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For the last few days, primary and secondary school students from Hadhramout - like tens of thousands of their counterparts across Yemen and in many other parts of the Arab world - have been doing their final year exams. What is very troubling and even very shocking, from what I am hearing, is that there have been unchecked, rampant, flagrant and extensive cheating. Years back, government run public schools in Hadhramout - as very poorly funded and provided as they are - enforced discipline and were very strict when it came to exams. No cheating whatsoever was allowed. All these changed about two years ago with Yemen's political crisis. Cheating during exams started. Last year, it became even more normal to cheat. This year, from reports I am getting now - the cheating has been very extensive and even supported and encouraged by some teachers, by some headmasters and even more shockingly - by some invigilators.Reason given for this sudden change in promoting and encouraging cheating - is that: students in all other provinces in Yemen are cheating, so why not Hadhramis? They believe, and rightly so - if students in other parts of the country are cheating and will have a much better chance of being enrolled in colleges and universities within the country or outside, then, why not cheat like everyone else? That's the problem: in any family or society or nation - any form of cheating, dishonesty or other forms of corruption, is communicable. All over the world - students try to cheat in exams. But, for that cheating to be condoned and encouraged by educators and even invigilators - is most shocking. During my years in school in East Africa, during any school exam or test, any one caught and proven cheating will have that particular paper he/she is sitting for - instantly cancelled; in most cases - the whole exam results of that pupil would be disqualified.People, especially students - should earn and be rewarded through their hard work and diligence. Through merit. Not through cheating, dishonesty and being corrupt. A family or a society or a nation, is always judged by how honorable and disciplined they are. The more they have of these, the more highly regarded and much stronger and advanced they would be. Personally, I have always judged and graded any place I am in or am visiting, by three things: its infrastructure, its medical facilities and its educational resources and institutions. It is the last - education - that effects all else in a country. If the education system fails, all else fails. Students are not wholly to blame for this very dire situation. Nor are parents. It is the Ministry of Education, starting right from the top - that is most to blame. They should take immediate action and do everything possible to ensure that cheating and irregularities are stamped out of the examination system. That - discipline and integrity are enforced in all educational institutions. Above all: for institutions to work - Yemen should politically sort itself out. | 1,265,600 |
♫ Listening to: Killing Moon by Echo & the Bunnymen ♫
These sweet potato bunny biscuits are actually made with yams, and they have the consistency of a dinner roll and a biscuit mixed together. They make excellent leftover thanksgiving sandwiches and would be a perfect accompaniment to my vegan thanksgiving dinner cake. You can make them into any cute / kawaii shape you like by using different shaped cookie cutters.
This recipe makes ~ 8 biscuits.
Vegan Sweet Potato Biscuit Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose or pastry flour (the organic kind is sold in bulk at Whole Foods)
2 tablespoons baking powder (sift it if it has lumps in it)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons salt
¼ cup cold earth balance (I like the organic whipped kind)
2 teaspoons agave nectar (optional)
1 ¼ cup cold mashed sweet potatoes (I actually use yams and not sweet potatoes)
1 ½ tablespoons unsweetened unflavored nondairy milk
Vegan Sweet Potato Biscuit Directions
Prep time: 15 minutes; Bake time: 15 minutes
Dollhouse Shortcut You can make these up to a month ahead of time and freeze them after they bake. The day before you want to serve them, set them on the counter to defrost, and then warm them up in a 300°F oven for 10 minutes right before you eat.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, nutritional yeast, and salt in a mixing bowl or a food processor.
Add the cold margarine and mix with your hands or process in your food processor until well incorporated.
Add the agave nectar, cold sweet potatoes, and cold nondairy milk.
Mix until you can no longer see any individual ingredients. You can do this by hand, with a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, or in a food processor with the S blade.
Roll or flatten the dough with your hands to ~ ¾ inch thickness on a lightly floured work surface, adding flour if it sticks to the your hands, the rolling pin, or the surface you’re doing this on (but don’t over flour).
Cut out the biscuits, using your cookie cutter of choice. I’ve made hearts, stars, cats, and bunnies with this recipe, and all have come out perfectly.
Layer your scraps instead just balling them up, before you reroll your dough to cut out more shapes. This will help your biscuits be flakier.
Bake biscuits in a preheated 400°F oven on baking stones or greased baking sheets for 15 minutes.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ | 1,265,601 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization on Friday appealed a court order allowing Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to hand their financial records over to Democratic lawmakers.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on a range of issues during an event devoted to "America's farmers and ranchers" in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., May 23, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
They are asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to overrule U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, who on Wednesday refused to block the banks from responding to subpoenas issued last month by two U.S. House of Representatives committees.
“We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations,” Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Kerrie McHugh said in an emailed statement.
A spokesman for the Intelligence Committee declined to comment on the appeal. Capital One and the House Financial Services Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The committees have agreed not to enforce the subpoenas for seven days after Wednesday’s ruling.
The Republican president, who is seeking re-election next year, has aggressively sought to defy congressional oversight of his administration since Democrats took control of the House in January.
Some parts of the subpoenas have been included in court filings. The subpoena on Deutsche Bank, issued by both committees, seeks extensive records of accounts, transactions and investments linked to Trump, his three oldest children, their immediate family members and several Trump Organization entities, as well as records of ties they might have to foreign entities.
Deutsche Bank has long been a principal lender for Trump’s real estate business and a 2017 disclosure form showed that Trump had at least $130 million of liabilities to the bank.
The subpoena on Capital One, issued by the Financial Services Committee, seeks records related to the Trump Organization’s hotel business. It followed an informal request to the bank by Democratic lawmakers in March seeking records related to potential conflicts of interest tied to Trump’s Washington hotel and other businesses.
In asking Ramos to block the subpoenas on Wednesday, a lawyer for the Trumps argued that they exceeded the authority of Congress. Ramos, however, found that they were allowed under the broad authority of Congress to conduct investigations.
Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff praised the decision in a joint statement on Wednesday as “a victory for the role of Congress as a co-equal branch of government.”
Ramos’ ruling came two days after a federal judge in Washington ruled that Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars LLP, must comply with a congressional subpoena for Trump’s financial records. | 1,265,602 |
Horrified shoppers have blasted street store Peacocks for selling an inflatable 'perfect woman' in-store and online.
The 50cm plastic doll - described on the packaging as'sexy' and 'nag free' - has angered customers who have labelled the product'misogynistic' and'shocking'.
Dressed in a black crop top, denim shorts and knee-high boots, the doll 'loves football' and is currently half-price at £2.50.
The product description on Peacocks' website reads: 'This hilarious Inflatable Perfect Woman will make a fun gag gift. Containing a blow up blonde doll, it's a great joke present.'
High street store Peacocks has come under fire for selling this 50cm inflatable 'perfect woman' (right) - described on the packaging as'sexy, nag free and loves footie'
However many shoppers have failed to see the funny side with disgruntled customer Soledad Gaona, 38, from Argentina saying: 'It's horrible.
'It's about time people grew up. There is no perfect woman just like there's no perfect man.'
And customers were similarly outraged on social media, with one person tweeting: 'Considering the majority of your customers are women (and it's 2018), how is this appropriate?'
Another wrote: 'It's disgusting @peacoks. Meant to be a "family brand" but back to the #everydaysexism' of the 1970s. What, a "bit of blue for the dads"? Shame on them.'
The family-friendly store, which sells men's, women's and children's clothing, has been labelled 'outdated' by shoppers on social media (file photo)
Backlash: The 50cm plastic doll - described on the packaging as'sexy' and 'nag free' - has angered customers who have labelled the product'misogynistic' and'shockin
The product description on Peacocks' website reads: 'This hilarious Inflatable Perfect Woman will make a fun gag gift. Containing a blow up blonde doll, it's a great joke present'
The product has received just one review online and the buyer wasn't too happy either. Giving it three stars, they wrote: 'Not exactly as big as I imagined..'
Standing at about 50cm tall, the doll is also available on Amazon where it has a three-star rating, though most complaints are size related rather than moral issues.
Am inflatable 'Perfect Man' is also available on Amazon and at Peacocks who is 'clean and tidy' and 'never argues'.
Peacocks, who have over 400 stores across the UK, said they were aware of the protests but that the dolls are still on sale. | 1,265,603 |
At least 6,900 people living in nursing homes in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus, according to The New York Times.
Data analyzed by USA Today earlier this week showed state agencies have reported more than 3,000 people have died in nursing homes across 37 states.
Data from the Times shows much more than that, revealing that about a fifth of deaths from the virus in the United States have been tied to nursing homes or other long-term care facilities.
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“They’re death pits,” Betsy McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York who founded the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, told the Times. “These nursing homes are already overwhelmed. They’re crowded and they’re understaffed. One Covid-positive patient in a nursing home produces carnage.”
The U.S. has about 15,600 nursing homes with 1.3 million residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Early on, public health officials warned that the elderly and immune-compromised are particularly at risk of dying from the virus.
The coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. first erupted in a Washington state nursing home where dozens of people have died. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said last month these facilities are “an accelerator” for the virus.
On Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) directed his attorney general to investigate nursing homes in the state that are experiencing high numbers of coronavirus deaths after officials found 17 bodies in a nursing home morgue that was built for no more than four people.
Nursing home employees who spoke with the Times said they lack adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), which puts both them and residents at risk.
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Rep. Bennie Thompson Bennie Gordon ThompsonSenate to hold nomination hearing for Wolf next week Hillicon Valley: FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden | Treasury Dept. sanctions Iranian government-backed hackers FBI director calls antifa 'a real thing' MORE (D-Miss.), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and other public health officials on Friday regarding the lack of PPE and other medical supplies at long-term care and nursing homes in the country.
“I have received numerous inquiries and expressions of concern from constituents who are deeply worried about loved ones facing the unique risks of contracting COVID-19 in long-term care and nursing homes,” wrote Thompson.
“Like so many aspects of the Administration’s approach to acquiring and distributing PPE and other medical supplies and equipment, the specific processes for distributing PPE to long-term care and nursing homes remains a mystery shrouded in confusion,” he added. | 1,265,604 |
0:49 Callum Wilson fears the introduction of VAR in the Premier League next season will take the 'fun' out of the competition Callum Wilson fears the introduction of VAR in the Premier League next season will take the 'fun' out of the competition
Bournemouth and England striker Callum Wilson fears that the introduction of video assistant referees (VAR) in the Premier League next season will take the "fun" out of the game.
Substitute Wilson looked to have bundled a late winning goal in for England in their Nations League third-place play-off against Switzerland, only to be punished for a shirt-pull as the Three Lions succumbed to VAR for the second time in five days.
England went on to win the game on penalties, but Wilson feels the presence of VAR will take the fun out of the Premier League next season.
"Obviously I'm disappointed not to score the winner. It's going to be like that next season I think," he told Sky Sports News.
Wilson was penalised for pulling the shirt of a Switzerland defender
"It's going to stop a lot of the fun in the game. You score and you celebrate but then you are waiting for it to be allowed - and when it's not it feels like an anti-climax.
"It's frustrating on a personal note, of course. I don't there was much in it, he's a big centre-half and I only moved him to the side a little bit to get half a yard on him and he's just dropped to the floor.
"If centre-backs are going to keep dropping to the floor next season there will be a lot of disallowed goals that shouldn't be.
"It's a contact sport and I think strikers should definitely get the benefit of the doubt."
VAR will be implemented across all 20 clubs in the Premier League for the 2019/20 campaign, with Liverpool and Manchester United being the only two sides unable to show replays inside the stadium.
Maguire: VAR needed for big decisions
0:45 Harry Maguire believes VAR will improve football going forward Harry Maguire believes VAR will improve football going forward
Harry Maguire feels VAR is a necessary addition that will improve the game despite it working against England in their two Nations League games last week.
"I think against the Netherlands it was really heartbreaking," he said.
"We all celebrated, we thought it was a goal and then the disappointment comes - it was the same today.
"I think it's going to improve the game. We've been on the wrong end of it twice but I do think it will improve the big decisions.
"There is too much in football now for the big decisions to go against you, especially the blatant ones." | 1,265,605 |
LISTEN TO ARTICLE 2:31 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Elizabeth Warren unveiled a new policy proposal Tuesday to prosecute large corporations for perjury if they mislead the public and government regulators.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s proposal takes aim at companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., which she said had spent millions of dollars to spread misinformation about the effects of fossil fuels on climate change.
If Warren’s idea becomes law, companies would be subject to as much as $250,000 in fines, and executives could face jail time if regulators determined they knowingly submitted false or misleading information to regulatory agencies. Her latest policy roll-out is part of a larger anti-corruption plan that she has made a centerpiece of her campaign.
“If bad actors like Exxon break the rules and deliberately lie to government agencies, my plan will treat them the same way the law treats someone who lies in court – by subjecting them to potential prosecution for perjury,” Warren wrote in a Medium post on Tuesday.
Exxon’s scientists work “in an open and transparent way,” the oil producer said in a statement. The Irving, Texas-based company “has supported climate science in partnership with government and academic institutions for nearly 40 years,” it said, citing dozens of peer-reviewed publications and work with Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the U.S. government and the United Nations.
Read More: Bonderman Backs Warren Over Trump Despite Private Equity Attacks
A New York judge is currently presiding over a case in which the state’s attorney general’s office is accusing Exxon of making misleading statements about the financial effects of climate change policies. Last week, the state dropped two claims that formed part of the original case.
Warren would also ban federal agencies and courts from considering research that has been financed by a specific industry and has not been peer-reviewed. Corporations would be required to disclose how their research was funded and make clear any financial relationships between the researchers and their corporate backers before being considered by federal agencies. Any conflicts of interest would exclude that research from the rulemaking process, she said.
She also assailed tobacco companies for backing what she called misleading information on the health risks of smoking.
Warren’s proposal comes a few weeks after she stepped up her criticism of major U.S. corporations, including Facebook Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., BP Plc and Walmart Inc. and singled out senior-level government officials who accepted jobs with them after working for the federal government.
The Massachusetts senator has vowed to increase oversight of lobbying and to impose hiring restrictions for people who have worked in top government posts.
— With assistance by Kevin Crowley
( Updates with Exxon comment in fifth paragraph. ) | 1,265,606 |
If you are as ignorant as I (and few are), you might be unfamiliar with the concept of Distrito Distinto (Different District). What I think I now know is that we should imagine an artistic festival which involves travelling to various interiors, each inspired by a song, and each providing a unique expression of wit and creativity.
To celebrate (what I think is) the 5th Anniversary of MetaLES↑, the art sim curated by the brilliant duo Romy Nayar↑ & Ux Hax↑, an inworld Distrito Distinto↑ has opened with 9 participating artists.
These talented individuals, and their chosen songs, are:
Bryn Oh – “keep the streets empty for me” by fever ray
Cica Ghost – “Lullaby” by The Cure
Maya Paris – X-Ray Spex, “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!”
Giovanna Cerise – “Innuendo” by Queen
Betty Tureaud – Rolling Stones, “She’s a Rainbow “
Rebeca Bashly – “Chop Suey” by System of a Down
Eupalinos Ugajin – “Estudio, Trabajo Y Fusil! Rockingchair”
JadeYu Fhang – Massive Attack, “What Your Soul Sings”
Alpha Auer – Alpha Auer, “Grid Factory “
Romy Nayar – Mylène Farmer, “Nuit d’hiver (Chloé)”
Selavy Oh – Ryoji Ikeda, “Carsen Nicolai Titel 4 – 1”
The landing spot is just next to a ticket booth. Grab your free pass and you’ll get a HUD which will transport you to the various interiors along the route of the travelling exhibit.
Make sure you have “Region Windlight” turned on and that you have sounds enabled. The music isn’t being streamed (which makes a lot of sense if you think about it) and you want to hear the songs.
I loved all of it. I am a big fan of each of these artists, I’m a new fan of the concept, and I am a devotee of Romy/Ux and this sim.
You will find art, and humour, and music (seriously, who would have guessed that Maya would choose a song called “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” – well, yes, most of us). More importantly, you will find a celebration appropriate for a location which regularly provides us with some of the best virtual art available anywhere.
Go enjoy! :) | 1,265,607 |
A new movie sequence of images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the view as the spacecraft swooped over Saturn during the first of its Grand Finale dives between the planet and its rings on April 26.
The movie comprises one hour of observations as the spacecraft moved southward over Saturn. It begins with a view of the swirling vortex at the planet's north pole, then heads past the outer boundary of the hexagon-shaped jet stream and beyond.
"I was surprised to see so many sharp edges along the hexagon's outer boundary and the eye-wall of the polar vortex," said Kunio Sayanagi, an associate of the Cassini imaging team based at Hampton University in Virginia, who helped produce the new movie. "Something must be keeping different latitudes from mixing to maintain those edges," he said.
Toward the end of the movie, the camera frame rotates as the spacecraft reorients to point its large, saucer-shaped antenna in the direction of the spacecraft's motion. The antenna was used as a protective shield during the crossing of Saturn's ring plane.
As the movie frames were captured, the Cassini spacecraft's altitude above the clouds dropped from 45,000 to 4,200 miles (72,400 to 6,700 kilometers). As this occurred, the smallest resolvable features in the atmosphere changed from 5.4 miles (8.7 kilometers) per pixel to 0.5 mile (810 meters) per pixel.
"The images from the first pass were great, but we were conservative with the camera settings. We plan to make updates to our observations for a similar opportunity on June 29 that we think will result in even better views," said Andrew Ingersoll, a member of the Cassini imaging team based at Caltech in Pasadena, California.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the Caltech in Pasadena. The Cassini imaging operations center is based at Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
For more information about Cassini, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
Updated on May 5, 2017, at 1:35 p.m. PDT to correct the date in paragraph 6.
News Media Contact
Preston DychesJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, [email protected] MullinsCICLOPS/Space Science Institute, Boulder, [email protected] | 1,265,608 |
The City is the main setting of the show. It is never referred to by name either on screen or in the script.
The city is located somewhere in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. In Series 4 it is stated to be within close proximity to the M6 motorway, and that both the A38 and A51 pass through it. It is also said to be around an hours drive from Northampton.
The city is run and managed by an elected Mayor and City Council, who operate out of City Hall. Other elected officials include the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Public Services [ edit | edit source ]
Emergency Services [ edit | edit source ]
Law enforcement duties are carried out by Central Police, whose headquarters are at Pelbury House in the Kingsgate area of the city. Emergency medical transportation and care is provided by both the Central Ambulance Service and the Meridian Ambulance Service.
Prison Services [ edit | edit source ]
The UK Prison Service operates two prisons in the city; HMP Brentiss and HMP Blackthorn.
There are three HCT England & Wales hospitals operating in the city; South Central Hospital, City General Hospital and St. Anthonys Hospital.
Although the city itself is never named, various areas and neighbourhoods within it are named and referred to on screen. These include:
The vast majority of the city is built up and urban, especially the city centre area of Kingsgate. Large buildings, industrial estates and residential areas cover many square miles.
In Series 1 it is shown that there is at least one canal in the city (where the Kingsgate Canalside apartments are located), and Series 3 shows a large river with multiple bridges going through the city at Riverside.
There are some less built up suburban areas, such as areas of Moss Heath, Edge Park, Chisendale and Eastfield. In Series 4 it is shown the outskirts of the city are considerably more rural, comprising mainly of fields and woodland. This includes the Queens Chase Woodland.
In Series 2, it is shown that train services operate out of the city, with one train station being located in Edge Park. In Series 4 a public bus service, CityExpress, is shown to operate in the city centre.
Government Buildings [ edit | edit source ]
Police Stations [ edit | edit source ]
Food and Drink [ edit | edit source ]
Residential Areas [ edit | edit source ]
Woodland and Parks [ edit | edit source ]
Two television stations are shown to have coverage in the city. Neither are named or given any distinguishing features, but resemble the graphics packages used by the BBC and ITV respectively.
Local newspapers include The Herald and the Evening Post. National newspapers are also circulated in the area, such as the National Chronicle and The Reporter. | 1,265,609 |
After a little more than 24 hours, the Delaware County teenage girl who went missing with a Virginia man she met online was found with that man in Washington, D.C.
The 13-year-old victim was found safe Tuesday night and was returned to her family early Wednesday morning. Her father escorted her to a Montgomery County Hospital for a medical examination. She was then transferred to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. No word on what prompted the transfer.
Ashley Hareford, 20, the man she was found with, was arrested on the spot. He is being held on one count of corrupting a minor and Delaware County has already begun extradition proceedings, which will take about five days, according to police.
"Anytime you have a 20-year-old pursuing a 13-year-old on the Internet, that individual is a predator, period, end of story," said Radnor Police Chief Bill Colarulo.
Radnor Police say they received an anonymous tip sometime between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Tuesday that the duo were spotted in the 30th Street Station area -- possibly headed toward Washington on a Megabus.
U.S. marshals awaited their arrival at Union Station in Washington, and around 7 p.m., they arrested Hareford without incident and took the teen for a medical examination.
"Our top priority is to make sure that she is in good mental and physical condition," said Radnor Police Lt. Chris Flanagan.
After a brief evaluation, Radnor Police, who were called to the scene, took her home from D.C.
Officials tell NBC10 that Hareford was seen standing outside the teen's Radnor Township home on Sunday. Police say he looked suspicious and they stopped him while he was on foot to question him. However, after he was questioned, they let him go because they could not find a reason to hold him.
Police say the girl left her home around 4 p.m. Monday. Her father told police his daughter met Hareford online and had conversations with him.
"We are assuming that based on some of the circumstances that she is currently with Mr. Hareford," said Flanagan said early Tuesday. "We have grave concern for her safety."
Investigators said they discovered an “inappropriate” picture in their online interaction, although it was not pornographic. Police then issued a warrant for Hareford's arrest.
Hareford, who hails from Grottoes, Va., which is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive southwest of Washington, will be arraigned in Washington on a corruption of a minor charge and is expected to be brought back to Pennsylvania for that charge. He could also face other charges, police said.
Police are not calling the incident an abduction but aren't classifying it as a runaway case. | 1,265,610 |
OTTAWA–University of Toronto researchers say they were the target of “sinister” and “underhanded” approaches aimed at compromising their research into commercial spyware.
The Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs revealed Friday that two of their researchers were contacted by individuals apparently interested in their personal lives.
“Each of the contacts purported to show an interest in the staff members’ personal, non-Citizen Lab related interests,” a statement released by the research centre read.
“In each case, the interactions turned to Citizen Lab’s research on commercial spyware, and specifically our research on (Israeli cyber espionage company) NSO Group. We have no evidence NSO Group itself is responsible for the outreach.”
Citizen Lab bills itself as an interdisciplinary research lab at the “intersection of information and communications technologies, human rights, and global security.” In practice, it exposes operations and comment on modern forms of surveillance, both by nation states and private actors.
Citizen Lab has exposed state-sponsored hacking across the globe, and has been a key Canadian voice in explaining the techniques and actions of Western security and intelligence agencies.
The researchers, led by Ronald Deibert, have also exposed questionable practices by private-sector surveillance companies such as NSO Group. Citizen Lab has reported NSO Group had sold surveillance software to countries that used it to spy on journalists and activists. For instance, they alleged that NSO Group software was used to spy on Washington Post journalist Jamaal Khashoggi’s friend before Khashoggi was murdered.
NSO Group did not immediately respond to the Star’s request for comment. In a statement to the Associated Press, NSO Group denied any involvement with the approaches to Citizen Lab researchers.
Citizen Lab said that one of the approaches was focused on Bahr Abdul Razzak, who immediately alerted his Citizen Lab colleagues.
Another Citizen Lab researcher, John Scott-Railton, was contacted some time afterwards. Citizen Lab allowed the interaction to take place, observed by the Associated Press, in New York last week.
“My immediate gut feeling was: this is fake,” Scott-Railton told the AP.
In a statement, Deibert said that the incidents should give pause to any groups that “work in areas that expose wrongdoing through evidence-based research.
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“This attempt — by whatever organization was responsible for this operation — used an indirect approach involving human intelligence gathering and nefarious means,” Deibert wrote.
“At Citizen Lab, we take all security risks seriously. I want to congratulate the two researchers for being alert and taking immediate and appropriate action in response.” | 1,265,611 |
Image copyright University of Sussex Image caption The African lion formerly ranged throughout Eurasia and Africa, but today is only found in sub-Saharan Africa
Two big cats - the African lion and the Sunda clouded leopard - are most at risk from extinction caused by loss of prey, according to a new analysis.
Lack of food was a factor in why seven big cats, including sabre-toothed tigers, went extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, say scientists.
The trend is continuing, threatening a range of modern big cats, they warn.
If the prey of big cats continues to decline it will add to other pressures such as habitat loss, a study found.
Dr Chris Sandom from the University of Sussex said: "I think it adds an extra pressure for these animals. They are already suffering quite heavily from other conflicts with humans."
He said the lesson from the past was that even if Ice Age big cats had survived conflicts with humans and the changing climate, they would not have had much left to eat.
