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Charlie Sheen is claiming he’s beaten his HIV diagnosis because his blood is free of the virus! Since it’s undetectable in his system, he’s implying that’s why he never revealed to any of his partners that he was HIV positive, according to a shocking new report.
Charlie Sheen, 50, is on the defensive now that at least four women have come forward alleging that he knew he was HIV positive. and that he had unprotected sex with them without telling them. While he’s alleged to have known about his condition for over two years, he didn’t tell any of his vast array of sexual partners because the virus doesn’t show up in blood tests, according to a bombshell new report. He’s reportedly due to discuss his HIV status on the Today Show Nov. 17, so we’ve got to wonder if he’ll confirm this claim, HollywoodLife.com has an exclusive source confirming that he is HIV positive.
“Charlie has known for more than two years that he was HIV positive…and one source says he’s known way longer than that. We’re told Charlie was taking meds for the HIV and has had a series of blood tests, and over time, the HIV has been ‘undetectable’ in his system,” according to a new report by TMZ.
“Charlie freely admits he’s had scores of sexual partners over the years, many of whom had intimate relations with him after his diagnosis. The implication here is clear…Charlie is saying he didn’t deceive anyone, since the blood tests did not reveal the presence of HIV,” the website continues.
While huge advances have been made in HIV treatment over the years, once someone is diagnosed with the virus it remains for life. However, “Medications do in fact prevent transmissions in some cases,” a doctor tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. So if Charlie is managing the treatment of his tiger blood properly, he may not be that far off in his claims.
One of the reasons Charlie is set to come clean about his diagnosis is because a number of former lovers have spilled about it to The National Enquirer. At least four women allegedly claimed that Charlie put them at risk of the deadly condition, reports Radar Online via the tabloid, and he even supposedly paid one of his former partners to keep his secret hush-hush. The Enquirer claims that “Charlie had sex with multiple partners since learning his HIV status without informing them of his potentially deadly HIV infection.” Yikes!
HollywoodLifers, do you plan on watching Charlie’s big reveal on the Today Show Nov. 17? Let us know in the comments below!
— Beth Shilliday | 1,265,200 |
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Serial Transfer Rate - USB 3.0
Serial Bus Transfer Rate (USB 3.0) - 5 Gb/s (Max)
Physical Specifications
Capacity - 2 TB
Physical Dimensions
Height - 0.606 Inches
Depth - 4.35 Inches
Width - 3.23 Inches
Weight - 0.34 Pounds
Environmental Specifications
Temperature (English)
Operating - 41degrees F to 95degrees F
Non-operating - -4degrees F to 149degrees F
Compatibility | 1,265,201 |
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A depressed blind man killed himself after he was left penniless because his benefits were slashed, an inquest heard
Desperate Tim Salter struggled to even feed himself when controversial private firm Atos ruled he was fit for work, despite his failing eyesight.
The 53-year-old, who also suffered agoraphobia, was about to be kicked out of his housing association home when he hanged himself in the hall.
A coroner ruled the Government’s decision to axe Tim’s meagre incapacity benefit contributed to his death.
And the former assistant store manager’s sister Linda Cooksey told how his fitness to work test was carried out by a physiotherapist with no experience of mental health issues or knowledge of his blindness.
(Image: Jon Fuller Rowell/ Daily Mirror)
The 60-year-old said his family never even knew about his money problems until after his death.
She added: “Stopping his benefits sent him over the edge. When his small savings ran out he got in trouble with his rent, and his £30 disability allowance a week just wasn’t enough.
"Tim ran out of money. He was a proud man and never let on to anybody. It’s so sad. I want everyone to know what this government is doing to vulnerable people on benefits.
“He had a certificate to say he was blind. When we got into his house there was no food, he practically starved in the last weeks.”
Daily Mirror e-edition: How to get yours for FREE
South Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh said: “A major factor in his death was that his benefits had been greatly reduced leaving him almost destitute.”
Tim died on September 25.
An eviction letter from South Staffordshire Housing Association was found in the bin by his family.
He was registered partially-blind in 1994. His eyes were damaged when he tried to kill himself in 1989 after losing his job.
His family has written to David Cameron about his Atos treatment.
The housing association insisted help was available for those struggling to pay rent.
And the Department for Work and Pensions said Tim had the right to appeal its decision.
Verdict: Suicide.
*For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details.
* If you’re under 18 and need confidential help call Childline on 0800 1111. | 1,265,202 |
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.
In the year following the start of its water crisis, Flint, Michigan, saw fewer pregnancies among its residents and higher fetal deaths, according to a working paper published last month.
Kansas University economics professor David Slusky and West Virginia University economics professor Daniel Grossman examined health statistics in Flint between May 2007 and March 2015 and compared them to 15 other cities in Michigan. What they uncovered was alarming: After April 2014—when, in an effort to cut costs, Flint officials switched its water supply from Detroit to the Flint River, leading to elevated lead levels—fertility rates among women in Flint dropped 12 percent. Fetal deaths spiked by 58 percent.
“This represents a couple hundred fewer children born that otherwise would have been,” Slusky said in a university press release this week. The researchers project that between 198 and 276 more children would have been born from November 2013, when the child was first conceived, to March 2015 had the city not switched its water supply.
The researchers also conclude that the water change and the corresponding increased exposure to lead prompted a decline in the overall health of children born. Children exposed to high levels of lead can suffer from irreversible neurological and behavioral consequences. Moreover, children born in Flint since the start of its water crisis saw a 5 percent drop in average birth weight compared to those in other parts of Michigan during the same time period.
Shortly after the move in April 2014, residents complained about the water’s stench as it became inflicted with lead from old pipes in residential homes. Even after doctors and experts alerted state and federal officials to the elevated lead levels in Flint’s children and in houses’ water, Gov. Rick Snyder and other state officials didn’t concede to the public health emergency in Flint until September 2015. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality eventually acknowledged that it erred in not requiring the city to add anti-corrosive chemicals into its water.
Health officials found that between June 2014 and November 2015, 91 residents in Genesee County, which includes Flint, contracted Legionnaires’ Disease, a bacterial illness that can arise out of contaminated water, though not all were conclusively linked to Flint’s water crisis. At least 12 people from the disease died after 2014.
As of September 2017, 15 officials have been charged for their involvement in Flint’s water crisis, with five charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection to the Legionnaires’ outbreak. Earlier this year, a federal judge approved a $87 million settlement for the city of Flint that would pay to replace 18,000 water lines by 2020. The state still faces a number of lawsuits. One calls for the state to provide more special education services for children exposed to lead as a result of the water crisis. | 1,265,203 |
State regulators ordered the recall of marijuana products from 29 cannabis companies after a Sacramento laboratory was caught falsifying test results for pesticides, a scandal that could have serious financial consequences for already struggling retail outlets.
The California Bureau of Cannabis Control sent out recall notices this week to all businesses that had contracts starting in July with Sacramento-based Sequoia Analytical Lab to test their products.
The laboratory closed down and surrendered its business license after state inspectors discovered on Nov. 27 that the director, identified as Marc Foster, had for four months been faking test results for 22 of the 66 pesticides he was required under California law to analyze.
“The lab director... was secretly falsifying the results” between July 1 and Nov. 27, said a letter sent by the facility to its clients, assuring them that Foster had been fired. “Management and ownership were horrified to learn about this severe breach of a very important safety regulation.”
It means nearly 850 batches — tens of thousands of pounds of flower, edibles and marijuana products — will have to be returned and either destroyed or retested.
“This is that doomsday scenario that everybody has been anticipating,” said Tony Daniel, the chief revenue officer with Steep Hill Labs in Berkeley. “Everybody up and down that chain is going to want their money back, and not everyone’s got 25 to 50 grand to cover a recall.”
The notice sent by the Bureau of Cannabis Control asked the 29 companies to request the return of all cannabis products that were tested at Sequoia.
“Any cannabis goods from these batches, returned by consumers to the retailer, must be destroyed,” said the letter. It said all remaining inventory should be destroyed or re-tested pending approval by the bureau.
The recall and closure could cause major complications in the cannabis industry, where the 43 licensed cannabis testing labs in California have to add new testing guidelines for heavy metals next year.
California’s pesticide limits, which generally follow state and federal laws governing crops, are already among the stiffest in the country. The labs are required to test for pesticides down to parts per billion, a measurement that most growers say is tantamount to a ban.
Industry officials have expressed doubts in the past that the laboratories in California were capable of testing cannabis to the precision required by regulators. In fact, faulty instruments incorrectly measured the pesticides, Sequoia officials said, and that is why the lab director, unbeknownst to them, falsified the data.
The recall doesn’t mean that the cannabis was contaminated, officials said, just that the pesticide testing was inadequate.
Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @pfimrite | 1,265,204 |
This morning, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff held a press conference:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff are holding a news conference. Watch live: https://t.co/UYpqI3w42L
Follow updates: https://t.co/CqoougwKvc pic.twitter.com/x4JYQdLqlI — CNN (@CNN) October 2, 2019
Obviously one major topic of discussion was the House Dems’ fixation on impeachment, but Pelosi wanted to make it clear that Democrats would like to do other things, and would also appreciate it if Trump would cooperate with them:
Pelosi opens her presser with Schiff by talking at length about… prescription drug costs, infrastructure, and farmers. She says she hopes Trump will work with Dems on these things, even as they try to impeach him. Okay. — John Daniel Davidson (@johnddavidson) October 2, 2019
Nancy Pelosi says she hopes Democrats and the White House can "renew our conversations about infrastructure." — Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) October 2, 2019
Pelosi asked how she plans to work with policy agenda items with Trump while actively trying to impeach the man: "The two have nothing to do with each other." — Nate Madden (@NateOnTheHill) October 2, 2019
We’re guessing they will have something to do with each other.
impeachment must not be polling well https://t.co/PAcvf7cwYl — Cobalt Witch (@C_nrad) October 2, 2019
The Democrats’ total obsession with impeachment could be changing some minds, and not in the way Pelosi would like.
"We're going to nail you to the wall! Also, let's talk roads." https://t.co/VetFYoyrcv — Avi Woolf, WTF Conservative? (@AviWoolf) October 2, 2019
LOL. Good luck with that, House Dems.
Narrator: there are not going to be renewed conversations about infrastructure https://t.co/MnWrKLJ1Td — Sam Mintz (@samjmintz) October 2, 2019
YES! INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK IS BACK ==> https://t.co/wODvKzsiEB — Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) October 2, 2019
Says nation's top bridge burner https://t.co/jjFvGzMEzl — Daniel C. Jenkins (@DJenkinsJD) October 2, 2019
Pelosi also said the Democrats intend to treat Trump fairly, which probably sparked many spit takes around the country. | 1,265,205 |
County health inspectors have temporarily closed a popular San Diego supermarket, after finding cockroaches, rodent nests and droppings, food stored on the floor, and other serious health violations.
The closure happened Wednesday at the Pancho Villa Mercado on El Cajon Boulevard near Interstate 805 in Normal Heights. The supermarket sells fresh produce, hand-made tortillas, hot Mexican bread and other foods. It attracts hundreds of customers daily, from all corners of San Diego County.
Inspection reports obtained by NBC 7 provide details on the violations, which include “too numerous to count live and dead cockroaches” in the bakery and juice areas, a clogged and overflowing floor sink and no hand soap in the tortilla-making areas, and foods being cooled at unsafe temperatures in the deli.
The violations outlined in the 13-page report were a shock to some loyal customers, who were turned away at the front door.
“I never saw anything (like that), and I don’t (shop at) dirty places,” said Delfina Woolley, who drives from El Cajon several times a week to shop at Pancho Villa.
Dr. Harold Koenig and his wife, Deena, found it hard to believe that conditions inside their favorite market were bad enough to prompt the closure.
“I would never think this place would be closed, on my observations. And I’ve been shopping here for five years,” Koenig said.
Koenig is a physician and retired Navy Vice-Admiral who directed naval health care and has lived and shopped around the world.
“Preventive medicine and sanitation were all part of my responsibilities, and I didn’t see anything here that had me concerned,” he said.
Pacho Villa’s manager did not answer when called for comment on the health department's report and the store’s closure.
Cleaning crews were seen at work inside the building, whose windows were partially covered with dark paper.
The closure should be only temporary. The store manager can request a re-inspection after correcting those deficiencies. If the market is in compliance, it can re-open.
The County Department of Environmental Health (DEH) conducts regular, unannounced inspections of all permitted food establishments to ensure they’re complying with state and local food safety laws.
A DEH spokesperson said inspectors focus on “major risk factors,” including foods from unapproved sources, improper holding temperatures, inadequate cooking, contaminated equipment and poor personal hygiene.
Inspectors also look for signs of vermin and improper sewage disposal. When a major violation cannot be corrected immediately, DEH inspectors will close the facility until the violation is corrected. | 1,265,206 |
Alabama Senator-elect Doug Jones believes allegations of sexual misconduct made against US President Donald Trump should not lead to his resignation.
The newly-elected Democratic senator, who previously hit out at Senate election rival Roy Moore over historic sexual assault allegations made against him by multiple women, said people should “get on with the real issues.”
Sexual assault allegations have been levelled at US President Donald Trump by a number of women, including a former Miss Finland winner. The allegations, which Trump has branded “wild and false,”have led to calls for the 45th US president to step down.
READ MORE: ‘Grab them by the p***y’: Leaked audio of Trump causes GOP backlash
However, in a statement that appeared to be at odds with his reaction to Senate rival Roy Moore, Jones backed the president to continue in his role. It came after Jones was asked on CNN’s State of the Union if he agreed with Democratic Senator Cory Booker’s call for Trump to go.
Sen.-elect Doug Jones of Alabama doesn’t join the several Senate Democrats calling for President Trump to step down: “I think we need to move on and not get distracted by those issues … I don’t think the President ought to resign right now” #CNNSOTUhttps://t.co/IjtmPvu6SK — CNN (@CNN) December 17, 2017
“Those allegations were made before the [presidential] election and so people had an opportunity to judge before that election. I think we need to move on and not get distracted by those issues. Let’s get on with the real issues facing people of this country right now and I don’t think the president ought to resign at this point,” Jones said on CNN’s State of the Union.
READ MORE: Trump’s support for Roy Moore, Senate candidate accused of sexual misconduct, slammed by Republicans
In an open letter published in November, Moore labelled the allegations by his accusers as false and defamatory. Jones later denounced the former judge for “inconsistencies” in his denials.
“It is crystal clear that these women are telling the truth and Roy Moore is not.”#OneWeek#RightSideOfHistorypic.twitter.com/8G71NFqOD5 — Doug Jones (@GDouglasJones) December 6, 2017
“It is crystal clear that these women are telling the truth and Roy Moore is not,” Jones said prior to the December 12 Alabama election.
READ MORE: Former Miss Finland accuses Trump of sexual assault, bringing number of accusers to 12
Jones later claimed victory over the former Supreme Court judge by a margin of just over 20,000 votes. | 1,265,207 |
Win CM Punk Shirts courtesy of the WWE
Tweet #InGoalWWE
CM Punk fans will be excited to see Edmonton Oilers goaltender Jason Labarbera’s edgy new helmet design featuring the WWE star on one side and Metallica’s lead singer Sir James Hetfield on the other. If you’re one of the millions who count themselves amongst the seven-time professional wrestling World Champion’s fans, you’ll be even more excited to hear that the WWE has offered to give CM Punk shirts to five lucky InGoal readers – keep reading to see how you could win.
LaBarbera has made a habit of rocking some hard core tribute designs on his masks, thanks to artist David Arrigo of Toronto, from a Pearl Jam / Ultimate Warrior tribute in Phoenix to one with Vince McMahon himself alongside Brett “the Hitman” Hart, the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. LaBarbera also took time to speak to InGoal about his personal tribute to former NFL star Pat Tilman who lost his life in the service of his country in Afghanistan in 2004. Arrigo was especially proud to paint this helmet for “Barbs” as he has worked closely in support of the Canadian military and military charities himself.
This season, LaBarbera’s first in support of longtime training partner Devan Dubnyk in Edmonton, he will don this WWE/Metallica tribute mask featuring the man dubbed the longest-reigning WWE Champion of the modern era. LaBarbera’s love for pro wrestling is no secret of course. In fact, according to Arrigo’s blog – where you can see all the images of this impressive mask – CM Punk himself reached out asking to be a part of “Barbs” newest design.
The WWE’s Rob Levin, a longtime InGoal Reader, was so impressed by the LaBarbera/Arrigo design he offered to supply a few lucky readers some CM Punk Swag. Tuesday at midnight EST we’ll draw five lucky winners at random – four will receive CM Punk t-shirts and one a CM Punk Hoodie – check out the gear yourself right now over at the WWE store.
Your chance to win
Claiming your chance to win is simple – just hit the button below to Tweet the following:
“CM Punk on Labarberas new Oilers helmet by @darrigoart. Win @CMPunk Swag from @InGoalMedia and @WWE http://goo.gl/6Cp55n #InGoalWWE”
Tweet #InGoalWWE
Then just sit back, enjoy reading a few pages of InGoal and wait to see if you’re one of the lucky five CM Punk fans. | 1,265,208 |
The first current member of the Florida Gators to officially but unsurprisingly forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility, junior cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy confirmed Monday that he has decided to enter the 2014 NFL Draft.
“I have had a great three years at the University of Florida, but at this time I think it’s best for me and my family to pursue a career in the NFL,’’ said Purifoy in a release from the school. “Coach [Will] Muschamp and Coach [Travaris] Robinson have put me in a position to take the next step.
“I know there is still a lot of work for me ahead, but I appreciate what everyone at Florida did to get me to this point. As much as I look forward to playing in the NFL, I will miss my teammates and coaches and look forward to watching them play next year.”
Purifoy was projected as a first-round selection in this year’s draft prior to the start of the season. After being suspended for the season opener for a violation of team rules, he had an up-and-down 2013 campaign with most of his game-changing plays occurring in three contests against Arkansas, Georgia and Florida State.
Having never intercepted a pass in his first two years, Purifoy picked off two this season, returning one for a touchdown. He also broke up seven passes, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, blocked a kick and registered two sacks. Of his 24 total tackles, 3.5 were for a total loss of 17 yards.
“There are a lot of factors that go into making these individual and personal decisions and I’m 100 percent supportive of Loucheiz’s choice to enter into the NFL Draft,” Muschamp said. “Loucheiz has come a long way from when I sat in his living room with his family during the recruiting process and he also knows his work is not done.
“We wish him nothing but the best of luck and watching him on Sundays. As we have with other former Gators, we encourage him to return to Florida and finish his degree.”
Purifoy (6-foot-0, 185-pounds) earns high marks from scouts for his athleticism, toughness and versatility. He needs to improve in coverage and tackling but has four months to work on showcasing those abilities in the time leading up to May’s draft.
He initially announced his intent to leave immediately after Florida’s 37-7 loss to Florida State on Saturday in Gainesville, FL.
Purifoy is currently ranked No. 24 on ESPN analyst Mel Kiper, Jr.’s Big Board and No. 26 on Scouts Inc. analyst Todd McShay’s Top 32. | 1,265,209 |
Image copyright Rossiya 24
Russian state news channel Rossiya 24 has introduced a robot presenter for some of its bulletins.
'Alex' has already caused a stir, with some viewers complaining about his appearance and accusing him of peddling political propaganda.
The robot was developed by Promobot in the city of Perm. His silicon head is modelled on the face of the company's co-founder Alexei Yuzhakov.
At the moment, the robot anchor can only move his facial features and neck.
However, the final robot will have fully mobile limbs as well.
Production of the robot began in 2017 and should be fully complete later this year, according to Promobot.
It said Alex had cost more than one million roubles ($15,600; £12,000) to develop and that it had received orders for 12 more humanoids.
Image copyright Promobot Image caption Promobot co-founder Alexei Yuzhakov (left) shows off Alex the robot
Rossiya 24 said its newest presenter was of Russian origin with "software and almost all of its components produced inside the country".
Alex has delivered a number of bulletins for the channel, presenting news items about agriculture, a nuclear technology forum and micro-finance.
"I should note that at a technological innovations exhibition, the main hero was me, robot Alex," he said, with a smile, when presenting a segment about an artificial intelligence conference in Moscow.
But an item that appeared to have all the hallmarks of a smear against opposition activist Ilya Yashin was criticised.
"Meet Rossiya 24's new anchor, robot Alex. Artificial intelligence, a talent for propaganda and an integrated fake news generator is available right in your box," one viewer said on Twitter.
Others mocked Alex's slightly rough appearance and clothes, his off-focus gaze and awkward facial expressions.
"Alex, if they are holding you hostage and force you to drink alcohol, wink three times when you go on the air!" urged a viewer online.
One viewer took a shine to Alex and said he was a "very nice robot" while another said his deployment was "an interesting trend".
Most observers think on-air Alex is a temporary stunt to inject some fun and promote innovative Russian technology in TV news.
"For the first time a robot appeared as a news presenter on TV channel Rossiya 24," the channel said on its website.
"It is for TV viewers to decide how he performed. Could robots replace journalists?" it asked.
Reporting by Katherine Zeveleva and Karine Mirumyan, BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook. | 1,265,210 |
NASCAR Cup Series team owner Bryan Smith never expects his car to take the checkered flag, but every race is a victory.
Continue Reading Below
Smith runs TriStar Motorsports, one of the smallest teams on the circuit. It’s a fully-independent, family-run outfit that was started nearly thirty years ago by his father, Mark, who passed away last year after a battle with cancer.
Bryan, 39, took the reins in the hopes of keeping his father’s dream alive, along with his mother and sister, who oversee the office and schedule travel. The Smiths also run PME Engines in Mooresville, N.C., which provides motors to other small NASCAR teams, short trackers and drag racers.
With a budget maybe a tenth of the size of the top teams, Smith knows he is “bringing a knife to a gunfight” each weekend, but winning isn’t what it’s all about.
“There’s things that we can offer that the big teams can’t. There’s some stuff that they offer that we can’t. I think we have a fit, and I think we have a place,” Smith says.
One of those things is the family feel that permeates the TriStar garage. When TriStar driver Cole Whitt said he wanted to take it easy this year because his wife and he were having a baby, Smith hired young gun Corey LaJoie to take on the bulk of the schedule, and let the two figure out who’d race where.
Third-generation driver LaJoie says he feels right at home.
“This team’s really unique with Bryan owning the race team, but he’s also there putting decals on in the shop and here at the racetrack,” LaJoie says.
“So it’s really cool, because I was on a really family oriented racing team when I was coming up. You usually don’t see that nowadays.”
It’s a sentiment that permeates throughout the TriStar garage. Brian and several of his crewmembers have spent time working for larger, better-funded teams, but enjoy the different challenge they face slightly out of the high-pressure spotlight.
They know who their competition is near the back of the field, and have their own barometer for success. Bryan says he wouldn’t mind stepping up a notch or two if he can find the right sponsors to work with, but isn’t interested in ever getting too big and losing what makes his team special.
Fox News’ Carley Shimkus met up with TriStar at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to find out exactly what that is. | 1,265,211 |
traditional dresses with nipped in waists and delicate stockings. The clothes were just so smart and stylish'
Christine loves the fine underwear of the Forties that she has launched her own business selling beautiful pieces online, Femme Fatale
But it was only when Christine began earning her own money that her obsession could really take off.
'When I left school and started earning money, I started going around vintage markets and looking for one-off pieces,' she said. 'I wanted to look different to the rest of my friends and I started collecting really special pieces.
'The vintage knickers, camis, corsets, stockings and suspenders are so feminine and they feel so beautiful under your clothes'
'I wear my hair in Victory Rolls and stick to foundation, powder and red lipstick.
'One of my favourite parts of dressing the way I do is the lingerie and nightwear, and I have even launched my own business selling beautiful underwear online called Femme Fatale.
'The vintage knickers, camis, corsets, stockings and suspenders are so feminine and they feel so beautiful under your clothes.
'The nightwear is also so beautiful. I have gorgeous silk dressing gowns that make me feel like an on-screen goddess!'
The exterior of Christine's house, inside of which is her treasure trove of 1940s memorabilia
Christine and her husband Ray a mechanical marine engineer, have started attending vintage inspired events, such as lindy-hop tea dances, where they have met couples just like themselves
'A lot of our friends we meet up with at weekends also dress in 1940s clothes. Sometimes we get some funny looks in the pub, but we just love to embrace the bygone era'
Christine, left, in her Forties gear on a night out in Merseyside with friends
And as for her best vintage buy?
'A lot of our friends we meet up with at weekends also dress in 1940s clothes. Sometimes we get some funny looks in the pub, but we just love to embrace the bygone era'
'My favourite ever vintage buy is a 1940s suit. I bought it from a dealer about 2 years ago.
'We even go to 1940s style events such as fairs and dances. We do the jive, the lindy-hop and have met similar couples to ourselves in doing so.
'A lot of our friends we meet up with at weekends also dress in 1940s clothes. Sometimes we get some funny looks in the pub, but we just love to embrace the bygone era.'
Some of Christine's antique collection
Some of the antiques Christine has picked up in antique shops and markets since she began collecting at the age of 16 | 1,265,212 |
Let's be blunt: World of Warcraft is, for a lot of people, a lot of the time, a solo RPG. Whether starting a first character, casually dipping in to play old ones, or compulsively levelling "alts" in the gaps in your main hero's raiding schedule, it's a safe bet that the majority of players out there at any one time are on their own, in the wild, churning through quests. And it's also a safe bet that they're doing it wrong.
