text: Latest News Lifestyle You may be flying in a car sooner than you think Technology changes based on safety considerations and electric power reshape the design and implementation processes Published 9 months ago on January 14, 2018 By Seraphim Hanisch 6,692 Views Share Tweet On January 8th at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, the latest in a varied line of prototype "flying cars" was unveiled. The new entry, dubbed the "Volocopter" actually flew across the stage, showing that the technology does work. Volocopter is a joint venture with Intel to develop a system that flies passengers on short hop flights, like a taxi service. Presently the battery life in these machines is about 27 minutes, but they hope to get a reliable one-hour endurance out of the production models when they arrive. The copter is not really a flying car so much as it is an 18-rotor drone that a human can ride in. With the advent of multi-rotor technologies, this variant on the drone design offers vertical take off and landing, the ability to hover, and fly-by wire control that is very precise. This was the German startup's first demonstration in the USA, though as the reader can see from the above video, this device has been in testing in Dubai for quite some time, and in fact, Dubai has an order of these they are awaiting. This is only one of several companies working on this technology. Terrafugia is developing the TF-X as a hybrid powered flying car with four passengers, VTOL capability, computer-controlled navigation and high cruise speeds, in real flight, of 200 mph (325km/hr) and a 500-mile (800km) range. The cruise mode is powered by a conventional gasoline engine which also recharges the electric VTOL systems. Aeromobil is a Slovakian contender for this market. It's eponymous vehicle is also a true flying car, and it looks very much like an airplane, powered by a turbocharged boxer engine in the air, and a hybrid electrical system on the ground. Google founder Larry Page endowed US$100 million to this next venture company, Zee.Aero. Yes, that is how the name looks. We do not have a rendering of this car, much less a flying model, but we do have a diagram that is quite interesting, as the car appears to combine both drone-like and fixed wing technologies. This is actually a likely standard since a traditional fixed wing requires the driver to take the vehicle to an airport before taking off. This also mandates that the driver of the vehicle actually be a pilot. By comparison, the drone-styled vehicles are often computer-controlled, following an autopilot's directives to go from point to point. But here is Zee Aero for consideration: The last flying car in our survey is not the last of the field. There are many more, by Moller Industries, Airbus and other enterprises large and small. But this one is unique. While a fixed-wing design, this vehicle nevertheless has VTOL capability and it is considered a jet-powered vehicle. Meet the Lilium: This cool machine uses electrically powered ducted fans to create jet propulsion for take off and landing vertically, and then the jet's directions are changed to accelerate the vehicle into real flight. The expectation is to get a car that can fly at about 185 miles per hour (300km), and take off and land everywhere. This industry is a race, and it remains to be seen who will cross the finish line with a production vehicle first. However, as we see, there are already prototypes taking to the air, so it shouldn't be too long now! Liked it? Take a second to support The Duran on Patreon! Related Topics:dronevolocopterliliumZee.AeroAirbusIntelTerrafugiaflying carscopterVTOL Up Next Chelsea Clinton dares to lecture Trump on Haiti, forgetting her family's historic robbery of the island Don't Miss CNN meltdown over Trump is deranged and selfish Advertisement You may like Condoms now REQUIRED to be made available at Boy Scouts gathering "Listen to us now" as Russia completes trials of miniature nuclear reactors for drone and missile propulsion US Air Force to test "flying aircraft carriers" Click to comment Leave a Reply This comment form is under antispam protection This comment form is under antispam protection Subscribe Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments Latest Russia's Economy Little Harmed by West's Sanctions Putin has been succeeding despite what the US aristocracy (and its allied aristocracies in Europe and Arabia) have been throwing to weaken Russia. Published 19 hours ago on September 25, 2018 By Eric Zuesse Originally posted at strategic-culture.org: Despite Barack Obama's economic sanctions against Russia, and the plunge in oil prices that King Saud agreed to with Obama's Secretary of State John Kerry on 11 September 2014, the economic damages that the US and Saudis have aimed against a particular oil-and-gas giant, Russia, have hit mostly elsewhere — at least till now. This has been happening while simultaneously Obama's violent February 2014 coup overthrowing Ukraine's democratically elected pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych (and the head of the 'private CIA' firm Stratfor calls it "the most blatant coup in history") has caused Ukraine's economy to plunge even further than Russia's, and corruption in Ukraine to soar even higher than it was before America's overthrow of that country's final freely elected nationwide government, so that Ukraine's economy has actually been harmed far more than Russia's was by Obama's coup in Ukraine and Obama's subsequent economic sanctions against Russia (sanctions that are based on clear and demonstrable Obama lies but that continue and even get worse under Trump). Bloomberg News headlined on February 4th of 2016, "These Are the World's Most Miserable Economies" and reported the "misery index" rankings of 63 national economies as projected in 2016 and 60 as actual in 2015 — a standard ranking-system that calculates "misery" as being the sum of the unemployment-rate and the inflation-rate. They also compared the 2016 projected rankings to the 2015 actual rankings. Top rank, #1 both years — the most miserable economy in the world during 2015 and 2016 — was Venezuela, because of that country's 95% dependence upon oil-export earnings (which crashed when oil-prices plunged). The US-Saudi agreement to flood the global oil market destroyed Venezuela's economy. #2 most-miserable in 2015 was Ukraine, at 57.8. But Ukraine started bouncing back so that as projected in 2016 it ranked #5, at 26.3. Russia in 2015 was #7 most-miserable in 2015, at 21.1, but bounced back so that as projected in 2016 it became #14 at 14.5. Bloomberg hadn't reported misery-index rankings for 2014 showing economic performances during 2013, but economist Steve H. Hanke of Johns Hopkins University did, in his "Measuring Misery Around the World, May 2014," in the May 2014 GlobeAsia, ranking 90 countries; and, during 2013 (Yanukovych's final year as Ukraine's President before his being forced out by Obama's coup), Ukraine's rank was #23 and its misery-index was 24.4. Russia's was #36 and its misery index was 19.9. So: those can be considered to be the baseline-figures, from which any subsequent economic progress or decline (after Obama's 2014 Ukrainian coup) may reasonably be calculated. Hanke's figures during the following year, 2014, were reported by him at Huffington Post, "The World Misery Index: 108 Countries", and by UAE's Khaleej Times, "List of Most Miserable Countries" (the latter falsely attributing that ranking to Cato Institute, which had merely republished Hanke's article). In 2014, Ukraine's misery-index, as calculated by Hanke, was #4, at 51.8. That year had 8 countries above 40 in Hanke's ranking. Russia was #42 at 21.42. So: Russia's rank had improved, but, because of the globally bad economy, Russia's absolute number was slightly worse (higher) than it had been before Obama's coup in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions against Russia. By contrast, Ukraine's rank had suddenly gotten far worse, #4 at 51.80 in 2014, after having been #23 at 24.4 in 2013. The figures in Bloomberg for Russia were: during 2015, #7 with a misery-index of 21.1; and projected during 2016, #14 with a misery-index of 14.5; so, Bloomberg too showed a 2015-2016 improvement for Russia, and not only for Ukraine (where in the 2016 projection it ranked #5, at 26.3, a sharp improvement after the horrendous 2015 actual numbers). "Hanke's Annual Misery Index — 2017" in Forbes, showed 98 countries, and Venezuela was still #1, the worst; Ukraine was now #9 at 36.9; and Russia was #36 at 18.1. Thus: whereas Russia was economically sunningly stable at #36 from start to finish throughout the entire five-year period 2013-2017, starting with a misery-index of 19.9 in 2013 and ending with 18.1 in 2017, Ukraine went from a misery-index of 24.4 in 2013 to 36.9 in 2017 — and worsening its rank from #23 to #9. During that five-year period Ukraine's figure peaked in the year of Obama's coup at 57.8. So, at least Ukraine's misery seems to be heading back downward in the coup's aftermath, though it's still considerably worse than before the coup. But, meanwhile, Russia went from 19.9 to 18.1 — and had no year that was as bad as Ukraine's best year was during that period of time. And, yet: that coup and the economic sanctions and the US-Saudi oil-agreement were targeted against Russia — not against Ukraine. If the US were trying to punish the people of Ukraine, then the US coup in Ukraine would have been a raving success; but actually Obama didn't care at all about Ukrainians. He cared about the owners of America's weapons-making firms and of America's extractive firms. Trump likewise. During that same period (also using Hanke's numbers) the United States went from #71 at 11.0 in 2013, to #69 at 8.2 in 2017. US was stable. Saudi Arabia started with #40 18.9 during 2013, to #30 at 20.2 in 2017. That's improvement, because the Kingdom outperformed the global economy. During the interim, and even in the years leading up to 2014, Russia had been (and still is) refocusing its economy away from Russia's natural resources and toward a broad sector of high technology: military R&D and production. On 15 December 2014, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute headlined, "Sales by Largest Arms Companies Fell Again in 2013, but Russian Firms' Sales Continued Rising," and reported, "Sales by companies headquartered in the United States and Canada have continued to moderately decrease, while sales by Russian-based companies increased by 20 per cent in 2013." The following year, SIPRI bannered, on 14 December 2015, "Global Arms Industry: West Still Dominant Despite Decline," and reported that, "Despite difficult national economic conditions, the Russian arms industry's sales continued to rise in 2014. … 'Russian companies are riding the wave of increasing national military spending and exports. There are now 11 Russian companies in the Top 100 and their combined revenue growth over 2013–14 was 48.4 per cent,' says SIPRI Senior Researcher Siemon Wezeman. In contrast, arms sales of Ukrainian companies have substantially declined. … US companies' arms sales decreased by 4.