"We're in a continued decline of big, exciting animals," he added. "These charismatic predators are facing this consistent threat that started in the Ice Age and continues to this day and we need to turn that trend around."
The research, led by scientists at Sussex and Oxford universities, looked at the causes of extinction in seven big cats - four different types of sabre-toothed cats, the cave and American lions, and the American cheetah.
Image copyright University of Sussex Image caption The African lion is under threat from habitat loss and poaching
They found that if the animals had survived until modern times they would have lost the majority of their prey, partly due to human influences.
The researchers then turned their attention to modern big cats, and the status of their prey.
If all the prey species currently considered at risk were to go extinct, then the lions of East Africa and the clouded leopards of Indo-Malaya would be in a similar position to their Ice Age relatives, say the scientists.
The same would apply to some populations of tiger, leopard and cheetah.
Prof David Macdonald, Director of the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, said: "The Churchillian aphorism that those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it was painfully in mind when we saw how many of the prey of lions and East Africa and of clouded leopards in Indo-Malaya look set to go down the same drain down which their counterparts in other regions have already been flushed."
The Sunda clouded leopard is a medium-sized wild cat found in forests of the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
The study is published in the journal Ecography.
Follow Helen on Twitter. | 1,265,612 |
There I was, aboard the ferociously barbaric 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat, ready to restrain all 707 horsepowers and execute a stellar lap time on our autocross course. By the first turn, however, I'd given up -- so I started drifting instead.
This car doesn't want to go straight. It doesn't do polite, or graceful. It does sideways. All of the time. Dropping grandma off at the hair salon? Sideways. Driving home after a painful vasectomy? Sideways. Carrying a trunk-full of explosives to an off-the-grid location somewhere in the deserts of Arizona? Sideways.
Achieving a clean lap is pointless; this car just isn't meant for that. The Challenger Hellcat is a proper unadulterated muscle car, something that doesn't exist elsewhere -- even in Mustang GT500 or Camaro ZL1 trim. Today's ponies are tamed and refined for modern use, whereas the Hellcat sticks its middle finger up at society. It's basically Keith Moon with a license plate, only conceived from the depths of Detroit.
The moment you touch the throttle (even in third gear), the tires spin. It roars like James Earl Jones nursing a hangover. To say the Hellcat is fast would be a gross understatement. Sixty miles-per-hour arrives easily within four seconds; completing the quarter mile on stock tires takes just 11.2 seconds. A 6.2-liter HEMI V-8 resides under the scooped hood, massaged into the beast that it is via a Titanic-sized supercharger. Even by Dodge's own admission, building a machine like this makes little sense from a business perspective. But creating something special seldom does.
After just a couple of laps on the autocross we had to swap the rear tires with the fronts due my incessant appetite for big slides. Two laps later, all four were down to the cords. Of all the cars I've driven sideways, none are as easy to control as the Challenger -- and none do skids as extensive outside of a purpose built drift-car. For that we must thank the immense torque on tap and rear tires that simply aren't nearly large enough to cope with an extreme engine like the Hellcat's.
Story continues
That engine. It's simply an expensive tool to destroy rubber, and a more efficient way of emptying your bank account than, say, sending your wife to Saks Fifth Avenue for an afternoon with six of her best friends and a bucket-full of margarita.
But you don't care. For $60,000, the Hellcat is a riot. I'd re-mortgage my house to own one, but first, I may need to befriend Mr. Pirelli. And buy my wife a bucket-full of margarita. | 1,265,613 |
Everybody loves capybaras. They are chill, they are calm. They are friends with other animals, and, for what I know, harmless. I like them as well, but here is the truth: I hate the name capybara. The word simply doesn’t add up to this great specimen that I’ve known my entire life as capivara.
Brazilians have been taking these animals for granted for ages, and now that they've become more and more famous our shy, mundane appreciation for them just turned into love and pride. They are our newest national treasure, like pandas in China and maybe sheep in Ireland — so why can’t I use a capybara emoji on my iPhone? There is a 🐼 and a 🐑, after all.
Well, I’ll be honest: the first time this question popped in my mind was about six hours ago when I learned that a Brazilian is trying to get us there. Revista piauí tells us her name is Anna Levin and that she’s a professor of medicine at Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ms Levin practices rowing twice a week on the university campus and noticed four years ago when a small family of capybaras showed up apparently from nowhere. Let’s say they were parents and their child because there were three of them. And we can only assume these parents were very active since nowadays this once small family grew to a small town with more than 40 inhabitants.
Professor Levin and her buddies from the rowing team have been sharing space with the rodents for years. And not only them; the appreciation for the animals is such a strong one that there is an annual regatta named after them. Everybody comes to see the wet population of that growing town, and everybody wants to talk about them on Facebook, Instagram, etc., but the problem is: there is no capybara emoji so all this talking is just boring and monochromatic. Nothing as fun as when you see a squirrel in Central Park and send a 🐿 to your family WhatsApp group during a New York trip.
So in June last year, the doctor took action and sent an email to WhatsApp presenting her complaining. The email subject, writes journalist Paula Scarpin, was “Very disappointed!”, but Ms Levin couldn’t know that her disappointment would only increase, for she would learn that nor WhatsApp or Facebook — its owner — were responsible for creating emojis, and thus there was little they could do to help her.
WhatsApp’s customer care actually acted pretty gently pointing the professor to the Unicode Consortium’s website. Now the report calls that place “labyrinthine”, and, since I write about technology and often visit such website, I couldn’t agree more. | 1,265,614 |
“We are having WINS with Blueprint students and so many proud moments with the students problem solving, volunteering and helping out. And for first time in 10 years I have students who have already finished their Certificate II in Hospitality ahead of the deadline. LOVING my Blueprint classes and Blueprint's organisation of the course.”
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Brendan Weston, Director, Professional Transport Training | 1,265,615 |
knee of Mo's lead leg, hoping to bring Mo's head forward and in line to kick with the other foot.
Here's another nice instance of Mousasi pushing Mo away and attempting to use the other leg to kick Mo in the head as their positioning shifted. As Mo was on his knees at the time, this would have been entirely illegal had Mousasi's left foot connected.
In round five Mousasi was docked a point for finally connecting an illegal up-kick, though it made little difference on the scorecards. All three judges had King Mo far ahead. The fight raised some questions about judging criteria, however. Though Mo held top position for most of the fight, it was Mousasi delivering the power strikes repeatedly from the bottom. Bas Rutten won his UFC belt from the bottom in a far less active performance than Mousasi's against King Mo.
It seems as though Mousasi can end up in position to up-kick no matter who he’s fighting against. He even found time to up-kick Ilir Latifi in the brief time their fight was on the ground.
Conclusions
This has only been a brief overview of the stylistic constants of Gegard Mousasi, but what intrigues me so much about him is how changeable he is between each fight. It makes for frustrating viewing sometimes--against Sokoudjou, for instance, Mousasi looked nothing like the world-beater he can be--but when he's on point, and he's figured his opponent out, he's an incredible fighter to watch.
Sometimes when Mousasi has found the answer, it's almost underwhelming how easy it seems for him. His bout against Renato “Babalu” Sobral, for instance, seemed like a good match-up on paper but proved to be almost effortless for Mousasi.
Mousasi's meetings with Mike Kyle and Latifi were equally easygoing for the Armenian Assassin. But on other occasions he can look sluggish against middling opposition, as he did against Jardine and Sokoudjou.
Despite Mousasi's technical brilliance it's only fair that we subject him to the same skepticism and scrutiny we would anyone else who has just one fight in the UFC. The elephant in the room is that Mousasi has really only fought “the best of the rest” in his career. As respectable as Babalu, King Mo, Kyle, and the numerous other recognizable names on Mousasi's record are, they are not quite on the level of Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, or Lyoto Machida.
Check out these earlier breakdowns from Jack Slack:
The Heavyweight Weaknesses of Alistair Overeem and Frank Mir
Reflections on Silva/Weidman I
Anderson Silva's Brilliant Indifference to Perfection | 1,265,616 |
Why it makes sense for Twitter to differentiate between liking and saving tweets
Before the ❤️ button, Twitter had a ⭐️ button.
In the Twitter vocabulary the star was intended to mean Favorite. But, in November 2015 Twitter changed the star to a heart because, in their words:
We are changing our star icon for favorites to a heart and we’ll be calling them likes. We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite. - Akarshan Kumar, Product Manager at Twitter
When Twitter launched, having separate actions of saving and liking would have been overkill. It certainly would have been confusing for users.
But now that more and more long form content is being shared and discovered on Twitter, the idea of distinct actions for a public endorsement of a tweet and a save or bookmark feature makes sense.
In fact, we’ve seen other platforms introduce their own save or bookmark features recently.
In early December, Instagram introduced the idea of Saved Posts.
Each Instagram photo now has a little Bookmark icon at the bottom right. And users now have a spot where they can see all their Saved Posts, which are only visible to the user.
I find this extremely useful. Sometimes I see things on Instagram that I actually want to refer back to — a recipe, an interior design idea, a travel spot — Saved Posts allows me to have a special spot to put these things. Otherwise they get lost in a sea of things that I’ve given a heart to.
Prior to Saved Posts on Instagram, I would take screenshots of things I wanted to remember. But of course, then the screenshots get lost in a sea of photos on my Camera Roll.
Facebook added a Save feature back in 2014. Users can save posts, links, and places.
What’s helpful about Facebook’s Save feature is that it reminds you about things you saved.
This is a really useful feature because it’s easy to forget to go and check back on the things you saved. But the reminder increases the chances that I actually go and engage with and consume whatever it was that I saved.
Medium also has a bookmark feature to let users save articles to read later.
Again, very helpful for all the reasons that I just gave for saving things on Facebook and Instagram. But, I do wish Medium would email me once a week or something to remind me about things I’ve bookmarked.
The save for later feature is becoming a familiar user behavior as more and more mainstream platforms introduce it. Therefore, if Twitter were to introduce it, there would be little to no learning curve for users. | 1,265,617 |
Brad Stevens has been named coach of the Celtics. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
The Celtics have hired Butler coach Brad Stevens as their next head coach.
"Our family is thrilled for the opportunity given to us by the leadership of the Boston Celtics, but it is emotional to leave a place that we have called home for the past 13 years," Stevens said in a statement released by the Butler University. "We truly love Butler University and Indianapolis, and are very thankful to have had the opportunity to celebrate so many wonderful things together. What makes Butler truly unique is the people that we have been so blessed to work with. When it comes time for our kids to look at schools, we will start with Butler University."
Stevens, 36, has been regarded as one of the brightest young minds in college basketball after leading the Bulldogs to a 166-49 record and two trips to the Final Four in six seasons. A known proponent of advanced statistics, Stevens is now the youngest head coach in the NBA and the only coach in the league hired to his current position directly from the college ranks.
"Brad and I share a lot of the same values," Celtics president Danny Ainge said in a statement. "Though he is young, I see Brad as a great leader who leads with impeccable character and a strong work ethic. His teams always play hard and execute on both ends of the court. Brad is a coach who has already enjoyed lots of success, and I look forward to working with him towards Banner 18."
The Celtics recently agreed to let coach Doc Rivers out of the final three years and $21 million of his contract so that he could join the Clippers in a dual role as coach and front-office executive. Boston received a first-round pick as compensation. The Celtics then agreed to trade All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets for a package that included a number of draft picks. Boston is clearly headed for a youth movement rebuilding effort, but Ainge said this week that his team would not be purposefully dumping games to improve its position in advance of the loaded 2014 draft lottery.
"We are not tanking," Ainge said, according to the Boston Globe. "That's ridiculous. This is the Boston Celtics."
Stevens joins a long list of first-time head coaches hired this summer: former Pacers assistant Brian Shaw is now the coach of the Nuggets, Grizzlies assistant coach Dave Joerger was promoted to head coach, former Knicks guard Jason Kidd is now the coach of the Nets, Lakers assistant Steve Clifford is now the coach of the Bobcats, Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer is now the coach of the Hawks, Jazz assistant coach Jeff Hornacek is now the coach of the Suns and Warriors assistant coach Michael Malone is now the coach of the Kings.
Back in March, Stevens decided to remain at Butler after being courted by UCLA. | 1,265,618 |
Kyland Clark had to spend a week in the hospital earlier this month, after a friend dumped boiling water on him while he was sleeping as part of an internet challenge.
The 15-year-old Indianapolis, Ind., native told Fox 59 News this week that the pair had been looking up the “Hot Water Challenge” on YouTube last week when his friend decided to try the internet prank on Clark after he fell asleep. He ended up in the hospital with second-degree burns on his face, back and chest.
“My skin just fell off my chest,” Clark told Fox 59. “And then I went and looked in the mirror and I had skin falling off right here and on my face.”
The dangerous viral prank, which has sent a handful of children across the country to the hospital — including one death —over the last year usually consists of either drinking boiling water through a straw or pouring it on someone while they are sleeping, like what happened to Clark.
Dr. Ed Bartkus, who works at the Indiana University Health University Hospital, said there has been an uptick in the number of children who come in with “Hot Water Challenge”-related burns.
“It’s suggesting to people that they can try it and they won’t be hurt, but they will be, I can guarantee it,” Bartkus told Fox 59. “If your friends are telling you to do this, they aren’t good friends.”
Bartkus told the local news station that people can sustain “permanent disfigurement” from the burns that result from the scalding water, and even death.
An 8-year-old Florida girl died last August after drinking boiling water through a straw and an 11-year-old Bronx girl was rushed to the hospital suffering from severe second-degree burns after a friend poured boiling water on her at a slumber party. A 10-year-old boy in North Carolina was taken to the hospital second and third degree burns after trying the Hot Water Challenge with his step-brother just days earlier.
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Contact us at [email protected]. | 1,265,619 |
dependent upon the specific case you're interested in finding information for. </b>
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is also bringing down suspected child-sex offenders through Operation Predator.
You can also contact ICE via the Operation Predator application for mobile devices. ICE has created a smartphone app – the first of its kind in U.S. federal law enforcement – designed to seek the public's help with fugitive and unknown suspect child predators.
The iOS version of the app can be downloaded from<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/operation-predator/id695130859?mt=8"> Apple's App Store and iTunes</a>; the Android version is also available via<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.java.ice"> Google Play Store</a>.
<b>It is also time that we as a society hold our elected officials accountable in demanding stricter punishments be enforced with tough new legislation against anyone who would victimize a child, of either life imprisonment, of capital punishment. Oftentimes, they are released and re-offend. There is no rehabilitation for child sex offenders.</b>
<a href="https://www.house.gov/Representatives">Click here to find your elected officials in the House of Representatives.</a>
<a href="https://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_correspond_senators.htm">Click here to find your elected officials in the United States Senate.</a>
Additional Sources or Relevant Information:
https://www.wcvb.com/article/child-porn-suspect-claims-he-took-photos-while-chaperoning-field-trip/23015782
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A herd of 500 goats has helped save California’s Ronald Reagan library from a wildfire, after the voracious animals earlier this year ate flammable scrub surrounding the hilltop complex.
The hired goats munched through brush to create a fire break that slowed the blaze and let firefighters douse flames on Wednesday before they reached exhibits such as an Air Force One jet and a piece of the Berlin Wall, a library spokeswoman said.
“We were told by one of the fire fighters that they believe that fire break made their job easier,” said Melissa Giller. “The brush only went so far, it didn’t reach the library, because the goats ate it all.”
The complex near Simi Valley is the second big southern California institution in as many days to be protected from a rash of wildfires by fire-prevention work.
Los Angeles’s J Paul Getty Museum on Tuesday said its scrub clearance efforts slowed a blaze on its perimeter.
Driven by gale-force winds, the so-called Easy Fire surrounded the Reagan library on Wednesday morning, coming less than 15m from a hangar housing the Boeing 707 aircraft used by the former Republican president.
The site houses papers and memorabilia from Reagan’s 1981-1989 administrations, and the Cold War leader is buried there alongside his wife Nancy.
Given the high risk of wildfires in the area, the Reagan foundation hired the goats from local company 805 Goats in May to clear around five hectates (13 acres) of scrub.
With names including Vincent Van Goat and Selena Goatmez, the mainly Boer goats like to eat noxious weeds and other invasive species that fuel wildfires, said company owner Scott Morris (43).
Mr Morris had never touched a goat until last November, when he started the company, charging about $1,000 (€900) per acre cleared.
“At the end of the day, you kind of sit down and say ‘wow, we had an impact,’” said the former business consultant, who not only helped save the Reagan library on Wednesday, but assisted a rancher in the rescue of 100 goats trapped in a burning barn.
With California’s wildfires growing larger and more frequent due to rising temperatures and erratic winds, Mr Morris said he would need to double his herd to meet soaring demand.
By 6pm on Wednesday (1am Thursday Irish time) the Easy Fire had burned over 670 hecares (1,650 acres), forced about 30,000 people to evacuate their homes, and destroyed some structures, according to fire authorities.
“All the flames are gone, all we see are charred hillsides,” said Ms Giller. “We feel the worst is over and the Reagan library is safe.” – Reuters | 1,265,621 |
Every business owner wishes to know more about how to improve his site’s performance and make more sales. In this case, you may need a training session with a web consulting specialist, because these are the people that will teach you everything you need to know about successful marketing and other aspects that are developed to create successful businesses. You will learn the best tips from people that work in this domain and will find answers to your most ardent questions. Still, you need to find web consulting training that is made to fit your business niche, if you want to be sure that what you learn is going to work in your case. Also, you should have access to various tools, during the training session, so you can actively learn how to turn odds in your favor.
But, why should you opt for web consulting? No matter how determined you are to make things work and how dedicated you are to your goals, there will always be something that will be missing from the picture. This small detail can make the difference between average performances and great performances. Through web consulting, you will learn how to optimize the content on your business’s web page, so that it will appear in the first ranks on search engines. This is highly important because this is how you become visible to the thousands of people that use the Internet every day. You will also learn how to create social media campaigns that will be successful in drawing all the attention you need for your business, products, services, and brand. See how to obtain the best ROI by using the best available strategies, known only by the professionals. A great web consultant will set all these things and more according to the goals you want to achieve. So that when the training session completes, you will have all the information and solutions you need for your business.
How can a web consultant help you and your team? First of all, he will review the site, together with your team, to see what is missing and what can be improved. Then, he will go with you, step-by-step, through the entire process of improving and optimizing your site. During this process, you will find out what are the most sought after online marketing strategies that will bring you the increases you want, both in performance and in business numbers. Still, make sure to permanently communicate with the consultant and let him know what you wish to obtain. Only this way he will be able to provide you the solutions you need. After the training session is over, you should be able to form a complete plan in your head, about how you will tackle the matter of attracting clients with your site and the Internet. Even more than this, your plan should be fully functional and applicable right away.
If you wish to optimize your website, learn how to track your company’s performance, target your clients in an efficient manner, and many more, you need to start a training session with a professional web consultant. | 1,265,622 |
, 3-2
Lost at Chicago, 3-2 Next MLS Game: April 18 at Dallas (8:30 pm; MLS LIVE) Get your TFC gear!
13 Last: 14 Moved up a spot by virtue of looking better than both Man City and the Yankees. Last Week: OFF
OFF This Week: Saturday at Philadelphia (4 pm; MLS LIVE) Get your NYCFC gear!
14 Last: 11 Actually looked better in attack than they have all season, and got some promising play from Cyle Larin up top. The truth is this: they just got Rimando'd by Bill Hamid. No need to panic yet in Florida. Last Week: Lost vs. D.C. United, 1-0
Lost vs. D.C. United, 1-0 This Week: Sunday at Portland (5 pm; ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN) Get your Lions gear!
15 Last: 18 Still much work to do, but the Fire have got something cooking, folks. Shipp, Jones and Polster are a core of nice, young midfielders. Shaun Maloney looked like a DP. And they've strung together 270 minutes of attractive, attacking soccer. Last Week: Won vs. Toronto, 3-2
Won vs. Toronto, 3-2 Next MLS Game: April 18 at Montreal (3 pm; MLS LIVE) Get your Fire gear!
16 Last: 13 Questions abound as the midfield balance remains a work in progress. San Jose are last in the league in passing accuracy, and badly need a box-to-box field general. Last Week: Lost vs. Real Salt Lake, 1-0
Lost vs. Real Salt Lake, 1-0 This Week: Saturday vs. Vancouver (10:30 pm; MLS LIVE) Get your Quakes gear!
17 Last: 17 They've scored twice in five games, and there is a pretty good chance Cubo won't be around to save them until August 1. Last Week: Lost at Seattle, 1-0
Lost at Seattle, 1-0 This Week: Saturday vs. Montreal (8:30 pm; MLS LIVE) Get your Dynamo gear!
18 Last: 16 Got pushed down by Chicago's jump. Pretty sure they care more about the CCL than the Power Rankings this week, regardless. Last Week: OFF
OFF This Week: Saturday at Houston (8:30 pm; MLS LIVE) Get your Impact gear!
19 Last: 20 Can't defend in the air, which is problematic when the starting goalkeeper can't control the box. At least the front line were opportunistic. Last Week: Lost at Sporting KC, 3-2
Lost at Sporting KC, 3-2 This Week: Saturday vs. NYCFC (4 pm; MLS LIVE) Get your Union gear! | 1,265,623 |
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The UK’s most romantic street is officially in the heart of Paisley.
Love Street in the town centre has been crowned the most romantic street in the country just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Lovestruck Buddies voted in their hundreds to ensure their hometown took home gold over 13 other roads, avenues and lanes across the UK.
One woman who knows all about Paisley’s passionate side is local florist Michelle Murren.
The owner of Enchanted Flowers in Wellmeadow Street and her team have been working round the clock to ensure lovebirds in Renfrewshire receive beautiful bouquets in time for the big celebration.
Michelle told the Express she couldn’t be happier for the town and its new accolade.
“I am over the moon to hear Love Street won the vote – what a great lift for the town,” she said.
“It’s just made my day and it’s such a nice award that we should all be really proud of.”
Lover’s Walk in Bristol, Kissing Gate in Hull and Cupid’s Alley in Malton also ranked highly in the vote run by the Living Streets charity.
Michelle has been busy trimming, arranging and packaging hundreds of Valentine’s blooms for the area’s sweethearts, and is not surprised that Paisley’s passion for the season of love is being recognised.
“People here are big on the celebrations and they’ll still spend mega-money on flowers,” she added.
“Red roses have sold out twice in the past few days.
“It has been absolutely mental in here and all of the girls are just knackered.
“Two vans will be out delivering today from around 7.30am.
“We’re all due a well-deserved rest when the celebrations are over.
“Paisley people just love being romantic in the most traditional way possible – by sending a bunch of flowers.”
Tompion Platt from Living Streets told the Express: “Going for a walk with a loved one is a great way to make your heart healthy and happy.
“The poll was a light-hearted way to inspire people to walk more whilst looking for the love in their street names.”
To find out more click here.
If you would like to order a bunch of blooms from Enchanted Flowers call 0141 237 4343, or pop into the store. | 1,265,624 |
son sat me down and said, ‘Dad, nobody under 35 cares about this issue. Only you old guys…Republicans shouldn’t care,’” Don Gaetz told a group of Florida State University students in 2015.
Earlier this year, the Florida legislature took up another bill that would outlaw workplace discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Social conservatives were outraged and attacked the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Joe Gruters, who is also chair of the Florida GOP. Matt Gaetz came to his defense, saying, “People don’t choose to be gay, and we shouldn’t be mean to people based on who they are.”
Last year, Gaetz told The Hill that the GOP needed to move away from attacking gay people if it wanted to attract younger voters. “I think we need to make it very clear that we don’t hate gay people,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we want to deconstruct the concept of the American family, I think we need to support the family as the principal institution of American life. But for people who don’t fit neatly into that, you know, ‘Leave it to Beaver’ mentality, there needs to be broader acceptance in our party.”
Gaetz doesn’t always live up to his own standards. In April, he made a few headlines during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Equality Act, a bill that would ban discrimination against LGBTQ people. Gaetz insisted that he would have liked to support the bill because he’s opposed to discrimination against transgender people, but he couldn’t bring himself to vote aye because he believed the bill would allow “bad actors” to somehow “weaponize” it to their advantage. To illustrate his point, he said, “Consider this possibility: If President Trump were to say, ‘I am now the first female president,’ who would celebrate that? Would those who support the legislation think that’s a good thing or would they be dismayed?”
