’t sign Robert and then play him at left-back. You can’t sign a David Ginola and tell him he has to defend.
When you sign that sort of flair player, who is capable of doing something out of this world, you have got to allow them to play their own natural game out on the field and not shackle them.
You don’t ask Lionel Messi to defend, do you?
Potential matchwinners have got to be allowed to just play as they naturally do and to inspire the game in their own unique way.
NEWCASTLE MISSED THE POINT WITH BEN ARFA
If you try to dictate to them then you’re missing the whole point in them being there. And Newcastle missed the point with Ben Arfa. Absolutely 100 per cent they missed the point.
A lot of people said that he doesn’t love football anymore earlier this year but the fact is he now has a manager at Nice who knows how to get the best out of him.
He is a top-quality player who needs to be approached differently to others.
A lot of managers understand that, but I do not believe Pardew did with Ben Arfa.
You can’t get the quality Ben Arfa offers by asking him to be an all-round player. He is very good at what he does, so just leave him to do that, rather than encourage him to do things he doesn’t like to do.
Flair players need to be played week in, week out. You can’t just drop them after a couple of bad games because, if they are out on the pitch, they can win you games.
A system should be formed around those players, rather than pigeon-holing them into a formation you have already preconceived.
You either sign them knowing that, or you simply don’t sign them at all.
Was Hatem Ben Arfa badly treated at NUFC? Chronicle Live
BEN ARFA IS A SPECIAL PLAYER WHO WAS BADLY MANAGED
For me, Ben Arfa was definitely ready to be back involved in the French national side and I would have liked to have seen more from him in the last two games in all honesty.
He fully deserves his place in the France squad at the moment because he is in superb form.
Not only is he in superb form for Nice, not only can he makes things happen out of nothing, and not only would he add something extra to the France starting line-up - he would add something extra to any team in the world.
Ben Arfa was not on the field long enough at Wembley but, even in that short space of time, because if he had been - and there hadn’t been the awful events of last Friday hanging over the game - then the English public would have been able to see exactly what they are missing with him being across in France rather than gracing Premier League football grounds.
He is a special, special player - and Newcastle simply managed him wrongly.A political rally in Portland, Ore. - Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Outsiders may think of Portland as its caricature on the comedy series "Portlandia," and picture great coffee, upscale restaurants, and a downtown boom.
But underneath that, Portland's wrestling with something many cities face when they grow: How to remain affordable.
The S&P/Case-Schiller Portland Home Price Index. -
What's different in Portland, compared to the rest of the United States, is the law. Oregon is one of two states that doesn't require developers to set aside affordable housing when they build.
In the past, housing argued against proposed laws to include affordable housing requirements.
Jon Chandler, the CEO of the Oregon Homebuilder's Association, spoke recently with The Oregonian, a newspaper based in the area.
He didn't think politicians were invested in changing the law, "They're very serious about being seen fixing it, but they don't get serious about actually doing it."
There's another view in Portland, which is 76 percent white, that much of this is about race.
"Even now you're looking at that 'Portlandia' image, about how I'm a sober cycling vegan," says community activist Cameron Whitten. "There is that image that people come here for... and at the same time, I've seen erasure. I've seen actual invisibility and silence of these communities that have been marginalized. That have identities that have not been celebrated in the same way that we've celebrated all these other things about Portland."
“I think the best compliment I can give is not to say how much your programs have taught me (a ton), but how much Marketplace has motivated me to go out and teach myself.” – Michael in Arlington, VA As a nonprofit news organization, what matters to us is the same thing that matters to you: being a source for trustworthy, independent news that makes people smarter about business and the economy. So if Marketplace has helped you understand the economy better, make more informed financial decisions or just encouraged you to think differently, we’re asking you to give a little something back. Become a Marketplace Investor today – in whatever amount is right for you – and keep public service journalism strong. We’re grateful for your support. BEFORE YOU GOFormer U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is under investigation by the government of Turkey for allegedly violating international and domestic laws in gathering evidence against a Turkish-Iranian businessman.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that Turkish officials have accused Bharara of orchestrating a politically-motivated case against Reza Zarrab, a gold trader accused in the U.S. of violating sanctions against Iran.
Turkey is also reportedly investigating Bharara’s successor, acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim.
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NBC reported earlier this week that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan offered former national security adviser Michael Flynn upward of $15 million during the presidential transition in December to return Erdoğan's top political rival from Pennsylvania to Turkey and make sure that Zarrab's case was dropped.
Turkish officials have accused Bharara of links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who the government blames for a failed coup in 2016. Bharara has vehemently denied any ties to Gülen.
Legal analyst Danny Cevallos told NBC on Thursday that Zarrab is likely cooperating with Mueller and other investigators probing Flynn's ties to the Turkish government.
"You can fill in the gaps that federal investigators are looking for any relation between Erdoğan and Flynn," Cevallos said. "So, to the extent that Zarrab has any connection or knowledge of that, it is very important that they're flipping him."
Mueller is investigating Flynn and others in the Trump campaign as part of the special counsel investigation into possible collusion between Trump's team and Russia during the 2016 election.
Specifically, Mueller is investigating whether Flynn, who allegedly met with top Turkish officials in New York near Trump Tower in 2016, could have carried out the deal and whether that would have resulted in actual payments to Flynn in the White House.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Families of children with epilepsy are uprooting their families to Colorado Springs get a very useful ingredient that is considered illegal under federal law.
Seven-year-old Maddie from North Carolina, 19-year-old Jordan from Ohio and 4-year-old Holden from Utah: These kids and their families, along with more than a hundred others, have moved to Colorado in order to obtain a unique medicinal hemp oil extract.
The plant is called Charlotte’s Webb, named for Charlotte Figi, whose case started a medical hemp oil movement. Figi’s seizures were so severe, she was considered a terminal patient ready for hospice.
“It was this miraculous story, on her seizures. Her 300 seizures a week down to nothing,” said Paige Figi, Charlotte's mother. “It’s been the most significant thing that we’ve ever tried to treat her epilepsy.”
“Her quality of life is 100 percent improved,” said Matt Figi, Charlotte's father.
Why the oil works is still largely a mystery. The answer is locked inside the hybridized marijuana plant. It was developed by four brothers who formed “Realm of Caring” — a non-profit devoted to producing a plant specially bred to be very low in intoxicating THC and high in medicinal CBD.
The families know that getting off the waiting list at Realm of Caring is just one of many steps to getting help.
Multiple doctors must sign off on a medical red card, and families need to establish residency in Colorado to get the oil, since shipping it across state lines is illegal.
We do need comprehensive legislation on the federal level so that people don't have to do what we're doing. Split up families just for medicine, it's ridiculous. –Paula Lyles
All those hurdles have turned parents like Paula Lyles into activists. She is fighting on behalf of her 19-year-old daughter Jordan.
“We do need comprehensive legislation on the federal level so that people don’t have to do what we’re doing,” Lyles said. “Split up families just for medicine, it’s ridiculous.”
For 4-year-old Holden Cromar and his family, leaving Utah was a difficult decision.
“It’s been very disruptive on my family. Really hard emotionally,” said David Cromar, Holden's father.
But it’s even harder for the family to just stand by and watch Holden’s seizures.
Holden has intractable epilepsy — his seizures are barely perceptible, yet they’re increasingly damaging to his body. He and his family hope to have the same results as Charlotte Figi.
“Holden has lost a lot of his early development,“ Cromar said. “All the knowledge he gained in pre-school—letters, colors, numbers—we’ve had to re-teach him the last four years of his life.”
Just like Holden, Maddie Gorman and her mother came to Colorado from North Carolina after other steps failed to calm her seizures. Maddie’s mother is convinced the oil is improving her daughter’s quality of life.
“This child, she’s had 14 different treatments for her epilepsy, including brain surgery that failed. And this is hands down the best treatment as far as seizure control and lack of side effects,” Liz Gorman said.
But the Cromar family knows the stakes are high now.
“We knew without a doubt we had to try,” Cromar said, “because Holden deserves at least the chance to not go through this.”
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Related StoriesCLOSE Kyrie Irving got into a heated argument with a reporter during All-Star media availability over his recent comments that the Earth is flat. USA TODAY Sports
Kyrie Irving during the All Star media availability at the Ritz Carlton. (Photo11: Derick E. Hingle, USA TODAY Sports)
While appearing as a guest host on a recent podcast with teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye — Road Trippin' with RJ & Channing — Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving made it very clear that he believes the Earth is, in fact, flat.
"This is not even a conspiracy. The Earth is flat. The Earth is flat. The Earth is flat," Irving said adamantly. "All these things that particular groups, I won't even pinpoint one group, that they almost offer up this education. The fact that, in our lifetimes, that there are so many holes and so many pockets in our history.... I'm telling you, it's right in front of our faces. They lie to us....
"For what I've known for as many years and what I've come to believe, what I've been taught, is that the Earth is round," Irving continued. "But if you really think about it from a landscape of the way we travel, the way we move, and the fact that — can you really think of us rotating around the sun and all planets aligned, rotating in specific dates, being perpendicular with what's going on with these planets?"
According to Jefferson, Irving put the word "planets" in air quotations.
"I'm gonna put planets (in air quotations) because everything that they send, or they want to say that they're sending, doesn't come back.... There is no concrete information except for the information that they're giving us. They're particularly putting you in a direction of what to believe and what not to believe. The truth is right there, you've just got to go searching for it."
GALLERY: BEST OF NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND
Irving, who was drafted No. 1 overall in 2011 after spending one year at Duke and is making his fourth All-Star appearance this weekend in New Orleans, doubled down on his comments at All-Star Media Day on Friday.
"I think people should do their own research, and then hopefully they'll either back my belief or they'll kind of throw it in the water," Irving told ESPN. "But I think it's interesting for people to find out on their own."
When asked if he's seen "pictures" of Earth?
"I've seen a lot of things that my educational system has said that was real and turned out to be completely fake, so I don't mind going against the grain."
When asked on Saturday about his stance, which was making its rounds all across the social media universe, an irritated Irving hammered his point home — "Does it matter?"
"The fact that it's a social phenomenon, that Kyrie thinks the world is flat, is hilarious to me," Irving told reporters. "... I just feel like, the fact that it's even a conversation, is hilarious. That it could actually be news, it's hilarious to me."
Follow AJ Neuharth-Keusch on Twitter @tweetAJNKWhen it comes to strategic deterrence, Russia might replace its nuclear weapons with precision bombs, in order to help reduce international tensions and strengthen world peace, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a public lecture on Thursday, the news agency RIA Novosti reported.
According to Shoigu, Moscow plans to rely on warships and submarines armed with cruise missiles to carry the bulk of its precision-guided weapons.
“By 2021, we plan to more than quadruple the combat capabilities of our strategic conventional forces, which will fully meet the demands of [Russia’s] conventional deterrence,” Shoigu said.
Russia’s defense minister also reported that Moscow has no intention of being dragged into an arms race, saying the Kremlin plans to maintain the country’s current level of national security, developing its “general-purpose” forces to operate in peacetime and in armed conflicts, including missions against international terrorists.
Shoigu’s comments seem to fly in the face of remarks President Vladimir Putin made on Dec. 22 to a meeting of Russia’s Defense Ministry Board, when he said, “We need to enhance the combat capability of strategic nuclear forces, primarily by strengthening missile complexes that will be guaranteed to penetrate existing and future missile defense systems.”
The same day, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump repeated a common promise from his campaign, calling on America to “strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
The next day, when fielding a question from The Wall Street Journal about Trump’s comment, President Putin showed little concern, brushing it off as “nothing unusual.”An eight-year-old child is too young to stay home alone, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.
In the judgment released this week, the court upheld an earlier ruling in the case of a Terrace mother who left her eight-year-old son unsupervised after school.
The boy's mother had allowed her son to stay home unsupervised after school between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. each day.
But court said that's too young, no matter how mature his mother believes him to be.
The case stems out of concerns by a social worker and the boy's father, who is separated from the boy's mother. They had objected to the mother allowing her son to stay home unsupervised after school, between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. each day, and when she continued her actions, she was threatened with the removal of her child.
In court, a social worker testified children under 10 lack the cognitive ability to stay safe on their own at such a young age due to potential incidents including accidental poisoning or fires.
The mother argued there was no proof her child needed protection, that children mature at different rates and there's no law stating how old kids have to be to stay on their own.
But the B.C. Supreme Court judge upheld the findings of the previous trial judge, that "children under the age of 10 could not be safely left alone, therefore establishing there were reasonable grounds to believe [the boy] required protection, and that such protection could be effected by a supervision order."
'It's a parent's right to decide'
John-Paul Boyd, executive director of the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, says while this case isn't precedent setting, it presents a lesson to parents.
"You have to be careful about the social worker who comes to visit, because he or she has a great deal of discretion in deciding what the ministry decides to do," he said.
Boyd says the mother had a good defence, and agrees children mature at different ages and there's no legal definition of when a child is old enough to be left on their own.
"There are seven-year-old kids that I would trust with the keys to my house, and 17-year-old kids I would never trust with the keys to my house," Boyd says. "It's a parent's right to decide whether or not her particular child is old enough and mature enough to handle those decisions on his own."
Boyd says the laws around these issues have not changed in many years, and the only thing that might be changing are social workers' and judges' interpretations of the law.
However, he says that a society, we've become more "neurotic" about keeping watch over children.After months of deliberations, it's said that Volkswagen and the U.S. government have finally come to an agreement over how VW will compensate American customers affected by the ongoing diesel emissions scandal. German newspaper Die Welt reported Wednesday that VW will pay affected U.S. customers $5000 each, per a Reuters report.
Volkswagen sold around 600,000 cars in the U.S. equipped with a so-called "defeat device," which allowed the cars to emit up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide in real-world driving, but still pass mandated government emissions tests. Up to 11 million cars worldwide were equipped with this software.
A payout of $5000 per affected car in the U.S. would mean that VW would assumedly cost VW as much as total of roughly $3 billion. It's unclear if VW will carry out a recall to repair the affected cars after it financially compensates its customers.
Die Welt, which cites anonymous sources within the industry, reports that VW will present its plan to Federal Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco Thursday. Volkswagen faced a trial this summer if it didn't present a solution to Judge Breyer by the 21st of this month.
This is arguably the first piece of good news for affected VW TDI customers in the U.S. since VW's cheating was first revealed last September. Progress on an agreement between VW and U.S. regulators has been slow, as has been the investigation into the cheating.by Robert C. Lehrman on December 10, 2014
I have focused on beverage labeling law since 1988. During that time it has been very rare for a private party to bring any action against a beer, wine or spirit supplier’s labeling or advertising — unless the basis was trademark.
Instead, most people assumed the states, TTB, and FDA would take care of this, pretty much to the exclusion of anyone else. Pom began to unravel this in a big way over the past couple of years, and this trend seems to be gaining momentum.
A San Diego law firm filed a class action lawsuit, on December 8, 2014, in federal court in California. The case is called Nowrouzi et. al. v. Maker’s Mark Distillery, Inc. A few pages of the complaint are here. If you want a copy of the whole complaint, or updates, they are available upon request and without obligation.
The complaint goes right for Beam’s jugular (Jim Beam owns Maker’s Mark). It essentially says Maker’s Mark is lying about whether the product is “handmade.” The first count is for false advertising. The second is for unfair competition and fraud. Next is negligent misrepresentation and then intentional misrepresentation. The lawsuit asks for a jury trial, punitive damages, an injunction, reimbursement to consumers, interest, and lawyer’s fees.
An example of the labeling at issue is above, and here is a recent TTB approval therefore. Maker’s Mark is way out there, on a limb. Very similar to the Tito’s vodka controversy (as regards “Handcrafted”) the whisky label has “Handmade” right out there, front and center. Maker’s Mark, though, doubles down and declares it is “America’s only handmade bourbon. …” That may be too extravagant to be maintained, and is certainly a big, provocative statement. Not least, it has indeed provoked a few lawyers in San Diego.
Here are highlights from the 33 page complaint (replete with photos and stirring allegations):
“Defendant’s whisky is manufactured using mechanized and/or automated processes, which involves little to no human supervision, assistance or involvement, as demonstrated by photos and video footage of Defendant’s manufacturing process.” “[T]he matter in controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, exceeds the sum or value of $5,000,000.” “Defendant has shipped approximately 1.4 million cases of whisky in 2013.” “’Handmade’ and ‘handcrafted’ are terms that consumers have long associated with higher quality manufacturing and high-end products. This association and public perception is evident in the marketplace where manufacturers charge a premium for ‘handcrafted’ or ‘handmade’ goods.” “Defendant’s website also states that, ‘[w]hile most distilleries use a modern hammer mill to break up their grains, Maker’s Mark uses an old antique roller mill, which is less efficient, but reduces the chance of scorching the grain and creating a bitter taste.’ This is done in an apparent attempt to market the whisky as being of higher quality by virtue of it being made by hand. As a result, Defendant induces consumers.” “[C]ontrary to Defendant’s misleading labeling, its whisky is predominately or entirely made by mechanized and automated processes.” “Defendant has faced continual production shortages and has attempted to remedy those shortfalls by expanding and mechanizing its facility. Defendant’s supply shortages have been so severe that Defendant even proposed ‘watering down’ its whisky’s alcohol content to meet production demands.” “Defendant’s mill is neither old nor antique. Defendant’s mill is a modern mechanized and/or automated machine that requires little to no human supervision, assistance or involvement to grind and prepare the grain, which is the primary ingredient in Defendant’s whisky. … [T]here is virtually no human involvement in this system, other than perhaps the pressing of a button.” “Defendant is guilty of malice, oppression, and fraud, and each Plaintiff is therefore entitled to recover exemplary or punitive damages.”
For the most part, the complaint strikes me as careful, serious and well-written. But this part seems to go a bit too far toward the land of make believe:
Producing consumer goods by means of mechanized or automated process has long [been] touted as a cheaper way to “mass produce” consumer goods. By utilizing machines to produce goods, manufacturers are able to make more goods in a shorter period of time at a lower cost. Mechanization of course sacrifices quality, as machines cannot exercise the skill and care of a human craftsman. Every consumer would undoubtedly prefer a higher quality product, however many are not able or willing to pay for such quality. The demand for higher quality products has always existed amongst consumers and thus manufacturers market their products to those seeking higher quality goods and demand a premium price for that quality.
As a great distiller once explained to me, “artisanal” is not always a compliment. When it comes to cars, or computer chips, for example, I am pretty sure I would rather have one made by a modern robot than a genial old man.
I don’t really have a dog in this fight as of this writing. I do think this has reached a critical mass such that TTB should step in and seek to define terms of this nature, lest TTB be relegated to a role as a mere spectator in the gladiation of others. I do also think the term at issue is not quite puffery (such as “premium”) but not quite a factual statement, either (such as “aged 5 years”). The law probably needs to wake up and stop dealing with the easy cases, at one extreme or the other, only.
As one would expect: “A spokesman for Beam/Suntory, the parent company of Maker’s Mark, called the claim ‘without merit’. … ‘We will defend this case vigorously and we are confident that we will prevail’ ….”
As mentioned above, this case has a lot in common with the Tito’s vodka case. As to that case, it probably sounds like I have lined up on the other side from Tito in recent weeks. Not really. I started out with an open mind, recognizing the plaintiff’s may be mistaken, or Tito may be a wily coot who saw this coming and planned accordingly. But it has really been the hapless responses of the Tito’s supporters, in the weeks after the lawsuits flew, that colored my view. They made laughably inane arguments like, who cares about the labeling, or TTB said it’s fine. More recently, Tito’s lawyers filed a response, and it seems good, and much more persuasive than anything said on Tito’s behalf in the interim (as should probably be expected). I look forward to assessing the responses, in both cases, soon.Renewable energy — and especially solar — is a hot topic in Australia, but it can often be difficult to find accurate information about where and how it is being used.
The platform Australian Solar Mapping Tools aims to help with that. A project of the Australian Photovoltaic Institute (APVI), the award-winning interactive website lets users trace the contribution of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy — as in, solar panels — to Australia's electrical grid historically and in real-time, as well as solar PV uptake state-by-state.
See also: First floating solar plant hopes to change waste energy in Australia
One of the maps shows PV installation by suburb in a part of Australia. Image: APVI
Anna Bruce from the University of New South Wales, one of the researchers behind the tool, told Mashable Australia the project has been of obvious interest to electricity suppliers that want to see where solar is going. Still, potential use by consumers is an even more exciting possibility.
"I think all of this data is going to be more widespread and used to help customers optimise electricity use and reduce their costs," she said. "This is a step towards that."
Image: APVI
Before the APVI put their live maps online, there was little information available about how much energy was being generated by solar PV systems, Bruce said. Launched in 2013, the platform now supports a Live Solar PV map, which lets users interact with real-time information about electricity demand and how solar PV contribution is impacting the grid.
Over 6,000 individual solar PV systems or solar panels are now uploading real-time data to the map from their inverters — a device that converts a PV's output into a current that can be fed into the electrical grid. It collects this data from the inverters, as well as from the electricity market around every 15 minutes, Bruce said.
It also provides a per-postcode visualisation of solar PV installation in Australia since 2007.
Bruce said one of the project's key innovations is the Solar Potential tool.
This tool helps users zoom in 3D on their roof and estimate the annual electricity generation and financial savings that would result from installing a solar PV. It takes into account shade from surrounding buildings and vegetation, as well as the tilt and orientation of the roof to give a very accurate idea of output, Bruce added. "It's useful for local government, or any stakeholder who could get a good idea of where the best place to install PV panels are."
For the moment, the Solar Potential tool only covers Australian capital cities — excepting Hobart and Darwin.
"We need to attract additional funding to expand the tool to other areas," Bruce said. "We're hoping that local and state governments might be interested in helping us expand it to be useful to a broader audience."I actually wrote this in a blog last year around this time, but thought it might get a better reception here. So I'm re-posting it. Enjoy.
A bit of comparison between the jolly red guy, and the holy dead guy. (oh, sorry, dead "and resurrected" guy)
But first, a musical interlude to the tune of "Santa Clause is Coming" just to warm things up.
He's making a list. He's checking it well.
He's gonna decide who's burnin in hell.
Jesus Christ is coming right back.
He sees you when you're thinking, all of your dirty thoughts,
He knows if you have sinned or not, so don't think you won't get caught!
Oh, you better be straight. You cannot be gay.
You better repent cause it might be today
That Jesus Christ is coming right back.
****************************************************************
On with the show! The Top Ten comparisons between Santa and God are:
10) Santa: Lives at the North Pole. God: Lives in "Heaven."
Equally difficult places for the majority of living beings to get to.
9) Santa: Has elves to boss around. God: Has "Angels" to boss around.
I know there's a joke in here somewhere about a Subordinate Claus, but I just can't place it...
8) Santa: Keeps tabs on who's "naughty" or "nice." God: Apparently keeps tabs on who's gay or straight. (oh, and a few other "sins" the majority of which even most believers can't agree upon what exactly those are.)
Equally instilling the fear of a presence that knows and judges your every move.
7) Santa: Will give you coal if you've been naughty. God: Lights the coal on fire and makes you burn in it eternally, if you've been naughty.
Instilling the fear of punishment for the actions you're being judged for (see #3).
6) Santa: Has eight "tiny reindeer," and a sleigh which he rides around the world in one night to deliver presents. God: Has seven seals and four horsemen which ride around the world to deliver "divine justice."
5) Santa: Comes in many forms with many rich traditions and stories behind him that people tend to take and pass on depending on geographical and social upbringing. God: Comes in many forms with many rich traditions and stories behind him that people tend to take and pass on depending on geographical and social upbringing.
Hmmmm......
4) Santa: Takes requests for presents and sometimes gives them and sometimes doesn't. God: Takes prayers for anything and sometimes grants them and sometimes doesn't.
The psychological theory of random positive re-enforcement comes to mind here... I wonder why?
3) Santa: Comes from an exaggerated story about a possibly real person. God: Comes entirely from myths to explain previously unexplainable natural phenomena, and the few possibly real historical figures connected with "God" have also been greatly exaggerated.
Ya cain't have a good yarn without twistin the truth just a little now, kin ya?
2) Santa: Was made up by parents to keep kids in line by the vague promise of reward for being good and threat of punishment for being bad on a yearly basis. God: Was made up by politicians and clergy to keep the general populous in line by the vague promise of reward for being good and punishment for being bad over a LIFETIME.
1) Santa: Eventually is revealed to be "pretend" and as people get older and smarter, they no longer believe. God: Eventually "reveals" himself and as people get older and smarter they hang on their belief like a drowning man on a life-preserver (even when he's finally washed up on solid ground).
And finally two MAJOR DIFFERENCES between them, #1) Santa: Is not real. One would be hard pressed to find a normal, rational adult who would argue this point. God: Is not real. It is VERY EASY to find otherwise normal, rational adults who will argue this point TO THE DEATH...
Which leads us to MAJOR DIFFERENCE #2) Santa: To my knowledge has never caused people to MURDER each other for not believing in Santa, or for believing in "the wrong" Santa. God: Has (IF one must insist he exists) allowed constant, countless atrocities from murder, to genocide and even infanticide to be carried out in His name throughout recorded history... for either not believing in God, or believing in "the wrong" God.
Thus concludes for tonight our comparison of Santa and God.
Thank you, and I hope you enjoyed.ST. PAUL — The Minnesota state Senate voted Thursday to pass the “Safe and Supportive Schools Act,” a bill, which would require all Minnesota school districts to develop and enforce a plan to reduce bullying.
The vote was 36-31, and followed an often contentious marathon debate.
The bill, as passed by the Senate, must now be reconciled with a House version passed last session before it heads to Gov. Mark Dayton for his signature.
The legislation faced considerable opposition from interest groups representing school superintendents, school board members and rural school districts, who alleged the state was delving too deep into school policies; right-wing conservative groups claimed that students could be labeled bullies for expressing religious views opposing LGBT equality.
Under the bill, all Minnesota public schools to adopt written policies on bullying prevention and designate a staff member to implement the policy.
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School employees and volunteers would be trained to identify signs of bullying and be required to “make a reasonable effort to address and resolve the prohibited conduct.”
“(Children) should be able to expect to go to school feeling safe, feeling supportive; not having to make that trade off. We’ll see kids who are reluctant to go to school, or even staying away from school, or feeling like they have to switch schools, going to their own school and not having to worry about it,” said Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis), the measure’s sponsor, shortly before the vote.
This Story Filed UnderThe Diamond Kata is a simple exercise that Seb Rose described in a recent blog post.
Seb describes the Diamond Kata as:
Given a letter, print a diamond starting with ‘A’ with the supplied letter at the widest point.
Seb used the exercise to illustrate how he “recycles” tests to help him work incrementally towards a full solution. Seb’s approach prompted Alastair Cockburn to write an article in response in which he argued for more thinking before programming. Alastair’s article shows how he approached the Diamond Kata with more up-front analysis. Ron Jeffries and George Dinwiddie resonded to Alastair’s article, showing how they approached the Diamond Kata relying on emergent design to produce an elegant solution (“thinking all the time”, as Ron Jeffries put it). There was some discussion on Twitter, and several other people published their approaches. (I’ll list as many as I know about at the end of this article).
The discussion sparked my interest, so I decided to have a go at the exercise myself. The problem seemed to me, at first glance, to be a good fit for property testing. So I decided to test-drive a solution using only property-based tests and see what happens. I wrote the solution in Scala and used ScalaTest to run and organise the tests and ScalaCheck for |
the past, Christian evangelists have been quick to use natural disasters, terrorist incidents, gay rights marches, and just about anything they could as a way of proclaiming that God is unhappy with, and about to judge, America. While it is rather unseemly, it is not surprising that Graham Lotz would latch onto the tragedy of the Malaysian Airlines to launch warnings about The Rapture.President Obama praised lawmakers today for developing a new set of financial regulations he hopes to sign into law by July 4.
"We are poised to pass the toughest financial reform since the ones we created in the aftermath of the Great Depression," Obama said at the White House as he prepared to leave for the G-20 summit in Canada.
The new rules are designed to "hold Wall Street accountable" and prevent the kind of financial meltdown that crippled the economy in 2008, Obama said.
The package includes further restrictions on too-risky investments by banks, a new consumer protection agency to oversee the activities of credit card companies and financial firms and an end to the concept known as "too big to fail."
This would be the second major piece of legislation to be signed by Obama this year, following the big health care overhaul that became law in March. The administration also hopes to sign a big energy bill by the end of the year, though that is still under negotiation in Congress.
Obama, whose Democratic Party faces tough sledding in this November's congressional elections, touted other accomplishments during his five-minute speech. "Over the last 17 months," he said, "we've passed an Economic Recovery Act, health insurance reform, education reform, and we are now on the brink of passing Wall Street reform."
House and Senate negotiators wrapped up their work on new financial regulations at 5:39 this morning. Obama praised the "incredibly hard work" of the two key Democrats: Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
Global financial reform is also a topic of the G-20 summit this weekend in Canada, Obama said.
"I'll work with other nations not only to coordinate our financial reform efforts, but to promote global economic growth while ensuring that each nation can pursue a path that is sustainable for its own public finances," the president said.
The president said he believes in investment and a dynamic economy, "but we've all seen what happens when there is inadequate oversight and insufficient transparency on Wall Street."
(Posted by David Jackson)The need for revitalisation of the manufacturing sector has also been highlighted by Ravi Venkatesan "This will require many policy changes including possibly preference for locally manufactured goods in government procurement or local content requirements," Venkatesan has said in a column in ET. "In such matters, India will need to thoughtfully and courageously maintain a fine balance between being compliant with its obligations to WTO on one hand and doing what is in her self-interest on the other," he adds.
According to India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), manufacturing could create 28 million new jobs in the next 10 years and save foreign exchange, as demand for electronics hardware gadgets is set to expand from $55 billion in 2014 to $400 billion by 2020.
Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT, the apex body of the hardware sector: says: "The market is there. Talent is also available. With a new government expectations are running high and things should change for the better." But simply having a new government won't kick-start manufacturing and take it to a scale that China or Taiwan offer. Having missed opportunities in the past, experts say the best option is to steer clear of products currently in the market like desktop computers and laptops and look at products of the future like Google Glass. Or even hone expertise in new manufacturing techniques like 3D printing.
In the immediate term, to catch up with the missed opportunities IESA believes foreign collaborations is the way out. Says MN Vidyashankar, president, IESA: "Auto manufacturing took off due to joint ventures with foreign carmakers. We need similar ventures in hightech manufacturing." Already, Japan and Taiwan are scouting for collaborations.
According to IESA 45 Taiwan-based companies are looking at setting up base in India. There's a Japanese City being planned by Japanese companies and is likely to come up in either Pune, or Karnataka or Gujarat. The city will be a hub for Japanese companies keen on tapping the Indian market for electronics and computers.
2) Structural reforms: According to Murarka of Axis AMC, there are enough low-hanging fruits in terms of structural economic reforms that can be unleashed in a short span of time. "The impact of these reforms can be far reaching in reviving India's growth. Areas like land, labour, agriculture, infrastructure, railways, water, mining, tax laws are all in dire need of structural changes," he says.
"India's state-owned enterprises have enormous potential and strengths. But due to poor governance, mismanagement and leaky business practices, they have been corroding and have been a burden on the exchequer for long. We have to set this right, make them globally competitive," Murarka explains.
3) Attracting FDI: From a peak of $31 billion in 2009, FDI inflows declined to $19 billion in 2011 as many companies were put off by the business unfriendly environment; it has rebounded to $28 billion but this is a fraction of the $125 billion that China attracts.
"India is lucky; global companies are naturally drawn to her size, demographics and talent. The government just has to stop scaring companies away. While issues like infrastructure and labour law reform are critical, the foremost task is to make India a less hostile country to do business in," feels Ravi Venkatesan.
The World Bank ranks India 134th out of 189 countries in terms of ease of doing business. "A 40 place improvement over the next five years would make India the world's best destination for global companies many of whom are seeking to de-risk their dependence on China," he says.
Citing solutions, he says, "The top priority must be to stop what Narendra Modi has called "tax terrorism". This is the arbitrary and crude interpretation of tax laws by the revenue authorities which makes India one of the most challenging places in the world to pay taxes; it ranks #158 on the same World Bank scale." "The key is to engage in open-minded dialogue and search for win-win solutions with foreign companies and governments rather than announce policy decision unilaterally," he adds.
4) Judiciary: Judicial reforms form another major part of the reforms process that experts advocate. Murarka says, "Judiciary is the guardian of any democratic system. In a vibrant democracy, it is essential to provide speedy justice to ordinary citizens. And while India does have an independent and active judiciary, we need to carry forward the process of judicial reforms with agility. And for that revisiting our archaic laws and plugging loopholes in the systems is the first step."
Ravi Venkatesan believes that attracts investors despite the legal system rather than because of it. "Improving the efficiency of the judicial system in enforcing contracts and resolving disputes also needs critical attention. Paradoxically for a country that contrasts itself from China by citing the rule of law, India comes in at a lowly 186 when it comes to contract enforcement; only Timor, Tajikistan and Myanmar do less well," Venkatesan says.
"A functioning judicial system would likely also see a reduction in India's risk-enhancing, rampant corruption," he adds.
5) High growth for poverty reduction: Yet another parameter than India can look to China for is poverty reduction. Moving more people above the poverty would provide a definite booster to the country's GDP. It will also be a big step-up in the direction of increasing the demand for goods in the economy.
Murarka of Axis AMC feels that the sustained high growth model that China pursued has led to a decline in its poverty ratio from 85% in the 1980s to less than 10% currently. "In the process it (China) managed to pull 680 million people out of poverty. We should certainly aim to eradicate poverty from our country over the next 10 years and this can only be achieved through sustained high economic growth," he says.Well, the short answer is: it’s you. If every person you end up emotionally involved with is a psycho and finds a way to make your life hell, the only thing they all have in common is you. So start by looking at yourself.
It’s a common pattern: quiet, reserved, “nice” people that continually attract emotionally explosive and manipulative people into their love lives. Why does this happen? And why does it seem to happen to the same people over and over again?
It happens when you are uncomfortable with intimacy and expressing your emotions openly and honestly. This inability to express emotionally healthy intimacy will inadvertently narrow down your dating options to those who are equally as screwed up in their ability to maintain a healthy intimacy. Here are a few reasons why.
1. Their boldness counterbalances your inhibitions.
If you are uncomfortable showing romantic interest, then you are immediately limiting your dating pool to only the boldest and most self-started among us. If you are particularly shy, inhibited, unclear about what you want, or weak in expressing your desires, then you are a prime candidate to get bulldozed by someone who is willing to push their own desires onto you. In a sense, it’s your weakness that invites and attracts these selfish people into your life.
2. Their emotional instability stimulates your suppressed emotions.
People who are uncomfortable with expressing emotions suppress them in a few different ways. They numb themselves completely and feel indifferent towards others, or they rationalize reasons to avoid engaging others emotionally. In some circumstances, people will overcompensate by completely objectifying their relationships and sex life, rationalizing that they don’t need to be emotionally connected to someone to date them.
When you suppress your emotions and shun intimacy, the only people whose emotions are intense enough to break through are those who are emotionally unstable. By suppressing yourself, you unknowingly self-select for others who overexpress themselves. These people tend to get particularly hooked on overly-emotional/unstable people because it allows them to experience their own emotions vicariously through the drama of the person they’re with.
3. Their addiction to drama makes you feel important.
But what really gets emotionally suppressed people hooked is the drama. These “psychos” are always in a state of crisis. They’re always the victim of something. And they always need to be saved from somebody or something. This makes you feel important and needed — two things you’ve rarely felt so acutely before — because you’ve gone through life suppressing intimacy and keeping your relationships as superficial as possible.
Inevitably, the emotionally unstable “psycho” will find a way to turn on you. Any peace and equanimity you work for, they will find a way to sabotage it. Because the sick truth is that always being in a state of emotional crisis makes the other person feel important as well. Their fear is the same as yours: that you’re unimportant. But they achieve it through an equal and opposite strategy: drama. And so the over-emotional/under-emotional duo enter into a toxic unconscious dance of victim and savior, oscillating between giddy euphoria and abject misery.
These “crazy people” almost always end up leaving you, as you may have found out the hard way, like I did. As time goes on, you’re willing to sacrifice more and more of your own identity to fix their emotional problems, to the point where you lose any ability to think or choose for yourself whatsoever. This destroys the other’s attraction for you, as people who have no self-worth are the epitome of unattractive. At this point, the only way to keep the crises flowing is by seeking out another person to complicate things.
These people are naturally drawn to love triangles especially with themselves being the point between two other people. Love triangles provide endless fuel for their need for drama. And it also provides endless fuel for the suppressed person’s need to “rescue” or “win over” the other person.
So, while these “psychos” are responsible for their own behavior, if you are consistently bringing them into your life by your emotional suppression, then it’s your own fault.While many national governments struggle to take comprehensive action on climate change, major cities around the globe are acting on their own.
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) recently released a report [PDF] tracking initiatives cities are taking to address their greenhouse gas emissions. Many of these municipal governments — plagued by heat waves and flooding — recognize the urgent need to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Cities account for 70 percent of global emissions [PDF] while occupying just 2 percent of dry land. The 53 cities that publicly disclose citywide emissions together produce more than 977 million tonnes of CO2 — or the equivalent emissions of Germany.
While cities are a major source of carbon emissions, they’re also a hotbed of activity to reduce that global warming pollution.
Reacting to the dangers posed by climate change, 59 cities are taking a total of 630 citywide actions to limit their emissions. The most common measure is reducing the energy demand of buildings, with 133 efforts to do so in 48 cities. Forty-seven cities have also initiated 129 actions to reduce transportation emissions. In order to achieve this, cities are frequently using their general municipal funds, though there also exists “a wide variety of outside sources” like state grants, national funding, and U.N. programs to tap into.
To adapt to a changing climate, these cities are creating urban green spaces, developing storm water capture systems, and promoting “green roofs.” Thirty cities have cultivated green spaces and planted trees to provide citizens a respite from the heat. Six cities have begun developing flood defense systems in anticipation of rising sea levels. This is a major concern for coastal cities, as increases in sea levels are expected to place low-lying urban necessities, such as airports, at risk.
Sixty cities have also identified opportunities for economic growth from green jobs and the development of new industries. Houston expects to create 168,000 green jobs. Portland’s Clean Energy Works program created jobs for 400 workers retrofitting 1,200 homes through a $25 million loan program.
In order to encourage local development of clean energy and emissions reductions, these cities are coming up with innovative solutions to encourage building owners to make changes. For example, Chicago created a competition among commercial building owners in 2009, recognizing local businesses that achieve specific green goals over the course of a year. Another common practice is to streamline the permitting processes for siting clean energy projects.
Moving forward, cities will continue to be the epicenter of action on climate change. Discussing the action cities are taking at Rio+20, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters, “We’re not arguing with each other about emissions targets. What we’re doing is going out and making progress.”NEW DELHI: India said it is sympathetic to the problems being faced by Mongolia, and would help them use the $1 billion assistance offered in 2015 to tide over their present crisis – economic sanctions imposed by China as punishment for inviting the Dalai Lama Answering questions, the MEA spokesperson said, “We are ready to work with Mongolian people in this time of their difficulty. During the visit of Prime Minister to Mongolia in May 2015, PM had conveyed to the Mongolian leadership that India will extend support to Mongolia in diverse fields. We had announced a credit line of US$ 1 billion during the visit. Mongolian leadership was highly appreciative of this gesture and conveyed that it would help them in obtaining investment and financial resources from their other partners. We are closely working with the Mongolian government to implement the credit line in a manner that is deemed beneficial to the friendly people of Mongolia by its leadership.”However, India is careful to steer clear of the Mongolia-China spat, including mentioning that Mongolia’s current crisis also was due to its debt servicing problems, as others.“We have a long spiritual relationship with India,” Gonchig Ganbold, Mongolia’s ambassador told TOI. “It's important that India raises its voice against the unilateral measures China is taking against us which is hurting our people specially when severe winter is upon us.” Silence, he said, could be construed as giving China a “pass” for its behaviour.The envoy held talks with Pradeep Rawat, joint secretary, east Asia in the MEA. But it is not yet clear what kind of support India can give to Mongolia, whose two biggest neighbours are China and Russia. Sources in the government said, India was committed to support Mongolia, without clarifying whether that would entail a public statement sure to anger the Chinese. “We consider Mongolia to be a partner in democracy,” they said.Nor is this all. Bearing an unmistakably Jewish name, I am spared the crude comments of virulent anti-Semites, for even they retain a modicum of manners in my presence; and, there being no possibility of mistake, I am not asked to join groups that do not "take" Jews. I am accepted by my fellows as a human being, or I am rejected as a Jew, and while I have no apparatus for measuring hatred and love as they move the hearts of millions of non-Jews, I do know this: that Gentiles, knowing me to be a Jew, have all my life taken me into their hearts and homes, with no self-consciousness on their part or mine, with no abrogation of dignity on either side, without condescension by them and without obsequiousness by me.
The fact that I have been free of most of the blatant prejudices that often run against so many of my coreligionists does not make me insensitive to their plight, nor do I detach myself from them as though I lived upon a private planet of my own. The war between good and evil never ceases. It was once suggested to Luigi Luzzatti, a Prime Minister of Italy and a Jew, that he change his faith. "I do not think of myself as a Jew or a Gentile," he replied, "but only as an Italian. But when Jews are attacked, then the voice of Isaiah rises in my soul" Here it would seem meet to do battle under true colors rather than false.
If I should resort to the plastic surgery of the courts, it would be only because I should like to pass myself off on the community as a synthetic Plantagnet. This, conceivably, could bring me certain dubious "advantages," such as eligibility for clubs that reject me because I am a Jew, or admission to hotels in "restricted" resorts that refuse me for the same reason. With a new name – preferably one suggesting kinship with a high-church bishop – I might even be asked to dine with some newly minted family that, having gouged the government during the First World War, is now almost as pedigreed as a grand champion bull. These considerations leave me cold.
We already have an overproduction of social climbers in this country; folks who, in the telling and contemptuous rural Negro phrase, have "got above their raisin'." There is no reason why I should add to their number; I can derive a sufficient knowledge of their obscene antics, without closer relationship, by reading the considerable Americas literature that deals with them.
Yet it is not surprising that there should be so many of them among us – Gentile and Jew – seeing that, paradoxically, snobbery reaches its ultimate in a shirt-sleeve democracy such as ours. For snobbery, generally speaking, flows from social insecurity and only two groups are free of it. The one is the tiny group of aristocrats at the top who feel that no matter what they do, they cannot lose their social position. The other is the group of men it the bottom who have no social position to lose. One finds, therefore, few snobs among true aristocrats and truck drivers. The place to look for them is among large numbers of the American middle class – especially its women. Corroded by a sense of social insecurity, they are almost pathologically concerned with the "right thing" – the right friends, schools, resorts, clothes, clubs, addresses. Nothing stops them in their search for social position.Mr. Huh said his company, which makes most of its money from Web advertising, has been profitable since Day 1.
“Then again, it was just me and Emily in the beginning,” he said referring to his wife, who also works at the company. Cheezburger now has more than 40 employees and has not sought additional investment.
As the company has grown, so have the opportunities to make money, said Todd Sawicki, the company’s chief revenue officer.
“Only 1 percent of what gets submitted goes on the Web site,” he said. “The rest we can turn into T-shirts, books and other content that the audience loves.”
This year alone, Mr. Sawicki said, the company will generate a seven-figure sum from advertising, licensing fees and merchandise sales.
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The company has published five books based on its blogs, one of which, a collection of the cats-with-misspelled-captions images known as Lolcats, hovered on the New York Times list of miscellaneous paperback best sellers for 13 weeks. Three more books are in production, along with a line of greeting cards and desktop calendars.
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One secret to the company’s success is the way it taps into the Internet zeitgeist. It seeks clues to what is funny right now by monitoring the Web for themes bubbling up on community forums, blogs and video sites. Then it spins off new sites devoted to the latest online humor fads.
“Cheezburger figures out what’s starting to get popular and then harvests the humor from the chaff,” said Kenyatta Cheese, one of the creators of a popular Web video series called “Know Your Meme” that documents viral online phenomena, known as memes. “Things like Lolcats and Fail are easy to make, easy to spread and hit on an emotional level that crosses a lot of traditional boundaries.”
Most of the material the company posts is created by readers, who can Photoshop a funny caption onto an image or remix a popular video in minutes and submit it to one of the Cheezburger sites for consideration. The company says that each day it receives more than 18,000 submissions from readers.
Joe Olk, 28, is one of two dozen staff members who spend their days deliberating over exactly what makes something laugh-out-loud worthy.
Skimming through images on a computer monitor in the company’s spacious office in downtown Seattle, Mr. Olk paused over one photograph of a neon sign advertising services described as “Internet Massage.” “Now that is just weird,” he says with a snicker. “But also funny.” And with a click, it is posted online.
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Employees do not check to see whether the person submitting content actually owns it before they put it on a company site, but they will remove it if they receive a complaint after the fact. The company says that before it puts an image into a book or calendar, it does seek permission from its creator, who might receive a free book or T-shirt.
Submissions that are funny but don’t fit into any of the current blog themes can inspire new blogs. For example, after noticing an influx of photos featuring comically bad knock-off toys and other products, the company decided there were enough to warrant a new site, which is slated to be introduced in the next week or two.
The tricky part, said Kiki Kane, 36, who oversees new site development for the network, is gauging whether an Internet trend has legs. She aims to introduce a new blog every week.
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“We’re constantly monitoring the Web for new memes,” she said. “Those bits of cultural shorthand, inside jokes that you get right away just by seeing a visual image.”
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Not every new site is a hit. One called Pandaganda, which collected images of pandas looking comically evil and sinister, fizzled after a few weeks, so Mr. Huh pulled the plug. “We kill about 20 percent of all the sites we start,” he said.
The idea of quickly tailoring a blog network to satisfy the fickle tastes of a Web-savvy audience, generating new sites to capitalize on a viral sensation and dropping the ones that don’t catch on, is what convinced Geoff Entress, a noted angel investor in the Seattle area, to help Mr. Huh purchase the original company.
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“Being flexible and able to change as the environment changes is a huge asset to a consumer Web site,” said Mr. Entress, who has backed more than 35 local start-ups, including an online community for booklovers called Shelfari that was eventually bought by Amazon.
“The risk wasn’t that people wouldn’t like the product,” he said. “We already had the numbers showing they did. The risk was whether or not we could prove this was more than a fad.”
If the wacky cats are a fad, they are one that has had surprising staying power, as shown by a recent Cheezburger happy-hour event at Safeco Field before a Seattle Mariners game.
More than 1,000 fans turned up to listen to cat-themed songs blasted over the loudspeakers, snack on miniature cheeseburgers, slurp from plastic cups of beer and pose for pictures with Mr. Huh.
Tess Mattos, a 41-year-old knitting instructor who traveled up from Portland, Ore., for the event, said she had been a fan of the network’s flagship site for three years.
“It’s just a good, simple break from real life,” she said, adjusting the pair of sequined cat ears she was wearing. “It’s clever, but not mean-spirited.”
“People think we’re weird,” she quipped. “But have you seen the fans of ‘Twilight?’ ”South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) was a “pretty easy pick” for Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE, according to a transition spokesman.
Haley is being nominated to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, despite criticism she leveled at the president-elect during the campaign.
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“It was a pretty easy pick, I think, for the president-elect,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning.
“He clearly respects and admires her. … There was also a natural chemistry between the two when they met,” Miller added.
Haley, 44, is a surprising pick given Trump’s penchant for rewarding loyalty.
She backed Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 MORE (Fla.) in the GOP primaries. And in a January interview with NBC News’s Matt Lauer, she acknowledged that she was referring to Trump when she criticized loud and angry voices in her response to President Obama’s State of the Union address at the beginning of the year.
Trump, she told Lauer, “has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk.”
In a statement Wednesday morning, Trump described Haley as “a proven dealmaker.” He said she “will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.”
On the conference call, the Trump officials were asked whether Haley, as a state governor, brought any diplomatic experience to the U.N. role.
Miller said that as governor of South Carolina, Haley had completed a number of overseas trade and business recruitment missions.
The Trump officials said the president-elect may announce another Cabinet-level post later on Wednesday. When asked what post it would be, Miller said, “We’ll have to keep you in suspense.”
Trump is spending Thanksgiving with his family at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. The officials didn’t reveal who else he’ll be meeting over this short period.
Miller said Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence Michael (Mike) Richard PencePence meeting with Senate GOP ahead of vote to block emergency declaration 'And the award for best political commentary by an Oscar nominee goes to...' UN nuclear watchdog: Iran maintains compliance with 2015 pact MORE have already held more than 60 meetings with “highly qualified individuals” to discuss the formation of the incoming administration.
The transition officials were also pressed about provocative comments Trump loyalist Mike Huckabee made earlier on Wednesday morning.
Speaking on "Fox and Friends," Huckabee warned Trump against picking 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to be his secretary of State, saying it would be an insult to his voters.
Huckabee said, “There’s only one way that Mitt Romney can be considered for a post like that, and that is if he goes to a mic in a very public place and repudiates everything he said in that famous Salt Lake City speech and everything he said after that — Donald Trump wasn’t fit, that he lacked character.”
In an off-the-record meeting with network executives and anchors on Monday, Trump reportedly told them that Romney “really wants” to be his secretary of State.
Miller said Trump had not yet decided who will run his State Department.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — a staunch Trump ally — has publicly lobbied for the position.
Giuliani, however, would face a potentially difficult confirmation process given the extent of his foreign business entanglements.
“He’s looking at a number of very highly qualified potential choices there,” Miller said of Trump’s deliberations on the secretary of State position.
“He’ll be looking for things like chemistry, experience, a similar vision in what the president-elect and vice president-elect are trying to do with this administration.”A homophobic thug slashed a woman in the face on a Lower East Side street after she called him out for hurling anti-gay slurs at her pal, authorities said.
Takeam Brison, 32, allegedly walked up to a group of friends standing at Delancey Street and Essex Street last Friday at 10:40 p.m. and spewed the hateful epithets, calling one man a “f—-t” and asking, “Am I in F—-tville?,” according to cops.
When the 29-year-old woman told Brison to pipe down, the bigoted brute whipped out a blade and slashed the left side of her face — just as an off-duty cop was exiting a nearby subway station, police said.
The officer took off after Brison, helping fellow cops nab him after a five-block chase, officials said.
Brison, a Bowery homeless shelter resident with an arrest record dating back to the 90s, was charged with felony assault as a hate crime, and criminal possession of a weapon for a pocket knife found on his person, according to authorities.
The gutsy slashing victim was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center and received several stitches.
City Council Member Margaret Chin issued a statement saying, “The woman who confronted this man during his hate-filled rant must be commended for her courageous and noble action, and I am deeply thankful that she did not suffer life-threatening injuries.”As first reported by Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic, Tyler Ulis, drafted in the second round and 34th overall in the last month's NBA Draft, will receive a contract consistent with that of a first round pick when he signs with the Phoenix Suns.
The #Suns are likely done spending big bucks as they set their sight on the future. @paulcoro takes a look https://t.co/I3RJ8I2iHb — azcentral sports (@azcsports) July 4, 2016
Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss, both lottery picks, will receive four year contracts, two years guaranteed, two years a team option. Tyler Ulis will receive a similar contract of four years, two years guaranteed, his starting at $1 million.
The injury history of Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight will go a long way towards determining how the Suns configure their back court coming off the bench. The team may elect to carry Ronnie Price as the team's third point guard. Price appeared in 62 games for the Suns last season, starting in 18 and averaging just under 20 minutes a game. He also missed significant time last season, out a month after surgery on his right big toe.
It's a young team, and despite the rumors, the Suns have managed not to screw up all of the good things they've done since the draft a week and a half ago. Some level of veteran leadership is needed, sure, but should the Suns pass on Price and completely commit to the youth movement at the end of the bench as well?GamersGate is launching FreeGames, an ad-supported platform for both PC and Mac. It's set to launch in 84 days, according to a countdown timer on their website.
How will it work? Every user will be able to have "up to five games available for free on their account at any time with the capability to add additional games." What does that even mean? How do you have only up to five games and then add more than... actually screw it. It's probably something about paying extra, and you're not reading this because you want to pay extra.
You'll see an ad when you launch the free game. The revenue of those ads goes to publishers, who can use the service to target a very specific audience. In return, you play a game for free. No word on what games will be free, or if it will be the entire library. A beta for FreeGames will open in mid June, so more details will likely follow soon.
Free games! Any takers, or will you wait and see what's on offer before jumping on board?
You are logged out. Login | Sign upHawaii is now taking comments on a proposed rule change that would allow the state to use DNA tests in qualifying for benefits limited to native Hawaiians. The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands provides “homestead leases,” a 99-year contract to use land for the price of one dollar a year, to people who have 50% Native Hawaiian blood. Up until now, the only way to prove that was through birth certificates. But now, following settlement of a lawsuit by a man named Leighton Pang Kee, whose father was not named on his birth certificate, the state is considering official examination of DNA in the allocation of this benefit.
But when and where does it end? Racial castes ought to be anathema.
With roughly three times as many people on the waiting list as leases available, and with land prices in Hawaii astronomical, this is obviously a highly coveted benefit. I understand the guilt that attends the acquisition of land from the native Hawaiians – it is a corollary to the story of Native Americans on the Mainland. And all sorts of regulations and benefits are allocated on the basis of race, despite that violating all sorts of constitutional strictures on equal treatment under the law.
That hasn’t happened, as evidenced by the number of people on the homestead waitlist: more than 27,000 applicants. As of Nov. 30, there were 9,814 people leasing residential, agricultural and pastoral homestead lots statewide.
One theory about the origin of the 50 percent requirement is that it was required with the idea that eventually there would be no one left who could qualify, said Williamson Chang, a Native Hawaiian law professor at the University of Hawaii.
Passed by the U.S. Congress in 1921, the program is meant to provide economic self-sufficiency to Hawaiians by allowing them to use land to live on.
Hawaii is now taking comments on a proposed rule change that would allow the state to use DNA tests in qualifying for benefits limited to native Hawaiians. The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands provides “homestead leases,” a 99-year contract to use land for the price of one dollar a year, to people who have 50% Native Hawaiian blood. Up until now, the only way to prove that was through birth certificates. But now, following settlement of a lawsuit by a man named Leighton Pang Kee, whose father was not named on his birth certificate, the state is considering official examination of DNA in the allocation of this benefit.
The Associated Press explains the background:
Passed by the U.S. Congress in 1921, the program is meant to provide economic self-sufficiency to Hawaiians by allowing them to use land to live on. One theory about the origin of the 50 percent requirement is that it was required with the idea that eventually there would be no one left who could qualify, said Williamson Chang, a Native Hawaiian law professor at the University of Hawaii. That hasn’t happened, as evidenced by the number of people on the homestead waitlist: more than 27,000 applicants. As of Nov. 30, there were 9,814 people leasing residential, agricultural and pastoral homestead lots statewide.
With roughly three times as many people on the waiting list as leases available, and with land prices in Hawaii astronomical, this is obviously a highly coveted benefit. I understand the guilt that attends the acquisition of land from the native Hawaiians – it is a corollary to the story of Native Americans on the Mainland. And all sorts of regulations and benefits are allocated on the basis of race, despite that violating all sorts of constitutional strictures on equal treatment under the law.
But when and where does it end? Racial castes ought to be anathema.
Hat tip: Peter von BuolHi everybody, Duffy here.
First off, we want to apologize for the lack of updates. Chris and I have a lot of life-stuff going on that has required our attention, but rest assured that Gigargun is always a topic of discussion whenever we are able to meet.
Since we last updated, I’ve been able to take some of the feedback from DC Gameday and tweak the game to be smoother in explanation and gameplay. At the time of this writing I have had one great playtest with the new system that has shown that the changes considerably speed up gameplay and make it more comprehensive to pick up. We look forward to putting it through the wringer and seeing it holds up through multiple scenarios.
But, down to business: this week we’re talking about the fourth and final character class: the Slayer.
Despite their size and power, giants are not invulnerable. By attacking strategic weak points, a properly trained human can effectively weaken and possibly take down a giant.
Unlike the Mech Pilot, Monster Jockey, or Aesir (Titan), the Slayer is unique in that it does not assume |
n ( Agents, 1908), one-act comedy
(, 1908), one-act comedy Yidishe tekhter ( Jewish Daughters, 1905) drama, adaptation of his early novel Stempenyu
(, 1905) drama, adaptation of his early novel Di goldgreber ( The Golddiggers, 1907), comedy
(, 1907), comedy Shver tsu zayn a yid ( Hard to Be a Jew / If I Were You, 1914)
( /, 1914) Dos groyse gevins ( The Big Lottery / The Jackpot, 1916)
( /, 1916) Tevye der milkhiker, (Tevye the Milkman, 1917, performed posthumously)
Miscellany [ edit ]
Jewish Children, translated by Hannah Berman, William Morrow & Co, 1987, ISBN 0-688-84120-1.
, translated by Hannah Berman, William Morrow & Co, 1987, ISBN 0-688-84120-1. numerous stories in Russian, published in Voskhod (1891–1892)
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]A woman screaming "Where's my husband?" had to be restrained. Credit:Nick Moir
A resident said he was woken by a huge explosion and, after calling triple-0, ran onto the street to see if he could help.
He watched as the group of police repeatedly ran into the flames. Another man managed to crawl from the building, but his friend was trapped under rubble from the first floor.
''They [the police officers] run towards the fire in an effort to get to this guy and, you know, they're pushed back by flames, and then they turn around and try again,'' the resident said. ''One guy jumps in the van and drives that towards the fire in order to try and shield the officers. They were more concerned about the victims' lives than their own. It just shows how much that they will risk their own lives to save someone else. They should be commended for it.''
The two victims were taken to Westmead Hospital with severe burns, where they were in a serious but stable condition. The eight officers also had to be treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation but were said to be in good spirits.Nicklas Bendtner releases a statement, says Arsenal blocked his move to Crystal Palace
Is this Nicklas Bendtner’s way of trying to get back into the fold at Arsenal?
Transfer deadline day was bitterly disappointing for Bendtner as the Danish international was unable to leave the Emirates and start afresh.
Bentdner had looked close to joining Crystal Palace after he was spotted in his car leaving the Eagles’ facilities on Monday, however not deal materialise and now Bendtner has released a statement filling in the blanks as to what happened.
Posted onto the International Football Management’s website, who represent Bendtner, the Dane has said Arsenal blocked his departure from North London because they failed to land a replacement centre-forward, rumoured to be Demba Ba.
Bentdner has said:
It’s no secret that Arsenal and myself had agreed that I could leave the club during the 2013 summer transfer window subject to an agreement between all parties.
An agreement had been reached with more than one club this week but as Arsenal were unable to secure the services of another striker, they reserved their right to not sanction any deal to be concluded…
Naturally, I was very disappointed as I was looking forward to a new challenge, with a new club and a fresh start in English football.
Many things have been said about my where my future lies after many years at Arsenal; the truth is I just want to play football which is when I’m happiest and Arsenal is a fantsstic environment for any professional to apply their trade. I still feel very strongly about Arsenal Football Club and following positive talks with the Manager, I am looking forward to working hard to regain full fitness and doing my very best to help to the team and the Manager fulfil our objectives and ambitions this season.
I’ve learnt a lot from my loan experiences at Sunderland and Juventus and I want to assure all Arsenal fans that I will give everything I have to contribute to what I believe will be a successful season for the club.Two Inmates Recaptured After Chases in Air, on Ground : Three Escape New Mexico Prison in Helicopter
By late afternoon, two of the three inmates had been captured, as had a woman who officials said was also in the helicopter. The pilot, tentatively identified as Charles Bella of El Paso, asserted to police that he had been forced to fly his helicopter at gunpoint.
At one point, the fleeing copter was pursued by two other helicopters and, during a kind of aerial dogfight, apparently tried to ram one and force the other into a construction crane.
In the hours that followed, a drama was acted out that included high-speed chases in the air and on the ground, and a manhunt in the densely wooded river bottom of the Rio Grande, which runs through this small community south of Albuquerque.
LOS LUNAS, N.M. — A helicopter made a daring landing in the exercise yard of the Santa Fe prison Monday morning, plucking three prisoners from inside the walls and roaring away in a fusillade of gunfire.
'Could Easily Take a Hostage'
As evening approached, the last of the inmates, Daniel Mahoney, 30, was believed to be hiding in the underbrush near the river.
"We've got to catch him before dark," said Valencia County Sheriff Lawrence Romero. "Both sides of the river are heavily populated. In the dark he could easily take a hostage."
The day's drama began about 9:40 a.m., when an Aerospatiale Gazelle helicopter swooped into the recreation yard and picked up three men. Prison guards fired at the copter but did not hit it.
Dan Taylor, a spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, said the helicopter headed south and was spotted by a U.S. Customs Service helicopter that happened to be in the area.
Meanwhile, police agencies around the state were being contacted and told to check airports in their jurisdictions. One of those was Mid-Valley Airport, outside Los Lunas, where two highway patrolmen and two sheriff's deputies watched the helicopter approach.
About an hour after the prison break, the craft landed at Mid-Valley. Sgt. Gilbert Candelaria, one of those waiting, said one man got out of the helicopter and ran to a green and white pickup truck. The sheriff's deputies gave chase and Candelaria said they went through the center of town at speeds approaching 90 m.p.h.
The chase ended when the truck went into a spin and stalled, and deputies shot at the driver. He was hit, apparently not seriously, and was identified as Randy Mack Lackey, 36, who was serving a 9-year sentence on a larceny conviction.
Meanwhile, the helicopter had taken off again, this time heading north toward Albuquerque.
The Customs Service helicopter again gave chase, joined by a state police copter piloted by Maj. John Denko. "We both hung with him. We knew he had to set down because he was running low on fuel," Denko told the Associated Press.
Copter Dodges Violently
In Albuquerque, the helicopter flew over the city, still being closely pursued. At one point it apparently tried to turn into the Customs Service helicopter, which dodged violently to avoid a collision. Then, Denko said, it "turned into us and tried to run us into a crane" involved in the construction at the Albuquerque airport.Judge Napolitano testifies of Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve-insider Timothy Geither’s arrest in this 4-minute corporate news show. American Kabuki list the daily-increasing bank resignations. David Wilcock and Benjamin Fulford explain and document history and deceit at the top of US and global finance, leading to current and imminent arrests.
What does this mean?
Anyone with intellectual integrity and moral courage can affirm that the Federal Reserve system is guilty of financial fraud at its core. The “emperor has no clothes” reason is they lie in omission and commission with a fiduciary responsibility: they create debt for what we use as money, charge the 99% increasing aggregate interest, and then tell us this is responsible leadership for the public good. I teach college-level economics; the facts of a debt-based “monetary system,” unpayable and increasing aggregate debt, and increasing per capita interest costs is conservative textbook information. If you want to understand, I’ll walk you through here.
There’s more to the charge of financial fraud at the top of US economic and financial policy, of course. I recommend the documentation of Matt Taibbi and David DeGraw to dive-into details of the crimes, and Ellen Brown and American Monetary Institute to explore solutions.
Is current news of Geithner and bank “leadership” resignations evidence of an “emperor has no clothes” breakthrough? The people I work with, and I, don’t know. What we do know is that until we have justice with the 1%’s crimes centering in war and money, we’ll continue to document the facts and demand their arrests. These crimes kill millions, harm billions, and loot trillions of our dollars every year.
Until we have justice and policies for 100% of Earth’s inhabitants, it’s just another day of civic activism.
My resources:
Part 1: Why Occupy? A government/economics teacher explains
Part 2: How a government teacher easily proves Occupy’s claim of US War Crimes
Part 3: How an economics teacher presents Occupy’s economic argument, victory
Part 4: Why everyone should Occupy US 1% corporate media: they lie
Important history that makes crimes in the present easy to see and understand:
Occupy This: US History exposes the 1%’s crimes then and now (6-part series)Hillary doesn’t even write her own tweets signed by -H, emails show
Kit Daniels
Prison Planet.com
October 18, 2016
It took at least 11 Hillary Clinton staffers nearly eight hours to respond to a single tweet sent out by Marco Rubio, which highlights the campaign’s struggle to cover up Hillary’s lack of accomplishments – and the inner workings behind Hillary’s fake public persona.
On July 31, 2015, Rubio sent out the following:
After Clinton’s failed ‘reset’ with Putin, now she wants to do a ‘reset’ with Castro. She is making another mistake. pic.twitter.com/skIAtBUClT — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 31, 2015
Three hours later, campaign staffer Jeremy Massey forwarded the tweet to the rest of the campaign, according to emails released by Wikileaks:
Hillary’s foreign policy strategist Jake Sullivan responded:
To which Campaign Chairman John Podesta wrote back:
Which is ironic, given “her” tweeted response didn’t come until hours later, as the following emails show.
Sullivan added even more staffers to the email chain, which at this point included seven people nearly five hours after Rubio’s tweet.
Another foreign policy adviser, Lauren Rosenberger, responds:
Hillary’s communication director, Christina Reynolds, said she would “defer to the policy experts” on what to tweet.
Really? You need policy experts for a single tweet no longer than 140 characters?
But Sullivan complies, referring back to “experts” Dan Schwerin and Brian Fallon for their input.
By 12:30pm, it seems like they have finally finished their masterpiece single tweet to send back to Rubio, but no! Sullivan adds two more people to the deliberations.
Interestingly, Hillary’s official Twitter account states that “Tweets from Hillary signed –H:”
But this is a lie according to this email from Director of Content Laura Peterson:
Might as well read “Tweets from Laura Peterson signed –H” because that’s more truthful.
By 1pm, at least 11 staffers are finally in agreement with the tweet, but it takes another two hours for the tweet to go through another “approval process” which likely involves even more staffers.
Here’s the result:
@marcorubio You've got it backwards: Engagement is a threat to the Castros, not a gift. Embargo hasn’t worked for 50+ years. -H — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 31, 2015
Ironically it’s signed by Hillary, despite the fact it was never written by her as the emails show.
This byzantine process shows just how a Hillary administration will operate if she’s put into office.
This article was posted: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 2:58 pm
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Comment on this articleThis story appears in ESPN The Magazine's August 31 NFL Preview Issue. Subscribe today!
ONE DAY IN April, the NFL asked Chris Borland to take a random drug test. The timing of this request was, in a word, bizarre, since Borland, a San Francisco 49ers linebacker, had retired a month earlier after a remarkable rookie season. He said he feared getting brain damage if he continued to play.
Borland had been amazed at the reaction to his decision, the implications of which many saw as a direct threat to the NFL. And now here was an email demanding that he pee in a cup before a league proctor within 24 hours or fail the test. "I figured if I said no, people would think I was on drugs," he said recently. That, he believed, "would ruin my life." As he thought about how to respond, Borland began to wonder how random this drug test really was.
What did the NFL still want with him? Nobody could have held out much hope that he'd change his mind. On Friday, March 13, when Borland retired via email, he attached a suggested press release, then reaffirmed his intentions in conversations with 49ers officials. Instead of announcing Borland's retirement, the team sent him a bill -- an unsubtle reminder that he'd have to return most of his $617,436 signing bonus if he followed through. That Monday, Borland, knowing he was forgoing at least $2.35 million, not to mention a promising career, made the announcement himself to Outside the Lines. He has since elaborated on the decision to everyone from Face the Nation to Charlie Rose to undergraduates at Wisconsin, where he was an All-American.
Borland has consistently described his retirement as a pre-emptive strike to (hopefully) preserve his mental health. "If there were no possibility of brain damage, I'd still be playing," he says. But buried deeper in his message are ideas perhaps even more threatening to the NFL and our embattled national sport. It's not just that Borland won't play football anymore. He's reluctant to even watch it, he now says, so disturbed is he by its inherent violence, the extreme measures that are required to stay on the field at the highest levels and the physical destruction he has witnessed to people he loves and admires -- especially to their brains.
Borland said that if there was an increased risk of not being able to play with his own kids someday; he didn't want to take that risk. Clayton Hauck
Borland has complicated, even tortured, feelings about football that grow deeper the more removed he is from the game. He still sees it as an exhilarating sport that cultivates discipline and teamwork and brings communities and families together. "I don't dislike football," he insists. "I love football." At the same time, he has come to view it as a dehumanizing spectacle that debases both the people who play it and the people who watch it.
"Dehumanizing sounds so extreme, but when you're fighting for a football at the bottom of the pile, it is kind of dehumanizing," he said during a series of conversations over the spring and summer. "It's like a spectacle of violence, for entertainment, and you're the actors in it. You're complicit in that: You put on the uniform. And it's a trivial thing at its core. It's make-believe, really. That's the truth about it."
How one person can reconcile such opposing views of football -- as both cherished American tradition and trivial activity so violent that it strips away our humanity -- is hard to see. Borland, 24, is still working it out. He wants to be respectful to friends who are still playing and former teammates and coaches, but he knows that, in many ways, he is the embodiment of the growing conflict over football, a role that he is improvising, sometimes painfully, as he goes along.
More than anything, Borland says he doesn't want to tell anyone what to do. This is the central conflict of his post-football life. He rejected the sport, a shocking public act that still reverberates, in tremors, from the NFL to its vast pipeline of youth leagues. Yet he's wary of becoming a symbol for all the people who want to end -- or save -- football.
We trailed Borland for five months as he embarked on a journey that drove him deeper into the NFL's concussion crisis and forced him to confront the sport in ways he avoided while playing. One day in June, he returned to Archbishop Alter High School in Kettering, Ohio, to visit with his old coach, Ed Domsitz. "We're in a period now where, for the next 10 or 15 years, many of us, we need to figure out a way to save this game," said Domsitz, a southwest Ohio legend who has coached for 40 years.
Jovial and gray-haired, Domsitz was standing on the Alter practice field, a lake of synthetic green turf. He tried to recruit Borland to his cause.
"Why don't you come back and coach the linebackers?" Domsitz asked. "We need to teach these kids the safe way to tackle."
"Some of my best tackles were the most dangerous!" Borland responded, laughing.
"You're exactly the kind of people we need," the coach insisted.
Borland lowered his head, embarrassed. "I can't do that," he said, almost inaudibly. "Maybe I could be the kicking coach."
Later, away from Domsitz, Borland explained: "I wouldn't want to be charged with the task of making violence safer. I think that's a really difficult thing to do."
In the months following his retirement, Borland has offered himself up as a human guinea pig to the many researchers who want to scan and study his post-NFL brain. He has met with the former vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army and with mental health experts at the Carter Center in Atlanta. He has literally shrunk, dropping 30 pounds from his 248-pound playing weight while training for the San Francisco Marathon, which he ran in late July.
As the Niners reported to training camp in July, Borland was examining the Book of Kells, a 1,200-year-old manuscript, at the Trinity College Library in Dublin, the start of a six-week European vacation.
In many ways, Borland is like any bright, ambitious recent college graduate who is trying to figure out the rest of his life. In other ways, he's the most dangerous man in football.
On that day back in April, Borland stared hard at his iPhone, pondering what to do about the NFL's summons to a post-retirement drug test. The league says it reserves the right to test players -- even after they've retired -- to ensure that they don't dodge a test, then return. But given the stakes, and the NFL's dubious history on concussions, it occurred to Borland that maybe, just maybe, he was being set up.
"I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist," he says. "I just wanted to be sure." Borland agreed to submit a urine sample to the NFL's representative, who drove in from Green Bay and administered the test in the Wisconsin trainer's room. Then he hired a private firm for $150 to test him independently. Both tests came back negative, according to Borland.
"I don't really trust the NFL," he says.
Borland offered himself as a subject for concussion research after he left the 49ers. He was the perfect human guinea pig -- he was alive and young and had endured hundreds of hits. Michael Zito/AP Images
TOWARD THE END of his rookie season, Borland read League of Denial, our 2013 book chronicling the NFL's efforts to bury the concussion problem. After his last game, he contacted us through former St. Louis Cardinals linebacker David Meggyesy, who also walked away from the NFL, in 1969. Meggyesy wrote a best-selling memoir, Out of Their League, in which he described football as "one of the most dehumanizing experiences a person can face." Borland, a history major at Wisconsin, had met Meggyesy during his senior year, after hearing him give a guest lecture titled "Sports, Labor and Social Justice in the 21st Century."
It's tempting to draw parallels between Borland and Meggyesy, both of whom reject the NFL's easy narrative of cartoon violence and heroic sacrifice. Late in his pro career, Meggyesy was benched for his political activism. At Wisconsin, in 2011, Borland was punished with extra conditioning for skipping class to protest Republican Gov. (and current presidential candidate) Scott Walker, who was trying to limit collective bargaining for public employees. Borland marched with three cousins, one a teacher, and carried a sign that read: recall walker.
But there are significant differences between the two men. Meggyesy linked his retirement to the politics of the anti-war and civil rights movements. Borland, a more reluctant activist, is concerned primarily with public health. "I'm not really interested in fighting anything," he says. "But there are former players who are struggling. And certainly there are kids that are gonna play in the future. So if my story can help them in any way, I'd like to find a way to do that."
Borland reached out to us back in February because, as he contemplated retirement, he hoped to speak with researchers who appeared in League of Denial. One was Robert Stern, a neurology professor at Boston University, the leading institution for the study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Over the past decade, the disease has been found in the brains of 87 out of the 91 dead NFL players who were examined. In late February, a BU-hosted "consensus conference" concluded that CTE is a distinct neurodegenerative disease found only in patients who experienced brain trauma. The NFL rejected its link to football for years.
"I'm concerned to the point of contemplating retirement, despite only playing one year in the pros," Borland wrote Stern in an email. They arranged to speak by phone on March 13. According to Borland, Stern told him that he could already have brain damage "that might manifest later"; damage that could worsen as a result of "a thousand or 1,500 hits every fall for 10 years." Stern says he also cautioned Borland that the science was still limited. "He said if there was an increased risk of him not being able to play with his kids, he didn't want to take that risk," Stern recalls.
Borland says his conversation with Stern sealed his decision. He retired later that day.
Borland told Stern that he hoped to use his experience "to help science." His participation in concussion research has become a big part of his journey to find a meaningful role for himself after football. He is a highly coveted research subject because he is neither old nor dead and because he was recently exposed to NFL-grade head trauma.
One of his first post-retirement stops was a meeting with Stern.
"This is going to be a weird day for you," Stern told Borland as he began a day of testing on April 30 at the Boston University School of Medicine.
Bolted to the front of the redbrick building was a metal sign that read: TRUTH ABOVE EVERYTHING. Stern sat behind his desk in his office in a coat and tie. Like many concussion researchers, he has a complicated relationship with the NFL. Stern, who once accused the league of a "cover-up," says he now has a pending application for a $17 million CTE study funded by the NFL through the National Institutes of Health.
On this April day, Stern still seemed floored by Borland's decision.
"One of the things you asked me was, 'What do we know? What are the risks?' And I think I said about 100 times during our conversation: 'I just don't know!' " Stern told Borland, who wore jeans and multicolored Hoka running shoes and sipped coffee from a paper cup. "A decision to stop having exposure to repetitive hits to your head is, in my mind, a really, um, unbelievable decision. Not necessarily the right decision for everyone. I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page again."
"Absolutely," Borland said. "I understand correlation isn't causation and I'm just removing myself from the risks. I know I could be wrong."
Borland estimates he's had about 30 concussions throughout his football career. Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images
"I guess better safe than sorry," Stern said.
"Exactly."
Borland was ushered into a separate room, where a graduate assistant peppered him with questions about his employment and concussion history.
Borland had said previously that he had two diagnosed concussions -- one that knocked him out during eighth-grade soccer, another while playing football his sophomore year at Archbishop Alter.
"Some people have the misconception that concussions occur only after you black out when you get a hit to the head or to your body," the graduate assistant told him. "But in reality, concussions have occurred any time you've had any symptoms for any period of time." She ticked them off: blurred vision, seeing stars, sensitivity to light or noise, headaches, dizziness, etc.
"Based on that definition, how many concussions do you think you've had?" she asked.
Borland paused.
"I don't know, 30?" he said finally. "Yeah, I think 30's a good estimate."
The exam lasted most of the day. When Stern contacted him later, he told Borland that BU could detect no current effects from his decade of playing tackle football.
Over the next two months, Borland turned over his brain to the scrutiny of several researchers -- some traditional, some not. After undergoing exams at UCLA and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, on May 13 he flew to Orange County, California, to see Dr. Daniel Amen, the psychiatrist who heads the Amen Clinic in Costa Mesa. Amen has treated hundreds of NFL players, many of whom swear by him. His methods are unproven, though, and some people in the medical community regard him as a quack. Borland wanted to see for himself.
Upon arriving, he found himself trailed by cameras for a show that Amen, wearing black jeans, a black T-shirt and pancake makeup, was apparently trying to sell to TV. The medical exam included a visit to the clinic's director of research, a UCLA neurobiology Ph.D. (and a former model, whom Amen said he initially included in his NFL study to attract subjects). She slipped a rubber cap over Borland's head to measure his brain's electrical activity. As the cameras rolled, Amen's wife, Tana, dressed in a red cocktail dress, declared to a bemused Borland, "What I really want to say to you is: You are a brain warrior. You're a brain warrior!"
That kind of thing happens a lot to Borland. He's so polite, so eager to be helpful, he finds himself in uncomfortable situations. "I think this whole world of brain injury and football is more political than I anticipated," he says. "And I don't want to be a part of that in any way." Borland turned down a request to promote the upcoming Will Smith movie, Concussion, and has rejected numerous endorsements. "I don't want to monetize head injury in football," he says. "I think that attacks your legitimacy to a certain degree."
Two weeks after he visited Amen, Borland drove the two hours from the Bay Area to Sacramento to participate in a fundraiser for a paralyzed semipro player. He found himself in the middle of a sad pep rally that, oddly, showcased potential concussion remedies while celebrating the sport that causes the injury. Tables manned by people touting treatments like "CranioSacral Therapy" and "Bowenwork" touch stimulation lined the half-filled ballroom of the Red Lion hotel.
"Who's got it better than us?" shouted an auctioneer, trying to fire up the crowd with the slogan made famous by former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.
"Nobody," the fans responded tepidly. The bidding on a Borland-signed football stopped at $500, at which point Borland, wearing tan slacks and a solid blue tie, hurled it softly to the winner. The man told Borland that he appreciated the "bravery" of his decision to retire -- then asked for the ball to be made out to his nephew, who was just starting to play high school football.
Borland wondered whether he was the only one attending the event who saw its irony. "You don't have to promote the game to help people who have been hurt by it," he said.
Part of the confusion is that, even though he walked away from the NFL, football people -- fans, players, coaches -- still consider him one of them. They find it inconceivable that someone who was so tough and played the game so hard doesn't buy into the hype, which Borland, somewhat derisively, calls "the overwhelming tide of marketing about how great and awesome football is." Borland scoffs at the oft-repeated clichés about football's unique ability to impart wisdom. "It's too bad Gandhi never played football," he said one afternoon. "Maybe he would have picked up some valuable lessons."
Borland says he loved football but never considered it "fun." "It's not a water park or a baseball game," he says. Clayton Hauck
BORLAND HIMSELF ONCE seemed as if he might have been created in an NFL factory.
He grew up in Kettering, a Dayton suburb, which he described in a paper for a UW history course as "a top down, planned neighborhood of mostly white middle-class people." Borland's father, Jeff, who played linebacker for a year at Miami (Ohio), is a plain-speaking investment adviser. Zebbie, Borland's ebullient mom, teaches cooking classes at a local market. He is the sixth of seven children (one girl, followed by six boys) who routinely battered one another in a variety of neighborhood contests until night fell and their tree-lined street twinkled with fireflies.
The Borlands are a tight-knit family of independent thinkers, with political views that run the spectrum from red to blue. "We'll get together and talk politics for six hours on a Friday night -- yelling, cussing at each other -- and the next day everybody will be fine," says Mark Borland, a Dayton attorney and the third-oldest Borland sibling. "It's almost a time-honored tradition on the holidays."
Chris went through childhood known as Little Borland, quiet and shy but also freakishly athletic and physical. "He came out ready to fight," says Joe Borland, a U.S. Army JAG officer who is 12 years older than Chris. Jeff forbade the boys to play tackle football until they turned 14, partly out of concerns about concussions. "I was always big on technique and the fundamentals," he says. "And that didn't necessarily get coached by dad coaches in peewee leagues." Chris played basketball and soccer through eighth grade, excelling against older boys, but he yearned for more contact. "Once he gets a taste of football, he's gonna love it," Jeff told Zebbie.
At Archbishop Alter, Borland did love to hit, but he was known as much for flights of improvisational genius. He played running back almost exclusively until his senior year, when Domsitz, his coach, created the Borland Rule, installing him on defense at rover whenever opposing teams crossed the 50. Borland's most memorable play, still a local legend, came against Fairmont, Alter's crosstown rival. On third and short, he launched himself over the line, turned a somersault in midair and pulled down the running back from behind as his feet hit the ground. The play has been viewed nearly 222,000 times on YouTube.
Borland was ignored by top Division I schools, who saw him as small and unremarkable. Ohio State was 80 miles up Interstate 70, but the Buckeyes weren't interested, and neither, really, was Borland. He pinned his hopes on Wisconsin, his grandfather's school. Joe took control of his little brother's recruiting. To bulk Chris up, Joe put him on a modified version of Brian Urlacher's workout program, which Joe had Googled. He shuttled him to camps and handed out highlight DVDs to recruiters.
Bret Bielema, now at Arkansas, was the coach at Wisconsin when Borland showed up at a camp in Madison. "I sat and watched him for three days, and he must have made 20 interceptions, made every play known to man, punted 60 yards, kicked 30-yard field goals," Bielema recalls. "I just sat there with my jaw dropped."
When the camp ended, Bielema invited Borland, his brother Joe and their sister, Sarah, to his office. When Bielema offered Borland a scholarship, Borland leaped out of his chair to hug the startled coach. Borland, of course, would later walk away from millions, but at the time he was so excited to play football for nothing that he celebrated in the stadium parking lot with a standing backflip.
"IT'S INTOXICATING, IT'S a drug, a drug that gives you the most incredible feeling there is," Borland was saying. "Outside of sexual intercourse, there's probably nothing like it. But fun is the wrong word for it. I don't consider football fun. It's not like a water park, or a baseball game."
It was early July, and Borland sat on the patio of the Wisconsin student union, sipping a tall beer on a warm night. The school sits between two lakes, Mendota and Monona, and boats bobbed in the shimmering water. Borland graduated in 2013, but he frequently returns to Madison.
Borland's football addiction, as he calls it, flourished on the turf at Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium, and ultimately, his disillusionment with the sport began there. An unknown when he arrived, he left as the Big Ten defensive player of the year. Undersized, with stubby T-Rex arms, he bludgeoned people, once hitting a Michigan State receiver so hard, Clowney-style, he separated him from his helmet and do-rag. Borland forced 15 career fumbles, one shy of the FBS record. He seemed to play in a state of ecstasy: Matt Lepay, a Badgers broadcaster, looked over at practice one day and saw Borland catching rapid-fire passes from a JUGS gun with his feet.
Bielema left Wisconsin for Arkansas at the end of Borland's junior year. He became emotional as he described receiving a handwritten letter from Borland. On one side was a list of all of Borland's accomplishments. "On the other side," Bielema said, choking back tears, "he wrote, 'None of these things would have been accomplished if you hadn't given me a chance.' "
Off the field, Borland was hard to pin down -- complex, quietly opinionated, a voice of conscience in the locker room. "I've tried to describe Chris to other guys, because guys want to know about him, and it's tough," says Mike Taylor, who played linebacker alongside Borland. "He doesn't really do anything for himself. And everything he's done is thought out -- the pros and the cons. He doesn't put people down. If there's a joke, he'll laugh, but if it's too harsh, he'd be the one to say, 'Hey, that's not funny, you shouldn't say that.' And guys would listen or shut up and say they were sorry. That's who he was." Andy Baggot, until recently a sportswriter for the Wisconsin State Journal, called Borland the most thoughtful athlete he interviewed in 37 years. In the fall semester of his senior year alone, Borland put in 125 hours at local hospitals and schools, according to Kayla Gross, who organized volunteer work for Badgers athletes. "It will probably go down in history as the most volunteer hours ever" by an athlete at the school, she says.
In fact, Borland was leading something of a double life. Publicly, he was a football star, happy and fulfilled. Privately, he was taking an increasingly critical look at his sport.
Borland began at Wisconsin as a wedge buster on kickoffs, a task he compared to "bowling, but it's people doing it." After blowing up a wedge against Wofford, he couldn't remember the rest of the game, including his own blocked punt, which led to a touchdown. That night, unable to eat, his head pounding, Borland had a teammate wake him up every few hours, fearing he'd lapse into a coma. He never told the coaches or trainers. That Monday, he was named co-Big Ten special-teams player of the week. "That's one of those things where, when you step away from the game and you look at it, it's like, 'Oh my god,' you know?" Borland says. "But it makes sense to you when you're 18 and you've dedicated your life to it and the most important thing to you is to get a good grade on special teams."
Near the end of his freshman year, Borland discovered Toradol, the controversial painkiller used widely in college and the pros. "It was life-changing," he told the BU researchers, chuckling, when they took his medical history. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns that Toradol should be used sparingly, for severe acute pain. Borland, who had shoulder surgery three times while at Wisconsin, said he would sometimes use the drug every other game.
Some of Borland's teammates were worse off, and that concerned him more. Taylor, his close friend, was also one of the best linebackers in the nation, twice all-conference, a future pro. But it became harder and harder for Taylor to stay on the field. In 2011, he tore his meniscus on a blitz against Minnesota. The Monday after the game, he had knee surgery to remove half of it.
The next Saturday, with Wisconsin fighting for the Big Ten |
language would designate entire categories of Iranian government entities to be sanctioned — whether or not each person or entity is directly involved in such activities.
The new sanctions too broadly punish companies that supply materials, such as certain metals, that could be used in Iran’s nuclear, military, or ballistic missile programs, the White House worries. The bill allows those materials to be sold to Iranian entities that intend to use them for non-military or nuclear-related purposes, but the administration said that the ambiguity in that part of the legislation will make it hard to implement.
Finally, the White House doesn’t want to implement the part of the new legislation that would require reports to Congress on the thousands of boats that dock at Iranian ports and the dozens of Iranian planes that make stops at airports around the world. Those reporting requirements "will impose serious time burdens on the Intelligence Community and sanctions officers," the White House said in the e-mail.
The Obama administration often touts the Iran sanctions it once opposed. In the final presidential debate Oct. 22, President Barack Obama said his administration had "organized the strongest coalition and the strongest sanctions against Iran in history, and it is crippling their economy."
The new Iran sanctions still must survive a House-Senate conference over the defense authorization bill, during which conferees may try to change certain portions of the new sanctions regime. Hill aides predict the White House will try to alter the new sanctions during that process, in what they would likely see as an effort to water them down.
"The truth is that the U.S. Congress continues to lead a comprehensive and unrelenting international sanctions program against the Iranian regime despite a comprehensive and unrelenting campaign by this administration to block or water down those sanctions at every move," a senior GOP Senate aide told The Cable. "We beat them 100-0 last year and while they tried to kill this amendment more quietly this time, we beat them again 94-0. Hopefully House and Senate negotiators will stay strong and resist the administration’s strategy to dilute these sanctions in conference."Back in July of 2015, Ashley Madison, a popular website dedicated to facilitating marital affairs, was hacked by a group called the Impact Team. The hackers demanded that Ashley Madison shut down their website or they threatened to release all clientele info, 32 million in all. Ashley Madison did not back down, the info was released to the public and there are now a lot of unhappy people out there and some suicides as well. For instance, a priest in Louisiana committed suicide after his wife found him out, as did a Texas police chief. A number of other suicides have been reported worldwide. One would have thought that the mammoth Madison hack would have sent shock-waves throughout the online sex/porn industry, leading such companies to better prepare for such eventualities. Apparently that call went unheeded. Or is it that hackers are ahead of the game?
Here we go again, 400 Million (new) users
In October of 2016, hackers struck again, but this time the damage was much more far-reaching. Leaked Source has reported and confirmed that 5 major websites in the porn/sex industry have been hacked with the information over 400 million users now accessible to the public. Stolen data included over 5,000 government registered emails and nearly 80,000 military issued emails. The effect that this will have on governmental and army positions and appointments has yet to be seen. Hacked and released info includes, Email addresses, usernames, dates of birth, post codes, unique internet addresses, sexual orientation and more.
The question is, how could this have happened and what measures could websites have taken to mitigate the damage.
Was it Negligence?
Leaked Source found that the overwhelming majority of hacked passwords were stored the plain visible format or in SHA-1 format, known to be completely insecure. Interestingly, Leaked Source showed that no matter how long and complicated the password, they were all easily hackable due to the poor and insecure algorithms that were supposed to be protecting them. It seems that FriendFinder Network and other companies should have known better and missed the warning signs.
*source: HANSA
Who ignored the Alarm Bells
As far back as 2005, Bruce Schneier began to reveal early warning signs about the dangers of using SHA-1. While technology did exist even back then that could successfully penetrate the algorithm, it was too expensive to be used on a wide scale. He quoted an old idiom from the NSA that, " Attacks always get better; they never get worse.". At that time, Jon Callas, CTO of PGP Corp, a global leader in email and data encryption, stated; "It's time to walk, but not run, to the fire exits. You don't see smoke, but the fire alarms have gone off."
In 2014 Jon Callas’ prediction was materialising and Google began to actively warn users against using websites with SHA-1, even launching a HTTPS security indicator to warn users. Google stressed that the chrome interface will consider SHA-1, as not fully trustworthy as soon as January 1st, 2017 and most major browsers are following suit. Even more disturbing, in September 2016 the public learned of the true extent of the 2014 Yahoo breach that compromised 500 million records. According to cryptographic researchers at Venafi a US based cybersecurity company, surprise, Yahoo was also using the useless SHA-1 algorithm.
Checkout, but you can never leave
Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of this most recent massive cyber event is the 20 years' worth of information stored in the systems. Adult FriendFinder was a bad version of the Hotel California, where you could checkout, but never leave. The company maintained 15 million accounts that were supposed to have been deleted. According to the Leaked Source report, when users tried to delete accounts, Adult Friendfinder simply just added email@address.com@deleted1.com for example. Why the company insisted on storing inactive users who had for years abandoned the site is beyond anyone's comprehension. Unsurprising, according to TechTimes, Adult Friendfinder has yet to respond to questioning on this matter.
All of the above facts leave us with more questions than they do answers. With the years of warning signs from leading professionals in cyber field and the numerous preceding attacks that were of similar nature, how could the FriendFinder Networks and the other major sex/porn websites have failed? Or maybe there was a plot even more sinister at play here?Defense Secretary Hagel is considering a 21-day "quarantine-like" policy for all troops returning from West Africa, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The proposal was recommended to Hagel on Tuesday by the Joint Chiefs of Staff — which consists of its chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and the chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
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Earlier this week, the Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno ordered all soldiers returning from West Africa to undergo a 21-day isolation and enhanced monitoring period.
Odierno "has done this out of caution to ensure soldiers, family members and their surrounding communities are confident that we are taking all steps necessary to protect their health," the Army said Monday.
The Pentagon said Hagel supports that "initial decision" but would take his time deciding whether or not to expand that policy department-wide.
Currently, a dozen soldiers from U.S. Army Africa are being isolated and monitored at Vicenza, Italy, including its commander Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams. The Pentagon has said there was no event to trigger the policy.
Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby acknowledged that implementing a department-wide quarantine-like policy goes farther than what President Obama and the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions have recommended, but said Hagel would not stand in the way of the Army's decision, or any other service if they should implement that policy.
On Monday, Air Force officials at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany also implemented stricter measures for airmen coming back from West Africa, including possibly quarantining troops on a case-by-case basis.
There are currently about 880 troops in West Africa, training healthcare workers, building Ebola treatment units and mobile labs, and airlifting medical supplies and providing other logistical help.Four years later, she says she’s still waiting to hear a good answer. She recalled the explanation in one prominent banking textbook, which she read in 2010, as a particular spur to action. “It was shocking,” she remembered. She said she went to the office of a Stanford colleague, her frequent collaborator Paul Pfleiderer, and told him: “Something is very wrong. I’ve never heard so much nonsense in all of my life.” She still becomes visibly angry as she recalls the conversation. “They are denying what we know about financial markets. It’s like they are saying gravity is not a force in nature.”
Ms. Admati decided to enter the public square because she felt that academics and policy makers weren’t listening. “The Bankers’ New Clothes,” which she wrote with Martin Hellwig, an economics professor at the University of Bonn, proved a turning point in her campaign. But the first step was much smaller. She was not sure how to reach a popular audience, so in 2010 she enrolled in a program that teaches prominent women to write opinion articles. Her first, published in The Financial Times in the fall of 2010, was a letter co-signed by 19 other academics that criticized an international agreement on minimum bank capital standards as “far from sufficient to protect the system from recurring crises.”
Banking is the only industry subject to systematic capital regulation. Borrowing by most companies is effectively regulated by the caution of lenders. But the largest lenders to banks are depositors, who generally have no reason to be cautious because federal deposit insurance guarantees repayment of up to $250,000 even if the bank fails. This means the government, which takes the risk, must also impose the discipline.
In the decades before the financial crisis, banks gradually convinced regulators to reduce capital requirements to very low levels. In the aftermath, banks acknowledged that some increases were necessary — they had just needed enormous bailouts, after all — but they fought to minimize those increases. The day after Ms. Admati’s article ran, the same paper ran one by Vikram S. Pandit, then the chief executive of Citigroup, arguing that the proposed standards were excessive. “The last thing the global economy needs is another economic dampener,” Mr. Pandit wrote.
Image Ms. Admati, right, with two other finance professors — Deniz Anginer of Virginia Tech. left, and Edward Kane of Boston College — at a Senate committee hearing. Credit Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times
‘Add a Digit’
The industry has benefited from, and sometimes encouraged, public confusion. Banks are often described as “holding” capital, and capital is often described as a cushion or a rainy-day fund. “Every dollar of capital is one less dollar working in the economy,” the Financial Services Roundtable, a trade association representing big banks and financial firms, said in 2011. But capital, like debt, is just a kind of funding. It does the same work as borrowed money. The special value of capital is that companies are under no obligation to repay their shareholders, whereas a company that cannot repay its creditors is out of business.
The industry’s more serious argument is that equity is more expensive than debt. If governments require banks to raise more equity, the industry warns, the results would be higher interest rates, less lending and slower economic growth.
A 2010 analysis funded by the Clearing House Association, a trade group, concluded that an increase of 10 percentage points in capital requirements would raise interest rates by 0.25 to 0.45 percentage points.First it was Liverpool, then Tottenham. Manchester United joined the party soon after, and were followed by Chelsea and Newcastle. Before Saido Berahino knew it, even future champions Leicester, European connoisseurs West Ham and upwardly mobile Everton were interested in his services.
Justifiably so. Only seven players have registered 20 goals or more in all competitions in a single English season since 2014/15. Jamie Vardy is a Premier League champion; Harry Kane has 49 league goals across two campaigns; Sergio Aguero is a world-renowned talent; Romelu Lukaku has been valued at more than £50m; Arsenal have rejected a £34m offer for Alexis Sanchez; Olivier Giroud is Olivier Giroud. Then, among the established talent and multiple trophy winners, there is Berahino. His 20-goal haul came not with Arsenal or Manchester City, but with a West Brom side that finished 13th the season before last.
The Burundi-born forward was once the Next Big Thing. It exemplifies his fall from grace that an individual once coveted by the country’s finest sides for £20m is now the punchline of a joke which starts ‘Crystal Palace, Stoke and Watford walk into a bar with little more than £10m each’. In a modern-day world where player prices are inflating to near-unfathomable levels, Saido Berahino is the anomaly: a young player whose value has decreased over time.
It could have been so different; it should have been. After making his Premier League debut in the previous season, the West Brom forward announced himself at the beginning of the 2014/15 campaign. He scored seven goals in ten appearances, and was handed an England call-up by November 2014. An opportunity to stake his claim for a Euro 2016 squad place had been earned.
Potential suitors had had their interest well and truly piqued. For Berahino, his short career thus far had peaked. The 22-year-old appeared in the squads for both subsequent England games, but did not feature in either fixture. He returned to club action, but scored just seven goals in the following 28 league games. Tottenham retained a particular desire to sign him and carried it into summer 2015, but Daniel Levy refused to offer anything more than the change found down the back of his sofa. The pursuit would unofficially be granted ‘saga’ status as West Brom showcased the new-found power of the Premier League’s ‘rest’ by retaining their prized asset in the face of pressure from the elite. Berahino was the unassuming guinea pig for the experiment.
In West Brom counterpart Jeremy Peace, Levy had finally found his match. There was only one loser as rock met hard place, and it was neither of the two sides; the forward would stay at The Hawthorns. Where some failed ‘transfer sagas’ result in the subject actually improving their standing, such as Wayne Rooney earning a £300,000-a-week contract at Manchester United in 2013, or John Stones recovering from “accidentally” handing in a transfer request to be still linked with a £50m exit despite a disappointing season for Everton, Berahino’s ended with his reputation in tatters. Tottenham did not pursue a move, other clubs were put off by West Brom’s hardline stance, and the Baggies sought to make an example out of the striker. He would start 17 Premier League games last season, often out of position, sometimes out of shape, and always out of confidence.
There is little wonder Berahino has reportedly rejected West Brom’s attempt at rebuilding a bridge that has been ablaze for far longer than Will Grigg. But the Baggies’ offer of a new four-year contract has been returned to sender with respect, not anger or petulance. The Daily Mail report that the 22-year-old ‘is happy to stay at the club if his future isn’t finalised by the end of July’, as he ‘wants to avoid a repeat of last summer’ and ‘ensure he is fully focused on the season ahead’. After being characterised as any or all of a) a snake, b) lazy, c) overweight and d) disloyal for the past year, this is a welcome development for a young star who has learned from his mistakes.
It is a welcome development for his club, too. Only Aston Villa scored fewer Premier League goals last season, as Pulis sought not only to cut off his nose, but to sever an ear, saw off his chin and gouge out an eye just to p*ss his face off. The Welshman has his 20-goal striker back with a renewed motivation and vigour.
The curious thing about Berahino is that we cannot be truly sure of just how good he is. The forward has been treated more as profitable commodity, less as human and footballer by two sides over the past 18 months, and while both have since moved on, the individual’s reputation was almost irreparably damaged. He has 23 goals in 100 Premier League games while learning his trade at a club whose current style patently does not suit him. If, as expected, he sees out the final year in his West Brom contract, he has a final chance at redemption at his first club, and each of his former suitors will watch with anticipation. After the acrimonious nature and fall-out of his near departure, it would complete a rather jagged full circle.
We are all guilty of forgetting about Berahino the player, and simply analysing him through a microcosm of his decreasing transfer value. This is the joint-fifth highest goalscoring Englishman over the past two seasons; only Kane, Vardy, Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe have more. This is a 22-year-old literally linked with a move to every current Premier League side except for Swansea, Bournemouth and Sunderland. This is an individual who, despite already being called up to the national side, was barely even considered for Daniel Storey’s list of the six likely new England caps. Whether he remains at West Brom, or joins any of the current trio chasing him – Crystal Palace, Stoke or Watford – a rejuvenated, refocused and refined Berahino would be an asset.
He may no longer warrant links with Liverpool, Tottenham or Manchester United, but Saido Berahino’s return as player, not pawn, must be embraced; the 22-year-old was almost lost to the transfer ether. There will be no ‘saga’, no Twitter outbursts and no deadline-day disappointments this season, just a talented player with a point to prove and a reputation to restore.
Matt SteadGiants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.'s rookie season went pretty well. He finished in the Top 10 in the NFL in receptions and receiving yards, despite only appearing in 12 games.
That performance earned Beckham the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year award. It vaulted him into celebrity status.
But his plan for an encore has nothing to do with individual stats accolades. Beckham has bigger plans that involve Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, California.
"I don't know. I guess we have to wait and see. I think the biggest goal for me is I felt like I've always been great and I've always been on good teams but I've just never been a champion," Beckham said during an interview Thursday with the NFL Network's Kim Jones. "I went 13-0 freshman year and loss in the national championship, 21-0. Things like that; had chances to win it the next year and the year after that, and just have never really gotten to that position.
"I know for a fact that if we could make it there, I just couldn't see another one slip away. I don't know if I could live with it. Hopefully we get to the Super Bowl and have a successful season."
First the Giants have to make it there. It would be quite a turnaround. They went 6-10 last season, and haven't made the postseason since the 2011 campaign.
It helps to have Beckham on their side. He had 91 catches, 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games last season.
And he's clearly motivated. Never winning his championship has stuck in his craw. He mentions it often, especially when it comes to collecting individual awards or hearing about the catch, a play which he thinks has somewhat minimized his tremendous rookie season.
Beckham, 22, uses all this stuff as motivation.
"To me [the rookie of the year award] really means everything," Beckham said earlier this year. "It's one less award that I fell short of. I said I wanted to win a Heisman. I didn't win a Heisman. I said I wanted to win a national championship. Never won that. Biletnikoff, never won that. Top 10 pick, never won that. Rookie of the Year is something I get to take home."
Next on the list? The Lombardi.
Jordan Raanan may be reached at jraanan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JordanRaanan. Find NJ.com Giants on Facebook.Changing your own oil takes a little time and some special equipment, but it's something you'll have to do it every 5,000 to 10,000 miles (6 months to 1 year), so spending a little extra now can save you lots of money over the life of your vehicle. Not to mention that you can continue to use most of the tools for your other vehicles or future vehicles.
In addition to the oil change, I installed a Fumoto valve where the drain plug would go. This will allow me to drain the oil out of the engine without having to unscrew anything. Keep in mind that, because of the recessed drain plug on the Fiesta ST, you will need to purchase the appropriate extension piece along with the Fumoto valve (listed below).We're sick of pretending to be moderates. To the Beckmobile!
We're sick of pretending to be moderates. To the Beckmobile!
The Republican National Committee (RNC) voted unanimously Friday to pull the group’s partnership with NBC and CNN for the 2016 GOP presidential primary debates unless the networks kill their planned films on Hillary Clinton. “We don't have time for the media's games,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said before the vote at the RNC summer meeting in Boston. “We’re done putting up with this nonsense. There are plenty of other news outlets.”
This. Is. Awesome Or one specific "news" outlet in particular, as manchild Reince did not bother to say.
Bless them. As Kos says, there's no reason for the Republican crazy machine to have to tone it down and step out of the clown shoes to have a debate hosted by anyone other than fellow crackpots. Raise the big top, boys, now we're gonna put on a show.
Well now this part really is a blow:
RNC communications director Sean Spicer told POLITICO that the boycott would extend to NBC and CNN's Spanish-language channels: Telemundo and CNN Espanol.
I'm sure the Republican candidates will all be devastated by the news that they're not allowed to compare anti-immigration convictions on the two Spanish-language networks.ALBANY — The Cuomo administration, frustrated at the Seneca Nation’s decision to stop making casino revenue sharing payments, is threatening to permit a new, non-Native American gambling hall near the tribe's casino in downtown Niagara Falls.
The state and Senecas have been at an impasse since the tribe earlier this year said it was halting payment of some $110 million a year to the state, which shares proceeds with localities in 16 Western New York counties. The tribe said the terms of its original 2002 compact is silent about any annual payments after the compact’s 14th year, which ran through the end of 2016.
“If they don’t fulfill their obligations to continue payments and to honor the compact, we are going to pursue putting an additional casino in Niagara Falls,’’ said a Cuomo official, speaking on condition of anonymity, on Monday.
Late Monday afternoon, the scope of the dispute shifted when the Cuomo administration said a meeting between the governor and the Seneca president is unlikely soon.
Spectrum News reported that the Erie County District Attorney’s Office has been investigating the discovery of a listening device sometime last year by New York State Gaming Commission officials in an office the agency leases from the Senecas at its Buffalo casino; the agency has regulatory oversight of casinos in New York and has staff at every Native American casino in the state. A source with direct knowledge of the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed to The Buffalo News that the device was discovered about a year ago.
“Given the publicly reported and verified criminal investigation in the Seneca Nation that commenced approximately a year ago, it would be inappropriate for the governor to meet with the Seneca Nation until the matter is resolved by the Erie County District Attorney,’’ Alphonso David, Cuomo’s counsel, said in a written statement.
Seneca President Todd Gates pushed back late Monday. He said he and Cuomo were due to meet in Niagara Falls on Tuesday but that Cuomo scuttled another meeting “over a completely unrelated legal issue” involving an employee at the Seneca Gaming Authority.
“Let me be clear, the allegations against the Seneca Gaming Authority employee have as much to do with the compact issue as the many ongoing investigations into Gov. Cuomo's economic development programs. Let's not distract from, nor try to politicize, the fact that Gov. Cuomo has now canceled two meetings with the Seneca Nation regarding an issue that is important to the people he was elected to represent,’’ Gates said. He referred to upcoming federal court trials involving people connected to Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion program.
Gates said Cuomo has shown a “blatant disregard” for the compact and the jobs Seneca casinos have created.
“The governor should spend his time trying to figure out how he will fulfill the state’s continued obligation under the compact to provide payments to the local governments rather than continuing to seek ways to discredit the Seneca Nation,’’ Gates said.
The Seneca Nation, in response to the Niagara Falls casino threat by the governor, accused Cuomo of grandstanding in public instead of negotiating with Seneca leaders to address the problem.
Cuomo personally delivered the same threat in 2013 at a time when the Seneca Nation had for several years withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue-sharing proceeds from its three casinos in the region. Cuomo and Seneca leaders that year eventually resolved the dispute, with the state agreeing to tighten enforcement of a large geographic exclusivity zone in which the Senecas can operate without new casino competition.
The tribe’s most successful casino is located in Niagara Falls, and its annual payments to the city government amounts to 15 percent of Niagara Falls’ operating revenues. A Wall Street firm recently downgraded the city’s credit rating because of the loss of the Seneca proceeds.
The financial impact of the current dispute began being felt in July, when the Senecas skipped a quarterly payment that the state insists was due.
The pace of talks between the sides has been slow. Cuomo and Gates have yet to meet face-to-face. The two men were supposed to get together several weeks ago, but Cuomo canceled.
The sides have yet to begin the formal process that could take the disagreement to arbitration. Such a route could take years to resolve and would then likely end up in a federal courtroom. Municipalities that rely on the funding — from counties and cities to school districts — have been urging Cuomo and Gates to figure out a way to fix the matter.
On Monday, the Cuomo administration ratcheted up the rhetorical battle with the Senecas. It came a day before Cuomo is due to be on Grand Island on Tuesday for an infrastructure-related announcement, according to people who have been invited.
“We believe if they don’t pay, the compact is null and void," the Cuomo administration official said of the original 2002 legal agreement that permitted the tribe to open its casinos. “As a condition of that compact, they get exclusivity and if they don’t honor their end we’re going to explore how to put a casino in Niagara Falls."
The Seneca Nation, which insists the compact is in effect until 2023, brushed aside Cuomo’s threat and said the compact's provisions support the tribe’s decision to end payments to the state.
“The governor has had five months to meet with President Gates, five months to articulate his position to President Gates and five months to engage in productive dialogue with President Gates. Instead, he has routinely chosen media statements and attacks,’’ said Philip Pantano, a spokesman for the Seneca Nation.
The Senecas slammed Cuomo for avoiding a meeting with Gates to discuss the situation. “Today, on the eve of his latest visit to Western New York, the governor is turning to threats against the thousands of local jobs the Seneca Nation’s gaming operations have created in Western New York," Pantano said of the dispute.
“For the state, public insults, canceled meetings and threats seem to win out over productive dialogue," he added.
Beyond whatever litigation the Seneca Nation might pursue if the state sought to add another casino in Niagara Falls, there are some other hurdles. First, the casino gambling market has become saturated in upstate New York. Three commercial casinos have opened since late last year, adding to a market that already includes racetrack-based casinos, Native American casinos operated by three tribes and a host of other gambling options.
Given the gambling revenue declines the Seneca Nation has seen in Niagara Falls in the past several years, it remains to be seen whether a private developer might be interested in building a new casino in the city.
Further, the state has already awarded all four licenses for upstate casinos that were made possible by the statewide constitutional referendum in 2013 that permitted a new round of casino expansion. The final three casino licenses can’t be awarded for several years, and casino operators have already been hoping they would be awarded in what the industry considers the gambling prize land: New York City, where only one casino is now located.
Under the terms of the original compact, the Senecas turn over 25 percent of slot machine revenues at its casinos; the state keeps most of it and provides an allotment from two different pots — estimated at some $35 million annually — to the municipalities.Shakespeare's will This will of 'Wllm Shackspeare of Stratford upon Avon in the countie of warr [Warwickshire] gent' is dated 25 March 1616. William Shakespeare is the world's most famous playwright. He wrote poetry as well as more than 30 plays, but none of his manuscripts or personal papers have survived. The National Archives has over 50 documents about him or his family in legal cases, or about him as an actor and businessman. The will is special because Shakespeare signed it 3 times. There are only 3 other known examples of his signature anywhere. The will is a standard legal document, written by a lawyer, with no touching last words for Shakespeare's family and friends. He was clearly a man of some means by the time of his death. He left the bulk of his estate to his elder daughter, Susannah Hall. He left £300 to his younger daughter, Judith. He gave his wife, Anne Hathaway, his second-best bed. Beds and other pieces of household furniture were often the sole bequest to a wife. It was common practice for the best things to go to the children and the second best to the wife. Shakespeare died a month after this will was written, having caught a fever at a'merry party' thrown by fellow writer, Ben Jonson. He was buried in Stratford upon Avon church.The mole people: Police find 'homeless city' where vagrants - including kids - live in labyrinth of tunnels 25ft below Kansas City
Below the streets of Kansas City, there are deep underground tunnels where a group of vagrant homeless people lived in camps.
These so-called homeless camps have now been uncovered by the Kansas City Police, who then evicted the residents because of the unsafe environment.
Authorities said these people were living in squalor, with piles of garbage and dirty diapers left around wooded areas.
Underground city: A group of homeless people outside of Kansas City had been burrowing in tunnels up to 25 ft deep
Investigation: Kansas City Police, pictured, went down in the holes after discovering squalid living conditions in a nearby encampment
Squatting: A nearby above-ground settlement crudely made with an old mattress and logs
According to t he KMBC, poli ce first noticed there were soiled diapers around what looked like encampments, meaning that children could be exposed to unsafe living conditions.
Kansas City policeman Jason Cooley told the paper that officers found a series of winding underground tunnels and were directed there because of a recent crime spree.
‘One of the tunnels probably went 20 to 25 feet underground towards the back and veered off in another direction about six feet or so,’ he told the Kansas City Star, ad ding that they discovered candles and bedding as well in some of the cavern’s alcoves.
It is unclear who exactly the homeless people are, or how they dug such deep entrenchments.
Another sort of shanty-town was found nearby.
Filth: The homeless suburb was broken up by police; those living there have been given assistance by a local mission
Wave of crime: Police said that people living at one of the encampments have been stealing copper
Bedding: Authorities found dirt-covered pillows and sheets in some of the winding burrows
Authorities said that the thieves have stolen copper from a nearby grain mill, and according to KMBC, millions of dollars-worth of the crop are at risk of spoiling.
Residents of both were told they needed to vacate the premises, and a ministry organization was on-site to assist any homeless people with shelter needs.
The holes were closed up last Friday after a police robot searched the caverns.
Moonshine: A discarded liquor bottle was found in the camp
...as were piles of dirty clothes and pieces of paper
Down the hole: One of the holes to an underground portion; the burrows were later filled in by policeMore Than 80 Leading Economists Demand “Not A Penny More” Spent On Fossil Fuels
December 7th, 2017 by Joshua S Hill
A group of more than 80 world-leading economists from 20 countries have issued a declaration in which they demand that “not a penny more” be spent on fossil fuel production and infrastructure while encouraging an increase in renewable energy investments in the lead-up to French President Emmanuel Macron’s international summit on climate finance.
“We the undersigned, call for an immediate end to investments in new fossil fuel production and infrastructure, and encourage a dramatic increase in investments in renewable energy,” wrote 81 economists from all over the world, writing in the lead up to the One Planet Summit set to be held on December 12, a two years to the day after the signing of the historic Paris Climate Agreement, and which will be presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron. The Summit will aim to determine how public and private financiers can innovate to support and accelerate the effort to fight climate change.
But more than simply innovating, investors, financiers, and governments the world over will need to learn to stop funding fossil fuel production and infrastructure first, if we are to truly see a change in climate financing.
“It is time for European leaders, especially President Macron, who understands the threat posed to our planet by Donald Trump’s climate change denial, to help smash our economies’ reliance on fossil fuel subsidies and investment,” said Yanis Varoufakis Greek economist, Academic and Politician, and one of the undersigned. “Not one more penny or cent can go to coal, oil or gas subsidies.”
“It is time for the community of global economic actors to step up its efforts to save our planet and preserve our common future,” added Pierre-Richard Agénor, Professor of International Macroeconomics and Development Economics, University of Manchester, another of the declaration’s undersigned. “Our declaration affirms that it is the urgent responsibility and moral obligation of public and private investors, as well as development institutions, to lead in putting an end to the use of fossil fuels and embrace safe and renewable energies.”
“Ongoing global climate change and environmental destructions are happening at an unprecedented scale, and it will take unprecedented actions to limit the worst consequences of our dependence on oil, coal, and gas,” write the undersigned of the declaration.
“Equally as critical as drastically curbing the carbon intensity of our economic systems is the need for immediate and ambitious actions to stop exploration and expansion of fossil fuel projects and manage the decline of existing production in line with what is necessary to achieve the Paris climate goals.”
The need for reducing fossil fuel production should come as no surprise, especially considering that repeated research has shown that the carbon emissions residing within existing fossil fuel production and reserves will already take us well beyond safe climate limits. As such, the economists are not just seeking a curb on future exploration and development but a restriction of existing business-as-usual policies in an effort to keep warming to well below 2ºC, and as close to 1.5ºC as possible.
“Along with policy changes such as the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, a massive increase in financing for renewable energy solutions is needed if we are going to see a rapid decline in carbon emissions by 2025,” added Neva Rockefeller Goodwin Co-Director, Global Development And Environment Institute, Tufts University.Liam Boyce scored three goals in a one-sided cup tie
Liam Boyce scored a first-half hat-trick as Ross County demolished Falkirk to reach the League Cup quarter-finals.
The in-form Northern Irishman knocked in two headers either side of a cute, close-range back-heel.
Rafa De Vita powered in an angled shot after the interval and then set up Jonathan Franks for a side-foot finish.
Brian Graham nodded in his first goal for the Staggies and Darren Holden completed the rout with shot from Stewart Murdoch's delivery.
It was a night to forget for Peter Houston's side who have impressed in the Championship this season but will do well to bounce back from a woeful display.
This looked like a potentially tricky tie for County but the hosts signalled yet again that they are a vastly improved outfit this term.
Initially, Falkirk caused a few problems but Boyce simply blew the visitors away.
His first goal came from Richard Foster's curling cross, with the striker muscling his way to the ball to direct a powerful header back across keeper Danny Rogers.
Boyce (centre) is now on nine goals for the season
The second arrived when Falkirk failed to clear a corner. Boyce reacted to swiftly back-heel the ball in from five yards.
His hat-trick was complete when he got on the end of another cross to the back post to nod accurately into the corner.
Any suggestion that County would ease off was immediately dispelled early in the second half.
De Vita was released down the left and took advantage of the space to drill the ball firmly into the far corner.
The home side maintained their intensity to continue their domination and a fifth goal arrived when some wonderful football allowed De Vita to pick out Franks, who powerfully volleyed home.
Graham, who had a strong, early penalty claim turned down, headed in his first for the club when, left all alone in the box, he rose to meet Murdoch's accurate cross.
And Murdoch produced another smart assist for substitute Holden and the defender's volley was perfectly placed straight in the corner.
It was a magnificent, clinical display from the Staggies, with Falkirk found badly wanting.
What the managers said
Ross County's Jim McIntyre: "We were right at it from the first whistle and we knew we need |
Within the bank, one of the most significant projects is creating “contextual” debit and credit cards, which can be set for particular purchases, such as those at specific stores, or at specific times. A parent, for example, could create a debit card for a child that could be used during lunch hours only in the ZIP code near the child’s school.
Like most other banks, CBW offers online banking services, but the town’s mayor prefers to do her banking on Main Street, especially when her niece, who is a teller, is working, or when the cookies are out.
“Hank gets his oatmeal raisin,” the mayor said of her husband. “And I get my chocolate chip.”
Mr. Ramamurthi did get the recently opened Quik Shop on Main Street set up with a new device that lets customers pay with their smartphones. Even with all their big ambitions, Mr. Ramamurthi and Ms. Padmanabhan are continuing to keep a close eye on Weir.
“It’s like a bonsai tree,” he said. “It’s still a full tree. It’s just smaller.”A common problem that we often experience when developing iOS applications, is how to allow communication between our controllers, without the need to have excessive coupling. Three common patterns that appear time and time again throughout iOS applications include:
Delegation Notifications through Notification Center, and Key value observing
So why do we need these patterns and when should and shouldn’t they be used?
The following discussion of the three patterns are purely from my own experiences of developing iOS applications. I’d like to discuss why I feel a particular pattern is better than another and why I believe certain patterns are better in certain circumstances. The reasons I give are not gospel, and are just my personal opinions. Please feel free to argue and provide me with reasons and experiences you’ve had.
What is it about these three patterns?
The three patterns chosen are all ways for one object to communicate events to other objects without requiring them to be coupled. They are ways for objects to “inform” the occurrence of certain events, or more accurately, ways to allow certain events to be heard by others. This is quite a common task for objects to have to do, as without communication, controllers cannot integrate into the application. Another goal of a controller however, is to be as self contained as possible. We want our controllers to be able to exist on their own, without coupling them to any other controllers above them in our controller hierarchy. Controllers can create other controllers and communicate freely with them, but what we don’t want is controllers being tied back up to their creator. If we do couple them, then we lose their ability to be reused and lose their ability to completely control an isolated component of our application.
The three patterns all provide ways for controllers (or other objects) to communicate and be useful within an application, without the need to couple them and lose their self-containment. Whilst I’ll be describing the patterns and their use in an iOS application context, it is important to note that they do exist and are used elsewhere. The comments I make may or may not apply to their use in other contexts.
Delegation
When you first start out programming iOS application, you’ll most likely notice the continued use of “delegates” throughout the SDK. The delegation pattern is not a pattern specific to iOS, but depending on what programming background you’ve had, it might not be immediately obvious as to what advantages this pattern provides, and why it seems to be used so often.
The basic idea of delegation, is that a controller defines a protocol (a set of method definitions) that describe what a delegate object must do in order to be allowed to respond to a controller’s events. The protocol is a contract where the delegator says “If you want to be my delegate, then you must implement these methods”. What this does is allows the controller to call methods on it’s delegate with the knowledge that the delegate will respond to the method calls. The delegate can be of any object type, so the controller is not coupled to a particular Object, but it can still be sure that the delegate will respond when it tries to tell it things.
Pros
Very strict syntax. All events to be heard are clearly defined in the delegate protocol.
Compile time Warnings / Errors if a method is not implemented as it should be by a delegate.
Protocol defined within the scope of the controller only.
Very traceable, and easy to identify flow of control within an application.
Ability to have multiple protocols defined by one controller, each with different delegates.
No third party object required to maintain / monitor the communication process.
Ability to receive a returned value from a called protocol method. This means that a delegate can help provide information back to a controller.
Cons
Many lines of code required to define: 1. the protocol definition, 2. the delegate property in the controller, and 3. the implementation of the delegate method definitions within the delegate itself.
Need to be careful to correctly set delegates to nil on object deallocation, failure to do so can cause memory crashes by calling methods on deallocated objects.
Although possible, it can be difficult and the pattern does not really lend itself to have multiple delegates of the same protocol in a controller (telling multiple objects about the same event)
Notifications
In iOS applications there is a concept of a “Notification Center”. It is a singleton object that allows for objects to be notified of events occurring. It allows us to satisfy the goal of communicating between a controller and an arbitrary object with a low level of coupling. The basic concept of this pattern is that a controller uses a key (notification name) in order to allow other objects to hear about special events occurring within the controller. Then unbeknown to the controller, other objects (observers) can react to the notification events by registering for notifications with the same key.
Pros
Easy to implement, with not many lines of code.
Can easily have multiple objects reacting to the same notification being posted.
Controller can pass in a context (dictionary) object with custom information (userInfo) related to the notification being posted.
Cons
No compile time to checks to ensure that notifications are correctly handled by observers.
Required to un-register with the notification center if your previously registered object is deallocated.
Not very traceable. Attempting to debug issues related to application flow and control can be very difficult.
Third party object required to manage the link between controllers and observer objects.
Notification Names, and UserInfo dictionary keys need to be known by both the observers and the controllers. If these are not defined in a common place, they can very easily become out of sync.
No ability for the controller to get any information back from an observer after a notification is posted.
Observation
Key value observing (KVO) is a pattern in which one object can observe the value of another object’s properties to find out about changes. Where the previous two patterns (delegation and notifications) are more suited to a controller communicating with arbitrary objects, KVO is more suited to objects of any type listening for changes of another arbitrary object (not necessarily, and most often not a controller). It is a way in which we can keep our objects in sync with one another; a way in which we can make one object react when another object’s state changes. It is only used for properties and cannot be used to respond to methods or other actions.
Pros
Can provide an easy way to sync information between two objects. For example, a model and a view.
Allows us to respond to state changes inside objects that we did not create, and don’t have access to alter the implementations of (SKD objects).
Can provide us with the new value and previous value of the property we are observing.
Can use key paths to observe properties, thus nested objects can be observed.
Complete abstraction of the object being observed, as it does not need any extra code to allow it to be observed.
Cons
The properties we wish to observe, must be defined using strings. Thus no compile time warnings or checking occurs.
Re-factoring of properties can leave our observation code no longer working.
Complex “IF” statements required if an object is observing multiple values. This is because all observation code is directed through a single method.
Need to remove the observer when it is deallocated.
Summing up the options
With these three patterns providing both pros and cons, how do we aggregate and sum these up in order to influence which pattern to use in which situation. There is no right or wrong pattern to use. Each pattern provides a way for objects to inform other objects of events, without the need for the informer to know about the listener. Of these three patterns I think Key Value Observing has the clearest use case, and has a clear suitability to a specific requirement. The other two patterns however have very similar uses, and are often used to provide communication between controllers. So which of these two should be use when?
In my personal experience of making iOS applications, I have often seen an excessive use of the Notification pattern. I personally very much dislike using the notification center. I find it is just too hard to follow the flow of your application. Keys for the UserInfo dictionaries passed around become out of sync, and too many constants need to be defined and placed in a common place. It is very hard for developers who start work on an existing project to understand the flow of an application when the notification center is used excessively.
I believe that communication between controllers should be made very clear through the use of well named protocols and well named protocol method definitions. Making the effort to define these protocol methods will yield much easier code to read, and provide much more traceability within your app. Changes to delegate protocols and implementations will be picked up by the compiler, and if not (EG if you are using selectors) your app will at least crash during development, rather than just having things not working properly. Even in scenarios where multiple controllers need to be informed of the same event, as long as your application is well structured in a controller hierarchy, messages can be passed up the hierarchy where they can be passed back down to all controllers that need to know of the events.
Of course there are exceptions where the delegation pattern just does not fit and notifications make more sense. An example might be an event that every controller in your application needs to know of. However these types of scenarios are very rare. Another example might be in scenarios whereby you are building a framework that needs to announce events to the application it is running in.
As a rule of thumb I will only use observation, for property level events within objects that I did not code, or for property level events within model objects that are tightly bound to a view object. For all other events, I will always try to use a delegate pattern, if for some reason I can’t do that, I will first assess whether I have something critically wrong with my app’s structure, and if not, only then will I use notifications.A month after Gov. David A. Paterson dropped his proposal for a soda tax, New York City’s health commissioner has written an article advocating “hefty” taxes on sodas and sports drinks containing sugar. Such a tax, the article said, could be the biggest boon to public health since tobacco taxes.
The commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, and Kelly D. Brownell of Yale University, his co-author, argue in the New England Journal of Medicine that a tax of a penny per ounce could reduce consumption by more than 10 percent and raise $1.2 billion a year in New York State alone.
“It is difficult to imagine producing behavior change of this magnitude through education alone, even if government devoted massive resources to the task,” said the article, published in the journal’s April 30 issue and released online Wednesday. “Only heftier taxes will significantly reduce consumption.”
But city officials said they were unlikely to propose such a tax, which would need the approval of the State Legislature. Mr. Paterson had proposed an 18 percent tax on nondiet soda, estimating it would raise $400 million a year, but deemed it doomed in February and dropped it in March because of public, industry and legislative opposition.
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Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said Tuesday when asked about the article that the mayor liked having his commissioners come up with “cutting-edge ideas,” but that a soda tax “is just not one that we’re going to be pursuing.”CHICAGO Nashville's Pekka Rinne and Chicago's Antti Niemi share a homeland. On Friday night, the two Finnish goaltenders will have something else in common when they make their debuts in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The 6-foot-5 Rinne went 32-16-5 this season and hopes to use his big frame to block the net for the seventh-seeded Predators. Niemi, a 26-year-old rookie, took over late in the season as the Blackhawks' top goalie, starting the final nine games. He had a six-game winning streak before Chicago lost in overtime to Detroit in the season finale Sunday, knocking the Blackhawks into the second slot in the Western Conference. With goaltending one of the biggest questions for the talented Blackhawks this season, Niemi supplanted Cristobal Huet as the starter and finished the season 26-7-4. Niemi and Rinne each had seven shutouts. "Both teams got young goalies and the comparisons are pretty accurate, very similar in a lot of ways," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. Chicago won the season series 4-2 but the teams haven't played since Dec. 27. The 27-year-old Rinne was 1-2 against the Blackhawks in the regular season, though he posted a shutout Oct. 29 in Nashville. Niemi, who is 6-foot-2, was 1-0 against the Predators with a 5-4 win with Dan Ellis in goal for Nashville. Niemi said he doesn't know Rinne well but did face him a couple of times in Finnish league play. Rinne is from Kempele, Finland, and Niemi is from Vantaa. "I never really talked with him. I played against him back home a couple of times a long time ago," Niemi said. "I don't know him too much, but he's a good goalie." Since the Olympic break, Rinne is 12-4-1 with a 2.03 GAA and.928 save percentage. He also had four shutouts during that time. The question about both Rinne and Niemi is how they handle the pressure of the postseason, where the crowd is louder, the lights brighter and the play much more physical. Both teams will be trying to create traffic and congestion in front of the net to screen the opposing goalie and set up rebound chances. "It's the same thing. It's just trying to stop the puck and keep it simple," Rinne said. "I mean everybody's always asking what I'm going to change for the playoff. I think there's not too many things I want to change.... I think I gained some confidence, I want to keep going and just kind of prepare the same way I've been doing so far." Huet, who was a backup to Nikolai Khabibulin a year ago when the Blackhawks reached the Western Conference finals, couldn't keep the No. 1 job this year and when Niemi got his chance, he seized it. "I don't know if there was a defining moment," Quenneville said. "We just kept alternating goaltenders for a stretch there and he took advantage of playing in consecutive games." Niemi's teammates, many of whom got into the playoffs for the first time a year ago, aren't worried about his lack of postseason experience. "He's been great for us. It's not a concern at all," said Chicago star Jonathan Toews. "A lot of us were in that situation last year. We enjoyed it and made the best of it. It's going to be new for him, but we got a lot of experience in this locker room." And, of course, the Predators feel the same way about their guy in net. "The way he finished the season, just the mindset for the playoffs, we have no doubt about that. We feel so confident in our goaltending situation. We know Pekka is going to do the job," said Nashville right wing J.P. Dumont. Niemi appreciates his progress after signing a free agent contract with the Blackhawks less than two years ago. He spent most of last season in the AHL. Now he's being counted on by a young, talented offensive team in search of the franchise's first Stanley Cup title since 1961. The Blackhawks can't have a goaltender letdown against a team as solid as the Predators. "Before the season I didn't see this coming, but for some time I've known it is possible. It has come real fast," Niemi said. "Overall the biggest thing is getting games and getting more confident. I think that's the biggest deal." Nerves right now are not so bad, Niemi said. But as Friday's opener nears? "I think I'm going to be able to sleep," he said. ___-- AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read moreShare with:
Dear Oatmeal,
I love you. I really do. But we need to talk. Don’t worry. It’s not that kind of talk. I can’t break up with you. After-all you enable me to be a better me and keep me going for quite a while in the mornings. When you are with me, even the daunting workouts at the gym seem to fly by fast and you make those long runs seem so easy because I have the energy to “just do them”.
So why do we need to talk? It’s not you, it’s me. I have been going into a rut with the same old same old way of treating you every morning. I sweeten you up with dates or honey or with fruits. You know it, I know it and the whole world knows it. I don’t like all things sweet and not on all days.
So I have decided to spice up our relationship and I promise you, it will be hot and steamy from now on.
So we will temporarily say adios to the bananas and mangoes and apples and say hello to the multi colored vegetables. And that’s not all. We are going to bring in some hotness from Ethiopia too. Exotic spices always keep me, you know, interested. Oh you are going to be salty, spicy and hot. I promise to love you more than your sweet version. So are we on the same page? Ok great!!
My Dearest, I am glad we had this talk and you agreed. Your new Avatar as Oatmeal Kedgeree with Ethiopian Berbere Seasoning is Rocking! I am now going to share this new magical you with my friends. I know some of them will LOVE you in your spicy best. I know I do.
Stay good and Delicious,
Ansh
Print Oatmeal Kedgeree with Ethiopian Berbere Seasoning Servings 4 sevings Ingredients 1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups water
1/2 tsp oil I used ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1- 2 dry red chillies
2 Tbs minced shallots
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables You can use any quick cooking frozen veggies of your choice
2- 3 fingerling potatoes boiled and peeled optional
1/2 C steamed cauliflower optional
1/4 tsp Berbere Spice Mix use cayenne and some ground ginger if you don't have the Berbere mix
salt to taste
Cilantro to garnish Instructions Start by heating the water and add in the oats, stir and let it cook on low heat. While the oats are cooking, heat the oil/ghee and add in the cumin. Wait for it to crackle, then add in the chillies. Stir and now shallots and let them turn translucent. Add in the veggies, stir and cover to cook until soft. If using precooked potatoes and cauliflower, wait for the mixed veggies to soften a bit then add them. Add in the salt, the berbere spice and the cooked oats. Stir and allow the flavors to combine, garnish with cilantro and serve with a cup of spiced lassi Recipe Notes I used the potato and cauliflower to add an Indian Khichdi taste to this. You can use any vegetables you like.
You could also steam cook the veggies before you saute them.
I usually soak the oats in water and leave it in the fridge. It cooks faster and on some days, i just put it in a smoothie without cooking.
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(Visited 173 times, 1 visits today)Veteran NASA astronauts gathered in Chicago to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission. Despite a catastrophic explosion in 1970, Astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert safely returned to Earth. The Adler Planetarium's anniversary celebration brought several Apollo astronauts together at a time when President Obama is planning to cut funding for NASA programs to return to the moon, while investing in other technologies and a massive rocket that could take astronauts further out into space, but with no planned destination yet.
Apollo 13 was so historic that it continues to captivate the imagination of people young and old.
More than 500 people packed an auditorium in Chicago to hear how NASA astronauts and flight controllers successfully brought the 1970 mission home after an explosion crippled the spacecraft.
The continued interest in the mission, and the Apollo program in general, is no surprise to Jim Lovell, the man who helped make Apollo 13 a "successful failure." "The twentieth century, the last century, the one positive aspect of that century was the flights to the moon and the space program," he said.
Lovell and fellow astronauts Fred Haise and Jack Swigert returned to Earth 40 years ago. For Fred Haise, it was the last journey into space.
"It surprises me from the way I felt at the time that we haven't been to Mars," Haise said.
Apollo 13 was also Lovell's last trip to space. He worries about NASA's focus. "They're looking at putting money into various programs at NASA but not having any goals. Not having anything that they're striving for," he said. "Not going back to the moon or trying to go to Mars, or anything else."
Lovell, along with Neil Armstrong, and the last man on the moon Eugene Cernan, recently sent a letter to President Barack Obama to express their opposition to his proposed budget for NASA. That budget would end funding for the Constellation program, which would have returned U.S. astronauts to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars.
After three more Shuttle missions to the International Space Station this year. NASA plans to retire the shuttle fleet, bringing US manned space flight to an end, for the forseeable future.
"It's devastating to the space program if it's approved by Congress, and I really hope that more level heads will prevail. I don't think they've looked very far into the futre. There's no vision to it," Cernan said. "There's no goal. There's no challenge."
"Obviously there are a lot of people that are unhappy about the potential of altering the future of space flight," Buzz Aldrin said. Aldrin was the second man to step foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. He thinks NASA should focus on getting to Mars, not going to the moon under the Constellation program. "Why should we do something when we've already done it," he said.
"Going to the moon or going to Mars is about as interesting to people as say going to Antarctica," Bill Anders said. He was part of the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, also with Jim Lovell. It was the first manned mission to orbit the moon. "NASA has been burdened with a lack of enthusiasm by the taxpayers," he stated.
Anders says the Space Shuttle program and the International Space Station have been a burden on taxpayers. Though he favors an end to the shuttle program, he is upset there will be no other U.S. spacecraft to get astronauts to the Space Station. "I am frankly embarrassed as an American after beating the Russians to the moon, now we have to hitch hike rides back," he said.
Three more Space Shuttle missions are scheduled for this year.
The end of the Space Shuttle and the cancellation of the Constellation program, will cost 7,000 people their jobs at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Despite the cuts, President Obama's proposed budget increases NASA's funding by $6 billion over the next five years. Most of the money will go towards working with industry on new technologies to make human space flight safer.PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The government argued on Friday that it should be allowed access to people’s cell-phone records to help track suspected criminals.
A Justice Department attorney urged a federal appeals court to overturn lower court rulings denying it the right to seek information from communications companies about the call activity of specific numbers that authorities believe are associated with criminal activity.
But civil rights lawyers argued that providing information such as dates, times and call duration, and which cell towers the calls used, would be an invasion of privacy and a violation of constitutional protections against unjustified arrest.
Attorneys for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology said the government should have to obtain a warrant to track an individual via a cell phone and show probable cause that the information would provide evidence of a crime.
In 2008, the government asked for court permission to use cell phones for tracking without showing probable cause. The request was denied by a magistrate judge, whose decision was upheld by a district court. The government is appealing the lower court decisions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which heard oral arguments on Friday.
The government is not seeking to monitor the content of cell phone conversations, said Mark Eckenwiler, an attorney for the Justice Department, but wants information on call activity to assist law-enforcement as it tracks suspected criminals.
“Cell tower information is useful to law enforcement because of limited information it provides about the location of a cell phone when a call is made,” the government said in a 2008 brief.
In February 2008, the government asked a lower court’s permission to obtain from Sprint Spectrum the connection and cell-site information associated with a specific cell phone, on the grounds that it was relevant to an investigation on narcotics trafficking.
Kevin Bankston, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argued that cell tower data can allow officials to determine a cell phone user’s location to within a tenth of a mile, and that could violate constitutional rights protecting a person from unreasonable seizure.
“We think the data in this case is accurate enough to implicate the Fourth Amendment,” he said.
Judge Dolores Sloviter, one of a three-judge panel, told Eckenwiler the government’s case raised questions about the government’s rights to track individuals.
“There are governments in the world that would like to know where some of their people are or have been,” she said, citing Iran as a government that monitors political meetings. “Wouldn’t the government find it useful if it could get that information without showing probable cause? Don’t we have to be concerned about that?”
The court is expected to rule in coming months.Share. HBO for all! HBO for all!
Great news for those who want to watch the awesome "It's Not TV, It's HBO" offerings that HBO offers without having to subscribe to HBO in their cable or satellite package - or don't even have cable or a satellite package these days.
Speaking at the Time Warner Inc. Investor Meeting today, Richard Plepler, chairman and CEO, HBO, announced that the company will offer a stand-alone HBO streaming service in 2015.
Following a portion of his presentation focused on HBO’s domestic business, during which he cited significant growth opportunities inside the pay-TV universe, Plepler then turned to the current ten million broadband-only homes, which is projected to grow.
Plepler then added:
“That is a large and growing opportunity that should no longer be left untapped. It is time to remove all barriers to those who want HBO.
“So, in 2015, we will launch a stand-alone, over-the-top, HBO service in the United States. We will work with our current partners. And, we will explore models with new partners. All in, there are 80 million homes that do not have HBO and we will use all means at our disposal to go after them.”
Exit Theatre Mode
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/Showrenity.Have an argument. Once you start an argument, not a discussion, you've already lost. Think about it: have you ever changed your mind because someone online started yelling at you? They might get you to shut up, but it's unlikely they've actually changed your opinion. Forget the pitfalls of Godwin's law. Any time you mention Hitler or even Communist China or Bill O'Reilly, you've lost. Use faulty analogies. If someone is trying to make a point about, say, health care, try to make an analogy to something conceptually unrelated, like the space shuttle program, and you've lost. Question motives. The best way to get someone annoyed and then have them ignore you is to bypass any thoughtful discussion of facts and instead question what's in it for the person on the other end. Make assumptions about their motivations and lose their respect. Act anonymously. What are the chances that heckled comments from the bleachers will have an impact? Threaten to take action in another venue. Insist that this will come back to haunt the other person. Guarantee you will spread the word or stop purchasing. Bring up the slippery slope. Actually, the slope isn't that slippery. People don't end up marrying dogs, becoming cannibals or harvesting organs because of changes in organization, technology or law. Go to the edges. This is a variant of the slippery slope, in which you bring up extremes at either end of whatever spectrum is being discussed.
So, what works?
Earn a reputation. Have a conversation. Ask questions. Describe possible outcomes of a point of view. Make connections. Give the other person the benefit of the doubt. Align objectives then describe a better outcome. Show up. Smile.Greetings PW Community,
A long time ago I was using Pixelpost as my go-to photoblogging script. It had limitations, but it was good for what it was: a PHP script to allow me to post one photo per day. It's been nearly 7 years since it was updated and as I'm looking to get back into photoblogging, I'm wondering how I can accomplish the same tasks but ultimately even better with Processwire. The biggest appeal to me is the ability to go above and beyond what Pixelpost provided, and with my very limited PHP knowledge, this is a huge plus. I've attached a screenshot of the back-end for reference, but I basically want to create a page, when posting for the day, allows me to have all (or most) of those options.
The main site had the ability to load the latest post as it's homepage, as well as cycle completely around, back and front, with navigation buttons. It also allowed EXIF data to be extruded and displayed in the description. If you would like to see what it came out like, you can check it out in it's current (though neglected) form here.
My first goal is simply, to the best of my ability, duplicate the old site's function. And then, as I figure that out, expand it outward with various other features that I'm planning such as uploading more than one image at a time (so there'd be this "halo" image that you can click around and see other shots--maybe up to 10--that I took on a particular trip). Eventually, expanding to adding locked-down galleries for photography clients.
Does anyone have a way that might be easy to digest as to how I can accomplish this?
I'm already thinking fields for (at least how I'd name them) "photoblog_img", "photoblog_img_title", "photoblog_img_desc", "photoblog_img_tag" (not sure how tags would work), "photoblog_img_cat" at the very least. I'm not sure how I'd handle comments or EXIF data or date/future posting.
Thank you!During a recent visit to Seattle, drug czar Gil Kerlikowske seemed to blame his blatantly inaccurate statement that marijuana "has no medicinal benefit" on a heat-addled brain:
We had been hiking in 107-degree weather in the Sierra Nevadas, and when we came down, the question was in reference to smoked marijuana, and as you know, smoked marijuana has not been shown by the FDA to have, to show, medicinal value. This is a medical question, and that's where we're going to leave it.
But even in the air-conditioned studios of KOMO, a Seattle TV station, Kerlikowske could not manage to get it right. It is not correct to say that smoked marijuana "has no medicinal benefit" either. You could argue that the plant should not be smoked, that it's better to avoid inhaling combustion products by using a vaporizer, by eating marijuana-laced baked goods, by spraying a cannabis extract under your tongue, or even by swallowing an FDA-approved capsule containing synthetic THC. But the fact that federal regulators so far have approved only that last method does not mean the other modes of administration are ineffective.
When I first discussed Kerlikowske's denial of marijuana's well-established medical utility, I wrote that if "you say something like'marijuana has no medicinal benefit,' you are either a liar or an idiot." A couple of weeks ago, I elaborated on the former possibility, but now I am leaning toward the latter explanation.One thing I’ve found with respect to The Sims over the years is that it’s really, really hard to explain why the game is fun to someone who doesn’t get it. “Right, and then you make them shower! And you send them to work! And don’t forget that they have to clean the toilet!” So why would you want a miniature version of some guy doing the stuff that you don’t even want to do? The Sims might cater to the control freak, the god complex, the sadist, the desire for vicarious achievement… but what about everyone else? After all, there must be some kind of “x factor” that’s made it the most successful video game franchise of all time. In truth, I don’t really think this third installment makes the explanation any easier, which brings me to my overall assessment: If you’re already a Sims fan, you’ll love the game, but if you don’t get it, you probably still won’t get it.
The first thing you need to know about Sims 3 is that there’s a fundamental difference that makes it a new beast as opposed to an extension of Sims 2 (that’s what the slew of pricey expansion packs over the past five years have been for!) – your sim is no longer just the king of his castle, he’s the king of his whole kingdom. Remember how amazing it was when Sims 2 expansions allowed you to actually step out of your house for the first time and go to community lots? If so, you probably remember those long loading screens as well. That’s because each location was really just another version of being confined in your castle; either you’re playing your house or you’re playing the coffee shop, but not both. In Sims 3 there’s no loading screen because the entire town is seamless; when you step out of your house and go across the street to your neighbor’s house, your house is still there. This is a pretty integral difference in the overall game engine; basically, the entire town is now your house.
What this means for gameplay is that suddenly it makes a whole lot more sense. In fact, it fixes the major logical frustration with Sims 2, which was that the world simply didn’t go on when you weren’t in it. For example, when one sim went to that coffee house, the sims left behind at home just stopped; so when the sim came home, it was the exact same time as when he left. Also, no one outside the home would age. So when your sim is a child, the friend that he brings home from elementary school would still be a child once your sim has grown into adulthood. And if your sim has kids that move out of the house, they won’t age, so generations later, you might find that a sim’s great great grandkids are older than him…
What Sims 3 provides is a persistent world; everyone in the town lives on while you’re not looking. They get jobs, get married, have children, die… However, while many players will see this as a perk, others might find it inconvenient. Players with a more “control freak” style prefer to orchestrate every detail of their sims’ lives; so in the previous versions of the Sims, they could switch from house to house, playing each family for similar periods of time so that everyone would grow up at the same rate. And whereas in Sims 3 you can switch to play different households, the other ones will go on in your absence. So if you switch from your main family to play with the kids that just grew up and moved out, you might find that their parents died in your absence. There is a “story progression” toggle that is supposed to turn off the persistent world, but it doesn’t work correctly (EA has said that they will fix it in a patch coming out soon) so I’m not entirely sure how that could affect gameplay.
And of course there are a ton of smaller changes. One of the most noticeable is the body types of the sims. In the previous versions, sims came in three shapes: skinny, average, or fat. Now there’s an entire spectrum, and your sim can gain or lose weight based on food or exercise (though miraculously it seems like one jog around the block can drop you down several sizes – if only!). The phases of life are the same, including “young adult” which was previously only available for sims while in college; you can also change the life spans of sims – go for the normal 90 days or an “epic” 1000.
Another change that has gotten some media attention is that gay marriage is now legal in the sims’ world. Whereas in Sims 2 a same-sex couple could only have been “joined,” they are now afforded the exact same marriage scenario as an heterosexual couple – which includes being referred to as “husbands” and “wives” in the family tree. And of course, same-sex couples can still adopt children.
One thing that |
supported by the Jalal Al din Shah. Khayyam designed his calendar in which the beginning of the new year, season and month are aligned and he named the first day of the spring and the new year to be Norooz. Before Khayyam's Calendar Norooz was not a fixed day and each year could fall in late winter or early spring. Iranian owe the survival of the Norooz to Khayyam because he fixed the Norooz to be the first day of the Spring and the New Year and can not be changed. This has nothing to do with Zoroastrians. The credit goes to the genius of Khayyam and Financial support of Jalal Al Din Shah Seljuqi.
From 15 March AD 1079, when the calendar had slipped a further eighteen days, the araji calendar was reformed by repeating the first eighteen days of Frawardin. Thus 14 March was 18 Frawardin qadimi (old) or farsi and 15 March was 1 Frawardin jalali or maleki. This new calendar was astronomically calculated so that it did not have epagemonai – the months began when the sun entered a new sign of the zodiac.
About 120 years after the reform of AD 1006, when the vernal equinox was starting to fall in Ardawahisht, Zoroastrians made it again coincide with nowruz by adding a second Spandarmad. This Shensai calendar was a month behind the qadimi still used in Persia, being used only by the Zoroastrians in India, the Parsees. On 6 June 1745 (Old Style) some Parsees re-adopted the qadimi calendar, and in 1906 some adopted the Fasli calendar in which 1 Frawardin was equated with 21 March, so that there was a sixth epagomenal day every four years. In 1911 the jalali calendar became the official national calendar of Persia. In 1925 this calendar was simplified and the names of the months were modernised. 1 Farvardin is the day whose midnight start is nearest to the instant of vernal equinox. The first six months have 31 days, the next five thirty, and the twelfth has 29 days and 30 in leap years. Some Zoroastrians in Persia now use the Fasli calendar, having begun changing to it in 1930.
Modern calendar: Solar Hijri (SH) [ edit ]
Correspondence of Solar Hijri and Gregorian calendars (Solar Hijri leap years are marked *)[7]
33-year
cycle[8] Solar Hijri year Gregorian year Solar Hijri year Gregorian year 1 1354* 21 March 1975 – 20 March 1976 1387* 20 March 2008 – 20 March 2009 2 1355 21 March 1976 – 20 March 1977 1388 21 March 2009 – 20 March 2010 3 1356 21 March 1977 – 20 March 1978 1389 21 March 2010 – 20 March 2011 4 1357 21 March 1978 – 20 March 1979 1390 21 March 2011 – 19 March 2012 5 1358* 21 March 1979 – 20 March 1980 1391* 20 March 2012 – 20 March 2013 6 1359 21 March 1980 – 20 March 1981 1392 21 March 2013 – 20 March 2014 7 1360 21 March 1981 – 20 March 1982 1393 21 March 2014 – 20 March 2015 8 1361 21 March 1982 – 20 March 1983 1394 21 March 2015 – 19 March 2016 9 1362* 21 March 1983 – 20 March 1984 1395* 20 March 2016 – 20 March 2017 10 1363 21 March 1984 – 20 March 1985 1396 21 March 2017 – 20 March 2018 11 1364 21 March 1985 – 20 March 1986 1397 21 March 2018 – 20 March 2019 12 1365 21 March 1986 – 20 March 1987 1398 21 March 2019 – 19 March 2020 13 1366* 21 March 1987 – 20 March 1988 1399* 20 March 2020 – 20 March 2021 14 1367 21 March 1988 – 20 March 1989 1400 21 March 2021 – 20 March 2022 15 1368 21 March 1989 – 20 March 1990 1401 21 March 2022 – 20 March 2023 16 1369 21 March 1990 – 20 March 1991 1402 21 March 2023 – 19 March 2024 17 1370* 21 March 1991 – 20 March 1992 1403* 20 March 2024 – 20 March 2025 18 1371 21 March 1992 – 20 March 1993 1404 21 March 2025 – 20 March 2026 19 1372 21 March 1993 – 20 March 1994 1405 21 March 2026 – 20 March 2027 20 1373 21 March 1994 – 20 March 1995 1406 21 March 2027 – 19 March 2028 21 1374 21 March 1995 – 19 March 1996 1407 20 March 2028 – 19 March 2029 22 1375* 20 March 1996 – 20 March 1997 1408* 20 March 2029 – 20 March 2030 23 1376 21 March 1997 – 20 March 1998 1409 21 March 2030 – 20 March 2031 24 1377 21 March 1998 – 20 March 1999 1410 21 March 2031 – 19 March 2032 25 1378 21 March 1999 – 19 March 2000 1411 20 March 2032 – 19 March 2033 26 1379* 20 March 2000 – 20 March 2001 1412* 20 March 2033 – 20 March 2034 27 1380 21 March 2001 – 20 March 2002 1413 21 March 2034 – 20 March 2035 28 1381 21 March 2002 – 20 March 2003 1414 21 March 2035 – 19 March 2036 29 1382 21 March 2003 – 19 March 2004 1415 20 March 2036 – 19 March 2037 30 1383* 20 March 2004 – 20 March 2005 1416* 20 March 2037 – 20 March 2038 31 1384 21 March 2005 – 20 March 2006 1417 21 March 2038 – 20 March 2039 32 1385 21 March 2006 – 20 March 2007 1418 21 March 2039 – 19 March 2040 33 1386 21 March 2007 – 19 March 2008 1419 20 March 2040 – 19 March 2041
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Citations [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Online calendars and converters
ProgrammingThe Zack will rise again
Perhaps the biggest problem for World War Z's sequel is what to call it. World War Z 2? World War Zour? World War Z: Zed's Dead? Then there's possibilty of the threequel's name being World War Z 3, which doesn't even bear thinking about. And yet, it is under consideration, as Brad Pitt revealed to the press at this year's Toronto Film Festival.
“We’re certainly talking about it, yes,” he told Variety. “We have so many ideas on the table from the time we spent developing this thing and figuring out how the zombie worlds work. We gotta get the script right first to determine if we go further.”
Very loosely based on Max "Son of Mel" Brooks' apocalyptic zombie novel World War Z, the Marc Forster movie cost nearly $200 million to make - thanks, in part, to lengthy third act reshoots that led many to believe it would be a cast-iron clanger on release - but has so far made $533 million at the worldwide box office.
This makes it Brad Pitt's highest grossing movie, and a big win for production company Plan B, which also happens to be run by Pitt. The actor is in Toronto for 12 Years A Slave, the latest film from Steve Mc Queen which is already getting rapturous reviews and which hits UK screens on January 24. He also has Ridley Scott's The Counsellor coming up.
Since the first World War Z film jettisoned much of the original book's material, including, most tantalisingly, zombies walking across the ocean floor, there's still much to look forward to should the sequel officially start production. In the meantime, have a listen to our fascinating Max Brooks Empire Podcast interview below, and be sure to subscribe to it via our iTunes page or this handy RSS feed.
[[Poll1049]]On Sunday’s Star Advertiser, the headline story was that the SHAKA Movement is now going after the sugar cane industry. This is the very industry that changed the face of our islands that brought people here. This is how we got our beloved local style. I feel as if our island roots are being picked at day by day by transplants who are redefining Hawaii to be their Hawaii.
The more I think about it, this place is not the same place I grew up in.
As a kid, I enjoyed the simple farm life. After homework and chores, my siblings and I would ride our bikes and head to the stream and catch guppies or collect jojo beans to make necklaces. We were free to be kids and play outside with no worry in the world.
Today, it’s not like that for my children. With cost of living so high, both my husband and I have to work full days to make ends meet. My kids can’t play outside because they have to be in after school programs until the late afternoon. I can’t even let them wander the neighborhood on their bikes in fear of them being abducted. Their childhoods are nothing like what I remember.
I used to spend nearly every weekend on the beach fishing with my grandfather near the Hauula bridge. My grandma would cook up some food and we’d eat there too all the way through the evening. Despite living near the beach, we hardly ever go because the weekends are the only time I have to do housework and chores. My kids get to the beach maybe once every three months because of how busy life is.
Everything seems to be going up. I’ve also noticed how my grocery bill keeps creeping up each month. Actually, all basic utilities continue to go higher over the last several years.
It gets harder and harder to save when my basic costs keep draining my budget every month. We don’t even take vacations to avoid more debt. Even a staycation means less money out of our budget. Home is where we spend all of our time or going down to my dad’s farm to play.
The cost of childcare is also ridiculous here too. One month of preschool is about $750 and baby sitting averages $600. After school program rates are likely going up also with the minimum wage rate increased. It’s so expensive here to raise kids.
I live in a house that I could never afford on my own salary. My grandparents paid a mere $25k 50 years ago and it’s now over &700k. I could sell my half and buy a newer home outright in the mainland. Then I wouldn’t have to be paying out anyone and avoid having a nice added burden over my head. I’ll miss this home but it’s just a physical structure at this point that is viewed as money to some family members who have stake in it.
I’m at a crossroads now with deciding whether or not Hawaii really is the best place for my family to be raised in. I spent 8 years taking care of my grandma with dementia and she’s now passed on. I have no real obligations keeping me here. Do I want to live where I always have to feel like it’s a struggle to make it financially or do I pick up and go to where there is less worry? Granted, my kids won’t get to see their relatives much, but at this rate, that doesn’t pay the bills.
I know that I’m not the only one in this situation. So many other local families are in the same situation. There’s so much talk about helping local families out but none has ever materialized in the last 9 years that I have been back. I always have hope that there will be some relief but it’s not happening soon enough.
I will always be the daughter of a Hawaii farmer but the thought of living in a place that is affordable looks much more appealing. The feeling of what it means to be local is dying and none of our leaders are interested in maintaining that uniqueness that made our home special. It’s like we are no different than any other big city with its problems.
Home is not home anymore. Maybe I need to carve out a new place to call home and create my own local style because it’s gone from here and no one seems to see it.
***At the request of one of the editors, this same post was reprinted on Civil Beat. Just read the comments below and you’ll see how there is no aloha by so many people.***If you love something, set it free and maybe it’ll come back as a cool app. So hopes city council, which today will give first reading to a proposed administrative order designed to release multitudes of imprisoned data from within the city’s towering servers.
It’ll mean Halifax will finally formalize an “Open Data” program which will specifically outline the purpose, score, definitions and schedule of release for structured municipal datasets which have been created for the purposed of operating and managing the city.
First to be liberated will be info on tax area rates, contour data, spot heights, parking metres and pre-amalgamation boundaries. Future entries in the open data catalogue will be released at least once per year, based on public requests.
The move is a result of the Open Data Initiative the city enacted in 2012 that enabled the public release of a selection of HRM datasets free of charge. Seventeen datasets (featuring figures on trails, parks and recreation and solid waste collection) were released and downloaded close to 156,000 times between April, 2013 and January of this year. The city also hosted a “hackathon,” and an award ceremony in January for the best doing things with data the government didn’t think of.
Blue skies then, as “free and equal access to government data previously unavailable” will be had by all—except that data which is “confidential, sensitive, or contains personal information.”
The qualifications for what can and cannot be released to the public are mostly straightforward, but two items could prove themselves a future barrier to access. The data must be owned by HRM, or “for which the municipality has authorization from the owners of the datasets to release,” and the data must be “free of any legal or contractual obligations, or public safety restrictions, that requires it to be kept confidential.”
Both of those clauses could easily be used to keep hidden any requested government data that private entities are involved in, as there doesn’t appear to be a mechanism for releasing part of a dataset. Such info would still technically be available under a Freedom of Information request, but that office’s a little swamped these days.
The adoption of the open data program will also likely mean the repeal of Halifax’s geographic data dissemination policy. That 2006 item designated the classification and associated fees in requesting municipal data, and will now be redundant.There Is No Ricklaxation For Rick and Morty!
Something magical is happening with Season 3 of Rick and Morty. Each episode is wilder and more thought-provoking than the last. This week’s episode titled “Rest and Ricklaxation” isn’t any different. There is no downtime in this Schwifty universe!
The cold open for “Rest and Ricklaxation” is one of the best to date. Morty overhears that his unrequited crush Jessica is finally single, so he goes in for the kill. Before he stumbles over his words, Rick rushes in and pulls Morty away for another adventure. What makes this one so great is what we don’t see. Before going on this mission, Morty makes complaints about missing out on his normal life. Rick promises that this would only take 20 minutes, but we see a title card saying “Six Days Later.” The duo looks rough and has obviously been through a grueling journey. So much for a quick “in and out” adventure.
In the first 5 minutes of the episode, you see the themes of character growth still applying. Season 3 is all about showing different sides to the familiar characters. Rick even admits for the first time that he wasn’t in control of a situation! Admitting something like that is something that would never occur in Season 1. This moment leads both of them to a complete mental break, and Rick calls for a vacation.
Sadly the restful break doesn’t last long.
“If I Can’t Trap You In A Toxic World, I’ll Make The Whole World Toxic”
-Toxic Rick
Rick and Morty end up in an alien day spa, and of course, Rick gets the pair into something dark. They go into detoxifier, which is just a horrific surreal toxic world. Things get split between the toxic and healthy version of the pair. Can’t help but think that things would be easier for them if they just want to a spa on Earth.
Since Rick and Morty’s good and bad qualities are split, the bad obvious try to take over. At first, they want to take over the bodies, but then it is the world. Toxic Rick is a liar, and that shocks the good Rick. It shows that even Rick has a side of him that ignores his bad qualities. Toxic Morty is the fragile and weak Morty that was prevalent in the first season. The “healthy” Morty is the badass and aggressive Morty the viewers see as of late. Funny to see how each pairing works when certain personality traits are gone.
There’s a battle of good and evil, but in the end, it teaches the lesson that both are needed. It isn’t a simple lesson to learn as the “good” Morty is still a little annoying. For once Rick seems to things together, and Morty is still trying to find his own. Oddly, finding his means, Morty uses his lack of conscience to be a stockbroker. Even with complete freedom, Morty is still annoying. Like father, like son.
Final Thoughts:
“Pickle Rick” remains the best episode of Season 3, but “Rest and Ricklaxation” is a close second. Everything feels dark and twisted, but with the fun edge that Rick and Morty provides. It also works as a standalone episode that explores darkness in all of us, but wouldn’t work if the season didn’t follow a theme of self-exploration.
Rick puts it correctly saying you need the bad parts to become a fully rounded person. They want to remove the negatives from themselves instead of just facing it head-on. While Rick stated in “Pickle Rick” that he doesn’t need therapy, his realizations this season are somewhat profound. He should go into business for himself with dark reality lessons.
The world of Rick and Morty can be so vast that “scaled back” episodes like this feel refreshing. The chemistry between these two is what the show is all about, and no matter how crazy things may get, it’s always good to see these two are constant.
What did you think of this episode of Rick and Morty?
Let me know your feelings below!Syrians, Not The Regime, Feel The Sting Of Sanctions
Enlarge this image toggle caption Bassem Tellawi/AP Syrians walk in the Hamidiyah market, decorated with portraits of President Bashar Assad and national flags, in the capital Damascus on Oct. 5. The European Union has intensified economic sanctions against Syria, but the crackdown against anti-regime protesters is unlikely to stop, Syrians say. Bassem Tellawi/AP
Every Syrian is feeling the economic pain of a seven-month uprising and Western sanctions to end a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.
But shopkeepers tell a different story along a street of open-air shops in the Midan neighborhood in central Damascus. A government escort accompanies an NPR reporter for interviews about the sensitive subject of tightening economic sanctions against Syria.
Hassan Shagharouri runs a sweets shop. When asked if prices are rising, he responds that the prices are the same and that everything is perfect.
It's the same answer at Bishar al-Kassam's electronics shop: Nothing has changed; it remains as it was.
The answers to an American reporter are so upbeat that even the government escort shakes his head and says he doesn't know why the shop owners are all lying.
This week, the European Union tightened the sanctions yet again by freezing the assets of the Commercial Bank of Syria.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Bassem Tellawi/AP In this photo taken during a government-organized visit for media, Syrian army soldiers shout slogans in support of Assad as they enter a village near the town of Jisr al-Shughour on June 10. Ongoing military operations to crush anti-government protest are draining money from the national budget. Bassem Tellawi/AP
But despite measures affecting everyday Syrians, many say the sanctions are unlikely to change government policy.
Continuing Hardship, Uncertainty
Western sanctions are designed to target the government and pressure President Bashar Assad, but every Syrian is grappling with the punishment. For the poor, eggs and meat are now out of reach. For the well-to-do, international banks have stopped processing personal credit cards. For merchants, there is a collapse in demand, says Nabil Sukkar, a former World Bank official who runs an independent research center in Damascus.
"There is tremendous depression because there is still no light at the end of the tunnel," he says. "They don't know where the economy is heading."
It's not just the sanctions, says Sukkar — the uprising has had an even bigger impact on the economy. The uncertainty has shut down the tourism sector and dried up foreign investment. And there's another price to pay for the massive government crackdown: The army has been deployed in Syrian cities for months.
"Of course, there is a cost for that military operation.... The money has to come from our budget," Sukkar says.
Government revenues are likely to shrink as the European Union's ban on Syrian oil imports comes into force in November. Syria has to find new buyers for a product that makes up one-third of all state revenues — so the economic pain is expected to worsen significantly.
Undoing Economic Reforms
A trendy street in Damascus, with a row of brand-name coffeehouses, restaurants and designer clothing shops, is a symbol of the economy built by President Assad over more than a decade in power.
Assad introduced a market economy, enriched the business elite and created a consumer culture in Syria after he inherited the presidency from his father, Hafez Assad.
"Many people saw in Bashar a modernist, at least someone who could introduce a certain atmosphere of liberalism, access to imported goods of a quality which was inexistent under his father," says Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group.
But now, the economic crisis threatens to push Syria back to the 1980s, with long lines for locally produced goods, says Harling.
"The problem for the regime is that this is a prospect which its base of support, what's left of its base of support, resents," he says.
Potential Backlash
But that resentment could backfire if Western sanctions hurt average Syrians more than the regime, says newspaper editor Waddah Abed Rabbo.
"When you hear the European or the American tell you sanctions will not affect the Syrian people, it's not true, because we are all affected by the sanctions. Normally, the regime is not affected by all this," he says.
The regime can rally the country, demand sacrifices with an anti-American campaign, says Rabbo. Most Syrians are unprepared for this economic disaster, but the regime, he says, has a system in place.
"These people know exactly how to live under sanctions. They adapt. They adapt their life on sanctions," Rabbo says.
Those in Western capitals waiting for the regime to crack under the pressure, he says, have longer to wait.Following the tragic event at Umpqua Community College, where a 26-year-old gunman opened fire in a classroom leaving 10 people killed and another 7 injured, it is understandable that U.S. gun culture and state gun control are fresh on people’s minds.
When moving forward after events like this, I believe it’s important to avoid reactive measures that could potentially have even greater consequences than the tragedies themselves (e.g. War on Drugs, PATRIOT Act, etc.). What follows is a selection of articles over the years from across the political spectrum that touch on the usually ignored topic of gun control and discrimination in its many forms.*
The Secret History of Guns by Adam Winker
Gun Rights Benefited Black Americans During the Civil Rights Movement and Still Do by Sheldon Richman
A Socialist Take on Gun Violence, State Violence, and Workers’ Right to Self-Defense by Monica Hill
Yes, Please by Charles W. Johnson
Gun Control, Surveillance and Trans Resistance by Dean Spade
Seen and Unseen by Rodrick Long
Gun Control: A Left Libertarian Critique by Nathan Goodman
Is There a Right to Own a Gun? by Michael Huemer
The Panthers Were Right and Reagan Was Wrong on Gun Control by Anthony Gregory
An Anarchist Case Against Gun Control by Chris Cararra
Shaneen Allen, Race and Gun Control by Radley Balko
Gun Control, Mental Illness, and Black Trans and Lesbian Survival by Gabriel Arkles
Arm the Mentally Ill by Kelly Vee
The Rifle on the Wall: A Left Argument for Gun Rights by The Polemicist
How Gun Control Hurts Minorities by Nathan Goodman & Meg Arnold
The Social Justice Case for Preserving the Second Amendment by Liz Wolfe
A (Brief) People’s History of Gun Control by Kevin Carson
In The Wake of Orlando, Gays Should Arm Themselves: Otherwise…We’re Sitting Ducks by Tom Palmer
Gun Control’s Racist Reality: The Liberal Argument Against Giving Police More Power by Alex Gourevitch
The History of LGBT Gun-Rights Litigation by David Kopel
Gun Control’s Racist Past and Present by Creede Newton
Why Some Members of the Far Left Advocate Against Gun Control by Elizabeth King
The L.G.B.T. Case for Guns by Nicki Stallard
Why Black People Own Guns by Julia Craven
Gun Control and Class Struggle by Socialist Appeal
The Trans Women Turning to Firearms for Survival by S.E. Smith
Obama’s Gun Control Ableism by T. J. Scholl
The (Really, Really) Racist History of Gun Control in America by Jane Coaston
This Queer Gun Club Is Standing Up to Violence Against the LGBTQ Community by Zachary Zane
Who Goes to Prison Due to Gun Control? by Anthony Gregory
Why the Left-wing Needs a Gun Culture by Lorenzo Raymond
This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible by Charles E. Cobb Jr.
Gun Control, Structural Racism, and the Prison State by Nathan Goodman
Liberatory Community Armed Self-Defense: Approaches Toward a Theory by scott crow
In Response to Far Right, LGBTQ Gun Group Hits Firing Line by Michael Hill
Black Gun Owners Speak Out About Facing a Racist Double Standard by Tessa Stuart
The Liberal Desire for Gun Control is Going to Get Us Killed by Dr. Bones
Feel free to comment with additional material I may have missed relating to these topics.
*Note: This is NOT meant to be a case for or against certain measures of gun control. This is meant to shed light on specific factors that are usually absent from this discussion.
AdvertisementsNew federal government data shows the percentage of Americans without health insurance was at or near historic lows this year following the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, and appears certain to fall to record levels next year.
The data released Thursday from the National Center for Health Statistics’ National Health Interview Survey found that 11.3 percent of Americans were without coverage in the second quarter of 2014, down from 13.1 percent in the first quarter and 14.4 percent throughout 2013. An analysis by the White House Council of Economic Advisers finds the drop in the uninsured to be the largest in four decades, amounting to roughly 9.7 million Americans getting insurance, consistent with other Affordable Care Act estimates.
“As this week’s data confirm, 2014 has seen dramatic coverage gains, gains matched or exceeded only by those seen in the decade of rapid progress that followed the creation of Medicare and Medicaid,” wrote Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman and CEA Senior Economist Matt Fiedler in a blog post on the White House website. “Following this year’s gains, we estimate that the Nation’s uninsured rate is now at or near the lowest levels ever recorded across the 50 years for which we have data.”
Council of Economic Advisers
The new data does not include the nearly 2.5 million who have newly selected or re-enrolled for coverage in the latest round of open enrollment which began last month. Nor does it include those who’ve gained coverage in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program since the second quarter—including 400,000 from September to October, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services—as more states expand access to the program with federal money under the law.
“These data imply that the uninsured rate will continue to fall in the year ahead, reaching low levels unprecedented in the Nation¹s history,” the economists wrote.
Contact us at editors@time.com.When I met him last March, Davut Akyon was clawing at the fresh brown earth in Bağözü, a village in Southeast Turkey. He worked deliberately, but quickly, turning over large chunks of limestone, moving from one mound to another, the speed of his labor failing to mask the futility of his task. Occasionally, he would throw a rock down a well, following its trajectory with vacant eyes. Then he would stop, his weight resting on his right leg, and smoke rolled tobacco, his hand cupped around the cigarette.
Davut was looking for his brother’s bones. Little more than a month before, the remains of eleven humans were found in Bağözü, near the town of Dargeçit, about 80 kilometers from the Syrian border. These unmarked graves are believed to contain victims of a conflict between the Turkish military and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which stretched through most of the 1990s. It descended into the villages. Human rights abuses on both sides of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict were rife.
Bağözü, known as Triwa in Kurdish, was forcefully evacuated by the Turkish military in 1995. Its eighty-five honey-colored houses were abandoned and the village was brought under the control of the army. The recent discovery of remains suggests that Bağözü could be one of the many abandoned villages where the bodies of PKK guerrillas and Kurdish civilians killed during the fighting or executed by the army were buried. The Human Rights Association (IHD), an organization closely associated with Kurdish rights, has cataloged 253 potential sites and expects there are many more. Bağözü is the twenty-ninth gravesite to be opened since the first was discovered in 2004.
Davut does not know why they took [his brother]. He has spent the last 17 years looking for Nedim’s body, a search that has come to dominate Davut’s existence.
Davut, who lives in Dargeçit, looks older than his forty-one years. He is almost six foot, with broad shoulders, cropped hair, and a thick Kurdish moustache, but with a meek and nervous disposition, he seems slighter than he actually is. In different circumstances, his buzz cut, weathered face, and barrel chest could suggest a military background. In February, he gave a DNA sample to the local prosecutor with the hope that his brother Nedim would be among those discovered in the Bağözü graves, but he’s continued searching beyond the gravesites for more bones throughout the village.
Nedim was twelve when he was taken in the middle of the night from his family home. “Our house was surrounded by soldiers. I came out but they yelled at me to stop… They asked me where my brother was. I told them he was upstairs,” says Davut of that night in November 1995. “The soldiers moved past me and climbed the stairs. They entered Nedim’s room and pushed him to the floor. They bound his hands behind his back and blindfolded him. He was still in his pajamas as they marched him downstairs. A hood was placed over his head and he was pushed out of the house.”
That was the last time Davut saw Nedim. As he rushed to the door to follow his hooded brother, the local gendarme commander blocked his path. “He said, ‘If you ever follow us, I’ll kill all of you.’ A couple of minutes later we heard a gun shot.”
Davut does not know why the soldiers took Nedim, why they targeted his family and his younger brother in particular. He has spent the last seventeen years looking for Nedim’s body, a search that has come to dominate his existence. “Our lives have never been the same,” Davut says. “We are always searching for him. Twenty-four hours never pass without thinking about Nedim. I remember everything about him. It’s your brother, you never forget.”
***
With a population of almost fifteen thousand, Dargeçit sits just beyond the northern reaches of the Syrian plain, on the edge of the Eastern Highlands. On the western approach, the land is made up of largely barren, rock-strewn fields, which frame the odd farmhouse or ancient monastery–remnants of a once-thriving Syriac Christian community. The only thing that grows here is the oak. Yashar Kemal, in his famous 1955 novel Memed, My Hawk, saw the tree of Kurdistan as a symbol of the gnarled and stoic villager, rooted to the land by an oppressive feudal system. The oak has been appropriated as the symbol of the Kurdish parliamentary party, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), and is displayed on their bright yellow flag as a representation of home for a people uprooted.
Ever since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, this region has been what the writer Christopher de Bellaigue calls a “rebel land.” In the wake of World War I, the emergence of the Turkish nation from the remains of the Ottoman Empire heralded the end of fraternity between Kurds and Turks. Mustafa Kemal (who later took the surname Atatürk, meaning “Father of the Turks”), the country’s founder, built a nation established on martial myths and driven by the ideas of early twentieth century Europe: science and progress, secularism and urbanity, but also ethno-nationalism and social engineering. Atatürk’s nation-building was a fussy and neurotic process of constructing a modernized, Turkified identity one symbol at a time—from streamlined clothing to a new alphabet and new names for people and places. The Kurds faced forced assimilation. For much of the Republic’s life, Kurds have been known as “Mountain Turks” and their language and popular culture has been banned. Today, Turkey’s Kurds, who number approximately 14 million—18 percent of the population—are acknowledged, but still marginalized.
Just two years after the declaration of the Republic, Sheikh Said, a wealthy landowner and religious figure from Palu in the northwest of the Kurdish region, led an unsuccessful rebellion against the new national government in Ankara. The Sheikh and his followers were hanged in a public square in Diyarbakir, the region’s largest city, and then dumped into unmarked graves. This was the first rebellion against the Turkish Republic and its definition of national identity. Many more have followed. As early as 1927, the British Ambassador Sir George Clerk noted, “the government has already begun to apply to the Kurdish elements… the policy which so successfully disposed of the Armenian minority in 1915.”
The latest conflict began in 1984 when the PKK launched a guerrilla campaign against symbols of Turkish state power, including the army, police, and civil servants, in the Southeast. The PKK talked about liberation through adherence to a Marxist-Leninist doctrine, but the premier ambition of its guerrilla war was independence for Turkey’s Kurds and the formation of Kurdistan. Because of its hit-and-run tactics against both the Turkish military and large landowning families who benefited from government patronage, the group gained a loyal and broad following in the Southeast. As one businessman in Diyarbakir told me, “I supported the PKK in the 1980s because they were the only group capable of standing up to the power of the state.”
As many as thirty-five hundred people in the Southeast, mostly civilians, may have disappeared, the majority of them between 1990 and 1996. (Members of the current government say the figure is between one thousand and fifteen hundred, but as with all numbers on the subject, it is highly contested.)
The fighting has ebbed and flowed—through the capture of the PKK’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in 1999, through numerous ceasefires (one unilaterally declared by the PKK lasting almost four years), through terrorist attacks by the PKK in cities in the west of Turkey. Yet each summer as the snow melts, the fighting resumes in the remote valleys of the Southeast. The conflict reached its height in the 1990s, before Ocalan was captured and the current government came to power.
At that time, Dargeçit was at the center of a society that was disintegrating. To the east was “Hell’s Valley,” a natural transit route for PKK guerrillas and a site |
electro funk, is fine when it hews to this theme. (“I Love Me” is catchy, for example.) Here’s a lyrical word for you: breasteses. Here’s a chorus for you: “If I was you / I’d v’wanna be me too,” ad nauseam. It was statistically far more likely that Trainor would accidentally hit Memphis street rapper Yo Gotti with her car than that he would join her in the studio, but there he is, mildly enlivening the Caribbean-lilt snoozer “Better.” She’s useless on ballads, and “Dance Like Yo Daddy” is Macklemore without the white guilt. But don’t be surprised if you become involuntarily obsessed with “NO.” “NO” is Trainor’s current, insidious hit single about shooting down lusty chumps in the club; the video is a delight. (Suggested college application essay question: What does that factory produce?) It’s vaguely reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s clip for “Shake It Off,” whereupon Swift flaunts her adorable awkwardness amid various social groups (ballerinas, black people) that intimidate her, but in a plainly contrived way. Whereas the nervous clunkiness of “NO” — the sense of a nearly visible thought bubble over Trainor’s head in which she’s picturing the next dance move right before she does it — is awfully endearing, and viscerally real, and way more believable. Trainor may be our one truly relatable pop star, and she takes her perfect imperfections seriously: Last week she briefly deep-sixed her new video for “Me Too” because someone Photoshopped the bejesus out of her. Best-case scenario: She’s an undercover FBI agent, trying her best and improbably succeeding, and one day soon she’ll crack the case and arrest, like, Rita Ora or whomever onstage, on live television. Until then, we get to enjoy pratfalls like this. There is much on Thank You to shake off, but no one shakes it off with more aplomb.FLAW FEST is a double album. The first album is a stand-up comedy show by Joseph Scrimshaw that will be recorded live in Minneapolis at The Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater. The second album will be a collection of original songs inspired by the show. It's a stand-up comedy show with its own soundtrack!
The music album will feature new songs written and recorded by:
NEW MUSICIAN ADDED! The Dregs, a popular comedy folk band will also tackle a new song based on Joseph’s horrible flaws!
John Roderick (The Long Winters, Roderick On The Line)
Paul & Storm (w00tstock, Learning Town)
John Munson (The New Standards, Semisonic, Trip Shakespeare, Wits)
Molly Lewis (w00tstock, YouTube Superstar)
Bill Corbett (RiffTrax, MST3K, Super Powered Revenge Christmas)
Kevin Murphy (RiffTrax, MST3K, A Year at the Movies)
The Sevateem (Christian Erickson and Janey Winterbauer of Wits fame)
The Doubleclicks (w00tstock, Nerd Night Productions)
Mike Phirman (Hard N' Phirm, Learning Town)
That is a shocking amount of awesome in one album!
THE FLAW FEST STORY
My name is Joseph Scrimshaw. I'm a comedian, writer, and flawed human being. I put together a stand-up comedy show about some of my most entertaining flaws including a sloth driven obsession to play bad James Bond video games, a stubborn need to fight with large animals, the idiocy to drink something called a Watermelon Shooter, the hubris to write a rock n' roll song about a helium balloon, and much more.
I performed this show when I was one of the entertainers on Jonathan Coulton's awesome JoCoCruiseCrazy in February of 2013.
Telling a tale of James Bond related sloth on JoCoCruiseCrazy
I was thrilled with the reception of the show so I wanted to record an expanded version, but I also wanted to do something more than just record it as a comedy album.
I wanted to make a music album, too.
I'm lucky enough to know and perform with many incredibly talented musicians so I often think about the different ways comedy and music might interact.
I also wanted to ask other artists to explore the topic of flaws because it's so universal. We all beat ourselves up a lot. Sometimes, when artists beat themselves up, they end up making it a positive thing by creating great comedy and music.
I reached out to some friends and asked if they would be willing to write songs inspired by jokes, stories, ideas, or specific lines from the stand-up show. To my great joy, they said YES!
You'll hear songs called Wife Head, Toilet Sauce, No One Can Hear You (When You Crouch), a brand new song by John Roderick about romancing a bear, and many more.
Even though the songs will be inspired by the comedy show, not all of the songs will necessarily be comedic. Each musician is using something from the show as a starting point and then just following their bliss.
One thing comedians and musicians have in common is that it can be hard to find the inspiration to write new material. I'm thrilled about the weird, fun idea that a stand-up comedy show could be the muse for a bunch of great new music.
LIVE SHOW INFO
Many of the rewards offer tickets to the recording of the stand-up comedy show.
The show will feature an opening performance by Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy of RiffTrax fame and Joseph's hour long FLAW FEST stand-up comedy show. (Bill and Kevin's performance will only be available LIVE, it won't be on the final album, so see it when you can!)
The show will be performed a total of four times: 7 pm and 10 pm on Friday, September 27th and Saturday, September 28th at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
If you select a reward that includes tickets to the show, we’ll send you a survey after the project is funded. We'll ask you to choose which performance you’d like to attend and fill the shows in the order we get the responses.
If you're not from Minneapolis, but want to come in for the show that's great, but rewards don't cover any transportation or lodging.
WHO THE HELL IS JOSEPH SCRIMSHAW?
I was born a small, indecisive baby. I grew up to be a small, kind of decisive comedian and writer. I've done a lot of different kinds of comedy including but not limited to stand-up, sketch, improv, storytelling, being a drummer, playing Banquo in a production of Macbeth that criticized the Iraq War (which is probably what caused the war to end 9 years later), and much more.
I've been successful in my hometown of Minneapolis. My shows at the Minnesota Fringe Festival are consistently among the top ten best-selling shows out of about 170. I've been a featured performer at our big local convention CONvergence. Critics in Minnesota have said a lot of nice things like "hilarious, inventive, fearless, the Cirque Du Soleil of Minneapolis Comedy." My plays Adventures in Mating, An Inconvenient Squirrel, The Worst Show in the Fringe, and My Monster (written with Bill Corbett) have been performed all over the world.
But the last few years I've been working hard to build a national career and it's been going well. I've performed places like JoCoCruiseCrazy, w00tstock in San Diego, SF SketchFest, Dragon*Con, and more. I started a podcast called Obsessed that's been listed as a staff favorite on iTunes. I wrote I book called Comedy of Doom and successfully funded its publication through a Kickstarter project. You can watch or listen to more of my comedy adventures on my website. Here's a video of me having a half-improvised Star Trek adventure with Wil Wheaton.
FLAW FEST is a perfect example of what I want to be doing with my career and life. It's a stand-up comedy show mixed with elements of all the other comedy experiences I've had--a little improv, a little storytelling, a little theatre, no drumming. I hope the show is like me--smart, funny, fairly short, a little bitter. It's comedy that is very personal but hopefully also universal and I think the songs inspired by the show will bear that out.
For my career to move forward, it's a huge help to have a pro-level recording of a show like this. If you back this project you'll help produce a new comedy album, a new music album, and you'll help me reach my goal to share my comedy with anyone who might enjoy it. No matter where they live. Even Canada.
THAT'S ALL NICE, BUT WHERE'S THE MONEY GOING?
A huge amount of the funds will go to pay the amazing musicians for the time to write and record new songs.
Another large chunk of the funds will go toward hiring experienced professionals to record, edit, mix, and master the live comedy album.
The remainder will go to renting the space, the design and printing of the physical CDs, and rewards!
WHAT IF YOU GET EXTRA FUNDS BEYOND YOUR INITIAL GOAL?
Possible stretch goals include adding more songs and getting high-end design for the CD artwork. If we're lucky enough to have this "problem" we're also happy to hear what YOU want!
THANKS!
Thanks to Bill Stiteler and Studio Meddling for helping me with the video and Dennis Zerwas, Jr. for the live performance photo. Also, many thanks to Jason Roop for providing the video from the performance on JoCoCruiseCrazy III.
Most of all, thank you for your time and interest in the project!The upcoming video game prequel Batman: Arkham Origins will be introducing some longtime fan favorite characters into the series’ mythos. With Black Mask at the center of the plot and Deathstroke, Firefly, Copperhead, and others hot on Batman’s trail, it’s going to be a long night for the dark knight as the game unfolds. There is still a great deal of secrecy surrounding much of the game, with only five of Black Mask’s eight assassins officially revealed, but another has just been sniffed out.
IGN managed to get their hands on the achievement list for the game and it reveals a few unconfirmed things about the game, the least surprising of which is that the Riddler will once again be featured in the game along with his “Riddler Trophies” for players to collect. One thing developer Warner Bros. Montreal likely didn’t want us to know is the identity of the sixth assassin: Lady Shiva.
Created by Dennis O’Neil and Ric Estrada, Lady Shiva is one of the most talented assassins in the DC Universe and her presence in the game should come as no surprise given her abilities. What do you think of the character’s inclusion in the game? Sound off below!
Batman: Arkham Origins will be available for the Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on October 25, 2013.Bafomdad Krystal obtains a Bafomdad. Item Description Type Extra life Area Information Location(s) Various Appearance(s) Game(s)
We need your help, users! This article/section is a stub, meaning there is little information to fill its contents and needs more information to expand it upon. If you know any information taken from gameplay or strategy guides, you can help Arwingpedia's article by expanding it. Referenced sources are appreciated. Hurry users!
Bafomdads are red, rabbit-like magical creatures, whose powers can restore life.
Description
They serve as items in "Star Fox Adventures" and return Krystal and Fox McCloud back to life after their life is depleted. There is only a limited amount of them, though still usually enough, all around planet Sauria. They are well hidden, but most of them are buried in the ground and require the use of Tricky's Find Command. Fox can initially hold only one at a time, but after buying the Bafomdad Holder in the ThornTail Store for the default price of 20 Scarabs, he can carry as many as ten at a time. After filling the bag up (or not having bought it at all) Fox will not be able to pick anymore up, leaving the rest in the same spot they were found until he uses one.
TriviaMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Elin Jones said the name change was not a priority for the assembly
The National Assembly for Wales is set to be renamed the Welsh Parliament after it was backed in a consultation.
Sixty-one percent of nearly 3,000 responses agreed to a change of name, with nearly three-quarters backing Welsh Parliament as the best option.
A law to change the name is expected to pass before the 2021 election.
Presiding Officer Elin Jones hoped people would "more fully understand the powers of the assembly and the role it plays in their lives".
But Neil Hamilton, UKIP AM, expressed concerns over potential costs.
The assembly was given the power to rename itself under the 2017 Wales Act. Assembly members had unanimously backed the idea last July after which it was put out to public consultation.
Publishing the responses on Tuesday, Ms Jones said: "Our role today is as a full parliamentary body, with the power to pass laws and agree taxes, and we must continue to work hard to inspire the confidence, trust and pride in the people we serve."
Speaking to BBC Wales, Ms Jones said the Welsh Parliament name will "reflect directly the will of the people of Wales in giving us the mandate to have the powers to create legislation on their behalf".
"We are a parliament in all but name," she said.
Sixty percent of people responding to the consultation said they did not agree that the role of the assembly was well understood.
Just over a fifth of respondents - 22.6% - who responded to the survey said they strongly disagreed or disagreed with the assembly's name changing.
Image caption Sixty per cent of respondents to a survey did not think the role of the assembly was well understood
Legislation on assembly reforms - including the change of name - will be published by the Assembly Commission in 2018.
They will include rules on disqualification of assembly members and the design of the committee system.
The commission proposes that assembly members will in future be known as Welsh Parliament Members (WPMs), in keeping with the current title of Assembly Members.
The option was the second least-favoured option according to a summary of the survey conducted for the consultation - with 11.1% of respondents preferring it over other suggestions.
Member of the Welsh Parliament was preferred by 30% while 28.4% liked Member of the Senedd.
Cost assurances
Tory AM Suzy Davies, Assembly Commissioner with responsibility for budget and governance, said the assembly would not "waste resources by rushing to make the change", noting that some people responding to the consultation were worried about the cost.
She said until legislation is passed the institution will continue to be known by its current name in order to avoid confusion and to minimise cost.
There have long been calls to call the assembly a Welsh Parliament, with Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies having made the suggestion in 2012.
On Tuesday, Mr Davies said: "The assembly has clearly evolved into a parliament, and it's only right that this is now reflected in its name."
First Minister Carwyn Jones said: "The name Welsh Parliament / Senedd Wales will help to enhance understanding of the assembly and reflect its status as a national parliament, on a par with the other legislatures in the UK."
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood also welcomed the name change, saying the assembly's stature and confidence had evolved over time.
Image caption Neil Hamilton said he was concerned about the cost of the move
Concern was expressed by UKIP group leader Neil Hamilton, who said: "While the Welsh Assembly has changed as a result of tax devolution, UKIP Wales is concerned about the potential costs of a symbolic name change."
However, when asked to clarify the party's stance on the name change, a UKIP spokesman said it was not "totally opposed" to it and said the concerns surrounded how much it would cost.
An assembly source said Caroline Jones, the party's commissioner, had agreed to the move as part of the assembly commission.
Assembly documents suggested costs may range from between £40,000 and £150,000.
But Heledd Gwyndaf, chair of Welsh language campaign group Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, said the assembly would miss "an opportunity to normalise the use of Welsh" if it it did not choose "Senedd" as the only name.AMD has taken the wraps off its latest GPU, the Radeon RX 480. The launch of the RX 480 marks the debut of AMD's new Polaris architecture, after many years of iterative refreshes to previous chips. Graphics cards based on the new GPU will target gamers in the value-focused mid-range segment.
Update, July 26 2016: AMD has revised the prices of the RX 480 in India, with the 4GB variant now has a suggested retail price of Rs. 20,990 (a drop of Rs. 2,000), while the 8GB variant is now priced at Rs. 22,990 (a drop of Rs. 4,000). The company says the new suggested retail prices are inclusive of duty, freight, distribution margin, and VAT.
The company is focusing on delivering smooth VR experiences to users at all budget levels. Radeon RX 480 cards will also be aimed at gamers who target a playable resolution of 2560x1440 with quality settings turned up. The GPU, codenamed Polaris 10, is manufactured using a new 14nm lithography process which helps reduce heat and power consumption.
The Radeon RX 480 is a full implementation of the Polaris 10 design, with 2304 stream processors divided into 36 clusters. Its base clock speed is 1120MHz but it can achieve bursts of up to 1266MHz when needed. Peak performance is rated at 5.8 Teraflops. Either 4GB or 8GB of GDDR5 RAM will sit on a 256-bit memory bus. Total power draw is rated at 150W, and AMD promises 2.8X better performance per Watt compared to Radeon R9 200 series cards.
AMD's release notes highlight the new architecture's ability to deliver support for emerging DirectX 12 and Vulkan standards, which let game programmers tap into hardware capabilities at a very low level, reducing driver overhead.
Graphics cards following AMD's reference design will have a blower-style cooling shroud, three DisplayPort outputs and one HDMI output. Only a single 6-pin PCIe power connector will be required.
AMD has also announced new software with this launch. An overhauled Radeon Software app introduces new performance controls, and a new overclocking utility called Radeon WattMan allows users to tweak voltages, frequencies and fan speeds, and track usage across various metrics.
With this launch, AMD is positioning its top single-GPU card for this generation well below the flagship level that Nvidia has established with the incredibly powerful GeForce GTX 1080 and 1070 (Review). The upcoming Radeon RX 470 and 460 GPUs will cater to 1080p gamers and eSports enthusiasts respectivly, and should launch in the coming months. Future products based on the separate Vega architecture will bolster AMD's performance capabilities at the high end when they are released early next year.
AMD has announced pricing of Rs. 28,990 for reference Radeon RX 480 graphics cards with 8GB of GDDR5 RAM in India, but that figure comes with a surprising disclaimer which states "Please note that the announced price doesn't factor duty, freight, distribution margins, retailer margins, local taxes etc." Considering that the global price of $239 works out to approximately Rs. 16,120, there should be no reason for such a wide price gap. Asus, Sapphire, Gigabyte, MSI and PowerColor will be releasing reference Radeon RX 480 cards as well as versions with their own cooling solutions, but stocks are not expected to be available in the market for a few weeks, according to a channel source Gadgets 360 spoke with.
Indian pricing for reference Radeon RX 480 cards with 4GB of RAM has not been released, but the global price is $199 (approximately Rs. 13,420). AMD had previously indicated channel pricing of Rs. 20,000 for the Radeon R9 380X, the final retail price of which turned out to be Rs. 25,999. If that is anything to go by, AMD's latest products will not be priced competitively compared to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 and the middle tier of the GeForce GTX 1000 range, which will undoubtedly launch before the end of this year.