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014, which is similar to the rate of decline seen in 2012–13. … Western European companies' arms sales decreased by 7.4 per cent in 2014." This is a redirection of the Russian economy that Vladimir Putin was preparing even prior to Obama's war against Russia. Perhaps it was because of the entire thrust of the US aristocracy's post-Soviet determination to conquer Russia whenever the time would be right for NATO to strike and grab it. Obama's public ambivalence about Russia never persuaded Putin that the US would finally put the Cold War behind it and end its NATO alliance as Russia had ended its Warsaw Pact back in 1991. Instead, Obama continued to endorse expanding NATO, right up to Russia's borders (now even into Ukraine) — an extremely hostile act. By building the world's most cost-effective designers and producers of weaponry, Russia wouldn't only be responding to America's ongoing hostility — or at least responding to the determination of America's aristocracy to take over Russia, which is the world's largest trove of natural resources — but would also expand Russia's export-earnings and international influence by selling to other countries weaponry that's less-burdened with the costs of sheer corruption than are the armaments that are being produced in what is perhaps the world's most corrupt military-industrial complex: America's. Whereas Putin has tolerated corruption in other areas of Russia's economic production (figuring that those areas are less crucial for Russia's future), he has rigorously excluded it in the R&D and production and sales of weaponry. Ever since he first came into office in 2000, he has transformed post-Soviet Russia from being an unlimitedly corrupt satellite of the United States under Boris Yeltsin, to becoming truly an independent nation; and this infuriates America's aristocrats (who gushed over Yeltsin). The Russian government-monopoly marketing company for Russia's weapons-manufacturers, Rosoboronexport, presents itself to nations around the world by saying: "Today, armaments and military equipment bearing the Made in Russia label protect independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of dozens of countries. Owing to their efficiency and reliability, Russian defense products enjoy strong demand on the global market and maintain our nation's leading positions among the world's arms exporters. For the past several years, Russia has consistently ranked second behind the United States as regards arms exports." That's second-and-rising, as opposed to America's first-and-falling. The American aristocracy's ever-growing war against Russia posed and poses to Putin two simultaneous challenges: both to reorient away from Russia's natural resources, which the global aristocracy wants to grab, and also to reorient toward the area of hi-tech in which the Soviets had built a basis from which Russia could become truly cost-effective in international commerce, so as to, simultaneously, increase Russia's defensive capability against an expanding NATO, while also replacing some of Russia's dependence upon the natural resources that the West's aristocrats want to steal. In other words: Putin designed a plan to meet two challenges simultaneously — military and economic. His primary aim is to protect Russia from being grabbed by the American and Saudi aristocrats, via America's NATO and the Sauds' Gulf Cooperation Council and other alliances (which are trying to take over Russia's ally Syria — Syria being a crucial location for pipelining Arab royals' oil-and-gas into Europe, the world's largest energy-market). In addition, the hit to Russia's economic growth-rate from the dual-onslaught of Obama's sanctions and the plunging oil prices hasn't been too bad. The World Bank's April 2015 "Russia Economic Report" predicted: "Growth prospects for 2015-2016 are negative. It is likely that when the full effects of the two shocks become evident in 2015, they will push the Russian economy into recession. The World Bank baseline scenario sees a contraction of 3.8 percent in 2015 and a modest decline of 0.3 percent in 2016. The growth spectrum presented has two alternative scenarios that largely reflect differences in how oil prices are expected to affect the main macro variables." The current (as of 15 February 2016) "Russia GDP Annual Growth Rate" at Trading Economics says: "The Russian economy shrank 3.8 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2015, following a 4.1 percent contraction in the previous period, according to preliminary estimates from the Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev. It is the worst performance since 2009 [George W. Bush's global economic crash], as Western sanctions and lower oil prices hurt external trade and public revenues." The current percentage as of today, 17 September 2018, is 1.9%, after having plunged down from 2.2% in late 2017, to 0.9% in late 2017; so, it is rebounding. The World Bank's April 2015 "Russia Economic Report" went on to describe "The Government Anti-Crisis Plan": On January 27, 2014, the government adopted an anti-crisis plan with the goal to ensure sustainable economic development and social stability in an unfavorable global economic and political environment. It announced that in 2015–2016 it will take steps to advance structural changes in the Russian economy, provide support to systemic entities and the labor market, lower inflation, and help vulnerable households adjust to price increases. To achieve the objectives of positive growth and sustainable medium-term macroeconomic development the following measures are planned: • Provide support for import substitution and non-mineral exports; • Support small and medium enterprises by lowering financing and administrative costs; • Create opportunities for raising financial resources at reasonable cost in key economic sectors; • Compensate vulnerable households (e.g., pensioners) for the costs of inflation; • Cushion the impact on the labor market (e.g. provide training and increase public works); • Optimize budget expenditures; and • Enhance banking sector stability and create a mechanism for reorganizing systemic companies. So: Russia's anti-crisis plan was drawn up and announced on 27 January 2014, already before Yanukovych was overthrown, even before Obama's agent Victoria Nuland on 4 February 2014 instructed the US Ambassador in Ukraine whom to have appointed to run the government when the coup would be completed ("Yats," who did get appointed). Perhaps, in drawing up this plan, Putin was responding to scenes from Ukraine like this. He could see that what was happening in Ukraine was an operation financed by the US CIA. He could recognize what Obama had in mind for Russia. The "Russia Economic Report, May 2018: Modest Growth Ahead" says: Global growth continued its 2017 momentum in early 2018. Global growth reached a stronger than- expected 3 percent in 2017 — a notable recovery from a post-crisis low of 2.4 percent in 2016. It is currently expected to peak at 3.1 percent in 2018. Recoveries in investment, manufacturing, and trade continue as commodity-exporting developing economies benefit from firming commodity prices (Figure 1a). The improvement reflects a broad-based recovery in advanced economies, robust growth in commodity-importing Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs), and an ongoing rebound in commodity exporters. Growth in China – and important trading partner for Russia – is expected to continue its gradual slowdown in 2018 following a stronger than-expected 6.9 percent in 2017. Putin's economic plan has softened the economic blow upon the masses, even while it has re-oriented the economy toward what would be the future growth-areas. The country that Putin in 2000 had taken over and inherited from the drunkard Yeltsin (so beloved by Western aristocrats because he permitted them to skim off so much from it) was a wreck even worse than it had been when the Soviet Union ended. Putin immediately set to work to turn it around, in a way that could meet those two demands. Apparently, Putin has been succeeding — now even despite what the US aristocracy (and its allied aristocracies in Europe and Arabia) have been throwing to weaken Russia. And the Russian people know it. PS: The present reporter is an American, and used to be a Democrat, not inclined to condemn Democratic politicians, but Obama's grab for Russia was not merely exceedingly dangerous for the entire world, it is profoundly unjust, it is also based on his (and most Republicans') neoconservative lies, and so I don't support it, and I no longer support Obama or his and the Clintons' Democratic Party, at all. But this certainly doesn't mean that I support the Republican Party, which is typically even worse on this (and other matters) than Democratic politicians are. On almost all issues, I support Bernie Sanders, but I am not a part of anyone's political campaign, in any way Liked it? Take a second to support The Duran on Patreon! Continue Reading Latest Viktor Orban strikes back at EU. Visits Moscow to do business with Putin (Video) The Duran – News in Review – Episode 117. Published 19 hours ago on September 25, 2018 By Alex Christoforou The Duran's Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss Viktor Orban's recent trip to Moscow following a contentious EU Parliament session where the Hungarian PM was punished by MEPs with an Article 7 sanctioning of Hungary, for daring to take on the George Soros globalist paymaster. Remember to Please Subscribe to The Duran's YouTube Channel. Authored by John Laughland via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity: The "salon des refusés" of political dissidents in the EU is getting bigger by the day. Less than a week after his government was condemned in a vote in the European parliament, Orban is in Moscow for talks about energy with Putin. His visit to Russia is the political equivalent of giving the EU the finger following last week's humiliation. Orban is not alone. In his battle with the EU over immigration and the rule of law, he is supported by Poland and the Czech Republic. Poland, which is also facing an Article 7 procedure against it by the European Commission, has vowed to protect Hungary, just as Hungary has vowed to protect Poland. So there is no way that the voting rights of either country can be removed, since the ultimate vote to do so requires unanimity. Orban also recently received the support of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and