There’s another reason Gaetz may have some sympathy for Hill, with whom he has served on the Armed Services Committee. He has said repeatedly that he is straight, but he has been the target of anti-gay vitriol himself. Rumors about his sexuality have been promoted by some of his political opponents and a discredited conspiracy theory website. The lawmaker has been chill about this, once tweeting: “while I have nothing against gay folks, that ain’t me.” It’s hard to imagine that Gaetz has been entirely unaffected by the attacks. He could be the rare straight man who knows what it’s like to encounter anti-gay bigotry firsthand, an experience that might affect how he views Katie Hill. | 1,265,625 |
being adopted and they never go outside and they’re, like, fighting over who sleeps where and showing each other the chore wheels. Their little faces are pressed against the glass, and they’re never going to go outside. So I try to get my ideas out. — Starlee Kine, This American Life contributor
Two of the lessons that I’ve learned doing this are: First, if you start to pursue something like this, you say “This is the thing I love: I love narrative journalism, and I’m going to see if I can find a way to make some.” You can find other people who will join up with you, and whatever they want to do, you should take them on, particularly if you find someone skilled in ways that you aren’t. We wouldn’t exist if it was just me because it really required someone who was willing to have the same love for creating that I had, and spend hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of unpaid hours putting this sort of thing together. — Evan Ratliff, founder, The Atavist
If you don’t yell back at the TV at that politician that you hate, you’re gonna hear what they’re saying. If you let that person act like a male chauvinist pig maybe you’ll understand a little of their motivation. It doesn’t make it right, but the world is full of people that form what I like to call the different constellations of reality. They put shit together, and they fucking believe it. They believe that you’re going to Heaven and that you’re going to play the harp. People believe that. People fight over that. We all think that we know the truth. — Mike Sager, Esquire
I love betrayal. Betrayal gets me going. Triumph. They don’t all have to be sad, right? They don’t all have to be like shame. Your themes don’t all have to be sad. I happen to like sad. I mean I’m one of those people that actually wouldn’t be turned off by someone saying they’re writing a book about shame. Actually I would think that’s when the conversation just got interesting. Talk about shame! Yeah! I want to hear your shame! I want to share my shame with you! — Alex Tizon, winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting
When you’re writing keep in mind the end of your story; look back and think. Stare at the scenes and the dialogue and the images that you’ve collected and push back against the conclusions that you’ve come to. Find the ambiguity. Find a moment that questions what you think your story is about. — Pat Walters, Radiolab | 1,265,626 |
SEC first-round picks have signed NFL contracts, and here’s a look at how rich they are
Former Florida defensive tackle Dominique Easley was the SEC’s last first-round pick to sign his NFL contract yesterday.
RELATED: Former SEC players receive slick Super Bowl rings
All 11 first-round picks have signed their contracts, and they will be able to buy their parents a house – or three – if they want to. Being the first pick, Clowney signed a four-year, $22.272 million deal – fully guaranteed, including a $14.5 million signing bonus, with the Texans.
Here’s a look at the 11 SEC first-round picks and their NFL contracts:
1. Jadeveon Clowney, DE, Houston Texas (South Carolina)
4 years, $22.272 million fully guaranteed; $14.518 million signing bonus
2. Greg Robinson, OT, St. Louis Rams (Auburn Tigers)
4 years, $21.284 million fully guaranteed; $13.799 million signing bonus
6. Jake Matthews, OT, Atlanta Falcons (Texas A&M)
4 years, $16.43 million fully guaranteed; $10.27 million signing bonus
7. Mike Evans, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Texas A&M)
4 years, $14.6 million fully guaranteed; $8.96 million signing bonus
12. Odell Beckham, WR, New York Giants (LSU)
4 years, $10.40 million fully guaranteed; $5.89 million signing bonus
17. CJ Mosley, LB, Balitmore Ravens (Alabama)
4 years, $8.78 million fully guaranteed; $4.71 million signing bonus
19. Ja’Wuan James, OT, Miami Dolphins (Tennessee)
4 years, $8.4 million fully guaranteed; $4.45 million signing bonus
21. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, DB, Green Bay Packers (Alabama)
4 years, $8.33 million, $7.55 million fully guaranteed; $4.38 million signing bonus
22. Johnny Manziel, QB, Cleveland Browns (Texas A&M)
4 years, $8.3 million, approximately $7.802 million guaranteed; $4.3 million signing bonus
23. Dee Ford, DE, Kansas City Chiefs (Auburn)
4 years, $8.15 million, $6.24 million fully guaranteed; $4.25 million signing bonus
29. Dominique Easley, DE, New England Patriots (Florida)
4 years, $7.3 million; $3.63 million signing bonus
Photo Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports | 1,265,627 |
Kanye. Champion Kanye. Troll Kanye. You All Thought I Was Lying, Bad Guy Kanye.
That’s why he called her! It’s He Loves Us All Kanye.
So I was speaking at the Art Institute last year, and a kid came up to me and said ‘Three of my friends died, and I don’t know if I’m gonna be the next.’ And it has to, you know you have to think, like, when you’re a senior and it’s the last month and you just don’t feel like doing any more work. If you feel like you seeing people dying right next to you, you might feel like, what’s the point? You know like life could be like, starting to feel worthless in a way.
Inspirational Kanye. Woke Kanye.
I know times for me, I sit down and talk to older, like, like, rich people. You know, a.k.a. white, you know.
Stand-up Comic Kanye.
And they tell me, ‘Don’t compare yourself to Steve Jobs. Don’t compare yourself to Walt Disney’
A.k.a “white.”
And my friend Zekiah told me… they tell me, ‘Don’t compare yourself to these people, right.’ My friend Zekiah told me there’s three keys to keeping people impoverished: that’s taking away their esteem, taking away their resources, and taking away their role models. My role models are artists, merchants. There’s less than ten that I can name in history. Truman. Ford. Hughes. Disney. Jobs. West.
Put Your Name On It Kanye. The visionaries and creatives and makers of art and stories and beauty and money are for ALL of us. Chicago Kanye and all the little Kanye Kanyes to come.
Bro. Bro! Tonight, we here to have fun. I’m standing in front of my idol, Puff Daddy. I’m standing in front of my wife, Kim Kardashian West. I’m standing in front of the future: Chance the Rapper, 2 Chainz, Jaden Smith. Bro, we are undeniably the influence, the thought leaders.
Uhm, Jaden Smith, Kanye? Gonna go ahead and forgive that one, Kanye. But we get the point, Kanye.
I’m gonna play y’all a piece of my art, and I just hope y’all have a good time. Play that.
Mic Drop Kanye. Music Making Kanye. Happy Good Life Triumphant Kanye.
Thanks for making award shows great again, Kanye. | 1,265,628 |
(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday a policy to alert the public about foreign cyber operations like Russia’s alleged hacking and disinformation campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
FILE PHOTO: Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announces grand jury indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officers in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation as he appears with Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O’Callaghan during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, DC, U.S., July 13, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
The U.S. government has been hesitant to publicize such foreign operations, fearing their disclosure could be seen as tipping the balance in an election.
But warning the American public about disinformation can help mitigate its harm and allow people to make better-informed decisions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in remarks to the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado announcing the policy.
“Exposing schemes to the public is an important way to neutralize them,” Rosenstein said. “The American people have a right to know if foreign governments are targeting them with propaganda.”
An uproar erupted this week over President Donald Trump’s failure to publicly confront Russian President Vladimir Putin at their Helsinki summit over Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. [nL1N1UF0NN]
U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia used hacking and disinformation to try to tilt the election in Trump’s favor. Putin has denied the accusation. Trump has at various times rejected or grudgingly accepted the conclusion.
Critics have said the Obama administration should have done more to inform the American public about Russian interference.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said on Monday that the Russian threat was “ongoing” and “pervasive” ahead of the November congressional elections.
The policy announced by Rosenstein is part of a report issued by the Justice Department’s Cyber Digital Task Force, which was created in February.
The report establishes guidelines for the department on whether to inform the public, private groups and companies about covert attacks.
Rosenstein cautioned that the department’s ability to disclose foreign operations could be hampered by concerns about protecting intelligence sources and methods.
He also said “partisan political considerations must play no role in our efforts. We cannot seek to benefit or harm any lawful group, individual or organization.”
Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, welcomed the announcement.
“In instituting this new policy, the Department of Justice has taken a vital and necessary step to protect the integrity of our elections and deter foreign meddling, and has made an unprecedented commitment to the American people,” Schiff said in a statement. | 1,265,629 |
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TeamViewer 14.1.39 Crack + Keygen Final Version Free Download! PatchDrive | 1,265,630 |
Over in the opinion pages of The New York Times today you will find an unintentionally hilarious piece by Stephen Forbes, Larry Kudlow, Arthur B. Laffer, and Stephen Moore, the co-founders of the equally hilariously named Committee to Unleash Prosperity, who advised Donald Trump's campaign on economic policy. If the name of their organization didn’t give it away, the four men are the type of Republicans who display large-scale oil paintings of Ronald Reagan in their living rooms and think there was no better time in American history than the years between 1981 and 1989. They’re happy, of course, that a real-estate tycoon won the election, but lately, they’re feeling pretty frustrated that Trump hasn’t scrapped everything else on his presidential to-do list and made tax reform his top priority. Why are Trump and Republicans “making tax reform so hard?” the quartet wants to know, not acknowledging that tax reform is hard. But, luckily, they have a solution that they’re confident would make old the Gipper proud: use the plan they wrote last year and get it through Congress A.S.A.P. What’s left to think about?
First, cut the federal corporate and small-business highest tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, which is now one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world.
Second, allow businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of their capital purchases. Full expensing of new factories, equipment, and machinery will jump-start business investment, which since 2000 has grown at only one-third the rate recorded from 1950 to 2000.
Third, impose a low tax on the repatriation of foreign profits brought back to the United States. This could attract more than $2 trillion to these shores, raising billions for the Treasury Department while creating new jobs and adding to the United States’ gross domestic product.
Simple. To win over Democrats, the men suggest Trump throw in some infrastructure spending and “emphasize that business tax relief is not a sellout to corporations but a boon for middle-class workers,” wink-wink. Trump and the G.O.P. should also scrap the proposed border-adjustment tax (“a poison pill for the tax plan”) and drop any ludicrous pretensions about imposing a carbon tax (reportedly supported by known Communist Gary Cohn). The president, writes Forbes, Kudlow, Laffer, and Moore, “should demand that Congress send him a jobs bill this summer that he can sign into law on August 13, 2017.” The significance of that date? It’s “the day President Reagan signed his historic tax cut in 1981 at his beloved Ranch del Cielo in Santa Barbara, California.” You can almost hear them wiping away the tears. | 1,265,631 |
GETTY A massive backlash from local residents of a village means 60 refugees won't be relocated there
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The people of Gussignies, a small village on the Franco-Belgian border a two-hour drive from Calais, categorically refused to welcome the asylum seekers, and warned local officials that they were willing to go to extreme lengths in order to put a stop the relocation plan. Locals threatened to occupy the reception centre and form an anti-immigrant group after claiming that the authorities had ignored their growing concerns.
Given the population’s violent opposition, I think we have no choice but to give up, and relocate the migrants elsewhere Philippe Duval
Xavier Bailleux, a local bar owner, told television station France Info that the imminent destruction of the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp “right before Christmas” was the government’s way of “duping” the public into thinking that the migrant crisis was now under control. He said: “Nothing has been done to actually help these migrants. These people and their problems are going to end up on my terrace. It’s bad for business.”
GOOGLE MAPS Residents of Gussignies categorically refused to welcome the asylum seekers
Despite the €500,000 (£449,000) allocated to each host town, locals say that their village – which is a major, albeit rugged, tourist attraction – does not need the money, and that the isolated location would make it hard for migrants to fully integrate into society.
Jungle Migrant Camp in protests Mon, October 3, 2016 Up to 10,000 migrants are now living at the camp and are using desperate and violent measures to try and board trucks heading for the UK. Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 24 Demonstrators protest near the area called the
“What is a 25- or 30-year-old going to do here all day?” said a local villager. “They can stay one month, two months, even six months, but then what? A family could adapt, but not a group of more than 60 people.
PH Virginie Klès was forced to admit defeat
On Tuesday, Virginie Klès, the local State representative in charge of relocating the migrants across the region, was forced to admit defeat, mere hours after locals reiterated their deep-seated hostility towards the immigrants during a stormy debate.
GOOGLE MAPS Locals of the village threatened to occupy the reception centre and form an anti-immigrant group | 1,265,632 |
Paper Mario: Sticker Star is a pure platformer that does away with the RPG elements of previous games in Nintendo’s papercraft series. In the latest issue of the developer’s ‘Iwata Asks’ panel sessions, the Nintendo president quizzed the team about Miyamoto’s decision to shift towards a pure platform format. Check out their reasoning below.
Responding to Iwata’s question, Kensuke Tanabe of Nintendo’s software planning division replied, “Aside from wanting us to change the atmosphere a lot, there were two main things that Miyamoto-san said from the start of the project: ‘It’s fine without a story, so do we really need one?’ And, ‘As much as possible, complete it with only characters from the Super Mario world.'”
The move was backed up by focus testing it seems, as Tanabe added, “With regard to the story, we did a survey over the Super Paper Mario game in Club Nintendo, and not even 1% said the story was interesting. A lot of people said that the flip move for switching between the 3D and 2D dimensions was fun.”
Vanpool representative Taro Kudo backed up Miyamoto’s decision, “I originally saw it in a way that’s similar to Miyamoto-san. Personally I think all we need is to have an objective to win the boss battle at the end of the game. I didn’t think we necessarily needed a lengthy story like in an RPG.
“Instead, we looked at the characteristics of a portable game that can be played little by little in small pieces and packed in lots of little episodes and ideas. I always did like putting in little ideas, so I actually enjoyed it.”
The team focused purely on Super Mario World’s enemy set, and didn’t add in any new friendly characters, except from multiple Toads of varying colours. Kudo expressed a fondness for the project’s increased focus.
“Personally, the more restrictions there were, the more excited I got,” he explained, “They may look the same, but we put in some elements in which their personalities are slightly different, so you can tell the difference and you think, ‘Hey! Are you that Toad from back then?’ Toward the end of development, I could feel that I became one with Toad! [laughs]”
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So there you go, lots of Toad, lots of classic platforming, and lots of Super Mario World. But will you miss the RPG elements? Let us know below. | 1,265,633 |
understand that there could be serious civil and criminal consequences for you if that is in fact what you and your "group" are doing. I am familiar with your background and your history with Scott. Understand that we take threats like this seriously. Perhaps you can email me and specifically explain to me exactly what your intentions are with regards to World Patent Marketing so I can respond accordingly.
I can be reached at this email address. Please conduct yourself accordingly.
Why is it that dubious threat letters from sketchy lawyers always seem to end with some variation on "govern yourself accordingly"?
Anyway, in March of 2017, the FTC filed a complaint concerning Cooper and World Patent Marketing. In May of this year, the case was closed out with the court granting a permanent injunction and monetary judgment against Cooper and World Patent Marketing. The court ordered a $26 million payment from the defendants, but also required Cooper specifically to hand over nearly $1 million from the sale of his $3.5 million home, and the rest of the judgment was suspended. There are a bunch of other stipulations in the order, requiring Cooper to accurately submit details of his business activities for many years into the future, and he is "permanently restrained and enjoined from advertising, marketing, promoting or offering for sale, or assisting in the advertising, marketing, promoting or offering for sale of any Invention Promotion Service."
Whitaker, it seems, was a bit player in this invention promotion scheme, but clearly was closely enough involved that he acted as a legal threat bully in at least that one case. That should certainly raise significant questions about how just a couple years later that same guy is suddenly the country's acting Attorney General.
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Filed Under: attorney general, free speech, ftc, intimidation, matthew whitaker, patent marketing, patent promotion, patents, scam, scott cooper, threats
Companies: world patent marketing | 1,265,634 |
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Marvel Studios has made a conscious effort to vary its superhero movies, dipping its toes into the genres of political thriller (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), space opera (Guardians of the Galaxy) and high school coming-of-age comedy (Spider-Man: Homecoming).
The first Ant-Man was billed as a heist movie, and now it seems that Marvel and director Peyton Reed are shifting gears for the upcoming sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp with the studio’s first romantic comedy.
According to Kinometro, a presentation was held by Marvel at the Kinorynok event in Russia, which included a new trailer for Black Panther, as well as a promo video for Ant-Man and the Wasp. And it was during the latter where the project was introduced as “the first rom-com from Marvel”.
SEE ALSO: Ant-Man and the Wasp may open a “whole entire new multiverse” for the MCU, according to Evangeline Lilly
SEE ALSO: Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas spotted in latest Ant-Man and the Wasp set photos
Both leads Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly do have previous experience in the rom-com genre, as does director Peyton Reed, who helmed the 2006 film The Break-Up, so it would seem that Marvel has the right team in place to make this one another success.
From the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes a new chapter featuring heroes with the astonishing ability to shrink: Ant-Man and The Wasp. In the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from their past.
Ant-Man & The Wasp sees Peyton Reed returning to the director’s chair and stars Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Michael Pena (Luis), David Dastmalchian (Kurt), Abby Ryder Fortson (Cassie Lang), Judy Greer (Maggie), Bobby Cannavale (Paxton) and T.I. (Dave), while new additions to the cast include Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne, Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Bill Foster/Goliath, Hannah John-Kamen as The Ghost, Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch and Randall Park as Jimmy Woo. | 1,265,635 |
treat her with the same complicity it treated two of her brothers imprisoned at Guantanamo. Born in Ottawa, she is thought to be living in the middle east, married with children, and although the Canadian consul is informed, there's no 'news' of her or sureness that she has any rights at all amidst the extrajudicial detention common in Turkey. Partial sources online: "Justin Trudeau and the Omar Khadr case," Michael Friscolanti, Feb. 16, 2016, Maclean's; "Omar Khadr to stay out on bail after federal government drops appeal," Feb.18, 2016, CBC News; "Omar Khadr sued by soldier’s widow and blinded soldier," The Canadian Press, May 22, 2014, thestar.com; "Widow and ex-soldier injured in Afghanistan move for final judgment on $134M suit against Omar Khadr," Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press, May 17, 2015, National Post; "U.S. judge awards $134-million in suit against Omar Khadr," AP, July 3, 2015, The Globe and Mail; "Omar Khadr's sister Zaynab detained in Turkey," Michelle Shephard,, Peter Edwards, Jan. 31, 2016, thestar.com; "Omar Khadr's sister detained in Turkey," Postmedia Network, Feb. 1, 2016, Ottawa Sun.
Vatican City : affirming the absolute value of the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," on Feb. 21, 2016 Pope Francis requested the abolishment of the death penalty, globally. The United Nations protocol for the abolition of capital punishment (Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty of, Dec. 15, 1989) is available for signing by the 113 nation states which have not done so. Currently 82 nations are State Parties to the treaty with 3 signatories. Having spoken previously against the "hidden death penalty" of life imprisonment, Pope Francis called for improvement of prison conditions and respect for the human dignity of all prisoners. Partial sources online: "Pope Francis: Abolish the death penalty worldwide," Reuters, Feb. 22, 2016, Religion News Service "Pope Francis Calls for Worldwide Ban on Death Penalty During Year of Mercy," Thomas D. Williams, PhD., Feb 22, 2016, Breitbart
Zimbabwe has in its Constitution abolished the death penalty for women and minors under the age of twenty-one. At the 9th International Meeting of the Ministers of Justice in Rome Feb. 22nd, Zimbabwe's Vice-President Mnangagwa assured eradication of the death penalty in all Zimbabwe's laws, noting Zimbabwe had accepted the UN Human Rights Council's recommendation that it sign the the Second Optional Protocol (above) ( "Zim to eliminate death penalty — Mnangagwa," Feb. 23, 2016, The Herald ). | 1,265,636 |
Rumpus News Service, Ottawa, Ontario
On August 13th, the Revolutionary Communist Party of Canada (RCP-PCR) announced a boycott of the October 19th federal elections, coupled with a National Day of Action on October 18th, in order to “bring all those together who are sick and tired of this rotten system.”
“The Communist election boycotts are a credible threat to democracy,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper remarked yesterday. “When the RCP-PCR raised the concept of election boycotts, election turn-outs increased but we fear that this second, pretty much identical electoral boycott could be the one that completely discredits our democracy.”
The upcoming Communist election boycott follows upon the setback of the election boycott of 2011, which saw voter turnout rise to 61.4%, an increase of 2.6% from the previous election. However, the RCP and its associated organization, the Proletarian Revolutionary Action Committee (PRAC) are now poised to convince at least several handfuls of Canadian citizens to stay home on election day, according to government sources.
Since the founding of the RCP-PCR in 2000, the organization has grown rapidly, incorporating dozens into its activities and claiming to be the “vanguard” of the Canadian revolution.
“The fact is we were blindsided. What we thought was a small and unpopular Communist organization with a bizarre fixation on the idea of war, has matured into a serious force capable of organizing a Canada-wide election boycott, potentially heeded by millions,” said the Prime Minister.
In Toronto, at the Landsdowne TTC station, RCP/PCR supporters handed out election boycott flyers to a receptive public. Many glanced in the general direction of their propaganda enthusiastically.
An RCP/PCR supporter, who refused to disclose his identity as the RCP remains a clandestine group, reacted to the Prime Minister’s comments:
“The imperialist bourgeoisie is rightly terrified of us. In the 2011, 38% of Canadian citizens refused to participate in the electoral sham. That was us. Our propaganda, our skillfully crafted flyers, passionate speakers, and student plenaries convinced a substantial minority of Canadians to skip out on bourgeois elections and work on the historic task of building the Communist Party. This time, we are thoroughly prepared to fundamentally expose our phony democracy.”
When asked if he would heed the Party’s call to boycott the elections, Bud Jenkins, an office cleaner who lived in the neighbourhood responded, “Well I guess so. I wasn’t going to vote anyway and I didn’t in the last one either so I guess that counts, right? Wait, which election is happening? Federal? Is Rob Ford running in that one? I [expletive] love that guy.” | 1,265,637 |
Back in 2016, Alan Wake developer Remedy released a blog post titled ‘Remedy goes multiplayer’.
Around that same time, other studios were pivoting to multiplayer. Pitches for traditional single-player games were being batted away by big publishers in favour of games as a service – never-ending experiences that can be endlessly monetised. This blog post made many assume that’s where Remedy would ultimately head as well.
“As an independent studio in the highly competitive games business, it is crucial to constantly evaluate and define our direction,” the blog post stated. “We want to keep doing and improving on what we do best: exciting stories, memorable characters, believable worlds and cinematic action.
“Single-player experience has always been an important focus for us. At the same time, we want to challenge ourselves to find ways to also expand these elements to include cooperative multiplayer.”
Then Remedy announced Control, a new single-player experience from the studio, though slightly less linear and with 100 percent more loot than previous games. But while work continues on Control, Remedy is also beavering away on creating something for Crossfire, an online shooter, as well as allowing its prototype team, Vanguard, to lay the groundwork for its next game – likely a multiplayer experience. Does this mean Control could be one of the last single-player games we see from the story-driven studio?
“No, we’re not pivoting away from single-player games,” communications director Thomas Puha tells VG247 during PAX East. “The one assumption I do want to correct is that a lot of people at Remedy have been there for a long time. It’s not like we always want to be making the exact same thing either. A lot of us like multiplayer games a lot – and other types of games. So it’s like we look at it [and say], ‘It would be fun to try to do something and find our way in that world’, and Remedy tends to be pretty careful, for a good reason.
“We’ve been in business since ‘95 in a very volatile industry and we want to make sure we stay in business. So with Vanguard it’s more like, ‘Okay, well go experiment. You have your kind of sandbox and let’s see what comes out of it.’ And another reason, really, is that we want to keep hold of all the great people we have, so from a company level it’s like, ‘Let’s give our staff opportunities to work with different types of things.’ So there’s that as well.”
Did you know we almost got an Alan Wake 2, but it didn’t work out? | 1,265,638 |
quite a lot of removal, and makes your x/2s dodge those as well because of the Anthem effect. Even better, it has an inbuilt reusable Shatter effect for the price of sacrificing a creature. This is really good for goblins because the problems with our goblin-shaped artifact removal so far were that: You need to splash (Tin Street Hooligan) or it’s too expensive for what it leaves afterwards (Tuktuk Scrapper), they’re for one shot time use (both examples before), or they are plain horrible (Goblin Tinkerer). Goblin Trashmaster, albeit a 4 drop, leaves a significant body in the battlefield and is a good card even if your opponent doesn’t play artifacts. This will definitely see play in the future.
Going Forward
If the good news is that we’ve got some nice toys to play with in M19, the bad news is that, against some decks (AnT, I’m looking at you) we don’t have any card in our maindeck that does anything. If we want to have a shot at beating them we need to flood our sideboard with 10+ cards against combo – because they can usually play around one piece of hate in 3-4 turns.
What I think we’re still missing, and that I really think could bring goblins back to the status it had back in the day, is a cheap goblin shaped combo hoser that works against several decks and is not horrible on it’s own. It seems like a lot to ask, but Death and Taxes got Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Ethersworn Canonist and Sanctum Prelate; Merfolk got Cursecatcher and now Mistcaller. Goblin has zero decent combo hosing cards, and is really hard to put non-goblins maindeck to do that job because it just decreases the overall consistency of the deck against everything else. It’s not much of a stretch to have a card exactly like Eidolon of the Great Revel to be a a goblin. Even the art and the flavour text could be awesome in that one! If it was up to me I’d print a 1R Goblin, 2/1, that has a Leovold lite textbox that works for both players. No more cantriping for anyone!