Although it was shortened last year, the game's levelling curve is still an epic one, and littered with some inevitably basic and repetitive quest design (albeit excused by the rich world and carefully-designed areas the quests are set in). Many players battle through it with their heads down and teeth gritted in a masochistic slog, forgetting to do one simple thing: have fun.
But solo questing can be fun. It can be more than that: it can be one of the most rewarding single-player RPG experiences out there. All you need to do is sit back, relax, and follow our nine-step plan for a healthier questing lifestyle.
1. Efficiency isn't everything This one may contradict some of the practical advice that follows, but it's more of a state of mind than a strategy. The slightly more experienced quester will fall into the seductive, but ultimately damaging, trap of trying to maximise their questing efficiency. The entire levelling arc becomes like one of WOW's battles, a game of percentages, as you attempt to chain quests in a pattern designed for optimum experience reward and nothing else. This is a fun challenge at first. But it's not long before it becomes a tyranny. Downtime isn't a sin. A long walk isn't a waste of time if you like the sights on the way, or are interested to run the quest at the end of it; and the quickest path isn't necessarily the most enjoyable one. Efficiency is always worth bearing in mind to keep the pace of the game up, but it should never be your prime concern.
2. Don't try to do it all Especially with the fast levelling speed that Blizzard introduced last year, there's simply no need to visit every zone, or complete every quest in a zone. Be selective. Pick and choose what's quickest, most interesting, or what just feels right, and feel free to ignore anything you don't want to do. Anything else is just borderline OCD. Clearing a zone can be worthwhile in some of the more recent, better-designed, more densely-packed and story-driven areas: Ghostlands, for example, or the revamped Dustwallow Marsh. Otherwise, remember that you'll probably be levelling another character up one day, and then you'll thank yourself for not having done everything there is to do already. | 1,265,213 |
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XCom: Enemy Unknown � G.I. Joes without the ridiculous PSAs, or cheesy names up for artistic Review.The soundtrack to the game was helmed by Roland Rizzo, who had been with the series from the beginning. An ominous tone, and plenty of heavy synthesized notes are undeniably traced back to Michael McCann. The man responsible for Deus Ex�s cutting edge audial line up. Browsing through the base and picking out whether to research plasma rifles or cut open some asteroid-bound-butt-smacker has never felt cooler than when you�re doing it to this song. I�ll let the music speak for itself.Obviously the moody and brooding tones match the feeling of the situation you face in that game for more than one reason. There are those who would argue that the music is drab and boring. I can tell you my pulse only QUICKENED when I ran across my third set of Floaters in one match only to have the battle drums bound through my system once again. There are definitely OSTs which are nearer and dearer to my heart, but Rizzo and McCann have made the noise that stands for dimming the lights, made the noise that sounds like flicking on the blue neon, and audibly transported me to a world where I am needed more than ever.I believe to many people, XCOM is more than a game, it�s a calling. It�s a call that asks the question, is better to be feared? Or Respected? Then shoves an alien rifle in your mouth and blows your head off before you can mutter �bo-..�. XCOM demands that you play by its rules, and I can do nothing but respect it for that. It is a game that, in the wake of a newer generation of unforgivingly �hardcore� experiences, makes no mistake of letting you know, to �Remember, We, will be watching.�Over and out.Wait� no actually I have a joke.And a question. Joke first though.Okay. What do you call an extra-terrestrial who loves alcoholic beverages?An ALE-ien!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!But I'm curious. What was your favorite enemy unit from the game? And which room of the base do you think it'd be easiest to hide a stash of 40 year old porno mags in? Your answers I salivate for!Also, are you interested in reading a bit more. Here's an article complete with rather awesome video interview featuring Greg Foertsch himself! Ch-ch-ch-checkit! | 1,265,214 |
LAS VEGAS – Count Stefan Struve as one UFC heavyweight who doesn’t want to see former champion Brock Lesnar make another return to the octagon.
Speculation about Lesnar (5-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) competing again in the UFC are swirling once more; UFC President Dana White added fuel to the fire on Sunday when he posted a side-by-side picture with Lesnar in Las Vegas.
Lesnar’s most recent UFC comeback, which took place at UFC 200 in July 2016, concluded controversially when he failed multiple drug tests for his fight with Mark Hunt.
The 40-year-old, who is the current WWE Universal champion, is nearing the end of his current contract with the professional wrestling organization, and there’s reportedly mutual interest with the UFC for another fight. He still has more than six months to serve on his U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension before another MMA bout can take place, but Struve (28-9 MMA, 12-7 UFC) said he doesn’t want to see it.
“No (he shouldn’t fight again); he doesn’t belong here in my opinion,” Struve told MMAjunkie at today’s UFC 222 media day. “He got caught, and just look at that guy. He’s a physical specimen, but it doesn’t make sense. The way they brought him in with the exemption for him not having to do the testing for the four months when he came back – that’s ridiculous. You bring someone back, a guy who looks like him, and he doesn’t have to get tested, and then fights? Mark Hunt, he’s in the right. Of course he’s upset with that.”
Struve, who meets Andrei Arlovski (26-15 MMA, 15-9 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 222 pay-per-view main card following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, said he understands why UFC brass would want to promote another Lesnar fight. The hulking heavyweight has been one of the biggest cash cows for the company each time he’s in the cage, but from Struve’s perspective, it’s not worth risking further damage to the integrity of the sport for a one-off PPV score.
“I get why they’ll bring him back, because he brings pay-per-views,” Struve said. “But also he brings a certain image that’s … not good for the sport.”
For complete coverage of UFC 222, check out the UFC Events section of the site. | 1,265,215 |
The private company entrusted to carry out file-sharing network monitoring for the French government has been hacked. Trident Media Guard, which is responsible for gathering data for so-called 3 strikes warnings, now has some of its scripts and secrets out in the wild, an event which has the potential to upset the smooth of Hadopi.
Under France’s so-called Hadopi law, alleged copyright infringers will be reported to a judge once they have received three official warnings for illicit file-sharing. Those judges are empowered to hand down any one of a range of penalties, from fines through to disconnecting the infringer from the Internet.
However, to get caught sharing copyright material, Internet users have to be monitored on file-sharing networks by the rights holders. The entertainment companies entrusted that spying job to Trident Media Guard (TMG) but during the last few hours, much to the amusement of opponents of France’s approach to enforcement, TMG has been hacked.
Actually, hacked is probably too strong a word, since it appears TMG left the front door open.
“A virtual machine leaked a lot of information like scripts, p2p clients to generate fake peers, local physical addresses in the datacenter and even a password that could lead to a major global TMG security breach,” French security researcher Olivier Laurelli, aka Bluetouff, just informed TorrentFreak.
TorrentFreak obtained copies of the files leaked from the TMG server (image above, cropped) and we’re in the process of trying work out exactly what they do which may take some time.
One of the files is an executable called ‘server_interface’ while there are also batch files which appear to start two file-sharing clients, eMule and Shareaza. These are likely to be special versions, probably modified for conducting both monitoring and spoofing on eD2K and BitTorrent networks respectively. The screenshot below (of code labelled ‘Poster’ in action) also appears to be connected to the publishing of fakes on file-sharing networks.
Another file – cmd_auto_update_cmd_file.txt – is the one carrying the worrying password referred to by Bluetouff earlier.
TMG’s security appears to be so low that Bluetouff suggests that either Christmas has come early for people wanting a poke around around an anti-piracy system or it’s some kind of weird honeypot.
TorrentFreak was also supplied with a list of IP addresses which pulled up some interesting web interfaces but we won’t publish those nor the leaked files for now.
“It’s a huge fail that could impact the graduated response (repression), during the next days,” Bluetouff concludes. | 1,265,216 |
Story highlights DHL shipping office in Bangkok called police when body parts found in boxes to be sent to U.S.
Packages included an infant skull, internal organs, preserved in formaldehyde, police say
Police have talked to American who packed the shipment, but he's not charged with a crime
Infant body parts are used in some magic rituals in Thailand and are sold on black market
Police in Thailand say an American tried to ship infant body parts to the United States, but the delivery was stopped after a call from the shipping company.
The bizarre discovery is not the first time infant remains have been found in Thailand. In 2010, more than 2,000 illegally aborted fetuses were recovered at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok.
Thai police say they received a phone call from a DHL shipping office in Pathum Thani province, on the outskirts of Bangkok, on Saturday. Police say workers there discovered the body parts inside parcel boxes as they were scanning shipments for delivery. The boxes contained an infant skull, internal organs and a few pieces of human skin, police say.
Police dispatched a forensics team to retrieve the three boxes, which contained the human parts sealed in plastic bags and preserved in formaldehyde.
Police Col. Adisorn Semsawat, chief of Bang Pongpang police station, said, "We have talked with an American who was trying to send the parcels to the USA, but we could not press any charges on him and we are not quite sure which laws we can apply to him."
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Police went on to say that the unidentified American told them that he found the infant body parts at a night flea market and that he had paid about $100 for them, though he could not remember where the market is located. Police say they are trying to find the seller.
Thai police say they've been in touch with the U. S. Embassy and that the tourist's name has not been revealed because he hasn't committed any crimes or been formally charged.
Infant body parts can be bought on the Thai black market. Some Thais practice black magic and believe that supernatural power comes from infant body parts, if the rites are performed by monks or sorcerers. They believe that having the items provide protection and business success and can ward off bad luck.
Police say in 2010, the smell of decay led investigators to the Phai-nguern Chotinaram temple in central Bangkok, where they discovered more than 2,000 illegally aborted fetuses. Three people were arrested, including two morticians who were charged with hiding bodies. | 1,265,217 |
Michael McElhatton was held on suspicion of manslaughter after deaths of three teenagers
This article is more than 1 year old
This article is more than 1 year old
A hotel owner arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after three teenagers died outside a St Patrick’s Day disco in Northern Ireland has been released on bail.
Michael McElhatton, 52, who runs the Greenvale hotel in Cookstown, County Tyrone, will be questioned again, police said on Thursday.
A 40-year-old member of the nightspot’s door staff who was arrested with McElhatton on Tuesday remains in custody.
Lauren Bullock, 17, Connor Currie, 16, and Morgan Barnard, 17, died after a crush at the hotel on Sunday night. They are due to be buried on Friday.
McElhatton was also arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply after a search of his home turned up white powder in a clear plastic bag along with scraps of tin foil.
Forensic analysis determined the powder was innocuous and the hotel owner was de-arrested. He issued a statement accusing police of “blackening” his name.
Asked at a press conference on Thursday if police would apologise Ch Supt Raymond Murray said no.
“Everything that happened in relation to that arrest and seizure is what we would normally do. If you start at the point where you know the end result and look back, it’s actually not a very helpful place to start.”
Detectives have identified 400 young people who were in the queue or car park on Sunday night, he said. Some 82 have been interviewed, with another 106 due to be interviewed in the next few days.
“As part of our investigation we have utilised the major incident public portal to allow people to upload mobile phone footage and images of the evening,” said Murray. “We have also deployed one of our cyber support vehicles to Cookstown to enable us to download mobile phone footage from people at the scene.”
Hundreds of mourners have left written and floral tributes to the three teenagers.
On Wednesday the Democratic Unionist party leader, Arlene Foster, signed a book of condolence in Cookstown. She said: “I cannot begin to comprehend the pain and anguish the families of Lauren, Connor and Morgan are going through at this time.
“As a mother of two teenagers, this is the news no parent should ever receive, particularly as young people go out for an evening of enjoyment. The tragic loss of life has been felt across the entire area of Cookstown, Dungannon and beyond. There are many homes in Northern Ireland who have been devastated by the tragedy over the bank holiday weekend.” | 1,265,218 |
Chemists in the US have developed an easy way to integrate the ’bottom up’ assembly of DNA origami with the ’top down’ patterning of low cost lithography. The method, which involves sticking pieces of DNA to prepositioned gold islands, might help researchers in their bid to use DNA origami for nanoelectronics.
DNA origami is a means of folding DNA strands into something like a pegboard, onto which different molecules can be attached. In principle the origami can self-assemble into circuits with features just a few nanometres in size, but so far researchers have had difficulty controlling them because the origami are made in solution, so when deposited on a surface they can go everywhere.
The distance between components in electronics such as flash memory devices has shrunk to just tens of nanometres in recent years, and could drop even further, explains Hongbin Yu, a member of the research team at Arizona State University. One way to position components such as DNA origami that could be used in nanoelectronics is to go over the surface with highly precise lithography, but lithography at this scale requires expensive equipment. ’The cost of the tool to produce such features is so high only a handful of companies can afford them,’ says Yu. ’Using DNA self-assembled structures on a patterned surface is an exciting way to reach such small dimensions with relatively low cost.’
In the new technique the researchers, led by Yu’s colleague Hao Yan, modify the ends of DNA origami tubes with sulfur-containing ’thiol’ groups, which can bind to gold. Using low-cost lithography, they then position two gold islands, just tens of nanometres in diameter, where they want the origami to go. When they deposit the origami, the ends of a single tube attach to the two islands, thereby forming a link in the right location.
’This work is important in that it is difficult to fabricate devices whose salient features span sub-nanometre to millimetre scales in length,’ says William Shih, an expert in DNA nanotechnology at Harvard University, Cambridge, US. ’Success will lead to more sophisticated and powerful electronic devices than are possible today.’
’Yan’s group seems to have struck a pretty good compromise, and they have come up with a good solution that will find application when we want to arrange 1D structures, like tubes, on a surface,’ says Paul Rothemund at the California Institute of Technology, US, who invented DNA origami.
The researchers now plan to attach molecules such as carbon nanotubes, semiconducting nanoparticles or nanowires to the DNA origami to create functional networks with their gold islands.
Jon Cartwright | 1,265,219 |
family controlling the state apparatus from the country’s inception. Today, Kim Jong Un’s sister serves as a top advisor and emissary. Similarly, Trump has installed his daughter and son-in-law as top advisors, and he imagines that Ivanka will become president one day. Perhaps even one day soon, as Bob Cesca explains at Salon:
In fact, there’s a rumor currently circulating among Republican circles in Washington in which Trump suddenly declines the nomination sometime next summer, presumably for health reasons, then lobbies the convention delegates to toss their votes to Ivanka as his rightful heir and the 2020 nominee.
Then there’s the personal enrichment. Kim has a fortune of $5 billion at his disposal, with plenty of resources socked away in overseas accounts. There is no emoluments clause in North Korea’s constitution: the leader can use his office to extract as much wealth from the system as he pleases.
Trump’s ambitions are only somewhat more modest. For instance, he doubled his hotel income from 2016 to 2017, netting nearly $30 million, and he’s made more money at places like Mar-a-Lago from elevated fees. He even hopes to make money from his presidential library. But Trump probably hopes that presidential immunity will protect him from any future charges of financial impropriety, which would save him a great deal more money in the long run.
Back to That Handshake
As a relatively young man at the top of a rigidly hierarchical system, Kim Jong Un no doubt expects a long career ahead of him. But if U.S. sanctions continue to squeeze the North Korean economy, he will have an increasingly difficult task of delivering the goods to the elite, the sliver of middle class, and the struggling majority of the population. He needs a helping hand from the first American president willing to step onto his territory. Trump’s successor will not likely be so generous.
Donald Trump’s tenure is considerably more fragile. He’s no spring chicken. Many people in Congress are itching to impeach him. And plenty of voters can’t wait to eject him from office in 2020. But Trump knows that his political fate, not to mention his overall legacy, rests on his ability to shake things up and produce unexpected results – like a peace treaty with North Korea. But that depends on Kim Jong Un’s willingness to compromise.
The handshake across the DMZ might have united unusual bedfellows. But these two leaders also need each other for their own political survival. That’s good news for the potential reunification of the Korean peninsula. But the mirror-imaging that is taking place, the ongoing construction of Pyongyang on the Potomac, is bad news for transparency, good governance, human rights, and economic justice. | 1,265,220 |
Image copyright Getty Images
Scientists have turned their attention to investigating that most annoying of human habits - the sound made when you crack your knuckles.
The characteristic pop can be explained by three mathematical equations, say researchers in the US and France.
Their model confirms the idea that the cracking sound is due to tiny bubbles collapsing in the fluid of the joint as the pressure changes.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the phenomenon has been debated for around a century.
Science student Vineeth Chandran Suja was cracking his knuckles in class in France when he decided to investigate.
He developed a series of equations with his lecturer, Dr Abdul Barakat of École polytechnique, to explain the typical sound that accompanies the release of the joint between the fingers and the hand bones.
"The first equation describes the pressure variations inside our joint when we crack our knuckles," he told BBC News.
"The second equation is a well-known equation which describes the size variations of bubbles in response to pressure variations.
"And the third equation that we wrote down was coupling the size variation of the bubbles to ones that produce sounds."
The equations make up a complete mathematical model that describes the sound of knuckle cracking, said Chandran Suja, who is now a postgraduate student at Stanford University in California.
"When we crack our knuckles we're actually pulling apart our joints," he explained. "And when we do that the pressure goes down. Bubbles appear in the fluid, which is lubricating the joint - the synovial fluid.
"During the process of knuckle cracking there are pressure variations in the joint which causes the size of the bubbles to fluctuate extremely fast, and this leads to sound, which we associate with knuckle cracking."
Conflicting theories
The model neatly bridges two conflicting theories. The idea that a collapse of bubbles causes the cracking sound was first put forward in 1971.
Why suitcases rock and fall over
Physics of throwing calculated
This was challenged 40 years later when new experiments showed that bubbles persist in the fluid long after knuckles have been cracked.
The new mathematical model appears to resolve this by showing that only a partial collapse of the bubbles is needed to produce the sound. Thus, tiny bubbles can hang around in the joint fluid after the knuckle has been cracked.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, shows that the pressure generated by the collapse of the bubbles produces acoustic waves that can be predicted mathematically, as well as measured experimentally in three volunteers.
It also confirms why some people are unable to crack their knuckles. If you have a large space between the bones in the knuckles, the pressure in the fluid does not drop low enough to trigger the sound.
Follow Helen on Twitter. | 1,265,221 |
Commanders!
Season Eight on the Global Map will start on 9 April at 10:00 CEST and lasts until 17 May at 10:00 CEST (UTC+2).
Features of the Global Map season
New distribution of high-yield Tier X provinces. Instead of being clustered on one side, the high-yield provinces will now be spread across the map, providing easier access to them from all sides and opening wider frontlines.
New distribution of Tier X time zones. A vertical division of time zones will offer more space within each time zone and by doing so we hope to balance the number of active clan members required to hold a given territory.
Introduction of ‘Firefly provinces’. Be ready to battle for seemingly less prestigious provinces and reap the benefits of holding them! You can expect more information about this event after the Map settles (approximately 2 weeks after the season starts).
During this season creating Divisions will have a cost of 20 influence points.
Tier VIII and Х vehicles will be allowed for participation in Season Eight of the Global Map.
All accumulated Influence will be reset before the beginning of a new season.
The season leaderboard will be based on one criterion: the amount of the gold earned on the Global Map. The rewards for the top position on the leaderboard will include unique camouflage patterns, awards, and emblems.
The clan missions will be available again and will be divided into two groups: for gold and for Influence.
Remember: We are always looking to improve your experience on the Global Map. Whether you like the changes or think they are a move in the wrong direction, make sure to post your opinion on the forum!
Playing Field
Tier VIII and Х vehicles will be allowed for participation in Season Eight of the Global Map.
The Tier VIII front (for Tier VIII vehicles) will include 300 provinces. Landing provinces: ~ 25% of the total number of all provinces within the front.
The Tier X front (for Tier X vehicles) will include 250 provinces. Landing provinces: ~ 24% of the total number of all provinces within the front.
Prime times for the Tier VIII front: 19:00 - 22:00 CEST (UTC+2)
Prime times for the Tier X front: 19:00 - 22:00 CEST (UTC+2)
Leaderboard and Rewards
Every acquisition of gold from the Global Map in the clan vault irrespective of the way it was acquired (completing missions, owning provinces, or ransacks) increases the clan's position. Thus, the indicator of success on the Global Map is simple and clear. The clan that has earned more gold is the winner.
The reward of the clan members will depend on the clan's position on the season leaderboard. | 1,265,222 |
A bipartisan group of six senators has reached an "agreement in principle" on immigration including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to a joint statement released Thursday.
"President Trump called on Congress to solve the DACA challenge. We have been working for four months and have reached an agreement in principle that addresses border security, the diversity visa lottery, chain migration/family reunification, and the Dream Act—the areas outlined by the president. We are now working to build support for that deal in Congress," said the joint statement released by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina; Dick Durbin, D-Illinois; Jeff Flake, R-Arizona; Michael Bennet, D-Colorado; and Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey.
It's unclear if the agreement includes any border wall funding, which Mr. Trump has most recently said needs to be a part of any immigration deal he will sign. Graham and a handful of other members met with Mr. Trump on immigration earlier this afternoon, and by the time the White House briefing was taking place earlier in the afternoon, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there was no deal.
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But the agreement doesn't necessarily have support of the GOP leadership. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he hasn't even seen the agreement.
At a meeting on immigration the president held with a handful of members of Congress earlier in the day, Mr. Trump, made clear this is not going be just some agreement among a small handful of people," Cornyn said. "This is going to have to have broader acceptance."
"I haven't seen their agreement," Cornyn added. "And how do six people find the other 94 in the Senate, I don't get that. "
Sen. John Thune, D-South Dakota, also urged caution.
"I would be cautious about saying we've got a deal. I think we have a long way to go," he told reporters.
Earlier in the afternoon, Flake said they didn't want to release the details of the deal "until we talk to more of our colleagues."
Congress must come to some agreement on immigration, with a Jan. 19 deadline for reaching a spending deal quickly approaching and DACA set to expire March 5.
The president's recent comments have generated confusion over just what kind of immigration deal he would sign. Earlier this week, the president said he would be open to a clean DACA bill, but later clarified that any deal has to include funding for a wall.
Asked Wednesday if he would sign an immigration fix without wall funding, the president's response was clear — "No. No."
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CBS News' Alan He and John Nolen contributed to this report. | 1,265,223 |
A Catholic university in Ohio is not happy Facebook rejected an ad depicting the crucifixion of Jesus saying the image of Christ hung to the cross was'shocking and violent'.
Franciscan University, in Steubenville, said it had recently posted several ads on Facebook to promote its online theology program but one ad was rejected by the social networking site because its content was'shocking, sensational, and excessively violent'.
The ad in question, according to the school, was Jesus nailed to the San Damiano Cross.
Franciscan University said their ad depicting the crucifixion of Jesus was rejected by Facebook
The ad was image of Jesus Christ nailed to the San Damiano Cross. Facebook said the ad was'shocking, sensational and excessively violent'
'This is what the monitors at Facebook consider excessively violent, sensational, and shocking, the school responded in a blog post titled 'He was rejected'.
'And indeed the Crucifixion of Christ was all of those things. It was the most sensational action in history: man executed his God. It was shocking, yes: God designed to take on flesh and was 'obedient unto death,' even death on a cross'. And it was certainly excessively violent: a man scourged to within an inch of life, nailed to a cross and left to die, all the hate of all the sin in the world poured out its wrath upon its humanity.'
Franciscan University went on to say that it wasn't the nails that kept Jesus on the cross but his love for mankind.
'He could have descended from the cross at any moment. No, it was love that kept him there. Love for you and for me, that we might not be eternally condemned for our sins but might have life eternal with him and his Father in heaven,' the school wrote.
The Catholic university, located in Ohio, posted the ad to promote its online theology program
A Facebook spokesperson told the Daily Mail that it was an error and the ad has now been approved.
'Our team processes millions of ads each week, and sometimes we make mistakes. This image does not violate our ad policies. We apologize for the error and have already let the advertiser know we approved their ad,' the spokesperson said.
Last month, a woman who runs a religious blog complained that Facebook was censoring her ads depicting Jesus being crucified.
Sylvia, who runs the blog Passion of the Christ, said in a blog post that she received messages from the site saying her religious ads were either violating 'advertising policies' or were too violent.
'Facebook is calling photos of the Passion of Christ violent, and indeed the crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus was violent. But it is deeply troubling to me that a Christian advertiser I am being limited in what images I can share,' she wrote. | 1,265,224 |
NL wild card game this year, but before the NLDS had never won a playoff series since moving to Washington. So what Howie Kendrick did in the 10th inning of Game 5 meant everything. After Rendon’s double, Soto was walked intentionally to face Kendrick, and he made the Dodgers pay with a grand slam, sending the Nationals to their first NLCS.
3) Soto’s wild card heroics
None of this happens for the Nationals without winning the wild card game, and that was no sure thing down 3-1 with just four outs to play. They had the bases loaded for Soto, who singled against Josh Hader to bring home the tying runs. An error by Trent Grisham in right field allowed the winning run to score, turning Washington’s October hopes around. Even more impressive was Soto’s father tackling him in celebration on the field after the game.
Juan Soto’s dad tackling him after his game-winning hit is awesome!
Such a cool moment of pure joy between father and son ❤️
pic.twitter.com/HW64MYhJAj — Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) October 2, 2019
This play had a 58-percent win probability added, the most impactful play in the Nationals postseason.
2) The final out
In terms of actual impact on the game, Daniel Hudson’s strikeout of Michael Brantley with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 7, up four runs, was relatively low. But as a moment, this 87.9 mph slider will last forever for Nationals fans.