of the Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini. These politicians have voiced support for Orban's stance against immigration. But they also support his pragmatic approach to Russia. Salvini is a well-known critic of the Russia sanctions, and Italy has said they should end. Parts of the Austrian government agree, the Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl having recently had Putin as a personal guest of honor at her wedding, while the Vice-Chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, is well known for his pro-Russian and pro-Putin views. On the other hand, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has reassured critics that Austria is rooted in the EU and shares its stance towards Russia. The striking thing about Orban, and about his Central European allies (who incidentally include the Czech President Milos Zeman), is that they are from countries which, as Orban puts it, suffered greatly "under Russia" in the past. He is referring to the countries' membership of the Warsaw Pact, and their subjection to communist rule, after World War II. In Hungary's case, the suffering was especially violent because of the suppression of the 1956 revolution in Budapest by Soviet troops. Yet it is precisely these countries who today advocate a pragmatic relationship with Russia, while countries such as Britain, and even Germany, treat Russia as if it were still a communist dictatorship with the Cold War in full swing. The irony is all the greater because Orban personally played a key role – but one which is often forgotten by historians – in bringing about the end of Soviet rule in Central Europe. His speech in Heroes' Square in Budapest on June 16, 1989 on the occasion of the re-burial of the leader of the 1956 uprising, Imre Nagy, was the first time anyone in the Warsaw Pact had publicly called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The very making of this speech showed that the old taboos – and, with them, the power of the communist dictatorship – had collapsed. This was two months before the Hungarian government opened its border with Austria, allowing tens of thousands of East Germans to cross into West Germany, and five months before the Berlin wall came down. Orban's contribution to the chain reaction which led to these later events was therefore decisive. There is only one explanation for this apparent paradox that some former anti-communist Central European leaders are now pro-Russian. Unlike their Western colleagues, who were never directly affected by communist rule, the states of the former Warsaw Pact understand not only that Russia is no longer the old USSR, having abandoned communism, but also that national identity, and pride in national identity, were the key to undoing communist rule in Central Europe and then in Russia itself. Orban's 1989 speech was a patriotic appeal to Hungarians: it traced their battle for national freedom back to 1848. Freedom and national pride went hand in hand. As in Poland, where not only national identity but also religion played a key role in the downfall of communism, Hungarians (and Czechs and many others) now see with dismay that same national identity which freed them from communism under attack from the new commissars in Brussels. This is because the approach in Western Europe is directly the opposite. Pride in one's nation is considered backward and dangerous, largely because national pride was irredeemably damaged during the war. The fact is that all the early member states of the EU were defeated in the war, whether by the Germans or by the Allies. During the process of defeat, national pride was ruined, either through the barbarism of Nazism and fascism or through various forms of nationalist collaboration with it. All these stain the national record. Only in Britain was national pride the key to victory; for everyone else it was the key to defeat. (The only partial exception to this rule is France, which retained some sense of national pride after the war. But, in later decades, the memory of the Gaullist resistance was effaced by a stronger memory of the national shame of Vichy.) Because of this, Western European states have adopted the EU ideology, according to which European history before the creation of the EU was nothing but wars between nation-states. Indeed, national rivalry was the key to these wars. In order for there to be peace, it is argued, Europe's nation-states must be dissolved in a supranational entity. Germany has accomplished the task of making a clean slate of its national history in a more complete manner than any other European state but the other countries share parts, sometimes large parts, of this same German historiographical and political model. To be sure, the states of Central Europe have skeletons in their own cupboards concerning the war. Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany throughout it. But the more recent memory of national victory over communism has rekindled national pride, whereas the Western European states have not enjoyed any comparable victory and so they instead put all their faith in the post-national and post-modern European project. Moreover, whereas Communism was largely rejected as an ideology by the people living under it – including in Soviet Russia – the ideology of liberalism has penetrated very deeply into the Western European consciousness, to the extent even of extinguishing national sentiment. Liberalism has been more successful in this regard than communism was, even though orthodox Marxism also called for an end to the nation-state. This East-West fracture is a major ideological dividing line inside the European Union. The vote in the European Parliament last week, in which over two thirds of MEPs ganged up on a member state in the name of their biased interpretation of "the rule of law," was a historic moment which brought into the open the depth of this radically different approach to politics and history. Opposite attitudes to Russia are also part of this division. As Marx said, history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce, as we saw in Strasbourg last week: the European Union, like the Soviet Union, will in due course discover that national identity is stronger even than its political ideology. Laughland is a Member of the RPI Board of Advisors. Reprinted with permission from RT. Liked it? Take a second to support The Duran on Patreon! Continue Reading Latest The Magnitsky affair: the confession of a hustled hack A Cypriot journalist's confession of how he too fell for the wrong account of the Magnitsky Affair Published 19 hours ago on September 25, 2018 By Elias Hazou Before getting down to brass tacks, let me say that I loathe penning articles like this; loathe writing about myself or in the first person, because a reporter should report the news, not be the news. Yet I grudgingly make this exception because, ironically, it happens to be newsworthy. To cut to the chase, it concerns Anglo-American financier Bill Browder and the Sergei Magnitsky affair. I, like others in the news business I'd venture to guess, feel led astray by Browder. This is no excuse. I didn't do my due diligence, and take full responsibility for erroneous information printed under my name. For that, I apologize to readers. I refer to two articles of mine published in a Cypriot publication, dated December 25, 2015 and January 6, 2016. Browder's basic story, as he has told it time and again, goes like this: in June 2007, Russian police officers raided the Moscow offices of Browder's firm Hermitage, confiscating company seals, certificates of incorporation, and computers. Browder says the owners and directors of Hermitage-owned companies were subsequently changed, using these seized documents. Corrupt courts were used to create fake debts for these companies, which allowed for the taxes they had previously paid to the Russian Treasury to be refunded to what were now re-registered companies. The funds stolen from the Russian state were then laundered through banks and shell companies. The scheme is said to have been planned earlier in Cyprus by Russian law enforcement and tax officials in cahoots with criminal elements. All this was supposedly discovered by Magnitsky, whom Browder had tasked with investigating what happened. When Magnitsky reported the fraud, some of the nefarious characters involved had him arrested and jailed. He refused to retract, and died while in pre-trial detention. In my first article, I wrote: "Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian accountant, died in jail in 2009 after he exposed huge tax embezzlement…" False. Contrary to the above story that has been rehashed countless times, Magnitsky did not expose any tax fraud, did not blow the whistle. The interrogation reports show that Magnitsky had in fact been summoned by Russian authorities as a witness to an already ongoing investigation into Hermitage. Nor he did he accuse Russian investigators Karpov and/or Kuznetsov of committing the $230 million treasury fraud, as Browder claims. Magnitsky did not disclose the theft. He first mentioned it in testimony in October 2008. But it had already been reported in the New York Times on July 24, 2008. In reality, the whistleblower was a certain Rimma Starova. She worked for one of the implicated shell companies and, having read in the papers that authorities were investigating, went to police to give testimony in April 2008 – six months before Magnitsky spoke of the scam for the first time (see here and here). Why, then, did I report that about Magnitsky? Because at the time my sole source for the story was Team Browder, who had reached out to the Cyprus Mail and with whom I communicated via email. I was provided with 'information', flow charts and so on. All looking very professional and compelling. At the time of the first article, I knew next to nothing about the Magnitsky/Browder affair. I had to go through media reports to get the gist, and then get up to speed with Browder's latest claims that a Cypriot law firm, which counted the Hermitage Fund among its clients, had just been 'raided' by Cypriot police. The article had to be written and delivered on the same day. In retrospect I should have asked for more time – a lot more time – and Devil take the deadlines. For the second article, I conversed briefly on the phone with the soft-spoken Browder himself, who handed down the gospel on the Magnitsky affair. Under the time constraints, and trusting that my sources could at least be relied upon for basic information which they presented as facts, I went along with it. I was played. But let's be clear: I let myself down too. In the ensuing weeks and months, I didn't follow up on the story as my gut told me something was wrong: villains and malign actors operating in a Wild West Russia, and at the centre of it all, a