One can only hope…
Till next time!
Marcelo Scatena
Marcelo is a Goblin aficionado living in London that has been playing with the deck since it came out. Loves the small things in life like having his full black boarded opponent have to read all his cards, to laugh at them, only to proceed to the concede step after 3 Tarfires to the face later.
Like and Follow The Library at Pendrell Vale: | 1,265,639 |
ISSAQUAH, Wash., June 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthDefine, a provider of high-resolution spatial data products, has created a seamless 1 meter resolution tree cover dataset for California. This dataset updates its previous tree map for California using the newest 2014 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) aerial imagery. The source aerial imagery was flown between May and October 2014.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150624/225563
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150624/225564
The California SpatialCover Tree Canopy dataset is derived from a 6 class land cover classification for California that maps trees, impervious surfaces, bare land, water, herbaceous cover and shrubs at over 30 times the resolution of existing state level datasets for California. EarthDefine's Tree Canopy data allows users to accurately measure and understand tree cover at regional and local levels, especially in mixed urban and agricultural landscapes. The tree map can help planners assess urban tree canopy for any city in the state and also support other applications like biomass estimation, wildfire risk monitoring, studying interactions between public health and tree cover, quantification of ecosystem services and improved modeling of stormwater flows.
EarthDefine also provides the most accurate available data source for mapping impervious surfaces across California. This dataset improves on currently available data at 30 meter resolution that can significantly underestimate built up ground cover in less developed areas. The impervious surface data can help improve current estimates of stormwater pollutant loads and reductions.
Processing high resolution aerial imagery over large areas has not been a cost effective proposition in the past due to the large volumes of data involved and the challenges in managing source image variability arising from multiple acquisition dates. EarthDefine has addressed these big data challenges by developing a high throughput Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) platform. This platform can process multiple terabytes of geospatial data while applying sophisticated rules that can take the spectral properties and contextual information of a ground object into account while assigning its most likely land cover type. The GEOBIA platform integrates multiple data sources including the base 4 band color infrared imagery, demographic data, cadastral and transportation vectors to produce the California tree map and other land cover classes.
EarthDefine has created similar products for Indiana and will continue to grow its tree mapping database to cover more states over the next year by building on the best available orthoimagery and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data. For more information on EarthDefine products, please visit www.earthdefine.com.
Contact: Vikalpa Jetly, Email, 1-800-579-5916
SOURCE EarthDefine
Related Links
http://www.earthdefine.com
| 1,265,640 |
Hillary Clinton: I hope a 'wave of young women' run for office
Months after her failed bid to become America’s first female president, Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that she hopes to soon see a “wave of young women” run for office.
“Let us hope there is a wave of young women running for office in America,” Clinton said, accepting an award at a New York luncheon for the nonprofit organization Girls Inc. “And let’s be sure we support them in every way we can. Let’s help them shatter stereotypes and lift each other up.”
“They are the history-makers and glass-ceiling breakers of tomorrow,” she added. “They are among the reasons I am so optimistic about our future.”
Clinton’s remarks, greeted by applause, avoided commenting on partisan politics and instead offered a general message in favor of girls’ empowerment and gender equality. The gist of the speech was encouraging advocates for women to keep going despite what Clinton described as “setbacks.”
“Our work is far from over,” Clinton said. “In big ways and small, the unfinished business of the 21st century is the full equality of women. There are still too few women in the upper reaches of the private sector, academia, science, technology, not to mention politics and government.”
Clinton acknowledged that some women are currently “discouraged” — a reference, seemingly, to her supporters dismayed by the election of President Donald Trump.
“Sometimes, the road to progress can feel like it’s two steps forward, one step back, particularly when it comes to advancing the rights, opportunities and full participation of women and girls,” Clinton said. “It can seem discouraging, whether you’ve been on that road for a long time or you’re just starting out.”
“But,” she added, “think how different the world would be today if the people who came before us had not just gotten discouraged, but because of that, had given up.”
At a couple points, Clinton indirectly addressed Trump. She made positive references to January’s Women’s March on Washington, which drew hundreds of thousands of people to the capital to protest the president, and the political coverage in the young women’s magazine Teen Vogue, which has been highly critical of Trump.
And she noted her own defeat, if slyly: “I’ve had my ups and my downs in the last months,” she said, to some laughter. “I’ve done my share of sleeping, little soul-searching and reflecting, long walks in the woods.” | 1,265,641 |
SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, co-leading a coalition of 20 attorneys general, filed a comment letter opposing the Trump Administration’s proposed rule to undercut implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The proposal by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) would curtail requirements under NEPA that federal agencies review and assess the impact of their actions on the environment. The proposal would weaken implementation of one of the nation’s preeminent tools for combatting environmental harms, safeguarding public health, and protecting communities from pollution. In their comment letter, the coalition argues that the proposed changes to NEPA’s regulations are unlawful, unjustified, and should be withdrawn.
“The Trump Administration is rewriting the law in order to fast-track projects that pollute our air and water,” said Attorney General Becerra. “NEPA was enacted to provide a critical check on federal actions in our backyard. My office stands ready to fight against the Trump Administration’s attempt to open countless loopholes for polluters to avoid any NEPA analysis. At the California Department of Justice we will continue to fight for a clean, healthy, and safe environment for all Californians.”
Enacted in 1969, NEPA is one of the nation’s foremost environmental statutes. NEPA requires that before any federal agency undertakes a “major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” it must consider the environmental impacts of the proposed action, alternatives to the action, and any available mitigation measures. Numerous federal actions, from the approval of significant energy and infrastructure projects to key decisions concerning the management of federal public lands, require compliance with NEPA. CEQ’s proposed rule would upend the ability of federal agencies to comprehensively evaluate the impacts of their actions on the environment and public health.
In the comment letter, the coalition asserts that the proposed rule:
Violates NEPA and the Administrative Procedure Act;
Relies on a deficient rulemaking process that shuts out public participation by providing insufficient notice and limited opportunity for public comment;
Limits the scope of impacts considered in environmental reviews, including the impact of greenhouse gas emissions; and
Unlawfully and without justification limits the requirement that an agency evaluate reasonable alternatives.
In August 2018, Attorney General Becerra urged CEQ to carefully consider any changes to NEPA regulations and to prioritize the environment and public health if the Trump Administration chose to move forward with revisions to its guidance.
Joining Attorney General Becerra are the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Guam, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the comment is available here. | 1,265,642 |
McNally’s home run in the 1970 World Series is special because it’s the only grand slam by a pitcher in the postseason. Not just the World Series, but in the entirety of MLB’s postseason.
Baltimore’s McNally started Game 3 matched by the Reds’ Tony Cloninger. In fine fashion and like he did all year, McNally pitched all nine frames, scattering nine hits and three runs. In the sixth inning with the bases jacked, McNally sent a deep drive to left field and unjacked the bases. All it took was one mighty swing of that solid ash bat.
Baltimore won Game 3 after McNally kicked the door wide open in the sixth by a score of 9-3. Ending the year on a high note, Baltimore went on to win the World Series against Cincinnati in five games. Their first ever championship.
Joe Blanton, 2008 World Series
Philadelphia Phillies vs. Tampa Bay Rays (Game 4) off Edwin Jackson
Joe Blanton’s 2008 homer isn’t the flashiest of home runs, nor was it hit by the flashiest of players. It stands out for another reason. It currently stands as the last occurrence of a pitcher going yard on the biggest stage in the sport.
Prior to Blanton, Oakland’s Ken Holtzman was the last player to homer in a World Series. He did so in 1974 and still remains the last American League pitcher to accomplish the feat.
There is nothing that will get the crowd on its feet faster than watching the pitcher go yard. Especially in a World Series game.
The Phillies faithful watched as that day’s starter, Joe Blanton, came to the plate with a 5-2 lead. With nobody on and two out, Edwin Jackson uncorked a fastball over the inner half of the plate. Blanton attacked with authority, launching a deep drive to left-center field for the 6-2 lead.
For the Rays, their fate was all but sealed. Coming in to Game 4, they were already behind the proverbial 8-ball, trailing the series two games to one. After the dust settled and the final outs were recorded in Philadelphia that night, the Rays found themselves 10-2 losers in Game 4.
For any team in the World Series, being down three games to one is like the kiss of death. Amazingly, 35 teams in history have held this lead in the World Series. In only six instances though, did the trailing team come back to win the series. The Rays were not one of those six.
(feature photo courtesy of: Deadspin.com)
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more great sports content from writers like Mark!
“From our Haus to yours” | 1,265,643 |
Alonso enjoyed an almost-traffic free lap at the start of the hour-long session to record a best time of 1m37.677s in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, almost a second up on Jose Maria Lopez's Friday benchmark.
It was enough to top the session by 1.649s, as both SMP BR Engineering BR1s beat the #7 Toyota, whose best time of 1m40.033s was again set by Lopez.
Jenson Button was first to split the Toyotas in the #11 car with a 1m39.762s, but this was eclipsed by Stephane Sarrazin's effort of 1m39.326s in the sister #17 machine.
Rebellion Racing could only manage fifth and sixth with its pair of Gibson-powered R-13s, with Mathias Beche's best time in the #3 car in the early stages 3.8s off the pace.
Andre Lotterer was a further seven tenths back in the #1 machine that sat out Friday's second session in the wake of Bruno Senna's ankle-breaking crash.
Rounding out the LMP1 order were the #10 DragonSpeed BR1-Gibson and the #4 ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01, which also had to miss second practice after suffering an oil leak in FP1.
Debris on track at Becketts meant the session was red-flagged with three minutes left on the clock and was not resumed.
Matthieu Vaxiviere kept the #28 TDS Racing Oreca at the head of the times in LMP2 with a best effort of 1m44.247s.
Jackie Chan DC Racing's pair of Orecas were next up, Nabil Jeffri in the #37 leading Stephane Richelmi in the #38, followed by Pastor Maldonado in the #31 DragonSpeed Oreca.
Ford locked out the top two positions in GTE Pro, with Harry Tincknell's 1m55.197s effort in the #67 car edging out Stefan Mucke in the #66 GT by six tenths.
Aston Martin continued its improved form with the third-best time, 1.2s off the pace with Nicki Thiim at the wheel of the #95 Vantage GTE, followed by the best of the Ferrari 488 GTEs in fourth and the lead Porsche 911 RSR in fifth.
The best of the BMW M8 GTEs enjoyed a brief spell at the head of the times midway through the session before dropping back to seventh.
GTE Am was led by Aston Martin courtesy of an early 1m58.460s lap by ex-F1 driver Pedro Lamy.
Session results: | 1,265,644 |
Obama isn't president anymore, but that hasn't stopped his vacations from being criticized.
The former POTUS visited Hawaii – the place he was born – this week to have some fun in the sun, golf a bit and take a few meetings. It seems like a normal, innocent trip, right? Or DOES it?
As you've probably heard by now, on Wednesday, Trump's second travel ban was blocked several hours before it was set to go into effect... by none other than a federal judge in Hawaii. * GASP *
~ Let the conspiracy theories flyyyyy. ~
SEE ALSO: Barack and Michelle Obama enjoy a stylish lunch with Bono in NYC
Naturally, following the ban, people began calling the timing of Obama's trip to Hawaii into question and wondered whether he went there with the sole purpose of sabotaging Trump's new travel ban. While some were undoubtedly joking, in this day and age it's a very fine line between ironic conspiracy-theory mongering and sincere conspiracy-theory mongering.
Obama is in Hawaii now. Coincidence? Asking for a microwave. https://t.co/S1rPUHQHrx — 44ever (@theonlyadult) March 15, 2017
Obama travels to Hawaii 48 hours prior to judge's anti-travel ban ruling, a judge he graduated Law School with. Just a coincidence, right? — Rang Abdullah (@RangAbdullah) March 16, 2017
► Hawaii judge blocks Travel Ban
► #Obama sighted in Hawaii on Monday
coincidence?
I think not!
someone alert Alex Jones — lormaak (@lormaak) March 15, 2017
Though completely absurd, Infowars noted that Obama appointed and graduated the same year as the judge who put the ban in place. Infowars then went so far as to scour Reddit to find a thread detailing Obama's known Hawaii stops – and apparently the Noi Thai Cuisine restaurant he dined at with some friends and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is only minutes away from the courthouse. LOL.
So like, let me understand this. Obama wasn't even craving Thai food? He just chose to dine at that specific restaurant because of its close proximity to US District Court Judge Derrick Watson??!
And Obama's choice of restaurant had nothing to do with its 4.8 star rating?? It had nothing to do with how delicious Thai food is? Instead, you're telling me it had everything to do with his desire to destroy Trump? Oh. Okay. Everything makes sense now.
LOL. Wait, no it doesn't. Because on Thursday morning another federal judge in Maryland also blocked Trump's 90-day ban and Obama is not in Maryland.
So what now? | 1,265,645 |
According to a report prepared by the City for Council's Executive Committee, a property tax increase will be required to fund even the reduced SmartTrack proposal which has emerged (an LRT for Crosstown West to Renforth Gateway and six additional GO stations), an increase Mayor John Tory has long said was unnecessary.
An overview of the SmartTrack/RER combined plan inc 6 new stations
The cost of this part of the 15 year Toronto transit plan is estimated at $3.2bn of which Toronto would pick up $2bn. It is hoped the Greater Toronto Airports Authority and the City of Mississauga will also pay $440m to extend Crosstown West to the airport - but it is unclear what would happen to Crosstown West if they decline.
This report will be considered by a special meeting of the Executive Committee on Tuesday Nov 1st.
Development charges are expected to bring in $440m over the next 25 years (though SmartTrack's incremental impact on development has not been factored in) leaving a 3% property tax increase and contribution from "tax increment financing" (TIF) to cover the remaining cost.
How SmartTrack is to be paid for
This 3% increase could be reduced to 2% using "Revenue Matched Financing", but according to the funding and finance strategy report this may require additional legislation and would cost more should the expected additional revenue fail to materialize. There is a Tax Increment Equivalent Grant programme to encourage new development along transit corridors but if this continues on SmartTrack corridors, it would cost the city $300-$500m over the next decade, requiring a further 0.5-1% property tax increase. Also, as the report points out, TIF funds used to pay for transit cannot be used to help pay for the increases in services required by additional people and developments, which is why only half are allocated using this model.
To reassure the Province that the City will be committed to its part of the deal, the reports propose a series of "gates" at which point Council would have to re-approve continuation. In the event of cancellation at each point, the City would have to reimburse Metrolinx for all costs incurred as a result of the decision to accommodate SmartTrack. The City estimates the key decision point (when about a third of the planning and design will have been done) will be in summer 2018 for the six new SmartTrack stations and Spring 2019 for the Crosstown West extension.
Costs of funding the construction of the Relief Line and other projects described in the City's 15 year transit plan (eg the Waterfront Transit 'Reset') have been excluded from this report, so it appears either property taxes will need to rise still further, or the transit plan must be further weakened.
Join the SmartTrack or Crosstown discussions in our Forum threads, or leave a comment below. | 1,265,646 |
One of my favorite EDH decks is Lord Windgrace. The deck has one simple goal; get a creature with landfall on the battlefield and then play as many lands as possible. When the deck can achieve this, I usually drown my opponents underneath a mountain of card advantage and ramp. The deck is a lot of fun to play but can struggle if it doesn’t get the right cards. Sometimes I’ll have a deck that is all payoff but no enabler and vice versa. This is in part due to the singleton limit in Commander. With how much fun I have playing this deck in Commander, I wondered if it was possible to convert it into Modern.
When converting this deck over into Modern, one of the first things I had to address was the CMC of the deck. Commander players love their big splashy plays, but a card like Omnath is just not going to cut it in the face of Dredge and Pheonix. So, I looked at all of the available landfall cards and came across some very cheap options that could work in Modern. They may not be as exciting as Omnath, but when you can make a 14/15 out of a Steppe Lynx, Death’s Shadow can suck it. A single fetchland with cards like Plated Geopede puts the opponent under a ton of pressure. With added support in Sakura-Tribe Scout and Azusa, you can easily blitz people.
However, this deck has more dimensions than just a simple aggro deck. If killing people with a 9/9 was all this deck could do, it would be better for you to play Death’s Shadow. The wrinkle that this deck can abuse is in Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. With a Lotus Cobra and a fetch, you can play a turn 3 Ob Nixilis. If you can follow that up with a turn 4 Scapeshift Obbie is dealing 15 damage just from the lands that entered the battlefield that turn, this is ignoring the fact that you now also have a 15/15. If you don’t have Scapeshift, just following up with a fetchland means you are swinging in for 12 damage.
This deck is a pretty accurate representation of my EDH deck. You start with a landfall creature, and then you play as many lands as possible. While it may not be making ten 5/5 elementals, if you give this deck a chance, it will run away with the game. The combination of aggro and combo elements lets it play a different gameplan depending on the cards it sees and what the opponent is doing. Thank you all for reading, I hope you have a great week and an amazing Tuesday!
Link to Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1706822#paper
Like this: Like Loading... | 1,265,647 |
What makes this so remarkable is that the arguments for a large increase in defense spending are extraordinarily weak.
Those arguments can be divided into two types: The first is that America needs a much bigger military budget because the world has gotten much more dangerous. The second is that America needs a much bigger military budget to make up for the savage cuts of the Obama years.
Start with argument number one. The National Defense Strategy, which the Trump administration issued in January to buttress its call for higher defense spending, declares that, “We are facing increased global disorder … creating a security environment more complex and volatile than any we have experienced in recent memory.” In other words, threats are increasing. But if you look back at previous Pentagon documents you realize that threats are always increasing. The Pentagon’s 2015 National Military Strategy (not to be confused with the National Defense Strategy) begins with then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey declaring that, “Today’s global security environment is the most unpredictable I have seen in 40 years of service.” In 2014, the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (which the National Defense Strategy replaces, confused yet?) warned of “a world that is growing more volatile, more unpredictable, and in some instances more threatening to the United States.” In 2010, the United States faced “a complex and uncertain security landscape in which the pace of change continues to accelerate.” In 2006, it confronted “the increasingly dangerous security challenges of the 21st century.” The world, in other words, is always getting more complicated, more uncertain, more disorderly and more frightening—and the Pentagon always needs more money to deal with it.
But has the world actually become more dangerous in ways that this boost in defense spending will remedy? For the last decade and a half, the threat that worried the Defense Department most was jihadist terrorism. For the last few years, the jihadist terrorist group that worried it most was ISIS. Yet in his State of the Union Address, Donald Trump declared himself “proud to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated almost 100 percent of the territory once held by these killers.” In other words, the organization that was most frequently blamed in recent years for making the world scarier and scarier has just lost virtually its entire base of operations. Yet the world is getting scarier nonetheless.
As if to preempt this objection, this year’s National Defense Strategy declares that, “Interstate strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security.” But if the United States is no longer as worried about terrorism and yet the world is becoming more dangerous overall because of “strategic competition” with other great powers, then those great powers—China and Russia—must have become a lot more dangerous in a short time. | 1,265,648 |
Nicholas LeBlanc has trouble walking, but he's good at standing up for himself.
For a couple of weeks this month, Charles P. Allen School in Bedford refused to allow LeBlanc to park in one of the school's accessible spots, even though the 17-year-old has an accessible parking permit from the province.
"I think they're just being stubborn and need to learn how to pick their fights because I saw a really simple solution to the problem, which is let me park there because I have a permit," said LeBlanc.
LeBlanc has a leg deformity and painful arthritis. He uses a pair of crutches to walk. After Christmas, he started parking in the school's accessible spots, but was quickly told he wasn't allowed.
It was only after CBC made inquiries about the situation that the school had a change of heart.
"They're suddenly willing to negotiate with me," LeBlanc said. "They went from, 'You're not allowed to park there,' to, 'OK, you can park in a different spot, just not that spot specifically.'"
Can't give parking passes to everyone
Halifax Regional School Board spokesman Doug Hadley said school officials were of the view that all students should be treated the same — and that meant no parking for them at Charles P. Allen.
"There are a number of students with mobility issues at the school so they would love to be able to give parking passes to everyone, but they are not in a position to be able to do that," Hadley said.
Hadley said the school has now reconsidered its position on LeBlanc.
"It wasn't sitting well with them either and they would try to do what they could, so they have communicated to him that they will be allowing him to use the spot," Hadley said.
'Policy that's just bogus'
The school had struck an earlier compromise, but there was a catch: LeBlanc had to walk into the building each morning to retrieve a parking pass and then return and place it on his car.
"Because I'm disabled, it could be potentially dangerous for me, like the sidewalks could be potentially icy. Which is something that may or may not happen, depending on the weather," said LeBlanc.
When he eventually refused to retrieve a permit, he was handed a $25 ticket. He has no intention of paying.
While he's now allowed to park without a school permit, he said the broader policy at Charles P. Allen is unfair and should be changed to reflect the needs of students with disabilities. He intends to keep up the battle.
"I have more of a problem with the policy than the administration themselves, but you're being paid to enforce a policy that's just bogus," LeBlanc said. | 1,265,649 |
Mexican.VC, a startup accelerator based in Mexico City, announced today it is merging with 500 Startups to source and fund a growing number of promising Spanish-speaking startups.
The two programs have been working together for some time, but only on an informal and sporadic basis. Today, Mexican.VC’s founding partners César Salazar and Santiago Zavala will be joining 500 Startups full-time.
500 Startups founding partner Dave McClure provided the following statement: “Mexican entrepreneurs: We’re coming for you, bitches!!!” (That’s pretty typical McClure. Earlier this month, the no-hold- barred investor inspired the startup community in Montreal by flipping it off.)
Mountain View-based 500 Startups was founded by McClure in 2010. If you’re not familiar, it’s an early-stage seed fund and incubator program that has invested in wildly successful startups like Wildfire, Twilio, SendGrid, and TaskRabbit. Read here about 500 Startups’ most recent investments.
Venture capital firms and accelerator programs are constantly looking to expand to emerging markets. In an interview with VentureBeat, Salazar said Mexico is on the brink of explosive growth. “The Latin American market is underserved and overlooked,” he said.
Salazar points to statistics, including recent statistics cited in Forbes that Mexico is the 12th largest economy in the world. Mexico’s GDP last year was $1.65 trillion, up from $1.59 trillion in 2010 and $1.51 trillion in 2009.
Salazar and the other partners at Mexican.VC typically invite around 30 entrepreneurs per year to move to the capital to work with them for four months. Now, with the partnership formalized, companies have the option to raise funds in Mexico or in Silicon Valley.
“This is the biggest thing we are doing to expand our international focus,” said 500 Startups’ partner Christine Tsai.
We’ll see more startups in the firm’s next batch geared toward the Hispanic market.
In Mexico City, the partners will be on the hunt for 5 to 10 early-stage companies with a focus on mobile, consumer internet, and small business software-as-a-service. Salazar said that this year, they will be looking for startups with an eye for customer acquisition and marketing, which will appeal to investors in the U.S.
“In Mexico, the idea of a scalable startup is something really new,” said Salazar. “It’s been growing really fast.” In Mexico City, you’ll detect some of the telltale signs of a burgeoning startup culture, including a Women 2.0 chapter and regional office for Startup Weekend. | 1,265,650 |
Two goals down at halftime away to Real Salt Lake, there probably weren't many betting on a Vancouver Whitecaps comeback.
But that's exactly what happened on Saturday, as the Uruguayan duo of Nicolás Mezquida and Sebastián Fernández scored a late goal apiece after coming off the bench to ensure a 2-2 draw for the visitors.
First, Mezquida scored a poacher's effort in the 86th minute, tapping in a rebound generated by a Darren Mattocks shot past Nick Rimando, who uncharacteristically spilled the ball into the diminutive attacker's path.
Then, in stoppage time, Fernández unleashed a cracking strike from distance which took a hop before beating Rimando to salvage the point for Vancouver.
“I said to the group in there, 'It shows if you're losing a game, even in the last minute, we're 2-0 down at halftime at a difficult place, but we can get out of it,'” Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson told Vancouver radio station TEAM 1410 following the match. “I believe we can. What it showed me, is that they believe they can as well, and rightly so they did believe they could and we got our reward.
“But character wise, unbelievable, [it] really was.”
Still, as satisfying as the late comeback was, Vancouver found themselves in that hole to begin with by conceding two goals within the first nine minutes through some sloppy defending.
First, Joao Plata burst through to bag the opener two minutes in, before Álvaro Saborio picked the top left corner after a nice bit of individual skill from Ned Grabavoy in the ninth minute.
The 'Caps recovered to an extent between the goals and halftime without causing much in the way of dangerous opportunities, but came out of the break with renewed enthusiasm.
“There were a few beeps and there was a few things in there,” Robinson said, self-censoring his recollection of his halftime talk. “But the main point I tried to put across is that they didn't believe in themselves, and I don't know why, because I watch them train every day...
"I just said, 'Listen, we dug ourselves a hole, you know, football's a funny game. We can dig ourselves out of this hole. The next goal obviously will be crucial, and we have to make sure we have a go at it.'