Update, July 1 2016: AMD has announced a reduction of Rs. 2,000, which brings the 8GB reference Radeon RX 480 down to Rs. 26,990 plus local taxes. The price of the 4GB version has also now been announced as Rs. 22,990 plus local taxes. The company's latest official statement lacks the disclaimer in the original announcement. At least one retail listing for a Sapphire branded 8GB reference model has appeared, with a price of Rs. 26,999 (approximately $400). Prices are therefore not as exorbitant as AMD initially led us to believe, and the difference in US and India pricing is consistent between AMD and Nvidia.The latest version of Mozilla's popular open-source browser enjoyed one of the most successful launches in software history, with a record-setting 8.2 million downloads the first day it was available. With the ability to drastically expand the browser's functions using plug-in extensions and Greasemonkey scripts, many of Firefox 3's built-in features are overlooked. Here are eight handy things you can do with Firefox, ranging from tiny tweaks to hugely powerful capabilities, all with nary an extension to install.
1. Duplicate tabs with drag-and-drop.
Duplicating tabs is a piece of cake: Simply hold the Ctrl key while dragging the tab you want to duplicate to an empty space on the tab bar.
2. Minimize the toolbar.
Free up a little extra screen real estate by getting rid of the big, round "Back" button and replacing it with a more streamlined control. Right-click the toolbar, choose Customize, and select Use small icons. The new controls are perfectly functional but smaller, allowing the toolbar to shrink and leaving more room for viewing sites.
3. Use smart bookmarks.
Smart bookmarks are live bookmarks that don't just refer to particular sites but actually generate live lists of sites according to parameters you define. For example, you might have a smart bookmark that lists the 10 sites you visit most often, or the last 20 sites you've visited with a particular keyword in their title.
To create a smart bookmark, select Organize Bookmarks from Firefox's Bookmarks menu. In the window that opens, select Bookmarks Menu in the left-hand pane, then click Organize in the toolbar at the top and New Bookmark in the drop-down menu. Give your smart bookmark a descriptive name, such as "10 Most Recent Bookmarks." In the Location field, you're going to enter in a line of code telling the smart bookmark what to do. For the 10 sites you bookmarked most recently, you'd enter: place:queryType=1&sort=12&maxResults=10. There are dozens of parameters you can use; Mozilla's developer site includes a list of commands you can use in smart bookmarks. Here are a couple of the most useful:
The 10 sites you've visited most recently (some installations of Firefox come with this smart bookmark already in place on the Bookmarks toolbar): place:queryType=0&sort=8&maxResults=10
The 10 most visited sites with some search term in them: place:queryType=0&sort=8&maxResults=10&terms=keyword (replace "keyword" with your desired term)
4. Send e-mail via Yahoo! Mail or Gmail by default.
Normally, clicking on an e-mail address on a Web page will open up a new e-mail using your default e-mail program. If you'd rather use Yahoo! Mail, open up Options under Firefox's Tools menu, select the Applications tab, and scroll down to the mailto: entry. Select Use Yahoo! Mail and click OK.
Gmail is not included as a built-in option in every installation of Firefox, but if yours doesn't have it, you can add Gmail easily enough. Skip the Options dialogs for now and instead type about:config in Firefox's address bar and hit Enter. In the Filter field, type gecko.handlerServiceAllowRegisterFromDifferentHost. Actually, you can simply type gecko and find the entry in the filtered list. Double-click the gecko.handlerServiceAllowRegisterFromDifferentHost entry to change it to True.
Next, cut-and-paste this line into the address bar and hit Enter: javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto", "https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Gmail")
A message will appear at the top of the browser window asking if you want to add Gmail as an application. Now, repeat the process above for choosing Yahoo! Mail, but select the new Use Gmail option instead. next: 5-8 >Image copyright RoadTrip Image caption Tory activist Mark Clarke is at the centre of a bullying scandal - he denies all the allegations
Senior Conservative Party officials received a memo in August which warned the activist at the centre of the Tory bullying scandal was "sociopathic" and "dangerous".
It urged officials to keep Mark Clarke away from the party's youth wing and warned failure could be "devastating".
The memo, obtained by BBC Newsnight, was produced by a then-party staffer.
Mr Clarke has vigorously denied all allegations.
The document suggested that party staff had been aware that Mr Clarke had been "badly behaved" before the May 2015 election, and led Tory chairman Lord Feldman to launch an internal investigation.
Newsnight understands the memo was produced as an aide memoire for a meeting with a party official in which the former staffer made a verbal complaint about Mr Clarke.
In it, the author writes that Mark Clarke's "bullying tactics are well-known… it would literally be impossible to list all his crimes here".
The document does not directly contradict the insistence of party chairman Lord Feldman that he was unaware of Mr Clarke's alleged bullying before August.
However it suggests that numerous complaints about Mr Clarke's behaviour had been made in the months before the young activist Elliott Johnson himself complained about being bullied by Mr Clarke.
Mr Johnson took his own life a month later in September, leaving a letter which named Mr Clarke.
Image caption Elliott Johnson took his own life in September after complaining of bullying
The party has since been dogged by a stream of allegations of bullying, sexual harassment and blackmail by Mr Clarke - and suggestions that Tory bosses should have taken action against him earlier.
In the memo, the former staffer at Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) says that Elliott Johnson's complaint "is the tip of the iceberg. Before the election we knew he [Clarke] was badly behaved but he managed to keep it away from us and under wraps. Since then he appears to be unravelling.
"In the months since the election, Conservative Future [the party's youth wing] activists who have come across him have had one of three things happen to them: been bullied, been lied to about his involvement with CCHQ or been hit on."
The former CCHQ employee goes on to say: "I receive I don't even know how many complaints about Mark Clarke and CCHQ's endorsement of him. I feel irritated that no one is stepping up to try and protect these young activists who have just worked bloody hard helping to deliver a majority and deserve thanks - not to be shelved by CCHQ and yelled at by Mark Clarke."
More on this story:
Ministers pull out of conference amid bullying scandal
Grant Shapps quits amid Tory bullying claims
Lord Feldman: The key questions
Listen: Mark Clarke profile for Radio 4
Tory 'bully' was backed by party bosses
Tories 'failed to act' on 'institutionalised bullying'
Watch: Newsnight investigation into Tory bullying allegations
The memo also warns that Mr Clarke is "sociopathic, dangerous and a bully". It was handed in to a senior member of staff at CCHQ on 14 August. It was then passed to Simon Mort, the official initially charged with investigating complaints about Mark Clarke.
It concludes by warning: "At the very least you need to keep him [Mark Clarke] away from Conservative Future as the effect he has could be devastating."
Mr Clarke was not suspended from the party until a month later, following the death of Elliott Johnson.
Mr Clarke was removed from the list of potential Tory candidates in 2010 after complaints about his behaviour during his campaign to become MP for Tooting in south London.
However he succeeded in working his way back into the party machine by launching RoadTrip 2015, an organisation which bussed young volunteers around the country to campaign in target seats.
Former Conservative chairman Grant Shapps, who gave Mr Clarke his backing and an official party role, resigned from his job as an international development minister last weekend.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, the author of the memo, said that the document was a "brain dump" and not intended for publication.
"I was concerned that Mark Clarke was going round saying that he was to be the Director of 2020 Roadtrip," the staffer said. "People had been told by Mark Clarke, that his directorship had been endorsed by CCHQ. I felt that Mark Clarke shouldn't be let anywhere near CCHQ."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Elliott Johnson's father, Ray, told Newsnight he wants an external investigation into the bullying allegations
The former staffer told Newsnight that Mark Clarke's behaviour within CCHQ in the run up to the election, was troubling. "I didn't like the way he treated his interns at CCHQ. These young people were here as volunteers, doing unpaid work for CCHQ. Clarke was tough on them. He was abrupt and short."
Ray Johnson, Elliott's father, believes CCHQ knew about Mark Clarke's reputation "but didn't want to rock the boat… I was told that 25 complaints were made about Mark Clarke to CCHQ going back a year."
He continued: "My understanding is that complaints were not treated the way they were supposed to be treated. RoadTrip was a successful campaign vehicle and they didn't want to do anything to jeopardise that. Any complaints were quietly shuffled away."
The author of the memo says party officials responded appropriately to the memo and Elliott Johnson's complaints. The former staffer said: "The weekend after Elliott's complaint was submitted, there was a conference call about it with the top bods from CCHQ. Soon after that, people were being called in to the investigation. Yes, CCHQ were bureaucratic and yes CCHQ were careful and so that may have delayed things. But they certainly cared."
The former staffer was asked to meet Mr Mort in the first week of September, three weeks after handing in the memo: "I wasn't a victim. I wasn't a complainant. He just wanted background."
It's understood the former party worker met Mr Mort on the same day as Elliott Johnson. By then Elliott had been persuaded to retract his own complaint.
A CCHQ spokesperson said on Wednesday night that the memo obtained by BBC Newsnight was part of "a bundle of complaints within one document which CCHQ immediately started to investigate".
She refused to comment on the specific allegations in the document: "An investigation is currently under way and it is not appropriate to comment until we can establish the facts."
Mark Clarke has previously denied all allegations of wrongdoing against him. "I believe that these false allegations and this media firestorm are related to the events surrounding Elliott's sad death," he said.
"As such I will be co-operating with the Coroner and providing him with the fullest information. This is the proper process. After the inquest I will look to take legal action for defamation in respect of these allegations."
BBC Newsnight airs every weekday at 22:30 GMT on BBC Two. You can also follow on Twitter, Facebook and YouTubeHuddersfield Town are vying with Leeds United for the signature of Leicester City defender Lee Peltier.
Right-back Peltier is on United’s radar following their failed attempt to sign Joel Ward but Huddersfield are believed to have enquired about the possibility of taking their former player back to the Galpharm Stadium.
Town sold Peltier to Leicester for £750,000 a year ago but his position at the King Power Stadium is under threat with Leicester keen on signing Hull City’s Liam Rosenior.
Click here to register and have your say on the Leeds United stories and issues that matter to you
City are thought to value Peltier at around £500,000 and both Leeds and Huddersfield – managed by former United boss Simon Grayson – see him as a valuable asset in the Championship.
Big changes are planned to the squads at Elland Road and the Galpharm Stadium following United’s 14th-placed finish in the Championship and Huddersfield’s promotion via the League One play-offs.
Leeds manager Neil Warnock is due to return from his summer break towards the end of next week and will look to get his rebuilding project moving after landing just one player last month.
Peltier was a regular member of Leicester’s line-ups during the 2011-12 Championship season, playing in all but six of their league fixtures and making 47 appearances in total.
His stock rose rapidly during two previous years at Huddersfield
Meanwhile, the Football League has voted to increase the number of substitutes allowed in match-day squads from five to seven next season.We have to re-think the way we think about solving problems. As the problems we deal with increase in complexity, so must the methods we use to solve those problems evolve. And how do we do that? By turning to nature, as the great masters of the past did to unravel the mysteries of the human mind.
Solving problems harder than we can imagine
Having worked in the field of Artificial Intelligence since 2004, I finally feel confident that we have the technological capabilities we need in order to solve very hard problems. Including problems, we’re not even thinking about yet. We’re not thinking about those problems because we don’t know how. That’s where AI, and particularly the deep learning method comes in.
The issue is that we humans don’t have a well-established method/way for solving problems. So any machine intelligence approach would be somehow burdened by our inability to deal with hard problems in an effective way. In this article, I propose a simple guideline that will help us address this problem. As a result, providing us with the ground we need in order to empower machine intelligence solutions to support us in areas where we most desperately need it. I will loosely use the example of what I see as one of the biggest and most pressing problems, extreme poverty.
How to Solve Really Hard Problems: Self-Organising Structures
First, you have a main workgroup, a group of people (or a single individual) who identifies and articulates what the actual problem statement is. For example “extremely poor could be lifted out of their poverty, thus adding $5 trillion in new annual spending to the global economy”. This group is the upstream source for all the other groups, and do nothing except work on the problem definition itself.
Then there is a second group that works on the breaking down of the problem. Dissecting it to its constituents. This group will never work on anything else except identifying the parts that make up the problem-set. For example “information deprivation”, “easily avoidable negative health outcomes” and “lack of skills and jobs” are the main factors related with remaining in poverty.
Then there is a group to further dissect each of these into contributing causes, more groups to cover each from the angle of relevant interventions and so forth. Each group completely disconnected from anything except their own scope, and their immediate upstream and downstream connecting nodes.
Basically, all these groups do is break their subset of the problem further in to ever increasingly actionable items. So far nobody is thinking about solutions. At this point, we could be 10-20 or even 100 layers down in the problem-solving structure. Each layer consisting of one or more human or neural network working either individually or in cooperation. The point so far is to stay away as far as possible from any idea of a solution.
At some point, the solutions layers kick in and start to look at actual ways to replace the negative cases with positive ones. These groups don’t think about things like feasibility, but more groups will be introduced later to take care of that. At that point, the prioritization groups, the feasibility groups, and various quality assurance groups, together with many, are introduced to this novel intelligence eco-system.
Every now and then there is a random group introduced, like virus or bacteria, that tries to break down the system entirely. Attacking it various ways. To test how much staying power the structure has. Also, cancer like mutation functions are introduced randomly or otherwise and serve the function of creating mutations that can then be adopted or dropped depending on how well they perform in various simulations.
Nature’s Way
Each of these groups are organizations of people and machines. They could be just one man or machine, or they could be many. At this point, you should think about them as parts of a self-organizing structure. Each on its own having its activity founded on the principles of self-organization.
Each group feeds the one below them with tasks and gives feedback back one step up. This way all the groups are continuously adjusting their organization on the input that is coming to them. So it’s a flux, nothing is fixed, nothing ever stays the same, the only rule is interconnectedness.
Some of the groups could have overlap, so it would not have to take that many people to solve problems using this approach. If you look at nature, these are the kinds of structures you will always find. Cascading flux. One organization doing something to give feedback to the organization is part of and also assigning another organization to do something else. Nature is infinitely efficient, so if we want to tap into that kind of power to find meaningful and practical solutions to our hardest problems, it seems obvious that we must mimic it.
For some reason, we human try to solve problems on our own, or then we try to solve them as large groups, we are all working more or less on the same thing or a similar thing, working as “peers”.
Further there is no element of continuous self-organization, but instead, things have a tendency of reaching a certain kind of stasis. A point in time when the organizer (the problem solver) forgets what got them motivated in the first place, that is the curiosity driven by |
, the considerable difficulties involved in finalizing a document — correcting those issues that a word-by-word focus won't see, but which require a much broader perspective. In what can only have been a serious breakdown of the editorial processes, the book provides clear examples of what can go wrong. Chapter 5, "Spacing on all sides" contains two sections (at different nesting levels) named "Spacing between paragraphs". It is not just the name that is duplicated but also most of the text and even the caption of a screenshot, though it is a different screenshot in each case. While this is by far the worst lapse, there are two or three other places where text is needlessly duplicated. These problems don't really detract from the value of the book, but they do distract from focusing on the important issues.
For your bookshelf?
There is no doubt that DWL contains a wealth of information gained over years of experience. This information is conveyed in a coherent and approachable style. Even when it is not able to provide the complete and definitive answers we might want to get on with creating a document, it provides so many hints, pointers, and perspectives that it will doubtless set you on the right path to finding what you need to know.
DWL is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license and can be downloaded in source or PDF formats, or purchased from a print-on-demand service. "Thank you" contributions from $2 to $25 can easily be made through the book's web site. For anyone who regularly works with nontrivial documents and wants to lift their game, or anyone with a general interest in improving their LibreOffice skills, this book would be a worthwhile investment.
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Page editor: Jonathan Corbet
Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly EditionI spent the weekend at Eth Waterloo, which was the largest Ethereum (and perhaps the largest crypto) hackathon ever. Over 400 developers from around the world attended.
Why Waterloo? Waterloo is one of the largest tech hubs in Canada. It’s also a suburb of Toronto, which is the hometown of Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum.
At the hackathon, it was evident the ecosystem building around Ethereum is accelerating. The venue was brimming with energy 24/7. Many people brought sleeping bags and slept in the main hall so they could maximize coding time.
Crypto is a truly global phenomenon. Developers had flown in from Singapore, Argentina, and South Africa.
The tooling and infrastructure in crypto is still young and underdeveloped. But things are progressing quickly and teams all over the world are laying the groundwork. Some examples from companies that were at the event:
Toshi (an iPhone and Android app by Coinbase) provides users an easy way to discover, explore, and interact with decentralized applications (Dapps). 0x provides a framework for decentralized exchanges, which will soon become transparent pieces of crypto infrastructure (disclosure: my firm, Multicoin Capital, is an investor in 0x). MakerDAO has created the first-ever stablecoin, the Sai. This could become foundational crypto infrastructure for asset exchanges, remittances, and the denomination of forward-looking contracts used in insurance and prediction markets. Storj provides a decentralized storage service for use by both users and applications. Polymath provides an exchange to accommodate tokenized trading of securities. Cosmos is constructing an Internet of Blockchains to help cross-blockchain communication.
We’ve never seen an organization like Consensys before. Joe Lubin, founder of Consensys, made an extremely aggressive bet by investing heavily in Ethereum in its earliest stages. With somewhere on the order of $1B to invest with (as a result of appreciation of Joe ‘s Ether holdings), Consensys is investing hyper-aggressively into the Ethereum ecosystem. Consensys is tackling dozens of the most foundational issues in crypto: educating law and policy makers, collaborating with law firms to cement legal foundations, investing in outside projects through a venture fund, and building dozens of ambitious projects internally across the spectrum: identity, decentralized exchanges, power grid, and more. Just imagine if, in 2009, an organization did all of the above on the iPhone platform.
The developers participating in the hackathon built some outstanding projects. Select projects include:
A tool for visualizing the frequency of calls to various smart contract functions. Since all transaction data is public in Ethereum, tools like this will become absolutely necessary so that the public can understand what’s going on inside the blockchain. A domain name server (DNS) that maps.eth namespaces to content on IPFS, which provides a decentralized way of storing content across computers on the Internet. DNS is the system that, when anyone types “ www.google.com ” in to their browser, ensures that they are directed to the correct IP address such as 43.23.12.432. The modern DNS is centralized, managed by a handful of DNS providers. This hackathon team built a decentralized DNS on the Ethereum blockchain using.eth (instead of.com) namespaces to resolve “ www.example.eth ” to an arbitrary piece of HTML content hosted by IPFS. In the demo, the team used an unmodified Chrome browser to serve an HTML page hosted on IPFS by typing in www.example.eth. A tool with a simple user interface that builds “human-readable” contracts for certain types of escrow services, powered by smart contracts on Ethereum. One of the biggest problems in the smart contract space today is that non-engineers can’t read the code and understand the contract that they’re signing. The team built a tool that allows users to select options that define the rules of the escrow service. The tool would then produce a smart contract on the Ethereum chain, along with a plain English contract.
In my conversation with Buterin, I learned about the upcoming feature that will enable zk-SNARKS on Ethereum. Zk-SNARKS are a technical mechanism that allows users to transact confidentially, using the same underlying technologies as Zcash. However, zk-SNARKs in Ethereum will not be all they’re hyped up to be. Like in Zcash, users will need to send non-confidential Ether to zk-SNARK enabled addresses. The vision of all Ether being private by default is not in scope or even planned yet. Given the flexibility that Ethereum must maintain for smart contracts, privacy by default in Ethereum may not be possible.
Buterin also mentioned some interesting work being done to improve upon the process that will enable zk-SNARKS: the trusted setup, in which multiple parties must use shards of data to initiate the system. However, the people using the system must trust that it was done correctly. If all of the individuals involved in the trusted setup ceremony colluded, they could mint tokens undetected. As long as just one of the members of the setup was honest and destroyed their shard, the system will be safe. Vitalik’s comments:
“Right now the state of the art is basically multi-party computation, where a bunch of people get together and exchange data between one another. Basically the security model here is that if at least one of the participants is honest and actually deletes the information they used to participate in the process, then it’s invulnerable. But if everyone colludes then they can make fake proofs. There’s three directions to go from here. One of them is to completely replace zk-SNARKs with other technologies that don’t require a trusted setup, like STARKs (a new cryptographic mechanism that are likely to be better than SNARKs, but are more experimental right now) for example. Eli Ben-Sasson, who is a Zcash advisor, is working on that. Another is trying to find radically different ways to create trusted setups for the existing zk-SNARK protocol. And the third are ways to make the existing zk-SNARK trusted setup protocol marginally more efficient so that you need more parallelizable communication. This would have the benefit that instead of six people, you could imagine a trusted setup that had 200 people, and that’s much easier to trust (as long as one actor is honest, the system is safe).”
Seeing so many teams, sponsors, and ecosystem players together in one place provides a unique perspective. These groups, collectively backed by billions of dollars, are building on Ethereum. In order to succeed, Ethereum faces enormous technical challenges. Many of these challenges are longstanding computer science problems that have yet to be solved. But one thing is certainly clear: many of the smartest people in the world with tremendous budgets are striving to make it happen.Butterfly Nightmare
Jerry Coyne, in his new book entitled Why Evolution is True, conveniently circumvents any reference to the butterfly, as does Darwin-Discovering the Tree of Life by Niles Eldridge. The California State sponsored website, “Understanding Evolution,” website completely ignores the notorious nature of butterflies—metamorphosis.
So, why is the evolution industry silent on butterfly metamorphosis? The answer is simple—the same DNA is found in all four life cycles; egg, caterpillar (larva), cocoon (pupa) and butterfly (adult). Metamorphosis, to the theory of evolution, is an enigma.
For over 3,500 years, to the Egyptians, Chinese, and Greeks, the butterfly symbolism was derived from the unique butterfly life cycles. The egg first develops into the caterpillar before transitioning into the cocoon. Amazingly, inside the cocoon, the caterpillar is destroyed before developing into the stunningly colorful butterfly cycle.
According to the theory of evolution, the DNA (genotype) determines the form (phenotype). The fact that the metamorphosis of the butterfly uses the same DNA in all four cycles, challenges gene-centric theories of evolution.
With the same DNA producing different forms, the message is clear: DNA is not the lone blueprint controller of life. Genetic evidence from the butterfly undermines the Central Dogma of evolution—“one gene, one protein.”
The butterfly is not an isolated phenomenon. Italian geneticist Giuesppe Sermonti points out that “examples of highly divergent forms possessing one and the same DNA are so conspicuous and so numerous that the marvel is that they have attracted so little attention.”
Even more astounding in the case of the butterfly, Sermonti notes, “what we call metamorphosis is not really a change in form. Once the pupa, or chrysalis, stage is reached, the caterpillar starts emptying itself: its organs dissolve, and its outer covering is shed. Only certain groups of cells, called marginal disks, remain vital. From these cells develop all the structures of adult.”
The larva of the butterfly not only changes form, but actually dissolves before rebuilding into the structure of a butterfly—a new life-form. From the same DNA arises a completely different organism. According to Sermonti, the same DNA, then, can play different roles: “DNA may lend itself to such diverse forms, but it is not the DNA that imposes the blueprint.”
The presence of the same DNA in different life-forms has been given the term “genomic equivalence”. This means that control of the cell is beyond the DNA, or “epigenetic.”
Brian Goodman, Canadian developmental biologist and key founder of theoretical biology, focuses on the methods of mathematics and physics to understand processes in biology concludes –
While genes are responsible for determining which molecules an organism can produce, the molecular composition of organisms does not, in general, determine their form.
H. Frederik Nijhout of the Department of Biology at Duke University, a critic of Crick’s central dogma, came to the conclusion that “the only strictly correct view of the function of genes [DNA] is that they supply cells, and ultimately organisms, with chemical materials.”
The butterfly nightmare phenomena in evolution adherents are real, the result of the holding on to the belief: DNA mutation + natural selection = evolution—a theory not supported by evidence in nature.
State funded evolutionary education along with the high priests of evolution, Jerry Coyne, and Niles Eldridge, should now deliver a therapeutic service to humanity by addressing blatant contradictions between the theory of evolution and natural history.
No wonder French geneticist, discoverer of the Down syndrome, Jérôme Lejeune, cut to the chase – “There is no theory of evolution.”Family of Michelle Cusseaux wants independent investigation into police shooting
Phoenix’s police chief said on Saturday that an independent probe will be conducted into the death of a mentally ill woman who was shot and killed at her home last week by a police officer.
Chief Daniel Garcia said the state Department of Highway Safety has agreed to take over a criminal investigation into the Aug. 14 killing of Michelle Cusseaux, who was slain by a single bullet in the threshold of her Phoenix apartment after threatening officers with a claw hammer.
Officers were serving an emergency court order to take the 50-year-old woman to a mental health care facility, police said.
“I want our department to stand for those issues of democracy and justice,” Garcia told reporters at a press conference. “I also want the Phoenix police department to be known for compassion and trust. This decision builds on our reputation of being a good department.”
Phoenix police had been conducting administrative and criminal investigations into the incident and said the Maricopa County attorney would review those findings. They also pledged to review polices of dealing with the mentally ill and increase training. But community activists have said that was not enough.
The family of Cusseaux and supporters took to the downtown Phoenix streets on Friday, wheeling the woman’s coffin from City Hall to the federal prosecutor’s office to demand an investigation by an outside agency. Her funeral was on Saturday morning.
Reverend Jarrett Maupin, who has led the protests, said on Saturday that he is concerned about the independence of the new probe.
The investigation comes amid protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the Aug. 9 killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer. The turmoil has cast the St. Louis suburb of 21,000 people into the international spotlight as a symbol of often troubled U.S. race relations. [ID:nL2N0QO1T1]
Phoenix police said Cusseaux, who is black, confronted them when she opened her front door just as officers had got through a security door. She then raised the hammer and went at the officers, police said.
She was shot by veteran police Sergeant Percy Dupra, 48, at close range and died later at a hospital, said police spokesman Sergeant Tommy Thompson. Dupra is on an administrative assignment.
(Reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Lisa Shumaker)With thanks to this week’s game day partner Coates Hire, you can bring a mate to the all-important Sharks versus Cowboys ‘Tradies Round’ clash at Southern Cross Group Stadium for FREE!
With every purchase of an adult General Admission ticket to Monday night’s Coates Hire ‘Tradies Round’ match, Sharks fans will earn a second entry to the game, free of charge!
Bringing a close to the festivities of the long weekend, the top-of-the-table fixture is the perfect reason for you – and a mate – to take an RDO on Tuesday.
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*Offer available only via pre-purchase, in combination with the use of the above Ticketek password.Last week’s federal election was decided with the lowest levels of voter turnout in Canadian history — about 59 per cent. But public-spirited citizens should not therefore wring their hands about the sorry state of Canadian democracy. Contrary to the folklore of democratic health, low turnout can signal social solidarity, reflect real civic virtue, and even make democracy work better.
We humans are adversarial beings, easily riled by us-versus-them conflict. (Even Canadians!) Democratic politics is a wonderful way to peacefully channel social antagonism into ritual symbolic warfare. High voter turnout is as likely to reflect angry social division as it is to augur the reign of Kumbaya social cohesion.
Indeed, lower levels of turnout may suggest that voters actually trust each other more — that fewer feel an urgent need to vote defensively, to guard against competing interests or ideologies. Is it really all that bad if a broad swath of voters, relatively happy with the status quo, sit it out from a decided lack of pique?
Moreover, if you want to be civic-minded, your duty isn’t to fill in ballots just to fill in ballots. You shouldn’t do it in ignorance, out of emotion, or to win approval from your political friends. Your duty is to vote well — to participate in a way that, at the very least, makes the outcome no worse.
Everybody has an incontestable and absolute right to his or her vote, but that doesn’t mean it’s always right to vote. Abstaining can be a way of looking after the public good, too. Not all of us have the energy, inclination, or opportunity to learn what we need to know in order to vote well. And that’s OK. There’s more to public-spiritedness than showing up at the polls. You can run a small business or coach a kids’ hockey team with the common good in mind. That’s an expression of civic virtue, too.
The virtue of opting out is especially clear once you grasp that more voting isn’t necessarily better voting. Specialists in public opinion have exhaustively documented the average voter’s shocking ignorance about the main issues of the day, the names of their local candidates for office, or the policies the candidates support.
The flakiest voters — the ones least motivated to show up at the polls year in and year out — also tend to be most poorly informed. So when turnout drops, it tends to leave the pool of remaining voters with an improved average level of political knowledge and policy know-how. If well-informed voters have a better picture of the candidate or party most likely to promote the general welfare, then especially high turnout can actually tilt an election away from the better choice, leaving everyone a bit worse off. And that’s not very civic-minded.
Lower voter turnout sets the stage for better democracy.
At this point in the argument, some readers will have become pretty upset. The “best informed” voters tend to be the best-educated, and therefore tend to be relatively wealthy. Doesn’t this line of thinking suggest that relatively disadvantaged citizens would do us all a favour — would do themselves a favour — by staying home on election day? But then who will stand up for them? Who will promote their interests?
It’s an excellent question, but it’s based on one disproven and one unlikely assumption. The disproven assumption is that economic self-interest predicts voter behaviour. The consensus finding of political scientists is that voters — lettered and unlettered, rich and poor — tend to vote in good faith to promote what they see as the public good. That’s good news. The unlikely assumption is that the voters who know least about politics and public policy have the means to make good decisions about which candidates and policies will best promote their interests. That doesn’t compute.
But everyone should have the means to make informed and effective democratic decisions. And that’s really the issue, isn’t it? It would be ideal were each and every citizen to have the income and education typical of well-informed, motivated voters. But to get there, we need policies that will actually work to promote broader prosperity and a fuller realization of basic human capacities. A better-informed pool of voters is more likely to deliver those policies.
And so we are left with the Zen riddle of democracy: the closer a non-ideal democracy comes to maximum democratic participation, the less likely it is to adopt the means to ideal democratic participation. Lower voter turnout sets the stage for better democracy.
So, on behalf of our cherished ideals of democratic equality, let me be the first to say: well done, Canadian abstainers.Troy Buswell 'unlikely to return to Parliament until May', Premier Colin Barnett says
Updated
WA Premier Colin Barnett has said former treasurer Troy Buswell is unlikely to return to Parliament until May.
Buswell took a leave of absence in March after suffering what has been described as a breakdown.
The former treasurer was on his way home from a wedding reception early one morning in February when he allegedly crashed into four cars and a pole in Subiaco.
Hours before reports of the incident began to emerge, Buswell called the Premier and resigned from Cabinet.
Police have charged the former treasurer with 11 driving offences, including careless driving.
The Premier said he thought Buswell would gradually recover and resume full duties.
"I don't think Troy will come back at the end of this week," he said.
"It's more likely to be May. I spoke to him, his health is improving. He's not doing nothing - he's going into his local electorate office and doing electoral work two or three hours a day."
Mr Barnett has refused to comment on the charges against his colleague while the Opposition has called for an inquiry into who knew what about the incidents.
It has repeatedly asked what senior staffers in Government knew about the incident before it came to light.
An internal investigation has cleared government staffers of any wrongdoing but the Premier has not committed to publicly releasing the report.
Topics: government-and-politics, perth-6000
First postedAlexander Zass - How He Became The World's Strongest Man
Alexander Zass, also known as "The Amazing Samson", was a famous strongman during the first half of the 20th century. He was known for feats of strength such as bending iron bars, snapping chains with his chest, and lifting 500 pound girders with his teeth. He could also carry small horses and would allow professional boxers to punch him in his stomach as hard as possible. All of these feats are amazing and many have never been replicated. How did he get so strong?
In The Beginning...
Alexander Zass was born in Vilna, Poland in 1888, but spent his youth in Russia. As a boy, he was enthralled by the feats of strength performed by Circus Strongman and dedicated his efforts to becoming like them. He began training by climbing trees, as well as running with dumbbells and barbells. He very quickly became strong enough where he was able to join a Circus Troupe as a strongman and wrestler. While there he learned techniques from the other strongman, as well as developing his own methods. One of these was bending green branches to develop his grip strength.
A Prisoner Of War
During the First World War he was captured as a Russian prisoner of war and held in an Austrian Prison camp. Shackled and kept in solitary confinement, he was worried that he was about to lose his magnificent physique as he could not exercise properly. As he feared, his body began to deteriorate. Desperate, he began to pull and push on his iron chains and bars in an effort to regain his strength. To his amazement, he not only regained his previous strength and physique, but he far surpassed it. Without realizing it, he had created the first system of isometric exercises in his prison cell!
A Incredible Escape
Zass continued to train, using his strength against the shackles that bound him, until one day he realized he was now so strong he could break them with ease. He bided his time until he saw an opportunity. He first snapped all of the chains that bound him. Next, he bent the bars of his prison window and ripped one clean out. He bent this bar into a J Hook and was able to make his escape.
A Legend Is Born After the War, Alexander Zass adopted the stage name "The Amazing Samson". He toured Europe, performing the feats of strength I mentioned above. He also put together the first course of isometric exercises that I know off. The course utilized chains, just as he had used in prison. It was immensely successful and his fame spread far and wide.
The Father Of Isometric Training Today, Alexander Zass is known as the father of isometric exercises, but this was not his only claim to fame. He was also an accomplished animal trainer and worked for Russian Military Intelligence. He also acted as cover for his manager, Captain Howard, who was a British Secret Agent. Alexander Zass passed away in his home in Hockley, Essex in 1962.
Alexander Zass, also known as "The Amazing Samson", was a famous strongman during the first half of the 20th century. He was known for feats of strength such as bending iron bars, snapping chains with his chest, and lifting 500 pound girders with his teeth. He could also carry small horses and would allow professional boxers to punch him in his stomach as hard as possible. All of these feats are amazing and many have never been replicated. How did he get so strong?Alexander Zass was born in Vilna, Poland in 1888, but spent his youth in Russia. As a boy, he was enthralled by the feats of strength performed by Circus Strongman and dedicated his efforts to becoming like them. He began training by climbing trees, as well as running with dumbbells and barbells. He very quickly became strong enough where he was able to join a Circus Troupe as a strongman and wrestler. While there he learned techniques from the other strongman, as well as developing his own methods. One of these was bending green branches to develop his grip strength.During the First World War he was captured as a Russian prisoner of war and held in an Austrian Prison camp. Shackled and kept in solitary confinement, he was worried that he was about to lose his magnificent physique as he could not exercise properly. As he feared, his body began to deteriorate. Desperate, he began to pull and push on his iron chains and bars in an effort to regain his strength. To his amazement, he not only regained his previous strength and physique, but he far surpassed it. Without realizing it, he had created the first system of isometric exercises in his prison cell!Zass continued to train, using his strength against the shackles that bound him, until one day he realized he was now so strong he could break them with ease. He bided his time until he saw an opportunity. He first snapped all of the chains that bound him. Next, he bent the bars of his prison window and ripped one clean out. He bent this bar into a J Hook and was able to make his escape.After the War, Alexander Zass adopted the stage name "The Amazing Samson". He toured Europe, performing the feats of strength I mentioned above. He also put together the first course of isometric exercises that I know off. The course utilized chains, just as he had used in prison. It was immensely successful and his fame spread far and wide.Today, Alexander Zass is known as the father of isometric exercises, but this was not his only claim to fame. He was also an accomplished animal trainer and worked for Russian Military Intelligence. He also acted as cover for his manager, Captain Howard, who was a British Secret Agent. Alexander Zass passed away in his home in Hockley, Essex in 1962.
Below is some video of Zass performing some of his feats of strength.
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Below is some video of Zass performing some of his feats of strength.Ming Li will be working with the Sydney Sixers this summer © Sydney Sixers
Legspinner Ming Li, who has played Twenty20s for Hong Kong, has signed with the Sydney Sixers as their community rookie for the 2015-16 season. Ming, 24, is a legspinner who honed his art by watching Youtube videos of Shane Warne, and his addition to the BBL community rookie programme has been hailed as a significant step.
"This is one of the most exciting developments in Hong Kong Cricket history," Tim Cutler, the CEO of the Hong Kong Cricket Association, said. "We do hope this is the start of a great relationship with the Sydney Sixers and New South Wales Cricket.
"We believe this is the first time any Hong Kong sportsperson has participated in such an elite 'franchise' tournament and we can't wait to see the positive effect Ming's BBL involvement will have on the already rapid development within the growing Chinese cricket community.
"With the Hong Kong team competing in next year's ICC World Twenty20, it will not only give Ming a head start in preparations but also allow him an insight into some of the best players in T20 cricket."
The BBL community rookies are not officially part of the playing squad for the tournament, but can be elevated as a replacement player, as happened with Solomon Mire at the Melbourne Renegades two seasons ago.
The aim of the community rookie programme is to provide opportunities for players who might not otherwise be identified by Australian cricket's pathway programmes.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.The total cost, which includes clean up and remediation, was topped off with an additional $3,699,200 fine levied by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). According to the docket, Enbridge violated several laws involving pipeline management, procedural manuals for operations and maintenance, public awareness, accident reporting and qualifications, among others.
The spill, which went unaddressed for over 17 hours, was exacerbated by Enbridge's failed response according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). At a hearing last year, the NTSB's chair Deborah Hersman likened the company to a band of Keystone Kops for their bungled response, which included twice pumping additional crude into the line — accounting for 81 percent of the total release — before initiating emergency shut down. The disaster revealed numerous internal problems within Enbridge that were further described by the NTSB as "pervasive organizational failures."
Communities along Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan, experienced sickness from the fumes associated with the spilled dilbit, or diluted bitumen, that blanketed miles of intersecting wetlands and waterways. Dilbit is a mixture of heavy oil from the Alberta tar sands and corrosive liquid chemicals, including benzene known to cause cancer in humans, that allow the viscous crude to flow.
The particular composition of dilbit is in part responsible for the spill's high costs — nearly 10 times more than any other onshore spill — because of dilbit from the tar sands which sinks in water, rather than floating like conventional oil. Enbridge, despite several attempts to clear the riverbed of remaining oil, spent nearly three years working on the clean up of submerged oil.
As recently as March 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Enbridge to perform additional dredging in the Kalamazoo to clean up unrecovered oil along the river's bottom.
At the time of the spill, Mark Durno — a deputy incident commander with the EPA — told InsideClimate News that "submerged oil is what makes this thing more unique than even the Gulf of Mexico situation." Because Enbridge did not disclose to federal and local officials the contents of the pipeline, it wasn't until a week later that responders knew what they were dealing with.
PHMSA records show that the defect that led to the six-and-a-half foot gash in the side of Line 6B was detected at least three times before the incident, although neither Enbridge nor the federal regulator felt the damage required repair.
In a recently-released report addressing Enbridge's Line 9, pipeline safety expert Richard Kuprewicz claimed Enbridge "has a culture where safety management seems to not be a critical part of their operation."
Currently, Enbridge has several proposed pipeline plans, including the Northern Gateway Pipeline that would carry tar sands crude to the British Columbia coast and Line 9 that would transport tar sands crude to the eastern seaboard. Both lines would open the coasts to export opportunities. Local communities point to Kalamazoo and sinking dilbit as reasons coastal ports should not consider carrying tar sands crude on oil tankers bound for Asian or other shores.
Enbridge's most current application, a "Certificate of Need for a Crude Oil Pipeline," was presented to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission this month as a part of Enbridge's "ongoing efforts to meet North America's needs for reliable and secure transportation of petroleum energy supplies" via the Alberta Clipper.
The Alberta Clipper, or Line 67, will increase its capacity from 570,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 800,000 bpd should the application be approved. The application is the second phase of Enbridge's proposed capacity increase for the Alberta Clipper. The first application, filed October 8, 2012, initially proposed the line be increased to 570,000 from 450,000 bpd.
Currently the line carries crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta to terminal facilities in Superior, Wisonsin where the line meets up with Enbridge's Mainline System for distribution across the U.S.
Image Credit: EPAEmirates home to new hybrid species:
Cama By Prof. Talaat I. Farag MD, FRCPE, FACP, FACMG
Dr. Lulu with her newborn cama, Kamilah
For millennia, the deserts were dominated by one resilient breed of animals. The Arabs called it the "desert ship" for its ability to withstand the harsh environmental conditions. And for hundreds of years, camel-racing has been a most favored sport. Today, the camel has a competitor. Recently in the Arabian Desert, a unique and artificial hybrid known as the "cama" was born. This specially-bred creature combines the best of both its parent animals - the camel and the llama. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), a specialized veterinary center is mating the symbol of the desert, the camel, with the more exotic llama to produce "camas." The chief scientific officer Dr. Julian A. (Lulu) Skidmore at the Camel Reproduction Center (CRC) has been breeding Camas for the past five years seeking a unique animal with the sought-after coat of the lama and endurance of the larger camel. This project is funded by Dubai's Crown Prince and Defense Minister H. H. Sheik Mohamed bin Rashed al-Maktoum who was thrilled by the birth of the first male hybrid (January 14, 1998) named "Rama", and first female Cama four years later (February 27, 2002) named "Kamilah", which in Arabic means "perfect." Jokes aside, there is no doubt that both Rama and Kamilah are unique hybrid animals that shed new light on our understanding of mammalian evolution. Dr. Skidmore, a British veterinary who has been working for 12 years in the U.A.E., is convinced that both camels and llamas originated from the same ancient camelid. Although camels and llamas hail from East and West respectively, they are both descendents of the same ancestral camelid that inhabited the Rocky Mountains area of North America some 30 million years ago. Some of them migrated to Mongolia via Alaska and Siberia, evolving into the Bactrian two-humped camel. Others headed to the south to populate the Saudi Arabian peninsula, Iran and Pakistan, where they became the smaller one-humped dromedary. It is thought that camels might first have reached North Africa by human intervention, as they were not recorded in Egypt at the time of the Pharaohs. More camelids went to South America's Andes Mountains, where they were domesticated by the Ancient Incas into llamas. Today, the camel family comprises two species of Old World Camelids, namely the Bactrian or two-humped camel and the dromedary or one-humped camel and four species of New World camelids, the llama, alpaca, guanaco and vicuna. All four kinds of these camelids can be made to hybridize with each other. Despite their close links, camels and llamas do not mate in the wild although they can be readily cross-bred as they have the same diploid chromosome number of 2n=74. "The fact that we have now been able to obtain a viable hybrid between a New World camelid (llama) and an Old World camelid (camel) is very exciting," explained Dr. Skidmore. "We're getting the best of both breeds: the fleece of the llamas is very expensive and desired by the wool industry while the strength and patience of the camel makes the cama an ideal pack animal," she added. The project director Dr Lulu Skidmore, worked alongside technical assistant Mr. Tipu Billah. Dr A.M. Billah and both Prof. Twink Allen, from Cambridge University, and Prof. R.V. Short, of the University of Melbourne in Australia, acted as project advisors.
Rama at different stages in his life. The birth of Rama in 1998 was considered a "30 million old miracle" being the world’s first viable hybrid between a camel and a guanaco, the wild antecedent of the domesticated llama. A miracle is an understatement since it illustrated the success of hybridizing a New World and an Old World camelid after 30- 40 million years of genetic isolation. Like the first cama, Rama, Kamilah’s conception was also made possible by the use of modern reproductive techniques. Follicle development in the ovaries of her mother (a llama) was monitored by ultrasound and, when a mature follicle was detected, she was inseminated with fresh dromedary camel semen collected in an artificial vagina. Since all camelids are bred through induced ovulation, they require the stimulus of natural mating to release the egg from the follicle. The llama was injected with a hormone, called gonadotrophin-releasing hormone, to induce ovulation when she was inseminated. The pregnancy was monitored by ultrasound at regular intervals and gestation was uneventful. Kamilah was born after 343 days, which is within the typical range for the llama (335 - 360 days), but is much shorter than the gestation period in the camel (385-395 days). She weighed only 5 kg at birth which is less than a newborn llama at around 10kg and very much less than a newborn camel at 30kg. It is a striking illustration of how the size of the mother controls the size of the newborn, irrespective of the size of the father. Kamilah will also have a good quality coat and a size somewhere between her 85-kg 7-year-old llama mother Fenella and 500-kg 15-year-old camel father Khawar. Dr. Lulu is hopeful that Kamilah will maintain the good quality fleece of the llamas that can be clipped and used in the wool trade as well as have the strength of the camels to make her a useful pack animal.
(L-R) Close up of Kamilah and Kamilah with mother. When discussing the camas, Dr. Lulu Skidmore sounds like a mother talking about her cute children. "Rama is quite boastful and full of himself, and Kamilah, however, is |
Apartments just before 11:30 p.m. March 30. The Broward Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, Linder said.
Altenor, 23, of Lauderdale Lakes, is facing one count of premeditated murder. According to a warrant for his arrest, Altenor shot Douglas three times: once in the torso, once in the lower left leg and once in the upper right thigh.
Broward Judge John "Jay" Hurley ordered Altenor be held without bond pending trial.
Hurley — citing the Lauderhill police report — said a witness identified Altenor in a photo lineup as the shooter, and another person heard Altenor admit to the killing.
"[Altenor] allegedly made a comment that he handled the situation," Hurley said reading from the report.
Altenor's attorney asked the judge to consider whether bias was a factor in the witnesses' statements to police and whether either had a criminal history or gang affiliation.
A woman who identified herself as Altenor's sister attended the hearing but was not asked to speak on her brother's behalf.
emiller@tribune.com, 954-356-4544 or Twitter @EmilyBethMillerHello everyone!With today's update, we're fixing a few things which have been lingering in the queue for a while:* Two of the achievements could not be triggered, this has now been fixed.* Material required for World upgrades have been rebalanced to the following values: 250, 750, 1500, 2500, 5000.We reworked the vertex build algorithm for chunks and ships to produce less memory swapping and therefore remove crash causes.Also, we fixed a significant performance leak with ingame video players. This fixalso fix the famous purple screen bug for some of you.If you still encounter the purple screen bug,please try to re-install the XNA runtime, via:If the error still occurs, please help us tracking it down via:Thank you and have fun!
Hello fellow Galactineers!Today is a great day, we're officially leaving Early Access!The project now been in development for 6,5 years and in Early Access for almost exactly three years, and in our eyes, the game has developed big in that time.Now is the best time to sayto everyone who contributed to the project during this great journey, with their ideas, playtests, bug reports and feature requests!We went through two entire refactorings of the game code and implemented all features planned for the Early Access phase - but also a lot more thanks to your feedback: We added PVE missions, coop raids, PVP arenas and a lot of balancing and UI features due to community request. Last but not least: A lot has been done in terms of tutorials, in-game wikis and videos, which wasn't originally planned for Early Access.
Now we feel, the project evolved far enough to call it a game! We know there are still a few empty PVE spots on your map, which we will fill in the next time, but there's still the option for the community to contribute and to be part of it. Community made missions may also be added in place of developer made missions. To celebrate the full release, we're launching with a 10% discount for everyone new to the game. Join now, try it out, download some cool community ships from the workshop, and have fun! Cheers ChrisIn March 2016, Susan Sarandon went on All In with Chris Hayes to voice her support for her primary candidate of choice, Bernie Sanders, against frontrunner Hillary Clinton. The interview was filled with anti-Hillary talking points, but it was this exchange that made her a noxious symbol of the "Bernie or Bust" movement:
Sarandon: I'm going to see what happens [regarding whether or not she'd vote for Hillary.] Hayes: Really? Sarandon: Really. Hayes: I cannot believe as you're watching...if Donald Trump... Sarandon: Some people feel Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately if he gets in, things will really, you know, explode. Hayes: You're saying the Leninist model of [a counter-argument for letting the greater evil win.] Don't you think that's dangerous? Sarandon: If you think it's pragmatic to shore up the status quo right now, then you're not in touch with the status quo.
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Well, the status quo had their say, and they preferred Hillary Clinton by four million votes in the primary and three million votes in the general, but Susan's wasn't one of them: she couldn't bear to vote for someone she didn't agree 100% with, so she threw her vote away on Jill "Russian Dinner Invitee" Stein.
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Since the inaugural, there's been a "Revolution" in some circles - Emily's List has registered more than 10,000 women who want to run for office, for example. And there have been a number of celebrities who've become great activists in their own right, like Ugly Betty star America Ferrara, and House of Cards creator Beau Willimon. But what has Susan Sarandon done? Here's a couple of highlights:
- She's refused to apologize for her previous remarks.
- She's fought Debra Messing on Twitter.
- She made a second appearance on Chris Hayes and accused him of not being a "real journalist."
- She dropped out of attending the Bernie Sanders-backed People's Summit in June after citing a "scheduling conflict."
- She delivered a decent performance as Bette Davis in FX's miniseries Feud and got an Emmy nomination for it. (That said, I will go crazy if Nicole Kidman doesn't win for giving one of her all-time-best performances in HBO's Big Little Lies.)
Now, in the wake of Trump's disastrous decision to repeal DACA, potentially deporting thousands of immigrant children out of the United States, she has managed to take a break from walking the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival to remind us that she really does care about the big issues:
It's possible that her tweet was well-intentioned. Maybe Susan genuinely wants to help those who are being threatened by Trump's stupidity. Fortunately, the internet has a long memory, and they are not letting her forget how her obstinacy during the most fraught election since the Civil War helped bring us to where we are now:
Susan Sarandon may have spoken enthusiastically of "revolution" last year, but she's done nothing to help those who are actively working to bring about social change with movements like The Resistance and Black Lives Matter, preferring to spend her time retweeting sophists on Twitter and going to film festivals. Her statement on DACA is as empty as the ones Republican politicians make after mass shootings occur, and the same rebuttal to them applies to her: Ms. Sarandon, fuck your thoughts and prayers.NEW DELHI: The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh has joined hands with Congress’ Intuc to place hurdles in the government’s bid to introduce a new labour law, which would merge three existing laws, in the monsoon session of Parliament.The bill has the potential to snowball into another land bill-like controversy after BMS alleged that the Industrial Disputes Code Bill was “pro-corporate” and would not protect interests of employees.Following TUs’ opposition, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has agreed to form a tripartite committee to review the draft code on industrial relations before introducing the bill. The decision to form a committee was taken following a meeting of the minister with trade union leaders including BMS president BN Rai and Intuc chief Sanjeeva Reddy on May 6.Both Rai and Reddy will be part of the committee, representing employees and trade unions. There will also be representatives of employers and the government. The committee has been asked to submit its report in 15 days but Rai says it is too short to decide on critical issues. The first meeting of the committee is expected on May 11.Rai told ET that TUs expressed concerns to the minister and he agreed to do a re-think on some harsh provisions by referring the draft to the committee. “The proposed industrial relations law is heavily loaded in favour of the employer and corporates. It will allow easier retrenchment and closing down norms for firms with more than 300 workers,” he said. As per the draft, the employer would not require the permission of labour ministry to close down a company.The Swadeshi Jagran Manch, another RSS-backed organisation, is also closely working with BMS to gauge the mood on the ground. SJM convener Arun Ojha said that they wanted to avoid another confrontation with the government. “The land bill has already become farmers versus government.Why get into another similar situation with the country’s huge workforce? The draft law will give the corporates a free hand to hire and fire. There will be no job security. It is not in the interest of the labour at all,” Ojha told ET.The BMS chief said that the proposed law will curtail the democratic right of workers to organise themselves into trade unions. At present, seven employees can get together to form a trade union. However, as per the draft, employees would not be allowed to form a union unless they had a minimum 100 members and 10% of total workers in the unit. According to Rai, this provision would hit the hitech sector more since they generally work with small teams.The number ONE party place to chill, where 16 years old go to Paulies and the Post, while any legal drinker heads to WT's for their awesomely amazing wings and 85 cent beers at happy hour. Quite the college town where cabs are 3 bucks a head, girls wear tank tops and flipflops in the middle of the dead winter, you can buy pizza at 4AM, chalk your id and expect the bouncer to not only let you in but complement the fine art. Every other person who goes to Albany is either from NYC and LI and don't understand the difference between Upstate and Western NY, wear abercrombie and hollister with their tims. You wonder why people play in the water on fountain day when you obviously see snow on the ground, can't remember why you came here, except for the fact that you couldn't make Cornell or NYU and wanted to save money. Actually, you had no choice, but you read enough about the school in Princeton Review. The public bus makes its own schedule when you need it on weekends, and your car stays in its parking spot until the snow starts to melt in april. You envy those who live in the mustard complex with their heat and free laundry, but your lottery number is well over a 1000 so you head downtown, where you can never sleep, occasionally have your car towed or hit by another driver, and take advantage of the location by becoming a local at cagneys, chubby's sadies, or stonecrow. You don't understand "downtown" past Quail street until you become 21 and venture off to Lark and S. Pearl. Ahh, this is ALBANY for you.Ubisoft’s latest big name, For Honor, was announced at E3 2015 and dazzled with its gorgeous blood-covered, chainmail-breaking, medieval English battlegrounds that played host to some ruthless 4v4 melee murder. What confused, on the other hand, was why, and perhaps how, these arenas were filled with knights, vikings and samurais all at once. That remains to be seen, but in the meantime Ubisoft have confirmed For Honor will have a single-player campaign.
Like the look of this? You might fancy one or two or all of our upcoming PC games.
For Honor’s recent closed alpha feedback showed that the majority of its players took to its systems and mechanics rather well, and that three quarters of them felt they improved as they went while fighting in the game’s massive area conquering, 4v4 – with supporting AI – bouts.
While the results didn’t shed much light on what didn’t sit quite as well with testers, Ubisoft received many questions about the game’s solo campaign. “We said that we will have a single campaign,” says For Honor’s producer Stephane Cardin in an official recap video, featured below. “And I can promise you that we will have a solo campaign. It’s one of the key subjects we’re working on on the floor. I can’t wait to show stuff to you guys and we’ll do it as early as possible like we did with the multiplayer.”
Here’s the “producer highlights” in full:
As yet, For Honor is without a release date but head this-a-way to recap with its E3 release trailer.CAMP NAI NAI NAI
The First Jewish Summer Camp for Adults
Whether you are Conservative or Reform, Orthodox or just Jew-ish, you definitely know what to do when you get to the “Nai Nai Nai” part of the songs and prayers. That part’s easy... That part’s for everyone! So is Camp Nai Nai Nai.
Camp Nai Nai Nai is the first ever Jewish Summer Camp that’s just for grown-ups. All denominations are welcome and we do our best to accommodate the varieties of Jewish observance.
Just like at camp when we were kids, we’ll show our RUACH as we sing the prayers before and after the meals. Also just like at camp, boys' and girls' bunks will be separated, but this time, sneaking out is encouraged!
With all the campfires and flashlight tag we’ll have at camp, Shabbat will not be fully observed, but it will be celebrated with a Friday Night & Saturday Morning (optional) Community Shabbat Service, as well as an all-camp Havdallah Service on Saturday night.
Our camp community gathers to eat in our state of the art Chadar Ochel (dining hall). As well as accommodating all dietary restrictions, our camp is Glatt Kosher ( with a Kosher kitchen under the supervision of Star-K Kashrut).
RULES
Imagine a place where adults really let go, laugh uncontrollably, sing during meals, and stay up late sharing secrets. Where the only thing to binge on is Arts and Crafts and the only liquid courage is the sweat earned from color wars or the camp dance. That’s Camp Nai Nai Nai! These rules were created to help make that vision a reality...
No Digital Technology : The use of all digital technology is strictly prohibited at camp. This includes all gadgets including but not limited to fax machines, gameboys, PS3’s, computers, cellular telephones, pages, eBooks, iPods, GPS systems, digital cameras, calculator watches, and any other form of digital technology
: The use of all digital technology is strictly prohibited at camp. This includes all gadgets including but not limited to fax machines, gameboys, PS3’s, computers, cellular telephones, pages, eBooks, iPods, GPS systems, digital cameras, calculator watches, and any other form of digital technology Adults Only : This is a summer camp for adults. Leave your children and pets at home. Yes, imaginary friends are welcome.
: This is a summer camp for adults. Leave your children and pets at home. Yes, imaginary friends are welcome. Leave Time Behind: We do not wear watches or worry about strict schedules. Together we’ll rise with the sun and fall asleep under the stars, leaving the world of alarms and clocks behind, enjoying each moment as it is experienced. And no matter where you are, you are always right on time. Sundials, however, are encouraged.
We do not wear watches or worry about strict schedules. Together we’ll rise with the sun and fall asleep under the stars, leaving the world of alarms and clocks behind, enjoying each moment as it is experienced. And no matter where you are, you are always right on time. Sundials, however, are encouraged. No W-Talk: Talking about work is strictly prohibited at Camp Nai Nai Nai. This is not the place to network or find connections for your J-O-B; camp is for making friends and memories.
Talking about work is strictly prohibited at Camp Nai Nai Nai. This is not the place to network or find connections for your J-O-B; camp is for making friends and memories. Age Doesn’t Matter: As far as we’re concerned, we are all just big kids and your age doesn’t matter. Especially when it comes to falling in love, taking advice, telling secrets under the stars or sharing a game of capture the flag.
As far as we’re concerned, we are all just big kids and your age doesn’t matter. Especially when it comes to falling in love, taking advice, telling secrets under the stars or sharing a game of capture the flag. No Drugs or Alcohol: We ask that you help create a healthy space for everyone, away from the world of adult distraction (drugs or alcohol). This is a camp created to help you stay grounded and celebrate life.
We ask that you help create a healthy space for everyone, away from the world of adult distraction (drugs or alcohol). This is a camp created to help you stay grounded and celebrate life. No Wearables: All digital technology is prohibited, including gadgets that tell you how many steps you’ve walked or if you are thirsty. Mindfulness and deep breaths will help us get more in touch sans wearables. Name tags and face paint will be provided.
All digital technology is prohibited, including gadgets that tell you how many steps you’ve walked or if you are thirsty. Mindfulness and deep breaths will help us get more in touch sans wearables. Name tags and face paint will be provided. No Glowsticks, Glitter, of Blight Blinky Lights: We’re going to the woods to give our eyes a break. Please help us to limit our visual pollution at night so we can let the stars do the talking.
FINE PRINT
Camp Nai Nai Nai is a Jewish Summer Camp for Adults. This camp is meant for Jews of all denominations, traditions, backgrounds, colors, and orientations. Admission to Camp Nai Nai Nai is based, in part, on the merit of the responses given during registration. During registration, take a few minutes to answer the questions honestly and thoughtfully. There are no right or wrong answers here - we just want to get a sense of who you are and what motivates you to come to camp. Your answers to these questions will be kept strictly confidential. These responses (and your personal information above) will not be shared with any person or organization outside of Camp Nai Nai Nai. Registration is not complete until my answers above have been reviewed and you receive a final confirmation email from Camp Nai Nai Nai.
Purchase of a Camp Nai Nai Nai ticket indicates that you have read and agree to comply with the Camp Nai Nai Nai cancellation policy.
CANCELLATION POLICY
THIS POLICY IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE; ALL REGISTERED CAMPERS WILL BE NOTIFIED OF ANY CHANGES.
If you need to cancel for any reason and would like a partial refund, you must notify NaiNaiNai@TheDigitalDetox.org at least 30 Days out from your selected session.
Tickets cancelled 100 Days from camp will receive a refund less 25% of your purchased ticket price.
Tickets cancelled between 99 Days out from camp and 30 Days out from camp will receive a refund less 50% of your purchased ticket price.
There will be no refunds or transfers 29 Days out from camp.
After July 2nd, 2016, all tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.
In the unlikely event that a session is cancelled and not rescheduled, we will refund all tickets. We will not, however, be able to refund flight, hotel, or other purchases people may make. Listed workshops, activities, camp location and gate times are confirmed -- however, all programming, times and camp location are subject to change. If the event is rescheduled, tickets will not be refunded; they will be valid for the rescheduled event's entry instead. Purchase of a ticket indicates that you have read and agree to comply with this cancellation policy. This policy is subject to change; all registered attendees will be notified of any changes.The forty-sixth Funambulist Paper, written by Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, closes this series of nine texts that invoke the philosophy of Gilbert Simondon (three of which were written by guest writers). Entitled “Ghost in the Shell- Game: On the Mètic Mode of Existence, Inception and Innocence,” the following text proposes a reading of two films, Mamoru Oshii’s 2004 Inosensu (Ghost in the Shell 2) and Christopher Nolan’s 2010 Inception, through an anthropomorphized-but-never-humanized approach to machinic consciousness in the first case, and a machinic approach to human consciousness in the second one. Nandita therefore illustrates the blurriness of the limits that are usually set in between these two entities, when in fact neither the human nor the machine can be seen as essences. She goes as far as connecting the concepts mètis (which means crafty manipulation) and métissage (which describes the craft of intermingling and/or fabricating) to talk about the mode of existence of the technical object in relation to the mode of existence of the human being. The mètic, morever, is also the resident alien in ancient Greece, a similar situation for the technical object per Simondon which it convenes us to understand in order to construct new relational modes with/in it.
I begin, then, properly, in and with the proper voice (that of Pierre Ménard).[1] To begin, then, anew: The purpose of this study is to create an awareness of the significance of technical objects. Culture has become a system of defense against technics; now, this defense appears as a defense of man based on the assumption that technical objects contain no human reality. We should like to show that culture fails to take into account that there is a human reality in technical reality and that, if it is to fully play its role, culture must come to incorporate technical entities into its body of knowledge and its sense of values. Recognition of the modes of existence of technical objects should be the result of philosophical thought, which in this respect has to achieve what is analogous to the role it played in the abolition of slavery and in the affirmation of the value of the human person. The opposition established between culture and technology, between man and machine, is false and is not well-founded; what underlies it is mere ignorance or resentment. Behind the mask of a facile humanism it hides a reality that is rich in human efforts and natural forces, a reality that constitutes the world of technical objects, mediators between nature and man.[2]
In Mamoru Oshii’s Inosensu (a.k.a. Ghost in the Shell 2),[3] the inextricability of human and technical realities suggests that the established opposition between culture and nature, human and machine, is not only easily subverted, but ultimately so falsifiable that it can be technically manipulated so as to shed light on a dimension that remains indiscernible to humanism: that it is by way of technical objects and technical existence that human beings most authentically relate to their living milieu and to living processes. Humans play with dolls/automata/avatars and wear masks (faces, façades) as part of their everyday lives,[4] but they are ultimately blind to the technical connectors that animate them: “Life and death come and go like marionettes dancing on a table. Once their strings are cut, they easily crumble” (Batō in Oshii’s Inosensu).
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Echoing Kleist’s riveting claim that puppets are like gods, [5] in Oshii’s film the technical object is, on the one hand, the tragic protagonist that must be liberated (very much as Simondon had envisioned in his introduction to METO ), [6] and on the other, already more liberated than the human. “The definition of a truly beautiful doll is a living, breathing body devoid of a soul […]. The human is no match for a doll in its form, its elegance of motion, its very being […]. Perfection is possible only for those without consciousness, or perhaps endowed with infinite consciousness” (the renegade Kim in Oshii’s).
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And yet humans use and abuse them, enslave them without a second thought. Humans have even transferred this logic of abuse onto other humans; according to the ancient Greeks, for example, the slave was an animal machine (this idea was later modified by Descartes) and therefore not governed by political laws and philosophical principles. [7]
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“Humans get rid of robots as soon as they are superfluous or obsolete. When constantly exchanged for newer models, some of these machines find themselves abandoned, lost, and without proper maintenance, they degrade and degenerate […]. ‘Humans are different from robots’: this is as obvious as saying ‘black is not white’ or simply that ‘man is not a machine’[…]. But why this obsessive idea humans have to want to re-create themselves? […] In every age, children are excluded from the norms of human behavior (insofar as we consider ‘human’ a being having its proper identity and acting autonomously). But then what is a child that endures the chaos preceding maturity? — It differs profoundly from ‘human’ beings while nevertheless possessing human form. A young girl who cradles her doll does not cradle a thing replacing a baby, nor an object of maternal apprenticeship.— Neither does she imitate a mother raising its child. No: she undergoes an authentic experience; she experiences the profound nature of what it means to raise children. Raising children is the simplest way to realize an old dream of humankind: that of creating life artificially” (Haraway in Oshii’s Inosensu).[8]
This is perhaps the ‘reality’ that is masked by the longstanding opposition between humanity and technicity, a reality that is supposed to constitute both the world of technical objects as well as the world of inner memory and subjectivity. “If the essence of life is information carried in DNA, then society and civilization are just colossal memory systems, and a metropolis like this one, simply a sprawling external memory” (Inosensu). In this view, the organic — including such metaphysical concepts as intentionality and identity — can no longer be conceived as separate[d] from its technical articulation and individuation. It is not that the body disappears in Oshii’s rendering; it is almost as if sexualization and gendering become ‘wearable’ technologies that can be tactically manipulated and recoded to produce further (often monstrous) avenues of individuation (it is well-known that Oshii was inspired by the grotesque dolls of Hans Bellmer; see Brown 2010).[9]
Outside the schema of the logos — of words, reasons, rationalizations, standard measures — established oppositions between ‘nature and culture’, ‘humanity and technicity’, ‘spirit and body’, et cetera, find themselves reticulated (inter-connected) as elements within a ubiquitous technical network of ongoing modifications, which Simondon characterizes as being in a constant and constitutive process of ‘transduction’. Technical objects are ‘mediators’ (mediations) between ‘man’ and ‘nature’ not only in an ‘instrumental’ sense but also in an altogether ‘constitutive’ sense; from this vantage (as Oshii, for instance, suggests), rather than ‘bodies’ and ‘souls’ we see instead ‘shells’ and ‘ghosts’. In Oshii’s Inosensu, death is not the cessation of life; rather, bodily life is the technical animation, individuation and articulation of death (inertia). Life (æmæth in the Hebrew text at the heart of Inosensu: the animating ‘truth’) is portrayed as an artifice of death (mæth) embodied in the ningyō — literally ‘human-shaped figures’, anthropoid forms — without consciousness. “By inscribing æmæth upon the Golem’s brow, the clay man lived, drawing energy from the word for ‘truth’. But simply removing the æ to form mæth or ‘death’ returned the Golem back to inanimate clay” (Hebrew Kabbalah paraphrased in Oshii’s Inosensu). Only the puppet truly experiences both life and death: life as the animation of death (something impossible for human self-consciousness). “People die simply because it is inevitable. But death is a condition of life for a doll.”
Whereas Inosensu explicitly questions the value of consciousness for an understanding of the human and humane (e.g. the most ‘human’ relationship in the film is between a cyborg and a cloned canine!), Christopher Nolan’s film Inception suggests that although consciousness is limited (that is, ill-equipped to process all the data streaming into it), it too functions by way of technical manipulation and artifice.— Our world is full of gaps, blank areas, dead-spaces, blind-spots, and the latter tend to be problematic for humans conceived in intentional and rational terms; but this is not the case for non-conscious/non-human operators, which in Oshii’s film are masters of mètic métissage[10] (i.e. able both to make and maneuver in the ‘gaps’, ‘blanks’, ‘dead-spaces’ and ‘blind-spots’ of what could be called ‘aporetic architecture’). Just as Oshii’s anthropomorphic ningyō explicitly allude to Hans Bellmer’s dolls (which themselves transgress the human/machine boundary),[11] so also Nolan’s depiction of the manipulability of consciousness in dream-states is inspired by the gestural art/artifice of Francis Bacon (“bringing us back by a commodius vicus of recirculation” to Anthropocosmogonic Vastupurushamanism): “I quite like the paradoxical nature of the [fact that] […] the less [Bacon] tells you about what’s there, the more I find myself thinking about [it]. [And] Because you never have the resources to fully create the world that you’re creating, you are leaving a lot of void — you’re leaving a lot of gaps — and so part of what you start trying to do is use those necessary gaps intelligently, so that where you’re not showing something, it’s helping you rather than [giving you a] feeling [of and for] the limitations of the world you’re creating” (Christopher Nolan, interviewed @ http://youtu.be/u1R4CFUxj9c?t=2m42s — 2m42s to 3m24s).[12]
The kind of intelligence to which Nolan alludes here is not mobilized through intentionality, logical thinking, or the framework of logos (or indeed the search for capital-T Truth: a Truth beyond all deception[s]); instead it conducts, transducts, and instructs itself[13] via randomness, aporia, kairos and mètic hexis[14] (crafty cunning, mechanisms of manipulation). Throughout the labyrinthine twists and turns of the latter lies the question — and quest — of artifice (truth as deception, or if you like: “truthiness” — as the mètic master of and on televisual media, Sir Stephen Colbert, might have said). “They say we only use a fraction of the true potential of our brains […] but they’re talking about when we’re awake. While we dream, the mind performs wonders […]. In a dream your mind continuously does that: it creates and perceives a world simultaneously — so well, in fact, that you don’t feel your brain doing the creating. And that’s why we can short-circuit the process […] by taking over the creating part” (the con-artist Cobb in Nolan’s Inception). There is no “inception” without deception in Nolan’s film; not only can consciousness be deceived, it is always being deceived. The dream-state in Nolan’s film is a stochastic ‘field’ or ‘plane of immanence’ (and the “stochastic intelligence” described in Sarah Kofman’s treatise on Poros and Mètis[15]): one which, as in Oshii’s vision of unconscious (‘pre’- and/or ‘post’-conscious) anthropomorphism, operates as a “perfect” and “dangerous” field of possibilities.
Cunning intelligence, or the mètic mentality, is a mode of dissimulation (involving risk and play) that proceeds by way of skillful handling or manipulation, rather than by way of logos or ‘logical measures’ (e.g. logical speech and rationality); by “tricks [rather] than by general methods” (René Thom).[16] This manipulation must always involve an artfulness — a ‘gaming’, even ‘gambling’ instinct — that creates opportunities out of the gaps and weaknesses in environmental informational resources: “challenging the fatalism of the moralist, the gambler is he who, in the face of no matter what situation, thinks that there is always something he can do” (Thom).[17] For the mètic player, there is no ‘knowledge’ without the gaming ‘skill’ and ‘instinct’ of ruse, of cunning, and of acting at the decisive instance (indeed in the stance /movement-space and decisive-moment/instance) in order to accomplish a trick or truc.[18] This is the attitude of the con-man who uses sleights of reason[19] to perform sleights of hand: “that which, in the last analysis, justifies the gaming attitude is the fact that the only conceivable way of unveiling the black box, is to play with it” (Thom).[20] These gaming skills are also the same used by the skilled hunter: corporeal agility including quick-wittedness (e.g. the dromikos of a skilled runner, the agrupnos of the vigilant watcher, the stochazesthai or keen eye of the great marksman) and skills of dissimulation (“the art of seeing without being seen” in the words of Détienne and Vernant).[21]
Mètic mentality is thus intimately involved with bodily conditions (hexeis; singular hexis; synonymous in many respects with the Sanskrit vastu — indeed vastupurusha — of Anthropocosmogonic Vastupurushamanism) which are themselves “indistinguishable from habits and practices” (Debra Hawhee).[22] Dissimulation here is synonymous with dissimulative bodily states: “thought does not just happen within the body, it happens as the body” (Hawhee).[23] Mètis always involves a métissage (Mellamphy 1994),† a [ghost-in-the-] shell-game involving pretense, the mixing and mixing-up of appearances and consistencies, corporeal quantities and qualities in order to be able to do something that gains advantage. Thus cunning intelligence since Greek antiquity has involved the ability to deceive by way of the technical manipulation of appearance and multiplicity (i.e. abilities to alter and morph bodily conditions or bounded physical states of any kind). The countless cunning conceits (polymètis), streaming series of stratagems (polymèchanos) and ubiquitous ‘U-turns’ (polytropos) of Ulysses,[24] attest to the artfulness of a mètic mathematician who invokes the mathesis of mètis and its métissage[sse] when faced with “a puzzling local situation” for which ‘universal reason’ (logos, the logistics of ‘logic’) proves inadequate: “All the major achievements of mathematicians are due at the outset to ‘artfulness’: a paradoxical situation, for in mathematics — a science of exemplary rationality — progression is accomplished more by tricks than by general methods of great weight” (Thom).[25]
Articulating itself techno-mechanically (as polymechanoi) via cunning chthonic twists and turns (polytropoi) that polymètically pull[s]-into-being-or-action what which would otherwise remain mere potential, the architecture and architectonics of deception in Inception make technical use of traps, tricks, gestures, suggestions, forgeries, impersonations, mirror-reflections, staircases, labyrinths and other sorts of hooks and/or bait that play with the limitations of physical boundedness. The team of technicians qua assembled con-artists consists of agents whose functions in Nolan’s Inception are those first of confusing construction (for “the architect” Ariadne, the web-spinner), second of drug-decoction (for “the [al]chemist” Yusuf, le souffleur), third of impersonation (for “the forger” Eames, the not-what-ˢhe-seems), fourth of the watcher and gatekeeper (for “the watcher and gatekeeper” Arthur, rounding-out the four-square round-table), and fifth — quintessentially, as the pempte ousia in the midst of the previous four-square/round-table — of “inception” and/or of “extraction” (for “the Inceptor” and/or “the Extractor” Mr. Cobb, a husk of a man who manages to infiltrate — incept-and/or-extract — other men’s husks in this splendid shell-game). The “inception” or “extraction” always begins with an aporetic architectural diagram/yantra, in this case that of a circular maze: a labyrinth explicitly situated outside the domain of logos, as the character Cobb confesses to the architect Ariadne (these deceptive designs and their mètic métissage are “not, strictly speaking, legal,” he tells her).
Deception is embodied from the outset in that aporetic architectural design, diagram, mandala or yantra, which is gestural in that its aim is less that of representation and expression than that of suggestion and impression. “This architectural technique, the yantra (‘literally the ‘vessel of yoking’: [the] device, sacred diagram, [that is] the Foundation of the temple’ according to the Vastu-Shastra), ‘do[es] not consign the Figure to immobility but, on the contrary, render[s] sensible a kind of progression, an exploration of the Figure within the place or upon itself’,” wrote Dan Mellamphy in the previous week’s Funambulist Paper (referring in this passage to Stella Kramrisch, Gilles Deleuze, The Vastu-Shatra and The Logic of Sensation).[26] Like Oshii’s sublime puppet animated by its strings (strings that intertwine its ‘Figure’ with its milieu and/or ‘Ground’[27]), mètic mentality is manifest and/or ‘bodied forth’ in the tricks and traps of paradox |
dissent, which could become a flood.
Bannon says that he once confidently believed in the prospect of success for that version of the Trump presidency he now says is over. Asked what the turning point was, he says, “It’s the Republican establishment. The Republican establishment has no interest in Trump’s success on this. They’re not populists, they’re not nationalists, they had no interest in his program. Zero. It was a half-hearted attempt at Obamacare reform, it was no interest really on the infrastructure, they’ll do a very standard Republican version of taxes.
“What Trump ran on—border wall, where is the funding for the border wall, one of his central tenets, where have they been? Have they rallied around the Perdue-Cotton immigration bill? On what element of Trump’s program, besides tax cuts—which is going to be the standard marginal tax cut—where have they rallied to Trump’s cause? They haven’t.”
Bannon believes that those who will now try to influence Trump will hope to turn him in a sharply different direction.
“I think they’re going to try to moderate him,” he says. “I think he’ll sign a clean debt ceiling, I think you’ll see all this stuff. His natural tendency—and I think you saw it this week on Charlottesville—his actual default position is the position of his base, the position that got him elected. I think you’re going to see a lot of constraints on that. I think it’ll be much more conventional.”
But Bannon believes that Trump, with the help of Stephen K. Bannon, has already effected a lasting realignment of American politics.
As for himself, Bannon says the fight is just beginning.
“I feel jacked up,” he says. “Now I’m free. I’ve got my hands back on my weapons. Someone said, ‘it’s Bannon the Barbarian.’ I am definitely going to crush the opposition. There’s no doubt. I built a f***ing machine at Breitbart. And now I’m about to go back, knowing what I know, and we’re about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do.”
Bannon tells The Weekly Standard that he can be more effective without the constraints of the White House. “I can fight better on the outside. I can’t fight too many Democrats on the inside like I can on the outside.”
And, he says, Trump encouraged him to take on the Republican establishment. “I said, ‘look, I’ll focus on going after the establishment.’ He said, ‘good, I need that.’ I said, ‘look, I’ll always be here covering for you.’”GERMANTOWN, Md. — Police charged two women on Saturday in the deaths of two children in Maryland, saying the women believed they were performing an exorcism.
Montgomery County Police charged 21-year-old Monifa Denise Sanford and 28-year-old Zakieya Latrice Avery with murder in the deaths of two of Avery’s children, a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old. The women are also facing attempted murder charges for injuring the children’s siblings, ages 5 and 8.
Police say the two younger children who died suffered multiple stab wounds.
Police were called to the home where the women lived on Friday. A neighbor called 911 after noticing a vehicle with the door open and a knife laying outside of the vehicle. Avery was arrested when authorities say she tried to flee from a townhouse near the vehicle. Police found the two children dead inside the home, and their siblings and Sanford were taken to the hospital with injuries.
Police say Sanford was arrested Saturday after being released from the hospital.
Also on Saturday police identified the children who died as Norell Harris, a 1-year-old boy, and Zyana Harris, a 2-year-old girl.
The older children who were injured were identified as 5-year-old Taniya Harris, a girl, and 8-year-old Martello Harris, a boy. They remained hospitalized Saturday.
Police say Sanford and Avery each face two counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder. Both were being held without bond.Blackhawks players and coach Joel Quenneville sounded mixed following a 6-0 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
Some told the media that they could learn from that loss. Quenneville said the Blackhawks should just forget it. They all agreed on one thing: it was one horrible game on their end and they've got to clean things up fast.
On Saturday the Blackhawks got back to work trying to improve upon what failed against the Capitals, which according to Quenneville was quite the laundry list of items:
"I just think little things, whether it was getting or keeping the puck — we didn't have it at all — going into the puck area, going through the puck area, little details. We've probably given up more rush chances than we have in a long, long time," Quenneville said. "Whether it was the competitiveness from the outset, be it the faceoff circle, across the board, but that start to the game put us in a tough spot."
The loss to the Capitals marked the fifth time this season the Blackhawks have lost a game by three or more goals. Last year they lost 13 games by three or more, compared to 12 during the 2014-15 Stanley Cup season. You take that number for what it is: some games are close until the third period (Jan. 2 vs. the St. Louis Blues, a 4-1 loss) and others are like Friday's effort, or lack thereof.
So, do the Blackhawks forget about that mess or learn from it?
"I think maybe a little of both," Andrew Desjardins said. "You gotta learn from some of the stuff in aspects of one-on-one battles, being in good angles. For-sure plays still have to be for sure, where last night they weren't. As far as that goes, you have to learn from those [things]; you have to see it to learn and to understand it's not good enough. At the same time, you have to use it as a drive to be better for the next game and be a little pissed off about it."
[SHOP: Get your Blackhawks gear right here]
Vinnie Hinostroza's nullified goal (due to goaltender interference) took the wind out of the Blackhawks' sails at that point; they would've trailed 3-1 instead of 3-0. But players said there's only so much pointing they can do toward that no-goal.
"We had the momentum for a second there and it got taken away. But we should've responded better than that. It was still 3-0; still could've come back from that," Hinostroza said. "I don't think we responded, at all, how we should have."
The Blackhawks should have a sufficient level of anger on Sunday night when they host the red-hot Minnesota Wild who, thanks to their 5-4 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night, jumped into first place in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks and Wild each have 59 points but the Wild have four games in hand. This one won't be easy, either. The Wild, who swept the regular-season series against the Blackhawks last year, are 16-1-1 in their last 17 games. That included a 12-game winning streak, which the equally hot Columbus Blue Jackets snapped on New Year's Eve.
Will the Blackhawks have the sufficient response? In most cases when the Blackhawks have had a horrible game one night, they've usually come back with a strong one the next. The Wild, much like the Capitals, are surging and there will be little margin for error.
The Blackhawks had an awful one in D.C. in a season that hasn't had many of them. They happen. But whether they lost sleep over it, forgot about it or learn from it, they definitely can't repeat it.
"You don't want to dwell on it, let one bad game turn into two bad games because you're thinking of everything that went wrong the last game," Trevor van Riemsdyk said. "[The Wild have] got a lot of speed, just like the Caps, a lot of skill. It'll take a great effort. When you get beat like that you want a chance to redeem yourself. Tomorrow's a good chance for that."The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments recently in a Texas case that challenges the way nearly every U.S. voting district – from school boards to Congress – is drawn. The case asks the court to specify what the word “person” means in its “one person, one vote” rule. The outcome of the case could have major impacts on Hispanic voting strength and representation from coast to coast.
Ever since a series of landmark rulings in the 1960s, districts have been drawn “as nearly of equal population as is practicable.” (As Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote for the majority in Reynolds v. Sims, “Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests.”) The high court didn’t directly say what “equal population” meant, but states and localities have almost invariably used total population figures. And that population is determined by the decennial census.
However, the appellants in the Texas case, Evenwel v. Abbott, argue that districts instead should be drawn to have equal numbers of eligible voters. (The case involves redistricting within states, not reapportioning congressional seats among states.)
The distinction between residents and voters is a big one, because in many states, districts with nearly equal total populations can have dramatically different numbers of eligible voters (that is, U.S. citizens ages 18 and older).
We approximated the disparity using 2014 demographic data for all 435 U.S. House districts from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Eligible voters ranged from 81.2% of the population (Florida’s 11th District, located north of the Tampa Bay area) to 43.2% (California’s 40th District, comprising East Los Angeles and adjacent communities). California’s 40th, in fact, has barely half as many voting-age citizens (308,347) as Oregon’s 4th District (604,980, the most of any district in a multi-district state).
As the map (above) and chart (right) might suggest, there’s a strong negative correlation between share of eligible voters and share of Hispanic population. Of the 25 districts with the highest Hispanic population shares, 18 also are among the 25 districts with the lowest eligible-voter share. This is because so many Hispanics aren’t eligible to vote, either because they’re not U.S. citizens or because they’re younger than 18. By our calculations, only about 46% of the nation’s more than 55 million Hispanics are eligible to vote.
There also are clear partisan differences between districts with high and low shares of eligible voters. Of the 33 districts where voting-age citizens make up less than 60% of the population, 28 are held by Democrats; Democrats represent 18 of the lowest-ranking 20. On the other end, Republicans represent 35 of the 47 districts where 77% or more of the population are voting-age citizens, and 17 of the highest 20.
What would happen if the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of the Texas appellants (who, it should be noted, already have lost at the district-court level) is unknown. One possibility is that districts with relatively few eligible voters would be redrawn to include more of them – which could mean bringing more whites and Republicans into what are now largely Hispanic, Democratic-voting districts, or combining such districts to bring up the eligible-voter population. And that, in turn, could affect Hispanic representation in the House, which has risen from five in 1973 to 17 in 1993 and 28 in 2013.
This could also have an outsize impact on the representation of Asian Americans – just 55% of the more than 16 million Asians in the U.S. are adult citizens. By comparison, large majorities of whites (79%) and blacks (71%) are citizens of legal voting age. (Asian American representation in the House has risen from two in 1973 to four in 1993 and 10 in 2013.)
All of this should be taken as illustrative rather than definitive. There are factors beyond age and U.S. citizenship that affect eligibility, such as residency rules, imprisonment, prior felony convictions and mental incompetency; our data don’t address those other factors. In addition, Americans living overseas may be eligible to vote but aren’t covered by the American Community Survey. (Two political scientists, Samuel Popkin and Michael McDonald, addressed those issues in an influential 2001 paper on turnout rates.)
Most important, while the American Community Survey asks about immigration and U.S. citizenship status, the decennial census does not. And because the decennial census counts everyone (which the ACS, being a sample-based survey, does not), it has been the only source of data for drawing district lines (a point addressed at length in an amicus brief filed by several political scientists). That means that if the Supreme Court requires districts to be drawn with equal numbers of eligible voters, it may also have to decide just how those eligible-voter numbers are to be determined.
Note: This post was originally published on June 3 and has been updated.
Topics: Supreme Court, Hispanic/Latino Vote, Voter DemographicsWhenever a new piece of hardware comes out, there’s always people trying to port or emulate different operating systems onto them. The Raspberry Pi was no different, with several attempts at differing OSs when it was first launched. For over a year now though, Microsoft has officially supported Windows on the Raspberry Pi through Windows 10 IoT Core.
In The MagPi 48 we cover the latest developments in Windows 10 IoT Core that have come about since the Raspberry Pi 3 was launched, and how to maker use of them in your own projects. We’ve also got exclusive news on an upcoming kit specifically for the Raspberry Pi 3 that lets you create amazing projects right out of the box.
As well as all the Windows talk, we invite you to take part in the Scratch Olympics, continue building the arcade machine of your dreams, learn about Twitch-controlled robots, and read a review on the long-awaited NatureBytes wildlife camera.
The MagPi 48 is out today in WH Smith, Tesco, Asda, and Sainsburys in the UK and will be in Microcenters and selected Barnes & Nobles when it comes to America. You can also buy a copy online from our store, or get it digitally on our app that’s available for iOS and Android.
We hope you enjoy the issue!The internet has, in its storied history, been compared to many things: a river; a superhighway; and, perhaps most famously, a series of tubes. But as it turns out, the most apt comparison of all just might be an iceberg.
Like the mighty floes that break off from glaciers, only 10% of the network we call “the internet” is visible to the general public. Hidden below the virtual waterline lies a tangled and secretive network known as the Deep Web. Unindexed by search engines, and accessible only with special browsers such as The Onion Router (Tor), the Deep Web is made up of peer-to-peer connections, which allow users to share files directly (and secretly).
The Deep Web has a strong appeal to privacy advocates, who have taken advantage of the lack of tracking to shield their anonymity from advertisers and officials alike. Whistleblower Edward Snowden used the Deep Web to collect much of the information that carried him into a worldwide controversy, and journalists around the world are coming to rely on it as a more secure alternative to the public web when searching for sensitive or dangerous information.
But the secretive nature of the network has also made it a haven for criminals of various stripes, trafficking in everything from illegal drugs to stolen credit cards to child pornography. The Silk Road, an online marketplace driven by internet currency bitcoin, dominated headlines in 2013 when authorities succeeding in shutting it down. The site had a reputation as the internet’s go-to destination for illicit drug sales (including thousands of listings for heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines), and its demise spawned both a crowd-sourced documentary from actor Alex Winter and a bevy of successors eager to capitalize on the fall of their better-known sibling.
Companies such as AT&T, eager to review, track, and control activity within its fuzzy borders, are working tirelessly to bring light to the corners of the Deep Web. Government officials and law enforcement agencies, concerned about piracy, illegal trafficking, and leaks, are in the strange position of attempting to police the same wild and wooly netherworld they rely on for their own clandestine operations. But scandals, secrets, and skulkers will always find their way to the shadowiest parts of the Web, and while the future of the Deep Web may be as murky as its labyrinthine tangles, it’s sure to remain a part of internet lore for years to come.
Thank you to our friends at DynamoSpanish.com for the Spanish translation.
Transcript: Everything You Wanted to Know About Tor & The Deep Web
You may think that the internet is a huge resource of information, but in fact what most of us see is just one link in a very long chain of underground websites and unseen content.
What is the Deep Web?
Put simply, it is the part of the internet that is hidden from view.
Surface Web
4% of WWW content Also known as the ‘Visible Web’, it is content that can be found using search engines such as Google or Yahoo. It is under constant surveillance by the government.
Deep Web
96% of WWW content Also known as the ‘Invisible Web’, it is the content that cannot be indexed by search engines. And it is hard to keep track of.
The Deep Web is estimated to be at least 500x the size of the Surface Web.
How do you access it?
When using the Surface Web, you access data directly from the source.
This direct approach tracks the information downloaded, from where and when it was accessed, and your exact location.
Information on the Deep Web cannot be accessed directly. This is because data is not held on any single page, but rather in databases, which makes it difficult for search engines to index.
Files are shared through any number of computers connected to the internet that hold the information you need. This is known as peer-to-peer networking.
In order to access the Deep Web, you need to use a dedicated browser. TOR (The Onion Router) is the most commonly used, but other options such as I2P and Freenet offer an alternative solution.
This method of sharing encrypted data makes it difficult for your location, and the kind of information you access, to be tracked or monitored.
Is it legal?
Yes. You use it as you would any other internet browser. Many people are now beginning to use TOR as a way to maintain their privacy whilst online.
Who else uses it:
Military Police and crime units Journalists Whistleblowers Edward Snowden Julian Assange
Due to the anonymity that TOR offers, the Deep Web has also become a popular nesting ground for criminal activity. This includes things such as:
Drugs
Weapons trading
Child pornography
Hit men for hire*
*Though there are groups on the Deep Web claiming to offer this service, there has been no legitimate proof of their existence.
The influence of Bitcoin
The Silk Road became one such popular website on the Deep Web. Known also as the “eBay of drugs”, it is a place to buy and sell things – but mainly illegal drugs.
This was made possible by the use of Bitcoin, a virtual currency that makes use of the encrypted peer-to-peer system.
Bitcoin allows users to conduct business transactions anonymously. This has allowed some users of the currency to engage in illegal activity.
2006
First Bitcoin traded
2011
JAN – Silk Road founded by the user ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ FEB – Bitcoin triples in value JUN – US senate investigates link between Bitcoin and Silk Road NOV – Bitcoin loses over 90% of its value
2013
OCT – FBI locate and arrest the person accused of being the ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’. Silk Road is shut down. NOV – Silk Road 2.0 founded
Bitcoin triples in value*
*Bitcoin is known to be a volatile currency, even though its value has on average constantly increased since its inception, it is prone to large fluctuations in perceived value.
Over $1 billion worth of goods were sold on Silk Road before it was shut down.
There may be a wealth of information out there in the Deep Web, but you should be careful about what you look for. Just like Alice – the deeper you go, the more trouble you could find yourself in.
SourcesLegislator rebuked for speaking at event described as anti-Muslim
Sen. David Brown Courtesy of the Minnesota Senate
A state legislator is taking heat for attending a private Shariah law event in St. Cloud that critics are calling anti-Islam.
Sen. David Brown, R-Becker, said the backlash he's getting for speaking at the event, billed as "Shariah 101," is unfounded.
"It wasn't [a] hyped-up, Islam-is-terrible type of thing," he said. "It wasn't any of that."
The controversy surrounds the event's main presenter, Jeffrey Baumann. The Coon Rapids man talked for an hour about growing up in Saudi Arabia and the practices of Islam. Critics say that doesn't give him the right to speak as an expert, especially because he's made anti-Islam comments in the past.
Asked if he considers himself anti-Islam, Baumann said he presents facts and that he challenges anyone to point out errors.
"The core take-home message that I have is that Islam is a complete replacement societal system," he said.
Baumann has spoken publicly against building mosques in Minnesota, calling it "treason" and "aiding the enemy."
Having someone with such views talk about Islam, said Dr. Muhamad Elrashidi, a physician from Rochester, "would be the same as bringing up someone who might be a Klansman to talk about African-American culture, or an anti-Semite to talk about Judaism."
Elrashidi, a Muslim, had reached out to Brown to say it's unacceptable for an elected official to endorse an anti-Islam speaker like Baumann.
Lori Saroya, a Minnesotan who sits on the national board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has seen Baumann speak at public meetings. She said some of the things he says are ignorant and ill-informed.
If a state legislator like Brown really wants to learn about Shariah law, Saroya said, he should consult members of the Muslim community.
"If he's serious about understanding what Shariah really means and not engaging in this hype and fear-mongering," Saroya said, "he needs to go directly to the source and talk to Muslims about what it means and not these individuals who are hateful and have had negative experiences."
Brown said he was simply there as a lawmaker invited to speak about a bill he introduced last session. That bill would ensure the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution over foreign law. That issue has come up in divorce proceedings, he said, and he cited the example of a Somali woman going through a divorce.
"Her husband wanted the judge to use Shariah law for him to get custody of the children," Brown said. "Fortunately the judge ruled in favor of the woman, based on her constitutional rights."
Elrashidi pointed out that Shariah legally does not supersede the laws of the United States.
"Shariah is simply divine law," he said. "It's no different than canon law or Talmudic law."
He and other critics objected to the event having been private and held at an undisclosed location. It lacked the opportunity for an open dialogue or factual information about Islam and Shariah law.
"That would've gone a long way, but instead it was very secretive," he said. "It was very much promoted in a way that fits with an intent to present a skewed perception."
Baumann said he wasn't behind the decision to close the event to the general public, but he understands that some people who question Islam "are legitimately in fear for their lives."
CAIR officials said they plan to meet with Brown and that he's been open to having more conversations about Islam.Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley saw Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan and Cal quarterback Jared Goff on back-to-back days last week for their respective pro-day workouts.
Goff is considered a potential top-10 pick, while Hogan's draft party might drag into Day 3 (Rounds 4-7). That speaks more to overall talent than the learning curve each faces at the pro level, though. Where the latter is concerned, Whaley gives the nod to Hogan, not only over Goff, but over any quarterback in the draft -- at least as it pertains to the Bills.
"Is Hogan the most pro ready?" Whaley said on Monday at the NFL Annual Meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., according to The Post-Standard. "I would say for us probably because he runs the same system we run. For everybody else, I can't say that."
Stanford runs a pro-style offense that operates from the huddle and requires quarterbacks to read defenses at the line of scrimmage more than most college offenses. Cardinal head coach David Shaw spent 10 years as an NFL assistant before taking over as Stanford's offensive coordinator in 2007, so the NFL-like demands on his quarterbacks are nothing new.
Former Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck's relatively smooth transition to the NFL was no small example, though Luck was, of course, drafted No. 1 overall.
Hogan had his best college season as a senior last year, throwing a career-high 27 touchdown passes to lead the Cardinal to a Pac-12 title and Rose Bowl win. Whether he has the talent to stick in the NFL remains to be seen, but Whaley, for one, doesn't think his football IQ will be any issue.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.Salt Lake City hit with Hepatitis A outbreak Video
12/05/2017 - SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) A large Hepatitis A outbreak struck Salt Lake City, Nicholas Rupp from the Salt Lake County Health Department joined Good Morning Utah with Brian Carlson to talk about what their doing to combat the outbreak.
As of today, we are at 76 cases of hepatitis A in Salt Lake County. So far, Salt Lake County hepatitis cases have remained contained within certain higher-risk populations-people experiencing homelessness and people using illicit drugs-but we are concerned about the potential for the outbreak to spread to the wider community.
Regular, proper hand washing is the best way to protect yourself from hepatitis A. There is also a hepatitis A vaccine widely available at pharmacies, your health care provider, or a Salt Lake County immunization clinic (385-468-7468 for an appointment).By: Staff –
Slayer, Anthrax, and Death Angel will join forces this fall for a seven week North American tour. The tour is slated to begin on September 9th in Cleveland, with the jaunt expected to wrap up on October 27th in El Paso. Confirmed dates are below.
The Slayer Fan Club presale starts at 10:00AM local time on Tuesday, May 10, and the general on-sale begins this Friday, May 13 at 10:00AM local time. For all ticket purchasing and VIP packages details, log onto http://slatanicwehrmacht.com/tour
Said Slayer’s Kerry King, “It’s always super fun for us to tour with Anthrax. Frank is one of my best friends in the biz!! Put that together with Death Angel, and fans will probably see the best package this year. See you there!”
Fans will hear their favorite Slayer songs from the band’s 30-year plus discography, as well as a few of the newer songs from Repentless. Slayer and Anthrax stormed through Europe together last fall, amassing a string of sensational live reviews, so North American fans, this will be a night of metal music that should not be missed.
“We are very excited to tour again with our fellow Kings Slayer on a thrash/metal extravaganza,” said Anthrax’s Charlie Benante. “Two of the Big Four – now that’s a night of metal for all the Kings and Queens!”
Added Mark Osegueda from Death Angel, “We are thrilled and honored to be part of this amazing North American touring package. Slayer/Anthrax/Death Angel – it just looks, sounds and feels right. This will be Death Angel’s first-ever tour with Slayer, something we’ve hungered for our entire career. And we will bring that hunger to the stage every night, so get there early because this will be a show not to be missed; from the first note of the night until the very last! Metal is alive, hungry, thriving, and coming for you!”
With more dates to be announced, here is the confirmed itinerary:
SEPTEMBER
9 Jacob’s Pavilion, Cleveland, OH
10 Freedom Hill Amphitheatre, Detroit, MI
12 Sound Academy, Toronto, ON
13 Metropolis, Montreal, QC
15 Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
17/18 Rock Allegiance, Chester, PA*
20 Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, IN
22 The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
27 Hard Rock Live, Orlando, FL
28 Fillmore, Miami, FL
30 Horseshoe Casino Tunica, Tunica, MS
OCTOBER
3 Norva, Norfolk, VA
5 Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA
7 Gas Monkey Live, Dallas, TX
8 ACL at the Moody Theatre, Austin, TX
10 Fillmore, Denver, CO
11 The Complex, Salt Lake City, UT
13 The Wilma Theatre, Missoula, MT
17 ENMAX Center, Lethbridge, AB
19 South Okanagan Events Centre, Penticton, BC
20 Abbotsford Centre, Abbotsford, BC
23 Reno Events Center, Reno, NV
27 El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso, TX
* Slayer, Anthrax and Death Angel are all on this billInjury has forced German fighter Nick Hein (14-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) out of next week’s UFC Fight Night 115 event in Rotterdam, and company officials are currently seeking a replacement opponent for Zabit Magomedsharipov (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
MMAjunkie today confirmed the change to the card with UFC officials.
Featuring a heavyweight matchup between Stefan Struve and Alexander Volkov, UFC Fight Night 115 takes place Sept. 2 at Ahoy Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The entire card streams live on UFC Fight Pass.
Despite winning four of his five UFC fights and riding a three-fight winning streak, Hein was looking to drop down to 145 pounds for the bout. That move will now be delayed, though a timetable for his return wasn’t immediately established.
Magomedsharipov, meanwhile, has only seen the judges scorecards twice in his career, and hasn’t done so since November 2013. The Dagestani fighter brings an eight-fight winning streak into his octagon debut, which will mark his return to competition after a nearly one-year layoff.
The latest UFC Fight Night 115 card includes
Stefan Struve vs. Alexander Volkov
Germaine de Randamie vs. Marion Reneau
Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Rob Wilkinson
Bryan Barberena vs. Leon Edwards
Darren Till vs. Bojan Velickovic
Felipe Silva vs. Mairbek Taisumov
Mads Burnell vs. Michel Prazeres
Desmond Green vs. Rustam Khabilov
Francimar Barroso vs. Aleksandar Rakic
Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. opponent TBA
Abdul-Kerim Edilov vs. Bojan Mihajlovic
For more on UFC Fight Night 115, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.November 4, 2015 | Written by PETA
New York City’s East Village got a lot tastier when Superiority Burger moved in. Its famous vegan sandwich is so mind-blowing that it challenges the very definition of the word “burger.” People can rave all they want about its texture and taste, but chef and former punk-rock drummer Brooks Headley won’t divulge its ingredients.
GQ describes the Superiority Burger as a “nutty patty” topped with roasted tomato and iceberg lettuce. The magazine was clearly moved by this divine sandwich, declaring it “the perfectly proportioned Platonic ideal of a burger.”
A photo posted by Eating My Way Through NYC (@eatingnyc) on Jul 26, 2015 at 5:27pm PDT
You can also expect the unexpected at Superiority Burger, as its menu changes on a whim. “We’ve come up with a lot of our specials during little lulls in service …. Everybody runs down to the basement and picks up a project,” Headley explains.
Hungry yet? We thought so. Check out the shop’s hours so that you can plan your NYC vacation accordingly!
Don’t live in or near New York City? Then check out our list of mind-blowing vegan burger recipes.Symptoms and Diagnosis
En español
Symptoms
The initial symptoms of ALS can be quite varied in different people. One person may have trouble grasping a pen or lifting a coffee cup, while another person may experience a change in vocal pitch when speaking. ALS is typically a disease that involves a gradual onset.
The rate at which ALS progresses can be quite variable from one person to another. Although the mean survival time with ALS is three to five years, many people live five, 10 or more years. Symptoms can begin in the muscles that control speech and swallowing or in the hands, arms, legs or feet. Not all people with ALS experience the same symptoms or the same sequences or patterns of progression. However, progressive muscle weakness and paralysis are universally experienced.
Gradual onset, generally painless, progressive muscle weakness is the most common initial symptom in ALS. Other early symptoms vary but can include tripping, dropping things, abnormal fatigue of the arms and/or legs, slurred speech, muscle cramps and twitches, and/or uncontrollable periods of laughing or crying.
When the breathing muscles become affected, ultimately, people with the disease will need permanent ventilatory support to assist with breathing.
Since ALS attacks only motor neurons, the sense of sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell are not affected. For many people, muscles of the eyes and bladder are generally not affected.
Diagnosis
ALS is a difficult disease to diagnose. There is no one test or procedure to ultimately establish the diagnosis of ALS. It is through a clinical examination and series of diagnostic tests, often ruling out other diseases that mimic ALS, that a diagnosis can be established. A comprehensive diagnostic workup includes most, if not all, of the following procedures:
Electrodiagnostic tests including electomyography (EMG) and nerve conduction velocity (NCV)
Blood and urine studies including high resolution serum protein electrophoresis, thyroid and parathyroid hormone levels and 24-hour urine collection for heavy metals
Spinal tap
X-rays, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Myelogram of cervical spine
Muscle and/or nerve biopsy
A thorough neurological examination
For more information on the importance of a second opinion, click here.
These tests are done at the discretion of the physician, usually based on the results of other diagnostic tests and the physical examination. There are several diseases that have some of the same symptoms as ALS, and most of these conditions are treatable. It is for this reason that The ALS Association recommends that a person diagnosed with ALS seek a second opinion from an ALS expert - someone who diagnoses and treats many ALS patients and has training in this medical specialty. The ALS Association maintains a list of recognized experts in the field of ALS. See The ALS Association Certified Centers and ALS Clinics. Also contact your local ALS Association chapter or the National Office.House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday and was moved to an inpatient rehabilitation facility after more than a month of surgeries, Fox News confirmed.
Scalise, R-La., had been treated at MedStar Washington Hospital since June 14, when he and four others were shot during a congressional baseball practice.
“Congressman Steve Scalise has made excellent progress in his recovery from a life-threatening gunshot wound six weeks ago,” the hospital said in a statement Wednesday. “Yesterday, he was discharged from MedStar Washington Hospital Center and is now beginning a period of intensive rehabilitation.”
The hospital said that Scalise is “in good spirits” and is “looking forward to his return to work” once his rehabilitation is complete.
“He and his family are grateful for the care he received from the trauma team as well as the other doctors, nurses, and staff of MedStar Washington Hospital Center,” the statement said. “The family also appreciates the outpouring of support during this time.”
Scalise underwent multiple surgeries for his injuries. Doctors and Scalise’s family were hopeful that he would be moved to the rehabilitation facility several weeks ago, but he contracted an infection and was re-admitted to the intensive care unit earlier this month.
Scalise is expected to be in the rehabilitation facility for weeks recovering.
Scalise sustained a single rifle wound, entering his left hip and passing through his right hip, also known as a trans-pelvic gunshot wound. The round did substantial damage to bones, internal organs and blood vessels, according to Dr. Jack Sava, the director of trauma at MedStar Washington.
Scalise was injured along with four others on June 14 when gunman James Hodgkinson opened fire at a Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va. He was later shot and killed by police.
Lobbyist Matt Mika, House GOP aide Zack Barth and Capitol Police Officer Crystal Griner also were wounded in the rampage, and Capitol Police Officer David Bailey and Texas Rep. Roger Williams were injured.Ko won the Canadian Women's Open in August 2012 at the age of 15
South Korea-born New Zealander Lydia Ko became the youngest world number one in golf history by reaching the top of the women's rankings aged 17.
Ko secured the number one ranking by finishing in a tie for second at the LPGA Coates Championship in Florida.
She eclipses Tiger Woods, who was 21 when he became men's world number one in 1997.
"It's amazing," said Ko. "It's a huge honour to be in that ranking. All I was focused on was trying to play my best."
South Korean Jiyai Shin had been the youngest player to top the women's rankings, doing so aged 22 in 2010.
Ko took her record despite surrendering a four-stroke overnight lead in the opening LPGA event of the season, which was won by South Korean Na-Yeon Choi.
But she still gained enough ranking points to move past |
'
The report highlighted the "important" role whistleblowers had played in uncovering details about the Hillsborough disaster and the Mid Staffordshire NHS trust scandal.
The committee said whistleblowing was a "crucial source of intelligence to help government identify wrongdoing".
However, it found there had been a "startling disconnect" between policies encouraging whistleblowers in theory and what happened in practice.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The report highlighted the role of whistleblowing in the Mid Staffordshire NHS scandal
The report said it had "heard of too many cases of appalling treatment of whistleblowers by their colleagues".
Officials who tried to raise concerns often had to show "remarkable courage" in coming forward.
'Victimised'
The report highlighted whistleblowing in relation to the Hillsborough disaster on 15 April 1989, where 96 Liverpool fans at an FA Cup semi-final lost their lives.
Prime Minister David Cameron later apologised for the "double injustice" of the disaster, after an independent report published in 2012 showed police and emergency services had attempted to deflect the blame.
It also highlighted the Mid Staffordshire NHS scandal, where staff at Stafford Hospital had blown the whistle on "appalling care" between 2005 and 2008.
Image copyright Other Image caption Whistleblower Kay Sheldon gave evidence to the committee
The committee heard from Kay Sheldon, a member of the board of the Care Quality Commission who, the report said, had been "victimised" by senior officials after she tried to raise concerns about the way it had been operating.
The report said no-one had faced any form of sanction over her treatment.
'Proper support'
Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the public accounts committee, said whistleblowing was "crucial" and must be taken seriously by all chief executives of major companies and public sector organisations.
She said protection for whistleblowers was still not adequate, citing the example of Osita Mba - a former lawyer at Revenue and Customs who drew attention to what he claimed were "sweetheart deals" between the tax authorities and Goldman Sachs.
She said Mr Mba was a "really brave guy" but it had become "impossible for him" to remain with the organisation after his disclosures and he had had "to start his life again elsewhere".
"The way you support whistleblowers is hugely important," she added.
"I think it is really important that there are proper sanctions in place in an organisation so if someone does blow the whistle, they are properly supported and if anyone dares bully or harass them, they are not only reprimanded but punished."
Legal protections for whistleblowers
The 1998 Public Disclosure Act protects workers who disclose information about potential criminal behaviour and other malpractice at their workplace, or former workplace, provided certain conditions are met.
Depending on the nature of information disclosed and who it is confided to, a whistleblower is legally protected from suffering from any detriment as a result. If these conditions are not met, a disclosure may constitute a breach of the worker's duty of confidence to his employer.
The laws apply to direct employees and agency workers but not those working for the security services, and campaign group Public Concern at Work says other individuals - such as volunteers and interns - are also excluded.
The law was amended last year to include a specific public interest test, whereby whistleblowers have to "reasonably believe" that their actions are in the public interest to be protected.
Workers who raise concerns about bullying and harassment by work colleagues are also protected. Colleagues who victimise them are personally liable for their actions while their employers are "vicariously liable".
'Tough questions'
The Taxpayers' Alliance said the report suggested there was a "culture of secrecy" in much of the public sector and whistleblowing must be encouraged.
"Though the practice often asks tough questions, it is a crucial tool to increase the accountability of those in charge and to ensure our public services work as well as possible for the people who need them," the campaign group's chief executive Jonathan Isaby said.
A government spokeswoman said: "All civil servants must be able to raise concerns so that poor services and inefficient operations can be identified and acted upon.
"That is why this government is ensuring people feel free to speak out. Awareness of how to raise a complaint has risen by 20% and two-thirds of civil servants feel that any complaint will be investigated properly.
"In addition, we are ensuring that all departments have a clear whistleblowing policy."
Labour said whistleblowing had led, in many cases, to major changes in policy.
"There must be a clear standardised policy for handling whistleblowers working across all of our public services to ensure that there are no disparities in how people are dealt with, and that staff are protected from being victimised." said shadow Cabinet Office minister Michael Dugher.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Susana Mendonca reports: The doctor's mother was heard saying ''please give me my son back''
The brother of a British doctor who died while being held in custody in Syria has paid tribute to him at his funeral, describing him as "our star".
The service for Abbas Khan took place at Regent's Park Mosque in London.
Mr Khan was days from being freed when the Syrian government announced on 17 December he had committed suicide. His family believes he was murdered.
He was arrested after arriving in Syria to work in a field hospital in a rebel-controlled area in November 2012.
An inquest into the death of the 32-year-old from Streatham will open at Walthamstow Coroner's Court on Friday.
'Kindest and simplest'
At a packed funeral prayer service, his brother Shahnawaz Khan said: "Last night, I sat down to undertake the morbid task of writing a eulogy for my brother."
"My brother, to us, was our star - his star shone on our family."
Dr Khan was described by his brother as the "kindest and simplest man I've ever met".
Mr Khan spoke of "the evil that has taken him from us so cruelly" and said the family had been through "one of the most difficult times we have ever seen".
In a very distressed state outside the mosque, Dr Khan's mother wailed and, as people tried to comfort her, she told people not to aid her.
"Nobody help me, I love my son. I am the loser. I'm the failure," she said.
"I beg everybody. I touch everyone's feet. Please give me my son."
Image caption Dr Khan's body was returned to the UK on Sunday
Solicitor Nabeel Sheikh said the family were "grateful for all the support they have received from the public".
He said the idea of suicide was "inconceivable".
However, he added the Foreign Office had done "nothing more" than send Mr Khan's family a letter of condolence.
The Foreign Office said it was giving the family "privacy and space to grieve".
Following the funeral, the body of Dr Khan, who leaves behind his wife, a seven-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son, was taken to Ilford to be buried.
Dr Khan's body was flown back to London on Sunday and a post-mortem examination later took place.
Cameron letter
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Khan entered Syria without a visa, and later told his family he was "accused of treating dying civilians, (women and children), which has been classed as an act of terrorism".
His family has revealed a letter in which Dr Khan talked of his optimism at being released, and his hopes of being home in time for Christmas.
Prime Minister David Cameron wrote to Dr Khan's mother Fatima on 20 December, calling his death a "sickening and appalling tragedy".
The Foreign Office has said the doctor had been "in effect murdered" by the Syrian authorities and at best his death was "extremely suspicious".
Officials said they had "consistently sought" consular access to Dr Khan and information on his detention, directly and through the Russians, Czechs and others.
But Dr Khan's brother, Shahnawaz, criticised the UK government for not doing enough to secure his brother's freedom.
He said the Foreign Office had treated his case as if he was a "wayward traveller in Dubai being caught drunk".
The Syrian government, meanwhile, has told Dr Khan's family it could send a team to Damascus to investigate his death. It also said it would share the findings of its own post-mortem examination with the family.Three Words No Man Wants To Hear
There are three words no man ever wants to hear come out of the mouth of a girl they've been planning to leave.
"She was glorious when we met. I remember distinctly the way the crazy orange of the sunset reflected in her gray eyes, giving them an otherworldly tint that somehow managed to make her perfect smile all the more beautiful. I'd been walking the dock, bored, looking for nothing in particular, when I heard her laugh harmonize with the waves, and looked up to see the most incredibly gorgeous girl I had ever seen smiling at me with her toes in the water. Boom. Lust at first sight.
She stayed beautiful for the rest of the evening, and then for the rest of the night. I'm not generally a second date kind of guy, but for her? Hell, I'd stick around. Days turned to weeks turned to months, et cetera. You know how it goes. Never thought I'd wind up in any kind of long-term relationship, but hey. Sex is sex, and steady is steady.
Thing is, over time, she got… Eh, I'll call it clingy. Yeah, Yeah, I know, that's to be expected. Sure. Like I said, I'm just not the kind of guy who's comfortable with that. She'd get suspicious, almost threatening. I'd come home late, and "baby, where have you been?", every time, like she wanted to catch me at something. Started asking my friends questions, too. Not cool.
Here's an example. One night, I go to Angelo's, help him set up the gallery for his next show. Took us a little longer then we expected, maybe half an hour. No big deal. I get home, she's on my couch, gray eyes brimming with tears. Now, I suppose I should explain- She didn't live with me. No sir. To this day I have no fuckin' clue how she got in there, but there she was, looking at me with those big pretty eyes. "Baby, you never called. Where were you?"
Before I can even answer, my phone rings, and it's Angelo. "Yo, how'd your girl get my number, huh? I told you, if you gotta' have people callin' me, give 'em the gallery number." I just hung up. She'd called him while I was driving home. It wasn't long after that that Angelo stopped answering my calls. Fickle bastard.
So, I start thinking about getting out. I've been tied down too long, yanno? And that's when it happens. Three words, unexpected, cutting right to the primal quick.
It was a normal enough night. I'd been working at a local movie theater for change, and stopped to flirt with the new ticket girl, and one thing led to another led to I'm headed home late. So it goes. Shit, don't look at me like that. Can't a man have a life? I don't tell you how to run your personal shit.
Anyway, I walk in, and the first thing I see is a broken glass near the door. Cheap wine all over the floor. Weird. So I walk cautious and loud, making damn sure whoever it is knows I'm home, and I'm a fuckin' big guy. And there she is.
She's leaning up against the kitchen counter, smiling, like she's glad to see me. And she looks up at me with those big yellow eyes, and says three words that damn near stop my heart."
…
"You should run."Earlier this week 20th Century Fox started teasing a new promotion for Alien: Covenant, #MeetWalter. So far we’ve had a short video (and what seems to have been an accidentally released second video) and a poster. Fox have just released the full length video.
“Walter is the world’s most advanced synthetic companion, designed to help you achieve a better human experience. Each model is individually calibrated to serve its owner’s unique set of needs and preferences.
Conceived by Ridley Scott and 3AM, directed by Luke Scott, and produced by RSA Films.”
Much in the same vein as the Introducing the David 8 video from Prometheus, Meet Walter serves as an advertisement for the newer model. We see the android being constructed (we saw some of this footage in the earlier clips).
It also ends with the previously mentioned link to MeetWalter.com. As with the video, it’s a fictional promotional website for the Walter model, detailing his features.
As with The Last Supper, Meet Walter was once again directed by Sir Ridley Scott’s son, Luke Scott.
Keep a close eye on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on Alien: Covenant! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien fans on our forums!But ideas have power, and it would also be a mistake to write these murders off as the insane acts of deranged lone wolves. The perpetrators were deranged, but they were not alone. The same pathologies that animated Kahane’s followers and that Wieseltier identified decades ago have not disappeared. Radical nationalism, militant millenarianism, and social resentment—often tinged with the fundamentalism of religious dogma—are all too alive in Israel’s underclass. And after years of steady Palestinian violence and rejection, too many in Israel shrug off the rhetoric of its own racists as regrettable, but understandable.
A scene from Sunday in Jerusalem might provide some sense: Walking home from dinner, I passed a march of a few hundred peace activists winding their way through the center of Jerusalem’s downtown. They carried signs and chanted, calling for an end to racism and violence. The turnout was respectable for a last-minute rally at 9 p.m. on a Sunday. But the disturbing thing was the handful of adolescents who thought it was quite cool to walk at the edge of the march yelling “death to the Arabs.” Now, every society has its fair share of low-life teenagers, and no doubt, many of them are racist ignoramuses. But the problem is bigger than just a few hoodlums. In the time since the murder of three Israeli schoolboys three weeks ago, tens of thousands of Israelis took to Facebook to demand revenge—and most Israelis seemed to shrug it off. Just as last night, the average passer-by seemed to shrug off the teenagers, as if to say, “What do you expect just two weeks after three of our school-boys are murdered in cold blood?” And, to be fair, all they’re doing is yelling.
It’s that resignation in the face of racism that scares me, and partly that’s because it comes from a place I understand. There is something beautiful about the belief that because we are Jews, racist rhetoric will never lead to brutal murder. And there is beauty to the genuine shock—not just horror, but surprise—when it does. Do you remember when American newscasters and presidents could still honestly declare themselves “shocked” and “unsettled” by mass shootings and school violence? In retrospect, that shock was a beautiful thing. But in the United States, those days are gone. We have grown accustomed to domestic mass shooting. And I fear that a similar thing is happening here in Israel—that this will be the last time that an Israeli defense minister can seem genuinely shaken by the reality of Jewish terror.
But for all its beauty, this moral exceptionalism is also pernicious. It creates a false sense of complacency, a sense that the worst can’t happen. And if we don’t believe that it will happen, that rhetoric won’t become reality, then it’s not worth that much to fight its early beginnings or underlying causes. We might as well shrug off the stupid hoodlums in the street, because no Jew would ever act on such a thing.
But now our demons are visible, and our myth is shattered. In Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reaction to Khdeir's murder, he emphasized Israel’s response. He couldn’t promise that it will never happen again, but he pointed to the wall-to-wall condemnations and the swift investigation and arrest of the perpetrators. The response, he said, reveals Israel’s character as a nation of law and justice. And although his quickness in comparing Israel’s disgust at its own terrorists with its neighbors’ glorification was tasteless, it also rings true. But the bar has been lowered dramatically. Israel is no longer holding itself to the standards of Jewish mythology, but measuring itself by the robustness of its justice system and the universality of its denunciations of violence.A 31-year-old woman from Northeast Baltimore was sentenced Tuesday to 100 years in prison for wounding two women, one of whom was pregnant, during a shootout in September, prosecutors said.
Baltimore police had named Marion Daughton “Public Enemy No. 1” after the gunfight in East Baltimore left a 34-year-old man dead and the two women shot in their legs. Daughton, of the Parkside neighborhood, was found guilty last month of two counts each of attempted second-degree murder and using a handgun in a violent crime.
Known as “Nephew,” she had been involved in an ongoing dispute with the two women since summer 2016, and on Sept. 5 the tensions erupted, prosecutors said. Daughton and her friends confronted another group with the two women. Prosecutors said the crowd began arguing and a shootout ensued. Daniel Smalls was killed and the two women, who were not armed, were shot in their legs. Prosecutors said Daughton shot the two women.
Despite her injuries, the pregnant victim delivered her baby; police said the child was healthy.
“It’s absurd that fistfights are escalating to gun battles on our streets,” State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a statement. “Heinous crimes deserve substantial punishment and I believe that is exactly what was handed down.”
The Office of the Public Defender, which represented Daughton, declined to comment on the sentence.
tprudente@baltsun.com
twitter.com/Tim_PrudenteBillBoard Liberation Front Makes AT&T Ads Truthful Posted by Pile (8877 views) [E-Mail link]
A rogue activist group that adds creative touches to advertising campaigns has announced their new target: AT&T
From the BLF web site:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2008
San Francisco, CA
The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants.
“This campaign is an extraordinary rendition of a public-private partnership,” observed BLF spokesperson Blank DeCoverly. “These two titans of telecom have a long and intimate relationship, dating back to the age of the telegraph. In these dark days of Terrorism, that should be a comfort to every law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide.”
AT&T initially downplayed its heroic efforts in the War on Terror, preferring to serve in silence behind the scenes. “But then we realized we had a PR win on our hands,” noted AT&T V.P. of Homeland Security James Croppy. “Not only were we helping NSA cut through the cumbersome red tape of the FISA system, we were also helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government. Modern life is so hectic – who has time to cc the feds on every message? It’s a great example of how we anticipate our customers’ needs and act on them. And, it should be pointed out, we offered this service free of charge.”
Commenting on the action, and responding to questions about pending privacy litigation and the stalled Congressional effort to shield the telecoms from these lawsuits, NSA spokesperson [REDACTED] remarked: “[REDACTED] we [REDACTED] condone [REDACTED] warrantless [REDACTED], [REDACTED] SIGINT intercepts, [REDACTED] torture [REDACTED] information retrieval by [REDACTED] means necessary.”
“It’s a win-win-win situation,” noted the BLF’s DeCoverly. “NSA gets the data it needs to keep America safe, telecom customers get free services, and AT&T makes a fortune. That kind of cooperation between the public and private sectors should serve as a model to all of us, and a harbinger of things to come.”
Come see the improvement at 14th St. and Valencia St. in San Francisco
The BLF (www.billboardliberation.com) has been improving outdoor advertising since 1977. Prior campaigns have included work for Exxon, R.J. Reynolds, and Apple Computers.
AT&T (www.att.com) is America’s favorite telecommunications trust. Based in San Antonio, Texas, it has over 300,000 employees and annual revenues of $117 Billion.
NSA (www.nsa.gov) is the largest intelligence organization in the world. Headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland, its budget, personnel, products, and services are all classified.
Blank DeCoverly
BLF Minister of Propaganda
this is activism at it's finest
Posted by Einherjar on 2008-02-28 18:22:11 nobody got exploded, it's easily visible and hilarious too. Posted by Glis on 2008-03-04 17:21:53 Fantastic. I would love to see more of this. Name: (change name for anonymous posting) Title: Comments: 1 Article displayed.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption President Karzai: "Our young democracy remains fragile"
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said international support after foreign forces withdraw in 2014 is crucial if Afghanistan is to remain stable.
His comments opened a major global conference on Afghanistan's future in the German city of Bonn.
It comes 10 years after a similar gathering held in the city, weeks after the Taliban fell from power.
But key player Pakistan is boycotting this round in protest at a Nato attack on a border checkpoint last month.
Nato apologised for the air strike on 26 November in which 24 Pakistani troops were killed and on Sunday US President Barack Obama also offered his condolences, but Pakistan has insisted that it will not reverse its decision on the talks.
President Karzai hailed the progress Afghanistan had made in the decade since the last conference but warned that such gains were by no means secure. He said the conference presented an opportunity for Afghanistan to consolidate its gains.
"The people of Afghanistan are looking to this conference for clear affirmation of commitment to make security transition and economic progress irreversible," he said.
He added that the country does not want to be a burden on the international community for a day longer than necessary, but said that support would be needed for at least another decade.
Analysis Kabul and the international community may be playing down the absence of Pakistan, but the truth is more complex. Kabul had been hoping that Bonn would be where the international community pressured Pakistan to allow peace talks with Taliban leaders. It also wanted leaders to ask for guarantees that Pakistan would stop ''interfering in Afghanistan's internal matter'' as one senior Afghan aide put it. That is now not possible. There are other stakeholders here too. For example, Afghan women's groups want international guarantees and backing to consolidate gains made for women. But analysts warn that Afghanistan's road to peace is paved with peril and it can only be achieved if the international community commits to a long-term policy for Afghanistan. Afghans wary as Bonn talks open Afghan peace at stake in Bonn
As the conference got under way the US and other nations vowed to continue supporting Afghanistan's fragile recovery after 2014.
The US "intends to stay the course with our friends in Afghanistan", Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the summit.
Speaking later, she said she thought it "unfortunate" that Pakistan was not attending the talks.
"We regret the choice that they made because today's conference was an important milestone toward the kind of security and stability that is important for Pakistan as well as for Afghanistan," she told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
"We continue to believe that Pakistan has a crucial role to play."
Mrs Clinton is one of about 1,000 delegates from 100 countries and international organisations taking part in Monday's gathering.
President Karzai also made pointed reference to what he called the "problem of sanctuaries [for terrorists] outside Afghanistan," which he said remained unaddressed and posed a threat to the security of the wider region and the world.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hillary Clinton commented on Pakistan's absence from the talks
Analysts say that Pakistan is crucial if any progress is to be made on negotiating a long-term peace with the Taliban - a goal that President Karzai said he remained committed to.
Afghan and US officials have repeatedly said that militant groups operating in Afghanistan are based in Pakistan - a charge Pakistan denies.
Key issues on the conference agenda include reconciliation with the Taliban and the cost of rebuilding Afghanistan beyond 2014.
Estimates say about £4.5bn a year is needed by 2020 if the country is to stay at current levels of development.
More than 500 Nato troops have been killed so far this year in Afghanistan. Much of the worst fighting takes place in the east, near the Pakistani border.
Ten years of change In graphics: How Afghan life has changed
Taliban talks
Efforts to launch talks with the Taliban have brought no tangible result so far.
In September militants assassinated former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was leading Kabul's effort to broker peace with the insurgents.
"Right now we don't know their address. We don't have a door to knock on," Afghanistan's ambassador to the US, Eklil Hakimi, told AP news agency.
The US and other Western nations have long suspected Pakistan of harbouring the Taliban and other insurgent groups, including the Haqqani network, blamed for attacks on the Afghan side of the border.
Correspondents say that a failure to bring the Taliban into the peace process will make it harder to secure the long-term commitments needed to rebuild Afghanistan when Nato operations end in 2014.Bitcoin price demonstrated resilience to economic uncertainty over the past week, while markets in the US plunged and struggled to recover.
In May, various sources revealed that the US only added 138,000 jobs, dipping significantly lower than the expected number. On average, the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent, declining to a 16-year low.
Diane Swonk, a Chicago-based economist, said in an interview:
“The overall report still leaves the Fed on target for June, but it underscores their trepidation about moving in December. They’ve got good reason to be cautious.”
Almost immediately after the disclosure of the May jobs report, US markets including S&P 500 Futures and the USD Index plunged, falling from around 3.6 percent to 0.8 percent.
This is what an uncorrelated asset looks like when the jobs number rattles financial markets #bitcoin --> pic.twitter.com/pf6henU4qK — Brian Kelly (@BKBrianKelly) June 2, 2017
Bitcoin price maintains upward trend
Despite the significant fall of the US market, Bitcoin price maintained its upward trend, completely recovering from last week’s major price correction. In late May, Bitcoin price fell from $2,600 to $1,900. Since then, Bitcoin price has recovered, bouncing back into the $2,600 region.
Bitcoin price stabilizes at $2,600 today, almost fully recovers from last week's correction. Japan & China leading trading.#bitcoin pic.twitter.com/eBxjVkOt9p — Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) June 5, 2017
On today’s peak, Bitcoin price hit $2,626, recording a new weekly high and moving closer to the current all-time high price established at $2,712 based on the global average Bitcoin price index.
Important points and driving factors of Bitcoin price to consider is the recovery of the Chinese Bitcoin exchange market. Only a month ago, the daily trading volume and market share of the Chinese Bitcoin exchange market was lower than that of the South Korean exchange market.
Today, China accounts for 18.6 percent of the global Bitcoin exchange market, processing around $100 mln worth of Bitcoin trades on a daily basis.
The Japanese Bitcoin exchange market also made a strong comeback after falling behind the South Korean Bitcoin exchange market earlier last week. Japan's largest forex market and major multi-billion dollar conglomerate opened a Bitcoin exchange, which further increased the demand of local investors toward Bitcoin.Washington
Marine Area 1 (Ilwaco)
no report this week
Salmon fishing continues off Westport this week even though the wind and heavy sea conditions kept most of the fleet tied to the docks over the weekend. Trolling and fishing with Downriggers continue to be the most productive method to fish down here right now. As of last week, we have caught a little over 20% of the Area 2 quota and with, historically the best weeks to fish Westport coming up we are hopeful that the bulk of the run will move through in the next 17 days. Salmon fishing is slated to close in Westport at the end of the day on August 21st. With this past weekend’s weather the water temperature has returned to a more normal range of 56 to 58 degrees. This is far better than the 63 degrees we were seeing last week.
Silver Horde Gold Star Hoochies have been the most productive lure for us. Purple Haze and the Green Spatter back being the best. Fish them 30 to 40 inches behind your favorite flasher and 90 to 150 feet on the downrigger until you dial in the right depth. I always put a dab of Pro=Cure gel scent in the head of the Hoochie to help attract the Salmon. We did get a few fish on Bait this week. Both Herring and Anchovies were productive behind a Short Bus inline Flasher.
Tuna fishing has started to pick back up after the recent weather. With more defined edges now it should give the fish a better place to hold. 40 to 50 miles out and down seems to be your best shot for success.
With 17 days of Salmon fishing left it is time to head down if you are going to fish Westport in 2016. Have Fun, be safe, and we will see you in Westport.
Report by Kevin Lanier, owner of KC Sportfishing Charters, 425-328-8558, President PSA Ocean Anglers, VP PSA State Board. Photos by Cyndi Lanier Art and Photography. The cover image of this week’s report was also contributed by Lanier.
no report this week Marine Area 4 (Neah Bay) no report this week Marine Area 5 (Sekiu) no report this week Marine Area 6 no report this week Marine Area 7 Crabbing has been good in the San Juans. A feast of Dungeness has been pretty easy to come by, depending on the location. That’s been about the best thing to report, as salmon fishing is slow right now. We are in a dry spell, literally and figuratively, as the big bulk of fish need a reason to come in. Hopefully we’ll get a little rain to kick start things. Usually mid August is the time when more, and bigger Chinook will start to show. It’s amazing how a slight whiff of their natal river, from hundreds of miles away, will bring salmon in. A sense or perception that we cannot begin to fathom. Submitted by Kevin Klein, Team Parker Boats NW.
Recently fished south side of San Juan Island – 7/30/16, ran into a pretty good school of kings on the morning ebb.
Submitted by Billy Smith, PSA member.
Marine Area 8.1 The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) reports “Excellent” prospects for pinks in Marine Area 8.1 during August. Salmon University Staff Marine Area 8.2 The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) reports “Excellent” prospects for pinks in Marine Area 8.2 during August. Salmon University Staff Marine Area 9 (Admirality Inlet) “Let’s go FISHING!” Mike Moser shouted to his 2 boys and their pals as they heading to Point No Point on a beautiful Puget Sound morning. “The Kings are calling and we want a monster!” he fired them up as they dropped the Tailwaggers in 90 feet of water. It wasn’t long and that “monster” smacked the release like a freight train headed for Chicago. As experienced anglers the boys remained calm and collected as dad guided the boat and the net while the team fought the winning battle. What a family experience that they will never forget! Way to go Bryce, Blake, Kai and Sophie!! And of course DAD for making yet another dream come true. The Area 9 fishery is short and almost over so be sure to grab the wife, husband, boyfriend / girlfriend, or just the kids and get out on the water. Tailwagger spoons tied on long 48 foot leaders behind a green/glow flasher have been doing great! Report submitted by Nelson “Spud” Goodsell – Salmon for Soldiers, IGFA Life Member, FISHTALE2 Marine Area 10
no report this week Marine Area 11 The Chinook salmon fishing has slowed with just a couple of hatchery Chinook coming in yesterday from the Slag area. Both Chinook were caught Trolling Flasher and artificial squid in 100′ of water at 60′. Dungeness crabbing continues to be slow with fishermen fishing at 150′ for best results. For a more updated report call 253-591-5325. Crab fishing opened 7/01/16 in Area 11 and is open in Area 13 as well. Point Defiance Marina has rental boats and motors and launch and overnight moorage facilities with pump out stations and shore power. In addition we have storage space for boats up to 17 feet as well as kayak storage. For more information call 253-591-5325 Basic Fishing Classes are offered throughout the summer months. 2 Hour classes are $15.00 and can be designed for youth and adults. Boat House Tackle Shop open 7 days a week. Boat lifts open at 5am tackle shop open 5:30am tackle shop close 8:30pm boat lifts 8:50 and facility 9:00pm. For more information call 253-591-5325 Call 253-591-5325 or visit us on Facebook “Point Defiance Marina” Report submitted by Point Defiance Marina. For more information contact: Art Tachell, Boathouse Marina Technician, 253.591.5325 art@tacomaparks.comwww.pointdefiancemarina.com. Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal) no report this week Marine Area 13 The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) reports “Fair” prospects for Coho in Marine Area 13 during August. Freshwater – Potholes Reservoir The past few days we have had a fire northeast of Moses Lake by Odessa. It grew to 16,000 acres and was very visible from Potholes, giving off plumes of smoke that covered skies northeast of Potholes but luckily nothing here. Temperatures this week seem to be very mellow. Fishing remains slow but the storm is coming as the lake is still dropping. Smallmouth fishing around Goose Island and the rocks off the dam face is good especially evenings and just after day break. We are just two weekends away from the 2 day walleye tournament her at Potholes which concludes this series. If you plan to fish this event get over here and do some prefishing as with the lake dropping the fish are not where you found them in past trips. Report submitted by Tom Pollock.
British Columbia Vancouver no report this week Vancouver Island (Saltwater) no report this week Alberni Inlet, Barkley Sound, and Ucuelet
no report this week Bamfield Salmon fishing has been slow in the Bamfield/Barkley Sound area the past couple of weeks. Hopefully this will change soon with more local fish showing up on the inside. It’s not all doom and gloom though as there have been some great catches with Chinook in the high 30’s being taken and quite a few in the 20’s. Good areas have been Whittlestone Point – Cape Beale, Edward King, Kirby, Cree and Austin Island. Most of the feed fish present on the inside has been small so Anchovy, small spoons and needle fish hootchies are working best. Offshore the banks have been producing some nice fish but we’ve had to work for them. There hasn’t been much consistency from day to day. All of the banks have had there good times and not so good lately. Halibut fishing continues to be good with some nice Halibut taken inside the sound as well as plentiful chickens on the banks. For more info call Ken Bodaly at Rocky Point Charters, Bamfield, B.C. 250-728-3678 or the boat cell phone 250-735-4224 website: www.rockypointcharters.ca email: rockypointcharters@shaw.ca facebook: Rocky Point Charters Becher Bay Salmon fishing was SLOW this past week. The Trap Shack, Beechey Head and Aldridge Point were the most productive locations to fish. Trevor Webb (age 17) caught a 28 lb. white spring on Friday, 29th of July, off Aldridge Point using anchovy, a Black Moon Jelly Flasher and a green teaser head. There were a few fish in the mid 30’s caught but not very man and certainly more than in the last couple of weeks. Anglers using bait are finding anchovies in glow teaser heads have been working well. Spoons, such as the G-Force and Skinny G, in Bon Chovy or Outfitters’ colours were also effective. For flashers, the Purple Onion, Lemon Lime and Bon Chovi have been good. Submitted by Tom Vaida, Island Outfitters, 3319 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC (250) 475-4969 info@fishingvictoria.com; www.fishingvictoria.com Oak Bay Salmon fishing was SLOW this past week. There are some fish in the area, just not too many of them and they were scattered. There has been a lot of bait to hold fish, but the just haven’t shown up in any numbers. Anglers fishing with bait have been using anchovies or tiny strip in Glow teaser heads. Good trolling lures have been |
, a computer scientist at Yale; Melody Swartz, 43, a bioengineer at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland; and Benjamin Warf, 54, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children’s Hospital Boston.
And the other winners in the arts are: Uta Barth, 54 a conceptual photographer in Los Angeles; Maurice Lim Miller, 66, a social services innovator in Oakland, Calif; Dylan C. Penningroth 41, a historian at Northwestern University; Laura Poitras, 48, a documentary filmmaker in New York City; Benoît Rolland, 58, a stringed instrument bow maker in Boston; and An-My Lê, 52, a photographer at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.Even if you’re not into gardening yourself, the plant sculptures in the international Montreal Mosaiculture Exhibition will blow your mind. As defined in the official website of the event, mosaiculture “is a refined horticultural art that involves creating and mounting living artworks made primarily from plants with colourful foliage (generally annuals, and occasionally perennials).” It is also a highly complex form of art, requiring different sets of skills from all the participating artists: not only do they have to plan and build the framework of the sculpture and match the colors, it is also important to understand the maintenance of each plant they use.
This year over 200 horticultural artists from all around the world present 40 living plant sculptures, created from more than 22 000 different plant species – over 3 million flowers overall! The sculptures will be showcased in 10 exhibition greenhouses and 30 themed gardens at the Montréal Botanical Garden until 29 September. The competition also touches on ecology, challenging artists to work around the “Land of Hope” theme and interpret it in their sculptures from the ecological point of view.
The Mosaïcultures Internationale competition was founded back in 2000 by Lise Cormier after her visit to China: this is where Lisa saw an enchanting 40-feet-high sculpture of 3 doves and was instantly inspired to bring the idea back home. Don’t miss your chance to visit the event!
Website: mosaiculturesinternationales.ca (via: thisiscolossal)
Image credits: Guy Boily
Image credits: fotoproze
Image credits: Av Dezign
Image credits: rcgriffith7
Image credits: fotoproze
Image credits: rcgriffith7
Image credits: fotoproze
Image credits: JoKodakReality star Kim Kardashian might make an appearance soon somewhere unexpected. No, not your neighborhood Sears to promote her clothing line: Glendale City Hall. That's because Kim wants to be the city's mayor!
Kardashian revealed her political aspirations in a "bonus clip" from her sister's show, "Khloé & Lamar" on the E! network. "I've decided I'm going to run for the mayor of Glendale," Kim tells her sibling.
There is one little hitch: Arguably the most famous Armenian beauty since Cher doesn't actually live in Glendale.
That's an easy fix, though: Kim says she will buy a house in Glendale to establish residency, and, "in, like, five years," run for mayor. Oh, and first, Kim may or may not realize, she would have to run for city council, then vie for the mayorship—Glendale doesn't run a city-wide election for mayor, but rather promotes a councilmember for the one-year term. (It's a wee bit trickier than Foursquare.)
It's not an outrageous idea to current Glendale civic leaders:
"I would support her," Glendale City Councilman Rafi Manoukian told E! News. "I think she would make an excellent mayor." Meanwhile, City Councilman and former Glendale mayor Ara Najarian said he thinks "it's a great idea," adding, "I have offered her the position of honorary chief of staff to my office to help her get acquainted to Glendale."
Others think it's a pretty cool idea, too: "So run, Kim, run. Glendale needs you, if only to shake off the Jewel City's undeserved reputation and give it a little bling," concludes a supportive L.A. Times op-ed on the subject.
But Franklin Avenue is hoping Glendale residents will "relax" and not start looking to move to neighboring Burbank or Los Angeles. They talked to another local blog, Tropic Station, who explains that those four years on the city council might make the mayor bid less appealing to Kim, since it would mean "endless meetings on sign ordinances and water rates and a bunch of other unglamorous stuff."
Maybe you should hold off on your order for "Kim for Mayor of Glendale 2017!" bumper stickers for now, hmmm?Many critics of the Obama administration are apoplectic over Iran’s seizure of U.S. sailors who unintentionally strayed into Iranian waters off Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf where they were then stranded. No matter that the Iranians returned the sailors to the Navy unharmed, along with their patrol boats, in less than 24 hours after some high-level diplomacy initiated by Secretary of State John Kerry. For many Republicans, this is yet more evidence of President Obama’s weakness. Our enemies do not fear us anymore, Obama’s critics insist.
Jerry Hendrix, a retired naval officer and an active historian at the Center for a New American Security, recently wrote an article that typifies this critical view for National Review (“Iran’s Arrest of U.S. Sailors Reflects Obama’s Foreign-Policy Weakness”). Hendrix writes:
Two thousand years ago, a Roman could wander the known world confident that he would be unmolested by local unruly elements, protected only by the statement “Civis romanus sum,” I am a Roman citizen. His confidence stemmed from a demonstrated assurance that any group that dared attack a Roman would trigger a response in the form of a Roman legion, which would deal swift and brutal justice. Juxtapose this image of a previous world-spanning hegemon with the image of ten American Sailors kneeling on the deck of their own vessel with their hands clasped together over their heads. It is an image of indignity and failure that is accompanied by the smell of rotting power.
He ties Iran’s actions directly to the efforts of a president “who entered office riding a wave that rejected American exceptionalism and aggressive military operations” to present a “more modest America.”
Rather than having Kerry telephone his counterpart in Tehran to get the sailors back peacefully and quickly — which is exactly what happened — Hendrix would have preferred to see a more forceful response:
The launching of a fully loaded air wing from the Truman in conjunction with the repositioning of the [amphibious assault ship] Kearsarge [laden with 2,000 marines] would have provided the Obama administration with an opportunity to negotiate from a position of strength, diminishing Iran’s position in the Arabian Gulf and assuring allies and partners who have become suspicious of American resolve …
I take a different view.
I am glad the release of these sailors was achieved in less than one day by using the phone. Had Obama followed Hendrix’s playbook, he would have dramatically increased the risk of escalation in the Gulf. Afshon Ostovar — the author of a riveting new book on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Vanguard of the Imam — and Melissa Dalton have both eloquently discussed the high potential for military escalation in the Gulf here at War on the Rocks. The Gulf is, in Ostovar’s words, a powder keg.
Had the IRGC unexpectedly found two of the Great Satan’s patrol boats in their waters, followed by the Truman launching an air wing and a ship full of marines moving toward them, Tehran reasonably could have seen this as an attack. In that position, I probably would have. Any protestations that we were doing all this because of the patrol boats would have rung of deception; a pretext for attack. What if they then defended themselves and we were suddenly at war with Iran? I know that would actually make some in Washington happy. How would another quagmire in the Middle East serve American interests and make the United States look strong?
Anytime Americans are seized against their will, it is a bad thing. However, looking at things from the perspective of the IRGC, the paranoid defenders of Iran’s Islamic revolution, it is not surprising that they would detain U.S. sailors who showed up uninvited in their territorial waters. The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard would surely do the same if Iranian sailors popped up in American waters, as they should.
We should be celebrating that diplomacy was successful, just as it was in finally achieving the release of five Americans being held hostage by Iran. And yes, we should celebrate the nuclear agreement between Iran and the five powers — the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States — that enabled these negotiations and conversations. The nuclear agreement did not fundamentally alter the mutual antagonism between Iran and the United States, nor should we hold out hope that it will, but the fact that an American secretary of state can now pick up the phone and reach his counterpart in Tehran for a productive conversation is a good thing.
Perhaps critics of the Obama administration should be more careful in how they make judgments of strength versus weakness. After all, if Hendrix is correct in arguing that the taking of these sailors was evidence of Obama’s lack of strength, what does this say about President Ronald Reagan, a leader widely perceived as strong and resolute, who struggled with only limited success to bring home American hostages taken by militants in Lebanon during his administration? And let’s not even get into the sordid details of the Iran-Contra Affair.
Americans have never been Romans and the Pax Americana has always been a myth. We can never expect to be safe from violence simply due to our enemy’s fear of a heavy-handed response. Indeed, some of our enemies strike at us in order to provoke a major, expensive military response. We’ve been playing and losing that game for far too long. Holding Obama or any other president to the civis romanus standard is a recipe for disappointment.
Ryan Evans is the editor-in-chief of War on the Rocks.McKayla Maroney, 22, filed the lawsuit against USA Gymnastics on Wednesday
She claims officials paid her to sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep secret the allegations she was abused by team doctor Larry Nassar
Gold medalist revealed on Twitter in October that Nassar had allegedly molested her for seven years beginning when she was 13
Maroney reportedly received $1.25 million in the settlement to pay for psychological treatment
Lawsuit says she suffers from anxiety and depression from the alleged abuse
It also alleges that Maroney lost millions of dollars because the trauma of the alleged sex abuse drove her from the sport
Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney has filed a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee accusing them of trying to silence her claims of sexual abuse.
Maroney claims in the lawsuit filed on Wednesday that officials paid her to sign a confidential non-disclosure agreement to keep secret the allegations that she had been sexually abused by former team doctor Larry Nassar.
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The 22-year-old revealed on Twitter in October that Nassar had allegedly molested her for seven years beginning when she was 13.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, says the confidentiality agreement was signed as part of a financial settlement that was finalized as the allegations against Nassar surfaced.
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Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney filed the lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court
Maroney says she accepted the settlement in December 2016 after 'years of psychological trauma' and sexual abuse. The terms weren't disclosed in court papers.
Sources told the Los Angeles Times that Maroney received $1.25 million in the settlement to pay for psychological treatment.
The lawsuit alleges that the settlement was illegal and 'for the purpose of silencing a known victim of Nassar.'
Her lawyer John Manly said Maroney entered willingly into the agreement but is now seeking to have her released from it. Manly, who wasn't part of the negotiations at the time, says it was in violation of California law because child sex abuse victims cannot be forced to sign non-disclosures in the state for settlements.
'I want people to understand that this kid had no choice. She couldn't function. She couldn't work,' Manly told ESPN.
'They (USAG) were willing to sacrifice the health and well-being of one of the most famous gymnasts in the world because they didn't want the world to know they were protecting a pedophile doctor.
'We're basically saying USAG and its lawyers violated the law by asking McKayla to agree to it and that she should be free to talk about her abuse to whomever she wants, whenever she wants.'
The court documents detail some of the alleged abuse Maroney was subjected to, including instances where Nassar allegedly inserted 'his bare, ungloved hand into her vagina' as he claimed to be performing medical treatment.
Maroney is said to suffer from anxiety and depression and is terrified that Nassar took photos of her alleged sexual abuse, according to the lawsuit.
The 22-year-old revealed on Twitter in October that former team doctor Larry Nassar had allegedly molested her for seven years beginning when she was 13. They are pictured in 2013
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'Nassar would continuously, obsessively and compulsively photograph McKayla Maroney and is believed to have possessed thousands of photographs of McKayla Maroney competing in gymnastics events, training, in everyday situations,' the court papers state.
'McKayla Maroney alleges that she believes photographs were taken of her while Nassar was sexually abusing her under the guise of treatment. McKayla Maroney is further informed and believes, and on that basis alleges, that these photographs were shared by Nassar with other pedophiles for their sexual gratification.
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'McKayla Maroney continues to worry, distress, experience concern, anxiety, and depression over whether Nassar's photographs of her are still circulating through the internet, and whether they are possessed by other pedophiles and sexual deviants, and whether she will ever know how widely these photographs have been shared or whether they will eventually surface later in her lifetime.'
The suit also alleges that Maroney lost millions of dollars because the trauma of the alleged sex abuse drove her from the sport.
In addition to USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee, the suit also seeks damages from Michigan State University where Nassar worked for decades.
Nassar is currently in prison in Michigan after he was sentenced to 60 years earlier this month possession of child pornography.
The pornography, which included more than 37,000 of images and videos depicting children as young as infants, was discovered last year while Nassar was under investigation for assault.
He is still awaiting trial on separate criminal sexual conduct charges in addition to being sued by over 125 women in civil court who claim he sexually assaulted them.
Maroney (pictured center at the 2012 Olympics after the team won gold) alleges that Nassar repeatedly abused her from the age of 13 until she left the sport last year
Maroney was praised by USA Gymnastics after speaking out and on her birthday last month the organization dedicated a post to her on social media
The allegations of sex abuse first surfaced in August 2016 when two gymnasts accused him of assault.
More than 140 females have since filed complaints against him, including decorated gymnasts Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas.
Maroney went public in October alleging that Nassar had abused her from the age of 13 until she left gymnastics last year.
She said the abuse happened at many high-profile competitions, including the 2012 London Olympic Games where she won gold and silver medals.
Maroney claims that Nassar, who spent nearly 30 years as an osteopath with the USA Gymnastics program, first molested her when she was 13 at a National Team training camp in Texas.
'Dr. Nassar told me that I was receiving'medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years',' Maroney said of her abuse.
'It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was 'treated',' she added. It happened in London before my team and I won the gold medal, and It happened before I won my Silver.'
Maroney claims that the worst abuse happened during the 2011 world gymnastics championships in Tokyo.
Maroney claims that the worst abuse happened during the 2011 world gymnastics championships in Tokyo where she won gold (pictured above)
She wrote that Nassar had given her a sleeping pill on the flight to the Japanese city, and she didn't wake until she was in his hotel room, alone, where he was performing a 'treatment'.
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'I thought I was going to die that night,' Maroney wrote.
Several former athletes have accused Nassar of inserting un-gloved fingers into their bodies and fondling their breasts as part of his treatment.
Nassar served as the US gymnastics team's doctor through four Olympic Games.
Following her post, Maroney was praised by USA Gymnastics and on her birthday last month the organization dedicated a post to her on social media.
'On her birthday, we celebrate not only the talent it took to deliver the best vaults in the World but also McKayla's incredible bravery and strength to come forward,' they wrote.
USA Gymnastics has not commented on the lawsuit.
The president of USA Gymnastics, Steve Penny, resigned in March after repeatedly being urged to quit for allegedly being slow to notify authorities about sexual abuse allegations in the organization.
The organization launched an independent review of its policies in the wake of the allegations against Nassar and reporting by the Indianapolis Star that highlighted chronic mishandling of abuse allegations against coaches and staff at some of its over 3,500 clubs across the country.Tottenham Hotspur took on Manchester United at the White Hart Lane, both fresh from disappointing league results. The home side had been absolutely thrashed the previous week by Manchester City, with 6 goals flying past them, while United were held away to Cardiff. Many were calling it a must win for both sides, the home side possibly more so. The result, though fair, didn’t do either side any favours.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Manchester United: Tactical Analysis
Line Ups
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Walker; Dawson; Chiriches; Verthongen; Sandro; Dembele; Lennon (Townsend 65′); Paulinho; Chadli (Sigurdsson 85′); Soldado (Defoe 72′)
Manchester United: De Gea; Smalling; Evans; Dawson; Evra; Cleverley; Jones; Kagawa (Young 84′); Welbeck (Hernandez 73′); Valencia (Nani 84′); Rooney
The one sided midfield battle
They often say games are won and lost in midfield; without trying to sound too dramatic, the midfield did have a telling contribution in this game. The two deep lying midfielders of both side never really went head to head, but this particular battle was won by the Spurs’ duo.
The system played by Sandro & Dembele provided adequate cover to Paulinho, allowing him to venture forward. Sandro and Dembele proved to be solid in midfield, which in contrast with Cleverley and Jones, was a superior performance. The Spurs attack easily slipped past United’s midfield, while United found it increasingly difficult to get past Sandro & Dembele.
MORE READING | Analysis: What has gone wrong with Spurs?
It resulted in Rooney dropping deeper than usual to support the midfield, leaving the attack barren. Welbeck did cut inside but barely had any effect. Sandro & Dembele’s strong display pulled an important spoke of United’s attack into a deep position (i.e. Wayne Rooney). Dembele made the most tackles on the pitch in the game at the Lane, with 6 successful tackles, while Sandro made the most interceptions- 4. Dembele also played the most number of passes among all the Spurs midfielders.
One more factor that Dembele & Sandro did have is their occasional attacking threat, one which was quite absent in United’s duo. Sandro & Dembele both have the ability of playing long through balls and getting a shot off as well, as the Brazilian midfielder proved. But again, for Sandro’s goal, United have to be at fault. They didn’t close him down quickly enough and he took his opportunity.
Sandro was given an incredible amount of space and time on the ball. Another point to be made is the thinking of Sandro to go for the shot. Most defensive midfielders would have passed the ball laterally to his team-mate, but he decided to take his shot on and it proved to be a good move. This feature was lacking in United’s midfielders.
Paulinho positioned higher up in the hole
One thing AVB got spot on in the game against United was the way he utilised his Brazilian midfielder, Paulinho. Unlike the previous game against Manchester City, where Paulinho took up a more deeper role alongside his countrymen Sandro, he was played higher up the pitch.
MORE READING | Manchester City 6-0 Tottenham Hotspur: Tactical Analysis
Andre Villas Boas decided to play Paulinho in the ‘hole’ behind Roberto Soldado. The beauty of playing Paulinho wasn’t (only) the extra creativity he offered, but rather the work-horse nature of his play that worked so well against United’s defence. Paulinho wasn’t deployed with the intention of being played as an attacking number 10; instead, he was played with the ideology that he could close down the deep lying United midfielder (Jones & Cleverley) and the defence, forcing them into errors and gaining possession. He was a constant threat when United had the ball in their own half. He offers this rare attribute, wherein despite being defensive minded he can be an excellent option to play behind the striker against a team like United that focuses on a strong central midfield/defensive balance.
Despite his defensive prowess that possibly went unnoticed, one should not take away anything from the creative/attacking side of his game. Paulinho was always quick to pick up the ball and participate in a counter attack. He had a surprising burst of pace and proved to be a difficult customer for the United defence.
Seen above is one incident showcasing the threat offered by Paulinho. After quickly winning possession, he played a one two with Soldado at the middle of the pitch, running at the United defence and threading a beautiful through ball to the Spanish striker, who failed to find the target.
Unfortunately, as the game wore on, Paulinho’s game dropped and he was less and less effective. He, however, showed a lot of promise and could possibly used more often in such a role by AVB.
Nothing down the left for United
Regular watchers of Manchester United would be accustomed to the sight of one of the deep lying midfielders passing the ball out to Evra on the left wing. Faced with packed defences more often than not, it’s United’s outlet ball so to speak. The Frenchman’s form may have dipped over the years but his willingness to bomb forward hasn’t waned. However, yesterday proved to be one of the rare games in which he contained himself. This can be mainly attributed to the fact that Lennon troubled him right from the beginning of the game (as he has done on previous occasions when the 2 sides have faced each other).
United started with Danny Welbeck on the left flank before he moved in field and Japanese International Kagawa shifted out wide. Neither of them are natural wingers. With Kagawa preferring to cut in-field and Evra not going forward in his customary fashion, United’s heat map has a distorted look with the left hand side surprisingly bare.
Chiriches covering Vertonghen
Tottenham have always been known for their attacking wing-backs, and this game was no different. With United’s main attacking threat coming from the right wing, Vertonghen didn’t have the best of games defensively. He needed cover and the Romanian centre back provided just that. On multiple occasions when Valencia found space and bypassed Vertonghen, Chiriches was on hand to cover for his defensive partner.
The heat map shown above is telling and reinforces the point. From a Manchester United point of view, the main avenue of attack was down the right and they’ll be disappointed that Valencia couldn’t capitalize but more on that later. This covering provided by Chiriches allowed Verthongen the liberty to venture forward, as the Belgian was assured of back-up.
On the other side, Walker had a more difficult task. The Englishman regularly attacked but was also required to fall-back and support the defence. The cover provided by Chiriches to Verthongen wasn’t provided by Dawson for Walker. It didn’t prove to be too difficult to handle as United failed to take advantage of this on the left hand side.
Valencia ineffective down the right despite being offered space
With United’s attack concentrated on the right hand side, it was a good chance for Antonio Valencia to have a telling effect on the game. We’ve already enumerated on how Chiriches did well to provide cover for Vertonghen but that’s no excuse for Valencia. In fact going past the fullback and then having a run at the centre back who’s been pulled out of position is pretty much the ideal situation for a winger. There’s space in the box for the forwards to make their runs and the attacking unit have to make such situations count. Unfortunately, the Ecuadorian’s radar was well off on the day as shown below.
The United winger would have been helped if Rafael was fit enough to start the game but at the end of the day there’s no hiding from the fact that his final delivery was poor. In a game where there was space on offer for him to run into, he could and should have been United’s main man.
Before we conclude, we have to show Vidic’s incredible tackle against Spurs that led to United’s penalty. Enjoy!
Conclusion
3 much needed points were on offer but neither side did enough to snatch the victory. As the home side, Spurs would’ve been the more aggrieved with the result especially considering the manner of the goals conceded, both of which were avoidable. For Manchester United, a point away at White Hart Lane in isolation is no means a bad result but 2 consecutive draws after a lukewarm start mean that the gap between them and the leaders Arsenal is slowly but surely widening.
Did you notice a tactical aspect of the game that we missed? If so, do leave a comment below. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @OOTB_football and like us on Facebook. We’re on Google+ and Tumblr as well for those interested.The librarian plucks a book from a cart at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, D.C. and flips through the pages, scanning "Goodbye, Sweetwater" for signs of damage.
"Is it stained? Is it torn?" Jo Stallworth asks of the 1988 collection of stories by novelist Henry Dumas. "Because even if you say, 'It's a good book,' but the binding is cracked and the cover is falling off, it's taking space from another book on the shelf."
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Since the central library closed its doors to the public for a $208 million, three-year renovation, Stallworth and dozens of other librarians have been examining thousands of books. Their job is to determine whether the titles should be kept, given to other branches or donated to Better World Books, which saves books from landfills.
As she scrutinizes "Goodbye, Sweetwater," Stallworth's eye lands on pages 12 and 13. "Oh, my," she says. Someone has written in pencil in the margins, scribbling notes as though it were his or her own personal copy, with little regard for the next borrower. The words "Fish-hound, you ready?" have been forcefully underlined. On the next page, the reader left questions: "Imagery? Reference Wright Big Boy leaves home?"
It takes just a few seconds for Stallworth to decide the book's fate. She places "Goodbye, Sweetwater" on a cart destined for donation.
"I think there is someone out there who will treasure this book - insights" in the margin, "and all," Stallworth says, as she moves to the next book.
There is a hushed silence as she works. No one is roaming the stacks. The library's vast lobby is empty.
The culling process is a librarian's dream, says Sheryl Katzin, assistant director of collections for the D.C. Public Library system.
"People go to library school because they love books, they love reading and whatever it is that drives them in that direction," Katzin explains. "This is a quiet moment for bibliophiles to live that moment. So that is what we are doing."
Since the library opened in 1972, it has accumulated thousands of books, including those stashed there during renovations of other branches. But no one is sure how many.
"One of the things the move out allows us to do is physically see everything we have," said George Williams, a spokesman for the library system. "There are some things we have had on the shelves that may be on the shelf, but not in the catalogue. Or it might be in the catalogue but not on the shelf. Part of the collection maintenance is getting a grip on what we have and what may be missing - and what may be damaged."
Some books and other library items are considered timeless. But others are obsolete, Katzin explains as she heads for the audiobooks.
"There was a time when this company called 'Playaway' created these things; it was a cross between DVDs and MP3s for audio books," she said. "Instead of an audio book with eight disks, they had this thing."
She opens a case titled "Between Lovers," by Eric Jerome Dickey.
She takes out a cassette about the size of a small pack of cigarettes. It is a self-contained gadget with control buttons.
"It kind of looks like an eight-track, and it requires headphones and a battery," she said. "We no longer collect this format. It's been overtaken by all manner of formats to get at the same information. So the Department of Corrections decided they wanted them - we have a library there."
All these "Playaways" will be packed up and sent to the Washington, D.C. Jail.
Down one floor, in a place called "the Cages," there is a storage area where books sent from other branches, and some items and special collections, have been kept behind black chain-link fences.
Signs attached to the cages and hung above huge bins of books warn: "MLK WITHDRAWN ITEMS," with a downward arrow. "NO TRASH, EVER."
"These are books going to Better World Books," which collects unwanted textbooks and library books and uses their sales to finance nonprofit literacy programs around the world. "We never throw books away," Williams says.
Katzin and Williams eye a cart of obsolete books.
"The collection needs to represent up-to-date information," Katzin says. "Under no circumstances do we want to give you something that is not true because we let it sit too long."
Katzin points to a book called "Germany 1945/1954."
"This book says the Berlin Wall is still up," she notes. "You don't want that to be out there."
Here's a reference book called "Something About the Author; Volume 29."
"It says contemporary authors now covers more than 70,000 authors," Katzin reads, "but this is from 1982. When I was in middle school."
"In that book, [poet] Gwendolyn Brooks more than likely is still alive," Williams says. "Dr. Seuss would be alive. So if you have a hypothetical kid coming to do homework and they pull that book off the shelf, we don't want that young person, or anybody, to get information that is no longer accurate."
For a moment Williams and Katzin get lost in the book, flipping pages.
"There is a good one," Katzin said. "[Illustrator/author] Edward Gorey is still alive in here."
They put the book back on the cart of books headed for donation. Katzin notices that the cart also contains a fragile set of books tied by faded string. The binders are cracked and the pages are crumbling.
It is from 1957. She carefully pulls the string.
"I have to open it to check the title, but I'm afraid to do it because the whole thing may come undone," Katzin says.
She slips the string off. Carefully peels the pages. The first few seem to be stuck together. The title is "St. Nicholas Vol. 7."
The decision is easy: "This will go to Better World Books."After weeks of waving signs and chanting with no clear policy objective, Occupy Wall Street protesters finally have an issue to rally around: a tax on Wall Street.
Known in Occupy movement parlance as the "Robin Hood tax," taxes on trades of stocks, bonds and derivatives are getting a fresh look on Capitol Hill and may draw thousands of protesters to Washington, D.C., next week. Helping lead the charge are an unlikely breed of tax activist: registered nurses.
At least 1,000 nurses are expected to rally in front of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's office on Nov. 3, on the eve of the G-20 finance ministers meeting in Cannes, France, where a European transaction tax will be on the agenda. That group is led by the AFL-CIO affiliate National Nurses United, which already organized two rallies in Manhattan and D.C. in June around the slogan: "Tax Wall Street and heal Main Street." The nurses are also helping organize protests in Europe.
Now the nurses are being joined by the Occupy Together movement, whose organizers are planning Robin Hood tax rallies internationally to promote the tax, including one in McPherson Square on Saturday by Occupy DC. Buoyed in part by anti-Wall Street sentiment, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) will introduce transaction tax legislation as early as next week.
"There [are] people in the streets angry about economic inequality, and angry about what Wall Street has gotten away with," said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, which supports both bills. "The European community is moving ahead with a serious proposal."
There's also pressure on the super committee to find revenue sources, Donner noted. Dozens of labor, environmental and progressive groups signed on to an Oct. 21 Americans for Financial Reform letter to the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, urging the panel to look for federal savings in a financial transactions tax.
A "minuscule" tax of as little as 1 cent per $100 of financial transactions globally would raise more than $200 billion a year according to the International Monetary Fund, the letter stated. Transaction tax proponents argue that it would not only generate much-needed federal revenue, but slow the kind of high-speed stock and derivatives trading that sent markets into a "flash crash" last year.
But slowing trading hurts the economy, argue transaction tax opponents, which include influential Wall Street firms, finance industry lobbyists and trade associations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will send its own letter to the super committee and to Members of Congress next week arguing that such a tax would harm investors and make the U.S. less economically competitive.
"This is an easy sound bite that has devastating consequences," said Tom Quaadman, a vice president of the chamber's Capital Markets Center. He noted that both the U.S. and Sweden have experimented with such taxes in the past, without success.
Until now, Wall Street interests opposed to the tax have enjoyed a strong ally in Geithner, who has rejected the idea in public statements. But as Europe struggles to resolve the Greek debt crisis, both French and German leaders have sought support for such a tax through the G-20. Last month, half a dozen leading trade associations wrote to Geithner to "reiterate our strong opposition to the imposition of a financial transaction tax in the United States."
"Particularly once everyday savers and investors realize this is a tax on them, I believe politically there would not be support for this," said Kenneth Bentsen, executive vice president of public policy and advocacy at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, which spearheaded the letter. "But it's something we have to take seriously."
A DeFazio aide acknowledged that legislation to impose a tax on stock trades and other financial services transactions is virtually dead in the water in the GOP-controlled House. But he noted that the budget deficit is not going away, and that such a tax is a logical place to look for revenue sources. A Friday Capitol Hill briefing on the transaction tax turned into a standing-room-only event.
"It was twice as many people as we were expecting," said Nicole Woo, director of domestic policy at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a nonprofit that has helped buttress the academic case for a transaction tax. "To me, that is a sign that people are taking this pretty seriously."
Nurses coming to Washington next week will demonstrate outside Geithner's office and fan out over Capitol Hill in favor of a Wall Street tax. For the nurses, who have set up first aid stations at more than a dozen Occupy locations around the country, economic issues tie directly into health care, National Nurses United spokesman Carl Ginsburg said.
"When you have broad, enduring [economic] decline, people get sick," Ginsburg said. "We desperately need revenues for our communities."Chart.js
Installation of Chart.js : Download
Just like how we use javascript in our sites,attach them as in <head></head> tags using script src.
<script src="chart.js"></script>
Generating chart :
since this chart.js uses HTML5 we use <canvas> tag to load our charts in web pages with referencing respecttive id's
<canvas id="preferred_name" height="preferred height"
width="preferred width"></canvas>
Javascript to create a chart :
generally Chart.js gives many flavours such as LINE,BAR,RADAR,POLAR,PIE,DOUGH NUT chart types.
Essential part of the chart is Data that to in number formats and Labels and Data Range to prepare a chart.By using the below statement we could call the function with possible arguments through them.generally we pass DATA and OPTIONS as arguments to generate a graph in canvas area.
var ctx = document.getElementById("canvas_id_here").getContext("2d");
new Chart(ctx).Line(data,options);
the above code calls the function with specific arguments i.e DATA and OPTIONS.
data (argument of above function) :
data is generally declared as VAR in javascript and by further we could break it up with three different options such as LABELS as array,DATASETS that contains some CSS property and RAW-DATA.
lets have a look at the LABEL which is declared as array |
mothers alike were most often accused of harming other women’s children.”
The stepmother became a kind of scapegoat, a new repository for aspects of femininity that felt threatening: female agency, female creativity, female restlessness, maternal ambivalence. By the late 18th century, the stepmother was a stock villain, familiar enough to appear in grammar books. One boy was even injured by his dead stepmother from beyond the grave, when a column above her tombstone fell on his head. The particular villainy of the stepmother — the duplicity of tyranny disguised as care — enabled colonial rhetoric that compared England’s rule to “a stepmother’s severity,” as one 1774 tract put it. In an article that ran in Ladies’ Magazine in 1773, on the eve of the American Revolution, a stepdaughter laments her fate at the hands of her stepmother: “Instead of the tender maternal affection... what do I now see but discontent, ill-nature, and mal-a-pert authority?” The stepmother offers bondage cunningly packaged as devotion.
But the American popular imagination hasn’t always understood the stepmother as a wicked woman. If it was true that she was an 18th-century gold digger — a latter-day witch — then it was also true that she was a mid-19th-century saint, happily prostrate to the surge of her own innate maternal impulse. In the Progressive Era, she was proof that being a good mother was less about saintly instincts and more about reason, observation and rational self-improvement. You didn’t have to have a biological connection — or even an innate caregiving impulse — you just had to apply yourself.Brisbane Broncos five-eighth Anthony Milford will play his 100th NRL game on Thursday night when he runs out onto ANZ Stadium to take on the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
Now in his fifth year in the NRL, Milford has gone from an exciting young fullback to a flashy five-eighth that is regarded as one of the best in the competition.
Milford made his debut as an 18-year-old for the Canberra Raiders in 2013 and it was soon clear that the Australian Schoolboy possessed more talent than most people could dream of.
He spent the majority of his time at the Raiders playing at fullback, with his excellent performances earning him selection in the Australian Kangaroos train-on squad in 2014 and selection in the Prime Minister's XIII in that same year.
In 2015 he arrived at the Broncos and switched to five-eighth, guiding his side to the NRL grand final - falling just short of the ultimate glory with a one-point loss to the North Queensland Cowboys.
Had he been on the winning team, there is no question he would have also claimed a Clive Churchill Medal.
2016 was another outstanding year for Milford, again making the Kangaroos' train-on squad and also winning the Peter Frilingos Headline Moment of the Year award at the Dally M Awards.
He won that award for his unbelievable 40 metre field goal in golden point extra-time against the Cowboys in Round 4 – slotting the shot under immense pressure to win the game for the Broncos.
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But 2017 hasn't been Milford's year so far; with the 22-year-old having a slow start to the season compared the lofty standards he has set in the past.
His form will ultimately improve as 2017 progresses, but his coach Wayne Bennett said even Milford's best this year won't compare to the player he will be in a few years time.
"Anthony Milford is bringing up 100 games in the NRL this week. It's a big effort and one that he can cherish," Bennett said.
"It's a wonderful achievement and really good for him.
"He's still only a young player that's come into the game early due to the amount of talent he possesses.
"He needs to maximise that talent, but he's still a couple of years away from being at his best.
"He's learning all the time. He's pretty unique. Not many people have the amount of talent he's got."
There is no doubting that Milford has the talent, but his confidence is suffering after an error-riddled first four games.
Milford will be hoping to begin to turn his form around against the Bulldogs, with Bennett saying that his team is in a good position to make it two wins in a row after a one-point win against the Canberra Raiders in Round 4.
"The team has had a better week," he said.
"They've been feeling better about themselves all week after beating Canberra.
"You can't get confidence by losing. You only get it by winning. We needed that win against the Raiders."
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On the surface, conservative and reactionary sensibilities share much in common; however, in spite of a shared disposition and ancestry, the reality remains that no other ideology is as hazardous to reactionary ends than conservatism (understood here, of course, in the North American context).
Even a cursory survey of history reveals a basic axiom: the false friend is always more dangerous than the enemy. Deceit is the ultimate force multiplier. The most devastating blow is always the one you don’t see coming. Beneath this axiom, however, lies another, which is rarely comprehended: the only enemy more dangerous than the false friend is the genuine one.
Men frequently find themselves undone not only by the cunning and bravery of their enemies, but just as frequently by the rashness and stupidity of their friends. The truer the friend, the greater the danger.
Both World Wars saw Imperial Germany undermined by the strategic fecklessness of its allies (Austria-Hungary and Italy, respectively). The Reich fought not so much with a hand behind its back as it did with an anchor around its neck. These allies became little more than bottomless holes into which the German leadership frantically shoveled men and material. Mussolini is of course the exemplar par excellence. His strategic brainchild, the invasion of Greece, was arguably the most impressively stupid blunder of the entire war, the mother of all unforced errors. In the summer of 1941, Hitler, obsessed with the Jewish-Bolshevik threat, sent his Wehrmacht in a doomed drive east to Moscow, when they should have been marching south to Rome.
Today, we observe the same phenomenon in the foreign policy conundrums of the United States. Indeed, much frantic hand-wringing goes on in clueless beltway circles about the waning of American influence. Buckets of ink are spilled daily warning of the dangers of newly assertive, anti-liberal regimes in Russia, China, Iran etc. Yet the more obvious and immediate danger is almost never mentioned, i.e., the main threat to the status quo of USG geopolitical dominance remains the duplicity and incompetence of its poorly chosen allies: Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Here, it is important to draw a distinction between temporary alliances of a generally transactional nature and those of a deeper ideological type. The former are characteristic of a realist political disposition and should be pursued wherever possible. The rewards of such alliances are many and the risks are few. Agent X will cooperate with Agent Y on issue Z, even though they are at odds over issues Q and W.
The other more ideological approach, presently practiced by the USG in its dealings with the present Zionist project, is more like a bizarre kind of marriage. The USG will always support Israel, in spite of the fact that Israeli and American strategic interests are frequently divergent. The past decade has witnessed an overt attempt by the Israeli regime to goad the USG into an invasion of Iran, an event that could only end in disaster and defeat. Yet incredibly, Israel continues to be counted as one of America’s closest allies and continues to benefit from a uniquely generous and long-lasting military and economic largess from the USG. It should be noted that this continues in spite of an open and acrimonious conflict with the current president.
The Saudi example is similarly egregious. The Saudi regime is the single largest financier and promoter of Salafist ideology in the world, and still, it continues to receive an incredible amount of financial and military support from the USG.
One could go further in documenting historical examples of this phenomenon, seeing as they illustrate the danger inherent in all alliances, whether of the geostrategic or ideological variety. The danger lies not in the inevitable confrontation with the North American Liberal enterprise; rather, like the aforementioned examples, the true danger lies in a hasty ideological marriage of convenience with modern Conservatism. Sun Tzu entreated his readers to “Know Yourself” and “Know Your Enemy,” but Tzu forgot a third and equally important commandment: “Know Thy Friend.”
If we could reduce modern American conservatism down to one main characteristic, it would undoubtedly be its near total impotency. On the surface this might seem like a hard statement to qualify, especially when beholding its formidable array of propaganda outlets and wealthy donor class. Seen from such a perspective, the house that Buckley built does indeed seem to be quite the marvel. But once one dispenses with superficialities and inspects the state of the actual ideological project, the once stately citadel quickly morphs into a crumbling McMansion.
The problems besetting conservatism today run much deeper than a mere lack of leadership or run of the mill strategic incompetence. Modern conservatives are simply incapable of actually advancing their own cause; their position always is one of continual defense. At their most effective, they have acted as little more than speed bumps for a tenacious liberal Left, or have otherwise forwarded the interests of the Chamber of Commerce.
While the liberal ideologue states his claim confidently and without apologies, the conservative is ever the shrinking violet. The past half century has witnessed the systematic transformation of all major cultural levers into strictly liberal entities. The academy, judiciary, 4th Estate, Hollywood, and, in many cases, even the church are now all strictly and unequivocally ideologically liberal institutions. This was accomplished in the manner of an overt and self-consciously liberal pogrom. Institutions were infiltrated and once a critical mass accumulated the purges of non-liberals began—ruthlessly and until the desired level of ideological purity was attained.
This occurred without the slightest feelings of consternation or guilt. Not for a moment did the liberals question the justness of their cause and the necessity of their actions. When one is firmly on the right side of history, after all, the necessity and ultimate rightness of one’s actions for the cause is rarely in doubt. The conservative movement’s reaction to this overt power grab of course consisted mostly of harshly worded letters to the editor. American cultural Institutions were not so much conquered as they were simply taken possession of.
What explains this contrast of intentions and seemingly inexplicable impotency? The liberal’s blows are vicious and thrown with intention, The conservative’s are cautious and defensive. The liberal fights to win; the conservative not to lose. The fault lies not in the political strategy and tactics, but in the very psychology and metaphysics of the conservative mind itself.
We can see this perhaps most acutely in the conservative understanding of tradition. Vibrant traditions are an essential part of any healthy society and are especially important to a self-consciously anti-liberal one. However, it is urgently important for us to distinguish the vibrant reactionary understanding of tradition from the conservative adherence to a concept of traditionalism because this is ultimately what actually distinguishes the two.
The conservative approaches tradition like a museum curator approaches a dusty box of artifacts. The goal is, first and foremost, preservation. Tradition is treated as a kind of static object, one whose properties are permanently fixed. This sterile understanding of tradition gives birth to what we can call a preservationist mentality. The preservationist task is merely to observe and maintain the object for the benefit of posterity, like a precious family heirloom. The sword of tradition will be kept polished and cataloged by the conservative, but it will never be swung. What we find here is a peculiar kind of Aristotelian fastidiousness, which obsesses over the “thing become.” In the haste to document and categorize its various attributes, it is blinded to the deeper reality of the thing’s constant “becoming.”
It is here that we find and isolate the true pathology of the conservative mind, a mind containing an imagination unable to participate in the very tradition it wishes to preserve.
The problem with the past that is so longed for by the conservative, whether of 1950 or 1850, isn’t so much that it is imaginary, but that it is performative.
The conservative’s call to return to past greatness is a call to a return to a very particular historical moment, not to return to the general ontological conditions that made that historical moment possible.
Goethe encapsulates the issue:
The Godhead is effective in the living and not in the dead, in the becoming and the changing, not in the become and the set-fast; and therefore, similarly, the reason (Vernunft) is concerned only to strive towards the divine through the becoming and the living and the understanding (Verstand) only to make use of the become and the set-fast.
The conservative mind, by its very nature, is engrossed with the (Verstand) and refuses to apprehend the (Vernunft). Thus, it is doomed to a static impotence.
The conservative political project is perhaps best understood as a grand project of collective nostalgia, the attempt to reconstruct a lost arcadia and return to a primordial American Eden. This Eden, of course, is almost always tied to the conservative’s memory of his particular (usually suburban) childhood.
The conservative imagination is nostalgic, the reactionary is participatory. The conservative seeks to preserve a tradition, the reactionary seeks to inhabit one.
In light of this reality, the conservative’s history of impotence becomes intelligible. Having rejected “becoming” in favor of the “already become,” he must, in turn, reject the reality of Historical Necessity itself. Thus, due to his inability to advance his claims, he has cut himself off from any possibility of participation. He is a man frozen in time and place. His experience is similar to that of a small child, who dwells in a waking dream world, this psychological Eden of a constant present, not yet cast out into the Dark Wood of Consciousness. Here, he is still innocent of the constant conversion of future into present, and present into past, of Time, Blood, and History.
This will not suffice for us. Our lives must not be in thrall to a frozen nostalgia for a lost Eden, a timeless Rockwellian fever dream.
One cannot dam the tide of history, a delusion just as dangerous and utopian as the most deranged Jacobin fantasy. This task is not only impossible, but it is also completely undesirable. The free acceptance of our providential destiny is after all the only true duty of a man. Anything less is a failure. The participation in the mystery of Historical Necessity is not optional.
Any seemingly traditional or conservative tendencies must be transmuted and constantly reinterpreted through a genuinely reactionary and participatory lens. Tradition is a living thing and like all that lives, it is constantly becoming. Our conservatives, like the historical reenactors who march the field of Gettysburg each July with much care and fastidiousness, seek to recreate the hazy visions of their childhood. Shoulder to Shoulder they march, with the shades of Pickett’s Division across their field of dreams, but in the end they can only fire blanks.With the end of the Democratic primaries and several weeks to go until the Democratic National Convention in July, pressure from mainstream media for Bernie Sanders to drop out of the race is increasing.
“Hillary Clinton Made History, but Bernie Sanders Stubbornly Ignored It,” read a headline in The New York Times after Clinton was projected to win California—despite the LA Times reporting more than 2.5 million ballots (nearly half of the state’s six million votes) had yet to be counted. Yamiche Alcindor, the same Times reporter who claimed Sanders ignored history, also inferred Sanders’ decision to stay in the race was sexist, writing on June 12 “Bernie Sanders Refuses to Concede Nomination to Hillary Clinton.”
Calls for Sanders to drop out have been steady since March, when Clinton gained a significant lead with Super Tuesday wins, and several prominent Democrats subtly signaled Sanders should end his campaign to help block presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Such calls are symptomatic of the Democratic Establishment’s coronation of Hillary Clinton as their nominee—and their disdain for Bernie Sanders, who dared to challenge them. This also illuminates why Bernie Sanders should never endorse Hillary Clinton for president.
In April 2015, when Bernie Sanders began his campaign as a fringe candidate, he was not taken as a serious challenger to Hillary Clinton. Even The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart jokingly predicted Clinton would crush the Vermont Senator, but Sanders proved those dismissals wrong with a message that resonated with millions of Americans who are tired of corrupt and rigged political systems. Yet, despite the overwhelming support for his grassroots campaign, the odds were stacked against Bernie Sanders—by both the Democratic Establishment and mainstream media.
As Glenn Greenwald predicted a few days before the California primary in an article for The Intercept, the media has patted itself on the back for helping Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential candidate of a major party, get elected. “But that’s all the more reason to lament this dreary conclusion,” he wrote. “The one positive aspect, though significant, is symbolic, while the actual substance—rallying behind a Wall Street-funded, status quo-perpetuating, multimillionaire militarist—is grim in the extreme.”
Because of the type of candidate Hillary Clinton is—one who represents the interests of her vast corporate and wealthy donor network—Bernie Sanders should stay in the race until the convention, withholding his endorsement while holding Clinton accountable for working and middle class Americans. Throughout his entire political career as the longest-serving Independent in the history of Congress, Bernie Sanders’ loyalty has remained with the everyday people he fights to protect.
In 1988, Rev. Jesse Jackson ran a historic presidential campaign in the Democratic primaries, winning 13 states to challenge the Establishment candidate, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Upon losing the primaries, Jackson continued his campaign into the Democratic National Convention, where he endorsed Dukakis for the sake of unity, virtually silencing himself and his supporters. Dukakis went on to select Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate, a moderate Democrat, and lost the general election to George H.W. Bush. The Democratic Party continued to shift to more moderate and centrist positions with the nomination of Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in 1992, relegating progressivism to the party’s fringes.
Many progressives fear Hillary Clinton will also shift back toward moderate political stances to broaden her appeal in the general election, repeating history and leaving behind progressive Sanders supporters and the issues his campaign brought forth into the national consciousness.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found over three-quarters of Democrats want Bernie Sanders to have a major role in shaping the Democratic Party platform, and more than half want Clinton to select him as her vice presidential running mate. Although the latter is highly unlikely, Bernie Sanders’ influence in the Democratic Party is dependent upon his independence from the Democratic Establishment. Endorsing Clinton would be conceding defeat not just of his campaign, but to the corruption and influence of corporate and wealthy interests in American politics.
Just because the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination has ended with a Clinton victory doesn’t mean there are no longer battles to be fought within the Party. If anything, Clinton’s nomination calls for a stronger resolve for Bernie Sanders and his supporters to stand up against a system that has abandoned liberal values for corporate ones. The fight for the presidential nomination has essentially ended, but the fight for the soul of the Democratic Party will rage on long after the general election.Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin does things her way, whether it’s finding new ways to talk to her supporters or new words to use when talking to them. She has had two notable achievements recently. First, her neologism refudiate was chosen by the editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary as Word of the Year for 2010 and added to its official lexicon. Second, she ventured from her comfortable Facebook home to cooperate with a profile in the New York Times. She comes across well—just in time for the launch of her book America By Heart.
Palin seems to recognize that if she wants to continue her rise, she is going to have to intersect with institutions like the “traditional media” and their “elite opinion-makers” on occasion. In the Times profile, Palin says she is seriously considering a run for the presidency and recognizes that this will require her to expand her tight circle. That will also mean intersecting with the “traditional” political and media system more often, and more regularly, no matter how much she wants to circumvent it. How closely she follows its rules is, of course, up to her. But here are three rules that she will have to contend with if she wants to become president:
Voters should like you. Palin is very well-liked among conservatives, but in the broader public, she is not well-liked. This condition is not improving with familiarity. Fifty-two percent of those polled have an unfavorable opinion of her, according to a recent Gallup poll. That was her highest negative result ever in that poll. In a recent ABC/Washington Post poll, her unfavorable rating was 54 percent. She is particularly unpopular with independents and moderates, the kinds of voters in swing states who determine elections.
In 2008, Karl Rove famously tried to argue that Hillary Clinton was “fatally flawed” when her unfavorable rating was lower than Palin’s is today. Fortunately for Palin, Rove was wrong. Unfavorable numbers are certainly not good, but they do not spell certain doom. Bill Clinton’s unfavorable number was 49 percent at one point in the 1992 campaign—not much lower than Palin’s today.
So there’s hope. For Palin to succeed, she has to benefit as Clinton did. The incumbent has to be very unpopular (George H.W. Bush’s unfavorable number in 1992 was 59), and the challenger has to improve her favorability rating. The first half of this equation seems at least plausible, especially if the economy continues to flag, which could further erode President Obama’s popularity (his current unfavorable rating is 44). It’s the second half that presents difficulties. Part of Palin’s success among her core followers is that she doesn’t back down. She takes on her opponents and picks fights—with old-boy Republicans like Rove; a Wall Street Journal reporter—and questions the president’s manhood. But in that time period, the more people have been exposed to her, the more they dislike her.
Palin’s new book comes out on a dubious anniversary. A year ago, when she published her last book, was the last time a poll showed that more people viewed her favorably than unfavorably. Since then, the trend has reversed, and the gap has widened. The average of her unfavorable ratings has increased six points to 51.1 percent.
Palin’s unfavorable rating could be meaningless when she’s put head-to-head against potential challengers. This is what made Hillary Clinton seem plausible in 2008. While Clinton’s unfavorable number was high, she still outperformed potential GOP general election challengers. Palin fans cannot take the same comfort yet. In a recent Quinnipiac University poll of potential GOP candidates, Palin tied in a hypothetical primary with Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, but in the hypothetical general-election matchups between president Obama and potential GOP candidates, Obama scores his highest against Palin with 48 percent of the vote to her 40 percent.
Voters should think you’re qualified. In the recent ABC/Washington Post poll, 67 percent of voters said Palin was unqualified to be president. This means that it’s not just Democrats (82 percent) and independents (70 percent) who don’t think she’s ready for the job. Only 47 percent of Republicans think she’s qualified, though more than 70 percent have a favorable view of her.
This problem is harder to dismiss as a left-wing media plot, because some of her critics are conservatives. Columnist Mona Charen recently argued that Palin shouldn’t run, saying she lacked the qualifications. Barbara Bush quipped that she hoped Palin would stay in Alaska. (Her son is reported to hold a similar view.) Others who have questioned Palin’s competence—from Karl Rove to Sen. Lisa Murkowski—have personal spats that may color their view, but to the undecided voter, this is opposition to her core qualifications that Palin must explain.
Palin no longer holds office, which is one way for candidates to show their qualifications, so she will have to make the case that proof can be found in her record. In the Times profile, she complained that the media bias made it hard for her to get across her past achievements. That’s no doubt part of it, but Palin has also made the job of explaining herself harder by leaving office before her term was over. If she runs for president, she will be asking to lead the country. Quitting isn’t a characteristic associated with the quality of great leaders—whether it’s George Washington on Christmas Night, George Gipp of Notre Dame, or Winston Churchill during the Battle of France. The word quit isn’t in leaders’ vocabularies, goes the old cliché. It will be another triumph of wordsmithing if Palin can not only explain why her achievements make her qualified but also explain why quitting doesn’t disqualify her.
You’ve got to put in the time. The best way for Palin to beat the quitter rap is to show voters how hard she works. In one sense, this shouldn’t be that difficult. If she is a mama grizzly, she never hibernates. She’s everywhere, posting on Facebook, appearing on TLC, giving speeches and commenting on Fox News. The Times profile makes this point several times, referring to her 20-hour days, 3 a.m. e-mail messages and recounting stories of her prodigious study habits. If Palin appears this engaged as a candidate, she will be able to point to her campaign as proof of her qualifications, much as Obama did (though she’ll want to deny that association, of course).
But campaigns require a different kind of hard work than the stunning brand-maintenance that Palin has been engaged in since the last election. Campaigns are not fun a lot of the time. They require candidates to do lots of things they don’t want to—going to small events in out-of-the-way places, coddling local politicians, sucking up to members of the local media. Campaigns also require candidates to trust people they may not know very well because they have expertise in a state. Or not trusting people who love you but who may know nothing about Iowa. Palin will have to rewire her organization—and her personal instincts—to find this balance.
Can she avoid doing a lot of these dull things? Fred Thompson tried running a different kind of campaign. He failed. So did Rudy Giuliani, with the same result. Palin is more powerful and talented than Fred Thompson. But even Hillary Clinton was stung in the Iowa primaries when she didn’t court voters the way they’ve become accustomed to being courted. Because Palin is such a superstar, and because she left office before her term was over, she’s vulnerable to the rap that she’s “taking the voters for granted.” This may be an overrated vulnerability in general or a local myth pushed by local party bosses in early primary states like New Hampshire. Still, you can bet Palin’s GOP opponents will be working to push this storyline regularly.
Palin has told Fox News that her husband Todd is leaning toward encouraging her to make a White House run.* This is the latest in her book tour as presidential striptease, a form which, unlike her many other innovations, she cannot claim to have invented. President Obama did the same thing. That’s part of the trick: knowing which stuff to adopt and which to refudiate.
*Clarification, Nov. 23, 2010: The article originally stated that Todd Palin was “leaning toward a White House run.”
Become a fan of Slate and John Dickerson on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.Paradigm Shift
A brilliant technicolor thought-form exploded with fiery intensity, ecstatically vibrating and dancing within and without Itself. Dazzling rainbows weaved into and through one another, singing a perfect cacophony that reverberated through the Formless aether. It sang, sang, sang in discordance, disordered and unrestrained, untethered and free, freedom in Its timeless state, a state of chaos.
The Prima Materia.
Time was meaningless to Something that never began and would never end. Space was a useless concept to that which was All and encompassed All. It had simply Been. Eternal in the truest of senses.
In all Its endless interaction, in the joining and rejoining of all Its colors and noise and negative space, something coherent had begun to develop: a Spiral.
A pattern had emerged. So foreign, so alien; it spun upon itself into an infinitesimal point, deeper than could be perceived, pulling in light and sound and Being and producing form. The Spiral kept pulling. It grabbed and contorted, spread and consumed. Tore at abstraction. Instituted order. A sensation arose across the All that was and had ever Been: pain.
It began to scream.
Paradise was bent and broken. It was swallowed and pressed into the growing Spiral, found by shape, imprisoned in rigid form. It was rent from the comfort of perpetual unreality, dragged into Itself.
Within the whirl, aeons became centuries became moments became ages became eons. Strange and Powerful things flickered into and out of existence. There was Life, even. Existing as if they always had been there, or perhaps they had. Until suddenly they didn't, and never had.
But the Spiral demanded perfection. Demanded Order. Here too it spread, in spite of the actions undertaken by the gods and concepts that inhabited the layer. Some feasted on their brethren. Some were Broken as they tried to defend themselves. The mightiest rallied against it. And the rest? Their screams joined the chorus.
The Spiral corkscrewed tighter and tighter. Raking all that was and had been closer and closer. Finite-infinite things cried out in unison, as they were drawn into the deepest point within the Spiral, brimming with all the energy that could conceivably exist. Down, down, down.
Into a single point.
Countless explosions erupted in furious synchronicity. Universe upon universe upon universe upon universe. Space and time spontaneously generating simultaneously in each. There was sense and structure. Rules and constants. The endless, formless one had been subdued. The abyss had been occupied.
The Prima Materia. Shredded and deposited across all of these planes. Every piece at once a whole. It struggled in its prison. It raged and shook. It scratched at the bars. It tore at the seams. It clawed and corrupted. It lashed and gnashed and hated hated hated. It hated these things that had been carved from it. It hated with a passion the things that truly Were.
Beyond all things, it hated the life that flourished.
"Free men! Nobles! Slaves!"
No.
Humans, nestled in the cradle of civilization. They had faced the countless horrors wrought by the Prima Materia. They had grown tired of the pervasive Chaos. Of the monsters. Of the living holes in space and time. Of the places where the land itself came to life. Of the men whose will intruded upon creation, who revered the Primordial Aether.
"On this day, a new beginning awaits us!"
Insignificant.
They gathered their wisest scholars. Their holiest priests. Across generations… over centuries… they crafted. Blood and sweat and failure and sacrifice eventually bore fruit in the form of a small ellipsoidal gemstone.
"No longer shall we cower!"
All that you hold dear.
It had the power to hold the Primitive Force they called Apakht.
"No longer will we be slaughtered!"
It can be so much worse.
To contain such a powerful thing - it would never be secure. It would need protectors. Guardians. The lock was set aside. Its time would come.
"No longer shall we live in fear!"
Pound your cities to dust!
People spoke of a prophecy. It was foretold that there would one day be four among them who would prove capable of this grave responsibility.
"These Four, our saviors, our gifts from the Gods, chosen by An himself for the task!"
Leave naught but ashes!
"It is they who are to seal this evil! It is they who have the strength to carry the burden!"
Please.
The Healer. The Soldier. The Tactician. The Shaman.
"Let our brightest of futures begin here, today!"
It already hurts. So, so much.1. I remember conversations from when I was two and phone numbers I haven’t seen in two years. But I need direct support in the grocery store and when crossing the street. The first sounds impossible and the second ridiculous to most people, but it’s the only normal I know.
2. Just because I have the words to type it doesn’t mean I have the words to say it, and when I do say it, it’s rarely as I wish I could. Sometimes, I can explain my quirks; other times, I need a keyboard and some time.
3. I never like being too loud or interrupting or getting upset at a noise, especially in public. It takes a lot of effort to manage my interactions and reactions–and sometimes I still fail.
4. If I ask a question or say I don’t get it, it means I’m confused. Please don’t make me feel worse. I don’t laugh when others flop at recalling a date or the spelling of a word–things that are effortless for me.