heroic Magnitsky who paid with his life – the kind of script that Hollywood execs would kill for. Subsequently I mentally filed away the Browder story, while being aware it was in the news. But the real red pill was a documentary by Russian filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov, which came to my attention a few weeks ago. Titled 'The Magnitsky Act – Behind The Scenes', it does a magisterial job of depicting how the director initially took Browder's story on faith, only to end up questioning everything. The docudrama dissects, disassembles and dismantles Browder's narrative, as Nekrasov – by no means a Putin apologist – delves deeper down into the rabbit hole. The director had set out to make a poignant film about Magnitsky's tragedy, but became increasingly troubled as the facts he uncovered didn't stack up with Browder's account, he claims. The 'aha' moment arrives when Nekrasov appears to show solid proof that Magnitsky blew no whistle. Not only that, but in his depositions – the first one dating to 2006, well before Hermitage's offices were raided – Magnitsky did not accuse any police officers of being part of the 'theft' of Browder's companies and the subsequent alleged $230m tax rebate fraud. The point can't be stressed enough, as this very claim is the lynchpin of Browder's account. In his bestseller Red Notice, Browder alleges that Magnitsky was arrested because he exposed two corrupt police officers, and that he was jailed and tortured because he wouldn't retract. We are meant to take Browder's word for it. It gets worse for Nekrasov, as he goes on to discover that Magnitsky was no lawyer. He did not have a lawyer's license. Rather, he was an accountant/auditor who worked for Moscow law firm Firestone Duncan. Yet every chance he gets, Browder still refers to Magnitsky as 'a lawyer' or 'my lawyer'. The clincher comes late in the film, with footage from Browder's April 15, 2015 deposition in a US federal court, in the Prevezon case. The case, brought by the US Justice Department at Browder's instigation, targeted a Russian national who Browder said had received $1.9m of the $230m tax fraud. In the deposition, Browder is asked if Magnitsky had a law degree in Russia. "I'm not aware that he did," he replies. The full deposition, some six hours long, is (still) available on Youtube. As penance for past transgressions, I watched it in its entirety. While refraining from using adjectives to describe it, I shall simply cite some examples and let readers decide on Browder's credibility. Browder seems to suffer an almost total memory blackout as a lawyer begins firing questions at him. He cannot recall, or does not know, where he or his team got the information concerning the alleged illicit transfer of funds from Hermitage-owned companies. This is despite the fact that the now-famous Powerpoint presentations – hosted on so many 'anti-corruption' websites and recited by 'human rights' NGOs – were prepared by Browder's own team. Nor does he recall where, or how, he and his team obtained information on the amounts of the 'stolen' funds funnelled into companies. When it's pointed out that in any case this information would be privileged – banking secrecy and so forth – Browder appears to be at a loss. According to Team Browder, in 2007 the 'Klyuev gang' together with Russian interior ministry officials travelled to Cyprus, ostensibly to set up the tax rebate scam using shell companies. But in his deposition, the Anglo-American businessman cannot remember, or does not know, how his team obtained the travel information of the conspirators. He can't explain how they acquired the flight records and dates, doesn't have any documentation at hand, and isn't aware if any such documentation exists. Browder claims his 'Justice for Magnitsky' campaign, which among other things has led to US sanctions on Russian persons, is all about vindicating the young man. Were that true, one would have expected Browder to go out of his way to aid Magnitsky in his hour of need. The deposition does not bear that out. Lawyer: "Did anyone coordinate on your behalf with Firestone Duncan about the defence of Mr Magnitsky?" Browder: "I don't know. I don't remember." Going back to Nekrasov's film, a standout segment is where the filmmaker looks at a briefing document prepared by Team Browder concerning the June 2007 raid by Russian police officers. In it, Browder claims the cops beat up Victor Poryugin, a lawyer with the firm. The lawyer was then "hospitalized for two weeks," according to Browder's presentation, which includes a photo of the beaten-up lawyer. Except, it turns out the man pictured is not Poryugin at all. Rather, the photo is actually of Jim Zwerg, an American human rights activist beaten up during a street protest in 1961 (see here and here). Nekrasov sits down with German politician Marieluise Beck. She was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace), which compiled a report that made Magnitsky a cause celebre. You can see Beck's jaw drop when Nekrasov informs her that Magnitsky did not report the fraud, that he was in fact under investigation. It transpires that Pace, as well as human rights activists, were getting their information from one source – Browder. Later, the Council of Europe's Andreas Gross admits on camera that their entire investigation into the Magnitsky affair was based on Browder's info and that they relied on translations of Russian documents provided by Browder's team because, as Gross puts it, "I don't speak Russian myself." That hit home – I, too, had been fed information from a single source, not bothering to verify it. I, too, initially went with the assumption that because Russia is said to be a land of endemic corruption, then Browder's story sounded plausible if not entirely credible. For me, the takeaway is this gem from Nekrasov's narration: "I was regularly overcome by deep unease. Was I defending a system that killed Magnitsky, even if I'd found no proof that he'd been murdered?" Bull's-eye. Nekrasov has arrived at a crossroads, the moment where one's mettle is tested: do I pursue the facts wherever they may lead, even if they take me out of my comfort zone? What is more important: the truth, or the narrative? Nekrasov chose the former. As do I. Like with everything else, specific allegations must be assessed independently of one's general opinion of the Russian state. They are two distinct issues. Say Browder never existed; does that make Russia a paradise? I suspect Team Browder may scrub me from their mailing list; one can live with that. Liked it? Take a second to support The Duran on Patreon! Continue Reading JOIN OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL Your donations make all the difference. Together we can expose fake news lies and deliver truth. Amount to donate in USD$: 5 100 Validating payment information... 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Trina Hosts Miami Listening Session for 'Back to Business'
Trina is getting ready for the Dec. 3 release of her new mixtape Back to Business. The femcee hosted a little shindig at Circle House recording studios in Miami, FL this week to let family, friends and tastemakers get an exclusive listen of her new music. Executive producer French Montana, DJ Khaled, Busta Rhymes, Norega and more were all there to lend their support. Check out scenes from the Back to Business listening session, and catch Trina on VH1's new talk show Tiny Tonight premiering on Dec. 9.


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Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Around our Summer
Hi everyone. It is so busy here. I blink and the day is over. Today I thought we could play match the bullet points to the photos. Ahhehehehegg-hemm. Here we go.
:: I am learning to look on the bright side of the garden. Flowers are blooming in riotous ways.
:: I am learning to ignore the dark side of the garden. Weeds are blooming in riotous ways.
:: I need to dig up and rearrange a few things, but try not to think of that every time I walk by.
:: By a few things I mean almost all of it.
:: I have hired Joseph as my gardener. I love stroking his ego from the garden bench nursing the baby by telling him how awesome he is while he pulls weeds as tall as me from the dirt.
:: I could not be more excited about fabric right now! (This whole year really! Still two more collections to launch this year. ) My Hand Drawn Garden collection is here, there, and everywhere. They are a curation of my favorite Garden Party & Drawing Room prints, all rolled into one pretty group of quilting cottons.
:: And that pretty quilt- that's the Flight Map Quilt pattern that has been on hold for developing for like ever.
:: My life stopped for a bit there, remember?
:: It is starting again, and lots of projects that were on hold are getting their wheels turning towards completion.
:: I made some Pleasant Pathways Shorts for Juliana from one of the new colorways!
:: That's her up there in that riotous Canna. I can't wait to shed some baby chub and steal them right off her skinny little rear.
:: Oh and not that she needs me to make things for her seeing as how she has her own stinkin line of fabric now.
:: Yup. It's over here, and it's called Rosette. And I love it. Really love it. Soooo her.
:: We've used it quite a bit already. Baby dresses. Baby bloomers. Patchwork. Window Panels.
:: It looks so pretty with Denyse's Shelbourne Falls which I absoflippintutely adore. That is most of what is patching that rocker.
:: That is most of where I spend my time. In that rocker. Nursing. And watching documentaries on my phone while nursing. And drinking Pellegrino while watching documentaries on my phone while nursing.
:: Which has a lot to do with why some other things are moving slow.
:: So my downstairs studio got divided into a nursery and studio by way of a new wall and door.
:: It's pretty great I must say. I got that pretty rug here. I got that gorgeous Greek Needlepoint on Ebay. There's another one of a man playing a flute that I am going to frame and put over the piano. Because flute art goes over a piano, everyone knows that.
:: Juliana has been home all summer which is so beyond wonderful I can hardly express it. She has been using baby Mary Anna's new room because baby Mary Anna is of course in ours.
:: Everyone else is generally in their own.
:: Though we spend a lot of time (all of us) (yes that's nine people) in the new nursery.
:: We could have a 20,000 square foot home and I think we would still all cram into 50 sq. feet all day.
:: It's weird.
:: I can't wait to show you more pictures of the nursery. But the young fashion student turned fabric designer turned hey I can throw my stuff everywhere needs to pick up first.
:: She's really not that messy.
:: Roman is learning to take photos. (Find that one!)
:: I have a new class on CreativeBug!