1) This is Howie do it
Another big moment for Kendrick in an elimination game. This time it was in the seventh inning of Game 7, down a run and with Soto on first base after a walk. Zack Greinke was removed in favor of Will Harris, who promptly gave up an opposite-field home run to Kendrick off the right field foul pole. This turned the tide for the Nationals, who never looked back. This added 35.3 percent to the Nationals’ win probability, second only in Washington’s postseason to Soto’s wild card winner.
CLUTCH!!! OFF THE POLE!
Nats take the lead!!! pic.twitter.com/98tb8eKE6F — FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 31, 2019
Kendrick hit.286/.328/.444 in the postseason, and his 12 RBI were third on the team behind Rendon and Soto.
I’m certain I left off some big moments, but these 10 were pretty important. It was a true team effort for the Nationals in winning their first championship. | 1,265,225 |
. “I have one, little, gun.”
He barked an order to Ivan, a friend, who briefly disappeared before returning with what appeared to be a three-feet long suitcase. Panting, he rested the case on the floor and opened it. Inside, encased in foam, was the biggest gun I have ever seen.
“Jesus Christ, Vlad what is that?” I asked.
“It’s a hunting rifle,” he said.
“What does it hunt?
“Elephants!” he bellowed with an uproarious laughter. “And Russians!”
As I learned later, the gun was in fact an SC-76 Thunderbolt Rifle. "It’s a serious bit of counterterrorism gear and built to be a bit civilian friendly,” Simon Schofield, Head of the Security and Defence Division of the Humanitarian Intervention Centre, a London-based think tank told me when I showed him a picture of the humungous gun, which retails for $2,500 to $3,000. “It’s a brand new top of the range sniper rifle,” Schofield said. “This guy is serious.”
I asked Vlad if the gun was legal. “Absolutely,” he replied while swigging from a can of Stella Artois, his whiskey chaser. When I asked him if there were any other guns on the property, he seemed at first indignant. “Of course not,” he snapped. This time, though, he was interrupted by his 15-year-old daughter, Irini, dressed in trendy jeans and a brightly-colored top, who scolded him with a sharp “Papa!” “Ok, ok,” he said, throwing his hand up in resignation.
He barked another order and out came Ivan carrying an AK-47, which he happily posed with under a painting of a famous Ukrainian general that was hanging on the wall. “Is this one legal, too, Vlad?” I asked. “Totally,” he replied through a mouthful of pork.
I turned to Irini, “You’re the only person here who isn’t armed,” I joked. Wordlessly, she stood up and left the room only to return five minutes later clutching a huge crossbow. The arrows were decorated in girlish yellows and reds.
A crossbow belonging to a Ukrainian girl
“Christ, everyone has a weapon,” I said.
“Yeah,” she replied. “And mine’s the only one here that’s legal.” | 1,265,226 |
Apple is set on ending 32-bit app support on its macOS operating system, just like it did on iOS 11. The company is giving both users and developers enough time to adjust to the new change. High Sierra, the latest version of the Mac software, was previewed on Tuesday at the company’s yearly event.
Apple has always prided itself for being an innovation frontrunner. But moving forward, especially in technology, means leaving something behind. And that’s exactly what the tech giant intends to do as it begins a new era of digital modernism.
High Sierra, according to the iPhone maker, will be the last iteration of its operating system “to support 32-bit apps without compromises.” The company made the announcement during its Platform State of the Union keynote at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2017).
Apple is giving developers of existing apps to update their respective programmes to 64-bit by June 2018. Beginning January next year, however, the Mac App Store will not be accepting new apps that are 32-bit.
Once High Sierra’s successor starts developing, Apple is going to take an aggressive approach when it comes to reminding users about 32-bit programmes. The California-based company is, of course, eventually phasing the old apps out altogether.
32-bit apps are no longer allowed to be opened or installed on Apple’s updated mobile operating system, iOS 11. If a user tries to launch such non-supported apps, he or she will receive a notification about the app’s need to be upgraded, as noted by MacRumors. Just like it did before the phase out of 32-bit apps on the refreshed iOS, Apple intends on actively and constantly alerting both Mac users and developers about the planned abolition.
Apple previewed the macOS High Sierra on Tuesday at WWDC, and the latest software boasts of core storage, video and graphics enhancement. It also introduces a brand new file system and an updated version of the Mac maker’s graphics technology, Metal. The new operating system’s launch coincides with that of the all-new iMac line-up, which now includes a Pro variant (see related story below).
“macOS High Sierra delivers important forward-looking technologies and new opportunities for developers wanting to tap into the power of machine learning and create immersive VR content on the Mac,” said Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi. “The core technology innovations in macOS High Sierra, combined with our advances in hardware, will continue to push the Mac forward in exciting new ways.”
MORE APPLE NEWS:
Apple iMac 2017 Australian pricing and release details: All-new line-up is the best yet
Apple MacBook 2017 Australian pricing and release details: New batch is Kaby Lake-infused | 1,265,227 |
Libya: Museveni, Mugabe and Zuma condemn air strikes Published duration 22 March 2011
image caption Col Gaddafi and his supporters have vowed to fight a "long war"
The leaders of several African countries, including Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe, have condemned the air strikes on Libya.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has written a lengthy newspaper article accusing the West of double standards.
He was one of five African leaders tasked with finding a solution to the crisis, whose mission to Tripoli was called off when the air strikes began.
South Africa's Jacob Zuma was also on the African Union panel.
Although South Africa voted in favour of UN resolution 1973, which authorised military action to protect civilians, Mr Zuma has also criticised the air strikes, suggesting they were part of a "regime-change doctrine".
Western leaders have said the strikes will not target Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi but they do think he should step down.
Mr Zuma called for an immediate ceasefire and "rejected any foreign intervention, whatever its form".
He warned the countries taking action in Libya "they should not harm or endanger the civilians that Resolution 1973 sought to protect".
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, a long-standing critic of the West, has also condemned the air strikes, saying the conflict is really about control of Libya's oil wealth.
Namibia's President Hifikepunye Pohamba agreed, calling the bombardment an "interference in internal affairs of Africa".
The African Union has also called for an end to the military intervention in Libya.
Nigeria's Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said there were "contradictions" with the international community intervening in Libya but not Ivory Coast, where some 435 people have been killed and 450,000 forced from their homes over a disputed election.
Col Gaddafi enjoyed strained relations with many African leaders, who disagreed with his plans to create a United States of Africa, with a single government, currency and army.
But he was one of the biggest financial contributors to the African Union.
Col Gaddafi has been accused of hiring mercenaries from several African countries to help battle the rebels.
Many thousands of African migrants have left Libya after the anti-Gaddafi protests began in February.
In his article in the New Vision newspaper, Mr Museveni questioned why there was no military intervention to help the protesters in pro-Western Bahrain.
He also said the intervention would lead to an arms race.
"The actions of the Western countries in Iraq and now Libya are emphasizing that might is 'right,'" he wrote.
"I am quite sure that many countries that are able will scale up their military research and in a few decades we may have a more armed world." | 1,265,228 |
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has given YouTube king Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg a fairly pointed suggestion in regards to the YouTuber’s ‘Meme Review’ show.
Musk posted a humorous Tweet on January 27, which featured a picture of the tech millionaire holding aloft one of his own flame throwers with the caption, “Host meme review?”
PewDiePie had a fairly bemused response to the request, appearing to entertain the possibility of their collaboration on the show.
“✋🤠🤚 Don’t shoot!” Pewds replied. “Please host 🙏 We need this!”
Read More: YouTube takes strict stance against conspiracy videos with new algorithm
That wasn’t the end of Musk’s interaction, either; he likewise had a short conversation with popular YouTuber Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson, who triple-dog-dared the CEO to host the show - to which Musk raised a $5 fee.
:raised_hand::face_with_cowboy_hat::raised_backhand: dont shoot
please host :pray:
we need this! https://t.co/6l66JTw7Vq — ƿ૯ωძɿ૯ƿɿ૯ (@pewdiepie) January 27, 2019
“I’ll give you $5 and I’ll buy a Tesla,” MrBeast returned.
“You drive a hard bargain, but… okay,” Musk replied.
You drive a hard bargain, but … ok — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2019
This wouldn’t be the first time a notable figure has appeared on Meme Review, should the Musk collab actually come to fruition; conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro made an appearance on the show in early November of 2018, after being jokingly invited on by PewDiePie in a previous segment.
Read More: YouTuber James Charles brings major UK city to a halt for 30 second appearance
Musk himself is no stranger to the internet community. He and Fortnite pro FaZe Tfue had a hilarious interaction on Twitter in early January 2019, after the gamer purchased a Tesla due to Musk’s response to one of his Tweets.
Glad you like it https://t.co/7FbQc0M9M5 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2019
Musk has likewise spoken out about his favorite character in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, claiming that his fighter of choice is Zero Suit Samus. | 1,265,229 |
SeaWorld Orlando’s Aquatica Waterpark suffered a loss on Saturday night when a Commerson’s dolphin died just moments after being born.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the newborn calf was born to a 16-year-old dolphin named Ringer, the only female Commerson’s dolphin at Aquatica, and one of only four Commerson’s dolphins at SeaWorld.
Ringer had originally been transferred from SeaWorld San Diego to SeaWorld Orlando in early 2016 after suffering multiple failed pregnancies. She had been put on birth control to prevent further incidents, but became pregnant while living in her new home.
TRIPADVISOR’S NEW POLICY ON DOLPHIN ATTRACTIONS IS IRKING AQUARIUMS
SeaWorld explained in a blog post that they tried diligently to care for Ringer during her pregnancy and, subsequently, to save the calf following the birth.
“While unexpected, Ringer's pregnancy was important to our animal care and veterinary teams,” wrote SeaWorld on its SeaWorld Cares blog. “Throughout her entire pregnancy, the teams put a great deal of planning and thought into preparing for the birth to help set Ringer and the calf up for success.”
Ultimately, though, the animal care team at SeaWorld was unable to resuscitate the newborn dolphin after it began showing signs of distress, and the calf died shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday.
The Orlando Sentinel also reported that, earlier this month, a marine life specialist at the Animal Welfare Institute did not think Ringer would be able to successfully birth a calf at SeaWorld, calling the institution “hardly ideal” for breeding.
“This dolphin should never have been allowed to get pregnant,” said Naomi Rose of the AWI in an email to the Orlando Sentinel. “It's all such a waste and very much not good welfare practice, to allow reproduction when the odds are so against a successful outcome.”
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However, SeaWorld insisted that Ringer had been placed under 24-hour surveillance during the last month of her gestation, and that their team responded “immediately” once the calf needed help.
SeaWorld reports that Ringer is currently doing well at their facility, despite the loss of her calf.
“She successfully passed the placenta after giving birth and has begun to eat again. She is still under 24-hour observation by our care teams and is not on display at the park. We remain committed to her care and well-being.”
SeaWorld also confirmed that they will be conducting a necropsy to determine the exact cause of the calf’s death. | 1,265,230 |
HIROSHIMA, Japan, Apr 3, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Mazda Motor Corporation announced that its 100th Anniversary Special Edition series will go on sale in Japan for a limited period until the end of March 2021. Featuring special equipment commemorating the company's 100th anniversary since its foundation, the models will be available for all Mazda passenger vehicles registered and sold in Japan. Pre-orders for the special edition models start today at Mazda dealerships throughout Japan.These special edition models were prepared as a token of our appreciation for those who have supported Mazda this far, along with our determination to continue to cherish our founder's aspiration of enriching people's lives. The models adopt a white-and-burgundy two-tone color coordination, symbolic of Mazda's first passenger car R360 Coupe, created in 1960. In addition, exclusive components featuring our 100th Anniversary Special Logo, are adopted on both exterior and interior of the commemorative models. The 100th Anniversary Special Edition models will be available for all major models in the Mazda lineup to accommodate to the varied tastes and needs of customers. Furthermore, to make the special edition models available to a wider pool of customers, they will be introduced in stages to markets around the globe.* Mazda2, Mazda3, Mazda6, CX-3, CX-30, CX-5, CX-8, Roadster (MX-5), Roadster RFToward the next 100 years, we will continue to strengthen co-creation and cooperation with all those who work with Mazda and always remain true to our unique trait of "co-creating with others" placing people at the center of our minds, constantly challenging ourselves to create products, technologies, and experiences that our customers love.Main Features:- Floor mats (with 100th Anniversary Special Badge)- Headrests (embossed with 100th Anniversary Special Logo)- Floor carpet (burgundy)- Key fob (embossed with 100th Anniversary Special Logo and packaged in a special edition box)- Center hubcaps (featuring 100th Anniversary Special Logo)- 100th Anniversary Special Badge (on front fender)- Exterior color: Snow Flake White Pearl MicaAbout MazdaMazda Motor Corporation (TSE: 7261) started manufacturing tools in 1929 and soon branched out into production of trucks for commercial use. In the early 1960s, Mazda launched its first passenger car models and began developing rotary engines. Still headquartered in Hiroshima in western Japan, Mazda today ranks as one of Japan's leading automakers, and exports cars to the United States and Europe for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.mazda.comCopyright 2020 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.com
© 2020 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Japan Corporate News Network. | 1,265,231 |
staterooms until we have more information. There are 1,243 guests and 586 crew on board.
Zaandam is following the response protocols that have been developed in coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since it is flu season, and COVID-19 testing is not available on board, it is difficult to determine the cause of these elevated cases at this time.
The safety and well-being of our guests and crew is one of our highest priorities. The ship has activated these precautionary measures out of an abundance of caution:
• As is our standard practice, all ill persons have been isolated and their close contacts placed in quarantine.
• Guests have been asked to remain in their staterooms and monitor their health. If they become symptomatic, they are asked to call the medical center for an evaluation and care from the ship’s medical professionals (at no charge).
• Effective today, meal service will be provided by room service until further notice. All public areas are closed.
• The entire ship is operating at maximum sanitation levels, including rigorous cleaning and disinfecting of public and crew areas.
• Crew who are not required for the safe operation of the ship are being quarantined. Those that are needed to maintain the ship’s operation are being asked to self-isolate when not performing essential functions, practice social distancing, self-monitor and report any illness to the Medical Center.
• Both internet and guest stateroom telephone services remain complimentary so that guests may stay in touch with their families.
Zaandam was sailing a South America voyage that departed Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 7 and was originally scheduled to end in San Antonio, Chile, on March 21. However, due to global health concerns, Holland America Line made the decision to suspend its global cruise operations for 30 days and end its current cruises in progress as quickly as possible and return guests home. Despite previous confirmations that guests could disembark in Punta Arenas, Chile, for flights, we were not permitted to do so. No one has been off the ship since March 14 in Punta Arenas.
Zaandam then sailed to Valparaiso, Chile, where it remained at anchor March 20-21 while taking on provisions and fuel, including regular medications for those that needed them. Zaandam departed Valparaiso on March 21 and is currently sailing north. Our intention is to proceed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for arrival on March 30, however we are still working on securing a reservation to transit the Panama Canal. Alternative options are also being developed.
For those with family members on board, they can call the following numbers for information: 1-877-425-2231 and 1-206-626-7398. | 1,265,232 |
Chelsea Clinton received a reality check when she tried to get cute on Twitter in response to a tweet about a story from The El Paso Times.
The story was about a woman who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a court proceeding for an order of protection alleging she was a domestic violence victim.
The tweet said, “6 ICE agents arrested an undocumented woman at a courtroom as she received a protective order. they were tipped off by her domestic abuser.”
Clinton quote tweeted the story with the following statement with no historical irony or seeming awareness.
I need a thesaurus. What's another word for horrifying? Sick? Awful? Running out of adjectives these days that mean unconscionably terrible https://t.co/jFs2istGbH — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) February 16, 2017
“I need a thesaurus. What’s another word for horrifying? Sick? Awful? Running out of adjectives these days that mean unconscionably terrible,” the tweet reads.
The responses became a mixed bag of agreement and “we need to remember our privilege,” to references of her parents history of scandal.
But National Review’s roving correspondent, Kevin D. Williamson, replied perfectly, by invoking the 1999 case of then 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez and her father’s role in the little boy being sent back to Communist Cuba.
Your father sent men with guns into a private home to kidnap a legal resident and deport him to a Communist dictatorship. https://t.co/WwSXtvP5cW — Kevin D. Williamson (@KevinNR) February 19, 2017
For those who don’t recall the details of the case.
Elián González was born in 1993 to divorced parents. In 1999, his mother brought him along when she decided to escape the Castro regime, but drowned during the journey. Florida fishermen found 5-year-old Elián floating alone off the coast, near Fort Lauderdale. Although his Cuban-American relatives fought to keep him in the United States, Elián’s father insisted on his return to Cuba. The Clinton administration ultimately backed the father’s claim and extracted Elián forcibly in 2000.
The story dominated the headlines that year. After months of Americans — the exiled Cuban community, in particular — arguing with the Justice Department over whether or not Gonzalez should be sent back to Cuba to live with his father, or remain with relatives in the U.S. where he was granted legal residency, Attorney General, Janet Reno, with the full support of President Clinton, ordered the boy forcibly removed from his relatives home and sent him back to be raised under a dictator.
Perhaps Clinton can address that in her next outraged tweet. | 1,265,233 |
in a dungeon where a boss awaited, or took a long way to build up to those encounters. Acquisition of equipment was something I just flat out got wrong; getting new gear was a lengthy process, often coming in after new abilities were obtained.
The medians for all the milestones came pretty quickly, but the actual spots at which the milestones occurred varied quite a bit.
Subtracting TTF, no game took longer than 10 minutes to provide basic movement and game saving, no longer than 20 minutes to hit the first battle and level-up, and no longer than 30 minutes for a chance to rest and get some items. These six milestones seemed to form a core of 4th Generation JRPGs regardless of their personal takes on the genre.
The other six milestones were a lot more spread out, taking up to 120+ minutes to be reached. However, what’s worth noting here is that any of the milestones — including these six that typically occurred further on into the game — could take place as early as the first 5 minutes.
The most shocking aspect of the timing, though, was the TTF itself. I thought that some openings would last up to 30 minutes, but the longest one wasn’t even half of that. In fact, nine games started off in under 5 minutes, with most only taking a minute or so to get going.
Part of the reason for this was an interesting trend to play an opening cinematic before the title screen, or via an attract-mode. These would often set up the setting itself, leaving only character introductions once the game itself began.
Grinding proved to be mostly a non-issue, at least in the first 2 hours of each game. Even more surprisingly, random encounters themselves were already being diminished. Not only was combat not as obnoxiously frequent as I had feared, many games were either showing enemies on the maps or experimenting with that approach, e.g., the Pokémon Trainers in Pokémon Yellow and the guards aboard Leo’s ship in Lunar: Eternal Blue.
Another unexpected element was the proliferation of minigames. I thought these mostly started appearing in the 5th generation, but they often popped up in this one as well, e.g., the slots in Lufia II, the carnival games in Chrono Trigger, the collection-races of Super Mario RPG, etc.
Considering combat wasn’t quite as unavoidable as some might think, I expect things to slow down a bit in the next console generation. There will be more cinematics, more voice overs, and more text; as odd as it might sound, a game’s script was one of the many things limited by cartridge size. I already have a rough list of which JRPGs to cover next, but feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions! | 1,265,234 |
The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 will be in an all-black livery in this weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans, a move that the team is hopeful will help deliver the GT Daytona victory and the class championship in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale.
Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow head into Saturday’s ten-hour enduro at Road Atlanta with a six-point lead over Meyer Shank Racing’s Katherine Legge, with Sellers, Snow and Corey Lewis, who rejoins the season-long duo this weekend, needing a podium finish to clinch the GTD title.
As a result, team owner Paul Miller has elected to trade in their traditional red, black and silver colors for a matte black livery with Lamborghini green highlights, hoping that it will deliver the “good fortune” needed to end up champions.
“In 2014, we ran a matte black livery on the Paul Miller entry for Petit Le Mans, and we won the race,” said Miller. “We liked the idea of running a black car for Petit this year, and with the Lamborghini green highlights, maybe it’ll bring us some good fortune again!”
With nine top-five class finishes in ten races, including wins at Sebring and Lime Rock, Sellers and Snow have been the measure of consistency this season, which the team has shown since the formation of the WeatherTech Championship.
By simply starting the race, Paul Miller will earn its fourth top-three finish in the GTD points standings since 2014.
Should Sellers, Snow and Lewis not end up on the podium, they will need to finish within two to five positions of the No. 86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 to still be champions, depending where Legge and co-drivers Alvaro Parente and Trent Hindman finish in the race.
“We have had some great battles with the 86 and it seems appropriate that it is coming down to the final race for the championship,” said Sellers. “They are a great team and have brought everything they have to every race and will do the same until the very end.
“It will be on us to do the same; To try and execute to the best of our ability and try to finish the job we started in January.”
Miller added: “I’m very proud of each and every member of our team, and proud of the overall effort.
“Our guys have been executing at a high level all season, producing as close to an error-free championship run as you can possibly achieve. It has been an incredible season, and everyone is working to close out the season as class champions.” | 1,265,235 |
By Ellen Huber
Mao Zedong’s granddaughter, Kong Dongmei, ranks among China’s most wealthy according to an annual list published by Guangdong’s New Fortune magazine of the country’s top 500 richest citizens.
Kong is the granddaughter of the polarizing founder of the People’s Republic of China and his third wife, He Zizhen. Kong isn’t the only breadwinner in the family however. Her husband Chen Dongsheng is the founder of both Guardian, China’s first national auction house, and Taikiang, China’s fourth largest insurance house. Together, the couple are worth five billion yuan ($814 million).
But even with such great personal wealth, Kong and Chen barely crack the richest half of the top 500 list coming in at #242.
Kong’s embrace of state capitalism isn’t shared by all of Mao’s living relatives however. Mao Xinyu, Kong’s half-brother and the Chairman’s only known grandson who serves as a major general in the People’s Liberation Army, once said, “The House of Mao will never engage in business.” It is speculated that Mao Xinyu doesn’t want to appear exploitative of his powerful surname.
Mao Xinyu made his famed comment amid the downfall of shamed Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, who is the son of another founding father, Bo Yibo, of the People’s Republic. Given the context, it makes sense Mao Xinyu has rejected use of his grandfather’s name in the name of personal advancement.
However, both Mao Xinjyu and his half-sister Kong have written (and reaped the benefits) of writing books capitalizing on their famous grandfather, both titled ‘My Grandpa Mao’. Mao Xinyu’s grandmother, Yang Kaihui, was Mao’s second wife.
But I’m sure you’re more curious about who topped the list? Zong Qinghou, who came from much humbler beginnings than both Kong and Mao Xinyu, first worked as a salt harvester in Zhejiang province.
Today, Zong is worth 70 billion yuan after co-founding the Wahaha beverages group, and is able to snub dignitaries such as the Queen of United Kingdom and David Cameron at will.
When it comes to wealth in China, a famous surname may get you in the door if you choose to use it like Kong, but it certainly won’t make you the richest man or woman in the country [Ed.: just richer than 99.99% of the rest of the population].
| 1,265,236 |
Thanks to a new state law, rural and elderly voters are among those who could lose their early polling places next election.
The Texas Legislature never seems to pass up a chance to make voting harder, scarier, or more confusing. True to form, Texas was one of several states this year that restricted—rather than expanded—access to the polls.
HB 1888, which Governor Greg Abbott signed into law in June, goes into effect this week, effectively banning the use of mobile polling places, a strategy adopted by some counties to facilitate early voting in communities where people may have a harder time getting to a polling site. Travis County, for instance, has for the past several years operated dozens of temporary polling places at various times during the state’s two-week early voting window, opening up temporary sites at colleges, rural community centers, and senior living facilities. More than 28,000 people voted at those rotating polling sites last year, or nearly 6 percent of all Travis County votes cast during the 2018 midterm election.
However, since the county can’t afford to turn all of those temporary polling places into permanent early voting sites, as required by HB 1888, some areas accustomed to having early voting won’t get it during the 2020 election, according to Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir. “We’re struggling with what to do for some of these communities now,” DeBeauvoir told the Observer. “We won’t be able to open polling places that some people have gotten used to.”
“This is just one of many examples over the years. There’s no question about it, they don’t want everybody voting.”
Representative Greg Bonnen, the Friendswood Republican who spearheaded earlier attempts to kill mobile polling places, filed HB 1888 this session due to “the possibility that some authorities accommodate certain voting populations to the exclusion of others.” Critics contend that the law is just the latest voter suppression tactic by the state’s ruling GOP majority. Last session, lawmakers also proposed SB 9, a more draconian elections bill that would have raised criminal penalties for certain election-related offenses and made it harder to assist elderly or disabled voters.
Against the backdrop of a botched voter purge that targeted naturalized citizens, voting rights groups managed to defeat SB 9 and tank Abbott’s nomination of David Whitley to be Secretary of State last session. But HB 1888 squeaked through on a party-line vote.
“Texas has a very bad reputation when it comes to suppressing rather than promoting turnout,” DeBeauvoir said. “This is just one of many examples over the years. There’s no question about it, they don’t want everybody voting.”