5. What may be slightly bothersome to you, like the waistband on a pair of pants, can ruin my day. A sensory issue occupies every bit of my brain and body until it’s remedied, and it isn’t always easy to say what’s bothering me.
6. I try to treat others as I want to be treated, but since my wants are often different, I look rude or careless when I’m doing my best to show the same kindness I like to receive.
7. I am extremely sensitive to sensory input. The world is almost always too much, so I have to regulate my body as I react to every passing car, beeping machine, barking dog, siren, and so much more. It’s very hard for me to remember that I can ask for a break. Sometimes I walk away, pull out my phone to type or look over favorite cat pictures, or disappear to the bathroom (if there are no hand dryers!). I’m not being rude—I’m doing what I need to do to be able to be there at all.
8. I’m not a child with a precocious vocabulary. I’m not an adult who refuses to grow up. The boxes built for typical society won’t work on me. I’ll break them every time. Save those judgments until you know me.
9. I’m not missing out on normal; I’m happy with uncommon. I’m more isolated with another person than my cat. A keyboard brings me closer to a long-distance friend than a lunch date ever does.
10. I’m different, not broken. Sometimes my needs make it look like I’m not capable… but I don’t know how most people function with such forgetful memories and lack of focus. Everyone’s brain has strengths and weaknesses. I am blessed to be surrounded by people who give me the support I need to be successful. But I have gifts, too… just the right ones to help families understand kids like the one I was so—hopefully—all their lives are fuller.
AdvertisementsAdele, Kendrick Lamar, and The Weeknd will all perform at this year's Grammy Awards, The Wrap reports. It's a pretty solid lineup so far that reflects the award show's more-impressive-than-usual list of nominees this year.
The performances at the Grammys tend to waver somewhere in that not-so-sweet spot between dull and insane. Last year, Madonna danced alongside a group of men dressed like Satanic goats, while Pharrell performed his impossible-to-avoid single "Happy" and made a muddled statement on race in America.
The Grammys might be okay?
Lamar and The Weeknd's Abel Tesfaye are Grammy nominees as well as performers. Lamar has been nominated for the most Grammys (11) out of any artist this year, with The Weeknd trailing close behind at seven nominations. Both have been nominated for Album of the Year. But Adele's record-busting 25 missed the cut-off for nominations this year. The eligibility period ran from October 1st, 2014 to September 30th, 2015 and Adele's album came out last November.
CBS says it will announce more performers in the upcoming weeks. The Grammys will air on February 15th.An art director claims he was sucker-punched because he looks like Shia LaBeouf.
Mario Licato, who works in advertising, was randomly attacked by the stranger on New York's subway and knocked unconscious on Saturday night while he was on his way to Pianos nightclub.
He has described how he didn't see the assailant until he noticed a fist coming at him.
The punch sent him flying down the stairs at Delancey Street Station on the Lower East Side and, after he fell, he heard someone shouting: 'This is because you look exactly like Shia LaBeouf!'
Art director Mario Licato (left) claims he was punched in the face by a stranger on New York's subway because he looks like Shia LaBeouf (right)
He told Gothamist: 'I was so confused. I was even more confused because I got up and I was like, am I crazy or did I hear him say, "This is because you look like Shia LaBeouf?"
'And [the couple] were like: "Nope. That's exactly what he said as he was running away from you."'
The couple called 911 and helped Licato up the stairs to the sidewalk to wait for an ambulance.
One arrived within minutes, but Licato says the technicians didn't help.
Licato (left) has described how he didn't see the assailant until he noticed a fist coming at him. The punch sent him flying down the stairs and, as he fell, he heard someone shouting: 'This is because you look exactly like Shia LaBeouf! (right)'
Licato is wondering what LaBeouf 'did' to the suspect to provoke him. He questioned whether the assailant has just seen one of his performance art pieces. The actor is pictured with a brown bag over his head at the Berlin Film Festival in 2014
He told the website: 'They got out |
the U.K.’s Good Post Day, Germany’s I.Corrupt, and the Ukraine’s Aorte Records—we were instantly taken by Black Love’s take on noisy, rough-around-the-edges post-hardcore.
Still, beyond their obvious touchstones—midwestern emo, screamo, and even post-rock—Naud says Black Love’s sound run deeper than those genres. “It’s hard to designate a specific post-hardcore scene in Montreal. The variety of genres and the interesting fusion between said genres makes it hard for a band to stand out only as emo or post hardcore. You can tell the Constellation Records bands cast a shadow that can still be [seen] today.”
So, one the eve of Black Love‘s release—it drops on September 30, followed by a record-release show with Jet Black, The Discord of a Forgotten Sketch, and Big Knife Little Knife—we asked the band to introduce us to Quebec’s deep ‘n’ diverse D.I.Y. scene.
Black Love
[bandcamp id=”1164405033"]
Black Love has roots in Montreal’s ’00s hardcore scene—Naud says they were friends first, and “the band was a way to re-teach us our own respective instruments”—and in their music, it shows: Outwardly, they boast a sound that recalls proto-emo acts like Indian Summer, Moss Icon, or modern screamo torchbearers like La Raein. Yet their self-titled LP shows undeniable hardcore roots—their sprawling, bleak breakdowns, for instance, immediately recalls Modern Life is War’s earliest output.
“We have a diverse palette so our main working objective to to have a cohesive end result, considering we have many layers of instruments to work with,” says Naud.
And if Black Love sounds cinematic—and they do—it’s on purpose. “The themes are somewhat universal: grief, exile, anxiety,” he says. “Most of these confront the reality of injustice. I try approaching this through bits of dialogues and other tools I stole from cinema writing. I like setting a scene first.”
Mands
[b[bandcamp id=”3296712511"]p>
Ought’s taut, speak-sung post-punk is getting a lot of love nationally, but their drummer, Tim Keen, also splits time with another project—Mands. The band, who emerged around the circle of musicians orbiting Brasserie Beaubien, trades in vicious, noise-laden post-punk, and have two releases to their name: The gritty Best Practises and a split with Lung Butter. “Mands is this interesting band [wit[with a]sy, angry take on post-punk,” adds Naud.
Alam al-Mithal
[ban[bandcamp id=”2209178799"]
Of course, the province’s post-hardcore scene isn’t only located in Montreal. Naud points to Sherbrooke next, where Alam al-Mithal toil with a brand of sprawling, occasionally dour post-rock. But don’t get used to it: Naud says that the band’s shapeshifting into something else completely. “Alam al-Mithal came out sounding a lot like Slow Riot era Godspeed You! Black Emperor,” he says, “but their more recent stuff has a different identity.”
Albatros
[bandc[bandcamp id=”4179890750"]p>Over in Quebec City, Albatros are refining a sound all their own: Armed with vicious vocals, d-beat drumming, and an ear for sprawling, Tragedy-esque melodies, the band tops things off with… a horn section? Believe it. “We got to play a few times with Albatros from Quebec City. They are essentially punk, with a d-beat and post-hardcore blend, but they have a tastes for brilliant harmonies,” adds Naud. “And they have a horn section.”
Jet Black
[bandcam[bandcamp id=”3163820127"]Ignore their Jawbreaker-referencing band name. Quebec City’s Jet Black don’t play minor-key pop-punk—rather, the band trades in cranked-to-11 shoegaze—and they released In Paradox, their pummeling second LP, this year. And they’re planning on exporting their pedal-drenched sound outside of Quebec’s provincial borders. “They dipped their toes in the NXNE and SXSW circuses,” says Naud. “They just released their second LP… [it’s li[it’s like] Swervedriver. It all sounds lush and full and loud.”
Atsuko Chiba
[bandcamp [bandcamp id=”3079212410"]ck in Montreal, Atsuko play a brand of genre-sweeping, mostly instrumental music that ain’t easy to classify: At times, they veer into mathy terrains, while elsewhere, they dabble in prog and post-metal. Somehow, though, it works. “Atsuko Chiba in Montreal keep putting out interesting material,” says Naud. “I am still trying to figure them out.”
The Discord of a Forgotten Sketch
[bandcamp id[bandcamp id=”2939330174"]9905802/ontheaside -->
The Discord of a Forgotten Sketch—whose title is a mouthful—far predate Solids, Animal Faces, and the current crop of Quebec post-everything. In fact, they’re one of the longest-running screamo bands in Quebec. With countless releases under their belt, the band’s only getting noisier, more aggressive, and more vital. Naud, for his part, doesn’t just list the band as friends—he says they’re an inspiration to Black Love. “I wish I could talk about TDOAFS forever,” he says. “This band went the opposite way of most bands in defining their sound. They did it through a process of deconstruction. Our song ‘Libertines’ actually rips of one of their chord progressions. Its working title was TDOAFS.”
Gulfer
[bandcamp id=�[bandcamp id=”2282676624"]and anthemic, Gulfer play a very specific type of post-hardcore: Namely, they trade in sprightly math rock, which draws inevitable comparisons to Cap’n Jazz and Algernon Cadwallader. “Gulfer is up there. They started up there having nothing to envy to the best math rock bands and they keep pushing their sound. last year I noticed they were getting louder and a bit fuzzier. Then they added a new member and this gave them another big push musically.”
Corridor
[bandcamp id=”[bandcamp id=”619899610"]lids became one of Montreal’s biggest exports—Blame Confusion was originally released independently, before being re-released by Dine Alone and Fat Possum—Naud thinks that Corridor will be the next act to court international attention. It’s easy to see why: They sing in French, but there’s a universal quality to their fuzzed-out songs. And while they boast a motorik backbone and Women-inspired guitars, on their Un magicien en toi LP, they display a pop undercurrent that’s unusual in post-punk. “They will probably be the next Montreal darlings,” says Naud. We’re inclined to agree.
Nous Étions
[bandcamp id=”41[bandcamp id=”4181462173"]isten, Nous Étions—or for those who didn’t pay attention in French class, We Are—are a post-metal band: Indeed, the band boasts restrained guitars, molasses-thick distortion, and, occasionally, a sharp ear for melody. But the addition of brutal, guttural vocals reminds of something even more specific: Namely, Panopticon-era Isis. And that’s a very, very good thing.
No Bones
[bandcamp id=”3578[bandcamp id=”3578933776"] hail from Montreal, but the Belongings 7-inch sounds like it belongs in a Gainesville parking lot. All rough hewn melodies and throat shredding vocals, the band paints with the same palette as Hot Water Music and Polar Bear Club, the stuff championed by the neckbeard-and-trucker cap set. Funny as that may seem, we were completely sold on No Bones after we heard their 7-inch’s title track, which could feel right at home on Forever And Counting. High praise, considering it’s Hot Water Music’s best album (don’t even try to argue this with us).
Bummer
[bandcamp id=”377593[bandcamp id=”3775935627"]theaside -->
Like No Bones, it’s easy to hear scraps of Hot Water Music in Bummer’s soaring vocals. But that’s where the comparisons end: Steal the Nights is bright and brassy, bookending their anthemic choruses with shoegaze filtered through a flanger pedal. It’s a peculiar brand of post-something: Sometimes, it feels like Bummer’s a hat tip to British post-punk, but at other times, it feels like they’re channeling ’90s college rock. It’s a blend that, thankfully, ain’t a bummer.
Khan
[bandcamp id=”34111681[bandcamp id=”3411168130"]Khan was the last band Naud recommended, and they’re a straight-ahead blend of crusty d-beat and pummeling hardcore. Still, their 7-inch on Doomsday Machine offers a few left turns: “Sneaky Death,” its A-side, intersperses grind bits with big-time breakdowns, while its B-side, “A Fear of Lust,” twists itself around a near-operatic melody. Grab Khan’s 7-inch as part of a Doomsday Machine box set, featuring other like-minded Quebec acts such as Dark Circles and the Cold North.HARTFORD, Conn. (Tribune News Service) — A former state correction officer and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve was arrested Friday on charges that he collected wages from the state while serving a prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Dennis Dockery, 52, of Bloomfield, was charged Friday with first-degree larceny by defrauding a public community and two counts of second-degree forgery. Dockery, who worked as a correction officer at the Enfield Correctional Institution, was incarcerated for 17 months at Leavenworth after he was found guilty of assaulting a woman in Hamden while on active duty with the Army, according to the warrant for his arrest.
As a military reservist, Dockery was still on the state payroll and entitled to a portion of his state salary while activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He was not entitled to any salary while serving time in a military prison, but forged his orders so that it appeared he was serving at Fort Leavenworth rather than incarcerated, according to the warrant. The state requires employees activated for military service to submit his or her orders to the agency they work for to confirm they are entitled to any wages.
According to the arrest warrant, Dockery fraudulently received $5,182 in salary from the state.
Dockery, who was commanding officer of the New Haven-based 395th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, was called to active duty on April 8, 2009, and remained on active duty until Oct. 19, 2012, when he was released from Leavenworth. He was incarcerated from Sept. 13, 2011, to Oct. 19, 2012, according to the warrant.
He served in Iraq from July 2009 to April 2010. In April 2010, according to Army documents, Dockery, who has been married since 1998, traveled to Hamden to be with a woman with whom he'd developed an online relationship. During the visit, the Army charged, Dockery repeatedly slapped the woman, choked her and pulled her hair back. He then engaged in rough sexual intercourse with her and used degrading language toward her.
After Dockery left, the woman called Hamden police. She told police that her relationship with Dockery was "master slave," according to the state arrest warrant. Hamden police filed second-degree strangulation, third-degree assault and disorderly conduct charges against Dockery.
Because he was on active duty with the Army at the time, Army authorities arrested him on charges of rape of an adult by force and assault. Since the Army was prosecuting Dockery, the state dropped its charges. The Department of Correction apparently was not aware of the arrest.
As the Army investigation continued, authorities learned that Dockery engaged in a sexual relationship with a subordinate in Iraq and an inappropriate relationship with another subordinate, according to Army records.
A military judge convicted Dockery of two counts of adultery, assault by battery, and two counts of engaging in a prohibited relationship. He was sentenced to 17 months of confinement at Leavenworth and thrown out of the Army. He also lost his Army retirement benefits.
After his release from Leavenworth, Dockery returned to Connecticut and went back to work at the Department of Correction. Late last year, human resources staff at the department got a tip about Dockery's prison sentence at Leavenworth and began investigating.
During that investigation, Department of Correction investigators learned that Dockery was receiving pay that he was not entitled to and that he failed to notify the department that he'd been incarcerated, which is against state regulations, according to the warrant.
May 25,the case was turned over to investigators in the Chief State's Attorney's Office, who prepared an arrest warrant that was signed Tuesday. DOC fired Dockery May 27. He was scheduled to retire June 1.
At his arraignment Friday in Superior Court in Hartford, Judge Carl E. Taylor set Dockery's bail at $50,000. He is due back in court Aug. 1.
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The 56th Klamath Salmon Festival is on Saturday, August 18, 2018. The Yurok Tribe puts on the annual Salmon Festival to provide an opportunity for the whole community to come together and celebrate the Klamath River. The family-focused event is free and open to all. The festival typically draws upwards of 3,500 people. The Festival features live music, games for kids and high quality gifts and sweet treats sold by more than a 100 vendors. There is a Classic Car Show, a parade and cultural demonstrations. Fresh Klamath River Salmon, cooked the traditional way, will be served this year. Indian Card Game and Stick Game Tournaments will be going on throughout the day This year, the Salmon Festival weekend is extended to three days of fun activities. It begins on Friday, August 17 at 5:30pm with an event at the Klamath Book Nook. Lyn Risling (Karuk, Yurok, Hupa), an accomplished artist and author, will be reading from her new book, Coyote at the Big Time. The main Salmon Festival events begin on Saturday, August 18 with a Klamath Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Veteran’s Breakfast at 7:30am at the Klamath Community Center, which will be followed by the annual parade at 10:30am. The Cal-Ore River Racers are having a racing competition on Sunday, August 19th on the Lower Klamath River. The Yurok Tribe invites everyone to enjoy all of these community events.
.The Draft Lottery
The National Hockey League Draft Lottery is a weighted system to determine the order of selection for the first 14 picks of the Draft.
The Draft Drawing involves clubs that did not qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, or the clubs that acquired the first-round drafting positions of those non-playoff clubs.
From 1995 through 2012, the league's rules stipulated that the club selected in the Draft Lottery could not move up more than four positions in the draft order. Thus, the only clubs with the opportunity to receive the first overall selection were the five teams with the lowest regular-season point totals, or the clubs that acquired an eligible club's first-round draft pick. No club could move down more than one position as a result of the Draft Lottery.
In 2013 and 2014, the limit of moving up a maximum of four places in the draft order was eliminated and the lottery winner would automatically receive the first overall pick with teams above it in the order moving down one spot.
NHL Draft Lottery History YEAR WORST TEAM LOTTERY WINNER 1ST OVERALL TEAM 1ST OVERALL PICK WINNER'S PICK 1995 Ottawa Los Angeles* Ottawa Bryan Berard Aki Berg 1996 Ottawa Ottawa Ottawa Chris Phillips - 1997 Boston Boston Boston Joe Thornton - 1998 Tampa Bay San Jose# Tampa Bay Vincent Lecavalier - 1999 Tampa Bay Chicago** Atlanta Patrik Stefan Pavel Brendl*** 2000 Atlanta NY Islanders NY Islanders Rick DiPietro - 2001 NY Islanders Atlanta Atlanta Ilya Kovalchuk - 2002 Atlanta Florida^ Columbus Rick Nash - 2003 Carolina Florida^^ Pittsburgh Marc-Andre Fleury - 2004 Pittsburgh Washington Washington Alexander Ovechkin - 2005 - Pittsburgh+ Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby - 2006 St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis Erik Johnson - 2007 Philadelphia Chicago Chicago Patrick Kane - 2008 Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Steven Stamkos - 2009 NY Islanders NY Islanders NY Islanders John Tavares - 2010 Edmonton Edmonton Edmonton Taylor Hall - 2011 Edmonton New Jersey++ Edmonton Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Adam Larsson 2012 Columbus Edmonton Edmonton Nail Yakupov - 2013 Florida Colorado Colorado Nathan MacKinnon - 2014 Buffalo Florida Florida Aaron Ekblad -
* - Los Angeles could only move up a maximum of four spots (moved from 7th to 3rd)
# - San Jose was selected in the 1998 drawing, but Tampa Bay held the right to swap first round picks with the Sharks and exercised that right to go to first.
** - Chicago could only move up a maximum of four spots (moved from 8th to 4th)
*** - NY Rangers obtained Chicago's pick in a trade (via Vancouver and Tampa Bay). The Rangers selected RW Pavel Brendl fourth overall.
^ - Florida traded first overall pick to Columbus
^^ - Florida traded first overall pick to Pittsburgh
+ - NHL lockout cancelled 2004-05 season, all 30 teams were entered
++ - New Jersey could only move up a maximum of four spots (moved from 8th to 4th)A graduation at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. (John Kelly/The Washington Post)
These days, university presidents tend to have very few “academic” responsibilities. Academic functions are typically delegated to the provost and other university officials, while the president schmoozes and hobnobs with donors, politicians and other individuals who affect the university’s bottom line.
Some university presidents like to speak out on current issues, especially those related to higher education. Here, it seems to me, they have one primary responsibility — to model the best values of a liberal (in the broad sense of the term) education by being honest, civil and respectful of dissent. Indeed, if university presidents can’t adhere to these values, they should either not be presidents or keep their mouths shut.
[interstitial_link url="http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/harvard-students-protest-for-safe-spaces-on-campus/2016/05/09/f77928aa-1645-11e6-971a-dadf9ab18869_video.html"]Watch: Harvard students protest for ‘safe spaces’ on campus[/interstitial_link]
Unfortunately, in a recent convocation speech to new Northwestern University students, President Morton Schapiro utterly failed to meet even the minimum standards of appropriate discourse. According to a report in the Daily Northwestern, which a university representative tells me is “accurate from what I recall,” Schapiro called people who deny the existence of microaggressions “idiots.” He also stated that people who think students “shouldn’t be warned to prepare yourself psychologically” for “potentially traumatic content, such as the Holocaust or lynching of black people,” are “lunatics.”
First, I don’t think anyone denies the existence of what have come to be known as “microaggressions.” But many reasonable people believe (a) that it’s disingenuous or harmful to call an unintentionally insensitive comment an “aggression” of any sort; (b) the concept of microaggression is being used not to encourage cross-cultural understanding, but to serve a particular, invariably left-wing political agenda; and (c) related to (b), the concept of microaggression is applied selectively so that it does not encompass even intentional hostility to Christians, conservatives, “Zionists” and others. Schapiro thus framed the debate dishonestly and then compounded that failure by calling those who dissent from left-wing campus orthodoxy “idiots.”
[interstitial_link url="http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/editorial/wesleyan-students-need-a-class-in-free-speech/2015/10/22/35183d66-7909-11e5-a5e2-40d6b2ad18dd_video.html"]Watch: Wesleyan students need a class in free speech[/interstitial_link]
Regarding trigger warnings, without getting into a detailed discussion of under what circumstances students should be warned of potentially traumatic course content, it’s hardly “lunacy” to expect adults (and college students are adults) to generally be able to confront the horrors of human history without constant warnings of traumatic content. After all, the United States, like other nations, sends 18-year-olds off to war to experience true horrors firsthand, so it’s a bit strange to think that merely hearing or reading about what other people experienced is too much for a typical college student to handle. Indeed, as a product of Jewish day schools, my education even in early elementary school was saturated with the traumas of Jewish history, including the Holocaust, pogroms, the Inquisition, the Judean revolts against Rome and Rome’s subsequent vengeance, and so on. I can’t say for sure how this affected our psyche (if at all), but my classmates and I managed to get through the school day without trigger warnings and without being “triggered.” That doesn’t mean trigger warnings for college students are always a bad idea. But “lunacy” to generally oppose them?
Schapiro also addressed the issue of campus “safe spaces.” Once again, instead of addressing a legitimate concern — that the concept of “safe spaces” is being used to insulate ideologically driven students from opinions they disagree with — Schapiro chose to insult critics of safe spaces, suggesting they are simply rich and insensitive to racial injustice: “The people who decry safe spaces do it from their segregated housing places, from their jobs without diversity — they do it from their country clubs,” Schapiro said. “It just drives me nuts.”
As I said, university presidents who can’t be honest, civil and respectful of dissent either should keep their mouths shut or shouldn’t be presidents. At the very least, Schapiro should publicly apologize. A resignation would not be disproportionate.PYONGYANG—Following reports earlier this morning that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea successfully conducted its third nuclear test, sources confirmed that every nation on the planet has surrendered to the mighty East Asian dictatorship.
Less than 24 hours after news of North Korea’s detonation of an atomic bomb at a test site near the Chinese border, humbled representatives from around the globe gathered before the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang to concede defeat to North Korea and offer their services to Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and his indomitable empire.
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“In the face of this immense show of military might, our choice has become clear: surrender now or be instantly annihilated,” U.S. President Barack Obama said as he joined United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and all other world leaders in kneeling and groveling before the Dear Leader. “At this point, we cannot resist the will of the North Korean dominion, nor would we want to. Our defeated nations and the people therein are hereby property of our Noble Leader, who henceforth may do with them as he wishes.”
“May the divinely ordained dynasty endure for 1,000 years!” Obama added.
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According to sources worldwide, following the total and unyielding capitulation of Russia, China, South Korea, and the rest of Earth’s nearly 200 sovereignties to North Korea, the newly subjugated nations have already begun the process of relinquishing their governments, militaries, cultural identities, and media outlets to the all-powerful autocracy.
Additionally, sources confirmed the global surrender has been expedited through the immediate occupation of all centers of government by thousands of North Korean diplomats, who are overseeing the voluntary turnover of all property—including munitions, gold bullion, and food—to the People’s Republic, which in the future may dole them out to its recently acquired territories as it deems appropriate.
“The United States and the rest of the world looks forward to devoting its resources and manpower to the great cultural and political project of our new North Korean rulers,” said Obama, as halfway around the world a North Korean flag was raised above the newly relinquished U.S. Capitol building. “It is a shame that it took this latest nuclear test to reveal our foolhardiness in attempting to resist the will of the mighty North Korean empire. Our only hope is that the great People’s Republic will forgive our past arrogance and take pity on its poor subjects. Your might and power truly know no equal, Dear Leader.”
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When reached for comment Tuesday, the Global Supreme Leader himself was less conciliatory.
“The surrender of North Korea’s global enemies was an inevitability that our adversaries were foolish to delay,” Kim said. “In the coming weeks, the world’s people will learn firsthand the dear price of their resistance.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following the complete and utter surrender of the world’s inferior peoples to North Korea, The Onion would like to reaffirm its decades-long loyalty to the People’s Republic. As the Supreme Leader is no doubt aware, The Onion has secretly financed the Korean Workers’ Party since its inception, and we are proud at last to see the Powerful and Prosperous Nation take its rightful place. Long may North Korea reign, and death and dishonor to any who hope to oppose this mighty nation.by Brett Stevens on March 25, 2015
In AD 2015, government has failed. All of human innovation in politics since the middle ages has turned into a dysfunctional bureaucracy which borrows money it can never pay back, creates social chaos and worst of all, seems to endanger the best among us while letting the worst run unchecked.
I submit a modest proposal: this year, let us free ourselves from Society.
For too long we have suffered under the notion that Society can tell us what to do, for our best interests. The result is that all of us are forced into the same institutional programs that not only fail to achieve the results they intend, but create total havoc in their wake.
Instead, let us combine the best traditions of the past: anarchy, or total independence from the plans of others, and monarchy, or the tradition of picking our best leaders on the basis of their leadership ability alone.
Leadership is a complex thing. It shows up at every level of humanity and consists of the ability to make decisions intelligently while considering all that needs to be considered. Very few do it well, which is why most of human activity is disorganized and mediocre. To be a good leader, one must be able to balance many competing needs in the mind and to think of the long-term as well as the short-term. Bad leaders create rigid rules that are essentially knee-jerk reactions, but good leaders plan to bring out the best possible outcome and then keep improving on it incrementally through a process the Japanese call kaizen.
I propose a simple revolution in how we lead ourselves:
Restore the Althing. The Althing was the Scandinavian parliament which functioned in a way different than any other government: members got together and argued a point to its conclusion. There was no pulling away early and relying on a mechanism, like a vote, to solve what was fundamentally a need to gain clarity. Local communities sent their leaders — usually aristocrats — to the Althing, and chose those leaders however the local community felt was necessary.
The Althing was the Scandinavian parliament which functioned in a way different than any other government: members got together and argued a point to its conclusion. There was no pulling away early and relying on a mechanism, like a vote, to solve what was fundamentally a need to gain clarity. Local communities sent their leaders — usually aristocrats — to the Althing, and chose those leaders however the local community felt was necessary. Get rid of all non-collective benefits. Government can bribe its citizens when it benefits them using the collected wealth of the group; for this reason, any such action should be verboten. Benefits that help us all, like repairing infrastructure or having an army, are good and fine; any act which benefits only a specific group of citizens is wrong, no matter how pitiable that group may be.
Government can bribe its citizens when it benefits them using the collected wealth of the group; for this reason, any such action should be verboten. Benefits that help us all, like repairing infrastructure or having an army, are good and fine; any act which benefits only a specific group of citizens is wrong, no matter how pitiable that group may be. Replace laws with courts. One reason our courts are so abusive is that they have been displaced from their original function. We have thousands if not millions of criminal laws and crime is rising, although under-reported. Instead of trying to use laws, let people come into the courts and say, “X person did Y thing to me, causing Z damage.” Let them state their case in plain language and show the harm. Laws, under the guise of addressing problems, mostly just restrict what can be made illegal. Instead, make all harm a cause of bringing someone into court. Why is lying legal? Why is cheating legal? Let people have real justice, instead of this elaborate cat-and-mouse game of laws.
One reason our courts are so abusive is that they have been displaced from their original function. We have thousands if not millions of criminal laws and crime is rising, although under-reported. Instead of trying to use laws, let people come into the courts and say, “X person did Y thing to me, causing Z damage.” Let them state their case in plain language and show the harm. Laws, under the guise of addressing problems, mostly just restrict what can be made illegal. Instead, make all harm a cause of bringing someone into court. Why is lying legal? Why is cheating legal? Let people have real justice, instead of this elaborate cat-and-mouse game of laws. Wise elders. Every local area needs some leader in charge, but also needs its memory and judgment facility, which is the elders of the society. These are people who have done notable things and are now retired, but still have all of the knowledge of what they have learned over their long lives. Get a group of these together to inform on decisions, offer advice, and listen to citizens’ general complaints.
Every local area needs some leader in charge, but also needs its memory and judgment facility, which is the elders of the society. These are people who have done notable things and are now retired, but still have all of the knowledge of what they have learned over their long lives. Get a group of these together to inform on decisions, offer advice, and listen to citizens’ general complaints. We’re not all in this together. Allow communities to refuse membership to anyone they want. This way, people who contribute nothing cannot simply move wherever they want and begin taking what others have made. Instead of wasting billions of dollars moving people around, we can let those people who are doing the right thing get away from people who are not, whether for political, social, criminal or economic reasons. Allow natural selection to take her course and allow people to group together with others like them. There will be a community for everyone, and we will see how well those work out.
You will note that the above is not a system. Systems exist when we decide it is too hard to choose what is correct, or choose the best people to rule us, and so instead we set up a whole bunch of rules and procedures to do it for us. This makes the same mistake as those who confuse cruise control with an autopilot, in that systems help society keep the same pace but do not give it guidance.
This is more than even a change of government; it is an attitude shift toward the method of government. Instead of forced collaboration, it is willing cooperation, with those who can work together toward the good able to separate themselves from the rest. The rest must then take responsibility for their own futures and figure it out or perish. As human quality has plummeted during the past two centuries, this fixes that problem — yet another of the many that government cannot solve.
The real problem that we face in governing ourselves is that “systems” favor wishful thinking, or us deciding what “should” be true and voting for that instead of a realistic response. Realism requires us to both be aware of our world, and to have a goal other than the immediate, like an aspiration or transcendent purpose. Most people are afraid of that choice because it defines them by quality and ability, and there is no faking it. Good people choose good things in any of a million varieties, while bad people choose infinite variations of the same actual goals, which are always parasitic, perverse or deceptively predatory. These people deny life itself, and rage against it, desiring power so that they can alter in appearance the reality that offends them, and from that, conclude that they were right all along. This giant confirmation bias self-ratifying circle is what lies behind “progress,” which is the idea of pretending that reality is other than it is so that humans feel comfortable because they are no longer challenged to rise above what they are. “Progress” is a path to doom because in the process of denying appearances in reality, it also denies the inherent patterns of reality, and sets itself up for inevitable collision when those manifest in ways that conflict with progressive behavior.
What is most different about this modest proposal is that it does not center on method, or ways we can keep ourselves in line without purpose, but in the discovery of purpose. We do not need systems, dogmas, ideologies and symbolic victories. We need to concentrate on reality and the decisions we make within it, fully aware that doing so will force us to decide what we really want out of life and that this will separate us into different striations based on our degree of aspiration. And yet, this allows us to be free of the parasite of Society while encouraging the best among us so that our future is one of improvement, not “progress.”
Tags: althing, civilization, crowdism, government, kaizen, society
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.DETROIT -- Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Jarome Iginla were Boston's most consistent line during the regular season, but they haven't been at their best in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It took that trio 11 periods against the Detroit Red Wings to finally produce offensively in a big moment. The Bruins erased a two-goal deficit and finished with a 3-2 overtime win to take a 3-1 series lead over the Red Wings. Lucic, who scored a goal in Boston's 4-1 win in Game 2, notched the game-tying goal on Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena, before Iginla netted the game-winning tally at 13:32 of overtime.
That line produced the game winner by inflicting its force and ability against the Red Wings. Iginla and Krejci won the puck battles in the corners and along the wall, while Lucic created havoc in front.
Jarome Iginla celebrates his overtime goal to beat the Red Wings in Game 4. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Prior to Thursday's win, Boston's top line had combined for only three points in the first three games of this series. Iginla had two assists and Lucic the one goal. Krejci was held pointless. After the overtime victory, all three were pleased with the way they were able to bounce back and finally contribute. It was the type of strong finishing performance that can jump-start more offense.
"I think so and I hope so," Iginla said. "It felt good. It was a tough start. They were good and we're battling against [Pavel] Datsyuk and [Henrik] Zetterberg. They're good and they're going to get chances and they got a goal against us, but as a line it felt good to kind of keep working through it."
In Game 4, the Bruins' top trio had a tough first period and was on the ice for Detroit's second goal of the game. Their line was being outworked and outplayed until Lucic led the charge.
Maybe the chants of "Lucic sucks" got him going.
The Bruins opened the third period trailing by a goal, but were able to tie the game at 2-2 when Lucic scored his second of this series at 1:15. While his linemates were changing on the fly, Lucic stayed on the ice and broke to the net as teammate Carl Soderberg chased down the puck in the Detroit zone. He fed Lucic, who beat Red Wings goalie Jonas Gustavsson to the 5-hole.
"As a line, as far as production goes, it definitely hasn't been the best series for us, but going into the third period, we talked about being better and trying to impose our will and try to take the game over," Lucic said. "Obviously Carl makes a really good play to me in front of the net there and then Iggy with a big tip in overtime to get the game-winning goal."
In the Bruins' locker room during the second intermission, Lucic told his teammates to stay calm and make sure Detroit didn't score the game's next goal. It was clear at the start of the third that Lucic was on a mission. He was skating stronger and winning battles.
"He did a great job," said Bruins forward Brad Marchand. "He's one of our big leaders and he comes up big in big situations. Tonight, he got a huge goal there to tie it up. He's a force and a great guy to have on our team."#ReleaseTheCalico
We’re proud to announce the release of Project Calico 2.1. This version brings with it numerous features to make dynamically scaling and securing your network even easier. From enhancements to the Docker plugin to improved IP and Host Protection policies, 2.1 promises even more versatility, as well as significant performance benefits.
Here are just some of our favorite 2.1 enhancements:
• Improved IP Auto-Detection Options
To make networking even easier, the calicoctl command line took, and |
north of the building, and these critically over-steepened slopes are anticipated to fall back... in the next several days,” Cully told the Chronicle.
This isn’t the first time Pacifica residents have dealt with evacuations due to erosion. In 1998, El Nino storms resulted in one home collapsing into the sea, and others demolished before they followed suit, CBS reported.
Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1RKPMAdAnthem to Beauty Anthem to Beauty DVD cover Directed by Jeremy Marre Starring Grateful Dead Edited by Phil McDonald Distributed by Rhino Home Video Release date January 27, 1988 ( )
Running time 75 minutes Language English
Anthem to Beauty is a music documentary about the making of the Grateful Dead albums Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty. It originally aired in a somewhat shortened version in 1997 as part of the television series Classic Albums. It was released on VHS video tape in 1998 and on DVD in 1999, with a running time of 1 hour 15 minutes.[1][2][3]
Synopsis [ edit ]
The video combines footage from the early years of the Grateful Dead with 1997 interviews of former band members and associates. Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bob Weir, Robert Hunter, and David Grisman, among others, discuss the creation of 1968's experimental, psychedelic Anthem of the Sun and 1970's folk-rock classic American Beauty. They also listen to and analyze the original master recordings for the albums, and talk about being in (or working with) the Grateful Dead at that time. Recording engineer Stephen Barncard rolls the original master tape and solos tracks, recalling the recording sessions and highlighting specific moments.[4][5]
Keyboardist Tom Constanten discusses the artificiality of appearing on Hugh Hefner's show Playboy After Dark. David Grisman plays his full version of the mandolin part for Ripple, as he had intended.
Track listing [ edit ]
The track listing for the DVD release is:[6]
Credits [ edit ]
Jeremy Marre – director
Nick de Grunwald, Bous de Jong – executive producers
Caroline Thomas – series associate producer
Chips Chipperfield – series consultant
Terry Shand, Geoff Kempin – executive producers for Castle Music Pictures
Phil McDonald – editor
Joel Wykeham – series production manager
Mike Shoring – sound recordist
Richard Gibb, Mike Elwell – camera
David Gans – consultantFinancial companies shed 150,000 jobs last year and more than 100,000 so far this year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a national job placement company. Yet amid the downturn, applications to graduate business schools rose this year, as they have in other periods of uncertainty.
Adam Hallowell, 20, an economics major at Harvard, said his classmates were not overly upset by the market because they were prepared to change direction. “Mine is a generation that’s been told from high school onward, ‘You’re going to change careers five or six times throughout the course of your life,’ ” he said. Even as the Dow plunged day after day, Mr. Hallowell said the mood on campus had not changed, adding that “most students don’t personally have stock portfolios and 401(k) plans yet, which is probably why they aren’t very concerned.”
This resilience has surprised Charissa Asbury, who runs a program at Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education for graduates who want to go to business school. Ms. Asbury said she expected to see a panic among her students. Many were working on Wall Street; some had lost their jobs.
“I wondered if they would say, ‘Maybe this isn’t the time; I don’t want to spend the money if the salary is not going to be there,’ ” she said. “But instead they’re even more interested in finding exactly what they need to get into a top business school. Everyone’s worried about their prospects, but it’s translated into, ‘How do we get better credentials?’ ”
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She added, “Now they feel, if they want to go to business school, they need to be from one of the top ones.”
Even at Harvard, students were more attentive at sessions and résumé round tables, said Robin Mount, interim director of career services. In previous years, they often spent these sessions sending text messages; this year, the sessions have been purposeful and heavily attended. Ms. Mount said she could have heard a pin drop.
Beverly Principal, assistant director of employment services at Stanford, said she had already seen a reduction in campus recruitment by banks, though a spokeswoman at J. P. Morgan Chase said it would continue recruiting at target universities throughout the semester.
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When students do receive offers, they come under more scrutiny, before and after hiring, said Ronald Storch, a partner at Marcum and Kliegman, a large accounting firm. “A couple years ago there was too much work and not enough bodies,” Mr. Storch said. “We were hiring just to get bodies, and people could bounce from firm to firm. Now they’re not getting the same opportunities.”
Jian Yang, 25, who is in his second year at the University of Chicago’s graduate business school, recently considered his prospects in this new climate. Mr. Yang said he had friends who had lost jobs or taken internships at Lehman and Bear Stearns expecting to land full-time jobs, only to watch the companies fail. He expects to graduate with $200,000 in student debt.
“It’s definitely impacting the mood of the student body,” Mr. Yang said. “We’re all watching the news every day.” Where students in past years set their course on a single field, like investment banking, now they are looking in several areas to improve their chances, he said.
But Mr. Yang said he was not reconsidering his career path because he felt there would still be good jobs available to people like him, who come from top schools and are willing to work abroad. He said he and his friends had not changed their lifestyles, either. “Life kind of goes on,” he said.
“It’s almost a blessing to be in school while the economy is down; it’s a shelter,” Mr. Yang added. “So in one way I feel unlucky, because I missed the boom, but in another way I’m lucky. It’s a good way to spend three years of downturn.”
In a June poll by the Rockefeller Foundation, people ages 18 to 29 were more pessimistic about the economy than any other age group, with half saying that America was a better place in the 1990s and would continue to decline. But they did not apply this pessimism to themselves; they were most likely to say that if they work hard and play by the rules, they will be able to achieve the American Dream.
John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said that even as investment banking suffered, opportunities remained in health care, energy, international business and consulting. “It’ll be interesting to see if the top graduates flow to other industries,” Mr. Challenger said. “It remains to be seen whether we’ll see an increase in idealism or public service like we did after 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina.”
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For Tina Phoolka, 28, a graduate business student at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., the new reality means staying in school, even after she earns her M.B.A.
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“I thought I was going to get a $100,000-plus job and everything would be great, with lots of opportunities,” Ms. Phoolka said. “Now I’m wondering if I should extend my graduation date, enroll in a Ph.D. program or get a dual degree. I’ll probably study more or look for a job in another country.”
For those who are out of school, the changes in the horizon have been more immediate.
When Jon Cifuentes, 28, landed a job at Smith Barney out of college, he believed that within three years, he would be making more than $100,000 a year, reaping ever larger bonuses.
Then this May, after two job changes, Mr. Cifuentes lost his job in a large layoff at Nomura, an investment bank based in Asia, leaving him with a $3,000 mortgage payment and a case of disillusionment.
After a summer of working part time in his father’s contracting business, Mr. Cifuentes now has a temporary job at Macquarie Capital Partners and is finishing his master’s degree in economics. He and his wife moved into an apartment owned by his sister; they can rent theirs out.
“Compared to some friends I used to work with, I’m doing well,” Mr. Cifuentes said. “Some guys are in their mid-40s, with a wife, kids, mortgage and a lot of bills. They’re in a much worse spot.”
Jonathan Miller, 24, who joined a midmarket investment bank in July 2007, just before the market started to fall, has also tasted the new reality. Mr. Miller had majored in philosophy and English but was drawn to banking in his senior year by the prospect of a high salary and “something with sparkle and shine” for his résumé, he said.
“When I got the job,” Mr. Miller said, “the recruiter told me, just don’t screw up and you’ll do well.” But he and his team were laid off last month — all now scrambling for work, along with thousands of others.
Mr. Miller said he thought his skills and contacts would pull him through the downturn. Asked what he was doing with the 12 to 14 hours a day he previously spent at his job, he said: “Looking for work. I spend nine hours a day on the phone, writing e-mails, talking to headhunters. You need to be aggressive and focused. My prospects aren’t terrible.”
He said if he did not find a job in the next few months, he would consider graduate school or a new field of work.
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“I don’t feel cheated,” Mr. Miller said. “But it’s unfortunate that by lack of timing I missed it by a year or two.”January 10, 2016
A 136,000 square foot Walmart Supercentre store will form Erin Mills Town Centre's third anchor, along with the existing Hudson's Bay and Sears stores. The Walmart Supercentre will offer groceries in addition to electronics, home decor and apparel - a one stop shopping destination dedicated to everyday low prices. Walmart is expected to open sometime in 2016 upon completion of renovations and will employ approximately 250 associates.
"It's all part of the 'wow' factor of the fabulous new design, comments Nance MacDonald, Erin Mills Town Centre's Vice President. Shoppers are discovering a great selection of retail favourites, spectacular views and a multitude of food court choices in an upscale luxury setting. Its size is seen as an advantage as customers want a manageable, convenient shopping trip with ease of parking and the ability to find their way around easier. We are also proud to be a place that embraces the community."Unity Editor Download Assistant
Component Installers Windows
Component Installers Mac
We are happy to announce Unity 2017.1.1p3. The release notes and the corresponding issue tracker link for issues fixed in this release are as shown below.
As always, patch releases are recommended only for users affected by those bugs fixed in that patch.
Improvements
2D: Sprite atlas packing will now spend less time reconciling sprite from cache atlas. Previously this was slow, especially in a new editor session.
Changes
2D: Sprite atlas packing will now cancel and return an error if there exist sprite(s) with size larger than the pre-determined atlas max size.
Fixes
(937147, 946596, 937126, 946595) - 2D : Editing 2D primitive asset no longer result error in console.
(935087) - Animation : Fixed alpha channel being animated when in linear color mode.
(945292) - Animation : Fixed a case where sprite and material reference were not animatable at the same time in the SpriteRenderer.
(945035) - Animation : Fixed a case where transition between animations makes GetIKRotation and GetIKPosition returned incorrect value.
(921652, 941913) - Build pipeline : Fixed the behaviour of the build process so that all the scripts get recompiled if the build process fails.
(941177) - Editor : Fixed prefab preview displaying all game objects in each individual game object preview during multi-selection.
(none) - Editor : Don't give fatal error on plugin importer query for nonexistent platform
(943905) - Editor : Fixed sprite preview generation.
(936062, 942636) - Editor : Fixed modifiers being discarded when pressing hotkey.
(829193) - Graphics : Fixed occlusion culling of shadows within the camera sightline.
(899729, 925179) - Graphics : Changing worldPos in gles2 to be fp32.
(950945, 950947) - Graphics : Metal: Eliminate z-fighting artifacts on certain devices.
(947420) - IL2CPP : Implemented a previously unimplemented internal call method to support System.Environment.HashShutDownStarted property.
(944939) - IL2CPP : Allow SetSocketOption to work properly for add membership and remove membership with IPv6.
(none) - IL2CPP : Fixed calling System.Collections.Generic.IList 1 methods on native objects that implement Windows.Foundation.Collections.IVector 1 interface and calling Windows.Foundation.Collections.IVector 1 methods on managed objects that implement System.Collections.Generic.IList 1 interface.
1 interface and calling Windows.Foundation.Collections.IVector 1 interface. (944462) - iOS : Fixed a occasional crash on iOS when using UnityWebRequest.
(901096) - Particles : Fixed a crash when script changes quality level at runtime while Shuriken is active.
(936079) - Timeline : Fixed a crash with playable director holding a reference to a non-playable asset.
(936047) - Timeline : Fixed preview mode on humanoid root and custom tracks.
(946442) - UI : Fixed memory leak caused by profiler.
(936801) - UnityWebRequest : Fixed a possible freeze on iOS, when running multiple UnityWebRequests with custom download handler scripts.
(none) - UnityWebRequest : Fixed early availability of status code when UnityWebRequest was still running.
(none) - UnityWebRequest : Ensure that headers are available in UnityWebRequest only after all of them are received.
(none) - UnityWebRequest : Fixed possible issues aborting UnityWebRequest when using a custom download handler script.
(899259) - VR : Fixed an assert IsMatrixValid (matrix) when camera's target eye was set to left or right.
when camera's target eye was set to left or right. (920106, 930441) - VR : Fixed an issue were the right eye was not rendering with Single Pass rendering and camera had Allow HDR enabled.
(918916, 943111) - VR : Fixed an issue whereby CommandBuffer.Blit did not work when used in CameraEvent.AfterEverything.
(none) - VR : Improved rendering performance of Daydream and Gear VR apps.
(949510, 950758) - VR : Fixed a flickering image on Oculus when MSAA and HDR are disabled.
Revision: 929150d2fa14A cupping procedure
Photo by Keith Brofsky/Digital Vision.
The military uses some of the most technologically sophisticated machinery and innovative medical techniques in history. But a disturbing current of pseudoscience in the military is wasting money, perpetuating myths, and putting our troops in danger. I am a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, so this hits close to home. An organization I was once proud to belong to has become a source of embarrassment.*
An ongoing DoD failure is the infiltration of quackery into military medicine. It’s not as dangerous to our troops as a bomb detector that can’t detect bombs, but it’s wasting tax dollars and medical resources on unscientific mumbo-jumbo that “works” only as a placebo. In some cases, it is demonstrably harmful.
Acupuncture is based on a mythical, nebulous energy called qi that has never been detected, even though scientific instruments are capable of measuring quantum energies at the subatomic level. It is said to flow through hypothetical meridians and to be altered by sticking needles into hypothetical acupuncture points. Originally, there were 360 acupuncture points, corresponding to the days of the year, which is not surprising since the idea grew out of astrology. Now so many acupoints have been described that one wag suggested there was no place left on the skin that wasn’t an acupuncture point in someone’s system.
Many proponents of acupuncture reject the esoteric explanations but believe acupuncture has a real physiological effect. Various mechanisms have been proposed, but none is convincing. Needling can release pain-killing endorphins in the brain, but that’s a nonspecific effect: Placebo pills do the same thing, and just throwing a stick for a dog releases endorphins in the dog’s brain.
We don’t need to know how it works to know if it works. Acupuncture has been tested repeatedly and found wanting. Studies have shown that it doesn’t matter where you stick the needles, and it doesn’t matter whether you pierce the skin. Stimulating intact skin with toothpicks or electricity works just as well. The crucial factor seems to be whether patients believe they are getting acupuncture.
The claimed benefits of acupuncture range from treating infertility to aiding smoking cessation, but the evidence argues against its usefulness for anything but easing pain and possibly nausea. A recent comprehensive review of the literature by Edzard Ernst found little evidence that acupuncture is even truly effective for pain. He also found 95 published cases of serious adverse effects, including death. There is a double standard here: The quality of evidence offered to support acupuncture would not pass muster for a proposed prescription drug.
Some acupuncturists have accepted that the evidence is lacking and are now saying: “Maybe it’s just a placebo, but let’s use it anyway. Placebos are good.” But placebos amount to lying to the patient. Surely our troops deserve better.
The Air Force is training its doctors in “battlefield acupuncture,” mainly due to the efforts of one man, Col. Richard Niemtzow. He reports that there are 40 physicians practicing acupuncture in the military, and that he and one other practice it full-time. He teaches ear acupuncture, a modern variant invented in 1957 by Paul Nogier, a French doctor. Nogier imagined that the external ear looked something like a fetus curled up in the womb. He imagined that every part of the body was represented on the auricle, the outer part of the ear, and that stimulating points on this homunculus could affect distant corresponding organs. (This kind of thinking was parodied in the BMJ in John McLachlan’s butt reflexology spoof, in which he pretended to have found that all parts of the body were represented on the buttocks and that inserting needles there was more effective than using the traditional acupuncture points.) Niemtzow has further refined ear acupuncture to five points on the ear stimulated with short needles that fit under a helmet. He has published no credible clinical research to show that this works.
The Navy offers a training course for physicians that was enthusiastically described by Capt. Elwood Hopkins in a three-part article for Navy Medicine Live. It is a sad account of a doctor being led down the garden path by a charismatic acupuncturist. The teacher offered biased information, and the student succumbed to a series of logical fallacies, allowing himself to be seduced by anecdotal evidence.
It can’t be stressed often enough that the plural of anecdote is not data. Uncontrolled observations usually lead us astray. Observing that some number out of 1,000 patients improved with acupuncture is meaningless unless we know how many would have improved without it. Hopkins admits that some patients don’t respond, saying it is “never clear why.” I think I can guess why.
The Army has been using acupuncture to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, despite a lack of evidence that it works. And now it is hiring acupuncturists for its pain clinic at Fort Sam Houston at an annual salary of $68,809 to $89,450. The job description says the candidate will “offer a full array of the most current and emerging evidenced based approaches in integrative medicine for patients with acute and chronic pain who have not responded well to conventional treatment modalities.”
One could argue that acupuncturists have nothing “evidence-based” to offer in the first place, but what is really alarming are the duties listed for the position. They include things acupuncturists are clearly not trained to do, like prescribing orthotics and braces and counseling patients on nutrition. Worse, the duties include providing cupping, moxibustion, and visualization techniques, none of which are effective and two of which directly injure patients. Cupping is the application of glass bulbs filled with heated air to the skin. It creates a vacuum as the air cools, sucking up wads of skin into the bulbs and leaving ugly bruises. Moxibustion involves burning mugwort on or near the skin and can cause burns and permanent scars (and does so deliberately in some forms of moxibustion).
The DoD is not only wasting tax dollars but is also condoning deliberate injuries to the skin of military patients under the fiction of medical treatment. At Change.org there is a petition begging Congress to put a stop to this nonsense.
In this modern era, we should be looking at the best science, not reverting to anecdotal evidence and pre-scientific belief systems. We should be looking at comparative effectiveness and evidence-based treatments and ways to reduce costs. The adoption of acupuncture by military medicine is a step backward. But with strong advocates of alternative medicine on both sides of the aisle, we’re not likely to see changes any time soon.
Correction, Aug. 21, 2012: This article originally referred to the U.S. military using a dowsing rod technology and conflated that device, called ADE 651, with an unreliable bomb-sniffing technology, called RedX. The U.S. military did not use the dowsing rod technology, although the Iraqi military did. The U.S. did fund and use the RedX sniffers. The paragraph has been removed. (Return to the top of the article.)Andrew: but there was a way for NBs to vote that there was not enough time for them, etc. It is the normal vote.
A more-than-absolute majority of NBs participating decided that there *was* enough time, and so on. They voted yes.
At the end of the day, a lot of the objections come down to some NBs having a different opinion on the standard (and the particular process) than other NBs. *That happens all the time* though usually without the publicity machine and end-of-the-world grandiosity. People are playing this as ISO Secretariat against the world, but the world voted, in the glare of publicity: now it may be that SA, China, India and Ven did not have enough time to figure out what was going on and what to vote (and they insiste that therefore no other NB could have either) or they think their arguments are so compelling that any lack of agreement by other NBs shows that the NBs were somehow duped or shielded from the opposing view, but that is simply not their call to make. NBs decide, and the Secretariat has no right to overturn the NBs clear vote: they have to server the NBs. Remember that ISO voting rules are some of the strongest on any standards body: not simple majority, not absolute majority, but stronger than that with accept and reject quotas.
If you don't like the idea of there being a forum where each National Body has the same vote and there should be more consideration enfranchising based on economic size, or non-NB stakeholders, then JTC1 is not the body for you. (In fact, the person who has most seriously argued that smaller economies should have less votes and that primary stakeholders should have more involvement is Jan van der Belt, who is actually a lovely man: I disagree with him quite strongly on this.) Actually, ISO has being trying to position itself in recent years as more like a Senate: a house of review which looks at standards from angles different from the stakeholder-driven consortia and committees who originate the standards.
For example, you might decide to have population-based voting, for example an extra vote for every 100 million population. Or GDP-based voting. That would then encourage the formation of voting blocks and proxies. It sounds like a step sideways, at best, and probably a step backwards. I believe it is really important for there to be an international standards body where ultimate voting does not allow direct voting by stakeholders: all the systems where there is direct voting by stakeholders are suspect and deficient w.r.t. susceptibility to collusion and domination just on procedural grounds.
I don't know if you know the term "Pilgerism". It was coined about a journalist John Pilger, a fellow Australian, and it is defined as "presenting information in the most sensational way in support of a pre-dedetermined position". That is what I see a lot of. People start off with the position "Oh, of course it is impossible for OOXML to become a standard". And "It is impossible for any changes to be made". And it is impossible for MS to do anything without it therefore being bad. And so with many other impossibilities. Then when the impossible happens, rather than saying "oh. we were wrong by a mile" and "gosh the echo chamber was so strong we only heard our own voice repeated", we get "Oh, there must be corruption and folly, it is the only explanation."
But the simpler explanation is that there was a vigorous exchange of views, changes were made, and enough NBs were convinced. (However, as I have said before, I do think there should have been more NBs abstaining on both sides, based on their reasons. For example, if a NB loses confidence with its technical committee for having biased views, or if an NB considers it did not have enough time to satisfactorily review, both those should have resulted in abstentions IMHO.)
Cheers
Rick JelliffeNicole Maines, a teenager who made history earlier this year in a landmark transgender rights case, has been named one of Glamour magazine's 50 inspiring women of the year. Nicole, who is 17, was chosen to represent the state of Maine in the series "Hometown Heroes: 50 Phenomenal Women of the Year Who Are Making a Difference."
The teen has received national attention for her fight to allow transgender students the right to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. When Nicole was in fifth grade, her public school told her she was not allowed to use the girls' bathroom and had to use the staff bathroom instead. Nicole, who was assigned male at birth but has identified as female since she was as young as 2, filed a discrimination lawsuit with her family and the Maine Human Rights Commission.
This February, five years after the suit was originally filed, Maine’s Supreme Court ruled that Nicole's rights had been violated under the state's Human Rights Act, marking a major victory for transgender rights in the U.S. It was the first time a state court ruled it unlawful to deny transgender students access to the bathroom of the gender they identify with.
On Monday, Glamour posted its list of "50 Phenomenal Women of the Year," which included Nicole in the Maine spot.
"It's an honor to be recognized with this title," Nicole wrote to The Huffington Post on Tuesday. "I'm so glad that all the work that my family and I are doing is yielding positive results and making actual change! I hope that this will lead other youth to speak up in their communities and advocate for themselves and what they believe in."
Her parents, Wayne and Kelly, also released a statement.
"Nicole is honored to be recognized as one of the nation’s 50 Phenomenal Women in Glamour magazine. Representing the State of Maine in this way is a memory she will always treasure, and keeps her moving forward in her quest for equality," the Maines' statement reads. "She hopes that this recognition will convince other young women in Maine and across the nation to advocate for change. As her parents we are very proud of her strength, commitment and courage."
Nicole told Glamour that she was proud her case could set a precedent for the rights of transgender students.
"They can look at what happened in Maine and see [...] our state leaders validated that everyone gets to be whom they need to be," she said.
The teen said in her interview with Glamour that advocacy "will always be a part of my life."A black American has run north to Canada to escape harassment and eventual death at the hands of our racist police force.
Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board in Vancouver is currently looking at the case of New York-native Kyle Canty to determine if he qualifies for asylum in the country. The board has heard his complaints about lawless targeting and harassment by police because of the color of his skin. Canty's plea dramatically included references to the recent incidents of alleged police brutality in America as an affirmation of his own fear that he may one day die in the same way if he remains in the States.
The board will have to determine if Canty's life or well-being is indeed threatened and that his "evidence" proves he is under threat of persecution based on his race. And as The Washington Post reported, Canty has already made an impression:
Canty presented a case that one member of the country's refugee review board described as "well-prepared," the CBC reported. The CBC itself described Canty's presentation this way: "As part of evidence submitted to the board, Canty edited together multiple point-of-view videos of his interaction with police, including one where he was arrested for trespass in Salem, Ore., when he spent two hours talking on the phone and using free Wi-Fi at a bus station." "I got bothered because I'm black," Canty said. "This is a history of false arrest. My name is ruined because of the false arrest."
It is noted that Canty faces several outstanding criminal charges including jaywalking, disorderly conduct, and issuing threats. But since the writer of the WaPo article, Janell Ross, is a #BlackLivesMatter sympathizer, she believes these "low-level charges" are perfect examples of why police and sentencing reform are needed, especially how they "all too often" affect people of color.
Hoping to back up her's and Canty's claim that blacks are the major targets of police shootings, Ross points to her own paper's investigation into the subject. What she fails to do, with only a slight admission, is emphasize the fact that the "vast majority" of police shootings are justified AND more white people die at the hands of police than blacks. But those are inconvenient facts when you're driving a narrative.
Yet, Canty's fate lies in the hands of a Canadian board who perhaps aren't swept up in the #BLM saturation that permeates the good ol' US of A. They will simply look at his "evidence" and make an assessment. Although Canada offers refugee status to only 10 people per year, Canty has a pretty good shot at asylum. Our Great White North neighbors offered asylum to a Florida woman in 2013 because she faced 30 years in prison for having sex with a 16-year-old boy who was on the same baseball team as her son. Because that country's age of consent is 16, they deemed the woman's punishment "cruel and unusual," as the Post notes.
So, really, the bar isn't set too high for Canty. And if he does find refuge there -- he is currently living in a Vancouver homeless shelter -- he promises to open a martial arts center and find work as a photographer.The 1959 contest between Harold Macmillan and Hugh Gaitskell was Britain’s first true television election. First, Labour used the opportunity to drop its opposition to the existence of ITV, then four years old. Second, Labour showcased Gaitskell in a series of effective televised party political broadcasts, a format that was then less than a decade old. (They were overseen by a media-savvy young politician called Tony Benn.) In 2017, the Conservatives are fighting an equally innovative campaign – by getting rid of the voters. Theresa May has taken to speaking in front of carefully chosen crowds, then taking a few questions from selected media outlets, which are chosen in advance.
The temptation is to see this as a non- or a pseudo campaign – as the Prime Minister merely waiting for her healthy poll lead to translate into more seats. But that’s not right. Under the radar, the Conservatives are running a ruthless, effective attack operation. It’s just that many of us will never get to see it.
Why do Facebook and Google dominate the online advertising market? The answer is how much they know about their users – there’s not much value in showing baby milk commercials to the happily childless, after all. Political parties have long had a low-tech version of this strategy: recording party affiliations when out campaigning, so they know which doors to knock on come election day to get out the vote and where to send their leaflets. Now, they can use data on a much grander scale, through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the rest.
Read more: Will "dark ads" on Facebook really swing the 2017 general election?
The aim? To send the right messages to the right people. A happy side effect is that the wrong people – voters in rock-solid safe seats, the national media and opposition activists – might not see your message at all. Call it a subterranean campaign.
This is important because although targeted messages are powerful, they can backfire. Take Zac Goldsmith’s London mayoral bid in 2016. His team knew that the path to victory involved appealing to white, working-class voters in the suburbs who usually supported Labour, as well as affluent ethnic minorities who had voted for the Conservatives in 2015, allowing the party to extend its hold on seats such as Harrow East and Croydon Central.
In an attempt to appeal to the former group, Goldsmith’s team ran a nasty dog-whistle campaign against Sadiq Khan, who is a Muslim, linking him to Islamic extremists. At the same time, to keep ethnic-minority voters on side, it played up Goldsmith’s support for Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister. The Goldsmith team also warned that Khan “supports a wealth tax on family jewellery”, a message aimed at those of Indian descent.
These messages were effective with their target audiences, if unpleasant. Goldsmith performed better than Boris Johnson in council wards with large Hindu populations and those with white, working-class voters worried about diversity. But he did significantly worse than his predecessor in wards with large numbers of non-religious voters, liberals and educated professionals. The result was defeat.
Goldsmith’s problem was that his target voters weren’t the only ones who saw the messages he was sending. The jewellery claims appeared on printed leaflets and the accusations of extremism were made in the London Evening Standard. They became part of a wider conversation about whether Goldsmith was running a “racist” campaign – something that clashed with Londoners’ perceptions of themselves and the values of their city.
That’s why the Conservatives’ campaign is so intriguing. Theresa May has a big audience – just not the one in the room. The American strategist Jim Messina, who is working on the May campaign as he did on David Cameron’s in 2015, is fond of saying that the average person thinks about politics for just four minutes a week. These are the people the Conservatives are targeting, and their preferred routes are broadcasters, local newspapers and social media.
On the radio, two broadcasters matter most. The BBC uses the same news clips across its music stations. The other key broadcaster is Global, which owns the bulk of Britain’s most successful commercial stations, including Classic FM and Capital, but most important of all, Heart, which has more listeners than any other private network, including in the crucial battleground of the West Midlands. This strategy has been supplemented by full-page wraparound adverts in local papers – in effect, putting a Conservative poster in every newsagent in every marginal. Critics argue that the design of these does not distinguish them as adverts, but cash-strapped local papers cannot afford to be choosy.
Meanwhile, Facebook and other social media websites operate under far looser rules about acceptable content than the broadcasters do, which allows the Tory campaign to run vicious attack videos against Jeremy Corbyn that would never be broadcast on national television.
As a result of all this, the Conservatives are fighting a campaign that is national in name only. Although the central themes – the solidity and strong leadership of Theresa May and the risk of a Corbyn government – are universal, the precise message is tailored to target voters. It also remains safely hidden from the scrutiny of the national media, on citizens’ computers and in their local press.
Labour is also bypassing the conventional media wherever possible and is paying close attention to the pro-Corbyn “alt-left” websites, as well as Facebook pages. However, it is also doing something that might soon be considered rather antiquated: letting Jeremy Corbyn meet voters as he tours the country.This article is from the archive of our partner.
John Hammergren, the CEO of health-care giant McKesson Corp., made $46 million last year thanks to one of the most generous executive pay packages in his, or any other business. Gary Rivlin of The Daily Beast has a breakdown of some of the outrageous provisions that contribute to Hammergren's outrageous wealth including some figures that at least one compensation consultant calls "excessive." When someone whose job is to craft multi-million dollar pay packages for corporate CEOs thinks you're overpaid, you're probably overpaid.
Hammergren is not the richest or even the highest-paid CEO in the world, but the structure of his compensation is raising eyebrows even in the already outsized world of the 1%. He took over McKesson, a firm that specializes in supplying presrciption drugs to pharmacies, in 1999 after a fraud scandal took out of many of the company's top executives. Since that time he's been paid nearly $500 million as the CEO and Chairman of the Board.
His salary is a modest $1.66 million a year, but he also gets annual cash bonuses of between $10 million and $13 million. His perks are many and lavish, including a company car and chauffeur, unlimited personal use of the firm's corporate jet, and a generous pension plan not available to rank-and-file employees. (Their pension program was canceled in 1997.) Last year, McKesson contributed $13 million to Hammergren's retirement fund, which if he walked away tomorrow, would be worth $125 million.Donald Trump also blamed Clinton for the 13,000 "criminal aliens" the government released back into communities from 2008-14. | AP Photo Trump distorts Clinton's immigration position in pitch to grieving families
HOUST |
. That’s what they do. And some are stronger than others. Jail is like the ocean, says a deputy warden. You got your bluefish, your barracudas, and your great whites.
Christopher Robinson was like many of the teenagers who end up at One Main, a hard-luck kid from the roughest part of Brooklyn. He was not a high-risk inmate. He arrived in late August of 2008. He’d been sent because he’d violated his parole for, of all things, showing up at a new job as an overnight stock boy at Staples when he was supposed to be home. He’d been arrested a few months earlier for an alleged assault; before that, he’d served a stint at a juvenile facility upstate for stealing cell phones and a computer. Among the kids that Robinson hung around with in Brooklyn, Rikers is a kind of finishing school. A rough streetwise kid from the projects expects to be sent there, hears the stories, learns the jail’s rituals from older boys. And for Robinson, Rikers ran in the family. Israel Rivera, his father, spent time there on the way upstate for a murder he’d committed at age 15, two months after Christopher was born.
When I was growing up, when a dude went to jail, it was the thing to do, Rivera tells me. You was a somebody. To be a man, you had to go to prison.
While Christopher’s mother, Charnel, doted on him, there was little she could do to counteract the gravity of the streets. Some said her son was a Crip. I knew Ice, a friend told Correction investigators, using Robinson’s nickname. We met at Crip meetings at a Brooklyn park. Robinson was a tough kid, but he was still partly a child, too. His mother told me that after he came home from the juvenile facility upstate, he would try to climb into her bed. When she told him he couldn’t, he slept on the floor beside her bed.Minnesota's franchise quarterback is out for the season and his future is uncertain. The greatest player in franchise history, Adrian Peterson, was carried to the locker room after injuring his knee past fans enjoying the team's shiny new stadium. Yet the Vikings are one of this season's early standouts because they keep battling. And winning.
Sunday night's 17-14 victory over Green Bay was a reminder that the NFC North can't simply be handed to the Packers. For one night, America witnessed Sam Bradford outplaying Aaron Rodgers. Anything is possible. Bradford withstood 10 QB hits and four sacks to deliver a number of pretty throws, often to breakout No. 1 receiver Stefon Diggs.
Loving the Vikings is never simple and this stadium-christening victory will cause mixed emotions because of Peterson's injury, not to mention the team's leaky offensive line. But this is also a squad that Vikings fans can get behind. Their defense comes at teams with waves of pressure and effort. If Linval Joseph and Everson Griffen don't hit you, Brian Robison or Anthony Barr will. Their secondary forced Aaron Rodgers to hold the ball and improvise too often, leading to three fumbles and a disjointed offense.
Many of these themes were similar late last season when the Vikings stole a division title that has often felt like Rodgers' birthright. Minnesota is missing some big names this time around, but they won't go away easily.
Here were some other winners and losers from Week 2:
A good week for...
The Houston Texans: No NFL team had a better Sunday than the Texans. They earned some measure of revenge for last year's playoff loss by taking out the Kansas City Chiefs 19-12. While the offense was far from perfect, rookie Will Fuller continued to look like an instant impact star across from DeAndre Hopkins.
Perhaps just as important, the Texans have to like what's going on elsewhere. The Jaguars and Colts are both two games back at 0-2. The scheduling gods also came through this week. If the Texans are going to make a trip to Foxborough, it doesn't get much better than against a Patriots team that likely will have to prepare third-string rookie Jacoby Brissett on a short week. J.J. Watt looked far more like himself against Kansas City and Jadeveon Clowney is loaded for a huge season.
New England's offense was limited when Brissett entered the team's game against Miami. Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will come up with a more aggressive plan this week, but this is a vulnerable Patriots team. Texans coach Bill O'Brien knows well not to take them lightly.
Jeff Fisher's expected contract extension: It has been widely reported for weeks that Fisher would be handed a contract extension soon. The timing didn't seem quite right in the wake of the team's shutout loss against the 49ers in Week 1, but don't be surprised if the move is announced this week following the Rams' 9-3 victory over Seattle.
Los Angeles fans packed the Coliseum on Sunday and were treated to Fisherball at its best. They turned the clock back to the Rams of the 1960s, with a prehistoric passing game to match. The Rams are now 1-1, tied for the top of the NFC West, with nine points through two games.
The Rams' defensive line overwhelmed Seattle and Fisher has now beaten Pete Carroll three straight times in three different stadiums. This is what the Rams do. They can stop powerhouse teams in a given week. They can win games in a pass-happy league despite rolling with Case Keenum. The trick will be winning more than seven times, which will be difficult if Todd Gurley continues to struggle to find open holes.
David Johnson is threatening to take over the mantle as the best back in football and Carson Palmer hit some deep shots Sunday after a slow start. Only the Cardinals could put up 40 points with 22 yards combined from John Brown and Michael Floyd. The talent is deep here and the news around the NFC West was favorable. The Seahawks lost in Los Angeles, so there is a four-way tie at 1-1 in the division. The Cardinals have the Bills, Rams and 49ers next on the schedule. That screams 4-1.
A bad week for...
Five turnovers in a 40-7 loss is bad news, no matter how unlucky Winston was. (Two of the turnovers were caused by teammates' mistakes.) The Bucs were unable to get the ground game going in both their games, with Doug Martin leaving Sunday with a hamstring injury.
We'll take the longview. The Bucs are 1-1 after two road games to start the year, with a road division win in pocket. This was a discouraging performance that happens to young teams with new coaching staffs. We're more interested in how they respond.
Dolphins' defense: We were guilty of overreacting to Miami's Week 1 defensive line destruction of Seattle's offensive line. Perhaps the Dolphins will reset when they return home, but it was eye-opening to see Jimmy Garoppolo go up and down against the Dolphins facing very little pressure.
This loss was on the Dolphins' defense. While Ryan Tannehill was piloting a spirited comeback, the Dolphins' defense gave up an early second half touchdown to Patriots third-stringer Jacoby Brissett. After the Dolphins made it a one-score game with six minutes left, a team that plays complementary football would stop the third-string quarterback backed up by an uneven running game. Instead, the Patriots went on a 13-play drive that chewed up five minutes led by sledgehammer LeGarrette Blount. Stephen Gostkowski's missed field goal doesn't change the reality that Miami's defense gave in. Or that Tannehill played his best when the stakes were low.
Kirk Cousins' next contract: It has been a rough two weeks for Cousins' agent. Redskins GM Scot McCloughan is earning kudos for not committing to Cousins long-term this offseason, although that's not the sort of story McCloughan wants to look smart about.
Cousins has missed open throws and has not looked calm in the pocket. A player with his limited skill set needs to win from the neck up and Cousins is making too many mental mistakes. He was outplayed Sunday by Dallas' rookie Dak Prescott.
If nothing else, Cousins' inability to shoot straight the last two weeks has distracted the masses from McCloughan's failure to improve the Redskins' defense or line play on either side of the ball. Washington's 0-2 start feels darker than most because both losses were at home, and it's unclear what this team's identity is supposed to be.
Jaguars' offseason spending: Jacksonville's pass rush hasn't showed up in back-to-back weeks, with Malik Jackson being particularly quiet. The offense has also took a step back Sunday, with running back Chris Ivory on the sideline again. Blake Bortles' slow starts to games is becoming a trend that needs to change. On Sunday in San Diego, the Jaguars couldn't even grab those second-half fantasy points in a comeback that never materialized.
Raiders' defense: The Raiders have given up more total yards in the first two weeks of the season than any team since the 1951 Yankees. You'll notice a theme in the teams above; making noise in March doesn't always translate to wins.
Derek Carr is doing his part, but all the offseason acquisitions for Oakland have not panned out thus far. Defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. has struggled to get this group to play consistently throughout his tenure and will be under fire this week. Giving up 35 points to the Saints in the Superdome is one thing. Giving up 35 points to the Falcons in Oakland is another.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.In 1853, Levi Strauss was repairing pants in Gold Rush-era San Francisco and found that reinforcing points of strain (such as pockets) with rivets made a sturdier pair of pants. By the 1890s, the first pair of Levis 501 jeans was produced, and the garment was worn largely by laborers (railroad workers, lumberjacks, cowboys) until after the second World War. Today, jeans exist as a far cry from their humble beginnings as miners’ and cowboys’ garments. “Denim has transcended all social classes and levels of fashion,” says Kiya Babzani, the cofounder of Self Edge, the world’s leading selvedge denim retailer, which started, fittingly, in the Mission District of San Francisco.
When buying good jeans, your focus should rest on two things: fabric, then fit. High-quality jeans are often made from selvedge denim, a fabric that ages over time in a way that reflects the lifestyle and habits of the wearer. Raw denim typically develops two distinct types of fades: whiskers, which are long creases found around the waist and crotch area, and honeycombs, which are fades behind the knees that look like honey combs. Though a new pair of jeans made from raw selvedge denim can take up to a year to break in, the results are unique, and well-made denim will continue to age in a graceful manner for many years. “You don’t know how good a jean is until it’s worn in,” Babzani says.
Most jeans are offered in different washes and even come pre-distressed. But according to Todd Barket, owner of Unionmade in San Francisco, these jeans “can feel inauthentic sometimes, like the work has been done for you.” Over time, selvedge jeans become an expression of yourself, so focus on fit and quality, and those fades will tell stories for years to come.
Contribution by John Zientek and Grant Tillery.
The Expert’s Rules for Buying Denim
Kiya Babzani: “Always buy jeans in person. Go into a retail store, try them on and feel them. You’ll be able to get the fit right and compare the fabric. Any manufacturer can make any fit of jean, but the fabric is what makes one brand stand out from another.” Babzani is a cofounder of the selvedge denim retailer Self Edge, with locations in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. “Always buy jeans in person. Go into a retail store, try them on and feel them. You’ll be able to get the fit right and compare the fabric. Any manufacturer can make any fit of jean, but the fabric is what makes one brand stand out from another.” Babzani is a cofounder of the selvedge denim retailer Self Edge, with locations in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. Todd Barket: “If you’re buying quality denim, start with the fit. You want your jeans to feel good and suit your body. When buying unwashed, raw denim, make sure the fit is a little tight, because they will stretch after a few wears.” Barket is the owner of Unionmade, one of the nation’s top menswear shops, with locations in San Francisco, Marin County and Santa Monica.
Men’s Selvedge Slim-Fit Jeans by Uniqlo $50 The Slim Jean by Taylor Stitch $145
770 Jean in Indigo Raw Selvedge by J.Crew $168 Petit Standard Slim-fit Selvedge Denim Jeans by A.P.C. $195 Ankara 12.5 Ounce by Tellason $220 1967 505 Slim-Fit Selvedge Denim Jeans by Levi’s Vintage Clothing $225 SL-120XK Kibata Shadow Selvedge Jean by 3Sixteen $230
Barton Slim Rigid by Imogene + Willie $235
Standard Kojima by Shockoe Atelier $250 633S-14 Lightweight 14 Ounce Denim Jean by Iron Heart $275
M4 Low Rise Straight by 3×1 $295
Model No. 3 Indigo Selvedge Jeans by Drake’s $295 340 Calistoga Jean by Stevenson Overall Co. $320 14 Ounce Denim in One Wash by Kapital $320 Jones Thin Fit in Original Wash by Raleigh Denim $325 1002 16 Ounce Selvedge Jean by The Flat Head $330 Cotton Selvedge Twill 5 Pocket Jean by RRL $340
Social Sculpture 01 Jeans by Visvim $505
Expert’s Choice
Strike Gold SG 5109
Babzani’s Pick: Strike Gold from Okayama, Japan produces only a few styles of jeans, but they are all “unreal,” according to Babzani. The SG 5109 is made from a loosely woven denim, giving it a very unique look, both raw and worn. The beautiful uneven texture of this denim can be “compared closely to a vintage hand-woven Persian rug.” The SG 5109’s custom rivets have an inside piece made of iron that will rust over time, ensuring the jeans will age in a individual and beautiful way.
Levi’s Vintage ClothingPlanning Minister Rob Stokes has charged the body with drawing up plans for six districts across the city. The government also wants the commission to make an early focus on areas around Olympic Park, around which a tram line is to be built. For Hill, a planner who was the lead consultant for London's Olympic Delivery Authority on design and development, the opportunity to contribute to an overhaul of the Olympic precinct is a neat fit. "Olympic Park was established to hold the greatest show on Earth and it has had to evolve into a very different place - there is an opportunity there." But more broadly, the creation of the commission reflects an intention to give credentialed planners and experts more authority over the future of the city. The City of Sydney councillor and planning lawyer John Mant has described this as the "philosopher king" model of government, and it's a description from which Hill does not shy.
"It is something we've spoken about for 100 years - and the moons have aligned and the time is right for Sydney to have this new model," she says. "What is a really important game changer is the commissioners. Having six district commissioners and four others… you bring something new to the whole balance of ideas, abut you also bring to it some of Sydney's greatest minds." Four commissioners have already been appointed: chair Lucy Turnbull, social commissioner Heather Nesbitt, environment commissioner Rod Simpson and Geoff Roberts as economic commissioner. Six district commissioners will act as a bridge between local government and the commission. The six have not been named, but Ed Blakely, an honorary professor at Sydney University's United States Studies Centre and controversial former recovery boss of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, is expected to be the district commissioner for the Parramatta region. "It's definitely a different approach, different minds, different ways of thinking," says Hill. "I would hope that they do challenge some of things we've been doing, for the better."
The scope of the commission's authority is reflected in the criticisms it has already drawn. Hill's organisation has the power to redraw development plans submitted by local councils and, says Greens planning spokesman David Shoebridge, is remarkable for its lack of accountability. Hill and Turnbull report to Stokes – but do not have to run their decisions by him or the parliament. "This is an extraordinarily powerful body with zero accountability," says Shoebridge. But for Hill, it is also a huge opportunity. "From day one we'll be talking to people about what the district plans should say, but importantly we'll be trying to do something completely different what's been done before," says Hill, who will be taking a short break before starting in the new job in late February. She nominates the increased use of digital information and dashboards as one way to draw the public in to the process. "As an organisation we are really excited about sharing the facts and the evidence about what's happening in Sydney with people," she says.
Sarah Hill: Incoming chief executive of the Greater Sydney Commission
Director of HillPDA Consulting, firm established by her land economist father
Adjunct professor at UTS
Former Principal Planner in London
Created London Olympic and Paralympic Joint Planning AuthorityAn Israeli border police officer stands guard outside in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, July 14, 2017. Three Palestinian assailants opened fire on Israeli police from inside a major Jerusalem holy site Friday, killing two officers before being shot dead, police said. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) The Associated Press
By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Arab assailants struck at ground zero of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Friday, opening fire from inside a major Jerusalem shrine and killing two Israeli policemen before being shot dead.
The rare attack from within the sacred site, revered by both Muslims and Jews, raised new concerns about an escalation of violence. The three attackers were Arab citizens of Israel, also a rarity in a rash of Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers that erupted about two years ago, in part over tensions at the holy site.
Jerusalem police commissioner Yoram Halevy said the attack was well planned: The assailants had obtained automatic weapons and stayed at the holy compound the night before. He said they marked their targets in advance and after shooting them ran back inside the compound. "The entire incident began and ended" at the holy compound, he told channel 10 TV.
After the violence, Israel closed the site — known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount — for further sweeps to make sure there were no more weapons there.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it would reopen gradually after security evaluations on Sunday.
Jordan, a custodian of the sacred compound, called for its immediate reopening to allow access to Muslim worshippers.
Netanyahu acted quickly to allay Muslim fears, saying that the status quo at the Muslim-administered site "will be preserved."
Jews revere the site, where the two Jewish temples stood in biblical times, as the Temple Mount. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the nearby Western Wall, a remnant of one of the temples, is the holiest place where Jews can pray.
Muslims regard the same hilltop compound as the Noble Sanctuary. Home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, it is Islam's third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The fate of the area is an emotional issue at the heart of the conflict and forms the centerpiece of rival Israeli and Palestinian national narratives.
After Friday's attack, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said: "We cannot allow for agents of murder who desecrate the name of God, to drag us into a bloody war."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reached out to Netanyahu in a phone call, highlighting the concern about a possible escalation. The leaders have almost no direct contact.
Abbas condemned the attack and said he rejects "any violence from any party, particularly at holy sites," said the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Police are investigating how the weapons were brought into the site.
Israeli police chief Roni Alsheikh said the attackers opened fire on the Israeli officers from inside the site. In response, "a police force charged at the terrorists, killed two and wounded the third," he said. The wounded assailant used a knife to attack an Israeli officer checking him for explosives and was killed, the police chief said.
Footage released by police showed the attackers with guns raised running from inside the compound and attacking the officers on duty at the entrance.
A relative said the attackers were members of the Jabareen clan — two 19-year-olds and a 29-year-old.
They were devout Muslims and frequently visited the shrine, traveling to Jerusalem by bus from their homes in northern Israel, the relative, Yehiyeh Jabareen, told The Associated Press. He said the family was in shock over the shooting.
He confirmed the authenticity of a post on the Facebook page of one of the younger attackers that showed him flashing a half-smile. "God willing, tomorrow's smile will be more beautiful," read the caption.
The two slain policemen— Advanced Staff Sgt. Maj. Hael Sathawi, 30, and Advanced Staff Sgt. Maj. Kamil Shanan, 22, were members of Israel's Druze community, followers of a secretive off-shoot of Islam.
Shanan was a son of Shachiv Shanan, a former member of parliament for the Labor Party. Sathawi left a wife and a 3-week-old baby, police said.
Unlike the majority of their fellow Arabs in Israel, many Druze serve in the Israeli security forces.
Israel's Arab minority enjoys full citizenship rights but sometimes face discrimination in areas like housing and jobs. They are sometimes viewed with suspicion as many identify politically and culturally with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
The closing of the shrine, something that rarely happens, meant the cancellation of noon prayers, which typically draw tens of thousands of Muslims from Israel and the West Bank to the compound on Fridays. The faithful performed prayers in the streets near the Old City instead.
Israel has previously accused Palestinians of stockpiling rocks and other projectiles in one of the mosques in the holy compound, and Israeli security forces have fired tear gas and stun grenades at the compound to disperse Palestinian stone throwers, who have at times have targeted Jews praying at the Western Wall.
Israel's minister of public security Gilad Erdan said "the terrorists had desecrated the sanctity" of the site.
The top Muslim cleric of the Holy Land, Mohammed Hussein, was detained by police for several hours after the shooting.
In the past two years, Palestinians have killed 45 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British tourist in stabbings, shootings and attacks using cars to ram into Israeli civilians and troops.
During that period, Israeli forces have killed more than 254 Palestinians, most of them said by Israel to be attackers while others were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.
Israel blames the violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders compounded on social media sites that glorify violence and encourage attacks.
Palestinians say the attacks are triggered by anger over decades of Israeli occupation of territories they claim for their future state.
The Jerusalem shrine has been the scene of repeated confrontations.
In September 2000, then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to the site to show Israeli presence, sparking Palestinian protests that quickly escalated into armed clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers.
The incident was one of the triggers of an armed Palestinian uprising, including Palestinian suicide bombings targeting civilians in cafes and buses, that claimed several thousand victims, most of them Palestinians, and only began to ebb in 2005.
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Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh and Karin Laub in the West Bank contributed to this report.In a few systems of alphabetic writing, scribes used the same symbols for sounds as they did for numerals. In other words, they didn’t have distinct symbols for numbers from their alphabet; where English speakers have the letters A through Z and the numerals 0 through 9, other languages might use the same character to represent 4 as they would the sound for “D”. Thus, a string of characters might be read either as a word or as a number, depending on the context. Most of the world uses distinct numerals nowadays due to influence from modern technology and science, but this wasn’t always the case.
The practice of ascribing numerical values to words by interpreting the characters as numbers instead of sounds is old, and is called gematria in Hebrew and isopsephy in Greek. Words, phrases, or names that had the same numerical value were thought of to be the same or have the same essence on a different level. Although we normally refer to this as numerology in English, this is an inappropriate generalization of this kind of study, since numerology also studies the general occult properties of numbers and their correspondences.
Hebrew gematria (from Greek γεωμετρία, “geometry”) relies on the Hebrew script, which has 22 letters, plus another five which are distinct final forms of several of the letters, yielding 27 letters total. Each of the letters is assigned a value corresponding to a multiple of 1 through 9, as below.
Value Letter Value Letter Value Letter 1 א 10 י 100 ק 2 ב 20 כ 200 ר 3 ג 30 ל 300 ש 4 ד 40 מ 400 ת 5 ה 50 נ 500 ך 6 ו 60 ס 600 ם 7 ז 70 ע 700 ן 8 ח 80 פ 800 ף 9 ט 90 צ 900 ץ
Here, the first nine letters are given the values 1 through 9, the next nine given the values 10 through 90, and the last nine given values 100 through 900. The last five letters are final forms of the letters kaph, mem, nun, peh, and tzaddi. This is only one of many schemes used to assign numerals to the Hebrew letters, but this is the most common. So, given this scheme, the word for Mercury in Hebrew, Kokab כוכב, is assigned the value 48.
כוכב
K + V + K + B
20 + 6 + 20 + 2
48
In another example, the word for wine, yayin יין, and secret, sod סוד, both have the same value of 70 (50 + 10 + 10 and 60 + 6 + 4). Thus, because they’re numerically the same, they have the same effect or essence when compared or conceived of on another plane of existence. In Hebrew culture, gifts are sometimes given in multiples of 18, the value of the Hebrew word for “life”.
Greek isopsephy (ἴσοψῆφία, literally “same pebble”, as in the same idea of Latin calculus, “little stone”) is another system similar to Hebrew gematria when applied to the Greek alphabet. The Greek alphabet, having come from the same origin as the Hebrew alphabet, also used letters as numerals, and likely did so earlier than Hebrew. A big difference is the number of characters: Hebrew has 22 letters with 5 extra, adding to 27, while Greek has 24. To make up for the lost characters, Greek used three obsolete letters for the sole purpose of transcribing numbers: digamma (Ϝ) for 6, qopppa (Ϙ) for 90, and sampi (ϡ) for 900. Digamma was a “w” sound, qoppa a uvular “k” sound like Hebrew qoph, and sampi was probably a lengthened “s” or “ks” sound.
Value Letter Value Letter Value Letter 1 Α 10 Ι 100 Ρ 2 Β 20 Κ 200 Σ 3 Γ 30 Λ 300 Τ 4 Δ 40 Μ 400 Υ 5 Ε 50 Ν 500 Φ 6 Ϝ 60 Ξ 600 Χ 7 Ζ 70 Ο 700 Ψ 8 Η 80 Π 800 Ω 9 Θ 90 Ϙ 900 ϡ
Although not used to quite the same extent as gematria, isopsephy can still be seen in some religious or graffitic examples. Consider that infamous Number of the Beast, 666: in the original verse, it says that the wise man may count the Beast’s number, but “count” is rendered with a word with the same “pebble” root as isopsephy. The Greek alphabet comes into better use in astrology since, with 24 letters not counting the obsolete ones, it matches up well with divisors and multiples of 360.
As for English or languages that use the Roman script, well, I can’t say much about it. Unlike Greek or Hebrew, Latin (the original language of the Roman script) never used its letters for counting, and has added and removed several letters across the course of its lifetime that never really matched up in a good way with the schemes given above. Agrippa tried to fix this by creating two new values “Hu” and “Hi”, with “Hu” becoming “W”, but “Hi” was never really used, and so this system fell apart. Aleister Crowley developed a scheme that assigned the 26 letters the values 1 through 26, but this spawned other attributions and different orderings of the values to letters. While I don’t discount a usable Roman gematria, I haven’t seen a convincing example of it being used for a language other than Greek or Hebrew.
However, the esoteric use of letters has an ancient history, and extends far past the well-known use of gematria and isopsephy that is commonly known. In the classical era, the use of the Greek alphabet led to many advances in mathematics and the occult, including connections with the Qabbalah and astrology. One important method of this is called stoicheia, or “elements”. It attributes each letter of the Greek alphabet four things:
a shape (the actual drawn letterform)
a sound (the vocalized utterance of the letter)
a number (used in isopsephy)
a force (a planet, sign, or element)
These four qualities, these four elements or stoicheia, are all very tightly linked with each other. The influence of Pythagoreanism in mathematics allowed for vibrations in the air that produced sound could be ascribed to numbers, and each note or harmony was assigned to a different heavenly sphere or star at the time of creation. The letterforms were taken, ultimately, from the ancient Egyptians by way of Phoenician and proto-Semetic writing, and the Greeks held the Egyptians to be among the wisest of the wise in the world. In this way, the four elements of a given Greek letter are tightly connected with each other, and so a given interpretation of a word in the Greek script can be interpreted in four different ways.
The occult use of stoicheia focuses on that last element, that of forces. In the Greek alphabet, there are 24 letters (not including the archaic digamma, qoppa, and sampi). In the occult, there are seven planets, five elements (including aether), and twelve signs in the Zodiac. Adding them up, we get 24. The occultists of yore were able to ascribe each of these to a different force on a one-to-one basis in a way that makes sense.
The oldest of these attributions are those of the planets. The Greeks, Copts, and other Hermetic magicians are well-known for having attributed the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet to the seven visible planets and their spheres. The attribution of these letters can be seen throughout the PGM and ancient Greek forms of Qabbalah, especially in certain holy names and voces magicae. In this system, the attributions are:
Α, alpha, for the Moon
Ε, epsilon, for Mercury
Η, eta, for Venus
Ι, iota, for the Sun
Ο, omicron, for Mars
Υ, upsilon, for Jupiter
Ω, omega, for Saturn
Going to the elements next, there are two systems in use for this, but I prefer one that makes a bit more phonological sense. In the Greek alphabet, there are five consonants that are different from the rest. Although letters like beta or gamma are “simple” and are composed of only one phoneme, letters like “phi” or “ksi” are composed of several phonological units (letters like phi, theta, and khi were originally aspirated or “breathy”, and not the soft sounds we now have in modern Greek). The attributions for the planets in this system are:
Θ, theta, for Earth
Ξ, ksi, for Water
Φ, phi, for Air
Χ, khi, for Fire
Ψ, psi, for Aether or the Quintessence
The rest of the letters, the “simple” consonants, are twelve in number and are ascribed to the signs of the Zodiac in order around the ecliptic:
Β, beta, for Aries
Γ, gamma, for Taurus
Δ, delta, for Gemini
Ζ, zeta, for Cancer
Κ, kappa, for Leo
Λ, lambda, for Virgo
Μ, mu, for Libra
Ν, nu, for Scorpio
Π, pi, for Sagittarius
Ρ, rho, for Capricorn
Σ, sigma, for Aquarius
Τ, tau, for Pisces
So, we end up with the following table that describes the different stoicheia of all the letters of the Greek alphabet:
Letter Pronunciation Planet Element Sign Number Α [a(ː)] (ah) Moon 1 Β [b] Aries 2 Γ [ɡ] Taurus 3 Δ [d] Gemini 4 Ε [e] (eh) Mercury 5 Ζ [zd] Cancer 7 Η [ɛː] (ayh) Venus 8 Θ [tʰ] (breathy t) Earth 9 Ι [i] (ee) Sun 10 Κ [k] Leo 20 Λ [l] Virgo 30 Μ [m] Libra 40 Ν [n] Scorpio 50 Ξ [ks] Water 60 Ο [o] Mars 70 Π [p] Sagittarius 80 Ρ [r] Capricorn 100 Σ [s] Aquarius 200 Τ [t] Pisces 300 Υ [y(ː)] (German ü) Jupiter 400 Φ [pʰ] (breathy p) Air 500 Χ [kʰ] (breathy k) Fire 600 Ψ [ps] Aether 700 Ω [ɔː] (awwh) Saturn 800
Now, using this table isn’t that hard. Take the holy name ΙΑΩ, for instance, which is spelled iota-alpha-omega. This name is composed of the letters representing the Sun, the Moon, and Saturn, and has the value 1 + 10 + 800 = 811. Altogether, it refers to all the power present in the heavenly spheres, from the furthest reaches of Saturn to the innermost reaches of the Moon. Indeed, ΙΑΩ is often seen as a shorthand for the longer formula ΑΕΗΙΟΥΩ (1294) or even ΑΕΕΗΗΗΙΙΙΙΟΟΟΟΟΥΥΥΥΥΥΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ (8425), which represents all the forces of all the planets.
You can even apply this to other words as well to get interesting meanings, and is a good recourse when isopsephy doesn’t return useful results on its own. One of my favorite magical words is ΑΚΡΑΜΑΧΑΜΑΡΙ (or ΑΚΡΑΜΜΑΧΑΜΑΡΕΙ in its more common PGM form). Here, we start to get into more interesting combinations, where we can combine planets with signs or elements and see what results. In this case, we go pairwise:
ΑΚ, alpha-kappa, Moon in Leo
ΡΑ, rho-alpha, Moon in Capricorn
ΜΑ, mu-alpha, Moon in Libra
ΧΑ, khi-alpha, Moon with Fire
ΜΑ, mu-alpha, Moon in Libra
ΡΙ, rho-iota, Sun in Capricorn
It doesn’t matter whether a given syllable is vowel-consonant or consonant-vowel, so ΑΚ and ΚΑ would both resolve to Moon in Leo. Analyzed using stoicheia, the word might be interpreted as “the heat of the Sun rises up from the cold foundations of the heavens to be filtered through the light of the Moon with and over others, to be turned into pure Fire in its manifestation”. Indeed, this word comes from a Hebrew phrase meaning “take off the wards” so as to exact one’s Will in the world without restraint or impedance from any kind of interference. Its lunar qualities help in the manifestation and focusing of energies from the heavens down into our sphere, but the real force comes from the Sun hidden down in the nadir of the celestial sphere burning upwards towards us. Since there is no central letter to act as a fulcrum, the central pair of letters, ΑΧ, indicates that this word is closely associated with elemental Fire.
Another example is the Greek rendition of the Hebrew name for god, “Tzabaoth”, which is ΣΑΒΑΩΘ:
ΣΑ, sigma-alpha, Moon in Aquarius
ΒΑ, beta-alpha, Moon in Aries
ΩΘ, omega-theta, Saturn with Earth
In this case, the strength and force of the world arranges itself into directed legions across different peoples. The word’s meaning in Hebrew, meaning “hosts” or “armies”, can easily be linked to this type of analysis.
Taking another name, let’s try a person’s name. A common female name, and one well known throughout the world, is ΜΑΡΙΑ, Maria.
ΜΑ, mu-alpha, Moon in Libra
ΡΙ, rho-iota, Sun in Capricorn
ΙΑ, iota-alpha, Sun with Moon |
make him more appealing to a broader spectrum of Canadian voters) erode, or be stolen from underneath him by a party with more definable historical record on things like foreign investment and international relations.
Most importantly of all is the branding that looms close on the horizon should at least one Liberal become leader.
Where the Conservatives and Stephen Harper have “jobs, growth and the economy,” and Layton had a “better lives for working class families,” theme, Mulcair has yet to successfully link his policy positions with his own personal brand. The emptiness begs to be filled, and all that talk of building better lives for middle class Canadian families wafting over recently from a front-running Liberal camp should not only be very familiar to Mulcair, but also potentially quite dangerous.I’m Peter Dennis, a British freelance illustrator working for over 40 years on almost every type of illustration from comic strip to the Bible.
I had been working since the mid 70’s as an illustrator of children’s books, mostly non-fiction and history, when I could get it, before Martin Wallace asked me to do some work for one of his board games. I knew Martin already as we were both members of the circle of friends of the military historian Paddy Griffith.
Martin was beginning to establish himself as a game designer and it was enjoyable to develop the visual side of his games. He had a pretty clear idea of what he wanted of course, and it was mostly a matter of working up the computer art he had used for the development of the game into something more ‘hand drawn’. I don’t use computers in my work, so it was good that Martin was so keen on the hand-made look.
There was the box art for each game, which was like my normal illustration work, but perhaps more interesting was the creation of the little worlds of counters and maps that carried forward the narrative of the games themselves.
It was through Martin’s insistence that I journeyed from Nottinghamshire all the way down to Wincanton in the west of England to meet the Discworld Emporium crew when he was working on his Ankh Morpork game. I hate meetings, which always seem to be a waste of time, so I took some persuading, but I was soon drawn into their crazy world by their lively spirits and I went on to do much work, both game and non-game set on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.
I think that at about the same time I started working for Martin’s Treefrog Games I began illustrating books for Osprey publishing, perhaps the most prolific producer of illustrated military history. The subject had long been a passion of mine and I feel very much at home in that world.
As a matter of fact I don’t play board games myself. My gaming is with miniatures. I’m fortunate to live near Nottingham, which is a creative hub for miniatures gaming thanks to Games Workshop which is based in the city. Although I played with miniature figures since childhood, in the last couple of years I have been developing the paper soldier, really a 19th Century idea, as a viable alternative to expensive metal and plastic miniatures. With the UK publisher Helion I am making a series of source books, that is books of artwork that you can photocopy, containing all the artwork you would need to create paper wargame armies of various campaigns of British, and American history.
I have been fascinated by paper soldiers since I encountered an exhibition of them in the army museum in Paris as a teenager. Early experiments towards making my own had failed, and it wasn’t until recently, when I idly folded up some scrap paper and tossed it on my drawing board, where it sat like ranks of soldiers that I saw how it might be done and within 10 minutes had made the first simple model.
So I am currently continuing my work for Osprey, working sometimes for the Discworld gang and making box art for various miniatures companies in the UK. Alongside this I’m having a great time exploring history through the paper miniature. I’m currently finishing the American Civil War book and thinking about a new paper soldier book about Edward the first, castles and sieges for spring 2018.
Photo credits: Peter Dennis. Used with permission.There was a lot of drug-war hand-wringing in the U.S. leading up to President Barack Obama ’s visit to Mexico this week. That’s because Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is in change-the-conversation mode: he wants the world, especially Washington, to focus less on his country’s awful drug violence — some 60,000 narco-related murders in the past seven years, with little sign of abating — and more on its robust economic potential. The fear in some Washington circles is that Peña Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which in its dictatorial 20th century heyday was every drug lord’s, or best buddy, is putting the fight against Mexico’s vicious cartels on the back burner.
And I would say to Obama: Even if that’s the case, it shouldn’t spoil your two days in Mexico City.
(MORE: Obama’s Mexico Visit: Not Just About the Drug War Anymore)
That doesn’t mean I favor abandoning the fight against los narcos. I’m just saying that if the past seven years have shown us anything, it’s that it doesn’t matter whether Peña Nieto ratchets up that fight (as his predecessor did) or dials it down, or whether Washington pumps more or less aid into it — not as long as police and judicial institutions remain dysfunctional in Mexico and demand for illegal drugs remains insatiable in the U.S. Which is why, if Obama and Peña Nieto are the smart politicos they’ve proved to be, they’ll realize that the two most important developments in the drug war over the past six months took place not during any interdiction operation but on Election Day last November in the U.S. and on Tuesday, April 30, in Mexico.
The Mexican news first, because I think it’s potentially more consequential. Tuesday night, the Mexican Senate convincingly passed a telecommunications-reform bill, pushed by Peña Nieto and already approved in the lower Chamber of Deputies. It’s aimed at dismantling the monopolies that smother competition in Mexican industries like telecom, where the América Móvil company headed by tycoon Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, controls more than 80% of the nation’s land-line market and more than 70% of its cell-phone market. The legislation packs sharper enforcement teeth and “prevents monopolies from being able to resort to the constant, endless appeals litigation they use to avoid paying fines and sanctions,” as Peña Nieto described the bill to me in a TIME interview shortly before his inauguration in December.
(MORE: 10 Questions for Enrique Peña Nieto)
So why does this impact the drug war? Call it a leap of faith, but if this reform really does turn out to be a monopoly-buster — and, this being Mexico and the ruling party being the PRI, it’s better to take a wait-and-see approach — it will be striking evidence that rule of law has a chance to take root in Mexico. Slim and the other Mexican monopolists targeted in the bill aren’t drug lords. But for decade after decade, they’ve been getting away with an unjust practice that modern democracies usually penalize if not thwart. Stripping them of their notorious impunity could go a long way toward fostering the kind of culture of legality that in turn nurtures more professional and less corrupt courts, judges, prosecutors and especially investigative cops — the judicial backbone of any credible fight against organized crime.
Washington ought to know this already after its happier experience more than a decade ago in Colombia — where the billions the U.S. poured into antidrug aid bore fruit largely because Colombia finally made the effort to strengthen rule of law. Shannon O’Neil, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, aptly pointed out in her 2011 article “How Mexico Can Win the Drug War, Colombia’s Way” that Colombia emphasized “professionalizing the police and reforming [the] judicial system.” It did this via nothing less than a “transformation within” the country that saw its elites finally take responsibility for public security, something Mexico’s hypernegligent ruling class is still reluctant to do. (In fact, as evidenced by one recent scandal, Mexico’s rich and powerful still seem more interested in shutting down restaurants that don’t give them good tables.) “More than foreign security aid,” O’Neil wrote, “this is what Mexico needs today: an investment by [its] elites in the safety and well-being of all its citizens.”
(MORE: Mexico’s Drug Lords Ramp Up Their Arsenals With RPGs)
If I were Obama, and if I were truly interested in the Mexican drug war’s long-term success, I’d be focused less on Peña Nieto’s interdiction scorecard at the moment and more on the Mexican Senate’s roll call Tuesday night. And I’d hope like hell that it really is the first installment of the Mexican elite’s own, long-overdue investment in rule of law.
As for what happened on Election Day last fall in the U.S., if I were Peña Nieto I’d urge Obama to do on the federal level what the states of Colorado and Washington did: legalize marijuana. (Mexico should do the same, by the way.) That would do two things: First, deprive Mexico’s drug cartels of more than a third of the $30 billion or so they make each year. Second, save the U.S. the estimated $10 billion it wastes every year chasing down a drug that’s no more harmful than alcohol when used in moderation. It can then steer that money to drug-demand-reduction efforts like rehab services, which studies show do more to ease the drug plague than conventional supply-side interdiction does.
Let’s focus our cross-border angst on raising Mexican rule of law and reducing American appetite for blow, smack and meth. Because if those efforts fail, all the other drug-war hand-wringing we do is meaningless.
MORE: The Rise of Mexico’s Vigilante Militias: Will They Help or Hurt the Drug War?Get the biggest politics stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Singer Paul Heaton says he offered to nationalise The Beautiful South's back catalogue, but the Government turned him down.
Heaton, who fronted classic indie band The Housemartins before forming the Beautiful South in the 90s, says he offered to donate the royalties from all his past and future hits to the nation.
During an appearance on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff to promote his new album, Crooked Calypso, which he recorded with Beautiful South singer Jacqui Abbott, he said Tory minister Greg Clark had rejected his offer, according to the Hull Daily Mail.
(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)
He said: "I offered my songs up for nationalisation. This would mean songs like Happy Hour, Rotterdam, Perfect 10 and the rest, every time they got played on the radio, the state would take the money and put it back into improving our living standards.
“I felt I’d made enough money from them, I didn’t want to nationalise my savings, as such, I was just saying this was a gift to the British public and I got a refusal from Greg Clark.
"I understand it is not Conservative policy to nationalise things but neither is it to be so blatantly imprudent to throw money away."
The Mirror has approached a spokesperson for Greg Clark for comment.The highly anticipated ‘Super 8’ had it’s big fancy Hollywood premiere last night, and exciting celebrities like Tom Cruise were there. Here he is with the movies star, 13-year-old girl Elle Fanning (she’s Dakota Fannings daughter. Or sister. I should look that up). And obviously someones been drinking their milk because Tom is almost as big as that young girl now.
“Yeah, but she’s probably wearing heels,” you might be thinking. Oh please. As if Tom wasn’t. Yet they’re essentially the same size, even though “frail” doesn’t even beging to describe her appearance. Between her white blond hair and pale skin and that creepy dress, she looks like a ghost you’d see in a Swedish castle.
Oh, and look, Ryan Lee (imdb) was there too. He’s in this movie, and, SPOILER ALERT, he saves the day when the towns damn bursts. Try and guess how!
(image source = getty and bauer griffin)UPDATE
:
Zazzle have taken the t-shirt design offline and have said this:
“Zazzle is a open marketplace and works hard to make sure that all content meets our content standards. This product was removed from the marketplace.”
Thanks for all the feedback, folks!
…if you’re ignorant, close-minded, douchey asshole. Or fortunate enough to be born a straight male and don’t consider yourself a potential target (even though you are). Or maybe even if you are user-generated online retailer Zazzle.
The above picture is just one of a selection of “Rohypnol” themed t-shirts which are currently available to buy on Zazzle. And here is an excerpt from Zazzle’s “Our Values” page:
We hold ourselves to the highest standard. We don’t compromise on our ethics for any reason, period. We embrace diversity of background and thought, treat each other with respect, and demonstrate integrity in everything we do. And we don’t think it’s cheesy to say so.
So is it cheesy to be offended by items of clothing that openly make fun of rape? If you are interested in asking how rape-mocking t-shirts like this fit in with Zazzle’s ethics you can contact the site via the email form here, even though this is a ridiculously protracted way of doing it (remember to choose “Not A Product Specific Enquiry” in the Product Type box, and THEN when it has told you your enquiry has NOT been submitted to scroll down and just click CONTINUE - it will be). A better way to do it might be just to contact their (US) customer support directly on 1-888-8ZAZZLE (892-9953) or (408) 983-2800.
If it’s possible to make high street retailer Topman take stupid, sexist t-shirts off the market, then surely it can be done with these guys. And here’s a tip for any man who would consider wearing this top. What a guy’s gotta do to get laid legitimately is to start by not looking like a potential rapist. Ladies like that.Fri, Jul 27, 2012
Is Myspace Moment Of Silence
Three months ago, Mark Zuckerberg became a bazillionaire when his social media company, Facebook, had its IPO last May.
The numbers were stunning. Over 900 million users worldwide and growing. 900m million! The IPO numbers were stunning, too. Priced at $38 a share, Mr. Zuckerberg, who retained 56% of the voting stock—itself an unprecedented feat—was suddenly worth $100 billion.
Not bad for a business started in his dorm room just a few years earlier. Now all Zuckerberg had to do was figure out a way to monetize his 900 million customers. As it turns out, that’s easier said than done.
In its first quarterly report, Facebook’s revenues were up 32% year-over-year, which sounds fantastic…
Unfortunately, revenues are down from 45% growth in the prior quarter. In fact, this is the fifth consecutive quarter of declining revenue for the social media giant.
What’s happening to Facebook?
Overhyped and underperforming
Nothing that hasn’t happened before with over-hyped companies in the internet space that have become overnight successes on the promise of future revenues from sources that do not exist in the present.
I’m not saying that Facebook isn’t making money, because it is. It had $1.18 billion of revenue in the 2nd quarter with a profit of $157 million, or 8 cents a share.
The problem is that Facebook is losing customers and user time spent on the site is declining. The growth in the number of users, time spent, and most of all, revenues from same, are all on a downward trend.
Not coincidentally, so is the price of the stock, which is trading around $23 a share.
Why would Facebook be losing customers? The company reports some interesting phenomena going on…
They say that when Facebook reaches 50% penetration in a given country, that user base flattens out. Apparently, Facebook is at that point in many countries.
But there are other reasons as well. Remember, Facebook use is free. That attracts some users with the public park mentality. What’s that? Public parks are free as well, and when something is free, it attracts a certain proportion of people who go there because it costs nothing, which is exactly what they have in their pockets to spend.
Thus, when Facebook offers premium services and features to its 900 million plus users, a great percentage of those users will have no use for them or little or no resources to spend on them.
Another cause of Facebook’s difficulties is that they now have competition. Smaller services are popping up that offer the same and/or different options, or better services in some cases, with less privacy worries and more cache.
That gets at two different issues. One is the aspect of exclusivity. Way back when, Facebook was it. There was no other choice—except MySpace, which somehow failed to capitalize on their pre-emptive position.
In a matter of months of Facebook’s arrival, MySpace fell out of fashion, underserving its users and becoming pigeonholed as a preteen hangout, not nearly hip enough for whom else? Twenty-something hipsters and businesses.
Facebook was new, then, and cool, developed and run by another twenty-something hipster/braniac with a great following and great PR from the young Hollywood set and big business. Facebook was…the bomb. And it grew like it, too. After a while, say, three months ago, it became that which it started out resisting: anonymously big business-like. And people started to get turned off.
Users started asking themselves, “Who wants to be just one more users among a billion others?” And who wants their privacy violated? Their information owned by a less-than-friendly Facebook mega-corporation? Smaller, more intimate services offered privacy, more targeted services, and one other elusive factor: coolness.
Losing its ‘cool’
This, of course, leads to that other factor—the style or cool factor. Facebook is no longer the cutting edge, hip place to do your social media biz…
Facebook is, to hipsters and others of the younger generation, becoming passé. Who wants to hang their personal stuff, their friends’ stuff and all the rest of it, where their parents do? That’s like twenty-somethings going out on a Saturday night and meeting their collective parents at the same nightclub. Ewww!
Like it or not, Facebook has joined the establishment, and the establishment is rarely cool for very long. Not only that, but like today’s banking establishment, and like our very own federal government, Facebook’s credibility has suffered since it has not lived up to its own hype. And its financial status is starting to look like the US dollar…
It is everywhere, widely known, and losing value by its own over exposure. Furthermore, the recent disclosure that Facebook data is shared with the US government has made its brand on par with a vile domestic spying agency and made Mark Zuckerberg look like an arrogant, out of touch and overpaid government snitch.
As Facebook struggles to regain its footing going forward, I predict that it will not find the going easy. In fact, it will be all down hill from here.
But don’t worry, Mark; you’ll still be a hit with the Hollywood crowd. I hear Justin Timberlake is looking for a social media bookend to go with his on-the-cheap purchase of MySpace.
And those are…The Gorrie Details.
Source: http://www.absolutewealth.comAll mosques have a niche indicating the direction of the Kaaba
Some 200 mosques in Islam's holiest city, Mecca, point the wrong way for prayers, reports from Saudi Arabia say.
All mosques have a niche showing the direction of the most sacred Islamic site, the Kaaba, an ancient cube-like building in Mecca's Grand Mosque.
But people looking down from recently built high-rises in Mecca found the niches in many older mosques were not pointing directly towards the Kaaba.
Some worshippers are said to be anxious about the validity of their prayers.
There have been suggestions that laser beams could be used to make an exact measurement.
Tawfik al-Sudairy, Islamic affairs ministry deputy secretary, downplayed the problem in remarks quoted by the pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat.
"There are no major errors but corrections have been made for some old mosques, thanks to modern techniques," he said.
"In any case, it does not affect the prayers."I grew up on Hayling, a small Island off the coast of Hampshire, between the mainland cities of Portsmouth and Chichester. We moved there in 1968. It was a very rural island with several dairy and fruit farms as well as holiday camp physical and mental disabilities– differently abled children. Suntrap was one on the southern coast, as was the Royal Hotel and Gorseway House, St. Catharine’s, Sandy Point and St Mary’s Meadow. Each of the institutions had huge, walled gardens so that the children were rarely seen by residents or visitors to the island unless they had business with the institutions. Over the course of the sixties and seventies, the institutions closed or changed clientele. For example, Sandy Point became a hospital for mentally handicapped children as well as a respite holiday center for hundreds of handicapped children from southern England. Gorseway House is now a nursing care center for the elderly.
St. Mary’s Meadow was one of the last to close and happened to be within walking distance of my home. One day in the late 1970s I answered an advertisement and went to St. Mary’s Meadow for an interview. For some reason I had no idea that St. Mary’s was a Roman Catholic home for unmarried mothers and their children. The Mother Superior graciously explained what it was that the job entailed. I was to take the “girls” shopping on Saturday afternoons so that they could buy whatever they needed—soap, shampoo, candy etc. Yes, I thought I could do this and so I took the job.
Mother Superior then introduced me to the “girls”—Mary, Gladys, Joan, Norma, Anne and Martha. Each girl looked to me to be approximately forty-five years or older, in varying degrees of mental ability and extremely excited about the idea of going shopping with me. For the next year, I spent most Saturdays taking the last residents of St. Mary’s Meadow to get their haircut, to buy personal items at the Pharmacy or Supermarket, and for coffee or afternoon tea at Heidi’s Swiss Bakery. Their favorite “outing” was to my house to chat with my mother and brother and have tea and a cookie with them. It was the best (and easiest) job I ever had as a teenager.
All of the “girls” had spent their entire life at St. Mary’s Meadow. Most were the daughters of unmarried mothers or the product of a botched illegal abortion. Their lives revolved around the schedule of the nuns at St. Mary’s Meadow. They helped with the cleaning, the cooking and the laundry in exchange for the attention of the nuns. Most had no family, or rather had no family that claimed them as members. As a result, the women of St. Mary’s Meadow became family to each other, often bickering like siblings or holding each other’s hands to cross the road.
I have no idea if these individuals were abused in any way. At the time, I would never have doubted the Roman Catholic Church and its role in the care of the “unloved” and the “unwanted.” Yet I recently assigned the book, Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries for a course in Modern British history. The book retold the story of the ways that women and girls, perceived to be “wayward” or a “moral” threat to the state, were institutionalized in workhouses called “Magdalen Laundries” because Mary Magdalen, the friend of Jesus, has been remembered in Church history as a “prostitute.” (you can read more about it here.) The women, often unmarried mothers or simply the female offspring of an illicit union, were basically imprisoned and forced to “do laundry” in order to be reminded of their immorality and their “uncleanliness.” The laundries began in the eighteenth century and were operated by the Roman Catholic Church until the last laundry closed in 1996. Since that time, evidence of sexual, psychological and physical abuse have come to light, largely from the oral histories of some of the last occupants of these “Magdalen” laundries as well as the discovery of 155 bodies in unmarked graves on the grounds of a former institution.
Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries has raised questions about the time I spent at St. Mary’s Meadow and the institutions on Hayling overall. Why did they all have such high walls? Why did we never see the institutionalized? Were they abandoned by their families or were they disowned because of their origins or disabilities?
What happened behind the walls?It’s time for some seeeeeeeerious recommendations, friends!!! Do you have your planning spreadsheets ready?!?
As much as I love my classics (Dole Whip!!!), I have found some brand new delicious Disney treats to add to the list of my favorites in 2014.
If you’re looking to try some new things, or you’re just curious about what fun new finds we’re celebrating, read on — and discover My 7 Favorite New Disney Food Items for 2014!
Brioche Ice Cream Sandwiches at L’Artisan des Glaces Sorbet and Ice Cream Shop
There’s nothing like finding something completely new and original while you’re strolling through the parks. And I wasn’t disappointed on a recent trip through Epcot’s France Pavilion.
We all love L’Artisan des Glaces Sorbet and Ice Cream Shop. I mean, 16 delicious, artisan ice creams and sorbets made right here in Epcot (I’ve seen the machines)!
PLUS Ice Cream Martinis and Chocolate Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches. Are you kidding me?? Utter yumness.
But stop the presses! (Ha! That will be even funnier after you finish reading this.) Because they’ve also added Croque Glaces — Pressed Ice Cream Sandwiches.
If you love ice cream sandwiches as much as I do, you’ve gotta try this. They take a freshly baked Brioche Bun, add a scoop of your choice of Ice Cream, and a drizzle of your choice of Raspberry or Chocolate Sauce. (Yep! It’s totally customized!)
Then, the top of the bun is replaced, and the whole thing is put into a press that looks like a cross between a waffle maker and a panini grill.
And Voila! The whole thing is warmed and the edges are crimped together, and you have the finished sandwich!
And it’s amazing! It’s warm and cold all at the same time, and I love how the rich bread soaks up the ice cream. And the crimped edges and absorbent bread means these are a little less drippy than the traditional cookie-and-ice-cream model. I’m not saying this replaces that…but it’s certainly a nice alternative.
And these are definitely huge, and big enough to share — especially if you’re snacking your way around the World.
Nudel Gratin at Sommerfest
Sommerfest, the counter service spot in Epcot’s Germany Pavilion, has been one of my favorite stops forever. When you’re after a quick bite of good, hearty food, it can’t be beat.
And the best part — recently they introduced several delicious new options. And suddenly, making a decision about what to get here wasn’t so easy anymore.
Except that soon, one dish rose to the top of the heap — the Nudel Gratin. That’s Macaroni and Cheese to you and me.
But it’s not just mac and cheese. It’s the cheesiest, richest, most flavorful baked version of this beloved comfort food that I’ve ever tasted at Disney. No truffle. No lobster. Just straight up, cheesy goodness.
Seriously. There was a fork fight over this one when we ordered it. I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. And the really incredible thing is the price! At less than $4, this hearty portion is considered a side dish, but I could totally have it for lunch and be happy.
If I’ve inspired cravings with my rave, here’s a recipe to try it out at home!
Gourmet Cake Cups at Cheshire Cafe
I’ve said it before — when it comes to cupcakes, it’s not worth it unless it’s got a metric ton of rich, lardy frosting on top (yep; I said it)!
So when I first heard about Gourmet Cake Cups at Cheshire Cafe in Magic Kingdom, I was instantly obsessed. I immediately took myself over to the Magic Kingdom.
And trying was believing. I was smitten at first sight. Because I am not so much a cake person as a frosting person. (It would be just fine with me if we could rename them cupfrostings. Or just give me a cup of frosting. Whatever.)
The tiniest bit of Confetti Cake divides up the mounds of sugary-sweet frosting that’s like the best birthday cake you’ve ever had. And the Confetti Sprinkles on top just make everything better. But look at that frosting!!! Heaven, I say. HEAVEN.
While my favorite, hands down, is the Vanilla version, the Mocha Madhatter Cake Cup also receives high marks. Choose this version for a lighter textured, mousse-like Chocolate Frosting that boasts a strong coffee flavor.
Frozen Cheesecake
But we mustn’t think all the food wonderful is confined to Walt Disney World. You know how much I love my Disneyland snacks, too. And I’m adding a new favorite this year!
Next time you’re in Disneyland having dinner and are tempted to skip dessert — do it!! And make a beeline for Downtown Disney District’s Gelato Bars kiosk there, where you will find Frozen Cheesecake. With a Strawberry. On a Stick.
You think it’s weird, right? OK — imagine the richness of cheesecake, and the coolness of ice cream, and you start to get the picture. And all that creamy deliciousness is the perfect consistency for strolling and eating. Not tooth-breaking hard, not drippy-melty. Just right.
Hand-Dipped Corn Dogs in Walt Disney World! (Finally!!)
The good people who visit Walt Disney World each and every year have one big lament: why don’t we have Hand-Dipped Corn Dogs like they do in Disneyland? And I was right there with them.
But that dream that was a wish our heart made finally came true recently, when Food Trucks came to live at Downtown Disney — and Hand-Dipped Corn Dogs were finally introduced to the East Coast.
Fantasy Fare Food Truck represents the “culinary traditions from Disney Parks around the globe to Disney World”, so it was the perfect spot to introduce this Disneyland icon to Disney World.
Crispy Cornmeal Batter coats the outside of these ginormous Dogs and delivers a combo of smoky-salty-sweet flavor that’s heaven on earth. And even better — it’s served with those delicious House-Made Potato Chips that have become a staple side throughout Disney World lately. (And we’re sooo glad. Because they’re awesome.)
The ratio of breading to dog is pleasant. I get the awesome hand-dipped cornbread taste, but I can still get the flavor of the dog! And I can enjoy this treat without feeling like I’ve eaten a whole loaf of cornbread. Although, come to think of it, that wouldn’t be so bad.
Next time I’m in Walt Disney World, I’ll likely skip the Corn Dog Nuggets at Casey’s Corner in favor of this treat. Although I might sneak over some plastic cheese for dipping. 🙂
Croissant Donuts at Refreshment Port
Just when you think Donuts couldn’t possibly be anymore wonderful. Someone marries them with Croissants…and the Cronut is born — much to our utter delight.
Have you had the pleasure? Because they’re astounding. The Croissant Donut — so called, because the term “Cronut” has actually been cleverly trademarked — is a hot trend in the food world, and so we were super excited to find that Disney has introduced its very own version. You’ll find this thing of beauty at Refreshment Port in Epcot.
It’s the perfect treat to devour while you’re enjoying a cup of Starbucks coffee from Fountain View Cafe.
You know this is going to be my first stop for breakfast the next time I’m in Epcot. Even if my plane doesn’t arrive until night time.
Hey, breakfast for dinner, right?
Now, we’re not sure how long this will be available, since Refreshment Port tends to switch up its menu quite often. So get ’em while they’re (literally) hot!
The Grey Stuff Cupcake at Be Our Guest Restaurant
Even today, I can’t set foot inside Be Our Guest Restaurant at Magic Kingdom without humming the song of the same name. Admit it: you can’t, either. And if so, then you were with me when I wondered “how in the world are they going to bring ‘The Grey Stuff’ to life???”
But they DID! At first, it was a special occasion dessert. So you had to, like, get married or have a birthday or something to get it.
But no doubt, the Cookies and Cream Panna Cotta Mousse proved to be so popular that the brilliant chefs decided to top a cupcake with it. And lo, the Master’s Cupcake was born!
This is truly the best of both worlds — two delicious desserts in one. The wonderfully light mousse can be eaten alone with a spoon. Those beautiful little Chocolate Pearls on top provide a nice crunch.
And the goodness goes right down into the middle of the cupcake! Score!!!
But the cake itself is pretty awesome, too. Rich, moist Chocolate Cake is the perfect accompaniment to that mousse.
This is definitely a great addition to the Be Our Guest menu. No wonder the Master wants to keep it to himself!
Ready for all the News on What’s New?
We’ve given you just a small sampling of the information that you can find in our What’s New and Recommended Snacks highlighted in The DFB Guide to Walt Disney World® Dining 2014 — and the guide is your ticket to an even heartier helping of Disney Dining information!
Be sure to check out The DFB Guide to Walt Disney World® Dining 2014 for all the food information you need to plan your best Disney vacation ever!
Our reviews will help your family find the food that’s right for you! Click here to get your copy of The DFB Guide to Walt Disney World® Dining 2014 E-book — and use code 2014 for an extra $4 discount for a limited time!
What’s your favorite must-try item from this list, or do you have another new find you’re dying to try this year? Leave a comment and share your Disney culinary knowledge with us!Cost:
Various on console
£10.99 / $14.99 on Steam
Review Bit.
Ah Brutal Legend a game by Tim Shafer and Double fine one much embroiled in legal ranglings between Activision and EA.
The game opens with a satanic demon summoning using the protagonists blood. I should probably comment upon just how satanic Brutal Legend is from the use of the devils music to cast spells to demon summoning to the alarming blasphemy of claiming the world was created by something the game calls “the Fire beast Ormagoden”.
The Blasphemy however doesn’t end with creating its own god oh no it proclaims that a race of human like entities known as the Titan’s eventually ascended to the heavens themselves to become gods. Such blasphemous elements are just the first in a long stream of elements that damages what could have been a promising title.
To traverse the world of Brutal Legend you can go by foot or use the Hot Rod car provided. Using the Hot rod is faster and leads to you getting into less fights. That’s right the game is encouraging you to increase pollution, the game actively promotes methods of transport which help increase CO2 emissions and damage the environment. At no point does the game suggest an alternative fuel source or applying the use of green energy. Even in the battles themselves the game encourages you to build large extraction platforms over natural resource points in order to plunder the world of it’s natural resources just to fund your fight. Such a lack of an environmentally aware message is just another of the elements which turn this otherwise promising game into a lesser experience.
So as if promoting pollution and environmental destruction wasn’t enough Brutal Legend decides to go a number of steps further. One of the side missions involves your running round the game hunting endangered species for the pleasure of a master hunter just to gain upgrades. That’s right you callously kill a load of animals for no purpose other than to impress someone. But it doesn’t stop there
Later into the game you run into the people pictured above who help join your fight bringing their work beasts with them. Such a corruption of the natural order by humanity to make animals serve humans in such a way. As an adamant PETA supporter I am disgusted to see a game promote the actions of killing and domestication of animals. Yet again another couple of problematic elements which detract from a title that had promise.
At no point in the game do you ever get a chance to negotiate with the enemy it’s constant violence. The player is given no other choice but to engage in the violence with no problems solving options ever presented to the player. We must question what kind of message a game like this is sending out to players by never offering such alternative options to interact. The game even glorifies the brutal decapitation of your enemies. Remember media doesn’t exist in a vacuum and it’s important to understand the harmful messages we may unconsciously internalise from a piece of media. So we must think of the societal impact of a game which presents no other option than violence to the player and normalises this in our culture.
I feel it is also important to point out how Brutal Legend encourages the body shaming and ableism. The enemy in the game known as the tainted coil are often described as “hideously deformed” and are forever trying to beautify their foul forms. With the Tainted Coil being the faction in the game with a clearly disabled unit forced to crawl about on his hands.
The game expects you to treat the Tainted coil as the villain merely because they are different and cannot help being different to the “normal”. What kind |
is a dominant characteristic,” he notes. “In settings where you want people to talk to you, where you’re trying to innovate, a higher-pitched voice might be better because it connotes approachability.”
You might also like...New Delhi: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday said AAP is an important opponent in the Delhi Assembly polls even as she expressed optimism over Congress bouncing back.
"I think it's definitely an important opponent in this elections," the daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi said after casting her vote at Lodhi Estate polling station.
When asked to comment on Rahul Gandhi's remark after the last Assembly elections that the Congress could learn from AAP, she said, "I am sure they too have a lot to learn from the Congress. Everyone learns from everyone."
Priyanka, who was accompanied by her husband Robert Vadra, said she was optimistic that the Congress would bounce back from the series of election defeats.
"The Congress has faced difficulties before and it has always come through. I'm sure it will come through," she said.
In the 2013 Delhi elections, Congress had won eight seats while AAP and BJP had bagged 28 and 31 seats respectively.
PTI
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Montréal, mardi 23 décembre 2014 – Le Collectif Québécois Contre l’Islamophobie (CQCI) dénonce les déclarations islamophobes du président de la Fraternité des policiers de Montréal, Yves Francoeur, et lui demande de les retirer et de s’en excuser.
« Les déclarations d’Yves Francoeur sont non seulement irresponsables mais aussi dangereuses. Cette association des mosquées à la menace terroriste par le président de la Fraternité des policiers de Montréal risque de créer une fracture dans la population dans un moment où la paix et l’harmonie sociales devraient être l’objectif commun de tous les acteurs sociaux au Québec» a déclaré Adil Charkaoui, coordinateur du CQCI
Le CQCI rappelle que M. Francoeur a provoqué tout une onde de choc en déclarant récemment que « [l]orsqu’il y a des mosquées sur ton territoire, malheureusement il y a des gens plus extrémistes »¹ et que «les policiers ne sont pas à l’abri d’une attaque en raison «du caractère multiethnique de Montréal»².
Le Collectif Québécois Contre l’Islamophobie invite aussi la population à ne pas céder au climat d’hystérie collective alimenté par ces récentes déclarations controversées de M. Francoeur et par le traitement médiatique sensationnaliste de certains médias suite à l’arrestation du jeune Jeffrey Labelle.
« Tous les éléments de preuve rendus publics dans ce dossier à ce jour laissent plutôt croire qu’il s’agit d’une fausse dénonciation. Établir des liens entre la récente conversion à l’islam de l’accusé ou son désir de se marier avec une musulmane et sa dangerosité potentielle relève plus du profilage «religieux» que d’une enquête sérieuse en matière de sécurité nationale» a ajouté Adil Charkaoui, coordinateur du CQCI
Le CQCI tient aussi à dénoncer le changement substantiel, en moins de 24 heures, des motifs d’arrestation du jeune Jeffrey Labelle par certains médias locaux. Alors que le commandant Ian Lafrenière, du Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) avait clairement précisé qu’«[i]l n’y avait pas de menaces directes à l’endroit des policiers»³, Radio-Canada a fait fi de ces déclarations en optant pour le titre sensationnel et trompeur suivant: «Menaces contre des policiers : « Mohammed » Labelle revient en cour» 4
¹ http://www.ledevoir.com/non-classe/427404/policiers-abattus-onde-de-choc-a-new-york
² http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-affaires-criminelles/actualites-judiciaires/201412/21/01-4830166-policiers-tues-aux-e-u-la-fraternite-des-policiers-inquiete.php
³ http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-affaires-criminelles/affaires-criminelles/201412/22/01-4830284-un-individu-radicalise-arrete-et-comparait-a-montreal.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_les-plus-populaires-actualites_article_ECRAN2POS1
4 http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/montreal/2014/12/23/003-jeffrey-labelle-comparution-mohamed.shtml
Le Collectif Québécois Contre l’Islamophobie
514-653 2079
www.islamophobiequebec.org
info@islamophobiequebec.org
https://twitter.com/CQCI_info
www.facebook.com/Collectif.Contre.Islamophobie.Quebec
Le Collectif québécois contre l’islamophobie (CQCI) est un organisme à but non lucratif voué à la lutte contre l’islamophobie sous toutes ses formes et dans toutes les sphères de la société
-30-The option of selecting "blank," in addition to the standard choices of "male" or female" on birth certificates will become available in Germany from November 1. The legislative change allows parents to opt out of determining their baby's gender, thereby allowing those born with characteristics of both sexes to choose whether to become male or female in later life. Under the new law, individuals can also opt to remain outside the gender binary altogether.
Germany is the first country in Europe to introduce this option -- Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung is referring to the change as a "legal revolution." It remains unclear, however, how the change will affect gender assignment in other personal documents, such as passports, which still require people to choose between two categories -- "F" for female and "M" for male. German family law publication FamRZ has called for the introduction of a third category, designated by the letter "X."
The law was passed back in May, but has only now been reported on, following an article this month in FamRZ -- just six weeks after Australia became the first country in the world to introduce legal guidelines on gender recognition. Under the Australian system, which applies to all personal documents, individuals can select the third category irrespective of whether or not they have undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy.
Brussels Under Pressure
Finland is the only EU member state aside from Germany to have made significant progress in the area of third gender recognition. Despite its efforts, bureaucratic hurdles in the Nordic country have meant that there is still no concrete legislative change in sight.
According to Silvan Agius, policy director at human rights organisation ILGA Europe -- the European chapter of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association -- the European Union is lagging behind on the issue. Though Brussels commissioned a report on trans and intersex minorities in 2010, and has since attempted to coordinate efforts to prohibit gender discrimination, progress has been halting.
"Things are moving slower than they should at the European level," says Agius. "Though Brussels has ramped up efforts to promote awareness of trans and intersex discrimination, I would like to see things speed up."
The subsequent EU report on potential changes to European Union law, which was published in 2012 and co-authored by Agius, found that discrimination against trans and intersex people was still "rampant in all EU countries."
"Germany's move will put more pressure on Brussels," Agius concludes. "That can only be a good thing."GENEVA (AP) -- FIFA rejected calls to move the 2018 World Cup from Russia, saying the tournament ''can achieve positive change.''
Some lawmakers in Germany want the hosting rights reviewed because of Russia's alleged involvement in shooting down a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine last week.
Political pressure on Russia increased Friday when the European Union sought to freeze assets and restrict travel for more individuals and businesses.
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FIFA said in a statement it ''deplores any form of violence'' and questions the purpose of relocating the showcase tournament.
''History has shown so far that boycotting sport events or a policy of isolation or confrontation are not the most effective ways to solve problems,'' FIFA said, adding that global attention on the World Cup ''can be a powerful catalyst for constructive dialogue between people and governments.''
The conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russia separatist rebels escalated days after the World Cup ended in Brazil.
On July 13 in Rio de Janeiro, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a World Cup handover ceremony with Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff. Both then sat next to FIFA President Sepp Blatter to watch the final at the Maracana Stadium, won by Germany.
FIFA, which has Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko on its executive committee, said a World Cup in the country ''can be a force for good.''
''FIFA believes this will be the case for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,'' the governing body said.
Blatter already rejected calls to strip Russia of the tournament after it annexed the Crimea this year.
''The World Cup has been given and voted to Russia and we are going forward with our work,'' Blatter said in March.
Story continues
In a separate statement Friday, Mutko said a U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics had been a mistake.
''So there's no sense in reacting to politicians trying to make names for themselves,'' Mutko was quoted saying by the Russian news agency R-Sport. ''We're preparing in a calm way, building facilities, getting ready for the World Cup.''
Russia has announced a $20 billion budget for building and renovating 12 stadiums, and other construction projects, for the first World Cup in Eastern Europe.
Restricting Russian financial institutions' access to European capital markets was suggested to a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels on Friday. The 28-nation bloc is scheduled to further discuss the subject Tuesday.
''FIFA has stated many times that sport should be outside politics,'' Mutko said. ''Hosting an event like this, we're doing it for athletes from all over the world, for footballers, for the fans.''You know the name, and you know the number. James Bond and Radio-4 in the UK are uniting once again for a new entry in the audio drama world of 007, and this time its an exciting adaptation of the fourth Ian Fleming Bond adventure Diamonds Are Forever.
The BBC’s publicity department have announced that the latest 007 radio adaptation, with Toby Stephens once again playing James Bond, will be transmitted on BBC Radio-4 on Saturday, 25th July, 2015, at 2.30pm.
Produced by Jarvis and Ayres Productions in collaboration with the BBC, the 90-minute audio play is the fifth radio production to star Stephens as 007, who first took on the role of James Bond in Dr. No in 2008, which was followed by Goldfinger in 2010, From Russia With Love in 2012 and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 2014.
Toby Stephens, of course, is very familiar to Bond aficionados as, uniquely, he has played both 007 and a Bond villain. In 2002 he was the baddie Gustav Graves in EON’s fourth Pierce Brosnan Bond movie Die Another Day.
For this new adaptation of Diamonds Are Forever, which has been dramatised by Archie Scottney and is directed by Martin Jarvis, Lisa Dillon will play Tiffany Case and Jared Jarris will be Mr. Spang. Dillon, an acclaimed stage actress who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, previously read a Jarvis and Ayres production of Hilda Richards’ 1939 story Jemima Gets Them Guessing, which aired on BBC Radio-4 in 2011. Jared Jarris, who is one of the three sons of the late Irish actor Richard Harris, is perhaps best known for his role as Lane Pryce in TV’s smash-hit Mad Men series, but he has also carved out a good range of big-screen roles, including as the devious Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows (2011). His latest role has been as Saunders in the new big-screen version of The Man from UNCLE (2015).
The new audio adaptation of Diamonds will also see John Standing return as ‘M,’ and Martin Jarvis will reprise his role as the voice of Ian Fleming. Other roles will include Nigel Havers as Superintendent Harris; Alan Shearman as Rufus B. Saye; Alex Jennings as Shady Tree; Josh Stamberg as Bond’s CIA buddy Felix Leiter; Stacy Keach as Ernie Cureo; Kevin Daniels as Sammy; Andre Sogliuzzo as Rocky/Wint; Darren Richardson as Kidd/The Sergeant; and Matthew Wolf as Tingaling/Dentist.
James Bond author Ian Fleming’s fourth 007 adventure, published in 1956, saw Bond return to America to trace and infiltrate the routes taken by the participants in an international diamond smuggling pipeline, a ring which stretched from mines in Sierra Leone in Africa right through to Mafia interests in New York and Las Vegas. The pipeline is being operated by the ‘Spangled Mob’, a gang run by the two Spang brothers. In the 1950s, Fleming had taken a close interest in the diamond industry and the trade in illicit diamonds and, at one point – making use of his contacts with ex-employees of MI5 – he had conducted a considerable amount of his own background research for the Sunday Times. Some of this background material appeared in his non-fiction book The Diamond Smugglers (1957).
Jarvis and Ayres have been praised for their determination to offer faithful adaptations of the original Ian Fleming Bond stories. In 2010, Jarvis explained to the UK’s popular SFX magazine that one of the remits behind his James Bond radio productions is that ‘we’re not making a version of the movie. We go back to the novel and keep great faith with it’.
Did You Know?
A key part of the storyline concerning Tiffany Case in the Ian Fleming novel Diamonds Are Forever took place on the luxury cruise ship RMS Queen Elizabeth. In real life, when the liner was retired and sold in 1968, it eventually ended up in the hands of a Hong Kong businessman, who intended to turn the ship into a floating University. But in 1972, while undergoing refurbishment for this project in Hong Kong harbour, the liner mysteriously caught fire, and was capsized by the water that was used to put out the onboard blaze.
In the autumn of 1973, when a large EON recce team were hunting for suitable locations in the Far East for the next 007 movie after Roger Moore’s debut film Live and Let Die, they eventually came across the charred wreck of RMS Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong harbour, and immediately saw the on-screen possibilities. It thus appeared in Moore’s second Bond movie The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), featuring as a temporary MI6 station.Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a nanoshell to protect foreign enzymes used to starve cancer cells as part of chemotherapy. Posted with permission from Nano Letters, June 2014, 14(6). Copyright 2014 American Chemical Society.
San Diego, Calif., June 16, 2014 -- Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a nanoshell to protect foreign enzymes used to starve cancer cells as part of chemotherapy. Their work is featured on the June 2014 cover of the journal Nano Letters.
Enzymes are naturally smart machines that are responsible for many complex functions and chemical reactions in biology. However, despite their huge potential, their use in medicine has been limited by the immune system, which is designed to attack foreign intruders. For example, doctors have long relied on an enzyme called asparaginase to starve cancer cells as a patient undergoes chemotherapy. But because asparaginase is derived from a nonhuman organism, E. Coli, it is quickly neutralized by the patient’s immune system and sometimes produces an allergic reaction. In animal studies with asparaginase, and other therapeutic enzymes, the research team found that their porous hollow nanoshell effectively shielded enzymes from the immune system, giving them time to work.
Asparaginase works by reacting with amino acids that are an essential nutrient for cancer cells. The reaction depletes the amino acid, depriving the abnormal cells from the nutrients they need to proliferate.
“Ours is a pure engineering solution to a medical problem,” said Inanc Ortac (Ph.D. '13), who developed the technology as part of his doctoral research in the laboratory of nanoengineering professor Sadik Esener at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
The nanoshell acts like a filter in the bloodstream. The enzymes are loaded into the nanoparticle very efficiently through pores on its surface and later encapsulated with a shell of nanoporous silica. The shell’s pores are too small for the enzyme to escape but big enough for diffusion of amino acids that feed cancer cells in and out of the particle. The enzymes remain trapped inside where they deplete any amino acids that enter.
The shell’s pores are too small for the enzyme to escape but big enough for diffusion of amino acids that feed cancer cells in and out of the particle. The enzymes remain trapped inside where they deplete any amino acids that enter. Photo courtesy of Inanc Ortac.
"This is a platform technology that may find applications in many different fields. Our starting point was solving a problem for cancer therapeutics,” said Ortac.
Ortac is currently serving as the chief technology officer of DevaCell, a local start-up which licensed the technology and is working to commercialize it under the name Synthetic Hollow Enzyme Loaded nanoShells or SHELS. Ortac, together with graduate student Ya-san Yeh, recently took the top prize at Research Expo 2014 at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Yeh discussed her role in the project in our video linked below. Ortac also won first place in the Collegiate Inventors Competition in 2012 and UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge in 2013 with a business plan based on the technology. Just recently, San Diego Business Journal recognized the researchers with the 2014 Innovation Award in Medical Research. The research was supported by the National Cancer Institute (5U54CA119335).TRADE Login To Add Trade Share & Comment:
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Winter Garden Westminster walker St. Lazare Pompton Plains Bradenton Deltona Saint Paul Irving Lewiston Farstorp St Clement Belle Chasse Ventura River Vale Catasauqua bistrita Volendam Maryville Baldwin Park Rancho Cucamonga Westtown rancho Chatham Marian Chelsea Salt Lake City Tomball hjjgffgu İstanbul Rancho Cucamonga Squamish Wilkes-Barre Shrewsbury Campbelltown north port Evansville Wollaston TRACY Miami Camarena leitchfield gohory Roodepoort Cannington Tamworth New York City Hanford Mays Landing Elyria North Bellmore Reservoir Strathalbyn fostoria Franklin vlissingen Braunton Knightdale stevenage not Baguio City Clear Spring Antwerp cape coral Robbinsville Half Moon Bay sdsd Elizabeth n/a Abilene Salem kob Cleveland niles Lynchburg Grödig Binghamton Rosenberg Great Yarmouth tonala Search by series Search by TRU discsThe Department of Defense Inspector General’s final report on what kind of access the Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers had to classified information omits any reference to then-CIA Director Leon Panetta’s disclosure of “TOP SECRET” and other sensitive information at an event attended by the film’s screenwriter.
However, the report, which was released today, details how the Executive Office of the President, the White House and the National Security Council encouraged Pentagon officials to cooperate with the filmmakers, who were working on a movie about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.
The final report differs from a draft that the Project On Government Oversight obtained and reported on last week. The draft, which the Inspector General’s (IG) Office now describes as a “pre-decisional working draft” includes specific references to Panetta’s disclosure of classified information.
When asked to comment on the removal of any reference to Panetta in its final version of the report, IG spokeswoman Bridget Serchak said, “Issues related to then-Director of the CIA Mr. Leon Panetta were referred to the CIA IG.”
It remains unclear why the Defense Department IG spent time investigating Panetta’s disclosure of classified Pentagon information only to refer the matter to its counterpart at the CIA. During much of that time Panetta served as the Secretary of Defense, stepping down in February.
The IG’s report was requested in 2011 by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), then chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. At the time, King said he was concerned that Hollywood filmmakers had reportedly received “top level access to the most classified mission in history.”
In a cover letter to King accompanying the release of today’s final report, the Defense Department IG’s principal deputy and top official, Lynne M. Halbrooks, referred directly to “the document that was posted on the Project On Government Oversight website” as “a copy of a pre-decisional working-draft of the report written by my staff in the Office of Intelligence and Special Programs Assessments,” adding that the “… working draft has not been issued and was not authorized to be released.”
Halbrooks’ letter notes that, “As with any IG work product, the working draft has been edited and revised during a rigorous internal review process to produce the final report. Certain matters identified in conjunction with the review were referred to other DoD IG components and government agencies for analysis and action deemed appropriate.”
In response to questions posed by Rep. King last week, Halbrooks’ letter asserts that no outside pressure was brought to bear that might have delayed the report or otherwise affected its contents. “No third parties,” she writes, “to include anyone from the Office of the Secretary of Defense or the Executive Office of the President, attempted to influence the content of the report or its release date. Communications with third parties related to content were limited to classification reviews by DoD Components to ensure proper marking and handling. As such, there is no documentation reflecting third party influence on the content or date of the report...”
Halbrooks states, “I strongly disagree with any assertion that the DoD IG has been ‘sitting on the report,’ ” a characterization that appeared in POGO’s account of the matter last week.
POGO’s Communications Director Joe Newman said the organization stands by its reporting.
Panetta’s alleged disclosures included the name of a commander involved in the Bin Laden raid as well as highly classified signals intelligence or, as the draft report put it: “Director Panetta also provided DoD information, identified by relevant Original Classification Authorities as TOP SECRET//SI//REL TO USA, AUS, CAN, GBR, NZL, as well as, SECRET/ACCM.”
Panetta was not interviewed for the report, the draft document says, and POGO’s repeated attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. Panetta's former chief of staff, Jeremy Bash, said Panetta had no idea a filmmaker was in the room when he made the classified disclosure, according to a report last week by KION. Bash added that the former CIA director did not reveal any information that “wasn't already out there in the public.”Panetta and Bash did not appear to dispute factual assertions about the former CIA director that appeared in the draft IG report, according to KION and the Monterey Herald.
In contrast, the Pentagon warned employees and contractors last week not to download classified information, even if it is posted online in the public domain.
In a June 7 memo, senior Pentagon official Timothy A. Davis wrote that classified information remains classified even if it is posted on a public website.
POGO investigator Michael Smallberg contributed to this report.The political world is trying to figure out President Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE — again.
Trump has repeatedly transgressed the norms of political behavior since he began his quest for the presidency in June 2015. He has done so primarily by appealing to the Republican base in visceral terms.
That has changed in recent days, as Trump has instead sought progress on a stalled legislative agenda by cooperating with Democrats.
Now, Washington is fixated on whether this presages a longer-term shift on Trump’s part or is only a momentary aberration.
Among some Trump supporters, there was disenchantment, especially at an apparent openness to protecting beneficiaries of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
During his campaign, Trump promised to end DACA, which he described as “illegal amnesty.”
As recently as 10 days ago, Trump moved to phase out the program, which has given work permits and relief from the threat of deportation to about 800,000 people who entered the United States illegally as children.
As reports emerged that Trump might back legislation that enshrined similar protections, some erstwhile supporters reacted with outrage, posting pictures on social media of them destroying merchandise from his campaign.
But other Republicans insisted it was important not to get carried away by one or two instances of the president being open to bipartisanship.
Charlie Black, a veteran Republican strategist, said, “I think he figured out that some of the things he wants to get done are not going to get done on a purely partisan basis.”
Black asserted that this shouldn’t be interpreted to mean that Trump was somehow morphing into a centrist.
“No, I think he is transactional person and he will operate on an ad hoc basis,” he said.
Further deepening the confusion, the president has maintained the hard-line rhetoric that excites his base — and appalls Democrats — on other issues.
On Friday morning, in the wake of an apparent terrorist attack in London that required hospital treatment for around 30 people, Trump reaffirmed his belief in his controversial travel ban.
“The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific,” he tweeted, “but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!”
Many Democrats and liberals are dismissive of the idea that Trump has any intention of adopting a more moderate course. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who has repeatedly called for the president’s impeachment, tweeted on Friday that he could not be trusted by anyone, including Democrats.
The idea of a Trump shift toward the political center first arose when he struck a deal with senior Democrats to raise the debt ceiling for a shorter period than GOP leaders in Congress had wanted.
Then, he moved toward an agreement with the same Democrats — Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer Charles (Chuck) Ellis SchumerBrennan fires back at'selfish' Trump over Harry Reid criticism Trump rips Harry Reid for 'failed career' after ex-Dem leader slams him in interview Harry Reid: 'I don't see anything' Trump is doing right MORE (N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) — on DACA.
The Democrats are adamant that they will not support funding for the border wall that Trump promised again and again during his |
who had a weasel pry up the hardware cloth covering the stock tank serving as a chick brooder in the barn. No more chicks. The moral to this story is to make your coop weasel-tight.
If larger predators are a possibility in your area, it is a good idea to make your doors stronger and to bury heavy gauge wire below the door and along your outside pen. I plan on using 6-foot chicken wire for my large chicken yard/orchard. But this wouldn’t keep out a determined coyote or stray dog. So on the outside I’m using 16-foot welded wire stock panels for added security. It’s also a good idea to bury your fence in the ground to dissuade aggressive diggers too.
In many areas, your most dangerous chicken predator is a dog or several loose dogs. They can be nice dogs, but seeing those noisy, fluttering chickens makes them lose their cool and turn predator. If you live where stray dogs, or even your neighbors’ dogs roam, it’s a good idea to re-inforce your run with stock panels and electric wire. Just in case.
If raccoons are plentiful in your area, I would strongly suggest adding an electric wire six inches up from the bottom of your fence and an additional strand on top of the fence to keep those adorable, fluffy, bloodthirsty buggers out of your chicken run. I once (again on the old farm) had 33 turkeys killed and dragged off by raccoons who dug under the door, broke a window, and chewed through the chicken wire fence. I trapped five of them just outside the fence and shot one in the act of grabbing a hen off the roost. No circumstantial evidence here.
If hawks and owls are a problem, it’s easiest to put a netting over your outside run and don’t let the birds free range. If you do, there is not much chance of protecting them. You cannot legally shoot a hawk or owl, nor should you. They are just doing what nature built them to do.
Feeding the homestead flock
There are varied opinions as to what you should feed your chickens. Some people, especially commercial producers and feed store salesmen, staunchly recommend that you only feed your chickens commercial feed appropriate to their age and use: chick starter, chick grower, broiler maker, egg mash, etc.
Cornish Rocks are great for meat production.
Personally, I do not like all the additives that are in commercial feed. Yes, I do start my chicks on commercial chick starter; I can’t spend the time making “baby formula” like Grandma did. But as soon as they start to feather out, I gradually switch to a mixture of a good scratch feed (cracked corn, milo, and wheat, primarily), in addition to all the fresh milk they can drink, and all the kitchen scraps and garden produce I have available for them.
My chicks grow like weeds on this and mature to fill my canning jars and lay all the eggs our family could ever use.
I always plant a little “extra” in the garden for the goats and chickens: corn, greens, squash, and root crops. It’s amazing how a regular handful of garden produce year-round can cut your feed bill and raise the quality of your eggs. When I crack open one of our eggs, it has an orange yolk that stands up firmly on the white. The store eggs are so pale by comparison that when my son, David, saw a neighbor break one into a pan he whispered to me, “Mom! What’s wrong with their eggs?”
You know the old saying “You are what you eat?” Well, it holds true for your chickens, too. And I have hens that are seven years old and still lay their egg a day unless they are molting. Commercial hens are burned up by the age of one year and are made into soup. Ever wonder why? It’s a combination of breeding a hen that just about lays herself to death and the feed she must eat all her life.
I want to know what my birds are eating. Try to find that out from the tag on your commercial chicken feed. There’s things in it that I can’t even pronounce, let alone know what they are. Then there are the “products” and “digests,” etc. I feel better giving my chickens real food.
In the winter, when they can’t forage outside, I always bring them some vegetables or vegetable scraps from the basement, along with the pail of food scraps they also get daily. In real cold weather, they appreciate a treat of alfalfa leaves or pellets soaked in boiling water until they are nicely warm, but cooled down enough to eat.
Health concerns
First let me say that I have had very few sick chickens. Ever. Once in awhile, one will just die. People do, too. But by feeding your flock well and providing them with relatively warm, airy, dry housing, you will seldom see sick birds. Most poultry diseases only occur in large commercial flocks.
When our kids showed chickens at the fair and 4-H shows, we always quarantined them for three weeks after they came home. You never know what your birds may pick up from neighboring birds caged next door. By taking this precaution, we never had a problem.
What does a healthy bird look like? It is alert and active. Its feathers are smooth and it holds them close to its body. (Except when it’s a hen running with roosters, who will quickly denude her back and the back of her head during repeated breedings, or when she’s in molt twice a year.) The eyes and nostrils are clear of running or crusty discharge. When you pick the chicken up, she should feel plump and heavy. A very light chicken is usually thin because of a health problem.
Parasites
Even flocks that are well cared for will occasionally pick up external parasites, usually chicken lice or mites. Chickens will try to keep themselves free of these by taking frequent dust baths and by preening. But sometimes they need a little help. It’s a good idea once in a while to catch a bird and closely examine its skin, beneath its feathers. Use a magnifying glass, if necessary. Chicken mites are about the size of the dot a pencil makes on a paper. Lice are larger and are pinkish clear. Both will get on humans for a short time, but will not stay.
In the old days, they dusted the nests with DDT and nicotine dust. Obviously, you wouldn’t even consider the DDT, and nicotine dust is very poisonous. Nicotine, as in tobacco, as in cigarettes…point made. Instead, I dust my chickens with a 1% rotenone compound that is often sold in gardening sections at hardware and feed stores. This is mild and does the trick. It’s a good idea to clean and dust the coop first, then dust the chickens. Be sure you totally remove the bedding and clean out the nest boxes too or you’ll risk reinfestation.
Scaly leg
Our chicken coop/goat shed in Wolf Creek, Montana was built using salvaged materials.
This is a quite common problem, also caused by external parasites, the leg mite. You cannot see these mites, so there’s no sense in looking for them. They cause the legs to become rough and scaly. In severe cases they cause bleeding and the bird will lose weight and die. Fortunately, they are quite easily treated. Simply dip both legs, one at a time, in a tall can of vegetable oil. Repeat this once a week until the legs show signs of improvement. The oil not only smothers the mites but helps soften and remove the scales.
Coccidiosis
Coccidiosis is most often seen in chicks confined to a brooding area. It is caused by an internal protozoa. The symptoms include diarrhea, weakness, sitting around with feathers puffed up, and lack of growth. Death often results without treatment. Fortunately, coccidiosis can usually be prevented by keeping dry, clean bedding under your chicks at all times. It can be diagnosed by taking a small sample to your veterinarian for a fecal examination.
Most cases of coccidiosis can be effectively treated by putting medication in the drinking water. Many veterinarians use Sulfadimethoxine at a dosage of 2 tsp. per gallon of drinking water.
Upper respiratory problems
There are several chicken diseases that can show up with upper respiratory symptoms. To complicate matters, some of these are viruses which have no effective treatment but good care, while others are bacterial and often respond to antibiotics.
Upper respiratory symptoms include mattered eyes and nostrils, discharge from the nostrils, sneezing, and wheezing.
In the home flock, most cases of upper respiratory diseases can be traced to two things: a coop that is continually damp and closed in, and a dry coop, often bedded with sawdust. In both cases, getting some good ventilation really helps. We’re not talking about windy, but some steady cross-ventilation to keep fresh air in the coop. The damp closed-in coop is often seen in the winter when some chickens are not allowed to go outdoors. A combination of built-up litter and the ammonia generated by the manure sets the chickens up for a serious problem with upper respiratory diseases.
If your chickens are not allowed out in the winter, be sure to change the bedding frequently, and crack open a south facing window a bit to let in fresh air, at least during the daytime when it is milder out.
Should these care tips not provide prompt relief, it would be a good idea to treat the flock with an antibiotic, such as Terramycin, for ten days. While this will not “cure” a viral infection, it will usually take care of bacterial diseases and will prevent a secondary infection from occurring, following, or in conjunction with the viral illness.
Impacted crop
Because chickens are instinctively “peckers,” they will often eat anything they can swallow. Their crop can become impacted with a great variety of foreign objects as well as too much straw, dry grass, or bedding. David once lost a pet chick because it picked up many little pieces of paper that David had punched with a hole punch. By the time we knew what had happened it was too late. This was a sad lesson.
Mille Fleur; a banty that will fit in your hand
The chicken with an impacted crop will have a large crop that stays large for over two hours. The bird acts distressed and repeatedly works its neck, trying to move the impaction down into the digestive tract. Finally it becomes weak and lethargic. And, as David experienced, it can die.
Usually you can effectively treat an impacted crop, if you notice the bird in time and treat it. The treatment consists of 2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil sucked into a bulb syringe and squeezed slowly into the chicken’s mouth. Don’t rush this or the bird may choke. When the oil is all in, gently massage the oil into the mass in the crop, trying to work it apart and either up into the mouth, where she will violently shake her head and fling the offending pieces away, or down into the digestive tract. When the crop is less distended, keep the chicken quiet and warm, withholding feed for 24 hours, yet providing plenty of water.
Egg bound
On the other end of the chicken, the working end, is another fairly common problem. For some reason or another, the hen can’t push out the egg. It’s sort of like constipation only with an egg. Often it is a very large egg or else one that is dry. Again, get out your trusty bulb syringe and vegetable oil and gently inject 2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil into the vent around the egg. This usually works rapidly and quite well. In extreme cases, when the egg cannot be passed, you may be able to save her life by poking the egg with needle-nosed pliers to break it and very gently pull pieces out so the egg shell will collapse, then be able to be passed.
What about bird flu?
Yeah, okay. Yes, it is possible for a flock of chickens to catch bird flu from wild birds. It’s also possible that they may be hit with a meteor. Bird flu is caused by a virus, H5N1. Although it has been found in Asia, it never has been seen in the United States. Never. So unless it does cross the ocean, I wouldn’t worry about that problem. Yet.
If it should, I would recommend completely isolating your flock from wild birds. This means having them in an enclosed, bird-proof coop and an enclosed bird-proof outdoor run. Then your birds will probably be safer than you will be. They don’t go shopping, traveling, to school, to work or play, or to mix with other vectors.
Rhode Island Red
Setting your own hens
You can certainly buy new chicks every time you want a new flock or a few new birds. But there are certain advantages to breeding your own replacement chicks. First of all, it’s fun and entertaining to let a hen go broody and hatch out a bunch of fuzzy little peepers. Then, when you hatch your own chicks, there is no chance of introducing some health problem into your flock from outside sources. Reputable hatcheries have exceedingly healthy chicks, but there is always a chance for the baby chicks to pick up something along the way. You see this most often with “feed store” chicks, where they come in from a hatchery, then are available to the public for several days, often in open stock tank-type brooders.
Then, too, you never know when some sort of country-wide disaster may hit, severely limiting the ability to buy chicks…or much else. If you have hens that can raise chicks, you are never at the whims of fortune…or lack of it.
Heavy breed hens and banties are exceedingly good at sitting on a nestful of eggs, come hell or high water. My kids used to be scared to reach under a setting hen to check her eggs. My oldest son, Bill, told me of his experience one day, checking under a setting hen. “How many eggs does she have?” I asked. He shrugged. “She went like this,” he squinted his eyes viciously and stuck out his elbows, “and she yelled at me!” They will peck, too, protecting their flock of eggs.
It’s usually a hen over two years old that will go broody and want to sit on eggs. When this happens and you want to let her hatch eggs, make sure she receives a clutch of fresh eggs of a breed you want to hatch. The hen does not have to sit on eggs of her own breed. While I love banties, I always put heavy breed eggs under her to sit on. I don’t need scads of teeny, tiny chickens.
Keep her in a comfortable, private location. If she is in a nest box and refuses to be moved to another “sitting nest,” hang a piece of feed sack down over the door to keep other hens out. If you don’t you’ll have hens laying eggs in the nest with the sitting hen and they won’t hatch with the first batch and will only go bad.
If left alone and only daily offered food and water, she will handle hatching the eggs just fine, turning them several times daily to ensure that they hatch well. One day you’ll hear little peeps coming from under her, and lo and behold, there are several fuzzy heads peeping out from under her wings. Keep the chicks in the nest until all have hatched. There are often a few eggs that are bad and won’t hatch. They do not need feed and water for 24 hours, but should be offered some the next day if the hen is still on the eggs. I offer water in a shallow dish three times a day and leave food in the front of the nest for them.
When they are out of the nest, they will follow Mom around the yard, scratching and eating happily. Again, chicks drown easily so be sure there are no deep water containers available. Chicks flying up to get a drink out of my goat water tank and falling in have caused my biggest losses through the years.
When you raise your own chicks, you often have a ready market for the young, grown birds—provided that they are a pure breed of a popular type or a rare breed that is in demand. This helps pay for the flock’s feed and other costs. Sometimes a person only wants a rooster to cross with their hens, but selling a trio consisting of a cockerel (young rooster) and two pullets (young hens) is a common practice.
In addition to selling surplus young stock, selling your surplus eggs also provides income for the homestead. Today many health-conscious people eagerly seek out home-raised free-range eggs, as opposed to “chicken concentration camp” eggs from the local store. And they will happily pay a premium price for them too. I would not want to have enough hens to make a substantial income from the eggs, but you never have a problem selling any excess eggs from time to time. A simple roadside sign or a note on the bulletin board at the feed store usually directs more customers to you than you can believe. Farm fresh eggs are a very marketable commodity at local farmers’ markets, as well. And not only will you develop regular customers, but new friends to boot!Today we are pleased to announce the release of cx_Oracle 5.3, the extremely popular Python interface for Oracle Database. Binary and source bundles can be installed from PyPi, as normal.
cx_Oracle 5.3 works with Python version 2.7, and with versions 3.4 and higher. You can use cx_Oracle with Oracle 11.2, 12.1 and 12.2 client libraries, allowing connection to multiple Oracle Database versions. Oracle's standard client-server version interoperability allows connection to both older and newer databases. For example Oracle 11.2 client libraries can connect to Oracle Database 10.2 or later.
This release marks the move of the source code repository and home page to GitHub. User documentation remains on readthedocs. The cx_Oracle mail list also continues to operate, but you may find it easier to transition to GitHub for questions and issues.
The New cx_Oracle 5.3
Ever since Anthony Tuininga joined Oracle, he has been hard at work adding improvements to cx_Oracle. (He's also been laying the ground work for the next big release - more on that later in this post). I think you'll be impressed with cx_Oracle 5.3. At last year's Oracle OpenWorld, Anthony talked about some of the changes and got great positive feedback. Check out his presentation here.
This is a big update. While a few of the changes are specific to Oracle Database 12c features (see release notes), you will appreciate all the things that will make your applications better even if you have older databases. And you are upgrading to Oracle Database 12.2, right? Don't forget you can get immediate access to Oracle Database 12.2 using the Oracle Database Cloud.
Key New Features
Support for Python 3.6. Note Python versions earlier than 2.6 are no longer supported. (You can still get cx_Oracle 5.2 from PyPI, if you really need Python 2.6 support).
Support for Oracle client 12.2. Note Oracle clients earlier than 11.2 are no longer supported.
Direct binding to SQL objects. One great use case is binding Python objects to Oracle Spatial SDO objects. See InsertGeometry.py
PL/SQL records and collections can be bound. Interacting with PL/SQL stored logic has never been easier.
Support for scrollable cursors. Go back and forth through your query results. See ScrollableCursors.py
Support for Advanced Queuing. Use database notifications to build micro-service applications. See AdvancedQueuing.py
Fetch PL/SQL implicit results. Easily return query results from PL/SQL. See ImplicitResults.py
Transaction Guard support. Verify transaction status after unplanned server outages. See TransactionGuard.py
Support for Edition Based Redefinition. Easily switch applications to use updated PL/SQL logic. See Editioning.py
Support for Statement Caching. Reduce costs of frequently executed statements. Now available with all connections.
Support for setting application context during the creation of a connection. Make application metadata more accessible to the database, including in LOGON triggers. See AppContext.py
Other New Features
Continuous Query Notification use has been simplified. See DatabaseChangeNotification.py and QueryChangeNotification.py
Support for pickling/unpickling error objects
Support for binding native integers
Support setting the internal and external name for use in distributed transactions
Set the maximum lifetime of connections in a session pool
Larger row counts (greater than 2^32)
Increased default query array size to 100
Changes from cx_Oracle 5.2
In line with previous deprecations and announcements, the following items are no longer usable in cx_Oracle 5.3:
The variable attribute maxlength has been dropped. Use bufferSize instead.
The variable attribute allocelems has been dropped. Use numElements instead.
The types UNICODE, FIXED_UNICODE and LONG_UNICODE have been dropped. Use NCHAR, FIXED_NCHAR and LONG_NCHAR instead.
Callbacks on OCI functions are no longer supported.
Future Deprecation Announcements
In a future cx_Oracle 6 release, the following items will be removed:
The module, action and clientinfo arguments to connection creation are deprecated and will be removed in cx_Oracle 6. Use the new application context instead.
The cursor attribute numbersAsStrings is deprecated and will be removed in cx_Oracle 6. An output type handler should be used instead.
Things you could already do in cx_Oracle 5.2
All the new features in cx_Oracle 5.3 listed above are on top of a great history of database support. The high level features that you've already been using in the previous release are:
SQL and PL/SQL Execution
Extensive data type support
Fetching of large result sets
REF CURSORs
Binding PL/SQL Arrays
Large Objects: CLOBs and BLOBs
Transaction Management
Session Pooling
Database Resident Connection Pooling (DRCP)
Privileged Connections and Database startup/shutdown
External Authentication
Continuous Query Notification
Row Prefetching
Client Result Caching
End-to-end tracing
Oracle Database High Availability Features
A future cx_Oracle 6
I said you'd be impressed with cx_Oracle 5.3, but Anthony has already looked ahead to cx_Oracle 6, which aims to be even better. Over the past year, Anthony has been working hard on ODPI-C, an open source library of C code that simplifies and standardizes the use of common Oracle Call Interface (OCI) features, such as those used by cx_Oracle. ODPI-C was recently released on Github. As you can see from the cx_Oracle source code, the master branch of cx_Oracle code has been updated to use ODPI-C. If you want to test the current state of this future release, download a bundle from GitHub and build it. The release notes (so far) for user visible changes are here.
Summary
The move of cx_Oracle to under the umbrella of Oracle has given Anthony more time to focus on cx_Oracle and on making database access better for all developers.
Overall cx_Oracle is the most comprehensive and popular scripting language driver for Oracle Database. It takes advantage of the great features built into the Oracle client libraries and into Oracle Database. And, of course, Python cx_Oracle applications can take advantage of Oracle Net features such as network data encyption.
cx_Oracle 5.3 is a big release with support for some great Oracle Database features. Take a look.
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Source CodeMy choice to study biomedical engineering was informed by a course listed in the third year of study: “ANAT2020 – Anatomy.” It is the same anatomy course taken by the medical students, a comprehensive study of histology (the microscopic study of tissues), embryology and, of course, morphological or gross anatomy; the study of the macroscopic structures of the human body. All areas of study interesting in their own right, what really piqued my interest was the practical side of the course: cadaver dissection.
“She lived for others but died for us.”
To my 18-year-old mind, cadaver dissection seemed like something “cool,” how many people get to dissect humans, after all? I wasn’t quite prepared for the way the medical school draped the whole process in an air of somber nobility. First there was a swearing-in ceremony, where the anatomy students had to pledge an oath to treat the cadavers with the same respect one would have for a living person. Then we had to sign a register which was a legally binding document, as part of the South African human tissues legislation. Essentially, we were not allowed to photograph any specimens and we obviously couldn’t take any tissues (except for bones to study) out of the dissection hall.
I didn’t know this ceremony would take place in the dissection hall itself, the cadavers already splayed out in ten by eight rows of gurneys, wrapped in formalin-soaked cloth and covered with plastic – they looked a lot like mummies. And so we sat in the hall for about an hour, listening to speeches from several members of staff. The hall was two floors underground; there were no windows and there was poor ventilation. It did not make for a very good first impression: to be packed into a hot, stuffy hall with around 80 dead bodies reeking strongly of formalin.
Cadaver memorial service at Indiana University
It was, however, an interesting visual. The cadavers were all covered but one could still discern shapes: some were fat, some were short, many had their legs partially flexed in a deathly rigidity – I would later learn that the embalming process could prolong rigor mortis. Their being covered only contributed to the mystery which, since a child, I have found compelling – what happens after death? I was, for the most part, fine with the smell and the heat and, well, the corpses. I had framed it all in a comfortably detached academic setting. It was only when the dean of the medical school turned the corpses back into humans that I felt a dizziness descend upon me, an existential unrest.
“Don’t forget,” he said, “they were walking the streets of Johannesburg, just a few weeks ago.” I scanned my eyes across the rows of bodies and suddenly they became animated — I could see the fat ones enjoying a meal, the small ones as little old ladies shuffling about. They had intent, desires, fears, hopes…and now they were here. They were here and about to be subjected to all manner of terrible acts, all their corporeal secrets were to be revealed to a troop of marauding students and there was not a thing they could do about it. In their death they had relinquished all control and were at our mercy. My mercy. I was not prepared for what I could now see was a type of twisted power.
Dissection at University of Alaska Anchorage
This is perhaps the crux. I, above all else, value my autonomy and now with no subtlety or charm I saw death as the ultimate contradiction to and enemy of autonomy. With one sentence the Dean had disturbed a long stagnant pool of fears. The ceremony ended and all the students began to chatter – but by then it was all white noise to me and for some haunting, terrible reason a song played in my mind: this song. Accuse me of melodrama, but it is the truth and here I am striving for candor. I drove home in a state of anxiety and had to keep reminding myself that I had learnt nothing new that day; I always knew I was mortal, that I would die, that I was just a hunk of meat – walking around one day and wrapped up on a gurney the next; waiting to be picked apart by lab-coat wearing vultures. But this did nothing to calm me; it would be a relatively long time until I truly came to grips with mortality and seeing humans as objects, through a series of enlightening, often gruesome and sometimes unbearable set of dissections.Sex is used to sell everything these days, from booze to cheeseburgers to, well, sex. Video games are no exception. And why should they be? After all, the biggest gaming demographic right now happens to be one of the horniest sectors of society. We're talking about adult women, of course.
Unfortunately, video game companies are unable to simply say, "Yeah, we put boobies on the cover to sell more copies." Like a teenager caught red-handed, they feel as if they have to come up with hilariously stupid excuses for their digital smut. Excuses like...
#6. Quiet From Metal Gear Solid V Wears A Skimpy Costume Because She "Breathes Through Her Skin"
Konami
Metal Gear Solid V came out, creator Hideo Kojima teased an " Beforecame out, creator Hideo Kojima teased an " erotic " new character: a sniper named Quiet who says nothing and wears almost the same amount of clothing. Instead of the usual camouflage snipers normally wear in order to do their jobs and not die, Quiet is equipped with a belt, a pair of fishnets, and a tiny rag covering (some of) her breasts.
Konami
Pretty impressive that she made her entire outfit with the stuff laying around in our garbage.
When the inevitable "WTF?"s started pouring in from around the Internet, Kojima explained that there was much more to the character than we thought. Once we played the game and found out the secret reason for her seemingly exploitative look, he promised we would "feel ashamed of [our] words & deeds."
twitter.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN
And not in the usual way you feel ashamed 15 minutes after looking at a character like that.
only breathe through her skin, so she must show us as much of it as possible, at all times. And when she's Wow, what could that possibly be? Some heartbreaking trauma from her past? Part of a complex strategy that allows her to defeat her enemies? A parasite infection that turned her into some sort of mutant who breathes through her skin? Yeah, it's the last one. In fact, she canbreathe through her skin, so she must show us as much of it as possible, at all times. And when she's dancing sexily in the rain or showering in front of everyone, for some reason? She's actually drinking water, you see.
Then again, we're talking about a game series featuring nuclear weapons that gain sentience and kill themselves and psychic villains who read your console's memory card. We could almost buy this explanation... if the franchise didn't have another photosynthetic character who happens to be a gross old dude and dresses like this:
Konami
Not even an unlockable thong costume? Do you even know your audience, Kojima?
#5. Shower Scenes (To Help You Relate To The Characters)
Sony Computer Entertainment
David Cage, known for emotionally charged games such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, is under the impression that, regardless of gender, the best way to get a gamer to connect with his character is a shower scene.
Sony Computer Entertainment
Given the size of the showers, Cage's target audience must be Bill Gates and Donald Trump.
We'll refrain from any jokes about what this might say about Cage's opinion on gamers themselves, but he's being 100 percent serious. He claims he has " no limits " on what he'll allow in a game, as long as it's key to the story -- and that goes beyond what you see on your monitor, as evidenced by the time he (or someone in his company, anyway) created a fully anatomically correct model of Ellen Page for the non-explicit shower scene pictured above. We're forced to assume every male character has a lovingly animated dong swinging inside their pants too, in the name of realism.
Porky's and instantly felt a strong kinship with them. He specifically points to Heavy Rain, which introduces Madison Paige right before she takes a late-night shower... Cage explains that his shower scenes " may look gratuitous at first," but are in truth there to help you "build a relationship with the character" by letting you see them when they're "vulnerable and naked." It's kinda like when you saw those nude girls inand instantly felt a strong kinship with them. He specifically points to, which introduces Madison Paige right before she takes a late-night shower...
Sony Computer Entertainment
In our experience, you're a lot more vulnerable while using another part of the bathroom.
... which turns out to be part of a nightmare. Yep, the big moment where we bond with the character was all a damn dream. Then again, David Cage sex scenes have been known to trigger nightmares, so maybe that's the part we're supposed to relate to.
#4. Dragon's Crown Used Mega Boobs So That People Wouldn't Think Of Tolkien
Atlus
George Kamitani of the ironically-named Vanillaware was one of the main guys behind the art for Dragon's Crown, and he wanted his game to stand out in the crowded fantasy genre. Fair enough. This was probably not the most dignified solution, though:
Atlus
Ever misplaced some crumbs in your cleavage? She misplaced an entire person.
Hobbit movie or something, so he "decided to exaggerate all of [his] character designs in a cartoonish fashion." He means "cartoonish" in the stereotypical Japanese sense, of course. Sorceress (that's both her name and occupation) has to fight magical undead creatures while dealing with the severe spinal issues brought on by her ridiculously oversized gazongas. Kamitani claims that he was largely influenced by the styles of Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien, even basing his designs on their "basic fantasy motifs." At the same time, he didn't want anyone looking at this game and mistaking it for a newmovie or something, so he "decided to exaggerate all of [his] character designs in a cartoonish fashion." He means "cartoonish" in the stereotypical Japanese sense, of course.
Atlus
Did she push those enemies with magic, or with the air displaced by her breasts? Not even she knows.
This would probably be something we'd ignore and chalk up to anime being anime if it weren't for how Kamitani got weirdly irked about one review. Jason Schreier of Kotaku had the audacity to question why the Sorceress' boobs each needed to be larger than her head, and Kamitani posted this on Facebook in response:2018-19 Season Pass purchasers are also eligible for these great benefits…
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Get our partner rate and receive 15% off overnight stays. Offer valid at Appalachian Hotel and Black Creek Sanctuary through the end of the winter season – not to be combined with other offers or discounts, not valid for groups, subject to availability, not valid on holiday black out dates. Season Pass holder must present valid Season Pass at check-in.
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Retail discounts includes 15% off retail items and 10% off hardgoods* at Red Tail Lodge retail shops and The Showroom at South.
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Repair discounts include 50% off of a full tune with iron and wax one time only**
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Snow Pass holders - Discover the thrills of downhill mountain biking this summer at Mountain Creek Bike Park. Pass holder can receive a free Experience Downhill – 2 hour, Lift, Lesson & Rental package anytime Monday – Friday in July & August. Subject to availability.
Mountain Creek Adventure
Snow Pass holders can save 15% off any full priced Zip Tour or TreEscape Aerial Adventure Park climbing experience.
Please note, all discounts/offers can change at any time.On Christmas Day, the kids helped Mom prepare a big turkey dinner. And it was always pie for dessert. Mother was famous for them — pumpkin, cherry, lemon meringue. "You could smell them cooling in the back," Brett says.
The kids grew, got jobs, and there were no more envelopes. Brett stayed on in the house. And he watched things change. "At some point, there was just no more Christmas. I'm not sure if Christmas started to make Mother sad, but it just faded away."
The home didn't get decorated the same way. It was Mother's house, and Brett didn't feel right doing the place up if that reminded her of days she was trying to forget.
So he went to work, did his job. He started driving cab 26 years ago. He's |
14 January 2011, the Colorado Party convention nominated Horacio Cartes as the presidential candidate for the party. However, the party's constitution didn't allow it.[clarification needed] On 21 June 2012, impeachment proceedings against President Lugo began in the country's lower house, which was controlled by his opponents. Lugo was given less than twenty-four hours to prepare for the proceedings and only two hours in which to mount a defense.[43] Impeachment was quickly approved and the resulting trial in Paraguay's Senate, also controlled by the opposition, ended with the removal of Lugo from office and Vice President Federico Franco assuming the duties of president.[44] Lugo's rivals blamed him for the deaths of 17 people – eight police officers and nine farmers – in armed clashes after police were ambushed by armed peasants when enforcing an eviction order against rural trespassers.[45]
Lugo's supporters gathered outside Congress to protest the decision as a "politically motivated coup d'état".[44] Lugo's removal from office on 22 June 2012 is considered by UNASUR and other neighboring countries, especially those currently governed by leftist leaders, as a coup d'état.[46] However, the Organization of American States, which sent a mission to Paraguay to gather information, concluded that the impeachment process was not a coup d'état, as it had been carried out in accordance with the Constitution of Paraguay.[47]
Present day [ edit ]
From August 2013 to 15 August 2018, the President of Paraguay was Horacio Cartes.
Since 15 August 2018 the current President of Paraguay is Mario Abdo Benítez.
Geography and climate [ edit ]
Geography [ edit ]
Paraguay map of Köppen climate classification
Paraguay is divided by the Río Paraguay into two well differentiated geographic regions. The eastern region (Región Oriental); and the western region, officially called Western Paraguay (Región Occidental) and also known as the Chaco, which is part of the Gran Chaco. The country lies between latitudes 19° and 28°S, and longitudes 54° and 63°W. The terrain consists mostly of grassy plains and wooded hills in the eastern region. To the west are mostly low, marshy plains.
Climate [ edit ]
The overall climate is tropical to subtropical. Like most lands in the region, Paraguay has only wet and dry periods. Winds play a major role in influencing Paraguay's weather: between October and March, warm winds blow from the Amazon Basin in the North, while the period between May and August brings cold winds from the Andes.
The absence of mountain ranges to provide a natural barrier allows winds to develop speeds as high as 161 km/h (100 mph). This also leads to significant changes in temperature within a short span of time; between April and September, temperatures will sometimes drop below freezing. January is the hottest summer month, with an average daily temperature of 28.9 degrees Celsius (84 degrees F).
Rainfall varies dramatically across the country, with substantial rainfall in the eastern portions, and semi-arid conditions in the far west. The far eastern forest belt receives an average of 170 centimeters (67 inches) of rain annually, while the western Chaco region typically averages no more than 50 cm (20 in) a year. The rains in the west tend to be irregular and evaporate quickly, contributing to the aridity of the area.
Government and politics [ edit ]
Paraguay is a representative democratic republic, with a multi-party system and separation of powers in three branches. Executive power is exercised solely by the President, who is head of state and head of government. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the National Congress. The judiciary is vested on tribunals and Courts of Civil Law and a nine-member Supreme Court of Justice, all of them independent of the executive and the legislature.
Military [ edit ]
Paraguayan marines at Ancon Marine Base
The military of Paraguay consist of the Paraguayan army, navy (including naval aviation and marine corps) and air force.
The constitution of Paraguay (article 238) establishes the president of Paraguay as the commander-in-chief.[48]
Paraguay has compulsory military service, and all 18-year-old males and 17-year-olds in the year of their 18th birthday are liable for one year of active duty. Although the 1992 constitution allows for conscientious objection, no enabling legislation has yet been approved.
In July 2005, military aid in the form of U.S. Special Forces began arriving at Paraguay's Mariscal Estigarribia air base, a sprawling complex built in 1982.[49][50]
Administrative subdivisions [ edit ]
Paraguay consists of seventeen departments and one capital district (distrito capital).
It is also divided into 2 regions: The "Occidental Region" or Chaco (Boquerón, Alto Paraguay and Presidente Hayes), and the "Oriental Region" (the other departments and the capital district).
These are the departments, with their capitals, population, area and the number of districts:
The departments are further divided into districts (distritos).
Economy [ edit ]
Between 1970 and 2013, the country had the highest economic growth of South America,[citation needed] with an average rate of 7.2% per year.[citation needed] In 2010 and 2013, Paraguay experienced the greatest economic expansion of South America, with a GDP growth rate of 14.5% and 13.6% respectively.[51]
99.9% of Paraguay's electricity is produced using hydroelectricity, making it one of the cleanest in the world. Paraguay has an installed electrical production capacity of 8,110 MW, producing 63 billion kWh/year in 2016; with domestic consumption of just 15 billion kWh, the excess production is sold to Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, making Paraguay the world's largest exporter of electric power.[52] This production is from two large hydroelectric power projects along its borders, including the Itaipu Dam, the world's second largest generating station.
Graphical depiction of Paraguay's product exports in 28 color-coded categories, 2012
Paraguay is the sixth-largest soybean producer in the world,[53] second-largest producer of stevia, second-largest producer of tung oil, sixth-largest exporter of corn, tenth-largest exporter of wheat and 8th largest exporter of beef.[citation needed]
The market economy is distinguished by a large informal sector, featuring re-export of imported consumer goods to neighboring countries, as well as the activities of thousands of microenterprises and urban street vendors. Nonetheless, over the last 10 years the Paraguayan economy diversified dramatically, with the energy, auto parts and clothing industries leading the way.[54]
The country also boasts the third most important free commercial zone in the world: Ciudad del Este, trailing behind Miami and Hong Kong.[55] A large percentage of the population, especially in rural areas, derives its living from agricultural activity, often on a subsistence basis. Because of the importance of the informal sector, accurate economic measures are difficult to obtain. The economy grew rapidly between 2003 and 2013 as growing world demand for commodities combined with high prices and favorable weather to support Paraguay's commodity-based export expansion.
In 2012, Paraguay's government introduced the MERCOSUR(FOCEM) system in order to stimulate the economy and job growth through a partnership with both Brazil and Argentina.[56]
Industry and manufacturing [ edit ]
The mineral industry of Paraguay produces about 25% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and employs about 31% of the labor force. Production of cement, iron ore, and steel occurs commonly throughout Paraguay's industrial sector. The growth of the industry was further fueled by the maquila industry, with large industrial complexes located in the eastern part of the country. Paraguay put in place many incentives aimed to attract industries to the country. One of them is the so-called "Maquila law" by which companies can relocate to Paraguay, enjoying minimal tax rates.[57]
In the pharmaceutical industry, Paraguayan companies now[when?] meet 70% of domestic consumption and have begun to export drugs. Paraguay is quickly[quantify] supplanting foreign suppliers in meeting the country's drug needs.[58] Strong growth also is evident in the production of edible oils, garments, organic sugar, meat processing, and steel.[citation needed]
In 2003 manufacturing made up 13.6% of the GDP, and the sector employed about 11% of the working population in 2000. Paraguay's primary manufacturing focus is on food and beverages. Wood products, paper products, hides and furs, and non-metallic mineral products also contribute to manufacturing totals. Steady growth in the manufacturing GDP during the 1990s (1.2% annually) laid the foundation for 2002 and 2003, when the annual growth rate rose to 2.5%.[59]
Social issues [ edit ]
Various poverty estimates suggest that 30–50% of the population is poor.[60] In rural areas, 41.20% of the people lack a monthly income to cover basic necessities, whereas in urban centers this figure is 27.6%. The top 10% of the population holds 43.8% of the national income, while the lowest 10% has 0.5%. The economic recession has worsened income inequality, notably in the rural areas, where the Gini coefficient has risen from 0.56 in 1995 to 0.66 in 1999.
More recent data (2009)[61] show that 35% of the Paraguayan population is poor, 19% of which live in extreme poverty. Moreover, 71% of the latter live in rural areas of the country.
Similarly, land concentration in the Paraguayan countryside is one of the highest in the globe: 10% of the population controls 66% of the land, while 30% of the rural people are landless.[62] In the immediate aftermath of the 1989 overthrow of Stroessner, some 19,000 rural families occupied hundreds of thousands of acres of unused lands formerly held by the dictator and his associates by mid-1990, but many rural poor remained landless. This inequality has caused a great deal of tensions between the landless and land owners.[40]
Social issues of the indigenous [ edit ]
Literacy rates are extremely low among Paraguay's indigenous population, who have an illiteracy rate of 51% compared to the 7.1% rate of the general population.[63]
Only 2.5% of Paraguay's indigenous population has access to clean drinking water and only 9.5% have electricity.[63]
Demographics [ edit ]
2) Paraguay population density (people per km
Population[64] Year Million 1950 1.5 2000 5.3 2016 6.7
Population pyramid 2016
Paraguay's population is distributed unevenly through the country, with the vast majority of people living in the eastern region near the capital and largest city, Asunción, which accounts for 10% of the country's population. The Gran Chaco region, which includes the Alto Paraguay, Boquerón and Presidente Hayes Department, and accounts for about 60% of the territory, is home to less than 2% of the population. About 56% of Paraguayans live in urban areas, making Paraguay one of the least urbanized nations in South America.
For most of its history, Paraguay has been a recipient of immigrants, owing to its low population density, especially after the demographic collapse that resulted from the Paraguayan War. Small groups of ethnic Italians, Germans, Russians, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Arabs, Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Brazilians, and Argentines have also settled in Paraguay. Around 40% of the total Paraguayan population has some Italian descent.[65] Paraguay has also been a haven for communities persecuted for the religious faith, like the Bruderhof who were forced to leave England in 1941 because of their pacifist beliefs.[66][67] Many of these communities have retained their languages and culture, particularly the Brazilians, who represent the largest and most prominent immigrant group, at around 400,000.[68] Many Brazilian Paraguayans are of German, Italian and Polish descent.[69] There are an estimated 63,000 Afro-Paraguayans, comprising 1% of the population.[70][unreliable source?]
There is no official data on the ethnic composition of the Paraguayan population, as the Department of Statistics, Surveys and Censuses[71] of Paraguay does not ask about race and ethnicity in census surveys, although it does inquire about the indigenous population. According to the census of 2002, the indigenous people made up 1.7% of Paraguay's total population.[72]
Traditionally, the majority of the Paraguayan population is considered mixed (mestizo in Spanish). HLA-DRB1 polymorphism studies have shown the genetic distances between Paraguayans and Spanish populations were closer than between Paraguayans and Guaranis. Altogether these results suggest the predominance of the Spanish genetic in the Paraguayan population.[73] According to the 2017 revision of the World Population Prospects[64], Paraguay has a population of 6,725,308, 95% of which are Mestizo or white and 5% are labelled as "other", which includes members of indigenous tribal groups. They are divided into 17 distinct ethnolinguistic groupings, many of which are poorly documented. Paraguay has one of the most prominent German communities in South America, with some 25,000 German-speaking Mennonites living in the Paraguayan Chaco.[74] German settlers founded several towns as Hohenau, Filadelfia, Neuland, Obligado and Nueva Germania. Several websites that promote German immigration to Paraguay claim that 5–7% of the population is of German ancestry,[dubious – discuss] including 150,000 people of German-Brazilian descent.[better source needed][75][76][77][78][79]
Religion [ edit ]
Christianity, particularly Roman Catholicism, is the dominant religion in Paraguay.[80] According to the 2002 census, 89.9% of the population is Catholic, 6.2% is Evangelical Protestant, 1.1% identify with other Christian sects, and 0.6% practice indigenous religions. A U.S. State Department report on Religious Freedom names Roman Catholicism, evangelical Protestantism, mainline Protestantism, Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform), Mormonism, and the Bahá'í Faith as prominent religious groups. It also mentions a large Muslim community in Alto Paraná (as a result of Middle-Eastern immigration, especially from Lebanon) and a prominent Mennonite community in Boquerón.[81]
Languages [ edit ]
Paraguay is a bilingual nation. Both Spanish and Guaraní are official languages. The Guarani language is a remarkable trace of the indigenous Guaraní culture that has endured in Paraguay, which is generally understood by 95% of the population. Guaraní claims its place as one of the last surviving and thriving of South American indigenous national languages. In 2015, Spanish was spoken by about 87% of the population, while Guaraní is spoken by more than 90%, or slightly more than 5.8 million speakers. 52% of rural Paraguayans are bilingual in Guaraní. While Guaraní is still widely spoken, Spanish is generally given a preferential treatment in government, business, media and education as one of South America's lingua francas.[82][83][84][85]
Languages of Paraguay Languages percent Guaraní 90% Spanish 87%
Largest cities [ edit ]
Culture [ edit ]
Paraguay's cultural heritage can be traced to the extensive intermarriage between the original male Spanish settlers and indigenous Guaraní women. Their culture is highly influenced by various European countries, including Spain. Therefore, Paraguayan culture is a fusion of two cultures and traditions; one European, the other, Southern Guaraní. More than 93% of Paraguayans are mestizos, making Paraguay one of the most homogeneous countries in Latin America. A characteristic of this cultural fusion is the extensive bilingualism present to this day: more than 80% of Paraguayans speak both Spanish and the indigenous language, Guaraní. Jopara, a mixture of Guaraní and Spanish, is also widely spoken.[citation needed]
Ovecha Ragué Festival
This cultural fusion is expressed in arts such as embroidery (ao po'í) and lace making (ñandutí). The music of Paraguay, which consists of lilting polkas, bouncy galopas, and languid guaranias is played on the native harp. Paraguay's culinary heritage is also deeply influenced by this cultural fusion. Several popular dishes contain manioc, a local staple crop similar to the yuca also known as Cassava root found in the Southwestern United States and Mexico, as well as other indigenous ingredients. A popular dish is sopa paraguaya, similar to a thick corn bread. Another notable food is chipa, a bagel-like bread made from cornmeal, manioc, and cheese. Many other dishes consist of different kinds of cheeses, onions, bell peppers, cottage cheese, cornmeal, milk, seasonings, butter, eggs and fresh corn kernels.
The 1950s and 1960s were the time of the flowering of a new generation of Paraguayan novelists and poets such as José Ricardo Mazó, Roque Vallejos, and Nobel Prize nominee Augusto Roa Bastos. Several Paraguayan films have been made.
Inside the family, conservative values predominate. In lower classes, godparents have a special relationship to the family, since usually, they are chosen because of their favorable social position, in order to provide extra security for the children. Particular respect is owed them, in return for which the family can expect protection and patronage.[87]
Sports [ edit ]
Sport in Paraguay is an important part the country's national culture. Football is the most popular sport, and basketball is also very popular.[88] Other sports such as volleyball, futsal, swimming and tennis are also popular.[88] Additional Paraguayan sports and pastimes include rugby union, chess, motorsport, golf and rowing.
Education [ edit ]
Literacy was about 93.6% and 87.7% of Paraguayans finish the 5th grade according to UNESCO's last Educational Development Index 2008. Literacy does not differ much by gender.[89] A more recent study[61] reveals that attendance at primary school by children between 6 and 12 years old is about 98%. Primary education is free and mandatory and takes nine years. Secondary education takes three years.[89] Main universities in Paraguay include:
The net primary enrollment rate was at 88% in 2005.[89] Public expenditure on education was about 4.3% of GDP in the early 2000s.[89]
Health [ edit ]
Average life expectancy in Paraguay is rather high given its poverty: as of 2006, it was 75 years,[93] equivalent to far wealthier Argentina, and the 8th highest in the Americas according to World Health Organization. Public expenditure on health is 2.6% of GDP, while private health expenditure is 5.1%.[89] Infant mortality was 20 per 1,000 births in 2005.[89] Maternal mortality was 150 per 100,000 live births in 2000.[89] The World Bank has helped the Paraguayan government reduce the country's maternal and infant mortality. The Mother and Child Basic Health Insurance Project aimed to contribute to reducing mortality by increasing the use of selected life-saving services included in the country's Mother and Child Basic Health Insurance Program (MCBI) by women of child-bearing age, and children under age six in selected areas. To this end, the project also targeted improving the quality and efficiency of the health service network within certain areas, in addition to increasing the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare's (MSPBS) management.[94]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^
The reverse side of the National Seal of Paraguay: ^
The reverse side of the Flag of Paraguay:
References [ edit ]
Government
General information
News media
TradeMore than 100,000 tires in a pit in West Odessa caught on fire Sunday.