:: I was quite pregnant during the video shoot for the last few classes.
:: I might look particularly tired in this new class, please don't let it distract you from the awesomeness of needlepointing onto a sweatshirt.
:: Cause it is awesome.
:: Jeff put a rope swing onto one of giant cedar trees in the back yard. The kids go crazy laughy screamy nuts out there pushing each other on it.
:: It's the terrifying kind of laughter that borders on I wonder if they are enjoying it or are about to really injure themselves.
:: That tree view above is all I can see from my studio window and all the swinging is blocked by branches.
:: I think it's for the best.
:: Also the little Miss smiles all the time the past few days.
:: When she's not crying or puking or sleeping that is.
:: In other words, she is the perfect baby.
25 comments:
You're very amusing. :) Love your fabric, and your daughter's. But I noticed hers costs more per yard than yours! That young thing is doing pretty well for herself! :DReplyDelete
Lovely baby!Replies
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Oh those dimples! Adore!ReplyDelete
Ah, your description almost made up for the fact that this is NOT my life! Seriously though, I love your outlook on life and so happy you share it with us! Congrats to Juliana and hey, I just realized little Mary Anna and His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge could be playmates! If they moved in next door to you, or you moved to England.ReplyDelete
This is one juicy nugget of an update post!ReplyDelete
Family talents, beautiful gardens... by the way, how do you get your flowers to show so perfectly with your gorgeous prints and fashions? I'm sure I will re-visit this post many times... it is so full, and up-lifting. I smile to think of the pleasures you all are enjoying around your summer.
Love all the bullet points! Every one - esp the super smiley Miss!!!....but, you ran through that one about the other new collections pretty fast! So, maybe you could repeat, with pictures - even ones that Roman takes! - any little tidbit will make us all deliriously delirious!!! Happy summer!ReplyDelete
Oh, congratulations to Juliana on her line! I spotted that Flight Map quilt right away. It has been on my mind. Glad it's still in the works. Take your time!ReplyDelete
I just bought some of your daughter's fabric today...it will be an ice cream tunic and is paired with some Denyse Schmidt...she did such a great job. My daughters gasped and had to have it made into something to wear.ReplyDelete
it looks like the perfect summer! i am totally digging juliana's fabric designs...i hope there is more in the pipeline!ReplyDeleteReplies
lots :) thanks for your support of her ! xoxoDelete
- mailergoat1:10 PM
Congratulations on a beautiful summer, and a beautiful outlook on life to see it that way! I don't think I know anyone in real life who would see the beauty you describe as overflowing, rather than leaking! I mean, I know lots of happy people but some might mention the hardships of having a new baby, several other children in the house, a busy work life, etc....go you!ReplyDelete
I saw your daughter's new line of fabric on an email from Joann's and ordered a yard of each print on a whim. I thought you might like to know (and maybe share with her) that these are the most beautiful fabrics I've ever purchased in my 7 years sewing. I am no expert, but the line feels so non-amateurish and artistic. No polka dots here! The designs seem kind of like Denyse Schmidt, but I really like the more dusty colors and the rose prints. I am making a quilt with them right now. You must be so proud! Congratulations to both of you!ReplyDelete
you're the best, love this post, nuff said! wish we were friends so you could teach me all your mothering ways...plus some awesome sewing on the side :) sweet family, and i think i'm definitely going to sign up for that new class.ReplyDelete
well maybe I said a little more, who cares?! take care sweet anna maria!!
All of these images are looking so incredible, I really appreciate your whole effort which you made for us. Thanks and just keep up the good work.ReplyDelete
all the stuff is really awesome and i will try out in upcoming Summer. thanks.ReplyDelete
Love all stuff and your photo! Great shoot dude..ReplyDelete
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Yes, I can count:
I started a second volume of Diesel Sweeties after doing 4,000 of them because I wanted to rebuild everything for Modern Internet Times.
You can still read every single DS 1.0 comic at their original URLs in the archives, starting here and ending here.
Who and What:
Diesel Sweeties is a pixel art webcomic by Richard Stevens 3. Sometimes the people kiss the robots. I used to be in newspapers. Let's not talk about that.
Other Stuff I make:
📱 The Pixel Project @iMore
☎ Coffee & Cider w/ @dcorsetto
Webcomics & Blogs I Like:
bobbins.horse ♥ ROBERT COP
Bad Machinery ♥ Exploding Dog
Creatures ♥ Octopus Pie
SFrmA Multiverse ♥ Dr. Cat, M.D.
Dinosaur Comics ♥ S*P
QC ♥ OverCompensating
Oh Joy Sex Toy! ♥ Family Man
Girls With Slingshots
Fleen ♥ Laughing Squid
BoingBoing ♥ Wil Wheaton
Find me elseweb:
Diesel Sweeties @ Topatoco!
Twitter ♥ Tumblr ♥ Google+
Wikipedia ♥ Facebook ♥ email
You may know me from:
🐷  Bacon is a Vegetable
🆒  I'm a Rocker. I Rock Out.
🎵 Music Venn diagram t-shirts
© 2000-2069 @rstevens
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License, but don't be a dick about it, ok?
I am trying very hard not to track you or require anything other than a modern browser and a little data. If you see anything weird, email me.
Hot-Blooded, Brew it and See
Tonight's comic has strong feelings about summer.
– @rstevens


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food&family Magazine
Spring brings a variety of things to Arizona. Spring training baseball games. Heat. Allergy attacks. Cinco de Mayo. I'm particularity fond of the last one on that list, Cinco de Mayo. Let's see…yummy Mexican food, margaritas and delicious desserts. Sign me up for that one! To prepare for Cinco de Mayo, I've been looking for fun new recipes to try. The Dulce de Leche Tres Leches Cake on Kraft's website sounded like a great one to whip up.
Tres Leches Cake means "the cake of three milks," and this has the added bonus of deep delicious caramel flavor from dulce de leche. This cake is really simple and quick to make, thanks to starting the recipe with a simple yellow cake mix.
After making your cake, you top it with a mixture of evaporated milk, KNUDSEN or BREAKSTONE'S Sour Cream and Mexican caramel spread (dulce de leche) that you combine in your blender.
Onto the hot cake the wonderful mixture of milk, sour cream and caramel sauce goes.
After giving the cake time to cool, you top with COOL WHIP and some of your remaining caramel sauce and it's ready to serve. Seriously simple here!
This would be a fabulous dessert to celebrate Cinco de Mayo or any occasion. It's so quick and easy that it's perfect if you are planning a meal and also need a dessert, but want to keep it simple, yet still special and impressive.
I could spend a month making all of the amazing different Dulce de Leche and Tres Leches recipes over on the Kraft site. Check out some of these scrumptious options…
Those are some pretty incredible options for Cinco de Mayo dessert recipes! Here is the Dulce de Leche Tres Leches Cake recipe. And if you are looking for some Cinco De Mayo recipes to eat before dessert (in case you aren't a dessert first type of person) make sure to check out all of the great Cinco De Mayo recipes over on Kraft. Enjoy!
Tres Leches Cake means "the cake of three milks." This one has the extra added bonus of deep caramel flavor from the dulce de leche recipe from Kraft.
Dulce De Leches Tres Leches Cake
HEAT oven to 350ºF.
PREPARE cake batter and bake as directed on package for 13x9-inch pan. Cool cake in pan 10 min. Pierce cake with large fork at 1/2-inch intervals.
MIX 2 Tbsp. caramel spread and water until blended; reserve for later use. Blend remaining caramel spread with evaporated milk and sour cream in blender until smooth. Pour over cake, re-piercing cake if necessary until all milk mixture is absorbed. Refrigerate 1 hour.
MICROWAVE reserved caramel spread mixture on HIGH 10 sec.; stir. Cool. Frost cake with COOL WHIP; drizzle with caramel. Keep refrigerated.
How to Easily Drizzle the Reserved Caramel
Use a spoon to drizzle the caramel sauce over the frosted cake. If the caramel is too thick, stir additional 1/2 tsp. water into the reserved caramel before drizzling over cake.
Bake an incredibly moist Dulce de Leche Tres Leches Cake for your next party! The deep caramel flavor of dulce de leche enhances the tres leches in the cake.
Total Time
Article by Kraft TasteMaker Christi Johnstone. For more recipes and ideas, visit her blog at Love From the Oven.
Please keep in mind that the bloggers opinions, advice and recipes are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Kraft Foods.
Receive free expert tips & inspiring weekly recipes right to your inbox.