Read more from the Observer: | 1,265,237 |
respect and appreciation for Judith. Virgil Judith and Virgil started off on the wrong foot, as Virgil tried to run away from Oceanside, which prompted Judith to chase him and stop him herself, threatening him with her katana. When Virgil is tied up, she doesn't flinch when he demands her to give the book back to him, and plain ignores him, showing she doesn't fear him. After Michonne talked to Virgil, Judith possibly remains on neutral terms with him, and shows she trusts him enough not to stop her mother from leaving with him. Mary Judith seems to be curious of Mary as she's one of the people walking out the gates to meet her. She also witnesses Mary being punched by Rosita. Later, she visits Mary in her cell and asks her about her name and her life. She seems to genuinely like Mary as she tells her she doesn't look like a monster to her and that she just met the wrong person first. Later that night, Judith helps Mary hide as Beta was chasing her and defends her when Beta goes after them inside the house. Mary in turn helps her and her brother to escape. The day after, Judith is seen getting on a carriage headed to Hilltop alongside Mary and it is implied they've become friends, as Mary had officially joined the group. Earl Sutton Judith and Earl weren't seen much together, however it's clear Judith is thankful to Earl for saving her and the other kids, and offers to stay with him after learning he had been bitten and his death was certain. When Earl told her she was strong and brave and that she should protect the other kids from him, she breaks down in tears and holds his hand, showing she cares for him. After Earl turns, Judith puts him down and is saddened about his death, as well as the fact she was the one to put him down. Lydia While they didn't interact much, Judith clearly cares about Lydia. After learning about Alpha's death, Judith approaches Lydia and attempts to comfort her, but Lydia is shown to be too saddened, and tells her not everyone can have a mother like hers, visibly upsetting Judith, as she was worried about Michonne and missing her. Alpha Judith and Alpha never met, or even saw each other in person, but it's obvious Judith fears Alpha. After learning about Alpha's death, Judith is relieved, as shown with her conversation with Michonne, informing her about Alpha being unable to hurt them anymore. Beta Judith and Beta never interacted directly, but it's obvious Judith sees Beta as a threat and an enemy to her and her family. When Beta sneaks into Alexandria in search of Mary, Judith helps her hide in her house, prompting Beta to follow after her. As Beta reaches Judith's room, she shoots him through the door to stop him, temporarily incapacitating him. Judith then runs away with R.J.
Appearances
Trivia | 1,265,238 |
View this email in your browser WANT A FREE PAX ERA?? Bring in any other brand of battery to exchange for a PAX Era. We are so sure that you are going to LOVE PAX that we are exchanging the Era Battery for any patient who brings in their current battery. Come in today to experience the effortless pen-and-pod system for cannabis oil. Control temperature, flavor and potency, and achieve session predictability. Experience the new Era of cannabis enjoyment. * While Supplies lasts. limited quantities. Can not combine discounts. Limit one per per Patient. Patient must pay applicable sales tax. Available in our Somerville location only. Some product excluded.* Salmon River #5 Serenity
(A patient and growers favorite) is available again in our Somerville location. This flower is a cross between Pre-98’ Bubba Kush and Blue Heron. Patients report relief from depression, feelings of happiness, stress reductions muscle spasms and insomnia. This strain creates colorful nuggets bursting with bag appeal and shades of purple and and orange. The floral bouquet is predominantly berry scented with hints of lemon, chocolate, and gasoline from the Kush genetics. Critical Jack is BACK IN STOCK!
We have a limited quantity of our award winning Clarity Critical Jack distillate oil, 94.2% THC, in our amazing PAX Pods. These are limited quantity so come in soon to stock up while you can! Patients have said they love this strain for its clear headed, focused, creative and uplifting feeling. Critical Jack is also available in beautiful flower. Valentines Week Chocolate Square Deal!
Our Buy One Get One (for $1) chocolate square continues! Whats better for Valentines Day than our yummy chocolate squares! Our chocolate squares come in bags of 3 for a total of 25 mg per bag. We have 5 fantastic flavors available, Plain, Sea Salt, Cranberry, Blueberry and Coconut.
Buy one bag of chocolates get the second of equal or lesser value for only $1! Sale Continues 2/8/19-2/13/19 * While Supplies lasts. limited quantities. Can be combined with other discounts and specials.* * WEEKLY TERPENE SPOTLIGHT*
Pinene is known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial benefits. Some patients have said it promotes airflow to the lungs may even improve memory. LIBERTY Somerville has several strains currently in stock that are high in Pinene including the Critical Jack, Chaos Kush #2, and Silver Kush. WHERE: 304 Somerville Ave, Somerville MA
HOURS: Monday - Saturday: 10:00 - 8:00, Sunday: 11:00 - 5:00
WRITE US: [email protected]
CALL US: 857-997-8202 DIRECTIONS | 1,265,239 |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Self-assembling synthetic materials come together when tiny, uniform building blocks interact and form a structure. However, nature lets materials like proteins of varying size and shape assemble, allowing for complex architectures that can handle multiple tasks.
University of Illinois engineers took a closer look at how nonuniform synthetic particles assemble and were surprised to find that it happens in multiples phases, opening the door for new reconfigurable materials for use in technologies such as solar cells and catalysis.
The findings are reported in the journal Nature Communications.
“Traditional self-assembly can be thought of like a grocery store stacking apples for a display in the produce section,” said Qian Chen, a professor of materials science and engineering and lead author of the new study. “They would need to work with similarly sized and shaped apples – or particles in the case of self-assembly – to make the structure sturdy.”
In the new study, Chen’s group observed the behavior of microscale silver plates of varied size and nanoscale thickness in liquids. Because the particles used in self-assembling materials are so small, they behave like atoms and molecules, which allow researchers to use classical chemistry and physics theories to understand their behavior, the researchers said.
The nonuniform particles repel and attract according to laws of nature in plain, deionized water. However, when the researchers add salt to the water, changing electrostatic forces trigger a multistep assembly process. The nonuniform particles begin to assemble to form columns of stacked silver plates and further assemble into increasingly complex, ordered 3D hexagonal lattices, the team found.
“We can actually witness the particles assemble in this hierarchy using a light microscope,” said Binbin Luo, a materials science and engineering graduate student and study co-author. “This way, we can track particle motions one by one and study the assembly dynamics in real time.”
“The findings of this study may allow for the development of reconfigurable self-assembly materials,” said Ahyoung Kim, a materials science and engineering graduate student and study co-author. “These materials can change from one type of solid crystal to another type with different properties for a variety of applications.”
“Another benefit of this finding is that it can be generalized to other types of systems,” Chen said. “If you have another type of nanoparticle, be it magnetic or semiconducting, this hierarchal assembly principal still applies, allowing for even more types of reconfigurable materials.”
Graduate students John W. Smith and Zihao Ou, former postdoctoral researcher Juyeong Kim, and undergraduate student Zixuan Wu also contributed to this study.
The National Science Foundation supported this research | 1,265,240 |
what was within the grasp of the nascent movement. It also would have required the audacious dedication of participants to transcend their atomized lives and constructed identities under capitalism, going past the point of no return. The failure to overcome these fundamental obstacles enabled power relationships built on patriarchy, white supremacy, and heteronormativity to reassert their dominance within the movement while undermining and repressing the vital new relationships that had emerged through the process of struggle. These were the underlying limits that led the Commune away from the reclamation of space that had provided the basis for its initial rapid ascent, and ushered in its six month decline, passing the point of no return as the horizons of struggle that led away from the camp hit dead ends in January 2012.
This is the double bind we found ourselves in: the camp was both inadequate and essential. A potential solution to this bind is contained in the concept of the Commune, by which we mean the projected translation of the principles of the camp onto a new, more expansive footing. Occupy Oakland became the Oakland Commune once it took the camp as the model for a project (barely realized) of reclamation, autonomy, and the disruption of capital on a much wider basis: neighborhood assemblies reclaiming abandoned buildings for their needs; social centers that could serve as hubs for organizing offensives and sustain all kinds of self-organization and care; occupations of schools and workplaces. These were the horizons that the Oakland Commune illuminated, in the positive sense, despite its limits. We believe it is likely that future struggles in the US will follow this trajectory in some way, using Occupy’s attempted offensives and space reclamations as the foundation upon which something much larger, more beautiful and more ferocious can begin to take shape.
But the questions still remain: what would it mean to actually take care of each other and to collectively sustain and nurture an unstoppable insurrectionary struggle? How can we dismantle and negate the oppressive power relationships and toxic interpersonal dynamics we carry with us into liberated spaces? How can we make room for the myriad of revolts within the revolt that are necessary to upend all forms of domination? The effectiveness of any future antagonistic projects in the U.S. will be determined by our ability to answer these questions and thus transcend the limits that were so debilitating within Oscar Grant Plaza, forcing the Commune away from the very source of its power.
Another wave of struggle and unrest will undoubtedly explode in our streets and plazas sooner or later. Our task in the meantime is to cultivate fierce and creative forms of cooperating, caring for each other, and fighting together that can help us smash through the fundamental limits of contemporary revolt when the time is right. If we can make substantial strides beyond these obstacles, police attacks and jail sentences will be no match for the uncontrollable momentum of our collective force.
Some Oakland Antagonists, August 2013 | 1,265,241 |
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Mobile analytics firm App Annie released a report on app trends on Wednesday that sorts out what kind of software people downloaded on their phones and tablets in 2014. The answer: Facebook-owned apps, including Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, were the four most-downloaded apps worldwide when combining iOS and Android downloads in 2014, according to the report.
Because App Annie doesn’t put games and apps in the same category, the global list doesn’t include titles like Candy Crush Saga or Subway Surfers, which might account for more total downloads than Facebook’s utilities. But Facebook’s performance is still impressive, and an indication that the company’s multiple-app strategy might be a success. On the other hand, most of Facebook’s homegrown apps — such as Paper, Groups and Rooms — do not show up on any other top charts provided by App Annie. Facebook purchased both Instagram and WhatsApp.
The top app worldwide in terms of revenue in 2014 was Line, a Japanese-based messaging service popular in parts of Asia. Its sibling gaming app, Line Play, clocked in at number three in terms of worldwide iOS and Google Play revenue. (Pandora was second.) On the gaming side, Clash of Clans generated the most revenue, although fellow freemium sensation Candy Crush Saga was the most downloaded.
In a reminder of why both [company]Google[/company] and [company]Facebook[/company] want to break into China, neither company placed a single app in the top ten iOS apps either in terms of revenue or downloads, because neither company widely offers its services in China. The Chinese app leaderboards are filled with apps from Chinese web companies like Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu.
Reflecting the fact that China is quickly becoming the the biggest market for iOS devices, App Annie found that China generated the third most revenue for iOS among countries in 2014, taking the third-place spot from the United Kingdom. Japan ended up being the country that generated the most revenue for Android developers during the period. Games remained the most downloaded category of apps across countries.
The single most downloaded app in the United States in 2014 was Facebook Messenger, thanks to Facebook requiring its users to download a separate app to use the service. Pandora Radio was the most downloaded music app in the United States, landing at the fourth most downloaded app excluding games, and number one in terms of getting people to pay.
App Annie reported that there were more Google Play app downloads than iOS app downloads, but iOS apps still brought in significantly more revenue. Google Play accounted for 60 percent more downloads than iOS, but iOS apps generated 70 percent more revenue.
The entire App Annie report is worth a look and you can find it here. | 1,265,242 |
Canadians owe more than ever before on their mortgages, but fewer and fewer borrowers are falling behind on their payments.
That's one of the major takeaways from a report published Tuesday from credit monitoring firm TransUnion, which looked at every active credit file across the country to gauge the financial health of borrowers and consumers.
TransUnion found that as of the end of June, the average Canadian mortgage had $198,781 left on it, a figure that has increased by almost five per cent in the previous 12 months. That's in part a factor of high housing prices, which have prompted people to borrow more than ever to finance a home.
But it's not just that people are borrowing more — more people are borrowing, too.
"The total number of active mortgage accounts grew annually to 6.0 million, an increase of 1.2 per cent from last year," TransUnion said.
While Canadians may be borrowing more to get into the real estate market, thus far they seem to be staying on top of their debts, as delinquency rates dropped to 0.56 per cent for the third quarter in a row.
Credit agencies consider a debt to be delinquent if the borrower is more than two months behind on payments. A delinquency rate of 0.56 per cent means barely one of every 200 mortgage holders was more than 60 days behind on their mortgage payment as of the end of June.
"Despite increases in mortgage debt, serious delinquency rates remain low with very little volatility observed over the past two years," Matt Fabian, TransUnion Canada's director of research and analysis, said in a release. "Consumers have so far been able to manage their mortgage obligations despite the increasing balance levels."
Overall consumer debt climbing
But mortgages aren't the only type of debt that's growing fast. The average Canadian owed $22,154 on top of any mortgage at the end of June, TransUnion said, a figure that has grown by 2.7 per cent in the previous 12 months.
The average credit card balance was at $2,840 at the end of June, and on average, people owed $19,087 against their car, if they owned one. Some 23.7 million Canadians have at least one credit card, and there are 3.3 million auto loans across the country.
The fastest growing type of debt, meanwhile, is installment loans, which are unsecured, high-interest, short-term loans, such as the ones often offered to buy home furnishings and other big ticket items. Among the 6.4 million Canadians who had one as of the end of June, the average balance was $20,466 — up 5.5 per cent in the past year.
The delinquency rate for that type of debt is also the highest at four per cent, TransUnion said. | 1,265,243 |
In November 2015, then-Gov. Steve Beshear (D) signed an executive order restoring the voting rights of more than 100,000 people with felony records in Kentucky. But in December of that year, Beshear’s successor, Gov. Matt Bevin (R), undid the executive order — just as easily taking away from ex-felons what the former governor had given them.
On Tuesday, though, Bevin lost his reelection bid to Democrat Andy Beshear, the former governor’s son. And the new governor-elect is poised to sign another executive order that restores voting rights to at least some people with felony records after they’ve served their sentences — potentially increasing the voter rolls by more than 100,000.
Kentucky has one of the strictest laws disenfranchising people with felony records, banning ex-felons from voting for life — unless they get a special reprieve from the state government — even after they finish serving out their prison sentences, parole, or probation. It is only one of two states, along with Iowa, with such a strict lifetime ban.
Based on the Sentencing Project’s 2016 estimates, the ban blocks more than 300,000 people from voting — more than 9 percent of the voting-age population. Due to racial disparities in the criminal justice system, the ban disproportionately affects black voters, with more than a quarter of the black voting age population in Kentucky prohibited from voting.
Florida previously had a lifetime ban for people with felony records, but voters struck it down in 2016. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) is pushing to eliminate her state’s ban through a constitutional amendment. If Reynolds is successful, and Beshear follows through on his promise to restore voting rights for some ex-felons in Kentucky, no state would still have and enforce a strict lifetime ban.
Beshear’s move would leave people unable to vote as long as they are still serving prison sentences, parole, or probation.
Meanwhile, only Maine and Vermont let people vote regardless of their criminal record, which means that people in those states can even vote from prison.
Courts, including the US Supreme Court, have generally upheld such voting restrictions under the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states that the government may abridge the right to vote due to “participation in rebellion, or other crime.”
It’s one of the many collateral effects of getting a felony record or being sent to prison in the US. Other examples include restrictions on employment and bans on receiving welfare benefits, accessing public housing, or qualifying for student loans for higher education.
Voters on Tuesday, though, took a step toward pulling back those collateral consequences — and potentially restoring voting rights to more than 100,000 people in Kentucky. | 1,265,244 |
Ex- soldier Peter O’Hanlon is using the silver screen to fight a whole new battle Photo: Caters
A former Aussie soldier has hit the silver screen in a bid to leave his battle scars behind and overcome his PTSD.
Peter O’Hanlon was just 19 when he joined the army and despite returning from service over ten years ago, he’s only recently managed to overcome the effects of his time in the force.
Beginning his deployment in East Timor, Peter says the horrors he witnessed followed him far beyond the battlefield.
“I’ll always remember flying into Timor: the ground was covered with debris and as we got closer I saw the hacked up bodies among them,” the former soldier said.
“Seeing that changes you, it robs you of your humanity and passion for life.”
View photos Peter O’Hanlon went from soldier on the ground to soldier on the screen. Photo: Caters More
Once home, Peter found himself far from the field but facing a new battle.
“Coming back I was desensitised, I felt a numbness to life and human connection,” the veteran admitted.
Peter spent years wrestling severe depression, anxiety and PTSD; his marriage busted up and he was floundering in normal society, desperate to find a purpose.
“The anxiety was so bad I was could barely leave the house or answer the phone,” he admitted.
It wasn’t until he stumbled across an advertisement for Extra Specialists – a service linking veterans with film work – that things began to turn around.
“Once I got to work I started to feel the spark of life again,” he said.
“I was breaking the victim mentality.”
View photos These days Peter only dons the uniform to play a role Photo: Caters More
Now Peter is tackling his mental health head-on. The former soldier boasts 42k Instagram followers, and has already built-up an impressive film resume.
Aside from taking on roles in Godzilla vs. Kong and Dora the Explorer, he’s also stepped back into uniform taking on his first speaking role playing a soldier in sci-fi action movie Occupation Rainfall.
“This has given me an identity and reconnected me to society,” the up and coming actor revealed.
“I’ve got a long way to go but I’m finally starting to feel good again.”
Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected]
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Or sign up to our daily newsletter here. | 1,265,245 |
Robert Schwager writes:
I'm sitting here with one of the creators of a new webcomic "Home Bound" and by 'here with' I actually mean nothing of the sort, more just Facebook chatting. Ian Wood is a pretty busy guy. At 22 he is working on a masters in Bioinformatics and scripting/illustrating his new web comic with his friend Sam 'SGC' Chan. This gives him enough free time to sleep and occasionally eat. Ian's art has the sort of impact that veterans of the field attempt. It's stylistically messy, stark and detailed. The black and white has a dramatic contrast to the vibrancy of the colors. SGC keeps the story moving with a minimum of wordiness, and with a fast pacing that seamlessly ties together with Ian's art.
RS: Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. When I first saw your comic listed I was…oh hum, another web comic. But this…this was something else. After reading this, I guess I have to ask…why haven't I seen your work anywhere else?
IW: If you're asking about where my previous projects are, my early ones were all horrible and I make a concerted effort to hide them from people. I finally self-published my fourth project last year, a collection of short comics entitled "Before Colour TV, Everything was in Black and White." I only printed 100 copies and I'm almost out. And now I'm on this, which stemmed entirely from a story written by Sam. It's a very different narrative from my other work, in a far better way. Sam is a brilliant writer.
RS: What's this about?
IW: It's a post-apocalyptic story in which a town is sustained by a mysterious box that falls from the sky every morning and is swallowed up by the ground every night. One day everyone has disappeared except for one little boy.
RS: People have called your style something like early Jeff Lemire?
IW: Well he's definitely one of my influences. Essex is a constant inspiration storytelling-wise; that and a borrowed copy of McKean's 'Cages' from the library are what really got me started with creating comics What are you plans for this book? We've been extremely surprised by how much positive feedback the webcomic has gotten. We mostly just wanted to have this "out there" as an example of our work, but we would definitely like to take this to print if the interest is high enough.
RS: How about in the future? Any plans for this Dynamic Duo?
IW: We've talked about it and we'd like to do a serial comic that would see monthly print distribution. The thought of organizing all of that on our own is pretty scary though so we'll just have to see what happens. | 1,265,246 |
be fine with not being 100% sure I knew the end game.
Spiritually, I still feel inspiration; I still feel the insights and feelings that I used to attribute to my beliefs and religion. These feelings could come from God, or they might be the product of evolution, I realize that I simply do not know for sure, (if you have to define me, that makes me agnostic). Since they happen in any religion and outside of religion, I do not believe that we need any organized religion at all to get back to God if there is one. It doesn’t make sense to me that he would be so tricky to his kids to require faith in something so easily proven wrong to be the one true way back to him. I no longer try to make things fit in my head that do not make sense. Like I said, Inspiration still comes to me, as strongly and deeply as ever. I feel moved simply sharing this story of what went on in my life, a deep and profound spiritual connection to any whom might read it. I have found living a life authentic to who you are is what works for me. What works for you isn’t for me to say. All we can really do is share our thoughts, logic, experiences and emotions, compare notes and do our best to get along. I think the most important thing we can do is be nice to each other.
* * *
Epilogue,
Some may wonder about how my wife and kids handled this. It’s really not my place to say in detail, they each have their own story. My wife accepts me for who I am. She no longer attends church either after working this all out for herself. Our relationship is better than it ever has been. We no longer judge each other based on what the church thinks is right or wrong. Personally from my perspective she is far happier and more self-confident now than she has been since we got married. Our kids are all doing great now! Turns out you don’t have to be religious to have good kids. You just need to be a good parent.
Families can survive a crisis of faith!
Update, March 2014
Turns out that I’m not the only one that the temple disturbed, even General Authorities are aware of this fact as can be seen here:
Maybe that is why they changed the ceremonies to remove the blood oaths, I think it would do the leaders of the church some good to read up on how cults are formed. Because just removing the blood oaths isn’t enough to remove the creepy feeling some people get as evidenced by my sons experience.
Give someone chills, share now: Facebook
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| 1,265,247 |
The Obama administration floats a plan that for the first time would open up a broad swath of the Atlantic Coast to drilling, even as it moved to restrict drilling off Alaska.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration floated a plan Tuesday that for the first time would open up a broad swath of the Atlantic Coast to drilling, even as it moved to restrict drilling in environmentally-sensitive areas off Alaska.
The proposal envisions auctioning areas located more than 50 miles off Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia to oil companies come 2021, long after President Barack Obama leaves office. For decades, oil companies have been barred from drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, where a moratorium was in place up until 2008.
"This is a balanced proposal that would make available nearly 80 percent of the undiscovered technically recoverable resources, while protecting areas that are simply too special to develop," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement.
The plan, which covers potential lease sales in the 2017-2022 time frame, drew immediate reaction from Capitol Hill, where Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called it a war on her home state, and where Northeastern Democrats were expected to outline their objections later Tuesday to drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Interior Department in a press release issued Tuesday, said that it was "considering" a lease sale in the Atlantic.
For Alaska, the plan puts off limits parts of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, citing their importance to Alaska natives and the sensitive environmental resources.
Obama in early 2010 announced his intention to allow drilling 50 miles off the Virginia coast, only to scrap it after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But the administration has allowed oil and gas companies to explore for oil and gas in the Atlantic in the meantime, which is the initial step prior to drilling.
Environmental groups were quick to criticize the proposal, saying offshore drilling had not gotten safer in the years after the BP disaster.
"This 5-year plan could destroy our coastal economies for decades to come, costing future generations the fishing livelihoods that have been part of their local fabric for generations," said Oceana's vice president Jacqueline Savitz.
According to documents obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, at least four firms have filed applications with federal fisheries managers to conduct wide-scale seismic imaging surveys in the Atlantic to explore for oil and gas deposits.
The applications for "incidental harassment" of marine animals including endangered right whales are currently being reviewed by NOAA Fisheries.
The projects involve towing seismic air guns behind vessels for hundreds of miles, over months and years. The guns emit strong bursts of air and sound, which allow crews to create two-and-three-dimensional images of the seafloor.
Associated Press reporter Jason Dearen contributed reporting from Miami. | 1,265,248 |
A bill in the Ohio House of Representatives would require school workers, psychologists, and social workers to report to parents if their child is trans, and if they don’t they could be charged with a felony.
The bill, introduced in May by Republican officials Rep. Tom Brinkman and Rep. Paul Zeltwanger, would grant parents broad unprecedented rights to withhold any kind of treatment regarding gender dysphoria, or, in the bill’s own words, “treatment or activities that are designed and intended to form a child’s conception of sex and gender.” The language is purposefully broad, potentially allowing therapists to be prosecuted for answering a child’s questions about gender identity, or teachers to be prosecuted for using a student’s new name and pronouns.
The law would require that before any such “activity” or treatment is started they obtain, “the written, informed consent of each of the child’s parents and the child’s guardian or custodian.” It puts any professional who wants to help trans children between a moral rock and a legal hard place, forcing them by law to out the child to their parents, regardless of how this may impact the child’s safety or well-being. The need for a signature from each of the child’s parents, regardless of the family situation, means that if everyone is following the letter of the law, a child could be waiting indefinitely for something as simple as an answer to a question about their own gender.
All of that is pernicious enough, but the heart of the bill is actually legally protecting parents who refuse to accept that their child is trans and withhold treatment from them. Brinkman says the bill was inspired by the case in Cincinnati in February when grandparents gained custody of their 17-year-old trans grandson after his parents refused to accept his gender identity and tried instead to get him into “Christian counseling,” also known as conversion therapy. Brinkman believes it is a parent’s right to do this, even though the American Psychological Association has stated that such “therapy” does not work and often causes immense psychological harm.
If this bill is passed, courts in Ohio would no longer be able to deny custody to parents who deny their child’s gender identity or withhold treatment. For a trans child without access to the treatment they need, puberty can be torture, not to mention the psychological trauma of having your gender identity denied and rejected. Brinkman either doesn’t care, or doesn’t care to understand this, saying in an interview with WOSU Public Media, “if somebody doesn’t like it, you’re emancipated at age 18 and you can go do whatever the heck you want.”
H/T them. | 1,265,249 |
I can see Bernie’s power level growing.
The Democratic establishment is going to have a much harder time stopping him in 2020. They can’t even fall back on superdelegates anymore like they did in 2016 to put Hillary over the top:
The Boomer generation needed just 306 hours of minimum wage work to pay for four years of public college. Millennials need 4,459. The economy today is rigged against working people and young people. That is what we are going to change. — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 24, 2019
Great answer.