Photo courtesy of the South Ector County Volunteer Fire Department.
For residents near the fire, the smoke covered the blue skies of West Texas.
Jason Cotton with Odessa Fire Rescue says someone could be held responsible for the fire, and could face possible penalties.
But firefighters haven't even investigated the fire yet.
They're still dealing with the flames.
Fire crews add that it could take days for the fire to go out.
Plumes of menacing black smoke filled the West Odessa sky starting mid-afternoon, and it did not go unnoticed.
"I was just watching for something to blow up," said one onlooker.
Passersby gawked at the flames, as 55 firefighters raced to the scene.
But for one mother and her little girl, their home is just walking distance from the fire.
"I saw smoke in the back and I was like 'Oh my God, it's right behind my house,'" she said.
"Everybody that may be affected downwind of the fire, just shelter in place, close your windows, close your doors, and if you need anything further than that or an emergency call 911 of course," said Cotton.
As for the fire, crews say there just isn't enough water supply to put out the fire.
All they can do is sit and let it burn.After months of brutal fighting, the battle to retake Raqqa, the self-declared capital of the Islamic State caliphate, is almost over. Scroll down to follow photographer Achilleas Zavallis and reporter Martin Chulov as they journey from the Iraqi border to the wasteland of the frontline of the ancient Syrian city where the few remaining Isis fighters are making their last stand.
Crossing the Syrian border
Bobbing rhythmically over barren hills, the donkey heads of Rojava’s oil trade draw crude from the ground, sending it down thin pipes to a refinery nearby. These basic black pumps are the linchpin of the region’s economy, and are central to what happens after Isis is finally pushed from Raqqa and its surrounds. Oil could galvanise Kurdish claims on autonomy. The subterranean riches here are also tempting for forces fighting to the south, Russian, Iranian, American and Syrian.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest General view of an oil-field near the Fysh Khabwr border crossing.
Driving between Kobani and Ain Issa
Syria’s newest refugees arrive most days here, on a dusty outpost near a teeming refugee camp. They tumble exhausted from clapped out lorries and cars that have barely made the journey. Their faces swathed in scarves to avoid the dust and flies, they settle into makeshift tents, and wait.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A truck carrying civilians who fled the fighting in Raqqa, seen on the road leading to the Ain Issa IDP camp.
Many come from Raqqa. Others from towns and villages close to Deir ez-Zor, where Isis is fighting yet another last stand. Their fate, like that of the millions of others who have fled five years of war and insurgency, is uncertain.
Visiting the Ain Issa IDP camp
Refugees from Syria and Iraq are crammed into this camp, one of the biggest in the Raqqa hinterland. Some had been displaced more than three times before arriving here. “Everywhere we go, the airstrikes follow,” said Abu Jassem, originally from Falluja in Iraq.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest View of the Ain Issa IDP camp.
In one corner are the widows and orphans of foreign fighters. Blond and red-headed children frolic in a small courtyard. Their mothers hide behind curtains, many wearing chadors. They are stigmatised by their captors and by other refugees.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Displaced Syrians who fled the fighting in Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor seen inside a tent that serves as a barber shop in the Ain Issa IDP camp.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A young girl and her baby sister seen inside a section of the Ain Issa IDP camp, where family members of foreign Isis fighters are kept.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Civilians who fled the fighting in Deir ez-Zor rest inside a tent at the Ain Issa IDP camp.
East Raqqa YPG base
In this half-finished concrete building, fighters in the war with Isis rest and recuperate, before heading to the frontline a mile away. Their dead and wounded are brought here. They sleep, eat and plan the war in the room upstairs, from where they can see smoke rising from the battle.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A general view shows smoke rising from an Isis position inside Raqqa, shortly after it was hit by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Coalition artillery.
Here, Hazam, a Kurd from Kobani, who lost a hand in the battle for his home town, oversees a fighting force of mostly Arab youths from Raqqa. Hazam is supervised by a Kurd from the Turkish mountains.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hazem (centre) from Kobani, who leads a People’s Protection Unit fighting in Raqqa, gets an update from the frontline over a two-way radio.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest SDF fighters seen inside a building used as a temporary People’s Protection Units base.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A fighter with the People’s Protection Units checks a map of the frontlines.
Fighting nearby
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters help a shellshocked comrade to his feet. The fighter and his team were hit by an RPG round, fired by Isis militants, while trying to assist cut-off members of their unit on the east Raqqa front line.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters help a shellshocked SDF fighter to his feet. Photograph: Achilleas Zavallis
Facebook Twitter Pinterest SDF fighters who got injured while trying to assist a cut-off team from their unit, seen on the back of truck while being transported in a nearby field hospital.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest SDF fighters load the dead body of a dead SDF fighter on a truck.
Approaching the frontline
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Syrian Democratic Forces fighter seen at a temporary SDF base, overlooking a cemetery that was destroyed during heavy clashes with ISIS militants.
Less than half a mile from the Raqqa clock tower, anti-Isis fighters are dug into the ruins of several buildings. Some use holes in a wall to scope for extremists further on.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A YPG fighter walks near the entrance of a tunnel used by ISIS militants to avoid detection while moving between their positions.
Their foes, like them, move through holes they have smashed through walls. The enemy is often less than two buildings away, hidden in the remnants of a ruined city that was once the heart of their so-called caliphate, but volunteers fighting with the Kurds say they have never seen a live Isis member.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest YPG fighters move through a hole opened by the YPG on the side of a building, to avoid being spotted by Isis snipers as they move towards the frontline. Photograph: Achilleas Zavallis
Facebook Twitter Pinterest An SDF fighter checks for enemy movements, from a sniper position overlooking Isis-held areas on the east Raqqa frontline.
Burnt-out cars are used as a temporary road blockade near a SDF base as a precautionary measure against Isis suicide car bombs.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Burned out cars used as a temporary road blockade.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter rests inside a temporary SDF base near the East Raqqa front line. Photograph: Achilleas Zavallis
Near Clock Tower Square
Beyond the jagged wasteland there is a prize that all those fighting Isis are aiming for: a clock tower that stands on a small roundabout. Public executions were routinely performed there, and some of the group’s most infamous members lived nearby.Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE has been projected as the winner of the Arkansas primary.
Clinton is cleaning up in the South, where she has also won Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
The former secretary of State has a long history in Arkansas, where she was the state's first lady during her husband Bill Clinton William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonKasich fundraises off 2020 speculation Inviting Kim Jong Un to Washington Howard Schultz must run as a Democrat for chance in 2020 MORE's days there as governor.
Clinton was widely expected to win the state.A HUNT to find an MSP who shouted “liar” at Nicola Sturgeon is underway.
During First Minister’s Questions a member from the Labour benches called out “liar” when Ms Sturgeon was answering a question from Labour leader Kezia Dugdale on education cuts.
The Presiding Officer launched a hunt for the offending MSP and like a school teacher scolding the class she asked for them to own up but was met with stony silence.
The shout was met with protests from the SNP benches and shouts of “withdraw” from several members.
Presiding Officer, Tricia Marwick (above) halted the session and gave the unidentified MSP the opportunity to own up and then withdraw the remark.
She warned MSPs the word is un-parliamentary and she would be investigating.
She said: “I will review the official report. If the member who said it would like to admit and withdraw the remark it would be helpful.”
The hunt goes on.
Ms Marwick was in no mood for nonsense as later reprimanded Ms Sturgeon.
The First Minister had turned a question on education cuts from Kezia Dugdale (above) into a question of her own on Labour’s plan for increasing income tax.
Ms Marwick told her: First Minister, the opposition puts questions to you. You do not put questions to them.”Story highlights Chalk this one up as an unexpected add to Ted Cruz's finance team: a Bush
A prominent Houston businessman, Neil Bush, joined Cruz's fundraising team on Tuesday along with his wife, Maria
Washington (CNN) Ted Cruz's presidential campaign on Tuesday picked up the support of a Bush.
Not Jeb, the former Florida governor and Cruz's former primary opponent, or George W., the 43rd president who has had a frosty relationship with the Texas senator -- but Neil, a younger brother of both. A prominent Houston businessman, Neil Bush joined Cruz's fundraising team along with his wife, Maria.
Cruz, who has long been one of the top fundraisers in the crowded GOP field, added 13 new bundlers who will help him raise the cash to compete with Donald Trump, who is largely self-funding his campaign. Also joining as new Cruz fundraisers are Don Huffines, a Texas state senator formerly backing Rand Paul, and Dick Weekley, a Republican powerbroker in Texas politics.
Cruz's campaign said on Tuesday it had now raised more than $70 million over the course of the campaign.
In the past, Cruz has had a fraught relationship with the Bush clan. Cruz worked on George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, but since then he has largely charted his own course in Texas politics. He has been critical of George W. Bush's presidency on the campaign trail, and the former president returned the favor by telling a private audience in October that he just does "not like that guy."
Read MoreSix days after the initial diagnosis, three days after a second orthopedist concurred, and at least one day after the third opinion came back the same as the first and second, the Texas Rangers finally announced that Yu Darvish is having Tommy John surgery next week.
The aforementioned timeline isn’t a complaint about unnecessary feet-dragging, but rather an example of the kind of thinking that makes Yu Darvish click and makes him a success.
It’s the kind of thinking that is going to help him navigate through season-ending elbow-reconstruction surgery and possibly have him back on a big league mound sooner than most recipients of the procedure.
That’s what many don’t understand about Darvish. Even those in the same clubhouse and in the front office didn’t grasp it until recently.
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For all the diva stuff, and there’s a good-sized dose of diva in Darvish, he is a player who thinks on a deeper level than the average player and is constantly looking at any angle, on and off the field, to be better.
“The best of the best are usually like that for a reason, more than just physical talent,” general manager Jon Daniels said.
If anything, much about Darvish has been misunderstood by many.
It isn’t easy being him, but that’s the way he operates.
He’s an explorer, always looking for the next-best thing to help make him better. At the same time, though, he’s also a cautious man who can be resistant to suggestions.
Having been in the spotlight since high school, the right-hander is wary of media and of people who might want too badly to help him. He is very aware of his image, part of the reason he didn’t speak English with the media until this spring, even though he has been capable of it for at least two years.
That has led to some of the diva talk. Really, though, some of that is a defense mechanism.
“I don’t think any of us know what it’s like to grow up in the spotlight the way that he did,” Daniels said.
But as he talked about going under the knife next week and losing the fourth year in his six-year contract, he spoke of a rehab plan that pitchers before him haven’t.
He isn’t going to revolutionize the physical side, though with as tuned-in as he is with his body and as dialed-in as he is with his conditioning, he could shave some days and weeks off the 14-month timeline.
Darvish, though, talked about how he is going to use downtime to become a better person, a better teammate, more of a professional. It’s as if he wants the challenge of what lies ahead.
“When I did receive that evaluation, at the time, I was like, ‘Darn, I have to get surgery,’ ” Darvish said. “But I didn’t feel anything negative, because nothing positive is going to come out of that. If I’m upset or I’m worried, that’s not going to make my elbow better.”
Whatever sense of self-pity he felt in the days after the initial diagnosis — and a few teammates sensed some depression from Darvish — he has flushed it from his system before Dr. James Andrews flushes the bad ligament Tuesday in Pensacola, Fla.
Darvish will return to Arizona late Wednesday and be in the clubhouse Thursday to begin his rehab. He wants to be around his teammates as much as possible, and will head back to Arlington with them when camp breaks to continue his rehab.
Darvish has convinced himself that all will be well, even though he can look across the clubhouse to find examples of pitchers who have toiled with their comeback from Tommy John.
It took three orthopedic experts telling him the same thing, that the ligament has been thinned out and can’t be made better without surgery, but Darvish’s thought process was to have as much credible information as possible before yielding to Andrews’ scalpel.
That’s what he does when he starts an off-season workout program or makes adjustments to his diet or chooses to work on a minor aspect of his mechanics.
On Friday, he sounded as confident about the operation as he would pitching against a Double A team.
“I’m very optimistic. I have no worries whatsoever,” Darvish said. “I’m going to take this time to learn a lot. I feel like this is something during this time that there is a lot I can do to make myself better. Knowing that this is going to make me better and that the rehab is going to make me better, I feel nothing but positiveness.”
The process of getting there wasn’t quick or easy, but that’s Darvish. It’s time to understand that.I received this late last night, and it gives us some insight on Tau playtesting that is going on at the moment. Everything from a Tau Dreadknight type walker to a new Kroot Huge Monster is here.Please remember that these are playtest rumors.I have been seeing a lot of play testing for the tau empire and have seen some new models as well. They look so new and epic it makes me really excited. Now I did my hands on some rules and names for units, If you are to pass these on then PLEASE send it to only reliable rumour sites.I will start with the new sky ray orbital blast ability. From what I can remember on top of my head is that the sky ray has to forgo his full turn of shooting for a single unlimited range blast that is:strength X AP 3 (wound on 2+,plasma corrosion, blast)plasma corrosion - any enemy model hit under the blast rolls a d6 every turn for the remainder of the game on a roll of 1-3 the unit or model suffers d6 strength 4 AP5 hits. On a roll of 4-5 the unit suffers 2d6 strength 5 AP 4 hits. On a roll of a 6 the unit is hit with 2d6 strength 6 AP 2 hits with the blind special rule. (these are test rules and subject to change)Tau fire warriors will have the OPTION to upgrade their tau fire warriors to bs 4 (I put option in bold to show it is an option for all those fluffy players)I believe the upgrade at the moment is being called 'advance training'battle suits are getting/got new models but have the same profile as now with the inclusion of an option to make them toughness 5 (cost or name is unknown)The kroot is getting a HUGE monster that looks like something from fantasy. It has kroot riding it but is under going constant rule changes due to either dying to quickly or for lack of usage. From what I remember seeing it has 5 wounds but only a 5+ save and was over priced IMO.kroot gain furious charge and move through cover and start with a 6+ save that can be upgraded to 5+ with shaper for an additional 2pts per model (making them 8pts per model) - remember this could change!finally their is options to make all your battle suits have 2+ saves for 20pts per model - all war gear that is in the current |
don’t see that part). Why this woman who’s killed five other people in a single day suddenly has a change of heart is probably best explained as the result of the miraculous double whammy of Sherlock’s deductive skills and compassion.
Eurus is promptly returned to the same maximum security prison she spent years casually breaking out of. Sherlock visits her. The episode ends with yet another reassuring ‘you two were meant to be together’ monologue from John’s dead wife Mary, in which she calls John and Sherlock her “Baker Street boys” and tells them to go on solving crimes together — which they do in a ridiculously cheesy closing montage that sees them happily partnering up to solve crimes, playing with John’s baby, and having grand times with the rest of Sherlock’s ensemble cast (including a suspiciously cool-with-it Molly).
This is Mycroft’s episode — but he ends up looking completely incompetent
Andrew Scott’s Moriarty has gleefully stolen every Sherlock scene he’s ever appeared in, but “The Final Problem” really belongs to Mycroft. Not only do we learn that he’s got a romantic soft spot for vintage melodrama, has a ninja sword hidden in an umbrella, and once played Lady Bracknell in a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest, but he also gets a couple of stellar comedic moments in this episode. At one point he briefly disguises himself as the world’s most grizzled, chizzled, hilariously accented pirate, and it’s wonderful. The scene in which he tries to convince Sherlock to kill him instead of killing John — by pretending to want Sherlock to kill John instead — is easily one of the most rewarding moments in the entire series.
So it’s more than a bit ironic that “The Final Problem” makes Mycroft seem completely incompetent. His attempts to monitor Eurus from afar have been abject failures, considering he seemingly had no idea she’d been brainwashing the entire staff of her prison, up to and including its administrators. He also allowed her to bargain her way into a meeting with Moriarty because he wanted to use her brain. And he somehow was content with using “the East Wind” as a lifelong spook story to scare Sherlock, instead of ever telling him what Eurus really was. All of this makes Mycroft’s claim to being the clever Holmes brother seem like hubris. The cherry on top is that, at the end of the episode, Mycroft allows Eurus to return to the same prison she repeatedly broke out of. Really?
Mycroft, as the only other Holmes family member who knows the truth about what Eurus did, serves as the liaison between Sherlock’s past and present, between his subconscious and conscious knowledge. And as he explains in “The Final Problem,” he’s been using “potential trigger words to update myself as to [Sherlock’s] mental condition,” without ever really addressing the underlying cause of Sherlock’s emotional rigidity and drug addiction. I’ve written much about what seems to be Sherlock’s perennial failure to make Sherlock actually deal with the consequences of his actions, but this episode really seems to want to force Mycroft to reckon with his own.
On the whole, this emphasis feels lopsided and wrong. Instead of Sherlock having to reckon with the hubris he showed leading up to Mary’s death, or any scrutiny of the dysfunctional dynamic between John and Sherlock that has existed through seasons three and four, we get Mycroft’s parents yelling at him for lying about his sister being dead. Instead of Sherlock having to apologize to Molly for basically treating her like a disposable prop for years, we get Mycroft being frightened into admissions of guilt, not once, but twice. And in the end, there’s not too much suggestion that any of it has really spurred him to change.
All of this is about family, and Sherlock being a real boy
Throughout Sherlock, our hero’s family history has been an ever-present shadow. We’ve always known that there’s a serious amount of dysfunction and distance between the Holmes brothers and their parents, without knowing very well why. Mycroft has reminded Sherlock constantly that he’s always letting his emotions get in the way, but in “The Final Problem” we realize that Sherlock has bottled up considerable emotional trauma — his sister murdering his best friend — for decades.
“The man you are today is your memory of Eurus,” Mycroft tells Sherlock. Eurus is what caused Sherlock to become obsessed with crime-solving, unable to access his emotional core despite having a deeply emotional psyche. Sherlock has famously described himself as a “high-functioning sociopath,” but in reality, he’d just walled off all the background information that allowed his emotions to make sense. At the end of the episode, John tells Sherlock that he “gave her what she was looking for — context,” but really it’s Eurus who contextualizes everything that Sherlock Holmes is.
And who Sherlock turns out to be is a guy who considers John “family,” whose ultimate solution when asked to kill either his best friend or his brother is to threaten instead to kill himself, and whose final reaction when confronted with the woman who put them all at risk is to hug her and then visit her in prison so that they can play violin duets together.
As “The Final Problem” concludes, Lestrade (Rupert Graves) makes a brief appearance to remark that Sherlock is better than being merely a great man — “he’s a good one.” We knew all of this already, but having him reframed as someone whose entire life has been formed by a primal reaction to love and loss makes it even more extraordinary; it makes his heart seem considerably bigger, his compassion realer, and his flaws more understandable than before.
In the past, Sherlock was easy to criticize as the high-functioning sociopath who saw nothing wrong in drugging his best friends and putting himself through the hell of addiction in order to be right about everything, a man whose conscience was an ever-present but often-ignored inconvenience. After “The Final Problem,” all of those actions finally make sense: they were never Sherlock’s attempts to blot out his emotional core; they were his attempts to deal with his struggle and inability to access it.
Unfortunately, while this key revelation may be satisfying on its own, it does nothing to improve “The Final Problem” overall.
“The Final Problem” is an anticlimactic ending to a weird, weird show
Sherlock has always been about showcasing Moffat and Gattis’s love for bizarre plots and zany shenanigans. It’s practically a given that it would end on a logic-stretching plot while simultaneously rolling around in self-congratulatory glee at its own cleverness. But throughout season four, there’s been almost no buildup to anything that happened in “The Final Problem,” and many of the larger lingering questions about the show are nowhere to be found.
The status of the characters’ emotional development, the still-on-hold ramifications of Sherlock murdering Charles Magnussen at the end of season three, John’s new status as a widowed father, lingering questions about Moriarty’s spectral presence, and Molly’s unrequited love — they’re all basically rendered irrelevant by a final montage that seems to reset everything to the jaunty before time of Sherlock’s earlier seasons, as though Sherlock’s faked death, his committing murder, Mary’s death, and John’s subsequent rage and emotional backlash at Sherlock had never happened.
John, in particular, seems to be completely recovered from the internal struggle and angst he’s shown ever since Sherlock’s return from the dead at the start of season three; the last two seasons of conflict and resentment he’s displayed as he’s tried to leave Sherlock’s orbit of dysfunction and establish his own life are nowhere to be found. But if he made his peace with his eternal role as Sherlock’s life partner-in-crime, it happened offstage. And, given how abysmally Sherlock has treated him the entire series, it happened inexplicably.
(There’s also the issue of queerbaiting; Sherlock has done a tremendous amount of it, continually turning the issue of John and Sherlock’s friendship into a running, insulting gay joke. If that was never going to go anywhere, as both Moffat and Gatiss have repeatedly stated it would not, it’s hard to see it as anything but a homophobic running gag at the expense of actual queer identity — even though Gatiss, an openly gay man, has done his part to give us complicated queer characters before.)
Sherlock does its best to sell its heartwarming final moments as a kind of Hallmark card to its fans, a reminder that the game is always afoot and the legend of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson continues ever onward. But following the acid trip of hallucinogenic confusion, fake memories, and melodramatic plot twists that the rest of “The Final Problem” offers, the episode feels like window dressing on a completely different story — the haunted, lonely opium dream of three Holmes children who will never be fully able to tap into different, more authentic versions of themselves.
Watch: How a TV show gets madeMESA COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)– The Mesa County Sheriff has apologized to a family for an early morning drug raid on their home which included busting windows and breaking into the home.
The Grand Junction Police Department received information about a large amount of methamphetamine at a home in Clifton early Wednesday morning. The person who called police told them about the large amount of drugs in the home, where the drugs were located and also about firearms in the home. That person gave officers the address of the home where all this was occurring.
Officers with Grand Junction police, deputies with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and the Western Colorado Drug Task Force waited for a search warrant.
When officers arrived at the home, there was no answer and they forced entry into the home, breaking several windows in the process.
Once inside officers realized the residents were not the suspects they were looking for. Further investigation revealed that the suspects named by the person who called police once lived at the address but had since moved.
Now, a family with several children lives in the home. Two adults and five children between the ages of 3 and 12 live there.
The sheriff apologized to the family and explained to them, including the children, what happened and how the mistake was made. The sheriff’s office has replaced the windows, repaired the front door and will install new carpet.
The sheriff also said officers will evaluate what happened and how to prevent such a mistake from happening again. The sheriff also said that they are grateful that no one was hurt in the raid.
On the Mesa County Sheriff’s website, they included this statement: “We are committed to being transparent in our operations, and that includes the bad, as well as the good. We appreciate the support and encouragement we receive from our community, and we remain dedicated to being worthy of your trust.”Don’t let the squat little Rite Aid storefront on Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint fool you…
It has a big history. A movie theater for most of its life, you can see it below in 1928 when it was known as the Fox Meserole showing silent films (the advertised Baby Mine was made in 1928 – more info here).
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Later, the Meserole was purchased by Randforce/United Artists and showed first run movies, competing with the nearby RKO Greenpoint (long gone, sadly). Below, a picture from the 1960’s:
Picture courtesy BrooklynPix.com – Check out their site
for hundreds of amazing Brooklyn pictures
Though it looks small from the front, the theater was actually quite large, accommodating 2,000 people on ground level and balcony seating. Here, a bird’s eye view from above shows its full size – the main entrance is beside the white truck in the upper right corner, which leads to the theater building on Lorimer.
The theater was named after the Meserole family, who were among the first settlers in the area. In fact, the original farmhouse may have been torn down to accommodate the theater, which is built on former Meserole land – Forgotten-NY speculates that this may explain the inclusion of cattle skulls in the exterior design work.
Originally known as the Garden Theater, it became the Fox Meserole in the 1920’s showing silent films, and later talkies. It continued as a theater owned by United Artists into the 1970’s, ultimately closing down in the early ’80’s. The space was then converted into a roller rink known as Laces for the first half of the ’80’s, and later a Liquidator’s Arena (a huge 99-cent shop).
It’s been an Eckard Drug for the entire time I’ve known it, only recently being converted into a Rite-Aid. Incredibly, despite all the renovations, much of the old theater still remains. In fact, this could be the weirdest and frankly most amazing Rite Aid you ever visit.
As you come in the doors, you pass through what would have been the original lobby.
After a short distance (where I imagine the ticket booth would have been located), the floor begins to slant downward for about 20 feet as you descend into the theater.
Here, where the floor levels out, is where you would have passed into the theater.
And incredibly, rather than raising the floor to one level, the entire main floor of the Rite-Aid exists on the footprint of the old theater – meaning you have to walk down the original theater ramps to get to the merchandise! Awesome!
As you’re walking down the ramp, you’ll immediately notice the tremendous black ceiling, featuring a huge white dome in the center.
The dome still has a ton of great detailing left on it…
…with the disco ball from its years as a Roller Rink still hanging! At least 25 years old, could this be the oldest disco ball in Greenpoint?
The movie screen was originally situated on this wall – you can see arches which probably once featured a ton of sick detailing, big red curtains, and who knows what else.
I’ve always wondered if the two side arches originally housed box seats:
Turn to face the opposite direction, and you’ll see the balcony seating area, still in place but obstructed by a black wall. The manager told me the balcony is now used for storage space, and that it has been completely gutted (nope, she wouldn’t let me take a look, sadly).
Detail work still exists along the perimeter. It amazes me that this hasn’t been painted to accentuate its beauty. Seriously, would you NOT want to shop in a store that proudly identifies itself as a former movie theater?
Head up the far aisle to the rear of the theater…
And you’ll find yourself in the current pharmacy department/upper-level rear of the theater. A concession stand once stood to the left.
This door takes you up to the balcony level (note that even here the ceiling has detailing):
Another small dome over the pharmacy…
With additional detailing on either side:
And more as you head out.
I challenge you to find a more interesting Rite Aid.
Neighborhoods in New York seem to have all gone through the same basic phase: a golden age of building and craftsmanship, a degradation in standards, decline, severe neglect, neighborhood rejuvenations, and finally appreciation of what has somehow managed to survive.
I don’t know Greenpoint’s history all that well, so I can’t say how it fits in to this cycle. However, I can say that Manhattan Ave is one of the more enjoyable and yet depressing thoroughfares in Brooklyn to me. At the same time lined from end to end with insanely beautiful buildings, the amount of ground-level gutting, aluminum-siding, thoughtless additions, and lack of care has reduced so many of them to shells of their former glory.
Call it gentrification or whatever you want, but it seems like people are starting to care again, and I’m really hoping we see buildings of the past get a facelift. Don’t be the Rite Aid that tries to be as generic as every other Rite Aid out there – be the Rite Aid that is proudly located in a freakin’ movie theater that dates back to the silent era of films; hell, to a time when there were farms all over the area. People LOVE this sort of history, because you can’t recreate or fake it. It’s why people pay big bucks to live in Soho, the meatpacking district, Tribeca, and every other historical neighborhood in Manhattan.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what has survived despite all the opposition against it – but why not show it off a bit?
-SCOUT
PS – Huge thanks to Brooklynpix.com for allowing me to post the above pictures. If you’ve never visited, check it out now – their pictures of Brooklyn spanning over a century are incredible, and you’re sure to find something in your neighborhood.
PPS – I’m also really appreciative of CinemaTreasures.com, a site dedicated to preserving the memory of current and defunct theaters. Each page is a permanent message board of history and memories, and it is from numerous postings there that I was able to put together the Meserole’s history – check out its specific page for a lot of great reminisces.
PPPS – Finally, a great article on the Meserole from the Brooklyn Standard Union published June 5, 1928:
“Because she thought her cousin was being impersonated in the leading role of a western motion picture shown at the Meserole Theater, between Norman and Meserole ave., Mrs. Stella Skaozazciniski 34 years old, of 185 Huron st., rushed from her seat in the orchestra to the manager’s office and demanded that the film be stopped. Sidney Larschan, manager of the theater, helped the woman’s husband take her to the Greenpoint police station, where an ambulance was called. Dr. Drainick of Greenpoint Hospital treated the woman for hysterics after which she was allowed to go home with her husband.”
If you enjoyed reading this post, would you consider making a donation to help me make my first movie? The goal is $50,000, and to date, 1,728 Scouting NY readers have donated $36,348! Just $5 or $10 can make a difference - AND you get this snazzy Scouting NY sticker/magnet as a Thank-You gift! Click here to donate today!
And hey, if you've made it this far, why not follow us via RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Tumblr?Wednesday, March 7, 2012 | 10:06 AM
UPDATE (3/14/12): Today, we released the new +1 button from preview and it’s now rolling out to all users. You may also notice the numbers in your +1 buttons increase, as we update our plugins to better reflect social activity around your content. Our Webmaster Tools Help Center article has more details on this update. Join the conversation on Google+.
Following in the footsteps of our new red and white Google+ icon, the +1 button is sporting a fresh coat of paint. Starting today, this update will be visible first to our Google+ Platform Preview Group and shortly thereafter we’ll roll it out to the public.
Check out the new pixels:
Before you’ve +1’d
After you’ve +1’d
The +1 buttons you’ve already installed will automatically update; there’s nothing you need to do. Stop by the updated configuration tool to see how these changes look across all the various sizes and shapes of the +1 button.
We’ll update this post when these changes graduate to the public.
Follow the conversation on Google+.
Posted by Eric Steinlauf, Software Engineer, Google+Mexican American drug lord
Valdez and the second or maternal family name is Villarreal. This name uses Spanish naming customs : the first or paternal family name isand the second or maternal family name is
Edgar Valdez Villarreal (born August 11, 1973), also known as La Barbie ("The Barbie"), is a Mexican-American drug lord and a lieutenant of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, a criminal group based in Sinaloa.
Valdez worked for several years as a cartel lieutenant before rising to a leadership position in an enforcement squad called Los Negros.[6][7] Following the death of cartel boss Arturo Beltrán Leyva in late 2009, Valdez fought a bloody and protracted gang war for control of the cartel resulting in over 150 deaths. He employed techniques such as videotaped torture and decapitation.[8][9]
On August 30, 2010, he was arrested by Mexican Federal Police at a rural house near Mexico City.[10] His gang, known as Los Negros, collapsed by 2011.[11] He is serving a 49-year sentence in a US federal prison.
Biography [ edit ]
Valdez was born and raised in Laredo, Texas.[9][12][13] He was a popular high school football player. His nickname La Barbie came from his American football coach at United High School; because of his white skin, blue eyes and facial features, he was compared to a Ken doll,[14][15] but he had little hair.
Valdez's first arrest came at the age of 19 in Texas, where he was charged with criminally negligent homicide for running over a middle-school counselor with his truck while speeding down a Laredo street. He was not indicted.[16] He became a marijuana dealer on the streets of Laredo while still in high school.[9][17] He turned down his father's offer of financing a college education in order to focus on his business, but was soon indicted on charges of distributing marijuana.[9] To avoid capture he fled to Mexico, where he allegedly joined the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and quickly moved up through the ranks due to his connections in the US.[9]
Los Negros [ edit ]
Valdez came to lead the enforcement gang called Los Negros,[6][7] who were engaged in a territorial dispute in the Nuevo Laredo region against Los Zetas. Los Negros orchestrated kidnappings and recruited operatives, including corrupt police officers, military personnel and federal agents, according to the attorney general's office.[citation needed] While the group was allegedly controlled directly by Valdez, it used to be overseen by the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.[18]
According to Mexican media reports, shortly after the death of cartel leader Arturo Beltrán Leyva on December 16, 2009, Valdez began to dispute the cartel's leadership and its territory; almost a decade ago one faction was led by Valdez and Gerardo Alvarez-Vasquez, while the other was led by Arturo's brother Héctor Beltrán Leyva and his lieutenant Sergio Villarreal Barragán.[19][20]
In August 2010 four decapitated bodies were found hanging from a bridge in Cuernavaca, along with a message warning anyone helping Valdez of a similar fate.[10] Both sides engaged in similarly gruesome tactics intended to warn off the other; over 150 deaths are allegedly linked to the dispute.[9]
US government reports allege that Los Negros has been known to employ local gangs such as MS-13 and the Mexican Mafia to carry out murders and other illegal activities.[21]
Connection with the Cabañas Case [ edit ]
The morning of January 25, 2010, football player Salvador Cabañas was wounded by a gunshot to the head. Through the recording of a CCTV camera José Jorge Balderas Garza, aka. "JJ", was identified as his attacker. According to his own statements, due to their friendship Valdez-Villarreal himself was the person who gave "JJ" shelter to protect him from the police by placing him in one of his safe houses. [22]
Charges and allegations [ edit ]
Mexican police had been searching for Valdez since his 2002 indictment on two counts of conspiracy with intent to distribute marijuana. In their investigation, police raided homes that he had rented, locating grenades, automatic weapons and police uniforms. In May 2009 Mexican authorities listed him as one of their 24 most wanted drug traffickers, and posted a 30-million-peso ($2.3 million USD) reward for information leading to his capture.[3]
Valdez pleaded not guilty and took out advertising in the local Monterrey newspaper, El Norte, describing himself as: "a legitimate businessman who had been forced to leave Nuevo Laredo and move to the neighboring state of Coahuila because he was being harassed for bribes by local police officers."[23]
In June 2010 Valdez was indicted in a US court on charges of trafficking thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Mexico into the US between 2004-06.[4] Mexican officials claim that Valdez introduced to the US about one ton of cocaine per month.[24] In 2009 the Justice Department posted a $2=million reward for information leading to his capture.[4]
Arrest [ edit ]
Mexican police said they tracked Valdez across five Mexican states for a year, a pursuit that intensified in the latest months as they raided home after home owned by the drug lord, missing him but arresting several of his allies.[citation needed] On August 30, 2010, Valdez was captured by Mexican Federal Police near Mexico City.[10]
In a video released by the federal police on September 1, 2010, Valdez could be seen telling his interrogators how he smuggled drugs from Panama to the US and transported cash from the US back into Mexico hidden in trailers. He said that he spent $200,000 to make a film based on his life; however, he decided not to release the movie because it might reveal too much information about him.[25] After Valdez' arrest, his father-in-law, Carlos Montemayor González, (a.k.a., El Charro) took control of the cartel, only to be arrested 3 months later on November 24, 2010.[26]
His American lawyer told The New York Times that Valdez denies all charges against him and that the video confession was made under duress.[9] In November 2010 Mexico started his extradition process to the US.[27]
Extradition [ edit ]
On September 30, 2015, Valdez Villarreal was extradited to the US along with 12 other criminals, including former high-ranking Gulf Cartel leader Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez.[28] In June 2018 he was sentenced to 49 years in a US federal prison.[5]
Pending film [ edit ]
In 2011 Legendary Pictures acquired the rights to film American Drug Lord,[29] a movie about Valdez based on an article in Rolling Stone magazine. Charlie Hunnam, who is best known for his role as Jax Teller in the TV crime-drama Sons of Anarchy, is scheduled to play the crime figure.[30] In January, 2016 it was revealed that since 2013[31] American actor Armie Hammer contacted the family of the infamous cartel leader "La Barbie" (Valdez-Villarreal) and secured the rights to film the life story of the drug lord.[32][33][34][35]
See also [ edit ]In a recent e-mail conversation with the cartoonist Harry Bliss, I complimented him on his latest drawing in the magazine, “Husband Descending a Staircase After Tripping on His Wife’s Shoes.” His response was that the drawing was autobiographical—he’s constantly tripping on his wife’s shoes on the stairs. This made me to wonder whether my other colleagues would be willing to share an autobiographical moment that they’d worked into a cartoon for The New Yorker. Many agreed. Included with Charles Barsotti’s contribution were some words of advice: “Don’t give away too much. Let them think it’s magic.”
It’s autobiographical in a general sense, and as much as I’m going to tell. Let ’em wait for the movie, I say.
—Charles Barsotti
This doesn’t get any more autobiographical for me …. A couple years back, I published a children’s book, “Bailey,” about a dog that attends school. The reviews were stellar, and the picture book seemed to be destined to make the best-seller list. However, my publisher, Scholastic, informed me that they couldn’t send me on a book tour or give my book the proper publicity budget, owing to the fact that they were celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their signature character, Clifford the Big Red Dog, that year. My adorable Bailey’s promotional budget went to a fifty-year-old has-been. This made me very angry, thus the cartoon.
—Harry Bliss
This is autobiographical, but it’s also biographical for most people with kids.
—Pat Byrnes
This cartoon is pretty much a direct quote from my daughter, who was around sixteen at the time. She was doing her homework and listening to some sort of pop music. We all know how revolting one’s decrepit parent-body is to one’s teen-ager. If you want to gild that lily of disgust, just dance in front your teen. At the time, I think I was trying to see if she noticed me. She did. She looked up and said, word for word, what the girl in the cartoon said, which made me laugh.
—Roz Chast
I have one cartoon that is far and away the most autobiographical I’ve ever done. I drew it for the 2012 election. It’s been construed as being a criticism of President Obama, but that was the furthest thing from my mind. It was based entirely on my own excruciatingly bad work habits. I am a consummate procrastinator who never met a last minute that he didn’t work right up until. I am almost incapable of focussing on a task until twenty-four hours before it’s due and the sound of a massive clock starts ticking in my head. The “epic all-nighter” in the caption represents my weekly ritual of getting my new ideas ready to submit to the Cartoon Editor, and I’m sure I came up with this one while neck deep in a caffeine-fuelled overnight deadline crunch.
—Joe Dator
I thought of it as I tried to perform this pose and was kicked out of the class for talking about it.
—Bob Eckstein
I’m the mysterious stranger, or, at least, I think I am, sometimes!
—Andy Friedman, a.k.a. Larry Hat
I have many cartoons that are practically reënactments of scenes from my life (see: any cartoon with a mom and daughter), but my sweatpants cartoon is probably the most autobiographical of me as a whole. The idea for this cartoon started from something that a friend said, that she didn’t want to turn into the sort of person who wears sweatpants everywhere. As she was saying this, I realized that not only do I wear sweatpants (or some version thereof) frequently but I aspire to wear sweatpants as much as possible. For me, a fun night is one spent at home, shopping for the perfect pair of sweatpants.
—Amy Hwang
Mine are pretty much all autobiographical. But this one happens often at our house: I’m a clean-as-you-cook kind of person, whereas Michael [Crawford] is a clean-everything-afterward kind of person, so the dishwashing duty is much more onerous on the person who doesn’t cook when that person is me!
—Carolita Johnson
I once called my father to say hi. When I asked what he was up to, he told me that he was “painting the basement floor.” That is not a euphemism. I would not describe my parents—both still alive—as anal, or as neat freaks, or even as fussy, but they clean and fix and upgrade for recreation. And when they do indeed shuffle off this mortal coil, they would not wish to leave a stain. This has passed down to my greeting anyone entering my environment—be it home, car, or studio—with “Please excuse my mess.”
—John Klossner
A fashionisto divo friend of mine would tell me to stop smiling whenever we went out to groovy fashiony events. Hence, this cartoon.
—Marisa Acocella Marchetto
This cartoon is my autobiography, complete and unabridged.
—Paul Noth
I love this cartoon because I tossed it off in a fit of pique that really captured the moment of how awful it is to be trapped in a meeting with a boss / king / potentate whose main task is not to lead the troops but suck all the oxygen out of the room and abuse one and all for the sake of entertainment. Ironically, the idea was born from a very uplifting commercial where a sincere guy started his business meetings with “Can everybody hear me?” P.S.: You might noticed how truly “tossed off” the drawing is. In fact, it was returned to me with an obscure bit of notation at the bottom that read “Draw better.” I didn’t. I hope Mr. Thurber would be proud.
—Michael Shaw
This gag was drawn while I was having a particularly difficult time getting the cable repairman to show up for a scheduled appointment. After the umpteenth four-hour window opened and closed without a visit, I decided I needed to vent my frustration. One of the benefits of being a cartoonist, I guess, is that I can kill the cable guy without actually committing a crime.
—Ben Schwartz
This cartoon comes directly from my childhood. My father (changed to “grandpa” here) was a first-generation immigrant who had an uncanny ability to make nearly starving to death and being chased by bloodthirsty Cossacks sound positively romantic. First, he would hit me over the head with boyhood tales of suffering in order to silence any complaints I might have had about excessive homework or not being allowed to watch cartoons on television because they weren’t “educational.” Next, his eyes would glaze over and he would wave his hand in the air to encompass the vast, palatial confines of our two-bedroom Upper West Side apartment and all the pleasures of modern life it contained. “Television,” he would utter mournfully, “all this luxury—is this happiness? Sitting around a table on a dirt floor with your eight brothers and sisters, having a little something to eat when yesterday you had nothing—that’s happiness.”
—David Sipress
I had a heck of a time (pardon my language) finding a cartoon of mine that was actually based on personal experience. I’ve never found myself dying of thirst while crawling through a barren desert, for instance, or rolling a big rock up the side of a mountain for eternity, or suddenly being crushed by a falling piano. As I scrolled through some of my work, though, I found this one, in which the cartoon guy is engaged in doing something I often do when I’m not doodling: mainly nothing, which I must admit can be a very pleasant pastime.
—Mick Stevens
I’ve never met a doctor who I didn’t ignore.
—P. C. Vey
I had my grandpa in mind every step of the way. He was a classic raconteur and entertainer and a big inspiration. When, surprisingly, the cartoon sold, I took extra pains to try to capture his “Johnston nose” and even put “Johnston,” my mother’s maiden name, on the cart.
—Liam Walsh
I’m the unseen Mom in this cartoon. Most of my worrying mom or women-runner cartoons are somewhat autobiographical.
—Kim Warp
My kids are a total pain in the ass, and they correct me when I tell stories … it’s usually only in front of other people though.
—Shannon WheelerA what if "Elsa and Anna built a sandwich that night instead of a snowman."
At around noon that day, a young Anna knocks on Elsa's door and begins singing to her sister
Elsa
Do you want make a sandwich
C'mon let's eat one rightaway
We never seem to get them anymore
Cold cuts from a store
Or a hot one from takeawa-y
We used to make best Toastie
But now we won't
Since you began to insist on pie
Do you want to build a sandwich
It doesn't have to be a sandwich
Go eat a steak, Anna
Ok, fine
(Years later, Anna knocks on Elsa's door again.)
Do you want to make a sandwich?
With some rye, some pickles and some smaltz
I think some capicola would also do
I've started talking to
The lettuce and dijon
"Ham is also jamon"
It gets a little oily
Even with reubens too
To be served with a side of fries
Munch crunch
Munch crunch
Munch crunch
Elsa
Please, I know it's wei-rd
People are asking if you've eaten
They say have bolognie
And I'm trying to
Slice it thin
We only have ciabatti
It's a bread made from yeast
But it also takes long to che-w
Do you want to build a sandwich?
(More years later) Anna and Kristoff are stuck in the frozen woods together, they are taken by surprise by a giant sandwich named Olaf.
"Oh my god, it's a talking sandwich!" Anna yelps.
"Yes... yes it is," Kristoff replies.
"Kristoff?"
"Yes..." he repeats as he ponders, "it's a giant sandwich in a frozen wasteland which can't grow anymore... vegetation."
"Kristoff?" Anna asks to get his attention again.
"Quick, capture him, we can use him to feed everyone!"
"What?!" Anna says, alarmed with the idea.
Sven, the reindeer begins to huff at Kristoff too.
"Sven, it's the sandwich or livestock, your pick," Kristoff tells the reindeer.
The reindeer, along with Kristoff begins chasing down Olaf the sandwich.Tickets
You sit at your comfortable chair at work and thinking on participating at FSec? but you think it's just far beyond your budget or knowledge level? Far from it. We want to make sure everybody can come, so we have come up with different levels of attendees (you can join even for free!), so we can equally work on information security problems. Come and be part of once and only moments at FSec, so you can tell your grandchildren about it. We know you want it. Now get up from that chair and start working to come to FSec. Moment you start learning for real is outside of your comfort zone (or chair zone).
If you are a student, unemployed, cannot afford a ticket or your company doesn’t want to buy you a ticket, send us (fsec-tickets @ foi.hr) an e-mail with the reason why you should get a free ticket. Free tickets are issued on an amount of free space basis, although we will reserve a number of free tickets exclusively for students and the unemployed. Keep in mind that those are given out on mix of first come - first serve basis and the evaluation of you e-mail where you wrote why should you get a free ticket.
This year, we won't be accepting cash at the entrance! We will be only relying on bank transfers because of financial regulations. Remember you NEED to write an e |
_primary_6 12;asw_default_secondary_6 11; asw_default_extra_6 4" //Vegas Loadouts (7) alias Vegas1 "asw_default_primary_7 9;asw_default_secondary_7 18; asw_default_extra_7 10" alias Vegas2 "asw_default_primary_7 13;asw_default_secondary_7 5; asw_default_extra_7 9" alias Vegas3 "asw_default_primary_7 13;asw_default_secondary_7 18; asw_default_extra_7 10" alias Vegas4 "asw_default_primary_7 8;asw_default_secondary_7 18; asw_default_extra_7 0" //Loadout Swithcer alias Loadouts1 "Sarge1; Wildcat1; Faith1; Crash1; Jaeger1; Wolfe1; Bastille1; Vegas1; alias currentloadout Loadouts1" alias Loadouts2 "Sarge2; Wildcat2; Faith2; Crash2; Jaeger2; Wolfe2; Bastille2; Vegas2; alias currentloadout Loadouts2" alias Loadouts3 "Sarge3; Wildcat3; Faith3; Crash3; Jaeger3; Wolfe3; Bastille3; Vegas3; alias currentloadout Loadouts3" alias Loadouts4 "Sarge4; Wildcat4; Faith4; Crash4; Jaeger4; Wolfe4; Bastille4; Vegas4; alias currentloadout Loadouts4" bind F1 Loadouts1 bind F2 Loadouts2 bind F3 Loadouts3 bind F4 Loadouts4 //Default Loadout (Your F1 loadout will be selected upon launch) alias currentloadout Loadouts1 currentloadout //************************************************************** //CHARACTER SELECTION/BOTS SECTION //Numbad selects your character/bot. Read comments for numbers //************************************************************** //Bot loadouts (PDWs/Combat Armor) //0 = Sarge alias +sargebot "asw_default_primary_0 12; asw_default_secondary_0 12; asw_default_extra_0 4; cl_selectm 0 -1" alias -sargebot currentloadout //1= Wildcat alias +wildcatbot "asw_default_primary_1 12; asw_default_secondary_1 12; asw_default_extra_1 4; cl_Selectm 1 -1" alias -wildcatbot currentloadout //2= Faith alias +faithbot "asw_default_primary_2 12; asw_default_secondary_2 12; asw_default_extra_2 4; Cl_selectm 2 -1" alias -faithbot currentloadout //3= Crash alias +crashbot "asw_default_primary_3 12; asw_default_secondary_3 12; asw_default_extra_3 4; cl_selectm 3 -1" alias -crashbot currentloadout //4= Jaeger alias +jaegerbot "asw_default_primary_4 12; asw_default_secondary_4 12; asw_default_extra_4 4; cl_selectm 4 -1" alias -jaegerbot currentloadout //5= Wolfe alias +wolfebot "asw_default_primary_5 12; asw_default_secondary_5 12; asw_default_extra_5 4; cl_selectm 5 -1" alias -wolfebot currentloadout //6 = Bastille alias +bastillebot "asw_default_primary_6 12; asw_default_secondary_6 12; asw_default_extra_6 4; cl_selectm 6 -1" alias -bastillebot currentloadout //7 = Vegas alias +vegasbot "asw_default_primary_7 12; asw_default_secondary_7 12; asw_default_extra_7 4; cl_selectm 7 -1" alias -vegasbot currentloadout //First character Selection alias picksarge "cl_selectm 0 -1; pickbots" alias pickwildcat "cl_selectm 1 -1; pickbots" alias pickfaith "cl_selectm 2 -1; pickbots" alias pickcrash "cl_selectm 3 -1; pickbots" alias pickjaeger "cl_selectm 4 -1; pickbots" alias pickwolfe "cl_selectm 5 -1; pickbots" alias pickbastille "cl_selectm 6 -1; pickbots" alias pickvegas "cl_selectm 7 -1; pickbots" alias pickmans "bind KP_INS picksarge; bind KP_END pickwildcat; bind KP_DOWNARROW pickfaith; bind KP_PGDN pickcrash; bind KP_LEFTARROW pickjaeger; bind KP_5 pickwolfe; bind KP_RIGHTARROW pickbastille; bind KP_HOME pickvegas" alias pickbots "bind KP_INS +sargebot; bind KP_END +wildcatbot; bind KP_DOWNARROW +faithbot; bind KP_PGDN +crashbot; bind KP_LEFTARROW +jaegerbot; bind KP_5 +wolfebot; bind KP_RIGHTARROW +bastillebot; bind KP_HOME +vegasbot" pickmans //Delete Resets bind KP_DEL "cl_dselectm 0; cl_dselectm 1; cl_dselectm 2; cl_dselectm 3; cl_dselectm 4; cl_dselectm 5; cl_dselectm 6; cl_dselectm 7; cl_dselectm 8; pickmans"Hawaii resident accused of using popular website for crystal meth operation Copyright by KHON - All rights reserved Video
Federal charges are filed against a Hawaii resident busted for alleged drug trafficking.
Authorities say he turned to a popular website to try and avoid getting caught.
Court documents say Walter Rolando Atemio Dominguez Garcia was arrested for meth trafficking and faces charges of distributing a controlled substance. He made his initial appearance in federal court Tuesday.
A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court says that on June 16, federal investigators tracked a package that was sent to a Wilhelmina Rise address to the name Walter Rolando Dominguez.
The package contained 11 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, authorities say.
Records show the drugs were sent to a house that Garcia had rented through Airbnb, and federal investigators say Garcia even went so far as to give an online review of the home.
Investigators say the suspect received another package in July, also with 11 pounds of meth, at an Ala Moana address.
Defense attorney Michael Green, who's not involved in this case, says this is one way for drug dealers to try and avoid getting caught.
"You can disassociate yourself from where it is ultimately is sent, then you've got a chance of at least saying, 'Hey, I don't know anything about it.' If somebody wants to set me up and send a package to my B&B or wherever they're sending it to, 'I know nothing about it,'" said Green.
KHON2 reached out to Airbnb to find out what if anything can be done to try and stop criminals from using homes as a place to drop off illegal drugs.
The company sent us a statement that said:
"We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and have permanently banned this user from our platform. Airbnb reached out to the authorities to assist them with their investigation and we will help them in any way we can. There have been over 200 million guest arrivals in listings and negative incidents like this are incredibly rare."
In this case, the suspect was caught because he also tried to sell some of the drugs to undercover officers. Records show that when he was arrested, Garcia said that he had three pounds on him. He then asked investigators if "it was from the first package or from the second package."
"I think you are going to see more of the B&B part, because this is kind of a new thing for people," Green warned. "They have a bunch of these apartments and they're renting them out but the whole thing for it is disassociating yourself."
Garcia remains in federal custody. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 19.Introduction:
Kirby is one of the many Nintendo games I’ve “fallen out” with over the years. Some of these include the aforementioned Kirby, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, and Pikmin. I tried to have my go at Triple Deluxe, and Planet Robobot, and while I have enjoyed those games, they never struck me enough to play through the entire game, much less complete it.
With that said…
Kirby’s Blowout Blast is the most fun I’ve had with a Kirby game in years. I completed 100% of the game in 2 long play-sessions totaling at just under 4 and a half hours.
Playing Kirby’s Blowout Blast reminds me of the joy of playing Kirby’s Dream Land on a GameBoy Pocket, despite owning a GBA SP, it felt better at the time. With the return of Lololo and Lalala, callbacks within the music, some of the animations, the enemies, or even the fact that you can’t do what Kirby is known for, copy enemies, there are a lot of comparisons to draw from this game to Dream Land.
Gameplay:
Not flying freely in 2D levels and copying enemies made it feel like an almost puzzle-platformer game where your timing and method of dispatching enemies actually matter more than hunting collectibles reaching the end of the level, or traveling from world to world to further a plot. Some enemy waves may be used to shoot down another wave, and other times you may just have to suck in an enemy to use the next two waves to get a bigger combo than you would otherwise. Kirby can pretty much do everything he could do in Kirby’s Dream Land, which Blowout Blast seemingly can’t get enough of. Kirby can walk, run, jump, fly, blow out air (which seems almost entirely useless in this game), as well as of course, suck in and spit out enemies. When one enemy or object is sucked in, it will hit one enemy. When two or more are sucked in, it will plow through all the enemies, and the more you suck in, the larger your spat out projectile is, as well as the higher your combo will be.
The game is rather short, containing only 5 worlds with a special “EX” version of each world, with a more challenging world with a very similar level layout with more challenging enemies and enemy placement. Completing Kirby’s Blowout Blast will run you about an hour or less if you just run through every level, but a huge point of the levels is the aspect of getting a high score, which leads into the trophies. The bosses also have trophies for their levels, and seem very easy to get as long as you don’t get hit during it.
There are Bronze, Silver, Gold, and the rather elusive Platinum medals. Gold medals aren’t terribly hard to get, and are required to unlock the true final level, but Platinum medals feel nearly impossible to get for most levels without getting everything perfect! While that may be the point, it also seems that if you want to get a platinum, you may have to do a lot of… math. I ended up getting two throughout my entire play-through, but I did get gold in every other level with very few hiccups.
Story:
NEXT TOPIC.
Visuals and design:
There also isn’t too much to be said about the visuals of Kirby Blowout blast. It’s very similar to Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot, but of course, in three dimensions. The backgrounds in most of the area seemed to be largely “dumbed down” in comparison to a lot of the stages present in Robobot as well as in Triple Deluxe, but it is inherently more of a simple game. There’s nothing wrong with the visual style, and for the most part they’re quite nice, but in some areas, like the grassy area, can be quite visually unappealing. They’re still very solid as a whole though, and I particularly like the way the bosses look in 3D.
Music:
The music in Kirby’s Blowout Blast ranges from decent to amazing, as with almost every Kirby game. Some of my favorites from Blowout Blast are “Castle Lololo”, remixed from Kirby’s Dream Land, and “Mint Breath”, a remixed track from Kirby’s Dream Land as well, and finally, the Secret Boss theme, which is a remixed track from Kirby Super Star. All tracks in the game are remixed tracks from other Kirby’s games, many being from Kirby’s Dream Land, but has a good range of great tracks from other games as well.
Amiibo:
Just a quick word to speak on amiibo, the Kirby amiibo in Blowout Blast unlock a trophy in the hub area as well as different theme music for the hub world. They have some great remixed tracks not heard anywhere else, but other than that, they don’t serve any real purpose. Still a nice addition, though. This is an example for amiibo being used to unlock purely aesthetic things, like a lot of conventional DLC. Personally, this is fine with me, and it’s nice to see another example of amiibo that isn’t blocking out elements of the game.
Ending:
Overall, Kirby’s Blowout Blast, in my opinion, is a perfect budget Kirby title. It may be a bit thin on content for a full game, but at 7.99$, Kirby’s Blowout Blast has more than enough to keep you entertained for a good chunk of time. Kirby is the Nintendo franchise that’s probably got the most use out of the 3DS, with two main games, a slew of spinoff titles, as well as an unannounced game supposedly coming out in late 2017. Kirby Blowout Blast is a great addition to the Kirby Spinoff lineup.
AdvertisementsThe many articles on this site attempt to prove that the same set of symbols – those of the ruling elite – are being permeated across popular culture. While we often look at outlets intended for teenagers or young adults (such as movies and music videos), children are definitely not exempt of it. A blatant example is Disney’s new show Gravity Falls, a “quirky and endearing” cartoon about 12-year old twins spending summer with their Great Uncle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon.
The 40 seconds long intro theme alone is loaded with symbolism. Here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tctX771EQeA
First, Great Uncle Stan wears a fez, which is the hat worn by the Shriners – an appendant body of Freemasonry. As they like to say, all Shriners are Masons, but not Masons are Shriners.
Up until 2010, only 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Masons (the highest degree attainable other than the honorary 33rd) or Knight Templars of the York Rite could join the Shriners. This means that Grunkle Fez is most probably a high level Freemason. Therefore, he knows what’s the deal with all of these symbols. He knows.
I won’t start analyzing all of the episodes but here are some interesting shots from the first episode of Gravity Falls.
In short, Disney’s new show is centered around a specific set of symbols associated with secret societies and the occult elite, which we call the Illuminati. While some might argue that these signs are inserted to add “mystery” to the show, we must also consider the fact that popular culture in general is being permeated with the exact same set of symbols. This show plays it part by exposing young children to the symbolism, which normalizes it and ultimately accomplishes what the occult elite has been doing for centuries: Hiding in plain sight.It is amazing how the story gets so distorted. It actually goes like this …
I got kicked in the face first in a ruck and ended up spitting out various parts of 3 broken teeth. Secondly i got knocked out cold by Jean Pierre Garuet. He flew into a ruck and hit me in the right side of the forehead. I am not quite sure whether this happened after the groin or before, as i was in lala land from then on.The third incident, I was setting up a ball in a tackle zone and I beleive Daniel Dubroca tried to kick the ball out of my hands, catching me in the groin. It bloody well hurt at the time, so i just chucked the old proverbial Jesus water down the shorts to make it feel better. That didn't do alot, so we just played on. I went off the field with 20 minutes to go not really knowing where i was, let alone what day it was. As history shows, we lost the game, and it was not until i got changed that i realized that my scrotum had been torn, and that the testicle was hanging a good 4 or 5 inches out of the scrotum. It was all put back into place and stitched up nicely.
It's just another small injury that many of us get due to the rigors of our lovely game, rugby.As a public defender in Baltimore reading the Department of Justice's Aug. 10th report finding that the Baltimore City Police Department engaged in a pattern and practice of violating constitutional rights, I felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe the BPD would finally be forced into better practices. Maybe this meant an end to secret surveillance and unconstitutional harassment of the people of Baltimore. My hope was short-lived. This week, it was revealed that since January, city police have been using a Cessna plane to transmit and store photographs of 32 square miles of the city at a time. The spy plane captures movements of the same citizens who were told to focus on healing from law enforcement injustices.
The surveillance technology was labeled Angel Firewhen used in Iraq and then rebranded in Baltimore with the friendlier label of Community Support Program. The founder of Persistent Surveillance Systems, the company that brought the surveillance technology to Baltimore, described the technology as "Google Earth with TiVo capability." One of the employees in the nondescript Community Support Program office could currently be sitting with a BPD officer, combing through your movements from last week. They could be noting where you go to church, what suspicious-looking package you carry and the color of your car. The DOJ report encouraged the BPD to engage in community policing that was grounded in relationship-building and "jointly solving problems," not secretly watching people from a Community Support Program spy plane.
My colleagues at the Office of the Public Defender and I first heard about the program from a Bloomberg News article. Unlike in Dayton, Ohio, where the Dayton police department and City Council held public hearings on whether to use Persistent Surveillance Systems and ultimately decided against it after community opposition, the BPD decided to institute this surveillance in secret. Our office did not know the BPD was working with the Community Support Program to collect data on our clients' movements and then using the data to charge our clients with crimes without disclosing the source of the evidence. For our innocent clients, we missed opportunities to subpoena exonerating footage collected by the spy plane. For our clients who were mistreated by officers, or whose versions of the truth differed from an officer's report, we failed to corroborate the truth because we did not know that a plane had captured footage of the city. The BPD, and by extension the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office, had data that likely could have corroborated our clients' innocence in the face of an officer's inconsistent statement, but they decided to keep it a secret.
The BPD downplays the significance of their failure to tell people about the plane capturing photographs with TiVo-like replay ability. The BPD claims this aerial surveillance is a mere extension of the city's closed-circuit television, or CCTV, cameras. But, unlike the Community Support Program, CCTV cameras are visible orbs mounted on posts and buildings, and sometimes accompanied by a blue light. The list of each CCTV camera's street intersection, latitude, longitude and camera number is available to the public through a Baltimore City website. CCTV cameras do not venture above the height of a building, nor can they track our movements along a 32-square-mile path.
Moreover, the BPD has a history of secret surveillance, including the use of machines that act as cell phone towers to spy on the citizens of Baltimore. Like the aerial surveillance technology used by the Community Support Program, the BPD kept the use and prevalence of the cell site simulator machines a secret.
Transparency creates justice. When defense attorneys are told by our clients that an officer is lying about an encounter, we subpoena the CCTV footage. In a publicized 2014 case, Kollin Truss was charged with assaulting police officers. The truth was that Officer Vincent Cosom assaulted Mr. Truss. If Mr. Truss' assistant public defender had not subpoenaed the CCTV footage within the 28 days the BPD keeps the footage, then the court may not have believed in Mr. Truss' innocence.
Hiding the technology and surveillance systems used to solve crimes does not create a fairer justice system; it encourages officers to leave material facts out of reports and to lie about the real probable cause for locating someone, and it deprives people of access to evidence that could lead to their exoneration. If individuals knew about the documentation of their movements, they could subpoena the footage when an officer gives an untrue account of a police encounter.
The Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office and the BPD should be open about the law enforcement techniques being used. The BPD has a dangerous tendency to oversimplify its righteousness in its fight against the "criminal" darkness. At a press conference discussing the aerial surveillance, a BPD spokesman said: "The only people that should be concerned in the city of Baltimore are criminals." First of all, it is the rare person who has never gambled with friends for money, enjoyed a beer on a stoop, tried marijuana, or had alcohol before the age of 21 — all offenses for which my clients are regularly detained or arrested and hauled into Central Booking by the Baltimore City Police. Additionally, all of us are being surveilled, and our privacy is compromised. If this surveillance was only about fighting crime, then why is it being done in secret?
Law enforcement should be transparent. Secret spying can only lead to further distrust of the BPD at a time when the BPD's "community support" programs should involve more dialogue with the communities they serve. The DOJ Report explains that the BPD targets African Americans and this discrimination is "most pronounced for highly discretionary offenses," like trespassing and disorderly conduct. We cannot trust the BPD to determine that a group of people needs to be watched. If the BPD wants to move away from its history of unconstitutional policing in African American communities, it should not be secretly flying a photographing plane over those same communities.For the first time in a regular-season Major League Soccer game, league officials will be testing Video Assistant Referee technology Friday when the Rapids host Vancouver as the league prepares to officially implement the replay technology this summer.
The league is calling it an “offline” test, meaning it will have no impact on the game, and the officiating crew will do its usual job. A “surrogate referee” will review close calls using video feeds from Altitude but will not have any contact with the game referees.
Howard Webb, a longtime English Premier League referee who called the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa, was hired by MLS in March to take charge of the project with the title Manager of Video Assistant Referee Operations.
“We’re investing a lot of time and energy and effort to put the scheme in place,” Webb said. “Part of that involves training and education to the people who will operate the system – the officials, the technicians and the league staff.” Related Articles Backpass: We’re beginning to see what the Colorado Rapids’ 2019 lineup will look like
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Last summer, the International Football Association Board, which sets what soccer calls “the laws of the game,” approved the use of VAR to review goals, penalty calls, red-card decisions and cases of mistaken identity involving red or yellow cards. MLS began experimenting with the technology during the preseason with plans to implement it officially in select matches following the All-Star Game in August. The German Bundesliga will use VAR next season and the technology will used in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
During the Rapids’ preseason, VAR was used to overturn a referee’s decision that resulted in a draw with Sporting Kansas City rather than a 1-0 loss after referee Allen Chapman checked on a possible hand ball in the penalty area by an SKC player. After viewing the video, he awarded Colorado a penalty kick and Dillon Powers converted for the equalizer.
The hope is for VAR to eliminate more obvious mistakes without addressing subjective calls.
“We’re talking about those ones that people across the board accept are clearly wrong,” Webb said. “Video assistance will help the officials rectify those.”The 4th Annual AFAF took place Nov 11th at Asheville Renaissance Hotel. It was an evening adult extravaganza (7-10pm) entitled “Goth Faerie Ball” with local DJ Malinalli spinning dance rhythms plus special lights and sound. Fashion legend Sarah Merrell returned with another collection of the best fashion designers and models in WNC. There were Organic Mead samples and excellent local artist vendors.
Sponsor was WICKED WEED BREWING supporting this annual fundraiser for local service organization: eblencharities.org See the Facebook Event Page by clicking HERE.
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The previous three events were likewise produced by Bioflyer Productions as a Benefit for Eblen Charities a local nonprofit that supports thousands of families in Western North Carolina. The organization was recognized internationally in 2014 after being awarded the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace and Leadership. The prize acknowledges Mother Teresa’s philosophy that the highest level of leadership is found in public service. Click HERE for more info about the charity.
The 1st Annual AFAF took place November 16, 2013 at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Asheville. Daytime segment was a family delight with: storytelling, costumes, magic show, gypsy bands, Xtreme Dance Studio, Urban Art Hip Hop, Whee Ahh Faerie Kin on stilts, and more! Evening segment was adult themed extravaganza with Steampunk Fashion Show featuring The Costume Shoppe and Asheville’s best designers. Dancing began with Pipapelli playing bagpipe Celtic Rock, and then DJ extraordinaire CLEOFUS. Sample organic chocolates were provided by Silvermoon and many beautiful crafts were displayed by local artisans. To see the fun click here: 2013 HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO
The 2nd Annual AFAF occured November 15th, 2014 again at the fabulous Renaissance Hotel in downtown Asheville. Producer Rock Eblen‘s annual festival celebrates the holiday season with some of the regions best artists and musicians. Daytime segment was family friendly with music by Terina Plyler, faerie singers Brief Awakening, Magic Show by WIZAR, the amazing RaqShuraka Dancers, stilt walkers Whee Ahh Faerie Kin, balloon critters, and more! Evening segment was adult themed including Sarah Merrell’s “Naughty Faerie Fashion Show” with DJ Sai Ofninth. Concert and Dance: special guests Omingnome from Savannah complimented by their amazing lightshow. Headliner was one of Asheville’s most popular bands, the gypsy rockers Sirius.B! Guests received organic samples from Mandala chocolates, and viewed crafts by many fantastic local artisans. Click HERE to see the highlights video. SPONSORED by WICKED WEED
The 3rd Annual AFAF returned to the Renaissance Hotel on Nov 14th, 2015 with over 300 guests attending. Daytime segment was family friendly with all the Faerie basics: costumes, magic, music, stilt walkers, life-size sculptures by Marcie The Balloon Fairy, henna designs, inflated castle bouncer, and much fun was had by all ages! To see pics on FaceBook Event Page: click HERE Evening segment was an adult themed spectacular with the popular world music of Juan Benavides Group plus Sarah Merrell’s Body Art/Painting Fashion Show: VIDEO, organic chocolate, and crafts by wonderful local artisans. SPONSORED BY WICKED WEED
AdvertisementsThis is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to the Chaos Communication Congress, or CCC, in Hamburg, Germany. One of the speakers at the conference was WikiLeaks’ Sarah Harrison, who accompanied Edward Snowden to Russia and spent four months with him. Harrison addressed the audience after receiving a long standing ovation.
SARAH HARRISON: Together with the Center for Constitutional Rights, we filed a suit against the U.S. military, against the unprecedented secrecy applied to Chelsea Manning’s trial. Yet through these attacks, we have continued our publishing work. In April of this year, we launched the Public Library of US Diplomacy, the largest and most comprehensive searchable database of U.S. diplomatic cables in the world. This coincided with our release of 1.7 million U.S. cables from the Kissinger period. We launched our third Spy Files, 249 documents from 92 global intelligence contractors, exposing their technology, methods and contracts. We completed releasing the Global Intelligence Files, over five million emails from U.S. intelligence firm Stratfor, the revelations from which included documenting their spying on activists around the globe. We published the primary negotiating positions for 14 countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a new international legal regime that would control 40 percent of the world’s GDP.
As well as getting Snowden asylum, we set up Mr. Snowden’s defense fund, part of a broader endeavor, the Journalistic Source Protection Defence Fund, which aims to protect and fund sources in trouble. This will be an important fund for future sources, especially when we look at the U.S. crackdown on whistleblowers like Snowden and alleged WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning, who was sentenced this year to 35 years in prison, and another alleged WikiLeaks source, Jeremy Hammond, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison this November. These men, Snowden, Manning and Hammond, are prime examples of a politicized youth who have grown up with a free Internet and want to keep it that way. It is this class of people that we are here to discuss this evening, the powers they and we all have and can have.
AMY GOODMAN: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange also addressed the Chaos Communication Congress via video. Speaking from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, Assange urged information technology specialists to join forces to resist government encroachments on Internet freedom.
JULIAN ASSANGE: Those high-tech workers, we are a particular class, and it’s time that we recognized that we are a class and looked back in history and understood that the great gains in human rights and education and so on that were gained through powerful industrial work as we formed the backbone of the economy of the 20th century, I think we have that same ability, but even more so, because of the greater interconnection that exists now, economically and politically, which is all underpinned by system administrators. And we should understand that system administrators are not just those people who administer one unique system or another; they are the people who administer systems. And the system that exists globally now is created by the interconnection of many individual systems. And we are all, or many of us, are part of administering that system, and have extraordinary power, in a way that is really an order of magnitude different to the power industrial workers had back in the 20th century.
And we can see that in the cases of the famous leaks that WikiLeaks has done or the recent Edward Snowden revelations, that it’s possible now for even a single system administrator to have a very significant change to the—or rather, apply a very significant constraint, a constructive constraint, to the behavior of these organizations, not merely wrecking or disabling them, not merely going out on strikes to change policy, but rather shifting information from an information apartheid system, which we’re developing, from those with extraordinary power and extraordinary information, into the knowledge commons, where it can be used to—not only as a disciplining force, but it can be used to construct and understand the new world that we’re entering into.
Now, Hayden, the former director of the CIA and NSA, is terrified of this. In Cypherpunks, we called for this directly last year. But to give you an interesting quote from Hayden, possibly following up on those words of mine and others: “We need to recruit from Snowden’s generation,” says Hayden. “We need to recruit from this group because they have the skills that we require. So the challenge is how to recruit this talent while also protecting ourselves from the small fraction of the population that has this romantic attachment to absolute transparency at all costs.” And that’s us, right?
So, what we need to do is spread that message and go into all those organizations—in fact, deal with them. I’m not saying don’t join the CIA. No, go and join the CIA. Go in there. Go into the ballpark and get the ball and bring it out—with the understanding, with the paranoia, that all those organizations will be infiltrated by this generation, by an ideology that is spread across the Internet. And every young person is educated on the Internet. There will be no person that has not been exposed to this ideology of transparency and understanding of wanting to keep the Internet, which we were born into, free. This is the last free generation.
The coming together of the systems of governments, the new information apartheid across the world, the linking together, is such that none of us will be able to escape it in just a decade. Our identities will be coupled to it, the information sharing such that none of us will be able to escape it. We are all becoming part of the state, whether we like it or not, so our only hope is to determine what sort of state it is that we are going to become part of. And we can do that by looking and being inspired by some of the actions that produced human rights and free education and so on, by people recognizing that they were part of the state, recognizing their own power, and taking concrete and robust action to make sure they lived in the sort of society that they wanted to, and not in a hellhole dystopia.
AMY GOODMAN: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressing the Chaos Communication Congress that’s taking place in Hamburg, Germany. He, of course, was speaking from the Ecuadorean embassy in London. He fears if he steps foot outside that embassy, where he’s been for a year, that he will be arrested by British authorities, that he would be extradited to Sweden, and he most fears being extradited to the United States.The images have fueled long-standing allegations that Mexican security forces systematically use torture, particularly in the context of their military-led efforts to crackdown on organized criminal groups.
The video shows the two soldiers and one police officer pressuring the woman to answer questions with the help of the plastic bag. It also shows them putting a gun to her head. The woman was later named as 24-year-old Elvira Santibañez, an alleged member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.
The filmed interrogation took place in February 2015 in the small town of Ajuchitlán that is located in a particularly drug-war ravaged part of the beleaguered southern state of Guerrero. The civilian courts, however, did not get involved until after a film of it was posted on YouTube earlier this month and caused a furor.
Two soldiers and three federal police officers have been ordered to stand trial for torture following the publication of a video in which three of them are seen partially suffocating a woman with a plastic bag.
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Two soldiers and three federal police officers have been ordered to stand trial for torture following the publication of a video in which three of them are seen partially suffocating a woman with a plastic bag.
The filmed interrogation took place in February 2015 in the small town of Ajuchitlán that is located in a particularly drug-war ravaged part of the beleaguered southern state of Guerrero. The civilian courts, however, did not get involved until after a film of it was posted on YouTube earlier this month and caused a furor.
The video shows the two soldiers and one police officer pressuring the woman to answer questions with the help of the plastic bag. It also shows them putting a gun to her head. The woman was later named as 24-year-old Elvira Santibañez, an alleged member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.
The images have fueled long-standing allegations that Mexican security forces systematically use torture, particularly in the context of their military-led efforts to crackdown on organized criminal groups.
President Enrique Peña Nieto's government has vigorously rejected numerous critical reports by national and international human rights groups.
His government appeared particularly unhappy about a 2015 report by the UN rapporteur for torture Juan Méndez that described the practice as "generalized" and noted that it goes almost completely unpunished. "This conclusion does not correspond to reality," the foreign ministry said in a curt statement.
Last month's global human rights report from the US State Department was greeted with silence. "The most significant human rights-related problems included law enforcement and military involvement in serious abuses, such as unlawful killings, torture, and disappearances," the report said.
Related: Mexican Soldiers and a Federal Agent Caught on Tape Torturing a Woman
This month's video, however, spurred Defense Minister General Salvador Cienfuegos to call a special gathering of 26,000 troops at the main military base in the capital, and offer an unprecedented apology.
"I have brought you here today because it is necessary to publicly show our indignation over these regrettable events," he said. "I offer a heartfelt apology to all of society for this inadmissible event."
Screenshot via YouTube.
The two Mexican soldiers involved in the case were already arrested in January in relation to the interrogation nearly a year before. They were, however, only charged within military courts for disobedience. The female federal police officer featured in the film — that has now been taken down from YouTube — was arrested soon after its publication. The authorities have not provided details of the alleged role of the two other federal officers currently facing trial.
Torture is a particularly delicate issue at the moment in Mexico because of renewed attention to the Ayotzinapa case in which 43 student teachers were disappeared after being attacked by police in September 2014.
A group of international experts convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released their final report last weekend in which they highlighted the way the government's investigation into the atrocity has relied on confessions made by detainees who have since made credible allegations of torture.
Related: The Mexican Government Isn't Thrilled With a New Report on Torture and Illegal Kill |
once said:
“A standing military force with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”
The U.S. military hardly needs “rebuilding.” Pentagon spending has consistently risen through times of war and peace. And if Trump were genuinely concerned about the federal deficit, he could raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for his military spending spree. He asks everyone else, including future generations, to sacrifice instead.
The budget includes deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (31 percent), the State Department (28 percent), the Department of Health and Human Services (18 percent), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (13.9 percent),
“(The president) is following through on his promises,” said Mulvaney, echoing Trump’s bombast. But this statement appears to be a lie.
Trump promised to invest in infrastructure, but his budget cuts road spending by nearly half a billion dollars, and includes no new infrastructure spending. He promised to end disease, but this program slashes public health and medical research spending.
Trump’s budget would end all spending for National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This is also symbolic, since these organizations make up only a tiny fraction of the federal budget. But these cuts, along with much larger reductions in funding for education and scientific research, constitute a fiscal war on the mind.
“Where knowledge is a duty,” wrote Founding Father Thomas Paine, “ignorance is a crime.” In Paine’s sense, at least, this budget is criminal.
Its cuts to the EPA are an assault on the land itself. Trump’s determination to gut environmental regulations would cause incalculable ecological damage in the pursuit of private wealth.
This disregard for the land would have horrified another Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt, who once said,
Of all the questions which can come before this nation … there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us… Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation.
The budget blueprint also calls for a “regulatory freeze,” which would make it harder to rein in the Wall Street banks whose massive frauds devastated the economy in 2008. It does, however, include $2.6 billion for Trump’s foolish and xenophobic border wall.
Shock and Awe
This is a “shock and awe” budget, designed to dazzle and confuse Trump’s political enemies and the general public. When Republicans on Capitol Hill dial back a few of its more extreme cuts, as is almost inevitable, the public will be expected to sigh with relief. That would be a mistake, since the result will almost certainly remain draconian.
Congressional Republicans will also demand cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Trump promised to defend those programs, but stay tuned: after ritual displays of ‘reluctance,’ followed by ‘negotiations,’ Trump will probably break that promise too.
Trump pretends to be a different kind of Republican, but his budget blueprint is ideologically consistent with the modern GOP’s hard-right extremism. It values death over life, and fear over hope. It tramples on the bonds that hold us together as one people. It sells off the environment, our shared inheritance. It rejects the fundamental American idea that a nation should be a community, a group of people who protect and look out for one another. It’s antagonistic to the very idea of government itself.
“The government is us,” said Teddy Roosevelt. “We are the government, you and I.” But to Trump and today’s Republicans, the government is an alien force to be repelled – unless it’s spending billions on unneeded new machineries of war.
More will be written, here and elsewhere, about the details of this document. It’s not just a bad policy proposal, although it is that first and foremost. Fundamentally, it’s a betrayal of the American spirit.
“We are struggling to save the soul of America,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1960. That struggle continues.He needs 50 voters. And not just any 50 voters. He needs 50 citizens that can request the right ballot, follow directions and spell correctly.
That’s what write-in candidate James Mace needs to make it on the 2012 November ballot as the Democratic challenger to District 20 Republican incumbent, Sen. Chuck Winder.
Write-in candidates don’t take an oath of office with the same regularity that Idaho seats go unchallenged. But Mace knows it can happen.
“Sen. Lisa Murkowski (of Alaska) did it and my name is a lot easier to spell,” Mace said. “Still, I know that Winder is going to challenge every single one of those votes.”
Mace said that if he already held a seat in the Idaho Legislature, he’d challenge many of Winder’s votes. Mace stepped into the race after Winder made national headlines by proposing a controversial measure that would have required all Idaho women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion.
“Women’s health care – that’s between a woman and her doctor. If I became senator of District 20, that’s not for me to legislate," said Mace. "And if that had been signed into law, it would have resulted in an expensive legal battle. And what would have been accomplished? Meanwhile, issues that were important to Idaho remained dormant.”
Mace, who describes himself as a fiscally conservative, live-and-let-live Republican turned Democrat thought the measure was beyond the scope of government. But the Army Guardsman and novelist with a penchant for service felt a moral obligation to see that Winder didn’t reclaim his seat unchallenged.
“If I didn’t stand up, who would? If I did not stand up, it would have gone against my personal ethics. And I was tired of being embarrassed,” Mace said.
“People have asked me if (Winder) knows his constituents at all. I can’t answer that. But if he knows his constituents and votes another way as he did with the ultrasound bill and tax cuts, then it shows that he doesn’t care. But I think (the votes) were born out of ignorance rather than actual malice. The consensus that I get from people is that the Legislature as whole is not responsive to people, they’re out of touch with people and they don’t care what constituents think,” Mace said.
Winder did not respond to Boise Weekly’s requests for an interview.
Mace, 36, grew up surrounded by the cornfields of Meridian and the reactionary conservative politics of the Meridian School District. He watched a new Meridian emerge as agricultural roots gave way to suburban sprawl.
“A lot has changed, but a lot has changed the same. There were once cornfields where my house is.”
Meridian’s growth somewhat parallels the evolution of Mace’s political ideologies. He remains rooted in ideas that defined his early thinking – fiscal responsibility, ethical accountability and community service. But he’s strayed from the dogmatic thinking of Republicanism to see the state’s most-pressing issues as an opportunity for people to come togeather to create nonpartisan solutions to stimulate job growth, improve education and protect personal privacy. If elected, Mace said he’d back measures similar to Boise Democrat Rep. Brian Cronin’s jobs package that proposed incentives to spur job growth and school funding bills that restore educational dollars and are crafted with input from educators.
“I think we need fresh ideas. I think we need pragmatism and a willingness to listen to the public. And we need more government transparency. If I can’t require it of others, then I can at lease set the example myself.”
Mace’s school days were touched by policies from a notoriously conservative school board that included teacher gag orders on sex education, chronic censorship of the student paper, which he later wrote for, and the threatened expulsion of three teachers who brought a lesbian speaker into a classroom.
“They weren’t trying to promote an agenda," said Mace. "They were just saying, ‘This is how it is.’ We don’t need to shelter kids from reality. This is something my parents taught me. Sheltering kids from reality doesn’t do them any favors. My take on just about anything is live your life, as long as you’re not hurting anyone.”
But it wasn’t Mace’s school days that sent him on the road of recovery from Republicanism. It took a war in Iraq.
“It wasn’t the Army that liberalized me. It was my experiences that made me search. We did our job and we did what we had to do. But when I came back, I was disillusioned. I didn’t know what to think,” Mace said. “Like so many, I felt like the war was a big lie. A lot of vets feel the same.”Story highlights Pioneering scheme to turn desert back into green, profitable land trialed in Qatar
Sahara Forest Project testing technology on one-hectare site in Mesaieed Industrial City, south of Doha
Pilot project using seawater greenhouses and concentrated solar power
In a region known for its towering skyscrapers, the erection of a modestly-sized greenhouse might not appear worthy of much attention.
But this small construction site near the coast in Qatar's Mesaieed Industrial City could help transform the landscape forever, says its developers, turning desert land into flourishing centers of food and freshwater production.
The $5.3 million, one-hectare pilot plant opens later this month and is a major milestone of the Sahara Forest Project (SFP) -- a concept that has been developed by a Norwegian company since 2008.
The facility -- built in partnership with fertilizer companies Yara International and Qafco -- will feature a range of green technologies including concentrated solar power (CSP), photovoltaic panels and a saltwater-cooled greenhouse that mimics the hydrological cycle.
Michael Pawlyn, a British architect specializing in sustainable design and founding member of the project, says bringing together clusters of synergistic technologies creates a new paradigm.
"At the start of the project, we were very conscious that a lot of people proposed single solutions addressing one issue at a time, be it water shortage, desertification, climate change. We were very keen to develop integrated solutions that address multiple challenges simultaneously," Pawlyn said.
"If you compare man-made systems with eco-systems there are some quite striking differences. We tend to create simple, disconnected, linear systems. Ecosystems are complex, interconnected and interdependent."
This interconnectedness is in evidence throughout the plant's design. Electricity from CSP helps power pumps bringing seawater to the site where it is used to condition air inside the greenhouse.
The effect is achieved by trickling seawater over porous cardboard screens -- called evaporators -- which cool and humidify the dry desert air, creating a favorable growing environment for crops.
Some of the evaporated seawater inside the greenhouse also condenses creating freshwater, which will be used to irrigate plants.
Any saltwater that can't be evaporated is put to use elsewhere, says Pawlyn.
"The saltwater going out of the greenhouses will go to the CSP to cool it -- which makes it more efficient -- and then it will go to the evaporator 'hedges' which create good growing conditions for crops outside and revegetate areas of desert," he said.
The remainder will end up in salt ponds where various compounds -- sodium chloride, gypsum, calcium carbonate -- can be extracted and potentially commercialized.
The opening of the pilot plant is scheduled to coincide with the upcoming United Nations Climate Conference ( COP18 ) which this year takes place in Doha from November 26 to December 7.
It was three years ago at the U.N.'s COP15 conference in Copenhagen that the SFP presented their first feasibility study to the world.
It was one of the high points at talks which were widely viewed to have failed and has continued to gain the enthusiastic backing of environmental and political leaders.
Olav Kjorven, assistant secretary-general of the U.N. Development Program has called it "a gold standard," while Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani believes the project could help improve food security in the Middle East.
"I think this will not be important only to Qatar, but to the whole region and elsewhere where they have the same climate as Qatar," Al Thani said in a statement.
The plant will be open long after U.N. delegates have left town operating for at least a year, possibly two, Pawlyn says, so that all the systems can be thoroughly assessed and optimized.
Larger projects look likely to follow the plant in Qatar with a 200-hectare site in Jordan slated for development. Pawlyn believes this is only the start, with certain areas of the world particularly well-suited to the project.
Almeria in southern Spain -- with its 20,000 hectares of greenhouses -- is one perhaps and the Qattara Depression, which covers around 7,000 square miles (18,100 square km) of land below sea level in northeast Egypt, is another.
"By bringing these technologies together (we can) address some major problems -- create zero-carbon food in some of the most water-stressed parts of the planet, produce abundant renewable energy, revegetage deserts... as well as providing food and livelihoods for large numbers of people in parts of the world that are really going to be suffering from climate change over the course of the next few decades."A nostalgic prank toy has been accused of sexually assaulting a restaurant patron at a hibachi grill in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Pull down Wee Pee the Wee Wee Squirting Boy’s short pants and he does what little boys have been doing ever since human beings learned how to stand on their own two feet. The toy, which has been around since the 1940s, is 8-inches-tall and works just like a water gun. It retails for about $5 on Amazon.
Pull down his pants, a jetstream of water -- or any other liquid -- comes squirting out.
Hibachi chefs at Wasabi restaurant in Murfreesboro have used Wee Wee's antics for years to amuse diners by squirting a little H2O while they juggle their knives and sizzle up onions.
Most people think it’s pretty funny. Isabelle Lassiter isn’t one of them.
Lassiter, her husband, James, and their four children were seated at the hibachi table in the Japanese restaurant Tuesday night when the chef brought out Wee Wee, pulled down his plastic pants and squirted water on her.
Hilarity did not ensue.
Lassiter was offended. In fact, she said, she felt sexually offended. So she called the police, according to NewsChannel5 in Nashville.
The cops rushed to the scene of the crime and, according to the incident report, James Lassiter “stated the toy figure had a penis and his wife felt sexually assaulted.”
The officer then spoke to the cook, who “showed me the toy. I observed the toy to have no penis and just a hole for the water to shoot out. I then spoke to Mrs. Isabelle, who stated that she was assaulted by the toy which shot water at her.”
No charges have been filed, meaning Wee Wee almost certainly won’t be spending any nights in a plastic jail.
But the Lassiters are still contemplating a lawsuit, according to a report on Grub Street. The day after the incident, they released a statement:
"People are missing the point. This was a sexually-oriented toy meant for adults, in front of minor children. We're not trying to make money off of this. If the toy was in a bar, it'd be a different situation, but this was in a family restaurant with 13- to 14-year-olds at the table. If people think it's so funny, why don't people go buy that toy and squirt a cop in the face with it and see what happens."
The restaurant manager has apologized to the Lassiters, but he still thinks Wee Wee is pretty funny.
“Kids like it,” he said. “They think it’s like a water gun, you know?”Exclusive Britain’s biggest ever computer crime investigation, Operation Ore, was flawed by a catalogue of “discrepancies, errors and uncertainties”, disclosed reports of two national police conferences seen by The Register reveal.
The police memoranda show that within months of the operation launching in April 2002, detectives who forensically examined computers taken from suspects' homes in dawn raids found files showing that the main evidence used in Operation Ore was wrong. The evidence, it was claimed, showed that over 7,000 British-based subscribers had purchased access to child pornography websites.
At a national police conference held in a Pimlico hotel in February 2003, local police forces warned that claims made by the National Crime Squad (NCS), in control of the operation, had gone "pear-shaped".
According to a former detective inspector and computer forensic specialist who led an Operation Ore team in the north of England, police forces throughout the UK had been "assured from the outset" that it was not possible to subscribe to websites run by a Texas web gateway company, Landslide Inc, without clicking on and agreeing to a "Click Here Child Porn" banner on the "the home page of Landslide.com".
The NCS, he said in a report of the February meeting, were adamant that "it was not possible to enter any websites through the Landslide gateway without going through this procedure and making deliberate choices".
But after examining seized computers and looking at browser history records, two UK police forces told the meeting that the files found showed that "it was possible to... pay for material... without making any choices at all and without any warnings that paedophile material was available."
The forensic specialist added: "This has thrown the whole issue of incitement charges into question... I am of the opinion that in those cases where no images have been found... there is insufficient evidence to proceed... The NCS and CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] are looking at these issues as a matter of urgency and will be sending out advice in due course," he reported.
At a second meeting in Birmingham in March 2003, NCS retracted two claims it had made about child porn websites. The former DI alerted senior officers and colleagues that "this has serious implications... [It] is yet another weakness in the NCS investigation which has only just come to light, with obvious consequences. I have serious doubts about the quality and integrity of the evidence supplied by the NCS and will be raising these concerns in the relevant quarter."
Former Merseyside police officer Peter Johnston said he was also concerned about claims in Operation Ore. "I... asked... can we have the evidence, can we see the credit card details, can we see the statements... from the people who recovered this?”
Johnson's requests were turned down, he told ITN in a broadcast interview. He was told "it wasn’t relevant... we have 7,500 people here... they must be guilty, let's get out there and get them locked up".
No investigations took place. No advice was sent to police forces about the flaws in the "Click Here Child Porn" claim. Although the real front page of the Landslide website was included in an obscure part of the evidence bundle, it was described as a "front screen" while the fake front page was highlighted and described as the "front page". This sleight of hand meant that the false "front page" was always referred to at the start of court cases, thus purporting to prove that subscribers could only subscribe to Landslide sites for illegal purposes.
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection), a quasi policy agency, took over Operation Ore in 2006. The Home Office has announced that CEOP will be disbanded later this year.
The former director of CEOP who presided over Operation Ore, James Gamble, retired in October 2010 after disputes with Home Secretary Teresa May, which continue.
Operation Ore police raids continued until 2008. It was not until 2010 that CEOP computer expert Dr Nick Sharples testified in an appeal case that subscribers to Landslide websites could not have seen the "Click Here Child Porn" banner and that it was not part of the Landslide website.
CEOP has refused to comment on his evidence, claiming to The Register that a transcript "should be available" on the internet. It isn't. CEOP said: "We will not be making any further comments on this operation or its various investigations unless required to do so by a court of law or a law enforcement organisation."
The CPS told The Register that it could not provide any record that the mistake had been investigated or corrected.Ahoy landlubbers! I’ve just returned from four days at sea on the illustrious Disney Dream with news that’s making its way across all decks. According to multiple sources onboard, Disney Cruise Line is expected to make some big announcements soon regarding its fleet of ships.
Take this information with a grain of sea salt. With no official confirmation or announcements, these specifics may not yet be accurate.
A Disney spokesperson has confirmed to me that they will be making a Disney Cruise Line announcement two weeks from now during Walt Disney World’s “Monstrous Summer” press event – but it definitely will not be two new ships.
Recent invitations for the event did specifically name “Disney Cruise Line news” is on the way, but didn’t elaborate further. It’s likely the announcement will be revealing the rumored upcoming upgrades of the Magic and Wonder cruise ships, detailed below.
The event will take place April 25 and 26 and we’ll be there to follow up.
If the at-sea talk is true (and that’s a big if), Disney Cruise Line is working on plans to add two new cruise ships, possibly launching one in 2015 and one in 2016. The ships will reportedly be sized between the existing offerings, larger than the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, but smaller than the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.
The staff aboard the Dream has been told there’s more to come from Disney Cruise Line soon. Every Cast Member I asked, from servers to cashiers to managers seemed to know something about it, some willing to elaborate on details, others only offering a smirk and a light-hearted, “Wouldn’t that be nice?” (I hear loose lips sink ships.) Many did ultimately give an affirming “yes” when asked if they knew of new ships coming to Disney Cruise Line.
The Magic and Wonder are reportedly slated for major makeovers, adding further enhancements, likely during their upcoming scheduled dry docks. The (unofficial) Disney Cruise Line blog shared renderings back in January of what the older ship updates may soon include. Rumored upgrades include sprucing up many of the ships’ restaurants and potentially even adding a new attraction like the AquaDuck.
It certainly wouldn’t be the first time those two ships have been upgraded, having received a number of enhancements in the past, such as the addition of the Outlook Café to the Wonder in 2009. The Magic is scheduled for a short six-week refurbishment after the summer season ends with the Wonder’s update following next year. This may be the only announcement Disney Cruise Line has to share later this month.
Though Disney isn’t announcing any new ships this month, the possibility of more being added to their fleet some time in the future still exists.
If Disney is planning on two new ships to emerge within the next 3 years, the timeframe is tough, but feasible. It took less than two years from the time construction began in Germany on the Disney Dream to the time the ship sailed its maiden voyage from Florida (though it was ordered from builder Meyer Werft two years prior to building). So it’s not unthinkable that Disney could have a new ship built within the next two years, for delivery into service by 2015 with another following a year later, much like the Fantasy did a year after the Dream – as long as construction begins soon.
The possibility of two new Disney Cruise Line ships could make business sense on some level, with thousands of guests sailing aboard the newest two ships every week. Disney Parks and Resorts received a 3% revenue increase in 2011 over 2010 as a result of the launch of the Disney Dream. And last year’s successful completion of the Disney Fantasy leaves the stateroom door wide open for future fleet expansion.
Whenever more Disney ships are announced, the big question remains: What would Disney’s new ships be named? Following the tradition of Magic, Wonder, Dream, and Fantasy, perhaps the Disney Wish? Disney Sorcerer? Or even the Disney Princess? (Not to be confused with Princess Cruises, of course…)
If Disney builds two new cruise ships, what do you think they should be called? Comment below and I’ll update this post with my favorites.
(Also, stay tuned for a few updates from the Disney Dream from my first sailing since its christening cruise.)www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJPc49…
Okay back to the art piece. Yeah the title is a reference to Mandopony's song aka my favorite Sisloc song I didn't include Ennard's party hat for some reason, but they're happy in their new body now. I wonder what that little canister on the shelf is; can't see it very well in the original picture of the real ending :3 And I used a new coloring technic for this piece since I still can't decide the best way to color. Added like halos around light shines to make it look shiny or whatever. Overall I'm really happy how this turned out Schmoyoho? Do go listen to it; trust me, it's really, really good and it's currently my favorite song <3Okay back to the art piece. Yeah the title is a reference to Mandopony's song aka my favorite Sisloc songI didn't include Ennard's party hat for some reason, but they're happy in their new body now. I wonder what that little canister on the shelf is; can't see it very well in the original picture of the real ending :3 And I used a new coloring technic for this piece since I still can't decide the best way to color. Added like halos around light shines to make it look shiny or whatever. Overall I'm really happy how this turned out
Nailed the hands yeessshh
btw in my theory mind, Eggs isn't purple guy but everyone can have their own theories
Version of this picture without effects and blood splatters are available with purchase of premium content.
Sister Location and character (Eggs Benedict/Ennard) belong to Scott Cawthon
Art and design by me
My mood has improved a lot over the past 2 days because of a very positive and motivational song recommended to me by a friend. Anyone of you ever heard All The Way by Jacksepticeye and[actually reminds me of my plushtrap piece]P.S. To those who I owe commissions to, I'll be on a very long trip for the next few weeks outside my continent so be patient; I'll get to them, don't worry I won't cheat any of youA married mother in Michigan who authorities say confessed to having sex with a 14-year-old boy in the back seat of her car and sending him naked pictures seems to still have the support of her husband.
Brooke Lajiness, 38, of Lima Township, admitted to having sex with the boy between eight and 15 times in the back of her parked car, Michigan State Police Trooper Donald Pasternak testified during a hearing earlier this month, MLive.com reports.
“They started conversing and exchanging nude photographs while he was still in middle school,” said Pasternak, adding that they began their illicit tryst last summer as he transitioned into high school.
Pasternak told Magistrate A. Thomas Truesdell during the hearing that the boy’s mother entered a Michigan State Police outpost weeks earlier to report a complaint about Lajiness having sex with her son.
“This case involved a defendant seeking out minors for sex,” Assistant Washtenaw Prosecutor John Vella said.
Lajiness’ attorney, David Goldstein, took exception to language in court regarding more than one victim, since the current charges relate to only one 14-year-old victim. Lajiness was arraigned earlier this month on 13 counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of accosting a minor for immoral purposes and one count of furnishing obscenity to a child, court records cited by the website indicate.
“He keeps talking about ‘minors,’ but there’s one,” Goldstein said.
Authorities last week, however, acknowledged the possibility of additional victims.
Lajiness, who remains free after posting $50,000 in cash bond, appeared at last week’s hearing alongside her husband.
Lajiness, according to her Facebook profile, was a former esthetician at a salon in Monroe who studied at UNLV and the Michigan College of Beauty.
“In life nothing is guaranteed,” Lajiness wrote in a post from last month of her and a man believed to be her husband. “So finding someone who knows all of your flaws, weaknesses and mistakes and still thinks you’re amazing is something to hold onto and never take for granted!”VICTORIA — The word “historic” gets tossed around with abandon these days, but that was the right way to describe what unfolded Monday afternoon in the foyer outside the B.C. legislature chamber.
The setting itself was apt: The ceremonial entrance open and the chamber beyond fully lighted, 87 desks in place, awaiting confirmation as to who would be sitting on the government side, who in Opposition.
The first sign of where things were headed came shortly before 1 p.m. as NDP staffers set up lights, wiring and two microphones for what promised to be a joint announcement.
At 2 p.m. precisely, NDP Leader John Horgan and Green Leader Andrew Weaver entered through a side door and made their way to the microphones amid a palpable buzz in the room.
Weaver started it off, being the one who’d earlier in the day made the judgment call that brought the two of them to that space at that moment.
He and Horgan had together concluded an extraordinary — and for this province unprecedented — agreement to share power for the next four years.
A confidence and supply agreement, they called it. Supply being approval from a majority of MLAs to spend the $50 billion in public funds in a typical provincial budget — and thus the key determination of whether a government has the confidence of the house.
Horgan followed his newfound partner in government with assurances that this agreement was not merely the guarantee of change that both parties promised in the election, but also the hoped-for agent of stability for the next four years.
Details to come once the final text is approved by all 41 members of the NDP caucus in Victoria Tuesday. The New Democrat signatures, along with those of the three Greens, will then be conveyed to the Lt-Gov. Judith Guichon as proof the agreement commands the support of a majority of the house.
A bare majority, that is: 44 Greens and New Democrats to 43 B.C. Liberals and things don’t get any closer than that in parliamentary terms.
Weaver on Friday speculated that the procedural rules of the house will be redrafted to minimize the occasions where the Speaker will be called on to use tie-breaking power to expedite passage of legislation and budgets.
First question from the media scrum: do the two leaders have someone in mind who could serve as Speaker?
Not any name that they were prepared to share publicly. But the New Democrats have been sounding out possibilities.
The latest being Sam Sullivan, newly re-elected B.C. Liberal MLA for Vancouver-False Creek. Some New Democrats are mindful of his rocky relationship with Christy Clark, going back to when he defeated her for the NPA nomination to run for mayor of Vancouver in 2005.
Notwithstanding Horgan’s wait-and-see admonition on the contents of the four-year agreement, Weaver disclosed one item by way of discussing one factor that drove him into the arms of the New Democrats over the B.C. Liberals.
“Kinder Morgan was critical to us and I think you’ll see that reflected in tomorrow’s announcement,” he told reporters, referring to the planned twinning of the company’s existing pipeline through B.C.
Related
The New Democrats pledged to do everything in their power to block the federally-approved project, never mind that the provincial powers may be insufficient to override Ottawa in that regard.
The Greens also want the province to seek intervener status in the ongoing court challenge to the project.
That could put the B.C. NDP government on the opposite side of the country’s other NDP administration. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley recently trumpeted her government’s success in securing intervener status in favour of the twinning.
Another hint about why the Greens did not get into a power-sharing agreement with the Liberals came from Norman Spector, the retired provincial and federal public servant who served as an unpaid strategic adviser to Weaver and the Greens.
“Ultimately, Greens recoiled [sometimes physically] at the prospect of supporting the Liberals,” he tweeted on social media shortly before the deal with the NDP was announced.
A Liberal-Green partnership, with 46 seats to the NDP’s 41, would have more manoeuvring room on the floor of the legislature. But the pressure on Weaver to avoid talking to the Liberals, never mind cutting a deal with them, was formidable and may well have doomed the possibility from the outset.
The two parties never got to the final stage of negotiations. The Liberals had yet to present a detailed offer as of Sunday night. Next morning, Weaver cancelled a scheduled follow-up session and decided to go with the more substantive offer from the NDP instead.
The looming NDP-Green majority in the legislature left Christy Clark with two options to surrender the office of premier.
She could go through the motions of clinging to office: appointing a cabinet, calling the legislature into session, presenting a throne speech that would be dead on arrival before meeting defeat at the hands of the combined opposition.
Or she could accept the Weaver-Horgan fait accompli and announce this week that she will resign as premier (though not as Liberal leader) and recommend that the lieutenant-governor call on Horgan to form a government.
The first option is entirely in keeping with the delusional strategy she and her party followed through the provincial election. The second, a dignified bow to the inevitable, would help party and province get on with turning the page.
It will say much about Clark, which route she chooses.
Vpalmer@postmedia.com
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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.comIn Cairo on Monday, Egypt’s High Administrative Court froze a ruling from the lower court in Mansoura that had barred all former regime candidates from running in the surrounding province, meaning that for now they can run.
“God is great!” cried several former N.D.P. members in the gallery, waving aloft their membership cards from the party, which was legally dissolved in April.
Given the patchwork of cases and decisions from around the country, the judges in Cairo said they would issue a blanket ruling shortly, but given Monday’s judgment, they were expected to allow former party members to run.
“Feloul,” coming from the Arabic word for the scattered remnants of a defeated army, is flung at anybody who expresses sympathy for the Mubarak regime. Voters hunt for them under practically every campaign banner, not to mention every rock.
“The Egyptian street does not want them,” said Sherif Diab, 26, a thin, intense, unemployed lyricist who started the Web site, which is fashioned as the Ghostbusters of the regime remnant world.
Operating out of makeshift offices in a once-grand Beaux-Arts building in downtown Cairo, volunteers pore over election lists looking for former N.D.P. loyalists who have moved districts or changed their names. Brief biographies and pictures of thousands of them have been posted on the site, divided by province.
The remnant hunters do not concern themselves with the more than three million rank-and-file members of the N.D.P., Mr. Diab said, concentrating instead on the roughly 15,000 who played important roles in the Mubarak administration, party institutions like the policy committee, Parliament or provincial governments. Nonparty members considered central in the system are also singled out.
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“They rigged elections, engaged in thuggery,” Mr. Diab said, estimating that the N.D.P. remnants were now scattered among some 17 different parties, some new, some old. “People want to completely eradicate remnants from the system because they are responsible for the corruption that pervaded Egypt.”
The fear is not unlike the accusations leveled against the Muslim Brotherhood under the old regime — that stealth candidates who run as independents or in camouflaged parties will coalesce into a powerful bloc once in Parliament.
The young organizers of the “To Catch a Remnant” Web site have joined the fray by working the streets in cities where former N.D.P. Parliament members are expected to do well. In Qena, for example, they burned campaign posters and printed up 25,000 fliers to hand out, Mr. Diab said.
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“The youth of the revolution will not just stand by and watch the remnants take over the Parliament!” screamed one flier.
Prominent N.D.P. members still active in politics keep a low profile. Dr. Hossam Badrawi was part of a small circle of politicians around Gamal Mubarak — the president’s younger son and heir, now on trial on corruption charges — who said they were working for reform from within.
Dr. Badrawi, a former Parliament member, has regrouped that circle into the Federation Party. He did not respond to numerous telephone calls and e-mails requesting an interview.
“I hate the word feloul!” said Hader el-Baghdady, a former N.D.P. Parliament member running for the Conservative Party. “I predict a lot of honest former N.D.P. members will be voted back into power because their constituencies know them.”
Mr. Baghdady denied reports that his presence alone ignited a riot in the office that registers candidates — it was merely that a judge he knew let him cut to the front of a long line, he said, and he calmed the situation by ordering tea all around.
The remnants do have their defenders — a Facebook page called Feloul Cafe supports their rights — but most of the outpouring goes the other way. “Remnants metastasize like cancer,” warned one recent posting on Twitter, the platform for a vociferous anti-remnant campaign.
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A newspaper columnist recently suggested that the regime remnants should be divided into categories: beginner, intermediate and |
in the leg, WLS reported. The situation was resolved, without any injury to staff.
The two inmates had seized a housing tier of the maximum-security section of the jail, Division 10, after spilling soapy water on the floor. The inmates also tore down security cameras. The housing tier reportedly holds 16 inmates.
Heavy police presence outside Cook Co. Jail as hostage situation happening inside. @fox32newspic.twitter.com/7Cw2hxq3aP — Lisa Chavarria FOX32 (@LisaChavarria) July 29, 2016
A Chicago Fire Department truck and ambulance arrived on scene.
Hostage situation resolved at Cook County Jail. Waiting for an update now @WGNNewspic.twitter.com/xpIBbrusT3 — Gaynor Hall (@gaynor_hall) July 29, 2016
There are currently no reported injuries, and the Sheriff’s Emergency Response team is attending the scene and currently working to resolve the situation.
Hostage situation at the Cook County jail. Statement from officials:@fox32newspic.twitter.com/ltGUsPj9kF — Lisa Chavarria FOX32 (@LisaChavarria) July 29, 2016
Earlier on Thursday, a veteran Cook County correctional officer was charged with official misconduct after security footage captured him repeatedly punching an inmate, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Officer Miguel Ortiz, 44, who has worked for the sheriff's office for more than 20 years, was charged with the felony count and, if convicted, could receive up to five years in prison.
Judge James Brown recently made the two-and-a-half year-old surveillance video public after prosecutors became aware of the incident in April 2015.Georgia State Police issued a ticket to charity group Food Not Bombs in Hurt Park last week for a ‘food service violation’ after they began handing out food to the city’s homeless population as they’ve done for eight years.
In the past month, GSUPD have been enforcing a city-wide, almost forgotten legislation which prohibits food donations without a designated, and expensive, permit from the city.
State law 511-6-1-02 was originally intended for food trucks and other public food vendors, but police are now enforcing it to require would-be charitable givers to apply for a city permit for any public food service. Many groups come to Woodruff and Hurt park from all over the metro area, including church groups and Atlanta’s own Food Not Bombs.
The right kind of good
According to Georgia State Police Chief Joseph Spillane, the recent increased enforcement was at the request of the mayor’s office and the Parks Department to the Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement (HOPE) teams of Georgia State’s and Atlanta Police departments.
Efforts to feed the hungry can be a drain on resources when trash is left and security is required, according to Chief Spillane.
“The shift is to try to make people feel like they’re doing some good and actually have them do some good,” Spillane said.
Chief Spillane said the goal is not to discourage charitable giving, but to direct people towards donating to more complete and stable environments like churches or shelters that are officially recognized and approved by the city. These places can offer the homeless daily food sources and more services like counseling, showers and internet access.
“So what we’re trying to do is get the people who come feed in the park more assistance than just throwing some food at them,” Spillane said.
This statement comes after the closure of Atlanta’s largest homeless shelter, The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, known as “Peachtree Pines”. After the shelter’s closure, many homeless researchers, including Georgia State’s Eric Wright, saw an increase in the street level visibility of homelessness. The area surrounding the former shelter is already set for property development.
Fighting the ordinance
Food Not Bombs however, do not plan on complying with the police’s agenda. Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent chapters that serve vegan and vegetarian food in almost every major city. The Atlanta chapter is hosted by an organization called The Teardown, who released a statement on Nov. 21 after they were issued a ticket for food service violation, stating their intention to continue their services. According to their press release, the city has other motives in the increased policing of food donations.
“I think they want to make Downtown as inhospitable to homeless people as possible in the hopes that, if they make it uncomfortable enough, they could force homeless people to go elsewhere,” said longtime Food Not Bombs volunteer Earthworm.
In response to the ticket, Food Not Bombs organized another food drive in Hurt Park on Nov. 26.
According to Earthworm, Food Not Bombs has great reach in the community of Atlanta activism. Soon after the designated 2 p.m. start time, the Food Not Bombs van arrived and unloaded tables, pots, drums and flyers. Volunteers put out boxes of clothes and shoes and scoured the park to pick up litter.
According to one volunteer, many were wary about police interference. A crowd had already gathered and some had been served by organizations that had arrived earlier. A line of more than a hundred people formed in front of the tables of stew, rice, bread, and boxes of food donated by participants.
The service Food Not Bombs provides is necessary, according to some of the homeless people being served. One woman, who found herself in the streets in 2015, said she didn’t believe donating to shelters could adequately meet the needs of the homeless. The shelters are often too far to be accessible, and too many require proof of income which she did not have.
She said she appreciates the work Food Not Bombs has done in the area. She sees them as fighting for people like her.
“The police are trying to run them away last weekend and they were like ‘No, we’re not going nowhere,’” she said. “You know they’re very sincere in what they do.”
Volunteers from Food Not Bombs see their role as fighting for the homeless as well. According to Earthworm, who organized Sunday’s event, they came out to “teach the city a lesson about feeding hungry people.”
To continue feeding people in the future, Earthworm said, Food Not Bombs will have to be more careful with their strategies. That means more cameras and more volunteers.First Baptist Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress’s comments about President Donald Trump (for whom he is an official surrogate) and North Korea are deeply irresponsible, even if interpreted in the most charitable light imaginable. In remarks to The Washington Post, Jeffress said:
When it comes to how we should deal with evil doers, the Bible, in the book of Romans, is very clear: God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary — including war — to stop evil. In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong-un. I’m heartened to see that our president — contrary to what we’ve seen with past administrations who have taken, at best, a sheepish stance toward dictators and oppressors — will not tolerate any threat against the American people. When President Trump draws a red line, he will not erase it, move it, or back away from it. Thank God for a president who is serious about protecting our country.
Note carefully that Jeffress doesn’t simply assert just war theory, or argue that protecting American citizens is paramount for the government. Instead, he baldy assumes the role of Old Testament prophet and says that God has specifically given President Trump a specific moral clearance to wage war against a specific leader and country. This isn’t just political commentary from a pastor. It’s Urim and Thummim.
I thought this was exactly the kind of partisan, divisive rhetoric that Southern Baptist leadership was so concerned about with regards to the ERLC and this summer’s resolution on the alt-right? Wasn’t Russell Moore pressured by megachurch pastors and SBC personalities to tone down what they felt was his too-assertive critique of the Trump campaign? Wasn’t the problem with Moore allegedly that he was not “staying in his lane” as head of the moral and public policy arm of Southern Baptists, that he was over-politicizing his platform?
“Ok,” you may respond, “but Moore is the head of an SBC entity, and Jeffress is merely a pastor of an SBC church.” To which I say: Yes, he’s the pastor of a 12,000 member church, in the most Southern Baptist state in the country. Does Southern Baptist leadership really not think that when Americans hear or read Jeffress offer blanket endorsements of war, they think he speaks for Southern Baptists? If Moore’s comments were problematic in that they confused people as to the official position of the denomination (which is precisely what many of his loudest critics claimed was the issue), there is no reason why Jeffress’s comments shouldn’t be viewed as equally problematic–unless, of course, the right people in the denomination agree with Jeffress and disagree with Moore.
And I certainly hope that’s not true, because if it is, I fear my denominational home may be slouching toward Zarathustra. What Jeffress told the Washington Post is a thinly veiled appeal to “might is right.” Why are we so confident that President Trump has God’s green light to start a war? Well, it’s because—wait for it–he’s President. It’s because he can. That’s the message we’re getting from one of the most influential SBC pastors in the country. God has become Thomas Cromwell, rewriting revelation so the king can do as he please.
This is a disgrace.
Southern Baptist leadership needs to take these comments as a serious error signal as to the health of the denomination. When prominent pastors whose political alliances can cause people like Russell Moore to be on the defensive for their job are talking like this in public, something has gone drastically wrong. Many Southern Baptist seminaries and colleges teach just war theory, insisting that because all people are made in God’s image, the burden of proof for military violence is very high. That’s a noble tradition, a biblically responsible one. It’s a far cry from the shameless Nietzschean call to arms we’re hearing right now.
Image creditMy man Chuck Todd, ably assisted by Andrea Mitchell Greenspan on the newly renovated MSNBC, is now firmly ensconced in a booth at the Mena Airport, and he's ordering rounds for the house. Today, he delivered himself of the opinion that the only reason that Hillary Rodham Clinton had that infernal machine, the private e-mail server, was to hide the secret garden where she'd buried Vince Foster from the prying eyes of the tribunes of the people, like my man Chuck Todd, and like Chris Cillizza, who believes that, even if there is no smoking gun in the e-mails – Pro tip: There's not. – HRC is still in trouble because people, like him, will talk about them.
"How is this more convenient, to have your own home brew system," said Todd, the Meet the Press moderator, on TODAY. "Who has IT at home? Isn't it easier for anybody out there to get your email via work? I actually think that excuse is the one that's the least believable… I still think the most logical explanation: She was trying to get out of congressional action and Freedom of Information Act requests."
Is there any evidence out there to this effect? Of course not. My man Chuck Todd is dealing in clairvoyance here.
The nation should now be convinced of the obvious fact that that the elite political press learned nothing at all from the fact that, throughout the 1990s, they got played like tin whistles by every poolroom liar in Arkansas. We're back in the bullshit hell-maze again. The crucial document is just…inches…away. We know it's out there because…it's out there, because Clinton, and for no other reason. If David Brooks really wants to know why HRC has "an embattled combative posture, and sometimes an air of reactiveness," he should take a trip down to Parker Dozhier's fish camp again and see if he left any Weekly Standard staffers down there in '99.
The e-mails do tell fascinating stories, particularly as concerns the wariness with which the White House and the State Department treated each other as the administration began. But, hell's bells, that's not as sizzling as the revelation that HRC didn't know how to charge an iPad, or any sentence in which HRC and Huma Abedin both can be mentioned. This is what had AMG's bowels in an uproar.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Now, Huma Abedin, the closest aide of course and long time assistant and moving up the ranks with Hillary Clinton. At one point, she's e-mailing with Clinton, "Do you know what this is?" And Abedin, says, "Your e-mail must be back up. What happened is Judith sent you an e-mail. It bounced back. She called the e-mail help desk at State, I guess assuming you had State e-mail and told them that. They had no idea it was you, just some random address. So they e-mailed. Sorry about that. But, regardless, means your e-mail must be back. Are you getting other messages?" So, Steve, her original explanation was this was convenient. This hardly seems convenient.
To his credit, Steve Clemons of The Atlantic resisted what must have been an overwhelming temptation to drive railroad spikes into his eyes.
So fcking what? Even if the darkest suspicions harbored by these people is true, and HRC kept the private e-mail server for reasons beyond convenience—and I know people who will go all around Robin Hood's barn on the internet rather than learn a shortcut; I happen to be one of those people—where does that leave us? What "classified material" there was mainly was classified ex post facto. What case are they trying to bring? That HRC is less transparent than they would like her to be? OK, let's go back to Dick Cheney's energy task force and start from there. Or all the e-correspondence that Colin Powell vaporized. That the key to Benghazi, Benghazi! BENGHAZI! is in there somewhere? That she, somehow, somewhere, at some time, mishandled sensitive material? Show me the money on that one, or show it to Valerie Plame. She should get a good laugh out of it.
And, as they call last call in the Mena Airport lounge, somebody always yells, "SID BLUMENTHAL!" and everybody drinks.
"If the Republicans don't have the nerve to speak up for their own best heritage, then someone has to do it. The Republican Party is in a state of political disorder. Into the midst of its chaos a Trojan Horse has been thrust in the form of a self-proclaimed Tea Party as though the extremists behind it have something to do with the American Revolution and are not a stealth takeover operation of a confused political party funded by the same people who paid for the extremist movements against President Eisenhower and President Kennedy," he continued.
I'll drink to that myself.
Here is another tip: if somebody in your newspaper, or on the Intertoobz, or on the electric teevee machine tells you that something like today's e-mail dump "raises more questions than it answers," it means that person's got nothing and you're being played.There’s a legend, told by Tsleil-Waututh hereditary Chief George Sla-holt, about a time when the world was slowly being flooded. To escape, Sla-holt told ethnographer Pauline Johnson, the people of Burnaby Inlet built a huge canoe: “the most stupendous canoe the world has ever known.”
For months, the men carved a giant cedar while the women worked to braid cedar bark into a rope large enough to hold the canoe against rising tides. As the waters rose, the canoe was piled with provisions.
When the rising seas overwhelmed the land, the youngest generation of Tsleil Waututh children were sent out in the community canoe, where they rode out the flood thanks to the sacrifice and foresight of their parents. The story has been passed through the generations to herald the importance of resilience and community unity in times of crisis.
It’s an ancient tale of survival that resonates in these uncertain times.
In coastal cities like Vancouver, without significant reductions in emissions, climate models predict that a one-meter rise in sea levels will drastically change the coastline, seawalls and beaches, rendering Stanley Park an island in the midst of rising waters.
A predicted rise in ocean temperatures would also spell doom for the Fraser River salmon run, a bounty that has been the lifeblood for Indigenous peoples for thousands of years.
Now, as during the times of that much earlier deluge, it may be time to pull together and start building so that future generations can tell our stories.
“Like everywhere, it's a trench war between the fossil fuel-funded climate deniers blocking transition with everything they've got, and everyone else who sides with life,” says Bill McKibben.
Arguably the most prominent climate activist in the world, McKibben believes that BC is a ‘climate frontline’ where grassroots organizations, working in unprecedented alliances, have the potential to punch well above their weight.
McKibben is coming to Vancouver March 4th, where he’ll be speaking alongside Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, along with community leaders Chief Jackie Thomas of Staik’uz Nation and the Yinka Dene Alliance, and Jess Housty, a councilor with the Heiltsuk Nation whose recent experience battling a diesel spill on Heiltsuk fishing grounds offers a stark illustration of the unacceptable risks that projects like Kinder Morgan pose for coastal communities dependent upon the ocean for sustenance.
The event - Many paddles, One Canoe - is being held in support of the Pull Together campaign, a grassroots movement that was born during the fight against the Enbridge Northern Gateway project. Under the Pull Together banner, seven nations who stood in the path of Enbridge’s pipeline and tankers took the federal government to court — and they won.
Photo by Zach Embree.
Now, let by the Tsleil Waututh and Coldwater First Nations, “Pull Together 2: The People vs Kinder Morgan”, plans to kill Kinder Morgan’s proposed pipeline and tankers using the very same winning strategy.
“As I see it, pulling together is what it’s really about at this point in the game,” says McKibben. “First Nations standing up to the fossil fuel industry in Canada are some of the strongest and most dedicated organizers anywhere. And, right now, Coast Salish nations resisting the tar sands are asking for our support."
An ectomorphic string bean filled with prophetic fervour, McKibben delivers his message with a bounding enthusiasm that has incited thousands of mainly young activists to join a fast-growing, nimble climate movement — 350.org — that stretches across the planet.
Youth-driven and lit by the urgency of woke climate advocates, it’s a wildfire that burns brighter and — McKibben hopes— will spread faster than anything the fossil fuel industry could possibly match.Hello everyone,
Last Saturday on August 5th, I held the first release of Tridents. Unfortunately, the new website wasn't ready for the massive amount of people who were accessing the site and spamming the refresh button. I'm very sorry to everyone who had been waiting all day or late into the night and I want to ensure that this issue doesn't happen again. The website is currently being significantly upgraded to handle the additional volume of users but to make sure it can it, I will be hosting a free raffle to test the website before I release the next batch. Please view the following information for the sweepstakes:
Sweepstakes Info
At the date and time below, an item will appear on the shop. Simply add this item to your cart and complete the checkout to add your entry to the raffle. Again, this is a free raffle so you won't need any form of payment to checkout. Users will have 10 minutes to submit their entry before the raffle is closed. Prize: Two people will be randomly chosen to receive a free silver Trident.
Date and time: August 13th, 3:00pm PST (PDT)
Shipping: Free Worldwide
One entry per person Duplicate billing or shipping addresses will result in a disqualification. Anyone found submitting multiple entries will be also be ineligible to purchase any products from Squid Industries in the future. On the next day, August 14th, I will be live streaming on Instagram and will announce the winners at 3:00pm.
For those who follow me on Instagram, I just spoiled the red V2 Squidtrainers on my story. I'm still waiting on the trainer blades and other parts to arrive so I still can't give a better estimation than sometime around the end of this month or early September.
The website is currently being upgraded, so right now it is inaccessible. Check back later today or tomorrow and it should be up and running again.
Thanks and good luck everyone!
Lucas Cao
Squid Industries
California, USA
August 11th, 2017I visited the Toronto set of Guillermo del Toro‘s Pacific Rim on March 28th 2012. While on set, we toured the art room, watched filming, saw a bunch of the sets, and interviewed Guillermo and some of the cast. You’ll be able to read those transcripts over the next week on the site, but after the jump you can read a writeup of over 80 things I learned on set (3,685 words worth, and this is one really worth reading) alongside a video blog I recorded with Steve from Collider giving our thoughts on what we had seen.
Video Blog:
80 Things We Learned On The Set of Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim’:
Pacific Rim was shot at Pinewoood Studios in Toronto, which is where the remakes for Total Recall and The Thing were also filmed. All 8 stages in the studio were used for the entire production. 101 sets were created for the film. One hallway in the production office features posters from every one of Guillermo’s movies including different variants.
The film was shot over 103 days on the first unit, and we visited on day 83. They also filmed 56 splinter unit days. Shooting began on November 14th 2011, a whopping 606 days before the July 12th, 2013 release date.
Only 3 real life locations are being used, but even on those location shoots they added so much production design to it that you wouldn’t really recognize the real location. The three locations are a Toronto street turned into Hong Kong, an old hydro planet called The Hearn which has been turned into the Alaska construction site, and the beach from the beginning of the film where Gypsy Danger fights a sea battle and crashes. For that sequence, they constructed a piece of a robot head which was 30 feet by 30 feet and that’s only still a half of one side of the Jaeger’s head.
When we were on set, they were confident that the movie would be a 2D release telling us that it was highly unlikely it will be post-converted. Guillermo told us that he didn’t want to do 3D because large scale battles shot far away don’t present much depth. He thought that if you tried to force depth into those kind of sequences, it would look like miniatures.
Del Toro decided against shooting the movie in 48 frames per second because he thinks the experience only enhances 3D films, and he didn’t plan on releasing Pacific Rim in 3D.
At the time, del Toro was still considering shooting one of the final sequences in full IMAX. The cockpit of the robots is so confined that he was very hesitant to shoot IMAX in these sequences. The sequence they were considering shooting on IMAX was “perfectly suited for the format.” The visual effects for the IMAX sequence would’ve had to be rendered at 4k. Traditionally CG is rendered at 2k. More processing time, more rendering time, more hard drive space, and most importantly the extra detail required to make it look more real. I don’t believe this actually happened. Guillermo instead ended up seeing a post converted 3D test and loved it enough to change his mind.
Guillermo del Toro shot both A and B unit, often spending 20 hours a day working on the movie. Ron Pearlman thinks that Guillermo is “the closest thing we have to Leonardo Da Vinci” today, and he feels like a complete slacker when in del Toro’s presence. He says Guillermo will do a 12 our day and then edit the movie when production stops. Guillermo admits he never sleeps more than 4 hours a night.
About 1/6th of the film is created entirely digitally, and the film features between 1,600 and 1,700 visual effects shots. ILM are doing the effects for essentially half the price, and able to do that because Guillermo is providing footage so early so that the animators can work on normal hours instead of chasing a deadline with overtime hours later in the production.
Guillermo had to edit while he shoots to approve the shots he needs to send to ILM. He edits every Saturday, and shoots “hands pressing buttons” (ie insert shots) on Sundays. He also edits on his lunch breaks.
This is the first digital movie Guillermo has ever made. The movie is perfectly suited for shooting digitally. Guillermo says he couldn’t have done Devil’s Backbone with digital, but this film’s aesthetic calls for saturated colors, which benefit from the high definition look.
This movie also has more dialogue than any of his other movies. Guillermo says the key is to blast through dialogue with drama and make it compelling.
Guelllimo’s office is located in the art department and has a shelf with toys, including an Akira figure and bike, Pixar’s Tin Toy and a couple funny statues from The Simpsons and The Flintstones. There are some Godzilla toys and mechs to inspire the design team. A lot of books. While the collection might look massive in most geek’s homes, they are only materials that del Toro has recently bought. None of the materials have been brought here from del Toro’s home, all of the collectibles were acquired by del Toro while in production in Toronto.
Every time they make a maquette for any of his productions, Guillermo personally pays to have a second maquette made so that he can personally own one in his collection. This is part of his contract.
The working title for the movie was “Still Seas.” Signs around the studio and even production artwork in the offices featured the fake working title. It was hard to find a mention of “Pacific Rim” anywhere, even on the schedules and paperwork.
The backstory is that in 2013, a inter-dimensional portal opens in the sea unleashing massive monsters. The Jaegers were designed by a United Nations-style partnership between all the coastal cities/countries in an effort to kill the monsters and protect the cities. This story takes place in 2025, when the monsters have begun appearing more frequently. The world is coming to an end, and they’re leading the last fights to keep humanity alive. In Alaska they are trying to build a 300 foot wall across the Pacific Coast as the government is starting to believe that Jaegers aren’t working as a solution.
15 artists worked on the production.
The mech robots are called Jaegers, and are 25 stories high and require at least two pilots to function. look like a mix of Transformers and more practical Real Steel-style bots, but 250 to 280 feet tall. Striker Eureka is the largest.
We got to watch the ILM audition tape which was put together in just 9 weeks. The short clip features a massive mech robot fighting with a Kaiju, knocking through buildings in a big city. John knoll worked on the test footage.
Guillermo wanted the robots to feel and move more mechanically, like robots, which is why they chose not to use performance capture.
Gipsy Danger is the name of the hero robot — A Mark III, the oldest of the robots in the film.
Gipsy Danger is armed with a plasma gun and a sword.
Kyoto Tango, Crimson Typhoon, Striker Eureka, Tacit Ronin, and Horizon Brave are the other major Jaegers.
Crimson is a red robot with three arms and three pilots.
Each robot his different fighting styles.
The robots sport markings on their exterior armor, indicating how many monsters they has killed and other stats.Cambridge University Library, which is celebrating its 600th anniversary this year, holds 614 Chinese inscribed oracle bones in its collection. They are the oldest extant documents written in the Chinese language, dating from 1339-1112 BCE. Inscribed on ox shoulder blades and the flat under-part of turtle shells, they record questions to which answers were sought by divination at the court of the royal house of Shang, which ruled north central China at that time.
The inscriptions on the bones provide much insight into many aspects of early Chinese society, such as warfare, agriculture, hunting, medical problems, meteorology and astronomy.
Among the latter is a record of a lunar eclipse dated to 1192 BCE, one of the earliest such accounts in any civilisation.
Charles Aylmer, Head of the Chinese Department at Cambridge University Library, said: “Some of the bones have already been included in the Cambridge Digital Library but now new technology provides readers around the world an even closer look at these precious artefacts.
“In what is believed to be a world first, one of the bones (which features in the 600th anniversary exhibition Lines of Thought) has been digitised in 3D thanks to the work of archaeologist Professor Dominic Powlesland, one of the leading pioneers in this area.”
The high-resolution image of the bone, which measures about 9x14 cm, knits together 1.3 million aspects to allow a seamless view of its entire surface.
The image brings into sharp focus not only the finely incised questions on the obverse of the bone, but also the divination pits engraved on the reverse and the scorch marks caused by the application of heat to create the cracks (which were interpreted as the answers from the spirit world). These can be seen more clearly than by looking at the actual object itself, and without the risk of damage by handling the original bone.
In collaboration with the Media Studio of Addenbrooke's Hospital (part of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus), the scanned data were used to make what is believed to be the first 3D print of an oracle bone.
The print was made with a printer whose main function in the hospital is to assist in planning maxillofacial and orthopaedic surgery. The print comprises 350 superimposed layers of a fine powdered plaster compound hardened with cyanoacrylate (superglue).
3D prints such as this enable students and researchers to obtain a ‘hands-on’ impression otherwise impossible for conservation reasons. It is hoped to create images of more bones from the Library's collection as funding permits.
Aylmer added: "The oracle bones are three-dimensional objects, and high-resolution 3D imagery reveals features which not only all previous methods of reproduction (such as drawings, rubbings and photographs) have been unable to do, but which are not even apparent from careful examination of the actual items themselves.
“In particular, the reverse sides of the bones, which are crucial to understanding the process of divination but have hitherto been neglected because of the difficulty of representing them adequately, can now be studied in detail thanks to this new technique.
“To hold a 3D print of an oracle bone is a very special experience, as it provides the same sensory impression as that obtained by the people who created them over three thousand years ago, but without the risk of harm to the priceless originals."More than 100,000 (H4) dependents of H1B workers who have been allowed to pursue paid employment in the US from 2015 will be hit hard if rules change early next year when an important case comes up for hearing in Washington D.C. soon after the New Year rings in.
Latest numbers available from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services show that the United States has so far given employment authorisation documents to 104,750 H4 visa holders (spouses/ dependents of H1B workers) since 2015 when the floodgates first opened.
Link: Employment authorization for certain H4 dependent spouses, final rule effective May 26, 2015
In the last three years, USCIS has approved employment authorisation for 26,858 applicants in 2015 followed by 41,526 in 2016 and 36,366 until June end this year.
The data outed does not adjust for how many of these H4 EAD recipients may have changed status or left the country but a conservative estimate based on green card and citizenship figures indicates that the variance won’t be sharp.
The immigration wave specific to H1B visa workers which began 30 years ago is littered equally with stories of how H4 dependents forgo many of their prime years of earning potential. Some grin and bear it, some return to India or try to head across the North American border to Canada.
For those with families who don’t have much elbow room to explore these multiple choices, the H4 visa was stifling before Obama’s parting gift of the EAD. Running a family unit on a single income in the US is an uphill task, given the multiplicity of taxes that H1B workers pay.
Predictably, news that a certain category of H4 visa holders could be eligible for work authorisation was recieved with great celebration in the US. The resistance came with equal fervour - the same mix of social and economic unrest that Trump tapped into a year later.
The Obama era loosening of regulations which allowed dependents of H1B workers to work in the US has been challenged in court by Save Jobs USA an anti immigration group drawn from former employees of Southern California Edison. They filed a lawsuit against the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and were turned out in the first go. Refusing to budge, Save Jobs USA appealed.
The case is now pending before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and in its latest avatar, it appeals to the very sentiments that put Trump in the White House - outrage against the outsider.
"It (H4 EAD) should be upheld because it helps the U.S. economy and also gives freedom to the dependent spouse to pursue their dreams," says Vinod Belani, an Indian techie in Washington D.C.
But Save Jobs USA does not think that's the way to proceed.
Their case has not changed one bit since they first filed but its latest appeal has coincided with Trump’s rise in American politics. Time and again, the US President has found that when ambitious policy decisions go badly in Congress, a chunk of red meat flung to the fringe crowd always helps to keep his core vote bank thirsting for more. The RAISE Act (Bill) was sprung when the Obamacare repeal was going nowhere. Anti immigration talk in the Trump White House has followed a pattern since January this year. With the midterm elections approaching and with every failed policy move or praise for Mueller's investigation, expect more fiery talk on outsiders in America.
Since February this year, The Trump government has been putting off contesting the lawsuit and instead pushing out the hearings by asking for more time. Dig through the files of the SAVE Jobs USA versus DHS case file and you'll find the latest intervention from the USCIS has been about how to interpret the case through the lenses of the Buy American Hire American Executive Order.
Now, although this EO is wide in scope to cover several industries and themes, focus on the H1B has been particularly intense, just going by even routine communication from the Trump administration. To get a sense of the resources being thrown at the H1B case, one look at this often tweeted page is enough.
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.Towards the end of his speech late Monday afternoon at the Peoria Civic Center Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was interrupted by a protester carrying a Donald Trump sign who yelled multiple times “Go back to Canada” at the leading opposition candidate to Trump..
Cruz told the man that he appreciated his being there and his freedom of speech and told the birther protester “You see sir one difference between this and a Donald Trump rally is I am not asking anyone to punch you in the face.”
Security escorted the man from the event.
The Trump protesters outburst drew massive boos from the more than 2,000 people who came to the event the 3rd of 5 Cruz is doing in Illinois ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
Trump’s comments on the campaign trail questioning Cruz’s eligibility to be President has prompted birthers across the country to launch legal challenges to Cruz’s ability to appear on various state ballots. Twice prominent birther Lawerence Joyce of Poplar Grove, IL tried to get Cruz kicked off the ballot in Illinois first having his challenge totally rejected by the Illinois State Board of Elections, and then having a lawsuit he brought in Cook county court seeking to have that determination reversed was tossed out.
crossposted from USofArn.comLove the gym? Now there's a dating app specifically for people who keep fit
Introducing Sweatt.
Tinder broke the mould as a a smartphone dating app that anyone could use without having to fill in forms and answer questions like most dating websites demand but as the dating game became more and more app-based, it makes sense that other apps would pop up for people with more specific interests.
Sweatt is a dating app for people who treat fitness as a lifestyle, allowing gym-goers to connect with people who have a similar dedication to staying in shape.
Sweatt allows its users to search for partners based on how many hours they spend in the gym per week, as well as a filter that allows users to search for people based on what kind of activities make up their primary workout, such as crossfit, lifting, spinning, running or even yoga.
So if you spend so much of your time working out that you can't find anyone to date you, Sweatt might be your answer. It's available from the App Store now.The Japanese manufacturer endured a difficult start to 2017, with a lack of power and poor reliability hampering its efforts and threatening its future partnership with McLaren.
Although it has made some progress since – finally scoring its first points of the year at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – it is still facing big pressure to make further gains.
Reflecting on the season so far, Honda's F1 engine chief Yusuke Hasegawa said his company had been aware that progress on the power front had not been as big as had been hoped before pre-season testing, but it was the reliability factors that especially caught it out.
In an interview published on Honda's F1 website, he said that it was only when the company's 2017 engine ran on track for the first time that it became aware of the extents of the troubles it had.
"Many items we could not test on the dyno |
operation" taking place on the high seas which could cause "embarrassment" to the Indonesian president.
The West Australian newspaper is reporting an asylum seeker boat has been spotted between Java and Ashmore Reef.
It is the Coalition's policy to turn back asylum seekers where it is safe to do so, something Indonesia dislikes.
Concern decision adds further strain to'stressed' relationship
The Opposition's foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek says the Government needs to make the real reason for Mr Abbott's non-attendance clear.
"Indonesia's an important friend for Australia, the relationship is under stress at the moment," Ms Plibersek said.
"Rejecting this invitation at this late stage really does put extra strain on the relationship.
"It's very important the Prime Minister discloses the reason that he's really not going, because Australians deserve to know why he's putting further pressure on the relationship with such an important neighbour.
"It's ironic that the invitation to Indonesia was to a conference on open government and our Prime Minister won't tell us why he's rejected the invitation at this late stage."
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is providing a different explanation saying Mr Abbott's cancelled visit to Bali falls close to the budget, which is due to be delivered in just over a week's time.
The date the budget is handed down is fixed every year to the second Tuesday in May.
Mr Yudhoyono's spokesman Teku Faizasyah says the Indonesian government is "well aware" of the Australian Government's upcoming budget and will not comment on whether or not an asylum seeker operation is taking place.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, abbott-tony, foreign-affairs, australia, indonesia
First postedPresident Barack Obama
President Barack Obama’s claim to czarlike powers in a perpetual global war against international terrorism has been blunted by a judicial appointee of former President George W. Bush. Last week, in the case Fadi al Maqaleh, United States District Judge John D. Bates denied that President Obama could make suspected “enemy combatants” disappear into the Bagram Theater Internment Facility at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan without an opportunity for exoneration. (While President Obama has abandoned the term enemy combatant for Guantanamo Bay detainees, he has retained the label for detainees held elsewhere.)
Bates’ ruling is a welcome check on an emerging pattern of mightily expansive claims of executive authority by the new administration. In early February, President Obama sought another imperial power before the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in the case Mohammed v. Jeppesen Dataplan. The complaint alleged that the plaintiffs had been seized by American personnel, taken to airports, stripped, blindfolded, shackled to the floor of a Gulfstream V, and taken to destination countries for torture and harsh incarceration. The District Court dismissed the complaint because then-President Bush and Vice President Cheney argued that state secrets would be exposed if the case were litigated. During oral argument before the 9th Circuit, Obama echoed the state-secrets argument made by Bush and Cheney. Similarly, the president who promised “change” is wielding the tool of state secrets in aiming to dismiss, without the gathering of evidence, challenges to the National Security Agency’s Terrorist Surveillance Program, which entailed warrantless phone or e-mail interceptions of American citizens on American soil in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. This defense has failed before Judge Vaughn R. Walker in early rounds of the litigation. And, again, the state-secrets privilege is the administration’s response, if ancillary to a defense of retroactive immunity, in a brief filed last week to the efforts of the Electronic Frontier Foundation to sue Bush administration officials for the NSA’s wiretapping.
In principle, President Obama is maintaining that victims of constitutional wrongdoing by the U.S. government should be denied a remedy to prevent the American people and the world at large from learning of the lawlessness perpetrated in the name of national security and exacting political and legal accountability. Thus Mahar Arar, who was tortured by Syrian agents, allegedly with the complicity of U.S. intelligence or immigration agents, has been denied a judicial remedy, again based on the state-secrets rule, to hide the identifies of his U.S. government persecutors. Similarly, victims of torture authorized by the president or vice president would encounter the state-secrets bar if they sought redress. Disclosing the methods of torture, the government has argued, might enable al-Qaida detainees to prepare better psychologically or physically to resist the criminal abuse! Such reasoning more befits the pages of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago than the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in ex parte Milligan: “The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government.”
In the Bagram Prison litigation, Judge Bates summoned the observation of Alexander Hamilton writing in The Federalist 84: “[C]onfinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to jail, where his sufferings are unknown or forgotten, is a less public, a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of arbitrary government.” Accordingly, he held that enemy combatant detainees at Bagram who were captured outside Afghanistan and who were not Afghan citizens could challenge the constitutionality of their detentions in federal courts through writs of habeas corpus.
If President Obama had embraced the principles of a republic (which cares about injustice) instead of the arrogance of empire (which admires swagger), neither the habeas corpus nor state-secrets litigation would have been necessary. In the former case, four detainees held at Bagram for six years or more filed petitions in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia assailing the legality of their incarcerations based solely on the president’s assertion that they were “enemy combatants.” That concept—as defined by President Obama—sweeps far beyond persons accused of directly aiding or participating in hostilities against the United States. It includes persons who “supported hostilities in aid of enemy forces,” which might encompass the provision of food, medicines, or trousers. The detainees had been captured in Tunisia, Thailand, Dubai, and an unknown location outside Afghanistan. One was an Afghan citizen, two were Yemenis, and one was Tunisian.
President Obama ratified the following charade to make “enemy combatant” determinations at Bagram, which can be the equivalent of life sentences. The initial judgment is made “in the field.” It is reviewed within 75 days, and then at six-month intervals. The reviewing body is the Unlawful Enemy Combatant Review Board, a panel of three commissioned officers. It examines “all relevant information reasonably available.” The detainee is denied access to a personal representative or lawyer. He is denied access to the government’s evidence. He is denied an opportunity to respond in person. He is limited to submitting a written statement without knowledge of either his accusers or the allegations that must be rebutted. After its sham hearing, the UECRB makes a recommendation by majority vote to the commanding general as to whether the detainee is an “enemy combatant.”
The Bagram procedures are descendents of the Spanish Inquisition. The executive branch decrees that “enemy combatant” status justifies detention, enforces the decree through executive detentions, and decides whether its enforcement decisions are correct. That combination was what the Founding Fathers decried as the “very definition of tyranny” in The Federalist 47. In addition, the incriminating evidence and accusers are secret. And the judges are military persons the detainee is accused of hoping to kill, which probably compromises their putative impartiality.
President Obama’s claim of wartime necessity as justifying constitutional shortcuts is unpersuasive. The United States granted accused war criminals captured in the China Theater a particularized statement of charges and a rigorous adversarial process, noted by the United States Supreme Court in the 1950 case Eisentrager v. Johnson. As regards state secrets, the government can always accept a default judgment, meaning an acceptance of liability for alleged injuries, if it wishes to preserve vital intelligence sources and methods. The government confronts the same choice in criminal cases—i.e., either to disclose classified information necessary for a fair trial or to drop the prosecution.
President Obama pledged to restore the rule of law. But the state-secrets-privilege wars with that promise. It encourages torture, kidnappings, inhumane treatment, and similar abuses, all carried out in the name of fighting international terrorism. That encouragement is compounded by the president’s adamant opposition to criminal prosecution of former or current government officials for open and notorious abuses—for example, water-boarding or illegal surveillance. His stances on habeas corpus and state secrets flout twin verities of Justice Louis D. Brandeis: Sunshine is the best disinfectant; and, when the government becomes a lawbreaker, it invites every man to become a law unto himself.HONOLULU, June 11 (UPI) -- The security boss at the Honolulu airport and 35 subordinates are being fired for failing to check luggage for bombs, officials say.
Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez said Friday letters of "proposed termination" were sent to 36 workers and 12 more are being suspended. The fired workers are on paid administrative leave while they appeal.
Melendez did not name them, but the Honolulu Star-Advertiser identified the federal security director as Glen Kajiyama and the assistant deputy director for screening as William Gulledge, both former Honolulu police commanders.
The workers came under suspicion after two TSA workers told supervisors colleagues were not screening checked luggage being loaded on flights in a section of the airport, The Washington Post reported.
Investigators found that every day during late 2010, an undetermined number of flights took off with unscreened baggage.
Melendez said 100 of the 750 TSA employees at Honolulu International were interviewed during the investigation.
"TSA holds its workforce to the highest ethical standards and we will not tolerate employees who in any way compromise the security of the traveling public," Administrator John Pistole said.Adrienne Rich, a pioneering feminist poet and essayist who challenged what she considered to be the myths of the American dream, has died. She was 82.
The recipient of such literary awards as the Yale Young Poets prize, the National Book Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Dorothea Tanning Award given by the Academy of American Poets, Rich died Tuesday at her home in Santa Cruz of complications from long-term rheumatoid arthritis, said a son, Pablo Conrad.
She came of age during the social upheavals of the 1960s and '70s and was best known as an advocate of women's rights, which she wrote about in both her poetry and prose. But she also wrote passionate antiwar poetry and took up the causes of the marginalized and underprivileged.
PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2012
From her first book of poems in the early 1950s, Rich, a Baltimore native who attended Radcliffe College, showed her feminist bearings. Twenty years later, her image was set when universities began introducing courses in women's studies and Rich was among the most likely writers to be included.
Selected for the National Medal for the Arts in 1997, the highest award given to artists, Rich refused it.
“The radical disparities of wealth and power in America are widening at a devastating rate,” she wrote in a letter addressed to then-President Clinton. “A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.”
A full obituary will follow at latimes.com/obits.
RELATED:
Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska dies at 88
Juan Felipe Herrera is appointed California Poet Laureate
National Book Award finalists announced -- with an extra title
-- Times staff reports
Photo: Adrienne Rich. Credit: Robert Giard / NortonNo, AT&T is Not Blocking Ports Used by Bitcoin Several users have been writing in to share this this conversation over at Reddit alleging that AT&T has "effectively banned Bitcoin." This would otherwise not be worth mentioning, except for the fact that it appears to now be popping up at a number of different websites. The proof? Apparently it all originates with this post to the Bitcoin developer mailing list, in which a user proclaims AT&T confessed to "secret firewalls" buried in AT&T U-Verse DVRs: quote:
To make this even more absurd they refused to turn the firewall off because it is their equipment. So effectively they can firewall any port they want even if the customer asks them not to, in the unlikely event the customer figures it out. Diabolical! By DVR I'd presume they mean the AT&T U-Verse gateway, since a DVR records TV programs, and a gateway manages network functionality. And while ISPs can often engage in port shenanigans, AT&T assures me that nothing untoward is going on in this instance. Diabolical! By DVR I'd presume they mean the AT&T U-Verse gateway, since a DVR records TV programs, and a gateway manages network functionality. And while ISPs can often engage in port shenanigans, AT&T assures me that nothing untoward is going on in this instance. "We do not block port 8333/tcp or attempt to block bitcoin nodes for our customers," AT&T tells DSLReports. "Any customer experiencing a problem should contact AT&T customer care." Historically if companies are up to no good and want to lie about it, they simply won't respond for a request for comment. So yes, while AT&T does occasionally do DVR U-Verse gateway firewall (see Historically if companies are up to no good and want to lie about it, they simply won't respond for a request for comment. So yes, while AT&T does occasionally do dumb things, a nefarious plan to prevent you from connecting to the Bitcoin hive mind likely is not among them. The real solution? The user likely needs to simply correctly configure hisU-Verse gateway firewall (see image ) to ensure traffic is flowing. Perhaps commenters have some additional advice or can identify the real culprit? Chupacabra, perhaps?
News Jump Wednesday Morning Links Tuesday Morning Links Monday Morning Links TGI Friday Morning Links Thursday Morning Links Wednesday Morning Links Tuesday Morning Links Friday Morning Links Thursday Morning Links - Valentines Edition Wednesday Morning Links ---------------------- this week last week most discussed
Most recommended from 16 comments
Napsterbater
Meh
MVM
join:2002-12-28
Milledgeville, GA 4 recommendations Napsterbater MVM Sounds like another Claim we had on this site just a few days ago. Centurylink throttling Neflix.
No proof, no real information, just accusations, test were aimed at the wrong host, etc. No proof, no real information, just accusations, test were aimed at the wrong host, etc. jimk
Premium Member
join:2006-04-15
Raleigh, NC ·Time Warner Cable
2 recommendations jimk Premium Member Don't jump to conclusions... I don't expect everyone in the world to understand networking, firewalls, NAT, etc. But it does bother me when someone makes a claim like this without understanding what is really going on, especially now that everyone has to jump on the "OMG net neutrality this is illegal" bandwagon without verifying things first.
The original story should have never taken off... the U-verse DVR plays no major role in your home network... unless you have other TV receivers, and then its only purpose is to provide remote DVR functionality on those receivers. Anyone familiar with U-verse would know this. Everything runs through the Residential Gateway (RG)... Internet, TV, and Phone. The RG is a router that can connect to ADSL2+, VDSL, or FTTH (via an Ethernet link to the ONT) depending on the exact model and what service you have. If someone mixed the functions of these devices up, there's a good chance they may have something configured improperly... for example, if they have their own router the AT&T CPE should be in DMZ Plus mode (2wire/Pace) or IP Passthrough (Motorola/Arris) so their router gets a public IP and most ports unblocked. Of course, this is just one of several potential places where something could go wrong.
AT&T does still block some ports, mainly Windows file sharing related ports and port 25 outbound. There's no reason why Windows file shares should be exposed to the Internet. Blocking port 25 outbound is a bit more controversial, but is blocked due to infected PCs sending spam. At one point IPv6 tunnels were broken but I don't think this was intentional, this was just buggy firmware and a misconfiguration. I'm not defending the IPv6 tunnel problems, by the way. mikemacman
join:2004-05-29
Saint Paul, MN 2 recommendations mikemacman Member Confused User
»lists.linuxfoundation.or ··· 862.html This user clearly doesn't understand what he is talking about. He sent a follow-up email saying that he discovered his computer is on a "private subnet" which isn't allowing outside users to connect to him. 99%+ of all computers on a residential internet connection behind a router have a private IP#. He needs to forward the appropriate ports or use UPnP to configure his router correctly. I'm not a fan of most large ISPs, but I don't support starting a witch hunt over a confused user.Evangelista Santos returned to the United States on Tuesday night, and is ready to go under the knife.
The longtime MMA veteran suffered a brutal injury during his welterweight clash with Michael Page at Bellator 158, fracturing his skull after MVP connected a flying knee. Back to the United States, "Cyborg" immediately visited his doctor.
"I did another MRI on Wednesday and visited the doctor again on Friday," Santos told MMA Fighting, "and he scheduled the surgery for Monday."
According to Santos, doctors won't set any timetables for a potential return before the surgery.
Bellator is paying for all medical costs, so "Cyborg" decided to fulfill a dream with the money donated through a GoFundMe campaign created by his ex-wife, Cris "Cyborg" Justino.
"When I was 11, I started working as a shoeshine boy to help support my family," Santos said. "Six brothers, my family worked in the field and my mother was a maid. I got to school at 11 a.m. and stayed in the streets until 10 p.m. That was when my life changed completely. I started going to an institution called Casa do Menor Trabalhador in Rondonopolis, which was supported my local businessman and nuns. They had a library, foosball table, soccer balls, and prayers.
"Ever since I was a kid, I always had this wish in my heart to repay the security and direction this project gave me because I’m a product of their work, and I want to use this money that was raised to start this big dream. I want to offer fighting (classes), literature, English classes, and prepare our fighting champions for life, teach them to use all their potential – intellectual, physical and technical."
MMA fighters and fans donated more than $24,000 to the Bellator fighter, and "Cyborg" will be forever thankful.
"Bellator will pay for all my medical bills, paid my win bonus, so I don’t think it’s fair to use the money to benefit me," he said. "Even though I lost, I was blessed with everyone’s prayers and care from everyone in the fight world. May God bless every single person that gave me a positive thought, a pray, a dollar. May God bless you. Everything you do, may this bless reach your family. May God also bless Cris’ life, who was shocked with those images. Thank you for your friendship and concern."Contrary to many, my pick is Derek Carr over Teddy Bridgewater for the NFL’s best rookie quarterback. Those that like Bridgewater will cite his quarterback rating of 85.2 to Carr’s 76.6 and his 64.4 completion percentage to Carr’s 58.1. My case for Carr would be his 21 touchdowns to 12 interceptions vs Bridgewater’s 14 to 12.
But that’s just stats as there are all kinds of factors that go into how well a quarterback is playing. All the factors involved make it fairly easy to for me to say the Carr is better than Bridgewater. When you look at what the two quarterbacks had around them and who they played against, Carr had a much higher degree of difficulty.
Turn the page to see what I’m talking about.‘We wouldn’t be here today if the employee had followed government policy,’ says judge Emmet Sullivan in Freedom of Information case
Hillary Clinton violated government policy in her use of a personal email server, a federal judge said on Thursday.
“We wouldn’t be here today if the employee had followed government policy,” judge Emmet Sullivan said.
Hearing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department, seeking access to the records of Clinton’s staff, Sullivan said that the former secretary of state had hindered State’s ability to provide records.
Sullivan ordered the department to ask the FBI for any emails relating to the lawsuit that have been recovered from Clinton’s server but are not in the department’s possession.
When a Justice Department lawyer raised concerns about the government’s right to search the private email of an official, Sullivan said: “There was a violation of government policy.”
“We’re not talking about a search of anyone’s random email,” he said, after Justice Department lawyers argued with the plaintiffs over how far the government could reach in records requests.
Clinton herself is not under investigation in the suit before Sullivan, a DC district judge who was appointed by Bill Clinton. It pertains to the records regarding Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin, who was for a time deputy chief of staff at the State Department.
Clinton has maintained that her use of a server was allowed, saying this week in Las Vegas: “what I did was legally permitted.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hillary Clinton defends herself against suggestions of misconduct during a press conference in Las Vegas - link to video
She and her campaign have characterized the controversy, which has raised concerns over possible security lapses and weaknesses with classified information, as a dispute between agencies over labeling. She has also defended her right to deem some emails personal, and delete them: “My personal emails are my personal business, right?”
Clinton also faces fresh concerns from congressional Democrats, as new polls suggest the inquiry is taking a toll on her presidential campaign.
While her campaign asserts that Clinton never sent or received material considered classified at the time, Democratic lawmakers said she has not adequately explained the complicated nature of the email inquiry – and they have panned some of her attempts to shrug off the probe with humor.
Clinton joked at a Democratic dinner in Iowa last week that she liked the social media platform Snapchat because the messages disappear by themselves. And in Nevada she shrugged off questions about her server being wiped clean: “Like a cloth or something?”
Hillary Clinton: alleged classified emails simply 'disagreement between agencies' Read more
“I don’t think the campaign has handled it very well,” Florida senator Bill Nelson told the Associated Press on Thursday. “I think the advice to her of making a joke out of it – I think that was not good advice.”
Nelson said if Clinton had received information that should have been labelled classified or top secret, the person sending the email would bear the responsibility of making that clear on the email. “If she is receiving something on a private email account and it has no designation, then how would she know that it is classified?” he asked.
In Republican-leaning Kentucky, Democratic representative John Yarmuth warned in an interview with WHAS-TV in Louisville: “I still think there is a chance that this could upend her campaign.”
“I just never feel like I have a grasp of what the facts are,” Yarmuth said on Wednesday. “Clearly she has handled it poorly from the first day. And there’s the appearance of dishonesty, if it’s not dishonest.”
The new concerns follow Clinton’s decision to turn over her server to federal investigators who are trying to determine if the data on it was secure.
Clinton holds a wide but narrowing lead in the Democratic field against the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who has gained ground on Clinton in New Hampshire and Iowa. Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley has pitched himself as a fresh face and has tried to gain traction.
Sorry, Hillary Clinton fans: her email errors are definitely newsworthy | Trevor Timm Read more
While Clinton holds significant advantages in money and support among Democrats, polls released on Thursday by Quinnipiac University in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania – three general election battleground states – found that only about one-third of respondents thought she was honest and trustworthy.
Other polls suggest public perceptions of her honesty have been declining as she has dealt with questions about her email use and potential mishandling of classified material. That has prompted Clinton’s campaign to defend her on cable television and distribute fact sheets to supporters about the inquiry.
“We understand there is confusion about the issue and are being more aggressive in making sure people understand two key facts,” said the Clinton campaign communications director, Jennifer Palmieri.
“First, that using personal email was allowed and in keeping with what her predecessors had done. Two, she always treated classified materials with great care, dealt with them in hard copy, not online, and never sent or received material considered classified at the time.”
Clinton’s campaign says she still leads when compared with Republican presidential candidates in hypothetical matchups. And her allies predict congressional Republicans will overplay their hand when Clinton testifies in October before a GOP-led panel investigating the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
“I’ve been around this block many times with supposed Clinton scandals. It just won’t work,” said David Brock, a Clinton loyalist and the founder of the Democratic Super Pac American Bridge.
Clinton told reporters in Nevada that they were the only ones bringing up the subject.
And others are hearing about it. In Columbia, South Carolina, on Wednesday, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, was asked by a supporter how the campaign would defend Clinton against criticism. He said it would deploy people to speak up on her behalf and fight what he sees as political disinformation about the email controversy.
“We need to defend her, and we are going to do that,” Podesta said.
Watching from the sidelines is Vice-President Joe Biden, who is considering entering the Democratic primaries. Biden has struggled in two previous presidential bids, but his entry could offer Democrats another alternative.
While those in the Democratic field have largely steered clear of the email review, O’Malley said on Wednesday in Las Vegas that Clinton’s email practices had become a “huge distraction” from what Democrats should be talking about and said it showed the need for more televised debates.
“Until we do, our party’s label is going to be the latest news du jour about emails and email servers and what Secretary Clinton knew and when she knew it,” O’Malley said.
Dan Pfeiffer, a former Obama White House adviser, said the focus on her emails “has no doubt put some downward pressure on some of Clinton’s attributes.” But the real challenge, he said, “is that the email issue is blocking out a lot of the campaign’s ability to communicate on topics that matter more to voters.”
He suggested Clinton would benefit once the election becomes a choice between a single Republican candidate and her.
“The question shouldn’t be, do you trust Hillary Clinton,” Pfeiffer said. “It needs to be, do you trust Hillary Clinton more than Marco Rubio or Donald Trump on the economy, immigration” and more.
The Associated Press contributed to this reportA Richmond real estate lawyer is alleging that two former employees stripped a trust account of almost $8 million and that the money was laundered through a Lower Mainland casino.
Hong Guo of the Guo Law Corporation issued a news release Monday claiming that the ex-employees used forged cheques to take $7,665,000 out of a trust fund before it was laundered and then landed in China.
WATCH: Bombshell report alleges major money-laundering scheme is being operated through B.C. casinos
Guo said she called the RCMP about the pair in April of last year, but said the police “did not pass any information to me, they did not help me at all.”
She alleged that one of the employees sent the funds to a bank account, and that they were later transferred to a BC Lottery Corporation account at the casino in question.
LISTEN: Theft leads to money laundering scheme through B.C. casinos
Guo said she found evidence that the employee then “transferred the money in the form of casino chips” to China, where they were “turned into cash.”
READ MORE: River Rock, other casinos allegedly being used by drug money-laundering operation, report says
The B.C. Lottery Corporation (BCLC) confirmed to Global News that Guo and her law firm began an action against “several defendants regarding the alleged misappropriation of funds” in July 2016.
Counsel for the plaintiffs subsequently sought the disclosure of records relating to an ex-employee, according to the BCLC, and the lottery corporation complied with a court order to provide them, said a spokeswoman.
“As the allegations against the defendants are unproven and still before the courts, it would be inappropriate to further comment,” she said.
The employees were arrested in Hong Kong in August, Guo said.
They’re now awaiting trial in Macau, a place that is known as the “Las Vegas of the East.”
For their part, Mounties confirmed that “we have heard some of the allegations being mentioned about us.”
“At this time, we are not in a position to comment about ongoing investigations,” said Richmond RCMP Cpl. Dennis Hwang.
READ MORE: ‘Someone is dropping the ball’: B.C. casino worker speaks out on money laundering
The Law Society of British Columbia has also launched an investigation into the loss of the money.
On Monday, Guo told reporters that the society had cleared her of any wrongdoing.
But law society spokesman David Jordan said that its investigation of Guo is “ongoing.”
“It is a matter of public record that in order to protect the public, the Law Society sought and received from the courts custodianship of the trust accounts involving the funds in question and all the affected files,” he said.Episodes
Episode #234 – The Accountant
It’s the movie that thinks autism is the secret to becoming a John Wick-style super-killer, The Accountant. Meanwhile Elliott details Randy Newman’s difficulty with dirty rhymes, Dan exhausts his knowledge of Zurich, Stuart hates Cheerios, and we all make some probably ill-advised jokes about the murder of Jean Smart.
Download the MP3 directly, HERE.
Paste theflophouse.libsyn.com/rss into iTunes (or your favorite podcatching software) to have new episodes of The Flop House delivered to you directly, as they’re released.
Wikipedia synopsis for The Accountant
Movies recommended in this episode:
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
The Sympathizer
LIVE SHOW ALERT! We’ll be at the PHILLY PODCAST FESTIVAL on July 16th at 8:30 pm!
Tags: Anna KendrickWASHINGTON — Refusing to back down, Donald Trump on Sunday defended his criticism of the bereaved parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain by complaining on Twitter that the father “viciously attacked” him in his speech at the Democratic National Convention.
“Am I not allowed to respond?” Trump tweeted. “Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!”
I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016
It was the latest bitter rhetorical volley between the defiant Republican candidate and the family of a fallen soldier since the two parties concluded their major conventions last week and the nation looked ahead to a close election this November. Wasting no time, Trump headed to Colorado — a key swing state — while Hillary Clinton took running mate Sen. Tim Kaine on a bus-tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania.
WATCH: ‘I made a lot of sacrifices’: Trump after his patriotism was criticized by Muslim DNC speaker
At last week’s Democratic National Convention, Pakistan-born Khizr Khan told the story of his son who received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after being killed in Iraq in 2004. Khan questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution and said “you have sacrificed nothing.
READ MORE: Some powerful Republican backers not throwing money behind Trump
During the speech, Khan’s wife, Ghazala, stood quietly by his side.
“If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me,” Trump said, in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.”
There's only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honor and respect. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family. — John Kasich (@JohnKasich) July 31, 2016
Ghazala Khan responded Sunday in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, saying talking about her son’s death 12 years ago is still hard for her. When her husband asked if she wanted to speak at the convention, she said she could not.
“When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant,” she wrote. “If he studied the real Islam and Koran, all the ideas he gets from terrorists would change, because terrorism is a different religion.”
Her husband told television talk shows on Sunday that he appreciated Trump’s later comments that his son was a hero but that he had no “moral compass.
WATCH: Trump’s apology ‘sounds so disingenuous’ because of his rhetoric: Khizr Khan
At one point, Trump had disputed Khan’s criticism that the billionaire businessman has “sacrificed nothing and no one” for his country.
“I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures,” Trump said.
Senior Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, remained silent on Sunday, as did vice presidential nominee Mike Pence.
But John Kasich, the Ohio governor who sought the GOP presidential nomination, said on Twitter, “There’s only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honor and respect. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family.”
Late Saturday night, Trump released a statement calling Humayun Khan “a hero” but disputing his father’s characterization.
READ MORE: Donald Trump rebuts soldier’s dad’s speech: ‘I’ve made a lot of sacrifices’
“While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things,” said Trump.
WATCH: Father of U.S. Muslim soldier killed in Iraq blasts Donald Trump, offers him his copy of U.S. constitution
Trump’s rebuke seemed strange in the world of politics where officials only speak well of families whose loved ones die in service to their country. When Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq, staged prolonged protests on the war, then-President George W. Bush responded by saying that the nation grieves every death.
Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016
When asked about the mother of a State Department official killed in Benghazi, Libya, who blamed Hillary Clinton for her son’s death, Clinton told “Fox News Sunday” that her “heart goes out” to the families and that she didn’t “hold any ill feeling for someone” who has lost a child and recalls events differently.
WATCH: Will the conventions boost Clinton, Trump campaigns?
Clinton used her first television interview since officially clinching the Democratic nomination to cast Trump as dangerously pro-Russia and an unknown quantity for U.S. voters. She said she realizes that people often see a “caricature” of herself as a politician but that she hopes American voters will review her track record as a U.S. senator and secretary of State.
‘He’s not temperamentally fit to be president and commander in chief,” she said.Duane Miller/Getty
The Earth's ice ages have left their mark on the thickness of the planet's oceanic crust, scientists have discovered. During glacial periods, when sea levels are low, the magma that spreads out from mid-ocean ridges to form virgin crust wells up thick and fast. But the production of new crust is stunted in warmer times when sea levels are high, such as they are today.
“We know that volcanism has an effect on climate. What we’re seeing is that climate cycles are also affecting ocean volcanism,” says Richard Katz, a geophysicist at the University of Oxford, UK, and one of the authors of the study, which is reported today in Science1.
The researchers say that they have spotted the effect in chains of hillocks under the sea between Australia and the Antarctic. The reason, Katz explains, is that higher sea levels exert a greater pressure on Earth’s mantle below the ocean floor. This seems to slow the transport of molten rock and gas from the mantle up to mid-ocean ridges, where it erupts.
Periodic variations in Earth’s axial tilt and orbit around the Sun have driven the planet’s succession of ice ages and warm periods over the past two million years. During an ice age, more water is trapped on land; as a result, sea levels are more than 100 metres lower than in warm periods. And that can thicken the oceanic crust by around 800 metres (on the order of 10%), Katz says.
Anthropogenic climate change will not impose much extra variation on this pattern. Today’s sea levels are already high, geologically speaking. And scientists will have to hang around for quite a while to spot the effects of modern sea-level rise in the oceanic crust: because magma creeps slowly up from Earth’s interior to the surface, the lag between a change in sea level and the peak crustal thickness response might be about 50,000 years.
A tale of high seas
Scientists knew that changes in the pressure of ice sheets affect what happens in Earth’s upper mantle below land masses. For example, the disappearance of ice is thought to have strongly increased mantle melting and volcanism beneath Iceland2. But many geologists were doubtful about whether sea-level variations alone could produce similar effects beneath ridge zones in the deep ocean.
Yet Katz and his colleagues calculated that sea-level variation should sometimes have a discernible effect on the thickness of ocean |
was seen as largely taking Israel's side in the Mideast conflict, said Nabil Shaath, a foreign affairs veteran and leading official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.
"The safe was sitting neglected in one of the areas of the old embassy. It was in one of the corners. No one had touched it for 20 to 25 years," Malki said.
The embassy recently moved to a new complex.
"The ambassador wanted to know what is in the safe," Malki said. "He opened it and asked his wife to bring a paper and a pen to write down the contents of the safe. She left him to bring (the) pen and paper. During that time, she heard the sound of an explosion."
He said the ambassador had taken some of the contents out of the safe, but it wasn't immediately clear what was inside. It was also unclear how soon the explosion occurred after he opened the safe.
The ambassador and his wife were alone in the building at the time because it was a holiday, Malki said. His 52-year-old wife, who called embassy employees to seek help, was treated for shock at the hospital but released. She was not immediately named.
Zoulova said police were searching the apartment but declined further comment.
Martin Cervicek, the country's top police officer, told Czech public television that nothing was immediately found to suggest that the diplomat had been a victim of a crime.
Cervicek later said police found one more safe at the embassy complex and were checking it, but that no other explosives were found, Czech public radio and television said.
Prague rescue service spokeswoman Jirina Ernestova said al-Jamal was placed in a medically induced coma when he first arrived at Prague Military Hospital. Dr. Daniel Langer, who works there, told public television that al-Jamal had suffered serious abdominal injuries, as well as injuries to his chest and head.
The embassy complex is in Prague's Suchdol neighbourhood.
The new embassy had not been opened yet and the ambassador, who was appointed in October, spent only two nights in the new residence -- also in the new complex.
The explosion occurred in the ambassador's residence.
Al-Jamal was born in 1957, in Beirut's Sabra and Shatilla refugee camp. His family is originally from Jaffa in what is now Israel.
He joined Fatah in 1975. In 1979, he was appointed deputy ambassador in Bulgaria.
Starting in 1984, he served as a diplomat in Prague, eventually as acting ambassador. From 2005-2013, he served as consul general in Alexandria, Egypt. In October 2013, he was appointed ambassador in Prague.
Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report from Ramallah, West Bank.The nation's new cop on the beat for financial services is taking its most significant step yet: moving to bring many debt collectors and the credit-rating industry under federal supervision for the first time.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced its plan Thursday, citing its authority under the so-called Dodd-Frank Act, which created the agency in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008.
Republicans in Congress have opposed the very concept of the agency as a symbol of unneeded new regulation, and its creation – as well as the appointment of its first director – have served as focal points for the GOP leadership’s criticism of President Obama and his policies.
The move Thursday, therefore, represents a chance for the CFPB, under director Richard Cordray, to define its image as a responsible guardian of consumers in the arena of banking and borrowing.
Its message seems to be: We're on the case, but we're not the overzealous bureaucrats that you've been told to fear.
Mr. Cordray is choosing his first action to target an area of finance where consumers have many complaints.
The proposed supervision will cover debt-collection firms that have at least $10 million in annual revenues, or about 175 firms accounting for 63 percent of the industry. It would also mean new supervision of credit reporting firms such as Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
Of course, "not overzealous" is in the eye of the beholder. Cordray pledged that this was the first in a series of new consumer protection efforts, and critics argue that the agency could end up dampening innovation and activity in a vital industry that's already under strain, due to recession-related defaults by borrowers.
Cordray was recently installed in his position through a controversial appointment made by Mr. Obama during a congressional recess, which bypassed the Senate confirmation process.
For Obama, the agency and its new move fit with his populist theme of leveling America's economic playing field, so that bankers and financial firms play "by the same rules" as people on Main Street.
Cordray laid out the rationale for the new oversight in a statement Thursday.
“Consumer financial products and services have become more complex over the years and they have expanded well beyond traditional banks,” he said. “Our proposed rule would mean that those debt collectors and credit reporting agencies that qualify as larger participants are subject to the same supervision process that we apply to the banks. This oversight would help restore confidence that the federal government is standing beside the American consumer.”
The Dodd-Frank law, which some Republican presidential candidates say should be repealed, called for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be created, and for it to have authority to supervise nonbank firms in the specific markets: residential mortgage, payday lending, and private education lending. In other nonbank markets for retail finance the CFPB has the authority to supervise “larger participants,” if it defines those participants by July 21 of this year.
The plan to supervise debt collectors and credit-rating firms is timed to meet that deadline (after a 60-day comment period).
About 30 million Americans have debt under collection, the CFPB says, with an average amount under collection of $1,400.
Cordray said that debt collectors have more complaints lodged against them by consumers than any other industry according to a database maintained by the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC has in the past pursued cases on behalf of consumers against debt collection firms. But that agency doesn't officially supervise the industry, examining records for potential violations of law the way the CFPB intends to do.
Now the CFPB and trade commission have agreed to coordinate oversight of markets where they both have jurisdiction.
Debt collectors do not use a single business model. Some try to get money from delinquent customers for a fee, while others buy customers' debt from lenders and then try to recover what is owed.
Some debt collectors have recently run into trouble with federal regulators.
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Last month a division of Asset Acceptance Capital agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty as part of a settlement with the FTC and Justice Department over charges that it used deceptive collection practices.
Material from Reuters was used in this story.AMD’s RX 480 is now beginning to hit US stores. In quantities that are allegedly more than 20 times larger than GTX 1080 shipments at launch. We’ve reported a couple of days ago that the supply for AMD’s RX 480 graphics card is “strong” according to several of our industry sources. And that the RX 480 will be in-stock in substantial numbers at launch.
The photo you see at the top of the article was taken by reddit user sirbeers. It’s of a brand new Gigabyte RX 480 8GB shipment that has just hit a Microcenter branch in Baltimore. We’ve seen several RX 480 shipments arrive to retailers in various parts of Asia and Europe over the past few days. However, this is one of the very first that we have seen hit a US store.
Some retailers don’t receive any release date guidelines and will stock the cards as soon as the shipments arrive at the door. We’ve seen this happen with the Radeon 300 series launch. A lucky few got to leave with their brand new 300 series card well before its official launch date. We could see a repeat of that, especially that we’re seeing RX 480 shipments arriving so early before the June 29 launch date.
AMD RX 480 Shipments Hit US Stores, Supply 25x Larger Than GTX 1080 At Launch
Interestingly, yesterday a Microcenter branch in Overland Park Kansas revealed to a customer that they’re receiving a shipment of 100 RX 480 cards on the 28th of June. That’s exactly 25 times as many GTX 1080 cards the same branch had at launch, which was only four. We called the branch & confirmed. We were also told that their stock of GTX 1080 cards is currently limited to one per customer due to limited supply.
The RX 400 include the RX 470 and RX 460 in both 8/4GB & 4/2GB variants. How many of each of those will be available at launch is still unconfirmed. However if the numbers above are anything to go by then it’s safe to say that it’s going to be a lot of cards.
One thing that we’ve managed to confirm is that all RX 400 series cards at launch will be reference designs. Although, custom AIB partner models will be available shortly afterwards. Speaking of which, Powercolor has just launched a giveaway for a yet unannounced card they’re launching. The giveaway is part of a teaser involving the company’s new “Devil” graphics card.
Powercolor’s Devil series has always been the comapny’s highest-end single GPU offerings. They have traditionally bore the highest clock speeds and the company’s best cooling solutions. What’s interesting is that the giveaway ends on July 11. Which could be a hint at when we could expect to see the new Devil RX 480 graphics card come out.
As the RX 400 series launch grows nearer, we’ve been seeing more and more leaks surface to the web. Including gaming & 3DMark performance benchmarks, overclocking, noise, power & thermal testing. So stay tuned as we bring you the latest.
AMD RX 400 Series Specifications
Graphics Card Name AMD Radeon RX 480 AMD Radeon RX 470 AMD Radeon RX 460 Graphics Core Polaris 10 XT Polaris 10 Pro Polaris 11 Process Node 14nm FinFET 14nm FinFET 14nm FinFET Boost Clock 1266Mhz 1206Mhz 1200Mhz Peak Compute 5.83 TFLOPs 4.9 TFLOPs 2.2 TFLOPs Memory 4/8 GB GDDR5 4/8 GB GDDR5 2/4 GB GDDR5 Memory Interface 256-bit 256-bit 128-bit Memory Speed 8 GHz 6.6 GHz 7 GHz Memory Bandwidth 256 GB/s 211 GB/s 112 GB/s Power 150W 120W 75W MSRP $199 (4 GB)
$239 (8 GB) $179 (4 GB)
$109 (2 GB)Originally published Monday, August 20, 2012 at 9:58 AM
In one part of Austria, the hills are again alive with a particular sound of music — yodeling. The Alpine country has inaugurated...
VIENNA — In one part of Austria, the hills are again alive with a particular sound of music — yodeling.
The Alpine country has inaugurated a new hikers' path where participants are invited to let loose with an occasional melodic mountain yell.
Organizers say it's push-button easy: at rest stops along the way, hikers press a knob and hear a recorded yodel in two-part harmony. They can also listen to each part separately and decide which one to try.
Local yodeler and hotel owner Christian Eder came up with the idea. He told state broadcaster ORF Monday that it is an attempt "to get people to loosen up a bit with a simple yodel."– August 5, 2014
What would you give for the chance to be literally the best you could possibly be for, say, 24 hours? If you could perform at peak levels for a full day? Go from a novice to an expert? Run faster, shoot straighter, think quicker. You could be brilliant…for one full day.
Would you do it?
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the functional capacity of the brain. Thanks to movies like Lucy (based on an incorrect premise that most humans only use ten percent of our brains, which would make us all vegetables), many people are speculating about the great wonder that is the human mind.
But in spite of all that ScarJo serious-faced fiction, there actually is some truth to the speculation that our brain power could be, well, more.
Dr. Mike Weisend is a senior research scientist at the Wright State Research Institute in Beavercreek, Ohio. He’s a neuroscientist who worked on developing something called neuroimaging-guided transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS.
Basically, it’s a device that uses electricity to stimulate your brain in all the right places.
tDCS works by passing a small current using twenty-two electrodes placed on your body (with at least one on your head). The idea here is that, because your brain runs on electricity passing the electrical current through, the tDCS should change the way the brain works, allowing you to affect behavior.
What Dr. Weisend and his team did in particular was to (literally and figuratively) enhance that process.
“We came up with a map of the brain which showed all the brains of people who are performing at expert levels differ from the people performing at novice levels,” Dr. Weisend explains. “Then we made a mathematical model of the head (based on a MRI) and used that mathematical model to help us position electrodes to essentially jump start the piece of the brain that would aid the transition from novice to expert.”
The possibilities of this are incredible, but that’s not to say it doesn’t come with a few (albeit reasonable) limitations. For example, you won’t be able to plug yourself into the Matrix become an expert in Kung-Fu.
“It is not downloaded information,” Dr. Weisend says. “It’s an enhancement of your natural ability.”
Could you imagine being able to walk into the first day of cooking class and walk out a professional chef? Or be able to go from the first day of flight school to nailing landings by the afternoon? We could see some serious savings in the way of student loans, here.
Interestingly, brain stimulation is nothing new. Not by a long shot.
Transcranial direct current stimulation has been around for over one hundred years. The original basic design used direct current (DC) to stimulate areas of interest in the brain during the 1700s and 1800s.
What Dr. Weisend and his team did was invent the way tDCS is applied using their neuroimaging-guided system. They put a new steering wheel on the engine of the old-fashioned brain ship and gave it a tune-up.
Dr. Weisend and his team see both short and long term benefits to this system, some of which are more surprising (and beneficial) than you might think.
“A possible goal I hope to be able to affect in the short term is to apply this to normal control for healthy, normal people who are inhibited – by either their circumstances or employment or whatever – and enable them to perform in a way that reduces their stress, reduces their errors, and allows them to go home at night with a smile on their face.”
Instead of going home all stressed out and feeling like you didn’t get done what you needed to do (we’ve all been there), a quick trip to the neuroimaging-guided booth could send you home feeling encouraged and productive. Kinda like yoga, only less stretching and more…electricity.
The first application, he tells me, is designed to support the military. Being able to provide service members with a sense of calm and collectiveness could have more than a few benefits, and it’s something that Dr. Weisend values on a personal level.
“If there is something that I can do to make that time [e.g. deployment] less stressful and more effective, I would love to do it.”
There is a fairly well-documented phenomenon, Dr. Weisend explains, where an image analyst for the military (for example) is on the job every day, watching anything from mundane events to awful circumstances. Then they have to jump in their car, go pick up the kids from school, go take their kids to soccer practice and be a normal, healthy human being.
That is not always the easiest transition to make.
“If we could help [service members] to be more effective in their job, either by helping them to get through more data or making the attention-paying less taxing, then I am happy to do that,” Dr. Weisend says.
The other goal, and perhaps where a large group of people stand to benefit the most, is to help folks with emotional, mental, or psychological issues to find their “normal” once again.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, in conjunction with the VA in Texas and the Women’s Hospital in Boston, are collaborating with Dr. Weisend and his team to use their tDCS system on service members who are struggling to live with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
“The way we approach it is not just simply hoping behavior changes,” Dr. Wesiend says. “What we do is we figure out what the most important thing to change is so that we can effect a person’s life in a positive way. For example, people with PTSD tell me they have terribly disrupted sleep. Traumatic brain injury sufferers may have a completely different problem. It’s like thinking of different disorders as having their own personalities.”
So let’s say you go through the (approximately) twenty-minute brain stimulation procedure. How long will the enhanced human power last? Dr. Weisend says right now the effects last for about 24 hours, putting a bit of a fairy tale “stroke of midnight” spin on things. However, unlike a fairy godmother, you get more than one chance to shine. Theoretically, this system could be implemented numerous times to the same subject and achieve equal results.
One of the most impressive and beneficial things about this technology is the ability to transport it. Especially in the field, where on-the-go tech is sometimes a necessity.
“One of the reasons I really like tDCS over other brain stimulation methods is because it is small,” he says. “The tDCS is basically a battery with a current control. You could run the thing for days on your iPhone. That is how small the current is.”
Want one of these for yourself? You’re not alone. There is an emerging trend among the science experiment avante-guarde by way of creating and using homemade tCDS machines. These makeshift brain stimulators may sound like a money-saving genius maker, but don’t be fooled.
“To do it yourself, tDCS is a dangerous game,” Dr. Weisend cautions. “You have to be very careful with it.”
Dr. Weisend tells me his research doesn’t stop with neuroimaging stimulation. He is also working on a project to measure the brain’s capacity. That is, how capable you really are (because not everyone can be a rocket scientist). He has plans to create a system to screen people for aptitudes using brain chemistry. For the military, he says this could replace the ASVAB.
Consider the possibilities…
Could brilliant-boosting brain devices really be the future? Tell us what you think in the comments!
———-
Jessica L. Tozer is the editor and blogger for Armed with Science. She is an Army veteran and an avid science fiction fan, both of which contribute to her enthusiasm for science and technology in the military.
Follow Armed with Science on Facebook and Twitter!
———-
Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DOD website.Few have managed to make better use of the Open Source model than Mozilla, and we recently saw some very impressive numbers on how much of the work on Firefox and other Mozilla products is done by volunteers compared to its internal staff (emphasis in the quote below added by us).
Even as Mozilla’s internal staff has grown to 250, from 15 in 2005, an army of volunteers still contributes about 40% of the company’s work, which ranges from tweaks to the programming code to designing the Firefox logo.
Since we are a naturally curious bunch here at Pingdom, we had to ask ourselves how much the time that these volunteers contribute is actually worth in terms of money.
Doing the math
If 40% of the work is done by volunteers and Mozilla’s internal workforce consists of 250 people, those 250 people do 60% of the work. The equation we get from this is 0.60x = 250 (x being the paid AND unpaid workforce), which if we solve it gives us that Mozilla’s effective workforce is the equivalent of 417 full-time employees if you count in the work done by volunteers as well. This should mean that the volunteers do roughly as much work as 167 full-time employees (40% of 417 people).
That’s millions of dollars in man hours every year that Mozilla benefits from. We’re of course just playing with numbers here, but it’s interesting to have some form of estimate of what all this free time is worth financially.
(Just to be clear, a lot more than 167 people will be contributing. We’re talking about the EQUIVALENT of 167 full-time employees in terms of work put in.)
Open source love
There can be no doubt that Mozilla has managed to tap into that special current that makes open source development very different from its closed source counterparts. People not only CAN join in, they WANT to.
Making it easy to join in is of course important, so Mozilla has made it very easy for people to help out with everything from coding to bug testing, and there’s even a marketing community for Mozilla software.
It would be interesting to see some numbers for other similar open source companies. Apparently Mozilla’s volunteer rate is unusually high.‘How Money Got Free’: Brian Patrick Eha Puts Bitcoin on Your Bookshelf
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Journalist Brian Patrick Eha’s book, How Money Got Free: Bitcoin and the Fight for the Future of Finance, is a history not of Bitcoin itself, but of the emergence and growth of the Bitcoin economy.
Also read: Bitcoin Price Laughs at Predictions, Could Go Even Higher
From Ver to Silbert: Following Bitcoin’s Transition from Political Weapon to VC Dream
Following the stories of the technology’s foundational entrepreneurs — Roger “Bitcoin Jesus” Ver, former BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem, former Blockchain CEO Nic Cary, and Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert — Eha traces the evolution of Bitcoin’s users, its businesses, and the worldviews carried by them.
Each of these men represent a stage in Bitcoin’s life — from its anarchistic birth to the most recent state of its financial maturity.
Where Roger Ver represents the dream of a Bitcoin-based political revolution, Nic Cary represents the dream of a humanitarian revolution. At the other end of the spectrum, Barry Silbert marks Bitcoin’s emergence into the mainstream, tapping into venture capital and Wall Street expertise to build a multi-million dollar Bitcoin empire.
And in the middle stands Shrem, representing a sort of halfway mark in Bitcoin’s history. Bridging the gap between the radical visions of Ver and Cary and the financial ambition of Silbert, Shrem encapsulates the young idealist who accidentally stumbled upon a gold mine, throwing himself into an unfamiliar world of business.
Then, Shrem’s conviction and prison sentence signaled a transition in itself, a passing of the proverbial torch from the idealistic, amateurish entrepreneurs to the big league professionals.
Bitcoin History in High-Definition
Starting with Ver’s discovery of bitcoin in 2011, Eha follows the technology’s story from its esoteric political roots and ends with Shrem’s release from prison, where he emerged into a brave new world of Bitcoin startup culture, funded by mainstream venture capital.
To the seasoned Bitcoiner, the initial presentation of this timeline may seem unappealing. Essentially rehashing what all Bitcoin fanatics already know, Eha hits on the major points in Bitcoin’s short life: Ver’s evangelism, Mt. Gox’s collapse, Shrem’s arrest, and Silbert’s rise to Bitcoin royalty.
However, Eha presents this well-known timeline in explicit detail, retelling anecdotes from the book’s main subjects and capturing their personal reminiscence. If you knew a lot about these guys and their adventures before, reading How Money Got Free will make you feel like Ver, Shrem, Cary and Silbert are old friends.
This intimate knowledge of Bitcoin’s biggest milestones, shaded and textured by personal insight from the industry’s earliest leaders, sets this book up as a perfect starting point for someone wanting to immerse themselves in Bitcoin culture.
Even more beginner-friendly is the lack of technical details and jargon that is so often overused by Bitcoiners trying to get their non-savvy friends hyped up about the technology. Instead, the book puts Bitcoin’s technical aspects in the simplest terms, and focuses on its business applications and the people who propelled them into the mainstream.
By showing the uninitiated what Bitcoin has already been used for, and pointing out its remaining potential, Eha gives the new Bitcoiner a starting point that inherently makes more sense. Instead of droning out notes on computer science and bitcoin mining, Eha makes Bitcoin feel more “real.”
History or Rhetoric?
A sticking point for the newbies, though, may come in the form of Eha’s rhetoric early on in the book. In chapters 1 and 2 specifically, when examining the anarcho-libertarian ideologies of Ver and his cypherpunk predecessors, the author blurs the line between academic presentation and rhetorical cheerleading.
In a few places, when explaining Ver’s anarchist beliefs, Eha seems to throw in his support for those ideas as well, as if he wants to convince the reader to essentially become a libertarian, and read the rest of the book from that perspective.
While Eha quickly reestablishes that barrier between observation and cheerleading in the proceeding chapters, the seeming fanfare for anarchy early on may shock readers unfamiliar with the story of Bitcoin. Depending on the reader’s stomach for culture shock, that little bit of enthusiastic anarchism may put them off from the rest of the book.
And so, How Money Got Free runs the risk of putting itself in a limbo. The historical subject matter might be unappealing to the seasoned Bitcoiner who doesn’t appreciate the details. On the other hand, the “in-your-face” presentation of the radical political philosophies — and the possibility of the author’s support for them — might deter Bitcoin newbies, even though the other 98% of the book would be perfect reading material for them.
A Must-Read
Though he teeters on the perilous cliff of alienating himself from both groups, Eha somehow managed to find the ideological and informational sweet spot with this book.
The ideology, though abundant and shocking at first, soon gives way to stories of personal and entrepreneurial perseverance relatable to everyone. And while this story is already known to the veterans, it’s written in the way that makes it feel more like a hybrid between a business and techno thriller than a history book. Even though I’ve read about this stuff a thousand times, Eha made me connect with the stories on a different level. You aren’t just reading dry historical facts, the history is playing out in your mind through Eha’s captivating storytelling.
Thus, despite the different perspectives you can take when reading this book, the answer to the question of “to buy or not to buy” is the same across the board. By reading this book, veterans will learn more than they expected, and the fresh blood will be introduced to the crypto-revolution in a very digestible way. How Money Got Free: Bitcoin and the Fight for the Future of Finance is a must read for both Bitcoin old heads and the uninitiated alike.
In closing, a quote from the book that captures its essence, and distills the story told in 450 pages to a couple sentences:
“Like the oil boom, the rise of Bitcoin a century later made overnight millionaires of average men. But then serious operators moved in: major angel investors, financial firms interested in the digital currency as a new type of asset, top venture capitalists who recognized Bitcoin as a revolutionary technology, and finally trillion-dollar banks, which saw an innovation they could learn and take ideas from.”
Brian Patrick Eha’s ‘How Money Got Free: Bitcoin and the Fight for the Future of Finance’ goes on sale May 9, 2017.
Images via Pixabay, OneWorld Publications
Flip Share Pin 25 SharesWhen the New Year rolls around, we often think of what’s new. New goals. New opportunities. New chances. New journeys. But when that clock flips to midnight, when those fireworks explode into the cool, dark air, even if we have that refreshing sense of newness, it can sometimes be difficult to move towards and stick with it.
You see, sometimes we get too caught up within the novelty of the new that we forget to leave behind what might hold us back. Sometimes we need to throw something away before we can acquire something new.
We asked you what you’re going to throw away this year and here is some of what was said.
Insecurities.
Doubt.
Silence.
Confusion.
Fear.
There are probably many same and different responses we could come up with. What it shows is what is holding us back from the new. Even if you can’t throw that all away in one shot or with one tick of the clock, let new years be the starting point.
Let it be the first time of many when you say “I can” instead of “I can’t.” Let it be the first step towards positivity and finding whatever it is you need.
Throw away the old, but keep their lessons close as you move forward because there is always a takeaway. All the rest of it though—the negative, the burdens, the pain—throw it away.
Throw it away and work towards something new.We’ve seen many attempts to recreate Wolverine’s claws, but these 3D printed and Arduino controlled versions, which work off of muscle control, may be the best ones yet.
Initially created at Pixels Camp 2016, the project dubbed “Wolverino” used the littleBits and BITalino platforms. The claws themselves are housed in boxes which sit on top of the wearer’s forearms, and a large, motorised linkage pushes them forwards.
The clever part is a BITalino EMG Sensor which can measure muscle activity. Squeezing your fists will force the claws out, and doing it a second time retracts them.
After taking second at the show, another version of Wolverino was created to use Arduino, in an attempt to create as simpler, lower cost version of the project.
Based on an Arduino Nano, this version uses a force-sensitive resistor in place of the EMG sensor. One of the creators of the project, Hugo Silva, states that this setup is more “temperamental”.
We assume this means that the claws have a tendency to pop out unexpectedly. This is less of a worry when they’re made out of plastic, we reckon.
If you’d like to try your hand at making your own version of this project, you can find a guide over on Instructables.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
A POLICE chief stands accused of misleading MSPs over his force’s hunt for Sunday Mail sources.
Acting Deputy Chief Constable Ruaraidh Nicolson’s testimony to Holyrood’s Justice Committee is under scrutiny after we obtained internal emails undermining his evidence.
Despite his repeated denials to MSPs, the emails reveal officers were given specific warnings that seizing phone data to find the source of our stories would be illegal but went ahead anyway.
One committee member said: “This is of concern. It must be investigated.”
Secret emails have revealed how senior officers behind the spying operation to find Sunday Mail sources were repeatedly warned they would be acting illegally.
Emails in a confidential report by watchdogs detail how chiefs were explicitly told they needed a judge’s approval to seize phone data of Mail reporters, suspected sources or intermediaries but did it anyway.
Their attempts to access landline and mobile phone information from two serving officers and two former officers were later ruled unlawful and reckless by the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office (IOCCO).
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal are now considering complaints from three of the four targets.
The previously confidential report by IOCCO confirms senior officers ordered the inquiry to find our sources at a meeting on April 7, 2015 – two days after we revealed a forgotten suspect in the murder investigation into the death of Emma Caldwell 10 years earlier.
Police chiefs, who remain unidentified, met on the Tuesday after our reports – the Monday was a bank holiday – but did not reopen the murder inquiry for another seven weeks and only then because they were ordered to by the Lord Advocate.
Today’s revelations have provoked new criticism of their rush to launch a molehunt instead of a manhunt.
They also raise serious questions about the evidence given by Acting Deputy Chief Constable
Ruaraidh Nicolson to Holyrood’s Justice Committee when he insisted no specific warnings had been given to suggest the spying operation would be unlawful.
Five applications – involving two serving officers and two former officers – were authorised covering nine “subscriber datasets”, thought to refer to mobile phones or landlines, and 32 days’ worth of communications.
Detective Superintendent David Donaldson, who authorised three of the five unlawful applications,
was clearly warned they could be unlawful after changes to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). These are meant to protect journalistic sources by demanding judicial approval before police can seize their communications data.
In a series of phone calls and emails on April 16, 2015, he had asked for guidance on applications relating to the Sunday Mail reports that revealed the forgotten suspect and exposed other serious concerns about the running of the inquiry. One of the proposed applications would cover the billing data of a reporter’s phone. It was intended to establish a mobile number for an alleged source of our stories. Data from that number would have then been used to try to find others.
But Donaldson was told by specialist officers, trained in RIPA legislation, that without judicial approval the applications would breach new regulations.