"From the first minute of the second half, as poor as we were in the first half, and as much as they dominated the first half, we were exactly the same in the second. I think we thoroughly deserved it.”
Martin MacMahon covers the Vancouver Whitecaps for MLSsoccer.com. | 1,265,651 |
Dear community,
Welcome to our weekly update! It has been quite a ‘rollercoaster’ week for Follow Coin, with some unforeseen actions regarding our FLLW tokens.
RFINEX delisting
To begin with we unexpectedly and unfortunately got delisted from RFINEX. It seems they decided to do so due the low trading volume. At the moment we are trying to reestablish our listing, however communicating with RFINEX is really hard. At the moment we don’t have any updates on this yet, but as soon as we do we will communicate it with you immediately.
FLLW got listed on Token.Store
On the other hand we are happy to announce that we got listed on Token Store Exchange: https://token.store/
Token Storen is an Ethereum token exchange built on smart contracts in a semi-decentralized way. Core logic of the exchange is implemented right on top of Ethereum, as a smart contract. That allows Token Store to remove a significant portion of the trust problem by not holding any user assets directly. If the website goes down, you still have access to your ether/tokens via the smart contract that holds it and you can withdraw it using your wallet if it supports smart contract calls. That also means that your funds are protected by Ethereum cryptography and only you can withdraw it.
We would like to emphasize that Token Store is not a replacement for RFINEX. However the volume is irrefutable higher on Token.Store. Please make sure to support this exchange and buy FLLW on Token Store: https://token.store/trade/fllw
Our main focus right now is to be listed on multiple decentralized exchanges, yet we are still in touch with some of the bigger ones. We hope to share more information about this soon.
End date token swap: 16th of April
(If you have already swapped your tokens you can skip this part.)
Once more we want to clarify that the last day to swap your tokens will be the 16th of april (yes, this monday!). So please make sure to swap your old ERC-20 tokens for the new ERC-223 tokens as soon as possible. You can only send the ERC-223 tokens to an exchange (Token Store). Don’t send the ERC-20 tokens, because they will be lost. More information regarding this token swap can be found in our Medium post: https://medium.com/followcoin/follow-coin-goes-erc-223
Website update
This week we did some small adjustments to our website and the whitepaper. Lots of stuff was outdated so it was time to add some new content. Mainly the pages about the team and the partners have been updated. Meanwhile we are working on a brand new website. | 1,265,652 |
is a lot of concrete!!! Especially in a tight place. As it was pouring down the penstock it started to bunch up. Then, to our horror it started to fill the penstock up instead of flowing towards us. It happened so quickly that the truck driver could not hear us. We jumped up into the penstock and literally hoed for our lives. We finally got it down into the pressure case and the flow from the truck stopped. I was a zombie going home that night!!! View of the base of the new gateshaft. The governor shaft was under hung and it would have been frozen into the new concrete. Davis installed a pipe chase for the shaft to sit in and to prevent the new concrete from touching the shaft. Note the new hexagonal gate operating arms. People are always making them out of round stock. You need to use a pipe wrench to adjust them and it always makes horrible marks on the steel. I decided to use hexagonal stock so you could use a big adjustable wrench on them. The new coupling halves we retrieved from Appleton Mills. The governor shaft from Livermore Falls is seen in the background. We turned it on end, in a vertical configuration. The new chase that we welded to the top of the pressure case in order to allow the governor shaft to penetrate the top of the pressure case. We used a main stuffing box from Appleton Mills. We had to cut a large hole in the top of the pressure case in order to install the stuffing box. The double bell crank assembly. Note the ears face away from the pressure case. I am embarrassed to say that at Tannery Pond in Winchendon, MA. when we were installing a second Livermore Falls turbine, I installed the double bell crank with the ears facing the turbine. I could not figure out why the governor was jamming. Mr. Duncan Broatch of Summit Hydro Power and his friend Rick Mackowiack visited one day and were looking at the governor shaft. They pointed out that the double bell crank was installed backwards!!! It is good to have so many great friends in this business. The Appleton Mills main stuffing box from the top side. The new David Brown gearbox. This is used to increase the turbine speed to match the high speed Kato generator. The Kato generator mounted on top of the David Brown speed increaser. A view of the gearbox coupling on the end of the intermediate shaft. Do you recognize this giant bell crank from the Livermore Falls pictures? View of the new hydraulic actuator supplied and manufactured by Ware Machine Works. Thank you very much Mr. Pilch!!! Mr. Fay and Mr. Hobbs in front of the new installation. We guaranteed 400 kilowatts and said it would generate closer to 500 kilowatts. It went on line and made 520 kilowatts!!! Good job Mr. Hobbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a great business partner Davis has been! The end | 1,265,653 |
it and he was saying how could not have done it if the jetski wasn’t there. It would have been, given he’s an 11 time world champion and he’s fit, a 20-minute paddle minimum. “I personally don’t know if he would have survived if it wasn’t for the jet ski because the bloke was blue, and that was getting rushed in on the jetski.” Cobden and Port Campbell police and ambulance attended the scene which was reported at 1.30pm on Wednesday. Bierke was taken to the Warrnambool Base Hospital intensive care by ambulance and will remain in hospital until the weekend. “My chest and ribs feel pretty bruised and sore and my jaw’s definitely pretty swollen and achy right now,” Bierke said. “Without the jetski it would be a lot different. There was a safety crew out there, I think the local boys had that out there and we were trading between surfing and sitting on the ski. “It was definitely good to have a safety crew there because it’s a long paddle. It’s over one and a half ks. We paddled out. It was a long way and there were lots of currents.” The professional big wave surfer surfs at Hawaii, Ireland and all around Australia. “I’ve surfed a lot bigger and a lot more dangerous waves than yesterday,” he said. “I’ve broken my foot and done a few little things but nothing like this,” Bierke said he was “definitely” keen to get back in the water when he recovered. Intensive care unit manager Tina Johnstone said any more time underwater and he would have died. “It wouldn’t have taken long (for him to die). (Being underwater) it’s different to holding your breath because when you breathe again you can take in oxygen. (The water) starts to affect the heart and other different things. “He was a close drowning. He was unconscious so he was very lucky. His lungs have shown he did consume a lot of sea water which is why we’re keeping an eye on him in intensive care for infection.” RELATED: Bierke wins 2016 Red Bull Cape Fear RELATED: Wide ward of sports Russell Bierke
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/cxHfELQxnFmSLDWweFfSBG/1307a4a7-e234-40a5-ba9e-d9121dd5307c.jpg/r0_309_5184_3238_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg | 1,265,654 |
Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer is joining with two powerful progressive lawmakers to push for an emergency declaration to address the ongoing global climate crisis.
The resolution, drafted by Blumenauer and co-sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), is intended to focus attention on the quickening pace of climate change and spur action on a national and global scale.
“By declaring an emergency, Congress is acknowledging that we need all hands on deck to counter this catastrophe,” Blumenauer and Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a letter to fellow lawmakers. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has already predicted that by 2030, the planet could warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. The United States must join more than 600 cities and four countries who have recognized the climate emergency for what it is.”
Blumenauer was inspired to draft the resolution after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on the Southern border to secure funds to build a border wall.
“The national emergency is not the border,” Blumenauer said. “Its the climate.”
The resolution has a chance of passing through the House, where Democrats enjoy a majority. It would likely face opposition from Republicans in the Senate and the chances Trump would sign it, should it ever make it out of Congress, are slim. The resolution, if signed into law, would not grant the president any additional authority under the National Emergencies Act.
Still, backers of the declaration say time is running short to confront the growing threat from climate change and the resolution, even if symbolic, could help mobilize popular support for more substantial federal action. The vast majority of scientists agree that increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is heating the planet and that fossil fuel combustion is the primary driver.
A federal report on the potential impacts of climate change, released in 2018, found that extreme weather events were likely to increase in frequency, duration and intensity. In the Pacific Northwest, that means more wildfires, droughts and sea-level rise along the coast.
“We know that the scientific consensus is there and the solutions are in front of us. This is a political crisis of inaction,” Ocasio-Cortez said on a call with reporters Tuesday. “We have less than 12 years, not to pass legislation, but to enact a global solution.”
Blumenauer planned to introduce the resolution on the floor of the house by Tuesday afternoon.
-- Kale Williams
[email protected]
503-294-4048
@sfkale
Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. | 1,265,655 |
After 2011’s amazing run of new breweries opening in St. Louis, it almost seemed like it would be too good to be true to see another brewery opening this year. Well, I’m happy to announce that 2012 will see another new brewery open in St. Louis: Heavy Riff Brewing Company.
Located at 6413 Clayton Avenue in Dogtown, this new brewery will be owned and operated by brothers Jerid and Justin Saffell. For those of you that may not remember, Jerid brings plenty of professional brewing experience as he was assistant brewer at Mattingly Brewing Company, brewer at Buffalo Brewing Company, and cellerman at Highland/Kirkwood Station Brewing.
Jerid’s current target date is to have Heavy Riff open is August 1st, 2012 and will operate similar to how many new local breweries have: with a small tasting room featuring 8-10 taps of Heavy Riff beers, Missouri wines, and locally made Dogtown Pizzas along with some simple snacks such as artisan cheese/sausage plates. While small-scale distribution is definitely in the future plans, the current focus will be to get the tasting room up and running.
With a name like Heavy Riff, you know that music will be a big part of the atmosphere. Both Justin and Jerid have eclectic tastes in music and will even be featuring a “Bring a Record” allowing people to bring in their own vinyl which will be given a spin. But Jerid knows that while music is important, it’s not going to interfere, “Despite our love for great tunes we do not plan on having live music simply out of respect for the surrounding community and our commitment to keeping the noise level comfortable enough to maintain a civil conversation.”
While the flagship beers are still being decided upon, you can be certain you’ll see classic examples of many of Jerid’s favorite styles including “several Belgian ales and stupidly hopped west coast style beers.” Not surprisingly, we will also see barrel aged, sour, and cask beers as well.
The brewhouse for Heavy Riff will be unique in that it will feature not only a 7bbl brewing system, but also a 1.5bbl pilot system for small batches. “The 1.5 bbl size is much larger than what most breweries use as a pilot system and this was done on purpose. If we do a special beer we wanted to have enough kegs of it around to last more than just 1 evening. This will give everyone an opportunity to come out and see what were up to instead of just those who could make it on the night the beer was released,” according to Jerid.
Be sure to follow their progress on Facebook and on Twitter over the next few months as we all await this exciting new brewery. | 1,265,656 |
, down $2 million from fiscal 2016. The council said more than 100 lawmakers had signed on to an amendment to boost support to $17 million, but were rebuffed by House leaders who added a more modest $2 million through the amendment process.
Meet the Author Michael P. Norton State House News Service Meet the Author Andy Metzger Reporter, CommonWealth magazine About Andy Metzger Andy Metzger joined CommonWealth Magazine as a reporter in January 2019. He has covered news in Massachusetts since 2007. For more than six years starting in May 2012 he wrote about state politics and government for the State House News Service. At the News Service, he followed three criminal trials from opening statements to verdicts, tracked bills through the flumes and eddies of the Legislature, and sounded out the governor’s point of view on a host of issues – from the proposed Olympics bid to federal politics. Before that, Metzger worked at the Chelmsford Independent, The Arlington Advocate, the Somerville Journal and the Cambridge Chronicle, weekly community newspapers that cover an array of local topics. Metzger graduated from UMass Boston in 2006. In addition to his written journalism, Metzger produced a work of illustrated journalism about Gov. Charlie Baker’s record regarding the MBTA. He lives in Somerville and commutes mainly by bicycle. About Andy Metzger Andy Metzger joined CommonWealth Magazine as a reporter in January 2019. He has covered news in Massachusetts since 2007. For more than six years starting in May 2012 he wrote about state politics and government for the State House News Service. At the News Service, he followed three criminal trials from opening statements to verdicts, tracked bills through the flumes and eddies of the Legislature, and sounded out the governor’s point of view on a host of issues – from the proposed Olympics bid to federal politics. Before that, Metzger worked at the Chelmsford Independent, The Arlington Advocate, the Somerville Journal and the Cambridge Chronicle, weekly community newspapers that cover an array of local topics. Metzger graduated from UMass Boston in 2006. In addition to his written journalism, Metzger produced a work of illustrated journalism about Gov. Charlie Baker’s record regarding the MBTA. He lives in Somerville and commutes mainly by bicycle. Meet the Author Colin A. Young Guest Contributor
“Once again citizens across the Commonwealth joined a broad-based campaign to restore state support for the arts, humanities, and sciences,” said MCC Executive Director Anita Walker. “We came up short in the House. But we know that increased state investment is the only way to truly capitalize on the economic, social, and educational potential of the nonprofit cultural sector. So we will redouble our advocacy efforts through the Senate budget debate and beyond.”
Matt Murphy contributed reporting to this story.
SHARE | 1,265,657 |
It's appalling he fails to recognize that pursuing his personal vendetta will ultimately harm Texans who live in our cities.”
The GOP-backed proposal to ban taxpayer funded lobbying failed in a House vote after several Republicans opposed the measure. In the recording, Burrows told Sullivan that banning taxpayer-funded lobbying will be a “benchmark” for the 2021 session.
Plans for sales tax revenues
At one point in the recording, Burrows also said he had a plan to lower property taxes, which cities, counties and school districts rely on to fund the services they provide. His plan apparently relies on replacing those revenue streams with the portion of sales tax revenues that local governments also use to pay for things like public transit, corporate relocations and emergency services.
Burrows apparently doesn’t mention what local governments should do to fund such services and projects in lieu of those sales tax revenues.
“I’ve pitched this to the governor, I've started pitching this to some of my colleagues,” Burrows said. “Why don't we just take the two local pennies that are being used for economic development and put those into driving down property taxes? We don't raise anything, it's already a statewide average, it's economic development dollars, we hate cities and counties.”
Those “two pennies” are used in a wide range of ways, including financing health districts and building the new baseball stadium in Arlington.
“We rely on those two cents,” Sandlin said. “Sales taxes are our second most important source of revenue. To take those would be unconscionable.”
Lawmakers this year suggested raising the sales tax to help pay for public education so school districts could lower property tax rates. The idea gained little traction.
Democratic legislators worry an anti-local government attitude will remain during the next legislative session. Abbott this year sent state troopers to Dallas after that city experience a spike in homicides. And he’s threatening to send Department of Public Safety officers and other state employees to Austin’s streets if city officials don’t reverse a decision to loosen some homelessness ordinances.
“It’s worrisome,” said state Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos, whom Bonnen said in the recording he doesn’t like. “It’s terrifying when you look at the bigger picture. They know where the demographic trends are going. We must wake up and do something about it.”
Disclosure: Steve Adler, a former Texas Tribune board chairman, and Texas Municipal League have been financial supporters of the Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. | 1,265,658 |
Some life left in Europa
These unsettling images show dozens of migrants wrapped in emergency blankets clinging to rocks off the Italian coast after spending last night in the open. The group of around 50 are huddled together under a bleak grey sky in Ventimiglia, a town right on the border with France. Italian police moved in yesterday to disperse around 200 migrants who were staging a sit-in at a border crossing after French police refused to let them enter the country. The men in these pictures slipped away from the police cordon and took refuge on rocks near the border post. It comes as a UN Special Representative slammed Britain for not taking in more migrants like Sweden or Germany. Peter Sutherland, UN special representative of the secretary-general for international migration, said British politicians had not made the case for welcoming migrants to the UK. He added a sense of 'xenophobia and racism' had been created as a result, The Daily Telegraph reports. [Migrants take shelter from the elements on the rocks of the Italian shoreline with just an emergency blanket for cover after being refused entry to France, by Tim Macfarlin, Daily Mail, June 14, 2015]
African invaders trying to enter Europe have declared they are not leaving. And as you might expect, the United Nations, always eager to destroy Western nations, is taking their side.
But not everyone is ok with this. The activist group Generation Identity went to the border and protested the invaders. Generation Identity's Facebook group boasted, "Generation of identity was present at the Franco-Italian border to cope with the illegal immigrants and their send a clear message: " no way-you will not make Europa home!""
The slogan of course comes from the Australian Government, which has abruptly solved the problem of "boat people" coming to Australia through a policy of firmness. Amazing how easy that is when you have a serious government in power.
Needless to say, the UN is upset at Australia too, claiming the government paid traffickers to send people home.
The United Nations refugee agency's report cited firsthand accounts of people on board a ship that was diverted to Indonesia after coming in contact with Australian authorities. The boat — carrying 65 migrants from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar — was intercepted by the Indonesian navy after turning back from Australia on May 31, the UNHCR said. The migrants were transferred to an Indonesian customs vessel for four days before being sent on two boats to Indonesia, the UNHCR added, after speaking to some of the passengers. Australia has refused to confirm or deny the payment, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott went on the defensive Friday when asked about the claim. Abbott refused to "comment on operational matters," but said that the government would stop the boats "by hook or by crook." [Australia urged to come clean over claims it paid traffickers, by Euan McKirdy, CNN, June 15, 2015]
What's the problem here? | 1,265,659 |
JeremyShaferOrigami/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
It's tempting to believe that, with the arrival of constant and ubiquitous social networking, people really don't care what others know about them.
It's almost as if people are desperate for the world to know everything.
Yet there are still corners of the soul where privacy lives strong. Your health, for example.
It's true that some people love to post their pre-surgery, post-surgery, and even during-surgery pictures to Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes, though, there are conditions that are truly personal.
Shawntelle Turley might have some feelings about this. She was being treated for syphilis. You might imagine that she wouldn't want everyone -- or even anyone -- to know.
However, as the Cincinnati Enquirer reports, an image of her diagnosis, name, and medical records allegedly appeared on one of the last Facebook pages you'd like to be seen, even when healthy. It's called "Team No Hoes."
Turley is now suing the UC Medical Center, as well as Ryan Rawls, who works there, another unnamed employee and her ex-boyfriend, Raphael Bradley. Her accusation is that Bradley asked for the others to obtain the records and do the posting.
She further alleges that an email containing the same Facebook image was sent to the members of that Facebook group.
While not commenting publicly about the litigation, the hospital did send a memo to its staff.
It reads: "(W)e take the privacy and safety of our patients very seriously. While the allegations are isolated to the people named in the lawsuit and by no means reflect the conduct of UCMC associates, who are dedicated to serving thousands of patients annually and safeguarding their PHI (or personal health information), I would like to remind everyone that the unauthorized access or viewing of medical records, or the unauthorized sharing of PHI, is a serious violation of federal medical privacy laws and regulations and cause for immediate termination."
Clearly, the intentions are noble. But it doesn't take the next Edward Snowden to appreciate just how easy these alleged actions might have been.
The digital world makes it all too simple for embarrassment and shaming to occur. The more information there is online, the more risk there is.
The victim may be permanently affected.
No amount of legal action or financial compensation can entirely make up for the potential consequences. (Turley's lawyer is asking for a minimum of $25,000.)
Some idealists might muse that everything being out in the open makes for a better, healthier society.
But somewhere inside us is that part that we want to reserve for the few remaining people we trust -- or just ourselves.
The potential for that being denied in a moment makes for a permanently uneasy existence. | 1,265,660 |
There’s more to the upcoming OpenStack Summit in Austin than barbecue and breakfast tacos. That delicious food will fuel you through 20 tracks and more than 400 sessions — including a bumper crop of telecom testimonials, containers sessions and on-site training.
For a sneak peak at the upcoming Summit, Superuser has outlined five highlights awaiting Stackers in Austin.
Get schooled at OpenStack Academy
OpenStack skills are in high demand as more companies adopt the cloud platform. This Summit offers a sharper focus on education and training, with more hands-on workshops for operators and application developers than ever before. We will also be asking a limited number of community members to pilot the Certified OpenStack Administrator exam on-site. It’s the best place to develop valuable OpenStack skills that meet market demands, so bring your laptop and take home know-how.
More tracks, more content – and a better way to schedule everything
With more sessions than ever before, seven additional new tracks were added to give you the content you crave. The newcomers are: Evaluating OpenStack, Big Data, Upstream Development, Architecture Decisions, Public Cloud Research and Cloud App Development. And, to make organizing your schedule easier, we’re launching a new, custom-built Summit app! Stay tuned for details. In the meantime, you can check out the schedule online.
Understand the momentum behind virtualization
The Austin Summit welcomes a new track focused on network functions virtualization (NFV) powered by OpenStack to meet the growing interest from global telecoms. Find out why AT&T, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom and NTT are among the many organizations relying on OpenStack to implement NFV at their organizations and meet the developers and users actively shaping NFV in the open source community.
Meet the global brands who run on OpenStack
User stories always pack rooms at the Summit; everyone wants to hear new organizations detail how they’re innovating with OpenStack in production. Users ranging from financial services to retail to government organizations have shared their stories and answered questions for fellow users, whether they’re evaluating OpenStack, in testing or in production.
In Austin, you’ll hear from Nike, Ancestry.com, AT&T and State Grid Corporation of China, the seventh largest company in the world.
StackCity Austin: a Texas-sized community festival
On Tuesday night experience the best of what Austin has to offer at this huge community evening event. Stroll a few blocks from the Austin Convention Center and you’ll find an open-air party hosted at 15 bars and restaurants lining historic Rainey Street. Expect a few surprises in an evening offering something for everyone including live music from local artists, stand-up comedy, and, of course, barbecue and tacos.
Cover Photo // CC BY NC | 1,265,661 |
Issue View our current issue
Northam is particularly vulnerable on this racial issue because of widespread and well-founded anger, during the 2017 Virginia state election, that his campaign at times distributed literature without Fairfax’s name or photo as part of his slate, once at the behest of a union that opposed Fairfax because he refused to support two gas lines proposed for Virginia.
“This should not have happened, and it should not happen again,” Fairfax told The Washington Post at the time. “There needs to be robust investment in making sure that we are communicating with African American voters and we are engaging our base.”
The irony was—and is—that Northam benefited from an enormous mobilization of black voters. And at the time, leaders of that mobilization whispered to me on background about the slight to Fairfax through clenched teeth, but wanted to maintain a united front anyway, to get through the historic election. In the end, Fairfax won with only 40,000 fewer votes than Northam—rare for a lieutenant governor. And in fact, many observers believed a “reverse coattails” effect behind Fairfax, plus a historically diverse Democratic House of Delegates slate (the party gained 15 seats, one shy of the majority), helped Northam outperform Hillary Clinton’s Virginia showing just a year before.
That’s why no one forgot about the Northam campaign’s slight to Fairfax in 2017.
Northam’s fall is nonetheless a shame. Virginia Democrats have made remarkable strides since the historic 2017 election, most notably expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. And it was certainly galling to watch Republicans in Virginia and across the country quickly demand Northam’s resignation. The party’s 2018 Senate nominee, Corey Stewart, is a stalwart friend of white nationalists who says the movement to preserve Confederate monuments represents “taking back our heritage,” though he’s from Minnesota. Northam’s 2017 GOP opponent Ed Gillespie is a former moderate who ran as a Virginian Donald Trump, attacking Northam for backing undocumented-immigrant harboring “sanctuary cities”—the state doesn’t have any sanctuary cities—and coddling the M-13 gang. Northam’s victory was depicted as the triumph of racial diversity over racial division.
But all of that is why he has to go. The Democratic Party has belatedly embraced the diversity of its base and the centrality of black voters within it. Barring something unforeseeable—Northam discovers that Gillespie and Stewart posed in Klan and blackface costumes and posted their photo to his 25-year-old yearbook?—his Saturday-morning protests are not likely to change the outcomes. He should go, and he will go. “Governor Justin Fairfax” has a lovely, restorative ring. | 1,265,662 |
By Shreyas Sardesai
The religious minorities of Delhi have emerged the most ardent supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party. Muslims and Sikhs, who had largely stayed away from the AAP in 2013 thus denying it a majority, voted massively for it this time.
Delhi’s Muslims, 12 per cent of the city’s population, have traditionally voted for the Congress. In fact, their support in 2013 had proved the party’s only consolation in the face of a drubbing — four of its 8 MLAs were Muslims from Muslim-dominated seats.
It can now be argued that the Congress was able to hold on to its Muslim support in 2013 not due to any great affection for it among the community, but because Muslims were unsure whether the AAP was in a position to defeat the BJP. Once they saw the winning capability of the AAP, they shifted in considerable numbers in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. However, the shift was hesitant as 56 per cent of Muslims voted for the AAP and 39 per cent for the Congress.
In this election, though, Muslims threw almost their entire weight behind AAP with nearly four of every five of them voting for it to ensure the BJP’s loss. The Trilokpuri riots, the Sangh Parivar’s reconversion campaign, and provocative speeches by BJP leaders seem to have strengthened the resolve of Muslims to defeat the BJP, with only 2 per cent of them voting for the party.