Andrew Yang, however, has a better answer:
The underemployment rate for college grads is 34% overall and 44% for recent college graduates. We should stop pretending that college degrees create jobs. They often don’t. https://t.co/OMDCb49zXa — Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) April 24, 2019
Yang’s power level is also rapidly growing:
Great time in Las Vegas last night! #YangGang out in force.??? Nevada is the #1 state in terms of jobs facing automation. Retail, gaming, hospitality, call centers, transportation all are losing jobs. pic.twitter.com/oU2wAcd5oU — Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) April 24, 2019
Unlike Bernie, Yang is pulling together an unusual coalition from all over the political spectrum. He is pulling together people of all ages, races, incomes, geographical areas and ideologies, not just the stereotypical urban lefty White Bernie Bros, which is why he will go farther. In any case, I am not taking a shot at Bernie in this post. He is far closer to my position on student loan debt than Blompf and the GOP whose solution to the problem is essentially let them eat tax cuts.
Unlike National Review, I don’t think a mere lack of name id is going to be a much of an obstacle for Yang in the long run. The composition of his crowds, the nature of his online support, the sheer number of small dollar donations, the ratio of his poll numbers to the attention he is receiving, the ongoing meme war in his favor, the position of those supporters in the middle of the electorate instead of the fringe and the fact that so many of them voted for Blompf indicate to me he is the likely nominee.
Maybe I am wrong about this though and my unusual historicist perspective is throwing me off. The mainstream media could be right as it was about the 2016 election and the Russia conspiracy hoax. The polls which now suggest it will be Joe Biden or Pete Buttigieg could be right.
Note: Pocahontas has a plan to address the problem even though I could never vote for her because she wants to burn me at the stake! | 1,265,250 |
spills across giant pipes, spraying a fine mist into the air and heating the room to 47C. This has to be good for the lungs. After yet another shower, I hit the thermal pools. Baden-Baden sits atop several hot springs, which for more than 2000 years have poured forth mineral-rich thermal water. Mark Twain claims to have stewed the rheumatism from his joints here, while the remains of Roman-built baths where soldiers rested their war-weary bodies are preserved below Friedrichsbad, and can still be toured today. In the first pool, I experience the profound sense of total freedom that comes with skinny-dipping. I’m somehow alone, so I lay back, lift my eyes to the high tiled ceiling and let my mind take flight. The next bathing pool is a spa proper and after pummelling the knots from my shoulders and back, I wander into Friedrichsbad’s famed central domed room, where several middle-aged men are already enjoying its circular therapy pool. They could be princes, politicians or tramps; nudity, I discover, is a great leveller. The men pay me no mind and I soon do the same, instead drinking in the room’s elegant arches, statues and perfectly circular skylight as other spa-goers wander quietly in and out. After yet another shower, I take a very quick dip in a frigid 18C pool, hardly lasting the recommended 90 seconds, before I’m directed to dry off and lather myself in moisturiser before a wall of full-length mirrors that are just a little too well lit. And then, finally, I’m escorted into a tranquil meditation room by an attendant who gently cocoons me in warm sheets like a protective parent tucking their favourite child into bed. Sleep instantly claims me. Later, I emerge from the bathhouse like a contented cat, blinking, stretching, blissed out. Friedrichsbad forced me to shed my clothes for three hours, and then, temporarily at least, stripped away my aches, pains and worries, too. The author travelled as a guest of Rail Europe. GO2 BADEN-BADEN GETTING THERE Trains run direct from Frankfurt to Baden-Baden hourly. See bahn.de BATHHOUSE A basic three-hour package at Friedrichsbad bathhouse, which includes 16 stages, costs €25 (about $40. The add-on soap and brush massage is highly recommended and costs €12 (about $19). See carasana.de/en/friedrichsbad/home STAYING THERE Located in a renovated 1890s townhouse, Hotel Der Kleine Prinz offers elegant rooms from €159 a night ($260) right in the heart of Baden-Baden. See derkleineprinz.de/en | 1,265,251 |
With a dedicated Night mode, Samsung made it possible for consumers to take better pictures in low-light conditions with a single tap. With Android 10 and One UI 2.0, the company is enhancing the camera’s Pro mode for those who prefer manually adjusting camera parameters when taking photos. On Android 10, the camera on the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 allows one to set the ISO to 3200 and the shutter speed/exposure to 30 seconds.
Before Android 10, the ISO and shutter speed were limited to 800 and 10 seconds respectively. As you would expect, the phone needs to be kept absolutely still for using the highest ISO and the slowest shutter speed to avoid blur. But, the higher values should make those who use Pro mode very happy. We took a picture inside a dark room at different values – 30 second and 10 second exposure at 3200 and 800 ISO – and with the dedicated Night mode, and as you can see in the comparison shots below, the higher values make a considerable difference.
First, here’s the result with the dedicated Night mode (yes, you can barely see anything, even with your screen brightness turned to maximum):
Now, check out how the same scene compares when it’s shot with 10 second exposure (swipe right) and 30 (swipe left) second exposure, both at 800 ISO:
← SLIDE →
And here’s the same scene at 10 second exposure (swipe right) and 30 second exposure with the ISO set to 3200:
← SLIDE →
We should mention that while the ISO goes up to 3200, there is pretty much no difference between ISO 1600 and 3200. Even 1600 is double that of the highest ISO value on Android Pie, however, so we’re not complaining. It’s possible 3200 ISO will have a noticeable effect in the stable Android 10 update after Samsung has further tuned the camera’s Pro mode, or it may end up being removed altogether.
Sadly, One UI 2.0 does not bring back the ability to record videos in Pro mode, functionality that was removed with Android Pie. It also remains to be seen if the higher ISO and shutter speed values will be available on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9. Both devices use the exact same primary rear camera as the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10, but Samsung might keep some of the new stuff on One UI 2.0 and Android 10 exclusive to its latest two flagships.
What do you think of the enhanced shutter speed/exposure and ISO settings possible in Pro mode on Android 10? Let us know in the comments below, and to discover more of what One UI 2.0 and the next version of Android bring to Galaxy devices, check out our One UI 2.0 feature focus series of articles. | 1,265,252 |
in the game and in the conditions they displayed a huge level of precision and patience with ball in hand. Emerick managed a number of rumbles on the outside channel, targeting O’Driscoll on four occasions, slipping him once.
Ah, Eddie O’Sullivan you are a clever man. I’ve very much enjoyed your interviews all week and especially pre and post match. In the battle of the coaches O’Sullivan beat his man, Declan Kidney, hands down.
As early as the 30th minute the intensity had abated from the Irish breakdown. Much will be made of Shane Jennings’ performance but in number eight Jamie Heaslip we have a problem. At six, Stephen Ferris battled throughout making hits, looking for the ball, a hungry performance behind a pack that conceded the breakdown for much of the match.
Heaslip is class, a world class player but apart from two line-outs I can’t remember a single hit or carry. The Irish pack is carrying far too many players and started with just two big ball-carriers in Ferris and Heaslip. Heaslip must step up. The remainder are facilitators to the game plan.
Todd Clever, the US openside, illustrates this point no end. Coming up on 15 minutes O’Connell gets another lineout maul rumbling and from the subsequent breakdown Clever concedes a penalty to put Ireland on the scoreboard. He is an outstanding player and was brilliant yesterday but he should never have got into that position to concede the penalty. If he can get in there at 6ft 4in, what will Australian David Pocock do at the weekend?
The US deserve huge credit for their performance, as does their master O’Sullivan. They will lick their wounds for Russia knowing that when in possession they can build phases and look like a rugby team of 15 players capable of going forward and eking out opportunities. In fact, but for a very poor US clearance from Ireland’s restart on 53 minutes, Ireland’s lineout maul might not have afforded Rory Best the try.
Ireland, unfortunately, are still struggling with this basic concept, how to go forward with ball in hand. The lineout maul and scrum will not go forward as it did yesterday.
It is very difficult to examine the individual performances of the Irish players based on the team performance but O’Gara and Reddan coming on did improve matters, although I noted on their arrival that they aren’t much noted for their rucking, which is exactly what Ireland need.
PS That bouncing ball from above hadn’t crossed the try line before sub scrumhalf Tim Usasz got his hands on it. Poor call referee, Irish scrum five metres out, certain fourth try and a bonus point! | 1,265,253 |
a response in part to calls by the New York demonstrators for more people to join them. Their example has prompted calls for similar occupations in dozens of U.S. cities from Saturday.
In Madrid, around 2,000 people had gathered for a march to the central Puerta del Sol. Placards read: “Put the bankers on the bench” and “Enough painkillers euthanasia for the banks”.
“It’s not fair that they take your house away from you if you can’t pay your mortgage, but give billions to the banks for unclear reasons,” said 44-year-old telecoms company employee Fabia, who declined to give her surname.
Thousands of protesters also gathered in Barcelona and local radio said, and further demonstrations were planned in more than 60 Spanish towns in the evening.
In Germany, where sympathy for southern Europe’s debt troubles is not widespread, thousands gathered in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and outside the ECB in Frankfurt.
Demonstrators gathered peacefully in Paradeplatz, the main square in the Swiss financial centre of Zurich.
In London, around 2,000 people assembled outside St Paul’s Cathedral, near the City financial district, for a rally dubbed “Occupy the London Stock Exchange”.
Joe Dawson, 31, who lost his job as a product developer at Barclays Bank, said he had taken his two children aged 10 and 8 to the rally to show them people had a voice.
“I’m not passive anymore and I don’t want them to be. This is their future too,” Dawson said. “I work four jobs part-time, I take whatever I can get.”
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told the crowd: “I hope this protest will result in a similar process to what we saw in New York, Cairo and Tunisia,” he said, referring to revolutions in the Arab world.
Hundreds of Greek protesters with banners bearing slogans like “Greece is not for sale” assembled for an anti-austerity rally in Athens’ Syntagma Square, the scene of violent clashes between riot police and stone-throwing youths in June.
“What is happening (debt-driven financial meltdown) in Greece now is the nightmare awaiting other countries in the future. Solidarity is the people’s weapon,” the Real Democracy protest group said.
Crowds numbering several hundred also staged protests in Vienna and Helsinki.
In New York City, hundreds of protesters marched on JP Morgan Chase bank buildings in the financial district, banging drums and chanting, “We got sold out, banks got bailed out.”
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe | 1,265,254 |
the countryside to individual buildings,” and the “petitioning [of] councils etc. who erect rubbish,” is as reasonable and relevant today as it was three generations ago, though admittedly much has been lost and much inflicted in the meantime. If architecture is, as Robert Arthur Morton Stern has asserted, “a meditation of the present on the past but also a speculation of the present on the future,” then we have a great deal to be concerned about, but a great deal more upon which to draw. And if the choice that faces us is one between a world of ornament and a world of béton brut — the former in all its sublimity and fecundity, the latter with its structures so loathsome and dystopian that tongue, ink, and pixel can hardly suffice — then we should acknowledge what is at stake and strive all the more to organize our built world accordingly.
Post-script: It should be mentioned that on April 10, between the completion and publication of the above essay, Roger Scruton was removed from his honorary role on the British “Building Better, Building Beautiful” commission. The move came after Scruton was accused by the journalist George Eaton of having engaged in anti-Semitism and Sinophobia. Scruton had referred in a speech on nationalism to the “extensive networks around the Soros empire,” allegedly some sort of dog-whistle (though criticism of, say, Sheldon Adelson evidently remains well within the bounds of public discourse). It did not seem to matter that Scruton had gone on to say, in the very next sentence, that “people in these networks include many who are rightly suspicious of nationalism, regard nationalism as the major cause of the tragedy of Central Europe in the 20th century, and do not distinguish nationalism from the kind of national loyalty that I have defended in this talk,” hardly the sentiments of a bigot. Scruton’s statement that “each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing,” was likewise taken out of context, referring as he was to the standpoint of the Chinese Communist Party, as evidenced by its various social engineering efforts. None of these bad faith smears had anything to do with architecture, of course, but Housing Minister James Brokenshire relieved Scruton of his duties all the same. Peter Hitchens has perhaps put it best, writing that “Sir Roger is unworldly and sometimes obscure, but the idea that he is an Anti-Semite or any other kind of racial bigot is absurd,” and that in the end Scruton was “foolish to accept even an unpaid post from a Tory government that only wanted to use him as window-dressing.” And so the process of sinking giggling into the sea proceeds apace. | 1,265,255 |
did she? Tell him you found someone else to follow. Tell him he's nothing!
"I will not break another contract," she said evenly. Payment would come, but it could wait a while longer. Payment would come when she could stomach toiling for the sake of a slug.
"The choice isn't yours," he said, placing a heavy hand on the shoulder opposite to the bird's perch. It felt vile. Just as vile as Egret had ever been. "Nor should that face be yours after the fortune you lost me."
Dhole wrenched back as the Exarch reached for her mask. He stumbled forward, but did not relinquish his grip. The room filled with a flock of flapping birds, each screaming at her. Do it! Do it! Do it do it She clawed inside her bag for the thing Egret had left her do it do it do it do it shoved the Exarch back doitdoitdoit brought the muzzle level with his chest Do it! and pulled the trigger. The gunshot filled the tiny room.
Dhole pushed him back again, taking grim satisfaction in his grip's sudden weakness. She turned away just long enough to swap masks again. The comfort provided by the dog's face disgusted her, but she would bear it. The birds were gone by the time she finished.
"You have the right of it," she said, walking after her victim as he tried to crawl away. "I don't deserve this." The sheep mask clattered loudly against the floor. "In this trial, I find you just as undeserving." She leaned down to pry the iron mask from his head. The man behind it was just as plain as she always expected. The feeling of emptiness swelled up inside as she shot him again, and again, and again, until the trigger clicked impotently.
That's not enough, is it? chirped a voice inside Dhole's own head. Her own? Egret's? She agreed regardless. The sword leaning against the desk was heavy in her hands. It had the weight of generations inside it, a terrible symbol of a worse past. She lifted it as high as she could before driving it into the Exarch's chest.
You need my help, the voice continued as she stalked out of the office, bloody sword dragging behind her across the stone floor. Just listen to what I say and we can save the Overseer. Do what I say and the blood won't even be on your hands. Trust me, Dhole.
The laughter coming from inside her mask was harsh and barking. Of course her hands were clean. Nothing could be her fault when people pushed her like this. Nothing would be when the world kept on shoving.
The darkness inside her bag squirmed appreciatively.
| 1,265,256 |
moving an injured person to a nearby ambulance, he hears on his radio that another person has been rescued and needs medical support. He can quickly prepare himself and his team for the next person, and do it within a matter of seconds. The lives of all workers, and the people they are trying to rescue, require immediate action and to the second information.
In addition to emergency personnel, every day citizens will find it difficult to use their cell phone during national emergencies. It has often been seen during these times that millions of people get on their phone trying to reach loved ones. Because of this massive deluge of callers, cell phone networks often do not work. Callers cannot get through, and messages are not sent or received.
Durability
In addition to ease of use, group and instant messaging and reliability in emergency situations, two-way radios are much more durable than today’s cell phones. As most of us know, a cell phone can be destroyed with one simple drop onto an asphalt or concrete surface. Two-way radios are much sturdier and able to withstand much more abuse than any cell phone on the market. In tough work environments, a cell phone might last a matter of months, whereas a two-way radio can withstand the conditions and last for years.
nbsp;
Remote Locations
Even though most of us are used to having excellent cell phone coverage, there are many locations around the world where cell phone towers are absent. When in remote locations, two-way radios are far superior. Two-way radios do not need any towers to send signals. The radio waves are simply transmitted from radio to radio. Examples of these areas include remote forests, underground construction sites, and open ocean.
Wide Area
Today, two-way radio providers are creating larger and larger areas in which radios are able to transmit to one another. A common problem with two-way radios is that their range can be just a few miles. For many companies, and during emergency situations, this short distance is detrimental to operations. Towers and tall buildings equipped with radio transmission equipment are making it possible to send messages via two-way radios that are up to 300 miles away. Using this equipment, messages are received in less than one second, just as if the two-way radios were only feet apart. (Learn More)
Overall two-way radios and cell phones are wonderful pieces of technology that in and of themselves serve very different purposes. Each has had advancements that further their uses, and in many ways are on separate tracks. Cell phones are great for having conversations, playing games or browsing the web. Two-way radios are a means of instant communication in emergency situations, in remote locations and when cell phone towers are overwhelmed. For more information on two-way radios for your company or government sector, please check out our contact us page (HERE). | 1,265,257 |
mere fragments? Who will piece this complex black reality together at the highest level of art?
Among the many aspects of our cultural and racial situation brought to light by the historic presidential campaign of Barack Obama, one in particular holds real significance for today’s black artists: This is the chasm that divides the black community between an ascendant black middle- and upper-middle-class, heirs to the civil rights movement and a more egalitarian post-’60s educational system, and the large minority of black citizens who continue to feel that for them there is no hope. A few months ago, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., writing in the New York Times, cited an “astonishing” Pew Research Center report that found that 37 percent of African-Americans felt that “‘blacks today can no longer be thought of as a single race’ because of a widening class divide.” The report also found that a vast majority of blacks believe that while poor and middle-class blacks are growing further apart in their values, most blacks feel blacks and whites are growing closer together. Class, in other words, is actively trumping race. This is simultaneously very encouraging and very depressing.
It may explain, too, why so many poor blacks have been so reluctant to embrace Senator Obama, and why, dismayingly, this past Martin Luther King Day, the Reverend Calvin Butts of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’s own Abyssinnian Baptist Church in Harlem endorsed Hillary Clinton as the candidate with “the vision to return [the black community] to a place of prosperity.” The black bourgeoisie and lower class have not only lost the ability to see eye to eye, they have lost the ability to trust each other, too. This development is detrimental to both art and politics: while the lower class cuts itself off from potential leaders like Obama, whose victory would be a deeply symbolic one for all blacks, the bourgeoisie, though economically remunerated and at home in mainstream America, loses touch with its rich local reserves of cultural vitality and tradition. Neither side can complete itself in this scheme. It is the task of the black artist to try to bridge this divide. But will anyone be paying attention if and when he does?
Reading Rampersad’s book, it occurred to me to ask a black childhood friend, a second-year at one of the country’s best law schools, what he thought of Invisible Man. “It’s okay, but honestly I can’t get into some shit about country Negroes in overalls,” was his only reply. My friend is very smart, with both hands wrapped around Washington’s proverbial bankbook. But then the argument was never that blacks couldn’t make fine lawyers.
If you like this article, please subscribe or donate to support n+1. | 1,265,258 |
Not one but two gigantic black holes lurk at the heart of the distant spiral galaxy NGC 7674, a new study suggests.
These two supermassive black holes are separated by less than 1 light-year and together harbor about 40 million times the mass of the sun, researchers said.
If it holds up, the find would be just the second known system of double supermassive black holes. The other, announced in 2006, is in a galaxy known as 0402+379, whose two giant black holes are separated by about 24 light-years and boast a combined 15 billion solar masses. [No Escape: Dive into a Black Hole (Infographic)]
(The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory project, or LIGO, has spotted the gravitational waves emitted by multiple binary black holes as they spiral toward each other. But the LIGO detections involve objects a few tens of times more massive than the sun, known as stellar-mass black holes.)
The research team analyzed observations of NGC 7674, which lies about 400 million light-years from Earth, that were made by the Very Large Array, a network of radio telescopes in New Mexico. The researchers found two distinct, compact sources of radio-wave emission at the galaxy's center.
"The two radio sources have properties that are known to be associated with massive black holes that are accreting gas, implying the presence of two black holes," study lead author Preeti Kharb, of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India, said in a statement.
These two behemoths orbit their common center of mass about once every 100,000 years, the researchers said.
The two newfound black holes probably sidled up when their former host galaxies merged to form the current NGC 7674. (Most, if not all, galaxies are thought to have supermassive black holes at their centers.) This supposition is bolstered by the twisted, Z-like shape of the galaxy's radio emission — a large-scale structure thought to be produced by a galaxy collision, study team members said.
"Detection of a binary supermassive black hole in this galaxy also confirms a theoretical prediction that such binaries should be present in so-called Z-shaped radio sources," co-author David Merritt, of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, said in the same statement.
The new study was published online Monday (Sept. 18) in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
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EU ‘Confident’ Georgia will Respect ECHR Ruling
The European Union is “confident” that the Georgian authorities will respect the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, which suspended the enforcement of the Georgian Supreme Court’s Rustavi 2 TV ruling, Maja Kocijančič, spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, said in a statement on March 8.
On the decision of the European Court of Human Rights on the Rustavi 2 TV case in #Georgia #eu4humanrightshttps://t.co/2pMuMfugmk — Maja Kocijančič (@MajaEUspox) March 8, 2017
“The Supreme Court’s verdict might have an impact on the country’s media landscape, affecting the diversity of views available to citizens through broadcasting channels,” the statement said.
“Looking forward, we reiterate that a continued commitment to political pluralism and freedom of the media is fundamental for the preservation and consolidation of democracy,” Maja Kocijančič noted.
The spokesperson added that the European Union “trusts” that the Georgian Government “will treat these principles as an absolute priority and will actively uphold them, corresponding to essential commitments in the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.”
The spokesperson’s statement comes a day after the joint letter of seventeen European Parliament Members (MEP) to the Georgian Government, expressing concern over “the attempts of forceful change” of Rustavi 2 ownership and calling on the Georgian authorities “to refrain from using the judiciary system to achieve politically expedient outcome and impede the independent editorial policy of Rustavi 2.”
“Change of the channel’s ownership rights and resulting change in its editorial policy, turning Rustavi 2 into another government friendly media outlet, would seriously impede the quality of democracy and free media in Georgia. This would undermine Georgia’s ability to comply with the obligations it has undertaken as a signatory country of the Association Agreement with the European Union,” European legislators stated.
MEPs also called on the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) “to give a critical appraisal of the actions of the Georgian authorities and demand full compliance with the obligations the Georgian authorities have undertaken vis-à-vis the European Union.”
Seventeen MEPs, among them eight from the European People’s Party (EPP), two from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats (S&D), four from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), two from the European Conservatives and Reformists and one from the European Free Alliance Greens (Verts/ALE) signed the letter. | 1,265,260 |
any substantive changes to the U.S. complaints that justified the tariffs.
“We're now eight months into this conflict. So why will the Chinese government move in 90 days when they didn't [on Saturday]? What changes between now and then?” said Scott Lincicome, a trade attorney and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute.
However, the Trump administration has shown an aversion to lengthy negotiations and has voiced particular concern about getting drawn into long, drawn-out talks with China that prove unsuccessful.
Dan DiMicco, a former trade adviser to the Trump campaign and transition official, said he doesn't trust China to make “fundamental changes” without a stronger response from the U.S.
“They should have put the 25% tariffs in place and then negotiated....and that may still happen in 90 days. If [China does] as I believe and just stall, then we will see the final $270 billion get tariffs as well!” DiMicco, a former CEO of Nucor, one of the largest U.S. steel producers, said in an email.
One source speculated “the three Ms — Mueller, midterms and markets” may have prompted Trump to strike a deal that would restart agricultural and energy exports to China — referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the Republican loss of the House in last month’s elections and stock market losses over the past several months because of concerns stemming from the trade war.
Meanwhile, major U.S. business groups like the U.S.-China Business Council struck a hopeful tone that the 90-day cease-fire could result in a positive outcome on U.S. demands.
The group's president, Craig Allen, applauded the decision to freeze the tariff increase but also called for a plan that would remove all the tariffs that countries have imposed on one another and make meaningful progress on the range of concerns the U.S. has raised.
Retailers were happy that Trump is not going forward with an action that would raise duties on everyday consumer items like mattresses, apparel items, paper goods and furniture. In addition, Trump's threat to impose duties on all Chinese imports is on hold for at least another three months.
“Negotiators on both sides now have a reasonable 90-day window to achieve meaningful outcomes in key areas of concern affecting U.S. businesses, such as IP theft, forced technology transfer, and market access,” Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s head of international affairs, said in a statement.
“The hard work begins now,” he added.
Adam Behsudi reported from Washington and Andrew Restuccia reported from Air Force One. Ben White contributed reporting from New Jersey. | 1,265,261 |
Hamas seems to be moving in Mahmoud Abbas’ direction, while Israel points toward another “excellent” war in Gaza.
I can’t put it any better than Haaretz’s editorial did today:
[I]nstead of encouraging Hamas’s new direction, expressing the hope that it will turn into a legitimate political party and supporting the establishment of a Palestinian unity government, Israel offered its routine response – silence and apathy toward the declarations and a threat of a military operation.
Nobody in Israel pays attention to the Palestinians anymore. We’re all pre-occupied with domestic outrages, but the atrocities in Syria have Hamas looking for a new base of operations, and this seems to be having a moderating effect on the organization. Khaled Meshal sounds ready for a unity government with Fatah, and to that end he’s come out in favor of “popular resistance” over terrorism, and says he will support the establishment of a Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders alone.
I don’t know how significant a sign this is, but it’s definitely a good sign, and certainly not a bad or a meaningless one, either. It indicates that Hamas is moving in Abbas’ direction instead of the other way around – which is a big, happy surprise after the Gilad Schalit prisoner swap, which was Hamas’s triumph and Abbas’ (deliberate) humiliation.
I don’t believe Israel should negotiate with Hamas as a matter of principle, but nor do I think we should refuse as a matter of principle. If Hamas seems ready to make a deal, we should talk to them; if Hamas doesn’t seem ready, we shouldn’t. What’s happening now is a sign that Hamas may be getting ready, or at least that it will not stand in Abbas’ way. This, in my opinion, is good for the Jews, not to mention the Palestinians.
Unfortunately, the people who run this country think otherwise. Army chief Benny Gantz just gave an interview marking the third anniversary of the war in Gaza, saying it was an “excellent operation” and that “Israel will have no choice except another broad operation in Gaza.”