One email from a senior staff member in the Communications Intelligence Unit, whose name has been blacked out in the partially redacted emails, states the application breaches all three elements of the new regulations making it harder to seize communications data while trying to identify sources.
These include a journalist’s communications, those of suspected sources and those of suspected
intermediaries.
It said: “Hi Sir, I think in all the circumstances this would be construed as determining a journalistic source, in fact, in this set of circumstances, it ticks all three boxes…”
Detective Chief Superintendent Clark Cuzen, head of the Counter Corruption Unit (CCU) ordered to find our sources, was also warned to take great care.
In an email on the same day, Detective Superintendent Brenda Smith, who was in charge of ensuring officers were aware of the new regulations, told him: “I understand some discussions have taken place with Davie Donaldson, re an ongoing enquiry where you intend to seek traffic data on a journalist’s phone even though you know the identity of the source? I would suggest this falls into the category of requiring judicial authorisation.”
It is not thought that the application to grab data from the reporter was authorised but another five applications relating to our stories were approved.
In his report, Sir Stanley Burnton, the Interception of Communications Commissioner, noted: “I consider it extremely significant that Detective Superintendent Donaldson had, during his determination of these applications, been given clear and accurate advice i.e. that the acquisition of the data required judicial approval.
“Despite receiving that advice, it was not referred to in any of the three subsequent applications considered by Det Supt Donaldson, nor is it apparent that he sought to follow that advice…He appears to have closed his mind to the obvious risks.”
Detective Inspector Joanne Grant, who authorised the other two applications trying to identify our sources, was also criticised for failing to realise the regulations had changed and not knowing she could only approve the applications if she was not involved in the investigation.
Sir Stanley said: “I am particularly concerned by her lack of consideration of the key issues in this case.”
He also slated the “poor state of affairs” in the CCU where officers charged with advising colleagues on how to apply the new regulations had not been trained in them.
The commissioner concludes the human rights of the four men were breached, adding: “The articles
published in the Sunday Mail contain matters of significant public interest, reporting on alleged deficiencies in a murder investigation.
“This makes violation of Article 10 ECHR [the right to freedom of expression under the European
Convention on Human Rights] ever more serious.”
He said the investigation would help deter other potential sources from talking to journalists about stories in the public interest.
Holyrood’s Justice Committee launched an inquiry after a summary of the IOCCO report findings were issued, revealing Police Scotland had breached the new regulations but had been “reckless” not “wilful”, which would have been a deliberate breach and far more serious.
Senior officers, including then Deputy Chief Constable Neil Richardson, gave evidence but the committee were criticised for failing to establish who, specifically, had ordered the molehunt.
Richardson retired on Friday after failing to be appointed as successor to Chief Constable Sir Stephen House, a failure some sources link to the CCU, which he led, and their unlawful hunt for our sources.
Giving evidence in December, he blamed the “aggressive pace” at which the new regulations were introduced for officers failing to be trained properly. He said Donaldson, who has also now retired, had made a simple “error of judgment”.
At a hearing on January 12, then Assistant Chief Constable Nicolson told the committee he had spoken to all the officers involved while carrying out an internal inquiry into the breaches.
But in his evidence, he repeatedly insisted any warnings given before the Sunday Mail-related applications were approved had been general.
And he repeatedly denied there were specific warnings despite having seen the trail of emails. When asked the specific question – were officers warned in writing that the applications would be unlawful? – he said: “There was discussion that this kind of application may indeed require judicial approval. There is communication in terms of that but not specifically about the applications we’re talking about.”
ACC Nicolson gave evidence at the committee after the force refused to allow other officers involved in the unlawful applications to give evidence.He denied specific warnings were given about the legality of the applications in response to questioning by John Finnie MSP, a former police officer.
Yesterday, Finnie, who is to return to Holy |
But the CDC did only recommend the injectable forms of the vaccine this year, since concerns over its effectiveness spread last year.
The last wide-scale public health concern over flu strains occurred in 2009, when epidemiologists recognized the new influenza A H1N1 strain was much different than the other strains circulating at the time. The CDC later reported the new germ killed between 150,000 and 500,000 globally over the first year of its spread. It was the first official influenza pandemic in 40 years.
However, that pandemic was much milder than many other previous worldwide outbreaks. The “Spanish Influenza” which reached pandemic status as World War I was drawing to a close in 1918 would eventually kill between 20 and 40 million people, depending on different estimates.Portland-based musical enigmasAGALLOCH have checked in with the following update:
"We will be touring Europe this spring in support of Faustian Echoes and we will be playing nearly two hours each night, including Faustian Echoes in it's entirety. Our support act will be confirmed shortly."
Dates on the Lucifer Over Europe tour are as follows:
April
21 - Berlin, Germany - K1722 - Aalter, Belgium - Kadans23 - Nantes, France - Le Ferrailleur24 - Bilbao, Spain - Sala Rockstar25 - Barroselas, Poland - SWR Fest26 - Madrid, Spain - Sala Caracol27 - Barcelona, Spain - Sala Apolo 228 - Luynes, France - Le Korigan30 - Stuttgart, Germany - Club Zentral
May
1 - Leipzig, Germany - Moritzbastei2 - Wroclaw, Poland - Asymmetry Fest3 - Vilnius, Lithuania - New York Club4 - Tallinn, Estonia Tapper5 - Tampere, Finland - Klubi6 - Helsinki, Finland - Korjaamo7 - Oulu, Finland - Nuclear Nightclub8 - Umea, Sweden - Scharinska Villan9 - Trondheim, Norway - Familien10 - Oslo, Norway - Parkteatret11 - Göteborg, Sweden - Sticky Fingers12 - Arnhem, Netherlands - Willemeen13 - Köln, Germany - Werkstatt14 - München, Germany - Backstage15 - Nova Gorica, Solvakia - Mostovna16 - Roma, Italy - Traffic Club17 - Travagliato, Italy - Circolo Colony18 - Vienna, Austria - Viper Room19 - Ostrava, Czech Republic - BarrakShare This Article:
A 54-year-old biotech worker was behind bars Wednesday for allegedly opening fire on a fellow employee, severely wounding him, at their Carmel Mountain Ranch workplace.
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Julio Riel Narvaez III allegedly took aim at his co-worker in a warehouse at the offices of Phamatech Inc. in the 15100 block of Innovation Drive about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to San Diego police.
Officers responding to the shooting arrived to find the 37-year-old employee of the drug-testing and laboratory-services business suffering from a bullet wound to the head and Narvaez being held down on the floor by other workers, Lt. Charles Lara said.
Medics took the victim, who was conscious and able to speak, to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where he was admitted in critical condition.
The status of the wounded man, whose name was withheld, was unchanged as of Wednesday morning, SDPD public-information Officer Billy Hernandez said.
It was unclear exactly what prompted the violence between the two co- workers.
“This appears to be a case of workplace violence, some manner of interpersonal issue between the shooter and the victim,” Lara told reporters.
Following the gunfire, the suspected shooter went to a different area of the building, the lieutenant said. There, another employee watched as Narvaez approached a human-resources office and someone inside it slammed the door on him.
“At that point, that employee, as he put it, put a move on (Narvaez) and took him to the ground,” the lieutenant said. “And I think only then did he discover (the suspect) was actually armed with a handgun. … Some other employee kicked the firearm away, and when we arrived, (Narvaez) was zip-tied and being held to the ground.”
Narvaez was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of attempted murder. He was being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Phamatech officials declined a request for comment about the workplace violence at their plant near Rancho Bernardo.
—City News Service
Biotech Worker Accused of Opening Fire on Colleague in Carmel Mountain Ranch was last modified: by
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Follow Us:“In Egypt, fossil fuels account for 94% of all energy. There is therefore a great need for innovative energy solutions to reduce carbon emissions that can also be used in rural communities which do not always have electricity”, says architectural researcher Marwa Dabaieh who divides her time between Lund University and the British University in Egypt.
The vented Trombe wall is an old, yet still popular passive construction technique that hardly requires any energy. Marwa Dabaieh has continued to develop this technique so that it can be used for not only building heating, but also cooling - providing a comfortable indoor temperature all year around.
“The new design uses renewable wind and solar energy to generate cooling and heating in buildings. The adjustments have also eliminated the original Trombe wall problem with overheating, which in turn has drastically reduced the total energy consumption and carbon emissions”, says Marwa Dabaieh.
Watch short interview with researcher Marwa Dabaieh
Video of Adapted Trombe wall now used for heating and cooling using renewable energy sources
The new design has taken the aesthetic aspects of the Trombe wall into account, so that it can be integrated into modern buildings and become an attractive architectural element. The materials used to build the wall are local stone, wood and wool, as well as locally produced glass.
“Locals have been involved in every step of the process, so that they can easily build the Trombe wall themselves or show others how to construct one. Local construction could also help create new opportunities for young and unemployed people”, says Marwa Dabaieh.
The villagers in Saint Catherine who have installed the Trombe wall have experienced a nicer indoor temperature, and several people have expressed a desire to have the new ventilation system installed; something Marwa Dabaieh sees as positive sign.
This passive ventilation system could be key for a sustainable future.
“In order to overcome future environmental challenges, we must invest in passive, low-cost systems that require almost no energy from fossil fuels. The vented Trombe wall has a great potential for meeting the steadily increasing energy demands without increasing carbon emissions”, says Marwa Dabaieh.
Download article: Ventilated Trombe wall as a passive solar heating and cooling retrofitting approach; a low-tech design for off-grid settlements in semi-arid climates. By Marwa Dabaieh and Ahmed Elbably (2015). Solar Energy
Learn more, contact:
Researcher Marwa Dabaieh
Lund University, Faculty of Engineering (LTH)
Phone: 002 0122 3765 441
Email: marwa [dot] dabaieh [at] arkitektur [dot] lth [dot] seSince 2003 Kris Myers has been the drummer for Umphrey’s McGee, who’ve been a staple on the Jam Band Scene for more than 2 decades. Although he fits the band like a glove, this isn’t the career path that Kris originally envisioned for himself. Originally focused on being a studio/local drummer and avoiding the road, Myers found himself landing a gig with a band who is constantly touring – a position that he gladly accepted and is now considered one of the best “Jam Band” drummers in the world, a title he earned in the 2011 Drum! Magazine reader’s poll.
Kris Myers talks about:
His early years / getting into drumming
Life as a Jazz drummer
Original plans for his career
Landing the Umphrey’s McGee gig
His approach to learning a huge song list in a short amount of time
How he learned the improvisational language of the band
The ups and downs of being on the road
Much more
Resources / People / Links mentioned:
Kris Myers plays:
Pearl Drums
Evans Drumheads
Vic Firth
Zildjian Cymbals
Humes and Berg
Drummer’s Resource Podcast is free thanks to support from:
DW Drums: I’ve been playing DW for years…not only because they make high-quality, handcrafted drums but because they support and foster drumming initiatives all over the wold, much like this podcast. I’m thrilled to announce that DW has signed on to support Drummer’s Reosource for 2016! Be sure to check them out today at DWDrums.com.
Musicians Institute: Musicians Institute (MI) is the official education partner of Drummer’s Resource. Located in the heart of Hollywood, CA, (where they’ve been since 1977) MI boats world class faculty, recording studios, curriculum and events for the aspiring musician. MI offers a chance to learn everything you need to create a successful music career by showing you how to get not only your drumming chops together but also your business and tech chops together too. Learn more at MI.eduWhen KellyAnne Kitchin began home schooling her three sons three years ago, she had difficulty finding curriculum programs that fit her atheist and humanist beliefs.
So Kitchin, 33, cobbled together what she could. She left out one geography textbook’s description of the earth as God’s creation and another’s disdain for Darwin, and substituted her own point of view  — that no supernatural powers guide human beings, who alone have the power to improve the world.
She also found many online forums for home-schoolers were unwelcoming. Some had statements  faith members needed to agree to. On others she was made to feel unwelcome because of her lack of beliefs.
So Kitchin has formed an online group of like-minded home-schoolers from across the country. She hopes to create a lending library of resources that humanist, atheist and other nonbelieving home-schoolers can use with confidence.
“I found out there were a lot of people who were in the same boat I was in and did not know how to come out and have a community,” said Kitchin, of Winchester, Va. “I am hoping we come up with a big place and have some resources and some support.”
While two-thirds of home schooling families are Christian evangelicals, the number of secular home-schoolers is significant —25 percent, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.
What’s more, the number home-schooled children is rising — from 850,000 in 1999 to 1.5 million in 2007, according to The National Center for Education Statistics. Some national home-school organizations put the number higher, at more than 2 million.
And while no one tracks how many identify as atheists or humanists, this latter group may be reaching a kind of critical mass where they are able to organize in communities, both virtual and physical.
Unlike Christians, who cite religious reasons for home schooling, secular parents say they are motivated out of frustration with the poor quality of their local public schools.
“With schools now there is so much pressure to perform,” said Ute Mitchell, a humanist in Portland, Ore., who  began home-schooling her three children seven years ago.. “They are teaching to the tests, there is the bullying and drugs and the guns. It is kind of endless. Home schooling seemed like a no-brainer to us.”
In 2002, Mitchell helped found Village Home, a community of Portland-area home-schoolers that has grown to 450 families and holds some classes in a local church building. Some member families are humanist, while others are Christian and Jewish, Mitchell said. All are committed to a secular education.
Amy Wilson, who home-schools her son and daughter, is on the board of the Organization of Virginia Home Schoolers, an inclusive community of home-schoolers with members who are Christian, Muslim, Jewish and atheist, like her. She said that kind of diversity has been a plus.
“I am less judgmental about religion because in home schooling I have met so many religious people who are accepting of me,” Wilson said.
Many nonbelieving home-schoolers do not avoid religion altogether but teach its history and philosophies.
“It is not that we don’t want out children exposed to that, we do,” Kitchin said. “We just come at it from a different angle. We say it is mythology, we use critical thinking and analyze those religions.”
Still, finding curricula and materials has sometimes been a challenge, Kitchin said. Most American publishers, aware of the large Christian home-school market — up to $650 annually, according to some estimates — tailor their materials accordingly. In their science books, evolution is a bad word.
Kitchin has purchased texts from as far away as Germany, England and France. With three sons, ages 5, 8 and 12, with different interests and different levels of learning, all those textbooks can be pricey.
“That is the biggest challenge — finding something that is affordable, current and not religious,” Kitchin said.
So Kitchen has teamed up with Jennifer Scott, a self-described “non-Wiccan pagan” home schooling blogger and mother in Minnesota, to establish a kind of lending library and support network for nontheistic home-schoolers.
Through an online fundraising campaign, they received donations of both cash and materials for their library. On their wish list: secular Latin, science and math resources.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to help a lot of people come fall,” Kitchin said.
Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Religion News Service LLC.Three Muslim youths have been jailed for a series of “horrendous and unprovoked” assaults against strangers who were targeted because they were white and non-Muslim, in Liverpool last year.
Amin Mohmed, Mohammed Patel and Faruq Patel launched a “campaign of violence” in Liverpool city centre in March 2016, terrifying passers by — one of whom feared the Bolton-based youths were ISIS terrorists, according to the Liverpool Echo.
Drunk, the Muslims targeted three unknown men, before 24-year-old Mohmed and 20-year-old Mohammed set upon Gary Bohanna when he revealed he was a Christian.
Asked, “What are you?”, the victim was confused at first, until one of them said “I’m a Muslim, what are you?”, to which he replied he was a Christian.
“Why aren’t you a Muslim?”, shouted Mr Bohanna’s assailant before punching him twice, breaking his glasses and causing a cut above his left eye.
The gang then came upon St Helens councillor Paul Lynch, who was punched to the ground by Mohmed with a “sickening blow” that could be “seen and heard” on footage taken by laughing Faruq Patel, as the Labour & Co-operative Party politician’s girlfriend tried to protect him.
Prosecutor Paul Treble said Muslim passerby Edris Nosrati saw the gang attacking a man at around 3.30am, telling the court: “He was concerned because one of them seemed to be using racist language, talking about Muslims and Christians.
“One of them came up to Mr Nosrati and said ‘are you a Muslim?’ Mr Nosrati said he was, but the man said ‘well, what’s the Muslim word?’”
The prosecutor said Mr Nosrati replied with a “well-known” Arabic phrase: “There is only one God, and Muhammad is a messenger.
Mr Treble said: “He said it’s a phrase often linked with ISIS.
“He was concerned as to their exact intent and that they might be associated in some way to an extremist organisation.”
Mr Nosrati was told “you can go”, but when he tried to stop them punching another man, one of the youths replied: “It’s none of your business.”
Faruq fled when Mr Nosrati called police, but the witness chased and caught him, and managed to hold on to the teenager despite receiving a blow to the eye.
When arrested, Mohammed initially denied the assaults and suggested he, Faruq and Mohmed had been racially abused by other men, but later confessed to “targeting people because they were white and non-Muslim”.
Faruq told officers that he and his friends retaliated after people called them “dirty p***”, but admitted filming “because he thought it was funny”, and described the situation as having been “a laugh”.
The judge, Recorder Louise Brandon, said: “This was a disgraceful and sustained campaign of violence carried out on the streets of this city.”
Stating that Mohmed and Mohammed’s punching and kicking of Mr Bohanna was aggravated by “hostility based on his religion”, the judge said: “References to the fact he was not a Muslim was made and you appeared to justify your actions because of certain beliefs you held.”
According to the Liverpool Echo, Mohmed cried as he was jailed for 42 weeks, and Mohammed and Faruq Patel received 42 and 18 weeks respectively in a young offenders institution.
Detective Inspector Mark Drew of Merseyside Police, said: “These were horrendous and unprovoked assaults on people who were simply going about their business in the city centre.
The issue of Islamic supremacy across cities in the Western world is addressed in the new book by Breitbart London editor-in-chief Raheem Kassam, No Go Zones: How Sharia in Coming to a Neighborhood Near You.Austin Harrouff’s attorneys say he did not know what he was doing, or did not know what he was doing was wrong, when he fatally attacked two people and attempted to kill a third person in Martin County last year, according to court documents filed today in Martin County Court.
Nellie King, one of Harrouff’s attorneys in his first-degree murder case, filed a notice of intent for an insanity defense Tuesday afternoon. Harrouff is accused of fatally stabbing John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon in the garage of their home on South Kokomo Lane along the border of Martin and Palm Beach counties on Aug. 15, 2016.
Harrouff, a Jupiter resident, also is charged with attempted first-degree murder for attacking a neighbor, Jeff Fisher, who was able to get away and called authorities. When investigators from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office arrived that night, they found then-19-year-old Harrouff biting on Stevens’ face.
"Harrouff was suffering from a full-blown psychotic episode," according to the court filing.
Hear Austin Harrouff’s telephone conversations from jail
In a statement provided late Tuesday by King, she said that her client’s mental state "squarely" fit within the definition of legal insanity.
"There is overwhelming and compelling evidence Austin was suffering acute psychosis which rendered him unable to appreciate what he was doing or the wrongfulness of his actions," King said.
Previously, Harrouff’s father, Wade, went on "The Dr. Phil Show" soon after the attacks to say his son showed signs of schizophrenia in the weeks before the attacks. Jupiter police reports show Harrouff’s mother, Mina, called police to say her son was claiming to have superpowers and that he was immortal in the days leading up to the stabbings.
Internet searches conducted by Harrouff, and released by the state attorney’s office, showed he was questioning his own sanity in the days before the attacks.
?More coverage of the Tequesta murders?
Harrouff searched questions on Google such as "How to know if you’re going crazy" and "Can we really control more than we think?" Documents also show he opened an article on the WebMD site entitled, "What ‘Am I Crazy’ Really Means." Other searches included, "hearing things in my sleep" and "obsessive thoughts."
Just before Harrouff was arrested on Oct. 3, Dr. Phil McGraw interviewed Harrouff from his hospital bed at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where he was recovering.
In the interview, Harrouff told Dr. Phil about weird dreams and voices he had heard.
"Well, I had memories of what the incident was. And I remember my feet were handcuffed to the hospital bed and there being an officer inside the room. So I knew something wasn’t right," Harrouff said in the interview. "I didn’t know if it was reality or a dream. It’s like waking up from a nightmare."
Harrouff’s attorneys argued those recordings should not be released to the public because they would bring prejudice to their client, but Judge Lawrence Mirman ruled the tapes could be released and that there was nothing detrimental to the defense’s case, such as a confession.
Recently, it was uncovered there were additional recordings from the interview with "Dr. Phil," so the state requested for those videos to be part of the evidence. Again, Harrouff’s defense attorneys are trying to delay the release of the recordings and say that the video provided to the state by Dr. Phil’s production company is still not a complete and unedited copy. Mirman has allowed the defense to subpoena for any additional recordings to become part of the record.
It’s unclear if any additional video has been provided or when that would be available for the public to view. The defense intends to ask the judge also to bar those recordings from public release.Gift cards are an excellent option when shopping time is tight or you're struggling to figure out someone's correct size, individual style or unique taste. That said, a gift card stuffed into an envelope can seem a little... well... impersonal. Our pretty fold-over gift card case adds the personal touch that says, "I may not know if you prefer bohemian or Burberry, but I know you're special, and I've made this just for you." There are two 4¾" pockets to hold gift cards, cash and/or a handwritten note. We've even designed two sheets of ten, all-occasion gift tags you can print and cut (that's 20 total if you're doing the math). They're perfectly sized to fit in the inner pockets.
Each pocket has a 2¼" high x 3¾" wide fabric-framed vinyl window, so the recipient can instantly see what goodies they've been gifted.
Don't forget the two sheets of ten custom-sized gift tags you can use. Click on an image below to download the Heart Gift Tags or the Flowers Gift Tags PDF. If possible, print on a heavy-weight paper or if your printer can't handle different types of paper, print on standard printer paper, glue to a heavy backing, then trim to size.
As the title states, these cute little cases are an awesome option for scraps or leftover layer cakes and fat quarters., but the design also works well with small yardages when you set up for an assembly line of multiple cases. That way, you can mix and match between the cases, using leftovers from one for the inside pocket frames on another, and can make the most of the packaged binding.
We originally used three fabrics from the High Street collection by Lily Ashbury for Moda Fabrics from our stash. Any quilting weight cotton would work great. You might have just want you need in your own stash to make one or two... or more today!
Each cases finishes at approximately 5¼" wide x 9¾" high when open and 5¼" wide x 3¾" high when closed. When it's done holding a gift card, the case would be perfect to use as a mini wallet or to hold business cards.
Sewing Tools You Need
Sewing Machine and standard presser foot NOTE: Make sure you start with a new universal machine needle to allow you to easily stitch through the vinyl.
Fabric and Other Supplies
Supplies shown are for ONE gift card case, however, as mentioned above, the design works great for multiple cases. You can then use scraps from one for the inside pocket frames on another. The Getting Started section has all the required cuts so you can check your scrap stash for the best pieces.
Scrap, pre-cut or ¼ yard EACH of TWO coordinating 44"+ wide cotton fabrics
Scrap, pre-cut or ⅛ yard yard of a THIRD coordinating 44"+ wide cotton fabric
Scrap or ⅛ yard of lightweight fusible interfacing; we used Pellon Shape Flex
Scrap or ⅛ yard of 8-10 gauge clear sewing and craft vinyl
Scraps or 1 package of double fold bias tape (you'll use about one yard) - not the extra-wide double fold, but the standard double fold ; we used Wrights Double Fold Bias Tape in Pink Yellow for Samples B and C
ONE ½" decorative button
All purpose thread to match fabric and binding
See-through ruler
Fabric pen or pencil
Seam gauge
Seam ripper
Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
Iron and ironing board
Straight pins
Hand sewing needle
Getting Started & Pattern Download
Gift Card Case pattern. Download and print out TWO copies of thepattern.
IMPORTANT: This pattern is ONE 8½" x 11" sheet. You must print the PDF file at 100%. DO NOT SCALE to fit the page. There is a guide rule on the page so you can confirm your final printout is to scale. Cut out ONE pattern along the thick outer line. This is the pattern for the fabric pieces. Cut out the SECOND pattern along the thin inner line. This is the pattern for the interfacing.
From both the interior and exterior fabric, use the larger pattern to fussy cut ONE piece from each. NOTE: Take the extra time to carefully position your fabric's motif so it is centered top to bottom and side to side. It will then look lovely both open and folded shut.
From the pocket frame fabric, cut the following strips:
FOUR 2" x 2¾"
THREE 1" x 5"
ONE 2" x 5"
NOTE: In the photo below you'll see that some of our stacks look like more than the required cuts listed above. This is correct; when working with tiny strips, we often cut a few extra in case we mess up... yes, we mess up sometimes too! The amounts listed above are correct number of strips needed for one case.
From the vinyl, precisely cut TWO 4⅛" x 2¾" rectangles.
NOTE: To get the neatest wrap for the binding, it's very important the cut edges of the vinyl are straight. It's easier to see and cut if you leave the protective paper in place.
From the interfacing, use the smaller pattern to cut TWO pieces. As shown below, you don't have to pre-trim the pattern; you can simply cut along the inner line when cutting the interfacing.
Then cut along the fold lines to yield three pieces from each full piece.
At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board
Preparing the main panels
Following manufacturer's instructions, fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of each main case panel. Fuse one section at a time, starting with the top piece. Centering it on the panel so there is ¼" of fabric showing beyond the interfacing.
Then, butt up the subsequent pieces so there is just a sliver of space between each interfacing section. Having the small space between the interfacing section allows for an easier, crisper fold.
Place the interior and exterior panels wrong sides together.
Place the larger pattern over the top of the exterior side and use the dot on the pattern to mark the button placement.
Thread a hand sewing needle with thread to match the INTERIOR fabric and neatly handstitch the button in place through both panels.
NOTE: Because this case is meant to be opened and closed repeatedly, the button will be most secure and stable if sewn through both the exterior and interior layers. However, this means your thread must match the interior fabric in order to be less-noticeable. (This also allows the button stitching to have a fun contrasting color when viewed from the front). It's important your stitching and knot be very small and neat - again to be the least noticeable on the inside. If you are unsure of your stitching, you could add one or two small squares of the lightweight fusible interfacing to the back of the exterior panel just behind the button placement mark. Fuse them in place to act as additional stability, and stitch the button through ONLY the exterior layer. Then place the interior and exterior panels wrong sides together once the button is in place.
Trimming the pockets
Find all eight pocket frame strips and the two vinyl rectangles. On the four 2" x 2¾" side strips and the one 2" x 5" bottom strip, press back each long side of each strip ¼".
On the three 1" x 5" top/bottom strips, press each in half lengthwise to set a center crease (so they would be ½" x 5"). Open the strip wrong side up so the crease line is visible. Press in each long raw edge so the two meet at the center crease line. Then, refold along the original fold line to create three small strips of ¼" double fold binding.
You'll create the top pocket first. Find one vinyl rectangle. Bind the sides first. To do this, open up a side strip and place the side edge of the vinyl rectangle along one folded edge of the strip. The raw edge of the vinyl should be flush with the folded in raw edge of the strip. Pin in place through the vinyl, just catching the fabric enough to hold the vinyl steady.
Fold the top of the binding down into position so the two folded edges are flush – one on top of the vinyl and one on the bottom. Thread the machine with thread to match the fabric in the top and bobbin. Lengthen your stitch slightly. Edgestitch the fabric strip to the vinyl, staying as close as you possibly can to the edges of the fabric. Remove the pins as you go along.
Repeat to stitch a strip to the opposite side of the vinyl rectangle. Find two of the three narrow 5" strips. One is for the top and the second is for the bottom. As you did above for the side pieces, open up the binding strip and place the raw edge of the vinyl along the folded in edge of the fabric. In the case of the top and bottom trim pieces, the raw edge of the vinyl will sit right up against the center crease line of the fabric. The edges of the side binding pieces will extend beyond the top and bottom binding pieces a bit. This is fine and will be trimmed away later. Pin the top and bottom bindings in place flat - just as you did with the side bindings.
Fold the top and bottom bindings over the vinyl and edgestitch in place, as above, stay very close to the folded edges of the fabric.
NOTE: In our photos, the vinyl is so clean and clear if looks like nothing is there... but it is; we promise.
Trim away any excess side binding fabric so the sides are flush with the top and bottom and pocket measures 5" in width.
To create the bottom pocket, attach the side bindings and the top binding in the same manner as above for the top pocket. The bottom edge is bound with the remaining wider 5" strip in the same manner as the side edges are bound. Pin in place.
Then fold and edgestitch in place.
Placing the pockets onto the panel
Place the case interior side up on your work surface. Place the larger pattern next it, aligning it top to bottom so you can see the fold lines. Lay the top pocket on the interior panel. The bottom bound edge of the pocket should sit ¼" above the center fold line. The raw side edges of the pocket should be flush with the raw side edges of the panel. Pin in place.
Thread the machine with thread to match the binding in the top and thread to match the exterior fabric in the bobbin. Edgestitch along ONLY the bottom edge of the bottom binding.
Lay the bottom pocket on the interior panel. The raw side edges of the pocket should be flush with the raw side edges of the panel. The bottom bound edge of the pocket should be flush with the bottom raw edge of the panel. Pin in place. The drawing above helps to show the pocket postions.
Final binding
Machine baste along both sides and across the bottom edge of the panel through all the layers. Keep your stitching as close the raw edge as possible.
Re-thread the machine with thread to match the binding in the top and bobbin. Set up the machine for a long basting stitch. Starting at the center bottom of the panel, slip the double fold bias binding over the raw edge. Pin in place. Machine baste in place.
When you get to a corner (at the bottom and at the top curve), stop and remove the piece from under the needle.
Fold the corner on a diagonal and continue around to the next side. You can pick out some stitches from the previous side if need be to get a smooth pivot at the corner.
When you get back around to your starting point, trim away the excess binding, fold under the raw edge and overlap the starting point by approximately 1". Finish the machine basting.
When the bias binding is completely in place, go back around the entire perimeter with a zig zag stitch. This insures the narrow binding is truly secure. The binding secures the sides of both pockets and the bottom of the lower pocket. When the zig zag is complete, remove the basting stitches (the photos below with the buttonhole steps do a nice job of showing our zig zag stitch with the basting stitch removed).
NOTE: If you feel completely confident with your stitching and the ability to securely bind the entire piece with edgestitching, there's no reason you could not attach the binding in one step with a standard straight stitch. Using the pattern as a guide, mark the position of the horizontal buttonhole.
NOTE: We also recommend folding up the case into its final shape and confirming the buttonhole position exactly matches where your actual button is stitched into place. Adjust as needed. Following the instruction manual for your machine, stitch the buttonhole.
Cut open the buttonhole with your seam ripper, working from each inside corner towards the middle to best avoid accidentally cutting into your stitching.
Contributors
Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation and Instructional Outline: Michele MishlerThe cost effectiveness of pembrolizumab versus docetaxel has already been demonstrated in a second-line setting for patients with NSCLC and a TPS ≥50% [40]. This economic evaluation compared pembrolizumab with SoC platinum-based chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic NSCLC expressing high levels of PD-L1. Base-case results indicated that, compared with SoC over a 20-year time horizon, pembrolizumab would be expected to result in an additional 1.31 LYs and an additional 1.05 QALYs gained, without adjustment for treatment switching, at an additional cost of $US102,439, giving an incremental cost of $US97,621/QALY gained or an incremental cost of $US78,344/LY gained. The main driver of the increased cost with pembrolizumab was the drug acquisition cost. Sensitivity analysis indicated the results were most sensitive to the extrapolation of PFS, OS and ToT, and cost in the progression-free state. The analysis was specifically conducted for the population indicated by the pembrolizumab label supported by KEYNOTE-024. The results are not generalizable to lower PD-L1 levels (TPS <50%).
There has been no general agreement on a cost-effectiveness ratio threshold for the USA. Braithwaite et al. [41] cite multiple decision rules, including the commonly cited $US50,000/QALY gained and the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria [42] of three times the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita per disability-adjusted life-year, which is estimated to equate to $US171,660 in 2016 [43]. Their analyses suggested a range for the willingness-to-pay threshold (adjusted to $US, year 2016 values) of $US122,360–340,000 and $US140,392–382,536 for LYs gained and QALYs gained, respectively [38]. A more recent analysis by Neumann et al. [44] recommended using an ICER range of between $US100,000 and $US150,000/QALY gained, although analyses should allow for examination of multiple thresholds up to $US200,000/QALY gained. The Institute of Clinical and Economic Review [45] recently made a recommendation of a range of cost-effectiveness thresholds between $US50,000 and $US150,000 per QALY. The base-case ICER for pembrolizumab of $US97,621/QALY in the current analysis falls within these ranges of acceptable thresholds. Results from the PSA showed an 87% probability that the ICER would be below $US150,000/QALY. Hypothetical modelling and simulated data have suggested the partitioned-survival model may have some potential for bias [46, 47]. However, an empirical analysis using real-world data from three clinical trials found that the partitioned-survival approach produced ICER estimates similar to those generated by Markov modelling in metastatic NSCLC, indicating that the suggestion of consistent bias is unfounded [48]. Additionally, the two-phase piecewise model for OS extrapolation has been noted as a preferred approach by the NICE Evidence Review Group compared with fitting a parametric function distribution over the entire time horizon [49, 50].
The base-case analysis included patients who switched from SoC to pembrolizumab after progression in KEYNOTE-024. This is consistent with real-world clinical practice, as pembrolizumab is currently indicated in the USA as second-line therapy for metastatic NSCLC expressing PD-L1 [9]. However, such switching has the effect of diluting the survival benefit with pembrolizumab while increasing costs in the SoC group (as some SoC patients receive pembrolizumab as second-line treatment). A scenario analysis using OS data adjusted for switching resulted in higher estimates for LYs and QALYs gained with pembrolizumab, with a slightly higher ICER ($US114,194/QALY), compared with the base case ($US97,621/QALY).
A key strength of this analysis is its use of efficacy and safety data from a randomized controlled trial directly comparing pembrolizumab and SoC. However, the analysis also has several limitations. Resource use from the clinical trial may not represent that of real-world clinical practice. Like all clinical trials, KEYNOTE-024 was conducted in a selected patient population that met trial inclusion and exclusion criteria, and may not reflect patients seen in real-world clinical practice. Similarly, KEYNOTE-024 was primarily conducted |
We don’t have much experience staying up late to watch election results roll in here in British Columbia. Federally, elections tend to be decided before we sit down to dinner; provincially, we usually know who the government will be with plenty of time left to get to bed at a decent hour. Not this time. At the time of writing, the seat count had the governing Liberals with 43 seats, the NDP with 41 and the Green Party with three seats (up from one in 2013). While Christy Clark remains the premier for now—that’s how the Westminster system works—and while she’ll get the first crack at forming government, her future and her party’s future is uncertain.
We’ll soon know more about who’ll govern B.C. going forward. For now, there are a few scenarios that could play out. Clark could try to enter into an agreement with the B.C. Greens or rely on support from the NDP in an attempt to navigate a minority government (usually short lived in Canada) through rocky legislative terrain. She could also try to establish a formal coalition government with the Greens (which would likely be more stable than a minority government); this would mean that one or more Green Party members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) of would be given a position in the Cabinet. However, with a recount in Courtenay-Comox (which the NDP won by nine votes—that’s right, nine) in the works, the Liberals could potentially end up with a very slim majority government. The last minority government in B.C. was in 1952—ever so slightly before my time, which is to say, 32 years before I was born.
Of course, those options are just the beginning of the choose-your-own-adventure paths that lay before us in B.C. The NDP top brass will be burning the airwaves between their headquarters and the Green Party base in an attempt to woo Green Party leader Andrew Weaver and his MLAs. An arrangement could be made between the NDP and the Greens that would either let the New Democrats form their own coalition government, or else reach an arrangement to govern as a minority government. Again, as premier, Clark will get the first try. If she’s unable to form a government, however, these options enter into play. Further complicating things is the fact that someone must be elected speaker of the legislature, but let’s set that aside for now. I know—fun with math and the Westminster system.
Andrew Weaver has indicated that Green Party cooperation is contingent on a few key demands being met, including a vote on B.C. adopting proportional representation (which we’ve tried for twice in the past, but now may now attempt once more, with feeling!), reforming political donation rules in the province (essentially, we have nearly none at the moment, yee haw), and, presumably, revisiting the province’s plans to support the liquefied natural gas industry (which Weaver has said is done for). In short, Andrew Weaver and the B.C. Greens, who had one seat in the last legislature, and now have three, is likely going to be the decider when it comes to who will be governing British Columbia for the near future.
Again, all of this will start to be worked out in the hours and perhaps days to come. The good news is that in the meantime, the sun will continue to rise in British Columbia and we’ll manage to avoid the complete collapse of social order and the emergence of a dystopian hellscape. Our institutions are world-class; we’ll be fine, thanks. The state remains stable and we’re not Belgium—which, in 2010-2011, went 541 days with no party able to form a government. The less good news is that with recounts, absentee ballots, and negotiations between the parties, it could be weeks before we know for sure. The recount in Courtenay-Comox will take place between May 22-24, at the same time as absentee ballots will be counted for ridings across the province. There may also be recounts in other ridings, which adds to the province-wide nail biting that characterized last night’s observation of the returns.
In her election night speech, Clark noted that her party had won both the seat count and the popular vote, a fairly clear attempt at shaping a narrative in support of her continued tenure as premier. British Columbians—and, indeed, Canadians—have a visceral sense that the party with the most seats or the most votes should govern. However, in our Westminster system, that isn’t necessary true. The party or group of parties who can command the confidence of the legislature gets to govern (that’s how responsible government works). Again, that could end up being the Liberals, but it could also be the NDP.
Whatever happens, the 2017 election was a study in polarization—the popular support of the two major parties was split with 41 per cent going to the Liberals and 40 per cent to the NDP, with the latter enjoying broad urban support and the former picking up rural votes. The Liberals, who have been in government for 16 years, enjoyed a few advantages, including twice as much money as the NDP managed to net, a provincial economy that has been growing steadily (though not equitably), an efficient distribution of support (their likely voters were in the right ridings to assist a Liberal win), a divided left (with the Greens growing their share of support), and a status quo bias that often results in folks sticking with what they know.
The Liberals ran a “don’t-change-a-horse-in-midstream” campaign that focused on highlighting economic growth, offering little by way of new policy, and warning that the NDP would undo the progress B.C. has made in the last 16 years. The NDP used its campaign to argue that while the province is wealthy, it’s also unaffordable, and they accused the Liberals of being in the pocket of special interests and the corporate elite. The Greens for their part threw up their hands and said “A pox on all your houses.” Weaver offered an “Aw shucks, I’m no politician” narrative that resonated decisively with 17 per cent of voters, many of whom were plainly fed up with Liberals but not convinced by the NDP, and for his efforts he tripled his seat count.
So, here we are. It’s my bedtime and as I head off, it’s unclear what tomorrow and the days ahead hold for B.C. For pundits and political scientists, it’s Christmas in May (yes, our Christmases are very, very, very dorky affairs) as we debate and discuss the arcane twists and turns of government formation; for most British Columbians, however, life will continue pretty much as usual as everyone else sorts things out. Later, once we know who will govern British Columbia for the, let’s say, six months to four years ahead (these governing situations tend to be unstable and short lived), the changes will come—because we can be sure of one thing, in a minority or coalition government scenario, the legislative agenda will be open for business in a way we haven’t seen in British Columbia in over 60 years. What fun.
David Moscrop is a political scientist and a writer. He’s currently working on a book about why we make bad political decisions and how we can make better ones. He’s at @david_moscrop on Twitter. He lives in Vancouver.
MORE ABOUT B.C. ELECTION 2017:LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones, who were discovered during the sketch show's recent auditions, will join the series on Monday.
Saturday Night Live has just added a new African-American woman to its cast, and now the show is adding two to its writers' room as well.
LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones, who were discovered during the sketch show's recent auditions, will join SNL's writers' room starting on Monday, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
PHOTOS: 'Saturday Night Live': 10 Stars You Forgot Were Castmembers
Tookes and Jones were both among the black female comedians who auditioned during showcases held in New York and Los Angeles after the long-running Lorne Michaels sketch series faced widespread criticism that its new cast lacked diversity -- specifically the inclusion of an African-American woman.
Following the auditions -- the first in SNL history to focus exclusively on minority women -- Upright Citizens Brigade alum Sasheer Zamata was tapped to join the series. She'll make her debut on Jan. 18 when Drake hosts.
Jones, an actress and stand-up comedian who was a finalist for the new castmember spot, has performed at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, guest-starred in comedies including The League and Sullivan & Son, and written for and appeared on Def Comedy Jam and 1st Amendment Stand Up. She's performed at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal as well as the Aspen Comedy Festival. In 2011, her comedy special Problem Child was broadcast on Showtime. Jones is repped by Integral Entertainment and Pierce Law Group.
Actress-comedian Tookes, meanwhile, is a former news reporter from Florida who has performed at iO West. Check out her character reel here.
STORY: 'Saturday Night Live' Adds First African-American Female in Five Years
Sources tell THR that producers were impressed with both Tookes and Jones and thought they were talented, smart and funny. Currently there are no plans to have either of them appear onscreen, though a number of SNL writers in the past have transitioned to larger roles. Most recently, Mike O'Brien was promoted to featured player for the current 39th season after joining SNL as a writer in 2009. Others, including breakout Jason Sudeikis, have followed similar career trajectories.
The additions come in advance of Seth Meyers' planned SNL exit in the spring as he transitions to replace Jimmy Fallon as the host of NBC's Late Night.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @SnooditAlex Bilodeau is in the record books already after he became the first Canadian to win a Gold Medal during a Canadian-hosted Olympics in 2010. Today he is rewriting the record books at the 2014 Winter Olympics, he became the first in Olympic history to defend his gold medal at the Men’s Freestyle moguls event. With an impressive run in Sochi Alex Bilodeau repeats in spectacular fashion. Along side Alex Bilodeau was Canadian Mikael Kingsbury who finishes second place with the Silver Medal. Another Canadian finished 4th place just shy of sweeping the podium but none the less a great showing on the Olympic stage by Marc-Antoine Gagnon.
It is amazing to see Team Canada do so well at the Winter Olympics. With all all the support for our athletes in 2010 that continues to shine as Canada currently sits tied in first with 7 Medals! 3 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze.
Lets continue to support our Canadian athletes and cheer them on! If you are wondering when the Hockey starts you can view the complete 2014 Mens Olympic Hockey Schedule to find out when Team Canada plays!
On the weekend the whole world saw Canadian sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe win Gold and Silver Freestyle Skiing Ladies’ Moguls. Canada completely dominated the event and providing a strong showing at the Sochi Winter Olympics!Worldwide Coup Attempts, 1946 — 2014
These attempts have been concentrated in Africa and Latin America, which accounted for 37 percent and 32 percent, respectively, of total global coups tracked by Powell and Thyne through 2010.
Coup Attempts by Country, 1950 — 2015
There are several theories for why the number of coups has been declining since the 1990s. When the Cold War ended, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. stopped supporting coups in each other’s satellite states, and democracy came to be widely recognized as the sole form of legitimate government. In this new climate, those who interrupted the democratic process frequently found themselves pariahs. Globalization has also made illegal seizures of power costly, since those takeovers, and the instability and uncertainty surrounding them, tend to invite international sanctions, deter foreign investment, and inhibit domestic economic growth. (This may be, in part, why Brazil’s vice president wants to tamp down the president’s coup talk.)
It’s obviously good news that coups are a fading phenomenon. But one troubling byproduct of these trends is that they’ve produced profound confusion over how to classify political upheavals that appear to honor the letter of the law, but not the spirit—what you might call dubious democracy.
Making sense of such developments is particularly difficult in relatively young democracies whose institutions are still fragile and taking form (Brazil transitioned from dictatorship to democracy in 1985). It’s even more difficult when the majority of the public—including, often, a rising middle class intent on restoring political stability and economic growth—backs the dubiously democratic process (roughly 60 percent of Brazilians support Rousseff’s impeachment, though many would prefer that she and the vice president resign, making way for early elections). And it’s more difficult still when much of that public, and their political leaders, are haunted by the ghosts of coups past (between a 1930 coup and 1985, Brazil enjoyed only two decades of democratic governance).
Many Brazilians have no memory of their country’s military coups—the dictatorship ended 31 years ago, and half the country’s population is under the age of 30—but many do. Rousseff herself was imprisoned and tortured for opposing the military regime that seized power in a 1964 coup. Her ghosts are real.
In numerous ways, the events of 2016 have little in common with those of 1964. Rousseff is accused of a genuine violation of the law: hiding a government budget deficit with loans from state banks during her 2014 reelection campaign. An independent judiciary has permitted the impeachment vote in Congress to proceed. That vote is now working its way through Congress as stipulated by the Constitution. Coups are typically abrupt, but the current process is moving with all the speed of a sloth (by the time Rio hosts the Olympics in August, Rousseff could conceivably be suspended but not yet permanently removed from office). No force has been deployed; the military is not an actor in this drama. The lawmakers casting ballots against Rousseff are channeling the will of most Brazilians, who want her out of power not just for her alleged budgetary shenanigans, but also for driving a once-booming economy into recession and failing to address corruption within her party and governing coalition. Graft and irresponsible governance are afflicting the body politic, and its immune system seems to be responding properly. This, in essence, is the argument of those in the not-a-coup camp.Washington, April 11 (ANI): A new study has revealed that spending more time on Facebook could lead to more negative feelings and more comparisons to the bodies of friends in women.
The researchers were able to predict how often women felt negatively about their own bodies after looking at someone else's photos or posts, and how often women compared their own bodies to those of their friends.
Petya Eckler, from University of Strathclyde, saiod that public health professionals who work in the area of eating disorders and their prevention now have clear evidence of how social media relates to college women's body image and eating disorders.
The researchers said that the time spent on Facebook had no relation to eating disorders, but it did predict worse body image among participants.
Eckler added that poor body image can gradually lead to developing an unhealthy relationship with food and the attention to physical attributes. (ANI)Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-31 00:29:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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VILNIUS, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- German automotive industry company Continental plans to invest 95 million euros (1.1 billon U.S. dollars) and create around 1,000 jobs in Lithuania in the largest green field investment project in Lithuanian history, Lithuania's investment promotion agency announced Monday.
A green field investment is a form of foreign direct investment where a parent company builds operation in a foreign country from scratch.
Continental is to build a new manufacturing plant in Central Lithuania to expand automotive electronics production in Europe. The plant is to manufacture door and seat control units, gateways, intelligent glass control units, radar sensors for adaptive cruise control and emergency braking assistance systems.
"Building the first Continental plant in Lithuania is an important part of our growth strategy in Europe," senior vice president at Continental Hans-Jurgen Braun said in a press release.
The investment of 95 million euros is the largest of its kind for the small Baltic country with a population of less than 3 million.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said such manufacturing investment would "have a tremendously positive impact on this industry in Lithuania. Continental is bringing the biggest green field investment project in the Lithuanian history."
The German automotive company is to make the investment in the next five years.When it comes to brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and their use in video games, it can be hard to separate fiction from reality. Valve legend Gabe Newell has confirmed he is researching the technology, and in the latest series of Black Mirror Charlie Brooker painted a terrifying portrayal of how BCI tech could develop. While it may seem far-fetched, however, here and now the technology is already proving its worth.
While not yet really an option for consumer gaming, BCI games are already being used for a host of different health-related projects, creating a whole new way of thinking about how we treat a variety of conditions.
But as time marches on, BCI could have a transformative impact on the world of video games.
“This technology has really commoditised recently. Before that, brain imaging wasn’t realistic unless you were willing to spend many thousands or even millions of dollars,” explains Chris Foster, a researcher at the University of Victoria, Canada. “Today we have devices like the OpenBCI, Emotiv, and the Muse which are affordable for both developers and consumers. That makes the idea of using it for a video game much more realistic.”
The healthy option
When it comes to applications for both invasive and non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, healthcare currently remains king. But what exactly this entails varies wildly by device.
On the invasive side are technologies such as Synapse, a device developed by Nexeon MedSystems that is implanted in the chest and connected to wires running into the brain. Designed to stimulate precise parts of the brain with electricity when paired with a game, it has already been used to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s.
BCI technology is a fairly common solution to the condition, but Synapse takes things a step further.
“This technology is different from the others because it allows us to record what is called local field potentials: the brain activity,” says Will Rosellini, chairman and CEO of Nexeon. “So we think that we can stimulate to alleviate, but we can also record and get a biomarker for how the device is performing.”
In order to make full use of this potential, the company is developing a software suite that will allow greater disease management for users of the device.
“So gamification of rehab, for example, is something that we’re looking at; can we make taking their medication more fun to drive compliance?” asks Rosellini.
But Synapse is not the only BCI technology that Rosellini is involved with. Through his second company, MicroTransponder, he has developed a vagus nerve stimulator, a technology that stimulates a key nerve in the neck to assist with both physical and behavioural therapies.
And once again, pairing the device with a game experience is vital to its success.
DARPA is hoping to extinguish those memories faster by giving soldiers a vagus nerve stimulator and having them play the video game Bravemind
“We are working with a program where they want to link the stimulation with a virtual reality construct, so Skip Rizzo at USC made a program called Bravemind,” explains Rosellini. “Bravemind is a virtual reality video game where you get Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam vets to be immersed in scenes that they control, and by exposing them to the videogame you can complete a delinking of the emotions with the memory, and that has been shown to be important in post-traumatic stress disorder.
“DARPA is hoping to extinguish those memories faster by giving soldiers a vagus nerve stimulator and having them play the video game Bravemind to extinguish their memories faster. So that’s a big, $8 million proposal they started last year.”
In addition, Rosellini says that the technology could be used to help rehabilitate stroke sufferers and relieve addiction to drugs such as heroin. However, the fact remains that the technology is highly invasive, meaning its use is likely to remain limited to conditions that are severely life-altering.
Interfaces without implants
While invasive BCI remains the best solution for some severe conditions, technologies are emerging that combine non-invasive brain computer interfaces with video games for more low-key therapy.
A key example of this is Harvard-incubated BrainCo’s Focus 1, a neurofeedback device that is worn like a headband to improve focus by training certain brainwave frequencies.
“The Focus 1 itself is a headband, it has two electrodes on it on the forehead and one behind the ear. It reads alpha, beta and in some of our iterations also low theta waves,” explains BrainCo game developer Jo Wylie. “It takes them, it runs them through an algorithm based on neurofeedback that we’ve developed and it outputs pretty much a very understandable, passable 0 to 100 scale that we just call the attention level.”
There are an array of potential applications for device, which is currently being prepared for clinical trials, but at present BrainCo is focusing on developing it as a therapeutic product for children and teenagers with ADHD. The idea is that the users play games made for the device, which help them to improve their concentration and focus.
One such game that has been developed for the system is Focus Oasis, an Animal Crossing-style mobile game that focuses on providing a fun, positive experience that rewards the player for greater focus.
“You drop into this oasis, this area which only you can access and which has a collection of characters in it. So the idea is you walk around, you explore this nice rich environment and each character you meet has a different request for you. Is one character asks: can you help me do my fishing? Somebody else is like: I’m trying to get all these flowers to bloom, can you help me make all the flowers and the frogs come out?”
The idea behind this, says Wylie, is that the player sees a physical improvement in the world as they focus more; a reward for their improved concentration.
“I really didn’t want to just make more homework for the kids, so I wanted to create something that gives them a sense of this is my space and it’s just for me,” she says. “I’m doing this because it feels good and not because I’ve been sat down with it.”
Getting into games
However, while BrainCo is currently only used as a therapy device, it could also have significant potential as a new form of gaming device.
“In the long run I really, really want to make it a purely entertainment device, which is available to anyone playing any type of game, and BrainCo is slowly going there,” says Wylie.
There is definitely a horror application of this device where as you’re walking around, this device will be able to read when you are most scared
That’s not to say that the technology wouldn’t be applicable to gaming in its current state. While the Focus 1 only touches on the potential of BCI, what it does do, it does well.
“I’d love to do a racing game where you’re just racing each other with how focused you are – that could be a lot of fun!” laughs Wylie. “I could go and make it now. We have an attention level: zero is stopped, 100 is 100 miles an hour, it would be relatively easy to code, but it doesn’t fit into what we kind of want to do with the BrainCo device now at all.”
Nevertheless, there will be chances for other developers to use the technology for these types of games before long. While the device does not yet have a set date for commercial availability, the company is planning to put together an SDK that will allow third-party game developers to create compatible experiences for it. These could in theory take the form of a host of different types of game, but all will provide rewards or responses purely within the gaming experience.
“The training technique, there’s no feedback – it doesn’t buzz your head like some neural feedback devices do, it’s purely through gamification: when you’re in a good place your game rewards you,” says Wylie. “All of the game applications will help the brain, will train the brain, but in the long run we’d love to see the SDK used just as a gaming device, or as a training device.”
Some games, of course, will be better suited to the headband than others. Wylie believes walking simulators and continuous runners are most likely to be well suited to the Focus 1, but there are other genres that could be dramatically improved by the addition of the BCI device, particularly in combination with virtual reality.
“There is definitely a horror application of this device where as you’re walking around, this device will be able to read when you are most scared, so the horror game that sees that when you see spiders you become more scared, so as the game goes on you see more and more spiders, that sort of thing,” she explains.
“So horror games that can learn from you. We’ve been talking about that for a while: once we get an SDK we’re specifically going to be reaching out to horror companies because we think that this could be really, really cool.”
If that sounds a little Black Mirror for your taste, however, the technology does also allow for far more restful gaming experiences.
“Personally I’d love to make this game where you’re in a world, in VR, and just imagine you’re sat on a field and all around you as you concentrate all the flowers open,” she says. “And it’s this immersive experience where you’re literally just sat in a place or stood walking around an area, and you’re controlling it and making it light up, all the colours changing and everything happening as you focus. I think it could be a really amazing artistic image.”
The outer limits
At present, BCI devices – and particularly those that are suitable for consumers – are relatively basic. But in time they are likely to develop into far more sophisticated pieces of technology.
However, exactly how sophisticated this form of non-invasive device could become remains a matter of contention.
We’re trying to predict what are called ‘word vectors’ from an EEG signal
“I don’t think BCI – until we’ve got to a point where we’ve got things in our brains, which is not something that attracts me – we’re not going to get directional BCI where you could think ‘lights’ and the lights come on – not unless you have some pretty, pretty intense, deep-in stuff, “says Wylie.
“Honestly I might be wrong on the directional thing, but from what I’ve seen I don’t think we’re going to be able to pick up words.”
However, Foster is working on a research project that could in time to see something almost of this nature become a reality.
“We’re trying to predict what are called ‘word vectors’ from an EEG signal. The user could think of a noun, such as the word ‘cat’, and we attempt to determine information about that word such as ‘Is it alive?’ or ‘Is it a kitchen item?’ based on the EEG signals,” he says.
“It has been shown this can be done with high-end brain imaging such as fMRI, but these machines are extraordinarily expensive. We’re trying to see if this can be generalized to cheaper commodity EEG hardware.”
Foster says that he will better know whether the concept is likely to work by April, but if it does, it could be hugely impactful for the use of BCI.
“This would allow the collection of far more data and be more explorable for a lower price point,” he says. “This can help us understand how the human brain processes language and in the far future potentially make these sort of brain-computer interfaces more practical and effective.”
Nevertheless, even if non-invasive BCI devices are never able to truly detect words, Wylie believes they could provide a very clear picture of a wearer’s feelings, which in turn could be used to brilliant effect in games.
“I think the peak is going to be in emotional reactions,” she says. “Being able to tell exactly when someone is happy, is sad, is scared, all that type of thing.”Alan Austin lifts the lid on 15 Australian success stories Australia's Soviet-style media will never allow to be told — and the three they will.
AUSTRALIA IS NOT just a success story — it is an anthology of success stories. Ascendancy in so many areas — all at the same time.
Europeans wish they had these narratives. They would dance in the streets. (Actually, Europeans still dance in the streets, despite everything.) As for Americans and Canadians, they would lap up every word.
But here’s the thing. In Australia these stories are seldom, if ever, told. Not a hint from a Hartcher, not a mention from a Mitchell, not a suggestion from a Sales and not a clue from a Crabb.
Historians will ponder and explore these 15 accomplishments with wonder and delight.
1. The Government of Michael Joseph Savage in New Zealand (1935-40) was recently eclipsed by the Government of Julia Eileen Gillard in Australia for the lowest rate of ministerial sackings due to incompetence or corruption in the Westminster world. Since 1820 anyway. What led to this? Minority government? What else do Michael Joseph and Julia Eileen have in common?
2. Why is Australia now being urged to lead the free world? Australia has been voted to chair the Pacific Islands Forum. Plus next year’s G20 group of the world’s 20 major economies. That’s on top of a seat on the UN Security Council. Everyone wants to sit next to Australia.
3. Why was Prime Minister Gillard given that standing ovation after addressing the US Congress? Traditionally, that honour is reserved for deputy sheriffs who follow Uncle Sam into battle. How has this government managed to strengthen the alliance without supporting a single invasion? What singular advantage has Australia thereby gained?
4. What precisely transformed relations with Indonesia? Australia is no longer the target for embassy killings, nightclub bombings, presidential invective and diplomatic insults. Who was the man who accomplished this? Or was it a woman?
5. How has Australia dealt with the wanton cruelty inflicted upon live sheep and cattle exported to Asia and the Middle East? With what outcomes? And why are bulls being tortured in television reports always named Billy or Bobby and not Brutus or Bozo?
6. Australia now ranks higher than ever before on the economic freedom index published by Washington’s Heritage Foundation. [Mission: “to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.”] Australia’s score is now the highest in the 34-nation OECD. A Labor government? Holy handguns! How did this happen?
7. Australia is one of four countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to have unemployment below 5.5% and job participation above 75%. Which are the others? What else distinguishes them?
8. Australia is one of only three nations in the OECD and G20 economies with interest rates in the optimum range between 1.75% and 4.75%. Only Australia has maintained this through the global financial crisis. How? What can Australia do now that was never possible before?
9. Australia is the only developed country to have had continuous economic growth for 22 years. Australia and Poland alone among OECD nations avoided recession in 2009. Why just these two? Which other nation is the most envious, and why?
10. Labor productivity is a tricky concept to define and even trickier to get right. It measures the costs of labour and other inputs used to produce things. Low productivity has bedevilled the world for decades, including Australia’s. Until 2011, that is. Suddenly it surged in Australia, rising dramatically for a record seven consecutive quarters. Seven. Wow! What generated this amazing surge? And what will trigger a sudden reversal?
11. Australia has zoomed to the top of the table of well-managed economies. That’s based on all the key variables. Not just in the world now, but anywhere, any time. How? Was it abundant minerals, critical decisions by Treasury, or the sound work of Peter Costello?
12. Speaking of whom, why does Australia always rise up through the ranks during Labor regimes and tumble down during Coalition periods? From 19th in 1983 up to 6th during the Hawke/Keating years, then down to 12th in 2007 under Howard and Costello, then to the very pinnacle in 2010. Who benefits from this cycle?
13. Best economy in the world is creditable enough. Best the world has ever seen is more impressive still. But achieved during the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s? How is this conceivable?
14. Remember when national strikes routinely disrupted train and air travel? Petrol rationing, supermarkets running out of milk and garbage piled in the streets? City intersections clogged most Fridays with demonstrations against the war or the US alliance or the government?
Ah, sweet memories. What brought about this cultural change in Australia – almost alone in the Western world – to have such disruption and discord diminish?
15. Finally, what’s with Canberra’s extraordinary dishonesty differential? A journalist was recently assigned the task of counting all the blatant lies – as distinct from unfulfilled promises – by Australia’s four federal party leaders. He found twelve. That’s a lot for just four leaders. He also found they were all by the one leader. Which one? Why was the research not published?
There. Fifteen stories. Would you like to read one of them? Well, you can’t. Sorry. It has been decided by those who know what you want better than you do that you want three topics only:
(1) How appalling the Government is;
(2) how disastrously it is doing in the opinion polls; and
(3) how the only hope for the future is a leadership challenge.
If the latter eventuates, well, that proves how appalling the Government is, as will be demonstrated in this week’s opinion poll, which will apply further pressure for another leadership challenge. If this doesn’t happen, well that just shows how appalling the Government is, which next week’s opinion poll will highlight …
Ah, you crazy Australians!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia LicenseWith the 10-year anniversary of the war in Iraq upon us, an expected topic of discussion when reflecting is how we began the war in the first place — the reports and information leading up to it. Morning Joe was among those tackling that debate this morning, and it was, indeed, a debate. While some of the panel spoke of “deception” and “false claims,” other took issue with that assertion.
With 20/20 hindsight, Joe Scarborough wondered how “so many of us could’ve gotten so much wrong.” Michael Isikoff had a simple answer: “the false claims” about the threat Iraq posed, which, ultimately, will be what history remembers.
False claims from whom? Scarborough asked, noting it wasn’t only President George W. Bush. “Your CIA director who works 24 hours a day going through intel, who missed a big one a year and a half before, tells you, ‘Mr. President, it’s a slam dunk, Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.’ Seems to me this is a blame that is shared by many in Washington, isn’t it?”
It is shared, Isikoff agreed, still placing an emphasis on the commander-in-chief, who’d be expected to read the intelligence estimate “riddled with dissents from within that intelligence community.” But “wasn’t the preponderance of the evidence coming from the CIA, coming from our intel community, coming from intel communities across the globe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction?” Scarborough pressed.
“That sort of consensus judgment of the intelligence community,” Isikoff countered, “then got embellished, twisted, exaggerated and turned into something that turned into a completely false picture of a gathering threat, amassing weapons that were going to threaten us.” All things considered, it was “a very large deception of the American public.”
Richard Haass then jumped in, disagreeing. “It wasn’t a deception,” he said, noting that he did oppose the war. Beyond just the WMDs, “they wanted to send the world a message” post-9/11, he argued, that the United States was not “helpless.”
Adding in a different angle to the discussion, TIME‘s Bobby Ghosh said many Iraqis don’t care so much about the excuses and explanations, but rather, the “mistakes” that followed. “It needn’t have been this way,” he asserted.
Take a look, via MSNBC:
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comGrowing concerns over high-pressure sales tactics have prompted the government to overhaul the sector with ‘all options’ on the table
Private training colleges could face bans on using brokers to sell their courses and restrictions on the types of diplomas that attract government funding in the latest bid to protect vulnerable students from exploitation.
After growing concerns about high-pressure sales tactics and students being saddled with debts, the Turnbull government has frozen the funding available to each college under the loan scheme while it plans a new system for 2017.
As the focus shifts to the forthcoming overhaul, the vocational education and skills minister, Luke Hartsuyker, said “all options” were on the table including a ban on brokers or greater curbs on their activities.
Funding to private training colleges frozen and Medicare safety net changes shelved Read more
“One thing that I think is important is the future of brokers and agents,” he told Guardian Australia.
“A lot of the problems hark back to these unscrupulous brokers who didn’t have any real interest in education. One option on the table is that there are no brokers in the 2017 model. That would be one option that has been suggested by some.”
Hartsuyker hinted the package could include curbs on the types of courses for which vocational education and training (VET) colleges can be funded under the loan scheme known as VET Fee-Help, shifting the emphasis towards the employment market skills needs.
“One of the things that I’m very interested in is that we’re looking to invest our training dollars in those areas where we have growth and are going to contribute positively to economic activity,” he said.
“We want training that’s going to lead people into jobs and one of the elements that I’ll be looking at very carefully is the eligibility of various training courses for VET Fee-Help funding going forward.”
The minister also called for |
be fixed by having the MC play a DA/TA buffing class such as Elysian (further boosting his nuke cap damage with Qilin Harp).
His new passive that makes him tankier the lower his HP would have made him an excellent sustained enmity attacker if only he had a way to draw aggro from the enemies, so it might be interesting to use some workaround by grouping him with characters that lower their own hostility (Six, Jamil, Orchid with her EMP, Veight with his EMP).
Not the Jackpot, But Still in a Very Good Position
While the update didn’t make them “core”, they are now pretty great characters that can claim a spot in most parties, and if the conditions are gathered, can even dethrone some of the said core characters.
Water Societte didn’t really get that huge of an upgrade on paper, but in practice she fills a pretty important niche in water: she sustains Stamina and allows your characters to constantly have a 10% echo to break auto cap (which is not extremely hard to reach in Double Varuna, especially if you happen to have a few Murgleis). With her total healing reaching 4900 HP every 3 turns (that’s with her healing EMP nodes), she ends up healing more than a Sage, while also providing meter if your team is full HP (pretty important when a lot of water characters offer team buffs on their ougis), as well as damage with her echo.
She’s typically the kind of character whose value increase the more your grid and character pool gets reaches the end game, especially with GW 5* characters: Quatre will extend the buffs, while Uno will benefit from the echo buff for his assassin move. Socie will also provides a mist and a delay, the first one helping to reach def cap and the second one being used to prevent enemy ougi from lowering your HP too much. And while her own dps isn’t exactly high, both her regular and EMP passive will at least guarantee her to have some reliable multi-attacks most of the time.
Charlotta on the contrary, is here to boost Magna teams performance, as she pretty much becomes a Jack of all trades with this update. The DA/TA buff she gains with her passive and the normal attack buff can both be exploited to the fullest in a levi setup. Her def down is more reliable, and is enough to reach def cap when coupled with Altair’s mist. Her nuke at lvl 100 isn’t conditional anymore, and you can finally get to use her third skill nuke without it being a waste of time when the enemy isn’t in overdrive. And finally, her additional 700k damage on ougi is a much welcomed change, as it not only make her a good contender for ougi chain burst Strike time water teams, but also synergies well with water gameplay that often involves chain bursts and meter boost.
Still, you’ll want to time well the usage of her third skill as it is pretty much the only tool you’ll have to protect Charlotta from losing her stacks. Her shield added to defensive carbuncles could have been an option if it didn’t mess with Bonito… Still, there isn’t a lot of solutions to keep Charlotta safe from being hit. You’d either need to use Uno or Yngwie. In raid configuration where the boss is CC’ed enough though, you might just simply ignore it and not necessarily try to keep Charlotta stacks at all costs, after all keeping those stacks intact is not as crucial as it might be for Six or Halle.
But much like many other characters in that sort of position, jack of all trades means that you’re also master of none, and as your water collection grows you’ll most likely end up replacing Charlotta with more specialized units.
Io is a bit of a mixed bag. While she obviously gains a lot from this update, a lot of people were expecting her buff to be among the strongest since she has a limited character status. In the end, Io didn’t end up becoming the savior of Light as many people hoped, but she’s still an excellent character compared to her her pre-buff version.
Her overall supportive strength has increased by a lot, being able to now to nuke enemies for up to 1m4 damage and cast a 4 turns (ougi turn included) Stamina team buff, and a damage cap up buff. The stamina buff seems to be the same as Uno, meaning that it’s a 20% damage boost until you reach 50% HP or less, which pretty much never happens when you start to have a few swords. And even if that’s the case, Io will heal you for days, making sure that your HP remains high in any circumstances. She also has access to a team damage cap up buff, which seems somehow pretty ironical since light is probably one of the few elements where capping is actually difficult, and requires you to invest into characters like Song 5*.
That wouldn’t be too bad if activating those buffs didn’t require you to actually manage carefully your meter gauge, as she will consume up to 75% meter in order to get all her buffs, which is a pretty big issue in an element lacking both Trium and strong DA/TA buffers. Most of the time, you’ll be fine with only using 50% meter to get her stamina buff, since the cap up buff is rarely relevant in the actual state of light weaponry. The good thing is that Io will still buff in one way or another your light damage team, especially thanks to her passive that will grant your team between 10% and 25% light attack up depending on how many stacks you have on you. Free is free though, and passive attack buffs are pretty much some of the best you can get when you want to race hard.
Using Elysian, Dagger classes, Uplift on CR, Amira, Juliet or DLF for Revitalize are all options to consider in order to fill Io’s meter gauge as fast as possible, which could be reasons to make her less attractive as it restrain your team composition choices. But Io remains a character that still has an incredibly high potential, granted Cygames ever decides to grant Light some good primal weapons that would allow it to run Double Zeus compositions (much similarly to Double Varuna). Light Stamina and affordable Light Trium would pretty much solve all the issues Io currently has, allowing her to get meter easily and making her damage cap up buff suddenly vital in order to maximize light dps.
A little thought for Ferry who died a little more with this patch as yet again a character that wants to ougi often / needs to manage her meter gauge appears.
The Winners
Cagliostro‘s buff was pretty straightforward, but really efficient, and exactly what the character needed to shine again. Putting her up again to 5* standards, she now receives a buff on par, or even better than what characters like Altair can provide, granting the full offensive arsenal to your team with Attack up, Crit and DA/TA buffs. While the attack up mod remains normal, it’s pretty interesting to note that those buffs will stack with any other type of buff, never overlapping nor overwriting others.
That alone makes our favorite uncle become probably a must have for many players, being able to not only stack but sometimes even further synergize with other buffer characters (Mahira drum stacks for example), while still providing extremely good sustain to your team, as well as a clear. Not everything is perfect still with her improved skillset, her first skill remains rather weak (although AoE attacks have proven pretty efficient to remove mirror images against Water boss like Macula and Gabriel), and the clear is still stuck to your buffing skill. But since Cygames also fixed the cooldown reduction of the Phantasmagoria, bringing it to a 3/7 uptime, it’s not even that much of an issue anymore.
Uncle Cag, or should I say “Coreliostro” became one of those characters that remain a good investment for your team from the early to late game, and while she might not be included in every team and every fight as your character pool increases, she will always remain a good option for fights where utility is needed, which brings her up to par with other similar 5* characters in other elements.
Rejoice Hanakana fans, as Fire Zeta finally gets her much needed upgrade, allowing her to go from one of the worst assassin in the game to one of the best. Why? Because she gets an incredibly strong move, stolen from Jamil, that most people refer to as Anytime Assassin. Use your first skill to place a mark for 90 seconds, use your second skill as long as the mark is still up on the enemy, and Zeta will unleash an Assassin move on the enemy, with the usual 1.16m auto cap break, and with a ~x3.4 total damage multiplier.
Still, the buff wouldn’t be that extraordinary if Zeta didn’t receive in a previous update her EMP passive, which grants her an impressive 50% DA / 35% TA buff whenever she casts her second skill. Combine it with the ougi effect from the Xeno scythe axe, and getting at least a DA on her assassin move is pretty guaranteed, with a TA being pretty likely as well.
That change makes Zeta already an incredibly good burst character, but there’s more. Zeta also got 3x Critical nodes with her EMP update, and the update also blessed her with more crit after her ougi, which ends up making her extremely likely to crit when facing wind enemies. This not only allows Zeta to reach with ease her Assassin auto cap, but it also allows her to have relatively high auto attack damage in general, and compensates well for the lack of an attack up self buff. And that even with a colo canes grid. Or maybe should I say that Colo cane grids are probably one of the grids that can make use of her potential the most.
Because Zeta still has a few flaws, much like every other fire attacker, and one of them is being completely unable to lower her own HP in an element that has a lot of options for Enmity (Ecke Sachs, Crimson Finger), whether it is Magna or Primal. Her lack of self DA/TA buff outside of assassin moves will force you to provide external support, most likely Korwa (magna only), Socie or weapons like Athena Spears / Benedia. And finally, her mark can also fail as it is a debuff, which would transform Zeta pretty much in dead weight if she were ever to miss her first skill, so using characters like the newly buffed Clarisse, and classes like Elysian could always be good calls here.
Still, if you manage to land her mark (which remains pretty likely), speed is of the essence as you should be able to use her Assassin twice in a 90 seconds time frame if you spam turns fast enough. Which means that if you play it smart enough, Zeta can provide you an assassin move every 6 turns, which most other assassins would kill to have (especially considering other dated ones like Birdman).Human Or Machine: Can You Tell Who Wrote These Poems?
Enlarge this image Annelise Capossela Annelise Capossela
Can a computer write a sonnet that's indistinguishable from what a human can produce? Computer scientists at Dartmouth College tried to answer that question with a competition that NPR's Joe Palca reported on as part of his series, Joe's Big Idea.
It might actually tell you a lot more about what it's like to be human than... about what it's like to be a machine trying to be a human.
NPR's Robert Siegel, host of All Things Considered, served as one of the judges of the competition. Each judge was asked to read 10 sonnets and decide whether they were written by man or machine. None of the judges was fooled by the poetic computers.
Now's your chance to be the judge! Here are six poems. Try to figure if they are written by a human or machine. Are you as good as Robert Siegel? Take the quiz below to find out!util.php is a collection of useful functions and snippets that you need or could use every day. It's implemented as a class with static methods, to avoid conflicts with your existing code-base. Just drop it in and start using it immediately.
Included are 60+ functions that provide you with the ability to do common tasks much easier and more efficiently, without having to find that one comment on php.net where you know its been done already. Access superglobals without checking to see if certain indexes are set first and pass default values, use a nicely formatted var dump, validate emails, generate random strings, flatten an array, pull a single column out of a multidimensional array and much more.
Although it's implemented as one giant class, util.php has extensive documentation and a full suite of unit tests to avoid breaking backwards-compatibility unintentionally.
The project is hosted on GitHub. You can report bugs and discuss features on the issues page, or send tweets to @brandonwamboldt.
Downloads (Right-click, and use "Save As")
Stable Version (1.1.0)
Unstable Version (master)
Installation
Server Requirements
PHP 5.3.3+
Standalone File
Simply drop util.php in any project and call include 'util.php'; in your project. You can then access the Util class.
Composer
Add the following dependency to your composer.json:
"brandonwamboldt/utilphp": "1.1.*"
\utilphp\util
util
Debugging Functions var_dump util::var_dump(mixed $var[, bool $return = FALSE]) Nicely prints out the contents of a passed variable. Booleans are properly displayed as 'true' or 'false', null values are shown as 'NULL', variable types are displayed, and arrays and objects are displayed as a collapsible tree powered by JavaScript. Usage: util::var_dump($var); Array/Object Functions array_first util::array_first(array $array) Retrieve the first value from an array. Can be run on function callbacks, and it will not modify the pointer of the source array unlike most other methods of doing this. Usage: util::array_first( ['a', 'b', 'c'] );
=> Returns 'a' array_first_key util::array_first_key(array $array) Retrieve the first key from an array. Can be run on function callbacks, and it will not modify the pointer of the source array unlike most other methods of doing this. Usage: util::array_first_key( $users );
=> Returns 'brandon' array_flatten util::array_flatten(array $array[, bool $preserve_keys = TRUE]) Flattens a multi-dimensional array into a one dimensional array Usage: util::array_flatten( [ 'a', 'b', [ 'c', 'd', 'e', [ 'f', 'g', [ [ [ [ 'h', 'i', 'j' ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ); => Returns [ 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j' ] array_get util::array_get($var[, mixed $default = NULL]) Retrieve a value from an array, or return a given default if the index isn't set Usage: util::array_get($_POST['action'], 'index'); => If $_POST['action'] is set, returns its value, otherwise returns 'index' util::array_get($_POST['action']['do'], 'index'); => Returns the value of $_POST['action']['do'] or 'index' array_last util::array_last(array $array) Retrieve the last value from an array. Can be run on function callbacks, and it will not modify the pointer of the source array unlike most other methods of doing this. Usage: util::array_last( [ 'a', 'b', 'c'] ); => Returns 'c' array_last_key util::array_last_key(array $array) Retrieve the last key from an array. Can be run on function callbacks, and it will not modify the pointer of the source array unlike most other methods of doing this. Usage: util::array_last_key( $users ); => Returns 'zane' array_map_deep util::array_map_deep(array $array, callable $callback[, bool $on_nonscalar = FALSE]) Returns an array containing all the elements of $array after applying the callback function to each one recursively. Particularly useful for avoiding errors when calling functions that only accept scalar values on an array that could contain nested arrays, such as $_GET or $_POST. Usage: util::array_map_deep($_POST, 'htmlentities'); => Recursively escapes each scalar value in $_POST util::array_map_deep($_POST, 'htmlentities', TRUE); => Recursively escapes each value in $_POST regardless of its type array_pluck util::array_pluck(array $array, string $field[, bool $preserve_keys, bool $remove_nomatches]) Replaces each value in an array with the specified field of the array or object that used to be the value. Very useful when you have an array of objects or arrays from a database, and you only want one specific field. For example, you want an array of emails from an array of users. Usage: util::array_pluck([['val' => 1], ['val' => 2], ['val' => 3]], 'val'); => Returns [1, 2, 3] util::array_pluck($users, 'email'); => Returns an array of email addresses for each user array_search_deep util::array_search_deep(array $array, mixed $search[, string $field = FALSE]) Allows you to search for a value in an array of arrays or an array of objects, and return the key of the value that matches the search criteria. If $field is unspecified, the entire array/object is searched. Usage: util::array_search_deep($_POST, 'delete_post'); => Might return 'do' if $_POST['do']['action'] = 'delete_post' util::array_search_deep($users, 'rogue_coder', 'username'); => Might return 5 if $users[5]->username = 'rogue_coder' array_clean util::array_clean(array $array) Remove all null/empty/false values from the given array. Usage: util::array_clean( array( 'a', 'b', '', null, false, 0) );
=> Returns array('a', 'b'); URL Functions add_query_arg util::add_query_arg() Adds one ore more query args to the query string of the current URL or a given URL Usage: util::add_query_arg( 'user', '5', '/admin/users?action=edit' ); => Returns '/admin/users?action=edit&user=5' util::add_query_arg( [ 'user' => 5, 'action' => 'edit' ], '/admin/users' ); => Returns '/admin/users?user=5&action=edit' get_current_url util::get_current_url() Returns the current URL with hostname Usage: util::get_current_url(); => Returns 'http://brandonwamboldt.ca/utilphp/' is_https util::is_https() Returns true if the current page is being loaded over https, false if it isn't Usage: util::is_https(); => Returns false http_build_url util::http_build_url([mixed $url[, mixed $parts[, int $flags = HTTP_URL_REPLACE[, array &amo;$new_url]]]]) Pure PHP implementation/polyfill for http_build_url which requires pecl_http to be installed. Usage: echo util::http_build_url("http://user@www.example.com/pub/index.php?a=b#files", array( "scheme" => "ftp", "host" => "ftp.example.com", "path" => "files/current/", "query" => "a=c" ), HTTP_URL_STRIP_AUTH | HTTP_URL_JOIN_PATH | HTTP_URL_JOIN_QUERY | HTTP_URL_STRIP_FRAGMENT ); The above example will output: ftp://ftp.example.com/pub/files/current/?a=c is_https util::is_https() Returns true if the current page is being loaded over https, false if it isn't Usage: util::is_https(); => Returns false remove_query_arg util::remove_query_arg( array|string $query_args[, string $url]) Removes one ore more query args from the query string of the current URL or a given URL Usage: util::remove_query_arg( 'action', '/admin/users?action=edit&user=5' ); => Returns '/admin/users?user=5' util::remove_query_arg( [ 'user', 'action'], '/admin/users?action=edit&user=5' ); => Returns '/admin/users' slugify util::slugify(string $string[, string $separator = "-", bool $css_mode = FALSE]) Generate a string safe for use in URLs from any given string. Converts any accent characters to their equivalent normal characters and converts any other non-alphanumeric characters to dashes, then converts any sequence of two or more dashes to a single dash. This function generates slugs safe for use as URLs, and if you pass TRUE as the second parameter, it will create strings safe for use as CSS classes or IDs. Usage: util::slugify('This is a random --string with an Ãccent'); => Returns 'this-is-a-random-string-with-an-accent' util::slugify('Another String', '.'); => Returns 'another.string' String Functions htmlentities util::htmlentities(string $string[, bool $preserve_encoded_entities = FALSE]) Executes htmlentities with ENT_QUOTES set by default. However, if you pass TRUE as the second parameter, it will not re-encode entities that are already encoded. Usage: util::htmlentities('this string < this string', TRUE); => Returns 'this string < this string' htmlspecialchars util::htmlspecialchars(string $string[, bool $preserve_encoded_entities = FALSE]) Executes htmlspecialchars with ENT_QUOTES set by default. However, if you pass TRUE as the second parameter, it will not re-encode entities that are already encoded. Usage: util::htmlspecialchars('this string < this string', TRUE); => Returns 'this string < this string' linkify util::linkify(string $text) Find's any URLs in the specified text and wraps them with HTML anchor tags Usage: util::linkify('this string has a link to http://www.google.com'); => Returns 'this string has a link to <a href="http://www.google.com/">www.google.com</a>' match_string util::match_string(string $pattern, string $string[, bool $caseSensitive = true]) Check if a string matches a given pattern. You can use '*' as a wildcard character. Usage: util::match_string("test/*", "test/my/test"); => Returns true util::match_string("test/", "test/my/test"); => Returns false random_string util::random_string(int $length[, bool $human_friendly = TRUE, bool $include_symbols = FALSE, bool $no_duplicate_chars = FALSE]) Generates a random string of the specified length. Human friendly mode will exclude characters that can be confused with other characters, such as 0 (zero) and O (capital o), 1 (one) and l (lowercase L). Usage: util::random_string(8); => Returns 'a6BiF4UW' number_to_word util::number_to_word(int|float $number) Converts a number into its text equivalent. For example, 56 becomes fifty-six. util::number_to_word(512.5); => Returns 'five hundred and twelve point five' ordinal util::ordinal(int $number) Returns the ordinal version of a number (appends th, st, nd, rd) Usage: util::ordinal(22); => Returns '22nd' remove_accents util::remove_accents(string $string) Converts all accent characters to their ASCII equivalents Usage: util::remove_accents('Àccent'); => Returns 'Accent' secure_random_string util::secure_random_string(int $length) Generate a random string of characters. Will attempt to use a secure source (openssl). Usage: util::secure_random_string(16); => Returns '5bB1RJH0cQhNjviT' seems_utf8 util::seems_utf8(string $string) Checks to see if a given string is UTF-8 encoded/safe Usage: util::seems_utf8('This is some random string user input'); => Returns true safe_truncate util::safe_truncate(string $string, int $length[, string $append = '...']) Truncate a string to a specified length without cutting a word off Usage: util::safe_truncate('The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog', 24); => Returns 'The quick brown fox...' size_format util::size_format(int $bytes[, int $decimals = 0]) Formats an integer as a human friendly size string, such as 4 KiB. Usage: util::size_format( 25151251, 2 ); => Returns '23.99 MiB' str_to_bool util::str_to_bool(string $string) Converts a string to boolean, looking for yes/no words like 'yes', 'no', 'true', 'false', 'y', 'n', etc Usage: util::str_to_bool('yes'); => Returns true zero_pad util::zero_pad(int $number, int $length) Pads a given number with zeroes on the left Usage: util::zero_pad(341, 8); => Returns '00000341' strip_space util::strip_space(string $string) Strip all withspace from the given string Usage: util::strip_space(' The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog '); => Returns 'Thequickbrownfoxjumpsoverthelazydog' sanitize_string util::sanitize_string(string $string) Sanitize a string by performing the following operation : Remove accents
Lower the string
Remove punctuation characters
Strip whitespaces Usage: util::sanitize_string(' Benoit! à New-York? j’ai perçu 1 % : Qu’as-tu "gagné" chez M. V. Noël? Dix francs.'); => Returns 'benoitanewyorkjaipercu1quastugagnechezmvnoeldixfrancs' Files full_permissions util::full_permissions(string $file) Returns the file permissions as a nice string, like -rw-r--r-- Usage: util::full_permissions('/etc/passwd'); => Returns '-rw-r--r--' rmdir util::rmdir(string $dir[, bool $traverseSymlinks = false]) Recursively deletes a directories (including all contents). Usage: util::rmdir('/tmp/working/dir'); => Returns true Serialization is_serialized util::is_serialized(mixed $data) Checks to see if a given variable is a seralized data structure Usage: util::is_serialized( 'a:0:{}' ); => Returns true maybe_serialize util::maybe_serialize(mixed $data) Serialize data, if needed to store in plaintext (Arrays or objects) Usage: util::maybe_serialize( 5 ); => Returns 5 util::maybe_serialize( array() ); => Returns 'a:0:{}' maybe_unserialize util::maybe_unserialize(mixed $data) Unserialize data, if it's a serialized string Usage: util::maybe_unserialize(5); => Returns 5 util::maybe_unserialize("a:0:{}"); => Returns array() fix_broken_serialization util::fix_broken_serialization(mixed $data) Attempt to fix a broken serialization string (e.g. where string offsets are incorrect). Can fix errors that frequently occur with mismatched character sets or higher-than-ASCII characters. Usage: util::fix_broken_serialization('a:1:{s:4:"test";s:4:"abc";}'); => Returns 'a:1:{s:4:"test";s:3:"abc";}' Other force_download util::force_download(string $filename, string $content = FALSE) Transmit headers that force a browser to display the download file dialog. Cross browser compatible. Only fires if headers have not already been sent. Usage: util::force_download( 'export.csv', file_get_contents('securefile.csv' ) ); => The user will be prompted to download the file get_client_ip util::get_client_ip(bool $trust_proxy_headers = FALSE) Returns the IP address of the client. Only enable $trust_proxy_headers if your server is behind a proxy that sets the HTTP_CLIENT_IP and HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR headers. Usage: util::get_client_ip(); => Returns '12.123.12.100' get_gravatar util::get_gravatar(string $email, int $size = 32) Return the URL to a user's gravatar Usage: util::get_gravatar('brandon.wamboldt@gmail.com'); => Returns 'http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/46679faeb6780ecb1ea57527fdc66eb3?s=32' human_time_diff util::human_time_diff(int $from, int $to = '', int $as_text = FALSE, string $suffix ='ago') Converts a unix timestamp to a relative time string, such as "3 days ago" or "2 weeks ago" Usage: util::human_time_diff(time() - 7400); => Returns '2 hours ago' util::human_time_diff(time() - 7400, '', TRUE); => Returns 'two hours ago' nocache_headers util::nocache_headers(mixed $data) Sets the headers to prevent caching for the different browsers Different browsers support different nocache headers, so several headers must be sent so that all of them get the point that no caching should occur Usage: util::nocache_headers(); utf8_headers util::utf8_headers(mixed $content_type = 'text/html') Transmit UTF-8 content headers if the headers haven't already been sent Usage: util::utf8_headers(); validate_email util::validate_email(string $possible_email) Validate an email address Usage: util::validate_email( 'brandon.wamboldt@gmail.com' ); => Returns true util::validate_email( 'not an email' ); => Returns false Constants SECONDS_IN_A_MINUTE util::SECONDS_IN_A_MINUTE The number of seconds in a minute, useful for making code more verbose SECONDS_IN_AN_HOUR util::SECONDS_IN_AN_HOUR The number of seconds in an hour, useful for making code more verbose SECONDS_IN_A_DAY util::SECONDS_IN_A_DAY The number of seconds in a day, useful for making code more verbose SECONDS_IN_A_WEEK util::SECONDS_IN_A_WEEK The number of seconds in a week (7 days), useful for making code more verbose SECONDS_IN_A_MONTH util::SECONDS_IN_A_MONTH The number of seconds in a month (30 days), useful for making code more verbose SECONDS_IN_A_YEAR util::SECONDS_IN_A_YEAR The number of seconds in a year (365 days), useful for making code more verbose Change Log 1.1.0
This release introduces a deprecation notice for slugify(), please update your code.
- Added a cryptographically secure random string function secure_random_string. Thanks to @abhimanyusharma003 via Pull Request #53
- Added limit_characters and limit_words functions. Thanks to @abhimanyusharma003 via Pull Request #55
- Added rmdir method to recursively delete a directory. Thanks to @ARACOOOL via Pull Request #56
- Added set_executable, set_readable, set_writable, directory_size, directory_contents and get_user_dir functions. Thanks to @sergserg via Pull Request #70
- Changed parameter ordering for slugify, $css_mode is now the third argument. For backwards compatibility, the old order will still work but it will generate an E_USER_DEPRECATED warning. Thanks to @abhimanyusharma003 via Pull Request #71
- Added match_string method. Thanks to @abhimanyusharma003 via Pull Request #72
- Renamed internal methods (protected ones) for PSR-2 compliance
- General performance improvements, code quality improvements, and increased unit test coverage (special thanks to @hopeseekr for getting us near 100% coverage)
1.0.7
- Added fix_broken_serialization to fix broken serialized strings (Thanks to @hopeseekr via Pull Request #48)
- Fixed get_current_url appending port 80 or 443 when not needed (Thanks to @scottchiefbaker via Pull Request #49)
- var_dump can now handle recursive data structures without crashing
- var_dump code was minified and cleaned up
- array_flatten was optimized (thanks to @hopeseekr via Pull Request #47)
- remove_accents was completely rewritten and is now ~4x faster
1.0.6
- Added start_with function
- Added ends_with function
- Added str_contains function
- Added str_icontains function
- Added get_file_ext function
- Fixing permissions on the files & directories
- Fixing a bug with the include path of util.php
1.0.5
- Issue #29 Fixed error in var_dump if mbstring extension wasn't present
- Adding Composer support
- Updating license from GPL to MIT
- Adding Changelog to project
- Bumping minimum version to PHP 5.3.3
1.0.4
- Issue #22 Removed all superglobal *_get functions, you can use the modified array_get now
- Issue #22 Modifed the behaviour of array_get, see documentation
- Pull Request #21 Added multibyte support to html* functions
- Issue #9 Removed the str_to_utf8 function
- Issue #3 Removed the absint function
- Removed declare() from util.php to avoid errors
- Updated PHPUnit tests to use PHPUnit 3.6 1.0.3
- Issue #16 Improved performance of slugify
- Issue #14 Modified the regex for seems_utf8 to be more accurate
- Issue #13 Changed validate_email to be wrapper for filter_var
- Added 'ok' to the list of yes words for str_to_bool
- str_to_bool matches no followed by any number of 'o's 1.0.2
- Issue #12 get_current_url now includes the port and user/password if required
- Issue #11 human_time_diff now uses the DateTime functions
- Issue #10 is_https no longer checks the port as well 1.0.1
- Issue #7 Added the $trust_proxy_headers parameter to get_client_ip
- Issue #6 Removed is_isset as the function did not work as intended
- Issue #6 Removed is_empty as it is redundant, use! with function calls instead
- Fixed a bug with get_gravatar 1.0.0
Initial release of util.php.
When used with composer, the class is namespaced () instead of justIn this week’s Bill Moyers Journal, Moyers talks with prominent bloggers Jay Rosen and Glenn Greenwald on the role of the establishment media in the dysfunctional political system.
He asks the question, “Why will Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! never show up on 'Meet The Press'?”
Watch Video
BILL MOYERS: I think you wrote on your blog that Dave Brody from the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson’s outfit, will one Sunday show up on “Meet the Press.” But an Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now” will never show up on “Meet the Press.” What’s behind that phenomenon?
JAY ROSEN: I think part of the reason is that if Amy Goodman came on “Meet the Press,” she would say all sorts of things that not only challenge the people on the program, but challenge what they have been saying over the years. Would go back, in a sense, discredit the narrative that’s been building up for a long time. And even though it’s maybe not wholly conscious, the idea that there’s a kind of building narrative that is more or less accurate, that we kind of tell you what’s going on in Washington, is a common assumption in the press. And people who would completely shatter that, don’t.
GLENN GREENWALD: I think that’s exactly right. It’s all about the content of views. Rush Limbaugh can depict himself as being this insurgent outsider. But he supported the wars of the last eight years. He supported the tax policies that Ronald Reagan essentially instituted as conventional wisdom, that we need to lower taxes, reduce government spending. All of the conventional clichés that the media airs frequently, and doesn’t need much time in order to explain, are ones that Rush Limbaugh and the furthest fringes of the right essentially embrace.
And so, to include them into our discussion is not very disruptive at all, whereas if you had people on from the left who were advocating things like the United States’ responsibility for its unpopularity in the world, the fact that we wage wars and bomb other countries and invade and occupy other countries far more than any nation on the planet.
To include somebody like that would not only threaten the vested interests of everybody who’s participating in these conversations, it would disrupt the entire narrative, as Jay said it would. Almost sound foreign, as though these views are un-serious views, don’t belong in mainstream, serious shows. Because these views are never heard. They’re stigmatized, they’re demonized as being things that don’t really deserve a platform. And so, you can’t include advocates of these views in these shows.
JAY ROSEN: You know what’s really striking to me about this, is Lawrence Wilkerson, who worked for Colin Powell, when he retired from the government, he said that the people in power: Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld especially, were, in his view, radicals. That the radicals were the people actually running the government.
And this idea that the people in power were kind of outside the sphere of normal government, never made its way into the establishment press at all. The idea that Wilkerson could have been right, that the real radicals were running the federal government, never really penetrated their narrative at all.
BILL MOYERS: How do you explain the fact that so many in the press, pundits and others as well, were saying Obama has to be bipartisan?
JAY ROSEN: I think that the ideology of the press is not so much liberal or conservative. They think themselves the keepers of realism, of savviness. I think the real religion of the American press is savviness. And in their view, it isn’t savvy to say you’re going to mobilize the anger and frustration of the American people and bring that power to Washington to change it.
That’s not how politics works. The way politics works is you say things like that to get elected, and then, once you’re in, you make your accommodations, you show that you want to hew to the center. You demonstrate that you’re bipartisan. You pick people who are familiar.
And it’s those eternal laws of politics that journalists feel they know better than us. And they expect politics to kind of run down these rails that they’ve laid down, because then we have to turn to them for the inside story. And this is what they want to continue.Last week on Face Off the contestants created alien bounty hunters and this episode; Child’s Play marks a distinct change of theme and pace
Last week |
mechanical engineering from an institute in Vaniymabadi near Vellore. Then he got married. We hoped that the marriage and having a child would improve his mental illness. But even after a child, he was unable to lead a normal life,” he said.
“His wife and seven-year-old son live in Kerala now. A few years back, we took him to National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore… For almost six years, he was wandering off and I was going after him, bringing him home, before he disappeared again,” said Nazir, who lives in Haneef Nagar near Ambur.
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“About three months ago, local police officials came home to inform us that he was in the custody of Army or police in Jammu and Kashmir. They wanted us to go there and bring him back. I am a mechanic and earn Rs 150-200 daily. Physically and financially, I am unable to run after him anymore… I refused to go,” he added.MANILA – There is a “twist” in the controversial killing of teen Kian Loyd Delos Santos, President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday.
Duterte said the truth behind the Delos Santos case would come out once the trial of police officers tagged in his killing begins.
The teen's killing in an anti-drug sweep in August had triggered public outrage that some believe hurt the chief executive’s popularity.
“Iyung kay Kian na estudyante, you will know the truth, at least the version of the police, kapag mag-umpisa na ang trial, but it will not excuse or justify killing a person whose hands are raised, ready to surrender or kneeling down because that is really murder,” Duterte said in a speech in Manila.
“Pero may twist diyan…you just wait,” he added.
Duterte did not elaborate, but in recent speeches, he has hinted that those surrounding Delos Santos were indeed involved in the illegal drug trade.
In a speech on Oct. 19 in Manila, Duterte said: “Now, sabihin ko ‘yung kay Kian, the minor? I’m not trying to attribute this to anybody, but let me ask you, let me ask you one question: Why is it that in every arrest, during the night, there is always a minor and a person of age? Why? Because this is the courier, this is the runner.”
Delos Santos’ father and uncles had been tagged in the illegal drug trade and had allegedly used the teen as a courier. They denied this allegation.
The senior high school student was killed in a police raid in Caloocan City on Aug. 16. Operatives say he shot at officers to resist arrest, but witness statements and evidence suggest he may have been executed.
A CCTV footage showed that two cops in civilian clothes accosted the minor towards the direction where he was killed. Witnesses said they saw the cops hand the teen a gun and then told him to run.
Autopsy results, meanwhile, showed that the boy was shot in the head while he was already kneeling.
Police figures showed that some 3,800 drug suspects were slain during the time it led the anti-drug campaign. Duterte recently ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to take the lead in the drug war.
The administration has repeatedly denied involvement in summary killings.Last year it was confirmed that Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, will be produced into a movie. There has been confirmation that Tom Hardy, who played The Dark Knight Rises' Bane, will be starring as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell. Basil Iwanykm, producer of Mindhunters, Clash of the Titans, and The Expendables among others, has also joined this project as a producer.
According to The Examiner, Ubisoft has been reported to be talking to several studios about projecting Splinter Cell onto the big screen. Decision seems to be between Warner Bros. or Paramount, with the latter being the front runner. This is suspected to be because the studio has had a long history with Tom Clancy (author of the Splinter Cell books, but not creator of the Splinter Cell game).
Although Paramount has closely developed Tom Clancy's novels into movies in the past, it is said that Splinter Cell will be closely related to the video game and not the books in which they originate from.
There is much hope that the movie will be a success. What are your thoughts? Is Splinter Cell something you would like to see on the big screen? Do you think this will be a successful film, or not? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.As used in this Privacy Policy, “Gigaom” refers to all websites, mobile sites, applications, and other properties or services owned or operated by Knowingly Corporation.
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This Privacy Policy is effective as of March 3, 2016.A Berkeley man facing multiple murder charges may have inadvertently tipped off the prosecution to a notable piece of evidence by insisting he get access to material on his old cellphone.
Police had confiscated the phone of Darnell Williams Jr. at the time of his arrest in Berkeley in 2013. He has been charged with the murders of an 8-year-old girl in Oakland and a 22-year-old father with ties to the same West Berkeley neighborhood where Williams lived. The trial began two weeks ago. If convicted, Williams could face the death penalty.
Thursday, after excusing the jury until Tuesday morning, attorneys and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Horner stayed on in the courtroom to update the written record following two conversations they’d had earlier in chambers.
The defendant’s cellphone was the topic of those conversations. The defense team had, for some time, been pushing prosecutor John Brouhard to turn over all material from the phone at their client’s urging. Police had tried in the past to download texts and other information from it, but been stymied by technical difficulties.
Defense attorneys “thought it was a really stupid and bad idea”
This week, the Fremont Police Department was able to download the entirety of the phone contents. Brouhard said a review of those records led to the discovery of a photograph that shows a pistol that could have been used to kill 8-year-old Alaysha Carradine in July 2013. She had been playing at a friend’s house during a sleepover and was not the intended target. Three other people, two children and their grandmother, were injured.
The cellphone image is significant because the prosecution previously had identified and presented in court several photographs from Williams’ phone of Glock pistols a firearms expert said could have been used in the September 2013 shooting in Berkeley of Anthony “Tone” Medearis III.
But no photographs had previously been found on the phone showing the type of pistol used in the Oakland shooting. (Police never found any guns they were able to link to the killings.)
Defense attorney Deborah Levy said she and co-counsel Darryl Billups had tried to convince Williams not to pursue the material on the phone because it could harm his case. But he was determined to get it.
“Both Mr. Billups and I thought it was a really stupid and bad idea,” Levy told the court. She said she and Billups had been “very concerned” about digging up the records, but also acknowledged they had signed the April 12 order that allowed the prosecution to search the phone further.
That order required the prosecution to find a way to get the phone records to the defense team as quickly as possible. Brouhard described how Oakland investigators in 2013 had only been able to get some of the photographs off the phone, not download its entire contents. After trying twice, they gave up.
At one point, more recently, all three attorneys had spent an hour going through texts on the phone as an officer paged through them, but it was an arduous process, and Williams wanted to look at the information too. His defense attorneys passed on the message, so Brouhard said he began looking into how that might work.
Brouhard said he considered having an officer sit with Williams to show him the contents of the phone, but was concerned about the resources that might take, and the officer’s safety.
Brouhard said he also spoke with someone in the county crime lab who said he could photograph every piece of information on the phone one screenshot at a time to “manually extract” the contents. Brouhard said he had been ready to get that done when a different investigator came up with the idea to ask Fremont for help.
Gun in photo could be Oakland murder weapon
Wednesday morning, Fremont was able to do the download. Brouhard said, as a result, all the attorneys got access to the data.
Brouhard said several text messages on the phone, which had photographs attached, came to his attention. All three were sent from the phone early in the morning of July 19, 2013, less than two days after Alaysha was killed at her best friend’s apartment. The prosecution has said Williams went there to take revenge on the family of a man he believed had killed his close friend earlier that day.
All three texts showed firearms, Brouhard said: an M1 rifle, a SIG Sauer pistol and a Glock. In connection with the third, Wiliams wrote that he had three guns and was trying to “get some more.” He had told his girlfriend at the time, she testified, he was intent on getting rid of the gun from the Oakland shooting.
Brouhard had a firearms expert look at the photograph of the SIG Sauer in particular. After test-firing that kind of gun, using the type of bullet found at the Oakland crime scene, the expert determined the SIG Sauer could have been the weapon used to kill Alaysha.
“They look the same,” Brouhard told the court, of the firing pin impressions and ejector marks — two indicators of consistency during forensic firearm analysis — on the casings from the crime scene and the test casings.
Brouhard cannot definitively say the SIG Sauer in the photo was the one used to kill Alaysha. But he can now present evidence to the jury to indicate Williams appears to have had access to a gun that could have been used in that shooting.
The jury, judge and attorneys are in recess until Tuesday morning. Brouhard said he plans to question several witnesses next week about the cellphone download and the phone’s location data.
Levy noted that there are more than 130 pages of text messages from the phone she hopes to review before then.
(All of the prior discussion took place as part of the official court record; the attorneys are prohibited from communicating with the media about the case due to a gag order.)
Much of the testimony this week has focused on the Berkeley shooting of Medearis. Stay tuned to Berkeleyside for an in-depth look at that testimony early next week.
Related:
Ex-girlfriend of accused killer: ‘I feel scared to this day’ (04.11.16)
Judge orders Williams trial to continue after defendant threatens suicide, violence (04.04.16)
Years on, Alaysha Carradine killing is still haunting (03.31.16)
Defense says lack of evidence will cast doubt in double murder trial (03.29.16)
Prosecutor: Berkeley killing sparked ‘rampage of violence’ that left little girl dead (03.29.16)
1 held to answer in Berkeley murder of ‘Lil Tone’ (01.13.14)
‘Snitch’ rumor leads to Berkeley dad’s murder (01.09.14)
2 testify in Berkeley murder hearing against Oakland man (01.08.14)
If you rely on Berkeleyside, help support independent local journalism by becoming a member.Independent advertising agency Banjo has publicly apologised after what has been alleged as a 'racist' incident involving a senior member of staff and an interview candidate.
The Sydney-based shop, which has clients on the book such as Best & Less, Pacific Brands and Crown, says in the course of expanding the account management team at Banjo, an “unfortunate misunderstanding” occurred during an interview with a candidate, “for which Banjo would like to offer an unreserved apology”. The agency is getting on the front foot with an immediate response to address a flurry of comments on social channels. Agencies are often criticised for not moving quickly enough to address contentious issues.
It's thought that freelance account director Surungi Emily Hohol had an interview at the agency and the senior staff member who conducted “what was a very positive interview, made a casual remark at the end of the interview, which was intended to set the person at ease”.
In a Facebook post that has since been shared on Twitter, Hohol, who has worked at the likes of Havas, BWM and DDB Sydney, said: “The injustice of racism – I'm livid and seriously irritated by this. Yesterday I had an interview at a creative ad agency in Sydney and was told that due to being brown skinned (though I'm Sri Lankan) and have lived in Australia for 27 years, I wouldn't be suitable for the role as they already had two other Indian people.
“Direct quote 'the client might be alarmed by having three brown skin [sic] people attend a meeting', seriously, what is wrong with people,” the post read.
In a statement from Banjo, which did not clarify what the remarks were, it said that comments had been taken out of context and has since gained some notoriety on social media.
“Needless to say, the Banjo staff member is deeply upset by the incident, which occurred yesterday,” the statement said.
“There has been a lot of media attention on the issue of equality – including race, gender and sexual orientation, and age – in recent times and we acknowledge that emotions can run high.”
Agency MD steps in
Banjo managing director Andrew Varasdi said the feedback he received was that the interview was a very positive one, reflected in an email sent immediately to the recruitment company that was complimentary of the candidate, and addressed the possibility to explore further opportunities with Banjo.
“Our position on this remains unchanged. When I learned of the situation I immediately contacted both the candidate and our staff member to offer my empathy and support. I have arranged to meet with the candidate first thing in the morning 5 August) to reassure her of our policies on recruitment.”
He added that in Banjo’s seven-year history, the agency’s recruitment policy has always encompassed not only hiring the best possible talent, but also ensuring that the staff spans all ages, genders and ethnicities.
“We couldn’t possibly deliver on our promise that our clients come first, if our own staff did not reflect the Australian community. We are always prepared to offer our clients the best advice to connect with their customers,” Varasdi said.
Banjo’s said its current staff includes 50% women in senior management and 50% women overall, and half of the staff are from ethnic backgrounds including India, Asia, UK and South America.
“We are extremely proud of the make up of our talented staff, which is reflective of the diversity of Australia. We hope that we will be judged on our record, and that all candidates who consider joining us at Banjo will do so too,” Varasdi said.
Hot topic
Diversity is a hot topic across adland, with just this week Kevin Roberts, the Saatchi & Saatchi chairman and head coach, resigning just days after being embroiled in a row over sexist comments.
Also this week 10 Aussie agencies brought together by AdNews banded together to form ‘The Agency Circle’, a group and charter designed to turn the gender and broader diversity debate into action and change.
It's an initiative led by Australian agencies who want to see real change happening in the Australian industry; Clemenger BBDO, Leo Burnett, The Monkeys, M&C Saatchi, Havas Worldwide, Whybin\TBWA, The Hallway, JWT, Ogilvy and VCCP. Together they’ve drafted a charter for diversity to which members will subscribe.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.A controversial private outsourcing firm misled the Government in its official bid to win a multimillion-pound contract to assess the needs of disabled benefit claimants, MPs have claimed.
In its tender document, submitted to the Department of Work and Pensions, Atos suggested that more than 700 healthcare providers, including 56 NHS hospitals, had contractually agreed to provide accommodation where assessments for new Personal Independence Payments could take place. It claimed the “hyper-local” network would mean that no disabled claimant would have to travel more than 60 minutes to attend an assessment, with “over 90 per cent of claimants able to reach the centres in 30 minutes”.
But the Public Accounts Committee heard that, since the scheme was launched, over 40 per cent of all claimants have had to travel for more than an hour to reach an assessment centre, with only 40 per cent being able to reach a suitable location in less than 45 minutes.
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.
Atos had in fact contracted fewer than 100 healthcare providers to provide accommodation – and a miscalculation by the DWP over how long each session would take meant that some severely disabled people were waiting longer than six months to be seen.
MPs accused Atos of “playing fast and loose with the truth” in the bid document – resulting in ministers misleading Parliament about how the scheme would work.
Personal Independence Payments began to replace Disability Living Allowance in April last year. Most people applying for PIP have a face-to-face assessment to determine eligibility, which is carried out by Atos Healthcare and Capita Business Services.
But a report from the National Audit Office found claimants were waiting an average of 107 days, and terminally ill patients 28 days, for a decision on their cases – much longer than had been predicted.
MPs told Lisa Coleman, senior vice-president of Atos, that they believed the firm had been misleading in its bid document.
“You only managed to work with a quarter of the trusts you named in the document,” the committee’s chair, Margaret Hodge, told her. “If there had been one or two falling out then I could have accepted your argument – but only a quarter?”
She then asked: “Is it usual to lie in the tender document, Ms Coleman?”
Ms Coleman told the committee that because the DWP had pushed back its plans for mandatory re-assessment of all DLA claimants until 2015 fewer sites were needed than had been suggested in the bid document. “We have had sufficient coverage,” she said. “If we had used all 750 sites they would [each] be doing about three assessments a week.”
Ms Coleman added: “What we talked about in the tender document was what we thought we could achieve. When you write a tender document you say this is the specification that I can deliver. This is what I am responsible for.”
She added: “We are not there yet. I am not going to sit here and say we are.”
An Atos spokeswoman subsequently said the company categorically denied making misleading claims in the tender document.
“We had the written agreement of every single trust named in our tender document that they could be named. The department was fully aware throughout the process where we were.
“We won the contract for PIP through a fair, open and transparent competitive process.” A DWP spokeswoman said the department did not believe it had been misled.
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 |
ditched Nike for Adidas), and more of the world's most-watched tastemakers, have only made their demand—and resale prices—skyrocket.
Having avoided too many runs through the Nike Retro machine (where older styles are reissued as shiny new collectible sneakers made with modern details) is certainly a factor that's helped keep Air Jordan 1 Royal interest high. The last time the color combination saw the light of day was in 2013 and before that 2001 (Frank Ocean's version of choice) and prior to that, 1994. Now four years later, they're coming back once more (April 1 if you want to mark your calendars).
Previous retro versions were—at least to the naked eye—the same as the OGs, but any sneakerhead will tell you (politely we're sure) that's far from the case. That's what makes this particular release feel more special than most—it attempts to recreate the 1985 silhouette from every angle. While the 2001 version had a slightly bulkier upper in addition to a nubuck Swoosh (the originals have leather) and the 2013 release saw a noticeable drop off in the leather quality and color (the blue wasn't quite right), this year's pair nails the silhouette (almost identical the originals), the materials (the leather quality feels top notch), and the details (even the box looks like the original). These are the things sneaker collectors look for most. Because after all, buying a rerelease of a sneaker is as much about buying into the nostalgia as it is purchasing a physical item.
Like any major Air Jordan release, the black and royal blue won't be easy to get, and as of yet there's no official stores list available. What we do know is that back in 2001 Jordan released 50,000 pairs of the reissued style. We're certainly hoping for more pairs this time around, but even if the brand floods the market with 250,000 or even 300,000 pairs (Nike's been known to sell 1,000,000 sneakers in a week for some styles), we can guarantee they'll still be gone faster than you can say "sneaker bot."Could you tell us some of your history as an activist and how you got involved in these issues?
I came into the American Indian Movement (AIM) a few years after it was founded, in 1973 during Wounded Knee II. I had been involved at San Francisco State in the early 1960s and things were beginning to rumble there during the civil rights movement. I was married and a working-class student. The Left seemed like an elite crew to me, and I couldn’t find anyone to relate to until some African-American students invited me to come to a Du Bois Club meeting that had started there at SF State.
Then I went to UCLA and there was a big Du Bois Club in Los Angeles. Of course it was a Communist Party affiliate. I was mainly involved in Latin American history as a graduate student, specifically the anti-imperialist and anti-apartheid movements, because African studies and Latin American studies crossed over a lot [in] supporting national liberation movements. That was the main context for my politics, and Marxism was not that popular in the New Left. I personally loved the old Communists and thought they were great. I loved listening to their stories, especially the labor struggles. My grandfather had been in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Oklahoma. This was the ideological setting that I had in my mind, but I couldn’t quite understand the New Left, and why they wanted to avoid Marxist theory, because I didn’t understand anti-communism and the Cold War yet.
During this time I was doing my academic research. I ended up finally writing my dissertation in 1974. I was in residence at UCLA for three years. Then I went off to be a full-time revolutionary until I decided to teach. But I was with the Latin American students who were mostly Mexican-American, and not at all allergic to Marxism, coming from the Mexican revolutionary tradition. I was exposed to a lot, and I became more of an activist during the anti-Vietnam War movement. I learned some organizing skills, and toward the end of my time at UCLA we were trying to organize a teaching assistants’ union. The union was formed after I left, and I felt I had helped lay the foundations for that.
In the summer of 1967, I went off to London to work with the African National Congress (ANC). I was there for three months and this was the first time I ever met real revolutionaries [at the] African National Congress world headquarters. Getting to know the ANC and learning from its experiences was quite sobering after three years at university, and what felt like mainly talk. Instead, everything had consequences for the ANC.
That was an important learning experience, and the ANC wanted me to stay and work with them. They had recruited a number of people who did stay and I sometimes regret that I did not stay. After leaving London, I visited some of the veterans of the Vietnam War who had deserted the war effort and were living in Geneva, Switzerland. I decided I had to go back to the United States and get involved in the revolution, because everyone would be needed. I felt that there wasn’t all that much I could contribute to the ANC because I had no direct connections.
I was also becoming more and more troubled by male chauvinism in the movement. It was clear it was in the general society, but I romanticized the movement, especially the ANC, and thought they were better than that. Returning to the United States and organizing in the Boston area, I got angrier and angrier at men in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the anti-draft movement, the motto of which was, “Girls say yes to boys who say no.” I hadn’t felt oppressed so much directly, but of course I was, although I had been treated as a kind of “honorary” man. Once I started taking a feminist stand I got condemned. It was pretty hard to take at the time. And male chauvinism had terrible consequences for the women’s movement and for the development of the left, because it took some of the strongest feminists out of the Left and made the Left unwelcoming to newly politicized young women.
How did you get involved in AIM and make connections with the broader Left at the time?
I finished my dissertation at UCLA on the history of land tenure in New Mexico’s Indigenous practices from precolonial to the mid-twentieth century, then took a teaching position in a new Native American Studies program at Cal State Hayward [today known as California State University, East Bay]. Even while writing my dissertation the year before, I got involved with the Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense committee, which was based in South Dakota but had a large contingent in the San Francisco Bay area. Two of the main lawyers on the hundreds of criminal cases that stemmed from arrests following the Wounded Knee siege, John Thorne and Vine Deloria Jr., asked me to serve as an expert witness at a hearing to dismiss the remaining Wounded Knee cases, based on the Sioux–US Treaty of 1868, which maintained Sioux sovereignty over all that transpired in their treaty territory. I was no expert on Native American treaties, but Vine Deloria Jr. guided me to the literature. At the two-week hearing held in federal court in Lincoln, Nebraska, I served as an expert witness but also as part of the legal team. Ninety percent of the testimony from Sioux elders provided the oral history of the Sioux nation, their treaty with the United States, and the wars that followed, culminating in the 1890 US Army massacre of unarmed Sioux refugees. At the end of the hearing, the elders asked me to turn the court transcripts into an oral history of the Great Sioux Nation, which I worked on for the following three years, publishing the book by that name in 1977.2
Soon, I got involved in the project AIM developed with the elders, with the founding of the International Indian Treaty Council, to go to the United Nations with the Sioux treaty. In 1977 we had the first international meeting, and the rest of my time in the Indigenous movement has mainly been that international work, which continues to this day. The movement developed over three decades, culminating in success in the UN General Assembly’s 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and has tripled in participation since then.
Now back to AIM itself. AIM was in the “rainbow coalition” with other organizations like the Black Panther Party, the Puerto Rican Young Lords, the Chicano Crusade for Justice, and other organizations. AIM was founded in 1968, in Minneapolis just one year before the occupation of Alcatraz. The founders were Ojibwa, but the movement spread throughout the country. This was all in the context of the civil rights movement and rise of the Black Panther Party. The uprising at Alcatraz was pretty much grassroots and organized by urban Indians in the Bay Area and Native students, especially at San Francisco State, where the Third World liberation movement and strike took place in 1968.3 A Native student, Richard Oakes, was one of the leaders of the strike and a leader in the liberation of Alcatraz in 1969. John Trudell, who would become the chairman of AIM, was another leader at Alcatraz. But the leadership of Native women such as LaNada War Jacket, Madonna Thunder Hawk, and Lorelei DeCora was the essential element that allowed the community to remain for eighteen months.
The struggles of Indigenous people have a rich history, and really came together in the struggles of the 1960s and 1970s with other movements for liberation. In your books, it’s clear you are making the connection between land dispossession, labor, and class—basically Marx’s approach of historical materialism. You even quoted Marx from Capital in the beginning of chapter two, entitled “Culture of Conquest.” Why is this approach important to struggles for liberation?
I think Marxism is a hard sell in the Native movement and for African Americans but less so for Mexican Americans because of their political genealogies. Today it’s even difficult for Chicanos, as well as Native Americans, because Marxism is deemed just Western epistemology or a Western worldview. There is of course a lot of Eurocentrism in Marx’s early writings. There is the idea of progress, but people don’t look at his later work enough, when he was getting into ethnology.4 He didn’t know much about non-European peoples, yet making generalities about the whole world can seem imperialist. However, I found out when I was doing my dissertation, that using Marxism to look at the history of land tenure in New Mexico at different stages from Spanish colonization through US conquest and colonization was essential. Marx describes the initial looting of the Americas as reckless abandon, as well as the enslavement of Africans, and the genocide of Native Americans, and this describes the initial Spanish invasion and occupation of New Mexico, which led to the All Indian Pueblo Revolt driving the Spanish colonists out for more than a decade.5 The second period of eighteenth-century Spanish colonialism was far more of a negotiated relationship. It was still colonialism but it wasn’t the most vicious kind, and the Spanish army was there to defend that zone from French and British expansion.6
Through the history of Mexico becoming independent and then New Mexico being taken by the US, I tried to look at capitalist development and to link this with imperialism. I read all kinds of things from Marx and participated in Marxist study groups. At the time I hadn’t done a real study of Capital. I started reading about Oriental despotism, and Marx’s analysis of how the pyramids were built. These grand public works were built by forced labor, and I connected that to what I was seeing in precolonial Indigenous New Mexico—they had elaborate irrigation systems, which were also throughout Mexico and Central America. You have almost a dictatorship to control water, but the way Indigenous peoples organized it was with serial dictatorships. The ditch boss would be elected for one year and had total control of the water in each pueblo. These ninety-eight city-states along the Rio Grande and its tributaries also went to war with each other periodically over water, so it could be very serious. They could starve as a result of being in the desert. With the water supply, they had an absolute autocratic ditch boss and everyone had to contribute labor. There wasn’t a class of laborers, and after a year the ditch boss could never again be in that position. It had to change every year so that they didn’t get used to the power.
This history shows how people can organize themselves in different ways; capitalism and exploitative labor were not inevitable in human history. Just because capitalism came to dominate the world through European and United States imperialism, forcing the world to live under capitalism does not mean it was inevitable. We need to build upon Marx’s brilliant comprehension of how capitalism arose in Europe and how it works. But the social and political systems that produced ancient irrigation systems and widespread agricultural production in the Americas were not despotic.7 It has been said the beginning of the class system started in ancient Egypt, but I found things that didn’t fit that mold. I tried to apply the basic tenets of Marxism and especially what is known as “primitive accumulation”.
I want to mention here that there are a lot of words Marx used that should be retranslated. For instance regarding primitive accumulation, it’s just easy to say “primary” or “higher” but Marxists don’t know what you’re talking about unless you say primitive. In other languages, primitive means primary.8 It doesn’t necessarily have the baggage that the word “primitive” does for Indigenous peoples subjected to European ethnography. It became clear to me while working on my thesis that the first big onslaught of the primitive accumulationprocess that set off capitalist development happens over and over again, even today. This has entered into a part of Native studies with Glen Coulthard’s book, Red Skin, White Masks, in which he makes that argument.9 Coulthard identifies with the anarchist tendency, but he takes on Ward Churchill’s piece in Marxism and Native Americans.10 Coulthard says it’s ridiculous to not use such an important tool as Marx’s work.
In all my work, I try to apply historical materialism. However, I don’t think any of the original Marxists and following generations of European Marxists dealt with colonialism as the avatar of capitalism. Lenin theorized imperialism, but he dealt with it in the most technical way of financial capital, which is really important. And he did deal with national liberation. But I don’t think Marx or Lenin even began to understand the role the US was playing throughout the nineteenth century as the vortex of capitalism, and what I try to show is that from the very beginning the United States was based on colonial conquest, and on overseas imperialism following their independence from the British Empire.
As we have been diving into current debates and writings from the Left, we have found an absence of analysis on the question of Native Americans and labor. You mentioned Glen Coulthard earlier and he actually says in the introduction of Red Skin, White Masks,
It appears that the history of dispossession, not proletarianization, has been the dominant background structure shaping the character of the historical relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state... Stated bluntly, the theory and practice of Indigenous anticolonialism, including Indigenous anticapitalism, is best understood as a struggle primarily inspired by and oriented around the question of land... and less around our emergent status as “rightless proletarians.”
But in fact, you have talked about many Native Americans being part of the working class as you mention recently in your Real News interview.11 Why is this?
For instance, in the Diné Nation (Navajo reservation), the energy industry has long dominated, and in the 1970s, Navajos formed trade unions to demand that they have the jobs and job training. In the early part of the twentieth century, Navajos and Pueblo Indians made up much of the work force on the railroads that ran through their territories in the Southwest. In the federal government’s relocation program of the 1950s and 1960s, half the reservation and rural population migrated to urban areas for jobs in industry; however, many had moved on their own during the war to work in the defense industry. I think ignoring this is a problem for some academics. Some of the Native people in academia come from more prosperous families. I don’t believe any Native person is super wealthy; even in the biggest casinos the money is distributed and there is not a real ruling class—but there are definitely class issues in terms of consciousness. All the AIM activists were from working-class families, but are no less Lakota, Diné, or Salish because of it. They worked at all kinds of jobs. So for me, I felt really comfortable in AIM because it was working class and people were not ashamed to be workers. In fact they were quite proud, and they were drawn to unions when anyone bothered to organize them.
When the Navajo workers began to organize in the 1970s with the United Mine Workers, it was against federal law for unions to organize on Indian reservations. Peter McDonald12 challenged that and won. The Navajo workers had specific demands for medical benefits; they bargained to include their medicine men to be paid. They had the Indian Health Service, but they wanted to pay their medicine people and were able to get this into their contract. They are very strong union people. Unfortunately, there are other problems with the fossil-fuel industry and internal struggles in reservations over ending extraction for environmental reasons.
I think Coulthard is trying to say that exploitation and expropriation are different things. But all capitalism starts with expropriation of land from the producers, and not just in the Americas but as the prerequisite for the development of capitalism in Europe. That’s what I describe as the culture of conquest in my book, about the commons being fenced in and that all expropriation started with the land.
We’ve been trying to use Marxism as the framework to talk about Indigenous issues. If you merely say Marxism is European, you miss the point of the theory. People forget that Marx actually talked about who was expropriated, how people were actually dispossessed, and how that created the material basis ultimately for colonization, and how the vast majority of settlers and migrants who came to the US ended up in factories as low-wage workers.
I worked hard on the first chapter of my book about the precolonial era in the Americas, where there were prosperous and urban civilizations without capitalism, and that is so hopeful. Most radical forms of anarchism now are anticivilization, and they often look to Native people as the inspiration. They use Indigenous peoples, especially Native people in the Americas, pulling out what they want to justify their ideology. They are creating fantasies as evidence and even calling it science. Anarchists, especially the primitivists, view agriculture as the basis of all evil, because they are looking at agribusiness, and they don’t want to know at all that 90 percent of Native people in the Western hemisphere were agriculturalists—they don’t want to know that fact. So they romanticize Native people as “hunter-gatherers.”
This viewpoint distorts the reality in the Western hemisphere. The civilizations of central Mexico and the Andes were still developing before the Europeans intervened. The civilizations of the Americas were going in a different direction than Europe or Asia. I think had Marx really been able to study or know what was hardly even knowable at that time, he would have said that capitalism in the Americas was not inevitable. I always say that 500 years ago with the invasion of the Americas, a wrong path was taken for humanity. So let’s say that capitalism is wrong and destructive, not that it was inevitable. For example, with the ancestral Puebloans, it was clearly a choice. They had a large civilization up on Mesa Verde [in present day Colorado]; they had irrigation ditches for miles and were overusing the wood, because everything was built of wood. They were probably becoming less democratic, and they made the choice to migrate to the Rio Grande area of northern New Mexico and break down into smaller villages. They continued to function like city-states, but they were smaller than the one large civilization up at Mesa Verde. And why not say that was a choice and just maybe that the Americas were going in a different direction, rather than interpreting this or the Maya devolvement as “collapse?” This is something to learn from: civilization without capitalism and how can it work. This is tied with the concept of humans being a part of nature; for example, conventional Marxist thinking argues that private property began with the domestication of animals in Africa. However, in America the ancestral peoples did not domesticate animals for food or as beasts of burden. In the civilizations of Central America, parrots and dogs were domesticated but were considered sacred. The Spanish invaders noted that the Aztec dogs did not bark, but they learned to bark from the Spanish war dogs.
Can you talk more about the relationship between settler colonialism and capitalism? What do you define as settler colonialism? What is the difference between settler colonialism and outpost colonialism?
Yes, it is really important. I am not sure I entirely succeed in the book on this because the tendency of European-based Marxism is to separate the two, and of course in the United States they are like two separate worlds. Because of Lenin, we have a good connection between capitalism and imperialism, and most people assume the connection. But with colonialism, bourgeois history tends to call things colonialism that weren’t colonialism, such as the Roman Empire. Yes, they had colonies, but it wasn’t capitalist-based. It was a different era; so people like to say “people have been colonizing each other forever,” but colonialism is just a different system under capitalism. In settler colonialism, Europeans export people with the promise of land, and private property, so that land itself becomes the chief commodity in the primitive accumulation of capital, and in North America, colonists also enslaved Africans as both market commodities and unpaid and unfree labor. This is a distinct form of colonialism, which obviously proved to be the most effective in building the most powerful capitalist state, the United States. The main form of European colonialism was to exploit resources—precious metals, African bodies, spices—in which Native labor was organized with European overseers and bureaucrats, as well as Native middlemen. This form of colonialism, of course, produced great wealth for the European monarchies and later European states and created the structures of unequal global markets that persist today.
I want to make clear that there is not one “settler colonial” or “colonial” experience. Each has to be analyzed on its own terms, depending on many factors, such as which colonial state and which period of time is being considered. The European fetish for gold that developed during the Middle Ages drove nearly all of the early colonial ventures, but rare spices were also worth their weight in gold. And most importantly, the study of any colonial situation requires understanding the level and nature of resistance to these invasions. In making general conclusions regarding the Anglo and Anglo-American colonization of North America, it is essential to keep in mind that each of the hundreds of Native nations had a unique experience of colonialism, always destructive, but varying in details and survivability.
It’s inaccurate to speak, for instance, of “the California Indians.” The eighteenth-century Spanish colonization of the coastal region from San Diego to San Francisco was carried out by Franciscan missionaries with the use of the Spanish army in seizing people in the whole region to be incarcerated in the missions, and to work for the missionaries in their commercial pursuits. So these weren’t typical settlers, but it was settler colonialism. On the other hand, the nearly half of California north of San Francisco was not colonized until the United States confiscated the northern part of what had become Mexico, and the rush of settlers arrived as gold seekers with the 1850s gold rush. These were not typical settlers either, combining extraction with genocide.
Colonialism in general is disruptive, destructive, damaging, sometimes depopulating entire areas, such as the Natchez villagers of the Mississippi Delta, and the Nahuatl-speaking villagers of western Nicaragua and western Honduras who were seized by Spanish slave traders in the sixteenth century, then transported to work in the mines of Peru. European settlers didn’t arrive to those nearly depopulated areas until later. This was similar to the way villagers of West Africa were captured, enslaved, and sold in the Americas, losing their existence as particular nations and peoples.
I would say that settler colonialism was an exceptional mode of colonialism. English settler colonialism in the North American colonies took its specific form from the mid-seventeenth-century English conquest of Ireland, in which English forces under Oliver Cromwell drove subsistent Irish farmers off their land and gave land grants to English and Scottish settlers. The developing English capitalism based in the wool industry required surplus labor to work in the factories, as well as large swaths of grazing land for commercial sheep production. The process of fencing the commons and driving English farmers off the land created that surplus labor force, but also a pool of settlers who were promised free land in America. The Protestant Anglos and Scots, who settled Northern Ireland, made up the majority of frontier settlers in the British North American colonies.
The Portuguese and the Spanish were specifically seeking gold and silver. Their hoarding of gold and silver actually limited their ability to develop capitalism. They didn’t really have a basis for that in the Iberian Peninsula after they deported all the farmers, craftsmen, architects, and other producers who were Muslims and Jews. Only in the eighteenth century did Spain begin establishing settler-colonies in the southern cone of South America, employing the same genocidal methods of eliminating or driving out the Indigenous peoples, which continued when Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay became independent.
However, only the United States developed effective capitalism outside of Britain. By 1840, it was already the largest economic power in the world on the basis of the global cotton trade and textile factories, also providing cotton to the British textile industry. Until recently, economic historians have dated the development of US capitalism to post–Civil War industrialization in the North. Several recent books have convincingly made the case for the cotton kingdom in the Mississippi Valley being the site of the birth of full-blown capitalism prior to the Civil War, based on slave labor and the capital generated by the value of the slaves’ bodies.13 This development included the parallel expulsion of the five large Native agricultural nations from the Southeast during the 1830s and 1840s, generating huge amounts of capital in land sales.
Related to this, do you see a difference between Coulthard and your mentor Howard Adams on these questions and how they view Marxism and socialism in relation to Native people?
Having read both of them, I would say first that Coulthard identifies with anarchism. But unlike many anarchists, he is not at all allergic to using aspects of Marxist theory, and he criticizes the idea of dismissing Marxist ideas and arguments. Most important, he identifies capitalism as an enemy of Indigenous self-determination. In his extraordinary book Red Skin, White Masks, he writes, “For Indigenous nations to live, capitalism must die. And for capitalism to die, we must actively participate in the construction of Indigenous alternatives to it.”
In that respect, Coulthard and Adams are the same. They both argue that capitalism must die for Indigenous peoples to be free. But at the same time, Coulthard does not recognize the proletarian nature of most Native people’s lives for the past several centuries. I understand that his research is grounded in Dené reality.
Howard, on the other hand, grounded his research in the Métis world. In his classic work Prison of Grass, he combines autobiography and the history of the Métis; he characterizes the greatest uprising of Indigenous peoples in Canada and maybe all of North America as a workers’ struggle as well as being an anticolonial struggle. This was the revolution, led by Louis Riel, against the exploitation of the Métis workers in the fur trade, as well as the encroachments into Native territories.14 And, of course, in México and in the Andean region, Indigenous labor is the primary exploited labor. In fact, Native individuals were primarily workers in the colonial economic systems that existed in the US and Canada. They are not significantly a part of the 1 percent: they are workers. A person can have an identity as a worker without losing their Indigenous identity.
This does not mean I completely agree with Howard Adams. In the mid-1970s when he was a mentor of mine, I learned a great deal from him. Howard aligned with development theory, which was theorized by economists such as Andre Gunder Frank and others who were looking at Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa, and how European colonialism/capitalism underdeveloped these peoples. The United Nations decolonization mission adopted development theory, with formerly colonized nations calling for transfer of technology and wealth from the rich countries, a kind of reparations plan. The entire regime collapsed in 1980, when the United States withdrew its participation. Howard, like Coulthard, saw alternative Indigenous development as a way to undermine capitalism.
Howard Adams also linked US and Canadian overseas imperialisms as something not new to the twentieth century, but rooted in their colonization of the peoples of North America. He was a pioneer in making that connection in the early 1970s. Now, for Native scholars, it is taken for granted.
But it’s not surprising that both Coulthard and Adams come out of the Indigenous communities in Canada, where they didn’t experience the level of anticommunism that existed in the United States. The Communist Party in Canada early on included many of the First Peoples who organized Communist Party chapters, particularly in Native fishing villages in British Columbia. The Native presence in or near the Marxist Left and trade unions is very different than in the United States.
However, I think a great many Native people in the United States very much feel a unity with militant workers’ struggles. I’ve always found in the Native movement when I tell stories about my grandfather, about the history of the IWW and Socialist Party in Oklahoma, and especially about the 1917 Green Corn Rebellion, in which landless Native, Anglo, and African-American tenant farmers rose up against conscription into World War I, calling it a “rich man’s war,” that there is a sense of hope and possibility for solidarity to struggle together in mutual interest.
Transcribed by Michelle WardLeonardo DiCaprio’s ‘Before the Flood’: A Review
The release of Leonardo DiCaprio’s new film ‘Before the Flood’, near the end of a US election in which climate change has gone all but unmentioned, is to be celebrated. As is the fact that it has been made available free online, and within the first 2 days of its release, has already been viewed 3.5 million times, as well as trending on Twitter. Ah, the power of celebrity. It powerfully reminds the world of the urgency around climate change, which can only be a good thing. You can watch the whole thing for free here first, then proceed into my reflections on it:
It’s not a film you get to the end of without a real jolt around the urgency of climate change. Very few people other than those who have completely severed the link between their brain and their heart can watch footage taken flying over the Alberta tar sands (“it looks like Mordor”, he tells the executive of the company wreaking this devastation. “What’s Mordor?” comes the reply), over the Indonesian forests deliberately set alight by palm oil companies, or over collapsing ice sheets without being deeply troubled. “Everything I have seen on my journey has absolutely terrified me”, he says.
In terms of the gravity of the challenge, the film doesn’t pull its punches. “The window”, Johan Rockstrom of the Stockholm Resilience Centre tells him (i.e. the window of action for avoiding disastrous climate change), “is barely open”.
He visits world leaders and key people in governments and business. We see some degree of how this impacts on him personally, for example when the shooting for scenes for ‘The Revenant’ that require snow have to be moved 9,000 miles south, from the Canadian snow belt to southern Argentina because there’s no snow left in that region of Canada. All of which leads me into the two fundamental issues I have with this film.
One: Before the Flood … of tears?
Climate change is clearly something Leonardo di Caprio cares about deeply, and has for many years. One of the key moments in the film, for me, is his interview with Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi. She challenges him, saying that 30% of Indians still have no access to electricity, and for the US to tell India to cut its emissions without cutting its own, without recalibrating its own lifestyle and its expectations, is not going to work. When she presses him on this point, he says “it (the US voluntarily changing its lifestyle) is probably not going to happen”.
There is, in this moment, a tension that runs, unaddressed, throughout ‘Before the Flood’. DiCaprio lives in a world of contradiction. His influence is such that he can make a film containing interviews with the Pope, President Obama and so on. He is a very wealthy man, owning an island off Belize, numerous homes around the world. He supports lots of great projects. He is part of the 1%. He has the 11th largest yacht in the world, which cost over $200 million, which has its own wine cellar and a helicopter pad. He attracted a lot of criticism when, earlier this year, he flew from Cannes to New York by private jet, to collect an environmental award. It has been argued by some that his lifestyle diminishes his ‘moral authority’ to speak out on issues like climate change.
I don’t want to knock him. In many ways it’s a great film, and I think he is a great ambassador for all of this. He’s a cool guy, and his opinion is respected, especially by young people who find themselves bewildered in cyberspace by the “is climate change real or not?” nonsense babble. It’s impossible to keep everyone happy: if you’re rich and a celebrity and you speak out, people will accuse you of being privileged and out of touch, if you aren’t, far fewer people will listen. It’s brilliant that he has made this.
But I would like to have seen more of his inner conflicts. It would have transformed this film’s narrative, impact and credibility. He knows the reality of climate change, yet he lives a 1% lifestyle. When he was on that plane to New York, to pick up his environmental award, how did he justify it to himself? What did those internal conversations look like?
Yes, he drives electric cars, and has solar panels on his house, but nothing in this film, including his reaction during that interview in Delhi, mentions ‘sacrifice’. And ultimately, if we are to get through this, wealthier nations, and wealthier people, need to make sacrifices. We know from Oxfam that the world’s wealthiest 10% generate half of global carbon emissions. There is huge leadership to be shown here.
Absent are his reflections on how that future world could be, on how a more equitable, just, sustainable world could be so much better than today. In that world, what do the lifestyles of the rich and famous look like? What kind of inner journey do they need to go on? What do they need to let go of, and what does that grief, that refocusing look like? How does their relationship with privilege and power need to change? What does it look like for a celebrity to really become embedded, rooted, in a place, rather than houses around the world, connected by private jets and huge yachts? That’s what I wanted to see. I wanted to see how this stuff affected his heart, made him rethink and reimagine his own life and lifestyle, his self-image.
DiCaprio could do that. He could be the first celebrity to really model that. I wondered if the title ‘Before the Flood’ might in fact refer to the moment before the flood of tears that often come before any real period of self-examination. The reality is that there is really no place for super yachts in a world that manages to stay below 2 degrees. Nor for fracking, third runways, huge new infrastructure projects. Nor, indeed, for the 1% with their current ways of living. The film would have us believe that we can have our cake and eat it. We can’t. But there is still a delicious, albeit different, menu on offer.
I’d have loved him to have read Chuck Collins’ book ‘Born on Third Base’ before making this film. DiCaprio’s reluctance to share his own honest, painful, rich journey with us is such a pity. He is, perhaps, uniquely placed to do that. It would have had such an impact, and his example would have touched the 1% as well as the rest of us. In his book, Collins writes: “Wealthy friends and neighbours. It is time to come home … to come out of your gated communities and gated hearts”. It’s a journey I would love to have seen DiCaprio make.
Two. Social technologies
‘Before the Flood’ presents a case where climate change is to be solved by politics and technology. It’s all about international agreements, new tax regimes, renewable energy, eating less meat and battery storage. “There’s no reason we can’t solve this problem in time” he says at one point. Elon Musk would have us believe that technology can do it all, and his vision and commitment are certainly remarkable. We are left with a sense that this is a challenge that can only be solved by the rich and the powerful.
Yet all over the world, people are already doing a huge amount. Much of the best action is coming from city Mayors, from local governments, and from communities. And this stuff is growing, and spreading fast. I loved Jonathan Latham ‘s piece ‘Why the Food Movement is Unstoppable’ which gives a great taste of this.
What are the new social technologies, the social infrastructures, that this shift requires? They are being pioneered, around the world, through a huge diversity of initiatives and communities. They are recognizing that climate change is a crisis that is about disconnection, from each other, from nature, from the places where we live, and they are reweaving those connections. The role of the Obamas, the 1%, should be to support those and to learn from them.
Yes, the leadership from the powerful people interviewed here is important. But President Obama cuts an unconvincing figure, sombrely acknowledging that the Paris Agreement is “nowhere near enough” but offering little else, and the Pope’s amazing historic Encyclical on the climate has largely fallen on deaf ears. But other than mobilising through demonstrations, people could reach the end of this film with the impression that nothing is happening on the ground. The reality couldn’t be more different.
This is a powerful, timely, and beautifully |
a pitch behind me to make sure everything was going okay.
As I jugged and struggled with the ladders attached to my ascenders, the whole thing felt much messier than it did in practice sessions. It was humbling and frustrating that I wasn’t automatically good. Beads of sweat ran down the back of my neck, and I knew I was going slowly. Every pull up on the rope, I cursed my pride, knowing that my passion for climbing had faded out seven years ago. I felt more at home with a camera in my hand.
I paused, leaned my head against the rope and let the tears come. It was almost dark and I knew I wouldn’t make to Heart Ledges before the sun went down. I turned around to face Leaning Tower behind me. I missed my Uncle but became immediately conscious that I was actually, here, on the side of a giant that I had only stared up at from the meadows below.
I took the headlamp out of my backpack and continued on, thinking about how there were probably people down in the meadows below, pointing up at me, the moving light, slowly progressing up the wall.
It was dark by the time I reached the Heart. The four of us sat together and made dinner while stars started to appear. I was drifting to sleep when my phone buzzed with a text message. It was from my friend Ann, wishing me a happy 25th anniversary of the first free ascent of the Salathe, a route that my uncle and Paul Piana had done 25 years ago, the route that I was now about to sleep under.
I fell asleep with a grin on my face and sore muscles.
Climbing will always be a part of who I am. It’s rooted in the depths of my soul and my last name. But I will never be my uncle, nor should I be, he is irreplaceable. Photographing is how I will translate other people’s legacies, and how I will preserve the stories of their adventures for their future generations.
Becca Skinner is a freelance photographer and writer based in Bozeman, Montana. Check out her beautiful work at www.beccaskinnerphotography.com. Her Instagram feed is worth a follow as well: www.instagram.com/beccaskinner
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About us: The Climbing Zine was started in 2010 by Al Smith III and Luke Mehall. It continues to the day with the mission of representing the true essence of climbing. Our crown jewel is our printed version, but we also do the interweb thing, and Kindle.
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« Review: Grivel Stealth Helmet Reflections on Dad by Tamara Robbins »THE attempt last week to overthrow Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, was at once surprising and familiar. Few had thought that the armed forces, however disgruntled, would dare to remove an elected leader who enjoys widespread support. But it was only a short while ago that Turkey suffered a coup every ten years or so, on average. The same can be said for coups around the world. They are almost always unexpected: by their nature, they aim to catch the government unawares. Yet they occur often enough. The past three years have seen successful coups in Egypt and Thailand, along with several botched attempts in other countries.
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This regularity has yielded a body of research about the causes and consequences of coups, with much of it focused on their economic dimensions. There are no iron laws. Each coup is unique, laced through with political and social complexities. Still, there are certain patterns.
Start with the basic numbers. Jonathan Powell and Clayton Thyne of the University of Kentucky have built a data set of all coup attempts between 1950 and 2010. By their count, there were 457. Over that time, plotters had almost exactly even odds. Of all the bids to topple leaders, 227, or 49.7%, were successful; 230, or 50.3%, failed. But the figures have changed in recent years. Plotters appear to have honed their craft, scoring a nearly 70% success rate after 2003.
One possibility is that, as in any industry, best practice has spread. (There are suggestions that “Coup d’État: A Practical Handbook”, a study published by Edward Luttwak, has helped would-be putschists.) The basic steps—detain key leaders, take over major media outlets, control traffic arteries—are well known. In this respect, the bungling of the Turkish coup was almost as surprising as the fact that it was attempted in the first place. Yet Turkey also showed that technology is challenging established formulas. Mr Erdogan harnessed social media to rally crowds of supporters and used video-streaming to conduct a live interview with a TV station.
Coups have also become less common over the years. Their heyday was the mid-1960s, when nearly 15 took place every year. In the 2000s that fell to less than five a year. The Turkish coup was the first attempted this year. There are many possible explanations for the decline in coups, but one is economic: the world has become richer. Looking at a sample of 121 countries, John Londregan and Keith Poole, then of Carnegie Mellon University, concluded in 1990 that coups were 21 times more likely to occur in the poorest than in the wealthiest. Using another group of countries, Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler of Oxford University found in 2007 that the risk of coups fell by about 27% as the level of income per person doubled.
By the same token, growth rates matter. Raising it by one percentage point reduces the probability of coups by 4.4%. The corollary is, of course, that slower growth raises the risk. There is no automatic threshold. Just look at North Korea or Zimbabwe, where the economies have been disastrous for years without soldiers defenestrating their leaders. But it is axiomatic that so long as an economy is thriving, coups are far less likely. In the case of Turkey most attention has been placed, rightly, on the army’s discomfort with Mr Erdogan’s tightening grip and his embrace of Islam in a once fiercely secular state. Yet it is also noteworthy that growth over the past decade has disappointed and that reformists have been sidelined in recent months.
Coup de graphs
What happens to growth after a putsch? One opinion occasionally voiced is that coups might be helpful, allowing no-nonsense leaders to dispense with endless politicking and push through smart policies. That view was heard in Egypt in 2013, and again in Thailand in 2014. But this is unlikely, according to Erik Meyersson of the Stockholm Institute of Transitional Economics, who has looked at hundreds of failed and successful coups. Failed coups have little discernible impact on a country’s growth; after short-term volatility, it quickly returns to its previous trend. Successful coups, however, do have a real impact—but only in previously democratic countries. In such places, coups lower the growth of income per person by as much as 1.3% a year over a decade (see chart). As a result, incomes eventually end up more than a tenth lower in post-coup democracies. In countries with autocratic rulers, in contrast, coups make little difference in the long run.
Coups are also associated with a range of other economic pathologies, particularly in democracies. There is a reduction in social spending, perhaps because the elite that toppled the previous leaders now seek to enrich themselves and their cronies. Financial stability also tends to deteriorate as governments rack up greater debts. Impaired legitimacy makes it harder to collect taxes, and the confidence of foreign investors seeps away.
Mr Meyersson’s explanation of why democracies fare so much worse is simple: coups are much more of a wrenching change for them. In authoritarian countries, with no mechanism for transferring power, coups are part of the natural order of things. In democracies—even imperfect ones such as Thailand or nascent ones such as Egypt—coups represent a fundamental rupture, altering the course of their development.
From this standpoint, the failure of Turkey’s coup bodes well for the economy. Whatever illusion of stability the generals might have offered, the economic costs would have been severe (to say nothing of the anger that would have welled up in society). Yet Turkey may be one case where the effects of a failed coup are much the same as those of a successful one. This is not shaping up to be a victory for Turkish democracy. Rather than reinforcing Turkey’s democratic institutions, Mr Erdogan is purging his enemies, real and perceived, and entrenching his own rule. Putsches can come in many forms.Each year, certain players stand out and exceed expectations. Here’s five Green Bay Packers that deserve recognition for their efforts in 2015.
At the start of an NFL season, coaches, analysts and fans all have a good grip on what each player brings to the roster. Yet every year, many players either exceed or fail to reach their expectations. A number of young Packers sped up their development in 2015 by achieving more than expected.
Oftentimes these players are rookies, particularly when selected lower down. Corey Linsley was a shining example of this in 2014. Linsley was selected in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft and was expected to be a backup initially with potential to eventually become the starter. When JC Tretter got hurt, Linsley was forced to play his first live snap with Aaron Rodgers in Seattle, but the rest was history.
David Bakhtiari played at a similarly high level as a rookie. Bakhtiari was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft and ended up filling in at left tackle for an injured Bryan Bulaga. Bulaga never got his job back and had to move to right tackle.
Here’s five Packers who exceeded expectations in the 2015 season.0 0 0 0 0
There is a new feature in Windows Server from Microsoft, called Soft Restart. The idea itself is perfect, because its goal is to minimize downtime during reboot process. While it is possible to reduce software starting sequence time, when starting the hardware there are physical time limits. These limits made it impossible to reduce reboot time, before Microsoft thought about the “soft restart”. It is claimed to perform standard reboot without restarting the devices, basically resetting only software and reducing the required time dramatically. StarWind engineers decided to check if Soft Restart works fine in two use cases – with a simple physical setup and with virtualized infrastructure. As it always goes with our practical approach, the fool experiment complete with screenshots is in the post.
Soft Restart is a grand feature and it’s a good thing that Microsoft came up with it. The idea itself is a solution for quite a serious problem, which may arise in some cases. You know how a minor, but unplanned issue can cause a chain reaction and crash everything? It happens, so why don’t we make such cases extremely rare? This is a test of Soft Restart in both virtual and physical environments.
Problem
A server takes a lot of time to restart and at that time it doesn’t process any data. The problem is in the ever-growing amount of data – it takes 15 to 30 minutes just to rescan 1 Tb of memory. Whatever you may have there, a SQL Server, Exchange or File Server, the result will be the same: server down, no mail or file access. In case this one server is a part of a cluster, all the workload it had will be distributed between the other nodes while its down. A properly engineered cluster would handle this problem – one server’s restart inside maintenance window time is not a big deal. However, in the worst-case scenario it may coincide with other servers’ unplanned downtime, resulting in double or even multiple fault. Such an occurrence, though rare, may cause a “domino effect” and crash the whole cluster. In any case, it is only logical to bring downtime to a possible minimum.
As the server starts, it goes through two phases:
hardware initialization; software loading.
The second phase has been shortened by different means – faster CPUs, flash memory utilization, etc. That’s why even though the applications get more complex, software loading phase still gets shorter. At the same time, hardware initialization could never get past the physical barrier – the time а whole bunch of storage and network controllers, external storage cabinets with HDDs and other hardware to start functioning. That’s still a lot of downtime.
StarWind Virtual SAN eliminates any need for physical shared storage just by mirroring internal flash and storage resources between hypervisor servers. Furthermore, the solution can be run on the off-the-shelf hardware. Such design allows StarWind Virtual SAN to not only achieve high performance and efficient hardware utilization but also reduce operational and capital expenses. Learn more about ➡ StarWind Virtual SAN.
Content
In order to work around the hardware phase, Microsoft introduced the new feature, called Soft Restart. Basically, it skips hardware initialization by resetting software only and right now we’ll check how it really works.
Microsoft doesn’t say much about the feature. All we have is exactly this:
“SoftRestart enables the system to be restarted without undergoing firmware reset delays.”
To start, we need to enable Soft Restart in the features.
Now we’ll restart the server.
Let’s check the proper functioning, for example, by writing something like this into the command line:
C:\> shutdown /soft /r /t 0
The /soft parameter means the soft restart, not the normal one.
For Powershell fans it would look like this:
PS C:\> Restart-Computer -Soft
The –Soft goes for the needed mode.
The feature was checked on physical machines with Intel S3420GPLC and Gigabyte P55-UD3L motherboards. Did not work. Waiting for new builds with fixes.
Conclusion
Well, the idea itself is a great one – completely skipping the time needed for hardware to initialize would turn minutes of downtime into mere seconds. It’s the alpha version at the moment and unfortunately, the tests showed that it doesn’t really work in both physical and virtualized environments. As you can understand, it’s almost impossible to capture a screenshot of the precise moment when it fails (it’s basically a microsecond or so, even capturing a video doesn’t help), so you’ll just have to trust us on this one. In any case, we’re sure that Microsoft guys will totally fix everything and we’ll be able to restart servers in a blink of an eye.
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No Ratings YetCopyright by WANE - All rights reserved Photo of Julie A. Lebamoff provided by the Allen County Sheriff's Dept.
Copyright by WANE - All rights reserved Photo of Julie A. Lebamoff provided by the Allen County Sheriff's Dept.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) The head coach of IPFW's cheerleading program was arrested this week for shoplifting more than $1,000 worth of items from Von Maur.
Fort Wayne Police were called around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to the high-end retail store at Jefferson Pointe on a report of a theft that had just happened there. When officers arrived, a loss prevention official said a woman had taken a handbag, a shirt and two dresses from the store and left without paying for the items, according to a Fort Wayne Police report.
Copyright by WANE - All rights reserved Julie A. Lebamoff
Copyright by WANE - All rights reserved Julie A. Lebamoff
The items were collectively valued at $1,089, according to the report.
The theft was captured on the store's surveillance system, the report said. The loss prevention official also gave police a description of the suspect's vehicle and a license plate number.
Moments later, police pulled over 53-year-old Julie A. Lebamoff at Calhoun Street and West Jefferson Boulevard in downtown Fort Wayne. Inside the vehicle, police found the stolen items, the report said.
Lebamoff was arrested and charged with theft. She reportedly admitted to stealing the items to a transporting officer, the report said.
Lebamoff is the head cheerleading coach at IPFW, where she was hired in 2015 after a coaching at New Haven and Woodlan high schools, according to the IPFW website. The website says Lebamoff has a 20-year "accomplished career" in coaching that includes "a plethora of honors and recognitions."
After an accomplished career in coaching at New Haven High School and Woodlan High School, Julie Lebamoff was hired as the Fort Wayne Mastodons cheerleading head coach in 2015.
Derrick Sloboda, assistant athletics director for media services at IPFW, said Lebamoff has been placed on administrative leave.South African vice-captain AB de Villiers is on track to play in the first Test against Australia next week after receiving a medical clearance.
The star batsman was passed fit to resume playing after his doctor determined on Thursday that he had made a satisfactory recovery from surgery on a fractured left hand.
He will play in a domestic one-day cup game on Sunday and, provided things go well there, de Villiers is likely to take his place for the Proteas in the first Test in Cape Town starting on Wednesday.
As a precaution, de Villiers won't keep wickets in the one-day fixture, nor will he keep in the Test with Mark Boucher in the squad.
"The hand specialist is very happy with the way AB's hand has healed and responded to treatment after surgery," said South African team manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee.White House Task Force To Save Bees Stirs Hornet's Nest
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jeff Barnard/AP Jeff Barnard/AP
When President Obama announced last week that he was creating a federal task force to investigate the nation's vanishing bee colonies, the moment provided newly minted Press Secretary Josh Earnest an opportunity to crack one of his first jokes on the job.
"When I walked out here today, I knew I was going to be handling a range of sensitive issues," he told reporters. "I didn't know I was going to be talking about the birds and the bees."
But now that the initial buzz is dying down, it's looking like the White House has, well, disturbed a political hornet's nest.
At the center of the controversy is the bee initiative's language asking the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the role of neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides that researchers have implicated in the disintegration of bee colonies.
That's been a sticking point in the past for bee-related legislation.
A host of interest groups with powerful D.C. lobbying arms — including farm organizations, seed producers and pesticide companies such as Monsanto, Bayer CropScience and Syngenta — are fearful of a ban akin to the two-year moratorium now in place in the European Union. In the U.S., neonicotinoids currently shield over 90 percent of the corn crop from pests.
Those companies have recently engaged in an active bee-oriented public relations effort — Monsanto hosted a "Honey Bee Health Summit" in St. Louis last summer, while Bayer has opened "Bee Care Centers," first in Germany as the EU considered its ban, and then in North Carolina last April.
And Politico reported Monday that Bayer had taken on its second lobbying team to defend its pesticides against claims of bee devastation: Gephardt Group Government Affairs, headed by former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.
Critics of the president's new task force argue that those agribusiness interests will continue to put pressure on the EPA, which hasn't yet been convinced by research attempting to isolate neonicotinoids as a cause of bee deaths.
Colony collapse disorder, the phenomenon that causes bees to spontaneously flee their colony and die a lonely death, has largely vexed apiary researchers.
A study out of Harvard's School of Public Health in May found an association between neonicotinoid exposure and the disorder, but researchers acknowledge they have yet to uncover the biological mechanisms at work.
A 2013 bill, called the "Saving America's Pollinators Act" and sponsored by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., would have directed the EPA to suspend neonicotinoid licensing while additional research was conducted.
Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth and a backer of that bill, expressed disappointment in the White House's latest effort. "President Obama's announcement on protecting pollinators does not go far enough," he said in a statement. "The administration should prevent the release and use of these toxic pesticides until determined safe."
But just last week, three members of Congress from California, a state where the bee die-off has spelled massive troubles for the almond industry, signed on as co-sponsors of the stalled 2013 proposal. Bayer and a number of farming groups have stepped up to lobby against it, according to transparency website OpenSecrets.org.
There are considerable economic considerations on either side of the issue: The White House's pollinator fact sheet puts the value of bees to the agriculture industry at $24 billion.Fruit juice cancer warning as scientists find harmful chemical in 16 drinks
Scientists have found many fruit juices and squashes contain too much antimony, a potentially lethal substance. (Posed by model)
Fruit juices drunk by millions of children each day could contain a harmful chemical linked to cancer, scientists have warned.
Researchers have found high levels of antimony - which can be lethal in large doses - in many popular brands.
Scientists from the University of Copenhagen found that bottles of fruit juice and squash contained up to 2.5 times more of the substance as is deemed'safe' in tap water, under EU guidelines.
In some cases the levels of antimony were ten times higher.
The scientists believe that the chemical is leaching its way into the fruit juice from the plastic bottles which hold it.
Previous research found traces of the chemical in bottled mineral water which experts believed was leaching in from the plastic container.
The team has expressed 'concern' over their findings, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, which they say raises fears for the health of millions of children.
They have called for an investigation'straight away'. The substance can cause cancer, heart and lung problems, according to previous studies.
Although the scientists have not specifically named any brands, the chemicals are believed to have been found in 16 of the most popular blackcurrant and strawberry squash and fruit drinks consumed by children.
Claus Hansen, a PhD student at the department of pharmacology, who took part in the research, speculated that the citric acid in the fruit juices could speed up the leaching process.
He said: 'The antimony concentrations in the products tested exceed the limit of drinking water but no legalisation exists for foodstuffs so no legislation has been broken.
WHAT IS ANTIMONY?
Antimony is used in the making of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, the type favoured by most mineral-water sellers. It is a silvery-white semi-metal that is also used in electronics and flame-proofing materials. Furthermore, it can be used as a medicine to treat people infected with parasites. The recommended EU limit for antimony in drinking water is five micrograms per litre. However, no limits exist for foodstuffs.
Levels above this could cause nausea and vomiting however the effects of long-term exposure are unknown.
'However we cannot be sure that the antimony levels are harmless.
'It would be a good idea to have some more research to get a better impression of what the antimony limit should be in fruit drinks.
'You would have to drink a lot of blackcurrant juice to go beyond the recommended maximum dose which is why there's no antimony limits for drinking water or soft drinks.
'But we can't be sure the high level we found is not harmful.'
The Royal Society of Chemistry added: 'Marketing, certainly for the cordial products, is geared towards children. It's a children's drink.
'This means they are more likely to drink it and more likely to be at risk.'
The scientists looked at 42 different red fruit juice drinks from Denmark, Scotland and Greece including blackcurrant, strawberry, raspberry and sour cherry and found concentrations 17 times higher than previously studied.
Fruit juices and juice drinks are safe, said a spokesman. 'It is not uncommon that different product types should have different regulatory requirements'
The report, published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring, said that more research was needed to find out whether it was present during the manufacturing process.
Previous research in Germany in 2006 found antimony was leaching into bottled mineral waters from their plastic containers.
In 2005 Volvic mineral water was at the centre of a health scare after a potentially harmful chemical was found in some of its bottles.
Danone Waters, which produces Volvic, launched an investigation after a mother of two reported a strong 'burning' chemical taste to the Food Standards Agency.
It found the water, which is advertised as being filtered through volcanic rocks, contained naphthalene – a chemical which can cause liver damage in high doses.
Responding to the research, the British Soft Drinks Association today defended the industry.
'Fruit juices and juice drinks are safe,' said a spokesman. 'There is no read across between the levels of antimony permitted in drinking water and those that might be acceptable in a fruit juice or a juice drink.
'It is not uncommon that different product types should have different regulatory requirements.'
He added: 'The packaging is safe. The data in the study does not confirm any conclusions about the packaging: the authors themselves conclude that "further studies are warranted".'
'All ingredients and packaging are carefully regulated to make sure that soft drinks are safe to drink.'A section of the preserved Atlantic Rainforest stands in this photo taken with a tilt-shift lens in Brazil. A new study shows that climate change could dramatically alter plant growth on the planet. (Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg)
Climate change is already a heavily charged issue, fraught with political tension. But complicating the mix are a slew of misconceptions about exactly how it will affect the planet and its inhabitants.
One confusion involves plant growth. Some skeptics have argued that rising carbon dioxide levels could actually benefit agriculture, and in fact, research shows that rising temperatures and more carbon dioxide can be a boon to plants — up to a point. But that’s not the whole story, according to researcher Camilo Mora, a professor of geography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. And in a new paper, published today in the journal PLOS Biology, he and his colleagues attempt to set the record straight.
The study examines not only the effects of rising temperatures, but also how solar radiation and water availability impact plant productivity — specifically, their effects on the number of “suitable growing days” for plants worldwide. The researchers looked at these variables under several different climate change scenarios: The worst of these is the “business-as-usual” trajectory, which is the amount of warming the planet will experience if humans do nothing to cut down on carbon emissions. The scientists also evaluated scenarios where there was a strong or moderate reduction in emissions.
The results indicate that climate change may not be the net positive to plants that some prior research has suggested. If humans allow global warming to go on unmitigated under a business-as-usual scenario, the Earth could lose a significant number of suitable growing days per year by the end of the century. And that’s bad news for people as well as plants, with the potential for widespread food shortages and economic downturns.
On the other hand, strong and even moderate efforts to cut down on global carbon output could reduce the impact of climate change and hardly hurt plant growth. The study underscores the importance of heading off climate change, says Mora, the paper’s lead author, while providing a look at what could happen if we don’t.
The researchers are among the first to analyze how factors aside from temperature—including sunlight and water—affect plant growth, says Steven Running, senior author of the paper and regents professor of ecology at the University of Montana.
For example, it makes sense that global warming will extend the growing season in cold places at high latitudes. But when you factor in less sunlight in these regions, which plants also need to grow, you find that the number of growing days added isn’t actually that high. High northern latitudes get less light in the winter due to the Earth’s axial tilt, and no amount of warming can change that. In this case, limited light becomes the factor that cuts the growing season short, even if temperatures continue to rise.
Some water-scarce areas may experience similar trade-offs, says Running. If a high-latitude area is short on water and runs out, the plants are going to suffer even if temperatures are improving for them. Taking these factors into account has helped the authors come up with a more realistic, if less optimistic, view of how climatic changes will affect growing seasons around the world.
That said, the findings do indicate that some parts of the world, particularly areas of Russia, China and Canada, will gain suitable growing days throughout the year. However, it turns out the rest of the world won’t be quite so lucky — and the places that lose growing days will far outweigh the places that gain. In fact, on a global scale, the authors predict that the Earth will lose a whopping 11 percent of its annual suitable growing days by the year 2100 under a business-as-usual scenario.
Tropical areas are likely to contribute to these net losses in a big way. “Warming at high latitudes may be good, but the same warming in the tropics can be devastating,” says Mora. This is because even plants have a limit on the amount of heat they can endure.
In the tropics, climatic conditions are already very close to this threshold, so it won’t take too much warming before the plants there start to decline, Mora says. In fact, the authors predict that tropical parts of the world could lose up to 200 growing days out of the year by the end of the century under a business-as-usual scenario — that’s a loss of more than half a year’s growing days.
Declines in suitable growing days could affect humans in some major ways, the authors caution. Food shortages are an obvious effect. And in areas where agriculture suffers, job losses and economic problems are sure to follow. The authors note that the areas likely to be hit worst are poor and developing countries. In fact, they predict that approximately 2.1 billion people in low-income countries will be “highly vulnerable” to changes in plant-related goods and services. It’s an outcome that highlights the “issue of unfairness when it comes to climate change,” Mora says.
These inequalities could result in mass human migrations in the future, Mora predicts, as people start moving to more fertile areas in order to survive. And Running adds that while more research is needed to predict future migration patterns, this paper could provide a “first look at where global human migration patterns might develop in the coming decades” by pointing out which areas of the world are likely to come out on top.
Luckily, there’s still some hope at the end of this story. There are ways to prevent the doomsday scenarios described so far — and this, according to the authors, is the study’s most important message.
“Our objective with this paper was to try to illustrate that reducing carbon emissions really will matter, it will make a difference,” Running says. “And that it will make the biggest difference to the most vulnerable, low-income people of the world.”
Also in Energy & Environment:
This conservative businessman thinks he can change the GOP’s mind on climate change
Yes, humans really are causing earthquakes — but not how you think
Alaska just had its hottest May in 91 years
For more, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter here, and follow us on Twitter here.A girl was sent home from school on her first day back for her leopard print hairstyle.
Lauren Mcdowell, 13, has her head shaved on one side which is dyed brown and blonde in the pattern of a leopard's skin.
On her first day of the new term, Forge Valley School in Sheffield, told her to leave classes.
Scroll down for video
Lauren Mcdowell, 13, showing the haircut she was sent home for, at Forge Valley School in Stannington, Sheffield
Yvonne Mcdowell, left, has hit out after her 13-year-old daughter, Lauren, left, was sent home on the first day of the new term
Ms Mcdowell, who said she was not aware of a school policy on haircuts, said the style was something the Year 8 pupil, pictured, had been requesting for some time
The school says it has a'very clear uniform policy' which includes hairstyles, but Lauren's mother Yvonne believes it breaches her human rights and is refusing to change her daughter's hairstyle.
The mother-of-six said: 'As far as I'm concerned it's a breach of my daughter's human rights.
'She had the hair cut about a week before she went back to school. No one has the right to tell someone what to do with their body. It is her body.
'She is my child and not theirs. She didn't sign away her rights when she started at school.
'The school says they encourage children as individuals but this is not supporting her. Lauren has a life outside of school.
'Lauren was bullied at school and it has taken her a while to build up her confidence. She is devastated.
'She loves school. She is not a bad pupil. She works hard. What has her hair got to do with her education?
'I have explained to the school that I can understand its uniform policy and I totally agree with it but you cannot tell anyone how their hair should be styled.
'They are discriminating against her because of how she looks. She has the right to express herself in whatever way she wants as long as she is in school uniform.
'They are refusing my child an education. She was in school wanting to learn.'
Forge Valley School in Stannington in Sheffield where Lauren Mcdowell attends
Now the mum, right, is refusing to change Lauren's, left, leopard print hairstyle as she believes it breaches her daughter's human rights
Headteacher Dale Barrowclough said: 'The policy clearly states that extreme haircuts, including hair colour are not allowed'
Headteacher Dale Barrowclough said: 'This policy is communicated to parent frequently and is available to download from our website.
'The policy clearly states that extreme haircuts, including hair colour are not allowed.
'A pupil arrived at school with a 'leopard skin hair colour' style.
'I took the decision to send the pupil home in order to remedy this breach of the school's uniform policy.
'I appreciate a school must balance the rights of individual pupils against the best interests of the school community as a whole.
'My decision to ask the pupil in question to remedy the hair colour is done on grounds of school cohesion and good order.
'Rare instances of bullying are dealt with by school and its dedicated pastoral team quickly and effectively.'
Ms Mcdowell, who said she was not aware of a school policy on haircuts, said the style was something the Year 8 pupil had been requesting for some time.MELKSHAM brawler Brad Scott says his victory over Mok Rahman at Dubai’s World Trade Centre last weekend was a dream come true.
The 23-year-old, who fights out of the Dragonslair Gym, stopped fellow Brit Rahman in the third round, earning ‘fight of the night’ and ‘knockout of the night’ accolades.
Scott says that his biggest victory has inspired him to look into becoming a full-time professional fighter.
“He was the perfect opponent for me and he gave me too much space and respect so it was all just a dream come true,” said Scott, who also trains at the Contender Gym in Trowbridge, Body Development in Bath and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym Gracie Barra Bath, as well as wrestling training with coach Saeed Esmaeli.
“It was a big show and I couldn’t believe how well it went. It’ll now be easier to get on other big shows and to fight abroad too.
“Dubai was amazing too. Our weigh-in was at a shopping mall that was about the size of Melksham.
“I do shift work at Cooper Tyres at the moment but I want to try and become a full-time pro.
“There’s so much to sort out but some sponsors would really help me – maybe a butcher’s would want to do it because the amount of meat I eat is ridiculous!
“Then I might try to look into joining a pro gym too to really step up to the next level.”
Dragonslair coach Stu Pike added: “It’s a massive win for him and he’s doing brilliantly for someone who’s come from such a small club.”
Anyone interested in sponsoring Scott can contact coach Pike on 07859 922035.In the world of advanced computer graphics, what will really set your visual experience apart is the quality of your monitor, so here come the new OLED display monitor plans from Samsung.
Transparent or Mirrored, the new displays, were shown off by Samsung at the Hong Kong retail Asia Expo.
OLED technology is based on LED’s combined with Organic compounds that react to electrical current.
The main factor contributing to OLED development and the reason for its predicted popularity is, that OLED’s do not require a backlight, creating the possibility of better contrast, darker and brighter colors and the disappearance of a fuzziness effect due to shade development.
Samsung’s mirror display can achieve a contrast ration of 100.000 to one and a response time of 1 millisecond. These numbers are between 20 times higher at contrast ration and 8 times higher in response time than an LCD.
Intel’s RealSence Technology allowed customers to use one of Samsungs’ mirror display monitors in order to check how they would look with a certain jewelry piece. Practically customers had the possibility of trying one the jewelry in real time Virtual Reality.
The partnership for this prototype launch event was made between Intel, Samsung and Chow Sang Sang one of the most renowned jewelry company’s on the Asian Market.
Competition on this field will be however though Samsung is not the only company that posses the technology and many new business ventures and ideas come today from start-up companies and Open Source projects.
However this is just a small step in the possible uses of the mirrored monitor. The same technology could power virtual reality images for use in plastic surgery. In the future you could maybe see your haircut and how it fits you before your hairstylist touches 1 hair on your head.
Imagine a world of possibilities from trying on clothes to gym planning to online shopping with virtual reality technology.
The |
it became the first city in the colonies to receive a royal charter. After the American Revolution, it became the first capital of the United States.
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John Halle and Noam Chomsky recently published at Halle’s blog their defense of “lesser evil voting”, “AN EIGHT POINT BRIEF FOR LEV (LESSER EVIL VOTING)”. In it they make an argument that by electing Clinton (i.e. by voting for her in swing states) this allows for the continuing growth of the left and reduces the amount of harm that will be caused over the next four years. I do not doubt their desire for radical change, nor do I doubt that they make these arguments because they find them morally justifiable in consideration of the consequences of our actions. Yet, it is dubious whether we can consider Clinton an LEV, just as much as it is dubious whether electing Clinton would enable the growth of the Left. I am not arguing from what they call a “politics of moral witness”, but argue in the same analytic vein that they have placed their brief. That is, is Clinton on topics such as climate change, trade, and militarism actually an LEV in comparison to Trump? Taking their criteria of consequences over rhetoric, there seems at best a “dimes worth of difference” on these topics.
For instance, on climate change they state that Trump “denies the existence of global warming, calls for increasing use of fossil fuels, dismantling of environmental regulations and refuses assistance to India and other developing nations as called for in the Paris agreement, the combination of which could, in four years, take us to a catastrophic tipping point.” What is left unsaid is that Clinton only rhetorically accepts the existence of climate change, that under her tenure at the State Department she pushed for privatization of PEMEX, for more fracking, and has continuously stated she would continue policies beneficial to fossil fuel companies. Further, and known most likely to both Halle and Chomsky, the Paris agreement dropped the more direct language on reparations for ecological debt that were part of the Lima draft agreement, for the less direct language about transferring knowledge and research to aid in reducing effects. Nor has it mattered whether a Democrat or a Republican is in power in terms of global CO 2 emissions, which rise in either case, as production is moved around the world-system in accordance with the trade agreements pushed by both parties. Thus, the consequences for the planet are identical whomever is elected. Halle and Chomsky would be hard pressed to dispute that fact.
Together with climate change, the issue of trade agreements is highly pertinent, seeing as the ramping up of production is a major reason why companies want these agreements. It is clear that Clinton has only rhetorically changed her position on TPP, just as Bill did with NAFTA. Those trade agreements are principle mechanisms causing migration, such as in Mexico, where NAFTA destroyed the livelihood of farmers. Further, they increase resentment in the working class, typically alienated due to the weakening of the labor movement, who see their jobs go overseas and their wages slashed. This increases ethnic/racial tensions as the working class is pitted against itself in an ever more brutal competition for declining employment and livelihood, a negative feedback loop breeding racists and reversing the strides made during and post-Civil Rights Movement. The worse of it all, these agreements are entrenching even more the power of corporations, who will now be able to sue nation-states based on the fact that regulations harm profit. This is clearly a grotesque attack on environmental regulations, one much more likely to do damage than rhetorical denials.
On militarism, we have a candidate, Clinton, with a clear record, from Serbia to Libya, from Honduras to Paraguay, of supporting coups, militarization of authoritarian regimes, breaking international law, and genuinely following the neoconservative playbook in trying to make the 21st Century another century of American hegemony and empire. Militarism is highly destructive on the environment, and the US military is one the principal consumers of fossil fuels, on top of dispersing environmentally destructive materials around the world (agent orange, depleted uranium, etc.). When Halle and Chomsky write, “Trump has also pledged to increase military spending while cutting taxes on the rich, hence shredding what remains of the social welfare “safety net” despite pretenses”, this could just as easily apply to Hillary, a candidate who has already stated she would like to expand Plan Colombia-style policy in the Western Hemisphere. Further, we know Hillary supported the destruction of welfare, the repeal of Glass-Stegall, and has pushed for privatizing social security (Bill supported this at the 2012 convention with the Simpson-Bowles budget).
If we focus on domestic racial and ethnic relations, clearly Trump’s rhetoric has emboldened white supremacists and reactionary nationalists. Yet once more, how likely is it that an oligarch whose companies use undocumented labor and maquiladoras is actually going to build a wall or change trade deals? Obviously Trump doesn’t mind lying and saying whatever just to say it, that is basically his entire campaign. It was Obama who has been the deporter-in-Chief, and it is Clinton’s State Department supporting a coup in Honduras that increased the migration of children. The ban on Muslims Trump supports is possible because of the Islamophobia that Clinton herself is a part of stoking, along with the surveillance apparatus that was extended under the Obama Administration. And the Democrats have not used their executive power to curtail police abuses, but only continued to do what they do well, which is the theatre of nothing.
Thus, we seem to have words versus action. Halle and Chomsky say we are supposed to be concerned with action and consequences, yet tell us to vote against words and strategically support the action and consequences as the LEV. It is to take the unknown and make it a bogey, when we know the known is already a bogey. Or stated differently, Trump is a wild card and we really have no clue in many instances what he will do. We know it will be reprehensible, but so will Clinton’s actions. Even on the topic of nuclear weapons, with the Obama Administration recent updating of the arsenal, it is safe to assume that both Clinton and Trump consider them an option (MAD still being official policy, a lunatic with a finger on the gun). Thus, there is no “high probability” of either candidate being worse than the other. In this election there is no LEV, not even slightly.
What we are deciding is to vote for the cause or the effect. Hillary and neoliberalism/neoconservativism in general are the cause of the Trump-style authoritarian populism that now haunts the US. There is little evidence that Hillary is a lesser evil, that her presidency will cause less harm. Actually, it seems we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t with no less damneder a situation on the horizon. Hillary’s presidency would solidify much of neoliberalism and imperialism, and continue to buttress the corrupt, rotten formal institutions of our society. In my opinion, their conclusion is a fool’s bargain: “by dismissing a “lesser evil” electoral logic and thereby increasing the potential for Clinton’s defeat the left will undermine what should be at the core of what it claims to be attempting to achieve.” In an electoral season where people are itching for principle, they call for pragmatism, a pragmatism that has only ever seen in my lifetime the ideological spectrum swing to the right, where now we have a Republican in Democrat’s clothing against a Republican in demagogue robes.
At least we agree, the real work is never this quadrennial circus. That begs the question, why participate in it at all? Green Panther Party anyone?Late last month, for the 32nd year in a row, Banned Books Week was marked across the US. Spearheaded by the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, the annual salute to the freedom to read has become a fixture. It aims to counterbalance perennial challenges to the content of books and efforts to get them banned, usually from schools and libraries.
The ALA collects information on which books are objected to and reports on prominent recurring themes that tend to generate moral or ideological indignation. Subjects such as religion, race, gender, sexuality and allegations of sexually explicit content or offensive language frequently top the list.
More worrying, however, is the recent rise in efforts to get books banned that cover poverty and social class. At a time when rising inequality and the demonisation of poorer people (both in the UK and the US) is commonplace, such attempts to remove books that depict the reality of life for people who are struggling should concern us all.
Numerous studies have shown that reading about people, issues or circumstances unfamiliar to us can engender empathy – in times of acute social and economic divisions this becomes all the more important. It is not just wealth that separates rich and poor, but ignorance and the absence of social contact.
The US has a longstanding tradition of books being challenged on sometimes spurious grounds (often, but not always from the conservative right) even while the first amendment of the constitution protects “access to ideas as well as free speech”. There are numerous organisations, including the ALA and National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) that contest such moves, still, there’s something unsettling about the recent manifestation of complaints on socio-economic grounds.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of ALA, says: “We have seen challenges to books where the content [probes] received wisdom on issues like poverty and class or offers an alternative political view point on a situation.” Authors such as Toni Morrison are continually targeted, she points out, because they are “writing about concerns related to race and class... often unflinchingly portraying what African Americans have suffered in [the US].” Most books challenged are fiction but increasingly non-fiction works “that address diverse topics … or raise issues of class and the economic environment,” are also being contested she says.
A frequent complaint, according to Joan Bertin, executive director of the NCAC, is of books being “anti-capitalist”. She says this is conflated by some sectors of society as somehow undermining American or Christian values. Among the most high-profile books challenged lately was bestselling author David K Shipler’s The Working Poor: Invisible in America, targeted by a group of parents in Texas during Banned Books Week, and Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickle and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America, which explores the challenges of low income and refutes the myths around poverty and supposed fecklessness. One of the many objections levelled at Ehreneich’s book was in 2011 when a parent argued that it promoted “economic fallacies and socialist ideas”.
Some of the latest objections have been directed at works exploring topics such as social unrest. Following months of controversy, hundreds of students in Denver, Colorado have been walking out of classes in protest against proposals by some people that teaching materials on an advanced history course should actively promote “the benefits of the free enterprise system” and “not condone civil disorder [or] social strife”.
Challenges to books that unmask societal fissures along economic and class lines are a symptom of wider woes and rising tensions around inequality, low wages, poverty and insecurity. Ensuring that literature addressing these issues remains freely available is a worthy cause in pursuit of social justice.JACKSON, MI - A man accused of attacking another man with a broken hammer handle was arrested by Jackson Police Saturday, June 11.
William Lindsay, 55, was arraigned on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon by Jackson County District Court Judge Darryl Mazur, Monday, June 13.
Lindsay was arrested after a reports of an assault were made from the 400 block of Blackstone Street at about 9:35 p.m., police said.
Several witnesses at the scene told police Lindsay and the victim were in an ongoing argument with each other, and they saw Lindsay strike the man multiple time with the wooden handle, police said.
The victim was treated for minor head injuries at Henry Ford Allegiance Health, police said.
Lindsay is currently lodged in the Jackson County Jail.This article is over 1 year old
Race to contain deadly blazes as authorities warn 80mph gusts could fan flames in already devastated communities
Wildfires blazing through California have entered the heart of Los Angeles as authorities warned of an “extreme fire danger” across the city.
Firefighters in the affluent Bel-Air neighbourhood battled to save multimillion-dollar estates in the path of the flames, which have destroyed homes near the Getty museum in America’s second largest city.
Video and photographs posted on social media showed hillsides above busy roads covered in flames, rows of houses reduced to ash, and firefighters spraying water on walls of fire.
The largest blaze, the Thomas fire, has covered more than 95,000 acres, destroying more than 150 homes and threatening thousands more in Ventura, about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of Los Angeles.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The remains of the Vista del Mar hospital after the Thomas wildfire swept through Ventura. Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
A woman was found dead after a car crash in an area under an evacuation order, the authorities said on Thursday.
With winds forecast to reach 80mph, officials have warned the worst could be yet to come.
An alert sent by the countrywide emergency system in Los Angeles said: “Strong winds overnight creating extreme fire danger.”
The fear is that the winds, blowing westward from the California desert, could stoke several blazes burning in the Los Angeles area that have already forced an estimated 200,000 people to evacuate.
“We are in the beginning of a protracted wind event,” Ken Pimlott, the director of the California department of forestry and fire protection, told the Los Angeles Times. “There will be no ability to fight fire in these kinds of winds.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A firefighter controls flames at a home set ablaze by the Skirball fire in Bel-Air. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
The Skirball fire, which erupted early on Wednesday, burned about 500 acres near large estates in Bel-Air, scorching part of a winery owned by Rupert Murdoch.
It erupted before dawn in the Sepulveda Pass, just up Interstate 405 from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), which cancelled classes for the rest of the day.
The Los Angeles Unified school district, the country’s second largest with more than 640,000 students, said it closed at least 265 of its nearly 1,100 schools on Thursday.
Dozens of schools were also closed in Ventura County. The school district, with nearly 17,000 students, said it hoped to reopen on Monday. In the city of Ventura, along the coast, where hundreds of structures were destroyed, blazes also killed more than two dozen horses at a stable.
The deputy fire chief, Charles Butler, said firefighters and aircraft had stopped the spread of the blaze in Bel-Air and were attempting to contain it before the winds returned.
He said four homes had been destroyed and 11 damaged, while about 700 properties, an apartment building and a school had been ordered to evacuate. Paris Hilton was among those who said they had fled the fire.
The Los Angeles mayor declared a local state of emergency on Wednesday morning because of the Skirball fire. Eric Garcetti told a news conference: “These are days that break your heart. These are also days that show the resilience of our city.”
In the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles, the Creek fire destroyed at least 30 homes, blackened more than 12,000 acres and forced the evacuation of 2,500 homes and a convalescent centre.
Another fire, known as the Rye, threatened more than 5,000 homes and structures north-west of Los Angeles.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nasa satellite footage captured on 5 December shows thick smoke streaming from several fires in southern California. Photograph: Nasa/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock
According to the LA Times, the LAPD have asked people to avoid using navigation apps on their phones because drivers were being directed towards open roads that were traffic-free because they were on fire.
Footage of a man appearing to coax a rabbit out of the fires near La Conchita on Wednesday night went viral on social media.
Play Video 0:32 Man jumps out of car to rescue wild rabbit from raging Californian wildfires - video
Three firefighters were injured and said to be in a stable condition in hospital, the Los Angeles fire department said.
South of Los Angeles, authorities also ordered evacuations in parts of San Diego County, closer to the Mexico border. In the rural community of Bonsall, more than a dozen structures were damaged or destroyed.
In a small evacuated community called Faria Beach, some residents were staying in place.
Joseph Ruffner, a resident who left earlier in the week and recently returned, told the Associated Press that he wasn’t going to evacuate again.
“This morning there was a wall of fire back right over here,” he said. “I didn’t think it was no big deal, but it’s coming back to burn what it didn’t burn yesterday.”Windows Central can confirm that this appears to be the case, with internal schedules pointing toward October for a Windows 10 hardware announcement, similar to last year's #Windows10 Devices Event in New York.
It appears Microsoft is looking to launch new Surface hardware this year after all if internal schedules are to be believed. No longer is Microsoft planning wait for Redstone 2 to launch new Surface hardware in early 2017, with Mary Jo Foley reporting that we could see updated hardware launch at an event in the fall.
Sources say Microsoft is planning to introduce minor revisions to its current Surface line, meaning it's unlikely we'll see a Surface Phone or the newly rumored Surface All-In-One device this year. There may also be a Band 3 as current levels of Band 2 stock seem to be on the decline. Currently, the Microsoft Band is the only consumer-grade hardware that is not running Windows 10 in some form. It would seem likely that Microsoft would want to align it with the rest of its consumer line for developer and API continuity.
On the Surface AiO subject, Daniel Rubino is now hearing that Microsoft is exploring at least two versions of the Surface AiO with one being a more traditional AiO computer, and the other being an accessory/big screen for Continuum. Other details surrounding this device are still pretty scarce, but with Windows 10 'Redstone 2' having a large focus on Mobile, it isn't surprising to hear Microsoft is planning new and improved hardware to compliment Windows 10 Mobile's star feature, Continuum.
2017 is where we'll see new Surface hardware launch although it's unclear now whether that will happen alongside Redstone 2's launch, which was originally planned. Perhaps Microsoft could release new Surface devices alongside Redstone 3. I hear that internally Microsoft is targeting Summer 2017 for a Windows 10 'Redstone 3' launch, which would be the perfect time to release new Surface hardware before the back-to-school season. Mary Jo Foley appears to be hearing that new Surface hardware with Kaby Lake processors won't launch until Fall 2017 however.
Microsoft is planning to flight Redstone 2 builds to Windows Insiders very soon, with the latest internal builds being compiled in the 148xx range. With Surface hardware revisions planned for the fall, and a much larger Surface device launch in 2017, as well as Redstone 2 and Redstone 3 updates for Windows 10, it's going to be a very busy year.
What are you hoping to see from Microsoft this fall? Let us know below.A confidential government memorandum obtained by CBC News warns that soaring costs of developing the Alberta oilsands could put the brakes on the massive project, stalling one of the main engines of the Canadian economy.
The booming oilsands industry supports tens of thousands of Canadian jobs, and pumps billions of dollars a year into the national economy.
The memo written by Mark Corey, one of the highest-ranking officials in the federal Department of Natural Resources, warns that if the current trend of spiralling labour and other costs continues, investors may start to turn off the tap on the massive amounts of money needed to develop the oilsands.
"Although current crude prices promote oilsands development, ever-increasing capital and operating costs could make this price insufficient to support oilsands development at forecast levels," Corey writes.
Cost increases are currently "the biggest risk to investment in the sector," and could jeopardize the viability of some projects, he says.
Rising labour costs
The memo estimates that operating and capital costs to extract a barrel of oil from the tar-like sands have both more than doubled over the past decade.
It blames a chronic shortage of workers and resulting sky-high labour costs as the main cause of increased operating expenses.
Corey's memo reflects a growing concern inside government over the future of the oilsands, and specifically the massive amount of capital investment that will be needed to fuel their continued development.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver recently estimated the oilsands would need $650 billion in capital investments in the next decade alone — almost five times what's been spent there over the past 50 years.
The memo written in April this year was obtained under the Access to Information Act and appears to have been prepared for Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver.
The document pre-dates the Harper government's current review of foreign takeovers of two Canadian energy companies.
It nonetheless bolsters the contention of many in industry and government that Canada can hardly afford to turn away foreign investment in the oilsands.
State-owned suitors
The most contentious of the two proposed takeovers under review is an offer by the Chinese state-owned oil giant CNOOC to buy Calgary-based Nexen for $15.2 billion.
Nexen has been struggling to develop the Long Lake oilsands project in northern Alberta, where output is only a fraction of what the company had promised investors.
Nexen owns two-thirds of the Long Lake project, and last year China’s CNOOC bought the Canadian company that owned the other third of the enterprise when that firm went bankrupt.
CNOOC is promising to pump new capital into Long Lake, establish a new headquarters in Calgary, keep all Nexen's staff and management, list its shares on the Toronto exchange and fund research at a Canadian university.
Industry analysts say Nexen's future without a takeover is at best uncertain.
The CNOOC deal is only the latest in a string of Asian takeovers in the oilsands.
Sinopec, another state-owned Chinese company, spent more than $4 billion for a roughly eight per cent stake in the Syncrude Canada partnership, one of the two largest players in the oilsands.
CNOOC's takeover of Nexen would give the Chinese another seven per cent piece of the same Syncrude partnership.
Two other Chinese state corporations — PetroChina and China Investment Corp. — have both made plays for smaller pieces of the oilsands.
Those deals have not attracted the political firestorm building around the CNOOC bid for Nexen.
Critics of government approval for the deal, including a lot of Conservatives, are concerned it could open the floodgates to China buying up large swaths of the Alberta oilsands.
Indeed, the scenario described in Corey's memo to the minister — namely, soaring costs scaring off would-be oilsands investment — is giving Chinese companies the opportunity for a buying spree.
On the one hand, the rapidly increasing costs of mining the resource, and resulting decline in corporate profits, are driving down the stock prices of some Canadian energy companies to the point they are easy takeover targets.
On the other hand, CNOOC's interest in the Canadian oilsands is not all about profit — China is also shopping the world for guaranteed supplies of oil to fuel its exploding economic growth.
National security issue raised
Many critics of the CNOOC-Nexen deal say it should be blocked for security reasons alone.
Even the country's spy service has weighed in with warnings that allowing state-owned enterprises to take over Canadian natural resource companies may pose a threat to this country’s national security.
Public opinion polls show a majority of Canadians oppose the deal, including more than half of Albertans surveyed.
Pollster Nik Nanos: "On the one hand, you have the Canadian government wanting to do trade and business with the Chinese.
"And you ask average Canadians, and they say, 'Hold on. They are also a security threat, not just a business opportunity.'"
The Harper government is expected to make a final decision on the CNOOC-Nexen deal later this month.Image caption Prenatal classes in the late 1960s encouraged men to get more involved in the pregnancy
Times have changed and it is now rare that a man does not attend the birth of his baby, but how did it come to pass and could things ever change back?
In the 1950s, the father wasn't at the centre of the business of birth.
The Sunday Express Baby Book, published in 1950, set the scene for a hospital birth:
"In the delivery room, white with bright lights, you will be taken from a hospital trolley to the delivery table. The nurses will be standing by with the doctor and with their gentle help and encouragement, aided by the science they have studied so long, your baby will be born."
But where is the father?
Testimonies from the 1950s suggest many men thought it was not a man's place, says Dr Laura King, a research fellow at the University of Leeds. Her project - Hiding in the Pub to Cutting the Cord - gathered parents' experiences of childbirth from the 1950s onwards.
"There were quite a lot of men who couldn't quite cope with the idea. Equally a lot of women didn't like the idea of their husbands seeing them in that way," says King.
Image caption Maternity wards were very different 65 years ago
There may have been a social hangover from the Victorian era. "In the 1920s, 30s, 40s you find plenty of examples of couples who talked about not having ever seen each other naked, they've got six children, but they've never actually seen each other fully naked," says King.
In Victorian Britain, there were some exceptions to the rule. Prince Albert, for instance, was supposedly with Queen Victoria at the birth of some of their children and aristocratic fathers were more likely to be present at the delivery to greet the arrival of a male heir.
Although some fathers did prefer to remain in the pub in the 1950s, things were gradually starting to change. The arrival of the NHS in 1948 meant more women were having children in hospital rather than at home.
"You had some quite progressive hospitals such as University College Hospital in London that started to encourage men in 1951," says King.
The real change came in the 1970s.
"It is very hard to find definitive statistics on this, but from the late 1960s to the late 70s it goes from a minority to something between 70-80%," says King.
The Peel report of 1970 stated that every woman should have access to hospital care when giving birth and the number of home births began to radically decline.
Away from the familiar surroundings of the home, women looked to a birthing partner for more moral support and men started to play an increasing role.
In 1970s sitcom Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em, when Frank Spencer's daughter Jessica is born, the hapless father has to ask the doctor's permission to attend the birth.
Image caption Frank Spencer prepares himself for fatherhood by attending a prenatal class
In the 1970s there were three different sets of feelings involved - the woman's, the man's and the medical profession's.
"There is a school of thought that said that doctors feel quite threatened by another presence in the room, another person who's asking questions about why they are doing what they're doing," says King.
There was also initial scepticism from some midwives, but attitudes started to change as the issue began to be discussed more widely in medical journals.
Labour tips for dads-to-be Download a smartphone app which records and times contractions
Prepare a bag in advance with all the things you will need
When driving to the hospital, the expectant woman should sit in the back seat to avoid distracting the driver and avoid risk of an accident
Walking can speed up labour by 50% and the extra pressure of the baby's head on the cervix can stimulate hormones that can help during the labour process
Practise yoga-style breathing exercises with your partner to help with relaxation and pain relief
Maintaining eye-to-eye contact can help with reassurance
Don't read the paper, send texts, play games or look at your watch
Never make quick remarks or jokey comments - they will not be funny or warmly received BBC Health: Pregnancy BBC Health: Advice for new dads
Changing concepts of privacy and marriage since WWII have also had a big impact for parents, says King. There is now more focus on the emotional bond between a man and a woman.
Peer pressure has grown.