text: AV Add Comment Share This! Facebook Twitter Google Plus Pinterest LinkedIn brucewebad December 13, 2016AV You may also like Arts & Culture Niagara Falls International Film Festival Rolls Out the Red Carpet September 26-29 for Filmmakers and Local Film Fans September 21, 2018 News • Opinion The University of Rochester's Relationship with the Military Should be More Transparent September 20, 2018 Featured • News • Uncategorized US Taxpayers Pay $90 Million to Help 55 Afghan Women Get New or Better Jobs in Afghanistan September 20, 2018 About the authorView All Posts AV Add Comment Click here to post a comment Leave a Reply Cancel reply Comment Share This! Facebook Twitter Google Plus Pinterest LinkedIn


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Ryan Trapp - Staff Writer
2011 Record (Big 12):8-5 (4-5)
Returning Starters (Off/Def/ST):17 (10/7/0)
The Longhorns' will field one of the best defenses in the country this season. Highlighted by the return of all-conference stand outs Jackson Jeffcoat, Alex Okafor, and Carrington Byndom, this group has not only a chance to be elite but the nation's best. Jeffcoat and Okafor combined for 15 sacks and 35 tackles for loss last season at the defensive end position and Byndom established himself as one of the best cover corners in football last season. The defense that limited opponents to a Big 12-best 315.3 yards per game also returns speedy linebackers Demarco Cobb and Jordan Hicks. Returning freshman All-American Quandre Diggs will contribute across from Byndom at the corner, and safety Kenny Vaccaro returns after an impressive junior season that had NFL scouts' mouths watering.
Mac Brown utilized both David Ash and Case McCoy under center last season and the position battle is one of the most intriguing in college football. Early indications are that the job is Ash's to lose, but McCoy outperformed the sophomore in game-action last year and won't hand over the starting job without a fight. Whoever starts will have a full stable of talented backs behind him. Sophomore Joe Bergeron was the break-out star in spring practice and Malcolm Brown returns after posting 742 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman. Incoming freshman Jonathan Gray is a true impact player. While Gray currently sits behind the sophomore tandem of Bergeron and Brown on the depth chart, the nation's top running back recruit is too talented to keep off the field. The three will find plenty of holes behind Texas' big offensive line that returns four starters. Out in the wings are some talented receivers in Mike Davis, Jaxon Shipley and Maquise Goodwin, whose presence will keep opposing teams honest against what could be one of the country's best ground attacks.
Texas has a crucial three-game stretch midseason against conference opponents Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Oklahoma. A trio of wins there should give them an early conference lead that will be put the test in back-to-back games against TCU and at Kansas State to close out the season. The Longhorns will need to gain some momentum on offense early in the season if they want to survive those tough patches in the schedule. However, with the defense Mac Brown will put on the field in 2012, they'll only need to be above-average to keep Texas in contention for a BCS championship berth.
BURNING QUESTION:Can Ash or McCoy take over the quarterback competition?
It's a question of upside vs. performance. Ash has a stronger presence in the pocket and is more gifted physically, but he hasn't been able to capitalize on those gifts as well as the Longhorns hoped. While McCoy has outperformed Ash on the field (throwing for a higher percentage, more scores and fewer interceptions), he has a lower ceiling according to scouts than his sophomore counterpart. To compete for a title both quarterbacks have to improve upon last season's performances. But Ash and McCoy won't need to put up Heismanesque numbers either. With the elite defense and running game the Longhorns possess, Texas just needs a quarterback who can manage the game well and limit turnovers. So far all signs point to Ash under center week one, but that's not guaranteed by any means. Mac Brown would like to see one of his signal-callers to step up and claim the starting job with authority.
Back to All News


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Another New 'Boxtrolls' Trailer/Music Video - Watch It Here!
JJJ will admit it, we're falling in love with The Boxtrolls just by watching the trailers!
The Boxtrolls, monsters who live underneath the charming streets of Cheesebridge, crawl out of the sewers at night to steal what the townspeople hold most dear: their children and their cheeses. At least, that's the legend the townspeople have always believed.
In truth, the Boxtrolls are a community of lovable oddballs who are raising as one of their own an abandoned and orphaned human boy named Eggs. When the Boxtrolls are targeted by a villainous exterminator who is bent on eradicating them, Eggs must venture aboveground to save them, where he teams with an adventurous young girl to save not only the Boxtrolls but the soul of Cheesebridge.
Featuring the voices of Elle Fanning, Simon Pegg, Toni Collette and Sir Ben Kingsley, The Boxtrolls opens September 24th, 2014!
"The Boxtrolls" Trailer #3
Posted to: Elle Fanning, Random


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18th August 2012, 10:33 PM
Charlie a 2 y/o Blenheim boy who is looking for a special forever home. He is now safe in private rescue but before that just lived in a barn with the tractor and was terrified of humans. His coat was so matted his back legs were stuck together. As you can see he is now living the high life with his fosterer and becoming more trusting but he would love to have a forever home, perhaps with another wee dog to help build his confidence. If you can offer him a forever home please contact Simone McInerney on email@example.com or on http://www.facebook.com/groups/198398893605930/#!/groups/198398893605930/ [homecheck will apply]


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Relaxed Beach Style
Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's stunning home tour.
Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's stunning home tour.
One of my favourite elements of this home are the picture perfect vignettes ~ natural corals and glass vessels sit beside textured, earthy ceramics and designer tomes. Art sourced from Signature on Hastings in Noosa includes contemporary abstract paintings by local artist Isabel Lawrence alongside shell studies by Jos Law and intricate etchings by Robyn Rayner. My home also features a few pieces of Jos Law's shell art which I love. If you are lucky enough to visit Noosa pop into 'Signature on Hastings' it is a treasure trove of beautiful things for beach house decorating. I am like a kid in a candy store in that shop!
Other enviable elements are the hand stained, limewashed American Oak floorboards, the lush tropical garden, the huge backyard for their kids to run around in and the veggie patch. Kate's four boys make good use of the pool and oversized garden. Kate loves nothing more than to sit in the garden on a Adirondack chair, cool drink in hand, watching the boys play games, swim and run free. It's a home that has captured that sought after Gold Coast lifestyle – a beautiful escape where both parents and kids have the space to laugh, play and relax.
Melissah xox
Photography by Steve Ryan| images via Queensland Homes, moodboard, fashion story by Coastal Style
Check out Coastal Style on Pinterest


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by John Smith, D&DH reader
My first day hunting the 2010 Wisconsin bow season nearly became my last.
On Nov. 8, I went to hunt a 40-acre wooded lot in the central part of the state. I have hunted the land more than 20 years. Although it is small, it features a nice oak ridge, creek bottom and small pines with good underbrush.
After reaching my chosen tree stand, I began the climb I had made hundreds of times before. I used climbing sticks strapped to the trunk to make my way up the tree.
As I crested the 24-foot climb and stepped onto the stand, the strap holding the climbing stick to the tree snapped. I began a long journey back toward the ground. My life flashed before my eyes. All I could think was "It's all gone" and "I'm going to die."
I hit the ground. I was alive, but I had doubts about my future.
I was bleeding from my ears, nose and mouth. When I tried to move my arms and legs, the pain in my back became excruciating. But I needed to get back my jacket near the tree, since my cell phone was in the pocket. Ten feet separated me and a rescue. But I couldn't move.
I cried out for help. No response. No one was around.
I needed to get to that tree. The fact I was still alive made me realize someone had more in store for me. I had no choice but to crawl.
I don't remember the crawl to the tree. The pain blocked that out of my memory. My next memory was seeing the phone had no service. I have sent text messages from the woods before, so I decided to try my wife. My text read, "I fell 911."
The pain forced me to roll onto my back. It proved to be a smart move. The phone suddenly had service. I called 911. Hearing the dispatcher's voice gave me the support I needed to make it through this ordeal.
As the Iola, Wisconsin, rescue team approached, I was overcome with emotion. I realized I was going to be OK. They airlifted me by helicopter to Theda Clark hospital. I spent 11 days being treated for two broken vertebrates. After surgery, I was able to walk again with the assistance of a walker. Best of all, I was home to be with my family for Thanksgiving. The whole family was together, the family I thought I was going to lose.
I am still healing as I write this article. I wanted to share my story to help other hunters. We all check our firearms and bows to make sure our aim is true. We check how clear our shooting lanes are for the season. We check that our clothes are washed and stored properly. We check the wind to determine which stands to hunt.
We also need to check our stands. They are some of the most neglected items of the entire hunt.
Many of us leave stands in the same trees for years. A lot can happen to wear down those stands. I did not replace the climbing stick straps on my stand because they come loose with a small tap on the fastener. Hunters may be putting their life in jeopardy for the same reason.
Remember this. The straps were the weakest link in my hunting chain. It almost cost me my life. As I stated earlier, someone has more work for me and offered me another chance at life. My first bit of work was writing this article to help educate my fellow hunters.
Don't think this can't happen to you. I was shocked to hear from my hospital caregivers that they may treat more than a dozen hunters a year due to falls. That's just at a single Wisconsin hospital treating reported falls. Not every fall is reported.