The level of Muslim support received by AAP — 77 percent — is unprecedented in Delhi’s recent electoral history and has resulted in the AAP winning 9 of the 10 seats where Muslims are over 30 per cent of the population. Most of these victories are by massive margins. In Okhla for instance, AAP’s Amanatullah Khan won by nearly 65,000 votes. Mustafabad is the only “Muslim seat” where the Congress finished ahead of the AAP; a division of votes saw the BJP winning.
Sikhs, 4 per cent of Delhi’s population, also rallied behind AAP — 57 per cent, 30 points higher since 2013. The AAP won all five Sikh-concentrated seats: Tilak Nagar, Hari Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Shahadra, Kalkaji. The Modi government’s decision to give additional compensation to the families of Sikhs killed in the 1984 riots could not help the BJP retain its traditional Sikh base; this survey shows 54 per cent Sikhs viewed the announcement as merely a vote-catching ploy.
Shreyas Sardesai is Research Associate at Lokniti-CSDS
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App. | 1,265,663 |
re sitting and they’re standing.”
Van Syckle dealt with her fair share of criticism from customers. She attended college at Dartmouth before graduating from Columbia University. But in between graduation and finding a job in her field, she waitressed. She said many of the customers she waited on would inquire about her and her employment situation.
“I would walk up to a table and they would say, ‘Well, what else do you do? You’re not just a waitress, are you?’ If I was just a waitress, wouldn’t that be okay?” Van Syckle said. “It just makes sense that when you put someone in a position of power and someone else in a position of taking orders, eventually you adopt a sense of weakness.”
Van Syckle acknowledged the very real potential of self-esteem issues among servers. She said that in the restaurant industry, chefs are widely considered artists, while servers are often considered “second class.”
“People don’t realize there’s this ambassador that’s in charge of making sure you enjoy your meal, and they’re the face of the operation, for better or worse,” she said. “They’re the face of the operation and they really don’t get any credit for what they’re doing for you. It’s all given to chefs, and obviously the kitchen is lifting a heavy weight back there.”
The act of being repeatedly told what to do was something Suter admitted to bothering her at times.
“Ten percent of people will maybe ask how you are or something about you, but otherwise you’re just standing there taking orders,” Suter said. “People literally give orders, or they’re rude or they’re drunk and they say the most outrageous things.”
Servers say it takes thick skin to to be good at the job, but also a certain adornment for food and drinks. Often those waiting on tables are passionate about food, the mixology of drinks or social aspect of interacting with customers on a daily basis.
For Jean, at 34, a passion for hospitality remains. She continues to work as a cocktail waitress while working on a degree. She said she would not have chosen waitressing as a job for more than 15 years if she did not like an aspect of it.
“Most of us love food and drinks and the hospitality business. We like this job: It’s social, it’s fun and we’re passionate about food whether it be vegetarian, ocean sustainability in fishing, wines for a sommelier, we love it. So you shake the dice with the pay,” Jean said. | 1,265,664 |
Italy deployed around 436.5 MW of new PV systems last year, according to provisional numbers released by Italian renewable energy association Anie Rinnovabili and based on data provided from grid operator Terna.
Last year’s performance represented 7% growth on 2017, when new additions came in at 409 MW, and took Italy’s cumulative installed PV capacity to 20,084 MW. In 2016 and 2015, new capacity tallied 369 MW and 305 MW, respectively.
For four years, the Italian PV market was mainly driven by solar rooftops although the number of projects with more than 1 MW of generation capacity has shown signs of life in 2017 and 2018, with 60 MW and 46.9 MW of new solar parks, respectively.
The 389.6 MW balance deployed last year was represented by rooftops with a capacity of up to 1 MW, with residential systems not exceeding 20 kW having the largest share – approximately 218.8 MW – followed by arrays with a power range of 20-100 kW supplying a total capacity of 75.8 MW.
Look north
The regions with the largest volumes of development are, as usual, the most industrialized areas in northern Italy – Lombardy, with 74.2 MW of new solar, Veneto (59.8 MW), Emilia-Romagna (47 MW) and Piedmont (38 MW). In 2017, the area with the largest share was the central region of Lazio, as it hosted a series of unsubsidized large-scale projects near Montalto di Castro.
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The sustained growth of residential, commercial and industrial rooftop solar under net metering, according to Anie Rinnovabili, must be attributed to sustainable building fiscal incentives for homeowners and super-amortization of investment goods for businesses. The latter is a measure that facilitates business investment by allowing extra amortization on the purchase of certain assets.
According to Italian grid operator Terna, PV systems connected to its network generated 22,887 GWh last year – around 4.7% less than in 2017. PV met around 7.1% of Italian power demand last year. Most demand was covered by thermoelectric power plants that, despite a year-on-year, 7.6% drop in electricity generation, accounted for 57.4% of consumption as the nation’s power demand rose 0.4%, from 320,548 GWh in 2017 to 321,910 GWh.
The Italian government is aiming for more solar through a decree that is being reviewed by the European Commission and that, if approved, would enable the realization of the first auctions for large-scale renewables.
Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development in December recently issued a new National Integrated Plan for Climate and Energy 2030, which is targeting cumulative installed PV capacity of some 50 GW by 2030. | 1,265,665 |
Transcript for Trump responds to North Korea's summit threat
To the white house now and latest on the summit with north Korea. President trump now taking steps to reassure Kim Jong-un after that threat from North Korea to cancel the historic meeting. Our senior white house correspondent Cecilia Vega has the details. Good morning, Cecilia. Reporter: George, good morning. These insults of the past, rocket man, we are not hearing that anymore. No he is offering Kim Jong-un protections. From the oval office, president trump enticing Kim Jong-un to talks by offering him a life line. He'll get protection that is will be very strong. If we make a deal, I think Kim Jong-un is going to be very, very happy. Reporter: The president seemed to pledge Kim would remain in power if there's a deal. This would be with Kim Jong-un something where he'd be there. He'd be in his country. He will be running it. Reporter: They signaled they could be getting coal feet saying they might not attend a meeting with president trump afn urged them to do what Libya did more than a decade ago. We have very much in mind the Libya mod from 2003/2004. Reporter: To North Korea that sounds like regime change. After Libya gave up its nuclear program, dictator moammar ghadhafi was murdered in the streets. With Bolton right there looking on, president trump flatly contradicted him. Well, the Libya model isn't a model that we have at all when we're thinking of North Korea. In Libya we decimated that country. Reporter: The president ever optimistic the summit is still on as they continue to make plans for Singapore. Nothing has changed with North Korea that we have know of. We haven't been told anything. If it does, it's fine. If it doesn't I think we'll probably have a very successful meeting. Reporter: That reaction from the president is exactly what we're hearing unanimously from the state department, from other white house officials, from the national security council, George, they all say despite North Korea's threats to pull out of this meeting, they are all still planning and moving ahead as if this is going to happen. Yeah, want to keep everything on track. On the home front, Cecilia, a main move from the white house taking on planned parenthood. Reporter: We are told this morning from a white house official this announcement will happen today essentially this requires abortion services to be offered in a space from where other family planning activities are happening. Abortion rights groups are calling this a gag order and says it blocks them from providing abortion information and services and they will lose their family planning funding. This is aimed as you said at planned parenthood, but anti-abortion groups are cheering this one. Could affect more than $250 million in funding.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. | 1,265,666 |
Image copyright Getty Images
Midwives are calling for official guidance on how much weight is healthy for women to put on during pregnancy.
One in five women in the UK are obese when they start pregnancy, yet there is no national target for what constitutes normal pregnancy weight gain.
Regular weigh-ins fell out of favour in the 1990s when it was suggested that they cause pregnant women unnecessary anxiety for little or no clinical gain.
Officials say they are considering whether to reintroduce them.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is reviewing its weight advice for pregnancy.
Its current guidelines say weight and height should be measured at the first appointment, but not repeatedly during pregnancy as a matter of routine.
US guidelines do recommend keeping track of weight gain, and set clear targets:
Institute of Medicine Weight Gain Recommendations for Pregnancy
Underweight - gain 28-40lb (12.7-18.1kg) during pregnancy
Normal Weight - gain 25-35lb (11.3-15.9kg)
Overweight - gain 15-25lb (6.8-11.3kg)
Obese - gain 11-20lb (5-9.1kg)
NICE says it is considering whether to adopt the same recommendations in its new advice, which is still in the early phases of planning - meaning it is unlikely to be published before 2019.
Its current guidelines advise against dieting when pregnant, but do say pregnant women should avoid "eating for two". Energy needs do not change in the first six months of pregnancy and increase only slightly in the last three months, when mothers-to-be need around 200 extra calories per day.
Mandy Forrester from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said some UK midwives were already using the US weight guidelines, but that others did not have access to weighing scales.
"There is a clear need for midwives to have the tools, guidance and training they need so they can offer women the best possible support and care. This is especially pressing because of the potentially serious complications that can arise in pregnancy as a result of women being overweight or obese."
Women who are obese (with a BMI over 30) when they become pregnant face an increased risk of complications such as gestational diabetes, miscarriage and pre-eclampsia.
Being over or underweight during pregnancy might also have a negative impact on the baby, according to research.
The comments from the RCM come as a new study published in the journal Diabetologia says either too much or too little weight gain during pregnancy is linked with adverse outcomes in children aged seven years.
The Hong Kong study looked at 905 mothers and their children, and found health problems such as high blood pressure and poorer blood sugar control. | 1,265,667 |
After years of high infancy deaths, a new study shows that those rates are finally decreasing.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported earlier today that infant mortality rates are at a new low. Within nine years, this demographic death rate dropped 15 percent—from 6.86 infant deaths per 1,000 live births to just 5.82. Additionally, deaths from Sudden Instant Death Syndrome (SIDS) decreased by 29 percent.
Paul Jarris, chief medical officer for the March of Dimes, said the study found great news. However, he also said the latest information doesn’t mean the U.S. is done working.
“On the other hand, we have so much more to do,” he explained. “What is concerning, though, is that the inequities between non-Hispanic blacks and American Indians and the Caucasian population have persisted.”
Although most racial groups experienced a significant decrease in infant mortality, the largest decrease was among Asian and Pacific Islanders. This group saw a 21 percent decrease in infant deaths. Additionally, American Indians and Alaska Natives are the only groups who did not see significant change.
Perhaps the most significant racial gap is among non-Hispanic black women and non-Hispanic white women. The former group suffers from a mortality rate more than twice the rate of the latter. In Hispanic subgroups, the infant mortality rate varied. The highest, in the Puerto Rican group, was above the national average—6.68 percent—while the lowest, among Cubans—was only 3.95 percent.
T.J. Mathews, a demographer at the CDC, said the average decline is because of the public’s push to find ways to improve infant health.
“There was a public health push in the past decade to figure out ways to lower this rate,” he said. “We know that there have been a lot of efforts across the country in cities and states where they’re trying to figure out ways they can lower the infant mortality rate.”
Aside from race, the CDC also looked at the leading causes of infant death. They found that four of the five leading causes of infant death showed a decline. The primary cause of infant death, congenital malformations, lowered by 11 percent. Additionally, deaths caused by prematurity and low birth weight fell 8 percent. Fatalities from maternal complications declined 7 percent and fatal SIDS cases declined 29 percent, as well. However, fatal unintentional injuries increased by 11 percent.
Overall, the majority of the country improved measures to prevent infant deaths. About Li Cohen I’m just a small-town girl in a journalist’s world, waking up bright and early every morning to find the best news to read, the most interesting stories to report, and the best coffees to submerge in. | 1,265,668 |
ArtWorks has become well-known for its mural program. Over the past eight years, the program has created 90 murals that have added to the vibrancy of 36 city neighborhoods.
This year, however, ArtWorks started to branch out a bit more. In addition to 10 mural projects, they also installed more than 50 public art pieces throughout the city. Some were poetic, while others charming. Regardless of the project, they have always worked to actively engage young people in the city with the artist community.
The program’s impact on the visual appearance of the city cannot be overlooked. Public spaces have been dressed up and walls have been decorated in truly Cincinnati fashion. When considering one of Cincinnati’s most defining features – its hillsides – another opportunity seems to be sitting in waiting for future ArtWorks programs.
Over the years The Hillside Trust has worked to promote and preserve the city’s hillsides and the view sheds that they offer. At the same time, many of the city’s public staircases, which long served as a critical component of the sidewalk network, have fallen into disrepair. In many cases, due to either lack of maintenance or neighborhood distrust, public staircases have been closed off altogether.
This should not be the case.
One potential way to address this would be to focus an ArtWorks program on the city’s public staircases. Artists could be engaged to come up with creative mural designs for the stairs themselves, or perhaps suggest other installations. These could then be complimented by lighting installations that would not on
ly add an artistic touch after dusk, but also make the corridors safer for their users and the neighborhoods around them.
Seoul’s Ihwa neighborhood has done exactly this.
Set on the side of a steep hill leading to Seoul’s historic fortification wall, the neighborhood has seen many of its staircases painted, along with surrounding building walls, to create a truly unique environment. A variety of art installations were also undertaken in order to create an even more dynamic experience.
Today visitors flock to the area to view the murals and experience the other installations some 60 artists created in 2006 as part of Naksan Project. Due to this influx of people, small cafes, galleries and restaurants are now prevalent throughout the neighborhood.
While Cincinnati’s hillsides and surrounding neighborhoods present a different challenge than what exists in Ihwa, there are equal, yet different, opportunities that also exist.
Right now Cincinnati’s hillsides and their public staircases are mostly viewed as barriers and have been constrained to afterthoughts in the city’s public psyche. ArtWorks has changed the way we viewed vacant walls and barren streetscapes. Here’s hoping they can work similar magic on the city’s long-forgotten staircases. | 1,265,669 |
It is said that great art has the power to take us outside of ourselves and bring us closer to ourselves simultaneously. Few bands have accomplished this rare feat on a more profound and consistent basis than NEUROSIS. For nearly three decades, their music has touched the hearts and minds of young men and women seeking contact with something beyond the physical world, something intangible, something that expresses the inner tumult of the human condition in a way that transcends time and space. Something that not only provokes questions but maybe even hints at answers.
Since 1985 this matchless force has surpassed the boundaries of any genre, never ceasing to mutate and progress their songwriting and sonic delivery, and never failing to mesmerize audiences both in the studio and onstage. And as the anticipation from their diehard fanbase reaches a boiling point, this week NEUROSIS unveil the title of their tenth full-length studio creation, which will manifest itself as Honor Found In Decay.
The follow-up to their acclaimed 2007-released Given To The Rising album, the music on Honor Found In Decay is both torturous and transcendent. It is the ongoing exposition of a vast internal dialogue that seems to carry the weight of eons. With the right kind of ears and eyes, it can seem like the trials and tribulations of mankind are being channeled through five individuals: Steve Von Till, Scott Kelly, Noah Landis, Jason Roeder and Dave Edwardson. And yet? They will be the first ones to tell you that they are just regular people trying to make sense of the world around them. Aided by Josh Graham, their resident visual guru, they transmit their interpretations through multiple sensory planes. The degree to which Neurosis allows them to step out of their everyday lives is the distance between one and zero, the distance between thinking and doing, the distance between this minute and the one that may or may not follow. Which is to say: NEUROSIS takes them outside of themselves and brings them closer to themselves. Simultaneously.
This next chapter in the evolution of NEUROSIS will see worldwide release through the band’s own Neurot Recordings this Autumn, in Germany October 26th, in the UK October 29th, and in North America on October 30th.
Further details on Honor Found In Decay will be made available over the coming weeks.
NEUROSIS:
Scott Kelly – vocals/guitars
Steve Von Till – vocals/guitars
Dave Edwardson – bass
Jason Roeder – drums
Noah Landis – keyboards
Josh Graham – visual effects, art
http://www.neurosis.com
http://www.facebook.com/officialneurosis
http://www.neurotrecordings.com
http://www.facebook.com/neurotrecordings | 1,265,670 |
cured a child, could also help us,” Santos said.
“That very same night we began to pray to them,” he said. Other sisters in other convents also joined in prayer for the suffering baby.
“Beginning the next day there were a series of changes and Carmen's state,” the girl’s father said.
The next day Carmen was transferred to another hospital and she began to recuperate noticeably. She began to breathe without a machine and her infections began to subside. On the third day she left the intensive care unit, though it took several years to know whether she suffered side-effects from the hemorrhage.
Carmen was finally released from the hospital on Jan. 2, 2009 the same day as the birthday of Saint Therese of Lisieux.
Fifteen days later, the relics of Blessed Louis and Zelie came to Lerida, Spain. The Carmelite sisters encouraged the family to go.
There, they met the postulator for the Martins’ cause for Sainthood and explained their daughter’s healing. The postulator pursued the case, and the investigation for the Martins’ possible canonization began in November 2009.
It was not until March 2015 that investigators approved Carmen's miracle that would raise the Martins to the altars.
The family received the news on March 18 during the popular Fallas de Valencia festival.
“Our whole family was going down San Vicente Street in Valencia right in the middle of the Offering of Flowers to the Virgin of the Defenseless to give her our bouquet. All of a sudden our cell phone went off and, after six years, they gave us the big news.”
“It was a very special and moving moment, it couldn't have been at any other time, just when we were at the feet of the Virgin,” Santos recalled with great emotion.
Baby Carmen’s parents have told her everything about how she was healed, adapted for her age.
“For us it was always a miracle, and even more when we could see she was responding to everything and recuperating,” her parents said. “It's different to experience something like this than when somebody tells you about it. When it happens to you, your faith is reaffirmed.”
Carmen’s parents said they were already strong believers before the miracle, but now they practice their faith more.
The whole family will witness the canonization along with family and friends. They are “a little nervous and anxious” as they await the ceremony. But they also have “a lot of joy.”
This is the first time the Church will canonize a married couple at the same ceremony.
| 1,265,671 |
ROME (Reuters) - Matteo Renzi, staging a political comeback less than five months after resigning as Italy’s prime minister, easily regained the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) on Sunday with an overwhelming victory in a primary election among party supporters.
According to partial results, Renzi had about 72 percent of the vote, held in makeshift polling booths around the country. About 2 million party members voted in the primary. Justice Minister Andrea Orlando had 19 percent while Michele Emiliano, the governor of the southern Puglia region, had about 9 percent.
Both of his opponents, as well as Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, called to congratulate him, and Renzi gave a long victory speech at party headquarters.
“Forward together,” Renzi said to applause.
Renzi, 42, resigned as prime minister in December after a crushing defeat in a referendum over constitutional reforms aimed at streamlining lawmaking. He was replaced by Gentiloni, his foreign minister, but he quickly began planning a comeback.
With a national vote due by May 2018, polls show the ruling PD has slipped behind the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which questions the country’s euro membership. Renzi’s ability to counter the 5-Star surge may be crucial to fending off an existential threat to the euro zone.
However, under Italy’s proportional representation voting system, no party currently looks likely to win enough seats in parliament to govern alone.
Slideshow ( 3 images )
Renzi, with his confrontational leadership style, has become a divisive figure, and there is no guarantee he would be named prime minister of a future coalition government even if the PD were to win the most votes during the election.
While Renzi remains the most popular politician among PD voters, the party and his own appeal look much weaker than during his heyday as prime minister, after he failed to convert his ambitious reform agenda into reality.
Renzi’s current personal approval rating is about half of the 50 percent he posted three years ago, according to the Ixe polling institute.
Polls show 5-Star now has around 30 percent of the vote and a lead of between 3 and 8 percentage points over the PD after a dispute between Renzi’s loyalists and left-wing traditionalists caused a party split in February.
“I voted for Renzi because he’s got more drive and determination than the others, but I’m not convinced he’ll get back into government,” said computer engineer Luigi Mancini, a PD supporter in Rimini on the Adriatic coast.
“With the (proportional representation) voting system we’ve got, it seems unlikely that anyone will get a majority,” he added. | 1,265,672 |
and transparent framework to govern lawful requests for data across jurisdictions, such as improved mutual legal assistance treaty – or “MLAT” – processes,” say the companies. “Where the laws of one jurisdiction conflict with the laws of another, it is incumbent upon governments to work together to resolve the conflict.”
Official responses to the Snowden revelations have been angriest in countries subject to US surveillance such as Germany and Brazil, but more muted in countries such as Britain and Australia, whose governments are close partners of the NSA.
Martha Lane Fox, who recently resigned as the British government's digital champion, responded to the new letter by expressing concern at the lack of understanding of both the scale and complexity of the surveillance story within Britain's government.
"We do have an issue in this country among the corporate world, the political establishment and the general population where we have a shortage of skills and understanding for the digital age," she told the Guardian. "There is an absence of a clear, coherent debate around this subject in this country and it's a very big issue that will only become more frequent the more technologically dependent we become."
She pointed to comments made by the former Conservative home office minister Lord Blencathra and the Labour peer Lord Soley, who both expressed concern at the scope of surveillance by the security services.
"[The government] needs to listen to people, to examine whether their policies are fit for the digital age. It's not that people aren't used to their data being collected, but what it is being collected for, and there needs to be a distinction between the average person and a security threat."
The eight internet companies behind the new letter also acknowledge that business also has a responsibility to protect privacy.
“For our part, we are focused on keeping users’ data secure, deploying the latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorised surveillance on our networks, and by pushing back on government requests to ensure that they are legal and reasonable in scope,” they conclude.
“We urge the US to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight.”
Google, Twitter, Yahoo and last week Microsoft have all responded to public concerns over surveillance by increasing the security of their products, introducing “perfect forward secrecy” encryption to protect information travelling on their internal systems.
"The security of users' data is critical, which is why we've invested so much in encryption and fight for transparency around government requests for information,” said Google's chief executive, Larry Page.
“This is undermined by the apparent wholesale collection of data, in secret and without independent oversight, by many governments around the world. It's time for reform and we urge the US government to lead the way.” | 1,265,673 |
Photo by Jeremy Farmer
Last month, Thurston Moore made some incendiary comments about black metal while promoting his new album with his new band, Caught on Tape. "Black Metal is music made by pussies of the lowest order, and we felt it was necessary to investigate this aberrant anti-music behavior," he said. "We feel like the sound and attitude of black metal is a loss of self, life, light and desire in a way where it becomes so negative that a whole new bliss arrives where we become super pussy."
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Moore explained the thinking behind those comments and elaborated further. When asked by Rolling Stone if he "was trying to be provocative", he said:
That was really taken out of context. It was really funny how people got tweaked by that. I was answering a question. How do you answer a question about black metal? Black metal, it doesn't even consider itself music. In fact, it doesn't want to be confused with any kind of music because it's something else entirely. It's a voided concept from its start. It's all about complete disintegration of existence. It's a music that uses the elements of rock instrumentation but it's so anti-everything that, for me, it doesn't matter what you say about it because it doesn't exist. I figured I would just write something ridiculous about it. And boy, did black-metal devotees get really upset by it. You're not supposed to be alive, so why are you getting upset?
He then talked about playing with black metal supergroup Twilight on the album III: Beneath Trident's Tomb:
There are certain stylistic maneuvers within black metal that really informed me as a guitarist and I use in my own playing. And I think some of the people who are seriously involved with that scene realized this about me and reached out to me. That's certainly true of Neil from Krieg, who sings on Twilight. He's a true black metal aficionado and devotee and he's a real important exponent of that music, and he reached out to me and wanted to know if I would take part in this project. And I think it was a little bit of a risk for those guys having somebody who's not exactly 100 percent in the scene to get involved. But I think they trusted my integrity with it.
When Rolling Stone pointed out that Sonic Youth have a song called "Non-Metal Dude Wearing Metal Tee", Moore replied, "And as somebody else said, 'Sonic Youth had a song called 'Satan Is Boring' – he's been attacking our lord ever since the Eighties!' I super enjoyed making that record. That's a wild community. It takes a lot of stamina to keep up with those guys because they're monsters."
Listen to "The Best Day" from Moore's forthcoming solo album: | 1,265,674 |
We have finally arrived at the top three Ottawa Senators of all-time. Today in the number three slot we look at the best center in Sens history. An ex captain and former phenomenon in Ottawa, Jason Spezza.
Jason Spezza was the best center for the Ottawa Senators in their history. Joining the team a year after being drafted 2nd overall in 2001, it didn’t take Spezza long to begin to light up the scoreboard in the NHL. He had one and a half seasons before the full season lockout. In this time he began to develop a bit of a scoring touch by scoring 55 points in 78 games.
When the lockout came Spezza spent the year in the AHL. This might have been the best thing for his development, as he was able to build his confidence by scoring 117 points in 80 games. Spezza returned to the NHL ready to be a superstar. In his first season back he scored 90 points in just 68 games.
Becoming A Superstar
Over the four seasons after the lockout, Spezza was the center of arguably the best line in hockey. He was between Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson during the best years of all of their careers. The name was aptly name the Pizza Line because the Sens had a promotion that whenever the team scored six goals everyone in the arena would get a free slice of pizza. Six goals is normally rare but with the Pizza line it became fairly frequent.
Following the departure of Heatley in 2009, Spezza would regress to slightly below a point per game but was still a star. Much of his regression could be attributed to his injury troubles.