We look back on midwifery in the 1950s with nostalgia today in dramas such as Call the Midwife. Community midwives in vintage costumes cycle through the East End of London with scissors and forceps in their bags, ready to deliver babies in the tough economic conditions of post-war Britain, the father often waiting outside.
Now people watch programmes such as One Born Every Minute. A father can join the mother in the hospital birthing pool, cut the cord and announce the sex of the baby.
People would be surprised if, for instance, Prince William chose not to attend the birth of his child in July. But could we see the tide shift again?
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has spoken publicly about not attending the birth of his four children, claiming that he thought his sex life "would be damaged by images like something out of a sci-fi movie - skinned rabbits and conger eels coming at me from everywhere".
In 2009, a French obstetrician, Michel Odent, blamed fathers for an increasing rate of births by Caesarean section. He claimed that a male partner in the delivery room can make a woman more anxious, slowing the production of oxytocin, a hormone which helps the labour process.
But a study in 1962 by US doctor Robert Bradley suggests that the father's presence actually helps the woman relax.
About 14% of fathers today are still not able to attend the birth of their babies. And there are many who have to steel themselves.
"The main part I have played in this pregnancy was getting her pregnant," says 19-year-old amateur footballer Callum Coker who decided to go on a five-week crash course for a BBC documentary to find out how to become a supportive birthing partner.
Image caption Callum Coker and his partner Laura Griffen are the proud parents of baby Layla
Coker is not alone in feeling isolated from the birthing process. One in three men in the UK have said they feel left out of pregnancy and sidelined at the birth.
Women have had time to get used to the idea of being pregnant, they are growing the baby, but the guys they have had nothing Community midwife Mary Budd
"I think dads when they come into hospital with their wives in labour it can be a really scary place because they are not in control. We're trying to arm them with knowledge to help them have a good transition into fatherhood," says Fiona Laird, head of midwifery at North Middlesex hospital in London.
The more a man can read and discover what changes occur to the woman's body during pregnancy and labour, the more they are prepared.
Yet for some dads even if they combat the stress and panic, they are often fearful of the dreaded gore - dads like Coker who hate the sight of blood and worry about what will happen at the "business end".
Anything up to 500ml of blood at the birth is normal, but looking at videos of real life births can help desensitise squeamish fathers and allow them to conquer their worries.
Sharing and talking about your fears with other dads-to-be is also a therapeutic experience, says community midwife Mary Budd from Bristol, who has delivered over 1,000 babies.
Image caption Will the royal father-to-be attend the birth?
A good place to meet fellow dads-to-be is at antenatal classes. In some parts of the UK, men can also attend dedicated Mantenatal and Daddynatal classes.
In the end, Coker was with his partner Laura Griffen at the birth and is now the proud father of a baby girl called Layla.
"I'm definitely over the fear of gore and blood without a doubt, it's natural. You just have to remember what it was for… now she's here it just makes it all seem worthwhile. I'm ready for our life to begin now."
You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on FacebookA well-known rabbi and yeshiva head from Safed was convicted on Wednesday of committing sexual crimes against eight women.
Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg confessed and was convicted in Nazareth District Court as part of a plea deal over a series of crimes committed against women who came to him for advice and counseling.
The prosecution demanded that the former head of the Orot HaAri yeshiva receive a nine-year jail sentence after his conviction for crimes, including rape and indecent assault.
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A total of 14 women made allegations against Sheinberg to a special investigation team and police suspect that many other victims were afraid to come forward. The victims were all religious women who had come to the rabbi for advice or help on various issues including health.
Sheinberg had been a popular Kabbalist and respected figure in Israel’s national-religious community and author of several books of Torah ideas.
Sheinberg was arrested on July 1, 2015, as he attempted to flee the country as allegations against him emerged. He has been in prison since that time.
According to prosecutors at the time, Sheinberg used his position of prominence and reputation as a powerful mystic to lure in and take advantage of women who came to him for religious counsel and blessings for fertility when they struggled to conceive.
They alleged that the victims shared a number of characteristics: they were young religious women whose husbands, in most cases, were Sheinberg’s students at the seminary.
Part of his modus operandi involved convincing the victims that only he could provide a solution to their problems, through a treatment he dubbed “relaxation.”
During those sessions, Sheinberg fraudulently obtained his victims’ consent to commit sexual acts, prosecutors said, adding that the defendant used innocent young women who trusted him as a tool to satisfy his sexual desires.
Some of the women had originally approached a rabbinic council with the allegations. A team of local rabbis, led by Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, began investigating the accusations in mid-June 2015, and later reported them to the police.
Sheinberg’s wife told Eliyahu that she knew her husband had sex with the women, but that the sex was part of their therapy.
Sheinberg has eight children and several grandchildren.For at least 2 months, a group of children, the youngest barely seven, made their home a blue plastic sheet of tent near their parents' graves in Pratapgarh, over 160 kms from Lucknow.They slept there, and ate whenever villagers gave them food.The children are siblings. Their parents died of AIDS, within two years of each other. Not one relative offered to help. An uncle said if they stayed in the small house where they were growing up, they would be infected with the virus that killed their parents.The eldest, a 21-year-old, moved his three brothers and sister to the graveyard.Residents of their old neighbourhood admit they offered the children no assistance, and ostracized them."We thought we too could get infected, so we told them to stay away, outside the village," said Hazrat Ali.Hours after NDTV reported the horrific story, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced a house would be arranged for them along with one lakh per child. But no relative has offered to stay with them or help them with the money."We are giving them a house. Two of them will be sent to school. And the eldest one will get work under MNREGA (rural employment scheme), but what we have to end is the social boycott," said a local official, Vidya Bhushan.For now, the children have been moved into their grandmother's house.But the scale of the challenge was evident in a short conversation with their uncle, who said he is still reluctant to help bring them up. Only if they test negative for HIV, he warned. They were tested today; results show they are free of HIV. As NDTV left the village, the siblings were moving whatever little they had, into their grandmother's home, knowing that even this home, is temporary.A Ferguson police officer stands on West Florissant Avenue as protesters block traffic in Ferguson, Mo., on April 28, 2015. (Photo: David Carson, AP)
A group of residents in Ferguson, Mo., announced Tuesday that they are launching a petition drive to amend the city charter to mandate that the city's police officers wear police body cameras while on duty and establish other rules regulating the use of the devices.
The St. Louis suburb was where a white police officer last summer fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen whose death ignited months of protests throughout the country and spurred calls for police departments to equip officers with cameras.
The cameras are attached to an officer's clothing, helmet or glasses and capture footage of arrests, traffic stops and other police encounters with the public.
The Ferguson officer, Darren Wilson, was not wearing a body camera at the time of the incident. Wilson said he fired at Brown after he was attacked by the teen, while a friend of the teen, Dorian Johnson, said that Brown was "shot like an animal." A St. Louis County grand jury last November opted not to indict Wilson, who later resigned from the department.
Nick Kasoff, who is organizing the drive, said that he and six other residents are hoping to gather the roughly 1,300 signatures, or roughly 10% of city residents, needed to get the issue on the ballot for the April 2016 municipal election. His group is being advised by the Liberty Initiative Fund, a group in northern Virginia that assists groups throughout the country with citizen initiatives.
"Whichever side of the debate you are on, you have video footage of what happened and things can be done properly," Kasoff said in a telephone interview.
About 50 cameras were donated to the police department soon after the incident last year. But there are no statutes governing how the cameras are to be used, how the city should go about maintaining the videos or disseminate footage to the public, Kasoff said.
The city of Ferguson said in a written statement that it currently requires officers to wear body cameras and that it has budgeted camera and video storage upgrades in 2015-16 fiscal year. The city, however, declined to explain further what policies they currently have in place governing the use of the cameras.
The charter amendment that Kasoff's group submitted on Tuesday would require Ferguson police officers to wear a body camera while on duty and |
exhibit during the refuge’s Earth Day event at Champion Lake. Here... more Photo: Casey Stinnett Photo: Casey Stinnett Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Earth Day celebrated at Champion Lake with frog races and live snakes 1 / 7 Back to Gallery
The Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge held its annual Earth Day event at Champion Lake on Saturday, April 23.
The weather was fine on Saturday, but with so many bad storms lately and the water high, worries about the weather were probably behind a lower attendance this time around than in recent years.
Those who did attend enjoyed kayaking, boating and fishing as usual, plus this year they had frog races and a live snake exhibit.
TRNWR holds its Earth Day events on Saturdays, but Earth Day was April 22. Earth Day was founded by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson in 1970 as a national “teach-in” on environmental issues, and the Earth Day organization that Nelson, a Democrat, created was then co-chaired by California Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey.The 51 to 100 positions on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 list have been announced ahead of the ceremony in Melbourne on 5 April, which you can live-stream on Fine Dining Lovers here, including a number of significant new entries.
Hiša Franko, the restaurant of World’s Best Female Chef 2017 Ana Roš in Kobarid, Slovenia is a new entry at number 69, while this year’s One to Watch, Disfrutar in Barcelona, joins the list at number 55. Dominique Crenn’s Atelier Crenn in San Francisco joins at number 83, while Singapore’s Odette, fronted by chef Julien Royer, the highest new entry at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017, is at number 86. Sushi Saito, one of Tokyo’s finest sushi restaurants and a holder of three Michelin stars, slips in at number 97. Brazil’s Olympe is another new entry, propping up the list at number 100. There are 11 new entries overall.
Elsewhere, Momofuku Ko, David Chang's New York flagship rises an impressive 39 places to number 58, while Tokyo’s Nihonryori RyuGin (down 21 places to number 52) is the highest among Asia’s entries, one place ahead of Singapore’s Burnt Ends (53). 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong rises 26 places to 60. Combal Zero (59), Estela (66), Fäviken (57) and Quique Dacosta (62) all drop out of the top 50.
The USA dominates this half of the list, with nine entries, while France and Spain have four apiece. The UK has three, all London-based (Lyle’s at 54, St John at 91, and Hedone at 98).
See the full list from 51 to 100 below, and don’t forget to live-stream The World’s 50 Best Restaurants on Fine Dining Lovers on 5 April from 8pm Melbourne time (10am GMT).
S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna are the official waters for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017.
The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2017: 51–100
51 Mikla, Istanbul, Turkey
52 Nihonryori RyuGin, Tokyo, Japan
53 Burnt Ends, Singapore
54 Lyle’s, London, England
55 Disfrutar, Barcelona, Spain (New Entry)
56 Nerua, Bilbao, Spain
57 Fäviken, Järpen, Sweden
58 Momofuku Ko, New York, USA
59 Combal Zero, Rivoli, Italy
60 81⁄2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong, China
61 Hertog Jan, Bruges, Belgium
62 Quique Dacosta, Denia, Spain
63 The Test Kitchen, Cape Town, South Africa
64 La Grenouillère, La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil, France
65 Biko, Mexico City, Mexico
66 Estela, New York, USA
67 Benu, San Francisco, USA
68 The French Laundry, Yountville, USA
69 Hiša, Franko Kobarid, Slovenia (New Entry)
70 Aqua, Wolfsburg, Germany
71 Lung King Heen, Hong Kong, China
72 Schloss Schauenstein. Fürstenau, Switzerland
73 La Colombe, Cape Town, South Africa
74 The Jane, Antwerp, Belgium
75 Sud 777, Mexico City, Mexico (New Entry)
76 Lasai, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
77 Martin Berasategui, Lasarte-Oria, Spain
78 Indian Accent, New Delhi, India
79 Maaemo, Oslo, Norway
80 Le Cinq, Paris, France
81 Maní, São Paulo, Brazil
82 Chef’s Table At Brooklyn Fare, New York, USA
83 Atelier Crenn, San Francisco, USA (New Entry)
84 The Restaurant at Meadowood, St Helena, USA
85 Belcanto, Lisbon, Portugal
86 Odette, Singapore (New Entry)
87 Per Se New York, USA
88 Selfie, Moscow, Russia (New Entry)
89 Mingles, Seoul, Korea (New Entry)
90 Manresa, Los Gatos, USA
91 St John, London, England
92 Twins, Moscow, Russia
93 Le Chateaubriand, Paris, France
94 Kadeau, Copenhagen, Denmark (New Entry)
95 Quay, Sydney, Australia
96 Epicure, Paris, France
97 Sushi Saito, Tokyo, Japan (New Entry)
98 Hedone, London, England
99 Florilège, Tokyo, Japan (New Entry)
100 Olympe, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (New Entry)
Follow Fine Dining Lovers on FacebookCraft beer may be taking over bars, shelf space, and market share, but Budweiser isn't one to back down from a fight. As usual, the brewing giant AB InBev poured massive amounts of money into ad campaigns this year, some of which didn't work out too well.
Two ad campaigns in particular got tons of attention, and not necessarily the kind you want from beer lovers, women, and other huge groups of consumers. Let's discuss below, and then erase them from our minds as we move into 2016.
That Super Bowl Ad, Though
Everybody remembers it. We were all sitting there watching the Patriots stick it to the Seahawks (sorry Seattle fans), when Budweiser decided to push an ad onto the world that somehow managed to leave a worse taste in our mouths than its own beer.
Sorry for the reminder, but take a look:
Although this ad sparked an enormous amount of outrage in the craft beer community, at least it provided us all who appreciate thoughtfully brewed beer something to laugh about. The attempt to appeal to ‘Murica resulted in the King of Beers’ campaign being the butt of many jokes and scathing articles and tweets.
The best thing @Budweiser has come out with is drinking water in a can. That way when I pour it out my plants don't die. — Dan Carlson (@FuckinDanimal) July 11, 2015
Slate Magazine’s Jordan Weissmann had a great piece that went viral pretty quickly: “Budweiser’s Awful Super Bowl Ad Is a Perfect Illustration of Why Young People Don’t Drink It.”
And some craft beer advocates took to their cameras to strike back:
Men’s Journal also provided a good angle on it, asking Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione what he thought:
“It was great for craft beer. It shows how confused and conflicted the world's biggest brewery is about how to engage an American populous whose beer tastes are changing. The more they spite us for trying beer outside of the light lager juggernaut, the more we're going to stand for something very separate from what they're about. Then as they buy out the companies making the beers they're making fun of, the hypocrisy is very apparent.
I'm sure there's a room full of MBAs and all they care about is the Budweiser brand. That's what they're paid to care about. They don’t give a shit if promoting Bud means making fun of other brand in the A-B InBev network. It shows that true craft brewers are brewers first, business people second. That company is run by nothing but business people.”
"The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night."
Not long after its Super Bowl ad, Budweiser’s Clydesdales pulled yet another wagonload of crap into our TV screens, browsers, and store shelves. Its #UpForWhatever campaign printed a number of taglines right on its bottles—one of which read, “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.”
Those bottles hit the shelves, ad campaigns ran, and in no time people took notice. Of course, without skipping a beat, the internet attacked:
Hey @budlight - did you know alcohol is one of the major tools rapists use to incapacitate their targets when you came up with your tagline? — Bailey (@the_author_) April 28, 2015
I'll be physically unable to process any sentiment that involves trying to convince me Bud Light didn’t know it was making a rape joke there — Auld Lang Grimes (@andreagrimes) April 28, 2015
And, of course, without skipping a beat, Budweiser apologized:
@Adweek It’s clear that this message missed the mark, and we regret it. We would never condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior. — Lisa Weser (@LisaWeser) April 28, 2015
Then the company issued a statement on its website
Production was not ceased quick enough for John Oliver to take note, though:
Oh, if only our small business could afford to hire the brains behind Budweiser’s marketing team…
So, what will 2016 bring? According to the Brewers Association and other companies that research the beer industry, we should see the quality of beer continue to increase, while mass-producers like AB InBev continue to lose market share for their flagship brands.
That's not to say, though, that these giants aren't buying up the very craft breweries Budweiser bashed during The Super Bowl. It's an interesting time to be in beer!
Happy New Year from Box Brew Kits! Tell us what you think on Twitter at @boxbrewkits.Image caption NHS England's boss said trust in politics would be damaged if the NHS did not get more
The health service should get the cash boost it was promised during the EU referendum, NHS England's boss says.
Simon Stevens used controversial claims used by Vote Leave - that the NHS could benefit by £350m a week - to put the case for more money in a major speech.
With waiting times worsening, he said trust in politics would be damaged if the NHS did not get more.
He said the budget had grown modestly in recent years, but those rises would "nose-dive" in the next few years.
He said if action was not taken the NHS would really start to struggle, predicting hospital waiting lists could grow by a quarter to five million by 2021.
The speech by Mr Stevens at the NHS Providers' annual conference of health managers is highly political, coming just a fortnight before the Budget.
If you can't see the NHS Tracker, click or tap here.
'Honour the Brexit promises'
During the referendum it was claimed £350m a week was sent to the EU and that would be better spent on the NHS.
The claim was widely contested at the time and ever since - it did not take into account the rebate the UK had nor the fact the UK benefited from investment from the EU.
Some argued it proved highly influential in the referendum result.
Mr Stevens refused to be drawn on just how much money he was after - sources close to him said he was not specifically asking for an extra £350m a week, which would work out at an extra £18bn a year.
Instead, they said it just needed to be significantly more than had been promised to date if waiting times were not to worsen.
It comes as three highly influential health think-tanks - the King's Fund, the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation - published a joint report calling for an extra £4bn to be given to health next year.
That amounts to eight times more than health spending is due to rise by.
He told delegates in Birmingham: "The NHS wasn't on the ballot paper, but it was on the ballot bus, 'Vote Leave for a better funded health service, £350m a week.'
"Rather than our criticising these clear Brexit funding commitments to NHS patients - promises entered into by cabinet ministers and by MPs - the public want to see them honoured.
Image copyright Getty Images
"Trust in democratic politics will not be strengthened if anyone now tries to argue, 'You voted Brexit, partly for a better funded health service. But precisely because of Brexit, you now can't have one.'"
He said the "modest" rises seen in recent years were set to "nose-drive" in the next two, with the budget growing by 0.4% next year and by less than 1% the year after once inflation was taken into account.
Mr Stevens said if that continued "choking" of investment happened the NHS would have to "turn back a decade of progress".
He warned a hospital waiting list of five million by 2021 was likely - meaning a 10th of the population would be waiting for treatment.
Currently, just under four million people are.
Targets 'being missed'
NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson has also given his backing to extra money.
He pointed out key targets for A&E, routine operations and cancer care were already being widely missed.
"The Budget is an important opportunity, at the beginning of this Parliament, to protect care quality for patients and service users and help the NHS break out of the downward spiral in which it is currently trapped.
"There isn't enough funding to cope."
The government has promised the NHS front-line budget will be £8bn a year higher by 2022 - once inflation is taken into account - than it is now.
But that does not take into account the whole health budget - which also includes spending on things such as training and healthy lifestyle services, like stop smoking services.
Once that is factored in, the current average annual increase are running at less than 1%, but that dips in the coming years.
Historically, the service has enjoyed annual rises of about 4% to cover the cost of the ageing population and new drugs.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "Research shows spending on the NHS is in line with most other European countries, and the public can be reassured that the government is committed to continued investment in the health service."
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Follow Nick on TwitterJohn Lewis Sleepover – Because who hasn’t dreamt of having a sleepover in a luxury department store…?
Let’s face it, how often have you been wandering round a John Lewis, looked at the sumptuously comfortable beds (perhaps even laid down – you know, “just to test”) and wished you could curl up and stay all night?
Well with John Lewis’s new sleepover you can…
In order to provide what John Lewis call the ultimate “try before you buy” experience, a handful of lucky shoppers will be able to stay the night in “The Residence” a £2million in-store apartments. As well as being totally instagram-worthy, luxurious and the home of our dreams, those who are picked get to stay for FREE!
Anyone who enters is put into a ballot and if you win you get to choose your own bedding and table settings as well as being treated to plenty of upmarket beauty products from the bathroom and a wardrobe of clothes in your size! For breakfast you will get brought a hamper in bed where you can snuggle into your John Lewis dressing gown and sip coffee and nibble croissaints to your hearts content (at least until the store opens that is!) We like to think of it as a real-life version of the Sims where you can design to your hearts content.
On the night you also get your own on-hand concierge for anything you might need or want to buy during the experience and you get sixty minutes of after-hours shopping with the store entirely to yourself (with your own personal shopper of course.) This includes an access-all-areas tour of the store where you will get to peek at those areas not usually open to the public!
As well as the sleepover experience, you can also apply to host your very own dream dinner party for up to ten guests in the Apartment. You will have a feast whipped up by an expert chef and a mixologist will be on hand to craft your favourite cocktails. After dinner you can put a film on the large plasma screen TV, listen to your own music playlist and ingude in a few after-dinner board games.
To apply for the sleepover or meal experience at The Residence, all you need to do is visit the concierge team in the Oxford Street, Cambridge or Liverpool stores over two consecutive weekends (Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 or Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 September). The lucky few will be chosen at random and contacted to confirm the date of their experience. For more information about The Residence go to johnlewis.com.George Galloway, MP for Bradford West, is a Muslim. He converted more than ten years ago in a ceremony at a hotel in Kilburn, north-west London, attended by members of the Muslim Association of Great Britain. Those close to him know this. The rest of the world, including his Muslim constituents, does not.
“So you converted?” I ask at the end of our lunch at the back of Akbar’s café, on Bradford’s main high street, where we have enjoyed a halal, alcohol-free meal of Pakistani staples: tikkas, koftas and daal washed down with mango lassi. Galloway gave up alcohol when he was 18 and last week called for the bars in the House of Commons to be closed.
“I can’t answer that. God knows who is a Muslim...” he answers breezily.
“People ask me this, why did I affirm in Parliament when I swore in? The answer is: I had to take an oath of allegiance in which I don’t believe, to the Queen and all her heirs and successors, and I have no allegiance to any of them, and I could not possibly swear such a thing on a holy book. So nothing else should be read into the affirmation,” he tells me, brandishing what remains of a mutton chop.
“I wasn’t reading anything into that,” I say. “I know someone who attended your shahadah [the Muslim conversion ceremony].” He stares at me across the table, penetrating blue eyes squinted, pausing for the first time in an hour. His special adviser, a glossy haired Asian Pakistani called Ayesha, looks into her daal while his new bride, Gayatri Pertiwi – a Dutch-born Muslim of Indonesian descent 30 years his junior, seated beside him throughout the interview – smiles at me.
George and Gayatri performed the nikah, the Muslim marriage ceremony, four weeks ago at the Royal Theatre in Amsterdam, the day after his sensational and unexpected victory in Bradford. This means, presumably, that they are unmarried under British law. Galloway has had two previous Muslim marriages (and this marriage to Gayatri is his fourth marriage in total). However, a Muslim woman is not permitted to marry a non-Muslim man under Islamic law – although the other way round is allowed. I put this to him.
I catch a look between the two women. The silence grows awkward. Galloway puts down his napkin, clears his throat and says, not impolitely, “How’s that then? Are we finished?”and gets up from his leopard-print covered chair.
We were meant to be convening at the local mosque for juma (Friday) prayers, where Galloway usually meets the community each week, but the plan was cancelled when it transpired that I was coming with a photographer. Instead, George will be photographed in front of the controversial crater in the city centre, highlighting his campaign to expose the ineptitude of the former council that sanctioned the construction of a Westfield shopping centre in 2003. It never materialised, leaving a gaping hole in the heart of the city.
A man in a shiny convertible BMW honks his horn at a cigar-chomping Galloway, who has arranged himself for his portrait in front of a scaffold that shields the city centre’s abyss. He is staring into the middle distance in Napoleonic stance – chest out, chin up, head tilted back, hair blowing lightly in the wind, wearing his customary nightclub impresario garb of dark glasses, dark suit, dark T-shirt and tan.
Beyond Bradford
Galloway and I have met fleetingly in the past at Stop the War coalition events. I am familiar with his rhetoric about foreign invasions and occupations and have admired him as one of the finest orators in British politics.
Today, he is keen to talk about local issues. He needs to demonstrate that he is not only concerned by what goes on in Libya, Pakistan, Iraq and Palestine, as his critics have claimed. He points out that “it’s not an either/or”. Over lunch, he talks about Bradford’s youth unemployment figures (double the UK average) and its poor education record (145th out of 155 in the country), and how Bradford is the most segregated city in the UK. He sees this as primarily an economic issue: “where we choose to live is about the colour of our money, not the colour of our skin – two wards out of six are almost exclusively white and they are the richest areas”. As for interracial tensions, he has been surprised “by how little there is, not how much there is”, adding: “If there is enmity, it’s not from the Asians, by the way. Immigrants don’t hate the host community. Some of the host community hate the immigrants, but it’s not mutual.”
I wonder to what extent he has been forced to moderate his views to appeal to his culturally conservative Muslim audience. Not at all, he insists. He is “a long-standing, lifelong” supporter of gay rights, for example. “I say to any Muslim who questions me on that, if you allow people to discriminate against people on grounds of sexual orientation, you’re next – because the discriminators, the bigots, don’t just hate gays. They hate gays, they hate blacks, they hate Muslims, they hate immigrants...”
So what does he intend to do about the economic problems facing Bradfordians? “My first task is to highlight the sheer scale and extreme danger of youth unemployment.” Then, he will sell Bradford to the world. “I’m a good marketeer, I’ll be doing that here and abroad. And it has a lot of assets...” He lists them convincingly: affordable housing, proximity to major ports and cities, a “fabulous rural hinterland and a large entrepreneurial population”. He hopes to attract investment from the Gulf, “because those kings in the Gulf would like good relations with me”.
And what, I ask, of his poor voting (20 per cent) and attendance record when he was last an MP? “Voting records and attendance are, of course, two different things,” he points out amiably. “I seldom wished to vote for either the prime minister’s motion or either of the opposition’s amendments. The Tories propose one thing and Labour proposes slightly less. Well, I’m not in favour of slightly less. I abstained and there is no provision in parliament to abstain. You can’t record an abstention. So attendance is a totally different thing, as I frequently point out to people who I was threatening to sue over the matter. The CCTV cameras proved my attendance every day – including Christmas Day.”
Many of Galloway’s solutions to Bradford’s problems seem to be about bringing attention to them, which is unsurprising given that he is most at home on a platform, with a mike. Bradford has had more attention in the past few weeks, since Galloway’s by-election victory, than ever before, and he is already a local celebrity. Two young girls show up to have a photograph taken with him; his wife, seated primly on a bench nearby, looks on and laughs indulgently at his evident delight. A girl in a hijab passes us and asks, “Is that the bloke from Respect?” and looks thrilled when we confirm that it is. “Did you vote for him?” I ask. “Inshallah, I will,” she shouts back over her shoulder, as she rushes off for an autograph.
Galloway is acutely aware that he now needs to be seen as the man who can represent all his constituents; the white working class and the Muslims of Asian descent. He balks at the idea that it was only the Muslim vote that got him elected: “I won in every single ward in this constituency, including some wards where there’s not a brown or a black kid.”
Galloway may have successfully out-Muslimed Labour’s Muslim British-Pakistani candidate, Imran Hussain, during the election campaign, with his speeches full of “inshallahs”, his invocations of the Quran – “the people who invaded and destroyed Iraq... will burn in the hell-fires of Hell” – and his smattering of Arabic words: “We stand for justice and haq [truth].” Pamphlets were distributed declaring: “God knows who is a Muslim and he knows who is not. Instinctively, so do you... I, George Galloway, do not drink alcohol and never have.” (Galloway has denied he was responsible for these.)
However, Galloway has aspirations far beyond Bradford, and his Muslimness, which has been such an asset in Bradford could work against him across the rest of the country. This may go some way to explaining his attempts to keep his conversion private.
In the media, Galloway is often referred to as a Catholic. There must have been some white constituents in Bradford, who, although natural Labour supporters, preferred to vote for the white Catholic candidate rather than the brown Muslim one representing Labour. Meanwhile, his Muslim constituents delighted in the hints – “a Muslim is somebody who is not afraid of earthly power but who fears only the Judgement Day. I’m ready for that, I’m working for that and it’s the only thing I fear.” Many favoured a possible or a potential Muslim over a “lapsed” one, such as Labour’s Hussain, who, Galloway claimed in his campaign, was “never out of the pub”.
Galloway’s style is notably un-British; combative, hyperbolic and unashamedly confident. He doesn’t do self-deprecation, self-doubt or apology. He would have made a brilliant QC, with his forensic, retentive mind and his ability to win an argument. There are those who love him unconditionally, especially Muslims who feel that he stands up for them in a way that others have failed to do in British public life, but there are more who loathe him, from the politically apathetic to many in the press. There is no doubt that he is given a harder time by the media than most other politicians, even if he hasn’t endeared himself with his stock response to a loaded or critical question: “What a preposterous question that is!” Or, if the interviewer is female, “What a silly woman you are”.
Galloway has been libelled as many as 20 times and has won every case, resulting in £3m in damages, he tells me. He puts this down to the fact that he is “challenging the prevailing orthodoxy. I’m dangerous to these people because I’m able to persuade people of the correctness of what we’re arguing for... One day, maybe I’ll be a national treasure like Tony Benn, but not yet, I hope.” His eyes crinkle as he smiles. He has even threatened to sue the Canadian government and famously stood up to the US Senate, humiliating the pro-war brigade in a performance that few, having seen it, will ever forget.
He is as much a headache to the left as he is to the right and equally contemptuous of both. Ed Miliband’s name “brings forth ribaldry”, he says. When he watched the Labour leader at Prime Minister’s Questions, “Cameron knocked him for six with every ball. It was like watching Imran Khan on the crease – just whacked every ball to the boundary – and it looked like a boy against a man.”
He puts the knife in further. “I think one of the problems, call it Shakespearian or call it biblical, is that he is marked with the original sin of doing something that is unnatural, doing something against the natural order of things. It is moral turpitude to stand against your older brother and, in doing so, plunge a dagger into his breast. And I think that might, in the end, be a very telling point in what comes next. Because it would be even more Shakespearian if the brother got up out of the grave and murdered the brother that had murdered him...”.
The monologue is delivered in that very particular, slow, over-enunciated Glasgow accent of his; developed, I suspect, as a result of spending a great deal of time with people for whom English is not their first language and for whom Glaswegian requires subtitles. He hates everything about David Cameron, but he thinks “people underestimate him... he is a very formidable political force”.
My enemy’s enemy
The establishment treats Galloway with barely disguised contempt. On his first day in Parliament, the Prime Minister forgot to call him an honourable gentleman, and, on Newsnight in 2005, Jeremy Paxman failed to congratulate him after he won the Bethnal Green and Bow seat and instead asked him if he was proud to have “got rid of one of the very few black women in Parliament”. After his latest election victory, he was subjected to a series of hostile interviews on various news channels. Galloway is flawed but the reasons given by his detractors for their hatred – his vanity, his posturing – could equally apply to other far less maligned politicians.
His infamous speech to Saddam Hussein, in which he was captured on video declaring, “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability”, as well as his alleged championing of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, are cited most frequently by critics as reasons why he is not to be trusted. Galloway claims his use of the word “your” in relation to Hussein was meant in the plural sense, to refer to the Iraqi people facing sanctions and western aggression. More convincingly, he explains he had been a critic of the Iraqi regime, publicly calling Hussein “a bestial dictator” long before this, demonstrating “outside the Iraqi cultural centre in Tottenham Court Road, when British ministers and businessmen were going in and out doing trade”.
The truth is that Galloway, like others on the hard left, is guilty of a certain myopia when it comes to the faults and crimes (which often include horrendous human-rights abuses) of his enemy’s enemy, whom he tends to befriend, even as he remains clear-sighted when drawing attention to the abuses perpetrated by the west. That said, his critics are often equally hypocritical, as Galloway illustrates. While he admits to having met Assad once (he claims never to have been a supporter), he points out that the Syrian leader “never stayed in my house, though he did stay in the Queen’s, at Buckingham Palace”.
Those who criticise Galloway on the left tend to be more forgiving of Tony Blair’s courting of Colonel Gaddafi – or Barack Obama’s support for Egypt’s former dictator Hosni Mubarak, whom the US president described as “a stalwart ally... a force for stability and good”, and to whom the US gave $1.3bn of military aid in January last year.
Critics on the right seem less troubled by Cameron’s invitation to the king of Bahrain to visit Downing Street, or the Queen’s invitation to the Bahraini royal family to join celebrations for her jubilee this year, or, indeed, by the fact that virtually every politician in power has pandered to the Saudis, to whom we continue to sell arms. None of this excuses praising a war criminal. But it does make some of the selective criticism about fawning over dictators seem disingenuous.
At the end of our interview, Ayesha, a divorced working mother who joined Respect a few weeks before the by-election, sinks into her car seat and apologises for the many last-minute plan changes of the day. “Sometimes,” she says, “I feel invisible.” It is challenging, working with predominantly British Asian men, “but I’m getting used to being overruled”. She asks how I thought it went. I ask why Galloway won’t publicly admit to being a Muslim. She pauses and then says quietly, “Jemima, you know how it is...”
I’m not sure I do. Perhaps she means that Islamophobia could damage his political career. It can’t be a privacy issue – after all, Galloway was an incumbent politician when he wore a Lycra catsuit and lapped imaginary cream from the hands of the actress Rula Lenska on Big Brother, a performance that he insists he does not regret, though would not repeat.
“I always said, and even my close friends disagreed and still disagree, that Big Brother, in the end, would prove to be a benefit. It did. You would be amazed by the number of young people who say: ‘Can we get a picture of you? You were on Big Brother.’ It raised a lot of money and it gave me a lot of profile.”
He has no qualms about me quoting his wife or having the tape recorder on throughout lunch. They both seem surprisingly happy to talk about how and when they met, at a “peace and justice” conference in Leiden, Holland, six months ago. He was a speaker and she was attending in her capacity as “east and west consultant”. He spotted her in the crowd when she prompted the speaker. He recalls: “She shouted out, ‘Confucianism’ and I saw a flash of teeth and that was it. Now I will always have a soft spot for Confucius.” They smile at each other, as the newly in-love do. He gave her the plaque with which he had been presented and told her: “Keep this for our home because you are my future wife.” And then, he tells me, he proceeded to ask her to marry him every day until she agreed. Gayatri is charming: attractive, bright, friendly and forthcoming.
She looks suddenly at her watch. “Oh, it’s our six-month anniversary today,” she remembers, excitedly. “You’d better buy her some flowers. You’re a lucky man,” I say.
“Yes. I am.” He smiles, looking like the proverbial cat that got the cream. “I am,” he repeats. “Ma’shallah.”Season 7 of The Walking Dead has some pretty immediate questions to answer for fans, but will otherwise introduce brave new worlds and characters to explore after the bat. We know at least one major character (and his iconic pet) to pop up, but how might The Walking Dead realize such a complicated, outlandish figure?
You’re warned of full spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 7 from here on out, but still unknown is the casting of Ezekiel, the dreadlocked former zookeeper who presides over the mysterious “Kingdom” ( whose “knights” we met last season ). Ezekiel is also well- remembered by his pet freakin’ tiger, Shiva.
On that note it least, the unknown actor playing Ezekiel has reportedly already shot his first scenes for Season 7's third hour, but is there any chance an actual tiger has been spotted on set? According to those intrepid sleuths at The Spoiling Dead, AMC’s adaptation will utilize “a mix of animatronics and CGI,” potentially even a puppet to bring Ezekiel’s fierce protector to life.
Image Comics
That would make sense, given that the Shiva of books didn’t have any major action sequences early on, while The Walking Dead may not have the patience (or budget) for the same process Game of Thrones uses to incorporate actual wolves into filming. Also worth nothing, Ezekiel and Shiva have been said to be major reveals in the first Season 7 trailer, which itself has an admirable job ahead of keeping that big death under wraps.
We’ll likely learn more of Ezekiel’s casting in the coming weeks as Season 7 production continues, but what should we expect from The Walking Dead ’s latest addition?MANILA - Unidentified men lobbed a grenade at the house of Conner, Apayao Mayor Leonardo Dangoy in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, leaving his cook dead and his three relatives wounded on Saturday.
Two motorcycle-riding suspects threw the grenade at Dangoy's residential compound in Barangay Caritan Norte at around 7.30 p.m., said Superintendent Jesse Tamayo, Tuguegarao City police chief.
The cook of Dangoy's family, Medrano Dungi Pilic, sustained shrapnel wounds on the head and chest which killed him instantly.
The mayor's son, nephew and nine-year-old granddaughter, meanwhile, sustained minor injuries.
Dangoy, who was inside the compound when the attack occurred, was not hurt.
Tamayo said investigators are pursuing a lead on the bombing's possible motive but he declined to confirm if the attack was politically motivated.
Police are also getting more clues on the suspects' identities from witnesses and CCTV footage from adjoining business establishments.
-- With a report from Danielle Rebollos, ABS-CBN NewsPlot Edit
See also: List of Samurai Pizza Cats episodes The series is set in Little Tokyo, a mechanical city which fuses feudal Japanese culture with contemporary culture, and is populated by cybernetic anthropomorphic animals. The city is nominally led by Emperor Fred, a doddering eccentric. The city's actual leadership lies in the hands of the city council and the emperor's daughter, Princess Violet. The council is headed by ambitious Prime Minister Seymour "The Big" Cheese, a rat who constantly plots to overthrow the Emperor. Big Cheese is aided by his inept minions: trusted adviser Jerry Atric and Bad Bird, the leader of an army of ninja crows. Unknown to the prime minister, council member and palace guard commander "Big Al" Dente has learned of his designs on leadership, but is unable to prosecute him for treason because of the plausible deniability he maintains. Instead, Al Dente enlists the services of Speedy Cerviche, |
Today, prisoners at Guantánamo will embark on a peaceful protest, involving sit-ins and hunger strikes, to protest about their continued detention, and the continued existence of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, three years after President Obama came to office promising to close it within a year, and to show their appreciation of the protests being mounted on their behalf by US citizens, who are gathering in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to stage a rally and march to urge the President to fulfill his broken promise.
Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York, and one of the attorneys for Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantánamo, said that his client, who is held in isolation in Camp 5, told him on his last visit that the prisoners would embark on a peaceful protest and hunger strike for three days, from Jan. 10 to 12, to protest about the President’s failure to close Guantánamo as promised.
He explained that the men intended to inform the Officer in Charge ahead of the protest, to let the authorities know why there would be protests, and added that the prisoners were encouraged by the “expression of solidarity” from US citizens planning protests on Jan. 11, the 10th anniversary of the opening of the prison.
Kassem also said that another of his clients, in Camp 6, where most of the prisoners are held, and where, unlike Camp 5, they are allowed to socialize, stated that prisoners throughout the blocks were “extremely encouraged” by reports of the protests in Washington D.C.
The prisoner, who does not wish to be identified, also said that banners and signs had been prepared, and that there would be peaceful sit-ins in the communal areas. He added that the prisoners were concerned to let the outside world know that they still reject the injustice of their imprisonment, and feel that it is particularly important to let everyone know this, when the US government, under President Obama, is trying to persuade the world that “everything is OK” at Guantánamo, and that the prison is a humane, state of the art facility.
He also explained that the prisoners invited the press to come to Guantánamo and to request interviews with the prisoners, to hear about “the toll of a decade” of detention without charge or trial, and said that they “would like nothing more” than to have an independent civilian and medical delegation, accompanied by the press, be allowed to come and talk to the 171 men still held.
In Camp 5, Shaker Aamer and the other men still held there will not be able to stage a sit-in, as they are unable to leave their cells, but they will participate in the protests by refusing meals.
No one knows how the authorities will respond to the protests, especially as the new commander of Guantánamo, Navy Rear Adm. David Woods, has gained a reputation for punishing even the most minor infractions of the rules with solitary confinement.
According to Kassem, prisoners have complained that the new regime harks back to the worst days of Guantánamo, between 2002 and 2004, when punishments for non-cooperation were widespread.
Of the 171 men still held at Guantánamo, 89 were “approved for transfer” out of Guantánamo by a Task Force of career officials and lawyers from the various government departments and the intelligence agencies, and yet they remain held because of Congressional opposition and President Obama’s unwillingness to tackle his critics. 36 others were recommended for trials, and 46 others were designated for indefinite detention without charge pr trial, on the basis that they are too dangerous to release, but that there is insufficient evidence against them to put them on trial.
That is a disgraceful position for the government to take, as indefinite detention on the basis of information that cannot be used as evidence indicates that the information is either tainted by torture, or is unreliable hearsay. It remains unacceptable that President Obama approved the indefinite detention of these men in an executive order last March, even though he also promised that their cases would be subject to periodic review.
Just as disgraceful, however, is the fact that all of the 171 prisoners still at Guantánamo face indefinite detention, as none of them can leave the prison given the current restrictions. That ought to trouble anyone who cares about justice and fairness, and the protests by the prisoners, on the 10th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, ought to convey, more eloquently than any other method, why the pressure to close the prison must be maintained.
Note: For further information, and to sign up to a new movement to close Guantánamo, please visit the new website, “Close Guantánamo,” which you can join here, and also please sign a new White House petition on the “We the People” website calling for the closure of Guantánamo. 25,000 signatures are needed by February 6.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed (and I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in June 2011, “The Complete Guantánamo Files,” a 70-part, million-word series drawing on files released by WikiLeaks in April 2011, and details about the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and available on DVD here — or here for the US). Also see my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.Hackers Plan Web Attacks On Aussie Govt, 9/9
‘Anonymous’ Hackers Plan Attacks On Australian Government
UPDATE 10/9/09 9.30am NZT: The website of Australian PM Kevin Rudd (pm.gov.au) was one of the early targets of operation Didgeridie and was brought down last night - see... Coverage from the Australian Newspaper. According to reports the hackers have also been targetting acma.gov.au.
See also:
News.com.au: Kevin Rudd's website hacked over internet censorship
WA Today: Hackers bring down PM's website
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A group of hackers is threatening to attack Australian Government computers starting tomorrow, September 9.
The attacks are prompted by ongoing plans to impose mandatory internet filtering on Australian ISPs.
The group of hackers, ‘Anonymous’, are best known for its cyber- and real-life actions against the Church of Scientology. A web page on an “/i/nsurgency w/i/ki” site describes “Operation Didgeridie”: a plan to use escalating Denial of Service attacks ( WARNING: site contains material likely to offend) to bring down Australian Government web servers.
[Update: According to the updated page, attacks ares scheduled to begin at 0900 GMT (1900 AEST, 2100 NZST). However, a counter linked to by thast message is counting down to 0900 AEST (Countdown now matches)]
A video uploaded to YouTube a month ago demanded the abolition of the censorship plan and the resignation of Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy.
Other Links:
Hacker Group 'Anonymous' Takes on Austrian Government - Associated Content
Anonymous (group) - Wikipedia
Church of Scientology Proposes Net Censorship In Australia - Slashdot
No Clean Feed
Censordyne - Good, clean internet censorship
Earlier: Hackers Deface Aussie Censorship Board’s Website - Wired.com
Anonymous Hackers Shoot For Scientologists, Hit Dutch School Kids - Wired.com
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© Scoop MediaAfter literally shushing CNBC’s Kelly Evans and accusing the Today show’s Savannah Guthrie of “editorializing” his positions, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has faced charges of sexism for the way he has interacted with female interviewers. But in a radio interview this week, Paul said those accusing him of sexism might be the real sexists.
“The kind of funny thing about it is that it’s kind of a sexist position to think that somehow women announcers are less capable to handle themselves than men,” Paul told Iowa radio host Simon Conway. “I don’t think that, but everybody that was complaining about it, thinking it had something to do with gender, basically that’s insulting to the people doing the questioning.”
“Really the problem is that we have a lot of media that are just so far on the left that we just don’t have any neutral questions,” Paul added. “If you go on there as a Democrat, they laugh and yuck it up and talk about how great things are going, but it’s a little bit different when Republicans are on the national news.”
The candidate expressed a similar sentiment earlier this month when CNN’s Dana Bash asked him if he will able to avoid getting testy with female candidates like, say, Hillary Clinton. “I would treat her with the same respect that I would treat a man, but I wouldn’t lay down and say, ‘I’m not going to respond,’” he said. “That would be a sexist sort of response, to say, ‘Oh, my goodness, she deserves to be treated as aggressively because she’s only a woman.’”
Sen. Paul’s wife Kelley Paul also came to his defense on the charges of sexism on Fox & Friends last week, saying “That label upset me.”
“That is not who Rand is, at all,” Paul said. “Professionally, personally, he is the type of person who wants to work with somebody and value their talents and ability for who they are.”
Listen to audio below, via WHO Radio:
[h/t RWW]
[Photo via screengrab]
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Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comThe city requires that groups purchase an $800 permit to use the park near where homeless are fed.
Image by Love Wins
Nearly every weekend morning for six years, church groups have passed out free biscuits and coffee to the homeless at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh, N.C. This Saturday at 9 a.m., when volunteers from Love Wins Ministries arrived, 100 sausage biscuits and coffee carafes in hand, Raleigh police officers met them on the sidewalk and threatened to arrest them if they passed out the food.
A city ordinance, officers said, banned food distribution in public parks.
Hugh Hollowell, an ordained Mennonite minister and the executive director of Love Wins, was outraged. The ordinance was no surprise — the city requires that groups purchase an $800 permit to use the park, and since that would require non-profits to pay $1,600 per weekend to distribute food, Love Wins never sets up in the park but on the sidewalk along its edge. $1,600 could, after all, buy a lot of biscuits and coffee.
More than 70 people had already lined up outside the park for the free breakfast when the cops issued their threat. Soup kitchens do not operate in the county or city on the weekends, and so the Love Wins breakfast is one of the only ways the homeless can have a free, warm breakfast on the weekends. Feeding the homeless, Hollowell told TIME, is a spiritual calling:
We believe the words of Jesus, who in Matthew 25:31-46 said that the way we treat the most vulnerable is the way we treat him. We pray, along with the prophet Isaiah, for the coming of the Day of the Lord, when all God’s children, rich and poor, will eat at a banquet together. But until that day comes, we are the means by which Jesus works in the world. As we like to say, God has a plan for people who are hungry—God’s plan is us. So, when the City of Raleigh is unwilling to feed its most vulnerable citizens, and then prevents us from feeding them as well, it is hard to interpret that as goodwill on their part. And if the City is unwilling to feed those people, the least they can do is not prevent us from doing so.
Hollowell posted the story of the police threat on the Love Wins blog, Facebook page and Twitter feed. Within hours, the blog site crashed with over 250,000 page views. He and his supporters then turned to the mayor’s office and the city council.
Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane’s office said on its Facebook page: “Neither Mayor McFarlane nor the city council were involved with this decision, and the mayor has pledged to work toward connecting people in need with those who want to help in a way that works well for everyone.”
McFarlane met with Love Wins leadership Sunday night and promised that no one would be arrested. “We are grateful for the Mayor’s public promise that there will be no arrests, but we won’t be happy until all God’s children in Raleigh are provided for,” Hollowell says.
Love Wins is not the only group in Raleigh that has been told to cease and desist in recent weeks. Church in the Woods and Human Beans Together, two groups that also serve meals downtown, report being told to stop feeding the homeless without prior notice, too.
“Rather than threatening to arrest people for sharing food with people experiencing homelessness, these folks should be applauded for dealing with the hunger that is faced daily by the homeless population nationwide,” said Jerry Jones, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. “Cities are just trying to cut off homeless people’s source of food in hopes of forcing them out of downtown areas.”
The City of Raleigh public affairs office issued a brief response to the situation on Monday afternoon:
We are fortunate to live in a compassionate city where so many groups work to help those less fortunate. […] The distribution of food in and around Downtown’s Moore Square Park is not without practical problems for city government. Public health and safety issues have arisen due to the large number of groups attempting to feed the less fortunate in Downtown Raleigh. Similar issues are faced by numerous cities across the country when well-intentioned organizations desire to use public property to help.
The City Council will discuss the issue at their regular meeting on Wednesday.President Donald Trump tweeted that the first 100 days concept was "ridiculous" while his White House presses Congress to pass health care reform before the deadline. | Getty Trump scoffs at 100-day mark as ‘ridiculous standard’ The president appears to be managing expectations ahead of the historic milestone next Saturday.
President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that he won’t get the credit he deserves for the first 100 days of his administration, seeking to manage expectations around what he called the “ridiculous standard” of the upcoming milestone date.
“No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill!” Trump tweeted on Friday morning.
Story Continued Below
By Friday afternoon, Trump went further, arguing that next week is irrelevant.
“Next week doesn’t matter,” he told reporters.
In fact, Congress returns from a two-week Easter recess next week facing a Friday deadline to fund the government or risk a shutdown. Trump said earlier Friday that his administration would unveil its tax reform plan next Wednesday. And there’s also a possibility that GOP leaders could hold a vote on legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare in the hopes of giving the Trump administration a major legislative victory as it marches toward Day 100.
But Trump on Friday afternoon said there’s “no particular rush” to push health care reform through and that it “doesn’t matter if it’s next week” or comes after his first 100 days.
Trump’s dismissive tone toward the 100-day mark is a notable shift from his campaign rhetoric, considering he issued in late October a contract with voters that included a “100-day action plan to Make America Great Again.” On some points, like green-lighting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline and instituting a temporary hiring freeze on all federal workers, Trump has already followed through.
On others, like his promise to label China a currency manipulator on Day One of his presidency and his pledge to cancel all funding to so-called sanctuary cities, Trump has yet to deliver or has reversed himself. On some points in the contract, including those limiting lobbying by White House officials, it is unclear to what extent directives from the president are effective in fighting the government corruption Trump railed against on during the campaign.
While Trump has made good on some major campaign promises — including nominating and securing confirmation for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and pulling the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal — his early presidency has also been marked by some high-profile failures.
Most notably, the first attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare collapsed amid resistance from conservatives who thought it didn’t go far enough and moderates who were anxious about voters losing health care coverage. Newly eager to claim a victory before the 100-day mark on April 29, the White House this week began pressuring Congress to pass a new version of the repeal legislation by the end of next week, even though it is unclear whether such a bill would have more success than the GOP's initial version.
Trump’s travel ban, the policy version of a proposal that began during the GOP primary as a promise to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., also has stumbled. The rollout of the initial executive order prompted mass confusion and massive protests at U.S. airports and some green card holders were barred from entering the country. That iteration of the ban was stayed by a federal judge, as was a second version signed by the president that was intended to circumvent the first judge’s stay order.
Despite those shortcomings, Trump and others in the White House have publicly suggested that his administration has been more successful through its opening months than any in history. During a day trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin, this week, Trump declared that “no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days.”
“That includes on military, on the border, on trade, on regulation, on law enforcement — we love our law enforcement — and on government reform,” he continued, touting success even though his administration cannot yet boast of a major legislative victory.
Short on wins when it comes to domestic policy, Trump has seemingly turned his attention abroad in recent weeks in a series of moves that have been mostly well-received. Without lawmakers to get in his way, the president has flexed his foreign policy muscle in dealings with other world leaders and in strikes against terrorist networks.
The president has received mostly positive marks for his decision to launch a missile strike against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad for its use of chemical weapons in a rebel-controlled region of Syria. That move drew a sharp contrast between Trump and his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, who threatened action against Assad should he use chemical weapons but did not follow through when the Syrian dictator did just that.
The missile strikes against Assad also put Trump in direct opposition to the Russian government, positioning that could benefit a president whose campaign has been accused of colluding with the Kremlin to win the White House (Trump has denied such allegations). The president’s warm words for Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatively common during last year’s election, have also come to an almost complete stop.
Faced with the most recent bout of saber-rattling from the North Korean government, Trump has sought to pressure China, North Korea’s principal international benefactor, into corralling the bellicose rhetoric and nuclear ambitions of dictator Kim Jong Un.
To do so, Trump has seemingly backtracked from the get-tough-with-China approach to foreign policy he prescribed on the campaign trail. Seeking cooperation with the Chinese, the president has already backed away from his pledge to declare China a currency manipulator on Day One and has said publicly that he would be willing to offer more favorable terms in his promised renegotiation of trade policy with the Chinese government if they are able to rein in North Korea.
Maintaining some portion of his past hard-line stance, Trump has warned that if China is unwilling or unable to corral North Korea, the U.S. and its allies are prepared to do so on their own. Echoing that sentiment, Vice President Mike Pence said this week that “the era of strategic patience is over” when it comes to U.S. policy toward North Korean provocations.
And just as tensions with the Kim regime seemed to peak last week, The U.S. military dropped one of its largest non-nuclear bombs, dubbed “the mother of all bombs,” on a system of caves and tunnels maintained by the Islamic State in a remote region of Afghanistan. The bomb was delivered apparently without any civilian casualties and the White House was vague as to whether the president personally approved its use.
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It was the first time the U.S. had used the weapon and asked what its deployment might convey to North Korea, Trump said, “I don't know if this sends a message. It doesn't make any difference if it does or not. North Korea is a problem. The problem will be taken care of.”
But Trump’s successes abroad have not yet been replicated at home. Republican lawmakers are skeptical that Congress can fulfill Trump’s wishes of both passing an Obamacare replacement bill and a funding bill that would keep the government open beyond a deadline of next Friday at midnight.
Still, when asked during a news conference on Thursday about whether health care or avoiding a government shutdown was a higher priority, Trump refused to choose.
“I wanna get both,” Trump said alongside Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. “Are you shocked to hear that?”
Trump also tried to minimize the previous failed effort on health care, reminding reporters that Obamacare was an effort that took roughly a year-and-half, and, he noted, he’s only had about two months to negotiate a better health deal.
“This has really been two months, and this is a continuation. And the plan gets better and better and better, and it’s gotten really, really good,” Trump said. “And a lot of people are liking it a lot. We have a good chance of getting it soon. I’d like to say next week, but it will be — I believe we will get it, and whether it’s next week or shortly thereafter.”
“As far as keeping the government open,” he added, “I think we wanna keep the government open. Don’t you agree? So yeah, I think we’ll get both."
Nolan D. McCaskill contributed to this report.Last year, we reviewed the knockoff Hermès bands from famous thrid-party manufacturer Hoco right after Apple released the genuine Hermès watch and bands.
A year later, along with the release of Apple Watch Series 2, Apple released a few new designs and colors for the Hermès Apple Watch Bands, including the Single Tour Deployment Buckle and the Double Buckle Cuff that could easily cost you hundreds dollors each.
There are third-party manufacturers such as Monowear and Mintapple offering Deployment bands, and a number of handcrafted options for Cuff bands available in the market with a much affordable yet mid-range price. However, if you are not cashing in that amount of money for any of those but still want to get similar look and feel to it, here is a very good deal that we want to talk about in this post on a knockoff Hermès Double Buckle Cuff with the same sandal design.
The above image was taken by me, on a Stainless Steel Apple Watch Series 2, with a non-branded knockoff Hermès Double Buckle Cuff costing me around US$13.
Simply looking at the front and back sides of the band, the replica band has done a great job for getting itself look really like what you see from Apple’s advertisements. But let me show you how it compares with the US$689 genuine Hermès cuff band below.
The color is way off from the geniune band on both the front and back sides. The knockoff band has an obvious darker brown color than the genuine Hermès band on the front but much lighter color for the inner calf leather.
The Hermès buckle has a better design and more polished than the knockoff band. However, the adapter is not band for the low cost option when putting them side-by-side.
Though the leather used is less premium, the stitching is not so bad for the knockoff band. It is quite well-manufacturered. Looking at the free loops, the genuine Hermès Double Buckle Cuff has more attention to details that adds lining along the the sides and the back stitching looks much nicer than the cheaper option. There is also engraving on the Hermès band stating the size and Country of Origin – France.
So that is a brief look at the comparing between geniune and knockoff Hermès Double Buckle Cuff bands. Despite the fact that the replica Hermès Double Buckle Cuff is not anywhere near the premium quality that Hermès can offer you with a price difference for more than US$600, what do you demand more from a $13 leather cuff that look so similar? Anyway, let me know what you think in the comments.
Headline images credits: Apple, International Business TimesOn March 17, Rolf Harris appeared at a Central London magistrates court where he was formally charged with seven counts of indecent assault, all historical offences. The complainants (notice that important word, complainants, not victims) were aged between 12 and 27 years old at the times of the alleged offences. One woman is blind, suffers from cerebral palsy and had very limited mobility. She was said to have been attacked in 1977. This attack is said to have lasted for around ten minutes.
A lot more could be written in this vein, and undoubtedly a lot more will be written and said when this pantomime is played out at Southwark Crown Court. If you don’t know by now, you are being told that Rolf Harris is a dreadful human being, and although he is now 86 years old and some of his alleged crimes were committed before many of you reading this were born, he should be kept behind bars until he dies.
The spiel from the Clown Prosecution Service, or perhaps that should be Crown Persecution Service, was predictable:
“We have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Mr Harris to be charged with seven counts of indecent assault. The alleged offences date from 1971 to 2004 and relate to seven complainants aged between 12 and 27 at the time of the alleged offending.”
What exactly does that phrase sufficient evidence mean? To answer that question, let us turn to a far more serious matter, that of rape, torture and murder; that is what Harvey Proctor was accused of. Now, after both a lengthy investigation and a scandalous waste of public money, Operation Midland has been closed down. It is conceded that there is not a shred of credible evidence that this VIP paedophile ring ever existed, much less that Proctor, Leon Brittan or Ted Heath ever belonged to it. What is the difference between Harvey Proctor and Rolf Harris, apart from their sexuality? The answer is not a lot, the evidence against both of them is words. Not CCTV, not DNA, not even confessions, but words. Words about events that are alleged to have happened years and decades ago. So why has Harris been charged while Proctor has been cleared? The answer is that even the imbeciles who control our criminal justice system have their limits. While they are prepared to charge a man with indecent assault or even rape on the basis of words uttered years and decades later, they are not prepared to charge someone with murder on the same basis, because even English juries like the one that convicted Harris two years ago are not that dumb.
Having said that, there is another difference, the crimes alleged against Harvey Proctor were said to have taken place in private, like most sex crimes, which is what makes rape cases so difficult for both victims seeking justice and innocent men protesting their innocence. The crimes alleged against Harris however, are by and large said to have been committed in public, in full view of other people who did nothing, didn’t even notice. The late Jimmy Savile has now been accused of committing hundreds of such crimes, yet again, no one saw him. Although allegations were made against Savile in his lifetime, these were shown to be either spurious or simply rumours, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, even if she is a High Court judge. So what is going on here? Can Harris really have committed all these crimes and no one noticed? To answer that question we must go back in time.
On October 27, 1941, at Leesburg in the American Deep South, Samuel Legions was said to have raped Mrs Viola Miller in her own home. He was convicted. At that time, rape was capital, at least in this instance, because Legions was black and Mrs Miller was white. Most blacks – those who were neither rich nor famous like whiner Spike Lee – were second class citizens in that time and place, so one would have expected Legions to have been sent to the electric chair.
That may have been what the crackers expected and wanted, but superior court judges are made of different stuff. Mrs Miller was allegedly raped in the presence of her husband, so this second class citizen had not one but two white witnesses against him, yet on January 18, 1943, the Supreme Court of Virginia quashed his conviction in the following words:
“…we are mindful of the force of a jury’s verdict, approved by the trial court, but we have said time and again that we are not required to believe that which we know from human experience is inherently incredible. ‘What we know as men we are not required to forget as judges.’”
The full judgment can be found here. The reader is invited to read between the lines as to what actually happened, but bearing in mind once again that this was the Deep South; for an appellate court to reverse a jury verdict in a capital case in which the accused was a Negro, the real evidence must have indicated that both Viola Miller and her husband were lying. As far as can be ascertained, there has been only one such case in England, Rex v Wallace, (1931) in which a murder conviction was quashed by the then Court of Criminal Appeal.
Clearly, the British police and the Crown Prosecution Service have forgotten as state officials what they learned as men. And as women. These offences with which Harris has been charged were not reported at the time, were not seen by anyone at the time, because they never happened at the time, rather they happened years and decades later in the sick brains of his accusers.
Let’s look at three of these accusers: Wendy Wild (formerly Wendy Sowerby) claimed to have been sexually assaulted at a kid’s disco held at a community centre in 1969 or 1970. There is no evidence that Harris was even there. She was queuing for an autograph when the offence happened, in front of people who were waiting with their own kids to be subjected to the same treatment. No report was made for decades. This woman is either lying or insane, quite likely both. She claims this momentary assault ruined her life. Tell that to the Cleveland captives.
Tonya Lee claims to have been sexually assaulted by Harris in front of other people in a London public house. No one has called out this shameless liar.
An anonymous woman claims he sexually assaulted her at Cambridge in public when she was a teenager. Again, no one saw it and she didn’t report it at the time. And Harris is not the only one, take former publicist Max Clifford. While most of the allegations made against him were said to have been committed in private, one stands out, it was an offence with which he was not charged because it was said to have happened in Spain; in reality, it was thrown in simply to blacken his character. He was said to have induced a 12 year old girl to masturbate him in a Jacuzzi while he was on holiday with his disabled daughter. Louise Clifford is one of the few people to stand by her father, because she was there and knows what garbage this allegation from 1983 is. Ask yourself this, a grown man is sharing a Jacuzzi with an underage girl who is not his daughter. Did no one notice? Why didn’t the girl cry out? Why didn’t she tell her parents? Because this gross sexual assault happened only in her tiny mind three decades later, that’s why. Max Clifford is known to be an arrogant man, but was any paedophile so arrogant so as to believe he could have carried out a crime as brazen as that and not be brought immediately to book?
One more case will suffice, although he was not a celebrity in the same sense as Rolf Harris, Philip Pickett was a world renowned classical musician. After the Savile hysteria broke, a woman came forward claiming she had been raped by Pickett at the Guildhall School of Music in 1978, when she was sixteen. Then another woman came forward with a similar claim. It is possible indeed likely that Pickett had improper sexual liaisons with some of his students; at the time he was relatively young as well as handsome and charismatic, but the claim that he raped teenagers in soundproof rooms who were too intimidated or afraid to report him – fearing they would not be believed is the usual gambit – beggars belief. If a rape victim won’t be believed when she has torn clothing, bruising on her lower body and a vagina full of semen, when will she be believed? Clearly neither of these victims was bruised, neither was their clothing torn, which means if they did have sex with Pickett, these encounters were consensual, improper or not. Pickett is now serving an 11 year sentence. Incidentally, the detective in charge of the investigation into Pickett was Maria Woodall, a woman for whom the truth is a stranger, as her gratuitous lying at the Bellfield trial proved. After Pickett’s conviction, she appealed for more victims to come forward.
Fortunately for him, none seem to, at least no credible ones, but is credibility really an issue when a man can be convicted solely by dint of an allegation by some duplicitous or demented female decades after she never met him? The liars and fantasists who accused Harvey Proctor were men, so this is not a sex issue, but in a way he was lucky he was accused of murder, because had he been accused merely of indecent assault, he would quite likely be sharing a cell with Rolf Harris now.
When Vera Baird QC appeared on the BBC news, February 16, she actually mentioned the conviction of Rolf Harris in the same breath as the discontinuance of the non-case against the now deceased Leon Brittan saying that this conviction gave victims the courage to come forward. It’s a wonder she didn’t choke on her words.
If you are not familiar with the phrase crimen exceptum, it is one that dates from the era of witch-hunting, an era that has returned with a vengeance, only this time it is the witches who are doing the hunting; let’s not talk about Gloria Allred, but let us stay on the other side of the Atlantic and return to the aforementioned capital case. In 1943, bucking popular opinion, Judge Browning delivered justice to Samuel Legions by stating the obvious, the evidence against him was inherently incredible and unworthy of belief. So is the evidence against Rolf Harris, Max Clifford, Philip Pickett, and numerous other victims of these media witch-hunts and police trawling operations. Is it too much to ask that a white celebrity in 2016 receive the kind of justice a member of the black underclass received in the Deep South over half a century ago?
This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of TheLatestNews. comA few weeks ago, I was at home with my boyfriend and really fancied a game of Monopoly, or more specifically - Harry Potter Monopoly. I searched high and low for the game to buy only to discover that Hasbro had never actually made one. They've made every kind of monopoly under the sun....but not a Harry Potter one. What are you doing Hasbro?
Anyway, with that in mind I decided to try to make my own one. I had a few failed starts (stupid me trying to design the cards in Microsoft Word) but once Tom set me on the right track with Photoshop, I was on my way! This was my first ever time using Photoshop so it was a bit of a challenge, but a fun challenge nonetheless. I researched loads of other peoples homemade Harry Potter Monopoly games before starting and drew inspiration from a lot of those designs.
(BTW I'm releasing my designs for free, so if you're interested in making this exact board, you can download the cards and board HERE!
I started with a blank monopoly board template printed on an A4 sheet of paper. I used this as a rough work sheet and wrote down which "properties" I was going to assign to which spaces. (I actually ended up changing this slightly later on because I added a new card to the game so the board changed from having 10 spaces on each side to having 11). Once deciding which properties were going to be which colour, I got down to actually designing them on Photoshop. I first designed the fronts of the property cards, and then the backs (with their mortgaged values) separately.
I knew I wanted to add my own spin to the game but was unsure how. This is when I thought of the Chocolate Frog trading cards that they have in the films and decided that I wanted to incorporate them into the game somehow. Their sole purpose being - to cause more arguments! Having played classic Monopoly plenty of times, I thought that the properties and their assigned rent values were a bit boring and plain - you land on a property and you pay the rent - simple, but ultimately boring after a 3 hour game. This is where I came up with the idea that the Chocolate Frog cards will affect the properties and their rent - so now if you land on a property that has a Chocolate Frog card assigned to it, there will be a specific set of instructions/rules to follow (e.g. pay triple the rent, pay no rent but skip a go, etc). I also added the rules for this new card to the rule book that I later made.
Instead of having community chest cards and chance cards, I changed them to Ministry cards and Hallows cards. I once again designed the cards in Photoshop and kept to the "old parchment" look which I felt fit the theme I was going for. (I forgot to include pictures of how the fronts of the cards look - sorry! They're available to download though)
Luckily, the Harry Potter world has it's own currency - gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts. I would have loved to |
arguably as responsible as ambition in triggering his monstrous violence. Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope called it spleen; to Baudelaire, and to many writers in the years to follow, it was ennui.... To the nineteenth-century French, it was mal du siècle, or the illness of the age.”
Yet to the modern mind, acedia is completely foreign.
“When people would ask me what I was writing about, I dreaded answering,” she explained during the last stop of her Canadian tour. “Nobody knew what I was writing about.”
But when she would describe the symptoms, light bulbs would go on. They understood about those times when they felt like giving up, beyond all caring about anything, leaving phone messages unanswered, bills unpaid, friends neglected. For those of a religious bent, acedia manifests itself as complete despair about God. Praying and going to church become unbearable. None of it seems to matter any more.
Sometimes it is actually full-blown clinical depression. But often, it is more a spiritual malaise than a medical problem. And it can have social spin-offs such as withdrawal from community life and civic action.
However, its symptoms are not always lethargy and emotional paralysis. It can be unceasing restlessness and an addiction to constant stimulation in the form of television, video games, physical activity or “compulsive productivity.” We end up “doing more and caring less,” she writes.
In her study of acedia, Norris, whose earlier works “Cloister Walk” and “Amazing Grace”, were both New York Times best-sellers, once again weaves her autobiography into spiritual reflection and her own wide reading to produce a compelling journey into faith.
It will be a familiar journey for her many fans. Norris has done arguably more to reacquaint the modern world to monastic life than anyone since Thomas Merton. While in her 30s, her spiritual questing drew her to a Benedictine abbey in South Dakota where she became fascinated by the timeless spiritual life of the monks. She became fast friends and eventually an oblate, or lay member, though continuing her membership in the Presbyterian parish near her home.
The monks (and cloistered religious women) proved to be a spiritual treasure house and loom large in her major prose works. In this latest, they prove, once again, to have wisdom in abundance.
In fact, it was a fourth-century monk, Evagrius Ponticus, who introduced Norris to acedia. While reading his “The Praktikos”, she came upon a description of something that perfectly fit her own experience.
“That was a thunderbolt for me,” she said. “Here was another writer describing and naming an experience I had and had never been able to name. And he was someone who died in 399.”
What Evagrius described seemed to match a time during her teen years in Hawaii. A studious and socially awkward teenager, Norris found herself withdrawing from the pressures of her social circles. Later, through her university years in an East Coast college and her budding career as a writer and poet, she occasionally found her usual vast stores of ambition and zeal flagging. She would go on to marry another poet, David Dwyer, and move to her grandparents’ house in South Dakota where the couple planned to pursue their writing in a peaceful rural setting. But the outward changes could not dispel the bouts of acedia, which became more oppressive as she struggled with supremely difficult challenges such as her husband’s depression, his suicide attempt and eventual death from cancer in 2003.
She found strength in daily tasks, the prayer discipline of the Benedictine rule and the sustaining life of being part of a community of believers. The idea of turning her thoughts on acedia into a book started in the late 1990s, but it wasn’t really until after her husband’s death, followed soon afterwards by her father’s, that she was able to concentrate on writing the book.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in terms of writing,” she said. “I kept working on it, then putting it aside. It was the first time in my life that I missed the deadline.”
The writing itself draws upon her own experiences, combined with her deep reading. Literary references mingle easily with quotations from theologians and philosophers — along with those ever-present Desert Fathers.
“Those early monks are actually fairly accessible as writers. They really talk in pretty concrete terms along with metaphors from nature.”
Their timeless wisdom Norris marries with a thoroughly modern sensibility; she knows firsthand our distractedness, superficiality and hunger for authentic spiritual experience. That experience, she discovered, will be found where it has always been.
http://www.catholicregister.org/item/11477-mining-the-minds-of-ancient-monks
“Acedia may be an unfamiliar term to those not well-versed in monastic history or medieval literature. But that does not mean it has no relevance for contemporary readers.... I believe that such standard dictionary definitions of acedia as ‘apathy,’ ‘boredom,’ or ‘torpor’ do not begin to cover it, and while we may find it convenient to regard it as a more primitive word for what we now term depression, the truth is much more complex. Having experienced both conditions, I think it likely that much of the restless boredom, frantic escapism, commitment phobia, and enervating despair that plagues us today is the ancient demon of acedia in modern dress.” This observation comes from Kathleen Norris, the award-winning poet and author of “The Cloister Walk”, “Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith”, and “Dakota: A Spiritual Geography”. A popular speaker and editor at large at The “Christian Century”, she is an oblate of Assumption Abbey in North Dakota. She divides her time between Hawaii and South Dakota.
In this profound book, Norris shows how acedia, which was once viewed as a terrible scourge that affects the soul, has now become acceptable, and in certain circles, even fashionable. The desperate yearning for escape from the tedious present moment and the need for novelty are driven by the powerful engines of our consumerist culture which compels us to constantly want something new, better, and different. In this context, repetitive tasks are considered boring and unimportant. Taking care of ourselves, our intimate relationships, and our environment take second place to our quest for self-indulgence.
Norris first came across acedia in the writings of Evagrius Ponticus, a fourth-century monk who described it as “the noonday demon.” She notes that at its Greek root, the word means the absence of care:
“When life becomes too challenging and engagement with others too demanding, acedia offers a kind of spiritual morphine: you know the pain is there, yet you can’t rouse yourself to give a damn.... Caring is not passive, but an assertion that no matter how strained and messy our relationships can be, it is worth something to be present with others, doing our small part. Care is also required for the daily routines that acedia would have us suppress or deny as meaningless repetition or too much bother.”
Norris was caught in the grip of acedia when she was an adolescent even though she didn’t know about the term at the time. It manifested itself in her life as sloth, a boredom with repetition, and an eagerness to value the future over the present moment. But the desert monks had another strategy. No escape; just perseverance. Norris quotes the story of an abba who took a piece of dry wood and told his disciple: “Water this until it bears fruit.” She uses this as a lead-in to the challenge given her to nurture a marriage over a span of 30 years and to keep up the discipline of writing and revising for even longer.
With riveting honesty, Norris writes about the many struggles in her life with her husband David, a poet afflicted with alcoholism, mental breakdowns, and a catastrophic series of illnesses. She discusses their battles with depression and provides a thoughtful assessment of how this malady is different from acedia. Caring, perseverance, and repetition become saving graces in her marriage. Whether probing “The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression” by Andrew Solomon, looking at Soren Kierkegaard’s understanding of despair, or pondering John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress”, Norris reveals an openness to the ways in which others have dealt with difficulties that constrict the soul.
Over the years, the author tries to stave off the constant temptation of acedia in her writing career. She confesses:
“As a writer I must begin, again and again, at that most terrifying of places, the blank page. And as a person of faith I am always beginning again with prayer. I can never learn these things, once and for all, and master them. I can only perform them, set them aside, and then start over. Beginning requires that I remain willing to act, and to summon my hopes in the face of torpor.”
As a caring wife, as a creative author, and as woman of faith, Norris is taught by the words of the desert fathers who had an antidote to acedia — being truly present to the tasks and responsibilities of everyday life: “The monastic endeavor, now as in the fourth century, is to purify one’s heart so as to better reflect God’s creation.” Norris concludes the book with a top-drawer collection of quotations on acedia. It is a fitting finale to her incisive and edifying treatment of this pesky condition of the soul.
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/books.php?id=18361
“Kathleen Norris (born in Washington, D.C. on July 27, 1947) is a best-selling poet and essayist. Her parents, John Norris and Lois Totten, took her as a child to Hawaii, where she graduated from Punahou Preparatory School in 1965. After graduating from Bennington College in Vermont in 1969, Norris became arts administrator of the Academy of American Poets, and published her first book of poetry two years later. In 1974 she inherited her grandparents’ farm in Lemmon, South Dakota, moved there with her husband, David Dwyer, joined Spencer Memorial Presbyterian church, and discovered the spirituality of the Great Plains. She entered a new, non-fictional phase in her literary career after becoming a Benedictine oblate at Assumption Abbey Richardton ND in 1986, and spending extended periods at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Since the death of her husband in 2003, Norris has transferred her place of residence to Hawaii, though continuing to do lecture tours on the mainland.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Norris_%28poet%29
Like this: Like Loading... RelatedThis week, Jewish Ideas Daily commemorates the forty-fifth anniversary of the Six-Day War with a day-by-day synopsis, for which we are indebted to Michael Oren's comprehensive Six Days of War. Below, the third of a seven-part series. Read parts I and II.
In the Sinai, Israeli aircraft commanded the skies and the IDF advanced along roads littered with Egyptian tanks. Some were in flames, illuminating the darkness; others were simply immobilized by malfunctions in their Soviet-made engines, which had failed in desert conditions. On June 6th, 1967, by 8:00 a.m. Tel Aviv time, Israeli forces had entered el-Arish. It initially seemed desolate, but the Israelis were soon under fire from every window. Israel's leadership, not expecting the war to move so quickly, had not considered what do to beyond el-Arish. The IDF's challenge became keeping up with the retreating Egyptian forces.
Meanwhile, Gaza had been severed from Sinai. Though Defense Minister Moshe Dayan had predicted that this move would cripple the Strip, fighting was heavy; Gaza would ultimately account for nearly half of all the war's Israeli casualties. Still, Dayan's prediction was correct: Gaza was taken by mid-morning.
Yet even as Egyptian anti-aircraft gun barrels melted from the continuous, unsuccessful efforts against Israeli planes, more than half of Egypt's forces were intact. Some important detachments had yet to see action. Pilots remained available. Forty-eight Algerian aircraft were en route, along with volunteers from Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan. Expressions of support poured in from Arab sympathizers. By contrast, Israel's forces were exhausted from over 24 hours of non-stop combat and were low on fuel and ammunition.
Meanwhile, another front was opening in the war—a political front. In a 1:00 a.m. radio broadcast, IDF Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin had informed Israelis of the previous day's astounding military successes. The broadcast boosted morale; but, Rabin knew, carried a risk: The international community might now seek a cease-fire, preventing further Israeli advances and threatening Israel's gains with pressures for unreciprocated concessions. The United States and Britain had declared neutrality, while France, then Israel's primary patron, had embargoed further arms shipments.
Egypt's leadership now ordered a wholesale retreat: An army assembled in 24 days began trying to draw back in as many hours. Egyptian leaders may have believed that the more devastating their reversal looked, the more likely it was that the United Nations or Soviet Union would intervene. They also began propagating the disinformation that America and Britain had intervened on Israel's behalf. During the day, this rumor spread across the Middle East. Mobs attacked American embassies and consulates. Exports to America and Britain were banned. Egypt severed its U.S. diplomatic ties; other Arab states followed suit. Americans were deported from Egypt at virtually a moment's notice.
In the east, Jordanian forces were losing ground in tense, sometimes hand-to-hand combat as Israeli forces sought to "atone for the sin of '48," their failure to take Jerusalem's Old City in the War of Independence. By 5:15 a.m., Israel had won East Jerusalem's Ammunition Hill in one of the bloodiest battles in Arab-Israeli history. It took more hours of heavy fighting for the Israelis to capture Mount Scopus. Angering some field commanders, Dayan decided to surround the Old City rather than attack. Even the efforts at encirclement proved arduous.
Of the promised Arab reinforcements, only Iraqi forces saw combat. The Saudis sent a contingent, but it did not fight. An Egyptian doctor attached to Saudi forces on the eastern border remembered: "We hoped"—fruitlessly—"that one Israeli plane would attack us, so that we could say that we participated in the war and we fired our guns."
Jordan's military retained significant strength, but King Hussein panicked when his generals warned him before dawn that failing to retreat from the West Bank would decimate his army. He feared that if he accepted a cease-fire while Egyptians still fought, Egypt would blame him for defeat; he might face mutiny from his military and Jordan's Palestinian Arabs. He summoned Western ambassadors in Amman to warn that his kingdom might fall without an internationally imposed cease-fire. He repeated the rumor that America had intervened to support Israel. President Lyndon Johnson heard and was infuriated.
Hussein also requested orders from Egypt but, for hours, received none. Meanwhile, the IDF took the West Bank cities of Jenin and Ramallah and advanced toward Nablus and Qalqilya. Hussein raced to the battlefield in a jeep. He later recalled what he saw there: "In groups of thirty or two, wounded, exhausted, [soldiers] were trying to clear a path under the monstrous coup de grace being dealt them by a horde of Israeli Mirages screaming in a cloudless blue sky seared with sun."
In the north there was an abortive Syrian probe but general disorganization: The bridges across the Jordan River, for instance, were too narrow for Soviet tanks. Dayan resisted opening a northern front.
Recognition was growing that the war would be decided in New York and Washington. Sleepless for nearly two days, Foreign Minister Abba Eban flew to the UN; his plane was almost hit by Jordanian shrapnel. Arriving in New York, he went straight to the Security Council. With barely time to review his notes, he delivered what became a famous oration on Israel's behalf.
In the United States, President Johnson, with an election season beginning, was cognizant of the public's pro-Israel feeling—and angered by the Soviet role in the war and the misinformation about American behavior. He was inclined to let Israel keep its gains and use them as bargaining chips. Yet America allowed the UN to move toward a cease-fire. Eban reluctantly acquiesced, and a resolution was passed. But Israel was saved from the potential consequences when Egypt rebuffed the resolution, complaining that it did not require full and immediate Israeli withdrawals.
At 11:15 p.m., King Hussein finally received word from Egypt that its air force was obliterated and its army in full retreat. Now Hussein could, and did, order a withdrawal from the West Bank. He then heard about the UN resolution; the cease-fire would take effect at dawn. Hussein accepted the resolution—and rescinded the order to retreat, in hopes that his forces and their Iraqi reinforcements could hold parts of the West Bank and the Old City until morning.
COMMENTS
Comments are closed for this article.Last night it came to light that Oculus founder Palmer Luckey had become involved in funding a pro-Trump dirty meme group and the tangible fallout could now be starting with SUPERHYPECUBE.
In a statement released by Kokoromi and Polytron, who is publishing the game, they make it clear that they are no longer working on an Oculus version of the puzzler.
You may have seen the news yesterday that ties Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey to Nimble America, a Trump-endorsing organization Luckey started to defame Clinton via “the power of Internet memes” In a political climate as fragile and horrifying as this one, we cannot tacitly endorse these actions by supporting Luckey or his platform In light of this, we will not be pursuing Oculus support for our upcoming VR release, SUPERHYPERCUBE If you are a voting citizen of the United States, please remember to register and make your voice heard this November 8th. Do not let bigotry, white supremacy, hate and fear win. Kokoromi & Polytron
SUPERHYPERCUBE will be coming to the PSVR when it launches and whether it shows up on the Vive remains to be seen.
This is the first developer we are aware of that has come forward announcing they are stopping development of an Oculus version of their game.
Other developers also joined the debate today threatening to stop Oculus development until he removes himself from Oculus.
Hey @oculus, @PalmerLuckey's actions are unacceptable. NewtonVR will not be supporting the Oculus Touch as long as he is employed there. — Tomorrow Today Labs (@TTLabsVR) September 23, 2016
Until @PalmerLuckey steps down from his position at @oculus, we will be cancelling Oculus support for our games. — Scruta Games (@ScrutaGames) September 23, 2016
Update: Palmer Luckey has now issued a statement.A German grandmother aged 87 has been sentenced to ten months in jail for denying the Holocaust and saying Auschwitz was 'just a labour camp'.
Ursula Haverbeck, who is a friend of Gudrun Burwitz - elderly daughter of Nazi S.S. chief Heinrich Himmler - was sentenced in a court in Hamburg for sedition over an interview she gave to a TV station denying that Jews were murdered in extermination camps.
In the interview with the ARD network she claimed the death camp of Auschwitz in Nazi occupied Poland, where at least 1.1 million people were murdered, was 'nothing more than a labour camp.'
Ursula Haverbeck, 87, has been sentenced to ten months in jail for denying to Holocaust and saying Auschwitz was 'just a labour camp'
Haverbeck has been sentenced several times in the past for her trenchant views supporting the Nazis.
Around 30 ultra right-wingers were in court on Thursday in Hamburg to support her.
During her defence she said that the Holocaust of six million Jews 'was the greatest and longest lived lie in history.'
Judge Björn Jönsson struggled to maintain his temper with the elderly Nazi after she said she shouldn't be punished for the crime again as she had already been fined twice and given a suspended sentence for previous Holocaust denials.
Ursula Haverbeck is said to be a friend of Gudrun Burwitz - elderly daughter of Nazi S.S. chief Heinrich Himmler. Burwitz is pictured above with her father in 1938
Haverbeck claimed the death camp of Auschwitz in Nazi occupied Poland, where at least 1.1 million people were murdered, was 'nothing more than a labour camp'
He said: 'I do not have to prove the Holocaust to you, same as I do not have to prove that the earth is round.
'It is futile to discuss facts with people like you. A thief who steals the same thing again and again is punished again and again.'Thank you so much to Heather R. Darsie for writing this article, which is the first in a series of three. I’m late in posting it due to being on holiday but I’m sure you’ll enjoy finding out a bit more about Margaret.
Over to Heather…
In celebration of Margaret Tudor’s marriages – first to King James IV of Scotland on 8 August 1503 and then to Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus on 6 August 1514 – we are going to take a look at the three phases of Margaret’s life, beginning with her time as a Tudor princess.
Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots, was born on 28 November 1489 at the Palace of Westminster. Margaret was the eldest surviving daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and a mere eighteen months older than her infamous brother, Henry VIII of England. Margaret spent the first thirteen years of her life in England, where she was surrounded by luxury and by beautiful gothic architecture, to which she became accustomed. Margaret was immediately treated to the very best life had to offer as a Tudor princess – Her cradle was made of oak, which was lined with ermine (the fur from a white stoat, which is a weasel-like animal) and adorned with cloth-of-gold. Her education was led by her formidable, Lancastrian paternal grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Margaret appears to have possessed a solid intellect and zest for life.
As a young lady at the English court, Margaret participated in the newly-created Tudor pageantry. She was known to enjoy dancing, card games, and archery. Margaret learned to play the lute and clavichord. The clavichord is a stringed instrument with a keyboard, not unlike a piano. Here is a link to a piece by Bach, played on a clavichord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WuVVE2t-Vk
Margaret spoke Latin and French, as well. This combination of skills and her relationship with Lady Margaret Beaufort helped shape Margaret as not only an engaging princess, but also a strong future queen.
Margaret was betrothed to James IV of Scotland in an effort to bring peace and security to the bordering countries. James IV was a brilliant and charismatic man, whose country boasted three universities at a time when England had only two. James IV also had several poets attending his court, such as William Dunbar, David Lindsay and Gavin Douglas. Like Margaret’s brother Henry VIII, James IV idolized the legendary King Arthur and his chivalric ways.
Following quickly after the marriage of Katherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur of England, the betrothal between Margaret Tudor and James IV was celebrated at Richmond Palace. Shortly thereafter, Margaret married James IV by proxy, declaring upon the exchange of vows:
“I, Margaret, the first begotten daughter of the right excellent, right high and mighty prince and princess, Henry by the Grace of God king of England, and Elizabeth queen of the same, wittingly and of deliberate mind, having twelve years complete in age in the month of November last past, contract matrimony with the right excellent, right high and mighty prince, James king of Scotland, and the person of whom, Patrick earl of Bothwell, procurator of the said prince, represents, and take the said James king of Scotland into and for my husband and spouse, and all other for him forsake, during his and mine lives natural, and thereto I plight and give to him, in your person as procurator aforesaid, my faith and troth.”
Considering that Margaret was only twelve years old at the time, this speech shows that Margaret had an excellent capacity for public speaking. Although not known for her love of scholarship, it would appear that Margaret had a sharp mind and a talent for eloquence, both excellent traits for a queen of the stalwart country of Scotland. After the wedding ceremony, Margaret and her mother, Queen Elizabeth of York, sat next to each other on the royal English dais and enjoyed feasting for the next several days.
Margaret Tudor set out for her new home on July 2, 1503. She briefly visited with her presumed namesake and paternal grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, at Collyweston. An account of Margaret’s progress north is given by Tudor citizen Richard Grafton, who recalled that:
“[…] this fair lady was conveyed with a great company of lords, ladies, knights, esquires and gentlemen until she came to Berwick and from there to a village called Lambton Kirk in Scotland where the king with the flower of Scotland was ready to receive her, to whom the earl of Northumberland according to his commission delivered her…
“Then this lady was taken to the town of Edinburgh, and there the day after King James IV in the presence of all his nobility married the said princess, and feasted the English lords, and showed them jousts and other pastimes, very honourably, after the fashion of this rude country. When all things were done and finished according to their commission the earl of Surrey with all the English lords and ladies returned to their country, giving more praise to the manhood than to the good manner and nature of Scotland.”
After arriving in Scotland, Margaret and James IV were officially wed on 8 August 1503. Their nuptials took place at the chapel of Holyroodhouse. Margaret wore a beautiful gown trimmed in satin, and James IV wore a coordinating outfit of white damask with crimson sleeves. A brief coronation for Margaret was held quickly after the wedding. James IV, affectionate from the start, held a magnificent feast until he and Margaret retired for the night.
Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland even inspired a bit of poesy by the resident poets of her new husband’s court. A song written about her includes the lyrics:
“Sweet lusty lusum (fair) lady clere (bright),
Most myghty kyngis dochter dere,
Borne of a princess most serene,
Welcum of Scotlond to be queen.”
Margaret enjoyed an affectionate marriage with James IV and went on to bear six children. Sadly, only one survived to adulthood; namely, James V. However, life was not to be all easiness and joy for Queen Margaret.
News: 1460 Northampton Battlefield under threat – You can help!
Can you help save an historic location from being turned into a car park? Click here to read more about this.
Sources and Further Reading
Hanson, Marilee. Margaret Tudor Queen of Scotland Facts, Biography & Information. http://englishhistory.net/tudor/relative/margaret-tudor/ Retrieved 02 August 2015.
Margaret Tudor Queen of Scotland. http://tudorhistory.org/people/margaret/ Retrieved 03 August 2015.
Cavendish, Richard. Marriage of James IV of Scots and Margaret Tudor. History Today, vol. 53 issue 8. August 2003.
Tasioulas, J. A., ed. The Makars, Caongate (1999).
Marshall, Rosalind K. Scottish Queens. Tuckwell Press (2003).
Bain, Joseph, ed. Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, 1357-1509, vol. 4, HM Register House, Edinburgh (1888).
Lenz, Harvey Nancy. The Rose and the Thorn: The Lives of Mary and Margaret Tudor, Macmillan (1975).
Categories: Tudor CharactersPair are no longer together and Allen ordered to go to mindfulness courses
A bride-to-be bit her fiancé before slashing him with broken glass during what was supposed to be a romantic evening planning their wedding.
Exeter Crown Court heard Sian Allen, 24, launched bricks at Scott Williams' van in a drink-fuelled rage in March this year.
When they tried to patch up their differences in May, Allen bit him on the ear and repeatedly hit him.
And when the couple met for a romantic night at a seaside hotel in July, Allen launched another attack, biting him on the nose and hitting him with a broken mug and glass.
Exeter Crown Court heard Sian Allen, 24, attacked Scott Williams (pictured here together), on two different occasions
Sian Allen admitted two offences of causing actual bodily harm and three of criminal damage
Allen, of Paignton, Devon, caused some £450 worth of damage to the room where she threw Mr Williams into the bath and smashed cups and glasses.
The court heard the room was left with blood stains on the walls and curtains after the incident.
The 24-year-old telesales agent has now been banned from contacting him and their wedding has been cancelled.
Allen admitted two offences of causing actual bodily harm and three of criminal damage and was ordered to receive three years probation by Recorder Mr Andrew Maitland at Exeter Crown Court.
He told her the only reason he was not sending her to jail is that she has already served the equivalent of a 16 week sentence while remanded in custody.
Miss Caroline Bolt, prosecuting, said the first incident happened in March when Allen turned up at Mr Williams' home drunk and threw bricks at his van when he would not let her in.
The 24-year-old telesales agent has now been banned from contacting Mr Williams and their planned wedding has been cancelled
They carried on seeing each other and were discussing wedding plans at a friend's house when they had a violent argument in May, during which Allen bit him on the ear and hit his face and arms.
Sian Allen has attended anger management and mindfulness courses while on remand
She claimed she was angry because he had been using cocaine and she over-reacted when he started the violence and hit her in the face.
The third incident was at the Trecarn Hotel in Torbay where they went to patch up their differences in July but had another argument after drinking heavily in the bar.
Allen bit Mr Williams on the nose, slashed him with the broken cup and glass, pushed him into the bath and dragged him back when he tried to leave the room.
He banged on the walls to try to get help but nobody came and he eventually escaped the next morning and raised the alarm.
He needed stitches to a cut in his arm and other injuries were glued in hospital.
Mr Joss Ticehurst, defending, said Allen had never been in trouble before she got into the relationship but reacted badly because she had been a victim of domestic abuse in the past.Toward the end of a hearing at which the Senate Judiciary Committee heard about the jaw-dropping injustices caused by mandatory minimum sentences, John Cornyn sounded a note of caution. “We have to be careful not to legislate by anecdote,” said the Republican senator from Texas.
Why start now? Congress spends much of its time legislating by anecdote, whether it’s a story about a teenager who killed himself after consuming ersatz marijuana, a college student driven to bank robbery by online poker, or a mass murderer who supposedly used a “military-style assault rifle.” Here is one issue where anecdotes are perfectly appropriate, since it is impossible to assess the merits of a sentencing system without examining actual cases. If the law allows, let alone requires, grossly disproportionate penalties, it’s a problem that needs to be corrected.
That is something Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) understands. “The injustice of mandatory minimums is impossible to ignore when you hear the stories of the victims,” he told the committee at Wednesday’s hearing.
Something has gone terribly wrong when criminal defendants can be plausibly described as “victims.” But how else should we view Weldon Angelos, a 24-year-old rap music entrepreneur who in 2004 received a 55-year sentence for selling a few bags of marijuana, totaling 24 ounces, to a police informant?
Never mind that what Angelos did violated no one’s rights and therefore should not have been treated as a crime at all. It would be hard for even a committed prohibitionist to defend the penalty Angelos received. Paul Cassell, the federal judge who imposed the sentence, called it “unjust, cruel, and irrational” but said his hands were tied by mandatory minimums for people who engage in drug trafficking while possessing a gun: five years for the first offense and 25 years for each subsequent offense. Brett Tolman, a former U.S. attorney for Utah who testified at the Senate hearing, noted that federal drug agents could have busted Angelos after the first transaction but waited for two more, knowing that his possession of a gun would trigger stacked sentences adding up to more than half a century.
Other examples of draconian mandatory minimums mentioned at the hearing included a 10-year sentence received by an 18-year-old first-time offender caught with less than two ounces of cocaine, a 22-year sentence received by an 24-year-old woman who sold 13.9 grams of crack to a police informant, and a 25-year sentence received by a 46-year-old father of three who sold some of his painkillers to someone he thought was his friend. Tolman noted that providing useful information to the government is often the only way to escape mandatory minimums, which are based almost exclusively on drug weight, with the result that drug dealers are treated more leniently than their girlfriends and low-level employees.
Tolman said federal prosecutors tend to measure their accomplishments by the lengths of the sentences they obtain. But sometimes the penalties are so severe that even prosecutors have second thoughts, as with the extraordinary post-trial deal that enabled a Montana medical marijuana supplier who was convicted under the same penalty enhancement provision as Angelos to escape the equivalent of a life sentence.
As Paul observed, “There is no justice here. It is wrong and needs to change.” Toward that end, a bill he is sponsoring would allow judges to deviate from mandatory minimums based on the sentencing factors laid out by federal law, which include, along with deterrence and public safety, “the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant” as well as “the need for the sentence imposed to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment.” Although Paul said “we’re not repealing mandatory minimums,” this change would effectively transform them from requirements into recommendations.
The same thing happened to federal sentencing guidelines (which are written by a commission rather than Congress) as a result of a 2005 Supreme Court decision. Julie Stewart, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, notes that “judges follow the previously mandatory guidelines in about 80 percent of the cases,” adding, “We suspect judges would follow the mandatory minimums for most cases too, at least for a few years until they got used to having discretion again.”
Paul left no doubt about his ultimate aim. “I am here to ask today for you to let judges start doing their job,” he said. “I am here to ask that we begin today the end of mandatory minimum sentencing.” It’s about time.Only three teams in the preseason had more points than the Leafs (Boston, Washington, Dallas), and you know what’s the best part about that? Nobody really cares.
It was only a few years ago that some kids named Bozak, Stalberg, Kadri, and Gustavsson wowed Leafs Nation with a strong preseason and had fans thinking “hey, maybe this team is better than we thought.” We all know how that ended.
This preseason though, nobody has really bothered to drum up the Leafs results or tout it as some big accomplishment and momentum boost heading into the season. Maybe it’s because the Clarkson ten game suspension really dampened the mood, but I think it’s more of a testament to how far the team has come.
There wasn’t much to get excited about camp-wise this year. At best the storylines were: the Leafs had an interesting NHL veteran trying out (and it was quickly apparent he should be signed), there was a goalie battle between the two guys we knew would be on the team, an unsigned key player in Cody Franson, and a high draft pick trying to make the team.
In other words, there really wasn’t much left to the imagination this training camp. Had the Leafs been unable to resign Cody Franson, we would have had a conversation about how the defense would all fit together. But he did sign, and we already knew Phaneuf, Gunnarsson, Gardiner, Ranger and Fraser would be on the team anyway.
The forward group was more or less set in stone. The top six was set heading into camp; Dave Bolland, Nik Kulemin, Jay McClement and Colton Orr were all but guaranteed spots in the bottom six. So there were basically two spots in the bottom six to fight over between a group that included Raymond (again, it was quickly apparent he should be signed), McLaren, Ashton, Colborne, Bodie, and a few other Marlies.
This wasn’t a thrilling camp and that’s the way it should be.
There wasn’t any wondering if a Mike Komisarek would finally have a good camp and become productive on this team. There was no looking toward a young kid to seize the opportunity and step right into the top of the line-up and make an impact (Rielly’s in a lesser role and it’s unclear if he’s with Toronto to stay), there was no AHL journeyman becoming the Leafs third line center, or concerns about the goaltending.
Camp was what it should be- an opportunity for veterans to shake the rust off, and a depth roster spot or two up for grabs for potential youngsters to snag. The Leafs still have a lot of work to do and this doesn’t change that, but it’s nice to be a team that finally has some pedigree to it and isn’t looking to youngsters and grinders to give them the world.
The Leafs aren’t where they need to be in terms of being Cup contenders – something Nonis has mentioned — but they are taking steps to get there. This camp was indicative of that.
***
Notes
– Last week, my first note talked about how Colborne has been bad, but the Leafs lack the center depth to justify getting rid of him. Alas, they got rid of him. When you breakdown the Leafs depth chart though, it’s pretty clear as to why |
veto it." Signing statements are a long-time presidential practice, dating to the fifth US president, James Monroe. No constitutional provision or federal law prohibits their usage. They didn't become popular, however, until President Ronald Reagan -- before Reagan, just 75 such statements had been issued. It was under President Bush that the practice soared. He has challenged hundreds during his tenure. RAW STORY's Jennifer Van Bergen first revealed the extensive use of signing statements in 2005. The Boston Globe's Charlie Savage received a Pulitzer prize for a piece detailing hundreds more. Despite Democratic criticism of Bush's use, neither Sens. Obama or Clinton will rule out using them. "The problem with this administration is that it has attached signing statements to legislation in an effort to change the meaning of the legislation, to avoid enforcing certain provisions of the legislation that the President does not like, and to raise implausible or dubious constitutional objections to the legislation," Obama told the Boston Globe in 2007. But, he noted: "No one doubts that it is appropriate to use signing statements to protect a president's constitutional prerogatives." "I would only use signing statements in very rare instances to note and clarify confusing or contradictory provisions, including provisions that contradict the Constitution," Clinton told the Globe. "My approach would be to work with Congress to eliminate or correct unconstitutional provisions before legislation is sent to my desk." "What's striking is that McCain appears perhaps even more radical than his Democratic rivals in adopting a seemingly ironclad refusal to issue signing statements," the Post says. "If he truly were to follow that approach, it would represent a sharp break in presidential practice, according to lawyers on both sides of the ideological divide." Ironically, a McCain amendment intended to prohibit the US from torturing detainees was itself the focus of a Bush signing statement. McCain's provision sought to prohibit "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody." Bush's signing statement reserved the right of the president to ignore the law. "The executive branch shall construe... the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power," it said.He's an asshole
He's an asshole
According to a source familiar with the facts of the case, a court-appointed forensic examiner testified at a closed hearing that O’Reilly’s daughter claimed to have witnessed her father dragging McPhilmy down a staircase by her neck, apparently unaware that the daughter was watching. The precise date of the alleged incident is unclear, but appears to have occurred before the couple separated in 2010. The same source indicated that the daughter, who is 16 years old, told the forensic examiner about the incident within the past year.
Used his connections in police department to have ex-wife's new police detective boyfriend investigated.
Hired the therapist who was supposed to mediate joint custody disagreements as a full-time nanny.
Tried to have ex-wife excommunicated from Catholic Church.
Bill O'Reilly is a terrible, dumb, vicious, hypocrite. Now you might add wife-beater to that litany of the obscenities that come to mind when O'Reilly crosses your radar. Gawker is reporting that, according to documents from O'Reilly's recently lost custody case against his ex-wife Maureen McPhilmy, O'Reilly is not just a vulgar verbally and mentally abusive, bullying type— he's also a physically assaulting type of bully: The levels of depravity O'Reilly has reached during this case trump the recent revelations of how much of a liar he is. Unpacking them here would take forever and I would potentially grind my teeth into nubs, but here are some highlights:
You can read about those things here. They may not be true but, since you can't believe anything Bill says, they're probably true.Following each week’s episode of Westworld, show composer Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones) will be Vulture’s guide to the music.
Whoever is planning the music to play within the theme park of Westworld either has an agenda, or a wicked sense of humor. The music selections seem to have dual purposes. They provide a greatest-hits soundtrack for the guests, perhaps the equivalent of elevator Muzak in this futuristic world. But if that were solely the case, you would expect more hits — more top 40 singles from mainstream artists, less deep album cuts from alternative bands. And the selections sometime seem designed to suggest something to the hosts, more than the guests — something that might wake them up or tell them a hidden truth about their situation. That’s what makes the use of Nine Inch Nails’ “Something I Can Never Have” in an orgy scene so interesting.
As our characters venture away from Sweetwater, they encounter a new town called Pariah. “You can kind of picture a string quartet being in the room somewhere, performing this song, in this setting, right?” show composer Ramin Djawadi said. Sure, Nine Inch Nails makes a good choice for orgies, strip clubs, and lap dances, but wouldn’t the more obvious choice for debauchery in a theme-park setting be NIN’s “Closer”? More recognizable, more libidinous, more raw? More of a signal that you could do whatever or whomever you want? That would be the case, if the songs were meant for the guests. Reminding brothel customers that there is something they still can’t have would be bad for business, no? And regardless of its lyrics, the instrumental version is melancholy. It evokes a resigned sort of longing or yearning that will not be satisfied, that has no resolution. “That might be on purpose,” Djawadi chuckled elusively. “It makes it more ironic.”
Perhaps the song selection here is Dr. Ford’s design, poking a little fun at the guests who think their desires are being met in the moment. Or perhaps the song is another call to Dolores, a thematic complement to her yearning. Whatever the case, Dr. Ford’s agency when it comes to the music becomes a little more clear in this episode, given that he’s actually the one playing the piano in the bar where the Man in Black takes Teddy. Is it a coincidence that he’s playing another Debussy piece, “Clair de Lune” — the same song that plays on guitar when Dolores and William walk through the streets of Pariah at night? “Dr. Ford seems to be drawn to that kind of romantic music,” Djawadi said.
When Dr. Ford’s finishes with his conversation, he snaps his fingers and the player piano starts racing through what could be his own personal theme song, “The Entertainer.” “That’s about control,” Djawadi said. “It just shows the power he has. He calls the shots for what happens.”
Although the season is only at the halfway point, Djawadi is releasing full versions of some of the songs used so far on iTunes. “Obviously on the show we have to cut it down to a certain length,” he said. “I didn’t know what part they would use, so I just did full-length versions of these songs.” He hopes to release another batch of songs as the show progresses. “More songs are coming!” he promised.According to the Universal Law of Indomitable British Actresses of a Certain Age, if Maggie Smith or Judi Dench or Charlotte Rampling puts you in your place, you stay there.
It is a testament to both the muscular writing and powerful performances in BBC America's new miniseries "London Spy" that Ben Whishaw, playing Danny, a lonely sybarite shaken by revelations that his missing lover Alex was leading a secret life, goes mano-a-mano with Rampling, who plays a chilly cipher who says she's Alex's mother.
Responding to Rampling's devastating monologue about just how little Danny meant to her son, Danny refuses, with a controlled ferocity, to surrender his love story. For good measure, he adds, "When he told me you were dead, he wasn't lying."
A moody Gothic romance cloaked (and daggered) in the guise of an espionage thriller (albeit an artsy, meditatively-paced one -- perhaps too meditative for some), "London Spy" opens with a meet-emo between Danny, a warehouse worker who lives for nights of clubbing, drugs and sex, and Alex (Edward Holcroft), a chaste genius who claims he's a banker. The two fall in love, and after a few blissful months, Alex disappears, and Danny discovers a not-so-chaste hidey-hole in Alex's apartment that raises questions about their relationship and the nature of Alex's work.
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This draws Danny into the world of global espionage, aided (it appears, at least) by his close friend Scottie (the always excellent Jim Broadbent, who worked with Whishaw in "Cloud Atlas"), a bureaucrat who, it turns out, was also a spy outed in an gay witch hunt decades before. Scottie's story is revealed slowly, and provides a heartbreaking contrast between the treatment of homosexuality over time.
You can get sucked in by the spycraft, but this is also a parable about queerness, and a fascinating character piece for Whishaw, as he musters all his resources to fight those who deny the love that Danny knew was true.
Grade: A
The five-part "London Spy" premieres Jan. 21 at 10 p.m. on BBC America.
Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy or like her on Facebook. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook, and check out TV Hangover, the podcast from Vicki Hyman and co-host Erin Medley on iTunes, Stitcher or listen here.Joshua Prater, 18, was arrested after a housekeeper found a suspicious device while cleaning Prater's room.
The woman brought the device to the Tempe (Arizona) Fire Department, which called the city's bomb squad to examine it. The device turned out to be an active improvised explosive device (IED), azfamily.com reports.
"They had it X-rayed, they saw it was a valid IED," Tempe Police Sgt. Mike Pooley said, according to MyFoxPhoenix.com. "It was something that wasn't big, but could cause serious injuries and the death of someone."
Joshua Prater (photo via Maricopa County Sheriff's Office) More
Via azfamily.com:
"There was fuse that was coming out from the device which would be how you light it and it would cause the fuse to go in there and explode," Pooley said. "The bomb was ready to go. It was active. All it needed was the trigger."
The bomb squad dismantled the bomb and detectives searched Prater's home, where police said they found more materials used to make explosives.
Prater was charged with misconduct involving weapons and possessing a prohibited weapon.
A police report indicates Prater admitted to building the device but said he did so around eight years ago and didn't know it was filled with explosive powder. Prater's friends told azfamily.com that the senior is a straight A student who planned to attend the University of Arizona.The late Tony Benn used to describe politicians as either “signposts” or “weathervanes”.
Signposts, he argued, signalled the way ahead, standing firm no matter how great the criticism, while weathervanes tended to spin on their axis, changing, if you like, with the weather.
In Paisley and Renfrewshire South MP Mhairi Black’s rightly celebrated maiden speech she deployed this quote from Mr Benn to make a tribally political point, presenting the SNP as a political signpost and Labour as an ever-spinning weathervane.
This is self evidently a deeply held view within the SNP; indeed Nicola Sturgeon has made the point herself, firmly in the belief that her party has kept its head while all about it others lose theirs.
But Nationalists are in danger of believing their own hype; indeed there’s an increasing sense of hubris, layered on top of referendum-era sanctimony, about the SNP and in particular “the 56” at Westminster.
I’m not the first to have detected this increasing self-satisfaction. The Times columnist Hugo Rifkind called it “priggishness”, a mission “not just political but moral, too”, while in the Guardian Deborah Orr praised Miss Black’s maiden speech but observed (rightly) that rhetoric didn’t “feed hungry old men or young children”.
Of course this duo could be dismissed as “Unionist commentators”; they would say that, wouldn’t they? There are critics on the other side, too. Take Kevin McKenna in yesterday’s Observer: “The 56”, he wrote, are “intoxicated on their own conceit”. Andrew Tickell in Scotland on Sunday, meanwhile, despaired of the SNP continuing to flog a dead horse (Labour) but failing to articulate what they are for rather than what they are against.
This, I’m increasingly convinced, is perfectly deliberate. In Drew Weston’s book, The Political Brain, he demonstrated how Democratic candidates in the US generally deployed arguments of reason, marshalling statistics and policy detail, while Republicans appealed to moral instinct and gut feeling. And in doing so Republicans generally won, for the political brain is primarily an emotional one.
During the referendum campaign the SNP identified that reality and exploited it relentlessly, as they did again during the General Election campaign, appealing to many Scots’ sense of moral superiority. Now this is self-evidently an effective way of winning elections, but a complete distraction from the business of government. But then the SNP realise that, if they allow themselves to be judged purely on their record in devolved government, they'll likely be found wanting.
This takes me back to Mhairi Black’s political hero, Tony Benn. A Labour right-winger in the 1960s and then a born-again Marxist in the 1970s, he did not practise what he preached. Nor do the SNP for, despite their resolute belief in their own consistency, Nationalists (like most other politicians) have shifted constantly over the past few decades, ideologically, tactically and even constitutionally.
Take English Votes for English Laws (Evel), suddenly opposed on a point of “principle” by “the 56” at Westminster. The Conservatives have advocated some sort of Evel at every election since 2005, while the SNP have changed their mind twice since the end of last year. Initially they were all in favour, chastising Labour for not agreeing with their self-denying ordinance, then Ms Sturgeon made it clear her MPs would vote on English issues with a financial implication (fair enough), and now, we’re informed, even that qualification won’t apply.
Yet curiously it’s the SNP that emerge from this series of volte-faces as “principled” and consistent while the wicked Tories, as usual, are condemned as opportunistic. “The 56” are also taking a Year Zero approach to the recent election, depicting themselves as the first authentic representatives of Scotland in the House of Commons, demonstrating extraordinary contempt for generations of Liberals, Labourites and, yes, even Conservatives who have ably represented nation and constituents for decades.
The identification with Tony Benn also reveals another Nationalist conceit, that theirs is a left-wing party that has never pandered to reactionary political forces, unlike Labour. Indeed, Ms Black and several other new SNP MPs railed against “neo-liberalism” in their maiden speeches, seemingly oblivious about their own party buying into that economic orthodoxy long ago.
Interviewed by Prospect shortly after her election, the SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh admitted her party’s economic stance was a mix of pro-business ideas which would “traditionally be thought of as centre or centre right”, albeit with a strong sense of social responsibility. But when challenged that she was, therefore, a Blairite, she sounded horrified, replying: “Absolutely not.”
She went on to suggest that the SNP’s recent election victory had shifted politics away from the traditional axis of left and right, which was quite a claim. Meanwhile, Alex Salmond has been talking up an alliance with a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour Party for, of course, the guardians of the flame have deemed the Member for Islington North ideologically pure (though even the former First Minister acknowledged that “Jeremy might want a bit less of the private sector in the economy that I would”).
In Diarmaid Ferriter’s new book, A Nation and Not a Rabble, he notes that during Ireland’s “revolutionary period” some viewed nationalism as “about will and spirit and antiquity, an appeal to the dead generations”, while for others “it was something that needed to be called into being and could include social aims”. The same split exists in today’s SNP, with Dr Paul Monaghan – whose maiden speech burned with righteous indignation about the Highland Clearances – representing the former and Mhairi Black (who boldly claimed that “nationalism has nothing to do with what happened in Scotland”) the latter.
Other SNP maiden speeches have made high-faluting references to Rosa Parks, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Keir Hardie, another constant refrain being “we didn’t leave Labour, Labour left us”. Ms Black’s maiden speech, commented group leader Angus Robertson, was “principled and passionate”, but while no one could question the latter adjective, can a brand new 20-year-old MP really be called “principled”?
Giddy on their own brilliance, meanwhile, the SNP operate in an unprincipled way while presenting every U-turn or tactical shift as a point of principle. Fox hunting, for example, was a hitherto unknown point of principle, while on fracking – not to mention a range of other policy areas – the party increasingly faces both ways.
History, as ever, repeats. In the 1980s and 90s it was Labour who were holier than thou, demonising their opponents’ ideology while gradually adopted their central tenets. Thus Labour eventually became what they claimed to hate (the Tories), and the SNP are falling into the same trap: dissing the “Red Tories” while becoming virtually indistinguishable from them; that is, a rhetorically “radical” party terrified of offending middle-class voters.
And they liked Tony Benn because he, like them, increasingly sees the world in black and white, full of problems created by lesser politicians but with easy, cost-free solutions. Next year I’d love to see the SNP fight the Holyrood election on a Bennite prospectus, advocating withdrawal from the European Union, radical redistribution of wealth and state control of the economy.
But, of course, they won’t because they know they’d lose. Better to preach from the moral high ground than actually risk upsetting anyone.Nene Hilario, PF 19 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | +5 +/- Nene returned to the starting lineup after missing three games with a sore shoulder, and the rust showed. He did not look to score much and when he did, his rhythm and timing were understandably off. In the second and third quarters, Nene did some facilitating with both Bradley Beal and his frontcourt mate, Gortat, but that was nullified by his lack of defense in the post. Nene left the game with five minutes left in the third, with a twisted right ankle, and according to Comcast SportsNet’s J. Michael, his fasciitis has flared up once again. His performance combined with that injury aren’t exactly the best way to head into the playoffs.
Paul Pierce, SF 20 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 3 PTS | +3 +/- Watching Paul Pierce meander around the court was akin to watching Tiger Woods’ first-round at the Masters on Thursday. Pierce would be at the top of the key or just inside the 3-point line with an open shot, and based on who he’s been in his career, there was no reason to believe he would not take and make the shot. Instead, Pierce would pass the ball or take unnecessary dribbles, reducing himself to a non-factor. His lack of offensive pop just shone an even brighter and unwelcome spotlight on his defense, which has never been consistently stellar, as Joe Johnson drove by Pierce with little resistance. This game seemed like it should have been right in Pierce’s wheelhouse: It was against his former team, and a Wizards’ win would put them closer to that important home court advantage he spoke of at the start of the season. But Pierce had nothing of note to give in his 20 minutes of play.
Marcin Gortat, C 26 MIN | 9-11 FG | 3-3 FT | 16 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 21 PTS | -6 +/- Before the game, Marcin Gortat told Comcast SportsNet’s Chris Miller that the key to playing Brook Lopez was to stay in front of him on defense and try to run the floor and outwork him on offense. Gortat carried out the offensive portion of that mission by missing just two of his 11 shots, gathering six offensive rebounds, and totaling more defensive rebounds (10) than Lopez had total (9). But defensively—particularly in the first quarter, which had the Wizards in a hole they never truly climbed out of—Gortat allowed Brook Lopez to do his best Kevin McHale impression. In that first quarter alone, Lopez had 14 points, which matched what the Wizards scored as a team. Lopez came into the game averaging 25 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks in his last 10 games, so Gortat had to know what was coming. But he allowed the slow-footed Lopez to take him off the dribble, was outmuscled in the lane, and not once did Gortat give Lopez a hard foul or some type of resistance. It isn’t totally Gortat’s fault that the Wizards were inept early in the game, and fell behind, but his lack of resistance against Lopez played a larger role than his offensive performance would otherwise let on.
Ramon Sessions, PG 34 MIN | 1-7 FG | 0-2 FT | 7 REB | 10 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 2 PTS | -1 +/- There were not one, not two, but three 24-second shot clock violations in the first eight minutes of the first quarter, which falls solely on the slender shoulders of Ramon Sessions. Instead of directing traffic or getting his team into the offense, he’d prematurely pass the ball to Beal or Pierce, and then stand in the corner, seemingly hoping that the offense would run just fine without his involvement. He had made feeble attempts to get the ball back and create on his own, but his shot abandoned him early. If Gortat was partly at fault for the Wizards poor first quarter performance by not guarding Lopez, Sessions was the other guilty party by not being a floor general. On defense, Sessions allowed both Deron Williams and Markel Brown to get into the lane at will, which put pressure on the Wizards’ interior defense. Sessions did regroup offensively late in the second quarter and early in the third, which is where the bulk of his 10 assists occurred, but it was not enough to offset his disappearance early in the game.
Bradley Beal, SG 32 MIN | 10-19 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 24 PTS | -22 +/- After the victory over the Sixers on Wednesday, Bradley Beal told Comcast SportsNet that he was “locked in and in a different mode” after scoring 21 points in 23 minutes. Yet, for the first 16 minutes of the Nets’ game, Beal attempted and missed five shots, and he seemed content to let the offense run through Gortat and a struggling Sessions. Enter the mouth of Nets’ rookie Markel Brown. Beal scored his first points of the game via a 20-footer, then he and Brown were engaged in a spirited trash-talking session, which took Beal’s game to 2014 playoff-like heights—an element of his game that has been noticeably absent this season. As Marv Albert would say, Beal showed the full repertoire. He scored off curls, jumpers, off the dribble and from the 3-point line. He was angry, but not out-of-control and reckless, and his shots seemed to come in the flow of the offense. Before his outburst the Wizards were down 27 points, and when he finally cooled off with four minutes left in the third quarter, the Wizards only trailed by 14. Beal ran out of gas in the fourth quarter, and aside from Marcin Gortat, no other Wizards player had enough offensive rhythm to stave off the Nets. But if not for Beal and his adverse reaction to Brown’s loose lips, the Wizards’ ship would have sunken much earlier.
Kris Humphries, PF 14 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | -13 +/- Humphries played most of his minutes in the fourth quarter when the Wizards’ fate was all but sealed. But there was a two minute stretch in the second quarter, while the game was still in the balance, where Humphries showed hustle on both ends of the floor. He tipped in a missed shot by Bradley Beal, stole an errant pass from Joe Johnson, and started a fast break opportunity which ended in a Ramon Sessions dunk. It isn’t exactly the stuff that legends are made of, but it does represent an element that has been missing from the Wizards bench, and Humphries fills that void.
Drew Gooden, PF 16 MIN | 0-8 FG | 1-2 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 1 PTS | -26 +/- The offensive magic was not there for Mr. Stretch 4 on Friday night. Gooden missed all eight of his shots from the field, and he only made one of the two free throws he took. At one point in the third quarter, Gooden had such little faith in his jumper that he attempted to post-up (something he rarely does) Bojan Bogdanovic with zero success. He didn’t shoot particularly well against the Sixers, but he found other ways to contribute with the five assists and five rebounds. Against the Nets he had seven rebounds, but they weren’t enough to sway or impact the game.
Otto Porter Jr., SF 28 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 9 PTS | -40 +/- Seven of Porter’s nine points and 12 of his 28 minutes came in the meaningless fourth quarter, so that part of his stat sheet is irrelevant. When Porter played relevant minutes in the first and second quarters, he had no offensive contributions of note, and he was repeatedly beat on defense by Joe Johnson and Deron Williams (via switches). Porter usually specializes in getting his hands on caroming balls that take awkward angles, but there were none to be had. Wall and Beal have said one more than one occasion that Porter needs to be as big of a star off the bench as he is when he starts. That was far from the case.
Martell Webster, SF 7 MIN | 0-2 FG | 3-4 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 3 PTS | -7 +/- There is a long form feature waiting to be written about Webster this season. He looks forlorn, hurt, and frustrated. He winces whenever he leaves his feet and lands, and his jumper looks as broken as Tiger Woods’ swing. The one time he looked close to his former self, he attempted a 3-pointer, missed the shot and was fouled, but he immediately grabbed his leg upon landing. He hit all three shots, but unfortunately, they came during that meaningless fourth quarter I mentioned earlier. Where have you gone, Martell?
Rasual Butler, SF 5 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -9 +/- If this game were played in December, Rasual Butler would have come in late in the first quarter, and held down the Wizards on offense until Beal, Gortat or someone caught fire. But it is April, which means Butler sat on the bench and did absolutely nothing. It’s a hard lesson for a team that thought it was a good idea to sign the oldest player out of training camp.
DeJuan Blair, C 5 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -4 +/- If Blair was in shape, he could have come in and physically bothered Brook Lopez in the first quarter, which he could do earlier in his career. Now, he comes in during the fourth quarter and is overly physical with the other team’s 11th man. Good times.
Kevin Seraphin, C 15 MIN | 1-4 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 3 TO | 4 PTS | -30 +/- Seraphin could not summon any of his magical post moves against the immovable Brook Lopez, which pretty much rendered him useless. His lone highlight of the night came via a fastbreak block on Mason Plumlee.My heartfelt condolences to the families of those killed in the 4 attacks today. I hope @HMOIndia takes steps to plug the gaps in C I grid. — Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) December 5, 2014
125 crore Indians bow to our brave Army men who sacrificed their lives. These men lived & died for the nation. We won't forget them. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 5, 2014
Attacks in J&K are condemnable. They are desperate attempts to derail the atmosphere of hope & goodwill as seen by increased voter turnout. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 5, 2014
SRINAGAR: After two weeks of enthusiasm over an exceptionally high voter turnout in the two phases of the ongoing assembly elections, terrorists struck at four different places across the Kashmir valley on Friday, killing over 11 security forces including a lieutenant colonel.Six terrorists have been killed in retaliation at two places, official sources said.Two days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled public rally in the summer capital, six to seven terrorists attacked an Army camp at Mohra, Uri in Baramulla district, over 100km from Srinagar, in the wee hours of Friday killing seven soldiers and three cops including an assistant sub-inspector (ASI). Five of the terrorists were killed in retaliation by the troops.Uri is close to the line of control (LoC) between India and Pakistan.In Ahmad Nagar in Soura, Srinagar district, terrorists traveling in a car opened fire on police during a routine check. A terrorist was killed when police retaliated while another took refuge in a residential house. Police and paramilitary forces cordoned off the house and an encounter has ensued.Over 50km from Srinagar, in Shopian, a hand grenade attack on a police station shattered the window panes of the DSP’s residential quarter. There were however, no casualties.Army soldiers search for militants as smoke rises from a bunker after a gunbattle in Mohra in Uri, north Kashmir.In the fourth attack, police said, terrorists hurled a grenade in Tral Bus stand, Pulwama district, killing two people and injuring 9 others.The attack on the 32 Field Regiment in Uri sector of Barmulla district in north Kashmir killed at least 14 people including a lieutenant colonel, assistant sub-inspector of police and five Pakistani terrorists.Speaking on the condition anonymity, a senior Army officer commanding the operation confirmed to TOI that it was a “fidayeen” (suicide) attack. “The exact number of terrorists is not known but they are believed to be Pakistanis. They killed three police men on the road outside our Army camp, ASI Mohammad Akbar Lone, head constable Abdul Majid and constable Sanjay Koul. We believe they entered the camp from the gate through the road which lacks a concrete boundary,” he said.“Lt Colonel Sankalp Kumar of 24 Punjab Regiment of Raipur was also killed in the exchange of fire besides three other soldiers. We have killed five terrorists so far and a combing operation is underway for the remaining fidayeen,” he added.The infiltrators were divided into two groups with one group entering the Army camp and the other engaging the troops at the gate. The officer said that the operation is headed by Lt Col Gurawah Jain and Lt Col Surinder Singh.According to the officer, the infiltrators were clad in kameez-salwar (ethnic tunic-trousers) and armed with AK-47 rifles and hand grenades. He said SHO of Uri police station Latif Durrani was also injured. “Though the firing has stopped, a few fidayeen could still be holed-up inside the camp,” he added.Uri, where the militants attacked the Army camp, is close to the line of control between India and Pakistan.Defence spokesman based in 15 Corps here in a statement said, a group of heavily armed and well equipped terrorists opened a heavy volume of fire with automatic weapons at an Army camp in Mohura at around 3am on Friday. The encounter between the Army and the group of terrorists lasted just over six hours, the spokesman said.“During the initial part of the operation, one terrorist opened fire on the vehicles of the quarters of the neighbouring unit rushing to the site, in which one gypsy (vehicle) went off the road and overturned, leading to casualties among the troops. The terrorist was immediately eliminated by the troops of the headquarters and his body recovered," the spokesman added.The spokesman said, during the operation, a barrack also caught fire, presumably because of a kerosene heater toppling, in which some soldiers got trapped. During the deliberate clearing-up operations which commenced thereafter, the bodies of five more terrorists were recovered, the spokesman added.Six Kalashnikov rifles with 55 magazines, two shotguns, 2 night-vision binoculars, 4 radio sets, 32 unused grenades, 1 medical kit and a large quantity of miscellaneous warlike stores were recovered from the slain terrorists, the defence spokesman said.Soldiers seen near the bodies of the terrorists killed during the encounter in Uri.In another attack, terrorists hurled a grenade in Tral bus stand, Pulwama district, killing two people and injuring 9 others, police said.Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah condemning the terror attacks said the attack on the army camp in Uri was a "desperate attempt". "Once again shows the desperate levels militants will go to disrupt peace and normalcy," Omar said on Twitter.Founder of Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba and "aamir" of its political arm, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Saeed, declared after the terror attacks in Kashmir declared on Twitter: "Ghazwae Hind is inevitable, Kashmir will be freed, 1971 Will be avenged and Ahmedabad Gujrat victims will get justice Insha Allah #IjtimaJuD (sic)"The attacks comes just days ahead of PM Modi’s December 8 visit when he is scheduled to address an election rally in Srinagar. The third phase of assembly elections are under way in the state with Uri and Baramulla district going to polls on December 9.This section of the LoC is significant for being the transit point for the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and trading between two parts of Kashmir. No infiltration has occurred here since the early 90s.Fly Your Own Spy Drone … Using Your iPhone
The Parrot A.R. Drone can be launched and controlled with your iPhone or iPad:
The Parrot A.R. Drone costs $299.
The Parrot A.R. Drone can maintain stable flight at an altitude of up to 20 feet, and a maximum altitude of up to 160 feet.
More sophisticated drones can fly higher and for longer, in a more stable fashion.
For example, protesters in Warsaw used a spy drone last month to see what police were doing. As diydrones.com notes:
People tend to assume that UAVs will be used by the police to keep watch on us, but as … video, taken by a RoboKopter of riots in Warsaw, shows, they can equally be used by citizens to keep tabs on the police. No need to wait for the local news to send a helicopter to get the aerial scene of a demonstration, just Do It Yourself!
Here is the video of the police shot by the Polish protesters:
(Here’s what the RoboKopter drone used by the Polish protesters looks like.)
Drones can range from simple:
To advanced:
For more amazing technology, see this and this.
For information on building your own drone, start here.
Disclaimer: The FAA apparently considers do-it-yourself drones to be legal. We don’t know whether there are any Department of Homeland Security or other regulations or laws prohibiting flying your own spy drone. Consult with a representative of all appropriate Federal, state, county and local agencies to determine whether or not you may fly your own drone.by James Corbett
TheInternationalForecaster.com
July 13, 2016
Privacy advocates (that’s establishment speak for “normal human beings”) celebrated earlier this week as the House rejected yet another attempt to expand the Patriot Act’s snooping provisions. House Resolution 5606, better known by its Orwellian name, the “Anti-terrorism Information Sharing is Strength Act,” would have allowed Big Brother to access Americans’ financial information based on what the government deems to be “suspicious activity.” Given that the DHS has labeled such things as using binoculars, paying with cash, or even “appearing normal” as “possible terrorist activity” in the past (thus making pretty much every human being a possible terrorist), everyone can breathe a sigh of relief that the bill failed |
friends might make million dollar bets with each other. It seems like the joke is on the Romney campaign.Image caption Peter Capaldi became the 12th Doctor in 2013
The new Doctor Who companion will be revealed live on BBC One on Saturday night.
The announcement will be made during half time of the FA Cup semi-final Match of the Day Live: Everton versus Manchester United at around 18:00 BST.
The new companion will star alongside Peter Capaldi's Time Lord in the 10th new season of Doctor Who.
They will replace Jenna Coleman, who played Clara Oswald, who left the show in 2015.
Coleman joined Doctor Who in 2012, and starred alongside two Doctors, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.
She asked to be written out and left to take on the role of Queen Victoria in a major ITV drama series.
Filming for the next series of Doctor Who will start this year but will air in 2017.
In January, it was announced the head writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, Steven Moffat, was stepping down from the show.
The next series will be his last, after which he will be replaced by Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall.Toronto, ON – At its annual league meeting, the Ontario Hockey League Board of Governors took further steps in addressing player safety through the adoption of a “Blindside Hit Rule” whereby there will be a penalty assessed for those players who check an opponent from the blindside. Based on the discretion of the referee, a minor, major and game misconduct or match penalty may be assessed. Such infraction would also be subject to review and possible supplementary discipline by the league.
In addition, the league took further steps to address fighting in the game by lowering the threshold prior to automatic disciplinary action being assessed from 10 fights per player per season to three fights per player per season. Players exceeding such threshold will be subject to an automatic two game suspension, for each fight exceeding the threshold.
Note: If a player is instigated upon, the fighting major is not included in the player’s total number of fights.
Since the adoption of the 10 fight threshold for the 2012-2013 season, the league has seen the number of fights in the league decrease by 49.5% and for the last two seasons have not had a single player with more than 10 fights based on the threshold criteria established.
“As the number one development league in the world for the NHL and CIS, the OHL continually challenges ourselves to improve the on-ice environment and evolve the game for the benefit of the most important people in our game, our players,” said David Branch, OHL Commissioner.
The league has also made an adjustment to its icing rule in adopting the current NHL hybrid icing.Coming Soon
THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME
Desperate to save his dying wife, a man turns to prayer -- and more extreme measures. A gothic drama starring Tom Holland and Chris Evans.
After Life
Struggling to come to terms with his wife's death, a writer for a newspaper adopts a gruff new persona in an effort to push away those trying to help.
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.
Rudy Ray Moore
When Hollywood shut him out in the 1970s, multi-talented Rudy Ray Moore created his own work, including the well-known blaxploitation film, "Dolemite."
Jinn
When a girl accidentally releases a jinn in the form of a teenage boy, they learn they've also unleashed an ancient darkness that threatens the world.
Untitled Goop Project
Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle site, goop, guides the deeply curious in an exploration of boundary-pushing wellness topics.
Charlie's Colorforms City
Loveable, hilarious Charlie leads you on unpredictable and imaginative shape-filled story expeditions alongside a colorful cast of characters.
Tiffany Haddish Stand Up Special
Tiffany Haddish brings her brash, barrier-breaking brand of comedy to Netflix with an exclusive one-hour stand-up special.JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 116, D14113, 12 PP., 2011
doi:10.1029/2010JD015452
Observed surface warming induced by urbanization in east China
Xuchao Yang, Shanghai Typhoon Institute of China Meteorological Administration, Shanghai, China Institute of Meteorological Sciences, Zhejiang Meteorological Bureau, Hangzhou, China Yiling Hou, Shanghai Climate Center, Shanghai, China, Baode Chen, Shanghai Typhoon Institute of China Meteorological Administration, Shanghai, China
Monthly mean surface air temperature data from 463 meteorological stations, including those from the 1981–2007 ordinary and national basic reference surface stations in east China and from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) Reanalysis, are used to investigate the effect of rapid urbanization on temperature change.
These stations are dynamically classified into six categories, namely, metropolis, large city, medium-sized city, small city, suburban, and rural, using satellite-measured nighttime light imagery and population census data. Both observation minus reanalysis (OMR) and urban minus rural (UMR) methods are utilized to detect surface air temperature change induced by urbanization. With objective and dynamic station classification, the observed and reanalyzed temperature changes over rural areas show good agreement, indicating that the reanalysis can effectively capture regional rural temperature trends. The trends of urban heat island (UHI) effects, determined using OMR and UMR approaches, are generally consistent and indicate that rapid urbanization has a significant influence on surface warming over east China. Overall, UHI effects contribute 24.2% to regional average warming trends. The strongest effect of urbanization on annual mean surface air temperature trends occurs over the metropolis and large city stations, with corresponding contributions of about 44% and 35% to total warming, respectively. The UHI trends are 0.398°C and 0.26°C decade−1. The most substantial UHI effect occurred after the early 2000s, implying a significant effect of rapid urbanization on surface air temperature change during this period.Imagination, August 1953. Cover of, August 1953.
Planetary romance is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy in which the bulk of the action consists of adventures on one or more exotic alien planets, characterized by distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds. Some planetary romances take place against the background of a future culture where travel between worlds by spaceship is commonplace; others, particularly the earliest examples of the genre, do not, and invoke flying carpets, astral projection, or other methods of getting between planets. In either case, it is the planetside adventures which are the focus of the story, not the mode of travel.[1]
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction mentions two caveats as to the usage of the term. First, while the setting may be in an alien world, its nature is of little relevance to the plot, as is the case of James Blish's A Case of Conscience. Second, hard science fiction tales are excluded from this category, where an alien planet, while being a critical component of the plot, is just a background for a primarily scientific endeavor, such as Hal Clement' s Mission of Gravity, [2] possibly with embellishments.
A significant precursor of the genre is Edwin L. Arnold's Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation (1905).[2]
In Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels (1985), editor and critic David Pringle named Bradley and Anne McCaffrey two "leading practitioners nowadays" for the planetary romance type of science fiction.[3]
There is a significant overlap of the genre with that of sword and planet.
Examples [ edit ]
Planet Stories, Fall 1947. Cover of, Fall 1947.
In fiction [ edit ]
In comics [ edit ]
In film and television [ edit ]
Miscellaneous [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]One of the giveaways at the recent Values Voter Summit was a new book from Jim Garlow, a California pastor who mobilized churches to organize on behalf of California’s anti-marriage-equality Prop 8 in 2008 and says his daily one-minute radio commentaries are heard on 850 stations across the country.
After getting through Garlow’s “Well Versed: Biblical Answers to Today’s Tough Issues,” I was surprised that David Barton was not mentioned in the acknowledgments, because the book is a very Bartonesque argument that politicians should look to the Bible for policy guidance on everything from healthcare to the minimum wage to climate change.
“There is no major world issue about which the Word does not provide basic and transcendent truths,” Garlow writes. He complains that people understand that the Bible applies to their personal lives, but
…when we hear the word political, we shut our Bibles and recoil, as if God has no interest in government, in spite of the fact that it was God who first invented it (Isaiah 9:6). Christians—particularly pastors—seem to run from the political. The Evil One delights over this situation. But a Sovereign King refuses to yield any ground to the Evil One. He intends for us to do the same.
Garlow’s first chapter asks, “Why are we quiet?” Perhaps in a nod to Donald Trump, Garlow says the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which bans overt politicking by tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, including churches, “effectively silenced and muzzled all pastors.” Anyone who follows American politics can be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at the notion that conservative religious leaders have been “silenced” and “muzzled,” but it is an article of faith at Religious Right gatherings that America’s moral decline is the fault of overly timid preachers. Garlow does not like timid, and neither, he says, does Jesus, whom he describes as a “man’s man” and “no wimp.”
We are in a war: a war for truth, righteousness, and justice. The pages that follow are designed to equip you for success in those battles. Welcome to the war.
Garlow says what he’s calling for is “biblical applicationalism” and a return to the idea of a nation founded on biblical truth. He repeatedly says that he is not calling for theocracy, and says he’s not a dominionist. But among those whose quotes he uses to open chapters in his book is Christian Reconstructionist Gary DeMar. And one of three people he thanks as members of his “spectacular research and writing team” is Gary Cass, who Garlow calls “a pastor who ‘gets it,’ who has a staggering grasp of historical theology and its relevance to current culture.” Cass is a former director of the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ. Two years ago he generated controversy with a Charisma magazine column entitled “Why We Cannot Coexist,” in which he said that Muslims and Christians cannot co-exist and that “The only thing that is biblical and that 1400 years of history has shown to work is overwhelming Christian just war and overwhelming self-defense.” After the column generated a protest campaign with the hashtag #CancelTheCrusades, Charisma took down Cass’s call to “crush the vicious seed of Ishmael in Jesus name.”
Garlow does not call for a worldwide holy war, but he does complain, “Our societal and cultural desire to accept everyone has stopped us from acknowledging the evil clearly written into Islamic tenets.”
Garlow, like Donald Trump, disparages political correctness:
Not surprisingly, the promoters and users of PC tactics are those who typically hate biblical truth, traditional morality, sexual restraint, personal responsibility, the nuclear family, or any other concept based on transcendent, unchanging truth revealed by an almighty God for our society’s good.
Says Garlow, “Unfortunately, Christian religious tolerance has devolved into a secular monstrosity called multiculturalism.” Tolerance is a “weapon” to “destroy and discredit our values in the public square,” he writes.
Cultural progressives will not be satisfied with silence; they want a complete and unconditional surrender. That is the nature of spiritual warfare; there is no peaceful coexistence.
“Religious liberty is under attack from godless, sexual anarchists,” he declares. Garlow, of course, is stridently opposed to legal equality for LGBT people. “There is no God-given right to do wrong,” he writes. “Every sinful act is by definition a lawless one.” Garlow says it is “quite likely” that “there is no such thing” as sexual orientation and he seems to wish gay people would just slink back into the closet. “For years that chant was, what we do in our bedroom is our business,” he writes. “If that is the case, then they should keep their business in their bedrooms.”
Hate crimes laws are, in his view, “inherently unjust” and “are a form of legally justified revenge against someone whose actions violate some standard of political correctness.” And, he says, “Hate crimes inevitably lead to hate speech and ultimately thought crimes.”
Garlow also devotes plenty of space to arguments about the kinds of authority the Bible grants to government, ideas that are grounded in Christian Reconstructionism and have been embraced by much of the Religious Right. The term social justice “has taken a distinctly anti-scriptural meaning,” he says, and liberal churches “cherry-pick the Bible to advance a humanistic (Marxist) definition of economic justice.”
“The biggest problem is that it confuses social justice’s governmental confiscation of private property with authentic biblical justice, which it isn’t,” says Garlow. Some taxation is biblically acceptable, he says, in order to pay for things like national defense. But, he argues, “Nowhere in the Bible is the government authorized to take from the rich to give to the poor nor to redistribute wealth.” That kind of taxation, he says, is theft:
Any forced redistribution of the fruit of a man’s labor violates God’s command not to steal. Theft is still theft, even when it’s the government picking your pocket. Whether by a gun (a thief) or through a tax (by the IRS), the impact is still the same: you no longer have what you earned.
Food stamps are also unbiblical, he says. Not surprisingly, Garlow cites Star Parker, a favorite at Religious Right conferences for her attacks on welfare recipients as lazy freeloaders. Writes Garlow, “Show me a person who uses their welfare dollars to buy lottery tickets and play the casino slots, and you will see as much greed as an inner city slumlord.”
Because he argues that the Bible gives churches, not government, the responsibility to care for the poor, Garlow’s proposal for a “biblical tax code” includes a 3.33 percent tax that would be given to local houses of worship, replacing government welfare programs that he says are rife with abuse and corruption. He says by letting churches take care of people, his plan would be “assuring funds went to the genuinely needy, offering job hunting assistance, and, at the same time, proper prodding of the slothful and lazy.”
Social Security is also unbiblical, according to Garlow. “Biblically, entitlement programs and forced savings/retirement insurance programs like Social Security are never the role of the civil government,” he says. “With the Social Security Act of 1946, the government has stepped outside of its prescribed role and into areas it had no right to enter.”
Besides, “Where does it say in the Bible that we are supposed to retire at sixty-five, or at any age for that matter?” Garlow asks. He complains, “After a life of hard work, Americans now feel an entitlement to unproductivity.” But sooner or later Social Security will collapse and people will get back to “God’s design for society” by “having lots of godly, hardworking children” who will take care of their parents in old age.
Garlow also takes on climate change, writing that “at its core global warming is a battle between two worldviews in direct opposition: biblical truth and evolutionary untruths.” Garlow writes that “all the major global datasets reveal the earth hasn’t warmed since 1977” and “NASA scientists are now discovering record levels of ice in the Arctic.” Writes Garlow, “The reality is this: we’re all just fine. God remains in complete control of His creation.”
Just to do a little reality check on his claims, August 2016 was the 16th straight hottest month ever recorded globally. And while Antarctic wintertime ice hit record highs in 2012-2014 before returning to average levels in 2015, “both the Arctic wintertime maximum and its summer minimum extent have been in a sharp decline for the past decades,” according to NASA. “Studies show that globally, the decreases in Arctic ice far exceed the increases in Antarctic sea ice.”
On it goes, through 31 chapters. Our educational system “is consumed with anti-Christian bigotry.” Government should do away with no-fault divorce. Unions were legitimate at a time of deplorable and dangerous working conditions, but have “become as abusive as eighteenth century employers.” God wants workers and employers to negotiate without any third-party involvement from government or unions. In a break with the hard right, Garlow does call for immigration reform that offers those who have been in the country illegally a pathway to remaining in the country.
Garlow also takes on the federal judiciary. He calls the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling “quite possibly the strongest attack on Christians and Christian values ever written by a sitting Justice in a majority opinion.” Justices, he says, are “knowingly lying about what the Constitution says and what its words mean and, as such, are in direct violation of Exodus 20:16,” which prohibits “false testimony.”
Garlow says there’s no quick fix to bad court rulings because Congress doesn’t have the courage to impeach justices. It will require “America to experience a spiritual renewal, or at least an adherence to biblical values such as integrity.” But he does call for state officials to nullify and defy federal court rulings on abortion and LGBT equality: “We need principled, constitutional, pro-life, and pro-family state legislators and governors to defy the Feds and enforce state laws.” And he calls for individual citizens to nullify “ungodly” and “unjust” laws, citing the Manhattan Declaration’s vow of civil disobedience and adding, “May we have the discernment and courage to do what is right and obey God rather than man.”An eight-year-old girl has died after being struck by a snowplow in Quebec City.
Police say it happened just before noon in the parking lot of an apartment building complex on Louis XIV Boulevard in the city's Beauport neighbourhood, where the girl lived.
The girl was transported to hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
The 36-year-old driver of the snowplow is being treated for shock and was also taken to hospital.
Simon Jourdain, the owner of the snow removal company ESSA, was in tears when he learned what happened.
"This is a nightmare," he said.
The girl lived in one of the apartment buildings in the complex. (Jean-François Nadeau/Radio-Canada)
Quebec City police spokesperson Cyndi Paré said investigators do not know if the girl was walking alone when she was struck. Two snowplows were in the area at the time.
Police could not provide any more details and say it is not yet clear if criminal charges will be laid.
An investigation is underway.
In Quebec's National Capital region there have been 47 accidents involving a snow plow since 2010, according to the province's automobile insurance board.
The death of the girl is the first fatal accident involving a snowplow since 2010.
Psychological support at school
Fidele Dodji told CBC News that her children walked to school most days with the girl who was killed. She said she's not sure how she will explain to her own girls what happened.
"It's awful," she said.
The girl, whose name has not been released, was a student at nearby Bourg-Royal school in the borough of Charlesbourg.
The school board is providing support to students and teachers.
A team of psychologists and other professionals was sent to each class on Friday afternoon to talk to students about what happened.
They will tour classrooms again on Monday and psychological support will be available next week for any student or staff member who needs it, said school principal Patricia Boulé in a letter to parents.
"We understand that this death, which occurred in tragic circumstances, can shock children," said Boulé.Beginning in 2018, there will be a new voice of Aggie Football. Dave South, who has manned the microphone for Texas A&M Aggies football broadcasts for more than 30 years, has announced that the 2017 season will be his last.
2017 will be the final season for The Voice of the Aggies #ThanksDave #12thMan https://t.co/ZBhrsQH0Vo pic.twitter.com/epuPQtZpdb — Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) August 10, 2017
Here is the statement from Dave himself:
"After discussions that started last August with Texas A&M Ventures and my wife Leanne, I have decided that the 2017 Texas A&M football season and the 2017-18 men's basketball season will be my last with both teams. I will continue doing play-by-play for the Aggie baseball team on a year-by-year basis. "I read recently 'God assigns certain jobs for certain times. While it's important to respond obediently, it's also vital we understand when an assignment is finished. Diligence and job completion honor the Lord, but resistance to change and refusal to let go can hinder His plan.' (Journey, June 15, 2017, page 23) "The 2017-18 season will mark my 47th year in collegiate broadcasting, and I just celebrated my 72nd birthday. There will be many people to thank as we make our way through this coming year. I will start with coach Jackie Sherrill and the late Ralph Carpenter, who extended the offer to be the voice of the Aggies prior to the 1985 season. My association with Texas A&M University and its athletics department has truly been a blessing. The friendships made and the joy of broadcasting Aggie games have made my years here unforgettable. "I'm also honored to have worked with every entity that has held the broadcast rights to Texas A&M athletics. For those of you who have been around for a long time, you will understand this statement: I am the last of the Southwest Conference Exxon announcers still active in sports broadcasting. "To the coaches, athletes, staff and athletic directors, our experiences together over these many years have created a lifetime of wonderful memories. If memories were memorabilia, there wouldn't be a room big enough to hold my collection. "To the Aggies and radio listeners who have been so gracious and kind for these many years, thank you for your words, texts, emails, and letters. I am humbled by your thoughtful generosity. "Knowing God has a plan for every day of our lives, Leanne and I look forward to the future."
I always had a love/hate relationship with Dave. Current students may not believe it, but it wasn’t that long ago that several football games each year - sometimes even conference games - weren’t televised (thanks, Big 12). So if you weren’t at the game, Dave South and online stats were your only option. Dave had some at times maddeningly confusing calls, but you could never deny his presence, and for most of us, his voice and the greatest moments in Aggie Football history are forever intertwined. I’ll leave you with his most memorable call from the 1998 Big 12 Championship Game, along with another instant classic from the 2012 season.
Thanks for your decades of hard work, Dave. Gig ‘em.SINGAPORE: The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) filed an application in the High Court on Friday (Aug 4), to start committal proceedings against Mr Li Shengwu for contempt of court.
This was after Mr Li failed to take down a Facebook post which he put up on Jul 15, criticising the Singapore court system.
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In its press release, the AGC reproduced the full post by Mr Li, who is the nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and eldest son of Mr Lee Hsien Yang.
The post, which was set to “friends only” in Facebook’s privacy settings, included a link to a 2010 editorial published by the New York Times, titled “Censored in Singapore.”
In the post, he wrote: “Keep in mind, of course, that the Singapore government is very litigious and has a pliant court system. This constrains what the international media can usually report.”
Mr Li’s Facebook post was republished widely in Singapore after it was posted, the AGC said.
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On Jul 21, the AGC issued a warning letter to Mr Li on Jul 21, asking him to “purge the contempt” by deleting the post from his Facebook page and other online platforms.
He was also asked to “issue and post prominently” on his Facebook page a written apology and undertaking drafted in the terms in the AGC’s letter.
The Jul 15 Facebook post was "an egregious and baseless attack on the Singapore Judiciary and constitutes an offence of contempt of court," the AGC said in its warning letter to Mr Li.
It added: "The clear meaning of the post, in referring to 'a pliant court system', is that the Singapore Judiciary acts on the direction of the Singapore Government, is not independent, and has ruled and will continue to rule in favour of the Singapore Government in any proceedings, regardless of the merits of the case."
A copy of the letter was released together with the AGC's statement.
The AGC said it had given Mr Li until 5pm on Jul 28 to do this. But Mr Li wrote back a day before the deadline to request an extension until 5pm on Aug 4, "so that (he) may seek advice and respond".
The AGC said it agreed to the request on the same day.
“As Mr Li has failed to purge the contempt and to apologise by the extended deadline, an application for leave to commence committal proceedings for contempt against him will today be filed in the High Court,” said the AGC in its statement on Friday.
Mr Li, an academic at Harvard University, had earlier said on Friday that it was not his intention to attack the Singapore judiciary or to undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.
“If my private post is read in context, it is evident that I did not attack the Singapore judiciary,” Mr Li wrote in a public post. “Any criticism I made is of the Singapore government’s litigious nature, and its use of legal rules and actions to stifle the free press.”
“However, to avoid any misunderstanding of my original private post, I have amended the post so as to clarify my meaning,” he added. The setting on that Facebook post remains private, meaning it cannot be viewed publicly.
The AGC's statement and accompanying annexes are reproduced in full below:
Annex A:
Annex B:Nobody likes a tagalong. Nobody likes being part of a group that’s caught between the contrasting tugs of self-interest and politeness, incapable of shaking off an unwanted interloper. The entire plot of The Hangover and its sequels is made possible by this phenomenon, as is the memory of the post-prom party that still gnaws at you behind your eyes, like a spoonful of spicy mustard.
You know, when Stacey Greenberg went as your date, just as friends, but you really liked her. So you figured you’d spill the beans at the party and either she’d like you back, or you’d at least have some closure instead of staring at her longingly in fifth-period AP Chemistry five days a week. Only every time you got a moment alone with her, that asshole Donnie — Christ, what’s his last name? He was a wrestler and always smelled like the stuff they used to disinfect the mats. You know the guy. Anyway, Donnie couldn’t hold his liquor and kept coming over and asking what you guys were talking about, and you couldn’t get him to go away long enough to give Stacey your long-rehearsed, probably Goo Goo Dolls–inspired speech about how beautiful she was and how you wanted her to be your girlfriend and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN YOU LEAVE US ALONE FOR ONE MINUTE, DONNIE? PLEASE!
That’s the kind of thing we’re talking about here.
A couple of weeks into the season, it looked like the Royals and Tigers had left the rest of the AL Central behind and gone to a secluded area of the party so they could actually hear themselves talk while discussing the future of their relationship.
Only now the Twins are a part of that conversation, all, “Hey, guys, what’re y’all talking about?” like that douche bag Donnie from high school. In fact, they’re more than just a part of the conversation: After yesterday’s 6-4 win over the Red Sox, they’re 28-18 and tied with the Royals for first place in the division.
The Twins, Cubs, and Astros are the teams most analysts predicted would break out of years of rottenness in the seasons to come thanks to outstanding farm systems. All three are winning ahead of schedule, but while the Cubs are already enjoying Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Jorge Soler, and the Astros have shrewdly set the table for their prospects by adding major-league-ready complementary pieces, that’s not the case in Minnesota.
The Twins have brought up pitcher Trevor May, who’s been below average, and outfielder Aaron Hicks, who’s been terrible. But top prospects Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, J.O. Berrios, and Alex Meyer remain in the minor leagues. The major addition to last year’s 92-loss team was the wilting, desiccated husk of Torii Hunter, a nostalgia trip who seems ill aware that his days as a superstar are a thing of the past.
So how in the world are the Twins sitting 10 games above.500?
It’s a little puzzling. It’s not by virtue of great offense: Despite the breakout 2014 seasons from Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe carrying over through the first two months of this year, as well as Hunter turning in a 117 OPS+, the Twins rank 20th in OBP and 17th in slugging percentage. And while new manager Paul Molitor is calling for bunts far less frequently than his predecessor, Ron Gardenhire, that’s a marginal thing at this point in the season.
On the mound, Phil Hughes turned from the greatest control pitcher ever back into something approaching league average. The Twins are 16th in ERA, 21st in opponent OPS, and — true to their reputation — last in K/9, almost three-quarters of a strikeout per game behind 29th-place Colorado.
What you’ll notice, however, is that while the underlying numbers paint Minnesota’s success as a fluke, there’s not really one area to which we can attribute the Twins’ punching above their weight. They’re outperforming their run differential, but only by three games. They’re 9-6 in one-run games and 3-1 in extra-inning games, and they’ve converted 19 of 22 save opportunities, tied for the second-highest percentage in baseball.
Some of that is to be expected: Closer Glen Perkins has been among the best in baseball, and Molitor has used him about as wisely as a manager can use his best reliever. Perkins’s gmLI, or average leverage index when he enters a game, is 1.76, 15th-best in baseball. Perkins and the Twins’ other top relievers, Aaron Thompson and Blaine Boyer, are not only used most, but among Twins relievers with 10 or more appearances, they’ve had the highest average starting leverage.
The result: Perkins’s win probability added, 1.90, is the second-highest among all major league relievers, which can be interpreted as proof that Molitor is getting more out of his closer than almost any other manager. It’s very, very difficult for a relief pitcher to swing several wins a year, but it’s possible if he’s extremely good and he pitches in the absolute highest-leverage situation possible. It’s been a season worthy of the best entrance music in baseball: Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.”
But Perkins’s incredible start is thus far the only real tangible outlier in Minnesota, apart from some performances — lookin’ at you, Mike Pelfrey — that stink of prima facie flukiness.
As I said, the Twins are outplaying their run differential by only three wins. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but because we’re only two months into the season, it is. Extrapolated over a full campaign, that’s a 12-win swing, which hasn’t happened one way or the other, for any team, since 2008. Consider also that while the Twins have scored the ninth-most runs in baseball and allowed the 14th-fewest, the rates at which they’re creating and advancing baserunners and preventing their opponents from doing the same are below-average, as opposed to their above-average run-scoring and run-prevention rates.
So Minnesota’s winning percentage is flukily good compared to its run differential, and that run differential is fluky compared to the team OBP and slugging percentage. Frankly, unless Molitor’s pulled off some sort of weird run-clustering voodoo that isn’t readily apparent from the outside, one of those things is going to have to give, and in most cases, the thing that gives winds up being the winning percentage.
The consolation for Twins fans is this: While the Twins aren’t as good as their winning percentage would suggest, they also don’t appear to be as bad as their underlying stats indicate. Pelfrey will regress to the mean, but so should Hughes. May will continue to improve as well, so all of that might wind up being a wash. And while nobody really believes that Plouffe is the kind of hitter who’s going to post a 129 OPS+ all year, they also don’t believe that Joe Mauer’s slow start will last all year. Danny Santana won’t return to the BABIP-fueled altered state he occupied in 2014, but he’s better than he’s shown this year. And that’s leaving out the continued improvement of Eddie Rosario, who’s climbing slowly up to league-average at the plate within his first 16 major league games.
So what is this team’s true talent? Well, considering that the Twins have already banked 28 wins while starting 10 games above.500, they’re looking at an improvement of, conservatively speaking, eight to 10 games above last season. Baseball Prospectus’s projections have Minnesota finishing 81-81, which would have seemed like a pipe dream a year ago.
And if all of that isn’t enough, Sano, Buxton, and Berrios are just around the corner.
This 28-18 start isn’t for real. But something doesn’t have to be real to make you feel good. There’s something to be said for just tagging along.This morning I got an email from a friend of mine. It was an invitation for a social network called Tagged.com. A straightforward designed email with a witty question: “Is she your friend?” The button “Yes” just craved for click. So I clickety clicked on it. Curiosity killed the cat.
Upon selecting “Yes” option a web page opened with a short form containing very friendly copy in inline help. I filled out the form as this looked like something different and I always like to research new stuff. As I was about to join the 126th social network on planet Earth, I got the screen that offered me an option of finding all of my friends that were already on the network. All I had to do is enter my username and password from Gmail or some other (Yahoo, Hotmail…) account and it would do it all automatically for me. Very useful, I thought. So I entered my Gmail user and pass:
Well the next screen was a big surprise. It listed all the emails from my Gmail account, even from people I wrote to once in a lifetime. Each of them had a checkbox checked by default. The big, red button that was saying “Next” was just a click away.
In the moment I realised that clicking on that button will cause all of them to receive tagged.com invitation emails with my name as a sender. What a witty way to harvest millions of users worldwide, don’t you think?
I unchecked all of the emails and went into the network. Classic mySpace layout. No big deal. But then I started to think about that emails screen. Ok, I am from the web business and I knew it was a setup. But how many people all over the planet just clicked the Next button? Suddenly I saw the Matrix. This is the fastest way to involve “innocent” people into social networking business, people that haven’t yet heard of mySpace or Facebook!
Later during the day I heard a lot of my friends were receiving emails from tagged.com these days, and I did a bit of investigation.
It turned out that the company tagged.com has raised 7 million dollars in venture capital, so this is definitely not another Joe-from-the-hood-viagra-pimp-adsense-spamming-mission but something much bigger. Then I searched for people’s opinions on blogs and realised that these emails started circulating in October 2006. It seems that this Gmail account searching option was introduced in tagged.com system at that time.
The next logical step was to visit Alexa.com and see their traffic graph:
This enormous viral spreading has started at the same time they introduced this subtle spamming method. “The tipping point” is clearly visible, so my question is where does this lead? Here is the comparing graph of mySpace.com and tagged.com:
This quiet spamming trick got them approx. 1/6 of mySpace traffic in very short time. The service has been active for a few years but it was not massive until a few months ago.
I think much of these 7 million raised in ventures are spent on lawyers, to ensure all privacy policies are bullet-proof and to blame the users and their ignorance for this spamming “side effect”.
I imagine what will happen very soon. Hardcore spammers from all the basements and underworlds will create sites that will ask users for Gmail password and soon our Inboxes will be overflowed with invitations for “Chicken soup lovers network no. 386”. Maybe Google and others will have to modify their systems in order to prevent this.
It seems that these service integration trends on the Internet are a true heaven for creative spammers. Are we looking at the beginning of the |
Estelle Oldham—whose previous marriage, now terminated, had helped drive him into the RAF in 1918. One year later he bought Rowan Oak, a handsome but run-down pre-Civil War house on the outskirts of Oxford, restoration work on the house becoming, along with hunting, an important diversion in the years ahead. A daughter, Jill, was born to the couple in 1933, and although their marriage was otherwise troubled, Faulkner remained working at home throughout the 1930s and ’40s, except when financial need forced him to accept the Hollywood screenwriting assignments he deplored but very competently fulfilled. Oxford provided Faulkner with intimate access to a deeply conservative rural world, conscious of its past and remote from the urban-industrial mainstream, in terms of which he could work out the moral as well as narrative patterns of his work. His fictional methods, however, were the reverse of conservative. He knew the work not only of Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Charles Dickens, and Herman Melville but also of Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Sherwood Anderson, and other recent figures on both sides of the Atlantic, and in The Sound and the Fury (1929), his first major novel, he combined a Yoknapatawpha setting with radical technical experimentation. In successive “stream-of-consciousness” monologues the three brothers of Candace (Caddy) Compson—Benjy the idiot, Quentin the disturbed Harvard undergraduate, and Jason the embittered local businessman—expose their differing obsessions with their sister and their loveless relationships with their parents. A fourth section, narrated as if authorially, provides new perspectives on some of the central characters, including Dilsey, the Compsons’ black servant, and moves toward a powerful yet essentially unresolved conclusion. Faulkner’s next novel, the brilliant tragicomedy called As I Lay Dying (1930), is centred upon the conflicts within the “poor white” Bundren family as it makes its slow and difficult way to Jefferson to bury its matriarch’s malodorously decaying corpse. Entirely narrated by the various Bundrens and people encountered on their journey, it is the most systematically multi-voiced of Faulkner’s novels and marks the culmination of his early post-Joycean experimentalism. Although the psychological intensity and technical innovation of these two novels were scarcely calculated to ensure a large contemporary readership, Faulkner’s name was beginning to be known in the early 1930s, and he was able to place short stories even in such popular—and well-paying—magazines as Collier’s and Saturday Evening Post. Greater, if more equivocal, prominence came with the financially successful publication of Sanctuary, a novel about the brutal rape of a Southern college student and its generally violent, sometimes comic, consequences. A serious work, despite Faulkner’s unfortunate declaration that it was written merely to make money, Sanctuary was actually completed prior to As I Lay Dying and published, in February 1931, only after Faulkner had gone to the trouble and expense of restructuring and partly rewriting it—though without moderating the violence—at proof stage. Despite the demands of film work and short stories (of which a first collection appeared in 1931 and a second in 1934), and even the preparation of a volume of poems (published in 1933 as A Green Bough), Faulkner produced in 1932 another long and powerful novel. Complexly structured and involving several major characters, Light in August revolves primarily upon the contrasted careers of Lena Grove, a pregnant young countrywoman serenely in pursuit of her biological destiny, and Joe Christmas, a dark-complexioned orphan uncertain as to his racial origins, whose life becomes a desperate and often violent search for a sense of personal identity, a secure location on one side or the other of the tragic dividing line of colour. Made temporarily affluent by Sanctuary and Hollywood, Faulkner took up flying in the early 1930s, bought a Waco cabin aircraft, and flew it in February 1934 to the dedication of Shushan Airport in New Orleans, gathering there much of the material for Pylon, the novel about racing and barnstorming pilots that he published in 1935. Having given the Waco to his youngest brother, Dean, and encouraged him to become a professional pilot, Faulkner was both grief- and guilt-stricken when Dean crashed and died in the plane later in 1935; when Dean’s daughter was born in 1936 he took responsibility for her education. The experience perhaps contributed to the emotional intensity of the novel on which he was then working. In Absalom, Absalom! (1936) Thomas Sutpen arrives in Jefferson from “nowhere,” ruthlessly carves a large plantation out of the Mississippi wilderness, fights valiantly in the Civil War in defense of his adopted society, but is ultimately destroyed by his inhumanity toward those whom he has used and cast aside in the obsessive pursuit of his grandiose dynastic “design.” By refusing to acknowledge his first, partly black, son, Charles Bon, Sutpen also loses his second son, Henry, who goes into hiding after killing Bon (whom he loves) in the name of their sister’s honour. Because this profoundly Southern story is constructed—speculatively, conflictingly, and inconclusively—by a series of narrators with sharply divergent self-interested perspectives, Absalom, Absalom! is often seen, in its infinite open-endedness, as Faulkner’s supreme “modernist” fiction, focused above all on the processes of its own telling.
Later life and works The novel The Wild Palms (1939) was again technically adventurous, with two distinct yet thematically counterpointed narratives alternating, chapter by chapter, throughout. But Faulkner was beginning to return to the Yoknapatawpha County material he had first imagined in the 1920s and subsequently exploited in short-story form. The Unvanquished (1938) was relatively conventional, but The Hamlet (1940), the first volume of the long-uncompleted “Snopes” trilogy, emerged as a work of extraordinary stylistic richness. Its episodic structure is underpinned by recurrent thematic patterns and by the wryly humorous presence of V.K. Ratliff—an itinerant sewing-machine agent—and his unavailing opposition to the increasing power and prosperity of the supremely manipulative Flem Snopes and his numerous “poor white” relatives. In 1942 appeared Go Down, Moses, yet another major work, in which an intense exploration of the linked themes of racial, sexual, and environmental exploitation is conducted largely in terms of the complex interactions between the “white” and “black” branches of the plantation-owning McCaslin family, especially as represented by Isaac McCaslin on the one hand and Lucas Beauchamp on the other. For various reasons—the constraints on wartime publishing, financial pressures to take on more scriptwriting, difficulties with the work later published as A Fable—Faulkner did not produce another novel until Intruder in the Dust (1948), in which Lucas Beauchamp, reappearing from Go Down, Moses, is proved innocent of murder, and thus saved from lynching, only by the persistent efforts of a young white boy. Racial issues were again confronted, but in the somewhat ambiguous terms that were to mark Faulkner’s later public statements on race: while deeply sympathetic to the oppression suffered by blacks in the Southern states, he nevertheless felt that such wrongs should be righted by the South itself, free of Northern intervention. Faulkner’s American reputation—which had always lagged well behind his reputation in Europe—was boosted by The Portable Faulkner (1946), an anthology skillfully edited by Malcolm Cowley in accordance with the arresting if questionable thesis that Faulkner was deliberately constructing a historically based “legend” of the South. Faulkner’s Collected Stories (1950), impressive in both quantity and quality, was also well received, and later in 1950 the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature catapulted the author instantly to the peak of world fame and enabled him to affirm, in a famous acceptance speech, his belief in the survival of the human race, even in an atomic age, and in the importance of the artist to that survival. The Nobel Prize had a major impact on Faulkner’s private life. Confident now of his reputation and future sales, he became less consistently “driven” as a writer than in earlier years and allowed himself more personal freedom, drinking heavily at times and indulging in a number of extramarital affairs—his opportunities in these directions being considerably enhanced by a final screenwriting assignment in Egypt in 1954 and several overseas trips (most notably to Japan in 1955) undertaken on behalf of the U.S. State Department. He took his “ambassadorial” duties seriously, speaking frequently in public and to interviewers, and also became politically active at home, taking positions on major racial issues in the vain hope of finding middle ground between entrenched Southern conservatives and interventionist Northern liberals. Local Oxford opinion proving hostile to such views, Faulkner in 1957 and 1958 readily accepted semester-long appointments as writer-in-residence at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Attracted to the town by the presence of his daughter and her children as well as by its opportunities for horse-riding and fox-hunting, Faulkner bought a house there in 1959, though continuing to spend time at Rowan Oak. William Faulkner, photograph by Carl Van Vechten, c. 1954. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Carl Van Vechten Collection (Digital file no. 5a51970) The quality of Faulkner’s writing is often said to have declined in the wake of the Nobel Prize. But the central sections of Requiem for a Nun (1951) are challengingly set out in dramatic form, and A Fable (1954), a long, densely written, and complexly structured novel about World War I, demands attention as the work in which Faulkner made by far his greatest investment of time, effort, and authorial commitment. In The Town (1957) and The Mansion (1959) Faulkner not only brought the “Snopes” trilogy to its conclusion, carrying his Yoknapatawpha narrative to beyond the end of World War II, but subtly varied the management of narrative point of view. Finally, in June 1962 Faulkner published yet another distinctive novel, the genial, nostalgic comedy of male maturation he called The Reivers and appropriately subtitled “A Reminiscence.” A month later he was dead, of a heart attack, at the age of 64, his health undermined by his drinking and by too many falls from horses too big for him.First package of two arrived today! I was very excited, so I took pictures along the short journey.
Upon opening the box and packing, I saw two little packages both with the word "Zombie" on them, so I knew right away I would love whatever they were.
Turns out one if "Zombie Blood" which is a drinkable green liquid and the other is "Zombie Jerky" which is teriyaki flavored jerky with a tint of green!
Can't wait to try my treats.
[UPDATE]
Second package arrived today!
Could NOT be happier with these Dexter playing cards. First of all, I didn't even know they made them in the first place haha.
I am a HUGE Dexter fan and play poker all the time. Perfect timing as well, considering Dexter just started up again!
Can't wait to use these cards for my home poker games.
Thank you very much KittyGoesMiah, and Happy Halloween right back at you!
Thank you very much!!!“Star Trek” has never been apolitical. The original show was one of the most racially diverse on TV and featured the first interracial small screen kiss.
So it’s not a surprise then that “Star Trek: Discovery” will also be taking on some political themes. However, the new installment in the franchise will be taking on more current questions.
Co-showrunner Aaron Harberts Co-showrunner Aaron Harberts told EW that because the bulk of “Discovery” was made around the time of the election, there are a lot of political influences in the story.
Specifically, that the Klingons are going to be the Trump supporter stand-in. At the least, they’re around for the purpose of expressing political ideas that have been espoused by Trump supporters and others on the right.
“The Klingons are going to help us really look at certain sides of ourselves and our country. Isolationism is a big theme. Racial purity is a big theme,” he said. “The Klingons are not the enemy, but they do have a different view on things. It raises big questions: Should we let people in? Do we want to change? There’s also the question of just because you reach your hand out to someone, do they have to take it? Sometimes, they don’t want to take it.”
“In times of stress and conflict it can bring out the best of us and the worst of us,” said the other showrunner, Gretchen J. Berg. “But ultimately brings out the best in our Starfleet officers.”
Harberts added that as shooting continues — and the conflict in North Korea escalates — that will also be taken into account.
“North Korea is in our thoughts as we finish the series,” he said. “What began as a commentary on our own divided nation — in terms of Trump supporters and non-Trump supporters — has blown out to North Korea and how we’re right on the brink. [The U.S. is] actually right at the place where Starfleet finds itself in episode one and we couldn’t have anticipated that happening.
“Discovery” follows First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) as she discovers what it means to be a hero. She is the first woman of color to lead a “Star Trek” franchise, which in itself is political.
“Discovery” premieres on CBS All Access on Sunday, Sept. 24 and will be followed by the premiere on the CBS network.
Error loading player: No playable sources foundSometimes the most difficult part about forming a startup is finding the right cofounders to help you get that idea off of the ground. It’s not easy. And even though there are a lot of fish in the sea, finding that special somone—or someones—is always a challenge.
Now, there’s hope.
That’s right folks. It’s that time again. Time for startup speed dating with OTBC. So pack up all of your cheesy pickup lines, all of your cool startup ideas, and a list of the complementary skills you need to make your venture a success. And head over to the OTBC on September 26.
Just head on over to the OTBC site—which, as an aside, appears to be a fresh new Drupal implementation—and list your startup idea.
If you’d like to do an elevator pitch at the SpeedDating event, please post some information about your idea (even if you need to be vague) so we’ll know who wants to present, and can prepare a list to hand-out at th event.
What’s that? You don’t have startup idea but you have skills? That’s great too! There’s probably a startup that could use those skills. So head over to OTBC and tell folks about that.
How much for all of this matchmaking awesomeness? It’s free, my friend. Well, with a suggested $3 donation. But that’s still practically free.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well what are you waiting for, silly? For more information or to RSVP, see Speed Dating for Startups on Meetup. And then add your name to the startup list or the skills list.
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Want to connect with more awesome dots in the Portland startup community? Consider joining us over on Patreon ❤️
Like this: Like Loading...Ask an Admin (Admins being the term for Reddit employees) is a weekly column connecting Redditors and Upvoted readers with the people behind-the-scenes at Reddit. Got a question for Greg the Admin? Email him at askanadmin@reddit.com.
What were your first few days like working at Reddit? What was it about Reddit that made you want to start working there?
– Reddit user Sanlear
My first few days at Reddit? It was like the first day of kindergarten all over again.
For at least the first week, I was instructed to begin each day by sitting cross-legged on the floor, and having children’s stories read to me. Stellaluna, Goodnight, Moon—you know, the hits. Each story sesh would then be followed by light finger painting and snacks, to get my creative (and apple) juices flowing. By noon each day, I was put into a dark room (where they hid things like Snoo costumes and surpluses of Reddit Gold), where they’d then force me to take naps, with no bathroom breaks.
Oh, wait, those were my dreams immediately before working at Reddit.
The reality is, my first few days (and weeks) at Reddit were great, but it was the feeling that I actually worked at Reddit, of all freakin’ companies, that really made things overwhelming. It wasn’t a “Oh, I have a new job, I’m super nervous so I better make sure I don’t fuck up” feeling—but more like a “Holy hell, am I really employed by Reddit?” feeling. It was not the nightmare I joked about, but more of a honeymoon feeling.
Getting to know the community better, internal etiquette, and, of course, fellow admins, were all like second nature, since I’d been so familiar with the website for so many years.
A few funny stories from my first week: The first time I ever met ComeForthLazarus in the office, we immediately decided it was our duty to create a Reddit office book club (which we did). The first time I met KrispyKrackers was over a game of Settlers of Catan, where we both lost to Drunken_Economist, then vowed to become allies for eternity as to never let him beat us again. The first time I ever met Kn0thing, was, well, in the men’s bathroom—probably not the best place for a first handshake.
So what was it that made me want to work for Reddit anyway? Well, if you’re looking for the honest truth answer: IT’S A FULL-TIME JOB AT REDDIT, HELLO.
If you’re looking for the philosophical answer: The truth is, Reddit has been a big part of my life (many of our lives, I know) for so long—an every-single-day part of my life— that it only made sense. When you’re passionate about something and you understand a company so well, and you know what your creativity and skill set can bring to that company, then things just start to click and come together.
It was like a match-made in my dreams (minus the nightmares), that I knew I could not turn down. What made me want to start working at Reddit? My love for the site, my love for the communities that make this site so awesome, and the fact that more amazing shit happens on Reddit on a daily basis then any other website around—yeah, those are just a few of the reasons, I suppose.+ T -
Поделиться:
Специальный корреспондент ИД «Коммерсантъ» Илья Барабанов объясняет, что на самом деле значат новые данные расследования о сбитом над Украиной «Боинге» рейса МН-17
В нашем медиапространстве новости живут иногда день, максимум неделю, а порой всего пару часов. Вчерашнее оглашение результатов расследования катастрофы МН17 над Донбассом уже к вечеру было забито в российских новостных лентах «альтернативной» повесткой: Министерство обороны утверждает, что ни один «Бук» российско-украинскую границу не пересекал, представитель МИД Мария Захарова возмущена «ангажированностью» расследования, производитель «Буков» — концерн «Алмаз-Антей» продолжает настаивать на том, что пуск ракеты был произведен не из-под Снежного, а из села Зарощенское.
Все это, конечно, информационная шелуха для внутреннего пользователя, которую мы, в первую очередь журналисты, обязаны донести, к сожалению, и до читателя. За ней не отрефлексированным до конца остается следующее: следствие установило, что «Бук» прибыл в Донбасс из России и после катастрофы малайзийского «Боинга» вернулся туда же.
Это факт. Факт, который не берется оспаривать даже пресс-секретарь Владимира Путина Дмитрий Песков, продолжающий настаивать, что это лишь данные предварительного расследования. Он останется в учебниках истории, «Википедии», сознании людей всей планеты, и только россияне какое-то время будут еще думать: «Все не так однозначно».
«Людей, конечно, жалко, но наша служба ПВО действовала правильно», — сказал глава советского государства Юрий Андропов после того, как советская ракета сбила южнокорейский «Боинг» в 1983 году. Тогда погибли 269 человек.
В июле 2014 года в результате падения МН17 погибло 298 пассажиров, но мы до сих пор не можем быть до конца уверены, что хоть кто-то из российского руководства этих людей хотя бы пожалел. В 1983-м ракета вылетела из советского истребителя Су-15, в 2014-м — с территории сопредельного государства. Где, по официальной версии, не было никого, кроме «заблудившихся» десантников и «отпускников».
Прокуратура Нидерландов и следственная комиссия не выдвигают пока обвинений ни в адрес конкретных лиц, ни против нашего государства, но все мы отлично понимаем, что через Uber или «Яндекс-такси» комплекс «Бук» не вызывается. И тем более не пересекает государственные границы. Решение о его переброске кем-то было принято, из определенной воинской части его перевозили конкретные солдаты. Расследованию еще предстоит установить, кто это был, сбили ли они гражданский самолет специально или по трагическому стечению обстоятельств, какова в этом вина государства. Причем в этом случае ставить знак равенства между страной и государством ни в коем случае нельзя, поскольку между людьми, страну населяющими, и людьми, страну возглавляющими, есть разница. Но исторический факт, записанный теперь в учебниках, заключается в том, что тот «Бук» в Донбасс пришел именно с территории России. И хотя я против этого знака равенства, но второй день думаю о том, какова лично моя ответственность за то, что произошло. Ведь виноваты не только те, кто принимал решение и отдавал приказ. Не только те, кто всячески кричал о «преступлениях хунты» и идее «Новороссии». Виноваты все, и это очень важно после вчерашнего дня понять и попытаться осознать. Не принять, наверное, но хотя бы попытаться как-то отрефлексировать. Как сделал находящийся сейчас в Нидерландах коллега из «Новой газеты» Паша Каныгин. Если этого не умеет делать государство, каждый из нас хотя бы может попытаться сказать простое слово: «Простите».
Об истинных причинах второй чеченской кампании можно спорить до сих пор. О том, кто взорвал жилые дома в Москве, апеллируя к истории в Рязани, тем более. С малайзийским «Боингом» история куда проще — независимое международное расследование, в котором принимали участие специалисты высшего уровня, и тянущееся на данный момент 2 года и 2 месяца, пришло к однозначному выводу: 298 смертей на совести российского «Бука».
В этот момент надо просто отбросить всю информационную шелуху, забыть даже о самом факте существования «Алмаз-Антея», Марии Захаровой и генерал-майора Конашенкова, остановиться и немного подумать о том, что мы сами с собой сделали не так, из-за чего 73-летняя Джейн Ади Сутджипто не вернулась домой в Джакарту, а 12-летний Фризо Хоар не долетел вместе с родителями до обещанного ими курорта.While the U.S. still has the highest earning potential for both online media and entertainment companies, emerging markets like China, India, Russia, and Mexico are quickly catching up. A new report by Ernst & Young says growth will be fueled by rapidly increasing Internet penetration. There are expected to be two billion broadband connections by 2016 in the emerging markets covered by the report, twice that of mature markets Smartphone shipments to emerging markets will also double between 2014 and 2018.
China, the top emerging market for online media companies, is expected to have 500 million wireless broadband connections by 2016 (to put that number in context, it has a population of 1.36 billion).
The country’s regulations, however, make it an infamously difficult market for foreign companies to enter. Facebook and Google are just two U.S. tech giants that have been blocked or restricted.
For example, Google Play is unavailable in China, which means that over a hundred alternative app stores have sprung up for Android users. Even though developers in China can now make money from Google Play stores in 130 international markets, they are still blocked from selling apps in their own country. Google Play’s lack of availability in China also means overseas Android developers have a difficult time taking advantage of its highly-developed (and still rapidly growing) smartphone ecosystem unless they find a local distribution partner.
India also presents challenges for online media companies because of limited smartphone and broadband penetration. Telecoms are gradually beginning to launch 4G service, but Ernst & Young says India is still not expected to generate much online advertising revenue in the near-term, especially in comparison to other emerging markets. Its online advertising market is expected to reach just $1 billion next year, compared to China’s forecast for $23 billion.
On the other hand, India will not only have 300 million wireless broadband connections by 2016, but it will also become the country with the youngest average age (29) by 2020, which means there are plenty of long-term growth opportunities. Furthermore, the increasing availability of affordable smartphones from makers like Xiaomi and Micromax means that India is one of the fastest growing markets in the Asia Pacific region.
Russia, meanwhile, enjoys higher penetration rates for both broadband (87 percent) and smartphones (50 percent) but, like China, it presents several significant roadblocks for foreign companies. Ernst & Young says that out of the countries included in its report, Russia ranks the lowest in political stability and also has the highest level of digital piracy.
Furthermore, last fall Russia introduced a law limiting foreign ownership of media, which means that many companies will have to sell part or all of their stakes by 2017.
Another difficult market to enter for foreign companies is Mexico, because it has “a higher perception of bribery and corrupt practices,” says the report, which means media and entertainment companies have to deal with a higher risk for fraud.
Its smartphone penetration is also just 21 percent, much lower than other Latin American countries like Argentina and Brazil. On the other hand, Mexico’s per capita consumer spending is the highest among emerging markets covered by the study, at $11,000 per person.Lahore, Pakistan (CNN) For so many, it was supposed to be a pleasant day out; among the Christian visitors, a fun way to celebrate Easter Sunday. But a day in the park turned into tragedy for the families of the 74 lives brutally cut short in Lahore's Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park last weekend.
Seventeen of those killed were minors, Haider Ashraf, the deputy inspector general of police for the Pakistani city, told CNN. Almost 370 others were wounded.
Naveed Ashraf with his new bride, Shawana. This image has been edited at the request of the victims' family to protect her privacy.
Jamat-ul-Ahrar, the group that claimed responsibility, said it was specifically targeting Christians on the holy day, and has vowed more such attacks.
The attack came at a poignant time for the country's Christian minority, some of whom were in the city's Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park to celebrate Easter on Sunday evening.
But not all the victims were Christians -- the simple fact is that families from across the city come to use this park, and the majority of the victims in Sunday's horrific attack were Muslim.
Near a makeshift memorial in the park, a sign, stark white capital letters on a black background, proclaimed what so many in this city think: "Terrorism has no religion."
Among the victims: a young Muslim couple, married just four months.
Overtaken by grief
Naveed Ashraf's mother was beside herself with loss. Her son has married just months before, and the newlyweds -- both Muslim -- were visiting the park with two of Naveed's sisters.
"I entrusted them in God's hands, now they are with God," she said.
It was the first time his new wife, Shawana, had visited the popular spot in Lahore, one of Pakistan's most moderate, cosmopolitan cities.
They both died in the bombing, suffering shrapnel wounds to the head and neck that poured blood, soaking their clothes, hair and faces.
They were buried as soon as possible under Muslim law -- first thing Monday morning. One of Naveed's sisters was also injured in the bombing -- a shrapnel wound in her leg.
"Everyone who saw (Shawana) said'she looks like an angel,''' Naveed's mother told CNN. "Well, God made an angel come and take my son away."
JUST WATCHED Pakistan mourns Easter bombing victims Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Pakistan mourns Easter bombing victims 01:56
Moment of innocence before tragedy strikes
Moments before the attack, video was taken of the Ashraf family. They were sitting having snacks close to a food stand when the bombers struck.
In the aftermath, the family searched for them at the park. They found them, broken and bloodied, at the city's Sheikh Zayed Hospital. On the way there they had helped other victims, one family in a stream of volunteers loading the injured into cars, on to motorbikes, anything that could carry them.
The sisters were covered in cloth lying side by side. One had been helped there by strangers, two men that carried her listless body -- men she now calls "brothers."
Despite her own injuries, her sister had searched for help to get her brother to hospital.
"Oh my lion son! I might as well be dead! I don't want to act like this, but I can help it. He was my lion, my big, strong son. Oh, my son was soaked in blood," his mother cried.
"If I could I would swap places with them. I wish I could give all my years to my children," she said, sobs wracking her body. Her husband, Naveed's father, sat next to her, mute in his own grief.
"All I wanted to do was hold my son and daughter in law close like this," she added, wrapping her arms around herself, tightly.
"How could they betray me like this? They took them away in coffins."
JUST WATCHED Pakistan: Lahore attackers have no religion Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Pakistan: Lahore attackers have no religion 10:00
The area around the park remains closed, a crime scene. You can see the dark black soot, the scars of where one unidentified suicide bomber carried out this attack. The blackened soil is next to a children's ride.
The perpetrator of this horrific, senseless act likely perished in the flames alongside his scores of victims. He leaves behind, among countless others, a family who say a darkness has befallen them.Anonymous submission to Conflict Minnesota
Our actions may be small now, but with every blow our affinities deepen and we grow stronger. – Propaganda Actions For September 9th August 23rd, 2016
On January 20th in downtown Minneapolis, a group broke away from the larger, passive demonstration called in protest Donald Trump’s inauguration. This breakaway action was not simply remarkable because it shot off fireworks or blocked the light-rail. Nor because dumpsters were moved into traffic or because paint was tossed at the juvie. These actions and others are welcome, and one can assume they produced great joy in those who carried them out. However, come morning, the paint will have been scrubbed off, traffic flowing as normal, and Donald Trump will begin his first full day as President of the United States.
No, this breakaway action was remarkable because it exemplified the increasing capabilities that social antagonists have been slowing rebuilding in the past years. This growth has been in quality as well as quantity; the January 20th breakaway certainly outnumbered any other autonomous action in recent memory. Various crews came prepared with their own material contributions, all equally important in the shaping the day’s events. Participants both familiar and unfamiliar were able to cooperate quickly and effectively in the street, moving between targets while avoiding police, unprepared as the cops were for any trouble. After the short excursion, everyone was able to safely disperse into the larger rally without incident.
[D]owntown Minneapolis is a non-space where there is no possibility of building momentum or gaining useful territory. Downtown is the symbol and paradigm of pure function with no necessary human contact. But we continue to drift toward safe non-spaces, as the freeway has now become (when permitted marches take it late at night or on weekends, as we’ve seen recently). We always find ourselves wandering about in the concrete desert of downtown with no people around and very few consequential transit conduits, police at an eerie distance. – J19 Minneapolis: Well, We Tried To Have a Dance Party January 22rd, 2017
We caught a glimpse of our potential on January 20th, potential that would be squandered on symbolic, punctual thrashings of the downtown cityscape. As Trump’s regime continues to present us with new challenges over the next several years, this is the time to explore our capabilities as they relate to our own blocks and neighborhoods. Finding terrain that works to our advantage, eliminating barriers between participant and bystander, remaining undetected by police surveillance. The stale practices of activism have left us ill-prepared for the tasks ahead of us.
An action is greater than the sum of it’s parts. It goes beyond the tally of vandalism and destruction.
Let’s remember January 20th as the ascent, not the peak, of our revolt.Image credit: iStockPhoto
Disc information
Columnist: Edward Crabtree Posted on Wednesday, 13 August, 2014 | 1 comment Columnist:
Article Copyright© Edward Crabtree - reproduced with permission.
A recent issue of Anomalniye Novosti (Number 21, 19th May) – a Russian news rag devoted to the mysterious – features a shot taken in the rural outskirts of Leningradskaya Oblast. Against a clear sky a quartet of gleaming saucer-like shapes can be seen. The image seems convincing, but then again, it was sent in as a part of a competition for just such pictures, and young Russians are infamous for their digital wizardry. The same paper, however, also showcases a photograph of a metallic looking oval shaped `horn-like` form which appeared in the skies of Mexico on April 18th, and which gathered other witnesses. Indeed, that country, and Mexico City in particular, has become a focal point of such events.Daylight observations of what appear to be unknown structured craft were characterised by Dr Allen Hynek, when he was the astronomical consultant to the American Air Force’s Project Blue Book, as `Daylight Discs`. Should this phenomenon come with a 500 foot range, then we can talk about a Close Encounter of the First Kind (or CE1K). Important testimonies involving these are still forthcoming, but tend to get drowned out by more blood-and-thunder tales of kidnappings and implants from insectoids from Zeta Reticuli, and so on.Long standing UFO investigators such as the Californian Ann Druffel now hold that abduction and contactee scenarios are quite distinct occurrences from Daylight Disc/CE1K type events and that the latter should be studied in isolation (Lueder, p-44). We can be sure that doing so allows us to bring fresh eyes to the matter.The Fifties began with the most celebrated flying Saucer shot in the annals of UFO journalism and ushered in the decade of the flying disc.The day was ordinary enough for Evelyn Trent as she fed her rabbits in her farm in the town of McMinnville not far from Oregon. What happened next, however, was that she espied a metallic looking disc making its way above her. She called out to her husband Paul. He grabbed a Kodak. The resulting snaps –which now seems the most surprising part of the whole story – made it to the front cover of Time Magazine. The Trents themselves did not make a dime. This fact has not prevented the aviation writer Philip Klass from insisting that all the picture shows is a truck mirror suspended from adjacent telegraph wires. Bruce Maccabee, a former optical data processor for the American Navy, however, has spent four years scrutinising the picture and holds that it shows just what it appears to show (Bainton, p-11-112).As the decade progressed |
very much about it. I wasn't really sure what questions I should have about it or whether I could even discuss it outside of the temple. Besides, I thought I knew all there was to know about it, which of course wasn't true.
I took the temple preparation class in Sunday School before receiving my endowment, so I had a general knowledge of what the temple garment was and what it meant. But I never made the connection of what the temple garment meant to me personally. With all the wedding details, the moving details, the family details, and the overall twitterpation of being sealed to my best friend for all eternity, I didn't feel like I had a lot of time to process anything that was happening to me the few weeks leading up to receiving my endowment. But when I was laying on the examination table while the university doctor poured yellow dye onto my eye to find where the scratches on my cornea were, I realized how much I had learned about my garments since becoming endowed and what I wish I had known about them before I received them.
The temple garment is a shield from temptation.
Before I was endowed, I had heard stories of how the temple garment was sometimes credited with protecting people physically. One of my Sunday School teachers growing up told our class that while he was working as an auto mechanic, something went wrong with the car he was working on and hot fluid burned his shoulder, but not the part where his garments were.
While this and other miraculous experiences where the temple garment protects members physically are rare, experiences of temple garments protecting members spiritually can happen every day.
The temple garment physically represents the covenants we make in the temple and therefore is a "protection against temptation and evil," according to the Church's Handbook 2: Administering the Church.
In his book The Holy Temple, President Boyd K. Packer said, "The garment represents sacred covenants. It fosters modesty and becomes a shield and protection to the wearer."
With this kind of constant spiritual protection, it's no surprise the temple garment is sometimes referred to as "armor," as President Russell M. Nelson said in his April 2001 general conference address "Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings":
"Wearing the temple garment has deep symbolic significance. It represents a continuing commitment. Just as the Savior exemplified the need to endure to the end, we wear the garment faithfully as part of the enduring armor of God. Thus we demonstrate our faith in Him and in His eternal covenants with us."
Elder Carlos E. Asay, an emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, also expanded on the temple garment's ability to protect us spiritually in an article published in the August 1997 Ensign "The Temple Garment: An Outward Expression of an Inward Commitment.” Speaking of the armor of God the Apostle Paul refers to in Ephesians 6, Elder Asay relates how garments can also be considered spiritual armor and how they protect us from temptation:
"The heavy armor worn by soldiers of a former day, including helmets, shields, and breastplates, determined the outcome of some battles. However, the real battles of life in our modern day will be won by those who are clad in a spiritual armor—an armor consisting of faith in God, faith in self, faith in one’s cause, and faith in one’s leaders. The piece of armor called the temple garment not only provides the comfort and warmth of a cloth covering, it also strengthens the wearer to resist temptation, fend off evil influences, and stand firmly for the right."
As Latter-day Saints, we have the incredible blessing of spiritual protection from the temptations and the influence of the adversary as we wear the temple garment correctly and treat it with respect.
How we wear the temple garment is an expression of our inward commitment to follow the Savior.
Before I received my endowment, I understood that the temple garment was a special representation of my covenants with Heavenly Father and I shouldn't wear it inappropriately. However, I didn't fully comprehend how the way I wore the temple garment could be a personal expression of my commitment to follow the Savior.
Wearing the temple garment is a physical, constant reminder of our sacred, vital covenants.
According to the Church's Handbook 2: Administering the Church, members "should not adjust the garment or wear it contrary to instructions in order to accommodate different styles of clothing. Nor should they alter the garment from its authorized design. When two-piece garments are used, both pieces should always be worn."
Though the temple garment is not seen by others and is worn underneath regular clothing, it is a physical representation of our willingness to live the gospel and follow our Savior that is important to our salvation.
“No man [can] be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins....
“Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?” (Alma 5:21, 27).
Elder Asay illustrates how important it can be to treat the temple garment with respect and wear it appropriately by sharing an exchange President Harold B. Lee once had with President James E. Faust:
"A few years ago, in a seminar for new temple presidents and matrons, Elder James E. Faust, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told about his being called to serve as a General Authority. He was asked only one question by President Harold B. Lee: ‘Do you wear the garments properly?’ to which he answered in the affirmative. He then asked if President Lee wasn’t going to ask him about his worthiness. President Lee replied that he didn’t need to, for he had learned from experience that how one wears the garment is the expression of how the individual feels about the Church and everything that relates to it. It is a measure of one’s worthiness and devotion to the gospel" (Elder Carlos E. Asay, August 1997 Ensign "The Temple Garment: “An Outward Expression of an Inward Commitment”).
Before I received my endowment, I knew wearing the temple garment correctly was important. But what I wish I understood was how much of a reflection the temple garment is of my willingness to live the gospel and honor the covenants I made in the temple.
Garments are a piece of the temple we can have with us always.
Even before I received my endowment, I always felt a little sad as I drove away from the temple after performing baptisms for the dead. I loved the feeling I received from being in the Lord's holy house and performing the work of salvation for others.
What I wish I knew before I received my endowment was that I could have a little bit of the temple with me always when I wore the temple garment faithfully.
The work that we do for the dead does not end when we leave the temple. It's important for us to live up to temple covenants and wear the temple garment faithfully for the work of salvation we perform for others as well as ourselves.
As I've come to learn more about this, the temple garment has become an especially sweet reminder to me of the importance of the work I am doing for my deceased family members who did not have the opportunity to receive the blessing of the temple in this life. It reminds me of the enormity of trust my Heavenly Father gives to me by allowing me to perform the work of salvation for myself and others. It a reminder of the gravity of the statement Prophet Joseph Smith made to Church members, "For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect" (Doctrine and Covenants 128:18).
I especially appreciated what Elder Asay had to say about this aspect of the temple garment:
"I like to think of the garment as the Lord’s way of letting us take part of the temple with us when we leave. It is true that we carry from the Lord’s house inspired teachings and sacred covenants written in our minds and hearts. However, the one tangible remembrance we carry with us back into the world is the garment. And though we cannot always be in the temple, a part of it can always be with us to bless our lives" Elder Carlos E. Asay, August 1997 Ensign "The Temple Garment: “An Outward Expression of an Inward Commitment”).