Please use my experience to prevent an unnecessary accident that may cost you your life.


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Even before considering the evidence in the case, defense lawyers for the accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzokhar A. Tsarnaev will have to devise a legal strategy with a clear priority — to save Tsarnaev from the death penalty, according to legal observers, who described a lengthy, complex process in federal capital cases.
"There's no easy way to defend a case like this," said Allison Burroughs, a lawyer in the Boston law firm Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP, and a former federal prosecutor.
Tsarnaev, 19, faces the possibility of the death sentence for two charges related to the two Marathon blasts: using a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, and malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive resulting in death. Attorney General Eric Holder will decide whether to seek the death penalty.
Legal observers said Tsarnaev and his defense team face a clear obstacle in challenging the charges: Tsarnaev is allegedly seen on video dropping one of the bombs only moments before it goes off. He also allegedly told a carjacking victim that he was the bomber, and allegedly led police on an explosive-filled car chase to Watertown, engaging them in a gunfight, and was discovered hiding in a boat after a massive manhunt that shut down Greater Boston for nearly a day.
"The first issue you have in these cases is, can you win with the guilt or innocence, and if you can't, the elephant in the room is whether your client is going to die or not," said Robert Sheketoff, a prominent defense lawyer who helped in the defense of Gary Lee Sampson, the only man to be sentenced to the death penalty in a federal court in Massachusetts in more than a half-century.
A federal judge in 2011 reversed a jury's verdict for the death penalty, however, and prosecutors have appealed.
Legal observers said the initial stages of a federal death penalty case can be complex. The head public defender in Boston, Miriam Conrad, has already asked the court to appoint additional lawyers with expertise in handling capital crimes.
The defense team would then have to ask US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz for a recommendation opposing the death penalty, which Holder could consider.
The process is secret and the defense lawyers would not know what Ortiz recommends. In seeking the death penalty, legal analysts said, prosecutors will probably note the devastation of what they have called a terror attack, while defense lawyers would note Tsarnaev's age, his lack of a criminal record, and the apparent influence of his older brother and alleged accomplice, Tamerlan, who was killed in the manhunt. The FBI had been warned by Russian authorities that Tamerlan had been turning to "radical Islam."
"This is going to be a highly complex case," said David Hoose of Sasson, Turnbull, Ryan & Hoose in Northampton, who has defended several death penalty cases and is preparing for one in Rhode Island this summer.
Hoose noted that three able public defenders have been appointed, but a specialist in capital crimes probably also will be assigned to the case.
"The amount of time involved means it's going to be someone who is going to have to dedicate a substantial portion or their entire practice to the case," he said.
One factor in deciding whether to seek the death penalty, Burroughs said, is whether the victims agree. In general, residents of Massachusetts seem to be opposed to the death penalty.
"If Massachusetts jurors were in favor of the death penalty, there would be a state penalty," she said.
But she and others also noted that the case could be moved, so that a fair trial could be held. However, defense lawyers may not want to gamble on a change of venue, she said: They would probably try to negotiate a plea deal to avoid the death penalty and secure a federal prison sentence. Tsarnaev could also negotiate a plea deal quickly to avoid the possibility of state charges and being sent to a state prison.
"I think the whole thing is going to be about getting him life and not death," said Burroughs. "I don't think anyone would go out to try and defend those videos."Milton J. Valencia can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.


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This lesson incorporates sea surface data collected by NASA satellites. Data for three surface characteristics- height, temperature and speed- are used for several activities. Students examine the differences in speed of currents relative to... (View More) distance from the Equator. Sea surface data anomalies are charted and further analyzed. In addition, surface current data is presented to examine patterns related to El Niño. Note that this is lesson three of five on the Ocean Motion website. Each lesson investigates ocean surface circulation using satellite and model data and can be done independently. See Related URL's for links to the Ocean Motion Website that provide science background information, data resources, teacher material, student guides and a lesson matrix. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free
This lesson uses NASA satellite data to contrast amounts of cloud coverage over different climate regions in Africa. It introduces the circulation pattern of Hadley Cells and the band of convergence and convection called the Intertropical... (View More) Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The lesson also discusses how frequent cloud cover and precipitation occur along the ITCZ and how climate affects the people living within its regions, particularly Aswan, Egypt and Kampala, Uganda. The lesson provides detailed procedures, related links and sample graphs, follow-up questions and extensions, and teacher notes. This lesson is from the MY NASA DATA project, which has created microsets from large scientific data sets, and wrapped them with tools, lesson plans, and supporting documentation so that a teacher, or anyone in the interested public, can use authentic NASA Earth system science data. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free


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Kate Upton Wet T-Shirt Photos
You know the pics have to be pretty good to be NSFW.
I have even included a gif that I have personally watched 74 times in the last hour. These are outtakes from her GQ Photoshoot and Turd Ferguson has blessed us with them.
Enjoy and if you want to thank me share with the world damnnit, share with the WORLD.
Here is one safe work pic for you.


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The never ending chase between the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote has been used in commercials over the years by a number of different companies. Matthew posted one of the ads for Plymouth last month. Here is a showcase of some other Road Runner related advertisements.
From 1981, Wile E. tries to catch the Road Runner, who is driving a Volkswagen Beetle:
From 1986, the duo play a major role in a bizarre advertisement for Hershey's chocolate... (How '80s can you get??):
Finally (for now, anyway), a priceless promo made for Cartoon Network (back when they were actually worth watching):


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WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. crude oil inventories and prices at gas stations fell last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
The agency said inventories declined by 1 million barrels to 371.6 million barrels. Supplies of crude oil remain well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year, the agency said in a report issued late Wednesday.
The national average price of gasoline at the pump fell by 9.5 cents in the week to $3.254 per gallon.
The current average price is 2.5 cents more than the price in the same week of 2011, the agency said.
The EIA said supplies of distillate fuels, which include home heating oil, fell by 1.1 million barrels to 117 million barrels. Inventories of distillate fuels, however, "remain well below" the lower limit of the average range, the agency said.
Stockpiles of gasoline rose by 2.2 million barrels to 219.3 million barrels this week, holding above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.


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Five U.S. agencies will finish the Volcker rule tomorrow after more than three years of Wall Street resistance to its limits on trading and investing. Lawmakers and their allies who want to rein in big banks are ready to pounce if it isn't strict enough.
Politicians and advocates -- some Democrats, some Republicans -- who blame the 2008 financial crisis on deregulation express concern that the Volcker rule won't adequately block banks from making risky bets with their own money. If they deem the rule too weak, they say it will add fuel to a push to reinstate a Depression-era law known as Glass-Steagall that until 1999 split banks and securities firms.
Such vows suggest U.S. lenders planning to challenge the ban in court risk a political backlash. A 2011 draft of the rule, required by the Dodd-Frank Act at the urging of former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, disappointed some politicians and organizations who wanted a stronger ban. Lawmakers already have drafted legislation.
"If people aren't satisfied with the implementation of this thing, that'll redouble the pressure to go back and look for something else," Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, an umbrella group of more than 250 organizations pushing for stronger restrictions on Wall Street. "The Volcker rule was the major thing that said that these guys just crashed the world economy and we're going to ban something."
The rule aims to reduce the chances that banks will put federally insured depositors' money at risk by banning proprietary trading. The Dodd-Frank Act proposed limited exemptions on the ban for some hedging and market-making trades. The debate since has focused on how those exemptions should be defined.
'Safety Net'
"The basic point is that there has been, and remains, a strong public interest in providing a 'safety net' –- in particular, deposit insurance and the provision of liquidity in emergencies –- for commercial banks carrying out essential services," Volcker, 86, said in testimony to Congress in 2010. "There is not, however, a similar rationale for public funds, taxpayer funds, protecting and supporting essentially proprietary and speculative activities."
Banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley have argued that the Volcker rule is too broad, poorly defined and could restrict credit and increase costs for their clients.
'Unintended Consequences'
"If regulators curtail all proprietary trading in the U.S. banking system I worry about the unintended consequences in terms of the ability of the financial markets to have sufficient liquidity to function properly," William Isaac, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. who now oversees Fifth Third Bancorp, said in an interview. "This is particularly worrisome with the economy at a time when the economy in the U.S. continues to limp along and in Europe appears to be sliding back into recession."
For their part, anti-Wall Street activists have lobbied for the opposite, to force banks to act more like a public utility and curb profit-seeking speculation.
"Philosophically, what we would like to see is the return to Glass-Steagall," said Bartlett Naylor, a lobbyist for Public Citizen. "When it came to Dodd-Frank, the closest we got was this."
The term Glass-Steagall usually refers to several provisions of the 1933 Banking Act that barred commercial banks from owning affiliates that underwrite and trade securities. The law included other measures to restore faith in the Depression- shattered banking system, including founding the FDIC to protect customers' savings in the event of a bank failure.