Excellent – just really, really outstanding. The Palestinians talk peace, we talk war. Happy New Year to you, too, Benny.
I don’t know. Hope springs eternal; maybe if Obama wins the election, which is only 10 months away, he’ll sprout a pair and lay down the law to Bibi. It’s highly unlikely, but I can’t think of anything else to hope for. Outside of that, all we’ve got to look forward to is an explosion. | 1,265,262 |
This article is from the archive of our partner.
People who've insisted for five years that the White House is covering up the truth of President Obama's birthplace have a theory about news of the death of a Hawaii official in a plane crash: It is part of the conspiracy. It is almost as though birthers will accept any evidence that can be twisted in their favor and ignore the preponderence of evidence rejecting it.
On Thursday morning, USA Today reports that Loretta Fuddy was the sole fatality in the crash of a Makani Kai Air plane off the coast of one of the Hawaiian islands. Fuddy was the acting health director in the state of Hawaii in 2011, when she oversaw the release of the detailed version of Obama's birth certificate to the White House. Obama hoped that the document's release would curtail the long-standing rumor that he wasn't born in the United States. But, since you can't trump irrationality with reason, it didn't.
The release of the birth certificate only served to further fuel the conspiracy. Faulty interpretations of the digital file released by the administration led to an idea that the document was forged. (The weird crusade from notorious, attention-hungry Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio didn't help.) Snopes.com thoroughly debunked the idea, but the idea was set: it was forged. And Fuddy often bore the blame. See, for example, this BirtherReport.com article, which painstakingly cites various unnamed experts and unseen evidence to demonstrate that Fuddy had a hand in deceiving the American public.
Within minutes of the USA Today story, World Net Daily — epicenter of anti-Obama conspiracy theories —ran the headline above on its main page. The linked article mostly rehashes the site's existing "evidence." The unsubtle conspiracy suggestion was made explicit by the commenters. "PEOPLE THAT HAVE THE GOODS ON THE EVIL CABAL, GET KILLED....PERIOD....," writes one. Another: "Isn't it strange that anyone with any connection to Obama or his background has a tendency to have a'shortened' life span." (The other examples of this are not immediately obvious to a layperson.)
At the Free Republic, proud focal point of anti-Obama outrage, commenters were quick to compare the death of Fuddy to the death of Ron Brown, Clinton's Commerce Secretary who was killed in a plane crash in Europe in 1996 — an event theorists tied very loosely to the Whitewater scandal. "Nine people aboard a plane that crashes and only one fatality?," one wrote. "Check her head for a small hole, about.45 inches in diameter, a la Ron Brown." (In case it doesn't go without saying, there is no credible evidence that Brown was shot to death.) A less generous person simply wrote, "Karma is a Bi^ch." | 1,265,263 |
In his review of DICE's Star Wars Battlefront in late 2015, Andy suggested the multiplayer-focused FPS "brilliantly" captured the essence of the Star Wars universe, but that "beneath its cinematic flair lies a pretty generic multiplayer shooter." With Battlefront 2 due in less than seven months, the game's creators have now opened up about how these criticisms will be addressed in the sequel.
Specifically targeting depth and personalisation in Battlefront 2's multiplayer, DICE's creative director Bernd Diemer told PC Gamer that it wants to boost heroes' presence this time round so that getting them is "not restricted to the lucky few" or the best players in the game.
"[They tended in Battlefront 1] to drift towards players with the most kills or lucky players, because that's how it goes in these games," says Diemer. "We said, no, we want something that makes it more likely that more players will experience that. So, cool idea. What happened then is, we had more heroes in the match at the same time, and that meant the troopers were kind of becoming the fodder. As a single trooper, it's very difficult to stand up against a hero—much less two.
"We thought, how can we give you more tools so you're able to hold your own against a hero, at least for a certain time? And the best answer we could come up with was team play. How can you make team play more attractive? And the obvious answer is by classes, because it's so natural that if you're playing classes, you look for your buddies so you have a good mix of what you together feel comfortable playing."
Diemer continues, suggesting this change will allow players to stand up to heroes by forming squads with friends and levelling up your trooper. In turn, heroes are no longer guaranteed be to all-powerful game-changers.
In a bid to boost personalisation and depth further, Battlefront 2 will also introduce abilities and gadgets. "Adding more depth was one of the first things that we decided we wanted to do," Dimer adds. "For the different items in the game and different categories, we decided to come up with different methods of how we do that. And for troopers, if you think about a trooper who doesn't really have a personality because you as a player step into the boots of a soldier, you are yourself. You don't have names. What you want to do is give your trooper a little bit of personality.
"And for that, you need to be able to customise them in some way so it feels right. I really like using grenades, so I might try to pull my class a little bit towards my favourite toy or my favourite gadget."
Star Wars Battlefront 2 is due November 17, 2017. Here's everything we know so far. | 1,265,264 |
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Nary 100 days into its administration, and revelations that PresidentDonald Trump’s cabinet has had multiple contacts with Russian officials are abundant.
On Feb. 9, just aday after Attorney General Jeff Sessions was confirmed for his new role in Washington, former national security advisor Michael Flynn stepped down from his post for discussing U.S. sanctionsin phone calls with a Russian ambassador.
Less than a month later, Sessions announced he would recuse himself from any investigation into ties the Trump campaign had with Russia — for his contact with the Kremlin, which he omitted from Senate hearings before his confirmation.
RELATED: How to impeach a president
Public opinion is building against Trump on the Russia issue. In the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, a plurality 38 percent of respondents think Trump’s relationship with Putin is “too friendly.” More than half think Congress should investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
One lawmaker thinks such an investigation would “lead to” Trump’s impeachment.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, said last week that after Sessions’ announcement that Democrats have to continue probing the president’s team.
RELATED: Trump has done enough to be impeached: Ellison
“We got to drill down,” Waters said on MSNBC. “We’ve got to connect the dots. And we’ve got to follow the money.”
This isn’t the Democrats’ first talk of impeaching Trump.
Congressman and newly minted DNC Vice Chair Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, said last month that Trump’s violation of the Emoluments Clause in Article I of the Constitution is grounds for impeachment.
And Sessions and Flynn aren’t the only Trump team members with ties to Moscow.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, stepped down last summer after a New York Times report that unearthed a secret ledger listing $12.7 million paid out to Manafort, who was once a lobbyist in Ukraine.
RELATED: Trump is ‘naive,’ doesn’t understand Putin: Russia report
That same Times report also detailed investigations into Carter Page and Roger Stone, also Trump advisers (Page on foreign policy, and Stone, an unofficial adviser).
Page reportedly met with Sergey Kislyak, the same ambassador Flynn was in contact with; Stone, meanwhile, claimed to have intimate knowledge regarding Hillary Clinton’s emails before WikiLeaks released them last summer.
Kislyak also reportedly met with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, New Yorker magazine reported in December. | 1,265,265 |
As a longtime fan of Devil may cry, I'll start off by answering two important questions; was a reboot neccessary? And does said reboot live up to the Devil may cry series' high octane hack and slash legacy? The answer: No and yes respectively. Dmc devil may cry Definitive edition is a next gen port of 2013's DMC Devil may cry developed by Ninja Theory, the game runs at 60 FPS and 1080p; a welcome change from the ps3/360 versions' 30 FPS. It includes all of the previously released DLC including the Vergil expansion, in addition to some new outfits such as Dantes original outfit from DMC1 and Vergil's DMC3 outfit; all of which are available right off the bat once you boot up the game. As for gameplay and story. The gameplay is much of what one would expect from a typical DMC game but once you obtain most or all of the weapons and tools the gameplay becomes a hybrid of DMC3 and 4. The game's soundtrack; composed by combichrist and Noisia go very nicely hand in hand. For those not satisfied with the gameplay speed; The game features a turbo mode which increases the gameplay speed by 20%, not my cup of tea but it should scratch that itch for those who like it fast like previous iterations. And it includes a hardcore mode which kicks the difficulty a couple of notches and applies new adjustments such as enemies becoming stronger, adjustments to devil trigger and whatnot; I'd advise completing the game once before trying hardcore mode. As for the story: Dante who has spent his childhood fighting Demons just to survive in a world ruled by Demonic forces from behind the scenes; is recruited by a radical anti-demon organization called "The Order" which is lead by his long lost twin brother Vergil. With his brother's help, Dante must take a stand and fight back against the Demons and their ruler Mundus.
Despite much of the shade and exagerrations made by pissed off fans because of Dante's redesign; Ninja theory's take on Dante isn't too far from the original in terms of character, his wise cracking, cocky demeanor is still there, although he has a bit of an attitude this time around. Dante's character development over the course of the game is very gratifying to see.
DmC Devil may cry also handles the relationship between Dante and Vergil very well; introducing a interesting take while not deviating too far from its core concept and develops it in a way that Devil may cry 3 never did. I'll conclude by saying that DMC devil may cry isn't perfect nor is it going to win over fans who have passed judgement on the game and especially those who refuse to give it a fair chance. But i will say this; people looking to get into Devil may cry and long time fans alike who give it a chance; you won't be disappointed. | 1,265,266 |
‘sovereign citizens,’ eco-terrorists, the whole gamut.”
Though right-wing extremists are considered as much of a fringe minority to mainstream conservatives as Islamic extremists are to mainstream Muslims, racism and anti-Semitism manage to seep into politics in ways that anti-American, Islamist beliefs never could. For a timely example of this, consider the mayor of Marionville, Missouri—Dan Clevenger, a self-described friend of alleged shooter Frazier Glenn Miller who admitted this week that he “kind of agreed with [Miller] on some things, but I don’t like to express that too much.”
“There are some things that are going on in this country that are destroying us. We’ve got a false economy and it’s, some of those corporations are run by Jews because the names are there,” the newly-elected mayor told the local ABC News station. “The fact that the Federal Reserve prints up phony money and freely hands it out, I think that’s completely wrong. The people that run the Federal Reserve, they’re Jewish.”
It’s exactly these kinds of paranoid, baseless and hateful views that draw extremists to Stormfront.org—especially in the immediate wake of an attack. The SPLC points out that according the Web traffic monitoring service Alexa, 4,481 members—a record for the site—were using Stormfront in the 24 hours following the Norway attacks. Stormfront saw one of its most significant spikes in 2012 after the Sikh temple shooting. Apparently profiteering from the publicity surrounding the violence, donations to Stormfront jumped from $6,545 in August 2012, the month during which the shooting took place, to $10,032 that October. And that’s not even counting the money that Black makes from clicks on the site’s banner ads.
According to the SPLC, Stormfront’s membership has gone from 5,000 in January 2002 to 286,000 this year. Though many of these registered users are inactive, these numbers also don’t reflect the large audience of people who read Stormfront threads without posting, which requires registering.
Black has long shirked responsibility for the actions of Stormfront users, telling The Daily Beast earlier this week that, “There have been a few people who have come through that are mentally unstable and went on a killing spree, but their posts didn’t indicate anything like that and they certainly wouldn’t have been tolerated by our moderators if they had.”
But the point the SPLC makes is not that killers are announcing their violent plans on Stormfront. It’s that the forum itself, and the hatred that it fosters, is what pushes someone to stop ranting online and start killing. | 1,265,267 |
Tuesday Morning Update: Avery Sebastian has left the hospital.
Update: A release from Cal Athletics does not provide updated injury information, but does seem to indicate that Sebastian will be okay.
Cal football player Avery Sebastian is resting at Highland Hospital following an injury that occurred during the Golden Bears’ practice Monday. The junior safety, who was transported by ambulance, has movement in all his extremities and is expected to be released soon. "I want to thank everyone for their positive thoughts and prayers," Sebastian said.
Lindsay managed to see Avery in person at the hospital.
i was just with Avery until they took him for an MRI. i could tell he didn't have the words to express his gratitude to the #cal community. — Lindsay Brauner (@lindzcatharine) August 13, 2013
doing great, no pain in his spine which is awesome, neck hurts a lot, and seems really hungry. also bored cuz no phone. so grateful he's ok. — Lindsay Brauner (@lindzcatharine) August 13, 2013
A scary moment today at Cal's scrimmage - while rushing in at full speed to tackle running back Jeffrey Coprich, safety Avery Sebastian seriously injured himself, and laid on the field motionless for close to 20 minutes. An ambulance had to be called for him, which just left the field at the time of this post. Coach Dykes called an end the team to the north end zone for a meeting, and then ended practice early.
The good news is that he was moving and breathing, according to those on the field:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Avery was moving and breathing according to <a href="https://twitter.com/Kameron3Jackson">@Kameron3Jackson</a></p>— Lindsay Brauner (@lindzcatharine) <a href="https://twitter.com/lindzcatharine/statuses/367095100825796608">August 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/OneLifeOneMic">@OneLifeOneMic</a> Ok. He's moving his fingers.</p>— Sam Gall (@archangall) <a href="https://twitter.com/archangall/statuses/367092610973696001">August 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the junior. Leave yours here too. | 1,265,268 |
AggregateIQ, a Canadian data company with links to the now-shuttered Cambridge Analytica did not have the correct consent required to conduct advertising campaigns on Facebook for Vote Leave, a pro-Brexit organization, a new report finds.
The director of Vote Leave, Dominic Cummings, who advised the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson before stepping down ahead of the December 12 election, wrote in 2017 that data science was vital to winning the Brexit referendum and placed 98 percent of its marketing budget on nearly one billion targeted digital ads.
The report, from the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, finds that "for most campaigns" AggregateIQ either did not have sufficient consent from Facebook users to target them with ad, or was "unaware of how, or whether" individuals had consented to the use of their personal information. That includes advertising to Facebook users directly or using demographic data collected by Facebook that could be used to locate and target other users similar to them.
AggregateIQ also did not properly secure the data that it misused, the commissioners' report states. A data breach that allowed unauthorized access to an unsecure GitLab repository with "substantial personal information," including encryption keys and login credentials for 35 million people, was put at risk.
The company also used phone numbers to send text messages on behalf of BeLeave, another campaign group connected to Vote Leave, but that campaign was found to have sufficiently gathered the consent of individuals before using their information.
Outside of the UK, the investigation found that AggregateIQ did not properly get consent from Facebook users with regards to the work it did for SCL, a British research and strategic communication company that owned Cambridge Analytica as a subsidiary.
SCL supported a number of US political campaigns, including several in the 2014 midterm elections and a political action committee, creating psychographic profiles from personal information disclosed by Facebook to Cambridge Analytica. However, AggregateIQ "did not attempt to determine whether there was consent it could rely on for its use and disclosure of personal information."
As a result of the report, the commissioners have a number of recommendations for AggregateIQ. These include ensuring there is express consent, rather than implied, from users when gathering data, adopting "reasonable security measures," and deleting the data when it is no longer necessary or legal to retain. AggregateIQ has reportedly agreed to implement these recommendations, and signed an affidavit stating that it has deleted the personal information it gathered.
Gathering and using the personal data of individuals on Facebook for the purposes of election campaigns has remained controversial since the Cambridge Analytica scandal was first reported. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg has come under criticism after stating that users could be microtargeted with false or misleading information in the upcoming US and UK elections because Facebook does not want to fact-check advertisements from politicians.
Further Reading | 1,265,269 |
Singapore-based Real Estate Asset Ledger (REAL) is set to launch its real estate investment platform in November. Built on Ethereum, the platform aims to provide investors with greater access to global real estate investment opportunity, lower barriers to entry and increase market liquidity.
“REAL is a crowdfunding platform where anyone can benefit from global real estate investments without the usual complications associated such as excessive bureaucracy, lack of trust and lack of liquidity,” Enrique Dubois, co-founder and CEO of Real Estate Asset Ledger Pte. Ltd. told CoinJournal.
Using blockchain technology, Dubois said the platform intends to “take [the crowdfunding] concept to the next level by facilitating liquidity, transparency and global access.”
Crowdfunding for real estate is one of the hottest crowdfunding categories. The sector had grown from US$19 million in 2012 to an estimated US$3.5 billion in 2016. Some expect the sector to represent more than US$300 billion by 2025.
“[My partner and I have] always been enthusiasts of real estate, and as technology entrepreneurs, we wanted to facilitate real estate investments at a global level,” Dubois said.
His partner Bernardo Hernández is a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Hernández co-founded idealista.com, the biggest real estate portal in Spain, and held senior marketing and product positions at Google.
The REAL platform will bring together property owners and potential investors, reducing friction in the real estate investment process. REAL will use blockchain technology to offer liquidity and transparency.
“Every step of our activity, from property buying with third party value appraisals, to adding into the system, renting and selling, will be recorded on the blockchain so everyone will be able to audit and verify the information,” Dubois explained. “Also by accepting cryptocurrency our users won’t be dealing with banks and that will be a superior user experience.”
Users on the platform will be able to invest in listed properties using the company’s cryptocurrency, REAL tokens, and gain profit rights (rental income and value appreciation) awarded by a smart contract and paid with ether (ETH), the cryptocurrency native to the Ethereum network.
Users will be able to exchange REAL tokens for economic rights of a property – these economic rights are referred to as REAL Property Participation ( RPP). RPPs can be traded and/or sold to others on the platform.
The REAL platform will take a 10% fee on all profits. For instance, if a property earns 100 ETH in rental income, the REAL platform will take 10 ETH as commission for finding and hosting the property on their website, and pay 90 ETH to investors.
The company said it will initially target opportunities in Spain, the Caribbean and the US. | 1,265,270 |
It's no secret that many rappers are huge comic-book fans: For example, Ghost Rider and Iron Man are aliases of comic-book characters Johnny Blaze and Tony Stark respectively, but they're also aliases of [artist id="1025"]Wu-Tang Clan[/artist]'s [artist id="933"]Method Man[/artist] and [artist id="1215"]Ghostface[/artist] as well. Meth adopted Johnny Blaze out of his love for the badass with a flaming skull, mystical chain and penchant for vengeance, and Ghostface actually named his first album Ironman, and appeared in the first "Iron Man" movie.
That's why Shady Records exec Riggs Morales jumped at the idea to become an associate producer for the "Marvelous Color" exhibit in New York, which runs through February 26 of next year. The exhibit, which is curated by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, highlights the six major black characters in the Marvel Comics Universe: Storm, Black Panther, Blade, the Falcon and War Machine. Morales said he's been looking for a way to bring the two worlds together, and felt this exhibit was perfect.
"If you asked Method Man, Just Blaze, DMC, Chuck D, their music was inspired by the comic book world, and specifically the Marvel characters," he said.
"I've gotten a small glimpse of [artist id="502642"]Eminem[/artist]'s collection, and Eminem's collection is otherworldly," he continued. "[He has items that] aren't even on display at the stores."
Morales said that the rarest comic he's seen was Mr. Mathers' "Amazing Fantasy" #15, marking Peter Parker and Spider-Man's first appearance.
"As a collector, you grew up and it's a myth! You can't afford it. The only way that you can try to touch that comic is if it's right in front of you, or you're purchasing it. To see it in your face — it's in 'Pulp Fiction' when John Travolta opened up the briefcase [with awe, regarding a never-revealed object]. It's like that."
He said there's no limit to what a good collection. Some people are interested in Chris Claremont's run on the X-Men which included the "Phoenix Saga" and "God Loves, Man Kills" story arcs, which were the basis of the second X-Men movie, X2: X-Men United. Others may only want to collect comics from Image Comics' run in the '90s, including "WildC.A.T.S," "Gen 13" and "Youngblood."
For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com. | 1,265,271 |
AI that can predict future source code changes from past edits might be an invaluable tool for programmers, but it’s a challenge that has yet to be fully conquered by researchers. A team at Google Brain, though, describe a promising new approach in a preprint paper on Arxiv.org (“Neural Networks for Modeling Source Code Edits“) that they say provides the best overall performance and scalability of any yet tested.
“At any given time, a developer will approach a code base and make changes with one or more intents in mind,” the paper’s authors write. “It is … an interesting research challenge, because edit patterns cannot be understood only in terms of the content of the edits (what was inserted or deleted) or the result of the edit (the state of the code after applying the edit). An edit needs to be understood in terms of the relationship of the change to the state where it was made, and accurately modeling a sequence of edits requires learning a representation of the past edits that allows the model to generalize the pattern and predict future edits.”
Toward that end, they first developed two representations to capture intent information that would scale “gracefully” with the length of code sequences: explicit representations, which “instantiate” edits in the sequence (represented as tokens in a 2D grid), and implicit representations, which instantiate subsequent edits. Then, they architected a machine learning model that could capture the relationship of edits with the context in which they were made, specifically by encoding the initial code and edits, assembling said contexts, and predicting the next edits and their positions.
In order to gauge the system’s generalizability, the researchers developed a suite of synthetic data sets inspired by edits that might occur in real data, but simplified to allow for clearer interpretation of results. Additionally, they compiled a large data set of edit sequences from snapshots of a Google code base containing eight million edits from 5,700 developers and divided it into training, development, and test sets.
In experiments, the researchers found that the model reliably and accurately predicted positions where an edit needed to be made, as well as the content of those edits. They believe the model could be adapted to improve autocomplete systems that ignore edit histories, or to predict code search queries developers will perform next given their recent edits.
“We are particularly interested in the setting where models only make predictions when they are confident, which could be important for usability of an eventual edit suggestion system,” the team wrote. “In general, there are many things that we may want to predict about what a developer will do next. We believe edit histories contain significant useful information, and the formulation and models proposed in this work are a good starting point for learning to use this information.” | 1,265,272 |
A family in Northern Ireland is praising an “absolute gent of a man” whose emotional gesture left an entire bakery "in tears."
On Monday, Leah O’Brien, from Derrytrasna, accompanied her sister to a nearby bakery to pick up a birthday cake for her niece, Akeelah Rose — but once they got to the shop, the workers revealed the cake had already been paid for by an anonymous man.
SEE IT: COUPLE STILL EATING WHAT'S LEFT OF WEDDING CAKE 49 YEARS LATER
The employees then told the sisters that the man, who stopped by the bakery in the early-morning hours, had lost his own daughter at just “8 days old” and wanted to purchase the cake for another little girl because he never had the opportunity to buy one for his own, O’Brien said on Facebook.
"We were totally overwhelmed by the generosity of this stranger," O'Brien told Fox News. "He has done such a lovely gesture for another person's child."
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In addition to the cake, the man also left a birthday card for O’Brien’s niece, “which you could only imagine left the whole bakery in tears,” she wrote on Facebook.
“Dear Birthday Girl,” the card read. “In honor of what would have been my little girl’s 1st birthday, I have chosen to pay for your birthday cake. I am unable to buy my daughter a cake of her own today, but I hope you enjoy this one and have a fantastic birthday. God bless.”
He signed the card simply, “Hannah’s Daddy.”
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After picking up the cake, O'Brien took to Facebook to share the story with her followers, writing, “I can’t get this man out of my head all day and how generous and kind he is especially on his daughters 1st birthday,” she wrote. She also said she and her sister were hoping to find the generous stranger to offer their thanks.
Amazingly, "within an hour" after posting the story to Facebook, O’Brien tells Fox News she received more than 50 private messages identifying the man as Gareth Bronte, who also runs a fundraiser for the neonatal ward of the hospital where his daughter passed.
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"They are an incredible family that have been through so much over this last year and they just keep on giving," O'Brien said. "He honestly deserves all the credit he can get for his amazing generosity." | 1,265,273 |
A 1966 custom-made VOX Kensington guitar is displayed in front of Helen Bailey a Christie’s auctioneer as she takes bids for other unseen lots during a Pop music memorabilia sale at Christie’s auctioneers in London, Wednesday, May 5, 2004. The guitar sold to a commissioned bidder for 117,250 British pounds, (US$205,188). The guitar will be auctioned off later this month by Julien’s Auctions at the New York City Hard Rock Cafe. (AP Photo/Richard Lewis)
Rare VOX Beatles Guitar to Be Sold in Huge Auction
NEW YORK—A rare collection of iconic music and entertainment memorabilia will be auctioned off in New York City Saturday at the Hard Rock Cafe. The collection, which includes a rare VOX guitar used by George Harrison and John Lennon, will be auctioned on Saturday, May 18.
The annual Julien’s Auctions Music Icons auction will include a wide array of music memorabilia from a range of icons including Elvis Presley, David Bowie, The Grateful Dead, Madonna, Jimi Hendrix, David Cassidy, Bette Midler, Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, and others. Also on sale will be the original eagle cape that Elvis planned to use during a 1973 Aloha From Hawaii concert, but it proved too heavy to wear. A lighter version was used during the performance.
“People have a love affair with their celebrities and their icons and we try to make it a fun time,” said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions.
According to Nolan, the highlight of the auction will be a custom-made VOX guitar. In 1967, Lennon gifted the instrument to “Magic Alex” Mardas. Nolan expects the instrument to sell for “significantly higher” than the estimated value of between $200,000 and $300,000.
In total there will be 400 lots for auction, and The Beatles guitar will be sold near the end as lot 384.
The auction will run from 11 a.m. until about 7 p.m. with a short break around 2 p.m. It is open to the general public and people can join at any time during the day. Buyers will be able to register and bid in person on the spot, by phone, and through a live online streaming connection from anywhere in the world.
“Auction day is always high-energy, high adrenaline. It’s a fun day,” said Martin, who added that it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement. “It’s like going to a sports game.”
Martin is also expecting a lot of social media hype over the items, and the Twitter hashtag is #juliensauctions. | 1,265,274 |
and stuff, but is it near-future with garbage on the streets? Those sorts of things are really, really important to a game, because you look at very successful -- I'm gonna call them, not'movie games' but things like Knights of the Old Republic.