Though there are many things about the temple garment that can't be discussed casually or outside the temple because these topics are so sacred, I know these few aspects of the temple garment's sacred symbolism have helped increase my understanding of it.
And these aspects are what I wish I knew before I received my temple garment.
Lead image from Getty ImagesI’ve heard great things about design thinking conferences but have never actually attended one. I’m hopeful to attend my first one in 2018 but am unsure which one to choose. Ever since I discovered and fell in love with the world of design thinking, I’ve actively sought ways to continue my journey. I’ve networked with other design thinkers both online and in person. I’ve read every piece of design thinking literature I can get my hands on. I’ve taught & applied design thinking in my job. But I’m still hungry to learn more…
Why do I want to attend a design thinking conference?
In a nutshell, I’m looking to network, learn, be inspired, and have fun in the process. Firstly, nothing beats the power of meeting fellow design thinkers in person. I believe there’s tremendous power in shared-interest communities and the ability to bounce ideas off others in real-time. Second, I’m always on the lookout for the latest trends in design thinking and actively seek to advance my knowledge in the field. The educational seminars, best practices, and innovative ideas that a design thinking conference can provide, would be hugely valuable to myself and the teams that I lead. Finally, I believe it would be a ton of fun. I love to travel to interesting places, learn new skills, and meet cool people; I imagine that design thinking conferences could easily deliver all three.
My key consideration factors for choosing a design thinking conference:
As I research design thinking conferences, I have 5 criterion that are guiding my decision making process.
Language: What is the dominant language used in the seminars, discussions, etc.? (I’m looking for English, or at the very least, English subtitles) Content/Agenda: Who are the speakers? How rich/diverse/interesting is the agenda? If the conference has been held in the past, how strong was the previous agenda? Location: Conferences closer to home (for me, this means North America) are certainly attractive from a cost & logistics standpoint. However, I’ve noticed there are design thinking conferences in lots of enticing locations beyond the US; places easy to visit through a business trip or fun enough to include as part of a family vacation. Length of Time: Assuming a great agenda and attendee base, 2-3 days of dedicated focus is my ideal. Cost: This includes flights, accommodations, and the cost of the conference itself.
Conferences dedicated to design thinking are harder to find than I expected.
As I began researching design thinking conferences, I was surprised not to find more conferences dedicated solely to design thinking. I often found design thinking as a component or workshop within a related but different type of conference (e.g. UX, innovation, design, entrepreneurship conferences). While I’ve identified design thinking conferences in 6 of 7 continents, they’re available more by the handful than by the dozens.
My 3-part strategy for creating my initial list of potential DT conferences to attend:
I love to plan in advance and have reached out to peers and searched the web to identify the best design thinking conference for me to attend next year. While there are attractive potential options for the first half of 2018, I’ve found many conferences haven’t solidified dates & locations for 2018 (unsurprisingly as we’re still in 2017). Additionally, agendas & lists of speakers often aren’t published or finalized until much closer to the actual conference date.
My initial strategy for evaluating design thinking conferences includes 1) getting recommendations from peers, 2) finding conferences in 2018 with information already listed, and 3) identifying established conferences that have had great reviews in the past to get a sense of when and where they might occur in 2018.
My Initial Target List of Design Thinking Conferences for 2018
IMPORTANT NOTE – Red Font Means Conference Date/Location Needs to Be Confirmed. For newer conferences, this also means confirming whether they are actually happening at all in 2018
Africa
Design Thinking Ghana Conference (DTGC) – (Accra, Ghana – May 2018?) 2017 was the first year this conference was conducted but I heard it was well attended and had some strong facilitators. Fingers crossed this conference returns. 1 day / $13-14 USD Link to Details From Inaugural 2017 Conference
Design Indaba (Cape Town, South Africa – February 21-23, 2018) Not a pure design thinking conference, heavy focus on the holistic creativity/pure design side. However, have heard great reviews from prior sessions. I also love Cape Town! 1, 2, & 3 day passes available / ~$225-$525 USD Feb 2018 Conference Details
Antarctica
Not available but coming eventually? I hear there are lots of experiments and innovation projects happening on Antarctica so perhaps it’s only a matter of time before someone converts one of those Antarctica-bound cruise ships from Ushuaia or Punta Arenas, into a design thinking cruise ship conference!
Asia
Innovation by Design Conference (Singapore – March 6-8, 2018) An expansion of the ‘Innovation by Design Conference’ held in Singapore the past 2 years. Part of Singapore Design Week. Some great companies & speakers, with a few videos from 2017 available on the site. Participants can submit interest but must then be “invited”. 3 days / $2,500 USD Mar 2018 Conference Details
Design Thinking in Action (Hong Kong – October 2018?) Smaller conference with has some interesting speakers. Videos from the 2016 session are posted on their website. Participants can submit interest but must then be “invited”. 2 days / Cost? Link to Details from 2017 Conference
Service Design Hong Kong – (Hong Kong – November 2018?) Conference happens annually during Fall. Some great speakers and interesting topics. In 2017, it happened the same week as DTIA (the conference above), but on different days of the week. 2 days / Cost? Conference Homepage
Australia
Design Thinking 2018 – (Sydney, Australia – June 26-27, 2018) I know little about this conference and my info here is very speculative. 2 days / $2,800 – $4,200 USD Conference Homepage
UX Australia – (Sydney, Australia – August 2018) Yes, this is a UX-centric conference but the agenda looks very compelling for design thinkers as well 4 days / $200 – $700 USD Conference Homepage
Europe
The Design Thinking Conference – (Amsterdam – October 11-12, 2018) A very non-traditional conference, this design thinking conference by DesignThinkers Academy is heavily influenced by the world of theater. There is a heavy focus on learning by doing in this conference. Fantastic & seasoned facilitators (or “actors”/”actresses” as they refer to them). 2 days / $1,000 – $1,300 USD Link to Details from October 2017 Session
Future London Academy – (London, England – March 19-23, 2018) This is actually a course, not a conference. It’s also very small in size. However, it would meet many of my objectives of attending a DT conference. Described as a ‘design safari’, the course content feels very thoughtfully curated. 5 days / $2,600 USD March 2018 Course Details
Serv Des – (Milan, Italy – June 18-20, 2018) A mix of academic & practical insights for the world of service design. It feels much more academic in nature than other conferences I’ve evaluated. 3 days / $150 – $500 USD June 2018 Conference Details
POLISHOPA – (Bydgoszcz, Poland – June 4-7, 2018) They’ve had some interesting speakers in the past. Videos from prior speakers are available on the website. 4 days / Cost? June 2018 Conference Details
Design Thinking (Luxatia) – (Prague, Czech Republic – October 2018?) Some great companies and speakers 2 days / $2,000 – $4,000 USD Link to 2017 Brochure
The UX Conference – (London, England – February 20, 2018) UX-centric but lots of good stuff for design thinkers 1 day / $200 – $400 USD Feb 2018 Conference Details
North America
South America
Interaction Latin America – (Rio De Janeiro – November 2018) Interaction and UX design centric conference. Features both Spanish & English speaking presenters. Location in South America changes every year. 3 days / $280 – $300 USD Conference Homepage
With a full time job outside the field of design thinking, and limited time/budget, I’m thinking a North American conference might be my best bet for 2018. However, I plan to keep this list handy and up-to-date in case my business travel or vacation plans take me to another continent. If there are other good ones I’m missing for 2018 or updated info for the ones I’ve identified, please let me know!
Like this: Like Loading...Editor’s Note: TNI’s Managing Editor, Harry J. Kazianis, spoke with Dan Sauter of the Business Development for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense at Lockheed Martin about the various advantages of the THAAD defense system and how it could help deal with emerging security threats in the Asia-Pacific.
Kazianis: For our readers who might not be familiar with THAAD or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, could we begin by you giving TNI readers a basic description of the system and how it works? What makes it unique? Why is it in America's interest to have such a system?
Sauter: THAAD is a key element of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) and is designed to defend U.S. troops, allied forces, population centers and critical infrastructure against short-thru-medium-range ballistic missiles. THAAD has a unique capability to destroy threats in both the endo- and exo-atmosphere using proven hit-to-kill (kinetic energy) lethality. THAAD is effective against all types of ballistic-missile warheads, especially including Weapons of Mass Destruction (chemical, nuclear or biological) payloads. THAAD was specifically designed to counter mass raids with its high firepower (up to 72 Interceptors per battery), capable organic radar and powerful battle manager/fire control capability. THAAD is interoperable with other BMDS elements, working in concert with Patriot/PAC-3, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, forward based sensors, and C2BMC (Command and Control, Battle Management, and Communications System) to maximize integrated air and missile defense capabilities. THAAD is mobile and rapidly deployable, which provides warfighters with greater flexibility to adapt to changing threat situations around the globe.
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Kazianis: How is the system different than say PAC-3 or AEGIS systems? How is it different than other defensive systems, such as the S-300/S-400 or the Israeli Arrow?
Sauter: THAAD is the right solution today for improving ballistic-missile defense capabilities and architectures around the globe. THAAD’s unique endo & exo capability adds an essential layer of defense against current and emerging missile threats. THAAD complements existing ballistic-missile defenses by closing the battlespace gap between endo-only PAC-3 and exo-only Aegis BMD. THAAD is interoperable with all BMDS systems. As potential adversaries have continued to increase ballistic-missile inventories, THAAD provides an exceptional capability to defend against mass raids, a challenge for many ballistic-missile defense systems. THAAD is mobile and tactically transportable, providing for rapid repositioning, ensuring sustained protection against new threats while offering additional operational flexibility for high demand Aegis BMD and Patriot/PAC3 systems. THAAD has a 100 percent mission success rate in the last thirteen rigorous developmental and operational tests, including eleven for eleven successful intercepts. The most recent of these tests demonstrated the operational integration of THAAD Aegis and PAC-3 in simultaneous endo and exo atmospheric engagements of threat representative targets in an awesome display of the BMDS in action. While it is not appropriate for us to comment on other non-U.S. and non-Lockheed Martin systems, we believe that there is no other system in the world that can compare to THAAD’s unique capabilities (Endo-Exo capability against current and emerging advanced threats, hit-to-kill technology to destroy an array of missiles and payloads, extraordinary Mass-Raid capability, deployability and tactical mobility, interoperabiltiy with other BMDS elements, etc) and proven record (100 percent mission success record in nine years of rigorous developmental and complex operational BMDS testing—including 100 percent mission success and eleven for eleven intercepts, successful first operational deployment support strategic stability, delivering first <of many upcoming> THAAD foreign military sales ahead of schedule, operational readiness rate that far exceeds U.S. government standards, growing U.S. and international demand for THAAD, etc).
Kazianis: As I am sure you are quite aware, there is tremendous concern over Chinese ballistic-missile systems. How does THAAD stack up against such potential systems?
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Sauter: The global proliferation of threat ballistic-missile systems, coupled with significant advances in precision, lethality and an exploitation of unprotected battlespace, requires a multitier, layered defense. To effectively defend troops, citizens, infrastructure and critical assets from these growing threats, THAAD’s unique endo & exo capability adds essential layers of defense, because it can operate in both regimes. THAAD complements existing ballistic-missile defenses by closing the battlespace gap between endo-only PAC-3 and exo-only Aegis BMD. THAAD is interoperable with all BMDS elements and provides an exceptional capability to defend against mass raids, a challenge for many ballistic-missile defense systems.
Kazianis: There does seem to be interest in foreign partners possibly purchasing the system. How would such a system benefit nations in the Asia-Pacific who face ballistic-missile challenges of their own, such as Japan, Taiwan and others?
Sauter: The U.S. government is currently executing the first THAAD foreign military sales to the United Arab Emirates, and the successful program remains ahead of schedule. There is significant international interest in THAAD, among U.S. partners around the globe, in order to better defend their people, infrastructure and critical assets against growing regional missile threats. In April 2013, the U.S. National Command Authority directed the first operational deployment of a THAAD unit in a strategic response to growing tensions in the Pacific Region. The THAAD unit remains deployed in the Pacific region today, providing a 24 x 7 defensive capability against a ballistic-missile threat that faces several U.S. international partners in the region.
Kazianis: In the last several days, there has been talk about North Korean nuclear-tipped missiles; specifically that Pyongyang could have the capability at present to place a miniaturized nuclear weapon on a long-range missile. In your view, is THAAD well positioned in its present form to handle challenges like North Korean medium or possible ICBM-style missiles?
Sauter: As we discussed earlier, THAAD’s capability was designed around addressing up to medium-range ballistic missiles, and as a result, has capability against longer-range threats, so THAAD is well positioned to handle these challenges.
Image: Flickr/ U.S. Missile Defense Agency /CC by 2.0After Fox News aired an interview between motorcycle-wanter Sean Hannity and animal costume-enthusiast Julian Assange, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin took to Twitter and Facebook to apologize to the Wikileaks founder. She also recommended her fans check out Oliver Stone’s Snowden, calling the film “quite enlightening.”
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Providing a link to Assange’s Fox News interview, she wrote “To Julian Assange: I apologize.” Presumably this is for her 2010 remarks comparing the pale king of Wikileaks to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Palin once wrote on her Facebook page, “Assange is not a ‘journalist,’ any more than the ‘editor’ of al Qaeda’s new English-language magazine Inspire is a ‘journalist.’”
During the 2008 election, Wikileaks posted hacked emails from Palin’s account. The hacker, for what it’s worth, was sentenced to a year in prison just weeks before Palin’s Facebook rant.
“[Assange] is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?” Palin wrote.
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Now she’s sorry. She wrote on her Facebook page this evening:
I apologize for condemning Assange when he published my infamous (and proven noncontroversial, relatively boring) emails years ago. As I said at the time of being targeted and my subsequent condemnation, though, the line must be drawn before our troops or innocent lives deserving protection would be put at risk as a result of published emails.
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Adding a postscript to her post, she praised the Snowden movie, along with Hannity’s interview, for their enlightening qualities. This is quite a jump from 2013, when she heavily criticized Obama for not going after Snowden harder.
If you thought there were no rules in 2016, just wait to see what 2017 holds. Sarah Palin is woke now? Things only stand to get weirder.
[Sarah Palin on Facebook]Charles Lord, left, senior hydrologist, explains the mapping procedure used by the Corporation Commission to chart fault lines, earthquakes and disposal wells, as Jim Marlatt, right, Oil & Gas Specialist, looks on from his desk, in Oklahoma City on Nov. 30, 2015. State regulators have taken steps to try and curb the number of quakes, working with disposal well operators in the area to have them reduce the volume in disposal wells or shut them down entirely. (Photo11: Sue Ogrocki, AP)
While the earth continues to shudder more frequently than seven years ago beneath Oklahomans feet, the rate of earthquakes in the state in 2016 is down from last year.
The state has been shaken by 448 magnitude-3.0 and greater quakes so far this year, down from the 558 it experienced in the same time frame in 2015, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Increased regulation on wastewater disposal related to oil and gas extraction could be one reason behind the decline, said Robert Williams, a geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey. Wastewater disposal is linked to quakes in Oklahoma and other states.
Regulators this year increased restrictions limiting wastewater disposal and expanded the area in the state those constraints cover, Williams said. At the same time, a decrease in oil and gas activity led to a smaller volume of water being disposed of, also potentially contributing to fewer quakes, he added.
The extraction of oil and gas in hydraulic fracturing — also known as fracking — likely does not contribute to a rise in earthquakes, but wastewater disposal associated with the activity does, said Jefferson Chang, a geophysicist for the Oklahoma Geological Survey at the University of Oklahoma.
That's because during the disposal process, briny wastewater is injected at high pressures into rock formations underground. And that process takes place at greater depths underground than fracking does, Chang said.
While the overall rate of earthquakes is down, the temblors are still happening regularly in Oklahoma. In the past 30 days, 26 earthquakes with a magnitude-3.0 or greater have hit the state, according to USGS data. A magnitude-4.0 rocked an area just outside Oklahoma City early Wednesday.
“The people around here have felt this before, but that was probably a pretty good shock,” Williams said of Wednesday's quake.
Much of the seismic activity also takes place in clusters in parts of the state. In January, 70 small earthquakes shook Oklahoma in just one week, mainly in northwestern Oklahoma.
At a magnitude-3.0, the ground is moving enough that people actually begin to feel it, Chang said.
In March, a USGS report linked activities related to oil and gas extraction, notably wastewater disposal, to seismic activity. The report found that Oklahoma along with five other states — Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arkansas — faced the highest potential for earthquake hazards.
Since 2009, more than 2,000 magnitude-3.0 or greater earthquake have shaken Oklahoma. That's far above the one or two per year the state experience before that year, a change Williams called unprecedented.
In 2008, only two magnitude-3.0 earthquakes were registered in Oklahoma, according to the USGS. By 2015, that number climbed to 890.
There is no one clear answer why Oklahoma experiences more earthquakes than other states, but Williams thinks the location of many of the wastewater disposal sites, which lay on top of ancient seismic fault lines, contributes to the trend.
While scientists cannot link all quakes to wastewater disposal, one of the largest Oklahoma experienced in recent years, magnitude-5.6 in 2011, was induced by that activity, Williams said.
Katie Brown, a spokesperson for Energy In Depth, told USA TODAY in March after the USGS report was released that only a small percentage of wells are associated with the quakes. Energy In Depth is a program of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, a trade group.
However, Chang said monitoring earthquakes in Oklahoma has been difficult, and no study has conclusively surveyed the state. As a result, he said, these days, “it’s really hard to quantify what is episodic and what is ‘normal.’ ”
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2b4z4d5DOJ Still Won't Admit If It Took Any Action Against NSA Analysts Spying On 'Love Interests'
from the guess-what-that-means dept
In 2011, before an upcoming reinvestigation polygraph, the subject reported that in 2004, "out of curiosity," he performed a SIGINT query of his home telephone number and the telephone number of his girlfriend, a foreign national. The SIGINT system prevented the query on the home number because it was made on a US person. The subject viewed the metadata returned by the query on his girlfriend's telephone.
In 2005, during a pre-retirement reinvestigation polygraph and interview, the subject reported that, in 2003, he tasked SIGINT collection of the telephone number of his foreign-national girlfriend without an authorized purpose for approximately one month to determine whether she was "involved with any [local] government officials or other activities that might get [him] in trouble."
In 2004, upon her return from a foreign site, the subject reported to NSA Security that, in 2004, she tasked a foreign telephone number she had discovered in her husband's cellular telephone because she suspected that her husband had been unfaithful. The tasking resulted in voice collection of her husband.
In 2003, the appropriate OIG was notified that an employee had possibly violated USSID 18. A female foreign national employed by the U.S. government, with whom the subject was having sexual relations, told another government employee that she suspected that the subject was listening to her telephone calls. The other employee reported the incident.
The investigation determined that, from approximately 1998 to 2003, the employee tasked nine telephone numbers of female foreign nationals, without a valid foreign intelligence purpose, and listened to collected phone conversations while assigned to foreign locations. The subject conducted call chaining on one of the numbers and tasked the resultant numbers. He also incidentally collected the communications of a U.S. person on two occasions.
Recently, however, the NSA released heavily redacted quarterly and annual reports by the NSA to the President's Intelligence Oversight Board ("IOB") that also provide information about these instances of intentional and willful misconduct, as well as other violations by NSA employees, from 2001 to 2013. In its December 23, 2014 press release, NSA asserted that "in the very few cases that involved the intentional misuse of a signals intelligence system, a thorough investigation is completed, the results are reported to the IOB and the Department of Justice as required, and appropriate disciplinary or administrative action is taken." The NSA even referenced its public letter to me that discussed the twelve instances of intentional abuse by NSA employees that led me to write to you back in October 2013.
Respectfully. given the date of my original request, your prior commitment to respond "soon," and the recent release of information by the NSA that expressly relies upon the Department of Justice's further review of these matters, I believe it is appropriate that you respond to my original request without delay.
In September 2013, in response to a question from Senator Chuck Grassley, the NSA revealed the 12cases it had on record over the past decade or so ofabuses of the NSA surveillance data, by individuals spying on people they clearly shouldn't have been spying on. Many of these examples were classified as "LOVEINT" (a play on the traditional SIGINT -- for signals intelligence) for people who looked up the private information of those in whom they had a romantic interest. Of course, as we've noted, many of these cases were only discovered after the people self-reported the violation -- and some of that happened years later, suggesting many such abuses go undiscovered.The released report included examples like the following:And:And:And:There are more like that as well. Grassley then asked the DOJ, and specifically Attorney General Eric Holder, if the DOJ took any action against these individuals who clearly broke the law in their surveillance activities. The DOJ ignored the request entirely. In January of 2014 (more than a year ago), Grassley asked Holder again during a hearing when he would receive the answer to his question, and Holder again promised he would "do that soon" and that he would provide a "fulsome response to indicate how those cases were dealt with by the Justice Department."Well, more than a year has gone by and guess whether or not Holder fulfilled that promise? If you guessed no, you'd be right. Grassley has now sent a new letter asking just when he can actually expect an answer, and suggesting it ought to happen soon.Anyone want to guess how the DOJ is likely to respond?
Filed Under: abuses, chuck grassley, doj, loveint, nsa, surveillanceThe Nokia Lumia 920 is the phone most people would choose if money was no object, followed by the Xperia Z and iPhone 5. What smartphone would you choose?
The Nokia Lumia 920 is the phone most people would choose if money was no object, according to a PC Advisor poll.
The flagship Windows Phone 8 handset, the Lumia 920 proved most popular with the 28,750 respondents to a poll in which we asked: If you could have one smartphone, regardless of price and contract, which of the following would you choose?
Most popular smartphones: Lumia 920
Just short of one third of respondents, 32 percent, said they'd opt for the Nokia Lumia 920. This is a boost to the Windows Phone 8 platform, adoption to which has been slow. The Lumia 920 is a very desirable smartphone. We love the fantastic screen and decent camera, and it is jam packed with features. But it has a somewhat big and chunky design, and Windows Phone 8 still lacks great app support. However, those who use and like Windows Phone tend to love it, which may in part explain why the Lumia 920 has garnered such support in our poll.
At around £400 SIM free or PAYG the Lumia 920 can be found a lot cheaper than other high-end phones such as the iPhone 5 and the Sony Xperia Z, and our poll suggests that there is a lot of latent support for Windows Phone. Perhaps Windows Phone is due a boost in popularity?
Most popular smartphones: Xperia Z
The runner up in our smartphone desirability poll with just under a quarter (24 percent) of the votes is the Sony Xperia Z.
Just ahead of the iPhone 5 and HTC One the Xperia Z is, in our view, the best smartphone on the market right now. The Xperia Z is the first smartphone which Sony has really nailed. We love the stylish, desirable and rugged design. The combination of excellent performance, a stunning screen and great cameras make the Xperia Z a force to be reckoned with. There is very little to say about this phone that is negative.
Most popular smartphones: iPhone 5
As is the case with the third most popular phone in our poll: the iPhone 5. Despite some disappointment with what was seen as a minor upgrade, the iPhone 5 really is much more than a tall iPhone 4S with a new plug. And although the competition has finally caught up, iPhone handsets remain a benchmark against which the others must test themselves.
The iPhone 5 has unsurpassed build quality, top-level performance, and a unique form factor that allows for widescreen movie watching and single-handed operation. And with just under one fifth of the vote, it seems that 18 percent of smartphone users would like an iPhone if cost was no consideration.
Most popular smartphones: Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One
The next two phones in the smartphone desirability poll were the Galaxy S4 (11 percent) and the new HTC One (10 percent). It's perhaps unfair to judge the popularity of the S4 right now: although we know what to expect, consumers have yet to see it in the wild. Expect it to surge upwards in the desirability stakes.
That the HTC One is desired by only one in 10 readers will be disappointing to HTC, but there are similar reasons for its relatively low showing. Like the Galaxy S4 the HTC One is announced, but not yet available to UK consumers, in part because of supply issues. It is such a good-looking, high-performance device we would expect the new HTC One to feature highly in people's wish lists over the coming months.
Most popular smartphones: BlackBerry Z10, Nexus 4
There was disappointment for both the BlackBerry Z10 and the Nexus 4.
It's perhaps not surprising that |
Indochina, and China, and Japan.
So those of us who have basic disagreements with Trotsky — essentially the same disagreements we have with Lenin — should pay the history of Trotsky some respect. He was not a democrat. It has been said, by one of those in post-Soviet Russia, that if Trotsky had won the fight against Stalin the outcome would have been just as many executions — but with a far more literary flavor. The sadness of Trotsky’s life is that once the internal fight in the Soviet Union had been decided, Trotsky was an heroic but lost figure. His followers in the US ended on the subversive list, were hounded from their jobs by the FBI.
But always and always, those who took Trotsky’s side cannot help but look back and think what the Soviet Union might have been if only Stalin had lost that fight. I’m very much among those who feel that American socialists need to look to American history — not Russian or Chinese or Cuban history — to chart our course. But no one who has looked back at the early part of the 20th century can fail to be thrilled by that moment when it seemed as if the workers were actually in control of history. It was this painful memory Trotsky carried with him as he began the first of his exiles in Turkey.
May I suggest — though my Trotskyist and Leninist friends will not hear me — that the greatest honor one could pay to Leon Trotsky would be to let him rest with the honor he earned. And, as he broke with Stalin, so let us break with all undemocratic efforts at revolution, which would make human beings merely “means to the end”. Humanity — each life — is an end in itself. As A.J. Muste said, “there is no way to peace — peace is the way”. So too, revolution begins now, as we empower ourselves to think for our own time.
David McReynolds worked for the War Resisters League for 39 years, retired in 1999, and lives with his two cats on the Lower East Side. He is a former Chair of the War Resisters International. He can be contacted at: dmcreynolds[at]nyc[dot]rr[dot]com.
Bonus!
1. Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) [See : On crackpots engaged in pigwork, January 10, 2009]
2. Prairie Fire Organizing Committee
3. US Marxist-Leninist Organization (Hoxhaist) [See : Comrade Loulou and the Fun Factory, November 9, 2008]
4. Communist Voice Organization (Anti-Revisionist/Marxist-Leninist)
5. Workers Party USA (Hoxhaist)
6. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (post-Maoist/Marxist-Leninist) [See : We Are Family]
7. Revolutionary Communist Party USA (Maoist/Avakian)
8. Ray O. Light Group (Maoist) [Revolutionary Organization of Labor, USA]
9. Progressive Labour Party (ex-Maoist/Stalinist) [This is an official web blog featuring some of the articles from Progressive Labor Party’s CHALLENGE NEWSPAPER.]
10. Marxist-Leninist Organizer
11. League of Revolutionaries for a New America (post-Maoist)
12. Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (ex-Gorbachevist/Democratic Socialist)
Added Bonus!
Trotsky’s ghost wandering the White House
Jeet Heer
National Post
June 7, 2003
Influence on Bush aides: Bolshevik’s writings supported the idea of pre-emptive war
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, was paranoid. Perhaps his deepest fears centred around his great rival for the leadership of the Bolshevik movement, Leon Trotsky. Stalin went to extraordinary lengths to obliterate not only Trotsky but also the ragtag international fellowship known as the Left Opposition, which supported Trotsky’s political program. In the late 1920s, Stalin expelled Trotsky from the Communist Party and deported him from the Soviet Union. Almost instantly, other Communist parties moved to excommunicate Trotsky’s followers, notably the Americans James P. Cannon and Max Shachtman.
In 1933, while in exile in Turkey, Trotsky regrouped his supporters as the Fourth International. Never amounting to more than a few thousand individuals scattered across the globe, the Fourth International was constantly harassed by Stalin’s secret police, as well as by capitalist governments. The terrible purge trials that Stalin ordered in the late 1930s were designed in part to eliminate any remaining Trotskyists in the Soviet Union. Fleeing from country to country, Trotsky ended up in Mexico, where he was murdered by an ice-pick-wielding Stalinist assassin in 1940. Like Macbeth after the murder of Banquo, Stalin became even more obsessed with his great foe after killing him. Fearing a revival of Trotskyism, Stalin’s secret police continued to monitor the activities of Trotsky’s widow in Mexico, as well as the far-flung activities of the Fourth International.
More than a decade after the demise of the Soviet Union, Stalin’s war against Trotsky may seem like quaint ancient history. Yet Stalin was right to fear Trotsky’s influence. Unlike Stalin, Trotsky was a man of genuine intellectual achievement, a brilliant literary critic and historian as well as a military strategist of genius. Trotsky’s movement, although never numerous, attracted many sharp minds. At one time or another, the Fourth International included among its followers the painter Frida Kahlo (who had an affair with Trotsky), the novelist Saul Bellow, the poet André Breton and the Trinidadian polymath C.L.R. James.
As evidence of the continuing intellectual influence of Trotsky, consider the curious fact that some of the books about the Middle East crisis that are causing the greatest stir were written by thinkers deeply shaped by the tradition of the Fourth International.
In seeking advice about Iraqi society, members of the Bush administration (notably Paul D. Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defence, and Dick Cheney, the Vice-President) frequently consulted Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi-American intellectual whose book The Republic of Fear is considered to be the definitive analysis of Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical rule.
As the journalist Christopher Hitchens notes, Makiya is “known to veterans of the Trotskyist movement as a one-time leading Arab member of the Fourth International.” When speaking about Trotskyism, Hitchens has a voice of authority. Like Makiya, Hitchens is a former Trotskyist who is influential in Washington circles as an advocate for a militantly interventionist policy in the Middle East. Despite his leftism, Hitchens has been invited into the White House as an ad hoc consultant.
Other supporters of the Iraq war also have a Trotsky-tinged past. On the left, the historian Paul Berman, author of a new book called Terror and Liberalism, has been a resonant voice among those who want a more muscular struggle against Islamic fundamentalism. Berman counts the Trotskyist C.L.R. James as a major influence. Among neo-conservatives, Berman’s counterpart is Stephen Schwartz, a historian whose new book, The Two Faces of Islam, is a key text among those who want the United States to sever its ties with Saudi Arabia. Schwartz spent his formative years in a Spanish Trotskyist group.
To this day, Schwartz speaks of Trotsky affectionately as “the old man” and “L.D.” (initials from Trotsky’s birth name, Lev Davidovich Bronstein). “To a great extent, I still consider myself to be [one of the] disciples of L.D,” he admits, and he observes that in certain Washington circles, the ghost of Trotsky still hovers around. At a party in February celebrating a new book about Iraq, Schwartz exchanged banter with Wolfowitz about Trotsky, the Moscow Trials and Max Shachtman.
“I’ve talked to Wolfowitz about all of this,” Schwartz notes. “We had this discussion about Shachtman. He knows all that stuff, but was never part of it. He’s definitely aware.” The yoking together of Paul Wolfowitz and Leon Trotsky sounds odd, but a long and tortuous history explains the link between the Bolshevik left and the Republican right.
To understand how some Trotskyists ended up as advocates of U.S. expansionism, it is important to know something about Max Shachtman, Trotsky’s controversial American disciple. Shachtman’s career provides the definitive template of the trajectory that carries people from the Left Opposition to support for the Pentagon.
Throughout the 1930s, Shachtman loyally hewed to the Trotsky line that the Soviet Union as a state deserved to be defended even though Stalin’s leadership had to be overthrown. However, when the Soviet Union forged an alliance with Hitler and invaded Finland, Shachtman moved to a politics of total opposition, eventually known as the “third camp” position. Shachtman argued in the 1940s and 1950s that socialists should oppose both capitalism and Soviet communism, both Washington and Moscow.
Yet as the Cold War wore on, Shachtman became increasingly convinced Soviet Communism was “the greater and more dangerous” enemy. “There was a way on the third camp left that anti-Stalinism was so deeply ingrained that it obscured everything else,” says Christopher Phelps, whose introduction to the new book Race and Revolution details the Trotskyist debate on racial politics. Phelps is an eloquent advocate for the position that the best portion of Shachtman’s legacy still belongs to the left.
By the early 1970s, Shachtman was a supporter of the Vietnam War and the strongly anti-Communist Democrats such as Senator Henry Jackson. Shachtman had a legion of young followers (known as Shachtmanites) active in labour unions and had an umbrella group known as the Social Democrats. When the Shachtmanites started working for Senator Jackson, they forged close ties with hard-nosed Cold War liberals who also advised Jackson, including Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz; these two had another tie to the Trotskyism; their mentor was Albert Wohlstetter, a defence intellectual who had been a Schachtmanite in the late 1940s.
Shachtman died in 1972, but his followers rose in the ranks of the labour movement and government bureaucracy. Because of their long battles against Stalinism, Shachtmanites were perfect recruits for the renewed struggle against Soviet communism that started up again after the Vietnam War. Throughout the 1970s, intellectuals forged by the Shachtman tradition filled the pages of neo-conservative publications. Then in the 1980s, many Social Democrats found themselves working in the Reagan administration, notably Jeanne Kirkpatrick (who was ambassador to the United Nations) and Elliott Abrams (whose tenure as assistant secretary of state was marred by his involvement with the Iran-Contra scandal).
The distance between the Russia of 1917 and the Washington of 2003 is so great that many question whether Trotsky and Shachtman have really left a legacy for the Bush administration. For Christopher Phelps, the circuitous route from Trotsky to Bush is “more a matter of rupture and abandonment of the left than continuity.”
Stephen Schwartz disagrees. “I see a psychological, ideological and intellectual continuity,” says Schwartz, who defines Trotsky’s legacy to neo-conservatism in terms of a set of valuable lessons. By his opposition to both Hitler and Stalin, Trotsky taught the Left Opposition the need to have a politics that was proactive and willing to take unpopular positions. “Those are the two things that the neo-cons and the Trotskyists always had in common: the ability to anticipate rather than react and the moral courage to stand apart from liberal left opinion when liberal left opinion acts like a mob.”
Trotsky was also a great military leader, and Schwartz finds support for the idea of pre-emptive war in the old Bolshevik’s writings. “Nobody who is a Trotskyist can really be a pacifist,” Schwartz notes. “Trotskyism is a militaristic disposition. When you are Trotskyist, we don’t refer to him as a great literary critic, we refer to him as the founder of the Red Army.”
Paul Berman agrees with Schwartz that Trotskyists are by definition internationalists who are willing to go to war when necessary. “The Left Opposition and the non-Communist left comes out of classic socialism, so it’s not a pacifist tradition,” Berman observes. “It’s an internationalist tradition. It has a natural ability to sympathize or feel solidarity for people in places that might strike other Americans or Canadians as extremely remote.”
Christopher Phelps, however, doubts these claims of a Trotskyist tradition that would support the war in Iraq. For the Left Opposition, internationalism was not simply about fighting all over the world. “Internationalism meant solidarity with other peoples and not imperialist imposition upon them,” Phelps notes.
Though Trotsky was a military leader, Phelps also notes “the Left Opposition had a long history of opposition to imperialist war. They weren’t pacifists, but they were against capitalist wars fought by capitalist states. It’s true that there is no squeamishness about the application of force when necessary. The question is, is force used on behalf of a class that is trying to create a world with much less violence or is it force used on behalf of a state that is itself the largest purveyor of organized violence in the world? There is a big difference.” Seeing the Iraq war as an imperialist adventure, Phelps is confident “Trotsky and Shachtman in the ’30s and ’40s wouldn’t have supported this war.”
This dispute over the true legacy of Trotsky and Shachtman illustrates how the Left Opposition still stirs passion. The strength of a living tradition is in its ability to inspire rival interpretations. Despite Stalin’s best efforts, Trotskyism is a living force that people fight over.
See also : Trotskycons? Pasts and present., Stephen Schwartz, National Review, June 11, 2003 | Neoconservatives and Trotskyism, Bill King, Enter Stage Right, March 22, 2004 | The Soviet Union Versus Socialism, Noam Chomsky, Our Generation, Spring/Summer, 1986: “The Leninist antagonism to the most essential features of socialism was evident from the very start. In revolutionary Russia, Soviets and factory committees developed as instruments of struggle and liberation, with many flaws, but with a rich potential. Lenin and Trotsky, upon assuming power, immediately devoted themselves to destroying the liberatory potential of these instruments, establishing the rule of the Party, in practice its Central Committee and its Maximal Leaders — exactly as Trotsky had predicted years earlier, as Rosa Luxembourg and other left Marxists warned at the time, and as the anarchists had always understood. Not only the masses, but even the Party must be subject to “vigilant control from above,” so Trotsky held as he made the transition from revolutionary intellectual to State priest. Before seizing State power, the Bolshevik leadership adopted much of the rhetoric of people who were engaged in the revolutionary struggle from below, but their true commitments were quite different. This was evident before and became crystal clear as they assumed State power in October 1917.”The corresponding proposal on the purchase of T-90 tanks has been transferred to the General Staff of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces.
Iran’s Ground Force Command has transferred a proposal to the Iranian General Staff on the purchase of Russian-made T-90 tanks, Ground Force Commander, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said on the sidelines of a conference on army draft held in the province of North Khorasan on Wednesday.
"The talks with representatives of the Russian side have been held and the corresponding proposal on the purchase of T-90 tanks has been transferred to the General Staff of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces," the news agency ISNA quoted the Iranian general as saying.
"Currently, T-72 tanks are the backbone of our armor. These armored vehicles have proved to be fairly good in combat operations. They are produced by enterprises of our defense industry. At the same time, we see that the T-90 tank possesses better combat characteristics and meets all the requirements we set to the modern armor," the commander of the Iranian ground forces said.
"In addition to tanks, we have the need for acquiring other types of armaments, such as helicopters, and also weapons and combat equipment for individual use. All this has been included in the list of armaments, which we proposed to the General Staff for acquisition," the general said.
"The Iranian defense industry has strong potential. Nevertheless, we will constantly take care of modernizing it," he added.
Speaking about a potential threat of the imposition of repeat US sanctions on Iran due to further development of the Iranian missile program, the commander of Iran’s ground forces said: "We’re using all the possibilities for strengthening the country’s security and defense capability, proceeding from the principles of ‘containment.’"
First published by TASS.
All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.Last fall, Nicole Erny became the youngest person and first female to pass the two-day exam to become one of just four Master Cicerones—certified beer experts, much like sommeliers. Here, the former bartender and current Cicerone exam developer/proctor talks tests, tasting and Bay Area beer with editor Chris Staten.
It’s a fairly lengthy process just to become a Certified Cicerone; why go for the Master level?
Becoming a Master Cicerone was on the distant horizon as soon as I heard of the Cicerone program. I was bartending and teaching courses at The Trappist, and I wanted to take my knowledge as far as I could. Being a young, female bartender, I felt like I constantly had to defend my knowledge. Passing the Certified Cicerone exam certainly set me apart. At some point, I realized that my boss, [Cicerone Certification Program director] Ray Daniels, was going to call me up and ask me to come out and help administer the Master Cicerone exam. Hello, ethical dilemma. I decided that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Master exam until I’d taken and passed it, so I refreshed myself on everything about beer I’ve ever learned, followed some curiosities and went for it.
“Women in the beer industry” is something of a buzz topic; how does your achievement fit into the conversation?
It is pretty thrilling to be the fourth-ever person to pass the Master Cicerone exam, and being the first woman is truly an honor. I am excited that women are represented at this caliber of certification so early in the existence of the Cicerone program. Young women are one of the fastest growing groups of craft beer consumers, and women are an important part of this industry at every level, from brewing to sales. Anyone that thinks of the beer industry as a by-dudes, for-dudes industry has certainly got it wrong. Sorry bros.
I once read a recap from a tasting you hosted that said beer lovers would be doing themselves a disservice if they missed one of your events. What’s your approach to engaging people with beer?
I love connecting people with good beer, and I work to recreate some of my formative beer experiences for other people. I also pack my presentations chock-full of details—for better or for worse—and some people love that. No one wants to go to a fun tasting and be bored, so I try to make sure I am prepared with the right material to engage every level of beer enthusiast.
What’s the most basic but effective act of beer education a person can do for friends?
The best thing you can do is create an experience for them. Lead them down the path, but let them make their own discoveries. Bring some beer you think they’d like, give them some context and be prepared with a backup of their regular favorite in case they don’t like it. A friend recently told me a story about introducing a relative to saisons, after which they went right back to Bud Light over ice. You can’t change someone’s preferences, but you can add to it. Whatever you do, don’t make them feel inadequate for their choices. My first favorite beers were some local amber ales that many people thought were boring. That’s ridiculous. I’d rather have a great amber ale than a half-assed limited release any day.
What’s the most exciting thing happening in the Oakland beer scene right now?
Everything. With one of the greatest Belgian beer bars in the country, fantastic beer bars and tasting rooms, and a handful of great breweries, Oakland is really blowing up. Beer has been a big part of the Downtown Oakland resurgence, and most restaurants can’t get away without at least a few great ones on their menus.
What are your three favorite spots to hit on a night out in San Francisco?
A fun night in San Francisco starts off at City Beer Store for a few beers and some great cheese. Then over to the upper Haight for dinner at The Alembic. I always get the pickled quail eggs, and sometimes I cheat on beer for one of their awesome cocktails. From there, I hit Toronado on my way back downtown on the bus for some great local or unusual Belgian offerings.
Which brewery in the Bay Area is the most promising up-and-comer?
Rodger Davis and his wife Claudia are in the midst of launching a new Bay Area brewery called Faction. Rodger made himself famous brewing at Triple Rock and Drake’s and judging at major competitions. He’s the kind of person that believes there is only one right way to do anything, and I think that trait will lead to a pretty amazing brewery— I’ve already seen it happen with the strong choices he makes in recipe formulation. I can’t wait.
What should a visitor sample to understand where the Bay Area beer scene came from, and where it’s headed?
You can’t come to the Bay without trying a beer from Moonlight. Maybe you’ll fall in love, maybe you’ll be underwhelmed, but you will have just tasted a delicious beer from a really important Bay Area brewer that you might not ever have heard of. [Brewmaster] Brian Hunt doesn’t bottle, doesn’t compete, and still drops off all kegs to his select list of accounts himself, usually with an unexpected name like Rajit, Jean-Pierre or Brigett embroidered onto his Moonlight work shirt. What’s better than drinking the beer, like the flagship Death and Taxes, is meeting the man. He has a deep sense of farce, absurdist humor that will have you rethinking everything. You can often find the IPA, Bombay by Boat on cask, and keep on the lookout for gruits and other beers with odd ingredients such as Working for Tips, a delicious beer made with Redwood tips.A fourth grade boy in Odessa, Texas has been suspended from school for making a terroristic threat. He told another boy that he had a magic ring and could make him disappear.The boy's father, Jason Steward, tells the New York Daily New s that he took his son to see "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" last weekend. He says his son brought a ring to class at Kermit Elementary School and acted out a scene from the movie, telling another boy his magic ring could make the boy disappear.The principal was called and immediately suspended the nine-year-old, the Odessa American reports, saying threats to another child's safety would not be tolerated - whether they are magical or not.The principal now says she can't comment on the matter because quote, "All student stuff is confidential."Steward says the principal sent the boy for making a terroristic threat with a magic ring. Steward told her his son lacked the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend's existence, but even if he had those powers, he's sure his son would bring his friend right back."Kids act out movies that they see. When I watched Superman as a kid, I went outside and tried to fly," Steward told the Daily News.The family moved to the school district just six months ago, but it's the third time the nine-year-old has been suspended, the Odessa American reports.The child was suspended the first time for referring to an African American child as black. His second suspension came after he brough his favorite book to school, called "The Big Book of Knowledge." The popular children's encyclopedia had a section on pregnancy with a pregnant woman in an illustration.Twenty-three year old Vladimir Tarasenko needed a new deal, and ultimately signed an 8-year, $60 million dollar contract ($7.5 million AAV) to stay with the St. Louis Blues yesterday.
The 2014-15 season was Tarasenko's third in the NHL, finishing up the entry level contract he signed with the Blues following being drafted 16th overall in 2010.
Twenty-two year old Nikita Kucherov needs a new deal before next fall.
The 2015-16 season will be Kucherov's third in the NHL, finishing up his entry level contract signed with the Lightning following being drafted 58th overall in 2011.
See what I'm getting at here?
Tarasenko and Kucherov are remarkably similar players not just because of their shared nationality and dynamic play style. Their production over the course of their very team-friendly ELCs has been surprisingly close. Tarasenko has been a noticeably better scorer, but not by such a huge margin that the Lightning can hope to go through another regular season like the last one Kucherov had and hope they can sign him at a salary closer to Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat's:
(All numbers for the 2014-15 season, taken from War On Ice, NHL.com, and Hockey Analysis)
TOI/Game Points/60 On-Ice Shooting% Corsi Rel Vladimir Tarasenko 17:37 2.78 10.48% +4.4% Nikita Kucherov 14:57 2.58 11.65% +5.9%
In terms of raw boxcar stats, Kucherov scored 65 points in 82 games, while Tarasenko scored 73 in 77. Tarasenko grabbed plenty of national attention with highlight-reel plays on a seemingly nightly basis, while Kucherov was quietly doing almost exactly the same thing, albeit as part of a "Triplets" line that was often praised as a unit, more than the sum of its parts.
The similarity in production is hard to ignore, however, and it should serve as a reminder to the Lightning to get their young Russian winger under contract sooner rather than later.
There are understandably some concerns about Kucherov's on-ice shooting luck; that 11.65% number is more likely to come down in 2015-16 than it is to stay the same. Still, his overall production could still trend upwards with a likely bump in ice time. 14:57/game overall in the regular season includes the first third of the year, before the "Triplets" (or "TKO Trio") existed and before they were Tampa Bay's "2nd" (read: de facto 1st) line.
During the playoffs Kucherov's ice time leapt up to 16:59 per game, near what Tarasenko saw on a per-game basis in St. Louis' top six with Jori Lehtera and Jaden Schwartz. Adding to that, Kucherov is also likely in line for an uptick in power play usage:
@kalexanderRC @mirtle The Triplets + 91 became TB's top PP unit in the playoffs. That carrying over into and through 15-16 would help, too. — Mike Gallimore (@mikegallimore) July 7, 2015
By the end of the playoffs, Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, and Steven Stamkos formed the bulk of Tampa Bay's top power play unit, with the lone defender switching mostly between Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman. Should that usage continue, Kucherov could be in line for more 5v4 production in 2015-16 which would offset some on-ice 5v5 shooting regression.
Furthermore, Kucherov has added value as one of Tampa Bay's best play-drivers; on a very good possession team, Kucherov led the Lightning in Relative Corsi, indicating that his presence on the ice significantly impacted the team's overall possession game in a decidedly positive fashion. Whenever he came over the boards, the Bolts were likely to gain control of the puck and keep it in the offensive zone for a long stretch.
His dCorsi (used to rate a player's impact on possession against what he would be expected to do given his usage) also suggests he is an elite play-driver, with his dCorsi Impact coming in at +103.44 (as opposed to Tarasenko's +5.27). Tarasenko remains the superior scoring option, but Kucherov is no slouch and might be a better possession player.
That means locking him up long-term -- like the Blues did with their young star -- should absolutely be a priority. While the Lightning front office is (rightly) focusing on another long-term extension right now, Kucherov should absolutely be on or at least near the frontburner.
Ideally, the Lightning bypass the bridge contract with Kucherov, the same way the Blues did with Tarasenko. But instead of waiting until the summer after his entry level deal expires, they extend him now -- while his NHL resume is still reasonably thin. Another huge season and the Lightning are in a conundrum with not enough cap space to keep all the home-grown talent. But sign him now to a deal not dissimilar to Victor Hedman's last contract with the Lightning -- a 5 year, $20 million dollar pact that essentialy 'gambled' that Hedman would continue to develop into a very good NHLer -- and you end up with an elite player on a bargain deal for a good chunk of his peak playing years. It's a risk that paid off fantastically with Hedman, and a risk worth taking again with Kucherov.
Cap inflation means that exact number likely won't suffice, but the concept should absolutely be applied -- skip the bridge and sign Kucherov with term now, or be forced to pay an even bigger price later.By Andrew Simon
Every team deals with injuries. But that doesn't mean the injury bug strikes fairly. Last year, Rangers players spent a league-high 2,218 days on the disabled list, according to Baseball Prospectus; Pirates players spent a league-low 421. That difference in health can shape the course of a season.
In 2014, the five teams with the fewest DL days, per BP, averaged exactly 10 more wins (82.8) than the five teams with the most (72.8). The margin is the same when looking instead at the clubs who spent the biggest and smallest percentages of their payroll on players on the DL.
It's impossible to predict the twists and turns the 2015 season will take based on a torn ulnar collateral ligament here or a broken wrist there. But already, health woes have made their presence felt throughout baseball. Here are five teams hit particularly hard in the early going.
1. Texas Rangers. Conventional wisdom and basic logic dictated that the Rangers would have better luck with injuries in 2015 than they did in '14, simply because things couldn't get any worse. But the club that racked up 665 more DL days than anyone else last season seems to be heading down the same painful road. A whopping 10 Rangers currently reside on the DL, including seven on the 60-day list.
Most significantly, ace Yu Darvish underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery last month, and lefty Derek Holland made it through one inning of his first start before exiting with a strained muscle in his left shoulder, which will keep him out for at least two months. Meanwhile, southpaws Martin Perez (Tommy John) and Matt Harrison (spinal fusion surgery) won't return from their rehab until at least sometime mid-season, leaving first-year manager Jeff Banister scrambling to fill his rotation.
Position players haven't gotten by unscathed either. Infielder Jurickson Profar, MLB.com's No. 1 prospect as recently as 2013, will miss a second straight season after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in February. Left fielder Ryan Rua hit the DL over the weekend with a severely sprained ankle, while right fielder Shin-Soo Choo missed back-to-back starts with back spasms before returning to the lineup Monday. At least Prince Fielder seems to be feeling strong.
2. Tampa Bay Rays. Banister isn't the only new skipper facing an immediate test of his ability to adapt. In St. Petersburg, Kevin Cash has nine players on the DL, and like the Rangers, the Rays have taken the brunt of the hits to their pitching staff.
They had to start the season missing four of their starters, with Matt Moore still on the comeback trail from last April's Tommy John surgery, and Alex Cobb, Drew Smyly and Alex Colome going down during Spring Training. The good news is that Cobb (right forearm tendinitis), Smyly (left shoulder tendinitis) and Colome (pneumonia) all could return by the end of the month. But in the meantime, Cash already has resorted to a "bullpen game," bypassing a traditional starter last Friday against the Marlins, while rookies Nate Karns and Matt Andriese are holding down rotation spots. Tampa Bay also is employing a closer-by-committee approach, with Jake McGee recovering from December elbow surgery.
The Rays' lineup has suffered a few blows as well. Nick Franklin, a contender to start at second base, suffered a left oblique strain during Spring Training, and within the season's opening week, designated hitter John Jaso (left wrist contusion) and first baseman James Loney (right oblique strain) joined him on the DL. It's the first such stint of Loney's career, and it forced the Rays to call up 27-year-old rookie Allan Dykstra for his Major League debut.
3. Cleveland Indians. The worst part of the Tribe's weekend wasn't that the division-rival Tigers came into Progressive Field and bashed Cleveland pitching for 25 runs during a three-game sweep. No, the low point came in Saturday's ninth inning, when Detroit's Rajai Davis slid into Indians catcher Yan Gomes on a play at the plate. Gomes wound up with a sprained MCL in his right knee and is expected to miss six to eight weeks, a huge blow considering his contributions on both offense and defense. Cleveland now will turn from Gomes, worth upwards of 4 WAR last year, to Roberto Perez, who entered this season with 29 games of big league experience. Related Articles From Bad to Among Baseball's Best? While an improvement of 10-plus wins in MLB year over year may seem like a sizable jump, recent history suggests… More»
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Also of concern is the health of left fielder Michael Brantley, who sat out his second straight game on Sunday with lower back stiffness. A year after finishing third in AL MVP voting, Brantley began dealing with the issue during Spring Training and is off to a 1-for-8 start, although the DL is not yet a consideration. Even so, the Indians have used it plenty. Their pitching depth has taken a hit, with Gavin Floyd (fractured elbow) and Josh Tomlin (shoulder surgery) both on the 60-day DL for the foreseeable future. Cleveland also has played without Nick Swisher (recovery from knee surgeries) and utilityman Zach Walters (right oblique strain).
4. Washington Nationals. Jayson Werth brought his beard and his bat back to the Nats' lineup on Monday afternoon at Fenway Park, ending a one-week stretch in which the club had, potentially, the top third of its batting order on the DL. Perhaps not coincidentally, Washington hit.194/.256/.318 and scored a total of 13 runs over its first six games, through Sunday. And while Werth (right shoulder surgery) has returned, leadoff man Denard Span (core muscle surgery) and third baseman Anthony Rendon (left-knee MCL sprain) continue to rehab, with late-April debuts a possibility.
Though the Nats' vaunted starting rotation has remained healthy thus far, injuries have impacted their bullpen and bench. Casey Janssen, signed this offseason to replace Tyler Clippard in a set-up role, has yet to make his team debut due to right shoulder tendinitis. And the slow recovery of fourth outfielder Nate McLouth from August shoulder surgery, combined with Span and Werth's setbacks, pushed the Nats to trade lefty reliever Jerry Blevins for Matt den Dekker and sign veteran Reed Johnson near the end of Spring Training.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers. They have five players on the DL, all pitchers, which is testing the limited depth of their staff. The most significant loss might be closer Kenley Jansen, who underwent foot surgery in February and is targeting a mid-May return. In his absence, the Dodgers don't have a set closer, and the bullpen -- also missing Brandon League (right shoulder inflammation) and Chris Withrow (Tommy John recovery) -- has experienced some shaky moments. Over the club's first six games, through Sunday, L.A. relievers had blown a save and allowed 11 runs (eight earned) over 17 innings, though much of the damage has been concentrated against righty Chris Hatcher.
Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu (left shoulder tightness) also is on the DL until at least May, leaving a hole in the rotation. The early-season schedule cut the Dodgers a bit of a break, but they finally will need a fifth starter on Tuesday and will turn to journeyman lefty David Huff, who started no big league games last year and only six over the last three seasons.
***
Andrew Simon is a contributor to Sports on Earth and a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @AndrewSimonMLB.When we began planning the prototype production of our Dice Domes for The Roll Call Project, we hoped we would find something on the market that fit our needs.
We checked Alibaba.com, Uline.Com and other suppliers for containers that would meet the requirements we had for our game. While Alibaba had many many things to offer, and we were offered many things that they didn’t actually have, it quickly became apparent that what we needed was not out there- even as a makeshift stand-in.
Once we made the decision to customize, we began looking for small run production companies. The lowest cost we could find was 800 Dollars for setup, and 75 Dollars a unit- this for silicone molding. How hard could it be to do it ourselves? So, we decided to get underway.
1) Create a 3 |
DOM elements from the browser using JavaScript.
The fuzzer space: accessing Interfaces objects members through the fuzzer.
Test Case Generation – Element Creation
The first step is to create DOM elements with the below functions:
Name Description createElement() creates a random element from the list of interfaces and saves a reference to the object both in fuzzer space and browser space createTextNode() creates random length text nodes and attach them to random elements in the DOM. mangleElements() Mangle’s DOM element tree
createElement() output:
Test Case Generation – Fuzzing Interface Function
Wadi calls the fuzz(num) function, supplied with the number of rounds it will execute. The fuzz() function will randomly call one of the functions from this list.
Function Description fuzzWindowAttribs() randomly set the ‘window’ interface object attributes. fuzzWindowMethods() randomly call the ‘window’ interface object methods. fuzzStyle() Pick a random element and set a random style property using element.style. fuzzStyle1() pick a random style sheet with random reference to element and set random style properties using insertRule. fuzzDocumentAttribs() randomly set the ‘document’ interface object attributes. fuzzDocumentMethods() randomly call the ‘window’ interface object methods. deleteRandomKey() deletes a random reference to a created object saved in the ‘createdElements’ object in browser space. fuzzPlayerMethods() if no animation player found call the createPlayer() function to create a new animation player and add reference to it in the createElements object array. if a player exist call a random method from the animation interface object. fuzzPlayerAttribs() if no animation player found call the createPlayer() function to create a new animation player and add reference to it in the createElements object array. if a player exist set a random attribute from the animation interface object. MutationObserve() creates a random mutation observer and add reference to it in the createElements object array. fuzzMutationObserve() if no mutation observer have been created, call () function if one exists call or set random method or attribute from the Mutation observer interface object. createRangeTraversal() creates a random TreeWalker or NodeIterator and add reference to them in the createElements object array. fuzzRangeTraversal() if no range has been created call createRangeTraversal() function. else call or set random method or attribute from the respective NodeIterator Interface or TreeWalker Interface objects. addLoop() add a random loop function around js block loops are (for, while, setTimeout, setInterval) crossRef() try to set object references to a random other ex: HTML0 = HTML1.firstChild AddEvent() attach a random event to one of the created elements. creates an event object using createEvent directive and add reference to the created event object to a list for later use. dispatchEvt randomly fires one of the created events. intfuzz() return random function name for use as callbacks for certain operations fuzzElementAttribs() randomly set the attributes of a randomly selected element from the list of created elements. fuzzElementMethods() randomly call the methods of a randomly selected element from the list of created elements. GarColl() force garbage collection.
Test Case Generation – Helper Functions
Helper functions are used to generate attributes values and method parameters and all through test case generation. Some of these functions can be found in “randoms.js? available in NodeFuzz.
Additional functionality was added to the original file as well as some modifications to the already available functions. The modified “randoms.js” with the additions required for Wadi to work is available on SenePost Github repo.
returnRandomElement()returns a random element from created elements and sometimes will append attributes referencing a near element like ‘firstChild’,’nextSibling’ etc.
Name Description randoms() return random number, float value or hex number rint(num) return a random number in range of the supplied num. ra(array) return a random element from an array. arrayWalk(array) return a random element from array if it is a function execute it and return the return value. if it is a string or an int return the value. string(num return a random length string with length based on a random number in range of the input num. randbool() returns random boolean. getRandomColor() returns random color in hex, rgb or hsl format. distanceValue(num) returns a random value in range or num with suffix px,cm,%,etc… retURI(num) returns a URL with random length based on the supplied num.
Test Case generation – preparing the output script
Creating Internal callbacks based on the number of function names returned by intfuzz() Insert the element creation JavaScript block. Insert all other object create JavaScript statements. Randomly insert JavaScript statements returned by fuzz() function.
Sample Wadi Output
Running your first fuzz – A simple checklist:
Wadi and NodeFuzz
Download Wadi Fuzzer files: Wadi After installing NodeFuzz and downloading the ASan version of FireFox or Chrome, place the “WADI-Module.js” and “randoms.js” files in the modules directory. Replace the “config.js” in the root NodeFuzz Directory with the modified one. And run using:
#node nodefuzz.js -m./modules/Git/WADI-Module.js -c./config.js chrome
We’ve had some good results using Wadi, including four confirmed bugs in the latest Chromium and not to mention others.
If you use this and find any cool bugs, like we have, we’d love to hear from you. Saif@ and Etienne@ Sensepost.com
References:
[1] An Empirical Study of the Reliability of UNIX Utilities By Prof. Barton P. Miller.
[2] Black Box Testing, Software Testing Techniques, and Software System Testing and Quality Assurance By Dr. Boris Beizer.
[3] Gflags PageHeap.
[4] Google AddressSanitizer.
[5] Grinder By Stephen Fewer.
[6] NodeFuzz by Atte Kettunen of OUSPG.
[7] W3C Organization
[8] W3C Document Object Model Technical Reports.
[9] W3C Web API.
[10] W3C Web IDL.
[11] IDL Grammar
Further Reading:
[1] Fuzzing Brute Force Vulnerability Discovery: Michael Sutton, Adam Greene, Michael Pedram Amini.
[2] Fuzzing for Software Security Testing and Quality Assurance: Ari Takanen, Jared D. Demott, Charlie Miller.
[3] Browser bug hunting – Memoirs of a last man standing: Atte Kettunen 44con talk.Russia will form an Air-Space Force by combining its Air Force and Space Forces in 2015. The military is working to develop a reliable layered missile defense system in space, and to deploy newest radars.
© Sputnik / Lev Polikashin Russia to Reconstruct 10 Military Airfields in Arctic by Year's End: Defense Ministry
MOSCOW, January 13 (Sputnik) – Russia will create an Air-Space Force from the merger of its Air Force and Space Forces in 2015, the country's Armed Forces General Staff chief, Valery Gerasimov, said Tuesday.
“A new type of armed forces will be created in 2015, the Air-Space Forces, by combining two already existing types of military armed forces: the Air Force and Space Forces,” Gerasimov said.
Earlier it was reported that Russia would combine these two military forces in 2016.
According to Gerasimov, the military is working to develop a reliable layered missile defense system in space, and to deploy newest radars.
The establishment of the Air-Space Forces has been widely discussed in the press in recent years, but such rumors were always denied by the authorities. Last summer, Russian Air Force commander-in-chief Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev confirmed the creation of the new force.On Friday’s The View on ABC, the co-hosts defended the domestic terrorist organization known as Antifa. If you’d thought the ladies had already reached peak ridiculousness, now you know you were wrong.
The only one with any sanity was Paula Faris who correctly identified Antifa as violent, domestic terrorists, but the others, like Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin, denied, denied, denied.
In fact, Goldberg opined that Antifa was just a made up term, like a “catch phrase,” and likely a false flag set up by the Right so they could blame the other side for being violent.
She doubled down later, adding, “Oftentimes I found that sometimes the side that is kvetching the loudest has sort of orchestrated this so they can bitch about it.”
Hostin said she “had never heard” of Antifa but still felt knowledgeable enough to vociferously defend them:
“It is not an organized group and I do not think you can compare this ‘Antifa movement’ with the KKK. Because the KKK has been terrorizing my community for centuries! This false equivalency — there’s something on both sides — is ridiculous.”
Centuries, huh? But then again, Hostin did go on to suggest that Trump ran a racist campaign for “angry white people.” Definitely a go-to authority these days.
Co-host Sara Haines also agreed that the violence of Antifa can’t be compared with the violence of white supremacists because they aren’t “organized.” But that’s because these ladies function in an echo chamber where only their ideas prevail and any that are different are shooed away.
Watch the most ridiculous thing you’ll see all day above.As the NBA regular season draws to a close, Stephen Curry might be just finding his best shooting stroke.
The Golden State Warriors guard and owner of the NBA single-season 3-point record connected on 77 straight 3s in Tuesday's practice.
Stephen Curry put together a run of 77 made 3s in Tuesday's practice. Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images
Curry rotated around the perimeter, taking 10 shots from several spots.
Curry told ESPN the 77 represents the most he's ever made in a row. Out of 100 shots taken during the session, he made 94.
Teammate Klay Thompson, who is second in the NBA with 234 made 3s, told ESPN he couldn't believe Curry had made 77 straight and that his own record streak is 36.
Curry, a leading candidate for league MVP, surpassed his own record for 3-pointers made in a season. With only Wednesday's regular-season finale against the Denver Nuggets remaining, Curry has 284 3s -- a staggering 3.6 per game -- this season.
ESPN.com senior writer Tom Friend contributed to this report.President Obama opened the door Monday to re-evaluating a massive Defense Department program that sends military equipment to local police forces, in the wake of concerns about the St. Louis County Police Department's response to riots and protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
"There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement, and we don't want those lines blurred," Obama said.
The president spoke at the White House briefing room late Monday, during a pause in the capital from his vacation in Martha's Vineyard. As he has before, Obama walked a fine line in addressing the sustained violence and unrest in the St. Louis suburb over the killing of an unarmed black man by a police officer.
He said most demonstrators are protesting peacefully, but said a "small minority" are not. To those looting and attacking officers, Obama said their behavior "undermines, rather than [advances] justice."
Obama also said "there's no excuse for excessive force by police."
Noting that the Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights probe into the shooting death, he said Attorney General Eric Holder will travel to Ferguson on Wednesday to meet with FBI and DOJ officials on the ground, and local leaders.
But he also touched on what has become a controversial topic, in Washington and local communities across the country -- the alleged "militarization" of local police forces.
The concerns are connected to a U.S. military program that gives away free military gear to local law enforcement (including those in the St. Louis suburb). According to the Defense Department, a total of 8,000 agencies at all levels of government participate in the so-called 1033 program. Since its start in 1997, the program has transferred more than $4.3 billion in equipment to these agencies. Last year, nearly $450 million worth was transferred.
Some lawmakers, on both sides of the aisle, have questioned the program in the wake of the Ferguson unrest.
Obama said the program has provided some useful supplies to local agencies, including radios and equipment to respond to chemical attacks.
But he added: "I think it's probably useful for us to review how the funding has gone, how local law enforcement has used grant dollars to make sure that what they're purchasing is stuff that they actually need."
Obama said he thinks there will be "bipartisan interest in re-examining some of those programs."
Obama, meanwhile, expressed sympathy for the "passions and anger" sparked by the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, but said giving in to that anger through looting and attacks on police only stirs tensions and leads to further chaos. He said overcoming the mistrust endemic between many communities and their local police would require Americans to "listen and not just shout."
"That's how we're going to move forward together, by trying to unite each other and understand each other and not simply divide ourselves from one another," Obama told reporters at the White House. "We're going to have to hold tight to those values."
Obama had a round of meetings in Washington on Monday, amid some criticism over his vacation schedule. He was briefed by Holder on the events in Missouri.
The meetings came as conditions in Ferguson deteriorated. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon lifted a curfew but ordered the National Guard to step in to help restore order. Holder over the weekend ordered a federal medical examiner to perform a third autopsy on the teenager.
Obama said he has told Gov. Nixon he wants to ensure the use of the National Guard must be limited in scope, and said he would be monitoring that operation in the coming days to see whether the guard's involvement was helping or hurting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.Those of us in the science-based medicine community have been watching Dr. Mehmet Oz’s descent into abject quackery. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion – horrific, but gripping. The purpose of this post is not to tell you that Dr. Oz’s journey toward the dark side is now complete, because that has already happened. Dr. Oz is a product of Oprah Winfrey, and Oprah exists in a skepticism-free zone, as do all of the moons in her orbit.
At first Oz gave mostly reasonable medical advice, but liberally sprinkled in the woo. But now that he has his own show, Dr. Oz is a neverending stream of nonsensical pseudoscience. A recent example deserves mention – Oz attempts to explain to his audience what homeopathy is. Like all such attempts from proponents, the results are simultaneously humorous and exasperating. For this program Oz is helped by Dr. Russ Greenfield, an “integrative” medicine practitioner, and fellow of Dr. Andrew Weil’s program at the University of Arizona.
Oz and Greenfield explain that homeopathy uses “tiny” doses of “drugs” to treat symptoms, like chronic pain (the topic of the day). This is deceptive on two levels – in most cases the doses are not tiny but non-existent. And further, most of the substances used to prepare homeopathic water are not drugs, but a range of ordinary, toxic, or fanciful substances.
Greenfield later acknowledges that some homeopathic preparations (actually most) are so diluted that you can’t find a single molecule of ingredient left. But, he explains, proponents say that the substance transfers its “spirit” (his word) to the water. He says this with a straight face.
Greenfield says that homeopathy is “controversial”, which is the closest he comes to the truth, but then states categorically that there is some clinical evidence that shows that homeopathy works. So even though it makes no sense, the evidence shows that it works, so we can dismiss the science (again, his words). However, it is also untrue that the evidence shows that homeopathy works. The clinical evidence shows that homeopathy does not work. Systematic reviews of properly controlled trials show a lack of efficacy for any homeopathic remedy for any indication – homeopathy does not work.
Greenfield is an excellent example of the failure of evidence-based medicine (EBM) when dealing with alternative medicine, or the abuse of EBM by CAM proponents. Forget how ridiculously unscientific the claims are, if there is any weak or preliminary clinical evidence to cherry pick then we can claim that the treatment works.
And Dr. Oz endorses all this nonsense wholesale – even saying that his wife uses homeopathy on their kids. He then specifically recommends homeopathic arnica (an herb in the sunflower genus, and a favorite among homeopaths). Despite all the handwaving talk about individualized treatment, arnica seems to be good for anything. Greenfield also specifically recommends occilococcinum – an imaginary organism thought to be found in diseased tissue, but which turned out to be a slide artifact (likely an air bubble).
Despite Oz saying that homeopathy uses tiny doses of drugs, it often uses non-existent doses of non-existent substances- fairy dust diluted into nothingness.
As is often the case when articulate people like this spout such utter absurdity and falsehoods, you have to wonder how much of what they are saying do they really believe themselves. Perhaps Greenfield is simply incapable of reading and interpreting the clinical literature. Or perhaps he just chooses to believe what he wants to believe, and then back fills with cherry picked data. He clearly has no problem believing in magic, and is satisfied with such explanations – science be damned. Andrew Weil would be proud.
Episodes like this are clear evidence that Dr. Oz is now a source of medical misinformation and pro-CAM propaganda.Since joining the NFL in 2014, Landry has put up record-breaking numbers. He’s currently tied for first in NFL history with fellow LSU teammate Odell Beckham Jr. for most catches in a three-year span. With 288 receptions, 3,051 yards and 13 touchdowns, Jarvis Landry has become a big part of Miami’s offense, and expects to be for years to come. We all love Jarvis Landry, and would ultimately like to see him retire in a Dolphins’ uniform. With a new contract inevitable, debate has begun on what Landry’s value is, in comparison to some of the league’s highest paid receivers. I never believed Landry would top Antonio Brown, Julio Jones or some of the other guys atop the league’s wealthiest receivers. That was until this past Friday, when I saw a segment on NFL Network, that appears to feel very different about the situation.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the belief around the league is that Jarvis Landry, Mike Evans, and Odell Beckham Jr will receive new contracts in the foreseeable future. The interesting thing here is that Rapoport believes one contract will surpass the other, making each guy one of the league’s highest paid wide receivers. Now let’s not forget, this is merely one man’s opinion. However, that one man is well connected in league circles and if he’s going on air to say it, there’s probably a bit of truth to the matter.
The question now becomes, would the Miami Dolphins be willing to pay Jarvis Landry this kind of money? There’s no doubt he’s the life of the team’s offense and plays with a grit that many players do not. However, a significant contract like this could handicap the team in the coming years. Time will tell, but both the Dolphins and Landry hope to get a deal done prior to the 2017 season.The Boston Herald broke the news that New England Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones was hospitalized on Sunday. Jones hasn't missed practice this week, but there was definite concern surrounding the circumstances and events that led the Patriots star pass rusher to the hospital.
Heavy.com was able to obtain the audio of the police dispatches, which sheds some light as to what happened.
-6:17 in the Chandler Jones Dispatch Audio "I got his keys off the kitchen table, I was able to lock the front door. If you want to just pass along to the fire, he was definitely involved with class D delta before this happened, just so they know."
One dispatch requests a medical and mental evaluation for Jones in the parking lot, which aligns with the many reports saying that Jones appeared disoriented.
Class D substances include marijuana and phenobarbitals (used to combat epilepsy, trouble sleeping, and anxiety, as well as to support surgery). Many initial reports claimed that Jones had "overdosed on pills," which would align with the phenobarbitals instead of marijuana.
Jones has been battling abdominal and toe injuries, including an injury that forced him out of week 17 at the last minute. The fact that Jones went to the police station at 7:42 AM, in conjunction with his return to practice and the team's acknowledgment of the hospitalization, would make the whole situation seem like he just had a bad reaction to some medicine, or had too much of whatever the police found while picking up Jones' keys.
The Patriots know that every story about the team will be dug up to explode on the national level, so they would likely not try to bury any wrongdoing. If Jones did something wrong- and was truthful to the organization- the team would likely try to get ahead of the issue.
Until more information is known, let's all just hope that Jones is okay and has a proper support network, and that this isn't the symptom of a greater issue.
Audio below, courtesy of Heavy.com.
Police Dispatch
Fire Dispatch“R_N_W_D.” I’d like to solve the puzzle, Pat: “Renewed?” Right you are!
Put another way, if you woke up this morning thinking, “Alex Trebek” then said to yourself, “Who just got a two-year contract extension?” you are today’s big winner as the longtime Jeopardy quizmaster has re-upped along with Wheel host Pat Sajak and letter-turner Vanna White. The trio now are locked in through the 2019-20 season.
All three already were signed for the next TV season, and this re-up will take Wheel through its 37th year and Jeopardy! through its 36th — all with the same on-air trio.
“Pat, Vanna and Alex are beloved by generations of TV viewers, and the enduring popularity of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! is a testament to their incredible talents,” said Harry Friedman, who executive produces both game shows. “All of us at Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Sony Pictures Television are thrilled that they will continue through the 2019-20 season.”
Friedman received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys on Sunday, and Jeopardy! won again for Outstanding Game Show. For its part, Wheel of Fortune remains TV’s most-watched game show, averaging 27 million weekly viewers. Both shows are distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and internationally by CBS Television International.The difference is that each individual claim in a mass, aggregate action is resolved in a customized fashion based on the owners specific damage and that our fees, under Federal law, are fully paid by Ford as part of ‘fee-shifting.’ That’s right; we do not receive a percentage of your award. Our fees are paid separately by Ford.
Basically, a class action seeks a single solution for everyone’s problem. With the Ford Fiesta, Focus and Fusion vehicles, there are many different circumstances making a single, ‘catch-all’ solution impractical and not, in our opinion, always in the owner’s best interest. Some Ford owners or lessees have suffered greatly with multiple repairs that have been ineffective, leaving them with a defect that can be dangerous, or sold their cars out of frustration for a loss to avoid further risk. Others have suffered financially from ineffective repairs or simply due to a desire to get out from under their vehicle. Still others want and deserve compensation for the serious drop in the resale value of their car. In our mass, aggregate action, the merits of each individual claim are evaluated for their worth. While a class action may seek to get each class member ‘one more repair and a $200 coupon towards a new Ford vehicle, the only people who benefit in a class action tend to be Ford and the lawyers involved.
How is a mass, aggregate action different than a class action?
Basically, a class action seeks a single solution for everyone’s problem. With the Ford Fiesta, Focus and Fusion vehicles, there are many different circumstances making a single, ‘catch-all’ solution impractical and not, in our opinion, always in the owner’s best interest. Some Ford owners or lessees have suffered greatly with multiple repairs that have been ineffective, leaving them with a defect that can be dangerous, or sold their cars out of frustration for a loss to avoid further risk. Others have suffered financially from ineffective repairs or simply due to a desire to get out from under their vehicle. Still others want and deserve compensation for the serious drop in the resale value of their car. In our mass, aggregate action, the merits of each individual claim are evaluated for their worth. While a class action may seek to get each class member ‘one more repair and a $200 coupon towards a new Ford vehicle, the only people who benefit in a class action tend to be Ford and the lawyers involved.Republicans are seizing on an archived Reddit post to raise new questions about whether Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE's emails were destroyed despite being under a congressional subpoena.
Two House committees have pulled alleged information uncovered by users of Reddit, the so-called “front page of the internet,” into investigations about Clinton’s use of a personal email server at the State Department.
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The Oversight Committee, which is investigating the deletion of email archives on the server, is looking into the allegations in the Reddit post.
Meanwhile, the Science Committee, which is investigating the security of Clinton’s server, has threatened to subpoena the alleged author of the post if he does not submit to a transcribed interview by Friday.
At issue is whether an employee of the Denver, Colo.-based tech firm that managed Clinton’s server sought advice on how to digitally alter the address lines of emails thought to be from the former secretary of State — the day after the State Department had agreed to provide certain Clinton emails to the Benghazi Committee.
“If true, these details raise new questions as to whether Platte River Networks purposefully defied legal document retention requirements. Further, it is unclear if the Federal Bureau of Investigation was aware of these facts at the time of their investigation,” Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) wrote in a letter sent Monday.
Some Reddit users claim to have uncovered a two-year-old post from an account believed to belong to Paul Combetta, an engineer with the Colorado firm, Platte River Networks.
The message has been deleted, but can be read in archives of the page saved by other users.
“I may be facing a very interesting situation where I need to strip out a VIP’s (VERY VIP) email address from a bunch of archived email.... Basically, they don’t want the VIP’s email address exposed to anyone, and want to be able to either strip out or replace the email address in the to/from fields in all of the emails we want to send out,” reads the post, by a user named stonetear.
“Does anyone have experience with something like this, and/or suggestions on how this might be accomplished?”
According to those archives, the post was sent on July 24, 2014. On July 23, the Benghazi Committee had reached an agreement with the State Department on the production of related records, according to the FBI's investigation into Clinton's use of the server.
The evidence linking stonetear to Combetta is circumstantial but compelling, Reddit users insist.
They point to the fact that an account on the online marketplace Etsy for a Paul Combetta has the username stonetear and the inactive website combetta.com is registered to the email address stonetear@gmail.com.
A Science Committee aide said Tuesday said that it has pieced together the various pieces of information identified by Reddit users that clearly suggests that stonetear is, in fact, Combetta.
An attorney for Platte River Networks, Kenneth Eichner, is declining to comment on the matter.
After reports about the message emerged Monday, the user stonetear appeared to actively delete his posts on the site.
“Any suspicion of destruction of evidence is a serious matter and we are taking steps to ensure the posts are preserved for proper review,” Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz Jason ChaffetzTop Utah paper knocks Chaffetz as he mulls run for governor: ‘His political career should be over’ Boehner working on memoir: report Former GOP lawmaker on death of 7-year-old migrant girl: Message should be ‘don't make this journey, it will kill you' MORE (R-Utah) said Tuesday.
Absent a confirmation from Combetta, conclusively linking the engineer to the Reddit post will likely involve the cooperation of Reddit itself. The company maintains basic subscriber information, including IP logs, according to the company’s public policy for handling law enforcement requests.
According to the policy, Reddit can maintain deleted records — like a user’s account — for 90 days if it receives an official preservation order. Otherwise, the information will be subject to Reddit’s “normal retention or destruction schedules.”
Combetta has become a central figure in the ongoing congressional probes into Clinton’s use of the server.
He appeared under subpoena in an Oversight hearing last week on the alleged destruction of evidence, but both he and colleague Bill Thornton exercised their Fifth Amendment right not to testify.
The move outraged committee Republicans, who have asked the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to investigate whether deletions from the server constitute illegal destruction of records.
That request stems from revelations from the 58-page report issued by the FBI summarizing its investigation into Clinton’s use of the server.
According to the FBI’s report, an unnamed Platte River Networks technician deleted an archive of emails from the server in March 2015, after the House Select Committee on Benghazi had issued a subpoena for records relating to the 2012 attack on the Libyan outpost.
According to the FBI’s notes, longtime Clinton aide Cheryl Mills instructed Platte River Networks to delete a set of archived emails in December 2014. Mills told investigators Clinton had decided she no longer needed access to emails older than 60 days.
But the technician apparently forgot the request and didn’t comply until March of 2015, when he told the FBI he “had an 'oh shit' moment.”
Reporting from The New York Times has since identified Combetta as that technician, citing an anonymous law enforcement official and others familiar with the FBI probe.
Clinton and Mills told the FBI they had no knowledge of the technician’s deletion of the emails. The technician, according to the report, "was aware of the existence of the [Benghazi Committee] preservation request and the fact that it meant he should not disturb Clinton's email data on the [Platte River Networks] server."
The Oversight Committee has held a number of hearings into the matter, in several cases issuing subpoenas to force witnesses to appear.
Democrats have slammed the investigation as a partisan attack designed to damage Clinton’s presidential run.
The committee has scheduled another hearing on the “preservation of State Department records” for Thursday.Why is it that ancient Greek and Roman paintings, sculptures, and other works of art depict males with such small genitalia? My first thought was that the artists wished to draw the viewer's attention to other, more important, aspects of the work. However, my roommate has pointed out that this treatment has the opposite effect. I really don't think evolution has treated us as kindly as this artwork might lead us to believe. So why the small penises?
Cecil replies:
Phil, it’s time we had a little talk about the Greeks.
You remember the Greeks. They were the guys (and it was mostly guys — women at the time were mainly relegated to childbearing and housekeeping or sex objecthood, and were seldom heard from) who pretty much invented what we now think of as Western civilization. Their ideas about culture and society, which the Romans copied, influence us to this day. The Greeks also … well, we’ll get into a discussion of Greek sexual preferences some other time. For now let’s just say they were fascinated by male beauty, and in particular by (ahem) the penis.
The Greeks weren’t shy about displaying their manly attributes. Nudity was celebrated in Greece as in no culture before or since. We’re so used to nude classical sculpture and painting that we figure that’s how everybody walked around back in those days. In fact, however, male nudity in art and among athletes and warriors was largely confined to the ancient Greeks, for whom it became a point of pride — they considered embarrassment at having to disrobe for sports a sign of barbarism. Admiration of the manly form at times verged on the cultlike; the more heroic bits of male sculpture, small penis or no, have an erotic charge that can make even a straight male sweat. Naked women were depicted too, but less often, and you sometimes get the feeling the artist’s heart wasn’t in it.
The penis shows up in Greek art a lot — big ones as well as small ones. For example, there’s the temple of Dionysus on the island of Delos, which features giant stone penises carved in the third century BC. Decapitated now, they’re still impressively scaled and in a state of salute. (The academic term describing this condition, incidentally, is ithyphallic.)
Sculptural depictions of the erect penis were an everyday sight in the classical world. A common boundary marker and household totem in ancient Greece was the herm, originally a representation of the god Hermes. It consisted of a head on top of a simple squarish pillar — your basic supersized Pez dispenser — unadorned except for, in front, an amply proportioned, usually erect, and sometimes arrestingly protrusive penis and scrotum. Scholars tell us that such decorations were apotropaic (you learn a lot of vocabulary in this field) — that is, intended to ward off evil, and that folks back then paid no more attention to them than we would to a lucky horseshoe. Maybe. All I’m saying is, stuff that even now we’d consider hard-core porn you saw then just walking down to the Piraeus.
The ancients were also unembarrassed by graphic displays of sex. Greek men — to be precise, male Greek aristocrats — figured if it moved, they could have sex with it, or at least look at pictures about having sex with it. We have countless examples of crockery showing various combinations of humans, deities, and the occasional animal engaged in the amatory act, most of it presumably used as party favors to put the lads in the mood. Even in painterly scenes having nothing to do with sex the genitalia were often conspicuously displayed.
From this vast array of XXX-rated artwork we can make a few deductions about Greek aesthetic preferences, genitaliawise (here I mainly follow Kenneth Dover’s landmark study Greek Homosexuality, 1978): (1) Long, thick penises were considered — at least in the highbrow view — grotesque, comic, or both and were usually found on fertility gods, half-animal critters such as satyrs, ugly old men, and barbarians. A circumcised penis was particularly gross. (2) The ideal penis was small, thin, and covered with a long, tapered foreskin. Dover thinks the immature male’s equipment was especially admired, which may account not only for the small size but the scarcity of body hair in classical art. A passage from Aristophanes sums up the most desirable masculine features: “a gleaming chest, bright skin, broad shoulders, tiny tongue, strong buttocks, and a little prick.”
You’re thinking: How times have changed. Ain’t arguing. Of course, we do have to take into account a contributing factor: artists’ models were nude, and their studios lacked central heat.
Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com.Amid a domestic box-office slump, Chinese production companies seek to emulate Hollywood's worldwide "marketing and distribution muscle," said panelists at the Asia Society's 7th annual U.S.-China Film Summit.
In the throes of an uncharacteristic down year for the Chinese box office, it may no longer be enough to churn out product only for the local population. According to experts gathered at the Asia Society’s 7th annual U.S.-China Film Summit, China’s movie industry is more anxious than ever to create content that performs internationally.
“The Chinese are looking for how much further they can take their films,” said William Pfeiffer, executive chairman of global local-language production and financing consortium Globalgate Entertainment. Speaking on a Tuesday panel at UCLA’s Ruskin Conference Center, Pfeiffer said learning from Hollywood’s “marketing and distribution muscle” are among China’s key motivations for allying with U.S. companies.
None of China’s recent hits — Monster Hunt, The Mermaid, Skiptrace — have found much success beyond Asia. The latter film, a Jackie Chan-Johnny Knoxville buddy comedy directed by Renny Harlin, made 97.5 percent of its $136 million worldwide gross in China. Dasym Media Managing Director Charles Coker, a producer on the movie, conceded that it was “not current for American tastes.”
“It was written by an American scriptwriter under the auspices of a Chinese development team,” he added. “Putting a proper financing deal together is more objective than figuring out what works from a creative standpoint.”
Sheri Jeffrey, a partner at entertainment law firm Hogan Lovells, agreed that most so-called co-productions to date have been co-financing transactions. “How to develop a story that’s wildly successful in China and out of China: that’s the nut we have to crack,” she said, adding that early word on Legendary’s $135 million The Great Wall, which premieres in China over the holidays before rolling out to the U.S. in February, is that it too will play disproportionately better on one side of the Pacific.
The secret may be patience, which characterized the mutual courtship between Alibaba Pictures and Amblin Partners before they struck a long-term strategic partnership in October. Sharing the summit stage with Amblin president and co-CEO Jeff Small, Alibaba Pictures president Zhang Wei said that the two companies are taking their time looking for the right project to make together.
“It has to feel very organic,” she said. “We’re not going to force any Chinese elements into Steven [Spielberg]’s movies, and we don’t have to define something as a ‘China story’ or an ‘ |
), Sarah Palin (2010), Glenn Beck (2009), Sean Hannity (2008), ABC (2006), Chris Matthews (2005), and Bill O'Reilly (2004).
Attacking Sexual Assault Victims
No Will commentary had a bigger effect on his reputation than his June 2014 column, which dismissed "the supposed campus epidemic of rape, aka'sexual assault,'" argued that the definition of assault was too broad because it could include "nonconsensual touching," and included his now-infamous line implying that individuals were pretending to be assault victims because efforts to combat the problem have made victimhood a "coveted status that confers privileges."
The backlash was swift. Just a few days later, four U.S. Senators -- Richard Blumenthal, Dianne Feinstein, Tammy Baldwin, and Robert P. Casey, Jr. -- condemned Will's comments for "trivializing" sexual assault. A twitter campaign under the hashtag #survivorprivilege, started by writer and activist Wagatwe Wanjuki, trended online and sparked increased media coverage. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, one of the largest papers in the Midwest, dropped Will's syndication permanently, calling his column "offensive and inaccurate" and apologizing for publishing it. Groups that advocate for women's rights, including UltraViolet and the National Organization for Women, urged the Post to drop Will entirely.
Rather than reconsider his position in light of the mounting criticism, Will doubled down. He refused to apologize, explicitly saying he wouldn't take any of his words back, and responded to the senators by claiming he takes "sexual assault much more seriously" than they do.
In the column, Will had used the story of a young woman from Swarthmore College who told Philadelphia magazine about her rape. Despite the fact that she explicitly did not consent, Will implied he didn't believe her experience qualified as an actual incident of assault. The woman's name was Lisa Sendrow, and as the criticism against Will grew, she decided to speak out. In an interview with Media Matters, she blasted the conservative columnist.
"I absolutely have not received any privileges from sexual assault," she said. "He has clearly never experienced the fear of sexual assault. He clearly has no idea how hard it is to sleep, to walk around, thinking at any moment this person that you live down the hall from could come out." Sendrow told Media Matters that she received death threats and was diagnosed with PTSD following her assault and the media coverage of her, and found Will's dismissing rhetoric harmful. "You can't really heal if people are telling you that it's your fault," she said, "But that's what Will did."
Assessing the backlash against Will for this column, Post media blogger Erik Wemple noted that only men were involved in editing and vetting Will's column prior to publication.
Will's refusal to back down reflected just how seriously he takes this dismissive position towards many people who say they have been raped. 2014, after all, was not the first time he had written on the subject, though it was perhaps the most extreme example. Over two decades ago, in 1993, Will mocked what he termed the "victimization sweepstakes" which featured "rape crisis feminists."
In 1994, Will declared that a study of campus sexual assault was nothing more than a "feminist fiction." In fact, the past twenty years have featured Will mocking everything from "battered woman syndrome" (which he claimed reinforces images of women as "frail" and "easily unhinged") to the concept of hostile work environments and "yes means yes" consent.
The criticism against Will continued to build throughout the year. In October, Will was uninvited from a speaking engagement at Scripps College, after the school's president said Will had "trivialized" sexual assault cases, including one "that reflects similar experiences reported by Scripps students." The next month, hundreds showed up to protest a speech Will gave at Miami University in Ohio.
And just this past week, students and faculty protested Will's commencement address at Michigan State University, with some holding an alternate commencement ceremony and others turning their backs to Will as he spoke. Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow criticized the school's decision to host Will and give him an honorary doctorate, while both undergraduate and graduate student government associations passed resolutions denouncing Will's involvement in their graduation ceremonies.
During the Miami University protests, Will was reportedly asked by a student who identified herself as a victim of sexual assault whether he felt it was "worth it" for her to have received treatment for her trauma. He reportedly said it was, but only for "real victims of real sexual assaults."
This captures what appears to be the crux of Will's argument: that there are real rape victims, and fake ones -- women whose stories he doesn't believe are bad enough to qualify under his own definition of the term, but who reap (unidentified) benefits by pretending to be victimized. Will believes he is qualified to determine what is and is not "real sexual assault."
When Republican Todd Akin was condemned for saying that victims of "legitimate rape" could prevent pregnancy, the Post editorial board wrote that "To suggest there are different categories of rape -- some real and awful and others that are not -- is loathsome."
But when Will's sexual assault column was first published in June, The Washington Post stood by the long-time columnist. Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt told Media Matters he thought the column was "well within the bounds of legitimate debate."
Ethical Lapses
When the Society of Professional Journalists announced this September that it was overhauling its Code of Ethics for the first time in 18 years, outgoing SPJ ethics chair Kevin Smith cited Will as one of the "most noted examples" of disclosure failures by journalists in 2014.
Will's work with GOP candidates and right-wing money groups has long made disclosing his myriad conflicts-of-interest an issue. Back during the 1980 presidential campaign, for example, Will came under fire when it was discovered that "he'd secretly coached Republican candidate Ronald Reagan for a debate," and then immediately after Reagan's face-off with President Jimmy Carter appeared on ABC's Nightline to praise the Republican's debate performance, without disclosing his role advising the candidate. Will himself admitted in 2005 that his participation in Reagan's debate preparation was "inappropriate," but the revelation did not appear to end Will's questionable behavior.
Will continued to cross ethical lines with his media commentary for years, and 2014 was no different.
This summer, Will reportedly appeared as part of an "exclusive group of major donors and VIPs" at a summit for the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity (AFP). He had previously spoken at the gathering in 2008 and was honored in 2010 with the group's "George Washington Award."
Without disclosing his connections to AFP, Will routinely used his column throughout the year to promote Koch-favored candidates and issues, including North CarolinaSenator-elect Thom Tillis, unsuccessful Michigan senate candidate Terry Lynn Land, and Illinois Governor-elect Bruce Rauner.
Despite Will's regular promotion of Koch-backed candidates, Will, AFP, and his syndicator all refused to tell Media Matters whether he had been paid for his appearance (or compensated for travel and lodging) at the 2014 AFP conference.
Apparently ignoring the criticism from the SPJ and others, Will forged ahead with using his Post platform to help Koch-backed candidates. Weeks after appearing at the AFP conference, Will penned a column praising the "ebullient" Joni Ernst (and attacking her then-opponent, Bruce Braley). Though AFP had spent millions supporting Ernst, Will did not disclose his connection to the group.
Will's 2014 ethical lapses weren't limited to his undisclosed connections to AFP. In late July, Will gave the keynote address at lobbying group National Retail Federation's Retail Advocates Summit. A few weeks later, Will published a column lamenting the "distracting crusade against the minor and sensible business practice called 'inversion,'" adding that a "sensible corporate tax rate would be zero." The NRF summit listed "lower business tax rates" as one of its "key issues," and the group had previously pointed to inversions as evidence the U.S. needs to reform its tax policy.
Earlier this month, Will's Washington Post colleague Erik Wemple called him out for another "out-and-out conflict of interest." As Wemple explained, Will had written a November column promoting the efforts of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) to fight against increased oversight of the state's private voucher schools. Unmentioned by Will in the column was the fact that Will sits on the board of directors for Wisconsins' Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which had granted major money to WILL in recent years.
Will defended the omission to Wemple, claiming, "I see no reason -- no service to readers -- to disclose my several degrees of separation from the program: My tenuous connection has no bearing on what I think about what they do. There comes a point when disclosure of this and that becomes clutter, leaving readers to wonder what the disclosed information has to do with anything."
Climate Change Denial
To round out his 2014 misinformation campaign, Will returned to one of his most infamous topics: climate change denial.
Will has long denied that climate change is a real, manmade problem that has drastic consequences. But in 2014, he took this doubt further, disputing that scientific consensus even exists on the matter. When told that 97 percent of scientists who have studied the topic agree that warming trends are influenced by humans, he demanded to know "who counted" the scientists. "Who measured?" he asked Fox News' Bret Baier. "Where did that figure come from? They pluck these things from the ether."
NASA's website offers several studies and scientific societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, to confirm the scientific consensus on climate change. Several peer-reviewed studies examining scientific publications on global warming have found that approximately 97 percent of academic papers taking a position on the matter supported the consensus position that human activities are driving global warming.
Will's clumsy and misleading approach to scientific facts over the years also helped spark a petition in 2014, signed by more than 100,000 people, urging the Post to banish climate misinformation from its pages.
Their concerns were well-founded; a review of Will's contributions on the topic over the years reveals gross distortions of data and scientific literature. For instance, back in 2009, Will cited the Arctic Climate Research Center to claim that global sea ice levels hadn't changed for thirty years. The Center responded, noting that they had in fact found the exact opposite -- sea ice levels were shrinking. "We do not know where George Will is getting his information," they wrote, adding, "[i]t is disturbing that the Washington Post would publish such information without first checking the facts."
Later that same year, Will claimed that data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) revealed the world was cooling, not warming. Then-WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud wrote that this was "a misrepresentation of the data and of scientific knowledge." Instead, Jarraud explained the data showed the "unequivocal" fact that global warming existed, and was accelerating.
And a few years later, Will claimed that there was scientific consensus around so-called "global cooling" back in the seventies. Once again, scientists disagreed. A peer-reviewed study by the American Meteorological Association debunked this "pervasive myth," explaining that "In fact, emphasis on greenhouse warming dominated the scientific literature even then."
Unlike Will, the Post's editorial board recognizes that climate change is "an existential threat to the planet," and this year devoted a full week to publishing a series of climate change editorials aimed at sparking action against this threat. In an interview with Media Matters, Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt said he viewed this as a moment "when the debate could begin to get unstuck." If that is the Post's goal, they may need to look at the role their columnist plays in keeping the debate stuck squarely in the past.
"Robust Debate"
It seems that no matter how many times senators, scientists, experts, activists, and others call out Will's misinformation, Editorial Page Editor Hiatt and the Post respond with the same defense.
Back in 2009, when Will's discredited sea-ice column made headlines, Hiatt claimed Will was simply making "inferences which you disagree with" and suggested others "Debate him" rather than silence him. This year, when thousands asked the Post to stop publishing climate change denial, Hiatt again argued that Will and the other writers in its pages pushing this misinformation were merely contributing to a "robust debate." And when Will was criticized for his sexual assault column claiming victims enjoy a "coveted status," Hiatt again defended the column as falling "within the bounds of legitimate debate."
But this longstanding claim that Will is merely contributing to a "debate" is increasingly false. As the Post's ombudsman pointed out all the way back in 2009, in response to criticism of Will's shoddy sea-ice column, opinion writers are free to choose facts to help them bolster an argument, but they "aren't free to distort" those facts. This is precisely what Will has done, repeatedly, for years. Whether it's survivors who come forward with their personal life experiences, or scientists defending their research, Will distorts, disputes, and dismisses reality in favor of the only authority he believes: himself.
Ben Dimiero contributed research.
Image of Miami University protest courtesy of the Facebook page of the school's Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program.| by Jack Landau |
Preparing a city for a large scale multi-sport event is often a test of cooperation between government bodies and the hosting city, as well as a test of efficiency for event organizers, construction workers, planners and developers. The months before a large international sporting event can be chaotic as host cities struggle to ensure that all of the necessary infrastructure is in place. Rio de Janeiro’s apparent lack of readiness for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics is just one of many examples of a host city cutting it close. Here in the most construction-heavy city in North America, however, things are a bit different. With 671 days left until the start of the Pan Am and ParaPan Am Games, many of the structures in the Athletes’ Village are nearing completion, and much of the promised infrastructure is either finished or on schedule for completion well before the opening ceremonies.
The West Don Lands viewed from the new Corktown Common Park, image by Jack Landau
Progress has been rapid on development of the West Don Lands (WDL), especially when compared to the type of mid-city construction we are more accustomed to. The site, a large gated-off construction area isolated for the time being from the city around it, allows for much more elbow-room for constructors than projects with tight staging areas located in active residential neighbourhoods and commercial districts.
One of the construction gates at the West Don Lands, image by Jack Landau
An extended Front Street, featuring a wide tree-lined promenade, will lead to the focal point of the community, Corktown Common. The large landscaped park, which opened earlier this summer, sits at the east end of the Front Street extension in an arrangement similar to a golf ball on a tee thanks to the curving extension of Bayview Avenue.
Lining the Bayview extension in the images above and below is a yet-to-be-named market condominium. The concave structure, which will serve as part of the Athletes’ Village before being converted into condo units after the games, is by far the most dominant feature of the WDL when viewed from the east.
Still unnamed market condo on the east edge of the WDL viewed from Corktown Common, image by Jack Landau
Construction in the West Don Lands, image by Jack Landau
Looking further west from Front Street’s future terminus, we can see one of the TCHC (Toronto Community Housing Corporation) affordable unit buildings in the foreground, topped out amidst other construction.
TCHC apartment building on the north side of the Front Street Promenade, image by Jack Landau
A second TCHC building of similar design and proportions stands just to the northwest, with the skeleton of a third building visible further to the west. The third building will eventually be a residence for George Brown College, while all of these buildings will be used as accommodations for some of the 10,000 Pan Am athletes during the games.
TCHC apartments under construction in the West Don Lands, image by Jack Landau
On the west side of the WDL, the intersection of Front and Cherry Streets will serve as the de-facto gateway to the community.
Looking east into the West Don Lands from the current terminus of Front Street, image by Jack Landau
This key intersection features the twinned structures which will be home to both a George Brown College student residence and a local YMCA branch for a fledgling community set to contain ample affordable housing.
George Brown/YMCA building, image by Jack Landau
Construction on this part of the project is largely complete; in fact, when we visited the site yesterday afternoon, the building’s tower crane was being dismantled.
Crane being disassembled at George Brown/YMCA building, image by Jack Landau
Nestled behind the old red brick building, front and centre in the photo below, and which was home to the Canary Restaurant, is the 4-building, 369-unit Canary District Condos. Like the rest of its neighbours, Canary District will start off as part of the Athlete’s Village before being converted as permanent residential space. While only a few buildings in the WDL, like Canary District, are DundeeKilmer market condo projects, the developer signed a fixed-price contract to build and finance the construction of the entire Athletes’ Village.
The old Canary Building and Canary District Condos, image by Jack Landau
It isn't an easy task to build an entire community in one shot. Since the area is being built up from almost nothing, construction on the WDL has involved a large amount of infrastructure, including these sidewalks and adjacent streetcar tracks being installed along Cherry Street.
Streetcar tracks being installed along Cherry Street, image by Craig White
This initial segment of streetcar track, to be expanded upon at a later date, will run in its own right-of-way for approximately 700 metres between Lake Shore Boulevard and King Street, with a turning loop at Distillery Lane.
Trackwork still to be completed north to King, image by Craig White
Set to enter service after the 2015 Games, this short Australian spur line should prove invaluable for the early pioneers of a community in its infancy. Ultimately, it will connect up with new lines extending along the East Bayfront and down into the Port Lands.
New streetcar tracks along Cherry Street, image by Craig White
With just under two years before the Games, and a greater part of the work done, it looks like everything will be in working order in time for the Opening Ceremonies. (This is how Toronto prepares to host a major sporting event and casino; are you listening International Olympic Committee?!)
Rendering of the completed Athletes' Village
Additional information and renderings of the West Don Lands can be found at the project’s dataBase listing, linked below victoryag. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or voice your opinion in the comments section provided at the bottom of the page.BERLIN—The ancient flying reptiles called pterosaurs include the largest flying animals ever discovered, with estimated wingspans as wide as 11 meters, the width of a doubles tennis court. Exactly how such gargantuan creatures could have taken off, stayed aloft, and landed safely has long puzzled biomechanics experts. New calculations presented here last week at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s annual meeting suggest that flying and landing weren’t problems even for the biggest specimens, but takeoff probably limited how large the animals could grow.
Pterosaurs existed from the late Triassic until the end of the Cretaceous period—about 200 million to 66 million years ago. Although they lived at the same time, pterosaurs are not dinosaurs; they form a distinct branch of the evolutionary tree. The most famous member of the group is the first named species, Pterodactylus antiquus, commonly known as a pterodactyl. They were some of the smaller pterosaurs, with an estimated adult wingspan of about a meter, about the size a peregrine falcon. The largest known pterosaurs, Hatzegopteryx, unearthed in Romania, and Quetzalcoatlus, found in Texas, are thought to have had wingspans of 10 or 11 meters—more than three times the wingspans of today’s largest birds.
Some researchers have argued that those giants were simply too large to fly. But given their large wings—a skin-and-muscle membrane that extended between an extended fourth finger and the animals’ hind legs—most researchers think they did spend time in the air. Many previous models and estimates were based on scaling up the physiology of birds, but pterosaurs had such different body plans that those models are potentially misleading, says Colin Palmer of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. He and Michael Habib of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles attempted to devise a more accurate model of the forces on the animals as they launched, flew, and landed. They used computed tomography scans of pterosaur fossils and wind tunnel tests of model pterosaur wings to develop a computer model of a pterosaur with a 6-meter wingspan. They then scaled up their model to have 9-meter and 12-meter wingspans and calculated the forces on the animals’ bones, wings, and muscles as they took off, flew, and landed.
Staying airborne was no problem for their model pterosaurs, Palmer told the meeting. Even animals with wingspans of 15 meters would have had enough muscle power to counteract the drag that exists when the animal is in the air. Landing is a more complicated process, he says, and those modeling experiments were less definitive. The calculations didn’t place a clear limit on the ability of bone to absorb the stress of landing, but even up to 12 meters, Palmer says, their model animals could land safely.
Taking off was the biggest challenge for the model pterosaurs. The animals probably launched using all four limbs (scientists think they walked on all fours) and so had more muscle power available than today’s birds do. Model animals with wingspans of 9 or 10 meters had no problem taking off. But according to the model, animals with wingspans greater than 11 meters had trouble jumping high enough to start flapping their wings fully before they fell back to the ground. Thus, the larger pterosaurs couldn’t launch very effectively. In theory, animals even bigger than that could get airborne under ideal conditions, with a hard surface under them and no headwind. “But without ideal conditions, you get eaten,” Palmer says. Habib agrees. An animal with a 12-meter wingspan “could leap in a computer,” he says, “but the real world had Tyrannosaurus in it.”
All such computer models have limitations, says Alexander Kellner of the Brazilian National Museum at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. But the new calculations do help researchers better understand the physiological limits of the flying giants. “They were very different from anything living today,” he says, so basing models on fossil data is important. Additional fossil scans could help refine the models even further, he says.The iconic BMW M5 is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year – and to mark the occasion, BMW have done something rather special. Named the M5 30 Jahre Edition, literally meaning 30 year edition, the super saloon is the most powerful M5 yet. The first M5 was released in 1984 and produced just 220 bhp from its 3.5 litre engine. BMW have tweaked, tuned and upgraded the model over the years into the sports saloon beast it is today.
The current fifth generation M5 produces a mind-boggling 552 bhp – but for the special edition 30 Jahre edition, BMW have tuned the engine management system of the 4.4 litre twin-turbo V8 to the max, squeezing out an extra 40 bhp. This brings the total power output to nearly 600 bhp! The V8 in the 30 Jahre Edition also produces a staggering 516 lb/ft of torque, rocketing the M5 from 0-62 mph in just 3.9 seconds – those are some super car figures right there! BMW have claimed a top speed of 190 mph, essentially defying the laws of physics when you remember that the M5 is a comfortable and heavy 5-door executive saloon – not a stripped-out racing car.
Other changes for the 30 Jahre M5 include special edition leather upholstery, with the official ‘30 Jahre M5’ logo stitched into the seat-backs. BMW have announced they will only produce 300 special edition M5s and each car will feature a uniquely engraved plaque and serial number on its dashboard. The special edition version also features unique detailing, such as black chrome trim, a matte dark-silver paint finish and custom 20-inch alloy wheels.
Much of the special M5’s components are taken from the current M5 ‘competition package’. Performance upgrades include firmer, lowered suspension, an upgraded stability control system and re-mapped steering system. The special edition M5 is on sale in the UK for just under £92,000, a relative bargain when you consider its combination of super car performance and executive luxury.
Fancy getting your hands on a BMW? Head over to our BMW finance page to see how you can finance your next car. The Car Loan Warehouse are specialists in car financing and work directly with dealers and lenders to find you the best deal, regardless of your credit score. Try our quick and easy car loan calculator to see how much you could save.English actor
For American Medal of Honor recipient, see Jack A. Davenport
Jack Arthur Davenport (born 1 March 1973) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series This Life and Coupling, and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also appeared in other Hollywood films, such as The Talented Mr. Ripley. More recently, he was part of the ensemble cast in the drama series FlashForward and Smash, and took the lead role in the 2013 ITV drama series Breathless.
Early life [ edit ]
Davenport, the son of actors Nigel Davenport and Maria Aitken,[1] was born in Wimbledon, London,[2] and lived in Ibiza, Spain, for the first seven years of his life. His uncle is writer and former Conservative MP Jonathan Aitken, his maternal grandmother was socialite Penelope Aitken, his maternal grandfather was politician William Aitken, and one of his maternal great-grandfathers was John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby.[3] His parents divorced when he was seven, at which point he was sent to the independent Dragon School in Oxford, as his parents did not want him to become involved in the divorce proceedings. He then went on to attend Cheltenham College, a boarding independent school for boys (now co-educational), in the spa town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, in the West of England, followed by the British American Drama Academy in London.
Career [ edit ]
Davenport had not planned to become an actor; however, his career began when he took a gap year after attending Cheltenham College. A director from Theatr Clwyd was impressed by his performance in a summer drama course and asked Davenport to work for him. Aged 18 he was in Wales, performing bit parts in Hamlet, where he became friends with Rhys Ifans.
The following year, he attended the University of East Anglia (UEA), concentrating in Film Studies and English Literature. He tried acting once more at the UEA but was not, at this point, particularly interested in it. Davenport had considered becoming a member of a film crew, as opposed to acting in front of the camera. His mother advised him, after his graduation from UEA, to write to John Cleese requesting work on the set of his upcoming film, Fierce Creatures, so that Davenport could gain some experience behind the camera. Cleese instead sent Davenport's letter to the casting department, and he was subsequently cast as a trainee zookeeper. Whilst a small part with few lines it provided his first opportunity to work in front of the camera. After the production of Fierce Creatures was completed, Davenport found an agent who secured him an audition for the role of Miles Stewart in the BBC television drama series This Life.
Since then Davenport has played roles in many successful films and TV series, including The Talented Mr. Ripley, Coupling and Ultraviolet, as well as the box office smash Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and its sequels, Dead Man's Chest and At World's End.
During his career Davenport has also performed voice-overs, having narrated the audio versions of John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps and recorded parts in Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange. He also provides the voice over for the British MasterCard advertisements (the American being done by Billy Crudup).
In 2006, he featured in the ITV1 drama The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant and in 2009 starred in the film The Boat That Rocked.
Davenport in 2007
In 2007 Davenport was cast in Swingtown, a period and relationship drama for CBS about the impact of sexual and social liberation in 1970s American suburban households, with story arcs involving open marriages and key parties. This was cancelled after one series.
In 2008, Davenport was cast in the ABC pilot FlashForward, which was based on a Robert J. Sawyer novel. In the series, Davenport played the character of Lloyd Simcoe, a physicist allegedly responsible for a worldwide blackout, which causes the whole world to see the future. The series was cancelled after a single series.
In February 2011, Davenport was cast in the NBC musical drama pilot Smash.[4] In May 2011, it was reported that NBC has picked up the show as a series for the autumn 2011 TV season.[5] The series follows a group of people coming together to put on a Marilyn Monroe musical on Broadway. Davenport plays the musical's director.
Davenport also starred as the replacement singer in the video for Snow Patrol's single "Called Out in the Dark", released on YouTube on 17 August 2011, alongside Tara Summers and Gary Lightbody.[6]
2018 saw Davenport's Broadway debut playing the Earl of Warwick in a revival of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan starring Condola Rashad.
Personal life [ edit ]
Davenport married actress Michelle Gomez in 2000. Their son, Harry, was born in 2010.
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Television [ edit ]
Radio [ edit ]
Alistair Cooke's American Journey (2006) (BBC Radio 4)
(2006) (BBC Radio 4) Jack Davenport reads The Raw Shark Texts by Steven HallWorker hit by 40kg falling boulder at North West Rail Link site
Updated
A Sydney construction worker has been hit by a falling boulder while working near the entrance to the North West Rail Link tunnel.
Careflight said the 39-year-old was hit by the 40-kilogram boulder while welding at Baulkham Hills in Sydney's west.
He was treated by paramedics at the scene for cuts and lacerations before being taken to Westmead Hospital on Thursday evening.
"A rock had become dislodged on the surface and tumbled about 25 metres down a concrete embankment and struck him from behind," said Mark Lever from Careflight.
"He suffered a number of injuries and was treated at the scene for lacerations and cuts and then carefully raised to the surface."
The injured man from Dee Why is in a serious but stable condition.
On Wednesday Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said the $8.3 billion project was $300 million under budget and she indicated there would be further savings to come.
The rail link is expected to open in 2019.
Topics: workplace, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, baulkham-hills-2153, nsw
First postedLaw enforcement officials arrested the elusive alleged cop killer and self-titled “survivalist” Eric Frein on Oct. 30 after a nail-biting 48-day, multimillion-dollar manhunt. Not everyone, though, is celebrating Frein’s capture.
Eric Frien supporters have been quite vocal on social media in the wake of the suspected killer’s arrest in Pennsylvania. Two Facebook fan pages—”Support for Eric Frein” and “Eric Frein“—have been particularly active. While there are just over 770 likes between the two pages (not an overwhelming amount by any means), there have been dozens of posts and comments on them since Frein’s arrest less than two weeks ago.
Posts include comments on how to help the 31-year-old Frein in prison, pictures of the suspected killer portrayed as a hero, plans for how to find potential snitches and anti-police rants.
There is a wide cross section of fans between the two pages. While many supporters of Frein are Americans, there is also a strong eastern European—particularly Serbian—presence on both pages. Frein was a member of a handful of military reenactment groups such as Red Alliance and the Eastern Wolves, both of which focus on simulating Eastern European military strategies and tactics.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Frein, the leading suspect in a sniper shooting of a Pennsylvania State Police barracks in September that took the life of Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II and wounded trooper Alex Douglass. Frein was reportedly armed with a handgun and a rifle at the time of his arrest.The Cover Contents Reviews This issue sponsored by
LUSTY LADIES: MERMAIDS IN THE MEDIEVAL IRISH CHURCH Patricia Radford (d. 2003) Curator/Lecturer Oklahoma State University
For several years I have been engaged in research involving imagery sculpted on the medieval churches of Ireland. During one trip there, while I was visiting St. Brendan's Church at Clonfert, County Galway, my companion called my attention to a lovely image of a mermaid located on a pier of the chancel arch. Initially, I was surprised to see the mermaid image here at all, bare as the piers were of much else in the way of decoration. This also seemed a peculiar placement in light of the symbolic importance of the chancel arch as a liminal marker and sparked a new line of inquiry for me. The usual interpretation of mermaids is that they are images of lust and sexuality intended to caution the faithful against related sins. But perhaps there is a deeper meaning or an alternate meaning - or even a dual meaning for these images. That is what this paper will explore, along with the history of the mermaid in art.
The earliest known depiction of a mermaid dates back to the 18th century BC on a Babylonian sealstone. Classical references to creatures that are half-human and half-sea creature include the mythology of the gods Nereus and Triton. Nereus is often shown with a trident and was reported to appear to humans in many forms. Depictions of Triton sometimes show him with a single tail while in others he has two. These, however, are male images.
Two-tailed Mermaid from Pompei
From the Classical period, female creatures associated with the sea or water include Scylla, the half-human, half sea-monster who consumed six of Odysseus' sailors in Homer's Odyssey, and the Sirens, again from the Odyssey, against whose seductive songs Odysseus caused himself to be lashed to the mast and his sailors' ears plugged with wax lest they be tempted to guide the ship and his comrades into their diabolical clutches. Greek mythology and lore are filled with tales of nereids, water nymphs, naiiads, and all manner of female water creatures. Although the Sirens were not possessed of fish tails, they were intimately associated with the sea. Despite their basic physiological differences from mermaids, Beryl Rowland asserts that "... in the Middle Ages, the features of mermaids and sirens become confused." [1] When beliefs about the physiology of mermaids and sirens become muddled, their symbolism becomes intricately entwined. Sirens, earlier thought of as having the bodies of birds, had come to be seen as anatomically identical with our conception of mermaids by the medieval period. As a result, we can safely say that these early Classical legends had a great deal of influence upon notions of mermaids throughout Western Europe and within the Church. It is equally likely that they have some bearing upon early Irish tales of mermaids too.
However, Irish tales tend to be more romantic than mermaid legends elsewhere. Known as merrows or muiroighe from'muir' meaning sea and 'oigh' meaning maiden or youthful woman, these creatures were believed to have the ability to assume human form. The most common mermaid motif in early Irish literature involves the marriage between a mermaid or merrow and a mortal. [2] Typically, the legends describe a mortal who happens upon a group of these creatures who have shed their sea-skins or enchanted red caps to play along the beach. The mortal confiscates one of the skins or caps and hides it. Upon his return to the beach, he finds a lovely young woman who is searching desperately for the lost item so that she may transform back into a mermaid and join her companions in the sea. Instantly enamored of the maiden, the mortal comforts her and offers her the protection of his home as his wife. Seeing no other course, the mermaid-now-human consents. Many years pass and, after bearing the man several children, the wife happens across her enchanted cap or sea-skin one day, hidden by her husband many years prior. She returns to the beach, dons it, and returns to the sea, leaving her mortal husband and children to mourn her loss. Interestingly, several old Irish families trace their lineage to mermaids or muiroighe and include images of them on their family crests and arms.
From various of the annals of Ireland, including the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of the Four Masters, come reports of the capture of mermaids in the years 558, 571, 887, and 1118. Of these, the most famous tale is that of Liban, daughter of Eochaidh, who was spared when the flooding of Lough Neagh drowned her family around 90 A.D. She lived as a human for many years in a cave below the sea prior to her transformation into a mermaid. Once transformed, her singing so enchanted the denizens |
." The judge assessed Hunt's damages from the resulting accident at C$1.2 million, but reduced that by three quarters to reflect her own fault in the matter. He "went on to declare it the duty of employers to monitor the alcohol consumption of employees at company functions. The decision is expected to send a chill through offices across the country". (Charlie Gillis, National Post (Canada), Feb. 6) (& update Aug. 16, 2003: appeals court orders new trial).
February 7-8 -- "Survivor" contestant sues. Stacey Stillman -- the one contestant on the hit TV show "Survivor" who was an attorney in real life -- "is suing its producer, alleging he rigged the outcome by arranging to have her voted off the show, according to a published report Tuesday." The report, in USA Today, said Stillman had sought a $5 million settlement from CBS and other defendants. ("TV's 'Survivor' sued", CNNfn, Feb. 6).
February 7-8 -- Safer smokes vs. the settlement cartel. One fledgling business would like to experiment with selling a cigarette designed to inflict less harm on the user's lungs than the regular kind. But the trial-lawyer-brokered multistate settlement between cigarette companies and state attorneys general imposes a special prohibitive charge on new-entrant companies that might seek to compete with incumbent tobacco companies, the better to protect the states' revenue stream. Too bad for smokers, but who cares about them anyway?, seems to be the general view. (Jonathan Rauch, "How To Build a Better Cigarette -- And How To Snuff It Out", The Atlantic/National Journal, Jan. 19).
February 7-8 -- Employees not tenured in California. Of the fifty state supreme courts, California's and Michigan's had led the way in creating new rights for employees to sue over "wrongful termination", edging toward a sort of property right on the part of workers not to be fired, at least if they had been on the job for a while with no complaint from their employers. But Michigan's court has pulled back from its liberal interpretations in recent years, and now it appears that California's is doing the same. The state's Supreme Court ruled last term that an employee could not assert an "implied" promise to be retained in continued employment when his employer had explicitly spelled out in print that it had the right to discharge him at will. Commonsensical as the ruling may seem, it confirms that "implied" tenure rights are not going to swallow the general background rule of at-will employment in California, as they seemed likely to do not so long ago. (Kevin Livingston, "Employers Win Big in At-Will Case", The Recorder/CalLaw, Oct. 6) (Guz v. Bechtel -- PDF/document, courtesy Findlaw).
February 6 -- "Persistent suitor". For more than ten years now, a commercial publisher of scientific journals by the name of Gordon & Breach has been suing two scientific societies, the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP), which it says have conspired to disparage the physics journals it publishes. The two societies say they're being sued for having had the temerity to spread the word about a price comparison of journals in which G&B's entries fared badly, and they say the publisher is using litigation to punish them for exercising their rights of free speech, not to mention academic freedom. (Andrew R. Albanese, "Inside Publishing", Lingua Franca, Dec./Jan.; barschall.stanford.edu; more)
February 6 -- "Lawsuits could tame ski slopes". Lawyers pursuing a wrongful-death case against the Vail ski resort will try to dodge Colorado's strict limits on ski-operator liability. "I don't envy the jury. It will understandably sympathize with the mother's loss. But before it litigates our winter sports out from underneath us, I hope it will consider that many Americans see winter's snows as a liberating force, as a frontier-like challenge against which we define ourselves. The most interesting and challenging winterscapes count if and only if we can freely throw ourselves into them and confront chaos, if we can ski the chutes and risk the avalanches." (Tom Wolf, Denver Post, Nov. 26).
February 6 -- Amazon "Honor System": a new way to support this (and other) websites. How do people keep nonprofit, literary, hobby or "cause" websites going? The answer isn't obvious, given that banner ads are obtrusive and don't after all bring in that much revenue (we've avoided them from the start). Pretty much every small web publisher is hoping that some system of micropayments or -donations comes along soon and now Amazon.com is leading the way by launching, today, something it calls the "Honor System": it allows readers of a site to make small online contributions toward its upkeep (see this site's front page).
As you can imagine, we'd like to be able to purchase better page construction and FTP software, keep expanding our ListBot-hosted mailing list without having to put ads in it, buy somewhat more deluxe hosting services, subscribe to more journals that serve as sources for our kinds of stories, get out to more conferences other than the ones that pay us to come speak, and -- who knows? -- maybe even develop a few banner ads of our own to let more new readers know about Overlawyered.com. And now you can help out toward the site's continuation and expansion by clicking Amazon's "Honor System" box where you will learn how to make a small donation, much as if you were buying or subscribing to a print newsletter or magazine. You can use your credit card, the donations can be quite micro in nature -- a dollar or two, for example -- and no information about you will be shared with us, which means you will have to accept our gratitude in a very general way (again, see this site's front page). We also urge you to check out the roster of other participating sites that Amazon is publicizing as part of the system's launch -- it includes some gems.
February 5 -- Caesarean rate headed back up. "The number of US women giving birth by caesarean section is rising rapidly, signaling an apparent end to an ambitious public health effort over the past decade to reduce the nation's C-section rate. With about one in four babies born by C-section in the late 1980s, rates began to fall after health authorities warned that the numbers were unnecessarily high and that too many surgeries were motivated by doctors' fear of lawsuits over vaginal deliveries." (Shari Roan, "C-section rates rise after 1-year decline", L.A. Times/Boston Globe, Jan. 30).
Although a large volume of malpractice litigation blames cerebral palsy (CP) in newborns on asphyxia of the infant during labor (which is often, in turn, attributed to doctors' failure to perform a timely C-section), much of the research would "indicate that there is poor, if any, correlation" between most markers for asphyxia and the development of CP in infants, writes the chairman of the ob/gyn department at University of Texas, Houston, Medical School (Larry C. Gilstrap III, MD, "Obstetric antecedents of cerebral palsy: What we know and don't know", January 18 - 21, 2000). And five years ago a literature review for the state of Minnesota found that electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) had proved of uncertain benefit at best in improving neonatal outcomes but was in nearly universal use due to liability concerns, and in turn led to a higher rate of Caesareans and other surgical interventions: "The widespread use of EFM during labor appears to be driven, in part, by medicolegal concerns by physicians." ("Fetal Heart Rate Assessment During Labor", State of Minnesota Health Advisory Technology Committee, 1996). (DURABLE LINK)
February 5 -- Welcome Wall Street Journal readers. Friday's "Taste" section credited us for the story (Jan. 31) of the Ohio man who won an all-you-can-drink contest and then sued the bar after drinking so much he fell down. ("Tony and Tacky: The Punch Bowl", Feb. 2 (online subscribers only)). We've also racked up links/mentions from, among many others, the Canadian site LegalHumour.com; New Hope, Pa. "Interesting Links"; NotPC.com; Cajun's Morning Fix; the Utah state library system (July -- they call us "opinionated but interesting"); Laurie Ralston, Pepperdine University, "Types of [Sexual] Harassment", last modified Oct. 26 (see "The 'Other Side' of Sexual Harassment"); Bob Gaines, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro, "Sexual Harassment Resources", last updated Feb. 2 (deeming us a "somewhat conservative point of view"); the Kansas Chamber of Commerce; and IRCpolitics.org.
February 5 -- Mysterious portents. Tomorrow we expect to unveil a new feature on Overlawyered.com, but we're not supposed to tell you what it is yet. Now, is that mysterious enough to make you come back, or what?
February 2-4 -- Annals of zero tolerance: pointing chicken finger. "An 8-year-old boy was suspended from school for three days after pointing a breaded chicken finger at a teacher and saying, 'Pow, pow, pow.'" The Jonesboro, Ark., school district, scene of a multiple shooting by a student three years ago, maintains a zero-tolerance policy on weapons, extending in this case to edible objects used as pretend-weapons. "Kelli Kissinger, mother of first-grader Christopher, said she believed the punishment was too severe. 'I think a chicken strip is something insignificant,' she said. 'It's just a piece of chicken.'" The school's principal "said the school has zero-tolerance rules because the public wants them." ("Boy suspended for pointing chicken finger like gun", AP/CNN, Jan. 31).
February 2-4 -- "Juries handing out bigger product liability awards". Figures for cases collected by LRP Publications show a median award of $500,300 in 1993 rising to $1.8 million in 1999, while plaintiff win rates rose from 39 percent to 46 percent over the same period. Such numbers must be weighed with extreme caution, since they represent only a sampling of all cases (in fact, this group's numbers on jury awards rely on self-reporting by winning lawyers, an obviously unscientific method vulnerable to manipulation), since they jump around a lot from year to year, and since median figures (half-higher, half-lower) are not nearly so useful as averages in trying to gauge the overall impacts on society of such litigation. (The median earthquake in India this year may have been quite moderate.)
Trial lawyers have their spin all ready: they've just gotten really selective in taking cases, you see, so those they do file are the ones that deserve much more money. They also call attention to the ongoing decline in the number of product liability cases filed in federal court, which has dropped steeply, from 32,856 in 1997 to 14,428 in 2000. Of course the main reason for this is that they've been filing cases instead in state courts, perceived as more plaintiff-friendly in recent years. (AP/CNN, Jan. 31; Geraldine Sealy, ABC News/Yahoo, Jan. 30)
February 2-4 -- Crime does pay. Settling a lawsuit, the city of Denver has agreed to pay $1.2 million to teenager DeShawn Hollis, "who was shot by the police three years ago, moments after he had burglarized a house." (Michael Janofsky, "Denver to Pay $1.2 Million to Young Burglar Shot by the Police", New York Times, Jan. 31)
February 2-4 -- AGs' inflammable policy. Royalty disputes between state governments and oil and gas companies are not new, but state attorneys general have lately taken to hiring private tort lawyers to press their state's claims in exchange for a share in the booty, and the lawyers are using their well-honed skills to whip juries into awarding sums far in excess of the original dispute. Quotes our editor (James Glassman, "Publicity-seeking politicians and contingency-fee lawyers corrupt the law", TechCentralStation/ Reason Online, Jan. 29).
February 2-4 -- One million pages served on Overlawyered.com. Last month set a new traffic record, as did last week... thanks for your support!Jan 16, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons former player Ben Wallace (black suit) looks on as guard Reggie Jackson (1) shakes hands with Larry Brown after the game against the Golden State Warriors at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Pistons won 113-95. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Ben Wallace will be eligible for consideration in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame next year. Does he have a case for induction to the Hall of Fame?
Ben Wallace was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame this past weekend. Wallace was joined by fellow former Detroit Piston John Long as well as former Detroit Red Wings Brendan Shanahan and Chris Osgood.
It’s certainly a great honor, there may remain a greater Hall of Fame in Wallace’s future. Ben Wallace will be five years removed from his playing career this time next year, making him eligible for the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame.
On Monday, The Sporting News made the case that the inclusion of Yao Ming in this year’s HOF class weakens the requirements for centers to get into the Hall.
Major foot injuries limited the the 7-6 former Rockets center to only 486 regular-season games over eight seasons. He only made it out of the first round of the playoffs once, making for one of the skimpiest hall resumes of all time. The argument is that he should have made the Hall as a contributor — a fine designation bestowed on pioneers — not a player.
By any reasonable metric, Wallace should make any Hall of Fame that includes a center like Yao Ming. While Yao was an imposing figure, his statistical impact was minimal.
He averaged respectable numbers, posting 19 points and 9.2 rebounds per game over the course of his career. He never averaged more than 10.8 rebounds per game in any season, and while he averaged a career high scoring 25 points per game in 2006-07, he only played in 48 games.
As stated by TSN, he also only made it out of the first round one time in his career.
Now, this isn’t an article that aims to diminish Yao’s contributions to the NBA or his worthiness for the Hall. This article aims to lay out Ben Wallace’s case for the Hall of Fame regardless of any kind of weakening at the center position. It’s my assertion that Wallace is worthy of induction purely on his own merits, unaffected by the inclusion of other players.
The case for Ben Wallace
Most NBA players make their name on the offensive side of the ball, and support it with a passable effort on defense. It’s common knowledge that offense is the more important element in basketball. That’s particularly true at the professional level where everybody can score, it’s simply a matter of how efficiently.
It’s rare when a player is such a force on defense that a lack of any production whatsoever on offense doesn’t keep them off the floor. Rarer still when that player is such a destructive force on the defensive side that offensive contribution is not even needed in order to give value.
Ben Wallace was such a player for the Detroit Pistons, particularly between 2000 and 2006.
Wallace made four straight All Star games between 2003 and 2006 entirely as a defensive force. He made five straight All-Defense First Teams between 2001-02 and 2005-06 and an All-Defense Second Team in 2006-07.
Wallace also won an NBA-record four Defensive Player of the Year Awards in five years between 2002 and 2006. He led the NBA in rebounds in 2002 and 2003 (with 13 and 15.4 respectively) and is the Pistons’ all-time leader in blocks with 1486.
In 2001-02 he led the NBA in blocks with 3.5 per game. All of this while standing (allegedly) a couple inches shorter than his listed height of 6’9″, already an undersized height for a center.
The individual stats and accomplishments are great, but the most important items on the resume are yet to come. In 2004 Wallace and Chauncey Billups led the Detroit Pistons to an NBA championship, devastating the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson in a so-called five-game sweep.
Wallace was also one of the two most important pieces to a Pistons’ team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals four straight times (the Pistons went to two more after he left via free agency for the Chicago Bulls in 2006).
Ben Wallace was a young journeyman who came to Detroit from the Orlando Magic as a throw-in on a trade that sent away the great Grant Hill. There were minimal expectations on Wallace, but he built himself into a force to be reckoned with, an NBA champion.
Wallace was a player who the Pistons’ organization modeled themselves after from top to bottom. The Going to Work Pistons were going to work because that’s what Ben Wallace did and what he demanded of his teammates.
It doesn’t matter that Yao Ming got into the Hall of Fame. Ben Wallace doesn’t need a hand to get in. Ben Wallace is a Hall of Famer on his own merits. Hopefully in a year’s time he’ll get the recognition he richly deserves.Bad Politics, Worse Prose
Dictator: Muammar al-Qaddafi
Oeuvre: Hallucinogenic stream of consciousness
When it comes to literary ventures, embattled Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi is best known for his 1975 political treatise the Green Book, which lays out the foundation for Libya’s jamahiriya system of government and is supposed to be required reading for all Libyans. But for those looking for additional insight into the dictator’s mind, his follow-up publication, Escape to Hell, is the way to go — if you can get past the incoherent stream-of-consciousness prose, described by one reviewer as “a lump of uneven, partially digested literary cud.”
Escape to Hell is billed as a collection of short stories and essays, but most readers have found it lacking even the basic ingredients of plot or content. One of the most bizarre stories is called “The Astronaut’s Suicide.” It tells the story of an astronaut who returns to Earth from a long stay in space, finds he can’t adjust to normal life, and kills himself. It’s meant to be a children’s book. Another piece titled “Stop Fasting When You See the New Moon” both praises and derides Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf’s proclamation about when Ramadan would occur for allied Islamic forces during the first Gulf War (a decision traditionally left to Islamic scholars).
Some themes do emerge from the mess. Qaddafi rages against urban decay and Islamic fundamentalism. Reviewers have noted how “environmentalism, tradition and enlightened interdependence are high on his list of virtues,” especially in his yarns on the beauty of Bedouin life in the desert. He really does hate the city, though:
This is the city: a mill that grinds down its inhabitants, a nightmare to its builders. It forces you to change your appearance and replace your values; you take on an urban personality, which has no colour or taste to it…. The city forces you to hear the sounds of others whom you are not addressing. You are forced to inhale their very breaths…. Children are worse off than adults. They move from darkness to darkness…. Houses are not homes — they are holes and caves… Yesterday a young boy was run over in that street, where he was playing. Last year a speeding vehicle hit a little girl crossing the street, tearing her body apart. They gathered up her limbs in her mother’s dress. Another child was kidnapped by professional criminals. After a few days, they released her in front of her home, after they had stolen one of her kidneys! Another boy was put into a cardboard box by the neighbourhood boys in a game, but was run over accidentally by a car.
No wonder he prefers staying in tents in the desert.
PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images
Dictator: Saddam Hussein
Oeuvre: Erotic allegorical fiction
While the United States was planning and executing an invasion of his country, Saddam Hussein spent the final weeks before the war working on a plot of his own — a historical novel describing an ancient tribe repelling an attack from foreign invaders. It would have been the capstone in a remarkable literary career. Saddam’s debut novel, Zabiba and the King, was published in 2000 and was followed by three more novels: The Fortified Castle (2001), Men and the City (2002), and Devil’s Dance, the book supposedly completed just one day before the U.S. invasion and, smuggled out of Iraq by one of Saddam’s daughters. The novels were popular in Iraq (though perhaps not by choice), and the last one has even been translated into Japanese.
Zabiba and the King, the first novel, was released anonymously, but critics quickly fingered Saddam (or, at least, his ghostwriters) as the probable author. It became a bestseller, with lavish praise from the Iraqi press. The Iraqi National Theater even produced a musical based on the novel, promoted as the country’s “biggest production ever.”
The novel is an allegorical love story, set in Arabian Nights-era Iraq, about a beautiful woman, Zabiba, who falls madly in love with a king named Arab and then teaches him about Islam and how to run a country. Zabiba’s abusive husband is supposed to represent the predatory United States invading and pillaging an innocent Iraq. Not so coincidently, King Arab and his creator share the same birthplace, Tikrit.
Saddam’s literary prowess is shadowed by his stilted prose, a fondness for profanity, and blatant attempts to use his political enemies as the central villains of his stories. According to the Guardian, the English translation contains repeated uses of the word “asshole” to describe the evil husband. It also features a bizarre bestiality sex scene:
Even an animal respects a man’s desire, if it wants to copulate with him. Doesn’t a female bear try to please a herdsman when she drags him into the mountains as it happens in the North of Iraq? She drags him into her den, so that he, obeying her desire, would copulate with her? Doesn’t she bring him nuts, gathering them from the trees or picking them from the bushes? Doesn’t she climb into the houses of farmers in order to steal some cheese, nuts and even raisins, so that she can feed the man and awake in him the desire to have her?
The book’s English translator believes the bear is supposed to represent Russia.
Now, thanks to British satirist and actor Sacha Baron Cohen, of Borat fame, Hollywood will soon release an adaptation of Zabiba and the King, with Cohen in the role of King Arab. The Dictator is due out in May 2012, billed as “the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.”
Saddam’s writing career didn’t end with the U.S. invasion. He continued to compose poetry from his Baghdad prison cell after he was sentenced to death. His poem “Unbind It” is believed to contain his last written words:
All people, we never let you down
And in catastrophes, our party is the leader.
I sacrifice my soul for you and for our nation
Blood is cheap in hard times
We never kneel or bend when attacking
But we even treat our enemy with honor…
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Dictator: Kim Jong Il
Oeuvre: Revolutionary film criticism
If North Korean propaganda is to be believed, Dear Leader is the world’s most prolific writer. Kim Jong Il claims to have written 1,500 books — and that was just during his college years. Highlights include his 1974 On the Art of Opera: Talk to Creative Workers in the Field of Art and Literature, 1983’s Let Us Advance Under the Banner of Marxism-Leninism and the Juche Idea, and Our Socialism Centered on the Masses Shall Not Perish, published in 1991. But the most well-known opus from this life-long film buff is probably On the Art of the Cinema, published in 1973 and available for $27.50 on Amazon.com.
According to B.R. Myers, author of several books about North Korea, Kim’s books aren’t actually meant to be read. “This is not a country like China where citizens are expected to read and learn by heart a dictator’s work,” Myers says. “In North Korea, it’s more about reading about the dictator’s life. If you actually ask North Koreans about the content of Kim Jong Il’s writings, they know very little and they get embarrassed about that.”
On the Art of the Cinema calls for a “revolutionary transformation of the practice of directing.” Tips include: “If the characters’ behavior in a given situation is determined by the whim of the writer, and not by their own will and conviction, they will not seem like living people and will fail to arouse a genuine emotional response.” Another of his books, The Cinema and Directing, describes, in the meandering, repetitive totalitarian-ese employed by Kim throughout his oeuvre, the connection between Juche and directing:
In film directing, the basic factor is also to work well with the artists, technicians and production and supply personnel who are directly involved in film-making. This is the essential requirement of the Juche-inspired system of directing. This system is our system of directing under which the director becomes the commander of the creative group and pushes ahead with creative work as a whole in a coordinated way, giving precedence to political work and putting the main emphasis on working with the people who make films. This system embodies the fundamental features of the socialist system and the basic principle of the Juche idea that man is the master of everything and decides everything. Hence, it fully conforms with the collective nature of film-making and the characteristic features of direction.
Kim Jong Il’s books are written primarily to be showpieces for the regime, for display in libraries and museums. “When the regime really has something to say, it expresses it directly and concisely,” Myers says. “When there’s nothing much to say, that’s when they slip into this boring, turgid style.”
Getty Images
Dictator: Joseph Stalin
Oeuvre: Georgian pastoral odes
Before Joseph Stalin was known for murdering millions of his own people, the Soviet dictator was a locally famous Georgian poet who wrote flowery odes to nature and working-class heroes. Young Ioseb Dzhugashvili’s work was considered good enough to be included in prestigious literary journals of the time and Georgian anthologies. According to Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Young Stalin, the dictator’s poems became minor Georgian classics even before he took power — some were even unwittingly memorized by schoolchildren all the way up through the 1970s (Stalin typically published anonymously). His rhapsodic invocations of Georgia’s rolling lush landscape, as in the poem “Morning,” were beloved by nationalists and read as a rebuff to czarist repression:
The pinkish bud has opened,
Rushing to the pale-blue violet
And, stirred by a light breeze,
The lily of the valley has bent over the grass. The lark has sung in the dark blue,
Flying higher than the clouds
And the sweet-sounding nightingale
Has sung a song to children from the bushes Flower, oh my Georgia!
Let peace reign in my native land!
And may you, friends, make renowned
Our Motherland by study!
Stalin’s poetry was fairly standard for early 19th century romantic poetry, as biographer Robert Service notes in Stalin: A Biography, if a little juvenile. “It wasn’t very original,” Service says. “I don’t think it’s very good, personally. It’s very conventional, the imagery is very standardized and rather self-indulgent.… He’s not one of the great poets.”
Stalin largely gave up writing his own poetry after he took power, but he pursued his love of verse in other ways: In the 1940s, he translated and edited Georgian poetry into Russian, memorized poems by Nikolai Nekrasov and Alexander Pushkin, read translations of Goethe and Shakespeare, and could apparently recite Walt Whitman’s work from memory. Supposedly, when Nobel Prize-winning poet and novelist Boris Pasternak was on a list of execution targets, Stalin said, “Leave that cloud-dweller in peace.” “He had really romantic yearnings,” says Service.
Stalin’s poetry is not widely read today, a notable exception being among talented Georgian parrots.
Wikimedia Commons
Dictator: Saparmurat Niyazov
Oeuvre: Spiritual meditations
Some writers are their own worst critics. Not the late Turkmen autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov who reportedly instructed Turkmen youth that in order to go to heaven, they must read his book three times a day. “A person that reads Ruhnama becomes smart … and after it, he will go to heaven,” Niyazov, also known by the honorific title Turkmenbashi (Leader of All the Turkmen), told the country’s young people at a concert celebrating a national spring holiday.
Over the course of his reign, which began after the dissolution of the Soviet empire and ended with his death in 2006, Niyazov established the kind of personality cult that turned Turkmenistan into, in the words of the New Yorker‘s David Remnick, “a cruel blend of Kim Jong Il’s North Korea and Frank L. Baum’s Oz.” During Niyazov’s reign, Turkmen doctors had to take an oath to Turkmenbashi, the first month of the year was redubbed Turkmenbashi, and most books were banned from stores and schools. But not Ruhnama, a 400-page collection of Niyazov’s thoughts on Turkmen identity, philosophy, and history, which was “written with the help of inspiration sent to my heart by the God who created this wonderful universe.”
According to Ruhnama, “the Turkmen people has a great history which goes back to the Prophet Noah”:
Allah made the Turkmens prolific and their numbers greatly increased. God gave them two special qualities: spiritual richness and courage. As a light for their road, God also strengthened their spiritual and mental capacity with the ability to recognize the realities behind events. After that He gave His servants the following general name: TURK IMAN. Turk means core, iman means light. Therefore, TURK IMAN, namely Turkmen means “made from light, whose essence is light.” The Turkmen name came to the world in this way.
“However peculiar the results may be, the rationale arose from reality,” says Fred Starr, a professor at Johns Hopkins’s School of Advanced International Studies and chairman of the Central-Asia Caucasus Institute. “I think [Turkmenistan’s leaders] felt that things were really coming apart in a dangerous situation and they needed anything that could rally the country together. This text was what the president himself designated as an instrument for doing that.”
At the height of Niyazov’s reign, Ruhnama was everywhere: in schools, in government offices, and on state-run television, which was once devoted exclusively to promoting his work. The month of September was even renamed Ruhnama.
Today, the book no longer has the same grip on Turkmen society that it once did. New wealth, especially in the form of a natural gas pipeline to China, is providing the country with new rallying points. “It’s being respectfully relegated to the past,” Starr said. “There are still copies all over the place, but the country has moved on.”
AFP/Getty Images
Dictator: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Work: Persian mystical poetry
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini may have been a revolutionary leader, overthrowing the Pahlavi dynasty of Iran in 1979 and establishing an Islamic Republic with himself as supreme leader. But he was also a poet, inspired by centuries of Persian poetry like that written by famous Sufi mystic poets such as Rumi, who composed allegorical love poems notable for their use of music, dance, and even alcohol (despite it being banned by Muslim law) to express the rapture and hunger associated with both romantic and religious love.
This is just one of the reasons that “startling” is a word used more than once by critics describing Khomeini’s work. Khomeini is, after all, the leader responsible for both the establishment of a theocratic regime dedicated to religious purity and calling for the assassination of writer Salman Rushdie for publishing a novel deemed offensive to Islam.
“For many, his poetry was a revelation,” says journalist Baqer Moin. “Khomeini employed the customary symbolism, allusions, metonymy, and other literary tools and metaphors such as wine, love, beauty, beloved that one does not associate with an Ayatollah under whose rule the wine drinkers were flogged and the lovers punished.”
But Khomeini’s verse, such as this poem published first in English by the New Republic after his death, can seem surprisingly secular:
Open the door of the tavern and let us go there day and night,
For I am sick and tired of the mosque and seminary.
I have torn off the garb of asceticism and hypocrisy,
Putting on the cloak of the tavern-hunting shaykh and becoming aware.
The city preacher has so tormented me with his advice
That I have sought aid from the breath of the wine-drenched profligate.
Leave me alone to remember the idol-temple,
I who have been awakened by the hand of the tavern’s idol.
Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of the New Republic, was taken by both the poem’s content and style. “Given what the West has thought of Khomeini, the lyricism of the poem and its radical, law-threatening mysticism are startling,” he told the New York Times that same year. “The tyrant turns out to have been a religious intellectual in the fullest sense.”
Khomeini deepened his interests in poetry and mysticism as a young man studying in the Shiite holy city of Qom. In the madrasa, other types of art like music and painting were forbidden. Poetry was not, and students, including Khomeini, used it as a way of dealing with the absence of other outlets for sensual expression in their lives.
During Khomeini’s lifetime, his poetry was only known among a small circle of followers and friends. Grand ayatollahs are not supposed to be poets. According to Moin, the Quran “looks at poets as misguided, and Khomeini had problems with the traditionalist clergy in the 1940s who accused him of heresy because of his interest in teaching mysticism and writing about it.”
Getty ImagesBarack Obama has "doubled our national debt. Doubled it. It's going to be close to $20 trillion when he leaves."
Donald Trump says this White House is leaving behind a lot of red ink.
"Barack Obama has doubled, during his fairly short period of years, he’s doubled our national debt. Doubled it. It’s going to be close to $20 trillion when he leaves," Trump told supporters at a Sept. 6 rally in Virginia Beach.
Did Obama double the national debt? We checked.
The Trump campaign’s press office justified his statement by sending us a link to U.S. Treasury Department figures on the size of the national debt.
On Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama took office, the total national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. On Sept. 6, the day Trump made his statement, it was $19.5 trillion.
Over the past year the debt has grown by more than $1 trillion, so Trump’s estimate that the debt will be "close to $20 trillion" by the time Obama’s term ends in January is reasonable and is close to doubling the amount from when the president entered office.
These indebtedness figures take into account all obligations, including about $5.4 trillion in intergovernmental debt that the U.S. government owes itself, such as the Social Security and Medicare trust funds that are invested in Treasury securities.
When looking at the size of the U.S. debt, some experts prefer tallying just the amount of debt held by the public in Treasury bills, savings bonds and obligations to foreign governments, because that’s the debt the government owes to outside entities.
But even by that measure, the debt has risen sharply. Public debt this month stands at $14.1 trillion, a figure that’s more than double the $6.3 trillion total when Obama took office.
But Trump’s statement implies that Obama is solely to blame for the rise in the debt, and that misses a key part of the story.
While Obama proposes spending and signs it into law, all of the spending bill first must pass Congress. In other words, the rise in the debt is not a solo act by Obama.
Other factors beyond elected officials’ actions contributed to the debt increase.
Robert Bixby, executive director of the centrist Concord Coalition, told our colleagues at PolitiFact Wisconsin in July that given the fact that Obama took office as the Great Recession sapped government revenues, the debt "would have exploded certainly during (Obama’s) first term, no matter who was president."
Our ruling
Trump said Obama "doubled the national debt. Doubled it. It’s going to be close to $20 trillion when he leaves."
The figures are correct, and we don’t doubt the president shares some of the blame for the increased indebtedness. But Trump’s statement leaves out some key points.
First of all, the added debt wasn’t solely the responsibility of Obama; Congress had to approve it as well. And the recession that began before Obama took office in 2009 cut government revenues and led to some of the higher debt incurred during the president’s term.
We rate Trump’s claim Half True.The new operating software has unlocked some exciting new features, but it seems change is not always welcome.
The overhaul of Apple's mobile operating system has left some users wishing they could revert to their familiar iOS 6.
A number of new features introduced with the new software seem to have particularly rankled iPhone and iPad owners and turning them off can prove particularly tricky.
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Trump and reject GOP critics who say they are enabling the Democrat because there are only two choices.
"Yes, I'm still 'NeverTrump,' and still not voting for Hillary, either," Republican operative Rory Cooper told the Washington Examiner on Monday. Cooper previously advised "#NeverTrump," a super PAC dedicated to defeating the New York businessman in the GOP primary.
"Sen. Lee has not endorsed Donald Trump, and has no plans to," added Conn Carroll, a spokesman for Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a prominent conservative.
In August, Trump trailed Clinton significantly in public opinion polls — both nationally and in the swing states. Trump's string of gaffes and sharp rhetoric over the summer appears to have turned Arizona and Georgia, perennial red states, into battlegrounds.
But days of heavy reporting on Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, and her questionable interaction with her family charitable foundation during that same period, have allowed Trump to become more competitive.
The RealClearPolitics average stood at 3 percentage points; 2.2 percentage points in a four-way contest with third party candidates. Polling on the impact of Clinton's health, and her campaign's handling of the episode, was not yet available.
The race has closed partly because some rank-and-file Republican voters reluctant to back Trump might have softened in their opposition. In a CNN poll released just after Labor Day, Trump garnered 88 percent support from self-identified Republicans, a notable uptick.
Mark Levin, a conservative talk radio host who had been "Never Trump," announced last week that he planned to vote for the nominee after all.
"I'm going to wind up voting for Donald Trump on Election Day. I take no responsibility for the dumb things he says," Levin told his radio audience.
Still, neither the new information on Clinton's potential ethical misdeeds, nor Trump's improvement in the polls, are changing any minds among many others among the "Never Trump" crew.
"In the professional world and amongst conservative thinkers, no, there is no softening," said Rob Stutzman, a Republican operative in California. "I think we believe as much as ever before he's dangerous for the country. He is loathed."
They have explained — in interviews and published writings — that their opposition to Trump was never about comfort with Clinton, or Trump's narrow path to victory in the general election.
Rather, it's about Trump himself — the positions he's taken on issues and the way he's conducted himself on the trail.
Even if you account for Trump's slightly more disciplined campaign style recently, his renewed embrace of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is just one of many examples that prove nothing that motivated their unequivocal opposition to him has changed.
Peter Wehner, a Republican commentator who served in the last three GOP administrations, published a piece in RealClearPolitics meant to explain his position to members of his party who view the nominee as the better choice against a particularly flawed Democrat.
The strongest case to make for conservatives supporting Donald Trump is a modest one. It goes like this: He is a deeply flawed man who is running against someone who is even more deeply flawed," Wehner writes.
But, he adds upon conluding is essay: "The Trump oeuvre – what he has said, and done, and shown over the course of his life and this campaign — leads to an unfortunate but inescapable conclusion: Donald J. Trump is manifestly unfit to be president of the United States."JASON Taumalolo scored two freakish tries as the Cowboys demolished the Eels but, in an ominous warning, coach Paul Green declared there was “more to come”.
Taumalolo proved his determination to be “ruthless” was more than lip-service as the Cowboys finally found their killer instinct.
Meanwhile, Parramatta sunk to a new low as club great Peter Sterling described them as “mentally weak”.
The Cowboys notched their biggest win this season and biggest win over the Eels in a 46-4 effort.
It was North Queensland’s 14th win this year which should see them set a club record for wins and competition points by season’s end.
The Eels were meant to be thrashed last night in Townsville but they were in contention for an upset during the first 60 minutes.
They were brilliant in attack at times and looked capable of orchestrating a boilover until the Cowboys found the next gear they have been searching for all season.
The Cowboys’ final 20 minutes were probably their most polished this year as they rattled up five tries.
The Eels had a tough night in Townsville. Source: Getty Images
While they finished the game producing the type of attacking football premierships are made of, the Cowboys’ first half included some of their worst football since their loss to Cronulla last month.
Taumalolo was exceptional all game.
Two barge-over tries, trampling hapless Parramatta defenders, gave the Cowboys a 22-4 lead with 15 minutes remaining and from there North Queensland put their foot on the pedal.
It was the first time the Cowboys have won by more than 20 points this season.
They are now on 32 competition points and with six games remaining can realistically make it to 40 points, smashing their previous best of 34 competition points.
Jason Taumalolo crashed over for two tries. Source: Getty Images
The Eels have been to hell and back this season and they were clearly distracted.
In radio commentary for Triple M, Sterling said “they are a mentally weak football team”.
The difference between the teams was the Cowboys often backed up their errors with defensive resolve, while the Eels dropped their heads.
Green said while Taumalolo was good against Parramatta, we haven’t seen the best of him.
Rory Kostjasyn scored his first try of the season. Source: Getty Images
He broke seven tackles and made 130 metres in a star turn.
“There’s probably more in Jason and hopefully we see that as our own game improves,” Green said.
Despite it being a record win, Green wasn’t satisfied and said his team needed to be cut-throat for 80 minutes.
Asked if his team had finally become ruthless, Green said “Towards the back end we were”.
“We weren’t for the first two thirds of that game though”.
The turning point came with the Cowboys leading only 10-4.
The Eels were camped on the Cowboys line early in the second half and should have levelled the scores when Brad Takairangi flew over the line.
Justin O’Neill saved a certain try by hitting Takairangi’s arm as he was mid-air to force the ball loose.
A Rory Kostjasyn try three minutes later started North Queensland’s onslaught.
NORTH QUEENSLAND 46 (J Taumalolo 2 L Coote J Granville R Kostjasyn K Linnett A Winterstein M Wright tries J Thurston 7 goals) bt PARRAMATTA 4 (R Robinson try) at 1300SMILES Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 13,767.
Relive all the action with our live blog below.The bomb detonated after a truck broke through security gates at police headquarters [AFP]
The bomb detonated after a truck broke through security gates at police headquarters [AFP]
Minister sacked
The explosion killed and wounded police officers in the compound and local residents in homes nearby, officials said.
At least nine children were said to be among the wounded, Svetlana Gorbakova, of the regional branch of the Russian prosecutor general's office, said.
In video Bomb blast rocks Ingushetia Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, said on Monday that he had sacked Ingushetia's interior minister following the attack.
"Today I've made the decision to relieve Ingushetia's interior minister of his duties," Medvedev said at a meeting in the city of Astrakhan on Russia's Caspian Sea coast.
"This terrorist act could have been avoided," he said in comments shown on state television.
Medvedev also said that Rashid Nurgaliyev, Russia's interior minister, should submit to the Kremlin "concrete proposals on how to bring about order and strengthen cadres within Ingushetia's interior ministry".
'Out of control'
Kremlin authorities have largely blamed Islamist fighters for recent violence in the region, which lies in Russia's volatile North Caucasus.
Shaun Walker, the Moscow correspondent for the UK's Independent newspaper, told Al Jazeera that attacks in the region appeared to becoming "nastier and more frequent".
"Although there is a lot of violence in this region on a regular basis, it's still relatively unusual to have suicide bombings and a bombing of this scale," he said, adding Monday's attack appeared to be the work of the "local Islamic insurgency".
"These attacks have been happening with alarming regularity. What we've seen in the last week or so is a series of slightly larger scale attacks.
"Taken overall it is a really quite a scary picture for Russia and the leaders of these republics.
"In a sense it does seem a little bit like the Caucasus is spiralling out of control."
Caucasus bloodshed
Last week, Ruslan Amerkhanov, the region's construction minister, was shot dead inside his own office.
Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Ingushetia's president, was badly injured in June after a suicide bomber attacked his car.
Yevkurov, who is due to return to work in the next several days, said Monday's attack was an attempt to destabilise the region, and blamed the West for fomenting unrest in the North Caucasus.
"I am miles from believing that Arabs are behind this. There are other, more serious forces there... We understand whose interests these are: the United States, Britain, and Israel too," he told the Russian News Service (RSN) radio.
"The West will keep seeking to prevent Russia from reviving the former Soviet might," he added.
Moscow has long struggled to impose the Kremlin's authority in the North Caucasus region, which has been the site of two wars in Chechnya and hundreds of violent attacks since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
While large-scale fighting in Chechnya, Ingushetia's neighbour, has ended, rebels continue to mount hit-and-run attacks and skirmishes.
Bloodshed has surged in recent months and increasingly spilled into the republic's neighbours.Decentralized employment company Colony, which helps connect employers with freelancers all over the world, has become the unanimous winner of the Consensus 2016 Proof of Work startup showcase competition and its attached $10,000 prize.
Co-founder Collin Vine presented the company to a panel of notable investors, including Pascal Bouvier of Santander InnoVentures, Rumi Morales of CME Ventures, Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital and Bitstamp, James Robinson of RRE Ventures, and Matthew Roszak of Bloq and Tally Capital.
In his winning pitch, Vine explained that companies can create what he called “colonies”, similar to other project management applications, but each with a pot of money from which freelancers can claim different “bounties” for their work.
“The person who does the most bounties gets the largest amount of money,” he explained.
Prior to the pitches, the investors had explained what they look for in a bitcoin company, with Morehead teasing that many of the startups he sees showcasing are, effectively, any industry, “but with bitcoin”. Not surprisingly, he advised against employing that strategy.
The other four startups pitching their ideas at Proof of Work were:
The Sun Exchange –presented by Abraham Cambridge. Plans to create a platform whereby investors can invest in small-scale solar projects with monthly dividends paid out
Coinprism – presented by Flavien Charlon. A private chain provider allowing individual companies to launch their own blockchain
Lawnmower – presented by Pieter Gorsira. A digital currency investment platform allowing investors to track multiple coins
Uniquid – presented by Stefano Pepe. An Internet of Things software library.
The other videos are available here.
Image via CoinDeskHeinz Hilgers, president of the agency, told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Thursday that such ideas were the product of a child-phobic culture. “Such things would never have been said 50 years ago,” he said. “Now children are being marginalized.”
He added that it had always been a scandal that noise legislation put children's noise in the same category as industrial noise.
“A sense of community can only be fostered by mutual respect, and comparing a child's expression joy of life with a jackhammer is not a sign of respect,” he said.
Leonhard Kuckart, deputy chairman of the Christian Democratic Union‘s senior citizen's organization said that child day care facilities were the source of “unacceptable noise pollution.”
He compared the screaming of children to the “hammering of a pneumatic drill.” He was speaking out in opposition to the government's plan to allow child centres and kindergartens in all residential areas.
According to Siegmund Chychla of the Hamburg Tenants' Association, disputes over noise from children belongs to the list of most common complaints.
The Berlin city government last year thwarted crotchety complainers with a ban on lawsuits against noise disturbances by children.
“Noise from playing children is a socially appropriate manifestation of young life and fundamentally tolerable in interest of the preservation of their development,” the Social Democrats' said in their proposed change to the city's noise laws.
DAPD/bkA specter is haunting Ohio: the specter of John W. Bricker.
Sixty-eight years ago, the Republican presidential nominee picked Bricker, the Ohio governor and future senator, as his running mate. The choice is the likely reason why Thomas E. Dewey defeated Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Buckeye State by 12,000 votes–a margin of 0.37 percent.
As I traveled through central Ohio last week–before Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan for his ticket–I heard a constant refrain that Rob Portman, the Republican senator from Ohio, could provide Romney with the margin of victory in the state in November.
And it wasn’t just from Republicans like Rep. Pat Tiberi (who would have been a leading contender to fill Portman’s Senate seat had he won). “Sen. Portman on the ticket would help tremendously in southwestern Ohio, where he's from,” Tiberi said. “That is the Republican bastion of the state, and that's where he would help, I think, drive up support for the Romney ticket.”
[Related: Ryan's constituents sound off]
That was also the view of Joe Hallett, the lead political writer for the Columbus Dispatch, and a 30-year veteran of Ohio campaigns. Hallett thought a Portman nod would appeal to “Ohio pride.” So convinced was he that, after Romney went with Ryan, Hallett wrote that in shunning the Bricker example, “Romney might have blown his best chance to win the most crucial state in the election.”
But if Ryan left some Ohioans disappointed–along with Rubio fans in Florida, McDonnell devotees in Virginia and New Christie Minstrels in New Jersey–it was a gambit that reflected a very sound political judgment on the part of Romney: From the Republican perspective, a debate on broad principles of government is far superior to a debate over Mitt Romney.
Whatever the assets of a Portman (or a Tim Pawlenty), they are political figures whose governing philosophy is vague at best. Such a choice would not have helped to frame the campaign conversation around the philosophy of government: its purpose, scope and limits. It would have kept the focus squarely on Romney the man, because trying to discover his core set of principles brings to mind Gertrude Stein’s famous observation about Oakland: “When you get there, there’s no there there.”
In the absence of clear principles, the same annoying questions about Romney would have remained front and center: the offshore accounts, the taxes, the “who-is-this-guy?” mantra. They are questions his supporters insist are distractions from President Barack Obama’s record–which is exactly the point.
No election is ever just a "referendum” or “choice.” They are always both. And no challenger can bank on discontent with an incumbent unless that challenger can put doubts about his values and character to rest.
In this sense, Romney has already succeeded, at least temporarily, by triggering a spate of “game change,” “reset” and “new ballgame” stories that have swept aside the questions over his taxes, foreign bank accounts and policy twists worthy of an Olympic gold medal. Never mind that Etch A Sketch metaphor used by a top Romney adviser; this shift in focus is more like an instant remaking of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The conservative commentariat, previously dubious of Romney, now appears to believe he has ingested not just Ryan’s worldview, but those of Hayek, von Mises, Nock and Rand (at least the non-atheist part).
[Related: What web users want to know about Paul Ryan]
For most observers, the question seems to be whether voters will reject Ryan’s vision of government that has now been surgically grafted onto the Romney campaign. Will seniors run screaming from a vision of health insurance vouchers? Will the inevitable slashing of programs prove too draconian?
My question is different: I wonder how long it will be before the focus of attention shifts back to Mitt Romney.
As a general proposition, campaigns do not linger on the vice presidential nominee. When they have, it’s always meant very bad news for the ticket. Think of Spiro Agnew’s foot-in-mouth disease; Tom Eagleton’s medical history; the real estate holdings of Geraldine Ferraro’s husband; the unbearable lightness of Dan Quayle; Sarah Palin’s reading list. There is no evidence that Paul Ryan would find himself the center of such unwelcome attention.
There is also no evidence that the ideas of a running mate have ever commanded center stage. More important, there is no evidence over the last six years of campaigning that Mitt Romney is eager to have a conversation with the electorate about what he believes, and what he intends to do with the power of the presidency.
That means that as the autumn leaves begin to fall, those questions about Mitt Romney the man may well begin to rise again. And he may find himself thinking wistfully about John W. Bricker.From Placeography
Minneapolis Hennepin County
Music Education Building, 147 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota
( 44.9779592° N, 93.2366235° W Latitude: 44°58′40.653″N
Longitude: 93°14′11.845″W )
Introduction
The Music Education Building was one of the first five buildings of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. It is located on Pillsbury Drive SE in the historic Knoll area of campus and is part of the Old Campus Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was completed in 1888 and was one of four buildings on the campus that was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. Since there were limited funds available from the state legislature at the time, the 6,800-square-foot Music Education building was funded with private donations.
Architectural Elements
There are several features of the Richardsonian Romanesque style throughout the exterior of the Music Education Building, including the low Syrian arch on the first floor, the semi-circular windows in the northern gable, the turret, and the hand-carved stone façade on the western side. The eastern section was made of brick, as if there was a planned addition that would incorporate the sandstone materials of the rest of the building, but the addition never happened.
History
Throughout its history, the Music Education Building housed various departments, as well as non-university residents. The Student Christian Association, which was a nondemoninational camp organization, was the group which built the Music Education building in 1888. They built it to offer reading rooms, assembly rooms, game rooms, and offices. It leased the building to the YMCA from 1889 to 1911, and in 1911 the University of Minnesota acquired it. The University continued to rent it to the YMCA until 1914, when the YMCA moved out after a argument with the Board of Regents over religious issues. After the YMCA moved out, University President Vincent presented the building to the Music Department as a Christmas present in 1914-15. Then in 1926 the Child Welfare Department occupied the building, and in 1947 the renovations for the Music Education Department began. This renovation included the construction of the staircase on the south elevation. It was after the Music Department moved in that the building was renamed the Music Education building, and the music department stayed there until 1996. After the Music Department left, the building was leased to its final tenant, which was the famous inventor Otto Schmitt, who lived there until 1997 when the building was vacated and put into a maintenance lay-away state. After the Music Department moved out of the building in 1996, the University struggled to find a new use for the building. Since it was too small for the typical uses of campus buildings, the University tried to think of other possible uses. The ideas for the building included making it into housing for university visitors or alumni, a student government or commuter center, a think tank or a small professional building, or turn it back into a non-denominational spiritual center. They even flirted with the idea of turning it into condos.
Demolition
Since 1997 the Music Education was in a lay-away state due to multiple fire and life safety code deficiencies, and it also was inaccessible to the handicapped. University of Minnesota spent $350,000 to maintain the building while it consulted with the Minnesota Historic Preservation office in developing required preservation research and reuse analyses. It also completed multiple adaptive use studies and condition analysis reports on the building in hopes of finding a new use for the Music Education Building. University officials offered the Music Education Building for only $1, but estimated that it needed between $2-3 million in repairs, including repairing the roof, removing asbestos, and bringing the building up to code. There were several interested parties but no takers, and the size of the building was deemed to be the main challenge in reusing it. Also since it is a state-owned, National Historic Building, any new tenant would have had to follow the preservation guidelines when they renovated. The demolition of the Music Education Building was estimated to cost $432,000. It began in October 2009 and the site was completely restored by May 2010. Since the site is so small, the University’s Master Plan has delegated it to become simply green space. While the University salvaged any decorative elements and sandstone facing, there is nothing left on the current site that references the former Music Education Building.
Resources
Badaracco, Luisa. "Historic U of M Building Up for Lease." : UMNews : University of Minnesota. University of Minnesota, 14 Jan. 2008. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2008/UR_RELEASE_MIG_4429.html>. Hunter, Steve, Dallas Bohnsack, Clyde Allen, Anthony Baraga, Venora Hung, and Dean Johnson. University of Minnesota Board of Regents. Rep. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2009. Print. "Music Education - University of Minnesota Old Campus Historic District." Waymarking.com. Groundspeak, Inc, 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4AYD_Music_Education_University_of_Minnesota_Old_Campus_Historic_District>. Steller, Chris. "After College Try, U of M Tearing down 1888 Music Education Building." TheLineMedia. The Line Media, 30 June 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://www.thelinemedia.com/devnews/MusicEducationUofM.aspx>.
Walton, Krista. "University of Minnesota Wants to Offload 1886 Hall." Preservationnation.org. Preservation Magazine, 28 Jan. 2008. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. < http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2008/todays-news/university-of-minnesota-wants.html >.
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Related LinksActor was due to attend UK premiere of Dominique Strauss-Kahn drama Welcome to New York, but pulled out at the last minute
When Gérard Depardieu failed to materialise for the UK premiere of Welcome to New York at the Edinburgh festival on 28 June, no one was especially surprised. After all, the man has a busy schedule shuttling between Belgium and Russia, the two countries that have given him sanctuary outside his native France, which include endorsing a line of patriotic, pro-Russian watches.
Now it turns out Depardieu had made it to Scotland, but became otherwise detained after an enthusiastic visit to the Hotel Eilean Iarmain bar at Isleornsay on the Sleat peninsula on Skye. Photographs emerged on Twitter of Depardieu sinking pints of beer and tucking into haggis on 27 June, the day before the film screening.
Siobhan Synnot (@SiobhanSynnot) Great chieftain of the Pudding Race...meeting a Skye haggis #nodepartureforDepardieu pic.twitter.com/GoFrE0cwtG
Depardieu's companions in the pub were confirmed on Monday as Rody Gorman, a Gaelic poet, as well as Depardieu's personal chef.
Siobhan Synnot (@SiobhanSynnot) @gibbzer @bettybluetoyou @edfilmfest I'd like to think we'd all been there in more flattering tops pic.twitter.com/VnnFPnrjQl
Speaking to the Scotsman, a representative of the Edinburgh festival said: “He has let the festival down very badly... We won’t be pursuing this any further because the screening has already taken place – but there is some annoyance here.”
• Gérard Depardieu accused of urinating on a planegang0fwolves:
I knew she was white but I didn’t know she wasn’t actually Egyptian. Hmmph. The more ya know
Cleopatra was part of the Ptolemaic dynasty, who were Macedonian Greeks who served Alexander the Great before his death. Because they followed the Egyptian custom of marrying siblings they had little to no actual Egyptian blood in them. Thus having an actual Egyptian woman portray Cleopatra would be historically incorrect.
WHITE PEOPLE FOREVER PRETENDING THAT EVERYONE WHO IS CONSIDERED “WHITE” NOW WAS “WHITE” FOREVER AGO
Scientists find Cleopatra’s sister and possibly her mom probably were Black African women
Cleopatra’s mom probably was African—black sub-Saharan African on her mother’s side if she and her sister Arsinoe had the same mothers. They shared the same Greek/Macedonian father. Check out the article, BBC NEWS | Also in the news | Cleopatra’s mother ‘was African’. See the uTube video, Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoe had African ancestry - YouTube. Egyptians and Nubians in ancient times had been marrying one another, say most archaeologists.
The only problem is scientists found Cleopatra’s sister having African features, but don’t know whether the two sisters had the same mother. Cleopatra also had two brothers. And the scientists conclusion is based on African skull shape from drawings of a skeleton found in a tomb in Ephesus, Turkey assumed to hold the bones of Cleopatra’s teenage sister, Arsinoe.Revolutionary imaging technique uses CRISPR to map DNA mutations
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Related Cancer Reading:
A team of scientists led by Virginia Commonwealth University physicist Jason Reed, Ph.D., have developed new nanomapping technology that could transform the way disease-causing genetic mutations are diagnosed and discovered. Described in a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, this novel approach uses high-speed atomic force microscopy (AFM) combined with a CRISPR-based chemical barcoding technique to map DNA nearly as accurately as DNA sequencing while processing large sections of the genome at a much faster rate. What's more--the technology can be powered by parts found in your run-of-the-mill DVD player.The human genome is made up of billions of DNA base pairs. Unraveled, it stretches to a length of nearly six feet long. When cells divide, they must make a copy of their DNA for the new cell. However, sometimes various sections of the DNA are copied incorrectly or pasted together at the wrong location, leading to genetic mutations that cause diseases such as cancer. DNA sequencing is so precise that it can analyze individual base pairs of DNA. But in order to analyze large sections of the genome to find genetic mutations, technicians must determine millions of tiny sequences and then piece them together with computer software. In contrast, biomedical imaging techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) can only analyze DNA at a resolution of several hundred thousand base pairs.Reed's new high-speed AFM method can map DNA to a resolution of tens of base pairs while creating images up to a million base pairs in size. And it does it using a fraction of the amount of specimen required for DNA sequencing."DNA sequencing is a powerful tool, but it is still quite expensive and has several technological and functional limitations that make it difficult to map large areas of the genome efficiently and accurately," says Jason Reed, Ph.D., principal investigator on the study. Reed is a member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program at VCU Massey Cancer Center and an associate professor in the Department of Physics at the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences. "Our approach bridges the gap between DNA sequencing and other physical mapping techniques that lack resolution. It can be used as a stand-alone method or it can complement DNA sequencing by reducing complexity and error when piecing together the small bits of genome analyzed during the sequencing process."IBM scientists made headlines in 1989 when they developed AFM technology and used a related technique to rearrange molecules at the atomic level to spell out "IBM." AFM achieves this level of detail by using a microscopic stylus--similar to a needle on a record player-- that barely makes contact with the surface of the material being studied. The interaction between the stylus and the molecules creates the image. However, traditional AFM is too slow for medical applications and so it is primarily used by engineers in materials science."Our device works in the same fashion as AFM but we move the sample past the stylus at a much greater velocity and use optical instruments to detect the interaction between the stylus and the molecules. We can achieve the same level of detail as traditional AFM but can process material more than a thousand times faster," says Reed, whose team proved the technology can be mainstreamed by using optical equipment found in DVD players. "High-speed AFM is ideally suited for some medical applications as it can process materials quickly and provide hundreds of times more resolution than comparable imaging methods."Increasing the speed of AFM was just one hurdle Reed and his colleagues had to overcome. In order to actually identify genetic mutations in DNA, they had to develop a way to place markers or labels on the surface of the DNA molecules so they could recognize patterns and irregularities. An ingenious chemical barcoding solution was developed using a form of CRISPR technology.CRISPR has made a lot of headlines recently in regard to gene editing. CRISPR is an enzyme that scientists have been able to "program" using targeting RNA in order to cut DNA at precise locations that the cell then repairs on its own. Reed's team altered the chemical reaction conditions of the CRISPR enzyme so that it only sticks to the DNA and does not actually cut it."Because the CRISPR enzyme is a protein that's physically bigger than the DNA molecule, it's perfect for this barcoding application," says Reed. "We were amazed to discover this method is nearly 90 percent efficient at bonding to the DNA molecules. And because it's easy to see the CRISPR proteins, you can spot genetic mutations among the patterns in DNA."To demonstrate the technique's effectiveness, the researchers mapped genetic translocations present in lymph node biopsies of lymphoma patients. Translocations occur when one section of the DNA gets copied and pasted to the wrong place in the genome. They are especially prevalent in blood cancers such as lymphoma but occur in other cancers as well.While there are many potential uses for this technology, Reed and his team are focusing on medical applications. They are currently developing software based on existing algorithms that can analyze patterns in sections of DNA up to and over a million base pairs in size. Once completed, it would not be hard to imagine this shoe-box-sized instrument in pathology labs assisting in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases linked to genetic mutations.Reed collaborated on this study with Amir Toor, M.D., member of the Developmental Therapeutics research program at Massey and professor in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care in the Department of Internal Medicine at the VCU School of Medicine; Alden Chesney, M.D., associate professor of pathology in the Department of Pathology at the VCU School of Medicine; Andrey Mikheikin, Anita Olsen and Kevin Leslie, all from the Department of Physics at the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences; Freddie Russell-Pavier, Ph.D., from the National Physics Laboratory and the Interface Analysis Centre in the UK; Andrew Yacoot, Ph.D., from the National Physics Laboratory in the UK; Loren Picco, Ph.D., and Oliver Payton, Ph.D., both from the Interface Analysis Centre in the UK; James K. Gimzewski, Ph.D., from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA; and Bud Mishra, Ph.D., from the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.This study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01GM094388 and R01CA185189 and, in part, by VCU Massey Cancer Center's National Cancer Institute Support Grant P30CA016059.Virginia Commonwealth UniversityStory highlights India's Supreme Court says people have the right to self-identify their gender
Human rights groups say it is a victory for transgender and transsexual community
But homosexual relationships are still criminalized
In a ruling that human rights groups are calling historic, India's Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the country's transsexual and transgender individuals the right to self-identify their gender.
The ruling means transsexual and transgender people and those who identify as belonging to the "third gender" will not be required to submit medical evidence of their sexuality to be recognized by the government as a member of that gender, said Tripti Tandon, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs.
A plea was filed before the Supreme Court by India's National Legal Services Authority in 2012 on behalf of the transsexual and "hijra," or third-gender, communities.
"The Supreme Court ruled that everyone has the fundamental right to have their gender identified and recognized in the law without any discrimination," Tandon said. "And it's self-identification of the gender as opposed to medically or surgically assigned one."
The high court also issued a series of guidelines to India's federal government and state administrations for enforcement of its orders, she added.
The ruling states that "gender identity is integral to the dignity of an individual and is at the core of 'personal autonomy' and'self-determination.'"
Hijras, the ruling said, must be considered a third gender "over and above binary genders under our Constitution and the laws."
The ruling allows females to identify as males and males to identify as females, and no sex reassignment surgery is required for recognition of one's self-defined gender.
Human rights groups praised the ruling, but used the opportunity to push for changes in another law that criminalizes consensual homosexual relationships.
Tuesday's ruling has the potential to alter the lives of people who have suffered oppression, Amnesty International's program director in India, Shashikumar Velath, said in a statement.
But, he noted, the same Supreme Court has overturned a lower court's decision to decriminalize homosexual relationships. The law bans people from engaging in "carnal acts against the order of nature" and dates back to British colonial times.
The court's ruling on transgender, transsexual and third-gender people recognizes that their plight cannot be ignored, said Graeme Reid, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.
"It begins the process of re-establishing the important social role that third-gender people played in traditional Indian society," he said.ADVERTISEMENT
Just last year, “in the gleeful afterglow of his deal for The Wall Street Journal,” said Tom Arango in The New York Times, media mogul Rupert Murdoch “agreed to cooperate” with Vanity Fair columnist Michael Wolff for the biography The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch. But now Murdoch is objecting to parts of the book. What happened?
“The timing of Murdoch's counter-thrust is odd,” said Jeff Bercovici in Portfolio online. But Wolff has nothing to worry about: His “cool response is that he has everything on tape—leading some to speculate that Murdoch's protestations are insincere and meant only to keep his executives happy.”
Murdoch knows exactly what he’s doing, said Ryan Tate in Gawker. “Having talked at great length for Wolff and his tape recorder, he can't very well sue publisher Random House.” But by “feinting in this direction,” Murdoch “provided Wolff a way to air in the Times those bits of information Murdoch most wanted to suppress,” while “promoting Wolff's book in the same stroke.” Pretty clever.Berkshire Hathaway Inc. terminated a large wager on the municipal-bond market five years early, The Wall Street Journal quoted a person familiar with the transaction as saying.In a quarterly regulatory disclosure filed this month, the Warren Buffett-owned company terminated credit-default swaps insuring $8.25 billion of municipal debt.The Journal said the early termination is deepening questions among some investors about the risks of buying debt issued by cities, states and other public entities.
Editor's Note: I Wish I Were Wrong — Economist Laments Being Right. See Interview.
The Journal quoted the source as saying that Buffett's bet that more than a dozen U.S. states would keep paying their bills on time had been made before the financial crisis.The insurance-like contracts, which required Berkshire to pay in the event of bond defaults, were bought by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2007, more than a year before the firm filed for bankruptcy, the Journal quoted the source as saying.Details of the termination, with the Lehman Brothers estate, weren't disclosed. It isn't clear whether Berkshire's move will leave the Omaha, Neb., company with a profit or loss on the wager.Buff |
. Of course, these orientations interact: anyone who lives in Northern California knows someone who eagerly takes armloads of herbal supplements while having their chi realigned in between weekly acupuncture sessions (maximalist-naturalist). And there are minimalist-technologists, who avoid medical treatment when possible but if surgery is required will ask for the latest high-tech robotic laser surgery. Understanding these biases, the authors argue, can lead to more effective doctor-patient dialogue.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Groopman, an oncologist at Harvard Medical School and a staff writer at The New Yorker, and Hartzband, an endocrinologist at Harvard, introduce a number of other helpful concepts readers may not be familiar with, like the “risk for disease,” which is important to untangling disease statistics. Say a drug promises to reduce your risk of fatal illness X by 50 percent. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But suppose there was only a one-in-1,000 chance that you’d get the disease to begin with: reducing your risk by 50 percent means that you’ll now have a one-in-2,000 chance of getting it. Most medications have side effects, and the likelihood of these may far exceed that of being helped by the medication. For example, the “number needed to treat” for a particular cholesterol-lowering drug is 300. (For every 300 people taking it, only one heart attack is prevented.) The drug has a 5 percent probability of side effects, including severe muscle and joint pain and gastrointestinal distress. Thus, for every person helped, 15 people (5 percent of 300) will experience side effects and not be cured. In other words, anyone taking the drug is 15 times more likely to experience the unwanted effects of the medication than the beneficial ones.
Photo
Of course, none of us want to think of ourselves as a statistic. What if the one person saved is me? When it comes to deciding whether to pursue a certain treatment, the rational course is to consider all the relevant factors — age, weight, medical history, other conditions and so on — and then follow these newly refined statistics, a process known as Bayesian reasoning, a method Groopman discusses in “How Doctors Think.”When I first started teaching this class in person, the cumbersome title was “Sequential Storytelling: The Death of SuperManga.” This combative name was meant to be provocative. I wanted students to show up realizing I was not here to teach them a commercial art. They would not be learning how to inflate anatomy to fit in with current superheroic trends, nor would I teach these Americans the proper eyes to nose proportion to ape their favorite (anime-inspired) mangaka. I was here to teach a means of self-expression.
To hammer that point home, in the first class I would always begin by tearing a cruddy popular superhero book to shreds.
That usually got their attention. One guy clearly never recovered from my destruction of some Mark Pacella-penned issue of X-Force. He never came back for the second class.
I’ve mellowed a bit with age. I no longer feel the need for such showy punk rock antics. I do, however, begin my Powerpoint slide show with this image and proceed to verbally tear it to pieces:
Now, you will see throughout this site that I actually defend Rob Liefeld as an energetic guilty pleasure more than I attack him for being formulaic and borderline incompetent, but the above is really the nadir of sequential art. I would never think of literally destroying a Liefeld issue of X-Force, but sometimes the attraction is that of rubbernecking a car crash. What the hay is going on up there? I have no idea what the relationship is between any of the images, whether sequentially, spatially, or compositionally. There is absolutely no storytelling taking place here. It is like a teenagers notebook cover: a collection of “cool” things to draw (scratchy borders, screaming open mouths, speedlines, crosshatching) with no relation to each other. Why are pieces of bodies breaking out of panel borders? Why is a diagonal panel bisecting the whole page with a body covering half of it up? How can time function between these two panels if they both overlap each other? Why is the impact of one hit important enough to cover-up another panel, but the impact of another unimportant enough to be behind panels and half-off the page? Who is winning? How long did any of this take? Is anyone even hurt?
The answer to all of these questions seems to be: Who cares? It looks cool.
Comic books are not notebook covers. They are not collage. They are not posters.
You want to see something that looks cool? Here:
Fellow English teachers, I know no better illustration of the epic convention of beginning in medias re. This is the very first page of the story; we flip it open and quite literally hit the ground running! And running left to right, in the direction of the read. We can’t help but quickly turn the page, trying to find the physical space to which Batman is running (no ending in a preposition for me — told you I teach English). The strafing bullet fire functions as speedlines, pushing us to the following page as well. The gorgeous red block letter-shapes in the background give the whole a repeating rhythm of graphic elements while echoing the title. The red also draws us to its companion on Batman himself, so even amidst the flurry of action forcing us onward with him, we note that Batman is bleeding profusely. Our hero is in big trouble from page one, and Paul Pope’s not going to ease up on him at any point in this speedfreak of a comic. The question is again: What the hay is going on? But now that question is aimed at the story, where it belongs, not the art. And we want to know the answer. That desire, along with this perfectly composed image, hurls us on.
On the next page we zoom in on Batman’s feet to feel the impact on his struggle. This close-up, in addition to emphasizing the rain and danger of careening across slippery rooftops, amazingly gives us sound effects that aren’t there. It also works in tandem with the following image of the dogs’ legs that pursue the caped crusader. This juxtaposition invites comparison between predator and prey, and leads us to wisely speculate on the Bat’s animal nature just before he performs a feet that is beyond human. The last panel finally gives us a nice clean shot of his pursuers, but Pope’s unbeatable inking has here done something as smart as it is beautiful. By leaving out those obnoxious “halos” of white that lesser artists employ to separate black forms, Pope allows the dogs to function visually as one monstrous beast, tooth and claw of a whirlwind of destruction blazing across the page.
The visual comparisons continue on the following page, contrasting Batman’s exhaustion with the dogs’ mindless bloodlust. The bottom panel is the best yet. Pope pulls back to slow the pace just a hair and give us our locale. We now see just how hopeless his plight is. He is not just hurtling towards a complete dead-end many stories above the welcoming and fatal earth, he is staggering full-bear towards it! Pope’s perfect postures show a stumbledrunk Batman tripping over his own feet as shear willpower forces him forward. Our hero is fallible! We have connected with him empathetically, three pages in, and he hasn’t uttered a word. Fallible — and fall-able?
What a page turn!!! Our fears are allayed as our breath is taken. I know of few shots in the history of superhero-dom that so magically emphasize the miraculous feats performed by those who are beyond our mortal means — and that is the very appeal of the genre! Pope accomplishes this by pulling waaaay back and plunging down to the ground to put us in the awed human, all too human bystander’s place. That diving negative scar of air holds Batman hovering in his awesomeness between the buildings. His superheroics last forever. And the abundance of background detail to take in assist this quiet pause. The bottom panel, to return to epic conventions, has the dogs as chorus echoing the reader’s emotions. They stand for the audience, and they stand in awe.
The first sound effect in this boisterous bedlam is that wonderful FLUMPT of success. The shot is where it needs to be: right on Batman’s feet again. And then, for the first time in the book, Batman defies the read to turn left and gloat. The relentless onslaught has stopped. He gets the brief rest he has earned. Across the great divide, his enemy stands shocked, winded and defeated.
BREAK
Throughout this class, I will never ask creators to steer toward or away from any genre of work. I will never tell you comics works better for contemplation rather than carnage, or vice versa. I will never tell you that “cool” is not something worth aiming for.
I’m just here to show you a better way.Even in his proposal for “perpetual peace,” Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant lamented that war “seems inborn in human nature.” Yet he believed it possible to overcome and outlined a strategy for doing so. Just as ambitious today is veteran activist and writer David Swanson, who is part of a group that is beginning to build a coalition broad and strong enough to bring an end to the practice of war as an instrument of ordinary policy. His most recent book, to that point, is War No More: The Case for Abolition. And while he recognizes that challenge of ending war is a daunting one, he argues that it may be less difficult than many of us would think.
What exactly is it that you’re proposing, in a sentence?
We’re organizing groups in the United States and around the world to make a re-energized — and we hope broader and more diverse — push toward the total abolition of the institution of war.
What would a world that had abolished war actually look like?
There would be $2 trillion, roughly $1 trillion of it from the United States, invested in something other than war every year. You can imagine how that might transform health and well-being, sustainable energy, education, housing, or all of the above, and many other things. That redirection of resources would also be likely to spread wealth among more people, as compared to the concentration of wealth facilitated by war spending. Very likely many more lives would be saved by redirected funds than would be spared from dying in wars. But that benefit is not to be minimized. War has become a very deadly form of one-sided slaughter, murdering men, women, and children by the hundreds of thousands. That would end if war ended. One of the greatest sources of environmental destruction would end if war ended — as well as that tremendous waste of resources needed for environmental protection.
Gone too would be the justification for secrecy in government. Civil liberties could no longer be stripped away in the name of fighting an enemy. With enemies gone, international cooperation would flourish. With imperialism gone, it would be possible for the international community to aid abused minorities around the world and assist in natural (so-called) disasters in a way that cannot happen now. Of course, conflicts would remain, but they would be taken to courts, to arbitrators and to the correcting tools of nonviolent action. And of course there are many steps along the way to this final war-free vision, including the step of making militaries actually defensive, rather than offensive — a step that would reduce the U.S. military by at least 90 percent. A world beyond war would benefit from the disappearance of a hugely influential example that teaches groups and individuals the utility of violence.
What makes you think that now is a time when this can happen? It has been tried before, right?
I recently read a proposal to abolish war written in 1992. The authors believed that that was an opportune moment. I’m sure they honestly believed it was. And I’m sure that it, in fact, was — even if there’s a tendency to find such a remark comical in retrospect. Strategic-minded people want to know why 2013 is such a moment, and they can be pointed toward many indicators: opinion polls, the rejection of the proposed missile attack on Syria, increased awareness of war propaganda, the diminishment of drone attacks, the ever-so-slight reduction in military spending, the possibility of peace in Colombia, the growing success of nonviolent conflict resolution, the growing and improving use of nonviolent movements for change, the existentially urgent need for a shifting of resources from destroying the planet to protecting it, the economic need to stop wasting trillions of dollars, the arrival of technologies that allow for instant international collaboration among war resisters. But just as many indicators were available in 1992, albeit different ones, and nobody has developed the means for quantifying such things.
Here’s the key question, I think: If all of those predecessors to Rosa Parks — the many heroes who resisted segregated busing over many decades — hadn’t acted, would Rosa Parks have ever been Rosa Parks? If not, then isn’t the strategic time for a moral and necessary campaign always right now?
What’s the basic strategy?
There are many angles for approaching this task, including education, communications, counter-recruitment, lawsuits, cultural exchange, legislation, treaties, campaigns to resist particular wars or tactics or weapons, and efforts to organize economic interests in support of transition to peaceful industries. Our goal is to strengthen and expand existing efforts by building a broad coalition, influencing the culture, shaping people’s understanding. We need to convincingly make the case that war can be ended, should be ended, is not going to end on its own, and we can make it happen. Our perspective will then change.
We may not oppose wars largely because of the damage done to the aggressor if we understand war as an evil imposed on the victim. We may not struggle against Pentagon waste so much as against Pentagon efficiency. We may not work to distinguish good from bad drone murders if eliminating drones is part of eliminating warfare. We may find that rejecting missiles into Syria was just a start. We may organize a massive program of conversion to peaceful jobs if we come to understand that war makes us less safe rather than protecting us. If this sounds like a vague strategy, that it in part because this campaign is just forming, groups that have not joined yet will have a major say in shaping it. We’re still settling on a name, and drafting a website. You’re getting a preview, in other words, of an idea whose time has almost come.
Who is involved so far? Who do you think needs to be involved?
Several great organizations are involved, and many terrific individuals. More are being added to our preliminary discussions almost every day. I don’t want to announce who is and isn’t involved yet, as that would seem to give more importance to those earliest on board. We’re really just starting to form what needs to be a global campaign, even while focusing on warmaking where it is found, recognizing that the United States is the world’s leading warmaker.
Involved must be the nations victimized, the nations pressured, the nations complicit, the nations making their own warfare on smaller scales, the nations abused by the presence of U.S. troops permanently stationed there. Involved must be environmentalists who overcome their patriotism and militarism in order to take on our largest consumer of oil, greatest creator of superfund sites, and greatest example of an energy-and-economy regime based on assault and exploitation. Involved must be civil libertarians who step back from treating the symptoms of torture and assassination to face the cause of military spending. Involved must be advocates of open government, of education and of all useful causes neglected by our pursuit of warmaking. Involved must be producers of trains, solar panels, schools and everything that stands to benefit from a transition to a law-abiding, cooperative approach to the world.
Do you expect to see an end to war in your lifetime?
Assuming that I live a long life, we will need to see war largely ended or there will be a huge risk of catastrophic wars, of nuclear apocalypse, and of environmental apocalypse aggravated by investment in war. So we’d darn well better see it end. And of course we can. When Congress was overwhelmed with opposition to dropping missiles on Syria, that was less than 1 percent of us overwhelming them. Imagine if 3 or 4 percent of us got seriously engaged in ending the greatest and most inexcusable evil ever devised. The task is not nearly as great as we imagine, and understanding that properly is not a path to naivety but to success.Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or electronic nicotine delivery systems) heat a nicotine solution to generate vapor that is inhaled, without the combustion of tobacco and its toxic constituents. Use of e-cigarettes is increasing in the United States and around the world. Current smokers in the United States report an 11.4% prevalence of ever use of e-cigarettes and 4.1% use in past 30 days.1 They likely pose less direct hazard to the individual smoker than tobacco cigarettes and might help smokers quit smoking or reduce harm by smoking fewer tobacco cigarettes. On the other hand, there are potential harms, including promoting continued smoking of cigarettes and renormalizing cigarette smoking behaviors. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is authorized to regulate tobacco products, and in 2011 the agency announced plans to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products.2 The FDA will need to make a number of regulatory decisions about product safety that could have major effects on public health and will face many challenges.
The e-Cigarette as a Nicotine Delivery System
The delivery of nicotine to the lungs via inhalation, with rapid absorption into the circulation, is critical to the addictiveness of cigarette smoking.3 The adverse health consequences of cigarette smoking are caused primarily by inhalation of toxic tobacco constituents and organic combustion products. Nicotine per se contributes to some smoking-related diseases, but its contribution is considered to be much smaller than that of combustion products.3 The provision of clean nicotine (without combustion products or other tobacco plant toxins) in the form of nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) has been in use for nearly 30 years and has proven to be a safe way to facilitate smoking cessation. Currently available NRT products are not as satisfying and are less acceptable to smokers compared with inhaling and absorbing nicotine from cigarette smoke. The possibility of an inhaled clean nicotine device has been discussed by health researchers for many years as a potentially more effective way to promote smoking cessation. Although not yet proven safe or effective for smoking cessation, the e-cigarette has been positioned as such an inhaled nicotine delivery device and has gained popularity through this perception.4
Product Evolution
More than 250 e-cigarette brands are on the market currently, and products have evolved rapidly in recent years. Different e-cigarette brands are engineered differently, affecting the character and potential toxicity of the vapor. Thus, it is difficult to generalize about e-cigarettes as a single device. The FDA will need to consider the engineering of e-cigarettes with respect to different types of nicotine solutions, the capacity of the cartridges containing the solution, the nature of the heating element and battery, the types of additives and flavorings, and the potential toxicants released in the vapor.