Firewall Breached
In 1999, Congress passed a deregulation law known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that repealed the parts of Glass-Steagall that built a firewall between investment and commercial banking.
During the congressional debate over Dodd-Frank, President Barack Obama and his administration argued that simply restoring Glass-Steagall was an imperfect response to the financial crisis. They noted that the most troubled investments of the largest banks came through mortgage lending, not trading.
"A huge amount of risk built up outside our banking system, outside the safeguards and protections we put in place in the Great Depression," Timothy Geithner, who headed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the crisis and served as Obama's first Treasury secretary, said last year in remarks to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. "That risk and leverage grew up, built up, very substantially, and when the storm hit it put enormous pressure on a part of the system that provided about half the credit to the American economy. Nothing to do with Glass-Steagall."
Symbolic Importance
In the Volcker rule, the administration and Glass-Steagall fans found an issue they could get behind, even while they clashed over its details.
"It really took on a symbolic importance," said Michael Barr, a former Treasury Department official who led the administration's push on Dodd-Frank. Barr, now a professor at the University of Michigan, said the embrace by the advocates was crucial to its inclusion in the law.
The view that deregulation of the financial industry in the 1990s was a prime cause of the 2008 crisis resonates with both Democrats and Republicans, and many of their proposed remedies have drawn support in both parties. One measure, championed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, is named the "21st Century Glass-Steagall Act" and aims to separate "traditional banks from riskier financial services."
Big-Bank Lobbyists
"We should not accept a financial system that allows the biggest banks to emerge from a crisis in record-setting shape while ordinary Americans continue to struggle," Warren said in a September speech marking the fifth anniversary of the turmoil. "And we should not accept a regulatory system that is so besieged by lobbyists for the big banks that it takes years to deliver rules, and then the rules that are delivered are often watered-down and ineffective."
Another proposal, sponsored by Senators Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, and David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, aims at the problem of large-scale bank failures without restoring Glass-Steagall. Instead, Brown and Vitter propose curbing the size of large banks by imposing a 15 percent capital requirement on them.
Next page: Victory 'Premature'
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BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- For a long time, I was interested in possibly signing up with Elite Personal Search. I did research for a long time and spoke to many people who knew first hand exactly how they work. After hearing nothing but positive reviews, I decided to check Elite Personal Search out. One day I walk into the Elite Personal Search office they have set up in Boston. I told them that I was interested in becoming a member. I asked all the necessary questions and got all the info.
The next day I came back and met with **. I liked her from the start. She was very friendly and even offered me a slice of pizza that the people at the front desk had ordered. I said "no" because I felt it wasn't right for me to take it since the people there paid for it but just the fact that she offered showed me that I came to the right place. We walk down the hall past a few rooms.
We then stepped into her office and sat down in the most comfortable chairs ever. She didn't start the interview with "so tell me about yourself", or "let's begin". Instead she told me a little bit about herself just to make me feel comfortable and that I wasn't about to tell my life story to a stranger. I liked that a lot. For about three hours, I talked about myself and about the kind of guys I was looking for. I was really pleased at the fact that she gave me the feeling that she was actually interested in what I had to say and not that she was just there to make money and go home.
About a week later, my FRIEND ** called me up and said "**, I can't wait to tell you about the guys I found for you". I was so surprised and shocked that it only took her a week to find four different guys who met my exact criteria. I put down the very yummy mac and cheese and ran into my bedroom, slammed the door and locked it like a little girl. That's how excited I was. Every guy she told me about sounded great. She even e-mailed me pictures of them instead of making me come down to her office to see them. Not only did they sound great, they also looked great. I couldn't decide which one to date first.
I especially like **. He was the best. I told ** to set it up. After we hung up, I called all my friends to brag about my awesome luck. For two and a half weeks, I counted down the mins till I finally would be able to meet **. The moment finally came. I knew how good looking he was from the pictures and knew his favorite color was blue based on what ** told me so I put on my favorite blue blouse. I put my hair down, curled it and put on my make-up and left my apt.
We met at this really fancy Chinese restaurant. By coincidence, he ordered my favorite dish and I ordered his favorite dish. We just sat there for five hours eating off each other's plates laughing and talking and just enjoying each other's company. Eventually, we had to call it a night because they wanted to close. We were the last ones to leave the place.
The next day, ** already called me with the feedback from **. She said, "** had an amazing night with you and really wants to go out again if you're willing". To make a long story short, ** and I have been dating for five months and are moving in together. To this day, ** still calls me to see how things are going. I am more than happy and satisfied with my decision to join Elite Personal Search and very grateful for ** because without her, I'd still be sitting at home begging the Lord to give me the right one already.
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA -- I would like to share this court experience about suing Elite Personal Search. I signed contract with Active Single LLC/DBA Elite Personal Search about two years ago. They claimed they were local in San Jose, the sales representative named ** promised me they would have local office and local people (esp. him) would work with closely me to find my lifetime partner. He spent 2 hours explaining how wonderful their services are. Well, hoping someone could do what they are paid for, I paid them $7900 for an 18-month service, which Elite claimed to be the lowest rate they had.
Elite's San Jose office was closed one month after the interview and ** never contacted me after taking my money. During the past 2 years, they never set up any date for me - yes, 0 date for two years. I complained but their management never cared to respond. I decided to take it to Santa Clara small claim court to look for justice. Elite flew somebody to the bay area from LA to attend the court. Before we stood in front of judge, a mediator talked to both of us, Elite agreed to offer $1500 plus another two-year extension of the contract.
The mediator used to be a contract attorney, he said the contract would make me look really bad, because there is a "non-refundable" term, so I may leave the court without getting anything. I wanted to know what the court would do, so decided not to take that offer. The mediator was right, the court ruled that Elite did not owe me any money. I want to say to all who have not signed Elite Personal Search's contract, people's complaints on this website are true.
More importantly, if you sign this contract with Elite, you are throwing your money away and without getting any protection, not even from court!!! Why? Because Elite spent their money on the attorney fee to draft a contract which will NOT be reversible UNDER ANY CONDITION. Although I lost the case, I am glad I did it. If more people go to court and have our voices heard, it will cause Court's attention.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- I am a successful, educated, beautiful woman who has difficulty meeting great men because I am a single mother who spends my time mothering. I thought that Elite would be able to help me meet men of equal caliber who met my preferences and religious requirements. My matchmaker ** was able to set me up on a date with a very nice gentleman for my first date who I got along very well with, but later found did not meet my explicit requirements that were outlined in my matchmaking profile. Elite continued to send proposed matches of men who did not remotely meet my requests, so I questioned them again as to whether they had the men that I was looking for.
Their blatant disregard of my parameters caused me to question whether there was any intention whatsoever to match me up with someone who met my criteria. I asked for a refund and they refused, and when I talked to their Director she assured me that they had many men who met my criteria. I have not received any contact from them in 5 months, and believe that Elite is just a scam to collect large service fees from individuals with the intent of haphazardly throwing "matches" at them hoping something will stick.
I am a single mother who made an investment to help facilitate a dating life that would offer safety through background checks, and efficiency through effective matchmaking. What I received was a monthly payment that I have continued to pay, and the absence of any service whatsoever. I have seen several other clients mentioning working with attorneys but believe that the most effective way to battle a corporate entity with no integrity is via a combined effort class action. ** I just believe that if they are unwilling to offer their services, the LEAST they could do is refund money for services unrendered.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- Elite Personal Search is a scam service for which I pay $7000 and urge others to look into this company at www.bbb.org to inform themselves of the reasons why this company has an 'F' rating and the current lawsuit going on in Orange County. I met with CEO Louie Felix who took $7000 from me for a year long membership and will rob you in the same manner in his expensive suit and his promise to help you find somebody special without dating a million. I only met one person in my year long contract because of the twenty profiles they sent via email (it is not personal at all) none of them called or became unavailable out of the sudden.
You will receive cold answers and service from their front desk manager who spends her time on Facebook ** and you will get a cold shoulder from their matchmaker ** when trying to find out what happened to all the wonderful matches they sent your way. A former employee says Elite Personal Search maintains a large database of inactive profiles of people who are no longer clients and they are still in their system. A scam from all angles. There are other agencies in Los Angeles area that will give you the personalized service you deserved for what you have paid. Do your BBB research and join the lawsuit if you have been a victim of this scam.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- I was pressured by the "loose with the truth" saleswoman into writing her a check. The next day I decided to back out and called to tell her not to cash my check (which was a cashier's check, so I couldn't cancel it myself). She ignored my phone calls for 3 days (just long enough to cash check) and then got back to me saying sorry she had already cashed it. I have pursued a refund since that time without using the service at all. I am still pursuing the refund.