"It's not about playing Han Solo. Han Solo's a great character, but you'll all begin to feel fed up with playing that character. But it's letting the player loose in the world of Star Wars that is awesome, and that's what gets players' engagement, that's what drives that experience. But you need to be faithful to the Star Wars universe for that to be effective. So working with Vincenzo very early on in describing Gibson's world, talking about these things was extremely helpful. Hopefully it was helpful both ways around -- it really was for us in understanding what the universe contains and what the player possibilities are."
Natali on the potential for sequels (since there are two other books in the series -- 'Count Zero' and 'Mona Lisa Overdrive'):
"It's not a one-off at all. Fundamentally, what Neuromancer represents as a -- and I hate this word, so please nobody put this online, because I don't even like using it -- is a franchise. It's really the paradigm that everyone is looking to find, find a property that matches that paradigm because movies are so expensive now. And in order to reach the vast audience and amortize all your costs making the film, you have to spread your media beyond the borders of the movie and into other areas like games and graphic novels and so on. And because William Gibson's universe is so beautifully conceived and so complex and deep and there's so many regions of it that you could explore I think the hope, I'm sure everyone knows and has, is that when this movie and the game are made it's just the beginning of something rather than a one-off. I could envision it expanding in any number of ways. Maybe that includes the sequelized books that Gibson wrote himself, maybe not, maybe something original that he does, or that we do."
Firestone on the possible future of the future of 'Neuromancer':
"I'm allowed to use the word franchise... I've been asked by everybody I've talked to to do a prequel. They all want a set-up. Neuromancer has a very mature audience right now, and bringing it to a younger audience could be done with a prequel. So there's been a lot of discussion on how to get it back out there in a very widely dispersed way and appeal to 18-year-olds. Not the Twilight crowd, but maybe. The publishers have all said to me that if I have the deal, we'll race to get a prequel out ahead of time." | 1,265,275 |
Speaking at this year’s First Sea Lord/RUSI International Sea Power Conference in London, Chinese Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai, commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) North Sea Fleet, did not shy away from controversy. He emphatically stated that the South China Sea belongs to China.
“The South China Sea, as the name indicates, is a sea area that belongs to China. And the sea from the Han dynasty a long time ago where the Chinese people have been working and producing from the sea,” he said through an interpreter, according to Defense News.
Yuan was sitting on a panel with the U.S. Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Rear Adm. Jeff Harley and the President of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Command and Staff College, Vice Admiral Umio Otsuka, discussing the role of naval power in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Yuan’s statement came in response to Otsuka criticizing the land reclamation activities of “certain state actors” in the region. “Land reclamation conducted by some countries has been a problem in the South China Sea (and) we have to admit that the rule of law is at risk in this region. The JMSDF will secure the credibility of a deterrence capability and seek a multilateral framework in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
Otsuka also expressed his worries that commercial fishing fleets are used as maritime militias defending territory claimed by Beijing. “This may provoke, sooner or later, a debate how the conflict between military and maritime militia, if any, should be handled,” he stated. The Japanese admiral warned that China’s activities could turn the area from “an ocean of peace” to an “ocean of war.” However, Yuan cautioned:
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I’m firmly convinced that the problems around the South China Sea, so far, can be successfully solved with the joint efforts and consultation of the hosting countries around the South China Sea.
He added:
China has conducted consultation with countries in the South China Sea… the principle we adopt is peaceful utilization and joint development (of the sea). The real situation is that safety of navigation can now be assured.
He also mentioned that China and the United States are working on a code of conduct for aircraft encounters, which will reduce the likelihood of conflict, according to Yuan.
Meanwhile, according to satellite photographs taken on behalf of a D.C.-based think tank, China is set to begin construction of a third airstrip on the on Mischief Reef, an artificial islands Beijing has created in the Spratly archipelago. | 1,265,276 |
The US Supreme Court spared the mutual fund giant Janus a lot of trouble recently when it excused the firm from responsibility for misleading its customers. But the 5-4 ruling, which lets Janus and similar companies hide false information in a complicated organization chart, can only undermine public confidence in the mutual fund industry over time.
The legal case revolves around Janus’s assertions in the prospectuses for some mutual funds that it had taken steps to prevent market-timing — a practice in which sophisticated investors exploit delays in when share prices are updated. In reality, Janus had worked with hedge funds to do just that. An institutional shareholder called First Derivative Traders sued, claiming a violation of federal rules forbidding false statements.
The mutual fund company replied that while its subsidiary Janus Management wrote the false prospectuses, they were actually filed by a separate legal entity called Janus Investment Fund. This fund is essentially a dummy corporation; employees of the parent company run it. But Janus maintained that only the fund, not the parent company or Janus Management, should be held liable for the misstatements.
Astonishingly, the Supreme Court’s five conservative judges endorsed this legal gamesmanship. In his majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas accepted the notion that, because the different parts of Janus were set up as separate entities, they should be treated as if they were independent of one another.
“We decline this invitation,’’ he declared, “to disregard the corporate form.’’ He also likened Janus Management to a speechwriter. The majority opinion dovetailed with concerns by business groups, as detailed in a brief that the US Chamber of Commerce filed in the case, that holding Janus Management liable would expose whole new categories of “lawyers, accountants, investment bankers, and other service providers’’ to class-action suits.
But Janus Management is not some independent company that Janus Investment Fund hired out of the phone book. And in its eagerness to prevent a proliferation of class-action lawsuits — a desire that may or may not be warranted — the court is letting one branch of a major financial company mislead the customers of another branch.
This is bad for business in any industry, but especially for the mutual fund business. As defined-benefit pensions wane, and Americans take on more of the burden of planning their own retirement, they’ll become increasingly reliant on Janus and companies like it — but only if they can trust the information that mutual fund companies are legally required to file.
It would be far better for consumers — and ultimately for the mutual fund industry, too — if Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission were to clarify the law so that, yes, Janus has to tell the truth.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company. | 1,265,277 |
The scope of the Government’s rural broadband scheme will be revealed to the three shortlisted bidders in February, according to sources.
At issue is whether the Department of Communications removes 300,000 homes, which telecoms firm Eir has pledged to connect as part of its commercial rollout, from the proposed intervention area.
Such a move could significantly reduce the cost to the State but potentially alienate other bidders who require a certain number of homes to make the investment viable.
Despite Eir’s promise, Minister for Communications Denis Naughten recently extended the National Broadband Plan (NBP) to cover 927,000 homes on the back of what he described as promised investment from private operators that failed to materialise.
Eir said it is on schedule to connect the proposed 300,000 premises to its new fibre product by the end of 2018, two years ahead of schedule and in advance of the NBP.
“Eir is investing €200 million in what is one of the most significant infrastructure projects in Ireland and will see us replace existing copper wires with fibre cables along 23,000km of Irish roads,” a spokesman said.
Under EU state aid rules, the Government cannot subsidise an intervention if a private operator is willing to supply the same area on a commercial basis.
Last-minute changes
The Department of Communications has indicated all along that it retains the right to change the State’s intervention footprint up until the last minute to reflect the business plans of operators.
“It is the department’s intention to finalise the high-speed broadband map in the new year,” a spokeswoman said.
“At this point, the final intervention area will be established for the purposes of the procurement process, which is ongoing,” she said.
The final intervention number will be key to the success of the project, which promises to bridge the so-called digital divide between urban and rural areas, which many believe is fuelling a two-tier economy.
The department is hoping to be in a position to invite final bids from the three shortlisted bidders – Eir, Siro and Enet – in the middle of next year with contracts awarded and work commencing at the beginning of 2018.
If the number of homes and premises involved remains above 900,000, the capital cost of the scheme is expected to exceed €1 billion.
The Government will subsidise the construction of two regional networks to be operated by one or two of the three operators.
It has also opted to privatise the networks on the grounds it would reduce the cost to the State by up to 70 per cent.
Mr Naughten has previously stated that the alternative would have required an additional €500-€600 million in capital spending. | 1,265,278 |
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Today is the fifth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, an event that triggered the nation’s worst-ever oil spill. The well leaked for three months and dumped over 200 million gallons of oil into the sea. The explosion itself killed eleven men; the resulting pollution killed a stupefying amount of wildlife, including 800,000 some birds. And despite billions paid out by BP in fines and restoration costs, the economic impact of the disaster remains wide-reaching and ongoing.
But possibly even more outrageous than the spill itself is how little has been done by government to prevent a similar disaster. The oil and gas industry has stayed active in Washington, and managed to fend off serious efforts to curb drilling: Congress has passed zero new laws—not one—to restrict offshore drilling or force it to be safer. The Obama administration has approved over 1,500 offshore drilling permits since the spill. And back in January the administration announced a plan to open new areas in the Atlantic and Arctic for offshore drilling. As my colleague Tim Murphy noted today, Louisiana’s oversight of the oil industry is rife with ludicrous conflicts of interest that raise serious doubts about the state’s ability to make drilling safer.
In other words, the wounds from BP are scarcely healed, but we’re pushing deeper and deeper into offshore drilling.
In fact, well construction in the Gulf is literally pushing into deeper water, where the risks of a spill are even greater. From an AP investigation pegged to the anniversary:
A review of offshore well data by the AP shows the average ocean depth of all wells started since 2010 has increased to 1,757 feet, 40 percent deeper than the average well drilled in the five years before that… Drillers are exploring a “golden zone” of oil and natural gas that lies roughly 20,000 feet beneath the sea floor, through a 10,000-foot thick layer of prehistoric salt… Technology now allows engineers to see the huge reservoirs beneath the previously opaque salt, but the layer is still harder to see through than rock. And it’s prone to hiding pockets of oil and gas that raise the potential for a blowout.
Drilling in the Gulf makes up less than one-fifth of US crude oil production, and an even smaller share of total oil production if you count unconventional oil from fracking. So it wouldn’t be a crippling blow to our energy supply to consider putting the brakes on offshore drilling—if not forever, at least until we feel secure that we’ve done enough to prevent another Deepwater Horizon.
Meanwhile, our expansion into deeper and riskier drilling is happening even though there are still an average of two offshore drilling accidents every day. | 1,265,279 |
Kerala Minister compares Christian cross demolition to Babri, asks bureaucrat to go to mental asylum
Accusing Devikulam sub-collector V Sriram of being a henchman of RSS, the minister likened demolition of Christian cross on encroached land in Idukki to the Babri Masjid demolition.
news Enchroachment
Following the controversy over a Christian cross being demolished at Munnar in Kerala for being erected on encroached land, Communist leader and state minister MM Mani has said that the bureaucrat who led the demolition drive must be sent to a mental asylum.
It was Devikulam sub-collector V Sriram who spearheaded a massive anti-encroachment drive in Idukki. And for that, minister MM Mani feels he must be sent to Oolampara, a "popular" mental asylum.
After taking on illegal structures in Munnar in the past couple of weeks, the revenue department officials - under the instruction of the sub-collector - had razed a Christian cross built on encroached land in Pappathichola two days ago.
The cross had been erected by a religious group called Spirit in Jesus.
Minister MM Mani, who had previously in March extended support to CPI (M) members protesting against the sub-collector's move, said on Saturday that V Sriram was "the henchman of the RSS."
"The razing down of the cross in Pappathichola is equal to the Babri masjid demolition. The sub-collector is acting as per the instructions of the RSS. No religious institutions have encroached on government land here," Minister MM Mani said.
Meanwhile, representatives of Spirit in Jesus said that they will move legally against the government for demolishing the cross. Terming the demolition of a religious structure as "brutal than ISIS terror," a representative TS John said, “We welcome the chief minister's statement. We want the government to reinstate the cross at the same place for which we will take necessary steps. Else, we will begin a strike until our demands are met."
He also maintained that the cross was not erected on encroached land and said that it was over 80 years old.
A day after revenue department officials razed down the cross, another wooden cross had appeared at the spot the next day. However, representatives of Spirit in Jesus claimed no role in the same and said that it was a conspiracy against them.
Also read: After razing of Christian cross on encroached land in Munnar, another one appears; 2 arrested
A massive cross was demolished in Kerala, but Christian groups didn’t protest. Here’s why
Senior CPI (M) leader speaks out in favour of cross demolition | 1,265,280 |
Nigeria might not be the first country to come to mind when discussing cryptocurrencies. However, businessmen in the African nation have recently begun dealing in Bitcoin, as it is a more stable medium of exchange than Nigeria’s national fiat currency.
Nigeria’s currency, the Nigerian Naira, has consistently lost its value over the last five years. As the national currency has plummeted, Nigerian entrepreneurs have started to explore other means of payment that might be more steady than the Naira.
The uncertainty surrounding Naira presents a major problem for Nigerian entrepreneurs doing business with firms from other countries. The story of Silas Okwoche, co-founder of Nerve Mobile, paints the perfect picture as to why Nigerian businesses are starting to look for alternatives to Naira.
Nerve Mobile mainly purchased Android smartphones from China, over the popular e-commerce platform Alibaba. However, as the Nigerian Naira unexpectedly fell against the Chinese yuan by more than 15%, it became too expensive for Silas to import and resell these phones.
Another Nigerian entrepreneur dealing in hardware from China, going by the alias Temo, instead uses Bitcoin when acquiring Chinese components. Not only does this protect him from the price swings of the Naira, it is also far faster than going by normal channels, and does not entail any bank fees.
Although Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have often been accused of being volatile, they may very well present a means of payment that is more stable over periods of time than the national currency in Nigeria.
Furthermore, the extreme volatility of the Nigerian Naira makes it hard for businesses to plan ahead, due to not knowing what the exchange rate will be tomorrow – not to mention what the exchange rate might be in a year’s time.
A third Nigerian entrepreneur, a web designer by the name of Soji, has adopted Bitcoin as his primary means of payment. Soji has stated that Bitcoin allows him to “buy anything”, and send money to virtually anyone – except for “old people”, according to Soji.
It is not only Nigerian entrepreneurs who can benefit from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Other economies plagued by volatile financial markets can also find some solace in the relative stability of cryptocurrencies.
Toshi Times recently ran a piece on cryptocurrency donations and use in Venezuela, where the annual inflation rate was 24,600% this May. Venezuela is yet another market where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies represent a safe haven for people’s hard-earned money.
It would not be unthinkable that cryptocurrencies, in general, will become more prominent and widely adopted in developing economies with weak or unreliable fiat currencies. As always, only time will tell how things play out, however, the growing use of Bitcoin among Nigerian entrepreneurs is certainly intriguing.
Image Source: “Flickr” | 1,265,281 |
An aerial view of Dublin city. Inset: An artist's impression of what the new Metro North infrastructure might look like
Plans to develop a metro line out to Dublin airport are back on track – and this time it could only cost €2bn and take just 35 months to complete.
Transport Minister Leo Varadkar revealed to The Herald that the National Transport Authority will look at options for a rail system going from the capital out to the airport.
Cormac Rabbitt, a transport engineer and managing director of Metro Dublin, says a rail line can be built in a very short time, with just 12km of underground tunnel needed.
“The National Transport Authority (NTA) will shortly commence a feasibility study to look at all options for a rail corridor from the city centre to Swords and on to the airport,” a spokesperson for Mr Varadkar said.
He added that the NTA, “has said it will look at all existing plans”.
Last February Dublin City Council passed a motion which requests the minister “to undertake substantive engagement with the (Metro Dublin) proposal and engage with it properly”. Mr Rabbitt said Metro Dublin will be a mass rapid transit system for Dublin with a length of 53km, adding 130 million passenger journeys a year.
Users would board at stations in places such as the Docklands, Pearse Street or St Stephen’s Green and be able to reach the airport.
Furthermore it would link up places including Ballymun, Blanchardstown, Cabra, Drumcondra and Clondalkin with employment centres in the city and various business parks.
The project which was put on hold after the financial crash can now be done at a much cheaper price, and Mr Rabbitt says it can be started immediately.
“Like we did in 2000 we again have the people, the finance and programme to pursue a transparent and public competitive project,” he said.
Mr Rabbitt said funding will be sought from the European Investment Bank, with private investors putting up a capital sum.
The project would look for non-capital support from the state, for example, State-owned land along the route would be “capitalised” into the project.
The transport engineer also stated that Metro Dublin would seek sponsorship, in the same way as the Aviva Stadium did.
In terms of green lighting the project, as of March last year, following a European Directive, private companies can apply for planning permission for railway projects.
“Metro Dublin can apply for a Railway Order under the provision of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 which in effect means that an Board Pleanala have the final say,” said Mr Rabbitt.
(The Herald)
Online Editors | 1,265,282 |
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne TillersonGary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November Kushner says 'Alice in Wonderland' describes Trump presidency: Woodward book Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE said Wednesday the Russian government needs to rethink its alliance with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the latest sign of a possible shift in the Trump administration's position.
Tillerson made clear that the U.S. believes the Syrian government is responsible for the deadly and destructive chemical attack that occurred Tuesday in northern Syria, taking dozens of lives, including many children.
“Well there is no doubt in our mind that the Syrian regime under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad is responsible for this horrific attack,” Tillerson told a room of reporters.
“And we think its time that the Russians really need to think carefully about their continued support of the Assad regime,” he added.
The Trump administration previously has not put pressure on Russia over Syria.
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Just days ago, Tillerson during a press availability in Turkey said Assad's status would be decided by the Syrian people. White House press secretary Sean Spicer last week said Assad's rule was a "political reality" the same day as Tillerson's remarks from Ankara.
But this stance seems to be changing after this week's chemical attack.
President Trump indicated Wednesday that this attack has made him rethink the White House’s Syrian policy.
Trump said the chemical attack “crossed a lot of lines for me.”
“It is very, very possible, and I will tell you it’s already happened, that my attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much,” the president added.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley ripped Russia during a U.N. Security Council meeting, asking how long it would stand by and allow children to die in Syria.
Tillerson said in his statement on Wednesday that Syria’s allies — Russia and Iran — should “exercise their influence” over Assad to prevent another attack from occurring.
"Those who defend and support him, including Russia and Iran, should have no illusions about Assad or his intentions. Anyone who uses chemical weapons to attack his own people shows a fundamental disregard for human decency and must be held accountable,” Tillerson continued.
The Syrian government has denied responsibility for the attack, calling it a “heinous” crime and stressing their commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention it joined in 2013.
The Russian government also said Wednesday the Syrian rebels carried out the attack, not the Syrian regime.
The attack took place in the northwestern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun.
Tillerson's comments come a week before he is scheduled to make a diplomatic visit to Moscow. | 1,265,283 |
Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
The app allows users to email lawmakers, submit testimony on certain bills, register to vote and view the legislative calendar. Read more
In a state notorious for low voter turnout, a lobbying group has developed a free mobile app to get younger residents more involved in legislative matters.
The Kakou app was launched last month by Pacific Resource Partnership, which represents the Hawaii construction industry and advocates for the Honolulu Rail Transit project. The app allows users to email lawmakers, submit testimony on certain bills, register to vote and view the legislative calendar.
So far it has more than 1,300 downloads.
The Kakou app is an offshoot of the pocket-sized Hawaii Directory of Public Officials that is printed annually. PRP took over publishing the directory from the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs last year. To provide the most current information and update as needed, the partnership decided to offer a companion digital version that would also serve to connect the community more easily to lawmakers.
Kakou means “we” in Hawaiian, which ties into the idea encouraging the community to come together, according to Melanie Kim, marketing manager for PRP.
“It takes more than just one person to make change,” said Kim.
Senate President Ron Kouchi, co-chairman of the public officials directory initiative with House Speaker Scott Saiki, was enthusiastic about providing useful information via mobile app, saying it would help increase voter engagement among people under age 30.
“Clearly their method of communication is using their smartphones,” Kouchi said. “So if we really want to sincerely get them engaged, then we need to create tools that they’re comfortable in using.”
He added that no taxpayer dollars were allocated for the initiative.
Not every bill introduced at the Legislature is available on Kakou, only the ones supported by the six nonprofit organizations PRP partnered with for the app. They are the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the Hawaii Children’s Action Network, the Hawaii Public Health Institute, Rainbow Family 808 and HawaiiKidsCAN.
“Having an app like Kakou that makes it convenient for the youth and to notify them when something is up for a hearing just makes it convenient and helps them to mobilize and share with their other friends as well,” said Trish La Chica, policy and advocacy director for the Hawaii Public Health Institute.
Each time a person downloads the app and registers to follow one of the nonprofit organizations, PRP will donate $1 to that organization. The nonprofits also can add their own events to the legislative calendar on the app.
Kim says PRP is open to working with more nonprofits in the future. | 1,265,284 |
After posting my super-deluxe-awesome-sexy actionscript hover tooltip code, I felt dirty. I mean, me, giving away the source code to something that I could surely have sold for at least $1.50 a shot! It was really disgusting to see such charity from the likes of myself.
And yet, here I am doing the same kind of thing. Only this time I’m offering something with a lot more substance: an IRC library for Ruby.
I’ve had a running bot for about three years now, originally built with the horrific mess that was IRCSocket’s first release. Back then, IRCSocket was seriously the only viable IRC framework in Ruby unless I wanted to write my own (which I didn’t), so I slowly expanded on the IRCSocket code to make a better library for myself. One day I looked at what I had and compared it to where I’d started, and noticed that the framework was no longer anything like IRCSocket’s. I had developed my own framework, relying only on some of the regexes and naming conventions that IRCSocket had given me early on. The meat of the framework was now all mine.
I realized at that point that even though there are far more options for IRC libraries in Ruby, it probably wouldn’t hurt to offer mine to the world. I had built a lot of code for real-world usage, where some libraries seemed to still be concerned more with what seemed cool or “what could maybe possibly be useful sometime we hope”. This may not turn out to matter, as my real-world use could be worthless to others, but what the hell, it’s not like it’s hurting anybody to offer this thing up.
So for those who are interested in a very simple IRC library, I suggest you check out my rdoc page for Net::YAIL, and do a gem install net-yail (or just download the tarball from Rubyforge).
Here’s a quick sample of what a basic dumb bot could look like:
require 'rubygems' require 'net/yail' irc = Net::YAIL.new( :address => 'irc.someplace.co.uk', :username => 'Frakking Bot', :realname => 'John Botfrakker', :nicknames => ['bot1', 'bot2', 'bot3'] ) irc.prepend_handler :incoming_welcome, proc { irc.join('#foo') return false } irc.start_listening while irc.dead_socket == false # Avoid major CPU overuse by taking a very short nap sleep 0.05 end
It’s so easy, even a caveman could do it! | 1,265,285 |
They're not.Curiously enough, the amygdala (a limbic structure important for emotion ) was not activated by animal suffering in either the vegetarians or the vegans. Although the amygdala ( LeDoux, 2007 ) is predominantly known for its role in fear conditioning, it is also activated by other emotional responses including disgust (e.g., Kober et al., 2008 ).Why would the vegetarians and vegans attempt to down-regulate their emotional responses to animal suffering? And why would the vegans showamygdala responses to human suffering than did the omnivores and vegetarians??Previously, NeuroKüz mentioned some objections to the study design in a post on The empathetic vegetarian brain I won't detail his critique here other than to summarize:One of the greatest issues, in my view, is with the mode of stimulus presentation. The event-related design (which is usually preferable) may not have allowed adequate time between pictures to "recover" from the shock of seeing a mutilated human or animal. If this were especially true for vegetarians and vegans viewing images of animal suffering, it could explain the curious silence of the amygdala. In such scenario, a blocked design (presenting all stimuli of one category in blocks, rather than intermixed) might have been a better idea.The vegetarians and vegans in this study all made their dietary choices for ethical reasons. It is quite conceivable that they differed from the omnivores on any number of other dimensions. For example, evolutionary psychology extremist Satoshi Kanazawa recently blogged about Why Vegetarians Are More Intelligent than Meat Eaters, but this only held for a UK sample born in 1958, but not for a US sample born between 1974 and 1983. In addition, some militant vegan PETA -types condone violence against scientists performing animal experiments, so one could expect their responses (and empathy) towards human suffering to be diminished It would be interesting, then, to compare these "ethical" sorts to others who have chosen to be vegetarian or vegan for heath reasons, such as familial hypercholesterolemia or athletic competitions such as the triathlon Compare anterior cingulate cortex, empathy to anterior cingulate cortex, cognitive control Here's an even newer post, Empathy is What Really Sets Vegetarians Apart (at least Neurologically Speaking) Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S. (2004). The empathy quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences 34:163-75.Kober H, Barrett LF, Joseph J, Bliss-Moreau E, Lindquist K, Wager TD. (2008). Functional grouping and cortical-subcortical interactions in emotion: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies 42:998-1031.LeDoux J. (2007). The amygdala 17: R868-R874. | 1,265,286 |
there that help you find prospects’ contact information – however, my favourite out of the bunch is Lusha.
You can get it as a Chrome extension for free (and get 5 credits as well per month free) and use it on both Twitter and LinkedIn.
Whenever you browse through LinkedIn or Twitter and land on someone’s profile, you’ll be able to see to Lusha helper on the upper right-hand side of your screen – if there’s a number next to it, it means it also has that person’s contact details and you can click on the icon to see them:
At this stage, you only see a preview of their direct contact details (the last half of their email address and the beginning of their phone number) and you only use up a credit when you click on ‘show’ – which is actually a big reason why I prefer this tool as it doesn’t eat up all your available credits just for opening it, which happens a lot with other similar tools.
Another big reason why I like it is that the contact information is up to date – not some email address from a company they haven’t worked at in years.
Plus, it also finds direct phone numbers and direct emails, not just their company-issued ones.