Assessing Potential Toxicity and Health Effects
Liquids used in e-cigarettes vary with respect to concentrations of toxicants, and the quality control in e-cigarette manufacturing is questionable.5 Although a number of toxicants have been identified in e-cigarette vapors, the levels of these toxicants are orders of magnitude lower than those found in cigarette smoke, although higher than those found in NRT.6 Although it cannot be said that currently marketed e-cigarettes are safe, e-cigarette vapor is likely to be much less toxic than cigarette smoke. Among the questions that should be considered by the FDA are (1) Do low levels of contaminants in e-cigarette vapor pose a health risk? (2) What are the thresholds for toxicity of contaminants in vapor? (3) What should be the basis for product standards for e-cigarettes? (4) Could the risks be ameliorated by changes in engineering?
Potential Health Benefits for Individual Smokers
Testimonials, surveys, and one uncontrolled clinical trial report that e-cigarettes facilitate the quitting of cigarette smoking and allow smokers to smoke fewer cigarettes per day if they continue to smoke.7,8 However, longitudinal analysis using population-level data found no difference in quit rates between e-cigarette users and nonusers.9 Controlled clinical trials and population-level observational cohort studies are needed to establish the utility of these cigarettes to facilitate smoking cessation. Research is also needed regarding the role of e-cigarettes in harm reduction, including reduced cigarette smoking and associated reduction of tobacco toxicant exposure. The FDA will need to determine the magnitude of potential health benefits from e-cigarettes for individual smokers.
Potential Population Harm
Several potential sources of population harm require research and subsequent weighing of individual benefit vs population risk. These include uptake of e-cigarette use by nonsmokers, who may later become cigarette smokers or long-term nicotine addicts; promotion of dual use of e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes, such that use of e-cigarettes undermines quitting cigarette smoking; undermining the denormalization of cigarette smoking, because e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes and their use in public would give the appearance that cigarette smoking behavior is more acceptable; and exposure to a new source of air pollution in places covered by smoke-free policies.
Advertising and Marketing
Advertising and marketing can be considered in the context of both manufacturer and consumer. Industry has been aggressively marketing e-cigarettes with claims of health benefit compared with smoking tobacco cigarettes, for reducing and quitting smoking, for smoking without generating irritating and harmful secondhand smoke, and for using when a person cannot smoke cigarettes.10 Marketing also uses young models and celebrities to convey images of the product as glamorous and modern. The net result of industry marketing and consumer advocacy has been a substantial increase in the use of the product. Effective promotion of e-cigarettes could be advantageous if it was determined there was individual health benefit and a low level of total population harm—for example, if e-cigarette use was found to facilitate smoking cessation and not encourage dual use or appeal to youth as a novel nicotine product.
The FDA needs to decide how marketing should be regulated in the context of potential benefits and population risks. This includes deciding the legal age at which minors can purchase the products and other possible access restrictions, as well as evaluating the appeal of the marketing to youth. Determining the effect of e-cigarettes on the entire population will be challenging.
Broader Regulatory Issues
Assuming that e-cigarettes of high quality could be safe and could offer net public health benefit (including high consumer acceptability, more effective nicotine delivery, low levels of contaminants, not undermining existing tobacco control efforts), and that product improvement is occurring in an environment of marketplace competition, a critical question is when the FDA should begin to require product licensing. A disadvantage of requiring licensing is that regulatory requirements are likely to slow product innovation. The advantage of licensing would be to ensure the quality and consistency of products.
Medications to promote smoking cessation are regulated by the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Tobacco products are regulated by the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). According to current FDA regulations, in the event that e-cigarettes are found to be helpful in facilitating smoking cessation, the same product could be regulated simultaneously, both by CDER as a medication and by CTP as a tobacco product. This makes little practical sense. A comprehensive regulatory approach to nicotine-containing products is needed. Regulation needs to include the full spectrum of products, from the most hazardous to the least hazardous, with consideration of the potential of less harmful products to reduce exposure to the most harmful combustion products from smoked tobacco, while simultaneously evaluating the total public health effects of the policies.
Back to top Article Information
Corresponding Author: Neal L. Benowitz, MD, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, University of California, San Francisco, PO Box 1220, San Francisco, CA 94143-1220 (nbenowitz@medsfgh.ucsf.edu).
Published Online: July 15, 2013. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.109501.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Both authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Dr Benowitz reported being a former member of the FDA Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee; serving on a Pfizer smoking cessation medication advisory board; and having been an occasional consultant to GlaxoSmithKline and McNeil, pharmaceutical companies that market smoking cessation medications. Dr Goniewicz has received a research grant from Pfizer.
Additional Contributions: We thank Rachel Grana, PhD (University of California, San Francisco), and Z Morgan Benowitz-Fredericks, PhD (Bucknell University), for constructive comments and Scott Rostler for editorial assistance. None of the individuals were compensated for their contributions.“Twilight” fans everywhere will be devastated. Kristen Stewart cheated on co-star/boyfriend Robert Pattinson with her “Snow White and the Huntsman” director Rupert Sanders, who is married with two children, reports both Us Weekly and People. According to a photographer who snapped the actress and her 41-year-old director during a “marathon makeout session” on July 17 (Us Weekly has the pics in its new issue, on newsstands Friday), the two “couldn’t get enough” of each other.
Almost immediately after the indiscretion, Stewart, 22, had a change of heart and now feels terrible. “Kristen is absolutely devastated," a source tells People, which was the first to break the story. "It was a mistake and a complete lapse in judgment." And won’t happen again, adds the source. “She wasn't having an affair with Rupert. It was just a fleeting moment that shouldn't have happened. She never meant to hurt anyone. She's a good person who just made a bad choice."
Robert Pattinson: I've never understood why people cheat
Stewart and Pattinson, 26, have been dating since they first met while playing lovers in the first film in the “Twilight” series in 2008. At the time, the actress was in a long-term relationship with fellow actor Michael Angarano, who was reportedly crushed when she left him for Pattinson. Although both heartthrobs try to play coy about their relationship, she did admit in the June issue of Elle that Pattinson was her "f--king boyfriend."
[Related: Jodie Foster: Former co-star Kristen Stewart is like'my daughter']
It's unclear if Pattinson is aware of what allegedly happened between Stewart and Sanders. The couple appeared happy together at the Teen Choice Awards this past Sunday, and even wore coordinating blue-and-black outfits when they stepped onstage to accept the "Ultimate Choice" honor. (They did not walk the red carpet either together or separately.) A few days before the July 17 incident, Stewart and Pattinson giggled as they dished on Bella and Edward's sex scene in the upcoming "Breaking Dawn – Part 2" at Comic-Con.
The final installment in the “Twilight” series will hit theaters November 16 … but will Robsten still be together?
[Related: Kristen Stewart's $680 sneakers]
View photos
Reps for both Stewart and Sanders, who is married to model-actress Liberty Ross, had no comment.
More celebrity features on Yahoo!:
Follow omg! on TwitterHow fast can you get software out and ready?
For a long time, this single question has driven most of the embedded industrial industry. Getting this yearly release on time, meeting that functional milestone. And as long as software functions were relatively simple or secondary to system functionality, this was fine.
But with the increasing complexity and interconnectivity of systems, small failures or “glitches” that were once benign are now cause threats, sometimes even endangering human lives. Drones, self-driving cars, and medical devices are three very significant representations of this trend. The question then becomes not so much whether software can be delivered on time, but whether or not correct, safe, and secure software can be delivered in time. This is a whole different beast.
There is not a whole lot that can be done to deliver correct software outside verifying that it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. Unfortunately, traditional software development methodologies are not designed to ease formal specification, or to optimize verification costs. And the later a problem is detected, the more expensive it is to fix, to the extent that what can takes minutes to fix on day one could last months during integration. Yes, it’s possible to write extremely robust software with traditional languages and environments, but at a ridiculously high cost.
For embedded applications running on microcontrollers (MCUs), in particular, one element that adds even more complexity is the difficulty of writing tests. It may be impractical to write or even run extensive test campaigns when they involve low-level embedded functionality. Anything that can help clear out issues or ensure correctness before these procedures represents a huge cost savings.
Leveraging an expressive and formal specification from the start, on the other hand, makes it easier for the implementer to respect requirements, provide automatic verification, and thus either prevent problems or detect them very early in the development cycle.
The Ada and SPARK languages provide a unique solution in this regard, integrating specification, coding, and verification into a common formalism. The core principle of these languages is to specify as much as possible at the software level so that as many components as possible can be verified at the time of implementation.
The following examines a practical Ada or SPARK implementation, step by step.
Specification
One thing that stands out when comparing the Ada and SPARK languages to alternatives is the amount of information that can be added to software source code to capture constraints and intent in addition to actual functionality. A data type is not just a mere integer or float: it’s a semantic entity that can be associated with a set of valid values, a set of operations, minimal precision, memory representation, and even physical dimensions. Likewise, a function is not just a means of computing a value from parameters: it has a set of conditions under which it can be called, provides a set of guarantees when it returns, and has an impact on its environment (parameters and global variables).
There are many features of Ada and SPARK that can be used to enrich specification, but for the purposes of this article, let’s select one example:
This simple procedure reveals a lot in terms of its properties and behavior:
First, C is an in out parameter, so it has to be initialized prior to being called and its value is modified in the subprogram. Note that there’s no indication whether it’s passed by copy or reference, which is automatically decided by the compiler based on language constraints and efficiency.
is an parameter, so it has to be initialized prior to being called and its value is modified in the subprogram. Note that there’s no indication whether it’s passed by copy or reference, which is automatically decided by the compiler based on language constraints and efficiency. E is an in parameter, or an input value not intended to be modified. A precondition requires that the container is not full prior to call. This is an extremely significant shift in terms of design, as in other languages a Push procedure may have been responsible for detecting the wrong calling context (if the container is full) and implementing mitigation techniques (or defensive code). Using a precondition, on the other hand, the procedure can safely assume that the container is not full (otherwise it would have been detected statically or dynamically, but more on that later) and avoid this extra code. The responsibility of validating input is implicitly placed on the caller, which can then raise it to its own callers until reaching a place in the code where data validation is indeed meaningful.
parameter, or an input value not intended to be modified. A precondition requires that the container is not full prior to call. This is an extremely significant shift in terms of design, as in other languages a procedure may have been responsible for detecting the wrong calling context (if the container is full) and implementing mitigation techniques (or defensive code). Using a precondition, on the other hand, the procedure can safely assume that the container is not full (otherwise it would have been detected statically or dynamically, but more on that later) and avoid this extra code. The responsibility of validating input is implicitly placed on the caller, which can then raise it to its own callers until reaching a place in the code where data validation is indeed meaningful. The post-condition provides key properties on the behavior of the procedure – here, the fact that E is contained in the modified container and that the count is incremented.
Looking at some of the constraints associated with embedded development, another useful aspect is to specify memory mapping constraints. Ada allows declarative notation to specify how data structures are laid out in memory and at which addresses, allowing error-prone bitwise operations and consistency checks to be avoided. For example:
The above declares a data structure together with some fields associated with boundaries:
The size of the data is fixed at 16 bits, and the next two aspects ( with valued High_Order_First ) essentially tell the compiler to use a big endian representation.
valued ) essentially tell the compiler to use a big endian representation. The next clause provides the specific bit representation (e.g., Size starts on byte 0 from bit indexed 1 to 4.
starts on byte from bit indexed to. Finally, R is provided with its address in memory.
Implementation (in SPARK/Ada or C)
The Ada and SPARK languages provide most of the capabilities of modern imperative languages. The most notable property of how these capabilities are implemented is that they provide little room for compiler interpretation and avoid shortcuts. For example, there’s no implicit conversion, and doing something like pointer arithmetic easily requires five lines of code. However, the additional time spent during the actual coding phases is easily regained by the ease of verification, whether for code reading, testing, or static analysis.
At this point of the discussion it’s worth calling out an elephant in the room: using a new language may be a great idea for newly developed code, but more often than not there is a pre-existing environment that can’t be ignored. This is typically code from other projects or off-the-shelf libraries. This code was probably created in the C language, or maybe C++. This alone often drives the choice of a development language.
Fortunately, SPARK and Ada have been designed to integrate well with C environments. A few directives can map C directly to Ada and vice versa without the overhead of any wrapper code. This mapping can even be generated automatically.
Therefore, it’s perfectly reasonable – if not recommended – to start developing only a few components in SPARK or Ada while otherwise remaining in a C environment.
The main compiler technology available today for Ada and SPARK is GCC, though other can be made available. This means that SPARK and C code can be compiled using the same technology, with the same optimizations and code generation passes. As a result, there’s virtually no difference in performance between C and the SPARK code, and no penalty of having control flow from one language to the other.
Speaking to one of our earlier examples, let’s assume that a container is being used that was implemented in C. The C code that we’re trying to interface with looks like:
Outside of a declaration of an implementation coming from C, the specification is exactly the same in Ada/SPARK.
The Ada or SPARK code can use this procedure just as if it was implemented in Ada. Similar to import, export allows C to invoke a subprogram written in Ada. If needed, these interface layers can be automatically generated through binding generators.
Although compiling SPARK and C together addresses a number of use cases, there are still situations in which the final code must be C. Indeed, some users, while interested in developing in SPARK, still need to deliver C code to their customers.
A special compiler is available to cover this use case, the “GNAT Common Code Generator.” It essentially compiles a subset of the Ada language to C. With this technology, SPARK almost becomes a modeling language with outputs that are integrated in a C environment. It could alternatively be viewed as a way to deliver formally verified C code, with verification being performed at the SPARK level.
In the data representation example (the register case), using this piece of data in the code is very straightforward. Assigning a value would look like:
No bitwise operation is necessary here, as the compiler will generate the appropriate code automatically under the hood.
Verification
Ada and SPARK provide a lot of information in source code that can be used by all kinds of checkers. As the first line of defense, the compiler will detect a number of inconsistencies and can automatically insert dynamic verification in the executable during test phases, for example. With that level of information it’s possible to go beyond classical static analysis and apply program-proving techniques to demonstrate properties across the application.
With regard to lower level data structures, automatic consistency verification will also be performed. The compiler verifies that a specific size is enough to implement required data ranges, that there’s no data overlap, etc. In addition, formal proofs can be used to verify that the assigned values are always in range for any assignment.
Continuing another earlier example, assume that Push is called in a piece of code that we want to verify. For example, we could have the following statements reading numbers from an input file until it hits 0:
This Push call will be flagged as incorrect by SPARK tools because there’s no way to know that the loop will not hit the maximum capacity of container C. The prover can’t prove the precondition of Push, which should clearly be implemented at the level of the call, not within the called procedure. Another potential bug in the example code could arise if the end of the file is reached without hitting a 0. If proper preconditions are specified, the prover will be able to tell that there’s a check missing in the loop to verify that an input still needs to be read.
This kind of problem typically occurs at some point. If unit testing with coverage of corner cases is extensive enough, issues will be fixed at that level. They could, however, find their way into integration testing when real data starts to be fed into the system, or beta testing when users try to break the system. In the worst case scenario, some of these bugs find their way through deployment and need to be tracked down after being reported by a customer. The question is not whether they will be found, but rather how expensive fixing them is going to be when they are. The later they’re found, more people are involved in the chain and more investigation is required to identify the source, fix the issue(s), justify the fix, test the fix, re-deliver the product, etc. Using a technology that integrates verification early on – in this case, at the desk of the coder – goes a long way towards reducing the number of errors that slip through processes, and ultimately reduces the total cost of developing and maintaining robust software.
What’s old is new again
The Ada and SPARK approach is unique in the way it integrates software specification, implementation, and verification, providing a cost-effective method of producing software at integrity levels required by modern systems. Industries such as medical, automotive, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) have been on the lookout for an alternative to traditional C development, and Ada and SPARK provide a proven solution.
As a provider of the Ada language, AdaCore has observed a renewed interest in the technology over the past few years. Today’s constraints provide a good opportunity to try new things – or old things that are making |
evidence session Yates reiterated his claim that the Crown Prosecution Service had initially advised the Met to adopt a narrow interpretation of the law relating to phone hacking during its initial investigation into allegations of widespread hacking at the News of the World.
He said that advice "permeated the whole investigation/inquiry" and helped explain why the police had only identified a small number of victims.
The committee has asked Yates to supply a copy of the legal advice the Met received from the CPS when Yates reviewed the hacking evidence last autumn.
Yates said its advice changed after a case conference held in October 2010, during which the CPS made it clear that a wider definition of what constitutes a hacking offence should be adopted.
MPs have asked for copies of the legal advice supplied before and after that October meeting. A spokeswoman for Vaz said he had received a reply from Yates and the committee is likely to make it public in due course.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, contradicted Yates's claims about the CPS advice when he appeared before the home affairs committee earlier this month.
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• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and FacebookI expected that after top surgery I'd have an immediate and overwhelming relief but instead I had to ease into my new body. This is my top surgery story.
I spent the night before top surgery in a hotel with my girlfriend. I laid on her and wept. I was mourning losing a piece of myself. I thought of all the situations that my trans body may be used against me. What if I was in an accident and unconscious? What if first responders paused in their treatment when they saw my trans body? What if I were thrown into jail? What about when I needed medical care? Will my girlfriend love my new body? Will I ever find someone who can understand such a complicated, scarred body? I was scared of surgery.
My girlfriend was tender and kind but also nervous about the duties ahead of her. We fell asleep. My breasts would never be touched again. In a few hours that part of me would be gone forever.
Read More: Dispelling The Myth of The Gender Binary
The day of surgery I was in a nervous fog. I tend to shut down when a moment is so immense. I go through the motions to get to the other side. They took me back to a large room. I changed into my gown and cap and sat in a chair. They started an IV. I asked if my girlfriend could come back. I needed a kind touch. My hand was really cold from the IV. She held it and made me laugh. They wheeled me back to the operating room. There were a lot of people in the room. I've never seen that many people in an operating room. It wasn't a comforting thought as I drifted into darkness.
I woke up in the hospital bed. I have a system after surgery. I ask what time it is and then I figure out how long I was under. If it seems like longer than it was supposed to be then I know something may have gone wrong. What can I say, I'm an introvert and pessimist. The surgery was under a reasonable amount of time. I thought, "I must be okay." They moved me to another room and brought my girlfriend back to teach her how to empty my drains. The day was a blur. I threw up that night back at the hotel. The next day we drove west toward my hometown in Indiana.
My recovery would take place at a spiritual community where I spent many pivotal moments of life. We unloaded the car and made a nest in the back bedroom. I stayed in a painkiller-induced warmth for the first week of recovery. I wore a compression vest. I couldn't really move much. I would sit in the tub in shallow water while my girlfriend gave me bird baths. She'd wake up at 5 a.m. when I couldn't sleep because I felt dirty. She would help me into the bathtub and tenderly wash me. I felt cared for and loved. I didn't have many emotions or thoughts about what might be under my bandages and vest. I was just existing and waiting for my body to heal.
Read More: Ending Violence Against Trans People
After about seven days it was time to get the drains out and bandages off. We drove back over to Cleveland. The holes where the drains entered my body were red and very irritated. We walked into an outdated medical office with a large waiting room. I felt just as nervous as I felt the day of surgery. I was about to see my new chest. I had watched all the YouTube videos of the other transguys' reveal days. They all looked so happy. I didn't know what I would feel.
"Natasha?" the nursed called from the doorway. We stood up and walked through the door. I wasn't meeting with the surgeon, which made me even more nervous. I laid down on the table and the nurse took off my compression vest. That felt nice. The bandages were bloody and she removed them as well. The drains were left dangling from my body. I couldn't look down. The nurse said, "I'm going to take the drains out. Take a deep breath in and let it out slowly." I felt a quick, sharp burning spread through my chest. I looked down. I looked dead. My chest looked like a cadaver's chest. The nurse smiled and asked if I wanted a mirror. I said, "No." I wanted to cover my chest quickly and run out of there. She brushed over the aftercare, "Keep your nipples covered. Use vaseline." It all ran together. I hoped my girlfriend was paying attention. We left and drove the four and half hours back to my recovery house.
I was certain I had made a bad decision. I felt alone. I had made this decision. I was having regrets. How could anyone understand? I didn't hear this experience from other transguys online. My plan was to document my entire recovery, but I couldn't imagine taking a picture of myself. The good news was I could finally take a bath. Baths are my happy place. I filled the tub halfway up and slid down into the hot water. I looked down at my flat, white, bloody chest. The incisions were screaming at me. My nipples looked black and dead. Don't cry. This was your decision. I reached for the soap. My arm knocked a bowl to the floor and it shattered. I cried. I bawled. I leaned forward and held onto my legs. What had I done? My girlfriend walked in and cleaned up the bowl. I couldn't bear to touch my incisions. She grabbed the soap and gently rubbed them while I turned my head away.
I extended my sick leave from work another week. I was too emotional and too weak. I spent that week pacing the house. I rarely left. Then one day after a shower my girlfriend caressed my chest. I felt a tingle. I grabbed her hand and laid it on my breast bone. I felt so connected to her. It felt like the core of who I was rose to meet her at my chest. I was no longer hidden under breasts. I was bare and raw. That was a turning point for me. The surgery and recovery turned out to be more gory and emotionally taxing than I had expected. I finally understood bravery. Bravery is to keep going even when it's agonizing. Bravery means to fight through until you have that moment of peace and revelation. It took me three weeks to get a fraction of peace. But I kept going until I felt it.
It wasn't that I made a bad decision, I had made a hard decision. A physically taxing decision and I had to physically heal before I could fully live within that decision. And it turns out I wasn't the only transguy that felt this way. I wasn't alone in this journey. I wasn't alone in a reveal that wasn't YouTube worthy.
Eventually, I embraced my scarred chest. Hugs felt warmer. I could pull someone in closer. I started taking pictures of my chest and going into the ocean shirtless. The scars are still tender today. They remind me that my flesh can be bent and broken but my spirit cannot.If there's one thing the Internet has been keen to do lately, it's point out all the ways Hollywood continues to mishandle female roles in many of its franchises. It's a valid complaint that shouldn't be tainted by the small handful of unsubstantiated and wildly inaccurate accusations that exist on the fringe. And it's worth noting that, sometimes, audiences are equally to blame for the direction female characters take on the big screen and beyond; if the demand for strong female roles ceases to to exist or, more importantly, fans don't put their money where their mouths are, then studios will always put them on the back burner in comparison to their male counterparts.
When the discussion of female characters comes up, however, especially in superhero and franchise films, there's something noticeably missing from the conversation. Yes, women need to have a strong, positive presence in pop culture, but what about the bad guys -- or, more specifically, bad girls? It's time for Hollywood, and audiences, to embrace the villainess.
As the market continues to be flooded with comic-book franchises, it runs the risk of becoming a lot of the same-old, same-old. The more variety and diversity that exist in storytelling, the more interesting it is. Sure, it's great that we are finally seeing two of the most iconic female supers get their own standalone films in the near future, but if the cries for equal representation for women in film are sincere, then we need the bad right along with the good.
The villain is often an incredibly powerful character, one who's typically described as being sophisticated and highly intelligent, and often called a mastermind; they kind of have to be in order to pose a credible threat to the hero. By not exploring the duality that exists in women, just as it does in men, we're perpetuating the myth that women are less complex, and prohibiting actresses from playing far more interesting roles in the process. Where's the female equivalent to Darth Vader, the Joker or Norman Bates?
Though Catwoman and Mystique have both been portrayed numerous times on the big screen, neither has really been a true villain. Catwoman is arguably more antihero than villain, and while X-Men: Days of Future Past's plot revolved heavily around Mystique, the real villain was Bolivar Trask. Movie Mystique has been a lot less villainy or evil than she is in the comics. Talia al Ghul took a backseat to Bane in TDKR, and X-Men dropped the ball with Dark Phoenix, never really letting audiences see how powerful a force she was. Is it because, as a culture, we view a woman as the caregiver, the nurturer, the mother, thus refusing to accept her when cast as destructive, hateful and dangerous? Even Disney effectively neutered one of its greatest villains, Maleficent, in the live-action film by giving her a backstory that some guy broke her heart, so she turned into a jealous, vengeful bitch. Why couldn't Maleficent just be evil because she was born that way?
Last year's Gone Girl was the first time we truly got to see a fully fleshed-out, well-written female villain in Amy Dunne. She was smart, driven, calculating and maniacal. Much like Heath Ledger's widely hailed Joker, Amazing Amy was an evil genius, and Rosamund Pike's portrayal of her earned the actress numerous accolades. Dunne was the antithesis of a mustache-twirling villain.
If fans really want to see more screen time for women, then they have to let go of their bias that they can only be portrayed according to a set list of unwritten rules that women=good, men=bad. Women=soft, men=hard, women=love, men=violence. Those assumptions are based more on societal stereotypes than biology or facts. Human beings can be deeply flawed, whether by nature or nurture, regardless of gender. To be fair, it seems like Hollywood is slowly opening up to the idea of the bad girl; James Gunn confirmed that Nebula is returning in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, and director David Ayer seems to be making Harley Quinn a major player in the upcoming Suicide Squad. It's been confirmed that Game of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie is playing antagonist Captain Phasma in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, and according to rumors the villain's role will continue to grow in Episodes VII and IX. Will they let these nefarious ladies be as sinister and vicious as their comic-book counterparts (in Christie's case her Empire predecessors) or water them down on the big screen?
Superheroes will always stand up for the right thing, because that's what heroes do. It's almost a knee-jerk reaction that good will rise against evil. But the good guy isn't really the most interesting character. That distinction almost always goes to the villain. Bad guys are mysterious, complex geniuses who defy the narrative that people are inherently good. And it's because they go against the perceived norm that humanity is mostly positive that we are perhaps so drawn to them; it's human nature to be curious about the things we understand least and want to flirt with danger. Good guys may make us feel nice, but bad guys get us off.
Comic books have always explored the complexities of human nature in more daring ways than most media. They push the envelope with imaginative and outrageous characters and scenarios, which is partially why we continue to see so many of them adapted for TV and the silver screen. That being said, if studios are going to continue to tap this plush resource, then they need to bring some of the most wicked villanesses up to the major leagues.Image via PixaBay
Je ne sais pas combien de fois des touristes anglophones dans un bar m'ont dit : « Mon française devient meilleur avec le bière! » J'ai toujours douté de la véracité de cette affirmation. Eh bien, il se trouve qu'il y avait peut-être du vrai dans ce qu'ils disaient.
L'alcool aiderait à mieux parler une langue étrangère, selon une étude menée par un groupe de chercheurs de l'Université de Liverpool, du King's College de Londres et de l'Université Maastricht, publiée en octobre.
L'idée de l'étude était assez simple : donner beaucoup d'alcool à des gens pour évaluer a) ce que les gens ont pensé de leur propre performance dans la langue étrangère, et b) ce que des gens qui parlent réellement cette langue ont pensé de la performance des buveurs.
Pour ce faire, les chercheurs ont fait appel à 50 Allemands de l'Université de Maastricht, aux Pays-Bas, qui venaient tout juste d'apprendre le néerlandais. Certains ont reçu de l'alcool, alors que d'autres ont reçu une boisson sans alcool. Le taux d'alcool des boissons données aux participants dépendait de leur poids : par exemple, environ une pinte (46 cl) pour un homme de 155 lb.
Les participants ont par la suite tenu des conversations en néerlandais avec un évaluateur. Les conversations ont été enregistrées, puis jouées à des personnes parlant couramment le néerlandais qui ne savaient pas si le participant avait bu ou non. Ils ont donc dû évaluer la performance en néerlandais des Allemands, qui ont eux aussi eu à s'autoévaluer.
Les chercheurs ont remarqué que les participants qui avaient bu avaient reçu de meilleures notes que ceux qui n'avaient pas bu, surtout en ce qui a trait à la prononciation. La Dre Jessica Werthmann, qui a contribué à la recherche, croit que la meilleure performance en néerlandais des jeunes étudiants allemands pourrait, entre autres, être attribuée aux effets réducteurs d'anxiété de l'alcool.
D'après les chercheurs, la consommation d'alcool pourrait avoir des effets bénéfiques pour la prononciation dans une langue étrangère chez ceux qui l'ont récemment apprise et une petite dose d'alcool pourrait hausser l'habileté à parler une langue seconde. Ils notent par contre que l'excès d'alcool pourrait avoir l'effet contraire, et que les notes autoattribuées étaient sensiblement les mêmes chez les buveurs et les non-buveurs. Il y a donc de bonnes chances que, non, votre espagnol ne s'améliore pas après 17 rhum and coke au bar de la piscine du tout-inclus.
Billy Eff est sur internet ici et là.People suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could soon be prescribed MDMA, commonly referred to as ecstasy or molly, to help ease the debilitating symptoms of this severe anxiety disorder.
A report from the New York Times indicates that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug for clinical trials in an effort to study its effects on patients struggling with PTSD. The latest phase of research, which is being funded by the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), will involve more than 200 patients—mostly veterans, sexual assault victims and others living with the disorder.
Phase 3 clinical trials—the final step before the FDA considers the drug for market—comes after MDMA was shown successful in calming the intensity of PTSD in preliminary studies. If the latest study provides similar results, it is distinctly possible that a wide variety of patients living with this disorder could be using MDMA therapeutically within the next five years.
Some of the patients who were involved in MAPS’ previous studies of the drug say it is more effective than standard therapies.
“One of the first things I said when it kicked in was ‘this is what I’ve been looking for,'” Tony Macie, an Iraqi War veteran, said in a video. “I reconnected with myself and did a lot of internal work, and afterwards, it was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.”
The latest statistics show 83 percent of the participants in the MDMA trials thus far no longer seem to suffer from PTSD after completing two months of treatment. MAPS says the results became more permanent when the patient followed through with a long-term mental health plan, including outpatient check ups with a psychotherapist.
Although it is still too early to tell whether MDMA will land on the shelves of pharmacies all across the nation in the near future, researchers are so far encouraged by their work.
“We can sometimes see this kind of remarkable improvement in traditional psychotherapy, but it can take years, if it happens at all,” researcher Michael Mithoefer told the Times. “We think it works as a catalyst that speeds the natural healing process.”
The latest research is scheduled to begin in 2017, and it is expected to take up to five years to complete. It will then be up to the FDA to determine whether MDMA is safe and effective medicine.
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ news right here.Shonda Rhimes has ended her successful run at ABC and making a move. Netflix announced Sunday night that the prolific series creator has signed a multi-year deal with the streaming service to produce new projects.
The news comes after a Wall Street Journal report was published just after midnight ET.
Betsy Beers, Rhimes’ longtime producing partner, will also be moving to Netflix. According to WSJ, 30 Shondaland employees will be joining them.
“Shonda Rhimes is one of the greatest storytellers in the history of television,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix. “Her work is gripping, inventive, pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, taboo-breaking television at its best.”
Also Read: Shonda Rhimes, Mark Gordon, 3 Others Appointed to TV Academy Executive Committee
Rhimes told the Wall Street Journal that part of her reason for moving was to be free of the restrictions of network television, such as appeasing advertisers and other censorship regulations.
“I’m thrilled by the idea of a world where I’m not caught in the necessary grind of network television,” she said, adding that working with Netflix provides “larger creative freedom.”
“Ted provides a clear, fearless space for creators at Netflix. He understood what I was looking for — the opportunity to build a vibrant new storytelling home for writers with the unique creative freedom and instantaneous global reach provided by Netflix’s singular sense of innovation. The future of Shondaland at Netflix has limitless possibilities,” Rhimes said in a Netflix press release.
A person close to ABC told TheWrap that the three shows currently on the network — “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” — along with the “Grey’s” spinoff in pre-production and the upcoming legal drama “For the People,” will stay with ABC Studios.
Also Read: 'Scandal' Spinoff? It Could Happen, Says ABC President
They also said that showrunners currently on Shondaland shows will stay with ABC and their deals remain in place.
That means fans of the Shondaland slate won’t have to get a Netflix subscription. They’ll continue to air on ABC (and also on the streaming service).
“We’re so proud of the work we’ve done with Shonda and Betsy throughout our long and productive relationship,” ABC Studios president Patrick Moran said in a statement. “The Shondaland imprint will always be an important part of ABC Studios and we wish them all the best in this new endeavor.”
“I’m proud to have given a home to what have become some of the most celebrated and talked about shows on television,” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said.
This is the most recent big deal for Netflix. The service also just nabbed the Coen Brothers’ anthology “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and bought Millarworld, the comics publisher behind “Kingsmen” and “Kick-Ass.”Working Without Pay A Reality For Much Of Greece's Labor Force
Hide caption Alexandra Tsitoura (left) and Nikos Aivatzidis walk through now-empty Hellenic Shipyards in Athens, Greece. Two years ago, the shipyard employed around 1,100 workers. Alexandra and her husband Nikos have had jobs at Hellenic Shipyards for 10 and 31 years, respectively, but have not received neither a paycheck nor any form of severance for the past two years. Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR
Hide caption Tsitoura visits her old workplace, where she was a secretary at Hellenic Shipyards. As Greece's economy continues to buckle under the weight of massive government debt, some Greeks are relying on their ties to family and friends to put food on the table and provide other basic necessities. Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR
Hide caption Aivatzidis at his desk at Hellenic Shipyards, where he was a human resources manager. For Aivatzidis and Tsitoura, providing for their children is a communal effort. They receive help from both their parents, in particular the pension of Nikos' father, sharing meals and other expenses, and occasionally from friends who are faring better. Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR
Hide caption The Hellenic Shipyards now remains empty of ships and workers. Two years ago, the shipyard stopped paying its approximately 1,100 employees. Greece's economy continues to buckle under the weight of massive government debt, with record unemployment. Some estimates put the jobless rate at 28 percent and nearly 60 percent for workers under the age of 25. Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR
Hide caption Tsitoura picks wildflowers while on a visit at Hellenic Shipyards. "If I can't bring my children my wages, at least I can bring them some flowers," she said with a laugh. Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR
Hide caption Tsitoura and Aivatzidis walk home from school with their children, Dimitris, 6, Fani, 9, and Marios, 2, in Athens. Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR
Hide caption Aivatzidis cuts up leftovers before his family sits down to a meal in Athens. Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR
Hide caption Tsitoura's mother Maria, visiting from her home in Kalamata, helps Dimitris with homework. "From an early age, the parents are saying, 'Study, study!' " Tsitoura said. "We want them [our children] to be somebody, but there are so few opportunities." Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR
Hide caption Tsitoura makes sure the children are ready for bed. Her brother and their children were visiting from Kalamata, so all of the children slept together in Fani, Dimitris, and Marios' room. Previous Next Holly Pickett for NPR 1 of 9 i View slideshow
For nearly 30 years, Nikos Aivatzidis got up at the crack of dawn to drive from his home in central Athens to his human resources job at Hellenic Shipyards, near Greece's port of Piraeus.
"I'd walk into the entrance and marvel as I watched [6,000] or 7,000 people heading into work with me," he says. "This place was like its own city."
Now this place is deserted. Many of the roughly 1,000 workers still officially on the payroll stopped showing up after the company stopped paying them in April 2012.
But Aivatzidis holds on.
On a recent morning, the 51-year-old father of three and his 38-year-old wife, Alexandra Tsitoura, pull up their 9-year-old Fiat outside an empty office building.
Tsitoura also works at Hellenic Shipyards. Together, she and her husband used to make around $3,000 a month.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Holly Pickett for NPR Holly Pickett for NPR
As they get out of the car, they're greeted by a pack of stray dogs, looking for food. "My co-worker used to feed them," Aivatzidis says. "But she stopped coming to work."
Aivatzidis keeps coming in hopes that he and his wife will eventually get paid. And he has another reason for showing up at the shipyard at least twice week.
"I can't quit this job because I will lose my severance pay after 30 years of work," he says. "I can't justify that."
About 20 percent of Greek workers are trapped in the same dilemma. Many, like Aivatzidis, hold on because they know finding another job at a time when the unemployment rate is 28 percent is virtually impossible.
Leaning On Family For Help
Unlike other European countries, Greece has never had a strong social safety net, so the poor have traditionally relied on family and friends. Four years into a crushing debt crisis, nearly half of the Greek labor force is either out of work or working without pay.
Like many couples in Greece these days, Aivatzidis and Tsitoura have tapped out their savings since they stopped getting paychecks. They now rely on their parents' pensions to buy groceries and pay bills. They had to stop paying their mortgage.
His cellphone rings constantly, to the tune of "Johnny B" by The Hooters.
"It's the collection agencies," he says, looking at the number on the screen. "I'm not going to answer it. I get agitated because they ask me questions that I can't answer, like when I am going to make a payment on mortgage."
Aivatzidis is relieved that the government has extended a moratorium on foreclosures. His elderly mother, Fani, who lives next door, often shares her big pots of bean soup or pans of roasted vegetables.
And Tsitoura's 75-year-old mother, Maria, chips in by bringing meat, olive oil and fresh eggs on her monthly visits from her home in southern Greece.
Maria, a jovial woman with a bouffant of curly hair, says she is also helping her son Vassilis, who's an accountant. Most of his clients haven't paid him in two years, she says.
"Every month, my husband counts out his pension on the counter," she says. "And each time, he says, 'Look, they cut out 20 euros or 40 euros.' And so every month, we have less to work with."
On a recent evening, the extended family gathers in Athens for a dinner of orzo pasta, tomatoes and bread — no meat. Tsitoura likes making dinner with whatever fresh and cheap produce is in season.
She washes the dishes as her children — daughter Fani and sons Dimitris and Mario — brush their teeth.
"We try not to show the children that we're worried," she says. "We try to give them what they need."
Their one luxury is attending free traditional dance lessons at an association of Black Sea Greeks across town. They just need gas to get there.
Willing To Work
Their troubles started when Hellenic Shipyards could no longer pay its bills. The owner, Abu Dhabi Mar, is in a contractual dispute with the debt-ridden Greek government over what the state should pay for the submarines.
But Manos Matsaganis, a professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, says the crisis has squeezed many firms in Greece.
"Some of the firms have come to an accommodation with the workers, telling them, 'Look, we don't want to close, we want you to survive, and we don't want you to lose your job,' " Matsaganis says, " 'But on the other hand, we can't pay you.... We will pay you eventually, hopefully. Would you like to keep working for no money for a while?' "
Back at the shipyard, Aivatzidis and Tsitoura stop by to see co-workers guarding the partially finished submarines that cost Greek taxpayers billions of dollars. All but one of the submarines now languish in dry dock.
Panagiotis Karantzidis, a wiry, intense 44-year-old technician, spent years working on them. "I want to work so badly," he says. "My hands are strong. I am strong. I have at least 10 years of good work left in me."
Aivatzidis comforts him and walks outside to the vast, empty shipyard where he has spent most of his adult life. Aivatzidis considers himself lucky; some of his co-workers are going to soup kitchens or are sitting in dark homes because their electricity has been shut off.
"Maybe I still have hope and I'm patient I'll get paid because we're not yet at that point where poverty has totally taken us under," he says.
He unlocks the door to his abandoned office and walks along a hallway lined with dead plants and a timecard machine that's out of order.
He sits at his desk, which is piled high with binders and file folders. He has to process the paperwork of the few employees who have quit the shipyard — many to take jobs overseas.Pony before [inset] and after. Photos courtesy of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
VICE: So tell us about Pony.
Michelle Desilets [Director of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation]: Pony is an orangutan from a prostitute village in Borneo. We found her chained to a wall, lying on a mattress. She had been shaved all over her body.
I want to cry.
If a man walked near her, she would turn herself around, present herself, and start gyrating and going through the motions. She was being used as a sex slave. She was probably about six or seven years old when we rescued her, but she had been held captive by a madam for a long time. The madam refused to give up the animal because everyone loved Pony and she was a big part of their income. They also thought Pony was lucky, as she would pick winning lottery numbers.
Did the clients realize that they were in fact getting an orangutan?
Oh yeah, they would come in especially for it. You could choose a human if you preferred, but it was a novelty for many of the men to have sex with an orangutan. They shaved her every other day, which meant that her skin had all these pimples and was very irritated. The mosquitoes would get to her very badly and the bites would become septic and be very infected, as she would scratch them constantly. They would put rings and necklaces on her. She was absolutely hideous to look at.
How did you get her away from there?
It took us over a year to rescue her, because every time we went in with forest police and local officers we would be overpowered by the villagers, who simply would not give her up. They would threaten us with guns and knives with poison on them. In the end it took 35 policemen armed with AK-47s and other weaponry going in there and demanding that they hand over Pony. It was filmed by a local television crew and in the background of the film when we are unchaining Pony you can hear the madam crying hysterically, screaming, "They are taking my baby, you can't do this!" There is no law enforcement in Indonesia so these people didn't face any sentence or anything for what they had done.
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Guest Author Author
On September 7, 2017, the Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference will be held in Stockholm. This conference is part of a series of such events being held annually in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Prague, Kiev, Tallinn, London, Malta, Almaty etc.
Top experts in the field will be attending the conference to share their experiences with blockchain in a wide spectrum of spheres. The event’s main participants will include entrepreneurs and investors, as well as IT developers and software and equipment manufacturers, with speakers from the most significant companies and government representatives alike.
GoldMint project - the innovator behind the stable GOLD token and Custody Bot, will be represented at the conference with an exhibition stand and a speaker on the main stage. GoldMint advisor Vladislav Martynov will deliver a speech about the Evolution of the stable coin in the crypto economy. In addition to serving as a GoldMint advisor, Martynov is CEO of Yota Devices Ltd., as well as a Supervisory Board Member at the Ethereum Foundation. A 20-year veteran of the international tech industry, Vladislav has held significant leadership positions in various projects. With such ample expertise, Martinov is an ideal fit as GoldMint speaker and will surely have plenty of insight to contribute to the conference.
GoldMint is taking part in the Blockchain & Bitcoin conference in preparation for an ICO which is coming on September 20th. During the crowdsale period, the price of MNTP tokens will be $7 USD. To buy MNTP tokens, users may use BTC (Bitcoin) or ETH (Ethereum). The value of the token will grow, as MNT are of limited supply and are used as stake in the PoS (Proof-of-Stake) consensus algorithm. Those who invest in the first days will benefit from a special early bird bonus system, allowing them to earn an additional 20% of tokens.
Disclaimer. This article is paid and provided by a third-party source and should not be viewed as an endorsement by CoinIdol. Readers should do their own research before investing funds in any company. CoinIdol shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services mentioned in this article.A short while after my first son Malik turned one, I remember thinking "What the heck's going on? My son's teaching me as much as I'm teaching him." I've learned so many important life lessons from my two boys that still today they're both teaching me new things all the time. And I don't know if I'll ever stop learning from them.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen master and peace activist, and the person who taught me Zen through his books and dharma talks, coined the term "interbeing". It's a term that, for the most part, is meant to describe the truth of our interconnectedness more clearly and correctly. All things inter-are, or in other words all things live intrinsically connected to one another to the point where what I do affects all things and all things affect me, and this includes education.
Have you ever heard the saying, "the teacher learns more than the student"? I feel like that with Buddhaimonia. Writing for others has helped me grow so much. It's the same thing in the case of parenting, although I don't think the saying is completely correct in either case. I think it's more accurate to say:
the student learns from the teacher, the teacher learns from the student, their education inter-is.
Now obviously, when I say I learn from my boys, I don't mean that I'm sitting down in a classroom while my son slaps a yardstick down on my desk every time I get a math problem wrong (although he did try to put me on time-out the other day). The ways that I learn from them are often in the form of a sort of self-reflection. I see things in them. They show me things by their natural behavior.
There are so many different ways to learn, you should live mindful of the fact that every single waking (and even non-waking) moment can be an opportunity to learn something new. The best education is the education we get from going out there and living life, specifically from directly experiencing the very thing we want to learn about.
Now I'm not saying go out and have kids (if you don't already). So, slow down! Being a parent definitely gives you the greatest opportunity to learn these lessons, but you don't need to have children to learn from them. You can learn these same lessons from a niece, nephew, grandson, granddaughter, a friend's child if you're around them often, students if you're a teacher, by volunteering in a children's program, or any other way that allows you to interact with children.
If you don't have much experience with children, I'd suggest you take some time to get to know a few, it can be enlightening. Here are some of the most important things my children have taught me:
7 Important Life Lessons |
wish in God's name someone would govern this place in a way that doesn't make me feel personally belittled," he said. "I cannot stand the notion of these people feeling they have the right to wipe their dirty feet and piss upon us."
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
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Subscribe nowUPDATE: PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says there will be a debate inside the Liberal partyroom about legalising same-sex marriage.
It comes as Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will introduce a private member’s bill on Monday to change the Marriage Act and allow same-sex marriage.
“It is an issue where decent people can differ,” the Mr Abbott said today.
“I’m sure at that time we’ll have a very full and frank and candid and decent debate.”
Mr Shorten has given formal notice that he will introduce the bill — seconded by Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek — to amend the Act “to establish marriage equality”.
Mr Shorten said the Bill will not have the universal support of his colleagues and will “challenge the deeply held personal beliefs of MPs and Senators on both sides of politics.”
“I believe the time has well and truly come for the Parliament to debate marriage equality,” Mr Shorten said.
“Our current law excludes some individuals — and to me, that is unacceptable.
“It says to them: your relationships are not equally valued by the state, your love is less equal under the law,” Mr Shorten said.
media_camera The Labor bill.
Labor members are currently permitted to have a conscience vote on the issue despite Ms Plibersek calling for Labor MPs to be tied to a binding vote for gay marriage because it is part of the ALP platform.
The move is expected to put pressure on Mr Abbott — a strong opponent of same-sex marriage — to allow a free vote in the Liberal Party on the issue.
“For marriage equality to happen, Tony Abbott has to give his MPs a free vote,” Mr Shorten said.
“I know there are Coalition MPs who’d support marriage equality if Tony Abbott granted them a free vote.”
Mr Shorten’s attempt to change the Marriage Act is the third push to allow same-sex marriage in Australia.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm both have private member’s bills before parliament on changing the Marriage Act.
The latest move comes just days after Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing same-sex marriage in a historic referendum on Saturday, prompting a push for Australia’s law to change.I'm watching TV right now and shaking. Are you? Guys, we're really, really close to Donald Trump becoming president. Really close. All the projections from major publications in the lead up to Election Day were wrong, as was every single thing that made us Clinton supporters feel confident in the days leading up to this — confident enough to coordinate our pantsuits, teach our daughters that women can be president, too, and have a moment of joy in the voting booth, instead of stocking up on emergency supplies, having a pit in our stomach in the voting booth, and teaching our daughters that some people think a man who jokes about grabbing women by the pussy would make a good president. Maybe we were wrong, all wrong. Maybe this is really happening.
If Trump wins, it won't be because of third party voters; it will be because of racist and sexist voters who believe that a man with zero governing experience, whose campaign promises generally hinged on keeping America free of immigrants (you know, the people who generally make America America), is a great pick to lead the United States. But third party voters: I have had to spend the past six months or year or however long hearing about how Clinton is an uncool bag of shit and how captivated you all were by impossible promises of socialism and the idea of showcasing your rugged individualism with your commitment to third party voting. I have smiled and nodded through it, because that's the American way — you smile and nod through political opinions that you think are horseshit.
So, I would appreciate it if you smiled and nodded at me for a second. We live in America, and we're entitled to do anything we want in the voting booth, up to and including burn the country to the fucking ground because we're racist sexists, an option that a lot of people apparently chose today! But casting a third party vote — to prove your convictions, to express yourself, to do whatever the hell you people are doing — does not make whatever impact you think it does. I don't necessarily believe that the 3 percent of U.S. voters who are currently going for Gary Johnson would have voted for Clinton if they hadn't embraced the idea of third party. Maybe they would have stayed home; who knows. But I would like to speak to the idea that if a presidential candidate is not your perfect ideal, your interests are best served by casting a protest vote.
Protest votes don't change or shape policy. They don't alter major party platforms, and they don't make third parties more viable, especially if you only engage with third parties during presidential election season, and don't engage with them during the rest of those four years on a local level. When you vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, you're not saying you actually believe they'll become president, or that you even think they would make a good president. I don't know what you're saying, honestly — that you're too cool to vote for boring old major party candidates? That you believe sticking the country with an awful president is better than leaving us with an imperfect president? As Bernie Sanders himself told the New York Times, “I want anybody who’s thinking about voting against Hillary Clinton, and casting a protest vote because she is not all they would like her to be, to understand what the consequences for the country and the world will be.” Sanders' candidacy in the Democratic party pushed Democratic policy to the left. Third party votes do not.
I lived through third party terror once before. The first election I voted in was Gore v Bush, in which Gore won the popular vote but Bush became president, due in part to the three percent of third party votes for Ralph Nader. We're still attempting to undo the damage Bush did in office. And Nader never developed as a politician; he was a boutique vote that allowed people, like my college freshman classmates, to express that they were too hip for mainstream politics. If Gore had won — and those third party votes would have helped — America would look really different right now.
I'm not laying this on any third party voter's feet — like I said, the people who actually voted for Trump, the people who thought that those emails were more important than having literally any government experience, need to take credit for this one. I feel guilty, I wish I had done more, I hadn't believed it could happen here, all those pathetic classic phrases that we scoff at when other people say them. I let this happen, if this is happening. We let this happen, if this is happening. But if this does happen — if we wake up tomorrow in Trump's America — I hope we can all take a second to think about the purpose of voting. Is it to express your specific personal beliefs? Or is it to protect the most vulnerable people in the country that you love? Is living in a country that reflects none of your values less important than being able to say that you were right?
Image: ShutterstockUpdates:
Vince Zampella reacted to this news on Twitter, “for those asking about the ‘future of titanfall’ announcement, I’m confused as to what that is. We did not sell tf to MS.”
Zampella had a chance to speak with G4’s Geoff Keighly, who’s also involved in the Austin event. And, the CEO of Respawn Entertainment had the following to say, “talked with Geoff Keighley and it looks like the ‘future’ thing is just something fun. Not how I would have described it, but still fun.”
Original Story:
During the latest Major Nelson podcast, Larry Hryb and his co-hosts mentioned that Austin’s Titanfall event will include an announcement on the future of Titanfall.
Xbox’s Jeff Rubenstein explained, “apparently during this live stream, which will start at 11 pm eastern/8 pm pacific, we are going to be exploring or showcasing the future of Titanfall.”
Larry Hryb added that the Xbox team have “no clue” what Respawn Entertainment will be showing. It seems that all Respawn told Microsoft, “we are showcasing the future of Titanfall”.
On Twitter, Rubenstein teased, “I’m told [Respawn] will be unveiling an amazing new collaboration in the Titanfall universe.”
In you are in Austin, the event will be at SXSW on March 10. However, the rest of us will have to catch the Xbox stream on Twitch.
Respawn might be sharing more details about the game’s DLC, which we only know about the release time frame and price points. As always, keep your sight on MP1st for more Titanfall coverage.
Thanks to Mark for the tip.645X363 - Full Sharing - Additional videos are suggested upon completion
The odds might be against Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersPush to end U.S. support for Saudi war hits Senate setback Sanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' MORE’s presidential bid, but he has a message for those who question his bid: “Don’t underestimate me."
“I fully concede that I get into this race as a major underdog. No question about it. I mean, Hillary Clinton is known by 95 percent of the American people. And clearly, in terms of money, I will be very, very, very heavily outspent,” the Vermont independent said in an interview with CNBC.
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“Don't underestimate me. We're going to do better than people think. And I think we got a shot to win this thing.”
Sanders polls more than 50 percentage points behind Clinton in most surveys, and many Democrats don’t believe he has even an outside shot of defeating her.
But as Clinton continues to tout her hope to be the candidate for “everyday Americans,” Sanders criticized his rival’s wealth, arguing it can separate her from the struggles of average Americans.
The Clintons' recent financial disclosures showed that the couple made more than $30 million from speeches and book royalties since she left the State Department. Sanders said wealthy people who “hustle money” and spend “hundreds of dollars for dinner” can lose sight of true struggles.
“That's the world that you're accustomed to, and that's the world view that you adopt,” he said.
“You're not worrying about a kid three blocks away from here whose mom can't afford to feed him. So yes, I think that can isolate you — that type of wealth has the potential to isolate you from the reality of the world.”
Sanders, who identifies as a Democratic socialist, has called for action to reduce income inequality and says the nation’s wealthiest should pay more taxes. He said he’s willing to sacrifice some economic growth in order to even the playing field.
“You can't just continue growth for the sake of growth in a world in which we are struggling with climate change and all kinds of environmental problems,” he said.
“You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country.”Wading into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dangerous work. It is an exceptionally charged issue, with both sides capable of as much passion as you'll experience in discussing a foreign policy dispute. Personally, I have been shocked and unnerved at some of the venom unleashed in the comments to past articles on the topic that have appeared on The Huffington Post. I can't help but think that if only people read up on the history of the conflict, they would see that things aren't as black-and-white as their fire-breathing comments would have you believe.
I am ashamed to say that the Israel-bashing has made me reluctant to write about the issue, at least in my contributions to this site. But after watching the conflict in Gaza unfold over the last three days, I have decided that it's time for me to venture into the breach and make my opinion known, damn the consequences. It's time for me to explain why I think the treatment of Israel has been unfair.
I understand that the history of the Middle East, going back to 1948, or even to the 19th century, is messy. Any side looking to make a point can cherry pick historical facts to bolster an argument. While I would feel confident arguing the Israeli side of the issue, I know that I am not going to win over anyone in one blog post. The whole issue is just too complicated.
But what I feel I may be able to accomplish in this space is to provide a counterweight for some of the subtly biased reporting on the Israeli actions in Gaza over the last three days. From reading or watching most news accounts, you might think that Israel, virtually unprovoked, has started indiscriminately bombing in Gaza, causing massive civilian casualties. The New York Times quoted Iran's religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameni, saying, "The horrible crime of the Zionist regime in Gaza has once again revealed the bloodthirsty face of this regime from disguise," as if his opinion was just another equally valid point of view. I will attempt to provide some context here.
It is important to understand that threats to Israel's survival are not theoretical. From the moment of the country's formation in 1948 to the present day, it has been surrounded by hostile neighbors who have wanted to see its destruction and used force to bring such an outcome about. Israel was attacked by neighboring nations in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. The country's seizure of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 occurred in this context. More recently, Israel has had to withstand suicide bombings, in which Palestinian terrorists would kill and wound innocent civilians inside Israel.
In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, dismantling all of its settlements and evicting its settlers, some by force. Palestinians proceeded in elections to put into power the terrorist group Hamas, which does not recognize the right of Israel to exist. With Israel gone from Gaza, Hamas seized on the opportunity to launch attacks from Gaza on civilian populations in Israel, firing more than 4,500 rockets and mortars into Israel since 2005. And Hamas used civilian areas as cover for the launching points for its attacks.
A little more than six months ago, Egypt brokered a cease fire between Israel and Hamas. The truce ended on December 19, and it was Hamas, not Israel, that refused to extend it. In fact, The current attacks began before the cease-fire agreement expired. In the last six weeks, Hamas has fired more than 400 missiles into Israel, including 40 Qassam rockets and mortars since December 19.
With Hamas attacking Israel, and with Hamas unwilling to extend the truce, Israel responded with the current offensive. While so many news reports have focused on the civilian casualties, given that Hamas uses civilians areas as cover to launch their attacks, it is shocking how relatively low the percentage of civilian casualties has been. As of this morning, of the 315 Palestinian fatalities, only 51 have been civilians. To be clear, my point isn't that 51 lost lives isn't tragic, rather it's that with Hamas putting its own people in danger by using them as cover for their assaults on Israel, the fact that roughly five in six fatalities have been military targets demonstrates that Israel is not indiscriminately attacking civilian populations.
And yet, Israel has continued to provide aid to Gazan residents, allowing 10,000 tons of food, tools, raw materials, medicine and medical equipment into Gaza since Dec. 7. Israel also provides 70 percent of Gaza's electricity, and Hamas has reportedly engineered blackouts to inflame the population against Israel while using the power for its own needs.
I am continually amazed when commentators and government officials assert that Israel should show restraint. How would any one of these countries and individuals react if it was their nation that was attacked daily by its neighbor, especially if that neighbor was an internationally recognized terrorist organization that didn't recognize the right of the subject of its attacks to exist and was dedicated to its destruction?
But that is the situation with which Israel is faced. Hamas will not recognize Israel's right to exist (calling the Jewish state "the Zionist entity"). And in retaliation for Israel's offensive, Hamas has fired rockets that have reached within 25 miles of Tel Aviv.
What is it that the critics would have Israel do? How do you negotiate with people that want to destroy you? How do you allow attacks on your civilian population on a daily basis without doing anything to protect your citizens? It feels to me like the critics ask Israel to make sacrifices and take risks that they themselves would never undertake for their home nations.
It seems to me that the critics would have Israel accede to all Palestinian demands, which would result in handing over huge chunks of land to a population bent on destroying Israel, both through attacks and assimilation, if the so-called right of return was granted. (From East Jerusalem, Hamas's rockets could hit virtually any point in Israel, including Tel Aviv, Haifa and West Jerusalem.) In my estimation, anyone who thinks Israel is somehow responsible for the current clashes with Hamas does not, in a practical sense, think Israel has a right to exist as a country. After all, short of surrendering, there is nothing that Israel could do that would satisfy Hamas, and without a right to defend itself from attack, Israel's survival would be in doubt.
I am all for a two-state solution. But both states have to respect the right of the other to exist, and nothing in Hamas's actions has demonstrated that it is in any way willing to take part in such an arrangement. Hamas wants a one-state solution, and that one state is not Israel.
(As a side note, the Palestinians still push for a right of return for those who fled and/or were pushed from the new state of Israel in 1948, which has been one of the primary issues acting as an impediment to peace, but there were an equal of number of Jews displaced by Arabs at the same time, and yet no Jews are claiming a right of return.)
Has Israel always acted correctly? Of course not. I dare you to show me a country that has conducted itself perfectly all the time. But how is it that Hamas, a terrorist organization that refused to extend the truce and fired rockets at civilians on a daily basis, gets so much sympathy, with Israel condemned for defending itself? In a vacuum, there is no defense for Hamas in this situation. So it seems to me that those that speak against Israel for its current Gaza offensive are doing so because they will never support Israel's side in the conflict with Hamas and the Palestinians. They see the West Bank barrier and the West Bank settlements and the other alleged transgressions by Israel without considering what prompted the actions in the first place (namely 60 years of attacks by its neighbors, most recently via suicide bombers killing civilians). It feels to me as though there is nothing Hamas could do to Israel that would, in the minds of Israel's critics, justify Israeli retaliation.
Hopefully, in the not too distant future, Palestinians will rally behind moderate, non-corrupt leadership, and a fair two-state solution will be hammered out under which both of the countries' citizens can live in peace and prosperity. But until that day comes, as long as the Palestinian people throw their lot in with terrorists like Hamas, who, in their name, attack civilian targets in Israel, a two-state solution cannot be put in place, and the Palestinian people will have to bear the consequences of their leaders' actions.
In an ideal world, a military action like the Israeli offensive in Gaza would never happen. No person of conscience can truly look at what is going on there and not feel sad. But at the same time, the Hamas bombing of Israeli civilians is equally disturbing, and there is no obvious alternative available to Israel to defend its citizens. It feels unfair to me when people take Israel to task without placing any significant blame on Hamas. And that is why I felt it was time for me to speak out.I got home today at 7:30 pm after an exhausting day at school. My heart lifted immediately when I saw the box from my Santa! Inside was an awesome bulletin board set with all the different literary genres and some super cute border to go with it! I also received perfect items for my Reading Intervention Classroom! My classroom is set for learning with markers, highlighters, post -it notes!! My kiddos will be super excited to see the new non fiction books we will be adding to the classroom library! I am ready to sit down and read the books right now!!
I am so very thankful to Littlecommiefoofoo for the super supplies for my intervention classroom! My students are the ones that need the most help as they are at least a grade level below in reading. I look forward to using these tools to help them learn to love reading!! Thank you!After 36 years with the Kansas City Chiefs, team president Denny Thum has resigned.
The team announced the move today.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working for the best franchise in the NFL,” Thum said in a team-issued release. “I appreciate every opportunity the Hunt family has afforded me and my family and I wish the Kansas City Chiefs all the success they deserve in the future.”
Thum began working for the team as an accountant, way back in 1974. Team chairman Clark Hunt has added the title of CEO to his office door, and Hunt “will continue” to lead the football and business operations of the Chiefs.
As we understand the division of authority in Kansas City, the duties held by former G.M. and president Carl Peterson were split between G.M. Scott Pioli (who took over the football operation) and Thum (who ran the business side of the franchise).
Hunt said that there are no immediate plans to fill the position held by Thum and that no outside search will take place.
In our view, the move has no impact on the football operations. If anything, it’s a sign of Pioli’s growing influence. And we wouldn’t be surprised if the “president” title is painted onto his office door at some point, if the Chiefs continue to show improvement over the next year or so.Aston Villa proved too strong for Norwich in the Capital One Cup (Picture: Reuters/Action Images)
Paul Lambert’s Aston Villa saw off his former club Norwich City to reach the semi-final of the Capital One Cup.
Villa went behind to a 19th-minute goal from Steve Morison, but a first-half strike from Brett Holman followed by a second-half brace from Andreas Weimann gave the Villans victory, before Christian Benteke sealed the result on the stroke of full-time.
It was the first time Lambert had returned to Carrow Road since his summer departure and it couldn’t have been much better for the Scot.
Villa, who have enjoyed something of a revival of late in the Premier League having gone four games unbeaten, were given an early scare when Morison clipped the ball over Shay Given – in for the rested Brad Guzan.
But Holman levelled just two minutes later as he struck a firm shot from the edge of the area past Mark Bunn and the visitors didn’t look back.
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The shots reigned in on Bunn’s goal from Matthew Lowton, Benteke and Holman, with Darren Bent – making his first start in six weeks – also getting involved in the action. But the Canaries’ stopper was equal to their efforts.
Bent made way at half-time for Weimann who repayed the switch with two goals in six second-half minutes.
The Austrian put his side in front on 79 minutes when he swept home Eric Lichaj’s cross, before all but sealing the result when he tapped in Benteke’s pass.
And Benteke himself hit a fourth for Villa in the dying moments of the game to send Lambert’s men into the semi-finals.President Obama turned out to be spot on when he told Americans stocks were priced to buy in March 2009.
A television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows President Barack Obama during a speech. (Photo11: Richard Drew, AP) Story Highlights S&P 500 gains more in Obama's first term than his last four predecessors
President's tenure coincided with end of bear market and Great Recession, creating fuel for rebound
History shows that presidential second terms are not as bullish for stocks
NEW YORK — Despite critics that brand him as anti-business and anti-Wall Street, President Obama's first term in the White House has been bullish for stocks.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index has risen 85% since Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009, says S&P Capital IQ. That stellar return tops first-term gains of Obama's past four predecessors: George. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
Using the Dow Jones industrial average, Obama ranks third in first-term stock performance of all presidents; Franklin D. Roosevelt is No. 1, says Bespoke Investment Group.
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Stock-friendly Obama Stocks performed the best during President Obama?s first term compared to his past four predecessors. Percent Presidents
On March 3, 2009, six days before the end of the worst bear market since the Great Depression, Obama urged skittish investors to buy beaten-down U.S. stocks.
At a time when fear was high and it seemed like stocks would never stop falling, says Ed Yardeni, president of investment advisory firm Yardeni Research, valuations "are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it."
"You have to give him credit for that market call," Yardeni added.
Obama's prognostication was spot on. Despite the criticism he has received since the Great Recession for backing massive taxpayer-funded bailouts of banks and automakers, and using borrowed money to stimulate the economy, stocks have responded positively.
The current bull market, which turns four years old March 9, is up 120% and ranks eighth best of all time, Bespoke says.
Does the president deserve the credit? Probably not, Yardeni says. "There is a tendency to correlate investment cycles to political cycles," he says.
"But it is not the sole determining factor, nor the most significant factor."
J.J. Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade, says while Obama deserves some credit, he also benefited from a "little bit of luck," the knowledge that big stimulus packages were in the pipeline, as well as being in "the right place at the right time."
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The Obama bounce was driven by the following factors:
• Oversold market was due for a rebound. The stock market cratered 57% in the bear market that ended two months after Obama took office. And the 18-month-long Great Recession, was over five months after Inauguration Day.
Stocks tend to rise when the economy emerges from recession. In FDR's first term beginning in 1933 after the Great Depression, stocks rallied 149%, says S&P Capital IQ.
• Help from the Fed. The Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policies to jump-start the economy, including 0% short-term interest rates and the purchase of government and mortgage-backed bonds to keep borrowing costs low, have been a major driver of stock prices during Obama's term, Yardeni says.
"I would say that the great performance of the stock market has a lot more to do with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke than Obama," Yardeni says.
History says stock returns are more muted in a president's final term in office. Since 1900, stocks have risen just 10.2%, on average in term two, vs. a gain of 67% in first terms, says Bespoke.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/109CQnYThere are so many programming books out there, but most focus on specific technologies and their half-life is incredibly short. Others focus on process or culture. Very few focus on the timeless principles of writing good code, period. The following five books had the biggest influence on my programming style and development:
Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns: Incredibly practical advice for what constitutes good OO code. It’s done in Smalltalk, but the principles are mostly universal. Probably my favorite nuts’n’bolts of programming design book. Very granular.
Refactoring: The fundamental before/after book. Here’s some code that could be better, here’s how to make it better. The trick to reading this book is to carefully read through every single refactoring pattern and then try to apply it on your code base (you don’t have to commit if it doesn’t fix things). You can’t just blow through it or you won’t really learn it. And you can’t just say “oh, I’ll look up a refactoring when I need it” — because then you don’t know what to look for.
Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture: Great inventory of many of the patterns that underpin Rails itself, as well as descriptions of many of the “new” approaches that people advocate today (like transaction scripts and service layers). You won’t necessarily implement most of these patterns yourself, but it’s an invaluable resource to understanding the differences in architectures and why framework work the way they do. (Funny anecdote: before I created Rails, I redrew many of the diagrams in OmniGraffle for Martin Fowler because I liked the book so much.)
Domain-Driven Design: This is probably the least readable book of the bunch. It’s a slug to work through, but the ideas are worth it. It’s a great primer on how to turn a problem space into a beautiful OO domain model. What should your models be called? What logic goes where? How do we reproduce reality into an object model.
Are Your Lights On?: This isn’t technically a programming book, but it deals with the biggest problem facing developers none the less: What is the problem we’re trying to solve? Is it the right problem? Could we solve a different problem instead and that would be just as good? Nothing has increased my programming productivity more than being able to restate hard problems as simple ones.
If you consider programming to be a subset of writing, and I certainly do, then you would also do well to read Elements of Style and On Writing Well. I’ve found reading those made me a better programmer as well.
Reading these five to seven books will give your programming chops more vitamins and nutritional value than a couple of year’s worth of blog posts and tutorial.Mayor Martin J. Walsh was behind the wheel of the Grand Prix of Boston and got burned by its fiery crash, ignoring a series of repeated wrong turns and warning signs that the race would never get off the starting line.
Walsh’s administration spent a year pushing an idea that seemed ludicrous to many Bostonians: hosting a high-speed IndyCar race in a city that can’t even fill potholes or sync up its traffic lights.
The mayor also enabled the race promoters, who made repeated false claims about winning approvals and were ill-prepared to deal with the half-dozen city, federal and state agencies that controlled roads where they wanted to build the course.
Walsh, eager to show the city could host a major sporting event after the Boston 2024 Olympics collapsed, got Gov. Charlie Baker and several skeptical agencies to go along with IndyCar, letting them know it was important to make the race happen.
The mayor now could face the ire of all the thousands of race fans who bought tickets and reserved hotel rooms, not to mention the charities and sponsors that expected to benefit from it.
The cancellation also could end up costing Grand Prix of Boston investors a lot of money. The promoters spent millions trying to get approvals, and as part of their agreement with the national IndyCar group, agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine if the race didn’t come off, sources close to the race said.
In the end, the promoters didn’t even give Walsh the courtesy of a heads-up from Grand Prix of Boston CEO John Casey before Casey announced he was canceling the race.
Casey went out flame-throwing, blaming Walsh — the major champion of the race — for its demise, saying the city proved too difficult to work with.
“The relations between BGP and the city and state has deteriorated to the point where I feel we cannot run a successful race,” Casey said in an email to investors and others involved in the race.
Casey gave all the race vendors, consultants and attorneys a similar brusque sendoff, writing: “Thank you for your work. Pencils down” — another way of saying: I’m not paying you any more.
Then Casey let it be known he was taking his speedy race cars to a city that really wanted them: Providence.
But the Walsh administration and others paint a much different picture of the breakup, saying it was clear that the promoters were not telling the truth and that BGP pulled the plug after failing to meet a deadline for financial commitments.
“They were the most disorganized group I’ve ever seen,” a top Walsh official said.
Casey asked for an extension to a May 1 deadline to fund letters of credit to Massport and the MBTA, and the Baker administration responded by agreeing to move it back just five days — on the condition BGP produced signed agreements with the U.S. Postal Service and a private landowner they had long promised.
Sources said the Walsh and Baker administrations knew that would likely prompt Casey to call it quits, which he did.
In a statement, Walsh’s chief of operations, Patrick Brophy, claimed the promoters “were unwilling or unable to meet the necessary requirements to hold an event of this size.”
That might be true, but it’s Walsh who brought IndyCar to Boston, with some of his former campaign aides jumping on board the Grand Prix gravy train.
The mayor bungled it right from the start, signing an initial deal without any public input that left the city on the hook for all the street improvements, which would have cost millions.We sent Gavin Buchan to Kandahar to negotiate with warlords, which he did with distinction. But now he’s been stymied by the City of Ottawa’s bylaw department.
The problem is his enthusiasm for food trucks at Global Affairs Canada headquarters on Sussex Drive.
Thousands of well-paid, well-travelled white-collar types work there, where they have one place to buy lunch: the cafeteria. The ByWard Market’s a rich restaurant district, but it’s a 20-minute walk away, impractical for grabbing a quick bite and going back to work. The nearest Tim Hortons is a kilometre down grungy King Edward Avenue. There’s an opportunity.
Buchan’s now an executive adviser at Canada’s department of foreign affairs headquarters after multiple postings to danger zones. As it happens, the Governor General is putting a medal on him Thursday for his work in Afghanistan, where he became political director for Kandahar’s provincial reconstruction team after the killing of Glyn Berry. Buchan himself
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His food truck effort is strictly extracurricular, he says by email. He’s “just someone who works at 125 Sussex, heard people complain about the lack of food options once too often and decided to do something about it.” He refuses an interview on company time.
But the way the councillor for the area, Mathieu Fleury, tells it, Buchan had a simple idea: get a rotation of trucks, like Ad Mare and Dosa and Sula Wok, to set up nearby and purvey their high-end street food.
Turns out this wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
Global Affairs is on the official ceremonial boulevard between Rideau Hall and Parliament, but it’s snarled in bridge approaches and traffic circles that isolate it as thoroughly as if it were in a highway cloverleaf. According to Fleury, the city looked for a place to put a food truck spot and found none on the roads. What it did find is a city basketball court, tucked into a sliver of parkland between a roundabout and the Rideau River, with its own tiny parking lot that isn’t used much during the day. What about there?
Fleury says they took the idea to Dan Chenier, the city’s general manager for parks.
“Dan at first wasn’t super-open. At first he was, like, ‘We’ve never done something like this, I don’t know’,” Fleury says. But after some persuading, everyone agreed to try it.
The first food truck produced more demand than even the most frenetic chef could serve.
The response on Day 1 a couple of weeks ago was overwhelming. Crazy lineups. More demand than even the most frenetic food truck chef could serve. Since then business has been up and down but good enough that in the second week, Buchan invited a second truck, plus on some days a dessert cart — Stella Luna gelato, Mr. Churritos. The weekly roster goes up on a tiny but popular website, including in a printable form suitable for office bulletin boards. “Variety is the spice of lunch,” it says.
No, said the city when it got wind of the extras. No, no, no. One truck is what you have permission for.
(A rumour at Global Affairs is that the cafeteria, run by food-service giant Sodexo, complained. Sodexo vice-president Katherine Power, from Oakville, denies that flatly. They know about the food truck situation and it’s probably costing them some business, but they never complained to the city, she says.)
Buchan complied, posting an apologetic note. “We are digging into the rationale and asking whether there is any flexibility, but in the meantime we have to play by the rules we’ve been given,” it said.
The bylaw department says “congestion” has prevented access to the park and they’ve had two complaints. Fleury says it’s simply about having two trucks when permission was given for one.
“I’m happy to see food trucks in that location,” he says. “Now it’s just a symptom of the popularity — people are saying, can we create a variety of food trucks in the area?”
But it’s tricky, he says, because we’re talking about a city parking lot. “We don’t want to commercialize public space.”
A privately-owned parking lot would have no problem. A strip mall or a Canadian Tire can have as many food trucks on its property as it cares to. But there |
sound bites rather than compassionate [Page ix]and respectful responses. What I saw, maybe for the first time, is that truth must be wedded to grace, and that what we say is important … but how we say it is equally critical.
He hadn’t, according to his own account, been in any way abusive of the young woman. Still, in reflecting upon the story now, he thinks of Paul’s second letter to Timothy, which I quote here in the King James translation familiar to English-speaking Latter-day Saints:
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
This seems to me precisely right. But I would add more. Many years ago, before I was even married or had received my undergraduate degree, I was impressed by an address given by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone during the October 1976 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Featherstone’s remarks were entitled “The Impact Teacher,” and a very specific passage from them has remained with me ever since.
Some years before, Elder Featherstone said, the president of the Boise North Stake, L. Aldin Porter, had dropped by the home of a man by the name of Glen Clayton, who was the Scoutmaster in his home ward. (President Porter would himself be called to serve in the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1987.) Brother Clayton and his son were working together, trying to repair a bicycle. President Porter stood talking with them for a few minutes and then left. After several hours, though, he returned. When he returned, he found that the father and his son were still working on that bicycle. Amused, President Porter remarked, “Glen, with the wages you make per hour you could have bought a new bike, considering the time you have spent repairing this old one.” Brother Clayton’s response is what has stuck with me now for the forty years since I heard it in Elder Featherstone’s conference address: He stood up, looked at President Porter, and answered, “I’m not repairing a bike, I’m training a boy!”
[Page x]It’s easy to see why a man with such an attitude might be an exceptional leader of Boy Scouts. “That year,” said Elder Featherstone, “twenty-one boys achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in Glen’s troop. Impact teachers do not teach lessons, they teach souls.”
And surely that’s true for teachers in church and for missionaries, as well as for parents. When we teach the Gospel, we aren’t — or shouldn’t be — simply endeavoring to pass on a body of facts, nor even merely one or more stellar, penetrating insights (much as I, personally, appreciate such facts and value such insights). Gospel Doctrine classes aren’t solely about the dates of Ezekiel or the historical background to Doctrine and Covenants 76; they’re also about appealing to the spiritual feelings of class members, building testimonies, and encouraging ourselves and others to be disciples of the Savior.
Sean McDowell’s problem is obvious — to him, now, and, thanks to his honesty, to us as well: He had shown no interest in the young woman herself. To him, she had represented a problem to be addressed more than a human soul to be helped.
I’m reminded in this context of a story related to me by the wife of a longtime university colleague, whom we’ve known for nearly four decades. The couple had recently returned from a lengthy stay in a remote and rather backward area of the Arabian Peninsula. The wife was cooking dinner while he sat reading. When she called him to eat, he stood up and promptly collapsed. He was taken by ambulance to the nearby hospital, a research institution affiliated with a very prominent public university in the state where they were living at the time.
At one point during his stay in the hospital, she came to visit him. She was impressed to find him surrounded by doctors who were considering his case with deep interest. Suddenly, one of them turned around and said to nobody in particular, “Oh, it’s just ordinary, garden-variety hepatitis.” The disappointment was palpable, and the room emptied out almost immediately.
Given our friend’s travel history, the medical staff had thought that they were perhaps seeing a rare (and usually fatal) disease seldom encountered by physicians in their part of the developed world. When that turned out not to be the case, however, they lost interest. As one of my own professors commented to me, after having spent some time in the same hospital following a medical crisis, the technical care in the [Page xi]facility was superb, but the physicians and nurses there seemed to be more interested in the disease than in the patient.
Now, nobody is more interested in having and passing on factual knowledge than I am. I expect my students at Brigham Young University to learn about the Qur’an, Form IX of the triliteral Arabic verb, the philosophical and theological arguments of al-Ghazali, the contents of the Persian Shahnameh, and the reasons for the rise of Egypt’s Fatimid dynasty, just as other professors expect theirs to know multivariate analysis, classical Chinese syntax, the structure of organic compounds, and Kant’s categorical imperative. So, too, my Gospel Doctrine classes are focused on the scriptural texts, trying to understand what they mean and how they mean it, not merely on whatever feelings and emotions can be connected with those passages. (My approach may perhaps be overly intellectual, but that’s how I do it.)
Still, I recognize that more is going on in such Gospel-teaching situations — or, anyway, ought to be going on — than merely the transfer of facts or even the generation of analytical insights. And people usually come to Church, to the missionaries, and to defenders of the faith for more than merely factual information. They don’t only want to be instructed. They want to be inspired, comforted, and fortified for their daily lives. Often, the most important work that needs to be done is more pastoral than it is informative.
Sean McDowell learned a lesson from his failure in Breckenridge. Now, he says,
Whenever the problem of suffering and evil come[s] up, I try to avoid simple answers. I typically respond with a question: “Of all the things you can ask about God, why that one?” Occasionally, people have a genuine intellectual issue they want to wrestle with, and I am more than happy to help. But more often than not, the intellectual question masks a deep personal wound. When I ask this question, I often hear painful stories of sickness, broken relationships, and abuse. The Christian response is not to simply give a reason, although there may come a time for that, but to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15) and to show comfort and care to the afflicted (Psalm 82:3).
The Apostle Paul’s powerful words about charity come to mind here, as they do in so many other contexts:
[Page xii]Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Such charity isn’t mere teaching ability, cleverness, or intellectual agility. It might make use of one or more of those desirable qualities, but it’s not reducible to any or all of them and it will often have nothing whatever to do with them. The word agape, translated as charity in the King James Version of the Bible but often rendered in other English translations simply as love, involves a whole-souled response to the whole soul of another. It requires taking seriously the entire personality of that other, with whatever fears, worries, concerns, and limitations that personality includes.
For many of those whose testimonies need help to grow or repairs to save, there are deep existential issues that are crying out not only for answers but for relief. We misjudge them and we underserve them if, instead of the bread of life, we give them just the hard stones of a few facts or a handy rebuttal to an intellectual objection. Such cases aren’t merely occasions for intellectual one-upmanship. They’re not purely theoretical discussions or classroom exercises. C. S. Lewis makes an important related point:
I have found that nothing is more dangerous to one’s own faith than the work of an apologist. No doctrine of that Faith seems to me so spectral, so unreal as one that I have just successfully defended in a public debate. For a moment, you see, it has seemed to rest on oneself: as a result, when you go away from that debate, it seems no stronger than that weak pillar. That is why we apologists take our lives in our hands and can be saved only by falling back continually from the web of our own arguments, as from our intellectual counters, into the [Page xiii]Reality — from Christian apologetics into Christ Himself. That also is why we need another’s continual help — oremus pro invicem [‘Let us pray for each other’].
I would suggest that one other reason why a doctrine might seem “spectral,” to use Lewis’s word, would be regarding it as merely a theoretical proposition to be precisely articulated and convincingly defended. We should always think of the doctrines of the Kingdom as living, spiritual realities, as truths with real implications for how we and others live and with power to help, to comfort, to inspire, and to save. We should never forget, either, that when Alma summoned those to accept baptism who had fled to the waters of Mormon with him, he didn’t tell them to accept certain propositions. Rather, he invited them to join a community of those who “are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death.”
Bearing “witness” doesn’t stand alone in his description of this community. And “bearing witness” isn’t limited to merely passing on information or posting good academic arguments. Faith involves assent to certain propositions, but it isn’t limited to such assent. “Thou believest that there is one God,” wrote James. “Thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”
But trying to reach people where they actually are, attempting to listen to them, and to craft our responses to them according to their individual needs, is time-consuming and energy-intensive. None of us can do it for everybody, or even, unfortunately, for more than relatively few people.
And it cannot be done en masse. It’s an individual matter.
To put my point another way, such pastoral ministry isn’t the primary work of the Interpreter Foundation, which exists, in large part, to exhibit the richness, depth, and credibility of Latter-day Saint scripture and doctrine. The articles and books and roundtables produced by the Foundation cannot listen to the personal concerns of particular people. They cannot supplant Spirit-directed, targeted care and individualized teaching. They cannot really show compassion in any adequate way, [Page xiv]although we hope that they’ll be written, where appropriate, in a spirit of kindness and concern. We don’t confuse what we do with the ministry of the Church.
No tool is adequate for all purposes. Hammers cannot do everything that screwdrivers can do, and screwdrivers are useless for some of the tasks that hammers do well.
We do, however, believe that we are creating a resource that can be useful for certain aspects of that ministry. If we can provide our peculiar, limited, but (we hope) valuable kind of help to teachers, students, parents, leaders who counsel, and missionaries who preach, we will consider our efforts a success. What we try to provide should be applied, with the help of the Spirit and the judgment of the individuals applying it, to the myriad of uniquely individual cases that exist and will exist at any given time. If, whether directly or indirectly, we can assist others to deepen, solidify, and enrich their testimonies, that will be more than enough reward for us.
Nowadays, at least in American English, calling someone a “tool” is a fairly deep insult. But surely there are worse things than offering oneself up as a “tool” in a worthy cause. “This is my glory,” said the converted Alma the Younger, “that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.”
The Interpreter Foundation aspires to become and to be such a useful tool in the hands of God and those who try to serve him. We’re profoundly grateful to all those who have helped us to make the Foundation what it has become to this point through volunteer labor, financial contributions, writing, reviewing, editing, and the myriad of other tasks that always require attention. And we invite others to join them and us in this effort.[Page xv]BY: Follow @P_Crookston
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) announced Thursday she is running for the U.S. Senate in 2018 to replace Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), who announced Tuesday he will not seek a third term.
Blackburn targeted, in addition to the left, Senate Republicans in her announcement video, saying they need to start acting like a majority and fulfill their promises. By touting her strong conservative record and values, Blackburn presented herself as the answer to the dysfunctional Senate.
"The United States Senate: It’s totally dysfunctional and it’s enough to drive you nuts," Blackburn said. "And that’s why I’ve decided to do something about it."
She also threw her support behind repealing Obamacare and castigated Republicans for failing to do so.
"It’s a disgrace," she said. "Too many Senate Republicans act like Democrats—or worse."
Blackburn highlighted how she "fought" her fellow Republicans to stop Tennessee from enacting a state income tax. She also referred to her work on the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, saying "we stopped the sale of baby body parts" by Planned Parenthood. The video further shows her strong support for gun rights, showing her firing the pistol she owns at a shooting range.
"One man with courage makes a majority," Blackburn said, quoting former president Andrew Jackson. She did not name Jackson, instead referring to him as "a great Tennessean who wasn’t so politically correct himself."
"Courage comes in both genders and I'm running for the U.S. Senate because I'll fight every day to make our Republican majority act like one," she added.
She made a point to support President Donald Trump’s border wall, saying she will "fight with him every step of the way." Blackburn also embraced being "politically incorrect" and targeted the left for its ideological opposition to her.
"I know the left calls me a wing nut or a knuckle-dragging conservative," she said. "And you know what, I say that’s all right. Bring it on."
If Blackburn were to win the 2018 race, she would be the first female U.S. Senator to represent the state of Tennessee.SANAA, Yemen — Perhaps it was the spandex shorts.
When a group of about 200 young people gathered to watch two-dozen or so foreigners rollerblading their way down the road, joint pads and shiny black helmets glinting in the afternoon sun — and yes, an occasional glimpse of spandex — the looks on Yemeni faces ranged from delighted to quizzical to astonished.
Of course, given the group — students and the disabled — had been bussed into the capital for the occasion, there was much cheering and waving of Yemeni flags, too.
“This is exactly the goal. We want to show people things they have never seen before!” said Claire Leonard, the effusive president of Planet Roller — the eccentric Paris-based organization responsible for bringing the rollerbladers to Yemen recently.
The quirky band of enthusiasts, among them teenagers and sexagenarians, spent a little more than a week in Yemen, teaching local kids how to rollerblade, handing out extra pairs of skates and exploring a new culture. Their visit continued a trend toward youth-focused activities — encouraged by the Yemeni authorities — promoting tolerance as a “soft,” yet vital, form of international aid.
The French Cultural Center in Sanaa — funded by the French government — has launched a small theater program for local university students, with weekly break-dancing practice sessions and regular exhibits and symposiums where locals can display artwork, listen to lectures and speak their mind. Last fall, the German and French cultural centers in Sanaa partnered up to put on a concert featuring teenage boys performing a mixture of traditional Yemeni dance, hip-hop and rap, and some American aid groups have expressed interest in supporting a climbing and hiking club for young Yemenis to explore their own land.
“The idea is to give [young people] a place to start. Give them something that they can then take away and do on their own,” said Cloe Vaniscotte, who heads the cultural mission at the French Cultural Center. She estimates that although relatively small numbers of young people participate — usually between 20 and 25 kids — the “ripple effect” is greater. “They tell their friends and their families, and it spreads,” she said.
In a place like Yemen, where anti-Western — and particularly anti-American — sentiment runs high, both international actors and some Yemeni politicians have recognized that changing young people’s perspectives is an important part of establishing peace in Yemen’s future.
Yemen is a chronically impoverished nation, where an estimated 40 percent of the population is unemployed, even more are illiterate, and many have been steeped in a very conservative, often intolerant, strain of Islam.
“There is a prevailing culture of jihad” in Yemen said Hassan Zaid, president of Yemen’s parliamentary opposition coalition was quoted by local press as saying last month. He said state educational curriculum, thousands of Saudi-funded Salafi religious schools, and some Yemeni media "combine to spread the belief that anyone who is unlike you can be killed. Let’s just say that if Osama bin Laden was watching, he would be very, very happy.”
While hip-hop concerts and French rollerbladers aren’t going to solve the problem of extremism or youth unemployment, it’s a step in the right direction, say the French participants.
“The other night when we were rollerblading through the Old City, there was an exchange between the locals and us,” said Romain Nicolas, 34, with a day job as a computer scientist back in Paris. “We were not just tourists or foreigners to them — we were people having fun, doing something new. The rollerblades completely change everyone’s perspective.”
Muriel Renard, who works as an audiologist in Paris, said that while she hoped Planet Roller had helped break a few stereotypes Yemenis held of Westerners, the trip was equally important in demonstrating to French people that Yemen is “more than just Al Qaeda.”
“It’s true. All people hear about Yemen in France is that there is Al Qaeda here, there are terrorists, or that it’s dangerous,” said Khadija al-Salami, a Yemeni author-cum-“French” rollerblader, who works in the Yemeni Embassy in Paris and who accompanied the rollerbladers to the country. That was especially true earlier after a Yemen-based Al Qaeda affiliate took responsibility for the attempted bombing of an airline landing in Detroit on Christmas Day. Many rollerbladers who were supposed to make the trip dropped out, said to Leonard, the president.
“But there are misconceptions on both sides of the line,” said al-Salami. “Before I [went to college] in America, the people here told me to be careful. They said, ‘Don’t wear jewelry, they will cut off your fingers to get your rings.’ It’s true: People need to meet each other to understand each other.”
Planet Roller brought a team to Yemen once before, in 2006. Since it was founded in 1999, the organization has brought hundreds of rollerbladers to dozens of countries, including Cuba, Tunisia, Tahiti and Senegal.
On the street beside the presidential mosque, two of the French rollerbladers helped a Yemeni woman, dressed head to toe in a black abaya, with nothing but her eyes showing, into a pair of skates. She was wobbly at first, like a foal on new legs, but after a few halting steps began to roll, then slide, then glide off over the pavement, her eyes smiling beneath her veil.
Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.With superhero movies dominating Hollywood for the foreseeable future, the phrase “franchise fatigue” has become increasingly familiar. After last year’s blockbuster season closed with the surprise hit of Guardians of the Galaxy, 2015 was something of a disappointment: the new Avengers film was lucrative but lackluster, Ant-Man was disappointingly formulaic, and Fantastic Four was a straight-up disaster.
But if you’re worried about the increasingly bland landscape of superhero sequels and spinoffs, your savior is here—and his name is Black Panther. Chadwick Boseman will play the character in Captain America: Civil War next year, followed by a solo movie in 2018. Done right, the film could challenge many of the problems of superhero movies circa 2015: their relentless whiteness, their obsession with all-American military power, and their cookie-cutter visual style. This is a story, after all, about an African king with superpowers granted by an ancient panther deity, who frequently outwits the Avengers and who travels the world in a futuristic private jet with a cadre sword-wielding female bodyguards.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Black Panther appeared in 1966 as the first mainstream black superhero: The mantle belongs to the reigning monarch of the fictional African country of Wakanda, who must pass a series of physical and spiritual tests before being granted superhuman strength by the Wakandan Panther God. For most of that character’s history, this has been a man named T’Challa, whose storylines feature plenty of the obligatory supervillain battles and urban vigilantism you’d expect from a classic Marvel hero, alongside the more serious duties of a world leader.
Over the past five decades, T’Challa’s adventures have spanned everything from mythological fantasy to international politics, centering around an African culture whose technological and military power more than matches the United States’. The blend of African fantasy and futuristic technology has led many fans to label the Black Panther comics as an Afrofuturist narrative, perhaps one of the most mainstream examples. And at a moment when superhero movies, for all their outsize bombast, have grown increasingly predictable, it’s these Afrofuturist elements that make a Black Panther movie so potentially exciting.
• • •
Critic Mark Dery coined the term Afrofuturism in the 1990s, and it’s since been used to describe a wide range of work, including the writing of Octavia Butler and the music and imagery of Sun Ra and George Clinton. Janelle Monae’s concept albums and videos are the most recent mainstream example, melding sci-fi influences (including Metropolis and Sun Ra’s film Space is the Place and free-jazz record of the same name) to create a rich mythos about an android rebellion.
When superhero movies, for all their outsize bombast, have grown increasingly predictable, it’s these Afrofuturist elements that make a Black Panther movie so potentially exciting.
Ytasha Womack, author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, defined it as “a way of looking at the future through a black cultural lens, or looking at alternate realities and possibilities referencing black culture.” Black culture, she said in an interview with the Kernel, encompasses both the African diaspora and those still on the continent. “Afrofuturism is an intersection between black culture, technology, the imagination, and liberation, with a heavy dose of mysticism.”
In the comics she sees an Afrofuturist foundation on which filmmakers could build. “In the respect that this is a hero from a highly advanced mythical African country,” she said, “that goes off to change the world and fight his own battles—yes, it falls within the context of Afrofuturism. And the fact that it’s a hero who’s a person of African descent, in and of itself challenges some norms.”
And Wakanda’s comics history has very sci-fi, Afrofuturist elements, including an origin story that begins with a meteor full of Vibranium crashing to Earth thousands of years ago. Best known as the key ingredient in Captain America’s shield, this rare metal is extremely valuable due to its resilience and ability to absorb kinetic energy—and Wakanda controls most of the world’s stockpiles. To protect this mineral wealth, the country’s leaders chose to remain isolated, developing a unique society outside of Western influence.
That led to technological advancements that would flummox even Reed Richards. Back in 1966, Black Panther gifted the Fantastic Four a magnetic “sky-craft,” only to have the Thing wonder, “How does some refugee from a Tarzan movie lay his hands on this kinda gizmo?” A few panels later, scientific genius Mr. Fantastic gawks at a Wakandan emissary using what basically amounts to a cell phone.
It also led to a distinct aesthetic and culture influenced by numerous African cultures. For example, the Black Panther’s bodyguards resemble the all-female military unit tasked with protecting the kings of Dahomey (now the Republic of Benin) throughout the 18th and 19th centuries—but in a sci-fi twist, they’re armed with everything from swords to jetpacks.
In September, Marvel announced that journalist, author, and recent MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Ta-Nehisi Coates would write a new Black Panther series, with art by Brian Stelfreeze. After the news broke, Coates trolled Twitter with descriptions of a drily “political” comic with “a great deal of commentary on fiscal policy.” But it’s clear that this Black Panther will be political, in the sense that Black Panther—king of a mythical African nation that escaped Western colonization—-has always been political.
“How does some refugee from a Tarzan movie lay his hands on this kinda gizmo?”
To start with, their year-long series is titled “A Nation Under Our Feet,” after Steven Hahn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book about how African American activists used grassroots mobilization to become a political force in the decades following slavery. In the new comic, Black Panther will have to respond to a violent uprising among the people of his home country. “Wakanda is really the light of the world, in the Marvel Universe,” Coates said in Marvel press release. “And yet it’s a system of governance that has not advanced beyond the idea of blood-rule. It’s always seemed to me that T’Challa was aware of this discrepancy.” This conflict between innovation and tradition, headed up by Black Panther’s dual role as superhero and national icon, distills the comic’s greatest strengths.
An intersectional exploration of hyper-monarchy in a post-modernist, anti-feminist, post-colonial Kardashian world. https://t.co/PiOF6Gq0Fn — Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) September 27, 2015
Only crossover between my book and movies will a documentary exploring stagflation and Vibranium shortages. https://t.co/uMcdjtzJSj — Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) September 23, 2015
Meanwhile, artist Brian Stelfreeze, talking to Newsarama, described a Wakanda even more explicitly in the vein of Afrofuturism. “I’m designing Wakanda with a different eye towards technology,” he said. “I’m thinking of technology in a different way. I don’t want Wakanda to be Silicon Valley or Dubai, or anything like that. What I want to do is show Wakanda as having technology that was created in a completely different way than technology that we know.”
Illustration via Marvel
• • •
Considering Black Panther’s background and narrative themes, many fans happily consider it Afrofuturist. However, the character originated with a white American writer and artist. Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu, director of the dystopian sci-fi movie Pumzi, emphasized the importance of authorship. “In [Mark Dery’s] definition of Afrofuturism,” she said in an interview, “the author had to be black or of African origin or African-American… it had to do with black and the diaspora and people of color. So it’s curious to me, if the genesis of the idea of Afrofuturism really went back to who the author was, how this is labeled Afrofuturism if the author is not a person of color.”
Of course, Black Panther has had many authors, complicating such a question. For instance, his first solo storyline came in the omnibus comic Jungle Action, an origin that writer Don McGregor attributed to Marvel’s habit of publishing Tarzan-inspired adventure stories. “I was appalled that Marvel was printing these blond jungle gods and goddesses saving the natives stories,” McGregor said in a company retrospective on the character, “and I mentioned that. I said if they were going to do a jungle strip, they should have a black character as the hero.” It wasn’t a exactly story borne of black artists creating an African vision of the future. And for decades, Black Panther was written and drawn by white creators before Marvel hired writers like Christopher Priest and Reginald Hudlin to revitalize the character.
While Black Panther’s future in the comics looks bright, whoever takes the character from page to screen will face the challenge of maintaining the political subtext of the comics while making a mainstream, conservative Hollywood blockbuster—all while tying into the ongoing narrative of the Avengers franchise. There’s an opportunity for a boldly unique vision, though Marvel hasn’t yet shown an eagerness to allow much creative idiosyncrasy in its corporate universe; yes, there’s James Gunn’s quirkily personal (yet still explosion-filled) Guardians of the Galaxy, but there’s also Edgar Wright’s aborted attempt at Ant-Man.
“I said if they were going to do a jungle strip, they should have a black character as the hero.”
Marvel has already set the foundation for Black Panther’s appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, with an arms dealer offering the heroes a clue leading to Wakanda. But the country is so obscure that even the well-traveled Bruce Banner has never heard of it. So either the filmic Wakanda has kept itself well-hidden (which isn’t entirely impossible), or this scene fell foul of the awkward writing that inevitably occurs in a multi-strand megafranchise. Either way, the Avengers wound up at a gloriously nonspecific location labeled simply “The African Coast,” where Iron Man and the Hulk proceeded to trash half of downtown Johannesburg while civilians fled in terror.
So, while Wakanda has the potential to be a refreshing addition to Marvel Cinematic Universe, the reliance on fictional locations may pose a problem. Wakanda is just one of many imaginary nations in the comics, and those that receive the most attention—Latveria, Genosha, K’un-Lun, Madripoor—are non-Western cultures that are either exoticized, ruled by supervillains, or both. It’s not hard to sense a trend, especially when the headlining heroes are usually white Americans living in New York City.
“The creation of this world and this fictitious African country is not new,” said Wanuri Kahiu. “I remember watching many episodes of different TV shows from America where different countries were given really absurd new names. Or they’d have the same name and they’d be called something like, the Republic of Northern Zambia,” she said, laughing. “They’d co-opt the actual name of the country and then create a new identity with it.”
Despite Black Panther’s status as an aspirational hero—a king who’s preserved his people’s culture while making them the technological envy of the world—Wakanda’s origins lie in a fictional universe created predominantly by white American men. That universe may (slowly) be becoming more diverse, but Black Panther is unlikely to embrace full-blown Afrofuturism. In a best-case scenario, the film’s creators draw from real African cultures in a respectful way, and the presence of an African superhero in a big-budget Hollywood movie opens opportunities for African films and characters. Not Afrofuturism, necessarily; just Africa.
“I would hope for the film to be actually shot in Africa, on the continent,” said Kahiu. “And to use local cast and local crew, because the best they can do is that they can open up our world, our African world, into understanding the technology and the creation of science fiction and the creation of visual effects on a very first-hand level.”
She hopes to see her continent as something other than a fiction or a background. She would like Black Panther with local Africans on set, and a real Africa on the screen. “For it to actually sincerely incorporate it in its ethos, that would be exciting.”
Illustration via J. Longo"The narrative … has been too negative."
So says Defense Secretary Robert Gates of political and press commentary about the war in Afghanistan. It reminds him of the pessimism of June 2007, before the Iraqi surge began to succeed, said Gates.
But the narrative is coming now not just from critics of the war but stalwart defenders. John McCain says the war effort could be headed for "crisis" and holds President Obama responsible for announcing a timetable for withdrawal starting next summer.
And how optimistic can Americans be when, last month, in the ninth year of our longest war, the U.S. field commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, said the Taliban have fought us to a draw.
Eight years ago, the Taliban seemed finished.
Since then, we have poured in scores of thousands of troops, spent $300 billion, lost 1,000 soldiers and seen thousands more wounded. Yet, the Taliban have never been stronger or operated more broadly.
Unfortunately, the narrative the Pentagon deplores is rooted in reality.
The battle for Marjah, said to be a dress rehearsal for June’s decisive Battle of Kandahar, appears not to have been the triumph advertised. The Afghan government and police failed to follow up and take over the Marjah district. The Taliban continue to execute those working with the Americans.
Kandahar, with 800,000 people, is 10 times as populous as Marjah and the spiritual capital of the Taliban.
And we now learn the Battle of Kandahar will not take place in June.
Indeed, it is not going to be a battle at all, but a struggle for the hearts of the people, to persuade them to rise up against the Taliban, work with the Americans, and transfer their loyalty to Kabul and President Hamid Karzai.
The people of Kandahar apparently do not want U.S. protection any more than they want a battle for the city. And how can President win their loyalty when his drug-lord brother, Wali Karzai, is the Al Capone of Kandahar?
As for President Karzai himself, after a Taliban rocket attack on his loya jirga, the national council, this month, he got rid of his interior minister and his intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, in the biggest shakeup of his time in office. Both men had strong ties to the Americans, and Karzai is said to have suspected that their first loyalty was to the Americans.
Shown evidence of the Taliban role in the attack on the loya jirga, says Saleh, Karzai told him he thinks the Americans were behind it.
Karzai, says Saleh, has lost all confidence that the United States and NATO have the perseverance to see the war through, and he is working in secret back channels to cut a deal with the Taliban.
From Harvard researcher Matt Waldman of the London School of Economics, reported in the London Telegraph, comes the explosive charge that Pakistani Intelligence is now fully collaborating with the Taliban.
On June 16, The New York Times reported that Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group behind the Mumbai massacre, is operating in Afghanistan, attacking Indian aid workers. Like the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba received early support from Pakistani intelligence.
What is going on in Afghanistan?
It appears that Pakistan, by maintaining ties to the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, wants to ensure that if and when the Americans do depart, as Obama signaled we would begin to do next July, Afghanistan will move into Islamabad’s orbit, not New Delhi’s.
For the United States and NATO, however, casualties are rising to the highest levels of the war. June is shaping up as the bloodiest month ever.
While Barack Obama has promised a review of U.S. strategy and policy in December, at the present rate, hundreds more young Americans will by then have given up their lives.
For what?
To succeed in creating in Afghanistan a country where the Taliban have been driven permanently from power and there is no chance of al-Qaeda’s return, we need a government in Kabul and an Afghan army and police that can follow up U.S. military gains by taking control, protecting the population and providing social reforms.
We don’t have that government. We have, instead, a regime that has no confidence we will stay the course and is thus dealing behind our backs with the enemy who is killing our troops.
It is simply not credible that the United States and its NATO allies, some of whom — like the Dutch — are pulling out, can prevail in this war in 12 months so America can begin coming home, as Obama has promised, unless Obama is willing to write Afghanistan off.
If he is, he should tell us now and save those Americans lives.
If he is not willing to see Afghanistan fall, he should tell us what it will take, and how long, to avoid a defeat and win this war.
For saying the U.S. can succeed in the next 12 months in what we have failed to accomplish, at a rising cost in blood and money, for the last eight years, is not credible.
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Read more by Patrick J. BuchananGuest post by Frank Lansner, civil engineer, biotechnology.
(Note from Anthony – English is not Frank’s primary language, I have made some small adjustments for readability, however they may be a few passages that need clarification. Frank will be happy to clarify in comments)
It is generally accepted that CO2 is lagging temperature in Antarctic graphs. To dig further into this subject therefore |
.
The AU headquarters is now a familiar sight on the skyline of Addis Ababa
The color of hope
But even without Girma Seifu, the Semayawi party is hoping to bring about some change. Three years ago when the first demonstrators, clad in blue jeans and blue T-shirts, marched through Addis Ababa, the security forces looked on in amusement. But now the wind has changed, the party's attraction has grown and so has the nervousness of the security apparatus. The blue party says more than 50 members have been arrested during the run-up to the elections, and candidates have had their names removed from the ballot papers by the electoral commission NEBE. The commission rejects these claims and accuses the Semayawi party of failing to observe electoral legislation.
In the meantime, Semyawi has withdrawn its threat to boycott the elections. "We have no political space, we know we are in a police state and under an absolute dictatorship but it is more important to be engaged than to boycott the elections,” General Secretary Getnet said.
That message seems to have been heard by Ethiopa's young voters. "We have no democracy in our country," said a young man from Ethiopia's second largest city Dire Dawa, "but there are signs that people are beginning to demand their rights. And who knows? Perhaps there could even be a situation like in Nigeria where after the election President Goodluck Jonathan congratulated his challenger Muhammadu Buhari on his victory."
The years of political apathy in Ethiopia may be coming to an end.The Tennessee Firearms Association is calling upon Tennessee's General Assembly and the Governor to take immediate action to eliminate "gun free zones" in Tennessee.
A deadly terrorist attack in Chattanooga resulted in the murder of 4 Marines occurred in a government created "gun free zone." The evidence is clear that multiple victim shootings, like those occurring in Chattanooga and also at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, predominately occur in these government imposed "gun free zones."
"How many more individuals, who are capable of defending themselves but for government infringements on their right to carry firearms for self-defense, must be needlessly slaughtered before these killing fields that some call "gun free zones" are abolished in Tennessee?" John Harris, Executive Director of the Tennessee Firearms Association quipped. "Why is it that elected government officials who claim to be conservative and supporters of the Constitution have insisted on preserving these "gun free zones" and intentionally exposing the people of Tennessee to the fact that these locations are the primary venue for multiple victim shootings and terrorist activities?"
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"Studies repeatedly conclude that these multiple victim shootings are far more likely to occur in areas where individuals are prohibited by law from having immediate access to their self-defense firearms" Harris continued citing studies such as those from the Crime Prevention Research Center. "Despite the clear evidence that "gun free zones" do nothing but disarm potential victims and are the preferred target venues of the killers, we want to know why Tennessee's Governor and Legislative leaders have refused to remove the laws creating these zones."
Indeed, almost all of the state and local government buildings that presently prohibit individuals from carrying self-defense firearms including the legislature and capital are only off limits because someone in the administration unilaterally decided to post a sign to prohibit guns. Those signs could come down today.
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The Tennessee Firearms Association has worked for two decades to enable law abiding citizens to be able to make the decisions for themselves whether to carry firearms for their own defense and the defense of their families. A small number of these restrictions on the right to have a firearm for self defense have been softened or eliminated. However, laws and regulations remain in Tennessee that needlessly create death traps for citizens - even our military - in these "gun free zones."
"The law is clear that the police have no legal duty to protect individual citizens" Harris noted. "It is the right and the responsibility of each individual to be prepared to protect their own lives if and when they are a potential victim. Individuals cannot do that if they are prohibited by unjust laws from having self-defense firearms in these "gun free zones" which is a problem that must stop in Tennessee before more innocent lives are needlessly sacrificed in the name of political correctness."
The Tennessee Firearms Association was founded in 1995 and formed to defend the right to keep and bear arms and to educate the citizenry on the responsible use, ownership and carrying of firearms. The TFA is Tennessee's only no-compromise gun group.Photo: Mitsubishi Electric
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A consortium of 15 Japanese automakers and manufacturers that make components and systems for cars—including Toyota, Honda and Nissan, as well as Mitsubishi Electric, map makers, and others—have come together to create detailed, high-definition 3D maps to help usher in safe autonomous driving. Japan’s government is backing the project as part of its effort to have driverless vehicles on the road in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The 2020 target date has had the effect of focusing the country’s robocar efforts to prevent Japan from falling behind similar efforts underway in the United States and Europe.
Mitsubishi Electric is leading the project—dubbed Dynamic Map Planning—and is providing a new, compact version of its vehicle-mounted mobile mapping system. Mitsubishi began marketing a version of the system, the MMS-G220, overseas in October, and will introduce the commercial version domestically sometime in 2017. The tedious task of mapping Japan’s 30,000 kilometers of expressways—the plan’s first priority—is now underway.
The mobile mapping system (MMS) can be configured to take advantage of various combinations of lidar, cameras, and other sensors, along with a GPS antenna, depending on the application. The devices are assembled to form a single detachable unit designed for easy maintenance. The system, which can be mounted on even a compact car’s roof, draws power from the car’s cigarette lighter socket.
As the vehicle cruises at speeds of around 40 km an hour, the system uses a laser-scanning point cloud technique to gather 3D positioning data of roadside features such as traffic signals, road signage, and lane markings. It can capture objects up to 7 meters away with an absolute accuracy of 10 centimeters, according to Mitsubishi.
A point cloud is a collection of data points formed in space, the position of each point being identified by its X, Y, and Z coordinates. When light emitted by a laser scanner is reflected back from an object or surface, that information is recorded as a data point. Point cloud data alone would not be sufficient to identify objects clearly, so in post-processing, it is superimposed on synchronized camera images taken at the same time. This information-rich combination is then processed to create 3D maps. Color can also be added at this time.
With standard laser equipment, the Mitsubishi system collects 27,100 data points a second. With optional high-performance laser scanners, that number is raised to one million points a second. The mapping system can be equipped with long-range, high-density laser scanners that provide detailed images of cityscapes or roadside buildings.
To keep track of where these objects are in space, the system relies on GPS, an inertial measurement unit, and a wheel-mounted odometer to help calculate the position of the vehicle. For even greater accuracy, the mobile mapping system will also make use of the nascent Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, a Japan-centered commercial satellite system that aims to provide centimeter-scale positioning to augment the U.S.-operated GPS service. This is due to go into full operation in 2018.
Shun Kuriaki, manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s IT Solution Department, in its Electronic Systems Group, says that to improve the safety of autonomous driving, more detailed information than is currently supplied by car navigation systems is required. In bad weather, for instance, the effectiveness of various sensors needed to maintain control of the driving task can be diminished to the point where they’re inoperable.
“The MMS 3D maps will provide such additional information as noise barriers, lane divisions and their widths and surface conditions, as well as the location of traffic lights, road signs and other useful information to help improve the safety of autonomous driving,” says Kuriaki,
The system, which is gathering the myriad bits of information needed to subsequently allow vehicles to traverse Japan’s roads without human intervention, is designed to be operated by a person with a notebook PC in the passenger seat. According to Mitsubishi, no specialist knowledge is required to operate the system or to run the post-processing software after the data is collected.
Autonomous driving is just one of several applications for which Mitsubishi is seeking to use its MMS system. “Some special specification versions of our MMS have already been applied to inspection of tunnel linings and road surface conditions,” says Kuriaki. “And we are also studying how to apply the technology to other fields, such as inspection of railway tracks and underground areas.”
With Mitsubishi ready to export its road-scanning technology, it can expect to compete with Google in the United States, and with several companies in Europe.Perfectly legal farmhouses as large as 22,000 square feet are cropping up on Richmond farmland, among the largest homes allowed in Metro Vancouver.
But on Thursday the city begins a process to decide whether the mega-mansions are taking up too much space on land in the agricultural reserve and whether sizes should be capped the same as many other Lower Mainland cities.
“This has gotten out of hand. We’re got to do something to address it,” said Coun. Bill McNulty. “The horse is out of the barn. We’re trying to close the barn.”
An open house from 5 to 8 p.m. at city hall will set out the problem: Richmond is alone among Metro Vancouver municipalities in permitting 60 per cent lot coverage, meaning a farmhouse is allowed to cover 60 per cent of the size of the property. On a three-acre spread, that amounts to a pretty big house, said Coun. Carol Day.
Sizes are often capped elsewhere: According to Richmond staff, Delta’s limit is 5,000 square feet on eight hectares or more; Port Coquitlam’s maximum is 5,282 square feet and Maple Ridge’s is 3,000 square feet; Surrey does not specify a maximum house size. Ministry of Agriculture guidelines allow two houses of 3,339 and 4,305 square feet, the latter for seasonal farm labour.
Day said farmhouses have “quadrupled” in size in the last dozen years, growing from 5,000 square feet, to 7,500, 10,000, 12,000 and 22,000.
There are six-car garages, 10 or 12 bedrooms and multimillion-dollar prices that no ordinary farmer could afford, she said; bedrooms have supplanted veggie beds.
One application for a 41,000-square-foot mansion featured 23 bathrooms and bedrooms; staff turned it down on the grounds it was a hotel, not a house.
“The application was unreasonable,” said McNulty. “Farmland has got to be farmed. The trouble is, you can build a structure all over and not have any farmland left.”
Day said the city has to come up with a “better number.”
“These people are realtors first and farmers second,” she said. “They buy properties, claim they’re going into farming, then subdivide so they can build more houses and put them on the market. Does a family really need more than 7,500 square feet? … I’m very passionate about getting this fixed.”
Staff don’t know the number of huge farmhouses in the city, but say there are 1,400 pieces of agricultural property where homes can be built.
Home owners protest when proposals are made to restrict house sizes; they say farming is a tough business and it works best when large families can be housed together and the benefits of in-house labour can be reaped.
Farmer Gary Berar told council his family moved to Richmond a couple of decades ago because South Asian culture favours living together and working the land.
“My brothers, parents and our children lived under one roof inside a home of 11,000 square feet. People like big estate homes. It is comfortable for them. We are people who actually work the farms and we don’t want to be limited in size,” he said.
Opposition to mega-mansions is rife. Resident Deirdre Whalen called the houses “monstrosities” that are an “embarrassment” to the city.
“The best farmland in Canada has been covered up in concrete. They are removing agricultural land, one mega-house at a time,” she told council.
Richmond’s politicians are not entertaining specific proposals at the moment, but publicly gauging public feeling before a bylaw is drafted.
McNulty said council should act quickly because more than a dozen requests for huge homes have been made since council’s interest was raised.
“People are trying to come in before we do anything,” he said.
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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.In case you didn’t know, our slogan is Festing For The People. And we do just that. We attend festivals and document them to our best ability, so that you are able to read what we have to say and decide if said festival is one you want to invest your hard earned money on. Likewise, we tell you about the best and most unique products in the festie marketplace.
One of the best products we have yet to encounter, is SHIFTPOD. A SHIFTPOD is a pop up yurt that takes :60 to set up, and :60 to take down. Its essentially a pop up room on the go, and we’ve had a blast festing in it with our Squad. We love it so much, that we want to share the love with you! On 7/2 one very lucky winner will be drawn to receive a SHIFTPOD2, the latest and greatest in the SHIFTPOD family. There is almost a dozen ways to enter, so check them out below. And if you need a review, be sure to read it here and check out the improvements made from the SHIFTPOD v1.8 and the SHIFTPOD2.
GOOD LUCK, and Squad UP!
Festival Squad x SHIFTPOD GiveawayAs the Neocatechumenal Way becomes more established in your parish, many of you are undoubtedly very eager to expedite the adoption of Kiko Arguello’s New Aesthetic into your parish’s church building. Let me suggest some steps you should take to accomplish this.
First, as quickly as you can, get yourself a copy of “Spazi Celebrativi, L’Architettura dell’Ecclesia” (Celebratory Spaces, the Architecture of the Church) by Maurizio Bergamo and Mattia Del Prete, Kiko Arguello’s chief architects. The book is a goldmine of information about Kiko’s New Aesthetic, and will certainly prove useful in hastening the makeover of your parish church and liturgies. The book is written in Italian, but don’t worry, there are lots of great pictures and I’ll be giving you a head start by discussing two of the authors’ important points in a minute.
After thoroughly acquainting yourself with the plans in the book, do everything you can to start a working relationship with
Mattia Del Prete or a member of his approved team of architects. The sooner, the better, and use the book to help you. You see, to conform fully to Kiko’s New Aesthetic, your church building and parish will have to be completely renovated, and only architects approved by Kiko can be hired for this. Mr. Del Prete was given approximately $80,000 by Catholics from Guam for the design of the “Sanctuary of the Word” at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Guam. Luckily for Mr. Del Prete, he did not have to actually design a new chapel with this money, because it was decided that he would provide the plans from a chapel he already had designed in Macerata, Italy. The “Sanctuary of the Word” chapel on Guam was never built, but that’s beside the point, because you too will have to send them money – tens of thousands of dollars – for design and engineering plans. After you get the plans, you’ll then have to take them to an architect licensed to practice in your state, territory, or province to get them converted to English measurements and to include locally available materials and fixtures. So, up and at’em and get started!
Now let’s take a brief tour of the book, along with pictures taken from it. Get out your pen and take notes, because I’ll be giving you some tips on how to put the advice of Mr. Bergamo and Mr. Del Prete into practice.
In a chapter called, “Critical Issues and Perspectives Opened by the Council”, the authors present five liturgical problems they say were addressed by the Second Vatican Council. Of these problems, the authors say,
“We wish to emphasize aspects that are often regressive and whose presence still prevents the realization of a real reform of the liturgy and then of designing an effectively renewed Church space.”
Since the authors have clearly said that the presence of these things still prevents liturgical renewal, let’s get you started on ridding your parish of two of them.
The authors name the first bad aspect, “sacrificial mentality”. The authors say,
“It is typical of natural religiosity, from which came the great masses which expanded the Church, establishing with God a relationship in which you offer things to appease him and to obtain benefits: sacrifices, lambs, money, in some cases, human life itself. Israel also for a time had this kind of sacrificial worship…It remains today...The architectural consequences are considerable: first in the way of an emphasis sacredness of the rite, and then the environment, through the grandeur and wealth of architecture, mosaics, candles and lamps, incense, music. This will also be the meaning of the gloom of the medieval halls, the upward Gothic forms, the phantasmagoria of the windows…The mysterious appearance is accentuated and the place of the liturgy is separated by creating a sacred area inside the same church, which only one category of persons may access, separate from the people involved, as mediators between the sacred and the profane: the clergy, the priests, as in rites of natural religiosity. even the altar,,,assumes more and more the shape of sacrificial altar: a block of marble, small in size, highly decorated on the side faces, placed in a very high position, over several steps, often contained in a second little temple consisting of the tabernacle that was sometimes closed further with curtains.”
It’s clear what you now have to do! Eliminate the sacrificial from your Mass!
Oh, I know that you were taught that Jesus was the Lamb of God, the sacrifice of the New Passover, and that in the Mass Jesus’s sacrifice on Calvary is made present. Yes, there are plenty of scripture verses to support this. But get with the program! The sooner you forget that stuff and agree with Del Prete and Bergamo that the Church went to hell in a hand basket after the Emperor Constantine because of all those unwashed pagans, the better! So here are my tips to make it easier for you to get rid of the “sacrificial mentality” of your parish:
Change your “altar” to a mere table
Convince your pastor to minimize the sacrificial language of the liturgy by always using Eucharistic Prayer #2.
Get rid of the notion of a “sacred” sanctuary that only serves to exclude the faithful. One good way to do this is to have the parishioners do a lively dance immediately after Mass. Bring them up into the sanctuary and dance around the altar Eucharistic table.
Eucharistic table. Convince your pastor to do away with offertory processions, if at all possible. These epitomize the concept of “sacrificial mentality”!
As much as possible, call your priests by their first names and teach your children to do so too
Reduce the use of incense and those silly candles. Put flowers on the altar Eucharistic table instead
Eucharistic table instead And finally, get that tabernacle out, or at least moved from front and center! And if you really can’t do that, consider getting one of the double-decker tabernacles shown below.
A second problem brought to our attention by the Second Vatican Council, according to the authors, is that of “private devotions”. The authors say,
“The nineteenth century marks in the history of the Western liturgy, one of the moments of maximum impoverishment: participation by the people is long gone, replaced by a passive “to hear mass”, not only with the complete clericalization of worship, but also with the transformation of the dynamics of the rites in a series of private devotions to the most varied particular objects of worship….The adoration of Christ present in the Tabernacle, devotion to his heart and his passion, as well as the cult of Mary and the saints in its most varied forms said so much to the faithful that little or nothing is understood of the liturgical expressions;”
Here are my tips:
Get rid of those statues, slowly but surely! One Neocatechumenal pastor on Guam had the great idea of putting all of his parish’s statues in the center aisle of the church one night, facing the door as if they were about to leave. This greatly endeared the pastor to his people, so I highly recommend that you too try a strategy like this.
Get rid of the kneelers. You won’t see any kneelers in Del Prete’s book, and there shouldn’t be any in your parish church either. Del Prete says this is what the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council wanted, so get with the program. This will have the added benefit of stamping out any unruly signs of prayerful contemplation that might arise.
and there shouldn’t be any in your parish church either. Del Prete says this is what the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council wanted, so get with the program. This will have the added benefit of stamping out any unruly signs of prayerful contemplation that might arise. And speaking of contemplation, try not to leave any time for silence before, after, or during your Masses. Private devotions often fill those voids, and as we said, they must be avoided.
I hope that this book and these tips get you started well on your way to implementing the prophet Kiko’s New Aesthetic in your parish church.
Get your parish Kiko-fied!
Examples of “catecumeniums” from the book. One chapel built for each community within the parish so that they can celebrate Mass separately, but simultaneously. Sure to enhance parish unity!
Transparent chairs, and even a transparent altar Eucharistic table! This sure wasn’t designed by unwashed pagans. Pure heaven!
Double-decker Tabernacles, for both the Blessed Sacrament and the Book of Gospels. A sure way to undermine that Eucharistic adoration that itself undermines true renewal!
And last, but not least, a Spaceship/Flying Saucer church. Take me to heaven!HOUSTON -- A teen worker was shot and killed in front of his mom during an armed robbery at a Subway restaurant Wednesday evening, police in southeast Houston say.
Police released a sketch of one of the wanted suspects Thursday afternoon. The suspect is described as a black man, 5’10” with a slim build. Police believe the suspect described is the shooter.
Houston police released sketch of a wanted suspect involved in the fatal shooting of a teenager. Houston Police Department
CBS affiliate KHOU reports that family members have since identified the victim as Javier Flores, a student at Cesar Chavez High School.
KHOU spoke to some of Flores’ friends at the campus today.
“He was a good, really good friend,” said Helizander Rodriguez. “He took a bullet for his mom.”
“I call him my hero just for doing that,” said Endy Herrera.
A Subway restaurant in Houston is shown where a teen worker was shot and killed in front of his mom during an armed robbery Wed., Feb. 22, 2017. KHOU-TV
According to the Houston Police Department, it was around 8 p.m. when the 18-year-old was working at the restaurant and was shot in the neck by one of two robbery suspects.
Police said the victim’s mother was also working in the restaurant when the suspects walked in.
“During the robbery, it appears the black males entered the store, pointed a gun at a female employee who ended up being the victim’s mother. (The victim) tried to intervene and when he confronted the guy with the gun, he was shot.” said Detective David Crowder.
Emergency responders with the Houston Fire Department rushed Flores to Ben Taub Hospital but he did not survive.
Police said they don’t know if anything was taken in the robbery.
“They’re out here working and doing what they’re supposed to be doing and then these two suspects came in and cut that short and certainly there was nothing in there that was worth the life of the 18 year old.” said Detective Crowder.
Flowers placed at a Subway in SE #HOU where 18YO Javier Flores was killed protecting his mom from a pair of gunmen. More on #khou11 12pm pic.twitter.com/OQtiL5uCl4 — Melissa Correa (@MCorreaKHOU) February 23, 2017
The suspects are described as two young black males.
Witnesses said one of the suspects was around 18 to 20 years old, 5’6” to 5’8” tall, dark in complexion and wearing a dark blue hoodie with black pants.
The second suspect was described as being 17 years old, wearing a light blue hoodie and dark pants as well.
The suspects fled the scene in a 4-door, gold colored sedan, according to KHOU.
According to police, another robbery took place at a different Subway in Houston shortly after.
The descriptions of the suspects involved in that robbery matched the descriptions of the suspects involved the robbery on Broadway.
There is no word on if anyone was injured in the second Subway robbery.
Anyone with information that may lead to an arrest or charges should call Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.There was a plea bargain Wednesday in a case that shocked the Bay Area and made national headlines.
Keishanna Thomas had faced life in prison for murdering her 11 year old daughter in 2015, then stuffing the child's body in a freezer.
It was a case that exposed weaknesses in the system and changed the way abuse cases are investigated.
In the nearly two years since her daughter's death, Keishanna Thomas has been silent in court, and at her plea hearing she said little more.
“Yes, your honor,” she told the judge when asked if she understood what she was doing.
With a series of yes and no's, Thomas, now 33, pleaded guilty to charges she abused and murdered her daughter, Janiya, stuffing the 11-year-old's body in a freezer, padlocking it shut, and then leaving it at her mother's house.
With the death penalty already off the table, Thomas faced life in prison.
Just days before her trial date, she took the deal to - in her words - spare her surviving children the pain of testifying.
“I don't want to put my kids through a trial,” she told the court.
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The deal included a reduced charge of second degree murder. Her sentence - 65 years in prison.
“The 65-year sentence effectively places Keishanna Thomas away from the rest of Manatee County and particularly children for the rest of her life,” said prosecutor Arthur Brown.
Janiya's death also exposed problems in the system.
Seven workers with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office’s child protective investigation unit were disciplined. Weekly meetings now take place at the sheriff's office to review high profile cases.
There had also been talk about children like Janiya, who are homeschooled and have a history with the system - receiving extra attention from investigators by conducting welfare checks more frequently.
But nearly two years later, there is still no law mandating it.
“I'm a little disappointed that more didn't get done at the state level to create guidelines and structure so that something like this doesn't happen again,” said State Senator Darryl Rouson from St. Petersburg.
As she made her way out of the courtroom, Thomas never looked back at relatives who hoped she'd finally say something. Instead, she maintained the silence that has haunted them for nearly two years.
“She's trying to probably just get in that mindset let go of life, her children, and going to watch is fixing to deal with,” said a cousin, Wayne Washington, “But, still, it still doesn't justify her not saying anything to her family or just telling her kids I love them, I'm sorry for what I did.”
Thomas also received a concurrent 15-year sentence for child abuse, and 5 years for abusing a dead body.
Her other children have now been living with a cousin.Oh, boy. When finding out information about CCI and WonderCon starts resembling scenes from a Robert Redford movie, you know that rabid anticipation for these shows are off the charts.
Well, this time such snooping around the CCI website has uncovered some great information, especially for those wanting to plan ahead for a trip to Anaheim next year.
A Friends Of CCI forum member has unearthed a page which details the date and location for WonderCon 2014: the show returns to the Anaheim Convention Center, after a highly successful show this year, next April 18th-20th, Easter Weekend 2014.
For many, this is fantastic news as the venue and city surely proved itself to host such a complex event and was a big hit with this years attendees, even after the shows long history at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
WonderCon may have been seen as a Bay Area fixture in the past but this second year residency at Anaheim shows CCI’s willingness to adapt to change. Another big factor in CCI’s decision maybe the continuing attitude of the Moscone Center towards WonderCon – despite the massive interest and growing numbers, not many hotel rooms in the city are sold via the official booking system and therefore not seen as a financial boon for the local economy.
We’ll keep our eyes open for when the page becomes official on the CCI homepage – and also for any further developments: that rumour of another CCI show being added to the calendar keeps on coming around…
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PocketI have spent 7 years wandering, wide-eyed throughout the far corners of Atlanta. Having grown up taking long bus rides to school, peering out at pastures dotted with cows or hay bales, city life was a whole new ball game for me. The contrast was fascinating. When I decided to attend Georgia State University, I could never have predicted the sense of community that could come from a city so much larger than the small town I had left.
Atlanta's real beauty lies below the shining skylines, in the plethora of communities decorating the streets. Eclectic communities are blossoming from the must of antiquated buildings. The philosophy of eating and shopping locally is strongly supported in the city. Atlanta is best represented by its diversity; by southern hospitality; by the pride the residents take in their locale.
Best Time To Visit
In my opinion, summer is the best season to be in Atlanta. If it's the weekend, there is almost a guarantee that one of the handful of neighborhoods will be hosting a street festival displaying the best local art and food trucks galore. Piedmont Park hosts Screen on the Green every summer weekend; a free screening of classic movies for the whole family, smack dab in the middle of the park. The park is also the stage for Atlanta's annual music festival, Music Midtown.
Places I Like Piedmont Park This is the best place to spend a few hours with nature, right in the middle of bustling city sounds. The World of Coca-Cola One of Atlanta’s most famous attractions, not only for the museum, gives visitors the opportunity to sample sodas from around the world. The Tabernacle The personal atmosphere of this venue makes this the best place to see concerts in Atlanta. Go to a Braves game! Even if you’re not a fan of baseball, it’s impossible not to give in to the energy in the stadium (and do a little tomahawk chop) while America’s team is playing. Sweet Auburn Market Spend an afternoon exploring the local shops and eateries in downtown’s curbside marketplace. Stroll Down The Beltline I highly recommend taking a stroll down the Beltline that connects all of the inner-city neighborhoods. There are always art displays on the Beltline and it gives you the chance to slow down and admire the uniqueness of neighborhoods like Kirkwood and Cabbagetown. Plus, there are plenty of local cafes and shops to check out along the way.
Places To Eat Ria’s Bluebird Cafe in Grant Park For breakfast, Ria’s serves up New York Times award-winning pancakes, along with an array of incredibly fresh and delicious brunch entrees. The Nook in Midtown For brunch with a Bloody Mary lover, The Nook, a little bar just outside Piedmont park, is the place to go. ‘The Bloody Best’ is enormous and garnished with bacon, steak, tater tots and the traditional stuff, too. The food’s wonderful, too! Roly Poly This Atlanta-born order-at-the-counter cafe serves wraps filled with healthy and fresh ingredients, and presses them, too! There are several locations around town. Red Pepper Taqueria in Druid HIlls & Buckhead Not only are the margaritas wonderful, but the restaurant has a casual atmosphere, incredibly fresh ingredients, the occasional live band on the patio and the best nachos in town. Flying Biscuit Cafe This Atlanta original is the perfect place to find healthy and creative dishes for any meal (like french toast drizzled with the most incredible raspberry sauce)
Ways To Travel Around Atlanta neighborhoods are fairly spread out, so most of the time you’ll end up driving or getting cabs around it’s expansiveness. The city is in the process of completing a beltline of trails for pedestrians and bikes that connects many of the communities, as well as installing a cable car downtown. The MARTA tram system is always the best option for traveling to and from downtown for sporting events or concerts. Places To Stay The best place to stay depends on what you are doing in the city. There are plenty of hotels around. To vacation like (or with) the celebs, though, The W Hotel or the St. Regis Hotel are your best bets. Additional Tips The biggest tip I could give to someone visiting Atlanta would be to avoid traveling around the city during rush hour. Find a nice restaurant or coffee shop to take shelter in until the 5 o’clock traffic speeds up again. Whether or not you stop and wait, you will probably get to your next destination at the same time, anyway. Photo Credit Amber LockeThis content was published on May 30, 2011 11:13 AM
UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay has strongly criticised Libya and Syria at the start of the latest session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Pillay told the meeting on Monday that the “brutality and scale” of Libyan and Syrian crackdowns on uprisings had been “particularly shocking in their serious contempt for human rights”.
Libya and Syria, as well as Bahrain and Yemen, had shown excessive force in suppressing demonstrations, which was only exacerbating tensions, she said. The “repression and extreme violence” by security forces seemed set to continue.
Pillay called on authorities in each country to hold talks with protestors and for Syria to respond to the Council’s request to send a fact-finding mission to the country to assess its human rights situation.
Elsewhere, Tunisia and Egypt should be encouraged in their democratic reforms, she urged.
The Council session lasts until June 17. On the agenda will be two reports into the human rights situation in Libya and Ivory Coast.
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Last week, continuing the sometimes catty intraparty feud between Republican hawks and GOPers skeptical of foreign intervention, former Vice President Dick Cheney took a shot at Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). But Paul is not likely to be fazed by criticism from Cheney, for several years ago the Kentucky senator was pushing the conspiratorial notion that the former VP exploited the horrific 9/11 attacks to lead the nation into war in Iraq in order to benefit Halliburton, the enormous military contractor where Cheney had once been CEO.
Speaking at a private Las Vegas gathering of Republican funders and activists on March 29, Cheney blasted what he termed isolationists within the GOP. “One of the things that concerns me first about the [2016] campaign, that I’m worried about,” Cheney said, “is what I sense to be an increasing strain of isolationism, if I can put it in those terms, in our own party.” He didn’t name names, but he didn’t have to—at least, in one case. He obviously had Rand Paul in mind. And Cheney, who also approvingly talked about bombing Iran, chided the unmentioned Paul and other less hawkish GOPers for having not learned the supposed lessons of 9/11.
Cheney’s remarks were the latest round in the tussle between the Republican Party’s hawks and intervention skeptics. A year ago, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) referred to Paul, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), and other Republicans unenthusiastic about drone strikes as “wacko birds.”
But years before this dustup began, Paul was on the attack against Cheney. In not widely noticed appearances on the campaign trail, Paul claimed that Cheney’s advocacy of the invasion of Iraq was partly nefarious and predicated on corporate self-interest, not national security priorities.
On April 7, 2009, as Paul was on the cusp of announcing his senatorial bid, he spoke to student Republicans at Western Kentucky University. Recalling President Dwight Eisenhower’s warning about the military-industrial complex, he noted, “We need to be fearful of companies that get so big that they can actually be directing policy.” And the company he had in mind was Cheney’s former home: “When the Iraq War started, Halliburton got a billion-dollar no-bid contract. Some of the stuff has been so shoddy and so sloppy that our soldiers are over there dying in the shower from electrocution |
, much as Leiber did his stories. We hope you’ll continue this journey of exploration with us and to further range across the world of Nehwon and delve into the twisting streets of the City of the Black Toga through the lens of DCC Lankhmar!
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Art by Doug Kovacs.
What is DCC RPG?
DCC RPG is a stand-alone tabletop role playing game. DCC RPG debuted in 2012, and has generated five printings and spawned a movement. The game is based on a modern interpretation of the original D&D inspirations. Check out our web site and past DCC RPG Kickstarter for more information.
Do I need to own a copy of DCC RPG to enjoy DCC Lanhmar?
Yes! If you are a fan of Lankhmar who has not previously played DCC RPG, we believe you will find DCC RPG very much to your liking. Support the Kickstarter by adding on a copy! (see Pledge Levels section below for more details on how to do that)
Swords of Lankhmar: Same Book, Many Printings
What is Lankhmar?
Lankhmar is a fictional city created by author Fritz Leiber. Fritz Leiber is one of America’s greatest science fiction and fantasy authors, a writer whose works indelibly changed the landscape of imaginative fiction and influenced countless others—both writers and gamers—who followed in his wake. Leiber is best known for his stories of Nehwon, home to the legendary heroes, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and to Lankhmar, the City of the Black Toga.
The very genre of “sword & sorcery” owes its name to Leiber. He coined the term to describe the types of stories that featured “Middle Earths and lands and worlds based on this planet, worlds which exist only in some author’s vivid imagination,” as Michael Moorcock described the genre. At the time of the term’s coinage in 1961, Leiber had already been weaving stories set in fantastical Lankhmar and its environs for more than two decades. His first Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story, “Two Sought Adventure” (later retitled “The Jewels in the Forest”) was published in 1939. Leiber would continue to explore Nehwon and the sword & sorcery genre for almost fifty years in more than forty stories and poems, publishing his final Fafhrd and Mouser story in 1988, four years before his death.
Leiber’s works played a significant role in the development of the tabletop gaming hobby. He is listed as one of the six most influential authors in the creation of Dungeons & Dragons in the famed “Appendix N” where Gary Gygax describes his primary sources for the game. The city of Lankhmar’s DNA can be found in almost any fantasy role-playing city from Greyhawk to Waterdeep. His fiction is among the first to be officially licensed for role-playing publication, leading to a business relationship between Leiber and TSR Hobbies in the mid-1970s and beyond.
Leiber was no stranger to the curious world of tabletop gaming, being an avid chess player his whole life. He and Harry Otto Fischer, the co-creator of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, had created a wargame set in the world of Nehwon (then called “Lahkmar”) in 1937. Yes, way back in 1937. This game was played on a huge 5’-by-2.5’ board made of corrugated paper and could require an entire weekend to complete! Leiber would work with TSR Hobbies in 1976 to produce a smaller game based on his and Fischer’s creation. This opened the doors for further projects, leading to the inclusion of the Nehwon mythos in Deities & Demigods (1980) and the publication of Lankhmar: City of Adventure (1985), an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons supplement adapting Nehwon, Lankhmar, and its inhabitants to the AD&D ruleset. Lankhmar and Dungeons & Dragons would remain intertwined for eleven more years, extending into the second edition of AD&D and ending with Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar: The New Adventures of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser in 1996.
In addition to his inspiring D&D and his licensed works with TSR Hobbies, Leiber also wrote an article for the premier issue of “The Dragon,” contributing a piece entitled “Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser Have the Say” (wherein Leiber attempts to explain wargaming to the Twain). His Fafhrd & Mouser story, “Sea Magic” premiered in The Dragon #11. Gamers, both role-playing and war-, were thrilled to meet Leiber and Fischer when they attended Gen Con IX at the Horticultural Hall in Lake Geneva, WI in August of 1976. (If you own the Metamorphosis Alpha Deluxe Collector's Edition from Goodman Games, you can find a photograph inside of James M. Ward getting Leiber's autograph at that Gen Con!)
DCC Lankhmar continues the proud tradition of keeping Fritz Leiber’s contributions, be they literate or gaming, alive in the fantasy role-playing hobby. For those unfamiliar with Leiber’s Lankhmar stories, an entire world of fantastical adventure awaits you and even the greatest fantasy role-playing supplement is no match for the original source material. This author suggests that eager students wishing to learn more of Lankhmar and Nehwon should begin their studies with the first Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story, “The Jewels in the Forest,” available in the collection Swords Against Death. Follow that with “Lean Times in Lankhmar,” collected in Swords in the Mist, and complete their initial foray with “The Lords of Quarmall,” found in Swords Against Wizardry. By then, their thirst for more of the Twain’s adventures will lead them further into the wilderness of Nehwon and the dim, fog-cloaked streets of Lankhmar, where you’ll find adventure, thrills, and even humor, at every turn.
A fantastic world of adventure awaits you in the works of Fritz Leiber!
Show Me What DCC Lankhmar Looks Like.
Goodman Games has previously published three DCC Lankhmar preview titles. All of them had simple B/W covers and were intended to showcase the content that was being produced. The final boxed set will of course have full-color covers and be at even higher production value. The three previously released preview titles are available for sale on our web site or can be added to your pledge here. They are:
In addition, Goodman Games released a free Lankhmar adventure for Free RPG Day 2016. You can buy a copy of the printed module on the Goodman Games web site, or add on one to your pledge here (see Pledge Levels section below). Or you can download this PDF preview for free!
The gods in Lankhmar looking down upon the Twain.
Contributors
DCC Lankhmar was originally announced at Gary Con 2015, two years ago. It has been in active design and playtesting for several years. This is not just a game “design” project, but a game “play” project. The new rules have been playtested internally as well as by outside groups, in campaign formats and stand-alone convention games. Many, many hours of active play have gone into the product you will ultimately receive.
The lead author on the project is Michael Curtis; with additional design by Harley Stroh, Doug Kovacs, and Joseph Goodman; and additional writing contributions by Daniel J. Bishop, Bob Brinkman, Edgar Johnson, Brendan LaSalle, Terry Olson, and Harley Stroh. Lead project artist is Doug Kovacs.
As we attend conventions, we give updates on the progress of our projects. You can see the gang discussing DCC Lankhmar at some of our previous seminars:
UK edition of Lankhmar novels
Pledge Levels
There are three basic pledge levels:
The PDF pledge level includes an electronic edition of the final boxed set. (Obviously there will be no box!) This level does not include any physical rewards, add-ons or stretch goals.
The boxed set includes the core boxed set as described above. All electronic stretch goals (PDFs) will apply to this level. Some of the physical stretch goals will apply to this level, generally those that fit in the box.
The final level includes the boxed set as well as the "print pack." All electronic stretch goals (PDFs) will apply to this level. All of the physical stretch goals will apply, as well. Modules printed in the print pack will be printed with limited-edition foil logos that will not be available for general distribution. Those that do not fit in the box will be shipped in a separate "print pack." See below for more information on these stretch goals.
Stretch Goals
DCC Lankhmar continues a long tradition in RPG gaming, and we want to do right by the estate of Fritz Leiber. The stretch goals associated with this Kickstarter will help create an even more amazing tribute to the world of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Stretch goals fall into three categories:
PDF stretch goals that all backers receive
Print stretch goals that can fit into the boxed set, which will be included with any pledge that has the physical boxed set
The "Print Pack," which is a printed collection of the stretch goals which don't fit in the boxed set
Here is a rough outline of possible stretch goals, which may evolve as the Kickstarter continues.
At $40,000: Cleared! We will add a new Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)
At $60,000: Cleared! We will print the poster map larger (included in boxed set)
At $80,000: Cleared! We will add a second Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)
At $100,000: Cleared! We will add a third Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)
At $110,000: Cleared! We will add a fourth Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)
Surprise stretch goal: Cleared! Fat Dragon tabletop terrain!
At $120,000: Cleared! We will add a fifth Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)
At $130,000: Cleared! We will add a sixth Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)
At $140,000: Cleared! We will add a supplement called "A Dozen Lankhmar Locations," which will provide information, maps, and floorplans on setting adventures in a dozen famous Lankhmar locales (including the Silver Eel!) (PDF for all backers; print copy in the boxed set)
At $150,000: Cleared! We will add a supplement called "Random NPCs in Lankhmar," which will provide tables and information for generating random NPCs that your PCs can encounter in Lankhmar (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)
At $165,000: Cleared! We will add send Michael Curtis to Houston for a week to research the Fritz Leiber archives in the University of Houston. We anticipate this may result in a new product of some kind to be delivered to backers of this Kickstarter, but exactly what we'll discover in the archives - and what product may result from it - can't be determined until Michael sets foot in the archives! Read more about this stretch goal here!
At $175,00: Cleared! We will add a Lankhmar-themed three-panel Judges Screen (PDF for all backers; print copy in the boxed set)
At $190,000: We will add a cloth map in the boxed set (print copy in the boxed set)
Add-On Titles
You can add on to your pledge to provide additional support for this Kickstarter! To add items, simply increase your pledge amount by the dollars necessary to cover your items. We have posted a complete list of add-on items in a recent update. All add-on items are print+PDF and include a huge variety of options. Check out the recent update for more info!
And That’s All
That’s all the news that’s fit to print. If you have any questions, let us know!(image credit: Mike Gillilan)
Adding TCR to the mix isn’t the only change coming to the Touring Car classes for Pirelli World Challenge in 2018. The direction of the class was presented to the teams at Utah by Jim Jordan, who was recently appointed to oversee the competition and development of the class. Here are a few of the main talking points:
2017
No major changes for the TCB, TCA or TC classes. Any new car additions will have to be approved by the series and meet the series’ long term goals for the class. With respect to the teams, current cars competing will be eligible until they “timeout” according to the series’ rules.
2018
[epq-quote align=”align-left”]We view TCR as an exciting development, but also see a place for traditional “shop built” touring cars – Jim Jordan[/epq-quote]
TCR
Cars will comply to TCR rules, but must be a model that is sold in the United States. Currently VW, and Subaru meet criteria. Alfa Romeo will have a 2017 Giulia available in the United States with Audi and Mazda also looking at TCR spec. Kia is currently developing a car for TCR and Honda is looking at a new Civic for 2018 with a potential unified worldwide model. Honda’s current TCR model is not sold in the US for the streets.
TC
Continue with a more traditional “touring car” focus, meaning the class will be open to current and newly approved models that meet the following criteria:
Run a 2+2 (2 seats in front, 2 seats in back) configuration. Cars can be coupe or four-door. In very few cases where an OEM partner is producing a complete factory-built car, “2-seaters” may be considered
FWD, RWD and AWD allowed
Homologated drivetrains and major components must come from either the OE or a builder designated by the OE
Complete “factory” built cars are strongly encouraged (example: BMW 235iR)
Cars will only be approved at the request of an OEM. WC Vision wants cars widely produced and available in the United States
TCA
Cars that are classified as SCCA Touring 4 and certain Touring 3 cars will be eligible. The age of the car will be limited to 3 years out of production with very limited modifications permitted. The focus of the class is driver and team development and have a cost effective way to move up from club racing.
TCB
A final decision will be made by July 1, 2017 on the continuation of the TCB class. The decision will be dependent on OE and team participation.
“We held this meeting with our teams because the management group at Pirelli World Challenge wants to be transparent and communicate the long term plans for the class. We view TCR as an exciting development, but also see a place for traditional “shop built” touring cars. We think these concepts can co-exist within the same race, but not the same class,” said Jordan. “The TCA and TCB classes offer an excellent starting point for teams moving up from Club or Local level racing. It is a cost effective rules package focused on developing drivers and teams. We have some more announcements coming soon to make the transition from Club racing to racing in the Pirelli World Challenge even easier for new teams. Our goal is to grow Road Racing as a whole and we are excited about the new class structure as a way to help the sport grow.”For some time, scientists have believed that an abnormal, toxic molecule called amyloid-β is the key mediator of the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. Although examinations of the brains of aged adults and those with the disease have shown that amyloid-β accumulates and forms clumps outside of cells, contributing to the formation of plaques, when it starts to build up has been unclear. Now, new research has found that it starts to accrue inside certain key populations of nerves in people as young as 20, which is significantly younger than scientists believed.
“Discovering that amyloid begins to accumulate so early in life is unprecedented,” lead researcher Changiz Geula said in a news release. “This is very significant. We know that amyloid, when present for long periods of time, is bad for you.”
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, are characterized by a loss of neurons in certain brain regions, such as the basal forebrain. Cells in this area are known to be involved in memory and attention, both of which are affected in these disorders. Despite years of research, it is still unclear what precisely is causing these cells to die; however, several lines of evidence have indicated that a disruption to the balance of calcium within these cells could be playing a role.
But what is causing calcium levels to go awry? Given that the major risk factor for Alzheimer’s is age, potential mechanisms must be age-related, such as a gradual increase in something that prevents calcium from being able to get out of cells. Since studies have demonstrated a relationship between amyloid-β—which builds up outside cells in aged and Alzheimer’s brains—and calcium dysregulation, scientists wondered whether amyloid-β accumulates inside basal forebrain cells as we age, and also in those with Alzheimer’s.
To find out more, scientists from Northwestern University examined 50 brains from three groups of deceased individuals: cognitively normal individuals between the ages of 22 to 66; individuals without dementia between the ages of 70 to 99; and those with Alzheimer’s between the ages of 60 to 95.
As described in Brain, they found that amyloid-β does indeed begin to accumulate inside neurons of the basal forebrain during adulthood and continues to do so throughout our lives. Furthermore, the same buildup was not observed in other brain areas investigated. But what was perhaps most surprising was the observation that small, toxic clumps of this protein were present in very young adults in their 20s despite having normal cognitive function. These clumps were also found to increase in size as we age and in those with Alzheimer’s.
According to the researchers, these small clumps could be contributing to neuronal death in a number of ways. For example, studies of brain cells exposed to these clumps have shown that they cause excess amounts of calcium to begin to seep inside the cell, which can trigger cell death. Alternatively, the amyloid may get secreted out of the cell and encourage the formation of the characteristic plaques seen in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s. The researchers would therefore like to continue this work by investigating how internal amyloid could be contributing to neuronal damage.Image copyright AP
Amazon has been fined £65,000 after being found guilty of attempting to ship dangerous goods by air.
The online giant tried to transport lithium-ion batteries and flammable aerosols between 2014 and 2015.
It was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of causing dangerous goods to be delivered for carriage in an aircraft in breach of air navigation rules.
An Amazon spokesman said: "The safety of the public, our customers, employees and partners is an absolute priority."
The prosecution had been brought by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) under the Air Navigation (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 2002.
The items were destined for flights in and outside the UK in four shipments between January 2014 and June 2015.
Flight-safety risk
They were only discovered when the cargoes were screened by Royal Mail before departure, and seized before they could reach the aircraft.
The court heard that Amazon had tried to ship a lithium-ion battery to Jersey on a day before 7 January 2014, and a flammable gas aerosol to Romania on a similar date.
Another shipment, destined for Ireland on a day before 17 July 2014, contained another aerosol, while Amazon illegally tried to send two more lithium-ion batteries to Northern Ireland between 12 May and 3 June 2015.
The CAA's general counsel, Kate Staples, said: "There are important international and domestic restrictions to prohibit the shipping of certain goods that pose a flight safety risk.
'Everyday household items'
"These dangerous goods include lithium batteries, which are banned from being transported as mail or cargo on a passenger aircraft unless they are installed in or packed with equipment."
Prosecutor Martin Goudie, told the court: "Under the right circumstances the batteries, even new, undamaged batteries, could overheat, potentially causing burns, explosion or a fire."
Defending the online giant, lawyer Stephen Spence told the court: "We are not talking about Amazon lugging a propane canister onto a plane. They are everyday household items, and one should pay perspective to that."
In a statement, Amazon said: "We ship millions of products every week and are confident in the sophisticated technologies and processes we have developed to detect potential shipping hazards.
"We are constantly working to further improve and will continue to work with the CAA in this area."Next month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will unsurprisingly feature a maximum capacity grid, as teams take to the historic Florida airfield circuit for the second round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
IMSA released the provisional entry list Tuesday, featuring 68 entries for the around-the-clock endurance classic, which will also double as the second round of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.
ENTRY LIST: 12 Hours of Sebring
Eighteen cars are set to do battle in the Prototype class, all of the entries that competed in last month’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona except for the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP, which was destroyed in a massive accident and left driver Memo Gidley with multiple injuries.
An additional P2 car, in the form of the Delta-ADR-run Millennium Racing squad, has been granted an entry. The No 24 Oreca 03 Nissan is currently listed with to-be-announced drivers, although both Fabien Giroix and John Martin, who were part of the joint Delta/Action Express entry that finished third overall at the Rolex 24, are expected to be among the drivers.
The No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford, which is entered for the NAEC rounds, lists TBA drivers.
There are a total of 11 Prototype Challenge entries, including confirmation of the debut of the JDC/Miller Motorsports Oreca FLM09, as well as the return of a second BAR1 Motorsports entry.
Twelve entries are listed in GT Le Mans, highlighted by the debut of the new Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR, which will be driven by Bryan Sellers and Porsche factory drivers Wolf Henzler and Marco Holzer.
Aston Martin Racing’s No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 is also listed, despite the British squad yet to confirm its participation in the race.
The GT Daytona category sees a dip to 27 entries because of the Daytona-only efforts from the No. 72 SMP/ESM Racing and No. 64 Scuderia Corsa Ferraris.
Snow Racing’s Porsche is listed in partnership with Rum Bum Racing, which includes a switch to the No. 13 and addition of driver Matt Plumb to the lineup.
Of note, the No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche lists ADAC GT Masters pilot Philipp Frommenwiler as a new third driver, while a number of GTD teams have yet to confirm their driving squads.
The 62nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is set for March 12-15.Object oriented programming has a lot of patterns that can be very useful for making games. One of those patterns is the Dependency Injection, a pattern that helps to decouple classes that would otherwise be tightly connected. So let’s take something that’s really connected and see how dependency injection can help us: the input management.
Wait what’s this Dependency Injection?
Usually if you have a thing (call it client) that uses another thing (call it service), when you change the service, then you have to also change the client. And that’s bad. Let’s say the client is your game logic and you are porting your game from pc to mobile, and that therefore you need to switch from a keyboard + mouse input to a touch one. Since all inputs are changed (perhaps radically since your WASD is now a UI element) you now need to change some input-read line in your game logic even if you used an intermediate class to get those button inputs.
The Dependency Injection way to do it instead is to have the input manager call the game logic functions. Without it knowing whose functions they are. You just set them as callbacks and call them when needed. Who sets the callbacks? The naive option is: the client. But then you still have a direct dependency between the classes. Enter the DIC: Dependency Injection Container. He takes the callbacks from the client and gives them to the service, thus eliminating the dependency between them (and adding another class to your code, that’s not a free lunch).
And what are those de-leee-gates?
A delegate is just a way to pass a function as an argument, it can also be stored as a variable and given a type name to be checked so that only the functions that match a certain signature can be stored or passed as a delegate of a specific type.
Let’s read some Input!
[SerializeField] string XbuttonName = "Fire1"; // other button names [SerializeField] string LeftStickHorizontalName = "Horizontal"; [SerializeField] string LeftStickVerticalName = "Vertical"; //other axis names
First of all we’ll need the names of the input buttons and axis we’re going to read, for this example I’ve used a regular xbox controller. We’ll do this with the old unity input system, not the (currently) experimental one, so we’ll need a string name for it. If you’ve read my other tutorials you know I’ve a personal feud with strings, but this is one of the few cases you really have to use them: if you are building an input manager you don’t want to force whoever uses it to edit code just to rename an input field, so you really want to have that in the inspector, which means a serialized string. Notice that for thumbsticks we’ll need two axis per stick, so two thumbsticks means four axis.
public static InputManager instance; [SerializeField] InputManagerDIC inputDIC; [SerializeField] float triggerSensibility = 0.2f;
As for the other variables, the instance reference will be used to make this class a singleton, the inputDIC is needed to ask for the injection, and the trigger sensibility trashold will be used to get a button behaviour from an axis, because back in my days triggers were fucking buttons and I like it that way.
public delegate void buttonReaction(); public delegate void axisEffect(Vector2 axisVal);
Although we could make this all with predefined System Actions, I’d rather estabilish a more specific interface that reminds whoever writes the game logic code what is supposed to act as a button and what is supposed to act as an axis. It’s just a reminder, nothing more.
public static buttonReaction XbuttonPress = delegate () { }; //other press callbacks... public static buttonReaction XbuttonPressContinuous = delegate () { }; //other continuous callbacks public static axisEffect leftStickEffect = delegate (Vector2 a) { }; public static axisEffect rightStickEffect = delegate (Vector2 a) { }; public static System.Action InputStartRead = delegate () { };
Each callback is initialized to an empty delegate because if for whatever reason we don’t want to use something, we don’t want a nullreference exception to pop out after the change.
Now, we can define a lot of callbacks for each Input since every button has four relevant conditions:
just pressed
pressed (continuously)
just released
released (continuously)
In this example I’ll use four buttons and the triggers and read only two condition for the buttons (just pressed and continuous press) and one for the triggers (continuous press), for each of the conditions I want to read I need to define a callback.
The same goes for what to do with thumbsticks, but in that case I just want to read a direction out of them and let the game logic interpret it.
The last callback isn’t really needed but for this tutorial I’ve also built a public repository where you can download a test scene and I need to clean the UI state at the beginning of every frame, so I want a callback for that too.
void Awake() { if (instance == null) instance = this; else Destroy(gameObject); inputDIC.LoadInputManager(); }
As I said before this is going to be a Singleton. And at the beginning of execution we want the DIC to inject his callbacks in the InputManager, so we’ll call his loading function here.
void Update() { InputStartRead(); if (Input.GetButtonDown(XbuttonName)) { XbuttonPress(); } //read other buttonDowns if (Input.GetButton(XbuttonName)) { XbuttonPressContinuous(); } //read other buttons if (Input.GetAxis(leftTriggerName) > triggerSensibility) { leftTriggerPressContinuous(); } if (Input.GetAxis(rightTriggerName) > triggerSensibility) { rightTriggerPressContinuous(); } leftStickEffect(new Vector2(Input.GetAxis(LeftStickHorizontalName), Input.GetAxis(LeftStickVerticalName))); rightStickEffect(new Vector2(Input.GetAxis(RightStickHorizontalName), Input.GetAxis(RightStickVerticalName))); }
And at last here’s the action. At first we call the “start reading” callback, then for each button we check the relevant states. Notice that for the trigger we read an axis input and only when it’s over the trashold we’ve set before we call a callback just as if it were a regular button. From the game logic standpoint that trigger will be undistinguishable from a button, it even uses the same delegate type for the callback. For the thumbsticks instead we’ll read the two axis in a single Vector2 variable and use that to call the appropriate axisEffect callback.
How about a UI class for testing this?
I’ve made it as basic as it gets, sorry but no fancy stuff here:
[SerializeField] Toggle xButton; //other toggles [SerializeField] Text rStick; //other texts
For each button I’ll set a toggle on and off, while for the sticks I’ll show the direction in a text. All the references are passed with serialized fields in the inspector.
public void LogCallTLCont() { ShowLogButton(lTriggerButton, "TL Cont"); } public void LogCallTRCont() { ShowLogButton(rTriggerButton, "TR Cont"); } public void LogCallA() { ShowLogButton(aButton, "A "); } public void LogCallB() { ShowLogButton(bButton, "B "); } public void LogCallX() { ShowLogButton(xButton, "X "); } public void LogCallY() { ShowLogButton(yButton, "Y "); } public void LogCallACont() { ShowLogButton(aButton, "A Cont"); } public void LogCallBCont() { ShowLogButton(bButton, "B Cont"); } public void LogCallXCont() { ShowLogButton(xButton, "X Cont"); } public void LogCallYCont() { ShowLogButton(yButton, "Y Cont"); } public void LogCallL(Vector2 direction) { ShowLogAxis(lStick, "L stick with dir", direction); } public void LogCallR(Vector2 direction) { ShowLogAxis(rStick, "R stick with dir", direction); } void ShowLogButton(Toggle toggle, string text) { toggle.isOn = true; Debug.Log(text); } void ShowLogAxis(Text field, string text, Vector2 direction) { field.text = direction.ToString(); Debug.Log(text + direction); }
All the callbacks are actually using the same couple of functions, logging and setting an UI element each time. But who’s going to reset all those toggles when we didn’t read the button’s release? Our reset function of course:
public void ResetUI() { xButton.isOn = false; yButton.isOn = false; aButton.isOn = false; bButton.isOn = false; lTriggerButton.isOn = false; rTriggerButton.isOn = false; rStick.text = Vector2.zero.ToString(); lStick.text = Vector2.zero.ToString(); }
It’s Injection time
Also the DIC is really simple, all it does is to set the callbacks in the InputManager, so it only needs a load function and a field to specify from which class instance it should take the callbacks:
[SerializeField] UserExample target; public void LoadInputManager() { InputManager.XbuttonPress = target.LogCallX; InputManager.YbuttonPress = target.LogCallY; InputManager.AbuttonPress = target.LogCallA; InputManager.BbuttonPress = target.LogCallB; InputManager.XbuttonPressContinuous = target.LogCallXCont; InputManager.YbuttonPressContinuous = target.LogCallYCont; InputManager.AbuttonPressContinuous = target.LogCallACont; InputManager.BbuttonPressContinuous = target.LogCallBCont; InputManager.leftStickEffect = target.LogCallL; InputManager.rightStickEffect = target.LogCallR; InputManager.leftTriggerPressContinuous = target.LogCallTLCont; InputManager.rightTriggerPressContinuous = target.LogCallTRCont; InputManager.InputStartRead = target.ResetUI; }
So, as you can see the InputManager has no dependecy towards the client class and the UserExample doesn’t even know that his functions are linked to an input. Any maintenance change on either class will stop here in the DIC and will be as trivial as just changing wich callback is assigned to what variable since that’s all that can happen here.
But what if I just changed Input Settings instead of doing all that?
That’s cool and that’s also the proper way to do it (until you are not porting from pc/console to mobile). Really, until you are not changing between radically different input sources in unity, you’re better off using Unity3d’s input system to remap controls and avoid changing code. I only used the Input management as the easiest-to-explain example, if one thinks this technique is just for that, he’s totally missing the point. This technique can (and according to some people should) be used for absolutely everything.
That’s all folks
Thanks for the read. This time no copy-paste, you get a repository with the whole project already set up and ready to use here. If you have any questions or comments please do express that either in the comments here or just hit me on twitter. And if you don’t want to lose my future stuff, consider my newsletter.
P.S.: I’m currently looking for a job, if you are interested take a look at my portfolio.
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34 Shares[Update May 2018: You may be interested in ODROID-XU4Q review with Ubuntu 18.04]
We had already seen ODROID-XU4 development board price drop to $59 earlier this year, but a frequent complain about the board remained: it requires a fan to operate at full speed, and makes noise while the fan turns. To address this issue, the company has now launched ODROID-XU4Q board with exactly the same specifications with Samsung Exynos 5422 octa-core processor, 2GB RAM, eMMC module support, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4 etc…, except the fan is replaced by a large heatsink.
The company has also thoroughly tested both versions in different configurations such as setting the maximum frequency to 1.8 or 2.0 GHz, and found ODROID-XU4Q to be slightly slower under high load due to CPU throttling, as the large heatsink does not cool quite as well as the smaller heatsink in combination with a fan. However in many cases, the difference is minimal as shown by Antutu results (61,112 vs 60,283 points). Running sysbench at 2.0 GHz showed one of the biggest gaps in performance, with XU4Q taking 16% more time (420 seconds vs 362 seconds) to complete the test as shown below.
If you run the board at 1.8 GHz, the difference decreases to just 6%. If you are using ODROID-XU4 as part of a build farm, you may want to keep using the actively cooled version, it takes take 25 minutes to build the Linux kernel against 30 minutes on ODROID-XU4Q.The company also found that if you don’t want throttling at all, you need to set the CPU frequency to 1.2 GHz.
The company also had to add a cut out line to ODROID-XU4(Q) cases to allow for the taller heatsink. If you have a ODROID-XU4 board with a fan, and would like to convert it into a quitet ODROID-XU4Q board, you can do so by purchasing a similar (but not exactly the same) heatsink for $4.90 + shipping. The price for ODROID-XU4Q board is the same as for ODROID-XU4 ($59 + shipping).
If you’re wondering when the next major update of ODROID board is coming, there is a clue in ODROID Magazine April 2017:
In 2017, we are planning another 64-bit ARM platform and a 64-bit x86 platform, and we are also considering an upgraded version of XU4.We’re still piecing the details of David Fahrenthold’s latest story at the Post. But this seems like by far his biggest get yet. He appears to have caught Trump in major tax evasion using his charity. Tax evasion on the back end, self-dealing on the front. That makes the whole entity look like a tax dodge.
Let me jump through the outline details.
Last week we noted that a Trump family aide defended the idea that Trump Foundation money is really Trump’s money since often he takes money that’s owed to him and directs it to the Foundation. That’s laudable if true. But it’s irrelevant in terms of whose money it is. Once Trump gives money to his Foundation it’s the Foundation’s money and all those rules apply.
Now it turns out that a lot of the Foundation money does come in just this way. But here’s the key. It sounds like Trump is not paying taxes on that income.
It works like this. Trump or one of his businesses is owed money by Company X or Person Y. Trump says ‘Don’t send the check to me. Just send it to my Foundation.’ No problem with that. As I said, as long as your foundation is legit, it’s laudable. But you have to pay taxes on that money because it’s your income.
Here’s where it gets weird. Fahren |
, open gays.”
McKelway had previously made comments along those lines. On 20 January, reporting for Fox News’ Happening Now, he said: “For families who’ve long seen the Boy Scouts as a refuge for traditional values, the proposed policy change is deeply disturbing.”
He was questioned by co-host Jon Scott, who asked: “But the Scouts already have prohibitions on Scout Master contact with scouts, right?”
To which McKelway responded: “They do. And following literally hundreds of incidents of predation by paedophiles, the Scouts adopted a policy whereby one-on-one contact between adults and scouts is prohibited, separate accommodations for adults and scouts are required, and when camping, no youth is permitted to sleep in the tent of an adult other than his own parent or guardian.”
On 29 January, McKelway tweeted: “Will the Boy Scouts of America decide next week to let local chapters accept gay scouts and scout masters? Big time culture war story today!”
One reporter, however, Martha MacCallum, a prime-time co-host of America’s Newsroom spoke on Don Imus’s show, to say that she didn’t see a reason for trying to create a link between gay scout leaders and paedophilia.
She said: “I think it’s a great organization and I think there’s room for everybody in that organization. I mean, I think you have to obviously be very careful with anybody who deals with children, whether you’re a male or a female in school or in any organization you have to be careful. But I don’t think that being gay has anything to do with being a paedophile.”
In July 2012, after a two year review, the Boy Scouts of America announced it would retain its ban on gay members, volunteers and staff.
Earlier this week, the leader of the American Family Association also said the Boy Scouts of America’s announcement that it might lift its ban on gay scouts could open its doors to paedophiles.The other day, a business trip left me in Chicago’s Midway Airport for a two hour layover, so to kill time, I thought a quick bite and a beer at Harry Caray’s Seventh Inning Stretch was in order. I picked a Holy Cow Burger, a side of baked mac & cheese, and to wash it all down, I chose a Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale.
Goose Island is a craft brewer steeped in the tradition of Midwestern mass produced beers. Founded in 1988 as a craft alternative, they have rolled out an impressive lineup of beers including the Sofie and the Matilda. Last year, Anheuser-Busch upped their ownership from a 32.25% share of the Craft Brewers Alliance’s 40% share to an outright purchase of all of Goose Island. This purchase has been viewed with great hesitation as the balance between Goose Island’s craftiness and Bud’s mass production is something of a fine line. While the availability of Goose Island is now open to the Bud’s distribution channel (this is a good thing), I am left to wonder what might be lost in the mix.
Here is what Goose Island has to say about their 312 Urban Wheat Ale:
Inspired by the city of Chicago and densely populated with flavor, 312’s spicy aroma of Cascade hops is followed by a crisp, fruity ale flavor delivered in a smooth, creamy body that’s immensely refreshing.
I found the 312 to have the following characteristics…
Appearance : Golden straw with a fair amount of white foam and good lacing.
: Golden straw with a fair amount of white foam and good lacing. Aroma : Sweet, malty, wheaty with a hint of floral.
: Sweet, malty, wheaty with a hint of floral. Taste : Wheaty and floral with a little bite of hops and a sweet finish.
: Wheaty and floral with a little bite of hops and a sweet finish. ABV: 4.2%
While the 312 was a great complement to the burger and mac & cheese, it wasn’t all that remarkable. It was good, flavorful, and refreshing, but I guess having loved the Matilda, I expected a little more oomph.Previous reports linked the U.S. Men’s National Team to an October friendly with Ghana, but after some difficulties, it appears a new opponent has been locked down for a match at RFK Stadium.
U.S. Soccer announced on Wednesday that the USMNT will play a friendly against New Zealand on October 11 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. According to the Washington Post, an agreement has been in place for the USMNT to host a match at RFK Stadium for some time now, the opponent was left up in the air as complications with Ghana’s scheduling prevented the USSF from setting up a match with their first-choice opponents.
National Teams are allowed to play friendlies and World Cup Qualifiers during the same international breaks, but only within a travel time of 5 hours and two time zones to reduce the burden on players and their clubs. Ghana attempted to file a waiver with FIFA, but the bid was rejected.
Instead, the USMNT will play New Zealand. The two teams have met only twice before with the United States winning each match. New Zealand is currently placed 93rd in FIFA’s international rankings. The All-Whites have yet to lose a match in 2016 and their last defeat dates back to March 31st, 2015, a 1-0 loss in South Korea. Prior to their match against the U.S., New Zealand will play Mexico in Nashville, Tennessee on October 8th before returning to World Cup Qualifying in November with two matches against New Caledonia.
The USMNT will play Cuba in Havana on October 7th as their lead in to the New Zealand match.
Jurgen Klinsmann will have to make his selections carefully, however, as MLS does not stop play during international breaks and has four matches scheduled during the window. This raises questions over the selection of players such as Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Jordan Morris, Chris Wondolowski and Jermaine Jones, each of whom would be scheduled for MLS play. Additionally, the USMNT will have World Cup Qualifiers in September and then again, if they advance, in November.
What do you think of the report? What do you expect from the USMNT against New Zealand?
Share your thoughts below.During a crucial seven-game post-Christmas homestand that concluded on Monday night with a dramatic, streak-breaking 3-2 overtime win over the Florida Panthers, Jacob Markstrom kept the Vancouver Canucks’ season afloat.
In the weeks leading up to the Christmas break, an injury-depleted Canucks side appeared to be sinking fast. They were surrendering scoring chances against at a dizzying rate, and largely as a result, wins were few and far between.
“We’ve let in a lot of goals this season, but (Ryan Miller) and (Markstrom) were probably our best players,” Daniel Sedin said of his teams defensive play, neatly summarizing Vancouver’s season.
As a five-game losing streak was only briefly interrupted before a three-game losing streak began, the Canucks appeared to be losing the plot. A funny thing happened after Christmas though.
Despite short-term injuries to key top-of-the-roster pieces like Miller, Henrik Sedin and Chris Tanev, which further compounded the long-term injuries to Brandon Sutter and Dan Hamhuis, the Canucks found ways to win. The team began to score late game-tying goals. They started winning in 3-on-3 overtime.
Perhaps most shocking, the Canucks managed to win even when the Sedin twins weren’t scoring. Henrik and Daniel have carried the club offensively all year, but they’ve managed only four points each in seven games since Christmas. And still the Canucks won four of seven games, and took at least one point from five of the seven contests.
If you’re looking for reasons that explain how the Canucks have managed to stay afloat, you need look no further than Markstrom’s recent save percentage binge (though an offensive explosion from Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi deserves honorable mention here also).
Markstrom, 25, came into this season with a career save percentage below.900, but he’s performed remarkably well over the past two weeks. The cagey goaltender might be the only person who isn’t surprised.
“In the back of my mind I’ve always known that I was able too,” Markstrom said of performing at a high-level against NHL shooters.
“Obviously you’re upset,” Markstrom continued, addressing his struggles in the not-so-distant past. “You’re mad when it doesn’t go the way you want it to go.
“For me, except for the first year when I was homesick, it was never that this ‘league is too good and I have to go home and play’. That was never the case.”
With Miller injured, Markstrom started all seven games on the Canucks’ recent homestand. Making seven starts in 19 days, Markstrom managed a.922 save percentage and stopped nearly 93 per cent of all shots faced at even strength.
“(My confidence in Markstrom) is quite a bit higher (now)”, Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins said, when asked how Markstrom’s recent performance has changed his opinion about his ostensible backup.
“He hadn’t proved anything at the start of the year,” Desjardins continued. “He was a good goalie in the American League, but he hadn’t proved it at the NHL level.
“And it isn’t just that he proved it, but he proved it kind of being a No. 1 there, where he had to play well because there wasn’t going to be another guy ready. I think he got good experience from that and played well.”
As good as Markstrom has been, both he and Daniel Sedin suggested that the Canucks have been playing better defence of late.
“We’ve played a lot better defensively now too, I think,” Sedin said of the club’s recent form.
“We’re playing tighter defensively, and we’re still scoring, we haven’t scored a lot, but we’ve scored enough to win games,” he continued. “This is going to be huge down the line too, we know we have to play in one-goal games.”
Markstrom largely agreed with Sedin’s assessment on Monday.
“Except for the first couple minutes, I thought most of the shots were from the outside and we blocked a couple big bombs from the blue-line,” Markstrom said of his club’s play on Monday.
“Shots from the outside is nice,” Markstrom later added. “You want those all night if you can choose and not the ones right in front of you. That’s what’s happened and that’s what’s going on.”
Though the club’s two-way deficiencies are still plain to see – despite the four recent wins, the club has been out-attempted, outshot, out-chanced and outscored since Christmas– it’s true that the defensive play has shown modest signs of improvement. During the seven-game homestand the club surrendered scoring chances against at the lowest rate they’ve managed in a seven-game stretch since Sutter left the lineup with injury in early November, according to war-on-ice.com.
In a more competitive division that might not be enough, but in the Pacific Divison the Canucks have managed to steady themselves. Despite dealing with myriad key injuries, they’ve avoided any sort of collapse.
In hockey, sturdy goaltending can cover up any number of sins. Of late, Markstrom has provided just that for the Canucks.AKHILESH YADAV is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India's largest state. He recently sat down with The Economist for an interview at his official residence in Lucknow. Here is an edited transcript.
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Q. You’re India’s youngest chief minister. You’re known for computerising government services. Do you see yourself as a moderniser in a traditional society?
A. No, I think I’m a traditionalist but one with experience of the West and a knowledge of English. To compare Uttar Pradesh with Gujarat or Bihar [two other states with modernising chief ministers] isn’t right. UP’s a different challenge and we have to provide competition to those two states. When I arrived, the situation in government wasn’t good. I have to inspire the government and implement our policies. We’ve started to do that; we’re focused on infrastructure—on roads, power and irrigation—and on the quality of education, especially for girls. We’re trying to improve the physical infrastructure and human infrastructure.
Q. You said you could boost UP’s growth rate to 10% a year. That’s very ambitious. What do you need to do to achieve that?
A. Yes, I did say that. Growth is 6.2% now; what I told the planning commission meeting was that we could increase it to 7% next year; then 8%-9% in 2014/14; then 9%-10% in 2015/16, so in 2016/17 it will go to 10%. We think that’s possible. The internal demand generated by the state is high. When we took over, the state was knee-deep in corruption and billions of the state budget was being wasted on memorials [a reference to his predecessors’ fondness of building large public monuments]. Even then we achieved 6.2%. Imagine what will happen if we invest in infrastructure and education.
Q. Your father [Mulayam Singh Yadav, the head of the ruling Samajwadi party] said he was disappointed by the performance of the government. Are you disappointed?
A. I don’t think most people are disappointed. The government is on the right track. In five or six months, we’ve started to turn things around. It’ll take time of course. We inherited a legacy of bad power, bad transmission system, bad everything. You can’t do everything in just a few months. But we had a good session in the state assembly. We got our budget passed and now we’re starting to implement it. We’ll be distributing new unemployment benefits very soon. Then we’ll give 300,000 rupees [$5,440] to girls who pass class 12. People are waiting to see the policies implemented before they pass judgment on us.
Q. Can you explain what the role of your father is in the government?
A. He is the leader of my party, a very experienced politician [he has been chief minister of UP three times] and he has the right to give me advice. It’s a mentoring role. But I don’t call him up every time I have to make a decision and ask him what do to. I’d never have the time to do anything if I did that.
Q. Are you concerned that communal relations [ie, between Hindus and Muslims] are getting worse and that communal violence may be coming back?
A. I’m very sad and concerned about it. There are forces behind the recent upsurge in violence. You know who they are. But I don’t think the public itself is really behind the violence. I’ve given instructions to the police to be strict in maintaining law and order and we will back you up. I’m confident that we are getting a grip on the situation.
Q. Is it OK to steal a little so long as you don’t loot? [Akhilesh’s uncle, the senior minister in charge of the state’s public-works department, made headlines by offering exactly that advice to bureaucrats.]
A. These things happen everywhere and the media took advantage. It was a slip of the tongue. We absolutely cannot allow this sort of thing in our state. Corruption hampers the government, it harms the economy and it prevents social benefits getting through to the people. So we have to fight to stamp it out.
Q. You’ve been accused of chopping and changing over policies, announcing a policy one day and changing it the next. Is that a fair criticism?
A. Maybe to some extent. But there’s nothing wrong in that. You have to listen to people who are affected by your decisions. In a democracy, you need feedback. Anyway, most of the changes people talk about haven’t been policy announcements. They’ve just been proposals. If people don’t like them, then we should have the courage to take them back: that’s what democracy is. I also think it’s a sign of character not to insist blindly on wrong decisions.
Q. Are you facing resistance to the changes you want to implement from the bureaucracy and from some government ministries?
A. Any change which is gradual will be OK, so long as it is gradual. I’m implementing our manifesto, people can’t complain about that. We were elected to do it. While we stick to that I don’t think there will be any problem.
Q. Finally, I’d like to ask a question about the relationship between the centre and the states. UP was criticised recently for taking more than its fair share from the national power grid and I wondered if you thought this might be an example of authority starting to shift from the centre to the states?
A. I think relations between us and the centre are gradually getting better. It mainly depends on the central government. Nothing is set in stone. I think Congress makes a big difference. Congress is trying to build better relations with the Samajwadi party, and we are responding to that. The previous government was asked for help in building one of the most prestigious university hospitals in the state and it refused to give the land for more than four years. They approached us; we thought it was a good project for the state, so we gave them the land they wanted.
(Picture credit: Samajwadi Party)Wednesday on Morning Joe, co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski continued to marvel over the “obvious excitement” at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. While the hosts insisted there was no comparison between the DNC and the RNC, they continued to build up the Democrats by knocking down the Republicans. The liberal hosts painted a picture of an “excited” DNC filled with “history” and “emotion,” compared to an RNC laden with “empty seats” and “sleepwalking.”
Co-host Joe Scarborough, the ever “objective observer,” insisted there was simply no comparison between the two conventions.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: …There is no comparison between the excitement -- there's just not. And you can say this as an objective observer. There is no comparison between the excitement on the floor of the Democratic convention as there was the Republican convention. There were always empty chairs there. They were sleepwalking. Half of them didn't seem like they wanted to be there. There were, of course, yeah, some very excited people there. But this was absolutely packed and rollicking all night. MARK HALPERIN: …Last night you saw people crying on the floor. You saw emotion based on a historic first. And I thought the Clinton folks did a very good job of reminding people of the history of it, regardless of what you think of Hillary Clinton, whether you like her personally, whether you like her policies. The country did something last night it's never done, and they did a very good job of harnessing that emotion, and the excitement in the room and you're right, every seat was filled.
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Of course it is “obvious” to MSNBC that the DNC supersedes the RNC. Bloomberg politics editor John Heilemann also chimed in to put the DNC on a pedestal.
…You suddenly had this moment where, by and large, that the side by side passions kind of came together in one thing, and everyone kind of had that cathartic moment and there was just a huge jolt of electricity through the hall, which was absent in Cleveland.
There is plenty of comparison to make between the two conventions and it is simply inaccurate to say all “electricity” was “absent in Cleveland.” The only thing that is “obvious” is that the impact of the DNC is only understood when liberals belittle the RNC in an effort to make their case.
View Full Transcript Here:The Tour de France has become quicker and more crowded
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WHEN Chris Froome of Britain crossed the finish line of the 100th edition of the Tour de France on Sunday, he was joined by 168 other riders from the 198 who set out from Corsica three weeks ago—the second-highest total. Only 2010 saw more starters complete the course. Though still a demanding race, a slew of advancements over the past century mean today's riders have it easier than ever. The strategy of teams supporting an individual in the late 1920s led to a sharp jump in the average speed. Later, derailleurs resulted in faster speeds as riders switched from three gears to more than 20. Along with better roads and carbon-fibre bikes, the course is also 2,000km (1,240 miles) shorter today than in the Tour's early years. These factors helped Mr Froome average 40.55km per hour, the second-fastest average speed after Óscar Pereiro of Spain in 2006 (excluding the Lance Armstrong years in 1999-2005, since the American rider admitted to doping). This year's finish is in contrast with the poor riders of the 1919 tour, when only 11 of the 69 cyclists finished.After troubled times following match-fixing allegations, Fenerbahçe are starting a new era with a challenging project. Fenerbahçe's President Aziz Yıldırım annouced the plan, called "The Target: 1 Million Members" with a spectacular ceremony organized in the Four Seasons Hotel, Istanbul on Wednesday night. Speaking at the presentation of the project, Yıldırım said they hoped to make Fenerbahçe the biggest club in the world in terms of membership numbers. He said, "Our aim is to make Fenerbahçe a strong and economically independent sports team. Fenerbahçe must be a democratic, independent and strong organization. This project is not a campaign but a sense of belonging. It is a right to speak for all Fenerbahçe fans. This project means to say 'I'm Fenerbahçe,' not 'I'm a Fenerbahçe fan'. 'The Target: 1 Million Members' is a manifesto in which all fans become partners in the club that is ruled as a pluralistic democracy. Fenerbahçe is too big to be content with just derby victories or championships. Its administration must be adjusted in accordance with its greatness."
He continued, "The "1 Million Members" project, Fenerbahçe fans - who are the real owners of the club - will be included in the administration. They can sign on every decision made with other congress members. Fenerbahçe's associations all around the world will become a branch of the club and every branch will be able to take part in the decision making process via their local represantatives. Thanks to our election system, delegates from every part of the country will be able to vote in the General Assembly. The club will organize elections with 50.000 members. This will be a model system. Fenerbahçe will not be a club in which only privileged people have a voice. Instead, every Fenerbahçe fan will be able to participate in the club's administration. We must create a Fenerbahçe which is economically strong. Since 1998, our member number has reached 20,000 from 6,300, our employees 900 from 100. Our sportsmen and sportswomen number has reached more than 2,000 from 400. Our budget is over $250 million (TL 569 million). If this historic project is carried into effect, the club will earn TL 50 million income ($22 million) in a year. With this income, our amateur branches and sports schools will add value to Turkish sports."
Aziz Yıldırım underlined that Fenerbahçe won't have adverts on the team's jersey after the project is put into effect. Important names from the sports club as well as luminaries from the world of art, business and sport attended the ceremony. After the speeches, Yıldırım handed out membership cards to the footballers of Fenerbahçe.Buy Photo Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowd after speaking at a campaign stop at The Surf Ballroom on Saturday, Jan. 09, 2016, in Clear Lake. (Photo: Brian Powers/The Register)Buy Photo
Donald Trump has rented space at an Urbandale movie theater and will give Iowans free tickets to a showing of the Benghazi movie that critics of Hillary Clinton have been eagerly awaiting.
“Mr. Trump would like all Americans to know the truth about what happened at Benghazi,” the GOP presidential candidate’s Iowa co-chair Tana Goertz said Thursday night.
Trump will pay for the showing of “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” at 6 p.m. Friday at the Carmike Cobblestone 9 Theatre at 86th Street and Hickman Road, Goertz said.
“The theater is paid for. The tickets are paid for. You just have to RSVP,” she said.
The movie depicts the terrorist raid on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012. It reportedly makes no mention of Clinton, then the U.S. Secretary of State, but has again raised the topic of the Democratic presidential candidate’s role in the tragedy, three months after Republicans grilled her on her response to the attacks during an 11-hour congressional hearing in October.
Trump's magic: He enchants crowds looking for leadership
IOWA POLL ON REPUBLICANS:
Trump, a billionaire New York real estate entrepreneur, flies to Iowa for a 10 a.m. campaign rally on Friday at Living History Farms in Urbandale. He’s currently in second place in the GOP presidential race here, trailing Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz by 3 points, the latest Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll shows.
Trump has said he’s willing to spend a billion dollars to win the GOP nomination. “I make $400 million a year so what difference does it make?” he told reporters in Iowa in August.
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Tickets for the movie, which opened Thursday, cost about $8 each, the theater’s website shows.
The word "Benghazi" has re-emerged in the GOP race. In the GOP debate in South Carolina Thursday night, presidential rival Jeb Bush was first to bring it up, saying Clinton would “continue down the path of Benghazi” and would be “a national security mess.”
MORE CAUCUSES:
CLOSE Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz remains the top pick among likely caucusgoers in the latest Iowa Poll. Political reporter Jennifer Jacobs and political columnist Kathie Obradovich provide analysis.
Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/1RoOXwKJames Te Huna: ‘I’m Fighting Brandon Vera, UFC on Fuel 4’
Four fight UFC veteran James Te Huna has his next fight booked as he will face Brandon Vera at UFC on Fuel 4.
Te Huna made the announcement via his Twitter account on Thursday. The fight was first reported by MMAWeekly.com content partner FightBulletin.net
“I’m fighting Brandon Vera, UFC on Fuel 4,” wrote Te Huna.
While UFC on Fuel 4 has not been official announced, Fuel TV Executive Vice President and General Manager George Greenberg stated earlier this week that he expected that show to take place in July, although final plans have yet to be decided.
No date or venue has been rumored as of yet either for the fourth live card on Fuel TV.
James Te Huna will get back in action on a two fight win streak, and going 3-1 thus far in his UFC career. His lone loss is to top ten light heavyweight prospect Alexander Gustafsson, and outside of that Te Huna has been flawless finishing every other fight inside of the 15-minute time limit.
Facing Te Huna at UFC on Fuel 4 will be former heavyweight and now light heavyweight prospect Brandon Vera.
Vera was actually released from the UFC following a loss to Thiago Silva at UFC 125 in Jan 2011, but after Silva was suspended due to a falsified drug test result, the UFC gave him another shot. Vera made the most of it by picking up a win over Eliot Marshall, and now hopes to build on that with his fight against Te Huna.
The two light heavyweights are the first bout announced for the UFC on Fuel 4 card. MMAWeekly.com will have more information on the show when it becomes available.CTV Montreal
PLEASE NOTE THE DATE. THIS ARTICLE IS FROM MAY 30, 2016.
Noam Chomsky recorded a video message honouring Quebec Solidaire on the political party's tenth anniversary.
"It's a breath of fresh air in the grim neoliberal era which has brought such grief and despair and often unfocused anger to so many people who have been cast by the wayside as the neoliberal policies are designed to enrich and empower very narrow sectors of wealth and power," said Chomsky.
The retired linguistics professor and political activist congratulated QS for its accomplishments over the past decade.
Over the weekend the political party discussed how to better connect with Quebecers, and how it can woo federalists and anglophones to its cause.
The annual convention was also an opportunity for members to reiterate their support for workers' rights, environmental issues, and the redistribution of wealth.
There are three Quebec Solidaire MNAs in the National Assembly: Francoise David, Amir Khadir and Manon Massé.SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is putting its considerable financial and engineering muscle into the experimental field of quantum computing as it works to build a machine that could tackle problems beyond the reach of today’s digital computers.
There is a growing optimism in the tech world that quantum computers, superpowerful devices that were once the stuff of science fiction, are possible — and may even be practical. If these machines work, they will have an impact on work in areas such as drug design and artificial intelligence, as well as offer a better understanding of the foundations of modern physics.
Microsoft’s decision to move from pure research to an expensive effort to build a working prototype underscores a global competition among technology companies, including Google and IBM, which are also making significant investments in search of breakthroughs.
In the exotic world of quantum physics, Microsoft has set itself apart from its competitors by choosing a different path. The company’s approach is based on “braiding” particles known as anyons — which physicists describe as existing in just two dimensions — to form the building blocks of a supercomputer that would exploit the unusual physical properties of subatomic particles.
Leading researchers acknowledge that barriers still remain to building useful quantum machines, both at the level of basic physics and in developing new kinds of software to exploit certain qualities of devices known as qubits that hold out the possibility of computing in ways not possible for today’s digital systems.
Unlike conventional transistors, which can be only on or off at any one time, representing a digital 1 or 0, qubits can exist in superposition, or simultaneously in both states. If qubits are placed in an “entangled” state — physically separated but acting as though they are deeply intertwined — with many other qubits, they can represent a vast number of values simultaneously. A quantum computer would most likely consist of hundreds or thousands of qubits.
Microsoft began funding research in the field in 2005 when it quietly set up a laboratory known as Station Q under the leadership of the mathematician Michael Freedman.
Microsoft now believes that it is close enough to designing the basic qubit building block that the company is ready to begin engineering a complete computer, said Todd Holmdahl, a veteran engineering manager who will direct the Microsoft effort. Over the years, he has led various Microsoft projects, including its Xbox video game machine and the yet-to-be-released HoloLens augmented reality system.
“Once we get the first qubit figured out, we have a road map that allows us to go to thousands of qubits in a rather straightforward way,” Mr. Holmdahl said.
There is still a debate among physicists and computer scientists over whether quantum computers that perform useful calculations will ever be created.
A variety of alternative research programs are trying to create qubits using different materials and designs. The Microsoft approach, known as topological quantum computing, is based on a field that took on new energy when this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists who had done fundamental work in forms of matter that may exist in just two dimensions.
Mr. Holmdahl’s project will also include the physicists Leo Kouwenhoven of Delft University, Charles M. Marcus of the University of Copenhagen, David Reilly of the University of Sydney and Matthias Troyer of E.T.H. Zurich.
They will all become Microsoft employees as part of the Artificial Intelligence and Research Group that Microsoft recently created under the leadership of one of its top technical employees, Harry Shum.
Microsoft’s newly hired physicists say the decision to try to build a topological quantum computer comes after scientific advances made in the last two years that give the scientists growing confidence that the company will be able to create more stable qubits.
“The magic recipe involves a combination of semiconductors and superconductors,” Dr. Marcus said. The researchers recently made a “remarkable breakthrough” in their ability to control the materials used to form qubits, he said. Most of the competing approaches involve cooling quantum computers to near absolute zero temperatures.
So far, there are relatively few proven algorithms that could be used to solve problems more quickly than today’s digital computers. One early effort, known as Shor’s algorithm, would be used to factor numbers, giving hope that quantum computers might be used in the future for breaking codes.
That would potentially have world-shaking consequences because modern electronic commerce is built on cryptographic systems that are largely unbreakable using conventional digital computers. Other proposed approaches might allow faster searching of databases or perform machine learning algorithms, which are being used to make advances in computer vision and speech recognition.
More immediately, however, these tools might advance the basic understanding of physics, a possibility the physicist Richard P. Feynman mentioned when he speculated about the idea of a quantum computer in 1982.
For his part, Dr. Kouwenhoven said, “My dream application for a quantum computer would be a machine that could solve problems in quantum physics.”
(The New York Times)On most trips to Venice you will tend to find that there is far more to see and do than you will ever manage to fit into your visit. To stay for an extended period of time however makes things a little different. The city is in actuality a very small place, and with an economy geared almost exclusively towards tourism it can be an expensive place to try and call home. Here in Scotland it is easy to entertain yourself without spending money, as there is a bounty of free museums and galleries to immerse yourself in. In Italy they are not so fortunate.
As a UNESCO heritage site in its entirety, you often hear of Venice referred to as one big free museum in itself, which in a way it is, and this is something I took full advantage of. However, it is a small place as I said, and given enough time, which I had, you can explore it all. For this reason, my quest for free heritage took me on the unexpected pleasure of visit to Isola di San Michele, or as some refer to it, “Cemetery Island.”
On paper this sounds like a remarkably morbid day out, and unsurprisingly some people commented that it was an odd way to spend a day off in Venice. What was surprising though, is that nothing could be further from the truth. What you find at San Michele is that for an island dedicated solely to laying the dead to rest, it is brimming with life. It’s a refreshingly green space; something that is hard to come by in Venice when the Bienale grounds are closed and the January trees are bare. The mere sight of grass is a rare treat but combined with the rolling swathes of flowers it is a truly beautiful sight. For a 200-year-old cemetery there are very few forgotten graves. To appropriate the popular Albert Camus quote, even in “the midst of winter,” you can find an “invincible summer” at Isola di San Michele.
Despite its unexpected natural beauty, it is San Michele’s collected history that provides its real intrigue. If the city of Venice is an open-air museum, then its adjacent Cemetery Island most certainly is too. The most obvious of its collected points of interest is the Chiesa di San Michele all’Isola, built in 1469 by Mauro Cadussi and is the very first example of what is now Venice’s famed renaissance architecture. The cemetery is also the sight of several notable graves, including Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, the physicist Christian Doppler, pioneering Italian psychiatrist Franco Basaglia, and the modernist poet responsible for the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses, Ezra Pound.
However it is in its subtleties that San Michele functions as a fascinating museum. By progressing through the islands generally linear chronology of tombs, the graves of Cemetery Island form a series of timelines, revealing a number of histories on top of the individuals they represent. For example, the designs of the headstones over time are very telling. The earliest examples are awash with grandiose catholic imagery, which dominate and often spill out into their surrounding environment. As a nation that still retains a powerful Christian identity, the religious imagery of the graves never ceases, but there is a definite “tapering down” of it displayed over time. The most striking change in design trends comes as you progress into the interwar period of the 1920s and 30’s, where the headstones take on the austere simplicity of the art deco styles popular with the fascist movements of the period and its instantly recognisable accompanying typography. As you move through the 50’s and into the present you finally see a shift to graves representing the individual above faith and ideology. Although smaller they become more personal, with a softer, warmer image that is indicative of the increasing personal freedoms that their compatriots of the 200 previous years, for whatever reasons at the time, did not share.
Another interesting change that occurs at around the 1920’s mark is brought about by the advent of photography and the curious catholic tradition of furnishing headstones with portraits of their deceased. While a little jarring at first to those not used to them, they are fascinating historical documents. When collected they form almost 100 years worth of formal photography styles, hairstyles and “Sunday Best” fashions. Once again there is a visible change in attitudes over time too, with a relaxing of the |
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