Spezza was an assistant captain for much of his career. However, when Alfredsson left in 2013, Spezza was the obvious choice for Captain. For his final season in Ottawa, Spezza would Captain the Ottawa Senators. Unfortunately the team didn’t make the playoffs and Spezza grew frustrated with the state of the team. Following the teams Stanley Cup Final run in 2007 the team had been stuck in mediocrity. Spezza decided he wanted out. The Sens traded him to Dallas just one year after naming him Captain.
Legacy
With the trade Spezza joined an ever growing list of Sens stars who departed the team on bad terms. However, once again this doesn’t take away from just how great he was. In 686 games he put up 687 points. That’s second all-time for the Ottawa Senators and he one of just two Sens to finish his career in Ottawa with more than a point per game. Additionally, he put up those numbers while just being sixth on the Sens games played list. Having a truly elite number one center is one of the most important things in the NHL. The Sens didn’t have to worry about having one for more than a decade. They had Jason Spezza. | 1,265,675 |
india
Updated: Apr 04, 2019 07:14 IST
A senior immigration officer of Vanuatu has written to the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, confirming he had received a citizenship application from fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi in late 2017, but the same was rejected as there were adverse reports on him by India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an official familiar with the development said.
The Vanuatu official has claimed, while doing a background check on Modi, he found out that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had investigated him in 2015.
In 2015, DRI — the lead agency to check customs frauds and smuggling — had probed him for alleged diversion of imported, duty-free, cut and polished diamonds and pearls to the domestic market, according to CBI officials.
These details were mentioned in the FIU report, because of which his application for citizenship in Vanuatu was declined, the immigration officer has told the Indian agencies, the official cited above said.
Both the CBI and the ED see this immigration officer’s email as a “trump card” in their extradition proceedings against Modi — the man at the centre of the ₹11,400 crore Punjab National Bank fraud — at the UK court. They believe the email will strengthen their case in the London court that Modi should not be granted bail as he had intentions to flee the country from the very beginning.
“This is a crucial piece of evidence establishing Nirav Modi’s criminal intent in making arrangements for moving to the remote island nation [of Vanuatu] even before the CBI and ED probe began against him [in January 2018],” said the official, asking not be named. The CBI refused to give an official comment on the development. If required, the Vanuatu immigration officer may also be requested to come to London to testify at a later stage, the official added. The agency didn’t disclose the name of immigration officer as he is a potential witness in the case.
Apart from this email, the ED will also soon file an affidavit in the UK court detailing fresh evidence related to alleged money laundering and assets acquired by Modi in India and abroad, as cited in the second chargesheet filed in March this year.
Westminster’s chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, while denying bail to Modi last week, had stated, “He [Nirav Modi] was attempting to become a citizen of Vanuatu and that is some way away for someone trying to run businesses, which may indicate he has interest to move away from India at this important time”. Arbuthnot had on December 10 last year ordered the extradition of former liquor baron Vijay Mallya to India. Nirav Modi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal refused to comment. | 1,265,676 |
going to see some really stark figures tomorrow.”
Calls for more transparency increased after the U.S. released projections showing between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could die of COVID-19.
Premier François Legault this week pledged to reveal Quebec projections but did not say when that would happen.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday said Canada may share models and scenarios at some point.
9:05 a.m.
How to go for a walk
Many of you have asked about airborne transmission of the virus, especially the possibility of being infected when walking outside.
McGill University’s Joe Schwarcz has the answers in this column.
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9 a.m.
Across Canada, 11,283 cases, 138 deaths
Here are the numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m.
There are 11,283 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.
Quebec: 5,518 confirmed (including 36 deaths, 224 resolved)
Ontario: 2,793 confirmed (including 53 deaths, 831 resolved)
British Columbia: 1,121 confirmed (including 31 deaths, 641 resolved)
Alberta: 968 confirmed (including 13 deaths, 174 resolved)
Saskatchewan: 206 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 36 resolved)
Nova Scotia: 193 confirmed (including 16 resolved)
Newfoundland and Labrador: 183 confirmed (including 1 death, 10 resolved)
Manitoba: 152 confirmed (including 1 death, 11 resolved), 15 presumptive
New Brunswick: 91 confirmed (including 22 resolved)
Prince Edward Island: 22 confirmed (including 3 resolved)
Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed
Yukon: 6 confirmed
Northwest Territories: 2 confirmed
Nunavut: No confirmed cases
Total: 11,283 (15 presumptive, 11,268 confirmed including 138 deaths, 1,968 resolved)
8:30 a.m.
What’s open and closed in Montreal
We are constantly updating our list ofwhat is open, and mostly what is closed, in Montreal.
8:30 a.m.
Nightly newsletter
Sign up for our email newsletter dedicated to local coronavirus coverage here:montrealgazette.com/coronavirusnews
8:30 a.m.
If you have symptoms
Quebecers who think they have symptoms of COVID-19 should call Quebec’s hotline at 1-877-644-4545.
[email protected] | 1,265,677 |
CNN's 24/7 Trump-bashing strategy doesn't seem to be working.
The beleaguered network's primetime hosts Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon celebrated Thanksgiving with the network’s lowest-rated week in primetime viewership in nearly three years.
Fox News averaged 2.2 million viewers during the primetime hours of 9-11 p.m. ET from Nov. 25 through Dec. 1, while MSNBC averaged 1.3 million viewers during the same time period and CNN managed only 643,000 average viewers. It was CNN’s worst performance in nearly three years and the liberal network’s worst turnout among the key demographic of adults age 25-54 in over five years.
DEVIN NUNES SUES CNN FOR $435M OVER ‘FALSE AND DEFAMATORY’ UKRAINE STORY
Thanksgiving didn’t make for a slow news week, as CNN’s hapless totals came amid ongoing news regarding impeachment hearings of President Trump, the controversy surrounding the handling of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, Mike Bloomberg launching a 2020 presidential bid, Trump’s surprise trip to Afghanistan and significant weather-related stories.
CNN averaged only 138,000 primetime demo viewers -- less than half of Fox News’ average of 303,000 during the week.
Fox News was the most-watched cable network among total day viewers for the 47th straight week, averaging 1.3 million. Hallmark Channel, ESPN, MSNBC and Nickelodeon joined FNC among the top five.
CNN'S CHRIS CUOMO MOCKED AFTER ATTEMPT TO DISPROVE TRUMP'S PHONE THEORY WITH CALL TO MOM FAIL
FNC beat CNN and MSNBC combined in both total day and primetime viewership. “The Five,” which airs at 5 p.m. ET, even beat MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” among total viewers for the week.
As CNN posted historic lows, episodes of “Hannity,” “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “The Ingraham Angle,” “The Story with Martha MacCallum” and “Special Report” with Bret Baier accounted for 15 of the 30 most-watched telecasts across all of cable during the holiday weekend.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Things don’t seem to be on track to turn around for CNN, as the network’s special town hall event with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the day she announced that articles of impeachment against President Trump were being drafted only averaged 1.6 million viewers and 410,000 in the demo on Thursday night, well behind both Fox News and MSNBC in both categories.
All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research. | 1,265,678 |
“I respect what ‘Stairway to Heaven’ has done for me,” the chef said. “I respect how the legend of that has helped this place grow. But I’m doing this for creative reasons.”
In essence, Mr. Dufresne explained, he and his highly skilled, intensely collaborative team were at risk of winding up in a state of suspended animation. Being tethered to older dishes can make it harder for people to notice that you are still exploring new territory.
And exploring new territory has always been his core mission. Henceforth, he intends to do even more of it by stripping away the à la carte menu at WD-50 and offering diners a choice between two tasting menus.
The primary one, priced at $155, will consist of a dozen or so courses, each of which will not only be new to the restaurant, but, as is usually the case with cuisine de Wylie, also new to human civilization itself. This spring, in the first version of that menu, diners will find red-hued noodles fashioned from lobster roe, and shiny-skinned lamb sweetbreads in puddles of a sauce made of buttermilk and nasturtium blossoms.
(A second menu, which Mr. Dufresne calls “From the Vault,” in tribute to the Grateful Dead, will trot out a selection of five “greatest hits” from previous offerings, for $75. And customers will still be able to sidle up to the restaurant’s bar and request a few à la carte dishes.)
Mr. Dufresne is an intrinsically American pioneer, so it makes sense that, in the language of the menu, many of the new creations sound like stolid heartland fare (crab cakes, brisket, root-beer ribs, fried green tomatoes, Key lime pie, even what you might describe as an elevated twist on a TV dinner). On the plate, though, they psychedelically thwart what your eyes, teeth and taste buds expect.
The “TV dinner” (which can also be compared to a deconstructed potpie, but which was actually inspired by a Chinese recipe that Mr. Dufresne found in one of the 1,400 cookbooks he owns) involves the yolk of a duck egg that’s been bathed in amaro, the strident Italian spirit, after having been cured for six hours in salt and sugar so that its texture thickens. It is paired with succulent chicken confit and “peas ’n’ carrots.” The carrots are carrots, sliced thin and curled up like ribbons. The peas are not peas, per se, but tiny balls of carrot that have been rolled in green-pea powder. | 1,265,679 |
British comedian Ian Cognito, whose real name was Paul Barbieri, died on stage while performing a stand-up set in Bicester, England on Thursday evening. He was 60.
According to CNN, the comic was mid-performance at the Atic Bar in a small English town north of Oxford when he fell ill. When paramedics arrived at the venue shortly after 10 p.m, he was already pronounced dead.
Ryan Mold, who was present during Cognito’s performance, told CNN that midway through his set “he sat down, put his head and arms back; his shoulders were twitching.”
Mold added that the “audience thought it was part of his set” because he had spoken about having a heart attack or a stroke only moments before and his behavior didn’t come off as unusual to those used to his flamboyant character.
A colleague, Andrew Bird, who heads the Lone Wolf Comedy Club event at the Atic Bar, told BBC: “Everyone in the crowd, me included, thought he was joking. Even when I walked on stage and touched his arm I was expecting him to say ‘boo’.”
According to Mold, it took a few minutes before fellow comedians began to realize that something was wrong and ran onstage to help the comic. After calling for an ambulance, a paramedic in the venue performed CPR while the rest of the audience was vacated.
“We were called at 22:11 last night to Crown Walk in Bicester to a medical emergency. We sent a rapid response vehicle and an ambulance crew but sadly one patient passed away at the scene,” the ambulance service said in a statement to CNN.
Cognito, who was born in London, began performing stand-up comedy in 1985 and was described as Britain’s “most-banned” comic due to his race-y material. In 1999, he won the Time Out Award for Stand-up Comedy. Fellow comics have paid their tributes on social media including “Eight out of Ten Cats” presenter Jimmy Carr who wrote: “I’ll never forget his kindness when I started out…”
Veteran stand-up comedian Ian Cognito has died on-stage – literally. The audience thought it was part of the act. Died with his boots on. That’s commitment to comedy. I’ll never forget his kindness when I started out & how god damn funny he was. — Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) April 12, 2019
Jack Whitehall, who recently hosted the Brit Awards, also took to Twitter, writing, “Giggled with him when I first started out and he was always so much fun, had his own mythology on the circuit, his exploits were legendary.” | 1,265,680 |
Jeff Zucker Hits "Propaganda Machine" Fox News: "It Is Really State-Run TV"
The CNN chief said the network does a "disservice to the country."
CNN president Jeff Zucker lashed out at competitor Fox News at an industry conference Thursday afternoon, saying that the network "is really state-run TV. It is a pure propaganda machine, and I think does incredible disservice to this country."
He said Fox News has changed substantially in the last two years, following the departure of late founder Roger Ailes. He described the change at the network as "shocking."
"There are a handful of good journalists there, but I think they are lost in what is a complete propaganda machine," said Zucker, who claimed Fox News "has nothing on" the Russian government-run TASS Russian News Agency.
Zucker added: "The idea that it's a news channel, I think, is really not the case at all."
Despite criticizing the network, Zucker acknowledged that Fox News has owned the market space for conservative programming and has done "incredibly well," as have CNN's other competitors, including MSNBC.
"This is the heyday of cable news, there's no question," Zucker said at the Financial Times Future of News conference. "All the cable news channels are doing incredibly well as different forms of TV decline. Those that have live sports and news have thrived. There's no question: Live news and cable is probably one of the only genres that's grown. Everybody's doing well, including Fox News."
FT's Matthew Garrahan, who interviewed Zucker, said that Fox News was invited to participate in the event but declined. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Fox News for a response to Zucker's comments.
At a Business Insider conference in late November, 21st Century Fox executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch directly rebutted Zucker's claim that Fox News is "state-run TV." "I don't think that's true," Murdoch said at the time, pointing to hard-news anchor Shepard Smith as a rebuttal to the thesis that Fox News talent tries to prop up President Donald Trump.
Zucker said Thursday that the last three years have been CNN's best in the 38 years since it was founded by Ted Turner. "We've had a very good run," he said. "We made CNN very much relevant again, very much a part of the national and international conversation."
Zucker added that Trump's negative comments about the press have potentially dangerous real-world consequences. "He has created an atmosphere in this country that has resonated around the world in a very unhealthy way that has whipped up anti-media sentiment that is dangerous and frankly harmful and potentially incredibly dangerous," he said. "He doesn't even understand the danger he's causing to journalists and the danger he's doing to media organizations." | 1,265,681 |
There are few things that upset people more than the sentiment carried with the following statement:
Comparing animal agriculture to tragedies such as slavery or the Holocaust is, at best, counter-productive, because it is offensive to most people. Public health research has shown that frightening or guilting people is rarely going to motivate them to reevalutate their behavior. Instead, they will hate you, whatever cause you’re standing up for, and anyone else who stands with you. They will become more firm in their beliefs and less uncertain about the ethics of their behavior.
But just because something is offensive doesn’t make it incorrect. That this even needs to be stated is an indictment of what passes for discourse today. The culture of critical theory and identity politics places feelings above all else; if it seems offensive to a disadvantaged population, then it’s wrong. This fallacy undergirds the social justice warriors who care not about what is true, only what feels good. To them, the truth yields to emotion, not as a matter of human folly to be resisted, but as a matter of policy.
To be sure, slavery and the Holocaust differ from animal agriculture in fundamental ways. For one, slavery and the Holocaust were the result of discrimination based on ethnicity (and religion, for the latter). Black people, Jews, and other victims of the Holocaust were forced to work, were tortured, and were brutally, callously murdered. Today, animals are killed for food. Therefore, a major difference is that black people and Jews were murdered because of their identity, while animals are killed because their meat tastes good. The Holocaust was largely about pursuing the extinction of the Jews, while animal agriculture requires that more cows, pigs, and chickens are born every day in order that supply meets demand. Thus, the former was about exterminating a group of people; the latter is about perpetuating species so that they may provide us with what we want.
The most salient legacy of the Holocaust and slavery is the unimaginable suffering that took place during that time and for many years afterward. Millions of lives were lost, many more were displaced, and the reverberations of those dark times continue to this day. While it is impossible to quantify the suffering that continues— particularly in the form of poverty and inequality of opportunity in the case of slavery — it is possible to compare the body count, even if you believe animals are only capable of a minimal amount of suffering in relation to humans. Again, counting bodies does not take into account the lives that were displaced or the continuing after-effects of tragedies like the Holocaust or slavery, but it does provide a starting point whereupon we can begin to compare these tragedies to animal agriculture. Because it provides an easier, more straightforward comparison than does slavery, I will use the Holocaust as the measuring stick to calculate how the farming of animals compares, but the following argument likely applies to slavery as well. | 1,265,682 |
The warhawks are softening us up for Romney’s foreign policy. I’ve seen two prominently placed examples in the last ten days, efforts to find a way around the fairly decisive national consensus against starting a war with Iran, or letting Israel do it and then coming in to clean up and finish the job. First David Rothkopf in Foreign Policy, who writes about a “joint U.S.-Israeli surgical strike” that might take only a “couple of hours.” Rothkopf cites a source “close to the discussions,” whom many have assumed to be his former college roomate, Israeli ambassador Michael Oren. Phil Weiss has the fascinating down low on how this piece led to a shakeup in the Israeli embassy with a less hawkish Israeli diplomat being demoted to Siberia. American officials denied that a joint surgical strike was under consideration.
Then Monday in the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens reassured readers that if Romney were elected “we won’t have another war in the Middle East.” Not even, he added “if President Romney orders Iran’s nuclear sites to be bombed to smithereens.”
Stephens apparently assumes his readers are sufficiently dense to believe that Iran would not respond if its nuclear sites were bombed to smithereens; i.e, no closure of the Gulf to shipping, no rockets fired into Haifa, no long delayed terrorism riposte. He presumably is aware that striking underground nuclear reactors would create major collateral damage, unleashing toxic plumes into neighboring cities, and killing or maiming as many as 70,000 Iranians according to one recent study performed by the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics. I would surmise that for Stephens, and for whoever leaked the limited strike scenario to Rothkopf, the maiming of innocent Iranian civilians is considered a collateral plus, because it would poison relations between the United States and Iran for a generation–to the benefit of our ties with America’s “only ally in the Middle East.” But it’s not clear that Americans want more blood on their hands, or desire the lasting enmity of the Middle Eastern nation with the largest middle class, modern tastes, and indeed, most latently pro-American values.
The War Party, Take Two–of which Stephens and Michael Oren are charter members– know full well that, after Iraq, the war they want can’t be sold straightforwardly again. So they’re trying a little bait and switch. Not real war, heaven forbid. Just a little “surgical” bombing. To smithereens. We won’t feel a thing. Many will be watching next week’s debate to see if Mitt Romney makes these thoughts his own. | 1,265,683 |
the amounts and their outputs check out, to be sure they receive as much as they send.)
Finally, the tumbler broadcasts the CoinJoin transaction to be included in a Bitcoin block. As a result, all users end up with different bitcoins than they started with: all bitcoins were mixed, and the blockchain trails broken.
While all this is actually relatively straightforward compared to some alternative schemes, and to a large extent already suggested by Maxwell back in 2013, the process has never been realized. This is probably because it was long thought to be too vulnerable to attacks, Ficsór thinks.
“When Maxwell first published the proposal, Bitcoin transaction fees were practically non-existent. Because of this, it would be relatively easy and cheap to launch denial of service attacks against a CoinJoin mixing system. An attacker can just keep providing valid inputs, but refuse to sign when he should. That invalidates the whole transaction, and wastes everyone’s time.”
Interestingly, this attack vector is now to some extent resolved simply because it would be too expensive to keep it going. In order to maintain the attack in a way that it’s not easily countered, an attacker must provide new inputs for each round, meaning he must be able to keep moving bitcoins to new addresses to do so. “Assuming $1 transaction fees, that could cost up to $1,000 a day,” Ficsór pointed out. “In this particular context, high fees are a blessing in disguise.”
Development
Ficsór is currently about to help wrap up the development of another highly anticipated privacy tool, TumbleBit, for Stratis’s Breeze Wallet. This is expected to take another three months.
After that, he plans to focus on realizing ZeroLink, while TDevD may even start working on the framework sooner. Concretely, three new codebases need to be developed: the pre-mix wallet, the tumbler and the post-mix wallet.
“The tumbler needs to be developed from scratch. But it should be relatively easy to add the pre-mix wallets to any existing open source wallet. The same is true for the post-mix wallet implementations, though for privacy reasons not all wallets are a good fit,” Ficsór said.
His own HiddenWallet as well as Samourai Wallet are “fully committed” to implementing and deploying ZeroLink into production, Ficsór said, while Breeze Wallet may be interested as well.
Optimistically, an initial implementation of ZeroLink could be live before the end of this year.
For more information on ZeroLink, see Ficsór’s blog post on the project (which also includes a donation address) or ZeroLink’s specification. | 1,265,684 |
the nation's diet and weight."
What do others say?
Food Standards Scotland welcomed the "broad-ranging" strategy paper, in particular the measures around childhood obesity.
Chief executive Geoff Ogle said that if action was not taken "urgently", up to 40% of Scots could be obese by 2030. He added: "It's clear that no sole measure can tackle this deep-rooted health problem and we welcome actions from government, but we recognise that industry and the public also have a role to play."
But the Food and Drink Federation, which represents food and drink industry businesses, said it was "deeply disappointed" that ministers were pressing ahead with plans to restrict promotions and advertising.
Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Children from the most deprived areas are twice as likely to be obese
Chief executive David Thomson said there was "no evidence of the effectiveness of these measures in reducing our waistlines", and said they would "punish" small businesses without making a real difference to health.
The Scottish Retail Consortium - which welcomed much of the plan - said it was "essential these measures are based on clear evidence they will reduce obesity, and are targeted in a specific manner to ensure consumers aren't unnecessarily penalised".
And Cancer Research UK said it was "vital" there were laws in place to restrict promotions which were "fuelling the nation's obesity crisis".
What do political parties say?
The Scottish Conservatives welcomed much of the plan, saying that "if executed correctly" it could "make a key difference in influencing better diets and more active lifestyles".
However, health spokesman Miles Briggs said actually getting the plans under way was key, adding: "This has been a government too keen on words, and too shy of action on a range of important topics."
Scottish Labour said the government had "failed to make inroads" to tackling the "obesity crisis", and said ministers must not "shy away from bold radical action" when restricting promotions.
MSP David Stewart said: "Working class families who are already struggling should also not be penalised - restrictions on food sales must be coupled with a strategy to make healthy options more affordable and efforts to tackle poverty that is the root cause of ill health."
The Scottish Greens said the plan was not bold enough, and was more focused on future consultations than in taking on big business.
Health spokeswoman Alison Johnstone said: "Any plan from government must tackle big business head-on, as profit-driven food manufacturers and retailers have too much influence over the choice - or lack of it - in our communities."
Scottish Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said efforts to "curb our nation's love of fatty, salty and sugary foods" were "good news", but said there had been "no meaningful change" under previous government initiatives. | 1,265,685 |
Author Michael Eric Dyson Says Americans of ‘Good Conscience’ Should March on Cleveland to Stop Trump Author and activist Michael Eric Dyson is calling for a march on Cleveland.
-- Author and activist Michael Eric Dyson is calling for a march on Cleveland for the Republican National Convention, saying that only massive protests next month can confront what he called the “monster” that is Donald Trump.
Dyson told ABC News Political Director Rick Klein and Congressional Correspondent Mary Bruce on ABC’s "Powerhouse Politics" podcast that he has spoken with black church groups and civil rights organizations, among other groups, which are “steadily coming together” to organize a presence at the convention.
Dyson, who published a piece in this week’s New Republic titled “We Must March on Cleveland,” told Klein and Bruce that “those of us of good conscience must descend upon Cleveland.”
Dyson said on the podcast that his call to action reflects his belief that the presidential race is “a watershed moment in American politics. And not just in American politics, but in terms of how we choose to be a nation together.”
Dyson added that there are elements of the race that are “extra-political,” saying “Donald Trump is appealing to the base instincts of American society, the lowest common denominator of bigotry and prejudice.”
Turning his attention to the Republican Party, Dyson lambasted party leaders whom he characterized as responsible for Trump’s success despite their “crocodile tears."
“What the Republicans have essentially done is created this monster that is Donald Trump. Now it’s eating them alive,” Dyson said. “Donald Trump has been incubated in a particular kind of womb, of assaulting the so-called pathologies of black life.”
Reflecting on what he perceived as little “resistance” to Trump despite occasional “grumbles” from party leadership, Dyson said, “I don’t know what’s more impoverished than the inability to say ‘this does not represent us. We will not support this.’”
“The way in which the Republicans have gone about their business has led to a lapse in engagement with more ennobling and uplifting American ideals of disagreement and debate,” Dyson added.
Klein and Bruce also discussed some of this week’s big headlines on the podcast with ABC News Analyst Matthew Dowd, including responses on Capitol Hill to national calls for stricter gun control and the fissure emerging between the National Rifle Association and Donald Trump over the candidate’s support for legislation that would block individuals placed on a no-fly list or terrorist watch list from purchasing firearms. | 1,265,686 |
later this fall, with greens pushing for standards as high as 62 miles per gallon. But a resurgent Detroit and foreign automakers are pushing back against the most aggressive numbers.
“There’s no question that there's a lot of frustration with the lack of progress on climate policy to date,” said Dan Lashof, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate center.
Even the administration’s failure to meet a self-imposed end-of-spring deadline to put solar panels on the White House roof has drawn catcalls from the left. "This was a no-brainer," 350.org founder and solar roof campaigner Bill McKibben said Monday. "Republicans couldn't filibuster it, the oil companies weren't fighting it, and it still didn't get done when they said it would.
In his Rolling Stone article, Gore credited Obama for making historic investments in clean energy technology as part of the stimulus package. But he also said the president "did nothing to defend it when Congress decimated its funding."
Gore also faulted Obama on cap-and-trade legislation. While the president deserved kudos for helping the House in 2009 to pass a bill, he left the issue to wither in the Senate while alienating his allies by making “concessions to oil and coal companies without asking for anything in return.”