2. Find email addresses for any company with Hunter
Hunter is another good option that allows you to find all available emails for a company:
However, it only finds company email addresses and no other direct contacts. There are 2 ways to use it:
Search for any company using their website URL and generate all the available email addresses
Use the Chrome extension so that whenever you visit a website you can see a list of emails without leaving the page (no social media sites though)
While it’s very effective and has a huge database, you need to make sure that the email you find is still up to date or that the person still works there as there are a lot of old or unused emails as well.
To check this, see if the company has a page with all their existing employees or if not, search for the company on LinkedIn:
Then, simply compare the results you find on Hunter to discover the right contact email to use in your outreach.
Conclusion
With the right tools to help, prospecting can be so much easier and so much less time-consuming; plus, they can also help you generate better-quality prospects as you can refine your search down to the last detail.
And all of that extra time can then be used to generate even more leads and prospects for your business, as well as to properly nurture them into becoming actual paying customers.
What tools do you use to aid your sales prospecting? Which are your main methods for sales prospecting? | 1,265,287 |
Files relating to donations to Fine Gael branches in Mayo and Kildare have been referred to the gardaí, along with a Fianna Fáil branch in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, according to the Standards in Public Office (Sipo) Commission.
In its report on political donations received last year, Sipo said legislation needed to be changed to ensure an accurate picture of political party finances was available to the public.
“It is a matter of some regret that some accounting units continue to fail to co-operate with the Commission and only comply with their statutory obligations once the matter is referred to the DPP/Gardaí,” the report said.
The commission published aggregate figures for political parties with a significant number of accounting units, which are branches or other subsidiary organisations of political parties which receive donations in excess of €100 in any year.
Accounting units must open and maintain a political donations account in a financial institution in the State. By March 31st each year, a statement from the financial institution in which the account is held, together with a Certificate of Monetary Donations, must be furnished to the commission.
On June 4th, the commission referred a file to the gardaí on those accounting units which had not provided the relevant documentation.
Documents from a Fine Gael accounting unit in Clane, Kildare North and a Fianna Fáil unit in Dún Laoghaire remain outstanding. “The situation in relation to the Fine Gael, Patry, Co Mayo, accounting unit is still with the gardaí,” the report states.
The Fianna Fáil Meath East accounting unit submitted the required documentation on June 6th and the Labour Party’s Justin Keating unit did so on June 18th.
Meanwhile, political parties disclosed donations worth €171,644 last year.
Donations exceeding € 1,500 in value received by political parties during 2013 were required to be disclosed. The maximum value of donations which a political party could accept from the same donor in the same year was € 2,500.
Fine Gael disclosed €112,625, followed by the Socialist Party with €25,980. Sinn Féin recorded €21,084 and Workers and Unemployed Action, which is fronted by the South Tipperary TD Séamus Healy, disclosing donations of €5,000.
The Green Party disclosed €4,880 and the United Left Alliance €2,075.
Two parties - the Catholic Democrats and the Communist Party of Ireland - failed to furnish the required documentation to the commission by the specified date. The Communist Party of Ireland has still not submitted the required statutory documentation and the commission referred a file on the matter to the gardaí on May 19th. | 1,265,288 |
A Japanese man has recently been taken into custody in North Korea, government officials said Saturday as Tokyo tried to obtain information on the case.
According to informed sources, the man, in his 30s, was visiting the communist regime on a package tour organized by a foreign tourist agency. He was in Nampo, a port town in the western part of the country, the source said.
Japanese officials are concerned his detention could affect negotiations on the long-running abduction issue, which concerns Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1970s and 80s. Five were returned several years ago after talks held under the administration of Junichiro Koizumi.
“North Korea may use the man it has held as a bargaining chip for negotiations with Japan,” an official said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to arrange a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the wake of the historic summit between North Korea and the United States, but there are no signs of progress yet.
A Foreign Ministry official declined to provide specifics on the case, such as the purpose of the man’s visit, saying only that the ministry is in the process of confirming the details.
Tokyo has reportedly called on Pyongyang to release the man through diplomatic channels, including the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, the sources said. The ministry has asked Japanese to refrain from traveling to North Korea as part of its economic sanctions on the country.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho did not respond to questions on the matter when he arrived at Beijing international airport Saturday following a trip to Singapore and Iran.
In 1999 a Japanese newspaper reporter working in North Korea was taken into custody on spy charges and detained for about two years.
Sources familiar with bilateral relations said last month that North Korea has established a team to negotiate with Japan, which itself is seeking direct talks to settle various issues. The team was apparently established sometime between April and the historic U.S.-North Korea summit on June 12, reflecting a move by Pyongyang to explore dialogue with Tokyo amid the rapidly changing geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea judged earlier this year that mending ties with Japan would become a future task if it moves to improve ties with the United States, South Korea and China, the sources said.
At a plenary meeting in April of the central committee of North Korea’s ruling party, the policy of pursuing active dialogue with surrounding countries was adopted, they added.
Tokyo has long sought answers about the abduction issue. Japan officially lists 17 citizens as abduction victims and suspects the North’s involvement in many more disappearances.
But no substantial progress has been made despite exchanges via the team, the sources said, and prospects for making progress are clouded by the murky outlook of the denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea. | 1,265,289 |
VMware today confirmed that it is in talks to acquire software development platform Pivotal Software, the service best known for commercializing the open-source Cloud Foundry platform. The proposed transaction would see VMware acquire all outstanding Pivotal Class A stock for $15 per share, a significant markup over Pivotal’s current share price (which unsurprisingly shot up right after the announcement).
Pivotal’s shares have struggled since the company’s IPO in April 2018. The company was originally spun out of EMC Corporation (now DellEMC) and VMware in 2012 to focus on Cloud Foundry, an open-source software development platform that is currently in use by the majority of Fortune 500 companies. A lot of these enterprises are working with Pivotal to support their Cloud Foundry efforts. Dell itself continues to own the majority of VMware and Pivotal, and VMware also owns an interest in Pivotal already and sells Pivotal’s services to its customers, as well. It’s a bit of an ouroboros of a transaction.
Pivotal Cloud Foundry was always the company’s main product, but it also offered additional consulting services on top of that. Despite improving its execution since going public, Pivotal still lost $31.7 million in its last financial quarter as its stock price traded at just over half of the IPO price. Indeed, the $15 per share VMware is offering is identical to Pivotal’s IPO price.
An acquisition by VMware would bring Pivotal’s journey full circle, though this is surely not the journey the Pivotal team expected. VMware is a Cloud Foundry Foundation platinum member, together with Pivotal, DellEMC, IBM, SAP and Suse, so I wouldn’t expect any major changes in VMware’s support of the overall open-source ecosystem behind Pivotal’s core platform.
It remains to be seen whether the acquisition will indeed happen, though. In a press release, VMware acknowledged the discussion between the two companies but noted that “there can be no assurance that any such agreement regarding the potential transaction will occur, and VMware does not intend to communicate further on this matter unless and until a definitive agreement is reached.” That’s the kind of sentence lawyers like to write. I would be quite surprised if this deal didn’t happen, though.
Buying Pivotal would also make sense in the grand scheme of VMware’s recent acquisitions. Earlier this year, the company acquired Bitnami, and last year it acquired Heptio, the startup founded by two of the three co-founders of the Kubernetes project, which now forms the basis of many new enterprise cloud deployments and, most recently, Pivotal Cloud Foundry. | 1,265,290 |
SPOILER ALERT: The following article contains some spoilers for Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence’s “Passengers.”
Chris Pratt is about to top the box office with “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2,” a follow-up to the 2014 blockbuster that made him an international movie star. It’s his first movie since December’s “Passengers,” which was eviscerated by critics – it currently holds a 31% on Rotten Tomatoes. Many took particular issue with a controversial plot point in the sci-fi romance.
In the film, Pratt plays Jim, one of 5,000 passengers in suspended animation on a ship taking 120 years to reach its destination. After accidentally awakening 90 years early, Jim endures a year of loneliness before making the decision to wake up a fellow passenger, Aurora, played by Jennifer Lawrence. This decision didn’t set well with some, such as the Guardian, who called it an “interstellar version of social-media stalking” or the New York Daily News, who called it “nearly as cold and creepy as the space it takes us through.”
Asked if the reactions to the film surprised him, Pratt hesitates. “Yeah,” he says. “It did, it really did. I was really caught off guard by that. It was definitely a lesson.”
Pratt goes on to say that he stands by the film. “I personally think the movie is very good, I’m very proud of it,” he says. “I’ll be curious to see if it holds up — the criticism and the movie.”
He adds, “I’m proud of how the movie turned out and it did just fine to make money back for the studio.” “Passengers” grossed almost $300 million worldwide on a budget of $110 million. It also received two Academy Award nominations for original score and production design. He adds, “But the critical score was disproportionately negative compared to the Cinemascore. It got the same rating on Rotten Tomatoes as ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop,’ maybe worse.” (As of this writing, “Paul Blart” sits at 33% on Rotten Tomatoes, with “Passengers” at 31%. “Passengers” has a B CinemaScore.)
That said, Pratt doesn’t want to criticize the critics. “I never want to be in a situation where I’m blaming critics for not liking a movie,” he says. “So I’ll just stop talking. It is what it is and I’m proud of it.” | 1,265,291 |
O'Donnell (@Lawrence) August 28, 2019
Wednesday night, O’Donnell admitted “I did not go through the rigorous verification and standards process here at MSNBC before repeating what I heard from my source. (This was such a blatant failure that Erik Wemple at the Post is wondering aloud today whether O’Donnell should even have a show.)
There was also a social media freakout Wednesday suggesting that a policy change meant the children of US servicepeople who were born abroad would no longer be citizens. That was false.
Thursday: The Washington Post has more conservatives to smear. In another piece for the Post Everything section, the Post allows a writer to claim that “reasonable conservatives” sound suspiciously like antebellum racists. Her entire argument boils down to cherry-picking a few lines from various authors and claiming the tone is the same. The author compares the ideas of “reasonable conservatives” to a virus being spread through—get this—free speech.
Today is Friday and it’s still early so I’m not sure if we’ll be adding more items to this list today. But to sum up: Monday it was dastardly conservatives threatening journalists (with public accountability for public comments). Tuesday it was the Tea Party, plus conservative-friendly author JD Vance as a white supremacist, plus President Trump as a Russian stooge. Wednesday it was another immigration freakout with people claiming the Trump administration was up to no good. Thursday it was “reasonable conservatives” sounding like racists.
Some of the stories (O’Donnell, the Post’s JD Vance claim) got corrected internally and some got corrected externally (the NY Times whinging about accountability, the immigration freakout). But all of the errors involve conservatives as villains (though I guess the “error” in the Tea Party piece was that it didn’t call the Tea Party racist, the correction did that).
I think this week is a harbinger of things to come. Why? Because the Mueller report didn’t work out as Democrats and the media hoped. There’s no public appetite for impeachment. Progressives are getting nervous and the NY Times has signaled privately and publicly, through its 1619 Project, that the 2020 election will be all about racism because that’s the best chance Democrats have to activate their base.
So what’s coming next? A lot more careless mistakes by the usual suspects looking to drag Trump and the GOP down. What this week demonstrates is that many of them care less about their credibility than ensuring the desired outcome. This isn’t really new of course. In fact, some version of this happens every four years. See dog-abusing-vampire-capitalist-with-80s-foreign-policy Mitt Romney for a previous example. | 1,265,292 |
Another blow was dealt to the deep-pocketed, semi-shadowy coalition that vociferously opposes the new Warriors Arena project in Mission Bay as the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday night to reject their appeal of the project's environmental impact report. How much more money they're willing to spend to fight this thing remains unclear, but it sounds like a lot, and as the Examiner reports, spokesman for the Mission Bay Alliance Sam Singer calls the city's actions "unlawful," and the group plans to scream until they're hoarse about this project and sue everyone they possibly can to stop it and they want to make sure everyone knows this.
Still arguing that the proposed 18,500-seat arena and its surrounding mixed-use complex will create a traffic nightmare of epic proportions and create havoc for the nearby UCSF hospital complex, the Alliance is planning to file "at least two" lawsuits according to Matier & Ross, one of which will challenge the EIR further, and one of which will challenge the state-sanctioned 235-day time limit for deciding on legal challenges.
The problem is, the mayor, the Board, and the public still largely support the project, which will bring both a world-class basketball team currently undefeated in their season so far and continuing to make history as well as the first non-outdoor major concert venue to San Francisco. The Alliance naturally did some of their own polling, which naturally came up with different results than earlier polls this week they found that support for the arena was below 50 percent among the 540 registered voters polled.
Chances are that figure is spurious, and the Board of Supervisors knows that, and Warriors president and COO Rick Welts knows it too, as he told KRON 4. "The series of wins at public agencies, the huge numbers of supporters who came out today this all represents our strength in numbers. This is the culmination of four years of hard work by our city and community partners."
Earlier polling showed overwhelming support for the arena project, and despite weekly press releases from Singer's office prompting weekly news stories in local media, as well as an angry open letter from a bunch of UCSF scientists, the city appears to have come up with reasonable preparations for the traffic impacts that will be caused, including increasing T-line service four-fold, transit-only lanes, event-night shuttles, and adding traffic cops on event nights. Also, the East Bay and South Bay public has already been trained to use public transit to come into town for Giants games, right? No one wants to be stuck in that traffic.
Prepare for the fight to go on, and for construction on the project, set to begin next year, to be potentially delayed. Because: San Francisco.
All previous coverage of the Warriors Arena on SFist. | 1,265,293 |
ham, for example?
ZZ: Well, there have been delegations to Mexico and the Zapatista communities by radical Indigenous people from North America, but overall I think there’s not that much due to various factors. The language difference and geographic distance are two, but also I think the movements in Mexico and the so-called “Third World” in general are far more organized and experienced than our Indigenous movements here. If there was a more organized movement here, then perhaps there would be stronger alliances made with Indigenous or other social movements in Mexico.
BAI: How will this impact the indigenous struggle in Klanada and the rest of North America?
ZZ: I assume you are referring to the anti-pipeline struggles? I think overall it can help mobilize Native peoples and potentially radicalize them, but this depends on how successful the tribal and band councils are in managing and controlling the struggle. If there is a radical grassroots Native resistance that emerges, and which adopts anti capitalist and anti-colonial analyses, then the anti-pipeline struggle would have a strong impact.
BAI: You said that up until recently, anti-pipeline activism was mostly liberal, reformist, middle-class. What have been the dynamics there in terms of political unity? Are the liberal folks getting behind you?
ZZ: A lot of the liberal groups will work with the police, not only at rallies but for their civil disobedience actions as well. At some rallies, the cops have been successful in fear mongering and getting organizers to publicly denounce militants. We identify these types as community collaborators, people who will work with the cops against more radical elements. There can be no political unity with collaborators.
BAI: Who would you say is doing the most in terms of indigenous solidarity?
ZZ: I would say the anarchists and more radical environmentalists. They have organized fundraising, gone to the sites of Indigenous struggles and contributed food, money, and labour, etc.
BAI: We know that it’s hard to measure the usefulness of “alternative” or “radical” media. What’s the usefulness of it and do you think it had a role in your being targeted?
ZZ: Alternative and radical media is obviously very important. It’s the primary means by which radical news reports and analyses can be
distributed. In regards to the raid, it would be pure speculation at this point as to whether or not that influenced the cops to raid our house.
BAI: Thanks for taking time to share with us. We’d like to continue on these conversations as the struggles in our regions develop. We hope you’ll reach out as well.
[ For More on Pacific Trail Pipelines visit: Unist’ot’en Camp] | 1,265,294 |
Move over Roy Lassiter.
OK, not quite yet, but if San Jose scoring machine Chris Wondolowski can keep up his torrid pace, he may just set a new MLS single-season record for goals scored.
The US international's hat trick on Saturday – against second-place Real Salt Lake, no less – made the Earthquakes the first team this season to reach the 40-point mark, pushed his league-lead in goals to 17 and earned him Player of the Week honors for Week 19.
Wondolowski's first hat trick of the season – and his fourth multi-goal game this campaign – was enough to impress The North American Soccer Reporters (see who and how the media voted here) and garner more votes than LA superstar David Beckham.
WATCH: Wondolowski completes hat trick
The 29-year-old forward also added an assist on Saturday night, prompting Shaun Schaffer of ColoradoSoccerNow.com to say that, "Wondolowski is having the sort of season that most players can only dream about. His hat trick in a 5-0 mashing of Real Salt Lake was just the latest evidence of his uncanny scoring prowess."
The Player of the Week award is the second of the season for Wondolowski – he earned his first in Week 9 – although he does have two Player of the Month nods already under his belt for April and June.
Wondolowski still has a ways to go before he can lock down the MLS single-season goals record, though, so Lassiter can breathe a little easier.
For now.
2012 MLS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Week 19: Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
Week 18: Álvaro Saborío (Real Salt Lake)
Week 17: Danny Koevermans (Toronto FC)
Week 16: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
Week 13-15: Patrice Bernier (Montreal Impact)
Week 12: Emilio Rentería (Columbus Crew)
Week 11: Dwayne De Rosario (D.C. United)
Week 10: Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution)
Week 9: Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
Week 8: Steven Lenhart (San Jose Earthquakes)
Week 7: Chris Pontius (D.C. United)
Week 6: Dan Kennedy (Chivas USA)
Week 5: Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
Week 4: Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
Week 3: Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
Week 2: David Estrada (Seattle Sounders)
Week 1: Kalif Alhassan (Portland Timbers) | 1,265,295 |
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration recently released millions of dollars of frozen aid money to the Palestinian Authority, but only for Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation, The Times of Israel learned on Thursday.
While Washington says it will continue to review its assistance to the Palestinians, it chose to allocate specific funds for the current fiscal year to specific PA programs that ostensibly serve American interests, including terrorist prevention measures in the territories, an official said.
“We recently decided to move ahead with FY2017 International Narcotics and Law Enforcement funding for Palestinian Authority security assistance and Non-Proliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs (NADR) in the West Bank,” a State Department official said Thursday.
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“This assistance underpins Palestinian Authority security cooperation with Israel, which remains in force despite recent tensions,” the official added. “This decision does not in any way prejudge the outcome of our review of other funding streams and programs. It is simply the first decision to emerge from the review, which is ongoing.”
The official gave no details on exactly how much money was given to the Palestinians.
But the amount appears to be in the region of $42 million. Total US aid spent in the West Bank this year totals $92,796,646, according to the government’s online tracker, www.foreignassistance.gov. In mid May that figure stood at $50.5 million.
The total in bilateral aid planned for the Palestinians in 2018 was $251 million, a figure that does not include an additional $65 million in frozen US assistance to the UN Relief and Works Agency that provides services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon. The US aid pays for programs on education, health, good governance, and democracy promotion, as well as disaster preparedness and security.
NPR was the first to report that the US quietly released this funding to Palestinian Authority forces a few weeks ago, quoting a State Department official who said the White House was weighing whether to unfreeze other programs it thinks provide “value to US taxpayers.”
In January, Washington announced it also would withhold the $65 million in assistance to the UN relief agency for Palestinians. The move came after Palestinians protested US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.
“We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” Trump tweeted on January 3.
In the months since, Democrats in both houses of Congress have sent letters to Trump officials urging a resumption of Palestinian assistance, particularly to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
AP contributed to this report | 1,265,296 |
shoes on to just escape and run out the front door."
Ms Morgan said Mr Muir blocked her escape from the house.
"I was crying, I was emotional, I was a wreck. I went into the little room and he said to me, 'You can't tell anyone, I will lose everyone'. So I didn't say anything, because I was scared."
Years later, in 2009, Ms Morgan attended counselling at Ballarat's Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA).
CASA records confirm she went there three times "in relation to the impact of alleged childhood sexual assault and subsequent trauma".
"I did that and then just ever since I just pushed it away, because ultimately this is the only family I know. I don't have any other family," Ms Morgan said.
"I'm so scared of being abandoned. Yeah, it's just scary."
Ms Morgan said the alleged abuse changed the way she saw the world.
"It took away my trust in people and took away my love. I couldn't love anyone until I had [my] girls."
'I had a lot of respect for Wayne'
Vicky Peart sometimes crossed paths with Wayne Muir at work. ( ABC News )
Vicky Peart works at Ballarat's Aboriginal Co-op. Over the years, this has meant working with Wayne Muir and visiting offices he had at Ballarat University.
She alleges an incident took place some time between 1998 and 2000.
"Another co-worker and myself went out there, we went to the Koori unit," Ms Peart said.
She was not prepared for what Mr Muir did next.
"As I was walking through to the kitchen area he'd come up behind me and pinned my arms and grabbed hold of my breasts," she said.
"I said, 'Just get out!'
"I was shocked. I had a lot of respect for Wayne. Since then I've got no respect for him at all.
"He didn't say anything. That was the thing. He did not say anything. No apology, no nothing, and then he just let go as if nothing had happened."
Ms Peart says she reported the incident to work colleagues.
'False, baseless and gravely defamatory'
In answer to detailed questions 7.30 put to Wayne Muir through his lawyer, Mr Muir rejected the key allegations by Leanne Muir, Luana Morgan and Vicky Peart as false, baseless and defamatory.
His lawyer, in response to questions about Katrina Beer, described the incident as "a workplace complaint" for which Mr Muir subsequently apologised.
Mr Muir declined 7.30's request for an on-camera interview. | 1,265,297 |
BOULDER – The University of Colorado and Daktronics are providing more improvements to the Coors Events Center this off-season with the installation of a center-hung video and scoreboard.The system, which will be installed this spring and summer, will include almost 700 square feet of 6 millimeter digital high definition LED boards and state-of-the-art video processing and graphic interfacing capabilities."We are excited to continue to improve upon the fan experience for all of our events at the Coors Events Center," said, Chief Marketing Office for the Buffaloes. "These new state of the art video boards will allow our fans to enjoy CU Athletics' events in a whole new way. We are excited to partner with Daktronics to bring the entertainment value to a whole new level for Buffs fans."The scoreboards, which will include a center court camera recessed in a CU logo, are the latest in a series of improvement to the Events Center over the past decade, including three significant improvements in the past year. Last summer, a new Bose sound system was installed and the 2016-17 athletic seasons saw a redesign of the court.Since 2008, the building has undergone a multitude of upgrades. That year a new permanent maple playing surface was installed and the conference level was transformed to a headquarters for the men's and women's basketball programs with new offices. Also part of that transformation was a new weight room and dining area also used by the women's volleyball and lacrosse programs. The existing video boards, which will remain, were installed in the fall of 2009.Soon after those improvements, construction began on a practice facility connected to the north side of the Events Center. The $11.1 million building was finishing in April 2013 and received a LEED platinum rating, the highest designation and at the time was one of just two LEED Platinum athletic buildings in the Pac-12.In addition to two full-sized courts, the practice facility also includes a new locker room for the women's basketball program, new offices for the volleyball program and a state-of-the-art production room for CU's award-winning BuffVision department, used for the production of more than 70 events a year.In the summer of 2015, the arena underwent major energy upgrades that reduced the overall energy consumption by over 44 percent. That summer, the sports medicine complex was also refurbished. Major branding efforts have also transformed the building both behind the scenes and in the arena, over the past few years.Built in 1979 at a cost of $7.7 million, the Events Center has proven to be a solid home court advantage for its inhabitants. The three teams that call the facility home have compiled over 1,100 wins and have all won at a 70 percent clip inside the building. The men's basketball program is 414-170, the women's basketball program 423-157 and the volleyball program is 266-140 in the building. | 1,265,298 |
One of the cases that brought it home to me involved a 38-year-old businesswoman.
'I knew there were going to be problems right away. As soon as someone joins the agency, we get things moving very quickly - but this wasn't quick enough for this woman.
'She wanted a date immediately. The first man I sent her profile to declined an introduction and she was extremely cross. She couldn't accept it and she couldn't even be polite about it.
'In three weeks, three men turned her down. I explained that it takes time to meet someone but she just got angrier and angrier. She was demanding to know why these guys did this. I was trying to get the balance right - between being honest with her and being tactful.
'I think, ultimately, she had a very flawed perception of herself. And she almost couldn't bear that it was being challenged. It was as if she couldn't deal with the fact that some guys didn't think she was amazing - and she left.'
Men, traditionally regarded as the more self-centred of the species and the rogues of the mating game, are left scratching their heads and pondering Freud's famous question: what do women want?
David Baxter (not his real name) is a 40-year-old management consultant. Previously married for nine years, he joined a dating agency in the summer.
He says he's not perfect, but is told he's an eligible and pleasant guy with a lot to offer.
'I've had three successive dates recently with ladies in the late 30s to early 40s age bracket that have left me dumbfounded,' he said.
'I've never come across such massive egos, such arrogance and lack of basic courtesy.
'It was as if these particular dates were a forum for them to tell me how exceptional they were. One told me repeatedly how many young guys at the gym asked her out; another was very artificial.
'You sensed that they absolutely worshipped themselves, though none of them was drop-dead gorgeous or had amazing personalities, jobs or anything else to set them apart and elevate themselves into some superior position.
'I also thought it was quite telling that none of them had ever been married, engaged or had recently - or perhaps ever - been in a long-term relationship.
'I got the feeling that these women were living in a Sex And The City-inspired fantasy world. I also sensed that nobody would ever be good enough for them.
'They seem to be looking for something that doesn't exist: Mr Perfect, or perhaps some larger-than-life, dashingly handsome and unattainable character such as that portrayed by Mr Big. Nothing else will do.' | 1,265,299 |
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