Many environmentalists are struggling to come to grips with exactly how hard it is to swing at an Obama White House already at war with a Republican Party full of new tea party conservatives who question any linkage between humans and global warming.
"There are more than a few on the left who see themselves as members of the president's extended team," said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch. "There are many others, including me, who are less angry than very disappointed in the president's rather conventional timidity."
O'Donnell added that Obama's leading critic may not be the best person to make the case for stronger White House action. "Gore has exactly the right message, but he is a flawed messenger given he ducked the climate issue when he ran for president in 2000," he said.
Banking off his Nobel prize and Academy Award-winning film “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore in 2006 formed the Alliance for Climate Protection and promised to spend $300 million over three years — the largest funds of any environmental organization — to help push a climate bill across the finish line.
Gore’s group has not released any final spending figures, leaving doubts that he ultimately came anywhere close to his promise. According to American University researcher Matthew Nisbet, officials at the alliance told him that they’d spent $40 million in 2009.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:06 p.m. on June 22, 2011. | 1,265,687 |
Woman Who’s Just ‘One of the Guys’ in D&D Group Roleplaying as Someone Who Doesn’t Find Them Sexist
SAN DIEGO — Sarah Rodriguez attended her weekly D&D meetup today where she roleplays as a human rogue woman named Sarah Rodriguez who doesn’t find the behavior of the rest of the group sexist.
“Sarah” is a character Rodriguez has been developing since she first met group member Chad Anderson, back in college, who promptly told her she “wasn’t like other girls,” and invited her to play D&D with his other male friends.
“At this point, I’ve gotten really invested in the character,” Rodriguez told reporters. “I remember when I first met Eric Pearson and he started the night by explaining how campaigns needing to be ‘grounded in logic’ and that’s why ‘a female DM just wouldn’t make sense.’ I wanted to say something but I was like, no, I’ve spent too long in this role to break character now.”
“This is what separates the good roleplayers from the greats,” she explained. “D&D is all about overcoming challenges in character, and I know the ins and outs of Sarah, who, for example, doesn’t mind any of the weird female voices our DM gives to characters.”
However, Rodriguez still hasn’t gotten over the DM accepting Ryan Caldwell’s idea that adjacent allies should get increased attack advantage despite the fact the she made the same suggestion thirty minutes earlier. When Rodriguez spoke up about this, the group accused her of being “bossy and overbearing” and “making things all about [her] again.”
Despite difficulties, Rodriguez does not let these attacks influence her game.
“My best stat has to be constitution. If I get asked if I’m ‘on my period or something,’ you won’t see me react at all. Am I uncomfortable? Of course! But you’d never notice, perfect composure every time,” Rodriguez said with pride.“I’m taking damage just about every turn over this, but I mean that’s just part of the game. Sometimes I stand up for myself but it lowers my charisma so it’s like, is that worth the tradeoff?”
“That kind of strategic thinking is what makes Dungeons and Dragons so fun,” Rodriguez said in a way that made it sound more like a question than a statement.
At press time, Rodriguez rolled natural 20s against multiple flirtation attempts from other players in the group, stopping them dead in their tracks. | 1,265,688 |
DIY augmented reality eyepatch boosts senses
Augmented reality has blown up in 2012 thanks to Google’s Project Glass, but a DIY eyepiece likened to a hearing aid for those without 3D vision shows there’s more to wearables than recording point-of-view video. Gregory McRoberts‘ Borg-like DIY eyepatch augments his vision with senses humans wouldn’t normally be blessed with: the ability to “see” temperature and precise distance.
Taking an Arduino as its core, the eyepiece uses an ultrasonic distance sensor and an infrared temperature sensor – accurate to 0.02 degrees fahrenheit – to control a set of colored LEDs. When the temperature drops below 80f, the light turns blue; above 80f, and it turns red. According to McRoberts, it’s capable of picking up a hot item – such as a coffee cup – from 2-3 feet away.
As for proximity, a green LED blinks faster depending on how close the object you’re facing is to you. McRoberts says he is already used to augmenting his senses – he wears a hearing aid – and quickly adapted to the lights, though the reaction from those around him has been more mixed.
“Socially wearing the device is another story. Of course here at OCAD-U it I easily accepted and met with great curiosity and fanfare but in public people don’t understand what it is. Hearing aids are well accepted for their sleek, tight form factor so that I am sure is a huge part of why people are uncomfortable with it. I have been asked most of all if the device is recording them. It has no camera or the capability to record any of the incoming information. But just like a hearing aid it provides what is missing and gives the wearer new information in a usable way” Gregory McRoberts
While the more high-profile demonstrations of augmented reality have generally focused on overlaying a view of the real-world with computer generated graphics – such as directions – there’s a whole other segment of research looking into so-called mediated reality. Steve Mann, widely referred to as the father of wearables, has been working on not just adding to our existing senses but in effect giving humans extra senses in areas we wouldn’t normally have them, such as increasing the range of our vision using HDR techniques.
Mann’s own eyepiece uses high-speed image capture and processing to combine data from three differently exposed frames shot almost simultaneously, allowing the researcher to see detail that the unaided human eye would not normally be able to perceive. The technology – which he wears permanently – has got him into trouble, however; Mann was allegedly assaulted in a French fast food restaurant for refusing to take off the wearable.
[via Adafruit] | 1,265,689 |
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a constitutional challenge to New York City’s famed rent-control ordinance, a post-World War II housing measure that limits the rents of more than a million apartments.
The court’s action is a setback for property-rights activists, who had hoped a more conservative court would protect landlords and a free market in rentals. For decades, critics have said rent-control laws deny property owners the right to fully profit from their investment.
The justices, four of whom grew up in New York City, turned away an appeal from James and Jeanne Harmon, who own a five-story brownstone building on West 76th Street in Manhattan. The couple says they have no choice but to rent three apartments on the upper floors for less than half of their market value.
They also say that one of their tenants can pay a $1,500-a-month mortgage on a Long Island house because he pays only $951 a month to rent a unit in Harmon’s building.
In his appeal, James Harmon said the rent control law violated the 5th Amendment, which says “private property [shall not] be taken for public use without just compensation.”
“Contrary to the popular myth, the Rent Stabilization Law is not targeted to help the needy,” James Harmon wrote, representing himself in his appeal to the high court. “A person could make millions of dollars annually and still qualify for a rent-stabilized apartment. It is all about luck, a racket in which property owners and market rate tenants always lose.”
He also noted that the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), had four rent-stabilized apartments in the city.
The rent-control ordinances were adopted as emergency housing measures after World War II. Harmon says the couple’s building is also subject to the city’s historic preservation laws, so they cannot demolish it or change its character. Nor can they move out their long-time tenants, who pay below-market rates.
For decades, critics have urged the justices to strike down rent-control measures as unconstitutional, but they have refused.
In the 1920s, the court upheld city zoning laws as reasonable regulations of property, even though they could be costly to land owners. In the past, the court has said a “taking” of private property is usually limited to situations where the owner loses all use of his land.
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[email protected] | 1,265,690 |
Tipton carnival queens'shine again' in photo exhibition Published duration 31 May 2019
image copyright Tipton Carnival Queens Shine Again / Erik Kessels image caption The Tipton Carnival "reflected Tipton", exhibition organisers said
Bygone carnival queens will reunite as part of a photography exhibition celebrating the Black Country.
Dutch artist Erik Kessels discovered photos of Tipton Carnival Queens dating back to 1964 in a battered cardboard box in a community centre.
Karen Sims, who runs the centre on Brook Street, helped run the carnival until it ended in 2013 and said the events were "magical".
They were a huge part of the community and are still talked about, she said.
image copyright Tipton Carnival Queens Shine Again / Erik Kessels image caption Ms Sims said "the girls used to love the carnival", which first started in 1964
Such was their importance, for the final four years, Ms Sims would tow the queens around the streets of Tipton and into the arena in the park herself, using a sleigh left over from a Christmas fundraiser.
She did it to give them "a bit of glory", she said, after the procession, which had run since 1964, was stopped due to safety concerns.
"The girls used to love it," she said. "It was just magical and a crying shame it had to stop."
image copyright Tipton Carnival Queens Shine Again / Erik Kessels image caption The aim of the exhibition is to relive the atmosphere of the Tipton Carnival and "let queens shine again"
image copyright Tipton Carnival Queens Shine Again / Erik Kessels image caption Former queens have been invited to have another portrait taken with their old photos
Mr Kessels was invited to Sandwell to capture the area by Multistory, an Arts Council project established to tell stories of the Black Country.
Together they created an exhibition for Blast! Festival to celebrate the carnival queens and invited former winners to reunite and have a portrait taken with their old photos.
Mr Kessels work centres around "found photographs" whereby he re-contextualises images to celebrate the people in them, Multistory director Emma Chetcuti said.
"It was a very local pageant," she said. "Tipton has a strong industrial past - the carnival reflects the place."
image copyright Tipton Carnival Queens Shine Again / Erik Kessels image caption Organisers said they wanted to celebrate the carnival queens and their significance to Tipton
image copyright Katja Ogrin image caption Ms Sims said the exhibition at West Bromwich town hall gave her goosebumps
Ms Sims said the exhibition in West Bromwich town hall left the "hairs standing up on my arms". | 1,265,691 |
conferences, book television interviews, and then trot out grieving mothers and baby pictures of the dead to tug at the public’s heartstrings.
They thought they had gotten their chance with the death of Trayvon Martin. Sure, they had to create a new term (“white Hispanic”) in order to fit the racial component, and they had to play fast and loose with some facts. Naturally the usual leftist suspects banded together to take full advantage of this crisis.
We heard a barrage of cries to roll back “Stand Your Ground” laws and to pass “reasonable” gun control. We also saw the inevitable finger pointing at the NRA.
In truth, the NRA and other gun-rights groups represent more Americans than the anti-gun left who hold televised protests and exploit politically expedient victims. This fact bears itself out in the number of states that have passed self-defense laws with overwhelming bipartisan support.
More than 40 states have codified the concept of “Stand Your Ground” and the majority of states allow permit holders to carry concealed firearms in public. It’s worth noting that Illinois, Dick Durbin’s state and home of the nation’s homicide capital, was the last state to institute such permits.
So no, Senator Durbin won’t confront the gun laws in the state he represents, because those gun laws are part of the problem. He can’t have a hearing or national conversation about Chicago’s homicide rate, because he wants to pass Chicago-style gun control on the rest of us.
Why is Senator Durbin even holding a federal hearing to examine state gun laws passed overwhelmingly by the various legislatures, according to their enumerated constitutional powers?
Not only does Dick Durbin not respect the Second Amendment rights of Americans, but he doesn’t understand the proper balance of power between the federal and state governments. It’s a sick joke that he presides over the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights.
The right to defend yourself and your family is one of the most fundamental American constitutional rights. Why is the modern Democratic Party on a quest to aid the lawless and dependent at the expense of the law-abiding, productive American?
Look around — this is the theme of the Obama years: aiding the lawless and dependent. The same tune echoes across the agencies.
In keeping with this theme, Trayvon Martin’s mother will be on hand to testify in Durbin’s hearing: a pawn in a political show-trial. Exploiting her is no less disgusting than the woman who posed as an aunt of one of the slain Sandy Hook children. But it’s what we’ve come to expect in a Senate controlled by politicians like Dick Durbin. | 1,265,692 |
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The call to prayer, known as the adhan, is a special sound for many Muslims. It reminds the faithful, five times a day, that it’s time to pray.
But unlike in Muslim-majority countries where the adhan is broadcast over an outdoor loudspeaker, many Muslims in the U.S. have to be inside a mosque to hear it.
And with the state’s “stay-at-home” order in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the holy month of Ramadan just around the corner, Muslims are stuck inside their homes, unable to go to the mosque to hear the adhan and perform their prayers.
Thanks to a new partnership between the city of Minneapolis and community members, Muslims in Minneapolis at least can hear the adhan.
For the first time in the history of Minneapolis, the adhan will be played over a loudspeaker in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood during the month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin Thursday evening.
The speaker will be placed outside Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque near the intersection of South Fifth Street and Cedar Avenue. It will be played at volumes consistent with city regulations. Thousands of residents living nearby should be able to hear the adhan.
“All over the world Muslims understand and feel great comfort in the public call to prayer,” said Imam Sharif Mohamed of Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque. “In this time of fear and isolation, the Muslim communities of Minnesota benefit from a city that honors and loves all of its diversity.”
In a prepared statement, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he hoped the daily broadcasts would give some stability and reassurance to city residents as Muslims prepare for Ramadan.
“At a time when physical distancing requires we pray apart, it’s incumbent on leaders to create a sense of togetherness where we can,” Frey said. “Adhan provides solidarity and comfort – both of which are essential during a time of crisis.”
The adhan will reverberate across the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood five times per day, from dawn to shortly after sunset.
“This historic effort to promote religious inclusion – offering the call to prayer in Cedar-Riverside Community _ will be welcomed by the Muslim community and all those who value diversity and mutual understanding,” said CAIR-Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussein. “The call to prayer will be especially meaningful to the many senior citizens in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood who have been isolated due to the pandemic. It will help them feel more connected to their community and mosque in this sacred month.” | 1,265,693 |
A middle school in Washington state came under fire this week for allegedly planning to move an autistic student with special needs into a bathroom so he could be insulated from loud noises, according to reports.
Danielle Goodwin, the 11-year-old’s mother, said she discovered the alleged arrangement this past Monday while visiting Whatcom Middle School in Bellingham.
“The teacher informed us that he would be studying in the bathroom,” Goodwin told Q13 Fox.
Her son, Lucas, needed a quiet place to study because loud noises trigger his condition, she said.
“We were trying to find a quieter place for him to work,” she said.
Goodwin reportedly took a photo showing the boy clearly upset; his desk could be seen placed over a toilet and his chair near a sink. Goodwin alleged that the school also had placed a mat on the floor in case the boy needed to nap.
"I was stunned," Goodwin told KOMO News. “I was so shocked that I just took the picture because I didn't believe what I was seeing.”
Lucas said the arrangement had scared him and he “thought this was going to be where I was for the rest of the year.
Goodwin said she took her son out of school because the faculty provided no alternative to the arrangement.
“We are still waiting to hear from the district,” she said.
Amid outrage on social media, Superintendent Greg Baker released a statement explaining that limited funding for schools has created “limited space to meet students’ instructional and social-emotional needs.”
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ARRESTED AFTER HITTING PRINCIPAL, THREATENING SCHOOL SHOOTING
“This current situation is an example of staff trying to seek a solution to temporarily repurpose a room. To our knowledge, the room had been used as a storage, not as an active restroom,” the statement read. “Again, my preliminary assessment is this idea was well-intentioned, but in the end we did not move forward with it.”
The Bellingham School District said in a separate statement that it continued to look into the matter and that the desk has been removed.
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“[I]t appears that the restroom was set up as a possible separate quiet learning space, but no student was placed in there. The desk has been removed, and staff at the school are aware that the space should not be used for that purpose in the future,” district officials said.
Goodwin has acknowledged the desk’s removal but added: “that doesn’t help my son’s self-esteem, his embarrassment.” | 1,265,694 |
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The number of homicides in the city has dropped for the third straight year, but there’s one statistic that stands out even more.
Investigating the murder of a child is one of the toughest cases cops get, last year that didn’t happen in Sacramento.
“I am really excited about that,” said Councilmember Jay Schenirer.
In 2018, not a single person under 18 was murdered. Something that hasn’t happened in 35 years.
On average, 12 kids are murdered a year in all of Sacramento County, but having none in the city is not a surprise to those that have been working to curb juvenile crime.
“Absolutely incredible,” said Kindra Montgomery-Block. “Isn’t it amazing what good investment can do for young people and their families?”
Montgomery-Block with the Sierra Health Foundation helps organize youth activities designed to keep kids from causing trouble.
READ: Sacramento Mayor Proposes $350,000 Budget For 10 Teen Hubs And Free Weekly Events
“This 2018 and no child deaths, juvenile deaths in the city of Sacramento, is absolutely the blessing on top,” she said. “Effective community voices, effective community people who are in these neighborhoods that have the trusted walkabout in messaging to turn a community around.”
Reaching out to those at risk is something city and county leaders are embracing by committing millions of dollars to the effort.
“I don’t think children grow up saying, ‘I want to game member.’ I think they say, ‘this is what I need to be successful’ and that’s what our responsibility as well as other partners in the city,” Schenirer said.
ALSO: Push To Extend Paid Parental Leave Gaining New Momentum
Those efforts range from Shop with a Cop event, to neighborhood peace marches, and the recently added Friday night pop-ups events that were started after a large-scale teenage fight at Arden Fair Mall.
“What happened at Arden, we saw a need, created a strategy, put that strategy in order, and not one thing happened that next weekend,” said Montgomery-Block.
While murder rates often vary widely each year, police say having no child homicides shows community outreach is having an impact.
“That what we’re doing matters and we take that as a success for our city and our community,” said Officer Marcus Basquez, spokesman for the Sacramento Police department.
On September 11, 2018 3-year-old Azalya Anderson was shot at a South Sacramento residence and died four days later. That residence was not in Sacramento, rather Sacramento County. | 1,265,695 |
, and that was mainly to aide some biblical overtones to the hell levels, really. The hell levels in the game really felt like… we described them as a haunted castle that you’re trying to escape from. It didn’t feel hellish at first until we started putting the choir in there. There are those ways of getting evil, too.
The guitar is more about aggression, and there’s actually a technical reason for why I use guitar in some of the songs. There’s a lot of noise in the game already—there are demons screaming, gunshots, explosions, machinery—and guitar is an instrument which really cuts through, it’s really obvious. Whereas if I put some subtle low strings under that you just wouldn’t hear it. There are those sort of reasons as well.
You’ve recently worked on Doom, Wolfenstein, Killer Instinct—but you’ve also done a Need for Speed, to name one example. You do a lot of action games, but are there any other genres or fields you’d like to explore that depart from that?
I really love the sort of more artistic side of game development, where you can really take a moment to establish a melody. I like Journey, and things like that. They’re just absolutely beautiful and really cool. For the last couple of years, I’ve focused on the very harsh, aggressive and angry side of game development.
Prey is a great departure from that actually. It’s more thought-provoking, there are more Western sounds… Spaghetti Western elements mixed in with synths and things like that. [Arkane’s] approach hasn’t been to get me to write a bunch of combat music or fighting music. Instead, Raphael [Colantonio, Prey director] would just give me a concept. He’ll say, “You’re floating in space, what does that sound like?” That’s great because I can spend two minutes working on what that feels like. Or else he’ll say, “You’re sad, you miss your family because you’re lost somewhere.” He’ll explain that and I’ll go from there.
So there won’t be any double kick drums and 8-string power chords in Prey?
Haha, no. That’s Doom, Doom owns that. The last thing you want to do is take something from the last project into the next one. I throw it all away and go back to the beginning, relearn how to approach music for each project. Each needs its own unique identity. The ultimate goal is that people won’t be able to tell that it’s the same people behind these projects. | 1,265,696 |
strikes me that your many roles at Paizo — editor, author, world designer, gamer — revolve around collective, collaborative storytelling. What are your thoughts on collaborative storytelling, and its effect on linear (novels) and non-linear (RPG campaigns) narratives?
“Collaborative storytelling — collaborative anything, really — is a blessing and a curse. While it’s easy to get exhausted or frustrated by having to advocate for your ideas or accommodate others’, I find that as long as you’ve got the right crew of collaborators, the final result is always better than the individuals could create on their own. I encounter that all the time, whether it’s working with my colleagues to continue building the Pathfinder setting, advising authors on ways to patch holes in their novel outlines, or simply getting feedback from friends on my own stories.
“RPGs are collaborative storytelling in its purest form. Everybody gets to contribute, and the story can go anywhere. That’s the fun — that sense of opportunity, the chance for everyone (including the Game Master) to be surprised. At the same time, there’s a reason why direct adaptations or journals of RPG campaigns rarely make good novels: they’re meandering, full of dead-ends and side treks that were fun in the moment but of limited interest to those not playing — in other words, they’re non-linear, just like real-life. As humans, we live non-linearly, so we tend to want our stories to be linear — it’s that idea that there’s a point to things, or at least a climax, that keeps us engaged.
“Role Playing Games are collaborative storytelling in its purest form.”
“Man, good thing we’re reaching the end of the interview — this is getting pretty meta. Thanks to everyone who made it this far in James and Aidan’s Story Philosophy 101 — office hours are 11:00 to 7:00 on Twitter, and your term papers will account for 100% of your final grade.”
It was a pleasure to have you, James. I won’t mention to your readers that this interview is almost long enough to count as a novelette.
“That’s okay — blog posts are paid by the word, right?
*someone passes in a note from off-camera*
“Wait, really? How come there are so many bloggers, then? The internet is so confusing!”
Now, excuse me while I wander off to badger my friends into starting up a new Pathfinder campaign. There’s a gravity-reversing jellyfish who needs dealt with.
“Thanks again, Aidan! This was a blast!” | 1,265,697 |
Authorities imposed emergency rule in February after the sudden resignation of ex-Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
Ethiopia ‘s cabinet has approved a draft law to lift a six-month state of emergency two months early after assessing that “law and order” has been restored in the country.
Authorities imposed the emergency rule in February after Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn abruptly resigned, citing ongoing “unrest and a political crisis” in the country as major factors in his decision.
He was later replaced as prime minister and chairman of the ruling coalition by Abiy Ahmed.
“The Council of Ministers … reviewed the security situation of the country. It noted that law and order has been restored,” the prime minister’s chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, said on Saturday in a post on Twitter.
The draft law will be sent to parliament for consideration.
The Council of Ministers in its today’s regular meeting reviewed the security situation of the country. It noted that law & order has been restored. It has approved a draft law that lifts the State of Emergency. The draft will be sent to Parliament for its consideration #Ethiopia — Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) June 2, 2018
It was not immediately clear when that would take place. Ethiopia‘s 547-seat House of People’s Representatives often holds its sessions on Monday.
Its legislators – all members of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition (EPRDF) – are expected to endorse the move.
Thousands released
Mass protests erupted in 2015, when anti-government demonstrations broke out among the Oromo, Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group, and later spread to the Amhara, the second biggest group.
The protests, which initially began over land rights but later broadened to include calls for greater political representation at the national level, were met with a harsh government response.
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In August 2017, Ethiopia lifted a 10-month state of emergency imposed after hundreds of people were killed in anti-government protests demanding wider political freedoms.
Since the election of Ahmed, the first Oromo prime minister in the 27 years EPRDF has been in power, the authorities have pledged to push through a raft of reforms.
Ahmed has travelled to several areas of the country, promising to address grievances and strengthen a range of political and civil rights.
In addition, several thousands of prisoners have been released and tensions in restive areas, notably Oromia, have dramatically declined.
Some of the high-profile releases include Andargachew Tsige, an Ethiopian-born British citizen and opposition leader on death row, and Swedish doctor Fikru Maru. | 1,265,698 |
Published on Friday, February 25, 2011, by Roxanne Webber / Edit Post
We went to Austin right before the mania of SXSW, and despite working superlong days and freezing half the time, we were reluctant to hop a plane back to the Bay Area. The biggest reason: the people. Everywhere we went, Austinites were friendly, helpful, and fun to work with. Marisela from El Mesón actually offered to loan us warm jackets when she overheard us commiserating about not having packed for the cold snap. We even had a random run-in with Chowhound stellawine at a picnic table in front of the Odd Duck trailer, and had a friendly chat while we were filming that perfect soft-boiled duck egg.
One of the big surprises of the trip: Texas wine. Not only was Lewis Dickson’s La Cruz de Comal wine experimental, funky, and delicious (it reminded us a lot of the Scholium Project), but we also tried a Texas Vermentino made by Duchman Family Winery on the advice of Wes Marshall, our Texas wine Yoda, that we’d drink anytime. It was inexpensive, crisp, and clean drinking.
We did start to wonder: Where’s the legendary Texas beef? Other than the badass barbecued brisket, we encountered mostly pork. But after chatting with Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due, it seemed to come from a natural place: If you are doing local/sustainable meat production, pigs are just a higher-yield animal and easier for chefs to store and work with than a huge side of beef.
The other thing we left Austin admiring was the creative spirit of the city. People there take risks, start quirky, fun businesses, and really try to fulfill their visions. There was G’Raj Mahal’s funky tented outdoor seating, searingly spicy Goan fish curry, and a rattlesnake art bike installation. A silver Airstream trailer called “The Vegan Yacht” with a huge painting of an octopus riding a bicycle on the side serving vegan Frito pies. The insane housewares store Uncommon Objects where things from vintage cookware to old medicine bottles are arranged in giant walk-in dioramas that feel part Alice in Wonderland, part Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” video.
And we’re probably going to get banned from Austin for life for saying this, but we just didn’t get Torchy’s Tacos. Were we too sober to understand the allure? Now, we’re going to run away before someone tries to off us for this Austin food blasphemy! Check out what we found in Oakland, California, starting Monday!
Roxanne Webber is a former editor at CHOW. | 1,265,699 |
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